O What A Time Period It Was

Preface: There were 500 people in the hall tonight....without an empty seat. My wife and I traveled about an hour and a half for a dinner and Southern Gospel show....the Booth Brothers. I was in a few conversations but basically just listening....for I didn't think that this was a time for politics....and a couple of the conversations were very pro-Trump. I would imagine that just about everyone present would have great disagreement with much of what I write in these posts....not only on Donald Trump but on evangelicalism....but you know what....I felt totally at home with 500 other people enjoying this music glorifying our Savior....for if you are born again....whether you use that term or not....then we are one. As a side note I would like to add this....my wife commented that we might be the youngest people there....and I'm seventy! That was probably a little exaggeration but I didn't see anyone who looked to be in their 50s. I'm concerned here because we hardly have any Christian bookstores anymore....(please consider reading a recent post titled The Most Beautiful Rusty Filmy Door Handles Ever)....and Billy Graham crusades are gone. When we went to Christian concerts in the 80s.....and we went to a lot of all kinds....all ages were present. It seems to me that our supply lines today....particularly with the young....have been cut....and the evangelicalism of thirty to forty years ago is all but gone.....and that wasn't a golden age to begin with. The new paradigm that we seem to be entering is disturbing in many areas....as we have taken on the thinking patterns of the culture....sound bite conversations....and talking point debate....and the image over the word....which is why I so often in these posts recommend listening to Charles Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermons on YouTube....to at least see what it was like at a better time. One last thing....a couple of times I was asked if I was enjoying the evening....I get this all the time....why (?)....that picture of me on my profile....that's my smile.

The following post is from 2018: 

           There's no specific day that I can remember when I came to faith in Jesus Christ.....but O what a time period it was! The gospel was everywhere. I was a coal-fired power plant operator and if I wasn't covered with coal dust then I was ankle deep in lime slurry. New Christians seemed to be everywhere. We had prayer meetings after working a midnight shift! Billy Graham crusades were on television. Christian bookstores were everywhere....and the books.....the books actually addressed the mind....they edified....they warned.
            Newsweek Magazine named 1976....'The Year of the Evangelical.' Our President said that he was 'born again.' Charles Colson....one of the Watergate conspirators....became born again. The 700 club was a force with which to be reckoned.  R.C. Sproul was introducing the church to the holiness of God which had a transforming effect on Bible study. Sound biblical ministries were everywhere on the radio. An astronaut (James Irwin) who walked on the moon could only see God's glory in the heavens....and one of the best and most fanatical basketball players ever to play the game....(Pete Maravich)....after coming to Christ....regretted that his life up until then had been more basketball than the Bible. Christians were actually reading and studying John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....I've read it a dozen or more times and listened to it on cassette an equal number of times....Charles Spurgeon read it 100 times in his day! David Wilkerson preached the glory of Christ like George Whitefield. Christian music was simple yet profound. A wonderful and humble man was our President.  Nightline type of television shows would choose Jerry Falwell to interview....and he would keep his head up....smile confidently....look straight into the camera....and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! (Today they choose pastors who proclaim Donald Trump!)
          I remember that time period.....and I came in late....I remember it as Jews must have remembered their temple......and I often feel like weeping at what has become of America since those wonderful days. No longer are there Christian bookstores in just about every community....no more Billy Graham crusades.....no more R. C. Sproul......Bunyan's book is never read....but we're really not aware of any of this....and when you're not aware of something.....you don't know what you are missing.
          How had all this started? Well I don't know....but I know this....God started it....and if it happens again....then it would be He that starts it again. I know what we need though. We need an unction in our pulpits.....tears if necessary.....we need to dust off our grandparent's books if they are still stored away somewhere....but there is one thing that we must understand....politics cannot save us! If we could only see the mist from the falls that are just ahead....and hear the roar of the water that will soon crush us....then we might look to He whom is our only hope....and call out to Him whom we have so often presumed upon....."Have mercy on us Lord.....for thy name alone....and for thy glory alone!"

What Hath Washington To Do With Heaven

            I need to address this topic once again because it is brought up by evangelicals in most of the conversations that I have with them. Their reasoning goes no further than this....."If we don't vote for Donald Trump then one of those Democrats will be in the White House!" Has not God been our protector? Does not His Word say...."Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts."? What does Washington have to do with heaven?
            We have gone to Egypt for help....and forsaken trust in God....who has made known....to anyone who has ears to hear....for multiple decades now....that we are to return to Him or face His judgment. When calamity strikes....which God has promised to a nation like us....in spite of the 'winning winning winning' that President Trump promises....God will look to us and say....Where are your gods who you chose for protection instead of me? To unconditionally support Donald Trump....without so much as examining the mountain of evidence against him....is not returning to God....it is rejecting God!
             I have to add this....for people are urged today to come into the faith without being told the cost of discipleship....consider Demetrius the silversmith....for when Christianity threatens those who make money selling idols....Donald Trump being a chief profiteer....those whose profits are threatened will strike out against Christians. Ponder this for a moment....for it may be unpleasant....but it's necessary in order to be prepared....if discerning Christians come to see Donald Trump for who he really is....and that will only happen if God wills it....and they withdraw their support....and Trump's second term is in jeopardy....there will be immediate retribution.
            Supporting Donald Trump is the easy path. Doing what is right is the hard path. What is surprising about this? We do know that the world will hate us if we love Christ more than we love the world.....do we not? Do we think that persecution can only come from atheists? Look closer at Donald Trump....and those who over these three years have attached themselves to him....this new Trump establishment.....this power-mongering consortium that will purge you as soon as look at you. These people play for keeps. They will cut your legs out from under you and stomp on you if their silver trade is threatened.
             Evangelicals are not part of a vanguard in making America great again....as they may believe....but rather part of a Praetorian Guard....protecting a would-be emperor.
        

Dinner And A Movie

I'll begin this post with some reminders from multiple past posts.....

Let me pose this question.....you have thirty years in the FBI....you are fairly high up the ladder....you have primarily worked Eastern Europe and the Soviet/Russia problem.....you are more than familiar with Donald Trump's business in Russia and other Eastern European countries and with post-Soviet oligarchs and banks....many of which have ties to Vladimir Putin....and then Donald Trump becomes President....with a little help from Putin....and by winning an election the way he won the rights to build towers.....which was often by overestimating the pre-sales....promising to do some things and not to do other things of which if it came down to it....the promise really didn't matter....and letting others take a loss if the whole deal doesn't work out....while he walks away with a few million profit for using his name....you know all this....so are you going to bend some rules to make sure that he's not under someone's thumb? You say you wouldn't? Well let's make it Hillary and not Donald Trump....oh....that's different....that's being a patriot....the former gets fired.....but the letter gets a promotion.

Conservatives were fighting for these economic decisions (corporate tax rates, regulations etc.) for decades.....unfortunately we picked Trump to implement them.....who now claims personal credit....and in what is remarkable....we believe him.

Any of our conservative candidates would have given every single conservative judge that Trump has given. My point in this is that you do not have to be held in bondage to this man as if he alone gave us this.

These supposed great trade deals are just OK.

It's keeping the covenant with Israel....and not moving embassies that matters!

Trump has been knee-deep in Russia for decades. The Mueller probe was not a hoax! Let me paraphrase the President...."Read the report!"

Don Jr. Left the stage last night in New Hampshire to chants of...."46....46....46".....meanwhile Ivanka is being cheered everywhere....What Hath Talk Radio Wrought?

North Korea has been a disastrous reality show.

The military is not fully rebuilt...for the rebuilding process has only started....but that's just one of the hundreds of lies he tells. This man who thought it was cool getting out of the draft....should not be a hero to our military.

Mental health matters! Psychological disorders in a president matter....a pathological narcissism matters......a continuous and pure as the driven snow lying and embellishing matters......and a malignant revenge and destroyer mentality matters!       

Reports are that Hope Hicks will return to the White House....I thought she had escaped....I have some advice for her....if you come back.....do not utter a single word....and don't even partake in any conversations....that you will not be able to testify to in a future congressional hearing.....when 'executive privilege' may not apply.

             My wife made my favorite dinner.....Hawaiian Meatballs.....and we went to the movies....a very good movie referenced in the post Three Score And Ten that took my mind off of the issues of the day for a few hours anyway....for it was my birthday and the timing was perfect because it was also the State of the Union. I urged Pelosi in these posts for a few years now just not to invite the President to give the SOTU in person.....tell him to send over the report. I urged Paul Ryan when Barack Obama was in office to do the same thing....to stop this farce.
             I had studied what are referred to as 'Christian cults' over practically the entire decade of the 80s.....and this has all the markings of a cult.....a domineering charismatic leader....it's own scriptures in talk radio....a false Christ....in this case one that "graces" an America such as we are today....followers that have suspended all vigilance....and a very effective excommunication structure.....(Bolton etc.)
             I did see the clip where the President turned away from shaking Pelosi's hand. I read the transcript.....which was practically the same words as every rally....and I'm not happy to admit it but my fist went into the air when I saw that Pelosi tore up the speech....that is how horrendously and terribly divisive this man is....and this is what we on our side want for an additional four years! These Republicans in Congress panicked....just panicked. They cannot possibly actually like Donald Trump or even believe his hyperbolic praise of his own actions....but they are so afraid of losing their seat in Congress that they have talked themselves into letting him do anything that he wants....and there are Christians in this Congress who should know better....but they probably got sucked into this Donald Trump is Cyrus or Jehu nonsense.
            As I read the last words of the transcript on how everything is so wonderful with America....and that our best days are ahead....which Drudge right now has emblazoned as a heading for all America to see....I prayed as I always do when I hear this....in light of what God's Word says about rebellious nations such as we are today....and thought to myself that surely Christians will see the false prophet this time....I'm always hopeful on this....but I know in my heart that God has judged us....and the blindness may not be over yet.
       
           Lord open our eyes to this man.....let it be today if it be Thy will.....for we brought all of this upon ourselves....we fell for the lies....and turned from Thy promises.....and ignored Thy warnings. Do this Lord....for Thy Glory....in spite of what we deserve.

We Would Not Have Given The Time Of Day To Donald Trump In the 80s

Preface: I'm in our dining room typing.....looking like Albert Einstein on a bad hair day....sneezing with morning allergies....running through the Internet news.....and Googled up last night's National Anthem by Lauren Daigle.....the newest 'Christian' superstar I perceive. I stood up as I always do upon hearing our anthem....in anything but an inspiring sight....and listened to the fluctuating vocal chords.....trying to discern some of the hard to distinguish words....with the crowd cheering wildly....oblivious to their nation crumbling.....and our President on the sideline knowingly and intentionally....even diabolically stoking more animosity as he demands to be in the limelight....and although I stood....I was a bit of an emotional mess at what we have become. 

             Back in the early to mid-80s we Christians often used the analogy of a frog in the kettle where the frog could have jumped out of the soon to be boiling water but the temperature increased so slowly that by the time the frog knew it should escape.....it couldn't. Call it a revival if you want but I prefer just a movement of God. Looking back on it....it was a remarkable time....and actually it extended further back than the 80s. I can remember ten or so of us meeting for prayer after working a midnight shift. Dirty and tired....maybe a third of our crew choose prayer over getting in the car to go home and sleep....this for a time anyway. Christian bookstores where everywhere. Billy Graham crusades were on the UHF channel often. People were being born again all over the place....and we used that analogy because we knew America was in trouble.
            We would warn back then that the judgment of God would first come to the church. Little did we know the extent of that warning from 1 Peter 4:17....that it actually included us. There is no way that a discerning Christian of any maturity should not have given Donald Trump the old heave-ho years ago....during the primaries....but God blinded our eyes to him. So here we are....the God-ignoring progressives can see this man....while the God-fearing....former conservatives....cannot.
            We were in serious rebellion to God back then....but in retrospect not nearly in as much rebellion as we are in today....and we knew that God was going to judge us....whereas today we do not....as we are fully ensconced with the mad ravings of a genuine false prophet. It's hopeless....unless God has mercy upon us and returns some of our vision....and even then it would not be to restore America to Donald Trump's version of greatness....but for God to be with us through the maelstrom ahead.
             God has warned us in America very clearly for well upwards of forty years now. We
responded at first....then fell asleep....but these are newer generations that are not aware of the
miracles of the past....nor the warnings of the past....but have accepted as miracles that which are
not....from false teachers....and a false prophet in Donald Trump....and are once again the frog in the kettle.
            

Lord's Day Post

         
             It seems that the blind men healed in the synoptic gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke 'regained' their sight....for one at first saw men....as trees....walking....and Bartimaeus was made...."well"....but the man in the ninth chapter of the gospel of John....the gospel that focused on Christ's divinity....was blind from birth!
             Ponder this scenario with me for a few moments if you would....a man....or a woman....was raised in the church....faithfully attending throughout their youth....but maybe they go off to college and lose that faithful attendance....or not attend at all....time passes.....they get married and have a family....see the futility of life....and decide to return to God....once again faithfully attending church....maybe even becoming an officer or a Bible Study teacher....or maybe even a pastor?
            My own experience was this. I attended church fairly faithfully in my youth.....and even into my time in the army....and college....but I was still....as everyone is....blind from birth to Jesus Christ....and to my myself. Long story short....I was born again....and the earth shook....and the Bible came alive....and I had to tell people....but I never....even through valleys and taking the wrong path and times of despair and finding myself too at home in Vanity Fair....I never lost the knowledge of the immeasurable grace....and only temporarily lost the unimaginable joy....of knowing that I was once dead....but that I was now alive!
            Simply as an exercise in examining ourselves as we should do....I would ask you to consider....to double-check....that you may not have only regained the sight you once had....that you were only made 'well' once again....but with a sight that is not regeneration....or being born again....or leading to eternal life? Hopefully you'll just say....'Yes....I know what you mean....and I was born again"....but if not....if the born again part has always dismayed you....take heart....for it is right there before your blind eyes....for you will be given sight for the first time....if you but go to Him even now....for He turns no one away.

DISPATCHES

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

"I have the right to do a lot of things that people don't even know about." That was President Trump yesterday....along with this strange way of describing how he he views the Stafford Act...."I have it memorized practically as to the powers in that act..." Memorized? Both of these statements should show that there is something amiss in this man. I've got a little advantage in that I've read sixty-five books on him since it became obvious almost immediately after the inauguration that there was a big problem. There is nothing that he could say that I would automatically believe without verification. There is nothing he could do that I would not analyse in consideration of who he has been for the last almost six decades. If others choose to believe him....that is their prerogative....but I choose to keep history in mind....on how tyrants evolve....and how psychological disorders often show up in the profiles of such tyrants.

Note on the above: The President tweeted this past December after a large drop on the Dow Jones...."if the stock market goes up or down--I don't watch the stock market." His first tweet today was...."BIGGEST STOCK MARKET RISE IN HISTORY YESTERDAY!" This man has no truth grid in place whatsoever! None of his 'promises' are based on any kind of truth....but only political and personal imperatives. We've had evidence time and again over the past three years where he 'floats' an idea to see the initial reaction of conservatives....only to drop the idea....when he sees that could not swing it....but with a second term all bets would be off.

Note on today's press conference: President Trump was asked about his dispanding the National Security Council's pandemic response team in 2018. He began his answer by calling it a nasty question. Then denied knowing anything about it. Now everyone may not know that John Bolton disbanded the pandemic response team when he came on the National Security Council....but many know about it....I know about it. How could the President not know? My thoughts are that he just pretended to not know about it because it was unflattering. As far as calling the question nasty....we know that the President considers tough questions from the press to be attacks.....but is this what his cabinet and staff have to deal with on a daily basis? Would they therefore be afraid to ask difficult questions or make unflattering comments?

One of our arguments against getting too concerned about the Coronavirus is that the mortality rates are really only hard on the elderly. I heard that comment again only a few minutes ago on talk radio. Aren't we.....conservatives....supposed to be the ones concerned about all ages? Isn't the other side the ones who think that pre-born babies don't matter and the elderly aren't very useful anyway?

I knew the names of his first two wives....that he was a big real estate developer....that he owned casinos before they went under....that he almost lost it all in the 90s....that he owned golf courses and dabbled with beauty pageants....that he had best-selling books....and that he had a long-running television show of which I had not watched as much as a minute of it over its entire run....and after the primary season I knew that as an individual he was thoroughly disgusting....but that was about all I knew about him....so I thought and hoped that after taking office as president that he might see the enormity of his responsibilities and settle down....but it became obvious early on that that wasn't going to happen. By March of 2017 I knew that there were serious problems with Donald Trump....so I started reading. I just put down A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig....that's roughly 65 books in the last three years on the life and adventures of Donald Trump....with a couple others ready to open. When I first saw the book a few weeks ago at Barnes & Noble I passed it by for something else but it kind of fell into my lap....so I read it....but Trump supporters are not going to read it....because they have been successfully indoctrinated in that every book that is critical of Trump is fake news. Much of it is rehashed stories on the Trump White House. It's not a primer for a debate about Donald Trump. It's not an expose on his business dealings such as Andrea Bernstein's American Oligarchs, The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. What it is is a character sketch on the President of the United States....primarily through the witness of those who tried to work with him. You wouldn't have to read the entire book....maybe only two or three of its five parts....to see that Donald Trump is totally unfit to occupy the position that he does....and when you would see this....you might then look at the Democrat candidates....and then at Trump....and maybe back again at the Democrats....and realize....if you are a Christian....that God has severely judged both sides of this divided nation. Would you still vote for him? I don't know....probably....but you would not be looking forward to four additional years of what you had just read....for you might not have realized until now the scope of the petulance and arrogance and risk in this man who has very little knowledge of what he is dealing with....no desire to learn....and no wisdom to apply.

President Trump is always on the back of the Fed chairman to cut the interest rate....and always with threats and ridicule. Today after the Fed cut the rate a half point.....the President Tweeted that he wants more. Donald Trump has only one real policy interest and that is in wanting explosive economic growth....now. He has no vision. Have you heard about his comment to advisers early in 2017.....when they warned him by charts and graphs that the national debt problem would hit about the time that he would leave his second term? His comment was..."Yeah....but I won't be here." There's your champion!  I was always under the assumption that we need needed room on the interest rate as a safety net. Donald Trump doesn't want that room....he wants everything right now....for all he thinks that he has to do is get through November....and it will be....'Katy....bar the door!' Ivanka changed her voting status to Republican. Now why do you think that is?

There is a remnant of us out here....in conservatism.....and in the church. They may indeed roll over us.....but they are not going to push us back....as we have not abandoned our principles for filthy lucre....nor do we desire to be nursed on the teats of power and glory....nor have we obediently laid down our minds to false shepherds...and a false prophet. Many of us evangelicals may be asleep for the moment....but that is only asleep....and my prayer is that we may be about to wake up to the voice we will indeed recognize and run to.

Had We Only Held Him Accountable From Day One

Preface: I have posted on Donald Trump since he first became a candidate....and all the posts are still here. I knew little about him over the decades and had no desire to learn about who he was. He disgusted me in the primaries but after the nomination he had to stop Hilary Clinton. Unlike other conservatives....I did not lay down my vigilance....as it became obvious almost immediately that there was a big problem here. I started reading. It's over sixty books now on Donald Trump....with another one every few days. I know him now more than I've known any other American leader in our history. I know who he was in his twenties....and thirties and forties....right up till today. It is sickening that we choose him to be our nominee. Every word he says....every attack...every tactic....every psychological manipulation....is recognizable in how he has always been. My consistent prayer every day is...."Lord....open our eyes to this man....even only if it be the eyes of your children!" He is no better than any Democrat alternative. God has judged us....His church....and found us wanting. A winnowing may indeed happen....should God will it....where actually redeemed Christians would see Donald Trump....and many many do already....but there would be great regret as we would then see who we have followed....who we trusted....whose Lordship we rejected....and what we have become as a result.

           The last decade or so has been like watching a movie....where the main character has everything going for him....talent and ability. He's likable....and the film is fun and nonthreatening as his star rises....but then turns into a dark drama. The Days Of Wine And Roses from 1962 comes to mind....as Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick slide into alcoholism....with their life and careers destroyed. I haven't seen the film in fifty years but the darkness of it still sticks with me. I think of it when Henry Mancini's Oscar winning theme....sung by Andy Williams.....is played on Sirius/XM's easy listening channels.
            Conservatives are what I have in mind for Jack Lemmon's character. We once had honor....we held the high ground.....we were smart and logical....determined and principled.....but that is all gone.....drowned in a drunken stupor in Donald Trump's personal swamp....this as it pertains to our failure to hold the President accountable as to his impetuous risky actions for a few dollars more....his vindictiveness and personal destruction of anyone who has the audacity to question his motives....his disdain for truth....whether it be outright lying or daily even hourly embellishments....his disrespect for military people who did much more than what he did not do....and that is show up....his casual betrayal of allies....his use of flattery and repetition ad nauseam as weapons....and his attacks on any and every journalist that does what journalists have done in relation to every president before him...that is ask tough questions....calling them....enemies of the people....destabilizing an already tottering domestic peace in the process! Had we held our ground....and held the new President accountable from day one....he might not be the caricature that he is today....and there would not have been a Ukraine issue....for at the very least his people would have nipped it in the bud right away....but we didn't....and we are enabling a man who if we would stop laughing off his tweets....and actually consider what he is saying....we might then repent of that which we have wrought.
             Oh we still love the truth....and shout it from the rooftops....about 10% of it....the rest of it we ignore. We shout justice but the sound is hollow. The film....The Days Of Wine And Roses....ended on somewhat of a note of rehabilitation. May God have mercy on us....all of us....that we might see that we never really had a grip on reality....even in our best days....and that hitting rock bottom was the place we needed to be.....and that as a famed Puritan minister once penned in a prayer.....and edited in book form....The Valley Of Vision....(Banner Of Truth)....by Arthur Bennett...."LORD HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY....Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.....Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley."

DISPATCHES

JORDAN PINNED: I'll address these thoughts about Congressman Jim Jordan....but similar thoughts could be addressed on any of the Republicans who giggled their way through yesterday's victory parade at the White House. It's a bit ironic and maybe even a little poetic....for it was after President Trump threatened to work to defeat Freedom Caucus Congressmen Jordan and Meadows in their next election....back in early 2017....this because they caught him trying to pass off a fake Obamacare repeal bill....that I drew the line on Donald Trump and started reading about who he really was. Today after sixty plus books.....what I saw was pure Trump....tried and true psychological manipulation.....call opponents what you yourself in fact are.....flattering until it was sickening....and returning trust with abuse. I don't know what Jim Jordan's wrestling record was.....although I'm sure it was remarkable.....but he can now add another 'L' to it....for he was pinned today....back flat to the mat....by a man who cheats at politics as he cheats at everything else in life.

THE PRESIDENT DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH, METHINKS: Democrats. Never-Trumpers...or conservatives like me who voted for Trump and celebrated....all of us who knew or now know who Donald Trump is....have to wonder if he is playing his 'innocent' act too much? It's one thing to ham it up to Trump reality show buffs at the White House who although highly educated and high in the government have never read a single book on Trump's past life....(American Oligarchs, the Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power by Andrea Bernstein would be a good place to start)....but it's another to take this show to Broadway...for if average America sees Hunter Biden with a felony charge.....after Donald Trump has gone a half century of buying his way out of them....or if they see Joe Biden pay politically for his quid pro quo....when Trump's actions were worse.....and displayed once again his utter disdain for allies....and an anti-Putin ally at that....and not only got away with it but is trying to become a hero because of it....well...even in postmodern America there may be only so much the public can take.

FRANKLIN GRAHAM has an evangelistic tour of the UK scheduled beginning in May but one city after another has been cancelling. As I've posted on many times....Donald Trump is a destroyer. If he is not actively trying to destroy anyone who opposes his glory....others are falling by the wayside simply by flying too close to his flame. There are dozens of high profile people who today surely wish they never hitched their wagon to President Trump. Franklin Graham felt it necessary to criticize Nancy Pelosi for tearing up the SOTU speech. He is the highest profile evangelical to tie himself inextricably to Donald Trump. I would guess that there has to be some dissension at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on moving into the political arena. Rev. Graham points out that his father....way back when....was opposed when taking his crusades to England....but this is different....as I doubt that the opposition would be so effective if the gospel was at the top of one's mind when Franklin Graham's name comes  up....and not politics.

TAX RETURNS: The Supreme Court set a date in March on Donald Trump's tax returns.....with a decision likely in June. Have any republicans in our Congress thought about a worst case scenario here....on an unfavorable decision.....with Trump then just waiting for the convention?

THIS IS WHERE BEN SASSE ET AL FAILED US MISERABLY....They think that they have no choice but to try to get by with Donald Trump for another term. They are wrong on two counts. There is a choice....tell him to go. Even in this trial they could have told him to drop out of the race or they will drop him out. On the second count they are wrong in that if they knew the perfect storm that is going to hit....with Donald Trump in charge....they would not care so much about their own political future....(the men at the founding of this nation pledged their lives and their fortunes and their sacred honor)....and would have made the necessary courageous decisions....which they did not make....not yet anyway.

TRUMP AND ISRAEL....Moving our embassy to Jerusalem....and acknowledging the Golan and settlements....these were paper moves....held off and then announced when President Trump needed a political boost. Israel's security as it relates to the United States depends on keeping promises....not making promises....and keeping covenants....not just making covenants. The recently announced Trump peace plan is available to view in its entirety on the Internet but it is more of an outline than a specific peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians which would be the next step. One particular passage caught my eye...."Should negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians result in a peace agreement, the State of Israel will be expected to implement its obligations..." This is an arbitrary declaration. Who determines if Israel meets its obligations? My concern is....and has been....that this is somewhat similar to Donald Trump's dealings with other allies....as he in effect said to NATO that....yes the US would be there....."if"....they were paid up....and here is he saying.....yes....the US would be there....'if'....Israel implements its obligations?

THE FRIEND OF MY LEADER...IS MY FRIEND....THE ENEMY OF MY LEADER...IS MY ENEMY....Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham were once the establishment opposition. Today they are our heroes. John Bolton was once a hero....today he's the enemy. Did we see another side of Mike Pompeo the other day when he cursed out a reporter for asking questions on the Ukraine....or is this just another example of what Donald Trump does to people? We once knew that Ivanka Trump was no better than Hillary Clinton....but we have no problem with her anymore. We were once rigorous thinkers....today we utterly refuse to consider any evidence that does not support Donald Trump. Talk Radio....once our bulwark in defense of the Constitution....is now so one-sided that it does more harm than good. Conservatism is dead....and evangelicalism is nothing but politics today....unwilling to defend the gospel if it in any way hinders the MAGA agenda that has little connection to the Gospel of Jesus Christ....and with it's suffocating greed makes a mockery of the Gospel.

THE GREAT FLATTERER....The following is something that the typical Trump supporter will just not want to hear: The Veterans of Foreign Wars has demanded an apology from President Trump. The concussive force of rocket attacks from Iran caused a number of serious injuries that President Trump described as "headaches." This is Donald Trump. This is who he been since he first began scamming the government in his early twenties. This is the Donald Trump that Adam Schiff described in his summation. This is the Donald Trump that his supporters do not know....and this is the Donald Trump who when the occasion arises will make great statements in support of the military to shore up his base....as he does on pro-life.....and Second Amendments issues....and religious liberty....all of which are just thorns in his side....necessary issues that have to be addressed from time to time.

JUST GO BACK TO WHEREVER YOU CAME FROM....I don't want to see President Trump removed from office through a conviction in the senate trial....for the stress on the social order might be too much....but I do want to see him forced to end his quest for four additional years....for the daily gut-wrenching pokes and jabs....and the psychological issues that should be a serious concern to everyone....would be too much for the fabric of this society to take for these additional four years....and that he might then be able to make looming serious decisions in his final year apart from seeking reelection....and even then he would have to be watched like a hawk....by men in the administration who might no longer be worried about that midnight 'I've replaced so and so' tweet. Should President Trump be forced to withdraw from the 2020 race....Mike Pence and a half dozen others would immediately jump in....any one being a strong favorite....all with genuine conservative values....but minus the risk for profit....and hotheadedness....and shortsightedness on the national debt....that we now have.

DONALD TRUMP IS NOT....NEVER WAS....AND NEVER WILL BE...PRO-LIFE. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET....AND WATCH HIM LIKE A HAWK....President Trump and Abortion: In 1999....as an Independent....flirting with a run for the White House....he said that he was "very pro-choice." During the 2016 primary campaign he at one time blurted out that abortion should be decided in the states.....which was immediately pounced upon by some conservatives. In January of 2017....Ivanka and Jared secretly visited the president of Planned Parenthood. They wanted the headline of 'PP no longer providing abortions'....and funding would continue. The NYT reported that Ivanka and Jared recommended that Planned Parenthood split in two....where the main body would not provide abortion and be funded by the government....while the smaller entity could provide abortions but not officially be part of Planned Parenthood. Headlines today are that for the first time a U. S. President would attend a March For Life rally. This is technically correct but a little bit disingenuous as he appeared on a giant screen at the rally in 2018. Donald Trump does not.....and never has....had strong personal opinions on any issues like this. He has not changed his entire adult life....as everything is the promulgation of the decree of his greatness. Pro-lifers will cheer the President's appearance at the rally. What they....(and I am pro-life)....do not realize is that any of the other conservative candidates in the 2016 primaries would have appointed every single conservative judge that President Trump has....and they would have done so with social issues in mind....not just economic issues....where judicial backup is needed on profit-making adventures.

READ THE TEXT....Concerning the Ukraine.....President Trump's favorite phrase is...."read the transcript." This morning as I was listening to a Charles Spurgeon sermon....while pushing myself on the treadmill....he used the phrase...."read the text".....referring to his biblical message. So my message in response to Donald Trump's "read the transcript" would be...."read the text".....the Bible text....the text of the Bible....that which you have ignored for your entire adult life....and so flippantly joke about. This is the Word of God that tells you right now that as of right now you will appear before Jesus Christ as one who mocks God on a daily and hourly basis....but Mr. President....God will not be mocked. This is the message that every one of these CEO ministry heads and megachurch pastors that flutter around you should be telling you....for you won't step foot in a church with a pastor who has not been vetted as to being totally inoffensive. I don't know who is fooling themselves more....you....believing the hokem that God....(should He even really exist)....raised you up and anointed you because you are so special....or those who think that they are ministering to you.

DONALD TRUMP AND THE SEVEN SONS OF SCEVA....In the 19th chapter of the book of Acts the seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva saw the miracles that Paul was doing....and that evil spirits were being cast out....and that surely they could do that by using the same name of Jesus....but the evil spirit looked at the seven sons of Sceva and said..."Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize-but who are you?"....and then overpowered them all as they ran away naked and wounded. President Trump thinks that all he has to do is repeat and repeat...."God bless America"....but will hear that same question...."Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize-but who are you?" There's a passage in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus tells of an evil spirit that left a man only to return later to an empty house with..."seven other spirits more evil than itself"....an empty house.... as Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary...."where Christ is not there to keep them out!" In a way we cleared out the White House of radical progressivism in 2016....but that house was left empty....Christ was not there....only a man who thinks that he has the power....and what we have now is worse than what we had before!

President Trump's peace plan is being talked up by some Christian prophesy teachers as Bible fulfillment. The mistake some of them are making at this time is that though it may indeed be fulfillment of Bible prophesy....there is nothing there indicating whether the person behind the peace deal is doing anything other than accomplishing what God wills to be done. Taking this further than what is evident....could lead to more Bible fulfillment....prophesy of coming delusion and false miracles.
   

Lord's Day Post

The following was a Lord's Day post in March of last year:

            Tomorrow is another Lord's Day.....and as usual I will be hoping to hear reports in the following week on things strange that happened in pulpits around America....not gold dust sprinkled from the ceiling....not holy laughter or people falling all over the place....and not some prophet standing up and telling the congregation how Donald Trump was sent by God to make America great again....we've had plenty of this type of nonsense already. No...I'm hoping that reports will come out on how pastors who are normally smiling all the time....are laden down with burdens so heavy that they are pleading for God to intervene in America. I'm hoping that some smidgen of discernment was given them in the past week on what indeed is happening to our nation....and what is ahead.
            I'm hoping that all of a sudden they're not worried about keeping their pulpits for so many years until they can retire....but suddenly realize that God's hand of judgment is what we see all around us....as we Christians look anywhere and everywhere for relief other than Jesus Christ. I'm hoping that men in these pulpits see a world falling apart in every conceivable way and say....."Come Lord Jesus!"
            I'm hoping that these men of whom these words address.....would come to see that this is not a job or a profession or even a vocation that they have....but that they volunteered....and took vows....to tend to the sheep....to warn them when necessary....that they themselves will be held accountable for how they passed their time....and that they chose something that by its very nature....means constant seeking of God's guidance....constant learning....constant humbling themselves and seeing themselves as unworthy for such a responsibility.
             There are faithful pastors all over America pleading for God's mercy.....and have done so for many years! if you happen to have one of these men in your pulpit....and you see the strain that has been upon them....and maybe the weariness as churches grow to huge numbers all around them....by tickling ears and flattery....then thank God for them.....and encourage these men.....for you have been mightily blessed.

A Very Natural Temptation

Preface: My goal in these posts has always been....over the entire eleven plus years....to get the attention of visitors....anywhere in this world....so that they might move on on their own....preferably to one of the many wonderful Christian ministries out there...that I mention often....or to give them a perspective that they may never have heard....or to think about concepts they never have....or address questions that they may never have had put to them. Right now my attention is obviously on a man who is two things for sure....in my view anyway....President of the United States....and a genuine biblical false prophet. The following thought immediately draws outrage from our side....but we need to look at Germany in the 1930s....to see how a weakened Christian culture can so quickly and easily be lured into a cult of personality. As for the progressives among us today....author and Russian specialist Helen Rappaport should speak to them in her book....Caught In The Revolution....(a review last posted on 8/19/2018)....but to us the story of Martin Niemoller should speak....particularly as laid out in Then They Came For Me....Martin Niemoller....by Matthew D. Hockenos....but as good as I perceive this book to be....if you want more than history....prescient as this particular topic may be....you would do well to read anything by pastor....author....and teacher....and German specialist....Erwin W. Lutzer....of whom one of his books is mentioned at the end of this post:

1 Samuel 8:7...."The Lord said to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." Donald Trump is everything that the Christian should reject....yet we want him. This is more than a mere political movement. I've seen a half century of those. This is spiritual in nature. God has removed over the years most of His messengers to us....as they have died and gone off to be with Him....and He has given us megachurch pastors....and celebrity pastors....and young pastors who have no idea how to warn the sheep....for they themselves do not even feel the heat of this boiling sea of ignorance pervading the minds of Americans....even those Americans who only a decade ago or less had basic discernment on where this nation and this world were heading. God is most definitely behind the rise of Donald Trump in American politics....only it is not what you probably think. He has given him to us....that it will eventually be evident to us....that we had clamored for a king....as the Israelites had for Saul....and in demanding that king....we had rejected God. This is what happened in Germany....as National Socialism was going to make Germany great again....and that they would be powerful again. It's a very natural temptation no matter what the ideology.

A VERY NATURAL TEMPTATION

            As we all know the reparations demanded of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles were unbearable for the German population who were fiercely defensive of their homeland and German heritage. The Weimar Republic which came about at the end of World War I was weak....and hated. It wasn't going to last....but what would replace it? The future of Germany depended on its church which was unified in that the German people believed that the state needed its church....and the church needed its state....but there was little unity beyond that.
             A 'German Church' movement developed that entwined itself around the powerful ideology of National Socialism....a movement that was going to lead Germany back into prosperity and power. A 'Confessing Church' movement formed to stop in its tracks the state's intrusion into all church matters....but the Confessing Church itself was divided between those who just wanted the state out of the church....and those who knew that there were big problems with National Socialism.
             Martin Niemoller....you may have heard about him....represented those who at first thought that National Socialism was a great thing if kept in its place. Dietrich Bonhoeffer....you certainly have heard of him....saw the horrors of where this extreme nationalism could go. Niemoller spent years in prison and concentration camps before finally seeing the mistakes that he made before the war. Bonhoeffer paid for his discernment with his life.
             We are getting too close to having an 'American Church' movement.' President Trump again....this time at a West Virginia rally.....used the phrase "One glorious nation under God." We are not one glorious nation under God....and Donald Trump's god is not our God. I've written various themes on how I love this country for decades....but they will never take the place of or become equal with the gospel of Jesus Christ....and in this we must be vigilant.
              It is a very natural temptation......especially in times like this as America is being pillaged and plundered....to confuse a return to greatness with a return to God. Patriotism can be devotion to justice or it can be devotion to just us. Capitalism can be a God-send....or a god in itself. We are already compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to accommodate 'Make America Great Again'....and it can only get worse as we will seek to be more inclusive of policy that opposes God's Word and exclusive of dictates in His Word....all so that this glorious 'revolution' can continue.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK: Erwin W. Lutzer's 1995/2012 Hitler's Cross....How The Cross Was Used To Promote The Nazi Agenda.....the forward is by Ravi Zacharias if that makes a difference.

Mr. President....We Will Not Bow Down At The Mention Of Your Name

            Hey....what do I know? I'm no different than you as to developing an opinion of Donald Trump. Well I guess that I have read about sixty books now on Trump....on every area of his life....his businesses....the books he supposedly wrote....his celebrity....Mar-a-Lago....his golfing....most books are critiques but some are written with the primary purpose of telling us how great he is. Anyway.....for what it's worth....here are some thoughts:
            Donald Trump is the ultimate wheeler-dealer. He comes up with a grand idea....a tower or a university named after him....or some such thing....and plows into it full steam ahead. Often it works out....and the result is a Trump building somewhere or golf course with his name on it or brand associated with it....but often....maybe more than often....it's a bust....but he's prepared for things like that as his army of lawyers protect him as he files specific bankruptcies.....and never has to see these people left in his wake again. The problem is that diplomacy on matters of peace or war does not operate like that.
             New York liberals knew him to be a pompous liar.....but there were plenty of those around. He seemed to always be threatening to run for president....which they ignored along with all his other manifestations of narcissism gone wild....but then it happened. His latest gambit turned out to be a winner.....his biggest coup yet. He became a religious leader....and a savior to his followers....complete with his own scriptures....(as read by talk radio)....his own clergy....and his own rite of excommunication (You're fired....worse than that....You're a loser!) There were plenty of conservative creeds and doctrines but they were and are much like the creeds in most of the mainline protestant churches in America today.....as they sit in a drawer somewhere.....never applied.
              President Trump cannot see beyond either closing a deal or moving on. The long term is totally foreign to him. This can easily be seen at the beginning of his first year when his economic advisers warned him that the national debt would reach critical mass about the time that he left office after two terms. His response was....."Yeah....but I won't be here." That's Donald Trump.....that's your champion! There is no real world out there.....just potential deals. You either go fourteen seasons or get cancelled and move on to another show.
            This golfing....failed casino magnate....who has made a lifetime habit of exaggerating what he has done was given charge of the most powerful military on the planet. This man who wild horses could not have dragged into the service uses that threat.....along with tariffs.....on anyone and everyone whom he chooses. There is no cohesion to his thinking. He no sooner told Israel not to expect anything to be done on Iran until after he gets reelected then stumbled into the bind he is in right now.
            A week ago he was ready to bomb all over Iran....(this man cares nothing about human life)....and now he is nobly warning Iran not to kill the protesters....these among the same people he was going to bomb the....#$%*&.....out of a week ago. (it's funny how he loves Kim Jong-un as his protesters languish in torture in prison) If the former tense situation with Iran of a week ago returns he will have to face the fact that the people he will be threatening to bomb the....#$%*&....out of would be the ones he just just threatened Iran to protect!
           It's been over three hundred days since there has been a formal press conference....where tough questions on such as the above could be asked.  By all rights we conservatives should be screaming over this.....but we have long since given up the high ground of truth and transparency and ethics and honor. Our motto today is....'they cheated....now it's our turn to cheat.' President Trump's robot press secretary answered a petition that was presented to the White House demanding daily press briefings. I can see Donald Trump's hand in her answer...."The press has unprecedented access to President Trump....(yeah right....the sound of a helicopter making everyone have to scream questions)....and yet they continue to complain because they can't grandstand on TV." She continued...."The president is unorthodox in everything he's done. He's rewritten the rules of politics." (He's done that all right....don't take questions...."Don't let your people take questions....call everyone who isn't in a saffron robe an enemy of the people....stonewall....take everything to the courts....appeal appeal appeal....deny....ignore....exaggerate....obfuscate....and cover up....do this for eight years...and then I won't be here....good luck.")

Flee The Megachurch

            It's normal....and what would be expected....we don't want to look too closely at why America has become what it has become. We want to defend ourselves and the efforts of many as to any responsibility....along with our pastors and brothers and sisters in Christ....and we want to hold fast to the memory of our traditions and the multitudinous sacrifices made....but these things do not help....they only soothe the rage at the very obvious reasons for our continuous demise.
            The not-so-obvious reasons are harder to face. The Christian church....and evangelicalism in general....have failed in that they no longer influence the culture to any great degree. Society has changed us to its own model over the course of time. We are in no way a peculiar people any more. There were probably tens of thousands of born-again evangelicals at those bowl games of this past weekend.....deliriously happy on one side even as the nation crumbles.....broken-hearted on the other but not for America.
            We cannot pray rightly for America until we recognize our own responsibility. I will on occasion read through very professional church websites....for various reasons....sometimes in advance of taking a trip....other times trying to find a church for a friend or relative to attend....and I don't weep outwardly....but I weep inwardly....at the essence of what these churches have become....and at the sermon titles if they are even listed which they are usually not....and at all the activities and ministries that have crowded out humility and pleadings for mercies from God.

I would recommend two books if you are interested:
Christ's Call To Reform The Church by John MacArthur and
Christless Christianity, The Alternative Gospel of the American Church by Michael Horton

Flee The Megachurch

          We evangelicals once knew.....and not all that long ago....that God was going to judge America....but that strength in discernment is all gone....for we now think that God is going to bless America....to keep us winning.....with our best yet to come. We believe this because a false prophet has come into our midst.
          We once knew that our hope could never be in man....in military strength....and financial riches.....but that discernment also is all gone. That bronze bull on Wall Street has become an idol every bit as much as the calf fashioned by Aaron.
           We once knew that the outward appearance of a church building meant nothing....but today it means success. The bigger and more attractive-the more successful. Brothers and sisters....flee the megachurch....flee it's vain enticements....flee its seeker sensitive modern gospel. Look for a blood-bought pastor who weeps for this world. It is surely an arrogant and generalizing statement to make...."flee the megachurch'....I admit that....but we are far worse off than we even thought ourselves to be back when we knew we were about to be judged.
           In Donald Trump we are giving to Caesar what belongs to God. Ultimately we are relying on ourselves. Our humility has been crushed. Christ is at the door. Look up....and listen.....for the thundering hooves of the four horses can be heard if you turn off talk radio....and even if Jesus were to tarry....consider this world....this violent world in our news every day....its technology and philosophy....and the greed that rules everywhere....for if you would then you might also see that surely it is not something to be desired....or to look forward to....and then you also might find yourself praying....Maranatha....come Lord Jesus!
            Try this if you have known for some time that something is wrong in our pulpits today. Google 'Charles Spurgeon sermons'....(I pick Spurgeon but there are others....Martyn Lloyd-Lones would be another)....pick one sermon....any one....and listen to it this Lord's Day afternoon. Do the same next Lord's Day....Lord willing....and see if before long if you are not pleading with God to lead you to where you are to go. I can tell you now that it won't be easy....but you will get a little more knowledgeable every week....and a little stronger every week....and if God wills it....that He should have mercy on us....He will send those shepherds to us from elsewhere....or make them known to us if they are laboring right next to us....for they themselves are somewhere right now pleading for God to use them....pleading for God to send sheep....and the unsaved.
            Be bold with God in your prayers once you see what has been withheld from us. By rights we should not be but yet He desires us to be. We have nothing to bring....nothing useful. The modern church basques in it's own beauty....and we have dust from the path all over us....but He loves the dust if it comes from the paths of old....traveled much by those before us. For if we refuse to rest in Vanity Church any longer....nor take the easier path anymore....then God will surely see us struggling.....and quickly send help.

He....Jesus....Told Us In Advance

Preface: I came across this exhortation to preachers in a sermon of Charles Spurgeon's titled....Jesus, King Of Truth...."I have sometimes, when hearing sermons, wished the preacher would come to the point, and would deal with something that really concerned our soul's welfare. What concern have dying men with the thousand trivial questions which are flitting around us? We have heaven or hell before us, and death within a stone's throw; for God's sake do not trifle with us, but tell us the truth at once!"  So my advice to young pastors who lean solely on the instruction of their seminary homiletics professor who may never once in their thirty or forty years of preaching actually moved an entire congregation to conviction....to consider the advice of a man who moved the hearts of repentant sinners in London....and also America through his transmitted Lord's Day sermons....both non-Christians and Christians alike....for over forty years. 

             So why is it that I see Donald Trump as a genuine biblical false prophet that has come in amongst the brethren....(this through both the political support among evangelicals....and the failure of the shepherds to warn the people on greed and mixing the flag with the Gospel)....and I see him as a man with seriously debilitating mental issues on the world's stage....why is it that I....(and others)....see this while you....(generally speaking)....do not?
             Let's begin by eliminating some answers. I am more than willing to admit that you are probably a better Christian than I am....for every day with me is looking forward to the day when we will be with the Lord without the temptations of greed and envy and anger and pride. I'm certainly no smarter than you. So why have most of you missed this....that we have turned our trust away from Jesus Christ....'He certainly cannot handle this socialism issue on His own without Donald Trump....and placed it in political power....which essentially is.....onto ourselves?
             I'm sure that there is no single answer and no easy answers but I'd like to at least send us in a specific direction to get some help with this. The strength....(that includes discernment of which we are talking about here)....that the Christian is to get from the preaching of Christ in a weekly sermon....is no longer a sure thing in the American pulpit. We are a malnourished church....at times....all too often.....staggering around with false teachers such as Joel Osteen and misled pastors such as Robert Jeffress....and many and varied faddish and modern fake gospels.
             I on the other hand.....in all my weaknesses....have made sure that I have a steady diet....three and four times a week....of preaching from men of the past.....and as I like to say.....men who preach like men of the past. An hour from now.....Lord willing.....I will be walking a treadmill.....pushing myself both physically and otherwise....as the ever-present headphones will be on....as I feed on a sermon.....today it will probably be Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
            So that's what I would ask you to at least contemplate. You will never have any idea of what I'm talking about until you at least read or hear what preaching in the past was like. This is also why I often challenge pastors in these posts to do the same thing....to humbly put in the effort to glean from these men of whom God had so graciously blessed them....so that God might so bless they themselves....in such a great responsibility as they have.
            Fill your week with either sermons or books on the glories of Christ....and the wonders of what He has done for us on the cross....and the joy and the hope of His appearing soon.....Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come....and see if Donald Trump.....and seeking security in our own powers....do not become evident for what they are....worthless.  Would you then abandon politics altogether....along with the efforts to choose wise leaders through the political process? It shouldn't....it certainly hasn't with me....but it hopefully would help you to put politics on a proper level....far....far below....our trust and hope in our Lord and Savior and coming King....Jesus Christ.
             One last thing....if the Lord's return is truly near.....at the very doorstep....(we are at least aware in detail of Revelation's description of this time are we not)....we will need discernment beyond measure....for delusion would be coming...."for false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect....behold I (Jesus) have told you in advance." (Matthew 24:24)

Please consider listening to this one sermon by Charles Spurgeon.....and after the Prince of Preachers is finished....purposely bring Donald Trump to mind....and see how many seconds you might  be able to continue before you have to return to thinking about your condition in standing before Jesus Christ. Simply Google....'Charles Spurgeon....a blast of the trumpet against false peace.'

Morning update: All the news outlets are reporting that Christianity Today in an editorial called for Trump's removal from office. Read the editorial. You may not agree with its conclusion but the case was made very well that there is a serious problem here.

Also: Franklin Graham tweeted just hours ago that his father voted for Donald Trump in 2016. So did I Reverend Graham....so did millions of us....but at the time we didn't know him beyond skyscrapers and casinos and his celebrity....and I doubt that your father knew him beyond the choreographed and deceptive 'art of the deal' delivered over a lunch or on the dais of some political/Christian gathering that Donald Trump odiously perfected over the previous forty years. Are you implying that your father would still hold the same opinion today? I have your dad's face on the cover of a coffee table book staring at me in my living room.....and most of his books in my home....and thank God for him often in these posts....and I do not think that you should put words in his mouth today....an opinion of which you cannot be certain. Your expertise in helping those in need is evident and wonderful.....but where is your expertise in politics.....for that is where you have gone.

And Again: President Trump responded to the Christianity Today report..."No President has done more for the Evangelical community and it's not even close." No Mr. President....you have just about destroyed what was left of the evangelical community....along with conservatism and talk radio. We have no discernment today thanks to you. You have led us into greed and power-mongering and selfishness. We have taken on your vindictiveness....and by leading us away from the gospel you are now dividing us as you divide and destroy everything that comes into your orbit.

Closing Our Eyes....And Covering Our Ears....Has Only Made The Situation Progressively Worse

Preface: If you are familiar with who Donald Trump has been his whole life.....and this can only come by reading about him....then you recognize the extraordinary and successful psychological manipulation....and the ultimate fakery from a man who accuses everyone else of fakery. You see the perfected deceptive sales pitch....and at times the outright scamming. The more you would read....the more you would be disgusted at how we were taken in.....but if you don't read.....if you follow the new Trump Party's rules of only reading their literature....well then it is what it is:

           The 1967 film The Graduate was in retrospect not a film for a seventeen year old to see....especially in an age where Hollywood molded much of America's youth. Bonnie And Clyde was another. If I remember correctly.....Warren Beatty later in life regretted making heroes of the notorious couple. The 60s were damaging in so many ways. Back to The Graduate....the score and Paul Simon's songs were mesmerizing....which did not help. To those of us in our 60s....(I've only got a couple of weeks left to make that statement)....there were certain scenes that just stick with you. The famous word of advice....plastics!....would be one of them. Dustin Hoffman in full SCUBA gear at the bottom of his parent's swimming pool would be another....but another one that might not be so well remembered comes to my mind. The character of Elaine had just confronted the character of Ben on assaulting her mother.....Ben couldn't believe what he was hearing and began to tell Elaine what really happened. Elaine began screaming while covering her ears....as she would not accept this testimony from Ben.
           That is the situation we....conservatives....are in today with Donald Trump. We do not want to hear who he really is....and who he has been his whole life. We don't necessarily scream....but we often start talking over the person relaying this information....or we turn off the television....and we certainly refuse to read any books on Donald Trump. I've read sixty now....with three at my side. If you are a regular reader of these posts you are probably tired of my relating this....I knew little of Donald Trump right up to the election that I celebrated....but after he amazingly and almost unbelievably brought Ivanka and Jared Kushner into the inner circle of decision making of the White House of the United States of America....and after he threatened the Freedom Caucus while trying to put one over on us on Obamacare repeal and replace....I started reading....and I haven't stopped.
           We all should know by now that Secretary of State Tillerson once called President Trump a moron....but more details are coming out in a new book....a book we obviously will not even consider reading. Drudge has a story up on it as I type. President Trump....six months into his term....in a meeting with generals and other military experts....who were just trying to inform him of the realities of foreign policy....burst into a tantrum after initially appearing bored....and then called them...."all losers".....and said...."I wouldn't go to war with you people....You're a bunch of dopes and babies." It was after this meeting that Rex Tillerson called Donald Trump a moron....but it was far more than moronic....it was a telltale sign of serious psychological disorder.....and many more signs would come....one after another....right up to today.
            Donald Trump is a troubled individual. I'm convinced that if it wasn't for who the Democrat Party offers as an alternative....and what that party has become....that we would have given Donald Trump his walking papers for 2020 long ago.....but that threat of a President Warren....or Biden....or Sanders....throws everything of concern on Donald Trump....his huge megalomania and his life of one lie after another and his horrendous vindictiveness....it throws all this up into the wind. In  effect....Donald Trump has done to us what he has done throughout his life to almost everyone who flies into his orbit....he destroys them....for he is by nature a destroyer. He brings down....he sullies....he leads astray.
             Oh....you say.....what about the economy? Stay tuned. He bamboozled and pressured the Fed and it is pouring sixty to a hundred billion dollars a month into treasuries and other calculated moves....this since last fall....and it will continue at least into the second quarter of this year. The stock market correspondingly soared....but appears to be the bubble of all bubbles....and when it comes down....look out....for the fail-safes will not work and other safeguards have been jettisoned. We shouldn't really need the realities of Wall Street or the national debt to cause us concern for there are many other areas that can begin to bring down this house of cards....which includes the economy and the social order....but we are all positive thinkers now....even in the church. Trump thinks that there is a power there....as do many in the church....but we are about to find out that all power resides in God....and is distributed only as He purposes....and that all of our usurpations are but vanities.

The Art Of The Logical Fallacy

To my brothers and sisters in Christ....you may agree with the following or you may not. The question I would have for you is should not Christians at least be aware of the concerns that many other Christians have on this man our president? You know very well that talk radio dominates our informational input. It served us well at one time but no longer....not in the age of Trump. Please consider sharing this website....with friends and loved ones and anyone....to give them the opportunity to weigh the evidence and make up their own minds. Enter this debate that talk radio refuses to give us. Should you agree with this post then please do your part to break this shield around who I contend is a false prophet.....who proclaims us to be "one glorious nation under God".....that is going to keep on...."winning winning winning".....and that our "best days are ahead of us"....when God's Word tells us the opposite. A false prophet has entered our midst and leads us astray...."contend earnestly for the faith...."

            What is it that you want from a Donald Trump presidency? Is it Supreme Court and federal judges? Ted Cruz or Mike Pence or any number of others would give you that. Or is it a booming economy? Once again any conservative would have loosened the fetters of the Obama years....and this without turbo-charging the national debt. Is it the Iran or the Paris deal? They all would have got out....and a whole lot sooner! So what is it that you think he has given you....a Jerusalem embassy...the Golan and Israeli settlements? None of these issues added one iota of security to Israel....for they had the Golan and they are building settlements anyway. Donald Trump is using the issue of guns to hold that segment of conservatism.....where he could care less.....the same with his Thanksgiving in Afghanistan.....it's all a show! If you knew who he was for the past sixty years....you would see this.
            In reality he has given us nothing but grief. Is it America First that draws you so? If America First is damaging relationships with allies...and this because of absolute imbecilic stupidity....then I would want no part of it. You have to understand that Donald Trump has no knowledge in this area at all....and plenty of bad-hair day impulses that can easily cause disaster. This is precisely why our intelligence agencies and military leaders are pulling their own hair out.
            It can't possibly be immigration that keeps your support....for he did nothing.....blamed the republicans when pressed....only starting yacking again last fall when talk radio hosts started reading him the riot act....made plenty of comments indicating he might go the other way....that is until he once again was read the riot act....and lied about a wall the whole time!
            He totally screwed up the North Korean situation. We laughed at his comments about a bigger button....and beautiful letters from the mass murderer....and how they fell in love....while Kim Jong-un has made big progress on his defenses and on his nuclear capable submarine.
            He went against the advice of  own military a few times....most recently with the green light for Erdogan's army to invade Syria. Hundreds died....so far....he could not care less....and apparently neither could we. He all of a sudden decided to defend the Navy Seal....causing chaos as usual....but has he even read the all the accounts and testimonies of witnesses? Of course he hasn't.....and I'll wager that you haven't either.
            He tried to stab us in the back on Obamacare back in March of 2017.....and lied about that also. He's told us incessantly that he has rebuilt the military....past tense....but passing a $700 billion dollar military budget bill.....and having a single tank delivered are two different things. He says that our economy is the envy of the world. One would have to be nuts to envy a nation with a $23 trillion debt.
            He throws the Dow Jones in our face every day. What do you think he'll say when it goes down big time? I'll you what he'll say. He'll say the Fed or someone else did it.
            He's had all kinds of business ties and deals in Russia beginning four decades ago.....then Putin helped put him over the top.....he then treats Putin with favor.....another prolific murderer....and has to meet with him for two hours....alone....that knocked the socks off his advisers.....and wonders why there was a Mueller investigation.
            So what is it? To paraphrase Archie Bell & the Drells....'he lies as good as he walks.' He's the most vindictive politician America ever had. His narcissism is rivaled by none that I know in world history short of Nebuchadnezzar. He is the most insecure individual to ever live in the White House....even more so than Nixon. If you would read books about him you would see that he has no conscience.....no empathy towards anyone....and never has.
           Well let me tell you why I think that you still support him. Some of you bought into Jonathan Cahn's book The Paradigm. He's Jehu isn't he....so he can do anything and everything against common decency and he's still OK. Some of you have no faith that God has everything under control....one of those Democrats might get in....then God and all of us are up the crick. Some of you are in it for the money....another hundred thou in your 401 does the trick. Some of you are following a false prophet and thus oblivious to anything and everything critical of your guru. Look at his eyes as he speaks at his rallies. They will will be directed about 45 degrees down to his left.....and then switch 45 degrees down to his right.....as he reads the same words....from the teleprompter....from every rally! I can almost recite along with him....but the crowd cheers.....as if it's the first time that they ever heard such wonderful words. This is not healthy stuff folks.
            Everything in the Bible that could possibly advise on picking a leader would eliminate Donald John Trump. I submit to you that you do not know how much trouble America is in....or why we are in it....or what God demands of us. Donald Trump is judgment....not a blessing. If he gets his second term it's Katy bar the door....for he won't need anyone. Consider this also....he is bullying China around who is right now is planning revenge....and when they finally act Trump will send navy battle groups over.....our servicemen and women.....whose honor he uses to his benefit all the time....but wild horses couldn't drag him into the service back in the 60s.
           Look at his spiritual advisers.....charismatics....megachurch pastors....and ministry heads. I have no statistics to back it up but cannot see humble blood-bought ministers....who know their Bible.....and Satan's schemes.....giving two minutes listening to his theatrics at his rallies.
           Here's what will happen tomorrow or the next day.....for it happens all the time....he'll say something patently absurd....but Rush Limbaugh will turn that absurdity into something totally defendable....using not truth....but legal mental loopholes. Example....with all the evidence out there on Trump's intentions in holding back aid to the Ukraine.....he made one statement....a 'cover your rear end' statement.....that he didn't want a quid pro quo.....and that folks is all it takes in this world gone mad with logical fallacies.....all the other evidence is now null and void.
           It's all a sham.....he surveyed the land....(electoral demographics)....took soil samples....(polls)....promised a beautiful building with a grove of trees that all the birds (conservatives) could shelter under....built that building....sold half the condos with some deceptive advertising....but will eventually put the endeavor up for bankruptcy.....and get out of Dodge....as others lick their wounds and attempt to pick up the pieces.
            Brothers and sisters.....we weren't fans of The Donald. We weren't Oprah or Letterman or Kathy & Regis people over the decades. I never saw a single minute of The Apprentice over its entire run....but I'll tell you what....I've read over fifty books on Trump since 2017.....over fifty books.....and when he spouts his lies and scams and nonsense today.....I recognize it.....New York progressives recognize it....media people recognize it....but evangelicals do not recognize it! That's part of the reason why he bamboozled us....but everyone else can't stand him.