More Passionate than An Art Lover

The following was first posted in June. I listen to on an average of four or five sermons a week from men of the past....and men who preach like men of the past. I don't like to go more than a day without hearing someone such as Martyn Lloyd-Jones or O. Palmer Robertson or D. A. Carson or R. C. Sproul or Michael Horton preach....and that's only a sampling of names....and I'm about as insignificant a layman as you might find....how  much more should preachers....who have such a great responsibility....be making it a priority to glean from what God has given these men!

            His ministry lasted almost a half century before the Lord called him home rather suddenly in December of 2017....and just a couple months before the Lord called Billy Graham back home. Both had enormous impacts on the Church....not only America but in the entire world. Both had warned us in that we were in rebellion to Almighty God....our Creator and our Benefactor....who had been longsuffering towards us....until He began to lift His hand of protection.
            These two men.....R. C. Sproul and Billy Graham....spoke different languages. Billy spoke Southern Comfort....and R. C.....Pittsburghese....which is my primary language......but I'm also fluent in Southern Comfort.
            This morning I listened once again....this time on the treadmill....to Sproul's final sermon.....the last sermon that he gave from his pulpit in Sanford, Florida.  I've listened to it at least six times so far in the past year and a half. I know people who cannot understand how I can listen to the exact same sermon twice let alone a half dozen times.....or how I can read the same book twice....but the Prince of Preachers....the nineteenth century's Charles Spurgeon....said that he estimated that he read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.....a hundred times! Maybe that's one reason that he was called the Prince of Preachers?
             Yesterday I finished an illustrated book of Vincent van Gogh's paintings.....interspersed with various letters he and Theo had exchanged. I might have spent a few solid minutes looking at any one of a number of van Gogh's oils on canvas....even though I had seen them many times before. How many times might the average classical music listener have savored the same Bach or Beethoven composition....hundreds? How many times might someone have slowly digested a poem by Robert Frost? How many times might someone have visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater? So....should a preacher of such a great salvation be given any less attention. I say no.....but even more attention!
              This particular sermon by R. C. Sproul......his final sermon.....asks the question that if you really understand salvation then how could you drift away from it....and how dangerous that would be....and if you really know what you are saved from......how can you not continuously rejoice throughout your life?  Sproul's voice is gravelly in this his last sermon.....but his passion is like.....or maybe even more.....than those first days way back when in that small teaching center in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

Google if you are interested....R. C. Sproul's final sermon.

Mere Kings

The LORD alone causes kings to rise
He lifts them up out of the dirty street
and moiling crowds
and dusts them off
and puts a crown on their heads
and humbles their enemies
all the while watching what neither the king nor his subjects can discern
that it is but an act of play whose author is God Himself

The LORD also brings kings down
where the fire is snuffed out in the great hall
and the music stops never to play again for this king
as enemies find that breach
and rush the stage
and the scarlet curtain falls...hooks and ropes and grommets and all
as the king exits leaving his crown
slowly rolling till it rests at the feet of he who would be the new king.

       Commentators and pamphleteers like myself....and kingmakers....can toil all we want but nothing we accomplish was not already dictated by God....even though through prayer it's as if He brings us on the stage with the major actors. Donald Trump might at one moment walk that stage of his rally halls in regal majesty to cheers....but the next search for a single kind word or benevolent smile.....or he might stomp around putting out fires meant to topple his reign....with all looking bleak.....and the next moment throw gilded coins once again from his gold carriage to reaching hands. What we can do is pray for righteousness to reign over the people....whether we have a good and wise king....(in our case president)....or a bad one.

Ghosts Of Christmas Past

            Childhood memories are a powerful force. I'll remind you of a film that usually is given the top spot in 'greatest films of all time' polls.....Citizen Kane.....where the protagonist after a wild life of riches and fame....lies on his deathbed and utters one word....'Rosebud.' Most of us know by now the meaning of that word in the film.
             I'll wax a little personal in this Christmas post....as sometimes I seem to just have to talk to somebody even if I don't know them. I was raised in a one-parent home where my mother hardly had enough money to put food on the table and pay the bills. The lights and the telephone were turned off often....and bill collectors were not uncommon. Those experiences stuck with me like Super Glue on balsa wood. Life as an adult was different as there was always money for a new car or vacations and all the books I wanted....but there were a few occurrences over the past week that oddly brought back some of those older memories.
            A small check from an insurance company was sent to me by mistake and I didn't think a whole lot about it....until the company that it was supposed to go to called....and an uneasy feeling of a bill collector came back momentarily to my mind. Then tonight...with the banks closed....and I behind as usual....trying to get a handful of crisp $10 bills to give to some kids for Christmas....and no money left laying around the house after a week of shopping.....had to try to cash a personal check at the grocery store. The manager was very accommodating and wished me Merry Christmas with a smile....but that pang came back on trying to cash a personal check for my mother in my youth when there may or may not have been funds to cover it in the bank.
             Well I'm thankful for those two pangs from the past....although two is probably enough....for I never want to forget the blessings that God has given.....not only for money in the bank today.....but also for those times without money....for the experiences proved valuable later in life..

Note: As it so happened....just this morning I have to have an emergency home repair that will cost about $600...and once again I thank God that I have only to write a check....but most of America does not have money in the bank or a 401k as backup on unexpected expenses. President Trump probably tweeted three or four times this week alone how the stock market set a record.....but when it goes down for a week....as it had recently.....he'll say as he did then....."I don't pay attention to the stock market." What a despicable liar this man is....but we refuse to hold him accountable....or contemplate replacing him as our 2020 nominee....for just look at the stock market....and 'O but look at the job statistics'....but apparently few of us have experience on how you can have a job....for years and years....and still struggle with the basic necessities of life. Donald Trump actually leads us astray in the areas that we are in most need of help....a humble dependence on our God and our benefactor over our entire existence as a nation. Woe are we....conservatives and evangelicals....for we sold our heritage for a mess of pottage.

DISPATCHES

Voted For Him....Celebrated....Fool Me Once....Not Twice!

Here are a couple of questions that I'd like to hear talked about...."What might the economy be today had any of the conservatives on the debate stage become president?" The same regulations would have been eliminated....and the corporate tax would have been lowered. "Is there one conservative federal judge that was added that would not have been added with any of these other candidates?".....the answer to this is no....and...."what would the national debt total be without Trump?" We conservatives seem too often to be only concerned with statistical trends that begin in 2017. If we would take those trends back a decade we would see in most cases a linear downward slope....(or upward)....since the financial crisis of 2008.

Aviv Kochavi is Israel's equivalent of our military Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke at an awards ceremony recently in Israel....and what he said there is not earth-shaking in content but to those of us who are genuinely and seriously concerned about Israel....it was necessary to hear....for he was very transparent on how the next war might effect the Israeli population. It is transparency....warnings like this that we need to hear in America....and one reason that I occasionally bring up a renewal of our military draft....for it would not be pretty....and also the hammer that will eventually come down from a $23 trillion debt....for it also would not be pretty....and thus after hearing these things....republicans might pay closer attention to the words and tweets of President Trump....and at least consider the possible consequences of impetuous and arrogant and risky and often greedy and sometimes just plain vindictive decisions of a man who is unfit on two counts for the job he is in....his character....and his inexperience on any problems that a boatload of money cannot cure. All of the Israeli news sites have reported on Aviv Kochavi's comments but I recommend that of the Times Of Israel. It can easily be Googled....Times of Israel....Aviv Kochavi.

 A Trump rally of evangelicals is hastily being arranged in Miami for January 3rd in an attempt to insure that hemorrhaging in his support does not follow the events of the last week. My prayer is and has been for quite a while this....that God might open our eyes to Donald Trump....that the President might realize that he is not going to have four more years to build his statue to himself....and that lacking the opportunity for his malignant narcissism to drive him....that he might settle in with advisers whose purpose no longer would be to insure a reelection....and who might be able to curtail his vindictiveness and impetuousness....not having  to worry about a midnight tweet announcing that they are gone....and that this administration might be able to deal with enormous.....possibly even monstrous....difficulties that must surely ahead....even though the official line is that we now have 'peace and security'....and that our best days are ahead of us.

"A large number" of evangelical leaders (aka....megachurch pastors....ministry presidents.....and celebrity pastors)....signed a letter castigating Christianity Today. One signer added...."I hope Christianity Today will now tell us who they will support for president in 2020 out of the Democrat field." That's the problem....they see only two alternatives.....a Democrat or Trump. Republicans are cancelling primaries to make sure there are only two alternatives....can't Mike Pence carry on the Trump agenda....or how about this novel idea....do the right thing....trust in Christ and not in man? Or how about this....let's look at how the church and its Saturday college football mentality and insipid preaching and Christless Christianity may be partially responsible for the mess we are in? In other words....we are as much to blame as the Democrats for what we have become as a people! They make a good telethon video but failed to feed their own sheep....heed warnings to the church....or admit they may not be as knowledgeable as they think. We're all culpable....let's admit that....and prostrate ourselves before our Savior....and see if He will guide us through what we have brought upon ourselves.

Update: After a quick look at the list of signers from the above letter....and a quick count....it appears that there are about 110 of whom are directors or founders or heads in one way or another of ministry organizations of one sort or another. Most of the other 75 or so are pastors....of churches that I presume are well-known or influential in some way in their own local area. Thrown in the mix are Michele Bachmann and a couple of singers and a comedian....I'm trying to remember here....and an author and a Christian radio host...and Ralph Reed and Jerry Falwell Jr. and Paula White and Mike Huckabee.....(Sarah's dad.) I know that we in the church suffer from a dearth of men who preach the cross....and the gospel of salvation....and thus a dearth of men who preach Christ....for that is evident in the America we have today....but are we also becoming a little top-heavy on ministries? Please don't get me wrong....many are very good and a great help to people in need....and I've supported a lot of them over the years....but let's not confuse this....that they are not the church....particularly since they often hold to a very basic doctrinal stance because they need a diverse financial support base. I recognize a lot of the names on this list....particularly the names of organizations....and a lot of them I have always thought highly of....but I would trade the whole lot of them for one man of stature in America that could preach like Charles Haddon Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones....a man like these men who the news media might look to for comment....instead of the usual suspects today.....for in their ministries were....(and still is through books and tape).... the proclamation of the gospel of salvation....and preaching Christ....and that is what America needs most....the lack of which produces an evangelical church with little discernment on how it is being used by Donald Trump.

Update: The President usually attends a normal ultra-liberal church on Christmas but this year....what with the potential crack in evangelical support.....he choose a social conservative megachurch. Last night in preparing for sleep....I listened to a recording of a 1859 Charles Spurgeon sermon....The Fainting Warrior.....(folks....the pastor who will give you your pablum tomorrow should be passing his time reading sermons like this instead of playing Mr. Handyman or even Mr. Family Man).....O that someone would make a huge mistake and the President would be stuck in a service with a sermon such as the one mentioned here!

Original post on this topic: Drudge has had all day in bold letters the headline....CT Christianity Today....TRUMP BLASTS 'FAR LEFT' MAG....EVANGELICALS BATTLE. Christianity Today may not be a conservative Christian magazine anymore....but its editor-in-chief is to be given great credit for doing what no one else on that level is doing.....defending the gospel of Jesus Christ.....instead of defending a man who has spent his entire life trying to make a deal....to his profit....regardless of who might lose in that deal. Oh I forgot.....we follow orders and do not read about him do we? So this editor-in-chief.....this fake news journalist....will now also become an enemy of the people like everyone else who dares criticize our savior in the White House. You should at least read the Christianity Today editorial.....and Rolling Stone has an opinion piece out on this titled....'Mr. President, You Asked for A Prayer....This Might Not Be The Answer You Were Looking For, But It's The One This Country Needs.'

NBC has a headline right now in which I did not read the article because the headline says it all...."Impeachment is the historic price Trump pays for doing business his way." One of the last songs played before the President entered the Michigan rally arena was Frank Sinatra's My Way.... the final words in a slower tempo.....Yes, it was my.....way. The President was from the beginning just going to do everything his way.....the way he built his towers.....and casinos....and loopholed his way out of mistakes and bankruptcies.....and increased the fortune that his father started him out with.....regardless of long-standing tried & true policies....regardless of who he had to antagonize along the way....regardless of laws and ethics.....regardless of alliances and the need for civility.....and most of all regardless the need that truth be spoken....not half-truths....not just selected truths....but conscience fed truths. To use a favorite term of his....'well see'....where this impeachment goes....but it won't be settled by the Senate or a trial....or even at the ballot box....but solely by God's will.....for His purposes....and to His glory.

State Of The Union Reality Show: I have been posting since well back in the Obama administration that the State of the Union should be trash-canned. Thomas Jefferson refused to do one as it is too much like the British Speech From The Throne. Our constitution demands nothing more than the President sending a report over to the Congress. As for this year....Pelosi already extended an invitation. I think that I used this phrase in one of those previous posts....I don't care if I were a Democrat or a Republican....wild horses couldn't drag me to that abomination under these circumstances.

I don't know if the adage was created by Abraham Lincoln or not but apparently he liked to use it...."The man who represents himself has a fool for a client." Either way Donald Trump has represented himself in such a way.....every single solitary day it seems....just about throughout every day....for three years. Even looking back through history....can you think of one person who took this tact for even a tenth of the amount of time....or even a hundredth? He has taken a difficult situation and made it so much worse....and still does....probably as I type right now.

It's been reported that President Trump "pitched" to members of the Army and Navy football teams in the locker room the possibility of letting service academy athletes go and play pro sports if they can before serving their required active duty. This is a perfect example of Donald Trump's mind. He said they could go and make their fortune first. That is all this man thinks about....and it's a lousy idea. What he ought to be thinking about right now is the military draft....not the NFL draft....because if we become involved in a war on two fronts....a reality which he is risking for greed and personal glory....the draft will indeed be necessary once again. There are no more student deferments anymore....beyond the semester at the time of the draft notice. We all know that by now do we not? Or do we? I doubt if Donald Trump ever gave any of this a second thought.

You are not going to find anyone more pro-Israel than I am....or anyone who knows more than I the importance of the month of May in 1948....but evangelicals over the years have screwed up their theology on this big time. God brought forth this nation....and they will see their Messiah in due time....but they are going to be judged first....as we will be. President Trump's paperwork decisions do not add to Israel's security....only to evangelical polling support. Our mission is to treat the state of Israel fairly and honestly....and keep our commitments to them. God will control events related to Israel....we are to trust in Him....and pray for Israel's repentance....and our own.

It was a brilliant move....deceptive and manipulative but brilliant just the same....do away with press conferences where the questions can be understood....and non-answers easily discerned....and replace them with helicopter noise....shouted questions....soliloquy answers....and a 'see you later-bye." If a strong conservative challenger ever meets President Trump on a debate stage it will be all over....for the President won't be able to explain away what he really has done....what he has taken credit for in the economy that any conservative candidate in 2016 would have done....and that without turbo-charging an already monstrous national debt....and how much a mess of things he made in foreign policy.

The following from the 2018 elections cycle is attributed to the New Jersey congressman who is switching to the Republican Party...."I'm strongly and unequivocally pro-choice. I support Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose. Any efforts to weaken or undermine that right will face my fierce opposition." Congratulations Republicans! President Trump seems thrilled....for now....until someone later brings this up....but I don't think it would be Ivanka. Trump could not care less about abortion as it's all just a political gaming rules to him.

NEW....Tuesday morning: A report was released in Lebanon claiming to be a rough draft of the President Trump's 'Deal of the Century.' My initial impression is that it would be a house of cards. We don't even know if this report is legitimate....and it's not complete....and it is too early to speculate upon. China is part of it as is Saudi Arabia. There was one line that set off an alarm to me....many more than one actually but one in particular....."if Israel rejects the deal the US will end economic support to the state." Similar consequences were mentioned concerning the Palestinian Authority and Hamas....and there was no explanation to go along with the statement....but if there is any legitimacy to this report then they had better explain this....for on the face of it....it would be totally unacceptable....for Israel would be putting trust....not in the government of the United States.....but in the person and deal making of Donald Trump.

Paid family leave for federal workers....thanks to Ivanka....who should never have been let near the Oval Office....and she will be turned loose if her father gets a second term. Update....Ivanka recently said that she might leave the White House if her father wins a second term....but I remember this....in December of 2016....just after her father was elected....there was concern from conservatives on what involvement she might have in her father's decision making. Leslie Stahl brought this up in an interview. Ivanka's answer? "Oh....I'm just just going to be a daughter."

Note: We almost removed President Clinton from office....but when Democrats impeach it is a coup....and all the intelligence agencies are in on it. What we attempted to do was right....and I supported it....but what they are attempting to do is overturning an election? Talk radio is not taking into consideration the fringe element in this divided society....which is growing on both sides all the time. They could get the same message across without the vitriol....without shouting....but they....some of the hosts.....the main hosts....choose not to.

The Drudge Report is right now....Tuesday evening....highlighting two newspaper front pages from December 19, 1998....when President Clinton was formally impeached. Republicans are being bombarded with the lie that the Trump impeachment is just an attempt to nullify the results of a national election. Will these readers of Drudge see in the old newspaper front pages how we did the same thing to a Democrat president....and that it wasn't a coup....it was politics.....and maybe they will even see that Democrats back then were not led to a state of near hysteria....fomenting of a revolution.....and that there is indeed a serious difference in these two impeachments....and that would be in the psychological brute-force and megalomania of Donald Trump.

"HATH GOD SAID?"

            Tomorrow churches with strong Protestant traditions will be celebrating Reformation Day pointing to that date in the year 1517 when the German monk Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg. Luther underwent an impeachment trial of sorts....although this was life and death....where in his defense he famously concluded.....after asking for some time to consider the entire matter...."Here I Stand, I can do no other, God help me."
             I'm not really into these type of celebrations. I mean they are nice in a way but these events have to be internalized....where we wind up examining ourselves....and not just stitched on a banner for a yearly church event. I'm far more concerned with those actual words with which Luther is so often quoted...."Here I stand, I can do no other"....for this is not just pageantry....and we may need to utter these very same words many times.....in the very near future.
             This was anything but easy for Martin Luther....and it will not be easy for us. If it would simply be black and white questions that we will be faced with ....easily discernible for all to see through....it would be one thing....but there will be great delusion involved....and that confusion is already building around us.
             Brothers and sisters in Christ....'Christians' and pastors and bishops will be condemning those who will say...."here I stand." Take a moment to imagine how difficult that will be....and Donald Trump is unfortunately part of this....for he as much as challenges the believer today who demands adherence to Scripture in speaking truth....as did the serpent challenge Eve with...."Hath God said"....the President thus substituting with a gospel of the power of positive thinking....where we in effect can all be as God.
             I don't know exactly how this winnowing turn of events will take place....but I know that we have to be prepared for difficult....'here I stand' moments. I know this also....after this winnowing takes place....we may be much smaller in numbers than standard church demographics point to today.....but believers will be united as we haven't been....probably since the first century of the church....and this as even now faithful persecuted Christians huddle together in other areas of the globe....some even in Northern Syria....waiting for the return of Jesus Christ in power and in glory!
             One last thing here.....try as one may....we cannot stick our head in the sand and pretend that these troubles are not upon us. There is more evidence in God's Word....from both the Old Testament writers and the New Testament writers....that these are not ordinary times....that our Lord is surely near....and even if He were not we should hope and believe that He is at the doorstep! I've written this many times....I hope the reader never has to return to these posts. Find a preacher from the past....books from the past.....histories of the past....and preachers and authors that sound like preachers and authors of the past...and seek that heart of a pilgrim from the past....and the "old paths" as Jeremiah instructed....for these are what God has given....for particular times as perilous as these we live in.

Warning.....By Anonymous

Preface: So you were picked to be part of the new Trump administration. You may or may not have heartily supported him throughout the primaries but certainly did in the campaign against Hillary Clinton. The new administration is barely out of the starting gate when serious problems start appearing in the character and mental acuity of the new president.....problems that you may have been concerned with since day one but you hoped that with the campaign over that the new president would settle into the chair of the most powerful man in the world....but he didn't....and the next campaign began almost immediately. What to do? Some challenged where necessary the president....and were summarily dismissed and/or unceremoniously dumped. Some resigned on principle. Others stayed....thinking that they had no other choice....that their more experienced efforts were needed. At least one stayed....somewhat regretting it later....but committed to at least giving the American public an idea of what was going on in the White House.

             He....or maybe it's a she....refers to it as the 'steady state'....as opposed to the 'deep state.' That term sat well with me right from the beginning! I'll refer to the author as a 'he' in this post. The 'he' I'm referencing is Anonymous.....the author of Warning that was just released two days ago. I'm over fifty books so far on Donald Trump. You don't need fifty books....but you need at least one....so make it this one!
             I have to believe that the identity of Anonymous will come out soon as there seemed to be dozens of personal instances in the book where someone else who is also in the White House can put two and two together. In fact the author seems to see this coming some day but will continue to....if asked...."strenuously deny" that he is Anonymous....and this in order to remain part of the 'steady state' for as long as possible. On the surface it may not seem right to do what he's doing....but who is the brave one here....President Trump who lies and bullies and humiliates....and who does not want opposing opinions....or this 'Anonymous' who will get hammered the rest of 'his' life by one side....and probably receive little to no credit from the other? We don't like spies do we....so would that extend to Nathan Hale....or how about the spies sent to Canaan?
              If you read the book with an open mind it may soften your opposition to the author....for you will see what some people in the White House were up against....people who accepted their positions thinking they were there to help....but found out that more help was needed than they could give. You would at least learn a little about what makes a person like this Anonymous author tick. He is obviously an historian of some sort....but in my opinion....from his terminology....not an evangelical.
             There really wasn't that much new in Warning....at least to someone like myself who has already read a lot....but to have the day-to-day personal actions and comments of President Trump laid out in one long almost uninterrupted narrative is still extraordinarily unnerving to read. The single message that comes out loud and clear from this author is that we cannot have four additional years of daily walking this tightrope....particularly since the number of those who might be able to rein him in are decreasing.
             I have to ask the typical Trump supporter.....will you not read one critical book from someone on the inside? Just one book? What you would see is a president with serious character flaws that are genuine liabilities on the world's stage....and a serious lack of knowledge....with no real desire to learn anything....as he somehow thinks that he already knows more than the experts on everything....and you will also see a man who is unpredictable on what he might specifically do....yet predictable in that on a regular basis what he does will send those around him scurrying to make right the confusion.
             You may still admire Donald Trump after reading the book....or at least still be mad enough to defend him....and there are good reasons for that....but as for another four years....I think that you might change your mind. Near the end of Warning The author faces the political reality of the situation....what to do if it turns out to be President Trump vs a hardcore socialist Democrat....but he also does something that I do in these posts often....and that is bring up the still possibility of a qualified primary challenger.....and even a third party....that's how sure the author is.....and I am also....that we should not want four additional years of the three we have already been through.

Film Review: OK....I took a friend's advice and went to a movie to get President Trump off of my mind....Matt Damon's and Christian Bale's Ford v Ferrari....but what happens? Henry Ford II reminds me of Donald Trump.....and if that wasn't bad enough.....I saw Jared every time that villainous Ford exec Leo Beebe was on the screen. Other than that it was a terrific film. I'm not an auto racing fan....and I never like movie car chases....but this was something to see. My wife and I are big Matt Damon fans....who is a very vocal progressive. Now how can that be? As a republican....way more conservative than Rush Limbaugh....or about as conservative as he once was before Donald Trump came on the scene....I should be taking my cue to besmirch....tear apart....destroy the person of....and at the very least boycott the movies of Matt Damon.....because that's what we do nowadays....like Piranha on a side of beef....just attack and chew if anyone so much as looks sideways at President Trump.
 

"...But For You Who Fear My Name..."

The church on the whole....outside of typical fundamentalist churches who are spread across the more rural areas and hollows of America....and who have not come to consider themselves more enlightened than Christians from the past....act as if they are somewhat ashamed of any talk about God's judgment on America....or even any talk about....(shhhh....Satan and demons)....choosing rather to focus on how God must be impressed by what we are trying to do through Donald Trump. Worst case scenario we all....or they all....get raptured up out of a bull Wall Street stock market....or a college bowl game?) No....we cannot see how far we have fallen....those of us who vote Republican. How was your worship service today? Could you detect any concern in the face of the pastor....any warnings whatsoever to remain vigilant.....as we look towards the coming of our Savior....and our King? Probably not....it's a mood killer.

            The Babylonian captivity of seventy years had ended. Some Jews returned from Persia and the temple was rebuilt....even though some of those cried....as the temple was nothing like the one that they remembered.
            Nehemiah was an official in the king's court when it was reported to him that the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruin and the people were greatly distressed and in danger. He was a praying man....as he wept for Jerusalem.....and secured a decree from the king to return and rebuild the wall.
            There was a lot of opposition but the wall was rebuilt....but do we remember this? Nehemiah was back in Persia for twelve years as the final dedications were made....but when he returned to Jerusalem he found that the people had not been faithful to God....particularly but not exclusively in that they greatly profaned the Sabbath. We also may not be aware that Nehemiah was a contemporary of Malachi who rebuked the people in much the same way as did Nehemiah.....as the people had God's decrees but were spiritually destitute.
             In a way we in America have rebuilt a temple and a wall....not on our border but a political wall in our Supreme Court....but if there was a Nehemiah to return he would rebuke us....for we also have God's Word but are spiritually destitute. That wall will do us no good....nor will that temple of religious freedom....if we do not trust in and look to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ....for as Malachi warned...."But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap."
              Four verses into Malachi we read..." 'Though Edom says, 'We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins'; thus says the LORD of hosts, 'They may build, but I will tear down'...." Time and again in Malachi the people challenged God's rebuke with....'How have we done this?'....and...."For what reason will you do that?"
              In the last few verses of this last book of the Old Testament we read...."For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,' says the LORD of  hosts, 'so that it will leave them neither root nor branch'.....but for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall."

It's Not Our Mission To Defend Donald Trump

Preface: So another person....this time the Secretary of the Navy....goes down primarily because he became involved with President Trump....the man who evangelicals want to be president for four more chaotic years....but are unaware that even the evangelical church has suffered greatly while putting its trust in him. Consider Ann Coulter....a best-selling author many times over....who now seems utterly confused as to where she stands. You may be aware of who James Rickards is....another best-selling author.....a geopolitical economics expert and analyst.....who I posted on a number of times....but who I no longer even recognize since he boarded the Trump train....or Rush who may keep his audience but has lost his intellectual gravitas in becoming the president's Baghdad Bob....or General Mattis or John Bolton....or Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows....or Lindsey Graham.....or Rudy....and on and on and on....dozens upon dozens of names. This all because we....let Trump be Trump....instead of holding him accountable!

            Supporting Donald Trump in the manner that some nationally known Christian ministers are championing is incongruous to the gospel they proclaim. The two positions are inconsistent with each other. Donald Trump's message....his real message of power and greed....is antithetical to the message of the gospel....but there is more that has to be added to explain this conundrum.
            Franklin Graham has gone off the rails in what he believes is a defense of America's God-fearing heritage. I understand how this can happen. We....by 'we' I mean evangelicalism in America....we struggled with the anti-God movement in America for decades.....myself anyway.....others for over a half century. It was natural in 2016 to rejoice when the Clinton/Obama legacy was challenged and beaten....but there is really no excuse for what happened next.
             I listened only a few minutes ago to an interview by Eric Metaxas of Franklin Graham....two good men....Franklin's efforts in his ministry of Samaritan's Purse having been an extraordinary blessing to millions in need....but both men are blinded to who Donald Trump really is. The Rev. Graham has thus essentially said..."I shall accept the leader God has given....but I shall not entertain any warnings from the brethren on why God may have given him to us!" Now you he might bring up the fact that Franklin Graham has spent a lot of time with Donald Trump.....where I certainly haven't? True....but back in early 2017....when it became obvious that the now President Trump was not who he had told us that he was....I began reading on the man Donald Trump. Previously to this.....like most of us....I had known very little about him....he built towers....he had three glamorous wives......he ran casinos....and he had a popular television show.
            I'm over fifty books now folks. How many has Franklin Graham read.....probably none. So I see one very consistent life that has not changed one iota in the past four years. This is one horribly profane man with a number of serious psychological pathologies that in itself should exclude Donald Trump for any consideration of four additional years.....but Franklin Graham is not aware of any of this. Donald Trump will at any time and on any issue meet with someone and take on a persona that is a benefit to him only. It will be lies....flatteries....and manipulation! So I would expect him to make pious statements.....and as soon as the meeting is done return to his narcissistic mania.
              In this interview the Rev. Graham said that he believes that the opposition to President Trump is demonic. His argument is that President Trump has done so much for the economy....and that money generated has provided more giving to the church. What he missed here is that conservatives fought valiantly against the economically restrictive policies of the Obama administration. We wanted a conservative candidate....any one of which on that podium in 2015/16 would have removed the restrictive barriers. Donald Trump is not the source of these economic statistics....but he ingeniously and malevolently took the sole credit for them.....and we believed him! He is now the king of debt....after ranting on debt to win the White House! Brothers and sisters in Christ....these statistics are more than fleeting! The stock market could.....and probably will....be in a tailspin in the near future.....in which in pure Donald Trump fashion.....he will blame on others....when it will have been partially because of his risky ventures in both foreign and domestic policy....all in the quest for ungodly profit....that brought down this idol of greed.
          Everything Franklin Graham described President Trump as in this interview was wrong. Donald Trump is indeed a politician...of the very worst kind. He does not keep his word....as he can turn on a dime whenever something benefits him at that moment. He is not building America great again....for this definition of greatness that we have is terribly skewed....as our problems are infinitely more involved than economic statistics and military expenditures. He is not "a good guy!" He is indeed doing all this for money and fame. He is not only not honest....he is the antithesis of honesty. So Franklin got all of this wrong because he does not know Donald Trump.
          To conservatives here....Donald Trump does not care about the immigration issue. He was totally pro open borders not that long ago. He did nothing for two years until the fall of 2018 when talk radio relayed to him that he is in trouble. He only wants these conservatives judges....of which we would have had with any other of the candidates....to strengthen his economic agenda. He doesn't really care about Israel. The embassy move was strategically planned....as was the Golan Heights....and the more recent settlements issue. He had cozied up to corruption his whole business life and now claims that corruption in the Ukraine was his concern. He was pro-abortion not that long ago....and made the switch because he had to. His own daughter....after he was elected.....tried to make a deal with Planned Parenthood. Nothing about this man is real....but he has successfully won us over. "Bringing our troops home' is a ruse. He only spouts that because it costs money....and if the money is to made by sending them....he'll send them.
           Will he defend an ally if attacked? If he can swing it yes. If he politically has to yes. If he in any way get out of it.....yes again. He has no passionate beliefs in this area.....for he is amoral....in love only with his own image....but the patriotic words will always be there in the rallies....and we will buy them. The last thing he was going to do in the 60s was go into the service. He joked about it.
            Franklin Graham was passionate in the interview in that this impeachment inquiry is a "travesty".....a travesty that it is terribly dividing America. Folks....Donald Trump is a divider and a destroyer by nature. He is the travesty....and the impeachment inquiry is not only legitimate.....it is necessary.....for if he is given an addition four years....he will need none of us....and not Franklin Graham either. He would rather the nation burn with anger than see his glory destroyed.
            Well....Franklin Graham is right on one thing.....God put Donald Trump in office....but for what reason? This is end-times related folks.....as is everything going in Israel right now. Making America great again was a terrible mistake of which evangelicals refused to critique.....failing to see that we also are guilty for what America has become. Yes we are against abortion and other such issues but we are mired in mud of this world....in our own ways.....as are all the others. Our discernment is shot.....our pulpits are at best sound asleep. One should have to look no further than Joel Osteen's popularity to see that our Christian moorings are gone and we are adrift.
          We think....no we are adamant....that we will rebuild....that we will make America great again....but God has told us that He will just tear down again. Common sense alone should tell us where this world is headed irrespective of any political parties. There is a winnowing coming.....and Franklin Graham will certainly be on the right side when it does....at the front of this remnant whereas I will be in the back....but as for now he has been deceived. We are all struggling to get our bearings as this freight train of deception and delusion barrels down towards a broken track.  The answer never was that Donald Trump was going to be our savior. The answer is that in Donald Trump we should see ourselves....our frailties....and use this travesty of division in America to awaken us....not politically....but spiritually.....of which Franklin Graham himself speaks. We are not to defend this man who has brought this ire upon himself....who in the process has also divided us....but to once again defend that which is our only hope....and proclaim Jesus Christ to the world....and to Donald Trump....not in a milquetoast gospel that only encourages him in his arrogance....but that he has his whole life profanely rejected any true gospel that may have been presented to him....and that God will not be mocked.....there will be no polls taken at his judgment....no Rush Limbaugh to tell how wonderful he is....and no famous ministers to write a recommendation. 

IT'S FOR THE OIL!

I don't know if Benjamin Netanyahu has used the word 'surrounded' although I imagine that he has as he is warning that Iran is trying to use Yemen to attack Israel from yet another direction. Iran is certainly using the word. God's Word....with Jesus speaking in the Olivet Discourse.....has ominous words concerning the surrounding of Israel by enemies...."But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near." How many times can I post these thoughts....these are serious times.....and we should regard them as such!

Donald Trump has led his entire life as a bull goose loony who barges in and takes control....and if things go bad....real bad....which they have on occasion.....he just files for a bankruptcy.....using as many loopholes as he can.....and moves on.....leaving a oil slick of people who lost money in his wake.....of whom he cares not a bit. How many people around him in the White House have already regretted being a part of his administration....and there will be more.....and he won't care.....because he is the only one of importance....but he can't do that in this job....his blunders effect whole nations....and the equivalent of a bankruptcy in this project....is a resignation.....or at the very least not seeking a new four-year contract.

Republicans.....(we)....brought impeachment proceedings against President Clinton on charges that were less important to national security than what Democrats....(they)....are doing right now to President Trump. Yet we are channeling Stalin in trying to purge anyone and everyone and their brother who has the audacity to give an opposing opinion. Otherwise intelligent and honorable men have been rendered totally incapable of even acknowledging any of Trump's many blunders. (I voted for the man Rush....and celebrated....we're out here and want another candidate!) Four decades involvement with Russia followed by Putin's efforts in favor of candidate Trump....clues everywhere that Donald Trump worships riches and fame often at the expense of ethics....serial lying as never witnessed before in an American politician let alone a president....obvious threatening and cajoling of potential witnesses over Twitter along with a refusal to even let people testify....stupid lame-brained shenanigans with the Ukraine followed by a weak defense that he somehow is a champion for anti-corruption....and a malignant narcissism that borders on unfitness for office if not already over the boundary line....all these things and his recent slew of nonchalant comments ($45 million a month) on our military possibly fighting and dying for oil that we don't own nor do we even need if our economy is as the President constantly tells us...."the envy of the world"....all these at the very least make impeachment proceedings legitimate....yet we are daily inflaming everyone and everything by calling it a coup....when more than anything else his outrageous antics and grossly overblown daily....almost hourly attacks on others....have consistently and purposely made a bad situation much worse.

News update: When we were told that the Ukraine conversation transcript given us was 'non-verbatim' I said....here we go....it's just like the Mueller redactions....they're going out of their way to tell us this....there are words missing....and that's exactly what the NSC Ukraine expert testified to yesterday....so it's SOP....standard operating procedure....destroy the person giving testimony not favorable to the President....how far we have fallen!

Breitbart's evening radio show interviewed President Trump spiritual adviser Paula White for about forty minutes in their eleven to midnight hour. If I heard her correctly she said that she was with the President today....praying for him....along with about thirty other ministers. I'm not even going to hazard a guess on what percentage of Christians listening in might have been shaken somewhat in their support for President Trump after the interview.....because they would have recognized the positive-thinking gospel of Norman Vincent Peale that was very clearly stated as that which Donald Trump was raised on and probably believes is related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They might even be aware of the prosperity teaching of Paula White. So....whatever that percentage is....and I fervently hope it is high....some tonight are definitely questioning just what they may have gotten themselves into.

            "When these pundit fools who have called the Middle East wrong for 20 years ask what we are getting out of the deal, I simply say. THE OIL, AND WE ARE BRINGING OUR SOLDIERS BACK HOME, ISIS SECURED!"

SNAP!....SNAP!....COME OUT OF IT....THINK ABOUT WHAT HE IS DOING!....."What I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly.....and spread out the wealth." Fox reported that the president said that the U. S. "may have to fight for the oil.....it's OK" and it would be a "helluva fight."  Folks...."It's OK"...."helluva fight"....he has gone mad.....have we also? These comments should make you ill.

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? Does our military still support Donald Trump? I don't know....but they certainly should not. His flippant unguarded comments on oil demonstrate his disregard for human life. What happened to his outrage on the Kurd issue over "this bloodstained sand?" What he is saying here folks is that he will send your sons and daughters to war....(to keep the strait of Hormuz open?....No!)....to add to his sick quest for glory, profits and fame. We may regret not spotting these very obvious clues. Do we not even think about the lives of our military anymore....as we cheer on this madman?

        "We're keeping the oil. Remember that. I've always said that: Keep the oil. We want to keep the oil-$45 million a month. Keep the oil."

According to Andrew McCabe in his book The Threat....the president said this on Venezuela in a meeting...."That's the country we should be going to war with. They have all that oil and they are right on our back door." If he does.....he'll be using humanitarian issues as the excuse.

         "There's a scene from Ted Turner's Gettysburg where Brigadier General John Buford, played by Sam Elliot, scans rocky heights and farm land that would in one day become a battlefield, and he literally spews out these words as he foresees carnage in the Union army if the politicians and generals play their war games as usual...afterwards men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chests and say 'what a brave charge it was..... I've never seen anything as brutally clear as this.... It's as if I can actually see the blue troops in one long bloody moment....as if it were already done....as if tomorrow already happened and there ain't nothin you can do about it. He went on to lay out a plan to change that, 'We can block that road till the main body gets here, and deprive the enemy of the high ground'!"  Folks....the above paragraph is from a 2012 post. I can see American troops fighting somewhere....anywhere....because Donald Trump....who falsely claims to be so concerned about the loss of human life...(150 casualties in Iran)....has our troops fighting to clean up some mess that he made....some deal in his mind that fell through. We can stop this.....and get back on the high ground that we were once on before he lured us off....by letting it be known that we no longer support him....and that we demand a legitimate challenger in primaries.

NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S IMPEACHMENT: As we all know....removing a president through a senate trial is more than difficult....and this only exacerbated in a society whose fringe is growing at an alarming rate.....but this needs to go to trial nonetheless....and senators will be forced to go on record. As one whose prayer is that God would open our eyes to Donald Trump and his armor-bearer Rush Limbaugh....I would advise that the already voluminous evidence of at least abuse of power.....be presented primarily to the public....in time to nominate someone else....that no matter how the senate votes.....the people will wind up heavily on the side that four additional years of a man such as Donald Trump is not wise.

"NO NEWSPAPERS FOR YOU....ONE YEAR....UNTIL ELECTION!": The President of the United States today let it be known that he was going to direct all federal agencies to end subscriptions to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Those around him think that they will be able to control him....they won't....we Americans today have a front row seat to the original reality show of Big Brother....we are to read only what we are permitted to read. (Update: Retired four star general Barry McCaffrey's tweet on this news story...."No room for HUMOROUS media coverage. This is deadly serious. This is Mussolini.) This just out....a new book claims that President Trump called the Secretary of Defense James Mattis to tell him to "screw Amazon" out of the "opportunity" to bid on a $10 billion cloud computer contract. According to the book....Mattis said he would bid this contract the right way. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and is president of Amazon. It was announced yesterday that the contract was awarded to Microsoft.

"AND NO PRAYER EITHER!": A Trump hotel in Washington D. C. abruptly cancelled......A Night Of Prayer For The Kurds....that was to be hosted by a religious non-profit that sends medical help to the Middle East. Reason.....security concerns. Attorney General Barr has already booked a Family Holiday Party for December....(I thought we were allowed to say Christmas once again?)....no security concerns there. Evangelicals....you are empowering a man with no conscience. You have let your guard down....jettisoned vigilance....closed your eyes and covered your ears as to who Donald Trump is....and pastors....many of you....you have opened the door and invited a false prophet into the church....and for what reason....the cross of fake news that the President has to carry. You should be more concerned about the cross of Christ.

An answer to a reporter's question on bolstering his impeachment defense team...."Here's the thing. I don't have teams. Everyone's talking about teams. I'm the team....." No...here's the thing....a president makes the final decision....but he/she had better at least be seeking the thoughts of others.

BALD-FACED LIES BY THE SCORE: Candidate Trump vowed to "cut the national debt....very quickly"....but instead he's blowing it up like that blimp of him that appears in the skies now and then. He tore Obama apart for all the golfing he did....and said that he wouldn't have time to golf....but has golfed more than twice as much as Obama. These are bald-faced lies that he told....not regular lies....but bald-faced lies....said to get the nomination....(and there are many of them!)....and to be honest.....it speaks more to our own lack of character that we don't even care that he is a serial liar....for he has dragged conservatives off the high ground down into his own personal swamp and darkened mind. He brags on not taking a salary....(right?)....but even an ultra-conservative estimate of what his golfing costs the government (us) is in the tens of millions of dollars! I'd say that was one terrific deal he made for himself!

PARTY WITHOUT PITY: Folks....on the Ukraine situation....it's not just that act itself....holding off on aid for a returned favor. Even Trump's supporters say that everyone does that....it's what that act entailed. The Ukraine....a nation fighting for its independence from Putin....asks for assistance to defend itself....but Donald Trump has no heart or soul to even look at this beyond a deal that could benefit him. Can you not understand this evangelicals? Has your heart become so hardened in pursuit of patriotism that you cannot even pick up on what is wrong with this situation....or with that of the Kurds....where hundreds have already died....women and children also....and there have been atrocities....while Donald Trump somehow thinks this was such a great deal. We may be about to find out what a man without pity can do.

ICHABOD....THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED: There is a passage in Jeremiah that we in America might want to reflect upon. He was given a vision after Nebuchadnezzar carried away captives to Babylon...two baskets of figs.....one full of very good figs and the other of very bad figs. What may seem surprising is that Jeremiah is told that the good figs were those taken away captive....and the bad figs were those that remained behind in Jerusalem and Judah and even Egypt. We in America have gone astray from obedience or reverence to God who gave us our very existence. The 'Make America great again' ethnos are not the good figs....but are rather those that fight to keep a rebellious culture that only uses God's name as some sort of talisman....or as an Ark of the Covenant that protects simply by being there. Ichabod...The Glory Has Departed. Those who have seen that we have fallen short....all of us....myself being among the greatest offenders....have been forced into a humility that leads us to once again....as in the beginning of this nation....to rely only upon His wisdom and His will and His guidance....no matter how it may appear on the world's stage.

THE CULT OF TRUMP: My first years as a Christian were spent in the study of apologetics....the defense of the doctrines of God.....specifically the divinity of Christ.....and therefore including research on what are called 'Christian cults'....religious sects that proclaim to be Christian but deny essential truths of Christianity.....most particularly those on Jesus Christ. At the time I put ads in the newspaper trying to persuade Jehovah Witnesses....and those studying with the Watchtower....to call me. So I spent a number of years involved in the study of 'Christian' cults. Steven Hassan is obviously a biased Progressive....and also a mental health professional who was many decades ago a Moonie....but today works to free.....from the perspective of psychology....and from first-hand experience....people who are or were harmed by destructive cults. If you are indoctrinated already in not reading any books that are critical of President Trump then this is not for you.....but if you are able....as I am able....to read something like this and recognize what is helpful and what is incorrect....then this is a book you should read. The title is The Cult Of Trump...A Leading Cult Expert Explains How The President Uses Mind Control....and once again the author is Steven Hassan. The book is much more than a primer on what techniques cults use to capture their followers as there is valuable information on that part of Christianity....emanating primarily although not exclusively from charismatic theology....that leads us into following 'ministries' that use many of the techniques explained in the book

CHARISMATIC HERMENEUTICS:.Every week or so I check to see if Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn....author of best sellers The Harbinger and The Paradigm and most recently The Oracle....has posted a new video. He had....apparently an older teaching he gave at Kenneth Copeland's church in Newark, Texas. He started out saying nothing more than I have written many times on America's rebellion against God.....and then he made this statement...."There have only been two civilizations in human history that had been founded solely for the purposes of God. The first was called Israel...the second was called America.....it was founded after the pattern of Israel...to be an Israel of the new world." This teaching is so egregiously in error that it should shake any scripturally sound Christian to the core. It is this biblically unwarranted elevation of America that has spawned wayward doctrines....weakened evangelicalism....placed politics and trusting in princes ahead of trusting in Christ alone....and also spirited the near adoration of the false prophet Donald Trump. Pastor....it would be wise to wake up for this is no small phenomenon that has entered the core of evangelicalism....most likely your church also....and is reaching into households and enabling a president whose risky impetuous often nocturnal decrees and injunctions are becoming more erratic.

DUH!: The overarching concern that I have had for quite a while about President Trump has not revolved around the possibility of his resigning or being forced out of office....or even deciding not to seek that second term after all....although I mentioned that fairly often in these posts. My concern then and now is how he will react when faced with the ultimate of challenges. I am closing in fast on fifty books on Donald Trump....with four at my elbow right now....these books encompassing his life and many career endeavors....and one thing that comes out perfectly clear is that he has no empathy for anyone and never has....no personal belief system beyond seeking glory for himself....and that there is nothing that he would ever say that I would believe without outside verification. He mesmerizes and he bewitches....always leaving a trail of wounded or destroyed individuals behind him. Evangelical ministers keep telling us that God put Donald Trump in office....my response each and every time.....Duh! The pertinent question is why has God done this. I've likened Trump to Nebuchadnezzar...."Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as my royal residence and the glory of my majesty?" Now that's a Trump tweet if I ever heard one! Just after saying this the king went crazy. Donald Trump is either crazy right now or he will be there soon....but God....when Nebuchadnezzar had completed his time in the fields....gave him a proclamation of praise to utter....but we do not read God's Word as a template....as in The Paradigm....or The Oracle....as so many have mistakenly have fallen for today....but rather we read in passages like this....examples to meditate upon. Although President Trump claims that his goal is keeping our military out of war.....his risky actions.....east and west....are increasing that likelihood. He has shown little to no wisdom at all in foreign affairs....and that's not a good sign....and far from being brilliant....he seems extraordinarily inept....blundering all the time....but still we do not know God's plans for America other than we are being judged.... that we brought this judgment upon ourselves even as God has warned us time and time and time again....and that we have only as of yet seen the beginning of judgment. One last thing to add here....that 'ultimate of challenges' is quite possibly very near....and all of these highly-charged political investigations may be moot. So yes.....pray for Donald Trump....that God might restore some semblance of sanity....not to make the Hanging Gardens of America great again....but that we might humble ourselves before our Creator....that He might be with us in this coming storm.

Mr. Secretary (Mike Pompeo)....I would still like to know exactly what your advice was to the President as he was dictating orders on Syria....not a redacted transcript of your comments as was the Mueller Report....or a non-verbatim transcript as in the Ukraine call....but your exact advice....(it's going to come out in a book some day anyway)....because we know what you are saying now.....and we need to know if you are being ordered to say this. (update: When I heard the term 'non-verbatim transcript' what came to my mind was that there were words missing....and they were covering themselves.....and yesterday the NSC Ukraine expert testifying to Congress said just that.

Radio talk show hosts....you had the opportunity back in early 2017 to hold President Trump accountable but you turned from being leaders to simple-minded followers of a Pied Piper....and now you are sinking in a quagmire of lies and obfuscations and gross exaggerations.

PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD, O AMERICA: God had told Israel through the prophet Amos that He had given them warning after warning...."Yet you have not returned to me." Then came this....."Prepare to meet  your God, O Israel." God had warned us increasingly over upwards of a half century....through Billy Graham and others....yet we ignored Him and turned to MAGA for our help. The warnings have stopped.....have you noticed that? "Prepare to meet your God, O America".....would surely go in one ear and out the other.

"I'll SEE YOUR TARIFFS AND RAISE YOU WORLD PEACE! President Trump uses the power of his office to apply pressure to anyone who does not do what he wants....attempting to destroy the economies of enemies...taking this risk not because our economy is hurting....but because he wants to build his own personal glory greater and greater and greater! These are not well-conceived plans....with all the boxes on consequences checked........but crap shoots. He is in effect pushing the world to the brink of war. His Achilles Heel may be that these enemies have more than forty years of dossiers and psychological profiles on him to work with.

Whenever trade relations between the US and China become threatening you can always find an article on what would happen if China retaliated by dumping US treasury bonds....(over $1 trillion.). The articles always leans on the security that such retaliation would hurt China as much as the US....but there is more to this problem than meets the eye. If China's economy tanks it could very well be followed by civil unrest.....of course President Trump would probably be laughing....because that's what he does when he gets the better of someone....but the world markets could also go under. China would have a difficult time with civil unrest if the US and everyone else are stable.....but if the world economy is collapsing then....one....the Chinese people might not be so incensed....and two.....if they were then the communist government....with the world economies already in a tailspin....could react much harsher. My concern....one of them....is that China....now on the defense....might initiate chaos in order to take the offense to better position themselves for a situation....many of the world's economies collapsing....that one segment of economists are already predicting.

Brother Trump's Traveling Salvation Show

OK...we are all familiar with the story of Gideon....particularly in that God whittled his army down to 300 men....but that's not too hard to figure out as God wanted to make sure that the Israelites knew that it was God alone who brought the victory.....and there are other instances in God's Word like this....but why the method of the lapping of the water to pick out those 300 men? Well....there are differing opinions on this....but only one makes sense to me. Those men who just reached down and grabbed some water wanted to keep going. Their mind was on the business at hand. The bulk of evangelicals today would be as those who kneel to drink....particularly as it relates to Donald Trump. They think that they're on a mission. I listen to them call in to radio programs and its the exact same language as it was in 2016....as if nothing has changed....as if we don't have almost three years of a President Trump to weigh....but we were fooled then....we weren't soldiers....we didn't even do any thinking....we just sat down as if at a rally and cheered.....and yes voted. They call us Never-Trumpers....or Deep-Staters and even worse....even though we voted for Trump....and celebrated! There may not be that many of us....but we have thought this through.....and have found the person of Donald Trump severely wanting in fitness for that position. Following someone like this isn't going to bring us victory or even relief. We're tired....I know I'm tired....let them have their rallies....we're not veering off to some mirage....where if there is water it's poisonous....but will drink only from the fountain of living water. Should God have mercy upon us then the eyes of evangelicals and conservatives will be opened to Donald Trump....and Rush Limbaugh. May tomorrow be the Lord's Day that the Holy Spirit moves mightily upon our pulpits to turn us back to Christ and away from lying vanities....that a soberness might return....and a vigilance restored.

We might want to pay attention to President Trump's....what seems to be evolving relationship with Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli ambassador to the United States had requested of President Trump that he release $12 million to Palestinian security services. According to reports....the President's response was typical Donald Trump...."If it's so important for Netanyahu, he should pay the Palestinians $12 million." According to another Israeli newspaper report..."Several weeks ago Netanyahu told cabinet members in a closed-door meeting that US President Trump would not act against Iran until US general elections in November of 2020 at the earliest." It is my contention....and this from reading fifty books on Donald Trump....after voting for him....after celebrating....and after it became apparent in early 2017 that he was not who he said that he was....(the latest book being Donald Trump Jr.'s just released Triggered)....that Donald Trump would turn on anyone....anyone....on a dime....as he did the Kurds....because there is not an ounce of truth or transparency in him. The language....tone....choice of words....used in the first report was troubling. The second report mentioned above shows very clearly that Donald Trump's reelection is more important to him than any promise....than any threat....and more important than our ally Israel. Evangelicals have been blinded....and bewitched....but they're not quite yet bewildered....and certainly not bothered. There is concern is that support from the Democrats on Israel is waning....but there should also be concern that Donald Trump looks more to the economic relevance and potential of the Middle East....than Israel's security. This is a cold cold man....overflowing with rhetoric....but devoid of principle.

            It has been my contention that Christians....evangelicals in particular....have fallen for a false prophet in the church....but more accurately 'to' the church....in Donald Trump....as he tells us constantly....using the imprimatur of 'God'.....never 'Jesus'.....(I've only heard him use the name Jesus once)....that things are going to be better than they ever have....that we are "one glorious nation under God".....which we are not....and that we are going to keep 'winning...winning...winning"....and that..."the best is yet to come"....when the Christian with even the slightest bit of discernment should know that this world and our nation are heading to a showdown with Almighty God. This whole MAGA campaign has been an affront to what God has made very clear to us. It has been pure arrogance to think that economic and governmental and military issues somehow assuaged our guilt from the culture and society and greed and self-centeredness and increasing rebellion and indifference to a call to be a peculiar people that has been our calling card for almost an entire century. We've come to the point that we have become like Donald Trump of whom our dependence is now solidly anchored. Speaking to the Christian here....this nonsense of Donald Trump being a modern day Jehu has blinded us from....and laid the groundwork for....the manipulations of a false prophet. Dates and time periods and events have become our of method of interpreting Scripture as it all centered around us....and our view of exceptionalism....and not Christ. The way is no longer narrow....but wide....its width subject to the effectiveness of rallies and tweets and polls. Our pulpits have let us down....failing to see that they are susceptible as anyone in the pews. "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour"....this warning (1 Peter 5:8) has long since been discarded in our determination to find a prince that will restore that which God said He will then tear down again. There is a call to repentance on us....not a call to make America great again. We have all fallen sway to the lures of this world....and to nationalism....of which none of us in this arena are exempt. May God not fulfill our desires....but change our desires....for His name's sake....and for His glory not ours.

Note: In case you are not familiar with it....the latest Christian book best-sellers....Jonathan Cahn's The Paradigm and The Oracle....have convinced evangelicals that God has politically endorsed Donald Trump.

IT'S TIME TO FALL ON OUR KNEES.....THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE ARE DOING!

            Somewhere between Frank Sinatra's....'I Did It My Way'....to set the people up.....and the Rolling Stones'...."You Can't Always Get What You Want"....to send them home....and in between referencing God often....and asking at one point how many people of faith were in the arena....while often embellishing and at times lying....President Trump concluded his Kentucky rally with his usual...."We are going to continue winning....winning....winning".... in this...."One glorious nation under God"....and that...."the best is yet to come." Brothers and sisters in Christ.....the epistle of Jude comes to mind....where someone creeps in unnoticed amongst the brethren....pronouncing judgment....."one-way ticket to hell'....and rushing "headlong into the errors of Balaam"....a hidden reef.....caring for himself....causing divisions.....worldly-minded...."arrogantly flattering people for the sake of gaining advantage." When someone....Donald Trump in this case.....gives the church a false prophesy....again and again and again....one such that Ezekiel warned of...."they have misled My people by saying, 'Peace!' when there is no peace...."....then is it not ours to.....as Jude implores....."contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."?


            President Trump needs to resign....to let the Republican Party pick another candidate....and that will only happen if those in the Congress tell him behind closed doors that enough is enough....thank him if they want....but tell him to please step aside....not so much that we could find another candidate....important as that is....but more so that we might clear our heads....and once again see how far as a people we have fallen. Folks....Kanye West...Hip Hop....I really haven't a clue on this music....but I'll tell you what I do have a clue one....I forget the year....the artist is in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame....it was in Pittsburgh's Civic Arena....that lost power to the lights for a little while.....to pass time the singer threw his sneakers into the crowd of worshipers who rushed for them like the Carp after bread at Pennsylvania's Pymatuning spillway....and he then told a few stories.....and led the entire audience in chants of 'Thank you Jesus'....and I'm sure that I shouted along. This is how weak we can be merely over entertainers and showmen....and really....nothing demonstrates this better than how we fell hook, line and sinker for the mother-of-all reality shows....and the greatest showman in America....Donald Trump.

            It was a blessed morning.....Saturday....320 calories and 3.6 miles on the treadmill.....and a sermon by John MacArthur on the headphones titled An Appeal To Charismatic Pretenders. (You can easily Google this) The blessing was in the sermon but the exercise helped. I encourage you to somehow incorporate sermons from men who preach like men from the past into what may be your very busy schedules. You know what you might find out? You may wind up trying to incorporate those busy things into your schedule around hearing the Word of God.

            In 1988 I attended an $100 a plate dinner in Pittsburgh for Pat Robertson's campaign for president. I certainly did not know it at the time but I was just a grassroots pawn in a huge and powerful somewhat secretive networking conservative organization called the Council for National Policy....the good guys....as opposed to the Council on Foreign Relations....the bad guys. Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, and dozens more names that we here would all be familiar with....along with big conservative names like Richard Viguerie and Paul Weyrich...were building a conservative/Christian base that would in theory return America to its roots. This is all well and good so far. These issues....abortion, the family etc....are all our issues....we're on the right side of the issues....but we were....and still are today....necessary soldiers for political conservatism....but not necessarily soldiers for Christ at all. As I was looking at the names of the group of evangelical leaders who were praying over President Trump the other day in the White House....I saw leaders of organizations and megachurches....(magachurches?)....but it was as if I was looking at representatives of a political party....not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Political campaigns today want megachurch pastors and presidents of activist organizations who can storm the bulwarks of the progressive left to win America back to God.....or so they say.....but that's not in reality the case.....we may win America back to conservative politics....but Jesus may still look at us and say....."depart from Me....I never knew you." There is not much I can say in a 'preface'....even a long 'preface' like this....on a topic such as this....but it may strike a chord with some who have wondered why many of these Christian organizations....and even churches....seem more political than Christian....and answer the question that the mainstream media has been scratching its head on for four years now....'How can evangelicals support someone like Donald Trump?

I mentioned above that I just read Donald Trump Jr.'s book Triggered...How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us. I don't have any ill-feelings for Don Jr. primarily because I feel sorry for him that Donald Sr. is his father. As for the book....it was like reading the transcript of Donald Jr. on a conservative talk radio show....where for almost three years now.....having abandoned honest investigative conversation....these talk show hosts spend three hours a day on non-stop spin in favor of the President....totally ignoring and obscuring everything else. Don Jr. did the same thing in his book which as I said.....did not read as a book.....but as a transcript.

"I Shall Not Seek....And I Will Not Accept...."

"Thus says the LORD, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind. and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD......Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD....and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream....and will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought....nor cease to yield fruit'." (from Jeremiah 17)

Voted For Him....Celebrated....Fool Me Once....Not Twice

Pastors....will you wake up yet....you like to tell everyone how you trust God....why then don't you also trust His warnings.....if you even bother to consider them? So many of you....Franklin Graham as an example....defend Donald Trump....instead of God's half century plus of warnings to us as a nation....his own father's warnings to us. Are we as this president says...."one glorious nation under God"....well are we....please answer that....an America whose "best days are ahead of us"....that is going to keep on...."winning winning winning".....that's what he says at every rally....to people in your congregation....who you are responsible for? Would you please at least consider that these may be the ravings of a false prophet....and that you may have been taken in? This as a profane man....and an arrogant man....who lies as naturally as he breathes. Oh but you say....he is a Jehu....a Cyrus to Israel? That's your excuse for overlooking who he is. Look around....he has no loyalty to anyone. You have the responsibility of these souls in your congregation....and are failing miserably in preparing them for that which God has explicitly warned us. Fall on your knees as you may have at one time....and pay attention to what God warned us of....and not Rush Limbaugh and his..."talent on loan from...GAWD"

Note on the above: I posted on a President Trump rally in Phoenix back in August of 2017 where the rock n' roll songs stopped long enough for Franklin Graham to give a prayer....and it was a wonderful prayer of humility from a fallen people....something his father might have given....something a pastor might have uttered during our Civil War. The auditorium was silent as Graham walked off. VP Pence took the microphone and straightaway the auditorium was shaking to the chants of...USA...USA...USA! Franklin Graham should have known then and there that Donald Trump had taken our eyes off of Christ.

CONSERVATIVE DENVER RADIO HOST FIRED MIDSHOW AFTER CRITICIZING TRUMP....
This is one of the lead stories on Drudge right now....Saturday evening....and it is endemic of what conservatives are faced with....who voted for Donald Trump but have not given up their principles or their issues. The fired host is quoted in...."I cannot and will not toe strict Trump party line." Talk radio right now....the national hosts....have been bewitched along with many others by the mesmerizing power of Trump....thus they bombard their audience.....three solid hours on every show....with an obscurantist view of who Donald Trump is and what he has done. This is one reason why these impeachment hearings must detail for the American public the findings of the Mueller Report....and the testimonies of those who know Donald Trump....and that there is a problem here....for we conservatives are not going to read any critical analysis on President Trump....for we are told that this is all fake news....and we are not going to get this information on talk radio.

THE ATLANTIC magazine seems to do it best so they should be the ones to do an in-depth investigation of conservative talk radio. An example of how conservatives are manipulated would be the Louisiana election of Saturday. Last week it was all the rage....then the Trump supported candidate loses....and it's as if the issue fell off the face of the earth. These hosts cannot talk about anything that might reflect badly on President Trump. These same hosts also are fond of using the phrase..."their beloved audience"...."the smartest audience on radio"....but that's not how they treat them. For they treat them as deplorables who if they are not kept in line will then think on their own....and that means trouble for the President. We need to know how the callers are chosen....and statistics on what information is brought out....vs. totally ignored....and some research on fill-in hosts who are no longer called upon....and why....and how many times the main radio hosts have been in contact with the White House....and if they are given talking points. Go for it Atlantic!

OK NANCY...WHAT IS IT YOU REAL WANT? Do you want at least a functioning republican form of government again....as opposed to a one-man show....a reckless and narcissistic 'force of nature' who dominates everything? Consider this.....you know what Donald Trump is really like....who he really is....many of us know who he is....but conservatives in general do not know who he is...for the information had all been kept from them. All of the Russia and the Mueller info....and the business history of Donald Trump over his entire adult life....the many nefarious people and deals....and the very serious psychological concerns....all of this and more needs to be put before the American public. The new Trump Party will try....but they would not be able to continue to shield conservatives on who Donald Trump is. If you do that.....as opposed to only going for 67 Senate votes....President Trump will either see the handwriting on the wall and drop out of 2020 or resign or we will get that candidate to beat him in the primaries. Consider taking this tact in telling America...."Sixty-seven Senate votes are very difficult to get.....we may not get them in this party dominating age.....but you the American people....will get the information that was kept from you....and you can make up your mind from there!" If you do not do this we will remain intractable and uninformed....but I have to warn you that if you do bring the whole Donald Trump before the American public....you may wake up this sleeping giant of conservatism....and no longer under the spell of Donald Trump....and seeing ourselves as low as low can be....God may demonstrate His power....for His glory....and for His name....alone!

WAR CRIMES: Simple logic and common sense would demonstrate that there are some cases where a person was falsely accused.....and we should all cheer when a complete pardon was issued....but there are other cases where the war crime is no different than a murderer on the street. Other than news stories....I'm not familiar with the three men involved in President Trump's actions yesterday....but I am very familiar with Donald Trump! I doubt if he has any real concern in this area at all. You may remember Otto Warmbier....at one moment Trump made statements like...."We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime"....but when it more suited his personal needs he said of Kim Jong-un..."He tells me that he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word....he felt badly about it. He felt very badly" ....and this from a rally...."He wrote me beautiful letters and we fell in love." This decision was made yesterday because President Trump has had a very bad week in the public eye. It is meant to invigorate his base. He specifically saves decisions like this. There are more.....and they will be made when they are needed.

NIELSEN FOREIGN POLICY: Here's another one just today.....on the Israeli settlements....the decision was described by most news sources as....'a significant shift in foreign policy.' The military pardons were described as 'a significant shift in Pentagon policy.'  The issue isn't the settlements....it's the timing....and how these 'significant shift' decisions are made. Will someone wake Nancy Pelosi up....and Mitch McConnell. This is Nielsen foreign policy out of an NBC survival television show boardroom. Everyone who would speak up in that White House is apparently gone. Mike Pompeo looked straight into the camera and said they were just doing what Ronald Reagan believed. You had better believe that Trump told him to say that. Pompeo and Pence have to be holding their breath every day. Speaker Pelosi needs to call Pompeo into these impeachment hearings....under oath....and ask him for a blow by blow on how these decisions were made. Why? Because we are challenging the fitness of Donald Trump for being President. If it turns out that he just looks for something to pick his approval poll up....that he doesn't genuinely ask questions....or that there are warnings and opposition to these sudden decisions of his that he ignores....and if it becomes apparent that all the people around him are just 'yes-men'....then the Senate would have to confront the reality of a very bad situation.

DONALD TRUMP HAS HAD A DISASTROUS EFFECT UPON EVANGELICALISM AND THE CHURCH: Christians were very well aware of the looming judgment from God due America prior to that fateful June 16, 2015 day when Donald Trump descended that escalator....whose presence in our midst since then has in effect swept all that discernment away with all the humility that we may have had. We have projected all of America's rebellion and waywardness and idolatry upon our political opponents and consider ourselves to stand innocent before God as we defend the perceived champion that He has sent us....who is in reality a false prophet....and a seriously ill megalomaniac....who has turned us into wolves also as we regularly tear apart and devour anyone who happens to oppose him....many of whom are good and decent men and women.
            Woe are we....as we gave up our real heritage as a God-fearing people for a mess of pottage. We consider ourselves patriots but it is no longer America or the Constitution that we seek to defend but our own political biases....for if it was America that we are concerned with we would at the very least politely tell this man to leave....for he is a divider and destroyer such that was not even Bill or Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama. If he is not forced to withdraw from his reelection campaign....or forced to resign....or found guilty in impeachment....then should God even give us five more years there would be four additional years of gut-wrenching torment as Donald Trump would continue to lie to our faces....poke and jab....laughing all the while....because that is the story of his life.
             We have time to replace him on the ticket....what we may not have time for is to clear our heads and humble ourselves before God....not that He would withhold judgment....we have passed that opportunity....as He warned us for upwards of a half century....Barack Obama and Donald Trump both are part of that judgment....but that He might have mercy upon us and be with us in the difficult days ahead. The President tweeted out eighty-some tweets yesterday....that in itself should shake us to the core in that we have even accepted this madness. These tweets and all his other machinations are psychological manipulations meant to keep us begging for more arrogance and more delicious lies that we have come to value more than God's Word.

THESE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS ARE LEGIT!: Impeachment proceedings against President Trump are legitimate and here's why. Donald Trump has had business dealings of some sort or another with Russians and oligarchs with ties to Soviet and Russian government officials for four decades....those dealings rose to a crescendo with the attempt to build a Trump Tower right in Moscow.....complete with the plan to offer Vladimir Putin a prime penthouse if he had OK'd the deal. So far it could be just business Trump style but the problem arises and reaches at least impeachment inquiry stage when it became obvious that Putin's people wanted Trump to win and tried to help him whenever they could. We had better believe that dossiers on the billionaire American celebrity....from both sides....the KGB and the FBI and CIA....had been developed for decades....for that is standard practice. I remember vividly the WikiLeaks leak and how it was the last nail in Clinton's campaign's coffin. The Mueller Report needs brought out and examined in detail in these hearings. Don't think there is anything there? Then no need to worry. Add to all of this the adventures of General Flynn and Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen....and many others.....and sprinkle Donald Trump's idolatrous love of money and fame and very possible multiple psychological disorders on top of it.....and this inquiry is legit! Donald Trump's relationship with Paul Manafort particularly....and what his personal business history was....needs put before the American people. Obstruction of justice....evident in tweets alone....has to be a key. The Ukraine matter is only a part of this trial. Add to all this how the now President Trump seems to favor Russia's Putin to extraordinary degrees....and now this nonsense with abandoning the Kurds and feting Erdogan in our capitol.....and it would be irresponsible for Republicans not to at least want get to the bottom of it themselves.

DONALD TRUMP IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED! It would be surreal if it were anyone but Donald Trump. It was only weeks ago that this president was threatening Erdogan but today he's a '"big fan" of his. Hundreds are dead in Northern Syria with more killed every day....and to fete him at the White House....on the first day of impeachment hearings....as I said would be surreal....if it were not Donald Trump who is a man with no conscience....a man with no principles....and with a lust for personal glory. What is surreal is our response....or rather our lack of response. Five Republican senators sat in on the meeting.....as President Trump blindsided them and set them up. I've got fifty books under my belt on this man our president with three or four sitting here waiting for their turn. That's why I know who he is whereas conservatives and sadly Christians do not. He hasn't changed one bit over the decades....unless....and this is truly frightening....unless this power of mesmerizing of his is something new....as he speaks audacious lies and bold deceptions in what normally would be easily spotted and rejected....even ridiculed....but we somehow believe them....for in this mesmerizing power he has convinced us that all negative information on him is fake news.  May God have mercy upon us....may He open our eyes....as our blindness towards this man is so evident that only God's direct judgment in the matter can explain how we....particularly Christians....so easily fall for this delusion. To Israel...or Taiwan....or South Korea....or the Ukraine....or anyone....he may indeed be there if you need him....it all depends on how his poll numbers are at the time....or if there are other options available to him....that's not a true ally.....or someone to be trusted.

PLEASE STEP ASIDE IN 2020 FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE COUNTRY!: "With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office-the presidency of this country.....Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president." This was LBJ on March 31, 1968. I was 18 years old and watched this at the counter of a local dairy store which we all hung out. I have a question for the Trump supporter....do you think that Donald Trump is the only one....the only one....that can possibly lead America today as its president....that no one else can possibly do what he can do....and no one else....no one else....could possibly defeat the Democrat socialists? If you say yes I would humbly ask you to mull over that extraordinary proclamation....for you had better be right....or you might wind up with a Mussolini whose supporters thought the same thing. If your answer would be...no....that such a proclamation goes too far...that God determines who will rise and who will fall....then maybe considering the total discord that is always around Donald Trump....that he should bow out of a 2020 election.....to help heal a nation....and he would therefore be able to make decisions in the last year of his term....without worrying about his reelection.

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: One by one men of God who gave us God's warnings are going home to Him....Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul close together almost two years ago.....Martyn Lloyd-Jones almost forty years ago....even David Wilkerson....and there are not many left....John MacArthur and Erwin W. Lutzer being two of them. Everything that I have ever read by Erwin Lutzer has had an effect on me.....particularly his writings concerning the occult religion within the Third Reich....not as much in an historical sense....but as to how it still relates to us today.  I implore of you to read his 1995/2012 book Hitler's Cross...How The Cross Was Used To Promote The Nazi Agenda. It has a forward by Ravi Zacharias if that helps. The second book is by John MacArthur. As you may know he is a prolific writer.....and in my opinion this may be his best.....or at least his most needed today....Christ's Call To Reform The Church.

WATERED-DOWN 'GOSPEL'....AT BEST....FLOODS THE CHURCH: Twenty years ago one could walk into one of the many Christian bookstores around....(my wife and I owned one)....and it would be hard not to have a choice of dozens of good Christian books right before your eyes. These stores are almost all gone. Good luck finding a quality Christian book in the Christian Life section of Barnes & Noble. There may be a couple there....buried in amongst Joel Osteen and others....but even I need time and a good eye to spot them. I've had Christians tell me in response to this that anyone could order good Christian literature on the Internet. That's true.....if they know what they want....but how selfish is this....'I can get them.....who cares about anyone else?' The reality is that our supply lines today have been cut. Try to find a preacher who does not preach at best a modern gospel. Try to find a preacher with an unction for souls......who might shed tears.....and cry out to the lost....or even warn the brethren. Try to find a preacher....or even a Christian....who pleads in their prayers....Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come!

Back To President Trump: He has already forced Germany and NATO into questioning our commitment. He is doing the same thing in the Middle East....and now he is causing South Korea and Japan to wonder just how strong of an ally we really are. Donald Trump has absolutely no wisdom whatsoever on foreign policy. My question would be....should I have been a republican in the Congress....is who around him might agree with what he is doing....if anyone....and is there opposition as John Bolton was? This is all about money. OK....how can this president at one moment.....which really is all the time.....tell us how wonderfully great our economy and financial outlook is....the envy of the world....and then at the same time make very risky decisions that would normally only be made when we would be struggling? It's a rhetorical question for I know the answer. He is like Goldfinger in the Bond novel....as he worships the power inherent in making
money.

DID YOU LEAVE CHURCH TODAY FEELING LET DOWN? If you are always down upon leaving church....wondering if that is all there is....or it's as if you just turned Joel Osteen off the television....there are sermons on the Internet from men of the past....and men who preach like men of the past....to feed you until God either provides a pastor or awakens yours. I've posted on this often....but today I would like to recommend more of a conference talk. Just Google....DA CARSON....Two Ways To Live....and see if it stirs something in your memory on how God's Word can be taught.