Do They Even Read Their Bibles.....Beyond Preparing For A Sermon

As I near my 69th birthday I can look back at various sorrows just as everyone else can.....and I can also bring instantly to mind wonderfully joyous moments....so many that I tremble at God's blessings on one who has not responded as he should. The word enraptured doesn't quite fit, for to me it signifies an ethereal wonder when in fact it is a very cognitive wonder experiencing God's goodness and majesty.  This world is coming apart....transfixed by it's own ability to invent horror in disguise. The contrast between the two can be clear....but it is not automatically clear....for the world clouds our vision of the glories of God. If clouded over.....that is if we are too focused on worldly things....particularly entertainments....one can neither see the full wonders of God nor the tempest quickly approaching....but if it is a clear day....one can do nothing but....at the very least....look to the only shelter....in the only fortress....on the only rock. The following post is from October:

          I think that the thing that bothers me most about Donald Trump is what he has done to the conservative movement and to Christians who had trusted in him. Two years ago we.....conservatives and Christians.....knew very well how bad things were. We saw our nation crumbling right in front of us. Many of us were on our knees or praying in whatever manner is our habit.....praying for God to have mercy on us. This discernment....limited though it was....that was brought on by eight years of a Marxist president and the probability of Hillary Clinton taking control for another eight years....this discernment that we were a people who were in rebellion against God....was shredded and discarded by a man who now tells us that things are better than they ever were. This is the rantings of a false prophet....and false profit....but Christians fell it.
          He sold us on MAGA and America First so much that we forgot what we were all about before he came along. Our eyes are fixated on economic figures that can vanish as a morning fog....and when it does we will be standing there with no armor and no banners and no weapons. The President has absolutely no concept of truth for truth's sake....and we could not care less.
          By his own admission Donald Trump hasn't changed since he was eight years old. There are probably dozens of biographies out there....I've read quite a few of them.....they say the same thing....he's a bully who has to get his own way. How many people lost money in his bankruptcies.....getting 30 cents on the dollar of what they were owed....but this....also by his own admission....is just the way its done. How many people were stiffed by his unethical business practices?
          His self-love is so similar to that of Nebuchadnezzar....'Look what I have built!' His meanness is troubling....or should be troubling.....but we ignore it. We ignore everything....for he is our leader....our champion. We would stand up and shout "I am Spartacus!" if it came to that. He has turned us against all information that does not first pass over his desk. He purposely stirs us up every single day.....and pokes the opposition in the eyes every day. He bears some responsibility for the anger that is everywhere. Our cause has become Mad Magazine's Spy Vs. Spy only in red and blue. He demands loyalty but possesses none. He'll summarily discard an ally if need be.....and become fast friends with those who hate his guts as long as they play the same game.
          Here's a favorite tactic of his.....we have faced evil in so many ways in America over so many years....he identifies that evil....(the Kavanaugh hearings for example)....and then becomes the antithesis of that evil....the perceived guardian angel of righteousness....simply by identifying it.....and we fall for it!
          He says that other nations now respect us. They don't respect us. They may respect the power that he may wield....for a time....until they can get even....but they don't respect us as a nation. So whereas at one time not too long ago we were separated into two groups....one that bought into the lies of socialism.....and conservatives who fought these lies with all of our might.....we are now still two peoples.....with the former being the same only more enraged and intellectually disoriented.....and us who have given up that which had previously driven us....for the lure of power and money! Our sincerity and our humility and our righteous earnestness was our strength but we have given all that up.
          This cannot last.....but President Trump will figure out a way to put the blame somewhere else....and we will buy into it.....unless our pulpits awaken. They have become too far detached from our culture to worry about the suffocating gases spewed from this volcano which erupted off in the distance. Nearly half of them think that they are going to be raptured out before it reaches us....(I hear them say all the time...."these are exciting times we live in.") These are not exciting times! These are treacherous times! The others are mostly as our politicians.....'know thy constituents (or congregation)....and give them only that which soothes them.'
           Men....you who are in the pulpits of America....God's judgment is evident everywhere. You should be aware of this from the Bible that you preach from every week. Warn your flocks to prepare and once again seek those mercies of which not that long ago we pleaded of Him. Do you read your Bible other than when preparing for a sermon....or are you now part of an elite class who knows everything....whose only purpose is to pass on your knowledge accumulated in seminary and your first five or ten years of ministry? Is there nothing you can possibly find in Daniel....or Nahum....or the 24th chapter of Matthew....pertaining to our nation today.....or dozens of other books of the Bible and hundreds of other chapters? Is there no common laborer who God can use to correct you? Have you become that exalted in your own mind? Is there no precedent in God's Word that might point to shepherds that do not warn their sheep? Is there no way that you may have missed something?

Two Encounters

         We'll I've got two little stories to relate today. My life is never boring....I may be....but my life isn't. In the first....the local chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America held a 24 hour Christmas vigil at a memorial that honors the men from our county that died in Vietnam. Our Marine nephew who lives in the Midwest but is stationed out of the East....made the five hour trip for Christmas. It was a cold day...the vets had a gas flame at the memorial for warmth. I had been up there earlier in the day before our nephew arrived....and there were about 15 or 20 visitors and volunteers at the memorial....but when the two of us went up around dinnertime there were two volunteers but no visitors. We chatted with a volunteer for a few minutes when a man walked up to the memorial to pay his respects....it was our newly elected congressman.....and almost household name in politics over the past year.....Conor Lamb.....a former Marine....but they say 'once a Marine...always a Marine' don't they? I introduced my nephew and I....and we had a nice conversation about the Marines....on my nephew's part....and the high school that Congressman Lamb and I are alumni of....on my part....along with a little on the Kennedy family whom I idolized in my youth. There was no political talk at the memorial....and at this vigil....but I did make one comment....."I hope you help bring the Democrat Party back to what it was before'.....or something very similar to that.
         My next story is from a few hours ago. With Christmas over I needed a little day trip by myself to listen to the radio....drink coffee....and contemplate America....as I 'Sunday drive' through a little portion of it. I do this often and these day trips are just about always rural. As I headed northwest in eastern Ohio I passed a man walking south along the side of the road. He was wearing a backpack and attached to it was a cross of about five feet in length. Well I'm not just going to pass that up. I turned around and came back....pulling in a little in front of him....and waited.
          His name is John Moore and he started his walk earlier this year from San Francisco.....and was headed to Washington D. C. for the January 18th March For Life. John is my age....sixty-eight. His twenty-five  year old daughter was somewhere in the area in the car. She gave up a year of her life to accompany her father with the necessities that he needs on his walk. John and I talked for about ten minutes about various things. He was very humble. I offered Christian encouragement...and he was on his way. You can Google 'John Moore-walk across the country' to read a little about his walk.

Merry Christmas....O What A Glorious.....Overture

             Today we celebrate....all over the world....the birth of a baby....a little over two thousand years ago....a baby who would be a Savior....and a King....in fact the Kings of all Kings....but friends....do not leave this baby in the manger in a crib....for if you were to stand in His presence today you would probably be blinded....and dropped to the ground with no strength to even look up. A baby would be the last thing in your mind. You would not be able to move unless a hand were placed upon you....giving you strength....where you would hear the command not to fear....that is if your soul as of right now has been ripped out of Satan's grasp.
             Is Christmas a modern day Saturnalia? Yes....in a way....and a Christmas tree is just a pagan bush....I have one twelve inches from my left elbow right now. In better church times....and at 68 years old I've seen better church times....Christmas would seem to be of little value in causing Americans to really contemplate what happened on whatever day in whatever month it was two-thousand and some odd years ago....but today....as America floats like a rotting tree trunk down a muddy raging river....cascading towards a falls....with rebellion to God out in the open everywhere....that same almost pagan Christmas....with the little light that is in it....shines brightly out of a dense darkness....and its glorious hymns seem to be as when the angels sang out above the shepherds.
            So Merry Christmas to you....for a baby was born....that baby grew up....and the same angels who thirty-three years earlier had rejoiced....obediently stood aside....probably in rage....as the God/Man who that baby became....had His flesh ripped apart as demons rejoiced. Then the single biggest event this entire universe has ever experienced....or will ever experience....happened. Christ was risen....and the farthest star away from earth....whether it be billions or trillion of light-years away....and every atom contained within it....every electron charge....somehow acknowledged the event surrounding its Creator.
            A baby was born....and the angels rejoiced....it was the overture....to be followed by choruses....and arias....and cantatas....and every imaginable orchestral arrangement....leading up to a grand finale that the angels are preparing for right now!
            So yes....Merry Christmas.....for it was a wonderful overture....but the Composer has left the greatest audiological masterpiece for the grand finale. 

Trumpism

Folks...this post is from November 3rd after a Games Of Thrones meme was tweeted....if I'm missing something on this it's because I don't have cable television beyond basic channels so I have never watched Games Of Thrones nor do I have any idea what it is.....but I understand the concept of what I read in the news today....that President Trump tweeted a meme using a theme from that cable television program.....that meme a message to whoever.....Iran or his own cultic followers as they pump each other up for election day. This is pure unadulterated sickness. President Trump is playing real-life games concocted in his reality show mind. When are conservatives or any adults in the rally arena going to stand up and say enough is enough?  The following was first posted a few days before this past election:

            Man was I naive in some of things that I posted after the 2016 election! I half-expected and hoped that conservative talk radio would say.....'OK we got Trump elected and Hillary out of the way....now it's time to honor God with an ethical and honorable government......watch President Trump and hold him to account.....and emphasize the things that are the most important to the future of America." I thought that conservatives in general would demand that we keep the worthless Republican establishment elites away from key positions of power. I actually thought that we might humbly thank God for keeping Hillary Clinton away from the Oval Office while we prayed for wisdom and guidance!
            We did none of that! Not only did we not hold President Trump accountable.....we built.....and continue to embrace, encourage and enable....a monstrosity of arrogance, ego and greed.  Conservative radio let us down big time! The very people that we fought against for the past decade at least have now become somewhat of heroes! I'm talking about people like Lindsey Graham. There are not two worse choices to be in the Oval Office than Ivanka and Jared Kushner......and not only are they there but they wield great power over the not so great mind of Donald Trump. We have become in our tactics just like those who disgusted us for so long as President Trump has succeeded in dragging us down into his own personal swamp.
           We fought valiantly while on the defense during the Obama administration but when finally on the offense we just surrendered to the new greed and power coalition of Trumpism. We blaspheme God with our incessant lip-service use of 'God bless America' which is no longer a fragrance but a bad odor in the nostrils of God....and now with God essentially out of the way and our pulpits rendered useless as to reminding us that God tells rebels like us to go ahead and built but He will tear down.....we are going to throw our might around in every direction....and defeat or more likely coalesce with our enemies.....and if God wants to come along.....fine....just let Him stay in the background.

Expect....The Unexpected

The following post is six months old. I'm bringing it back now and directing it to Christians in light of who and what Donald Trump has turned out to be. You expected a messiah of sorts.....you considered him a prophet in a way. The 'unexpected' here is that it was Christians who fell for the deception this time.  The day is half over. I'm going from one errand to another but had time to turn on the radio a few minutes ago in time to hear the lead-in music to the Rush Limbaugh show. I found myself uttering in my mind this short prayer....'Lord...open our eyes to this man.....is it not he who constantly tells us that the future is the exact opposite of what Your Word tells us? Limbaugh's constant exaltation of Donald Trump is the primary reason that conservatives do not know the schemes and fakery of this man our president.

         Expect the unexpected. It's really a profound thought. Oscar Wilde used it once and probably many other people. Now if the phrase was just advising one to always be aware that the unexpected could happen it would be one thing....but it's not saying that....for it's saying....expect....or actually believe that the unexpected will happen. Wow....that can boggle the mind if you really think about it.
         OK let's go a little further with this. You have a plan....on anything....this should happen....and that should then happen....and if these things happen then you are confident that your plan will work....(plan your work....work your plan.) But this is altogether different. One is being advised to actually expect something that is not expected and maybe not even considered as a possibility.
         Let me see if I can come up with an example....OK I've got one....I actually wrote a post about it a few years ago. A young newlywed couple's plans are coming along just fine.  The young man completed college to get that degree and has a good job and then they were married. Their ultimate goal is to buy a nice little house and have a couple of kids....and maybe a little dog....but then December 7th, 1941 came along and all of those plans were put on hold if they would ever even come about.
         The closest thing that I can think about where the Bible mentions something like this would be in that monumentally prophetic 24th chapter of Matthew....."If anyone tells you then, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'Over here!' do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note: I (JESUS) have told you in advance." I chose the Holman Christian Standard Bible for this for or it uses the word 'Messiah' rather than 'Christ.'
        Friends, this chapter....along with Mark 13 and Luke 21 where Jesus answers the question...."Tell us when will these things be.."....these chapters were indeed for everyone from the day that they were written to today.....but they are especially relevant for us today....for we are in that day where the nearness of the return of Christ is so close that false messiahs and false prophets are....and have been for quite a while....literally everywhere.
        Expect the unexpected....expect the false messiahs and false prophets....hold everything....everything up to Scripture....be vigilant and more than leery of great signs and wonders should they come about....for anyone can be "led astray....if possible, even the elect."

Should God Deem It Fitting

The following was first posted in 2012....and we are so much more rebellious than we were even back then... 

        Should God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, deem it fitting to move upon our collective hearts once again, to convict us as to what we have become, to open our eyes to the ideology that has bewitched much of our nation, there would be no power on this earth that could stop it! The media could not hide nor distort what would be happening. The academics in their ivory towers could do no more than flail their arms. Hollywood would ply its trade to empty seats and celebrities of any and all spheres would be ignored. Left to ourselves we cannot change the direction that our nation is going.
         We usually emphasize the second part of Lord Acton's famous quote "Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely" but it's the first part that we are dealing with at this time. Whether it's the media or universities, legislatures or government bureaucracies, or corporations or individuals....power in the wrong hands stifles dissent, governs without accountability and generally bullies its way by using that power to retain that power. We are dealing with an uninformed and easily distracted public. Greed and arrogance filled the void as reverence for God receded.
         We are reaping what we have sown. Pulpits proclaim peace when there is no peace. The cross of Christ is rarely preached. Truth is now but a variable. Our Constitution has become a liability to perceived freedoms, the Bible but a barnacle on our Ship of State. God has stripped us of our suit of armor but in His infinite wisdom we can now kneel and therein is our true power. Christians need first to come together, not for a football game...not to play Apples To Apples... not for pot luck, but to pray.....pray for wisdom and discernment, for mercies unmerited, for humble and wise leaders and all for one purpose, to place the glory at the feet of Him who blessed this nation from its beginnings. And as I have written often, should He refrain from granting us mercy, it would be His will, perfect in every way, with all glory being His forever and ever!

We Are Out Here Waiting

SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM
ORDER TO REPORT FOR SERVICE TO YOUR COUNTRY AS ITS PRESIDENT

God-Fearing Conservatives In America:
 
To: James Warren DeMint

Greeting:
          You are hereby ordered to report as a candidate for the Republican Party's 2020 nomination for President of the United States. You have used up all of your deferments. I have to inform you that your petition for deferment due to your support for President Donald Trump has been rejected. Your honorable service over many years in the United States House of Representatives and Senate....and your continued principled service in various private organizations have 'trumped' these objections....and have made your induction not only eligible but vital in support of the principles for which you have defended firmly.

           The photo above from 2012 is of my hardhat which I wore until I retired in 2016. Jim DeMint....who should have been brought into this administration in the beginning....will not challenge President Trump. This post is more a message to someone out there who realizes that the Republican establishment is little better than the opposition party and about the same as the new Trump Party. We are out here waiting for that person to take a step forward....and a candidate to appear who knows President Trump....and who would stand on the debate stage and say...."Tell us again Mr. President....of these promises that you have kept." An example of what would transpire might be:

President Trump........"Obamacare is dead as I said it would be!"
Challenger................."No Sir Mr. President. You tried to slip a fake Obamacare Repeal and Replace
                                    bill past us....and threatened the members who spotted it in the process. Next
                                    promise?"

Have You Had A Taste Yet

October 12, 2009

           I'm an incurable pack rat. My wife came to me yesterday with a gray disk, about the size of a silver dollar and asked if I knew what it was. It was slightly bevelled and had little holes throughout. I had no idea what it was. She was about to throw it away. What? Wait a second! If we throw this out there will be a day, when I need a disk about the size of a silver dollar, slightly bevelled with little holes throughout. She'll never learn. Just throw the thing out and don't ask me about it!
           I have in my hands, well actually I'm typing but I have here in front of me a book that I bought from the National Record Mart in the winter of 1973. It's title is Reach Out, The New Living Testament (illustrated.) It was published by Tyndale and I paid $2.95 for it. It has just a little bit of commentary in it and was aimed at young adults. I showed up at church services in Vietnam when in a solemn and introspective mood but the thought of church never entered my mind in my last seven months at Fort Bragg.
           I started at Pitt in January of 1973. It was a heady time. I read constantly, occasionally even class textbooks that I was supposed to be reading. I would take my latest book purchased from that same National Record Mart on the Pitt Campus into the bar....and my friends and I would discuss philosophy or some other subject that we were interested in until we could no longer pronounce our words. That's when my genius really came out. I remember one night particularly well. We were discussing The Teachings Of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. Here was a UCLA anthropology grad student taking lessons from a Yaqui Indian shaman on how peyote was instrumental to understanding the mysteries of life. We were absorbed in this while unaware that a couple of quarts of Budweiser did the same thing. In between this nonsense I would occasionally show up at St. Paul's Cathedral but it would be almost a decade before God opened my eyes and I could see the marvel of the gospel and the majesty of His Son, but I had had a taste in 1973.
           Sometimes I open this book up and press the pages to my face, smelling them and imagining how that word Jesus would thrill me before I even understood. I'll read a few verses from this paraphrased translation, for it is not a true translation, and be transported back for only a moment. And a moment is all that I would want for I was  lost back then. I was in love with me and only the grace of God kept me from facing Him until a time would come when He would hold the words of the Bible up to me as a mirror where I could only see corruption. There are so many mysteries that will be explained to us when this life is done but none to me as incomprehensible as to why God opened my eyes. If you are firm in your decision to reject God, and you want a good excuse to bolster your case, just think of me. If God would redeem me, then there is no fairness in the world. And don't listen to the voice on the other shoulder that says if God would indeed forgive me, then there is also hope for you. And whatever you do...don't open His book!!!

Purge Of The Generals

          General Michael Flynn is someone with a hero's aura around him. Apparently he has always been very aggressive and inventive in going after our enemies....and has held positions of leadership in some of our nation's most important military and intelligence posts....but he has also made some very dubious decisions regarding conversation, business dealings, and even foreign policy with both Russia and Turkey.
          The Obama administration had been perceived by some to have been for a few years purging the stronger generals of our military when F. Michael Maloof of WND wrote an article in 2013 titled Obama 'Gutting' Military By Purging....an article in which he quoted retired Army General Paul E. Vallely in....."Obama is intentionally weakening and gutting our military, Pentagon and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged." Quoting the article itself by Maloof..."President Obama this year alone has fired some nine generals and flag officers, on top of at least four similar dismissals during his first term, suggesting that a purge may be the real reason behind the removals, which are being described as cases of personal misbehavior."
           Eventually General Flynn ran afoul of Obama. The combination of Barack Obama's goals for a weaker America....General Flynn's possibly impetuously aggressive decisions....and Donald Trump's distaste of detail and disinterest in consequences....along with what has been reported as advice from Jared Kushner on some of these things.....all these probably contributed to what we are today witnessing.
           Please forgive me for quoting my own post three times....."Events with mind-numbing potential consequences are happening so fast in this world that it is time, maybe long past time, that Americans at least consider their nation's continuous descent into the abyss. May God open our eyes to that descent that we might call out to Him....for the forces arraigned against the United States at this time....along with the gross ineptitude of this government that was once was a nation to be reckoned with....and coinciding with denials of the Gospel and of God's judgment upon an unbelieving world by whole 'Christian' denominations and institutions....is more than enough reason to literally fall on our knees and cry out for His mercy

'Build The Wall'....Catchy Phrase

         The Second Temple had been built under Zerubbabel but many of the older people were in tears because it didn't have the grandeur of the First Temple. Ezra had returned to Jerusalem from captivity a few years later along with more of the remnant. His first task was to offer burnt offerings to God for bringing them home safely. His second task turned out to be listening to the officials as they told him how the people of Israel who had returned earlier had not separated themselves from the peoples of the land or from their abominations. Today we tend not to fully understand what or how terrible those abominations might have been....just as we now do not understand the severity of our own abominations....but Ezra did know....and he rent his clothes and pulled some of the hair from his head and his beard. He then laid it all out before God in humiliation and repentance....for the people had done this before and God had judged them. Were now a remnant returning from captivity....because of the former judgments....to do that all over again?
          Nehemiah as we all know returned a little later yet....and set out to.....build the wall....catchy phrase....'build the wall'....to rebuild what remained of the walls and gates. Folks we need first in America to rebuild God's house. Whatever it is that we have today in much of evangelicalism should bring tears to those who have read about the church in days past.....and we need to build a wall around it again. The Lord's Day had been one hedge of protection for the church but we ripped it out by the roots and brush hogged even the stubble that remained....then covered it with artificial turf.
          We are not separated....we are not even a peculiar people.....we are no threat because the gospel of...."come in....find your own ministry....and grow with us" does not send fear into the powers and principalities that are arrayed against us. We are today many more people in American churches than were Jews at the time in Israel....but we have too few Ezras to turn us back to God....what with the loss of men like Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul. We have too few Zerubbabels or Haggais or Zechariahs left to reform the church....maybe a MacArthur here or a Horton there....and yes others....but not enough....and too few Nehemiahs to build a wall.....if any. We are in a captivity of sorts in America but do not realize it. We do not even know that the grandeur of the church is not in the size of the building but it is in He who we are there to worship and proclaim as our Lord and Savior....a grandeur that even Solomon's Temple could not give! We've been given ample opportunity to return.....even commands....but we prefer to stay in Babylon.   
  

DISPATCHES....And Random Thoughts

President Trump is on a tweeting rampage this morning on border issues. Folks, Donald Trump could not care less about the border.....and a lot of others things that he fooled us on.....and has proved this for two years now. What we are witnessing in these tweets is analogous to a real estate developer who found out that he was missing a few important permits and is applying pressure to get them. Nothing the President says,....on anything....can ever be believed without verification....for he proven this to be the case for three years now....and this is not Robert Mueller's fault.

I was doing a little Internet research on 'positive thinking' and came upon this from 2008....where Rush Limbaugh was commenting on his show about a Barack Obama campaign rally in Houston. It was a long commentary but within it was this...."Now I saw there were 20,000 people there, and they were mesmerized. I mean it's a cult. That's what I'm telling you....revival, whatever you want to call it. It's a cult, it's a personality cult. These people who are showing up for these things are investing all this hope in Obama, not in themselves. Hope, like I keep telling you, hope is an excuse for doing nothing." Rush is speaking here of a political hope....and would not include in this the hope that the Bible speaks of....but he did err greatly in telling us to put our hope in ourselves....and we ourselves erred in putting our hope in a man. There are many biblical verses concerning hope....I'll just pass on this one....Romans 12:12...."Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

President Trump needs to announce that he will not seek a second term. We need a president concentrating on the important issues that we face right now....and not on a reelection campaign....or an impeachment trial that would probably be three months away....but as I posted earlier...."It will never happen short of a Nixonian dilemma." The Trump Party might keep this in mind....a second term nomination is not...by any means....a done deal.

Ivanka used the phrase...."our administration".....a few days ago in a Tweet....and now they are floating the possibility of Her husband becoming the Chief of Staff! Reiterating here from a past post....the doors should have been locked from the inside....and the President confronted.....when these two were first brought into the Oval Office....and those doors not unlocked until they were sent back to New York. It's amazing how they over two years have fallen under the spell of Donald Trump.

A government shutdown for $5 billion would not nearly be enough and who knows when we would actually see any of it anyway? And there probably wouldn't be any more coming in the future. They are trying to put one over on us with this....."give them $5 billion so they shut up." Inform the Department of Defense and all the associated generals and admirals right now that $25 billion is going to be used on a wall so that they can find out where they want the money to be taken from.

China and Russia know that Donald Trump thrives on news items where he can claim victory of some sort. China specifically takes advantage of this often. They will purposely give a little here or there....knowing that President Trump will run with it and claim a great victory....which he will....all the time they are putting their pieces into place on the chessboard where they are hoping to someday say...."Check"....which would be a 'Check' heard round the world.

President Trump said that the people would revolt if he was impeached. They wouldn't.....but they possibly would....if convicted on no legitimate impeachable evidence....and they might also revolt if President Trump pardons either Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort.

President Trump should expect impeachment proceedings.....followed by a trial of a month or more.....with Mitch McConnell as the judge.....(actually Chief Justice John Roberts but the Senate determines the procedures beforehand so McConnell would determine in what direction a trial would go)....House Democrats as prosecuting attorneys....and 100 Senators as the jury. Have the Democrats even given one thought to a President Pence?

Fox News has a lead headline right now on the outrage over the $25 million that the Mueller probe has cost so far.....yet it's estimated that it cost taxpayers at least $3 million every time President Trump spent a weekend at Mar-a-Lago...and he made the trip about every other weekend in the first few months of his presidency......and who knows how many times since then. President Trump severely chastised the golfing of President Obama while important issues were on his desk....yet he has blown President Obama's golf numbers out of the water hazard.....and talk radio says nothing about it.

In The Valley....But Unaware Of It

           The best thing for Donald Trump and America right now would be for the President to announce that he will not seek a second term. Personally I don't think that he could make it through the primaries. At the present time he has the full protection of talk radio. If we.....and by 'we' I mean those of us who celebrated on November 9th of 2016 but who did not shave our heads nor don saffron robes in obeisance to the newly inaugurated Cult of Trump....if we can come up with one challenger who looks the President in the eyes on the debate stage and calls him out on every single....stupid move at best....and calculated deception at worst that was perpetrated upon us.....probably beginning with bringing Ivanka and her husband in the Oval Office....and where these 'promises kept' boasts can be directly challenged....then candidate-again Donald Trump would see the reality of the situation and leave....defeated....which is something he can avoid.
            The Democrats though are making a respectable exit even unlikelier than it is by threatening indictments after the President leaves office. They should know this.....for as they have act uncivilized throughout their pungent....punji stick....attacks on President Trump for two solid years....conservatives have remained civilized throughout....but there is no way that conservatives/Trumpsters et al will accept indictments of any kind against Donald Trump while the Clintons and even Barack & CO. get away Scott-free!
            Folks.....the collapse of America is in full swing. Half of America has lost all sense of reasoning. A house divided against itself cannot stand....who said that? Pretty much the whole world is divided right now.....China is divided....Iran is divided....can we not take the mother-of-all hints?
           Our enemies know that we are torn apart within. We need a president fully engaged in the days ahead! We can't have President Trump making decisions on how it will effect his reelection! If he loves America so much.....as he tells us all the time.....he needs to step aside.....and we need to help him.....by not treating him like a king.....and by not acting like groupies.
          I wonder how many of us have read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. It was once the book most sold after the Bible itself. The great English Prince of Preachers Charles Haddon Spurgeon said that he believed that he read it over 100 times....beginning with when he was a child. I've read it over a dozen times and listened to cassette tapes of it regularly on our way to church each Lord's Day when our son was young. If you haven't read it as yet....you need to....if you have....you need to read it again...pastors need to read it again!
          Ligonier.org is broadcasting a great teaching analysis on the book every Saturday. You can go to renewingyourmind.org right now to listen to the latest segment. You'll love it. In that particular chapter Derek Thomas emphasized that according to Bunyan's description of The Valley Of The Shadow of Death there comes a time in many Christian's lives when our ordinary weapons against the wiles of the Devil cannot be used.....and that is when we have to rely on prayer. That's where Christians are in America today....but how can we realize that.....and how can we pray as we should if we do not know the true perils just off to the left and right of us? Only God alone can show us this....but we've got to turn the music down and put the sports aside to hear His words.

Classified....For Your Eyes Only

I have always looked at these posts as simple one-on-one encounters....and I've been so thankful for the opportunity to write posts such as the one below from 2016 where someone from anywhere in the world might stumble across it....brothers and sisters in Christ or someone who needs to be pointed in a direction as I did in 1982....or maybe someone in the car behind me who reads my bumper sticker.....or someone who picks up one of the many pens I leave behind and then pecks in this web address out of curiosity. So if your heart is not hardened then let me do just that....point you in a direction....and then maybe say adieu....God be with you on your journey....ligonier.org....or gty.org....or whtiehorseinn.org.

        There is an upside to having your posts monitored and that is that you get to write to an individual one on one, and he or she has to read what you write because it is their job. So this post is addressed to that certain someone who may be in that situation. I presume that I can be a little bolder than usual since this is work related.
         Since I have your ear I want to bring up the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll make it very short with only a couple of questions and comments. Here we go! Do you realize that you will indeed stand in judgment before Jesus Christ some day? If so....have you thought about what will happen when you do? I'll pause for a moment for you to consider this. Please don't ignore the question. What do you have to lose....and you're getting paid?
         You are obviously a college graduate and must have put a lot of hours in working on a major. A quick estimate here....how much study and how many books did you read in your major? I'll guess that it was at least hundreds of hours and dozens of books. And you have been rewarded for all that work or you wouldn't have the employment that you have today. Here's the kicker....and you'll know where I'm going with this. How much time have you spent....time spent with the same intensity that you gave to your college studies....in studying God's Word....the Bible? My guess is that you spent a few hours reading...on a few occasions....over a number of years....with no help from Luther or Calvin or hundreds of other sources that could have been of help.
         You consider yourself a logical person right....and pretty smart....smart enough to be given an assignment where analysis is required. I myself was an analyst when in the service. I even had a Top Secret clearance. (By the way....Hillary should never again even be allowed in the same room with classified material) So analyze this. How do expect to understand anything of the majesty and wonders and righteousness and judgments of Jesus Christ if you didn't apply yourself to His inspired books with even 1% of the effort that you did in preparing for a profession? I could ask this question to almost anyone. It can't be done. It's no wonder that you have no idea what can drive a person like Billy Graham for seventy years....or causes an Eric Liddell to give up fame and fortune for a peasant village in war-torn China....or give courage to a martyr about to be burned alive....or hope incomparable and joy unspeakable to a washer woman who spent most of her life cleaning the floors of the rich and famous.
        Friend, you probably think that you will be alright when you stand before God....most everyone does who is in your position....but had you put the time into studying God's Word that you did getting a college degree and thus monitoring my post then you would have come to a completely different conclusion.
        That's all I have. You did your job and I did mine. Think about these questions when your head hits the pillow tonight. I hope that your career goes well....for you worked hard for it....and I hope that you will dwell on integrity in your work....and treasure honor as a reward....and mostly that logic....simple logic.....might inform you of the precarious predicament that you may be in right now.

I Do Solemnly Swear

Is it too much to ask of a Congressman or a Senator or even the President of the United States to treat their constituents as equals....at least as a citizen? Oh they can have all the celebrity and the honor.....and the perks too.....even the parking space with their name on it....but is it again too much to ask that when someone addresses them as....'the honorable....so and so'....that they might actually have a little smidgen of honor?  Are all those radio talk show callers told to start their question off with...."Oh it's such an honor to talk to you"....or are those just the callers that are searched for? I just don't see it folks. They compliment their audience a wee bit too much....each one has the smartest audience you know? A caller might make a respectable comment.....but the host labels it....'brilliant!' Is that all that the word 'brilliant ' means? Have we lost respect....for....respect? The following was first posted in 2011 just prior to the beginning of America's....'most important election in our history'.....of course every election is now the most important in our history....'away with truth....begone conscience....thy terrors no longer frighten.'

I Do Solemnly Swear

           "I do solemnly swear that I will support, obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will discharge my duties with fidelity with no regard to lucre or profit," I recently heard these words spoken as I witnessed our county officials take the oath of office. As I heard the words stated....and then repeated....I myself was solemnly affected!
           The Declaration of Independence ends with these words, "And for the support of the Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Have we strayed as a nation from valuing our honor above our lifestyles, our personal security, even our futures? I do not doubt that these fifty-six men meant what they signed onto in this document. I took an oath when I entered the army in 1969 but was too immature to really understand the solemnity of it. I took wedding vows in 1976 and through God's grace I am still united in this gift. More recently I took an oath as a juror and by this time in my life I felt the weight of the words I had spoken. The prosecutor chose me to come up to...to thank the jury....why....I wasn't the jury foreman....I can only assume that it was because I showed seriousness in sitting at attention for the whole trial with my eyes fixed on the person in the witness box.
           Christianity itself is grounded on an oath...an oath taken by God alone. He led men of Old Testament times to know the importance of a covenant in order to covenant with them. Today we often witness the repercussions of a broken oath in a courtroom or before Congress, the result being an indictment of perjury, but even here do we even consider what the signers of the Declaration of Independence referred to as sacred honor? 
           Barack Obama took his initial oath of office on the Capitol steps with his hand on a King James Bible used by Abraham Lincoln.  There were some mistakes made by both he and Chief Justice Roberts that were labelled by some The flub heard round the world. Barack Obama began to repeat the words of Chief Justice Roberts a little bit early which in turn threw the Chief Justice off. After considering the situation, the oath was taken again the next day in the White House, with no Bible. The promise still was to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution. It was said that the first oath of office was valid....but just in case. The Bible was obviously not important here but what about the meaning of the words? Or was that just protocol?
           I don't know how many times that while sitting on the beach on vacation someone would walk up and offer a very nice gift if only we gave a few hours of our time looking at a condo. The answer was always "no thank-you." Most recently, at Barefoot Landing in Myrtle Beach, dinner for two and a show was offered. There is no way on God's great and wonderful green earth that I am going to buy a condo. I tried to explain this but the response was that the owners fully understand the situation but make the offer anyway; but I'm the only one here that fully understands the situation so the answer still has to be no thank-you. There is no chance that I will buy a condo....so I can't take the gift.
          God knows us more than we know ourselves. Therein is the key. To the politician, to the lawyer, to the juror or witness, to the groom...whether it be an oath or just a statement to another person....we should know that God records our words. Herein is but one step in America's recovery, that our elected and appointed leaders take that oath very seriously, and also in the vein that it is meant. How can one consider the Constitution to be a living document and take that oath? The intent of the writers thereof is not subject to the readers interpretation.
          In this primary season, it might be very helpful to ask each and every candidate to express their opinion on the solemnity of the oath of office that they would take, and to expound on their opinion, for it is not a question that can be answered in only a few sentences.

He Who Holds The Gavel....

The following is a book review of mine from 2013. The book....Catching Our Flag, Behind The Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment....deals with the impeachment trial of President Clinton. If we are headed to an impeachment again today then this book should be read....for it confirms the reality of the situation....he who holds the gavel....wields the scepter.

Catching Our Flag....February 9, 2013

           Congressman James E. Rogan was one of the House Managers during Bill Clinton's impeachment. He kept a daily journal of those proceedings for the purpose of getting it right if ever called upon to recount those days. Joseph Farah and WND Books called and James Rogan's testimony on this will be invaluable if impeachment proceedings are brought against this current president. (Barack Obama) The book is Catching Our Flag, Behind The Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment.
           James Rogan's book is easy to read.....even enjoyable. The journal entries are in bold print as the author's commentary takes the reader right into both formal and informal meetings on the House decision to impeach....and the Senate decision to abort.
           Dozens of characters that we mostly know from press clippings, such as Henry Hyde, come alive in the book, and a lot of those names are still in the Congress. There's plenty of personal anecdotes.....and some humorous. Congressman Sonny Bono makes an appearance. He wasn't a key player in this drama but he was a good friend of the author....as both men came from rough backgrounds but wound up in the United States House of Representatives. The author relates that one day as the two of them were in the chamber....Sonny looked around at where....as he described the chamber....Lincoln, Webster, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford served....and said to Rogan...."Here you are a guy who used to bar tend on the Sunset Strip. Here I am a guy who used to drive a meat truck on the Sunset Strip. Don't you ever look around this chamber and wonder how....we ever got here?" Rogan responded...."Sonny....I sit here all the time....look around this chamber....and wonder how you ever got here. I know how I got here. I went to law school."  So is this just a good book to read.....a walk down memory lane if you're old enough to remember those days? No, it's more like cardiopulmonary resuscitation directions as Uncle Sam lies in the capital rotunda clutching his heart.
       President William Jefferson Clinton should never have been given a free pass. Read in this book of the charges that should have been brought to the impeachment trial. Read of a United States Senate that will make you want to vomit your last meal. Read about the few real American heroes that were in our Congress....and read of the ones that let all of us down. This book should be read in political science classes and law schools. And don't even think about impeaching Barack Obama without studying what happened with Bill Clinton....for David Axelrod probably already read it and took copious notes.  I'll leave you with this quote on the failed attempt by the House to have a legitimate trial in the Senate...."As the record now shows, we 'tried' our case on their terms. The Senate refused to allow us to call a single witness. These was no direct or cross-examination.  This scripted procedure preordained the exoneration of President Clinton. It was no trial, in any meaningful sense of the word. Yet today. every history book and public account records that Clinton won acquittal after a Senate impeachment 'trial'."

Conservatism Itself Saves No One

        There are certain issues that are non-negotiable to many conservatives (obviously only a small percentage now in light of President Trump's approval ratings) Most pertain to religion and Biblical truth but some revolve around our Constitution.  Is it unreasonable to hold to non-negotiable opinions....opinions that do not change with the fickle fleeting passions, pragmatism and desires of modern man? It's our belief that the God who brought this universe into being out of nothing also brought this nation into being through an assortment of diverse and imperfect men....and that should we deny this and thus reject God....then this nation would proceed on its own....and into oblivion.
        Our beliefs will not be changed by opinion polls and we place no hope in military might without God's favor, for as the mouse can frighten the elephant so we could be routed by the seemingly most insignificant of enemies if we deny Him who has sustained us up till now. We also know that no enemy is too great, no mountain too high and no valley too deep should God will us to succeed. We would choose to lose in the political arena before we would we deny Him.....and therein is the rub.....we are willing to lose in this life while others are only willing to lose in the next. The following post is from April of 2012 (we have made absolutely no movement back to God since then) and is the same message on 'politics and the Christian' that I have given for ten years in these posts....and in other writings for a lot longer than that. We continue to look to presidents and people in congress and Supreme Court justices but they will let you down quicker than Donald Trump can fill up a full 128 character tweet. There is only One who is faithful. When will we learn that?

Conservatism Itself Saves No One

         I agonized for a long time over how the Christian is to deal with politics. I read books on the subject and certainly went to Scripture. I've been on both sides of the issue. Edmund Burke wrote "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Burke was not a Christian, and I am not "good," but the concept and the logic still hold weight.
         Our nation is crumbling fast and most of us are the proverbial frog in the kettle. The local news from the metropolitan city that I live near started their telecast last night with three different killings among young black people. Yesterday's paper had a picture of two beautiful young children joined at the head while the surgeons were dismayed that nothing could be done for them. Every day the sufferings of people are there to remind us of the fallen condition of this world. We say that we yearn for Jesus to come back but do we?
         Martin Luther once said when asked what he would do if he knew that the Lord was coming back the next day, "I would plant a tree." In the final analysis, we cannot quit on this nation. If people's sufferings are to be alleviated, if we are to return to at least being a "God-fearing" nation we have to seek God's mercy and try our best to be good and responsible citizens.
         This blog title has the word "conservative" in it to get the attention of who it is meant for but conservatism itself will save no one! Our hope is not in princes or their military power. Christians, who have been relegated to being part of the "religious right," must remind themselves of this every day. This does not mean that we do not support a political party or ardently work for its success but it does mean that we never alter our ethical beliefs or compromise that which is our only hope, the gospel of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
         We lost our moorings in this long before we lost this last election. Our churches are social gatherings with political causes meant to assuage our guilt of not knowing who we really are in Christ. Our pulpits mention Jesus every week but rarely preach His cross for they have lost faith in the power of preaching Christ and prefer to give biblical advice on how to live. I stumble into church every week to hear the atoning power of the blood of Christ and of what He has done for me and how He will keep this poor wretched sinner despite my gravitation to dally with the world.
          More than anything, we need to pray that ministers enter their pulpits, look over the congregation and set forth to lay out the glories and majesties of Jesus Christ present in every book of the Bible. Only having done that can they begin to exegete the passages on how we are to live.

Trouble Brewing In The Ranks

The following post is only about three weeks old:         

          Rush simply yet adamantly said that he just wasn't going to talk about it.....not until Hillary Clinton was brought up on charges or some such prerequisite would he comment on Ivanka Trump's email situation. I can't expound too much on what Mark Levin said about it because after about three minutes of his shouting and screaming I have to turn the radio off.  I did get this.....Ivanka....that hardcore experienced exec and passionate progressive....(that means she's not on our side)....was categorized as the President's 'child' by Mark. If one did not know who Ivanka Trump is they might think that she's a preteen by the way Mark coddles her. (Breitbart morning radio and Alex Marlow is starting to break ranks and actually talk about....and letting some callers talk about....some inconsistencies and failures on the part of Donald Trump.)
           Folks this is standard......this is how conservative talk radio protects Donald Trump on everything. Rush went about ten days last year without even mentioning that President Trump endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama special election senate primary. I was amazed that the topic could not even make its way to the radio broadcast. We conservatives are listening to three solid hours of talk radio....(and that's only one talk show)....five days a week.... on a regular basis.....and we get only half of the news....all of it that is pro-Trump....(granted it's usually needed and valuable).....and none of it that is in any way critical analysis.....(which is also needed and valuable.)
           President Trump's new White House press rules don't even allow for a followup question unless the reporter is graciously granted one by the President. This  type of restricted questioning is dangerous. Does every caller in to Rush's show have to start by saying....."Oh Rush....It's such an honor to talk to you!"? This stuff is starting to wear thin. What's next in the White House.....a lineup where you take a step forward....ask your question.....take a step back.....and say "sir" at the end of every sentence? I may be grossly exaggerating here but this one thing is for sure......reporters in the White House press room should start anticipating a illusive response on a difficult topic....and so then fashion the question beforehand as if the illusive answer was already given.
           Ivanka Trump's email problem may very well be so minor that it isn't even real news. That's not the issue here. The issue is the same as it has been for two years.....Ivanka and Jared Kushner should never have been brought into the Oval Office. We should have thrown down the gauntlet right then and there and never let the issue be swept away. Donald Trump said that he was going to drain the swamp.....he was nominated and elected on just such promises.....and he pulled this on us right out of the gate!
           If we had been in any other situation other than what they perceive to be the absolute need to protect the Trump administration at all costs then these same conservative radio talk show hosts would have lambasted Donald Trump from here to Mar-a-Lago. They would have told him to get off the golf course and stop the tweeting. Even if they are right in that we need Donald Trump no matter what he does or who he is they should have been honest about it and said...."we need him.....he's doing everything he can to get us to turn away from him....but we need him." They didn't do that....and in not doing that they have only enabled him....and emboldened him to not only continue but get worse.
            Folks....we're not just talking here about 'consumer confidence' or 'numbers of people in the workforce' or 'housing starts'....President Trump is dealing with Communism's endgame and radical Islam's invitation for the return of their Mahdi. I'm not concerned about Donald Trump's legacy or his empire.....and certainly not his reelection.....I'm concerned about a man who thinks that he can use the same 'threaten big and then give a hug ' gambit forever. Sooner or later....in fact it may have already happened....these people are going to wise up. Carrying water for President Donald is not helping him....praying for him when you think that God sent him to make America great again will not help. Put that 2020 election out of your mind.....there's more than enough earthshaking problems for today to be concerned about. Pray for mercy for him....pray for mercy for us all!           

"There's Always The Unexpected Isn't There?"

         It was reported yesterday from The Daily Beast that in early 2017..."senior officials offered Trump charts and graphics laying out in the numbers and showing a 'hockey stick' spike in the national debt in the not-too-distant future." Donald Trump then noted that the critical point would come after his second term in office....and "bluntly" responded..."Yeah, but I won't be here."
         Fox News superstar Tucker Carlson made some comments in an interview with a German newspaper that have made headlines here in America. One article on this described Carlson as "better known for defending the president than criticizing him." One question asked was whether or not President Trump would fulfill his campaign promises. Carlson's response was..."I don't think he's capable....I don't think he's capable of sustained focus. I don't think he understands the system." He said that Trump..."hasn't learned anything." Ultimately, according to the Fox News host, Donald Trump's actual role....in retrospect....was "to begin the conversation about what actually matters." I agree....candidate Trump did do that....in spades....he just had nothing within him to follow through on those promises.....promises that he really didn't have any passion for to begin with.
        In another interview in the news.....former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said..."When the president would say, 'Here's what I want to do, and here's how I want to do it,' and I would have to say to him, 'Well, Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can't do it that way. It violates the law. it violates the treaty'." Tillerson also said that President Trump was "pretty undisciplined....doesn't like to read"...and..."doesn't read briefing reports." It didn't take long for President Trump to fire back salvos on Twitter with ...."He (Tillerson) was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough"....and that "He was lazy as hell."
        Rex Tillerson also said this that didn't make all the news articles....."I will be honest with you, it troubles me that the American people seem to want to know so little about issues that they are satisfied with 128 characters (Twitter), I don't want to come across as a criticism of him....(President Trump-on his tweeting)....it's really a concern that I have about us as Americans and us as a society and us as citizens."
        I'll go a bit further on this. Yes....we conservatives fell for the inanity of the tweet....but that is only the tip of the iceberg. We once defended our principles from the high ground of ethics and legitimate debate. Talk Radio had it's antennas on the highest peak of the hill....but Donald Trump dragged us....antennas and all....off of that hill and into his own personal swamp....for Donald Trump muddies everyone that comes near him.....Christians.....nationally known preachers....all of us.
        As Colonel Nicholson was rotting away in the 'oven' in that great film The Bridge On The River Kwai....because of a work disagreement....Japanese Colonel Saito angrily addressed the British contingent of prisoners.... “English prisoners....why does the bridge not progress....you know why....because your officers are lazy!” He then fired his chief engineer and said....”I shall be in personal command” And then he gave presents to all.
        That bridge in the film was completed because of a British engineer possibly like the one that Tillerson is. Nicholson only cared about the great accomplishment that it would be. There was a phrase that came up a few times in the film...bit serious...a bit comedic..."There's always the unexpected isn't there?" That is just one problem that President Trump will face as he attempts to make America great again....in personal command of everything...."There's always the unexpected isn't there?"

Fissile Words

             Benjamin Franklin remarked in his autobiography how it was "wonderful to see the Change soon made in the Manners of our inhabitants"....and...."it seem'd as if all the World were growing Religious;  so that one could not walk thro' the Town in an Evening without Hearing Psalms sung in different Families of every street."
             These words were in response to the effect on the people by the mostly open-air preaching of George Whitefield in what has come to be known as the First Great Awakening. (1730s-40s) This is what happens when God....of his own volition and purposes....moves mightily over an entire people. Nothing can stop it. If one is not part of it they can only sit and watch.
             The general consensus on conservative talk radio on the change in demographics due to illegal immigration is that Republicans in ten years will not be able to win an election. I think that this is more political hyperbole than anything else. Logic alone would dictate that if the public can change so drastically in one direction that it should be able to drastically change back....but everything....even the most formidable political initiatives....are subject first to what God's will is....for as Scripture tells us in Job 12:23..."He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again." (KJV)
              Should God will it....the entire Latino population in America....along with multitudes of others....would....as has happened before with other people groups.....fall on their knees in conviction of sin at the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ....but first it would take a preacher (preachers)....(awakened pulpits.) This Congress of ours.....and all the state houses combined....and the President himself....and you....and me....will not take another breath....or have another thought....apart from the perfect will of God.
               Amazingly....God has painted into this Christian pilgrimage we are in....prayer. He delights in hearing the prayers of His children! Yes we can canvass a town for a candidate....yes we can support a conservative cause....yes we can enter the arena ourselves....but what we build He will tear down if we try to do this on our own. The essence of prayer is that we are not trying to do something on our own. We are petitioning.....and even pleading....for God to work.
               I heard it said that a group of faithful congregants prayed in the bowels of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London while Charles Haddon Spurgeon was preaching above them. All over this nation there are men who right now feel like failures because their preaching has not stirred their congregations....that people may wander in their church and then wander right out again. Yes many have failed us in their pulpits.....but there are many others whom we have failed! Prayer may seem at times like mere words....and they are mere words.....unless God has given us those words....then they are more powerful than a nuclear explosion. Pray that God gives us those words....that He gives the men in our pulpits those words. Grab on to the hem of His robe.....wrestle with Him until He blesses us with an awakening.....all for His purposes alone and to His glory.

"Greeting, You Are Hereby..."

There's an opinion piece up on The Hill right now titled The Armed Forces Arithmetic Isn't Adding Up. The gist if the article is that a bipartisan report on the state of the military was recently published with great concerns about the shrinking manpower pool....and that military recruiting is "approaching a crisis." I'm bringing this up because the article mentions the possibility of "restoring the draft" if necessary, although it is somewhat masked in the term "creative steps." The following paragraph is from earlier this year while the post after it is from last December. There are two reasons that I bring up the draft on occasion....manning our military is an issue that has to be kept current but the primary reason I bring it up is that the reality of the situation (a military draft) just might awaken much of America to pay more attention to foreign policy decisions that often are politically or economically motivated. The opinion piece was written by three men, one of whom is a retired Major General.

             I've written on the perilous state that our nation is in so many times in the past nine years that at times I feel like I'm in a trance.....just sending out dots and dashes.....SOSs.....MAYDAYs. When I was 18 years old the most pressing concern for the young adult was the Vietnam War. There were a few ways to avoid the draft.....college being one of them. Some decided to go to college just for this reason.....but most who matriculated were going to go to college draft or no draft....and some specifically put off college because their country needed them. It's different today. If we have a draft then the male college student can finish the semester....unless he's a senior where he can finish the year....but that's it. Females are fully in the workforce today but they won't be drafted. Gays were not drafted during Vietnam but they would be today. I have no idea what they will do with the transgender issue. Documented and undocumented immigrant males 18-26 are also required to register. The draft board has always been ready....just in case. You can keep abreast of the policies and any changes that may be made to them at sss.gov.

"Greeting, You Are Hereby..."

            There is no plan made by man that can stem the tide of wars and rumors of wars ahead. An estimation here....if I went up to one-hundred strangers on the street and gave my views on the trouble that America is in, ninety of them would think my claims utterly absurd. Nine might admit that we are in big trouble but not to the extent to which I do. One might agree with me.
            If America's future is to be determined with a survey then we are in pretty good shape....maybe not.....good....shape....but pretty good shape as to at least surviving intact as a nation. Take a drive around your town.....unless you live in a metropolitan area.....take a nice walk.....particularly if you live in warm weather on the beach.....and nothing seems to have changed in America....but here's a hint.....the determining factors on our future will not be made on the congenial ambiance of a local Starbucks or pristine waters and gentle slapping of the waves on Siesta Key.
             Half of America has become untethered as to an American creed, uncivilized as to any sense of fairness, and unbecoming as to any beauty that our simple flag of stars and stripes once brightened this world with. Our hopes for a supermajority in Congress or a majority in the Supreme Court means nothing when nearly half of the people despise us and everything that we stand for. They will find a way to cut our legs out from under us. Do you not see this happening every day?
             Have you ever thought about what major wars in both the Pacific and the Middle East would do to our country that is pretty near perfectly divided? Have you considered what a military draft would look like? We can't even deal with Bergdahl and Manning....how are we now going to field a WWII type army in this anti-American political climate? Who gets drafted to begin with? Would we have 'safe spaces' in basic training?
             The 401k was a great idea.....for half of Americans who can take advantage of it....but what about the other half? It's A Wonderful Life will be playing everywhere in America here shortly.....take note of what it looks like when a bank can't give people their money.
             Many of you might say....."Well, we'll just have to depend on God." FLASH BULLETIN.....He's been warning us for half a century.....1/120th of the history of man.....half of America despises the thought of the God of the Bible and the rest of us give 100 times more attention to sports and entertainment than to Him.....and if you want to get technical.....he gave blueprints in the Old Testament for just such a disaster as we are facing.
             There is only one possible recourse......and it's not in the nonsense of making America great again.....but in the accurate....humble yet effusive.....and yet tear-soaked proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.... accompanied by what would be God's will in having His Holy Spirit move over this land in a 3000 mile swath of conviction leading to repentance.

         

"Yet I Will Exalt In The LORD..."

The following post is about a month old:
 
          The prophet Habakkuk speaks to us today....but will we listen? Hidden away in a slew of other prophets that we ignore....books labelled 'minor prophets' because of the short length....it gives us a glimpse of Habakkuk's extreme frustration as his beloved Judah was destructive and violent....full of strife and contention....where law is ignored and justice is never upheld. Does that description sound familiar?
           The prophet begins by venting to God his frustrations. Why isn't God doing something about this? Why has the LORD not intervened? The answer that God gave Habakkuk was not the answer that he wanted to hear. God was going to bring judgment upon Judah.....and he was raising up the Chaldeans to do that!
           Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah. Nineveh was about to fall....and Babylon about to rise. Nahum had just prophesied impending doom to Nineveh. Habakkuk was now....after God's answer to his question....even more frustrated in that God would use a more violent nation....Babylon.....to punish Judah. It's as if he then stood there and defiantly said.....'explain that God'.....and then waited to hear God's rebuke....but God didn't rebuke him....he calmly told Habakkuk to record the vision that he was about to see.
           Martin Luther would be transformed by part of what God told Habakkuk...."Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith." God was showing Habakkuk what would happen in the future...."at the appointed time." He was pointing to the Messiah. Yes Babylon would bring judgment upon Judah....but God then quickly taunted Babylon.....five times! Their turn for God's wrath would be next.
          So what would Habakkuk do now....offer a third challenge to God? No...even though his "inward parts trembled" and his lips "quivered" in acknowledgment of what was about to happen to Judah....God gave him a quiet and a calm....and a prayer that Judah would utter and sing even as Babylon approached.
          Habakkuk....like Jeremiah and Daniel......had to give their messages....but none of them would see the final fulfillment of their prophesies....both judgment and redemption....while in their mortal bodies. Habakkuk's inner parts did tremble and his lips did quiver after realizing what was going to happen to Judah....but his final words were....and they should be our words....as we have witnessed our nation rebel in ways eerily similar to Judah's...."Yet I will exalt in the LORD. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds feet, and makes me walk on my high places."
          Christians should know by now that judgment is coming to the nations of the West that once acknowledged and even reverenced God....but now violently oppose His mere presence even in tradition. In many of us....our inward parts tremble....and our lips quiver....but as Habakkuk's final prayer proclaimed the power and "everlasting ways" of Almighty God.....we for our part know very well....and should proclaim....the glorious return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....in the midst of judgment not totally unlike in its terror what Judah experienced with Babylon.

DISPATCHES

President Trump is on a tweeting rampage this morning on border issues. Folks, Donald Trump could not care less about the border.....and a lot of others things that he fooled us on.....and has proved this for two years now. What we are witnessing in these tweets is analogous to a real estate developer who found out that he was missing a few important permits and is applying pressure to get them. Nothing the President says,....on anything....can ever be believed without verification....for he proven this to be the case for three years now....and this is not Robert Mueller's fault.

I was doing a little Internet research on 'positive thinking' and came upon this from 2008....where Rush Limbaugh was commenting on his show about a Barack Obama campaign rally in Houston. It was a long commentary but within it was this...."Now I saw there were 20,000 people there, and they were mesmerized. I mean it's a cult. That's what I'm telling you....revival, whatever you want to call it. It's a cult, it's a personality cult. These people who are showing up for these things are investing all this hope in Obama, not in themselves. Hope, like I keep telling you, hope is an excuse for doing nothing." Rush is speaking here of a political hope....and would not include in this the hope that the Bible speaks of....but he did err greatly in telling us to put our hope in ourselves....and we ourselves erred in putting our hope in a man. There are many biblical verses concerning hope....I'll just pass on this one....Romans 12:12...."Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

President Trump needs to announce that he will not seek a second term. We need a president concentrating on the important issues that we face right now....and not on a reelection campaign....or an impeachment trial that would probably be three months away....but as I posted earlier...."It will never happen short of a Nixonian dilemma." The Trump Party might keep this in mind....a second term nomination is not...by any means....a done deal.

Ivanka used the phrase...."our administration".....a few days ago in a Tweet....and now they are floating the possibility of Her husband becoming the Chief of Staff! Reiterating here from a past post....the doors should have been locked from the inside....and the President confronted.....when these two were first brought into the Oval Office....and those doors not unlocked until they were sent back to New York. It's amazing how they over two years have fallen under the spell of Donald Trump.

A government shutdown for $5 billion would not nearly be enough and who knows when we would actually see any of it anyway? And there probably wouldn't be any more coming in the future. They are trying to put one over on us with this....."give them $5 billion so they shut up." Inform the Department of Defense and all the associated generals and admirals right now that $25 billion is going to be used on a wall so that they can find out where they want the money to be taken from.

China and Russia know that Donald Trump thrives on news items where he can claim victory of some sort. China specifically takes advantage of this often. They will purposely give a little here or there....knowing that President Trump will run with it and claim a great victory....which he will....all the time they are putting their pieces into place on the chessboard where they are hoping to someday say...."Check"....which would be a 'Check' heard round the world.

President Trump said that the people would revolt if he was impeached. They wouldn't.....but they possibly would....if convicted on no legitimate impeachable evidence....and they might also revolt if President Trump pardons either Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort.

President Trump should expect impeachment proceedings.....followed by a trial of a month or more.....with Mitch McConnell as the judge.....(actually Chief Justice John Roberts but the Senate determines the procedures beforehand so McConnell would determine in what direction a trial would go)....House Democrats as prosecuting attorneys....and 100 Senators as the jury. Have the Democrats even given one thought to a President Pence?

Fox News has a lead headline right now on the outrage over the $25 million that the Mueller probe has cost so far.....yet it's estimated that it cost taxpayers at least $3 million every time President Trump spent a weekend at Mar-a-Lago...and he made the trip about every other weekend in the first few months of his presidency......and who knows how many times since then. President Trump severely chastised the golfing of President Obama while important issues were on his desk....yet he has blown President Obama's golf numbers out of the water hazard.....and talk radio says nothing about it.

Stark Contrast

Life in America may be about to change. We simply cannot go on as we are. From a grossly ineffective government along with just about all of its leaders....and this at the most perilous time in our history....to a collapsed culture that mocks God....to new technologies bordering on suicidal invention....to volatility everywhere....to epidemics of greed and lying and violence....to tottering foundations of all that our country was built upon....we will reap what we have sown. The forewarning message of Jonah....an advance notice of judgment if we do not repent....is no longer heard....or haven't you noticed? We have had plenty of time....but have only gotten worse....far worse even from that described in the following post from May of 2014....as we now attempt to circumvent God's commands....and on our own make America great again. 

Stark Contrast

         Surely somewhere in America on that bleak or snowy Saturday in early December 1941 a young man sat looking out of a restaurant window, or maybe a coffee shop, with a young lady at his side who was his new bride. They had the world at their fingertips as he was just awarded that treasured college diploma he worked so long and hard for, and she wore the wedding band she had dreamed about since they first met in grade school. They looked into each other's eyes with hardly a care in the world. Oh, the plans they had so much fun making.....a small cottage with a white picket fence that someday would keep little ones and maybe a puppy dog from straying as they play.
          And then the morning came and as they walked into church the somber faces took their joy away for they had not heard the news from that group of islands where the sun shown year round and warm surf slapped the white beaches. America was in the war against evil that they had only given themselves minutes a day to reflect upon. The young bride knew immediately that their dreams would now be put on hold if they would ever come true. Surely the prayers of all present in that worship service were salted with tears.
          Not every generation has its hopes interrupted as that generation did on December 7th, 1941 but our younger generation today may indeed be another one. Colleges and universities are having their commencement right about now and the hopes and dreams of many wearing mortar boards and gowns are exactly the same as the young couple that I described.
          I'm a news junky and the daily pain from the news of this world has made it such that I could never lose myself in plans or even hopes and dreams. Love is disappearing in the world....no.... worse than that, it has been hijacked by greed, tortured by pride and what is left is directed to ourselves and we in America are paying dearly for our dalliances.
          The 1943 Academy Award for Best Picture went to the 1942 American film Mrs. Miniver in which Greer Garson also won for Best Actress. It portrays the upper middle class Miniver family who live outside of London in a very nice home on the River Thames. I list this film as one of my favorites in my Profile for this blog.
          Life could not be sweeter for Mrs. Miniver and her family as she is smitten over an expensive new hat and her husband (Walter Pidgeon) outdoes her by purchasing a sporty new vehicle. Their eldest son has taken up the pipe at university and spouts his political views with heartfelt sincerity but naive certainty much like our youth today and very much like myself at that age. War looms on the horizon but is not taken seriously until England declares war on Germany. Life then changes for the family as their son goes off to war and as their own home is damaged by bombs.
          There is a church scene at the beginning of the film and another at the end....and the stark contrast of the two is the essence of the film! Americans would already have experienced the realities of war when the movie came out and the intended purpose of the motion picture was to rally the American public by showing them the courage and stamina of the British homefront in a war they had already been in for three years. Winston Churchill commented on the book and the film in that they did more for the war effort than a flotilla of battleships.
          I highly recommend the film for we are in need of a reality check on what lies before us in America, and our congregations are in need of soberness in our worship services that would eliminate distractions and focus us solely on who we are there to worship.

Blood....Sweat....And Now Tears

           So what do we do now? Our awakening of the 70s and 80s probably began to wane in 1992. The evangelical was riding high at the time....not riding very smartly....but riding high. Tipper Gore's book Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society was very popular in the evangelical community and I knew that it would be problematic when Bill Clinton choose Al Gore for his running mate. It didn't begin in 1992 but the downfall of the United States of America certainly took a giant step with the emergence of the Clintons.
          We were sure that George W. Bush was a Christian.....not a fake like the Clintons and Al Gore....but how wrong we were....for he represents a nominal Christianity that cannot save. We then....as all Americans....were shaken to the core by 9/11....not only by the attack itself but by the overwhelming evidence over the ensuing seven years that there was something seriously wrong in a large percentage of the American public....and then it was proved out as disaster struck in the sudden emergence and election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States....but we endured and fought back.....that fight coming to a crescendo as it looked as if Hillary Clinton would succeed President Obama.
          We didn't have any heavyweights to really challenge her....good men....and Carly Fiorina....but no real heavyweights....and then out of the crystal blue sky....peeking through above Jared Kushner's The 666 monstrosity and the Trump Tower came Donald John Trump. The Democrats knew more of who he was for he was really one of them. His celebrity was made in their hood. We just knew him as a brash egotistical billionaire....and thought that we could live with that.
          He touched that within us that was patriotic....but he also mined that part of the soul that was blind and deaf to warnings of the quicksand of power and slippery slopes of greed. Half of us knew that there was a big problem here but there were a few too many of us splitting the primary vote. Still....Hillary loomed on the horizon and once all was said and done with the nomination process we set our attention on the task at hand....and we all celebrated in the wee hours of November 7th, 2016.
          I should be a little bit more specific.....we did have heavyweights but they were in talk radio....and one by one a now President Trump battered them into submission. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity were knocked out in the first round when President Trump bought Ivanka and Jared and others into the Oval Office....and will probably never be the same conservative fighters that they once were. Mark Levin won a couple of rounds while challenging Donald Trump but then suddenly just said....no mas.
          Blood and sweat blurred our vision as to who Donald Trump was turning out to be. The roar of the crowd struck fear into our opponents as the glamorous Ivanka circled the ring holding high the number of the round. The President himself is battered....swinging wildly....confused and delusional at times....but still shouting...."I am the greatest"....as his cornermen leave one by one.
          As for us....the evangelicals.....we're now just like any other fight crowd.....faces contorted as we shout for more blood...."lock her up!"...."lock who up?"...."lock'em all up!" Political bookies have come out of the woodwork with the midterm elections at hand....with each election being billed as the most important ever....demanding that we lay more money down or maybe lose it all. The mob has long since taken over this fight between a God-fearing conservatism and godless communism.