Buck Up Special Dog

             It was probably twenty years ago now....while listening to R. C. Sproul's radio program Renewing Your Mind....that he dropped his guard for a moment and mentioned how some in the religious academic community had mockingly referred to him as Le folle (madman) Sproul. The discouragement was evident in his voice. It startled me a little.....and I never forgot it. I remember a similar moment with Hank Hanegraaff with his ministry warning us of the cults and false prophets....and even also one with Rush Limbaugh.....and another with former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.....where he dejectedly told a radio host that at times it seemed as if he was the only one in the Senate fighting for America. The host quickly responded....."Buck up man.....we've got your back."
             I had hoped that this year would at least see Donald Trump out of the picture....where I would not have to warn about him so often....but I should have known better.....eighty books on him informed me ever so clearly that a man like this will continue to cause trouble....because rage is all that he offers....all that he can produce.
             Sometimes I think that I would like to take up golf again. It's been over forty years....and they may make make clubs today where I could at least keep the drive in the fairway. I'd like to pick up the guitar again....or a canvas and oils. It's been a half a century on that....and I have always wanted to be fluent in another language.....but all these things take time....and there is little time.....and that time must be spent on things that are most important.
             Oh yes this is a pity party. I have one about once a year. Well....at least once a year....but even as I write this I know that it is no more than stopping your RV.....(another thing I'd like to get into).....to discharge the waste and then keep on going.....for within the hour I will be cutting grass....with my wireless headphones on....giving yet another sermon....(this is every day....sometimes two and three times a day)....from some preacher from the past.....usually Spurgeon or Ryle but it could be anybody who preached with such a wonderful unction for the salvation of souls....and who warned those under his care that he loved.
              Only a few days ago there was a Spurgeon sermon that also startled me....for he was so honest with his congregation....as he laid out those times in his life where he questioned himself.....but the sermon then turned to Christ....and I was rejoicing.....as I'm sure Spurgeon's congregation was....before the sermon ended.
               We have to be honest with each other....for not being so is fakery. This pity party....where it seems as if I'm the only one who knows the extent of the trouble this nation is in....(oh you think you know? Well it goes way beyond socialism....to the very core of our own hearts....and God's warning directly to us.)....this pity party began last night....but turning to read in Jeremiah.....bucked me up.....to use that phrase.....and even in writing these few paltry paragraphs....the pity party is over....and I have grass to cut....and a wonderful sermon from the past to listen to....and souls to pray for....possibly you....and a wonderful and majestic and loving yet coming in judgment Savior and King in whom to rejoice!   

Ten Years After

His performance at Woodstock.....on the song I'm Going Home.....rocketed him to fame.....Alvin Lee and his group Ten Years After. I don't know why that song wasn't titled....I'm Goin' Home.....because that's the way he sings it. I came across an old post.....almost ten years ago to the day....May 2, 2011. The national debt is twice today than what was reported back then....but....as I mentioned in a post just a day or so ago....we today have it within our means to find some article....by some expert somewhere....proving whatever we want proved. As for the national debt....there's an article out there right now....by expert economists....that tells us that the debt is really not that bad.....because it is not being calculated rightly....but watch out as you Google it....for there is another article right next to it telling us that.....yes the figure is not being calculated correctly.....and actually the debt is about $129 trillion. Only God's Word is sure! Are you....if you are a Christian....in His Word every single day? Now don't give me that legalism jazz....common sense alone would tell us that if the Bible is indeed God's....Spirit breathed....word to us....then it would be more valuable than a stadium filled with gold....and therefore no day would pass without our opening that vault and feeling that gold. Ten years? Folks....we're a hundred times worse off then we were in 2011! What will it take to finally convince us that there is no hope other than in Jesus....whereas in looking around at this world....and where it is headed.....where we might sing out or shout out....I'm Going Home....or I'm Goin' Home....if you prefer? The following is only a few thoughts from that 2011 post:

"A friend of mine, and politically polar opposite, had pressed me a few times on the question of just what are we to do to get out of this mess of our national debt that now stands at over $14 trillion. He was not happy with my answer that we cannot get out of the mess. His response was what kind of answer is that and implied that I was, in effect, giving up."

"No, there is no answer for this debt. The closest thing to it would be slowing down the inevitable by reversing course of which we certainly must do. The financial situation is only one arm of this multi-limbed god of destruction. A proverb of Solomon is Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise." 

"There's a report coming out shortly in a scientific journal where it has been determined that the Fire Ants survive floods in the Brazilian rain forests by using air pockets in their bodies and clasping on to one another, in other words forming a living raft upon which they can even save their young and their food. No, we may not be able to stop the flood coming upon us but we can ride atop it, for the Creator of the ant and of man are One and the same. Providing that God should even have mercy on us to survive as a nation, there would be more satisfaction in life living through hard times in acknowledgement of Him than living without Him in what we would falsely consider prosperous times. There is our answer!"

"Prepare To Meet Your God".....O America

  

The following two paragraphs were posted in 2016 and 2014 respectively. How long will we ignore God's Word...."For Apart From Me (Jesus) you can do nothing."? (John 15:5 ESV)

         In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus God gave the the people of Israel specific instructions to prepare for a very special event. He was going to come down to His people at Mount Sinai and He would give Moses the Ten Commandments. In the fourth chapter of Amos God told them once again to prepare. He told them very clearly, through Amos, that He had given them warning after warning in the form of punishments and concluded each time with "Yet you have not returned to me." Then came His ominous proclamation "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."

      

         Do you the reader recall the Biblical text from Exodus 17 where when Moses raised his arms with the staff that parted the sea in his hands that the Israelites prevailed on the fields of Rephidim, and when he lowered them the Amalekites prevailed in the battle? It was also at Rephidim where Moses at first feared for his life and then rebuked the Israelites for not trusting God to provide water! Surely you remember God limiting Gideon to just three hundred men to rout the Midianites. Have not these messages set in? Have we forgotten the word to Zerubbabel...."Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts."? We have departed from God with disastrous results, planned our own rescue, and then found out how brittle man's plans can be. The tectonics are shifting friends, the magma chamber has been breached! Trust now in God and in Him alone for as even Nahum in his taunting oracles to Nineveh wrote..."The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows them that trust in Him."       

      

Love Has Indeed Grown Cold

"And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of most will grow cold." Matthew 24;12 ESV

This is part of the Olivet Discourse....a primary passage in God's Word describing and preparing us for the time of the end....and the return of Jesus in power and glory....along with His mighty angels. Decades ago we would pass over this verse 12 rather quickly because it was hard to really even imagine what that meant.....but today....this once obscure part of the Olivet Discourse.....seems to me anyway.....to be one of the more pertinent descriptions and warnings. The numbers in evangelicalism are down....and more importantly the essence of what evangelicalism once was has greatly been compromised. As I have posted so often here.....the absence of Christian bookstores....and even good books.....along with Billy Graham crusades....and a weak and paltry age of preaching....have in effect cut our supply lines.....and those coming into the faith today.....are doing so more because of politics....family and liberty issues.....or from a new 'emergent' shallowness in the gospel that puts our own inventiveness and imagination ahead of the gospel of Jesus Christ itself. We need go no further than our 'Christian' response to the pandemic to see that this coldness has now enveloped evangelicalism. We simply do not care anymore about the sanctity of life. John Gill and others saw an extreme vexation in the the church due to an abounding lawlessness in the world as one reason that even the church would 'wax cold' as the King James translates it.....and I believe he was right. So if we see Christians testy with each in church....over masks....or if we happen to notice how we can attack a public servant like Anthony Fauci....who right or wrong or in-between has done his best in an impossible job....just trying to limit pandemic deaths.....and we almost as if pray to see his personal destruction.....or as if we have spittle dripping from our mouths as we try to beat down anyone and everyone who does not support our political agenda.....well.....we might take some time to meditate on Matthew 24:12....and the entire Olivet Discourse.....in all three synoptic gospels.

Lord's Day Post

              One does not have to live in luxury to experience life as being good....but a good income....and a safe community.....helps. Saturday mornings on the soccer field can be wonderful blessings....or planting flowers and landscaping our homes....particularly as Spring comes with luciously warm breezes.....dogwoods....and lilac bushes everywhere.....but.....there's always a 'but'.....but we Christians do not have the luxury....of ignoring the other half of the world....and today we do not have the luxury of living in our own country without lamenting what is happening....and seeking God's mercy....but instead we fight this....thinking that if we only restore a Republican Congress that that will somehow stem the tide of total corruption. Folks....not only is this not where the answer is....but it works directly against that which we need to be doing.

             So who am I to be saying something like this? I'm nobody. Would it make any difference to you if I were a somebody. I don't think so. Whether it's Franklin Graham or the guy running a snake through your basement drains....if they put something before you that is significant....go to Scripture.....the collar does not guarantee anything....nor the exalted position at a seminary....nor the multi-million dollar television network. If you are a Christian....you will recognize if there is a problem or not.
             Well what about Donald Trump you might ask....a genuine biblical false prophet according to me? We missed Donald Trump....because we took our eyes off of Jesus....our only hope.....and we trusted in not only a man....but as unbecoming and untrustworthy of a man that one can find. We were sheep that forgot what the shepherd's voice sounded like....as a false shepherd entered our sheepfold to recruit us....not by the gate....but the down escalator. 
              Folks....surely we all know how John went on and on in his epistles on how we believers are to love one another. We have differences on many things.....Trump is surely one....and now masks and vaccinations are dividing churches....(all Trump related in my mind).....but we have to work very hard not to lose this love for one another even as we pass through this difficult period of political confusion.
              A winnowing is coming...I do believe.....where the redeemed will not only all know the voice of our Good Shepherd....but recognize each other more easily. The best thing that I know of....today....to be able to easily identify that voice once again....is to regularly listen to sermons from men of the past....and men who sound like men of the past. A steady diet of Charles Spurgeon.....or J. C. Ryle will groom even the untamed mane. What does God's Word say about this.....well....Jeremiah tells us....."Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it'."

Note on masks in church: Regarding the scripture that tells us to modify our actions if those actions may cause other believers to stumble.....why cannot we wear masks in church.....putting aside our own feelings....so that the others might worship God without hard feelings. Is this.....politics.....individual liberties....so important to us that we do not care how our brothers and sisters feel....that we will sacrifice our worship services to make a point?

It May Come This Way......And It May Not

The following post is from October of last year. Somewhere in the past....I couldn't find the particular post....I wrote to pastors who might read this that lest they think that they are somehow immune from any criticism....because they have a piece of paper....that God could raise a Jeremiah from the man cleaning out the drain in their basement to warn them that they are neither feeding nor protecting the sheep.

It May Come This Way....Or It May Not

It may come in this way....the last great movement of God in America....the preacher....any preacher....many preachers across the America....arrive at church a little disheveled....as if they hadn't had any sleep the night before....for they hadn't.....in fact they have been tossing and turning all weekend trying to prepare a sermon that they believe God may have put on their heart. The congregations detect something as the uptempo music ends....but the preacher's shoulders are as if they are sagging. Is something wrong they wonder....has the sale for more land for the addition fallen through? The pastor begins by saying that the holiness of God is an awesome thing to be confronted with. He's not looking at the congregation while talking as he usually does but his eyes are lifted to heaven. Maybe this is the setup to a humorous but informative anecdote....he's done that kind of thing before....but his wife is sitting in the front pew....and her lips are moving in prayer. This is no humorous but informative anecdote coming! The pastor reads the Parable Of The Ten Virgins....while his eyes lower to meet those in front of him....and he begins his sermon...."Beloved....how much oil do you have available to trim your lamp.....for you may need it soon....and even if our Lord tarries in His return....we must have oil for our lamps at all times!" It may not happen this way....but each Monday I look for reports on how this preacher or that preacher was extremely solemn in the pulpit....and the congregation responded to his message with equal solemnity.     

We Can See The Frog In The Kettle.....And He Is Us

             God’s Word tells us that Jesus will come back at a time when He is not expected. That is generally assumed to mean things will be good at the time....but another way to look at it is that things may not be good....and since there also would be relatively no faith....(as Jesus wondered if He would find faith on the earth upon His return)....that the visible church would be in such bad shape that it would neither heed....nor know of....nor care to hear the many clear warnings in God's Word concerning the state of the world upon His return....nor heed His commands to always be vigilant....nor even have a discernible desire for Jesus to return....which seemingly is where we are today. This also makes more sense as we read our Lord's Olivet Discourse....where the whole world will fall for delusions.

             Back in the 80s.....we used the analogy of the frog in the kettle all the time....but we used it as it would relate to an unbelieving world.....not the church. I don't have a lot of outside interests....no hobbies....no sports. Reading is really all I do....and exercising where I can listen to tried and true sermons from the past....and of course writing here on what I read. I may watch a movie now and then....but hardly an hour passes by....without at least some passing thought on our Lord's return....even while getting away to the beach....with the majesties of the expanse of ocean before me.
            It's very clear what I see....and I at times have trouble grasping how others cannot come to the same conclusions....for we are observing and living in the same world. It has never been anything like it is today....as love as literally gone cold everywhere....and everyone determines his or her own truth. Only the frog in the kettle analogy can explain how the visible church came to the point that where Jesus is at the very doorstep.....but so very few know it.....and even less care.
            I can understand why most pulpits are not involved with preparations on what lies ahead....but cannot fathom how so few true ministers of the gospel realize what is about to transpire. Once again.....and for the last time in this post....only the frog in the kettle story can explain how we once knew very well that judgment was nigh upon us....but now cannot even determine a pandemic to be judgment from God. Jesus return is near.....it has to be.....and looking at this world as it has become.....every Christian should be pleading for His return....but we sit satisfied....concerned only about getting the Congress and White House back....thus seeking a mess of pottage....over the...."marriage supper of the Lamb." Paraphrasing Pogo....we can now see the frog in the kettle....and he is us.
            

God Emeritus

Well it's Monday...and I wonder if anyone has any story to tell on how their pastor didn't seem like the same man in the pulpit....that he seemed so very concerned for America....that he pleaded with God....because of what we have become? I have been praying for this transformation of our pulpits for a few years now. The following post was from this past December:  

            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....and the golden-haired 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.

Rechabites

We visited the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte today. It was our second visit there. I bought a book....and my wife bought a gift for her mother.....and we had lunch there.....and I recommend that if you are traveling Interstate 77....that you take that short two or three mile excursion off of your route....as it's very easy to get to....and then get right back on the interstate. God used Billy Graham in a number of ways....first and foremost in evangelism.....but also.....particularly in his last few decades.....to give us an increasingly strong warning that judgment is coming upon America. He completed his task....and was called home....but Jeremiah's warnings to the "men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem"....as described below....are also to us. I came across the following that was written on October 11, 2019....but never posted.....and I do not remember why:

             There is an interesting chapter in the book of the prophet Jeremiah....chapter 35....where God demonstrated how he often reasoned with men. He told Jeremiah to go and bring a certain family....the house of the Rechabites....into the house of the LORD....and when they come offer them wine to drink. Jeremiah did so....and those men came....and Jeremiah offered them wine....and they of the house of the Rechabites proceeded to tell Jeremiah that their father had told them never to drink wine....nor build houses....nor plant vineyards....but to live in tents....and that they would then live many days in the land where they sojourn. The men told Jeremiah that they did just that....that they were only in Jerusalem because Nebuchadnezzar was coming against the land.
             Then God spoke to Jeremiah again....telling him to go to the "men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem"....and tell them of the obedience of the house of the Rechabites to their father....and then relay to them from the LORD...."I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me.....I have sent you all my servants the prophets....(today Billy Graham and many others)....saying....'Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods....(Trump being just one)....to serve them....but you did not incline your ear or listen to me" (verses 14 and 15 ESV)....and because of this....disaster was coming. Jeremiah then said to the house of the Rechabites....relaying it from God....because you have obeyed your father...."[you] shall never lack a man to stand before me."
              There is a remnant in America....true believers in Jesus....from differing denominations.....who stayed true to those "old paths"....but most have rejected both the warnings and the old paths. Disaster will therefore come upon us....(it is already amping up greatly....as the Jonah's....the Grahams and Sprouls....are gone....taken home....while the Nahums....MacArthurs & others....are here now not so much to warn us but to prepare us for what is ahead).....and there will always be that remnant.....both high and low.....educated and simple....differing in many ways but obedient to the sound biblical traditions and practices that fathers long since gone have given us.

Is This You?

The beach at Hilton Head begins from the surf with a large swath of hard sand....perfect for walking and bike riding. Directly behind this.....where the resort umbrellas begin....is the more traditional whitish soft granules that feel good in the hot sun....providing it's not too hot. This morning was perfect as the sun rose. I had my headphones on....listening to a J. C. Ryle sermon....and one long sentence caught my attention so that I came right back up in the room to add it to this post.  The sermon was titled....Our Sins.....and here is that sentence from Ryle...."You have many sins.....I say this boldly and without the least hesitation....I know not who you are....or how the time past of your life has been spent.....but I know from the Word of God that every son and daughter of Adam is a great sinner in the sight of God....there is no exception....it is the common disease of the whole family of mankind in the world....from the king on his throne....to the begger on the roadside....from the landlord in his all....to the laborer in his cottage....from the fine lady in her drawing room....to the humblest maid-servant in the kitchen....from the  clergyman in his pulpit.....to the little child in the Sunday School....we are all by nature....guilty....guilty....guilty....in the sight of God." This particular vacation....hopefully looked forward to throughout this pandemic....we choose Hilton Head Island....but also one of the more exclusive resorts. I feel a little out of place where every car on this property is more expensive than ours. There is a PGA tournament going on right now....a Pro-Am....so there are probably professional golfers here....and also celebrities who golf....so Ryle's comments on.....the king....and the fine lady....and....the laborer....(me).....particularly hit home.....as we are all in need of a savior....not a relationship....(a term that we like to throw around today)....but a savior....because we need.....saved! The following post is from October 4 of 2009. The recommendation following it is from when I republished the post a few years later.

Is This You?

             So you are over 30 years old....a husband and father. You are established in your job and there is a regular crew of friends that you and your wife get together with on weekends. You have a church that you are members of and attend regularly. The kids have their Sunday School. You are living the American Dream, but there are a couple of problems that are nagging at you more and more. The first is that the American Dream may turn into a nightmare. You can handle this but it is your children that you are worried about. It gets worse. The second problem is that you are coming to believe that there is more to this God thing than you had always believed. Sure, you never considered denying God, that wasn't necessary. Nothing in your life was so compromising that you were forced to either become antagonistic towards religion or change your life.
             There is a peace that comes over you when you consider Jesus as Savior and not just a name. There is something rock solid about that Bible you pick up when alone but that peace vanishes when you think of how you could be lumped with those weird born agains if you take this any further. There has to be a middle way. No, you know that there isn't for you have been living the middle way and there is no peace there, no Savior and no Word of God. 
              This problem has been going on for a while. You tried the conservative politics way where you openly deplore the anti-God people, thereby placing you in the God camp, but that only increases the guilt of keeping God at arms length. You blame the Christian that you work with for not being perfect and you blame your wife for not dragging you further towards this Christ, thereby making it a little bit easier on you, but like Jimmy Buffet's song, the excuses don't work and you know that it is your own fault.
               Here is some advice to consider. You start by being honest. Ask forgiveness of your wife for not being the head of the family and insuring that God was the center of your family. At the very next family meal, you tell the children that as a family you are going to thank God for the food on the table for it is a blessing from Him. You tell them from this day forward you are going to try to acknowledge God in every area of your lives. They are going to see you studying your Bible every night and when you have learned enough, you are going to teach them.
                At work your task is a little bit more difficult. You wait for the first time that a negative comment is made about born again Christians, it won't take long, and you simply say I'm moving towards these people. I have neglected God. I see myself in need of Him now and won't neglect Him anymore. As for church, this is the hardest problem of all. You know that you may eventually have to leave where you are but haven't the slightest idea where to go. In due time you will know enough to find a church with other Christians of like mind, most of whom have traveled the path you are about to take.
                 Are you worried about the embarrassment for you and your family should you fail? I don't blame you for you have seen others fail and it's not a pretty sight. The good news is that it is God's task to keep you from discouragement such that you would fail, and He Himself never, ever fails! You know what trust is, right? Your children trust you in how many things? In this case, you are the one that must trust. How do I know this? I've been there. The day will come when you will thank God every day, throughout every day, for His mercies and for the joy He has given you.
                 These steps that I mentioned are only personal advice, but what is not just advice is the trust. If you are having these feelings about God's goodness, the God whom you have neglected, then God is moving within you right now! If you could not trust God... then he would be no God. Do you have any plans on giving up on loving and protecting your family? Of course not, and you are but a mere mortal. Just one Scripture verse for you should you decide to set out for the Celestial City as Bunyan's Christian did in Pilgrim's Progress.... Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?

 

Here is valuable tool that was not available when this blog was written. You're navigating the Internet right now so you should have no problem with it.....www.refnet.fm

Note: Zechariah 4:10 says...."For who hath despised the day of small things..." The second temple was being built....and it did not have the grandeur of Solomon's temple....and the people who remembered the first temple were saddened....but God was telling them that it was a beginning....and much greater things than Solomon's temple were ahead....pointing to Christ. So you might look at these 'small beginnings' with your family and be discouraged....but the joy will blossom in your heart quickly....so quickly that you may even have trouble containing it!

Also.....today....Wednesday April 7.....ligonier.org....the Daily Audio....is a short message by Steven Lawson that can be very helpful.....it's titled....Irresistible Call: A New Heart

"....Perchance To Dream"

                 It's five in the morning as I begin typing this. I woke up in the middle of a dream.....and knew that if I don't write this down right now that I'll forget most of it. No great revelation here....just a dream from when we were in the more severe days of this pandemic. What surprised me.....was that I had already forgotten most of how it was.....when I went for seemingly such a long time without seeing any friends....while taking great care even grocery shopping.
                 After waking up I just lay there and continued on my own....thinking of the past year. We have elderly parents whose meals now have to be provided by someone in the family on an almost daily basis....I remembered how difficult it was to visit with masks on....and how hard it was to breath....and then was surprised again to realize how little those masks bothered me of late.....for I had learned to better adapt to them.
                 Back to the dream....that recollection of isolation came back to me....very clearly. I had forgotten how lonely it was. My wife and I have our 'bubble' of friends who we know had taken this pandemic seriously....and a day came when a friend of mine finally came over to our house for a visit. We sat at opposite ends of the room but had a wonderful few hours of conversation.
                 It was around this time that maybe a friend of mine had died from the virus....and maybe a friend and his wife. It was same time that the well-known California pastor was ridiculing the pandemic. I lay there bringing to mind of how things slowly opened up....particularly after the vaccines were beginning to be widely distributed.
                 It also came to my mind as I lay there how odd it was that I did not have even a cold during this almost year and a half....which was very unusual for me....as these masks and this social distancing that so many ridicule....had an effect.
                 Well as I said....no great revelation here....more on how it shocked me that remembrance of so many of these aspects of the social distancing had so easily departed my awareness....and I had to dig a little....aided by the dream....to recall what it was like.
                 Every day is a gift from God....for the opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ....and there should be no dream needed to remind us of this. Social distancing is definitely not called for here....and the masks in question here are not masks meant to filter the air we breath....but the masks that many put on to disguise themselves....deceivers....wolves in sheep's clothing....that we do need to remind ourselves of....and be vigilant of....every day.

May I add a praise report here....also from this morning....for as I entered the kitchen I saw my glass from only six hours ago....sitting on the counter....with about two inches of beer left in it. I smiled when I saw it....for I have only had at most one glass of beer in a single day....over the past forty-one years....and this usually only two or three times a month....and usually I cannot even finish the entire beer....hence the smile! I thank God so much for this moderation....for the lack of it almost destroyed my life in my youth.

Special Dog's Harvard Commencement Speech

            I'm convinced that we really have no idea how difficult the days ahead are going to be....and the pastors are not warning us one bit.....because they themselves don't know how difficult it will be. Celebrity versions of Christianity....just for one example....are becoming biblically unrecognizable. Folks....some of these people are writing 'Christian' books....and singing 'Christian' songs....and yakking up their faith all over the place....but when they are interviewed for this or that....it shows that they don't understand the faith at all! It's like their lives are nothing but contracts....where this is just the 'Christian' contract....and real believers are not spotting this! Consider the end-times ramifications for believers in this new Christianity....complete with fake revivals....and superstar false prophets! Brother....you think it can be frustrating at times now....well as the group BTO once expressed it....."B-b-b-baby, you ain't seen-n-n-nothin' yet" I don't know how more clearly God's Word could express it....."Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (Rev. 1:3) We are not preparing for these days. In fact we are afraid to even mention them. I doubt that persecuted Christians around the world have this problem. What is the title of that old Ruby And The Romantics song...."Our Day Will Come...."
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There are about thirty colleges and universities in Western Pennsylvania stretching from Erie to the Laurel Highlands and I've been on most of them at one time or another for one reason or another....always visiting the bookstore....walking the campus....and picking up as many editions of the college newspaper to get an idea of the flow of conversation on the campus. Twenty years ago I went back to one of these schools to do graduate work in Higher Education....simply because our son was soon to matriculate somewhere....and I wanted a better idea of the state of our higher education in America as he would make his decision. I posted the following back in May of 2015....and update it a little each year as I bring it back at commencement time year. Last years commencement was streamed due to Covid-19....and that is what I have here:

          Once again another year has passed and I wasn't invited by any college or university to be their commencement speaker! So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden was to be the live streaming commencement speaker at Harvard University but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage.  The Ivy League school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name....Special Dog....they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to a give a commencement speech. 

Special Dog's Harvard Commencement Speech....Live  Streaming....May 11, 2021

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           It's a great honor to be invited to be your commencement speaker. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm five foot nine and three quarters inches tall. But enough of me. It's you I am here to talk about. You are no longer a student here. Do not try to use the gym anymore. 
           Our President told us last year that this is the greatest time to be young and American....that's one line you won't hear again. Everyone look up to the sky right now.....the first one that sees a drone spying on us gets a free Happy Meal. I hear some grumbling out there. Watch what you say for your iPhone is taping you. Just one more piece of bad news and then on to the good news. Well there's no good news but let me get this out of the way anyway. There are no 'safe spaces' in basic training. 

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          Today you are graduating from the sixteenth grade. Congratulations! This is that special day when everyone gets to write something obscene or against America on the top of their mortarboard. Most everyone here is 22 years old......which means that you only have four years of living in your parents basement before you must figure out what corporation you are going to be a slave to for the rest of your life. You will probably be about 77 years old when you retire. That's only a tad over a half century away.....about 1/120th of the history of the world since Adam was created. It'll go fast. 

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           I'm losing my audience.....maybe I better get serious. A little bit of trivia.....President John Kennedy would be 103 years old today if he were still alive.....104 in a few weeks....but his 46 year old face in the last year of his presidency is what we remember. I had the privilege of seeing him in person as Senator Kennedy and then presidential candidate Kennedy as his limousine passed by our Catholic grade school....and they herded us all out to wave to him.
            I recently viewed an old interview with then Governor Ronald Reagan that was taped on June 5th of 1971. The interviewer asked Governor Reagan if he was going to run for president in 1972. Reagan replied...."No....Lord willing I'll complete my second term as governor." That would make two United States presidents....in a row....Carter and Reagan.....who could naturally use the phrase...."Lord willing." Abraham Lincoln also used it in his second inaugural address. Today we tell God what to do....'God....bless America'....it's more of a 'trick or treat' really but the evangelicals buy it and that's all that matters. Young people....we need a president today who thinks in these terms....and I propose that our national motto....'In God We Trust'.....of which we certainly do not.....be changed to....'Should The Lord Will It.'

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             Every American....every American old enough of course....knows where they were and what they were doing when President Kennedy was shot. As for me....I was in my eighth grade homeroom when one of the Sisters came in crying with the news. We all then immediately went home.
             Many of you remember that magazine sized book Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy. I think that just about everyone had it back in the months and years following that tragic day in November of 1963. In that book the editors reveal what were...."President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas." John Kennedy was to give this speech but never did... for assassins (plural) ended his life.....SPOILER....it wasn't Oswald.
             That speech never given by our 35th President concluded with these words....the last official words of President Kennedy...."The righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it." So the full verse is:

             "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

             John Fitzgerald Kennedy was nominally religious as was I. He would have respected the Bible and believed those words but he could not have truly understood their significance, nor timeliness, nor even seen his own part in attempting to build a city (a country) without the LORD. The 60s were an absolute disaster, the effects of which nearly brought my own life to an end. They produced college professors for the next few decades who gave us many of our problems today. 
             President Trump will 'labor in vain' as he attempts to make America great again....unless we as a people see our own culpability in our troubles (past-present-and future) and seek God's forgiveness and mercy....and even then our hope would be wisdom and strength through the coming judgments....and not the suspension of those judgments. 

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          It was drizzling and a bit chilly as my wife and son and I walked Cambridge University back in the spring of 2001. I wanted to see where many of the Puritans were educated....one of them was John Harvard....and I wanted to see some of the places where scenes from the Academy Award winning Chariots Of Fire were filmed. The building that housed the White Horse Inn on the grounds of Cambridge was long gone but a small blue plaque hung in the nearest spot possible to that location. That inn was a 16th century English pub where students, Dons and travelers discussed the works of Martin Luther, and out of this discussion came a passion for the hearing of the Word of God which resulted in the English Reformation. Young people...find your own White Horse Inn....or....try whitehorseinn.org!

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       Surely somewhere in America on that bleak or snowy Saturday in early December 1941 a young man sat looking out of a restaurant window, or maybe a coffee shop, with a young lady at his side who was his new bride. They had the world at their fingertips as he was just awarded that treasured college diploma he worked so long and hard for, and she wore the wedding band she had dreamed about since they first met in grade school. They looked into each other's eyes with hardly a care in the world. Oh, the plans they had so much fun making.....a small cottage with a white picket fence that someday would keep little ones and maybe a puppy dog from straying as they play.
          And then the morning came and as they walked into church the somber faces took their joy away for they had not heard the news from that group of islands where the sun shown year round and warm surf slapped the white beaches. America was in the war against evil that they had only given themselves minutes a day to reflect upon. The young bride knew immediately that their dreams would now be put on hold if they would ever come true. Surely the prayers of all present in that worship service were salted with tears.
          Not every generation has its hopes interrupted as this generation did on December 7th, 1941 but your generation today may indeed be another one. Love is disappearing in the world....no....worse than that....it has been hijacked by greed....tortured by pride....and what is left is directed to ourselves, and we in America are paying dearly for our dalliances.

1 watching....I don't know who that is....my wife turned on the television
        
          Do you sometimes feel a void of passion in your life...a meaninglessness that cannot be satisfied by the picture that you paint on your Facebook page? Well, a river of passion flows right by you! Cup your hands and drink from it. Let mercy and peace pass over your palate. A President's election will give but one night of elation but the certain expectation of the coronation of the King of Kings provides every morning and every evening with a ceaseless ardor that will make you forever thankful. If you happen to really see the trouble that we are in here in America....that vision is from God....and He will also give the balm....supply the strength and provide the wisdom to see the joy of redemption even in the darkest hours of this world....and to plan ahead with the full trust that if it be His will it will happen and if it not be His will you would not want it to happen. Here is the only true hope and change...... "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." 2 Corinthians 5:17

If only one graduate reads this post.....it's worth it!

"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Lord's Day Post

There are tens of thousands of sermons out there on the Internet....placed there by men from the their own pulpits....and surely a very small percentage of them are wonderful....but why go there in this weak age of preaching when there are sermons primarily from men of the past....'the old paths'....that God had worked marvelously through....and continues to work through? A more pertinent question might be why do these pastors today recommend their own sermons.....when they themselves should be feeding at the trough of the Spurgeons and Ryles of the past....in order to more ably feed the sheep that God has given them? The following was first posted in June of 2020:            

           We are in need of a new 12" Teflon skillet. I'm getting tired of scraping the one we have now. Three and a half centuries ago one would probably call in a 'tinker'....a handyman who fixed pots and pans. John Bunyan was one such tinker. On a drive today in the Ohio countryside I pulled up a YouTube of Bunyan expert Derek Thomas giving one of his lectures on Pilgrim's Progress. Thomas related that the great Puritan theologian John Owens once said to King Charles II...."Could I possess the tinker's (preaching) abilities, please your majesty, I would gladly relinquish all my learning."
            I came across this exhortation to preachers in a sermon of Charles Spurgeon's....(who by the way by his own testimony had read Pilgrim's Progress 100 times during his lifetime)....that book titled....Jesus, King Of Truth...."I have sometimes, when hearing sermons, wished the preacher would come to the point, and would deal with something that really concerned our soul's welfare. What concern have dying men with the thousand trivial questions which are flitting around us? We have heaven or hell before us, and death within a stone's throw; for God's sake do not trifle with us, but tell us the truth at once!"
            If you leave church tomorrow feeling like something was missing....but you have no idea what it was....please consider grabbing your laptop and listening to this one sermon by Charles Spurgeon. Simply Google....'Charles Spurgeon....a blast of the trumpet against false peace.'

Note: Ligonier.org's Daily Audio today (Monday) presents a wonderful message from Sinclair Ferguson titled Becoming A Christian....and in it he gives an example using golfer Jack Nicholas....in the prime of his gold career. Ferguson relates that at the beginning of every season that Jack Nicholas would go back to "the man who had taught him to play golf"....and ask of him...."Mr. Grout....teach me to play golf." This is what pastors need to do today.....go back to these preachers from the past and say...."Mr. Spurgeon....Mr. Ryle....teach me how to preach!"

Saturday Ruminations

           I don't think that 'temptation' is the best word....it's more the 'lure.' It is an almost Spring-like Saturday today here in Western Pennsylvania. We have a mix of tulips and daffodils and pansies on the porch....ready to plant in a few weeks....Lord willing.....very colorful....and my wife has friends over for lunch....the first get-together really since the pandemic began....and laughter fills the house. I'm the husband that helped get everything ready....and cleans up the dishes as her guests retired to another room to continue the visit and bring each other up to date on what new may have happened with them over the long and cold winter.
           The lure is to forget the situation that we in America find ourselves in....and fall back into a slumber. So after putting away the dishes....and politely joining in the conversation for a little while....I listened to Ligonier.org's Renewing Your Mind Saturday broadcast....and the lure had weakened. I'll recommend to you R. C. Sproul's teaching today on Elijah....just Google....ligonier.org and the Daily Audio is right there.
            Folks....we are in a real fight. We cannot let our guard down for long....or before we know it the enemy will have serenaded us to sleep. We are indeed pilgrims....but we are also soldiers. It's not a constitution that we fight for....but the glory that is due God. Spurgeon and Ryle used this analogy of the soldier often in their sermons....but we don't hear this motivation today....and the result has been.....well....just read the daily papers or listen to the news.
            How often have we all read Paul's analogies like this....and maybe nodded....but never really let his message and warning sink in? Maybe you will stop the next time that you come across these verses...maybe it will be today....for that is the only purpose of this post. I hope that it did some justice to our calling as soldiers....for another warning of Paul's comes to mind.....1 Corinthians 14:8...."For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"

Remember...."Remember...."

Preface: Is there not a day that goes by without horror being added upon horror in this land of ours. I would estimate that half of the visitors to these posts are from outside the United States....and I take that as indicating how we Americans simply do not want to face what we have become....but people outside our nation know even before I describe it....how terribly we have fallen as a nation. Has God begun to awaken our pulpits yet....for His glory? I don't know....but as the Scripture passages described below tell....we are to keep petitioning....each and every Lord's Day....from now until whenever....."Lord....have mercy on these pastors....and thereby upon us....and all only for Thy glory.....not ours!"      

             The setting is that Christians are severely vexed in this world....and desiring the Second Coming of Christ....(Luke 17:22)....for it will be...."Just as it was in the days of Noah..."....(Lk 17:26.) Remember...."Remember Lot's wife"....(Lk 17:32)....as Jesus warns His disciples...."Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it."....(Lk 17:33.) There's more in these short and succinct 18 verses concluding the 17th chapter....for Jesus warns that false messiahs will be all over the place but...."Do no go out or follow them"....(Lk 17:23.) Well....if ever there were...."days of Noah".....these are them....and if ever there were false messiahs....Donald Trump is one.
              The first eight verses of the eighteenth chapter is what I wanted to highlight here in this post. Once again....remember....this immediately follows Jesus describing the time of His Second Coming....as there is a judge.....an unrighteous judge....(does that not describe the spirit dominating our judicial system today?)....."who neither feared God nor respected man"....(Lk 18:2)....and a widow who kept coming to him....pleading her case....and he kept ignoring her....but it got to the point that he heard her case only to get her out of his hair!
              The message to us is that though this world today may indeed be as in the days of Noah....that we are to keep on petitioning God. This is why Jesus used the example of the unrighteous judge....for if even he will eventually bring justice to the continued petitions of one....how much more will our righteous God hear our continued petitions!
               Verse eight of this eighteenth chapter of Luke concludes this short foray into His Second Coming.....(Remember....Luke's version of the Olivet Discourse comes three short chapters away)....when Jesus asks...."when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Folks....this is very clear....at the time when Jesus returns....the Christian Faith will be in great disrepair....and that also....is exactly where we are today!

John MacArthur....He Picked Himself Up Off The Canvas....And Is Fighting Strong As Ever

             John MacArthur is probably the most important evangelical leader today since the passing of both Billy Graham in February of 2018 and R. C. Sproul in December of 2017. Oh there may be others who sell more books or lead big rallies and who are quoted in the press more....but these are emissaries of this modern evangelicalism where its forte is not a strong doctrinal knowledge....as it offers a more palatable Christianity to evangelicals who are not willing or able to accept anything else.
            How would we react if our phone rang and it was the President of the Untied States....a call that took us totally by surprise? I imagine that is what happened when Trump called Pastor MacArthur to thank him for his strong stance in holding church services directly challenging a Democrat governor's commands. John MacArthur was wrong in not taking the pandemic seriously....but this mistake was minor compared with what he did in the phone call....telling President Trump that real Christians would be supporting him. My take on this has been that John MacArthur didn't have time to think this one through....for it was antithetical to everything John MacArthur has ably and courageously stood for for a half century!
             There is not nor ever will be an American evangelical leader that does not err in something or make mistakes like MacArthur made....but what is unusual is how MacArthur reacted since then. A few weeks ago he made news in that he said that he wasn't going to defend religious liberty. What? That's  a sacred cow of the evangelical right where the cross and the flag are on the same banner....but MacArthur knew that if there is no....or little truth in the prevailing religion of a nation....then what is the importance in defending the right to spread it....for in essence all we would be doing is defending the right for false teachers such as Joel Osteen to continue to blind the eyes of evangelicals.
              Well John MacArthur made news again yesterday as he said that it is too late for America....which has been my sentiment exactly for quite some time....and it is something that evangelicals do not like to hear!  MacArthur said that America is already under God's Judgment! We surely don't want to hear that....especially not in the Spring....with baseball starting.....and summer just about here.
              From what I read about it.....for I haven't heard the sermon yet....John MacArthur preached the Parable of the Vineyard Owner from Mark 12:1-12. In the article that I read....he paraphrased God's warning in Isaiah with...."Go Tell them it's too late. You wouldn't listen, you wouldn't see, you wouldn't believe, and now you can't." So why warn as John MacArthur is dong....a question the article implied? He answered this with...."But God has His people. We warn because we don't know who those people are, and we also offer the grace of the Gospel. That's our calling."
               The judgments have begun folks. It would be like having to use a machete to clear a way through triple canopy jungle....and then saying...."jungle....what jungle?" The evidences are there. Jesus is about to return. Accept them or don't accept them....it makes no difference in what the Lord is about to do.

Note: I am so thankful for the faithful ministry of men such as John MacArthur and Michael Horton and Billy Graham and so many more...and women such as Joni Eareckson Tada....and others from the past....too numerous to begin to name....but one name I mentioned all through these posts is that of R. C. Sproul. Well...a biography on him was just released and I finished it last night....and highly recommend it.....R. C. Sproul....A Life....by Stephen J. Nichols.