The Music Of The Night

                  So....if there is a time of great delusion and deception ahead....with great and false....signs and wonders....if this should prove to be the case....then who might be the more susceptible groups? Well first of all I believe that those false signs and wonders are already here in abundance....but as to the specific question that I posed....I want to mention just one in this post.....and that is young people.
                  Madison Avenue long ago found out that our youth....since the 60s at least....has money to spend....disposable income it's called....and they have been targeted ever since. I was targeted as I had to have that classic Beatles suit....the gray one with no collars....and I somehow got it....and was confirmed in it. I am thankful that there were no smart phones when our son was growing up. We had enough problems paying for the text messages of his flip phone.
                  I don't want to belabor that point....so to get down to the nitty gritty....if you are a senior high or college age youth....they are coming for you big time! They will make you think that you are a hero....either a patriot hero....or a super Christian. They will flatter you in order to entice you to come....and then lull you with the music of the night....(that's what they do in prep at the Trump rallies....I once heard Sympathy For The Devil.....no one cares....for it puts you in a trance).
                  My message here to you is....God's light show has nothing to do with lasers....that's fake light....spiritually speaking. He may calm you with music...or encourage you with music....but He is not going to call you with music! The other side does that. They'll come after you at conferences and concerts and with podcasts. If it is a conference that moves you....you will need another one soon....or another concert....and then another and another. If you have been called by the music....you will need it all the time....as opposed to....if you have been called by the word of God....you will need the word of God all the time.
                   I streamed recently a very well-known....youth conference/concert. I saw som pipers there....(Pied Pipers)....but not John....(John Piper.) I saw a lot of lights....and I saw a lot of dancing....and I heard a lot of music.....and a lot of words. That's all I got for a review folks....a lot of lights....a lot of dancing....and a lot of words.
                   If you listen to a Charles Spurgeon sermon....or a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon....or a John Piper sermon....it will be God's Spirit coming after you. Keep this in mind....no matter how much zeal you have....you will start out as a private....an E-1 as they say in the army...and if you pass muster....you will get out of basic as an E-2....but you are still a private....(2nd class)....and if you know your stuff and keep your nose clean you will be promoted to E-3 before too long....but you are still a private! (first class) Have patience. Learn the fundamentals of the faith. It's a paradox....praying for others may be the best way for praying for yourself? Seek the old paths....be wary of the new super-highways to glory.

               

A Man Named Joe

                West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin admits the possibility that he may wind up running for president as a third party candidate. You might laugh at that. He might not even decide on this till after what is known as Super Tuesday which is March 5 this time around. Senator Manchin....and a whole lot of other people....do not want to see Biden and Trump to be the only two possibilities. All a third party candidate would have to do is win enough electoral votes to keep either of the other candidates from 270. Then the election would go to the congress. As I posted earlier on....it is not a one-congressperson-one vote situation. If that were the case you could just look at the numbers of Rs and Ds in the House. No....our constitution calls for each state to poll their representatives and then cast their....one vote. Twenty-six votes would be needed. At this time....Republicans control 26 state delegations to congress....the Democrats control 22....and two states are evenly divided. So one might think that the Republican would likely win if the election went to the House of Representatives? Well that might not be the case. Remember...a lot of people do not want Donald Trump in the White House again. West Virginia only has two members of congress....both Republican....and four electoral votes....but they might prefer their own former governor Joe Manchin? Keep this in mind also....that more than anything else....the Democrats do not want Trump in the White House.....and the Republicans.....more than anything else....do not want Joe Biden for a second term. This is a petri dish for compromise. Consider this also....choosing the vice president is just as complicated. The Senate decides this. They choose the vice president. There would be a lot of....'ties'....in this whole process....and it appears that everyone just keeps voting until they come up with a president and a vice president....similar to choosing a pope. Some Republicans might say....'OK....we'll go with Manchin....but we want the VP....where the Democrats might jump at that. There is a lot of room for compromise in this situation....and neither Joe Biden or Donald Trump would be getting compromise votes....do you not agree? Republicans right now are like rats....climbing on a burning ship. They are not looking at the above possibility.
               I bring this up only in an attempt to demonstrate to evangelicals that....as it is often repeated...."the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry"....and that they therefore might rest on this....as did David.....
       
"For God Alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.
 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken." (Ps 62:5,6)

An Odd Prayer Request....I Admit

                Reservations have already reached capacity for John MacArthur's annual Shepherd's Conference to be held at his Sun Valley Church this March 6 through March 8.....a Wednesday morning to a Friday evening....Lord willing on all of this. The conference title this year is.....Truth Triumphs. 
                I'm asking you here if you would consider joining with me in an extended....six week....prayer for this conference. I'm sure that there are plenty of believers praying for just this from Grace Community Church....but I am hoping for something different.
                Typically....this is the conference experience in today's church....and probably ever since church conferences began....whenever that may have been....most everyone looks forward to the getaway....and the fellowship....and the teaching....and even the booktable. There is a certain amount of refreshing to be had by most everyone....and then it is back home....hopefully with increasing fervor and even expectation.
                 As the weeks pass and the time for the conference draws nearer....God may be awakening all of us....MacArthur and Piper and all of us....and it may not turn out to be a typical church conference....wonderful as they may be and usually are....but more of an emergency meeting of shepherds....pastors....seeking much needed discernment...and much needed courage and determination....in the turmoil of this world!
                  So maybe you are not too excited about my thoughts and even hopes on this....and I wouldn't blame you....but please keep this in the back of your mind....for there is one additional benefit of a conference such as this....whereas pastors....everyday pastors....and some of the most influential pastors in the church today....MacArthur and Piper as I named....can be called upon by the events of the day....to go beyond the scheduled events....into unanticipated concerns....and draw strength and wisdom and discernment from the nearness of so many shepherds of the flock!!
                

Judging A Book By The Blurbs On The Back

                In my early years in the Christian faith I was pentecostal....but not charismatic....there is a difference. Pat Robertson's 700 Club was very much a blessing in the beginning....but then David Wilkerson became more of an influence. Do evangelicals today know who David Wilkerson was....the author of The Cross And The Switchblade....and pastor of Times Square Church? 
                As I mentioned so many times in these posts....I was in Christian bookstores all the time....for they were everywhere. So I would read everything that came out by Wilkerson and other men such as Leonard Ravenhill. There was definitely something here that was changing something within me. Wilkerson would quite often mention these....Puritans? Well I knew who the Puritans were....but then again I didn't know much of who they really were.
                 I cannot pinpoint the year though I have tried....most likely it was the late 80s. I was browsing a Christian bookstore....and a neon orange book cover....as I have described it....jumped out at me. Banner of Truth has since changed that cover to black...a big mistake because it would draw no one's attention....but then there are hardly any Christian bookstores today for anyone to be drawn to a cover. I picked it up and looked at the back for blurbs....which was also my habit. "C. H. Spurgeon"....(I have the book in my hands by the way....The Christian In Complete Armour....Volume one....by William Gurnall)....I may have heard that name....and "David Wilkerson!" So I immediately just bought the book. I wrote the following in a previous post....

"In the introduction to the book he said that he [Wilkerson] was initially skeptical of the book given to him....but according to him....he scanned the first twenty-five pages...and it brought him to his knees. I myself wrote way back then....that I was....I think it was 15 or 17 pages into it....and I was brought to my knees!"

               The metamorphosis in me was to continue...and about a decade later my wife and I had our own Christian bookstore....that sold primarily Puritan books....and today the name of Charles Spurgeon litters these posts of mine....but back to David Wilkerson....if only our pastors could preach with an unction such as he had. I still have 100 of his sermons on cassette. I listened to one today that you can easily Google if you want. You can listen to a shortened version....(11:52)....along with background music....or you can listen or watch the full sermon. Just Google....David Wilkerson....A Call To Anguish.
               There is an old self-effacing joke that used to circulate in Presbyterian circles....Christian ministers of various denominations are having a meeting in a hall and a fire breaks out....a Baptist minister jumps up and yells....'Fire!'.....a Methodist minister jumps up and yells...."Water!"....and a Presbyterian minister jumps up and yells....'Order!' Well....if David Wilkerson were there he would jump up and yell...'God brought this fire to wake you men up! Christ is returning soon! Are you ready for that? Are you preparing your sheep?"
               David Wilkerson died on April 27 of 2011 as his vehicle crossed over on a two-lane in Texas. He was 79 years old. I travel across the Pennsylvania Turnpike often....but today I usually need a break in the driving after only about two hours. If David Wilkerson were with us today....with evangelicals having fallen for a false prophet in Donald Trump....he would have been in the news....picked up across the media....warning evangelicals on what they have done....but God's will is perfect....

"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" Revelation 5:3b

DISPATCHES

Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse Continues To Bless....I have been very critical of Franklin Graham's lack of vision on who Donald Trump is....and his failure to heed the warnings of his own father on politics....but what his ministry did in the last few days was surely inspired by God! Israel had lost 14 ambulances in the terror attack of October 7. Samaritan's purse replaced those 14 ambulances....each with a name on the side of responding medics that were killed in the attack! Israel is going to need those ambulances.

Third Party Candidates......This could very well be the year that a third party candidate could keep either major party candidates from 270 electoral votes. If that would happen we would have what is called a....contingent election....where the vote for president would go to the House of Representatives....but it would not be one-person...one-vote. Rather....according to the constitution....each state polls its people in the Congress....and those votes would sum up to one vote....for their state. So California gets one vote....as does Rhode Island....with twenty-six votes needed. You can just imagine the possibilities here. It gets wilder as the Senate would elect a vice-president....and here each senator's vote would be counted as one vote....and they would have to choose from the top two vice-presidents from the general election....whereas the House was choosing among the top three candidates.  

Tuesday....The move is on now to herd conservatives and republicans to Trump. Two points for them to consider beforehand....one....the equator will be known as the snow belt before we cast a vote for this deceiver.....second....they had better hope that God does not bring an awakening to America....for these awakened souls would not be trusting in politics let alone this man....although....a false revival....or "strong delusion"....as Paul warned of in Thessalonians....might indeed get the votes that they want.

In mid-December Donald Trump concluded one of his rallies with these words...."We will pray for God....We will be with God." What Donald Trump shows at moments like these....for there have been many other times....is that he has absolutely no respect for evangelicals. The words did not even make sense. He doesn't care. If he were ever to get back in the White House he would be a bull on the loose.....goring evangelicals or anyone who got in his way.

Monday....January 15....My prayer....uttered about fifteen minutes ago while shivering in the 12 degree cold in the garage....rearranging some things that needed rearranging....was that God might have mercy upon us. We wasted so much time over the years....and now a false prophet has us in a stranglehold. I want Thy will O Lord....and that perfect will may be that this man rules us as a judgment upon our failure to trust in Thee....and if that be Thy will....then give us discernment and strength to go on....but if Thou art hearing us in our vexation....may it be that in the coming days we reject this man....just as at one time the people demanded a king....and Thou gave them Saul....but then rejected him....and gave them David. Give us David! Not a politician David....but David the type of Christ. Restore in our heart Christ as our King....and all to Thy glory Lord!

Saturday....January 13: I presume that most readers remember....if reminded of.....citizen Donald Trump's words from January of 2016....about two weeks before the Iowa caucuses....he said...."I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" Well that is about as close to a fulfilled prophecy from Donald Trump that you will ever get. Evangelicals have been taken in by a false prophet. They don't realize it but that is what happened just the same.  

Party Rally It might be said that I have at times had a vivid imagination....but there is something that I have tried imagining a couple of times....but then lose the thoughts. If Trump were to return to the scene of the crime....what would his cabinet look like? His first cabinet meeting in 2017 was bad enough....as he went around the table....to give the opportunity to all of them to praise him. It was one of the first signs that there was real trouble here. Why would anyone want to be in his cabinet to begin with? I don't think there would be a State of the Union Address....because I do not think the Democrats would show up this time....nor a number of Republicans....nor any Supreme Court Justices....but the generals would be ordered to be there. This could turn out to be a Party Rally....and I do not even like the sound of those words.

Trump posted today on his Truth Social account a video that....if you are an evangelical....must view. You need to know what we created....not what God created. Someone took Paul Harvey's famous...."So God Made A Farmer"....from many years ago....and turned it into...."So God Made Trump." Donald Trump is the poster boy for everything that the Apostle Paul told us to flee from. See what your pastor thinks of this video? Or if you know someone from Iowa....see what their opinion might be? The video begins with Trump's date of birth...June 14, 1946....a Blood Moon by the way. One line in this video is...."God needed someone to shepherd the flock....who will never leave them or forsake them." Just Google....Trump's Messianic Video. I would have thought that a thousand pastors would have risen up in indignation at an obviously blasphemous joke like this....but it didn't happen. The delusion is.....astounding.

Update: The morning after the caucuses. Franklin Graham congratulated Trump on his win....and urged all the "great" candidates to unite....which is shorthand for....unite behind Trump.

January 6......that blessed day! Oh I'm not referring to January 6, 2021....but January 6, 1850.....almost 174 years ago....for on that day 15 year old Charles Spurgeon walked into a Primitive Methodist church on a snowy day....for he couldn't reach his own church....and was gloriously saved by a simple man filling the pulpit in the absence of the regular preacher....kept from the service by the snow. You can easily watch a wonderful docu/drama on Spurgeon's life by Googling....C. H. Spurgeon: The People's Preacher

  

The John MacArthur Grace To You program....gty.org....Beware of False Prophets....was first broadcast on May 25, 1980....but the rebroadcast that I had heard for the first time was on May 8, 2015....forty days before Trump came down that escalator. If you Google....John MacArthur, Beware of False Prophets, YouTube....that 1980/2015 program will come up for you to view. The above graphic is what you will see. This is the original graphic. Here is but one line from John MacArthur's message...."It appalls me beloved that millions of Christian people are sucked in by false prophets!" I remember a story MacArthur told where a young person in his church was being lured by a cult. Word came that that young person was about to leave for that cult. MacArthur drove to that person's house....took the keys out of the young person's car...and threw them in the lake....saying...."Nobody steals one of my sheep." If Trump gets this nomination....and then the mask is lifted off of Trump for all to see....will John MacArthur and others ask....'What have I done?'

John MacArthur had strong enough convictions to post an Open Letter To Governor Newsom in September of 2022. What does Donald Trump have to do in order for MacArthur to consider him a genuine biblical false prophet....leading evangelicals like a Pied Piper away from trust in Christ!  Trump has for nine straight years now prophesied peace and security and greatness almost every day of those years....flattering evangelicals all along the way. Where is Franklin Graham on this? He said yesterday that he is going to stay out of this till after the primaries....but it is a deafening silence!

The British Parliament House of Commons passed the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 on July 22 of that year. Seven days later....on July 29....William Wilberforce died at 73 years of age....grateful to have witnessed it. On June 19, 1834 Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in England....and on August 1 the Act came into force. Spurgeon was the greatest gift to England in the 19th century....and through his influence on the Christian church....right up to and including today.....possibly the world! It seems as if God acknowledged the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom by giving England he who would become known as.....The Prince of Preachers. If evangelicals turned away from Donald Trump....and sent this false prophet within evangelicalism away....might God in like manner open our eyes to the judgment and tribulation that lies ahead...call many more to faith in Christ....and give us strength and wisdom through this coming storm?

Monday....January  15....I just viewed a Fox clip of Mike Huckabee. He basically said that the third place finisher in Iowa might as well go home. I would say....to whoever comes in third....Donald Trump is at every minute of every day....this close to saying or doing something so egregiously horrid that even many of his most ardent supporters might just bow their heads and walk away. Stay the course. Secondly....in the latter part of the interview he chimed in on football....as he said that he loves the Cowboys and was in pain yesterday. This is part of the reason why Mike Huckabee is totally blind on Donald Trump. This was his Lord's Day! Yeah he looks cool....just one of the guys....as he blathers about the pain of his football team losing....on the day that looks back to the pain that our Lord suffered on the cross....and on a day....for all are the same....when all around this world brothers and sisters in Christ are in real pain because of their faith in Christ.

Who Are These Guys?

                It is becoming more often my morning when I wake up and wonder if I am doing any good at all with these posts....but then after I am fully awake....and downstairs as the day begins....something just comes to mind that I want to write about...so it is another 24 hour reprieve before I will have that thought again.
                As I came downstairs today I did have something that I wanted to post on....but then as usual I go to John Piper's ministry website to see what the offering for the day is....I saw that it is a Greg Morse twelve minute or so reading. I need to segue a little bit here....
                In the past year or so John Piper has shared his daily Internet desiringgod.org with a group of presumably young men who I assume are under his ministerial care and guidance. Whatever that situation might be....these young men are on the extraordinary side....to put it mildly....as it comes to wisdom! I'm reminded of Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid....whereas Lord Baltimore was always on their tail....they would a few times look back....and see the dust from the horse's hoofs and say...."Who are those guys?"
                So....who are these guys that Piper has? Well....one is Greg Morse....who never fails to calm me....and encourage me. Today is just such a day with an offering of his titled....Why Not Me? The Quiet and Consuming Eye of Envy. I had to laugh out loud....softly....a few times....as he seemed to be talking directly to me. This is what Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Piper have done so often to me....and always I utter that involuntary laugh....as the Holy Spirit cleared things up in my mind....through these preachers....and told me what I needed to know!
                 
            

The Summer Of 21

                It was the summer of 2021....and our neighborhood decided to resume our yearly picnics. Generally on these days....held in the backyard of one of our yards....you wind up just sitting next to whoever is next to an empty chair. This time it was me and a Christian friend who I see all the time....have been neighbors with for over thirty years....but did not often get the opportunity to sit and talk for an hour or more. He has been a Christian longer than I have....and is one who I consider to be very mature in the faith. 
               We covered a lot of territory in our talk....and thus somewhere along the line it had to include politics....and Donald Trump. I knew in advance that he had long since been disgusted with the former president. The setting of the conversation gave us the luxury of sharing deeper thoughts....and having the time to think a comment or question over before responding. He and I tend to think alike on a lot of things....but I was going to test that.
                We both could understand how the evangelical community had picked up and carried the banner of Donald Trump back in 2016. I voted for Trump back then....and imagine that my friend did also....but how on God's blue luminous planet....could they not have given him his pink slip by now....for he proved to have absolutely no conscience....and no concern at all for the concept of truth....whether it be on big matters that affect us all or even small insignificant matters where he still will lie about as easily as he breathes.
                So I brought it up....a man void of conscience....a void capable of being filled with anything more powerful than his own will....and a man who seemingly had a 'mortal wound' on one of his 'heads'....the great office of President of the United States....leader of the free world....a "wound' that almost inconceivably....after an impeachment....and January 6....and another impeachment....and over seven years of stirring up bitter dissension with just about everybody....a 'wound' that miraculously could be healed? Could a man like this turn out to be....'the'....Antichrist?
               I thought that he might laugh it off....most people would....or take the position that the Antichrist was most-likely going to come from the Middle East or something along that line....but he surprised me....as he paused to think it over as seems to be his custom...and said something like.....'If he gets out of this latest mess....(January 6)....I might have to consider it.'
               Well....Donald Trump has not only got out of that mess....but a continuous bombardment of messes and mistakes and outrageous comments and narcissistic rants bordering on severe psychological disorder if not already over the line.
                I do not at this time really think that Trump could be the Antichrist....although I firmly believe that he is an antichrist as John labels them....and definitely a biblical false prophet....but I just can't completely let it go. God's Word warns us of great delusion....false prophets and false Christs....miracles and great signs that could....if possible....deceive even the elect!
         Actually I have gotten together with this friend of mine a few times since that picnic....but never brought up that conversation. May God give His elect that measure of discernment where we see right through those....'great signs'....where as delusion and deception takes so many captive....that it might awaken us....and strengthen our trust in the One who has warned us....the One who is coming in righteous judgment....and the One who is coming for His own....that this remnant might bring glory to Him as He appears!
                
              
                

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

                We received and viewed a video tonight from a good friend in the Philippines who was preparing rice for dinner. She and her whole family are wonderful Christians who have devotions together to begin every day.
               Now with me preparing rice for dinner....I just drop a....Boil In A Bag....in the pot....and go on the porch for ten minutes to smoke my pipe....but it's a strenuous procedure on the outer islands of the Philippines.
              The first step was to separate the husks from the hard stems....and it did not look easy. Think of taking a broom and pulling all the straw out. OK....next you put the shredded rice into....think of a giant mortar and pestle that a pharmacist might use to pulverize pills....only the pestle looks like a bedpost....and is big enough to sink a canoe with if you threw it in. So you begin to pound the rice for ten or fifteen minutes.
              The next step is to winnow the chaff....the method here is a woven tray that takes two hands to hold onto as you toss the rice in the air....the grain dropping back into the tray while the chaff blows on to the ground....for the chickens or the ducks to eat.
              Well you would be tired by now but the next step is to do it all over again....pounding the rice....for all of the husk has to be removed....and winnowing a second time....then the rice is ready for supper....or in my case....I can hear the ten minute timer go off....and I come in to eat.

              Right now....and for quite a number of years now....Christians....born again Christians to use that familiar yet redundant phrase....are in the process of having the husk ripped off. We are vexed as was Lot. As in Lot's case....he did hasten to leave....but his wife was hesitant....and in effect was winnowed as chaff. That alone would have been painful for Lot....and it is painful for us....to see other Christians hesitating....and ignoring very clear warnings to come out and be separate. From what I saw and heard in the video this evening....the pounding and the winnowing goes on until the rice is white.
               We see our country collapsing....and we see the pulpits emasculated....that is the pounding. We feel the coldness....and sense the isolation.....that is the winnowing....but what will happen brothers and sisters....is that when the shaking ends....and we drop....we will find ourselves among others dressed in white....going into the....marriage supper of the Lamb!

"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

Note: The title verse is 2 Corinthians 6:17

DISPATCHES

 My dog Special had died suddenly. It was November 27, 2008. I remember digging his grave in the pouring rain....thankfully therefore....as I thought at the time...that my tears could not be seen. I needed something temporary to do. I sat down at the computer which I knew little about....Googled...."How to write a blog'....and these were the first words pecked out...."If only it were just a 'vast wasteland!' Unfortunately, television sculpts and molds the American mind. We have become a society that learns from visual sources rather than the written word and we are at the mercy of the cable package." 

Do you want to watch the Rose Bowl....Americans have done that for seventy years....they would just turn on the tube and find the channel....for there were only a couple....but today you need a larger cable package then just basic. It was similar situation recently with a Republican debate.

Our local newspaper very recently stopped home delivery. They prefer that you read it on the computer....but will mail it to you if you desire....(good luck getting it every day.)

So if one is not computer literate....or if you do not even know what streaming is.....and have no desire at your age to learn....or if you cannot afford an expanded cable bill....then you are just one of the disenfranchised. I'm adding this thought a little later. We only have basic cable. That means that in the past few years I missed out on nightly sitting down and watching Tucker Carlson! That may prove to be one of the biggest blessings in my life!
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There was an article within the past few days....from a major American newspaper....the article carried by other newspapers including our local paper....where the writer ridiculed those of us who 'worry' about all the violence in America. His evidence was statistics showing certain crimes of violence decreased over the past year. It was all a big joke where now we were unhappy with the statistics because we had nothing to worry the public about. Meanwhile....back in reality....one mass-murderer a few weeks ago penned that he had always wanted to be a mass-murderer....and more recently a fifteen year killed some of his friends....and said that he had always wanted to kill somebody. What has it been...a few days...a week or so....since some youth killed his sibling or his parents?
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Last night....New Years Eve....at about two minutes before midnight....while on the computer I tuned in some....'Times Square website'.....to see the crowd and the ball drop. I don't even know what website I was watching.... but as the people were quiet and looking up at the ball....(I presume it was the same ball as usual)....John Lennon's voice could be heard over the crowd....

"Imagine there's no heaven
  It's easy if you try
   No hell below us
     Above us only sky
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I posted the following words on February 6, 2016...."The origin and meaning of the phrase may be somewhat in doubt but it still holds its sway in our minds....'The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton'....but if a similar phrase is to be constructed in the future it may read....'American liberty and freedoms were lost on the playing fields of ESPN'."

Players can just change schools if they think they can play more somewhere else....they can make millions on their 'brand'....or after a university gives them a chance....and a coach builds them into a football player....they can just opt out of a bowl game if they think that they might get hurt and lose money.....and now they are talking about actually paying these players. This is no longer character building sport as on the playing fields of Eton....or Annapolis....or any school of the distant past. I wonder if some of these players know that if there is a draft.....military not NFL....that there is no longer a student deferment?

I viewed the pandemonium after the Michigan win tonight....I been there! I also penned in that 2016 post...."I testify that all of the emotions combined in a life based on sports is not equal to but a moment of feeling the grace of forgiveness found at the foot of Calvary, and that all the excitements combined of winning cannot compare to understanding the caption written on the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19:16....'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
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I'll use Michigan as the example since in my observation they seem to be the college football tradition whose fan base dominates. I have friends....highly intelligent professionals....and their whole extended family seems almost to live for Michigan football....and this is right in the middle of Pittsburgh. So this may be their year. Before I continue....I've been there folks....I revelled in downtown Pittsburgh after Super Bowl wins. Ultimately it has been a wasted year in the lives of these folks....as it had been with me. And this is only football....college football....for there are multiple other sports that can dominate lives just as much. What is it....a week for the big game to determine the....national champion? And if they win....the big prize....the goal attained....is that they get to brag....and someone has to be around to hear it....a month later and it is past history....with everyone talking about March Madness. And if Michigan loses? Well it's even worse. What a sad commentary on American life. Five minutes before starting this paragraph there was a visitor to these posts from Russia. How much importance do you think that Michigan football would have in their life? I would think that food and heat and war is on their mind....as it may be on our mind before too long.

Update: There was also a visitor from Israel.
..............................................................................

I wonder what I would be more astonished by....a UFO landing on the White House ellipse as in The Day The Earth Stood Still....or Donald Trump actually returning to the White House after what started on that ellipse on January 6, 2021? Pastors in America failed to warn their sheep on who this man was and is. Only God's Word can explain blindness like this. As I have posted often....I voted for this man....and then celebrated....and then did what others did not do....saw him in action and started to investigate. I recommend to you the one-hundredth book that I read on Trump.....for it is directed to us.....evangelicals. There are a couple of posts below on this book....The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory....American Evangelicals In An Age Of Extremism....by Tim Alberta. Those posts on this book are....Where It Began....I Can Begin To Knowing....and...."From Whence Come Wars And Fighting." Folks this is not politics! It is biblical prophecy....false prophets and delusion and deception! So which one would astonish me most? It might be that evangelicals put an antichrist into the White House....as John labels the many antichrists that will come....and that despite all the evidence....they want to return him there!

Trump jokes about the boots that Ron DeSantis wears....and the way he walks. Come on Iowa evangelicals....wake up. DeSantis does have a foot problem....so to speak....an Achilles heel. He is a decent man who has vocalized conservative causes since he came on the scene through talk radio in 2012....but he bought into the anti-vax and anti-mask and anti-social distancing hysteria. I remember the day a group of young teenagers came up and took their place behind him on a podium. They wore masks....and DeSantis gruffly said...."Take off those masks"....before thinking twice and telling them to keep them on if they wanted to. This is nonsense that we bought into. We have Aaron Rodgers and Novak Djokovic as our science and medical heroes. DeSantis needs to say....to make people think that he is not completely gone...."Look, we have more important things to be concerned about than vaccinations and masks."

It May Happen Like This......And It May Not

Preface: If this post resonates at all with you....please consider Googling this John Piper sermon.…”What Christ Will Do At The Second Coming.”

The following post is fro October of 2020:   

It may come in this way....the last great movement of God in America....the preacher....any preacher....many preachers across the America....arrive at church a little disheveled....as if they hadn't had any sleep the night before....for they hadn't.....in fact they have been tossing and turning all weekend trying to prepare a sermon that they believe God may have put on their heart. It goes like this....the congregation detects something as the uptempo music ends....and the preacher's shoulders are as if they are sagging. Is something wrong they wonder....has the sale for more land for the addition fallen through? The pastor begins by saying that the holiness of God is an awesome thing to be confronted with. He's not looking at the congregation while talking as he usually does but his eyes are lifted to heaven. Maybe this is the setup to a humorous but informative anecdote....he's done that kind of thing before....but his wife is sitting in the front pew....and her lips are moving in prayer. This is no humorous but informative anecdote coming! The pastor reads the Parable Of The Ten Virgins....while his eyes lower to meet those in front of him....and he begins his sermon...."Beloved....how much oil do you have available to trim your lamp.....for you may need it soon....and even if our Lord tarries in His return....we must have oil for our lamps at all times!"

It may not happen this way....but each Monday I look for reports on how this preacher or that preacher was extremely solemn in the pulpit....and the congregation responded to his message with equal solemnity.   

Where we are today with the wars and other horrors daily in the news.....can be likened to a community swimming pool.....where whistles were heard all around the pool and all the swimmers got out....praying that there is no murky figure of a dead body in the bottom of the pool....and as soon the the announcement comes...."ALL SWIM!".....everyone will be back in the pool....laughing and splashing each other again. 

A Month Of Sundays

                      The idiom....A Month of Sundays....goes way back. We don't use it much anymore. What I did in the following post is go back quickly and pick out 30 sermons that I had recommended in these posts. I didn't have to go that far back to find thirty recommended sermons. The sentences are all copy & paste....as they appeared in the posts.....so in themselves they won't always make much sense....but I think that they all give adequate directions to listen to the sermons.

"John Piper's sermon for the day is wonderful and can easily be Googled at....John Piper Sermon, Rediscovering Delight In God. It is 26 minutes and will come right up!"

"I encourage you to simply leave my paltry attempts....which are only shouts of praise for God's mercies extended to the least deserving of them....and type in....desiringgod.org....and tap on what is right there....Full Of Grace And Truth!" (You can easily Google the sermon with John Piper's name) 

"Listen to this eighteen minute message that John Piper gives....on this question....concerning the life of Augustine....and see if it does not explain....well....the title alone says it all....just Google desiringgod.org....and click on the message titled....Transformation Through Divine Intervention."

"All you have to do is Google....John Piper....Why Do Christians Preach And Sing?"

"Well let me give you the sermon title....you simply have to Google it....An Urgent Quest For An Immediate Answer." Add Spurgeon's name)

"Spurgeon sermon....The Holy Spirit, The Need Of The Age"

"Just Google.....Michael Horton sermon, Saved Us To A Holy Calling.....and it will come right up."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones....The Lukewarm Church

Martyn Lloyd-Jones.....The Acceptable Year Of The Lord

Martyn Lloyd-Jones.....The Only Way

Martyn Lloyd-Jones.....Follow Me

"Spurgeon sermon....The Holy Spirit, The Need Of The Age"

"John Piper's Sermon of the Day today is particularly wonderful on the topic that it addresses. It can easily be Googled at....John Piper, Willing God's Will as a Way of Knowing Christ's Word."

"Let's get this out of the way right at the beginning....I listened to this Charles Spurgeon sermon four times within the past four days....A Clarion Call To Saints And Sinners. You might say or think....'You listened to a sermon four times....in four days....you've lost it friend'!"

"J.C.Ryle was very vehement on this Christian life being a war....and you can access his thoughts....just Google....J. C. Ryle....war....or fight....and I so hope that you do....for his writing is far beyond what I can offer!"

"You can Google this at....Spurgeon Sermon YouTube....Is God In The Camp."

"Let me segue a little bit to a film that you can very easily watch for free on your computer....C. H. Spurgeon; The People's Preacher." (This obviously is a movie....not a sermon)

"for the sermon title that you can easily listen to....just before you go and watch the Spurgeon film....is...."Take Care How You Listen....Part 1."

"The title was just what I wanted....Israel And Britain. A Note Of Warning....preached on Lord's Day morning....June 7, 1885....but I could not find anyone who had put this sermon on audio." (add Spurgeon's name)

"To hear the sermon by John MacArthur in question....you can either go to gty.org....and it is right there....or you can Google....John MacArthur....Facing A Tolerant World, With Intolerant Truth."

I randomly picked one.....titled "Call To Anguish." (Google it along with Spurgeon's name)

"In John Piper's Sermon of the Day....today....which he titled...."If My Words Abide In You."

"The easiest way to hear this sermon is simply to Google....John Piper....The Son Of Man Must Be Lifted Up....Like The Serpent."

"by Googling.....Spurgeon.....Flee From The Coming Wrath."

"It also can be Googled at....John Piper, Behold, Believe, Be Raised...please do so!"    

"John Piper's Sermon can be Googled at....John Piper....Racial Harmony And Interracial Marriage." 

"John Piper sermon....Why Do We Need To Be Born Again....Part One"   

"John Piper...God's Great Mercy and Our New Birth."

"John Piper....All Scripture Is Breathed Out By God-Continue In It."

"by Googling....John Piper....When I Don't Desire God....Part 2."

"John Piper's Sermon of the Day titled....I have other sheep not of this fold."

"Just Google…”What Christ Will Do At The Second Coming.” (Add John Piper's name)

"John Piper, God Is A Very Important Person"....(hey....that's what Piper titled it)

"R. C. Sproul's Last Sermon"

Thought For The Day

               The story came out in March of 2020. A California stay-at-home mom was proud of her small succulent plant that she cared for on the kitchen window sill for two years....until she attempted to replant it....and found out that it was a fake plant. As strange as that is....how many people watered their own Christian faith for years if not decades before mercifully finally finding out that it was a fake faith?

             When I was....oh seven or eight I suppose....my mother granted my request and bought me a small Ivy....and I liked watching it grow because it was low maintenance. I have an Ivy wall-hanging plant today. This is how it transpired...to the best of my knowledge....in moving some fake plants...one colorful bloom must have fallen on the floor....where I found it later....and just stuck it in the soil of the hanging Ivy that was right there. Well...I guess that a year had passed....and I never took the fake flower out.
            The soil was good....but the best of churches cannot grow a plastic believer....but the power of the Word can make of that plastic plant a living and breathing soul....and a glory to God!

Addendum: I have been of late focusing on the Spurgeon's sermons from later in his life. I have one to recommend to you today from 1888. The church in England was collapsing from liberalism. Few were getting saved....the church being invaded by a modern 'gospel' that deceived and did not save. I know what must have been going on in Charles Spurgeon's mind....and also J. C. Ryle's for that matter....for we in America are well into that age of delusion. Please consider listening to this sermon....the most challenging and clear to the Christian that I have ever heard him give. Just Google....Spurgeon Sermon Youtube....Half Way And All The Way. It is a blessing to have readings of sermons available to us today.....but sometimes they come with little irritations that we have to deal with. In this case....the sermon will a few times be interrupted by a commercial. When that happens just wait a moment and then click on the...skip this ad....that will appear in the lower right corner.

                One can live their designer Christian life only insofar as they can avoid hearing the Holy Spirit driven preached Word of God. Any peace that is had without this will be a faux peace....as an artificial plant that looks real....but cannot turn the words into food. No matter what area of the United States that you live in....it will be difficult....but not impossible....to find a man....educated and established or humble and itinerant....to preach God's Word with power and to His glory. Therefore....my advice has so often been in these posts....utilize the recorded or recited sermons....of either men from the past....or men today who preach like men from the past....until God would either provide a faithful shepherd....or awaken the sleeping shepherds that are already on every hill and dale.

 

Forbes Avenue

                It was probably August of 1988....a warm night as I remember....as thousands of us gathered on the upper end of Forbes Avenue in Oakland....the community of the University of Pittsburgh....to stage a silent protest of the new Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation Of Christ....holding candles as we walked down Forbes...stopping in front of the King's Court Theater to pray....and then moving on. I committed at the time never to watch a Scorsese directed film....and I never have. According to a news article this morning....Scorsese has a new Jesus film in the making....and I'm sure it will be just as blasphemous.

                I had gone down to the protest with a good friend. After pausing in front of the theater we continued the walk that would have all of us circle back to where we began. We had only walked about thirty yards or so on Forbes when we were in front of a popular college bar. It all came back to me....and I asked Dave to stop for a moment as the others kept walking past us. Here I was part of a crowd that stopped traffic on Forbes Avenue.....actually diverting it....I pointed down to the spot upon which Dave and I were standing....and described to him as it came back to me.....how fifteen years earlier I had stopped traffic on this very same spot....only it was as a college drunk fighting in the middle of the street. I had to go to the doctor after that brawl as I had a human bite on my neck.
                  Folks....can you imagine what went on in my mind? My life passed before me....a period of about five years anyway....beginning while in the army.....the alcohol and the debauchery....the wantonness and the shame. I know that I was thankful for God's mercy....but looking back....I could not have known how much more I had to repent of....how much more I had to learn through experience....and how long and difficult at times the walk would be....but there was a bright side....
                   For I also did not know on that warm August night....six years into my Christian pilgrimage....the extent of the mercy that was given....the miracle of the new birth....and the glory and power of Jesus Christ whom I thought I was defending....but who needs no defense.....for He rules every atom of the universe....and beyond! I only had a glimpse of the rejoicing that was to come! I had minefields yet to walk through....castles of despair yet to escape from....sloughs of despond yet to reach out of for help! 
                   Folks....walking in a linear line....away from Vanity Fair....and closer to the Celestial City....dims the din of the crowd....dissipates the fog....and though the eyes are weaker....and the hearing may be fainter....and the steps are not as brisk....the glory of Jesus Christ becomes more overwhelming! 
                   This verse just came to mind.....Jeremiah 32:40....NKJV...."And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me."
                  
                  

Psalm 122-124

         

               "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem"....this from Psalm 122....is followed in Psalm 123 by anguish over the level of contempt for Israel....but then we read these words in Psalm 124....

"If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
 Let Israel now say-
 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
 When men rose up against us,
 Then they would have swallowed us alive,
 When their wrath was kindled against us." Psalm 124: 

             May the faith and hope in all of us be this....the last verse of Psalm 124...

"Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth."

Note: To your upper left....at the bottom of the 'archives'.....is an older post titled....There Is Prophecy In The Psalms....Maybe Even More Than We Expect....that expands a little on this topic.

       

         It was my 70th birthday.....February 4, 2020. The previous year had been an incredible year for the economy. Rush Limbaugh was given the Presidential Medal Of Freedom....a fitting tribute to this man who had been for many years a voice of reason....even though he lost that reason in his last years....for a decade earlier he astutely commented that Barack Obama's following was cult-like....but here he became the leader of Trump's cult-like following.

               It was the State of the Union Address....and a rip-roaring one it was....as Trump ignored Pelosi's outstretched hand at the beginning....and she didn't employ the usual....'it is my high honor and privilege'.....when introducing him....and then she ripped up his speech just as he concluded with...."and the best is yet this come."
               Trump began the speech with....."America's enemies are on the run, America's fortune's are on the rise, and America's future is blazing bright"....but this as God was just beginning to unleash the judgment of Covid-19 upon the entire world. Trump continued...."We are moving at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never, ever going back." God would have something to say about that. The president concluded his....what essentially was a rally 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!" I wonder if John MacArthur listened to these words of prophecy on February 4, 2020?
               Fast forward to September 22 of this year.....Rosh Hashanah had been over for five days....and Yom Kippur was to begin in two days. The Israeli Prime Minister was giving an address to the General Assembly of the United Nations. I've always admired Benjamin Netanyahu....but I posted this the day of the address.... 

"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."

             Peace with Saudi Arabia was perceived to be at hand....the deal of the century....and Netanyahu's stated theory was that peace treaties with five Arab neighbors would be enough to convince the Palestinians to stop the violence. I posted then on the proposed peace treaty with Saudi Arabia...."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."
            In my review of the movie Golda in late August I posted...."but the reason that you might want to see this movie is that Israel may be in a similar situation in the very near future."
            I posted this on the eve of Rosh Hashanah....September 14...."It seems that very few people in America know the seriousness of the situation that the world faces right now....and surprisingly it seems that the people of Israel are as every bit in the dark. It's surprising because their very existence is a day by day situation....but they are more worried about losing some personal individual liberties."
               I still find it amazing that the film Golda....which was about the surprise attack Yom Kippur war in 1973.....this fifty years after that war....came out only weeks before the surprise Sukkot attacks of October of this year....but I find it astonishing that we do not see the significance in this....a very visual reminder for Israel to be vigilant....only weeks before another feast day attack....but yet it was another surprise attack! 
               The reignited antisemitism all around the world....and deep within us in America....should shock us to the core. Our pulpits should be ablaze with the significance of the days with which we are in....but instead it is business as usual. I think that I can guarantee you this....the people in our intelligence communities are not asleep. They know exactly the danger in what is going on all around Israel....and Taiwan....and Eastern Europe....and within our own country. They are between a rock and a hard place in that they have had on the one side an Obama or a Trump or a Biden dictating to them....for political purposes....and on the other side the caution not to show their hand....but our pulpits do not have that excuse.

Oh To Be A Poet......Maybe You Are But Just Don't Know It

                    

                  To describe my generation back then....in general....we were up for an idea....any idea. I was interested in Robert Kennedy....and Rod McKuen....and John Kenneth Galbraith. Odd huh....Politics and poetry and economics. You could throw in Erich Fromm. As for culture....for me it was all Carole King and Carly Simon. To others it could be Allen Ginsberg or Jack Kerouac....or Bob Dylan or Paul Simon. Hey it could be Zen....that was big....and the Hippie culture was probably the biggest. It was not only that we were searching....but that we found answers.....bad answers most.....but answers.
                   We were poets and philosophers. I ran my fingers just now across my left collarbone....with a large bump on it. It was the late 60s....the center fielder was the fullback on the high school football team. We ran into each other....physically....going for a Texas leaguer....and I lost that collision. He went on to play football in college. Today he is a poet....and author of poetry books....and an editor of a poetry journal. Also on the sandlot that day was another friend who went on to play for Westminster College's NAIA Division II undefeated national championship team. He's a philosopher today....who bombards me with radical theories....in response to my sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
                    My opinion of course....but we have lost in our lives the poetic view of life. We have it in us but just cannot bring it out. Consider this setting....it was a midnight shift in an industrial setting....where we are all working in a climate of lime slurry and coal dust. I bring in cards from a Christian board game that just asks simple questions about life....the game is meant to get people to better know one another. Everyone scoffs....but I persist....and we pass along the cards asking questions about fear or dreams or hopes or experiences. We wind up playing it every chance we could for a few weeks....as big burly men find that they do have feelings and even poetic inclinations.
                     OK....all of these thoughts to bring up today's offering from John Piper's desiringgod.org. He has all around him these young men....ministers in training I presume....a Christian....Boys In The Boat if you will....and they are really quite profound in their thinking and Christian discernment! Today's offering is from Greg Morse....and the title of the article that he both wrote and read is....Reality Written In Cursive...The Power of Christian Wordcraft. I really wish that you would go there and listen to this short....12:23 audio....and see if there might be a poet or philosopher lurking within you also?
                   
Addendum....a few days later. Today desiringgod.org gives us another one of these young men reading one of their articles. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to have a pastor who you could have an hour long or more conversation with....and it would not be just pleasantries....where the only spiritual words might be praying that God answers this or that prayer. The young man today is Jon Bloom...and the article and reading title is....Heart of y Own Heart...Why I Love,,,,'Be Thou My Vision.'

'And [John] Was In The Spirit On Game Day'

The following is four days old: 

               I should stay away from this topic. It confronts just about every friend that I have. All I ask is that you read this post to the end. I'll tell you though what I have on my side. This world is on the brink.

               Thirty minutes ago....roughly 10:30 PM as I type....on Thursday evening....while checking news on the Internet....I saw for the first time that the Steelers made it to the playoffs.
               OK....you have a tough time believing that....for I live in the Pittsburgh area. Have I been hiding in a closet all week? No....I just don't watch the local news....and I don't read the local paper.
               I just looked this up. As of now....the game is to be played in Orchard Park N.Y. at 1 PM on Sunday.....or as a remnant of people still call it....the Lord's Day....and....there will
be games all weekend I assume.
               As the Steelers land at the airport in Buffalo...and board a bus to the stadium or the hotel....they will pass by within field goal range from where I grew up....because they dug a ditch for a highway practically in my front yard. Oh I loved my Bills....and later in life....having exchanged a Buffalo accent for a Pittsburgh accent....Oh I loved my Steelers.
               R. C. Sproul was a big big Steelers fan....and mentioned them on a number of his teaching broadcasts....and probably even a sermon or two. I'm fairly certain that it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his ministry. Oh well...no one is perfect.
               So...is anyone still here? I am in such a minority here. A hundred years ago and I would be in the majority....but not today. I'm not going to argue theology here. I'm only going to address this with common sense. Here it is....

               Because we have this god in almost every major city....Christian men this Lord's Day....especially in Pittsburgh and Buffalo and the other cities whose team is in the playoffs....these men....well let me ask you instead....'what do you think they will be thinking of on this Lord's Day morning....and while in church....that is if they can get back in time for the kickoff?' Check it out in Pittsburgh or Buffalo and watch for the dash to the door as soon as the benediction is read.
               If you are a Christian....where you have been....born again....born from above....your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life....your sins....as mine....paid for on a blood soaked cross in blood drenched dirt on a hill outside of Jerusalem....that will soon be under attack....before the King of Kings comes back to rescue His own....if this is you....how does a football game come to dominate your mind....and particularly on that day that the Lord gave to us....to give to Him? What kind of mind contortions does a theologian have to do to explain that away? 

Note: Two points....John Calvin did not write Scripture....and he did not have a vision of how we would brush hog the hedge of protection of the Lord's Day....and pave it over for a tailgate party. 

Update: The Bills/Steeler game was postponed until Monday because of the weather.

Father God....should it be Thy will....may Thy Holy Spirit move within our congregations as a bomb cyclone....awakening our pulpits....shaking the timbers....and driving us to our knees....if this be Thy will....and to Thy glory....I ask in the precious name of Thy Son....the King of Kings and Lord of Lords....Jesus....our Redeemer....our Savior....our Rock....our Firm Foundation....and our Fortress in the days ahead!
              

He Left A Forwarding Address

               Raised as a simple farm boy in the south....he would have had his future mapped out for him had it not been that he was...."saved"....at revival services. I know the feeling....I hope that you know the feeling....he had to share the gospel....he just had to. He went to school to be a preacher.....and he seemingly had all the tools necessary. His would just be a name locally in North Carolina that some people would recognize....'Oh yes....I remember Billy Graham....fine young preacher.....whatever happened to him?"

               The day and the age suited him well....as revival tents were common in the South....but in Los Angeles....well Aimee Semple McPherson's Angelus Temple was still flourishing....but would a Baptist fundamentalist/evangelical preacher draw crowds? God had plans. Famed publisher William Randolph Hearst saw something in Graham that he liked. Maybe it was the stance on anti-communism? Whatever....he put out the order to all of his newspapers to...."Puff Graham"....in other words.....make this guy look good.
                Well that was the beginning....and Billy Graham would travel the world with his crusades....visit with kings....rub elbows with celebrities.....and be friends with presidents. His crusades were not perfect. One survey said that only 3% of those that went forward stayed with their belief. It was more likely the findings of another survey where 12% or thereabouts of those were brought to Christ in those crusades. Over the decades the numbers added up to multitudes that were brought to Christ through that farm boy!
                 Billy Graham wasn't perfect. Who among our heroes was....not Luther....not Calvin....not the Puritans....not Edwards....maybe Spurgeon? I'm kidding of course....all of them up to and including today were and are mere men touched by God's Holy Spirit....capable just as we are of even major mistakes. As wonderful as was the intellect of C. S. Lewis....his theology at times was terrible. R. C. missed a couple of important things....and John MacArthur fell into the slough of politics. And as for me? I hope I get some things right.
                  Well Billy Graham also made some doozies. He got way too tangled up in politics...way too tangled up! His overall ministry changed somewhere in the 80s. He warned America again and again and again....and he even questioned if his previous evangelistic gospel messages were as strong as they should have been....but he gave something else to America and the church. He was our national pastor....and a good one....with a profound effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the whole world!
                  We all know most of this....but what we might want to consider is his last decade. He didn't appear in public all that much....staying around the old homestead at Montreat. What went through his mind as he saw Obama and Trump take center stage in American politics? I tend to think he might have been like Daniel....who had a glimpse of what the end would be like....and it made him physically ill. I think that he may have been stricken with grief at how bad things were....but along with that he would have remembered his own words....a few of them that were...."America....prepare to meet thy God." 
                   Billy Graham's last official book was from 2015 titled....Where I Am....Heaven, Eternity, And Our Life Beyond. He was saying in that title that if he dies....that this is where he'll be! It is one of my favorite Billy Graham books and can almost always be found on a Barnes & Noble shelf.
                   Age doesn't guarantee anything as far as wisdom in a Christian....but on the other hand....as a rule of thumb....you might want to at least consider what greyheads or greybeards say....for as I wrote in a 2016 post on this same Billy Graham book....alluding to John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress....and the river that has to be crossed at the end...."I see that river today and can faintly hear the rejoicing emanating from the beautiful city beyond; this simply because the more one walks toward the light of the Celestial City, the less one hears the barkers and minstrels of Vanity Fair."
                 
                  
                   

Where He May See Failure......I See Extreme Perseverance

                 I'm making an attempt in this post to help a friend. As far as I know he has never read anything that I write....as a matter of fact he doesn't read much of anything at all. He first believed in Jesus Christ in....I'm not exactly sure....but it was either 1980 or 1981....before I first believed in Jesus Christ. I will have to print this out and ask him to read it.

                He has had things happen to him in these four decades that would cause other men to totally give up on any ties to the Christian faith. I knew another man way back when....who also had come to Christ before I had.....and he was very vocal in his faith. He lost his father suddenly....and his wife left him. He then vocally and openly out right rejected the faith for which he was known. We talked about this once....and he told me that he...."makes no bones about it".....he no longer believes.
                 My friend who I'm addressing in this post has had three wives literally walk out on him....taken in by the 'real' excitement of the world. I watched this happen all three times. He also has physical pain problems that multiple doctors have been unable to identify let alone treat. Consequently he has struggled much. The world might give his struggles a label from psychology....but I have known him well for all these years....and this depth of despair is spiritual in nature.
                 Legend has it that Luther once threw an inkwell at the Devil in his room at Wartburg Castle. I can't even imagine what Luther went through in those days. Depression to Spurgeon was debilitating at times. I heard R. C. Sproul talk about his depression caused by detractors. I could feel the hurt in his voice.  There are too many notable Christian ministers of the past that suffered greatly to even attempt to give a list.
                 So this friend of mine....he would stand up....and go on....and then at some point fall again under the weight of the pain....and it may have taken some time....but he would stand up again....and go on again....and at some point be knocked down again.
                 Talking to him today....that seems to be all that he can remember....getting knocked down. I was there...and what I remember most....is him getting back up! How many of us would do that? He probably got up a dozen times over the years. Some of his falls he surely brought on himself.....we all do that....but the fact remains....he got up more than anyone else that I have personally known.
                  I'm going to make an odd statement. Wow....that doesn't sound like me....but these 'depths'....in the long run.....are blessings. If a Christian man has never experienced these depths....these deeps....then he should at least wonder why. Has he never disturbed the enemy....never even gotten their attention? We are not tin soldiers....playing at soldiering. There is real fear...and real wounds. There are a lot of medals given away today in evangelicalism....the best seats in the synagogue....conference engagements....honorary degrees. Many of these are surely deserved but Martyn Lloyd-Jones comes to mind. He didn't want the adulation....or his name in lights....and often scorned it. He only wanted one thing....His Lord's approbation on that day of judgment that is to come! So there are no medals for my friend....for he is a grunt....unknown in the halls of power....with no war correspondents around....other than me....and I want to give him his due.
                  He has no rank....but he has something better. He was the lost sheep....and that means that the Good Shepherd Himself had come out to look for him! I want him to stop looking at his falls....and start looking at forty years of....when necessary....which was often....getting up! He has the Purple Hearts to prove his service.
                  One more thing I would tell him. How many Christian men can look at all of their children....and be sure as well as we can be sure....that they are Christ's....eternally Christ's....born from above....redeemed? In this modern church age....from my experience over four decades....those statistics leave a lot to be desired....where Christian parents hardly even think about whether their children are actually born again....whatever that might be....but my friend has three children....(now this is in process as I type)....but he may....in baseball terms....wind up three for three....in delivering his children to the risen Christ! What more success can there be than that!

But For Now

                 The family was on their way to the grocery store. A vehicle cut them off....then apparently stayed with them until the cars came to a stop. The twentyish occupants fired bullets into the family car....killing the beautiful four year old. This news story is about a day old. I doubt if stories like this keep our attention for more than a minute or two.....for they are almost an everyday occurance. The world has gone mad with violence. Surely the days of Noah could not have been worse! I don't understand how we can say anything but....Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus?

                In the 80s and 90s I listened to Christian talk radio all the time....occasionally sending off an email to the host. My wife and I had a Christian bookstore in the late 90s....and these folks at the radio station worked with me on a very nice commercial for the bookstore....but I haven't listened in much over the past few decades....until today when I tuned it in on a very short drive.....to the grocery store. That is the impetus for this short post.
               Kathy Keller....the wife of Tim Keller who went to be with the Lord earlier this year....was interviewed. I got the impression that she has been on the talk show quite a few times....as the conversation was very casual. Even in this short period of time she got my attention by mentioning Puritan related biblical themes.
               I'm going to try to relate this as accurately as I can remember. At one point....remember now....she is talking slowly....as if sitting around a breakfast table with the hosts....at one point I could almost see her gazing off in the distance as she said something like this....'It's not so much that I look forward to seeing Tim in heaven....but I want to see Jesus.' And then she repeated the sentiment.
              How we need to hear this exact sentiment today! It is Jesus who awaits us! Everything is Jesus! Yes....whatever the details of heaven are.....(I think that Kathy Keller used almost those same words)....meeting loved ones for one.....we will find out....and this surely would be wonderful....but this we know....the glorious Lord of our salvation....who beginning in that manger that we will soon celebrate....took on flesh....temptations and sufferings and all....and became as the lowest dreg in the minds of the people who called out...."crucify Him....crucify Him!".....and was brutally....crucified....for those elect who include a worm like me! Why? We will find out in due time....but for now....Maranatha.....Come Lord Jesus!
              

Surely You Have Forty-One Minutes And Fifteen Seconds Somewhere In Your Life To Spare

                  You are not a gambler are you? You would never throw down hundreds or thousands of dollars on who would score more points in some kind of game. Yes....you are solid common sense in just everything in life.....insurance....investing....saving money....buying cars....doctor checkups. I had an elderly family member give out personal information recently in a phone scam....even though she had been told many times never to do that. Pretty bad huh....but let me tell you this....you are doing something worse! You are in the biggest club in the world in that you do not want to hear anything about having to be born again. You are your own person....you made up your mind....right or wrong you will face up to it someday. That's not the problem....the problem is that you are effectively making this decision for others whom you love. You may not care....but what about your children....or your parents....your spouse? The following was just an addendum to a February 2022 post:        

Addendum: Are you tired of hearing about all this born again stuff. You've gone to church all your life....put a sizable amount of money in the collection plate over the years....vote Republican....what more could God possibly want? If this is you then you need to find some resolution to this problem....and quickly....for you have been driving a long time with the check engine light on and unnoticed. John Piper has a sermon for you on this. Just Google....John Piper YouTube, Why Do We Need To Be Born Again. Come on....I know you are sick of hearing about this....so settle it once and for all!' Surely you have forty-one minutes and fifteen seconds somewhere in your life don't you? I'll give you one very good reason....apart from your own soul....that you should consider this. You love your children more than yourself. Maybe they are adults now....maybe it is your parents....and they are wonderful people....but have they ever been truly converted to trusting in Christ alone....do they even know what that means? Are you willing to take this chance?

The Celestial City Marathon

                I was in a marathon once....oh about forty years ago. There were thousands of entrants....and I came in second....to the last. I could have come in fourth to the last....as I could feel the adrenalin in the last hundred yards....but the two runners in front of me were....well I think 'elderly' would be the word....they were holding hands....and the crowd was cheering them on. Had I passed them it would not have been good.

               I had a bug the night before....and woke up in a hotel bed drenched in sweat. I had pasta for my evening meal and planned on a light breakfast but could not eat anything. It was about 86 degrees during the run. I started off well and eight miles into it I was faster than I had planned. I tried to take a paper cup of water but it came right up. At the halfway point I was right on my schedule....but I knew that I was done. The marathon was out and back. Somewhere along the course an EMT ran out to me to ask if I needed assistance. Somewhere I have a photo of me on the course....one of those where they send you a thumbnail and you can order the photo if you want. Why on earth I ordered it I do not know. I was alone....with dozens if not hundreds a paper cups strewn on the street. The photographer was probably on overtime.
                The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is....as you know....a remarkable testimony of those before us who displayed faith. It is a very humbling chapter. Some "escaped" the sword....and some were "slain" by the sword. Chapter twelve starts out with this verse...."Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." (ESB)
                 If the Lord permits it will be seventy-four years in a few weeks. It's been a long race. I may come in last in this one....but I know that my Savior and my King will see me through to the end. This course is not out and back....but just out. We start in the City of Destruction....and finish in the Celestial City. There are occasional hills and rocks and dark valleys. There is despair at times....and mockery often....but there are cups of living water all along the way! 

"From Whence Come Wars And Fighting"

               This was my day. Author Tim Alberta came out with a new book this past Tuesday. I stopped in my nearest Barnes & Noble a couple of days ago but it was already sold out. It was a busy week....but I finally had a chance to call around for the book today. I called four Barnes & Nobles....a couple of them over an hour drive away....for I wanted the book....today....and all of them were sold out already. So I began calling some independent bookstores....with the same result. My wife just kept rolling her eyes and I kept calling bookstores....and then the libraries. I tried one last Barnes & Noble....and they were sold out also but said that the store closest to me....that I had been in just two days ago....should have five copies. I thought this must be a mistake but called the close-by B&N....and sure enough they just got an order in....but it was still in the back in boxes. Well...the clerk had heard my story....and said that she would go back and find the copies. I showed up two hours later.....and the the book was waiting for me at the counter!

               OK....now for the book....sort of. Tim Alberta published his first book back in July of 2019. I have to continue to segue a little. I voted for Trump in 2016....and celebrated....but within a few months I found out that there was something terribly wrong with this man that we evangelicals really knew little about. So I started reading about him....books against him....and books for him....and even books by him. A few months ago I was up to 98 books on Trump. That's not a typo....98 books! One of those was that 2019 book by Tim Alberta....American Carnage....On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War....and the Rise of  President Trump. I thought it was a very well-written book....so when his new book came out this week....I wanted to read it right away!
              The title of that book that is in my hands is....The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory....American Evangelicals In An age of Extremism. I have only read the prologue so far. We all know that we do not know what a day brings....so I can only say that....Lord willing....I will try to publish a post on this book after I read it....but I want to put something in from the prologue. Tim Alberta's father was a long-time pastor of an evangelical church in Michigan...and thus Tim the son was raised in it. His first book had just come out....and his father passed away suddenly....and the author was back home to give the eulogy at the funeral....and he was confronted by people in his church....this at the funeral....because of this book critical of Trump. 
               I post on this topic often. Pastors are in general not warning at all on Donald Trump....and the effect he has had on the church....even after so many years of carnage. This Christian nationalism as it is called had so infiltrated the church....that if a pastor warns about it....the church might be disrupted....and even split. I had dinner with two evangelical friends just last evening and asked them about this concerning their own churches....and it seems that the topic is never broached. Consequently years pass....and the sheep are not warned. I have seen the results of this....Ichabod....the glory has departed the church....along with discernment on the nearness of the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....or even the hope of the nearness of the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Ultimately....we have followed this errant path....because....primarily....we want the glory that does not  lead to eternal life. The title of this post is James 4:1.

If You Begin To Trust In God......Your New Heart May Have Already Started To Beat

Preface: The following post is from August of 2022....with a few minor changes. It is directed to the person who just assumes that they must be a Christian. There is nothing behind that confidence. So I want to challenge them. When....to the best of your knowledge....did this change happen....that you went from being lost.....to being saved?

              Everyone born into this world is lost. You may very well have trouble with that. It's quite natural if you do. Providing that you can set it aside for now....I'll continue. Every redeemed believer in Jesus Christ in this world has eternal life. That might be easier for you to take. Considering the two futures....one of sorrow....and the other of joy....something must have happened to have changed course. Salvation is what this is called. There would have had to have been a moment in time when that change occured. That's simply logical. We would agree on that would we not?

              So....if you believe that right now you are headed to eternal life....when did that change occur? Take all the time that you need. Was it in your teens....or as a child....or one of the many decades of adult life? You see....you consider yourself to be a Christian....but you cannot explain anything about it at all! You do not really want to think about this too much because you are satisfied with the outcome as it stands....but you know that if you think about it too much....you may lose that confidence.
              Here is some direction for you. The lost soul is a dead soul....(and everyone comes into this world lost)....not just sick....but dead! It must come alive. How does this happen? Please remember....unless one accepts that they are lost....they will have no need to be found. There can be no concept of salvation unless one believes that there is something to be saved from. 
             You may believe that you are a pretty good person.....therefore if there is a salvation to be had....you would have it.....but still the question remains....when did this change occur? At what point of your being a pretty good person did God say....'you are now saved.'? Everyone has some good works. Some have a lifetime of them. Where would the salvation have kicked in?
             God has told us in His Word to us....that this is not how it works. He says that faith in Jesus Christ is what saves. OK....now there is a 'when'....for there was a time when one did not have that faith.....and there is a time where one does have that faith.
              So....if you are indeed a Christian....when did that happen? I'm not inquiring about the date. I don't know my own date....but I know that there was a time when my new heart began to beat....and my soul became alive. I know this because before it would have happened....I could not make hide nor hair of the Bible....I was not overwhelmed with what Jesus had done for me....I did not even know for sure that He was God....and I didn't even know for sure that there was a heaven or a hell. Everything was guesswork! I now know. None of it is guesswork....and I want to tell everyone....and have wanted to tell everyone for forty years.
               If you are indeed....saved....do you find that you want to tell everyone of how they must also be saved? If not....why not? Does God's Word leap off the page to you? If not....why doesn't it? Does the majesty and the glory of Jesus Christ fill your soul with joy? 
              It may be that you cannot readily see these things because that point in time....when the new heart began to beat....has not yet occured! There is at this time....no new creation....as God's Word describes it. As difficult as these questions are....the answers come easy to the mind with the regenerated heart. You may not believe me....but there are multitudes of others throughout the ages.....who would tell you the same thing!
              Trust.....not in me....but in God....and you know what....if you begin to trust in God....your new heart will have already begun to beat....you will be given faith....and your soul will become alive....for you will have become....'born again'....and you will soon sit there wondering....as we all do....'how do I tell of this great salvation to those who are lost?'