It's Deja Vu....All Over Again"

              I was a Robert Kennedy Democrat in my teens....and a Ronald Reagan Republican from about the age of thirty-two. RFK was the most compassionate politician that I have come across in my over fifty years of observing politics in America. We loved RFK back then....and we loved Reagan. We worship Trump today....not I but many of those on our side today. Some may use the word love....I heard a female Breitbart radio host use that word....and I heard Mark Levin once say...."I adore that man"....but love as in an FDR or a JFK....or RFK or Reagan is long gone.
             Tsarism had become an intolerable situation for many of the people. A genuine revolution had removed them....but a small band of violent Bolsheviks pretended to be part of the people's cause....and then muscled their way to leadership....and then wound up killing everyone in sight to stay there. That was Russia....a few years later in Germany....the Weimar Republic was despised.....much like we on our side despised the establishment republicans. Meanwhile the communists were a genuine threat within Germany. Once again the established government was done away with....and once again a small group within muscled itself into leadership....set up by the Stormtroopers at first....until they were no longer needed.
           "It's Deja Vu....All Over Again"....was one of Yogi Berra's funny quotes. The baby boomer Democrat needs to realize how their party was muscled…and we need to realize the same thing on our side. The rhetoric and the tactics are out of control. There are two older posts related to Russia and Germany just a few posts below this. 

Prayer For Tomorrow's Lord's Day

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 sixth 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!

Their Words Have No Power......But God's Words Do!

                Americans are no longer Americans in the traditional sense of the word. The words freedom and liberty have been so utterly distorted that they no longer have meaning in the traditional sense of the words. Gender has no definition anymore. Capitalism is no longer a sound economic system for growth and prosperity....it is a weapon....a get rich train....a malignant disease by which we all slowly destroy ourselves. Education and higher education are something altogether different than that which not only Americans but all of Western Civilization had known....in fact 'civilization' is being stretched to describe the barbarian tendencies that increasingly dominates today.
                None of these changes could have occurred had not the people changed first. No....we did not turn into Bill and Hillary....and Mark Zuckerberg....and and Joe Biden....and Donald Trump....all at once....but when God lifted His hand of protection from us....it was downhill all the way.
                There is no paper evidence that Benjamin Franklin actually said it....but there is evidence that it was a concern around the times of the formation of our republic.....the saying goes that Franklin said...."When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." True quote or not....it is accurate as the day is long. 
                 When a people are split down the middle....as we are today....neither side can simply dictate how the other side shall live. We have our school boards....they have theirs.....we have our legislators....they have theirs.....we have our media.....they have theirs.
                  What did the Apostle Paul mean when he wrote to the Corinthians...."and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." While doing some research I listened to a progressive seminar....hundreds of people....two authors as speakers....and a panel discussion. In a moment of minor venting I remarked to the person next to me....about the main speaker....."Surely this woman secured a three day pass from hell to speak at the seminar." She was a dean at a well-known and influential....supposedly Christian seminary....and when she was introduced it took ten minutes to list all of her accolades and former positions....and yet what came out of her mouth was pure horror....but as distasteful as it was listening to this....I knew very well that none of her words.....had even a scintilla of power to them. The people present were not converted by her words.....they were there because they previously dedicated their lives to avoid being converted by the only words that in themselves have power....the Word of God....and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
              Similarly when Rand Paul or someone like him spews venom from an exalted Senate seat.....his words have no power.....nor do the words of a Chuck Schumer or Pelosi or Harris or anyone. Mark Levin's words do not contain power. Not even the words of Rush had power within them. The divide in society is by design....of Satan himself.....and neither side is designed to convert the other....but simply to destroy through that division.
              Our pulpits are our source of power....but they have long ago abdicated their responsibility. So in similar fashion....we cannot convert the pulpits.....or even awaken them. Only God can speak the Word where multitudes are awakened. I do not publish all of these posts to convert anyone....but in that if God in His perfect will should decide to bring an awakening upon this lost and forsaken nation....the meager words in these posts might point to the men in the pulpits with whom God does endue....power....in their words. 

I was just going to point you to a sermon by either John Piper or Charles Spurgeon....but instead decided to include this full post from this past April:

                Wow! It's kind of a plebeian exclamation....but Wow! I don't know what else to say. This past weekend I was in a long conversation with other Christians....pouring my heart out on how hard it was to see loved ones....as decades roll on....continue to ignore the warnings and wonderful answers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The conversation depleted me. It was emotional....and today....this morning....I boot up John Piper's sermon of the day....and lo and behold....praise God in his wonderful and mysterious ways....the topic of the sermon is directed to the very pleadings that have been vexing me. I laughed a few times in joy...and almost cried. Would you like to hear that sermon? Is God moving in your heart in this same way....in severe concern for the eternal souls of your loved ones? The easiest way to hear this sermon is simply to Google....John Piper....The Son Of Man Must Be Lifted Up....Like The Serpent....or you can go directly to John Piper's ministry....desiringgod.org.....click on the menu on the upper right.....click on podcasts....click on sermon of the day....click on subscribe....(you are not subscribing to anything)....click on Apple podcasts.....and then click on Latest Episode.

Addendum: John Piper ended the wonderful sermon mentioned above by reading Charles Spurgeon's conversion testimony from his own autobiography. It was Easter Sunday 2001....and my wife and son and I attended a worship service at Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle in London on the south side of the Thames. A film was made in 2010....a docudrama I guess it would be called.....C. H. Spurgeon: The People's Preacher.  I watched it again tonight. The passage that John Piper relates in the sermon is dramatized in the film. It's a wonderful way to spend an evening....learning of the life of this.....The Prince of Preachers. Just Google it and watch. It's an 1:09 minutes.

 

A Graybeard Sits On His Porch.....And Rocks....And Reflects

"Make no friendship with an angry man,
       And with a furious man do not go,
  Lest you learn his ways,
       And set a snare for your soul." Proverbs 22: 24,25 NKJV
             

                Here is a verse that you may have read in your....'read the Bible in a year' programs....but probably never heard mentioned in a sermon....Isaiah 3:12...."Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path." This is another of my 'graybeard' posts....which are simple reflections from someone with age and experience from which to speak.
                The America of the twentieth century....is gone. This that we have today is something altogether different....but we do not know this. Oh we are quick to point out that we are losing freedoms....but that the America of 1776....and that of colonial America....has already been replaced....we are not able to discern. You would have had to live the baby boomer life to realize that it is gone with the wind.
                 Evangelicalism....from Billy Graham to the Jesus freaks to the born again heyday of the 70s and 80s to the minor revival of the 16th century Reformation in the 90s....is also all gone. There are a new set of preachers....a new model for the gospel....new spiritual food....new exercises....a new heaven....and a new Jesus...all of which has snuck in on us unawares.
                 We should have been given a clue when we showed no compassion at all during the pandemic...laughing about masks and vaccinations as if we were barbarians. We should have at least noticed how we tore a man's reputation apart....(Fauci)....because we were told to do so. We should have had some pings from our conscience as we could not care less about poor immigrants trying get to a nation were they could get a decent wage for their work.
                  Youth rules us today. That's where the money is....so that is the squeaky wheel that will get all the attention....and therefore wield far more influence than they should have. England is about to have a woman prime minister.....as may Italy....but we do not produce Golda Meirs or Margaret Thatchers anymore....women proud of their heritage....and determined to defend it....but rather women....proud of their gender....and determined to defend it.
                   Just who are our guides today? Well Tucker Carlson is probably the chief pied piper....but talk radio and podcasts lead us where the intellect would not normally lead us....if we had any vigilance at all. As for Donald Trump....might I remind again that I have read over ninety books covering his entire life....I wonder how many Carlson has read....probably NONE....and it became apparent halfway through that reading....that Donald Trump was....is....and will probably always be....a destroyer. He destroys.
                   We are not able to see beyond the fog that has come in from the pit of hell. The church has been judged....I mentioned that in my last post....the next step should the Lord will it would be for the Lord to begin to blow that fog away by the power of the Holy Spirit....and what we would see is the results of a winnowing....most of the church still lost in pride and selfishness....but also a remnant....realizing that we share equally in the responsibility for what we have become....all of us now humble....seeking only the guidance of our King.
                    As for Trump....I spent years having no ill-will towards this man....hoping only that he would fade away....free to waste his life as usual....no longer as a curse upon us....but as it is he may continue....even resurrected....one of his 'horns' of power restored....or he may not be able to evade justice this time....either way....the world will continue to implode....as there is no longer a warning as it was from Jonah....with time to change....but a declaration as it was from Nahum...to prepare to meet the coming King of Glory....with time only to get our houses in order.

Addendum: This news item came up after I published this post. Google....Finland Prime Minister Party video.....to see what kind of leaders this new generation gives us.

Update: The Drudge headline read....Historic: No White Men In High Office....this as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Liz Truss forms her cabinet.
                   

He Put A New Song In Our Mouth

                For quite a number of years....decades really....the message to the church from Billy Graham and many others....was that America was in need of repentance....and that God would judge us if we did not as a people repent of our many and varied idolatries....contributing to the violent culture that we were increasingly becoming. No one questioned this for we knew it to be true. Christian conservatives worked in the political sphere....at times with great results. There was no repentance here....as it was more of a holding the line....until we might as a people humble ourselves before God who brought our nation about....and who sustained it through many difficulties....and was patient and longsuffering.
                The year was 2015. Barack Obama was nearing the end of his eight years of which we survived but Hillary was the odds on favorite to replace him....for maybe another eight years. Our candidates were good people....Ted Cruz and Ben Carson and others. It would be a bit of an uphill fight but we were motivated and even confident....but things happen in the course of history from which the entire direction of nations change course. This year would see one of those monumental adjustments.
                He had always been the most comical of tabloid celebrities. No one ever took him serious in anything....and with good reason. The other side laughed as he came down that escalator....the entire scene choreographed as if it were a professional wrestling event. People were paid to attend and join the festivities.
                All of our candidates were civil in their campaigns and debates.....but this new candidate roared like a lion. As in an Agatha Christie mystery....one by one the normal candidates fell by the wayside. Was this really happening we pondered? Cruz was the last.....and he was humiliated at the convention. Donald Trump was indeed going to be our candidate.
                I knew practically nothing of this man....did not like him....but being a long time political observer....I knew as the election drew near that he was actually going to win. I say this from observing my home state of Pennsylvania. I had never seen anything even close to what was happening....the only thing near it being Ronald Reagan.
               This man's whole life was nothing but one controversy after another. He didn't need a thick skin....in fact he didn't have a thick skin....for he thrived on people not liking him. He bragged on how he brought out rage....and how he used fear to control people. The majority of the Republican Party fell hook-line-and-sinker for his bravado and promises....but far worse than this....evangelicalism showed itself to be what in reality it was....vacant....lacking in the basics of the Christian Faith that it proclaimed....sitting ducks....easy marks.
                The man preached exactly the opposite of what Billy Graham and others had been telling the church....as he told us that we were one glorious nation under God....that was going to keep on....winning....winning....winning....and that our best days were yet ahead of us! It was now complete. Evangelicalism succumbed to a genuine biblical false prophet....and the judgments were to begin in earnest.
                The man stood on the podium in the House Chamber of the United States Capitol on February 4, 2020 at the annual State of the Union Address....and sounded like Nebuchadnezzar on top of his palace. We on our side of the aisle laughed and partied...."bring out the gold goblets of the temple"....we in as much as cheered....so that we could celebrate our looming certain victory in the next election....but God was already at work....the plague of a coronavirus was incubating....horror on every front would follow. There would be no victory. 
                The heir to Billy Graham in evangelicalism....not his son who has been badly mislead himself....but a man who was known for his discernment and defense of the gospel....faced his large congregation and said....(as I watched in amazement)...."There is no pandemic." We had denied God's judgment....and moved to destroy anyone who said anything else....and have been on one long hate-driven....bloodthirsty revenge binge since then.
                 A new gospel and a new Christianity evolved. The new gospel was not new other than no one any longer had to be born again....to vote MAGA was good enough. The new Christianity was hard....vindictive....power-driven....unforgiving....self-righteous. Apologetics in this new Christianity revolved around defending the Constitution....no longer the truths in God's Word. The doors of the churches had to be kept open....and it did not matter one iota what was preached inside.
                 Billy Graham was gone. Christian bookstores were gone. Our supply lines were in effect cut. MAGA had run us into the ground and stomped us with its jackboots....and we now preach Trump crucified. Christian nationalism replaced evangelizing. Magnanimity was for losers. We now sing a new song....Amazing Grace being replaced by Macho Man. 
             We may sheepishly look to God before the destroyer is done with us....but He in turn may first look at us....and tell us what He told Jeremiah to relate to the people...."But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah." (Jeremiah 2:28)
                 

We Need More Dissenters In The Pulpits

Preface: John MacArthur's church is planning a "once in a generation" event for early October.....a Puritan conference with speakers including John Piper....Sinclair Ferguson....Steven Lawson....and Michael Reeves....all of whom I highly recommended here in these posts....particularly Piper....who I hope to be listening to today's....Sermon of the Day....in a few minutes. One might think that I am thrilled? I'm not. We have had enough conferences where all the speakers pat themselves on the back....while a thousand pastors come in for the conference....none of them surprised by what they hear....all of them pretending to be doing something when all they did was go to a conference. What particularly bothers me on this is that in the advertising....the great courage of the Puritans is lauded.....a topic that I have posted on so many times in these posts of almost fourteen years.....but these speakers will likely show none of that courage behind the microphone....for they fear addressing the topic that really needs to be addressed....that of a false prophet right smack in the middle of the church....while this new Christian Nationalism is ravaging evangelicalism. Major evangelical leaders had been sucked in to this false prophet's orbit of destruction because we now have placed our hope in politics. "What would the Puritans have said about a false prophet taking away their sheep?"....there is a conference title for you. Will Piper show the courage that he has evidenced in his long ministry....will he make waves....or will he just give another great conference message on the glory of God like he has given for a half century? These men may be surprised.....for there are about six weeks until the conference is scheduled to start....and a lot can happen in the world. They may....should God will it.....be forced to address the issues leading the church away from the gospel....and from trust in the only One who can keep us and guide us through this growing maelstrom. The following is a very recent post.....but below that I'm adding a 2010 post.

We Need More Dissenters In The Pulpits

It was rather stunning.....but not that much was made of it. It was in President Clinton's second term....and he was reeling after the Lewinsky scandal.....and Al Gore.....the Vice President.....told his boss....the President of the United States....forcefully....."Get with the program!" The Democrat Party had essentially lost its soul by then....its political soul....where truth had no meaning at all. The 'program' was all that mattered.

                It would be encouraging if even one radio talk show or podcast host or Fox evening cable host.....would at least ask about Trump.....'what is so important with these classified materials that you would go through all this....and put everyone else through the ringer?' Of course this is just one example.....of hundreds....over the past six years.....where one would think that the normal thing to do would be to question the decision making or behavior of Trump....but it never happened....as at first the banner flown was....'let Trump be Trump'.....but now it is the same as that which Al Gore berated Bill Clinton....'get with the program!' Talk radio....'get with the program'.....talk radio to its listeners....'get with the program!' Kevin McCarthey....(to use him as a prime example)....to republicans in congress....'get with the program!' 'Fauci is evil....get with the program! Masks are persecution....get with the program....all truth jetsom overboard to lighten the load!'
              Truth means nothing anymore in the Republican Party....for whereas it is true to say...."A little leaven leavens the whole lump"....(Galatians 5:9 ESV)....it is not true to say....'a little truth legitimizes the whole lump.'
                The Republican Party today has also....lost its political soul. I look at these local state representatives....and federal representatives....and party leaders like McCarthy.... and 'somebody wannabees' like Tucker Carlson or Alex Marlowe....and feel so sorry for them....for they have sunk in the mire of....'truth for truth's sake be damned....get with the program'....as deep as the Clintons and the Gore and the Bidens.
                 Earlier this morning I was paging through one of my favorite books.....a pictorial tour of Puritan churches and towns in England and the Netherlands. Bunhill Fields was one of the photographs....an old Puritan cemetery in London with the graves of thousands of Dissenters'....those who could not in good conscience follow the dictates of the established Church of England. They lost their pastorates....and essentially their homeland....but they did it....they told the truth against all odds.
                We are in dire need today in the church of dissenters.....those who will not take the pulpit and let the congregation be led by a false prophet….driven by ‘Christian Nationalism’ instead of the Word of God. They might indeed lose their pastorates. I ask myself....what would I do....if I were a young second term congressman? Would I so easily throw it away? I don't know the answer to that.....but if I was a seventy-two year old congressman I definitely would. That's not very brave is it.... to be honest....but if I were a young pastor it would have to be a different story.....for if I could not warn the sheep.....then there would be no reason to call myself a pastor.....no matter how big the congregation I might supposedly shepherd. 

Five English Martyrs....April of 2010

         John Hooper was a bishop in the Anglican church during the reign of Henry VIII and the glorious reign of Edward VI. He lived through the beginnings of the English Reformation and struggled, preaching often three and four times a day, against the forces that worked against the Gospel. He was burned at the stake for his faithfulness in 1555 during the reign of Queen Mary. He is attributed with writing this poetry with a piece of coal on the wall of his jail cell:

Content thyself with patience
With Christ to bear the cross of pain;
Who can or will recompense
a thousand-fold, with joys again.
Let nothing cause thy heart to fail:
Launch out thy boat, hoist up thy sail,
Put from the shore;
And be thou sure thou shall remain
For evermore.

Fear not death, pass not for bonds,
Only in God put thy whole trust;
For He will require thy blood at their hands,
And thou dost know that once die thou must,
Only for that thy life if thou give,
Death is no death, but amens for to live.
Do not despair;
Of no worldly tyrant be thou dread;
Thy compass, which is God's Word, shall thee lead,
And the wind is fair.

         Rowland Taylor was a pastor during the same period and was called to account as a villain for preaching the Gospel. When friends advised him not to report, his response was: What will ye have me do? I am now old, and have already lived too long, to see these terrible and most wicked days. Fly you, and do as your conscience leadeth you. I am fully determined, with God's grace, to go to the Bishop, and to tell him, to his beard, that he doth naught. God shall hereafter raise up teachers of His people, which shall, with much more diligence and fruit, teach them than I have done. For God will not forsake, His church, though now for a time He trieth and correcteth us, and not without just cause. Rowland Taylor was also burned at the stake.

         Bishop Hugh Latimer wrote: My wish is, that men may write on their hearts that the well-being of England depends not on commerce, or clever politicians or steam, or armies, or navies, or gold, or iron, or coal, or corn, but on the maintenance of the principles of the English Reformation. Before being burned at the stake he turned to another martyr and famously said: Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.

         In 1552 John Bradford wrote of those days as those in the days of Noah, often forewarning the people of the plagues which would be brought to pass. He also was martyred and wrote: When I consider the cause of my condemnation, I cannot but lament that I do no more rejoice than I do, for it is God's verity and truth.

         Nickolas Ridley was a chaplain to Henry VIII and later the Bishop of London and also ran afoul of Queen Mary for preaching the Gospel. In a farewell letter to prisoners he wrote: Farewell, dear brethren, farewell! And let us comfort our hearts in all troubles, and in death, with the Word of God: for heaven and earth shall perish, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.

         I write these things as encouragement to myself as well as anyone else. These stories come from a small paperback book published by Banner Of Truth titled Five English Reformers written by the great 19th century English Anglican preacher J. C. Ryle.

Two Past Posts....One On What Happened In Russia.....The Other On What Happened In Germany

The following are two posts from the past.  CAUGHT IN THE REVOLUTION  from 2017....on Russia....and A VERY NATURAL TEMPTATION first posted in 2018....on Germany:

 
          They appeared on page 160....the most demonstrative and frightening words in the book. That book being Caught In The Revolution, Petrograd, Russia, 1917-A World On The Edge by Helen Rappaport, told primarily through the dispatches, diaries and correspondence of American, British, French and others who were present before during and after the February revolution right on through the October revolution to the end of 1917. The first eight chapters takes the reader through the extreme tension of a nation at war with Germany, and an imperial government almost at war with its own people. The violent February revolution had then taken place....huge crowds were in the streets of Petrograd.....a million man march to be specific....and they were now peaceful in the streets. Hymns were  actually sung....God was acknowledged.....but tremors of a greater revolution rumbled. The words that I alluded to above were these:
         "I say! There's an amazing fellow over there on the other side of the Troitsky Bridge, an excited English resident told Negley Farson one day in early April: He's talking rank anarchy! Immediate peace, no annexations, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, world revolution! Never heard anything like it in my life!...Advocates the soldiers coming back from the front and overthrow of the Provisional Government....now! Doesn't he know there's a war on?"

         Lenin had returned.....the extreme radical "maximalist" who had been exiled in Europe......who few knew anything about.....but who had worked feverishly "sowing the seeds of discontent from a distance, via a network of underground archivists across Russia who illegally circulated his seditious political pamphlets...calling for a people's revolution led by a dedicated intellectual elite." All the French ambassador seemed to knew about Lenin was that he was instructing others to "kill all people who have property and refuse to divide." Russia had its revolution....a provisional government was in place....but the Bolsheviks were just beginning to be heard from. Blood-thirsty lyrics were now sung in the streets to the tunes of hymns..."We will pillage! We will cut throats! We will disembowel them!"
         One diary noted on Lenin..."Utopian dreamer and fanatic, prophet and metaphysician, blind to any idea of the impossible or the absurd, a stranger to all feelings of justice or mercy, violent, Machiavellian and crazy with vanity." Another observer noted as the Orthodox Easter approached..."the (church) bells were ringing" and it was as if "the Russia of old (were) rising again with Christ." This would not last. Yet another well-known French socialist observer noted that these..."...were not socialists at all but what we call in France Anarchists and Communards."
         Caught In The Revolution had taken the reader to the the very middle of numerous mobs and violent outburst in the streets during the February revolution. Peace only lasted for a short while before the Bolsheviks stirred up revolution once again, this time against the provisional socialist government. The terrors were returning with an even greater vengeance. One commentator could see the evil in the eyes of marching factory girls..."...placid Slav faces lighted with a look of perfect ecstasy"...and a huge black banner with a skull and crossbones on it as if...flaunting invitation to indulge in all sorts of beastliness."
          July had arrived and the Bolsheviks were looking for their opportunity to overthrow the Provisional Government. The second revolution was starting. One observer noted that unlike the February revolution there was no..."cheering, with people singing and shaking hands..." Evil was noted on the faces of soldiers and sailors lured into rebellion by the Bolsheviks. Satan had taken direct command. The tide turned against the Bolsheviks when it was learned that they were receiving funding from the hated German General Staff. A day of mourning for the dead was held, similar to the one after the February revolution, crosses and icons were seen throughout the throng of mourners. What was noted among the observers was that the new prime minister of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, was a strong orator but did not seem to have the fanatical devotion that Lenin displayed. An arrest warrant was out for Lenin.
           The Russian army was involved in a terrible war throughout both of these revolutions. The war on the German front had taken its toll when the tsar led them and now it was taking its toll when Kerenesky led them. Many journalists who were present at the beginning were deciding to leave, one commenting...."I see Russia going to hell, as no country never went before." Meanwhile the Tsar and his family, now prisoners, were moved by the Provisional Government to Western Siberia until they could figure out what to do with them. (when the Bolsheviks took over they knew what to do with them...they murdered the entire family. I recommend to you Helen Rappaport's earlier book The Romanov Sisters for an equally vivid and intoxicating account.)
           The various embassies knew that this coming revolution would not be as the last and were preparing evacuation scenarios. The world was now watching with intense interest and new journalists appeared in Petrograd including Somerset Maugham and the socialist American John Reed of whom Warren Beatty fashioned his film Reds. Reed thought that what he was experiencing was "thrilling" and wanted to meet Lenin. One journalist whose writings appeared throughout the book wrote that he was sickened by this American "playing revolutionary."
            Anarchy and misery were everywhere on the streets of Petrograd come October and people were buying revolvers for protection when they ventured out of their house. Peasants in the country were killing landowners. Lenin was plotting in Finland while Trotsky was rallying the Bolsheviks in Petrograd.
            Kerensky had many opportunities but was considered by all observers to be weak. The Bolsheviks simply took over the government in late October but Moscow did not fall as easily.  One observer wrote in November...."These crazy people are killing each other just like we swat flies at home." And yet another observer wrote..."I never knew of a place where human life is as cheap as it is now in Russia." Rappaport supplies this testimony from one of the witnesses..."....a typical example of the mindless, arbitrary violence ....two soldiers bargaining for apples with an old woman street vendor.....Deciding that the price was too high, one of them shot her in the head while the other ran her through with his bayonet. Naturally, nobody dared to do anything to the two soldier murderers who went quietly on their way watched by an indifferent crowd...." Anarchy, murder and hate were everywhere.
          Lenin's first order after taking full control of Russia was to abolish private ownership of land. Freedom of the Press came next. Everyone knew that Russia was lost.....its beauty marred by the empty faces. The embassies had one last Christmas celebration....but there was no joy....only remembrances of what once was.

Note: Helen Rappaport's latest book in this series is now out......The Race To Save The Romanov's. Her previous two books books were Caught In The Revolution and The Romanov Sisters. I highly recommend all three but especially Caught In The Revolution because we may be playing out this very same scenario today in America.
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A Very Natural Temptation....is from October of 2018

Preface......What we have right now in America is eerily similar to the struggles that Germany was going through in 1933....with the communists fighting the National Socialists for control of the direction of the country. The communist element here in America is obvious. As for the National Socialist element....it is not in the form of the conservative/libertarian/Tea Party/talk radio people that I had been part of for decades....for most of us have long since surrendered to Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with the dominant anti-Semitism of the National Socialists....and its violence is restricted to firing (purging) people who question the President’s supreme authority....and to humiliation and verbal abuse. It is National Socialist in tactics and in both domestic and foreign policy power
                  God is most definitely behind the rise of Donald Trump in American politics....only it is not what you probably think. He has given him to us....that it will eventually be evident to us....that we had clamored for a king....as the Israelites had for Saul....and in demanding that king....we had rejected God. This is what happened in Germany....as National Socialism was going to make Germany great again....and that they would be powerful again. It's a very natural temptation no matter what the ideology.

A VERY NATURAL TEMPTATION

            As we all know the reparations demanded of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles were unbearable for the German population who were fiercely defensive of their homeland and German heritage. The Weimar Republic which came about at the end of World War I was weak....and hated. It wasn't going to last....but what would replace it? The future of Germany depended on its church which was unified in that the German people believed that the state needed its church....and the church needed its state....but there was little unity beyond that.
             A 'German Church' movement developed that entwined itself around the powerful ideology of National Socialism....a movement that was going to lead Germany back into prosperity and power. A 'Confessing Church' movement formed to stop in its tracks the state's intrusion into all church matters....but the Confessing Church itself was divided between those who just wanted the state out of the church....and those who knew that there were big problems with National Socialism.
             Martin Niemoller....you may have heard about him....represented those who at first thought that National Socialism was a great thing if kept in its place. Dietrich Bonhoeffer....you certainly have heard of him....saw the horrors of where this extreme nationalism could go. Niemoller spent years in prison and concentration camps before finally seeing the mistakes that he made before the war. Bonhoeffer paid for his discernment with his life.
             We are getting too close to having an 'American Church' movement.' President Trump again....this time at a West Virginia rally.....used the phrase "One glorious nation under God." We are not one glorious nation under God....and Donald Trump's god is not our God. I have for decades written various themes on how I love this country....but they will never take the place of or become equal with the gospel of Jesus Christ....and in this we must be vigilant.
              It is a very natural temptation....to lay aside one's values in order to help your country....especially in times like this as America is being pillaged and plundered....and to confuse a return to greatness with a return to God. Patriotism can be devotion to justice or it can be devotion to just us. Capitalism can be a God-send....or a god in itself. We are already compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to accommodate 'Make America Great Again'....and it can only get worse as we will seek to be more inclusive of policy that opposes God's Word and exclusive of dictates in His Word....all so that this glorious 'revolution' can continue.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

Matthew D Hockenos....Then They Came For Me.

Erwin W. Lutzer's 1995/2012 Hitler's Cross....How The Cross Was Used To Promote The Nazi Agenda.....the forward is by Ravi Zacharias if that makes a difference.

You might also be interested in Hitler's First Hundred Days....by Peter Fritzsche.....reviewed here back on July 14....titled First They Came For The Communists.

CABARET....It would only take a few seconds to Google a YouTube of one of the songs from the 1972 musical film.....this one titled.....Tomorrow Belongs To Me. It's not the music that is chilling and subsequently haunting....it's the visuals. The scene is a quaint German  town in 1931.....where actor Michael York and another gentleman sit talking at a cafe.....when a young man begins to sing. If you decide to view this....watch the faces on the crowd....all of them as the camera moves around.....and notice the slight change in the young singer's face.....at the point where the subject mater of the song gets more serious

"I Was In My Glory"....I Don't Like Even Writing Those Words

                 It was at least twenty years ago....I have no way of narrowing the year down.....and it was in an everyday conversation at work....where a co-worker was relating something that happened to them....on this I also have no idea what it was....and they made a simple statement where I'm sure no one else would have thought twice....but I cringed....surprising myself....and over the years when I would hear someone else use the same phrase.....I would continue to cringe. All this person said was...."I was in my glory!"

                I've listened to a John Piper sermon almost every day for a few years now.....along with other sermons from men from the past....and men today.....he being one.....who preach like men from the past.. There are a couple of areas where John Piper dwells in much of his preaching.....and the glory of God is one of them. Everything is about God's glory.....the glory due our great God.....and God Himself glories in His own glory! I understand this....for the more you see of God's glory.....the more you exalt in it....and take joy in it....and consequently you cringe in glory given to anything or anyone else.
                I didn't understand this twenty years ago....but I was reading the Puritans a lot back then....and God's glory came through in all of the preaching and writing of these great divines. So in today's sermon of the day by John Piper....it was once again on God's glory due Him......only this particular sermon resonated with me even more than any other sermons had before. I will try to describe one concept from the sermon.....please forgive me in that my words are greatly inferior. You can listen for yourself by Googling....John Piper....When I Don't Desire God....Part 2.
               Here goes....just one aspect.....when anything in our lives takes up a great precedence....something we love so much that we give an exorbitant amount of time to it.....it could be a possession.....automobiles for instance....or a celebrity.....or a talent that we have.....anything.....what we ultimately do.....is give glory to that possession....or celebrity.....or talent. Elvis was and still is known as....The King....not because he was a king....but we gave him the glory of a king....of which I joined in on in my early teens.
               Here is my point in this post....if you can accept that premise....you....me....all of us....we have glory to give....it's probably our chief pastime. Unfortunately the result of this is that the glory which is due God....we do not give Him....we give it instead to a creature....or the created.....or even to ourselves.
               So yes I cringe when I hear someone make that silly statement....I cringe out of guilt....because although I may not consciously understand it at the time....inwardly I know it describes me....for I was in my glory.....when my mind was on myself....or something I did....or something I associate with....or even something that I am amazed at....when the only One worthy of any glory....and the One worthy of all glory....is robbed.....by me....but a funny thing happened on the way to the forum....the more I want to know of God....the more sermons I listen to....by men of the past....and men today who preach like men of the past.....the more I find myself exalting again and again in His glory....which brings more glory to Him....and if this would ever have an end point....I haven't found it yet.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

We Also Will Ask......Of No One In Particular......"What Have I Done?"

                Just about all of us remember the great 1957 Academy Award for Best Picture winning....The Bridge On The River Kwai. The opening scene has the British contingent of new POWs march into the Japanese labor camp.....whistling that tune. William Holden was the American goldbrick impersonating an officer to get out of work detail. Alec Guinness was the British colonel who had by the end of the film....in essence....lost his mind....for he had built the bridge that would carry the enemy to the war....to kill more British. He spotted a wire rising out of the river water....the level of which had fallen. By now his mind is gone....as he hurries down to the river....picks the wire up out of the mud....and follows it back to the detonator box. He sees Holden's character of Commander Sheers....and it tragically dawns on him that his own revered military leadership....had sent a team to blow up the bridge he had built. The reality of his error hit him all at once....and he uttered....WHAT HAVE I DONE....before a mortar shell kills him....and he falls on the detonator....blowing up the bridge.
                 I posted on this theme back in 2013.....with a video included of those final moments in the film.   (you can Google this video....'Colonel Nicholson....what have I done') At the time I had warned that many would later on look back at Barack Obama....and see the mistake that they had made.....and utter the same words of Colonel Nicholson....."WHAT HAVE I DONE."
                 Today the warning is even more important....and more pertinent....as we evangelicals....so very determined to defend God and country....lost our mind....and followed a false prophet....a charlatan....a destroyer....and a wolf in shepherd's clothing. That is where we are right now. I'm nothing but the goldbrick Commander Sheers impersonator....who would rather be somewhere else than warning of Trump every day....but the love of Christ compels me....as it does all of us....to warn....to shout out....that you are going the wrong way.....you have been taken in.....return to the path that you were first put on....listen to Jeremiah...."Thus says the LORD: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls'." And maybe prostrate yourself in the fear of God....and reverence....as you read the few next words from Jeremiah 6:16...."But they said. 'We will not walk in it'."

Addendum: I posted the above and then listened to today's.....John Piper.....Sermon of the Day....from his website....desiringgod.org. It spoke somewhat to this topic of the path that we are on....and how we have to stay on it.  Please consider listening to it by either going to Desiring God....or just Googling.....John Piper....All Scripture Is Breathed Out By God-Continue In It.

Also: I listened the old broadcast twice today....John MacArthur's....Beware Of False Prophets. The original broadcast date was around 1980....but I first heard it rebroadcast on Grace To You....gty.org....on May 8, 2015.....forty days before Donald Trump famously came down that escalator to announce his candidacy for president. I implore of you to make time to listen to it for yourself. You will hear John MacArthur describe who so many of us would later come to know as the real Donald Trump. I don't know if you will totally agree with that....but I am confident that you would have to work hard to find excuses not to identify him in MacArthur's classic warning on false prophets.
                 
                 

"YES!"

               The year was 1994....the movie....Dumb And Dumber.....Jim Carrey's character....looks at the beautiful girl character.....and asks her something like....what are the chances of her falling in love with him. She looks at him and gently says...."Not good." Carrey takes it in....hmm....he then asks her...."you mean like one-in-a-hundred?" She smiles but tells him...."More like one-in-a-million." Carrey then ponders that.
                Let me segue for a moment.....there is an article up right now on Drudge.....(I have not read it....the title is all that I need)....."One-in-six chance of world-altering volcanic eruption this century..." 
                Back to Carrey's character....he looks at first as if it has set in.....but then he thinks about it....one-in-a-million....as his face brightens in excitement...."So you're telling me....that there is a chance!"....before raising his arms and shouting....."Yes!"
                It is the way that we think. It comes natural....on the volcano article....we read it as if it is telling us that somewhere in the next 78 years.....probably closer to the far point.....there will most likely be a world-altering volcano...."Yes! We've got almost an entire century left!"
                This is how we Christians tend to study bible prophecy on the end-times....when we do actually study it....or happen to hear a sermon on it. So take this test over the next few weeks if you like. Read just about any of the New Testament....take notice of the writers emphasis at times on the nearness of the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....and then read in Revelation....(don't overlook 1:3...."Blessed in the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written, for the time is near"....and if you really dare....read through some of the Old Testament prophets. I like to recommend starting with a few specific chapters of Jeremiah.....six through nine....and I also like to recommend reading Daniel's prayer....in the ninth chapter of his book....when he was advanced in age.
                 If you should do this you might at the very least have a look of concern on your face....as did Jim Carrey's character.....but then read the Olivet Discourse from either Matthew 24 and 25 or Mark 13 or Luke 21. Your face might even become more pale....as you recognize in those descriptions our world today....and realize that the warnings are to us....that is until you come to this.....verse 36 in Matthew...."But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."
                And see if you do not interpret that as Carrey twisted the answer given to him....and in as much shout...."YES....no use worrying about this stuff!"

Kicks.....Do Just Keep Getting Harder To Find

               Folks.....if you have Sirius/Xm.....you can go there right now and skip back on the programming a little bit to 6AM....and listen to Breitbart radio's guest host of the day....Monica Crowley. Breitbart radio in itself is bad enough....with their dozen or so resident experts....and carefully chosen callers....but even though I research this stuff every day....as a longtime conservative radio listener....(is fifty years long enough)....this program today is hard to listen to. We evangelicals have been sucked into a world of revenge. I am generally not a reader of fiction but was walking briskly through Walmart three days ago and my eye spotted one paperback book....James Carr's....The Terminal List. I picked it up because the streaming series of the same name has been in the news.  

               The author this morning....in defense of the criticism of the film being right-wing conservative revenge oriented said this...."We don't mention right, left, conservative, liberal; none of those things are even mentioned." I can't speak for what is in the film but it was obvious in the book that this was for us....meaning the 'right'.....conservatives. At the top of the list of enemies are a husband and wife....he a womanizing congressman....and she....the dominant one....the Secretary of Defense in line to become President.  The author stated that it was for military members and veterans....granted....but there are not enough readers there to make this a successful series of books....(he's working on his sixth in the series right now) The chapters are short....75 of them....in this 2018 book....making it easy to get through quickly. It seemed fairly well written....I'm not an expert here....and probably fits nicely into the genre.....but it is for conservatives....more correctly labeled today....'the Right'.....the talk radio and Tucker Carlson crowd.....and it is nothing but revenge.
               Back to Breitbart radio today. If you have the capability....please go back and listen to this show. Maybe you will say....'What's wrong with this....it's all true?".....or maybe you will be unnerved as I was.....and see that this is definitely not a place for Christians to be.....this ever expanding political media....that has one and only one purpose for the moment....incite and keep us all angry.
               For those graybeards out there like myself.....you remember the 1966 Paul Revere and the Raiders hit....Kicks Just Keep Getting Harder To Find....it was a profound principle....and warning.....one bad habit leads to another worse one.....always having to be a greater high. Well that is where we conservatives and evangelicals are today....the conspiracies have to keep getting more horrible to keep our interest....and to keep us boiling mad....and this Breitbart radio program today should be evidence enough to the Christian with any discernment at all....to cause them to flee these people who have us in bondage....and return to the Word of God.

Addendum: After posting this I listened to John Piper's Sermon of the Day titled....I have other sheep not of this fold. This sermon was from August of 2011....and his concluding prayer contained these words...."Father....strip us from all nationalism." So I am recommending the sermon to you. You can just Google Piper's name and the sermon title.

DISPATCHES

And Then He Came For Us......Our pulpits knew that 2016 candidate Donald Trump was a despicable individual....using evangelicals....but they said nothing as he bullied his way to the nomination....they witnessed high numbers of evangelicals worshiping him at rallies.....but said nothing....they saw these same evangelicals save him time and again from impeachments....but said nothing....they lived through a pandemic of biblical proportions....which they should have recognized as judgement from God....but was laughed at by evangelicals....and continued to say nothing....they watched in horror with the rest of us....January 6, 2021....and then saw the same evangelicals turned into vigilantes....ready to hang anyone who did not bow down to their new savior....and the pulpits said nothing....and now....with their own Bibles filled with warnings on just such a man....they amazingly continue to say nothing....and when Trump....if we even have the time....would eventually come to get us....no longer having need of evangelical support....it would be far too late to say anything.

The Only Thing Necessary For The Triumph Of Evil....Is For Good Men To Do Nothing" We in conservatism have been quoting this for decades....O how we love to use the phrase! Edmund Burke may have said or written these words.....or he may not have. President Kennedy used the quote back in 1961. What is most amazing here is that it is almost a mantra of ours in conservatism.....but after Donald Trump deceived us in 2016....and six years of rolling carnage followed in the Republican Party and in evangelicalism because of our being taken in.....right up to today....we constant quoters of this supposed Edmund Burke quote.....did nothing! Most in the party....other than the Trump true believers....have admitted for a long time now that Trump is a disturbed individual....yet they refuse to say anything....but they still like to use the quote?

Christian Nationalism....the new gospel....We were traveling this past week so we heard an unfamiliar preacher from the pulpit....and there was a warning given in the sermon....not a warning to examine ourselves....or that God's judgment was here....but that we in America were losing our liberties. Christian Nationalism is the new gospel today....subtle at times such as the sermon I mentioned.....but overt at other times. We do not need Christ at this time of dire emergency....what we need are at least two of the three branches of our government....preferably all three....and let truth and integrity stay out of the way in attaining that goal if it knows what is good for it! Folks....we will indeed lose our liberties some day soon....but it will be because we in this present darkness....valued those liberties....more than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Born Again....Charles Colson and Jeb Stuart Magruder both served Watergate prison sentences....and both were born again as a result of the mistakes they made in politics. This time period....(the late 70s)....was the beginning of an explosive movement of people all across America becoming....born again. May God....if it be His will....do the same thing with all of these people around Trump who claim to be Christian....wearing crosses and yakking it up on Christian TV programs....but are clueless and naive on having missed a genuine biblical false prophet....and became more like him….then he influenced by them.

Mickey Mantle....Pete Maravich....and Jesus Christ....The saying is usually attributed to Mickey Mantle but it goes further back...."If I had known that I was going to live this long....I would have taken better care of myself." Pete Maravich was born about eight miles from where I'm typing right now. He became a Christian later in life....born again....I shouldn't have to add that....but I do. He said once that he wished that all the time in his life that he dedicated to basketball....he had dedicated to the Bible. He died in 1988 on a basketball court.....in a pickup game.....James Dobson present. As Bobby Richardson tells it....his friend Mantle had taken a turn for the worse in the disease that killed him....and the former Yankee second baseman....a Christian....took a plane out to see Mantle. He was going to lay it on the line....but Mantle called him over right away and told him...."I can't wait to tell you this. I want you to know I'm a Christian. I've accepted Christ as my Savior." Richardson cried a little.....but asked Mantle...."Mickey let me go over it a little bit with you to make sure you understand." Oh....memories of stories like this. We don't want to be the soul who when standing before the Lord of Glory....and gazing rapturously upon His glory....would think...."If I had known how glorious the Lord Jesus really was....I would have dedicated my life to seeing Him in His Word."

Steve McQueen....CBN has a story out right now that I would like to relate. It had been reported for many years now how Steve McQueen came to faith in Jesus Christ before he died in 1980. Greg Laurie decided to research that a little....and here is a short synopsis....a pastor was involved in evangelizing the actor....who as we all know developed an aggressive cancer. He somehow met with Billy Graham before going to Mexico for surgery....who gave him his personal Bible. Greg Laurie had confirmed this story years ago with Billy Graham. Steve McQueen had the surgery....and was left alone in the waiting room....and died there....holding on to Billy Graham's Bible. This quote is attributed to him after coming to faith in Jesus Christ...."My only regret in life is that I was not able to tell people about what Jesus Christ did for me."

"And You Shall Be Called By A New Name That The Mouth Of The LORD Will Give...." (Isaiah 62:2) Our government is in the process of attempting to change the names of military forts that were named for confederate generals....Benning and Bragg and Hood for instance. My last duty station was Fort Bragg....and confederate general Braxton Bragg never even came to mind.....for when I think of Bragg....I think of the 82nd Airborne....(of which I was not a part.) I do not even know who Fort Dix was named after....where I had my basic....or Fort Devens....where I had my training. What is going on with these name changes is close to insanity....or 'madness'....as the dictionary defines insanity. They can change the name of Bragg to Fort Liberty....(how absurd)....but they will never change it in my mind.....just as it will always be to me....Saigon....and not its new name....a name I refuse to even pronounce. They can take down all the statues that they want. It means little. Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson would not want his name on any equestrian monuments....for he would care only that his name were written in the....Lamb's Book Of Life....of which no power on earth can erase a name once it had been written down....which in biblical truth is before the earth was even created.

We Have No Use Whatsoever For Any Of The Scriptural Verses Listed Below

Preface: It is almost as if all of the verses below were penned with Donald Trump in mind. This alone....should have had us giving him the old heave-ho long....long ago....but we really have no use for God's Word in these verses....as we prefer the monologue of a radio talk show host....that tickles our ears....or the sermon of a podcaster.....or a Fox evening cable personality. We have brought this disaster upon ourselves. God has judged His church.

"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self (is there anyone who epitomizes this more than Trump), lovers of money, (or this) proud, (or this) arrogant, (or this) abusive (or this), disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, (or this) unappeasable, (or this) slanderous, (or this) without self-control, (or this) brutal,  (or this) not loving good, (or this) swollen with conceit, (or this) lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (or this) having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." 2 Tim 3:1-5 ("avoid such people"....we utterly refuse to heed this command)

"And Jesus answered and said unto them. Take heed that no man deceive you..." Matthew 24:4 (Donald Trump deceived us....but you will never see that if you refuse to read about him)

"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Matthew 24:11 (Trump came down that escalator right in the middle of evangelicalism. Ever since then....in every rally dominated by evangelicals....he gave prophecies of America that were the opposite of what God's Word says about a nation such as we are. Well-known Christian authors wrote books in support of this false prophet. Churches have been split apart....and pulpits today live in fear of upsetting their congregations....by telling them the truth.)

"Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, that they may believe what is false." 1 Thessalonians 2:11 (would not Trump's MAGA be such a delusion)

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." Matthew 7:15-16a (look back at the fruits of the past seven years)

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world..." 1 John 4:1 (Would not Donald Trump be one)

"For there shall be false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect."   Matthew 24:24  (was not "the greatest economy in the history of our country" just such a great sign and great wonder)

"....for by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." Romans 16:18 (This is what we have experienced on a daily basis through Tweets and rallies and talk radio)

"....but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears..." 2 Timothy 4:3 (that's what we have done)

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..." 1 Corinthians 14:33 ("fear is power"..."I bring out rage. I always have" Trump)

"...they are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and delusions of their own minds." Jeremiah 14:14 ("Our best days are yet to come")

"...they fill you with false hopes..." Jeremiah 23:16 ("winning winning winning")

"Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." Luke 6:26 (if a congressman supports him....or seeks his endorsement.....Trump will praise them)

"in their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories." 2 Peter 2 (too many examples to list)

"Thus says the Lord GOD, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. Your prophets have been like jackals among the ruins..." Ezekiel 13 (Paula White et al)

"For when they say 'Peace and safety' then sudden destruction comes upon them..." 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ("and we're gonna make America"....as everyone at the rally repeats...."SAFE again")

The Apostle John wrote that there already were many...."antichrists".....that had gone out from them. Norman Vincent Peale....went out from the Methodist church....and his teachings greatly affected not only much of America....but the overall church. I would think that he qualifies as one of John's....."antichrists." Wouldn't you? Peale said that Donald Trump was his best student. My point here is that Trump in many different ways....negatively affected evangelicalism....to put it mildly....so he also fits John's description of an antichrist. So pastors....if Trump would turn out to be...."an" antichrist.....would that not change your position a little....as far as warning the sheep?

'I'm OK, You're OK'....Hmm....I Know This Much....I Wasn't OK

                     This is how I described my generation in a post from this past April....Some people use the phrase....paradigm shift....but transformation is big today also....others prefer to look it as....zeitgeist....when trying to describe the mood or the philosophy or the way of thinking for a certain age or period of time. In my day....we were poets and philosophers. Don't misunderstand me....my idea of a great poet is Rod McKuen....and Woody Allen was the greatest philosopher. I use those two words....poets and philosophers....in a very general sense. The music of the 60s was definitely poetry....much of it. As for me....I became a philosopher with an empty pitcher of Budweiser before me. We read philosophical books back then....and went to see artsy foreign films.
                     It was 1974 or thereabouts....Kung Fu was popular on television. I had read one popular book of a few years before....The Teachings Of Don Juan....A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge....and graduated to a newer best-seller....Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance....and then.....Jonathan Livingston Seagull....throw in Gravity's Rainbow and Kurt Vonnegut and Alvin Toffler....and I have to wonder how I found any time to read my required texts in college?
                     I reread Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull today. (it is under 10,000 words) I posted a number of times on how just before God had mercy on the lowest of the low....I was taken by two powerful books against belief in God....the God of the Bible....the only true God.....those books being the Pulitzer Prize winning....The Denial Of Death....and the minor classic....The True Believer. I was indeed searching....empty headed but searching....but it is Jonathan Livingston Seagull that I want to address here.
                     Jonathan....is a seagull....obviously. All the other seagulls lead normal lives....find food....and sleep....but Jonathan is enamored by the art of flying. He becomes an outcast....passes in his spirit to another life.....which he thinks at first is heaven....but there is no heaven. There are others there just like him....but he is told that he is one-in-a-million. He only wants to return to his earthly life and tell them about love....and true freedom....and the beauty of flying. So he does so....and many of those who cast him out earlier....now treat him like a god. In fact there is similarity after similarity of his life with....although never mentioned by name....Jesus of Nazareth. The point being....forget about learning anything about God....learn about yourself.
                     I was dating my wife when I read it.....as she just reminded me....oh well....she was warned. Eastern philosophy was very big with us geniuses back then....just as the gospel of Jesus Christ....was very big with many who were not as smart as we were. The Living Bible....paraphrased by Kenneth Taylor.....was a best-seller....yes....I knew that....but I'm still trying to figure this out....I just purchased the latest Vietnam magazine....(Autumn 2022)....and as always they have a one-page section titled....Fan Favorites....this particular year chosen....1972. As for Top Albums....they have Neil Young's Harvest....and Carole King's Tapestry. OK....they were my favorite albums of the year. As for best-selling fiction....Jonathan Livingston Seagull....OK....but as for....Best-selling non-fiction....it lists as number one....The Living Bible! Number two was....I'm OK, You're OK....a psychology self-help book that I also at least picked up. My point here in this post...is the dichotomy going on back then....and today also....in the battle for the mind of the younger generation....the one....Eastern Philosophy....(thanks in large part to the Beatles)....and the other as described in Revelation...."Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" (Revelation 4:8 ESV)

Addendum: I should add this. It was my habit after classes at Pitt....and probably a few hours at the college bar....to cross Forbes Avenue at the Original Hotdog....and wait for the Port Authority bus. The National Record Mart was a few stores up and I would stop in to browse the books....and a few of those books mentioned above were bought there....and I would start to read them on the bus ride home. Well....One night I picked up a book....the very book I am holding in my hand right now....Reach Out....The Living New Testament....(Ken Taylor's paraphrase.) I did not read much of it....but since then I could never throw it away.....but occasionally open it and hold the pages flush up to my face....and close my eyes....and smell the pages....that would for so long....(the pages do not have the paperback smell anymore)....take me back to when I first actually considered Jesus Christ....in Matthew and Mark and Luke and John. 

"The Fields Are White...."

"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." John 4:35

They played baseball again tonight in a cornfield in Iowa. I just watched a clip of the opening....and they did it again....as Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. came out of the corn stalks first....father and son....just to toss the ball around....a very moving moment. The following preface is from earlier this year.....following that is a portion of that post from August of 2021:

Preface: The following was posted the morning after the Major League Baseball game between the Yankees and the White Sox at a stadium constructed in a cornfield in Iowa....all this of course pointing to the 1989 film Field Of Dreams. I saw the news clip of this....and from a Hollywood perspective.....seeing these players of today walk out of that cornfield....was as 'magical' as Hollywood ever gets....the only problem is that 'magical' is not good. If I remember correctly....from the film trailer that I saw at the time....the voice Kevin Costner heard from somewhere said...."If you build it....He will come." Pastors....if you preach Christ....if you are not afraid to call out....Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus....they will come....and it won't be for the music....or the laughter....or the soft seats....or the great parking lot....but keep this in mind....and be prepared for it....lest you become discouraged....'If you preach Christ....some will leave.....even many may leave.' 

If You Preach Christ......They Will Come

                "If you preach the gospel....if you preach Jesus Christ in all His glory....and His righteous judgment....and His coming again....they will come. This a play on words of course on the film Field Of Dreams. By 1989 when Kevin Costner's film came out....my life had changed. I still loved film....carefully chosen film....with Chariots Of Fire to this day my favorite. 
                I have yet to see Field Of Dreams....or The Natural....because I stayed away from those offerings....(an apt word I think....offerings)....where I had a nagging suspicion that there was something behind the film that....unbeknownst to those involved in it....was meant to lead people away from the God of creation. As far as I know....our son has never seen the film even though he loved baseball....for I never considered bringing it into the home. Am I wrong on this suspicion? I can't say for sure....but I know that our son loves the Lord....and chose a wife that loves the Lord. That's enough for me.
                The glory has departed in America....'Ichabod'....the word that God's Word uses....but the glory of America....was present for a few hours last night in that Iowa cornfield....only the two 'glories' are separate.....wherein one is of God's hand on this nation that began with pilgrims coming to America in hope of it becoming a....'shining city on a hill'.....the other a glory of its own making....and a glorying in itself....of which last night was a fading recollection.
                Oh....we had our moments.....our great film moments....and momentous sports moments....The Miracle On Ice...and we had Reagan's win.....and Obama's win....(for the other side).....and of course Trump's great win....all this mess of pottage that we exchanged the glory of God for....and look at our country now.....we can't even think anymore. Only one thing stand's firm....and that is God's Word....which has been telling us for quite some time now....to get our individual house's in order.....for He is coming."
    

"If You Begin To Trust In God....Your New Heart Will Have Already Begun To Beat"

              Everyone born into this world is lost. You may very well have trouble with that. It's quite natural if you do. Providing that you can set it aside for now....I'll continue. Every redeemed believer in Jesus Christ in this world has eternal life. That might be easier for you to take. Considering the two futures....one of sorrow....and the other of joy....something must have happened to have changed course. Salvation is what this is called. There would have had to have been a moment in time when that change occured. That's simply logical. We would agree on that would we not?
              So....if you believe that right now you are headed to eternal life....when did that change occur? Take all the time that you need. Was it in your teens....or as a child....or one of the many decades of adult life? You see....you may be able to accept the premise that you will go to.....heaven....but you cannot explain anything about it at all. You do not really want to think about this too much because you are satisfied with the outcome as it stands...but you know that if you think about it too much....you may lose that confidence.
             Would you ever consider taking all of your hard earned money out of the bank....and going to Vegas.....and putting it all on the tables? I know that you wouldn't....but what you do not realize is that you are placing your eternal soul on the gambling table. You do not know anything for sure....so you have no choice but to put your soul on the black....or on the red. This is a gamble....is it not? Take your time....but how can you say anything else but that it is a gamble. You are taking that chance....with eternity....and not only with your own eternal soul.....but with those of whom you love....your spouse....your children. Now you really do not want to talk about this.....but you are still here....so I will go on.
             Here are some clues for you. The lost soul is a dead soul....not just sick....but dead. It must come alive. How does this happen? Please remember....unless one accepts that they are lost....they will have no need to be found. There can be no concept of salvation unless one believes that there is something to be saved from. 
             You may believe that you are a pretty good person.....therefore if there is a salvation to be had....you would have it.....but still the question remains....when did this change occur? At what point of your being a pretty good person did God say....'you are now saved.'? Everyone has some good works. Some have a lifetime of them. Where would the salvation have kicked in?
             God has told us in His Word to us....that this is not how it works. He says that faith in Jesus Christ is what saves. OK....now there is a 'when'....for there was a time when one did not have that faith.....and there is a time where one does have that faith.
              So....if you can accept that....and you are confident that you have eternal life....when did that happen. I'm not inquiring about the date. I don't know my own date....but I know that there was a time when my new heart began to beat....and my soul became alive. I know this because before it would have happened....I could not make hide nor hair of the Bible....I was not overwhelmed with what Jesus had done for me....I did not even know for sure that He was God....and I didn't even know for sure that there was a heaven or a hell. Everything was guesswork! I now know. None of it is guesswork....and I want to tell everyone....and have wanted to tell everyone for forty years.
               If you are indeed....saved....do you find that you want to tell everyone of how they must also be saved? If not....why not? Does God's Word leap off the page to you? If not....why doesn't it? Does the majesty and the glory of Jesus Christ fill your soul with joy? 
              It may be that you cannot readily see these things because that point in time....when the new heart began to beat....has not yet occured. There is at this time....no new creation....as God's Word describes it. As difficult as these questions are....the answers come easy to the mind with the regenerated heart. You may not believe me....but there are multitudes of others throughout the ages.....who would tell you the same thing!
              Throw the gambling dice away. Trust.....not in me....but in God....and you know what....if you begin to trust in God....your new heart will have already begun to beat....you will be given faith....and your soul will become alive....for you will have become....born again....and you will soon sit there wondering....as we all do....'how do I tell of this great salvation to those who are lost?'
             

Ashamed Of The Second Coming

                 If you would ask a conservative evangelical right now what the condition of the country is....they would certainly express great concern....to say the least....and you probably wouldn't even have to ask....as most evangelicals usually volunteer that concern in a conversation of any extended length. You might think that this is good....perceptive and discerning on their part....but it is misleading.

                 Let me start with the Democrat Party. It began to collapse thirty years ago....and has since totally collapsed. There is no recognizable connection to the party from the days of FDR to the ascendance of the Clintons. Liberalism is gone....replaced by progressivism....and now really nothing more than an atheistic Bolshevism....even paganism! It could not be worse.
                 That leaves us....the Republican Party....with it's evangelical base.....and you could add to that conservative libertarians. That is as far as we look at this....us vs them....the patriots vs the socialist/communists....but there are other factors involved that we are not aware of....and when advised of them....we do not want even to consider them....for they expose a culpability on our part....a culpability that we refuse to accept.
                  Whereas the Clintons were the catalyst for the collapse of the Democrat Party....Trump was the catalyst for the collapse of the Republican Party.....and evangelicalism. I lived this....day by day....as many of you did....and observed what was happening....began to post on it.....and have been warning of it in earnest since the Spring of 2017....but it actually goes a little further back....as I and so many of us back then....saw who we were rallying around....a godless and vacant mind....with a vengeful spirit....consumed by bitterness....and an utter inability to even discern what truth means.....let alone speak it on any regular basis.
                  I started reading about Trump in the first few months of his administration....when it became apparent that the awesome responsibilities of being the leader of the free world....were to have no effect on his narcissistic and childish vindictiveness. I have read over ninety books on Trump as of today....with a couple sitting on the table that were published in the last few weeks. I could not stop reading. How could a man like this even exist as a serious candidate.....let alone take captive the Republican Party....let alone bewitch evangelicals.....and pastors.....leading them away from trust in Jesus Christ....and making them prime supporters of a genuine biblical false prophet...."We are one glorious nation under God....and the best is yet to come!"....effectively neutralizing churches....and whole denominations as to their calling in the gospel of Jesus Christ? How could this happen?
                   Returning to the premise of the first paragraph....we evangelicals have no idea how bad this situation really is. We worried about Russia for a week or two....we don't worry about China....oh we in as much as shout....'death to China'....on every radio talk show program....but it is the politics of it....not the existential threat.
                   World war? Get Real. That'll never happen....besides....it's not all Putin's fault....he's not all that bad....it's the China virus! Pandemic? That's just Fauci....and we're gonna get him. AI? Who cares. Kids with an iPhone and assault riles? Guns don't kill people....people kill people. Widows and children....whole families....making a hike that we wouldn't do without a top brand easy to assemble....comfortable tent....gourmet food-laden backpack.....and a thousand dollar camera to keep the memories of such an exciting adventure. 
                   Twenty years ago we were Christian patriots....defending our constitution.....today we are Christian nationalists....defending our way of life....a life of 401s and football and barbecues. Our pulpits refuse to warn us of this....for the pastors know that if they so much as mention a problem related to Donald Trump....then they will meet stiff opposition....lose some members....maybe many members....and the ten year plan to quadruple the membership and expand the church campus will collapse.
                    Woe are us! I would wager that pastors pay more attention to podcasters than God's prophets. Where are the tears in those pulpits?  OK...no tears maybe....but how about at least some visible concern....and a warning or two of mixing politics with the gospel....instead of the perpetual smiley face.
                    Thirty years ago John MacArthur put out a book titled....Ashamed Of The Gospel....When the Church Becomes Like the World. I'd like to see one today titled....Ashamed Of The Second Coming....When the Church is Embarrassed to Mention it. The fundamentalists may have some serious limitations and misconceptions on the sovereignty of God....but God blessed them in their simple hope for the return of their Lord and Savior. We on the reformed side may have every 't' crossed and every 'i' dotted....but we have missed the forest for the trees on this one. Pat Robertson may have missed the dartboard so many times that there is hardly enough wood left to hold up the target....but he knows that His Savior is already mounted....and he at least warns on what is coming.

                 
                  
                 

                  

"But Where Are Your Gods....?"

           There is a video accompanying the news of the crash in Los Angeles a couple days ago where six were killed. A sedan speeds through a red light and broadsides another car with occupants just going about their daily routine. There is also a news video on the lightning strike in Lafayette Square across from the White House....from a security camera of some sort....where a bolt of lightning strikes....somewhere in the middle of the park. Three people were killed.
            My wife and I were in Lafayette Square one year ago.....umbrellas in hand....sitting right by the same Andrew Jackson statue that the four people struck by lightning were sheltering by....including a retired couple about our age...tourists on vacation as we were. I posted this after we returned home....My wife an I spent a couple of days in Washington D. C. last week.The primary reason for these trips is to visit my father's grave in Arlington National Cemetery....but we always also play the tourist. According to my wife's pedometer we walked nineteen miles over the two days....while taking the Holocaust Memorial Museum....and the Museum of the Bible....and one of the Smithsonians. Our hotel was just off of Lafayette Square....so at night we would just pick a bench and look at the people looking at the White House. Something was missing this time....and I couldn't put my finger on what it was enough to even mention it to my wife....but I'll try here. I thought of the word....sadness....but that wasn't close enough....and then.....hollow....(not hallow....hollow)....came to my mind. It was a feeling of hollowness that I just couldn't shake.
            We do not know what a day brings....that it might be this day that life ends....where Jesus will tell us either...."Well done, good and faithful servant.....enter into the joy of your master".....these words from the mouth of Jesus....in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 and 25....or we will hear....as Jesus warned in an earlier parable...."Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven.....on that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them....'I never knew you..."
             I posted this not long ago...."Jeremiah had now been prophesying against rebellious Judah for a long time....persecuted by those who did not want to hear of the judgment coming to them. Ezekiel and Daniel had been taken away to Babylon....along with Jehoiachin....after Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. Zedekiah paid tribute to Nebuchadnezzar.....but after three years was talked into rebelling by the false prophets. Jeremiah was warning them to no avail. Nebuchadnezzar came back....captured the city and burned the temple. Zedekiah was taken and punished severely. Along the way God had told Jeremiah not even to pray for the people....for He would not listen to them...."But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah." (Jeremiah 2:28)
            God has been patient and longsuffering in warning us. Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day. May God have mercy on these men as they enter their pulpits....may He give them a fearlessness to warn the sheep in front of him. May God have mercy upon these pastors....and thereby have mercy upon us!

Addendum: It was odd....because I was not a child....where reading was stressed....but for Christmas when I was nine years old....I was given a couple of books....one was on the National League.....(there were eight teams then)....and one was a child's book on....Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette. That long name made an impression on me....and the French aristocrat has been a hero of mine ever since. When on a trip to Paris....and on a walking tour....this is 2001....I asked the French guide where I might find the statue of the Marquis de Lafayette....and she looked at me and said...."Who?" The equestrian monument to Lafayette was given by Americans in response to the French giving us the Statue of Liberty. Do we Christians know much about Jeremiah? Have we even ever read Jeremiah? Could we even name five of the Old Testament books of the prophets? Do we know what the Olivet Discourse is? And have we ever even given a moment of meditation on what the meaning might be of Revelation 1:3...."Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."