'The Flow Of The Psalms'

         I neglected the Psalms for a long time. Oh I had read in them regularly....worshipped with them.....and memorized portions......but my failure to see the grandeur and significance throughout can only be explained by what must be labelled neglect. Now I'm consumed by them....Christ is everywhere.....doctrine is everywhere.....prayer is everywhere.....and prophesy is everywhere. This all started with the book described in the following post from this past August. I only hope to encourage you to read it:

         So there are 150 Psalms. How did they get to be put in the order that they are in? We know that they aren't chronological. Did one man or one group of men just take the responsibility and come up with the order of sequence? Well the answer to that is probably yes, but that still begs the question....why did they order the Psalms as they did?
         The next question might be, is the order that the Psalms are in important? O. Palmer Robertson is a Christian theologian and Bible scholar whom I have been familiar with for many years. Twenty years ago, when I had a Christian bookstore, every book in it was hand-picked. To the best of my ability I chose books that were not only respected by other Christians....Christians that I in turn greatly respected....but were beyond a doubt biblically sound. O. Palmer Robertson's The Christ Of The Covenants was one of those books.
          So in 2015, without even having to read the blurbs on the back cover, I picked up his latest book, The Flow Of The Psalms, Discovering Their Structure And Theology. My view, admittedly then weak, has been forever changed by the humble yet declarative structure of the Psalms that O. Palmer Robertson presents in this very readable book complete with a chart of his findings. I've since given a few of these books away and always....always....with a vigorous recommendation.
          We had already known that the Psalms were divided into five books. This in itself should have given us pause as to what other divisions there were. I've read through The Flow Of The Psalms three times so far...transfixed each and every time. I'm not going to even attempt to give a detailed synopsis on what the author has found, for I want you to read it for yourself. Walter C Kaiser Jr., President Emeritus Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary wrote this in the forward..."...for here is a groundbreaking and innovative piece of research and study that will open up new vistas of study and preaching to the whole body of Christ from the beloved treasury of the Psalter."
          I will admit to this. There seems to be a prophetic element to this order of the Psalms. The narrative of the five book division itself indicates a very clear story line but within each of those story lines O. Palmer Robertson has detected additional mini-narratives. Some are messianic in nature. Others are Torah related. Acrostic Psalms are delved into as to the meaning and placement. Pyramid groupings of Psalms, as the author calls them, gives light to the already obvious meanings of these individual Psalms.
         God is indeed lifting veils on the structure of the Psalms and O. Palmer Robertson was given one giant step forward on this. Where this will lead we will just have to wait and see but it will, I truly believe, lead somewhere to our great benefit.
         I neglected the Psalms for many years and consequently deprived myself of the beauty therein of worship to a majestic God and Savior. Seeing that majesty and beauty for the first time while at the same time being instructed of the precision and order of the Psalms has been overwhelming. The blessings are there for all of us. My hope in this post is that even but a handful of readers might take this journey into the Psalms!

Note: You can purchase The Flow Of The Psalms at cvbbs.com....at a very good price by the way....and thereby support their faithful efforts over many years to distribute this type of excellent Christian literature.

Senior Advisers To The President Of The United States!

            Donald Trump made a monumental and grievous error at the very beginning of his presidency and we conservatives didn't even call him out on it.....and barely even mentioned it. There was no excuse for bringing his 36 year old real estate magnate son-in-law into the Oval Office as Senior Adviser to the President. He had no place being there.....and then incredibly the President brought in his daughter Ivanka....again as Senior Adviser to the President of the United States of America!!!!!!
            New Yorkers....metropolitan types....the older generations anyway who grew up with the city's daily tabloids....these people have known who Donald Trump is for decades....and that's one of the reasons they despise him. The typical farm-belt Trumpster really has no idea who he is.....they know who he proclaimed himself to be....but other than a nickname such as 'the Donald'.....or the man who fired people on The Apprentice....they don't really know him. If they did then at the very least they would not be so enamored with him....nor would they so easily believe or trust him on anything.
            It's a genuine paradox in that the same people who seem to worship the out-of control celebrities of today......would turn and devour one of their own.....but that's what's happened. President Trump gored more than a few of their sacred cows and therefore....not being an outsider such as a Ted Cruz....but a homegrown heretic....he needs to go to the stake.
            Donald Trump has not changed one iota since winning that election....but you wouldn't know that there was no change unless you knew what he was like before the White House....and if you don't know what he was like before then you are under an extreme disadvantage in assessing him now. There are no rights or wrongs....no real friends with Donald Trump....just family....and even here you better be successful....there's no real passions other than making money and sustaining the Trump Brand.
            Jared Kushner is not just another competitor from the billionaire class who happened to marry his daughter.....and someone who can be used because of the loyalty factor. He schmoozes with the very best of them.....and Donald Trump therefore uses him to brush hog the weeds and turn the soil for Donald Trump to then plant.
            The picture we originally had of Jared Kushner was one of a quiet young man who was given responsibility because of nepotism....as it turns out we are finding out that he is a lot more than that. When his father was sent to prison for a while.....(by United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey Chris Christie)....Jared took over the reins of the multi-billion dollar family business.....took over the reins! He is every bit as driven to sustain his Kushner family name as Donald Trump is with the Trump Brand. In this respect they are two of a kind!
             Jared and Ivanka have already stomped around knocking over furniture in a office that they had no business even being in. Chris Christie didn't last long as leader of the transition team as he was summarily disposed of with Jared as a senior adviser. Ivanka has always been a senior adviser to her father.....she is a hardened and experienced executive....not "just a daughter" as she told us that she would be. These two young and inexperienced in anything beyond buying property or selling high-end jewelry people are directing the immediate future of our nation!!! It's absolutely outrageous......and conservatives are not only blind to it but have actually started defending their presence in the Oval Office. Why....because they utterly refuse to admit that they may have made a mistake in the primaries....or that they should have at least been more attentive to President Trump's abrasive....abusive....and even manipulative methods.
             Jared was again travelling around the Middle East this past week.....from Jordan to Egypt to Israel....putting the final touches on his peace plan. This young inexperienced in any matters of such international importance is schmoozing as if these were mere American politicians who would make a deal simply if it benefited their reelection....meanwhile John Bolton who actually knows something about international subterfuge is in Russia assigned to another topic......and probably not really listened to anyway....as he most likely wasn't with North Korea.....if his advice was not in line with President Trump's Manhattan wrestle in the mud instincts.
             Jared Kushner may very well come up with a plan on paper.....but this is not about a few square acres in mid-town Manhattan! There are psychotic murderers involved on the periphery.....crazed blood-thirsty people....organized and heavily armed....who actually want war....who want disaster....and who will blow up anyone who stands in their way. Seeking and then relying primarily upon 'diplomatic success' when dealing with Israel's security and even continued existence in the Middle East must be totally straightforward....unyieldingly trustworthy....and with back-up plans firmly in place....characteristics in short supply in this White House.
         
       


           

A New Petition....Mercy Not Hegemony

           It was roughly 100 years ago that the communists in the new Soviet Russia started to spread their tentacles wherever they could around the world. Their plans for America were very specific. They needed to put their people in key areas of American life where they could negatively influence America's ability to defend itself. They would be very patient and work their way up as the years passed to key positions in those areas. Ultimately they in effect successfully infiltrated education, unions, entertainment and even our government in the persons of Barack Obama and many of the people that he brought in with him
          Many Americans in the first half of the twentieth century almost faddishly took to Progressivism. They thought that Uncle Joe Stalin may have had a good idea. Educators and celebrities were taken in....and there were even communists in high levels of our government. Congress had a couple of times investigated and purged as many of the communists as they could but by now the progressives in America were strong enough to not only fight back but turn the media against the efforts of Congress.
          Meanwhile progressive education began to change how we school our children. We weren't teaching students how to use their minds as much as in how to use them to be productive members of society....a society that would take the responsibility of thinking away from them.  The final result is that today up to half of Americans are not only not rigorous in their thinking but they have little use for common sense or logic....certainly not history....or at times even reality. This is what we see literally every day in our news! My initial question then would be to those who think we are going to make America great again is in how they propose to do that when half of the population can not only not help them but will vigorously opposes their efforts. It cannot be done....as our own people will wind up sabotaging us....and that's just what they are doing.
            We have put ourselves in a position where we have to either convince people that cannot think straight that they are wrong....or we have to win in the political arena where half the population doesn't even accept election results! Neither can be done. Only God can quicken a conscience....and only God can restore a sound mind!
            As I have written many times in these posts of almost ten years....it is the pulpit and not the podium wherein is our only hope.....it is in the Lord of Glory wherein is our only hope. Gideon defeated an entire army with but 300 men. We do not need a large majority of the people as we would in the political arena....and enemies of God cannot sabotage that which God wills! We need those who proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ....to trust only in Jesus Christ....and in Him alone....and if we do this then we will see that 'making America great again' is not a goal that God commissioned....therefore not even a goal that He could take pleasure in....but if be His will....we would see our own culpability and therefore petition God for mercy and not hegemony....and a quickened conscience and a sound mind would be restored to a majority of the American people....enough so that that we might as a people stand humbly before the Lord....and obtain His mercy and strength in the troublesome times ahead.
            

God Did Not Commission....Make America Great Again

I feel that it's necessary to occasionally bring this November 2017 post back to the front.  We....conservatives....form many of our opinions on a false proposition.....that being that God looks favorably upon America because of who we in fact are. If that were the case then some of the confidence on His protective hand upon us would be justified....but God does not look favorably upon us....for we have long ago left Him for other suitors. He has warned us for forty years through His faithful servants. We just can't come to grips with this....and because of this we continue to miss His warnings....and in essence continue to attempt to establish our own security on our own terms and in our own power....and this cannot be done.

          "For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and
           lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal."
          "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, Because you have rejected knowledge."
          "They will....seek the LORD, but they will not find Him; for He has withdrawn from them."
          "Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the LORD."
          "They have set up kings, but not by Me...."
          "The days of punishment have come....let Israel know this!"
          "They speak mere words, With worthless oaths they make covenants...."
          "Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors, Therefore, a tumult will
            arise among your people..."
           "Therefore, return to your God....For there is no savior besides Me."
           "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things...."
             Hosea 2:8, 4:6, 5:6, 8:1,4, 9:7, 10:4,13,14, 12:6, 14:9
           "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes." Ps. 118: 8 repeated in verse 9!

          We are walking through the cities of Sodom and Babel blinded by neon and stadium lights. We get few warnings from the church while our Bible studies tend to be true and valuable but unobtrusive as to laying out before us the condition of our own churches or our own modern lives. All of this of course would work against the popular gospel of the day that promises your best life ever. Patriotism and attempts at restoring America to greatness have assuaged any guilt that we are indeed a nation fully in rebellion to the One who we owe our very existence to. (Tonight....July 5, 2018....in a rally in Montana......President Trump described our nation this way......"One glorious nation under God")

God Did not Commission....'Make America Great Again'       

          We have legally killed nearing sixty million babies in the womb since 1973. Nearly half of the American public celebrates this....celebrates! Planned Parenthood continues to be funded by our government after the 2016 election....and even after the Omnibus bill! Recently the Trump administration announced plans to force Planned Parenthood type organizations to either split into abortion and non-abortion entities or lose Title X funding. It will take a few months to see how this plays out. Behind the scenes Ivanka met in 2017 with the president of Planned Parenthood and floated a deal.....split your organization....and do the abortions under another name. Two recent polls.....NBC and Fox....found that Planned Parenthood was the most popular organization in America! And you do not think that God will judge America? 

          The gay agenda began its final blitzkrieg within the past decade and has succeeded in legalizing...which is in effect endorsing....marriage between a man and a man...and a woman and a woman.....which is also in effect officially invalidating and rejecting God and the Bible. Our children are slowly being forced to accept this. We don;t even talk about this anymore. And you do not think that God's patience is at an end?

          We have long ago given up our children to what once was referred to as Madison Avenue. In other words nameless people and peopleless corporations are free to raid our youth with the selling of their merchandise that not only subjugates them but indoctrinates them. We now educate solely to provide employees for the ultra rich to become even richer. Whole generations of beautiful young minds have been devastated....devastated in our Deweyite miseducation system. Violent entertainments and the occult are not even frowned upon. School atrocities continue while we refuse to look into the areas that harm the minds of our younger generations. And you do not think that God's warnings are literal?

           Communism, playing upon our lack of discernment and vigilance, not only moved into positions of power in our government, culminating in the Oval Office during the Obama administration, and also our culture in the various protest movements, but were successful in causing ridicule to be heaped upon anyone who was discerning enough to know what happened and actually warn others. We use the term 'the Left' so as not to linked to conspiracy theorists who claim that Communism is behind our crumbling culture....but that term is of little benefit anymore.

           This almost other-worldly globalist species of multi-billionaires may be about to finally get their one-world government, which should be an alarm to anyone who reads their Bible, and yet we laugh at those who actually believe that the return of Jesus Christ in power, judgment and glory is near?

           We are falling-down drunk in our entertainments, drugging our children so as not to disturb our buzz, as our supposed passionate cause for mankind is demonstrated in things like making sure that no one drinks a 32oz Coke. And we consider ourselves wise?

          The America loving immigrant seeking only freedom and liberty, who has blessed our nation since its founding and continues to bless it, is being replaced with many America hating illegal immigrants and yet we fight to give them the right to take what they want....regardless of who has to pay for it... and we actually proclaim that this is compassion?

          Violence is now our calling card in America with 'active shooter' a common term. The words of Jesus describes just such a time as this in the days of Noah as being what the world will be like upon His return, yet we adamantly refuse to even consider that we are under God's judgment?

         The earth is increasingly quaking and the heavens becoming more decipherable in their penetrations of our atmosphere yet we will not put two and two together and consider that God directs the movements of His creation....and that these developments provide clarity on the some of the passages in Revelation.

         Our politicians....with only a few exceptions....dubiously referred to as leaders....have not an ounce of the wisdom that our Founding Fathers had whom we now accuse of being racists. Many of these people, you know who they are for their names are in what is called the 'news' every day, are judgments on us from God, aberrations of what was once called the liberal mind.

         Our financial industrial complex, as I heard one commentator describe it, is choking on greed from its commissions and thus risks everyone's retirement but their own as it refuses to amend its many unethical practices.

         Our shepherds.....aka pastors....most of even the better ones....are soundly asleep as to the nearness of Christ....while the rest haven't a clue of the gospel let alone the return of Jesus Christ in power and glory and judgment....yet we think that our churches are doing quite well thank you.

         Technology has stepped over the line of common sense, propriety and decency. The future of mankind is in jeopardy of being overrun by the most hideous creations of robotic and artificial intelligence, yet we actually consider this to be some sort of progress?

         In essence, things that are good are now called bad....and things that are bad are now called good. Those who proudly sign on to this rebellion against God are quite satisfied while even those of us who know that this is not right refuse to accept any culpability in what we have become and thus have placed our trust, not in God, but in a man....Donald Trump....who constantly prophesies prosperity in direct opposition to men who God has sent us such as Billy Graham.

         Quite Frankly...God has not sanctioned this 'Make America Great Again.' We did not even consult God beforehand on this. He has not commissioned this president....we alone have done this. We will fail just as the Israelites failed when they entered into battle without God's approbation. This is not to say that we should not have voted as we did or attempt the changes that we do. It is rather a clarion call to this man and those around him, to others in America, to us, and to me, to proclaim with every fiber of our being that we have erred, that we have not sought God's direction, that we have not admitted our own culpability, that we are utterly undone....and then to look to Him who holds every molecule in this universe together and implore of Him undeserved mercy....forgiveness....wisdom and strength....and this entirely for the glory of His name alone....of which we have heretofore grossly presumed upon and trampled....and resolve from this moment on to call upon Jesus Christ...our Redeemer....our King...and our Fortress....as our only refuge.

"So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. (Judges 2:14 ESV)

Inherit The Wind

The following post is from this past December....two months before God took Billy Graham home....his task of warning us complete:

          It is heartbreaking. I lived through the assassinations and youth rebellion of the 60s and the chaotic turmoil of Watergate and treachery on our part in the last days of South Vietnam. There was a respite with Ronald Reagan and a legitimate revival in America of which I was a part of in the 80s. I, along with half of my fellow Americans, watched as Bill and Hillary Clinton weakened the foundations of America and then we watched the towers fall on that day. We saw the American military at its best and then the American public at its worst as it hindered their efforts for mere political pottage. We were civilized as we sat through Barack Hussein Obama's piece by piece dismantling of our defenses. And now we are in total collapse.
          We elected a president but the other side, it now being their turn to sit on the sidelines, are not civilized. Enemies are all around us but the mind of the opposition party, and even some of the party in power, would rather die by suicide then accept any responsibility in what they have done. As for us, those of us who could be considered somewhat of a remnant of America's past, we haven't lost our mind yet but we have precious little wisdom to resort to.
          The stock market climbed 255 points higher today....which is near insanity considering the turmoil that is everywhere....and which we are not only a part of but celebrate it as proof of our strength and self-autonomy. Two years ago we were proud and defiant...with a hint of humility....but that all proved a chimera as we gave up our principles while celebrating our great victory. Is there an area of our society that has not collapsed? The earth is quaking and bellowing while we fixate on a non-existent global warming threat. If a young person has any intellectual motivation to learn truth, the university will sap it right out of them. Our historical record being recorded right now is nothing but a cheap tabloid.....even our obituary being written pulp fiction. Children have to watch this. May God have mercy on us for subjecting them to it.
           God warned us for a half century. He was patient and long-suffering but we laughed and called his patience impotence....his long-suffering weakness. We would not turn to Him. His evangelist to us, Billy Graham, struggles with his vision and hearing in his 100th year, but we are totally blind and deaf to an apocalyptic vision in front of us and a demonic cacophony of threats from every side.
           A winnowing may be coming to the church in the form of a delusion. The searing breath of the Holy Spirit leaving only those who trust only in the Lord Jesus Christ and pant as a deer for water at His return.
               

Mr. President.....Tear Down This Stage

          In the beginning I felt a little bit queasy while watching a President Trump rally. I'm not exaggerating....in fact I'm understating how uneasy I felt....but as time passed it was like....'OK....fun is over....this is serious stuff....it's time to get down to business'....but he kept on going with the same music and the same rally and almost the same words....which went from being promises to just mantras....that's when it started getting worrisome....for the people kept cheering....as if something informative was actually being said.
          Folks....something doesn't necessarily have to be true or false or healthy or unhealthy for psychologists to study it and rest assured they are right now studying the mind control techniques of the Donald Trump pep rally....the latest held in Minnesota last night....not exactly Western Pennsylvania....but to be honest President Trump could probably have filled some kind of arena here also. President Trump's stance on today's immigration votes was not even mentioned....negative vibrations are never mentioned at rallies.
           It's certainly nothing new....a charismatic figure develops a following....it could be Vladimir Lenin or John Lennon....and the people are going to rally around them....and even at times worship them. There is a level of credulity today in the conservative movement that is alarming....with the Maha Rushie leading the way. Objectivity is lost....and critical analysis non-existent. Anything that the guru figure says is automatically believed. He smiles and waves as he passes by in his limousine....with chants and the tambourine as he nears....ecstasy and the tambourine as departs. The Trump rally is Donald Trump's limousine....he enters to music and chants of USA USA USA....recites the mantras....and he waves and smiles as he exits the stage to music once again.
           

Preaching Christ.....As Once Was Done In America....Must Come First

             Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush are members of a denomination of 12 million members (7 million in the US)....640 of whom have brought charges against Attorney General of the United States Jeff Sessions for violating church rules....this related to the DACA children in the news.  This single news item....in fact the whole DACA issue....gives a glimpse of what godless and communist inspired progressive education has done to America. The United Nations Human Rights Council also in the news is Communism in action and a case in point.
             How did America came to where it is today where half....half of its citizens can be so easily and totally fooled....this is the issue that needs to be addressed. Conservatives generally do a good job defending against absurd accusations such as those being leveled against this administration on DACA children....but the other side has many more issues just like this that they can and do roll out one by one....keeping us on the defensive....year after year after year. The real cause of all this trouble is that America has forgotten God....coerced into doing so by Communism....that's why all this has happened!
              The book Song Of Solomon begins with this...."Thy love is better than wine." Solomon.....inspired by the Holy Spirit....is looking ahead to Christ. Love of Christ is all-consuming in the redeemed....or it should be....Charles Spurgeon gave 52 sermons from the Song Of Solomon with this kind of language...."Thy love is better than wine"....and spent over twenty years....half of his ministry.....working on his Treasury Of David where Christ is exalted in words that we might find too syrupy and even be embarrassed by today. Folks....this is where we need to go back to.....this is what we must go back to....or we will continue to whither away.
            We as a people have lost discernment on basics in American life and government because we as a church had first lost discernment on Christ and His Word.  Since we can hardly see the Christ of Scripture we can hardly see the America of our Constitution. We have leaders who are adrift from the law of the Constitution because most of them sit in pews listening to pastors who are adrift from the law of God.
              We do not discern the enemies of America because we do not discern the enemies of God. Our Congress can be of no help until our pulpits from which they sit in front of first convey the majesty and glory of Christ....the Person of Christ....the work of Christ in redemption....and the Second Coming and Judgment Seat of Christ.

Solzhenitsyn Was Right.....2010
  
              Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat : "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.

              I wanted also to add these words by the 19th century Anglican preacher from London....and contemporary of Charles Spurgeon....J. C. Ryle.... "You may know a good deal about Jesus Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where he was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophesies, and His ordinances. you may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ's cross by experience, unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins, unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on that work that Christ did upon the cross-unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing.... you must know His cross and His blood, or else you will die in your sins.....as long as you live, beware of a religion in which there is not much of the cross (emphasis his)."

Other-Than-Vigilant Discharge

           We subscribe to one of the popular 'meal-kit services.' Once a week a package arrives with two meals that my wife likes to make and I like to eat. So from the day that the package arrives....throughout the week....to the arrival of the net week's package....those two very different and tasty meals are at least somewhere in the back of our minds.
           There is a similarity here to news cycles as we are in the DACA news cycle this week. Last week it was the IG Report cycle and the week before it was the summit cycle. Some say that Bill Clinton invented this what is sometimes called a '10 day' news cycle during his own impeachment problems when constant distractions were needed....and coming one after another would be best.
            Donald Trump modified and expanded upon this 'wag the dog' strategy. He doesn't wait and hope for a news cycle as he instigates them himself with his tweeting and then schedules regular pep rallies to keep his base angry, excited....and too busy to ask troublesome questions. He is relatively quiet right now as the mainstream media and new conservative/Trump media are fighting it out over the Congressional vote coming up. He'll jump in when necessary....and when Rush can no longer make excuses for him. He won't care one bit but he'll sure sound like he does.....that's his talent.
            North Korea dominated the headlines back in April and May of 2017 and again in August and then of course again earlier this month. Moving Israel's embassy took its turn as did the G-7 summit....and various Syria bombings. I wonder if conservatives have noticed that abortion or same-sex marriage or the $21 trillion time bomb national debt have not been talked about in quite a while. That's because these issues do not serve Donald Trump's purpose....as a matter of fact they could be roadblocks to his plans.
            A year ago at this time a graduating cadet at the United States Military Academy made news by writing 'COMMUNISM WILL WIN' inside that beautiful cap and then posted a picture of it. In another instance he pulled open the triple-breasted buttons on that time honored uniform to reveal a Che tee-shirt. It was reported today that he left the army with an other-than-honorable discharge and will probably become a spokesman for the Left....which is a cute little nickname that we like to use for Communism.
            Communism is the source of most of America's problems today. It advocated powerfully against God in schools and we see the results of that everywhere. It fomented feminism that is about as anti-women as anything can be. It seeks to divided America along any lines that it can....DACA children being the most recent. This other-than-honorably discharged Second Lieutenant should be a wake-up call to even those Americans who have up till now bought into the deceptions of Communism but the media will continue to hammer President Trump on anything and everything....real or imagined....and President Trump will continue to hammer back.....while conservative talk radio will tag along and continue with its other-than vigilant discharge of the news.

Folks....Donald Trump is good at getting rid of anti-business regulations and on nominating judges. His biggest attribute has been that he is no Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton....but his weakness is that he is short on ethics and has no real wisdom....this was evidenced in the North Korea summit....and now he has his inexperienced and not to be trusted son-in-law dealing with Israel's security. He doesn't seem to want to learn anything....for he thinks that he learned everything he needs to know while building his empire. Except for a couple of conservative radio talk show hosts who only wish that they could kiss his ring....most must think that this is what we got and we have to make the best of it. Only Christians can fully understand that what we are doing is placing our trust and our hope in a man...a prince.... and in a worldly prince at that....and in our own power....and not in Jesus Christ alone! President Trump is going to be tested beyond that which street smarts cannot be of any help. By not challenging him we are enabling him....in essence giving him no opportunity to actually consider his circumstances...and his mistakes and frailties....so that he would show some humility and fear of God that might give him the wisdom that he will need in the days ahead.

Foot Loose....Fancy Free....And On The Brink

          I've been to college twice in my life. The first time was in the early to mid-70s on the G. I. Bill, and the second time was at fifty years of age. In that second matriculation I was part of a cohort that went through the curriculum together for eighteen months. Most had just finished their baccalaureate degrees....some were in their thirties....two or three of us were fifty years old or older.
         The classes were very informal where class participation at times turned into conversation. It was on one of these evenings around eighteen years ago that I stood up for emphasis and told my fellow cohort members that a division was coming to America unlike anything we could even imagine at the time. It wasn't just going to get worse....it was going to metastasize.  The class was quiet for a few moments as I remember it....not stunned but surprised at how serious I was....and then the subject was changed.
         Whether it is unhinged Democrats or Roseanne....or Maxine Waters' impromptu in-your-face press salvos or President Trump's constant barrage of in-your face attack tweets....or feminist comediennes or Peter Fonda or NFL protests or the Obama/Hillary deep state coup or the mainstream media or television talk show host meltdowns or riots or....well just read Drudge.....there's probably three or four stories on it right now that evidence a people that no longer has God's hand upon them.
         All of this is judgment from God....Bill and Hillary were judgment from God....as was George W.....as was Barack Obama....and as is Donald Trump!  In fact this whole fake prosperity and 'make America great again' kick that we are on is a total lack of discernment....and thus judgment from God. Barack Obama famously lied in "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." Donald Trump essentially does the same thing to us as he promises that things are only going to get better and better.....and that we will get tired of winning!
         We played fast and loose with God....fashioning our own faddish gospel message that reads well on a tee-shirt or LED church signage....and now we don't have two nickels of discernment to rub together....and Donald Trump is proof of it....not that he is worse than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for he rescued us from them....but whereas before Trump we at least were aware of our dire situation....and now we are unaware. We are foot loose and fancy free as to who God is.....and any warnings that He may have given us.
         Possibly....should God have mercy upon us....the evidence all around us that we do not see...that we are not 'winning' but that we are on the brink....will give our pulpits an unction....our synods boldness....and humble the rest of us in that we....through our lack of vigilance....have over many decades brought all this looming calamity upon us....and that we might return to Him as our only strength and our only fortress.



       

Please Watch The Video.....And Make Up Your Own Mind

           Honestly folks, I'm sitting here typing....and wondering how President Trump can possibly say some of things that he does. He tweeted this last week..."There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea." He also tweeted..."Our country's biggest enemy is the Fake News..." and he explained away his decision to abort the needed August military exercises with our ally South Korea by tweeting..."We save a fortune by not doing war games..." There are serious....serious problems in the makeup of this our President but conservatives seem mystifyingly incapable of detecting them or even in paying any attention to them.
     
Please  Watch This Video And Make Up Your Own Mind 

           I'm wondering how many people saw the video that President Trump's National Security Council had produced and played for Kim Jong-un just after the.....whatever it was....was signed in Singapore?  It has been described by a number of sources as a Hollywood movie trailer style video. It showcases two men....Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un....both in a very stately manner as they reconnoiter the troubled Korean peninsula and therefore that of the whole world. Kim is challenged. Will he bring his country into the light? Will he be a part of that new and peaceful world that beckons?
           It was pure unadulterated propaganda....beyond a glowing future that a corporation might show to its stockholders....beyond even what a political party might produce to introduce their candidate at the convention.....and it came from us! It's unnerving to watch it even now but was shocking to view it the first time. I had to put it away for about 12 hours before I could even watch it again. A cursory search of it on Google shows outrage only by the Left. I have criticized for a decade the mainstream media as much as anyone but we have put ourselves in a position where nothing....absolutely nothing anyone anywhere in the media says that is critical of President Trump is to be considered for even a moment. To make matters worse Fox News Internet is turning into a tabloid. So we only have Drudge, Breitbart News and a few smaller legitimate news outlets left.
           As for us....Trumpsters and conservatives...it's like we're in a cult....praising continuously our leader. If we cannot call this video for what it is then we have been rendered useless in that which used to be our strength....discernment and vigilance. The Christian should be most concerned over this film that puts the fate of the entire world into the hands of two men....one a mass-murdering tyrant and the other a man who learned everything he knows from the Apostle Peale.
            We are dealing with very serious situations in Asia and the Middle East....not to mention a dozen other storms converging all at the same time.....and we have given the helm over to a man who likes sailing into hurricanes. Even with all the experience and brain power that we have available to us the situation is dire. This film takes diplomacy not only to a new low but moves our entire State Department to Madison Avenue. It's an attempt at mind-control obviously. It's 1984.  It's Kurt Vonnegut. This is Donald Trump's world where Mar-A-Lago is the capital.
         Folks contrary to the message in this film....all of the kings of the world and all of the king's men cannot move one army or one soldier without God's permission...according to His will...and for His purposes that would ultimately be to His glory alone. The film tells us...."Out of the darkness can come light and the light of hope can burn bright" but one banner raised in the sixteenth century Reformation that enabled the concepts of freedom and liberty to thrive among men was Post Tenebras Lux....'out of darknesss...light'....and that light is Jesus Christ who said...."I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12 ESV)

Just search "NSC video in Singapore."       

Who Is Isaac Crockett

The following is a synopsis of a short novel that I wrote many many years ago. It's certainly nothing professional but it was a labor of the heart and can be read at the link to your left:

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

DASH DASH-DOT DASH-DOT DASH DOT-DOT DASH-DASH DOT-DOT DASH-DASH-DOT DOT DOT DOT-DOT DASH

           Perhaps you are familiar with Jeremiah Denton. He was the Naval Aviator and American POW in Vietnam who upon being chosen by his North Vietnamese captors for a propaganda interview and then paraded out in front of the cameras....blinked his eyes in Morse Code the word t-o-r-t-u-r-e over and over again. Someone in Naval Intelligence picked up on this thus informing our government that POWs were being tortured. He was a POW for almost eight years and held in solitary confinement for four of those years.
            After his release he rose to the rank of Rear Admiral and later represented Alabama as a United States Senator from 1981 to 1987 before being turned out in his reelection bid.....ah yes....Alabama turns away a good man from the Senate....where have I heard that before? Jeremiah Denton answered the questions in that propaganda interview with a bit of defiance....in spite of the beatings that he knew would accompany the message he gave to American Intelligence. He was a hero in more ways than one and died in 2014. His life gives inspiration to unheroes like myself.
             Take these posts for instance.....Special Dog's Conservative Bark.....there is no way that I would have put the time in that I have over the past nine and a half years if they were only about conservative politics and government....even at a time in history when Communism and Globalism and terrorism threatens not only our way of life but our very existence as an independent nation. These things are important....they are life and death issues....they affect the future of our loved ones. Whether I have been right or wrong in my conjectures in these many posts....and I'm sure that I have been both.....the passion in these words is real....but these thoughts....whether they are on our Constitution or liberty or freedom or our national defense or on the many catastrophes right on our doorstep....in our own power....apart from God....apart from humility and self-examination and repentance....apart from these they are worthless.
            So I am in effect 'blinking' out an accompanying message as I write about Communism or Globalism or Barack Obama or Donald Trump. That message is that which was written on the wall  of Belshazzar's Feast in the book of Daniel.....written by the fingers on a hand that appeared......"Tekel.....you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting." 
            Answer this question. If you love your country....and said country....the country of your loved ones....the country that so many have sacrificed their lives for....that country of which God had specifically birthed and blessed and sustained even though we time and again forgot that we existed solely because of His beneficence....if you love this your country do you not tell them....and if they do not listen do you not tell them again....and again?  Jeremiah Denton knew this thirty years ago....America had forgotten God....had been found wanting....and could expect severe punishment if it did not repent and turn back to God.

             So I post these warnings on Communism and Globalism knowing full well that there is no answer to them other than falling before the King of Kings....the Lord of Glory....and the coming Judge....seeking mercy....and even then we are so far advanced in our rebellion that we can now only hope that God will be with us through the turmoil....for He has warned us very specifically for upwards of a half century....and we ignored each and every warning....we have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. So I write most every day on our predicament....but in amongst the political opinions I'm blinking out an S. O. S......dot....dash....dot.....for those who understand.

The Pretenders

            Sometimes a film producer just finds the right idea. In my opinion Galaxy Quest was one of those ideas....there's a friendly alien planet out there somewhere whose inhabitants are being killed off by bad aliens. Their extraterrestrial technology allows them to scan our earth and they come across a Star Trek type television show....only they believe Tim Allen's character similar to Captain Kirk to be real and visit us to enlist him to help them on their planet.
            Groundhog Day was another idea that took off....the producer may have taken the idea from our biennial elections....for every two years it's like waking up to the same scenario.....either the Democrats or the Republicans or now the Trump party tell us that we must rally right now to save the planet from Nancy Pelosi....don't think too much....just muster up and work.....for it's the most important election ever! The candidates all sound passionate but then after they win they take a two year break from those passions....and then we wake up from the nightmare...."and do it again...Amen....say a prayer for the pretender(s)."
             In this case the Nancy Pelosi party is real and totally destructive....and I have written about this in one way or another for a few decades....in fact Donald Trump gets to ride Air Force One to his golf courses because we had rallied for decades while he was on reality television.....but these elections could not save us even if the supposed conservative candidates were not pretenders.
             Compounding the problem today is that this Trump party is far from conservative. It's an ideology all its own....part Washington establishment....part globalist....and part P. T. Barnum. President Trump is reforming his coalition.....serving prime rib to the National Populists.....and milkbones to us. I submit to you that conservatives were the bulwark in this defense against this Communist/Progressive onslaught against America but after the 'victory' we are now perceived as being too religious....too idealistic....and not pragmatic enough. We ourselves admit that conservatism itself saves no one....that only God causes nations to rise or to fall.....but they will never admit that God's will trumps their Trump.
             Not that they care....for they hope to replace us....but what do we want? It's called transparency.... Donald Trump is transparent....for you can see right through him....but he and Rush and Sean are not being transparent. Any conservative candidate in the past election would have stimulated economic growth after the Obama era....any one of them would have freed the hands of our military in the Middle East......any one of them would have given us a conservative Supreme Court Justice....and any one of them would have lowered the corporate tax rate and voided restrictive regulations. Rush and Sean....try mentioning this just once....just once. On the other hand none of these candidates would have turned to text trolling or turned diplomacy and statesmanship into a reality show.
             OK you got us....we've been had. It was a masterful campaign....and no we can't just let the Nancy Pelosi party back in power....but don't ask us to think pragmatically like you where truth is selective.....don't ask us to treat President Trump like the mainstream media had treated the Clintons and Barack Obama......which in effect was to give them a free ride no matter what they did....and don't expect us to put on the Saffron robes and chant Hare Trump.
             Difficult days are ahead....not difficult deals....but difficult days. Is there no humility left anywhere in America? The importance of this mid-term election pales in comparison to the weightier issues that paralyze us....a nation where half of the people want nothing to do with God while the other half thinks that He is in the press box rooting us on....and where we giddily celebrate that the economy is doing so wonderfully when it sits on tectonic plates that are shifting violently and a gargantuan fault line that is stressed to its limit.         

"To Be A Pilgrim"

            It's just a special little ditty that I often say to my wife in response to her urging me to put down the book or turn off the computer and go to bed to get some needed sleep. The words are very well known ….they are Robert Frost's from Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. Those words are:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.\

           

           She's usually gone by the time that I finish. The words to the following hymn were written by my favorite author....John Bunyan.....and the music by my favorite classical composer....Ralph (pronounced Raif) Vaughan Williams. The hymn.....Bunyan's only hymn.....is "To Be A Pilgrim." It was sung by personal request of Baroness and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at her funeral on April 17, 2013 at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

He who would valiant be

'Gainst all disaster,

Let him in constancy

Follow the Master

There's no discouragement

Shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim

Who so beset him round

With dismal stories,

Do but themselves confound- -

His strength the more is

No foes shall stay his might

Though he with giants fight:

He will make good his right

To be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, thou dost defend

Us with thy Spirit,

We know we at the end

Shall life inherit.

Then fancies flee away!

I'll fear not what men say,

I'll labor night and day

To be a pilgrim.

           I myself.....when I think back to Bunyan's words....use a more original translation of the last stanza:

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend

Can daunt his spirit,

He knows he at the end

Shall life inherit,

Then fancies fly away,

He'll fear not what men say,

He'll labor night and day

To be a pilgrim.

Best Original Screenplay......Winner.....Donald Trump

           Donald Trump has always had an ability to look over a piece of land and see the potential with a few bulldozers....some imagination....and a lot of money. It's not only land that he can develop but television shows. He knows what the people either want or would be willing to invest in or to watch faithfully. He put this uncanny ability to work in his quest for the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America....and like many other projects of his over the years....it was successful.
           In order to do this he had to steamroll quite a few other candidates...."who would vote for that face?"....and he had to take the pulse of an angry American public....and then latch onto it like a tick buried deep in the epidermis. He made other candidates appear weak and vacillating. It's not that he rallied the public.....or had new ideas.....they were rallied already....and we knew what had to be done....it's that he lured enough of them away to not only win the nomination but the election.
          There's an old Robert Redford movie where a senate candidate comes from out of nowhere to win....that's the whole plot of the film....and after he wins.....in the last scene....he is seen talking to Kellyanne Conway.....excuse me....Peter Boyle.....and he very sincerely asks...."What do we do now?" The film was The Candidate and it won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Donald Trump didn't have a clue as to where he was going when he took office, The screenplay only covered the two campaigns. He has two passions and two passions only.....economic and military strength....everything else is negotiable.....everything else was a carefully crafted screenplay meant to get the nomination and win the election.
           Donald John Trump is not who he said that he was during the campaigns. He stands on those pep rally platforms and boldly proclaims that he keeps his promises.....he doesn't....he keeps only those promises that are vital to his economic agenda. He nuances the rest. He could not care less about repealing Obamacare....and you know what.....I don't think that the majority of conservatives care about it either. I don't think that they care about the national debt that they once acknowledged would eventually crush them. If Donald Trump ever builds any facsimile of a wall it will because it would either be that or walk the political plank. His methods of controlling and manipulating his base are despicable. His tweets and pep rallies are meant for one thing only.....to suck us in and keep us agitated against the Democrats or the Deep State or anyone or anything else that keeps the heat off of him.

The following post is from the beginning of November of 2017::
     
       The hatred of God is out in the open....unbridled....and nearly out of control. There are no principles in sight anywhere. Love has grown cold. Conservative talk radio....the bulwark of the conservative movement....too much of it anyway...(all of it now).....has given up the fight for truth and transparency.....for now anyway. For a new entity has arisen......a ram of sorts that charges east and west. What exactly it is no one really knows. (we know now)
        Conservatives have had their moorings cut. We now tweet our prayers. We wanted something noble....but will settle for something practical. As the months bleed on....as the earth groans....as the cosmos becomes a threat....and as man challenges God more and more....we look to this new entity. He only has to roar and we cheer. He simply struts by and we applaud. We demand no pedigree. We follow him not knowing where he leads us. He doesn't go to church....we don't care. He surrounds himself with unfamiliar faces....he must have a reason. He destroyed the wicked witch....and therefore he is our champion.
        God watches all of this. His angels....their countenance firm and confident....wait for His command....the mountains for when to quake....the valleys to become mountains....the four winds to come forth with fury....the seas to boil and churn....and the stars to fall.
        We will not entice Him to change His decrees.  He will not meet us halfway as we request. He has found us wanting and been patient as we ignore His warnings. He does not take pleasure in our mantra.... 'God Bless America.' He is not impressed by our plans. He will not share His glory. He watches our eyes....for them to turn.....from politics....(from Donald Trump)....from ourselves....to Him....but we will not turn to Him. 
        He knows His children.....he hears their cries....."Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." He will come with His reward.....for He has promised.....and there is nothing as sure....nothing as trustworthy....nothing as awe-inspiring....no hope as great....no joy as pure....no love as real....no discipleship as difficult....no rewards as great....and no Helper as strong.

The New Loyalists.....And The New Minuetmen

The following post is almost a month old. Right now conservative talk radio hosts control not only the microphone but the flow of information. Their intentions of defending America have not changed but if they do not suddenly awaken then they are in danger of becoming the new establishment. They can call us 'Trump haters' all they want but they didn't call us that as we flooded the polls in support of him on November 8, 2016. It is Donald Trump who has changed.....not us.

           I have rarely if ever over these posts of nine and a half years written about elections that will take place years in advance....and certainly never presumed upon God in that we can continue to ignore His warnings and expect to just carry on....but I'm going to mention a 2020 presidential campaign here to hopefully get our minds off of it....and on to today's grave concerns.
           Donald John Trump would have the fight of his life in getting through a primary season. Some conservative would challenge him....even if we had to draft someone into service....and we do not want anyone who would be timid as to what has transpired.....for whoever it is would have an arsenal available to him (her) in calling out President Trump on not only his failures but the outright deception that he perpetrated upon his conservative base.
           Now the Trump supporter today might brush this off....but that confidence would soon be shattered. They think that they have facts to back up President Trump's claims....but that's only as long as they control the microphone....and we have answers to those 'facts'.....and unlike today where our own conservative media protects their man just as the mainstream media protected their man......those answers would be heard. The pep rallies will be of no help this time around! The tweets will be utterly worthless.....if not evidence for that challenger that President Trump uses his tweets only to keep things stirred up and avoid the realities of what he actually does.
           What would be revealed and proven is that Donald Trump does not believe in the issues that he won on in 2016. He could not care less about Obamacare....or a wall....or illegal immigration in general....or tax reform....or the national debt....or the cleaning swamp....or the Johnson Amendment....or any one of a number of other promises that he buffaloed conservatives with in 2016.
           He could walk around the debate stage all that he wants.....but he would no longer be a brash challenger who could promise the world....but an incumbent with a paper trail. He would be questioned....face to face.....where he can't just point to a different reporter as in the press conference. He wouldn't be able to catch his breath as every nuanced explanation on 'Luther' strange type decisions would be clearly and utterly refuted. Rush Limbaugh won't be able to steer the conversation. Conservative talk radio can take whatever position they choose to. Congressional candidates can run on the robe of his royal coattail. None of this will carry the day for a nomination to a second term!
           This man who thought himself too smart to need daily security briefings.....who golfed to his heart's delight.....who contradicted himself and his advisers and his own campaign promises on almost a daily basis....and who thinks that he just has to twist a few arms to get a deal.....and toss a few table scraps when the dogs bark....will find that the adoring crowd of supporters will come to their senses when that primary challenger calls out loud and clear....."The emperor has no clothes!"
            Donald Trump would lose a primary....and then another....and then a few more. Ivanka and Jared could then pack their very expensive luggage and go back to their jetsetter friends. President Trump will have to deal with grave and ominous issues in the days ahead. The last thing we need would be for him making his typical 'where the ball stops nobody knows' decisions based on how they might effect his poll numbers or a 2020 election.

            It was difficult even typing out these thoughts. If it were just that America were rudderless but it's much worse than that for even Christians have fallen for this fake prophet. We did not heed the warnings against greed....or power. We did not seek God's approbation as we marched to the drum beat of  'Make America Great Again.'
            Every single piling in this once beautiful pier where God's bountiful fertile land surrounded the tranquil bay teeming with food....every piling has rotted away. The trees have withered as the fig tree that Jesus cursed....and dead fish stink up the shore. An enemy armada sails right into the bay.....as the earth shakes and distant volcanoes come alive....but we can see none of this as we party in a thatched conical roofed restaurant at the end of the pier. The winds and surf rise as the pier buckles and collapses. Unaware of this we continue to tap our feet to the playlist of songs from Donald Trump's political rallies.
             I sit here typing and occasionally glancing over to the news on the iPad set up next to me....praying as yet only the latest news bulletin announces more violence in this our land that has become just as in the days of Noah. The 2020 election....or even the elections later this year are the least of our worries. This man....Donald Trump....will likely take us through either the hurricane or tsunami that we have brought upon ourselves....and not prepared for. May God humble this President as He humbled Nebuchadnezzar....and humble us. May He remove veils from Daniel's visions. May we finally pay attention to the warnings given in Scripture of a nation.....once blessed by God....that rejected God.....whom God then took His protective hand off.....for that nation is us!

   

If Only Our Pulpits Would Do The Same

 It was powerful....it was what we needed....not the Donald Trump pep rally from Phoenix this past September that I was watching but the prayer that Franklin Graham offered before the President who would in a few minutes take the stage to the tune of the Rolling Stones....You Can't Always Get What You Want. I tried to type the text of the prayer as fast I could....praising God as I typed....for not only the people in the arena would hear these words but who knows how many people that were live streaming the rally. Christians would be hearing these words of repentance that they should be hearing from their pulpits each and every Lord's Day.
            The crowd was quiet as Reverend Graham spoke...."Oh God thank you for letting us hear these words!" Franklin Graham then walked off the stage as the arena remained hushed. Vice President Pence followed Franklin Graham to the microphone....and within minutes the crowd was once again in unison yelling....USA....USA....USA! As I wrote at the time....the power of that prayer was gone.....but many had heard it......and will offer that same prayer some day in the future....only it will be as chaos reigns....and maybe war.....and not beforehand.....where we could have petitioned God for discernment and vision for what was ahead of us. The following was the best that I could do on that transcript....

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

I'll add here a couple of paragraphs from a post written during this years CPAC conference:

           "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 President Trump's 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."
         

Singapore

I wrote back in March when this summit was first mentioned that Kim Jong-un was just trying to buy time and that a meeting such as this could give him and other enemies to the West and the United States valuable time to prepare and coordinate....possibly even extending into next year because of the coming mid-term elections. After watching the events of yesterday it's also apparent that Kim Jong-un now has some legitimate stature in the world....where previously he had none. All he has to do is draw this out and eventually back out without blowing his top. I would though be interested in John Bolton's candid opinion.....if he's allowed to give it. Promising condos and the sweet life to Kim Jong-un is so utterly and fantastically absurd if not an unethical and deceptive sales ploy that dangerously ignores reality. This isn't deal making....it's the power of suggestion. The following was posted at 2:14 AM:

             There have been successes and failures....both great. The greatest success is first and foremost Communist China. The foremost failure was that of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The second greatest success may very well have been American progressive education. Communist apparatchiks let all the revolutionaries like Castro and Che do their thing while they worked silently and patiently behind the scenes decade after decade. The result was.....well just look around.....read Drudge....listen to Hollywood celebrities....consider Barack Obama. Progressive education took God out of our schools and replaced Him with gods that we created in our own image. We....on the whole....did whatever we want....whatever our little hearts desire....free from any responsibility or any guilt at what our nation was becoming and has become.
             Now to make matters even worse....we as a people don't even know what happened....and that also because of our educational system…..consequently those revolutionary types can continue to do their thing while we are almost defenseless at discerning their methods or intentions. That's what happening at the present time in Singapore.
          Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping and other communists….have but one aim....to defeat totally the West and particularly the United States. There is no Plan B.....but there is a Method B....for Communism is a dialectic in that it will change its outward appearance if necessary....it has done that in Communist China and Vietnam....but never its goals. The difference here is that they were the rulers in Communist China And Vietnam before they ventured part way into capitalism....but they do not rule the Korean Peninsula.
           In what at least one chess master labelled 'the game of the century'.... a thirteen year old Bobby Fischer sacrificed his queen late in the game. After the piece was taken Fischer then ran the board on his way to winning the tournament. Chess is the communist's game....but Communist China cannot sacrifice either Kim Jong-un or North Korea.....not on their own border....or if they did.....they would be forced to immediately attempt to run the board....and we should know what that would mean.
             

Prepared To Stand Alone

The following post is from March of 2017:

        A few posts back I wrote about my early Christian experiences with books where I came to identify the more valuable books by the little robed man on the spine of the book. A few hours after finishing that post I had a book arrive in the mail that I had ordered a few weeks previous....I opened it up and lo and behold there was that little robed man on the spine of the book. The figure was George Whitefield and the publisher is Banner Of Truth.

        I think that I can accurately say I have not only enjoyed but have been thoroughly edified by every word that I have ever read by Iain Murray...and I've read quite a few of his books...and that statement remains true after finishing this his latest....J. C. Ryle, Prepared To Stand Alone.

        Great Britain was blessed by two great preachers in the last half of the 19th century. The word 'blessed' may not do justice to what their ministries did for Great Britain and all of Christianity, not only in the last half of the 20th century, but right up until today! England's church was in the initial stages of collapse. The ministries of both of these men, and many others of course, not only kept the church afloat but provided an invaluable warning and prophesy of total collapse that should speak to us in America today....for that collapse did indeed occur. The sermons and the writings of both men, thanks to the 'electric telegraph' as J. C. Ryle described it, enabled their work to compass the world.

        J. C. Ryle attended Eton, that famous boys boarding school that has produced 19 British Prime Ministers. You may have heard the phrase...'the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.' There is some doubt as to the veracity of this statement but J. C. Ryle's education gives support to it as his experiences at Eton produced a man who later was uncompromising on the gospel of Jesus Christ....wise....tolerant when appropriate...but uncompromising on the essentials of the faith which are many.

        Ryle then matriculated to Oxford where he excelled and would probably have moved on to a service life in Parliament had not he visited a church on a Lord's Day morning where a Bible passage stirred something in him that would agitate until a Christian and hero of the Christian Faith was born. That passage was the second chapter of Ephesians which includes...'By grace are ye saved-through faith-and that not of yourselves-it is the gift of God." It's interesting in that the other great preacher in England, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, had a similar experience of conversion where a disjointed service at a small church chosen because of a snowy day did produce but a single verse of Scripture that would change a young man's life from the moribund to the extraordinary.

        J. C. Ryle was raised in a family that he described in this way..."My father's house was respectable, and well-conducted, but there really was not a bit of religion in it." He continued..." The plain truth is, that for the first 16 or 17 years of my life, there was no ministry of the gospel at the churches we attended....we had no real religious friends or relatives and no real Christian ever visited our house" and "for about the first 18 years of my life, neither at home, nor at school, nor college, nor among my relatives or friends, had I anything to do good to my soul, or to teach me anything about Jesus Christ." This in spite of the fact that his family did attend church and actually give occasional homage to God in their home.....so similar to America today.

       J. C. Rule became a minister more out of financial necessity than anything else. His father was not happy with his decision...."the consequences of this change were very great indeed...it caused great uncomfortableness in my own family, and made my own position very unpleasant indeed. In fact no one can tell what I had to go through, in hundreds of petty ways....It made an awkwardness, and uncomfortableness, and an insensible kind of estrangement which no one can comprehend but those who have gone through it. I had the constant uncomfortable feeling that on account of my religious opinions I was only a tolerated person in my own family and somewhat alienated and estranged from all my old friendships among my relatives."

        It should be noted that these words come from a rather informal autobiography that he wrote primarily for his children. Other than this book J. C. Ryle was not into exalting himself in any way. He experienced many sorrows. His father lost all of his money, necessitating the young man quickly choose employment.... he sacrificed to help his father with his debts....his first wife died young and his second of three spouses died after ten difficult years of illness. Although he doesn't mention it as such, the greatest disappointment may have come after decades of ministry, when as the church was collapsing into much doctrinal error, this stalwart of the faith was criticized ridiculed and isolated for his persevering proclamation of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. He was not a preacher at a small church at the time but the Bishop of Liverpool in the Church of England! So the beginning and end of his ministry was similar to Charles Spurgeon's, for the great Baptist pastor was also isolated, censured and relegated as inconsequential in the modern church of his day.

        The American Christian of today would do well to pick up this book and read for (as Christians increasing set aside the good news of Jesus Christ for good economic news) we also may be called to 'stand alone' if necessary. Our church has gone modern, our gospel is diluted, and our nation is suffering as a consequence.

        J. C. Ryle, Prepared To Stand Alone by Iain Murray is much more than a biography. It is, just as every tract that Ryle wrote and sermon that he gave, an evangelical call to faith in Jesus Christ. A number of doctrinal issues are explored that pertain to us today, one of which is the relationship of church and state, and Bishop Ryle's opinion on this will definitely surprise and may even edify.

        If the reader here is a young person then this is a book you must read! If you are of middle-age it will strengthen your resolve for the days ahead, and if you are really old like me...it will fortify that which hopefully you already know, that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."....that this life is short and in the words of a famous poem..."Only one life, will soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last"....and that only reliance upon the words of the captain of our faith will guide us through the increasing storms and unseen shoals to our right and to our left.

      

              

Roundheads Revisited

           Conservatism has morphed into Trumpism.....and they are two very different agendas! We need to understand that....and acknowledge that. Donald Trump saves promises to give us when he sees parts of his conservative base crumbling. He'll do this only until he no longer needs us. We can expect some rather big milkbones thrown our way in this election cycle. Previous to this mid-term election conservative candidates would go to Congress and immediately be co-opted by the McConnell/Boehner/Ryan cartel. What we are looking at now is conservative speaking candidates.....co-opted already by Trumpism through a lack of vigilance.....and it's hard to get excited about that. What we need are candidates campaigning on....."Donald Trump is not who he said that he was.....I'm running....not to place blame solely on the Congress....but to hold the President accountable to his promises"....but these candidates are few and far between.
           The following are the concluding words from an April post....'Folks, I spent years in my early Christian walk researching cults......how could this million people follow this man.....or that ten million people follow that woman......can't they see the signs of deception and manipulation? I put ads in the newspaper......call me.....let's talk! And now.....thirty years later.....I find conservative patriotic Americans as if throwing palms before Donald Trump. They refuse to question anything that he does. It's as if he has some kind of hold on them. He's our president.....let's defend him from this deep state coup.....but let's not cut off our hair....put on saffron robes....and dance and sing....Hare Trump....Hare Trump....Hare Trump....all year long. (which in effect is chanting....USA....USA....USA)

Roundheads Revisited

           It's pretty amazing how things can change so much in such a relatively short time.This populace revolt began long before the arrival of the Tea Party. The Clintons awoke something in America. The government was taxing too much, spending too freely, incurring a debt that plundered the future of our children, and seemed to be having a good time doing it, while the law didn't seem to matter a whit to those with the power. We were not just mad but incensed after 9/11....then along came the these people....products of our anti-American progressive miseducation system....they seemed to want to help our enemies. The whole world seemed to be going crazy. Enter the Marxist Obama.....and the Republicans did nothing about any of this....absolutely nothing!
           The awoken were going to take back America one step at a time and the first step was to get rid of the despised Republican establishment. We were Cromwell's Roundheads. The common man....the parliamentarian....up against the cavalier ruling class. We had enough of the Lord John McCains and Mitt Romneys. Conservative Talk Radio was our information and provided us with the forensic evidence that the media refused to give us. If anything else was needed....which it wasn't....there was Hillary Rodham Clinton.
           There was no Reagan but there were a lot of good men....and women. In fact the women led the way at first. The showdown was going to be in November of 2016. Then the unexpected happened. Out of the clear blue patch of the Manhattan sky came Donald Trump. He shouted where our guys debated. He ranted and made our guys look like mannequins. We had the intellect in Ted Cruz and the honesty of Ben Carson and the no-nonsense Rand Paul. We had too many good ones in fact. Jeb Bush was relegated to the ash heap and that was the first goal but we couldn't come together and get down to business.
         Who was this Donald Trump? He didn't have any new ideas.....he just made a lot louder noise. We kind of liked that....never expecting....and neither did he.....that he would actually come out on top. Many Christians had been praying intensely....we knew what would happen if Hillary Clinton ever became president. And now a man known mostly for his gambling casinos....pageant spectacles.....reality show.....and ego.....a man who was not one of us but sure sounded like one of us.....this was the last man standing.
          We should have known what we were in for when he humiliated Ted Cruz at the convention. There was a problem here....a big problem....but we were blind to it. What followed was the most astounding popular revolt that I at least had ever seen in my half century of following politics.....more so than Robert Kennedy's charisma.....and more than Ronald Reagan's magnetism. We now had Trump's machismo and his signs were everywhere......outside of the metropolitan areas that is. It was something to see.
          OK....it was truly a great day....that Tuesday in November. To this day a picture of Hillary's post-election frown calms the tremors of the day if only for a few moments. The despised Republican establishment....the self-crowned elite....our malevolent masters....were beaten back so severely that we wondered if they could ever recover....but things started falling apart right at the beginning. Why was he picking these people......the Ivankas and Jareds and others?  Come on....somethings wrong here....but we simply shrugged it off.
          Then came another surprise.....a deep state attempted coup.....and it's still going on a year later! They hated this man with such a passion that to this day we are amazed at the intensity of it....but what was happening in the Oval Office itself? Our man....the one who we just put into the White House....was turning out to be zanier that we even thought he was when he was running around the world seeking those few cameras that had not yet caught his image. Many of us regrouped but looked around and no one was rallying with us! All of a sudden the establishment was back with a vengeance....and the others really didn't even care! The Roundheads were looking more like blockheads.
          Were we really that shallow in our beliefs that a boom market and and some saber rattling could strip us of any of our values and beliefs? Well that's about what happened. We don't even pray anymore. Why pray.....God was obviously already rewarding our goodness.
          And that's where we are today. We now believe that the greatest disaster that could possibly come about would be in impeachment proceedings......for Donald Trump has taken on an aura of almost mythic proportions....a new George Washington....forget that it was said that George could not tell a lie yet it seems that Donald has struggles with the truth.
          This all need not have happened. Had we just said something like...."OK....Mr. President....go for it and we'll see how you do".....we would have given him credit when it was due and called him to account when he strayed....but we put ourselves into a position where we are in effect offering Donald Trump a crown.....a crown that both Washington and Cromwell rejected.....but Donald Trump is eyeing up. We rightly are fighting this coup attempt tooth and nail....but we are crowning a king in the process....and therein has been our chief problem from the beginning!
            There would have been no constitution in America....there wouldn't even be an America....had not God directed those rickety vessels here....and had He not pollinated those colonies with people who knew and worshiped their Lord.....and then fertilized the expanding frontier with the gospel of Jesus Christ! He called us....formed us....and poured out blessing after blessing....and withheld the rod until it could be withheld no more....and then blessed us some more....and the world through us....but as it always is with man....we came to think a Babel better than a Bethel....a manifesto better than a constitution....and a king better than the King of Kings.

Note: my comment on Ted Cruz needs explaining because conservatives are only reminded that Senator Cruz did not endorse Donald Trump at the convention. What I saw was this....The Senator was giving a speech which was due him or anyone who had so many supporters. Donald Trump should have just let him finish his speech and then he could have his day. Instead he entered the arena during the speech which was a purposeful attempt to humiliate the man who did not bow down before him. It worked.