Four Years Only

         Meteorologist Joe Bastardi was on the radio in the background as I was typing....on Breitbart....but this jumped out to me....he said something like this in the conversation about the weather....."My dad once told me that if you have to tell someone that you are good at something....you're probably not very good at it." Lincoln once said...."He who represents himself has a fool for a client"....and God's Word in Proverbs tells us...."The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him." (Proverbs 18:17)
         This is President Trump's Achilles Heel....on one foot anyway....he is constantly telling us how great that he is....and his ardent supporters believe it....but a campaign for a second nomination would tell a totally different story....if we can get a conservative challenger.
          Something unsettling has come from President Trump's tweeting just about every day over the past two years....even today....and the day before....and the day before. Is this what we want for the next six years?  He says that he is great....and he can't stop saying it. We say that his biggest achievement was in preventing Hillary Clinton from becoming president....that he claims sole credit for a lot of things that other people on that 2016 podium would have achieved....and that we have been fighting this battle for decades while he his biggest concern in life was promoting his brand.
          The President has been tweeting up a storm this morning on Iran....ridiculing the opinion of the intelligence community. His position may be right.....and it may not be....but this much is certain....we do not need nor want his personal outrage that so often is expressed in a down polling period. He has totally lost credibility with his wild and vicious tweeting for over two years.....tweeting that conservative talk radio long ago decided to laughingly joke about....thanks a lot for that....this is what you have given us. If there are those in the administration who agree with these tweets....such as John Bolton....then President Trump should let them speak....or at least reference them.
          President Trump has achieved what only a few dozen other men have achieved in our country's history in becoming the President of the United States of America! Is this not enough for his ego? He has always thrived on chaos....that was part of his tactics....but it backfired as President. Four years is long enough. The President's liabilities have far exceeded his assets.
          The President should have one of his better speech writers draw up a speech....and not add a word to it....in it announcing that he is going to turn the office of President over to someone else in 2020. Let Mike Pence make his case. Let someone else challenge it. Let's try to get some sort of legitimate discourse and debate back into the conservative cause and defense of our republic.
          Once this is done then President Trump can turn all of his attention to....(admittedly difficult in the Mueller climate)....and solely base his decision making on the very, very difficult problems that we face in America.

       

"Do Not Trust In Deceptive Words..."

           It's probably the #1 response that I get from Christians that do not want to hear 'negative' talk about God judging America....they say that you just have to trust God. Then why do they not also trust God's warnings? The following was first posted a few years ago:

           The seventh chapter of Jeremiah begins with this: The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!' " Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. "Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, 'This is the temple of the LORD. the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'

           John MacArthur called it a "self-deluding slogan." R. C. Sproul made mention that the phrase, repeated three times, certainly should call our attention to its importance. God gave Jeremiah the words to warn the people of Judah, for they thought, as MacArthur put it, that "the Lord would never bring calamity on his own temple." 

           Thanks to Donald Trump and our own lack of vigilance to say the very least....we have constructed our very own....'the temple of the LORD....the temple of the LORD....the temple of the LORD'....for it is....'God Bless America.....God Bless America....God Bless America'.....or worse yet.....'USA....USA....USA!'

Pour Your Oil In The Sanctuary Lord

We are to be pitied. We are in full rebellion to God....yet if we get $5 billion for part of a wall....we will be happy as a pig chomping apples in the mud. We cannot analyze anything anymore. The following post is from November of 2016:

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

One Of Us Wasn't Laughing

          Well here we are again.....Saturday evening.....and pastors across our nation.....most of them anyway.....hopefully....are finishing up their sermons for tomorrow. Will God have mercy on us this Lord's Day....and awaken these pastors from their slumber....and give them an unction once again?
          The term 'fundamentalist' was coined about a hundred years ago. Modernism was sweeping not only America but the church. The gospel was being diluted beyond recognition. The more simple version of Christianity in America.....those who weren't as smart as everyone else....stood up to protest....and were laughed at....and derisively called 'fundamentalists' because they chose to stand and defend what they determined to be the 'fundamentals'.....or some of the basics of the Christian faith....in the face of a more enlightened age.
          One of us wasn't laughing.....possibly the strongest defender of Christianity in the period from 1920 to his death in 1937.....Presbyterian scholar J. Gresham Machen. He stood side by side with the Fundamentalists....surely an odd pairing. H. L. Mencken was a literary giant.....respected greatly at the time....although probably not now that more is known of him. He was like the Christopher Hitchens of his day. He looked at Machen's intellectual arguments against the modernists and insinuated that he blew them away.
         What am I.....I'm Reformed in my faith.....Calvinist certainly.....while the church is mostly split between the evangelical and the fundamentalists. We are all one.....if we are true to what our creeds or beliefs profess. The Fundamentalists though have had the last laugh. Too many of us.....most of us actually....have lost the unction of saving souls. The words are there....even the actions.....but not really the heart. I cannot look at anyone.....anyone that I have at least an idea of their religious leanings....without automatically placing on that grid their eternal soul. What else can be more important?
        I may not show it. You cannot show it all the time.....and with some people you cannot show it at all.....but it's there. I cannot think of a relative or a close friend without having their eternal destiny hovering overhead somewhere. I believe that would be called an unction. What I do with that would be another story.....I may utterly fail.....but it is there nonetheless.
       So as the seconds tick away to tomorrow's 'worship' services all over America...my prayer is that God might blow on those embers.....relight the dry wood if necessary of what once was....that there would be a flame.....a fundamentalist flame if need be....where we don't have to show how smart we are.....but how concerned we are over lost souls.
         

A Book That That The Church Needs To Read

I was in two different Barnes & Noble bookstores in the last two days.....and both stores had the book that is mentioned at the end of this recent post. The church needs to hear the thoughts of a pastor who at least does not have his head stuck in the sand. The following post is about a month old:

           My wife and I were having lunch the other day with missionary friends who were home on furlough from Africa where they have served 27 years so far! I was asking the husband about the spiritual condition of the churches that they had been visiting since returning home....and while on that topic I mentioned to him something that I've brought up often in these posts. We no longer have Billy Graham Crusades on television in America whereas in times past his crusades were broadcast a couple of times a year. We only had a limited number of channels available back then so just about everyone at one time or another stumbled across one of his crusades....and heard the gospel of Jesus Christ preached marvelously! Just about every person in America would either hear of what happened on Calvary two thousand years ago.....or they would have to just keep turning that dial. It is a big deal that we no longer have this source of the gospel for everyday Americans!
           There's yet another blessing that we no longer have in America.....and I mentioned this to him.....and he knew exactly what I was talking about. Not that many years ago there were six Christian bookstores within a short drive my my home. Today there are none. I don't even know where I might find one in Pittsburgh. Here's my story....36 years ago while my wife was shopping in a department store I just walked aimlessly around the shopping center only to come across one of those Christian bookstores. "Should I go in?" I asked myself? Why not? I walked out with the classic apologetic Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell. That aimless walk turned out to be a major development in my life. Americans in general no longer have these bookstores.
           The 1980s and most 1990s were a wonderful time as far as the publication of excellent Christian books. It would be hard not to find an exceptional Christian book in one of those stores. Today it's the opposite in Barnes & Noble as it would be difficult for someone such as I was in 1982....just browsing....to discern a good book....the few of them that might be there....from all the not so good Christian books....and that description I think is somewhat of an understatement. These two examples...televised Billy Graham crusades and Christian bookstores....combined with the abysmal preaching and modern easy-believism that is literally everywhere today....are a big part of the reason that America is without basic Christian discernment as it is today....while stumbling in the dark for answers!
            Now for the point of this post: John MacArthur was one of the men who wrote some of those wonderful books from the 80s and 90s. Well.....he's written another.....maybe his best....that's saying a lot....and I am hoping that this is a sign of what might be to come! The book is Christ's Call To Reform The Church. I devoured it....underlining everywhere.
             Folks.....we need to concentrate today....right now....on the seven letters to the seven churches of the second and third chapters of Revelation! Now the average Christian might be above such a suggestion as this....saying...."easy-believism....abysmal preaching....why our churches are doing extremely well....just check out the attendance figures"....they probably left this post a few paragraphs back....but you didn't. Pick up the book friends. You won't be disappointed....and it may be a turning point in your life.

Barnes & Noble retail $19.99
cvbbs.com....(just one online outlet that I know of) $13.99 plus shipping

Maybe You Are Outraged By My Opinion....But That's My Point

           I want to address the State Of The Union issue head-on in this post. George Washington and John Adams appeared in person to give their reports to the Congress. Thomas Jefferson didn't like the idea at all and just sent the constitutionally required duty of a report over to the Congress. This practice continued until Woodrow Wilson began to once again give a speech to the Congress. Wilson was the first to use radio.....and Truman was the first to use television....but Lyndon Johnson was the first to give the speech in the evening.
           The televised event has since become a political stage show. I believed that I watched one of President Obama's addresses.....and that was without the sound on as I was writing a post on it and only wanted to describe the scene. In my opinion President Trump has forfeited his right to give this address in person because he is no longer a serious statesman. He would use his speech in a different manner but for the same purpose as that of his rally speeches. In effect....his constant tweeting has made a State Of The Union Address....televised to the nation....not only unnecessary but a very bad idea.
           I ask you....do we need this nonsense? The Democrats would sit their on their hands....and the Republicans would cheer. Why? Because this is all politics folks....sick and offensive politics. Republicans might want to consider this....what would happen if one of the radicals in the Congress were to become President in 2020? The televised State Of The Union has had its day....put an end to the farce.
           We are two distinctly different peoples today in the United States of America....while there is no legitimate discourse. Everything is said and done as to how it will relate to the next election. Therefore this annual speech is a very big deal....to the particular party whose president gives the speech....and not to the citizenry. It therefore makes the situation worse....not better.
           Half of the people in America think that Donald Trump is a charlatan. Most of these are Democrats but some are people just like me.....who not only voted for Donald Trump in 2016....but celebrated. Would this then be a wise setting for a televised national speech to both houses of Congress....or more stoking of the fire within our nation that is already ablaze? By the way if President Trump had his druthers we would probably not even see Mueller's report when it is finished....if it were even allowed to be completed....yet we are told that it's an outrage that the President is deprived of a speech!
            President George W. Bush's 2002 State Of The Union....after a previous address to a joint session of Congress ten days after the 9/11 attacks....was one time that a televised S.O.T.U. address was necessary. There will probably be another....but President Trump's mostly self-inflicted political problems is not a reason for one of them.
            Maybe you are outraged at my opinion....that's my point folks! This is not a time to escalate a bad situation. We don't need an official 'national day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer' because this government....at this point in history....(but subject to change in a moment)....hasn't a clue as to the real meaning of those terms....but if this State Of The Union Address does not happen on Tuesday January 29th.....or even if it does.....especially if it does.....Christians might want to keep their televisions off during that time.....and pray for mercy on our collapsing nation.
      

Trumpism

 The following was first posted a few days before this past election:

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

Warm Air Rising

         My iPhone read six degrees....I looked out the window and powdered snow was blowing off the rooftops and car roofs. It reminded me of one of my favorite movie scenes...the cold and barren city street outside the pool hall in The Last Picture Show. The only thing missing were tumbleweeds blowing in the wind. I told my wife that I was going to the store for....anything....just to get out in this wonderful weather and beautiful landscape. There's a little dramatization in these words....and it's for a reason. This is as good a time as ever to bring back this post from late 2016:

Winter At Dusk

         The living room-dining room-kitchen and breakfast room in our 109 year old house are arranged in a circle. It's five minutes to midnight and as I write my wife is walking fast in circles....around and around. On the last pass I asked her to read these two sentences I had just written but she put her hand up and said..." I can't right now. I only have five minutes to get my 10,000 steps in!" Earlier she asked me to take her iPhone as I walked the dog. Isn't that cheating? She said that she was just kidding but I know someone who attached his Fitbit to the dog as it ran around the yard.
          Oh well, we all have our peculiarities. A few hours ago I looked outside and it was beginning to snow.....the first snow of the season. Dusk was setting in and there would be less than an hour of light left. I hurriedly put on my boots, grabbed my truck keys and told my wife that I was going for a drive and would not be long. She knew what I was up to. The scene outside, bleak and dreary to most, was too beautiful to pass up.
          Now, I can enjoy summer and we often go on car trips just to see the autumn colored leaves but the chill of gusting winds over barren hillsides, particularly at dusk as a blue hue settles over the valleys, is the most beautiful and calming of sights....and feels. I love the brisk walk to the vehicle, pulling the coat closer to me as my breath is visible. A chill like this, even frigid weather, makes me feel more alive, for one can become lost in a daydream on a sunny summer day or walk aimlessly while creating thoughts in the fall but one cannot but become alive in the winter chill. One can admire the creation of God in a sunrise or sunset or in the multi-colored grandeur of a flower garden but one actually converses with the Creator in the starkness of a blistery winter evening.
          The leaves have not only fallen but have disappeared by now and I can see what was hidden over the summer....houses with warm families inside....buildings and shacks.....rocks and streams that I never knew were there. I was now on our parkway...sipping a McDonald's coffee. I'm sure that even Thoreau would have stopped for a latte, had it been available to him, before heading off to Walden Pond
          The clouds are ominously dark and fast moving over a slate gray sky. In weather like this there always has to be some place to go....someplace warm....with friendly people inside....and maybe a fire....an atmosphere perfect for genuine conversation.  One does not waste a beautiful evening like this with a trip to Walmart. One saves that trip for the sun...or the darkness of night. No, the gusting winds, bare trees and earthen colors are a wake-up call that one is alive, that God created a reality behind the beauty of autumn leaves or the dazzling colors brought out by the sun.....and one cannot see His warnings if one only gazes at the creation and does not feel it. There is an analogy here if you will consider it. God is warning us....and has been warning us for upwards of a half century....but we seek the sun....and its warmth....and shun the cold....unaware perhaps that the most powerful storms on earth begin in the warm water of the tropics....the warm air rising....and storm clouds growing....and thunder and lightning following.
           Darkness came quickly and I texted my wife that I would be home in fifteen minutes. I know that she will hear the text for the iPhone would mostly assuredly be in her pocket as she finds something to do where she has to walk.

"And when He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake..." Revelation 8:1-5

Liar's Poker

Ann Coulter referenced Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes in a tweet today concerning Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump. Just Google 'Ann Coulter' and you will see it. I thought it a good time to bring back this post from June of 2017. Sean Hannity still claims that the President is playing 3-D chess. Rush Limbaugh seems concerned but says that it's not nearly time to turn against the President. Mark Levin said...."If the President goes for amnesty. I'm out..." What is being missed is that the President is essentially threatening to protect America....if he doesn't get what he wants. Think about that....if he can't get a lesser deal that he hopes will get him off the hook with his supporters.....then he threatens that he will declare a national emergency and actually build the wall through other means....maybe. So even if he does now file a national emergency....it's a farce....he's two years late....and he is boxed in. This isn't 3-D chess....it's Liar's Poker.

President Trump's New Clothes   

             There are a number of Donald Trump biographies that have come out in the past few years....and an equal number of 'how Trump won' books that are largely biographical. Some of these books are mostly salacious.....Fire And Fury would be such a book.....some are very legitimate biography.....Emily Jane Fox's recently released Born Trump would be one such book. And some are just pure pro-Trump which would be the opposite of Michael Wolff's Fire And Fury. I've tried to read only the books that appear to be legitimate biography....with the exception of Wolff's book. I had done the same thing over the years with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.....and as far back as Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.....and I may have read more on the Kennedys over the past forty-five years than all the others combined.....and I should add this that my reading of biography over my life on all genres surely is more than all the political books combined.
              Returning to Donald Trump....this is an unlikable man if you understand who he is....a man cloistered over his life in one castle after another....who has princes and princesses running around and who would at times pick a new queen.  He's a man of appearances more than substance who is in love with his own image....and whose religion is positive thinking.
              In Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes two weavers tell the emperor that they have made clothes so fine that only those who are really competent can see how wonderful the clothes are. In the case of Donald Trump....Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the weavers.....the clothes that they have made every day for the past year are supposedly so beautiful that only those who are really smart can see them. Conservatives don't want to appear stupid so they tell each other how beautiful the clothes are....but there are many of us out here who do not just want to be part of the crowd....we didn't oppose both the Marxists and Republican establishment over eight years by being mindless followers and we're not going to start now. We don't see any fine clothes....only Trump brand underwear and sock garters.
             We are not the 'never Trump' movement. We are the never again Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton movement.....the never again Republican establishment movement. Conservative radio talk show hosts are in denial that we exist. They are on a party cruise right now heading right into a tempest....with a captain who thinks that his ship is unsinkable. We had hoped from the beginning to see in a President Trump some evidence of humility that might lead to wisdom. He's going to be tested....and right now we are of no help to him as we only feed his ego and admire the clothes that, in the main, do not exist.



          

Caught In The Eclipse

I thought that this was a good time...with the blood moon overhead in the early morning sky as I type this....to bring back this book review on the Russian Revolution....particularly the Bolshevik Revolution.....because of our gradual descent into the abyss of chaos here in America. This is similar in scope to what we would have to look forward to should we not....in enough numbers anyway....finally cast off this reliance on our own perceived powers to make America great again. Every day that we waste on this brings us closer to an upheaval of some kind.  We are in the penumbra of total chaos right now with a full eclipse of the light of God's guidance moving fast upon us.

Caught In The Revolution

          They appeared on page 160....the most demonstrative and frightening words in the book. That book being Caught In The Revolution, Petrograd, Russia, 1917-A World On The Edge by Helen Rappaport, told primarily through the dispatches, diaries and correspondence of American, British, French and others who were present before during and after the February revolution right on through the October revolution to the end of 1917. The first eight chapters takes the reader through the extreme tension of a nation at war with Germany, and an imperial government almost at war with its own people. The violent February revolution had then taken place....huge crowds were in the streets of Petrograd.....a million man march to be specific....and they were now peaceful in the streets. Hymns were  actually sung....God was acknowledged.....but tremors of a greater revolution rumbled. The words that I alluded to above were these:
         "I say! There's an amazing fellow over there on the other side of the Troitsky Bridge, an excited English resident told Negley Farson one day in early April: He's talking rank anarchy! Immediate peace, no annexations, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, world revolution! Never heard anything like it in my life!...Advocates the soldiers coming back from the front and overthrow of the Provisional Government....now! Doesn't he know there's a war on?"

         Lenin had returned.....the extreme radical "maximalist" who had been exiled in Europe......who few knew anything about.....but who had worked feverishly "sowing the seeds of discontent from a distance, via a network of underground archivists across Russia who illegally circulated his seditious political pamphlets...calling for a people's revolution led by a dedicated intellectual elite." All the French ambassador seemed to knew about Lenin was that he was instructing others to "kill all people who have property and refuse to divide." Russia had its revolution....a provisional government was in place....but the Bolsheviks were just beginning to be heard from. Blood-thirsty lyrics were now sung in the streets to the tunes of hymns..."We will pillage! We will cut throats! We will disembowel them!"
         One diary noted on Lenin..."Utopian dreamer and fanatic, prophet and metaphysician, blind to any idea of the impossible or the absurd, a stranger to all feelings of justice or mercy, violent, Machiavellian and crazy with vanity." Another observer noted as the Orthodox Easter approached..."the (church) bells were ringing" and it was as if "the Russia of old (were) rising again with Christ." This would not last. Yet another well-known French socialist observer noted that these..."...were not socialists at all but what we call in France Anarchists and Communards."
         Caught In The Revolution had taken the reader to the the very middle of numerous mobs and violent outburst in the streets during the February revolution. Peace only lasted for a short while before the Bolsheviks stirred up revolution once again, this time against the provisional socialist government. The terrors were returning with an even greater vengeance. One commentator could see the evil in the eyes of marching factory girls..."...placid Slav faces lighted with a look of perfect ecstasy...and a huge black banner with a skull and crossbones on it as if...flaunting invitation to indulge in all sorts of beastliness."
          July had arrived and the Bolsheviks were looking for their opportunity to overthrow the Provisional Government. The second revolution was starting. One observer noted that unlike the February revolution there was no..."cheering, with people singing and shaking hands..." Evil was noted on the faces of soldiers and sailors lured into rebellion by the Bolsheviks. Satan had taken direct command. The tide turned against the Bolsheviks when it was learned that they were receiving funding from the hated German General Staff. A day of mourning for the dead was held, similar to the one after the February revolution, crosses and icons were seen throughout the throng of mourners. What was noted among the observers was that the new prime minister of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, was a strong orator but did not seem to have the fanatical devotion that Lenin displayed. An arrest warrant was out for Lenin.
           The Russian army was involved in a terrible war throughout both of these revolutions. The war on the German front had taken its toll when the tsar led them and now it was taking its toll when Kerenesky led them. Many journalists who were present at the beginning were deciding to leave, one commenting...."I see Russia going to hell, as no country never went before." Meanwhile the Tsar and his family, now prisoners, were moved by the Provisional Government to Western Siberia until they could figure out what to do with them. (when the Bolsheviks took over they knew what to do with them...they murdered the entire family. I recommend to you Helen Rappaport's earlier book The Romanov Sisters for an equally vivid and intoxicating account.)
           The various embassies knew that this coming revolution would not be as the last and were preparing evacuation scenarios. The world was now watching with intense interest and new journalists appeared in Petrograd including Somerset Maugham and the socialist American John Reed of whom Warren Beatty fashioned his film Reds. Reed thought that what he was experiencing was "thrilling" and wanted to meet Lenin. One journalist whose writings appeared throughout the book wrote that he was sickened by this American "playing revolutionary."
            Anarchy and misery were everywhere on the streets of Petrograd come October and people were buying revolvers for protection when they ventured out of their house. Peasants in the country were killing landowners. Lenin was plotting in Finland while Trotsky was rallying the Bolsheviks in Petrograd.
            Kerensky had many opportunities but was considered by all observers to be weak. The Bolsheviks simply took over the government in late October but Moscow did not fall as easily.  One observer wrote in November...."These crazy people are killing each other just like we swat flies at home." And yet another observer wrote..."I never knew of a place where human life is as cheap as it is now in Russia." Rappaport supplies this testimony from one of the witnesses..."....a typical example of the mindless, arbitrary violence ....two soldiers bargaining for apples with an old woman street vendor.....Deciding that the price was too high, one of them shot her in the head while the other ran her through with his bayonet. Naturally, nobody dared to do anything to the two soldier murderers who went quietly on their way watched by an indifferent crowd...." Anarchy, murder and hate were everywhere.
          Lenin's first order after taking full control of Russia was to abolish private ownership of land. Freedom of the Press came next. Everyone knew that Russia was lost.....its beauty marred by the empty faces. The embassies had one last Christmas celebration....but there was no joy....only remembrances of what once was.

Note: Helen Rappaport's latest book in this series is now out......The Race To Save The Romanov's. Her previous two books books were Caught In The Revolution and The Romanov Sisters. I highly recommend all three.

           

DISPATCHES

(DISPATCHES are short commentaries....posted one at a time....usually on a developing news story)

Post Shutdown: Obviously President Trump did not make the move to help the American people....but he threatened to!!! How absurd is even the thought of his method.....he threatens....to do what is right....this if he doesn't get a palatable but severely limited ''deal....which is what he really wants! There is nothing even remotely stalwart here.....as we are dragging him.....against his kicks.....to even keep an extended physical barrier on the table!  Even if he does act now it would be tainted with months of indecision. When....oh when....are conservatives going to see who this man really is? Reiterating here from a number of past posts.....both Presidents Obama and Trump were judgments upon America from God. The Left got what they demanded.....and then we got what we demanded.

Someday the FBI is going to have to answer why they felt it necessary to employ an anti-terrorist style arrest of Roger Stone. What you do is call Stone's attorney and inform him that the FBI will be at his house at 10 AM to arrest him. Robert Mueller seems to be blind to the negative effect that his ongoing investigation is having upon the nation that he certainly thinks he is protecting. There are other serious problems that this nation faces Mr. Mueller....you are making it harder to deal with them. That having been said....Donald Trump brought this probe on himself. It is legitimate to question whether real estate developer turned politician Donald Trump had a 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' deal with not only a foreign power but an antagonistic foreign power. Even if this is proved to be the case it would most likely not be 'collusion' as it is presented to be. It would be extreme stupidity from a man who had no business entering the arena that he entered. If the probe eventually shows that Donald Trump was involved in what would be criminal business dealings....then that would be unfortunate for everyone involved. Due to the politically biased methods of....some....of the FBI leadership....pardons would be in order for....some....of the people lured into panicked responses to extraordinarily threatening interrogations. As for the opposition party.....the Democrats....they are a fact of life in America....a plague....on top of the self-serving ethical stagnation of the Republican Party.

President Trump has an opportunity before him. Take Air Force One to the Southwest border tomorrow.....grab a shovel and plant that thing in the ground....throw one shovel full of dirt off to the side......give the shovel to someone else and say...."Finish it....as fast as you can!" Who are his advisers telling him not to do this......Jared and Ivanka?  I'm no lawyer but these legal issues are transcended by national defense issues. Break ground....then petition for an immediate review by the Supreme Court. (If he loses....we all lose....at least he tried.) Then reopen the government. Take that time for the State of the Union address and turn it into national defense address to the Congress....forget all the glory seeking....we all know the statistics....forget the "Madame Speaker, the President of the United States"....and talk about one thing.... you are protecting our retirees....our children....our families....our economy....our laws....and our republic itself. Folks....there are many people in America who want cheap labor so that they can double the size of their yacht.....there are others in Congress who want nothing else but to be reelected. Their proclaimed ideology has nothing to do with compassion....and everything to do with dereliction. The true compassion here is to expedite as much legal immigration as humanly possible....while protecting the opportunity of those who are already American citizens.


Rush Limbaugh has for the last hour given an impassioned plea for conservatives to stay strong on the 'social' issues. His defense on the sanctity of life is powerful. He obviously truly believes this. This wasn't a good day for him to build up or defend President Trump. I've seen this before in him.....he returns to his own self when not mesmerized by Donald Trump....but as wonderful as this long segment has been....and it's not over as I type.....what's truly sad is that he does not realize that Donald Trump could not care less about this issue. The President will give us something if he has to give....and sound pro-life if he has to sound pro-life....but these type of issues are not the essence of his being

Donald Trump needs and craves adulation. The cancellation of the State Of The Union Address must have been difficult for him. There is probably nothing in the world quite like hearing the Sergeant At Arms bellow out.....""Mister (or Madame) Speaker, the President of the United States.".....and then walking the aisle with scalawags and sycophants of all sorts reaching out for a kiss or a handshake.....and all this as 40 million people may be watching....or 90 million as Donald Trump would probably estimate. President Trump will get his moment. We are going to need our President addressing a Joint Session of our Congress when we face the realities of a world going mad. It won't be a pomp and circumstance show or political bonanza. No invitation of a State Of The Union this year please.

It's a temporary federal agency created towards the end of President Obama's second term. The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service was commissioned by Congress to address two issues....conduct a review of military selective service....and to  see if there might be some way other than military service for all young people to serve our country. Folks this has disaster written all over it. The final report is due in 2020 but they released an interim report today. USA Today reported this...."The commission met with legal scholars in October....they split on whether the government can require public service." OK....relax....these will just be suggestions that the Commission gives.....Congress and the President will determine if changes are to be made. Did I say relax? If I did....forget it. I've posted on the subject of a draft a few times. Think about it yourself folks. Think of all the problems that will....not could.....will come up. On the other hand.....the issue of a military draft may very well be put to the test well before 2020 and the Commission's final report even gets here.

Rush Limbaugh has been stoking the fires so hard that he has become more of an instigator than the professional broadcast personality that he has always been. He agitates and agitates throughout most of his shows....not informing as much as forming....a rebellion....and this based on a man demonstrating severe megalomania who the last thing you want to do it give the powers of a rebellion. Rush can take something that is true and turn it into a distorted harangue. He ignores salient facts that mitigate some issues....particularly as they concern President Trump.....and this he does all the time....which in effect can and often does turn truth in falsehood. Meanwhile his listeners....which are legion....may be inundated with FISA facts but are losing the ability to analyze along with the powers of discernment on who Donald Trump has turned out to be.

Michael Gerson....an evangelical.....who was the prominent speechwriter for President George W. Bush....is now a conservative columnist for the Washington Post. You can Google him to see the impact that he had on the Bush II administration. You can also Google his latest column titled "The Trumpification of pro-life movement exacts a price" but it's the lead paragraph that got my attention. Gerson is widely considered to be a wordsmith. In that paragraph he describes the world of Donald Trump in thirty-five words. Evangelicals should already be well-aware of these traits.....but I think that we purposely ignore them so as not to have to admit that we were wrong....and not to have to continue to work on something we thought we had already accomplished. Those words in the column are...."the sleazy fixers, the disposable women, the questionable deals, the gold-plated vanity, the viciousness to subordinates, the casual prejudice, the obsession with enemies, the shady international contacts, the nepotism, the ethical emptiness, (and) the bottomless narcissism."

The Jerusalem Post is reporting today that the Trump administration is...."negotiating out a timetable for the release of their plan (Jared's peace plan) that calibrates with these election markers." (as soon as possible after Israel's election in April of this year....and in the summer next year during Trump's 2020 campaign) Jared Kushner should never have been put in the Oval Office and conservatives will regret not standing up to this first of President Trump's betrayals....even though they already should have been crying in their beer long ago.

The ardent Trump supporter will tell you that there is a method to the madness of Donald Trump. They may not use that idiom but the meaning is the same in that they believe that his actions on the surface at times may look strange but underneath them is an ingenious plan....maybe it's by way of a threat....or maybe it appears to be a white flag....but it's a ruse. He then wins the day while those taken in never knew what hit them. Although this can produce success at first....one can go to that well one too many times....and then others are going to take notice of this....enemies....who then can play that game themselves...but with an advantage. There's something else that I want to mention here....by way of a question to the President Trump mega-supporter....just something to think about...."If you acknowledge....even boast about.....President Trump's great genius to pull off these 'stings'....to fool people....has it not occurred to you that he may be playing you with the same....'genius?" What is it that would exempt you from being a target....and even an easy mark.....surely it's not his truthfulness? Unfortunately....in my opinion....that is exactly what he has been doing.

The red 'Make America Great Again' hat may have served a purpose in the beginning as it was a legitimate campaign prop....but it has taken on a new meaning. Whereas during the 2016 campaign it was...'this is what I stand for'.....today it's more 'in your face.' Why instigate a growing unstable element in American society? Is that wisdom? What does a sixteen or even an eighteen year old really know about that phrase apart from what they hear from the people who are recruiting them....remember the West Virginia Boy Scout Jamboree political speech? Put the hats away and let a seriousness and a soberness be your calling card.

President Trump's chances for reelection in 2020 are slim to none for any one of a half dozen reasons. The extraordinarily radical element in the New Democrat Party is the only thing giving him an outside chance. The Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll has 'strongly approve' of President  Trump at 32%. That's his new base. The fervor is gone from the original base and will not return. The Mueller report in itself should put an end to any thoughts of a second term. That's why they are fighting to control how much of it is released to the public.

Before the Civil War began there were lots of people on both sides itching for glory....even if it meant a civil war. It wasn't half way through the fighting that they saw the horror of war that had previously escaped their thinking. We're in a similar place today. Both sides have considerable forces that want that glory. One side wants to shove Socialism....which will be closer to Communism....down our throats at any cost. The other side....us....can taste that glory already. Both sides may get their wish.

If President Trump loses but one of the 'big four' conservative radio talk shows (Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin and Breitbart)......he is done.....for I have noticed that when  the topic of the day brings in critical callers that the momentum builds.....lose one of these shows.....and the momentum will spread to other shows.

Here are a few summaries from the last DISPATCHES that I don't want to get lost in the posts:

In 2008 Rush....on his show....said that what he was witnessing with the Barack Obama phenomenon was a cult....a personality cult. He has since totally missed the very close similarity of the Obama followers and the Trump followers.

President Trump wrote a CNN op-ed in July of 2013....only 5 1/2 years ago....where he called for no borders.

When presented with evidence from his economic advisers of a catastrophe right around the time of his completing his second term.....this if the national debt is not addressed....his response supposedly was...."Yeah....but I'll be gone."

Here Is The State Of Our Nation

            Rush Limbaugh is taking Nancy Pelosi to task on her letter to President Trump where she wants to postpone the State Of The Union Address or possibly just ask the administration to put it in writing and send the report on over to the Congress.

             Article II, Section 3 of our Constitution states of our President, He shall from time to time give to Congress Information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. 

             The President is not required to appear in person and give a speech. In fact, Thomas Jefferson refused to give this report as a speech for he considered it too close to the Speech from the Throne in the monarchical traditions. I had posted in January for nine straight years now imploring John Boehner and then Paul Ryan not to invite President Obama to give the State Of The Union in what has become a "evening of ignominy" and "Facebook of Statesmanship." I offered the same thoughts with Donald Trump as President. The speech as it exists today is an abomination.
             Rush advised President Trump to get the keys himself or rent an arena somewhere and give his own State Of The Union Address.....and give the speech to just Republicans or supporters in a rally. He also offered to introduce the President. His own State Of The Union address? Rush....do your ears hear the words coming out of your own mouth?
             Here's the state of our union folks....God's hand of judgment is severely upon us for rebelling against His dictates.....setting up our own idols.....and looking to our own princes to get us out of the mess we have found ourselves in.

Thoughts on this funding dilemma.....

Proclaim a state of emergency today.....then tomorrow do two things.....have that first shovel planted in the ground....(and this tomorrow....not some illusive date in the future....promises today are worthless).....and begin to build a wall as you would a sandbag levee with a hurricane's storm surge coming in.....then appeal to the Supreme Court to expedite the constitutional issue that will surely arise. If the court accepts the argument that drugs and severe threats to our financial system....and quite possibly terrorists are an immediate threat....legitimizing the President's prerogative and authority in this matter.....then the issue is settled.....if the court rejects the argument....then we would have no recourse but to do what we are doing today.....fighting over an amount of money much too small to fix the problem.....but too large to ignore any help that it would bring.

     

DISPATCHES

As you know....Nancy Pelosi in effect rescinded her invitation for President Trump to give the State Of The Union address. Personally I'm opposed to this political carnival under any president. Pelosi's decision was not unwarranted.....nor even shocking. What President Trump did in response should be shocking. Pelosi and some other Democrats were about to fly to Brussels for a stopover....and then on to Afghanistan....and then Egypt. Hours before the military flight was to leave....hours....President Trump took his plane away from them....in the process publicizing the type of event that is usually not publicized for security reasons. This is only the latest fit from a deeply troubled individual. Have we forgotten how the President threatened the Freedom Caucus after they would not sign on to his fake Obamacare repeal bill? Our President tweeted this earlier today...."So funny to watch Schumer groveling..." When are conservatives going to say...."Thank you for your services.....they will not be needed beyond January of 2021"? This man is going to face much more difficult things than a cancelled speech....we are not helping him....we are but enabling and emboldening him.

Conservative radio talk show hosts are trying to find a way for President Trump to give a State Of The Union address from a different venue.....the Senate for example. This is the height of absurdity......it would be a mockery of the Constitution....a political ploy....and a dangerous precedent....and should they succeed at this....the television networks should not.....should not.....be a part of it.

The training regimen for the Green Beret has been news for the last few days. The question being....are we lowering standards for political correctness....thus lowering the capability of our military. This has a concern for many of us for a couple of decades at least.....but what I've written about in these posts is just as serious if not more. Imagine.....(I'm using that word a lot lately)....imagine what a military draft would look like today.....(and a draft is coming folks....and parents should think about that....so that if nothing else they might truly seek God's wisdom for our country....and students should know that four year deferments are a thing of the past.) So.....considering all the mind-boggling....almost unbelievable news about our culture today.....news that twenty years ago would indeed be thought totally and utterly impossible....imagine....just imagine what a draft would look like....what the implications to our society would be....and to our military....and thus our national defense....that is if this cultural shock is indeed real....and not news over-hyped in order to be influence more than information.

I check Rasmussen's 'President Trump Job Approval' poll every weekday around this time. (10 AM) As to how accurate it is compared to the many other polls.....I don't know.....but it's every weekday....and it is consistent. I posted not that long ago that we need to see the 'approval' figure go down. It had been as high as 51% while 47% has generally been the lowest it settles at. So it generally fluctuates between those two numbers.....and you can depend on the President or Rush mentioning it when it hits 51%. It has been dropping in the past week or so. Today's figure was 43%....and unusually big dip. The higher figures encourage the President to continue on....'being Trump'.....hopefully the lower figures will show him that there is a problem here....with the eventual decision of his....being not to seek a second term. Most will blame this dip on the government shutdown....maybe....and maybe conservatives are starting to see who our President really is? Note: 44% on Thrusday 12/17.

President Trump recently said that he found it "hard to believe" that there was a Congress and a President who had approved the "ridiculous" immigration laws that we have. Hard to believe? He would only have to go back five and a half years to his own words in a July 22, 2013 CNN op-ed "....the solution is clear....we have to leave borders behind and go for global unity when it comes to financial stability." Schumer and Pelosi and the President do not change their opinions over time....as much as change their tactics.

As always I hope that you might consider passing this web address on....to anyone....local talk show hosts....legislators.....pastors.....family. Even if you think that the thoughts in these posts are ridiculous...pass them on....for someone else to get a good laugh.

How about this post in all caps from yesterday....."HAPPY NEW YEAR To EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS. 2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE. GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!"

Many economists have been sternly warning for a while now that the stock market is overpriced. It's been in these posts a number of times. It was also reported that senior advisers to the President strongly warned him back in 2017....with graphs.....how a "massive debt crises" would hit no later than the time when he was about to leave office. His response...."Yeah, but I won't be here."

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

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

Kim Jong-un recently returned from his fourth trip to China since his meeting with President Trump. He would have been told in these meetings in China....what tact to take....what he can give up....how far he can go in his rhetoric....and how far he cannot go....and all this according to the overall communist longer-term plan.

Are You Looking For A Good Study Bible

         Most Christians my age.....68 and 11/12ths.....have settled into their one favorite Study Bible....as have I....and I'd like to recommend it to you if you are interested. It's The International Inductive Study Bible.....or as they call it today....The New Inductive Study Bible published by Harvest House. Here is why I like it so much.....

         Most Study Bibles give you almost a verse by verse commentary. I have found over the years that one can be a little bit overwhelmed with so much information. If you want to go this route then I would recommend the wonderful Reformation Study Bible from Ligonier Ministries....but I'm addressing more of a newer Christian in this post....even though The International Inductive Study Bible is the Bible that I use.
         The type in The New Inductive Study Bible is very easy to read......which is important! The publisher has given you a lot of room on the side of the page for notes....the most space that I have ever come across....which you should take advantage of with notation if you get this Study Bible. The 'helps' are fewer than other Study Bibles....but are easy to understand......and the graphics are clear and a delight to look at. I reference the Old Testament prophetic book timelines often.
         By 'different' I mean that these don't seem to be just text book type facts.....but it's as if the editors searched for material that can get the reader more involved....thus the key ingredient is the inductive study method where the reader is more....working through the issue rather than just being told the final result....and they help you through this....particularly with the very interactive book introductions and short workbooks at the end of the books. As for the translations that are available....my personal favorite is the New American Standard Bible....(NASB)....but that's just me....I like the way that it reads....and that it is very much a word-for-word translation which I prefer to someone else's interpretation...wonderful as it may be....of those words.
           You can order this Study Bible almost anywhere. The hardcover sits very well on your lap....if you are a lap reader like I am. I usually recommend Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service....CVBBS.COM from Carlisle, Pennsylvania....as I've always been satisfied with their service and their prices.

Keep On Coming

            I'll volunteer the question.....maybe you wondered the same thing. Why do I write very aggressive political posts.....followed by pious Christian posts? A better question might be how I do this? Does it seem odd.....even hypocritical to you? Here's my answer:
           I would never have worked on these posts....almost every day for the past ten years....if they were just politics.....not even if they were all on liberty and freedom and our Constitution. Let others do that. Yet if I wrote only on Christian topics....there would be far fewer visitors....and they would mostly be Christians. I don't know if you have noticed but I try to alternate political posts with Christian posts?
           The passion in these political posts is real. My interest in politics began in 1968 with Robert F. Kennedy. It was either the first or second book that I read in my life....1958 I believe....it was one of two books that were Christmas presents....books for a young person....(the second book was The National League....there were only eight teams at the time)....it was a biography on the Marquis de Lafayette. He had more first names than anyone I had ever heard of. I remember being amazed at that. I could never even remember them all....but Lafayette stayed with me throughout the years. Many years later while on a walking tour of Paris I asked the young guide where I might find Lafayette's statue. She said...."Who?"
           We have confused meekness with piety in the church....not a biblical individual piety but a Pietism that has wreaked havoc in Europe....and in America. For one thing it produces a liberal church. It takes our focus off of what Christ accomplished. I have to go back to the Martin Luther story that I've told so often. Someone came up to him and asked the question...."Father Martin....if you knew for certain that Jesus was coming back tomorrow.....what would you do? Luther answered....."I'd plant a tree"....today it could have been plant a tree.....build a house....open a savings account.....or work for God-fearing leaders.
           Luther's personality was rough. Calvin's was more tempered. The Puritans could produce a Luther personality and a Calvin personality. Folks, that's what is great about this. It's diversity in God's creation. This personality variety I suspect could even be seen within the Apostles....or between Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.....or maybe even even R.C. Sproul and Billy Graham.
           We're in this together folks. You're going to make mistakes and so am I. What we do not want to do is eliminate half of our resources because they either are too opinionated or too easy-going....too rough or too smooth.....too educated or too redneck. This takes effort....something we have neither the time nor inclination for. You see we feel that if we enter this arena....we may lose....and we do not in this day and age want to appear as a loser....not in the eyes of the world or of family or of friends or of anyone!
           Appearances today are everything. We don't want to emphasize the nearness of Christ's return too much because someone might snicker....or eventually call us out on it. We can also see this fear of losing face in our support for Donald Trump no matter who it is he has turned out to be. We threw everything we had in that 2016 election....and won....and now we're supposed to admit that we made a mistake in the primaries?
           What we should have done was pick up that sledge again when we saw who Donald Trump was....and continue to pound rail spikes like we did for the eight years of Barack Obama. We thought that the track was long enough in November 2016.....but it wasn't. We miscalculated....but if we admit this then we will just look like a bunch of losers. Pick up the sledge friends! This track may not lead to "peace and security" but in the last election it took us out of Petrograd 1917....and in the next it might pass right by Mar-a-Lago.
           On the other hand do my words seem too syrupy at times? Sorry...can't help that. About twenty-five years ago I showed up at a real Presbyterian church session meeting with some questions and concerns about Reformed Theology. The teaching elder listened politely....I remember him smiling....he looked at me as our time ended....and beckoned me with...."Keep on coming!" Well I did....and try as I always do....I cannot describe the majesty and the power and the glory as we see it now....of Jesus Christ. If you yourself are a little drawn by this.....'Keep on coming!"
          

DISPATCHES

The training regimen for the Green Beret has been news for the last few days. The question being....are we lowering standards for political correctness....thus lowering the capability of our military. This has a concern for many of us for a couple of decades at least.....but what I've written about in these posts is just as serious if not more. Imagine.....(I'm using that word a lot lately)....imagine what a military draft would look like today.....(and a draft is coming folks....and parents should think about that....so that if nothing else they might truly seek God's wisdom for our country....and students should know that four year deferments are a thing of the past.) So.....considering all the mind-boggling....almost unbelievable news about our culture today.....news that twenty years ago would indeed be thought totally and utterly impossible....imagine....just imagine what a draft would look like....what the implications to our society would be....and to our military....and thus our national defense....that is if this cultural shock is indeed real....and not news over-hyped in order to be influence more than information.

Multiple sources are reporting that Ivanka will help choose the head of the World Bank....if she's not choosing a lipstick shade that day....I think that's her other professional expertise. That's better than actually being the head of the World Bank which was mysteriously floated last week....or ambassador to the UN which was last month. Her influence with her father....in the Oval Office....is well known.....even President Trump mentioned it....and two years after the fact....our giant defenders of conservative values.....could not care less.

I check Rasmussen's 'President Trump Job Approval' poll every weekday around this time. (10 AM) As to how accurate it is compared to the many other polls.....I don't know.....but it's every weekday....and it is consistent. I posted not that long ago that we need to see the 'approval' figure go down. It had been as high as 51% while 47% has generally been the lowest it settles at. So it generally fluctuates between those two numbers.....and you can depend on the President or Rush mentioning it when it hits 51%. It has been dropping in the past week or so. Today's figure was 43%....and unusually big dip. The higher figures encourage the President to continue on....'being Trump'.....hopefully the lower figures will show him that there is a problem here....with the eventual decision of his....being not to seek a second term. Most will blame this dip on the government shutdown....maybe....and maybe conservatives are starting to see who our President really is? Note: 44% on Monday 12/17.

President Trump recently said that he found it "hard to believe" that there was a Congress and a President who had approved the "ridiculous" immigration laws that we have. Hard to believe? He would only have to go back five and a half years to his own words in a July 22, 2013 CNN op-ed "....the solution is clear....we have to leave borders behind and go for global unity when it comes to financial stability." Schumer and Pelosi and the President do not change their opinions over time....as much as change their tactics.

As always I hope that you might consider passing this web address on....to anyone....local talk show hosts....legislators.....pastors.....family. Even if you think that the thoughts in these posts are ridiculous...pass them on....for someone else to get a good laugh.

This shutdown and border security debate is a farce. It was originally estimated that it would take at least $25 billion to build a wall that kept threats to America out. All of a sudden that figure dropped to $5 billion and no one even made a fuss. Whatever they come up with.....check every jot and tittle.....and mark it down on your calendars to check in the future to see if they are even doing the little they will be promising....and check and double-check the small print on any deal that this President may make. This President has to be checked on everything he does....every day....and every hour of every day.

Fifteen Democrats did not vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker.....including Congressman Conor Lamb who represents the district that I live in. Only six Republicans did not vote for the Establishment's nominee Kevin McCarthy.

 How about this post in all caps from yesterday....."HAPPY NEW YEAR To EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS. 2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE. GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!"

It's the standard explanation.....'excuse' would be a more accurate word.....President Trump made the mistake of bringing Republican establishment types into the White House from the beginning. That is the understatement of the year.....but it is so incomplete as to be totally misleading. Yes....President Trump brought people in who did not share his campaign MAGA agenda....but why did he do this? Is he that stupid? If he is then it should be admitted.....which it never is.....for we are told that he's a genius. Did they they just let him down? Folks....they didn't let him down. He knew exactly what he was getting. His MAGA agenda was really just one thing....make America great again....according only to his definition to what 'great' means. To him it means a powerful economic juggernaut....with him alone taking credit for it. Judges are needed for this....so we got the judges.

Many economists have been sternly warning for a while now that the stock market is overpriced. It's been in these posts a number of times. It was also reported that senior advisers to the President strongly warned him back in 2017....with graphs.....how a "massive debt crises" would hit no later than the time when he was about to leave office. His response...."Yeah, but I won't be here."

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

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

Kim Jong-un recently returned from his fourth trip to China since his meeting with President Trump. He would have been told in these meetings in China....what tact to take....what he can give up....how far he can go in his rhetoric....and how far he cannot go....and all this according to the overall communist longer-term plan.

"....Yet We Will Not Return"

As for the Left.....the dupes of Communism....(Christian Bale thought it humorous....but he accurately told his audience where his film role inspiration had come from)....the only 'opiate' in America they are concerned with is the Bible. As for us....our primary hope is now in a man....a man who may have no use for the Baals but continues to worship the golden calf and Asherah. The following post is from November of 2017:
     
       The hatred of God is out in the open....unbridled.....and nearly out of control. There are no principles in sight anywhere. Love has grown cold. Conservative talk radio.....the bulwark of the conservative movement....too much of it anyway....has given up the fight for truth and transparency.....for now anyway. For a new entity to be uplifted has arisen......a ram of sorts that charges east and west. What exactly it is no one really knows.
        Conservatives have had their moorings cut. We now tweet our prayers. We wanted something noble....but will settle for something practical. As the months bleed on.....as the earth groans.....as the cosmos becomes a threat......and as man challenges God more and more.....we look to this new entity. He only has to roar and we cheer. He simply struts by and we applaud. We demand no pedigree. We follow him not knowing where he leads us. He doesn't go to church.....we don't care. He surrounds himself with faces unfamiliar to us....he must have a reason. He destroyed the wicked witch.....and therefore he is our champion.
        God watches all of this. His angels.....their countenance firm and confident.....wait for His command.......the mountains for when to quake.....the valleys to become mountains.....the four winds to come forth with fury.....the seas to boil and churn......and the stars to fall.
        We will not entice Him to change His decrees.  He will not meet us halfway as we request. He has found us wanting and been patient as we ignore His warnings. He does not take pleasure in our mantra.... 'God Bless America.' He is not impressed by our plans. He will not share His glory.

        He watches our eyes.....for them to turn.....from politics.....from ourselves.....to Him....but we will not turn to Him.  He knows His children.....he hears their cries....."Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." He will come with His reward.....for He has promised.....and there is nothing as sure.....nothing as trustworthy.....nothing as awe-inspiring.....no hope as great.....no joy as pure.....no love as real.....no discipleship as difficult.....no rewards as great.....and no Helper as strong.

"Please Sir....I Want Some More (Food)."

         We have already packed this one problem away....if we are to be challenged in the future as to worshiping God or obeying orders by a world government not to worship God....it will be a clear 'black and white' decision that will be put before us....so we are not really worried about discernment on this. That 'black and white' scenario will definitely happen some day but it's already happening today to a lesser degree....and the choices are not black and white. Our employer may be telling us to be quiet on our belief in Jesus Christ or face unemployment. Teachers in many schools in America are facing this right now. Pastors are even told to...."lighten up or we will have to ask you to move on." One's spouse may in effect tell them that they will limit their Christian belief.... and testimony....(fanaticism is what they will call it).....or face divorce....and maybe even loss of the children. Friends....family.....neighbors....all may require of us that we leave Jesus Christ out of the conversation....or there will be no conversation.
          The phenomenon of Donald Trump has persuaded us.....not ordered us but persuaded us....allured us into....downplaying the gospel and our Christian zeal. We are convinced that he is either Cyrus or Jehu.....(most evangelicals know what I'm referencing here)....but of course not Nebuchadnezzar....so take your pick....if he is Cyrus or Jehu then that's his 'get out of jail free' card....he can lie all he wants....deceive us all he wants!" Since he's Cyrus or Jehu....everything must be OK. My point in this is that this 'black and white' temptation may only come at the very end. Before that it may be many shades of gray....and we will thus have to have great discernment....which would require fewer distractions....distractions of which we are drowning in right now....and the cross of Jesus Christ would need to be preached from our pulpits every week....but we are as of today malnourished....as was Oliver Twist....fed with "thin gruel"....and even in many evangelical churches....starving.
          

One Would Think

The following post is from this past November:       

         I've had the following experience a few times over the years. I will be corresponding with someone who lives in another state who desperately needs a church where they will hear the cross of Jesus Christ preached from the pulpit. I'll then spend hours if necessary researching every church near them. I need to know what the church's 'statement of faith' is. Is it just a bunch of words.....or does it seem heartfelt? What kind of feeling do I get from the church website....is it fun and games.....'come be a part of our family'.....or is it a sound Christian church? I most definitely need to know at least the titles of recent sermons.
         I've gone so far as to contact the pastor....for I've learned the hard way that I just can't tell someone to find a church in this denomination or that denomination. If one is just looking to being a part of the church.....meet some new people......or maybe they need a good youth group for your teen.....then they are in good shape....for these churches are everywhere....but if they're drowning and looking for a lifesaver thrown their way....as I was thirty-some years ago....well it's just not that easy to find such a church.
         I've often wondered if the problem is that pastors come to the point where they think that their learning is done....and where they think that no unlearned common Christian in a pew can point out mistakes that they are making. This much I know for certain....we simple everyday Christians are afforded no such luxury as thinking that our learning is over.....and I am so thankful for that! So if we are in a position where we must learn and grow as the years pass....or we whither and die....why would our shepherds be any different? One would think that they would study and plead even more than we do since so many sheep depend on them! One would think?
   
   

"Docu/Comedy/Drama/SNL Skit..."

It's all over the Internet.....Christian Bale thanked his wife...his kids....and Satan....for his inspiration on this role of Dick Cheney....and this on the Lord's Day....the usual day for these type of awards. I wonder how many Christians tuned in? As most of us know by now.....Saul Alinsky dedicated his Rules For Radicals....a book that meant so much to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.....to that first rebel....Lucifer. Christian Bale thinks that this was a joke....but he's just a pawn. Are our pulpits beginning to feel a little uneasy by now? The following post is three days old:

           I usually research a movie before I go to the theater to see it but did not do it this time because I just figured that it would be a liberal hit job on Dick Cheney....so I would just go to see Christian Bale's portrayal of the former Vice President which I had read was very good. Only it wasn't a 'movie'....movie....as much as it was a docu/comedy/drama/SNL skit. The film is Vice. Anyway....how bad could it be with Christian Bale? Well....it was.....pretty bad.
           I nodded off once for about five minutes. Don't worry.....I don't think that I would have missed anything profound or even honest.......for what are the odds that in a 132 minute film....of which I saw about 127 minutes without anything profound or really honest....that there would have been something profound or honest during that five minute nod-off?
          Bale's likeness to Dick Cheney was amazing....and some of the other actors did a good job with their characters. It really could have been a good film....parts of it were good! I don't know a whole lot about Christian Bale.....only that I like his movies.....but why he would make this film.....I can't begin to understand. Now....every time that I see him in a movie I'll not only think of Dick Cheney....but I'll think about a hit job on Bush Republicans. Just about everyone with the exceptions of Condoleeszza Rice and Colin Powell came off as power-grabbing and mean-spirited....and some of them came off as downright evil.
          One other thing....(the following is somewhat of a spoiler.....but really.....there's no way to spoil this ending)....Dick Cheney....(Bale).....is interviewed at the end of the film.....almost the end.....you think the film is over but they have to come back with a short piece where a dumb redneck Republican physically attacks an intelligent Democrat....anyway....Cheney begins to answer the interviewer's tough question....then pauses....and turns to the camera....us....and starts to answer in a way where he is supposed to essentially be caught admitting the ugly truth....blowing his cover....but it kind of does the opposite....making him look....not so bad. Well if you see the film then you can make up your own mind on the closing scene.
          Vice is not going to change many minds....if any....but it may further weaken any discernment left in the college crowd....but for those whose minds already operate no further than the mantras of this New Democrat Party....they will just continue on where they are at. Republicans will just get more incensed. Trumpsters may take the tact that these things would not have happened with the non-politician Donald Trump as President....but those who are not just followers of talk radio....and who are not pep rally types or CPAC types....will just....and immediately....see what's really behind a film like this.

The Epistle To The Hebrews As A Model Sermon

           We do not know for sure who wrote the New Testament letter or epistle to the Hebrews. It may have been Paul....in fact I tend to believe that it was Paul....but it may not have been him. Hebrews does appear to be a sermon....as it has the marks of a sermon.....and reads like a sermon. I believe that it's a model sermon just as the Lord's Prayer is a model for prayer. Would this be important? I think that it would be.
           I am often in these posts trying to lead people to ministries and theologians....and books....that would help visitors....and I would be very happy if they went to these ministries.....stayed there....and never returned to my writing....for these teachers that I recommend are infinitely more valuable to the Christian and the inquirer than I could ever be
           R. C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries is probably that which I recommend the most. R. C. went to be his Lord....December a year ago....but his extraordinary teaching is still there at ligonier.org. I have listened to the final sermon that he gave many times....this morning being the most recent. It was based on a Scripture verse from Hebrews. You can listen to this very easily by simply Googling R. C. Sproul's final sermon....it should be at the top of the list.
           I have to wonder how much the average pastor has contemplated just what a sermon is to be and how it is to be constructed. Pastors in the denomination that I belong acquired their knowledge in seminary....for most others it would probably have been in a Bible college.  As for me....I only know what I have experienced.....the grandest sermons that I have heard in my Christian life of 36 years....have from the pulpit exalted the Lord Jesus Christ....first.....foremost....and throughout.
           It's an interesting anecdote.....and I'll add it here. He was just a city copy editor in a very small local newspaper when I knew him. He didn't have a lot of money....and had a bunch of kids....but I could tell then that he was a perfectionist in his journalism. We attended the same church.....were friends....and sat together with our families in the second pew from the front....and both of us were depleted at the end of the sermons....depleted of energy from these wonderful sermons that we heard on a weekly basis.....but depleted of energy only for a short time....as we often had to just sit there and reflect at the end of the service on these preached glories of Christ. This man is now the managing editor of a large newspaper in the East.
           My hope is that pastors will come across this sermon.....maybe someone from their congregation will pass this post on to them....(hint)....and that he might consider Hebrews as possibly being a model for what he should be preaching every Lord's Day.....and also that many visitors to these posts might listen to R. C. Sproul's....final sermon....and then take advantage of this wonderful resource.

He Would Have To Go Through Conservatives Who Are Standing As A Stone Wall

           Donald Trump is a destroyer. He destroys the enemies that he can reach.....while others....even sycophants....are destroyed simply by flying too close to his flame. As of today he has destroyed most....but not all....of the conservative movement.....and effectually destroyed most of conservative talk radio....which was once our primary source of information....this also as of today....for some of them are going to see that they have been had.
          There is not a single thing that comes out of the President's mouth that can be believed without verification. His sway over his followers is pure cult technique. He is the one and only leader....the only holy man....and his is the only way to salvation! The information that he gives us.....this includes that given through his conservative radio hosts.....is the only material to be read....everything else is 'fake'....in other words....he has his own scripture. Those who once were part of the cult but got out are to be ostracized and ridiculed....and if necessary attacked as 'haters.' This is cult textbook folks.
           God has put us in darkness. We are groping as we defend this President. To an outsider or neutral observer his defenders sound ridiculous. How on earth do you defend $5 billion two years after the fact....as a wall and a promise kept.....but they will do it if they give it to him....and he'll proclaim such a great victory.....and we'll believe it! How do you not look at that reality show with Kim Jong-un and not just shake your head? How is it possible to forget President Trump trying to palm off a fake Obamacare repeal bill in March of 2017? How did the Luther Strange endorsement get swept under the rug so fast? These questions go on and on and on.
         So Mitt Romney is the big smokescreen of the day to keep scrutiny off the President himself. These folks talk as if a second term nomination is a done deal. How dare Romney not be a team player! Folks....President Trump is going to have to go through a line of conservatives who know who he is....for a second nomination.....conservatives who voted for him in the general election.....celebrated.....and saw Ivanka and her husband walk into the Oval Office before the honeymoon was even over....and that was just the beginning. They don't take their orders from Rush Limbaugh....they think for themselves.
         One last question....and it's a big one....you know the foreign policy landmines that are literally everywhere today....we need a President focusing on these issues....but we have a president who doesn't read....doesn't study briefing materials....and probably doesn't even contemplate consequences. He needs experienced advisers....and he needs to consider what they say.....not blow them off to check the latest Rasmussen poll....or to spend his time watching Fox News....or on the golf course....or tweeting about a witch hunt....or firing those advisers because they talk too much.  The President....if he loves America as he says he does....should not run again....but of course he will....unless he sees the handwriting on the wall.

We Had Better Start To Tremble

I think that with President Trump as the chief executive....and Schumer and Pelosi.....and McConnell and McCarthy (same old Establishment) heading up the Congress....and John Roberts as Chief Justice....and Merkel and Emmanuel (God with us) Macron and Theresa May and Trudeau leading the free world.....and Rush Limbaugh....(who has sold out completely to Trumpism)....as the conservative's leading defender....and Putin and Xi Jinping playing chess with a man who would probably have trouble with the rules of Go Fish....(Do you have any sixes?....No....just this one but if I look at it upside down it's a nine) I think there's reason for a little trembling. The following post is from September at the height of the Kavanaugh chaos:       

           Apparently Laura Ingraham has known Brett Kavanaugh for twenty-five years and after the character assassination directed at Kavanaugh over the last few days she said...."I tremble for our country." Now do you think that she really trembled? After all that's a pretty strong word. Maybe that's just her way of dramatizing the moment?  Let me tell you folks.....I believe that she trembled.....because that's what I've been doing for a long time. She's just a decade late and a dollar short.

          Being retired as I am I get out and about quite a bit.....and this recurring thought comes back to me as I walk on a beautiful day.....with mothers pushing children in their strollers.....as a motorcycle scoots by ridden by a guy about my age having the time of his life.....with people passing by and exchanging pleasantries.....if this is all you are looking at......then yes....maybe America can again be a Norman Rockwell scene.

          But you cannot judge the health of a nation by what you see on our pristine middle-class American streets....and especially not by the serenity of our gated communities. You could probably get the same feeling somewhere in Iran or Turkey....or all over England or France.....and certainly in Israel. God isn't going to judge the manicured lawns or the clean streets or the Christmas Hallmark scenes. He's not going to judge the animals or the highways or the hillsides or the mountains......He judges people!

          We have 300 million plus people now in the United States. We've been legally killing babies now for almost a half century. Liberty is no longer our calling card....violence is. If there is a Biblical value....it's being attacked. This is a college professor involved in the Brett Kavanaugh attacks....Anita Hill was a college professor.....Angela Davis is a college professor. Folks...this is college in the United States of America! This is what we call....higher....education! Oh yes....you'll get to learn how to put together a spreadsheet on why hamburgers are not selling but you won't get to learn how to think or reason or analyze beyond why people bought their insurance because of the cute goose on its commercials.

          Have you heard Judge Roy Moore mentioned in the last few days? Probably not. Brett Kavanaugh represents prosperity......Moore only represented the Bible. I doubt if conservative talk radio hosts lost any sleep over his demise....but they should have!

         God is looking at a people whose forebearers at least acknowledged Him.....where most reverenced Him....and many worshiped Him.....but now half of us can't stand the thought of God. The rest of us probably read newspapers and books and magazines ninety-nine times as much as we read His very Word given to us....breathed by His Spirit....and preserved in martyr's blood.

         We had better start to tremble. God has been warning us for so long that we considered it old hat decades ago. We laugh at those who relate God's warnings.....nothing new there. Billy Graham is gone folks....he gave his forty years of warnings....as did Jeremiah.

         God has been patient.....with the nation....with me....and with you. His judgments started slow....had been increasing incrementally ....but now seem to be increasing almost exponentially! We are the proverbial frog in the pot! God's Word tells us to '...rejoice with trembling." (Psalm 2:11) That 'trembling' is meant to convey rejoicing in the acknowledgment of what our fate was as opposed to what our salvation is! We don't seem to rejoice with trembling anymore....we just rejoice....and we therefore miss the essence of the word!