It's Globalism.....With Communism In The Background

The following is a very recent post:   

        George W. Bush is not only a full-blown globalist.....he is a ritualistic member of that secretive group of elites who are panicking.....with good reason.....over the defeat of Hillary Clinton and election of Donald Trump. The entire Bush family is ensconced in this One World...New World Order movement. Bush 43s necessary diversion as president on the war on terror.....of which I continue to applaud him for....severely impeded his family's primary goals. He is totally out of the closet with his speech in New York today. We have to take advantage of this and elevate our concern over the ultimate intentions of the globalist elite.
        What we cannot do is elevate President Trump.....even higher....as a champion opposing world globalization. We do not yet know who this man is. His words can sound terrific at one moment but at another his actions show a man who appears...at best... confused as to what he actually believes. His instincts are regularly praised on conservative talk radio but the facts do not support this. He seems to not only often lack wisdom but at times be totally devoid of wisdom.
        Whatever his true beliefs are...the globalists want his scalp...and bad...and in light of this....and for other reasons also....we have to be doing what we are doing.....which is defending him against these almost unbelievable assaults....defending him but not exalting him as a champion.
        The communist and the globalist are working in tandem against America. Whether it is culturally induced communism or George Soros....American patriotism and nationalism must be destroyed.....along with the family and a host of other traditional strengths of the American way of life. Globalism's schemes and intents have been targeted by both Christian and secular authors for many decades. In fact Christian authors....ridiculed at the time.....were well ahead of secular authors in sounding this alarm. Need I add that God's Word first warned of a coming global government?
         Americans have always rejected the plans of the globalist....whether it was in the League of Nations or the United Nations. I put down only the latest book on this subject ....The Deeper State...Inside The War On Trump by Corrupt Elites, Secret Societies, and The Builders of an Imminent Final Empire........after checking Drudge and seeing the news on the Bush speech....to write this post. Lt. Col Robert McGinnis is the author of the book.
         It seems that every day someone calls into a radio talk show and begins their conversation with...."Rush...Mark....whoever....I'm not a conspiracy person but".....the key word being 'but' because there always has been and always will be conspiracies....how else can normally vigilant people be deceived but not through sometimes intricate conspiracies?
         We have to be prepared for Donald Trump's past globalist instincts....of which we should be well aware of....to resurface! Hopefully they will not. Hopefully he is actually growing in some kind of mature thought....but either way.....and I have filled these posts of almost nine years with this.....America will sink or swim in direct correlation to it's humbling itself before its Creator and Sustainer.....and that humbling will come in direct correlation to its pulpits! As I have written before....pray for our leaders.....pray for Donald Trump.....but pray first for our pulpits and your pastor....not for political insight.....but an unction for preaching the cross of Jesus Christ....from which comes conviction.....repentance.....mercy.....strength....and wisdom!

        

Praying Hands

Maybe you remember this...evangelicals surrounded President Trump in the Oval Office....laying hands upon him as his head was bowed. I was familiar with a couple of the names of 'evangelicals' that were present. One gave the church 'holy laughter' many years ago. Another is known for her heterodoxy. I wrote a post that I called 'Preying Hands' after seeing the photo. The following is the dialogue part of that post and I bring it here as my Lord's Day post:.   

I dreamed a dream....if only twas not a dream....

Trump:      Reverend Jones, nice to meet you. I understand that the Melania took you on a little tour.
                 I hope that you enjoyed it?
Jones:       Very much Mr. President, and thank you very much for allowing me this time with you!
Trump:      I will always have time for my evangelical friends who helped me so much in my
                 campaign....and I always enjoy my time with them.
Jones:       Mr. President, I don't quite know why I was picked by the ministerium when you
                 extended the invitation to come for a chat and a visit but I'm going to....should the Lord
                 will it....make the best of it.
Trump:      It's always nice to hear about God.
Jones:       I'll get right to it if it's OK with you Mr. President?
Trump:      Go right ahead.
Jones:       Sir you stand right now in condemnation just like every person born into this world. You
                are 71 years old and will stand before a Holy God in the not very distant future.Yes I'm here
                because of your gracious invitation but God directed that invitation. His command to you
                is to repent and to follow Him.

pause.... as President Trump sits back in his chair in the Oval Office. He glances at his watch...

Trump:      Well I am a very busy man as you know. I have always known that I am not perfect. I
                 assume that you are not perfect either?

pause.... as Pastor Jones stares intently and compassionately into the eyes of the President of the
              United States....wondering if the visit will go on....

Jones:        Mr. President there is no indication to those of us who have read voluminously on your
                  life....and have followed events in the newspaper since you became our president...there
                  is no indication that you have ever heard the gospel of Jesus Christ presented to you....
                  and presented directed to you personally.....in the form of a command.
Trump:       I believe that I have made my peace with God Reverend Jones. We can't all relate to God
                  as you do.
Jones:        Sir....I have never heard you say the word Jesus.....or read of where you mentioned
                  His name. Will you do that for me here? Would you pronounce the name of Jesus Mr.
                  President?

pause....as the president glances again at his watch....

Trump:       Reverend Jones...I don't like to presume upon God in such a manner. I never wear my
                  religion on my sleeve.
Jones:        There is a fear of that name within you Mr. President. It is not uncommon. The word God
                  can be all-inclusive.....it can be mentioned with no threat of guilt or judgment. If you
                  would but mention the name of Jesus I will be on my way and keep our conversation
                  private.
Trump:       Private....Reverend Jones? You know.....I think that I believe you on that.

long pause....as the president stands up and walks over to the window overlooking the Rose Garden

Trump:       I have always had difficulty mentioning that name Reverend Jones......(long pause)

Reverend Jones interjects....

Jones:         You are a busy man Mr. President.

pause....as Reverend Jones looks at his watch....

Jones:        I am before you here in acknowledgment that you have great responsibilities
                  I don't in any way revere you sir but I hope to give you the honor that you deserve
                  in your position. Christ Jesus deserves and commands no less respect and honor.
                  Failing to even address Him is failing to honor Him.

pause....as the Reverend Jones stands and gently slides the chair back to its original position...

Jones:        You have sinned against a Holy God Mr. President as everyone has. You stand in
                  judgment without any hope whatsoever apart from He who voluntarily suffered
                  crucifixion that you might use that name and call out to Him. He broke the bonds of death
                  three days later.... and He....no respecter of persons....neither presidents or citizens....kings
                  or slaves....will come again to judge between the sheep and the goats. if you are ashamed
                 of His name is this life...He will be ashamed of you at the judgment. Humble yourself Mr.
                 President. You have great wealth and great responsibilities. You will be held accountable
                 for both.

Reverend Jones offered his hand but the president didn't take it. The reverend turned to the door as
the President of the United States interrupted him....

Trump:       Reverend Jones....I will at least think about what you have said.

pause....as the President walks out from behind his desk and extends his own hand.

Trump:       There are many voices all around me Reverend Jones....always has been. How do I know
                  that you know what you are talking about?

pause....as Reverend Jones looks around the Oval Office.

Jones:         Is there a Bible here Mr. President?
Trump:      No....not in this office....but I have one.
Jones:        Mr. President....if you open that Bible with the same humility that you just extended to me
                  by offering me your hand...you will recognize the voice of the One within who wrote it.
                  He will give you discernment on those voices.

A slight knock was heard on the door and the president reached behind Reverend Jones to open it, where a member of President Trump's staff was waiting.

Jones:        Mr. President....there's a passage in the book of Revelation....."Behold, I stand at the door
                  and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him,
                  and he with me."

pause....as Reverend Jones took a step to the door to leave before turning towards the president again.

Jones:        Do you by any chance know who made that statement Mr.President?

President Trump now looked intently into the eyes of Reverend Jones....

Trump:      Jesus.....Christ Jesus!

as Reverend Jones turned to leave, President Trump offered one more comment....

Trump        Oh Reverend Jones...I think that I may know why your ministerium chose you!

Nothing more was said as both men smiled before parting.

Note: My message in this post is a question. Has anyone presented the gospel to Donald Trump in the form of a command....or has he only heard it as a gentle suggestion given to a very well-known person....a person of great importance?
           
 
         

          

November 22, 1963

            My seat was the first desk in the first row of my eighth grade Catholic school class. I was thirteen years old. It was after lunch on a Friday afternoon when our Sisters Of Mercy teacher came into the classroom wiping her eyes. She informed us that President Kennedy had been shot and we were released to go home. Take into consideration that this was 1963. My hero had been shot. Everyone spent the next four days in front of the television....in shock and full of sorrow.
            I usually describe it this way.....and actually did so within the past week....."I have studied the JFK assassination for more than 40 years......after all of my research and meditation on this I only know two thing for sure.....one that JFK died on that horrible November 1963 day......and two that Oswald did not do it." Now I exaggerate in these words for effect but the fact remains....Lee Harvey Oswald was nothing but a dupe.
           This past week has been awash with reports and speculation of Donald Trump permitting the JFK assassination records to be released.....and I hardly thought about it. As I was reading last night with the television news on mute....I glanced up to see Oswald's face....and simply returned to my reading. Why? I'll let the dust settle and then read about what came out in this document release....keeping in mind that a selective release such as this can actually be given to redirect one's attention,
           Our government.....at the very least a rogue element within in.....was involved in this despicable event.....and the government itself definitely covered up the facts for various reasons. Now President Trump is bold on many things but he also backtracks and backslides often. So I hoped that he might want to tell us what the deep state was capable of but also knew that.....as one person described it....he seems to always be convinced by the very last person to talk to him.
            Did we really expect our government.....a government that most recently is making a mess of investigating and reporting the Las Vegas mass murders.....did we really expect them to actually bring us into the mix on what happened on Dealey Plaza? Once again President Trump should have kept a promise that he made.
            Someone who actually understands the extreme perverseness and unholy boldness of what went on almost fifty-years ago might wonder how someone such as Bill O'Reilly could write a book where he naively proclaims that Oswald killed JFK. The answer to this question may be that he is writing too many 'Killing' books and therefore becoming less and less a reliable reporter as the books roll out. Read it all.....all of it.....every bit of minutiae.....keep the unassailable facts.....consider the viable second party information....discard all that is totally speculative.....hold tightly to logic, common sense and reason.....and you can come to but one conclusion....a conspiracy of some sort existed.
            

ENOUGH

         It was simple and almost pure....patriots who gathered together in opposition to an encroaching tyranny.  We had a Marxist president....quite possibly a Communist president,,,,and the most corrupt politician in American history was poised to succeed him.... but the grassroots movement was ready....a vast army fuming as they formed a long line across America.....shifting from one foot to another in anticipation of the campaign ahead. All they needed was for a general to ride out in front of them and give them the order to advance.
        Ted Cruz surveyed the ground in front that would be the battlefield and counted every cannon ball in every caisson. He did everything except get out in front and ignite the fuse.
        Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Stephen K. Bannon and Sean Hannity were captains of horse behind their microphones and were ready to charge if someone out front...anyone out front....would just raise their sabre. Out of nowhere came this plumed hat on a white steed riding up and down the immense line, rallying every soldier. Kepis were raised as shouts drowned out the tempered commands given by the other generals hoping to lead the charge.
        So we had our leader as Donald Trump turned towards the Marxists and the Progressives and the worthless Republican elites, and yelled like furies so loud that it reverberated across the entire battlefield. What followed was a rout. The enemy laughed until their front lines collapsed.
         How would this new Lord Protector rule, as we really knew little about this mysterious champion, and the little that we knew was not good? His ego not only rivaled Barack Obama's but actually dwarfed it. He was definitely the center of his own universe as it seemed that the only thing that mattered in anything was in how it reflected upon him. He was much too vindictive for comfort, and look as we might, aside from his children there didn't seem to be a whole lot of faithfulness if any to be found in his character.
        All of these serious concerns about President Trump were overlooked because there was a genuine hope and even expectation that, weak as his character might be, America could make a 180 degrees turnabout under his leadership. The question that we are attempting to avoid is at what point do we say enough is enough?
        As it turned out President Trump doesn't really give a hoot about repealing Obamacare. It seems that he could care less about the Paris Climate Agreement either. I don't even think that he really has a heart for stopping illegal immigration. He's like the ultimate real estate developer who promised the community everything to get permission to go forward with his project and now has to explain to the commissioners why some of things he promised never materialized.
        Had it not been for the blitzkrieg attempt to impeach him or force him to resign he would have had to answer for his actions by now but this attempted coup has directed all of our attention away from Ivanka, Jared and the globalists. Ironically therefore this Russia probe has kept his supporters who have been scorned off of his back.
        This of course cannot go on indefinitely. North Korea and possibly the Middle East or both will take us in an entirely new direction, and that if a collapse of the world's financial markets or some other catastrophes do not occur first. In reality no candidate for the Republican nomination could have prevented the tsunami headed towards us but the character issue, as it turns out, is more important than we anticipated. Unless we turn from the mantra of 'make America great again' to prayers for mercies undeserved, we will find ourselves strolling along the beach as the waters recede before that approaching tsunami, far from the higher ground that we long ago descended from, and this without even God's hand steadying us.
   

....Go There Now....

        I rarely do something like this....well let me explain. There are Christian theologians all over this world with so many letters after their name that one would surely expect them to be in the very least....brilliant. And they may be but brilliance alone does not automatically translate into knowledge of biblical truth. In fact....presumably you are reading this at home....the last person you came in contact with outside the home probably is more knowledgeable of the Gospel than any of the professors at Harvard Divinity School....as probably are you.
        R. C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries of Florida may be the most gifted Christian teacher on the planet today. Folks, I don't throw statements around like this lightly. Born in Pittsburgh....of course...his ministry has affected the church in America....positively.....as much as anyone since George Whitefield.
        R. C.'s ministry provides a daily sermon/lecture message that is as easy as 1-2...you don't even need the 3. Just go to ligonier.org and click on the Daily Audio and....voila'....you can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ presented or explained to you in a way that can only be described as.....marvelous....glorious.....wunderbar!
        Today's message is a lecture....about 25 minutes....on Luther's first grasping of the gospel of salvation. It's titled Tower Experience. Prove me wrong. It can be done on this. Do you....should you be confused on this....want to know what the term Born Again means? Go to ligonier.org tonight.

NOTE: A new day brings a new Daily Audio but this only adds Two quick steps to listening to Tower Experience.....(1) ligonier.org (2) click on the latest Daily Audio (3) click on Archives (4) and a few lectures down there is Tower Experience. Folks, I wouldn't be doing this if this particular message was not extraordinarily penetrating in describing what Born Again is.

IF ONLY OUR PULPITS WOULD DO THE SAME           

America is under judgement right now in just about every area of life and government. Chaos.....even a coup in process....infects our capitol? Treason has been detected. Sports have fallen to Leftist propaganda. Daily lurid news stories are so prevalent that even O. J. Simpson can't make the news. We experienced a horrid massacre and you cannot...readily anyway... believe a word that the authorities release about it? Groupthink and doublespeak is the norm. Conversation and even information have been reduced to Twitter splotches? Addictions are everywhere....the worst of which is social media. Virtual reality is the future while artificial intelligence may be the end of the future? A Frankenstein stock market is about to burn. A virulent consuming hatred envelops even those right around us. Globalism...the occult...anarchy...and communism have their way with us.....and I don't have the heart to mention the worst of what our society is littered with.
             Folks....these are only the beginnings of tribulations. One has to understand the situation with North Korea.....we cannot let them continue with their ballistic and nuclear progress. That would be sure suicide. They are never...never...going to give up their program....they only want more time....and we are not united in meeting this danger. The Israeli people are as deluded as we are.....and their predicament is worse than ours....if that is even possible. No one even talks about the national debt anymore. Incredible! I'm going to the movies tonight.....Geostorm.....or I could just wait to see it on the news.

The following post is from early September. I add it here to counter the impact of these facts of where we are with that alone which is at our disposal that gives hope.....that being a total reliance on God who has patiently watched us.....and even to this day offers His steady upon us as we head into this geostorm....if only we would humble ourselves before Him:

If Only Our Pulpits Would Do The Same

              I typed as fast as I could as Franklin Graham gave this prayer at a President Trump rally recently in Phoenix. I praised God as I typed, for Americans who were tuning in by YouTube would get to at least once hear wich powerful words of repentance.....words which should be proclaiming from our pulpits each and every Lord's Day...but are not.
             The crowd was sober-minded as they listened and gave the Reverend Graham appreciative applause as he exited the stage. Vice President Pence followed and within minutes the large crowd gathered in the arena was back to chanting USA...USA...USA. The power of that prayer by Rev. Graham was gone....but many had heard it.....and they will surely offer the same prayer themselves someday.....only it will be amidst the chaos.....and not before it....where we could petition God for mercy in the coming storm.

             "Our Heavenly  Father,,,,you've blessed our country more than any nation on earth and we acknowledge that apart for you we have no hope....we come tonight....as a troubled nation....we're broken spiritually....   were divided politically....we're divided racially....we are adrift morally..... following whatever direction the wind of popular culture blows....with no regard for your word or the consequences of our disobedience....we ask tonight for your help.... our sins have paralyzed us....as a country we have seemed to have forgotten right from wrong.... you warned us in your Holy Word the Bible that there would come a time when truth would become a lie....and lies would become truth....we come to you this evening confessing our sins as a nation..... we confess the sins of our past.....of injustice....of pride.....of self-indulgence..... we have failed to protect our young and our innocent..... and we ask for your forgiveness.....we ask that you would unite this country for your glory..... Father we need a shepherd.....I pray that you would be the shepherd of our nation..... you are the God who restores our souls.....your rod and your staff they comfort us....and I pray this all in the name...the powerful name....the name of your son...the Lord Jesus Christ."


NOTE: We did see Geostorm tonight. It was an enjoyable action, not too technical space sci/fi film, and its message was spelled out very clear.....although many nations....we can come together....for we are one people on this earth....with a common cause....and a common future! Please read the following post also.
     

Isaac Crockett And Me

The following is a short synopsis of a novella that I wrote twenty years ago. A link to it is to the left of this post. When both my wife and my mother read it....way back then....they said that it's autobiographical. Hmm.....I thought....I guess that it is somewhat.....not the rock star part obviously....but some of the themes.   

           Isaac Crockett is the lead singer of one of America's top bands. He is also a Christian. On a visit back home, Ocean City New Jersey, he meets a young lady who is in distress... helps her, and never expects to see her again. Successful and well thought of as he is, Isaac then leaves Rock and Roll behind.
          Anne Wiskovitz is Roman Catholic with a very devout father named Casimer. Surprise, Isaac and Anne do meet again in another short...chance....encounter! Isaac pursues what he believes is God's call on his life as he struggles with his new found love for this beautiful Catholic girl with a very protective father. During the course of these thirty two short chapters Isaac meets Casimer in his home in Easton, Pennsylvania, makes a visit to an awards ceremony in New York City, is mugged in his hometown, assaulted by the owner of the local professional hockey team, walks the battlefields of Gettysburg as he ponders the courage of these Americans and...well I can't tell everything but Roman Catholicism is the main reason that I attempted this novel and I hope that you might give it a try.

It Has Never Been Said Of Donald Trump....."All He Has Is His Princples

         The following post was written in September of 2011. Christine O'Donnell did what most of you and I will never do, She actually acted upon her convictions in such a way that made her a national target of ridicule. How many elections has Rush Limbaugh lost? He often won't even endorse candidates so as not to wind up on the losing side. O'Donnell challenged the liberal establishment of Delaware while being criticized by the establishment of her own party! Her name came up yesterday with the fake wrestling tag team of Donald 'Gorgeous George' Trump and Mitch 'The Undertaker' McConnell.

All She Has Is Her Principles.....2011

         Feudal lords in the upper echelons of the Republican Party treated Delaware Republicans as vassals as they worked against the candidacy of Christine O'Donnell while labeling her  as a troublemaker. How dare her challenge their dictates and not only run for a seat in the United States Senate but beat their handpicked candidate in the primary! O'Donnell titled her newly released book Troublemaker and I highly recommend it to you. She is not only the essence of the Tea Party but also of the overall resurgence of conservative America.
         America's political transformation was jump-started by women.... mothers who were not going to turn their children over to the state, and the Christine O'Donnells who showed the feminists what real womanhood was. I don't have the exact quote before me for I quickly passed her book on, but it was essentially this: Mike Castle, her primary opponent in Delaware, brushed off her challenge to him this way "She has no money, no organization...all she has is her principles."
         South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint has a seat amongst these same feudal lords and they don't particularly like it. A recent CNN report quoted him in "I don't have the support inside Washington or even inside my own party." The report continued "DeMint took hits from leaders in his own party when Republican incumbents and establishment-favored candidates were brought down by his tea party favorites. This summer, he proved to be one of the most intransigent members of Congress, refusing any compromise with the Obama administration in debt-ceiling negotiations." DeMint is quoted again in, "I was lectured in front of the whole Republican Conference saying, 'DeMint, you don't understand how this place works. It's not about principle, it's about the numbers.' "
         Thomas Jefferson wrote "In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current." Principle is when the corporate executive resigns rather than swim with the current. It's when the incumbent says "If I lose, then I'll go out and get a real job once again." It's when the teacher says "My primary pension will be the responsible citizens, functioning well in our society, who were taught in my classroom." It's the minister who says "I preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." It's the editor who says "My job is to inform not instruct."
         Abraham Lincoln wrote: "Important principles may, and must, be inflexible," and that thought is an anathema to the professional political strategist of today. 

So You Have Entertained The Thought Of Running For Office Some Day

           Martin Luther's name has been on the lips of many Christians lately....more so than usual which is a lot anyway....this because the 500 year anniversary of his 95 theses is just around the corner. Someone once asked Luther what he would do if he knew for sure that Jesus was returning the very next day. Martin's answer was pure Luther...."I would plant a tree." Politics is not our answer....never was....and never will be....but we have to work for what is right until the Lord comes....and make sure that we always keep our priorities straight!
           Blurbs on the back cover mean a lot to me when I'm buying a book. Jim DeMint's or Mark Levin's name might not guarantee that I buy the book but Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren or someone like that does guarantee that the book is returned immediately to the shelf....until tonight that is. I bought a book where Hillary wrote the forward. That's right Hillary!
           I remember reading a book that I borrowed from the Turtle Creek library in the early 60s. That's pronounced Turtle Crick. It's where the Vogues were from. The title and author escapes me but it was on John F. Kennedy's first race for Congress. It was more of a strategy book as I remember. I wasn't a reader and I was only about 13 or 14 years old but JFK was my hero and I wanted to go into politics....at 13 or 14 years old!
           The book I purchased tonight is titled Don't Just March...Run For Something...A Real-Talk Guide To Fixing The System Yourself and the author is Amanda Litman. I didn't buy it for me. I should have run for something 35 years ago when my mind all of sudden started functioning. Reagan had a lot to do with it but most of all I was newly Born Again. The chaos in my mind was slowly dissipating but I was way too enthralled with the merciful and wonderful Savior I had been introduced to than anything else.....still am!
           As I paged through the book there appeared....as the title certainly suggests....to be a lot of essential hands-on practical advice for someone who may want to run for something. I'm sure there is advice in it that I wouldn't recommend.....but I trust that we are knowledgeable enough to discern what a candidate should not be doing. The language in it is rough.....be aware of that beforehand.....but that shouldn't surprise us.
          Wouldn't it be interesting if this Progressive author wrote a book that might someday produce another Jim DeMint or Jeff Sessions? Just in paging through it I rolled my eyes a few times. One paragraph was labelled "The Golden Rule....Don't Lie To People." Another...a whole chapter titled...."Running As A Progressive In A Red State....can be of help in understanding an opponent. I'll try to get a little more specific in a future post....Lord willing.....and if it turns out that I was wrong on recommending it....as Roseanne Roseannadanna would say...."Never Mind"

Breitbart Radio And Its Discontents

            Mr. Bannon.....Donald Trump is not our king....and is a poor excuse for a champion.....and you are not our Pied Piper. You are successfully going to recruit a lot of us.....maybe most of us.....with your rat-a-tat-tat style of don't bother thinking brother-that's my job.....but not all of us! We are not going to dispose of one God bless America-don't know if there actually is a God-but it works in the Bible Belt political ideology (Rinos) only to replace it with another! President Trump's perfunctory "We don't worship government, we worship God" is a hollow statement...and we recognize it as such. We don't want "Trump supporting Republican candidates," as one of your radio hosts proclaimed today! We are not your ''Riders On The Storm.' We want God-fearing....Trump challenging Republican conservative candidates.  The following is the last paragraph from a March 2014 post:

The Republican Party And Its Discontents
         
             .......Mr. Boehner...and Mr. McCain...and Mr. Mitchell....and Mr. Graham....and Mr. Rove...and Mr. Bush......we are not alone. We are Americans who trust in their God and recognize His hand in all of creation, His omniscience and omnipotence in forming this people, His power in sustaining us though we often strayed far away, and also His warnings to us after years and years and years of our increasingly ignoring Him..... the continuance of which you are advocating..... your third and most egregious mistake. You have become impervious to common sense, to wisdom or to any light in your darkened halls of power.
          America's future does not lie in these elections that the Republican Party is selling more than its birthright for; and the winners of these elections will have no power that God does not permit and no wisdom that God does not give, for His purposes and to His glory! Our duty is to elect God-fearing leaders and pray for God's mercy knowing that His will is perfect, and that it may or may not include the United States of America as a source of stability in the world or even an entity in itself.
          Celebrate your polling figures all that you want. We'll celebrate a risen Savior and a returning King. Yes, we'll follow Luther's advice to 'plant a tree,' to continue to work, even if we knew for certain that Jesus was returning the very next day, but you might want to take notice of Oliver Cromwell's words to the 'establishment' of his day in:
          "I had rather a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentleman and is nothing else."

Folks, if you are concerned that evangelicals are being drawn in by men who wouldn't darken the doorway of a church unless there is political gain.....and that our real hope is now in an earthly prince and not Jesus Christ.....then please pass these posts along......for the real dangers of the day cannot be dealt with in executive orders.......but will require wisdom.....which comes from humility and a genuine and reverential fear of the Lord.

"Something Is Rotten In The State Of Denmark"

          Putrid odors have risen over the swamp for as long as it has been a swamp. No one ventures over the bog or pushes his rowboat out on the green and yellow algae covered natural cesspool without knowing what his oars will stir up. It is night and the only light is the almost neon glare from the moon on the stinking quagmire. A lone boatman gags as he heaves off onto the murky water. Inexplicably he says out loud to himself ....."what is that smell?" He grabs a pointed object from the bottom of the boat and uses his oar to pound a small hole in the flat bottom. Noxious liquid bubbles up and the old man exclaims...."ah...the putrid water is the source of the smell." He pounds another hole for more evidence.....and another.....and another. His shoes are now covered with slime. He tries to row but the weight of the boat is now too much as the water is up around his knees. As his skiff sinks he wonders to himself....."what have I done?"
          One conservative radio host this morning commented on the latest scandal in the news....."It's delicious." I imagine that it does taste good on the palate of the political mind but it is toxic.  To paraphrase Shakespeare....'all that is delicious is not food'....and J. R. R. Tolkien....'all that is food is not delicious.' The NFL and Hollywood are crumbling according to many pundits. We are thrilled with this and are pounding holes in the bottom of our boat to see even more gurgling evidence of where the odors have been coming from. Had we given more examination we would have wondered why the fetid stench was not exclusive to the swamp but permeated our own clothes before we approached the bog. God has taken away our wisdom and is permitting us to pound holes in the bottom of our boat.
   

...Today Is The Day...

The following post is from 2014:       

         We have no one to blame but ourselves. We let it happen. Some are more to blame than others but no one is left unscathed. They came in waving their diplomas given to them by the Wizard of Oz and we let them set the coarse for teaching our children. They tapped us on the shoulder getting our attention long enough to tell us that God was dead and we ignored them and went back to watching our sports. They told us that a pre-born child was only a fetus so we let them kill as many as they wanted. They taught in our universities that there is no truth....and then told us that that was the truth, said that there is no good and no bad, no right and no wrong, and that if we agree... that's good, but if we disagree... that's bad, if we follow...that's right and if we don't...that's wrong. They called us intolerant as they swept away piecemeal our identity as a nation through courts whose judges they had strategically placed into position while we naively thought that politics could save us.
          Meanwhile we opened the gates wide as they dragged in the Trojan Horse with the colossal hologram of Barack Obama sitting atop it saying "peace...peace." The barbarians slithered out of the seeming abyss of its belly and began to take apart our Constitution and destroy the American family. They lie as easily as they breath.
         We now sit here and watch as hardly a day goes by without another assault upon sanity, another mockery of law, another battering ram thrust upon our bulwarks....from the inside, another swing of the ax laid to our moorings and another pyre constructed of old books and documents and histories and pews and pulpits, readied to lay upon it our Constitution and be lit by the fires of hell.
We knew more than our parents and they knew more than their parents and they knew more than theirs. The final result of this antithesis of wisdom has produced the 140 character text, the tweet, that tests the limits of our analytical skills.
          O where to go to when we finally see how far we have fallen, when we gag at the stench that permeates our very being, when we sob when we think of the future of our children and clench our fists in anger as we look into a mirror and see nothing....absolutely nothing.
          Well, we're not there yet. We haven't hit bottom, but we will. We aren't gagging because we have been conditioned to savor the fetid stench of communism, and why look into a mirror when one has Facebook!
          Many have penciled in God for late in life, an insurance policy to be purchased upon retirement. How foolish, yet how perfectly inlaid into the urn awaiting our ashes.  Look around and see the house that we have constructed where Jesus Christ is no longer the cornerstone, where His Word is packed away in the basement in a box labelled...'books.' Today is the day to humble ourselves before God, to kneel and weep at the foot of the cross, for there is no guarantee of tomorrow, not for individuals or for nations.

.....The Christian And The NFL

         I spent my share of time on the streets in downtown Pittsburgh celebrating Super Bowl victories, and I would even travel a petty fair distance to see a Steeler game that was blacked out at home. To make a long story short, I became a Christian and later saw that Sunday was the Lord's Day. I put away the NFL many years ago. ...and have never missed it!
         The NFL started playing their games on Saturday but early on moved to Sunday's. They have since taken over the Lord's Day from September into February. Personal opinion here...few of our entertainments have destroyed the discernment of the church in America as has professional football. That day that God commanded us to set aside...we have turned into a worldly passion. The blessings associated with the commandment are long gone....along with discernments that were to have been ours by honoring the Lord's Day.
          Every step away from the NFL that we take is a step in the right direction, for it would free many Christians of which some would surely find the blessing of God's commandment. So I follow these many controversies whirling about concerning the NFL with more than only a patriotic interest.
          Surely, to have brought upon ourselves in America so many judgments, we have all contributed somehow! This is only one area where we erred while in pursuit of our own enjoyments over God's commands. Few are without culpability....and my bust is probably prominently displayed in the Hall of Blame.          

           Our town has a little clock tower in the middle of it that occasionally plays beautiful music of the bells. I think that everyone must love it....as I do....but there's a glitch in it....for in amongst John Philip Sousa and Stephen Foster songs is the Star Spangled Banner. I take you back two weeks. I parked on the main street and was headed to the local bakery when our national anthem started playing on the bells. The town was crowded and I tuned toward the clock tower and stood at attention until the national anthem was over. They didn't realize just what they put into the mix of music.
           Here's another anecdote.....an Ohio radio station conservative talk show host ends his program every day at noon with our national anthem? One day recently I was stirring a pot on the stove and had to reach over and turn the radio off. It was either that or boil over the pot. Have we forgotten just what this music means? Well, that's the understatement of the year....of course we have forgotten...and that is what is behind the current controversy literally shaking the foundations of America.
         I'll give you a third anecdote from a post of a few years ago:

The Star-Spangled Banner

             I've researched this time and again and cannot come up with the particular person's name. It wasn't too long after the terrorism of 9/11, maybe a year, that a famous American rock star returned from touring in Europe. As he travelled around the United States after being out of the country for a while he was aghast at how many American flags were being flown in front of individual homes. I can't remember his exact words but in essence, seeing so many flags flown.....seeing such evidence of  nationalism....of love of country....well, he said that it made him ill! I think that his remark made me ill, for I may not remember the quote verbatim but I have never forgotten his admittance of revulsion at seeing the Stars And Stripes flown in front of so many homes.
           Let me set the scene for you that I experienced tonight. The setting was a church....in a fairly conservative community.....a community where even today many American flags are flown on the front porches of people's homes.....mine being one of them.  It was a benefit where classical music artists, both professional and students of the musical genre, donated their time and extraordinary talents with the proceeds in the form of donations going to a very good cause. Just about all of the people were seated and chatting with neighbors and friends who sat around them. Two very young, pretty and talented girls set the ambiance for such an event by playing their violins very softly. So softly that the music was barely discernible over the conversations and laughter.
         They played one piece after another and included in this was the Star-Spangled Banner. One by one the people in the audience turned to the two young violinists and stood up until all in attendance were standing. The girls must have thought that the main concert was beginning and they stopped playing. The audience laughed at this to ease the violinist's embarrassment and someone must have told the girls to begin playing again. They did, and we softly sang along... the words penned by Francis Scott Key during another period when our nation was under attack. It was an emotional moment for me, a stark change of tempo and attentiveness, so natural, yet so almost out of place today depending on the venue, an audience picking up on the faint notes of our national anthem and immediately standing and singing along. It was a beautiful moment really, and an encouraging one!

         Folks.....we process information differently in America today. Roughly half of us process information in the same general way that Americans have since our colonial days. The other half of us have been influenced by John Dewey's communist inspired 'destroy the individual and anything that is good' education and therefore they process information in a different way. As it stands, neither one of us is going to get through to the other. It is utterly impossible for Communism to succeed in a nation whose people know the Lord. Our crumbling culture is evidence of our crumbling faith...belief...and reverence for God.

Been There....Done That...Got The Tee-Shirt

The following post is from of 2015:

        They knew that if they were patient, gave us a noose and kept us in lattes....that we eventually would hang ourselves. They were right. We have that noose around our neck right now and are jumping up and down shouting and singing Y M C A on the trap door!
        It's known as a Fifth Column but they didn't need an army of them...only a relatively small cadre of dedicated rabble-rousers, a committed fraternity of malcontents in academia, and a varied assortment of carefully placed operatives who were patient in attempting to work themselves up the ladder.. Their expertise came primarily in two areas. They could stir up hate and they could flatter, thus they preyed on the weaknesses of a republic whose citizens found out that they could vote in anything their little hearts desired.
        They knew that a newspaper editor was far more valuable than a congressman. They knew also that an uneducated miscreant could be more effective than a scholar, that unions could be of great use and that a good screenwriter was worth more than a shipload of Valium. They knew Americans better than we knew ourselves.
        It's not that they didn't have opposition, for the American that went through school before the politification of our educational system, or that was homeschooled or was fortunate enough to live within the boundaries of a good school system, was not going to simply believe and obey. The patriot would be a threat to them and their whole effort. The mother who did not buy into the lies of feminism would not relinquish their children to the state, and the father who lived for his children would also fight to protect them. No, they could never convince Americans to give up, they had to make enough of them believe that they were winning when they were losing, and that good was bad and bad was good.

Been There....Done That....Got The T-shirt

         This is my resume. I have almost a half a century of experience as an adult to write these posts. I was part of the 60s generation. I saw JFK in person and shook Jimmy Carter's hand....twice. I've been a Democrat and a Republican. I can compare the Cuban Missile Crisis with Communism today. I was Pentecostal in the beginning. I lived about a third of my adult life without Jesus Christ. I've been in the military. I've been a union member for over 35 years. I've been in college in the early 70s and the late 90s. I've studied world history and American history and church history. I've heard every imaginable form of Christian preaching and have the past to compare it to. I've lived through lean times where we struggled to put food on the table and fat times where I feel guilty after paying so much money at a restaurant. The following post is from June of this year:

          It's really rather amazing....the older one gets the more complete a picture appears of life and this world that we live in......it's more complex but paradoxically more clear at the same time. Now age in itself guarantees nothing as to wisdom for it is just a help that may be utilized or may be wasted. I have many legitimate memories of the 1950s and the accompanying lifestyle of my parents and their friends with their entertainments... all culminating in those '13 days of October 1962.' The 60s were something else altogether and I lived it as part of that generation that spawned idols and tragedies as America deteriorated in the process. I experienced the Vietnam years...from Vietnam...18 months anyway.
          I know what the 70s felt like. I've experienced lean times and fat times. As I grew up I watched my mother struggle to put food on the table and now I buy more food than I need. I backed political candidates from both sides of the political spectrum as both a teenager up until now a senior citizen. Most importantly I once knew not Jesus Christ and I still tremble at that. I once thought that this life was the only thing that mattered and certainly did not want to even meditate upon what would happen when it was over. I now know that there is meaning in life and that meaning is in Jesus Christ......and somehow He painted us into the picture of calling others to Him. There is now not only 'meaning' to life but 'life' to life. I don't think that I can adequately convey the difference in these two periods of my life but combined together they offer an additional perspective.
         There is a downside to experiencing this world over so much time... as one sees decades pass with no lessons learned. I've lived on both ends of a fifty year spectrum and we are far far worse off in just about every imaginable way today!  As every year passes I see more and more how frail and weak man is and would wonder how he lasted six-thousand years if I did not already know that the answer to that is that nuclear weapons have only been around for 70 of those years. Wisdom is rare and truth is obsolete today. I read simple letters of correspondence written centuries ago and marvel at how we have digressed in language and analysis and thought in general. We are taken in by every scam hatched in the nursery of our narcissism and greed. We have a Communist president and could care less about it because we have no idea what Communism is.
         No, man has not progressed even though he constantly grades himself with an "A+." Every evidence points to a cataclysmic end to Western Civilization but this courtroom takes no prosecutorial evidence...only testimony from the defense on how they are the true victim. There is no judge, no jury and no oaths to take.
        I take you back to the rise of the Persian Empire and the book of Ezra. God had moved mightily upon the heart of Cyrus The Great who decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. The 70 year Babylonian Captivity was over. Tens of thousands of Jews returned and began the work only to be delayed because of opposition from the peoples who had since taken up residence in the area. Eventually their permission to build was verified. Ezra then returned and found that the people had fallen away from God as if nothing was ever learned! Great remorse was offered to God and reforms were instituted. Nehemiah would return as governor of Judea shortly after and once again great remorse had to be made and reforms instituted. Finally the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt! I can see a similar progression in our own nation....America. It is as if we attempt, albeit through much opposition, to rebuild what we once had but just as the Jews had done, we utterly refuse to separate from the surrounding pagan culture. We are indistinguishable in our conversations, our entertainments and our pastimes. Yet we in the church also grade ourselves with an A+! We would be more than satisfied and consider it a great victory to have a Republican Party led government where little change would be required of us.

         Should God send an Ezra or a Nehemiah to America there would indeed be rending of garments, but He has instead sent Jonahs and now Nahums who are ignored.   

-----There Is An Unction----

Oh pastors....there is an unction
         .....if you do not know what it is I cannot explain it to you
         .....but if you have seen it in others then you must go to the Lord and plead for it
         .....for you are a shepherd
         The wolves have returned to the valleys
         .....they prey on the sheep
         .....they have slaughtered whole flocks
         .....the sheep do not fear them
         The streams are poisonous....many of them
         .....drinking from them brings illness
         .....bathing in them causes distempers
         .....even smelling the water sickens them
         You surely have read of those shepherds who tended the flocks before you
         .....maybe that is why you desired to be a shepherd
         .....bring back to mind the fear you had of such a great responsibility.....but
         .....remember His calming hand upon you....when He said He will strengthen you for the task
         Walk the valleys by yourself
         .....listen for the echo that still reverberates in the clefts
         .....look up to the heavens
         .....picture the host of heaven that once sang out in praise to those glories
         Fall on your knees.....call down that unction.....to proclaim His majesties
         .....cry out for the sheep.....for they are God's.....and you are their shepherd
         .....plead for words....for magnificent words....for words with power
         .....He will hear you....not for your sake....and not for the sake of the sheep
         He will give you that unction....that His name will be glorified among the people
         .....but you must seek it.....you must pant for it
         .....the wolves will then know you
         .....and the sheep will follow your lead....for they will recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd
         

Hillary Has Twelve Toes?

         We are two weeks away from the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation from which the gospel literally exploded upon the world and also because of which the pilgrims and colonists eventually were the beginnings of the United States of America.
         Ever heard of the October Revolution? Well over 100 million people.....maybe 140 million people.....died because of that communist curse on the world......and that number is probably going to get a whole lot bigger! So let's celebrate 100 years shall we?
         Next May will be 70 years for the state of Israel....70 years....not 63....not 77....70 years.....a good round Bible number. A few months back a lot of people celebrated the 50th anniversary of Israel taking control of the old city Jerusalem.
         Two-thousand years ago Jesus was living in Nazareth......and six thousand years ago......Thursday......just kidding about Thursday but 6,000 years ago Adam was in the Garden.
        Thirty-eight years ago this months the Pittsburgh Pirates last won the World Series......sixty years ago today Wake Up Little Susie was at the top of the Billboard charts.....and today is the thirty thousand one-hundred and seventy-second day since Elvis was born.
         As you can see.....not all anniversaries are equally important....or interesting. So let's scratch the Pirates.....Wake Up Little Susie......and Elvis's birthday. The rest are a pretty impressive group.
        And today....it's on Drudge right now.....the sun turned to blood red in parts of the UK....that's United Kingdom....not University of Kentucky. Surely that means something! Did you know that Donald Trump was born on one of the five blood moons of the 20th century! Did you know that Hillary Clinton has six toes on each foot? I'm just kidding about that. No one has ever seen Hillary's toes so she might have six of them on each foot. No one's ever even seen her legs....or her arms.....only a face and hands.....now that's really interesting!

Note: you better read fast because this post is going somewhere else...and if criticized...I'm blaming the Republican Congress....Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.... for not better regulating the blogosphere....along with not passing Obamacare repeal....not reforming the tax code.....not building a wall.....and for Ivanka and Jared!

....."But The Real Cross Of Christ Is Not There"

The following post is almost four years old. I came across it tonight and bring it back to demonstrate that the problems that we face are not new.....that they are growing in intensity..... but that the answer remains the same....

         In roughly twelve hours from now pastors will take to pulpits across this land. What will be preached from those pulpits will entertain, inform, motivate and comfort. Folks, I don't mean this as a compliment. From other pulpits doctrine will be preached in amongst extravagant worship... doctrine that is man-made and worthless, and yet in others there will be a condemnation with no love and no realization that that condemnation was first ours before God reached in and plucked us out of the fires. In other pulpits, and I don't know what percentage this is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed preached. The cross is preached. The love of God, demonstrated to us from Calvary, is evident along with judgment mixed with mercy for those who believe.
         My hope and my prayer for America, has been what I wrote first in a post from July of 2011:  My prayer has consistently been for God to allow 40 more years...one more period where we would be a source of stability in the world, one more generation added to a storied past of spreading freedom and liberty, one more testimony to the rest of the world that God upholds nations who trust in Him. I hope only for 40 years because of human nature. A couple decades of trusting solely in Jesus Christ and we surely would begin to fall away again. Pessimism, you say? I look at it as the opposite for it is only God's mercy and grace that permitted the world to reach this stage and God is as real today as when He, time and again, humbled and blessed repentant Israel.... as when He sent His church throughout the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.... as when the Reformation of the 16th century exploded in the hearts and minds of peoples and nations.... as when he guided the Mayflower to Plymouth Rock and as when He crushed the occult Nazi Third Reich. We will turn to Him as a nation...only should He will it. And if we do not then that is also His will, also glorious as it would be His plan and maybe...maybe...a precursor to His Second Coming in power and glory, the fulfillment of all of history and the final triumph of good over evil. As bleak as the future of our nation is it is within one word of restoration and that word would be spoken within the Godhead. If you are not overly concerned right now, any words that I write would surely seem ridiculous. If you are, then we are two of hopefully many who are petitioning God for one more manifestation of His power in mercy and blessings upon our nation...and therefore the world.
          Personally, I'm convinced that should God have mercy upon us as a nation it will begin in our pulpits. If you should happen to agree with me then please pray for your pastor. Pray that he would be overcome with dread at what we as a nation have become and then filled with the power that only God's Holy Spirit can give, the power to preach the redemptive graces won on that cross of Calvary. Graces that can protect us from the deception that engulfs us as a raging forest fire destroying everything in it's path.
          The Chapel Library is a ministry that "Send (s) Christ centered materials from prior centuries worldwide." I would like to quote the 19th century Anglican preacher from London, J. C. Ryle, from some materials I just received: "You may know a good deal about Jesus Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where he was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophesies, and His ordinances. you may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ's cross by experience, unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins, unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on that work that Christ did upon the cross-unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing.... you must know His cross and His blood, or else you will die in your sins."
           The Reverend Ryle, who preached at the same time and in the same city as Charles Spurgeon, continued, "As long as you live, beware of a religion in which there is not much of the cross (emphasis his).....there is carved oak and sculptured stone; there is stained glass and brilliant painting; there are solemn services and a constant round of ordinances; but the real cross of Christ is not there. Jesus Christ is not proclaimed in the pulpit. The Lamb of God is not lifted up, and salvation by faith in Him is not freely proclaimed. And hence, all is wrong......Do not be ashamed of the 'old paths' in which men walked who were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Let not the vague talk of modern teachers, who speak great swelling words about 'catholicity' and 'the church' disturb your peace and make you loose your hands from the cross."
           Our pulpits, many of them, are filled with men who love Christ but for one reason or another failed in their calling to preach Him. Pray for them for in doing so you will be praying for us all in a nation that, evidenced by news items every day, is hastening to oblivion.

The Paradigm.....And Other Assorted Signs

I bring back this second post on Jonathan Cahn's The Paradigm because it was on the Barnes & Noble best selling nonfiction shelf this past week. The following post is three and a half years old and our situation in America then was tame compared to what it is today:

Blood Moons.......April 15, 2014

          There will be a total lunar eclipse tonight. Lunar eclipses are not rare but when four consecutive total eclipses occur they are called a tetrad. Tetrads are relatively rare. The earth has gone hundreds of years without experiencing one, yet five occurred in the 20th century. (Donald Trump was born on one of them) Tonight's will be the first total eclipse of a tetrad. The others will occur this October, next April and next October. What makes it even more interesting is that all four occur on Jewish feast days. North America gets the front row seat in tonight's Blood Moon as NASA has named them.
          There is a lot of speculation from biblical prophesy teachers on the meaning of this tetrad. My concern with this speculation is that blood moons should not be necessary to warn us of our condition...and that lunar eclipses are not the only events that can turn the 'moon to blood.' (Rev. 6:12)
          Billy Graham is credited with the quote but it was his wife Ruth who uttered it. The quote was "If God doesn't punish America, he'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah." She must have said this in the mid-1980s. I don't know about the 'apologizing' part of her statement but her intent was correct. America's fall is near complete. Our rebellion against God is so extensive that we can no longer visualize what it was like to be a God-fearing nation.
          We have sacrificed tens of million of babies through legalized abortion. Those who are born into this world in this nation are deliberately herded away from God unless the parents forcefully intervene in the rustling of their children. This alone should be a call for America's demise. Not satisfied with the results of this attack, these powers that be have moved on to attacking marriage....the uniting of one man and one woman. If this tactic is successful then all children will be forced to accept and live with, in just about every aspect of their lives, this frontal assault on God himself. (same-sex marriage was legalized on June 26, 2015)
          God has consequently removed His hand of protection from us. He has given us leaders who are either undiscerning, totally incompetent or corrupt on one end or viscerally hateful of America's heritage on the other. Our fascination with....ourselves....has become a tragedy abetted by technology. Our idol craving culture has long since presumed too much of God's longsuffering towards us. We are drunken with our entertainments, staggering from one venue to the next. We no longer can analyze the meaning of statistics fed to us by universities that have become nothing but 'puppy mills' to a culture that needs only someone to buy its clothes and trinkets.
          Yes, there is a remnant of God-fearing Americans but even much of that remnant has lost discernment in this anti-intellectual abyss we have fallen into. Jesus was asked "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?" His response can be found in the 24th Chapter of Matthew and includes this "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark....."
          The ark was safety to Noah. He was in the world but he was safe. Our safety is in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, of who he is and what he has accomplished for us, and of whose we are....."but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." (Hebrews 3:6) This verse is followed by "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...."

The Paradigm

           This morning I picked up Jonathan Cahn's newest book The Paradigm. I'm not going to write a point by point review for that's not necessary. It's very similar to his books The Harbinger and The Shemitah that many Christians have read. I wrote posts on both of those books in 2012 and 2014 respectively. This short summary is going to sound very strange. I don't present it like this in any way to ridicule....for the book itself on the back cover tells the reader..."Prepare to be stunned."
           The author sees a possible blueprint from the Old Testament where Bill Clinton follows the course of King Ahab....Hillary Clinton-Queen Jezebel....and Donald Trump-Jehu....who destroyed Baal worship after the demise of Ahab and Jezebel. The author emphasizes a few times in the book that this is not a political diatribe but rather a plotting of current chronological events and distinctive personalities on an Old Testament grid. Barack Obama is in there as is Vice President Pence as is even bin Laden. Phrases like 'could this...' and 'is it possible that...' and 'does the paradigm reveal...' are used to make it clear that the author is not declaring prophetic fulfillments but rather offering possibilities as to Old Testament figures pointing to present day leaders and events. Rabbi Cahn may not be declaring prophetic fulfillment...but does the reader interpret his book as prophetic fulfillment?
            All of Jonathan Cahn's books have been compelling in the information that they give....but all of the 'astounding' facts together....in all of his books combined....do not measure up to any single solitary verse in the very Word of God! Jonathan Cahn would readily admit to this. We know that we have become a pagan nation. We know who Bill Clinton was....and we certainly know who Hillary Clinton is.  And what about Donald Trump? He's the hero in Jonathan Cahn's book....sort of. He stops the worship of the Baals? Why even pay attention to politics....just look up Jehu and see what happens to him. Well he ruled for 28 years and his son became king. In fact why even read biblical prophesy at all....just read the latest books? Jonathan Cahn addressed some of the problems that might arise in a book such as this but his attempts to assuage the concerns were not entirely convincing.
             Many Christians through the years have likened Hillary Clinton to Queen Jezebel. Only a few posts ago I likened our election of Donald Trump to the Israelites demanding a king...King Saul...instead of depending on Yahweh. Cahn's research on Israel's rebellious culture is helpful in that we can see ourselves following the exact same path. This alone should serve as a warning...and indeed it does....but Billy Graham and many others have warned us of this for decades!
         If we are perceptive enough we can see the potential conflict in a book like this, and how easily we can let down our guard if we are not careful. Here is the problem..."For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." God's Holy Spirit is He who has told us that we are following in the steps of Israel in our idolatries. The Paradigm certainly describes that idolatry...but it goes further. It takes us into a world of politics....and it unintentionally leads us away from..."...the two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow...."
         Read the book if you are interested, for it does lay out in very simple terms how we are every bit the worshipers of idols as were the Phoenicians....who were Hillary's people.....I mean Jezebel's people......but this is not an "ancient blueprint that holds the mystery of our times." It's more of an ancient newspaper clipping that eerily resembles today's USA Today. I don't deny that the reader might not be "stunned" as the jacket cover expresses it....but "stunned" is not necessarily blessed.....whereas we know...that we know...that "Blessed is the man who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (Revelation 1:3)

      

.....Mirror Mirror On The Wall

The following post is from May of this year:    

        I've always been a fan of Robert Redford and his films. I tried acting in college...well sort of....I took an acting class at Pitt. I had a scene to work on....not a part....a scene. I was Paul Bratter from Barefoot In The Park. I stood on a stool and talked to the a hole in the skylight. I coulda been a contender but the second half of the class was improvisation. I utterly failed as a snake and gave up acting. Well anyway Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are together in a movie once again. They play two aging people who find each other and get intimate. That's all I know about it. I doubt very much that I'll see it at the theater.
        I bring this topic up because Robert Redford seemingly has had it all in his life. His good looks dominated the silver screen in the 70s. He's well respected in the profession and I'm sure he's rich. I used to dream about being a movie star as a teen. I had it all.....a great imagination.....terrific daydreaming skills....and a magic mirror that showed me what wasn't there.....but I wouldn't trade one day of my life for one day of Mr. Redfords. I wouldn't take the chance that God would stick me there where I would therefore never see the majestic glory and beauty of Jesus Christ and fall before Him in humble praise and adoration. I got food on the table and money in the bank in case the truck's transmission explodes....a wonderful wife and family.....and 67 years of memories.....the bad ones washed in the fountain of grace so as to instruct but not terrify.....and the good ones to recall again and again and again as thank offerings to a merciful and loving Savior who never demanded a screen test for He would direct any and all who came to Him!
         As I type, Frank Sinatra's voice is softly heard in the background on Sirius/XM. The song is My Way. Some of those lyrics are these..."I've lived a life that's full...I've traveled each and every highway...but more, much more than this....I did it my way." Well I did it my way for a long time....those are the bad memories. Thank you Lord that I failed in so many of my goals....for the record will show that truly we are to...."Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many."

....Meteorologists....

         Some readers are surely tired of this story. I've been to college twice in my life. The first time was in the early to mid-70s on the G. I. Bill, and the second time was at fifty years of age. In that second matriculation I was part of a cohort that went through the curriculum together for eighteen months. Most had just finished their baccalaureate degrees....some were in their thirties....two or three of us were fifty years old or older.
         The classes were very informal where class participation at times turned into conversation. It was on one of these evenings that I stood up for emphasis and proffered a very serious opinion. I cannot for the life of me remember the topic of the conversation. It would have had something to do with education for that was curriculum. Being older, I felt somewhat at ease with expressing opinions based on experience. I told these my cohort members and friends that a division was coming to America.....not just strong political differences.....but a genuine and dangerous separation of peoples. I could feel it in my bones. I don't think that my warning impressed anyone but that is exactly what has happened to us in America.
        I have that feeling in my bones again.....only this time it is a winnowing that is ahead. I didn't come up with this on my own just like I didn't come up with my feeling of division eighteen years ago on my own.....and I'm sure that many if not multitudes of Christian feel the same thing....for Scripture points very clearly to this.
        "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry".....that's a modern adaptation from Scottish poet Robert Burns. We.....Christians....think that we are ready. After all, we read all of Jonathan Cahn's books....all the Left Behind books.....and we've been through at least one Bible study on Revelation every four or five years.....but 'there is a fly in the ointment' in this thinking. Things do not often go as planned. Sometimes....if not often....great surprises lie ahead....often bringing chaos.
        We will not be in the majority if the Lord's Return is imminent....once again I'm writing to Christians....in fact we'll be in a very small minority. The arguments will be too great for many.....the compromises already too well-established.....the circumstances too difficult.....and the other road too easy. It's hard to see right now how this can happen but things change. Surely we all have experienced circumstances in life where totally unexpected additions and changes to a situation threw everything into chaos.
        Compromise can be good...it can be a virtue in some circumstances....but with the gospel it's an ounce of cyanide in a glass of red port. We trust that Jesus will keep us in whatever is to come.....that no temptation will arise too great for us.....and this is a wonderful surety of the gospel. The problem is that literally anyone can blithely say this....and we have assigned to it as innocuous a meaning as the ubiquitous 'God bless America' that means nothing.
        We have many non-essential doctrinal divisions within the body of Christ that will melt as chocolate covered strawberries on a long hot August weekend at Shakers Woods craft festival or any other late summer afternoon pilgrimage. We will then be together out of necessity....but others....many if not most.....will not be a part of us....and therein is the winnowing....and therein also is the extreme depredation ahead.
         Prepare for that winnowing folks....of which there are clues all around as sure as warm ocean waters, a falling barometer, strong circular winds and high white cirrus clouds indicate that a hurricane may form. There are clues all around if we could only properly interpret them. Jesus said to the church at Sardis....in that book of Revelation....written to every age....."Strengthen what is left." He said...."Hold on to what you have" to Thyatira....."do the works you did at first" to Ephesus....and to the Laodiceans...."I advise you buy from Me gold refined in the fire,"
         Jesus gave us this also...."When it is evening you say, 'The weather will be fair, for the sky is red;' And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."

       

The Grotesque Shadow Of Marx And Lenin

       

          If the average American all of a sudden became aware of the horrors of Communism....if they knew of the chameleon nature and dialectic evolution of this human disease.....if they saw for the first time.....as if exposed to some kind of ultra-violet light.....the fingerprints all over our education system.....and the weapons designed to look as unassuming and innocuous as wall hangings found in a home or a school....or editorials in a newspaper....or jokes on a television comedy or tears in a Hollywood blockbuster......if they saw all of this they would cry out to God in remorse for allowing this to happen to our country.....but as of now we do not know.
          If we knew....we would not as readily rant and rave against some late night television show host as we would at our universities that bestowed diplomas on these....who Lenin would call.....'useful idiots'.....we would not call into a conservative radio show about kneeling for the national anthem but point to the din of The Internationale blaring off in the distance .....we would then take a knee ourselves before our Creator for failing to be vigilant. We would go to the source and shout Communism's crimes from the rooftops.....but we do not know of the source.
         I can write these things confidently because if we do someday get that history lesson then our political landscape will change. I dare say that even liberals will cry out "what have I done?" The dupes will still shout out their insane illogic but an awakened public will have none of it. Newspapers will be forced to report events as they actually happened. The storm surge of socialized educational fads would dry up as an arroyo....never again to see red rain. Sponsors will drop late night comedy faster than buckeye husks fall in an October wind storm.
          Such have been the effects of the grotesque shadow of Marx and Lenin cast over our land.....and the rotting stench of a hundred million corpses....and the asphyxiating atmosphere of Progressive education....and the dissonance of a Marxist using the words compassion....or freedom....or justice.

Note: So where does the threat of terrorism come into this equation? The fundamental difference between the liberal, more specifically the progressive, and the conservative...as it pertains to national defense...is in what degree our heritage is valued on the one side....and besmirched on the other. When Communism succeeds....we do not value our heritage (the NFL).....lack the will to defend it (the media)....and actually pave the way for our enemies to enter this country (higher education). The threat of terrorism has to be met both on the battlefield and in the classroom....which is the battlefield of the mind....Communism 101....but here the professors themselves.....even on conservative talk radio.....are truant.     

"....That Their Ridicule Be Silenced"

         There are well over a thousand posts here that began on November 27th, 2008. Being that the subject matter on just about all of them essentially relate in one way or another to either the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Constitution of the United States of America....the message is as applicable today as it was then. This is why I bring so many older posts back so often.
         If this post from January of 2016 resonates with your own solemn and profound sadness at what has happened to our nation then I am thankful that we can pray together for mercies undeserved and take heart at even the very thought of the return of Jesus Christ in power and glory; but if you are not compelled to pass this along to another then I have failed in what I intended to do....which is to encourage the reader to plead with others to consider the judgments upon us that are increasing with a frequency that can only point to the nearness of the return of the Lord of Glory....and to judgments upon the nations....and to the Son of Man either welcoming each soul with...."Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world".....or...."Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels."

"That Their Ridicule Be Silenced"

        When a nation such as the United States of America collapses, a once God-fearing nation that owed its very existence to the benevolence of God, the collective mind of its people not only loses all vitality but it increasingly loses the ability to function at all. We can see this in the present primary season for the election of a president. As God is my witness I have to fight back tears in seeing what is going on. The Republic is a shambles...its people unable to mentally compose itself. If there were no other threats to this nation, this campaign alone should be enough to strike fear into our hearts.
        This land of the First Amendment no longer has a news media to inform its citizens. It was once believed that at least Fox News gave a credible witness to what was going on in the world but it has collapsed also. the National Review is in chaos as any of the left-wing magazines. Radio waves are all that gives us news of the assaults upon our nation from within and without. Our youth have shown no signs whatsoever of any intellectual maturity, therefore no hope that they might buttress attempts to fortify anything of substance that remains.
        We are as a people a drunken mob willing to run a battering ram through any door that holds us back from our personal desires. We bear no resemblance to to either pilgrims or colonists, Washington or Jefferson, Lincoln or the greatest generation. We have besmirched the memory of sacrifices from every battlefield from Concord to Fallujah. Our entertainments are an orgy, our blindness the hangover and our politics the selling of aborted baby parts stemming from our wild weekends.
        May God humble us by driving the Christian ministers of this nation to their knees, so much so that they take to the pulpits pleading mercies upon a wayward people nearing self-destruction; and may He do so for His name sake alone, for His glory alone, according to His great faithfulness alone.
        May His Spirit blow away the fog that has clouded our vision and give us once again a glimpse of His glory. May we see ourselves clearly as rebellious man....fall on our faces in shame....and then be touched by His compassion to then stand again... only in His strength. Surely the world looks at us as we are and smirks at the faith in God that we once had. May God have mercy on us for this reason if no other, that their ridicule be silenced... and that they may seek mercy also.
         

My Ears Are Ringing

         Does the typical Christian pastor come to a point in his life when everything important is essentially learned so that he can therefore pastor and preach for the rest of his ministry with the skills that he accumulated up to that point? You may want to think about this for it's not as easy a question as it might at first seem.
         Just about every pastor is going to answer this question in the negative but that doesn't mean that it would be an honest answer for no one would readily admit to coming to such a point in ministry. So they will say that they must continue to learn and study. The question then must be fine-tuned a little bit. What exactly is continuing to learn and study?
         I would think that most professions offer some sort of continuing education to keep skills up to date. In most cases this might be taking a couple of classes or seminars every few years.  Is this what our pastors consider continuing to learn and to study. I obviously think that it is or I wouldn't be posting on this topic nor would so many of my past posts have mentioned a Christian clergy that has fallen asleep in a tempest of biblical (no pun intended) proportions.
         I know this for certain....we....simple everyday Christians....are afforded no such luxury.....we aren't granted tenure so that we can teach one class a semester and but get every benefit of full professorship until we retire.
         So if we are in a position where we must learn and grow or wither and die as the years pass....why would our shepherds be any different? One would think that they would study even more than we do because-one....they will be held responsible for how they shepherded the sheep.....and-two, the rewards of seeing something new in the Bible every year if not every month for an entire lifetime even if that lifetime exceeds 100 years are of almost indescribable joy......surely the would not only know this but pass it on to their flock.
         Let me use as an example here Reformed or Calvinist theology in Presbyterian or Baptist denominations. There are many examples I'm sure but I only picked one.....Presbyterian pastor and teacher R. C. Sproul. I could use Baptist pastor and teacher John MacArthur or any one of a number of others. R. C. Sproul has been teaching consistently for I don't know how many decades....maybe four. This is one of those whom God has gifted mightily! Do Presbyterian pastors devour anything and everything thing that he puts out? We do.....are pastors any less needy? Do pastors wear the pages out on Pilgrim's Progress or Spurgeon's sermons? Spurgeon himself read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress 100 times in his relatively short life! I've read it a dozen or more times. Are pastors exempt from needing the works of these men?
         As I was raised in Roman Catholicism I had to be aware of the sacrament of Extreme Unction....we all did. I knew what the sacrament was but had no idea how the word 'unction' tied into it. I understand the meaning of the word today...particularly Merriam-Webster's third definition of it...."religious or spiritual fervor..." Where has the unction gone from our pulpits? Where are the tears? Where is the pleading? Where are the sermons such as Jonathan Edwards Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God? Where has Whitefield gone? Where has Spurgeon gone? Billy Graham is 98 years old and his unction, as he expressed it in his latest and what will be his last book Where I Am....Billy Graham's unction has somehow increased over the years!
          I know that these faithful pastors are far better men than I.... who love our Lord so much that they sacrificed lucrative professions to minister in the gospel. They are who God called....and it is they who God is most definitely calling once again.....to rejuvenate that love into an unquenchable unction! Pray for your pastors. How often have I written that? For....once again.....we Christians need prayer......I'm sure they are praying for me....those who read this.....for my ears are ringing.....so why would they not need even more prayer for strength and wisdom?