Logical Fallacies

Preface: There was a day not too many years ago when there was legitimate discourse on conservative talk radio every day.....where conversation and debate would take place....and ironically where the host actually welcomed an alternative opinion because controversy generated interest....but that's all gone today. Whereas we once centered our concerns on issues....today everything is centered upon....with totally and unwavering allegiance demanded to....a leader....a great leader.....and a supreme leader. Delusion seems to be the word for today....both in politics....and in the church.....strong beliefs contrary to evidence!

            It happens so often that I've resolved to start a notebook on it. An issue or dilemma arises....someone enters the fray by taking a position on what he/she perceives to be the key point. For example....you either love Donald Trump or hate Donald Trump....that person then proceeds to present their case....that if you criticize Donald Trump you must hate Donald Trump....you are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome....and thus your argument must be voided. The problem....or the fallacy....is that one does not necessarily either love Donald Trump or hate Donald Trump...for there would be many other options....one being no opinion on him at all.
           The above argument....that if you don't love Donald Trump....you must hate Donald Trump....therefore your arguments are not worth hearing....can be easily won....(and it is always won on conservative talk radio....for critics of Donald Trump....if they are fortunate enough to get on the air....and bold enough to enter this arena to begin with....("get off my show you moron!")....are quickly dispatched as being not worthy to hear....only it was a false argument to begin with....so the victory is a false victory. Compounding the fallacy is that if 'hating' Donald Trump would produce biased opinion to be voided....the 'loving' Donald Trump must also be biased....and thus be voided also.
           This overall fallacy occurs all the time today....and in many variations. An actual case in point would be the Michael Cohen public hearing. Our side has made it clear that the issue is that Michael Cohen is a liar....an indicative....but the issue is rather an interrogative. Michael Cohen's credibility is to be considered but the issue is not about Michael Cohen....but rather Donald Trump....is Donald Trump a liar....but this will never be addressed by our side.....and purposely never addressed. There's more than one logical fallacy here....for attacking the witness....which we have had (three days) of so far....is an ad hominem argument....one may win with the argument....but again....it is a false victory....but then.....that doesn't seem to matter anymore....false victories....and fake news....(as mentioned in the preface to this post....both in the world and even evangelicalism)....go hand in hand.

2 Thessalonians 2:11, 15...."And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they may believe what is false......So then brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us."

A Prayer For Donald Trump

The following is a prayer that I posted for the then President-elect Donald Trump:

           Lord I lift this man up to you who is to become our president....for mercies upon his
soul Lord and for wisdom that might in turn lead to mercies upon we your children. I see myself in
him Lord, not the fame or wealth or great abilities in business but in his blindness and even
arrogance. I see myself when I was cast off from your blessings of grace and knowledge of your
majesties....I see myself even now in need of the same mercies. Lord, you permitted him to attain
that which this world calls great success....show him that it is but a dung heap. He finds himself in a
position that he believes talent and purpose has brought him....maybe even fate as he perceives fate
to be. Surely his countenance of supreme confidence must dissipate at night when he has nothing to
do but lie in bed and contemplate what has happened to him in the last year. Surely Lord the
responsibilities must unnerve him. Does he marvel Lord? I pray that he doesn't, for he would not
marvel at what you have done, for he has shown no inclination to consult you, therefore he would
have to marvel at what he perceives he himself has done....just as Nebuchadnezzar had marveled.
In whatever is in store for him in this exalted position he is to assume I pray that if it be your will
that his eyes would be opened to the realities surrounding him....the realities of a world that
has rejected its Creator and will therefore be judged by its Creator...and the reality that he also has
fallen under this prideful self-exaltation and is in need of your mercy of redemption. Cause him to
tremble Lord....at your holiness....at his sinfulness....and if it be in your plans to have mercy upon
us then cause him to humble himself before you just as you did with us....and that the
accompanying eternal and unsurpassable blessings would also be his as they are ours. I ask not
Lord for him to the champion that he projects himself to be, for you alone Lord are our
champion...our captain...and our king. I ask not Lord that our nation would merely be granted more 
time to move further away from you....but that it would...in whatever time you give us...display
clearly to the world a refusal to follow the schemes of those whose plans are for building a new
world in total antithesis to you its Creator. Lord, this man is not alone in need of mercy for
we ourselves have failed miserably. Show us this Lord...and set us apart once again....for your
purposes. If you should will it that we return to you then no force on this earth or in the heavens can
thwart our return. Lord, this man has advisers all around him. Some acknowledge that only you
cause nations to rise and to fall but most do not acknowledge you. Blind this man who will be called
the president to those that are blind to you Lord! Give this man no strength apart from trust in you
Lord, for any other perceived strength is worthless and deceiving. Then should turmoil come, we
shall have perfect peace Lord...not necessarily peace as man views peace...but peace in the midst of
travail....our minds set upon you who not only created the heavens and the earth but controls
everything and everyone in this your creation....and if peace should come....as man views 
peace....we could do noting but gratefully acknowledge that you have brought order out of chaos
for your glory alone.

Update: This was a prayer constructed in almost one long thought as I typed it. I celebrated Donald Trump's victory not because of what I knew of him....but because of what I knew about his opponent. Well it has been two years and I've read more than two dozen books composed of bios and profiles and insider accounts....both pro and con....and have had daily....sometimes hourly updates on Twitter from the President himself showing us who he is....and all of this points to what seems to be an accurate statement made by Donald Trump himself a few years ago....about himself....in that he said that he basically hasn't changed since he was eight years old. There seems to have been no discernible growth or change in the character or methods or religious  beliefs of Donald Trump in the past two years....or twelve years....or forty-two years....or even six decades.

"Ichabod!"

           President Trump's finest moment so far had been in the buildup of American forces in the waters around North Korea during the early part of 2017. Three carrier strike groups showed Kim Jong-un that he wasn't dealing with Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton anymore.
           South Korea is very similar to us in that it is no longer the God-fearing powerhouse that it once was. It also has gone the way of the snowbird that flies south to avoid the harsh reality of winter. (folks this is an abstract analogy....I'd be planted on Siesta Key typing this right now for the three hard winter months if I had the money) The continued development of nuclear weaponry in North Korea is a new threat to the United States....they can now reach our shores....it's not new to the South Koreans....as the communists could always reach Seoul....so in their defense....a potential war with North Korea means a lot more to them than to us. They have a Clinton type of president....and President Trump had to deal with that.
            The mere thought of such a war was strong enough that most of America was extremely concerned. Prayers with pleading were being offered....where pleading does not usually accompany our prayers anymore; but then the pleading....the grasping of the hem of the Lord's cloak....faded....as an announcement was made that President Trump and Kim Jong-un would meet in Singapore. South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said that a 'miracle' had occurred as he acknowledged that Kim Jong-un was eager to meet with President Trump....whose finest moment then began to fade.
             Is it even possible today to apply the same pressure that was applied a year ago? Even if it is....North Korea has had a year to further prepare. Communist China has had a year to continue to build up its military position and plan....and Putin has had a year to to meet with both communist nations for possible cooperation.
              A reality show summit was not the best idea. Smiles and handshakes with a man like Kim Jong-un was not wise....it only served to legitimize him in the world's eyes. President Trump demanded to first meet privately with the North Korean dictator....without the President's advisers present....just as he had done with Vladimir Putin. This move was strange as it sowed even more concern and distrust as to President's Trump's deal making apart from the full awareness of the people experienced in dealing with communists.
             So we now have another summit coming up.....in the worst place imaginable.....Hanoi. Is there no one in the President's inner circle who could have reminded him that 58,000 Americans gave their lives a war brought on by the leaders in that city? So we will once again have flags draped everywhere....('Old Glory' and the red star)....probably with a huge bust of Ho Chi Minh hovering overhead somewhere....with a smiling Kim Jong-un promising great things.
           Folks....having reiterated all of this from past posts....the primary issue is not North Korea itself....as important as that is....it is more that the North Korean problem is coming to a head....along with a number of other equally dangerous problems coming to a head right now. We should be talking about these things on conservative talk radio....but it's all been Jussie Smollett....whoever that may be. Everything emanating from the Left is dealing with impeaching President Trump while promoting absurd grotesque candidates for president. Everything on our side is pointing out how absurdly grotesque these candidates are....as if we don't already know that....and this as a storm is coming upon humanity such as there has never been anything comparable to in the history of humanity....save one....Noah's flood.
           Whether or not we ever get a President Elizabeth Warren.....or whether or not Donald Trump is impeached.....once again as important as these things are....are not the single-most most pressing issues. The most pressing issue is that God has....as of now....forsaken us....big fancy mega-churches and all....booming economic statistics notwithstanding....we are undone....woe to us....we tried to do it on our own....throwing God's name around as if it were a magic word....but are left as were Hophni and Phinehas who thought that the mere presence of the Ark of the Covenant would secure victory in battle....but who perished....the Ark being captured....and the news of which that brought on the death of Eli....and led to the naming of a child....Ichabod...."the glory has departed!"

Etched In Stone

         I noticed that a pickup had stopped behind my vehicle as the driver was reading my bumper sticker that reads...."Trump...Four Years Only....From A Conservative." I said hi....he asked what I meant by the bumper sticker.....a car came up behind so I asked him if he could pull over a little....and we talked for about fifteen minutes in my estimation. He carried at least 90% of the conversation....and ran off a litany of issues in support of President Trump.....every one of which are not only my issues also but have been my issues also for the past decade and even much longer.
         Had we met two years ago we would have essentially been of one mind.....empathizing with other....encouraging each other....but now we are divided. The conversation was good....he showed emotion and tenacity in his belief....and I thought about our talk on the forty minute drive home.
         Here is the politics of the situation as I see it....but I only have about fifty years of observing politics to work with. The issues themselves are not separating us....the issues are not causing conservatives to turn against Ann Coulter. Donald Trump is separating us. He has that unique ability to inspire some to fiercely defend him....and to make others totally and irrevocably distrust him. Right now we are ignoring this reality.....but it will not go away. You cannot find out who someone is......and then un-find out who that person is.
         President Trump is to be given credit for the good economic statistics in the American economy right now.....but two things about that. This economy was going to improve with any Republican president.....maybe not as much as with President Trump.....but they would have been good. Secondly the economy does not exist in a vacuum. Right now there are numerous immediate dangers to not only the American economy but the world's economy. Mistakes on North Korea or the Middle East or a dozen other foreign policy ventures can bring collapse. This is not a time for nation-building that can increase dangers....it's a time for preparation that recognizes dangers that already exist. Ignoring the $23 trillion national debt will by itself bring collapse. Tariffs can put dangerous scenarios in motion. This statistical boom will be short lived....my opinion of course.....but you can find economists on both sides of the projections.
         Many speculate that the conclusion of the Mueller probe will be anti-climatic.....I don't believe that for a moment. The news media....theirs and ours both....have made this a 'collusion or nothing' investigation....but the probe is going to tell us a lot about who Vladimir Putin wanted to win the 2016 election. Every bit of it will probably bring extreme controversy....causing this ship of state to list even more.
         If Donald Trump should be nominated once again....a certain form of unity will return....but up until that second nomination is certain....we on our side will continue with the same principled conservatism and anti-elitism that we have championed for a long time. We are not as keen on defending a man....as defending principles. If another man or woman can better further those principles....then we will go with that man or woman.
        I was on my way home from visiting a Christian college as this conversation took place. While on campus....and as I walked towards a beautiful building with wonderful Bible verses and phrases and quotations from Christian men from the past etched in the stone....I prayed....(which I had done many times before)....for God's hand upon that particular college....(and I do the same on other Christian colleges)....that His Spirit might move mightily upon these young minds....and that these words would come alive again.....in a mighty way that would give God glory. You see I'm a sucker for history.....Christian history.....I know very well how God has moved in the past....and He has not changed.
     
       
     
   
          

A Renewed Mind

The following is only a few weeks old....and I bring it back as a Lord's Day post. Most of us will enter a church tomorrow where there will be no warnings to speak of....not personal as to salvation....nor corporate as to the church....nor temporal as to America. Is it too harsh to bring this up? In most cases....probably....as the men in our pulpits are no different than those of us in the pews....for we are all susceptible to the environment and culture around us. If the Lord's return is near.....which as I have written before....all indications in His Word seem to proclaim it to be....then one should be more vigilant than ever....but we are not vigilant. We have chosen those verses in the Bible that tell us to be at peace.....to the exclusion of those verses that precipitated the need to be told to be at peace....therefore we are in effect choosing more of a peace that the world gives....than that of a Savior and a Captain that will guide us through this storm.

            2 Peter 1:12, 13...."Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth being present in you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder."
            How does one not warn....at least friends and loved ones....when one discerns danger....and one's friends and loved ones do not? I guess that the most obvious example of one person 'warning' another would be age and youth....where the parent warns the child....and the older person warns the younger person. The one has lived longer......and has experienced more. It's therefore natural to warn those who cannot know what consequences might be ahead....but Peter wasn't basing his knowledge on his age....even though he knew that he was nearing the end of his life. How can a pastor who throws the word 'beloved' around with abandon....not plead and warn and remind as Peter did?
            A young child can warn a grandparent whose eyesight is failing....of a puddle of water....a student can warn a teacher that he's giving the wrong date for a test....a Christian in the pew can warn the pastor in the pulpit that he is reading the wrong verse....and a janitor can warn a CEO that he does not look well. It's knowledge and observation here that is more valuable than experience and authority.
           The Christian has been given a trove of knowledge that he/she did not have before God regenerated his/her heart...restored his/her vision and hearing....and renewed his/her mind. That is the fact of the matter friends. That's what can make a dishwasher more knowledgeable than a professor....and a citizen more discerning than a president....but more importantly even than the collapse of one's nation....that is what one family member may know that another family member is in need of knowing....that they have been deceived by the world....and the world's church....that they must be be 'born again'....or perish in the judgment. The parent may indeed have more love for their own child....but the Christian friend or loved one may know more of what that child needs the most....the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ.
            I posted the following earlier this year..."I have lived sixty-eight years and some odd months. I was able to partake in the America of our heritage.....before that America began to succumb to the same temptations that ancient Israel succumbed to before they were judged by God. I remember our heritage as a nation....and weep at what we have replaced it with. I have given nothing to stop the downward spiral....in fact I added to it. I am but one person....one of many....who God for some unknown reason had mercy upon. Even my warnings are tinged with pride and arrogance....but I continue to warn....for if Jesus felt it to our benefit to warn us....and if Peter felt it necessary to 'remind' again and again....and if Paul warned us....and John warned us....and Christians ministers such as Billy Graham.....just to name one.....of whom I have would have had no right to even stand beside....if they felt....and feel it necessary to warn those that God gave them to minister to.....then we all also have no choice but to at least warn our friends and loved ones....which in reality is all that these posts are....words to hopefully friends....wherever they may live....and loved ones!"

       

The Coming Military Draft

           The following is one paragraph from a DISPATCHES post from December....the topic....the commission that was established in 2017 to answer a few questions....and give some suggestions.....on the boondoggle of what a military draft might look like it we need one again.
           Breitbart's morning radio show today had the chairman of this commission on as some public hearings on the commission are now being held. The questions asked of him by the host.....(a young woman who will probably be marching at Fort Jackson before this is all over.)....were pretty good considering this is all new to most of us....but as I listened to him I was reminded of a Wally Cox type figure sitting behind a desk with an absurd gobbledygook pencil-pushing project given him....or maybe Don Knox as the corporal giving a psychiatric test to Andy Griffith on No Time For Sergeants. 
            The problem here is monumental....and this commission is just a part of the problem. The draft is coming....not for a Vietnam type of draft but a World War II type of draft will be needed. Think about it folks....the patriotism aspect of it....the gender aspect....the illegal immigrant aspect....the 'safe space' aspect of it....the sexual preferences part of it....and the political aspect of it? This commission seems to be oblivious to all of this and is more concerned with the politically correct aspect of even having a draft.
            There is another reason that I'm emphasizing this topic today....many of the people that I try to reach in these posts are parents....If I can't get their attention from the news of the day maybe wars and a military draft will do it. This is the time to get serious.....(long past that time actually).....to humble ourselves before God.....in abject mortification at what our nation has become

"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....the President and the Congress are on it.... 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 report even gets here."

While on the topic I'll add this post.....this from December of 2017:

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

"Greeting, You Are Hereby..."

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

         

"...Turn...Turn...Turn"

           These days there is absolute chaos in our government and in our culture....but if you go outside on a typical day....in my part of the country anyway....this being the middle of winter....the bare tree limbs are gently swaying.....automobiles are slowly cruising from stop sign to stop sign.....and people are carrying groceries in town and pushing their kids in strollers.....the hockey game or the basketball game will go on.... so what is the reality of all this?
          The first thing is that I would ask you what it is you would expect....the trees to fall over as chaos envelops the government and society....cars to screech to a stop at every stop sign.....with people holed up in their houses? The very foundations of our country have been shaken....and this increasingly for decades now. There is nothing on a national level that can be considered conversation. Whatever one may think of President Trump....it cannot be denied that nothing is sure anymore. Every day is a half hour of news and tweets scripted into a national soap opera.
           It's 1:30 in the morning as I type this in Western Pennsylvania. I can hear the wind howling. These two scenes....normal daily activities mixed in with chaos everywhere between Americans....means that we will not be able to discern the major storm that is brewing....for the former....the calm and normalcy....mitigates the latter....extreme volatility in that which is supposed to be a source of order....government and law.
           To anyone detached from the fray enough to see what is going on it should shake them to the core. I have lived sixty-nine years and the America I grew up in is long gone. What this is today I don't even like to contemplate. Surely this is a time to gather....a time to pray....and a time to meditate on what may be ahead....but the sun will come up.....and the newspaper will arrive with the latest sports scores....and the stock market may go up today....and we all will sit back and somewhat enjoy the chaos....as if it were just a Survivor episode where upon it's conclusion we can sit back with a cup of tea and read the latest bestselling novel.
           Whereas at various points in history in such dangerous times as what we are experiencing today....people would go to church on the Lord's Day....and the pastor would be somber....and all present would be somber....as evil seemed to be everywhere. They recognized that God's steady hand was needed more than anything that they had previous to the time of trouble spent their days in search of....but we don't have that blessing anymore that God designed for His people.....the discerning of the times.
            Which means that unless our eyes are opened we will be caught napping as the storm bears down on us. How many times God's Word....in both Testaments....warns us to be sober and to be vigilant....and to be on guard! Folks this is not pessimism....I am the eternal optimist....in that God directs the ways of the nations for His glory....and that every single day that passes puts us one day closer to that shout....and that voice of the archangel....and that trumpet call of God.

       

In Trump We Trusted

Update from February 23 and note to Ann Coulter....'I profoundly regret to have to give you this news.....I'm sure that it is the last thing that you would want to hear....but unless something drastically changes in the near future.....and someone such as Ben Sasse or Jeff Sessions doesn't quit worrying about the proper timing....we are going to have to ask you to take up the banner and challenge President Trump in the primaries.'
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Update from this morning: On January 20, 2017 Donald Trump spoke these words in his inaugural address....."There should be no fear-we are protected, and we will always be protected.....We will be protected by great men and women of our military and law enforcement and, most importantly, we are protected by God." Sebastian Gorka.....(I've been wondering for three years now who this man is.....his rhetoric disturbs and alarms me)....he called Ann Coulter "disloyal and a charlatan." The attack dogs are out in full force. Loyalty is a good thing....until it becomes a bad thing! Dr Gorka tweeted this quote this morning....."We will b protected by grt men & women of r military & law enforcmt & most importantly we will b protected by God." Christians....we had better start to analyse who this man in the White House is...and what this movement is becoming.
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The fix is in....I believe that that's the proper phraseology. Donald Trump is not what he told us that he was during the primaries....and the despised establishment rules the roost once again. The conservative movement is done for....replaced by the Trump movement....shallow-arrogant-even dangerous....while evangelicals have fallen for a false prophet. It looks as if Mueller is finishing up. We need to get that out of the way....and then we need to either find a legitimate challenger to Donald Trump in the primaries....or better yet....he will see the reality of the situation....and decide not to run again. Admittedly it looks bleak right now....he can do what he wants and that approval number just stays the same.....while conservative talk radio has moved far away from conservative principles into just plugging their ears and saying....'this is our guy....we got to beat whatever radical the Democrats put up.' Every diversionary trick in the book is being employed right now to keep the focus off of who Donald Trump really is....and the attack dogs are out in full force. The following post is from last week:

          Mark Levin called Ann Coulter a 'useful idiot' for the Left. I more or less tuned out Mark months ago.....this after years of reading his books....giving him 'shout outs' in these posts....and subscribing to CRTV. (I cancelled my subscription a while back) His arguments are not strong as they once were....they are basically just shouting today....which he does as loud as anyone in America.
           As for Rush....as I wrote in a very recent post....I have never encountered....in my years of studying cults....a greater disciple of a cult's charismatic leader than what he has turned into. The Left tried to get Rush for years but here Donald Trump did the job for them....for also as I mentioned before in these posts....Donald Trump is a destroyer.....as he is either actively trying to destroy someone who refused to bow down to him....or others are destroyed simply by flying too close to his flame.
          As for me....I celebrated along with everyone else on our side back in November of 2016. I didn't like Donald Trump....I had seem him viciously attack the appearance of people too many times to ever like him....but I hoped that he might just settle down when he saw first hand his awesome responsibilities....but he didn't. I began something that I had not done before the election....I started reading biographies on him....maybe a dozen so far.....and they all describe the same person as one-dimensional.....in love with himself.....vengeful and vindictive such that it is upsetting....he uses people....he can turn on friends in a moment....he lies so much that it doesn't appear that he even has a concept on what truth is.....he displays serious psychological issues.....and the man who brought the word 'fake' into the mainstream of America is the biggest fake of them all.
           Donald Trump has dragged most of us down into his own personal swamp. We who do not just bow down are the same people that we always were.....conservatives opposed to the worthless establishment. We have stayed the same....we haven't budged.....they have changed as they morphed into the New Trump Party. They now even utilize the same tactics from the Democrat side that we had identified and criticized for years....even decades.
         Returning to Ann Coulter....She is one of the few today in conservative media that is not a saffron robe clad follower chanting Trump...Trump...Trump! The following are some excerpts from an August 2016 post about Ann and her new at the time book In Trump We Trust:

From...In Whom Do We Trust:

           "No matter what issues have endeared Donald Trump to Americans over the course of this election, and there have been many, Coulter brings them back in a very concise fashion that refreshes the reader, if the reader even needs refreshed, on why they went hog-wild on Donald Trump to begin with. It's the type of book that makes you want to take notes, and reread them on a daily basis in preparation for conversation with liberals."

        "There, I've written a lot of nice things about Ann Coulter's In Trump We Trust. As election cycle political books go it is powerful, but I didn't purchase this book to be reminded of why so many people liked what they were hearing from Donald Trump. I drove for 45 minutes to buy it and sat right down with a cup of HerbaGreen tea to read through it because I had to know if Ann Coulter had any idea how those four words of the title might resonate with anyone who knows the history and meaning of the phrase In God We Trust!

         "The closest the author came to even touching on the concept of God came in three pages under the heading of Evangelical Voters? Simple! Just Ask President Huckabee. There are not many issues that Ann Coulter is clueless on but this is one of them. She is so conservative-Tea Party hip, so devastatingly today, and so passionately polemic, in this book anyway, that she is deaf to God's thunderous warnings to a nation that seeks redemption from anyone but Him!"

         "This title....In Trump We Trust....may have been given the author just as were the spoken words given to Balaam's donkey in the Old Testament Book of Numbers....or as the sudden summoning prowess to the Witch of Endor....for placing our trust in ourselves while forsaking the God of our beginnings and our multitudinous blessings is what brought us to where we are today."
  
        "We will have to wait and see if this (four word) paraphrasing becomes the single most alarming message in Ann Coulter's newest book. Will Christians see the ominous unintended inference? Will Pastors weep from the pulpits over what we have come to place our trust in? Will God have mercy upon us as He did with the repentant Ninevites upon the arrival of a foul-smelling, muck-stained, wide-eyed prophet?"

Postscript: Well....Christians did not see the "ominous unintended inference"....nor did pastors weep....they don't weep anymore. As for mercy from God upon America....step back and look around at our nation. God took home within a few months of each other our two greatest lights....Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul....there goes our warnings....just as He took home Great Britain's two greatest lights....Charles Haddon Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle....just before the end of the 19th century.
       

DISPATCHES

GOOD COP...BAD COP: Friends....Christian brothers and sisters......President Trump and the Republican elites are playing a form of 'Good Cop...Bad Cop' on you. Good Cop (Trump) stabs us in the back for the umpteenth time....Bad Cop (Ryan, McConnell et al) gets the blame....then they both yuk it up together over how easy we are to fool.  Have you not noticed how the headlines of last week have faded in favor of a television personality...(is he a television personality....Jussie Smollett.....I never heard the name before....haven't the slightest idea how to pronounce it.)....but it took over from Virginia politics to keep you from stumbling across who Donald Trump really is. Folks...they just need you for another six months or so....until Donald Trump is guaranteed his second nomination....then as President Trump himself might say....."It's off to the races."
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VENEZUELA AND IRAN....Do I believe that Donald Trump has real concern for the people of either Venezuela or Iran? No I don't. What is consistent with his history is that this is 'fake compassion.' I do not know that he is even capable of compassion beyond fleeting sentiments....but you would have to read to see who he is.....and of course we have been taught by our leaders that all news is fake news.
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THREE FACTORS will weigh the most heavily in the peace proposal that is being worked on to bring "peace and security" to the Middle East....(1) the wisdom of Jared Kushner.....(2) the goodwill of 'all' the signatories.....and (3) the transparency and truthfulness of Donald J. Trump.... I feel that I need to repeat these that the ominousness of it might sink in....(1) the....wisdom....of Jared Kushner.....(2) the....goodwill....of 'all' the signatories.....and (3) the....transparency and truthfulness....of Donald J. Trump.
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AND WE DID NOT SPEAK OUT: It has only been two years so far of this gut-wrenching contorted confusion and chaos as Donald Trump stumbles along on his own kicking cans down the street. Imagine six more years of this! Imagine six more years of Ivanka and Jared. We and we alone will be responsible for the ascendance of Ivanka and Jared on the world's stage should it happen....for we said nothing! The day after President Trump would win reelection....he would have absolutely no need of us at all.
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PRESIDENT TRUMP'S RALLY SONG....SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: This from the morning of the El Paso rally: "The words that I want to say are...'Lord have mercy upon us for nominating Donald Trump to carry our banner.'.....but I know that this (nomination) was judgment from God....giving us exactly what we wanted.....instead of what we needed. The conservative movement has collapsed....and the evangelicals have fallen for a false prophet.....the words that actually came out were...."Open our eyes Lord....to our own culpability in our distresses....and begin with this political rally tonight....show us who this man is.....if it be Thy will....and only if it brings glory to Thy name"."

Update from a few minutes into that rally:  It's part of the musical set that Donald Trump had approved to be played at his rallies.....but I myself had never actually heard it played at a rally....until a few minutes ago....the Rolling Stones......Sympathy For The Devil. Surely there were many Christians in that arena. I tried to see if there was a reaction from the crowd but I'm watching the back of their heads. I did sense a sudden sobriety....maybe even a little shock....or maybe I imagined it. 

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THE MUELLER PROBE IS LEGITIMATE: We have been led to believe that the only thing involved in the Mueller probe is whether Donald Trump....through espionage in the form of collusion....sold our country out to get election help from Russia. This is a straw man argument that is ridiculous and very easy to attack....but what is not ridiculous is that Donald Trump has had dealings with Russians for decades....which usually means with the Russian government....and this is a man famous for 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' dealings. It is legitimate to question whether in his naivety that Donald Trump used this method of his....to in his eyes....supposedly benefit both nations.

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WORDS OF A FALSE PROPHET: Here are some thoughts for Christians on some of the President's words from the State Of The Union.

"The majesty of America's mission"...Majesty...killing our pre-born...and keeping the others from God?

"In the 20th century America saved freedom"......God alone determines the fate of nations.

"Extraordinary promise of America's future"....God's Word implies something different.

"Tonight I ask you to choose greatness"....Choose you this day whom you will serve..Josh. 24:15

"The state of our union is sound"...."My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit" Psalm 51

"Our most thrilling achievements are ahead"...."For when they say 'peace and safety..." 1 Thess.

"This is the time to set our sights on the brightest star"....."Seek the LORD and His righteousness"

"This is the time to re-ignite the American imagination"..."Return to Me...and I will return to you"

"But we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution"....this from a man who prides himself and has written extensively on his determination to always seek revenge and retribution!
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MIRROR IMAGE: Just the image alone of Hilary Clinton would incense us. Remember that. Today the image alone of Donald Trump incenses the Left. Yet in self-righteous anger we act as if this is something new to American politics. They gloried in Hilary's arrogance and rhetoric....and ignored her subsequent actions. Today we glory in President Trump's arrogance and rhetoric....and ignore his subsequent actions. They're the bad guys....we're the good guys....so we can do what we want....see things any way we want. The Left is godless....true....not many have written more about than I have in these posts....but that does not make us blameless! We cannot expect God to hear our pleas if we do not start with our own rebellion.
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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: We had gone roughly 180 years without our Constitution giving specifics on what to do when a president is incapable of performing his/her duties....even though a number of instances had already been handled adequately. So the 25th Amendment was ratified in 1967 but the issue still remained ambiguous on certain types of emergencies. Ultimately the Vice President and the President's cabinet are to make that decision if necessary....so far so good....but let's suppose here that someone like a radical Leftist becomes president....and let's say that he/she gives an executive order that all of our nuclear weapons are to be dismantled.....as a show of good faith to our enemy. OK....a normal administration would be able to put a temporary stop to this through the 25th Amendment....but a radical Leftist president such as we have a number of such candidates running for the office right now would most likely have a cabinet consisting of Mickey and Minnie Mouse....Goofy....Pluto....Donald Duck....Huey, Dewey and Louie....Bluto....and Mr. Magoo. Well chances are they would not do anything. On the positive side....it is highly unlikely that the Joint Chiefs of Staff would be occupied by Disney and comic characters. So you can see what the result would have to be. There has always been....and will always be the possibility of a president essentially losing his/her mind....or just giving away all of our defenses....which would be the same thing. The answer to this problem is not as difficult as it might seem. The United States will ultimately either go on or self destruct in direct correlation to the make-up of its people. If that people are God-fearing they will not put themselves in the situation such as the above. If they are in total rebellion to God....which we are close to right now....then the above situation would be a possibility. So it is not a general election itself that will determine anything...but rather the character of those who vote in that election. Therefore our pulpits will have more say in America's future than our media....which unfortunately at the present time....is no consolation. The New Trump Party will say that this is why we must reelect President Trump. If he gets the nomination....yes....probably....but they will use this in an attempt to secure his second nomination.
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THE GREAT LATINO REVIVAL...AND THE BUILDING OF A GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL WALL...God at times moves in marvelous and wondrous ways through the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ within peoples and within nations such as in America in the early 18th century....and Wales....and Scotland.....and Pyongyang in the early 20th century....yes Pyongyang! And there have been many more. Should His Spirit move mightily over the Latino population in America in such a way....you would see a wall built by both parties so fast it would make your head spin. May God do this should it be His will. May His Spirit move upon all of our hearts in ways that bring Him glory!
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FRIENDS....these are strong opinions on who Donald Trump really is. You are going to hear only the New Trump Party version from most of our formerly dependable news sources. If you agree that we have a major problem.....please help me and spread these posts around.

God Has Given Us President Trump...And President Obama...And All The Others

           We have bought into some kind of lie or egregious extrapolation in the church. Donald Trump in our eyes has either become another Cyrus or Jehu....so he can do literally whatever he wants and we just brush it off with...."God sometimes uses imperfect people." Friends....God always uses imperfect people.....there are no people other than imperfect people....but it makes no sense that God would have Donald Trump influence the evangelical base of a political party....which President Trump is doing right now. He is vicious with his enemies while friends can become enemies in a moment. He has showed no signs of any wisdom at all....in fact the opposite. He makes decisions based on the perceived political impact....which is not wisdom. He stirs and stirs and stirs....in US politics and around the world. This is not wisdom.
            We conservatives have had to lay aside one cause after another in order to defend this man. We somehow have come to believe that Donald Trump is pro-life and pro-family. It's all part of the plan. He has built a wall alright....around the swamp.....none get out. Folks...when he tells us that he likes the Chinese Communist dictator....or when he jokes that he and the North Korean Communist dictator fell in love....yes it's part of his game-plan....but it does something else....it shows that he is void of any compassion or ethical standards!
           God has certainly given us Donald Trump as our president....just as He gave us Barack Obama and all the others over history. Israel is right smack in the middle of all this but we don't know God's plans....other than that they are perfect. What we have to do is remain vigilant....which we are failing terribly at right now.
           President Trump is tripping over faith advisers....a mixture of the horrible along with a few good....and I don't think that at 72 years he even has a clue as to what the gospel is about or anything about God at all. This is a man....more than anyone that I've ever seen in government....or even read about....who is totally one-dimensional.....Donald Trump hovers in his own mind over everything in this universe.
           We have defended criminals.....laughed at the most egregious personal attacks imaginable....and utterly failed to hold him to account on lying and exaggerations and personal vendettas. He has led conservative talk radio astray along with much of evangelicalism. It has been two years of gut-wrenching daily headlines.....not all but much of which he has brought on himself.
           Let him leave after four years....and hopefully live peacefully in admiration for at least as having become the 45th President of the United States....and with all the honors due that....but this has to be brought up now for this new Trump Party will do anything and everything that it can to stifle debate and quickly make a second nomination a fait accompli.
          Is Donald Trump Cyrus? Why...because he moved Israel's capital? God doesn't deal in worldly capitals. Is he Jehu....(Folks...evangelicals know what I mean in referencing this biblical personage)....if he is we might want to look more into who Jehu was. May of 1948 was a seminal moment in the history of the world....as was June of 1967. Donald Trump wants a major accomplishment in the Middle East....he put Jared in charge of it....that alone should be frightening....the President hasn't a clue also as to why they are a nation unto themselves right now. We evangelicals seem to think that we know everything about who Israel is today....but we don't even know who America really is.

The Pilgrim's Progress Will Live On Till The Lord Comes Back

Folks....It has been my contention over the ten plus years of these posts that the church is mired in modernism in the form of a contemporary evangelicalism that though often faithful to the creeds lacks  a certain wisdom and discernment that the 'old paths' provided. There is no way that anyone can understand what I mean without knowing something of what the past was like. I'm not pointing to a golden age....there was no golden age....but there were far better times in the church than what we have morphed into today. If you would at least want to explore more of what I'm trying to say then there are many resources of which I'll mention but one.....ligonier.org.....or refnet.fm....which is basically the same thing. I'm not speaking here to the Christian that knows it all....they are much too smart for me.....I try to reach in these posts those who need a helping hand and are not to proud to admit it. Today.....Saturday February 23....would be a double blessing along these lines.....for ligonier.org is near the end of a series on John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....which the post below explains a little bit:

          The book begins with the author's 'apology'....or as we would call it today....his 'introduction'....but the story begins with this....."As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a den; and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry; saying, "What shall I do?" Thus essentially begins the second most sold book in the English language....first published in 1678....John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
           Charles Haddon Spurgeon....(to those who may not be familiar with him, he was the great 19th century preacher out of London.....known and respected today in just about all Christian churches).....Spurgeon wrote that he had read The Pilgrim's Progress 100 times....which would be at least twice a year if they were spaced out evenly over his life....but my guess is that many years he read it three or four times."
            The book is an allegory. One character's name was Faithful....another was Pliable.....the main character was Christian. I may have read the book a dozen times.....and listened to it on tape an equal number of times.....I'm just guessing here. Our son had the book indelibly etched in his mind as we as a family would listen to it on the long drive to church on Lord's Days. The above words were the original but there are numerous modern translations. If we talk....Vanity Fair.....or....the Celestial City....or if we describe in detail the Christian's armor from Ephesians....we are probably....maybe even unwittingly....either referring back to Bunyan's book or relating some of Bunyan's original thoughts. The book has been referenced throughout history in many ways since it was written....in literature....from Mark Twain to E. E. Cummings....and from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Louis May Alcott....and from Charlotte Bronte to John Steinbeck....I have to stop here for I can go on and on. One last thing....British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery.....Monty....carried the Bible and a copy of The Pilgrim's Progress with him wherever he went.
           It's a wonderful book.....and what a blessing for the church....and the world.....to be given it. Enough of that.....why am I bringing this up? Ligonier Ministries....the ministry of R. C. Sproul....who had gone on to be with his Lord a year ago....has been broadcasting.....on Saturdays....a teaching series on The Pilgrim's Progress....by British....what else....pastor and theologian Derek Thomas. The Pilgrim's Progress is divided into Part One and Part Two. Ligonier just completed Part One and this Saturday will continue on into Part Two. If you give this a try....you will love it. Just type in ligonier.org on Saturday and it will be right in front of you. They are two distinct stories so you can jump in right here. You may even want to Google John Bunyan and The Pilgrim's Progress for some historical context.

Andrew McCabe's....'The Threat'

         Years would pass sometimes until we could read from a new book on what went on in Watergate and Nixon's eventual resignation. (yes I go back that far) The difference today is that new books are being published almost every other week....two by Cliff Sims and Chris Christie within the last few weeks.....and Andrew McCabe's today......The Threat....How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.
         Team of Vipers by Sims is an honest inside look into the Trump White House.....and Christie's Let Me Finish is necessary in understanding Donald Trump's election victory. McCabe's book is something else altogether. You simply have to read this side of the story to be honest with yourself.
         The author takes us from his days as an intern in the Justice Department when he first caught the bug to be an FBI agent....to his learning through the news that he was fired....twenty-six hours before his planned retirement; but to begin the book he utilizes an imaginative tool to tell the reader about himself. Somewhere today in the bowels of the FBI there would be his original application and a background check....an FD-302. He uses the concise summary method of this ubiquitous FBI report on investigations....to describe to the reader what this his own FD-302 probably read like....thus telling us about his life and family at the time. We then see him put the time in as he worked his way up the ladder in the Bureau. McCabe....a lifelong Republican....who cut his teeth in the FBI on Russian corruption....seemed like the average all-American boy....that is until Donald Trump eventually comes along....which unfortunately is the same picture that I have seen in a number of other people involved in the Trump administration.
         The biggest problem with the book is that the author does what we do with President Trump....we avoid the difficult stuff. (if it furthers our agenda....we bring it out....but if it hinders that agenda....we act like it doesn't even exist) McCabe writes considerably about Hilary Clinton's email scandal.....and he does say that he recommended a special prosecutor for it.....but here's a man who must have great investigative skills....but who hardly used those skills when evaluating Hilary Clinton. Benghazi was mentioned once....once! You would think that a man who is so dedicated to defending Americans would have addressed this issue with anger....but he didn't.
         Andrew McCabe's wife ran for the Virginia state senate....as a Democrat....and lost.....wherein President Trumped sent out one of his famous tweet attacks....but why....why would a married couple....one who was near the top of the FBI.....and the other a prominent pediatrician....why would they want to enter Virginia politics? He says that he sought legal and ethical advice beforehand on her running....and I guess that he did.....but he should have had the sense to veto this political race without having to seek advice....which turned out to be bad advice....and then for her campaign to accept an enormous amount of money from Clinton people? No...Andrew McCabe made mistakes that brought a lot of his problems upon himself.
         This investigation was tainted. McCabe naturally doesn't address this....but in what he does address....the genuine cause for concern on President Trump....and the need at least for an investigation on Russian ties....he succeeds.
         The reader does learn a lot about the FBI in the book....and the other side in the Russian investigation controversy is presented....but what the conservative needs to read....(and I've read the same thing in many other books)....is that Donald Trump has some significant problems....significant problems....somewhere....that makes him say some of the things that he says....and do some of the things that he does.

Quote from page 136...."Then the president talked about Venezuela. That's the country we should be going to war with, he said. They have all that oil and they're right on our back door."
     

FOUR YEARS ONLY

           The pundits are labeling last night's rally as the beginning of the 2020 campaign. Folks....that campaign is way down the list as far as problems that face us today. We are now starting to openly foment revolutions in other countries.....and promising that we will be right there with them. We have a $22 trillion debt and a president who said..."Yeah but I won't be here" when presented with a hockey stick graph on disaster.....and we have not even remotely humbled ourselves before God who would be our only real strength....but nonetheless we have to prepare for an election cycle.
           This is what we owe Donald Trump: As he scammed us in the primaries and the general election.....he also denied Hillary Clinton the Oval Office. That's it. The economy would have improved drastically under any of the other primary contenders.....admittedly not quite as much....but the lower tax burden and less regulations would have had similar positive results. We would have had two conservative Supreme Court justices....maybe even better ones. The military would have been freed to protect themselves.
            What we certainly would not have had is the gut-wrenching two years of tweets and schemes and firings and leaks and lies. We would not have had a Mueller investigation or impeachment threats. We would not have had Ivanka and Jared! Whatever would have been done on a wall...(this by a certain few of the primary candidates)....would now at least be two years in progress.
            Six years of this nonsense is too much to ask. Rush and other radio talk show hosts consistently talk as if a nomination for a second term is already a done deal.....as if we don't even exist....but Rush should know this....President Trump would have to go through us on his way to a second nomination. If we get that candidate....(and that is the only variable here)....that is willing to take on the President and his radio generals....then that challenger will have a small army waiting for him/her....and President Trump will not only be talking on a rally stage....he will be on a debate stage....and we have a truck load of information on what he has and hasn't done that can be unloaded every day....piece by piece.....over an entire campaign. He will have to stand there and listen.....and it won't work out well for him. Rush and Sean and Mark can twist this all they want....but the fact remains....we would have our say. They can ignore us...but they cannot just walk through us as if we do not exist.
            

I Regret To Inform You

        If these were normal times....in other words if these were any times before the last decade of the past millennium....I think that I would just ignore most of the Trump administration....as if it were a bad television reality show that was taking the country by storm....where everyone was watching it....where some loved it and some hated it so much that they have to watch it....but these are anything but normal times.
        Nuclear weapons were one thing in the hands of John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev.....they are something altogether different in the hands of the radicals and Mullahs and Kim Jong-un....and whoever they may give them to. The American people are no longer the informed citizenry and force that they once were....for we have no press as we once had. Progressive education....with God taken out....attempts only one thing today.....produce worker ants to feed the queen. The church is off looking for its best life ever....or its purpose-driven new and improved Christian faith.
         We cannot ignore what is happening. Half of America thought they were signing up for a time share in Tahiti but instead found themselves in a barracks in Bolshevik boot camp. The other half....us....are worshiping golden idols and following false prophets.
         We have lost discernment on what we need most from the President of the United States. It's not economic prosperity or even national defense....as important as they are....it is something that only God can give....wisdom. Whatever the strengths are that Donald Trump has....his greatest weakness is that he has no wisdom. It's been 72 years now folks with no sign of humility or wisdom in him. Therefore unless God intervenes....there will be no wisdom in dealing with China or North Korea or Russia or Iran or Israel. There will be no wisdom in dealing with a $22 trillion dollar national debt....and there will be no wisdom in motivating or educating or leading a people.
        Any other man in Donald Trump's position would say something like....."I achieved a lot in my life.....built a financial empire.....rose to the top in television and gave my story to authors who wrote best-selling books....and I achieved what only forty-three other men in the entire history of our country achieved.....I became President of the United States.....and now the leader of the free world." They can't take that away from him even if he has impeachment proceedings against him.....and even if he is impeached......barring unforeseen information from the Mueller report....history would recognize....if there is to be a future history....that it took a blind and destructive....once proud....but totally and utterly ethically collapsed Democrat Party to do that.
        Can you see Donald John Trump looking at his life like that with humility? He needs constant adulation....is constantly defending himself....and attacking everyone and anyone who has the audacity to oppose the golden image he is building of himself. That's why this is so important folks.....why it can't be ignored as it once might have been....and why we're not just talking about recessions or stock market collapses here. We're facing disintegration! We are facing disintegration of the government that holds everything in your life and my life together.....water....sewerage....roads.....food stuffs....law and order....need I go on. I regret to inform you....we had better get serious....for this is the real deal!
         Hopefully President Trump will retire from office after four years....and live a peaceable life after that. Maybe someday he might see himself as just a man....be thankful for his achievements.....and regret his personal failures. He would be seen as the President that stopped Hillary Clinton....the Charles Martel of the 21st century....that's something right there! But I suspect that he wants that statue of the image completed....of the 21st century's Nebuchadnezzar.
          A country like the United States doesn't collapse without a whole lot of people taking part in the collapse. May God have mercy upon us and give us wisdom....for we worked hard....and none harder than me....to brick by brick....over decades....take our defenses down....and lay ourselves open to attack from those who are today filling up at least half of the Congress....and our news broadcasts....with drivel that our Founding Fathers would not believe could possibly come from educated individuals.
         

Mirror....Mirror....On The Wall

The following post is from May of 2017 and I'm bringing back as my Lord's Day post:

        I've always been a fan of Robert Redford and his films. I tried acting in college....well sort of....I took an acting class at Pitt. I had a scene to work on....not a part....a scene. I was Paul Bratter from Barefoot In The Park. I stood on a stool and talked to the a hole in the skylight. I coulda been a contender but the second half of the class was improvisation. I utterly failed wriggling around on the floor as a snake and gave up acting. Well anyway Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are together in a movie once again. They play two aging people who find each other and get intimate. That's all I know about it. I doubt very much that I'll see it at the theater. (and I never did)
        I bring this topic up because Robert Redford seemingly has had it all in his life. His good looks dominated the silver screen in the 1970s. He's well respected in the profession and I'm sure he's rich. I used to dream about being a movie star as a teen. I had it all.....a great imagination.....terrific daydreaming skills....and a magic mirror that showed me what wasn't there.....but I wouldn't trade one day of my life for one day of Mr. Redford's. I wouldn't take the chance that God would stick me there where I would therefore never see the majestic glory and beauty of Jesus Christ and fall before Him in humble praise and adoration. I got food on the table and money in the bank in case the truck's transmission explodes....a wonderful wife and family.....and 67 years of memories.....the bad ones washed in the fountain of grace so as to instruct but not terrify.....and the good ones to recall again and again and again as thank offerings to a merciful and loving Savior who never demanded a screen test ....for He would direct any and all who came to Him!
         As I type, Frank Sinatra's voice is softly heard in the background on Sirius/XM. The song is My Way. Some of those lyrics are these..."I've lived a life that's full...I've traveled each and every highway...but more, much more than this....I did it my way." Well I did it my way for a long time....those are the bad memories. Thank you Lord that I failed in so many of my goals....for the record will show that truly we are to...."Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many."

Jonah And Nahum

          There was a day in America when Billy Graham crusades were frequent on the television.....and Christian bookstores were everywhere....where a person could just be walking the shopping center.....stop in out of curiosity....just as I did in 1982....and wind up thanking God three decades later that that store existed. Our supply lines have been cut today. Good luck finding something in the Christian section of Barnes & Noble....and there is less chance of hearing the glories of Christ and His cross in your (weakly) sermon.
          Our moorings have come loose and we are adrift in this nation. By using two small mirrors and a movable armature, seafarers of old could determine the angle between the horizon and a celestial object and therefore their latitude. The device was called a 'sextant.' We no longer look to heaven as the horizon or have the Bible to anchor our position. We today navigate 'hidden reefs' as we fix upon 'wandering stars' for our bearings 

The following is from August of 2014:

          In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus God gave the the people of Israel specific instructions to prepare for a very special event. He was going to come down to His people at Mount Sinai and He would give Moses the Ten Commandments. In the fourth chapter of Amos God told them once again to prepare. He told them very clearly, through Amos, that He had given them warning after warning in the form of punishments and concluded each time with "Yet you have not returned to me." Then came His ominous proclamation "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
         In the book of Jonah, as we all know, God, through Jonah, gave Nineveh forty days to repent. The king and all the people did just that. Over a century later God sent another prophet to Nineveh, Nahum. There was no warning this time, only a proclamation of impending judgement.
         A war is raging in America. You are in the midst of it. Can you not feel the tremors of the battle or hear the thunder of the canon fire? I wrote the following words in a previous post, for much of America despises God and cringes at the mention of His name or any legislation or public policy that even acknowledges His very being: Terror, thy name is Jesus and thy weapon is truth. We will make laws to protect us from you. We will isolate those whom you send to us. We will ban your book. You have disquieted us, your words upset us. We do not recognize your holiness. You are not our king. We will not pay you homage. You are not our God for there is no God. We were your slaves but now we are free. If you desire to live here, you will do our bidding.

          'Prepare to meet your God, O America' would go in one ear and out the other to many in America. For the rest... Lord, send us Jonahs if it be thy will, and give us strength if your message is that of Nahum!

"No No...They Can't Take That Away From Me."

The following post is from this past September:

There's an old old George Gershwin song originally sung by Fred Astaire in one of his movies....and later recorded by Frank Sinatra and Pat Boone and others. Some of the lyrics go like this...."The way you wear your hat....the way you sip your tea....the memory of all that....no no....they can't take that away from me."

          Well they can't take away the memory of what happened at Valley Forge....or Gettysburg....or Guadalcanal.....or the I Drang Valley......or Fallujah....or anywhere that our military did what is has always done....that being upholding the honor of the flag they took with them. They try.....oh do they try. They attack our traditions.....our families.....our government....our constitution.....our educational system.....our political system....our courts....our free press....even our faith.....particularly our faith. Who are 'they?' They're communists.....some are just 'fellow travelers' with communists.....many are just dupes of the communists. They might have high cheekbones and bushy eyebrows or rounder faces or a Latin complexion....or they may look like the all-American boy. They may be young or old....smart or stupid...male or female.
           They made headway through espionage and playing upon the imperfections of a democratic capitalist society. Today they control the thinking processes of nearly half of America....they want that memory....but they can't have it. Memories are etched into the human mind.....that's why they attacked education so thoroughly....to keep our memories from the younger generations.
           You have to hand it to them...their plans were nearly perfect......they know more about us than we know about ourselves.....but that's where their expertise ends.....they know about gods and religion and the power that it can have....but they know nothing about God.....and the omniscience and omnipotence that is His. They know that man has many weak areas....so they exploit those areas using miscreants and malcontents to do their pernicious bidding. They simply thought that if they take God out of the mind then the power will be gone.....which is true....but they were and are unaware that man does not seek God.....that God calls man.....and when He calls them particularly.....they come.
           So they have an advantage over us right now.....and they may indeed win the day......but neither they nor us nor anyone nor any entity will determine what happens to us.....either good or bad. No coup of a sitting president or 'make America great again' Madison Avenue campaign can have any effect without God permitting it for His purposes. Polls mean absolutely nothing....impeachments mean nothing.....capitals (Jerusalem) mean nothing.  Should God let us continue to dally with our own perceptions of autonomy then they will get that victory they've been working on for a century.....but should God's plan in these the most terrible of times be for us to return to Him.....then there is not a snowball's chance in Hades that all their well laid plans will not totally collapse let alone succeed.
           Written into the Christian faith is a paradox. Yes we have to turn to Him once again....but we could never do that in our own strength. What we can do is humble ourselves before Him....and trust in His will...trust in Him and not ourselves. How do I know this? Memory. I remember what I have read in His Word to us.
           The many sacrifices made by our brave military...so very often the ultimate sacrifice....could not possibly be forgotten by us who have remained vigilant. They can kneel on the football field all they want....bang their drum all they want....and sing The Internationale all they want....we still have a functioning mind....memory....the words written on pages in sixty-six books.....God who is faithful despite our forgetting that from time to time....and a returning King in power and glory!
           

Imagine A Second Term

          I would like you to imagine this folks....it's November 4th, 2020....and Donald Trump has been reelected for a second term. President Trump may or may not hold firm in this current shutdown. He has no passions on these promises that he made. He is a total fake....to use his own favorite word. He gives only when he absolutely has to....and sometimes not even then. So it's November 4th, 2020....imagine....just imagine what he would be like with no more reelection campaign to worry about....with no one to answer to. Talk radio hosts and conservatives could then criticize all they want....he wouldn't need them anymore. He is bad now in having to drag him to the table every time we want a promise kept....he would then be impossible! He's reckless now....but held in check....advisers might no longer be able to stop his whims. Imagine where Ivanka could wind up without conservative opposition. Over the past three years President Trump has made some outrageous one-time comments that he immediately backed off from.....and we all had a good laugh. Well...the laugh-time would be over as there would be nothing to stop him the next time around!

          A billionaire real estate developer in the process of building a worldwide brand....a self-promoting tabloid celebrity the likes of which we may never have seen....and a man whose political opinions have been all over the map with the exception of America accumulating great swaths of money in order to use it to make more great swaths of money.....this man surveyed the political landscape and positioned himself right in the middle of the paths of power....the conservative movement.....that was fighting for border security when he was fighting for open borders....they were fighting for decades....working and even praying to stop the hemorrhaging in America of freedoms and liberties....and even the right to worship as they please....and teach their children about Jesus Christ while proclaiming His name to a dying world.....as he was helping America sink further into triviality with his television show. This man took advantage of the burning desire for someone....anyone....to really call out Hillary Clinton....and the Republican Establishment. He just blurted out whatever they wanted to hear.....won the election....took office....and then promptly blew them all off.
           He has psychological issues from a megalomania grandiose opinion of himself....to a warped habit of brutally attacking even the physical appearances of people who have the audacity to oppose him....traits that should have long ago made us wonder if it's worth it supporting him. He has taken advantage of many tried and true psychologically manipulative tactics in building....not so much a base.....as a following totally dependent upon him....while alluring defenders of principle into the swamp of pure politics. His lying is so pervasive that no one on his side even challenges the accusations anymore.....but these same defenders can look at much of what the media says.....and somehow being offended....spew out the charge of....lying! You cannot condone Donald Trump and at the same time condemn others doing what he does. What you do is call them both out. Had we done this from the beginning President Trump might have settled down somewhat.
           He was not one of us but told us that he was. Ill-prepared to even be in Congress....not even prepared or knowledgeable enough to form a transition team.....he broke promises on draining the swamp....from day one....while we did little more than whimper! His tactics may keep the 'base' motivated but they also inspire extreme opposition on the other side....while setting off those who are unstable to begin with. We cannot seek four more years added to the two years that remain. He threatens long-time allies....bullies everyone....and flies by the seat of his pants on issues of the ultimate importance such as North Korea.
            Right now we essentially have a government by talk radio....and Ann Coulter....along with a few advisers who try to keep the president from making monumental mistakes on an impetuous whim of his that comes about when he gets mad....which is often. Part of talk radio attempts to hold the President to account on major promises....while another part of it encourages him to do anything he wants....thus giving him complete assurance that they will find an excuse for it.
           We have a reckoning ahead of us....and probably a winnowing....but Jesus will be with us throughout it. By 'winnowing' I mean that those who know Christ....and are known by Christ....will wind up together....maybe not physically....but in spirit....living and breathing as one....in America and Europe and everywhere. This is part of our hope. We may differ on politics....and even much non-essential doctrine....but we are one....and that will come out someday.

"Are You For Us Or For Our Adversaries?"

Preface: For the next nine hours....up till midnight....ligonier.org has an R C Sproul sermon up that is very pertinent to today's culture and politics! Please try to listen to this.

The following is from this past February of last year:

             Breitbart is right now posting an article of an interview with a Harvard professor, and the following is a quote from that professor concerning his book....

            "It's not against religion. It is certainly against the belief that God interferes with the laws of the universe and that by praying to him we can make the world better. I think that is a dangerous belief because it is not true. If we want to make the world better, we have to figure out how to do it ourselves. If we want to cure disease, we have to come up with antibiotics and vaccines and not prayer. If we want to stave off global warming, we can't assume God won't let bad things happen......if you're counting on God to make the world a better place you are probably going to make the world a worse place because he is not listening and we saw that yesterday (in Florida)."

             I'm not going to answer this worn-out diatribe against God. Every Christian reading this knows where this man made his mistakes. What I propose to do is warn again of the anti-Christian worldview that is increasingly appearing many places in America and the world today. Folks, this worldview will temper its actions only until it is fully in power....history shows this....then there will be no more need for tolerance. We should know what is ahead!

            Let me segue a little bit here and tell you about Michael Horton. It's been well over twenty years now since I happened to come across a radio program on our local Christian radio station. It was and is still called the White Horse Inn. As the story goes....around 500 years ago men gathered in an inn in Cambridge, England and talked....(I spent a lot of time in college bars and could we ever talk)....and they debated the issues of the day coming out of the Reformation on the continent. So Horton and a few others started a Christian call-in radio show by that same name. The original White Horse Inn is long gone but while in England I did look for and find a plaque at Cambridge designating where the inn once stood. Dr. Michael Horton has written many books....and I recommend every one of them....for he is the closest thing to an heir to R. C. Sproul that we have.

            Anyway, I was listening to an older sermon of his from 2015 titled 'Commander In Chief.' As you certainly recall from Scripture....(Joshua 5)....Joshua was approached by an angel who had his sword drawn. He then asked...."Are you for us or for our adversaries?" The answer should be heeded by all of us today....."No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." Joshua then "fell on his face to the earth" and asked what was required of him. I'm listening to Michael Horton's words and what is going through my mind is the question often implied today....."are you for us (Republicans) or for our adversaries (the Democrats)? The answer would be the same today should an angel with his sword drawn stand before us. That question....inverted many times over the years....and as Horton reminds us as far back as with Abraham Lincoln....is not whether God is for or against America....but whether we are for or against God....and the answer to that today is....we are against God!    

              Joshua was then informed that his adversaries would be given over to God's people coming out of the wilderness. The problem concerning us is that no angel has informed us of this.....on the contrary......many Old Testament prophets speak to us today in that we are to be given into the hands of our enemies! Yet perhaps.....if we turn back to God....He will have mercy upon us. 

              The annual CPAC ....(the Conservative Political Action Conference)....is coming up this week. (about 2 1/5 weeks from this posting) President Trump and Vice President Pence will be speaking there as well as quite a number of his cabinet heads. Many conservatives assume that God....should He truly exist.... is naturally with them....so there are no funds or time spent necessary here. We couldn't be further from the truth.  I suspect that there may be a few speakers at this gathering who actually tell the conference attendees that we as a nation have forgotten and even forsaken God.....but they will most likely be drowned out by another speaker and shouts of USA...USA...USA.         

       

whitehorseinn.org

you might also Google....Michael Horton sermons at SermonAudio.com
and also....R C Sproul's last sermon....or ligonier.org....or refnet.fm...or whitehorseinn.org.