A Mystery Solved?

                 Scientists believe that at least the mystery of it may have been solved. It happened last August. A tsunami was initiated in the southern Atlantic Ocean....apparently by an earthquake that should not have been strong enough....and was too deep anyway....to cause the tsunami that rippled up the coasts of three different oceans. As it turns out....there was a series of five different earthquakes involved....in quick succession over several minutes....and one of them was shallow...and about ten times as strong. They are describing it as a 'silent' earthquake....an initially undetected earthquake.....because the metering systems in place....which essentially take 'snapshots' of the seismic activity....only gave a "fraction" of the information that would have been needed to immediately see the 8.2 earthquake. As it was it took months to figure it all out.

                Only a few days ago....in normal daily reading of God's Word....this time the book of Colossians....I wondered how the famous earthquake in the area....that damaged and may have destroyed the city....might have affected the Collossian's faith....being that the earthquake probably hit shortly after they received Paul's letter. Paul instructed that his letter also be read by the Laodiceans....a nearby city also damaged by the earthquake. 
                The Bible quite a few times in both testaments describes God as shaking the earth....usually in judgment. It is a minority opinion for sure.....but one that I lean to....that the earthquake described in "the days of Peleg"....(Genesis 10:25 and 1 Chronicles 1:19)....may have set in motion the separating of the continents.....thus completing in only a few hundred years what science believes to have taken millions of years.
                 The topography of Israel and its surroundings in itself in amazing....with much of the Jordan Rift Valley....leading to the Dead Sea....below sea level....and we know that when Jesus Christ returns that the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west.
                  So all of these thoughts just to point out that although we have many judgments upon us today....plagues and war and multiple examples of delusion and deception....that earthquakes will definitely play a part in what is ahead.
                  We were able to avoid any culpability in the pandemic that God brought to this world. That turned out to be relatively easy...just blame the Chinese and Fauci....and we will find appropriate blame for the wars that are ahead....but the day will come when we run out of scapegoats....and whether it be plague or war or geological or cosmic....we will finally see the pattern....and the reason for them....which would be at best for Christians....evidence of time wasted.

"Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you....
  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise...
  making the best use of time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:14b-16 ESV)

or...from the prophets of the day

"Forget all this God's warning stuff
  just keep listening to Fox and talk radio
  and your favorite podcaster
  for the democrats are evil."

Addendum: I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend two Christian programs that are up on their websites today. The first is from John Piper's ministry....his Sermon Of The Day....titled Christ Crucified, Our Boast....In The Cross. Please consider listening to this and see for yourself if there are men out there or not who may preach in a way that you may have never heard before. Just go to desiringgod.org and follow the directions. The second is a little different. R. C. Sproul's ministry has a series on Church history that will be of help to many. Just go to Ligonier.org and it is right there. In that program the speaker Robert Godfrey related an old Peanuts comic that was really profound....Lucy is standing in front of the class and says....'this is my report on church history....a report on church history must start at the very beginning....our pastor was born in 1930...." Folks....sometimes we act as if church history begins with our church....but we must instead see where our church fits into the history of the church since the Apostles.

  
  

The Great Failure Of The American Pulpit

There are numerous occasions in the Old Testament where God severely chastised the shepherds of His flock....Ezekiel chapter 34 being one...."Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel....Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves....the weak you have not strengthened....so they were scattered because there was no shepherd....and no one was seeking or searching for them....Behold I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hands....Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out." Verses 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 11) To these shepherds....every single available hour they have should be spent in sweat-soaked prayer and attempting to learn something from the Spurgeons and the Ryles or others of the past. Had they done this they would not have missed the false prophet Donald Trump come right into the church. They will be called to account for just blindly incorporating today's lackadaisical 'encouraging/comforting/make no waves/avoidance of anything that might make sheep leave the church....and deplete the collection plate....fake love/safe space church embalming tactics'....this concerning the flock that vitally needs awakening and not comforting.....and warning more than encouraging. There is a time for comforting....and God's Word gives us that....at the proper times....but now is not a time for comforting....not when we helped build this collapsing city....safe in our suburbs....enraptured by our sport played in those cities....loving our toys....watching our 401s grow from the sale of toys that only gorge our appetites....demanding nothing more than those who were the first to vomit all over themselves stay away from us. 

Preface...11/2021: This post from a few months ago is today's Lord's Day post....as this world continues to disintegrate....and we continue to ignore God's warnings to us. As I mentioned in the paragraph below....Charles Spurgeon's defense of the gospel in the Downgrade may have brought on his death....as many of those ministers who Spurgeon's ministry trained....actually censured him. The names of those modern pastors of the day are long forgotten but Spurgeon's sermons are still heard and read here in America and around the world. It is elementary....in that so many Christians today do not know what a strong sermon is.....because they have never heard one to use as a comparison....and when informed of this....they have no desire to seek for themselves to hear such a sermon.....this because there are so few sermons today telling Christians to seek the old paths. Pastors....God will ask of you why you did not warn the sheep. Your certificate....or your seminary degree....guarantees you nothing....other than it will be required of you to answer what you did with such responsibility. Donald Trump is right now floating a 2024 White House run....to see the response of the evangelical. Are you going to just sit back and let this false prophet continue to raid your congregation....politicizing everything....and bringing division right smack in the middle of the pews....or will you lift up Christ as our only hope....and our only rock....and our only harbor in this coming storm?

The Failure Of The American Pulpit.....3/2021

             Whether it be a tiny congregation or one of thousands....the pastor is to be a shepherd....taking care of the spiritual lives of the sheep under his care. Spurgeon once told a story of how a contemporary of his....a pastor of a few hundred souls....was wearied in his nonstop service to the congregation....not wanting a single soul to be lost for his lack of prayer and effort and warnings. Spurgeon's response was essentially....'a few hundred.....I have a thousands to care for'....and having read and listened to many dozens of Spurgeon sermons from the first days in the fifth decade of the ninteenth century.....up to his last years in the beginning of the 1890s.....he stayed true to his responsibility....and having died young at 57 years old....his wife thought that his defense of the gospel itself in what was known as....The Downgrade Controversy....contributed to his ill health and death.
             We left a church early on when an old and dedicated pastor retired....and discernment from the pulpit retired along with him.....as faddish doctrines moved in....and another time when a pastor moved away....and was replaced by a young man whose main interest seem to be the size of the manse that the congregation would provide for him.
              I once had a pastor who died from Lou Gehrig's Disease....who made every effort for as long as humanly possible to enter that pulpit as a shepherd to his congregation....and when ALS  confined him to a chair in his home....he tried his hand reaching people through the Internet...and when he could no longer even speak....or make any movements at all.....other than movement of his eyes....through the wonder of modern technology....he eye pecked out encouragements and wisdom on his special computer for those around him.
              I'll give two anecdotes here....in the first....Pentecostal preacher David Wilkerson once attended out of interest a concert from Christian music's most popular singer of the day.....(I had attended one of these concerts also....and can attest to the description of what Wilkerson witnessed)....he was so distressed because of the worldliness of what thousands of young Christians were subjected to in that arena.....that he ran up the aisle yelling...."Ichabod....Ichabod".....the glory has departed....for he claimed that he could see demons on the stage.
              The second anecdote concerns John MacArthur......where in it he was told that one of the young people in his church had fallen sway to the efforts of one of the 'Christian cults' out there in America....(Christian cult being a sect that claims to be Christian but denies the essential doctrines of Christianity)....when told that the young person was about to move away to be with this cult.....he showed up at their home.....and although many of the specifics are gone from my memory....he took the keys out of the young person's car.....and threw them into the lake. He was fighting for this sheep whom the wolves were trying to devour.
              Five years ago when a false prophet appeared in America implying strongly that he was going to defend God....our pulpits did nothing.....worse than nothing as they celebrated the man they knew nothing about....nor desired to take the time to learn anything about. They still refused to warn their sheep even as it became obvious that he was now a demagogue. They could have at least pointed out that as this man told us incessantly that our best was yet to come....and that God's grace shined on us....that God's Word tells us the exact opposite....the exact opposite! Because of this failure to warn....this man continues to divide and destroy and turn us into people just like him.
             The reasons for the demise of preaching in America are surely myriad.....and touch on many different areas....but the result is that the pastor of today seems to think that his prime responsibility is to protect the congregation from the gospel of Jesus Christ....or at least becoming too fanatical about it. If there are to be any warnings coming from their pulpits....those warnings would be....not to look to the past of the church....but the future. Whether it was postmodernism or the entertainment culture....or the church growth movement....or today politics....one attends there on Sundays....essentially to spiritually die....as they are entertained or as Neil Postman once put it....amused to death.
              It's no longer an altar...but a stage....and the key word is no longer vigilance...but involvement. Mortification has been cancelled. An open-collared shirt over khakis is the new de rigueur for the pastor's attire....and Make Jesus Great Again....the new benediction.
              'American exceptionalism' has replaced....'a peculiar people.' We are so cool. If an unbeliever does not believe that....all they have to do is enter one of our megachurch buildings. There is no threat there.....for it is a safe space for the evangelical. One does not have to be 'born again' anymore....only redirected....not converted....but rather recruited! This Easter week the resurrection will be highlighted and celebrated....then the blood being cleaned up....safely put away for another year.
              We like to rail on how journalism has failed us....and our government has failed us....and our educational system....and just about every other institution.....but it is our pulpits that have failed us the most. We said.....we are going to rebuild.....not the church but America....but America.....and God said....go ahead....and I will tear down again....and He did! When these pastors see that maybe comforting us might not be what they should be preoccupied with....that calling us to account for our part in this societal collapse....and warning us of what is ahead....might be closer to what God called them to do....(hint: it's not...."our best is yet to come")....and when they begin to preach the cross once again....and the straight gate and the narrow way....and that few take them....and the cost of discipleship....and that the 'old paths' are better than the new ideas....then we might be able to take comfort in recognizing God's hand upon these men....and therefore also upon us.

Addendum: Do you have 43 minutes to spare to listen to what basically was a sermon by J. C. Ryle. If so just Google...J. C. Ryle, The Good Way

              
            

Even In The Darkness....He Is With Us

Update: I know how odd this sounds but I only a few hours ago looked up whatever happened to the St. Louis NFL football team....and I guess that 2015 was the last year the Rams were there. There was a day when I was in downtown Pittsburgh celebrating Super Bowl wins....and I can testify that if you can give up this Lord's Day idolatry that you will not be sorry....and even forever thankful. Anyway...no matter who would have won last evening....there would have been a Christian player giving post-game praise to his Lord and Savior for the victory. Many years ago there was a glossy Christian magazine....I cannot remember the name....that was all about athletes who were Christian....and I would buy every issue to give to our son.....so I know what this thinking is all about. And I remember a specific concert back at that time....with a singer/musician whose band was very similar to the secular band Journey....and every bit as good as anything out there.....and after the concert....actually there were two concerts over a couple of years....the man whose name adorned the band's title....gave a testimony....and about forty young people responded by going up front....and I probably prayed in thanksgiving while it was happening....but whether it is a rock star or athlete....and even though the testimony might be wonderful to hear....we're not saved by testimonies. In the case of last night's Super Bowl....those 'point to the sky' moments probably do more harm than good....as they....in this case anyway....keep people reveling in idolatry on the Lord's Day....give a false impression of what the gospel is....more of a joining than anything else....drawn by a celebrity and not Christ....with little to no mortification involved for who and what we are....and then internalizing and perpetuating the glamorous gospel that in itself does not save....and can actually insulate from understanding the glorious....not glamorous....message of the cross.       

I know this also....there is a direct correlation between the fact that I know that the Lord's return is near....and that I was not aware that the Rams moved out of St. Louis seven years ago. Reversing this....that you are so much more informed on sports than I am....may also be directly related to why you have little so discernment on the warnings of the Lord.

              It is estimated that as many as 117 million will watch tomorrow's Super Bowl....a sizable increase from 2021. Evangelicals throughout America will attend a 'worship' service....chat lively before and after the service....their passion meter barely leaving the red....then will spend much of the rest of the day in preparation for a gathering  the Super Bowl....where depending on where they live....or who they have on the football pool....that meter will go into saturation....and all this as America is in the throes of collapse.
              God's prophetic word speaks of a strong delusion coming just before the Lord's return. It also speaks of a "falling away" or  "rebellion" or an "apostasy." We do not know what that will be or even what that is....should it be happening right now.
               Something sinister is definitely occurring today. Love has certainly grown cold. Lawlessness is everywhere. God's judgments upon us are coming as labor pains. There seems to be a new zeitgeist on what once was the traditional side of the American political spectrum. The old one was defiant....but sincere in its ideology....bold....but prudent....confident of strength....but vigilant....and all this mingled with  genuine compassion. The new one is defiant also....but no longer very sincere in its ideology at all....bold....but unwise....and supremely confident....laden down so with pride that it cannot even see any of its weaknesses....and almost void of compassion....or it appears....conscience.
             Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day....a hedge of protection given us by God....no....commanded us of God....so that defiance would always only keep us from following after the world....boldness would be as in Paul's prayer...."And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness....(Acts 4:29)....and supremely confident also as in Paul's words...."being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
             This new spirit that directs us....that seems to live in us....continually hardens us....brings out from us our most base impulses....and blinds us to what we should do....while appearing as an angel of light....often in politics....that beckons us to rely on our own perceived might. May tomorrow be the Lord's Day that the Holy Spirit quickens the shepherds....opens their eyes....and gives them boldness to preach that which we so desperately need to hear...."Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (1 Cor 2:3)....and may He open our eyes....open my eyes....that we might turn from these baubles of life....these trinkets....to continually offer praise as did Peter...."Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, for he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)....and that whatever is ahead we might trust as did David of God...."even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for the darkness is as light with you. (Ps 139:12)
              

 

DISPATCHES

"For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 'Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem'." Isaiah 8:11-14

I caught a surreal almost interview on the Fox news website of three Canadian truckers. The host was literally jubilant....smiling ear to ear.....exclaiming of the protests...."I love it!" At the end of the interview he was God Blessing everyone and everything. It seems that this metamorphosis of the gospel seems nearer to completion....where God's grace to us is now all about capitalism and personal liberty. In fact the truckers were God Blessing him right back. I would think that a God-fearing person in Canada might be protesting their religious restrictions in that country before vaccination restrictions.

It's reported that Rand Paul wants trucker protests in America....to clog up the cities....as soon as tomorrow with the Super Bowl....utter insanity.....these people who have been tiptoeing around violence for a while now have just given the OK for any group.....on any issue....to cause any amount of trouble....and just say that it is their constitutional right....for we have now joined them in their tactics....seeing that we could not beat them.

OK....I've been out of the loop on the PGA for quite a while.....probably about 40 years....but came home today somewhere around 4:30....turned on the TV....it was golf.....a guy named Sam Ryder teed up on a par three....and I watched the ball drop in the cup for a hole-in-one....and then....the crowd went wild like in  soccer game....and water bottles littered the green....as I heard shouts of 'Let's go....( I couldn't make out the name)'....and fifteen minutes later....after the green was cleaned up....the next golfer put his shot in the middle of the green....and the crowd boo'd. I did a little research and I guess this 16th green is known for crowd loudness and wildness. They built these stands around that hole....making it look in a way like a baseball park....but in another way it reminded me of the Colosseum in Rome.

Democrats ignore Antifa violence and we hit the roof....demanding justice....but then we do the same thing in ignoring the insurrection violence of January 6, 2021....only worse....we justify it....and then purge the ones who want justice here.

I was very critical of rinos such as Mitch McConnell after the 2008/09 economic meltdown bailouts....but since then the bar has lowered so far that all those rinos would be a welcome sight right now. 

I don't know how the average republican voter....particularly the evangelical republican voter....can just sit back and watch what Trump is doing....and not be outraged enough to at least be vocal about it. Hillary Clinton's treatment of Bernie Sanders was kid's stuff to what is going on. If this man ever takes power again....it would be sheer disaster everywhere. Evangelicals have no idea that Trump could very easily turn on them.....for he has absolutely no sincere beliefs in anything other than his own glory.

Franklin Graham is still distanced from his father's wisdom in being careful of mixing the gospel and politics as he was quoted today in this...."Pray for our neighbors to the north. Freedom is precious. The issue isn't primarily masks or vaccines-the issue is FREEDOM, the freedom to make our own choices. These truckers are a modern-day version of Paul Revere, riding against oppression." I've related this often in these posts....it was August of 2017 at a Trump rally in Phoenix....Franklin came to the mic and gave a wonderful prayer.....calling America.....all of us....to repentance. The mostly evangelical crowd was silent.....Mike Pence followed him and immediately the shouts of USA USA USA filled the auditorium. I wondered if Graham knew what just went on....this public prayer stuff is just a talisman to us today....a dog bone to throw at God....so that we can get to what we are really passionate about.....but God tells us a number of times that He is sick of our obnoxious little God ditties and God bless Americas'.....take them away....”rend your hearts and not your garments.”  Back to Franklin's words today.....freedom is precious? Christ is precious! The freedom to make our own choices? Is this the new gospel....'our body....our choice'....as we are hearing it more and more? Paul Revere....oppression? How about false prophets.....and delusion? I posted this thought ten years ago...."God's hand is being lifted and the exhilaration of choosing our own destiny emboldens us to stare into the eyes of Caesar and say not, "Give me liberty or give me death" but "Give me liberty to choose my own death." That is what we are doing today....all in the name of God.

The one author postulated on the benefits of a global society in his book The World Is Flat.....the other author focused on the dangers of the global society in his book The World Is Curved. If I had a book the title might be The World Is Split.....on just about everything....and that concept has extreme biblical consequences...."If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand" (Mk 3:24)  It has been fairly well established here in America....not only that we have opinions that are polar opposites....but if we don't want to do something required of us....if at all possible....we're not going to do it....or we're going to cause a lot of trouble in the process. We're not going to wear a mask. We're not going to be vaccinated. Tens of thousands bare minimum of additional deaths resulted....and then mandates which need not have happened....that just gave the one half another excuse for not getting vaccinated.  So today....where we just do what we want....why would we show up for a draft? Think about what the consequences would be with a citizenry that says....'we're not doin' it"....when the government tells them that they need an army....and quickly....to defend ourselves.

'I trust the Lord will protect me from Covid...so great is my faith...but not from a vaccine...it's not that great.'

After Trump lost the election I had thought and so very much hoped that I might never have to post on him again....but I had a very bad feeling....so kept on warning about him in these posts. I had a few conversations with friends on this....(I still have three or four friends)....and in one of those conversations....after the horror of January 6....I mentioned that if Trump is resurrected from this that Christians should at least consider....put in the back of our minds anyway....the possibility that Donald Trump might turn out to be the person that becomes the Antichrist. I say this in part because Donald Trump....much more than any person I have even read about in public life....is completely devoid of anything of any substance in himself....in other words a vacuum ready to be filled. In any case he is definitely....an antichrist...."so now many antichrists have come." 1 John 2:18) If for no other reason than this....the Franklin Graham's of the church should apply severe introspection on the implications of the fact that their efforts helped establish this man....(whom they should by now at least recognize as a false prophet.)  That Trump still has control of this party....(Lindsey Graham said over the weekend that if Trump wants the nomination it is his)....is nothing short of a marvel and a wonder....for in fifty years of watching and partaking in politics here in America....(although I have read about such things in history....and I have even researched how major religious cults evolve and take hold....and how political demigods had bewitched a section of the American populace)....I could never even imagine so many people....and so many evangelicals....not only taken captive....but held hostage....and then taking the side of the one who scammed them....and still does abuse them. As for my friend in the above mentioned conversation....he said at the time that if Trump is resurrected from this....he will have to consider my thoughts.

I recently attended a speaking event at a Christian college in an auditorium filled with 700 attendees elbow to elbow. I was the only one in the entire audience with a mask on. I understand the good news on the recent statistics....and I will happily walk the streets and even enter buildings without a mask....but when grocery shopping.....slowly up and down the aisles.....I think that a mask is common sense....but in an auditorium of hundreds....elbow to elbow for hours....I would have expected that there would at least be some....even many....other than myself....who could slip a mask on while there.

While at the above mentioned college I collected all the student newspapers that I could find. I've done this for decades....in fact I was a big reader of the Pitt News while there in the early-to-mid 70s. I like to keep in touch with what is going on on college campuses....particularly their editorials and letters-to-the-editors....to see how their minds are working. So I did that yesterday....and have an example of something encouraging. This college newspaper puts a short interview in each edition with a professor.....asking simple personal questions such as what music they might listen to in the car. Well for this one professor there was this question....What's something you've been pondering lately? Her answer was profound....and I'm sure that she was  trying to get a message across. Here it is..."I'm currently pondering the importance of reading about complex issues from both sides-not just the one we agree with." 

We Have Gone Over That Line

               The Christian is a citizen of heaven but also of this world....essentially Babylon as theologian Michael Horton once described it....or Vanity Fair as Bunyan allegorized....or two cities or two kingdoms as others would put it. How is a Chinese Christian to act concerning their government compared to how an American Christian is to act would be a question worth meditating upon.
               As for us in a designed constitutional republic....where politics by the very nature of voting plays a big part....how much involvement can we have....and where should we draw the line? Obviously we can be involved....potentially all the way up to becoming president. Where we have gone over the line is where we are right now....where a vivid and tangible hate begins to dominate us....and that hate producing lies and deception in order to win....which is what happened to us over the past five years thanks to the most vile of pied pipers in Donald Trump.....but there is more.
               The hate and the lies take away all discernment. Issues where we once were solidly on the high ground....such as defense of human life....remain in name only....this proven through the pandemic where our own now sacred personal liberty drowned out compassion....and mitigated God's command to love our neighbor. There was a time....decades ago....when all decisions that our government made were placed on a grid of potential world war. Yes we could huff and puff but saner heads would prevail. Today....where hate and lies dominate....there is little to no wisdom.
                From the person in the pew....to the registered voter....to the officials they all vote for....to the media that stirs us up....we no longer can think even two steps ahead. Whatever the next decision made....it only must satisfy self-love....love for others being a losing proposition....or at least a politically inadvisable notion....while possible repercussions from those decisions made do not seem to be considered....in this dominating and exclusively politically charged climate. Truth....once our foundation....has become relative.
                The first step back is....as I have encouraged time and time again....to flee the mind control that talk radio and podcasts and this now unconsionable Trump influenced Republican Party has on us....and to return to God's Word for our daily bread....citizens yes....but pilgrim's even moreso....trusting alone in Christ....for trust anywhere else is vanity....and fruitless....and even idolatry.        

"Who Is John Galt?"

As you will read below....I posted the following paragraph three days ago....and Fox still has the story emblazoned at the top of the page. This was not a peer-reviewed study....and John Hopkins University did not endorse it. It is three economists....and a calculator.

Tuesday evening: Fox is headlining a study....a John Hopkins study as the article puts it....concluding that Covid lockdowns essentially do nothing. Conservatives will read this and tell it to anyone who will listen....and talk radio will hammer this one home also.....end of discussion. This study lists three men....two economists and one that is a political consultant. Two of them are from Sweden. One is a senior teaching fellow at the Cato Institute....and another has at the top of his social media site a quote from John Galt....."Get the hell out of my way." Does anyone think that.....John Hopkins Study.....is the way to present this? I have no doubt that their findings on the economic impact of lockdowns....based on their expertise....is worthy for consideration.....but how are they to be considered experts on the spreading of communicable disease?

Revelation 9:20...."The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk," (ESV) 

Earmarks....And Pork Barrel....And Omnibus Legislation

 "I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy."

 Psalm 40:12

"They judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless....and they do not defend the rights of the needy."
  Jeremiah 5:26"

"Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness..." Jeremiah 22:13

"Silence! Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end...Amos 1:1

"Because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals." Amos 2:6

"Therefore because you tread down the poor....and take grain taxes from him." Amos 5:11

"O man, what is good;  and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice..."Micah 6:8

"And you shall not strip your vineyard bare. Neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of you vineyard.
  You shall leave them for the poor and the sojourner."Leviticus 19:10

"Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:23 
 
"The love of money is the root of all kinds of evils..."1 Timothy 6:10

               Earmarks....pork barrel....and omnibus legislation....are varying ways that members of congress can secure their own job through reelection. At worst they can be nothing but legalized bribery. On the other end it is possible that it is the wisest thing to do in a difficult situation. The congress might at one time allow earmarks....and then disallow them....and then wind up trying to change the definition to be able to allow them again. Pork is just another way for the powers-that-be to continue to be the powers-that-be....with fewer restrictions on how to disseminate the money....but basically doing the same thing. Omnibus legislation is more trickery than anything else....but is along the same lines of rewarding members of congress for legislative votes and party loyalty.
               These things are not necessarily the definition of corruption....but the more earmarks and pork and omnibus trickery there be....although some poor people might be helped....the fabric of a wise and just constitutional republic by them is torn and tattered....resulting in the rich getting richer....and the poor getting poorer.
               I do not bring this up for political reasons.....for there are members of congress fighting against this all the time.....but I bring it up for biblical reasons....as shown in the verses above from God's very Word to us.
              We in America....America as a people....are being judged by God right now for many things....abortion and societal corruption in general....and disbelief and idolatry....things that we can easily identify....but we are also being judged for our unjust rulers....who do not take up the cause of the needy....or as in the case of the Democrat Party for the past few decades....throw money unwisely away....not to help the poor as they claim....but only to benefit themselves....which we do also in a way through our trickle down theory where we grow a huge 401 while the lower half gets that small flow of a trickle....and in both cases we let them do what they want in order to satisfy our own desires....of pride and politics and greed.
            
"Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute." Psalm 82:3

"The LORD has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways.....But you must return to your God;  maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always." Hosea 12: 2,6

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken." Psalm 62: 5,6

             God's judgments on Israel and Judah were not just because they worshiped other gods. Their leaders took advantage of their power....and let the poor suffer by the wayside. It was not only law that was transgressed....but justice was ignored. So also it is not simply that law and the constitution in America are breaking down....but fairness and principle and ethics are being trodden down.
             We can legislate law....but justice comes from the heart. We are as Simon the Sorcerer to whom Peter said...."You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God." (Acts 8:21) The Congressional Record belies our pious proclamations. We cannot give half truths and obfuscate our own culpability and then claim to seek justice....as we have particularly done in the past five years of ethical chaos. We cannot play dirty and claim to be the good guys. We cannot buy the power of God. Elections and Supreme Courts mean nothing in the state that we are in. Our pulpits need to arise and warn us of this as Peter warned the sorcerer....and to remind us as did Peter to....make our call and election sure....and to stir us up....and to heed these things...."as a light that shines in a dark place." (2 Peter 1)

Lord's Day Post

 The following paragraph is a few years old:

It was the end of the cruise....this in the early 1980s....on the west side of Cuba headed home.....and there was a storm such that my wife and I bounced from wall to wall on the way back to our cabin as the cruise ships were not as big as they are today. What to do now....so early in the evening? I opened the drawer on the bedside table.....and lo and behold there was a Gideon Bible there. God bless the Gideons!  So I did what any brand spanking new believer might do....I opened it to wherever it opened....and put my finger on any old verse....to see what God had to say to me.....the Bible opened to Psalm 93.....and with objects sliding off the table.....this is what I read.....

"....The floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea...."

Charles Spurgeon's battle in defense of the gospel most probably contributed to an early death at age 57. He wrote these words below in summary while the battle was still hot and heavy. They were first posted in 2021....and I use this as a Lord's Day Post as it was used back then. May God even tomorrow open our eyes....and cause us to see that we as a church have wandered off of the straight path:

            "We believe in prayer....LET US PRAY LIKE ELIJAHS....May the Lord himself direct his people! Meanwhile, to redouble our prayers, and to seek a revival in all our churches, cannot possibly be a mistake. Prayer, mighty prayer, can do wonders. This is the work of the present hour. Pray without ceasing, and preach the faithful Word in clearer terms than ever before. Such a course of conduct may seem to some to be a sort of standing still and doing nothing, but in very truth it is bringing God into the battle; and when HE comes to avenge the quarrel of his covenant, he will make short work of it. 'Arise, O Lord, plead thine own cause!" (PS 74:22)
              We in America are where Spurgeon was at the time of this writing....where the battle is essentially lost....as our supply lines are cut....(Christian bookstores are all but gone....as are Billy Graham telecasts....and our only recruitment comes more from our waving the flag....a recruitment that does not save....than preaching the cross)....and our only alternative is to rely on prayer....but Oh....do not consider this a plan B....for this is where we should have made our base camp from the very beginning. God did answer Spurgeon's pleading to "Arise!"....only not in the way that the great preacher had hoped in his limited vision....and our prayers will be answered....but also in a way that we might not expect.

 

Whatever Happened To All The False Prophets

It went to #8 as a crossover on the top singles charts and #13 on the country charts.....Somebody's Knockin'....from 1980.....sung by Terri Gibbs....who was nominated for Grammy Awards for it....and who later recorded Christian music....being nominated for another Grammy. Do you remember that song....and its haunting beat....and lyrics about the devil...."I've heard about him....But I never dreamed....He'd have blue eyes....and blue jeans." Aleksandr Solzhenitsen used the phrase often...."Men have forgotten God"....and we have....but we have also forgotten the demonic....and as I allude to in the post below from this past November....it seems we think that unless someone actually bills themselves as a prophet....and has what they call a 'prophetic ministry'....and says at times....'thus says the LORD'....and displays some kind of power.....that they do not qualify as a genuine biblical false prophet....regardless if their power is that they lure people away from Christ with great promises of peace and safety and prosperity and glory.! 
            

               Do we even believe in demonic spirits anymore? We are proficient in teaching of all the demons that Jesus cast out....it makes for good Bible study.....but do we think that that has nothing to do with reality.....at least not reality as we purposely desire it to be? So when there is a mass murder....and the person is heavily involved in the occult....or in any of the other atrocities in our daily news that should have evil spirits written all over them....we instead assume there has to be a chemical imbalance somewhere in their brain.....for it could never be demonic.....and even if it was.....we're just not going to talk about it.....because we have enough trouble today with unbelievers thinking that we are weird....without demons and the devil coming into the picture.
              Demonic spirits are mentioned in 19 of the 27 books of the New Testament....if I remember correctly. Was this a common occurrence throughout the Old Testament.....or was the demonic heightened because it was the time of the first advent?   And if that would have been the case....would it not then be plausible that with the return of the Lord Jesus so near....that the demonic might be heightened once again.
              In the same vein.....what happened to all the false prophets? They were everywhere in the Old Testament....and warned of in the New Testament.....but they're about as hard to find today as a Republican Senator who sees something wrong in what happened on January 6 of this year....or is it that we just refuse to address this issue also?

Note: I've recommended this John MacArthur video a number of times in the past. The title is....Beware Of False Prophets.....and it was broadcast on his program.....Grace To You.....on May 8 , 2015.....forty days before Donald Trump came down that escalator.

Surely You Have Forty-One Minutes And Fifteen Seconds Somewhere In Your Life To Spare

Preface: It could be a water heater....or tires would be a good example....something that when you buy them you have a pretty good idea on how long they will last before they will need replaced. Our life is somewhat like that also. I noticed some serious wear on my treads beginning around the age of 70. I have to slow down a little on those curves....and I'm not quite as dependable in the snow. On the positive side....driving a little slower as I am forced to do....I get to see a lot more of the landscape around me....and pick up on pot holes a little quicker. I remember....believe it or not....a comic from over fifty years ago....a woman came home from the automotive garage....and told her husband that the mechanic told her to tell him that there is a screw loose in the driver. In the beautiful old 1957 film April Love....a young Pat Boone....visiting relatives in the country....is embarrassed in front of a young Shirley Jones because he doesn't even know how to get on a horse.....but a short time later she is embarrassed because she doesn't know a spark plug from an intake manifold. There surely are a lot of things that you could teach me....but there is something that I learned that I could teach you! The following post is from 2017

The Gospel Of The Wrought-Iron Life Preserver

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

Addendum: Are you tired of hearing about all this born again stuff. You've gone to church all your life....put a sizable amount of money in the collection plate over the years....vote Republican....what more could God possibly want? If this is you then you need to find some resolution to this problem....and quickly....for you have been driving a long time with the check engine light on and unnoticed. John Piper has a sermon for you on this. Just Google....John Piper YouTube, Why Do We Need To Be Born Again. Come on....I know you are sick of hearing about this....so settle it once and for all!' Surely you have forty-one minutes and fifteen seconds somewhere in your life don't you? I'll give you one very good reason....apart from your own soul....that you should consider this. You love your children more than yourself. Maybe they are adults now....maybe it is your parents....and they are wonderful people....but have they ever been truly converted to trusting in Christ alone....do they even know what that means? Are you willing to take this chance?

Praying To The God Mars

               If you have never seen the 2016 Christian film Risen then maybe you might want to give it a try. Joseph Fiennes stars as the Roman Tribune Clavius who is tasked by Pilate to find the body of Jesus that has gone missing. It's one of those films that because of the subject matter it was not projected to be successful....but Christians did turn out to see it.

             I posted a review of the film after it came out in the theaters in February of 2016. As for this post there are two scenes that I want to point to. In one....Clavius and Pontius Pilate are relaxing in a Roman bath....and Pilate says that he prays to the god Minerva for wisdom in his job. Clavius states that he prays to Mars....the god of war. In another scene Clavius places a coin or two before a little statue of Mars situated in a wall....placed there for easy access for the Roman soldiers to offer oblations.
             Here's my point. We today tend to think of other gods and idols as portrayed in this film as ridiculous religious beliefs of some before we became so enlightened.....and since we do not have temples to these gods....the many passages in Scripture therefore do not pertain to us....other than for historical significance.
             Those who see no problem at all with abortion are as much as offering sacrifice to Molech. There are no statues....and no prayers....but there is more than a similarity to a pagan god involved. We do the same thing with wisdom in that when we try to scientifically disprove something in God's Word....science or knowledge has become our god. We do actually have statues to idols....as the Academy Award figurine would be one.....and certain sports trophies would be others. That famous bronze charging bull right on Wall Street points to our god of money and financial success and prosperity....and as for the god Mars....that would be dependence upon military might....not the existence of armies to defend us....but the dependence upon them for our safety and security.
             I have some gods of my own....the television would surely be one. I may try to tell myself that since it is only a 21" set that it's not really a god....or that we only have basic cable….or I may point to the fact that it is not used often that it would not qualify as a god....or if it is a god....then it is a very benign one. I have many times enjoyed trips to Washington D. C....maybe I make the excuse that my father is buried at Arlington....but I always take the time to admire the monuments....and the White House.....and the Capitol....and the most obvious problematic symbol of pagan worship of all.....The Washington Monument.
             The Apostle Paul probably stopped and looked at all the temples on the Areopagus....maybe even admiring the architecture a bit....and he even quoted some of their pundits and radio talk show hosts.....(actually their philosophers)....but he used his experience to point to the true God....that can be known....that really has to be known if we would but look around at creation.
             Christians surely have had these struggles in every age....and ours may be more common as we live in Vanity Fair....but acknowledging the challenges are at least the beginning of defeating them as did Bunyans's Christian and Faithful and Hopeful and Christiana. I do look at the monuments in our capitol....and on Civil War battlefields.....differently than I once did....as I may wonder about the eternal soul of the man depicted on the horse. I may see the accomplishment of the Best Actor Academy Award....but never separate it from the question of whether that man or woman knows Christ....and I love our flag....and have consistently lifted up our military.....but God alone determines the fate of nations.....and peoples.

Note: After posting this I thought that I could have listed music as at times a God in my life. SiriusXm changed their channel numbers a few months back....and consequently I had not listened to 60s music since then since I had not reprogrammed my radio. So....a few hours after posting the above....after sitting down with a cup of coffee.....and turning on the radio....I put channel 73 in by hand....(the new 60s channel).....and the very first sounds to come out were the first words to 1968's The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown's #2 song in America....#1 in England....literally shouted if you remember...."I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE....AND I BRING YOU.....FIRE!"

Ten No Trump

Preface: On election day 2012....I penciled in my vote for president....Newt Gingrich.  This was back before he came within six feet of Donald Trump....without a mask....or a vaccine....where he fluttered around like everyone else who came in contact with him....and then just crashed....on top of Jordan....on top of Meadows....on top of Rudy....next to General Kelly....who crashed on top of Bolton....who crashed on top of Rex Tillerson. There were too many to pull off the pile to identify....dozens of them....maybe hundreds....Rush...Ann Coulter....Hannity....Sessions....Barr.....and on and on and on. Some just wander around in a daze uttering nonsense....others dust themselves off and get back up....but stay away from Trump. Gingrich just threatened the January 6 committee that if the Republicans get back in charge of the ministry of police that Liz Cheney and others may wind up going to jail. Wow....is this 2022 or 1917 or 1933? The following post is from November 24 of last year:

             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….and not on the cards....I just bid six diamonds and I’m back to typing 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....because 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 on my six diamond bid....and we got set because my mind was not on playing the hand.            

DISPATCHES

Tuesday evening: Fox is headlining a study....a John Hopkins study as the article puts it....concluding that Covid lockdowns essentially do nothing. Conservatives will read this and tell it to anyone who will listen....and talk radio will hammer this one home also.....end of discussion. This study lists three men....two economists and one that is a political consultant. Two of them are from Sweden. One is a senior teaching fellow at the Cato Institute....and another has at the top of his social media site a quote from John Galt....."Get the hell out of my way." Does anyone think that.....John Hopkins Study.....is the way to present this? I have no doubt that their findings on the economic impact of lockdowns....based on their expertise....is worthy for consideration.....but how are they to be considered experts on the spreading of communicable disease?

Examples....for political points....someone might charge a president of the opposition party as being the worst president on the national debt because the total amount of debt increase was highest during his term....another from that opposition might say 'no.....that although the total figure was the highest...the percentage of growth was lowest with his president in office.' Another example....someone might point to total deaths due to the virus as highest under a certain president....but the percentage of people infected might have been ten times higher when that president took office. We cannot just charge into statistics.....picking out the figures that we want.....and ignoring the figures that we do not want....taking into account only the areas of research which 'proves' our point....while ignoring other areas that may even disprove our point. We have lost logic in debate in just about every sphere of American life....proving Proverbs 21:2...."Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.

In the Texas rally of the past weekend....Trump threatened great protests in major cities if prosecutors continued doing what they are doing....attempting to cover himself on this by wording it...."if they do anything illegal." He also slipped in possible future pardons for convictions stemming from January 6, 2021....dangling pardons the same way he did on Twitter back when witnesses were about to give testimony in his impeachment hearings. I do not know what the percentage is of his worshiping base among republicans....but I do know that it is not growing....and what is growing is the percentage of republicans who after rallies like this are turning away from him with great concern.

Saturday evening....Trump rally. There is little difference to when....decades ago....I focused most of my attention on 'Christian cults'.....religious organizations that claimed to be Christian but denied essential doctrines. I would read everything I could get on them....even their own literature....especially their own literature....which in most cases was their scripture....and I put ads in the newspaper trying to get generate conversations with people that were just then being sucked into the system. I am getting bored now watching the Trump rallies....though I continue to do so. Nothing changes.....as Trump continually looks left to read the teleprompter....and then right to read the other one....and then left....and right....and left....the whole night.....but no on seems to care.....if they even pick up on it. He just says whatever he wants.....it doesn't matter how outlandish it might be....no one is going to check it out let alone even really think about what he says. Trump jokes about this....pointing to the cameras in the background....but historians and psychologists are taking it all in....for unfortunately this is history in the making....the latest in a long line of psychological manipulation by one charismatic individual....over a very susceptible portion of the population. There was one change to this rally in Texas as Trump did not make his long exit to Lee Greenwood's Proud To Be An American....Rather Sam And Dave's.....Hold on, I'm Comin'.

"For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

'Do not say a 'a conspiracy.'
Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,
Nor be afraid of their threats....nor be troubled.
The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow:
Let Him be your fear
And let Him be your dread.
He will be as a sanctuary.
But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
to both the houses of Israel." Isaiah 8:11-14a

It's becoming very apparent to me....as I've witnessed in too many conversations now....increasingly evangelicals seem to be totally taken in by conspiracy theories. It seems to go like this....they hear someone on the radio or cable TV....automatically believe whatever conspiracy is being proclaimed.....and immediately go out to tell someone else about it....(talk about evangelizing!).....never even questioning what they heard or doing any research on their own. My message is this.....so....do you want a good conspiracy to keep you excited....something better than QAnon or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Tucker Carlson has to offer.....something that won't fade away in a month or two.....then open God's Word.....I'm at forty years now....and every day now is praise offered for that day....whenever it was.....back in 1981.....when I opened the Bible to actually read what God wanted us to know!

Update on the above: It is reported that Anthony Fauci commented on Monday that "the anti-vaccination movement is bigger than we realize." He called it...."very disturbing." What is happening is more than merely....very disturbing....because it is experimenting with the very way that we process information.....which was already seriously edited by postmoderism. It also has been reported that Dr. Fauci is the highest paid government employee. For what he is being subject to....double it.....no triple it! We used to be outraged at what happened to Robert Bork at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings....and Clarence Thomas....and Brett Kavanaugh.....but what is happening to Fauci is far worse. Fauci's salary apparently is $440 thousand dollars....the minimum wage of a major league baseball player is $570 thousand dollars. That could be a player who hits 220 and gets in 20 games a year. Their facts on Dr. Fauci's salary are correct....the usage of that fact is the bottom of the barrel. 

I had the unfortunate experience of watching last evening's monologue of Tucker Carlson....who I would describe as having close to the influence....or at least the potential of influence....that Rush Limbaugh had on what once was a conservative movement....but none of the wisdom! I mentioned this problem a few days ago in a regular post....concerning evangelicalism today....where the generation of ministers that followed the Billy Grahams and R. C. Spouls have nowhere near their biblical insight and discernment. I've tried to emphasize this point a half dozen times particularly to Christians....flee these people....flee these people....talk radio and Fox cable. They think that they are just giving common sense....but it is no longer common sense....but political reflex....as they have no real beliefs other than elections have to be won....force has to be used....and ethics and truth are only barriers to accomplishing the goal.

While campaigning the first time in 2016....in front of a large crowd....and in response to a news story at the time....Donald Trump said to the pleasure of that crowd...."The mob takes the fifth....If you are innocent why do you take the fifth?" I don't bring this up because his son and his chief financial associate are reported to have taken 'the fifth' 500 times recently....for that is obvious....but I bring it up because it is not only on legal issues.....but in every possible area of life....and in almost every day of his life.....that Donald Trump has no concept of what the word truth might mean. It doesn't matter if it is something minutely insignificant as crowd size....or on impeachment issues....no answer he gives will have been placed on any grid of truth. The urban liberals remember Donald Trump from when he was a part of them....and thus they despise him because they know his schemes. Republicans like me who actually have read into Trump's life know him. It is only those who never knew who he was....and refuse to read anything about him....who cannot see how truth is totally meaningless to him.

Why Do I Say That Donald Trump Is A...."Genuine Biblical False Prophet?"

                That Donald Trump has consistently promised over the past six years that America's best days are ahead is undeniable....but does that qualify him as a biblical false prophet....for he isn't the only politician to use future prosperity as a campaign tactic? Ronald Reagan for one used the phrase....Morning In America....in his 1984 campaign for reelection....but that was in the midst of a wonderful awakening of sorts to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I worked in a coal-fired power plant at the time....shift work....ankle deep many days in either coal dust or lime slurry....and yet there was a time during that period when many in our crew after a midnight shift....tired and wanting to go home to bed....stayed afterwards for a prayer meeting! New born again believers were all over the place....and I was one of them. Reagan was a humble man....and I previously posted here on how he was once asked in 1972 if he would run for president.....his answer was...."No....Lord willing I'll complete my second term as governor." Jimmy Carter would use the phrase Lord willing often...and Abraham Lincoln....in his seven minute second inaugural speech where he refused to pump up the crowd....referenced God's will....as he did many times in his writings.

               We don't want to hear Michael Cohen's opinions of course....for we are told that he is a liar....but in his memoir he wrote that after a meeting in 2011 where evangelicals laid hands on Trump....he said afterwards to Cohen...."Can you believe that (B-S)?" Gullible evangelicals....often the most outrageous of charismatics such as Trump's chief evangelical adviser Paula White....had met in the White House many times....always ending the meeting with a laying on of hands. 
               Trump cultivated his evangelical support for over a decade....completely fooling Franklin Graham....and reeling in John MacArthur with a surprise personal phone call....where MacArthur blurted out probably the worst words of his entire ministry in saying to Trump...."Any real true believer is going to be on your side in this election..." I recommend to you that you take forty minutes to Google up and listen to a MacArthur Grace To You broadcast from May 8, 2015....forty days before Trump came down the escalator....titled....Beware Of False Prophets....and see if this does not describe Donald Trump.
               Messianic rabbi and popular Christian author Jonathan Cahn led many Christians astray in presenting Donald Trump as the biblical Jehu. Charisma Magazine's Stephen Strang has been a front-line supporter of Trump....as has Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress who is another who had been vital to Trump's evangelical support....and election....and there were many others....yet I remember....and posted on at the time......how Trump used the expletive....G-D....twice at a rally.....filled with evangelicals....one of whom behind Trump on the video simply raised her Trump sign up in front of her face because of the embarrassment.
                Not only have individual churches been divided over this politician....whole denominations have had serious disagreements. Donald Trump is indeed right smack dab in the middle of evangelicalism in America. We have followed him in greed and power seeking and revenge. We destroy reputations at will....as in the case of Anthony Fauci. Our compassion to those suffering from Covid has disappeared....relegating hundreds of thousands of deaths simply to pre-existing illness. Trump's having played politics in the early days of Covid....which set back the fight against the virus....means absolutely nothing to us. Dr. Fauci said only a few days ago that the biggest problem faced in fighting Covid was the divide in America....a divide that evangelicals became willing participants in fomenting.
                Donald Trump is not just another politician that says that good times are ahead....for he came down that escalator into the middle of evangelicalism....a wolf in sheep's clothing....cultivating....bewitching....and finally devouring many of the sheep. Politics has no place in the pulpit....nor in my belief even the stars and stripes up next to the pulpit....but when a politician is also a false prophet....the pulpits need to warn....and this they have not done.....not even today....as the false prophet may prove to be something even worse.
                I'll close with this....it was at a rally in Phoenix in late 2017....Franklin Graham was given the microphone and gave a wonderful prayer....which I tried to type as fast as he spoke....and this is what I posted of it.... "Our Heavenly  Father....you've blessed our country more than any nation on earth and we acknowledge that apart for you we have no hope....we come tonight....as a troubled nation....we're broken spiritually....were divided politically....we're divided racially....we are adrift morally.....following whatever direction the wind of popular culture blows....with no regard for your word or the consequences of our disobedience....we ask tonight for your help....our sins have paralyzed us....as a country we seemed to have forgotten right from wrong....you warned us in your Holy Word the Bible that there would come a time when truth would become a lie....and lies would become truth....we come to you this evening confessing our sins as a nation....we confess the sins of our past....of injustice....of pride....of self-indulgence....we have failed to protect our young and our innocent.....and we ask for your forgiveness....we ask that you would unite this country for your glory....Father we need a shepherd....I pray that you would be the shepherd of our nation..... you are the God who restores our souls.....your rod and your staff they comfort us....and I pray this all in the name...the powerful name....the name of your son....the Lord Jesus Christ."
                The crowd....once again mostly evangelical....was quiet during the prayer....Graham walked off the stage....followed by Vice President Pence....and almost immediately the crowd was again shouting at the top of their lungs....."USA....USA....USA....USA...USA." This is only part of what the false prophet has done to the church....taking our mind off of the only hope that we have.....our Lord and Savior and coming King....in power and glory and judgment....Jesus Christ....and placing that hope on a mess of pottage....served up by yes....a genuine biblical false prophet.      

"Stand In The Gate Of The LORD's House And Proclaim...."

The seventh chapter of Jeremiah begins with this: "The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 'Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD'."

The point of Jeremiah's words above was that Israel's reasoning was that...."the Lord would never bring calamity on His own temple"....this as John MacArthur phrases it in his study bible. We in the church today are reasoning in the same way that Judah and Jerusalem did....for we think that God would never bring calamity to us....but read through Jeremiah....(we in America should be in that book often anyway).....and see how God's own people could so deceive themselves.

Chapter 9 verses 23, 24 tells us this...."Thus  says the LORD: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,' declares the LORD."

And we might keep close Paul's words from 2 Corinthians 2: 17, 18 ...."Let the one who boasts, boasts in the LORD. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends."

They Could Not Discern The Darkness Of The Day

Update....February 1, 2022: Just yesterday a friend showed me a YouTube that has gone somewhat viral. It is from a series of skits that a musical family in England puts together as they deal with the restrictions from the coronavirus. They are all song parodies....and in this one the family uses Leonard Cohen's famous composition Hallelujah. After watching it I did explain a little to my friend the issue with Cohen's song that many evangelicals consider to be Christian....and how I posted on the playing of it at Trump's rally on the Ellipse on January 6 of 2021:

I published the paragraph below in a DISPATCHES post just before noon on that infamous day....January 6 of this year. The violence at The U. S. Capitol had not yet begun. I typed real time....as it happened.....and I had to turn the television off because it was upsetting how Donald Trump was working up this crowd....."unnerving"....being the actual word that I used. Everyone thought in the days that followed that this was the end of Donald Trump. 

This is what I typed on that Wednesday morning....

"Wednesday morning at 11:30....The melody is beautiful.....there's no denying that....and it gives me chills....but the wrong kind of chills. I'm talking about Leonard Cohen's....Hallelujah. The word 'hallelujah' is special......for in essence it means....'praise Yahweh'.....or....'praise Yah.' I cringe when I hear in used other than where it should be used....and that includes Neil Diamond's.....Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show. So I booted up the computer a few minutes ago to hear what President Trump was going to say in his appearance at the Washington protest/rally.....and Cohen's song was playing. The chills were there.....and I didn't like it....but to make matters worse.....as the video feed showed from the rear of the first twenty or so rows of people....I saw a few raised hands....swaying back and forth to the song.....as if in a charismatic church. What were they praising...for it's hopefully not the object of the Cohen song? Trump eventually came on.....he is speaking now....and I had to turn him off....because folks it is unnerving....the sway he has....as this very large crowd chanted.....fight for Trump....fight for Trump....fight for Trump!

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

 The following was first posted on July 2 of 2020:

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

A Heavenly Genealogy

My wife and I went out today for a Middle Eastern lunch at a favorite spot....and then browsed a little bit at a store that sells home furnishings. It was nice to get out for we haven't done too much of this in the last two years.....something that was almost a weekly occurrence before that. One thing caught my eye....and we bought four of them....green table placemats....with the design of a tartan on them. After I placed them on the table the post below came to mind. It is self-explanatory. I first posted it in 2012. I have something else to add from our day out. I should have a bumper sticker that reads...'this car stops at all Barnes & Nobles'....for we did stop. Segue to a sermon that I heard within the past week from John Piper. In that sermon he highly recommended a obscure little book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer titled....Life Together....subtitled by the editor.....The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. Since Piper was so high on the book....I knew that I should read it.....and never thought for a moment that I would ever see it on a Barnes & Noble bookshelf....but lo-and-behold....there it was today.....and I am going to open it up just as soon as I post this....which should be in about thirty seconds. Hopefully I'll give a little review of it after I read it.

A Heavenly Genealogy

          I was never much interested in genealogy. My surname is about as English as you can get, although I'm primarily Scotch-Irish, and there is a well known and much visited tower in London with the same name. My wife and I had an interesting experience almost two decades ago. (three decades ago now) A very popular and prolific Christian writer of historical fiction started a new series of books and a main character of the first book had my first and last name. Not only that but my wife thought that his physical description described me right down to the scar on the left cheek; the character's scar from dealing with the turmoil at the time of King Henry VIII and mine, not so heroic, from an infected spider bite while in the army. William Tyndale and John Bunyan even make appearances in this Reformation era book! She even wrote the author about this and received a very nice reply.
          I 'm really interested in hearing about other people's genealogical history. I just have no interest in my own. It wouldn't matter in the slightest if my ancestors were princes or paupers. There's only one ancestor that I'm concerned with and that is Adam in the Garden of Eden. I inherited his sin just as much as I inherited my father's high forehead. There's only one inheritance that matters and that's the imputed righteousness of Christ. This topic of conversation came up between my son and me when he was about 13 years old. I sat down at a computer and drew up this tartan that you see at the top. Every color in it has a meaning. The green signifies the world, the yellow the church and the scarlet line in the middle is the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed for us on Calvary. So this is our tartan of a heavenly genealogy, an adoptive Father and a spiritual Brother who is also our Lord, Our Savior and our coming King!

Update on the Dietrich Bonhoeffer book. It will take me a while to finish this book of little over 100 pages....because I seem to be highlighting every third sentence....but I can say even while only on page 24....order this book!