ICHABOD......"The Glory Has Departed"

The preface directly below is from September last year. The preface below that is from March of 2021....and the post itself....ICHABOD....The Glory Has Departed"....is from December of 2015! Evangelicalism has been sheared of its discernment and wisdom....with its hedge of protection brush hogged and replaced with artificial turf....which brings to mind Jeremiah's words...."The wind will sweep away all your shepherds." Jeremiah 22:22

Preface: Google up sometime President Trump's 2020 State of the Union address....and watch the video....and you will see a Republican Party totally lost in their own perceived glory....or just read the transcript....and keep in mind as we crowed like roosters....that God let us crow....and then brought us down....and we still cannot fathom why He has not been pleased with us.

Preface: We in evangelicalism have no idea the trouble that we are in. We think it has something to do with socialism or communism. If that were the biggest problem then that would be good news....for God would be with us.....but the real problem is that God is no longer with us....Ichabod....the glory has departed. We need pastors that warn us....but instead they comfort us. The church knew back in the 1970s and early 80s that God was going to judge us. It's attributed usually to Billy Graham but it was actually his wife Ruth who said....probably in the 70s...."If God doesn't punish America. Hell have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah." We are 100 times worse today....with 100 times less discernment. 

        What kind of name is Special Dog? Well that's not my real name of course for my real name is....Straggler.....Private Straggler. I'll be the last one to enter the Celestial City.....and the least of those in line....and the greatest testament to God's love of the unlovable and mercy upon the least deserving of it. And if there is someone behind me I'll wait for them....for by rights I should witness every glory filled face before mine shines in the presence of the King of Glory.
         Friends....examine this concept of God that has taken hold in American religion. I don't blame the people for their pabulum reverence....for they....most of America....have never beheld His glory in a sermon....and never adequately understood what one is 'saved' from! Little is demanded from anyone and less is offered by us in the form of humility. No...I can hardly blame anyone for giving God no more than one percent of their thoughts. I realize this because before He hogtied me with the cords of His love and mercy....and before He branded me with the imprint of His Word upon my soul....I would have been far more excited to meet Elvis Presley than seek His face...let alone stand on holy ground!
         So it is no surprise that people do not recognize the extent of our pitiful state in this country today....nor are aware of the severity of judgments upon us which have only just begun. (This is 2015 folks) Politics is seen as the answer because few know what the real question was...."...who do you say that I am?" The answer of course is....."You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." If one truly understands that statement then one would have already beheld His glory, known very well what one was 'saved' from, and realized that we deserve His protective hand being lifted from us!

Note: If anyone would want some evidence on my supposition here that the glory has departed….as I type this….about 4 in the afternoon on the day given us to rest in the glories of the Lord…..multitudes really of Christians are in the middle of a complete day of watching football….showing emotion rarely if ever shown for what happened at Calvary….and in the tomb. I have idols of my own to account for….but this is wholesale idolatry in biblical proportions….and a sacred cow….plaguing the professing church in America. Even without the question of the Lord's Day....NFL football....with the hideous levels of idolatry....and the bondage that all of sport seems to have over the once Christian mind....particularly as the world disintegrates....would it not behoove to follower of Jesus Christ to at least examine whether or not we have gone full-scale into the world?

    
        

Come Lord Jesus......Just Not Right Now

We say that we want Jesus to return....but we don't....not for another forty or fifty years at least. We want a Republican Congress to return. We believers do not want to be set apart. We want to be part of clear majority to get the congress back. We want normality....fall football....a white Christmas....a bull market....growing families....graduations....and finally those retirement years where we can have the time to do all the things that we have always wanted to do. Jesus also wants these things for us....or so we tell ourselves. The following post is from August of 2020.

               This is powerful stuff....man and how he is unable to turn over sovereignty to God. What we have before us in America....and the world....is about as clear as anything in scripture as it was with God's warnings to the Israelites....along with their....and now our....finding a way to ignore those warnings. We are so embedded in our own dreams and desires that although we can think logically on most of the doctrinal truths of God's Word.....we struggle with His Second Coming. Oh we acknowledge it....and can stand firm in it....but only until that Second Coming might actually affect our plans....as honorable to God as those plans may be.
               There are places on the earth....many places....and even here in America....where the return in power and glory of our Lord is what believers are pleading for....for they live in tribulation from a world that hates them....yet we in evangelicalism want the opposite....for we do not live in tribulation. All the same we want to be able to 'proclaim' that He must be coming soon.....but that 'soon' is an abstract....it's real....but it isn't.
                Many if not most Christians use the 'Rapture" as a convenient excuse for not really taking seriously God's warnings. We find that in the Rapture theory we can at the same time pretend that we want Him to return....and since it will come as a thief in the night....in the twinkling of an eye....with no real warnings that can actually be interpreted as pointing to us....for that is date setting....we can put it out of our mind....and concentrate on things that we are really interested in....like building our 401k....and making plans for retirement. There may be a lot of surprised people if the Rapture does indeed turn out to be at the beginning of the Tribulation....for far from meditating on His Word morning and noon and night....we can't even give him a tenth of our time....and our devotion and attention comes in a poor second....at best....to any one of a number of goals that we have.
                We in America....still....in spite of the collapse all around us....live for the plans we have made....and are unable to consider let alone accept the fact that we may be the generation where our plans will be interrupted by the Lord's appearing in judgment. We purposely choose only to believe what we see with our eyes....the buses and trains run....sun comes up....the pension check arrives on time....and to dispel any doubts that the Lord's near return....is not really a 'near' return.....we can take a leisurely walk in the park any day of the week....or the concourse of our town....all is well....sort of....Praise the Lord....Come Lord Jesus....just not right now.
               

"Nothing Can Separate Us From The Love Of Christ...."

                It has only been eleven days since the twenty-first anniversary of 9/11....and with terrorism in the form of threats of nuclear war over us....I wanted to being back for the second time a John Piper sermon.....probably from the tenth anniversary of the day. This sermon can be easily Googled at John Piper, Nothing Can Separate Us From The Love Of Christ. Please....please....at least listen to this Piper sermon....for it is so needed today.

Prince Leopold......And The Prince Of Preachers

                It was timely to say the least. I had just left Barnes & Noble....and the weather was perfect....probably one of the last 80 degree days of this year....so I put on the headphones and quickly chose a Charles Spurgeon sermon to listen to while walking in the sun around the large shopping area. I had heard this sermon before....and probably recommended it here in these posts....but could not remember the setting for the sermon. It was the Lord's Day....March 30, 1884. Spurgeon was a few weeks shy of 50 years old....and I appreciate his sermons when at the end of his ministry even a little bit more than the fiery early ones....this because of his experience of so many years in his ministry that was not only in London but all around the world.
                Prince Leopold....the Duke of Albany....second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert....had died suddenly two days previous at thirty years old. I have no idea if Spurgeon had already prepared his sermon titled....What Is Your Life....well in advance.....or if the death of Queen Victoria's son caused the Prince of Preachers to address the issue of the shortness of the time we have on this earth....but Spurgeon did begin by describing the nation mourning the death of a member of the royal family.
                I obviously recommend the sermon to you....for it is indeed a topic that we all should address at one time or another. Fifty-three years ago yesterday I stood with other men at the Federal Building in downtown Pittsburgh and took the oath upon joining the army. I remember so much about that entire day....yet it was fifty-three years ago! 
                Psalm 90 was written by Moses! The Psalm begins Book Four....(Psalms 90-106)....and it has a lot of emphasis on 'time' in its 17 verses....

"Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God" v2b
"For a thousand years in Your sight....are like yesterday when it is past." v4
"The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years." v10
"Do teach us to number our days....that we may gain a heart of wisdom." v12
"Return, O LORD! How long? v13

                 We thus are told very clearly that life is brief....whether it be 80 years or 30 years....and we should examine how we used the time given to us....for we will stand before the Prince of Peace....the King of Kings.....and account for where our heart and desires were....as we professed faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for us....and thankfulness in that He called us to Him to receive grace upon grace.

"And No One Dared Disturb The Sound Of Silence"

"Strive to enter in at the narrow gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter and will not be able." Luke 13:24 KJV

           What do you think about this verse? We might want to use the Bill Clinton hermeneutic...."It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." The evangelical today can easily pull up any number of interpretations on this topic....and then simply choose the one that they prefer. In fact that is the common method of interpretation on anything today. If we want to believe that 'few' means 'many'....then there are more than enough well-known preachers available to support that view. To at least feign an honest examination they might want to hear what J. C. Ryle thought about it.....for he felt it important enough to write strongly on the subject. You can easily access this by Googling.....'J. C. Ryle....few will be saved.'
           My mother fought belief in Jesus Christ until she was eighty-nine years old. She probably had the least capable person evangelizing her for the last thirty-four years.....me. We had more in-depth conversations that I could ever recall. I could not give up....even though she kept clinging to pride. She spent the last few years in a nursing home....about two miles from my home....and I saw her almost every day. In the last year of her life.....with all of the trivialities of life having faded away....her heart softened....and her pride melted. And yet I can still only hope...that as she saw death as imminent....that the total absence of defiance....and the now gentle spirit....and her brightened eyes when the gospel was mentioned....might be indicative of what was going on in her heart.
           Cling to pride if you want dear reader....but in order to do that....you will have to work very hard to avoid what God's Word to you says about all of this. You will have to ignore at times....skip at other times....pick your favorite interpreter at times....and you may even downright lash out at someone if you feel cornered...for we no longer have to be...born again....not in this politicized evangelical culture. When even a king or a queen dies....they will....as any of us commoners.....stand before the Lord of Glory....to see if their name had been written down in the Lamb's Book of Life....and if they are of the blood-washed redeemed....who had been born anew....and who even as toiling pilgrims as we are while on this earth....trusted solely on the works of Christ....shouting His praise....pleading His mercies for others.
             The iconic 60s pop song once warned of...."people talking without speaking....hearing without listening"...who...."bowed and prayed to the neon god they made." Our pulpits today are the same...."talking without speaking"....but it wouldn't matter anyway for we are in the habit of...."hearing without listening." May God....for His precious and glorious name alone....to His glory alone....if it should be within His perfect will....show us the two gates....and lead us to the narrow gate....where there only is redemption!

"And His Mercy Is For Those Who Fear Him From Generation To Generation."

                Fifty-three years ago this week I enlisted in the army.....and fifty years ago this week I got out. I signed up for four years but with only six months to go after Vietnam it was either reenlist or take the year drop that was offered to everyone who did what I did.
                It has been cool this past week in Western Pennsylvania....and when the first cool days of fall arrive my mind goes back to Fort Dix, New Jersey and Basic Training. What a lifestyle change that was for me! I drank milk....ate liver....and went to bed at nine o'clock. I had no hair to incessantly comb....and no worries other than not getting yelled at. I got out of the army at Fort Bragg....(the closest place to home they could send me)....bought a green MGB from a Green Beret.....and packed it up for the long road trip. The GI Bill afforded me an opportunity to go to Pitt....where I would meet my future wife. I wear my army unit pin on my ball cap to this day.
               I attended catholic church services in Vietnam on occasion....and attended St. Paul's Cathedral evening mass more regularly....(basically on the Pitt campus)....since I worked at Pitt's Hillman Library on Sundays.
               I've related this many times in these posts....so this is probably more for me to hear. I picked up a paperback New Testament one evening at the National Record Mart in Oakland....and only read little of it....but what I read of it would not let go. I wrote down in my Jim Fixx Running Log....March 7, 1981...."saw Chariots of Fire today," Something in me had changed by watching the story of Eric Liddell. He was everything that I wasn't...and he knew God. How could he know God? 
               My wife and I would attend Sunday mass....and I would gather up the catholic newspapers that were available at the back of the church....and take them home to spread out on the dining room table....searching for this God.
               Many men at work in the early 1980s were saying that they were....born again.....and I would....as was and is my inquisitive custom....explore the thoughts of friends. Billy Graham crusades were on the television....it seemed all the time....oh how America misses that today....and there was this 700 Club....both of them on one of only four channels available. Months passed....it was a blur really....and a new part of my life began. Our cable company changed all the numbering on its channels....also this week....and I was forced to surf through every single number....(there were literally hundreds!)....to find the fifteen or so of which we subscribe. Woe are us in America....for this curse upon us.  A few days ago I traveled an hour to just browse in a Christian bookstore. It was old....it was musty.....and it might itself be closing soon. When I came into the faith there were seven Christian bookstores within a five minute drive. We watched them all die....one by one....as we wanted to save a couple bucks by ordering on the Internet. That supply line of the gospel to the community is cut. We can still get our books.....who cares that there are no local Christian bookstores for people to wander in off the street....and find the same mercy that we had found.
               The greatest blessing in my life....apart from my own salvation....was raising our son in the...."discipline and instruction of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4 ESV) I had a responsibility....a son....and his eternal soul....I could not blow this great responsibility. Today he knows his Savior....and his wife knows her Savior....and he is raising his son in the...."discipline and instruction of the Lord." I have been blessed more than Bezos and Zuckerberg and Musk and all the athletes and movie stars in the whole world combined!
              The less one understands such a great salvation as has been given us....the less thankful one will be....there is no surprise in that....but something else....the more one understands one's great salvation....the more one mourns from failures to live up to that great mercy. If you are not humbled....and almost breathless....at the glory and power and righteousness of Jesus Christ....then you do not know of His glory and power and righteousness....but in the moment after you have breathed your very last breath.....that glory and power and righteousness....will be evident....and it will then be too late to proclaim.....as did Thomas...."My Lord and my God!"....for...."it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment." Hebrews 9:27 ESV)

You May Have One Advantage Over What We Had Many Years Ago

                For the past two decades or so it has been easy to become a Christian.....for really all one had to do was go to church and espouse conservative political beliefs. We are no longer drafted into service by the effective call of the Holy Spirit....but we are all volunteers.....patriotically joining to defend our country. One could not be liberal in their politics....for along with anti-gun issues and pro-immigration issues automatically comes pro-choice and gay lifestyles. Megachurches made it particularly easy to be a Christian because one is surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of other equally mislead conservative people who only want to continue on the path of prosperity of which they were accustomed. If there were any pangs of doubt....all one had to do was listen to Franklin Graham for a little bit....and he would bolster the political born again aspect of the Christian faith.
                The 700 Club....John MacArthur....and countless other 'successful' ministers cloud the picture of salvation just enough to make entry into heaven a much wider gate. Oh....with MacArthur.....that's not the case when one listens to his Grace To You ministry program....(gty.org)....and in his entire ministry....and I still point people to it....for he is and always will be a defender of the gospel of Jesus Christ.....'by grace alone....through faith alone....in Christ alone'....but 99% of evangelicals hear him when he makes the news....not from his broadcasts....and those news reports are all....'keep the church doors open'....and....'we are losing our freedoms'.....type of reports. Graham puts Bible verses in his Tweets literally all the time....but when you actually hear the thoughts that come from his mind....it's also all freedom and liberty.
                 I was brought into the Christian faith in the midst of a great 'born again' fervor'...this in the early 1980s. I had a 700 Club pin on my hat....and 'witnessed'.....as I do today.....quite often. Over a period of just a few years....I 'led'....eight men in the 'sinner's prayer.' I didn't know what I was doing. There may be more than one of those men who today are redeemed children of God.....I have lost track of them....but if there is it is in no way do to my efforts. One of those men is indeed genuinely born again....and that man.....whom I did not really even know that well....although we are brothers in the Lord friends today.....came to me....in a time of desperation....and asked me to pray with him. In short....I fell far short in my efforts to inform people with whom I talked to about the gospel....that there is a cost to discipleship....that difficult times would follow conversion....so difficult that one might want to give up. Of course Christ is with us through all of these difficult times.
                 This may all be about to change....I believe and hope that it will change anyway. If that first seal from Revelation chapter six has not already been broken....it possibly being the pandemic.....(of which we in evangelicalism denied as a judgment from God).....that seal will surely be broken soon.....(Webster's definition of 'soon'.) It will be....harder.....to so easily.....become a Christian....for a great winnowing may also be ahead. Yes the great majority may call themselves Christian....but we in the faith will more easily recognize one another.....all of us being set apart at the least....not trusting in our own powers....but in our Savior and coming King!
                  In 1982 it was not that obvious that becoming a Christian would eventually bring along with it persecution....and alienation from family and friends....and very difficult choices....the right choice not so easily discerned with the whole world seemingly against you....but it may become that very soon. So come to Christ dear reader.....today is the day of your salvation....and in a way you are fortunate.....for although difficult times are directly ahead....you today.....as opposed to those of us forty years ago.....will know what is going on in advance....and therefore most likely be more vigilant from the start....more prepared....more prayerful....and more humble....than we who had to travel many years of trial and error to learn these things!

Note: A post from this past April 2....titled....The Rider On The White Horse....might explain my comments on the first seal of Revelation six....if you are interested.
                  
                 
             

  

How Can One But Remind....Again And Again.....And Again?

This preface is from August of this year: Evangelicalism is just about dead. Drudge has an article up right now titled....A-List God Squad....giving a glimpse of some of the celebrity megachurches out there. Christian bookstores are just about all gone....and we have no idea how important they were to us....this because we could get a book a little cheaper on the Internet. We have no supply lines anymore. Billy Graham is gone....he did his job....warned us as best he could.....of which we ignored....and God took him....and the delusion of Christian nationalism has taken over the church. Is it really this bad? No....it's worse....I just do not have the vocabulary to describe how bad it is. We are essentially rudderless....with no wind in our sails....because God has withdrawn from us.....Ichabod....The glory has departed....and this with the perfect storm approaching. The following was first posted in June of 2018:

            With a beautiful grandson to laugh with and thank God for....I somehow found time during our visit to sneak the warning in on the perilous days in which we live. I always do....for I feel that I should remind our son again and again. Not that he doesn't know it but it is of such importance that it's better to be safe than sorry by remaining vigilant.
            They are words that one could easily pass over but they are part of the very Word of God and therefore never to be glossed over....2 Peter 1:12, 13...."Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth being present in you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder." Peter knew that he was nearing the end of his life.....yet he felt it necessary to remind again and again.
             I never tried or even hoped that some readers to these posts would come back day after day as if they were some famous pundit's podcast. I have always been more concerned with how many people hear some of these warnings at least once.
             In what was nothing short of miraculous, God in 1948 established Israel as a nation unto itself once again. He in effect told us in this that we are not looking at centuries before His return but rather decades at the most. We ourselves began to unravel in November of 1963 but along with the coming decade of violence and rejection of God came the reaffirmation that one had to be....born again....to be a Christian. A flash flood of conversions gave America one last breath of life before the spiral began. I was swept along in that flood.
             God began a long slow process of warning us that we as a nation......and the world....were going to be judged. We in America underwent judgments one after another in quick succession....assassinations....abortions.....riots.....terrorism.....a communist president....a final blitzkrieg against God's commandment against homosexuality....and now in effect a people that bears little to no resemblance to its former self.....yet these judgments did not even phase us.....in fact we now have a president who boldly proclaimed to the nation that there has...."Never been a better time to start living the American dream."
            Even though God's Word tells us that when they say "peace and security" that "sudden destruction" will come upon them....even though this is very clear.....we are right now celebrating just that....the coming...."peace and security!" We actually think that God gave us Donald Trump to make America great again. We don't care at all what he is like. We have an excuse for everything that he does. All we have to do is compare him to Barack Obama....a former judgment from God. Our economy looks good right now.....and we are totally oblivious that this could turn 180 degrees in one single day!
            I have lived sixty-eight years and some odd months. (seventy-two years now) I was able to partake in the America of our heritage.....before that America succumbed to the same temptations that ancient Israel succumbed to before they were judged by God. I remember that heritage....and weep at what we have replaced it with. I have given nothing to stop the downward spiral....in fact I added to it. I am but one person....one of many....who God for some unknown reason had mercy upon. Even my warnings are tinged with pride and arrogance....but I continue to warn....for if Jesus felt it to our benefit to warn us....and if Peter warned us....and Paul warned us....and John warned us....and Christians ministers such as Billy Graham.....just to name one.....of whom I would have had no right to even stand beside....if they felt....and feel it necessary to warn those that God gave them to minister to.....then we all have no choice but to at least warn our neighbors and friends....which in reality is all that these posts are....words to neighbors and hopefully friends....wherever they may live!
     

"One Body...One Spirit...One Hope...One Lord...One Faith...One Baptism...One God And Father Of All..."

My great-grandfather was a presbyterian minister. One of his sons married a young catholic girl....and he converted....and was a fixture in his catholic parish....tending the garden....things like that....for the rest of his life. His four sons were thus catholic....as well as all of the extended families....as far as I know....except me....who forty years ago....not even knowing of this part of the family history....reverted to presbyterianism. Some ancestor was the Lord of Windex or something....and a cousin was the ex-chancellor of the chubbychecker....I don't understand a lot of these terms. Three quarters of whatever my makeup....is not English....but that other one quarter seems to dominate....I love rain....food is basically mashed potatoes mixed in ground beef....dark beer is my choice when asked. Bunyan is my spiritual author....Spurgeon my spiritual pastor....Cromwell one of my heroes...Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of my favorite classical composers....Chariots Of Fire my number one film. (I've probably watched it thirty times) I respect and understand the concept of monarchs....there has been some wonderful kings and queens....but there is only one King that matters....and only one Prince that can wage war....and bring peace.

The following was first posted in 2012:

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

Endless Genealogies

               Jonathan Cahn's books get progessively more problematic as they come out. His first book...The Harbinger....was a legitimate endeavor....exploring a sign to America from God that it was being judged....but now a celebrity.....it seems that he felt over and over again....with every new book....that he had to come up with something new....after all....people looked to him as someone to whom God was revealing ancient mysteries.
             The latest book....The Return Of The Gods....was actually boring....and not even new....as other authors on biblical prophecy....had put forth the same theme....that pagan gods....were real individual demons....and would return some day.
             The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy...."not to teach any different doctrine...nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith." 1 Timothy 1:4
             I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday as one of the employees was clearing a place on the shelf for the stack....as probably twenty copies of Jonathan Cahn's book were on the floor waiting to be put on the shelf. Christians....especially charismatics....and MAGA evangelicals....will eat this book up.....and that is truly sad!
             There is sin condemned everywhere in the book....only it is not addressed to the reader. This isn't a book of self-examination. It is not that the author is wrong in everything that he points out....he accurately takes time in describing how money has become a god to us....so evident in how Wall Street....the financial district more accurately.....has that huge bronze bull as its symbol....but he takes that and does exactly what Paul told us not to do....getting taken up in myths and endless genealogies. Cahn also....he spent a lot of time on this....exposed how homosexuality has taken over America. Indeed....a war was waged here....and America lost.
              One of Jonathan Cahn's best-sellers was....The Paradigm....The ANCIENT BLUEPRINT that holds the MYSTERY of OUR TIMES. Here we find Bill Clinton as Ahab....and Hillary as Jezebel....and a lot of other ancient mysteries solved....the kingpin of which is that Donald Trump is Jehu.....oh a little bit of a wild bull....but sent by God to America to get rid of its gods. That speculation doesn't look too good right now.
              One statement by Cahn in his book was particularly disturbing....page 34...."As Israel was consecrated to God from its inception, so was America. America was established after the pattern of ancient Israel." This type of thinking is one of the reasons that evangelicals are moving into a dangerous form of....Christian Nationalism. Trump is a false prophet....we are not one glorious nation under God....and we are not a type of Israel. Our symbiosis is that they once served God....and then forgot Him....and so did we....and so did a lot of other nations over history.
              We do not need endless genealogies and ancient mysteries solved to tell us that America is being judged....and that it is time to get our houses in order....for the time is truly near....or that money has become our god....for God's Word instructs us in all of this....from the prophets and the Psalms....to the gospels and all the other books of the New Testament. We need to look inwardly....not outwardly. We need humility in what we do not know....more than pride in what we think that we do know. We need Christ preached....pulpits awakened....and God's Word daily emblazoned anew upon our hearts.

"You Meant Evil Against Me.....But God Meant It For Good...."

            It is a very particular and very powerful sermon....not on 9/11....but using 9/11 to display the sovereignty of God. Todd Beamer....as you know....uttered those words....'Let's roll." Lisa Beamer....as you may also know....was Todd's wife....who became an author....and a testimony to Jesus Christ in the aftermath of 9/11 and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93. Her immediate faith in the days after her husband was killed....and continuing testimony over the years....was and is so humbling and inspiring that John Piper used it as the source for about half of his sermon....titled....Nothing Can Separate Us From The Love Of Christ. You can easily Google this sermon....or go to desiringgod.org....for it is the Sermon Of The Day.

The title of this post is from Genesis 50:20. Lisa Beamer signs all her letters with this verse....as John Piper informs us in his sermon.

Joppa To Tarshish

        The following was first posted in January of 2020. Have you ever been on a cruise where certain ports were scheduled but weather concerns changed the itinerary? That happened to us once.     

       When is the last time that you read the book of Jonah? This small book can be read in a half hour....and that's with meditating on and praying about what you are reading. Well we all know the story.....so why read it again? That attitude on reading God's Word is kind of like saying.....why drink water.....I've had it before......I know what it tastes like.
        So the Bible opened to Jonah tonight.....and that's what I read.....and meditated upon again. The last thing that Jonah wants to do is go to Nineveh and tell them to repent. He thinks that sailing all the way to the other end of the Mediterranean should be far enough from God and Nineveh. I could not count on my fingers and toes the number of times that I wanted to quit. Don't we all feel like that at times....that we don't think we are doing any good anyway? 
         I guess that the Mediterranean can at times get a storm equivalent to Cat 1 hurricane. That's probably what Jonah and Paul both experienced. These men on his boat certainly weren't like the Ninevites.....as even when they found out that Jonah was responsible for the storm.....they didn't want to go so far as to throw him overboard....but after they did....and the sea calmed....and they no longer had any goods to deliver anywhere....they may have just pulled into a harbor.....possibly back at Joppa....and told their story.....and that story may have made its way quickly up to Nineveh.....maybe giving those people a few laughs.....until Jonah showed up....bleached out from the fish's belly....and smelling like Pungent....Eau De Toilette Water....real toilet water.
          There would have been no laughing this time. Maybe we'll stop laughing in America some day. God relented in his destroying Nineveh. At times I think about America during of our Civil War as Nineveh in Jonah's day. Great revivals of religion had broken out in those days.....and just previous to those days.....did you know that? Anyway in a way God relented in destroying America back then. Nineveh went another hundred and fifty years or so before Nahum showed up.....and there was no offer this time....only a warning to get ready. Well.....we kind of went about a hundred and fifty years after the Civil War.....and we had plenty of warnings....pausing a time or two but generally ignoring them. Our Jonah is gone....Billy Graham.....(there were many others)....and Nahum is speaking to us today. 
          Here are a couple of verses from that short book.....(there are 47 verses in Nahum....and 48 in Jonah)....."And I will cast abominable filth upon thee"....."Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven".....and "Thy shepherds slumber".....but there is also....."The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." (3;6, 3:16, 3:18....and 1:7)

Effort In Itself Does Not Guarantee Anything....But Lack Of Effort....Does Guarantee Something

             I am a.....graybeard......which essentially means that I am old....but in my case it means a little bit more. For about forty of my seventy-two years....I have mostly spent my free time....on sober-minded subjects. I read....incessantly....researching....pondering.....even pleading with God for discernment. I toss and turn for hours almost every night thinking about the calamities that we in America have brought about upon ourselves....while the church is sleeping....much of it taken in by a false prophet. I have not missed a day....(for years anyway)....without sitting down....extra-fine tip pen and highlighters in hand....reading God's Word....at times thinking for an extended period of time on a single verse....and researching great men of the past for their thoughts on that verse. No matter how serious our failures or God's judgments on us because of those failures....this sadness is always overcome by the joy of knowing that God is faithful....even though we are not....and He is merciful...and longsuffering....always giving ample warnings beforehand of impending judgment....which He has with us today....warning us of these judgments....a pandemic....no leaders....and love grown cold. Hardly a day ever goes by where I have not had either headphones on....or my mini-boom's volume way up.....while listening to....a sermon....hundreds by Spurgeon....and nowadays....every day....John Piper's....sermon of the day. All of this....and more....

and yet this effort....in itself....does not guarantee wisdom in any of my conclusions....or that I am in any way pleasing Him! 

              But....if one is not at least similarly dedicated....if one could not be described as....sober-minded....and if one's life is filled with hobbies and sports and pastimes....even family....every minute of which could have been spent in an effort at knowing our great God more intimately....

that does guarantee something! It guarantees that God will not have rewarded that person with any great amount of discernment or wisdom on the day and the age that we live in.....

for God will not be mocked. He will return wisdom and discernment....only in proportion to what we demonstrate to Him....as the true desires of our heart!
              

Yada Yada Yada

My wife and I were traveling today to visit someone in the hospital. The roads were winding....due to a detour....and I therefore could not pay as much attention to the John Piper sermon as I would normally be able to do....but I had enough wherewithal or presence of mind to be stunned by the profundity of about a hundred words put together in a series....two-thirds of which were repeated over and over. The sermon title is....The Greatest Thing In The World....if you wish to Google it and listen for yourself. The simple three word question leading up to these words was....."What is sin?" Piper answered that question in a different way from which we might be more familiar. I'm highlighting this concept in a post because today our minds might go into....redaction mode.....when the word sin is mentioned....for....blah blah blah....or yada yada yada....we think that we already know what sin is.....but when described as it is below....it might force us to....or at least encourage us....to meditate upon....and examine ourselves a little more intensely than we usually do....and we might therefore not feel so detached from the issue. Here it is:

"What is sin?

The glory of God not honored.

The holiness of God not reverenced.

The greatness of God not admired.

The power of God not praised.

The truth of God not sought.

The wisdom of God not esteemed.

The beauty of God not treasured.

The goodness of God not savored.

The faithfulness of God not trusted.

The commandments of God not obeyed.

The justice of God not respected.

The wrath of God not feared.

The grace of God not cherished.

The presence of God not prized.

The person of God not loved."

I don't know about you....but it caught my attention....and I could see myself in every example.