Prayer For Tomorrow's Lord's Day

The violence alone in America is overwhelming This without even taking into consideration the overwhelming existential threats elsewhere. Until the pulpits start laying it on the line….we will not respond….but they refuse to put themselves in any position of perceived vulnerability.

Preface : The following was a prayer that just came to mind while contemplating what type of message that I should post for the Lord's Day. This was back in April of this year. What I may do....it's what is in my mind right now anyway....is to post this prayer every Saturday evening.....as many as the Lord gives....for I feel that it is that important. (This is the second Saturday for the post)

             Lord if it by Thy will may this be the day that Thy Holy Spirit awakens our pulpits. May this day before see Thy servants....our shepherds.....toss and turn this night....trying to deal with what Thy Spirit is calling them to do. Lord take thy church back to the old paths from which Thy servant Jeremiah instructed us to go. We are besot upon Lord from every direction. We are drowning Lord in a sea of unbelief. We are confused Lord.....in chaos even....so much so that a false prophet has bewitched us....and we followed him.....and he changed us......and took our eyes off of Thee. Thy glory has departed Lord. We meet and offer praises but our attention span is determined by the plans that we had already made for the day....acceptable and honorable plans in themselves Lord....but not acceptable on the day that Thou has given us to renew our strength. Thus Lord Thy glory and Thy power has departed from us. Restore us Lord. Thou has set boundaries on the sea....where it may go no further.....set boundaries Lord on the deceptions of this world....that they no longer overwhelm us. Do this Lord for Thy name sake.....for Thy glory alone. Bring a new day upon us Lord.....where we are once again a peculiar people....where we once again look with great hope and expectation for Thy return. Do all this Lord to Thy glory....may every breath we take be to Thy glory....every plan we make....every thought....every act of repentance....every offering of praise! Bring others into Thy kingdom Lord....use us Lord....fill the banquet hall! May we never lose astonishment Lord on how Thou has had mercy upon us....never forget our past state....our deadness to Thy Word....our hopelessness....and thus always be in remembrance of Thy grace and mercy....and may we therefore never stop praising Thee. Even when our minds are enmeshed in difficult and complicated tasks of the day....may Thy voice be as clear as in total silence....and Thy presence as overpowering as when we first believed!

Bannon

                   I remember it as if it were this morning....that day in August of 2016 when as I was in line at 6 AM for my breakfast order at the McDonald's drive-through....a guest host came on Breitbart's morning show. Back then it was unusual for a guest host to be on a show when it wasn't announced the day before. Rush was real good at that. He knew that the listeners wanted him at the mic....but told them in advance anyway that he was not going to be on. He respected his listeners. It's a little different today....as on a number of occasions I've experienced that a host would be gone for an entire week....and I had no idea why....thus demonstrating that we the listening audience are no longer respected....for they know that we will continue to tune in....for we cannot think for ourselves anymore....being strung out for five years on the drugs of anger and revenge and self-absorption.
                    Back to that morning in August of 2016....we would find out later in the day that Steve Bannon was appointed Donald Trump's election campaign's....chief executive....in other words he would run the show. I knew that day that Donald Trump would win in November. Why? Because as good as Rush was.....and he was the very best at disseminating the conservative message....with no one even close.....no one that is.....except Bannon....who was that good....and I knew that his talents would be every bit as effective at the head of the campaign. I posted this back then...."Bannon.....is [an] oratorical tour de force unlike anything I have ever seen before." 
                    You probably wouldn't recognize today the Steve Bannon of 2016. He was fair.....and he was calm....and he was smart. He took all kinds of opposing opinions on the Breitbart radio show....and was polite.....as he would often respond...."I'm going to throw you a fastball"....in other words he was going to challenge the callers....with his intellect.....instead of calling them names.....or more likely just not letting these callers in.....which we do today.

                    The 2016 election turned out like I thought that it would. In the late fall of that year.....with election day near.....and as I traveled a few times across Pennsylvania.....the evidence of Trump support in the signs all over the state was more than anything I had witnessed in almost fifty years of following politics. Bannon had done his job.
                    I could say that I do not know the Steve Bannon of today.... because he is not the same.....but I have read enough on him over the past five years.....(there has been a few books just on him)....that I think I still do know him a little bit.....it's just that he does not appear to be the same man. Steve Bannon had the voice to go along with the words that came out. He was handsome in college and in the navy. He had movie star looks....believe it or not. It turns out that he had some very strange beliefs....particularly in how history runs in cycles....(no problem there)....but those cycles were on a strict schedule....and this was the time for a major change....and he was going to be on top of it.

                    I posted this on Steve Bannon in 2017...."what was most disappointing to me was that this man who I thought to be somewhat of a God-fearing man....is more "mystical" than spiritual. He views Western Civilization as some sort of holy force field or medieval brotherhood of crusading knights rather than just the more positive elements of a fallen world." Did Donald Trump destroy Steve Bannon....or did Bannon just succumb to his 'mystical' side....or was it a little bit of both?
                    
          

                   

         

      

       
        


         

Depression

             A report in the medical journal....Molecular Psychiatry....states that chemical imbalances in the brain may not cause depression....as is widely accepted. What this study did was take the results of all the studies over many decades....and analyze them. This is an important topic in a number of areas because the belief that depression is caused by imbalances in the brain....results in a much wider use of antidepressants....which in itself is very problematic....because of the relationship that drugs can have with the demonic. It's only a study....and probably won't change anything anytime soon....but for the purposes of this post....it leads to the topic of spiritual depression.
            Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote a book with just that title....Spiritual Depression. I owned that book three decades ago....but how much I read of it I cannot remember. Martyn Lloyd-Jones also has numerous sermons on the topic.....and it's probably time to listen to some of those sermons. As for now....and in this post....I just want to touch on the periphery of this issue....something that I do know about....or at least have strong feelings about.
            Whatever the value of experiences of a graybeard like myself might be.....this is it. Depression can have many causes. This we all know. It could be that we are walking away from God.....or it can be stemming from troubles that have continually been plaguing us....or it can be from demonic activity.....and there are many other very legitimate possibilities. It seems that most of the great Christian stalwart saints in Christian history suffered severe depression at one time or another. 
            I only want to add this to the discussion. If I have a motto in life....it is this. I have it engraved on the back of a medallion that I sometimes wear around my neck....two words....Press.....On.....Press On! Whatever the problem....Press On....one step in front of the other. If the depression is demonic....you will come under attack from seemingly every direction. Press On. If you are not walking with God....and know that you are not walking with God.....Press On....and turn around!
            Have you ever had to press on in your life.....maybe in high school as you wanted to make some team.....or with a musical intrument....or trying to save money....or trying to get a good job? You pressed on didn't you? Or maybe you didn't....and regretted it your whole life? Well here is your chance to make amends....as to this time....press on....as to this time....do not quit. Depression is wearing you down....tearing you down....where is God....why is everyone abandoning you....are you really the biggest loser in the entire world? Press on! Faith....and prayer....are necessary....this is for sure. Pray....constantly pray....pray in faith that God will not abandon you.....pray that your faith be strengthened....and Press On!
            Some advice huh? Press on....easy for me to say....but I said that this was only the periphery of the problem of spiritual depression. Not only can spiritual depression be expected if you are....not....in God's will....but if you are in God's will....if you are aflame for His righteousness.....and if you are being used by God to spread His glory.....well it is guaranteed that God's enemy will attack you with doubts....and anything else at his disposal! So my only addition to this issue of spiritual depression.....garnered not from text books.....but from experience....and proven over time by the promises in God's Word....is that even as you may be beaten down....do not let it stop you. Pick yourself up if need be....wipe the dirt from your eyes.....set your sight again on the Celestial City....and Press On! Draw on  those promises in God's Word that He will not abandon you....failures and all....relief will come....and that you kept going this time....will strengthen you for the next time....for once again if God's glory is the only thing that matters to you....the next time will come. 

           

A Troubling Trend

                 A young man.....and today even a young woman.....and often a young couple.....raised most likely in a megachurch....probably in the South or West of the Mississippi....they feel that their calling is to pastor a church.....but not just a church.....a new and vibrant church of today. They probably have a lot of help with their plans from their home church.....and maybe even financing to get it all rolling.....all the demographics are done....they already have their degrees in Bible this or that....and that new church is started. The Website is professionally done before the first sermon is ever preached.....and then comes the advertising.....in place of evangelizing.

                If you Google just about any major city....the name of the city plus 'churches'.....you should find them. I'm reminded of an old WKRP In Cincinnati episode where a consultant was brought in to jump start the ratings. I think that his first name might have been....'Wynn'....or something like that....a person must have a name that means something.....Wynn.....win not lose. He asked actor Richard Sanders what his name was....and the response from the meek character of course was.....Les.  It seems that these new and vibrant churches pick their names for the same reason. Is there a....Vibrant Church....out there somewhere? Probably.
                Check the church websites out....photographs of an attractive building.....and probably attractive pastors.....a stage with all the necessary musical instruments....and plenty of activity photos.....for the children and the adults. The statement of belief will be standard fare...maybe in outline form....God.....Salvation....Scripture....possibly The Second Coming of Jesus. Directions to the church will be precise from either direction....maybe a phone number for prayer.....and a form to fill out to show interest in the church.
                These new churches are everywhere....and it is very problematic. You won't find anything in the statement of beliefs that is troublesome....maybe not anything else that in itself is seriously in error.....it's what is not there that is the problem....not only words or descriptions.....but essence. The unction is there in spades....but that unction is for growth. Oh yes it involves Christian belief....maybe even commitment....but still....everything revolves around demographics....leg work....a message that surveys have pointed to that will work....and sermons that will first and foremost....meet needs....encourage....and motivate.

Afterthought: I'm not really including here any of the more serious and nefarious movements of the day.....the Emergent Church Movement for one. I'm typing this from a hotel on the Erie, Pennsylvania bayfront. An hour ago....walking along the pier....trying to catch a photo of a sailboat just as it passes through the sun glitter on the water from the setting sun....Presque Isle in the background....I passed a plaque informing that Alexis de Tocgueville had visited the area during his famous 1831-1832 tour of America. These are some words attributed to the French gentleman....historian....and political philosopher...."I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers-and it was not there....in her fertile fields and boundless forests-and it was not there....in her rich mines and her vast  world commerce-and it was not there....in her Congress and her matchless Constitution-and it was not there. Not until I went went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power." It is not the primary reason for the decay of America.....we are the primary reason for that.....but then again.....it is no small matter either. I could not produce a graph with 'decades' on the horizontal axis....and the 'power of the gospel in the pulpits' on the vertical axis....but I can tell you this....however the curve might look....our pulpits today are on the low ebb. America today is indeed representaive of the lack of power from its pulpits. The only way to really check my equation would be to listen to the preaching of men from the past....and men today who preach like men of the past.

Friday morning: Today is one of those few days in a year.....while on vacation.....where I get to watch Fox News.....for we do not....not ever have had....these cable news networks in our home. Last evening we arrived back at our room and I turned on Hannity.....and he was interviewing.....Matt....Gaetz. Enough of that horror. This morning I tuned in just in time to see those people in the morning.....really....the woman's name....the men's name.....I just can't recall right now......and they were interviewing.....Kevin McCarthy. Folks....I've been following politics now for over a half century......the good and the bad and the ugly.....leave these people. Evangelicals....flee them. We in conservative news and talk radio have gone over to the dark side in the past six years. We do not need to be warned of CNN…..we do need warned on what has transpired and what we have been taken in by.

               

Watershed Moment

              It appears to me that February 4, of 2020 may have been a watershed moment in American history.....certainly in the history of American evangelicalism. Let me set the stage....economic statistics were going through the roof. A second term for Donald Trump seemed to be in the bag. Rush Limbaugh was being honored at the State of the Union Address after announcing his illness. The statistics were good....but we in evangelicalism had moved away from Christ....consumed with issues of power and wealth. I had been disgusted with these State of the Union addresses for many years....a decade or more....and could not bring myself to watch it.....until later when I reluctantly sat through the tape. Trump was Nebuchadnezzar.....who on top of his palace......proudly proclaimed for maybe only he himself to hear.....how great was this Babylon that he had built. God brought Nebuchadnezzar down that very day....and as Trump boasted on this great America that he had built.....it seems that God brought him down on that very day also.....as this coronavirus was about to ravage....and we have had nothing but disaster ever since.  Please at least give a few moments to the underlined words in the post below. Are these words words not a genuine prophesy? Are they not given primarily to evangelicals.....and we have not fallen for these false words of prophecy? The following was first posted on January 3 of this year:

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)

"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."

                 
          

The Eastern Gate....Or The Golden Gate As It Is Also Known

                 My wife asked me recently why I never mention Israel when we talk about places to go on vacation. I have friends who have been to Israel twenty times or more. It has always been my number one destination.....I just never mentioned it....because the thought of walking along Galilee....or the ancient sites of Jerusalem....or standing before what is probably Calvary....or touring those same mountain ranges mentioned so often in God's Word....is not only breathtakingly exciting....it is fearful in its reverence. So I don't have the experience or the perspective that so many have....but that doesn't mean that I don't try.

                The Eastern Gate of the old city....or the Golden Gate as it is also called....or quite a few other names that it is known by....I would want to stand in that cemetery just outside of it....and look at the lower level of stones....the ones that may go back even to Solomon....and just ponder my life. That cemetery was purposely put there by conquerers because they thought that the Messiah would never walk through an unclean cemetery to enter the Temple Mount. I would turn around and look up at the Mount of Olives....and would probably have to sit down on one of those grave ossuaries....out of sheer awe....on how Jesus would have traveled back and forth so many times. For the time being it is just too much.....and the pictures and videos are enough for me.
                They are still researching and theorizing on that gate today. The actual blocked up gate that exists now was built after the New Testament times....this we know....but was the original gate at the exact same level....or was it just below that gate that exists today? This gate is important because Jesus will return on that same Mount of Olives.....and it will split from a violent earthquake....half in the direction of the northern end of the wall that is there....and the other half in the direction of the southern end of the wall.
                 Probably the whole world will witness this through the lens of some camera. So much will have happened by then. At times I think of Elon Musk and Bill Gates and all these other men whose fortunes are almost beyond belief....and I wonder what they will think.....for they will indeed be here....if they are still alive. What will the nations look like. We'll find out....more sooner than later. 
                 I would never want to be the type that spent the day somewhere in Israel....maybe looking over the Jordan River valley from Mount Nebo....or traveling through the desert that David escaped to so many times....and then turned my attention to souvenirs....or photos....as is normal in say trips to London or Paris.
                 We cannot set dates.....we know that  fact more than we know our own name. We know it so much that it has paralyzed us as to even looking at the signs of the times. The Ninth of Av....or Tisha B' Av....is coming up on the Jewish calendar....this year August 6th. This is that date of calamity when so many disasters happened....including the destruction of the temples by both the Babylonians and the Romans. The Jewish feasts will continue to be times of a heightened awareness.
                  I have lived both lifestyles....in the one acknowledging the possible nearness of the Second Coming....and where I am now.....knowing that....whatever the actual dates.....we are that generation.....and the second is so much more fulfilling.....for our Lord's return is no longer theory....or even assent....but a real and present hope.

 
         

Shibboleths

 

                
                The Gileadites had defeated the Ephraimites....and the latter then tried to escape across the river. The former....the Gileadites....devised a way to tell if anyone crossing the river was an Ephraimite trying to escape. The dialects were a little different....and the Gileadites demanded that the person crossing the river pronounce the word....shibboleth....for the Ephraimites could not pronounce the H...so it came out....siboleth. The Gileadites would then slay the identified enemy.
                 I remember watching a World War II film....oh sixty years ago at least....(even though I may not remember where I laid my keys down.) It was in the Pacific. The American guard demanded that the person approaching his guard post tell him who was the greatest home run hitter in Baseball. If the approaching soldier did not know Babe Ruth....then he could not possibly be an American.
                 There are so many shibboleths like this in history. Today we at times look at a shibboleth as someone who attests to some common belief or phrase....they may just be words....with no real belief behind them.....but words that identify someone that is part of our group.  I wonder at times if the phrases....pro-life and pro-choice are just shibboleths....phrases that we have to use to be a part of a greater group? If this were the case then many in the Left do not really care about women's rights...and many on the right do not care about the value of human life. We can see this in the left in that many do not really care at all that women athletes are cheated out of their accomplishments by stronger transgender athletes....and many of us on the right proved the same thing during the pandemic....where we really did not care how many people would die.....for we had a political agenda that had to be bolstered.
                 The words liberty and freedom can be shibboleths....to identify us on the right....and in this case even the left attempts to use the same words to identify with....although it always comes out sounding absurd! The Christian Nationalists....who are unfortunately increasing within evangelicalsim today....indentify as Christians who are patriots...and this has subsumed the gospel of Jesus Christ....subordinating it to the greater....faith and freedom mantra....no longer law and gospel....nor grace and gratitude....nor...."love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"....and...."love your neighbor as yourself".....where today if we adhere to the required shibboleths....as we relegate the gospel to a less noticeable place....we are Christians....we are patriots....and God is therefore for us. Oh what a surprise we may have in store for us!

                 

Carnivale Royale

The following is from 2011....and is always over on my humor page. At the bottom of this page under...'Update'....I explain why I brought it back to my regular posts....but only for a few hours:

Walking into the dark trailer from the bright sunlight temporarily blinded me. The man in the sport jacket over a turtle neck in 85 degree weather....who had his hand firmly clasped around my wrist....had no problem....for the dark sunglasses helped him make the transition easily. The character of Oddjob flashed through my mind as he fit the description complete with a bowler hat on top of his head. I was a little bit disoriented and tried to focus on where I was. There were small television monitors across the one wall and a man sitting in front of them who motioned for me to sit down on a wooden chair directly below the glare of a floor lamp with a flexible goose neck. At least it was cool in the trailer so I took a couple of deep breaths before complaining, "What's all this about?" He ignored my question and said "Tell me, are you a very good gambler...or just a very lucky one. Or is it maybe something else?" "I hardly call it gambling" I said, and he responded "Well, I guess that I shouldn't either for you seem to win all the time, not much gambling in that." "So that's why you brought me here. I win a lot?" "That's right," he glanced over at my winnings which the apparent security detective laid on the table in front of me and continued. "Is it mathematical equations? Nah....it can't be that....or are you some sort of magician?" "Look" I said brusquely, getting increasingly angry, "My wife must be out there looking for me." I paused to catch my breath and continued, "I pulled five bucks out of my pocket and if I had lost that I would be home by now." "Five bucks? You expect me to believe that you raked in that haul from five bucks?" "Yeah! I'm not going to waste more than five bucks in a dump like this!" With this Oddjob pushed me back into my seat and his friend said "We take a lot of pride in our work. We run a first class operation. A lot of people have a good time, we make a small profit, that is until someone like you comes around." "I have to find my wife." I said. "She must be getting worried by now." My interrogator was heavy set and bald. He began scanning the monitors on the wall. "Look at these screens. do you see her anywhere?" I pulled up closer to the monitors. She wasn't by the merry-go-round, or the caterpillar....or the french fry stand. "There she is. Look...she's looking all around....by the cotton candy booth" Curly, for lack of a better name, looked at Oddjob and said "Go get her. Tell her that we just have few questions for her husband." He looked at me "OK now?" I settled down "Make it fast." He got up from the desk and walked over and picked up Snoopy. It was a good three feet tall, white and fluffy, with a perfect likeness of Charlie Brown's dog. I fidgeted, for the tips of his fingers had nicotine stains. "Please keep your hands of my Snoopy." He set it down and pointed to each one of the stuffed Snoopys "One, two, three, four, five...and six...six huggable, squeezable Snoopys...all won on a game that, mathematically speaking, shouldn't give a winner more than once every other day..." I was getting more irritated and stood up "Look...I tossed the ball and it rolled into the red cup..." He met me face to face "Six Snoopys on five bucks... three balls a buck, that's 16 balls." Oddjob, who had returned, interrupted, "15 balls boss." "Fifteen balls... do you think I was born yesterday?" I didn't back down and shouted myself, in spite of the aroma of sauerkraut...very bad sauerkraut, coming from his flaming nostrils. "Look, there's 576 cups on that board...thirty of them are yellow, 16 are blue and one, in the center, is red! I just happened to toss fifteen wiffle balls and six of them rolled into the red cup!" He backed away "And I suppose you think that a jury will believe that?" "A jury?" I gasped. "This is a travelling street fair...and I won six Snoopy dolls....are you crazy?" "Crazy? Each one of those Snoopy dolls are worth thirty bucks! You walk off with a hundred and fifty bucks of my merchandise and..." Oddjob interrupted "A hundred and eighty bucks boss" "I don't care, a hundred and fifty bucks, a hundred and eighty bucks. I want to know how you did it?" "I told you....I rolled the little white wiffle balls and..." He interrupted again and grabbed a cellphone from his shirt pocket...putting it right into my face "You want me to call homicide?" Oddjob looked at him "Homicide...boss?" "Homicide, Vice, Immigration...whatever. You come into my house and rattle off how may blue and yellow cups.... I don't even know those numbers! You cased this place and I want answers!" I grabbed the phone out of his hand "I'll call the police! You can't pull me in here and give me the fifth degree because I rolled six little white wiffle balls into a red cup!" "One red cup" he shouted "out of six hundred and fifty two cups." Oddjob corrected him "576 boss" "I don't care how many cups are out there. What did you do...guide that wiffle ball into the red cup with some kind of remote control or satellite?" He stopped abruptly and his eyes widened. "Do you have an iPhone? You do, you have an iPhone!" he demanded. "Its an app...isn't it? You guided those balls with an iPhone app!" "Yes I do have an iPhone. Oh Look! Here it is" I said as I took it off my belt. " Lets see.... nine...one...one..." He grabbed the phone out of my hand and began jabbing on the screen all over with his finger, hoping to stop the phone call. Oddjob took it and tapped once to end the call. Curly ran his fingers over his scalp as if expecting to find hair and paced around for a minute or two. "Look. OK. You got me on this one. Tell you what...I'll give you three hundred smackers just to tell me how you did it." "I told you already. I just rolled the little wiffle..." He had had enough of my explanation and pushed me aside as he opened the door of the trailer. The bright sunlight invaded our space and I covered my eyes but not before I could see that he had no hair at all...absolutely none, and a very reddish complexion. "You can leave now...mister. But I'm warning you. By dawn I'll have your picture spread to every carnival...five counties wide... each direction! You stay away from Roll The Ball!" I didn't say anything. I just grabbed my Snoopys one by one and walked out. My wife threw her arms around me and helped me by carrying three Snoopys. As we were walking out of the street carnival, I turned and walked back over to the Roll A Ball. There were half a dozen kids and their parents standing by the rail, waiting to buy balls. I hoped Curly, or should I call him Goldfinger, was watching on his monitors. I started giving away the Snoopys to the kids. They were excited beyond belief and they and their families walked away, holding their prize for the night. I looked up and saw a camera pointing at me from a pole. I saluted into it and my wife and I walked off hand in hand.

There is only a grain of truth in this story. I did go to our local street carnival and bought a peanut covered caramel apple and spent a little bit of time at the Roll A Ball. Watching the kids faces is the real joy, especially since it seems that it was not that long ago that our son was rolling the ball. Today he's a lawyer who could have been called if this scenario had taken place. I did count the colored cups and spent some time trying to figure out just how to land that wiffle ball in the center cup.

Update: Waldameer amusement park in Erie is such a joy.....for it is America circa 1960.....nothing too fancy....just families enjoying the simpler things in life. We stopped by today for a few hours.....and I did play Roll-A-Ball again....and I did win something....a blue stadium horn! I had my wife take a video of me while I blew it loud right on the main concourse. My son would know that if anyone was going to blow a kids horn like that in a public place....it would be me....for as he was growing up he saw me many times walk the beach boardwalk wearing googly-eye glasses.....or a hat with hippy hair....or some such thing. As a matter of fact a few days ago I mowed the lawn in an old t-shirt....that said in bold letters....KERRY FOR PRESIDENT....and in small letters....of France. I wore that shirt on the boardwalk in 2004 when Kerry ran for president.....that was 18 years ago....and I still have the shirt!

God Is A Very Important Person

Preface: John MacArthur described the words and phrases in the epistle of James as...."pungent." One dictionary describes 'pungent' as...."criticism or humor having a sharp and caustic quality." In reading through James you can see why he felt it important to add emphasis. Jude was much like this. I think I write like that at times...well....probably a lot. The following post would be an example....and there is a reason. A conversation needs started. Most would like to avoid the issue of the Lord's Day....or being 'born again'....or Trump as a false prophet....or wasting our days away....or the nearness of the Lord's return. My hope is to generate those conversations....for I know....that if we do....we will benefit from it. If it takes...'pungent'.....or if it takes people not liking me....then that is what it takes. The time is short.....where did I hear that phrase before?      

             I should have put quotation marks before and after the above title.....for that is the title of John Piper's Sermon Of The Day. It's an odd title isn't it? I mean....what's he getting at here? This is a recurring thought that I give from time to time in these posts....we defend our pastors like there's no tomorrow....we defend our church.....but we do not defend the gospel! We assume that we are defending the gospel by defending everything that our church does. 
            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'."
             Translate that to today and God is telling us....don't think that because you are walking into a church that you are in His will. Hophni and Phinehas thought that by simply bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the battle site that God would give them victory. Didn't happen.....and the Ark was carried away by the victorious enemy.
              I'm not saying that a church has to be perfect. That'll never happen....but these men in the pulpits have a responsibility.....and reminding them of it from time to time is defending the gospel....and if they have any humility at all....they will at least listen.
              Back to John Piper. This is an odd sermon....and I think that the church could benefit by hearing it. I've asked a similar question in these posts.....if God is God....then why don't we act like He is God?  Piper gave an example in this message....of Albert Einstein. I will not quote this properly but in essence he....or someone that he was quoting....thought that Einstein was not a fan of organized religion because.....he knew that if there is a God then the majesty of that God would be unspeakably glorious.....but the people in these churches....who proclaim everywhere that they believe in God.....don't even seem to be in awe of His glory!

Now it's time for my semi-regular odd piece of advice.....leave these posts of mine. I've given you enough recommendations of faithful preachers....preachers.....Piper being one.....MacArthur being another....Michael Horton another....ligonier.org....and many more. This is what got us in trouble with politics....Rush or Carlson or Levin or any one of a number of these people....tickled our ears.....and we came back day after day....in some cases decade after decade....and never really learned anything. It's the same radio program today as it has always been....("this is the most important election....ever....and Joe Biden is bad!."...Gee d'ya think?)....only the names and faces have been changed. You do not need John Piper.....you need to hear God's Word....preached….and by and large you are not getting it in these churches of today! You need your mind renewed....not your subscription!

Directions.....desiringgod.org....click on the menu at the upper right....click on podcasts....scroll down under Sermon of the Day....and click on subscribe....(you are not subscribing to anything)....click on Apple podcasts....and you are there. I can do it in my sleep!

Afterthought: I wanted to add a little more explanation on why I on occasion recommend people to leave these posts. There are a number of reasons really....a couple of them would be....back in the 1990s I noticed how Christians would show up for this conference or that conference....and thus have an unction for the gospel....for a few days. That unction generally did not carry over....and we came to depend on that conference....and those speakers.....to assuage our not really being involved throughout the year. I also noticed this in politics....as we listened to Rush.....religiously.....every day....and maybe Levin or someone else....and that was it. We were not thinking for ourselves. Nothing was going to eminate from our thoughts....as we only listened to Rush....and then spouted what his mind had come up with. We became followers! God was not going to use us. Then the worst of it all came.....with Donald Trump....for we....no longer able to think for ourselves....or research for ourselves....became blind followers.....and in the church....blind followers of a genuine biblical false prophet. So I do not want people to follow me. I want to be used to wake them up. Men like Piper are God's ministers.....who preach the glories of the gospel of Jesus Christ.....follow them!

 
 

A Day In The Life Of A Graybeard

                Many years ago....oh....thirty-five or so....this for a few years....I fasted one day a week....Tuesdays or Wednesdays....I can't remember. It was hard. I worked a physical job and just did not have the energy that I needed. The days were long....but beneficial over all....and then I stopped.
                We may have some involuntary fasting ahead of us in the future....and I'm no longer a thirty-five year old. I'm retired now....obviously if you read these posts. I wake up in the morning and sit down at this computer....and if I do not get something accomplished....even if I know that it is not very good....the day also is usually not very good....and I feel somewhat like I used to feel in the late evenings of those fast days....just looking at my watch and waiting for bed....so I can get up and have breakfast.
                I have a new idea that I may try shortly. Prayer days....maybe today....days where all of the extra time that I have on my hands....instead of guilt feelings where I look for some chore to do....I'll just sit or kneel in the living room.....and pray. It really would not be a whole lot different than what I do now....watching this world....and the news....reading books....a little bit of everything but every day in God's wonderful and marvelous Word to us. That's when I'm most fulfilled anyway....whether it is while walking or driving or cutting grass or doing dishes....just thanking God....seeking his continued mercies....and praying for loved ones and God's children all around the world.
               There is always the YouTube sermons....every day....at least one and usually two or three. This is the best part of retirement! That would remain....Lord willing....but the emphasis would be prayer.....much of it conversations with a great and glorious God.....who it seems that He wants us to do just that.....come to Him with our concerns. I'll let you know how it turns out....Lord willing once again. I may find out that it's not that much different than my days already are. Anyway it is almost ten in the morning....and I've accomplished something....and I feel better already.

"Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing"

It is a good old Southern Gospel song.....written and performed first in 1935 by the Carter family....as best as I can tell....The Old Gospel Ship. My favorite rendition was by Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart from their Sheep In Wolves Clothing album. That good old gospel ship is floundering today....a two-hulled catamaran of church and politics....with no keel....fast....but if it capsizies....which it has....it cannot right itself. We recently visited The Ark Encounter in Kentucky....just south of Cincy....and they included a keel in their design. The Ark had no propulsion....and no rudder....it just had to float....but "fear not"....I'm sure Noah was told....for it had the greatest ship designer in the Creator of the universe....and everything within it. The following post is from November of 2017:

           The split within the American public as to constitutionalism and progressivism...where we are two peoples in one nation.... is judgment from God. The split within the constitutionalists as to Rinos and Conservatives.....John McCain types vs Ted Cruz types....is judgment from God. I'm not done. The split within conservatism as to genuine conservatives and Trumpsters....those who actually have an ideology and those who just want to defeat Democrats.....is judgment from God. The split within real conservatives as to those who......as did America's Founding Fathers....know that God alone brings kings to power and establishes nations according to His purposes....and those who constantly say 'God bless America' but place God in importance somewhere between our 401k and the price for a gallon of gas.....is a judgment from God. And one last thing.....the split within America's Christian pulpits as to those actually preach the cross of Jesus Christ and not only plead His mercies but warn of his judgments….and those who kind of stumble over the cross a few times a year and never break evangelicalism's 11th commandment.....thou shalt not rain on the Christian's Fourth of July picnic....is judgment from God.

            Place the problems that we have with China or North Korea or Putin or Iran or our deficit or our decaying culture or our future in general....place these things up against this dictum and on this grid.....and America loses. We simply do not have enough American citizens who wholly depend on the One alone who can give us wisdom and determination enough to survive let alone prosper....we are not great enough in numbers to make much of an impact. That final number after whittled down as God whittled down Gideon's army is probably around 10%.

            Now this analysis certainly goes against the accepted analysis of grass roots....honey badger tenacity.....to get control of the halls of power. Our only hope is in our pulpits proclaiming the "immeasurable greatness of His power".....as proclaimed in His Word....but here is the crux of the problem. In the Old Testament the Israelites at times repented and were restored....and at other times took all the judgments and only grew harder in their rebellion against God. Which are we? Only time will tell.

           Folks, only a week ago or so I wrote a post encouraging conservatives to run for public office. I've been involved in this original grass roots movements for at least two decades. Politics is not a waste of time....in fact it is necessary....but it is also totally dependent upon the humility and dependence upon God of the people running for office and therefore the electorate who put them in office. I revert here to the first paragraph of this post....we are right now not anywhere near depending upon the mercies of God....consequently we are bulldogs on throwing Hillary in jail....but lapdogs as to thinking outside the Rush Limbaugh radio show..

           One useful resource in gauging where Americans are at is the Pew Research Center. High numbers claim to be Christian but whittle that number down by looking at their particular beliefs and you find once again that number is down around to the 10% level. Pray for our pulpits...pray for humility where we acknowledge that we thought that we could do this on our own....only to realize the truth and the power in...."I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5 ESV)

Do We Just Keep On.....Loving Them.....Loving Them To Death?

                 It is certainly not lost....for there is and will always be a genuine remnant in the church that remains true to God's Word....but that which I'll bring attention to here has been marred almost beyond recognition. Every one of us can go through this exercise.....for it is very simple....just take time and think about as many people as we can that we know....family and friends....fellow workers and acqauntances of all kinds....and then consider as best as we are able....if they are part of the redeemed of Christ or not....'saved'....being the long lost word that used to be a staple in evangelicalism.
                 First of all we cannot be certain about the vast majority of these people.....and we all know that we cannot judge....but have we ourselves in the church become as 'woke' as the most woke of those who cause so much havoc in America today? By that I mean....do we like they....deny that there are any real objective truths in life....that everything must be subject to anyone's personal and biased interpretation....so much so that we can no longer even look at someone that we know....who may not have ever over decades uttered one word of faith....nor ever opened a Bible....and say that they are certainly not....Christians?
                 Am I complicating this? Let me try again....can we or can we not look at someone....someone who we are at least very familiar with their lives and their stated beliefs....and take a position on whether it is obvious that they are....saved....or obvious that they are not saved....or even likely that they are saved....or likely that they are not saved?
                What has been lost in evangelicalism today....and in the church....is that salvation is no longer the primary issue. That one must be....'born again'....(now an archaic phrase in our minds)....is often considered judgmental....legalism....as we simply take the position that God will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy....who are we to make that decision? There are more important issues for the Christian to focus upon. Where is America going for one? Where is the economy going for another? Who will name future Supreme Court judges? And since salvation is no longer the primary issue....the cross is no longer the center of Christianity. Freedom and liberty are!!!
                Each and every one of the redeemed of Christ....all of us....were dead spiritually....heading to perdition....forever....whatever 'forever' may be. We deserved absolutely nothing as to having eternal life. We were dragged to the gospel....our hearts regenerated....no longer dead....born this time from above! Our eyes were opened. The glories of Christ revealed....even though still under a veil. All of this was bestowed upon us for no other reason than God choose us to have mercy upon....whereupon we were regenerated....then we believed.
                So here we are.....alive....aware of our blessings....what else are we to do then to look around.....at all the people....family and friends....fellow workers and acquantances of all kinds....and at the very least....tell them of the mercy and forgiveness bestowed upon us....that is offered to them? Anything short of that is evidence that our own salvation had not translated to a passionate love that others might be saved also.....or it may be that we do not even realize what happened to us....or it may be that we ourselves were never saved....fooled into thinking that we were. We cannot just say....'oh there is nothing we can do'.....or....'well we have to just trust in God.' Trust in God? What about all the warnings in His Word.....everywhere.....alarms.....commands to go into all the world.....where is our trust in God here?
                "The grass withers".....we remember that phrase do we not...."the flower fades." Life is short. It is not about us! Are we to blithly accept the salvation given to us....and then go about with our own business? Is this world not as a sinking ship.....with no lifeboats but one....Christ....who has told us that one must be born again to enter it? Let us for a moment take ourselves back to when we were lost. Please do this....we are lost....we cannot see Christ....we have no ability to choose Christ even if we could see Him. Christians around us....even our children or our parents....or our spouse....just treat us with....love. They don't plead for us....they don't even ask us questions on what we believe....for God has it all under control. They just go on....loving us....to death.
                  Would not this vision of life again without Christ not make us cry out....."Lord....never let me go back....never take Thy hand from upon me....not even for a second.....never put me in that situation again....rather enliven me....give me a passion for those right next to me of whom I cannot be sure that they know Thee.  Let the world reject me....let my loved ones think me a fool....only do not let your Holy Spirit leave me! Animate me Lord! Drag others in also. Pluck them from the waters....or from the fire! Use me Lord! Never let me forget that from which Thou saved me! Let me never stop praising Thee! Let me not dally while in this world! Let me not fall asleep! Keep me vigilant! Bring my loved ones into Thy kingdom! Give me words! Open their ears! Confound the spirit of this age! Awaken our pulpits....have mercy on these sleepers....thus having mercy upon us also....and do this all for Thy Glory alone....and for Thy great and blessed and powerful name alone!

The Separation Of Church......And Politics

                 Whenever a news story comes up that concerns the separation of church and state....my mind instinctively reverts to how this might affect evangelicalism....and the proclamation of the gospel. Not that these news stories are not important in themselves for often they are....last week for example when the Supreme Court ruled that...."Maine cannot exclude religious schools from tuition assistance programs"....and today's news of course where the court ruled in favor of a high school football coach who was fired for praying on the field....but none of these issues....not the constitution....not freedom and liberty....not America itself....not our own lives....nothing....takes precedence over defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
                 For many years I was consumed somewhat by the threat of communism here in America...and the first seven years of these posts are filled with warnings on that danger....and that concern remains....but now our other flank is also in danger....as a Christian nationalism threatens the accurate proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
                 I don't want to get too specific here....the name of the nationally known minister....in Reformed circles....is not necessary....suffice it to say that I was thrilled to hear that a message from him would be highlighted on one of the many programs of which I listen. I have heard this man speak for decades. He was one on whom I would dwell on every blessed sentence of the gospel that he uttered....but the message in question here was disjointed....mixing the freedoms of the citizens of a country in with the freedoms that we have in Christ. He didn't stumble on words....but it did seem that a couple of times he stumbled on thoughts....and once or twice his reasoning sounded....vacant....far off....as if he didn't even understand what he himself was saying. I wondered if his church....deep in MAGA country....had somehow influenced him over the last six years....instead of he warning them?
                 It turned out that our heroes in the church during the pandemic were the pastors who fought to keep church doors open. It did not matter at all if there was any gospel in those churches.....nor did it matter that common sense and concern for human life was behind temporarily closing those doors....nor did anyone consider that when a megachurch closes its doors....a lot of money does not come in....and a lot of the bills for fancy amenities and superfluous ministeries in the church....would have to wait to be paid.
                 We on the....'right'....are starting to unilaterally 'demand'....which the other side has always done...more than request reasoning together....which we had always done. We're starting to punish people for not holding to the opinions that we hold to....which the other side has always done. In short we are becoming as the other side!  We criticize their outrageously biased news media....from our outrageously biased news media! My recommendation here....is to stay vigilant as to mixing patriotism in with the gospel of Jesus Christ!

             

                

Survival In Difficult Times....Only To Succumb In Times Of Prosperity

                I purchased the book at Barnes & Noble about a month ago.....and it sat on the table awaiting it's turn until about a week ago. The book is....On Hitler's Mountain....Overcoming the Nazi Legacy of a Nazi Childhood....published in 2005....and the author....Irmgard A. Hunt. I could tell right away that this was an important book in understanding the rise of Nazi Germany....so only a chapter or two into it I wanted to research its author....since the book is her story....and here I came to her obituary.....for she had died at eighty-eight years old....twenty-six days before my attempting this post.  
               It's an alpine town in the Bavarian Alps.....Berchtesgaden....where Irmgard was born of modest means. Hike up a little further and there was the town of Obersalzberg....and the vacation home of Hitler.....The Berghoff....hike up a little further and there was famous Nazi meeting house....The Eagle's Nest.
               The author vividly tells her story....of how most of the citiizen's on Hitler's mountain were swept along with the Nazi tide.....but not all of them. Irmgard desribes her neighbors and family....and her schooling....and sitting on Hitler's knee as a four year old. One by one the men had to leave and go to war....including her father. Then the deaths announcements started to come in....and then the bombs started to fall....but this was not an urban German city....from which is the important perspective that the book gives....for it takes place not only off in the mountains....but the mountain where Hitler spent a lot of time....and where his upper-echelon leadership's families resided. 
               You can follow this young girl's perspective as it became apparent that Germany was going to lose....and then be almost there with her in her home as reports come in that Hitler committed suicide....and then worry with her as these Americans were closing in on Berchtesgaden....watch the tanks roll up as she did....and then eventually be thankful that it was Americans who rolled up in those tanks. Next came the Marshall Plan....and opportunity....Irmgard emigrates to the United States....and twenty-five years later....with degrees from Columbia and Harvard....MS. Magazine names her one of the...."Eighty women to watch in the 80s."
               As always I have to add my own perspective....and what I came to see was a young girl raised in a nominal Lutheran church environment....thinking that this was Christianity....with the results being predictable....which I won't describe here....for the follower of Christ who reads the book will sadly recognize the Christless vacuum....but the liberal reading it will wonder what I see wrong with this. I highly recommend this book. The fact that it was published in 2005....with some interview questions at the end....on America....and if the author thought that its democracy could ever be in danger....I found profound in a way....predictable in a way....right in a way....and wrong in a way. 
            Irmgard in retrospect was in danger more than once in her life. She survived with flying colors the first....of fortresses and parapets....on Hitler's Mountain....in Nazi Germany 1933-1945....but was not a surviver in the second....of ivory towers and vacant pulpits....vacant the gospel of Jesus Christ...and the power of the Word of God! 

 

We In The Church May Get Even More Political

 6/24/2022

                A Pyrrhic victory....was coined after the Greek King Pyrrhus....after successful battles against Rome....lost so many soldiers that he couldn't afford many more such....'victories.' We use the term often today....and there are numerous examples where successful battles and wars were described as....Pyrrhic victories. I'll give only one example. The Confederate army crushed the Union army at the battle of Chancellorsville....as Stonewall Jackson flanked the unsuspecting Union troops and routed them. Jackson was accidetnly killed by his own men in the victory....and this not long before the two armies met again at Gettysburg....where had Jackson been there....the advantage to the Union in defending the high ground would probably not have existed.
                Roe v Wade was overturned today as you know. Abortion is no longer guaranteed in the United States....as the individual states will make their own decisions. We should be thankful for this decision....for partial as it is....it was a long time coming. The United States no longer....'sanctions'....the killing of the preborn as a constitutional right....although it does still....'sanction'....the killing of the preborn in the individual states where abortion will be legal.
                What may happen now is that congressional races....and gubernatorial races....even state-wide races....will be fought to a large part over the issue of abortion. There may be another consequence of this decision....making it a possible Pyrrhic victory.....and that is that the already decimated evangelical church in America....decimated in that the gospel has been pushed to the background in favor of politics....and our relying on our own might....over faithfully trusting in God....may even get worse...." 'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6)

Planetary Alignments.....And Their Creator

                  First of all there is a little bit of a twinge of guilt. At 72 years old....and 5 1/2 years retired now....and up at 4:30 in the morning to view a rare 5-planetary alignment....while in the darkness others are headed off to work....I felt that twinge of guilt at not working.....not doing my fair share....and not bringing home a paycheck anymore. For almost four decades I was up and either going to work at this time of the morning....or returning from a midnight shift.

                 Even if I was not aware of the rare alignment of planets in the morning sky.....I would have spotted Jupiter right away.....for it was so bright and clear. Mars is always easy to spot because of the reddish hue that it has. Saturn was clearly visible off to the right. To the left of the crescent moon....Venus could be seen. I could not spot Mercury which was just above the horizon....so I got in the truck and drove up to the highest point in our area....and there it was....barely visible to the naked eye.
                 I'm not even an amateur astronomer as I only go out at night to see the blood moons and lunar eclipses that come up every once a while. So I can't comment on how rare this alignment was because even the articles that I read on it were a bit confusing....and apparently there were two more planets which would have been visible with some kind of telescopic device.
                 Anyway....it was interesting....and as I was driving back down to my home....I was trying to come up with a word that would describe someone even less knowledgeable than an....'amateur.' I couldn't come up with that word but this thought did come to mind.....totally unrelated to the nighttime sky....but totally in line with these posts of closing in on 14 years.
                 Man can have many interests in life....man in general here....from simple hobbies to professional abilities....and he/she has to work hard....often over many years....sometimes a lifetime....to really know what they are doing. I love to listen to these folks talk about their expertise. Something like this can be very fulfilling....even often awesome to watch....a virtuoso on a musical instrument for example.....or a scientist....or athlete.....but there are two.....professions or hobbies or whatever.....that one does not have to put in any work at all.....and these people are literally everywhere to be found....experts on politics and God!
                 As for politics....all one has to do to be an expert in politics....is just....sit there and say whatever comes to mind. There is no hard work involved....no books....just a few minutes reading a newspaper every day....or if you really want to be world-class expert.....listen to talk radio or Tucker Carlson for a couple hours a week.
                 As for God.....that's even easier....'now let me see....what do I think that God would be like....if there really is a God....and if he is a fair God?' As for God's Word....it's the same thing. There is nothing that requires intense inquiry. And if there is then Joel Osteen or someone has probably already done it for you.
                Salvation is as easy to figure out as crossing a street.....doctrine as reading directions on cooking spaghetti noodles.....and prophecy as easy as reading one best-selling book a year!
                In reality it is the opposite of these armchair experts. First of all....yes....the new believer in Christ....born again....is already an an expert in one thing.....Jesus Christ is Lord! It is wonderful....this mind of a new believer....a new creation....but that is only the beginning....and God has fashioned it that the blessings and the knowledge of God increase with the years and decades.....and with the all-consuming passionate reading of His Word....and even with the failures and trials that we go through at times.....particularly the trials!
               There is something else that comes along with all of this....the need to continually examine oneself....for in ourselves we are frail....but God knows our weak frame....and always provides a way to navigate the storms....through His Holy Spirit.  

"The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 19:1

          

Diana Of Ephesus Clouds

                                                

             Fifty years ago.....in June of 1972....Hurricane Agnes was forming in the Western Caribbean. Before it died out....in Canada....it had become disasterous enough that the name Agnes was retired....there would therefore never be another Hurricane Agnes.
             I was serving my last months in the army at the time...at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.....and the then Tropical Storm Agnes passed by us without much fanfare....but it combined with a colder weather sytem....and heavy rains played havoc with people's lives on the East Coast....and particularly in Pennsylvania.
             On September 19th I got out of the army....bought a bowling ball at the PX....had the fingers drilled and rolled one game at the base bowling alley....a 245. I loaded up my green MGB....top down....put on my blue and white polka dot cap.....and headed north. It was hot....and I baked in the sun. By the time that I reached the Breezewood interchange to the Pennsylvania Turnpike....I was so exhausted....that I wasn't sure if I was headed west towards Pittsburgh or east towards Philly. I turned around at one of the service crossovers.....and thought it was a mistake....so I turned around again....and again. Oh how I remember that trip home! Today I travel that road so often that I know every turn.....every mountain….and every tunnel...and almost every building.
            When the Hurricane landed in Florida and quickly weakened to a tropical storm....no one up north was concerned.....but within a couple of weeks the Susquehanna River turned the Harrisburg area into a disaster area....the memories of that flooding still in the minds of those old enough.
            There is a hurricane of Noahic proportions coming to the world. It may be in that weakened stage right now as I type....the horrors of the week before....or the month before....having passed as a wandering thunderstorm....but it will restrengthen into a monster and have everyone searching for higher ground in a hurry. God's Word is so very clear on this....and one can see it if they have their biblical meteorological training....which is simply a burning desire to see Jesus return to this world that is imploding upon itself.
            A couple of days ago here in the Pittsburgh area....there was an evening sky that was like nothing I had ever seen before. People are still talking about it. Apparently the meteorological term for the cloud formation is....mammatus....for low hanging pouch like formations. I kid you not here....if you Google 'Diana of Ephesus'.....and look at an ancient statue of the pagan god.....the multiple mammary glands on that statue are exactly what the Pittsburgh area sky looked like.....and that is why science choose the name for the cloud formation that it did....but they conceivably could have called them....Diana of Ephesus clouds.
           I just happened to be out on my patio at the time....and I took a couple of photos on my iPhone. The above described pouches were in the sky to the south of me....as directly above was more of a beautiful cloud formation than the ominous pouches. They were sunburst streaks....emanating from the southwest and shooting over our home towards the northwest....not rays of the sun that we often see between the clouds....but sun-brightened elongated clouds shooting off in that starburst pattern. Within two minutes....as I referred to the time on my photos...the sky had taken on a reddish hue.
           I'll leave off this post with the words of Jesus recorded in the 16th chapter of Matthew. The Pharisees and Sadducees demanded a sign....from which Jesus responded..."When it is evening you say, 'it will be fair weather for the sky is red'; and in the morning. 'it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."

Note: The above photo was taken at 8:55 PM....a photo three minutes later....8:58...and there was a reddish tint to the streaks. Sunset was 8:52 that evening.
             

Were Paul's Letters To The Thessalonians Sent Also To Us.....Or Just To The First Century Church?

                  I very rarely if ever comment in these posts on a biblical verse in a way that you can read the same thing in any study bible. There are thousands of websites out there for that....and take your pick of bible study pamphlets and radio broadcasts to get that good information. I rather try to give perspectives that are not normally heard....and in this post I want to look in a different way at Paul's two letters to the Thessalonians.

                These two letters were of the early letters that Paul sent out. A very strong emphasis in both is on the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had the believers actually looking and hoping for Jesus to appear in the sky. Was he surprised as the years rolled on? How do we look at these epistles today? If you are part of a....read the bible in a year plan....which I do not recommened....then you come across Thessalonians a couple of times.....in a year. These plans have taken the Holy Spirit out of your bible study....as in these plans no book in the bible has any significant importance as it relates to what is happening in the world at any point in time.
                As a typical year passes....I come back to many books time after time after time....and the letters to the Thessalonians are two of them. I cannot see how the difficult times and the persecution of the people circa 50 AD....are merely windows for us to see what was happening to a congregation at that time. Thessalonians has to speak to us today....and not just as encouraging words relating to what happened to believers two thousand years ago.
                Some of Paul's written words were...."wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come"...."For what is our hope.....is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?"...."so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming our our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints,"...."For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God"....."The day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night, For when they say 'Peace and safety'  then sudden destruction comes upon them." The first epistle ends with the exhortation that we be preserved blameless...."at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
                These letters are short....and the second letter continues to refer to when...."The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven...." Let me pick a date out of nowhere.....1900 for example.... I could have picked 1800 or 1700. As it turns out....this date was a century away from all the prophetic pieces in God's Word coming together....as they are today.....were these two letters then really to the church of 1900? Of course they were....for the entire century that lay before them was increasing evidence of the blessed return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
                I want you to explore this question....just as I do. Obviously every Christian in every age is to look to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ....and all believers from the past read these encouragements in their bibles....but are these two letters of Paul's of less importance than the letter to Romans for example? They are totally different in what their purpose was as it relates to the edification of the church in general who reads them....but are we to look at Thessalonians as just two encouraging letters to a local church....a church that was a great example to others....and this during difficult times....or are these letters really part of God's Word.....in that they are written to us today....every bit as much as Romans?
                All three of the synoptic gospel books contain the Olivet Discourse....and the coming of our lord Jesus Christ is found throughout the NewTestament. This was not a minor doctrine....for it was part of the life of the believer....and should be part of our lives. So the question that I would encourage the reader here to explore....pertains to these two letters to the Thessalonians....are they for us today.....or were they only to the Thessalonians....therefore just examples of exhortation to us today?  When Paul warned the Thessalonians in chapter two of his second letter to them...."Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first".....could that warning have been more for us today than even to the Thessalonians?
               Yes....we accept that particular verse as doctrinal truth today.....but do we view that letter as to us? When Paul begins  chapter two with...."Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with Him...." do we see Paul here speaking to us....or are we just listening in to words he had for the Thessalonians? We need to resolve this question....and in this post I am only trying to generate some.....not your average bible study....conversation on the topic.

                

Thank God For Such A Beautiful Day....Yes....But Do Not Let It Put You To Sleep

                 "It was a dark and stormy night...." Charles M. Schulz didn't invent that phrase associated with mystery novels....but Snoopy made it an often used cliche. The meaning of course is that....if it's a dark and stormy night....then danger is in the air.....but I want to challenge that in this post. Oh yes....a dark and stormy night is conducive to mayhem....but I will tell you something more dangerous....a gorgeous 72 degree day....sunny with a pleasant breeze....and different floral aromas around every turn.

                 We all know to be vigilant of roaring lions....but our defenses seem always to be down when it comes to becoming drowsy. Dorothy fell asleep in the poppy fields laid by the Wicked Witch....but that was no more than a fairy tale.....whereas John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....is as real as the pages it was written on. In it Christian becomes weary going up the Hill of Difficulty....and God provided an arbor for Christian to rest....but not fall sound asleep at....which Pilgrim did....only to be awakened by a voice saying...."Go to the ant, thou sluggard".....for we have souls to pray for....balm to distribute....and the evangel to offer....just as it was offered to us!
                This isn't new to me....for I have fallen alseep many times on beautiful days like I described above. I know the danger.....and as I walk among the proverbial poppies....I tell myself to be careful not to fall asleep.....not to let the blue sky....with passing snowy white clouds....and deep green trees placed there as a perfect contrast...nor the floral aromas....cause me to become drowsy.....not in a physical sense where I need to lay down.....but a spiritual sense....where I forget about that lion.
                Today was such a day for me....perfect weather....not too hot.....a local craft show with which to explore....and friends here and there to exchange pleasantries with....and as I walked in this idyllic scene....I reminded myself every time that the comfortable setting became too strong.....that this world is full of violence....with pain enough to cause multitudes to call out to God in anguish....and tears enough to cover the mountains as in Noah's Flood....and lions everywhere.....roaring.....and chained.....but if one became drowsy he might walk right up to that lion.
               So it would not be unusual.....as a matter of fact I hear it quite often.....the Christian giving God the glory for such a beautiful day....but that day is only given as a temporary rest....as a shaded bench at a park craft show might be....not a hammock to fall asleep in....only to be awakened by a thurderbolt splitting the tree that was chosen for shade.
               

You Don't Need The Sheepskin....But You Definately Need To Be One Of The Sheep

There was a television commercial...oh maybe forty years ago....where an Abraham Lincoln character was applying for a job in an employment office. The man doing the hiring....looks at Lincoln....while reading his resume....and frowns....saying something like this...."Ah....Lincoln....What about college?" Lincoln responds in that he did a lot of reading....mostly on his own....whereas the man says...."Look....Lincoln...you're not going anywhere without that sheepskin,"             

             I had to smile to myself. I was rereading a recent post and saw a glaring spelling mistake. I make a lot of them....as you may know....this because I am putting out so many posts. So I corrected the spelling. Why am I even mentioning this. Well it's because I've been listening to quite a few of A. W. Tozer's sermons in the past week.....and reading some of his most well-known books.....and in his sermons....it seems that he often makes a little error in his speech....just picking the wrong word....and then he corrects himself....but this is not why I am writing this post. 
             John Piper....or R. C. Sproul....or Horton or MacArthur...might speak a long sentence on a doctrinal issue.....and I have to concentrate and pay attention to every single word. Tozer could give the same thought in a very simple and much shorter sentence. His words might not display theological education or eloquence as the others might....but they are every bit as powerful.
             God is not a..."respecter of persons"....not only as pertaining to Jews and gentiles....but to the educated and uneducated.....and the rich and the poor. Charles Spurgeon once said of Dwight L. Moody....whom he greatly respected....that he was only man he knew who could pronounce the word.....Mes-o-po-ta-mia....in two syllables. Spurgeon himself was converted on a wintery Lord's Day morning....stopping in a church along the way because he could not reach his home church in the snow....by the preaching of a simple elder/fill-in preacher who did his limited best to preach God's Word.
              So what I'm doing this week with Tozer....is reminding myself....that in amongst all of these other great minds....God does not give one ounce of preference to the more educated. We in the church need to hear this today. Most likely your pastor speaks well....and has a large vocabulary....his grammar being perfect....and his dress impeccable. He most likely has a seminary degree....and may even be fluent in Greek and Hebrew. John Piper is probably this man....but this in itself means absolutely nothing as to his being one of the called of God to preach.
              The day is most likely coming....this as I perceive it anyway.....and very soon....when amidst the turmoil all around us....and the confusion....and we being so weary....that we will prefer the more simple preaching of our Lord and Savior....and His precious promises....no longer concerned about whether the preacher's diction satisfies the critic....but whether the words reach our heart. 
              I don't mean to imply here that A. W. Tozer was some simple country preacher.....uneducated.....for he wasn't. Spurgeon was criticized in the London papers as a country bumpkin. No....I'm trying to address more....our own minds in this self-exalting age....where we tend to be easy prey to a cool and collected and confident voice....from a handsome face.....Tucker Carlson or Joel Osteen come to mind....and ignore or even look down upon a preacher who may not come from....'down on the farm'....but speaks as if he is addressing simple folk....for the power of God is not in the elucidation....helpful as that may be....but in the truth contained within....for it is God's Holy Spirit who opens the eyes and the ears.

Addendum: this for an example….the post above this post….Tozer might have simplified all those words  by saying….’do not let the comforts of this life lull you to sleep….making you forget that we are in a war….with many battles…..and responsibilities to our fellow man.’

"It's A Rainy Night In Georgia....(Kentucky)....Lord I Believe It's Rainin' All Over The World"

                 It's definitely poetic pain....a few hours before we are to enter Noah's Ark....and as I type this I am looking from the hotel room window at a deluge....Noah's Ark being the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

                It affects me at times more than others. I struggle with it....and the only balm is God's Word.....particularly the Psalms. Forty years ago....or thereabouts....most of us in evangelicalism....just about all of us being a part of a remarkable movement of God's Spirit in America....we knew that God was going to judge America....and the world....for what we had become....but here is the kicker....we are so much worse now than we were back then....and we don't even recognize God's judgments....even as we are increasingly being afflicted with them! Actually....that we are not aware of these being judgments....is a judgment in itself.
                 America is so far gone it is hard to grasp. We in evangelicalism today have been lured away from the gospel. Revelation's letter to the Ephesians describes it best....for many of us anyway....in that we have lost our....'first love.' You could see this with Covid....where we showed so little compassion. We turned....
(with a little help from those pundits who haven't a clue as to what the gospel is)....we turned wearing a simple mask into a constitutional crisis. We seem to have no compassion anymore for immigrants. We lived and breathed being 'born again' back four decades ago. Today we do not even seem to know what that means. We recruit more than evangelize.
                The pandemic should have revitalized us in our faith....instead it mobilized us in our politics. What is happening in Russia and the Ukraine today should have by all rights if nothing else sobered us....but our minds are only on the November elections. We are so remarkably self-serving in everything that one as old as I am can only watch....amazed at how similar we in America are to rebellious Israel of old....and her "treacherous" sister Judah. We saw at first how half of America rejected God....we watched it happen....but we did not fear how God departed from them....rather we just pretended to return to the Lord. Jeremiah....astonished himself.....describing it thusly...."And the LORD said to me. 'Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah'." 
               When I do get in that Ark....Lord willing....I intend to look around....knowing that surely these people did not travel hundreds of miles....not believing what it represents. I hopefully expect the same feeling of fellowship and edification as when visiting the Billy Graham library in Charlotte....for no one....or very few anyway....are going to stop by that rustic structure....without cleaving to that wonderful moment of their own salvation!
               As for tonight....the lyrics to that 60s hit song written by Tony Jo White comes to mind....the song....Rainy Night In Georgia.....the constant refrain being...."Lord I believe it's rainin' all over the world"....and I do believe that....but right behind those clouds filled with rain....are those clouds that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be coming back in.....just as He was taken up. 

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 prophecies 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...."