It is the essence of what a Christian sermon should be. It is up there with the most wonderful and powerful sermons that I have ever heard. It is as profound as anything that Charles Spurgeon has ever given....and he was the best of the best. It will.....if listened to....prostrate the most devout....but still be ignored as boring by those who cannot hear or recognize the Shepherd's voice....'most' of those who cannot hear I should say....for it will convert.....wonderfully convert.....those who God chooses to call to Himself.
I listen to John Piper preach....and know that as I am as fortunate in being able to do this as any of those who were fortunate in the past to sit before Spurgeon or J. C. Ryle or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or any of the other faithful pastors that God has given His church....from the beginning until today.
There is movement in God's church today....but you have to look for it. I have seen a few national ministries beginning to preach on the return of our Lord and Savior.....not warn necessarily of what is happening all around us....but at least put before their congregations the glorious and yet terrible Second Coming. I heard one national minister just this morning on his program teach on the four horses of Revelation six. It was in all likelihood just plane wrong....not heretical in any way.....for not only can we not interpret this passage with certainty....we also cannot be as dogmatic on what is not true. The important thing is that this minister felt the need to bring this before his audience. He will learn as time passes....as we all will learn....as the nearness of Christ becomes even closer.
This sermon That I am oh so hoping you will listen to....is not on prophesy....for it is on the glory and the oneness of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It has a great help within it on our everyday problems....but the essence is that Christ is preparing a place for us. Please give this short sermon a chance. It is today's Sermon of the Day from desiringgod.org.....or you can Google it by.....'John Piper. I Am The Way, The Truth, And The Life.' I listened to it twice today while working around the house....and plan on....Lord willing....listening to it on the road this evening with my wife present.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
This Is One Way That God Is Blessing His Church Today
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
DISPATCHES
Saturday....March 12: Someone asked me this question today....so I thought that I would post here the exact answer that I gave. The question was one that seems to come to people's mind first on what is going on in the Ukraine...."What would Putin do if Trump were in office?" First of all....Putin loved Trump being president....he did everything that he could to help him beat Hillary. Trump paid back the favor by pleading Putin's case a number of times....including taking Putin's word over that of every one of our intelligence agencies....this on whether Russia interfered in the election. Secondly....Trump had no idea what to do when he took office....he never expected to actually win. He had to make cabinet appointments....and knowing nothing about anything....he took advice. The advice that he took on all the appointments that related to our national defense was good advice....Mattis and Bolton and a number of others who were very capable....particularly VP Pence. So the original question should be more...."What would Putin do with people like this all around the president?" Was it Biden and Afghanistan that emboldened Putin? Where to start on that? I'll just give a Tweet Trump sent out in July of 2021...."I started the process, all the troops are coming home, they (Biden) couldn't stop the process. 21 years is enough. They (Biden) couldn't stop the process, they (Biden) wanted to but couldn't stop the process."
Thursday: I supported Ted Cruz right up to the 2016 convention.... and lavished praise on him here in these posts after his 21 hour filibuster on Obamacare in 2013....but his has been the single biggest collapse of a conservative that I have ever witnessed. In his latest attempt to make himself relevant he joined the trucker freedom protest in the capitol....and said that the message to the government should be...."Leave me the hell alone"....and on having to show papers...."That's none of your damn business." A crowd member shouted...."You should run for president"....to which he responded...."Thank You." Sad.
Tuesday morning: William Barr was interviewed on NBC by Lester Holt. Former president Donald Trump then wrote a very typical 'Trump diatribe' type of letter to Holt. You can easily access the interview and the letter through Google. I was present a few weeks ago when Barr was interviewed.....honored really....on a very conservative college campus....and posted on that....and today....in a few hours....Lord willing....I hope to begin reading William Barr's just published book....One Damn Thing After Another....and post on it as soon as possible.
Donald Trump rules the Republican Party as would a king. He was duly nominated and elected in 2016....but only anointed and christened for his second nomination. When he demanded that we use his own book of prayer titled....We Are One Glorious Nation Under God....many of us said no. When it became apparent that he was losing his mind....many more said that must go. He continues to reign as I type....becoming more of a reign of terror as time goes on....as the number of dissenting voices in the parliament increase....now seeing that the emperor....the king in this case....the former president to be more specific....has no clothes.
We are on the brink of world war....and from our side literally pounding our president every moment of every day....with Kamala Harris in the wings. I had to ask myself how I handled it when President Trump was confronted with a similar situation in 2017 with North Korea....so I went back in these posts and saw these words in June from a post titled.....What President Trump Doesn't Need.
I thought I would add here a prayer that I posted for the then....President-elect Donald Trump:
Lord I lift this man up to you who is to become our president.... for mercies upon his soul Lord and for wisdom that might in turn lead to mercies upon we your children. I see myself in him Lord, not the fame or wealth or great abilities in business but in his blindness and even arrogance. I see myself when I was cast off from your blessings of grace and knowledge of your majesties....I see myself even now in need of the same mercies. Lord, you permitted him to attain that which this world calls great success...show him that it is but a dung heap. He finds himself in a position that he believes talent and purpose has brought him....maybe even fate as he perceives fate to be. Surely his countenance of supreme confidence must dissipate at night when he has nothing to do but lie in bed and contemplate what has happened to him in the last year. Surely Lord the responsibilities must unnerve him. Does he marvel Lord? I pray that he doesn't, for he would not marvel at what you have done for he has shown no inclination to consult you, therefore he would have to marvel at what he perceives he himself to have done....just as Nebuchadnezzar had marveled. In whatever is in store for him in this exalted position he is to assume I pray that if it be thy will that his eyes would be opened to the realities surrounding him...the realities of a world that has rejected its Creator and will therefore be judged by its Creator...and the reality that he also has fallen under this prideful self-exaltation and is in need of the mercy of redemption. Cause him to tremble Lord....at your holiness....at his sinfulness....and if it be in thy plans to have mercy upon us then cause him to humble himself before you just as you did so with us.... and that the accompanying eternal and unsurpassable blessings would also be his as they are ours. I ask not Lord for him to be the champion that he projects himself to be, for you alone Lord are our champion...our captain...and our king. I ask not Lord that our nation would merely be granted more time to move further away from you... but that it would...in whatever time you give us...display clearly to the world a refusal to follow the schemes of those whose plans are for building a new world in total antithesis to you its Creator. Lord, this man is not alone in need of mercy for we ourselves have failed miserably. Show us this Lord....and set us apart once again....for your purposes. If you should will it that we return to you then no force on this earth or in the heavens can thwart our return. Lord, this man has advisers all around him. Some acknowledge that only you cause nations to rise and to fall but most do not acknowledge you. Blind this man who will be called the president to those that are blind to you Lord! Give this man no strength apart from trust in you Lord, for any other perceived strength is worthless and deceiving. Then should turmoil come, we shall have perfect peace Lord...not necessarily peace as man views peace...but peace in the midst of travail....our minds set upon you who not only created the heavens and the earth but controls everything and everyone in this your creation.....and if peace should come....as man views peace....we could do nothing but gratefully acknowledge that you have brought order out of chaos for thy glory alone.
Monday, March 7, 2022
Lord's Day Post
Preface to this Lord's Day Post from last June:
Typical day today....in that I listened to a Spurgeon sermon while.....doing some things around the house. Here's why I bring this up. In the middle of his sermon Spurgeon gave a strong opinion that I have held for almost forty years....and to be honest....it just felt good hearing it from him. He admitted that Sunday Schools were a good thing in many ways....but also said that their very existence shows that parents do not teach their own children.....which they should be doing. I stopped taking my family to Sunday School after a few years of seeing that these teachers are telling us....what I should be teaching my family....and what I already know....but the optics are good.
I think that Spurgeon might agree on this also.....I say this after listening to nearly a hundred.....probably.....of his sermons in the last few years.....(I also listen to J. C. Ryle and Whitefield and Edwards and on and on and on from men from the past.....and also men today who preach like men from the past......MacArthur and Horton and Piper and others) It is practically the norm.....when I listen to pastors today preaching on a passage of Scripture....that the presentation may be fine....and obviously study was done on the passage....but we can do that! (We are no longer in that age when only the clergy could open the scriptures to us!)
Folks....let me say this....if for some reason I had to step up into a pulpit and preach a sermon....it would probably be a disaster. I am not denigrating the vocation of pastor....I'm elevating it....to where it should be.....to where it has been from time to time. Not only can all these pastors of today not be Spurgeons....there may be none.....certainly few.....who God has blessed with such abilities. They don't all have to be Spurgeons....but they all have to have an unction for saving souls! Spurgeon himself testified that on the day he was.....'saved'....he stopped in a small Primitive Methodist church....instead of his regular church.....because of a snowstorm.....and not only that but the regular preacher could not even make it to the church that day.....so a very unlearned....Spurgeon used the word 'stupid'....(it was used in a different sense back then)....and that timid man repeated Scripture that God used to bring the most marvelous preacher in the past two hundred years to salvation.
Here's another anecdote on Charles Spurgeon....this from memory....as he was beginning his ministry he was to meet a man about possibly going into seminary type training....he showed up....but the two of them were in different rooms....unbeknownst to each other.....so Spurgeon went straight into the ministry. God obviously had His hand on plans for Spurgeon.....(and this is not to denigrate seminary.....only to show that God can make a great preacher out of the man cleaning your basement drains if He should want) So preachers....as Dickens' Oliver Twist said upon not being fed enough...."Sir, I want some more food." Don't merely give us an exposition that God has enabled every believer to see clearly on his own....remind us the majesties and the wonders of Christ....and of our the glorious salvation that He offers....for in these tents of flesh we are prone to forget....give us afresh the words that God has given you....strong words to be vigilant and watchful....because you have been called to do this.....and because you pray throughout each and every day....each and every hour of every day....and because you pant as a deer pants for water....for words to bring to us....that is what you do....right?
Saturday, March 5, 2022
"Lord....Didn't I Cite You As My Source When They Awarded Me That Oscar Statue?"
Preface: Please consider fitting this into your schedule sometime today. John Piper’s sermon for the day is so encouraging….yet so foreboding. Just Google John Piper…The present effect of trembling at the wrath of God.
Well tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day. How many times have I started a post out with that plea? Will the game end? Will the pastors finally forget about building their fancy churches....the more people the better....the more ministries the better....nothing but success as they want to be viewed....and all supposedly to the glory of God? The name of Jesus will be mentioned....maybe quite a bit....and the hymns will be sung....and laughter will fill the church before and after the service.....for that is what the church is in this day and age.
How would the average daily reading of God's Word.....of evangelicals.....and even Christians....(not that an evangelical is not a redeemed child of God but a distinction must be made today)....how would that discipline....if it is indeed a discipline.....be described? I've already on a few occasions given my opinion on the various....'read the Bible in a year'.....plans. Throw them out. There was a day when they would have helped but not today. What they do today is keep you away from what God is leading us to dwell upon. These plans actually limit our reading....and give a false confidence.
There should be reading in Old Testament prophets every day....if even only a few chapters. We should be paying particular attention to all of the end times-last days verses in just about every New Testament book....and the Psalms should....from constant use....be where our Bibles naturally open to. I don't think that there should be a Bible study today without tears....or a small group meeting without a wrenching of the heart.
Oh how we like to quote scripture in that we will not know the day or the hour! That has become our motto....and grand excuse not to pay any attention to any warnings that God's Word gives us....but do we even realize that we are also reminded....many times....and with great unction.....to be vigilant....to be awake....to constantly examine ourselves to see if we are still in the faith....to watch out for false teachers....and delusion?
Not only are we told that we will not know the day....but we are told that we will not know....when that day will not be! Bear with me on this. You do not know....and I do not know....that today may not be the day....of the beginning of God's final battle.....but also of our own lives! That alone should always have an impact upon us. We make so many plans....and yes we have to make plans....but never without full consciousness that this is only if God wills it. 'Should the Lord will it'....or....'Lord willing'....should be on our lips constantly in our conversations.
If we would but read the many Old Testament prophets with the diligence that we read 1 Corinthians 13 or Hebrews 11....we would see our ourselves! We would see America....and the world! We would then cry out....."Lord have mercy upon us for we have somehow traveled off of the path that you set before us!"
Permit me to use this odd paraphrase.....'Lord....didn't I hit that home run in the World Series....and give you praise for it?'.....'Didn't I throw that touchdown in the Super Bowl and give all the glory to you?'....."Didn't I sink that put in the U. S. Open and then tell all the golfers of America that I am a Christian?'.....but many of those will hear.....and many of us will hear...."I never knew you; depart from me..."
God's Word tells us that few will be saved. If you take any date in modern history.....there will be Christians throughout the world....but that number will be minuscule to the world's overall population. Yes....before the throne there will be...." a great multitude which no man can number, out of all the nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues"....(Revelation 7:9)....for there is already such a great multitude....but Jesus told us...."Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." If only our pulpits would once again preach this warning from Jesus found in the seventh chapter of Matthew.
Lord....have mercy upon our shepherds....and thereby have mercy upon us....for this world has us in its grasp....and will not let go. Open our eyes Lord! Open my eyes Lord! Show your glory to this world full of violence and arrogance. Strike fear into their hearts Lord. Give that fear once again to us Lord....only a fear of standing before Thy awesome power....knowing that it is only by thy mercy that we have not long since been consumed. Do this all Lord.....if it indeed be Thy will.....and all to Thine own glory!
Addendum: One of the core foundations underlying some very important doctrinal issues is that we all will do or attempt to do what we desire to do. Even if someone intentionally hurts themself it is because they desired to hurt themself. So on something such as the above....we will find reasons for not looking into these areas of God's Word....because it is not our desire to go where we do not desire to go. We do not take advice to seek out wonderful God glorifying sermons to listen to....which would strengthen us.....because it is not our desire to be strengthened in this way....and it is not our desire to find that we have made....and continue to make.....serious errors of judgment in our Christian walk. Whether the above post is correct….the beginning to finding God’s will is to pray for just that…’Lord…not my will but Thine….give me wisdom to see where I should go!’
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Supply Lines
There are reports from United States intelligence agencies that Russian troops may be running low on food and gas. It is also reported that the mud from a Spring thaw could inhibit their supply lines. Let us pray that God brings the rains and the mud.
Supply lines.....that's why I bring this up. Christians have supply lines also.....and I have posted on it a few times over the years. Only two days ago....as my wife and I were on a drive.....I lamented how I deeply missed the Christian bookstore that was once there. For all intents and purposes....Christian bookstores....brick and mortar....are a thing of the past. There are too few to make a difference.
Somewhere early on in these posts there is a comment on how Christian bookstores had become mostly trinkets and music and wall decorations. I was correct on that....and it was lamentable....and I certainly never hoped that they would just close up....but I did not consider what would happen if they indeed did close up.
Readers here may wonder what the big deal is....but books are a big part of my life. We owned a Christian bookstore twenty years ago....and I know the importance of not only providing good Christian literature to the church.....but having this done where anyone who would never....ever....consider going out of their way to find a Christian book....might stop in the store just like they would stop in any other store....to if nothing else browse....for that is exactly what I did in 1982.....browse....while my wife was in Penney's.....not even knowing what a Christian bookstore was....and walking out of that store on that day....with Josh McDowell's powerful apologetc work....Evidence That Demands a Verdict!
I know what you are thinking....that you can order any book on the Internet....and have it sent right to your doorstep....but consider this....first of all it made us lazy.....and contributed to the demise of the bookstores that we needed. Oh....I could tell you stories on that. I'll tell you one.....our local fine Christian bookstore...this about six or eight years ago....I knew the owner....who was struggling to keep the store open....a man stopped in one day and the owner spent forty-five minutes describing the different Study Bibles....the man then said that he didn't want to buy one but was going to order it online to get the cheaper price....the store went out of business.
Secondly....we are in the habit of reading only what our own group of Christians read. We don't even know that there are other interpretations out there. So if we are in fact Christians in a swamp of nonsense doctrine.....we are stuck there and will never get out.
The third point I already mentioned.....what about everyone else who needs what we so lightly just order up on the Internet for our own benefit?
OK....point made I hope. These stores were a major part of our supply lines in the church.....for decades! That supply line is cut.....not mired in the mud....cut....and we as a church are floundering. Billy Graham's crusades which for a half century were almost a staple on television....are gone....another supply line cut off.
The American megachurch....which every city of any size has.....might be considered by some as a supply line....but these churches by-and-large....recruit....not evangelize. They are in sales....not salvation. People who still have family values are lured in by the impressive building and the magnificent sound system and the entertainment and the safe space and comforting sermons....and to have their children taught....when once again if they were not lazy....they would have been doing that themselves all along. The church then finds itself in the position where it is difficult if not impossible.....if they even cared anyway....to preach the cross....and the blood....and repentance....and the cost of discipleship....and to warn....and nearly impossible to warn these conservative folks....to turn away from....or even be careful of false prophets....even false prophets in politics….for if they are offended then they will just find another megachurch.
DISPATCHES......(formerly ICHABOD)
"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
He had secured a place on the world's stage....with various summits....both economic and diplomatic....even garnering a small measure of respect in the process....but all of that is gone. Bold outright lies is what he gave the world leading up to the invasion....then lies on some forces withdrawing....then lies on going in as a peacekeeper. In perusing the Israeli newspapers over the past few days it is apparent that Israel is struggling with how to stand up to Putin. They need Russia's help in Syria....and they....particularly the Netanyahu wing....wants nothing to take their focus away from Iran. One tidbit of information was disturbing as Netanyahu seems to be relying on past agreements that he had made with Putin. Agreements? That means promises....from Putin. That means a secret covenant of some sort....with a man who has shown that he has no problem with telling lies.....and no problems with butchering thousands of people....and no problem with threatening death to tens of millions....even hundreds of millions of people
Who or what changed us? The first evidence of our change....on compassion anyway....came as we dealt with illegal immigration. We had the law on our side....there is no doubt about that....and our motives were initially compassionate towards all parties involved....but then we changed....and these were no longer people involved.....but statistics.....worse then that actually.....enemies. Then our nominee for president came to us with promises like this....that he would keep low-income housing away from the suburbs where we live....and we rallied in our golf cart and boat parades. Once again these were not people....but demographics. Then came the virus....and the deaths mounted up....and we had to find an excuse for not caring. We found it with the word....premorbid....'they were going to die anyway'....and....'they died with Covid-19....not from Covid-19. And now we can see the change on the issue of Putin and the Ukraine. Once again these aren't real people involved.....but just a corrupt 'client-state' population. So who changed us? How did we come to the point where we are morally outraged over a Canadian truck driver who is forced to get a communicable disease vaccination....but have stone-cold hearts as human beings die in war?
ICHABOD....Personal freedoms and liberty have become our god. The reason for this is that we lost the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our churches and evangelicalism on the whole. With that great hope no longer within us....at least no longer in the forefront of our minds.....our discernment atrophied to almost non-existence....our pulpits having buckled to the rantings of a false prophet....and chaos ruling everywhere in America.....we tried to assuage our guilt at no longer glorying in Christ by grabbing on to something to make us appear relevant. Thus we think that we are great patriots....still fighting the great enemy of a simple vaccine....and defending religious liberty....keeping churches open at all costs....in spite of the fact that they are mostly social gatherings….(the cross being replaced with the flag pin)....but we are as Hophni and Phinehas....who after a defeat to the Philistines....ran to get the Ark of the Covenant.....for surely God would give victory with that on the front line....but we were unaware that God had already departed from us.....Ichabod.....the glory has departed....as the child was named.
Here's but one thing that changed us....I'll put no names to this....just about all of them are cookie cutouts anyway....talk radio hosts.....formerly conservative talk radio hosts but now Trump talk radio hosts.....who I've pleaded with Christians for years to flee from these people.....flee from these people....they are taking you away from Christ! They mention God all the time....they will even use scripture....but they haven't a clue!
Thursday.....2/24/22....7:00 PM.....or 1900 hours military time: As of today there has been no public mention of reinstating the draft.....but expect talk of it before too long.....for they have no choice....as a two-front global war is definitely a possibility. The next draft will have no college deferments.....other than finishing out the semester that a draftee would be in. I doubt that the readers here would like hearing of this.....but we have had two decades and more to see where this world was heading....and what God's Word said about it....and to turn our attention back to where it should have been....on the God that planted this nation.....and sustained it for almost 250 years.....for His purposes.....not ours. We might want to keep this Bible verse in mind from 1 Thessalonians 5:3...."While people are saying,'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." I bring this verse up because we are in the habit of at least thinking about God when wars look to possibly be on the horizon....but just as quickly forget God and go back to our entertainments when war tremors subside....and our pulpits go back to telling us how much God loves us just the way we are....as if the pastors never imagined that we might in fact be like rebellious Israel or Judah.....oblivious apparently to Jeremiah's warning in 7:4...."Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD'.".....thinking God would never bring judgment upon His people.
John Piper....there have been a half dozen times or so over the past year when John Piper.....in one of the daily sermons available on his ministry website desiringgod.org.....made me laugh....either out loud or in my mind....for he expressed an opinion of concern on something that also bothered me....and I thought I was the only one....(a problem in itself)….so I laughed.....or at least smiled. I have never encountered a pastor such as he who so often and purposely as he does....voluntarily displays vulnerability. He lays it all out there....for the benefit of us the hearers....letting God protect him if God would so will it....whereas the rest of us.....although we can be humble at times....must first.....even before being humble....protect ourselves. Today's daily sermon is maybe the best example of this that I have heard from him. If you choose to do so....go to desiringgod.org....hit on the menu at the top right....hit on podcasts....scroll down to Sermon of the Day....or if you want....Google....John Piper, I Act The Miracle. I'll tell you this much of it....the topic is sanctification....and I don't know about you....but that is something that I have so often questioned God with....'Yes God....but how?" Piper lays himself open here....in order to try to answer that question,
CPAC....Conservative Political Action Conference....has been around a long time....and is going on right now in Orlando, Florida. Trump will be the main speaker of course....and according to the website there will be about fifty main speakers and close to one-hundred and fifty who will in some way speak. I just read the headline where in the speech from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis....he told the audience to "put on the whole armor of God' so that the 'shield of faith' will stop the arrows of the Left. Pastors.....do you have anything to say about this?
David....The Plague....And The Census
Preface: The following is from December 1 of last year:
I wonder how familiar we are with David and the census and the plague? You can read about it in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. For whatever reason....pride probably....David wanted a census to be taken....'pride'....because it would show how strong Israel was. His commander Joab questioned him about it but David gave the order anyway for the census to be taken.
The results of the census are given in 1 Samuel as Israel having 800,000 men able to use a sword....and Judah 500,000.....but Chronicles lists Israel as 1.1 million men.....and Judah with 470,000. It appears that Chronicles listed more than just men trained for battle. Whatever the explanation David knew right away that he had 'greatly sinned' by conducting the census.
God gave him three options on the judgment to be handed down to him....and David took the third option.....pestilence. You need to read both accounts with a little bit of help from a study bible because this isn't something that God offered every day....and there is more than one area here that we need help on. 70,000 people died of the plague the first day....and God stopped it....even before the plague reached all areas of the nation.
We have over ten times the number of deaths in America in this pandemic....but probably a hundred times the population of Israel and Judah at the time. God's methods in this may have been unusual....but bringing a plague as judgment was not.
Now the world certainly doesn't see this pandemic as judgment from God....but I don't know if the church even considers it as judgment....and if it does....the judgment is probably on the unbelieving world and the evil Democrat Party and not us.
From day one of our part in this pandemic....that which was most on our mind was the 2020 election. Had our pulpits spoken up it might have been different....but they did not. Add to this the roar of the lion....where Donald Trump was a no-show in the pandemic at first....then reluctantly agreed to some of the restrictions he was advised to give....and then got tired of that and began to harp on Fauci and others....then came the unsuccessful election....and all hell broke loose....and I'm not just being figurative in that assessment.
Today....not only do we not even come close to thinking about God's judgment....we ridicule the entire matter. Good men and women.....dedicated men and women in the field of science....have had their reputations destroyed. I am 71 years old.....and have followed politics for over a half century....and have been a flag waving radical conservative evangelical for decades.....but this before me every day in the form of talk radio and Fox and MAGA and January 6 and purging and destroying is no more what we were at one time than how the Democrat Party today is nothing even similar to what it had once been!
The pandemic was not the first of judgments on us....and it won't be the last....but you see....evangelicalism today wants to make America great again....it doesn't want to hear anything about Jesus coming back in judgment....for we have plans....and there is no place in those plans for any tribulation or Antichrist or Jesus returning.
More Than A Primer On Taiwan
It was like what I would imagine getting into a time machine and traveling back forty or sixty years would be like. You can watch this video simply by Googling....Mark Esper Interviews Joseph Wu.....or you can add former defense secretary before Mark Esper.....or Taiwanese Foreign Minister before Joseph Wu.....or throw in McCain Institute. I think I've made it easy enough.
So maybe you are a college student....busy with studies yes....and maybe not even a political science or history major.....take the time to listen to this interview....for it is the world in which you live.This is almost an hour long interview but it will seem to go fast....in this day and age when you might want to scream listening to government leaders or politicians because you know that they are not opening up....or you know that politics is driving their comments....or you can't listen to this guy or gal who is where they are only because some political strategist thought that they have some shiny lure to attract a voting populace that will always snatch up the bait.
Well first of all since Mark Esper was directing the conversation one could count on it being to the point and without politics.....but this Taiwanese foreign Minister Joseph Wu not only was on top of every issue discussed....but somehow answered every question.....fudging nowhere....sidetracking nothing....and doing all this with an extreme clarity.
This issue of Taiwan and China will have its day.....so get a leg up on all of this and put the hour in to hear this extraordinary....more than a primer on Taiwan....what in effect is more valuable than any seminar that I can remember sitting in on....and most political science classes. Do I sound impressed? Watch it and make up your own mind.
I'll only add this one anecdote. Mark Esper asked Joseph Wu in what time span he thought that China might attack Taiwan. The answer was the same one that I have mentioned a few times in these posts....as Wu said that they do not think in terms of years....but instead watch for serious internal disruptions within China....such as the collapse of their economy might cause....for then China would be most likely to act.
OK.....there's the geopolitics.....you don't think I'm going to let you off without comments on the gospel of Jesus Christ do you? I'm going to do it this way....if you do listen to this interview and all of a sudden believe that you have a handle on what is going on with China and Taiwan....well.....and I have encouraged readers here on more than a few occasions....Google up and listen to some sermons from men of the past.....or men who preach like men of the past....and you will feel the same sense of....Eureka! So that's what it's all about!!! Try John Piper or Charles Spurgeon or J. C, Ryle.....for that is but three of whom you cannot miss. There are plenty of others but get grounded here....and you will be able to spot them easier.
Fifty Years Ago Today
The following post....What Did We Expect....was from March 31, 2020. The government announced that 100,000 to 240,000 coronavirus deaths were possible. By the end of the year vaccines were developed and approved....and everyone was thrilled....this before we were taken in by conspiracy theorists....and thus the lingering and the protests eventually brought on more deaths....we are over 900,000 now....and extended the end of the pandemic to who knows where? Ten days later Trump said this in response about the number of possible deaths...."could be 60 [thousand]....could be 70 [thousand]....could be 75....could be 55." This is the mind that....launched a thousand Tweets....and sunk conservatism and evangelicalism and talk radio and Fox News in the process.
What Did We Expect
The plane that I was on left Tan Son Nhut Air Base outside Saigon on the same day that Air Force One landed in Beijing....February 21, 1972....(fifty years ago today!) This was President Nixon's attempt to make war with China less likely....or so he explained it as such. Four months previous....mainland China was admitted to the United Nations as Taiwan was expelled. Four months after President Nixon's arrival in China....burglers were caught at the Watergate Hotel. On April 30, 1975 the Chinese variation of the Soviet T-54 tank rolled onto Tan Son Nhut. China was admitted to the World Trade Organization on December 11, 2001....three months to the day after 9/11.
Today our relationship with China is like a clematis plant that has climbed in and out of the wires of a trellis. As a matter of fact the whole world is the trellis as China's economy weaves its way up and around and through.
China persecutes many of its people....and steals intellectual property....and its influence around the world has been spreading as an invasive plant. What did we expect? Its economy is said to need an annual 6% growth to sustain itself. We not only allowed this economic powerhouse to come about....we wanted it to grow....and we continued to feed it.
If China's economy were to totally collapse....what would happen? Economists attempt an answer on the economic side....but its our intelligence agencies that attempt to answer the sociopolitical concerns....but what good would that be anyway....for President Trump doesn't believe them. Well he may now with his own appointees in there.
It would have been one thing if our economy had been suffering and people were out of work in great numbers.....but that wasn't the case as we were constantly told that we were the greatest economy in the history of the world. So why did we pursue a risky tariff war? Was it on principle? Does Donald Trump seem to you to be a man who acts on principle?
China was being pressured big time. Their communist leadership was moving back to a cold war stance.....and then the virus hit....and if it subsides China will then be taken to task. The Pentagon announced just today that the Marines are changing their training and equipment to focus on a more likely 21st Century war with China.
If one is building a giant skyscraper hotel....one might be able to go back and forth on almost a daily basis....'OK we'll do it this way" and then "No we'll do it that way". If you make a mistake....worst case scenario you're out a few million bucks...but in world affairs as serious as potential major wars we need consistency. We don't need a novice stomping around saying that he's the smartest man in the room. Do we want China to at least survive....or do we want it to collapse? Let's look to both the immediate and long-term repercussions before answering that.
What has been getting in the way of common sense is the greed of profiteering....which is short-sightedness. The tariff war was ill-advised. The dispersions cast upon NATO were ill-advised....as were purging of experienced intelligence people because they were not a rubber stamp....and as was the arm-twisting of the Fed....as was a number of other decisions made only to increase profits that were supposedly through the roof already. Whatever decisions will be made on China have to take into consideration what the communist leadership might do if their backs are absolutely up against the wall.
The Game Of Kings
The following....including the preface....is from December of 2018:
Preface: What bothers me is that President Trump does seem to play chess......"take that pawn....take that pawn.....take that pawn.....ooh there's a knight....money money money"....but does he even realize that the opponent on the chess board makes moves also?
The famous Bobby Fischer/Boris Spassky world championship chess match was held in July and August of 1972. I was a month short of getting out of the army. There was really no job here in the states....at least in the short time anyway....for those who did what I did....so I was relegated to being an afternoon CQ for a few months....(CQ.....Charge of Quarters....one who simply watched the front door of the barracks while keeping a log). So I had ample time to follow the Fischer/Spassky match.
Bobby Fischer had an IQ of 180 as tabulated in 1958. Chess was his life. He learned Russian simply to be able to read about their chess....but his arrogance got the best of him as he totally and utterly collapsed later in his life.....making some of the most outrageous geopolitical statements imaginable.....and died at 64.....the number of spaces on a chess board.....but in chess.....he was a Michelangelo.
The Ukraine is not a member of NATO. Putin obviously wants that territory back in Soviet control. Yes...Soviet control. There's only one Soviet today.....Vladimir Putin....who watched intently President Trump's threatening comments on NATO. He knows very well how disunited these United States are today. He even knows of the chaos that an American military draft would look like. He knows that the times...they are a-changin'. What he doesn't know is the omniscience and omnipotence of Jesus Christ....or His words at the conclusion of the book of Revelation...."Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done....I am the Alpha and the Omega....the first and the last....the beginning and the end." (Revelation 22:12)
Putin does know chess....and he knows an endgame when he sees one. Meanwhile the Communists in China look at Taiwan in much the same way as Putin looks at the Ukraine. We are applying pressure on China right now for a number of reasons but the primary reason is that they are limiting our profits back here at home. We are all about money right now. Odd isn't it.....how on the one hand we are told that we are the richest we have ever been....yet we are playing with fire to become even more rich? Whether he likes it or not....President Trump is in a chess game and is moving his pieces fast....not even knowing how some of them move....having no idea that a major piece can be purposely sacrificed to lure an opponent into checkmate....all this as a new world order evolves.
We really don't think that there will ever be any more world wars do we? Oh nations will threaten and jostle each other but wiser minds will prevail. That's the problem. The communists are patient....and they may be pragmatic....but they are wolves. Chess is called the Game of Kings....but Jesus Christ is the King of Kings......"And on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." Maranatha....Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 19:16)
Give glory to the LORD your God'
Before He brings darkness
Is The Pandemic....The White Horse....Of Revelation Six
I want to keep this November 29, 2021 post up near the top of the page to increase the exposure to the concept....which is....'What if the Tribulation has already started?' Go ahead and laugh....but I bet it's a nervous laughter....because there is no more ignoring what is going on in this world! I think that it would be a good topic for cell groups....or Bible study....or even if you have friends over. This pandemic has been a judgment from God in more ways than just deaths....as an already fractured society has been broken clear in two. The Second Coming to us right now is something that will happen....later on. There is no urgency to it whatsoever. So if the possibility of the Tribulation.....having already started....is even momentarily considered....the Second Coming would take on a whole new meaning. Can we not even discuss this....should we not even consider the vast difference between the two scenarios?
Preface: The following post was for shock value as much as offering something to think about. Whatever words or phrases we use today in describing the return of the Lord Jesus....they are just words. They may be based on truth....and by and large we all give our assent to them....but as for the Lord coming soon....well let me put it this this....you don't dwell upon something that you don't really want to happen. No....our Santa list is for first....a republican congress in 2022....and second....Trump or someone like him in 2024. The return of our Lord isn't even on the list. If the speculation in the post below would turn out to be correct....then the Tribulation....of biblical end-times prophesy....would have already started....either in 2019 or 2020. The white horse of Revelation six....with the bow and the crown....would be the pandemic....with war the next horse.
The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse has been a well-recognized phrase in American culture forever....as even Knute Rockne's backfield at Notre Dame in 1924 was given the nickname.....but I don't know if the phrase is quite as recognizable today. The other day I was talking to a young man....about 25 years old....about pipes.....tobacco pipes....and I happened to mention Bing Crosby. At first he thought I was talking about Sydney Crosby....and then said that he was not familiar with a Bing Crosby.
The first horseman of Revelation 6 has always.....quite naturally....as it should all of us....intrigued me. Many have thought....and still do.....that it points to Christ.....but most today believe it points to the Antichrist....with the bow signifying a man coming in peace.....given a crown to go out an conquer. I have never been convinced of either....thus I ponder on it occasionally....storing thoughts in the back of my mind. In doing this the other day.....my thinking led me to the post that is below. As for pondering on passages of Scripture....not yet fully knowing the complete meaning....I'm reminded of the words about the mother of Jesus in Luke 2:19...."But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." (ESV)
Word Of The Year.....or.....Bow and Crown
The Oxford English Dictionary each year chooses a....word of the year....after the issue is debated. For example they choose the word vax as their word for 2021.....and unprecedented for 2019. They describe the choice of the word as based on the "mood, or preoccupations of that particular year."
In 2018 they choose the word....toxic....originating from the Greek....toxon....or bow.......because in war....arrows were often dipped in poison. From this Latin gives us....toxicus....which gives us words such as....toxic and toxin.
I don't know why I pick up on things like this.....maybe it's because my only near-academic award came in a spelling bee as an eight grader. Speaking of spelling bees.....the 2009 Scripts National Spelling Bee winner was thirteen year old Kavya Shivashankar. It was odd that after extremely difficult words such as palatschinken and herniorrhaphy knocked out a few of the young contestants....she won on the word....pronounced to her as....lay-odd-uh-see-an.....or Laodicean....the word description given being....:"lukewarm or indifferent, particularly in matters of politics or religion"....another interesting word at the time as we surely had become in America a Laodicean church.
As for the Oxford English Dictionary....their "team of expert lexicographers" decided that no one word would be appropriate in such an "unprecedented" year as 2020....so they instead chose themes around Covid-19....the coronavirus....because of the monumental effect it has had on the world....so what is....corona? The Merriam-Webster definition for corona is...."something suggesting a crown"
William Barr....Up Close And Personal....Sort Of
I was able tonight to be in attendance on a college campus to hear former two-time Attorney General William Barr speak before hundreds of people. I believe the students had the opportunity to hear him earlier in the day. So I just want to give some of my impressions of a man after hearing him speak in person....a man who I had read an awful lot about in the past few years. He has a book coming out in a few weeks....and if you are interested in his life I'm sure it would be a good read.
The setting was three chairs.....a table....and bottled drinks. William Barr would simply answer questions. It was very informal....with a fair amount of humor....in front of an audience that obviously had great respect for Barr's lifetime of achievements.I took copious notes....in the darkened auditorium....and I have them here....but William Barr's life was not why I traveled about an hour to hear him. I knew that the Durham probe would come up....and the Mueller investigation. I pretty much knew what he would say....but I was more interested in if he opened up a little bit....in a the friendly confines of a conservative Christian college....and it appeared to me that he did just that to some extent. So hear are a few comments on those issues.
I thought that the former attorney general did a job on Robert Mueller....and that surprised me a little bit. Whenever he mention Mueller it was not only critical but a few times abusive. I doubt if it mattered at all in William Barr's mind that Mueller was a legitimate hero in Vietnam....and respected for decades....where Trump has ridiculed this type of patriotism his whole life....until he took on the mantle of patriot hero....and has not been respected in any way for honesty or ethics. As for Barr himself....he mentio
The other area was on Russian collusion charges brought against Trump. Barr's very strong opinion was that the charge of collusion was ridiculous....fair enough....but Barr's mind worked like this....since there was no collusion.....then obstruction charges were also out of order....because they came out of the collusion charges. When all this was going on....with Manafort and others....and Trump would tweet his code to potential witnesses against him....I could hardly believe that he would think that he could get away with it....for it was so obvious that this was obstruction of justice....and that is what Mueller strongly implied in his report....probably not thinking for a moment that people like William Barr would refuse to acknowledge it. That was Mueller's biggest mistake....the man was too trusting of republicans doing what was right.
William Barr has a long history of stellar....at times exceptional service to our country....and the high point was in his refusal to join Trump's Stop The Steal movement which led to the January 6, 2021 insurrection....(which wasn't talked about tonight).....but in so many other ways he has proved to be just one of the boys. By neutering Robert Mueller he gave Donald Trump new life to torment America and the very system of law of which Barr claims to be protective.
Green Flag
Preface: It appears that the general consensus in the American pulpit of today is that their job is to comfort us....and tell us how much God loves us. Oh there are churches out there with a pastor who has been pleading from the pulpit to take heed of God's warnings....but if you should drive by on a Lord's Day around eleven in the morning you will probably see about a dozen cars in the parking lot. All of the blame cannot be put on the pulpits because....like our government....they only give us what we demand....but had they warned us....had they told us that our entertainments were dominating us....and that our sports had become idolatry....and more recently had they warned us of false prophets and how we were turning from dependence upon God....to dependence upon politics and might and our own perceived powers....then we would still be in the predicament that we are in today....with chaos everywhere....and judgments on us from God increasing in number and severity....for it has been Nahum's message of impending judgment that addresses us today....no longer Jonah's with time to repent....but much of the church would have been set apart....sober-minded and vigilant....not taken in by bellowing politicians....not addicted to the cable and radio hosts who lead us away from dependence upon Christ. We in turn would not be demanding of them that they comfort us....but demanding of them that God's glorious name be extolled to all who would listen....and that they would never neglect to remind us of such a great salvation that could save someone like us....and that the comfort extended to us would be that our mighty king was returning....merciful yet in righteous judgment. The following was first posted in September of 2016:
The waves follow one another into shore and then return as would a youngster to the top of the water slide for another slippery ride down to the pool. The seagulls must know that summer is ending....as will their foraging between the umbrellas for french fries or potato chips. The sun, for a few brief hours anyway, hides behind a crusted meringue sky, for it has already taken its toll on worshipers, its belly full of burnt human flesh. The green flag barely blowing in a gentle warm wind informs.....'calm conditions (but) exercise caution.'
We trust these maritime flags when at the shore, their colors tell us when to worry or when to clear the beach entirely. We depend on warnings of all sorts, from doctors and financial managers and weatherman, and road signs, but none of these can guarantee safety, only one source for warning is 100% trustworthy but we don't consider it practical for it doesn't give dates....only what are perceived as vague seasons. Or are they vague?
The violent nature that America has taken upon itself should have caused us to call our children in from the surf. The attempts to purge our nation of anything Christian should have us packing up the umbrella and chairs and heading back to the condo. The pagan and occult partying through our entertainments should have us loading up our bags and heading home to beat the hurricane bearing down on the seaside community. The breakdown of families, the feminist assault on womanhood, and the recent attempts to mentally neuter all male children should have by now turned our pastors into firebrands of God's impending judgment on such a fallen land....but the green flag still flies on a pole signaling that the beach is all-clear but advising us to.....exercise caution.
The Durham Probe....And How Trump Will Use It
Preface: Not many are aware of what I'm going to describe here....but it is where we are today....with two sides in America that will gladly give you all the information that benefits them....even force feed you....but none of the information that does not benefit them. In order to discern what has transpired....one would have to do their own research....to actually think for themselves....and that is work....it is much easier to just find the cable or radio or podcaster whose opinions they prefer. I have to begin with a similar situation from two decades ago.
There is more than one problem revolving around the Durham probe....and they are beneath the surface....obscured by the sensational. Let me go back a ways....late 2002....when the Bush administration announced that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction....this as the United States was moving forward with plans for our response to the 9/11 attacks. I remember shaking my head on hearing this. Whether Hussein was doing this or not was not necessary. It had only been a year....had we forgotten the horror of 9/11 so soon that we needed even more evidence that Saddam Hussein and others like him had to go? I knew that if the claims of WMDs did not prove to be true then Bush's political opponents would attack him....and for political reasons work against our response to the 9/11 attacks. I have held this opinion since then....and can hardly even bring myself to think about how the sacrifices of our military have been muddied....just like they had been in in Vietnam.
I had the exact same foreboding concerns from the very beginning on what would become known as Russiagate developed. The legitimate concern was that a candidate for president....who might very well win....had extensive financial ties to Russia and Russian money...and this for decades. Eric Trump made it very clear that the Trump organization could get all the money they needed from Russia. To make matters more urgent....Donald Trump was a textbook kompromat candidate. That our intelligence agencies would have these concerns on the front burner would not only be expected....but we should want them to be vigilant in anything like this....no matter what party the person or candidate belonged to. We on our side would sing a different tune if A.O.C. were to become a serious candidate for president. In retrospect....Trump often took Putin's side....disparaging NATO....taking his word on election interference against our intelligence agencies.....meeting with him for hours in private....without even aides present!
There have been numerous books written on Trump's dealing with Russia....and many more on exactly how he built his financial empire....then lost much of it....and built up again....and who knows where it is now because nothing he says on this matter can be believed without verification. The Russian concerns extend here in America also....as he dealt with sudden oligarchs and new Russian money....and even locals where he lives in New York. Please keep in mind that we....all of us conservatives....do not read these many books....because we have been told that they are fake news.
I voted for Donald Trump in 2016.....not in 2020....and certainly never again....but along with most evangelicals knew very little about him. I only knew the tabloid personage of Trump....three wives....skyscrapers....golf courses....pageants....books that he supposedly wrote....an airline....a yacht....anything like this that made the news....and a long running television show that I had not watched one single minute of....but I did have serious concerns on the methods he used to attack people. It was a few months after he took office....after Ivanka and Jared and Luther Strange and and threatening the Freedom Caucus because they did not just automatically obey him.....(note: Trump eventually destroyed the Freedom Caucus along with conservatism and evangelicalism and the Republican Party)....that I began to.....take up and read....over ninety books so far....and after seeing who Trump has been his whole life....warn of him in these posts....particularly as it relates to how he has turned out to be genuine biblical false prophet....leading multitudes of evangelicals away from dependence on Jesus Christ.
The Durham probe may indeed have legitimate claims....probably does....but it is after-the-fact of all the legitimate concerns on Trump to begin with! Referring back to the above Preface....there is enough information out there for a PHD dissertation on how corrupt and untruthful Trump has been his entire life....but in his only true genius....he craftily indoctrinated us into ignoring all of it!
The problem even gets worse. We on the 'right' as we unfortunately are limited to in descriptions....have been fundamentally changed over the past few years....and this through direct involvement with Donald Trump. We spent many months early on saying....'let Trump be Trump'....thinking we could control him....but he not only controlled us....and continues to do so....he changed us....as we have only one sustenance needed in life today....to attack....and to hate. We must win. All the legitimate ideological and policy reasons are just weapons. Our heart is gone. Only the 'truths' that we deem important are to be mentioned....all the other truths are trashed as fake news.
Thus what we have with the Durham probe is but another opportunity for Trump to escape being known by us for what he is and has always been. The new progressive Democrat Party has given us abject horror now for quite some time....Trump has now given us that same abject horror for six years now....and is in line to give us more. Republicans in general may not awaken to how their minds have been taken captive....but God may awaken those who are known by Him. In such a case there would be a winnowing within evangelicalism....so prepare to be unpopular....to put it mildly. The pulpit has never been the place for politics....but it is the place to warn of wolves in sheep's clothing.....and of false prophets. Our pulpits have failed us here as of now.
May God have mercy upon these pulpits....and thus upon us also....for we all have traveled far away from His protection and His guidance. Join with me please...in this prayer....should you come to see what we have become.
Phil Robertson.....This Is One Cagey Critter
Preface: OK....please forgive me for the structure of the following post. I only did this once before....as Franklin Graham gave a wonderful prayer before a Trump rally....a prayer of humility and self examination....where everyone was silent until Graham walked off the stage....and then the shouting of USA...USA...USA began again....demonstrating that the prayer really meant nothing. I literally typed the post as Graham prayed. So I did that again today as Phil Robertson was interviewed on Breitbart radio. The host wanted to talk about Phil Robertson's book....Un...Cancelled....Finding Meaning And Peace In A Culture Of Accusations, Shame, And Condemnation....but maybe got a little bit more than he expected. Here is what I typed as Robertson spoke....the only changes being the spelling corrections:
Robertson began by saying that politics is not the answer.....and that...."we are to be subject to rulers and authorities....and show humility towards all men." He then quoted the Bible for about four or five verses upon which the host interjected and asked Robertson about cancel culture. Robertson again quoted Scripture.....and said that "everyone has to calm down....this thing is going to hell in a hurry here....love God and love your neighbor." I'm wondering what is going on in the mind of the host as Robertson twice has taken political questions and answered with long Christian answers...."be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power....our struggle is not against flesh and blood....unless there's a change in the hearts of our people....in us....this thing is going to implode. I was a sophomore in high school when they run Him [God] out....and they wonder why we are like we are." The host interjects....'why do we cancel people'.....where Robertson responds...."because these sorry low-down bucks think they are God." We are ten minutes into the interview and Robertson has quoted Scripture about eight of those minutes....he then begins a little bit of a testimony....."I repented at 28 and I've been following Jesus ever since....we ought to be ashamed of ourselves thinking we can go to a church building two hours a week and think we are following Jesus"....he then continues on another down-home description of the gospel...."I don't have a cell phone or anything....I don't watch that crap....i'm just a man in the woods.....it's a wonderful way to roll....we are in a culture where no one admits they were wrong....ever." Robertson continues on scripture again.....it's been fifteen minutes now....and 12 minutes have been on Christian testimony. The host says that he has one last question to ask....again on cancel culture. Robertson gives the words of Jesus on the cross...."Father....forgive them...they don't know what they're doing....there is one lawgiver.....I leave it up to God to cancel them. I'm going to let God do the judging....I love them as my fellow human beings....I hate the evil they do.....but we're all sinful....love your enemies....pray for the ones who persecute you....I hate to be kind of all preachery here but you gotta remember....I never been to preacher school....if y'all got a better story....lay it on me....I'm all ears."
Phil Robertson took over the interview. I do not think that the host understood the essence of the message that Robertson gave....one of seeking peace as things were getting out of control....for no sooner had the interview ended...and the host was back doing the very thing that Robertson was warning against. I'm not sure that Phil Robertson knows that the host is playing both sides of the fence....although he may very well know that....for he is cagey as the host seems clueless.
Pastors....Ministers...Theologians Of Any Variety....You Cannot Avoid This Forever
The pastor....the minister.....the theologian of any variety....needs to ask himself this question. Let me set the question up....you at bare minimum are aware of what is in the news. You may not be a political person....but you would have to be tone-deaf not to at least be aware of what is happening in the Republican Party over Representative Liz Cheney. (Along with Adam Kinzinger and many others) It's not complicated....as the powers that be in the party are trying to force her out of public life. Now....you also know that when these powers that be stand up in their committee meetings or conferences or whatever....and they demand punishment for Liz Cheney for having the audacity to oppose what is going on in the party....as absurd and atrocious as that demand is....that none of the lower-level party members are going to object at all....because....and this is important pastor....they are afraid of repercussions that may harm their own political future.
OK.....now....how does this concern you? You know.....all of you know....that politics cannot save us. There is not a one of you that would not agree to that statement. You all also are aware of the fact that too many....probably even a majority of people sitting in your pews....are lost in this very problem that you just admitted to being aware of! Now here is the kicker....that republican in the above paragraph....that lower-level party member congressperson....who in fear of losing their job.....sits back and watches.....(they do not have to join in....just sit back)....as unrighteousness triumphs....that republican....that lower-level leader.....is you....as you know very well that the people in your congregation....under your care.....need warned...have been taken.....and lured away from hope in Christ....but you refuse to do it.
For five years now you have refused to warn your flock....even as a genuine biblical false prophet ravaged the church. You sit back and act as if you are not even aware of what is going on....because to warn the sheep that you are supposed to be looking out for....would mean that you might find yourself in a similar precarious position as the lower-level republican leader who if they speak out would themselves be targeted....so you try your darndest to avoid the subject....lest you somehow might be forced to make a stand.
Your king is coming pastor....warn the sheep....pull them in....if God is for you....who could be against you? Will you not remind them to...."be all the more diligent"....to check the oil in their lamps....and to keep their eye on Jesus.....to watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing....or to at least be careful not to put our hope in princes and power....but to trust in our glorious Lord and Savior and coming King Jesus Christ?
"Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (John 12: 42, 43 NKJV)
First Things First
The verses below from 1 Kings are but part of Solomon's prayer of dedication of the temple of which it took him seven years to complete. He then spent thirteen years building his own palace. Many commentators point out that this indicates that Solomon was almost twice as interested in his own house than the LORD's....but the point can be made that it also showed that Solomon built God's house first....then worried about his own. The prophet Haggai addressed the same issue in a different way....as he encouraged the returning exiles from Babylon to rebuild Solomon's temple that had been destroyed. 'Encouraged' might not be the best word....for he gave them the word of the LORD...."You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house." (Haggai 1:9 ESV) When you consider the entire church today....all the liberal denominations and all of our church growth-forget the cost of discipleship strategies....you could say that it "lies in ruins"....so God might explain also to us....that we tried to rebuild our land....while ignoring the condition of the church....thus He just "blew it away." Solomon in his dedication....told the people that when there is a famine or a plague or when enemies besiege our cities....to look first to what part we played in these judgments....then offer prayer for forgiveness and mercy and reconciliation.
"When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men), that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers." (1 Kings 8: 37-40 NKJV)
A Tough Topic....That Needs An Air Of Anonymity....To Be Considered
This post is a day newer than the post just above it but I wanted it here because it is an extension of the thoughts from that post....those being that when I do not personally know the reader....I can be more direct....because they cannot assume that my posts might be in some way directed at them:
"They Are In A Better Place:
If I had a dollar for every time I heard or read that statement....or a statement essentially expressing the same thought....I might be a rich rich man. It can be very hard for a Christian....a Christian anyway who actually understands what redemption in Christ means....to give condolences to someone....and to hear them say that their loved one is in a better place....when there had been no indication whatsoever in the past that their loved one ever even thought about Jesus Christ....anymore than the thought they might give to whether or not their life insurance policy is up to date.
On a national level....concerning celebrities of one sort or another....how many times have we heard comments such as....'Oh they are singing in Heaven now'....or....'Oh he is making them laugh in heaven now'....when in this life they might be in between wife number six and wife number seven....and never in fifty years of making people laugh....ever mentioned God other than at God's expense in a joke?
A celebrity dies.....and they are automatically in heaven....their last film might have glorified the occult and violence and drugs and even atheism....but they are in heaven....and heaven help the person who implies otherwise.
These are egregious examples....but with people that we know personally it may not be as obvious....but every bit as serious. The church of today has in essence given up on this truth....that one has to be born again....ransomed.....redeemed.....adopted....in favor of that one only has to be breathing one moment....and not breathing the next....to be in heaven.
There has been yet another....'I died....went to heaven....talked to Jesus....and he sent me back....man was he cool'.....report from a major Christian ministry. Reports like this....over the decades....do nothing but keep people away from biblical truth on the afterlife. Our knowledge of God....and His Word....through His Word....is so thin today....that every experience is automatically accepted....and every opinion considered....except possibly opinions such as are in this post....which I am thankful to be able to give....where they are directed to readers anywhere....and thus that reader....anywhere....might take the words at face value....and not as words personally directed to them.
A Night To Remember....To Think Upon....And To Repent Of
Preface: if you are a pastor....and Satan's minions are not after you....then he really has no complaint against you.....for you are not causing him any trouble. You can grow your church into the thousands and he will be right there celebrating with you. All of the men who God has used mightily over the centuries were constantly under assault....in one way or another....often fighting off depression. None of these men took the easy way. None thought of themselves as worthy. None of them would sit back in a situation as we have today....and let false prophets and false teachers lead the sheep away from Christ....which is what this political movement is doing.
Consider this if you would....the first fifteen verses of the prophet Joel....a plague had absolutely ruined the land....a plague of locusts. Is not our land at this time just as ruined....as one type of 'locust' after another has eaten away at the fabric of our society? If you would even partially agree with this....then consider what God said to do in verses 13 &14...."Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth,You who minister to my God....Consecrate a fast....Call a sacred assemble....Gather the elders....And cry out to the Lord."
A Night To Remember....To Think Upon....And To Repent Of
We need to be reminded of the evening of February 4, 2020.....the State of the Union Address....and repent of what we either ignored or took part in....where on our side of the aisle we gloated....repeatedly shouting....."four more years"...over economic statistics that would have come with any republican president to have succeeded the policies of Barack Obama. As Trump boasted of his accomplishments....he skillfully covered up the greed and the pride and the selfishness that he alone truly did instill in us.
The celebration of that night was not unlike that of Belshazzar's Feast....where we brought out references to God....captured from a true Christianity far removed from the church of today....displayed in one instance as...."talent on loan from GAWD"....as Rush Limbaugh was given a medal that night....not for his decades of service to principles....but his four years of service to a man who merely uses those principles to seek glory for himself....and all this as there was handwriting on the wall....ignored as 'fake news'....of a judgment from God about to be revealed to the whole world....in a pandemic....a judgment that we mocked....and continue to mock....just as Pharaoh mocked God in the face of Moses.
Read the words that night from a genuine biblical false prophet....a false prophet that so much of evangelicalism fell under the influence of...."Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results....(of the past three years)....Jobs are booming....Incomes are soaring....Poverty is plummeting....Crime is falling....Confidence is surging....and our country is thriving....America's fortunes are on the rise.....America's future is blazing bright....our pride is restored....("Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" Proverbs)....we are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago....and we are never going back....we are advancing with unbridled optimism"....and the address ended with this...."This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Age, the American epic, The American adventure has only just begun. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising, God's grace is still shining, and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come."
Our shepherds had utterly failed us....and continue to fail as they fear repercussions from the pews....people taken in by the false prophet. We defend a constitution while ignoring God's Word and the warnings therein....as the words of the prophet Amos to Israel are now directed to us...."Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God..." (Amos 4:12)
Addendum: These weak and paltry attempts....in these posts of thirteen years now....to speak as a layman to the church....were far from my first efforts. Twentysome years ago I would type out very similar thoughts and messages.....and make copies.....usually about 125.....put them in envelopes....add a stamp....and send them off to Christians that I either knew....or went to church with....or just knew about. I put a title at the top of the page.....A Pilgrim's Progress. At the end of one of those....from 1999....in which I wrote about some very good Christians books that were published at the time....I added these words:
"Please forgive my rambling like this, for I look lovingly at these men but fully realize that it is Christ who redeemed me, it is the Father who chose the weakest, unsightliest jar of clay and it is the Holy Spirit who dragged me to belief, opened my eyes and gave me faith. And it is Christ again who keeps me, who keeps all of us, though we let Him down time after time. The modern church bears scant witness to the glories that underlie the gospel. Its doctrines permit man to credit His own choosing of Christ as evidence of his salvation. Christ is less than sufficient, the Bible is less than adequate and the Holy Spirit hastens to our beckon call. Large churches legitimize us, oblivious of the warnings to the Laodiceans. Reformed churches sit on the laurels of sound doctrine forgetting the command to the Ephesian church to return to their first love. Evangelicals pass out 'four spiritual laws' booklets with a place for a signature for salvation as if they were handling out coupons for a free Big Mac. Pray for a Reformation, that we return to the cross of Christ, that pastors would preach His glories, that fathers would teach His truths and that we would be salt and light to a destitute nation."
Five Men
C. S. Lewis was born in November of 1898....Martyn Lloyd-Jones in December of the following year....Eric Liddell in January of 1902....Dietrich Bonhoeffer on February 4 of 1906....and Richard Wurmbrand in March of 1909.....a time span of a little over a decade.
Lewis was the scholar....the Oxford Don.....and the prolific author....and he died on the same day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Liddell was the athlete.....the gold medal winner at the 1924 Olympics....his story made famous in the film Chariots Of Fire....his faithful testimony had an influence in my own salvation. He could have lived as a famed pastor in his homeland of Scotland....and competed in the 1928 Olympics....but choose to serve as a missionary in the country of his birth....China. He died a few months before the camp he was in was liberated. His death in that concentration camp was forty-seven days before the execution of this man....
Dietrich Bonhoeffer.....who gave us his valuable correspondence and writings....whose life was also depicted on film....(Bonhoeffer, Agent Of Grace)....along with numerous biographical books written about him.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a medical doctor....very accomplished....even acclaimed.....who noticed that as a doctor he would medically help to heal people....only to see them continue to live apart from Christ.....so he changed vocations....and gave us a long ministry in London to be thankful for....along with his sermons....in his actual voice....of which I have listened to dozens. He died in 1981.
Richard Wurmbrand was the last of the five to be born....in March of 1909....he was never martyred.....but the communists did everything short of martyrdom to him. The primary book that he left to us was....Tortured For Christ....if you are as old as I am....and that's old.....you had probably read it in the 1980s. Jewish born....in Romania....Richard Wurmbrand's ministry Voice Of The Martyrs...is still with us today....reminding us that we have brothers and sisters in Christ being persecuted...and tortured....and martyred....today.
Sometimes I wonder if C. S. Lewis ever met the famous athlete Eric Liddell. Surely he followed the story of Liddell's refusal to run on the Lord's Day. Nether man was a theologian.....both held doctrinal views that were very problematic. Was Bonhoeffer present at any of the events of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. If he was....he would have been warning the visitors from other nations about what was happening in Germany. His theology was also problematic at times. Richard Wurmbrand lived into the new millenium....dying in America in February of 2001. He witnessed the fall of Communism....but also witnessed the beginnings of the fall of the West. Even Martyn Lloyd-Jones was not without criticism. These men were born into the disasters predicted by Charles Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle. Bonhoeffer....like Liddell....could easily have....and was strongly encouraged during his visits to America to save himself and stay in America....but took the last vessel back to Germany before the war began....writing of it...."I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share in the trial of this time with my people."
Rumors Of War
They would have to be around 100 years old....but there are surely some in the Ukraine who would remember as the German war machine spent too much time on Kiev....dooming the effort to take Moscow....at least as to the testimony of some involved. I remember reading Khrushchev Remembers while at Pitt....my first real interest in Kiev and the Ukraine....this when I should have been reading textbooks.
More recently many Americans followed the political career over the years of Yulia Tymoshenko....probably because of her attractive appearance....and very distinct Ukranian style braided hair. More recently it was Paul Manafort....as reported on in the many books on Trump....and his nefarious dealings in the Ukraine....and then Hunter Biden....and Trump himself....and impeachment.
China will be hosting....hopefully only for the Olympics....with athletes from 91 nations starting in two weeks. Putin is scheduled to attend the opening ceremonies. His Crimean offensive started shortly after the Sochi Olympics....but those who should know say that the early Spring would be too late for a military offensive in the Ukraine....for it would not be a good time to move heavy military equipment.
The Olivet Discourse as related in Matthew 6 and Mark 13 and Like 21 all mention 'wars and rumors of wars" as signs at the end of times. Luke....depending on the translation....instead of 'rumors chooses words such as tumults or rebellions or commotions or threats. What is happening right now concerning the Ukraine and Taiwan are definitely 'rumors' of war....whether those nations are what the Lord Jesus meant or not.
Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day.....and I have about a decade of posts here wondering if the next Lord's Day might be the Lord's Day where the Holy Spirit might begin to move mightily over the shepherds of the land....as to the very real nearness of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ....with His mighty angels....in righteous judgment on this world....and to take to Himself those who trust in Him….giving greater hope and assurance and vision even as the darkness increases.
We Think We Are In Good Shape......We're Not
It's an analogy that I would rather not give....because in my mind NFL football.....from 1933 when it began to primarily be a Lord's Day game....has been a long term curse upon America....and it does not matter how many multi-million dollar contract quarterback idols point to heaven after a TD pass....and then show up on the 700 Club or some such televangelist program to talk about their faith....for they garnered that fame and riches by helping brush hog the hedge of protection that is the Lord's Day. I know that R. C. Sproul was a big Steeler fan....and I think that his view of the Lord's Day was the biggest error in his ministry that he ever made.
The analogy is this....a young #1 draft pick quarterback....gets picked by the worst team in the league. He might look at the talent that will be around him....and knows that they are not going to win right away. The Steelers might help with this analogy. In the 1960s they were real bad. Then with a new coach and a slew of high draft picks....they won four out of six Super Bowls....of which I was celebrating the victories in downtown Pittsburgh. Then they went through some hard times again.....and then came a couple more Super Bowl wins....and who knows where they are right now?The analogy is to evangelicalism....or overall...the church.....not only in America.....but from the very beginning....as the church went through about ten major persecutions its first two hundred years....then Constantine I or Constantine the Great became the new owner....and all of a sudden it was the only game in town. Then came about a thousand years of darkness....and then a whole new team....and Super Bowl wins....one after another for about a hundred and fifty years....my point being that although the remnant is always there....the church in every age thinks itself just fine....but it isn't always just fine....and this is one of those times.
To be America specific....even George Washington upon his retirement was worried about the new country's belief in God. At least the church retained its confession of faith until the Civil War....but the purpose of universities changed after the war....as industrialization took off....and other than a few brief moments of holding the line....it continued on a downward slide....until about 1950 when Billy Graham....and a few other faithful men....made inroads into the increasingly secular culture.
Time Magazine's infamous 1966 cover read....Is God Dead?.....but the same magazine referred to 1976 as....The Year Of The Evangelical. The church hit its peak....opinion here....about 1980....and by 1990 was on its way back down again....as I wrote in a much older post...."the Billy Graham evangelical became the Ralph Reed evangelical.....that became the Karl Rove evangelical.....and is now the Donald Trump evangelical....which has no gospel in it at all"....and where its ministerium....or more aptly magisterium.....consists of talk radio and Fox cable.
My point in this little exercise is that the health of the church is not always the same....just as a football team might have good decades and bad decades. At the time of the persecutions mentioned above....the state of the church was strong.....but the success of the new 'owner' Constantine did not last that long. The questions of the hour therefore are this....'What is the state of the church today.....and evangelicalism....and is it important?"
This matters....particularly to the youth.....because if they cannot see the history of the church....then they will automatically think that today's church and evangelicalism.....and everything they celebrate as related to the church and evangelicalism....must be fine....maybe even exemplary....when in reality.....this is a church age of delusion.
The difference today from the 80s is like the difference between Pat Robertson....and his son who hosts the 700 Club....or even Billy Graham and Franklin....who is a wonderful servant minister with Samaritan's Purse....but helped usher a false prophet right smack dab into the middle of the church....in Donald Trump. It's the difference in a church where the word evangelical once implied 'born again' but now only implores 'vote again'....and that once had the word 'maranatha' emblazoned on it....but no longer even knows what the word means.
So to the young Christian in college....or the young evangelical in a Christian college....they have very little warnings if any to help them plot their course....or navigate the shoals....with a tempest of tempests heading right into them.
