The Most Beautiful Rusty Door Handles Ever

            There is one of those typical 1950s shopping centers not far from where we live....this one probably only about three or four tenths of a mile long....that once had two major department stores in it....but is today nothing but an eyesore....without a single storefront occupied. In the early 1980s it was a nice place to spend an evening shopping. It was on just such an evening that while my wife was in J. C. Penney's I decided to walk the shopping center looking in windows.
            I've done this that I'll describe here three or four times in the last few years alone....and most recently less than a month ago. I turned off the main highway into the now empty shopping center parking lot....drove up the middle until I came to the outside concourse....turned left and continued to the last empty store front....put my truck in park and turned on the flashers.
            I stayed there for only about a minute or so and just looked at the door handles....and prayed. Thirty-seven years ago....that evening when my wife was at J. C. Penney's....I put my hand on those same door handles and walked in....a Christian bookstore....I had never been in one before.
            Months before....maybe even a year....I had seen Chariots Of Fire at the theater. I went because I was running at the time. (I ran one marathon....in a major city....with thousands of participants....and came in second....to the last. I was sick the night before....could not take water....and was probably a little delirious during the run as an EMT ran out to me to see if I was OK.) I left that theater not thinking at all about the running that I loved....but of that historical character in the film....Eric Liddell....who had this extraordinary reverence for God and His Word that both mystified and even enthralled me though I had no idea the magnitude of what was at stake.
            That film remained with me. There were a number of men at my workplace who were 'born again Christians....whatever that might be. I would out of curiosity tune into The 700 Club from time to time. I had just read two books.....the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning The Denial Of Death by Ernest Becker and the classic 1951 The True Believer by Eric Hoffer....books that would....if not challenged....lead me anywhere but to the gospel of Jesus Christ....but that night at the Christian bookstore I browsed around and....through God's grace.....walked out with the classic Christian apologetic work....Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell. Whereas I had torn Becker's book in half to be able to carry it with me....and highlighted it throughout....I now carried McDowell's book.....highlighting and underlining.
            So I looked at those door handles and thanked God that he directed me that night.....and I prayed as I always do for the couple that owned that bookstore....wherever they might be....thankful for their faithful efforts. It's a new running and a different kind of marathon that I'm in today. I'll probably come in last in this one....but I know that Christ will have me finish it....just like the first one.
            If you are in college....and you do not have a minute to spare between trying to get good grades in those courses....and having a little wild oats fun in the process....there will sooner or later be a door handle that you need to open. I don't know what it will look like. It may be a person or a book....maybe during a difficult time in your life....or maybe not....or a Billy Graham crusade rerun or an invitation to church....or a Gideon Bible in a hotel room....but it will lead to a gospel of salvation by grace....through faith....and not by works....and if you grab onto that handle....you will come back to it later....with the same praise and thanksgiving that I have....even ever-increasingly so....thirty-seven years later. 

Is There No One

           I really don't think that I'm alone in this. Too many Christians to even guess at an approximation have for decades....many decades....known that Jesus was literally at the door. We were able to see an America that was every year increasing in its rebellion to God. ...and a church that was losing its light. We knew.....because God's Word is so very clear....that this could not go on forever. It wasn't difficult to bring these things up....because we were talking about events....whatever they might turn out to be....that were yet ahead of us....but now that so many of those possibilities are literally in motion....a soberness comes upon us....(to me anyway but surely I speak for others)....that we hadn't experienced before....in spite of all the rhetoric.
           My personal Bible reading moves all around the sixty-six books....but quite often I return to Paul's two letters to the Thessalonians. I do this because I want to stay fresh on his words to a church under persecution....for if Jesus is truly near....which I believe that He is....then we will need these words of encouragement....and also those of Peter....and also the warning that when the world says...."peace and safety"....which it will surely do when this pandemic subsides....sudden destruction may follow. Should we not at least question ourselves in that if the believers that all of these letters were written to were encouraged to hopefully and expectantly look to the return of Jesus....why don't we today?
           So many today believe in a rapture that precedes the Tribulation. Have at it....I don't see that in Scripture....and I think that we can see in this present distress that that might be a good thing.....for even a pandemic doesn't seem to stir us up to want to testify...."For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God"....or even to..."comfort one another with these words."
           We are in need of a winnowing....if for no other reason than to know who each other is. Tonight I Googled one nationally known minister after another simply to see if any were calling America to repentance. I found none in those ministries that came to my mind. We must see ourselves as too sophisticated to speak of the nearness of Christ's Second Coming.
           Where is that one man of stature....whether he be an acclaimed minister or government leader....that will call us as a nation to repentance? Is there no one willing to risk ridicule in order to warn us? Can no one even fit into their sermon that we are not to..."sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober"....or that an apostasy is coming? Is there no one willing even to remind us....as Peter felt it necessary...."As long as I am in this earthly dwelling"....to stir us up to...."be all the more diligent to confirm (our) calling and election"?

....What America Needs Most

 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.” Matthew 24:14      

            It began in a large revival tent in 1949 in Los Angeles. Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst sent out the memo to all his newspapers...."Puff Graham"....or in effect....'put this guy on your front pages.' I wonder where he got that idea? It was to be a three week effort but turned into eight weeks.The young evangelist from North Carolina took London by storm in 1954....with revival services for three solid months.....culminating with a private message by invitation given in Buckingham Palace's chapel to Queen Elizabeth....and a somewhat secretive meeting with Winston Churchill. Three years later it was New York City where it was to be a six week crusade but turned into three months. Two million heard Billy Graham.....face to face....in various settings including Times Square.....which looked like New Years....and Yankee Stadium....filled in 105 degree heat.....and thirty thousand surrounding him as he preached from steps of the New York Stock Exchange Building.
            Out of curiosity I trended the years of the hundreds of crusades that lasted until 2005....just to see if they were evenly split up or if certain years were dominant. 1960 and 1980....with two or three years before or after.... dominated heavily. I came into the faith in 1982 and remember watching his crusades on the UHF channel. Over the years enormous crowds overflowed stadiums all over the world as Billy Graham preached this “gospel of the kingdom” in 185 countries and territories.
             Looking back now on these pictures....and reading of the crusades primarily from the TIME/LIFE book Billy Graham, God's Ambassador....and reading Graham's comments on the physical difficulties of three month crusades....and seeing the multitudes gather in all kinds of settings and under all kinds of conditions....and seeing photos of him with every president....and celebrities....and looking at America over the years....all the while knowing full well that walking forward at a crusade or any altar call....or showing interest or even respect for the solemnity of hearing the gospel of salvation preached....is an indication of what people want more than what may have happened in their soul....and having almost forty years of my own life to look back upon....seeing how the key element is this pilgrimage....that no matter what....you go forward....and you do not stop....for fear of falling asleep....knowing all of this....and also that it is not our free will....it is not our choice that instigates this great and wonderful regeneration and salvation....but God's grace alone....I still look at these crusades in rapt attention and thankfulness that the Word of God....the salvation offered in faith in Jesus Christ....went forth to so many people all over this world! The requirement seems to be that everyone will have heard the gospel. We in America have heard. That in itself should unnerve some who know that they have heard....but nothing happened out of the ordinary.
            This is what we need most in America right now....not economic stimulus packages....or patriotic motivation....or even encouragement....but who will bring it to us? John MacArthur....(gty.org).... or even Ligonier Ministries....(ligonier.org)....or any of the other wonderful ministries out there cannot do it alone. Our pulpits must awaken! We must awaken! God choose 1949 to set those crusades in motion. He had also in the past chosen the timing for Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield to appear. He opened Martin Luther's eyes....and prepared John Calvin....and raised up those Puritan pastors....and dragged that young English lad Charles Spurgeon to a small church in a snowstorm....and changed the calling of the British physician Martyn Lloyd-Jones....and planted R. C. Sproul in Western Pennsylvania....and He had mercy on someone as low as me....to tell you that it could therefore happen to you....so that you could then say the same thing to your neighbor.
            Lord we need this. We don't deserve it....but we need it. Do this if it be Thy will....move upon our people once again....for Thy name sake alone.....and Thy glory alone!

Look To Christ

            We have is a serious problem in the Coronavirus....and we need serious measures....but carpet bombing of the economy....destroy the village to save it....and then drive-through bailouts in an attempt to repair the damage....I'll take 50 billion and a Coke? Is there any wisdom here....for if there is it is hard to recognize. We didn't even have time to surrender....for these people....apparently on both sides....came with a blitzkrieg. I don't think that we knew what hit us. Why have we lost discernment on how to live....and on what is true prosperity? Where in our minds is God in all of this? I may be missing something....but I have not seen one bit of evidence yet that the leading ministers in our nation are warning anyone that God's judgments are increasing.....nor that the church in general feels any culpability....nor that we as a country have even a tinge of anything resembling guilt. I picked a book off the shelf in the basement today merely out of curiosity....it was Billy Graham's Storm Warning....from 1992....in which he wrote this...."TROUBLE AHEAD; PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD..." Precious few ministers dare preach this today. You surely remember the biblical scene....The Israelites were rebelling against God in the wilderness....and God sent fiery serpents who would bite them....and people were dying. Moses called out to God who told him to construct and raise a bronze serpent....and whosoever looked upon it after being bitten would live....for that symbolized Christ raised above the earth on a cross.....look to Christ and live....(Numbers 21)....but do you remember this....many centuries later Hezekiah took that very same serpent on a pole and broke it in pieces....for the people had come to burn incense to it! Have we today turned the cross....look to Christ and live....into that bronze bull in the financial district of Manhattan....Nehushtan? (2 Kings 18:4) Is this the real object of our worship today? Are we looking to this 'mere piece of brass' in order to live? If so we need to put our trust back where it belongs....in the Lord Jesus Christ....look to Christ and live.

National Day Of Prayer....Without Humiliation

The Gospel Coalition....thegospelcoalition.org....is gathering together in ministry of evangelicals in the Reformed tradition. They have announced this Saturday....the 4th of April....as a day to fast and pray. I read through their literature on the day. All of it is wonderful.....but what is not wonderful is what is missing. The day is divided into morning....midday....and evening prayer. There is not....that I saw....unless one reads around the scripture verses or goes further than the topics for prayer....even a hint of repentance for what America has become. It is nothing like what the Senate put together in 1863. Without any serious introspection....what a prayer day like this in essence might insinuate is...."O God.....heal us....so that we could go back to the very same as we were! For Thy Glory."

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER....AND HUMILIATION

"From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts." Malachi 3:7 ESV

          The following proclamation, taken from abrahamlincolnonline.org, was written by our Senate in 1863, and placed on the desk of President Lincoln to sign. I first posted it in July of 2014.
   
        Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day

Washington, D.C.
March 30, 1863 Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter later married President Lincoln's son Robert, introduced this Resolution in the Senate on March 2, 1863. The Resolution asked President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Resolution was adopted on March 3, and signed by Lincoln on March 30, one month before the fast day was observed. 

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh. By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Note: Would this not be the perfect opportunity....having the time on our hands as we do....to Google YouTube sermons by Charles Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones....or J. C. Ryle or George Whitefield?

Additional note: As our son passed this on to me....I'll pass it on to you....this from R. C. Sproul's ligonier.org...."As a result of the global health crisis, churches are cancelling Bible studies, small groups, and Sunday school classes......for the first time ever, we have made our entire library of hundreds of teaching series free to stream."  You can take advantage of this by going to ligonier.org....and scrolling down to....All Teaching Series Now Free To Stream!

....I Am Not A Potted Plant

Update: I'm wondering how many pastors from yesterday's streamed sermons may have had their congregations look inwardly....or led them in prayers pleading mercy for what has befallen America due our years and decades of increasing rebellion? My guess would be that it would hardly be any other than in small fundamentalist churches that may not be tech savvy but are Old Testament prophet savvy....or possibly small old-time Pentecostal churches that had never become more charismatic than holiness....or entertainment driven over maranatha driven....or maybe the few remaining older pastors who never were in their pulpits to please men....nor will they ever be.

            So another Lord's Day is upon us.....but this is one such as we have not had in a number of years....if ever....for there are no sports to take away a certain percentage of the population.....no family gatherings to take away even more....no vacations....no music concerts....and no awards ceremonies to watch on the television in the evening. Well....there's one more thing that we won't have....there's no church services....at least in my part of the country anyway.....but honestly.....I don't know if that's a bad thing. There will be a lot of sermons streamed over the Internet....but it's even less likely that these pastors might actually attempt to 'prick the conscience' or show any urgency in their sermon.....for if they won't preach what is difficult to their own congregations....they certainly won't do it for a much wider audience.
            Maybe you have read in the newspapers or on the Internet how a woman in California purchased a potted plant two years ago and gave it tender-loving care until just recently when in attempting to...."transplant it to a pretty new pot".... she discovered that it was a plastic plant.
            If we during this crisis should go to the Internet for our sermons from men of the past such as Charles Spurgeon or George Whitefield.....or men of our day who preach like men from the past....such as R. C. Sproul or D. A. Carson or O. Palmer Robertson or Michael Horton....we might also find that we nurtured a 'plastic plant' in many of our churches for most of our lives.
            Oliver North's lawyer Brenden Sullivan....during the Iran-Contra hearings....famously remarked when his objections were being brushed aside....."I'm not a potted plant....I'm here as a lawyer....that's my job." Well....I'm not a potted plant either. I'm here as one Christian who has taken the time to read of what God's servants once preached in their pulpits....and what I personally have found is that we have been....in most cases....nurturing 'plastic plants.'

....Take-Aways From Our Present Situation

           The Coronavirus may seem to be the focal point for what I'm about to write here....but it is not only not the focal point....the virus or the wisdom of the corresponding decision-making regarding it has nothing to do with what I am going to try and put forth here in this post. I'm merely looking for some take-aways to glean from this situation that we are in.
           The serious measures in response to the Coronavirus....even Draconian in some cases....everything from self-quarantine to trillion dollar aid packages....whether they be the 100% correct thing to do or not....might give us some clues as to how some biblical prophesies could easily come about.
           The reasoning behind the measures that are being taken.....and once again they may very well be correct....appear to us to be common sense....patriotic....absolutely necessary....and even the charitable and loving thing to do. On the flip side....as we see with the continuing spring break celebrations....one can become an enemy to the common good if one does not get in line.
            This is not a debatable issue to us....but rather a moral imperative. These decisions are seen as having to be made right now....with no time for debate or even consideration....or multitudes will die. It appears that all the experts agree. The reasoning therefore makes sense to us....so in short....if one would oppose this or not comply they would in effect be an enemy of sorts to their neighbors....maybe even family. Would the government manufacture news in order to influence decision-making.....real fake news....for the common good? Why wouldn't they....if they thought that it would save lives....or if they determined for whatever reason that is was absolutely necessary?
             We now can see how life can change so quickly....and how government....our government....can take extreme powers upon itself....'for the good of the people.' We can even see how conservative politicians can abandon some principles and change in a day. We should be able to see how words such as 'pandemic' are no longer only for science fiction writers. We can see how churches can close down....and be closed down. We can see a little more clearly how our money....money that is just in the bank....might not automatically be available to us....and if we look closely....we might be able to envision....we would have to envision because there is no evidence of it....on how a single person might be able....because of an emergency situation....to make emergency decisions apart from any congress or parliament....for the good of the people....and if it appears successful....even miraculous....receive national even universal acclaim.
             So.....as most Christians know....God's Word points to a time where everyone will have to have a mark on either their hand or their forehead.....just to be able to buy and sell. We are already well-aware of how the technology for a chip in the hand is not only out there but in use....but now we should see how this can not only become a reality....but how it could happen overnight. We might now be able to see how the Antichrist....in an emergency situation....could not only take power but be worshipped? Along with these things to consider we could add the extreme concern of many experts over the possibility of artificial intelligence running amok....or our increasing knowledge that an asteroid can come undetected out of nowhere....to further awaken us to the fact that we might not be as invincible as some of us believe us to be.
            We should also at least consider this as we look over what has transpired over the past few weeks....our Sundays....are for the time being no longer sports days....and might actually become Lord's Days once again to some. We are being forced to consider existential issues.....and maybe even eternal issues. Many of our pastimes are on hold....freeing us to read more.....and to meditate more....possibly even on God's Word. We may begin to smell the roses of a more simple life.....or we may not....as many investors are still looking at the stock market such as we have today as an ideal time to buy....so that we can begin the race again. We may no longer look askance at people who had stored away food....and evangelicals may once again consider God's warnings.
            In summary....the take-away here....is that God may be giving us a glimpse of how certain biblical prophesies are not just words for some vague and distant future....but very possible realities....even today....and not necessarily tomorrow.
           
              ..

The Day The Earth Stood Still

            I prefer the original 1951 The Day The Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal over the 2008 Keanu Reeves remake....but the concept is the same....an alien lands (aliens) in full view of a watching world....and everything comes to a halt.
            The Drudge Report has up while I type an article from MSN News titled 'This is not the end of the world, according to Christians  who study the end of the world.' The authors interviewed the usual suspects for their facts.....charismatic prophesy teachers. One said that the Coronavirus was not part of it because...."the Lord's shown me through 2026, so I know this isn't the end of time."
            Generally....according to the authors of the article....Christians don't seem to be too concerned....because Donald Trump is President.....quoting here...."There is such a positive view on Trump and such strong wishes for his reelection that there is deep hope that the virus will die out, a strong economy will return and Trump will defeat the Democratic nominee." Quoting also an author....Tyndale Seminary professor James Beverely who currently writing a book on Trump and Christian prophesy...."It is stunning how optimistic charismatic prophets are since Trump won in 2016"
            Reiterating what I have put forth in these posts many times....evangelicalism was aware forty years ago that our rebellion towards God was about to see consequences....but today.....where we are ten times over in our rebellion towards God....God's judgment has been the last thing on our minds....for the prophet Donald Trump.....(winning winning winning....our best days are ahead of us)....turned what was left of our discernment away from God's warnings.
             God took Billy Graham home.....and R. C. Sproul home....and David Wilkerson home....three men who were so very different in their theological interpretations.....but united in that it is all of grace....and also united in that God will not be mocked....nor pacified....nor exploited. The world has in effect....stood still as of late....but whereas those films pointed to man himself as an answer to our problems.....God's Word tells us....with His Holy Spirit as screenwriter...."Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other." (Isaiah 45:22)
            

....National Day Of Prayer And Humiliation

"From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts." Malachi 3:7 ESV

The following are words from Aleksandr Solzhenitsym. Following that is a post from 2014 concerning how we in 1863 worded our "day for national prayer and humiliation."

         "Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God;  that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat : "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened."
      
Read....And Maybe Weep

          The following proclamation, taken from abrahamlincolnonline.org, was written by our Senate in 1863, and placed on the desk of President Lincoln to sign. I first posted it in July of 2014.
       
        Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day

Washington, D.C.
March 30, 1863 Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter later married President Lincoln's son Robert, introduced this Resolution in the Senate on March 2, 1863. The Resolution asked President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Resolution was adopted on March 3, and signed by Lincoln on March 30, one month before the fast day was observed. 

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh. By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

The Bigly American

            The film was released in April of 1963....and starred Marlon Brando....nuff said. It did not receive any Golden Globe or Academy Award nominations nor do well at the box office....but the 1958 book that the film was based on was a best seller....and one of the most influential political novels ever. My opinion of the film? The screenplay was beyond extraordinary....where the viewer had the time to take in every line....in the thoughtful and at times profound dialogue. Brando as I inferred....was terrific. The Ugly American....the book....was meant to be by its authors William Lederer and Eugene Burdick....the conscience of America circa 1960....it tried valiantly....and made its mark....but ultimately failed...."We're keeping the oil."
             I'm going to give the ultimate spoiler in this post in case you think you may want to see the DVD. The setting is a fictitious Southeast Asian nation but it is Vietnam. Brando is the new ambassador who believes that developing the natural resources of the country will ensure democracy....and stop the communist domino effect. His great friend from their service in World War II is the most popular figure in the country....but with no official position....who leads the renewal revolutionary movement that just wants Sarkhans to determine the future of the Sarkhanese.
           Here's the spoiler....Brando....Ambassador MacWhite....in one of his finest performances....finds out at the end of the film that he has been wrong....even though his intentions were good. His great friend....played by Japanese actor Eiji Okada.....also wonderfully acted.....finds out that he also was wrong. Both were good men....with differing opinions....but both were duped in one way or another. There is a third important character....the Prime Minister of Sarkhan.....played by a Thai actor.....again wonderfully acted....who in real life would years later become the Prime Minister of Thailand!
           At the very end of the film....after Ambassador MacWhite realizes the mistakes that he made....still a good and principled man....and being interviewed by American reporters in Sarkhan....looks into the camera....and is about to give experienced advice about American foreign policy to Americans watching back home. The camera cuts to a typical home in America with the television on....and a man standing there watching MacWhite being interviewed after an explosive climax in Sarkhan's political situation. We all....the film's viewers....are waiting to hear his advice....when the man in that typical American home.....bored with this political news....walks over to the television.....and turns it off.....The End!
            I review this film here for one reason. We are that man who just walks over and turns the television off....because it demands a little too much of his attention. We're not interested in what would happen if China collapses....we just want what's ours....or if war breaks out in the Middle East....or even in the entire world. We on our side are not interested in Donald Trump's past....and circumnavigate his present....to ensure his future. We're more interested about where Tom Brady goes than the national debt....and not concerned at all that Trump was outraged by the figure during the campaign but is now sending it into orbit. We in evangelicalism are not really interested....anymore....in church history.....or doctrine....ugh....divisive....and especially not warnings of any sort.....unless it's something that might hinder our best life now. We in effect just walk over and turn off the information.
           
    

Pour Your OIL IN THE SANCTUARY LORD

                                 
The following post is from November of 2016:

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

Note: I'd like to recommend a particular Charles Spurgeon sermon to listen to as so many people all of a sudden have some time on their hands. You can listen to this reading by Googling Spurgeon sermon, What is your life. It's fifty minutes long but please don't think that after a half hour you have the gist of his message to all men....for the last seven minutes or so are what we should hear today in our pulpits.
         

DO NOT READ.....AMERICAN OLIGARCHS!

Preface: The way that it usually works is that it takes a few weeks or months for stories to start coming out on what actually transpired in the White House during this crisis or that crisis. Then a year passes and the full story comes out in book form....which we invariably ignore and call fake news. So we'll have to wait to hear about President Trump's tirades and demands over the past few weeks....and what will happen behind closed doors in the weeks ahead....but if you take the time to sit down and read America Oligarchs you will see how Donald Trump has always operated....and it's not a pretty sight....and it's not what we are led to believe on obscurantist talk radio. That America right now has a choice of Joe Biden or Donald Trump to move into or to continue to occupy that Oval Office is judgment on us from God. It's is what we want....it is what we deserve. This chaos in America did not begin three weeks ago....nor did it begin when Donald Trump was inaugurated. When we start trusting in ourselves....in our own powers....chaos takes root. The very last words that John Kennedy was to give in that speech never given in Dallas were...."The righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago....'Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." The full verse in Psalm 127....in the King James Version that Kennedy was quoting....."Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

            I use the trunk and tailgate on whatever vehicle I'm driving for advertising of these posts....and have done so for at least a decade. The URL will be there along with a message that I change often....for the past few months it has been.....TRUMP...FOOL ME ONCE...NOT TWICE....with an ichthys fish symbol below 'ME' to show that I am an evangelical.
            OK.....having laid some groundwork here....Mark Levin's Liberty & Tyranny was published in 2013. It was one terrific book directed at Progressivism's destructive agenda which is really tyranny. So the message that I choose for my tailgate was.....DO NOT READ LIBERTY & TYRANNY....as I was trying to draw attention to the book. Well I received a message on my company email from a lady whom I did not know....(it's a big place).....she very politely told me that she disagreed with me telling her or anyone what not to do....so she was going right out to buy the book I told her not to read. I went out of my way to find her....(I never used company email for personal communications)....and introduced myself....and explained what I was trying to do. She might have been a little bit embarrassed but we had a nice conversation. So.....DO NOT READ AMERICAN OLIGARCHS....The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power....by Andrea Bernstein!
             I know that regular visitors here are sick of hearing this....but I have to repeat it often for new visitors....I'll try to make it real short....we evangelicals knew hardly anything about Donald Trump in 2016....other than the outrageous celebrity on tabloid covers and television. When he as a newly inaugurated President threatened on Twitter to work against the reelection of the Freedom Caucus....the most dependable caucus that we had in the Congress....because they would not rubber stamp his fake Obamacare repeal and replace bill....I started reading....sixty-five books so far....books for him....books against him....and books just about him. Folks....if you don't read about Trump....you will remain in the dark....which is where he wants you....but if you do start to read about him....you will see that we have been duped.
            I could easily recommend here a dozen books on where to start.....but I'll use American Oligarchs....for this book will not only take you through the rise of the Trump empire....and Donald Trump's rise to the White House....but the rise of the Kushner empire as well. You will see Jared and Ivanka as they really are. Give yourself a week to read it.....and that is if you are a fast reader.....for you may have to put it down at times out of sheer discouragement....over the mistake you made in not seeing during the primaries who Donald Trump was....and in continuing to support him for the past three years even though there was warnings and evidence all around us....and in not trusting in God....but in man....in ourselves....and you might even see how not only have we not changed him....as some of us had hoped....but he has changed us.....evangelicals and conservatives....for we are no longer rigorous thinkers....no longer vigilant....but just followers....taking orders.....mesmerized....believing everything told us without examination....and ready to lower the boom on anyone who so much as questions our wonderful leader.

....Down Under

            I visited beautiful Sydney, Australia twice in the early 1970s while in the army. I'll relate this one experience that I had on my second R&R. The Sydney Opera House that was situated between two coves in Sydney Harbour was built but not in operation as of yet. I was taking in the city one sunny afternoon....standing on an observation point across from one of those coves....admiring the opera house....when a man came up to me....I remember him as maybe being in his mid-to late 30s. He introduced himself to me as a pastor of a local church. Now I was into weightlifting at the time....and the pastor recognized me as one of the many American servicemen wandering about the city. (I wouldn't have been mistaken for Barry Gibb) He told me that his congregation had just purchased a set of weights and some equipment for the youth....and thought that the young boys might be interested in an American servicemen giving them some basic instructions on weightlifting. I had $500 burning a hole in my pocket....was probably waiting for Happy Hour to begin....and politely declined. He politely persisted...."would I give an hour or so to help the youth of the church?" I declined once again....and have not only been ashamed of and regretted that selfishness ever since....but on many occasions lifted that pastor up in prayer to the King of Kings....and Lord of Lords....whom he knew....but I at the time had only heard about.
              I related this story in a little more detail early on in these posts of eleven years. It must have struck a chord in Internet visitors from Australia for there were 'hits' from Down Under all the time.....that totaled up to 3770.....but then abruptly stopped a few years ago.....and I haven't had a single visitor to these posts from Australia since then....not one visitor. So I researched this and found that Australia has moved into some serious Internet censorship where they first sought voluntary monitoring by Internet service providers....but then started legislating....and I think that the issue is still debated over there. So....after going from 3770 hits....to zero hits....it appears that something in these Christian and political posts may have offended someone....or a word or a phrase did not pass through a filter.
             I fully expect that someday....and probably soon....we will all be under strict censorship.....and then God's hands will be tied. Now....hopefully you know I don't mean that. In fact God seems to use just such measures that are meant to stymie the spread of the gospel....to do the opposite....to exponentially increase the spread of the good news in Jesus Christ!
             Permit me please to segue here....for it appears to us to be the case....(this is what we are told anyway).....that all would be lost if a Democrat replaces Donald Trump....and Democrats rule the Congress....but God often strips us of all our worldly armor and weapons and power....to humble us....so that we might return to Him....and be given a new set of armor. Yes....we may no longer have a knight's armor ....but then we may more easily be able to kneel! God may have mercy upon us....and He may not....but this is for certain....He will not permit us to navigate this tempest that we are in by a sextant....or by the stars....or by GPS....and we should be so very thankful for that....for only He can bring us safely to harbour!

Public Service Announcement

            I'll use this Lord's Day post as a public service announcement....what not to do if you do not want to wind up like me. Do not....ever....Google up and listen to a Charles Haddon Spurgeon sermon! You may say that one little old sermon won't hurt but one sermon would lead to another....and then eventually you would be hooked.....listening to them all the time....and you won't be going to Trump rallies anymore....or coming home from church on a day like tomorrow....spending the day preparing all the snacks....and then watching the Super Bowl.
            It's not only Spurgeon.....stay away from Martyn Lloyd-Jones....and Iain Murray....and George Whitefield....and D. A. Carson....and O. Palmer Robertson....and R. C. Sproul....and anyone really who might go back fifty years and further! I can only warn you. Right now you think that what you are getting on Sunday mornings is good....not great but hey it's only words....stay alert....be on your guard.....or this can happen to you!
            You might also want to stay away from the Old Testament prophets....for if you read two or three of these in a row then you might start seeing America in the rebellious people described in these books. No....just keep on keeping on like we are used to today. No need to worry about Billy Graham anymore. A nice giant church with a great sound system and a latte bar is where it's at.
             One piece of good news for you.....there are practically no Christian bookstores anymore. That's what got me way back when. My wife was shopping at J.C. Penney and I just walked the strip mall until I stopped in at one of those bookstores....one thing led to another and here I am! You're safe ordering Christian books on the Internet.....The Paradigm.....things like that that you heard about on TV....for I remember....once again way back in the day....this one Christian bookstore that had all these little books that had a picture of a man on the spine with a robe on....his right hand extended....and a Bible in his left hand....Banner Of Truth books....it got to be where I'd look specifically for books with that man on the spine.
            Let's see.....what else to recommend so that you don't wind up like me? Stay away from gty.org...ligonier.org....whitehorseinn.org....and to be safe just stay away from Christian radio altogether. Fill your life with talk radio and you'll be alright.

Note: There are certainly good programs on Christian television....it's just that the medium itself is meant to be more of a visual feast.....or the image over the word....and therefore false teachers tend to congregate there.

Update: I'll recommend the Spurgeon sermon that I listened to just this morning.....The Voice From Heaven. If you Google....Spurgeon, The Voice From Heaven, YouTube....it will be right there for you to listen to.
            

False Evidence That Demands A Verdict

            It's a hard book to read....because it is so in error and beyond speculative....God, Trump, and the 2020 Election....Why He Must Win and What's at Stake for Christians if He Loses....by Stephen Strang....the founder of popular longtime charismatic magazine Charisma.....of which I read faithfully back in the 1980s....before I saw that it was God's sovereignty that reigned in Scripture....and not our intuition. The author hits every angle in defense of a second term. The necessity of originalist Supreme Court justices probably leads the way....but all the charismatic prophets running around....prophesying about Donald Trump....are right up there with it.
           There's a couple of ways to address this book. On the spiritual side....the charismatic will love this stuff....most of the evangelicals will fall for it....but the Christian who hasn't left the Reformation behind....as the first sentence here implies....would have trouble even reading it through. The following....unfortunately....is probably powerful 'evidence' from the book to most of that first group of readers...."When Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946, it was exactly seven hundred days later that Israel was reborn on May 14, 1948. On Trump's first full day in office he was seventy years, seven months, and seven days was inaugurated in the Hebrew year 5777....he beat Hillary Clinton by seventy electoral votes....because seven electors defected." Folks....has anyone even considered that maybe God permitted the enemy to orchestrate this 'evidence?'
           On the political side....it's very typical talk radio obfuscation of the bad and exaggeration of the rest. When I look at the last thee years I see political chaos everywhere because the man in office is not only incompetent....but a con man. I see nonsense on North Korea....ignorance on the national debt....chaos in the State Department....and purging in the Department of Justice. I see dozens of well-known and well-respected diplomats and statesmen....and public servants....dragged through the mud by Brother Trump's Traveling Salvation Show. I see evangelicalism taken in by a pied piper....and a once valuable talk radio turned into a propagandafest....and a conservative movement neutered through power and greed. I see a perspicuous Mueller Report....from an honorable man....that is an indictment if you read it....but somehow labeled a 'nothingburger'....and I see that honorable man ridiculed and trashed by a man who joked about his own avoiding the draft....and I see veterans missing all this.
           On the 'personal' side....in my seventy years I have not seen nor even read about....with the possible exception of Nebuchadnezzar....King of Babylon....anyone with a narcissism as has Donald Trump...."Look what I have built!"....but the book in its blindness....only sees a "unique personality." I have never seen anyone able to lie so consistently.....with no conscience at all....but the book incredibly describes him as one who courageously stands for truth....this a man who has the mentality of a mobster who can flatter out of one side of his mouth....and send out enforcers from the other.....but again the book only sees this as a "brusque billionaire" and an "alpha male."
           Just one example here of many....God, Trump, and the 2020 Election at one point is very critical of how radicals 'stigmatize' their opponents....such as Donald Trump.....as a tactic. How can the author possibly write this and at the same time be oblivious to that same man....Donald Trump.....who is almost a mirror image in his tactics of Saul Alinsky? This type of cognitive dissonance....missing the forest for the trees....permeates the book.
           God has taken away our discernment. We now have an evangelical community who not that many decades ago knew that judgment was nigh upon America for what we have become....but today....wherein we are ten times more in rebellion to God.....believe that God all of a sudden has blessings ahead for us.....through Donald Trump....who is not just 'imperfect' as we excuse him as....but almost perfectly deceitful in all his ways.
           On the practical element....the book....as do apparently most republicans today....seems to think that one has no choice but to vote for a second term. It assumes that an alternative of something terrible must be good.....or at least better. That indeed can be the case but one cannot assume that it is the case....for both alternatives can be terrible....and that is what God has given us....two alternatives that are judgments. What we Christians are in effect saying....is that God must use a political process....that He must use might and power! Anyone know of a Scripture verse that might apply here?
           This election is not the determining issue that we believe it is. The issue is whether or not we as a nation will in numbers large enough humble ourselves before God. It's not in our installing a new Trump establishment party that would point to any kind of repentance....but rather that we would instead see our own culpability in America's condition and humble ourselves....for it would not matter who becomes President....or who controls Congress....or who sits on the Supreme Court.
           God paired down Gideon's army for just this reason....He surrounded Elisha with His angels to protect him....He commanded Noah to build that Ark to save him....He gave courage to that young boy David....that David might exalt Him....He blinded the pharisee Saul so that he would see....He gave Peter the prophesy of the cock crowing so that he would be humbled....He gave Luther those words....."Here I stand....I can do no other"....to return to the church the Gospel of Jesus Christ....He used a common tinker in Bunyan to inspire generations....He gave Whitefield that booming voice....He gave Spurgeon that gift of preaching....He does not need electoral votes....he laughs at the arrogance of Donald Trump....and He curses the plans of the Democrats.
           Thirty-eight years ago I ambled into a Christian bookstore out of curiosity....and walked out with the classic apologetic Evidence That Demands A Verdict. It contained evidence....through logic and reasoning....that God used to transform my thinking. The evidence that we use today for Donald Trump supports our biases....not truth. It is a contorted evidence....selective....misguided....that does indeed demand a verdict....its own preconceived verdict.

DISPATCHES

White House Bible Study: Evangelicals in President Trump's administration regularly attend....when possible....a Wednesday Bible study led by a well-known Christian ministry leader. Now....we evangelicals cheer things like this.....most of us.....not me. Why is it that these men....most probably in their 50s or 60s....or as Jeff Sessions was while in the administration....in his 70s....who have probably been churchgoers for multiple decades....and taught their own Bible study in their own churches....why do they all of a sudden need a generic Bible study?  Well I'll tell you why and you probably won't like it. American Christianity has been so dumbed-down that it rarely goes beyond the milk of the Word....unless they are gnostic in nature....teaching false spectacular doctrines of men and demons. Add to this that there is an ultra-powerful conservative lobby in Washington....posing as a Christian ministry....very secretive....that are indeed experts....but not in Christianity....rather in promoting their brand of a  'Christian' America. My advice to these men such as say....Mike Pompeo or Vice President Pence....is to move out of first grade.....I'm promoting you....your intentions are good but you have to put the effort and research in and teach yourselves....and your family....and then bring your own knowledge into the White House....that sorely needs it. One last thing....the White House Bible study leader is in the news for allegedly blaming God's wrath in the virus on the sins of the liberal. If this is so it would be typical....for it is always the other people that need to repent....and that God will judge....not us....not conservatives.

Mark Levin: I was able to actually listen in last night for more than a few minutes....this because we agree on this unbelievable....forget that.....these things are not unbelievable anymore....bailout bill added to attempts to help people seriously affected by the business shutdown. In these few minutes he demonstrated again....as most radio hosts have for three years now....a refusal to include President Trump in the responsibilities of his own people. This from last night....he lambasted the Democrats and the RINOs....and Mnuchin....but totally absolved President Trump....who hours ago tweeted...."96-0 in the United States Senate. Congratulations AMERICA." Mark actually said that when they have these meetings that Donald Trump is the smartest man in the room. We have for three years now totally absolved President Trump....and blamed either Republicans or bad choices in personnel that he made. Here's part of the problem. A few months ago I sat aghast as Mark said...."I adore that man." Folks....how many stories have you heard....maybe a young man or woman that you knew.....maybe a son or a daughter....who fell madly in love with someone that you....in your experience of life....knew was no good. There was nothing that you could say to dissuade them....they marry....and wind up either beaten down their entire life or they divorce? Maybe at the time they needed that glamorous girl or charismatic man.....and that desire blinded them. Well we desperately need Donald Trump....or so we believe....and that has blinded us.

Wall Street has become a bona fide....biblical idol....a golden calf....an Ashtoreth pole. We are not literally bowing down before it but it's the same as abortion as we do not put our babies into the fire but we sacrifice them just the same. This is not capitalism folks. This has evolved into a gross distortion based on pure greed. This is where the money is made. You don't even have to pick a stock....or even know what they are....just choose the level of risk. If the Dow 30 goes up....you probably go up. Robots are making decisions. Algorithmic trading.....artificial intelligence....can make quicker decisions to make us money. If we pay homage to it....if we give our offerings to it....as we are doing....it will bless us.

It was thirty-five years ago that I listened to music on earphones while running....praise music....lyrics repeated over and over and over again. It was effective in that it kept me going around that track....and maybe it had a positive effect on me....physically for sure....but spiritually I don't think so. I don't run anymore because of my knees but I do the treadmill and power walk. I have wireless headphones on today.....and honestly I don't think that I have exercised a single time in the last year without those headphones on.....but there is a big difference between yesterday and today. Whereas it used to be the powerful rhythmic praise music....today it's sermons....by trusted pastors mostly of yesteryear. Where I used to be whipped almost into a frenzy by the haunting choruses....today I am laid low with a peace in its fullness that only the preached Word of God can
give.

More Than One Sickness: President Trump is as I type tearing Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie limb from limb on twitter. The same congressman who said that James Comey should be in jail before some of the others....and who did his part to help President Trump out of the impeachment mess. The President is demanding Massie be thrown out of the Republican Party! There are two lessons here.....one....you do not oppose or hinder in any way a tyrant....especially a tyrant with severe psychological disorders including but not limited to malignant narcissism.....and two....if you are in the public eye and think that President Trump likes you....just keep on praising him.....for he needs that like he needs water....or he will turn on you with a vengeance. Mark Meadows was smart.....President Trump once threatened his reelection for opposing the fake Obamacare repeal and replace bill....(March of 2017).....but Meadows then got on board....and now he is Trump's Chief of Staff.

Update: So they passed this bill....without even recording the votes....and now we know how these people will react in future emergencies. If we only had a chip on our hands we wouldn't have to handle that dirty money with germs on it. Don't expect a vote on it though.

We have before us somewhat of a revolt of the nobility....the Pelosi/Schumers and the Trump parties....each claiming only to want to help the disadvantaged....each upending precepts and order that had served us well....one-upping each other in their excesses. Let's hope and pray that it does not lead to a reign of that which we do not yet know. There was an old joke that used to make the rounds of evangelical circles....that we might want to at least reflect upon as we turn on the full force of the fire hoses towards the smoke. As I remember it there is a gathering of ministers in a community setting....smoke is detected in the hall....a Baptist minister jumps up and yells...."Fire!".....A Methodist minister jumps up and yells...."Water!".....and then a Presbyterian minister jumps up and yells...."Order!"

President Trump's comments on China yesterday were complementary and positive. Folks you never know if he'll be tearing Xi Jinping apart or praising him.....or anyone else for that matter. One take on Donald Trump that I've had....after reading sixty-five books on him....on every part of his life....since it became apparent in March of 2017 that he was not who he said that he was....is that everything to him is just part of the latest deal....and nothing exists that is not part of some kind of deal. Truth is worse than a waste of time....and just gets in the way.  He is completely soulless....with no empathy whatsoever....having only a fake caring persona to take on at times....when the deal calls for it.  Therefore China is not good or bad apart from how they are at that time affecting the present deal. That's my take.....after sixty-five books. You have your own opinion. It maybe completely different. That's the way it should work with freedom of speech....but with a man like Donald Trump in charge....the day will eventually come when you cannot say anything against him. We're already seeing evidence of this for as soon as a Republican or conservative criticizes him for anything....that Republican or conservative is attacked as a cow that might have strayed into a Piranha infested river.

We should all be aware by now of the war that President Trump has waged against our intelligence agencies....for we are told that they are all Deep State....and a purging has been in the process where some of the top experienced people have been replaced with Trump supporters that are not as experienced....who would not as likely challenge him. A former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence....Frank Figliuzzi.....wrote an opinion piece titled....As Coronavirus Deaths Mount, Trump's Handling Of Intelligence Warnings Looks Worse And Worse." The gist of the article is that there have been warnings from intelligence agencies....but that President Trump doesn't trust our intelligence agencies....so the warnings may not have been taken seriously. I don't know if this man is correct or not....or even honest....but I know that the beginning of his argument is correct....Donald Trump considers many of these people his personal enemy....and he thinks that he is smarter than them anyway. Mr Figliuzzi is a National Security Contributor to Fox News.....so he should be listened to....Oh....that's incorrect.....he's actually a National Security Contributor to NBC.....so he should not be listened to.

To Send Out Missionaries Or Not

The following post is from June of 2019:       

             The scene is a very modest meeting room with a long twelve or maybe fifteen foot wooden table....with simple and plain wooden chairs all around it. There's nothing else in the room....no coffee maker or wall hangings or anything. It was hot and there was no air conditioning in the room. The men sitting straight in those chairs seemed to be choosing their words carefully.....should they send missionaries out to this specific country or not?
             They parsed over the 'pros' and 'cons' of sending missionaries. As for the 'pros'....'they speak the same language......and it's a very big country that surely does need to hear the gospel.' Then as for the 'cons'....'this country has never really had missionaries sent to it.....not for a few hundred years anyway....so how would the people react to a missionary coming in and telling them that they wanted to teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ......and then teaching them how to proclaim this gospel from pulpits'.
            This was to be the last of a number of meetings on this......the final decision had to be made this night. The men took turns praying in the sweltering heat. They determined an odd way to cast their final vote. Flowers were in a basket on one end of the table.....bright yellow flowers.....and rich red flowers.....all with long stems. The basket was passed around the table. If a man's decision was to send missionaries to this country he would take a yellow flower and place it in a wooden jar at the center of the table. If he thought that the Lord was not directing them to do this then would take a red flower and put it in the container.
           The basket was passed around and returned to the man moderating the meeting. Bright white teeth on gleaming smiles shown on all the faces as the wooden vase in the center of the table was now holding a beautiful bouquet of yellow flowers. They would send their missionaries to the United States of America....to evangelize....yes....to preach the gospel but also to teach others by example how to preach the majesty of Jesus Christ....and the cross that paid for our sins....and the empty tomb that secured our mercies....and also by example....how one not only assents to the return of our Lord and Savior.....but desires that over His tarrying further.

I often add an addendum to a post such as this. There are wonderful missionary organizations here in America that do extraordinary work throughout the world....and this is an understatement....but it is also only half of this story....for  on the whole we have let our own nation crumble....as our own congregations are malnourished....with faddish movements everywhere....from a doctrinally impotent conversational Christianity geared to the young....to a spiritual feminism directed at women. Cross-centered Christianity has been replaced by a bible study-centered Christianity....and it is past time to turn some of our attention to our own condition. The above post is not without evidence as I have on a number of occasions over a few decades either talked to or read about missionaries who made similar comments....with one pastor in an African country....recently....after seeing disastrous results from our exporting our faddish theologies over to them....expressing the exact thoughts in the above post.

Jesus Christ Superstore

The following post is from April of 2018. It may be that we in the church are starting to see that things are not as rosy as we had been led to believe. We need introspection....I need introspection. We do not need a high production 'day of prayer' or any of the abysmal national prayer breakfasts....for we do not know anywhere near the extent of the trouble that is headed our way....nor do we do not know for what to pray....and have found a more practical source of information than the Spirit of God. We need preaching from men who have found their lost unction. We need humiliation....not ecumenism. 

           The 1971 musicals Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar reflected something that was happening in American culture as the calamitous 60s came to an end. It was an interesting subject....this Jesus. Neither production would touch or was even concerned with the resurrected Jesus....for He was merely the Barack Obama or the Donald Trump of that time period. Ten years later the Academy Award winner for Best Picture....and Best Original Score.....Chariots Of Fire.....reflected a new phase in America's religious scene. Jesus was no longer a clown or a conflicted martyr....He was the Lord of the Sabbath.....and the Lord of Glory!
           Godspell originated on the very agnostic Carnegie-Mellon University campus. Jesus Christ Superstar was the product of people who had no real religious interest. The Executive Producer of Chariots Of Fire was Dodi Fayad who later died in a car wreck along with Princess Diana.
           Since then we have gone through our blasphemous Last Temptation and mystical The Passion phases. Today we are in a 'feel good' phase.....Paul: Apostle Of Christ being a welcomed diversion. We were a music-driven culture in the 50s and half of the 60s until the Beatles became more image than music and took us along with them. That's where we are today....increasingly an image-driven culture....Donald Trump being a colossus granite statue with clay feet. Conservatism in the 80s tried to construct a foundation upon which to build but even that proved porous.....Rush Limbaugh being evidence of how easily man can be overwhelmed by the image.
            Our moorings had come loose and we drifted under a moonlit sky towards the open sea......once a frigate we had been converted into a party boat.....no longer in a safe harbor....and with a raging tempest brewing....we scurry to set our sails only to find out that they have rotted. We rush to the stern...to awaken our Master to ask....."do you not care that we are perishing".....but He is not there....we look out on the waves but He is not there either.....we look for Jonah to throw overboard.....to quell the storm.....or for Paul for instructions.....but neither are on board.
           Jesus Christ was the safe harbor that we drifted away from....and the only foundation from  which to build upon. That which we are building upon today.....Make America Great Again....is already collapsing before our very eyes. The 80s were our last hurrah. Christian publishing embarked upon a prolonged period of good sound literature...and teaching that addressed our minds.....and weaned us for a time away from the image. We reveled in the discovery of the sovereignty of God in all things....were humbled before the descriptions of His holiness.....and we set to work to rebuild the church.....but were soon captivated by how big we could grow our churches.....and then we were waylaid by politics....and finally we were lured into the new Jesus Christ Superstore....where you can get anything that you want.....and where the customer is always right.

("Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life'.")

Today We....Search Talk Radio.....To See Whether These Things Be So

            If you have never read a Charles Haddon Spurgeon sermon.....or heard someone preach one of his sermons on YouTube....I recommend that you give it a try....for there has been no preacher like him in the church over the last two centuries at least. He was called The Prince Of Preachers for a reason. I have yet to find a pastor who knew of Spurgeon....whose face did not light up at the mere mention of his name....although I have unfortunately met a number of pastors....primarily in mainline denominations.....who did not know who he was.

            Charles Spurgeon was born in England in 1834. A churchgoer as a youth.....although not 'saved'....he ventured into a small local congregation on a snowy wintry day when he could not get to his own church....and heard a sermon by an old....uneducated in preaching....elder of the church....for the regular pastor could not make it to his church in the snow. Charles Spurgeon was converted that day....by the reading and stumbling commentary on Isaiah 45:22...."Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else"

            The Holy Spirit moved upon Charles Spurgeon right from the beginning of his ministry. He preached for over forty years to the common folk....and to royalty....and to Prime Ministers....and huge congregations. His sermons were sent immediately by the Atlantic Telegraph Cable to America. Someone transcribed these sermons as he preached.....and after the service Spurgeon would go over that transcript.....and add corrections if necessary. As I type I'm looking at a genuine copy of one of those pages....ink splotch and all...on the wall in front of me....a gift from our son. Spurgeon said that he read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....100 times! To my left I'm looking at a series of four beautiful graphic map renditions of Christian's journey from that book....also on the wall....and also a gift from our son.

               Spurgeon was involved in a great controversy late in his life. His wife believed it contributed to the illness that caused his death. The church was sliding on a great downgrade into a modern liberal gospel. He was censured by the same ministerial group of which his preaching and theological school had been instrumental in supplying many of its members....and this rebuke from them....was for his defending the gospel of Jesus Christ! The great Anglican preacher J. C. Ryle warned right along with Spurgeon....but the people would not heed these warnings....just as we today will not heed the warnings on the downgrade in today's church in America.

            American theologian and scholar from the first half of the twentieth century J. Gresham Machen was actually defrocked....for challenging the liberal element in the Presbyterian church. Billy Graham had more than his share of criticism and ridicule....and R. C. Sproul was thought by some of his peers to be deranged.

          I've written this post to Christians....to tell them this....that there will be times....and this is certainly one of them....when you have to break away from the crowd....and not only think for yourselves....but stand up for what you will find to be right....even if it appears that you are the only one to do so....for we may be 'saved'....and our essential theology may be sound....but if we do not remain vigilant....at all times....we can take a wrong path.....and follow a wrong movement....and that unfortunately is exactly what has happened in our unwavering and unquestioning support today for a genuine biblical false prophet....Donald Trump....who uses the word 'God' all the time....repeating incessantly that we are...."One glorious nation under God".....and prophesying that the best is yet to come....when God's Word says the opposite....but unlike the Bereans who went to Scripture....we go no further than talk radio to see if these things that he says are true.

Lord's Day Post

     

             Nebuchadnezzar had taken the majority of the Jews back to Babylon with him after the fall of Jerusalem....but some Jews remained in the land....including Jeremiah. The leaders of the Jews got themselves into some trouble.....and were worried that Nebuchadnezzar would come right back and kill them all....so these leaders went to Jeremiah.....who had long prophesied the fall of Jerusalem....and been proven God's prophet....and asked him to inquire of the LORD what they should do.....escape to Egypt or stay? They even promised to obey whatever Jeremiah tells them that the LORD tells him!
             So Jeremiah went to seek an answer of the LORD for this question that the leaders of the Jews posed to him. He came back ten days later....and told the leaders of the Jews that God said to stay....that they would be safe. Why did the leaders of the Jews even ask this of Jeremiah to ask of the LORD....for as soon as they heard the LORD's answer....they called Jeremiah a liar....and went off to Egypt.....and took Jeremiah with them....who continued to prophesy to them from the LORD....bad news.....Nebuchadnezzar would find them....and they would die....and he did....and they did.
             What does this episode in Jeremiah's long life have to do with us? Well consider this....we agonizingly debated among ourselves during the 2016 primaries....should we vote for a Ted Cruz or a Ben Carson or a Marco Rubio....or should we go to Egypt. Had we gone to God's Word we would have been able to make a legitimate choice....but we instead went to popular books of the day....by leaders of the day....that said that God was telling us to go to the world....to Donald Trump....who would be to us a Jehu....so off we went to Egypt. We don't have a Jeremiah today....but we have a lot of Baruchs....who can read Jeremiah's words to us. (You can read about this beginning around the 40th chapter of Jeremiah)

Note: You might ask the Lord on this Lord's Day if Donald Trump is a false prophet....or ask Him if we are truly "one glorious nation under God".....or if America is as we are told so often "the greatest nation ever on the face of the earth"....ask Him in prayer if our "best days are ahead of us".....ask Him if we even should be hoping to keep "winning winning winning"....and even if this that we have is "winning winning winning?" Ask the Lord if we may have fallen for a grand delusion? Ask Him if His Second Coming might be as much as 100 years away.....or even 50 years....or even 20 years....or is it possible that He might be mounted even now.....along with His holy angels? Ask Him what church from Revelation's letters to the seven churches that we might be....for we are one of them....or a combination thereof? This would just be conversation in prayer with Him....asking Him questions.....seeking answers....and hoping for mercies of wisdom....for His name' sake....and for His glory alone.

The Last Convert Of John Harper

"...and this world certainly has disasters ahead of it."  These words are part of the last paragraph of this post. Now how did I know that? Well....you would first have to ask that question to the multitudes of faithful ministers from many decades past who preached that from their pulpits....or if you look you will find plenty of Christians who knew this....or you could go to God's word yourself. It's too late to ask Billy Graham or R. C. Sproul but you could read some of what they had written on this subject.  I will add this because it is part of the original biblical scenario. We need our pulpits to implore of their congregations to admit to God in our prayers....our rebellion to Him at worst....or at best our dalliance and presumption upon Him.

         The following post is about two years old. If you were to take away the prospects of world war....and a worldwide global economic collapse.....and any other man-made or natural disaster that may come about in this violent and chaotic age we are living in.....if you ignores all that and just consider the cultural and technological age with artificial intelligence and drones and the total lack of privacy....you...I don't believe....would be able to look forward in any way to the future. Add to this the war that is surely ahead along with the pending New World Order....and you must....if you are a Christian.....no matter how financially secure you are.....plead for the Lord Jesus to return soon. Much of the church was like this a few decades ago but we have assimilated into the culture. I don't expect the average visitor to these posts to agree with me....but we are currently in a downward spiral....and I do believe that each and every day more Christians are  girding up their loins for what appears to be ahead.

          I have a few peripheral fascinations in life and one of them would be the Titanic. I never saw the James Cameron film. Oh I did pay for a ticket and sit in one of the comfortable seats with every intention of watching the movie but I walked out about a half hour into the film as its message started to unfold. I watched the 1958 black and white A Night To Remember when I was a child.....and I watched it again for the umpteenth time last night.
         With a little research I came up with this quote from the main female character in the Cameron film..."....there was a man named Jack Dawson and that he saved me...in every way that a person can be saved." It put in my mind a real life quote from the sinking of the Titanic. I've written about this before. John Harper was a British Baptist pastor and passenger on the Titanic. He was headed to America as a guest preacher with the possibility of accepting a call at a famous American church. He was travelling with his six year old daughter for he was a widower. After he placed his daughter in a lifeboat it is reported that he shouted "women, children, and the unsaved into the lifeboats."
         It is also reported that as he swam up to other people, and as hypothermia was setting is, he challenged them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was a meeting of survivors in Ontario, Canada a few years after the disaster. One man stood up and testified how John Harper swam up to him twice as he was holding on to debris and said "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." John Harper....with no life vest for he had given it to another....sank to his death. The man giving this testimony was rescued by a returning lifeboat. He told the gathering this..."I am the last convert of John Harper." Yes, I walked out of Cameron's film and will never view it.
         I believe that the sinking of the Titanic was a message to Britain and to America. Everyone thought that the great ship was unsinkable. Two world wars followed. The space shuttle Challenger had a multi-cultural crew...male and female...scientist, military and civilian...Caucasian, Asian, African-American...Christian, Jewish and Buddhist. Those iconic pictures of the breakup of the Challenger are still hard to look at.
         We don't seem to learn from disasters of the past but we do sometimes learn when we are in them....and this world certainly has disasters ahead of it. May the church begin to prepare.....and be encouraged with the same words that Paul gave those on his stricken ship.....only to us they point to eternal life...."Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship,"
       

         

".....But The Real Cross Of Christ Is Not There"

The following post is almost six years old.
   
          Th Chapel Library is a ministry that according to its own pamphlets...."Send (s) Christ centered materials from prior centuries worldwide." I'd like to quote the 19th century Anglican preacher J. C. Ryle from some materials that I just received from them:

          "You may know a good deal about Jesus Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where he was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophesies, and His ordinances. you may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ's cross by experience, unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins, unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on that work that Christ did upon the cross-unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing.... you must know His cross and His blood, or else you will die in your sins."

           The Reverend Ryle, who preached at the same time and in the same city as Charles Spurgeon....and in the same truth....and with the same warnings to a modern church....continued:

           "As long as you live, beware of a religion in which there is not much of the cross (emphasis his).....there is carved oak and sculptured stone; there is stained glass and brilliant painting; there are solemn services and a constant round of ordinances; but the real cross of Christ is not there. Jesus Christ is not proclaimed in the pulpit. The Lamb of God is not lifted up, and salvation by faith in Him is not freely proclaimed. And hence, all is wrong......Do not be ashamed of the 'old paths' in which men walked who were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Let not the vague talk of modern teachers who speak great swelling words about 'catholicity' and 'the church' disturb your peace and make you loose your hands from the cross."

Three Score And Ten

Preface: I have been in the habit for quite some time when at the movies to wait in my chair until every last credit scrolls by.....don't ask me why.....but it came in handy tonight after seeing The Last Full Measure.....because I don't like to dab tears in public.....and this few minutes after the film tonight let them dry on their own. It was one of the better Vietnam movies that I've seen....this from someone who cannot relate to the grunt in Vietnam....but I can relate to what went on because of my eighteen months over there....and forty plus years studying it. These actors were about my age.....Ed Harris and Samuel L. Jackson and William Hurt and John Savage....and this ensemble would have been worth it even in a bad movie. Peter Fonda was able to view the film before he died.....and Christopher Plummer was wonderful as he was in Knives Out. The film does not seem to be at too many movie theaters....and who knows how long it will last....and that's too bad.     

           Well....I turned seventy. I've never paid much attention to birthday numbers before....not fifty or sixty....but seventy years old is more a milestone...."As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years..." (Psalm 90:10)
           That Psalm....the 90th.....begins book four of five books contained in the Psalms....I cannot recommend too highly a book on just this subject....The Flow Of The Psalms....Discovering Their Structure And Theology....by O. Palmer Robertson!
            In this book he describes Book Four of Psalms as.... "a resurgence of hope in the kingdom of the Davidic Messiah" Psalm 90:12....two verses later is...."So teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom." We are to realize that there is a limit to our days....so let us use them wisely.
            How long our life will be is a fair question for anyone to ponder upon....but how long will it be until the Lord returns in power and glory....how long until every tear is dried....until wars end....how long until the lamb lay down with the lion.....(to choose that phrase)....how long until the blood of the martyred saints is avenged....how long until our bodies are raised imperishable....how long until the Jewish people see and rejoice in their Messiah....how long until every knee shall bow....and every tongue give praise to God? I don't know the exact answer to these questions....other than....soon....but I know this....as of today....these answers will be seventy years less than they were the day that I was born....and I thank God for these three score and ten years....and the many blessings He has given....and many mercies He has shown!
              

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.