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.
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.
