The Professor Was Correct....In That There Is A Presence Among Us....But It's Not What He Thinks That It Is!

                  A Stanford Professor made news this month by stating at a conference that aliens have been on earth for a long time. He tried to describe how it wasn't like they were walking among us ...."wearing a skin suit".....but it was some other form of presence. There have been numerous sightings by civilian pilots and military pilots of UFOs that defy physics in their operation. These stories are so frequent nowadays that the latest one will hardly even cause any interest.
                 I had two instances within the past couple of months where a Christian friend.....both Christians for decades.....both knowledgeable in the specifics of the faith....made offhand remarks....it wasn't really even the subject we were talking about....more just interest than anything else....kind of...."could this really be?".....type of comments....on aliens and UFOs.
                 I also wondered....could this be....not UFOs or aliens....but rather I wondered how could it be that mature Christians didn't know if there were aliens out there or not?
                 An apparition appeared to a peasant girl in France in 1858....Lourdes....movies were made about it. Another apparition appeared in Portugal in October of 1917....(interesting month)....Fatima....and movies were made of it....the sun was supposedly dancing in the sky....and there have been other apparitions at other times.....possibly one appeared to Joseph Smith in 1823?
                 The Apostle Paul warned of this in Galatians...."But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed"....and then because of its importance....he repeated his warning. Friends...even the consideration of aliens is evidence that another gospel is being considered!
                 The Stanford professor was right....and he was wrong. Apparitions of various sorts have been around for along time.....but they are not aliens....for there are no aliens.
                 I ask you to consider a passage from the book of Acts in chapter 13. Paul....new in his ministry....visited Antioch and preached the gospel to the Jews....who outright rejected it....but the Gentiles...."begged that these words might be preached to them..." and "almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God." Here is what I would like you to consider....after Paul preached we read this...."Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed."
                 The Christian....regenerated....with a new heart....and eyes to see and ears to hear....understands God's word. We may and always will differ on many interpretations but the essence of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation is understood....and part of that is that it is very clear that in this vast universe God created man....and had to put him on one planet....it turned out to be this earth....and the story of the fall and redemption began. To even be uncertain whether there be anything such as aliens is to not fully understand man's creation or salvation. 
                 There's more. In such a situation where we don't even know if there are aliens out there or not....then we are extremely susceptible to falling for that....'great delusion'....that we are strongly warned of! UFOs might very well be that delusion....but whatever it turns out to be it is our responsibility to be vigilant on everything!

Afterthought: If you are interested....there is another post on this subject....Keep Looking To The Skies....at the bottom of the links to the left on this page. 

So what does one have in the study of the search for extraterrestrials? Well...one might have different life forms....that's pretty neat....with what to us would be superpowers.....and probably magnificent space ships....with physics that can blow your mind....but you also might very well have aliens that are looking for food.....meaning us? You would just have to wait and see if they visit with a bib on. All in all though....pretty exciting stuff.

So what could one expect on the other side of the ledger....the God of the Bible? Well...forget the different lifeforms....what one would have is not only the master of everything living....man and angels and everything on earth....but the creator and designer of it all....not only of this galaxy but every galaxy out to the furthermost point....and all the answers on everything....because He created everything. One would have angels that would make any Star Trek creature look as powerful as a worm. One would have space travel that would make these alien crafts look like a horse and buggy. One would have a God over all with such love that He himself came to live as one of His creatures.....just to pay the debt they could never pay. One would have the author of truth itself as judge! One would see a glory that no science fiction writer has ever even imagined....and one would have pure joy offered to them if they but repent and believe! How can one compare the first alternative to the second....and not see the insignificance and even mundanity in the one....compared to the angels and the brightness of the glory of the kingdom of God....but then the book of instruction given to us by our creator tells us this....the very words of Jesus...."Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

Memorial Day

          This is a totally fictional account....first posted last Memorial Day....but on the other hand totally true many times over....we just have no way of knowing about it.

         Somewhere in Vietnam....on a bloody battlefield....there was a young man....black or white it doesn't matter.....a PFC maybe but that doesn't matter either. His company was ambushed and the first hour or so was pure havoc as the company commander tried to rally his platoons into a defensive posture until help could arrive....but some of the men were separated....two men in particular. One was badly wounded. The second could hear the orders screamed out from somewhere on his right to form a perimeter. He could have hurried and joined his company but heard from his left the cries of his fellow soldier....and instead ran towards him....lifted him up on his shoulder....and carried him towards the shouted commands....but both of them were cut down by rifle fire.
         No one knew what happened....no one will ever know of this heroic deed. His body and that of the man he tried to save were never found. His family had no body to mourn over and bury. There was no medal awarded.
         There are thousands of stories something like this over the centuries of America's wars....and hundreds of thousands of lives lost in every way imaginable in war....and therefore hundreds of thousands of grieving families and widowed wives and fatherless children.
          We long ago set aside one day to think about these men....and women. What we could have....and should have done....at the very least.....was to keep intact the country for which they sacrificed their lives....but we are all human....capable within the herd of both extreme acts of heroism....and of....figuratively speaking....sleeping on guard duty as the country is overrun.
          There is a time for war....unfortunately....for there is pure evil in the world. Although we cannot totally prevent war.....we can do our very best to make them fewer....so that there are far less stories like this to cry over. If we would but keep in our minds the horror and sorrow of what war brings....we might be able to make what would otherwise be four wars....only one.....and what would otherwise be eight wars.....only two.
          It's sad to put it this way....but until the King of Kings comes back it is all that we can do....but when He returns....O when He returns....in the midst of what will be the worst of wars....He Himself will command His army of angels....and then....and only then....will there be war no more. Should we not then....as somewhere in this world....on any given day....as we hear of "wars...and rumors of war"....and know very well what may be just ahead of us....should we not pray for Him to hasten in His return...if it be His will....even as difficult as those days will be?

He Will Restore To You The Years The Locust Has Eaten!

             It was November 27, 2008....fourteen and a half years ago. Our dog....Special....had died suddenly. Knowing absolutely nothing about social media at all....I picked a blog website....gave the blog a name.....Special Dog....thought about something to write....to take my mind off of the loss of our dog....and the paragraph below was my first post....

If only it were just a 'vast wasteland!' Unfortunately, television sculpts and molds the American mind. We have become a society that learns from visual sources rather than the written word....and we are at the mercy of the cable package. There is a bill in the Senate on giving us the right to choose our stations but its purpose was to lessen our cable bill....but some say it will not do that. I don't care. I want to support only stations that have prefigured the effect on a society into its programming. Boycotts cannot do the job. Give us a year of 'a la carte' and some networks will respond. In my mind, this is not a minor thing. I can see a major improvement in how our society forms a consensus on many issues simply by weaning itself from what television throws at us. If you agree with this please talk the issue up and contact your representatives and senators.

             Our television cable provider recently took The Weather Channel off of our basic package....and put it on a higher package....filled with channels that we do not want. We pay $59 right now. I asked how much it would be to get The Weather Channel back? $123....and I would have to take all the channels! No Thanks.
             We have never had anything but basic cable in our home. So we have never had Fox cable or CNN or or ESPN. Consequently my mind has never been indoctrinated by Tucker Carlson....or Jesse Watters....or any of the others. I haven't watched a whole baseball game on TV in probably thirty-five years....or a whole football game or basketball game or golf tournament. I did watch a few hockey playoff games back in 2009. Why mention this? It might be just one reason why I know that Jesus is near....and it might be why I know that Donald Trump is a false prophet....and it might be why I know that the church right now is being judged by God....with blindness?
              The prophet Joel speaks to us today....as do all the prophets....in many ways! "Blow the trumpet in Zion"....(Joel 2:15).....that is all that I have tried to do in these posts. Verse 25 is important in ways that go beyond the obvious...."So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten"....and the "crawling locust"....and the "consuming locust"....and the "chewing locust."
              So you....if the Holy SPirit is convicting you....having you look back on wasted years....and living for your own enjoyments....literally wasting precious times that you now know should have been lived for God's glory....you may be asking yourself....'What's the use in starting now?'
              My father's birthday is coming up. He would have been 102 years old.....but died in 1979 at 58. I was 29 at the time....and have regrets of those years where I did not sit at my father's feet asking him about his life....his childhood....his dreams....and his WWII wounds from a kamikaze attack that affected the rest of his life. I was into....me. I was absolutely no help to him at all with his eternal soul in his last days....for I myself was lost. I have regrets in many areas of my life that if not for the grace of God would burden me down possibly even unto incapacitation....but this is primarily what Joel was writing about!
             Forget the money or the goals or the fame or whatever you wanted at one time. God will restore what is more important....peace to your soul....that is if the Holy Spirit is moving upon your heart. Have you fallen for the false prophet? Have you placed your hope and your trust in broken cisterns? I can regret my many failures....things not done....things that never should have been done....but He hath restored my soul....given me new hopes....and allowed me to rejoice with multitudes gone before....and those now on this pilgrimage with me....none of this which I even remotely deserve! He will do this for you also!

            
             
          

"Who Shall Separate Us From Christ's Love"

            "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from Christ's love?" (Romans 8: 31-35a)

            "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

             You could see it in Spurgeon....and you could see it in R. C. Sproul....and Jonathan Edwards....and J. Gresham Machen. I mention only these four because I have either read much about it....or as in the case of R. C. Sproul.....heard it with my own ears. In fact there are probably more of whom you could say this about than those who you cannot say it about. David's 34th Psalm is about it....and many more Psalms. The book of Job is about it. Jeremiah lived it for over forty years. There are times when it seemed to them as if the whole world was against them....and even their own friends or allies were nowhere around. "Where is God? Has He abandoned us"....they might briefly think....because of our human frailty....but at the same time knowing full well that....no....God hadn't abandoned them. Martyn Lloyd-Jones labelled all of this....Spiritual Depression. 
              Folks....this is God's love....that for those like Spurgeon or Machen....who suffered humiliation and worse for their faithfulness to the gospel....that God will keep them....and bring them through the fire....even though they are weary from the blows! One has to be very....very careful when using the above verses on God's love for us....for we might also keep in mind the words of John the Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 3:9....

              "And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."

             Or we might want to memorize the words of Jesus in the letter to the Laodicean church....that I used in a post only a few days ago.....

             "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent." Rev. 3:19

             On the surface we might have a disagreement here....but I think that we would agree if we take all of God's Word into account on His love for us. God is there for us and will never leave us but if we presume upon His love....then He will use His rod to awaken us....and His staff to bring us back. We would agree on that would we not? So the question then would be....''just what would this presumption entail?".
              Is there a man reading this who can say that he has spent more time reading God's Word and praying and pleading for souls....even the souls of those he loves....more than all the accumulated hours involved in all the sports....watching them or playing them...or reading about them? I don't think that there is a man out there reading this who could say that! And that is only sports! Would it not be the same for other entertainments? What we have today is new. All of these sports....professional and college and high school and even younger is relatively new to America. It seems normal to us.....God's blessings so to speak....it isn't....and they aren't!
              There is something terribly wrong in our logic here! Christ was nailed to a cross....to bring us out of hell...but we are far more interested in sports and enjoyments than growing in the grace and knowledge of Him! And yet then we stutter....or lash out....and proclaim when challenged on this that...."God loves us!"
              I do not have to convince you of this. I only have to convince to meditate on this....ponder these things....for the answer is obvious. Yes God loves us....and is patient with us....but if we presume upon that love....then He will withdraw Himself. Look around at America friends....that is exactly what has happened. God has loved us so....that He will not let us continue on the path we are on....without warning us....and providing the way back on the right path.

On The Cold Threshing Floor......Waiting To Be Gathered

                  O Lord you have shown us that you are coming soon,
                          those of us who are vexed at this world. 
                                  And we are vexed only because you have given us that grace.

                 The birds sing....and the squirrels chase one another.
                          They do not face your judgment Lord,
                                  but even they will seek shelter as your wrath towards us unfolds.
 
                 The kings of the world mock you....there is no tomorrow to them.....only today.
                          They count their money.....and wield the hammer,
                                  and search each other out to give praise and receive praise.

                 Your prophets Lord speak in the name of someone they do not even believe in.
                           It is their own words that they want to hear....not yours,
                                  and their anger is only at those who dare to question their anointing.

                 The demons tremble....for they also know that you are coming soon.
                           They are as marauders.....raiders who destroy even what they cannot take.
                                   Fearing the day they will face....
                                 
                  your angels Lord....who now sit upright on their horses....silent
                            For they have been waiting for this day coming....hands on their swords,
                                  Waiting only for your word....to cast the traitors into the fiery lake.

                  The flail is to the straw Lord....and we feel the strikes....
                            as we are separated from the husk.....and we fall safely....into your hand,
                                  The turmoil around and above us....where
                                   
                  we can hear the holy wind....in the winnowing....but it is cold on the floor
                           as the cloud of chaff hides the sun.
                                  The end of the husks are in sight....thus we know you will come soon.
                                   
                
                            
                            
                       
                           
                          
                                  

John MacArthur......Slower Of Speech......But Maybe That Is A Blessing

                It has been a wild few years for John MacArthur. Forty days before Donald Trump came down that escalator at the Trump Tower on June 14 of 2015....Pastor John's Grace To You radio ministry rebroadcast a program....Beware Of False Prophets....and here forty days later a genuine false prophet came on to the scene not only in America but smack dab into the middle of the church. Five years later John MacArthur received a telephone call from the now President Trump....running for reelection....and seeking the endorsement of the most powerful evangelical preacher in America.....and he received that endorsement.
             This past New Years Day John MacArthur took ill....and was out of his pulpit for a few months....undergoing some serious medical procedures. His Grace To You ministry had also undergone some changes. I can't speak as to when this happened because I have not gone to gty.org on a regular basis for quite a number of years....but there does seem to be a change....as John MacArthur's most recent sermons are right there up front.....where it used to be that teaching was the essence of the radio ministry.
                His voice is distinctly slower today after his illness....and with age....whereas his rapid-fire teaching used to be powerfully evident. This post today is solely to recommend to you to take the time.....and listen to this latest sermon.....preached only two days ago....titled Man's Greatest Need....God's Greatest Gift. Once again if you go to gty.org it is right there. And if you are only now curious of what this Christian Faith is....this is a sermon that you must hear....for it is a wonderful description of the answer that you may be seeking.
                In fact all of John MacArthur's sermons since returning to the pulpit have been powerful in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I recommended one of those only a few weeks ago....Facing A Tolerant World With Intolerant Truth. Surely there are so many right now that are thankful that God restored John MacArthur's health enough that he could return to his pulpit.
                It is just personal opinion here....maybe even incorrect....but it seems that his slower speech pattern gives the listener a moment or two more to reflect on the great and glorious gospel that He preaches.

"And Behold, A Throne Set In Heaven, And One Sat On The Throne...."

               Well I got up early to watch the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. We had taken a couple of trips to London over the years. My last name is about as English as you can get....as one of the towers in the Tower of London is named as such. I've told this story before. Back in the 1980s probably the most popular writer of Christian historical fiction wrote a whole series using my surname. What made it interesting is the main character in the first book had both my first and last name. To make it more interesting....my wife said that the physical description given him was as if it were me....right down to a scar on the left cheek....the character's scar from the English Civil War....mine not so heroic....from a spider bite while in the army. My wife wrote a letter to this prolific author and received a nice reply.
               The newly crowned king became Charles III. Charles I was beheaded during that civil war. His son returned from France and became King Charles II during the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy....this in 1660....after Oliver Cromwell had died.
               I watched with a blank stare as the hymns sung in Westminster Abbey extolled God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit....and as the newly crowned king vowed to be....Defender of the Faith. 
               Charles Spurgeon never experienced a coronation as Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837....the day after Spurgeon's second birthday....her reign lasting until her death in 1901....nine years after  Spurgeon's. J. C. Ryle was born earlier....and biographies report that he only began to think about his eternal soul in the year that Victoria ascended the throne. He died seven months before the Queen of England.
               God raises kings and He brings down kings. He raises presidents for His purpose. Psalm 2 points to the Messiah....it begins...

"Why do the nations rage,
 And the people plot a vain thing?
 The kings of the earth set themselves,
 And the rulers take counsel together,
 Against the LORD, and against
 His Anointed saying
 Let us break their bonds in pieces,
 And cast away Their cords from us."

               And it ends with this...after His wrath proclaimed in the judgment on these kings....

"Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
 Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
 Serve the LORD with fear,
 And rejoice with trembling.
 
Blessed are all those who put
    their trust in Him."

               The monarch of England has only nominal powers....but only God knows what the future holds in this age of turmoil and uncertainty....and this land of an uncodified constitution. We do know this....the King of Kings will return in all righteousness and power and glory...and the doxology of Revelation 7:12....(one of seven doxologies in Revelation....that number of perfection)....will be shouted by....

"A great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands....

 Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
 Thanksgiving and honor and
      power and might,
 Be to our God forever and ever.
 Amen."

Note on the title of the post....Revelation 4:1

              

Hollywood In The 60s Saw Then What We Cannot See Today

                The film was released in January of 1963.....and starred Stewart Granger and Pier Angeli and Anouk Aimee.....Sodom And Gomorrah.....originally titled....The Last Days Of Sodom And Gomorrah. It did well in Italy and Britain but not here in the United States where it was panned. In my sixty years plus of watching films I had never seen it....until yesterday.....and really I've still never watched it for what I did was skip ahead scene by scene in the two and a half hour movie....just to see how it depicted God's judgment.
                Director John Huston tackled the same biblical passage of Sodom and Gomorrah in his acclaimed 1966 film....The Bible....In The Beginning. In that film Peter O'toole played one of the angels. The whole scene of the destruction of those cities....those six or seven minutes....are as frightening as any horror or zombie film. You can Google this and decide for yourself what it depicts as the main reason for God's judgment....and if it reminds you in any way to today's world. In the earlier film....debauchery and violence....particularly violence....were the highlighted reasons for God's judgment on the cities.
                I have to mention that the Stewart Granger film took more liberties in the plot than I could even list! One distortion stood out though....God's Word speaks of the king of the Canaanite city as Bera.....and so does the film The Last Days Of Sodom And Gomorrah....but in that film....Bera is a Queen....a woman.....and not a king.
                You might want to take the time and read slowly the third chapter of Isaiah. In those 26 verses you can see America today from our culture to our pulpits to the horror that has become our choosing of leaders and judges. You can feel both the detrimental effect that the younger generation has on us today....after we abandoned them in our responsibilities to raise them "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"....and the final result....both in politics and culture...of the 60's women's lib movement.  Read it and determine for yourself if my opinion on this is that far off....and pay particular attention to what is being said of the people in verse nine....

"The look on their countenance witnesses against them,
 And they declare their sin as Sodom;
 They do not hide it."

                  Is that not where we are today....where everyone is proud of their rebellion to God? Here is how the last scene in Sodom And Gomorrah unfolded. Lot was leaving the city....and Queen Bera....(Anouk Aimee was mesmerizing by the way in this character)....the queen spat out these words....to Lot

"What you call sin......to me is virtue
 And all that you hate......I worship!
 I turn my back on you Lot
 and your impotent God!"

                 As soon as she said this....and turned to leave....(this was out in the open air)....lightning began to strike the city. The queen looked up and said...."Just lightning.... summer storm"....which is what we are saying today as judgment is unfolding everywhere.

I'm not even giving a title to this....yet anyway. It is 1:30 in the morning.....and I wanted to recommend this R. C. Sermon that I just listened to. Visitors from Europe tend to come in about this time. I don't know the date of the sermon but judging from R. C.'s appearance....it may have been in his last year. It's only about twenty-two minutes long....and you can Google it at....R. C. Sproul sermon....A warning to those walking in the broad way.

Means Of What......What Are You Talking About Here?

               This is something that.....'is in the books'....to use that terminology....the Westminster Shorter Catechism for one. It is not a topic that is anywhere near talked about....but more of a question on a test....what are the means of grace....better put to most of us....what are these things they call....the means of grace?
               Well....put very very plainly.....they are....things.....instruments if you will....that God instituted to bring people to Christ.....but more what I'm trying to address here....to help strengthen people that are already in Christ....and to give much needed discernment. This through the work of the Holy Spirit.
               To the reader here no matter who they might be....if there is something to strengthen us....then it would behoove us to utilize that....'means of grace'.....would it not? Logically speaking....if a Christian listened to one sermon a week it should provide X  amount of strengthening.....and if a person listening to two sermons a week it should be 2X.....and so on. Does not this....although an imperfect axiom....make some kind of sense?
               Reading God's Word is....according to the theologians....a 'means of grace'....and so is the....preaching....of the Word of God. It gets more interesting as the Westminster Catechism says this...."The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word...." That word....'especially'....is the basis for this post.
               I need to use here John Piper's wonderful ministry....Desiring God....in an attempt to make a point. It may be hard to follow but please stay with me as I will make it very short.
               Previous to a month ago desiringgod.org included a Sermon Of The Day on their website. I utilized that for a few years....listening to one of Piper's sermons at least once a day....(I have to mention that some of them were actually conference talks)....along with sermons from many other preachers....primarily Charles Spurgeon. So the average would be between one and two sermons listened to every day....for a quite a few years. 
               It has to be said here that a sermon....any sermon....has to have the power of the Holy Spirit behind it. In today's church one could listen to 52 sermons a year and have experienced no means of grace at all.
               So John Piper's ministry no longer has its Sermon Of The Day. For whatever reason or reasons they now give exactly what R. C. Sproul's and John MacArthur's ministry for decades has given in their radio and Internet ministry....a condensed teaching. It may be from a sermon....if fact they still call it sermons....but it is no longer a sermon. My contention is that although the teaching surely will be wonderful....and a blessing in what teachings give....the means of grace....are no longer present as such....as to the preached Word of God.
               Now you do not agree with me....and possibly are having trouble even following what I'm trying to point out....but I would ask you to take the time and do an experiment. Right now you may think that the sermons that you listen to in church every Sunday are good....but you have nothing to compare this with. If you join this experiment and listen to the preaching from men of the past....such as Charles Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and so many others.....their sermons easily Googled....and also listen to men today who preach like men of the past....such as John Piper and Michael Horton to mention only two of many....if you do this over even a short time....I am confident that you will see the difference in a preacher just taking the pulpit....and a man whose God's hand is upon....taking that pulpit....(in this case via a radio or Internet medium)....and preaching God's Word with the power of the Holy Spirit.
               This would be a good experiment for college students to be a part of in their upcoming summer away from the rigors of college life. If you do this you may come back to school in the fall....should the Lord even tarry....with a different perspective on the church today!  Also....I have tried to pass this opinion on to John Piper's ministry via email....a ministry that when it is centered around the preached Word of God may be the most powerful ministry today....but the ministry is so big that I don't even know if anyone reads the email. If you might agree with my thoughts....or even adamantly disagree and want to get me scolded....would you consider trying to contact Desiring God?
                We have many good teachers in the church today....if one knows where to look for them....and John Piper is a wonderful teacher.....but the extraordinary gift that God has given him.....more than anyone else that I have found today....is in preaching....whether it be in the pulpit or a conference hall!

May The Lord Have Mercy Upon Us......For We Are So Very Lost

                 The America of the baby boomer and beyond....is gone....and it is not coming back. The America of the gen-whatever....and millennials....is also gone. Call it a paradigm shift or whatever you want to call it....this is a new America and new Americans....in this the last....of the last days....and end....of the end times! We process information differently than Western Civ always had....thus we are open to any and every delusion....no matter how absurd. Law itself is effectively gone....not only law as it pertains to a legal system.....but laws of logic and common sense.

                Artificial intelligence and transgenderism are only two of the clues or evidences of a new world. Just today there is another news item up on Drudge.....(they are coming regularly)....on how AI is headed towards destroying mankind. Of course God will determine what happens here. It was almost a decade ago that Stephen Hawking gave the same warning. It is very simple really....why this has happened....man today has no self-control.     
                Transgenderism points in the same direction....as a complete distortion of the mind of man....and an absolute in-your-face rebellion to God....and both are....'related' is not a strong enough word....for they both are derivatives of the continuous prophetic warnings that God had given us. AI is fulfilled prophecy from the pen of Daniel...."But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." As for this new 'trans' issue and the increasing and common alphabetical description of sexual preference...."God gave them up in the desires of their hearts..."
                If you are a regular reader here....I know you must be tired of hearing this.....but once again I am taking my turn watching over an elderly person....typing in another room as the television is on....American Idol I believe....and it continues to be....crushing....crushing to me....to have to listen in on the horror really....not only idolatry....but idolatry of the trivial....that has us in complete bondage....wasting our lives away at best.
                There is no longer any essence to the American.....or no identifiable character. We are nothing but a commercial for mediocrity....a sitcom where the father is the buffoon....holed up in our cocoon watching true crime shows....snapping selfies....pretending to have friends. We sit night after night and read these novels....drivel....when only a few feet or a few rooms away is magnificence even if it wasn't the very Word of God....but being that it is....it is literally more valuable than all the gold in the world!  

Daniel 12:4 ESV
Romans 1:24 Berean Standard Translation

Is It Not Yet Time To Start Shedding Some Tears In The Pulpit

Preface:....the first post below....Tears....Shed 'em If You Got 'em....is from November 2 of last year. The post below that....Three Views....is from September 19, 2009....thirteen and a half years ago. In that post I even mentioned possible pandemics. Most Christians have already had their church service....it being a little after noon in the East. How many may have heard their pastors mention...."as in the days of Noah"....or even detected a hint of concern about the rampant violence in America....from the murder scene to the little league diamond? The pastors are indeed fighting fiercely....and determined they are....only their determination is that they will not say anything to upset anyone! They live in abject fear that they might be called a fanatic....and people will leave their church....and they might actually have to someday examine their own ministry. There is though that remnant....and a remnant it is. May God continue to winnow....and let us recognize each other....if only by the moist eyes from the tears shed.

Tears.....Shed 'em If You Got 'em                  

             You heard the phrase a lot in basic training....way back when anyway...."smoke 'em if you got 'em." The drill or the march or whatever had stopped for a rest....and the Drill Sergeant would just say...."smoke 'em if you got 'em." Well I have a phrase for the pastors in their pulpits today....it's about tears....the phrase is...."shed 'em if you got 'em." Give us some kind of unction fellas....some emotion....some clue that you know the intensity of the evilness of the day....some passion for the souls in your own congregation....some hope for the return of our Lord where...."He will wipe away every tear from their eyes...." Revelation 21:4

Psalm 126:5...."Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of Joy!"

Three Views
 
             This is a personal reflection on three arenas where I tend to view life in America. Maybe it will resonate with you....maybe not. The first of these views is as when I walk the neighborhoods or the Main Streets of small towns. Picture a lovely day, maybe 72 degrees with a slight breeze and the leaves gently rustling above. The smells are clean, as least as we have come to know clean. Maybe there is the scent of lilacs as I pass a garden or maybe just freshly cut grass. I pass another person walking and say hello, or see others puttering in their yard. A few cars pass and I detect a look of content or even a smile as they are talking on a cell phone. There is practically no noise save the purr of tires turning on pavement at only about 20 miles per hour. Possibly there is the sound of a lawnmower in the distance that disturbs the quiet and if I'm fortunate there are the chirps and calls of various small birds. I admit, there is little stress to discern on a walk like this. Walking Main Street is a little bit different for there is a measure of hustle and bustle as I see housewives doing their grocery shopping, older folks stopping at the pharmacy for their prescriptions, kids of various ages laughing as they munch on some snack that they to came to town for....and men simply doing errands. 

             The second way to view life today, or lens to look through if you will, is through the news in every imaginable medium available to us. There are no fragrances, no breezes, no birds and the only smiles are in pictures of politicians and other notables, but those smiles are not convincing, or soothing. In the news I see a major confrontation brewing in the Middle East, different from the continuous ones of the past for there is uncertainty in this one. I see the Russian bear stirring up strife as if they considered themselves immune from the consequences. I see a Red China growing in power and influence, both financial and military, through nefarious schemes from Africa to Europe and in the Americas north and south. I see a world financial community that proved in the last year that it is truly winging it, its confidence being a facade. I see nervous looks....on those who should know....of possible pandemics. The stark contrast between these two world views is vivid and almost surreal.

             The third view is one that only a Christian can see. Every person that I meet is subject to my concern for their salvation. The grocer, crossing guard, the janitors at work, the older people walking so slowly, the kids speeding by on their bikes, the news anchor, the people who serve me my McDonald's breakfast every morning, celebrities who waste their lives and the lives of those infatuated with them, the Pittsburgh Penguin, the person who sings the songs I at times sing along with in the car, the mailman and the numerous people in news reports who have suffered some sort of tragedy that put them in the news. At work I'll sit and laugh with others over the amusing little things that we all share...all the while knowing that this is a human soul that will one day stand before a God of perfect love but also a God of perfect justice who has clearly told us that we must be born again....born from above....and to look to His Son....who was lifted up on a Cross....for our salvation.  

                Forty years ago today....(over 53 years as I post this today)....I joined the United States Army at the Federal Building in Pittsburgh! Time passes quickly and in itself is a great mystery except in that it will never stop in its present form until we experience the vista of eternity. I am thankful for these views that I have for they are reassuring. That's right...reassuring....in that if it is clear enough to see the dangers then it is also clear enough to see the one that will see us through them. With great trepidation comes a knowledge of one who is greater! With the tears of a fallen world comes the joy in knowing Him who has overcome!

              

God Is Cleaning House

There are pastors literally all over America today....flummoxed....that Donald Trump....unless the legal system becomes his final demise....is as it stands the odds-on favorite to get another nomination! Folks....I'm telling you....they are watching this and they cannot believe it. Here's the kicker....Donald Trump is still destroying everything that he touches and everything that even comes close to him....and why is this....ultimately it is because these same pastors refused to call a false prophet...a false prophet....and because they refused to describe how God's Word tells us to stay clear of people like Donald Trump....and because they refused to warn the people that they were trusting in their own perceived powers....something else that God's Word specifically warned us about. So pastors today essentially put in office....the most powerful office in the world...a false prophet....a destroyer....and they are showing no signs of actually changing....even as evangelicalism itself has changed....becoming coarse and vengeful....and in their confusion....pastors wonder how all of this could have transpired!

                  Billy Graham....as wonderful as his crusade ministry was....and in spite of how desperately we need him today....was a lot like C. S. Lewis....in that God had given them extraordinary gifts....but not as theologians. Neither one was gifted at all in that area. Billy Graham knew that he made mistakes early on concerning too much emphasis on politics....and he even questioned himself later on if he had presented the gospel as being too easy to accept. Who knows what went on in his mind in his last years. Did he see the delusion that was coming? I would suspect that he questioned a lot of things that he did or failed to do. I say this because his last books were so extraordinarily profound. As wonderful as Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse ministry is....it doesn't seem that he has a clue as to the mistakes that his father made earlier on.
                  Pat Robertson is essentially gone....and his son Gordon may have the fervency for spreading the gospel that his father had....but he also is severely lacking in discernment on politics and the Christian. R. C. Sproul is gone. John MacArthur is sounding real old and much slower of speech. David Wilkerson is long gone. Charles Stanley is now gone. Tim Keller is retired. No one is replacing these men on the national scene. It's not going to be Eric Metaxas. Do you see where I'm going. God is cleaning house....having taken many of his servants home! We have had all the warnings that we normally would have needed....for a half century....but we are not really into warnings. We do not want change. We have a schedule to keep....goals to accomplish....and plans to make....but all of this will change....in a day....in an hour....and we then will see what ministers that God raises to the occasion....and what ministers continue to be deceived.

Addendum: I have a couple of questions for you to ponder. Rush Limbaugh was rightfully recognized as someone who had an abundance of common sense...and this for decades. How is it that he was bewitched by Donald Trump from the get-go? Mark Levin wrote Liberty And Tyranny that was an intellectual tour de force. I saw some of his recent....interview'....with Trump. There was a moment in early 2017....I watched it happen....when Levin went from questioning who Trump was turning out to be....to worshiping the man. I remember his exact words....said with emotion...."I love that man." How is it that we could let Tucker Carlson dominate our minds? How is that Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows....heroes of sorts from the Freedom Caucus....could be so utterly taken in by that which is anything but freedom of the mind? How could John MacArthur....who was at the time the preeminent teacher in the  church warning of false prophets....not see the false prophet Donald Trump? God had taken away our discernment....lifted His hand. There is no other reason for the totality of our falling for delusion over the past eight years.

This also from a previous post: For five years....since the summer of 2015....evangelicals dominated Trump rallies....opened with prayers...listening to promises that America best days were ahead! On that fateful January 6 morning....on the Ellipse....with Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah playing....(which refers to anything other than Yah of the tetragrammaton)....hands were raised and gently waived by some in praiseful worship. Every rally until recently ended with this....as you will surely remember....for evangelicals repeated the words along with the speaker...."and we are one glorious nation under God." The words underlined below were from the February 4, 2020 State of the Union Address....which to me was the apex of our pride....and of which our pulpits did not challenge.  Folks....if this isn't a description of a biblical false prophet....then what would be?

"Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results....(of the past three years)....Jobs are booming....Incomes are soaring....Poverty is plummeting....Crime is falling....Confidence is surging....and our country is thriving....America's fortunes are on the rise.....America's future is blazing bright....our pride is restored....("Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" Proverbs)....we are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago....and we are never going back....we are advancing with unbridled optimism"....and the address ended with this...."This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Age, the American epic, The American adventure has only just begun. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising, God's grace is still shining, and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come." 

[Folks....even as President Trump boasted.....as did Nebuchadnezzar on top of his palace....and republicans in the congress partied....God was bringing this boasting to a halt through the pandemic....and just shy of one year later....January 6, 2021....the president had as if lost his mind.....on the grass of the ellipse.]

And yet this: There is a deeper reason for why Donald Trump was not labelled a false prophet. In order to spot his message of peace and prosperity as false prophecy....the pulpit would have had to know that God's judgment was not only imminent....but well under way. Our pulpits....with few exceptions such as Billy Graham....there were others....our pulpits did not tell us of God's warnings! In reality they were ashamed of the gospel....for there cannot be good news....if bad news is not the alternative....and they were too embarrassed in this modern age to speak of God's judgments. 

Keep Looking To The Skies

The following is a very short story from June of 2017. I don't read science fiction and I'm sure that my descriptions are inane but there is a message I tried to convey here:

Keep Looking To The Skies

        The scientists remained busy in their work as chaos enveloped the entire world. Their mission had been to find life in the outer reaches of the universe and then communicate with them. It was a project that was given every conceivable help in its mission. There were no budgets, no rules and no hindrances of any kin. Mankind, science to be more exact, was certain of two things....the human race is self-destructing and if there was to be any help it would have to come from intelligent life outside of our own.
         A nuclear war had devastated most of the inhabited world. Over population would no longer be a concern....for most of humanity had either died in the war or through starvation and disease. There were factions posing as governments who still struggled to control what little resources were left on earth. The scientists at this super telescope had not found any help in time to avert nuclear war but they were permitted to continue for there was progress of sorts being made.
          A very special code was developed and sent into space in every direction. This code was so advanced that even its creators could not fully understand it. The hope and expectation of the scientists was that any intelligent life outside of the earth that would pick up such signals must therefore be more advanced than ours and would be able to explain our own code to us, understand our primitive attempts, and discern our objectives even in the midst of our own confusion.
          As if wars would not have been enough, the cosmos picked a terrible time to erupt upon earth. Asteroids appeared only at the last moment before striking our planet. The earth itself remained on its axis but every people group in the world was in a tailspin. The combination of nuclear explosions and asteroids striking the planet caused many earthquakes but they did something even more devastating, as the earth's tectonic plates began to move once again over the earth's mantle. It had always been assumed that the first continental drift took long periods of time but here one could measure the movement every day. The Americas were heading back to Europe and Africa. Greenland was returning to its original position as was Australia. Even Antarctica was drifting northward.
         There were tyrants and dictators and mass murderers in the aftermath of war but there was one particular man who had success assuming power over much of the world's people but he himself was now almost ignored in the sulfur filled atmosphere and little light on earth.
         Remarkably, the scientists kept to their work. Had they made no progress they too might have panicked and their work abandoned but something was happening. They were picking up signals that were not chaotic or coincidence and were placing these signals over the grid of the code they had constructed even though they had no specific formula for decoding them, for they were depending upon the aliens for this.
         Word was leaked to what remained of humanity that distinct signals were picked up from outer space and this was received with great joy and expectation with no fear whatsoever. All were now focusing on a future once again and not the cataclysms they had been experiencing for a few years. One person was not enthused about this...that was the man who had assumed control over most of the world's people. His time had come to rule and he wanted no help from any other intelligent life. In fact he alone showed fear at the reports of the scientists.
         The signals coming back to earth were distinct and powerful. Scientists determined that the first signal received was the letter 'I.' They put forth the possibility that it could be a pronoun. The same message came in every three hours. Computers and scientists worked on the decoding. There seemed to be three words and then a pause and then another word. The second word was deciphered as....'am.' Scientists were now sure that the 'I' was a pronoun and that the message was beginning with 'I am,' with two more words to be decoded.
         Those on the telescope had discovered a cloud formation coming from the direction of the signals and it was becoming clearer the closer it came. The determination of everyone involved was that aliens not only were responding with signals but they were approaching also. The information was leaked to the listening world. Panic was decreasing as hope was spreading. The only exception to this, once again, was the leader who continued to demand that all eyes be on him. This leader had prohibited scientists from giving out news but others set up a continuous broadcast from the telescope and laboratories.
         Who would  these aliens be who were coming to help? What would they look like and just how would they help? Surely they were the long expected rescuers! Man would survive after all! He had determined long ago that he was the measure of all things and now he was to be rewarded.
         Scientists were decoding the last two words. The first was 'coming.' "I am coming'  was the message followed by a pause. The fourth word was more difficult. Its letters made no sense. Perhaps it was a name of the approaching alien but such a powerful intellect would have known that we could not decipher its meaning.
         The cloud formation became even more clear in its approach. It appeared to be spaceships. The form of spaceships could not be seen but what else could they be? It now could no longer be described as a cloud. Light was all around it with a intensity that seemed to be brighter than the sun itself.
         Peoples all over the earth, when told of the sightings, began to make images of the approaching aliens and pay homage to them. The earth still stank of sulfur as cosmic bodies still pummeled it. Winds and hail tormented many parts of the earth but the people shouted joyfully to the skies that previously frightened them.
         Scientists all over the world were put to the task of decoding the last word. An answer seemed to have been discovered but this was not leaked to the people. There was great disagreement within the science community. Some scientists were seen leaving the laboratories in a panic and this panic began to spread to the people.
         One pale-faced scientist appeared before the microphones and described the lights as they were getting nearer the earth. He described them as looking like horses! The world was dumbfounded. Then word came from the decoders who were closing the laboratories and hastily leaving. The last word was from an old language of the Middle East. It was actually many words within one. The final interpretation was....'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.'
          

That We Take Joy In Others Coming To Christ....Is His Design....It Is Joyous....And All The Glory Of This Is His

                Chopping down the cherry tree is one of them....and then later admitting that he could not tell a lie....that he had chopped down the tree....sayings of George Washington....or things he may have done or had happened to him. One that is true happened on the very ground that my father....almost two hundred years later....was born on.....Braddock, Pennsylvania.....where bullets in the Battle of the Monongahela were so close to Washington that they went through his coat.

               Charles Spurgeon....in a 1983 sermon.....that I listened to just this morning....mentioned something that Washington supposedly said and did. As Spurgeon told it....Washington passed some of his soldiers struggling with a task....with a corporal standing watch over them....Washington asked the corporal why he was not helping....upon which the man said something like...."Sir I am a corporal." Now the man did not know to whom he was talking. Washington got off his horse and helped the men....got back on his horse and told the corporal...."If you are even in need of help again call me. I am General Washington."
               I've done enough reading over the past fifty years on our first president to be thankful to God for giving us a George Washington....and the same for an Abraham Lincoln....and the same for a Ronald Reagan.....and there were many others. Spurgeon mentioned this also in that sermon....as only Charles Spurgeon could....he pondered how....at times.....he seemed more joyful that God had mercy upon his wife and children....than on the grace bestowed upon him. I know exactly what he means. My writing and efforts may be paltry....only God knows....but I have been doing it in one form or another for over thirty years....this latest effort which is more a bulletin board than a blog.....for over fourteen years. I am constantly writing in these posts....and often traveling to colleges just to entice a few students to question....to research on their own....what the world feeds them on a daily basis....and what the church feeds them on a weekly basis....to give them some directions where to go....Charles Spurgeon for instance....John Piper for instance....all in this dangerous age....and this corrupt and idolatrous age....and this age of extraordinarily weak preaching....and in this age in which Jesus is indeed at the very doorstep.....having given more warnings in His Word on His return in righteousness and power and judgment that we could ever find excuses for not seeing. 
               However ineffective these efforts on mine may turn out to be....I know this....the joy in seeing someone truly see Christ for the first time....and have saving faith in Christ....even the hope of that....at times is more rewarding....and more joyous....than how I feel about the mercy extended to myself....where I still cannot fathom why Jesus had mercy on me to begin with. All of this is glory to God....and to the Lord Jesus Christ! Our joy in Him....is glory to Him. Our joy in the salvation of others...is glory that is His.

Look Upon Him And Live

                     It seems that no matter where we go in America.....I'm speaking figuratively here....contemplating anywhere in America....using allegory....we are bitten by something. If we think about education we can feel the sting. If think about the news media we feel the pain. Entertainments of all kinds....music and film and books....all of it.....seems to be one vicious attack on our faith. The family is dying....we all know that. Even churches have become a plague. The government is one big infection. Science is a threat. It's as if we cannot venture off a busy street in our cities....for we might get mugged....and if we're only out for a leisurely drive in the country we might get a rock thrown through our windshield.

                    It was as if snakes were everywhere....liberal snakes....celebrity snakes....scientist snakes.....teacher and professor snakes. We would stomp them and thought we might be OK but they only increased. We are stomping so much that the soles of our feet hurt....and those bitten are dying all around us....but we have not as yet gone to God and admitted that we sinned....and that is why these snakes are everywhere.
                   We wouldn't vocalize it but we felt it....this old-time religion....bible belt....Puritanical....sabbath keeping....born again nonsense....was boring us to death! That crazy old preacher who sucked us in years ago never told us the cost of this discipleship thing.
                   The most well-known verse in all the Bible is as you know....John 3:16...."For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life"....but without looking it up....do you know what passage precedes it in the third chapter of John? Here it is...."And as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
                   We are that people in the wilderness. They were sick and tired of the manna....and we are sick and tired of having to go to God's word for answers. That's why we went went over to politics....and crafted a golden-haired calf to worship. Everything that we see today....the literal horror that simply choosing leaders has become....and no where to get a straight answer....is because we in effect....spoke against God's directions to us.
                    You remember the passage in Numbers 21 by now....God told Moses to put a fiery serpent on a pole....and Moses did....a bronze fiery serpent....and those who were bitten by snakes....and today that would be most of us....were told to look upon that fiery serpent lifted up....and they would live. That is our answer folks....not stomping the snakes....but looking upon the fiery snake on the pole.....Christ on the cross.
                    That manna may not have tasted like caviar....but it would certainly have had every possible nutrient necessary in it! God's Word may not taste spicy enough for you at first....but let your palate become accustomed and it will become living bread and living water....and this feast second only to what is to come...."the marriage supper of the Lamb."

               
          

Diana Of Ephesus

Preface:  I'll do this often....abcnews.com has up right now a photo of mammatus clouds over Austin. The post that I'm bringing back here is from last July. The photo on the ABC NEWS video is what it looked like in Pittsburgh. All that is neither here nor there.....for it just gives me an opportunity to bring back a post....these posts of mine are everywhere....warning of the superstorm that is coming. I just finished listening to a sermon from a typical cool church of today. The text chosen was good....but everything around it made it sound like man created God just so that man would have someone to love us so much. Folks....there was a lot of time spent on telling us much we are loved....but not an ounce of warning....that might mar our delicate constitutions.                                     

                                                

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

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

                               

DISPATCHES

 

On the above: An America not that long ago....before God gave us over to the desires of our own hearts.

"And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up will be 1290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1335 days." (Daniel 12: 11,12 ESV) It is generally assumed that this verse points to the mid-point of the Tribulation....when whatever new temple or altar for sacrifice will be ended. I understand the thinking....and I understand why people accept it....but I cannot say that I am totally convinced....particularly since 1260 days is 3 1/2 years....and also that a day has been associated with a year in Ezekiel. Are there any other possible theories? Well one would be this....although there was no temple anymore....it is said that various small Jewish groups would offer a sacrifice on the temple mount....this for hundreds of years....but when the Dome of the Rock was built....roughly 688 to 692....even these sacrifices would have stopped. 1290 years....added to 692 AD is about 1982....add and extra 45 years....whatever that maybe....would take you up to 2027....just something to put in the back of the mind. The Tribulation theory of 1260 does not necessarily exclude or preclude the something else is related to 1290.

Silicon To Carbon....The issue seems to go back at least a decade....(this is not my area....I have no working knowledge in this area)....will carbon begin to replace silicon in computer chips. I posted this thought in 2017...."One author recently pointed out that the chemical element carbon has 6 protons...6 neutrons....and 6 electrons. (atomic number 6) About 12% of the body's atoms are carbon. That's not my particular concern. What is my concern is a megacomputer that is going to think for itself.....which really is not thinking for itself....but would be guided by an entity other than data input. Will that entity be algorithmic....or.....possibly demonic? Yeah, scientists are really going to be concerned about this...right? I doubt if even Christians will be concerned....even though Jesus cast out a lot of demons......for we don't really want to bring up that nasty business of demons today do we?"

Robot's Rules Of Order....I posted this at the same time...."Robots will be and are taking jobs. We are consumed with the money-making and fun things we can make them do. And with all the robots there will be even more drones flying around.....everywhere! They're already used in war.....and they will eventually be used by terrorists."

It has been reported that there was an attempt by the Ukraine of the life of Putin....by way of explosives on a drone. The drone malfunctioned....but as I brought up in 2017....this is what we have to look forward to.

Flee Talk Radio....I had been a regular radio talk show listener since the early 1970s. If you are a Pittsburgher older than dirt you remember Mike Levine and Roy Fox and John Cigna at KDKA just to name a few. It was mentally stimulating....and enjoyable....as callers picked the conversations....and said what they wanted to say. As recently as 2016 I still listened to talk radio. Hannity at the time was the hardest working of all of them. If he wasn't on the air then he was preparing for some rally supporting our troops. I listened to a few minutes of his 3 to 6 radio show just now....and folks....this today is a drug....injected intravenously so to speak....drip-fed to somnambulant listeners who have trouble thinking for themselves....and thus are easily led. For eight years now it has been a drug. There is nothing intellectually stimulating or mentally healthy in conservative talk radio any more. The word 'conservative' is even absurd. It is mind control pure and simple....and my strong recommendation to Christians....is to avoid this habit at all costs! Think about this for even a minute....the time you spend on talk radio and podcasts and evening cable....(and you will acknowledge this in due time)....the time you spend here could have been used listening to God's Word preached by either men of the past....when there was power in the preached Word...or the few men today who preach like men of the past.

Abortion Is Sacrifice....I am not home this morning....and the television is on about fifteen feet from where I type....The View I believe....Whoopi Goldberg speaking I believe....abortion the topic....and she gives an impassioned speech on her rights....but here is what few people today have any idea of....in ancient pagan lands.....biblical lands....even Israel at times....the people actually sacrificed children to the horror of the demonic god Moloch. Even the most progressive of people today would have a hard time coming to grips with that.....even though....in essence.....they do the exact same thing! The baby in the womb is destroyed....sacrificed actually....to whatever god is behind the reason that the baby must not be born.

Who Or What Might Fill The Vacuum In AI.....essentially...it seems that researchers try to copy the brain in their building artificial intelligence. They observe how neural networks work....and try to copy it with computations. My first warning of AI in these posts was in 2015. It is a created monster....but here is the rub....scientists....'created'....it....but artificial intelligence itself....from all the reports coming out....seems to operate....ex nihilo....out of nothing. God created everything in existence...ex nihilo....out of nothing. Man cannot do that....nor can machines of any kind. So what is this seeming ex nihilo that AI spouts out? There is a vacuum....and there are computations....and then something appears to take control. The possible relation of AI to the demonic should be in our minds as we see all this unfold.

Macho Macho Man....I Want To Be A Macho Man....It was reported an hour ago that the most recent mass-murderer purchased his weapon just last week. The following is the first paragraph of a recent post titled....God's Hand Has Been Lifted....That's Why All This Is Happening...."Having worked in a rural and industrial setting for 37 years....I am very familiar with men who love hunting and love their guns. I can appreciate the precision and the beauty in many of these firearms....but the weapons used in the latest mass murders have no more beauty to them than a used toilet brush....and a lot less practical purpose."               

Are We In The Tribulation Right Now?  As for the four horses of Revelation....it is clear what three of them are....but it is the first rider....on the white horse....that is problematic.....for if it should turn out that that horse and rider were....for example....pestilence....the pandemic....then we would in effect be in the tribulation and not know it. The rider on the red horse is much easier to determine....war. If it should come we might be forced to look back to see what we missed of the white horse.

You Can Only Serve One Master....folks....all I want you to do is to start thinking about this stuff. How many of you literally wasted three or four days thinking about the Masters golf tournament. Funny thing....it was April 10.....1961.....sixty-two years ago today....I was eleven years old....at a family gathering at my uncle's house in Buffalo....and Gary Player won the Masters that day. I remember that! There has been over sixty winners since then! I know men who live for this stuff...and it really cannot even compare in fanaticism to the Steelers! I would laugh if it wasn't so sad. It would be a weird gospel folks....the Son of God....becoming man....to be hammered with nails to a cross....so that we could spend our lives....cheering as our 245 pound linebacker....slams their 199 wide receiver to the ground....and this as even those around us....loved ones....and family....perish in ignorance....but that is apparently what we believe!

Sermon Of The Day....this is a weak...weak age for preaching....and that itself is a gross understatement. It's a very big part of why America is what it is today. We have no idea the glories of the Lord...and our own culpability in our nation's collapse....being that our preachers have no idea. So having said that....my daily habit is to listen to a sermon a day....often two or three sermons a day....from men of the past....or men today who preach like men of the past....and this for a few years now. Is this bragging? Let me tell you why it is not. It is probably why I know that Jesus is about to return.....along with so many others who know this....and you may not. So I recommend that you yourself search out sermons from....men of the past....or men today who preach like men of the past....because unless you are extremely fortunate....you are not being fed with the glories of our Savior. As of late I have been searching for Spurgeon sermons that were preached in the 1880s....as C. H. Spurgeon had thirty years of maturity under his belt. This one that I recommend to you is from July of 1885....and is titled....Purging of the Conscience. You have a long drive to work? Or you are retired like me and can listen while doing chores? Listen to sermons like this....and then see how the vanity and perishing of this world starts to come into focus. This is also a caveat folks. If you ask discernment of the Lord....sincerely....He is going to give it to you in ways that you may not expect....nor even desire at this time....but that you will forever be thankful for!

I Am Available To Give Your Commencement Address

               Every year for the past eight years....since May of 2015 to be exact....I posted the following....Special Dog's Commencement Speech....at commencement time. It is now May 10.....and once again no college or university....or police academy or culinary school....or anyone....has asked me to give their commencement address! Pitt's commencement is already over.....and the local college where I did graduate work....their commencement was this past Saturday. That really leaves only two schools left.....Harvard which is my first choice....that has Tom Hanks penciled in so far....and our grandson's kindergarten class. We attended Grandparents Day a few weeks ago....and I left some hints....but so far nothing. It looks like another year with no invitation....so below is the commencement address that I would have given if invited anywhere.... 

Special Dog's Commencement Address

               Once again another year has passed and I wasn't invited by any college or university to be their commencement speaker! So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden was to be the commencement speaker at Harvard University but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage.  The Ivy League school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name....Special Dog....they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to a give a commencement speech....then I woke up. So I sat down and penned the speech that I would have given had I in fact been invited by Harvard to give their commencement speech. Maybe next year! Here is that speech.... 

               Today you are graduating from the sixteenth grade. Congratulations! This is that special day when everyone gets to write something obscene or against America on the top of their mortarboard. Most everyone here is 22 years old......which means that you only have four years of living in your parents basement before you must figure out what corporation you are going to be a slave to for the rest of your life. Retirement will probably be about 77 years old when you get there. That's only a tad over a half century away.....about 1/120th of the history of the world since Adam was created. It'll go fast. I don't see anyone laughing out there. Hmm.....maybe I better get serious. There are no....'safe spaces'....in basic training!
               A little bit of trivia.....President John Kennedy would be 105 years old today....if he were still alive....but his 46 year old face in the last year of his presidency is what we remember. I had the privilege of seeing him in person as Senator Kennedy and then presidential candidate Kennedy passed by our Catholic grade school....as they herded us all out to wave to him.
            I recently viewed an old interview with then Governor Ronald Reagan that was taped on June 5th of 1971. The interviewer asked Governor Reagan if he was going to run for president in 1972. Reagan replied...."No....Lord willing I'll complete my second term as governor." That would make two United States presidents....in a row....Carter and Reagan.....who could naturally use the phrase...."Lord willing." Abraham Lincoln spoke a very similar phrase in his second inaugural address. No surprise there. (Today we tell God what we are going to do...."We're going to keep on winning....winning....winning!")
            Your parents would remember this....well maybe your grandparents....that magazine sized book....Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy. I think that just about everyone had it back in the months and years following that tragic day in November of 1963. In that book the editors reveal what were...."President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas." John Kennedy was to give this speech but never did... for assassins (plural) ended his life.....SPOILER....it wasn't Oswald.
             That speech never given by our 35th President concluded with these words....the last official words of President Kennedy...."The righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it." So the full verse is:

             "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

             John Fitzgerald Kennedy was nominally religious as was I. He would have respected the Bible and believed those words but he could not have truly understood their significance, nor timeliness, nor even seen his own part in attempting to build a city (a country) without the LORD. The 60s were an absolute disaster, the effects of which nearly brought my own life to an end. They produced college professors for the next few decades who gave us many of our problems today. They gave us Barack Obama and the Clintons....two Bush presidents....(Donald Trump....and now Biden)
             It was drizzling and a bit chilly as my wife and son and I walked Cambridge University back in the spring of 2001. I wanted to see where many of the Puritans were educated....one of them was John Harvard....and I wanted to see some of the places where scenes from the Academy Award winning Chariots Of Fire were filmed. The building that housed the White Horse Inn on the grounds of Cambridge was long gone but a small blue plaque hung in the nearest spot possible to that location. That inn was a 16th century English pub where students, Dons and travelers discussed the works of Martin Luther, and out of this discussion came a passion for the hearing of the Word of God which resulted in the English Reformation. Young people...find your own White Horse Inn! (hint...try....whitehorseinn.org)
             Surely somewhere in America on that bleak or snowy Saturday in early December 1941 a young man sat looking out of a restaurant window, or maybe a coffee shop, with a young lady at his side who was his new bride. They had the world at their fingertips as he was just awarded that treasured college diploma he worked so long and hard for, and she wore the wedding band she had dreamed about since they first met in grade school. They looked into each other's eyes with hardly a care in the world. Oh, the plans they had so much fun making.....a small cottage with a white picket fence that someday would keep little ones and maybe a puppy dog from straying as they play.
             And then the morning came and as they walked into church the somber faces took their joy away for they had not heard the news from that group of islands where the sun shown year round and warm surf slapped the white beaches. America was in the war against evil that they had only given themselves minutes a day to reflect upon. The young bride knew immediately that their dreams would now be put on hold if they would ever come true. Surely the prayers of all present in that worship service were salted with tears.
             Not every generation has its hopes interrupted as this generation did on December 7th, 1941 but your generation today may indeed be another one. Love is disappearing in the world....no....worse than that....it has been hijacked by greed, tortured by pride and what is left is directed to ourselves, and we in America are paying dearly for our dalliances.
             Do you sometimes feel a void of passion in your life...a meaninglessness that cannot be satisfied by the picture that you paint on your Facebook page? Well, a river of passion flows right by you! Cup your hands and drink from it. Let mercy and peace pass over your palate. A political election will give but one night of elation but the coronation of the King of Kings provides every morning and every evening with a ceaseless ardor that will make you forever thankful. If you happen to really see the trouble that we are in here in America....that vision is from God....and He will also give the balm....supply the strength and provide the wisdom to see the joy of redemption even in the darkest hours of this world....and to plan ahead with the full trust that if it be His will it will happen and if it not be His will you would not want it to happen. Here is the only true hope and change...... "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." 2 Corinthians 5:17

          One does not have to be a PHD, or a celebrity, a statesman, general or financial wizard to relay God's wisdom to graduates. I certainly didn't plan it this way but my later adult life....whether while working or in personal relationships....has been one of taking joy in training or teaching when I was able. The greatest joy of a father is in conversations with....in my case....a son....passing on what I have learned....taking advantage of so much experience and so many mistakes....and most of all pointing him to the most blessed and beautiful majesty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!


"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Note: After rereading this old post....I wanted to mention that I'm serious about this one comment...."Young people...find your own White Horse Inn! (hint...try....whitehorseinn.org)" If you are in college....search out friends who might want to take a page from the past....and show some individuality.....and take some risk....and come together and plead that God might move as He had in the past....on college campuses. Ask Him to bless the intellect that He has given you. The men at The White Horse Inn....might be just the place to go.