It usually runs about 50%.....and it has for a couple of years now....but for the past twenty four hours it has been 75%. I'm referring to pageviews to this website from Europe compared to the United States. I don't display a 'counter'....(actually I disabled it)....because 'bots' totally distort the number of 'hits' that it would give. I just checked....and that number right now would be....174,307. Automated 'bots' have been a problem for a few years now. I know that there are ways to get around this....but I do not have the time or the interest to find out what those ways are. The real figure is is somewhere over 100,000 but I would be guessing to try to pinpoint it....and probably guessing wrong. There is a counter on pageviews to my Profile that is unaffected by bots.
So today it has been multiple visits from Russia in the north to Italy in the south. A few years ago....five or six maybe....there were 3.77K visits from Australia....and then they stopped altogether....zero....as it appears that my website had been flagged and banned in Australia. Asia and Africa and South America have been moderate.
This is not the first time that I've posted on demographics....but considering that all the advertising that I do....(the bumper sticker up and down the East Coast....and the thousands of promotional items)....it should seem odd that Europe has equal or more visitors than my own giant country....but then again it doesn't seem odd....because of these reasons....
Americans....in general....do not want to hear anything about judgment coming to us. Even evangelicals do not want to hear this. We want to hear about judgment on others....liberals and progressives for instance. We want only to hear how bad Joe Biden is....and how we are going to take back the Congress in 2024....and get back to the way things used to be....seemingly totally unaware that....'the way things used to be'....that we want to go back to....is the same time period that Billy Graham and others were telling us that God's judgment was coming!
Evangelicals also do not take kindly my thoughts on evangelicalism today....or mega-churches.....or preaching....or even my harping on how...."Unless one is born again..." That phrase is really holding us back. "Come join our church and find your own ministry"....is much more the evangel of the day. We have moved from being....pilgrims....to being suburban patriots....from parents who would travel in danger across a great ocean in order to teach our own children.....to parents who demand that our babysitters.....schools and libraries and television....babysit the way we want them to babysit....and that Sunday Schools and youth groups continue to relieve us of our time-consuming duties.
It is almost an everyday news story in America....and it is today's....one of them anyway. A man shoots a woman on a street in Florida....the television news arrives....the suspect returns and kills one of the news people....and wounds another....then he goes into a nearby home....and shoots and kills a....9 year old girl....and critically wounds her mother. This horror does not affect us anymore. It certainly does not affect our pulpits. Must this not be at least equal to the violence of Noah's day? Should not our prayer be....'Lord....open our eyes to what we have become....show us how we trust in nothing but broken cisterns....awaken your shepherds.....rouse them from a mortal slumber....have mercy upon us.....not that we might return to where were....but that we might look around and say.....Maranatha....Lord Jesus.....Come!"
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Demographics
Friday, February 17, 2023
Praying For People....'From Russia With Love'
I vaguely remember the hubbub over Sputnik in October of 1957....my being not quite eight years old at the time....but I remember much more clearly those thirteen days in October of 1962. I started taking some classes in the Russian language while in the army but did not progress very far. Khrushchev Remembers....1970....was one of the first books that I picked up at the National Record Mart while attending Pitt after getting out of the army in 1972. This was my habit....put the textbooks aside....and buy something at the National Record Mart that I was really interested in reading.
It was sometime in 1973....almost a decade before being humbled in mortification by the gospel of Jesus Christ over who I was. One of the books that I picked up at that record/book store....purely out of curiosity....was a paperback titled....The Persecutor....by a young Russian....my age....Sergei Kourdakov....whose job it was as a member of the Russian Konsomol....the youth division of the Communist Party....to break up bible studies. He sickened of his work....became a Russian naval officer.....jumped ship near Canada....became a Christian....toured and gave his testimony....then was found dead of a gunshot wound just before publication of his book....his death ruled an accident. He had warned that the KGB was threatening him. There is controversy over his story. I tend to believe that generally it was true....but I know this for a fact....that testimony of his conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ....made a lasting impression upon me.
I continued over the years to have an interest in Russian history....after my own conversion it revolved around Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. If you browse 'my favorite films' in my profile you will see....Russian Ark....a 2002 experimental film....the camera never stops from the opening scene to the end....even though the plot takes you through the centuries long history of Russia. Somehow....Dr. Zhivago escaped me for many years....but I watch it at various times today....the cinematography and scenes of revolution being so compelling. More recently I have read Helen Rappaport's books....The Romanov Sisters....Caught In The Revolution....The Race To Save The Romanovs....and After the Romanovs....and highly recommend all of them to you....but you must start with Caught In The Revolution.
I'm writing this because I have some regular visitors to these posts from Russia. I have no idea who they might be....but may God bless them in these difficult times. When the Soviet Union collapsed....even while celebrating....my concern was in what would replace communism. That concern has proven prescient. Putin....like Trump....seemingly had it all....(in their value system anyway)....and then threw it all away. He rules today like Stalin. The Ukrainian people are in my prayers.....the children....the believers....the cold winter and the loss of life. I woke up this morning and lifted that terrible situation up for mercies. The Russian people are also in my mind.
Addendum: Are you suffering? John Piper's sermon of the Day this morning might bless you mightily. You can easily Google it at....John Piper...how God makes known the riches of His Glory to the vessels of mercy.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
"The Church Reformed......Always Reforming"
William Tyndale was one man....one of many....who gave their lives that the common man....men like me....and maybe you....could read God's Word for themselves....in their own language. I wonder at times what Tyndale would say today....with bibles everywhere. If he were able to look at our society.....and evangelicalism....and the world....would he think that giving his life was worth it? Would he do it again? He might not....unless he was able to also see the 500 years of world history since then....and what transpired in those five centuries....but he would still weep....to see how little even the church values the written Word of God.
Oh for those Christian bookstores that were everywhere in the 1980s and 1990s! One could walk in....and walk out not only with a bible....or a book....but with a Christian album....or movie. I did that often....and one such film was God's Outlaw....The Story of William Tyndale....this about 1987. I walked into one such Christian bookstore in 1982.....while my wife shopped at Penney's....I was basically just browsing....where I had never been in a Christian bookstore before. I walked out with Josh McDowell's classic apologetic.....Evidence That Demands A Verdict....and was really never the same after that. Later in life my wife and I owned a Christian bookstore. We didn't sell enough books to stay in business....but we sold enough....even to unbelievers.....even Josh McDowell's book....to make those two years a great blessing!
I watched that hour and a half film on William Tyndale again this afternoon....on ROKU....and I wondered about the actor who played Tyndale....British actor Roger Rees. He passed away a few years ago. I wondered as I do at times after watching a powerful film like this....was he converted by playing William Tyndale. You might recognize Roger Rees....as he played Kirstie Alley's love interest in Cheers....and also was a regular on The West Wing. Was Ian Charleson converted after playing Eric Liddell? How about Charlton Heston after his famous religious films? All too often the answer is either....probably not....or definitely not.
I remember very well a Christmas present under the tree in....probably 1959....called The National League. Baseball....there were 8 teams in the National League back then....16 overall. There were 12 NFL teams. There are 30 MLB teams today and 32 NFL teams. There were only 6 National Hockey League teams....there are 32 today....8 NBA teams....30 today.We had 3 major television networks....there are probably a couple hundred somewhere on my television today. We are ruled today by cell phones....selfies....and the Internet.
Quite frankly....we would not have time for the Bible today....even if we were interested. As for William Tyndale....if he were here today....he might once again work....(paraphrasing his famous words here)....to cause one who drives a truck....to know more of the Scriptures....than those in the pulpits....too many of whom have given up on learning.
"We do not wish to abolish teaching and to make every man his own master, but if the curates will not teach the gospel, the layman must have the Scripture, and read it for himself, taking God for his teacher." Tyndale
Note: The full phrase in the title of this post....which became a motto....is in Latin....ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda. From what I have learned in studying the history of the phrase....it was not meant to imply that new truths are always being found. No...we have the foundations of the gospel....and they were restored in the Reformation....but what about our hearts and minds....that need renewed every day? I'm going to take this opportunity to give but one example. I am a layman....a 'plowboy' in Tyndale's terminology....and I listen to a sermon every day of my life...sometimes two and three sermons....from....men of the past....like Spurgeon....and men of today who preach like men of the past....like Piper. OK...I am retired....and have the time....and made the resolution three years ago....but when I bring up to pastors today....that they should be listening to these sermons also....to learn from them....to be stirred up from what God had given these men....they do not seem particularly interested. This is the....'always reforming'....part of the phrase or motto....and this is where we need humility....fearful of the warning that Jesus gave the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation....that it might not ever describe us...."[you] have not become weary....but....you have left your first love." Rev 2:2-4 NKJV
Monday, February 13, 2023
The Consummation Of All Things
So the Super Bowl is over and another season of life is wasted. Here in Pittsburgh the Penguins will pick up the slack....and then the Pirates. Yesterday's Lord's Day was carpet bombed....and ministers....the vast majority of them....never even gave a simple caution let alone a warning on evangelicals trampling that day. Fathers....so many of them....thought it such a wonderful father/son thing to do....sit down with their son and watch the Super Bowl....and the halftime show by the way. Meanwhile other fathers use the day to the best of their ability to protect their children....to keep them thinking about God....and they are probably looked down upon for being so religiously strict. The U. S. State Department only hours ago told all of our citizens to leave Russia.....immediately....a level 4.....top level warning. Don't worry....this is only an alternate reality.
Fox has an opinion piece up right now. The author of it is a Democrat but was chosen by Trump as one of his economic advisors. Here is the first part of that article...."
"If you've worked hard to afford a suburban house with a patch of lawn where your kids can play, you're under attack. The Biden administration and Democrats in New York, Connecticut and other states are fighting local zoning laws in order to build high-rise apartment buildings with 'affordable' units in tree-lined, single family neighborhoods. All in the name of equity, meaning everyone can live in a tranquil suburb, whether they've earned the money to pay for it or not."
That article and the philosophy behind it is pure racism....keep the minorities out. Trump used this heavily in his rallies in 2020....and evangelicals....supposed compassionate Christians....were all for it. The article even addressed the charge of racism. Their argument was that "race isn't a barrier to suburban living....you just have to have the money."
Coming home yesterday from a trip....we made a detour to the small town in which I was raised. My friend's families are all gone....the parents having all died....but I want to focus on one house two doors away from the apartment where I was raised. We spent a lot of time on that front porch.....playing games and eating pizza. I always considered this family well-to-do....and the house was immaculate. The two sons went on to be PHD professors at major universities. The street was somewhat run down. My other friend's father was the mayor. That house....even more elaborate in the day....was run down. This house in question that we spent many hours on the porch....was a shambles....outside anyway....with deep rips in the outdoor carpeting. I presume that the ethnic makeup of the street is still caucasian. The children....including myself....moved either out to the suburbs or in my case to a beautiful and historic town.
America has changed.....more specifically....Americans have changed. The real worry today for us in conservatism is in how long we will keep the suburbs.....and how to keep the church doors open....(even though they only serve fancy macaroon sermons)....not world war.....not pandemics....which are fake....and certainly not God's judgment. Our society went through the normal changes that any country would go through. From a rural life....to industrial growth....to industrial collapse....the landscape dotted with once lovely and prosperous towns....now boarded up storefronts....the survivors having moved on to gated communities....retirement states....and newly built housing developments....each house within....that in my day would have been considered a mansion.
This is how societies progress....impoverished areas....and tent cities....separated from the ones who....'had the money'....to escape. Our schools suffer the same separation....where some are like small college campuses....and others are where ones treads carefully when in the area.
The world of sports as mentioned in the first paragraph....is not only a suburban phenomenon....as it also dominates the small....bar on many street corners....urban settings. The world dominated by drones and AI is not a world of which on should look forward....but this is not only a case of industrialization and technology....but rather the consummation of all of history....Nebuchadnezzar's dream image about to collapse.
Note: I addressed this issue in two recent posts if you are interested....Another Lost Season Of Life....and....White Privilege....and the post two below this.
Saturday, February 11, 2023
Do NFL Players....Who Are Christian....Give Glory To God....In What They Do For A Living?
There is an article up at cbn.com right now....that's Pat Robertson's network....that quotes a half dozen or so players from both teams of tomorrow's Super Bowl....and the consensus of all is that God blessed them....and they do what they do to give glory to God.
I can't remember the name of the Christian sports magazine....this somewhere in the 90s....but I would regularly bring home a copy to our son....(you could buy these in the Christian bookstore....of which there are hardly any left.) So I acknowledge the effect that a sports hero can have on an impressionable teen.
Our grandson is starting to play basketball....and I could envision telling him....sometime in the future.....Lord willing.....the story of Pete Maravich....who was one of the best basketball players of all time....and who became a Christian at 35 years old....and who later made the statement that he wished he had spent all the time he had learning about basketball....learning about God's Word.....(or words very similar.). Pete died on a basketball court at 40 years old....and right now as I type....is praising his Lord and Savior....in unimaginable light and glory and peace and Joy!
Is it necessary to mention Chariots of Fire....of which I mentioned in these posts a dozen times at least....and watched the film at least 30 times....and repeated the story of Eric Liddell so many times in my life?
I understand and rejoice in the testimony of sports athletes. Two days ago I picked up a book at Ollies....(Good Stuff Cheap)....a biography by Olympic Gold Medalist David Boudia....and read it overnight....a wonderful testimony....but all of this has to be placed in the right perspective. Let me say this about Eric Liddell....as faithful as that man was.....to God....to the Lord's Day....and to his missionary work....his theology was not good. He was a little too admiring of the terrible theology of Harry Emerson Fosdick....among others in extreme liberalism. So what do we do...discard what Eric Liddell did? No.....we put it in perspective....which is what we should do with the Super Bowl players giving glory to God.
God can use their testimony.....but that does not legitimize spending their life in a profession that tramples God's absolute commands to honor the Lord's Day. It would not overlook the fact that NFL football is pure unadulterated idolatry....and responsible in no small way for the ninety year collapse of America....this after the game took over the Lord's Day in the hearts of many believers.
This is hard stuff....and I doubt if the reader here accepts the warning that I give. I know fully well that there are many avenues of idolatry out there....and surely I have my own. The Super Bowl is an abomination as it has developed. America's collapse is advanced and in full swing....evangelicalism adrift....preaching mediocre at best....and the Lord Himself at the very doorstep....along with His holy and mighty angels....and Christians everywhere tomorrow will be sitting in front of a TV....along with the ministers who failed to give them the slightest warning....but God is in charge. Others should confront their own failings on this....I should search out and confront myself in my own failings. God surely had mercy upon Eric Liddell for his ignorance....and Liddell’s life brought God glory....may He have mercy upon all of us....for we all have contributed in one way or another...to what this nation and church has become.
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Division That Propagates
Jesus told us...."Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand." (Matthew 12:25,26 NKJV) Western civilization is divided everywhere today. The Republican Party is divided....as is conservatism. Evangelicalism is divided. Churches are divided. Families are divided. Urban and rural areas are divided.
Cell division in microbiology sustains life....as it propagates....it sustains....it duplicates. There is a winnowing coming in the church....which is division....but it will propagate. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:17...."Therefore 'Come out from among them, and be separate..." This is division that propagates....but prepare to be unpopular.....a persona non grata at best. The following was first posted on December 1, 2021.
Prepare To Be Unpopular
Over the years....forty that I have observed directly but it extends further back....there has been quite a number of serious....negative 'events'....in American Christianity. I could probably think for a while and come with at least twenty times that some news within the church was discouraging....at times seemingly overwhelmingly discouraging. It might involve a personality or a movement....sometimes a cult....or something related to end-times prophecy....or something in the entertainment field....a new film on Christianity for example that may have strayed far beyond the Bible....but time passed and there was no serious damage done. Or was there serious damage done....because as that time passed....and generations changed....the whole country began to process facts differently....actually using their brains in a different way....at times in a direct rejection of ethical norms and values and sound reasoning that had stood the test of time for thousands of years.
In other words....the individual events....in retrospect.....did not simply pass on....but over time there has been a cumulative effect....as biblical Christianity seems to have fallen to the status of a remnant today. The Reformation distinctives were clearly visible twenty years ago....so much so that major battles were taking place....but where are those battles today?
This paradigm change in the way that we process information would normally cause me great distress....but there is something that transcends even what is happening today.....and that is that what is happening should be expected as the Lord Jesus is about to return in judgment. The demonic that is so prevalent in society today should be expected....as well as the violence....and the disdain for truth for truth's sake....and the overall lack of love....replaced by caring primarily for the self.
We really should have to look no further than our own pilgrimage....if you are anything like me....where more than once we may have had to escape from Giant Despair....recognizing our own sin....and then cling to Jeremiah's Spirit breathed words in Lamentations 3:22-23...."The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
We believers do not readily or easily recognize each other anymore....but that will surely change if things continue as they are going....and although the difficulty of what would be ahead is something that we should not dwell upon....the fog that we live in today will surely dissipate in the heat of the fires coming upon us all. A simpler way to put it is that a winnowing must be ahead. So prepare to be unpopular....but at the same time have a truer fellowship with other believers....or as Billy Graham wrote to America as a rebellious people almost thirty years ago in his book....Storm Warning...."Trouble ahead....prepare to meet thy God."
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
When Preaching Becomes Teaching......It Is No Longer Preaching
Preface: I only found out about this new book this morning. It was released two weeks ago. I will call around Barnes & Noble....and....Lord willing....go wherever to pick it...or it they do not have it in stock....I'll order it. This is how it's done folks....we do not have time to lollygag. This is one of those few books that I do not have to read a single word before recommending it....for I have experienced enough of the author to know that he is to be trusted....and if it turns out that he writes something that I disagree with....I had better consider that which he writes. The new book is....Come, Lord Jesus....Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ....by John Piper.
Update: I did find and purchase and begin John Piper's new book. The essence of it is focusing on the glory of Christ. R. C. Sproul's....The Holiness Of God....helped spark a genuine revival in the American church....this back in 1985....and he was building on works by J. I. Packer and A. W. Tozer...and J. C. Ryle's Holiness which was back in the late 1800s. Is there something about ministers who use their initials? 'Glory' is one of the most misunderstood words in evangelicalism today. We use the word all the time....but really have no understanding of the depth and awesomeness of it. Such was the same with the word 'holiness.' So far....a few chapters into John Piper's book....it is one of those profound books that I have to concentrate and meditate on every sentence.
Today's Post:
Greg Morse is his name....a staff member of John Piper's Desiring God Ministries. An article of his....and the voice recording of it....was posted on the desiringgod.org yesterday....Monday morning. It is on a topic that I have spent a lot of time on in these posts....and he does it much better. That topic would be on what our disposition is when we enter church on the Lord's Day. He is actually a lot harder in his words than I have been.
If you are interested....which I hope that you are....it can be Googled at...."Beneath the Mountain of Smoke; Recovering the Awe of Worship....Greg Morse." He also does something that I haven't....and that is give practical advice on how to prepare for Lord's Day worship services.
He writes this in the final paragraph...."We, like Israel, draw near to a consuming fire-one whose flame devours all froth and presumption....our worship then, will be heavy with thanksgiving and happiness, with holy fear and wonder. For this Sunday, we gather joyfully and fearfully together...."
When preaching becomes teaching....then you are no longer preaching! The reverence is diminished....the joy is not necessarily there....and the fear would be more a hindrance than a help.
Jesus gave us an example for how to pray....in the Lord's Prayer. Did the writer of Hebrews also give us an example of how to preach? Many people think that that is exactly what Hebrews is. If so....Christ and His glory are preached for about three quarters of the sermon....and then one can teach...and guide...and rebuke if necessary....and exhort....for the remainder of the sermon. I posted the following in November of....2009....under the title....More Food Sir.
"The following is a paragraph from Charles Dickens Oliver Twist where the boys who lived at the workhouse were issued three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and a half a roll on Sundays. The boys cast lots and Oliver was chosen to ask for a second portion of food. Here are Dickens words: The evening arrived; the boys took their place. The master, in his cook's uniform stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered themselves, and winked at Oliver; while his neighbors nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: 'Please sir, I want some more food.' There have been times, in the past, when I have gone up to a pastor after the sermon and essentially said the same thing, More food sir?
Here is what we tend to do today....the pastor chooses a portion of the Bible....a few verses maybe....or a whole chapter....and for forty minutes he explains to us what it means....as if we cannot do that....and should not do that....ourselves! We call it 'exposition'....and it is....but it is also what we ourselves should be doing every day of our lives. Is the pastor's phone number the only one that the Holy Spirit has? So what this method does in effect is tell us to sit back....tend our gardens....and come in on Sunday....where the pastor will do the work for us. To make matters worse....the exposition given....as compared to calling down the glory of God....can be but...."thin gruel"....a Bible study at best....the opposite of Hebrews....three quarters encouragement....one quarter....a parting reference to Christ or the evangel....just so that they can say that Christ has been preached.
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Check And See If You Were Only Administered A Placebo
I'm going to write this post in a conversational manner. I need to return to this topic in amongst all the Christmas and prophecy posts. It revolves around a major problem in the church and evangelicalism today. Please bear with me.
Regeneration is everything! Nothing in our lives compares to it....not family or deaths or hopes or dreams or calamities or freedoms or liberty or our country. We in the church have lost the meaning of what happens in a soul upon regeneration!
The gospel having been watered-down for so long....combined with the collapse of the country....we are now a church that only demands that a person....assent....to the facts in the gospel. Jesus is the Son of God....I am a sinner....Jesus paid for my sins at the cross....I believe that....wallah....there is my faith....therefore I am a Christian.
Here is what really happens....the soul is dead....not just sick.....dead. God quickens that soul....it is regenerated. The Holy Spirit calls....the person not only believes.....but sees that they are undone....sees that the blood of Christ shed on Calvary satisfies the Father....if we truly believe....which is not merely assent....but trust.
At that time the regenerated soul lives....is born again....saving faith that trusts follows....then the 'unspeakable joy' of knowing Jesus! One is adopted into the the family of God....and the angels rejoice! The Holy Spirit dwells within that person....a spiritual baby....but along with regeneration....our eyes are opened to God's Word! It's is like the doors of a prison opened up....doors that until recently we did not even know were there....and we run out.....rejoicing!
No one has to be born again in this Christian culture that we live in today. A pastor related to me just the other day how someone they knew showed interest in becoming a Christian....but specifically requested that he is not interested in becoming the born again type of Christian.
Even the regenerate....even the born again....are reminded that we have to constantly examine the state of our salvation.....how much more so then should we remind all church-goers and evangelicals....that something miraculous must have happened....that our ears began to hear....and our eyes began to see....otherwise....one is fooling themselves....for there is no salvation....only an administered placebo....mental relief maybe....but with no saving power.
Monday, February 6, 2023
I'm Told That What I Read In God's Word With My Own Eyes......Is Not True
Preface: If you read this post within the past hour....only half of it is here now. I looked it over and did not like how I jumped from one topic to to another. So I may include the paragraphs that I deleted in a new post for tomorrow:
This man's name is not important....nor even is the specific topic wrote upon and published on his website. He is a prominent pastor in his area....and author....and was and maybe still is a host on Christian radio. I had met him before at a conference....and even shared a dinner table. I like him and when he is preaching or speaking on the glories of Christ and the Gospel....it is obviously wonderful. I will say that the topic was in prophecy....and a major issue as opposed to a minor prophetic detail.
The article that he has posted is very long and in-depth....and very scholarly. The average Reformed theologian might read it....with his advanced seminary degree....and maybe agree....and maybe not. Folks I'm not new to this topic....in fact it was decades ago when I met this man at that conference. It was a cruise conference actually....and it was wonderful. I would try to go on one again in a second if there was one! But in this instance....I look at the words on the page in God's Word....that are very clear to probably most of the believers who read it....and then I read an article such as this one.....that goes into great detail to tell me that what I just read with my own eyes....is not true....but rather what the priest....excuse me....the seminary trained theologian tells me is what God actually meant.
Jesus told us.....as we all know....that His sheep hear His voice....and recognize that voice....and follow Him....and we know this is true because this is exactly what has happened to us and continues to happen....but in a dense article like the one mentioned above....it's like Jesus would have said....you will hear My voice....and you will follow Me....but you won't understand the words I tell you.....until someone more educated explains them to you.
Where would we be without great minds like Augustine and Aquinas and Luther and Calvin and Owens and Edwards. God indeed planned it that way....but in these great systematic and doctrinal issues....we read the scholarly explanations....and then we can say...."oh yes....I see it now!" On issues such I mentioned in this post....we read the words and see it very clearly....then the theologian tells us what it 'really' means....but we never say..."Oh yes....I see it now"....for we never really see it. We may choose to accept it....but it never really sinks in...and therein is the difference!
Along with the names above of the brilliant men who God has used so mightily in the church....there is also John Bunyan....a tinker.....if you needed a handle put back on a pot....he was your man. The great mind of John Owen once said that he might trade all his 'knowledge' to be able to preach like the tinker. When the pastor decides to use his time in the pulpit to teach us that which is right before us....that we should need no help in understanding...instead of calling down the glory of God....then the sermon ultimately emanates from man.
DISPATCHES
Do you remember the 2005 Budweiser commercial....'airport patrons applaud troops'? May God....if it be His will....seal this breach that is tearing us apart.
The results are out on a study of the effectiveness of masks. The study employed 78 different experiments from around the world. Fox Internet highlight this with wordage in the caption where the typical Fox viewer will read that and then say....'see there....they proved that masks are of "little to no help".' If you even read into the Fox story you can see that there is more to the overall story. The Atlantic Magazine has an informative and more detailed review of the review. The tests were small and not regulated as tight as they could have been....and limited as compared to real life population reviews. I'm adding this to this DISPATCHES post....not because of the topic of masks.....for that battle will be going on for a while....but because it shows that we have to be careful at what biased media gives us....whether that media be liberal or conservative....and particularly the talking heads on cable and radio....who give us even less information.
"Oh listen, Lord, if you want to know"....To the Baby Boomer....of which I am one....a part of our memory of another America has passed. It's odd....to me anyway....that Burt Bacharach had the letters....Bach....in his name. But J.S. Bach signed all of his compositions with...SDG....Soli Deo Gloria....to God alone be glory. Yes....we don't need another mountain or hillside or meadow or ocean....and we do need love....but I could never sing that particular part of the lyrics. Lord cause us to sing...."Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me. for you are the God of my salvation, for you I wait all the day long." (Psalm 25:5) I want to know Lord....teach me how to live....give me words....give us all what we so desperately need....and all to Thy glory alone!
Germany is considering whether to bring back military conscription....the draft....Latvia is close to doing just that....and Taiwan is increasing the time element from a meager four months to a year....this change to begin in 2024. France has some very questionable one month training system in place....and Poland....(to no one's surprise)....is successfully increasing its military without conscription. My post titled...."Greetings"....which is about a dozen posts below this....addresses the issue here in America. The conversation on the draft needs to begin here....yesterday. Young people need to know what is on the table....the public needs to know how problematic a draft would even be....and the government....(wow....it's tough to use the word government with people like MTG and AOC all over the place)....the government needs to put some very public time in in addressing the issue.
Our son was not even a toddler....it was 1986....and he was sitting up in from of the television. I called out to him....and he didn't respond....his gaze fixed on the pixelated screen. I walked over and waved my hand in front of his face....again no response. I pulled the plug on the television and put it in the basement for nine years. Our son graduated cum laude from law school and is an attorney today. The Grammy's this past Lord's Day....apparently....from what I read....were a celebration of LGBTQ. It was October 17, 1989....the beginning of the televised third game of the World Series. I would not have been watching. Al Michaels and Tim McCarver were announcing. A moving video....baseballwise....on the history of the game....had just ended. It was a home game no matter how you looked at it....Oakland vs San Francisco....and the screen jumped around and went blank....as the 6.9 earthquake had hit.
Like most of you....probably....I receive political surveys all the time in my email....but I never fill them out because the yes/no questions are inane....for the only thing they want is a contribution.....but I received one from.....supposedly Lindsey Graham....telling me how much he wanted to hear my opinion. So I thought I would look to see if they had a block to write in my opinion. OK...the first question....'What is the most important issue in the coming 2024 elections." It had seven answers to choose from....and one 'other'....which I checked....and there was a block to write in what that 'other' might be. I wrote in....."that Donald Trump retires to Mar-a-Lago." That was the most important thing right now. There were additional questions....and then it asked my how much I wanted to donate. I checked the...."I do not want to donate at this time" block. There were a couple more questions on how I wanted to make my contribution....and at the end of it all....there was no place to click 'send' since I did not make a contribution. Yeah....they really want my opinion.
I put out a post every year at this time....a few days before the annual State of the Union Address. I've done this since the Obama administration. I've emailed Senators and Congresspersons....and radio talk show hosts on it....telling them that we should do away with this pomp and circumstance....dog and pony show....and that Thomas Jefferson refused to give a State of the Union speech because it reminded him of England's....Speech from the Throne....but after all of that....this Tuesday is a little different.. Oh it is the same nonsense....the one side will stand up and cheer their man....and the other side will sit there with a stern look on their face....but what is different this year is that no matter who the president is....we are in dire straits....and a joint session of Congress speech would be forthcoming....whatever it is labelled.
Update on the State of the Union Address: One news report described Senator Sinema's dress as...."Oscar-worthy." Big Bird was also mentioned. Marjorie Taylor Greene carried a big white balloon into the building....and wore a winter coat with a large white fluff collar. It has been described as that worn by the witch in C.S. Lewis's...The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe." It also was described as the coat worn by Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians. Mitt Romney admonished....in the aisle of the receiving line....and rightfully so....the New York congressman whose campaign resume was filled with lies....telling him...."You shouldn't be here." Sarah Sanders gave the GOP response and said...."So forgive me for not believing much of what I heard tonight" and that the choice before us is...."between normal and crazy".....which sounds good except this is the lady who for almost two years...as Trump's Press Secretary....had no problem with lies and crazy. Isaiah....(3:12)....admonished the government with...."Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you astray, they turn you from the path." NIV
Note on the above: Deborah was a strong judge and leader ordained by God. Margaret Thatcher....a mega-hero of mine....was was one of the strongest leaders in the twentieth century. There were and are many other women leaders who are wise and strong....but when a society reaches below the wise and mature for its leaders....both men and women....which it has today....then Isaiah's words kick in.
I never heard the 'performer's' name until today....Sam Smith. His performance on the Grammy Awards last evening is described in the news today....as a...."Satan themed number." There is already a lot of outcry over it....but my first thought was that this was a Lord's Day evening. The Super Bowl....the Academy Awards....the Grammys....and so many other special events....are standard fare on the Lord's Day....that is only one reason....but one of the primary reasons....that America has collapsed. Do you think that there was any preaching yesterday on how we have trampled the day that God has given us to worship Him? No way....only in tiny fundamentalist or older pentecostal churches will you hear faithful warnings on what we have become. The rest of the pulpits are too busy telling us how much God loves us.
Saturday, February 4, 2023
Gullible's Travels
Just looking at the cover is disturbing.....Rise of the Fourth Reich....Confronting COVID Fascism with a New Nuremberg Trial, So this Never Happens Again. We are so gullible! To those who have read in these posts for a while....they would know that I had been....and remain so today....an admirer of Robert F. Kennedy. I'm not even going to guess my age at the time....but judging from where I lived it was mid-teens....and I went to the Turtle Creek Library and came home with RFK's....The Enemy Within....The McClellan Committee's Crusade against Jimmy Hoffa and Corrupt Labor Unions. Can you imagine a mid-teen immersed in this stuff. So he was my hero....and I respect his namesake....RFK Jr.....but his recent book dealing with.....(among other issues)....the subject of the coronavirus and Anthony Fauci....is the kind of book....well let me give you an example. I spent the first ten years of my Christian walk studying Christian apologetics....with an emphasis on 'Christian' cults....their history and their methods and their literature. I put an ad in the personal section of the newspaper for people who were being lured into these cults to call me....and give me an opportunity to warn them of what they were getting into. So consequently these type of books stick out to me and are easy to identify.
Here are some blurbs from the pre-ordering description of the book...."Covid-19 was used to launch the worst tyranny in American history.....it was also the worst oppression in global history since the Third Reich. Just as that evil required a reckoning at Nuremberg, this one does as well." One might think that by highlighting this book that more people might read it. I really don't care about that because I don't see how we can get any lower.....intellectually....in our reading of politics.....and even Christianity. If you are thinking of buying a book with this a title like this....for other than research like myself....then you are probably already pretty far gone.
I want to direct the second half of this short post to a trend in the Republican Party. The above mentioned Fourth Reich book is a part of it. Marjorie Taylor Greene somehow coming to the fore in the once proud Republican Party is part of it. The Ukraine is a very difficult challenge....but throwing them on the ash heap is not the answer....but it sure fits in well with America Only. I've been a talk radio person since my youth....but what we have today is not talk radio as it has always been....even in the last years of Rush. I posted on the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day that I turned on Breitbart radio....and there was not even a mention of the day....but a 'special presentation'....a compilation of about nine or ten interviews from a recent Turning Point USA conference....a group....one of many....targeting conservative youth....not educating them on the very difficult issues of the day....but indoctrinating them....to go out and be soldiers. I wasn't quite off the Trump train yet in July of 2017 when President Trump gave his political speech to the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia. Had I taken a son to that jamboree....I would have pulled him out in front of everybody.
Folks....I lived this life for quite a while....that of a conservative. You listen to talk radio every chance that you get....in the car....Rush....Mark. You buy the latest book that is out. It's a little different today...for they sit in front of Tucker Carlson and get a full day's poison pills in an hour....and if your not zombied out enough.....there are podcasts all over the place. This is cult stuff....where you get your info from one source....and one source only.
We are being hardened today. Christians used to join a Bible study...today we saddle-up and join a posse. We used to evangelize. Today we recruit....especially the college student. We used to be....born again....today we are....born American. If there is a story anywhere out in America about a group of Black people in a brawl....Fox will find it and highlight on the frontpage of Foxnews.com. As bad as it was with Trump in the liberal news....it is twice as bad with Biden in our conservative news. Do they want him out? Really? President Kamala Harris? Or do they just want him to be a humiliated and disoriented....dealing with Putin and China....humiliated and disoriented....and pressured to shoot anything that moves? I'm sure if he then made a mistake that we then would give him a Mulligan.
Thursday, February 2, 2023
A Puritan......Of A Different Stripe
I have to digress a little bit here. I would suspect that some of my brethren in the Reformed Faith might shake their heads at my recommending a sermon by a Pentecostal preacher....but let me tell you something. They would be hard pressed to find a better sermon by any of our pastors.....and that includes John Piper....as powerful maybe....and as powerful yes....but not better....for there is an immanence here that we lack....and literal tears....tears that will come....but of which we are too proud to shed today...or that as much as we talk about God's judgment....we do not know the severity or the universality of the wrath of God....as we await the return of the King of Kings.
Let me give you a little anecdote here. It was in the 80s somewhere....probably the late 80s....I can't remember the year. I walked into a Christian bookstore....not real familiar with Christian literature at the time....and the cover of a book caught my eye....because it was of a neon orange. It just stuck out among all the other books. I picked it up and went to the blurbs on the back. The author I was totally unfamiliar with....William Gurnall....the book title....Volume one of The Christian In Complete Armour....published by some publisher called....Banner Of Truth. The first blurb called it...."peerless and priceless" This by someone named C. H. Spurgeon. Never heard of him. (I have the book with me as I type this) The second blurb was by David Wilkerson....who I knew very well. I bought the book....and it was part of something that changed my life.
Oh....I remember this also....let me open the book to quote it for you. By the way....J. C. Ryle and John Newton also have blurbs in the preface....so that makes Spurgeon and Ryle and Newton and....Wilkerson. I still ponder at times how the Banner must have flinched at adding the Pentecostal pastor. Anyway....in that preface Wilkerson writes...."Leonard Ravenhill....(another Pentecostal)....gave me a copy. At first I put the book aside. It was too long, too wordy....out of curiosity I scanned the first twenty-five pages. That is all it took to bring me to my knees."
Someone once asked R. C. Sproul if he thought that Billy Graham would be in heaven. Yeah that's how we kind of think once in a while. I can't remember Sproul's exact words but they were very close to this....'yes....and he will be up front....and I'll be back in the pack somewhere.'
John records at the beginning of the second chapter in Revelation...."To the angel of the church in Ephesus write...." And at the end of the letter we read this...."nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love." I would not be in the Reformed Faith if I did not believe it to be the truest of all to God's Word....but we at times think that because we sing more biblically....or our worship practices are more sound....(which they are)....and our theology more correct....(which it definitely is)....that we therefore cannot learn from our brethren who are not as wise. Folks in these coming days we...whatever the size of the remnant....and with those who God calls during this time....we are going to be one.....like it or not...you and I will be one!
I have known now for three decades....since coming into the Reformation....that David Wilkerson was a closet Puritan. Another thing....at times I'll listen to John Piper preach a sermon....and I'll hear voice intonations....and emotions....and see David Wilkerson in them.
This post has gone on long enough. It's getting late and My wife will ask me if I'm going to bed....and I'll say as I often do....and she will roll her eyes....."I'll be up later"....for...."I have promises to keep....and....(she'll join in)....miles to go before I sleep."
Please Google....David Wilkerson....A Call To Anguish....and then maybe....Google and listen to John Piper, God Governs My Good, And Is My Good"....and if you are a follower of Jesus Christ...you will surely be blessed!
Addendum: The C. H. Spurgeon that I didn't know anything about at the time....well it wasn't too many years later when I got a good deal....and ordered 1000 copies of his....All Of Grace....and handed them out at supermarkets and laundromats and wherever I could find someone willing to take one. I think I still have five or six left....but the pages are yellow now.
Gullible's Travels
My plan is to buy the book on Tuesday the 14th....Lord willing.....and read it....but just looking at the cover is disturbing.....Rise of the Fourth Reich....Confronting COVID Fascism with a New Nuremberg Trial, So this Never Happens Again. We are so gullible! To those who have read in these posts for a while....they would know that I had been....and remain so today....an admirer of Robert F. Kennedy. I'm not even going to guess my age at the time....but judging from where I lived it was mid-teens....and I went to the Turtle Creek Library and came home with RFK's....The Enemy Within....The McClellan Committee's Crusade against Jimmy Hoffa and Corrupt Labor Unions. Can you imagine a mid-teen immersed in this stuff. So he was my hero....and I respect his namesake....RFK Jr.....but his recent book dealing with.....(among other issues)....the subject of the coronavirus and Anthony Fauci....is the kind of book....well let me give you an example. I spent the first ten years of my Christian walk studying Christian apologetics....with an emphasis on 'Christian' cults....their history and their methods and their literature. I put an ad in the personal section of the newspaper for people who were being lured into these cults to call me....and give me an opportunity to warn them of what they were getting into. So consequently these type of books stick out to me and are easy to identify.
Here are some blurbs from the pre-ordering description of the book...."Covid-19 was used to launch the worst tyranny in American history.....it was also the worst oppression in global history since the Third Reich. Just as that evil required a reckoning at Nuremberg, this one does as well." One might think that by highlighting this book that more people might read it. I really don't care about that because I don't see how we can get any lower.....intellectually....in our reading of politics.....and even Christianity. If you are thinking of buying a book with this a title like this....for other than research like myself....then you are probably already pretty far gone.
I want to direct the second half of this short post to a trend in the Republican Party. The above mentioned Fourth Reich book is a part of it. Marjorie Taylor Greene somehow coming to the fore in the once proud Republican Party is part of it. The Ukraine is a very difficult challenge....but throwing them on the ash heap is not the answer....but it sure fits in well with America Only. I've been a talk radio person since my youth....but what we have today is not talk radio as it has always been....even in the last years of Rush. I posted on the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day that I turned on Breitbart radio....and there was not even a mention of the day....but a 'special presentation'....a compilation of about nine or ten interviews from a recent Turning Point USA conference....a group....one of many....targeting conservative youth....not educating them on the very difficult issues of the day....but indoctrinating them....to go out and be soldiers. I wasn't quite off the Trump train yet in July of 2017 when President Trump gave his political speech to the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia. Had I taken a son to that jamboree....I would have pulled him out in front of everybody.
Folks....I lived this life for quite a while....that of a conservative. You listen to talk radio every chance that you get....in the car....Rush....Mark. You buy the latest book that is out. It's a little different today...for they sit in front of Tucker Carlson and get a full day's poison pills in an hour....and if your not zombied out enough.....there are podcasts all over the place. This is cult stuff....where you get your info from one source....and one source only.
We are being hardened today. Christians used to join a Bible study...today we saddle-up and join a posse. We used to evangelize. Today we recruit....especially the college student. We used to be....born again....today we are....born American. If there is a story anywhere out in America about a group of Black people in a brawl....Fox will find it and highlight on the frontpage of Foxnews.com. As bad as it was with Trump in the liberal news....it is twice as bad with Biden in our conservative news. Do they want him out? Really? President Kamala Harris? Or do they just want him to be a humiliated and disoriented....dealing with Putin and China....humiliated and disoriented....and pressured to shoot anything that moves? I'm sure if he then made a mistake that we then would give him a Mulligan.
Another Lost Season Of Life
A cursory glance at the NFL playoff picture was all that was needed. Tomorrow....two of the four final teams will meet at 3 PM....and the other two at 6:30 PM. What percentage of evangelical households will have these playoff games on the television from say....2 PM to the end of the evening? The church lost this battle a long time ago....as even stalwarts of the faith had no stomach for this war.
To witness what is happening today....and to understand it....as a nation drowning in idolatry....when the vast majority of us are blinded....is difficult to deal with. It is a powerful and negative element of the human condition....so intelligent and ingenious in so many ways....yet greatly lacking in one area....wisdom. Six thousand years of history to take into consideration....and God's Word before us....to glean something on how nations get fat and fall....but we remain....as did all the other nations.....oblivious to it.
I'll make a prediction for those games tomorrow....and I have impressive credentials for making such a prediction....as I lived sports for quite a number of years earlier in my life....complete with celebrations in downtown Pittsburgh after Super Bowl wins....and I don't think that there is anything sweeter….in this vein….than ticking off the final seconds of a Stanley Cup trophy. Here it is.....two teams will win tomorrow....and two teams will lose...and....there is a high probability that at least one player on a winning team will make news by giving all the credit to God.
When I give my personal testimony....which is relatively rare....I usually give the time period as early 1982 for my conversion....and that may indeed be the case....but I was never in the position....other than mere assent....of feeling the dreadness that I a sinner was in the presence of a holy God....and should by rights be done away with had not that Holy God for some mystifying reason had mercy on the least of the least....until as recently as maybe a decade ago....never coming close to understanding the words of Hebrews 10:31...."It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"....nor felt anywhere near the regal impact of David's words of exaltation in his Psalms.
Why aren't pastors today warning of the potential idolatry of sport....and the need for moderation? How many followers of 'the Way' do you think may have been in the seats of the ancient Roman Circus? How many architects of the Westminster Confession in your possession do you think were gaming of any sort on the Lord's Day? What would Spurgeon say....or Jonathan Edwards....or George Whitefield....as to what the American Sunday has become?
We cannot "rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory"....(1 Peter 1:8)....nor adequately discern the times and the seasons....with delusions abounding....while at the same time exceeding moderation in time and emotion in worldly ventures of any kind. When this is all over....and one 'winner' remains standing....in this one sport alone....a season of life will have been wasted....opportunities missed....atrophy of mind and lethargy of spirit extended....as we see what is happening around us and wonder in amazement how it all came about?
Hallmark Christianity
Preface: I wrote the words below this preface last Saturday evening....about twelve hours before men would enter their pulpits on the Lord's Day....and I looked it over....and just decided not to publish it. Nothing in it is new....for I have been posting the same commentary on the need for pastors to start weeping from their pulpits for many years. After the daily news of this past week....I reversed again and decided to post...but I wanted to add this anecdote....which I posted before and is buried somewhere in these paltry efforts of over fourteen years. The year was probably 1994....give or take a year. To shorten the story considerably my wife and son and I were part of a fledgling Baptist mission church....of maybe twelve people total. We had just called a pastor....a man from the South....who late in life had given up his 'sign' business to enter the ministry. It was his first sermon....and there was much laughter....(as I describe below in the typical church of today)....with the excitement of a new pastor and all. It was a very good evangelical sermon....powerful....as any good evangelical sermon should be. The benediction was given....and everyone stood up....and there was more laughter than at the beginning. Our son was only about eight at the time. I wonder if he remembers it....I walked up to the three carpeted steps before the pulpit area....knelt down....face in my hands....and wailed....'wailed' not being too expressive a description. I could not understand it....in our meetings we were all serious....the pastor was finally here....and we forgot everything that we were about.
Twelve hours from now as I sit here typing....Christians will be traveling to their churches. Their nation crumbles.....just as so often the faithful Israelites would gather for temple worship in similar times of pending judgment. There may have been armies gathering around Jerusalem....or it may be that Baal was being worhiped in Judah and Israel....and up on the mountains....as they sacrificed their children to Moloch. Armies are surrounding us at the present moment....they may be armies of hate....or idolatry....or violence....mixed in with pagan worship in the modern sense.
If you should go out today to the marketplaces....or just walk your neighborhoods....or if you are students....and take a break from your classes with a basketball game...or time in the student union....(do they still do that today? I had a professor recently tell me that students tend to stay in their dorms....with their computers....and gather there)....things will appear normal as normal can be....and if you venture out into the world....you would dismiss my statements of alarm.
Now in the time of Jeremiah's ministry....late into that prophetic ministry....as food was dwindling....and the Babylonians were at the gates....no one was confident anymore....as they had been previous years under false prophets who were telling them that God would defeat the Babylonians....but up to that point they were as we are today. We can see no further than the days shopping or the evening plans or the big game tomorrow....the Lord's Day. This was probably the same way that it was while Rome was collapsing. This seems to be the norm in how great empires collapse....no longer being vigilant....they play....as their enemies plan.
So tomorrow there will be continuous laughter at the door of the church....as people greet each other....projecting their false security. The pastor....because of his very calling....is more lost than they are....for it is his job to call them to worship.....to humility....and to constant prayer....but he has had that mantle taken away....and no more than gropes in the darkness with the rest of the congregation.
Zephaniah and Habakkuk and Ezekiel and Daniel and Nahum were either contemporaries of Jeremiah....or prophesying beginning in the days of King Josiah....just as in our day we have had Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur....and many more....warning us that God would judge us....with a harsh judgment....but for every Billy Graham we have had ten thousand pastors who had no vision of what was ahead as to judgment...and therefore no warnings to give. For every R. C. Sproul or John MacArthur we had tens of thousands of teachers who had no idea of the holiness of God....and the need to be born again.
We have been oblivious to....increasingly for decades.....what should have been the obvious....our rejection of God....and His sure warnings of judgment. We will enter church tomorrow....and then an hour and a half later leave church....laughing as we entered.
The size of the church means absolutely nothing as to being in God's will. In fact....today....it might not be a good sign....for churches generally do not grow unless there is something worldly for them to offer....and much missing that they need. So for those pastors struggling with small to tiny congregations....may God encourage them....and give them strength to go on....knowing that they are in His will....tending His sheep....small as their folds might be....and may they take hope that a great ingathering is coming....of all the small sheepfolds. May their congregations be steeped in joy....not the joy of a Hallmark family day....but the joy of knowing that their King is triumphant....and is returning....the joy of reaching out with God's Word....shouting out....in effect...."All aboard to parts heavenward!"
A Unique Expreience
In John Piper's Sermon of the Day....today....which he titled...."If My Words Abide In You"....he gathered about six or eight various but chosen verses or chapters of Scripture....and preached them consecutively as if it were the sermon from a Lord's Day morning pulpit....which it actually was....in part. It was a first for me....hearing something like that....and one of the most powerful auditory experiences in my life. That portion of the Sermon of the Day was about half of the broadcast....maybe a little less. The message itself....in its entirety....is on memorizing God's Word. Please consider experiencing this for yourself by Googling John Piper and the title of the sermon.
ICHABOD
David Wilkerson....many of you may remember this powerful pentecostal preacher....the author of the classic book....The Cross And The Switchblade.....and the founder of Teen Challenge....and the former pastor of Times Square Church on Broadway. Here is the story that I heard him tell....maybe thirty years ago. He went to the concert of the most popular Christian singer of the day. The singer's husband was playing his guitar while holding a rose between his teeth. I knew immediately who Wilkerson was referring to because I had been to the same Christian singer's concert....and at that concert also the husband clenched a rose between his teeth. It was Amy Grant. As David Wilkerson tells it....he could see demons on the stage.....and he rushed up and down the aisle shouting....Ichabod....Ichabod.....which means....the glory has departed.
All of the wall hangings in our dining room were chosen because they have a personal meaning. My mother painted the one oil. We met a couple on vacation....the wife is a professional painter of water-colors....and later we purchased one of her paintings. I had a long conversation with another artist in Bermuda before purchasing a painting of hers. A person in our town painted a local landscape and it was given to us as a present. And there is something else very personal to me. Our son and his wife were going to Vietnam. They traveled south to north on their own....even staying in homes with no indoor plumbing. I gave a request to them....knowing that they would bring home a souvenir...I wanted something from the south of the country....painted or made by someone about my age. It is a drawing....made with a marker....of a woman wearing a conical hat....and balancing two baskets on a bamboo pole as she walks. A man sketched it as they watched and waited. Perfect!
Recently I had a rather odd idea for an addition to this wall. I would pick the one vinyl LP.....33 rpm record.....that meant the most to me in my life.....(and there were a lot albums early in my life).....and I would frame it like recording artists do their gold records. So I did that....and it hangs there today....the album that I chose.....Amy Grant's....Age To Age....for as a new Christian in 1982....this album welcomed me into a new world.
Amy Grant is hosting a wedding in her home of a family member who is lesbian. John MacArthur mentioned this in the sermon that I posted on a little below this....a sermon much about the collapse of Christianity in America....not mentioning her by name....for I did the research to see who this Christian singer might be. You can look this up for yourselves....for there is a lot of comment on it.
I can't remember the name of the most popular Christian music singer of the day. I wouldn't remember it if you told me....for I don't think that I know any names today. This was a few years ago. This singer was in the news for comments she had made about her.....Christian Faith. Long and short of it....there was no knowledge of the Christian Faith there at all.
I don't know if David Wilkerson saw those demons on the stage or not....but he was correct in shouting.....Ichabod....for the glory surely has departed. The framed Age To Age will remain on my wall....for the changes in much of contemporary Christian music came later....and when people come over for dinner....I'll be able to tell this whole story again....and hopefully generate some much needed serious conversation....in this age dominated by light banter....political talking points....and grab & go theological snacks.
The Greater Danger
The way that I remember it....I hope I have my facts straight....John MacArthur preached a morning sermon.....this maybe three weeks ago....but took ill....and instead went to the hospital where he had a serious procedure done....and according to his church is doing well. Thank the Lord for that.
In late 2017 R. C. Sproul developed a case of the flu….and on December 17 went to be with the Lord that he had served for a half century. You can easily Google....R. C. Sproul's Last Sermon. It's a wonderful sermon and I highly recommend that you listen to it....but in it he sounded very raspy....not very healthy at all. I was reminded of that today when I listened to that sermon that John MacArthur preached in a morning service a few weeks ago. He also did not sound good....as his voice is always strong and confident. Hopefully....Lord willing....he will soon continue his ministry....in good health and with his strong voice.
Billy Graham went to be with the Lord of Glory that he had proclaimed for seventy years....in February of 2018....only a few short months after R. C. Sproul. According to his son Franklin....he hardly spoke at all in his last year.
I have stacks of R. C.'s monthly Tabletalk magazine going back to the early 1990s....and I have read most of the books that he has written....and I have many CDs of his teaching. He has meant as much to me as any evangelical parachurch minister....but I was critical of him on....probably two occasion in these posts. Is that OK to do? I have been critical of John MacArthur on maybe three or four occasions....and they were all related to Donald Trump. Once again....is that OK to do?
My opinion here of course.....there is a danger to someone like myself....along the lines of pride....in giving a critical opinion on a great minister like John MacArthur. I have to realize that....and be very careful with it....but there is a greater danger....when a minister has such a following that nothing could ever be said that was in any way critical. This unfortunately happens all the time. Charismatics have said to me that one is never to be critical of God's....anointed.....(their minister always being....the God's anointed in question.)
I doubt very much that Billy Graham or R. C. Sproul or John MacArthur would ever entertain the thought that they were above criticism....even by the laity. On a political side note....this was one of the problems concerning President Trump. Rush was never critical. Mark Levin and Sean Hannity would speak their mind early on in 2017....but the time came when it became nothing but defending Trump....100% of the time....and taking extreme and even absurd liberties in doing it....and it was all downhill since then!
"Greetings....'The Time Is Fulfilled....The Kingdom Is At Hand' "
Merriam-Webster has thirteen categories for the definition of draft....anything from a bank statement....to a way to serve beer....to a preliminary sketch....to the workload of a horse. We tend to use the word draft in a negative way as it pertains to a current of air. No one likes to sit where there is a draft. On a positive note to some...it is a good time when our professional team has its draft....but what about when the definition pertains to the same college athletes drafted somewhere else?
I always hesitate to do a post on a military draft.....conscription....because no one wants to read about the possibility.....but I've done it a number of times in the past....under the title....Greetings....You Are Hereby....and here is another one.
If the world heads to war....which at this time is a probability....there will most likely be a draft reinstituted in the United States. The elephant in the room is what that draft would look like.
The ages drafted will probably be 18 to 26.....to start out anyway. So who gets drafted? As of today there will be no college deferments beyond finishing out the draftee's present semester. That is a big change....and is related to the above mention of college and professional sports.
Will there be another lottery....as when the big day comes....and the young men who have registered look to see where their birthday is in the draft....'Number 1....oh well....number 365....whew'!
Women have a relatively equal representation in the workforce today. So the young man gets drafted....but the woman stays in her job. How would that go over?
How would the 'trans' issues be handled? Would transitioning from male to female be an exemption? How about female to male?
My cot was the closest to the door. The light was turned on....and I went flying across the floor....as the drill sergeant yanked upwards on the end of the cot. Welcome to basic training! Eight weeks later I would have walked on burning coals for that drill sergeant. Can we even challenge young men today?
How on earth are they going to navigate the question of immigrants? When I was in Basic Training one of my best new friends....Andre....was right off the boat....so to speak...from Poland....and proud to wear those greens. (I still have the photo of us at graduation)
What about vaccinations? During the pandemic we conservatives took the side of those in the military who didn't want the vaccine. Is that the way that we are now? Would the mess halls have to offer vegan meals?
On previous military draft posts I've added something of the nature of the following:
Did you volunteer....to be a Christian? Or were you drafted? The general consensus in the church....today....is that one chooses to be a Christian....they choose to believe. It took me ten years to find out that it was the opposite.....that God drafts....or elects. I'm not going to go into that here....for there is a whole library out there for anyone interested. I will say that one of the chief objections to the doctrine of 'election' is that....if God elects who He wants....why would we even want to evangelize? Well....think of me what you want....but after fourteen years of these posts....it would be hard to accuse me of not trying to reach people for Christ. And you might want to consider how so many of the famous missionaries of the past....names that you are so familiar with....also believed that God elects?
So again....Greetings....you have been drafted into a different kind of army. There is still a basic training....which for most takes years....I think it was about ten years for me. Here's your draft letter....."The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.".....but if you do show up....that draft notice will be the greatest letter you ever received! There is no peace time in this army....and one is only sent to the rear for short periods of R&R. There are casualties....KIAs....taken to heaven....and many wounded...but no MIAs. There is constant battle fatigue....and even shell shock at times....but your Commander in Chief tell us...."Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God." If there is no flak around you....then you are not in the battle. As I posted four years ago on the same topic...."This army is poorly trained right now....malnourished without Christ and His cross preached....with few good leaders....but Christ is mounted....with myriads of powerful angels holding their steeds back until the word is given. There will be no flotilla of boats taking us away....instead a power from on high giving us all that is necessary to hold on....and even advance....as a winnowing will separate a ragtag army into a smaller but growing one that [trusts in] it's commander-in-chief....knowing that victory is already won.
Note on the above portion of this post: You may not be interested at all in what would happen if the draft was reinstituted....but I'll tell you of two people who are very interested....Vladimir Putin....and Xi Jinping.
The Pandemic......In Retrospect
There are two ways to go about looking at the Covid-19 pandemic....and the lockdowns....and the vaccinations....and everything else associated with the last three years. I'll describe both. The first is what actually happened.
The most important election ever.....(or so we were told....that's what we have been told for every election in the past thirty years....the coming 2024 election is now the most important election)....the most important election ever for America.....Trump vs Biden....was just beginning the primary season. Trump was riding high....so high! The February 4, 2020 State of the Union Address was to be more of a coronation. The election would obviously be a blowout with the economic statistics. The Republican side of the aisle was having a party....the only down side was that Rush was ill....but he was there and awarded his Presidential Medal of Freedom. Surely he was deserving of such an honor....after decades of holding the line....even though he missed it entirely with Donald Trump.
Amidst all the fanfare there was a concern. A virus had been detected in China....could it be the pandemic that so many virologists had warned of for so long. No....we weren't going to let anything get in the way of Trump's reelection.....nothing was as important as that. Even John MacArthur had stood before his congregation and boldly stated...."There is no Pandemic." Trump blundered his way for months....Fauci and others doing their best to listen to him in the briefings....before giving the real information.
We all were waiting for good news on a vaccine....then that news came....and we were thankful....this was before the narrative changed and we were told how evil vaccinations were. There were difficult lockdowns....and the economy was surely going to be hurt. The new republican elites began to panic.... for this was going to affect the November election. All the great economic figures.....(forget the $26 trillion dollar debt)....were going to disappear. Trump might lose because voters always voted their wallets.
Something had to be done. The reality of the election had to take precedence over the pandemic. Lockdowns were now evil. Vaccinations were now evil. The experts were now evil. All of a sudden....churches that never preach the gospel of Jesus Christ....were great bastions of the faith.....as they were being closed temporarily....but plenty of wonderful and faithful churches closed their doors....and waited patiently for the Lord. We are still doing all of this today....as we somehow have to appear as the heroes of the pandemic....the pandemic in which we fought all the way those with lifetimes of experience preparing for and dealing with viruses. We have to go after Dr. Fauci....anything we can possibly get on him....to cover up what we had done.
What we should have done is come together as a people and focus on the coronavirus. In order to do that we needed to come to grips with the fact that there was indeed a real pandemic. We never really did that. We attacked anything that the now....'other side'....tried to do. Vaccinations became evil. Masks were persecution. Lockdowns were concentration camps. Dr. Fauci....who had given his life to the study of viruses....and who also was awarded the same Presidential Medal of Freedom....by a republican president....became to us another Dr. Mengele. We destroyed his reputation....evangelicals tagged along with the lynching. We will destroy anyone who gets in our way....because that is what we do in our new incarnation as MAGA evangelicals.
These pandemics happen occasionally. We are not special....exempt from world wars and pandemics....as we think that we are. We now need to see how it started....but not in a Stalinesque fashion....with show trials.
We can and should examine what was done during the height of the pandemic. Were mistakes made....other than Trump's? What if mistakes were made? Do we treat them as crimes? It was a pandemic....the very nature of responding to emergencies is problematic. What are we going to do when the nation goes to war? Do we threaten congressional hearings to throw generals in jail?
What are we going to do if there is another pandemic? Well we already made that decision. We're not going to do anything. We have become experts at raw data....analysis not being necessary....and scientific literacy only for wonks and eggheads. How long until we ban the scientific method....along with civics and truth and fairness and debate?
Addendum: How much empathy have we shown lately for the children in the Ukraine…..or over the past few decades….the children in Syria….or any one of a number of other trouble spots….but have our children wear a mask and we are as heartbroken for their suffering….and their psyche might be damaged? We have used the word….’snowflakes’….for decades….but is that what we are now? Give us five minutes and we will find an article supporting our alarm....for there is always an article somewhere....that we will copy and display for others to see! We used to be frustrated by the Left for doing this...but we have become no better than they are.
Instrospection Is Needed In Who We Are
John Piper's Sermon of the Day is a challenge to us as evangelicals if we will accept it. The topic is racial harmony. It is not a pretty picture that Piper paints....one in which he is painted right in the middle of it. It is a problem. We need introspection here....and we need to understand the outside forces that drag us down into various forms of racism.
During the 2020 presidential election campaign President Trump through Tweets and rallies....promised white suburban voters that he would keep low-income housing out of their neighborhoods. They would not have the problems associated with it nor the financial loss from property devaluation. How did we miss this back then? This isn't even subtle racism. It was no coincidence that golf cart parades in gated communities....and pleasure craft flotillas made news during the campaign.
We attempt to assuage our guilt by promoting republican minorities who are elected to government or who are celebrities of one sort or another. We highlight the economic statistics during the Trump administration to prove that we are anything but racist....but we confuse the sound conservative economic theories that we have fought for since Reagan....which does help everyone....with the overall MAGA strategy of American First. Ultimately we only want what is better for us. We will take credit for others being helped but altruism is not our objective.
All of this though is only the surface of the problem....for our only true hope is in the gospel of Jesus Christ....and the preached word is the main conduit for spreading the gospel....but our pulpits have been infected as much as any of us. Thus as serious as it is....racism showing itself in our political actions....the most serious effect....is that it neuters our pulpits. Oh they speak words against racism....but it is what they do not do that hurts the most....for they do not warn the sheep.
We can claim to be pro-life all we want as it pertains to abortion....but in many other areas....the pandemic being one....we were not pro-life. We can proclaim liberty and freedom to all....except those whose liberty works against our pursuit of happiness. So also we can claim not to be racist....but at the same time accept the political benefits derived from racist political campaigns.
We ourselves are at the heart of all of our problems....because God is looking at us first. We want Him to destroy our enemies....but He may have our enemies destroy us....so that we might return to Him. Habakkuk had these same questions that many of us have. Why was God sitting by with all the plundering and lawlessness and violence everywhere? God told him that He was raising up the Chaldeans for works that even he....Habakkuk would not believe. The prophet still wondered why....but God told him to write it down....the wicked will have their day....but then God will have His. Habakkuk then prayed...and/or sang the words given to him....of judgment and even plague. This short book of prophecy contains the words....repeated in Romans....words that transformed Luther....
"The righteous shall live by faith."
Habakkuk....after the vision of judgment....ends with this....
"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer's feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills."
We too wonder why God is letting all of this happen. This is where the introspection comes in....and if we should come to see where we have culpability in all of our afflictions....we might also humble ourselves....and take comfort....and rejoice as did Habakkuk earlier in these words....
"For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea."
Note: John Piper's Sermon can be Googled at....John Piper....Racial Harmony And Interracial Marriage. As I mention many times....I have been following/involved in politics now for over a half century. I don't post that much on Biden and the Progressives because....quite frankly....unless we are blithering idiots....we already know who these people are....and who funds them. Conservative news doesn't saturate us with this stuff to inform us....they do it to keep us rabid....malleable....gullible and easy to lead. I was anti-RINO before being anti-RINO was cool....but this new group meeting under the Conservative banner is a darker shade of red. Our pulpits failed to warn us of a false prophet in our midst...."Our best is yet to come".....and failed to warn us of the dark side of politics.
