Weather Advisory Sermon

      

We have in Western Pennsylvania....a weather advisory for tomorrow....and I expect that more people will be streaming church than usual. In case you are one....and in need of something to stream....I have a couple of recommendations from an August 2020 post. The first I believe is not a sermon but rather someone reading from J. C. Ryle's classic book.....Holiness. Just Google that....J. C. Ryle sermon....Holiness....and it will come right up. I can't recommend anything titled Holiness without adding this which I did in the post from last August.....

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 a message such as this is at the same time a wonderful blessing.....and a hard look into a clear mirror.

I also recommended this in that post:

Today yet another wonderful surprise as a eulogy given by John Wesley....on the recently departed to be with his Lord....George Whitefield....appeared....(in sequence on my iPhone)....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 this upon the voyage that was 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'm sure this account on the life of George Whitefield will edify if you choose to listen to it.

Handlers......Enablers....& Caretakers

  

            The day that George Herbert Walker Bush left the White House was....politically speaking....the beginning of the end of America as it had always been known....for there was in that election that brought Bill and Hillary Clinton to office a paradigm change....from common sense and reason to personal interests and greed. No I don't put George W. Bush into that category but the dye had been cast.
             Although Bill Clinton had been reasonably sensible....he and particularly his wife....had opened the floodgates to the 'fundamental change' of Barack Obama....and what we have in Joe Biden and this Democrat Party of today. Donald Trump needed handlers....who probably steered him away from a few disasters....but they were by an large over time replaced by enablers....who failed him miserably on the whole....for they were totally unable or unwilling to attempt to reign in or even inhibit his serious psychological disorders. Joe Biden on the other hand needs caregivers. 
            Reagan was far from perfect....but he was so decent....that it was hard not to love him....and we had Margaret Thatcher....to support him on the other side of the pond....and there was John Paul II....but all of that sensibleness is gone.
            Donald Trump was judgment on the church....on evangelicalism....and on conservatism....as he destroyed not only his base....but most of his wingmen with his erratic flying. Joe Biden is judgment on the rest. Have you ever noticed how when Kamala Harris was interviewed that she inevitably would break out into laughter....as if she was a Miss America contestant? I don't know that she understands the seriousness of what she has gotten herself into. Joe Biden got what he wanted for longer than Hillary Clinton wanted the same thing....but he won't get to enjoy it.....for we do not live in the same world as we did not that long ago.
            As for us....we are in need of pastors....who unlike our legislators....are willing to put their job in jeopardy....and who unlike our former president....are not concerned over their own success....and individually....we need to be unlike those who went to the voting booth....(figuratively speaking).....who failed to look inwardly....as to how much we ourselves brought on these great catastrophes....and plead with God....to open our eyes....that we might know how to pray....and what to pray for....all the prayers drenched in humility....and all to bring forth His glory alone.

We Are Afraid Of Losing That Which We Never Should Have Begun

Update....January 28: Social media....(of which the following post is about)....is behind the Wall Street 'short selling' news that has dominated over the last few days. Large investment firms have the ability to....'borrow'....some stocks from brokerage houses....in which they pay a small fee....and will have to return the borrowed stock. They sell the stock that they do not even own....expecting that it will drop.....whereas they can buy it back....(at a lower price)....in order to return it to the brokerage house that is holding the stock for someone else not even aware of what is going on....thus making some money on the whole deal. If the stock actually goes up.....which it does at times....the original plan of 'short selling' to make some money....was a bust. In this case today....a group of small investors....knowing that this goes on....banded together on a social media site....with a plan of their own. That small group turned into a very large group....to individually buy the stock....thus driving the price of the stock which a year ago was $4....to well over $400 at one point! This was turning out to be a billion dollar plus loss for those who borrowed the stock to begin with. It actually gets worse....and is not over....but my point is focusing in on the powers of social media....which at times has started revolutions.....helped get a man elected president....and then was partially responsible for getting the same man impeached. What might be next?

We Are Afraid Of Losing That Which We Never Should Have Begun

            I have warned against Facebook almost the entirety of these posts....the message primarily being....God Does Not Need Facebook....and that it only feeds our narcissism and ultimately destroys our discernment....nor does He need Twitter nor Parlor nor Instagram. In fact He does not need the world wide web....for His platform is a pulpit....whether that pulpit be in a sanctuary or our homes or the forests....His text is the Bible....and His algorithms are the Holy Spirit. Should He will it....we would get all the information that we need.....with or without digital information. Here is some of what I have posted over the years:

This from 2018....I've written quite a number of times for almost the entire near ten years of these posts on the dangers of social media. Conservative talk radio is now ranting on it but whereas I pointed to the mounting evidence on the deleterious effects of it on the mind....which affected the direction of the country....talk radio....having been awakened by big tech bias against conservatives....is focused on the structure....not the concept. Now there is talk about a conservative social media....just for us....same mind-numbing social media....only we direct the bias this time.

These are from April of 2017..... 

I have over two decades of Tabletalks stacked in my basement and received the latest issue yesterday but I think that it is well past time for Ligonier and other excellent Christian ministries to get off of Facebook and thereby send a strong message and warning to Christians. (if they had done this we would not be concerned today about getting kicked off)

Pastors sure can't preach against Facebook because they have their own Facebook page. What are national ministries gonna do....warn us on their Facebook page? We don't want controversy and we don't want to be warned. We want gentle encouragement or we'll go somewhere else. This generation....I'm not talking about just baby boomers or millennials or any other ten year grouping....I'm referring to all of us right now....we have not only sat and watched the downfall of America....we ushered it in. We filled our mind with every conceivable entertainment such that it is nearly impossible to have discernment.

God is indeed in control. We are so sure of that that we tuned Him out. He has warned us so much that one would have to wear blinders and cover their ears not to be aware of it. He is at the door and we are in our PJs sitting on the couch watching American Idol. Folks, it's bad and it's going to get a lot worse...put that on your Facebook page and see how many 'likes' you get. 

Have you ever just sat down and thought about what Satan might possibly come up with if he wanted to somnabulize the entire world? Well....you don't have to...he already did! Have you  considered....even for a moment or two....the potential tyranny for such a monolithic entity that Facebook has become? So what can we do? Nothing....sorry to say.....absolutely nothing.....except avoid it....not be a part of it. But alas there are so many good things associated with Facebook! Let me count them....hmmm....OK there's nothing good about it. But what about the person who may come across Ligonier Ministries through Facebook where they might never have encountered the gospel elsewhere? OK....so the world is awash in a narcissistic trance through Facebook but a number of people get saved....even Donald Trump wouldn't go for a deal like that!  You are essentially telling me....are you not....that God could not find those people without Facebook? God whittled 32,000 of Gideon's men down to 300 but this is different...He needs Facebook.
        
[Many Christian ministries]....share the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in a marvelous way.....if only that were the extent of it.....but it's not.....it also encourages people to participation in Facebook....and to bring along their children and friends. In other words it perpetuates the problem instead of identifying it and warning of the many and varied potential disastrous consequences to not only individuals but entire nations and the entire world!

This from 2016....I have had a running thread of posts on the topic of Facebook over the years and I critically referenced Facebook many more times. Britain's The Telegraph published an article today in their Technology section by Jane Fae titled 'Facebook is imposing prissy American censorship on the whole rest of the world.' The author wrote that Facebook is attempting to "edit our common history" and follows that with this..."Yet, incredibly for a nation that has so recently focused on 'taking back control' (Brexit), and frets about the loss of Christmas tradition (USA) this issue scarcely registers on the national rageometer." Folks...if we can't say no to something like Facebook now, how are we going to....all of a sudden....protest when the issues begin to dictate our very lives....which is inevitable!

This from 2015....

There has been numerous studies done in many countries on the negative affects that Facebook has on its users, from living in a virtual world, to bullying, to a faux concept of what friendship is, to an epidemic of narcissism, to privacy issues, to urban violence. We are repeatedly warned yet continue to follow the Pied Piper.
      
Today's post is on another article from yesterday's paper. The title in our local newspaper was Facebook to post full news articles.  The latest innovation is called Instant Articles.  Rather than merely giving links (that takes time to load) to news stories, Facebook partnered with a few major news outlets to let them put whole articles on Facebook (that load instantly.) As a result of this, paragons of honest and informative news such as the New York Times, NBC News and the BBC have been chosen to provide the 'news' for tens upon tens of millions of Americans? It appears to be a 'win-win' for Facebook and these nine media outlets. The only losers are the American people, our nation as a whole and freedoms and liberty everywhere. I bring up the problems with Facebook and social media fairly often to friends....and I haven't had many empathetic responses....but I'll end this post with another warning that will probably be ignored........social media dumbs down, tranquilizes and nourishes our already rampant narcissism and is in no small way responsible for the lack of discernment on the part of Christians as to how far America has rebelled against God and how He has been calling us back for decades now with dire warnings of judgement to come.
        

This from 2014....The following is a condensed version of a 2010 book review of Nicolas Carr''s The Shallows....What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains....where Carr begins and ends his book with thoughts on HAL from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The computer's last words were "Dave, my mind is going...I can feel it. I can feel it" as the astronaut disconnected circuits. Carr follows with "I can feel it too. Over the last few years I've had an uncomfortable sense, that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory." 

    
Marshall McLuhan appears throughout the book with warnings from years ago that we would experience the "dissolution of the linear mind and that we were breaking the tyranny of text over our thoughts and senses." Carr says that is no Luddite and points out that because of the Web... "research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes but that this boon comes at a price for it shape (s) the process of thought." 

Since Gutenberg's invention, according to Carr, "the linear, literary mind has been at the center of art, science and society." The "heightened consciousness" of the elite in earlier times and most people in more literate times has devolved into computerized minds today that experience "cognitive overload" from the massive input of semi-related data which eliminates deep thought. Books once "enhanced and refined people's experience of life and of nature," writes Carr, but this is being replaced by "the shallows" as the new technologies can "displace" but not "replace" the written word and linear mind.
          
Allow me a personal comment here in that the proclamation of the Gospel is also effected by the information age in that "decisions for Christ" are all too often mere hyperlinks... just one more piece of data to be stored. The short-term memory of an altar call fails to plow deep in the mind and the heart. 

This from 2012.....Ask the average Christian if they know who William Carey was and most will probably say "no" even though he has had seven colleges named after him around the world and is considered the Father of Modern Missions. He was a cobbler, a shoemaker, who felt the call to take the Gospel to the world, and his story is one of one discouragement after another. He finally arrived in India and it was seven years before he saw his first Hindu convert. 

         
Mark Zuckerberg is infinitely smarter than William Carey for it has only been eight years since he founded Facebook and he already has 900 million converts including 45 million, or almost 4%, of the Indian population.....My nomination for America's zeitgeist is Facebook, the corporate name for acute narcissism. The American zeitgeist as Facebook...cyberspace gold...Silicon Valley tea. Oh, I've heard the defense...it's a great way for mom to keep up with the pictures of the grandchildren and now Facebook is into organ donations, but what has transpired in the last eight years is nothing less than insidious. There was a comic in the newspaper a couple of months ago ...a funeral home with four or five seats taken out of about a hundred and the funeral director remarks, "I can't understand it. He had a thousand Facebook friends." 
         
Friends, the voice I hear from Facebook is not that of a friend. Right from the beginning Facebook was built on sand. It has become a veritable monster with ever growing tentacles. One more segue; a new president is not going to make a difference in a land with whatever our zeitgeist is at this time. As an American and a Christian I have failed. How about you? I look back at my life and I have added to the chaos more than contributed to the well-being of our nation. Even my blogging is tinged with pride. The best thing that I can say about my Christian walk is that my redemption must drive the enemy of Christ mad, for he could not even keep someone such as me...! 

Should not our prayer be...."Humble us Lord....spare your rod if it be your will to show us mercy"....but no...we just want Obama out and a couple of sound Supreme Court Justices and we'll be OK. As desirable as that would be...we would not be OK. There is a more pertinent word than zeitgeist and it is outpouring. An outpouring of God's Spirit upon us is not only what we need, it is our only hope. Should not we be praying for this. 

This From 2011....."Disturbing portrait of the future" is one of the blurb descriptions on the back cover of Sherry Turkle's new book Alone Together....Why We Expect More From Technology And Less From Each Other. Turkle is an M.I.T. professor and a licensed clinical psychologist. Her latest book is, in effect, the third of a trilogy and she has researched this subject for twenty years. She writes that we are living parallel lives in a virtual world and that her research shows that too many people find their online life more satisfying than their actual lives and this might be leading to fully networked lives.....My interest in this book is in the social networking aspect of it. My concern is that a nation, America, about to collapse from ignorance within and enemies without, increases the former and motivates the latter through its inane fascination with Facebook and its equally narcissism inducing cousins. 
       
Turkle is right in that the future is unfolding before us. We have lost the ability to look ahead and to see consequences. She fears for the children who are being weaned on technologies that confuse the virtual with the real. She uses the phrase fully tethered life, and writes that we are too often shattered when unplugged.  
        

And finally this from 2010...."We no longer live in cities and on farms, we now live on the Internet." Those were the words of former Facebook president Sean Parker in the just released film The Social Network. Parker was one of the bad guys in this riveting film on Mark Zuckerberg's founding and building of the phenomenon. I contend that adults today are simply auditing the college lifestyle through Facebook....and proving that they are just as susceptible to a gimmick and a promise that the youth are....only it's not only a four year gig adults are wasting time on. Time may tell whether the deep human need for human friendship pushes Facebook aside and convicts it of being friendship only with oneself. The character who Mark Zuckenbeg is accused of defrauding confronts him at the pre-trial meeting of lawyers with "I'm the only friend that you had." It's more than ironic that this individual with one friend has taught the world how to develop friendships.

The Inauguration

             It's been a long time since the day that I had watched a presidential inauguration for the first time....sixty years....January 20, 1961....sixty-nine days after Bill Mazerowski cleared the left field wall of Forbes Field....over the gaze of Yogi Berra....."It ain't over till it's over"....of which at ten years old the home run was infinitely more important than JFK's speech. 
             You'll have a hard time believing this....I have never heard Lady Gaga sing. OK.....I'm sure that she was singing on the radio or something when I was present in the room....but I didn't realize it. I guess that she was in a movie....can't even tell you that name. She sang the National Anthem a few minutes ago.....and I still have never heard her sing....but it takes a little story to tell you why....
            I take our National Anthem seriously. Our town has a small bell tower that plays music.....and for some reason the National Anthem is among the songs.....and when it plays.....when I am in town....I face the speaker and stand at attention....while others seem to just keep on walking by.
           An Ohio radio station plays our anthem right before the noon news. I'll have often just tuned in to hear Rush Limbaugh coming on.....but I turn the sound down....because the playing of the National Anthem has become too trivialized. So as this latest celebrity was announced....while she was coming down the steps of the Capitol....I grabbed the remote and muted it....and then unmuted it to hear the rest of the swearing in ceremonies....or so I thought....as I muted it again in the middle of Garth Brooks singing Amazing Grace....for it was too odd of a scene to even comprehend....for nowadays even Amazing Grace is beginning to be trivialized.
          So I reached to my left and turned on Rush Limbaugh.....but I had to turn that off also.....as his comments were just the continued beating of the drum for Donald Trump. God's Word contradicts Yogi Berra's famous statement...."It ain't over till it's over"....for when God speaks it....which He has....it is already done....and as His words in Daniel 8:28 tell us...."The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many years from now." 

"The Last Convert Of John Harper"

This preface is from October 2019.....the post that follows it from March of 2017:

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

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

         

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

              The following....America....Free....Free Fallin'....was first posted nine years ago....in January of 2012! It would be a little more than three years later that Donald Trump came down that escalator....right smack dab into the heart of evangelicalism....instead of coming through the wicket gate. He has in his four years ripped apart that evangelicalism....as his magnetism drew our eyes off of Christ and onto him....turning pastor against pastor and Christian against Christian. There were times when he would phrase a sentence using the word God....and it was so odd....so strangely constructed....that one might think that a computer AI system came out with it....his famous...."We want God"....being just one. He used the curse word...g*d d*m often....but we just shrugged it off. Evangelicals who were known for at least one thing....valuing the sanctity of human life....completely abandoned that with the coronavirus. Pastors who were known for warning of false prophets....fell for the biggest false prophet of all. The two-paragraph preface just below is more recent but describes a warning that I tried to give two decades ago:
           
             Folks it was in the year 2000 I believe. I was part of a cohort of people going through the curriculum of a degree program on Higher Education. Most of the cohort had just completed their bachelors....some were a little bit older.....maybe seeking a new vocation....and a couple were older even still. I think that I was the oldest at fifty years old....in school once again....for a very odd reason.....simply to learn about our higher education system in an age when the nation was collapsing....as our son would soon be going to college.
             Class participation through conversation was paramount in this particular degree program....and I wasn't a wallflower. I don't remember the exact topic that day....other than it must have been related to the society that we were part of....and I stood up....a little bit odd I guess.....because I wanted to emphasize what I was going to say.....and I told these mostly younger people in so many words that there was trouble ahead....that the division we were seeing at the time was nothing compared to what it was going to be. It was a great atmosphere in these classes.....which helped.....because everyone was able to listen....but I'm sure none of them actually believed that I knew what I was talking about....just as today when I warn so often on the condition of the church....and the winnowing that must be ahead....with division within families....and certainly churches....over the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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. 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.

          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.

Won't You At Least Give This A Chance

              If you have never listened to someone read a Charles Spurgeon sermon.....you might want to start with this one.....The Sons Of God.....just Google it and it will come right up. I'm recommending it because if you listen closely you will hear how he could turn a phrase such at times that you just have to sit there amazed at how he can explain something that upon reflection you couldn't even come up with an alternative way to explain it. There was a gift of preaching given to him. At least listen in for yourself and see if there might be something about the lament of today being a very weak age for preaching.

            I did kind of laugh at one point as I was on my walk today with the headphones on.....it about 34 degrees....and exhilarating....and it started snowing.....those tiny little crystal type of snowflakes. The walk was about fifty minutes....and it only snowed for ten minutes max.....but as I was going up the only rise that resembles a hill on the course that I walk....and as the tiny snowflakes were hitting me in the face....and I was just thrilled anyway by the coolness and the chill that makes....me anyway.....feel alive....the person reading the sermon as if it were Spurgeon himself.....(I believe that it was Charles Koelsch).....read this from the sermon...."so as you walk up that hill with the snow hitting you in the face." (Hey....it's happened before....and I'm sure this type of thing has happened to you also....but it still at least brings a smile.) The inference here was for us to press on.....in spite of difficulties....for if we are to be heirs of the crown....we are also heirs of the cross.

          

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.

        

Keep This Dream In Mind

Preface: This is a difficult post to bring back from time to time. I do so because I know too many people who are not believers.....which is their right.....and it is an intellectual and often well-thought-out decision of theirs....and like all of us....they love their children....but what they may not have come to grips with is that they are also making this decision for their children. They may say that their children can make any decision for themselves....and this is true....but they have greatly hindered the decision their children will make. It probably would not change anything....but they should at least acknowledge what they are doing. I also know too many believers whose children show no signs whatsoever of having been born again. They are most often wonderful young people....but the believing parents here too often do not even seem to have any concern. I would think that a believer's children would be in their prayers throughout each and every day....and the children would know it....know that their parents weep for them....and why. Are there exceptions to these two examples? Of course.....multitudinous exceptions....parents who do weep every night over the state of their child's soul....I know parents like these....but it is not ours to support the misconceptions that other Christian parents may have. At the very least also they should admit that they are not sure if their children are true believers....redeemed....or not. Every pastor should make sure that the sheep who are their responsibility are aware of this issue....the state of the eternal soul of their children. I came across a different type of sermon that Charles Spurgeon once gave....and posted on it about a month ago. It was called....Going Home, A Christmas Sermon....and you can easily Google it if you so desire.  

There is a hell....and there is a judgment. In years and millennia past....that judgment could easily be looked at as years and even many decades away....providing one were to live long enough....but no longer....for Jesus Christ and His mighty angels are right at the door....and Donald Trump or Joe Biden or communism or the second amendment or even the first amendment do not even enter into this at all. If you or I have a loved one or a friend....and their eyes have never lit up at the mention of Jesus....and they do not love God's Word to them.....and they do not seem to be overly concerned about the souls of even their own loved ones....and if they obviously have much more interest in their children or anything in life....over what is in God's Word to us.....even that which speaks of the very souls of our children they profess to love....then there is something wrong.....horribly wrong. We talk in politics today on our side how we do not stand up for what is right....well this failure is even more obvious concerning the gospel of salvation....and eternally more important. One must be born again....and not just a churchgoer.....not just one who will check off  'Christian' on some application or other! One must not necessarily know what being born again means....but it still must happen anyways. To not admit this....nor to preach this....nor warn of this....nor examine oneself in light of the preaching and warnings that might be there....is neither acceptable according to what God's Word tells us....nor therefore effectual in one's own salvation.

If two born again believers are together....one conceivably might ask the other out of general and loving concern...."How many of your immediate family members are saved?" And the other might respond with something like this...."One that I'm sure of.....that's all." Now....either one of those born again believers when in the presence of family would avoid that question at all costs....because they know that all of them....every one of them....thinks that everything will be all right when they die....whereas in reality there may be only one who might even understand the gospel let alone trust in it. That is America folks....and if we upset that apple cart....then we will pay for it in the family....or with friendships.....but if we cannot address this now....or at least acknowledge it....when the only cost might be a dressing down by a family member....or shunning.....how will we be able to deal with what is ahead....real persecution? It is a difficult situation.....for you love these people....and you know that they are headed to the place of...."weeping and gnashing of teeth"....along with their children! Yeah....it's tough all right. I heard of one guy who started a political blog.....to get their attention.....then slipped in posts like this! The following....Keep This Dream In Mind....was first posted in June of 2018:

           The equation works with any family member that one might choose. Let's see....I'll go with father. Here's the situation....you were raised in a loving household and provided with everything that you need....your father was there for you to put food on the table....to answer your questions....to help in sports....everything! You grew up....uh....let's say that you are around 30 years old right now....and then let's continue on from there....
            A strange and fantastical thing happens to you! Through whatever means....you come to be born again....you see your sin and you see where not only yourself but all men are going unless something is done about it....and you see that something was done about it....it happened at the cross on Calvary and in an empty tomb about two thousand years ago.  For some reason the very words in the Bible that you may have read or heard many times over the years all of a sudden passed through your thick skull. Now momentarily....maybe even longer....maybe even for a few years....you were so overwhelmed with joy that you didn't feel it necessary to contemplate anything else but your own blessed salvation.  Now that would indeed be too long but it happened and now you are starting to realize some other realities....let's go on from there....
           This father who provided so lovingly for you for so many years and who without him....who knows where you would be today....what about him? Let's go over some possibilities....one....you get two free passes when when you become a Christian so you can give them to you mother and father! No...that's not it. Hmmm! Two....you have watched your father for thirty some years now and if anyone knows him it is you.....and since you know him and how nice and hard working and caring that he is....then God....who is so much more knowing than you....must certainly know this also....and therefore your father will wind up in heaven....even though he has never mentioned the name of Jesus....exhibited any outward love of the gospel or of God.....nor have you ever seen him just sit down to read the Bible....or even mention the Bible? You know the answer to this as well....it's not an answer that you want....so you keep it as far back in your mind as is possible....and simply never let it see the light of day. You do this because you love your father so much....or so you tell yourself. Let's go on from there.....
           You finally come to the point that all Christians should come to sooner or later. You look at this loved one....or these loved ones....and you face the fact that they too must be born again also....they too need Christ....there is no other way....or they will go to....hmm....I'm not sure that one can say that word in America anymore? There are all kinds of things that we cannot say in America anymore. Let me see if I can sneak this past the censors....if your father....or any family member that you love....never becomes born again....then...."there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." That's all that you should need to know....that your loved one....father/mother/son/daughter/anyone will weep and gnash their teeth when they stand before the glory of God and are judged.
           Now I could describe this in other words than 'born again' but a century of easy-believism made these other phrases utterly ineffective....one example might be.....'unless they became a Christian'....but that's not nearly specific enough....or....'unless they have a personal relationship with Christ'....but that sounds more like getting saved from boredom than from you know where....or I could just say....'unless they believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior'.....that's absolutely true but so incomplete and easy to say that pretty near everyone uses it today....if asked....for they would never volunteer it. Folks....you do not have to use the words 'born again' but if you understand the enormity of what one soul regenerated is then you would never let your loved ones rely upon anything less!
           I'll get very personal here for a minute. I loved my father. He passed away in November of 1979. I was lost in my sins at the time and therefore utterly useless to him in the matters of his eternal soul. I visit his grave site occasionally.....he's buried in Arlington National Cemetery....and I walk away more determined than ever to pray for those family members that I love....who mistakenly believe that an amiable personality is enough to enter God's eternal rest....but discipleship comes with a cost. The very least of this cost is that you may become a persona non grata on occasion....because you care more for the soul of your loved ones than their approval.
           So consider this....a dream maybe....you are lost....hanging by a thread over you know where....and that thread begins to unravel.....a Christian passes by.....you always gave him the impression that you were a Christian even though you didn't even have the slightest idea what that really was...."tell me about Jesus Christ" you plead.....but he cannot hear....."tell me the gospel of salvation!"....you look up and the thread continues to unravel...."what must I do to be saved" you shout....but no one responds....because they are not listening....they 'love' you but just assumed that you are safe....for you go to church.....the thread then breaks and you fall....it gets colder and colder.....the evil all around you makes your skin crawl....you shout....."Nooooo!"....and then you wake up. Now the next time that you think about loved ones....remember this dream....and see if you can so easily avoid the issue because you just....assumed....that they are not lost and hanging by a thread....when if you are honest then you must admit that they never gave evidence to the contrary....and you never even looked for any evidence anyway.
     

The Controversy On Talk Radio.....Became The Controversy Of Talk Radio

             I had commented quite a bit over the past two years on conservative talk radio...posting this in August of 2019....I've been a talk radio listener since the mid-1960s! Talk radio has always been very big in Pittsburgh....and I was listening to talk while Rush....or 'Jeff Christie' as he was known on Pittsburgh radio back then....was playing records on nearby KQV. Callers were always a big part of the fun as you never really knew what the next caller was going to be like. Controversy....I'm sure that you remember this....was a big ratings boost....so the hosts wanted the callers that could generate a rip-roaring argument.
              I gave a little history of not only radio but Pittsburgh's and my family's tie to it in....The first commercial radio broadcast by KDKA....(the same radio station that I listened to talk radio early on)....occurred about 6 pm on election day November 2, 1920 from a shack on top of one of the buildings of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's possible that both of my grandfathers were in that building during that broadcast for both were young men employed by Westinghouse at the time.
               According to much ballyhooed reports...Cumulus Media....a major player in talk radio station ownership....informed the radio hosts on their stations to tone down the rhetoric that can incite violence. If this report proves accurate it has 1st Amendment implications....but also common sense issues. I have no way of knowing what's going on with Breitbart's morning radio show but the host is off all week which points to some kind of corporate meetings as he is also the editor-in-chief. 
               There were once regular visits to these posts from Australia....totaling 3,775....but they all stopped on one day a few years ago. That was disappointing because I had twice been to Sydney in the early 1970s....and posted some anecdotes that had local to Sydney Christian implications. I took this in stride....whatever happened....because if God wants anyone on earth to read anything that I might post....then it will happen....and if He doesn't.....then neither do I.
               Going further back in these posts.....December of 2016....as Donald Trump was then president-elect.....of which I celebrated....I posted this concerning conservative talk radio in a post titled....Your Mission....Should You Accept It....Conservative talk radio....[our] Publius, our Thomas Paine, our Benjamin Franklin, and our John Locke transmogrified into waves of electromagnetic radiation travelling at the speed of light into every kitchen and workroom and automobile in America.....these stellar stars that we navigated by through a perfect storm wrapped in a cosmic disturbance that threatened every foundation laid in the  latter half of the eighteenth century....their mission now....a much more difficult mission this time....should they accept it....is to bring God into the equation....but first they have to realize that God alone rules in the affairs of men.
                I couldn't have been more wrong in my assessment on what might then happen on conservative talk radio. We always occupied the high ground....and it was our strength....surely we would stay there....but the first thing that we did was to come off that high ground. Slowly but surely the intellectual debate ended....replaced by indoctrination. It was no longer conservative talk radio but Trump talk radio. The controversy was no longer generated by differing opinions.....but by what the only accepted opinion would generate in America.
                 I lauded Limbaugh and Hannity and Levin in those posts....for no radio personage ever had the ability of Rush.....or the work ethic of Hannity....or the academic debate of Mark Levin.....but I concluded one post with this.....It would benefit us to remind ourselves that as important as conservative talk radio once was to us....they are not gods to us....and we do not have to automatically believe every word that they say....and that the very powers of scrutiny and examination that they helped us develop....now has to be used towards them.  Christians especially should recognize Bunyan's 'enchanted ground' we now find ourselves living on that has made us drowsy....and then recall our own mission with the orders of...."Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober."

                     

Handle With Care

 It is a cycle....there's success in either the presidential or midterm elections....the pendulum swings....and it has the look or disaster....then the pendulum swings again and then again and again and again...."if we only had one more conservative Supreme Court justice"....or "if we only take control of this branch of government or that branch?" I have watched this....incomplete hope....for over three decades now....with the same lines used on talk radio....which always include....."this is the most important election in our nation's history!" I have been involved in 'civics' in one way or another for a half century....it is necessary....but it's not the answer....and if we rely on it as being the answer....then it is worse then if we did nothing. The church is in disarray....and that is a generous description. God tells us unequivocally in His Word to drop what we are doing and build His church back up. John MacArthur's book....Christ's Call To Reform The Church....would be of help if we would read it. We have to get past Trump....we need our life back....and we need our minds back. The following is from October of 2010:

Handle With Care

         Please consider this, that when you pick up a Bible to read, you hold in your hands words that are inspired by God. They are His words...to you! Without the movement of God's Spirit on us, they will be just words, but under the power of His Spirit their meaning not only begins to become clear but they reverberate every atom of our being and every neuron involved in our thinking.
         Consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If one wishes to remain in rebellion to God one would do well to not pick up His Word, for should God will it, it will make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy.
         On the other hand, if one (in sincerity and humility) desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule...... it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, a taste sweet to the pallet, a feel exhilarating to the touch, a voice soothing to the ears and a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even unto old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells (of the soul) and minerals to build bones. It is mental exercise, rejoicing, and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, intellect and emotion, humility and edification. It is oxygen itself to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. Its unity will bring division. Discerning this division will bring unity to the mind. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible... please know... that if you are not careful... an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life"

I Danced At The Wedding......Sort Of

 Folks....I write this as one who danced at their wedding....well I don't really dance....but I toasted the couple. I just happened to be on the same honeymoon cruise as they....and therefore saw after the reception was over who he really was....so I started to pull out old clippings on him....enough clippings to fill eighty books....and ever since I have been telling those who were at the wedding that the bride made a mistake.       

             Donald Trump is like a man who has emotionally abused his spouse to the point that she is near a nervous breakdown. She knows that he is mentally ill....for only she can see the real man who thinks he is the most important man in the world....maybe in the history of the world. Only she can see that he has absolutely no compassion for anyone.....and that his claims to the opposite are just a big lie. Only she can fully know that there is not a word that he could speak that could be believed without some kind of outside verification.
             She might be able to leave the marriage but her stepchildren think that he is a wonderful father....for they have never seen him take off his mask. She would get no support nor even compassion were she to leave him....as these stepchildren would attack her the minute that she accused him of anything.
             It's a different story at his workplace.....as they all know that he is a monster.....who would fleece his own brother if he had to. So the lie continues.....for at family gatherings the first order of duty is to exalt his brilliance and greatness.....thus he makes sure to have those family gatherings all the time.
             So again....it's that day after Donald Trump gives up the power of the Oval Office....or has it taken from him.....what's it going to be like? Will the news media continue to report on his rantings? His radical supporters won't miss a beat as they will continue to believe in their messiah....but will we have to hear it as we do now?
              The....abused spouse....is about to be set free.....to be able to at least think for herself again....as an individual in her own right....but her abusive husband is purposely at worst....or recklessly at best....torching the house on the way out....for as he will not live in it anymore....then maybe no one else should be able to live in it.

Note: I started to read about who this Donald Trump was after he brought Jared and Ivanka into the inner sanctum of the White House....and after other assorted 'strange'.....(Luther Strange).....moves.....this was the Spring of 2017. I have since read over eighty books on Donald Trump's whole life....and every decade of his life. It slowly became so very clear.....for he has pulled these scams his whole life....this man who is the first to call something a fake....is himself the biggest fake of all.

              
             

Two Lingering Concerns

December 28, 2020  

            We have fallen so far in America that we cannot think straight. We have been told what to fear....and it is not God. We are all of a sudden patriots....as were Paul Revere or John Hancock....only whereas they risked their fortunes....we fight for our fortunes.....where they valued their sacred honor.....we have come off that high ground....to battle in the fetid swamp of deception and vain-glory....led not by a George Washington.....who some have said could not tell a lie....but by one who it seems cannot tell a truth.
            We use our children....tugging them along to our protests....teaching them the intricacies of the constitution....while feeding them only the milk of God's Word....for we ourselves have nothing stronger with which to nourish them. 
            We shout warnings every day as a town crier....while the warnings from God's Word are censored. We are the first to give praises to God....but they are not the first praises that we offer....as we also worship at the altar of a golden calf.
            One year ago we were riding victoriously.... into the State of the Union....where we were told that "the years of economic decay are over".....that we were...."never, ever going back"....and were...."advancing with unbridled optimism"....and that "our country is our masterpiece"....and that "the American adventure has only just begun"....that "God's grace is still shining".....and that "the best is yet to come"....but then it was God's turn....and a plague came upon us....and we became....pandemic deniers. 
            I have wondered....had the pandemic not been seen as a plot against Donald Trump....would we today hold the same defiant positions on social-distancing and masks and church services? Ultimately my question is....to what extent has this man changed us....and our Christian beliefs?
            God had not been consulted on any of this.....only credited through our ubiquitous motto...."In God We Trust"....a God Emeritus if you will...."allowed'....as the dictionary would define it...."to retain the title as an honor."
            I came across an old interview where the then Governor Ronald Reagan used the phrase...."Lord willing." Jimmy Carter would have used it often....and Abraham Lincoln spoke...."if God wills it"....in his second inaugural address. I propose that we change the motto of America from...."In God We Trust"....that has become meaningless....to "Should The Lord Will It"....for He determines what empires.....and what kings....rise and fall....and this for His purposes and not ours.

That Part Of The Book Of Daniel That We May Have Missed

 The post below is from July 2 of this year....and the preface to it from August 11....a paragraph I could have written again just about every day since. Donald Trump's rampant narcissism seems to be getting worse.....if that were even possible. I can't recall the source from yesterday....but some article used the term....."scorched earth".....to describe how he is handling his....presumable....last couple of months in office. While others are still shouting phrases of revolt and rebellion as to the election....those who actually recognize dangerous psychological traits are getting more concerned every day. Reiterating what I posted below....please read through his tweets every day.....every one of them....let them sink in as a whole....and it might be easier to discern a serious problem.

Preface: The following post is a little over a month old. Do you see your country yet? Are you weeping yet? Do you see Donald Trump for what he is yet? Please read his tweets from just this morning....Tuesday August 11th. God help us....for this man has the reins of power. The world sees him. That from which he came out of (the lives and the rich and famous) see him. The Never-Trumpers see him. Many conservatives now see him. Many evangelicals see him. The Bible describes him in one way or another from Genesis to Proverbs to the Prophets to Revelation..."...you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam"....(Revelation 2:14)...."They have followed the way of Balaam....who loved gain from wrongdoing." (2 Peter 2:15)
................................................................................................................

          What comes to mind first when you think about the Old Testament book of Daniel....the lion's den.....or Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego in the furnace.....or Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great image with a head of gold and breast and arms of silver and thighs and middle of bronze and legs of iron with the feet part iron and part clay....or his dream of the great tree that was him and was cut down....or maybe the fingers writing on the wall? If you were making a list you might add Daniel's vision of the four great beasts....and the ten horns with the little horn coming up.....or the cryptic prophesies of the king of the south and the king of the north?
          What a book this is! The Christian can and should read through this throughout his or her entire life....and that day will come when....and we most likely are nearing it....when piece by piece those words become even more clear....but there is one part of Daniel that may be the most important to us today.....of which most of us may not even recall.....and if we do we certainly do not dwell upon.
          In chapter nine Daniel was given knowledge of Jeremiah's prophesy of the seventy weeks....this as he was nearing the end of his life....but he had first prayed and fasted in sackcloth and ashes....seeking mercy over the desolations that had come upon Jerusalem....and it is his prayer that we in America should contemplate greatly upon as our own country lies desolate. Here is that prayer
           "I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession saying, 'O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you, To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the LORD our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity...."

NOTE: Here's an example of President Trump's tweets from today....Monday....12/21....as I mentioned in the above post. A Wisconsin Supreme Court decision came down against the President....who just tweeted that two years ago in an election to that state Supreme Court....where the Democrat was a sure winner....("had no chance of losing")....Trump was asked to endorse the Republican....("when he was getting destroyed in the polls")....and the Republican then of course won.....("after my endorsement....he easily won!")....fast forward to today....that judge came down against Trump in a 4 to 3 decision....and Trump added to the tweet...."WOW....he just voted against me in a Big Court Decision!" Let's ignore the narcissism....the President has no idea of what he implied here....that judges were essentially there....not to interpret the law....but to repay the people who put them there!  Trump supporter Pat Robertson today is all over the news in having said on the 700 Club....that Trump was being "erratic".....and in an "alternate reality." Robertson went on to say....that people say....."He lies about this, that, and the other....No, he isn't lying. To him that's truth." Robertson is right here....and many have clanged this bell for four years now....Donald Trump has no concern for....or even concept of....the meaning of truth.

Please consider watching the video that President Trump put up on his @real twitter account titled....Fight For Trump....to see the personality type we are dealing with....and the potential of this delusion.

Kirk Cameron is in the news as he has organized a couple of....mask-less Christmas Caroling protests in California. I heard a radio talk show host today almost giddily tell his audience that he and his family are flying out to California to have....two large Christmas celebrations....as both he and his wife's families live out there....and I streamed a little of John MacArthur's church from the Sunday evening service...and it was all Christmas hymns....they're cramming them in....(the morning services cram in thousands)....for a Christmas show. Meanwhile the first go-around I hardly knew anyone personally who had the virus....but this time.....I know many who had contracted it....and more almost every day....and some have died.....but they were all up in age......so no big deal. This is what Donald Trump has turned us into.

2 Thessalonians 2:11...."Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false."

John Gill writes of this...."for the efficacy of error is not to considered as a sin, of which God cannot be the author, but as punishment for sin, and to which men are given up, and fall under the power of."

We might want to be thankful that there are denominational divisions in the church....separations that we so often excoriate....for if there were not....and we were one church.....with one governing body.....it would be as ineffective at best and even at times worthless as our own Congress. We can at least examine the denominations and churches out there.....put them on the grid of Scripture....and make the best possible decision on what church of which to be a part. We have that which is indeed perfect....and that is that Bible somewhere in our home. The translation may not be perfect....but the use that God has for us through it.....is perfect. Think of this folks.....we have at our disposal....that which is perfect in telling us....what is God.....and what we are to believe concerning God....and what our duty is concerning God. In a world where everything in some way or other is flawed....there is one thing that is not flawed....and that one thing also gives ample warning of what to stay away from....so why is it that it is not our most prized possession....consulted every day of our lives....where nothing is giving the attention that we give to it....always within reach if much of it is not already in our mind....upon which everything taught us by man is examined through it....and the verity of that which we come to believe is taught to us by the working in us of the Holy Spirit of God...if we indeed have been regenerated.....and born again? Is this easy? No. Is this learning ever complete.....no....and we can be thankful for that also as the exhilaration of reading it is new every day of our lives even if we live to be a hundred? Is there anything on this planet....or even conceivable from that which man can do....that can fill us to an overflowing....with "joy unspeakable and full of glory"....and the end of which is none other than...."the salvation of (our) souls."? No...no...a thousand times no....and all praise be given to God for devising such a wonderful and true and faithful means for us to know Him! I write this for one reason folks...and with one hope....that some who read this might look across the room.....to their bookshelf.....and see there wedged tightly in between possibly Hemingway and Grisham....an unassuming book....and think to themselves...."could it be true that I have missed the gold for the glitter....that the world's greatest treasure....of which multitudes search for in vain....is but little more than the length of my arm away....and has been there undetected my whole life?

President Trump's last tweet on Christmas Eve.....from Mar-a-Lago.....was short and sweet. In it said that he had saved "at least" eight Republican Senators in the election......and now they just sit back and watch....(he does add "almost all").....as he fights the battle....but what I would like you to at least consider is that he concluded that tweet with....."I will NEVER FORGET!".  This is but another very clear clue this week alone....(the other being his outrage that a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice who he had endorsed in the election to the court....did not repay him by casting his vote for him in a recent case)....that there are severe mental issues here. As so many have stated for so long long....Donald Trump's bloodlust for revenge....(lifelong bloodlust I might add)....is on display.....but secondly....what is the significance of...."I will never"....for he has less than a month left in office.....what kind of power would he have as a former president? Would he use his army of followers and talk radio hosts to work against them in any future reelection bids? Not this 'conservative' president....he would never do anything as dastardly as that would he? Oh but of course he would.....for he has no ideology....you may remember how in early 2017....after trying to cram a fake Obamacare repeal and replace bill down our throats....he threatened the Freedom Caucus....(our best representatives in Congress)....in their primary bids....and the man who demands personal loyalty....has no loyalty to the issues he professes for which to stand.....and the man who has elevated the word 'fake' to the very top of political rhetoric....is himself the biggest fake of all.

God Emeritus

December 25, 2020 

            We have fallen so far in America that we cannot think straight. We have been told what to fear....and it is not God. We are all of a sudden patriots....as were Paul Revere or John Hancock....only whereas they risked their fortunes....we fight for our fortunes.....where they valued their sacred honor.....we have come off that high ground....to battle in the fetid swamp of deception and vain-glory....led not by a George Washington.....who some have said could not tell a lie....but by one who it seems cannot tell a truth.
            We use our children....tugging them along to our protests....teaching them the intricacies of the constitution....while feeding them only the milk of God's Word....for we ourselves have nothing stronger with which to nourish them. 
            We shout warnings every day as a town crier....while the warnings from God's Word are censored. We are the first to give praises to God....but they are not the first praises that we offer....as we also worship at the altar of a golden calf.
            One year ago we were riding victoriously.... into the State of the Union....where we were told that "the years of economic decay are over".....that we were...."never, ever going back"....and were...."advancing with unbridled optimism"....and that "our country is our masterpiece"....and that "the American adventure has only just begun"....that "God's grace is still shining".....and that "the best is yet to come"....but then it was God's turn....and a plague came upon us....and we became....pandemic deniers. 
            I have wondered....had the pandemic not been seen as a plot against Donald Trump....would we today hold the same defiant positions on social-distancing and masks and church services? Ultimately my question is....to what extent has this man changed us....and our Christian beliefs?
            God had not been consulted on any of this.....only credited through our ubiquitous motto...."In God We Trust"....a God Emeritus if you will...."allowed'....as the dictionary would define it...."to retain the title as an honor."
            I came across an old interview where the then Governor Ronald Reagan used the phrase...."Lord willing." Jimmy Carter would have used it often....and Abraham Lincoln spoke...."if God wills it"....in his second inaugural address. I propose that we change the motto of America from...."In God We Trust"....that has become meaningless....to "Should The Lord Will It"....for He determines what empires.....and what kings....rise and fall....and this for His purposes and not ours.

"....Born To Give Them Second Birth"

 Preface.....it is 8:15 Christmas morning....and as I sit here at the computer I heard someone bellowing from the top of their voice....Joy To The World! I investigated and it was my neighbor.....on his front porch....surrounded by a most beautiful blanket of white snow that had fallen overnight. I was reminded of testimony that Benjamin Franklin had once given during the First Great Awakening.....as he wrote...."It seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."

           It was around Thanksgiving 2008. Barack Obama had just been elected to his first term. I was 58 years old and it would be another eight years before I would retire. It was an evening very much like this....cold and raining. Our dog had died suddenly and I was digging a grave in the pouring rain....with tears I'm sure mixed in with rain on my face. I started this....whatever it is.....blog but more of a bulletin board.....just for something to do....and named it after that dog who our son had named Special. I recently had to put our next beloved dog to sleep. His name was Grover. The following was one of my first posts. That iconic film It's A Wonderful Life starts in about thirty minutes and my wife and I will probably start watching....for the umpteenth time....but my guess is that I'll only last for about an hour....for I remain fascinated by the beginnings of the plot....but when the 'angel' comes into the film it becomes more than problematic. We had watched another notable film....Mrs. Miniver....only a week ago. Character actor Henry Travers played both the angel in the former film and a gentle 'commoner' in the Miniver film....the message of which was....to me anyway....in how life can change overnight....as the church service in the beginning was mundane....much as we in America may have been a year ago....but had changed to sober and reverential at the end....this after the devastation of war. I will never be able to ignore the message of a false gospel in the Jimmy Stewart film. It was Christmas time as you remember....George was back in....real time....and the crowd gathering in the Bailey house began singing....Hark The Herald Angels Sing. O I still tear up thinking about this Hollywood cast singing out the words penned by both John Wesley and George Whitefield....and America at least hearing them....."God and sinners reconciled....Glory to our newborn King! But we only hear the first verse.....and therefore not...."Christ by highest heav'n adored.....Christ the everlasting Lord....hail the incarnate Deity....pleased as man with man to dwell....born to raise the sons of earth....born to give them second birth"....for the film interrupts with everyone singing Auld Lang Syne....penned by the Scottish poet Robert Burns....so a different message sent the moviegoers away.....one that more embodies the entirety of It's A Wonderful Life....and unfortunately a message that America has come to identify with Christmas....that of a works salvation. Friends....one must be born again....where a soul headed to perdition.....of which state we all are born....is rescued....regenerated....now able to see not only our Savior but ourselves in dire need of a Savior....for there is absolutely nothing that we can do to effect salvation or mercy! If we do not remain vigilant and resolute in the defense of the gospel....then seemingly insignificant things like Hollywood movies can distort that gospel....the result in this case....the America of today.

It's A Wonderful Life.....December 13, 2008        

         It is pretty much a sure thing that at this time of year, Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE will be on television. George Bailey has become a part of the consciousness of America. Unfortunately, it's a good example of how film can use emotion and a good story to make that which is false seem like truth. Confronted with failure of the Savings & Loan which was entrusted to him, George contemplates suicide. God, then sends an angel who successfully convinces George that he has done a lot of good. The angel gets his wings and America wipes aways tears of joy as it fails to spot a false gospel of works.
         Am I looking at something like this too closely? Here's another thought. George has just had a wonderful first evening with Mary culminated by falling into the high school swimming pool. They begin to get philosophical on the walk home and Mary asks George what he really wishes for. George proceeds to list the things that he is about to do including travel, education and culminated by great accomplishments in design and architecture. A moment later George's uncle arrives with the news that will change his life and plans. His father has suffered a stroke. Mr. Capra's message here may have been that God would indeed use George to do great things...but they would be right where he lived and not all over the world as he desired.
          The more serious error in this otherwise wonderful film is that 'good works' are presented as a means to salvation. This concept and the fact that I know it is being happily accepted each holiday season in America is what makes me cringe. Enjoy the film....but acknowledge the error in the message ....and maybe take the opportunity to bring it up in conversation with friends and loved ones!
        

Famine Or Plague......Locusts Or Grasshoppers

              Joel writes of successive swarms of locusts in his day....one kind after another....voracious and unstoppable....and that is what has happened to us in America....and it is all judgment from God. The prophet makes it very clear that judgment comes first to the people of God who had rebelled.....and that also is what happened. We have marches and all kinds of prayer days....but very few of those efforts actually acknowledge that we are the culprits. You see we want the others to repent....for abortion and same-sex marriage and things like that....but it doesn't work that way....as God will deal with them later.....but He is dealing with us first....for our worship services that must entertain....and our Lord's Days that are no longer a hedge of protection....and our sacrifices of praise....which are neither a sacrifice....nor of a truly humble or broken spirit for praise.

             First the locust ate away at our faith....as we entered politics.....the Moral Majority.....and the Christian Coalition....strong in number....and had seen numerous successes....which gained for us nothing of real lasting value....and it only led to new locusts swarms eating away at our hope.....as that hope was no longer in Christ.....but in a vain and proud and arrogant prince.....but yet another locust came and devoured our love.....as now we say in effect....let the infirmed aged die....you will not stop us from meeting and singing our Christmas carols....which we somehow consider persecution....and we shall retain our freedom to wear a mask or not wear a mask.....which is not.....give us liberty or give us death....as we think it to be.....but give us liberty to choose our own death.
            Yes Joel writes words such as...."Wake up you drunkards; weep and wail...".....but he also wrote...."Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people....fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things"....but these locusts sent by God are not through with their foraging....and we have not as of yet repented....nor rent our hearts.

"Yet even now," declares the LORD,
  Return to me....
  And rend your hearts
  and not your garments." (Joel 2:12-13)

The best commentary on Joel that I've come across is from O. Palmer Robertson. The book is short and easy to read and an inexpensive paperback. If you are not familiar with the author....you might want to Google some of his sermons. Anyway....in his book he comments on 'repentance' as a key element from the book of Joel....and he made this comment....in 1995....and we are infinitely worse today than we were back then...."Who today would think that Christianity has as one of its basic goals the bringing of a whole congregation to the point of weeping repentance?" Indeed....repentance in the church has gone the way of the Hula Hoop. We are into rejoicing today....but rejoicing without repentance is like not competing in anything....but taking a victory lap anyway.

Addendum: Is this too hard of a post? Well....we in the church think we are just fine....and it is almost the opposite.....almost the opposite! Sports alone....just sports alone is idolatry in spades in America....and in the church....as no matter what day of the year it is....whatever the season....we follow it more than we read the very Word of God.....and if our kids are into sports in school....well forget it....as that in itself dominates....and add to this....we think we are great parents because we allocate so much time to their sports....while many if not most of these same kids do not even understand the gospel beyond going forward at a Christian rock concert....and if they do have a Christian faith....it is quite possibly mired in youth group activities. This is but one reason....(they are many many more)....that a genuine biblical false prophet.....(Donald Trump.....there are many more!)....came in to the church and ravaged it....and in the process takes away so many of our young people....leading them on to think that they are.....young patriots. Folks...it is this bad and worse....that is my estimation. No one is going to buy this....but as the days go on and this country continues to sink lower and lower....sooner or later the pastors are going to start preaching a warning to the sheep.

I'm Following Franklin Graham's Advice

 

I watched John MacArthur's evening service this past Lord's Day....December 7, 2020. It was really only a Q&A....and in it Pastor MacArthur said that with this virus spreading that the world is....because of the restrictions...."perfectly suited for the coming of the Antichrist." My question is in how did John MacArthur miss the false prophet in Donald Trump....who falsely prophesied glory and winning for four consecutive years....taking in the process the evangelical mind away from dependence on Christ....and putting it onto a prince? Yes....indeed....be aware of all that is happening from a globalist mentality....(we've been doing this for decades pastor)....but do not under any circumstances think that we.....'Christian patriots'....as we refer to ourselves....are immune from deception on a grand level....from someone claiming that he is on God's side.

Preface from just before the election:  Franklin Graham and John MacArthur would be the two top evangelical voices in America....other than Pat Robertson whose influence is primarily with charismatics....and both men have come to picture Donald Trump's value to the American way of life as taking precedent over his danger to the church. It's understandable with Franklin Graham as his ministry is primarily in disaster relief....but John MacArthur whose book and radio and tape ministries I have consistently recommended for decades totally took me by surprise....said this recently in a phone call from President Trump...."any real, true believer is going to be on your side in this election...." Trump played John MacArthur here. How would Billy Graham have viewed Donald Trump's increasingly erratic and profane years in the White House. Franklin said of his father's last year....2017...."he just basically quit talking. But his mind was still good. So even if he didn't talk to me, I would sit beside him and I'd talk to him." How would R. C. Sproul react to today's Donald Trump....R. C. who went to be with his Lord only a few months before Billy Graham? I think that he would warn of how our eyes were being taken off Christ....and onto a powerful prince.....but.....I would have said the same thing about John MacArthur.

Following Franklin Graham's Advice.....October 15, 2020        

              "Election Day is 24 days away & as Christians we have a responsibility to pray and vote according to His Word. Are you prepared? You can download this special issue of the Decision 2020 Election guide to learn more about what's at stake for our nation." Folks....this is Decision Magazine....that wonderful publication of Billy Graham's that many of us had read many decades ago....when the word....Decision....referred only to a decision to trust in and believe Jesus Christ.

              The above words in quotation marks were a Franklin Graham Tweet from last Saturday. I hope....Lord willing.....to vote according to His Word....as I will not be casting a vote for either of these men....which is a vote in itself.....a vote for trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and His warnings....only some of which were....

"And Jesus answered and said unto them. Take heed that no man deceive you..." Matthew 24:4 (Donald Trump deceived us....but you will never see that if you refuse to read about him)

"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Matthew 24:11 (Donald Trump prophesies the opposite of what does God's Word tells us)

"Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, that they may believe what is false." 1 Thessalonians 2:11 (would not Trump's MAGA be such a delusion)

"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self (DJT), lovers of money, (DJT) proud, (DJT) arrogant, (DJT) abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, (DJT) unappeasable, (DJT) slanderous, (DJT) without self-control, (DJT) brutal,  (DJT) not loving good, (DJT) swollen with conceit, (DJT) lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (DJT) having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." (2 Tim 3:1-5)

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:15-16a) (would this not refer to Donald Trump)

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world..." 1 John 4:1 (Would not Donald Trump be one)

"For there shall be false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect."   Matthew 24:24 (was not "the greatest economy in the history of our country" just such a great sign and great wonder)

"....for by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." Romans 16:18 (This is what we have experienced on a daily basis through Tweets and rallies and talk radio)

"....but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears..." 2 Timothy 4:3 (that's what we have done)

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..." 1 Corinthians 14:33 ("fear is power"..."I bring out rage. I always have" DJT)

"...they are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and delusions of their own minds." Jeremiah 14:14 ("Our best days are yet to come")

"...they fill you with false hopes..." Jeremiah 23:16 ("winning winning winning")

"Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." Luke 6:26 (whatever state he is in today will be "the great state of" and whatever congressman that will be on the dais with him will "your great representative" and whatever people he gives a speech to will be "the great people of...")

"in their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories." 2 Peter 2 

"Thus says the Lord GOD, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. Your prophets have been like jackals among the ruins..." Ezekiel 13 (Paula White et al)

"For when they say 'Peace and safety' then sudden destruction comes upon them..." 1 Thessalonians 5:3 (and we're gonna make America....(as everyone at the rally repeats)....SAFE again.)