"Tell Others That I've Gone To Be With My Lord And Savior Jesus Christ"

            Billy Graham went to be with his Lord and his Savior this morning. An integral part of America died with him.....maybe the last portion of this once great nation. There was a time friends....when one could not go very long upon changing the dial on the television without coming across a Billy Graham crusade. There were no school shootings as we have today.....and there was some sanity left in society.
            My prayer.....right now as I type.....is that in the days ahead God will somehow press a red hot poker into our collective consciousness as accolades and remembrances are broadcast in the news....that it will not only be the typical prepared testament for a man of Billy Graham's stature.....but that we will as a nation and as a people....fall back....as the Gospel of Jesus Christ is mentioned.....that many.....multitudes even....will be blinded by the light as was Paul on the road to Damascus.....that we will feel the void....that we will be ashamed.....that our ears will tingle as the wax dissolves and we hear for maybe the first time.....that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all creation.....and that we have not reverenced Him as Lord.....and that His warnings to us.....many of which were given by Billy Graham over many decades.....will finally resonate.....and that the Light will penetrate this darkened land.....if only to call us to repentance before Jesus Christ returns in power and glory with all His angels.
            Often at times like this people go out and buy books by and about such a person who has passed. I cannot recommend too highly Billy Graham's last book.....which he knew was to be his last book.....and which I believe was his finest book.....Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity, and Our Life Beyond.....and in which he wrote...."So when my earthly life has ended and you wonder where I've gone, this will be the answer: I will be with Jesus-that's where I Am."

NOTE: SiriusXm is dedicating its channel 145 to the Reverend Billy Graham from today until March 4th!
         

CPAC

The following is from this past Monday:

          CPAC begins in two days. Last night the President of the United States sat down and watched 60 Minutes....and then tweeted about how he would beat Oprah Winfrey in 2020 if she runs....this with North Korea on the edge.....and the Middle East one day closer to a war as they have never seen before....and society collapsing under the weight of its own intractable insouciance as to what is at the core of our troubles....our dismissal of even Ben Franklin's exhortation in his address to the Constitutional Convention that "God governs in the affairs of men." Rush Limbaugh will probably chuckle about how the President is trolling the Left....but even in the event that President Trump is trolling....and we chuckle over this....that in itself would be evidence that....not only is something rotten in the 'deep state'.....but something is also rotten in the state of conservatism today.

          Breitbart is right now posting an article of an interview with a Harvard professor, and the following is a quote from that professor concerning his book....

         "It's not against religion. It is certainly against the belief that God interferes with the laws of the universe and that by praying to him we can make the world better. I think that is a dangerous belief because it is not true. If we want to make the world better, we have to figure out how to do it ourselves. If we want to cure disease, we have to come up with antibiotics and vaccines and not prayer. If we want to stave off global warming, we can't assume God won't let bad things happen......if you're counting on God to make the world a better place you are probably going to make the world a worse place because he is not listening and we saw that yesterday (in Florida)."

          I'm not going to answer this worn-out diatribe against God. Every Christian reading this knows where this man made his mistakes. What I propose to do is warn again of the anti-Christian worldview that is increasingly appearing many places in America and the world today. Folks, this worldview will temper its actions only until it is fully in power....history show this....then there will be no more need for tolerance. We should know what is ahead!

         Let me segue a little bit here and tell you about Michael Horton. It's been well over twenty years now since I happened to come across a radio program on our local Christian radio station. It was and is still called the White Horse Inn. Supposedly around 500 years ago men gathered in an inn in Cambridge, England and talked....(I spent a lot of time in college bars and could we ever talk)....and they debated the issues of the day coming out of the Reformation. So Horton and a few others started a Christian call-in radio show by that same name. The original White Horse Inn is long gone but while in England I did look for and find a plaque at Cambridge designating where the inn once stood. Dr. Michael Horton has written many books....and I recommend every one of them....for he is the closest thing to an heir to R. C. Sproul that we have.

         Anyway, I was listening to an older sermon of his (2015) titled 'Commander In Chief.' As you certainly recall from Scripture....(Joshua 5)....Joshua was approached by an angel who had his sword drawn. He then asked...."Are you for us or for our adversaries?" The answer should be heeded by all of us today....."No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." Joshua then "fell on his face to the earth." and asked what was required of him. I'm listening to Michael Horton's words and what is going through my mind is the question often implied today....."are you for us (Republicans) or for our adversaries (the Democrats)? The answer would be the same today should an angel with his sword drawn stand before us. That question....inverted many times over the years....and as Horton reminds us as far back as with Abraham Lincoln....is not whether God is for or against America....but whether we are for or against God....and the answer to that today is....we are against God!    

           Joshua was then informed that his adversaries would be given over to God's people coming out of the wilderness. The problem concerning us is that no angel has informed us of this.....on the contrary......many Old Testament prophets speak to us today in that we are to be given into the hands of our enemies! Yet perhaps.....if we turn back to God....He will have mercy upon us. 

           The annual CPAC ....(the Conservative Political Action Conference)....is coming up this week. President Trump and Vice President Pence will be speaking there as well as quite a number of his cabinet heads. Many conservatives assume that God....should He truly exist.... is naturally with them....so there are no funds or time spent necessary here. We couldn't be further from the truth.  I suspect that there may be a few speakers at this gathering who actually tell the conference attendees that we as a nation have forgotten and even forsaken God.....but they will most likely be drowned out by another speaker and shouts of USA...USA...USA.         

       

whitehorseinn.org

you might also Google....Michael Horton sermons at SermonAudio.com

God Has Given Us What We Wanted

         It was tough to watch for a number of reasons. The State of the Union speech has long since become an evening of ignominy. It is the Facebook of statesmanship. All principles have been jettisoned in favor of crass one-upmanship.....and I'm referring to many conservatives.....for they are selling their birthright and will find that there is a devil to pay for their giving up the high ground for one night of political ecstasy. Chants of USA...USA...USA have replaced 'God have mercy on us'.....while the ubiquitous 'God Bless America' has become a stench in the nostrils of God.
         I prayed quite a few times for the specially invited guests....some of whom were heroes....some of whom lost loved ones but at the same time was saddened by the exploiting of them in an expertly crafted sales pitch to make American business great again.
        The State of the Union speech itself was direct when it had to be.....and evasive when it had to be.....direct in some promises kept......evasive in most promises not kept. It was effective.....but not edifying.....revealing only in what it obscured. If there was any humility in the speech I did not catch it.
         Many Christians say that God has given us President Donald Trump. There are a number of Christian books written with proof texts from the Bible, evidence from personal prophesies....and the obvious.....he's winning! God has answered our prayers and will restore America to greatness.....we mistakenly believe!
         God causes all nations and leaders to either rise or to fall......so God did indeed give us President Trump. A few years back I quoted New York Congressman Charlie Rangel in this.....the Congressman said...."God gave us Barack Obama." and I added..."He (Congressman Rangel) probably never spoke truer words. God gave us Barack Obama....but as punishment."
         I think it might be needed here to expand on God causing nations to rise and to fall, for at times God has to perform miracles to either cause a nation or a particular leader to either rise or to fall.....and I do think that He is doing just that with Donald Trump....but not for the reasons those Christian authors would agree to. Here is my reasoning...
        President Trump has broken key promises.....outright went the other way on them.....former enemies are all of a sudden friends.....yet his supporters are blind to that. The majority of his advisers are those to whom we waged political war with for a decade......yet we just brush that off. He will go part way on a promise.....and then tell us that he fulfilled that promise......and we just accept his claim. Only God could have protected him in these deceptions....and for His reasons....not ours.
        Donald Trump can be noticeably mean-spirited and vengeful.....characteristics that the Christian should notice immediately......but we don't notice them at all. His philosophy of positive thinking is so pronounced.....so extraordinarily evident as boasting and arrogance that it should leave a bad taste in the mouth of the Christian......but we actually glory in that substitution for humility.
        President Trump impetuously says incredibly absurd things or makes just plain incorrect statements.....and like magic.....he somehow benefits from them. Otherwise intelligent men and women.....men and women who 18 months ago were vigilant....have overnight become analytically inept. Christian ministers who probably have warned often about charismatic preachers......fell for one themselves. The love of money......once condemned.....now is used as proof that God has blessed us through Donald Trump.
       God answered our prayer.....but it was the wrong prayer.....for what we see as success.....is an illusion. God has given us what we wanted....a prince....but in the process He is winnowing His church.....and ultimately better preparing us for even a greater deception that is ahead. My gut reaction is that, whether it was conservatism itself or discernment in general, something died last night in that speech and the positive reaction to it from those who should know better and discern a shady sales blitz when they see one....and this as a Super Blue Moon....Blood Moon....moved into position.

Miranda Rights....Redux

         Donald Trump is a man of little to no wisdom and few if any principles. Ironically the Russian probe soft coup that has dominated the news in the past year may actually have benefited President Trump because it forced conservative talk radio to spend about 90% of its time defending him....leaving him free to surround himself in the Oval Office with globalists and the Republican establishment. His tweetings are the ramblings of a troubled individual but radio talk show hosts felt it absolutely necessary to defend him. There's an article on The Hill right now titled "Former WH adviser: Trump will want to rejoin Paris climate pact by 2020."We give Donald Trump a free pass on many of the very things we were very critical of Barack Obama....and either don't realize this or just don't care.  The following post is from April of 2017....almost a year ago.   

Miranda Rights

         Miranda and Cosmo marry in the city's biggest high society event of the year. Miranda had an inheritance while Cosmo had the Hollywood looks. Family members of both took bets on how long the marriage would last because everyone knew who Cosmo was, but there was no dissuading Miranda, for she thought the world of him. They honeymooned in outer space courtesy of Elon Musk.

         Back in their new home, the matrimonial bliss lasted only a few months before the arguments started. "They were right".....thought Miranda...."everyone....in their warnings that Cosmo was a bore, an egotist and not a nice man." Cosmo got what he wanted out of the deal and Miranda was humiliated, but the marriage essentially ended the night that while in the midst of an argument....Cosmo put a finger in Miranda's face and yelled...."I only married you for your money....I never loved you....Go ahead and divorce me....I'll fight you for every penny.'

         Folks this is a microcosm of what happened in the last election. We had what Donald Trump wanted while Trump courted us as a king would his future queen to get an heir. The defining moment when the marriage essentially ended between Donald Trump and true conservatives came in his tweet threatening the Freedom Caucus after the Obamacare Establishment scam went down.

         Friends....you could put him back on his pedestal if you want....(and we did)....but you will someday wind up as a battered spouse.....(and we now are). The only reason that Donald Trump is not this day building another tower somewhere or working on a television show is because of conservatives like those on the Freedom Caucus.....and us....and probably you. This has been a long battle.....and yet newcomer to the family Donald Trump tweeted....during the honeymoon....

"The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, and fast....We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!"

         Let me interpret this inane tweet for you...."I only married you for your money....I never loved you....go ahead and divorce me....I'll fight you for every penny."

         Now if you want, you can accept Cosmo's roses and candy and a card with a poem inside that reads.... "My sweet Babboo....we must make up, fast....or Obamacare will stay and tax reform will....will...I can't think of anything that rhymes with fast, but it will be really really bad."

        But the next card you receive will probably read..... "Pursuant to the provisions in the Republican Party platform URSCRWD 2017, you are hereby given an eviction notice to vacate the Oval Office, the NSC, all those congressional chair thingamajigs and the White House Press Briefing Room."

Note on your Miranda Rights....You have the right to remain silent....anything you say can and will be used against you...for these people do not fight fair. You have a right to an attorney....a mediator....you cannot pay him.....unlike Cosmo he will never leave you or forsake you.....His name is Jesus Christ!

        

And The Beat Goes On

            The book spine on every one was a different color. I remember that I would run to the spot by the check-out that had the display with 'The Golden Book Encyclopedias' to see if the newest volume came in....and I would pour over every page when we returned home with the groceries. It was 1959 and I was nine years old. The books were so popular that most everyone near my age remembers these bi-weekly children's encyclopedias. Over the years I would comment on them to my wife, and this Christmas she surprised me by ordering the entire series for me...16 volumes.....only one condition.....they don't go on the living room bookshelf.
             So I'll pick one up every once in while to read through, and as I do so I can remember a lot of the pictures that obviously made an imprint on me way back then. I'm on volume eight...."Hudson to Korea"....and so came to IMMIGRATION tonight....and thought that the following description....which was probably standard fare for a nine year old back then....would be interesting reading today. It's little less than half of the 300 words used in the Golden Book..... "For many years the United States welcomed everyone who wished to come to live there. But the time came when so many people wanted to come from some of the world's very crowded countries that it seemed wise to set some limits. Now the United States has immigration quotas. Each year only so many people may come in from another country. Even those for whom there is room are looked over carefully before they are allowed to enter. The United States does not allow anyone to come in who has a contagious disease. It does not allow anyone to come in who shows signs that he will not be able to learn American ways. Criminals and people who might try to overthrow the government are shut out..."
             An old song lyric came to mind....."The grocery store's the super mart, uh huh"....and a little later....."Grandmas sit in chairs and reminisce....(obviously Grandpas too).....boys keep chasing girls to get a kiss"....(not unless they want to miss the rest of recess and get handcuffed and finger-printed they don't).....and the beat goes on.
          

Uncharted Territory

           
         It was about this time of year in 1987. I was on a two-week short-term missionary trip to Paraguay. I'd like to contrast two churches from that trip.....wonderful and faithful Christians in both I'm sure.....yet very different in many ways. The first church was modern, with a rockin' praise band and sprawling balcony overlooking a big auditorium filled with believers who smiled and laughed, and whose attire would have been similar to that from Christians today in churches in any posh American suburb.
         Actually I was in three or four churches similar to this only not quite as big.....and then one warm evening (every day of the two weeks was over 100 degrees) while a couple of us were relaxing by strolling through the small nearby town.....with gay lights and music playing.....my attention was caught by the light coming from the open doors of a recessed modest church. The believers were sitting in folding chairs in a circle....head bowed. I asked my friends to walk on without me and I watched these brothers and sisters for a while. Something was grabbing and pulling at me here. These Christians were pleading rather than just rejoicing.
          Increasingly since that day three decades ago,.... I've been pleading with God for mercy upon America.....while my rejoicing is in that He hears and cares about our pleading.....and He has already had mercy upon me.....with an overflowing cup of mercies and blessings! Friends....a persecution and a winnowing may be coming to the American church very soon.... if your big 'successful' church is not warning you of what is happening today....if it is not calling a collapsing nation to the cross of Christ....you may want to keep your eyes open for that small recessed church whose congregants are openly pleading with God for mercy.....and whose pastor.....maybe not the most eloquent or nattily dressed of a man.....is laboring for the security of his sheep.

The following is a portion of a post from February of 2017.  News clips such as this have increased dramatically since then.....

           Folks, I would ask you to prepare yourself for what you are about to read for it may be a watershed moment in the government of the United States of America. It has Kristallnacht written all over it albeit in its germination stage here in America. You have no excuse now....it is time to study the Word of God as you have never before. Pastors, you have no excuse.....it is time to preach the Person and the work of Jesus Christ every Lord's Day. There is no way you can explain this away...       
           The following is from confirmation hearings on the Russell Vought nomination for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. This outrageous example of the horror of political correctness provides not merely an opportunity for the church to boldly say.....yes....there is salvation in none other than Jesus Christ....but it is a rebuke in the form of a rude awakening that we have failed to proclaim the gospel while we had the liberties to do so and that and we are paying the price for not standing for that truth.   

Sen. Sanders: "'Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, His Son, and they stand condemned.' Do you believe that that statement is Islamophobic?"
Mr. Vought: "Absolutely not, Senator. I'm a Christian, and I believe in a Christian set of principles based on my faith...
Sanders: "...Forgive me, we just don't have a lot of time. Do you believe people in the Muslim religion stand condemned? Is that your view?"
Vought: "Again, Senator, I'm a Christian, and I wrote that piece in accordance with the statement of faith at Wheaton College..."
Sanders: "I understand that. I don't know how many Muslims there are in America. Maybe a couple million. Are you suggesting that these people stand condemned? What about Jews? Do they stand condemned too?"
Vought: "Senator, I'm a Christian..."
Sanders [shouting]: "I understand you are a Christian, but this country [is] made of people who are not just -- I understand that Christianity is the majority religion, but there are other people of different religions in this country and around the world. In your judgment, do you think that people who are not Christians are going to be condemned?"
Vought: "Thank you for probing on that question. As a Christian, I believe that all individuals are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs. I believe that as a Christian that's how I should treat all individuals..."
Sanders: "...Do you think that's respectful of other religions?... I would simply say, Mr. Chairman that this nominee is really not someone who this country is supposed to be about."

          

Word For Word

The following post is from April of 2013....almost five years ago!  Our steep descent into the abyss continues in spite of an election victory. There isn't a scintilla of evidence that we have in any way humbled ourselves before God or even inched in that direction! As a matter of fact the evidence points to us wandering further away from Him.....and trusting even more in ourselves.
 
          The prophet Jeremiah was unpopular with just about everyone, particularly the establishment elite of Judah. They did not want to hear what he had to say, for he prophesied judgment upon them. Eventually God told Jeremiah to write it all down (ch:36).....all of it... and distribute it to the leaders in Judah and all the people. Jeremiah needed a stenographer and chose Baruch to write down what he was about to dictate........"Perhaps their petition will come before the LORD, and each one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the LORD has pronounced against this people." He then used Baruch as a FedEx truck to deliver the materials because he himself was a persona non grata in such gatherings..
          Well, it must have been a little upsetting to those who first read the scroll but they forwarded the package on to the king. The king read a page and then burned it, read another and burned it also until the entire message from God was ashes in the fire made to keep the king warm. God then told Jeremiah to get another scroll and write down the very same words again. This time the words were even more specific, for the people and the king had ignored the warnings....
           All sixty-six books of the Bible are God's Word to us.....the Old Testament prophetic books are no exception.  God will remove veils in His own timing, and that is what He is doing today, and particularly since Israel officially became a nation in 1948.

           Whether it has been through Billy Grahams or professors or faithful pastors or in our own individual readings......we have been warned! Tear up the words and throw them into the fire if you desire but they will come back....word for word.....and will in due time be proven true! (SPOILER ALERT...God's warnings to Judah and the nations were fulfilled.) I was a slow learner who often went off on tangents, but as I or anyone invest the time in God's prophetic Word then His message to us will become more discernible....not perfectly clear at this time....but clear enough so that we can say confidently that if we do not turn back to God as a people...we will be a people no more.....Trump or no Trump.

With Prayer And Care

           Martin Luther's words began the Reformation which changed the world. By 'his words' I mean his publicly recounting what Scripture itself says. As he was holed away in Wartburg Castle, the words of others began a revolution. These 'words' were not a recounting of Scripture but rather the fomenting of a rebellion.
           This came to mind as I was forwarded a YouTube sermon. Video and sound effects were used to stir the soul. The sudden rise in pitch of the voice and a constant ominous sounding music was meant to put the viewer in a mini-trance of sorts. It was not reformation that was in the wind.      
           I wrote a post a few months ago titled....."Where Is Our Machen?" In that post was this...
Secular historian Frances Fitzgerald did a very credible job in connecting the dots in her latest book 'The Evangelicals, The Struggle To Shape America.' She writes about (William Jennings) Bryan...."By the time of the 1923 (Presbyterian) General Assembly the fundamentalists had gained another powerful champion in William Jennings Bryan....for the past few years Bryan had made common cause with the fundamentalists, but in many respects he was not one of them.....he hadn't much interest in the fine points of theology.....he once admitted he had never had time to study the difference between Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians." 
            Donald Trump is today our William Jennings Bryan in that he is a powerful presence...able to stir emotions and rally the faithful...but he succeeded only because we didn't want a genuine reformation but just to overthrow the nobility.
            Luther eventually was coaxed out of his writing fortress. Not only did he return to the people but the peace and love and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ returned in his teaching! Charles Spurgeon proclaimed Christ....J. C. Ryle proclaimed the cross of Christ.....but many of their contemporaries attempted to engineer a soft coup in the church against the King of Kings.  B. B. Warfield represented academic scholarship whereas his contemporary William Jennings Bryan brought only fire. J. Gresham Machen's reasoning in the Scriptures resonated with even Progressive intellectuals.....as did those of Martyn Lloyd-Jones....while others relied on preaching to personal biases, stirring emotions and putting forth wild speculations. R. C. Sproul had the unique and extraordinary God-given ability to help us understand Scripture. Listen to his preserved words at ligonier.org and savor God's gift of communication.
            To young people today I have this to say.....choose your teachers with prayer and care. Examine their messages for signs of manipulation. Has your heart been stirred but not your intellect? How would their words resonate without the music and the lights? Have you perchance at one time found yourself wishing that.....say your grandmother....who has gone on to be with her Savior.... and who spent her evenings for as long as you remember gently rocking in her chair with her worn out Bible on her lap....that she could have experienced the Holy Spirit as you did at the arena the night before....and looked forward to experiencing Him again at the next Christian concert?
            Jeremiah.....that guy gets around in these posts.....tells us this as he told Israel and Judah......"Thus says the LORD....'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls..." and then tremble at the next few words....."But they said, 'We will not walk in it'."
          
         

You're A Better Man Than I Am Gunga Din

         The following post....Suicide By Terrorism.... is exactly one year old. The most sterile analysis possible...excluding the perspective on the one side that God is judging America and the world.....and excluding the opposite opinion that this is a great time to be alive......one would indeed conclude that there is a great conflagration just ahead....one or two wicks might be snuffed out....but by no means all of them. Our military knows this. We have the military....but the military needs the people behind it.....all the people.
         I have been pleading in these posts for years for conservative talk radio....our strongest and most plenteous source of information....to bring the horrors and the tentacles and the evil designs of Communism before its listening audience......not in a phrase here or there....but in an extended series....as long as it would take.... of informational programs......but there's always something available that is more attention-getting and therefore more money-making......Mueller or Comey or Hillary or Flynn or Don Jr. or the Olympics or the World Series or the Super Bowl or a snowstorm....you get the picture.
         If we were to know Communism....then we would see it very clearly in this otherwise inexplicable abject and unrelenting hatred of the man Donald Trump....to the contempt for one's own nation....and the security of one's own family....or in the fawning attention given to the propaganda minister of a genocidal dictator! We might then vomit in our revulsion of what we are doing. One would recognize Communism in late-night television and bloviating college professors.....one would see its finger prints in same-sex marriage and just about any other issue that eats away at America's heritage. Not that these people are communists.....they probably haven't a clue on what communism is.....for they are just dupes....the results of a half century of Progressive miseducation in America for the sole purpose of destroying the individual....his or her patriotism....and their faith in God. If we as a people knew this.....those many insidious issues....along with the mainstream media that constantly puts those issues before  us....would wither....dry up....and be bulldozed on the nearest dung heap. These particular chains that keep us in a darkened room...would be broken...and these blinders....removed.
          I'll put two books before you....both by the same author....Paul Kengor.....The Politically Incorrect Guide To Communism....and...Takedown: From Communists To Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage. Get through these two easily readable books and not clench your fists in anger at how Communism has run roughshod over America.....and you're a better man than I am....Gunda Din.

Suicide By Terrorism

          It appears that God may have determined the method of America's demise.....suicide....suicide by terrorism. One would think that Progressives would have nothing in common with Islam. One would think that women's issues alone would be an unbridgeable chasm, and it would be actually if it were not for the truly unbridgeable chasm that exists between Progressivism and the Bible.
          It doesn't really make sense anymore to call someone politically liberal. Hubert Humphrey was a liberal as was Walter Mondale but the label began to become meaningless during the Clinton administrations. The 'Progressive' is now the more suitable term....he or she being an entirely different political animal....feral and often rabid.
          Don't get me wrong...Progressives go to church...in fact they have some of the largest and most beautiful churches in America. A critic of Norman Vincent Peale once said something like this...."Paul I find appealing...Peale I find appalling." Today a similitude of the man-centered religion of Dr. Peale is found appealing while the Christian gospel proclaimed by Apostle Paul is found to be appalling.
          Abortion and homosexuality are two banners flown by liberal Christianity but the Bible could not possibly be clearer on both. Something had to give.....either one's own personal religious preferences or the historic Christian faith had to go. Well, the historic Christian faith was given the old heave-ho....abortion and homosexuality were no longer a problem. The Progressives then became the dominant political force, many of whom do concede that Islamic terrorism might in some way be a danger to America... but not necessarily a danger to Progressivism, liberal Christianity, agnosticism, paganism or atheism which are far and away the more personal and dearly held possessions to be defended at all costs!
          America cannot defend itself adequately while nearly half of its people and government either ignore or actively aid and abet the enemy. As recent news stories on Middle East immigration testify to....any defensive measures this government might take and any offensive measures it might be forced to take would be hamstrung by those whose enmity with God and His Word is far greater than enmity with someone who merely wants to kill them.....thus we are in the midst of a suicide.... a physician-assisted suicide if one considers the Democrat Party to be some kind of healers.....a physician-assisted suicide by terrorism.

   

All Is Lost.....Or Is It

           The following post is now five years old. America's pulpits have not awakened since this was first posted. Christianity in America is complicated. Liberal churches have abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ while evangelical churches, for the most part, have relegated the cross to a subordinate role under a much more effective tool for church growth....just about anything other than the cross of Calvary. Will the latest horrors wake our pulpits up? I don't think so. Entering the pulpit with penitential tears for America and pleas for God's mercy tend to make one appear vulnerable....that's not a good tool for church growth. Preaching "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified"....is coming up on April 1st....Easter....and will then be set aside again to concentrate on the more important stuff. Proclaiming the "radiance of His glory" and "the image of the invisible God" in whom ""all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form"....and also His coming "with great power and glory"....will be referred to from time to time....if circumstances permit.

          The following post is political and temporal yes, but only in as much as we are citizens of a nation who God blessed for a purpose, which may very well have completed its course.

All Is Lost....Or Is it.....January 2013:

          It was heroic at times and trying at times but always set apart be a common creed....life as an American in these United States of America. God blessed this endeavor from the beginning as pilgrims left their homelands where tyranny had enveloped even the church, and they saw this new land of America as a new beginning for them and an extension of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the new world. The long distance from the heavy hand of the king of England encouraged them to see beyond being merely a colony or an extension of England to being a nation unto themselves.

          Liberty is a powerful force, and freedom empowers one to reach beyond what would otherwise be available. In the mid-eighteenth century, after the First Great Awakening, the Gospel began to wane as great political minds filled the void and and a secular government.....that nonetheless proclaimed its dependence upon God.....came forth. Economic growth followed as the frontier was conquered but we faced an enormous stumbling block, the separation of two peoples in two different geographic areas over the issues of state's rights and slavery. God's heavy hand of judgment came upon a nation that had forgotten who had bestowed upon it its blessings. We turned to Him momentarily but a brand new frontier of industrial growth drew us away again only this time our educational institutions followed. An already weakened church was at the time under full scale attack from European theological liberalism. God's judgments now began to come upon the entire world in wars and economic collapse. We retained the sense of being American, of being free and of having liberty and defending the liberties of others while the Gospel went throughout the world.....and then we hit our peak.

            We were the most powerful nation on this earth both economically and militarily. We had a creed that bound us together as Americans. We had heroes and causes and confidence. There's a scene in the classic Marlon Brando film The Wild One where a girl asks the young Brando what he was rebelling against. His answer was "What do you got?". This became the hidden mantra of the 60s generation....my generation. Everything was available to us and little of it was good. America found itself in smaller wars, trying to do what it had done before the mantle was gone. We were then a lost generation when a former 'B' actor in Hollywood revived the memory of that which was good in us but the rebellious generation of the 60s had produced our college professors and they in turn trained our media, the source of most information and news. Our creed that once bound us together was being hacked away at. We were not not only ignoring our heritage, we were attacking it, ashamed of it. Old heroes are old news. Heroes today are created for a purpose irrespective of what they might have done....good or bad. We were no longer "one" as a people but groups, each one out only for themselves.

           God had watched all of this. The Billy Graham evangelical became the Ralph Reed evangelical which ultimately became the Karl Rove evangelical. (and today is the make America great again evangelical) Our pulpits, no longer capable of preaching Christ, preached whatever they thought would bring people in. The Democrat Party fell first, taken over by Progressives and then Communists. The Republican Party fell next, taken over by political machinery without a soul. Our country essentially lies in ruins, the demolition notice just hasn't been served. Yet most of the people party on, but that's not unusual, for our history is replete with empires that fell while its people were oblivious to its nearing demise.

           All is lost! Or is it? From the vantage point of observation and reality it is. Common sense and truth are utterly impotent in the postmodern mind. The blessings of capitalism became the god of capitalism and then a scourge of globalization. Our culture is in shambles. We have disasters ahead and we may as well know it beforehand. Fill in the blanks on what they might be. God's hand had departed from us long before we even heard the name Barack Hussein Obama. If His will is to awaken us one more time it will not be within a political party but over all the land and upon all those who suddenly see what we have done....and who we have become....a people who have forsaken their God. Should God open our eyes and revive us, there is no power on earth that can stop it. Those on the outside will utterly abhor what they see happening.

          This is our hope. It always has been our hope. Apparently we have to reach bottom to see this and we are not there yet. May God have mercy upon us once again and do so entirely for His glory alone.

Let There Be Light

            We had another enjoyable visit today to the Carnegie Museum Of Art on The University of Pittsburgh campus.. As I browsed in their gift shop I came across an interesting item meant for children 8 years old and up. It's a small folded 'paint by the numbers' canvas, six paints, a brush and an easel. The child might then be able to produce a reasonable facsimile to Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers.'
             I like to have some small gift available for when friends might come over with children but I had some second thoughts on this for I usually buy something a little bit scientific that might grab a child's interest....would art be what they needed in their formative years? I dabbled in oils when I was young as my mother, as the post below explains, was a legitimate artist. I completed one painting in oils.... a portrait of the iconic James Dean. Our son has it hanging on his home office wall. I hope that he doesn't take too many visitors up there. Painting James Dean wouldn't be too edifying.....but Vincent van Gogh?
              As I was thinking about this I remembered a woman Christian artist that we met in Bermuda while on a cruise. I wrote about her in a post about that cruise. I watched as she was wonderfully open about her faith in her Savior and the Creator of everything that she painted, to the people who wandered into her shop. That settled that...I bought the little craft. That story....My Bermuda Cruise....and Dumpster Diving.... was last posted in December of 2016 if you are interested. The following post is from April of 2016 and I bring it back for a day as it relates to the Christian faith and the great Impressionist Vincent van Gogh.
     
Let There Be Light

          It was the spring of 1981 as my wife and I were in Paris and walking through the Louvre Museum. We stopped in the middle of a large group to look at the Mona Lisa. It was quiet as one might expect. I remember this as I stood gazing at the oil painting trying to figure out what was so great about it. I have three or four paintings in my home that are better....one with LED lights throughout it! The hush was suddenly broken as my wife blurted out "Special Dog! It's Natalie Wood!" She had turned to try to exit the group and bumped into the actress. Natalie Wood smiled as Robert Wagner continued to look towards the painting.
          Today was another day at the museum for us, the Carnegie Museum of Art in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, where there was a special showing of three of Vincent van Gogh's works and one of Paul Signac's. It was a wonderful day for us. The museum also has one of the 25 or so replicas of Augustus St. Gauden's bronze sculpture The Puritan, my favorite sculpture! OK, I only know one or two others but I gravitated to this one day in an art book and have admired it ever since.
           Actually I do have a little bit of knowledge of art as my mother painted in oils. Impressionist painting was talked about often in our home. Occasionally by request, she painted reproductions of great paintings and one of her best was Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters. If you are familiar with this you know that it is a very dark painting.....wonderful but dark. This was Van Gogh in 1885. Shortly after painting this he travelled to Paris, saw for himself the new wave of colors in Impressionist painting, and his own work would never be the same.
           The topic of this post came to me while standing before Van Gogh's Wheat Fields After The Rain. Vincent van Gogh had seminary training, was Calvinist in his theology and once preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His painting moved from darkness towards light but his life moved from the light to the darkness. Now, I know very little about Mr. Van Gogh's reasons for leaving the ministry to paint but I do know about the condition of the church at that time and it was generally a dark period in Europe. The light may not have been in the gospel that Vincent van Gogh was familiar with....just as it wasn't in his early paintings.
            The Reformation of the 16th century is sometimes described in the Latin phrase post tenebrus lux, or after darkness... light. My own life was darkness invaded by the light of Jesus Christ in 1982. The same descriptive can be said by all Christians! If you are Christian and cannot say this, if there has not been a moment in time or a period in your life when God's Word came alive to you, when you saw Jesus Christ as if for the very first time, when you saw yourself as guilty with no defense, and then heard the promise of salvation from a risen Savior.......then you must find out right now why that is the case!
             I'm Reformed in my theology. I'm not liturgical in my beliefs and therefore the word Easter brings a cringe, for every Lord's Day throughout the year is Resurrection Day. But many are liturgical and look to one day in the year as that day when Christ rose triumphantly from the grave. If the brightness of the very thought of Jesus has not caused you to cover your eyes temporarily as if looking towards the sun, if the prism of the Word of God has not refracted the bright colors of grace and mercy and forgiveness and love and power and glory and majesty of Jesus Christ towards you, then you must plead to God for this for He will take the filters off of your eyes as He has done ours!
            I enjoyed the works of Vincent van Gogh today as I have always done. I enjoy music and dance (watching it that is!), literature and theatre too but it is the giver of these gifts that is the true master who brings light to His people

America Expiring

The following post is from a Saturday Evening in October of 2011....during the Obama years. Today, our republic crumbling, and barbarian hordes now being feted in the media in an attempt to forestall their warring with us, we still refuse to even consider the possibility that American Christianity is headquartered in Laodicea.

America Expiring

          Tomorrow morning, throughout much of America and possibly even most of it's churches, ordained ministers will either climb into pulpits or stand behind lecterns to lead congregations in "worship" services. The original Hebrew and Greek will be deployed in some as well as pastoral helps of various kinds but mostly it will be a Christian variation of Oprah presented to the worshippers. Expensive sound systems will enliven the atmosphere and the results of lessens in elocution will be on display. The name of Jesus will be heard a few to a number of times, mostly as part of the message where the congregation can apply WWJD to their own life. Songs will be sung and either the choir or soloists will be given polite applause. It may be "pot luck" Sunday where little if any of the Christian faith will be discussed at the meal and after the services each person will shake the hands of the minister before they leave the church building, dutifully fulfilling the "rite of worship" and leaving them free to enjoy the football game or gather with family, confident that God's generous blessings of such activities has been earned for at least another week.

Meanwhile, the nation gasps for breath, wounded and bleeding, while wolves slowly pace back and forth looking for the right moment of total defenselessness to move in on their prey.

          When a church has grown through invitations such as or similar to these: "A friendly, loving congregation" or "Come grow with us" the ensuing sermons must therefore fit the invitation or charges of "bait and switch" will follow and the sanctuary will need a swinging door. Neither these ministers, nor their congregations, know the folly they are engaged in for they either have nothing to compare it to or their one experience with a church that actually preached Christ crucified showed them exactly where they do not want to be.
          As de Tocqueville strongly implied, the strength of America was in it's pulpits and conversely today our weakness emanates from there too. God has given us foolish leaders; He is purposely allowing our defenses to decay and our prosperity to whither. He is giving us what we want and may not let us see that it was "fool's gold" that we mined until it is too late. Our one hope is in Him extending mercy to us one more time but imagine that as a Republican platform!
          There indeed was a great fish that swallowed a man only to vomit him alive on a shore, and that man went on to give a warning to Nineveh, the America of it's day. That nation heeded the warning but years later another man was sent to Nineveh and this time not with a warning but a proclamation of impending judgment. Our prayer today, in America, should be "God let us hear from Jonah and not Nahum but if it be Nahum, give us strength to go on."
          There are many warnings today that a Trojan Horse has come into the church but others think that those who spend their time warning are to be pitied for they miss the blessings that God is so desirous to give. My response to this is that the real blessing is knowing the extent of His mercies to us and the real pity is in the Christian church that adamantly refuses to even consider that it may be a Laodicean church.
          It was that word "Laodicean" that a young American of Indian descent, Kavya Shivashankar, won the National Spelling Bee with in May of 2009. The definition she was given was "lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics." Sit back and be satisfied with the state of the church and the church of state if you want but if you truly listen, there is a crescendo in a dirge rising over this land that we once loved, once protected and once attributed to the blessings of Almighty God.

  

Reality Check

          For the sake of argument let's say that all of this end-times prophesy stuff is indeed just wild speculation.....that May of 1948 didn't real mean anything.....or that the violence all around today is really no more than it always has been.....or that living 'as in the days of Noah' is too nebulous to even think about....or that the return of Jesus Christ may be 20, 30, 40 or more years down the line at the soonest. I don't believe that for a second but let's look at life in the very near future.
          I could start in any one of a dozen or so areas but I'll choose artificial intelligence. Is this the world that you want to live in? Do you even understand the implications or the prognostications? If not you need to read some of the technical articles and interviews coming out. If that's not enough to scare you then think about the demonic.....we still believe in the demonic don't we......these geniuses think that algorithms will make decisions.....we all may be in for a surprise.
          In 1968....when I was 18....they were concerned about a 20 billion dollar deficit.....20 billion dollars.....and they were concerned! It's over 20 trillion dollars today. That's 1000 times what they considered an emergency back in 1968. Folks, this cannot be paid off. The globalists know this! Their plan is for a cashless society.....with a chip on your person to pay for everything....this is going on now.....and do you still not want our Lord to return?
         As for violence....wars have taken over this world since the beginning of the 20th century. The shaking of the earth has gone crazy over that time period. Is anyone getting the hint yet? I don't know about you but hardly a day go by when I don't come close to tears over what is in the news.
         The word 'consipracy' has been effectively pejorified...OK I made up a word...in all of American society. The conspirators no longer have to worry about people looking for a conspiracy. How sweet is that for them? Maybe....just maybe...the Nunes memo might make people think...'gee....maybe there are such things as conspiracies'. Globalism is one great big conspiracy. There exists an entirely different dimension of life here on earth comprised of these people who to them you and I are nothing but ants.....and there are too many of us ants on this earth right now. Any idea what that might mean?
         These forces could never succeed as long as Christianity remained a vibrant force in the world. They knew this....globalists working alongside communism.....and have worked tirelessly and patiently to eliminate Christianity where they could and emasculate it everywhere else.
         So Donald Trump came on the scene and they were in panic mode. They attempted and are continuing to attempt to remove him from office but they got a pleasant surprise. He wasn't as bad as they thought he might be. In fact they might just be able to work with him.
          Folks....this is an increasingly God-hating world....and a Lucifer praising world. 1948 did mean something. In fact 1900 meant something....and the Manhattan Project meant something.  The early Christians looked hopefully to the return of their Lord and Savior. This hope in His coming is not something only for the last days....or only for those who are being persecuted....it should be in all of us....always.... and something that would have to purposely be pushed out. Is that not what we have done....pushed that hope out of our lives? Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!

Postscript: So you missed this......you'll see it sooner or later. Your mistakes probably don't add up to mine over 68 years. We're in this together....with the King of Kings already mounted....and His holy angels just waiting with steely determination for the Word to advance.

Test Everything, Hold Fast To That Which Is Good

         Have we forgotten this one minor detail.........Paul to the Thessalonians......"While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."?
         That hyped CBS poll after the State of the Union included this question..."How did the speech make you feel?".....and 65% of respondents.....only a quarter of whom were Democrats....said that it made them feel proud....while 35% chose the word 'safer.' First of all has the fact that a mainstream media poll rushed out results that are very favorable to President Trump....has that made you wonder just a little bit.....that establishment people all over are suddenly warming up to Donald Trump? Why is that? Fox is reporting right now...."Trump critic and GOP pollster Frank Luntz: 'I owe Donald Trump an apology'." No raised eyebrows? Hmmm....remarkable. Oh well, back to this post.
           Paul then goes on to say...."But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.......so then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober." So have we in fact...fallen asleep with 'Make America Great Again?' Eighteen months ago we were very concerned.....we knew that the national debt was not sustainable....we knew that that a nuclear Iran was big trouble....and we knew that society was collapsing before our very eyes. We're not so concerned anymore. The stock market took our eyes off of the debt. The purely political decision to make Jerusalem the capitol of Israel.....which has absolutely nothing to do with God or His Word....has taken our mind away from Iran.....and as for society.....only the Democrats are collapsing.....not us.....not America anymore.....we're happy right now.....the Super Bowl is in a few days.....and the Olympics after that (North Korea can wait)....and March Madness after that. God is good!

          Unfortunately we have fallen asleep. Time and time again in the Old Testament....false prophets prophesied 'peace and security.' God had not sent them but the people wanted them. They sure didn't want Jeremiah! Paul went on to tell the Thessalonians...."But test everything; hold fast what is good." That's all we have to do with our president folks.....politically anyway.....examine what he does.....and what he doesn't do.....and hold it all up to Scripture.

I'm Still Gradjeating Ain't I?

         
            I tuned in to Rush Limbaugh yesterday midway through the show and heard the following spontaneous statement.....you can read the entire segment for yourself, or hear the audio, or I presume watch it on the video cam....under the February 12th heading "CNN on Me on the Budget Deal" on rushlimbaugh.com. This statement is grossly incomplete as to its description of the problem with the Federal debt, and juvenile in its analysis...."Oh yeah.....well you been telling me all four years of high school that I better start studying....and I'm still gradeating ain't I!"

            "But, folks, I need to share this with you again. My whole life, and yours, too, we have heard, my grandparents, particularly our grandparents — if your parents or grandparents, have to be your grandparents, lived through the Great Depression, that was the most formative event of their lives, then followed by World War II. But the Great Depression was a profound thing.

             Nobody had anything and the only way out was education. That was the fastest, easiest, most direct route to having a job and avoiding the pain. And so as such, people that lived through it preached to their kids and their grandkids the horrors of debt. For example, all my life, I grew up being told about the national debt monster. And then after a while, the annual budget deficit monster. And every year or every five years or however whatever it was, I kept hearing that someday if this isn’t stopped, there isn’t going to be any money. The government’s gonna have it all. There won’t be any to borrow in the private sector because the government’s gonna need all of it to service its debt. The national debt was gonna eliminate prosperity. The national debt was gonna destroy opportunity for prosperity. The national debt was gonna do all kinds of horrible things. And you add the annual budget deficit to it. The national debt’s just a cumulative total of all the budget deficits we’ve ever had, and none of that ever happened.

And I was vigilant. I kept waiting for the country to end. I kept waiting for all of this disaster to happen. And it never did. And yet economists kept saying that it was going to happen. That the country is gonna go into default, the country will not be able to pay its bills, that’s gonna be the end of life as we know it in America when that happens. And now they’re saying it again.

             They’re saying that specifically, we’re gonna go into default. This trillion-dollar budget, we can’t — and yet none of these dire threats have materialized....

           

    

             

Nebulous To Some....Perspicuous To Others

The following was first posted in December of 2015:

           Astronomers once called everything outside of our own galaxy...nebula... or nebulae in the plural tense. Today the word is properly confined only to interstellar dust and gas clouds. If a concept is cloudy and hard to decipher we might describe it as nebulous.  When Jesus Christ returns to earth with His mighty angels, I presume that the very first sightings of His army will be classified as some sort of nebulae. As He comes closer and a form of sorts begins to take shape, the classification may change to UFO. At the point when men finally recognize that it is the God King of the Christians and the Messiah of the Jews, this from what the world's greatest selling book has always proclaimed, and as every conceivable means of what would then be clearly seen as punishment wreaks havoc upon the earth, men will call on the rocks to fall on them and end their misery.
           Today it is the concept God Himself that is nebulous, even to most of Christendom, and unfortunately to much of Christianity. Although this is certainly true of God in His infinities, it is much the opposite as it relates to God's very existence and also to what should be our self-awareness as His creation, but only the Christian can see this. God created the physics that we try to disprove Him with and the logarithms that we try to replace Him with. He created the measure that we use in an attempt to prove our own autonomy. He created the mind that we refuse to think with, the sight that we refuse to see with and the hearing that we refuse to hear with.

         God is not nebulous in His holiness or His power or His glory or His majesty or His might. His warnings, His righteous judgements, His love and His mercies are not concealed. We are groping around only because we have run from the light.        

Handle With Care

The following was first posted October 10, 2010:

          At my first holy communion in the second grade, the custom was to receive a Bible. It was my uncle who provided me with one and I remember being somewhat disappointed for it was pocket size and very unreadable. I cannot remember why it was that I desired a regular Bible but the desire was real. In grades three through six we would attend Mass every morning and I did have a missal that was a prized possession. I liked its smell and the thin pages and was particularly impressed by the Latin that was recited from the altar and repeated by us in the pews. 

         In high school. we were given two paperback textbooks, one the Old Testament and the other the New Testament and we studied them for their literary content. I still had no concept of the Bible and no personal Bible of my own. Scan ahead to about 23 years of age where I had come out of the army and started at Pitt. My habit was to stop in the National Record Mart on Forbes Avenue in Oakland and browse their books before catching the bus home. I often came out with a purchase and one day it was a modern language paraphrase of the New Testament. I have this paperback in my hand now and can remember the feeling I had then of holding something special but not really knowing what that was.
         My first Bible was a Christmas present from my wife in 1982. I also have that Bible in front of me now. I told the story before of how she and I were on a Caribbean cruise and were forced back to our staterooms during a storm. With nothing to do, for the ship was rocking back and forth (they were much smaller in those days), I opened the drawer in the table next to the bed and there was the ubiquitous motel room Bible. Opening it up, as items were sliding off of the table from the waves, and reading from the place I had placed my finger, I read from the 93rd Psalm,

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.

         As a new Christian, God was gracious to give me this glimpse of His Word through an unorthodox method, one that I would not presume upon now for I no longer pick up his Word without knowing that it is not a mere book but God breathed words to his people. If you are not familiar with this, please consider that when you pick up a Bible to read, that you hold in your hands words inspired by God. Without the movement of God's Spirit on us, they will remain just words but under the power of His Spirit their meaning not only begins to become clear but they reverberate every atom of our being and every neuron involved in our thinking.
         Consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If one wishes to remain in rebellion to God one would do well to not pick up His Word for, should God will it, it will make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy, and it will convict the conscience.
         On the other hand, if one desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule, as I had for so many of my early years, it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, sweet to the pallet, exhilarating to the touch, soothing to the ears and of a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even into old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells and minerals to build bones. It is exercise, laughter and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, intellect and emotion, humility and motivation. It is oxygen itself to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. Its unity will bring division. Discerning its division will bring unity to the mind. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible, please know that if you are not careful, an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life

The Vatican And Communist China

The following was posted last July....after Pope Francis removed the conservative head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and replaced him with another Jesuit....and it compares two books written thirty years apart by Catholic authors. WorldNetDaily is today reporting on the latest controversy concerning Marxism and the current papal administration. You can read that article titled "Vatican: China Best Example of Church's Social Doctrine" on wnd.com. The article quotes both George Neumayr from the following post and Paul Kengor, the author of the book that I highly recommend as a primer on Communism!

Vatican Politics....And Politics Of The Vatican

         Malachi Martin had an interesting resume. He was in the Vatican as a secretary to a Jesuit Cardinal during the Second Vatican Council years. A Jesuit priest himself, he was at one time a Vatican academic. He was the author of many books, interviewed often and a religious editor for the National Review. He had a private meeting with Pope John Paul II in his final years before he died in 1999 as the result of a mysterious fall. At the time he was writing yet another of his very controversial religious and geopolitical books. He had many supporters and many detractors. I wrote a post in 2015 that I titled The God Of Marxism on his book The Jesuits, The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church. The last posting was this past May 17th under the heading Butterflies Are Free if you are interested. I'll give you one sentence from my post..."The United States went from Ronald Reagan to the Marxist Barack Obama in 20 years while the Roman Catholic church went from the virulently anti-communist John Paul II to the Jesuit Pope Francis in 8 years!" A short summary of The Jesuits would be that from their founding they were defenders of the papacy but in the twentieth century they had embraced Liberation Theology, essentially becoming enemies of the papacy. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were involved in a fierce battle with the Jesuits within the church. As you know, Pope Benedict became the first Pope in 500 years to resign and his successor was the first Jesuit pope....Pope Francis.
         I don't know what George Neumayr thinks about the writings of Malachi Martin but his own book that was released not that long ago seems to pick up where Martin's 1987 book The Jesuits left off. The title of Mr. Neumayr's book is The Political Pope, How Pope Francis Is Delighting The Liberal Left And Abandoning Conservatives. Mr. Neumayr also has an impressive resume as an author and contributing editor to The American Spectator. He was also an op-ed editor for Investor's Business Daily. He was a former editor at the Catholic World Report and former media fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.
         I would think that traditional Roman Catholics would read every word of this book because the same Marxist/Conservative battle that has been going on in American politics is going on in the Vatican. Mr. Neumayr states, and I've heard it before, that Liberation Theology..."was born in the KGB." Pope Benedict is said to purport that this theology conceals Marxist dialectics through a "seemingly harmless advocacy for the lower classes."
         According to the author... "as liberals once said of Barack Obama, (Pope Francis) is the 'one they (the global Left) have been waiting for'."  George Neumayr gives names throughout the book of those in Rome who oppose Pope Francis, many of whom were demoted, and those who support him and were promoted en masse as allies. The author notes the mysterious resignation of Pope Benedict XVI but offers no clues as to why this happened. According to the author on the reasons for the resignation..."they remain murky." Those in the Pittsburgh area might be interested in George Neumayr's comments on former and longtime Bishop of Pittsburgh and now Cardinal Wuerl.
        American Cardinal Raymond Burke who was demoted by Pope Francis is quoted in "....we knew we would have targets on our backs under this pontificate. The pope hates American conservatives." Mr. Neumayr makes this statement..." (orthodox Catholics are) generally not happy with Francis but the lapsed Catholics and non-Catholics who disdain Church teaching feel enthusiasm for his pontificate."
        There is insider information throughout this book of 221 pages and 41 pages of notes. Every conceivable political issue is addressed as to the opinions, writing and words of Pope Francis. Global warming, Islam, same-sex marriage, the Latin Mass, the Jesuits and even secret societies are but some of the issues documented. Communism is referenced over 50 times.
        The jacket cover states that the author "gives readers what the media won't: a bracing look at the liberal revolution that Pope Francis is advancing in the Church." I'll give you but one quote of dozens if not a hundred in the book...this one from Al Gore on his surprise at some of the statement's of Pope Francis...."Is the pope Catholic?"

You And I Will Be United....Ugh....That Doesn't Sound Too Good To You Does It

        The globalists look down on the FBI's current troubles as would the gods of the Greek pantheon. The difference here is that the Olympians were figments of the human imagination whereas the globalists are not. Their influence in geopolitical affairs and global finance is.....well....they are geopolitical affairs and global finance. If we knew the extent of where there tentacles reach we would be frozen temporarily in amazement.....and then as we thaw we would come together in the knowledge of what are up against. This type of talk concerning globalism suggests the dreaded word....conspiracy.....which is the last thing the globalists want us to soften on! The following post was from a Monday morning last November.

         How was your church service yesterday? Fine you say? Did you find yourself praying for your pastor during the sermon because the burden weighing him down seemed so great? If not then maybe the service was not so fine after all.
         Our pulpits in America have let us down.....they have let Christian believers down......and most important of all they have let their Lord and Savior down! Did they do this out of malice to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? No.....they did it out of ignorance. The worst that can be said about them is that they became lazy and that when finally apprised of what is going on they still refused to sound a clarion call
          Now maybe you are angry with me......how dare I. Folks....in the world you perceive it to be at this time.....I might agree with you. In the actual world that we live in.....it's time to throw the passions of football and exercise out the window and get to work in defense of your family.
         Do you know what globalism is? Of course you don't. Oh you most certainly understand the economic aspect of it....that's the part that has been fed to you in these worthless newspaper and broadcast media that we have. What you don't know is that this is a society that exists above mere mortals like you and me. Its power is enormous and they consider themselves to be of some sort of deity. You are a serf to them and nothing more. There is no moral law to prevent them from destroying anyone and anything that gets in their way. There is no God that they will be judged by.
         Is there any good news? Folks, the good news is so overwhelming that when one understands it one must fall before the majesty and the power and the glory of Jesus Christ. One must then have His hand put on them hearing..."Stand....fear not....for I am with you." He's coming back folks. Every child's tears throughout this world will be dried. Every mother's cries are heard and will end. Every Christian father's prayer for their children will be answered. Every war will end. Every crushing the skull of a beautiful pre-born baby will cease. Every abomination will be seen for what it is. Every slaughter of God's wonderful animal kingdom will stop. There is a cost to discipleship and we....in America....but not everywhere.... are about $20 trillion in arrears.
          John Ankerberg....to give just one example of many.....leads a wonderful Christian ministry that I have been familiar with for decades. Good looking guy...trim....silver hair.....looks the same as he did in the early 80s.....you'd know him if you saw him. He thinks that the Rapture is next....and then comes the Tribulation. He's wrong....wonderful ministry....more faithful Christian than I will ever be...but he's wrong on this one thing.....and yet even he is warning the church with all that is in him on what is ahead.

         Difficult times are at our doorstep with one foot already in the home. If you don't see this then you are not looking. There are multitudes of pastors out there who would express the same thoughts that I have in this post. There is a winnowing ahead. Possibly the hardest thing will be multitudes....in the church.... who will dig and dig until they come up with an excuse not...not...to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ. The rest of us are united in the love of Jesus Christ. You may not feel so united with me right now but we're coming together....may God add multitudes to us! Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!!

There's Something Wrong With This Picture

           I read the name Nick Foles for the first time two or three days ago in an article headline on Drudge about the Philadelphia quarterback possibly becoming a pastor of some sort after football this year. I presume that his name is pronounced as it is spelled....but then again....maybe not. I woke up this morning and booted up the computer and the Drudge Report and read that the Eagles won the Super Bowl....an upset I take it. I saw one quote by this young man....who I'm sure is a wonderful person...."All Glory To God."

          So let me break this down a little.....a football team.....won the big game.....on the Lord's Day.....with most of America tuned in....as the nation.....delirious, delusional and in harm's way.....wades through an alligator and snake infested swamp.....trying desperately to reach dry ground....because of our rebellion to God.....and yet all the glory of the football victory is to be given to Him? Strange. More than strange, for we need to at least examine some things today that we automatically assume are edifying and Scriptural.

          In my favorite Peanuts comic of all time Linus runs up to Charlie Brown after watching a football game on television, and goes on and on describing the jubilation of the winning team...."People were jumping up and down and when they kicked the extra point, thousands of people ran out onto the field laughing and screaming! The fans and the players were so happy they were rolling on the ground and hugging each other and dancing and everything! It was Fantastic!" I looked at Linus....er I mean Charlie Brown looked at Linus and asked...."How did the other team feel?"

           So once again....all the glory of the professional football team winning the big game on the Lord's Day....along the way taking Christian's hearts and minds all across America.....away from Christ.....and onto a football team.....all the glory here goes to God? Hmm? There's something wrong with this picture folks. 

           Athletics is a wonderful thing; and to the Christian there are lessons in winning and in losing, and the joy in an athletic achievement is a blessing, as is simply doing your best but coming up short. The problem, as in other endeavors of life, is in making an idol out of goals.....athletic or otherwise. This young man Nick Foles.....and other Christian athletes such as Tim Tebow.....have kept their eyes fixed on Christ....but we should at least admit that there is no gospel in a finger pointed to heaven or a short testimony on how God made someone an MVP.....and that these gestures do not necessarily justify all of the sports and games that we have in our culture.
           Similar quotes like this one from the Super Bowl quarterback....and there have been many of them over the years....may indeed encourage young Christians.....and lead to other positive things. One question that we might ask is....which outcome might outweigh the other.....the positives of encouraging young sports fans who believe in God....or the negatives in encouraging them to ignore the Lord's Day?

Note: The debate over the Lord's Day is centuries old and ongoing even today. All you can do in a situation like this is follow your conscience. So if it be your opinion that professional football is a perfectly legitimate Christian endeavor or pastime....express it! For my part....I hope that in this antinomian climate that I'm still allowed to express mine. Really, the biggest mistake that we can make is to not prayerfully look for the answer in Scripture ourselves.....but rather to just pick the available teacher's opinion that matches our own preference.

          

Times Change, Nations Fall

          There has been little positive change in America since the following post from February of 2015. Communism accomplished much in its prep work.....and will soon challenge once again the emaciated patriotism in much of the divided nation it designed and sculpted. Globalists have picked off their fiercest opposition here in America one by one. We....in our presumptive victorious stupor.....celebrate a 26,000 point parasitic tapeworm jeopardizing any and all economic gains made in the past year. Our patriotism is now morphing into arrogance....our religiosity as weak if not weaker than before the 2016 election. We think that we are winning.....and thus have cast all caution to the wind as we worry little about the risks of excluding God from our decision making or our national consciousness.

Times Change.....Nations Fall

          It's no use crying over it. It's not the first time that something like this has happened. But then Jeremiah felt the same way over Jerusalem. It's natural when you see something that you love... particular when its your very own country...to come to tears at its destruction. I must be a little more sentimental than most I guess but it takes all kinds to make this world and that was part of the beauty of it.
         America has indeed collapsed. When was the final nail driven? I don't know...maybe it was with Roe v Wade...maybe it was the same-sex marriage legalization...maybe it was the inauguration of Barack Obama....maybe it was when we turned the Lord's Day into a day of sports? I can't really even pinpoint the beginning of the slide for there have been so many over so many decades. I do know this, that it was at first gradual and then the collapse accelerated so much that today we are a  God-forsaken people, adrift, rudderless and listing like a drunken sot.
        Friends tell me in effect that I don't have to watch what is happening, but it's as much what I don't see as what as what I see. I don't see Thomas Jefferson anymore. In fact I see people trying to destroy his contributions. I don't see George Washington anymore other than on the flier from a Presidents Day sale, instead I see the abomination of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D. C. I don't see Benjamin Franklin's wisdom...I see Mark Zuckerberg's narcissistic poison. I don't see a president saving the Union as Abraham Lincoln did....I do see Obama destroying it. I don't see Martin Luther King's teaching moments but I see Karl Marx everywhere wearing tam and academic regalia.
        Times change. Nations fall. It's only God's Word that remains the same. Israel was his beloved nation. It was through God's hand alone that they prospered....that they even existed. And when they rebelled, God had patience and sent prophets to warn of judgment which always came.
         Yes, the times have changed as have nations, but God's Word addresses every age. Any and all elections now are merely for choosing leaders who will take us through the coming maelstrom. Ted Cruz is the only legitimate candidate whose actions as president could plead our case for mercy. The others could only flail helplessly in the winds, winds that will make us sink as Peter did if we take our eyes off of Jesus.

  

Delusion

        There is a delusion coming.....can we agree on that? Paul warns of it in the second chapter of Second Thessalonians. So what might this delusion be? The possibilities are so many that all we can do is give passing speculation. We cannot pinpoint anything for there is not enough information given us. What we can do is keep in our mind that strong delusion is ahead of us...if not already here.
         When I came into the faith I settled into apologetics and defense of the gospel.....primarily from what are labelled Christian cults......sects that claim to be Christian but deny the essentially doctrines of the Christian Faith. Included in this defense are doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus Christ....the Trinity....and that Jesus was both 100% man....and...100% God. A few years after this it became necessary to pay attention to Gnosticism.....claims of special knowledge that God gave only to certain people who would then teach the rest of us.
         The benefit of this path that I took was that it was ingrained in me that the genuine has to be learned and understood first. Then when false teachers came it would be easier to spot them. This is a lot easier than falling for false teacher after false teacher on the way to maturity only to have to humbly and penitentially admit the errors that we fell for.
          The last quarter of the nineteenth century and first quarter of the twentieth century saw theological liberalism destroy the foundations of the Christian Faith for many. The second and third quarters of the twentieth century saw gnostic heresies move into a prominent position of the Christian church. Since then we have fallen for a more subtle delusion....increasing as the years passed....so much that today we are fully into the delusion that politics can be our savior. The genuine....Jesus Christ established this nation for His purposes alone.....He alone determines our future or even our continued existence....and if we reject Him or try to mold Him to fit our desires then we are undone....this the genuine has been lost. We could not spot Donald Trump. We can't see the stock market for what it is. We have placed our security in military might alone. Those in our pulpits have just thrown up their hands and avoided anything that might make them whipping boys to the postmodern...technologically rocketing...humankind spiraling...America that has evolved.
         Whether this is part of the delusion that Paul wrote about I don't know, but it is certainly 'a' delusion that we have fallen for. We were forty years plus into God's warnings of judgment upon America before Donald Trump came along. We have not changed one iota...not one iota....since the great election of 2016. What we have done is lower our guard even more since then. At least be aware of this delusion that we were warned of folks. Maybe I'm incorrect in my theorizing so consider the delusion for yourselves. The best way to do this is to focus on the genuine....return to the genuine....for then the false teachers and false prophesies and false hopes will increasingly become more self-evident. If the church will not provide this for us then there are ministries that will....and none are better than Ligonier Ministries of the recently departed to be with the Lord...R. C. Sproul.....ligonier.org.

whitehorseinn.org
equip.org
gty.org