DISPATCHES

 "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters. and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:12,13 

Trump was already rebuffed once on starting a lame duck war with Iran....but he has a tendency of when rebuffed....finding someone who agrees with him.....and then elevating them in importance....as he did with Dr. Atlas and DNI head John Ratcliffe. The Congress had better be on his doorstep on this one.

Joe Manchin is in his second term as a Democrat United States Senator from West Virginia. He made this very forceful statement on Fox News Special Report a few days after the election....and we would do well to keep it in mind...."I commit to tonight and I commit to all of your and everyone else that's watching, I want to allay those fears, I want to rest those fears for you right now because when they talk about, whether it be packing the courts or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that."

Four hundred years ago the Mayflower cast anchor at what would become Plymouth Colony. God seems to like round numbers....with that famous thanksgiving dinner the year after. This year....three hundred and ninety-nine years later....with God's judgments seeming to be coming with the regularity of His plagues on Pharaoh.....only the latest being a pandemic....His own people seem to be acting more like Pharaoh than Moses.

It would be ironic if on the day Americans once actually thanked God for His blessing....that because of our refusal to acknowledge His judgments....and through our gathering together in large numbers...in self-centeredness....His judgment on us went to another level....that America's beginnings essentially would have begun on a Thanksgiving.....and its ending would have begun on one.

It would be ironic if the man who evangelicals....many but not all of whom are Christians....and who had cast all discernment to the wind to secure his power and influence....turned out to be the catalyst for judgment upon America. In other words....the church finalized our judgment.

In a Supreme Court decision from only hours ago.....Amy Coney Barrett was the deciding opinion against the governor of New York's restrictions on religious gatherings during this pandemic. Because of the controversial nature of her confirmation vote....where in March of 2016 we blocked a 'too late' Democrat nominee....but pushed through an acceptable September 26th Republican nominee...thus inflaming a situation already well into a state of rage....she should have recused herself from all decisions until this current election is settled....but she didn't. Can you imagine if she votes on Trump's election? How far will we push this envelope?

The Supreme Court justices are now apparently at each other's throats....some of them......just like the rest of the country....(one report has two justices "sneering" at each other....but even Scalia and RBG liked each other) Rage rules everywhere today! Where or from whom might it have emanated? Answer...the Destroyer....no not that one.....a lesser one....of whom so many are destroyed simply by flying close to his flame.

Franklin Graham and Mike Pompeo both pepper their Twitter pages with Scripture verses.....(Pompeo on his personal Twitter page)......and both are good men.....but the verses they choose seem like they are chosen from a Hallmark type listing of favorite Bible Verses. Here is one for them to meditate upon...."And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." II  Corinthians 11:14....ESV. A previous post....Following Franklin Graham's Advice.....from just a few weeks ago.....explains this more.

"Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified"......that is a 2016 Trump tweet mentioned in an article up on Drudge right now titled....."Loser": How Lifelong Fear Bookended Presidency"

And this tweet only hours ago...."Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous "80,000,000" votes were not fraudulent or illegally obtained."

This was in one of my DISPATCHES posts back in July. Today the Department of Defense did indeed decide to scrap the ship as it would have taken $3 billion and yars to repair it......"What's In A Name. John Paul Jones named his ship....the USS Bonhomme Richard....in honor of Benjamin Franklin.....and his Poor Richard's Almanac. The distressing news of the day is the fire inside the current USS Bonhomme Richard.....where there has been multiple injuries.....and according to reports.....the mini-carrier....one of only a few.....and very valuable in its military use....may be damaged beyond repair."

Another top Pentagon official resigned under pressure today.....replaced reportedly be a Trump loyalist.

-

DISPATCHES

ICHABOD........The Glory Has Departed 

If one does not know the Donald Trump of forty years prior to the day he came down the escalator.....then one cannot know the man who came down that escalator. If one does know the Donald Trump of forty years prior to coming down the escalator.....then one knows that the man who calls everything a hoax and a fake....is the biggest hoax and fake ever perpetrated upon America.

John MacArthur: I think he made yet another mistake by appearing....again....on Laura Ingraham's Thursday night show. Putting himself in this type of situation he is not able to comment on Ingraham's own religious beliefs....which she made clear both times John MacArthur was on the show.....in fact he smiled through it. He once again called Covid-19 a lie. He encouraged listeners.....and Christians I presume.....to "fight' this...."revolution"....which he likened to Caesar and Napoleon and the Bolsheviks and Hitler in that an emergency was used for them to consolidate power. This is true....particularly with Germany....but has he even considered that in Germany it was the national socialists vs the communists....in other words....in a more pure analogy....the patriots in Germany were the ones that used the emergency? I have to wonder if there are not people in his own church praying that he returns to the gospel that he so marvelously defended for a half century.

A bipartisan Senate committee....in August.....agreed with our intelligence agencies in that Russia tried to help Trump.....and to hurt Clinton.....and to instigate chaos after the election.....and that Trump welcomed the help. Like so many others....I was dumbfounded in the weeks close to the 2016 election.....pleased I guess but dumbfounded....in some of the leaked information coming out about H. Clinton....close to the election! It was obvious that this stuff....wherever it came from....helped put Trump over the top. This 2020 election was rigged for Biden in key states.....and I posted on that from the beginning. Trump won in 2016 through lies....and help from a foreign entity....cheating....and survived an impeachment trial that was rigged....and 'lost' in 2020 by cheating within our own ranks. Aah but that's both sides of this issue.....and we on both sides today.....no longer look at both sides of any issue.

I tuned into Rush.....and was glad to see that he was on....because it showed that he was healthy enough to broadcast....and he sounded fine.....so this was good.....but I only lasted about a minute....probably less....because he began his monologue with absurdities on the greatness of Trump. On Rush himself....and I've mentioned it numerous times....his talent at what he does is the very best of the best.....as no one is even close to being able to keep and motivate and lead listeners as he is. It used to be for good....but no longer....as he.....(and folks I've studied the methodology and effects of powerful charismatic leaders for the better part of four decades)...is totally taken in by just such a leader....as much as anyone I have read about. Anyway....the reason for this part of this post. Rush was bewailing the fact that one Democrat governor was in effect cancelling Thanksgiving.  Yesterday morning I heard another radio host who was really upset because his Thanksgiving was.....ruined....as there will only be four at his dinner table. Thanksgiving was always....well for the past 37 years anyway....not only my favorite holiday of the year.....but really the only holiday to me. I worked shifts for 37 years but was off for a lot of those Thanksgivings....and I loved them....a wonderful meal....loved ones around.....and gathered to give thanks to our blessed God and Savior who had saved us from perdition....and given us the joy of knowing Him......and exalting Him....(My Thankful for Weaknesses post....my favorite post....will get it's annual posting soon....Lord willing of course)....but as the years progressed....and my knowledge of the extent of what God had done for us could only increase....the holiday became more and more problematic. We weren't really meeting in thanksgiving to God....we were meeting in thanksgiving to the family itself....as it grew larger and larger over time....God mentioned only in the prayer before the meal. So maybe there will be less of what has become the modern Thanksgiving this year....then it can only be good for us.....for God will essentially be blasphemed less by our frivolously tacking His name on these gatherings. I've said many times folks....we may in America need to hit rock bottom before we awake. I had always hoped that would not be the case.....that we would see our rebelliousness to God before His judgments intensified.....but that does not appear to be the case. So....wherever we are in America this Thanksgiving....may this plague....and this chaos.....and this present darkness....humble us....at least for this one meal.

The push is on right now to form some kind of 'truth news network'....that can overcome all the other networks....and give us nothing but truth. Sounds good doesn't it? Well it isn't good....as it would be 100% pure propaganda for our side....the same exact indoctrinating and brainwashing and mind-control that we see from the worst abusers on the other side! Is that what we want folks....to fight unadulterated bias with unadulterated bias? Is that what we have become.

An op-ed in the Jerusalem Post posed this question.....why is President Trump purging people at the Pentagon and State and Homeland Security.....with weeks left in his administration....and it questioned some of the people put into influential positions.

Mark Esper's temporary replacement....Christopher Miller.....and a senior adviser to him.....Douglas MacGregor.....signify some serious departures from US policy around the world. You might want to read up on Mr. MacGregor. Why this....with so little time left in the White House?

A classified memo came to light today from last month where the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told President Trump that it was the unanimous decision of the chain of command that no further troop withdrawals should happen in Afghanistan until the Taliban met the demands they were supposed to meet. Well Esper is gone. Trump doesn't like memos like that. There is no intelligence community to Donald Trump....only gut instincts....and hunches....and bluffs....and he is so much smarter than them anyway.

We on our side keep calling this virus a fake pandemic.....because only the elderly or the infirmed seem to die from it....small numbers....many times more than those who died in Vietnam.....but....insignificant numbers in this case! What does that type of thinking remind you of....where only those useful to society are important? 

President Trump in his typical impetuous tweeting said that a vaccine will be available as soon as April for the general population....with the exception of New York. No empathy....no conscience whatsoever....a total vacuum as to compassion or truth....no concern for anyone on this planet other than himself. We saw this same sadistic revenge mode with his comments on NATO....where yes he might defend them.....if they are paid up. Take note Benjamin Netanyahu....Trump's 'war drum's on Iran are not because he wants to help you.

I want to restate this which I have consistently posted.....it did not matter to me who would win this election....for it only was going to show us how God's judgment on America would unfold....with two men totally unfit to be president....and thus the Christian might be better able to prepare for what might be ahead. The election....as I have stated from the very beginning.....was rigged. If somehow it was overturned....and Trump would miraculously stay in office....the entire nation would very probably implode....and Trump....the self-proclaimed law and order man....would lead his legends against the communists and the anarchists. Sound familiar to anyone? Have Rush and the others even considered this? No they haven't.....nor would they care.....nor would Donald Trump....for he would bring down the nation before losing. Folks....he's not fighting for you....he's fighting only for himself. 

There is a scene from Chariots Of Fire....where Harold Abrahams asked the famous trainer Sam Mussabini to be his coach. Mussabini looks at him.....pauses.....and says...."Mr. Abrahams....It's the coach that should do the asking." Fox News is reporting that Laura Trump is considering running for the Senate from North Carolina....and that Mark Meadows....the more likely candidate....is not. It also reports that Senator Rick Scott....the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.....said "I've got to recruit somebody in Pennsylvania and somebody in North Carolina"....to run for the Senate. Senator Scott....(pause)....it's the people that should do the choosing on who to be their nominee.

"We've Got Grievances".....Redux

The following....including the notes at the end.....were posted at various times in the fall of 2018 up to January of 2019....and was a little venting on my part....this after Rush had boasted that President Trump had..."saved the NFL"....which was an absurd statement to begin with....and I'm not a fan of professional football anyway as it has taken over the Lord's Day.....thus brush hogging the hedge of protection the Lord has provided for us. I'm bringing it back for a short while so that if the professional political analyst might come across it....they might see what was going on in the minds of some of those in President Trump's base two years ago....votes that he would one day need...but would just be discarded.....and then lumped in with the NeverTrumpers to explain away their grievances. It also explains....very accurately in retrospect....why Trump's support with so many others remained strong....and why that support was based on many a false premise:

"We've Got Grievances"

            They don't want to acknowledge us.....and even if they do they try to lump us in with 'Never-Trumpers.' We are every bit as much the conservative base as they ever were. Donald Trump may not have been our first choice in the primaries....although he was to some of us....but we all celebrated the evening of the election. We are like a snowman that Donald Trump built.....that slowly melts with the lies and the deceptions and the sickening bombast and severe psychological issues.....where first the carrot nose falls off in the heat of lying....and then the coal eyes rolls out of their melting sockets as one deception follows another. We're just two blobs of snow right now....covered with mud soot from cleaning up after him.
            There's a scene from that great film Gettysburg where a troop of Maine mutineers were handed over to Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain for punishment. Private Bucklin....in that thick Maine accent....vented...."We've got grievances....I'm tired Colonel. I've had all this army and all these officers, this damned Hooker, this damned idiot Meade, all of them, the whole bloody lousy rotten mess of sick-brained, pot-bellied scabheads that ain't fit to lead a johnny detail, ain't fit to pour pee out of a boot with the instructions on the heel."
            Well....we've got grievances too....we're tired of the reality show production. We've had it with this Madame Tussuad wax figurine Jared and his Barbie Doll wife....we're sick of all the back-and-forth back-stabbing and glad-handing....the threatening....the patronizing and condescending. We've had it with radio talking heads treating this truant temper tantrum President like a saintly martyr. We've got two more years of this mess....and we don't even want to hear about signing on for four more. We're tired of this....push the button and listen to the same Sarah Huckawhatever Sanders recording. We've had enough loves notes to this pot-bellied dictator in North Korea.....and this rambling worship leader 'Baghdad Bob' Limbaugh....this Wrongway Graham.....this mouth full of marbles McConnell....all of them....the whole sordid sick bunch of puppeteer hero wannabees that couldn't keep a promise if it was never to pee on their hands....and now we got this supposed genius who couldn't construct a five word grammatically correct sentence if you spotted him four words....and couldn't tell the truth on an application for a driver's license.

Note: If it weren't for these new radical Bolsheviks in the Democrat Congress.....and some of these 'useful idiots' in the media....and celebrities like Robert De Niro and Rob Reiner....Donald Trump's hopes for reelection would essentially be over by now. Conservatives would have seen who he is and already have a challenger in the 2020 primaries. These three general examples....(the new Democrats in Congress....the media....and Hollywood)....are so egregiously frightening to conservatives....and to any rational thinking Americans....that in spite of appearing on the surface as they do to be a threat to President Trump's reelection....they are the only thing keeping it afloat! Take note of this....and observe in the future.....President Trump will do or say some outrageous betrayal to his base.....that base will come within a day or so of seeing who he really is....and then one of these three groups....if not all three....will do their thing....or a new 'caravan' will form....or something new will come out on James Comey....and the attention of all the conservatives will shift to them....(helped of course by President Trump's talk radio generals)....and away from President Trump's outrageous betrayal....for that has been the trend over the past two years. The 'President Approval Polls' are not so much a reflection on Donald Trump's approval....as they are to the angst and outrage over Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of them.

Advice to consider: Whenever Trump talk radio generals give excessive credit to the President.....whatever the issue....put that on the grid of what any Republican president would have done. Corporate tax rates and regulatory chains on the economy would be examples.....Supreme Court nominations would be another....Ted Cruz or Ben Carson and many others would have given just as good if not even better nominees. This is not to take away from President Trump....although he literally had no choice in nominating originalists.....but it would deny President Trump and his supporters in what they are attempting to do....that being to make it appear as if President Trump alone accomplished this....whereas in reality conservatives had worked for decades....while Donald Trump was playing around with beauty pageants and TV shows....to bring these many issues to the awareness of the general public. The voters were primarily responsible for these nominees.....not Donald Trump!

"Lord, Thou Art God......"

            Drudge had the above oil on canvas up for about 24 hours....Jennie Augusta Brownscomb's 1914....The First Thanksgiving At Plymouth....and I said a prayer of thanksgiving every time I checked the Drudge Report....if only because so many Americans were reminded that there was a day when we thanked God for our blessings every time as we sat down to eat.
            Mid-20th century London preacher Martyn-Lloyd Jones....in a recent sermon that I was listening to....took pains to point out that from the Acts Of The Apostles....chapter 14....after Peter and John had been seriously warned not to preach the name of Jesus....that they returned to all the disciples....reported to them what had happened....and then all stood up and began their prayer...."Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them. Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ...."
            The point that Lloyd-Jones was making was that all the authority of the ruling Jews were against them....along with all the authority of Rome on the other side....that there were only this little group....how bleak it must have looked had not they known where the true power came from. It must have been a similar situation with the pilgrims in this picture as they were leaving the authorities on one side that would tell them how to worship God....but threatened with the mortal challenges of a new world on the other,
            And folks.....to a much lesser degree at the present time.....that is where we are today....as we have this secular world pushing at us....giving us only so much room without pushback....and the church on the other side telling us that we must fall in line with it to oppose the secular opposition....to follow this worldly prince in spite of his self-adulation....and promises of peace and security and prosperity that is diametrically opposed to what God's Word tells us....but we have that beginning of prayer to fall back on....."Lord, thou art God, which hast made the heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them...."

"Regrets Yes......No Doubts Though"

 

Even in an election year such as we are having.....November 4th brings back memories. The following was first posted in November 2013:

        November 4th, 1979 is a day forever etched into my mind. I sat at the side of my father's hospital bed and watched as the bleeps on the heart rate monitor came slower and slower...and then stopped. That day and the immediate days after were a blur to me and I really can't remember much of them.  I weighed fifty pounds less on November 4th, 1979 then I do sitting here on my recliner writing this post. I was a runner back then but my Jim Fixx... Runner's Day-by-Day Log and Calendar shows nothing from those days other than miles ran, weight and occasional comments on the weather or the run.
        I did volunteer phone work in the Pennsylvania primary for Ted Kennedy's run for the presidency in the 1980 campaign. I had been a supporter, a fan is probably a better word, of the Kennedy family for as long as I can remember and can recall being whisked out of our grade school classroom to line the street and wave as then presidential candidate John Kennedy's motorcade drove by on his visit to Buffalo. Robert Kennedy's death affected me greatly....and Ted Kennedy....well it was just natural to support his campaign for President. My father is buried in Arlington Cemetery a few hundred yards away from the graves of these three brothers.
         I wouldn't find out until days later that Ted Kennedy's campaign for president began to collapse the very day that my father died as the Senator from Massachusetts sat for a disastrous interview with CBS newsman Roger Mudd. This was three days before his run for the White House was even officially announced. Senator Kennedy was asked the simple question "Why do you want to be president?" Had I been watching this interview live my head would have sunk into my hands as the Massachusetts Senator stammered his way through a vacuous answer that gave doubt to all those watching of his qualifications to be president. There was a long way to go in that campaign but Kennedy never recovered from that infamous interview on November 4th, 1979..
         It was another news story that dominated on that day in 1979 and I did at least catch those headlines but no one could foresee the earth shaking reverberations the event would have over the coming years right up until today. President Jimmy Carter had effectively turned his back on the Shah of Iran who was in the United States for medical treatment. Iranian students who were supporting a revolution in their country seized 52 American hostages from the American embassy in Tehran. This hostage crisis would last 444 days and not be resolved until the very day that Ronald Reagan took the oath of office as Jimmy Carter's successor. It has been 34 years (41 now) since that day and Iran is now a threat to Israel, to the United States and to world peace.
         Six weeks after my father died I started a new job, the same job that I returned home from just a few hours ago. (and the same job I retired from four years ago) Within the next three years I went  from being a lifelong Democrat volunteering in political campaigns to an ardent conservative Republican. I went from wearing a suit to work to wearing a hardhat and steel-toe boots, and I went from being a rather non-religious occasional church goer to a cross pin in the hat...Bible in the back pocket... born-again Christian. My great regret is that I had, and thus have today, no idea if my father had considered his eternal soul in his last days. This I don't know for I had no clue as to my own eternal soul at the time.
         November 4th always brings back these memories, sometimes a tear or two, and thoughts about my life before redemption....by grace alone...through faith alone.....in Christ alone. I did come across a comment that I made in my Jim Fixx running logs that helps explain those days a little bit. It was on March 5th, 1982...."Saw Chariots Of Fire today." The comment was out of place among years (nine years total) of only running comments. The fortitude and determination of Eric Liddell, as depicted in the film, made me question my own life....I remember that.... and I would find answers to those questions before the end of the year.
          There is a scene in that Academy Award winning film where Eric Liddell is asked if he regretted not running his Olympic race that was scheduled on the Sabbath. His answer was...as well as I remember it....."Regrets yes....no doubts though." It was an answer that begs for some further explanation which I cannot give other than to say that I also have many regrets in my Christian walk.....but also.....no doubts.......no doubts on the Lord Jesus Christ, on His majesty, His mercy, His kingship, on the infallible Word given to us in the Bible, and on His resurrection, ascension and Second Coming in power and glory along with all the saints that have passed on...including Eric Liddell.

Note November 5: If you have Roku on your television....it is offering Chariots Of Fire for viewing right now!
        

Too Late......The Last Debate

          One irony of this election is in the persona that President Trump put forth in the last debate.....if he had taken that tact his whole term....or even in the past year....he probably would have been unbeatable....the coronavirus mistakes and mail-in ballots notwithstanding. Instead his constant attack mode on anyone that had the audacity to not just challenge him....but refuse to bow down to him....and his almost 24/7 telling us through skilled obscurantist and deception how great he was....turned many away. You can see this plainly in what happened to Drudge as the last few years rolled on....and you can see it even now as republicans do not seem to be coming to Donald Trump's defense....seemingly almost relieved that he may be gone....but unfortunately that is Donald Trump. It would have taken a major change in his life....for him to show some humility....a change that only faithful pastors....faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ....could have offered to him....but instead he got only adulation.
           It is amazing to me....that Democrats choose today and tonight to celebrate.....fireworks and all. Actually it is amazing that anything they do can still amaze. Folks....I did not have a horse in this race....sorry for that expression....but I repeatedly stated that the only thing in this election that I was interested in was that it would give Christians an idea of how to prepare for the judgment upon this whole world that is coming....and as of tonight.....fireworks or not.....we do not know that yet....for we still have a Supreme Court.....and even if they do not enter this fight....we still have over six weeks of President Trump's administration.
           So tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day. How many times have I led off a post with those words? I came in for a break today from raking leaves and turned on the television only to see an old favorite program of mine when I was a kid....Have Gun Will Travel. While raking I was listening on my headphones to a tape where someone was just reading the book of Jeremiah. Yesterday it was Isaiah. So on the TV show today Paladin confronted the antagonist of the episode and lo and behold the antigonist quotes the Prophet Jeremiah! Paladin was always quoting literature on this show.....you may remember that.....and he came right back with his own Jeremiah verse...."And they shall come back from the land of the enemy and there is hope for thy future, saith the Lord."
           Well here's two verses that I recall from my headphones today...."And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding." (3:15 ESV)....and...."I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord." (23:4 ESV) 
           Yes Martin Luther famously said when asked what he would do if he knew for sure that Jesus was coming back the very next day....."I would plant a tree"......indicating that we keep on.....keeping on......and indeed I was raking leaves even though I hope and believe.....that particularly because of the state of this world.....and America.....that Jesus....is already mounted......along with His mighty angels. May God's Spirit move.....even this Lord's Day....in the hearts and minds of His shpeherds.....and in our hearts and minds....for His glory alone!

1962

 

The following is a short story (related from memory for I no longer have the draft) that I wrote a few decades ago...and I bring it back a couple of times a year during the high school football season....but with the election this year it almost slipped my mind:

1962

         Tommy Wilson was beat and worn out as he walked into the apartment where he and his mother lived. She had been holding dinner late every night so that Tommy could go to football practice and then work for two hours at Spinoza's Market.

"Welcome home Johnny U!"
"I'm on special teams mom...Johnny Unitas is a quarterback."
"Oh, well excuse me...any new bruises today?"
"Yeah, my right shin."

         Tommy was a senior at Catawaga High School in Buffalo, New York and he was going out for football for the very first time. He was on a mission. You see, Tommy was in love with Mary Burns whose family had moved to Buffalo the year before from Tennessee. Her father was an airline pilot and this is where the job was. Tommy and his mom did not have a lot of money. He would have wanted to buy a ring or a necklace for Mary so that everyone would know that she was his girl. What he finally decided on was going to take a lot of effort. He wanted to make the football team and earn a varsity letter, then put it on a  sweater and give it to Mary. All the guys who had lettered had given lettered sweaters to their girlfriends. He had to not only make the team but play in 10 quarters to earn that letter. The coach told him that the only way he would get into games was on the kickoff teams and that only if he proved that he could tackle. Tommy had given more effort than anyone on the team, flying down the field and literally throwing his body at the opposing players.  Working at Spinoza's would earn him the money for the sweater that would cost $37.50. That was the plan anyway.

Mary: "Tommy, I'm really worried about you. You get hurt almost every practice and you work so hard at the market after that. Are you sure that you want to do this? You know football doesn't mean that much to me."
Tommy: I have to do this Mary. Football will be over in December and I can slow down."

         Tommy hadn't told Mary about the plan or the importance of others knowing that she was his girl. Mary was a Christian girl from the South who always talked about the "Lord."  Tommy didn't understand half of it. He never talked this way about God and didn't know anyone else who did.

Mary: Tommy, the Bible says that you must be "born again." You should think about what that means and try to understand it!"
Tommy: Mary, I believe in God. I may not be perfect, but who is....except maybe you?"
Mary: "You know I'm not perfect Tommy. I'm far from it since I know the Lord and still cannot live as I should."
Tommy: "Well, you seem pretty close to perfect...in everything...to me."

         Tommy's coach was not particularly happy that Tommy expected to win a letter. This was his second year as head coach with the Flyers and he was determined to succeed and make coaching his profession. Catawaga had never had a winning season. They were 0 and 10 the year before he came and 4 and 6 in his first year. Come "hell or high water," as he would constantly remind them, they were going to have a winning season this year and that meant 6 wins. The assistant coach, Mark Offen, was a 'coach' second and a history teacher first. He admired the spunk of this lightweight senior, who for some reason just had to win a letter....and his efforts probably stopped Coach Thomas from cutting Tommy.

Coach Offen: "Are you alright Wilson?"
Tommy: "Yeah coach. I forgot to hit with my pads and not my head."
Coach Offen: "Sit down for a while."
Tommy: "Do I have to coach? I feel OK."

Coach Thomas came over as Tommy headed for the sidelines.

Coach Thomas: "That kids going to kill himself and get us all in trouble."
Coach Offen: "I'll keep an eye on him. He'll be alright."

         Tommy liked to take Mary up to this new hamburger joint on Union Road called McDonalds. It was only 19 cents for a burger and that was all he could afford on his budget. Mary carried a Bible with her at all times and liked to sneak in about ten minutes of Bible reading every time they were together. Tommy was glad he didn't live in the South for they took religion all too seriously. The next day would be the first game and Tommy didn't know if he would get in, for the coach gave no clues. He was not on the field for the kickoff when the game started nor for the two others in the first half. Catawaga was winning 21 to nothing when they took the field for the second half. Coach Thomas barked out orders and yelled Tommy's name for the kickoff team without even looking for him. Tommy's first experience in a game was not encouraging. He ran down the field and was belted by someone twice his size, but he had one quarter in for his letter. He was not called on for the final quarter. The next week was a grueling week for practice. Tommy hit every opposite colored practice jersey he had a chance to hit.  Coach Offen patted him on the back but Coach Thomas never acknowledged him. The Flyers were 1 and 0 going into the second game. Again Tommy did not play in the first half. For the kickoff starting the second half his name was called and he flew down field and hit the first jersey he saw, who flew into the ball carrier enabling his teammates to make the tackle. Tommy had contributed! He was in on the kickoff again and this time the kick was real short. Someone in the middle had picked up the ball and Tommy had a chance to hit the ball carrier for the first time. Just as he was about to make the tackle he was blocked hard and thought he heard his finger snap. The trainer wrapped it up and the doctor later said that it was separated and would keep him our of football for three weeks at least. Tommy now had three quarters of the ten he needed but half of the season was over when he was given the OK to play. The Flyers were 3 and 2 so the coach was not on the warpath as he had been. The 6th game saw Tommy get in to play but only in the 4th quarter. He now had 4 quarters of game play with 4 games left.

Mary: "Tommy, you played really well last night. You hit that big number 70 real hard!"
Tommy: "But I didn't move him Mary. I can't expect to get a letter if I can't help the team."
Mary: " Is that what this is all about...a letter? Why is it so important?"
Tommy: "Well...uh...I just have to win one....that's all."

         Tommy had a fairly good week of practice but did not get in the 7th game at all and they lost. The team was 4 and 3 and Coach Thomas hardly even practiced Tommy the next week. Tommy thought he heard Coach Offen mention his name to Coach Thomas once. He couldn't hear what was being said but could tell neither coach was happy. Game 8 went well from the start and the Flyers were up 30 to 0 at the half. There were 10 quarters left and Tommy needed to get in 6 of them. It seemed impossible but he kept on giving everything that he had. He was on the kickoff team starting the second half and Coach Offen slapped him on the back with encouragement. Tommy ran down the field fast but not as fast as he had been, for he had to have an idea of where the ball carrier was. The runner picked up about 20 yards when he found himself charging straight at Tommy who lowered his head and dove for his legs. the runner went down and Tommy's teammates were slapping him on the helmet, but it had cost Tommy for he felt his finger hurting again but did not tell anyone. The Flyers put their 3rd team in for the 4th quarter but their was no scoring and no chance for Tommy to get in. The next week was the opposite. Tommy got in on the first kickoff but the Flyers were down 28 to 0 at the half and he did not get in. There was one game left and Tommy needed all 4 quarters!  He was actually learning the game with one game left in his career. The team now had 5 wins and 4 losses with one game left and had to win it for the winning season. Tommy thought it was impossible to get in for all 4 quarters. Coach Offen told him to make the plays and he'll get in. It seemed as if he had talked to Coach Thomas or something. He was in on the first kickoff and hit one blocker and knocked him down. The runner came next and Tommy latched on to his legs for the tackle. Catawaga was losing 28 to 27 in the last quarter of the season and the Flyers could not move the ball, nor could the other team. He had played in the first 3 quarters but there were only 5 minutes left in the game, then 4...3...2 minutes left. Williamsville, their main rival, had the ball on their own 10 yard line with a one point lead and only 15 seconds left on the clock. Tommy had tears in his eyes. He looked up in the stands and saw Mary looking at him and smiling. She pointed up to the sky and Tommy knew what she meant..."the Lord was more important than football." Tommy began to feel guilty that his team was going to lose, his coach was not going to reach his goal, but the only thing he cared about was himself. The game was just about over and Coach Thomas angrily called out Tommy's name. Tommy jumped up and looked at him. The coach told him to go in for Davis in the defensive backfield! Tommy had only played that position in practice when they needed a body. He started running out on the field and everyone was yelling to him that he needed his helmet. He reached the defensive huddle. He now had his 10 quarters in!  Why would Coach Thomas do this, especially as they were about to lose? His teammates were oblivious to this. They only had one more play on their mind. The quarterback took the snap and handed off to the fullback who broke through the line coming right at Tommy. Tommy ran straight at him and hit as hard as he ever hit anyone. Tommy was knocked on his back but heard shouts. He had caused a fumble and everyone was running after the ball. One guy fell on it only to have it squirt out and towards Tommy. Tommy picked it up and ran towards the goal. He was hit short of it but before he fell was hit from behind by a teammate and then another. He felt his feet hit the ground and pushed one more time in the scrum with players in front but more in back. He fell but held on to the ball and could still hear yells. What had happened? The referee was pulling players off until he saw Tommy and raised his hands signaling a touchdown!  Everyone was pulling at him, slapping him, yelling at him. He had scored the winning touchdown. The team beat their rival and finished the season with 6 wins and 4 losses. Tommy was in a bit of shock. As he walked back towards the sideline he saw Coach Thomas and Coach Offen talking. Coach Thomas was just smiling and shaking his head up and down.

Mary: "Tommy, you were unbelievable! You were the hero, and you'll get your letter!"
Tommy: "Mary, I'll tell you later why I had to have that letter."

         Two weeks later was the football banquet where the varsity letters would be given out. Everyone has two tickets for the dinner to give to parents. Tommy's mother and Mary would be at his table. the Flyers colors were white and red. Tommy had bought the white wool sweater at Anderson's Department Store and was ready to have the letter put on the day after. Tommy's mom had picked up Mary in their 1957 Ford Fairlane and met Tommy at the banquet who had gone early for instructions on the ceremony. Tommy was the only senior to be given a varsity letter for the first time, a 10 inch red "C"." Coach Thomas said a few words about every player that came up to the podium. When he came to Tommy, he had this to say, "Quite frankly, I never expected Tommy Wilson to earn this letter. It is nearly impossible to earn a varsity letter as a senior without ever having played a down of organized football. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit it, I was a little bit annoyed at his determination. But Coach Offen had faith in Tommy's abilities, abilities that I did not see. He nearly twisted my arm to get him in all four quarters of that last game. Come up here for your letter Tommy. You deserve it as much as anyone on this team." Tommy was red faced and looked to Coach Offen and smiled as he returned to his table. He gave his varsity letter to his mom and held Mary's hand tight.

Mary: "Well, Tommy, I'm so proud of you and you have that varsity letter that you wanted so much!"
Tommy: "Mary. I never told you why I wanted this ... letter so bad. All of the other guys have something to give their girls to show everyone that they they are their girlfriends. They give nice rings and most have cars to drive them around. They take them to the prom and I can't afford that. I worked for that letter to put on  a sweater and ask you if you would wear it for the rest of the year. I would be so proud to see you in it, knowing that you are showing everyone that we are in love with each other."
Mary: "Tommy...I had no idea that you felt that way. I'm in shock...and I have to tell you what came to my mind as you told me. Tommy...everyone will one day stand before God and He will look at them to see if they belong to his Son Jesus. And do you know how He will know? All those who have trusted in Jesus, and in Him "alone" to save them....they will be dressed in white...the righteousness of Christ! We will stand before God after a lifetime that is filled with sin, yet the Father will not see that for He will only see what Jesus has done. That is why Jesus came here to be one of us, to live the perfect life and pay for our sins. Tommy, if we trust in anything we do then we are pulling back that robe...that sweater...of righteousness to reveal our sin. God may have given you this determination to win a varsity letter to demonstrate this to you. When we are "born again" we see this."

         Tommy could not say a word. The Mary that he loved so much was the Mary that loved Jesus so much. He sometimes felt jealous over this. How wrong he had been. For the first time he understood what Mary was trying to tell him. He felt that God must love him to tell show him this. He had doubted before because he had grown up without a father. Tommy felt tears forming in his eyes and turned his head. His mother was returning to her seat. She had his sweater in her hands and the varsity red letter "C" was sewn on. She had secretly brought the sweater with her and returned to the car to sew it on. Tommy looked lovingly into his mother's eyes and took the sweater and turned back to Mary. She had stood up to remove the little vest she was wearing. Tommy offered her the sweater and she carefully put it on. As she sat down and said "Thank you," Tommy looked at her with wet eyes and said "Maybe we can both put on something white tonight with the letter "C"? They held hands as the principle turned the microphone on and said:

"Well, the Supreme Court recently ruled that God cannot come into our schools. Maybe someday we will have to comply...but not tonight. Heavenly Father. Thank you for this night, and for the food we are about to eat...."

If We Do Not 'Check' His Power Now.....He May Attempt To 'Checkmate" Us later...."

            I had published a few posts over the past year or so where I tried to warn on where we on our side were going as we were getting a little too close for comfort to the 1933 National Socialists of Germany....for there were at that time the bad communists....and the Reichstag fire....and order had to be restored.....and they had the perfect megalomaniac to do it. So I had earlier this year combined a few of those posts into what is directly below. Trump is trying to make this election into the Reichstag Fire....and his people are as usual just following....no one makes decisions but the leader....no one dares challenge him or they will be on their way out....as he offers the nation up to immolation. May God have mercy on us as we continue to follow this man.....for it is not ideas anymore that we stand for....but power....and revenge....for he has changed us. Look with great trepidation if you will at what is happening at the Pentagon right now....and other areas! Below this is a post titled....A Very Natural Temptation....first published in 2018....that speaks more specifically on how the Christian in 1933 fell for the new and terribly exciting 'patriotic' movement.

            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 the conservative/libertarian/Tea Party/talk radio people that I had been part of for decades....it is rather Donald Trump....and unfortunately those that were probably only a small part of us....but have come to the fore because that is how you succeed in this White House. 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-grabs.
            What we read of that is going on in America today....and the movement that we know to be behind the scenes....well there's no word of indignation strong enough that comes to my mind right now....but there is an alternate force fighting this surrender to communism....Donald Trump....an egomaniacal strongman of our own who is ruthless....and who has no concept of what the word truth means. He's not defending what is right....he is promulgating himself....and we ourselves therefore are not seeking what is right and good....but are just but rallying for a competing movement. We need right now discernment on how something like this is possible.....for history has shown us this....that one can oppose what is wrong...but in doing so only fall under something else that is wrong. Only God's Word can give us this discernment....under the power of His Holy Spirit....so it would behoove us to pay particular attention to the past as we take up these issues in defense of our country.
            So it would help to look at Germany in the 1930s....to see how a weakened Christian culture can so quickly and easily be lured into a cult of personality. As pertaining to the radical progressives among us today....author and Russian specialist Helen Rappaport speaks to this in her extraordinary book....Caught In The Revolution....(a review last posted on 8/19/2018)....but to us in conservatism the story of Martin Niemoller should speak....particularly as laid out in Then They Came For Me....Martin Niemoller....by Matthew D. Hockenos....but as good as I perceive this book to be....if you want more than history....prescient as this particular topic may be....you would do well to read anything by pastor....author....and teacher....and German specialist....Erwin W. Lutzer....of whom one of his books is mentioned at the end of this post:
            1 Samuel 8:7...."The Lord said to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." Donald Trump is everything that the Christian should reject....yet we want him. This is more than a mere political movement. I've seen a half century of those. This is spiritual in nature. God has removed over the years most of His messengers of warning to us....as they have died and gone off to be with Him....and He has in place of them given us megachurch pastors....and celebrity pastors....and young pastors who have no idea how to warn the sheep....for they themselves do not even feel the heat of this boiling sea of ignorance pervading the minds of Americans....even those Americans who only a decade ago or less had basic discernment on where this nation and this world were heading.
            God is most definitely behind the rise of Donald Trump in American politics....only it is not what you probably think. He has given him to us....that it will eventually be evident to us....that we had clamored for a king....as the Israelites had for Saul....and in demanding that king....we had rejected God. This is what happened in Germany....as National Socialism was going to make Germany great again....and that they would be powerful again. It's a very natural temptation no matter what the ideology.
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A VERY NATURAL TEMPTATION....December of 2018

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

Magnanimity

Barack Obama famously said a few days before the 2008 general election...."We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." We lost that election....kept our heads....and went back to work....won the House in 2010....kept it in 2012.....and won both the House and Senate in 2014....as Donald Trump was still busy with The Apprentice. The following was posted about a month after Barack Obama had defeated John McCain. I thought I would bring it back today....election day 2020. What has changed today in that you cannot lose an election.....and then just dig in to win the next one? Are we transformed as a nation....and if so in what ways....and how did this come about?

Magnanimity.....December 11, 2008   

           As I remember it, the story goes like this; The Civil War's end had begun at Appomattox Courthouse when General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to General Grant. The Confederate Army was filing by Union troops and laying down their weapons. Their heads were down as the anguish of defeat and a lost cause stripped them of everything they held dear. General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain stood in the Union ranks and saw the once proud army that had fought with honor....in what he believed was the wrong cause....but their cause nonetheless. He then committed an act of magnanimity that was in line with what we have come to know of Chamberlain. He commanded his Union troops to attention with the purpose of giving this beaten enemy a measure of honor that their acts of bravery and obedience to their cause deserved. The Confederates were astonished by this. They stood up tall and continued to file by and leave their weapons....but now with a little bit of hope restored that the future might acknowledge their efforts.
          Lincoln showed magnanimity towards the south in the short time he lived after its defeat. John Wilkes Booth struck out in murderous hate because of the South's defeat....and the North eventually showed little magnanimity towards the south in Reconstruction....thus many laid Jim Crow laws on this doorstep.
         Enormous amounts of money were spent in rebuilding Europe.....including West Germany after World War II, as well as magnanimity given towards Japan that proved wise in how Japan eventually progressed to where it is today. Many historians believe that a lack of magnanimity towards Germany at the end of World War I gave Hitler what he needed to enslave the minds of his followers. Stalin and Mao were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions after their...."victories."
        We are in a culture war in America right now and one side or the other may win it. If this new liberal, this progressive secular leftist element wins and decides to once and for all to rid America of religious myth and tradition, it will lead to disaster. If the conservative, the Bible Thumper, the family values element (of which I am one) wins, and if we fail to recognize that our conservatism can be greed, our Bible thumping can be pride, and our family values can be smokescreens, then this also will lead to disaster. Should the Lord give us any victories in life, may He give us discernment to see when magnanimity is called for.

I'll Wait To See His Perfect Will

   

             I try not to think about it but it is nearly impossible. Is there one of these men that in my vain thoughts I would rather win this election? There probably is if I would let these thoughts run rampant but I chose to leave this to God's will....not willing even to cast a vote for either....knowing that God had warned us that judgment was coming to America....this over multitple decades through His Word....and by way of the men who brought it to our attention....but those men are just about all gone....gone to be with their Lord....their task completed. These two men battling each other for this position are a big part of that judgment....while the church has indeed already been judged for its part in it....as pastors today by and large are as shepherds without insight as to how to warn the sheep.
             If Trump retains his position....I would expect that the winnowing in the church which has to come...to come quickly....as true Christians would begin to see who this man is that they fell hook, line and sinker for. If he has a Trump congress behind him there may be no stopping him. If the other man wins then I would expect much of the church to return somewhat to where they should have been all along....looking to Christ....this without the grand delusion of Trump tugging at them.
             We have brought all of this upon ourselves as we ignored the clearest of warnings in God's Word not to put our trust in princes and military might and riches. God indeed gave us Donald Trump.....for His purposes....and not those of the many false prophets who saw Trump as a Jehu or Cyrus.
             Benjamin Netanyahu was taken in also. The paperwork on the Golan and the embassy do not mean a thing. Our duty to Israel is to be true to our word when difficult times arise....100% true to our word....and Donald Trump's word is worthless....as every decision that he will ever make will depend upon how it might possibly effect him....and that's not something that should make Bibi sleep well at night.
             We should find out in the next week who God will have put in that once august office....that is now but a "den of thieves." We can trust in whatever this outcome might be....for His will is perfect....and His promises true....of which contain mercies to all of us who see our corruption and then turn to Him....knowing that no matter what happens....as Paul writes to us....."For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers. nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38, 39)
             
              

Beyond The Pale

              
                  If one wakes up right now....roughly 7am.....and reads Drudge or any of the Internet news sites.....and sees the headlines.....Nation Waits....Biden 238....Trump 213....Pivotal States Hang In Balance....Biden Leading Now in Wisconsin....and if that person had gone to bed around midnight.....he or she would know that there is a big problem here.
                  In my case......I've been through this many times over many years.....the worst that I remember was 2007 when I was up until after 3 am.....(I had to be at work at 7).....only to see a big Repulican lead for senate in Virginia slowly slip away as the late late urban votes came in at a ridiculous advantage to the Democrat who would win....and there was an initiative on the ballot where the total vote figures did not add up.
                  I did not care who would win this election for president....as previous posts explain....I just wanted it over....with no controversy....and I am obviously no fan of Donald Trump....but he had this election won as the evening wore on. 
                  His non-stop rallies were something like I had never seen before. His support was also something I had never witnessed....even more impressive than that same support in 2016.....of which I had been part of at the time. On the other hand....I had watched most of those rallies.....that had the tremendous benefit of having Air Force One pull up to the stands like a Dominos Pizza delivery....and I could challenge just about every statement that the President would make....as either being outrageiously exaggerated or purposely deceptive or outright lies....but those same super-strong supporters never had this information given them by Trump's very powerful radio and cable hosts....and therefore that super-support was and is built on a a fake persona.
                  This whole thing is beyond the pale. Take away the 'imaginative' methods for voting this time around....and Trump gets his second term.

DISPATCHES

I pleaded....I don't think that 'begged' would be too strong a word....and this for well over a year....that we would somehow replace Donald Trump on the Republican ticket.....that we wouldn't have to come to this. I posted that if Donald Trump had any decency in him at all.....if he cared for America at all....that he would do as LBJ did in 1968.....but he is a sick man....with absolutely no empathy for anyone....and would rather see us suffer....then do something humble and caring for others. So here we are.

We have no idea what God's plan is in this election....other than it and everything related to it is judgment on a rebellious people....all of us.....not just the bad Democrats. Joe Biden v Donald Trump is judgment....as it doesn't get any worse than this. So let us watch and pray for God's mercy....fully confident of this....that if God will have mercy on us in that we might have some sane leadership....with some wisdom....as the difficult days ahead come upon us....that He would do so in ways that take us by surprise....through remarkbale turn of events....and breathtaking displays of His wisdom....for this has always been His method....might I remind you of how it must have felt standing before the sea....with Phaoroh closing in....but let us not forget other examaples....as when the Babylonians carried most of Judah away into exile.

The Mooch.....I'm no fan of Anthony Scaramucci....but if nothing else he knows Donald Trump....and there is a video put out by him that Drudge has a link to right now. So if you are one that has consistently refused to read what you have been told is the fake news about Donald Trump....would you at least give this three or four minute video a chance.....for after reading eighty books on Trump.....books for him and against him and by him....(well not by him by ghostwritten for him)....I can attest to you that the Mooch got it right on this.

Folks the purpose of these posts on Donald Trump is certainly not to encourage anyone to cast a vote for the other side....nor is it even to not vote for either man as I'm not doing.....but the purpose is to try to wake up as many evangelicals as possible....on where they went wrong in the first set of primaries....that helped get us into this mess....and where they went wrong in the past four years in following a false prophet. Come what may....we will find out what happens in this particular political election....hopefully soon. Donald Trump's hold on our minds right now revolves around the election....when it is over....and if he remains in office....we will least be able to think freely again....unencumbered by politics and pride and greed....and I do believe that our conclusions will be different....but either way.....Biden or Trump....the church will need to put its focus on Jesus Christ.....where it should have been all along.....for that which we have brought upon ourselves....particularly as we have put princes and military strength and money over our dependence on the One who brought us into being as a nation.....and sustained even though we often went astray....will certainly test everything within us as to what we believe...and who it is that really has our trust. The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble,  And He knows those who take refuge in Him."  (Nahum 1:7 NASB)

IVANKA....says now that she is unapologetically pro-life....that motherhood changed her on this. Folks....the Trump's are setting you up again. After the inauguration in 2016 Ivanka and Jared visited the president of Planned Parenthood in Texas with a possible deal....PP could split in two.....and do their abortions in the new half....while not doing them in the official PP half.....therefore continuing to do what they do.....and still get federal money. The PP president wanted no part of it and stated so in her book....that made some headlines at the time. Ivanka has been a mother since 2011.....but I guess those first seven or so years did not really convince her to be pro-life. This is all a show folks....the whole family is caught up in it.

John Piper....I had been hoping for quite some time that at least one prominent pastor in America would stand up against Donald Trump. I posted this back in March....Where is that one man of stature....whether he be a acclaimed minister or government leader....that will call us as a nation to repentance? Is there no one willing to risk ridicule in order to warn us? Can no one even fit into their sermon that we are not to..."sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober"....or that an apostasy is coming? Is there no one willing even to remind us....as Peter felt it necessary...."As long as I am in this earthly dwelling"....to stir us up to...."be all the more diligent to confirm (our) calling and election"? Now there are multitudes of pastors in America who would endorse Joe Biden....but that's not what I'm talking about....for I'm alluding to a genuine Christian pastor....well-known so as to get the attention of genuine Christians. I just saw this headline on Drudge...."Prominent Pastor warns evangelicals of Trump's 'nation-corrupting' sins...." John Piper fits the bill. Read his article that Drudge posted.....(or Google...John Piper warns)....he doesn't mention anyone's name.....no endorsement.....only as I read it....a question....the same question that I have.....how are the sins of the one side deadly.....but ours are only toxic?"

John Piper wrote this with President Trump's Christian supporters in mind...."Have you inadvertently created the mind-set that the greatest issue in life is saving America and its earthly benefits.....or have you shown your people that the greatest issue is exalting Christ with or without America."
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One Long Continuous Monologue.....please consider these thoughts as a partial explanation on how Donald Trump built up a new party that does not question him. It revolves around continuing to speak....thus indoctrinating the listener.....while limiting to zero if possible interruptions or questions.....and this on a daily basis over a span of years, Is this not what you have seen....Trump talks.....at the rallies....or on a show like Hannity....or in front of reporters with helicopter blades whirling noisily in the background....or on his constant Twitter feed....where one really does not have time to think or analyse....only listen and imbibe. If Trump is on Hannity he will go on nonstop for 45 minutes.....even Rush has to ask a favour to get a word in....and Rush and Hannity et al have the same means at their disposal in their own shows.....which are almost 24/7. We have been bulldozed folks....by a master.

America....The Great....Is Fallen....Free Fallin'

America the Great is fallen...is fallen. Does that phraseology ring a bell? Surely it does to Christians....for we have read often.....depending on how old we are and how many years in the faith...."Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." (Revelation 18:2 NKJV) Whoever America might someday turn out to be in biblical prophesy....we are at least as rebellious Israel and Judah combined. The following was first posted in January of 2012. I have republished it dozens of times. This once great country, this bastion of freedom and liberty....this defender of the weak whose people over centuries openly proclaimed the glory of God and total sovereignty of His very being over all of creation....this country has been ransacked and pillaged....its heritage plundered and mocked....first and for many years by a radical progressive Democrat Party.....but now joined by the New Republican Trump Party that no longer attempts to fight for what is right and true....but now fights to keep 'low income' people away from us....and consigns the elderly and infirmed to a roll of the dice.....so that we might make America.....great again.

America.....Free.....Free Fallin'

          Dawn breaks and pull by pull the flag rises until its stars and stripes blend into the red sky. The 21st century America cold front collides with the warm heritage of American liberty. Dark clouds form above the eagle perched atop the pole and the flag snaps as the winds begin another day of adding to the tatters and waiting for the rain that month by month fades the blue and red hues that Americans have savored as the taste of freedom for so long.

          An icy chill settles in the bones of the one raising the flag for he knows that its stars and stripes will be indiscernible before long. He looks down to see if the cracks in the foundation supporting the pole have widened from the tremors that increasingly shake America...they have. He steps back, standing as erect as he can under the burden of seeing his nation collapse, and salutes; a tear forming as he knows that he may be the last to perform this duty. His mind wanders from, first... the drum and piper escorting the newly created flag, to the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's poem, to the charging Union soldier picking up the banner dropped by a fallen comrade in arms, to the lifting of the flagpole on Mt. Suribachi, to the camo flag on the fatigues of the grunt in Vietnam, to the brilliant contrast of red, white and blue with the gray mountain of fallen steel, brick and mortar of the World Trade Center, to the first responders rushing up those flights of stairs. to the lone flag now raised in the Green Zone of Baghdad.

          In only a few hours cheers and shouts will be heard off in the distance, not for returning heroes, not as a President passes by, not as a war ends in victory but for the beginning of a football game. The Star Spangled Banner will play and be sung by the latest celebrity seeking a national spotlight but not a word of its lyrics will resonate with the power it had since Fort McHenry. We are not as the Roman Empire falling, we are as the Roman Empire beginning whose gods are numerous, whose Caesars consolidate powers given by a populace that only wants another day at the Coliseum. God's hand is being lifted and the exhilaration of choosing our own destiny emboldens us to stare into the eyes of Caesar and say not, "Give me liberty or give me death" but "Give me liberty to choose my own death." All the while the remaining Christians gather in their catacombs wondering if God's mercies on America are over; imploring of Him one more time for America to be a beacon to the nations, a people that not only openly proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind but evidence the beneficence, mercy, majesty, power and glory of Him who created the universe and without whom not one molecule would continue to exist.

          It was a marvel and a wonder while it existed in its original form....these United States of America, but now they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd. (or shepherds) They are a people once different as night and day in their habits and their speech that bonded together as a new entity...Americans, freed from the tyranny of kings, freed from serfdom and most importantly freed from the lie that man is the master of his fate, the captain of his soul, but that freedom, once defended, is now merely petted in the lap of luxury, "Free" as the famous rocker penned..."Free Fallin'." The American Creed, never spoken but always evident, is now but a liberal screed against God, against tradition, and against history itself. (or a now toxic patriotic chant of USA USA USA that bears little resemblance to what our flag once represented)

          The sun, obscured throughout the day by clouds, sets in the West. The rain that would normally give life to the fields, runs off of the frozen, barren and lifeless ground. The flag is lowered and gently folded into the shape of a tri-cornered hat, one of the last vestiges that remain of the fight for independence. No Taps is heard, only the music of the night coming from wherever the revelers gather after the game. The winds die down, no longer needed, for the flag has been taken down, while angels sent by God prepare to blow their trumpets.

A Lord's Day Sermon For You

              

           Just in case the events a the past few days have persuaded you that it might be wise to avoid attending churches services....and if you do not have streaming capabilities from your church....you might consider listening to a Charles Spurgeon sermon titled....Unimpeachable Justice.....preached from the pulpit of the New Park Street church on June 15, 1856. It's a  marvelous sermon based on Psalm 51:4 from this then young pastor only four days short of his twenty-second birthday. It's a sermon that does much more than edify....as it humbles to that degree that every Christian must have experienced to in fact be a Christian. Are my words too strong? Well....consider listening to it and then see if my assessment may be accurate. 
           On these events from the past few days....I have to wonder once again if this might be the Lord's Day that the Holy Spirit begins to awaken our pulpits in America....to see the futility of trying to build a nation on prosperity and power....and to begin to see how we may have gone astray in our objectives....and on what does and does not glorify God? 

The Gospel Of The Wrought Iron Life Preserver

  The following was first posted December 1, 2018...the post below that sometime after that:

          I first became aware of it a few decades ago. People get old. OK....to be more specific....a few decades ago I first noticed how celebrities get old almost overnight......or so it seems as I may not see a picture of them for twenty years or so.....and when I see the updated photo I'm nonplussed.....let me look that word up......yeah.....I'm nonplussed.
          I've noticed since retirement that the weeks and months just roll by. When I was working there was a tendency to rest and start all over at the end of every week.....but not so now.....barring some event I can go months without looking back.
          Life is a journey where you don't really want it to end....sort of...."Yes I'm going somewhere.....no I don't want to get there....I'll think about this God thing thing a little later on in the journey....too busy right now." The problem with this is that....in my observation anyway.....over many many decades....the older one gets.....the harder the heart becomes. When is the last time that you heard about someone in their 70s....or even their 60s....becoming born again? It happens but not often.
           Pick a celebrity from the 60s or 70s.....one that's alive.....Robert Redford maybe....or Jane Fonda....they will stand before Jesus Christ....and have to look back on a long life full of excitement and fame and money....all along the way deciding for themselves if there is a god and what he (she) would be like if there is one. I thank God that my great acting and singing talents....and movie star looks....went unnoticed by Hollywood! Folks you know I'm just kidding right....but I am thankful that I didn't have all those things.....and become a celebrity....because I also would have by now fashioned a god that served my purposes....and a gospel that required nothing more than not being an atheist....and my heart would be stone cold.
         Old age to a Christian is vastly different. It's a journey where you may not exactly want it to end right away but you know that the end is the beginning of something far more wonderful than any amount of fame and fortune could ever give.
         We are living in an age of the Gospel of the Wrought Iron Life Preserver. Thinking that God will simply look us over and stamp our passport into heaven because we were pretty good along the journey is like being on board a sinking ship and then grabbing a wrought iron deck chair to float on until we are rescued. The gospel of good works sinks....straight away and straight down....it's no life preserver....it's an anchor.
          Today is the day friends.....if you are not known by Christ. An R. C. Sproul Daily Audio from a few days ago put this conundrum in my mind. You may think that you know Him.....so everything will work itself out....but does He know you?  (Jesus Christ...the King of all Kings....and the Lord of all Lords....the Bread of Life....the Great I Am....the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.....the Risen Lord....and the Resurrection and the Life....apart from whom no one goes to the Father) Are you Born Again? If you have to ask what that is then you probably are not. Today is the day friend....for no one knows what a day will bring....and hearts get a little harder every day!

Here are some places where you can get hold of a real life preserver......ligonier.org....gty.org....whitehorseinn.org.

WE ARE PILGRIMS

            It's just a special little ditty that I often say to my wife in response to her urging me to put down the book or turn off the computer and go to bed to get some needed sleep. The words are very well known….for they are Robert Frost's from Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. Those word are....

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

           

           She's usually gone by the time that I finish that ditty. The words to the following hymn were written by my favorite author....John Bunyan.....and the music by my favorite classical composer....Ralph Vaughan Williams. The hymn.....Bunyan's only hymn.....is "To Be A Pilgrim." It was sung by personal request of Baroness and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at her funeral on April 17, 2013 at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

He who would valiant be

'Gainst all disaster,

Let him in constancy

Follow the Master

There's no discouragement

Shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim

Who so beset him round

With dismal stories,

Do but themselves confound- -

His strength the more is

No foes shall stay his might

Though he with giants fight:

He will make good his right

To be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, thou dost defend

Us with thy Spirit,

We know we at the end

Shall life inherit.

Then fancies flee away!

I'll fear not what men say,

I'll labor night and day

To be a pilgrim.

        

This Ship.....Is Built For This Storm

           

Preface: There are a hundred books out there on who and what Donald Trump is and has always been. More than that.....there is God's Word that describes men like Donald Trump.....false prophets....who tickle people's ears with pleasing thoughts....who have...."followed the way of Balaam"....who loved...."gain from wrongdoing"....but we have not read on him.....and refuse to do so. Yes....part of this is that we do not want to know who he really might be....but more than that....we do not want to see what we may have done....in following him. So we refuse to read about Donald Trump....because we do not want to learn about ourselves.

        Erwin Lutzer is one of my favorite authors. He has a new book out....Pandemics, Plagues, And Natural Disasters....What is God Saying To Us....and I hope....Lord willing.....to pick a copy up in a few days....and I won't even have to page through it first. There are a number of Christian authors out there who after reading them for three decades or more....I don't really even need a description of the book.
        Dr. Lutzer was a guest on the John Ankerberg Show tonight....and in that episode revolving around his book he made three statements that I want to bring to your attention. The first was....."the best is yet to come." He referenced here.....not President Trump....(although I believe that there was a double entendre in the works)....but Frank Sinatra....from his hit song....The Best Is Yet To Come. Ironically that was on Sinatra's 1964 album.....It Might As Well Be Swing....and 1964 would more accurately be described by Erwin Lutzer's second statement that I wanted to mention....."the worst is yet to come".....for America has been on a downward slide since about that general time period.
        Lutzer was speaking on Ankerberg's show about what biblical prophesy says to us today.....and that is in his words.....the worst is yet to come. The third statement of Erwin Lutzer's that I want to highlight was the same as the first....the best is yet to come.....but this time applied to the coming of Jesus Christ is power and glory.
        Now one might protest that there is no way that a politician can say that the worst is yet to come....and expect to win....that the closest that that politician might come would be to say that.....things will get worse before they get better....but what Presdient Trump has made into a calling card for his campaign....'the best is yet to come'.....is so far off that it should be insulting.....but we on our side seem to actually believe it.
         President Trump was riding about as high as an incumbant can ride....politically speaking....at the beginning of this year. These were his words near the conclusion of his State Of The Union Address on February 4th....This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Epic, the American Adventure, has only just begun. Our spirit is still young; the sun is still rising; God's grace is still shining; and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come. Thank you, God bless you. God bless America.
          Very shortly after that speech God had something to say to those thoughts. Not only did the virus physically hammer the world and America....it shattered the working lives of tens of millions....and in retrospect it was the cut that began a complete unraveling of our society....so much so that as it....(the virus)....comes around again....because of the unraveling of society.....we on our side choose to laugh at it this time....as we appear right now as a dystopia without a country.
           John Ankerberg made a comment that is very similar to comments that I have made....I can't remember his exact words so I'll give you mine....I myself am not telling you these things are going to happen.....(Ankerberg used the pronoun we're).....God's Word is telling all of us these things. Erwin Lutzer concluded this first of a series show with an impassioned plea with encouragement to the listeners....as best as I recollect...."this ship....(life in Christ)....was built for this storm....and He.....(Christ)....will take you all the way to the other end of the lake."

    
         

Sixteen Presidential Elections

             

             My life of seventy years has taken a few different paths in the world of politics....as I saw JFK in person as he ran for president.....and shook Jimmy Carter's hand as he ran.....and volunteered for Ted Kennedy as he ran....and in a minor way for Pat Robertson as he ran. Robert Kennedy was my idol in my late teens....as he ran. Years ago I sat where I am now rather than walk a few blocks to the park to see Barack Obama speak....as he ran. The above photo was my hardhat at one time....as I wanted Jim DeMint to run. I emailed radio talk show hosts during the 2012 primaries warning them that many evangelicals would not vote for a Mormon in the general election....no matter who was running against him. Statistics on that did not prove out my contention. There hasn't been a presidential election that I can remember since 1960 where I wasn't glued to the television as the tabulations came in.
              As a relatively new Christian I distinctly remember having ominous feelings on the election in 1992 because Al Gore's wife Tipper had written a best-selling 'Christian' book a few years previous to the election titled....Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society. I had a bad feeling that many Christians would be put at ease by this as it related to the Clintons and Al Gore. 
              In the primaries leading up to the last election evangelicals naturally filed in behind Ted Cruz....as I did. We did not like this man Donald Trump one bit but rallied behind him after all was said and done on the nomination....and we celebrated after he won. 
               So where are we today? Drudge has an article up right now....Seeking Power in Jesus' Name: Trump sparks rise of 'Patriot Churches'....where it is this new Christian Nationalist Ideology....that has evangelicals clinging to Donald Trump.
               A week is a long time but....Lord willing only....I'll be sitting here next Tuesday watching the votes come in once again....for the sixteenth straight quadrenium.....but it's odd this time around.....because for the first time it does not matter to me who wins. I only have interest in who God will put in that position.....to prepare accordingly.....as to how His judgments might unfold. What makes this even more odd to me is that I would naturally hope that Republicans could win the House or hold the Senate....for whereas if Joe Biden wins....a Republican Congress might be able to hold him in check.....but if Trump wins.....that same Republican Congress would only enable this man who has tyrant and raging sociopath and malignant narcissist and false prophet and wolf in sheep's clothing written all over him.
               

Saying Goodbye To A Dog

               Twelve years ago....November 22, 2008 to be exact....our dog passed away suddenly. His name was Special....and he was. I moped around for a few days after Special died....and to get my mind off of him I thought that I would write something on whatever this thing was that I heard about called a blog....thus the name Special Dog. A few months later we rescued a beautiful little Golden Retriever....and named him Grover. We had to put Grover to sleep today....and I held him as he passed....and I'm writing this to get my mind off of him. That doesn't make any sense does it?

              My wife likes dog movies. If one comes out at the theater....based on a book that she read....I'll ask her...."does the dog die?".....and if she says 'yes'....I won't go. I don't know what it is about dogs and me? Maybe it's that I spend time with that dog just about every day of my life.....except when we go on vacation....where I just worry.
              This dog here never did a bad thing in his life. His favorite thing was barking at other dogs....just barking. He loved going to the kennel....and they loved him. Jeremiah was a Golden before Special....and was even more mellow than Grover. One day as I was taking a nap on the couch.....I looked over....and there he was facing me....with a whole loaf of bread in his mouth.....as if saying...."is it ok if I eat this?" He died laying by my side.
               Special was another story altogether. No one could keep him for he escaped all the time. We brought him home and he tore a window curtain....and then immediately ran upstairs to do his business on our bed....and he escaped all the time until he felt comfortable here. We took him to the kennel for the first time.....and warned that he's an escape artist....they laughed and said that they'll put a lock on his door. When we returned he was fine....but the kennel owner said that he somehow escaped the door with the pad lock on it.....then escaped the building somehow.....and was just about to escape the whole fenced in kennel grounds when they caught him. 
               Every time that I put the key in the front door I could see Grover looking up at me. I would normally look around now to see where he is laying....except I know he's no longer here. A good friend died last night....a Christian brother....I know where he is at. With a dog it is all emotion.....but with a person....though the emotion is even stronger.....it is transcended by the soul's destination. With a dog it is....'I lost my friend'.....but with a person it is that....but also.....'where did my friend go?'