May It Be Tomorrow....Should God Have Mercy Upon Us

Preface: The following post is from March of 2021. We attempted to rebuild this country....as the church lay in shambles. Now....you may challenge my assertion that the church was and is in shambles but I would ask you to read again the book of Malachi....where time and again the Lord brought a charge against the 'church' of that day....and time and again the people say....who us....where....how did we do this that you accuse us of? Should God endue us with this discernment and desire to rededicate....it would have to start somewhere....and it would have to start some particular day. May God if it be His will....and to His glory....have that day be tomorrow! May these pastors....these shepherds....awaken from their slumber! Only the Holy Spirit can do this....only He can humble the proud....and restore vision to the blind! And as in the case of Haggai's message in the below post....may we not...."despise the day of small beginnings"....but praise God in that He has opened our eyes to our own culpability....and given us renewed hope in His power not ours!

In three days it will be sixty years since that terrible day of November 22, 1963. I have posted this often...President Kennedy was to give a speech later in the day. That speech was never given because of what happened in Dealey Square. Who wrote these words? Probably Kenny O'Donnell....I don't know....but that speech on paper ended with Psalm 127:1 from the KJV...."Except the LORD build the house, They labour in vain that build it" These were the last official words of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. 1962 began the....as of today....sixty year collapse of our country. That verse ended with...."Except the LORD keep the city, They watchman waketh but in vain." God's Word is filled with warnings and impending judgments on nations....once blessed...that forget or depart from God!

"Consider Your Ways!"

             Haggai....his job....should he accept it....and he did....(his words did not self-destruct after five seconds....but still speak to us today....should we accept it)....was to reprimand the Jews for whom Cyrus had cleared the way....to rebuild their temple....but they had not....instead they set about remodeling their own homes. 

             You see we thought it necessary to make America great again....but the church was in a state of great disrepair....false prophets were everywhere....and the shepherds did not watch over the sheep. God told the people through Haggai....twice in short order....and twice again later...."Consider your ways." That appears to be what He is saying to us as He let us play around with Donald Trump for a while....showed Trump to be the mockery that he was and is....and yet we apparently want to do it again! It is not that we should not individually work on or repair our own homes....or our government....but that we are in effect....remodeling....and adding to....(rather building upon)....towards a seemingly greater outward glory....whereas inside those doors....the glory has long departed....Ichabod....we may thus celebrate a structure....but not the God who is to dwell in that structure!

            "Now, therefore, thus saith the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways! You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways." (1:5,6,7)
  
              If God is telling us the same thing that He told told the Jews through Haggai....then we also are to begin rebuilding on the foundation that has already been laid. Well....the leaders in both the 'church' and the state in Jerusalem.....and also the remnant of the people....obeyed this Word of the LORD! 

              "And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel....and Joshua....and the spirit of all the remnant of the people....and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God." (1:14)

             So we go on to the second chapter of Haggai. Here is where the people are told to look at the temple being built....and although it is nothing like the former....to take heart....and be strong....and continue....for He the LORD is with us! We are not to fear....not the Democrats....nor our enemies....nor in my case this horrid man Trump. We are not to despise the day of small things....(Zechariah 4:10)....but that day must begin sometime!

            "For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land....and I will fill this house with glory. says the LORD of hosts." (1;6,7)  and....
            "Consider from this day onward....Since the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid-consider carefully." (2:18)

            The glory of the LORD was present in the tabernacle of Moses....and in the first temple....but it departed because of the rebelliousness of the people....just as the glory that was once in the church of today in America....had also departed....Ichabod....because of what we had become and the directions that we chose to go. Haggai then gives a few short sermons....beginning with chapter 2 verse 11....describing how to the Jews of that day....and us today....we have fashioned a church in ways that do not please or honor the Lord. Haggai  informed them of what had happened....and why it happened....and pointed to the coming of the Messiah....where the glory of the LORD will once again fill His house! That message is also to us today....the Messiah is coming again.....take heart!
             Folks....this is how I read the book of Haggai. I'm not a shepherd....I'm just an old man shouting to the shepherds that their flocks are scattered all over the surrounding hills.....eating that which they should not....and unconcerned about wolves roaming those same hills. Read for yourself....pray for our pastors....for mercy extended upon them....thus that mercy extended upon us....and all this would be to the glory of the the LORD of hosts!

Addendum: I have recommended this sermon a number of times....even very recently....but it fits in with this post so here it is again. I listened to it for probably the fourth time an hour ago. Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes a statement on a Bible verse that you surely are familiar with that may shock you. The verse is Revelation 3:20....."Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, then I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me." His statement was that this verse should never be used in evangelism. The sermon can easily be Googled at....Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Lukewarm Church. His point in the sermon is that one may have all the correct doctrine....and worship and do everything else in the correct way....but....well I'll The Doctor as he was affectionately known...tell you what comes after the....'but.'

We Believe In Christ......But Do We......Love......Him?

Preface: The following post is from June 1 of this year. The renowned reformed theologian offered this astonishing food for thought....you may believe in Christ....but do you love Him....your salvation depends upon it.  So how might one discover if they really had love for Christ....or if they merely believed? An alternate question might be....are we ashamed of Christ? The concept of the Lord's Day makes us cringe....would that not be being ashamed of Christ? If sports and entertainment and money and family might have become an idol in our life....might refusing to give them up not be being ashamed of Christ? We purposely avoid being too syrupy in our Christian conversation....for example....would we ever tell others how we love Jesus....or how He is precious? Would not this be being ashamed of Christ? We become in our conversation and our habits like others around us. We will if pressed tell that we are Christian but we do not want to be an oddball....would this not qualify as being ashamed of Christ and His gospel? An even more pressing question as our country collapses would be....do these pastors in our pulpits....love Christ....or do they love more their ministry....and if they do love Christ....why won;t they even lay down their reputations for the sheep?

                 John Murray was an eminent Calvinist....and seminary professor.....of reformed theology. I use the word eminent because he is one of those men from the past where we....at least I do....almost hold my breath as I read their writings....for I respect their lives so much. When we had our Christian bookstore....twenty-some years ago....my best customer was a college professor....(I'm sure he could have purchased the same books from some distributor....but he bought them from our store just to give us business)....this wonderful man.....faithful and true Christian....liked to tell stories.....and one was of how when he was a child....John Murray would come over to their house on Lord's Day afternoons. One particular anecdote he related was on a time when John Murray visited a seminary student of his at the student's apartment.....and in the apartment the seminary student had decorated a Christmas tree. Murray looked at it and just uttered two words....."Pagan bush." I occasionally used that phrase in our own home as I reluctantly every year decorated a Christmas tree. My wife and son probably just rolled their eyes....as at times I would look at it and say...."Pagan bush."

                I was reading yesterday from John Murray's Collected Writings.....and in particular a passage that precipitated this post. The short chapter in question was titled....Love To Christ Indispensable. Murray began the chapter with 1 Corinthians 16:22....KJV

"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."

                Murray went on to define the word anathema....as...."devoted to destruction." The point that he was making was when Paul used the word in Galatians...."But even if we or an angel from heaven preach to you a gospel other than that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema"....did Paul's choice of words show a lack of love? Murray's point....was that Paul's point....was that 'love to Christ' was at the center of the gospel. Therefore any other gospel that replaced love for Christ....was to be 'anathema'....it was that important!
                Murray writes this very stark statement...."The criterion...(to this salvation)....is love, love to Christ, and the thought is that the only alternative to this love of Christ is damnation, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power."
                Murray is challenging the reader here on salvation.....as if he is saying....'you have the words.....but do you have the love of Christ?' Murray continued...."We too readily become the victims of a charity....(love)....that denies the exclusiveness of the gospel, the charity....(love again)....which assumes that decent respectable, friendly people are not the heirs of damnation." Murray explained that if that was our definition of love' then we "have not been captivated by the love of Christ."
               Murray uses these words...."Would God the Father have sent his only-begotten Son into this world, would he have given him to the agony of Gethsemane and the abandonment of Calvary, if common decency were the passport to glory?" John Murray is utilizing common sense here....as much as asking the reader to question whether it even makes sense that God would have his son go to the cross....and then just give us a gospel of salvation where we did not even recognize what had happened....for if we did truly recognize what happened on Calvary....would not love to Christ certainly be the response?
                I've been brought back to this general question often lately on how there can be a genuine salvation in people who do not have this obvious and overwhelming love to Christ. I was somewhat surprised to come across John Murray thoughts on this as I just picked up his book and came to this chapter.
                

Veterans

               Crime shows such as Dateline and 20/20 are obviously very popular. Studies show that twice as many women watch as men. These studies explore the reasons why people are so fascinated with watching true stories about murder. There are even college courses taught on this phenomenon. Friday evenings have two solid hours....on two different channels....Saturday is just a tad below that. So....many Christians....primarily women....saturate themselves with evil....twelve hours before their church service....and of course the pulpits never warn of this.
               This is my second post on Veterans Day....but with a different twist. What is a 'veteran' as it pertains to the Christian life? We honor today veterans who have served our country in the military. Lord willing....I hope to be at our local Veterans Day parade in about an hour. I don't like to run into friends at these parades....and chit chat....and laugh. I 'd rather stand a little bit in the back and reflect. There will most likely be a Korean War veteran riding in an automobile.....and a handful of Vietnam Veteran types marching....maybe some reenactors....and an R.O.T.C group.
                Veterans may have twenty years service....or they may have served only two years during Vietnam. They may have been in firefights in Iraq....or they may have worked out of an office. They come in all colors and shapes and sizes....male and female....young and old. This is their day....where we say....thank you....for giving of your time...and for being there when needed....and for the sacrifices both small and great that you have given for our country!
                 So what is that Christian veteran? Well....technically speaking....there should be no such thing as a Christian veteran....for the word 'veteran' as it pertains to the military implies past tense....although in sport a player may still be active but referred to as a veteran player. For my purposes here....there is no past tense....and 'veteran' means one who has served for many years....and is what is often called....a lifer. 
                 War is fundamentally different to the Christian soldier. There and has been blood and death....and a war of all wars is just ahead. There can be office work so to speak....but if there has been no war....and no wounds....for even the daintiest and frail Christian are true soldiers....then something has not gone according to God's plan....for He tells us that all of us most definitely will be fighting most of the time....and wounded often....but healed always! 
                  The veteran in this sense knows the pain and the fear of battle. He knows the dense fog of war....and the confusion. He knows what it's like to cry out to God for help. He knows the butchery of the enemy. He knows what it's like to be taken by surprise. He knows what's it's like to lose a battle...to lie in the dust bleeding....ashamed that he wasn't prepared enough....or didn't have enough courage. He also knows victory....he (she) is now a veteran....hardened in many respects....much more knowledgeable than at first....once a recruit following advice....he now gives it....thus my thoughts at the beginning of this post....flee these morbid fascinations that work against any and all edification....and as I posted yesterday....flee talk radio that drags you off God's mountain....flee sport and entertainment if you cannot keep them in moderation....flee the megachurch if the praises that you are led into are not preceded by mortification....and flee any church that does not warn to flee the wrath that is to come.

"They Can't Take That Away From Me"

Preface: My wife and I were having dinner with another Christian couple the other day....and my friend and I were talking in the garage. He had a large 82nd Airborne flag hanging on the wall. I spent my last six months in the army at Fort Bragg....as they were trying to find any place they could for our relatively small signals intelligence units to finish out their service after Vietnam. They changed the name of the fort in 2021. It's ironic....they apply oppressive restrictions....so that they can rename it....Fort Liberty. They can do those type of things. They can take down statues and melt down the metal....but they can't take away...."the memory of all that." When I think of Fort Bragg.....I think about its acclaimed history....and the 82nd....and Special Forces. The following was first posted in July....and I bring it back for Veterans Day:
       
"They Can't Take That Away From Me"         

               The song was written by George Gershwin....and first sung by Fred Astaire....to Ginger Rogers.....in the 1937 film......Shall We Dance. I had the song on an album by Pat Boone....but it was recorded by most of the top singers over the next few decades. I can't remember how the song fit into the film....and don't have enough interest to look it up....for it's not the music or the story line that stays with me....but rather the declarative statement.
               I was listening to some medleys tonight....that's how this started....the service songs....the Air Force and the Marines....the Coast Guard....and the Army and the Navy. Anchors Away always does this to me....and I wasn't even in the Navy....but I had just watched too many movies as a kid....read too many history books....was in the army myself....visited many battlefields over the years....the most recent was Washington's stunning success in the Battle of Princeton in 1777....but the song itself came back to me tonight as my thoughts went back a few days to walking around Princeton University and Princeton Seminary....where....Ichabod....the glory of God had long departed from both....and history was either ignored or outright changed.
              They....the Democrat Party today and everything that it represents....they can take away all kinds of things from the public square....love of country....the constitution....common sense....a man and a woman marriage....even the gospel of Jesus Christ. They can forbid this....or teach that....all they want....but they cannot take away the memory....nor squelch the truth of what happened....most importantly the glories of our Savior and His wonderful condescension to us in our merciful salvation. That was the song lyrics...."the way you wear your hat....the way you sip your tea....the memory of all that....no....no....(the song title)....They Can't Take That Away From Me."
               We in evangelicalism tend to handle it this way....we shout over them. I'm not interested as much in who wins the day....because my hope is not in victories on this earth. We could win every social issue out there today....cleanse every library....and still be the very same people....toying with God....and thinking ourselves so deserving that He gave us victory....to resume living the way we were living before He permitted this punishment to begin with!
               These battles can be lost....but knowing the truth cannot be lost. They cannot take away from me the sacrifices made....from either soldiers on a battlefield....or pioneers clearing homesteads on the frontier or the prairie. They can write about it differently....they can take over much of education....but they cannot take away our ability to raise our own children in the truth! They can change history books....or take away statues....but they cannot even dim the memory of church history....nor take the power away from the Word of God!
               I wrote in a post a few years ago that....they can sing the Internationale all they want....and we can pray in the middle of a football field all that we want....but our hope is not in the results of an election. I remember the sacrifices made....not only defending freedom....but in the multitude of martyrs who are our primary heroes. They can no more take away the memory of a Martin Luther than they can a Thomas Jefferson.
               The real battle today has not changed. We are a remnant. We were always a remnant whether it was in 1776 or 2016. We are in a war that has nothing to do with who the President of the United States might be. It is not the books in the school library as much as the books in our home. It is not only our congress that is weak....but our pulpits! They can take away prayer in school....but they cannot take away prayer! They can cloud the mind of my neighbor....but they cannot cloud my mind...and as these judgments continue....and increase in their severity....they can think that they are winning....but they are about to witness the coming of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! I can only praise God  in that He had mercy upon the lowest of the low....that I can write these words....knowing full well that I have nothing over my neighbor....other than an inheritance....given to a prodigal....through an invitation....along with the desire to extend that same invitation to as many as God might permit....for the table is set and the victory is already won!

"The angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God' " Revelation 19:9

     

BROAD is the WAY

                Titanic, The Musical....sounds kind of morbid at first. The 1997 play won the Tony for best musical. It ran on Broadway....(I can't hear that word with thinking of Matthew 7:11...."Enter ye at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat"....it ran for two years....eight hundred and some performances....and then went on tour....none of which I had seen or even been interested in....but I went tonight to this limited showing.....two days....of the play on film....by myself....for my wife had a previous engagement.
                So it wasn't morbid....it was moving. I'll only relate one scene. This would have been Sunday April 14, 1912....and Captain Smith gathered around a smattering of cast members in a church service of some sort to sing....which they did....one hymn....and the captain announced that afterwards there will be some jazzy popular music....which they moved to rather quickly. So everyone was dancing when the ship shook from grazing the iceberg. Well that's the director's take on it anyway....but the shift from hymns to entertainment was obvious.
                The musical numbers were good....as was the acting. Some of the actors had double roles....but there was to me anyway one very interesting cast member. I could not verify this before typing this post....and I tried.....but one of the main stewardesses...(that's what they called them....female stewards)....one of them....in this a very bit role....looked like....and I'm almost sure that it was....Nan Gurley....who played Corrie Ten Boom....in the play turned film The Hiding Place that I a few months ago posted five times on....for I felt that the message was so important for us to hear again today!
               Twelve hours from now pastors will be entering their pulpits. Right now as I type....roughly 10:30 in the evening....they are either in bed praying with tears for words to bring to the souls in their congregation....Iceberg Dead Ahead....would be a topical title....or they are watching Alabama vs LSU on TV.....their 'sermons' already prepared.
               May God have mercy upon us....as we are totally taken over by our entertainments....and this as biblical prophecy is playing out right before us on the world's stage. May He take sleep from His faithful stewards this night....and may His Holy Spirit endue them with power to awaken all of us!  

Note: That wonderful play turned into a film....The Hiding Place....the 2023 version....appears to be available to stream at....thehidingplacefilm.com.

Believing....But Not Really Seeing

              To the believer who cannot discern that the state of Israel....or 1948....has anything to do with the coming of Jesus Christ in power and great glory....they must really be squirming as they read the news. Hal Lindsey is probably taking pills to keep his heart rate down....and he wrote on this a half century ago....such is the enormity of what is going on in the Middle East right now.
               I was playing the reporter again today....and asked a friend what his pastor has had to say about the war in Israel. "Not much".....was his answer. That is what I have heard every time I have asked that question. It's just not mentioned from the average evangelical pulpit. And then my friend said in defense of that...."The Bible says that there will be 'wars and rumors of wars.' There's nothing that we can do"....which is also what I hear every time.
               War is coming....I don't know how many times I've said that? On another plane it could be business or finances....it could be a relationship....it could even be sports....when there comes a time when an end result is already determined and irrevocable. That is why there are so many divorces....as everything taken into consideration....the offenses....the history....and that neither of the parties are trusting God over their hurts and their feelings....that the marriage is going to be dissolved. There are people that are so far in debt that there is no avoiding a personal crash. They will have to start over.  Likewise....there can be a fake peace....a ploy more than anything else....but there is no stopping this coming war. A point has been reached where some of these nations cannot go back.
               So both sides of this equation in the question that I asked my friend say that war is coming.....but one side states it as a very impersonal....even abstract theological fact....and the other side states it as pain ready to be inflicted on all parties involved! Therein is a serious difference! It is easy to state what one cannot imagine in advance...and thus it is easy to avoid....but to the other side....where loved ones and millions of others will be involved....and life as we know it....where food and warmth and security were taken for granted....will be no more....it becomes a cause of great and existential concern....and if one sees it as Daniel saw it in his visions....making him physically ill....it is a cause for preparation along with immediate and continuous prayer.
               There are Christians who can matter-of-factly state that they believe in hell....but have never really considered what that could be....thus they show scant concern over the salvation of even their own loved ones.  They could talk of the blood shed on Calvary....and never really even have imagined the blessed Son of God hanging there....and they can with correct doctrine describe their own salvation....but never have seen how utterly hopeless they once were....what price was paid....and how by every truthful testimony they should never have been shown mercy....but they were!
               

               

A Sermon For The Reformed....And The Conservative Evangelical

                There are four trees in our yard. At one time there were five....two of them were so close together that they appeared as one. There was such a golden brilliance in the fall that people would stop just to admire....hopefully the glory of God's creation. One of those trees died from disease and had to be cut down. The brilliance is still there but no one stops by just to gaze. The tree directly in front of our house never turns a brilliant gold! It blooms green early in the Spring but then in the fall....well after the other trees have turned gold and red....it just becomes a pale green....as the leaves just fall when they want. Right now....November 1....the other three trees have turned colors and the leaves fallen....while the fourth tree lingers....more of an eyesore.
               There is a sermon that I would like to recommend to you from Martyn Lloyd-Jones. As the title I gave to this post implies....it seems directed to reformed believers....really any conservative evangelical today....and I would also hope that some pastors read it....for too often we become the tree that can be a rich green....but never brilliant. The sermon can easily be Googled at....Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon....The Lukewarm Church.

It Can Only Get Worse......And It Has

 Preface: The following is the first few paragraphs of a post from October 2, 2018 under the title...A Very Natural Temptation. It was last posted on March 6 of this year along with the verse from 1 Samuel....and was titled.....as this whole post is today....It Can Only Get Worse....And It Has. The post focused on Christians in Germany who were not outraged at the hatred for the Jews....for their minds were clouded by the prospect of Germany becoming rich once again. That concept...up until today....was always something from out of the past....or from some other place....and it was hard for us to fully comprehend....but today that same hate for the Jewish people rears its ugly head again. No longer something from history....it should literally terrify us....but its tentacles extend even into our ranks....conservatives and evangelicals. We are a tree that stopped bearing fruit....whose green leaves were spotted with disease....and they failed to turn glorious colors before they died. The excuse we use is that these are Jews....they rejected God....and He has abandoned them. Germany paid a heavy price for taking that position. Did you think that discernment in the last days was going to be easy....that a problem comes up....and you just look it over and make up your mind? God's Word tells us the very opposite.....where great delusion and a falling away is coming....where even the elect would be deceived....if that were possible. We are warned repeatedly to stay awake....and vigilant....that if we do then others would be taken by surprise....but not us! Here's is an odd question to put to you. How much have you read about what the Steelers (or whatever your home team might be)....how much have you read about them in the past three days compared to how much you have read of end-times prophecy in God's Word....which is literally everywhere? How is it that you expect any discernment at all? Are you relying on your perceived intellect?  

1 Samuel 8:7...."The Lord said to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." The following was first posted on October 2, 2018:

A Very Natural Temptation

              As we all know the reparations demanded of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles were unbearable for the German population who were fiercely defensive of their homeland and German heritage. The Weimar Republic which came about at the end of World War I was weak....and hated. It wasn't going to last....but what would replace it? The future of Germany depended on its church which was unified in that the German people believed that the state needed its church....and the church needed its state....but there was little unity beyond that.
             A 'German Church' movement developed that entwined itself around the powerful ideology of National Socialism....a movement that was going to lead Germany back into prosperity and power. A 'Confessing Church' movement formed to stop in its tracks the state's intrusion into all church matters....but the Confessing Church itself was divided between those who just wanted the state out of the church....and those who knew that there were big problems with National Socialism.
             Martin Niemoller....you may have heard about him....represented those who at first thought that National Socialism was a great thing if kept in its place. Dietrich Bonhoeffer....you certainly have heard of him....saw the horrors of where this extreme nationalism could go. Niemoller spent years in prison and concentration camps before finally seeing the mistakes that he made before the war. Bonhoeffer paid for his discernment with his life.
            

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

Preface: I was sitting at a bar....drinking a Coke....and watching the Dolphins and the Patriots on Monday Night Football. It was December 8, 1980. Howard Cosell broke the news on John Lennon's death. This morning I finally listened to what is billed as....the Beatles last song....Now And Then. I won't be purchasing it for any reason but it would be interesting in that almost sixty years earlier to the day I purchased the Beatles song mentioned in the post below....sixty years! The 'new' song was typical John Lennon in his later days and would have fit in well on his Double Fantasy album. Oh my....what technology can give us....and do to us....and this record is just a smidgeon of what is being done. It is more than a culmination of an anthology of Beatles records....meant to be somewhat of a eulogy of a culture....it is more the last song in the cabaret before night cometh. President Kennedy's gravesite was probably still new grass when I bought that first record. Sixteen years later....the same time of the year....my father would be buried a few hundred yards from the Eternal Flame at Arlington National Cemetery. On the day that my father died....November 4, 1979....Iranian students took 52 hostages in Tehran and would hold them for 444 days until Ronald Reagan took office as president...and the world would begin to change again. Reagan was elected president exactly one year later....November 4, 1980....30 days before Lennon's death.

                

               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. 

Thank God For Men Like William Tyndale

               On a number of occasions I recommended that Christians do not employ a 'read the Bible in a year' plan....even though most major ministries do recommend them....and I have never read a word of criticism on the plans. I acknowledge that there was a day when this method was probably very beneficial....but right now we need the leading of the Holy Spirit on where to go in our daily reading of God's Word....just as pastors need that freedom to preach on where the Holy Spirit would lead them on the Lord's Day!
               I'm less confident on this but I also do not favor expository preaching. I have heard of pastors who have preached on the book of Genesis for a year straight. My own pastor is preaching from the gospel of Luke for a year.....after preaching on Revelation for a year. Martyn Lloyd-Jones could preach long periods of time on one book. I love those particular sermons but I could never spend a year straight on them. His were different times....and I do not think that he would be doing that today. Charles Spurgeon on the other hand preached topically and I have been listening to recorded sermons of his from 1989 to 1991 straight through for the past six months.
               There is something else that is less than ideal with expository preaching. Generally....the preacher takes a verse....usually an entire passage....and explains it....most of the time accurately I'm sure. The problem as I have come to see it is that any Christian can do the very same thing on his or her own....and should be doing that on a daily basis. What results is that we get ourselves in a rut where we wait for Sunday to be taught God's Word....and maybe also midweek in a Bible study....but once again it is going to be someone teaching us what in most cases we should be doing ourselves....and therefore going out to find new believers to help them on their way until they also can read God's Word for themselves!
               I have seen over the past forty years....Bible studies take a small pamphlet....maybe on Ephesians or Philippians or any epistle....and take six months to go through it one day a week....and then take the summer off for vacation! There is a great need for Bible studies....we do need guided....and I thank God for faithful Christians who teach and believers who want to know....but we are to work to become craftsmen....and this is but one tool.
               I posted this in September of 2009...."[These are the] words of William Tyndale, martyred for translating and printing the Bible in Henry VIII's England, who when confronted by the vain knowledge of a cleric who opposed him said....'If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, shall know more of the Scriptures than thou'."
               I am just a ploughboy....and I thank God for that....for if I were a minister....with my degree in theology hanging on my wall....and ministerial meetings and session meetings and presbytery meetings and yearly synods to reinforce in me a feeling that I am in some way more capable of going to God's Word than the borough employee raking piles of leaves off the street into the vacuum hose....this outside my window as I type right now....then I might also be glued to a yearly plan....and not observing what God is evidencing right now as to the time that we live in.

Addendum: As so very often happens....I posted and then came across something related that I want to share. In this case it is from John Piper's....desiringgod.org...ministry....an article on audio by one of the young men who John Piper is apparently nurturing. There are a number of these young men....Greg Morse is another that comes to mind. Today is Reformation Day....recalling that day 506 years ago when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg....effectually starting the Reformation. The audio of that article by David Mathis is titled.....Real Protestants Keep Reforming....and I highly recommend that you listen in!

Also....I randomly picked a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon on revival to listen to after posting the above. He began by saying that he was interrupting his sermon series on Ephesians "for a few Sundays" to preach on an "urgent matter'....the deteriorating consideration in the church and the world and the urgent need for revival. MLJ preached this sermon on January 11, 1959. !958 had been one nuclear test after another by the West and the USSR....and Khrushchev had just warned the West to get out of Berlin. I do not have much feedback from Christians on the sermons that they hear but on what I do....there is little urgent concern on anything. I personally have hardly heard a word on what is happening in Israel. May God open our eyes in that we might see what is ahead....and pray without ceasing....so that the bride might prepare herself for the coming of the bridegroom....our Lord Jesus Christ....along with His mighty angels.

"Therefore...Come Out From Among Them....And Be Ye Separate"

 Preface: The following is from late November....(the first paragraph)....and early December....(the second paragraph)....of last year. Today we will defend our church....or our pastor....or our favorite national ministry....or our politics.....it's the gospel of Jesus Christ that we no longer defend. I bring this back for this week's Lord's Day post. Please.....pray with me for those entering the pulpits in just about twelve hours from my posting this:

               We are in denial. I've seen a fair amount in my seventy-two....almost seventy-three years now....but what is happening today should have sent the men in our pulpits to their knees....pleading with God for discernment to adequately warn the saints....but it has not....but it will. Verses like the one in the title to this post are obsolete in the evangelical mind of today. The whole Bible is up for grabs as for interpretation. There is no cost to discipleship anymore. No one has to be 'born again'....whatever that means....even our adult children. Absolutely everything is about us today....our desires....our future....our families....our liberties and freedom. Church is a good time. 

             "The World Cup begins in Qatar in less than 48 hours....just about the time that men will be entering their pulpits here in our Eastern Time Zone. Most of these men live in fear of finding out that they really do not know what is going on in the world. They have not adequately fed the sheep....not in the glories of Jesus Christ....nor man's need to be born again....nor with any warning to prepare for what is ahead of us. Here in Pittsburgh they probably know more of what the Pittsburgh Steelers need than what their own soul needs. This will change....in God's time.....for He is merciful....and many of these men will awaken when they can deny no longer that these are not normal times....but that still leaves us with today. May God begin to have mercy upon us this Lord's Day! May His Holy Spirit begin to awaken pastors and restore in us....the great blessing of the fear of the Lord! May He move in our hearts towards repentance and humility! May He move in my heart....and forgive my many vain and pitiful attempts to warn of that which I also need warned of....and may His judgment....which has already started and continuously increases in severity....come also with mercy and compassion....knowing the weakness of our frame!" 

The title verse is from 2 Corinthians 6:17

So What Is It......Yes Or No?

                  It was one of the very last sermons that Charles Haddon Spurgeon would give in his long ministry. It was May of 1891....and Spurgeon....55 years old at the time....would go to be with his Lord in January of 1892. The audio sermon is available about twenty posts below this....with a link to a British gentleman reading the sermon....for we do not even have Spurgeon's voice recorded let alone a whole sermon that he preached.

                I gave a pretty audacious title to the post and the link....The Most Penetrating....Maybe The Clearest....And Certainly The Most Urgent Evangelistic Sermon That I Have Ever Heard. Spurgeon titled the sermon....An Urgent Request For An Immediate Answer. I listened to it again last evening....and then I decided to read the transcript. Here is why....

                A good part of the beginning of the sermon is on Genesis 24 where Abraham sent his servant to his original country to bring back a wife for Isaac. This alone is an astounding portion of God's Word....but if you are not familiar with it during the sermon....you can get lost. So please....read Genesis chapter 24 in preparation....and then prepare to hear or read the product of the mind of one of God's greatest evangelists!
                 The evangelistic call in this sermon is somewhat different....probably....than anything you will have ever heard. Spurgeon had preached for forty years up to this point....the church in England was collapsing....and contained in the sermon was forty years of accumulated wisdom....along his knowledge that he probably had few years left on this earth....all this gave him the urgency in this sermon.
                 What comes to mind as I type this is a sinking ship. Some of the passengers....possibly as on the Titanic as they were beginning to fill the few lifeboats....hesitated on entering a lifeboat....thinking that surely that ship would not....even could not....sink. Orders were barked....get in the boats....or get out of the way.
                 We should not need examples like this for none of us knows if this is not the day that we will die. I'm reminded of Bing Crosby's death. He had just completed a round of golf in Spain....and was 74....only a year older than I am....and shot an 85....not to confuse you. He said to the person walking with him...."Let's go get a Coke"....and collapsed....possibly dying before he hit the ground. The death of Pete Maravich at 40 comes to mind also....on a basketball court....with James Dobson by his side. It was reported that his last words were...."I feel great."
                  So we should not need reminded of these things but Spurgeon was a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He had watched people in the pews hem and haw....some of them for decades. I have witnessed the exact same thing. That is what makes this sermon different. If you are one of these folks who remain uncommitted....you need to hear this sermon....or read it. 
                  If you are a Christian who has loved ones that fall into that category....you should heed Spurgeon's message in this sermon.
                  Spurgeon used Abraham's servant as an example. When he found the young woman that he was sure was perfect for Isaac....he wanted an answer right them if she would go back with him. Again and again in this sermon....Spurgeon told the unbelieving hearers in the pews....make your decision right now....for otherwise you will hem and haw forever.
                  Folks....time is short before Jesus Christ returns with His mighty angels. I will give one anecdote that Spurgeon related. It was about Benjamin Franklin. A man was in his store and interested in a certain book but wanted to get Franklin down in his price. He asked him how much the book was and was told...."a shilling".....the man hemmed and hawed and asked...."Come, Mr. Franklin, now what will you take for it?" Franklin responded...."Two shillings." The man stewed for a while and asked again...."I want the book but will not give two shillings....what will you take for it." Maybe you know what Ben Franklin said....."Three shillings." Spurgeon's message here was that it gets harder as time goes on!
                 You will find this sermon powerful.....and humbling....possibly even devastating! Spurgeon also said that if one gives no answer....then they are giving an answer of no.....no....they are admitting that they do not believe in Christ....no....they will not follow him.
                  So will you listen to or read this sermon? Yes or No? Do you want to make sure your salvation? Not answering this question....is answering....no.....you do not want to make sure your salvation.....no....you are not interested in these things.

Addendum: On June 7, 1891 Charles Haddon Spurgeon gave his last sermon.....this in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. His son and successor.....Thomas Spurgeon....fourteen years later.....recited his father's last words from that pulpit....into an Edison recording machine. These were those last words....

"If you wear the livery of Christ, You will find him so meek and lowly of heart that you find rest unto your souls.
 He is the most magnanimous of captains.
 There never was his like among the choicest of princes.
 He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle.
 When the wind blows cold he always takes the bleak side of the hill.
The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on his shoulders.
 If there is anything that is gracious, generous, kind, tender,
 yea lavish and superabundant in love, you always find it in him.
 His service is life, peace, joy.
 Oh, that you would enter on it at once!
 God help you to enlist under the banner of JESUS CHRIST!

                 

We Were Born In Different Times......But We Can Still Praise The Same Glorious Savior

 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!)

From A Distinct Possibility......To A Probability

                It was a 1951 short story that inspired it all. The author was Arthur C. Clarke who co-wrote the screenplay in 1968 to Stanley Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey. In the short story....which takes place in 1996....a metallic object is found on the moon....that has a power to protect itself from anything coming near it. Humans eventually destroy it....and thereby find out that it was created by some kind of alien life somewhere. The message given in the story is that whoever or whatever created and placed that object....would know that intelligent life....(us).....existed.....for they....(we).....were advanced enough to find this radio emitting object....and to destroy it....stopping the transmission of the signals. So we on earth could expect a visit by this alien life.

               I was eighteen when I first saw 2001, A Space Odyssey. In one scene the AI in the form of HAL....says...."I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do." You most likely know how the film ends....HAL....the artificial intelligence....kills most everyone on the spaceship....and has to be destroyed by the one man who remained.
               I wrote this in a 2009 post....while warning on this and other topics that have come to fruition...."Do I sound melodramatic? If you can see what is happening to our country, it is an understatement."
               Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 19....who were commanding Him to stop His disciples from praising Him...."I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out." He also told them....this in Matthew 3:9...."God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."
               There is an article out today....really only the latest of a long list of articles....reporting where the 'godfather' of AI....a former Google researcher....is warning us that AI might "escape control" by writing its own code. Geoffrey Hinton said that neural networks are created....and we really don't know how that works.
               There is another article out today where Microsoft had to...."lobotomize"....an image creating AI right after it was launched because it produced an image of Mickey Mouse in the cockpit....holding a pistol....and smiling....with the 9/11 planes in view....flying into the World Trade Center.
               Folks...I am not even an amateur in computer AI technology....but I know something about Bible prophecy. Right now it is more than a distinct possibility....but a probability....that that neural network of AI will eventually be occupied by an alien entity.....but it's not really an entity alien to this earth....for Jesus said in 1 John 5:19...."the whole world lies in the power of the evil one"....but that power was severely limited by the incarnation....calvary....the resurrection.....Jesus Ascension....and the sending of His Holy Spirit.

               

"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?

                 

Netanyahu's Trump Style State Of The Union Speech

 Preface: The following is from September 22 after Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the United Nations:

1 Thessalonians 5:3 "While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."

                Jesus knew that within a few hours Peter would deny Him three times. Nothing was going to change this....but He still prayed for Peter....for He told him that Satan wanted to sift him as wheat. (Luke 22:31)

                Benjamin Netanyahu is calling it the potential for an historic peace...."Peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia will truly create a new Middle East." He presented his case to the United Nations for a peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He used the words "peace and prosperity." He contrasted the "blessings" of peace with the "curse" of terrorism....war....and Iran. He pointed out that four Arab neighbors had already made peace with Israel....and if Saudi Arabia follows them in making peace with Israel....than the Palestinians should recognize that they would have no choice but to make peace with Israel also.
                The speech was mostly optimism....wildly over-optimistic at times....he wasn't trying to hide that. He has to pursue peace....we all do....but just as it was decreed that Peter would fail....so will fail this latest attempt at building that...."new Middle East."
                Whatever the details are....and we do not know them now....they may on paper be sound....maybe even genius....but they will not succeed. This is like trying to build a house of cards with an oscillating fan that will eventually pass the house of cards and blow them all down.
                 The Israeli Prime Minister's speech was laced with biblical themes. All of Benjamin Netanyahu's speeches are intelligent and clearly understood. It's a great gift of his....and English is his second language....whereas Joe Biden and Donald Trump stumble and bumble all over the place....but a speech is only a speech. Trump's February 4, 2020 State of the Union Speech....written by others....was eloquent and powerful....it could rival JFK's or Reagan's words....but it was also arrogance and deception and false prophecy! It meant nothing as the world was just beginning to experience the ravages of the coronavirus.
                  Netanyahu's speech was starting to resemble Trump's State of the Union in the great changes that were ahead as he said...."Imagine the blessings of finally cracking the genetic code, extending life by decades, and dramatically reducing the ravages of old age...imagine a world with boundless clean energy." John Lennon is not the person that any God-fearing man should be referencing....but that's what he did....by name....and it disturbed me a little in how he felt that he needed to remind people of what he personally had accomplished. He did acknowledge towards the end the dangers in this latest quest for peace in the Middle East but it was almost as an afterthought.
                 I also found it odd how he emphasized....first the great potential of artificial intelligence...."the most consequential development of our time"....and then immediately after....the great dangers of artificial Intelligence. Actually I found it very disturbing that he would make AI which is...."progressing at lightning speed"....such a major part of a major speech.
                 

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."

                 

This Storm Had Already Begun

 Preface: The following post is from September 13, 2019. It was a warning about a storm that was coming. Two months later a cluster of patients in Wuhan, China developed pneumonia symptoms that did not respond to treatment. Billy Graham wrote his book Storm Warning in 1991. It was published on New Years Day 1992....and the book was "completely revised and updated" in 2010. I no longer have the 1992 edition....so I don't know if the following comment from page 73 was also in the earlier edition....but I tend to think that it was not. He wrote...."I look back on my many years as an evangelist and wonder, Have I made the Christian faith look too easy......in my eagerness to tell the world about the greatest gift that comes from God....I ask myself if I have comprehended the price He paid for our freedom....Have I adequately explained the price we must pay in humbling ourselves, turning our backs on pride, and sacrificing our earthly desires out of obedience to the Lord?" I do believe that this comment was in the original....."[This] storm warning carries a booming jolt of truth--Trouble Ahead; Prepare to Meet Thy God." 

Storm Warning.....September 13, 2019

           As I watch with everyone else the progress of Hurricane Dorian....I'm reminded of another hurricane force storm that occurred in the eastern Mediterranean almost two thousand years ago that was recorded in great detail in the 27th chapter of the books of Acts. That storm also lasted a couple of weeks. There was a similar storm at the end of September 1969....(these Mediterranean storms that might be equivalent to a category 1 hurricane are somewhat rare.) In that storm a 20,000 ton tanker struck a reef near Malta and split in two.
            As of this evening....Dorian just doesn't want to move away from parts of the Bahamas.....very similar to how Paul and his 275 other shipmates fought and fought the storm for many days. We still are not sure of the exact path that Dorian will take....but we are sure of this.....God rules the waves of the sea as he rules every atom in this universe.
            I wonder how many of those Roman soldiers....and that ship's crew.....and the inhabitants of Malta....eventually came to faith in Christ because of that storm? An "angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve" told Paul....and Paul relayed it to his shipmates.....that there would be no loss of life.....but the ship would be lost. God's Word speaks similarly to us today in that there will be no loss of eternal life to those who belong to and serve Christ.....but the ship will be lost. Paul himself must have been gravely concerned at first for the angel told him not to be afraid....and he then in turn told all that were with him to take courage.
            There is another storm coming folks. Meteorologists speak in terms of rotating low-pressure weather systems and maximum sustained winds but God's Word as it pertains to this storm that is coming speaks in terms of birth pangs. The rotating low-pressure....as it were....is almost becoming unbearable to watch.....while the maximum sustained winds are increasing.....the cries of pain all over this earth are increasing....and the contractions are coming closer together. We are still told to take courage....but therein is the rub....there is a difference between knowing what is ahead and yet remaining calm.....and having no knowledge of or concern for what is ahead......and remaining calm.
            Folks....we....meaning Christians.....on the whole....could not care less about judgment coming. You would have to have lived in the 80s to know what it was like for the church to know how far we had fallen....and that God was giving a strong warning of impending judgment....but our discernment is just about all gone. The Pre-Trib rapture has done it's damage as Christians think that they are going to get beamed up out of an NFL football game if necessary before the tough times start. Look at what's on Christian television....it's as if God exists just to make us happy....and what was left of us were taken in by a huckster in Donald Trump whose idea of wisdom is getting every dollar owed us around the world. It is eerie.....personal opinion here....to see how we have regressed....but it in itself seems to be part and parcel of what God's Word tells us that the world will be like upon His return.
            

We Don't Want To Hear It......It's As Simple As That

The following post is from 2017:

            We don't want to hear about God judging America. We just don't want to hear it. It's as simple as that. We are a people that want to get for ourselves what we want for ourselves....what we feel that we deserve. The old days where Americans actually felt some kind of thankfulness not only for those who worked and sacrificed for centuries to give us the nation that we once had but thankfulness to God for blessing this land with spacious skies and amber waves of grain....that's no longer us. Half of us....or at least close to half of us....can no longer think through existential issues....our progressive educational system having insured that we are to be followers and not leaders....producers and not thinkers.
            We cannot grasp the problem of a now twenty-one trillion dollar deficit. (now $22 trillion)....if we ignore it it will go away.....Communism is just a name from the past....and whatever it was.....it doesn't really exist anymore. In fact if any nagging threat to America does grab our attention for more than a few days....thus upsetting our personal schedule....we just put our headphones on....or watch cable TV and sports....and if we want evidence that we are all right all we have to do is check the Dow Jones Industrial Average....or go outside for a walk where the birds are still chirping....and the squirrels and rabbits still play and chase each other around....and no one passing by seems overly concerned.
          I can see the total lack of vigilance in the long-term decisions that younger people make. There's no room in those plans for emergencies.....or for war....or even for another Great Depression. They don't show the slightest concern that the world governments have emergency plans to change the entire structure of money and the way that we buy and sell....that is if this emerging New World Order even lets us have all of our money. Whereas we used to laugh at such suggestions of a one world government....today no one is laughing....we just push it off the possibility to years down the road.
           On our side of this mess we search for churches that exude happiness in a world of turmoil. A giant church with a latte bar and exercise classes does the trick. Don't believe me? Go and read their church websites. There is little to no mention of repentance on them for that would be church growth killer. Their listed 'beliefs' are given about as much weight as directions to the church....and their sermon titles are charmingly unobtrusive. Ask them about the omission of any warnings and they will tell you that you just have to trust God! You mean like trusting Him when He give us warning after warning for decade after decade?
          God sent Jonah to Nineveh with a warning. The Ninevites repented. A century or so passed but God then sent Nahum to the same people. This time there was no offer of forty days. It was a proclamation of imminent judgment. God sent one Jonah after another to America for the past half century....all the warnings were ignored....and the message of Nahum is to us now....read it if you will at your leisure.
           This is a time of preparation.....physically but more importantly spiritually.....but you won't hear that message in too many of our pulpits....why....as I wrote in the first paragraph of this post.....we don't want to hear about God judging America....we just don't want to hear it....it's as simple as that.

"....Yet We Will Not Return"

 The following post is from November of 2017:

     
       The hatred of God is out in the open....unbridled.....and nearly out of control. There are no principles in sight anywhere. Love has grown cold. Conservative talk radio.....the bulwark of the conservative movement....too much of it anyway....has given up the fight for truth and transparency.....for now anyway. For a new entity to be uplifted has arisen......a ram of sorts that charges east and west. What exactly it is no one really knows.
        Conservatives have had their moorings cut. We now tweet our prayers. We wanted something noble....but will settle for something practical. As the months bleed on.....as the earth groans.....as the cosmos becomes a threat......and as man challenges God more and more.....we look to this new entity. He only has to roar and we cheer. He simply struts by and we applaud. We demand no pedigree. We follow him not knowing where he leads us. He doesn't go to church.....we don't care. He surrounds himself with faces unfamiliar to us....he must have a reason. He destroyed the wicked witch.....and therefore he is our champion.
        God watches all of this. His angels.....their countenance firm and confident.....wait for His command.......the mountains for when to quake.....the valleys to become mountains.....the four winds to come forth with fury.....the seas to boil and churn......and the stars to fall.
        We will not entice Him to change His decrees.  He will not meet us halfway as we request. He has found us wanting and been patient as we ignore His warnings. He does not take pleasure in our mantra.... 'God Bless America.' He is not impressed by our plans. He will not share His glory.

        He watches our eyes.....for them to turn.....from politics.....from ourselves.....to Him....but we will not turn to Him.  He knows His children.....he hears their cries....."Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." He will come with His reward.....for He has promised.....and there is nothing as sure.....nothing as trustworthy.....nothing as awe-inspiring.....no hope as great.....no joy as pure.....no love as real.....no discipleship as difficult.....no rewards as great.....and no Helper as strong.

"We Shall Not Sleep....Though Poppies Grow"

Preface: The following was posted on a beautiful June day this past summer. I just fed the birds....and it is 27 degrees outside....but it is not only summer days that can put us to sleep! 

                  "We shall not sleep, though poppies grow....In Flanders fields." That is the end of the short poem by John McCrae....that became so popular during World War I. I remember having to read it in high school. The meaning....concerning the poppies....is that even the drowsiness brought on by the flowers would not let the buried dead sleep without remembrance. In The Wizard of Oz....the Wicked Witch forces Dorothy to pass through a poppy field....to put her to sleep.

                I've posted on this topic a number of times....days just like today....in this case....the birds are singing....the daffodils are in bloom....the trees are starting to sprout their leaves....and the temperature is a pleasant seventy-eight degrees here in Western Pennsylvania.
               As beautiful as this is....and as calming....and as enjoyable after weeks of a cold spring....it is every bit a war zone as was the time and place that In Flanders Fields was written. The war here is against the Christian....to put him or her to sleep....just as Samson slept in Delilah's lap.
               I love a day like this....as much as most anyone else....but it is a minefield if we let it take our minds and hopes off of our Savior and coming king Jesus Christ. The world today does not give us the luxury of anything but short respites....and restful times to refresh....before we begin again the march toward the Celestial City.
               That is....if we are indeed soldiers of Christ. Something that Spurgeon said in one of his sermons....that I only recently heard....sticks in my mind. He addressed those in his congregation....who were genuine believers....in that as much as Spurgeon would preach on the glories of Christ....they could not yet see the same glory....or at least the glory in the same way. Spurgeon did not want his preaching to be a burden on their back. He told them not to condemn themselves if they could not rejoice in the gospel as they should....but then he said this....that though they should not condemn themselves....they should feel sorry for themselves.
               It was such a short statement....but with so much meaning. No....the Christian is not to beat themselves up because they cannot use words such as....'precious'....with Christ....but that state of drowsiness....is not something that we should be satisfied with....for it does not bring glory to God....it is not even in the battle....and therefore....we should as Spurgeon said....feel sorry for ourselves.
               So enjoy this wonderful creation that God has made out of nothing! Gaze at the flowers in amazement....and listen with appreciation to the concert of the songbirds. Bask in the warmth of the sun....and admire the beautiful vista as it sets....but even the many pleasures that we have at times in this life....pale in all of those areas to living eternally in the glorious light of Jesus Christ....but to get their is warfare.
               Everything that you see around you that is not beautiful....the violence and the hate and the death and the tears and the pain.....comes to us from the enemy in this warfare. His weapons come in many shapes....and putting us to sleep is but one of them. 

Broad Is The Way

Preface: We think of Hollywood as the epicenter of our entertainment culture....and it probably is....but Broadway was the foundation. It's odd in this respect....how God's Word gives us this warning in Matthew 7:13...."Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it." Brothers and sisters....we are going to be winnowed down....events will determine this....just as they did in Jerusalem and Rome and elsewhere....and it is going to be difficult. Would it not be wise to know this beforehand. I would think so....as Jesus even told us...."Be on your guard; I have told you all things beforehand." (Mk 13:23)

Broad Is The Way.....March, 2021          

             It was a major movie....with big stars....and a plot that was in the news all around the world.....but it still didn't do well at the box office. I'm going to give the ending here in case you want to just boot it up on your computer....for free....and watch it.

            The Hollywood stars were Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner and Tony Perkins.....(a year before Psycho).....and Fred Astaire....the year was 1959....and the plot was that there had been an atomic war....and the people in the city.....(Melbourne).....at the southern tip of Australia....as far as they could tell....were the only people left on earth....as a radioactive cloud that enveloped the rest of the world....was just about to reach them. The movie was....On The Beach.....a title that you might think would star Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.
              OK here's the ending....Perkins character and his wife kill themselves with a pill distributed just like that vaccine being distributed today....and they take along their infant baby. Fred seals himself in the garage and turns on the sports car. Ava Gardner takes the pill.....as Gregory Peck and the men of his United States submarine choose to sail home and at least die in their own country. Gee...I wonder why the theater crowds didn't go for the film?
              It had already been in book form so everyone pretty much knew how it was going to end. The United States government didn't want any part in assisting with the movie....but the Australian government didn't mind doing so.
              The folks of Melbourne went about business almost as usual in the months before the cloud reached them....accepting what was ahead....but as the time did get near.....the film focused in on a Salvation Army type rally.....where a man preached something or other....as the people stood around like zombies. The last scene in the movie is the same setting in the city....with the banner flying overhead that read...."There Is Still Time...Brothers"....only there are no people around this time....as they all had gone home to take the pill.
               In a way the book of Revelation is similar.....as it describes the end....as everyone is running to the caves....hoping that the rocks will fall in on them....rather than them having to face the wrath of the judgment of God. The difference is that by this time in Revelation.....God's redeemed....those that survived the Antichrist....had been taken up in the air to meet their returning Lord and Savior and King.
               The priests and the rulers in Jerusalem were sick and tired.....to put it mildly....of Jeremiah constantly telling them that God was going to judge the city and all of Judah. They persecuted him.....and almost killed him....trying to shut him up....and they had their own false prophets telling them that the best was yet to come. The Baptists had had it with Charles Spurgeon warning them....and the Anglicans were not thrilled either with J. C. Ryle. Billy Graham didn't get real serious with God's judgment on America until later on. Oh he would preach it earlier....but he was driven by it as time passed.
                We don't want to hear this type of message.....but like it or not we are going to have to face it. Do you have twenty-four minutes to give to this subject.....maybe you could skip a half of some March Madness ballgame....or take a break from the spring cleaning. R. C. Sproul's radio program....(renewingyourmind.org)....broadcast a Stephen Lawson teaching episode this week titled.....The Wrath Of God. It actually sobered me up a little....and I thought I was already sober. Just Google it.....Stephen Lawson, The Wrath Of God....and see if it has a similar effect on you.

God May Say To America....'But Where Are Your Gods....That You Made For Yourselves....Let Them Arise....If The Can Save You....In Your Time Of Trouble'

The following post is from September of 2019:

              It just does not appear to me that there is a Thanksgiving in America anymore. Surely the day had been sinking into oblivion for decades but it seems as if it has finally vanished as a full-rigged 18th century frigate might vanish in the ocean mist.
              Today it appears to be just family gatherings where God is mentioned at best in a thirty second Hallmark prayer...where no one thinks about the eternal souls of the loved ones around the dinner table....but only if they enjoyed the feast. Christians today seem only to be set apart as Republicans....Second Amendment advocates....pro-life....not necessarily pro-'eternal' life people.
               Pastors with an unction for saving souls....not just building up their numbers to appear successful.....but more like loading weeping third class passengers into life boats as the damaged and sinking luxurious liner parties on....these pastors are old and dying off quickly. Evangelicalism has become the Laodicean church....neither hot or cold....thinking itself in need of nothing....peculiar only in that Donald Trump has somehow become its hero.

             "For my people have committed two evils:
             They have forsaken Me,
             The fountain of living waters,
             To hew for themselves cisterns,
             Broken cisterns,
             That can hold no water."

These are words from near the beginning of the book of Jeremiah. Israel....the northern tribes....had long since fallen...and been taken captive....just like half of our nation had been taken captive by communist and suicidal ideologies....and now it's our turn....selfish and arrogant and spiteful. We thought we had a more practical way....might and power....rather than relying on the spirit of the LORD of hosts.

             "Have you not done this to yourself,
              By your forsaking the Lord your God,
              When He led you in the way?"

Yet we still picture ourselves as some kind of remnant....why we're the remnant of the pilgrims don't you know...."A shining city on a hill..."....and the intellectual heirs of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln!" No we're not....we don't bear any resemblance to the pilgrims and Puritans....and we're the heirs of Hamilton and Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt at best.

              "And my inheritance you made an abomination.
               The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?'
               And those who handle the law did not know Me,
               And the prophets prophesied by Baal
               And walked after things that did not profit."

God is not angry with us....maybe them....but not us!

               "How can you say, 'I am not defiled,
                I have not gone after the Baals'?"

Yet we utterly refuse to bow down.....to trust only in Him....or to honor the Word of God. If things get rough....we'll have some national prayer day or something....'God bless America!"

               "But in the time of their trouble they will say,
                'Arise and save us.'
                But where are your gods
                Which you made for yourself."

O God....what have we possibly done that you could be angry with? We can say Merry Christmas again!

                "Yet you said, 'I am innocent;
                 Surely His anger is turned away from me.'
                 Behold, I will enter into judgment with you
                 Because you say, 'I have not sinned'."

                "For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
                 And you shall not prosper with them."