Ten No Trump

             A little glimpse of what my life is like. The cards are being dealt….500 bid….we are at my wife’s parents….and my mind is where it is always at….I just bid six diamonds and I’m back to this post on my iPhone….and no one has any idea. 
             Here’s a daydream…..I’m in a public place….and a reporter comes up to me….from one of the big networks….he’s asking people randomly this question…."Do you have anything to say to the American people?”
             Here would be my answer….”OK John or Bret or Wolf or whoever you are….I want to ask the evangelicals out there….OK….you get the Congress in 2022….that’s guaranteed right now after ten months of Joe Biden….we are professionals at calling out the corruptions in this world.....no one is better than us at pointing out a world gone mad.....not going mad.....gone mad. So what in God's precious name are you expecting to get out of a republican congress....and this if the world's systems do not collapse by then by either world war or something else just as horrendous".....(John or Bret or Wolf or whoever interrupts here.....but I stop him)....."No let me go on....please.....even if we get to 2024....who is going to finally save you.....DeSantis.... or Trump again? Come out of your stupor. The world is as in the days of Noah. God's Word has fulfilled more signs of the Second Coming than there are Trump placards at one of his rallies.....If you were attentive....and most of us were....we just experienced absolute horror at a Christmas parade.....and the liberal news media did every thing they could.....and are still doing so.....to downplay the horror  because of the possibility that the republicans might get more support from it....but don't protest too hard for we do almost the same thing....as our people screwed up....and are continuing to screw up the coronavirus fight.....screaming over masks and vaccines....and we say absolutely nothing....how many deaths and how much suffering have we caused already....for we don't want Dr. Fauci....or any of them.....scientists.....who have labored their entire life working to find out how to deal with pandemics....we don't want them to get any credit.....no....we even go much further.....trying to destroy reputations.....no one is safe today from our plunder and pillage."....(the reporter interrupts again but I say)...."one last thing John or Bret or Wolf or whoever you are.....to evangelicals....do you want Jesus to return to this world or not.....you say all the time that you do.....then act like it! You tell us all time how much you trust God....then why don't you trust His very clear warnings? (the reporter twists up some kind of contorted smile and says thank-you and turns quickly to another passer-by.) By the way....my partner bid eight diamonds and we got set because my mind was not on playing the hand.            

Standing....As A Stone Wall

               The Wall Street Journal has since 1961....every Thanksgiving....published a tribute editorial on the pilgrims.  Well this year the progressives have pressured the Journal to stop this....'racist' as they call it....editorial. There is a teaching moment here in the WSJ's response if we permit it....for the Journal....standing if you will as a stone wall.....said that they are not stopping the printing of the editorial.
               They believe that they have intelligent readers who can see the reality of the situation. Talk radio on the other hand continuously flatters its listeners as being so smart....but in reality they think their listeners are so stupid....that if they are not reminded of Joe Biden every hour of every day....and that if they are not kept at a constant level of burning hatred....and carefully given only the information that their weak minds can handle....that they will lose interest.
                Having lost the high ground of reasoned debate and ethics and honor....this over four years of their obscurantist defense of Donald Trump....where they jettisoned all of the above in favor of half-truths and cover-ups and executive privilege....and where there is no stone wall of truth and reason anymore to stand behind....they must now hold their torches high in the darkness of the dank valley they find themselves in....to rally the mob to search out and purge the latest republican who will not bow down in complete subservience to their instructions on how to think and what to believe.

Caveat Lector....Let The Reader Beware

This is from Wikipedia on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: 

"On May 8, 2019, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Joseph P. Kennedy and Maeve McKeen wrote an open letter stating that while their relative has championed many admirable causes, he 'has helped to spread dangerous misinformation over social media and is complicit in sowing distrust of the science behind vaccines."

              That is pretty strong stuff from family members. I've read numerous Christian prophesy books over the decades. These authors were writing about a topic that has truth as its foundation.....God's word.....the Bible. It's also a topic where an author has a certain amount of freedom to speculate....if it is admitted to be speculation....but prophesy books are also extraordinarily susceptible to gross over-speculation...oftentimes bordering on....if not full-fledged heresy....and unfortunately these books tend to sell well to unsuspecting evangelicals....who like to have their fill of conspiracy....and who receive very few warnings today on anything they consume.
               I picked up the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. book....The Real Anthony Fauci....and thoroughly browsed through it....recognizing many of the news stories from the past. I would have bought the book....almost did....and would have read it with a highlighter in hand....but to be honest....$32.50 was too much for what I recognized the book to be....in that it is very similar to the more outrageous prophesy books that by their very nature are for people who want to be outraged.  
              What makes me sad is that I know that many evangelicals will automatically accept the book as truth....and I'll get plenty of....'but have you read The Real Anthony Fauci yet?' I'll soon be able to say yes....Lord willing....for I intend to borrow a copy....but until then I'll describe what I know about these type of books.....that are everywhere.....on about any political or religious topic that people want....QAnon being a prime example....that tickle the ears that want tickled....but are an amalgamation of 'facts'....carefully chosen....that support the conclusion that we in advance demand to hear. That a Tucker Carlson blurb is on the cover is no surprise at all. 
              

We Want A King To Fight Our Battles

                The people wanted a king to judge them....and to fight their battles....just like all the other nations. God's hand upon them wasn't good enough for them....for this reason they were given a king. God's faithful shepherds have warned us in America or a long time.....return to Him....but we instead wanted a Supreme Court....and a republican congress.....and a strong king....a fighter....also to fight our battles. I can only wonder what went through Billy Graham's mind in his last year. I would think that he saw what was ahead....and like Daniel....was overwhelmed by grief. Samuel was frustrated at the Israelite's demands.....but God told him...."Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but have rejected me from being king over them." (1 Samuel 8:7 ESV)

The Mirage Shall Become A Pool

           It should in the natural course of things be to the Christian that the older one gets the more enraptured with the person of Christ he or she would become. That's not to say that younger people when they first encounter Jesus Christ are not enraptured....for they are....but that is more the reaction to being picked up out of total despair upon realizing that they were so close to eternal damnation... and then taken up and forgiven....forgiven....by grace alone....through faith alone....in Christ alone....and all this to the glory of God alone!
           The older Christian has lived possibly for decades learning more and more of the preciousness of Jesus Christ. That joy of salvation is still set in stone but the "glory, majesty, dominion, and authority" in the person of Jesus Christ...."before all time and now and forever"....as revealed in the Word of God.....grows with each and every new day! That odd book the Song Of Solomon sits quite naturally almost ignored until we finally see Christ as the 'Beloved.' The slight is even more obvious with the 150 Psalms. The temptation might be to look at them as spiritualized Proverbs whereas in reality the structure of the body of Psalms alone shows that God has more in mind here than proper worship songs.
            I just happened tonight to pick up a tract by Martyn Lloyd-Jones that was sent out to me many years ago by the Chapel Library from Pensacola, Florida. The tract was on Isaiah 35:7...."And the mirage shall become a pool" (A literal translation) That wonderful British preacher described this life we are on as a pilgrimage....which it truly is. The world sees one mirage after another....each time disappointed as the water turned out to be only more hot 'glowing' sand. To the Christian it is different. We also get weary at times.....parched....even at times exhausted....over a long life.....but that pool is real....the fountain of Jesus Christ....the source of living water....a pool that never dries up or loses its rejuvenation....or its temporal sustenance. The Psalms are a part of that pool!

Note: You can read that tract by searching....The Mirage Shall Become A Pool, The Chapel Library

DISPATCHES

Everyone can clearly see the maneuvering that Donald Trump is doing with the republicans possibly having the Speaker of House gavel again in January of 2013. The Republican Party will continue to be impotent until Donald Trump is out of the picture. The word 'leverage' doesn't quite justice to what he is doing.....'extortion' would be a closer word.

I set the alarm for 4 AM. It was the clearest blood moon that I have ever seen....as this time it was almost overhead....just as the photos in the news that always appear the day after. It was the longest eclipse in almost 600 years....NASA estimating 3 1/2 hours in length.

The viral video shows the congregation at one of America's most well-known mega-churches.....shouting in unison....."Let's go Brandon." This is what they have done to us! General Michael Flynn over the weekend said....at an event at the same church....that we need one religion in America....because all the churches were split. This is getting too close to the German Church Movement of the 1930s! Meanwhile....the Wyoming GOP today voted that they no longer consider Liz Cheney to be a republican....while other republicans in our capitol are simply choosing not to testify before Congress.....because if they do so then their words would be subject to charges of perjury. When do they start airbrushing people out of photos?

I posted these thoughts in May of this year...."A radical element takes advantage of democratic institutions to slowly take over one of the political parties"....(this would be radical progressive democrats)...."time passes....and a radical element forms out of the opposition"....(this would be MAGA)...."on this the passing of time is not needed....only a match....and a formidable leader. Germany went through something similar but different in the 1930s. Oh they were so patriotic...God and country....der vaterland. Be careful evangelicals....this is not a Christian movement....Martin Niemoller found out too late what he was creating....but Bonhoffer knew very well....from the beginning....that there was something seriously wrong."

Igor Danchenko's response to the charges against him came in the form of a 'not guilty' plea. His trial is not scheduled to begin until April 22 of next year....right in the middle of the mid-term primary season. Danchenko was a sub-source for Christopher Steele's dossier....and first began to make a name for himself as he did research on plagiarism charges against Vladimir Putin's PHD dissertation. The narrative right now is....Denchenko's indictment proves that there was no Russia Hoax.....and all of us.....like the sheep we have become....automatically believe it....but this may turn out to be one of those instances of....'be careful what you ask for....you may get it".....for a trial may bring out what books have already brought out.....(unfortunately we are told not to read them)....about why our intelligence agencies were so concerned about Donald Trump's relationship with Russia.

The little vignettes above....DISPATCHES as I call them....touch on the dangers of both the Left and the Right. It seemed that everyone in Germany in the 1930s despised the Weimar government.....but the fringe element elbowed their way into power. It was similar in Russia in 1917....where the Mensheviks were purged. It was probably similar in our own Civil War where the hotheads dictated the course of events in both the North and the South.

There is a new Covid variant causing great concern as scientists in a number of countries are running tests and pooling their knowledge to as quickly as humanly possible find out the level of danger that this new and possibly wicked variant possesses....but I want to know what Tucker Carlson and Gov. DeSantis and has to say about it right now. I don't want to wait six months to a year for their immunologist expertise as usual.  I mean these men and others like them are the real experts. I don't even know what these so-called scientists in South Africa....I don't even have any idea what their political leanings are! For all I know they may be liberals! Have ever they even once shown up at a CPAC convention or a Trump rally or even a Tea Party? Probably not as they usually waste their entire lives away in labs....looking into microscopes!

Being retired as I am....I did not miss many....if any of the rallies from the 2020 election....this on one of the many available Internet broadcast platforms. The choreography in each and every one of them was remarkable. Generally this would be the scene....a rural setting in many of them....right on the airport tarmac....(the power of the presidency on vivid display)....the left to right dais constructed....on the actual runway....with one section of grandstand behind it.....filled with carefully chosen people....dressed with appropriate tee-shirts....and supplied with signs. The sun would begin to set.....but just before it did....often in the beautiful twilight.... the Boeing 757 would be spotted approaching. It would land and then taxi so gently....but so quickly.....until it parked right there in view of anyone in the stands who would just have to turn their heads....and then the overture started up....not Wagner....but close to it....proud of America....the door of the jet opened and the hero exited the aircraft to cheers from the tens of thousands present. The speech is longer than anyone would normally want to hear.....but not to this gathering. The words were always about 90% the same.....and the benediction was always 100% the same.  The rally served its purpose....stirring the ingredients in the pot....and keeping the sauce simmering.....but never burning. None of these rally ideas were new....for all had been tested and proven successful....at one time or another in the past....in various places of the world.

Our Plans Can Be Thwarted.....In A Single Day

             The books are starting to come out on who republicans will pick for their nominee for president in 2024. It is legitimate speculation but probably with no bearing whatsoever on what would happen....if God wills that we even get there. I say this because we just can't ever seem to learn that things can happen in a single day that upend....not only the shoe-in campaign of a politician.....but...."the best laid plans of mice and men."
             For the quote, unquote.....'conservative'....it may make sense....as the 2022 midterm campaigns are almost here....but for the Christian it is a different story....as we more than anyone should know that we do not know what a day brings....but more than we just do not know....we certainly cannot boast of what we will do....and we should not even depend upon what we plan on doing....add to that....we have been forewarned that when people will  say....'peace and safety'....that sudden destruction comes.
            We have a calling....and that calling comes first.....not liberty for all....and freedom....and democracy. Of course this is all turned around today. To put it in terms of say a yearly spiritual planner.....we are booked until November of 2024....November of 2022 at the very earliest....by this I mean that repentance will have to wait. 
            There is a scene from the end of the 1999 film....The Winslow Boy.....where one main character....a female....looks at another main character....a male....and says....How little you know about women Sir Robert....and he responds....Oh, Do you really think so? How little you know men, Miss Winslow." That came to mind for I believe that the general consensus among people who know me....towards my continuous warnings of our spiritual somnambulance would be....How little you know about us Special Dog.....whereupon my response would follow....Oh, do you really think so? How little you know about God's warnings.

“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”  Colossians 2:8

“Set you mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:2
             
             
           

We Are Laboring In Vain....For...."Except The LORD build The House....Except The LORD Keep The City...."

Preface: In a way....it's like the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. The far-left speaks....and then the far-right speaks....but it's like the two are babbling....neither understands the other. They debate as if on Post-it notes....understandable only to those on their side to whom the notes are posted. Both are in attack mode....a player piano whose tune is militant....pounding.....that beats the savage breast....not soothes the savage beast. They want war and not peace. They want fire and not light. They want to talk and not listen. They conspire....not communicate....and never compromise. Neither can think two steps ahead on the chessboard. Neither thinks of consequences. 

                 November 22, 1963....yet another day that will live in infamy. On that day our president had part of his head blown off. An epic and monumental cover-up was needed....to protect us from things that we couldn't handle....and that is exactly what we got.  A certain few men at the top of our military and CIA literally hated Kennedy....and his brother. I wrote sometime in the last year how avoiding world war....especially in this nuclear age.....was and is to be our number one priority. Calmer heads prevailed in October of 1962 because of JFK. Say what you want about his personal life....and you would probably be right....but he was the quintessential American hero. As for his brother Robert.....there is not a man or woman in the congress today with the compassion for minorities and the underprivileged than he possessed....along with the determination against the odds to press on.
                 President Kennedy was to have given a speech later on that fateful day in Dallas....which has been described as his last official words as president....though never spoken....which concluded with this....."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."
                 C. S. Lewis also died on that day....as did maybe America....or at least our mortal illness began to metastasize into the culture and fabric of our land....and JFK would have been no help here....in fact he was in the vanguard of our personal self-indulgence. Other than a most wonderful time in the 70s and 80s where so many....myself included....became not just conservative evangelical church goers....but born again believers....and set off on our pilgrimage with banners flying that Jesus was Lord....that He was our only hope.....and our only refuge....other than this period....we lost track of the straight path.
                 Today....with false prophets and delusion everywhere....we are laboring in vain to build that which the Lord has not told us to build....and with violence and dangers everywhere....just as in the days of Noah....and with a great famine of the Word in our pulpits....and a storm of unimaginable strength brewing....and a fog so thick that we can hardly see where our feet are landing....a voice still beckons us forward....telling us that the lions ferociously clawing at us on both sides of the narrow way....both sides of the aisle if you will....are indeed restrained....so forward we go....trusting in the true voice that we have come to know....a light to our path..."And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

Note: There is an exceptional broadcast on…renewingyourmind.org…this morning titled… “Clash Of The Titans”….that pertains to what our priorities are to be in this “cancel culture” that we live in.

Update: this is no longer the audio of the day but can still be easily accessed by going to the 'archives' link.
              

             

From Sunny Skies To Surveying The Damage In Fifteen Minutes

The following post is from May 30, 2020 and is self-explanatory:

            This is an odd post. I started out just relaxing on my patio in beautiful weather and typing my thoughts on God's warnings to America.....not even sure that I would wind up posting it....when at 2:50 the weather started to change....and fast. After checking the ominous radar scope....I switched in the post to describing the change in the weather. This whole episode lasted fifteen minutes max. My power came on at 8:00.....and after cutting up the limbs I'm adding this paragraph....and completing where I left off....where a winnowing is coming in the church....because if the Lord's return is near....as we usually use the word near....then the delusions will just be too great unless one is firmly in the hands of Christ....born again....not just recruited....not just religious....and even here it is only Christ who has the power to keep those who trust in Him....and it is only trust in Christ that will keep.

here is the post that I started in beautiful calm weather....

            As one might read through the Old Testament prophets....either the major prophets....(major in the length of the book)....or the minor prophets....one would read of a nation that not only knew of but experienced the power and holiness of not only their God....but the only true God. The reader would see time and again that same people forget all the commands and the blessings and the miraculous protection that was bestowed upon them by that only true God. One would read of continuous warnings....in Jeremiah's case lasting decades....and one might wonder in true amazement how those warnings could time and again go unheeded.
            The judgments would come in God's timing....and we read eye witness accounts of the horror that the people experienced. Interspersed in many of these books are judgments for the far away future....at the culmination of all things. Sometimes one has to have some help in reading as one verse might pertain to judgments of that day....and the next judgments for the future....and the next judgments for the end times....but it becomes more clear as we read these books over time.
             Ultimately....after seeing the entire process as it played out with the Israelites....we can then see ourselves....not only knowing God but seeing his hand upon our nation from the very first time that ships anchored off these shores....and we see hundreds of years that have passed.....just as with Israel and Judah....until we can hear....if we permit it....Jeremiah's and other's warnings of destruction aimed directly at us.
             If this were not enough to shake us up and bring us to repentance....and it hasn't been....there is the New Testament warnings....all the writers and Jesus Himself giving us an almost step-by-step description of a collapsing world before His return. We can see the wars such as there has never been before....and the violence pouring out of the peoples....and the numerous false gods. The miraculous establishment of the state of Israel alone should have told us that the long wait may be over....only the decades remain.
             At seventy years old (almost seventy-two today) I've witnessed the step-by-step disintegration of a whole people. I've seen God mercifully bring many into His kingdom.....myself being one of them. I've heard the warnings of many Billy Grahams....that reached deep into a remnant of the people but totally ignored by most. I've seen the church grow blissfully ignorant....and what is known politically as evangelicalism fall head over heels for a false prophet.
            There is not going to be a nationwide awakening in America....at least not one that changes the course of the country for decades....and certainly not a making of America great again. Our hope should be that God might have mercy on enough of the people of this land that we might look to Him as these judgments unfold. There is surely a winnowing ahead for the church....where those whose salvation is real....whose hope in that salvation is only in the merits of Jesus Christ....

here is where the weather suddenly changed

I'm going to digress here for a few minutes. We have a storm warning in our area due in the next fifteen minutes. I look up and the sky is blue other than white clouds passing rather fast. I'm on my patio...and can hear soft thunder in the distance....and darker clouds are moving in swiftly from my left.....the northwest. The temperature dropped a few degrees since I started this paragraph. The winds were picking up but they stopped altogether as the wooden chimes that were knocking wildly against each other but are now hanging limp. I took the opportunity to check the local radar....and a deep burnt orange mass is a few miles away. The wind has suddenly picked up and within a two minute span we have a deluge moving horizontally. We lost power....(I'm typing this on my iPhone)....tree limbs are everywhere. It’s fifteen minutes later and I.....and all the neighbors....are surveying the damage....as sirens are heard all around us. I’ll hopefully look this post over later when the power is back.

Addendum: There is a message in this experience. At one moment I was kicked back with my feet up on the table....with blue skies.....and I barely had time to get my computer and books out of the wind and rain.

"Those Were The Days My Friend...."

   

Preface: Here is why you need to take the time to go out and see this film. It's Monday morning....another week ahead of us....may the Lord uphold His children in these difficult times. I turned on talk radio and the lunacy is getting worse....as the host laughed in derision like a juvenile....at jokes from callers on how they wear a mask everywhere but over their mouth....and telling them that everything on the coronavirus is about control. It used to be that I would listen to talk radio and a truck driver would call in and begin with...."I'm just a truck driver...."....and I would think to myself....'don't say that....you are one of America's finest.....and you are as logical as any of them if not more'....but talk radio is changing them. The long and short of it is that we evangelicals and conservatives no longer know our own faith....and have a warped and manipulated sense of what freedom is. We get practically nothing of value to protect against delusion and false teaching and false prophets from our pulpits today who have terribly let us and their Lord down. Being in this state of confusion.....but still desiring to serve God....we reach out in the darkness and with the guidance....not of God's Word....but talk radio hosts and podcasts....have their manipulations implanted in our minds. We question nothing....as our powers of examination are gone. That is why this film described below is important....for it is an intellectual feast....if nothing else exercising a once vigilant but since atrophied gift of a mind.  As for the concept of freedom....I encourage you to listen to a message by J. C. Ryle that directly addresses freedom and the Christian. Just Google up.....J.C. Ryle, Freedom.

               The film was scheduled for a one-night only showing in 400+ theaters across America.....but the turnout was so good.....with theaters selling out....and it came in second to Dune as to percentage of viewers to theaters.....that it is getting a few more days starting this Friday I believe.....and Lord willing I will be there.
               Oh.....what might the movie be? Well....let me start it this way.....His most famous book was probably....probably the second Christian book that I read as I was just beginning to taste the joys of this wonderful and glorious Savior Jesus Christ.....Mere Christianity.....by C. S. Lewis....and it had a huge effect on me....as it had on so many others.               
              'Those were the days my friend'.....is how the Mary Hopkin 1968 hit song song begins. Or if you wish....All In The Family's theme song sung by Archie and Edith....would end refrains with..."Those were the days." I remember those days.....in my case in the 80s....when people....workmates....were getting 'saved' right and left....and C. S. Lewis's books were part of that.
              OK....the movie title is The Most Reluctant Convert....based on the popular one-man stage production. C. S. Lewis was an Oxford Don....who came kicking and screaming to faith in Christ. He was never the best theologian....but he had a way with words in Christian apologetics....and children's Christian fantasy books....The Chronicles Of Narnia....and there had been other books and films on the life of C. S. Lewis.....a life that ended on the same day that President John Kennedy was assassinated....and the same day that Brave New World author Aldous Huxley died....November 22, 1963.

Update: My wife and I did see The Most Reluctant Convert this afternoon at a matinee showing....and it was crowded. The film was wonderful....only an hour and a half in length....and I hope that you recommend it to your friends because unless they change the plans there are only about six more days left.               

Strong Delusion

                 Over the span of a couple of years I had just hoped that Donald Trump would see the futility of what he got himself into....and go back to private life on his own....and exalt himself all that he wanted....for the rest of his life....having become the 45th president of the United States....but the more that I learned about him from constant reading and observing....I saw that this was a seriously sick individual.....with a power from somewhere over otherwise intelligent people.
                 Any other political individual would have long ago been relegated to the ash heap with others who had crashed in flames.....but he rises each time....while saner heads watch this.....amazed....at times in disbelief.
                 One of Christopher Steele's sources has been indicted....for lying five times to the FBI. Did he actually talk to or meet with this other person of interest? Why did he lie.....if he did lie? None of this has even been explored yet. Little of this....if anything....is essential to the original concerns on Donald Trump's long relationships and dealing with Russian money....and why Putin helped put him in office....but in this new political party that we have today....which used to be the Republican Party.....and then was called the Trump Party.....but today is just a mob....a posse at best....with no filters on what we say in talk radio....and no conscience on who we accuse or attempt to destroy....we are in danger of coming under autocratic rule....by a man where we do not yet even know the limits of his hatred and revenge and self-adulation.
                 God help us.....God help us....God forgive and have mercy upon us....if we let this man rule us again. May God forgive the pulpits in America....in His true churches.....for not warning us of this false prophet who does nothing but rip and tear and destroy....and for not feeding us.....but feeding only their own dreams of great successful churches....and for not exalting Christ as our only hope....and our only strength....and our only refuge....of whom we should be praising every day....and every minute of every day....for His blessings and favor upon us in the past....and long-suffering patience up until this point....as He removes His hand from us....yet still gives us time to repent and prepare for the judgments that we have brought upon ourselves.

Afterthought: Some readers are surely wondering....'but what about Biden?' Folks Joe Biden has been around a long long time....and even when he was at the top of his game.....which was probably forty years ago....he was frivolous and at times zany....but today he obviously is like an elderly person who needs some kind of help keeping his thoughts in order. He has 'handlers' and 'caregivers' more than advisers. Even the thought of Kamala Harris as president is frightening. Biden's cabinet picks are mostly progressive wackos....Buttigieg being a genuine abomination....and the direction of our military....all of the enormous and powerful weaponry notwithstanding....had long ago been going the wrong way. I've never heard talk radio even touch on what a military draft would look like. Who do we draft in this politically correct culture. Who just doesn't go....because they just do not want to go? There is essentially no student deferment to speak of anymore. What about all the undocumented. What about the gender issues? Ten years ago the national debt was too big to not eventually bring us down....and it was less than half of what it is today. China definitely has it's plan for military expansion. Russia had been preparing economically for war for a good while. Trump....who right when we needed to turn to God and say....'You take charge Lord!'....aborted any nascent humility we may have had....and uses these things to his advantage....and is building enormous leverage....while republicans....even though they are being used by Trump....think that they are using him. Bottom line....Obama/Trump/Biden....all of it....is God's judgment on....you....and me.....and all of us who built our houses....401Ks etc....while God's 'house' was trashed. We are Israel. We are Judah during Jeremiah's and Zephaniah's and Habakkuk's and Ezekiel's and Daniel's time.

Lord's Day Post

                I made a New Year resolution on January 1, 2020....that I would read God's Word every day. Now I'm sure that I break a lot of promises....and fail God all the time....but there is something about telling God that as a vow....I was going to read His Word every day. There has been some challenges.....even recently....after driving for about ten hours....and then finally pulling into a motel.....and just wanting to collapse on the bed....but I let my wife go to sleep as I put the lowest light on in the room.....and opened God's Word.
               I don't think of it as a vow anymore....as it's more like taking in food and water....or a pill that keeps the hearts pumping....or oxygen. I lifted my eyes and am looking at it now across the room....a $2.95 paperback edition of the Living New Testament that I bought at a National Record Mart back in 1972....before getting on the bus while attending Pitt on the G. I. Bill. I know that I didn't read much of it at all....but in the ten years after that I could never throw it away....and today....I keep it handy....just to look at.....and occasionally to pick up....open it....close my eyes....and place the open pages up to my nose....and the smell of the paper reminds me of that day when I first had a taste of the joy and awe in the name of Jesus....maybe I purposely imagine it....either way....I thank God that he watched over me....that I would not perish before I was regenerated ten years later...and born a second time....from above.....and adopted into God's family.
               I'd like to leave you with this question. If the Bible is God's Word to Us.....as all of us Christians claim to believe....then rationally speaking....how is it that we would not devour it every day? Bear with me on this....it is supposedly God's direct words to us....and if we truly believe that....how on God's green earth....would we not want to read His words to us at least every day? It would appear that we either do not really....really believe that it is His actual direct words to us.....or.....maybe we do not think that we need any guidance or direction or warnings.....or maybe we think that we already have all the knowledge that there is to have? In my own case…for so many years I surely proclaimed that this was God’s very Word to us….but I did not think this through….and once again I thank and praise Him for His patience on one so undeserving!

Conservatism Itself Saves No One

The following.....Conservatism Itself Saves No One....was first posted on November 30, 2008....and was only my fifth post. Our beloved dog had died unexpectedly....and I remember digging a grave in the pouring rain. I needed something to occupy my mind so I thought that I would experiment with trying to write on the Internet. His name was Special....thus Special Dog! The first post was on how cable companies bundle all the stations offered to us....basically forcing many of us to bring everything into our home. I thought that if we had the opportunity to purchase cable networks a la carte that within a year America's mental health would improve. Today I practice extreme and fanatical social distancing....from daytime television. We have basic cable at home....with only a handful of channels. I'm typing this while visiting my wife's elderly parents....and the daytime television is almost always on....and I have to sit in the kitchen....for if I hear what America feeds on....from The Price Is Right....to the network morning shows....I will surely have to fight back tears....as our minds either atrophy in the nonsense....or are indoctrinated in where other people want us to go. As for this post below....Christians need to remember how God taught us repeatedly in the Old Testament that we do not win battles or defend ourselves on our own....and if we try to then God will let us learn the hard way. Politics....armies....even legislation....will accomplish nothing if God's purpose is not involved....and unfortunately that is exactly where we are today. God's faithful servants had warned us for decades that judgment was coming because of who we had become as a people....but those servants are mostly gone....and we have fallen far more down into the abyss since then. On our own....we fashioned a golden-haired calf....and claimed to have God on our side....as we went into battle drunk on power and greed. We became as Hophni and Phinehas....thinking that the Ark of the Covenant would surely bring victory....but instead....the word Ichabod....the glory has departed....became our banner. Our pulpits need to wake us up....but they need to wake up first....and that should be the prayer from those who know that we cannot do anything on our own….”As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” Jn 15:4

Conservatism Itself Saves No One

         I agonized for a long time over how the Christian is to deal with politics. I read books on the subject and certainly went to Scripture. I've been on both sides of the issue. Edmund Burke wrote "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Burke was not a Christian, and I am not "good," but the concept and the logic still hold weight.
         Our nation is crumbling fast and most of us are the proverbial frog in the kettle. The local news from the metropolitan city that I live near started their telecast last night with three different killings among young black people. Yesterday's paper had a picture of two beautiful young children joined at the head while the surgeons were dismayed that nothing could be done for them. Every day the sufferings of people are there to remind us of the fallen condition of this world. We say that we yearn for Jesus to come back but do we?
         Martin Luther once said when asked what he would do if he knew that the Lord was coming back the next day, "I would plant a tree." In the final analysis, we cannot quit on this nation. If people's sufferings are to be alleviated, if we are to return to at least being a "God-fearing" nation we have to seek God's mercy and try our best to be good and responsible citizens.
         This blog title has the word "conservative" in it to get the attention of who it is meant for but conservatism itself will save no one! Our hope is not in princes or their military power. Christians, who have been relegated to being part of the "religious right," must remind themselves of this every day. This does not mean that we do not support a political party or ardently work for its success but it does mean that we never alter our ethical beliefs or compromise that which is our only hope, the gospel of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
         We lost our moorings in this long before we lost this last election. Our churches are social gatherings with political causes meant to assuage our guilt of not knowing who we really are in Christ. Our pulpits mention Jesus every week but rarely preach His cross for they have lost faith in the power of preaching Christ and prefer to give biblical advice on how to live. I stumble into church every week to hear the atoning power of the blood of Christ and of what He has done for me and how He will keep this poor wretched sinner despite my gravitation to dally with the world.
          More than anything, we need to pray that ministers enter their pulpits, look over the congregation and set forth to lay out the glories and majesties of Jesus Christ present in every book of the Bible. Only having done that can they begin to exegete the passages on how we are to live.
         

There Are Only 369 Days Till Election Day 2022!

                Any guesses on how long it will be until Sean Hannity starts his program with his election cycle short-time calendar....."It's only 350 days until election day 2022"....or something like that....with the countdown beginning? We will hear from every one of these talk show hosts that this is the most important election ever in our country's history....just as the last fifteen election cycles have been the most important election in the history of our country. 
                Don't worry....the time will fly....November 2022 will come before you know it....as the primary season will dominate our minds. The church will continue to be a wasteland....but hey.....we're going to take back the House....and maybe the Senate.
                Woe to us.
                First of all....God will determine what lies in our future....and it does not look good for our side.....for He just brought a major judgment upon us in the pandemic.....and we in as much as told Him....."Oh God.....you are going to have to do a whole lot more than a fake pandemic to get our attention. 
                I posted the following sentence in a DISPATCHES post from this past March...."If God has us make it to elections in 2022....the House seats won't even be close....and possibly not even the Senate.....that is unless....unless Donald Trump is still motivating beyond belief the Left....and still beyond belief dividing and therefore destroying us." If we can get there....that is if the Lord continues to tarry before we can see Him coming in the clouds.....the House is going Republican in 2022....and all these talk show hosts know it.....but they can't let you know it! 
               The conservative base can do what it wants for the next year.....it's the Christians in that conservative base that I am concerned about.....for they are clueless now on so many things.....and if they let Hannity and Levin and Carlson and the rest lead them on by the nose.....then they will have even less discernment....in even more difficult times.
               These talk radio hosts and cable news pundits are not Christians.....just about all of them....but they are our primary mentors today! If you think that they are Christian then you either do not know what a Christian is.....or you do not know their religious beliefs....or maybe you are just 'woke ' enough to demand that they must be?  Our pastors certainly are not warning us of anything....(just about all of them once again)....and we have to have someone to lead us.....for we can't think on our own anymore....so these broadcast pulpits filled the bill. They will suck us in each and every day....and if there is no compelling news to fire us up....and keep us on their narrative....then they will make the news up....and they will mention or allude to God just enough....to make us think that we surely must be pleasing Him. 

                

             

I'm Only A Messenger

                 I have been successful at times with these posts in at least one way....for every once in a while I ask the regular readers to move on....away from these posts......and don't you know.....some do move on. Here is why I feel it necessary to make such a strange request. I spend a fair amount of time warning people to move on who have come under the mind control of talk radio hosts and Fox cable personalities and podcasts....warning them to start thinking on their own.....and formulating their own thoughts. It is no different with me and these posts.
                I point people to ministries such as ligonier.org and desiringgod.org and gty.org and whitehorseinn.org....but even here you have to eventually be able to read God's Word on your own. This is a problem in most of our churches as pastors preach expositionally....where they take a Bible verse and expound on it by giving great detail.....but it's a verse that we all should be able to do this on our own. The pastor thinks that he is doing a great job....and we think he is doing a great job.....and everyone is really just spinning their wheels. We need topical preaching....of whatever the Holy Spirit puts on the pastor's mind....for right now these pastors would be warning.....and warning.....but instead they are in bondage to preaching through this or that book. Maybe there was a day that this could be done....but not today....not with the church asleep.
               I'm only a messenger folks....with continuous messages like....you have to be born again....literally.....born again.....or in spite of your decades in the church Jesus will surprise you and say to you on that day that He does not know you.....and messages like....Jesus is coming back soon.....literally soon....Webster's definition of 'soon'.....and  warnings such as....Donald Trump is a genuine biblical false prophet.....a literal false prophet! Accept the messages or not.....you've been warned.
               If you stay here then you are not growing.....and possibly becoming dependent.....or maybe it is a laziness. You have got to be able to verify....and find out answers on your own. You have got to be able to help others in the process. It's time to leap out of the nest and test those wings out.
               If I haven't convinced you of some of these things....then you are probably never to be convinced anyway....so why waste your time? We have enough followers in the church. We need leaders....and we need people able to stand alone if necessary....and you are never going to be a leader if you just sit and listen to a podcast....or regularly tune in this talk show host....or read this or that pundit who makes a great living getting you to depend on their opinions....and you are never going to be able to stand alone if necessary.....if you if you cannot even think for yourselves.

"And Something Like A Great Mountain Burning With Fire Was Thrown Into The Sea..."

                A small asteroid.....about the size of a refrigerator.....passed by us a few days ago.....undetected until it went by. Even if it had hit the earth the damage would have been minimal....but it's the 'undetected' part that has raised concern. Apparently there are some 'blind spots' out there.....kind of like in our car mirrors....where detection is difficult.
               You can read for yourself the NASA description on what they are experimenting with to defend the earth from asteroids by Googling....NASA, DART....as they are about to send up....via Space X Falcon 9 rocket....an experimental vehicle that is scheduled to smash into a large asteroid next September. They point out that the large asteroid they have chosen is a "perfect testing ground"....far enough away so as not to be a problem here on earth. The scheduled impact should tell the scientists if an asteroid can be 'redirected.'
               We do not know this for certain but in all likelihood the descriptions in Revelation describe asteroids hitting the earth...."Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea..." (Rev 8:8) We don't know if NASA is more concerned than they let on....for in any event they would surely make a concerted effort.....not to cause any alarm. 
                Many Christians had been reading Revelation intently for the last half century. God included in this book the seven letters to the seven churches to prepare us....through self-examination....along with descriptions of the beast from the sea....and the beast from the earth....but with much of the remainder of the book all we can do is keep the descriptions in mind as to the finality of God's judgment on the earth.
               How more explicit could God be then the very third verse...."Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophesy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near." Revelation is for us today.....more than it ever has been in the past....and it would good for us to also take very seriously the final words....."He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

Addendum: It took me at least thirty years of reading God's Word before I even began to be awed by the book of the Psalms! I had no idea God's purpose here....and cannot recommend enough that you look into this if you have not already. This week....renewingyourmind.org....is presenting a series on the Psalms by one of Ligonier's teaching fellows W. Robert Godfrey....and if you would wish to continue to research the Psalms....there is a wonderful.....and groundbreaking 2015 book out there.....The Flow Of The Psalms....Discovering Their Structure And Theology....by O. Palmer Robertson!

"A Necessary Birth"

Preface: These two messages....A Supernatural Birth....and....A Necessary Birth....can easily be listened to by going to renewingyourmind.org....clicking on archives.....and they are right there! Steven J. Lawson is the speaker.

I took a break in the middle of cutting grass while listening to R. C. Sproul's radio program Renewing Your Mind to put this temporary post up. It concerns the topic of being born again. I mention being born again in these posts a lot...at times trying to get it in conversations with friends....who are indeed 'conservative evangelicals'....moral and pious and patriotic and church going....but maybe that is all....in the hope that they would seriously consider the necessity of having to be born again. It's a phrase that forty and fifty years ago entered the mainstream of the American consciousness....but unfortunately....thanks in good part to the failure of our pulpits....it has remained a nebulous phrase....more of an irritation to many....even Christians....than anything else. So if you wish....just google renewingyourmind.org and click on archives. They are two short little teachings.....so much more is needed....but to some it might be enough to get them researching this Christian doctrine....without which....one cannot see the kingdom of God.

Note: One might indeed be born again and not be able to put a definition to it. This isn't an essay test question....but if you do not know what God's Word means when it uses this term.....then you must find out....if for no other reason than to tell others of this greatest of all miracles.

Note: You can also just Google these titles.

Mini Dark Age

Preface: I purposely looked for this post to bring it back even though it was first posted less than three months ago. I knew that the basic theme was....malaise....but lethargy may be a better word. If you tell someone that we are under God's judgment....they are just not interested....simple as that....but you know what....Israel and Judah and Jerusalem.....were just not interested either....until they were.

                  Director Quentin Tarantino apparently has made ten films.....of which I have seen none.....although it would be near impossible not to have stumbled across a scene or two from Pulp Fiction.  Anyway he says that he is going to retire from filmmaking soon....and added that he knows film....and that directors go downhill from here on in.     
                   We are definitely in a mini dark age of some sort. J. Gresham Machen commented on this a hundred years ago when socialism was first making inroads in America. His point was that when individuality is taken away....then there goes the essence of the human mind that God had created.
                    I watched the Ohio Trump rally on Saturday evening....and there was nothing changed from every other rally over the past five years. Trump even ended his speech with the same....."and we are one glorious nation under God." There is little difference between a Trump rally and what were....in their heyday....Grateful Dead concerts....in that fans.....many of whom travel from all over America....and maybe are at their fiftieth rally.....come to hear the music of the night....where the Phantom sings to puts his prey into a trance.
                    It seems that every area of our culture is stuck in the mud. Thirty years ago....twenty years ago....there were some wonderful Christian books published....many intellectual and profound. Most of these author ministers are still around....and still in ministry....but the books are not coming out. Sports....education....politics of course....what area of life has not been affected by this malaise.....or rather....infected.....by the plagues of the mind?
                    As former President Trump uttered the words above....followed by...."And we will make America.....great....again"....I wondered what the people thought. Surely there could not have been the same....optimism....that was at all the pre-election and pre-insurrection rallies. The cheers were there.....but were they toned down a little....or was that my imagination?
                    How could anyone really think that we are...."one glorious nation under God?" Half of us are happy with killing pre-born babies if their arrival would be inconvenient. On our side we are displaying more and more racist tendencies all the time....pushed in this direction actually....for political expediency. You could see this clearly during the last election as Trump kept playing to 'suburban mothers'....who love him....because he promised them that he would keep low-income people away from their neighborhoods. This was an overtly racist  proclamation....repeated all the time....and we said....nothing!
                    The Gay choice has literally taken over America....but what is new here....is that children are encouraged to experiment.....to see what they like best....and even to see what gender they would prefer to be. To the Christian who either has no interest in Christ's return....won't even consider the evidence....or even who simply do not want Christ to return at this time....even you must admit that this is an issue....the children....that God kind of drew a line in the sand on.
                    One might say that our minds today are vibrant in technological progress....what with AI and robots and rocketry and quantum physics and everything else....but these are mechanical results from the workings of the mind....and when you place this 'progress' alongside of no wisdom....and no ethics....and no common sense....and it's like the creation of monsters. 
                    Last but certainly not least....the pulpits are as disinterested in God's judgments as everyone else. Had anyone yesterday....the Lord's Day....noticed a stirring of any sort from their pulpits....even a hint of awareness that the very near future might be one of exponentially increasing tumult and eruptions? Probably not....but next week is another Lord's Day.....and God might will it to begin to have mercy upon us.....at least this should be our continual and fervent prayer!

Bumpkins....Low-Information Voters....Racists....And Homophobes

Preface: It had always been a bogus charge.....that conservatives were racist. This as evangelicals dominated the conservative ranks. The following post is from September 17, 2015. It depicts two very typical conservative Christian voters....as I knew them to be anyway....and for the most part certainly still are....just as I depict them in the following post! The underpinning of the conservative Trump supporter.....the foundation....is solid....the problem is that they....as of this writing....have not found out who he really is....otherwise they would certainly not support him anymore. How has the last four years affected us? We no longer value human life as we once did....our response to the virus proved that....we have little compassion for the alien in our midst....(So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. Deut 10:19)....and we are taking on racist tendencies....influenced by the pundits who stir us up every day....tendencies that we never had before. We need Trump to go away....I have pleaded for this since late 2017....so that we like the Prodigal Son might see what we have become....and return to the Father in humility.

Bumpkins...Low-Information Voters...Racists...And Homophobes

         Mary works full time. Her children are grown and no longer live at home. She is a reader, mostly non-fiction but with occasional novels of a romance or detective nature. She is always busy with either cleaning house or working in the garden or exercising...often trying to lose a little weight. She and her husband spend Fridays and Saturdays with close friends, usually playing cards, and often trying to help new friends fit in who have recently started attending their church. It's a big community church with laughter always ringing through the halls from the children's areas on the lower level to the upper level classrooms.
         Probably half of the books that she reads are from Christian book publishers and her major passion is conservative talk radio. She hardly ever watches the evening news other than that of the local station and she wouldn't know Chris Mathews from Chris Rock...matter of fact... neither do I!
         Mary and her husband are good stewards of their money. He makes about $70,000 and she supplies an additional $45,000 or so. Their major expenses are vacations, improving the house and always having a new, safe and reliable automobile. They write a check for the church every Sunday and regularly support no fewer than a half a dozen ministries, most Christian but others such as the Wounded Warrior Project and even the Humane Society. She will write a check at the drop of a hat if someone is in need and has done so dozens of times, never expecting repayment. She supports political candidates and causes.
         Mary has a bachelor degree in Psychology, earned about thirty years previous, and a masters in teaching which she uses in her profession as a second grade teacher in their church sponsored elementary school. She can quote Alexis de Tocqueville and Charles de Montesquieu and knows a lot more about our Constitution then her brother who teaches political science in college. 

Mary is a bumpkin.....easily led astray by shysters....unable to think for herself and....well....just generally a low-information voter...... according to those who don't know her anyway....or only that her first choice for president is Senator Ted Cruz. That's all they really need to know.

         John is big into sports. Softball takes up most of his free time....in the spring-summer and fall anyway. He's a reader also...just about all non-fiction. He has a sharp mind and the facts remain with him long after reading a book. He builds homes for a living and volunteers for Habitat For Humanity. He tends to specialize in a few areas of study. He is very knowledgeable in American history but economics is his biggest strength. He understands fiscal issues and monetary theory. He was...Tea Party...long before there even was a Tea Party.
         John is color blind. His best friend is black. His favorite economist is Thomas Sowell.  He and his wife have adopted two sons....one Black and one Asian. John has seen a lot of the world as twenty years of his life were spent in the military. He and Debbie, his wife, travel often. They love Asia, they return again and again to Europe, they do short term ministry in Africa every year. John's brother is a homosexual who John sees every week... and John prays for him every day of his life. 

John is a racist, a homophobe and a callous xenophobe with no compassion........according to liberals anyway.......for John supports Donald Trump for president. John's knowledge of economics has led him to see that our nation has very little time left before a dictatorship picks up the pieces amidst the anarchy brought on by a bankrupt government. He's not sure that Trump can do anything but at least Trump knows business. If Trump can't make it....Ben Carson is John's....the racist.... second choice for president.

A Winnowing Of The Leaves.....Before The Glory Appears

                 It would be an understatement to say that every year I watch the leaves on the trees change color....for particularly in our own yard I note the times they change color and any other changes to the norm that might occur. The biggest maple in our yard at one time used to be glorious in its golden brightness. In fact there were two trees that grew so close to each other that it appeared as one huge tree....and people would walk by in the fall and just gaze at the color.....but one tree since had to be cut down.

               Anyway....this year.....and last year also......that tree has been losing its luster.....and many of the leaves would just die and fall on their own before the rest of the leaves even changed color. The yard this year has had a continuous covering of brownish dead leaves. Anyway....yesterday morning I was woken around six AM by rain hitting the window at almost a ninety degree angle. Two tornadoes had touched down in our county. After the storm I knew that all of the dead leaves would have been blown off the tree....so in the afternoon I mowed the lawn picking up all of those dead leaves.....and here this afternoon.....the Lord's Day....there is still not one leaf on the lawn....and the tree itself is totally still green.
               So what is there to think about on an occasion like this other than the glories of Christ? A few times in the last day I would stand on our patio and look at the tree and the yard....all the dead leaves removed....few to fall until the tree changes color....and think about a winnowing that is surely just ahead for the church....where all those who are not secure in Christ will drop off on their own or be blown away by the great difficulties that are ahead....whatever God has determined that turmoil to be?
               We in the church are as Christian and Faithful walking through Vanity Fair in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress....being enticed by even those in the church to join in the festivities. One could not even pick us out in the football games being played today.....the Lord's Day....as our football passions are as strong....or even stronger in the Bible Belt....as anyone's.
              The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been so compromised that preaching cannot stray beyond that which the people will permit. It is no longer a 'wicket gate' that one must pass through....for one can simply come down the escalator into the sheepfold. There is a cross....but no blood....warnings....but only to America and not the church....literal truths....where nothing is to be added....and nothing detracted....but only in the Constitution....not the Bible.
             The latest storm has come and gone....the trees are green....but about to turn a glorious golden yellow....the extent of which we shall see...but beautiful even in these years of floods and droughts that have taken their toll on the pigmentation processes. These tornadoes were a surprise....with no warnings other than a cell phone alert to go to the basement....but God has given us ample warning....over decades.....and increasing in their intensity....that as we continue to...."sow the wind".....we will indeed...."reap the whirlwind."

Hosea 8:7