The Return....But To What

Preface: God has severely judged America....the world also....particularly Italy....but so far it's mostly in our way of life. In America....that which we are known for....that which is the basis for our constitution....is gone.  Government can now do what it wants. It can take our money....and confine us to our homes....if it deems an emergency worthy of such measures. It was designed to work for us....but now it owns us. All of the warnings from some Christians over the past half century on a one-world government....and buying and selling only if the government allows you to....all of this which was ignored at best and ridiculed at worst...is so real now that you can taste it. As for the church in America....we lost our moorings in the gospel of Jesus Christ itself....and in what God required of us as a people set apart....as we fashioned a gospel that fit nicely into our desires....and a patriotism that supported it....and having lost this way of life....we want it back....and will petition God for it....instead of admitting that what we had was not what God demanded of us. We cherish religious liberties...but not what God requires of those liberties.

The Return....But To What

          We do not schedule or orchestrate God's revivals. We schedule Woodstocks and Lollapaloozas and Creation Festivals.....but not awakenings. God does that. We pray for mercies.....but praying for a humbling is not the same as praying that our man wins an election. A world day of prayer and repentance is scheduled in our capitol for this September. They are calling it.....The Return. Not coincidentally it will beheld 40 days before the election of the man who this event is really about.
           I listened to Jonathan Cahn's very professional video presentation....typical as with haunting music and passing clouds and images of the Washington Monument and Old Glory and steeples topped with crosses. Music and the image sells well....but that's not where the power is. There were words that were true....there always is....in fact it's almost required....but there was also in the background of their vision a giant image of Donald Trump who would surely speak to the throng of believers.
           It may very well be that America is in full repentance on these ten days that are scheduled around the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.....but it won't be because of the orchestrated "sacred assembly."  It would be because God humbled us in spite of it....through other means. Were this not right at the election....and were it not Donald Trump....a man who prophesies great things....and who has entered the sheepfold....but not by the door....and who is therefore a robber and a thief....who leads evangelicals astray.....the effort could at least claim sincerity.
     
       

DISPATCHES

New: Donald Trump.....(news reports would generally say...'The White House'....but everything coming out of that plot of land is ordered by Donald Trump)....so Donald Trump blocked Dr Fauci from appearing before a House committee....but it appears that next month Donald Trump will let him appear before a friendlier Senate committee....and we conservatives....(former conservatives actually).....still don't think that there are serious psychological disorders in this man....and troubling Soviet style disinformation and show trials in the wind.

New: Michael Cohen was put in two-week isolation in order for release to home confinement because of Coronavirus concerns. We then learned that he was writing a book. Yesterday the Trump White House notified Cohen's lawyer that Cohen was to stop writing because he signed a non-disclosure agreement. Today there is a report that Cohen's release order to home confinement....along with all the others in his prison who also are in two-week isolation in anticipation of release....are still under review. We need to know if the White House is involved in this so that he won't be able to write his book. We need Woodward and Bernstein reporters. If they question the prison about it the answer will certainly be negative as to White House involvement....so it has to go beyond that. Like Cohen or not....this is serious stuff. We already saw how President Trump blundered into the Navy Seal case.....and don't forget the USS McCain issue in 2019 where an email was sent to hide the ship during the President's trip to Japan.

New: The Supreme Court is scheduled in two weeks to hear both sides on whether Trump's financial documents held buy banking institutions must be handed over to Congress. In a surprise move the Supreme Court asked for more briefs on the case. They could decide to hear the case and possibly overturn lower court decisions that said banks must turn over the documents....or they could agree with the lower court decisions....or they could opt out of hearing the case which could just let the lower court decisions stand. We know this for sure....Donald Trump....for whatever reason....does not want his financial history released to the public.
Have we totally forgotten how they had to lift the arms of Moses for the battle to go their way? Have we totally forgotten how God pared Gideon's army down to 300 men? God was driving it home that this wasn't them....this wasn't them! And there are more examples. "Oh no God"....we say...."we need Donald Trump.....even though there isn't an ounce of truth in him....even though he brings us right down in his own swamp....and we need the Supreme Court God....surely you cannot do anything without these things!"

JUSTIN AMASH....Michigan Congressman....a former republican who had enough of Donald Trump and is now an independent....should announce within a few days if he will run a third party race for president. The argument that not voting for Trump....(a man with severe psychological disorders and no truth grid in his life whatsoever)....is a vote for the democrat candidate....is meaningless. No government leader is going to stop God's judgment on us. This pandemic has not seemed to turn us in humility towards God at all. All we can do in this election....Lord willing we should have one....is hope that a God-fearing man is on the ballot. Practically speaking.....and I only have a half century of watching politics to go on....Amash could send the decision to the House of Representatives....where both major parties would fight against each other's candidate....and they might then have to compromise.
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WORLD WAR....BRING IT ON....Risking World War For Political Gain....this is how wars start. We supposedly were the greatest economy in the history of the world....but Trump wanted more....so we started a tariff war with China....and they were hurting. Then came the coronavirus. We may find out what China hid from the world....but we'll never know if they would have acted differently had not the US somehow tried to make the greatest economy ever....even greater. Now we need that economic boom back before the election....and China is the perfect foil to President Trump's many missteps....so Rush is stirring all his people up against China....and the President has his people out for blood....and they may get it....of course if war comes they will both deny they had anything to do with it. This issue has to be separated from the November election. Campaign rhetoric can lead to volleying recriminations....then to saving face retribution....and before you know what happened....war.

BEN SASSE....When I'm working around the house....and listening to Rush Limbaugh....I do so out of a radio station in Nebraska....(it was the first one to come up on Google).....and today a Ben Sasse campaign add came up. First of all the good news on this....Senator Sasse is one of the best we have in Congress.....and now the not so good news....even this handful has failed us miserably. In the case of Senator Sasse.....this man is not just an evangelical....he is a reformed evangelical....and not just a reformed evangelical.....a very learned and informed reformed evangelical....and he still failed the test. Yes he is known for opposing Donald Trump....but we needed someone to put his/her own political future on the line and actually challenge this dangerous movement and dangerous man. Our founders pledged their 'their lives and their fortunes and their sacred honor' but our best today won't even pledge their political futures. In the campaign add Senator Sasse brought up China....not for us to be determined yet patient with this difficult matter....understanding the full potential of risk....which would be wisdom....but rather joining in the attack....which coincidentally takes the microscope off Trump.

MARSHA BLACKBURN...Republican Senator from Tennessee Marsha Blackburn is being put out there as a spokesman for people who don't want to be put out there. She now uses the term....'the new axis of evil'....for China and North Korea and Russia and Iran....and this of course is true....and no revelation. She'll bring up pharmaceuticals....which is good....and then follow that with "many things" that we can do to China....including maybe doing away with our debt to them. I don't think that she has a clue about how Reagan handled the old axis of evil....or the dangers in not handling it wisely.  Here it is Senator....we want to avoid world war. We are to go as far as we can....without starting a world war....or giving them an excuse to start a world war. These people who are not out front want their huge profits back. Try 'vigilance and soberness and patience' instead of 'in your face....we got the power....or else.'

TOM COTTON has become the conservative's hero....but is a little too much of a hardliner for my taste....and he is too close to the disastrous...(disastrous to the gospel)....power Christianity of Washington's secretive National Prayer Breakfast group. If you are not familiar with the controversy here it would benefit you to do some research on The Fellowship Foundation. I would ask Senator Cotton concerning China to take his own advice from 2017.....for he famously penned a letter to Republicans in the House concerning the fake Obamacare repeal and replace bill that they and Trump tried to sneak past us...."To my friends in the House: pause, start over. Get it right, don't get it fast."

Update....April 21: Senator Cotton strongly urged listeners to a Breitbart radio program to boycott Chinese goods in any way that that they can. Lead us to war Tom....we're right behind you.

Update....April 29: Stephen Moore....a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation supported Marsha Blackburn's idea of just not repaying the interest of China's $1.1 trillion treasury bonds. He says that it might cause in China...."self-righteous rage"....but simply adds...."Bring it on." The 'bring it on' mentality implies impulsiveness....and knee-jerk reactions....rather than well thought out responses....where every angle is checked....and every possible repercussion considered.

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE....Sent out a 57 page memo.....this according to Politico.....telling senators in this election season not to defend President Trump on China but rather to go on a strong offensive against China....."attack China.....Coronavirus was a hit-and-run followed by a cover-up that cost thousands of lives." So much for thinking for themselves. War apparently is the furthest thing from their minds.
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To my Christian brothers and sisters....do not false words such as those directly below mean anything to you?  "This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Epic, the American Adventure, has only just begun. Our spirit is still young; the sun is still rising; God's grace is still shining; and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come. Thank you, God bless you. God bless America." That was Donald Trump on February 4th at the State of the Union. Does not years of his saying we are going to keep on "winning winning winning"....at least make you a little uneasy at the  possibility of his being a false prophet? What other beliefs are you willing to give up besides false prophets....literal demons....or how about hell....neither fits in with the MAGA agenda. Donald Trump has become too dominant in the lives of believers. We need to shed dependence on this person and turn back to total dependence on our Savior.

My reading of seventy books on the entire life of Donald Trump....in a three year period....is probably three times as many books that I've read on John F. Kennedy over a lifetime....but....add Bobby to the list and it narrows somewhat. I was not only a Kennedy admirer....I was therefore a Harvard admirer.  I was on the campus a few times just to walk around and take in the aura. My wife and I stopped there on our honeymoon in 1976 which was spent primarily on Cape Cod. I had earlier joined a bus trip while at Pitt....to attend a Peace And Conflict Studies conference....just to be able to room on the campus. Then I became a Christian in the early 80s....and Harvard took on a whole new aura....with Puritans and Dissenters becoming those that I would now look up to. Harvard has a $38 billion endowment....and yet kept or was going to keep $9 million from the stimulus package. Segue to Emanuel College, Cambridge. I particularly wanted to visit the college during a family trip to England in 2001....a few months before 9/11. John Harvard was educated there. I have a picture of this but no story behind it....as we.....my wife and son and I....walked up a staircase....there was an oil portrait of of Puritan....maybe the founder....I don't remember....and under it was a large statue of Buddha. Such is what has transpired in Western Civilization since those days. Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come!

ICHABOD TRUMP....Eli was dead...Phinehas was dead....but more importantly the Ark of the Covenant....or the Ark of God.....the symbol of His presence in Israel....was taken into enemy hands. Eli's daugher-in-law....Phinehas' wife....bore a child and named him Ichabod...."saying....'the glory has departed from Israel'." (Samuel 4) Donald Trump....whose constant rally cry of "One glorious nation under God" was the height of presumption....is just the latest manifestation that God has left us to our own devices.

Franklin Graham has for quite some time now interjected his ministry into politics and defense of President Trump...and against those of us who do not agree with his belief. His recent comments on the horrific shooting in Canada had to include the ineffectiveness of gun control. As for his wonderful efforts in Samaritan's Purse you will get no argument from me! When his father died I knew that he would obviously give the eulogy....and I knew that Donald Trump would be in the front row. I posted on it....requesting prayers in this great opportunity for this profane man to hear that he also was dead in his sin. I prayed and waited. When the eulogy was over I was disappointed. The gospel was there but in a very sanguine way....a very typical and acceptable message. I few years ago I posted on a Trump rally in which Franklin Graham gave the opening prayer. It was marvelous....hitting to the heart where we in America had left God. No sooner had the prayer ended but Vice President Pence was at the lectern....and the crowd....who only seconds previous were quiet and reflective....was again chanting....USA....USA....USA. I had hoped that Reverend Graham had seen what had happened. In retrospect I do not think that he did.

Robert O'Brien is the man who replaced John Bolton as National Security Adviser. He had been a Mitt Romney adviser (he converted from Roman Catholicism to Mormonism in his twenties) and then a Scott Walker adviser....and then a Ted Cruz adviser (who once claimed that Putin "is going to do what he can to help Donald Trump) (He apparently likes to jump around) but is part of the replacements for the purged experienced intelligence community. North Korea may or may not be near a succession mode. Once again we see how things can change in one day! O'Brien put these words out...."People should know we have a great intelligence community, the president, vice president, Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Esper, General Milley..." Now who do you think dictated these words? The word 'great' gives it away. It is if nothing else odd how our ''intelligence community" is now summarized in political appointees.

It looks as if Israel has finally solved its Prime Minister problem as Benjamin Netanyahu will continue as PM until October of 2021 and then Benny Gantz will serve after that. Here is what comes to my mind as I read this.... we know that a seven year covenant with the Antichrist is coming if it has not already been made in some clandestine manner. It's possible that one prime minister may sign onto that covenant....but another be in place when the covenant is broken. We may see the words on paper.....but promises and assurances made behind the scene are also probable.....the second prime minister thus being at somewhat of a disadvantage.

The man who has the word 'fake' at the tip of his tongue 24/7.....and uses it as a magical incantation to cast a spell...is himself the biggest fake of all. He was never the man who he said that he was during the primaries. He did not change....we did. We in conservatism once thought of ourselves as rigorous thinkers where we could spot a fraud because we knew the genuine....but that turned out not to be the case. After winning the November 2016 election we crumbled almost immediately. He has manipulated us perfectly and now has us totally under control. He not only admits....he brags how he uses fear to get his way....and we former conservatives now live in deathly fear of losing him. Whenever he is in trouble....which is always....he finds something to hold up as a pinata....to take the heat off of him....and he of course labels as fake anything critical of him....of which we dutifully accept....no questions asked.

The day that Donald Trump would secure a second term is the day that he would no longer need those who gave up everything....along with their integrity and their conservatism and even the Gospel of Jesus Christ....to cover up for him and keep him in power.
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TRUMP AND RUSSIA.....There is currently a major investigation.....from the new people in power....on how and why the FBI investigated Donald Trump's four decades dealings with Russians....and Vladimir Putin's subsequent attempts to secure a win for Donald Trump in the election....a legitimate investigation if there ever was one. These 'new' investigators are concerned....to put it mildly....that something afoul was going on with the people in the FBI that they are investigating. They are doing the very same thing that the FBI did with Donald Trump.....who were concerned that something afoul was going on with Vladimir Putin and the American election. The only one that wins in this is Donald Trump....as of now anyway....as the Steele dossier effectively sent the investigation off the rails and off message. The FBI members in question may....indeed they should....get to tell their story in any proceedings....and since they would now be 'defendants'....have more freedom than previously to expound on what were their intentions....and why their knowledge of who Donald Trump is gave them great concern. It could be that President Trump's obsession with revenge....and using the new Attorney General to get it through purges and trials....will just bring back into the picture the issue of why Putin wanted so badly for Donald Trump to win....which was the issue to begin with.

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OPEN UP THE ECONOMY....I agree with President Trump that the economy needs opened up....but not necessarily for the exact same reasons. President Trump tweeted this an hour ago...."Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY....and it will be sooner rather than later....Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never before." The focus on this side of the discussion is on getting that 'great' economy back again. I'm more focused on those individuals who this shutdown effects the most. Billionaires may be losing billions....and still have billions. Millionaires may be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in their 401s....but it's the ones who are losing their livelihood that concern me more. The former may have to begin from scratch building up their great fortunes....the latter may have to begin from scratch making a living again. It's not hard for someone like me to stay in my two-story house....and work around the yard.....and get some sun on my patio.....but I was raised in apartment buildings....where there was a family above you....and below you....and on both sides of you. The mental health of our nation also has to be taken into consideration.
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ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN....The anti-Trump news sources.....CNN NBC et al....are highlighting the story.....while the pro-Trump news source....Fox....is highlighting the Department of Defense denial. Nothing new there. The issue is an ABC report that states that intelligence memos warned in late November of a possible catastrophe in Wuhan....and that the White House was briefed on more than one occasion. It is part of the job of intelligence agencies and particularly analysts to pass on important information even if it is incomplete. The President or the people on the NSC do not have to accept the material as being as important as the agency may view it as important.....but they are required to seriously consider anything put on their desk as legitimate intelligence. President Trump has been and is at war with our intelligence agencies on political matters. Because of this....this issue eventually has to be settled. ABC owns this report....and just as it was with the story behind All The President's Men....they have to follow through with it....either two sources gave this information....or it didn't happen. Either way we need to know. There have been a number of times when President Trump outright rejected the findings of an intelligence agency....Russia's involvement in the election and Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Khashoggi murder being two....both for political reasons. We cannot play this 'deep state' game on issues as important as this. We have to have 100% certainty that the information gathered by our intelligence agencies is at least respected at the White House.

Update....April 19: President Trump was asked if the reason he did not pick Mitt Romney for the economic task force was because he has a grudge against him. The President's response was...."Yeah, it does.....I don't really want his advice."  This is why we have to eventually find out if these memos were given to him. Was this also a grudge.....such that he didn't want their advice?

Update....April 20: The Times Of Israel is reporting that an America intelligence warning of a virus in China was given in November to President Trump...."which (the White House) did not deem it of interest".....but it was passed on to NATO and to Israel. It wasn't clear whether this was the same memo as ABC reported on.

Update....May 3: President Trump said today that "now...now" that there are good people in our intelligence agencies....and they will tell us tomorrow how he was first briefed on a virus in late January. There will eventually be hearings on this.....and people will testify under oath.....under penalty of perjury. Until then.....






   

... What Was That First Love

              I was reminiscing today to my wife about a Christian friend of mine from decades ago who I had recently contacted. I told her all about him....and how he had a falling out at his church many years ago....and never sought out another congregation....but I added that he still writes Christian posts on the Internet. She nodded and said.....'Well he must be pretty smart."  Then I'm sure I saw her glance over at me before adding...."Then again maybe not?" Hmm?
             The seven letters to seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 & 3 should often be in our biblical reading today....I believe anyway. What more could one ask than...."Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophesy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near." (Rev 1:3) I would think that we would go over each and every church letter to see where we ourselves fit in. I know that I'm described in a few places....(not the good ones)....but the one letter that seems to keep my attention the most is the letter to the Ephesians..."But I have this against you, that you have left your first love...." (Ephesians 2: 4) Have I left my first love? I'm sure that I have in many ways.
             So what might that first love have been like? I've told this anecdote before. Somewhere around 1973....as I would finish my classes at Pitt....provided I didn't go straight to the college bar....which was more often than not....I would stop in the National Record Mart on Forbes Avenue before the Port Authority Lincoln Coach bus came....and also more often than not I came out with a paperback....but once I came out with Reach Out...The Living New Testament Illustrated....the illustrations being photographs of people in what was then a contemporary setting. I paid $2.95 for the paperback paraphrase Bible. The same book is on the arm of this chair that I'm sitting on right now. It was roughly a decade before I would taste the gospel....but I think that I could in a way....smell it back then....for many times later in life I would open that book up and press the pages to my face....and the fragrance of paper transported me somehow to back when I bought it....and it was a wonderful aroma....and it filled me with peace.....a peace that I could not define at the time. I would read those pages and when I read the name....Jesus....I somehow knew that something holy was in my presence....but soon after this I went back to Carlos Castaneda and Thomas Pynchon and Charles Reich and John Kenneth Galbraith and popular authors like that.
             Fast forward to 1982....and the name Jesus now had meaning. He was our wonderful Savior and King. He had raised me from spiritual death to eternal life! I was indeed born again....my sins were forgiven.....I was washed clean. As doctrinally unaware as that young Jesus Generation was back in the 1960s....in reading about it there seems to have been something so sweet....being baptized in the ocean off California. Wonderful ministries sprouted up focusing on discipleship....Ligonier.....the Navigators....and of course packed Billy Graham crusades. Christian music was pure....so unprofessionalized but yet so edifying.  I gave away hundreds of bibles back then....and still have many of my own study bibles....different study bibles that I would move on to....and each one filled with highlighting and now almost unreadable notes. Have I lost any of that? We have to move on....for we cannot stay in our newborn state....but that which was wonderful....with a purpose....surely remains wonderful....and surely still has a purpose.
               Paul wrote some heavy stuff to these Ephesians some thirty years before....give or take. There is much more here than a letter to a certain church....but some of the same believers must have still been at Ephesus when John penned Revelation. That's my interpretation on this anyway. So I read Ephesians.....slowly....meditating on every verse....every thought....every possibility....to see....if it is there....what first love they may have lost....and remain thankful to God for all of these warnings....and will Lord willing continue to contemplate them....and pray about them.

Addendum: There's an underlying message to this post. I am reformed in my theology. Have we in the Reformed Faith lost our first love? To a certain extent I believe that we may have....at least enough that we should consider a book of God's Word written to us as well as anyone else.
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YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE: I’m typing this in a Mc’Donald’s parking space. I’d like to ask you to stream today’s R. C. Sproul Daily Audio at Ligonier.org. The message is powerful....and although the topic seems unrelated to the above post....the last ten minutes of the twenty-five minute audio is directly related to the above post.

Note: The above is no longer the daily audio but can easily be accessed by Googling....’ligonier, audio, The Only Cure Is Forgiveness. If you are out of college....and about to get married....and right now live in guilt....you should hear this message!

No....Our Best Days Are Not Ahead Of Us

The following was first posted February 5th:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1 ESV) Donald Trump did not enter the sheepfold by the door....yet he leads evangelicals astray.....he is a 'thief and a robber.'

DONALD TRUMP.....FALSE PROPHET
            President Trump concluded the State of the Union address with these words:  "This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Epic, the American Adventure, has only just begun. Our spirit is still young; the sun is still rising; God's grace is still shining; and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come. Thank you, God bless you. God bless America."
            Brothers and sisters in Christ....the redeemed of Christ....those born again....do you not recognize these as words of a genuine biblical false prophet....a false prophet such as we have been warned of time and again in the Bible....of which we acknowledged their existence.....and felt assured that we would know them if they approached us....but we did not know this one! We let down our guard. We thought it would be easy to spot a false prophet....but it wasn't easy....for this one came with words of patriotism....and words that defended life.....and religious freedom....words at times pointing to the glory of God....but these are merely words written by speechwriters who know what the evangelical wants to hear. We wanted it to be true....and ignored all the plenteous evidence that it was not true. We got sucked into greed....calling it liberty....and a lust for power....calling it freedom. He dragged us into his swamp....and we still did not recognize him....but these words above from the State of the Union address....words that everyone today is exalting as such a great speech....surely we can see that they are as bogus as the words of the serpent in the garden...."Hath God said?"
             Pastors....it should be obvious that President Trump has entered your realm of preaching and teaching. This here is not politics! Will you not now warn your congregations of what this man says....and repeats on a regular basis....in front of tens of millions....using God's name....words which runs contrary to God's Word....leading us astray? Will you not now defend your sheep? Will you not even defend the gospel of Jesus Christ? Will you just sit back and let your congregation be devoured without so much as a caution?

Note: Google....'John MacArthur, YouTube, beware of false prophets' for a very good primer. Interestingly....he broadcast this message in May of 2015.....a month before Donald Trump came down that escalator.

We Are The Bad Figs

   
            President Trump told religious leaders just yesterday in a conference call...."We have a tremendous year coming up. We're going to beat this plague." Vice President Pence also spoke in the call....the VP saying...."The president says we will defeat the coronavirus, and we'll come back stronger than ever before, and it will be the faith of the American people that laid the foundation for that great, great comeback." What 'faith' would that be Mr. Vice President.....as representatives of different religions were part of that call? We cannot even separate ourselves as to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
            Jeremiah was given a vision that we read about in chapter 24. In it he sees two baskets of figs....one was of 'bad figs' while the other 'good figs.' Nebuchadnezzar had taken captives back to Babylon....a humbling experience....but these were the 'good' figs....for God would use this to their good and His glory. Those that stayed in Jerusalem and Judah were as us today who will not humble ourselves....but will continue to build that which took us far from God to begin with. Not only have we not separated ourselves from a decaying culture and dreams of worldly greatness....having only fashioned an evangelical niche within it....but now....having a glimpse of the virus subsiding....are determined to build again....greater than ever....apparently having learned nothing.

       

We Just Don't Want To Hear It

The following post is from 2017:

            We don't want to hear about God judging America. We just don't want to hear it. It's as simple as that. We are a people that want to get for ourselves what we want for ourselves....what we feel that we deserve. The old days where Americans actually felt some kind of thankfulness not only for those who worked and sacrificed for centuries to give us the nation that we once had but thankfulness to God for blessing this land with spacious skies and amber waves of grain....that's no longer us. Half of us....or at least close to half of us....can no longer think through existential issues....our progressive educational system having insured that we are to be followers and not leaders....producers and not thinkers.
            We cannot grasp the problem of a now twenty-one trillion dollar deficit. (now $22 trillion)....if we ignore it it will go away.....Communism is just a name from the past....and whatever it was.....it doesn't really exist anymore. In fact if any nagging threat to America does grab our attention for more than a few days....thus upsetting our personal schedule....we just put our headphones on....or watch cable TV and sports....and if we want evidence that we are all right all we have to do is check the Dow Jones Industrial Average....or go outside for a walk where the birds are still chirping....and the squirrels and rabbits still play and chase each other around....and no one passing by seems overly concerned.
          I can see the total lack of vigilance in the long-term decisions that younger people make. There's no room in those plans for emergencies.....or for war....or even for another Great Depression. They don't show the slightest concern that the world governments have emergency plans to change the entire structure of money and the way that we buy and sell....that is if this emerging New World Order even lets us have all of our money. Whereas we used to laugh at such suggestions of a one world government....today no one is laughing....we just push it off the possibility to years down the road.
           On our side of this mess we search for churches that exude happiness in a world of turmoil. A giant church with a latte bar and exercise classes does the trick. Don't believe me? Go and read their church websites. There is little to no mention of repentance on them for that would be church growth killer. Their listed 'beliefs' are given about as much weight as directions to the church....and their sermon titles are charmingly unobtrusive. Ask them about the omission of any warnings and they will tell you that you just have to trust God! You mean like trusting Him when He give us warning after warning for decade after decade?
          God sent Jonah to Nineveh with a warning. The Ninevites repented. A century or so passed but God then sent Nahum to the same people. This time there was no offer of forty days. It was a proclamation of imminent judgment. God sent one Jonah after another to America for the past half century....all the warnings were ignored....and the message of Nahum is to us now....read it if you will at your leisure.
           This is a time of preparation.....physically but more importantly spiritually.....but you won't hear that message in too many of our pulpits....why....as I wrote in the first paragraph of this post.....we don't want to hear about God judging America....we just don't want to hear it....it's as simple as that.

... Lord's Day Post

               Eric Liddell....as portrayed by Ian Charleson in the 1982 movie Chariots Of Fire....took the pulpit in a church in France just before the 1924 Olympic games were to start. He read from Isaiah 40....verses chosen for the script....

"Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket; And are counted as the small dust of the balance...."     Verse 15

"All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing....and vanity."    Verse 17

"(He) bringeth the princes to nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as a vanity."    Verse 23

"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?     Verse 28

"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength."    Verse 29

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint."     Verse 31

           On March 5th of 1982 I had logged in my Jim Fixx runner's log....."Saw Chariots Of Fire Tonight." The Academy Award winner for Best Picture is my favorite film. I'm guessing that I've watched it twenty times at least....the latest being tonight. I was not 'saved' when my wife and I chose that night to go to the movies and see Chariots Of Fire....but as I commented to her during the film tonight....on that blessed evening in 1982...."my life would never be the same....for the seriousness that Eric Liddell had for his God....had that much of an effect on me."

          I put the television on again at 11:00 to watch the news....and as I clicked the 'on' button on the remote....there in front of me....was the golden calf scene from the 1956 Charlton Heston film....The Ten Commandments. I had posted very recently of that bronze bull on Wall Street being our golden calf today. A little research showed that ABC was running the movie tonight as a special telecast. Here mainstream media television....in even as flawed a Hollywood film as that might be....was doing what our pulpits.....the majority of them.....will not do tomorrow....that is.....presenting to us God as one who judges as well as loves. My prayer right now.....as I type.....still thinking of this....is that He might move on the hearts of many through this medium....just as He had with me 38 years ago in that movie theater.....watching the story of Eric Liddell.

    

Why Be Critical At A Time Like This

Preface: To put it in political jargon it is a lose-lose situation....Biden or Trump...but we certainly can't see it as such. I am not putting out these posts so that Donald Trump might lose....but that we might turn back to Christ no matter who wins....should God even permit us to get there. God has judged us. The whole Clinton/Obama and now AOC thing has been judgment for what the Left is.....and now Donald John Trump has been judgment for what we are....on the right....and judgment on evangelicalism....and on the church....as we have trusted in a prince....and on our own power....and have let this profane man enter our love feasts....talk up God....and lead us where we should not go. Politics is not only not the answer....it is now the problem. Fear of the Democrats has replaced fear of God! Donald Trump is our new savior....and Rush Limbaugh is his prophet....and in their lack of wisdom....and one immediate aim and one aim only....the reelection of this president....they are pursuing this purely political agenda....which demands that a booming economy might restart....and that our ire be directed anywhere other than this administration....they are inching us closer to world war....as they are coming down off the high ground....to pick up what they think is a big fat bag of the Chinese Yuan.

             I want to address head-on the topic of continuing critical analysis of Donald Trump during this emergency....when some would say that this is a time to get behind the President. It was over forty years ago....and there was a party attended by those of us who had just been hired as new employees in jobs that we would continue in for many decades. Many were sloshed but I had just given up drinking. And today....thank the Lord....forty-one years later....I haven't had more than one drink in any one day. Anyway we were all trying to get to know one another as I asked one man who would be a friend over the following decades....if he had any brothers or sisters....as I had told him that I was an only child. His eyes were glazed and he said that he was an only child too....then he thought for a moment and said...."except for my brother." I've reminded him of that many times. When in March of 2017....after the newly inaugurated President Trump threatened to work to unseat members of the Freedom Caucus....our only reliable members of Congress....for not rubber-stamping his fake Obamacare repeal and replace bill....I started reading about this man whose election I cheered only a few months earlier. Almost seventy books later on Donald Trump's entire life....as I feel that I know him as a brother would....I'm hear to tell you he is never....ever....to be trusted.
             This latest episode of firing the inspector general is key to understanding him. One of his extreme psychological disorders is his maniacal need to get revenge on someone who was critical of him....as he has a need of constant praise....and as we have seen....he will constantly give it to himself. Folks....we've seen him tweet vitriol on people who were so low on the totem pole that they were in essence....'nobodies.' Donald Trump himself has written that he will never forget and will hit back ten times harder. Now he is feigning outrage at news reporters asking about this firing.....when he is the one who chose this moment to do the firing.....knowing it would bring a reaction.....and that he could then attack the press once again. This is the man who will be dealing with issues that directly relate to world war....that is why we cannot just drop the character issues. He has to be held in check but no one seems able to do that or even willing to attempt it. I'm repeating this from a very recent post....the Democrats want a congressional committee to look into the funding specifics of the Coronavirus bill. The Republicans say no....but they have a bill in Congress where the Justice Department can do the investigating.....which would essentially be....Trump investigating Trump. That's how he was able to quash the essence of the Mueller Report....where if you listen to his people it exonerates him.....but if you read the report it doesn't.
              I've read history my whole adult life....as other men have played golf. I have never.....other than Nebuchadnezzar....read about anyone who thinks himself more important than Donald Trump thinks of himself. If he had any integrity at all....seeing how almost half this nation vehemently opposes him....he would pass on a second term....for the good of the country....but then he believes he is the only one who can save the country. My concern is on China.....and Venezuela.....and hotspots like that. Donald Trump may be paying attention to his advisers on the Coronavirus....but he also has his eyes on transferring profits from China to the USA. The problem is that this President has no forward vision beyond immediate profits. Is anyone at least advising him of a possible war with China.....which would probably lead to world war. Exacerbating the situation is that he is replacing experienced intelligence people who know these issues with his own people.....who do not have the experience.....and who are rubber stamps. There have been reports that we have repositioned some of our naval power to the Caribbean from the Pacific. You surely didn't hear this anecdote on talk radio....Andrew McCabe wrote in his book that in a 2017 meeting on foreign policy President Trump brought up Venezuela with...."That's the country we should be going to war with....They have all that oil and they're right on our back door."
             Donald Trump is one of those rare people who have absolutely no grid for truth. He doesn't even care if he is called out on his lies....as he is totally confidant that his supporters....many of whom were former principled conservatives....do not care if he lies or how much he lies. There is nothing that he can say that they will not immediately defend. We bought into this....'promises made-promises kept'....nonsense. He has had to be dragged back into line a number of times. On these 193 federal judges he had installed.....those are our judges....not his. We fought for issues like this for decades. Any one of those conservatives in the primaries would have given us those judges....yet Donald Trump claims this as some kind of gift given to us through his great abilities that no one else would have had.
             Conservatives stumbled and failed on Donald Trump from the beginning of his term. They should have laid down the law right at the beginning.....but instead they looked for ways to defend his antics....and now we are unscrupulous and unprincipled as he is. Once Donald Trump would win a second term there would be no stopping him. He would not even need talk radio....and his new goal would be pushing to greater heights Donald Jr. or Ivanka.
              Evangelicals are the most duped of all. I just finished the single saddest book on Donald Trump of the books I have read....Stephen Strang's....God, Trump and the 2020 Election....Why He Must Win and What's at Stake for Christians if He loses. Evangelicals like Stephen Strang....and those who he references in his book....do not know Donald Trump. They have been hauled into meetings with him....had lunches with him....listened to his professionally crafted statements....and bought the whole deal. Not helping anything was Jonathan Cahn's book convincing us that Donald Trump was Jehu....sent by God to help us. Donald Trump is continuing judgment on us....not a blessing. Should we not at least consider the words from Lamentations...."Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity  to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading."

A Day Is To 128 Years....As 128 Years Is To A Day

Preface: Many years ago my wife gave me a plain flat silver pendent and a chain to go around my neck.  I went out and had the words....'press on'....engraved on the back of it. If we try to just sit on a bicycle that is not moving we wind up very quickly jerking the handle bars a little this way of that way....and leaning this way or that way in the seat....just not to topple over....but start moving and it's easy to stay upright. We still only have two points of contact but those two points of contact are never in the same place....for we are adjusting them through the handle bars....if even ever so slightly. If we do not keep moving forward in our Christian walk....if we do not press on....if we try to stay in one place....we will topple over. Moving forward entails by its very essence doing something.....reading God's Word....praying constantly....examining ourselves....looking out for hazards and traps. Press on!   

           Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day. These weeks are flying by for me. I said that to my wife and she looked at me like I was from outer space. There is some good coming out of this human disaster that we are living through. For one thing....our Lord's Days during this pandemic are not sports days.
            I'm guessing at how many years ago this was....six or seven maybe....in one of the many conversations that I had with a good friend at work....(I've been retired for 3 1/2 years).....some of which were very serious talks....anyway in one of them....where I was expressing my thoughts on how deep the trouble that America was in....and that God was going to judge us....(you should know that he had previously in the conversation talked about the Super Bowl that would be in a few months).....I blurted out....Jerry....(fake name....as if I need to use one)...."Jerry....there's probably not going to be a Super Bowl this year." He laughed....and reminded me of this after the Super Bowl was played....and probably the two or three years after that. I haven't seen Jerry in a while....but I know him pretty well....and I'm sure that the events of the past month or so has brought our conversation back to mind.
             So tomorrow....if you do not have your own streaming church service to do....I'd like to recommend a very good sermon on YouTube. Just Google.....'Charles Spurgeon, Do Not Fear Disasters.' Now....the Prince of Preachers went to be with his Lord 128 years ago....but this sermon is almost like it could have been constructed today.

... As A Sermon In A Bottle....

            I listened to two sermons today....the first by a young man in seminary....struggling with finances to finish his studies and be ordained....and speaking through streaming to maybe a hundred people....a message of both judgment and hope....as if from an old reprint out of the distant past...or out of a bottle that had floated on the ocean for a hundred and fifty years. The second sermon was by President Trump's number one evangelical supporter Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas....streamed on Fox to who knows how many people....with the president himself purportedly listening in. Pastor Jeffress began with these words...."Mr. President....we appreciate your strong articulation of the Christian faith. I've never heard a stronger affirmation than the one you gave Friday....Good Friday....in the Oval Office." I then watched on video that 'strong affirmation'....prepared for the President....and read by him.
            Pastor Jeffress' sermon contained humor and anecdotes....and a digital altar call. Surely one would have to be thankful in that an empty tomb was presented to many who need to hear of it....as was that our sin was paid for....if we but believe in the One who paid that debt....and I am thankful for that....for there was a day when I heard such an incomplete message....but all the same....a message that was to be built upon later. I was also reminded of the building of the second temple recorded in the book of Ezra....and how the younger people of Judah celebrated....but the older people.....those who remembered the original temple....wept at the comparison.
            I didn't by any means weep while listening to the very modern and very typical message from Robert Jeffress....but I did have to give myself time to take this day in....and remind myself on how there is a famine of the Word in the land....and accept that we no longer know what "strong articulation of the Christian Faith" might be. I thought of that sermon from a young man who will someday....Lord willing....have to compete for a position....probably with modern and more 'relevant' candidates....and I thought of our nation....returned in a way from captivity....as in Haggai's day....wanting to make America great again....when it is the church that needs rebuilt.
            

Oh Happy Day

            Everything has come apart....and the virus is not even the catalyst....it's just the latest. It was only nine weeks ago....on my seventieth birthday actually....that President Trump began his delayed State of the Union Address with these words...."Three years ago, we launched the great American comeback. Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results...." He went on to mention statistics on jobs and incomes and poverty and crime....and confidence....before saying...."America's fortunes are on the rise, and America's future is blazing bright." In the middle of his speech somewhere came these words...."Protecting American's health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China." The president finished with this prophesy that stuck in my mind....and maybe yours...."The American age.....has only just begun....the best is yet to come." That was just nine weeks ago folks!
            I stopped watching the State of the Union Address well back during the Obama administration....for to me....(and Thomas Jefferson was right on this.....it is like a speech from a throne)....it's a show....not only a show....but the worst show in Washington. Well maybe not worse than the National Prayer Breakfast. This particular one though had 'boos' and chants of 'USA USA USA' in the transcript as if it were nothing but a rally....a rally that the other side was forced to attend.
           "What can you say about a  two-hundred and forty-four year old country that died....that she was beautiful....and brilliant....that she loved rock & roll and football?" That's the opening of course from Love Story....sort of. I think that the answer to this question can also come from Love Story dialogue....in Jenny's answer to Oliver's question on why she left the church...."I don't know-I never really joined. I mean, I guess I never thought that there's any world better than this one. I mean, what can be better than Mozart, or Bach, or you?"
            Erich Segal hit it on the head.....the problem.....unbeknownst to himself though. Why become a Christian if it can't beat whatever we've already got? Neither character....not Jennifer Cavalieri whose upbringing was similar to mine....or Oliver Barrett whose upbringing at the time I would have liked to have had....would have heard of salvation by grace alone....through faith alone....in Christ alone. Another Erich....von Daniken....would more likely have influenced them with his mega-popular book Chariots Of The Gods....or maybe Time Magazine with its famous Is God Dead cover only a few short years before Segal wrote his novel.
            The question is not as much....when did America die....as....when did preaching die in America? There are all kinds of signs that we can look for on the economy and the virus but there is....in my mind anyway....other signs that are more important. Will your pastor have changed at all come this Lord's Day....tomorrow? Or will it be the same uplifting sermon only a different part of the Bible? Will he still be smiling like that's his main job? This Lord's Day is Easter.....otherwise I would be asking if the cross of Christ was paramount in the sermon.....but this is the one day of the year that pastors schedule the cross into their sermon. I have been looking for years....and praying....for signs that our pulpits are waking up.
            One last anecdote.....I promise.....in this post anyway.....both Oliver and Jennifer probably would have at least hummed....Oh Happy Day....the Edwin Hawkins Singers hit song that rose to #4 on the charts in 1969....with an arrangement from a hymn written by 18th century.....nonconformist English pastor Philip Doddridge....(nonconformist in that they did not conform to the preaching required of them....Puritans mostly) an arrangement that contained these lyrics:

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away (oh happy day)

Philip Doddridge's lyrics went....

O Happy Day
that fixed my choice,
On thee, my Savior and my God!

             I read once where Donald Trump originally chose the music at this rallies. Oh Happy Day would have been a good one.....red MAGA hats everywhere....anticipation building.....music blaring.....and then....Oh happy day.....when Jesus washed....He washed my sins away! But you know what works better...."Macho, macho man (macho man)....I gotta be a macho man."
         

....What America Needs....II

I posted the following this past October 6th....and it is still there....under the title....Something In The Air. The post concludes with some comments on the great 1942 film Mrs. Miniver. When our churches open up once again....well....I'll let you read that anecdote to see what I'm getting at....


            The following is my Lord's Day post although it will take a while to get to the main point. My habit generally is to listen to a certain type of music in light of what I'm doing at the time. So if I don't really want to be involved in the music....but just relax by it....I tune in Sirius/XM's classical music channel. Such was the case this evening....but within a few minutes I noticed how unsettling what I was hearing was.
             Igor Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring is considered one of the most influential compositions of the 20th century as it was extremely innovative in a number of ways. A riot broke out in the audience when it first opened as a ballet in Paris in May of 1913. Some have asserted that it was the famous Nijinsky's odd and disjointed dancing that contributed to the chaos....but the ballet revolves around a pagan sacrifice....so that also may have added to the darkened mood.
            The Rite Of Spring later was performed as an orchestral movement only in St. Petersburg on February 18, 1914 in Stravinsky's homeland of Russia.  Vladimir Lenin would have been living in exile outside of Russia at the time....waiting to come back to continue to instigate revolution. Four months later World War I would begin. Well....enough of classical music of which I'm just an outside observer. What interests me about this it that there seems to be certain times in history when there seems to be something in the air....(biblically speaking)....and when chaos tends to rule. 1968 was just such a year. It was a terrible year. I was 18 years old at the time.
            We are in just such a time period today as chaos seems to be the rule all over the globe. It's a time that I would expect a Rite Of Spring to be composed....or written....or put on film....or acted out on some public stage.
             It's at times like these that Christians are supposed to be calm....but as I described in a very recent post....there is a difference between being calm because of the assurance that God has everything under control....and being calm because we just have no idea or even concern about what is going on in the world.
            Tomorrow morning men will enter pulpits all over our nation. To put this in very current jargon....it's their job to be up on these things....and to warn us....studying up and in prayer at all times....not to be spending their time painting the sanctuary. This general lack of discernment in the church over the seriousness of the world situation emanates directly from what is today a very weak age for preaching Christ....His gospel...and His cross. Does anyone seriously believe that preaching has generally been the same over all the time periods over the past two millenium? Of course not....so in light of this....would it not be appropriate to at least attempt to see where we fit into the fluctuating points on that graph as it pertains to a strong or a weak age of preaching? (hint: it's near the bottom!)
             I'll finish this post with an anecdote that I placed in previous posts. It was on a cruise to Bermuda. There were eight of us....my wife and I and six others.....eating every evening at the same dinner table. This was one of our favorite things about cruises....and bed & breakfasts for that matter.....where we could meet new people. On a short vacation only a few weeks ago we met a couple who were newspaper editors....and a man who worked for the Department of Defense....and we had interesting conversations....anyway....on that cruise and at that table were two English ladies. I attempted to bring the conversation around to more serious topics so I described one of my favorite films.....Mrs. Miniver. (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography b&w) I told the whole story but highlighted two distinct church services....one at the beginning of the film where the people and families were thinking about anything and everything except the gospel of Jesus Christ. (The setting of the 1942 film began just prior to Britain's entry into World War Two) The second church service was at the end of the film. The church had been bombed....and you could see the sky through part of the bombed out roof....a number of the main characters had died in the war....there was a somber but hopeful reverence to God in that service. Did my plan work....did we then have some serious discussion on current events? No....one of the English ladies paused after I finished and began talking again about the different excursions that were available to cruise passengers.
           Metaphorically speaking.....we are most likely going to have that bombed out roof experience soon in our nation....but you would have to know the seriousness of what's going on in this world to see this....and that's generally called discernment....and it goes hand-in-hand with....and in response to....hearing Christ preached....His gospel preached....His cross preached....and I'll add to that....His warnings preached.