Been There....Done That....Got The T-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 2916:

          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.      
       

Paul: Apostle Of Christ......Film Review

             It's a little bit more than interesting to me that this film comes out at this moment in history when the chief source of governmental stability in the world over the past century....and the only source today.....the United States of America......is rapidly collapsing under the weight of its own moral turpitude. It may be an unintended message for the church to prepare:

            The fact that the film was not based solely on the Biblical text from the Book of Acts was a positive because the Christian is then not constantly grading it as to its accuracy.....or lack of. Oh it did include a number of episodes from Paul's experiences....but not many. We saw Paul at the stoning of Stephen....his Damascus Road experience....persecuting the church....in a Roman prison....which may have been the  Mamertine Prison in Rome that still exists today....as well house arrest also in Rome......but the rest of the film concentrated on what we ourselves have probably done many times.....that being imagining what Priscilla and Aquila were like.....what Luke might have been like.....and trying to put ourselves in the mind of the Christian community as Nero viciously and savagely martyred them.
            Critics aren't going to like this movie because it hits a little too close to home for those who are allergic to anything that might induce a need for salvation. The gospel itself was not doctrinally presented....which is also good....because they probably would have messed it up. What was developed was the cost of discipleship. The film was dedicated to those around the world suffering persecution right now. It's my hope that along with keeping these persecuted saints in our minds and prayers that it also causes us to look inward....at the small cost of discipleship that is required of us at the present time....and more importantly at the real persecution that may be just ahead.
            I definitely recommend Paul, Apostle of Christ. I can't really comment on the acting as I was too into the lives of the characters on the screen. I had to redirect my attention in the last 30 seconds or so of the film to the design on the theater carpet. My eyes were welling up big time and my wife doesn't think that I know how to shed tears. What she doesn't know is that I've made quick trips to another room in our house many times....using one excuse or another....for the same reason.
           Just a few last comments....for they were integral to the film. Paul's remembrance of his....when he was Saul....having followers of Jesus persecuted and killed is never far from him   We see him stare off in the distance.....or directly to us in the lens of the camera.....as Stephen's face returns to him time and again.....just as I stare off in space....or you might have those still moments of recall....when we were lost......enemies of God.....and without hope!  Another aspect of the film that was powerful was also caught in faces.....faith in the midst of severe trial....when the whole world is against them......when their family will suffer because of their faith. Those faces hit home.....with me anyway.

Has Anyone Told The President This?

         President Trump's signed the Omnibus Bill without even putting up a fight. He has no passion for most of the promises that he made as he banished all those primary opponents on his way to the White House. He may be able to get away with this with some of his base but if he pulls this nonsense on Israel then neither his base nor you nor I nor Israel nor anyone matters....for he will have stepped into a realm where one should tread softly. President Obama....as our representative....had already stabbed Israel in the back.....but this no way removes President Trump from the matter.  As I wrote in the following post from February 24th....."If there's one thing that you do not do it's try to put one over on Israel.....you don't have to be friends with them......you don't even have to talk to them.....you don't even have to like them.....just don't try to stick it to them.....if you make a promise to them it might be a wise thing to keep the promise......according to God anyway!"

          Jerusalem is God's capital....of this world.....whether goats graze on Mount Moriah.....or an Arab dome dominates the skyline.....or Jewish priests offer sacrifices there on an altar or in a temple.....or the city is the political capital of Israel....or not. This rush to move our embassy to Jerusalem.....is pure politics......Donald Trump style. It is not a test of being a true ally.....and may put them in jeopardy at a time when their people and government are as unstable as ours are in America. I wouldn't be surprised if President Trump is not doing to Israel in this what he has done to us for a year.....that being fulfilling one promise just before breaking a bigger one....to offset the anger.

           Why would President Trump schedule the official opening of the American embassy in  Jerusalem on May 14th....the 70 year anniversary of Israel declaring their independence....Israel's Independence Day? A new annex will not be built until at least next year. For now the ambassador will just move his desk from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem....so to speak. We will then switch the names of the building as the consulate will be the embassy and the old embassy will be the new consulate. Why would he do this now?
            On something that I'm sure is totally unrelated...Jared has been working feverishly on the peace plan in the Middle East.....hopefully he'll get his security clearance soon so that he can read the document that he's writing! That's Jared Kushner......Ivanka's husband. He does big time real estate in New York City.....trying to keep everything on the up and up while doing so. Nikki Halley says that neither Israel not the Palestinians are going to 'love' the plan. Jared is working it up.....that's Ivanka's husband....or did I already say that? Is everybody with me so far? Is anyone else concerned?
           Now if you think that Donald Trump has been honest and transparent with us over this past year then you might not have any great concerns about this peace plan....but if you are not one of those people then you might be very concerned about these men brokering a deal in the Middle East. We're not talking about peace between Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz here.....or Jersey vs New York contractors.....we're talking the land of the biblical Israel! If there's one thing that you do not do it's try to put one over on Israel.....you don't have to be friends with them......you don't even have to talk to them.....you don't even have to like them.....just don't try to stick it to them.....if you make a promise to them it might be a wise thing to keep the promise......according to God anyway. Has anyone told President Trump this?
          Nikki Haley.....(I hope that she got this job of U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. because she was the most qualified person available).....she also said...."If the leaders would put aside their pride and their ego, and think about their people, and improving the quality of life for their people, this peace process will do that." Folks....the two leaders she is talking about are Abbas and Netanyahu. Now take off your MAGA hat for just a minute.....our ambassador to the United Nations thinks that Netanyahu may really not be concerned about the security of the Israeli people? Whatever Benjamin Netanyahu is.....there is one thing that you can take to the bank....Israel's security is his life. Or did I misinterpret Ambassador Haley's comet....I mean comment? Anyone concerned yet?
          Folks, this has a Donald Trump.....Obamacare repeal and replace...or...build a big beautiful wall look to it. Say it ain't so. There must be something that I'm missing. The President wouldn't be playing politics with Israel on the line would he?
             The situation even gets a little bit more difficult. If Jared comes up with something and it looks like brilliance on steroids....and it appears that peace has finally come to the Middle East....then you might want to at least consider.....for old times sake when we actually believed the Bible....that saying...."peace...peace"....when there is no peace.....is another big no-no......in God's eyes anyway. Decisions on the Middle East have to be among the most delicate decisions an administration can make......and this stuff just doesn't appear up to snuff on that count.         

Today Is The Day

The following was first posted on July 14th 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.

Seamless And Unseemly

        For a Christian church to grow today.....a particular congregation.....they feel that they must add some excitement.....bright colors.....lights......sounds.....laughter.....smiles. This isn't an invention of evangelicalism.....for American culture has led the way. To be really successful.....for the middle class anyway.....one has live in a bright and well-manicured gated community.....with a recreational building and a pool. I've been to one Pittsburgh Pirate game in that past almost half century.....and it was nothing like what I grew up with as a kid where fans had their scorecards and pencils out.....and there were at least a few Catholic nuns in every section. It was date night behind me.....fireworks above me.....and pirogi races on the field.
        The milquetoast Bible study and exercise program is perfect for the Christian woman of today to appear spiritual yet fit nicely into seamless Yoga pants. A good parent makes sure that their child is involved in a sports program for every season.....thus the SUV is replacing the sedan....as the theater seat has replaced the pew. The church picked up on this as a vibrant youth program is a must for a growing congregation. Billy Graham's revival tent has been replaced by the 'big tent theory'.....where everyone can feel comfortable.....and where no one is offended. What we are seeing here are Christians moving from smaller churches to bigger more exciting churches....and where Bed Bath & Beyond has replaced the Christian bookstore for our needs.
         This type of church growth will not help the overall church.....in fact it hurts the church.....and therefore America. It's window dressing that hides the unseemly family secret where a bloody cross is buried somewhere under the drum set. The only warnings that you will get in church is that the latte machine makes a really hot brew.....and the only preparation you will be encouraged in involves fitness for the coming softball season.
         We were once an ark but have become an arcade. We don't need color spotlights.....or Dolby sound systems. We need a reintroduction on what the Bible says about joy. We need the bloody cross that led to a risen Savior.....and we need warnings on what we have become....and what is to come.
     
         

Chinese Handcuffs

           At least two of our most illustrious conservative commentators....actually probably all of them.... fell for Communist China's offer to renegotiate trade policies....this supposedly in response to President Trump's tough principled tariff policy.
          The communists made a big mistake in not going for checkmate while Barack Obama was in office. They bet on Hillary Clinton winning where they could continue to work together with the American president in undermining America's strength and will to resist. With a President Trump in office it makes it a little bit more complicated.
          It took President Trump more than a year to begin anything substantial towards strengthening America's military. Communist China and their co-conspirators around the world are not going to wait for that to happen. Kim Jong-un may or may not be in Beijing right now but either way he is an important piece in this end-game play.
         Some of you may remember the child's toy called Chinese handcuffs. It was popular when I was young....a colorful braided bamboo strip where the unsuspecting person is told to put a finger from each hand in both ends of the puzzle. When that person then tried to extract their fingers the bamboo strips tightened.....serving as handcuffs. The only way to extract the finger was to relax the fingers and push them towards each other which expanded the bamboo strips....allowing the fingers to be extricated.
         China in effect offered us this cute little toy in their offer to renegotiate trade.....they put their fingers in one first.....we followed.....but as we will soon struggle to get out of the handcuffs....they will simply relax and extricate their fingers.....allowing them to do other things. That's the plan anyway.  The coming conflagration may be economic.....it may be computer targeted.....or it may be military....whatever transpires we will fight ourselves.....and they know it.
         President Xi Jinping knows very well that we are a divided society. That was part of the original goal of communist inspired progressive education to begin with....to sap our will to defend our heritage! Kim Jong-un's and President Xi Jinping's initiatives are a ploy that is so far working perfectly for them. The fact that we....conservatives in or out of government....believe that this international strategery is so simple....that we simply apply tariffs and our enemies bow to us....is rather stunning.
         We in America.....by progressive design....do not know the communist mind.....nor do we understand Communism's methodology.....or it's extreme perseverance and patience....and we have adamantly refused to even consider how progressive education long ago became nothing but a tool of Communism that would over time produce a youth movement that would act as ignorantly and destructively as what we witnessed in our capital this past week.

......I Ran A 5Y The Other Day........

           I wrote the following on August 6th of last year.....over seven months ago....."The Russian probe is President Trump's 'birth certificate' issue. Just release the tax returns....give Mueller a time limit of a month....tell him to then put out what he's got....related to the 2016 election.....and Mueller's work is finished....it's either this or we drag this thing out and our president is further distracted from serious issues, the enormity of which not even Abraham Lincoln faced during the Civil War!"
           Almost four months passed and I posted this...."To fire Mueller would be a gift to these people. That's the reality that we face. I'll say it again....give him another month......give a couple of months if you want......fair warning and more than enough time.....and the money stops."
          The Warren Commission investigating the assassination of a United States President was initiated on November 29th, 1963. It presented an 888 page report on its findings ten months later on September 24th, 1964. The fact that it was a sham is irrelevant. The Mueller special investigation began on May 17th of last year....ten months ago. Is it even worth suggesting again that Mueller be given a month and then that's it?
          I think that if I was knocked unconscious....and when I opened my eyes an EMT asked me if I knew my name.....I might say James Comey or Robert Mueller ....for I've heard those names so much in the last year on conservative 'defend Donald Trump' talk radio. President Trump cannot just fire Mueller.....but he can give him so many weeks or months and then we go to the next step. It's one thing for a congressman (congresswoman) to vote....for show....for an impeachment trial....but another thing altogether for a United States Senator to vote to convict and thereby remove a sitting United States President....particularly on grounds that are obviously politically motivated and in sync with an attempted 'Deep State' coup. That senator...those senators....would surely know that they would be risking a general upheaval in America....which is exactly what our enemies are hoping for!
         The American people are at their limit right now......well maybe not during March Madness but just wait till that's over! Another reality that we face is that this American public has been 'American Idoled' to death. We don't even know what gender is anymore. We fight on airplanes....in restaurants....on the highway....and in Walmarts. Progressive education.....communist inspired....has accomplished its goal. Four years on a higher reeducation campus is the sentence for students whose parents dared teach them about God. John Wayne is dead.....long live George Clooney! Oprah Winfrey is the heir to Billy Graham.....and yet President Trump thinks that there's "never been a better time to start living the American dream." Friends.....for more reasons than I have fingers to count on....he's wrong!
          I tried running again the other day.....five yards.....not five miles.....five yards....it wasn't easy.....I took  a break at two and a half yards. Our lives change. They changed for millions of Americans on December 7th, 1941. It may now be our turn. Extreme soberness is what is needed at this time in American history. Whether you are a millennial or a baby boomer like me....it is time to turn to God.....thank Him for His past blessings for our nation.....acknowledge our failure to protect those blessings by forgetting from Whom those blessings came.....repent of our attempts to secure those blessings by our own power.....and come what may....trust only in that name upon whom..."every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10,11)

"Not By Power, Nor By Might...."

         Communist China's Communist President Xi Jinping....who President Trump likes a lot....Vladimir Putin....the globalist one-world-government community.....and the Iranian mullahs.....are today's axis of evil as it pertains to America's enemies. There is a 'fifth column' inside America made up of radical Progressives who are the genetically modified offspring of Communism....globalists in both parties of our government....the media....and extreme Islamic elements who consider themselves soldiers.
         The globalist leaders have known for decades that although just about everything was in place to bring about a New World Order that one formidable obstacle remained.....far too many of these Americans continued in.....to one degree or another.....clinging to their religion. It was difficult to impossible to fool these people into relinquishing their national sovereignty. This is where Communism came in. It had known for a century.....far longer than the globalists knew....that religion must be destroyed or at least severely weakened in order for Communism to succeed in America. From their clandestine efforts have come our drug culture, the sexual revolution, higher entertainment (aka higher education), a compromised judiciary, the caliphate of the Democrat Party, the blitzkrieg homosexual agenda, and just about anything and everything else that hedonizes America.
          America is defenseless today in that those who are still traditional Americans will be opposed at every turn....by many of their own people......who through a concerted effort over the better part of a century have been miseducated and duped. Thus Donald Trump.....even if he was who he said that he was.....could not hold America together. Conservative talk radio......our first line of defense....has taken the tact of defending President Trump at all costs....in each and every instance....three hours every show.....and to the exclusion of any and every other defensive tactic. In doing this President Trump is not given any sound advice....certainly not warned or even cautioned.....but is actually enabled and even encouraged to make more mistakes.
         The MAGA plan....'Make America Great Again'....is not the answer.....50% of the American public despises the Biblical God.....70% to 80% haven't a clue who He is anyway.....babies are going to be sacrificed to Moloch or offered to the state no matter how many conservative justices wind up on the Supreme Court.....kids are still going to be steered away from God in school.....the more money we get the more we are going to want and the more our sports and entertainments are going to be our gods! We have worked long and hard to bring these judgments upon ourselves and turning to Donald Trump for help only intensified those judgments.
          There is essentially no difference between the godless news anchor or college professor or street protester who is a dupe for Communism....and me....when I was lost in my own particular rebellion. Lost is lost whether it be in Hollywood or Pittsburgh. Should God's Holy Spirit proclaim the name of the great 'I Am' then all will fall before the proclamation. Right now the people, the culture, and American society are sufficiently corrupt that no government could change it even it that government were not corrupt.
          If there is an institution for change in America then look to the pulpits.....which also have failed miserably up till now......but let them know that God is able to raise up preachers of the gospel from the stones lining the beautiful landscaped grounds around their great churches should they continue to play with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
          There is no stopping the judgments.....we had the last forty years for that.....but there are mercies to be had if we are to become what the Communists fear the most.....a religious....Bible believing people.....who cannot be fooled....and who turn to their God as their rock and their fortress!
               
           

Be Your Own Person.....Or Just Follow The Tweets

Preface: A lot of students did take the bait and participated in the school walk-outs.....but a lot more had the discernment....and in some cases the guts to fight the peer pressure......to stay in school! I wonder what the policies would be from a school board where the students wanted to walk out in protest of God being taken out of their classrooms?

             I reside only a few miles away from the congressional district that Conor Lamb made national headlines in by winning (apparently) the special election two days ago. If the new Pennsylvania congressional districts survive challenges then Lamb would most likely serve a few months in congress in one district and then have to run for reelection in this newly formed district.....where he lives. If so he would have to run (should he would win the Democrat primary) against our current congressman.....Keith Rothfus....in our new district! Many of those who voted on Tuesday for Lamb would then be in a new district...and Lamb would not be their congressman or candidate. How weird is that!
             My advice for Keith Rothfus would be to run on his own merit and his own principles.....and not as a 'wingman' for President Trump whose rallies are becoming more ridiculous as time goes on. These rallies may be a fun night out for some but for an increasing number of us who not only voted for Donald Trump on November 8, 2016 but celebrated the next day.....and who have not regretted that particular vote for a moment....to us these rallies are coming to be seen as nothing more than an ostentatious re-presenting of words that are becoming more meaningless each and every day.
             Donald Trump is in the process of forming a new base. If Congressman Rothfus wants to be part of that new base then that's his prerogative.....indeed it may be his best chance to keep his seat....but then as President Trump continues to morph and transform himself.....and if there is anything left of the old conservative movement that fought the establishment for a long time....then running a principled campaign for reelection......which is where we all began.....would be to be his own person......and let others just follow the tweets.

A House Divided

Folks, I wanted to post this (11:33 PM) while there is still 1% of the precincts out in one of the four counties voting in the Pennsylvania 18th Congressional District special election....with less than a thousand votes separating the Republican and Democrat out of over 224,000 votes cast. This election.....and there have been so many close elections like this across America where the two candidates represent ideologies that are polar opposites of one another......this election is a message to us if we would but take it. If there was ever a divided house.....it is America......and it is not a message to come together......it's a message that we are headed for a fall....if we do not as a people turn back to the One who brought us into existence....blessed us mightily in so many ways.....sustained us through great difficulties.....had been longsuffering towards us in our great rebellions.....and very clearly warned us for a half a century! The following post is from June of 2016:

           If  one is born into a cauldron then violence and chaos are the norm and any increasing violence and chaos slowly but surely becomes indiscernible. America has been such a cauldron for the last twenty-five years. Half of its people are being cooked and couldn't tell if there's a new chef or even if the heat is being turned up. The other half, having experienced the extreme discomfort, has determined that the destruction of our city is imminent if something is not done.
          Our discernment is so weakened that Barack Hussein Obama, a man whose past is clouded such that no profile can even be attempted, a past shrouded in secrecy as to whether an Islamic faith lay dormant or whether his communist mentors that shaped the anger within him are still his guide, a man who regularly spews disgust at Christianity and at America....a man like this we not only elected to be our president but after four years of epic failure, deceit and treachery bordering on treason....we elected again.
          Our inability to decipher the message that Islamic terrorism plainly gives to the world that if we do not let their infiltration go on unimpeded, if we attempt to subject them to any scrutiny beyond that which a Boy Scout would get, and if we do not permit them to not only enter but allow them to substitute their law over ours, then they will continue to kill and main with abandon, with no accompanying guilt whatsoever, for their views on right and wrong, and life and death, are so dramatically irreconcilable with ours.
          That Scotland, once united with the European Reformation, and once a bulwark against apostasy, would threaten the United Kingdom with cessation in order to unite with European apostasy not only from liberty but from reverence to a Holy God... this evidences that this house, the West, is truly divided and will fall. This world is hastening towards a confrontation with the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and the author and finisher of the faith of those who look to Him!
       

Would Not Solomon's Words Be Better To Rally Around?

         President Trump's latest rally was in a hanger at the Pittsburgh International Airport, about 18 miles from where I am sitting and typing right now. I'm about 10 miles outside of Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District where a special election has been making national headlines for the past week.
         The President said that he was going to have to have a new slogan in his campaign for a second term because in "just fourteen months" he already made America great again....."I can't say 'Make America Great Again' because I already did that." So the new slogan will be...."Keep America Great."

          Nebuchadnezzar was well aware of Daniel's interpretation of a dream....yet in the next two verses we read....."All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" Nebuchadnezzar then spent...."seven periods of time".....whatever the length of those time periods were.....eating grass like the cattle.
          Have we really all of a sudden become....great again? Isn't that a little presumptuous? Might it not be edifying for all Christians to go back and read the fourth and fifth chapters of the Book of Daniel....and would not Solomon's words in Proverbs 27:1,2 be better to rally around?

"Do not boast about tomorrow,
 For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
 a stranger, and not your own lips.     

......Cashless Christianity........

          Folks, we Christians are not a peculiar people anymore. We are a Republican people. We hardly resemble the churches that Paul ministered to even as our society is increasingly resembling Rome. Can you imagine some of the members of the church at Rome saying....."We're going down to the big boat show at the coliseum on Dies Solis (Sunday).....come over to the house later for a party"?
          I might turn on Christian television any time of the day and see thousands of Christians gathered in some beautiful hi-tech sanctuary listening to what can only be described as a Gnostic rendering of the Bible.
          I know you have caught a glimpse of headlines of the surveys that are released often on what Americans believe about God but have you actually read the entire surveys and meditated on the findings? Can there possibly be more than 10% of the American public that are Christian?
          Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism....from who knows what.....do you think the President is concerned one bit about that? And we don't care that he doesn't care. (we are still allowed to believe that Jesus is the only way...aren't way?) We like to think that Donald Trump banished forever Jezebel in Hillary Clinton but he may have actually brought that pagan idolatry into the White House in Ivana (Ivanka) Marie Kushner...Trump...whatever....and her husband.
          We are becoming a cashless Christianity....so there is little to no cost of discipleship.....no more cost than being a Republican.....frowns....awkward conversations....maybe a few fractured friendships. Whereas the cost to a new believer....one who has actually been born again....might be their spouse threatening to leave them....with the kids....or it might be isolation. I'm referring to America here, for Christians in many other nations already know the true cost of discipleship. There is a winnowing coming to American Christianity where isolation may turn into condemnation and worse as we are increasingly being perceived as becoming divisive.....even unloving....with too much emphasis on being born again....and maybe even a threat to making America great again by not getting on board....no questions asked.... and following the political agenda.
          We are under a delusion right now. If you are genuinely born again you will see it or eventually see it. It's difficult to identify.....it may even seem at first as an answer to prayer.....but there will come to appear to be something terribly wrong with it that only one of the redeemed will be able to spot. Many of those whom we would not expect....will fall as grain on the threshing floor along with the rest of us....and a winnowing will then take place....as many fervent church goers are blown away by the wind or sifted in their Laodicean ignorance. May God....if it be His will....and if it be alone to His glory.....increase the harvest....even overflow the storehouse....enough so that grace and mercy might be bestowed on America in these difficult days ahead.
     

   

Is This Our Great Victory

         Folks, here is the mood of the conservative right now....and the Christian....I'm sorry to report. Lets' start with America's debt....a debt that in reality cannot be overcome and will lead....after a catastrophe of some sort.....to an entirely new economic system controlled by an unrecognizable world order....but we.....in our infinite naivete......have chosen to simply ignore this.....refuse to recognize the problem......and fully expect it to magically disappear..... as happy days are obviously here again! Our intelligence being wasted.....history repeatedly ignored.....and common sense ridiculed......we are in the midst of selling our godly heritage for a mess of pottage.
         Wall Street is an infected bulging growth fed by pure and unadulterated greed. It represents idolatry and we are worshiping it right now. This golden calf already has the wrath of God upon it and when it falls over will cause a panic such as we may have never witnessed before. Once again our feeble plan is simply to will this not to happen.....a form of soft sorcery that Christians not only partake in.....but have talked themselves into believing that it is God's way of rewarding us for voting for Donald Trump..
           Let's look at wars....and rumors of war. This nuclear nightmare is not for us.....no way.....do you want proof......turn on your television.....or go to the movies.....we are as gods. A Middle East war will at worst just be another in the long line of Middle East wars. Look at what happened in North Korea! These things have a way of working themselves out. In reality....war is coming......Communism has long known that it is necessary......and the globalists......more than one might like to admit.....think it necessary to trim the world's population down considerably. As for radical Islam.....they are drooling over the prospects of war.
          We are not only celebrating 'peace and safety' right now....we are glorying in it....even thanking God for it.....all the while fulfilling prophesy.....both from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Friends.....Paul wrote to us...."But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober..."
          Look closer at Donald Trump....is it not possible that he is but a king (Saul) that we demanded.....instead of humbling ourselves before an omnipotent God? Compare his words with those of the Apostle Paul's.....consider his demeanor.....his comportment.....his personality. What is it that draws us to him other than larger than life celebrity. What valuable trait is there in him to recommend? How far might his audacity go if unchecked by an honest critique of his methods? Is it unreasonable to demand some consistent ideological belief system?
          Then consider our own frailty in all of this.....a frailty that produced the culture and society that we now live in. Meanwhile Rush Limbaugh literally laughs his way through his show every day.....until an ominous to the President news trend comes around where he in as much as pounds his desk in anger......then returns to laughter as economic news brightens the President's prospects....becoming increasingly irreverent as time goes by. Is this what we wanted? Is this our great victory?

7 Days In Entebbe.....A Review

          We all know the story of the 1976 Israeli rescue of hijacked Air France passengers in Entebbe, Uganda....for most everyone has probably already seen at least one movie made about it.  Well this much is for sure.....the director of the newly released 7 Days In Entebbe must have had to work as hard as he could....use all his powers of artistic license.....and in effect pull off a minor miracle to end the film without anyone in the audience having any emotion at all.....for the rescue was....sterile.....I don't know what other word to use.
          The film didn't directly attack or criticize Israel but by leaving this vacuum at the end when one would normally think that saving 100 lives was something good....it's what the stare might be like from a feminist college professor who had to give an A+ to a blond guy wearing a Trump tee-shirt....just because he got 100 out of 100 multiple choice questions right on the exam......surely there must be some sort of 'chad' thing.....or wrong pen color thing to fail him!
          I have to admit that I'm not a fan of modern dance.....or modern art......I'm not a fan of modern anything.....but an Israeli modern dance troupe plays an integral part of the film....from the beginning to the end. I imagine it's probably real good stuff....if you like being mesmerized.
          Up to the end I thought it was a good film.....a very good film. The portrayals of Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin were excellent.....particularly Peres. The surgical efficiency of the Israeli military in the rescue mission was evident....and there were some decent character studies.....except Idi Amin who seemed like he'd be a fun guy if he's just quit that atrocities habit of his. Here's a hint....if you stay for the end credits you will be treated to something that only a very very intelligent person could understand.....maybe even only a genius! I'm only a college grad so I had no idea.....but if you are into people like Elizabeth Warren.....you'll probably get a lot out of it....it might even change your life....you might quit your job.....move out to Arizona.....and spend your days looking for a great white buffalo or something!
          So should a conservative go see the film? I say yes.....if you are confident of your opinions then it's not going to shake them....but you should know that there are a lot of big name conservatives out there nowadays who get real worried when simple people like us come across unpleasant things......so they just don't tell us unpleasant things.......for we might begin to actually think for ourselves. Here's a hint for them though......we've been thinking for ourselves for a long time now.....that's why your a big name conservative....so get back to work!

No Day Of My Life

The following post is from June of 2016:

        Ronald Reagan could not right this ship of state. George Washington could not buy us another day apart from what God has allotted. Thomas Jefferson could not convince this moribund Congress of its illness. Benjamin Franklin could not shame this media into doing their job. Abraham Lincoln could not find words of wisdom to penetrate the cold, listless, Facebook mentality that paralyzes our intellects. Self-abasement and repentance are what is needed in America. We have done it before but we are different people today. We are more likely to demand that God admit a little culpability in our problems.
        It was probably the mid 1990's, I was listening to John MacArthur's radio program Grace To You, and he offered his listening audience a free book titled Valley of Vision. The offer slipped my mind and I never sent for it. I happened upon it one day while looking through a catalog from Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The full title is The Valley Of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, and it's edited by Arthur Bennett and published by Banner Of Truth Trust. It sits prominently on a table in our dining room and I use it as a dinner prayer book irregardless of who we might have over. It is one of my most valued possessions in life.
         The following is one of those prayers. I read it over three or four times before starting to compose this post. The reader does not know the author of the prayers. A dozen or so names from the past are given but it was intentional not to put a name to the individual prayers. Please consider meditating on the words of this prayer if only for a few minutes. Does your pastor pray in this spirit of humility? Do your own prayers prostrate yourself before God as this prayer would have us?
       
     
O Lord, No day of my life has passed that has not proved me guilty in thy sight,
Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart;
Praise has been often praiseless sound;
My best services are filthy rags.
Blessed Jesus, Let me find a covert in thy appeasing wounds.
Though my sins rise to heaven thy merits soar above them;
Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,
Thy righteousness exalts me to thy throne.
All things in me call for my rejection,
All things in thee plead my acceptance.
I appeal from the throne of perfect justice
To thy throne of boundless grace,
Grant me to hear thy voice assuring me:
that by thy stripes I am healed,
that thou wast bruised for my iniquities,
that thou hast been made sin for me,
that I might be righteous in thee,
that my grievous sins, my manifold sins,
are all forgiven,
buried in the ocean of thy concealing blood.
I am guilty, but pardoned
lost, but saved.
wandering, but found,
sinning, but saved,
Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,
Keep me always clinging to thy cross.
Flood me every moment with descending grace,
sparkling like crystal
flowing clear and unsullied
through my wilderness of life.

Pour Your Oil In The Sanctuary Lord

November 2016:

        Have mercy on us Lord. We took credit for what others had done. We looked over this land of wealth and prosperity and said 'look what our hands have built!'  We took chisel and hammer to the tablets that you gave us and broke them in pieces. We tore up the documents that our fathers had worked so long and so hard to write and said 'they are but fetters and we don't need any directions.' We thus scuttled everything our forefathers put in place for a nation to run orderly, honestly and wisely, and now we stand on the ruins gazing off into the distance often arrogantly but in the case of many...ignorantly...proclaiming that 'we...can make it great again' without seeking first your mercies and forgiveness.
         We took the day that you commanded us to keep holy and set it apart for our games. We took our children that are precious in your sight and let others raise them who care nothing for you. We bought them toys to pacify them, and when they got bored and demanded more we gave them 'smart toys' that were to be tools of education but turned out to be doors of perception where upon entering they are introduced to the very deceiver that you warned us about.
         We look into a mirror and see nothing.......and then marvel at how there are no imperfections. You Lord have become as a pet, an alabaster statue of a pet that needs little attention other than dusting off once a week. You are placed in a corner whose bareness called out for a knickknack. Your book has long since become outmoded fashion. It no longer fits in with the decor.
         We are blind but a virtual reality has given us eyesight into a new world called Utopia. We have enemies on all sides of us but they wear masks that we compliment them on. In times past we would be considered The Almost Christians but we are unaware of this for the past has been locked up and the key thrown away. We are in need of a mercy that only our pulpits can accurately proclaim, but those pulpits now only soothe, play music and enchant us with witticisms and advice. Thunder no longer emanates above them, glory no longer fills the buildings, grace no longer rains upon the roofs, and angels no longer protect at the gates.

         Pour your oil in the sanctuary Lord that we may sweep out the dust. Do this Lord because the building that we have let become rundown bears your name! Do it for your glory Lord! Have mercy upon us for your glory alone Lord.

......Dangerous Gambit........

           President Trump liked telling us from time to time that Communist China's President Xi was a great guy. To say that he does not understand the communist mind or Communism is an understatement. If Communist China's economy tanks....which is very possible.... then the Communist Party may have an uprising on its hands....and we all....except possibly Donald Trump....know what that means for a communist nation. In this particular case it would very likely effect the whole world.
           This tariff gambit stinks. President Trump tells us every chance that he gets that the American economy is going great and only going to get better......yet he now decides to enter a dangerous area.....for what.....he says the economy is going to be great for everyone......it makes no sense......unless he's doing it for political purposes. This is the same gambit being played with moving Israel's capitol.....when you are teetering on the brink of war.....you don't polish your sabers so they shine brighter.
           Only those in the White House Oval Office with a top secret clearance......and Jared with his secret clearance and decoder ring.....know exactly what China is and is not doing as concerning North Korea....but one might be safe to speculate that tariffs won't help the situation. What's more pressing a problem to the President.....dealing with a possible nuclear conflagration with an insane tyrant.....or solidifying the 'America first' element in his base? Unfortunately I think that I know the answer to that.

Winning?

            Fox News is reporting that US and South Korean intelligence communities have been trying to build a mental and physical profile on Kim Jong-un. Generals have used this type of intel from time immemorial. If Kim Jong-un is really Kim Jong-ill then that certainly has to be taken into consideration with his nukes. If he is Kim Jong-crazy then that's even worse. Our enemies have drawn up mental and physical profiles on American presidents since at least Franklin Roosevelt. Kennedy was tested because of his youth and Jimmy Carter was tested because of his pious religiosity. Bill Clinton was compromised because of his love of money. Ronald Reagan was respected because they knew that he was determined even though opponents of his in America claimed that he was senile.
            Donald Trump is the biggest psychological case study since Sigmund Freud analyzed Sergius Pankejeff every day for four straight years. So what type of profile might these foreign intelligence agencies be constructing on Donald J. Trump?
            Religion is off the table as they are aware of that which even Christians in America are not...that any talk about God by President Trump is purely political. This is especially important concerning Israel as President Trump's support may be real due to his campaign promises and the pressure that is upon him but it is not unbreakable in the art of the deal....even Benjamin Netanyahu appears not to be aware of this.
            The psychology of the power of positive thinking is the driving force in Donald Trump's makeup. A young Donald Trump was discipled by Norman Vincent Peale who considered him his greatest pupil but our enemies may not be aware of the importance of this very American phenomenon where one simply trusts that things will going well. Communism's rigid dupes are not likely to pick up on it.
            Narcissism is another consideration.....and probably the main consideration in analyzing Donald Trump. The KGB understood this flaw as do communists today. If they perceive an opponent vulnerable along this line then they will exploit it.....and this is probably what is taking place with the North Korean problem. A telling comment by President Trump given only hours after there were rumors of Kim Jong-un wanting to meet and talk about peace naturally went unnoticed by his supporters but most likely not by our enemies. In typical Donald Trump fashion, he made this self-serving comment to a reporter before the ink on the announcement was dry....."Hopefully you will give me credit."
             It was stunning......not simply in that it demonstrated that Donald Trump's reputation is the primary motivating force in anything that he does.....discerning observers already knew that....but stunning in this President reaches out and snatches the chips before the croupier can even push them towards him....unconcerned that there will be many more rolls of the dice! Our enemies know this.....and rejoice in their opportunity here....but we are too busy celebrating 'winning' to notice what should be obvious and disturbing flaws in the wisdom and basic general awareness of President Trump.
       
     

Another Message In A Bottle

Well another 'drift bottle' was found, this time on an Australian beach, 132 years after it was tossed into the sea as part of a German oceanographic experiment. As I did with the post below from 2014 when a similar experimental drift bottle was found, I'm using this news to describe my own drift bottles.:

April, 2014:     

          This news item caught my attention and then generated this post. A German fisherman found a bottle with a postcard in it and the date May 17, 1913 was legible over the stamps. Researchers were able to identify the author through the address on the postcard. It's believed the bottle was thrown into the Baltic Sea by a 20 year old man on a nature hike and then it floated on the cold waters for 100 years. The message on the postcard reads "Please state where and when this card was found, and then put it in the nearest Post Office. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our object is to find out the direction of the deep currents of the North Sea."
          Romance writer Nicholas Sparks wrote a novel which was turned into a film titled Message In A Bottle where a man who lost his wife writes a letter, places it in a bottle and tosses it into the waters off of North Carolina. The bottle is found shortly afterwards and what follows is the plot of the book and the film.
          We have been vacation people who loved our many trips to the beaches of the East Coast and are hoping to return to the Outer Banks of North Carolina again this year. The photo you see on the left is from a recent trip to Hilton Head. I can't remember how old our son was, I'm guessing maybe eight or ten, when we started a little tradition. You can find them in just about every store on the boardwalk.....little bottles about two inches high... half-filled with sand and tiny sea shells. I would buy about a half a dozen of them, pull the cork, and place an evangelistic message of some sort inside and then My son and I would walk the beach and toss the bottles into the waves. Surely after so many years some of them are still floating. Some time ago I started putting a little Christian message card with the web address for these posts on it in those bottles. Yes, I still throw them into the sea and if our son is along we do it together, and he's twenty-seven years old now.
          It's been debated for centuries....does God elect us or do we choose him? I believed the latter for the first ten years of my Christian walk but then came to see that it is impossible to choose Christ with a fallen nature and that God, in His infinite mercy, elects some who after regeneration do indeed see their fallen condition and cry out for the Savior. Many just do not realize the chronology of events but all rejoice in the opportunity to tell others of Jesus Christ who redeems the lost, loves the most unlovable and then uses them, in many different ways, to put their own message in a bottle.

          If you are interested, there is a valuable resource on the web at.refnet.fm. It's 24-hour Internet radio and describes itself this way "...committed to the historic Christian Faith......Preaching, Teaching, News, Music, & Audiobooks."

Either Way....

           It had been on my mind since Billy Graham's funeral service was announced, and I had been praying every day for Franklin Graham. They had constructed one of those large tents in which a young Billy Graham had preached in his early revival crusades. It was invitation only but there was one man who would be in attendance in whose actions and decisions in these perilous times might determine whether God has mercy on America as these judgments increase and we enter into turmoil and affliction. I'm speaking of course of President Donald Trump.
           I was in conversation with a friend today in which I described President Trump's references to God something like this.....imagine a freshman in high school would came to class totally unprepared for an oral quiz.....let's say in history...."Robert.....describe the two primary sides opposing each other in World War II".....Robert stands up and looks up to the lights for a minute then does his best under the circumstances...."Well....there was a lot of real bad guys....really real bad guys on the other side.....and the good guys were on our side." That's generally the impression I get whenever President Trump enters into the topic of America's historic faith in God.
              Now there's a lot of Christians who would disagree with me on this but that's for two reasons. One....they...we....live in an age when the gospel of Jesus Christ has been so watered down that almost any description is considered acceptable.....if admittedly incomplete. And two....they have put all their hopes and dreams on Donald Trump. They are in effect in denial as to what really has transpired over the past year and few months.
             Donald Trump was raised under the tutelage of Norman Vincent Peale of whom one commentator once said...."Paul I find appealing....Peale I find appalling." I had once read where Donald Trump met Billy Graham at some time earlier in his life and out of that we naturally assume that the gospel was given.....and even that Mr. Trump may have responded favorably. The problem here is that it is very difficult to present the gospel in a meeting such as this would have been....even for Billy Graham. I've been involved in many of these encounters over the years and I'm sure that you have also. It's certainly not impossible that at a time such as this....that a person confronts the totality of his life......but these occasions are not the norm. In any case this is just hearsay or speculation....for in this world of celebrity worship and movers and shakers.....stories can and are embellished and even invented......regularly.
             So today.....as I listened in through Sirius/Xm radio.....President Donald Trump......hopefully as far away from the cameras as a president can get.....heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in sermon format......in hushed silence.....and at a time in his life where potential world calamities affecting hundreds of millions of people are all around.....he primarily being the one man upon whom much of the world rests their hope or at least acknowledges that his decisions are vital.....and all this while he is being brutally attacked from political enemies....simply because those political enemies found an easy mark to vent their festering hatred of anything good.
            My conversation with a friend continued. This day either Donald Trump walks in humility.....if even for a few moments.....enough that he won't be able to escape so easily in the future the message that there is truth.....and that truth is in Jesus Christ.....that there is no other way to Heaven......that there indeed is a hell.....and that there is no middle way. Either that or President Trump's conscience might very well be seared. It's nearing midnight and I'm still letting my mind imagine this being a day for mercy upon this man our president. Either way.....there may have been other days....other occasions....but it's no longer hearsay or speculation.....Donald Trump has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ......preached.....and not just passed on.
   

God Has Given Us What We Wanted

The following was first posted the day after the recent State Of The Union Address

         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.

Promises Made.....Promises Nuanced

           I would look forward to one or two Christian conferences a year back in the 1990s. It was nice to see a John MacArthur or a Michael Horton in person....and the book tables at these conferences were always a favorite of mine....but the hour long lectures themselves were really never anything that I hadn't already heard from the speaker's radio and tape ministries....so I backed off on attending.  My wife and I did take a Caribbean cruise only a few years ago and it was nothing short of wonderful as we the audience of Horton's Christian radio show the White Horse Inn occupied the main dining concourse but even here the fellowship and relaxation was far more important than the lectures.
          I considered a few years going to CPAC in our nation's capitol. I'm sure that I would have wiggled myself into a number of conversations but as I instead listened in to CPAC on radio....I saw that although I agree on most of the issues....I don't have the same attitude....and certainly not the same optimism. Even as I have listened in this year it's painfully evident that they and I see two totally different levels of danger that America faces.
          What we are seeing in the world today is the 'red' of Communism and the 'blue' of the European Union coming together as a beast dressed in the color of scarlet. This should be the concern of the Christian....but we have chosen instead to gaze off at an image of what we naively perceive to be a champion....and have even been so seduced as to be taken in by his glamorous daughter and most personal adviser....who despises us!
           I'm listening now to the President as he speaks at CPAC and it is beyond sad....as it has been at every one of these pep rallies....to see people led on so by such a highly refined psychological mantra of promises and insults....always concluded by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' composition of  'I Can't Get No Satisfaction'....(at least it's not 'Sympathy For The Devil')....that produces what are near religious chants such as USA...USA...USA.....and....Donald Trump....Donald Trump...Donald Trump....and...lock her up...lock her up....lock her up....and....build the wall....build the wall....build the wall.....and yet as soon as the speech is ended.....and the potential problem of conservatives and Christians actually analyzing what has transpired over the past year....and what has not actually transpired....or discerning how promises have been nuanced beyond recognition....then that potential problem having been taken care of for the moment.....it's back to business as usual.....until then next pep rally is deemed necessary.
            Mark Levin is still set to speak at CPAC. Will he be the lone voice to tell the CPAC audience that things are not well in the direction that America is going.....even with Donald Trump......or will he play to what the audience wants to hear? Mark Levin is no compromiser....but the pressure is immense and it is building to just believe everything that President Trump says....no questions asked.....and to remain in lockstep.....or risk alienation from the herd. The following was posted after last year's CPAC:

Selfies At CPAC

          We're sitting across the table at dinner and my wife asked me a question on plans we have for tomorrow. I may have had a glazed look on my face and my response was something like..."Wha?" I apologized...the conversation went something like this:

"Sorry...My mind is somewhere else."
"What are you thinking about?"
I paused and then answered truthfully...
"Nebuchadnezzar."
"Nebuchadnezzar....you're eating meatloaf during a cozy dinner with your wife and thinking about Nebuchadnezzar?"
"Uh huh."

         Most any Christian of at least a few years is familiar with the passage of Scripture in the book of Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar was on the roof of the royal palace admiring all that he had accomplished when he exclaimed..."Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built by my vast power to be a royal residence and to display my majestic glory?" A few years ago Donald Trump was interviewed on Face The Nation by the CBS host John Dickerson. I came across the transcripts of that interview last night and a comment in an answer that he gave was a little unsettling...he said, "...In my case, I have made over $10 billion net, net, net! I have created a tremendous company! I have some of the greatest assets in the world!"
         Every shout of USA...USA...USA...such as we hear a lot and such as I heard only minutes ago from the televised coverage of CPAC at National Harbor, Maryland, is wasted breath at best. We also remember, I would expect, what happened to Nebuchadnezzar after his boastful rant? He became a vegetarian for seven whatevers while eating the grass of the field with the beasts. This is no time for shouts of USA USA nor is it a time for let's Make America Great Again. If one can't discern this our society of fist pumps for sinking a putt, where once in our country we beat our breast in sorrow for offending our God, then one might also not discern "strong delusion" when it appears.

        What President Trump may be about to experience in that office he occupies would be more than any man...or woman...can handle without faith in Jesus Christ.....and about a million times worse than any bankruptcy he ever worked his way out of. This is beyond a tempest that we are in, it's a whirlpool...a vortex whose suction is pulling us under while we....our arms outstretched....are taking selfies at CPAC.

Who Exactly Is Donald Trump

           I haven't heard Mark Levin's speech to CPAC yet but did read a few comments that he made. He said that it was our duty to defend President Trump because the Constitution itself was in danger. He's absolutely right on this, in fact it was because of this very reason that there was so many of us who voted for Donald Trump in the general election to begin with (not but the primaries).....for the Constitution would also have been under attack by Hillary Clinton.
           Congressman James E. Rogan was one of the 13 House managers in the Impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, and his book on that experience, Catching Our Flag: Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment, should be read in the impeachment climate of today. It would be one thing for the Democrats to take back the House and begin impeachment proceedings but another thing altogether to get a guilty verdict in a Senate trial. We should take these threats very seriously....but not panic....thereby causing even more problems.
            I bring this up because this communist inspired element in our Congress today that tries to not only undermine but destroy our Constitution must be confronted on every level but we cannot in the process open the door for another kind of tyranny.....that of globalism and a New World Order ushered in here in America by the establishment wing of the Republican Party. The unfortunate situation is that we have more than one front in this war on our sovereignty. Donald Trump is not a conspirator here for he doesn't have this ideological passion....but his daughter and others in the White House may very well have it.....and thus we cannot just defend and not hold the actions of this administration to account.
 

          President Trump is impetuous, juvenile and disturbingly vindictive. He rushes to put out a tweet.....and at times.....like something that a teenager might do......he gets in trouble for it......and that's what happened in March of 2017. Conservatives....this is your champion!

Donald Trump ran.....and pushed everyone else out of the way.....on a few key issues. The repeal and replacement of Obamacare was one of them. The Republican establishment came up with a bill last March that was correctly labelled by some Obamacare Light and Obamacare 2.0. We recognized this right away....but President Trump got behind this bill and started applying the pressure to the Freedom Caucus. He lost his temper and threatened the only true conservatives that we have in the Congress. They held firm. Obamacare Light was thrown in the garbage. President Trump could care less about actually repealing and replacing Obamacare. What has happened since then on Obamacare in no way absolves this president from what he tried to do!

President Trump had to be dragged to the table to sign a paper purportedly getting us out of the Paris Climate Accord. Observant conservatives were wondering why he kept saying things like....I'm thinking about it...I'm thinking about it. Ivanka was on his case. He finally signed it but this is something that can be brought back at any time and just this past week a former adviser of his who has since left the White House said that President Trump may very well indeed return later to this accord. This is your champion......deny it if you want.....he could care less about an issue like this!

President Trump also campaigned on reforming the tax structure. Admittedly this is a tough task. Failing to do this in itself would not condemn the President. The problem is that after getting what was a tax cut passed....he bragged about yet another promise kept....instead of doing what he did yesterday at CPAC in saying that it wasn't reform but a tax cut. So what happened is that he deceived as he always deceives until he felt comfortable it telling it like it is. This is your champion and he will continue to act like this....for it is who he is.

President Trump made a big deal about signing directives for the government not prosecuting on the Johnson Amendment that restricts what pastors can say from the pulpit. This is good. For the Johnson Amendment to be done away with it would have had to be included in the recent tax bill. It wasn't and no one talked about it. I wonder why? I know why. President Trump doesn't really care about this either.

There was a lot of talk about military spending included in the recent budget deal....and this also is good but President Trump had done little to nothing over the past year as far as strengthening the military. Even the Military Times commented on this. If he cared so much about this...this was an odd way of showing it....but then again this is Donald Trump. There are very few things that Donald Trump really has a passion about and those generally revolve around a booming economy.

President Trump did nominate a conservative Supreme Court judge.....and quite a few conservative federal judges.....but if you are going to be honest about this you will acknowledge that Ted Cruz and other candidates would have done exactly the same thing....and many of the strict regulations that have been done away with would also have been done away with had these candidates succeeded. So it's good what President Trump did here but it is disingenuous to imply that this is all because of him.

The Wall is another major promise that was made. President Trump obviously made big promises that were impossible to come through on. We can live with this for this unfortunately is what politicians do....but over the past year....right up until yesterday he continues with his mantra, and the purpose of it is solely to keep his supporters in line. There is little honesty in how this thing is playing out.....and its obvious here also that President Trump does not really have the passion on the border that he claims to have.

President Trump ran also on clearing out the swamp. How is doing here? Right from the get-go it was obvious that he had no intention of doing this.

How about the globalists? The global elite had big problems with Donald Trump....because they....like us.....believed that he believed in what he campaigned on. As time progressed they saw that he wasn't as big a problem as they feared. They actually kind of like him today. This friends is because Donald Trump is himself a globalist.

The 'Deep State' is more than just a problem. In fact the rogue element today...or the minority element....seems to be those who are good public servants in these intelligence communities! That's how bad it is. Now it would have been more than problematic for President Trump to just fire Robert Mueller....that damage was done by the assistant Attorney General.....but why hasn't he been fired? If President Trump was not involved in any collusion.....which it appears obvious.....and has since the beginning appeared that he wasn't....why has he taken such a high profile approach by tweeting incessantly for a year now? Just let the guy do what he's going to do....but give him a time limit.....this should have been done last summer.....and let it play out.

Why is it that as President Trump had one rally after another over the past year that we conservatives did not say..."OK....we're with you....enough with the campaign stuff." Why couldn't we see that something was wrong here....why was he constantly stirring us up? Something was not right. The answer is that if we were not kept in a state of high alert on something then we would have had time to look closer at who President Trump actually is.....with Ivanka and Jared and McMaster and others.

What about the most potent force in our favor in the conservative movement...conservative talk radio? Well, Rush Limbaugh made the most stunning reversal of a talk show host that I personally have ever seen. Everything was thrown to the wind in order to defend President Trump from the attacks of the Deep State. Do you remember when President Trump endorsed McConnell's candidate Luther Strange in the primary? Rush didn't even mention it...and when Strange was beaten by Roy Moore then Rush finally gave a weak explanation on why he was quiet. How is it that there are conservatives literally all over America who are upset over one thing or another with President Trump and yet they do not make their way as callers on his show? Is this honesty....or are we being played? Sean Hannity was a little more open about it. He did give just about all of his shows to defending President Trump but he at least commented forcefully from time to time on certain issues where President Trump was failing us....and President Trump then usually backed off. Mark Levin has held faithful to the principles of conservatism.....which brings me to Steve Bannon....

This is my take on Mr. Bannon.....he expected to have to work hard to keep Donald Trump in line....to keep him true to his promises.....but came to see that it was an impossible task.....that Donald Trump was not in fact who he said that he was. So he was out at the White House....but true to form in who he was.....the most proactive person in getting things done that I have ever come across....he took his plans of promoting genuine reform candidates back to Breitbart. The Fire And Fury book did him in and President Trump and those who he put around him jumped on it......Bannon was banished.....like Roy Moore was done in.....and like Jim DeMint was let go.....who was probably the best public servant that we have had in a long long time in Washington.

We in conservatism are between that proverbial rock and a hard place.  The Deep State is in the middle of an attempted coup. This severe disease within our government goes back to the Kennedy assassination....and even earlier. President Eisenhower saw the problem clearly. We have to address this forcefully and conservative talk radio is doing this very well....but....but in the process they have let another problem develop.....and that is Donald Trump. It could have been done where the Deep State was addressed just as strongly but President Trump was also held accountable at the same time.....but that's not the path we took....and we will have to face that problem eventually.

So where are Christians in all of this? Folks, there are books written that we buy up and make best sellers that tell us that God gave us President Trump to make America great again. The America that they want to return to was not great.....that America is long gone. In fact that America that they want to return to was in rebellion to God and under the warnings of extreme judgment.

What I've written here in no way diminishes what happened on election day 2016. ....but we have not stayed alert and vigilant. We gave Hillary Clinton her walking papers but have been enslaved once again by the dreaded establishment elite....and we don't even know it!   


  

There Has Never Been A Better Time To Start Living The American Dream.....Really?

           This much is certain......our enemies.....whether they be communists or masters of the globe or Islamacists.....are celebrating their good fortune. Their glee must be such that they have to control themselves so as to even stay focused on their mission. Our daily news is their comic section. The America that at times forcibly over decades kept them at bay and at other times stomped furiously on them is no more. The military power remains.....the American G.I....to use an all-inclusive word....is as strong and committed as ever......but the people themselves have fallen.
           God has totally forsaken half of us.....half of America! If only they were no help.....if only they stumbled along as the zombies they love......but they are more valuable to our enemies than any number of armies and ships and aircraft. Only God could so completely confuse right and wrong in the minds of people as these who we have to deal with each and every day as we try to set up defensive bulwarks in our land. This is judgment from God as sure as any judgment upon Israel and Judah ever experienced!
          The other half of us God has not totally forsaken. He continues to warn.....we still have functioning minds.....and we still know right from wrong.....but we have little to no discernment to put any of that to good use. Donald Trump was not the answer.....Jesus Christ has always been.....is now....and always will be the answer.
           There is no making America great again. It was an absurd proposition to begin with. One would have to mentally labor, have the imagination of Hemingway and the skill with words of Honest Abe himself to construct a thought as preposterous as these words from President Trump's State of the Union address....."There has never been a better time to start living the American dream"....for in reality there has never been a worse time to start living the American dream.
          The stock market is going to fail us.....and this is probably a good thing because half of America isn't feeding at this pig's tough. Were we able to stuff our pockets forever with money there would result the biggest 50/50 disparity of wealth within the same country in the history of the world.
         I would suggest that the younger person read both Brave New World and 1984 but I know that they already have read them because Progressivism's miseducation of America made sure that you have read them.....for one of the cruelest jokes that Satan ever played upon us was having us read these our obituaries in advance of our actual demise. Another of the biggest jokes perpetuated upon us was in talking us into taking part of Facebook.....the computer cyber-mausoleum that our images will be entombed in. Everything in the founding of Facebook should have kept us away from it.....all the warnings from psychologists should have motivated us to keep it away from our children....and the continuous news reports....over the years.....on privacy concerns and the tyrannical potential of this monster of a propaganda disseminating machine should have kept churches and ministries from having any part of this......but alas.....it's a cool way to put our schadenfreude into action....while feeding steroids to our narcissism in the process.....and letting all the small boats capsize in the whirlpool as our bigger boats.....like ol' man river....just keep on rollin'.....thus displaying the opposite of Christian love.....'I don't care if it hurts others....it helps me.'