"I Want You Lord.....More Than What This World Has To Offer"

                Are you familiar with the actor Patrick Dempsey? Maybe your answer is....of course! I really wouldn't know for I only saw him in one film.
                He seems to be very successful.....this from Wikipedia anyway....plenty of films....some of those films acclaimed. He apparently is very much involved in auto racing....and that is an understatement. He is a philanthropist of sorts....with a couple of honorary degrees....seems like an overall nice guy. And uh....something called....Grey's Anatomy....never saw it but have read that it was....(is?).....huge.
                He was in the news earlier in the day because his hometown is Lewiston, Maine....and he was relaying his sadness around the events in the town that he loves.
                When I heard the name....Patrick Dempsey....I immediately thought about the one film that I did see him in. It was a 1998 made-for-television movie....Jeremiah. (Released in August of 2020 in the United States) You can watch this right now if you like....on your computer....for free.....no sign-ups.....nothing. I know that I have watched it four or five times....bare minimum.
                Now it was not going to win an Emmy....but that surely was never the intent of the producers. It's the type of TV movie that the people who made it wanted some people to watch....four or five times.
                How were they supposed to depict the prophet Jeremiah over forty years....in a ninety minute film? Well they did it. Jeremiah just didn't really age too much. A couple of the scenes were obviously of artistic license....and some were out-and-out not in the Bible....but there was nothing that altered who this young boy turned into aged weeping prophet was.
                As for the acting....how does Oliver Reed sound to you? He played King Zedekiah's chief general. I'm sure he was doing it for the money....he died shortly afterwards....but he is a presence on the screen. Klaus Maria Brandaur is an Austrian actor....once nominated for an Oscar....and once winner of a Golden Globe. He played Nebuchadnezzar....and sold me on it.
               So this Patrick Dempsey is Jeremiah....warning the people....warning the Kings.....and warning the princes and the false prophets....that judgment from God was coming....telling them of his visions....and using props....and all this over forty years....until the people were taken off to Babylon....twice....and Jeremiah himself had to live out his life for however many years or months....until he went to paradise....to wait some more....for the coming of the Son of Man to redeem those given to Him.
               Here's a great idea....possibly with eternal consequences....it's tomorrow afternoon.....and the Steelers have a 1 PM start time....and you had been looking forward to it. Well....Tell God that you want something more....that you want to know more of Him....and your need of Him....and boot up and watch this film....maybe with a good Study Bible at your side if you are not already familiar with the book of Jeremiah.

Ichabod....And Our Desire For A Great Movement of God

              John MacArthur has written and spoken about Martyn Lloyd-Jones extensively. You can easily Google some of this. Since writing the post below this....while raking leaves....I listened to a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon that I highly recommend to you. A few posts back....eight to be exact....in a Lord's Day Post....I referenced the word....Ichabod....of which I had done many times over the years. The Lloyd-Jones sermon is titled....The Presence Of God....and also can easily be Googled. It revolves around the origin of Ichabod in God's Word....1 Samuel 4: 21-22....and any hope we have today for revival.

Addendum: I don't hesitate to bring this up anymore....although I once did. You can read the post if you want from October 2 titled....There Is Prophecy In The Psalms, Maybe Even More Than We Might Expect. It pertains to speculation that a prophecy 'teacher'....J. R. Church....once gave about the number of the Psalms and specific years beginning at the twentieth century. So I won't go into it here but since posting the above I just happened to come across a 39 second YouTube of Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his inimitable voice titled....Why Martyn Lloyd-Jones Didn't Fear Hitler....(this can easily be Googled). MLJ said this....."I was never worried about a man like Hitler....it was enough for me to read the 37th Psalm....and there I read of a man like him....spreading himself like a green bay tree....a sort of colossus....striding the whole earth....but I read of a day when a man went to speak to him but could not find him....he searched everywhere for him but could not find a trace of him! He vanished! Why....FOR GOD HAD.....BLOWN....UPON HIM! You would probably have to read the October 2 post understand the significance in MLJ's words.

John MacArthur As He Has Always Been

               Whereas R. C. Sproul spent his long and marvelous ministry extolling the holiness of God....and teaching the wonderful truths of His Word....and whereas John Piper continues to recommend the glorious being of the Lord Jesus Christ to all who will hear him....and the glory of the message of salvation.....John MacArthur has ministered essentially to America for four decades....primarily that of a teaching ministry....and that teaching on repentance and the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all of creation. Wonderful ministries they were and still are as R. C. Sproul's ligonier.org....continues on after R. C. went to be with his Lord and Savior in December of 2017.
                John MacArthur stood before his congregation....I watched this through his Internet website.....and proclaimed that there was no pandemic. He took what was probably a surprise phone call from then President Trump and told him that all true believers would be on his side in the election....which in effect labelled all of us who would not vote for not only a false prophet but an antichrist....as the Apostle John described 'antichrists' to be....proclaimed all of us not to be true believers.....and he became the leader of evangelical pastors who demanded that all church doors remain open during the pandemic....whereas previously he was highly critical of these open doors that through which there was no gospel preached. So this has been three years now of somewhat of a deviation from the previous four decades....but when he preaches the gospel as he always had....which he is still doing....it is as strong and at times stronger then it has ever been.
                I put before you his sermon.....up front on his gty.org website right now....his sermon from October 8th....one day after Israel was attacked....from Luke 13: 1-9....titled....Seek The Lord While He May Be Found.
                Pastor MacArthur did what pastors are supposed to do in such a situation of such a major and catastrophic event....an event that strikes at the heart of the Christian's relatively short life on this earth....he preached on it....with an unction....and I hope that you might sit down and listen to it.
                It's not a political message....and it is not dealing with prophecy....other than God's word that prophesies to all that God has given time to repent....and that He has been patient....but no one....not individuals nor nations....know when that patience will end.
                

"Imagine There's No Heaven....It's Easy If You Try...."

                I wore the famous....collarless....grey Beatles suit....at my confirmation....as an eighth grader.....in 1964. My mother and I took a bus to downtown Pittsburgh for Christmas shopping....this in December of 1963....and it was snowing as we made the rounds from Kaufmann's to Horne's to Gimbals. I was able to get the two presents that I wanted the most. We returned home by cab because the one present was a 110 lb weight set....that not only do I still have...but I may be using the 25 lb barbell later this afternoon. The second present was the 45...current Beatles hit....She Loves You. The Fab Four were wearing those suits on the cover of the single.
               Lennon completed his album....Double Fantasy....just before his death in December of 1980. We subsequently bought the album....and listened to it quite a bit as I remember. I had just started a new job....that by God's unfathomable grace....I remained in for thirty-seven years until I retired. I was as lost as lost can be that winter of 1980.
               This post is not just a trip down memory lane. It is serious stuff. The Beatles ushered us through the 1960s....and as they morphed downward....so did we. John Lennon released Imagine in October of 1971. You can argue the meaning of the lyrics to make a case....and even use comments by Lennon....but I'm not pointing to the effect that the song had on all of us....but rather that the song described where we already were. The Jesus Revolution was in full swing at the time....(by the way I highly recommend the recent movie of that title)....and it had been five years since the infamous Time Magazine cover....Is God Dead? There was a battle going on in the heavens.
                To this day I cannot listen to George Harrison's....My Sweet Lord....released in 1970. It was one of the most captivating melodies of the period....as was Andrew Lloyd Webber's entire album....Jesus Christ Superstar....which also captivated me while in Vietnam....and of which also I cannot listen to anymore because of the lyrics and the message.
                All the above....to bring this up....which you will probably hear plenty of in the next few weeks. John Lennon wrote a song in 1979 and recorded it on a demo....which Yoko eventually gave to Paul....and of which they tried to do something with over the decades. It wasn't until artificial intelligence.....AI....enabled John's voice to be perfectly extracted from the demo....that Paul and Ringo were able to produce what they firmly stand behind as....the Beatles last song.....to be released in a few days....how coincidental!
                I commented in an earlier post about Benjamin Netanyahu's September 22 speech to the United Nations General Assembly. There were a couple things in it that were odd....and one was the Israeli Prime Minister's  comments on AI...."The AI revolution is progressing at lightning speed....we may have but a few years to adapt to the AI revolution." He mentions...."AI driven wars"....and gives a warning on AI....but also stated that...."We have so much to gain."
                It was here that he mentioned John Lennon's song....Imagine....for as he imagined the wonderful future benefits of AI utopia…he warned of a possible dystopia. So his reference to Lennon was brief...."I know this sounds like a John Lennon song. But it could all happen."
                Yes....It does sound like a John Lennon song....of which neither the captivating melody nor the blasphemous lyrics....portends anything good.

The Falling Leaves....

                It's 72 degrees....the perfect temperature according to many....as I sit here on my patio with six days left in October.....feet up and kicked back so that I can just watch the golden leaves start to fall from the maple tree. It's a bit different every year....for some years the leaves cling for weeks as there is little breeze....and then the winds come and half the leaves can fall in one day. 
                 There is only a slight breeze today as the blue sky can be full of the falling leaves but after a few hours the tree looks about the same. I would estimate the tree to be about eighty feet high....and I at times pick one leaf and watch it oh so slowly and gently sway this way and that way on its way to a soft landing.
                  It's really a beautiful sight as I sit here....with a blue sky in the background....and the tree a golden color that appears more red as one of the passing cirrus clouds blocks the color enhancing rays of the sun.
                   So what does one think about at a time like this.....apart from the colorful array....and the beauty of the creation of God....or maybe the days of raking that lies ahead? Well I don't remember anyone ever accusing me of being normal. The thought that came to my mind first as I sat down....and a hundred or so leaves were falling....almost as a company of paratroopers exiting a plane....their chutes opening as they enter their glide....was souls falling into the abyss upon death.
                   The thought was fleeting....I don't sit here and dwell on it....it only lasted a few seconds....but it was sad....for I know that that is the reality of this world. Less than an hour ago a friend told me of an uncle that had just died. I couple hours ago I was informed of a close elderly relative who is in the hospital with Covid.
                   It is rendered that God used....indeed the Holy Spirit empowered Jonathan Edwards in his famous sermon.....Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God....to spark the First Great Awakening....with words such as souls being.....held by a slender thread over the flames.
                   In a way it's like these leaves that are slowly dying.....(I have to digress here for one moment as a leaf...half golden and half red....landed on my keyboard)....these leaves are hanging on by a thread.
                    This is not a Christian culture....evangelicalism today....where the pastor might warn of death and falling into hell. That is no way to build a church or keep their job. We are not into warnings of any kind....other than warnings....about listening to warnings.
                    Before I end this I should add this...even as I sat to watch this spectacle....I had my headphones on....listening to a sermon by a great preacher of the past....or a man today who preaches like great preachers of the past....in this case Martyn Lloyd-Jones....and the sermon was.....(I have to digress one more time as just now our town's fire siren started blaring....a call to firemen to rush to the fire station....a little more in a moment on this).....the sermon was relevant to this post....titled....The Spirit And The Power-A lecture on Preaching in the Power of the Holy Spirit. This wonderful lecture can easily be Googled)
                    So I'll conclude with this....there is indeed a fire siren blaring to all of us from God's Word. May God open our ears to hear it....may He have mercy upon me for even trying to convey these warnings when I am in need of them as much as anyone else....and may He also give the balm....and the strongs winds of His Holy Spirit....to take our souls as these leaves....only lift them up into the glory of His heavens....all this for His glory.....and for His name alone!

"They May Build....But I Will Tear Down"

 

               The above screenshot was taken on May 4, 2019.  We were going to make America great again. That was the phrase anyway that was used to suck us all in. We never even asked the question....what would that time period be.....when we were great? I think that it can be assumed though that the Reagan 80s would do just fine....but how can that be....for Billy Graham gave us a very strong warning of imminent judgment in his 1983 book....Approaching Hoofbeats....The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Christians should have discerned that there is a difference between greatness as it pertains to power and economic might....and greatness in the eyes of God. That everything is in a shambles today is merely God fulfilling his warnings to rebellious peoples....as in this case the Edomites who boasted that they will rebuild.....this is Malachi 1.....but where God said...."They may build, but I will tear down..." We sought to do all this on our own. We bragged even as God's true men of God today warned us. We followed a false prophet who told us that the best was yet to come. Our compassion decayed....our wisdom deserted us....and any discernment on what is going one right now is absent. 

Yes....We Most Certainly Do Need A Reformation In The Church

Today's Preface: This preface here is going to touch on a few topics....Halloween being the first. It should be a no-brainer in that Christians should avoid Halloween....which is coming up a week from tomorrow. Give me a break folks....devils and witches and mass-murderers....and we let our young children partake in this? These Christian parents....and multitudes they be were....woke before woke was cool....for that is what this is....Christian wokeness....or if you wish....Christian coolness. But I only mention that because of today's date.  That date....October 31....is also what some Christians celebrate as....Reformation Day....acknowledging the day that Martin Luther pounded those 95 theses into the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany.....the year being 1517. Twenty-five years ago we opened up a Christian bookstore.....and we sold only what would be considered....Reformation books....which could be anything from Luther to R. C. Sproul. We ran a radio commercial for the store which began with a hammer striking a nail....a radio announcer narration....and then my voice giving a description of the store. We today are also ashamed to admit to being....born again.....to observing the great blessing and command of the Lord's Day....and actually telling others that Jesus Christ is returning soon. We indeed need a reformation today.

(Original Preface) Starting back on July 2nd of last year I wrote four consecutive posts on the topic of the Lord's Day....and titled them....Do You Want Practical....Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4. The following was Part 1. I bring this back not so much because of the topic that it was written on....but that in this post I want to emphasize that none of the wonderful leaders in the church today....are perfect. There will be a problem....if we start to elevate the man....instead of Jesus whom the man preaches.

Do You Want Practical....Part One           

                It is just one of the changes that we need to see happening in America today.....but it is a major change. We all should know....that even our best ministers of the gospel today are not perfect. We can agree on that can we not? Let me give a couple of examples. John MacArthur is the strongest and most influential minister that we have on the national scene today.....as even the secular media respects his influence. He has spent well over a half century defending the gospel....and warning against false prophets....but even he made major mistakes in the last few years....as he denied there being a pandemic...."There is no pandemic".....and there is this....on May 8 of 2015 his wonderful Grace To You ministry radio program....(gty.org).....rebroadcast an older program titled....Beware Of False Prophets. You can easily Google this and listen to it. It was broadcast forty days before Donald Trump came down that escalator....into the middle of evangelicalism.....but John MacArthur apparently did not spot this false prophet that he warned of....as he famously said this in a telephone call...."Any real true believer is going to be on your side in this election..."

               R. C. Sproul....the most magnificent preacher in our day on the holiness of God....and the great and vital doctrines of His word.....he made mistakes also. One minor one was this....in celebration of the 500 year anniversary of the 16th century Reformation....his ministry sponsored a conference....but he titled it.....The Next Five Hundred Years. We all understand the intent....and that intent was sound....but a better title would have been....The Next Five Hundred days....for the need for the day was awakening to the nearness of the return in power and glory and judgment of Jesus Christ....not....looking centuries ahead. (That conference was in March of 2017. R. C. went to be with his Lord and Savior and King....whom he exalted in his preaching and teaching for so many decades....in December of that year)
              All of these wonderful men over the many centuries made mistakes somewhere along the line. Even Martin Luther made some astonishingly poor statements in his later years.....but here is one mistake that still affects us today.....by none other than John Calvin....and no I'm not referring to Servetus. Calvin was not able to both....keep the principle of the Fourth Commandment....and yet remove it from what it had become during the dark ages of the church....the consequence of which....is that that hedge of protection that God has given us....that blessing.....of keeping the now....Lord's Day....as a day primarily to refresh ourselves in the Lord Jesus....and delight in the Lord's Day....has been trampled upon....all over the world.
              That hedge of protection....for America and its people....has been brush-hogged and replaced with stadium turf! Pastors who their whole ministry have either purposely ignored this hedge of protection....or been ignorant of it....are not going to all of a sudden change their mind....but those pastors who do know that there is a purpose of not only joy but protection in how the first day of the week came into being....need to begin to tell their congregations....and let God protect their ministries....and work on all of our hearts....mine needing it as much or more than anyone else.

Note: There was at lest one theologian/minister on the national scene....who changed his mind on the Lord's Day....and came out and admitted it....Michael Horton.           

War And Beauty

                My twenty-five minute drive this morning....over rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania.....in thirty-five degree weather.....began in thick fog. By the time that I reached my destination I was out of the valleys....and the sun was coming through the trees that already started dropping their leaves.....and the sun had burned off the fog.....leaving beautiful colors of orange and red and yellow.
                There are two primary messages in the John Piper sermon that I am about to recommend to you. I'll start with that which Piper began his message. By the way....this 1990 message is a conference message at his own church.....to pastors....but it is more of a sermon to them....on how to preach to their own people.
                 He began by telling his hearers how he was often criticized.....even rebuked at times....on so much talk in his sermons of war and blood and fighting. It was way too serious he was told. I can relate to that.
                 So Piper is reminding everyone that we are in a war.....like it or not....acknowledge it or not. It is serious.....not only mortal but eternal life and death stuff.
                 If you are familiar with John Piper then you know that although he is known for being very serious....he is probably more known for proclaiming the beauty of Christ....and joy in that beauty! That was the second half of his message. So you get the whole John Piper.
                 Confusion and chaos and mistakes are often described as....the fog of war. That is definitely where the evangelical is today.....not knowing who might be the foe and who the friend.....lashing out indiscriminately in the chaos....and not seeing any beauty in the Captain of our souls.
                 So John Piper's message is indeed about the war that we are in.....the war against sin....but the beauty of Christ.....the Son of God....burns off the fog....and the chaos....and hopefully many of the mistakes! So yes....War and Beauty....as in the title of this post.....but not the beauty of war....but the beauty of our Captain that enables us to war.
                 You can easily Google this message/sermon at....John Piper sermon....Make War-Killing Sin.
              
                 

Lord's Day Post

Preface: Ichabod....the glory had long since departed by then. I heard the following anecdote in a David Wilkerson sermon....three decades ago. He decided to attend a music concert by the most popular Christian singer at the time. Popularity had changed the singer. On my dining room wall....about twenty feet from where I sit....is a vinyl 33 rpm album....from that singer....long story short....I decided to pick the Christian album that meant the most to me at the beginning of my Christian walk....frame it like a rock star might frame a gold record....and hang it on our wall that is dedicated to personal experiences. In the past thirty-five years I have had no interest in what this singer puts out. So back to David Wilkerson....a member of the band was dancing with a rose in his mouth. I can attest to that....as I attended the same concert....in a different venue....but the same guitarist dancing with a rose in his mouth. Wilkerson said that he could see demons on the stage....and ran up the aisle yelling....Ichabod....Ichabod! May it be that some pastors tomorrow....in their own way....proclaim from their pulpits....Ichabod! The following post is from October of 2017:

           By God's grace I never experienced it....but many parents have....a child....a son in this instance....he chooses the wrong friends....they're troublemakers. At an age when he should be learning not only his studies....but learning how to think....he wastes all of his time. He ignores all the warnings....his life falls apart....his future in dire jeopardy. He becomes an angry young man....angry at the world he does not understand....angry at his parents who point him to areas that he will never go. He breaks the law and goes to jail....or worse....he causes the death of someone. The parents ask God why....he was such a good young boy....with a smile that captivated everyone. What mistakes did they make? Would God have mercy on him after all the pain that he caused? The parents plead mercy for themselves....for failing....for not seeing the problem early enough....for their lives are destroyed also.
          This is America.....and we are the parents. I'm not speaking of today's youth. I'm speaking rather of America and the metaphor of a troubled young man who will not listen to anyone with authority.....who will not pay attention to their studies....who will not give up the friends who always get them into trouble. Will God have mercy on America....will He have mercy on us?
          We are violent....and we are hedonistic....we hate God....we drink in the entertainments until we vomit.....we don't honor our forefathers......we don't honor the home that they gave us......we don't appreciate the many sacrifices made so that we can play the fool and laugh at those who admonish us.....and we strike out in total ignorance at those who try to stop....to even attempt to make sense of the chaos.
          There is no happy ending.....there is no making America great again. Whether we are fighting in the streets....or worrying at home....we brought all this pain and sorrow and confusion.....upon ourselves. Like Eli....we did not restrain our younger generations.....and as with Eli....our heritage is gone.....the glory has indeed departed from America..

           

A Bittersweet Memoir

                 I was in my eighth grade homeroom class when Sister Alfreda came in crying....and told us that President Kennedy had been shot. This was in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Three years and almost two months earlier our fifth grade Catholic school class had been herded out on Genesee Street in Buffalo to cheer as presidential candidate and then Senator Kennedy was driven from the airport to downtown to give an election speech. My wife and I honeymooned on Cape Cod and visited Hyannis Port a few times over the years. I had been reading about the Kennedys most of my adult life.....and that includes the events on that day in Dallas.

                 So the new book on the Kennedy assassination was to be released on Tuesday the 10th of this month but there was a delay and I received mine in the mail yesterday...The Final Witness....A Kennedy Secret Service Agent Breaks His Silence After 60 Years....by Paul Landis.
                 It was really his first day on detail for someone in a president's family. Dwight Eisenhower was the president....and his grandson David Eisenhower was the family member being protected by a Secret Service agent. Landis was to drive David somewhere when the twelve year old asked him...."You're new at this aren't you?" Special Agent Landis was so new that he didn't know that he had to report in on the car radio. Seventy-six year old David Eisenhower wrote a blurb for the back of the book.
                 This particular book on the assassination sticks out for this reason. I couldn't tell you how many first-hand books I have read on politics over the decades....but this may be the only one where I believed every word on every page. Here's why.
                 As the anecdote of young David Eisenhower shows....the Secret Service has come a long way in the past sixty years. Paul Landis essentially applied for a job with the Secret Service....almost as a lark....and got it....without a whole lot of experience at anything. He tells his story from the perspective as a regular human being who happened to at one time.....many years ago....been a Secret Service agent.
                He resigned not long after those fateful days in November....a great toll having been taken on him....to say the least....and read nothing....and apparently paid no attention....to all the conspiracy talk....for about fifty years! He obviously has no axe to grind....and no superiors to run the manuscript by....and no side to take. He simply....and finally....became aware of the magic-bullet theory....or the single-bullet theory....and knew that the bullet wasn't found on Governor Connally's stretcher....because he Special Agent Landis had found it in the back seat....behind Mrs. Kennedy....and put it with the president's body in the trauma room of the hospital....during the chaos and confusion.
                So some will read the book as additional...albeit new and startling information....and I'm part of that....but some will read the book simply on the personal level of a man who primarily had the assignment of guarding Jacqueline Kennedy and her children.....and I'm part of that group also. Both will be satisfied! It was hard to read his account of what happened in those approximate six minutes in Dealey Plaza. I had to put the book down....take a break....and then come back to it.

I can't resist....one more anecdote on the lighter side of the book. Landis....still new to the job....is doing night duty in a guard shack on one of the many presidential rural retreats. It is dark and quiet....and he is paying attention to what might be in the darkness and the silence....and there is a sudden loud thud right behind him in the shack....which scared the daylights out of him! The Kennedy's pet Welsh terrier Charlie had come into the shack and loudly deposited a croquet ball on the wooden floor for the two of them to play fetch with.....which Special Agent Landis did in fact do! I don't see that happening today.

Note: I started to pass the book around....and the third person is reading it now....each taking only two days to read it.

Blinded By The Light......Pun Intended

Preface: I wanted to bring this closer to the top because the movie is still in some of the theaters!                 

                 There were 101 seats in the theater auditorium....and my wife and I were the only two there to see the new biopic on Phil Robertson....The Blind. It was a late afternoon showing....but I noticed that the evening showing was much better attended. We had only seen a couple of Duck Dynasty episodes in its what....five year run? Although I do have and love their Christmas album. So I don't know a whole lot about the family....although I did know that Phil was an alcoholic and terrible father and husband in his twenties. I also knew that he was a college football star.
                 Well there's one more thing that I knew about Phil. It was a Roy Moore rally in December of 2017.....and the usual cast of conservative characters were there to support Moore.....including Phil Robertson. I posted on this at the time. I think that Robertson was the last to speak.....and it was a typical conservative evangelical speech....very profound actually....and he finished with this....."We better get a godly man in the White House." As I wrote back then....he paused to let that sink in....Donald Trump was already in the White House...and then added this...."The Ten Commandments Trump Politics....pun intended." So I knew back then that this Phil Robertson and I were of the same mnd.
                  So back to the movie....The Blind....it was a wonderful Christian message of redemption....much needed in these tremulous times! There's a lot of duck hunting in it. Our son is a duck hunter.....so this gave me an idea on what he does when he goes out in....the blind.
                   The acting is very good....along the lines of the Johnny Cash 2005 film I Walk The Line....and the length is about perfect....an hour and forty-five minutes. I'll relate one odd scene....Phil....in his younger days.....puts a sack over Terry Bradshaw's head.....(yes the Steeler Terry Bradshaw).....this over fifty years ago....and takes him on a short cruise in a fisherman's powerboat. That's all I'll tell you.....maybe you will go to see the film to see what that was all about.
                   They choose a good title in....The Blind....but another one would have been....Blinded By The Light....pun intended.

        
 

Endless Mysteries....needs posted

                  

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy...."not to teach any different doctrine...nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith." 1 Timothy 1:4 

God's prophetic word to us has a number of purposes. This is what I am inclined to believe after about forty years of interest in it....and more mistakes than I wish to remember. First of all it tells us the ending. God judges and punishes and rewards and receives the glory that was....and is....and will always be...His! It also warns us of what will happen if we wander away....and warns us when we have indeed wandered away. That's two things that God's prophetic Word does. It also gives us specific information of what will happen....only for the need of the moment....often in real time....and only in God's perfect time....to keep us awake and vigilant....so that when we see these things happening we do not panic....and lastly it is there to look back on....to understand why things happened....or just happened....past tense....and that God's Word is proven yet once again!  All of it is for our benefit so that when the bridegroom does return....whether it would have been 500 years ago....or tomorrow.....our lamps will be trimmed....and we will have plenty of oil. We are not play by play analysts or color commentators....nor coaches....nor bookies. Our job is not to solve mysteries. Our job is to trust mysteries. 

The following is a paragraph from an older post titled....Endless Mysteries....that I just returned to its original spot....for this is the thought that I wanted to emphasize: 

           We do not need endless genealogies and ancient mysteries solved to tell us that America is being judged....and that it is time to get our houses in order....for the time is truly near....or that money has become our god....for God's Word instructs us in all of this....from the prophets and the Psalms....to the gospels and all the other books of the New Testament. We need to look inwardly....not outwardly. We need humility in what we do not know....more than pride in what we think that we do know. We need Christ preached....pulpits awakened....and God's Word daily emblazoned anew upon our hearts.

Israel Today And Prophecy

Preface: The tendency in some if not most reformed denominations is to interpret Israel today as just another nation on the world's scene. They will if asked give you detailed scriptural 'proof' of their interpretation. You will not come up with the same interpretation on your own reading of God's Word. It is perfectly understandable why they cling to this interpretation....for their strengths are in defending the gospel....and they correctly perceive Israel today in prophecy to often distort the gospel of salvation by grace alone....through faith alone....in Christ alone. The error in itself seems minor at first.....but I can through observation see how their overall compassion has been dulled because of this....and how their discernment on the importance of what is happening is not there at all. It is almost as if we are purposely ignoring the plight of Israel.....treating them with disdain....the very last thing we should do in this situation! The following are two posts on Israel and prophecy....the first....There Is No Getting Around May 14, 1948....is from June of 2022....and the second....Israel....What It Is....And What It Isn't....is from August of 2019:

There Is No Getting Around....May 14, 1948   
   
                 It had been reported....I've read it on a number of occasions....that Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion...in his retirement years....kept a copy of Hal Lindsey's 'best-selling non-fiction book of the 1970s'....The Late Great Planet Earth.....on his bedside table.
                That book was probably the start of the latest manifestation of interest in end-times prophecy. As it turns out....there are errors of significance in that book....(hey even R. C. Sproul was wrong on some things)....but it served a great purpose in God's plan.
                 I have roughly forty years of seeking God's prophetic word in the Bible. That in itself guarantees absolutely nothing...but try to seek answers to what God is doing.....while spending ten times as much time on a golf course....or planning family picnics....and you can forget it. God does not answer such lame and pretend attempts to find answers. Studying intensely may not guarantee that one has discernment....but not studying intensely.....not really desiring to know something....pretty much will guarantee that one will not have a lot of discernment!)

                 I could construct an outline of maybe one hundred different points that are related to the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....the King of Kings.....in power and great glory....along with His holy angels.....but they would have to begin with May 14, 1948. There is no getting around this....not even to the greatest reformed theologian. Hal Lindsey was right on this one....as were others. The establishment of the state of Israel....only a few short years after the Holocaust....is sure evidence that the holy angels grasped their swords in anticipation....and the horses bucked and neighed.
                The obvious question then was.....how soon.....and here is where these prophecy experts were on their own. They really didn't get all that much right.....they were wrong on their rapture theories.....which in itself has proved very destructive to the discernment of today's evangelical.....as they tended to just rely on getting beamed up....pre-trib....which freed them to waste much of their lives and efforts on politics and conspiracy theories....resulting in a false prophet getting the better of the church!
                  No.....May of 1948 was the bugle's reveille call.....to form up for roll call. For all I know....the white horse of Revelation six may have been the pandemic. You may disagree....but are you ready to laugh at God if that would be the case? This much we should know....it is a time to get our houses in order......to check on the oil in the lamps.....and to encourage one another with holy kisses and pleadings of Maranatha....Lord Jesus....Come!  

Note: I decided to add this from March of 2022 because of the above comment on the pandemic possibility being the white horse of Revelation....(the next horse being red....or war.)

Word Of The Year.....or.....Bow and Crown...."And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer." Revelation 6:2

                The Oxford English Dictionary each year chooses a....'word of the year'....after the issue is debated. For example they choose the word vax as their word for 2021.....and unprecedented for 2019. They describe the choice of the word as based on the "mood, or preoccupations of that particular year."
                In 2018 they choose the word....'toxic'....originating from the Greek....'toxon'....or 'bow'.......because in war....arrows were often dipped in poison. From this Latin gives us....'toxicus'....which gives us words such as....'toxic' and 'toxin.'
                I don't know why I pick up on things like this.....maybe it's because my only near-academic award came in a spelling bee as an eight grader. Speaking of spelling bees.....the 2009 Scripts National Spelling Bee winner was thirteen year old Kavya Shivashankar. It was odd that after extremely difficult words such as palatschinken and herniorrhaphy knocked out a few of the young contestants....she won on the word....pronounced to her as....lay-odd-uh-see-an.....or Laodicean....the word description given being....:"lukewarm or indifferent, particularly in matters of politics or religion"....another interesting word at the time as we surely had become in America a Laodicean church.
               As for the Oxford English Dictionary....their "team of expert lexicographers" decided that no one word would be appropriate in such an "unprecedented" year as 2020....so they instead chose themes around Covid-19....the coronavirus....because of the monumental effect it has had on the world....so what is....corona?  The Merriam-Webster definition for corona is...."something suggesting a crown"

Israel....What It Is....And What It Isn't

            Not only have I been a staunch supporter of Israel in the ten plus years of these posts but that defense of Israel goes back to my youth....but it seems that in evangelicalism....particularly over the past few years....that the nation-state of Israel has gone from the forefront of biblical prophecy....where it belongs....to the forefront of the gospel where it does not belong.
             As I reflect on this I see myself....along with other Christians....having looked forward joyfully to that day when God opens the eyes of the Jewish people to their savior and their king and messiah....where they had been blinded for two-thousand years....but increasing numbers of evangelicals seem more concerned with Israel's capital....or some other political event....than the salvation of the Jewish people. (This in no way reflects on the wonderful Christian ministries presenting the gospel and helping the poor of Israel)
             God will indeed destroy the enemies of Israel....but He will also judge Israel....before He opens their eyes....and He will judge America as well! Tell me friends....we do still know that we are saved by Grace alone....through faith alone....in Christ alone....right? Tell me that we haven't changed the gospel to fit our political beliefs and personal biases! Tell me that we know that there will be no need for sacrifices.....ever....that all the sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed to the Lamb of God. We would not rejoice over sacrifices once again on the Temple Mount.....but rather in the imminent return of Jesus Christ.....and all of His powerful angels....that such a happening would surely allude to!
            We also should know that as far as rebellion to God is concerned....the people of Israel are pretty close to identical to where we are. Their idolatry and rebelliousness to God rivals ours! Know this also....America couldn't save a green stamp....let alone Israel.....if it was not in God's will. How many times did God prove this in the Old Testament that neither Moses nor Gideon nor Joshua had the victory.....but God! Right now....they and we are trusting in Donald Trump....while ignoring God's warnings.
            One last thing. There has been a lot of fuss made about President Trump being another Cyrus or Jehu. I have no doubt that he is being used in this by God prophetically....but not to the extent or for the reasons that have been claimed. Donald Trump is not to be trusted....that's what the last four years have proven....and I hope that Benjamin Netanyahu at least has a concern in that area. Moving the embassy was nothing in itself. That was no test. God gave specific warnings to nations that deal with Israel....even in its rebellious state to God as it is now....treat them fairly....don't even deceive them....keep your word if you give it!

Pastors......This Is For You

               I want to add this short 13 minute article....spoken by the man who penned it....Greg Morse. He is one of the young men apparently under the charge of John Piper in his ministry desiringgod.org. I have been captivated a number of times by his words. This one is titled....Preach To Comfort And Disturb....A Plea To Pastors. My hope is that a reader here....for whatever reason....maybe they just want to report me....gives these posts to their pastor.

Simply go to desiringgod.org and it is right there.

IS THIS YOU?

I'll use this space to recommend a sermon that I listened to this afternoon....after posting the above to pastors. Are you terribly distressed over your own salvation. Let me adjust that a little....are you strangely.....all of a sudden....becoming terribly distressed over whether you are a Christian or not....or you concede that you probably are not....but previous to recently that never bothered you....but now it is? Martyn Lloyd-Jones is speaking in this sermon directly to you! Just Google....MArtyn Lloyd-Jones sermon, Magnificat 3.

We Are Not Special.......But These Are Special Times

Preface: The following was first first posted on January 12 of this year:                 

                You have to really work at this. It does not come natural....in fact the natural would tend to lead to the opposite conclusion....but if you....as I said....work at it....I think you might agree with me.

                This day and age that we live in.....is set apart all by itself.....much like it was for the generations two-thousand years ago....when Jesus walked among the people....and the apostles gave their lives in establishing churches far and wide.
                Special isn't the word to describe us....for we are not special....nor were the believers in the first century....but something special was required of them....and something special is required of us today.
                The demonic must have been in full swing back then. You can see this as so many were having demons cast out of them by Jesus and the apostles. You can see the demonic in how at one moment the people shouted...."Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"....as Jesus entered Jerusalem....but almost before you could blink....shouted.....Crucify him! You could see it in Judas...who Satan entered into. And you could see it in the actions of the rulers of Jerusalem as they were..."enraged" at Jesus...."and ground their teeth at him."
                 The demonic seems to be everywhere today. How else could you have what happened in Idaho...and then so many multiple murder/suicides in the last week....or the seemingly constant mass murders? You can see it today in how so many people literally shake in anger when talking about Christianity. The delusion that evangelicalism is part of today....is demonic in nature. You can see it in the false teachers that are all over the place....in how we are trusting in our own powers....having forgotten God's multiple warnings to trust only in Him....and you can see it in love having grown so cold that even we in evangelicalism have fallen under a spell.
                  All of this above....of our generations living right now....and how we have been allotted the task of living during the time of Christ's coming again in power and glory....all of this we are unaware of.....most of us that is. Aware or not....we are going through it....but here is the point that I want to attempt to make....
                  Yes....this that is somewhere just ahead is the Tribulation. If meditating from God's Word upon what happens during that period does not sober the reader....then I do not know what would sober them. So many prophecy teachers use the word....excited....when talking about the return of our Lord....but that is a very poor choice of words. Most think that they are going to be raptured just prior to all the commotion....but they will be in for a surprise....for we may not know day and hour....but we should be able to discern that we are not immediately taken out of this time of terror.....which finally leads to my point....
                   It is hard to put in words....and I do not want it to be misinterpreted....but we must....count it a blessing....that we will be tried as we will be. It is very much like a soldier who has trained for many years....but never seen the battle. An odd anecdote here.....as that time-honored film from 1955 comes to mind.....Mr. Roberts....with Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon and James Cagney and William Powell. Maybe you have never seen it....my age lets me down often when commenting like this.....but Henry Fonda's character....Mr. Roberts.....for the whole movie.....wanted to do his part.....and see battle.....before the war ended. Well.....he eventually did.
                   The battle scenes in Hollywood films in general that come most often to my mind....are of the landing craft....that just departed the troop transport and is headed to the beach. The marines....usually the same ones that we followed all through their training....are in that boat.....and it is quiet.....as the camera moves from face to face. There is nothing there that can be called excitement. Prayers are said....they were now being called upon. Well that is us....and believe it or not I am quiet....I just....in these posts....in as much as pull out my notebook....to record my thoughts.
                   I have given this opinion over and over again....as recently as a few days ago. Rich or poor....young or old....clergy or laity...professor or student....if you do not see the world in the actual stage of collapse that it is in....it is because your attention is somewhere else....your goals are somewhere else....and therefore you do not particularly want to see Jesus return soon....nor do you search the Scriptures for wisdom in all of this....but for those who live in the Bible as an elderly person might always wear their nose tubes for oxygen....whose every other thought seems to be a prayer of some sort....they are going to hear His voice....saying...."And behold, I am coming soon"....along with multiple other commands and encouragements to prepare and to be sober and to be vigilant and to rejoice...."And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." (this from that which is known as the Olivet Discourse....from Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21....the pages of which in your bibles....by now should be well worn and marked up!)

This Is Not Rocket Science

The Feast of Tabernacles....or Sukkot....is one of the three Torah commanded festivals. I was talking to a Jewish friend a couple of weeks ago before Yom Kippur....and she said said that their big celebration was a few days later....that being Sukkot. A member of our family had talked to her on Saturday morning....the day their week of celebrating was ending....and the day that would become the darkest day in Israel's history in this modern age. The attack in Israel was just about to begin. The following italicized paragraphs were posted on July 29, 2020.            

                   In a few hours from now....(about 1:40 ET)....the sun will set in Jerusalem....beginning the ninth day of the Hebrew calendar month of....Av....the Ninth of Av....Tisha B'AV....traditionally a day of mourning......because of the many disasters incurred by the Jews over the millennia....including the destruction of both temples. The Roman destruction of Herod's Temple reportedly collapsed the price of gold in Rome because the precious metal became so common.
                  The dates of the future feasts of Israel are always only a click away for me or anyone who feels that surely major prophetic events will occur on these days. This isn't date setting for we do not know the years....but we do know that God's future plans for the Jewish people will most likely revolve around their feasts. To  prognosticate on this is more than problematic....but to ignore it is being careless to God's warnings to us.
       
To a somewhat lesser degree I always pay attention to blood moons and lunar and solar eclipses. The much ballyhooed tetrad of 2014/2015 was unique in that all four blood moons took place on Jewish holidays. The world had taken on a new look since that tetrad. Donald Trump was born on a blood moon on June 14, 1946....and came down the escalator in the middle of that tetrad. I was born during a tetrad....and so were you if you were born between April 13, 1949 and September 26, 1950. I am often out in the street or up on a high hill to observe rare or interesting celestial sights. This Saturday....two days from today.....around 3 in the afternoon Easter Time I believe....we will in the east see a partial solar eclipse. Out west they will see a Ring of Fire annular solar eclipse.
        

Christian Conferences....Yes They Can Stir You....But They Are No Substitute

 

             I found out many years ago that as encouraging as Christian conferences might be....and I had attended many....there was an inherent problem if we were not careful. That problem is that we would look forward every year to a certain conference....get all hyped up as it approached....they usually involved some kind of travel and stay at a hotel....a mini vacation of sorts....and it would be a great time....and then it would be over.....and we would settle in to our previous daily routine....until the next conference. As I reflected upon this it appeared that to me that we were doing it for ourselves.....not that we might be mobilized to go out to proclaim Christ.....but that we might have something to soothe our doubts on what we were not doing for Christ. 
             Having said that....the above video is a conference talk. It is thirty-three minutes long. Please consider listening to it. Steven Lawson is the speaker.....George Whitefield is the protagonist....Jesus Christ is object of devotion. So yes....attend Christian conferences....but don't ever be fooled into permitting them into exciting you more than any one of fifty-two Lord's Day sermons in a year!
             Well there's another problem....the preaching today....you might be fortunate to hear one sermon in an entire year in your church that stirs like this one conference talk. That is the sad situation today....and our prayers should be that God might awaken these otherwise faithful men in our pulpits.....and all to His glory....so until God might do that....you need to hear sermons from your iPhone or computer....from....preachers of the past....or preachers today who preach like preachers from the past! Charles Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones from the past....or John Piper or R. C. Sproul from today or the recent past....would be a great place to start.
             If you look to the Blog Archive at the left....you will see a post near the bottom titled....A Month Of Sundays....which is about thirty sermons easily available on your computer....that I highly recommend to you.
             
             

 

Lord....Give Us Discernment On This....For Thy Name Sake Alone

 I’m trying to post this while on a bumpy turnpike….and after reading many and various news reports on Israel. No matter what your politics or dogma….Israel is simply trying to survive….and that part of the world hates them….because they brought Jesus Christ into the world. That they later rejected Him makes no difference. What is about to happen in this world includes…..(we all know what ‘includes’ means right)….God calling out a multitude of these people as a remnant….they then calling out to their Savior as they are given the vision to see.....just as we were! If evangelicals or conservatives or anyone are on the wrong side of this then that would be a major…..as opposed to a minor….mistake. The information is there in God’s Word….treat these people fairly…..don’t in any way….even by being neutral….don’t join in with the haters of Israel. 1948 was prophecy fulfilled….and this today is prophecy being fulfilled. If your historical dogma does not see this…..all I can say is to pray about it….in the privacy of your own mind….surely you can have humility there….and ask God to open your eyes if you have been living in ignorance on this.

Addendum: I returned home from that bumpy ride.....tried to correct the typos....and want to expound a little bit more on this. On the one end of the spectrum of evangelicalism they look at the Jewish people as having no specific relation to God anymore....thus there is no prophetic importance in a state of Israel.  On the other end of the spectrum....primarily charismatic....they seem to think that the Jewish people are saved in a different way. The truth is in the middle somewhere. I was listening to a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon earlier on that bumpy turnpike ride....and it was on the Second Coming. He said this.....he advised people to read things like the notes in the Scofield Study Bible....of which he would disagree vehemently with many things.....but then read the other side.....and then make up your own mind. I have always felt that way....because the truth of our Sovereign God of the Bible always comes out clear...majestic and wonderful...and strengthening in the confidence and joy in His sovereignty! 

Pray for what is going on folks....for the people suffering....pray that His will might be done....pray Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come....and pray also for the wisdom and strength to trust God through the storms that we are going through one after another.

Might This Be The Lord's Day That Pastors Awaken....Or Do They Need Additional Alarms

Preface: The following was posted on Wednesday....three days before Israel experienced the darkest day in its history.

Does anybody think that this might be the Lord's Day that pastors....maybe even with tears on their cheeks....tell their congregations that they are going in a different direction....on the path they should have been on all along....preaching Christ....His works and His glories....our wanderings away from Him....and His warnings to us if we do not humble ourselves and return? The following is from a post on the Fourth of July, 2019

As I have mentioned more than once over the years of these posts....should God choose....for His glory alone....to awaken our dormant pulpits....dormant as to warning of any dangers....either temporal or eternal....and should they then cast aside this weak and gutted gospel that fills their pulpits today....then there would be no power on earth....or in the heavens....that could stay God's hand of mercy upon us in the coming turmoil; but should God choose to let us lie in the bed we have made for ourselves....there is no army....no president.....and no MAGA....that can mitigate or even delay the judgments that are approaching like a runaway freight train. Revolutions can be hijacked....and movements can fail....but God gave these words to Isaiah....

"A voice says, 'Cry!' And I said, 'what shall I cry?' All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever." (Isaiah 40:6-8)

This question from today....October 4, 2023: We were riding high on July 4 of 2019....laughing and shouting USA USA USA to the promise that...."The best is yet to come." Ask yourself...."What has it been like since then?"

Note: There are churches....I know of many...where the pastor thinks that his congregation needs no warning and deserves no criticism as did five of the seven church in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.  There is no repentance needed....no preparation as the bride of a returning Christ....and no humbling....but we all....built this 'urban city'....all of us....spending Lord's Days watching the Steelers....while enjoying the benefits of good wages and safe suburbs....partaking in and supporting all the entertainments by which this culture drowns us....and by our partaking....aiding and abetting a distorted capitalism that cares nothing about the burned out urban areas it produces.....and then to top it off.....we blame those in the urban areas....as if they chose to start life in a slum....and as if we played no part in the building of this society.  None of us today are immune from facing the responsibility for the society that we all have built. These pastors might want to revisit the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches....this time with a little bit more humility. 

I Cannot Do Anything But Wear My Religion On My Sleeve....And One My Hands....And On My Head

Preface: We in the church are ashamed of the words....'born again.' Forty years ago those words were on our lips all the time. The world has changed and the delusion is upon us. There is a phrase sometimes used in philosophy and politics....'a distinction without a difference.' That is when one points to a distinction between two issues....but there really is no difference. Evangelicalism today is saying that there is a distinction in being born again and in describing a Christian in another way....but there is no real difference! Folks....there is a difference....one saves....and the other one does not save! There is either a completely new heart....or there is not. There are either eyes and ears that were opened....or there were not. A name was written in a book....or it was not. A legal adoption occured....or it did not. The angels rejoiced....or they did not. There is either a broad gate that most go in that leads to destruction....or there is not. There is either a narrow way that leads to life...or there is not.

                 No one in the modern church today needs to be....born again! That's outmoded evangelism. It is now....good vs evil....God vs Satan. All one has to do is to be on God's side. All one has to be is a relatively good person.
                 There is a friend of the family....someone a little older than I am....who stops by for a visit about once a week....and she is Jewish.....which enlivens the conversation from time to time. Today we talked a little about the Jewish Sabbath....of which she is observant....and the Christian Lord's Day....of which I am....and we talked a little on the Jewish feasts....with the Ninth of Av coming up. We haven't been able to get any deeper into the conversations as of yet....but on two different occasions she mentioned that she wasn't very religious. Now I understand the various strands of Judaism today....so I know where she is coming from....but that doesn't make it any easier to accept without at least a question.
                 That question would be....how could one believe in the biblical records of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob....and Joseph....and Moses....and the parting of the Red Sea....and King David and all of the other miraculous works of God.....and yet still....not be religious?
                  I don't know why I am surprised at all....for I have witnessed this in my own Christian faith....and even posted on the conundrum a number of times....for how could a Christian....not only believe the very same miraculous and majestic workings of God in the Old Testament....but have encountered Jesus Christ....and all of the miracles of the New Testament....and appear to not being very religious.....evidencing few signs....and certainly no signs of fanaticism?         
                 Yes.....we go to church regularly.....and read our bibles regularly....and may even attend a weekly bible study....and we may go to church camp....and read Christian books....and have a bumper sticker on our car....and vociferously debate conservative cultural points.....and if anyone ever asks....we would right away proclaim that we are a Christian....but beyond these habitual evidences of being a Christian....there is little evidence that we are overwhelmed with our love to our Savior and our King! We are not considered fanatics....but how.....considering all of the above....can we be anything but fanatics?
                 How is it possible to fully understand that at one moment we were headed to eternal damnation....and the very next moment....through nothing of our own....redeemed and given eternal life....how is this possible without falling prostrate before the King who saved you?
                 How is it possible to understand what happened on the Mount of Olives....and in Jerusalem....and on Calvary....and not be amazed every day of our lives...if not every hour of our lives?
                 How can we really and truly believe that those sixty-six books and letters from antiquity.....are God-breathed....not only written to us....but commanded of which to read and follow what it within....and not open that Word up every single day of our lives.....and joyfully meditate upon those glorious words of hope and redemption within?
                 We are frail....I know that....and I am the chief of the frail....but that is only an excuse for our failure to be strong all the time....it does not account for our failure to attempt and desire to be strong all the time. I'm sure that part of the answer to all of this is cultural. We in the church today have no idea of the commitment of Christians in the past....and we do not receive the nourishing food in the sermons that we hear....so how can we be expected to be fanatical.....given the limited knowledge that we have?
                 We are all aware of how the Pharisees wore their phylacteries to be seen...."they make broad their phylacteries"....and we today have used that as our own pejorative....'wearing one's religion on their sleeve"....but we may also be aware of when Jesus wanted to wash Peter's feet.....but Peter would not let Him.....until Jesus said...."Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me".....and Peter responded with...."Then, Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!" So if they criticise me for wearing my 'religion' on my sleeve....I'll say....I cannot do anything but wear the proclamation of the glories of Christ on my sleeve....and also on my feet....and my hand....and my head....for how can one who has encountered Jesus Christ....and been born again....redeemed.....and adopted.....do anything but that?

                
                 
 
                 

America......Free......Free Fallin'

The following post....America....Free....Free Falllin'....was first posted in January of 2012. Sometimes I read these words anew....and considering how this country today is so much worse than it was when I ended that post with...."While angels sent by God prepare to blow their trumpets"....I wonder how it could even be possible that Christians at least....are not meeting every night....imploring of God for the return of the Lord Jesus....but I realize that God has left us to our own devices....whitewashed tombs with lifeless sermons....and broken cisterns that replaced the Fountain of Living Water. I have often in these posts in the last few years pointed back to February 4, 2020.....my seventieth birthday....when Trump stood before a Joint Session of Congress to give the State of the Union address. That was the year when Rush Limbaugh was honored....and Nancy Pelosi tore up Trump's transcript. America was riding high as Trump spoke these words...

"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."

It was as Nebuchadnezzar's boast from the top of his palace. God was right at that moment bringing judgment through the pandemic. I'm reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5:3..."For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they will not escape." A little less than a year later Donald Trump was as if...eating grass on the White House Lawn. It is ironic that in the 1951 film....The Day The Earth Stood Still....the spaceship landed right on that same ellipse.

America....Free....Free Fallin'

          Dawn breaks and pull by pull the flag rises until its stars and stripes blend into the red sky. The 21st century America cold front collides with the warm heritage of American liberty. Dark clouds form above the eagle perched atop the pole and the flag snaps as the winds begin another day of adding to the tatters and waiting for the rain that month by month fades the blue and red hues that Americans have savored as the taste of freedom for so long.

          An icy chill settles in the bones of the one raising the flag for he knows that its stars and stripes will be indiscernible before long. He looks down to see if the cracks in the foundation supporting the pole have widened from the tremors that increasingly shake America...they have. He steps back, standing as erect as he can under the burden of seeing his nation collapse, and salutes; a tear forming as he knows that he may be the last to perform this duty. His mind wanders from, first... the drum and piper escorting the newly created flag, to the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's poem, to the charging Union soldier picking up the banner dropped by a fallen comrade in arms, to the lifting of the flagpole on Mt. Suribachi, to the camo flag on the fatigues of the grunt in Vietnam, to the brilliant contrast of red, white and blue with the gray mountain of fallen steel, brick and mortar of the World Trade Center, to the first responders rushing up those flights of stairs. to the lone flag now raised in the Green Zone of Baghdad.

          In only a few hours cheers and shouts will be heard off in the distance, not for returning heroes, not as a President passes by, not as a war ends in victory but for the beginning of a football game. The Star Spangled Banner will play and be sung by the latest celebrity seeking a national spotlight but not a word of its lyrics will resonate with the power it had since Fort McHenry. We are not as the Roman Empire falling, we are as the Roman Empire beginning whose gods are numerous, whose Caesars consolidate powers given by a populace that only wants another day at the Coliseum. God's hand is being lifted and the exhilaration of choosing our own destiny emboldens us to stare into the eyes of Caesar and say not, "Give me liberty or give me death" but "Give me liberty to choose my own death." All the while the remaining Christians gather in their catacombs wondering if God's mercies on America are over; imploring of Him one more time for America to be a beacon to the nations, a people that not only openly proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind but evidence the beneficence, mercy, majesty, power and glory of Him who created the universe and without whom not one molecule would continue to exist.

          It was a marvel and a wonder while it existed in its original form....these United States of America, but now they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd. They are a people once different as night and day in their habits and their speech that bonded together as a new entity...Americans, freed from the tyranny of kings, freed from serfdom and most importantly freed from the lie that man is the master of his fate, the captain of his soul, but that freedom, once defended, is now merely petted in the lap of luxury, "Free" as the famous rocker penned..."Free Fallin'." The American Creed, never spoken but always evident, is now but a liberal screed against God, against tradition, and against history itself.

          The sun, obscured throughout the day by clouds, sets in the West. The rain that would normally give life to the fields, runs off of the frozen, barren and lifeless ground. The flag is lowered and gently folded into the shape of a tri-cornered hat, one of the last vestiges that remain of the fight for independence. No Taps is heard, only the music of the night coming from wherever the revelers gather after the game. The winds die down, no longer needed, for the flag has been taken down, while angels sent by God prepare to blow their trumpets.

Addendum: At the peril of making this post too long to read....I thought this important enough. John Piper's ministry....desiringgod.org....highlights every day articles either by Piper who others who are part of the ministry. That article is usually given also in audio form....as was today's....Goats In Sheep's Clothing....Why We Warn The Lukewarm. I could have written this....if I was smarter. Greg Morse is the young minister who wrote it. It's only thirteen minutes long....but it has a very important message that comes through very clear....and it may be for you.....but it's also for any pastors....for this is a main illness in our pulpits today....the pastors do not warn....of anything! So if you live a life of a Christian lukewarmness....that does not save....and want to stay right there....then go to church....and you may not be saved....but you will be safe in where you are!

"Thin Gruel"...."Mud Pies"....Or The Glory Of God Revealed

                  Charles Haddon Spurgeon....(1834-1892)....and Martyn Lloyd-Jones....(1899-1981)....were the two greatest preachers in the church in the past 170 years and probably much longer than that. Both were London preachers. As wonderful as Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul and John Piper and John MacArthur and other names that we all know from the past fifty years....none of them can compare to Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones in the effect that their preaching has had on the listeners of their day....and through various technologies....readers and hearers in all of evangelicalism compassing the whole world since they went on to be with their glorious Lord!

                 Now maybe you take issue with my assessment....in fact you might have some names to put up for nomination? I've been around a long time and have heard a lot of good preaching.....and I've heard a lot of terrible preaching that fills giant auditoriums. The issue is not....who might the greatest be....and however great any preacher might be it is because God's Holy Spirit not only prepared them but prepared their hearers.
                 So to the point of this post....you are a hearer....you heard a sermon today....probably....and maybe a half century of sermons....are you in need to hear Christ preached? Of course you are....we all are....but are you as Oliver Twist who was fed thin gruel every mealtime...."desperate with hunger....reckless with misery"....who dared go up to the master and say...."Please, sir, I want some more"....or as C. S. Lewis once postured.....would you....figuratively speaking....out of ignorance for not knowing what is out there....rather make...."mud pies in the slum because [you] cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea?"
                 Try this....Google....Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon, The Only Way....and see if you still want to put up those other names for nomination?

                  
Charles Dickens....Oliver Twist 
C. S. Lewis....The Weight Of Glory, And Other Addresses

Maybe I should just say good-bye right now....for if you ever start listening to preachers such as Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones....you surely will never need to return here?

                 

So What Happened To Jeremiah

                 Were you ever telling a story to someone and as you finished the other person looks at you and asks...."So what happened?" You had completed the narrative but there were some loose ends not necessarily related to the message you were intent on giving. Well that's kind of the way it is with Jeremiah. We follow him for forty years of warning kings and princes and false prophets and the people....Nebuchadnezzar returns super angry....just like Jeremiah told them that he would....and destroys the temple and the walls and the city and takes just about everyone as captives back to Babylon. So what happened to Jeremiah?

               Well....apparently Nebuchadnezzar knew about this prophet that was telling Zedekiah to surrender. He gave orders to his top general to find Jeremiah who had been under house arrest....and offer him a good life in Babylon....or he could stay in what was left of Jerusalem if he chose....but even that's not the end of the story.
                Nebuchadnezzar took everyone back to Babylon but left the poorest of the poor to pick up the pieces and farm the land....and he chose someone to be a governor over them...someone that he could trust....Gedaliah was his name. Here's where it gets complicated. A third man....Ishmael....wasn't happy with the choice....for being of royal lineage he thought he should be named king. Gedaliah was warned about Ishmael but did not heed that warning....long story short....Ishmael kills him....rounds up the people....and starts to take them where he thinks they should go. Enter yet another key player....Johanan....he gathers up as many soldiers as he can and pursues Ishmael and the people....and finds them.
                Ishmael escapes but now Johanan is in charge....and he asks Jeremiah whom along with Baruch was with the people.....he asks him what the LORD would have them do....and then promises to obey whatever Jeremiah tells them. Remember this is after Jeremiah giving true prophetic words for four decades!
                 So Jeremiah asks of the Lord what the people should do....and the LORD tells them to stay in Israel.....and He will protect them and provide for them. Essentially it is the same thing that God had been all along telling the people through Jeremiah....TRUST! You would think that the people would finally believe Jeremiah....but no sooner had he told them what God said but Johanan and the leaders....who had promised to obey what what the LORD would say.....called Jeremiah a liar and a false prophet....just like all the kings and princes had been accusing him of for decades! It's mind-boggling....and frightening....how weak we all are when we do not trust God's Word!
                 Johanan took the people to Egypt....and Jeremiah did his visual parable thing again....this time with rocks....essentially telling the people that they would all eventually die of the sword and pestilence and famine. That's all we know about what happened to Jeremiah....except for this....the most important thing....he is praising the great I Am right now....and exalting his Lord and Savior and King of Kings....and will joyfully do so forevermore....whatever that time paradigm will be that is eternity!
                  So take heart friends....stand for what God's Word tells us of judgment that is coming....and our need to amend our ways and to prepare. No one is going to want to hear it....just as they didn't want to hear what Jeremiah told the people. Trust God....heed the warnings from His Word....listen to what He tells us....and not the various princes and voices that dominate the airwaves today!

For Whom The Death Knell Tolls

 Preface: It is irony in that in this country of about 330 million....if we have a lottery ticket where our chances of winning are about 300 million to one.....our heart rate might spike a little as we read the winning numbers....but concerning the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....there have only been 60 centuries since Adam....120 half centuries if you will....but we think....'nah....120 to 1....no way He is coming back in our generation!'  The following post is from August:             

                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."

                 

The Most Penetrating....Maybe The Clearest.....And Certainly The Most Urgent Evangelistic Sermon I Have Ever Heard

 The following was first posted in early June:           

             Home from vacation....with a couple of days of yard work waiting for me....I just had to stop midway this morning to give you this post. Listening to sermons as I cut grass and do other tasks....as I always do....from either....men from the past....or men today who preach like men from the past....I stumbled across this morning possible the most wonderful evangelistic message that I have ever heard.
             The sermon was preached by Charles Spurgeon on a Lord's Day evening on May 10, 1891. Spurgeon had less than nine months to live. Well let me give you the sermon title....you simply have to Google it....An Urgent Quest For An Immediate Answer. I understand so well where Spurgeon was coming from in this sermon. He had preached the gospel for four decades....most of it in the heart of London....and he...as it were...was upping the ante....and demanding an answer right then as to whether his unconverted hearer would be converted.
              I have found myself in these posts becoming more and more urgent as time goes by. Either believe or don't believe....either become serious in your faith....or admit that you will not become serious in your faith.
              Spurgeon will not let you go away unchallenged in this sermon. Settle it now friends. Why waste your time in hesitation that is only sinking you deeper in unbelief....and taking the precious time of ministers and Christians who try to throw you a rope out of the judgment that you will come to....where you will no longer be able to put things off.