Virginia Beach....With A View Of The Past....Within The Nightmare Of The Present

             I'm sitting here in a rocking chair in front of our hotel in Virginia Beach....on a few day getaway. The distancing and mask rules are being followed by everyone where we have been. Navy jets roar overhead.....and I personally love it....and feel that pride for our military every time that I look up at them....and there is a United States Navy helicopter ship going out to sea...right in front of me.
             Every beach seems to have it own special thing. Here where I'm at today it's the giant container ships....and these Navy frigates  that pass by.....where I then grab my binoculars to see at times even the hands on deck.
             I have a book prominently displayed.....Hoax....Donald Trump....Fox News...and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth.....by CNN's Brian Stelter...hoping to generate a conversation.
               Other than a blowout on I-95 on the way down....changing it to a donut while 18 wheelers fly past....praying on the highway afterwards and thanking God for his protection....and then driving the next 100 miles at 50 mph....other than this it has been a relaxing trip. 
            As for Stelter's book.....I wasn't expecting much because of his obvious bias.....and I haven't finished it yet as I'm highlighting everywhere....(I'll buy just about any book that can give some insight on Trump)....but as for Hoax....it's the book to read if you want to know what the world of the Hannitys and the O'Reillys and the Stelters is like. Donald Trump....who has politically survived on the words 'fake' and 'hoax'....is the biggest and grandest and most deceptive fake and hoax of them all.
             After about 75 books now on Donald Trump....on every part of his life....and every decade of his life....and observing him now for three and a half years....I am sickened by him.....and saddened at how Christians had so easily left their trust and dependence on Christ to follow a false prophet.
            My contention after these three years of intense research is that Donald Trump is deranged. His megalomania is such that I have never even come close to witnessing in over a half century of following politics.....his lying.....clinically tested or not....is a textbook malignant and dangerous disorder.....his sadistic lust for revenge should frighten us every bit as much as Joe Biden....his mesmerizing of once rational and rigorous thinking conservatives....and his ever-growing power-mad purging and obviously dictating every move of his carefully chosen soldiers is nothing short of history being repeated. 
             Evangelicals should not only have distanced themselves long ago.....but prayed and worked for a different representative to defend our causes....but we didn't....and he step-by-step changed us into clones of himself....where we now care only for ourselves. 
             So technically we have a choice in the voting booth....but it's no real choice....for both men are judgments on us from God....and at least until January of next year we will have Trump making vital....impetuous....risky....poll and election-driven decisions on every aspect of our lives....including our national defense. 
             Woe to us....woe to us....for we on both sides of this political nightmare have chosen to be renegades from God's path to wisdom.  

Update: As I've mentioned so many times in these posts.....we do no have the cable news networks in our home.....so I only get to see Hannity or any of the others when on vacation.....one of which I just finished. So my opinion here.....if anything....is almost one of a first impression....not under its spell as I haven't viewed any of these programs in over a year....and there may be a benefit to this. After watching Tucker Carlson tonight....my impression was.....that this type of reporting bypasses the mind.....and goes straight to the emotions....so handle with care! That was my first thought after his show ended....and that of a few minutes of Hannity....(all that I could take.) I imagine that my impression would be much the same after any of the other shows on any of the networks. Folks....read....don't let the image or the soundbite or the repetitiveness or the furled brow dominate your thinking processes.

             

Lord's Day Post

              Tomorrow may be that Lord's Day that the Holy Spirit moves over the pulpits of this land like strong winds over a wheatfield. That's what I think to myself every Lord's Day....and that will indeed happen in God's perfect timing.

             I imagine that it will go something like this. The pastor will have felt uneasy all week ....troubled over what is going on in our nation....troubled over the man who he had voted for as president....but as the years passed showed himself to be a severely disturbed individual.

             He will enter his pulpit and look over the smiling faces....and look down at his notes that he was never happy with.....maybe a full minute will pass as the congregation ponders if something might be wrong. The pastor will slip his notes in his pocket and ask the congregation to turn to the 24th chapter of Matthew.....and then read the descriptions that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples about the very last of the last days before His Second Coming.

             His wife might look up at him...wondering what happened to his prepared sermon. The pastor will then break from normal worship service protocol and give a long solemn prayer about how we as a nation and a church have let the cares of the world take our eyes off of our Lord and Savior and coming King.

             He might next tell his congregation to turn with him to the book of Revelation.....and begin there reading until the beginning of the second chapter. There he will ask those in front of him to consider each and every letter written to the seven churches....asking the church members to apply every warning given as if written directly to them....and to this church of which they are all members....for that is what he himself has been doing all week.

             He might then continue to read up till the first two verses of chapter six....and close his Bible....and end the service in the normal manner....except he might just sit down in a pew and pray instead of walking to the back to greet everyone as they went home.

Storm Warning

The following post is from October 1st of last year....as this virus was probably in its incubation stage....the preface taken from 2018:

            "I have lived sixty-eight years and some odd months. (seventy and some odd months now) I was able to partake in the America of our heritage.....before that America succumbed to the same temptations that ancient Israel succumbed to before they were judged by God. I remember that heritage....and weep at what we have replaced it with. I have given nothing to stop the downward spiral....in fact I added to it. I am but one person....one of many....who God for some unknown reason had mercy upon. Even my warnings are tinged with pride and arrogance....but I continue to warn....for if Jesus felt it to our benefit to warn us....and if Peter warned us....and Paul warned us....and John warned us....and Christians ministers such as Billy Graham.....just to name one.....of whom I have no right to even stand beside....if they felt....and feel it necessary to warn those that God gave them to minister to.....then we all have no choice but to do the same thing....to at least warn our neighbors and friends....which in reality is all that these posts are....words to neighbors and hopefully friends....wherever they may live!"
                  

            As I watch with everyone else the progress of Hurricane Dorian....I'm reminded of another hurricane force storm that occurred in the eastern Mediterranean almost two thousand years ago that was recorded in great detail in the 27th chapter of the books of Acts. That storm also lasted a couple of weeks. There was a similar storm at the end of September 1969....(these Mediterranean storms that might be equivalent to a category 1 hurricane are somewhat rare.) In that storm a 20,000 ton tanker struck a reef near Malta and split in two.
            As of this evening....Dorian just doesn't want to move away from parts of the Bahamas.....very similar to how Paul and his 275 other shipmates fought and fought the storm for many days. We still are not sure of the exact path that Dorian will take....but we are sure of this.....God rules the waves of the sea as he rules every atom in this universe.
            I wonder how many of those Roman soldiers....and that ship's crew.....and the inhabitants of Malta....eventually came to faith in Christ because of that storm? An "angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve" told Paul....and Paul relayed it to his shipmates.....that there would be no loss of life.....but the ship would be lost. God's Word speaks similarly to us today in that there will be no loss of eternal life to those who belong to and serve Christ.....but the ship will be lost. Paul himself must have been gravely concerned at first for the angel told him not to be afraid....and he then in turn told all that were with him to take courage.
            There is another storm coming folks. Meteorologists speak in terms of rotating low-pressure weather systems and maximum sustained winds but God's Word as it pertains to this storm that is coming speaks in terms of birth pangs. The rotating low-pressure....as it were....is almost becoming unbearable to watch.....while the maximum sustained winds are increasing.....the cries of pain all over this earth are increasing....and the contractions are coming closer together. We are still told to take courage....but therein is the rub....there is a difference between knowing what is ahead and yet remaining calm.....and having no knowledge of or concern for what is ahead......and remaining calm.
            Folks....we....meaning Christians.....on the whole....could not care less about judgment coming. You would have to have lived in the 80s to know what it was like for the church to know how far we had fallen....and that God was giving a strong warning of impending judgment....but our discernment is just about all gone. The Pre-Trib rapture has done it's damage as Christians think that they are going to get beamed up out of an NFL football game if necessary before the tough times start. Look at what's on Christian television....it's as if God exists just to make us happy....and what was left of us were taken in by a huckster in Donald Trump whose idea of wisdom is getting every dollar owed us around the world. It is eerie.....personal opinion here....to see how we have regressed....but it in itself seems to be part and parcel of what God's Word tells us that the world will be like upon His return.
            

A Very Natural Temptation

 

We have to be able to look back at Germany in 1933 to see the mistakes that we are making in America today....and we have to be able to do this without being accused of calling Donald Trump another Hitler. The Marxists today are following the Bolshevik pattern in Russia in 1917....Donald Trump is following too closely the pattern of Germany's national socialists who promised to make Germany great again. Ivana....not Ivanka but Ivana Trump....once told her lawyer that Donald Trump kept a book of Hitler's speeches at his bedside. This caused a stir during the 2016 campaign. Trump was questioned on it and responded...."If....I had these speeches....and I'm not saying that I do....I would never read them"....in other words....'so I read it sometimes....so what?' A friend of Trump's admitted that he did give him a copy of Hitler's collected speeches....My New Order....because he thought Trump might be interested in them. Hitler had a mesmerizing power over people....as evidenced in the reaction to his speeches....causing them to do things they would otherwise not do. Trump has that same mesmerizing power. This does not make Trump a Hitler....but it does also make us do and sanction things we would not normally do....and follow a man with extraordinary powers of persuasion. The following post....A Very Natural Temptation....was first posted September 26th of last year....the premise below in from the beginning of this year:

            What we have right now in America is eerily similar to the struggles that Germany was going through in 1933....with the communists fighting the National Socialists for control of the direction of the country. The communist element here in America is obvious. As for the National Socialist element....it is not in the form of the conservative/libertarian/Tea Party/talk radio people that I had been part of for decades....for most of us have long since surrendered to Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with the dominant anti-Semitism of the National Socialists....and its violence is restricted to firing (purging) people who question the President’s supreme authority....and to humiliation and verbal abuse. It is National Socialist in tactics and in both domestic and foreign policy power
            God is most definitely behind the rise of Donald Trump in American politics....only it is not what you probably think. He has given him to us....that it will eventually be evident to us....that we had clamored for a king....as the Israelites had for Saul....and in demanding that king....we had rejected God. This is what happened in Germany....as National Socialism was going to make Germany great again....and that they would be powerful again. It's a very natural temptation no matter what the ideology.

A VERY NATURAL TEMPTATION

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

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

Matthew D Hockenos....Then They Came For Me.

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

You might also be interested in Hitler's First Hundred Days....by Peter Fritzsche.....reviewed here back on July 14....titled First They Came For The Communists.

CABARET....It would only take a few seconds to Google a YouTube of one of the songs from the 1972 musical film.....this one titled.....Tomorrow Belongs To Me. It's not the music that is chilling and subsequently haunting....it's the visuals. The scene is a quaint German  town in 1931.....where actor Michael York and another gentleman sit talking at a cafe.....when a young man begins to sing. If you decide to view this....watch the faces on the crowd....all of them as the camera moves around.....and notice the slight change in the young singer's face.....at the point where the subject mater of the song gets more serious.

The Harbinger II....Convincing To Many....But Not....Convicting

               The release date was supposed to be September 1....next Tuesday. I'm usually up on these dates....and heading off to Barnes & Noble on those Tuesdays with the intent of buying this book or that book....so it surprised me to see Jonathan Cahn's....The Harbinger II....The Return....on the shelf this morning.....two copies anyway.....which is also highly unusual for such a much ballyhooed book. Anyway I bought it....and just finished it....as his books are very easy to read....written more as a novel than non-fiction.

               A regular reader to my posts.....there are a few....after reading The Harbinger II....might think that Rabbi/Messianic Pastor Cahn and I are on the same page as to judgment on America....and our descriptions would indeed be very similar....but there are some significant differences.
              I think that I've read every one of his books.....most on the release date. Here is one problem with the books as I see it. Jonathan Cahn published 281 pages....to say what any discerning Christian should already know....America has walked away from God....God has continuously warned of this....and judgment is coming....but with this difference....for as with us....the words of Scripture are what informed us of this....but in The Harbinger II it is research facts. 
              To read Jonathan books.....particularly his Harbinger books.....you would think that America's condition and God's warnings are something new....but it gets more problematic....as when we read Scripture....and are 'convicted'....we are 'convicted' from Scripture.....but when we read Johnathan Cahn's book we are more 'convinced' than 'convicted.' It seems to always be the bad liberals and their abortion that God is mad at....not us....and we want more to know what date Henry Hudson discovered what was to be New York....than God's letters to the churches....us....in Revelation two and three.
              In The Harbinger II....as in The Harbinger (I).....there are a couple of dozen dates when something very significant had happened....significant in Rabbi Cahn's historical narrative anyway....from anywhere in history....so obviously uncoincidental that they just must be of God....and from this....many of the readers are convinced that America is headed to judgment....but nothing really on how we ourselves brought on this judgment.....and therefore the 'convinced' rather than 'convicted.'
             Research facts aside.... there is a specific message from the author....we have very little time to repent as a nation. First of all....Christians are the ones who will primarily be reading this book. Just as you would have a hard time finding an evangelical who read Mary Trump's book....you would have an equally difficult time finding a Progressive who has read....say Mark Levin's book on the media.
             This same warning of judgment that Jonathan Cahn writes of has been disseminated for a half century by ministers such as Billy Graham. Rabbi Cahn has given his continuing message of dates since at least 2011's The Harbinger. In another political analogy....Sean Hannity and others are using the very same....'this is the most important election ever'....for about the tenth straight election period!
              The author does see the problem....and the coming judgment. He sees the history of the problem....but missed the history of the warnings. He is very specific when it comes to Ronald Reagan....of which I agree....and with Barack Obama....but somehow didn't feel like mentioning Donald Trump. He therefore calls America to repent....and his coming march in September is specifically related to the election 40 days later.....(he's the number person)....but he chose to let the reader determine this on their own.....this after a lot of writing extensively on abortion and other Supreme Court issues.
              Jonathan Cahn is getting a little too close to making it seem as if he is another Apostle John.....given mysteries on Patmos. We have....and thank God for His mercies and blessing in this....and for giving us His Holy Spirit....we have His Word to read.....every day of our lives.....for eighty years or more if God would give such length of days....with every day of reading a blessing....and discernment offered if we walk in His ways....but here it's as if we need more than the Bible....these dates that can be no coincidence. And if we need these mysterious teachings....then we will surely look for other mysterious teachings....which in fact we have been doing for longer that I have been a believer.
              The author applies an extreme emphasis on the Jewish calendar of feasts....as they might relate to future events....and I always look closer during these times also. So....we are heading into the high holy days of Judaism shortly....and the world just so happens to be falling apart right now. Whatever if any events may happen this coming season....they would not legitimate speculative and almost gnostic writings....and that is a concern that I have for books like this....that all they need is a timely current event to raise the authors up as prophets.

FALSE DILEMMA

VOTED FOR HIM....CELEBRATED....NEVER AGAIN

Preface: The Drudge headline a few days ago was....TRUMP OR DOOM!....alluding to the message of his campaign....that he only can save America....as he leads us by fear....a tactic that he has literally bragged about in the past....and written about....with whole books being written on it.....where his supporters seem to be the only ones who do not know this.....or in some cases simply do not care.  It is not Trump or doom....it is not Trump or anything....it is Christ only. In his sickness Trump believes himself indispensable....but he is but a tool of which God is demonstrating to even the remnant of His faithful church that we have indeed left our first love....Rev 2:4....and now through Donald Trump...."hold the doctrine of Balaam"....Rev 2:14....of which you can read in Numbers 31:16 that God sent a plague upon them. We have forgotten the clear warnings from God's Word about false prophets and false teachers and false miracles....and loving money....and trusting in our own power? And we have either forgotten or outright rejected the message of Gideon?  Do we really think that He will accept our pitiful....God Bless America....in place of true repentance? Woe to us if we continue to trust in this man....and not turned to our Lord as these judgments continue to unfold. 

             I've called Donald Trump a destroyer in these posts for a long time....as he essentially destroys everything that becomes entangled with him....family....businesses....enemies through sadistic at times revenge....and allies just by them flying too close to his flame." John Bolton....who had been a conservative hero for so long....and rightfully so....has been dragged through the mud by a man who may never have read a book entirely through in his entire life....with the possible exception of The Power Of Positive Thinking.

             There is no gravitas to Rush Limbaugh anymore. Sean is a mess....from my perspective....with continuous half-truths....gross exaggerations....and abominable obfuscations....tucked into three hours of non-stop factoids....and talk radio in general has lost any claim to open and spirited conversation. Tucker is losing it....and Ann Coulter....In Trump We Trust....has to be the most confused of all. Conservatism is dead. Evangelicalism is not only all politics now....we are greedy....out for our own....with racist tendencies....rejecting our responsibilities to society....and although proclaiming to be pro-life....we apparently could not care less how many people die of this virus....as long as Trump wins reelection.
              Kellyanne and George Conway are the latest to pay the price....but actually....their decision today to get out is wise and I hope the best for them both. Steve Bannon went down a few days ago. Pastor/teacher John MacArthur made some recent decisions that he may come to regret...and Franklin Graham has done exactly what his father regretted that he once did. Jeff Sessons I'm sure wishes that he never took that rally stage back in 2015. Tillerson and Mattis and Kelly and a host of others....it's along list....know that they made a big mistake by signing on with Trump.
              Maryanne Trump Barry.....Trump's sister....has known him her whole life.....but apparently Mark Meadows knows him better after a few months. Meadows described Mary Trump as...."a niece that was written out of a will, that apparently just has an axe to grind." Meadows here shows that he knows absolutely nothing about the will in question....or what Trump did....and that he obviously just listened to Trump's story....this Donald Trump....a genuine disciple of the father of lies. He also said....on Qanon....and once again in defense of Donald Trump...."We don't even know what it is." Well maybe it's time that he tried to find out....if Donald Trump will let him....which he probably wouldn't? 

              Meadows also said that Trump brings a box filled with....'clippings and clippings' with him every day....strange choice of words....'clippings'....and that he probably reads more than anyone he knows....uh Mark....sneak a peak inside the box someday....try to categorize his reading.....and see what he's reading and why he's reading so much....it's his reelection Mark....wouldn't briefing papers be something a president would normally read....not clippings? And if some of the 'clippings' are about the Middle East....or Hong Kong....or the economy....he's reading them to see how they might affect his reelection.....that's what 70-some books on Donald Trump tells me.
              Only God knows how many virus deaths there would be if President Trump had his way from the beginning....without pressures....and if there comes a world war over his recklessness.....Trump will blame someone else.....anyone else....everyone else. My prayer continues to be.....Lord open our eyes to this man....but at times I also pray....Lord protect us from this man....if not all of us....then your church....let us not be taken in anymore....winnow us Lord....give us unity....cause our first love to return.....for Thy glory alone....in spite of our just deserts....in spite of my just deserts.

To The Evangelical:

   

Preface: There is indeed a "season of darkness" upon us as Joe Biden mentioned yesterday....only he's part of it....and Donald Trump is part of it....and evangelicals are stumbling around in that darkness.....but there is a light....the Light Of The World.....and it's time to leave these men in their darkness....and follow that light.            

            I've done my best in this very limited capacity to warn evangelicals that they have fallen head-over-heels for a genuine biblical false prophet....a man who we might as well call our good shepherd....who had come into the sheepfold....not by the gate....but down the escalator....who tells us over and over that our best days are yet to come....in spite of the evidence all around us....and God's Word that would describe to us....if we would only read....how and why we have fallen....how we denied any wrongdoing the whole time....and how we ignored the delusion of which we were told to prepare. In this post I want to look at this whole thing from a different perspective.
            Just what is it that we evangelicals want....in this making of America great again? Is it really conservative Supreme Court judges that will save us? Even if this were an answer.....look around at America today. Do you really think that a court decision will stop our full-fledged rebellion to God? Even our own man in the White House has shown us that executive orders rule today....not a constitution....and would rule just as radically with a Democrat president....or more....since we have given the obvious OK in expanding them to such an unconstitutional extreme.
            Is it the stock market that you want back....money for you as half of America has only a hourly wage to depend on? God has told us to go ahead and build....and He will tear down....and that is what will happen. Or is it really jobs where your compassion lies. Well there are probably a few million jobs to be had in the military draft....that this president is bringing about through greed and arrogance and recklessness....along with great wars for which to send your sons and daughters.
            Might it be leadership that would bring glory to God? Really.....in Donald Trump who is a disciple of the father of lies....and a poster boy for everything that Bible tells us to avoid? "Hurt God....hurt the Bible"....these are words coming from a man who cannot even construct a sentence let alone have a legitimate thought on anything Christian.....who flippantly said only days ago that God was testing him....for God said to him...."You know....you did it once....and I said....'Did I do a great job, God? I'm the only one who could do it.' He said that you shouldn't say....now we're going to have you do it again. I said...'OK....I agree....you got me. But I did it once. And now I'm doing it again..." Where are our pastors on this? They should have warned us....but they didn't....as they are either cowered in fear over losing people over not supporting Trump....or they themselves have fallen for this false prophet.
            So what is it that you want? Can't you see where the future is taking us....Trump or no Trump? Just when might it be that you would want Jesus to actually return? Would you give your OK to thirty or forty years from now? Are those words in the New Testament where it was obvious what the early Christians desired....looking to the return of the Lord Jesus....are they just words....meant not really for us today? Brothers and sisters in Christ....you are not going to....'Make America Great Again'.....and this is good.....because this great America that Donald Trump envisions is nothing that would bring glory to God.

Addendum: John MacArthur has been a stalwart for the gospel of Jesus Christ for many decades....often in the middle of a defense of the Word of God....far more faithful....and a far more credit to the gospel than I will ever be. I've recommended his ministry and his books at least a dozen times in these posts....and continue to do so....(gty.org)  He had an opportunity to make his boldest and most difficult move yet by warning....just warning....his many followers of a false prophet in Donald Trump....which would have gone against a strong current....in fact he gave a powerful sermon on false prophets in May of 2015.....only a month before Donald Trump came down the escalator....but instead he chose to fight to keep his church open....not exactly what the Chinese Christians are up against....and in the process has wound up defending Donald Trump from the great concerns all over the full spectrum of secular and Christian observers.....labeling it hate....thus defending a man who if there is anyone totally void of empathy and compassion it is Donald Trump.....but I've read well over seventy books now on Donald Trump's entire life.....books praising him....books critiquing him....books by him....and I doubt....for I do not know....that John MacArthur.....a prolific reader....had read even one....Fear....or John Bolton's book....or Mary Trump's book that tells you how he has treated his family that he loves so much over his entire life....or American Oligarchs that describes the essence of his business life. It doesn't sound like he is aware at all of Trump's decades of involvement with Russian monies....or his lying every day for years.....or stiffing people his whole life....or his all-consuming passion....if it takes years....to seek revenge....life altering revenge....on anyone who has the audacity to oppose him.

I encourage you to listen to John MacArthur's sermon.....Beware Of False Prophets....which you can easily Google......and please keep Donald Trump in mind throughout the message.

            

            

Sermon Recommendation For Tomorrow

             Here's a sermon recommendation for you in case you cannot go to church or stream your church's sermon.....just Google.....J. C. Ryle, The Good Way. The sermon was preached in 1883 and is on a verse I've mentioned many times in these posts....Jeremiah 6:16...."Thus saith the LORD. Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." 

             Ryle begins by lamenting how Jeremiah was so little read in his day. He then described the book as being written by...."a Jewish priest....in a peculiar crisis....in the last days of Judah....to a wicked king....and a corrupt people....in a rotten church....with a dead formal priesthood."

             It's not a typical sermon on Jeremiah though....as it dwells on the 'rest' that is offered. It's a very practical sermon in that Ryle speaks [writes] in depth on how the people no longer think through the issues of the day....which is why they came up with the wrong answers. It speaks to us today if we will listen....and is an edifying sermon by one of the two pillars of the church in London....in the last half of the nineteenth century....Charles Spurgeon being the other pillar.

Addendum: I came across this today....(the Lord's Day)....Ryle’s ‘The Finger Of God’.....switch coronavirus for England’s 19th century Hoof and Mouth disease and it is a perfect sermon for America today.

Or this one today....(Monday).....Charles Spurgeon's....Compassion For Souls....which could have been called....Parents Saved Late In Life....(words he used in the sermon)....or....'A Pastor's Pleas For The salvation Of His Congregation." I had heard this sermon a few times before. Is it fanatical to listen to so many sermons....even over and over? If salvation were only a good thing.....maybe....but being as it is....the most wonderful joy that the human mind is capable of....then it is as normal as inhaling and exhaling.

DISPATCHES

 VOTED FOR HIM.....CELEBRATED.....NEVER AGAIN

Franklin Graham announced a prayer march on September 26 in our nation's capitol....the same day that Jonathan Cahn has a rally scheduled. As of today these are purely political events....(in spite of all the rhetoric otherwise)....in support of keeping Donald Trump in office....but a lot can happen in the world  from now until September 26th. It doesn't appear that Donald Trump will resign any time soon....but he is capable of a major mistake a day if those around him are not alert. Those prayers on that day....all of our prayers on that day....may still be for Donald Trump....but not for a reelection....rather that somehow out of this man's mind....(his last tweet....three hours ago was...."Happy Sunday! We want God!)....there might come some semblance of wisdom....that God might have mercy upon us....for His glory....and not ours.

Note: Franklin Graham commented 'positively' on his own Twitter feed on President Trump's inane tweet...."We want God." That's how far his discernment is lagging.....in stretching President Trump's tweet which was pecked out fast as a bone thrown to evangelicals....as something genuine.
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                Chariots Of Fire has been my number one film since I first saw it in the theater in March of 1981. Ian Charleson.....who played Eric Liddel....died only nine years later in 1990. Brad Davis who played Jackson Scholz died in 1991....Ian Holm who played Sam Mussabini passed away in June....and Ben Cross who played Harold Abrahams died yesterday....but all I have to do is put the DVD in the machine and there they are....more importantly there is the remembrance of someone like Eric Liddel who died as a missionary in a World War II Japanese prisoner internment camp in China. There's a line in that forever hauntingly song Unchained Melody.....time goes by so slowly.....and time can do so much....but time goes by fast....it only in the present seems to pass slowly. The 'second hand' never stops. You are a few minutes closer to standing before Jesus Christ than when you started reading this post. Whether you have been a great athlete or a famous actor or a president or a king or whatever you might claim to be will not matter. Joe Biden or Donald Trump will not matter. You cannot stop this face-to-face meeting....nor can you even slow it down....you can only either humble yourself before your creator and your judge....or you can enjoy the present....as another hit song from the 60s put it...."....I swear there ain't no heaven....but pray there ain't no hell." 
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                 In April....with coronavirus deaths at 42,000....the President was asked where he thought this would go...his answer was...."Maybe 60 (thousand)....70....75....maybe 55." We....conservatives and even evangelicals....have set ourselves up for denying any future medical statistics on this pandemic or any other disease. We saw only an election.....and were led to attempt to destroy the reputation of two very experienced people who have only done what their professional lives had called for them to do. Human life does matter to us anti-abortion people anymore.....only an election.....and a prince. When the flu season hits....possibly in conjunction with another wave of the virus....we will have to keep saying that this is all just a hoax. We are the in-your-face people now....live for today. How could we ever comment on a mental disorder on anyone....when our own hero....to anyone not hindered by a blinding bias....is a seriously ill sociopath?
               

                

               

What Are We To Wear To Church?

             How are we to dress for church? I don't know....I'm asking you. Well I guess that I can't literally ask you but I'm am asking you to think about it. Some say that we are to come as we are.....meaning come dressed as who we are.....maybe shorts.....maybe even a tank top....if that's who we are. I've seen that before. Others say that we have to come in our Sunday best.....for it's only right.....and respectful....but one person's Sunday best might be another person's gardening clothes.

               I haven't worn a suit to church since....2010....at our son's wedding. That was one nervous yet wonderful day. As my wife and I returned home that night I found that there had been a tennis ball in my pants pocket the whole day....church and all. Now I think that I know how it got there....as my mother was using a walker with tennis balls at the bottom of the legs....and one must have fallen off....but not remembering putting it in my pocket was what I thought to be odd.

               I've never worn shorts to church....not even on a hot summer morning on a beach vacation. I do close my eyes often during the worship service today.....it's an age thing....or something like that....but I find that these ears that I have to hear....hear more clearly at those times. I'm one of those who in this pandemic will wait for a while until I go to church....and that also is just me....for it doesn't make sense to me to sing out praises....and have my breath on the neck of a person even two pews in front of me....but then....maybe it also has something to do with not having to ask my wife every week as we walk into church....which I do every single week....if my back is OK....no static clinging sock sticking to my shirt or anything.....(it happened once)....so the distractions are much fewer all around while streaming.

                So back to my original question....what do we wear to church? OK....you want an answer....right or wrong or in between....since I brought up the question. The Apostle John may have given us one in his epistles....written to a church roughly in the same time period....probably a little before he wrote down....on the isle Patmos....on the Lord's Day....the seven letters to the churches at the beginning of the book of Revelation....of which I might add that the Alpha and the Omega said that blessed would the one who reads and heeds what John was writing down....so shouldn't we be like....meditating on these or something....to see if we might be in there? 

                The answer therefore...if it is an answer....forget the shorts or the suit or the socks....for we have to wear love....for there is more than even a normal scriptural emphasis in John's epistles....over and over and over again....telling us to make sure that we love each other.

                 I'm not trying to be cute here....for those persons in the same pew....or two pews in front....or joined together through the same streaming....listening to the same words....at the same time....different people....all saved for a reason that we will not know until later.....who were redeemed right out of the fire.....for absolutely nothing within ourselves....all in the same boat....all in the same storm.....some with fears....others to strengthen.....some prone to sleep....others to awaken....some with troubles....others with help....some to teach....others to listen....some to see...some to hear....some to feel....some to encourage....others to warn....so where does one's clothes come into this? 

 

William Barr.....Do You Not Yet See Who This Man Is?

              

             It is a genuine mental illness....and he has others equally disturbing disorders. President Trump let it be known publicly that Attorney General Barr can wind up as either the greatest AG in history or just an average AG. It depends on if he goes after James Comey and the others after the Durham Probe is released.
             Donald Trump had written about it in his books....he bragged about it....and we have certainly been aware of it for a long time....but it's more than that....for his whole being is driven by this sadistic lust for revenge. He's still tweeting out on John Bolton....and Joe Scarborough. This is what you have to consider. He is power mad....we know that....and if he continues to usurp these powers....there is no telling where this sickness might lead him! May God open the eyes of Senators to this dangerous man.
            This is just what Trump had done with prosecution witnesses in the Mueller probe. He lets it be known.....very publicly....in not-so coded language.....because he cannot just send a messenger over to them.....that he wants them to do something. In the case of those witnesses.....it was to clam up.....and this was obstruction of justice. In the case of William Barr....who has already had his reputation destroyed in much of our legal system for covering up for Trump.....he still has not done enough.....for he must now throw these people in jail.
             There is no deep state.....not as it has been portrayed concerning Donald Trump. These intelligence people in question had decades of profiles on celebrity/billionaire businessman/bon vivant Donald....The Donald.....Trump....for they would have a profile on any such individual dealing so much with Russians. They knew that Putin must have some kind of kompromat on him....for this is Donald Trump for Pete's sake....and they knew Trump made money laundering oligarch and mafiya money....whether he opened his eyes to it or not....and they knew that the American public knows nothing of what they know. So did they bend rules....or even break laws....give me a break.....they were trying to protect us.
              President Trump has a fancy meme out today.....The Best Is Yet To Come....(evangelicals....you know what a false prophet is right....never mind....you don't).....for he has to win this election.....Biden must be implicated. God help us....for we who for decades warned against delusion....have not only fallen for the greatest delusion of all.....but are blindly led around by the nose....as this army is being built through conspiracy theories. We certainly have forgotten Martin Niemoller's wise warning....."First they came for the communists."

Update: It only took Attorney General Barr a few hours to respond to President Trump's challenge.....as he went on Trump television tonight to announce that something of significance was imminent in the Durham probe. The AG made this statement...."...there are going to be developments, significant developments before the election, but we're not doing this on the election schedule." Yeah right. It turned out to a plea taken by an FBI lawyer.....kind of like the plea Paul Manafort made before the President of the Untied States obstructed justice....and Manafort then recanted. President Trump is bringing the Russia probe back into the limelight again....and this may be good....for the Mueller report tells us who Donald Trump is....if we would only open our eyes....which we didn't the first time around. They could conceivably indict James Comey and/or others....but it may not win any votes for President Trump....in fact it could lose him votes....that is if President Trump doesn't take the pardons himself....and drop out of the 2020 race. 

"Yet I Will Exalt In The LORD"

Preface: The following was first published in November of 2018. We have had more than ample evidence from God's Word of coming judgment....and continuous warnings for decades from those who know what God's Word says. A pandemic swept over the world....but we don't look at that as a judgment....that was just China....and then the economy collapsed followed by social upheaval....but still no judgment....for that was the Democrats. Joe Biden is a judgment....but Donald Trump is also a judgment....we are being judged....and now we are going to have a major prayer march....telling God how much distress we are in....but that distress is judgment. This is no time for a march.....it's a time for falling on our knees for having so missed his warnings.

          The prophet Habakkuk speaks to us today....but will we listen? Hidden away in a slew of other prophets that we ignore....books labelled 'minor prophets' because of the short length....it gives us a glimpse of Habakkuk's extreme frustration as his beloved Judah was destructive and violent....full of strife and contention....where law is ignored and justice is never upheld. Does that description sound familiar?
           The prophet begins by venting to God his frustrations. Why isn't God doing something about this? Why has the LORD not intervened? The answer that God gave Habakkuk was not the answer that he wanted to hear. God was going to bring judgment upon Judah.....and he was raising up the Chaldeans to do that!
           Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah. Nineveh was about to fall....and Babylon about to rise. Nahum had just prophesied impending doom to Nineveh. Habakkuk was now....after God's answer to his question....even more frustrated in that God would use a more violent nation....Babylon.....to punish Judah. It's as if he then stood there and defiantly said.....'explain that God'.....and then waited to hear God's rebuke....but God didn't rebuke him....he calmly told Habakkuk to record the vision that he was about to see.
           Martin Luther would be transformed by part of what God told Habakkuk...."Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith." God was showing Habakkuk what would happen in the future...."at the appointed time." He was pointing to the Messiah. Yes Babylon would bring judgment upon Judah....but God then quickly taunted Babylon.....five times! Their turn for God's wrath would be next.
          So what would Habakkuk do now....offer a third challenge to God? No...even though his "inward parts trembled" and his lips "quivered" in acknowledgment of what was about to happen to Judah....God gave him a quiet and a calm....and a prayer that Judah would utter and sing even as Babylon approached.
          Habakkuk....like Jeremiah and Daniel......had to give their messages....but none of them would see the final fulfillment of their prophesies....both judgment and redemption....while in their mortal bodies. Habakkuk's inner parts did tremble and his lips did quiver after realizing what was going to happen to Judah....but his final words were....and they should be our words....as we have witnessed our nation rebel in ways eerily similar to Judah's...."Yet I will exalt in the LORD. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds feet, and makes me walk on my high places."
          Christians should know by now that judgment is coming to the nations of the West that once acknowledged and even reverenced God....but now violently oppose His mere presence even in tradition. In many of us....our inward parts tremble....and our lips quiver....but as Habakkuk's final prayer proclaimed the power and "everlasting ways" of Almighty God.....we for our part know very well....and should proclaim....the glorious return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....in the midst of judgment not totally unlike in its terror what Judah experienced with Babylon.

A Marriage Made On Madison Avenue

               It was a hit 1961 romantic comedy that starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson....Lover Come Back. I would have been eleven or twelve when I saw it....which in itself is sad....and Donald Trump would have been sixteen or seventeen. Looking back on it....it is an epitaph on the beginning of the end of America.

             Day and Hudson have rival ad agencies. Hudson is a womanizer who has no ethics....(Trump)....Day is the honest one....(conservatives)....who has no respect for someone like Hudson....who in one of his flings makes a fake commercial for a girl....supposedly about a new product called VIP.....(not V. I. P.....but vip)....trying to pay her off....but the commercial mistakenly gets put on television....and causes a sensation. Hudson needs a real product quickly or he is in legal trouble. So he has one created. It's a....candy....that's what it is....a candy....that really gives you a boost!

             The problem is that the chemical creation of VIP makes you act like you are drunk. Two lines I remember from what....almost sixty years ago....are Tony Randall's after taking VIP....."What thinks you make I've been drinking"....and....."I think I've had tee many Martunis."

              Donald Trump advertised himself as VIP....for president....for a couple of decades....and after his 2015 escalator ride took off he needed a real product....and created one.....the problem being it has conservatives saying things like....'What thinks you make I've been thinking?"

              Hudson and Day got married in the film....so did Trump and conservatives....only in film....after the last take....actors go back to their real lives....but with us....it's been a battered spouse syndrome where we are afraid to seek a divorce.

             

Your Worship Service Tomorrow

                 Well tomorrow you may or may not be choosing to attend worship service in person. Should you choose to stay home out of concern for yourself and others during this season of pandemic....but do not have the option of worshiping via streaming....I have an option that I'm sure would bless you. The sermons that I listen to during the week....usually as I'm walking....often automatically go on to the next sermon in line. I had previously listened to a Charles Spurgeon sermon....and a sermon followed titled Holiness by a contemporary of Spurgeon's....J. C. Ryle. Ryle....along with R. C. Sproul....are renown among Christians for their sermons and teachings on this subject. So just Google...J. C. Ryle....Holiness sermon. Just in case you might be thinking that I am being somewhat presumptuous in recommending to you a sermon on holiness....as if I'm trying to lead you to what I have found.....it is just the opposite....as as a message such as this is at the same time a wonderful blessing.....and a hard look into a clear mirror.

Addenedum: Today yet another wonderful surprise as a eulogy given by John Wesley on the recently departed to be with his Lord George Whitefield appeared....you can hear it by Googling....John Wesley...On The Death Of The Rev. George Whitefield. Oh that Methodist congregations today would en masse return to the sermons of their founder. Wesley at one point recounts some comments written by Whitefield on his first trip to the American colonies....as he wrote upon the long journey finally under way...."Blessed be God....we can now live very comfortably in the great cabin. We talk of little else but God and Christ....and scarce a word is heard among us but what was referenced as our fall in the first....and our new birth in the Second Adam." I heard this and wondered how it is that we today cannot talk about nothing but Christ and our new birth. I'm sure this account on the life of George Whitefield will edify if you choose to listen to it.

DISPATCHES

  

VOTED FOR HIM.....CELEBRATED.....NEVER AGAIN

President Trump denounced Edward Snowden 45 times through his tweets....even calling for his execution as a spy....calling for his execution! Today Donald Trump is playing his game again....saying that he's "heard people saying" that maybe Snowden should be allowed to return to the US without prosecution....and he might be open to it. Folks....you have to know Trump to see what's happening. There is something in this for him! This is not about Snowden....it is about the potential of total power mixed with absolute deceit. I've spent almost three and a half years reading about Donald Trump....every decade of his life....and every pursuit he's been involved in....over seventy books....and the saddest part of all is that evangelicals have been totally taken in by him. He is the consummate professional con man....a virtuoso liar....and a prolific destroyer.

It's reported that the President...."rushed to the bedside"....of his brother who is seriously ill. Read Mary Trump's book Too Much....And Never Enough.....or read any of the other hundred plus books out there describing Donald Trump....and see if this sounds like the same Donald Trump. Oh I forgot again....we choose blissful ignorance on him over Biblical vigilance. My wife today received a thank-you note from a dear Christian woman. This dear woman doesn't know that I write these posts....and towards the end of the note she wrote...."Let's hope that Donald Trump wins reelection in the fall. Let's not stop praying for him." I have written whole posts of prayers for him in the past but my prayers today are primarily that God might open our eyes to him....and give wisdom to those in the administration who will have to deal with his impetuous sadistic revenge....this man "Who love[s] gain from wrongdoing." (Revelation 2:14 and 2 Peter 2:15)

Senators McSally and Blackburn are demanding China pay back over a trillion dollars owed the United states before China became Red China...."We are holding China accountable for their debt and for unleashing the coronavirus on the world. We demand China pay back the $1.6 trillion it owes to American families." Both of these senators were given this assignment from some Trump official or other....for these words are typical Trump bravado. US and Chinese negotiators are set shortly to talk....this is Trump's way of threatening to intimidate....but he's not dealing with a rattled defendant here....or a timid congressman....or a beleaguered cabinet member...or a confused ally. Trump's war with China is coming....we'll see what these two senators say then....not that he is actually planning a war.....but that his mind cannot go even one move ahead on a chess board.

The goal before Donald Trump was to first and foremost avoid world war....but that has changed....well before the coronavirus hit. The President bragged that we were the richest that we ever have been. It was wonderful as we were the envy of the whole world. It wasn't the theft of intellectual property....or human rights....(as Trump made a lot of money in the past dealing with Russian new money by selling them his properties....no questions asked....giving them a way to stow their cash)....that made Trump mad at China....it was the trade imbalance....for there was even more riches to add to the richest we have ever been. The result of the tariff war had at first been the resumption of the cold war. War hawks are everywhere now....pounding their chests....sucked in by Trump's risky attempt to take his glory to even new heights....as we are pushing the communists backs against the wall....seemingly now ignorant that there is such a thing as world war. This is just one reason of many that evangelicals should reassess why they haven't long ago demanded a different Republican nominee....but Franklin Graham and others continue to believe that Donald Trump is a good man....just trying to protect our religious liberties....when they are not only ignorant of who he is....but would rather chew glass before read anything even remotely not worshipful of him.

Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton are all smiles as they talk about turning the screws on China. With what is at stake here....millions of lives in war....you would at least think that they would maintain a more serious demeanor.

Jalapenoburger.....So Israel had for quite some time been threatening to annex parts of the West Bank. Then yesterday it was announced that they made a deal with the United Arab Emirates. Israel would...."suspend"....its decision of annexation....and in return the UAE would establish diplomatic relations. Israel doesn't say that they will never annex....but just not now? Netanyahu is politically in trouble....so this helps him....supposedly....and Trump....well we know what Trump is in....and this is supposed to help him. Peace....don't you know....someone is even talking Nobel once again. It will fire up Israel's enemies....which is never good. Everyone seems to feel that they have to celebrate this....and if the real goal here....and who crafted this goal.....weren't so obvious.....it might have been something to consider progress. It's not a Nothingburger....it's a Jalapenoburger....where you don't know that the jalapenos are there. I don't know if it applies here but I have warned....in these posts....Israel never to put any of their national security decision-making in the hands of Donald Trump....for he can claim to be a best friend one day....and stab you in the back the next.....if a better deal comes along.

HEADS-UP FOR EVANGELICALS....here's another book to avoid as 'fake news'....Bob Woodward's RAGE is due to be released on September 15th.

Donald Trump's foreign policy has no ideological ties....and involves no relying upon policy or even developing one. Therefore there is no real difference in dealings between say....South Korea and Turkey. So under these....transactional arrangements....there is no foundation....and all the work...and all the brain power....over decades....is thrown away....because one man....(who essentially reads nothing but recommends many "great" books)....thinks he is smarter than everyone else. Allies have no idea what the American president might do in any situation....and thus the whole alliance is weakened. Cabinet members have no idea what a day might bring....neither does the military. We are tearing down a foundation that has avoided world war.

I don't know a whole lot about Dr. Anthony Fauci....other than he seems to be an honest man with one goal....to lessen the suffering and death from the pandemic as much as possible....but President Trump has fought him the whole way....for one reason....to keep the economy up....and this for one reason....so that it wouldn't hurt his chances for reelection. Yes....the President did this or he did that.....eventually.....because he had to....but he became impatient and started sniping away...until now Fauci is outright being attacked by President Trump's commissioned attackers. It did not have to be this way. The chaos did not have to reach the level that it did. The acrimony in the general public certainly did not have grow to the proportions that it has....and the mortality figures would have been much higher if the President had his way from the beginning.....but all of this has not stopped the President from bragging....incredibly as it even sounds....about what a great job he had done.   

We....what's left of us conservatives....have two weeks to pressure Senators....to pressure Pressure Trump to drop out of the 2020 race. Impossible you say? Laughable? Maybe...but four more years of Donald Trump in the Oval Office is enough for us to try right up to the last minute. If he would leave on good terms....(good terms meaning the promise of pardons and a huge going away party)....and give his blessing to whoever the nominee might be....that nominee would defeat Biden....but if the President is forced to resign during the campaign....(and with Donald Trump that possibility always exists because of who he is)....then Biden's....and the Democrat's victory in the Congress....would be a sure thing.    

BEWARE....of sudden teachings that come up....of any great awakening....for the only great awakening in this respect is that concerning the Second Coming of Jesus Christ....as the whole world will then see what has been truth the whole time....and there is enough on this in the Bible to keep any Christian in constant vigilance....and part of that vigilance concerns being aware of great delusion as that time of Christ's return nears....such delusion that if it were possible.....even the elect would be led astray....for false conspiracies....and false prophets....and false miracles will abound. Jesus told us...."See, I have told you beforehand." Matthew 24:25

President Trump has picked another doctor to be involved in the pandemic response....one whose views are similar to his. Here's the problem with this. Dr. Scott Atlas is an expert in diagnostic radiology....with additional expertise in how the government and private sectors effect each other in areas such as healthcare....but not in infectious diseases. The President said that he is...."a very famous man." This is typical in how Donald Trump chooses people....this and glamorous women. Consider this....in the past it was conservatives who criticized liberals in education for emphasizing the self-esteem and socialization of students over their education....but here we are the ones saying that the children must not have this socialization taken away from them....no matter what the coronavirus statistics are? What about the children in America during World War II....or those in London during the Blitz....or children in war torn countries all over world? We know...and we cry...and we bleed for children anywhere under such circumstances....but our concern was always first for their physical health which was an imminent concern....over their psychological health. We have flip-flopped on this....and don't even realize it. How can we at one moment be so critical of our classroom educational system....which we have been for decades....and the very next minute demand that it is absolutely necessary? Donald Trump's first concern on everything in life right now is his reelection. He wants football....because he wants people to go to the voting both feeling somewhat normal.  The President says of Dr. Atlas...."He has great ideas!" How does he know that they are great ideas? To Trump supporters....I know you like this man....but is there no line you will draw?             

DISPATCHES

 ..................................VOTED FOR HIM.....CELEBRATED.....NEVER AGAIN..................................

Election chaos....it may turn out to be a moot point....but should the result of this coming election be indeterminable by the scheduled inauguration date....this much is certain....Donald Trump does not just stay in office until there is an official result. The Speaker of the House would have to fill in at such an event. If you don't like the thought of Nancy Pelosi filling in....then make sure that the House will be Republican....but you say....the mail-in ballots will influence the election....yes that is possible.....the same way that Putin's influence most likely gave Donald Trump the win...but in retrospect that doesn't seem to bother us too much. This is what we in America have brought upon ourselves as we turned away from God.

Dubious texts....I have received a number of texts from well-meaning friends during this pandemic....where some of the stories that they forwarded me were outright hoaxes....and others were by news sources that are known for distorting the information. The latest have been about the CDC. This is but one thing that Donald Trump has done to us....as I have Christian friends here who all of a sudden seem to care little to nothing about human life if the person dying is old or has a serious disease....let them die quicker....may Trump ascend to even greater heights. There are other issues....as I too often hear the description....The Blacks....very impersonal and very unloving and ultimately racist....lumping together all of our African American neighbors with a radical group of Marxists. I was a teen in the Bobby Kennedy era. He loved....though he was rich.....the disadvantaged....and we loved him. Who actually loves Donald Trump....and who does he actually love...other than himself?

John MacArthur unfortunately has bought into a recent spurious interpretation of a lengthy CDC report listing 6% of the then 160,000 deaths as solely related to the coronavirus. He concluded that...."there is no pandemic." This interpretation would be like a news report of a car crash that killed one person....whereas two people in the crash died....but the other one was seriously sick and going to die anyway. Essentially we have lost our respect for human life. It is reported that MacArthur said that any "real and true" believer would vote for Trump.....which is saying that those who do not are not 'real and true' believers. Donald Trump is a divider and a destroyer of everything that even comes near him. It is not Trump or Biden.....it is Christ.

I had not watched a single minute of the Democrat National Convention....nor had I watched a single minute of the Republican National Convention.....until in changing channels tonight I saw Jezebel....speaking in front of a large crowd....that was shoulder to shoulder....in front of the White House as if it were now a royal palace....ignoring the national guidelines on the virus....as if scorning God for such a weak judgment....as did Pharaoh....telling Him that we are just going to rebuild....and laughing at those who continue to say that we shall not have a king over us. All I can utter is....God help us....God have mercy on the evangelicals who promote this man in their willful blindness....thinking that God would surely be pleased. I cannot but believe that there must be some....maybe many....formerly at ease watching their reality show....Festival of the Gods....that will begin to feel a just little sick....at what they have created.

In scanning the transcript of Donald Trump's speech....many false prophesies jumped out at me....that should shake the Christian to their core...and also this very odd statement...."They....(the Democrats)....see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins." Trump was not here referring to anything the Democrats would think....he was just using them to give his own real thoughts that their is no judgment due us. I wonder what Franklin Graham thought as he heard this?

NOTE: President Trump's tweet on the evening...."Great Ratings & Reviews Last Night. Thank You!" Christians....please wake up....the Middle East and the Far East are at a boiling point....the country is in literal chaos....and even the Trump news network....nine hours ago....forecast 317,697 deaths by December 1....and what is the President of the United States concerned about? "Great Ratings & Reviews."

STAND DOWN.....is a term we hear in the news more and more as America slides into chaos....mostly but not exclusively as it pertains to military or policing situations....but there is another stand down that has strikingly permitted violence to not only continue but expand....and that is in how republicans.....conservative republicans in our congress....have in effect been ordered by their superiors in the congress to stand down....to cease and desist.....to 'not even think about it'....any attempts to stop the power-mongering of what is now a president....but if republicans in congress do not finally stand up....and put their country over their exalted profession....will become more than a mere president. To a certain extent evangelical pulpits have also stood down....not wanting to incur the wrath of some in their congregations....they refused to warn of this man....and how he was changing us....and of how he was prophesying that our best was yet to come....when God's Word was telling us the opposite. The "violence" here is as it pertains to our honor and our intellects....which Donald Trump has ripped to shreds....and left us in great concern and fear looking to him to stop the chaos....seemingly unaware that it is he who is the primary source of that chaos.

TRUMP PRAYER RALLIES....Both Franklin Graham and Jonathan Cahn have 'prayer marches' of sorts scheduled for September 26th in our nation's capitol. These are in effect Trump rallies....although this will surely be vociferously denied....because the organizers may not even admit it to themselves. The intent is to pray for mercies so that Americans will vote correctly in November....and we all all know what voting correctly is....no name is needed. Getting past the politics of this for a moment....and focusing on what the stated purpose of the marches is.....that America might repent.....the organizers hope that a huge prayer march might shock many Americans....that they might then concede that maybe America does need to return to God....if this were not the case it would not have to be such a public display....but there are significant problems with this thinking. For one thing there are prayer marches and prayer breakfasts and days of prayer often. The National Day of Prayer that we have every year must be a stench in the nostrils of God....as would our yearly National Prayer Breakfast. Practically speaking in these coming gatherings....they are essentially praying for conservative Supreme Court judges....which means Trump....(they have absolutely no idea that he can never be trusted)....to cover up for our real failures....(for our need for repentance is much more extensive than abortion and gay marriage.) These organizers could have done this a different way....they either could have told the truth in that both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are judgments from God....and then called for a prayer march for all of us to repent for putting these type of men in office....or they could have scheduled the marches for the day after the election. 

When Trump announced that he might hold the convention on the White House lawn.....the thought that came to me.....even before the fact that it would be a gross abuse of what the White House is supposed to be.....was the stupidity of it.....as it would be a magnate for possibly.....even probably violent protests. We need to dwell on this a bit as it is an indication of his complete and utter recklessness....and total lack of any wisdom.....the same recklessness and lack of wisdom that he often applies to foreign policy....which will eventually get America into a war....where in that case our enemies will have an advantage in that we 'stumbled' in.....whereas they planned for us 'stumbling in!'

When Even Those In The Right.....Fall Sway To Delusion

"Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave....When First We Practice To Deceive"               

             Generally speaking in American politics...if an incumbent....or any executive position in a profession....for whatever reason becomes controversial beyond anything manageable....that person would either volunteer or be asked or both to resign....and they would do so. An exception to this might be if that incumbent or professional is so very successful and obviously gifted that all concerned take on the fight. 

              Applying this to Donald Trump....even his image or his voice literally brings extreme discomfort to multitudes....this because of his deceitful character and his aggressively attacking personality....add to this the very likelihood that he is and will continue to get worse....and that impeachment or even impeachments will likely continue into a second term....along with more usurpations of power....one might think the Republican Party would not only ask but demand that he move on in his life. 

              Of course a malignant narcissism such as Trump has makes voluntarily leaving moot....as even his being asked to leave....or legally forced to abdicate....would be a wait-and-see thing. As to the 'exception'....in spite of the professionally crafted and very deceptive claims of success....his three and half years have been a monumental example of chaos and backslidings with limited successes and many failures. There is in all of this an additional disturbing reality....those not sickened by the deceit and pathological narcissism....have been....one....totally taken in by this abusive personality....as an abused spouse....or a follower of a cult leader....and....two....driven so by a manufactured fear on not having his presence....that all of what should be obvious evidence of a troubled individual is hidden from them.

              Something like this should have been no real surprise to Christians who understand the power of delusion....but discernment today is at low ebb....and we also have been swept away.....following not only a political con man....but a genuine biblical false prophet. Whereas we should see all of this as more evidence of the nearness of the coming of the Lord....we instead consider ourselves to be standing for righteousness....while making America great again....and promoting truth....when we are in reality promoting a disciple of the father of lies. 

              Brothers and sisters in Christ.....beware of false miracles....listen for the voice of the Shepherd.....for a wolf has entered into the sheep fold....and not by the gate.....but down the escalator.

There Is Something Missing

             So many have left the Trump administration on bad terms....to say the least.....some fired on twitter because the man whose career was saved from oblivion by The Apprentice....where he fired someone on television every week....and who in real life cannot empathize nor is he compassionate....delegates or distances himself from the dirty work.
             Mnuchin has survived but there is no surprise there for both he and Trump have only one pratical interest....that being money....and Vice President Pence has too many evangelicals behind him....but there is really only one man who has the same killer instinct as Trump.
             To look at him you would think that he is in his 40s....but it wasn't that long ago that his political aspirations started to bud in high school with talk show host Larry Elder as his mentor....and later started to blossom under David Horowitz. SNL portrayed him in their skits as a Cobra popping up out of a wicker basket. We all know his name....and hear his words come out of Donald Trump's mouth....Stephen Miller.
              I passed up the book when it first came out as the title....HATE MONGER....Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda....seemed a little over the top....and I already had a book in hand at Barnes & Noble this past Tuesday....when I decided to give it another look....and picked it up. I'm well over seventy books now on Donald Trump....books for him....books against him....books by him....but this one by Jean Guerrero is a must read to more fully understand Donald Trump's rise to power.
              Guerrero appears to be the Left's version of Branden Darby....both passionate....both well informed. She interviewed more than 150 people....most who were either Miller "friends, family or colleagues." If they said something good about Miller it was in the book....if they gave opinions on why Stephen Miller is who he is.....or if they are outright critical....it's in the book also.
              The author starts way back with Miller's lineage....with an emphasis on the maternal line....in nearby to me....Johnstown Pennsylvania....but Miller's high school days in Santa Monica are where the man was created. We see him....with the notoriety he garnered from his high school protests....head off to Washington....move up the ladder....wind up with Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions....become involved with Breitbart....controversies all along the way....and finally....and extraordinarily....become candidate and President Trump's chief ideological marketer. 
               We see Steve Bannon go....but Stephen Miller stay....which meant that Donald Trump would never grow into the job....but dehumanize it. Bannon marketed ideas....but Miller marketed fear. Watch him at your leisure on YouTube....as his continuous pounding of factoid after factoid...done with either a condescending smile or verbal attack....this apparently going all the way back to high school....is more a power show than a debate. 
               You can see Miller in the supposedly great speeches that President Trump has given....the inauguration....state of the unions....and Poland. President Kennedy had great speechwriters....as did President Reagan....but the patriotism was real with these men....with Donald Trump it is but a marketing strategy....for there is something missing in Stephen Miller....the same thing is missing in Donald Trump....something that has to come with maturity....something that works to fend off disastrous consequences. 

              

In The Furnace....A Multitude....Plus One

            I posted a couple of times in the fall of 2016 while the campaign was in full swing that there were only four possible outcomes in the coming November election....and I'm going to describe again those four outcomes....but you really won't be able to understand what I was trying to say unless you realize that there was a time....recently....before this became a Trump/Biden thing where there is no other reality to life other than these two men....where Christians still retained the fundamental belief that America must return to God or be judged. The nearness of that judgment was long gone in our minds but we at least knew that we had to turn back to our Creator.
            Those four possible outcomes were that America would essentially....as a people.....in large numbers anyway.....humble themselves before God for the catastrophes upon us....that Hillary Clinton would still become President....and that although judgment would come....God would be with us in that judgment. The second possibility was that we would remain in darkness....Hillary would win....and judgment would come to America.....but God would not be with us through it.
             The third and fourth possibilities were similar only that in the one we would humble ourselves before God.....Donald Trump would become President.....and God would be with us through the dark days ahead.....and in the other we would not humble ourselves.....Donald Trump would become President.....and even though we used God's name all the time....it would mean nothing....and He would not be with us as the judgments increased in intensity.
             In all four possibilities.....judgment was coming.....as God had warned us through many faithful servants....for over a half century at least....and although we neared Him in the 70s and 80s....we walked all that back....and our coming judgment....and the judgment of the whole world....would be at hand. There was no possibility during this whole campaign of 2015/16 that America was just going to pull itself together....and God would allow us to live happily once again in Vanity Fair.
            So here we are.....Trump won....we not only did not humble ourselves.....but our arrogance and dependence on our own power only increased. We can spew out "God bless America" all that we want....we can reelect Trump or replace him with Biden.....we can do anything that we want....but the judgments that we brought upon ourselves....and I bear as much responsibility as anyone else....are intensifying. There is more chance of a false revival occurring than for us as a people to humble ourselves. Listen to talk radio....our new church....anytime from six in the morning to midnight....and you will not find even a hint of humility or repentance.
            God is sovereign.....and we are nothing but the Potter's clay. It seems as if He has discarded the warped and deformed vessel that He once used....has taken but a lump of that hardened clay....and will fashion a remnant vessel out of it....and be with that remnant in the furnace....protecting it from cracking. May he add to that remnant in great numbers....may He keep me and mine in it....may He keep you and yours in it....may He bring many others into it.... in America and all around the world....and may He keep us from false revivals....false miracles....and great delusion....separated across this earth....but united in one hope.....His return in power and glory!

"Madness Reigns...."

The Who included it in a 1967 album of theirs....heavy metal took their turn....the tune.....I'm going to call it a tune here for that is what most of us would think of it as. It might appear as the music in some old black & while television animated cartoon....and then of course there are the many classical orchestral and choral variations. The composition is Peer Gynt....In The Hall Of The Mountain King....

 

Madness reigns

In the Hall of the Mountain King

Oh yeah

His deep

Dark eyes

Keep watch on his kingdom

That's based on Henrik Ibsen's play....put to orchestral arrangement by Edvard Grieg beginning in 1867....and the rest was history.....as they say. I don't like the music. It's one of those compositions like Stravinsky's The Rite Of Spring....that to me is unsettling....and who wants music that unsettles you?

OK.....why bring this odd trivia up? Well....Donald Trump....who else would it revolve around? He put up a meme just a few hours ago on his Twitter @real account. In it there is a Time Magazine cover with Trump signs.....Trump 2020.....2024....2028....2032....and on an on all the way up to Trump 90,000....and Trump 4EVA. The words accompanying this are in bold letters.....HOW TRUMPISM OUTLASTS TRUMP....and the haunting music accompanying it is Grieg's.

Someone will mention this in the news media....and Trump's radio generals will laugh....and laugh....at how he trolls everyone....but the madness of this king goes deeper than trolling enemies on Twitter. It's like when the Trump team would play Sympathy For The Devil.....from the Rolling Stones....at his rallies. Why.....why? Is he stupid to choose this....or mad....or what? The madness of this king runs deep....and far into the past.

Ultimately....it's that he wants to get people mad....to stir up strife....he loves it.....he thrives on it.....and then at another time....his mood changes....another disorder takes over....and he softly laments....."Nobody likes me"....as he did last week. Brothers and sisters in Christ....have you any discernment left....on anything concerning Donald Trump....is this brutish attitude what you really want for the next four years....if God even gives us those years?

Note: you can view this by Googling....Trump 4EVA. 

I Needed That

            I needed that! The Lord's Days do not provide me with any physical exercise as we visit elderly family shut-ins with food on that day. So today was Monday morning....America's collapse into darkness continued over the weekend....with even stalwart minister of the gospel John MacArthur succumbing to some kind off pressures to enter this political battle of opening churches.....hopefully not just the pressure of needing that weekly offering. 

            I don't buy our braggadocious demands that we just have go to church to worship God....there is something missing in this equation....not when our usual habit is to laugh and talk for a while in the vestibule or foyer or lobby immediately after the service....before rushing off to a picnic or football game. I also don't accept the 1st Amendment passion....for no is telling anyone that they cannot worship God....they're only saying hold off for a while and worship in smaller groups until someone gets a handle on this virus....of which we sneer.

            So I woke up early this morning....and did my usual.....turn on Breitbart radio.....and go over the news from a dozen different news sources....checking the President's tweeting. The Breitbart host commented....."anything that hurts China is good for me." He's around 33 years old and may not be among those drafted into a war with China that could see thousands die every week....but at least Tik Tok won't be around.

            I went over the President's tweets and read...."FAKE NEWS IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!"....and then he bragging about cheering people in Texas during a pandemic....and a "RECORD HIGH NASDAQ!"....and a verbal attack on Deborah Birx....and a few more inane tweets followed by an earlier....."FAKE NEWS IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!" I just quit reading them and felt so down....not only on how America has fallen.....for this has been going on for decades.....but on how the church has fallen under the sway of a false prophet.....and is blinded to what should easily be seen.

           I needed exercise....but not for the exercise itself. I went to the gym....mask in hand....put on the headphones.....and listened to ligonier.org's daily audio which was the beginning of a week of R. C. Sproul's teaching on the Holiness of God. If you have never heard this series....you must! I was on a machine....writing down little hashmarks on a notepad after every set so that I don't forget what set I'm on.....because my mind is always elsewhere on whatever sermon or teaching is in that headset. I started to feel refreshed.....renewed is more like it.....and after about twenty-five minutes of this I went out into God's glorious sunshine and walked.....this time with a Charles Spurgeon sermon....titled.....Oh How He Loves. I recommend that you Google this and listen to it. Oh how I pray that you will at least listen to this marvelous sermon....never return to these posts if you will but go to these men of the past....for then you will be fed and discerning.

            So  I just returned home....thus the....."I needed that!"....from the beginning of this post.

If I Wrote This Post....Which I'm Not Saying That I Did....I Would Never Read It

            A few of the talk radio hosts are united in putting forth the argument that they want to see the...."science"....of the effectiveness of a mask on the virus. Yes....any information on the effectiveness of masks would be helpful....but common sense tells us that masks have to at least be somewhat effective.....for we are not as astronauts on a space walk....where the smallest pin prick means certain death. So tests....yes....but what is being demanded? Common sense says that if a person were to jump off of a four story building they would probably die....but where is the...."science"....of it? Maybe we would need an experiment with two hundred people on top of that building.....we would observe and calculate as one hundred of them jump off the building....but the other hundred....the control group....(I would volunteer for the control group)....does not jump off. We might then find that ninety-eight of those in the experimental group...died....while none of the control group died....those that did not jump off the four story building. There is our science....as we can now scientifically state that if one goes to the top of a four story building.....but does not jump off....they will in all likelihood....not die from blunt force trauma....but if one does jump off....there is a 98% chance that they may die!

            While speaking of science....and research....and academic pursuits...it may not be probable.....but it is indeed possible.....that Donald Trump has never read a book cover-to-cover in his whole life. His ghostwriter for The Art Of The Deal....after hanging around Donald for eighteen months to write the book....essentially made that statement. The President has been in the habit for quite some time of tweeting about a great new book that is out that we all should read.....the latest being Sean Hannity's new book....but I know that he has never....nor will ever....actually read these "great" news books....he just recommends them for people who read. I can't even imagine Donald Trump sitting down in an easy chair....with a Diet Coke....and just reading a book. If they tried to stage a photo op on this....the President might ask things like...."OK....what do I do now....turn these pages....will they stay open....do I look at the page as I would look at a contract....does the book have to be right-side-up....do my eyes have to be open....I don't actually have to read any words do I....and if I do could the book at least be that wacky nut job's....In Trump We Trust?" 

            The only mention that I remember of him having a book next to him was from Ivana Trump.....who said that Donald had a book of the German Fuhrer's speeches in the bedroom. This obviously has been investigated. A friend did give Donald a copy of said fuhrer's book of speeches....My New Order. Donald Trump was questioned on this during the 2016 campaign....and here was his response....in very typical Donald Trump fashion....."If I had these speeches, and I'm not saying that I do, I would never read them."

            I know that I have written in the past that Donald Trump is never....ever....to be believed without verification.....but in this case.....I believe him.....not because of the content matter of the book....but because I can't see him actually reading any book at all.

Note: This is going quickly over to my humor page....even though there is little calming humor here.

DISPATCHES

 

VOTED FOR HIM.....CELEBRATED.....NEVER AGAIN  

10:00 am Tuesday.....Please read the President's tweets from this morning. God help us.....for this man has the reins of power. A few days ago he was at a microphone....outside of a factory on a campaign trip to Ohio....and spoke these words speaking of his opponent..."No religion, no anything. Hurt the Bible. Hurt God. He's against God. He's against guns...." This is sentence construction of a child. Is he really this stupid? No....although he has no vocabulary....for he is a man who in his life was most comfortable with a supermodel on his arm. Hurt God? Hurt the Bible? He let it slip in this speech that he looks at his evangelical supporters as mindless followers.....firmly in tow....just say something good about God and move on....and they will adoringly look up at him.

I Beg You To Consider This....I don't know who I have written of more in these posts of.....going on twelve years.....Billy Graham or R. C. Sproul....probably R. C....but as wonderful as Billy Graham's ministry was....he was still just a man....as was R. C. Sproul. Graham made serious.....serious mistakes in the beginning....with not only his involvement in politics....but in a terrible lack of discernment on how his politics almost obliterated the gospel that he proclaimed to more people in the twentieth century than anyone else....but all praise to God for keeping him....for as Billy saw his error....and as the politics diminished....God's warnings to America through him increased. We are all but feeble flesh....and Donald Trump has dragged us into the most fetid and toxic swamp of all....and right now we stink. God will pull us out as He pulled out Billy Graham....but even then let us be vigilant....for trusting in a smooth talking charlatan will always be a slippery slope just off to our 'Right.'

John MacArthur....began in the pulpit yesterday with these words...."Good morning everyone....are you glad to be here? Everything for us [is} based on the word of God, right? And that means we are pro-life, pro-family, pro-law and order, and pro church of the Lord Jesus Christ." No one more than John MacArthur....with the possible exception of Michael Horton....has more attempted to awaken today's church as to the deadly weakness of which it has taken on....and I have recommended often in these posts two of his books....Ashamed Of The Gospel....and....Christ's Call To Reform The Church....but he has thrown much of that work away in a matter of weeks as he himself was sucked into the Trump orbit....for that is what the demand to keep the churches open during the pandemic is....politics....Trump manufactured politics....to build into us fear of the other side....to secure his reelection. Limiting church services for a few moths while we try to get a handle on the pandemic is not a violation of either the First Amendment or God's Word. MacArthur's star with the conservative media has risen....which is what I always hoped would happen.....but not in this way. His ministry as it has always been...has taken a hit.....and therefore so have we. Rather than continuing to warn the church as he most magnificently has done for decades....he has changed to.....go to these churches....and stick it to the Democrats. This demonstrates that even the best of us have to be vigilant in this onslaught of delusion and false miracles of which we are increasingly being exposed.

SATURDAY...August 8th.....President Trump either golfed....then came in from the course to throw money at the masses for votes.....or first tore up the constitution.....then went out to golf.....or most likely....golfed....ran his coup....then went out to golf again.....as all the conservatives sang together.....They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha-haaa....while his newly installed Praetorian Guard stood proudly and sang a Roman marching song.....and evangelicals prepare to gather and sing the Battle Hymn Of The Republic.

"Oh You Didn't Like That.....Well How Do You Like This".....Donald Trump pokes and jabs....stirring up strife....setting all of this growing fringe on fire....while ridiculing and ramping up his pokes and his jabs and his threats. He is a sick man....may God open our eyes to him.....though we deserve it not.

THIS MAY BE THE REAL COUP....as President Trump is attempting to circumvent Congress. Our tact in defending him....(we defend him in anything he does....as we are all tyrants now)....our tact is in saying that Obama did it with DACA. If Trump is successful with this it will not only enable him to seek bolder and greater power grabs....but it will open the door to Democrats....should they regain the White House.....to double-down.....for Trump has cleared the way for them. There is no wisdom in Donald Trump....nor obviously those he has whittled down to being his sycophant advisers....and there never has been any wisdom in him. He lives for the moment....as it all revolves around him. In the business world he could cut and run many times....and he did....leaving many others holding the bag....(but we wouldn't know this would we....because we utterly refuse to read about him.....because he has hypnotized us into believing that it is all fake news)....but in his current position....as he deals with enemies to our nation....there will be no cutting and running....only consequences for the entire country.

SIXTEEN DAYS LEFT until the scheduled start of the Republican National Convention....whatever that turns out to be. Republicans have that much time to 'encourage' Donald Trump to do the right thing and drop out of the 2020 race....but alas we would be fortunate if there were five members in the entire Congress willing to risk their exalted positions to do what is right. This president's actions are getting worse and he is getting bolder as he needs to get this deal done....his reelection. President Trump dropping out on his own...and taking whatever pardons can be given him...and supporting the nominee that will continue his initial agenda....would be better than forcing him to resign in the middle of the campaign....which is getting more likely all the time. We....evangelicals....are building a monster....a potential fuhrer....may God have mercy on us for desiring the return of an America that treated Him as an unwanted guest...rather than setting ourselves apart in preparation for the judgments He has been warning us of since before all of us were even born.

Are you familiar with the passage in Deuteronomy chapter 17....beginning with verse 14 to verse 20 at the end of the chapter? God foresaw that Israel would one day want a king of their own. That king would have to be an Israelite....please read these verses for yourself....with help from a good commentary if need be. There were some other requirements for choosing this king.....he wasn't to "multiply horses to himself"....he wasn't to lead the people back to the ways of Egypt....and he wasn't to "multiply wives to himself"....nor "greatly multiply to himself silver and gold." God was telling them not to rely on there own power....not to bring idolatry back into their lives....and not to depend on great wealth.... does any of this sound familiar to you today? One other thing....this king was to make a copy of the things God was telling them through Moses....and "read therein all the days of his life....that he may learn to fear the LORD his God." All this was...."That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren"....so that he does not think himself so great. Joe Biden is a terrible choice for even the Democrats....but a second terrible choice does not fix that. We have a very short time to 'persuade" Donald Trump to turn this job.....via nomination.....over to someone else....but in any case in any of these possibilities....the radical socialists....the textbook sociopath....or any one of a number of saner individuals who can replace Trump on the ticket....Christ is to be our king....if not for the whole people....then in the hearts of every one of us who have been regenerated and redeemed by His grace.

.........................................................................

This morning I was rereading President Trump's State-of-the-Union.....given this past February 4th.  That speech concluded with these words...."This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look to 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 age, the American epic, the American adventure has only just begum. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising. God's grace  is still shining. And my fellow American, the best is yet to come." God had something to say about this arrogance....and in the near future....as judgments increase in severity....He may rightfully say to us...."Where is this Donald Trump in whom you have chosen to rely....go to him." 

Phil Robertson....It was at a Roy Moore rally in Alabama in September of 2017 that I first began to see who this Phil Robertson was.....and appreciate him. Trump at the time was endorsing Luther Strange....and we should have woke up as to who Trump really was right then.....but Rush got him out of that trouble by totally ignoring the issue. Phil spoke.....and as he finished he said...."We better get a godly man in the White House."  The rally went silent for a moment for it was obvious that Robertson was saying that at that moment we didn't have a godly man in the White House. Phil Robertson was on at the very end of Breitbart radio this morning.....Wednesday August 5. He rambled....showing what Donald Trump has done to him in the past few years....for not only does Trump viciously destroy enemies....(see a Tweet from minutes ago)....but even allies who cling to him are dragged into his personal swamp and often destroyed....so Phil described the situation this way....."Donald Trump is pro-God....he is pro-life....(only if he needs to be).....pro-marriage between a man and a women....(not really)....and he's pro-duck hunting....(only if the ducks don't quack his praises)....and that's good enough for me." "Pro-God" does describe it pretty well....for Donald Trump's philosophy on God is....'I won't step on his toes....if he doesn't step on mine.' Robertson....along with most evangelicals.....(Robertson is Church of Christ....and one should at least research this denomination a little....Google 'Church of Christ, equip.org'....for a short description)....have put Trump on one grid only....that of the radical Democrats....therefore Trump looks good.....sort of. Phil ranted on God's now judging the wicked.....those being the Democrats....not us....and that is his major mistake in this. No....God is judging all of us.....where Joe Biden et al....and Donald Trump.....are both part of that judgment.

My prayer has been....and continues to be...."Lord....open our eyes to Donald Trump...if not everyone....then at least your children." I can add to that Phil Robertson and his family.

.................................................................................................

We are demanding the....'science'....of masks before subjecting ourselves to the inconvenience of wearing them....but hydroxychloroquine is too important to demand....the 'science'....of it?

We charge the Left with using 'fear' of Trump as a tool....but we have far outdone them with our campaign based on 'fear' of Joe Biden and the radical Left.

We are regularly outraged when someone on the Left tells a lie.....outraged....but conveniently ignore Donald Trump's thousands of lies.

Character was the chief issue with Bill Clinton....but as for Donald Trump....we say that we didn't elect a Pastor-In-Chief.

Whistleblowers against the Left were heroes....but whistleblowers against Trump are traitors.

We were outraged when Barack Obama employed executive orders to circumvent the Congress....but Trump's executive orders are sailing full speed into the tempest of third-world dictatorships.

I could keep listing examples....but none of them would be the point I'm trying to make....which is that we conservatives once held the ethical high ground.....we lost a couple of key elections....but we waited patiently....and followed the rules....but Trump has dragged off of the high ground....and to quote first from Joe South's 1969 hit song Games People Play....and then Barry McGuire's 1965 megahit The Eve Of Destruction....

People walking up to you,

singing glory, Hallelujah!

and they're tryin' to sock it to you

In the name of the Lord

You can bury your dead, 

but don't leave a trace,

Hate your next door neighbor, 

but don't forget to say grace."

......................................................................................