A Lord's Day Prayer

The following is from April of 2022...and I bring if back often on the day before the Lord's Day....but I want to add a sermon recommendation with it....a Charles Spurgeon sermon directed to Christians who are weary....for they have agonized for the lost souls all around them....for years and maybe even decades....and wonder if God even hears their prayer....or is Himself concerned. Spurgeon gave this sermon in 1889....after about thirty-eight years of preaching in London....through times when the Holy Spirit moved greatly through the city....and times such as when he preached this sermon....two years before going to be with his Lord....when in a similar time as today....a more palatable gospel was desired by the people....one that permitted them to go about their normal lives without any real cost or interference. Spurgeon's answer was from Psalm 94....and he repeated it many times in the sermon...."The Planter Of The Ear Must Hear!"

Compare if you will these words below from the prophet Jeremiah.....as he watched for years upon years his beloved nation collapse into total idolatry and rebellion against God who had planted and watered and blessed. Compare these word to our pulpits today who have the same collapse of a beloved nation before them....but their smile is ever present....not reflecting a joy in the Lord smile....not a faith through trying times smile....not a hope in the nearness of the coming of the Lord of Glory smile....but a happiness in the mistaken belief that God must be pleased with them....as they can continue to enjoy their God given entertainments.

My heart within me is broken
Because of the [false] prophets;
All my bones shake,
I am like a drunken man,
Because of the LORD,
And because of His holy words....23:9....NKJV

A Lord's Day Prayer

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

Puppy Love

               We are dog people. We don't have any now but we love other people's dogs. Our son just yesterday brought an eight week old puppy home....and we have had photos coming by text. In the latest....five minutes ago....the puppy is lying on the green grass...looking up into the camera with that big wonderful smile that dogs give. At eight weeks just about everything is new to him. He was taken away from the litter....to a new home....and new big people.....but there is no concern for if he will still get food.....or if he can trust this new big man. There is just joy. The tummy aches and the thunder and the occasional scolding will come later.
               Folks....this is very much like when one is born again! The joy is almost inexpressible! The trials and the thunder and the staff and the rod will come later....but for the moment....there is only God....and we trust Him. We Trust Him! There are no questions about why bad things happen to good people....or what about the good grandparent or elderly neighbor who helps everyone....but adamantly and openly rejects God....therefore has no salvation? There are no complaints on how God can permit war....no advice on how God could do it better if he tried to....no modernizing the gospel of salvation because we know just a little bit more about what works than God.
              There is only trust in this new life....adopted....with a new family....and love....a love that we haven't even tried to define. The dog days of August will indeed come in many and various ways. There will be trials....even great trials....and chewing on that that should not be chewed....and making noise that upsets everyone....and there will be depression at times....weariness....and tears....even doubts....but God is still God....He does not change! We love Him because He first loved us....while we were peeing everywhere. He chose us! There was a whole litter but He chose us! So when that discouragement comes....we need to go back....to when we were taken to a new home....and we need to look up into that same glorious face that gave us so much joy when we first believed!

There are 'Seven Lean Years' Ahead....And That May Be The Understatement Of All Time

                Our pastor and personal friend had recommended the film.....more than recommended it....for he was almost ecstatic over it. Now this man....if I had to name a 'number one'....was probably the finest preacher on the glories of Christ that I have ever heard in person. So this wasn't an....I've got nothing better to do than go to the movies....type of thing.
                My wife and I....and our son and a friend of his....went to see the movie....like immediately....the next day. And yes it was a great film....but halfway or so through it....in this day and age.....this was the Spring of 1999....the film broke! After about fifteen minutes they announced that it could not be fixed right then....and offered our money back. Someone shouted out...."well at least tell us how it ends!" The film was based on a court case. I immediately stood up....in the front....and faced the crowd....and shouted....."Don't anybody say anything!" I can really be weird at times....or have you noticed? The very next night my wife and I returned and watched the movie in full....The Winslow Boy....David Mamet's film....based on Terence Rattigan's 1946 play....of a real-life court case involving a father's defense of his son who was kicked out of England's Royal Naval College, Osborne. There was also a 1948 film on the play. Both are excellent!
                OK.....in the film it is 1911....the Victorian Era was waning....the British church was post Spurgeon....and post Ryle. British Christianity was on the way down....until the Martyn Lloyd-Jones ministry began in earnest. In the first scene the Winslow family returns from church. No one seems particularly thrilled at their church service....except the father. Something in the sermon grabbed him. It was about Joseph in Egypt....second in command....interpreting Pharaoh's dream of seven fat years and seven lean years....and thus preparing for the coming famine.
                 It is time right now.....past time actually....to prepare for what is coming. Who would have thought a week ago that they would have trouble in Palm Springs getting to the grocery store because of flooding? Should not hurricanes alone teach us that emergency provisions should always be on hand? I will at times bring this up to Christians....and often their response is that we just have to trust in God. Well that's not very profound.....as the essence in our entire salvation is based on trusting in our wonderful and glorious and merciful yet righteous and just God! My response is usually...."How about trusting in God's warnings?"
                 The seven fat years and seven lean years is not just an off-the-wall number. There are seven years of tribulation coming in God's perfect timing. And folks....what is far more important than preparing for lean times....is preparing spiritually. These are already lean times! Food from the pulpits is minimal to non-existent....but guess what? Praise God there is a storehouse of sermons....great and wonderful sermons from preachers of the past....and even preachers today who preach like preachers of the past!

"You And I Will Be United.....Ugh!......That Doesn't Sound Too Good To You Right Now Does It"

               There is a good news/bad news side of what is going on today....or pessimistic/optimistic side of it if you prefer. The bad news side is that the core essence of Christianity has dissipated. The cross was once the crux of the faith....the church today....man....is that center of the faith. 
               The watershed moment was in the February 2018 death of Billy Graham....actually it occurred much earlier when his health declined so that he was no longer the stabilizing force....the unifying force in the church. It didn't matter that all Christians did not believe totally in Billy Graham's systematic theology....for that was not his strength. Even if one disagreed with much of what he did....his theology of the cross was the tie that bound us together.....this simply because he was far and away....the primary spokesman.
               In this respect we are a people without a shepherd. The information age is the wolf that has devoured us. Every man does what he wants....thinks what he wants....and chooses what he wants. There is nothing but pessimism here. Law has departed us....as has common sense. Wars and catastrophes of all sorts are ahead of us. As for the winnowing that is coming....you would have to take the time to sit back and consider the extreme difficulties....and the confusion....and even persecutions that would be ahead....as 'professing' Christians....but not the redeemed....occupying great churches and even denominations....aggressively oppose those who....as many of the outward differences melt away....prove to be united in Christ. As for the good news....I posted this is 2017....under the title with which I titled this post....

         "The good news is so overwhelming that when one understands it one must fall before the majesty and the power and the glory of Jesus Christ. One must then have His hand put on them hearing..."Stand....fear not....for I am with you." He's coming back folks. Every child's tears throughout this world will be dried. Every mother's cries are heard and will end. Every Christian father's prayer for their children will be answered. Every war will end. Every crushing the skull of a beautiful pre-born baby will cease. Every abomination will be seen for what it is. Every slaughter of God's wonderful animal kingdom will stop."
           
              So as bad as it is today....look heavenward....for our redemption draweth nigh. I concluded in that 2017 post...on that winnowing the is coming....

              "The rest of us will be united in the love of Christ. You may not feel so united with me right now but we're coming together....May God add multitudes to us! Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!"

               

Lord's Day Sermon Recommendation

                     It is the Lord's Day afternoon....and if you need more of God's glorious Word....John Piper's sermon for the day is wonderful and can easily be Googled at....John Piper Sermon, Rediscovering Delight In God. It is 26 minutes and will come right up!

Sent In The RSVP....Checked Off....'Chicken Cordon Bleu'....Just Forgot To Take Note Of The Date

                 I have a wedding to go to in a few weeks....Lord willing. The date is set....I'll have my boots polished and my sports coat cleaned and pressed. (that's about as formal as I can get) The bride will be in white....hair done....nails probably sparkling....with an radiant smile on her face. 
                Most of evangelicalism today acknowledges that Jesus....the Bridegroom....will be coming for His bride....the church. The only thing is that we don't know the date....so we're not prepared at all! We're not clueless....just stiff-necked....for God has given enough information for us to know that the reception table is already set.
                It's a little like the typical wedding today where after the vows are exchanged....the people have to wait for a fairly long time at the reception hall while the bride and groom are having pictures taken....where we are all dressed up....just waiting for the newlywed couple to come through the door. We don't know if it will be five minutes or ten or a half hour.
                As it pertains to the church today....if we had more than just looked over the RSVP....God's Word of prophecy and judgment within it....it's not fine print....we would know that this is it....there's no twenty or thirty or forty years to wait. It would take a book to list all the scriptural evidence that the King of Kings is mounted....along with His holy angels....hands on their swords...and ready for the command to take them out of their scabbards and brandish them....shining in the brightness of the Lord's countenance...which is greater than that of the sun!
               There simply is no getting around 1948. You can add to that Israel today that is split down the middle....with us....its stabilizing force....no longer stable ourselves. America is essentially gone. We on our side at least used to hold the high ground....but we were enticed off of it. No one occupies that high ground today.
               We are not going to escape AI. That's pure biblical prophecy folks. The violence is....literally....everywhere. That's Noah's day. Forty years ago we were always bringing up the old....frog in the kettle....where the heat was slowly turned up and the frog never knew what hit him. That's what happened to us folks....past tense.
                All you have to do is read God's Word. Well we got a little problem there because we  don't seem to define the word 'read' the same anymore. I'm not talking about the fifteen minute....fill-in-the blank....bible study....on topics that should have been committed to memory twenty years ago in most of us....or the even worse....read-the-bible-in-a-year plans that handcuffs us to a schedule when the Holy Spirit is telling us to go somewhere else.
                I'm talking about the sun is setting....and your gas talk is just about on empty....and you are in the middle of nowhere....and you are desperately trying to figure out on the map where the nearest highway is! That is how to read God's Word at this time.

For Whom The Death Knell Tolls

                Many of us....possibly most of us.....but certainly not all of us....have some kind of defining characteristic on how we lead our daily lives. My wife's would be in that she is always making a note of something that she has to do. She is famous for it....and it works out very well. Jonathan Edwards was famous for that also as he would take long horseback rides....to meditate...and when he returned it looked like it had snowed....for all of the white pieces of paper that he had pinned all over his clothing.
                Well I also have a very strong characteristic. I need to at all times have a constantly updated view on the big picture of things. I need to more than occasionally go over the many possible changes that life can present. For example....there may not be any imminent household expenses....a new furnace....or a new roof....but provision has to be made anyway for those possible emergencies. That characteristic dominates these posts.
                There is war ahead. One has to be able to step back to see this. It can't be stopped. The dies have been cast. If there is another virus....we have already shot ourselves in the foot....vaccinations are bad....scientists are bad.
                When Jesus said that...."If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand"....He was letting us know what it was going to look like at the end. When He said...."Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth"....He was describing this world today....for as much as we say....'God bless this' and 'God bless that'....our faith has dwindled down to nothing more than those trite phrases. The carnival barkers have our attention today.....pointing to the clowns....or the bearded woman....or the world's strongest man....or the world's smallest man.
                AI alone....is a deathknell! Drone warfare is a deathknell! Our division is a deathknell! Hemingway's famous words were...."For whom the bell tolls....it tolls for thee." Only God's Word gives us hope...."Jesus said to her....(Martha).... 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."

                 

Who Or What Is It That......Lights Your Fire......(The Hiding Place)

                  I'm an odd type of guy.....or have you noticed? In the film The Hiding Place....of which this is the fourth post this week....there are a couple of scenes where Casper Ten Boom takes particular delight in the small blessing of having some marmalade to spread on his bread. There is another scene where before a meal....at a sensitive time as far as the plight that their nation was in....Holland.....Casper stood up to pray....for emphasis in that he was speaking directly to God. So the other day I picked up a jar of marmalade....and today before breakfast....all alone....marmalade on my English muffin....I stood up to thank God for His blessings. My plan for this rainy day is to....Lord willing....just take a drive with my website bumper stickers on my tailgate....trying to attract attention to this film....even though it is essentially over in the theaters for now....with only a few showings here and there around the country....the showings extended because the theaters had been full. Yes....I guess I am a bit odd....and I would want it no other way. 

                 We need this film folks. We need to see what we may be about to go through. We need to....as Jeremiah wrote...."Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16)  The Hiding Place....can help. This family....the Ten Booms....could have lived out their life....ignoring the war all around them....and simply come out in the light at the end of the war....to resume that life.
                 The war that is all around us is spiritual....not political. It is the attack on the gospel and not the culture that should consume us. It is the Word and not Wordle that we should wake up to....and it is Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel and Paul and Peter and John that should fill our minds before we sleep....not Fox cable. It's the Psalms that should light a fire of devotion in us....not talk radio.
                 That verse from Jeremiah ended with...."But they said,'We will not walk in it'." We need this film on the big screen. We need to see Casper and Betsie and Corrie and Willem taken away....before we may be taken away. The stronger the true Christian message....the more the secular world will ignore it. The weaker the message....the more likely it will be tolerated. This is a strong and true message in this film. Please petition with me....with the petition of prayer....that God might make a way....if it be His will....and if indeed this film can pierce the darkness.

Addendum! To the regular visitors to these posts from Germany and France and Italy and Switzerland and the UK and Sweden and Norway....and Hong Kong and Israel....and yes Russia....(you are the countries that have visited most in the past year)....and more recently the Netherlands and Singapore....I wish I knew more of the plans of the producers of this film. All I know as of now is that streaming may be available in the future.....but there will be no DVDs! I do know this though....our God will do whatever He pleases....and if He desires for this film to be widely disseminated....it will....and that is my prayer....His will! Oddly enough....the film has an international showing on August 16....next Wednesday....eight days from now! I have no idea what kind of advertising it will have. You can visit their website at thehidingplacefilm.com. Please consider printing copies of these posts on the film if that would help letting people know more of what this stage play/film is....and thank you for blessing me by your visits!  

"And Behold I Am With You Always, To The End Of The Age".........(The Hiding Place)

                This is my third post on the recent film adaptation of the stage play....The Hiding Place. Independent Christian films have made a lot of news lately. The Jesus Revolution stunned Hollywood with the numbers that flocked to see the movie. I saw it twice....and wholeheartedly recommend it to Christians to see what part of the origins of the revival of the gospel in America in the 70s and 80s was like. We need to know what we once talked like....and what we once thought like.

             The Chosen has been making news for a few years. I haven't viewed any of this as of yet....and really do not have the desire to do so....although I may eventually have to....for from what I have read about it....it is a glimpse of evangelicalism today....which is far removed from our reliance upon God's Word....with more reliance upon what a little imagination can do to help God's Word. The latest religious blockbuster so to speak would be Sound Of Freedom.
              The importance of this adaptation of The Hiding Place is not in the heroism of the Ten Boom family as they sacrificed their lives to save Jewish people from the concentration camps. That has always been the essence of Corrie Ten Boom's story....as it should have been over the years and even decades....but time has moved on. The Holocaust might not outrage us today if that outrage conflicted in any way with our primary goal to make America great again. We show little compassion for the people of the Ukraine....and we actually became....deniers.....of the pandemic! 
              The Hiding Place is the most important of all these films of late....for we are the focus of the hate today. America is not that dissimilar to the culture of the Weimar Republic that preceded the violent Nazi takeover of both Germany and much of its church.. We are a cabaret culture....and the lyrics of the that famous song could be sung by us....
 
"What good is sitting
  Alone in your room?
  Come hear the music play
  Life is a cabaret, old chum
  Come to the cabaret

  What good permitting
  Some prophet of doom
  To wipe every smile away?
  Life is a cabaret, old chum
  So come to the cabaret."

               We terribly need the message from this stage play/film The Hiding Place....and we need it now! We need to see Casper Ten Boom's dissatisfaction with the preaching in his country. We need to see him stand up from the table to thank God for the food in front of him! We need to see the arrogance of that young German youth....Otto....so prideful in his country that he had been blinded....as many of we ourselves have been blinded by Christian nationalism. We need to see the thankfulness over the simple delicacy of marmalade....or a cup of tea....or potted flowers....for the day is coming when we will yearn for a taste of butter....or a piece of fruit! We need to see the treasure of that small Bible on a chain around Corrie's neck. We need to see God's glory manifested in people like the Ten Booms. We need warned of what is ahead....and we need to know that Christ will be with us through it all. 

"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (the last half....of the last verse....in the Gospel of Matthew)

               We merely acknowledge how life can change in one hour....but it never really hits home. We need reminded of what God's Word says about the future of the....City of Destruction....as John Bunyan described the world that we live....

"They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, "Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come." (Revelation 18:10)

              

The Most Beautiful....Bleakness!............(The Hiding Place)

                I like block windows....particularly with a pastel light in them....and I also like the neon lighting up and down and all-around a jukebox....or the outside of a diner. An aqua or turquoise Thunderbird always catches my eye. I like to look inside a GTO or a 57 Fairlane. MGBs are always what I particularly search for....this because I had one back in 1972....mine was forest green with bright orange and yellow seat covers. I'm always up for 50s music blasting from no closer than say....twenty yards. Put them together....the neon diner with the 50s cars....music....and maybe add in carhops on roller skates....and I can go from reality back to Happy Days. A car cruise does the same thing.
               So on Saturday....the car cruise was the first stop....beautiful day....and all the cars parked in and around the quaint town that has a candy store....ice cream and yogurt....and even a house plant store....but the movie showing was 2:00 and I knew that there would be no previews for this independent Christian film....and the theater was forty minutes away!
               Forty minutes of highway....not a lot to look at....and conveniently the sermon we listened to on the drive was only about twenty-five minutes....a John Piper sermon....Jesus Overcomes Our Darkness!  So we were running from the parking lot to the theater....to pick up the reserved tickets. (I don't run anymore....it probably looked more like a walrus trying to get to water) Wouldn't you know it....Barbie was playing...so the whole Happy Days car cruise scene was replayed....with pink everywhere!
               After taking time to add the butter to the popcorn....the film had just started as I sat down....and for the next two hours and thirty minutes was the most beautiful stark and bleak darkness you could ever imagine. There was no color to speak of....except for the red swastika on some of the armbands. Let's get this straight...I go from almost the rainbow of Disneyland to the black & white of film noir....and it was...."beautiful?"
               If I were only alluding to colors....no it would not be beautiful....and the film was about the Nazi takeover of Holland...so that was not beautiful....quite the opposite....horror actually....but the beauty was there. As Corrie Ten Boom pulled the tiny Bible out from her blouse....around her neck on a chain....smuggled into the concentration camp....and everyone crowding around to hear her read it.....yes that was beautiful!
               The father....Casper Ten Boom....standing up to say grace over a modest meal....with Jewish people that he was hiding from the Nazis around the table....yes that was a grand vista. The faith amidst the persecution....and the prayers....and the pleadings....and the cries....and the tears....were raindrops....the sun [Son] causing them to almost twinkle. The deaths were as lightning white chariots led by magnificent steads....as they carried the souls to the city of streets paved with gold. And the ending....a miracle where Corrie is 'mistakenly' freed....as Joseph was released from the prison....or Jeremiah pulled from the pit....or Peter walking out of the jail with everyone asleep....freed to wander the whole world and tell of her family's faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God!...freed to move me....forty years ago....with simple devotional books....the last thing one would expect me to be reading!
               Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder....but sometimes one has to dig deep for it....through the ashes and the dung. This post is a follow-up to the post preceding this. I am so upbeat on this film! May God....if it be His will.....and to His glory alone.....disseminate it worldwide....that many might see the true treasure in even a small Bible....and the real beauty of God's Word in a world that values more only colors and gilded objects!

"The Silence Before The Thunderbolt"..........(The Hiding Place)

                 There's no way to give a warning on this.....but I kind of wish that I had one all the same. The film only has a two day showing....two days ago.....Thursday....and today. So it's too late now....but if it does come back....I would give this warning.....prepare to be shredded....in your innermost Christian being. It is that powerful! It is a two and a half hour film.....of a play....staged in front of an audience.....in Nashville.
                 There is something about theater....about the stage....that a film cannot duplicate....unless it's a film of a stage play....on the wide screen....then you have an enhanced stage play....not in all respects....but in certain respects....such as a closeup of a face that is twice the size of your body.
                  Any Christian of a few decades or more.....hopefully less....but probably not....is familiar with Corrie Ten Boom. This was 1980s Christianity folks....before we got so smart....but it is also Ephesus.....and that of our first love....that we must go back to!
                  Many of us still have the DVD somewhere in the house of the 1975 Billy Graham film of the same name....The Hiding Place....with Arthur O'Connell as the father Ten Boom....and Julie Harris as Betsie....and Jeannette Clift as Corrie. I have the VHS....which my wife....the President of the Worldwide Anti-hoarders fanatics....is only aware of as of now in reading this. She'll never find it.
                  Whoever this A. S. Peterson is.....(I don't expect any offers to write movie reviews)....it was a masterful job of screenwriting! The directing of Laura Matula was also exceptional. Everything was exceptional. Here is a piece of trivia for you....trivia with a message of grace. Relating this does not bring back good memories to me....in fact quite the opposite. My buddies took me to see the 1970 hit film....M*A*S*H...the day before I boarded a plane for Oakland, Ca....the departure base for Vietnam. I think that I then must have purposely tried to live that debauched life of the men of the Swamp....it took me years to....by God's grace alone....pull myself out of that slop and as if crawl to the Father. Anyway...the man who played the dentist in that film....who is now recognised to be the first person to use the F-word in a major studio film....that man....John Schuck....also known as playing klingon characters....and police sergeant Enright on McMillen & Wife....that man gave in this film....The Hiding Place....one of the most moving and soul-searching performances of an older Christian man....with wisdom and love.....that you will ever witness!
                  Now....if this was just a very good film....I would not be posting on it only hours after leaving the theater....but it portrayed the Bible....God's Word to us....in a way that we terribly need to see! It portrayed love....as depicted in God's Word....and not sentimentality. It will tear you apart as it handles the concept of forgiveness! It shows us....if we will but watch....the primary 'marching orders' of a Christian soldier. By the time that the concentration camp scenes were concluding....I was a mess....turning to my right side so that no one could see....(as if anyone might care anyway)....as I wiped tears off of my cheeks with my little finger.
                  I wish I had some more information for you as to if this film will come back to theaters in the future. That has to be a possibility....but as for now....it has an international showing on August 16....(eleven days from now)....and if you feel led....you might join me in praying for God to bless this showing....of a situation that we ourselves are not that far away from experiencing!

Note: I changed the title to this post after I remembered the words spoken in the play/film by Betsie Ten Boom..
               

                      

David Brooks

              Commentator and author David Brooks was always considered one of the establishment republicans even though he called himself a conservative. Possibly you recognize his name for his views have been consulted and reported on in the news and on television for decades now.
               Well....in his latest column for the New York Times....(you can read the full article by Googling....'realpolitics, David Brooks')....he asked the question....in the title of the article...."What If We're The Bad Guys Here?" By....'we'....he means the elites of the left. Remember....Brooks still considers himself a conservative....(he is actually a genuine moderate....sometimes very correct....and sometimes very blind)....but also admits that he is part of the 'modern meritocracy'....ruled by the left....that dominates so many professions in our society. 
              It's an honest question from Brooks as he knows that the left just bullied their way into newsrooms and colleges and universities....and are paying the price today....in the reactionary ascendance of the Trump wing of the Republican Party. Fox News....predictably....highlighted the column....that is definitely worth reading. Interesting as this is........it is David Brooks himself that this post is on.
             He was raised Jewish but was non-observant. He was married to a woman who became very Jewish....they divorced....and he later married a woman with strong Christian views. A few years ago it became known that he was considering Christianity. Then we....Christians....did what we do in such situations....we bombard him with books. I've done this myself a number of times. Brooks said that he probably received a couple of hundred copies of Mere Christianity.
             So where is David Brooks today? I'm not sure that even he knows. His comments on questioning what Christianity teaches sounded very sincere. I have absolutely no idea where he is at. He was questioned about it at times....but they were always the wrong questions....by interviewers who do not know the right questions....the answers to which give hints....but no real insight. David Brooks is certainly worthy of our prayers....for we ourselves were at one time in the exact same situation.
            Here is my point in this post. Whether it be David Brooks or Elvis Presley....or Bob Dylan or B. J. Thomas....or Charles Colson or Justin Bieber....or C. S. Lewis or J. R. R. Tolkien....or George H. W. Bush or George W. Bush....or John MacArthur or Martin Luther or John Calvin....or me or you....one has to be....born a second time.....from above....born anew....with a new heart....yes new and frail in the faith but that faith started and sealed by the God of all creation! 
            We believers can rejoice in such stories....and even the bright hopes for a celebrity in today's culture....but we must never let those hopes....wonderful as even they might turn out to be....compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ itself! We do no merely change our ideological or philosophical or religious beliefs. Anyone can do that and not have been regenerated....not born again....not saved. In this case....David Brooks has to realize that all of the books that he had authored....and all the influential articles...and all the television airtime....and all the renown that he has.....means absolutely nothing to God. He is no more needed or loved than a man who digs graves for a living....or a woman who cleans the college cafeteria floors! That is the temptation that celebrities often have....but then again...for those who are humbled....prostrated before a Holy God....it is indeed wonderful to observe....as it was with Charles Colson....author of that 1976 bestseller....Born Again!

One interesting anecdote: David Brooks recalled....this in a New Yorker article on him a few years back....on his conversion....mentions that one book had a particular effect on him....as he described it...."a book of Puritan prayers.' Could this be....yes I think it must have been....the Banner of Truth's.....Valley of Vision...A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions....edited by Arthur Bennett....first published 1975....a copy of which is in my hand right now....and of which I mentioned in posts many times!

Addendum: As with yesterday's post....I posted....and then chose a sermon to listen to....and again it was from John Piper's desiringgod.org....and again I recommend it to you....just go to the website and it is right there....Jesus Overcomes Our Darkness!
                   

When There Is No Wind For The Sails

                I'm going to beat a dead horse here....and bore you out of your minds....because I've posted on it so much over the years. Worse than that....there's really no answer to the problem that I'm going to bore you with.
               Let me start here so that you don't roll your eyes and leave so soon. The evangelical today....he or she goes to church....is registered Republican....and over salads after pickleball....rants a little on drag queens.
               There is no newspaper anymore....no Christian bookstores....that's part of the problem....so we turn on Breitbart in the morning....or watch whoever the current talking heads might be on Fox in the evening....fill our minds as if we were getting a refill drink at Subway....or plugging in the electric car....and then just go on puttering down the highway. We slam doors and yell at the kids while trying to get to church on time....put on a smiley face for an hour and a half....and then slam doors and yell at the kids on the way home. There is no way out of this mess. The sermons are little more than a bible-based Dear Abby anyway.
                It's described sometimes as a....belt....extending around the globe....a little higher here....a little lower there....than the equator....where all the winds just cease for extended periods of time. We've seen this in movies of the past....where the sailing ship is stuck in the windless ocean....The Doldrums!
                So you tell me....how do we get out of the doldrums? The standard answer is that we pray. Pray for what? We don't know that we are in the doldrums....so we can't pray to get out of the doldrums! We don't know that we are in trouble....(other than the drag queens)....so how do we pray to get out of trouble? The pulpits are of no help for they are in the doldrums also! 
                So there is no answer....but there is a way out....and it has nothing to do with the doldrums....it has everything to do with the everyday life....of the everyday Christian....every day since Jesus went to be glorified with the Father....and sent us the Helper!
                When a person who does not have the Holy Spirit....because they are not a Christian....when they open a bible....it is....always has been....and always will be....(unless and until the Holy Spirit regenerates that heart)....a generally lifeless book of at best good advice....but when that person is a Christian....doldrums or not....opening that book is life itself.
                 If I were to close this laptop....and open my bible....and read....it would do as it does every single day of my life....explode upon my mind with everything from mortification to jubilation! I don't know where the Holy Spirit might lead....it might be the glorious life of Jesus while on this earth....His miracles or His suffering...or the works of the apostles....or the truths of which our minds could never contain them in full...or the warnings throughout....the staff and the rod.....or the grandeur of the creation....or the promises and the prophecies....or the beauty of the worship in the Psalms!
                 It might humble me in my sins.....the Holy Spirit knows what I need. It might prepare me for battle. It might lift me in rapturous exaltation of the Lamb of God....it might school me....it might exercise my mind....it might guide me.....it might motivate me....but one thing it will always do....it will blow gales of wind against the sails of my ship....so much so that I will have to cling even tighter to the rudder....(God's Word)....following the sun or the stars or whatever the Holy Spirit uses to guide all of us safely through this now tempest....to that final harbor!

Addendum: After posting this I chose something to listen to as I began my tasks for the day. Today it was John Piper's message for the day....and I encourage you to simply leave my paltry attempts....which are only shouts of praise for God's mercies extended to the least deserving of them....and type in....desiringgod.org....and tap on what is right there....Full Of Grace And Truth! 
                 

                 
                

Traveling Steerage!

                I had to add this short post....I'll move it to my DISPATCH post in a little while. What a name....Thankgod Opemipo Matthew Yeye. He and two other men had stowed away on top of the giant rudder on the stern of a cargo ship....this in Lagos, Nigeria....only feet above what must have been the terrifying churning waters from the ship's propellers.  A fourth man had a friend row him over to do the same thing....only to find three others already there in the makeshift....'stateroom.' They were on their way to Europe....and a better life away from crime and instability. Ten days into the rocky voyage they ran out of food and water. Four days later they arrived....in Brazil. His first name....Thankgod....reminds me of the allegorical names from John Bunyan's....The Pilgrim's Progress....Great-heart....and Flatterer....and Lord Hate-good and others. Two of the men said they wanted to return home....but Thankgod was thankful to be in Brazil.

Suppose....

                Suppose.....suppose that Donald Trump was not the nominee back in 2016? Most likely....but not definitely....Hillary would have won and become president. She would have put two Supreme Court judges on the court. McConnell would not have fast-tracked Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The economy would have grown similarly had any republican become president. The pandemic would have happened on Clinton's watch....during the 2020 campaign. Presumably we would have had enough of Hillary....and a republican would have succeeded her....and put the third judge on the court....and then a fourth. There would be no President Joe Biden today. We have had a little over seven years of the Donald Trump show....with catastrophes everywhere from our intelligence agencies to impeachments and all the rest. Evangelicalism would not have been hijacked. Conservatism would be intact. Talk radio might still be relevant.
                I never actually think this way....not in politics....nor in life. God's ways are perfect....and what has transpired in the past eight years is perfect in that God is in control of....everything! I only bring it up here to dispel some of the myths that Trump was so great. He campaigned on what we wanted....he applied for the position....we gave it to him....and he came through on some things that quite frankly....those judges for instance....there is no way that he could have done anything else.
                We were hoping and some praying for a vaccine as people were dying during the pandemic. When that vaccine was announced we were thrilled and thankful....as we should have been. Trump literally blundered through the first few months of the pandemic....making decisions purely for political reasons. Fauci and all the others just rolled their eyes and tried to get through it all. Biden had the task of distributing the vaccine....and that changed our narrative 180 degrees....and gave an opening to the QAnon mentality for vaccinations.
                 The bottom line for the Christian is that politics and governments and military strength are not and have never been our answer. There are warnings and condemnations throughout the Old Testament on relying on ourselves and not on God. Gideon's army was dwindled down to almost nothing....and Moses had to have his arms held up....to demonstrate that it is not us.....it is God.....that saves us.
                  We have not learned our lesson. If the pulpits do not step up and warn the congregations....evangelicalism will continue under the spell of political power and might....primaries and demagoguery....for the next fifteen months....should the Lord of Glory tarry that is....and that is no longer looking likely. All praise and honor to Him who has promised that He will return....and has given us enough light to see the time that we live in....if we would only look....and not only to see but to hope for and even plead for His return!

'Puff All My Faithful Shepherds'

                  The question can be simply stated....does man have free will to either believe in Jesus Christ or not to believe....or does God elect....and then regenerate....and then effectually call? Finding the answer to this changed the direction of my life back in the early 1990s....but that question in itself is not the focus of this post. Lord willing I'll give an addendum at the end here with some resources to go to. Isn't it odd that I felt it necessary to add....Lord willing....on something that is only a few hours away at most? But that also is part of this life change....in that God is sovereign in absolutely everything! I cannot even say that I will do this or that in a few hours time without at least acknowledging in my mind that God controls His entire creation!

                 The focus in this post is once again on God's continuous warnings to us His church in this age of darkness. I tend to always emphasize our pulpits....and their failure to warn the sheep....not only of the judgment that is ahead....but our culpability in that judgment....but that is only half of the story.
                 Isaiah and Jeremiah each warned the people over at least four decades....Isaiah in the days of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah....and Jeremiah in the days of Josiah and Jehoiakim to the end of the days of Zedekiah. Can you imagine that....warning for forty years and more....without ever being listened to? In a way it reminds me of Billy Graham. His ministry was over seventy years but it was over the last four decades or so that he began to warn in earnest of the judgement that was coming.
                 As an interesting anecdote....William Randolph Hearst was very hands-on with the many news outlets that he owned. Billy Graham was relatively unknown....this in 1949....and preaching his now famous Los Angeles Crusade. Hearst sent out a two word directive to all of his news outlets....Puff Graham....in other words....make this guy look good. The rest was history....or as we like to say at times concerning God and history....His Story!
                No....neither did the prophets speak for God....nor did the shepherds warn....just as today the shepherds do not warn....but the people....would not hear even if they did warn. Jeremiah was even told....chapter seven verse twenty-seven...."So you....(Jeremiah)....shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you."
                This is something that is becoming more evident to me all the time....something has happened in this time period....the last twenty years or so....even to the people of God....we will not hear! The warnings go in one ear and out the other. They may find it interesting....and they may even share the concern....but they will not act! The restlessness lasts only about as long as the noxious odor of a skunk in the neighborhood. Unless it actually sticks to us....it goes away.
                I'm referring here also to mature Christians! So there are still some pastors out there who are faithful in warning.....John Piper would be one....MacArthur another....and a number associated with R. C. Sproul's Ligonier ministries....and actually many pastors in smaller churches dotting the entire landscape of America....but until God in effect....through His Holy Spirit....gives the decry.....Puff Piper or Puff MacArthur....or Puff All Those My Faithful Shepherds....we will continue to be more interested in a hundred things that occur in our daily lives....than that which may very soon happen to all of us....pertaining to both our temporal and our eternal destinies!

Addendum: As for those resources....I'll be concise here in recommending two sources. The gift God gave to R. C. Sproul was in teaching the holiness and sovereignty of God. There really was no one on his level. You can easily access many of these teachings through a simple Google search.....or go directly to ligonier.org....and navigate from there. If right now you would rather just have one book.....I would recommend the book that most affected me.....Michael Horton's....Putting The Amazing Back Into Grace!
                 

We Built This City

Preface: The Babylon effect that television and film and sports and Wall Street and Madison Avenue has had on our culture leads back also to our doorstep. It could not exist without us. How does the famous rock song go...."We Built This City!" We all constructed this tower of Babel.   

            We in evangelicalism....just about the entirety of us....live in the belief that God is pleased with us. I have heard sermons recently....(I listen to a lot of sermons folks....some just in research)....I have heard too many sermons recently where the title of the sermon might as well be...."God loves you." It is so bad that at times it can be nauseating. God's love for us is in that He redeemed us out of the world....at the cost of Calvary. He also shows His love for us in that He does not permit us to drift off as we have been doing....forever it seems....without sternly and continually warning us. That is love folks!
            We look at society....and the culture....and we blame that on others! That's why God is pleased with us. We vote R....and say a blessing before the big family meal on the Lord's Day....preceding the big game or picnic. You would think that we are just innocent bystanders in this collapse of America. Let me give you some examples of why we have culpability in what America has become.
             We are a violent nation. Our entertainment is violence. We have to have our weakly fill of rape and murder true-crime investigative television shows. We have for seven decades now.....increasingly as the decades progressed....sat and watched....therefore supported and encouraged....violence as a steady diet on our television.....and more so in our movies. Television and film characters having been getting....'blown away'....for decades now.....mostly the bad characters of course....and that has been our....entertainment.....and we let it become our children's entertainment....and now we wonder why so many of the younger generations do not respect life!
             We started with- PacMan....then that obviously spread out into computer games of all kinds. Maybe ours were little stick figures just getting x'd out as we guided the cursor....but other games became graphic....with human characters getting blown away quicker than we can eat pieces of popcorn....and of course we bought our children these games....because....."gee Dad....all the other kids play the game."

             We are literally outraged over all the drag queens....and the gay lifestyle as normal....but the TV show Modern Family didn't get it's huge success without us watching it....and simply giving a....'tsk tsk'....whenever the controversial parts game on. We are up in arms over Disney....but there is hardly a one of us who didn't take our kids there at one time or another if we had the financial means to do so. We demand that libraries do not carry this book or that book....but have no problem with a television in the house.
              We look for a church that has a 'great youth group' so that we don't have to teach our own children. We give more time to pickle ball than reading the Bible. As for the sermon....just keep it nice and encouraging....God Loves You....and we will stick around....maybe....unless the new church down the street has better music....mention hell or judgment....and we're outta here. God says in His Word that He is tired of this pretentious worship only. We never separated from the world....and thus we settled nicely in Vanity Fair....with a God Loves You welcome mat at our door.
              And now for the coup de grace in this whole mess....in June of 2015....possibly the greatest con man of all time came down that escalator at the Trump Tower. He had to pay people to stay there and cheer....but even that was not enough for us to ignore this nonsense. He came in and fulfilled about every single verse in God's Word about who we are to have nothing to do with....and he prophesied to us on a daily basis....over years....how the good times were going to roll. God's Word tells us the exact opposite....but we want absolutely nothing to do with any warnings of the last days.
             Trump changed our countenance....where we are actually closet racists in many cases....with no compassion for the plight of the immigrant and the alien. We willy-nilly destroy reputations. We are fed throughout the day on radio and TV and in podcasts a diet of hate and rage....at times becoming nothing but an irrational mob....and we think we are doing it for God and country.
              Here is the tricky part in all of this. The other side is essentially Sodom and Gomorrah. Paganism is rampant. They openly oppose not only God's law but really any law other than what they themselves put into effect last week....but this country came to be what it is today because of malevolent contributions from all of us. Our rebellion might not be as in-your-face to God....but it has been rebellion nonetheless....and until we see this.....and until we admit this....until our pulpits tell us this....and until we prostrate ourselves before God and seek His mercy because of this our own culpability in our coming judgment....then we will continue to be a Laodicean church....but here again is how God truly loves us....as he even offers that Laodicean church mercy.
               
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent." Rev. 3:19

Addendum: The Rock & Roll song that I mentioned above....by Starship....was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100....this is 1985. Over time it has become the hands-down winner in a few polls for the....'worst song of the 80s'....and even of all-time! It was given this dubious honor because the lyrics criticized the cold greed of corporate life....but it's very production was....as one poll described it...."Corporate-rock commercialism." In a way that is what this post is all about.....we criticize the society....that we ourselves have built.

Ship Of State

Preface: The following was first posted on January 20.....2016. Just as with this ship in the post....America has experienced one disaster after another since then. The Republican caucuses and primaries would begin in less than two weeks. On March 1 Trump won seven of the eleven primaries on Super Tuesday. On May 3 Trump won Indiana....John Kasich and Ted Cruz withdrew....Donald Trump was going to be the nominee. All of the weather reports told us that a storm was approaching...and we were beginning to swiftly move out of range....but with Trump....we lost the ability to communicate with each other. We lost our direction...and then the disasters started increasing....impeachments....and an insurrection....and a pandemic....and indictments. The lifeboats have been launched but they have taken on water already....and there is no longer any tools to bail out the water.

                Captain Miller was leaning over weather reports that had come in over an hour earlier. There was some concern on his face but if the ship remained on schedule they might outrun the winds. It was 2100 hrs and he had just returned to the bridge from dinner where he shared the Captain's Table with some very influential stock market brokers heading to London on what else....money business. The waves were about ten feet and the winds calm at the moment. They were exactly half way across the Atlantic....the ship....its 300 passengers and 45 crew.
               The hatch opened quickly and Lieutenant Crosby entered appearing very annoyed. "Captain.... we have lost all radio transmissions capability.... we cannot send out anything. The problem appears to be electrical and we are on it but I'm told that if the transformers are shorted out as they appear to be that it could take up to 24 hours before we can transmit again!" "24 hours!"  The captain repeated his last words..."24 hours without contacting anyone? Well, let's hope that we do not have any emergencies Lieutenant."
               Captain Miller ran his fingers through his graying hair and just as Lieutenant Crosby left the bridge Lieutenant Smith entered...."Captain...we have a rudder problem. After we completed the 15 degree turn north the rudder froze in place." Captain Miller walked up to the wheel, look over the sea and nodded his head...." I can see that....all engines stop." A seaman repeated the order to the engine room. Miller turned and looked at the four men with in the bridge...."No radio transmissions.....no rudder....this trip was going along too smoothly."
               First Officer Martin Malkin spoke up...."Did you hear that?"   The captain looked off to his left and then to his right and answered that he heard nothing but Smith nodded..."I did...it sounded like a muffled explosion."   Captain Miller looked over at Seaman Thomas...."Have all stations report in."   The Seaman did so and one by one answers came in. "Nothing from the engine room.   Lieutenant Smith, go down there and see what's happening."
               It was 2115 hours. The captain had been back on the bridge for only 15 minutes and the ship was falling apart. A young officer entered the bridge with a returning Lieutenant Smith. He was covered with dirt and oil and appeared in shock.....Smith spoke for him...."Explosion in the engine room Captain. Everyone is reported for but they can't even see for all the smoke right now."
               Captain Miller walked back over to the weather reports he was reviewing only a few minutes earlier with then little concern...now there was great concern for they were not going to be able to outrun the storm even if the engine and the rudder were repaired quickly. Lieutenant Smith spoke first...."Captain, should I make an announcement to the passengers?" The Captain  paused for a moment or two and said...."No....there's no need in worrying them."
               Three other officers were summoned to the bridge and the group sat around a table to consider the problems and make a plan. The ship was now beginning to rock ever so slightly. Captain Miller stood up quickly and asked of no one in particular....."Gentlemen...are we listing a little to the aft?"  Indeed it seemed so, that the ship's bow was a little bit higher than the stern. Just then another seaman burst through the hatch..."Captain....Captain....we are taking on water! A seam in the port side of the engine room has ruptured!"   "How much water?" the Captain shot back immediately?   "Sir.... a  lot of water....we had to get out of the engine room!"
               Captain Miller shouted to Lieutenant Smith...."Smith...radio an S.O......" he stopped mid-sentence for he remembered that there was to radio transmission capability. "Lieutenant Bonham....get the lifeboats uncovered....just uncovered. If anyone asks why, tell them....tell them it's a crew practice."
               Seaman Waverly, the ship's cook knocked on the hatch unaware of the emergencies that were going on....""Enter!"  Waverly spoke slowly....."Captain, we have a bit of a problem.....a serious one though.....a 6" water pipe broke in the stockroom....." he hesitated and Captain Miller roughly yelled....."And?"   "Sir before we could get the leak isolated, all of the stock was destroyed.....the only thing that we have left is the refrigerated food and.....and...."  "And what else"...shouted the Captain again.   "And there seems to be an electrical problem with the refrigeration. Unless we get that fixed, we only have one meal left for all on board."
               There was no panic or even hesitation from Captain Miller...."Make the announcement Lieutenant Smith.  Make the call to emergency stations and then tell the passengers that we are temporally stuck.....with damage that will require assistance.....don't mention the food or anything else."
                Captain Miller did not hear the door open. He turned to look over the seas and Doctor Johnson, the ship's doctor, was behind him, also unaware of all the problems except the one that he had to report. "Sir, It appears that you are very busy but I have something you need to know."  Captain Miller could not believe his ears. He didn't have any idea what problem the doctor had but it was obvious that there was one....yet another emergency....was this even possible. It was now only 37 minutes from the time that the captain was looking over weather reports and it seems like the world had caved in.  Did he even want to hear the doctor's report?  He did pause long enough for Doctor Johnson to continue....."Captain...we have had an unusually high sick call the past 24 hours. I did not think it necessary to mention it to you but it appears to be some sort of violent bacterial strain of some sort. One patient...a passenger.... has made a dramatic turn and is fighting for his life.....three others have the same symptoms. This seems to be highly contagious sir."  He paused and then asked "Captain....is it too late to turn back to New York?"
                The ship was listing more now...surely the passengers were aware of it. Surely they were aware that we were not going anywhere. There would be panic soon. The waves were nearing fifteen feet and getting worse by the minute. A young lieutenant whose name the Captain had not memorized as of yet ran through the already open hatch and almost slipped.   Apparently he knew that the ship was taking on water and had been charged with removing the covers from the lifeboats....."Captain....I don't know how this has happened......I signed off on the papers in port.....I didn't visually verify it but was told in no uncertain terms that....." "Spit it out Lieutenant" shouted the Captain. "Captain. The guernsey chains had been removed in port to be weight inspected......somehow they were never put back on......we cannot lower the lifeboats if we need to!"

Addendum: 

"Professing To Be Wise...."

   "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.

A Sad Contradiction

                 I had given my copy away so I ordered it again a few weeks ago....and read it again. I had done a post on it when it was first published....and mentioned it a few times in posts since then. The book is John MacArthur's....Christ's Call To Reform The Church...Timeless Demands From the Lord To His People....(2018.) I strongly recommend that you read it....and not only that but that you take advantage of MacArthur's ministry of Grace To You....gty.org. I have a number of his teaching series on cassette....along with many of the books that he has written over the years...and I was even able to meet him at a conference a number of years ago here in the Pittsburgh area. I wasn't able to listen in but was thankful to see that he was in his pulpit yesterday for the morning service....for he has been ill....and is one of the few stalwarts of the faith left on the national scene.

               Having given these plaudits....and I could give many more....I still find myself asking....'how could this contradiction be'....who is this man who can write and preach so wonderfully....and warn against over-involvement in politics....but still be immersed in politics himself? I believe that there are over thirty elders in his church. Are there not some....a number even....who may have over the past few years given advice to leave this area? Who is this man who can write Christ's Call To Reform The Church....and yet continue with his pandemic crusade?
               He has a movie out....a regular movie theater film....The Essential Church....that just opened on Friday. The issue is the closing of churches during the pandemic.
               I watched....(on video)....as John MacArthur stood before his congregation in September of 2020....and said....slowly as to emphasize the words...."There...is...no...pandemic." It made national news. How did he make this mistake?
               Donald Trump is a genuine false prophet....a biblical false prophet....and an 'antichrist' as the Apostle John referred to in his letters. Trump may even turn out to be more than just a false prophet. One of John MacArthur's strengths over the decades has been in warning the church on these false prophets. In fact I first heard his radio program episode....Beware Of False Prophets....on May 8, 2015....forty days exactly before that false prophet Donald Trump came down the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president....that being June 16, 2015....where he paid people to cheer. How has MacArthur over the years missed the real Donald Trump?
            At one point in the 2020 campaign President Trump called MacArthur on the phone. Maybe it was a surprise.....maybe not.....and Pastor John....who has blessed the church for decades in his preaching on salvation....what it is....and what it is not....and on what a true Christian is....how could this phone conversation come about? According to MacArthur's words it went like this....

"He called me after the Sunday morning service and was very gracious and said, 'I just want to thank you for taking a stand....(MacArthur kept his church doors open)....church is essential....(essentially the title of this movie)....and I'm glad you're doing what you're doing.' and then we talked for a little bit about why from a biblical standpoint Christians could not vote for a Democrat." He concluded his conversation with this..."Any real true believer is going to be on your side in this election...." Well that relegates me into not being a "real true believer"....and millions more of us.

           John MacArthur recently said that he made the movie...."to make some pastors feel guilty." That is a very unwise statement to craft....and an odd goal to have....even if his assumptions were true. There is something wrong here....possibly due to age. Churches are indeed going to be persecuted....a lot more than stopping Sunday service while people are dying all over the place....and it will not refer back one iota to this political fight being waged over open church doors during the pandemic....but they will claim that it does....unaware that they themselves failed to warn of the....real dangers....to the....real church....false prophets being one....politics another....while promoting a political movement that....(gathering in our young people by the way)....may officially stand for biblical truths on social issues of the day....but incites hatred....and all too often employs racism....lacking compassion in many areas....and attracting those who we would normally want nothing to do with....all to build its base.
            Whether or not the health field scientists such as Fauci and Birx were correct or not in their actions....they tried to save lives....if you cannot even believe that then you have been terribly taken in. Whatever the origin of the virus....and whatever China's involvement....it was still judgment from God. Getting to the bottom what happened is not based on saving lives in any future pandemics.... but rather winning the upcoming election....even if Donald Trump....false prophet....and an antichrist....should get the nomination.

Addendum: Folks….John MacArthur is eons beyond me in any category. That he made these mistakes late in life is an anomaly. None of our heroes in the faith are perfect….and although we have to take great care….we have to defend the gospel even over our beloved pastors and denominations….particularly in times when they might be most susceptible. Which leaves us also in need of constant self-examination.

I feel that I need to add this for new visitors to these posts. I voted for Trump in 2016....but within months knew that there was something terribly wrong with this man that I knew little about. So I started reading....books for him....books against him....books by him....books on every decade of his life and most of his interests. I am just shy of 100 books read on the life of Donald Trump. In a word...he is a destroyer. He either purposely destroys that which does not further his malignant egomaniacal goals....or whoever flies too close to his flame are destroyed.....Rudy Giuliani is a prime example here....but there are dozens of others. Whole institutions are destroyed. Conservatism is gone. Evangelicalism has been neutered. Talk radio is worthless. Rush was taken in. Fox News was split down the middle and seriously compromised. Franklin Graham ignored the warnings that his father gave....and John MacArthur from the above post is another example. Is Trump really a false Prophet? He reeled evangelicals in with his constant...."We are one glorious nation under God"....(we are not and were not!)....."And our best is yet to come." February 4, 2020 was the high water mark in the economic progress but also the end of the sham. It was the State of the Union address....and here are some of the words in that speech....as Republicans frolicked in the aisles...and God's judgment was just coming out of incubation. 

"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."

note: The recent sermon from John MacArthur that I mentioned above is wonderful....and you can easily listen to it by Googling....John MacArthur, Heaven On Earth, Part Two! You can also listen to his sermon on false prophets....also by Googling....John MacArthur, Beware Of False Prophets. Part One.....and/or....Part Two

"Who Shall Separate Us From The Love Of Christ"

   "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.

Here's The Kicker......Those Warnings Are Just About All Gone

 "For when they say, 'peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape." That is 1 Thessalonians 5:3. It is one of those many verses in prophecy where we are to keep it in mind....meditate and contemplate on it....even speculate....but ultimately we will not know the exact circumstances until the day that it is fulfilled.

Here is one speculation....and after it I'll give another one....totally different. We have war ahead of us...in America and the world. Seventy-three years of life and a half century of reading history and watching current history unfold has made that clear....to me anyway. In China and Russia there is no avoiding it....for they have gone too far in their planning. In Iran and North Korea a regime change could conceivably turn the countries around....but that is not likely. If war comes....and then it goes....the smoke settles....and there has been no nuclear conflagration....then people would surely say....all over the world....'peace and security.'

There are other scenarios but I'll just give one more. It has to do primarily with the church....more specifically evangelicalism....and even more precisely....anyone in America who considers themselves to be Christian. We have recently finished....within the past four or five years....an approximately fifty year period in the church where preachers....Billy Graham's name comes to mind first but there were many other nationally known preachers and many more in small churches across America....we just finished that era where we were strongly warned....just as Judah and Israel at times were warned....that we had departed from God....and that judgment was coming. Here's the kicker....those warnings are just about gone.

Few preachers warn today. No one seems to particularly care. We have entered into a....for lack of a better analogy....Twilight Zone....in the church where to anyone with eyes to see....we are completely undone in America....at the very doorstep on our Lord's return....and not only that....we should be rejoicing in and hoping for the nearness of His glorious return where every tear would be dried....but to the others....it is as the ship is sinking bow first....and we are hanging on to the aft rail....simply taking in the view as if we were on the high point of a Ferris wheel!

When you have Joe Biden and Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Zuckerberg as your primary influencers....Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse so to speak....and then you go down the line of celebrities and idolatries and influencers of all kinds that we have today....from Tucker Carlson to RFK Jr....when this is your situation and you are not on your knees each and every day seeking mercy and forgiveness....then some sort of period of anesthetization has taken place....some drug given us involuntarily that dulls our senses....the theological description would be in that it ruins our discernment.

What I've tried to do in these posts....is shake the pillars....not to bring the roof down....but to send us outside to look up....hoping to see Him returning in the clouds....to stand as it were at a fork in the road....pointing to the 'old paths....where the way is good"....(Jeremiah 6:16)....and to say to anyone who would listen....using the words from a Puritan prayer in Arthur Bennett's wonderful book....Valley Of Vision....

"May I say to all I meet,
 I am journeying towards the Lord's given place,
 come with me for your good."

Addendum: I had to interrupt my lawn mowing to add this anecdote that Charles Spurgeon gave in an 1880 sermon titled....Do Not Be Afraid. He was encouraging his hearers to continue to pray for their unsaved loved ones....and to never be discouraged. The anecdote is this. Spurgeon heard of a woman in the north end of London who prayed for a long time for her husband....who had no interest in the gospel. She would take her little dog to church with her....and the dog would simply curl up on the pew. The woman died....but the little dog would continue to walk to that church. The husband....out of curiosity....followed the dog one day....and followed him into the church and right down to the pew that his wife had always sat. Spurgeon said that God prepared that minister that night....and the man who sat there with the dog....was converted to faith in Jesus Christ. That reminds me of another story that Spurgeon once told....this from his own experience. He was to preach for the first time in London's huge Crystal Palace....and took the pulpit during the week as craftsmen were working up in the heights of the ceiling. Spurgeon was testing the power of his voice in the large hall. As he proclaimed verses on salvation at the top of his voice....as he was told later....a man high up in to scaffolding....was also gloriously saved. Folks....passing Spurgeon's message on to you....do not stop praying for loved ones who are as of now still unsaved!

 

🎶....'Where Have You Gone Billy Graham......Our Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes To You'....🎶

                             Billy Graham went home to be with his Lord in January of 2018 but other than a short and beautiful video produced by BGEA has been gone from us for a long time. His son has been awash in politics since then in taking over the ministry. Jerry Falwell went home in May of 2007. One of his sons became the face of the ministry....and that was a total disaster. David Wilkerson was taken home suddenly in an automobile accident in 2011. Tim Keller passed away recently....and now Pat Robertson.....whose son that is in charge....similar to Franklin Graham....is not only off into politics but also hasn't a clue that Donald Trump has been judgment on the church....and not a blessing.

             R. C. Sproul departed from us quickly a few months before Billy Graham. You might want to Google his very last sermon....raspy voice and all....simply put in R. C. Sproul's Last sermon. That type of message is gone today....replaced by the....God Loves You Just As You Are message. John MacArthur took ill at a Lord's Day service on the first day of the year....and thank the Lord is back....sort of....with a sermon here and there....even though his voice pattern has aged considerably.
             So who does that leave? Well John Piper is still there. He used to have a 'sermon of the day' right there up front on his website....and I took advantage of that for about three years....with blessings....but for whatever reason that is gone.....the sermons buried so that you have to look for them....and in their place a 22 minute 'episode'....that they still call a sermon....which they shouldn't. The teaching is still there at desiringgod.org....but the power in the means of grace that was there for probably the few who took advantage of it....has been waylaid.....although anyone can Google a John Piper sermon....which I still do.....but how many are going to do that? We need the power of the preached Word Pastor John...we have enough teachers.
             As I mention so often in these posts....Christian bookstores are essentially gone. No one is going to stumble across the the gospel anymore while out shopping....as I did in 1982. I'm typing this at a beach resort on Hilton Head island....out on the main patio so that someone might stumble across the gospel and the warnings that are therein. Forget Christian television....we can only hope that no one stumbles across this stuff. Christian radio used to be very popular in the Christian community....but we have moved on to other things.
             Twenty years ago I was always trying to lead men that I would talk to at work....to a church....but the last decade I did that so very few times....because it is very hard to find a church to recommend. Megachurches have taken over....fancy sanctuaries....state-of-the-art sound systems....latte bars....with a great time to to be had all around....but no conviction....no mortification....and no warnings other than that our liberties are being taken away.
             If Billy Graham were still with us....he would be hammering home to us....."Prepare to meet thy God!" All that our pulpits do is talk about revival....but they don't have the slightest idea what that would be. It wouldn't be through the sermons that they palm off as the gospel. And even if God should give....revival....or even an awakening....it would only be to gather the saints in from the coming storm....of which even the weaker extended bands of wind and rain are pummeling us into submission to whoever promises any relief.

Update: Since posting the above....I sat down to listen to a Spurgeon sermon....this one from 1890....near the end of his long ministry....this in London to those not familiar with Charles Spurgeon....I heard these words and wanted to put them in this post...."What have we to do with themes that are foreign to our design? If I were to come here and talk to you about strikes....or home rule....or socialism....and should you pray to God to convert souls by my discourse....would it not be a mockery or worse? I think so."