'The Case Of This Spurgeon Chap......South Of The Thames'

Preface: A most remarkable movement of God's Holy Spirit began in New York City in 1857....it may have actually began first in one town in Canada....and then spread to Northern Ireland and London. 1859 was a remarkable year in the early ministry of Charles Spurgeon....as he did a series of sermons on the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit in the age....and the church....and in all of us. You can easily Google sermons with the words.....Spurgeon....and the necessity of the Holy Spirit. John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference has been a topic of a lot of posts over the past few weeks....but Charles Spurgeon had his own annual...pastors conference....for graduates of his Bible college. You can listen to an audio reading of his last....pastors conference message....given only months before his death....and turned into a book....as the church in England was in crisis....this in April of 1891....by Googling....Spurgeon...YouTube...The Greatest Fight In The World. The following post is from December 28 of 2022:    

Note: We might want to keep in mind that our civil war started immediately after this great revival!             

                 "Elementary my dear Watson....sheer deduction....if the evangelicals are correct in their definition of who God is....and what He is like....then why do they not act like it...or this God.....really cannot be much of a God at all. It is all logic Watson. This just does not make sense. The words are there in their Holy Scriptures....and they describe in great detail a powerful and sovereign God....infinite in wisdom....who no man could stand before and live....yet the evangelicals....who enjoy a good game of Cricket as much as anyone....or a night at the theater....seem to think Him no more than....the master of the house.....who everyone avoids.....and when he does enter their living quarters.....they listen attentively....until He returns to His own dwelling.....and they give a sigh of relief....that no new responsibilities were assigned.
                 You see Watson....if there is a literal hell....as the evangelicals always describe when turning in their composition book....and if they literally believed in that literal hell....they could not possibly act as nonchalantly as they are known for! For goodness sakes Watson....their own children could be going to this literal hell....and they do not even seem concerned!
                 You see this do you not Watson? What if....what if you were told that little Archibald was outside....skating on the ice....that you know is too thin for children to be skating on? Would you not immediately drop everything and run out to safely pull him off the ice? Why don't they run out to pull their children off of the train to hell? Tell me why that is Watson?
                 No....we must get to the bottom of this! Either their Holy Scriptures are wrong.....or they are wrong! Pass me the Times Watson.....look here....this Spurgeon chap....on the other side of the Thames....in that church....what is the name....Tabernacle....Metropolitan Tabernacle. He's involved in this big scrum...the Downgrade they call it. He's taking the same position Watson....either this is God....or this is a god their own making! Poor Chap....I hear his health is declining over this.
                Make a note of this Watson. As soon as we return from Switzerland...to do away with this dastardly Moriarty....I shall go and listen to this Spurgeon chap....and maybe see what makes him tick."
                Sherlock Holmes and Charles Spurgeon would both die within the year.....1892....the fictional Holmes and Moriarty at the bottom of a chasm on the mountains in Switzerland....Charles Spurgeon while resting in the south of France….Holmes to meet the benefactor of his deductive intellect….Spurgeon….the Sovereign giver of grace.

Don't Waste This Opportunity

                Five weeks ago I first posted on John MacArthur's upcoming Shepherd's Conference....and I posted again on it four weeks ago....and then three....and then two....all Wednesdays....and now it is one week until the three day conference begins on March sixth....Lord willing.
                The schedule is out. You can Google it easily enough if you care to see it. John MacArthur and John Piper headline it but there are over two dozen other speakers....over those three days....comprised of twelve general sessions....and two afternoons of breakout sessions....and an hour long Q&A with MacArthur and Piper. The conference theme is....Truth Triumphs.
                 My hope was that God would have some last minute changes in store....my thinking being....when you have a couple of thousand pastors gathered together....don't waste that opportunity. Teaching sessions are fine....and greatly needed in a multi-lap running race....but this friends is the bell lap. Now I don't know how long that lap is....it might be all around the perimeter of the country....but I know this....it's the last lap....the last missionary journey to use that figurative language.
                 When I began these posts on the Shepherd's Conference I had heard nothing of the controversy over Alistair Begg....who was to be a main speaker at the conference....but withdrew over that controversy....so as not to be a distraction....or so it has been reported. A one-hour Q&A is not long enough but for a few short questions and answers. Will either John MacArthur or John Piper deviate from their assigned general session topics?
                 The conference start is one day after what has become known in America's political party primary season as....Super Tuesday. John Piper is rather famous for a conference talk he once gave....and a book by the same name.....and small evangelism pamphlets of the same name....of which I still have a couple dozen left to give away....Don't Waste Your Life.
                  Well John Piper has two scheduled general session talks. I hope that he is free to speak on where the Holy Spirit leads him. Don't waste this opportunity Pastor John! The last paragraph in little pamphlet reads...."Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain."

John MacArthur Weighs In On Christian Nationalism

               John MacArthur finally addressed the issue of Trump....sort of. Three news reports....that I have seen....have come out in the past 24 hours....on a Q&A in his own church....where he addressed the issue of what is called....Christian Nationalism....and he came down heavily against it. He said this...."Nothing that happens in any nation, whether it's a communist nation, a Muslim nation, or a quote-unquote-Christian nation, or an atheistic nation, nothing in that nation--politically, socially--has anything to do with the advancement of the Kingdom of God." He warned against "link[ing] up....some political process....some gain of power or influence....as part of the advance of Christianity"....for that is...."alien to Christianity." Well that should be enough to warn Christians from thinking that MAGA has anything to do with the gospel or Christianity.
              This may have been a spontaneous question in this Q&A....but I tend to doubt it....for it should have been obvious that politics and the Christian had to be addressed....and MacArthur seemed well-prepared to address the nuance in all of this....as he described the current situation.....of which I presume he meant Trump....as not being...."black and white."
               You can read this easy enough by Googling 'John MacArthur'....and going to the news link....so I am taking his many words....and condensing them to my description. He said that we should want to vote people in office who are anti-abortion....and not "LGBTQ-affirming"....but there is a problem here because some politicians can be just that....but "wicked" in other categories. That has to be Trump folks.
               In 2020 John MacArthur made an unforced error....similar to the unforced error that Alistair Begg of late made....in that in a surprise phone call from Trump....after a worship service....typical Trump....as he first flattered John MacArthur for keeping his church doors open in the pandemic....MacArthur famously.....or rather infamously responded with...."any real, true believer is going to be on your side in this election..."
               So no....John MacArthur never mentioned Trump by name....but you might trip over the inference if you don't spot it. John MacArthur....this is my take on it....substituted...."post-millennialism"....for Trump's constantly over nine years now....prophesying that America's greatest days are ahead....and that America is going to continue...."winning winning winning." Post-millennialism....says that things will get better before Christ comes. MacArthur points out that God's Word says the opposite....his wording of it...."the believers are persecuted and murdered....things get worse and worse....headed toward the wrath of God." 
                John MacArthur knows that Jesus is at the very door....for that can be discerned in his increasingly concerned sermons in recent years....just as R. C. Sproul....from my personal observation....was giving the same warnings.....and Billy Graham....and John Piper....and so many others. Maranatha....Lord Jesus come!

"Not By Might....Nor By Power....But By My Spirit....Say The LORD Of Hosts"

               The evangelical sees their country being destroyed....in real time....right before their own eyes. This new 'progressive' party as the Democrats prefer to call themselves....is the main culprit....and being anti-God which it indeed is....makes it all the easier to mount an aggressive campaign against it. Enter Trump....despicable and vile....but so what....he's tough and we have to get tough! That is essentially the evangelical mindset....but there are serious problems with this conclusion.
               No....we are generally not pro-abortion....and we do not generally support same-sex marriage and everything involved with that....but we somehow have removed ourselves from culpability on how America came to be what it is today. We played around with our idols of sport and recreation and entertainment just as much as the other side did. We focused on 401s and retirement....and consequently found it hard to empathise with with those living right in the midst of the urban disaster of Democrat politics. We benefited from white privilege....I am proof of that....but we totally deny the concept. (I just brought up an older post....White Privilege....if you are interested....it's about half way down the archives to your left)
               We knew very well that Barack Obama wanted to...."fundamentally transform America"....but we were caught unaware as Trump has fundamentally transformed us! You cannot hang around....so to speak....people literally filled with hatred and anger....for years on end....and not have it rub off on you. The foolishness of Tucker Carlson has dimmed us. The consistent anger from Alex Marlow has coarsened us. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Charlie Kirk have made us drunk with vengeance. Mark Levin hoped too much for a savior....and wound up worshipping a false prophet. Cruz and Rubio and Graham floundered. Trump himself has bewitched us! 
               Evangelicalism....weak to begin with....collapsed in a spiritual dementia of sorts that followed....forgetting that verse that used to be at the forefront of our minds....Zechariah 4:6....ESV...."This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts"....we today in as much as deny that....that yes it is by might and by power....that we will become great again....for we will in essence build our own homes....as the Lord's house lies in great need of repair. 
               Our thinking process today is baked by politics....not even seasoned by the Word of God. We have our teachers....but they are of the constitution....and not God's Word. Our opinion on the border or Russia or China or Israel is molded by these teachers. We don't pant after living waters....but rather drink in the Jesse Watters' of our day.
               Folks....brothers and sisters....where is our heart....what are our eyes focused on....upon whom or what have we placed our trust? Do we look up and pray....Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come....or do we....as the wicked servant....say...." 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drink with drunkards..." If that is the case we must hear what Jesus continued with...."the master  of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect and at an hour he does not know." (Matthew 24: 48-50....this is part of the Olivet Discourse folks!)

 

This Is 'Our' Man....We Put Him There....And We Will Take No Evidence That We Made A Mistake

                I want to recommend an episode of John Piper's ministry....desiringgod.org....that is up front this morning....titled....The Nourishing Word. In it Piper preaches on Hebrews 5:11....particularly the last few words...."since you have become dull of hearing." I want to add another verse to go along with that....Matthew 13:15...."For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them."
                Prima facie evidence in the law is that initial....'at first sight'....evidence....to make a case that trial is necessary. I present to you the prima facie evidence that the church....evangelicalism....needs to....in a very introspective sense....each and every one of us....be put in the docket for our failure to identify a genuine biblical false prophet....and 'an antichrist'....as the Apostle John labels those who claim to be one of us...but proceed to destroy that which is our essence. John Calvin wrote...."It is not enough in words to confess that Jesus is the Christ, except he is acknowledged to be such as the Father offers to us in the gospel." Just spouting the word 'God' at rallies means nothing....for anyone can do that.
                If Donald Trump is anything in this world....above everything else....he is one who lies as easily....and almost as often....as he breaths. Prima facie evidence is there in every year of his life....and as president....in every day of his presidency.....but one has to be willing to read....which we are not. One would have to....(and unfortunately we do all the time)...cover our eyes and plug our ears....in other words permit no evidence into our mind....in order not to see and readily admit....as even Rush did at one time....that Donald Trump lies. We have chosen to follow a liar....in an attempt to keep the lifestyle that we want to go back to....that if we were honest we would admit that that prior day....(make America great again)....did not honor God to begin with! In other words we want what we want....and will not hear evidence on what God wants!
               Donald Trump is a false prophet. Surely all of you admit that for over nine years now he has in every rally and every speech....prophesied that our best is yet to come....and that nothing will stop us.... and that we are just going to keep on.....winning....winning....winning!" You may say that this is just politics....but no man that I have heard of even comes close to building his entire existence and reputation on promises and prophecies like that. That is why people follow him....because they believe those false prophecies....but even more that they want those false prophecies to be true! God's Word....to those who are not dull of hearing....tells us the exact opposite....that judgment is coming on this world! Explain please....John MacArthur....how this man does not qualify as a false prophet....according to the descriptions that you yourself have given over your long and great ministry? 
               When the Apostle Paul warns of those many types of people that we are to stay away from at all costs....how is that we can identify Donald Trump in just about every description....and yet we throw all these warnings away....to run to him to lead us to 'greatness' again? Explain this to us please pastors? Is it not that if you warned of this man from your pulpits that a percentage of your sheep will protest....and either leave....or work towards your removal? 
                Donald Trump's personal boasts on what he had accomplished in his first term are greatly exaggerated. We....conservatives....put out a job application for someone who would give us originalist judges....and this for the past forty years. This was not his idea. In fact there is not evidence that he even leaned this way before running for president. He did give us judges....the hard fact of it is that he could have not done anything else....for the congress would not have let him.
                 Did he build a wall as he boasts that he did? If you can remember what happened....even talk radio was on him for dragging his feet. A lot of wall that was built was just replacement. He had other things on his mind....building profits.....for that is his only measure of success. And what about that great economy. After eight years of Barack Obama....and the changes in regulations that any republican president would bring....a healthy economy would follow. Trump did what conservatism had called for. If anything at all is his own accomplishment it is that his bravado did motivate business. 
                  Yes....many of the indictments brought against him have been what is called....lawfare....using the legal system for political and personal and propaganda purposes....but he still did these things.   Yet he will stand before an audience and twist it so that it appears that he is innocent.....and the crowd roars its approval.....this because evangelicalism today has been judged by God....blinding us....this is spiritual blindness folks....and He therefore is giving us.....exactly what we want! 
                   The greatest failure here has been from our pulpits. They do not preach to bring down the glory of God....because they do not know how to preach to bring down the glory of God....but what is worse than ignorance is that they show little enthusiasm for humbly seeking anything that they may have missed. It apparently is beyond them to admit that that they may have failed in their calling.
                   One last thing for this post. Eli was a priest of Israel....and he had two sons who were also priests and led Israel. These sons....Hophni and Phinehas....were corrupt. Eli warned them....but barely warned them. War came....and these two sons grabbed the Ark of the Covenant to take to the battle....surely God would give them victory with the Ark right there on the battlefield! Well that is what we are doing today. Did the older men of God....the Billy Grahams....sufficiently warn us about substituting politics for trust in Almighty God? Whatever....we have in effect carried the name of God to the battlefield. Surely God will give victory to those who are pro-life and against same-sex marriage! Surely He will give freedom and liberty and capitalism the victory in this....'Christian'....nation!
                    We need some semblance of sound and humble leaders....not to make us 'great' again....for the day of judgment is at hand. We need those leaders to take us through the difficult times that are ahead....that we have brought upon ourselves! Judgment has come to the church of God first. This is our man. This is John MacArthur's man....and Franklin Graham's man....and Jonathan Cahn's man.  
                

We Agree On This......The Day Is Indeed At Hand

                There were a couple of years in the past when I explored the possibility of going to CPAC. This was back before I retired....but I could never make it work....and that was before Trump....who destroys everything with which he comes into contact. 
                In a few short months....Lord willing....June 15....it will be nine years since Trump came down that escalator! To someone who is 27 years old....(take note of this college students)....the deception and delusion of Trump would have occupied one-third of their life....and just about all of their adult life! They would have no idea what America was once like....MAGA being a gross imposter....lacking the compassion and the ethics and even much of the righteous intent we once had. Evangelicals have no idea what evangelicalism was thirty years ago. This that we have today is closer to Christian Nationalism than Christianity.
                 So I sat down this Saturday afternoon and watched yet another rally speech....it's literally been dozens over the years....this time another CPAC keynote speech. When I have posted on these rallies I watch it on my iPhone...while typing notes on the laptop as he speaks....to bring the post together later. Today....roughly an hour and ten minutes into the ninety minute speech....I typed in....'he has been rambling for forty minutes'....and less than 30 seconds later Trump said...."The fake news will say that I'm rambling....not using a teleprompter.....but it's genius."
                 If I didn't know better I'd say that he was tipsy....as he went on for a while with his normal diatribes such as...."The only thing between you and oblivion is me....it's true....it's true." Or..."We are on the fast track to hell....and in many ways we are living in hell right now." Trump said at one point...."Isn't this better than reading off a frickin' teleprompter"....and this is the first speech that I can remember where he did not finish with his usual sendoff....'We are one glorious nation under God'....the reason being fairly obvious in that he was real late for one last campaign appearance in South Carolina. (the CPAC speech itself was an hour late)
                 Trump said that November 5th will be...."judgment day"....that...."the day is at hand." Well God's Word uses similar language....as in Romans 13:12...."The night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light."

  

               I wanted to bring the above graphic back. If you Google....John MacArthur Grace To You program....Beware of False Prophets....YouTube....this graphic will come up. Originally broadcast in 1980....I first heard the program on May 8, 2015....forty days before Trump came down that escalator.
               Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day....and pastors will enter their pulpits....with smiling faces....keeping their sheep from any unsettling issues....because they themselves haven't the slightest idea of God's prophetic word....having their whole lives preferred to accept a textbook definition of God's prophetic word....rather than reading it for themselves....comforting the confused rather than explaining and warning of what is directly ahead....therefore inhibiting any needed preparation....and leaving the sheep open to a wolf....who is today....bloated and almost belching from nine years of feasting on lamb chops and veal cutlets.

We Need Conversation Folks

                I've never seen the movie so it must have been from a clip or maybe a trailer....Oliver's Story....the sequel to Erich Segal's....Love Story. It's in the beginning of the film....and Oliver apparently is contemplating ice skating in the same rink that played a part in the first film....but the rink has no ice....or even water. Candice Bergen's character runs by Oliver....jogging.....and says something clever and humorous to him....who has ice skates in hand and is staring at an empty ice rink. Oliver struggles with whether or not to finally attempt to talk to a woman. He decides in the affirmative and catches up to her....lugging his ice skates....and breathing heavy....a few words are exchanged before he says to the female jogger....

"Do we have to run while we are talking?"

Of which she immediately replies....

"Do we have to talk while we are running?"

I can remember those lines but I'm not certain about where my keys are at this moment.

               Honestly folks....that's what came to mind while contemplating the topic of this post. My days are spent....much of them anyway....thinking about ways to have conversations with people....anyone....believers....unbelievers....anyone....on the gospel of Jesus Christ....and salvation....and the urgency to warn or coax or call others into the mercies of salvation of that gospel of Jesus Christ....for the time is indeed short....but in this extended day and age of constant busyness....and isolation....Facebook madness....entertainments....and seeking instant gratification in anything....it seems as if even Christians subconsciously are thinking....'Do we have to talk about God when we are conversing?'
               At this present moment in time....in America....and even in evangelicalism....we have little to no interest in talking about God. The title of Frank Peretti's classic Christian novel....This Present Darkness....comes to mind.....an apt analogy....but even more so Paul's warning and admonition...."For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)
               It has not been the....Lord's Day....for a long time....possibly centuries. Today at best it is the....Lord's Morning....between 9 and noon on Sundays. Look around you the next time you are in a restaurant....and see how many people might thank God for what they are about to eat? It's been reported that 123.4 million people watched the Super Bowl....on what used to be the Lord's Day....the most watched US television broadcast in history....in itself idolatry of Babylonian proportions....in a nation of roughly 330 million people....and this as America is about to descend into chaos!
               We make a big deal today about keeping church doors open. The day for that is fast approaching but the real problem in the church today has been what is and isn't preached once you go through those church doors! The Lord of hosts spoke through Malachi...."Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain!" 
               We need conversation folks. It is time for pastors to stop hiding behind their podiums....and address some real issues. We have a wolf in sheep's clothing literally tearing the sheep apart limb from limb....and we're not even supposed to talk about it? We're literally worshiping a golden-haired calf.....and we can't talk about that?  If artificial intelligence isn't related to the Antichrist of prophecy....than a monkey was Darwin's uncle....and if this isn't the darkness before the Lord's return....then God didn't make little green apples.

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of the One having called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" 1 Peter 2:9

Consider These Things.....Before You Even Open Your Bible

                I always have a Bible on hand just in case I'm in a conversation with someone and the opportunity arises to offer them a copy of the Word of God. This is normal for Christians....as they might not always have Bibles on hand but would be more than willing to purchase one in order to give it away. It's easy.....relatively speaking....to give a Bible away.....but not so easy to explain to these folks how to read God's Word.
                Occasionally in these posts I come across a book that I am so confident in that I recommend it before I even read it. The blurbs on the book cover can help with this. Well....while at Alistair Begg's church's bookstore recently....I saw this small book....eighty-nine....7" by 4 1/2" pages....and the title....'BEFORE YOU OPEN your BIBLE....Nine Heart Postures For Approaching God's Word'....by Matt Smethurst. There are a lot of blurbs....by a lot of faithful Christians.....on this small book. I just checked and you can order copies at a wonderful Christian bookstore in Carlisle Pennsylvania....(if you cannot go to Alistair Begg's church)....by going to cvbbs.com....and this for $4.89 a copy....about the same price as the church bookstore but about 30% off the normal price!
               Enough preliminaries....the chapter titles tell the story....and that is all that I am going to do here.....give you those chapter titles.....so you can order the book quickly.....to read and then give to your children....or anyone!

Chapter One.......Approach Your Bible....PRAYERFULLY
Chapter Two.......Approach Your Bible....HUMBLY
Chapter Three.....Approach Your Bible....DESPERATELY
Chapter Four.......Approach Your Bible....STUDIOUSLY
Chapter Five.......Approach Your Bible....OBEDIENTLY
Chapter Six.........Approach Your Bible....JOYFULLY
Chapter Seven.....Approach Your Bible....EXPECTANTLY
Chapter Eight......Approach Your Bible....COMMUNALLY
Chapter Nine.......Approach Your Bible....CHRISTOCENTRICALLY 

               I know what I am going to read in this book....because every chapter title resonated with me. I've given a Bible to too many people over the years where I knew that they would open it and begin to read.....but I also had a strong feeling that all of the above chapter headings would likely be absent....thus they were going to rightfully be disappointed and never open it again.
               The author brings up a good point in the introduction as he writes that people are too often either intimidated by God's Word....where they think that they'll never be able to understand it.....or they are too familiar with it....where they think they know it all already!   
                Taking the advice in this book can be the difference between picking up the Bible to read....but being disappointed when you put it down because you feel no different....and reading and experiencing God's Word as if it were life itself!

Methinks They Doth Protest Too Much

               It's been an interesting and a little bit disconcerting Lord's Day. My wife is away so I took advantage of being alone and drove up to Chagrin Falls, Ohio to experience a megachurch and hear Alistair Begg preach. Then I came home just in time to stream John MacArthur preach his morning service in Pacific time being three hours behind us.
               Let me start with the last first. John Macarthur was preaching from Revelation....and that in itself was good because there was a strong warning on the day and age that we live in....and the nearness of the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....but he seems constantly....this for quite some time now....to be defending himself in the mistakes he made over the past few years....on politics no less....in that twice in the sermon he referred to the pandemic as a hoax. I have wanted someone to ask him what he meant by this since he first stood before his congregation and said....I watched him say it....."There is no pandemic." And He brought up the vaccine again!
               In his sermon today he referred to our two security agencies....I presume that he meant the FBI and NSA....and how they spy on us....but here is the kicker.....they spy on us to drive us to the Internet so that they can eventually control our money. This is a sermon....from a skilled long time minister of the gospel and defender of the faith? Folks....it usually takes a week or so for his ministry....gracetoyou.org....to add the latest sermon. If you are patient you can then listen to it for yourself.
                I had only a few days ago....in a repost from 2011....stated how Christians in America have been for a long time thwarting the globalist goals on a one world government. MacArthur essentially said the same thing....but he referred to all of this....that goes back many decades....as the....Make America Great Again....movement! How does Trump get a 'shout out'....in a sermon....from a strong and experienced minister on the national and international scene....on something that precedes him by decades?
               All of this could be called....Trump  Delusion Syndrome....or....Trump Distortion Syndrome. Trump didn't demand NATO pay more to strengthen it....he wanted to end it! He was kissing Xi Jinping's ring just before the tariff war. How does he get away with telling Putin to do whatever he wants? How do veterans think he is pro-veteran when he has ridiculed veterans? How do evangelicals think that he cares one iota about Christianity when he thinks they are idiots? And how did John MacArthur....a defender of the faith for over fifty years....fail to recognise a false prophet in which he warned against for decades?  
                 Alistair Begg's church was a beautiful structure....the people seemed lovely....it had a first-rate....I guess....latte bar or whatever you want to call it....and the bookstore was excellent. I did not like the huge video screens above and to the left and right of Alistair speaking from the podium....for at least a dozen times I had to force myself to look at the real flesh and blood man in front of me....albeit quite a ways in front of me....instead of the giant figure on the screen. I sang contemporary praise songs way back when....over thirty years ago....but I cannot do it anymore....so instead I tried to concentrate on the words on that huge screen....but even that was difficult. It's like reading a 'living translation' of the Bible....designed for enquirers or new Christians to be able to understand. One last thing....the sermon was quick....and surely will be an episode on a future program of....truthforlife.org....which makes me wonder if the congregation or the radio audience is most important. This was a second service.....and nearly full.
                If you are not up on the church news....a few months ago Alistair Begg....in a Q&A on his radio program....advised a grandmother to go ahead and attend her grandson's wedding to a transgendered person....telling her humorously to take a present as well. Well...that advice went viral and Alistair Begg apparently was disinvited to John MacArthur's upcoming Shepherd's Conference....and was taken off what seems to be a couple hundred Christian radio stations. He also....like John MacArthur....seems to be in a defensive mode....defending his....what appears to be an.....unforced error....from the Q&A. John MacArthur made a similar unforced error in late 2020....when President Trump called him after a morning service....and MacArthur told him that surely all real true believers will be on Trump's side in the election....relegating millions of us who did not nor will not vote for a proven false prophet....to be not real true believers. Why are these mega-ministers incapable of admitting to a mistake? We all remember that Abraham Lincoln quote....I've heard minor variations of it...."He who represents himself has a fool for a client." Another might be from Shakespeare's Hamlet...."The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
                 One last thing. Alistair Begg made a comment from the pulpit that I just shook my head on. He mentioned that he had watched the Super Bowl on television. Come on Pastor Begg....did you have to bring that up....when much of the Christian church still believes in an actual Lord's Day? Is it that important to demonstrate that it is OK for followers of Jesus Christ to watch the Super Sunday Super Bowl....as the world crumbles.....and Jesus is at the very gate? The thought that came to mind was from that clip from the movie Barbie....where Ken looks at her and says....."So cool." Super Bowls after preaching a sermon....so cool!
                 I did listen to another sermon today....on the two hour drive home....actually I believe that it was a conference talk of some sort....but I strongly recommend it to you....just Google....John Piper YouTube....false prophets, absolute truth, divine power, antichrist.

Lord's Day Post

             It was probably thirty-five years ago that I had heard or read this....remember though that this was a time....the mid-80s....when one still had to be born again....and not just become politically conservative and God-fearing. The comment was made that as time passes....into the decades....the Christian will have accumulated many different Bibles for their use. It would be natural....a newer Study Bible comes out....with enticing....'helps'....or the study notes might be directed in a certain direction....or your favorite Bible teacher might come out with his own Study Bible....or you may desire a new or different translation.
            Sure enough that is what happened to me. I have about eight in my basement right now....and I keep two or three upstairs to refer to.....for example the Salem Kirban Reference Bible....KJV....1979....a prophecy Bible basically that gives two pages on every two or three verses of Revelation. It is odd but wonderful as this man....now gone on to be with his Lord....probably held to many doctrines that I in my Calvinist/Reformed faith no longer hold to....but throughout the Bible....at the bottom of the page.....was commentary or a devotion from Charles Spurgeon!
             In my early years I might be impressed by the leather cover....or the color of the cover. Today when I recommend a Bible....which is fairly often....for I might just go up to a person in Barnes & Noble who seems complexed as they look at the Bibles....and give them an opinion....I tell them to pick a Bible where the print is easy to read....for if it isn't then their eyes will quickly get tired....and therefore in the long run they will not read God's Word as much. I also tell them that the cheaper hardback may be easier to sit in a chair and read....for the cover does not flop over the lap or leg.
              OK....having said all that....my first Bible....the very first complete....Old Testament and New Testament in one book....that I ever owned....was given to me by my wife for Christmas in 1982. It was a simple Bible....hardback....only 7 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches....(it's on the arm of this chair right now)....NKJV....with no maps or commentary at all....and it sat on my bookshelf for about forty years as I accumulated all of the other fancier Study Bibles....and then one day I wanted a 'new' Bible....to start a new color-coding system.....all the prophecy in orange....all the doctrine in green....everything about anything else in yellow....and all of the glory and majesty of God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in red....or pink....whatever it is. I haven't referred to my John MacArthur Study Bible in quite some time....as this small....plain.....but exceedingly wonderful.....Word of God.....that my wife gave me in 1982....is always by my side....color-coded throughout....or working on it.
                I have to say though that it takes time to get to his point....for the helps and the maps and the commentary are needed for quite some time. My main point here is that those words in black type....in whatever Bible.....sometimes the words of Jesus in red.....but words....taken in through the eye....(or listened to....or felt on Braille....or brought back to mind through memorization)....those words are the very words of God....given through various chosen men....to you....and to me....everything that we need to know on this pilgrimage....over the mountaintops and through the valleys....in our youth....and old age....previously to today necessarily addressing the last days....centuries before Jesus would return....and today....slowly and more clearly being revealed....as Jesus is indeed about to return!

"To God our Savior,
 Who alone is wise,
 be glory and majesty,
 Dominion and power,
 Both now and forever,
 Amen."

Jude 25 

From Russia With Love

Preface:  I've posted on this young man named Sergei Kourdakov a few times over the years....under the title....From Russia With Love....the post below being the most recent from September of last year. I am working this morning on a post....the first sentence of which is...."We on the....'right'....vs the 'left'.....no longer necessarily the....'right'....vs the 'wrong....as proven here....have become apologists for a man who if in Russia you are a threat in any way to him it might be reported that you jumped out of a window to your death....or you met with some other fatal diagnosis or accident." There is no guarantee that I will finish or publish this effort....for I sometimes sit down to post....work on something....and then just decide that it wasn't that good on an idea:

From Russia With Love

                 I vaguely remember the hubbub over Sputnik in October of 1957....my being not quite eight years old at the time....but I remember much more clearly those thirteen days in October of 1962.  I started taking some classes in the Russian language while in the army but did not progress very far. Khrushchev Remembers....1970....was one of the first books that I picked up at the National Record Mart while attending Pitt after getting out of the army in 1972. This was my habit....put the textbooks aside....and buy something at the National Record Mart that I was really interested in reading.

                It was sometime in 1973....almost a decade before being humbled in mortification by the gospel of Jesus Christ over who I was. One of the books that I picked up at that record/book store....purely out of curiosity....was a paperback titled....The Persecutor....by a young Russian....my age....Sergei Kourdakov....whose job it was as a member of the Russian Konsomol....the youth division of the Communist Party....to break up bible studies. He sickened of his work....became a Russian naval officer.....jumped ship near Canada....became a Christian....toured and gave his testimony....then was found dead of a gunshot wound just before publication of his book....his death ruled an accident.  He had warned that the KGB was threatening him. There is controversy over his story. I tend to believe that generally it was true....but I know this for a fact....that testimony of his conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ....made a lasting impression upon me.
              I continued over the years to have an interest in Russian history....after my own conversion it revolved around Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. If you browse 'my favorite films' in my profile you will see....Russian Ark....a 2002 experimental film....the camera never stops from the opening scene to the end....even though the plot takes you through the centuries long history of Russia. Somehow....Dr. Zhivago escaped me for many years....but I watch it at various times today....the cinematography and scenes of revolution being so compelling. More recently I have read Helen Rappaport's books....The Romanov Sisters....Caught In The Revolution....The Race To Save The Romanovs....and After the Romanovs....and highly recommend all of them to you....but you must start with Caught In The Revolution.
              I'm writing this because I have some regular visitors to these posts from Russia. I have no idea who they might be....but may God bless them in these difficult times. When the Soviet Union collapsed....even while celebrating....my concern was in what would replace communism. That concern has proven prescient. Putin....like Trump....seemingly had it all....(in their value system anyway)....and then threw it all away. He rules today like Stalin. The Ukrainian people are in my prayers.....the children....the believers....the cold winter and the loss of life. I woke up this morning and lifted that terrible situation up for mercies. The Russian people are also in my mind.

Addendum: Are you suffering? John Piper's sermon of the Day this morning might bless you mightily. You can easily Google it at....John Piper...how God makes known the riches of His Glory to the vessels of mercy.

The above sermon recommendation was also from last September.

Update: I listened to this sermon again this morning after posting this....and hope and pray that you might listen to it too!
               

God Is Cleaning House

Preface: The following post is from April of 2023. Tim Keller went to be with the Lord a month later...and Pat Robertson a month after that:

               There are pastors literally all over America today....flummoxed....that Donald Trump....unless the legal system becomes his final demise....is as it stands the odds-on favorite to get another nomination! Folks....I'm telling you....they are watching this and they cannot believe it. Here's the kicker....Donald Trump is still destroying everything that he touches and everything that even comes close to him....and why is this....ultimately it is because these same pastors refused to call a false prophet...a false prophet....and because they refused to describe how God's Word tells us to stay clear of people like Donald Trump....and because they refused to warn the people that they were trusting in their own perceived powers....something else that God's Word specifically warned us about. So pastors today essentially put in office....the most powerful office in the world...a false prophet....a destroyer....and they are showing no signs of actually changing....even as evangelicalism itself has changed....becoming coarse and vengeful....and in their confusion....pastors wonder how all of this could have transpired!
                Billy Graham....as wonderful as his crusade ministry was....and in spite of how desperately we need him today....was a lot like C. S. Lewis....in that God had given them extraordinary gifts....but not as theologians. Neither one was gifted at all in that area. Billy Graham knew that he made mistakes early on concerning too much emphasis on politics....and he even questioned himself later on if he had presented the gospel as being too easy to accept. Who knows what went on in his mind in his last years. Did he see the delusion that was coming? I would suspect that he questioned a lot of things that he did or failed to do. I say this because his last books were so extraordinarily profound. As wonderful as Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse ministry is....it doesn't seem that he has a clue as to the mistakes that his father made earlier on.
                Pat Robertson is essentially gone....and his son Gordon may have the fervency for spreading the gospel that his father had....but he also is severely lacking in discernment on politics and the Christian. R. C. Sproul is gone. John MacArthur is sounding real old and much slower of speech. (and now almost 85....making a lot of mistakes). David Wilkerson is long gone. Charles Stanley is now gone. Tim Keller is retired. No one is replacing these men on the national scene. It's not going to be Eric Metaxas. Do you see where I'm going. God is cleaning house....having taken many of his servants home! We have had all the warnings that we normally would have needed....for a half century....but we are not really into warnings. We do not want change. We have a schedule to keep....goals to accomplish....and plans to make....but all of this will change....in a day....in an hour....and we then will see what ministers that God raises to the occasion....and what ministers continue to be deceived.

"But The Wise Shall Understand"

                The figure is either a comic in itself or incorporated into another syndicated comic. We are all familiar with the little man with a long beard....carrying a sign with four words scribbled on it....THE END IS NEAR. Actually an idea just came to my mind where that same little man is carrying a sign only the scribbling reads....THE END IS HERE. Someone says to him...."Don't you mean....the end is near?" And he says...."No....Those people don't know how near it really is!"
                 I feel like that little man at times. I wonder often if it is my imagination...four decades....three decades ago or thereabouts....Christians seemed to know that Jesus in His return was near....and it seemed that we actually desired it to be near. Today it seems to be a thought that has to be kept hidden.
                 Oh there are still the prophecy conferences here and there....mostly in the Southwest....and there is Jonathan Cahn who is the only one whose books disappear from the shelves as soon as they are published....but is that what the church has been relegated to....patches of people here and there who actually believe that Jesus is at the very doorstep?
                 I have thirty-some years of R. C. Sproul's monthly Tabletalk magazine stored in the basement....a new one added every month....and am I right in having detected an urgency in his speaking before he went to be with his Lord in December of 2017? Billy Graham unequivocally....and increasingly warned us for those forty years before the Lord called him home sixty-nine days after R. C. Sproul.....and forty years seems to be the norm in how long God sends men such as Jeremiah....to warn....and usually they are ignored. Jonah came to Nineveh with a forty day warning....and that was one of the few instances where the people believed him....although they probably heard the story in advance of how Jonah was thrown overboard in a storm....and then he appeared in Nineveh....probably bleached out from the whale's belly? That may be what it takes with us....only I have described it before as....hitting rock bottom....and apparently we are not quite there yet.
                 Folks....I don't write long articles. I write short posts....in a way much like that little bearded man with a sign. Not every post is about the Second Coming....but every post is about the gospel of Jesus Christ in some way....and the gospel of Jesus Christ is also a warning.....to look forward to and prepare for His return in great power and glory! I recommend Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Piper sermons all the time....that is the real essence of these posts....and neither Spurgeon nor Lloyd-Jones specifically preached a lot of the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior....although they did so....and there was an urgency there....but every sermon of theirs magnified Jesus Christ....and His Word....and therefore did include the state of the world in their times....and the imminence of....and at least the need for....and the need for preparation and desire of the return of Jesus!
                 We knew back then that there would be great delusion at the time of the Lord's return. We knew that there would be a falling away....and that false prophets would abound....and we knew that judgment would come to the church first....but in retrospect we did not comprehend the warning as clear as we might have....for by 'the church'....it not only pointed to a general apostasy in the worldwide church....but it actually meant us also....not just the liberal unbelieving church! The delusion would hit us....and most astounding of all....we would be the ones that brought in the worst false prophet of all....and believe his false prophecies!
                  Billy Graham....according to his son....spent his last year....his ninety-ninth....unable to converse much at all....just listen. Also according to Franklin....his father voted for Trump in 2016....but then so did I....and I celebrated that Hillary did not win....but I have to believe that Billy Graham saw what was coming as he lay there or sat in his rocker....and much like Daniel....could only reflect on the words...."closed up and sealed till the end of time. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand."

Daniel 12: 9,10

"But Who Are You?"

                "The assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not even know why they had come together." That could be a description of what happened in our capital on January 6 of 2021....but those words are from Acts 19:32. Demetrius the silversmith had stirred everyone up because the economy of Ephesus was in jeopardy....more precisely....the silversmith trade of Demetrius. All the people started shouting....."Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"....kind of like our shouts of.....USA...USA...USA! A clear-headed official eventually calmed them down by telling them that they were in..."danger of being charged with rioting."
                I have posted the following many times. On the morning of January 6, 2021....around 11:30 as I remember it....I turned on the television just to see what was going in our capital. The scene was the ellipse.....and Leonard Cohen's famous trance-like composition....Hallelujah....was blaring over the crowd. I was just typing down my impressions....not posting at the time....."the chills were there....(mine)....and I didn't like it....but to make matters worse....as the video feed showed from the rear of the first twenty or so rows of people....I saw a few raised hands....swaying back and forth to the song....as if in a charismatic church. What were they praising....for it's hopefully not the object of Cohen's song? Trump eventually came on....he is speaking now....and I had to turn him off....because folks it is unnerving....the sway he has....as this very large crowd chanted....'fight for Trump....fight for Trump....fight for Trump'!"
               We are all familiar with the passage in the 19th chapter of Acts on the....Seven sons of Sceva. The Apostle Paul was doing miracles and casting out demons in the name of Jesus. These seven sons of a Jewish high priest thought that surely they could do the same thing....but the evil spirit said...."Jesus I know....and Paul I recognize....but who are you?"....and then overpowered them...wounding them as they ran out into the night. Well that in effect is what we have done....as we used....God bless America....as our talisman....thinking we could cast the evil out of America....for our own self-serving reasons....and if we now had eyes to see....which we no longer have....we would know that we also are wounded....as if running out into the night.
               There was a day in the church where we were constantly reminded that the archenemy of God has an intellect much greater than ours....and that we were to be constantly vigilant....depending upon the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and discernment. Well we forgot those admonitions and warnings. I'm speaking here to God's redeemed and his shepherds....who have known for a long time that Trump was no Cyrus or Nebuchadnezzar whom God would use to free His people. We knew Trump was vile with no good intentions. We knew that a man like this was not going to recognize the holiness or sovereignty of God....so we waited for him to just go away....and therein was our mistake!
                With good reasons and intentions....for it seemed certain and even imminent....that Trump would in no uncertain terms be given his walking papers....either through polling or the legal system....but it never happened....and that is the spiritual aspect of  this....as this is God indeed keeping Trump there....not as a Cyrus....but as a judgment on our failure to trust and obey. We have six years of impeachments and indictments....and one egregious and abnormal and destructive egomaniacal boast and lie after another....and each time we....the redeemed and not the deceived evangelical....each time we assumed that surely Trump would be relegated to the ash heap of history....but in our hesitation to stand up....and our failure to identify a false prophet.....for his grand prophecies of...."the best is yet to come"....the opposite of what God's Word tells us....were surely all lies....each time Trump came out stronger....and now we have the situation before us!
                I have two more scriptural messages. After the debacle of the sons of Sceva....which is where we are now and where we are headed....this from Acts...."Then fear fell on them....and the name of Jesus was magnified." Then there is the passage in Matthew when Jesus tells of an evil spirit....that leaves a man....only later to return to an empty house with...."seven other spirits more evil than itself"....and as I posted on earlier...."as Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary....'where Christ is not there to keep them out'." That is evangelicalism right now....for if we do not regret our failures to remain vigilant....and return to trust in Christ....and Trump were to return to the White House....he will bring with him even more turmoil and chaos than he did the first time!

Three Weeks To The Shepherd's Conference

                My first post on John MacArthur's upcoming....Lord willing....annual Shepherd's Conference was three weeks ago....and at the time there were six weeks to the Wednesday March 6 first day of the conference. The second post on the topic was two Wednesdays ago....and the third post was last week. My purpose....my hope....and my prayer....was that God would shake up all the plans for the conference....wonderful as I'm sure they are....but we are at a time when we do not need....wonderful plans....we need the glory of God come down to shake up our wonderful plans. In that first post were these words...."As the weeks pass and the time for the conference draws nearer....God may be awakening all of us....MacArthur and Piper....(John Piper....a scheduled speaker at the conference)....and it may not turn out to be a typical conference....wonderful as the may be and usually are....but more of an emergency meeting of shepherd's....pastors.....seeking discernment....and much needed courage and determination....in the turmoil of this world."
                 I was not aware at the time that a controversy was brewing over controversial remarks that Alistair Begg....a scheduled speaker at the Shepherd's Conference....had made a few weeks previous....remarks that would go viral. You can easily Google this controversy if you want. It is still being widely debated...two weeks after the Cleveland minister and very popular radio minister and author had withdrawn from the conference....so as not to be a distraction....but a distraction of sorts was what I had been looking for...topics that need discussed now....but that we are too timid to even broach.
                 So today is the fourth Wednesday post on the Shepherd's Conference....three Wednesdays....Lord willing....before the conference begins. These many pastors will be gathered together....should the Lord still will it....with many denominations represented....but most of a Reformed and Calvinist theology....including the two top ministers of substance in the public eye today....John MacArthur and John Piper.
                  There is no longer a day that passes in these tumultuous and chaotic last of the last days....where there is not a high possibility of something earthshaking happening....a monumental earthquake for example....ot the beginning of a world war....or Trump finally saying something that even the blind mice of the Republican Party could not ignore....or with Joe Biden....or unfortunately any number of other disasters that our overall lack of vigilance has set the stage for.
                   Whether it be in this conference....or from the pulpits suddenly awakened with shock and awe....may God....if it be His will....take the veils from over our eyes....and the wax from our ears....that we might....look up....as we see our redemption drawing near!

Luke 21:28

"But If You Still Do Wickedly, You Shall Be Swept Away, Both You And Your King"

                Donald Trump is the most destructive force in the history of our country. The word that I have used for at least the last six years in describing him is....destroyer....as he destroys everything around him....and has for his whole life....young and old....friend and foe....talk radio and the pulpit....those and that which he purposely sets out to destroy....and those who just get too close to his flame....and those things that are the natural result of the malevolent power that he wields. 
                This will bore many....to read it again....but I started reading about Trump in early 2017....after voting for him and celebrating the 2016 victory....and then after only a few months in office seeing that there was a very real problem here....reading over the ensuing years....100 books on him....exactly 100 books as of today....books for him....exalting him really....books against him....academic books....and even books supposedly by him. Note that the man who ghost wrote Trump's first book....Trump: The Art Of The Deal....and spent eighteen months by his side in the process....and who also found out who Trump really is....regretted his part in bringing Trump to the fore....and said that if he were to write about him today....(this stated back in late 2016)....it would be a different book that would be titled....The Sociopath.
                 Probably you consider Joe Biden the worst....and you might only be one off....but we have Biden today in part because of reaction to Trump. Both of these men are judgments....on us....from God! I did not vote for Trump in 2020....and will certainly never cast a vote for him again....along with many if not most of my evangelical friends....and the pastors that I am closest to. John Piper did not vote for Trump in 2020. This election is not a...lesser of two evils situation....but a....Woe are us....may God have mercy on us....situation.
                 As for those whom Trump has destroyed since he came to power were....Ted Cruz....once a bright light....now barely a dim bulb.....Lindsey Graham.....Marco Rubio....the Freedom Caucus....CPAC....Rand Paul....the list literally goes on and on of once capable and logical republicans who failed the biggest test of their political lives.....in not standing firm against Trump....and now grovel at his feet. I distinctly remember the few days....I posted on it at the time....when first Rush and then Hannity and then Levin....(it may have been coordinated....for this was a particularly obvious time of Trump's lying)....admitted that yes Trump lies.....but that's just him! We now readily admit that he lies....but somehow don't realize that he also lies to us!
                 Trump has destroyed what there was of evangelicalism. We are a crossless....political evangelicalism....where no one has to be born again anymore....only recruited....we lack compassion in many areas....we are vengeful....greedy....prideful.....and even  at times racist....having been greatly deceived....and most of all we are doing exactly what God's Word has forcefully told us throughout....not to do....and that is refuse to trust in God....and instead go to the world for help.
                 Trump made comments two days ago on NATO....where if there were any sanity and common sense and ethics left to us....we would immediately be calling for a replacement every bit as much as the democrats should be calling for a replacement for Biden. This in his speech....“You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?… No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them....(Putin)....to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.” This incredible malignant narcissism from a man who never liked to pay his own bills! This is all spiritual folks. God has blinded our eyes....given pastors over to fear of what they perceive to be problems in the church if they speak out....and permitted us to blindly follow....and worship in many cases....a genuine biblical false prophet....and an antichrist....as the apostle John Labels them....and only God knows what else? The Lord of Glory is at the very door....and this is where we are at! ("Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Luke 18:8)
                That comment on NATO made two days ago at a rally in South Carolina was pure horror. We have had the....meme is what it turned out to be....Russia Hoax....crammed down our throats for seven years now....and we long ago bought into the lie. Trump is a Putin dupe....and always has been. Do you even remember when he met with Putin in Helsinki....alone....to the horror of some of his aides....for a couple of hours....with only two interpreters....of which Trump told our interpreter to destroy his notes?
                 Trump used this phrase again at the end of his latest rally in South Carolina.....that we are...."one glorious nation under God." Whereas we are a nation in complete rebellion to God.....a rebellion once led by the democrats....but now carried on by us....dragging so to speak the Ark of the Covenant to rallies....claiming God's imprimatur on our pride and greed and-self seeking glory....totally unaware that He will say to us in our time of need....."But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities are your gods. O Judah." (Jeremiah 2:28)
                 It is too late folks....decades too late to return in any way to being a God-fearing people. Jonah-like warnings are over....and Nahum-like proclamations of coming judgment have been here for quite a while. God's word of prophecy to us is all over both testaments....Daniel and Jeremiah and all the prophets....the Olivet Discourses as related in the three synoptic gospels....Paul's and Peter's direct warnings....throughout the Psalms....from the words of Jesus....and of course Revelation....but we are blind to them.
                Our pulpits have utterly failed to warn us of anything. We have failed to separate ourselves from the lure of the world. We have not remained vigilant....nor even sober-minded. We are Laodicean....and as with the letter to the church at Laodicea....we think we are doing just spiffy thank you....but we are about to find out that we in evangelicalism are...."wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." Our only hope....which is the mercy shown....is in the words of Jesus to that Laodicean church...."As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent."

title verse....1 Samuel 12:25

                

Conversation Starters

Here are a couple of questions for a group of believers just sitting around a table....or a dorm room....or a student union....that might generate some interesting conversation....resulting in edification. They are hard-edged questions....but we have to start questioning what is going on around us. I just this moment watched a video from a South Carolina....(evangelical South Carolina)....Trump rally....where some protesters were being hauled out....and much of the crowd broke out into a voracious  roar....that would rival that of an SEC football stadium....F%^# Joe Biden! There were probably dozens of pastors in the audience. May God have mercy upon us and wake these men up....if it be His will to have mercy on us!

              I was out and about today and tomorrow's Super Bowl evidenced itself a few times. We had dinner at a very popular spot. It was crowded as usual....and there was a sign on the door announcing that the restaurant will be closing early tomorrow....5 PM.....for the "big game." Folks this was rural Western Pennsylvania! We were listening for a while to Sirius/XM's....Sixties on 6....and quite a few times the DJ referenced the big game for tomorrow....and the game has been dominating the Drudge headline since yesterday....with this headline....SUPER BOWL BET BIGGEST IN HISTORY....MOST-WATCHED TV EVENT OF ALL-TIME?.' So my suggested question is....how does this whole thing align with God and His Word? Now I'm not referring directly to the debate on the Lord's Day....this will go on until that which is called the Tribulation....(we still believe in that don't we)....begins in force....and there are dozens of books easily available from both sides if anyone is interested. I am only suggesting that we look at the logic of this....for I guarantee to you that tomorrow there will be tens of millions of....how do I say this delicately....hmm....evangelicals....(no one knows what that means anyway)....for whom the biggest thing will be how Patrick and....(I got to check what his first name is)....Travis....and Brock....and....hmm....Christian....how they do in the big game....and I guess who wins.....and I guess who performs at halftime....and I guess gow funny the commercials are? You can throw all the supposed Bible verses that you want at me....but God gave us a wonderful thing in a human mind....and if that mind cannot see that there is something ungodly and logically perverse in the Christian mind that fits the Lord's Day worship service and a sermon from a man who supposedly speaks..."for God"....who squeezes this somewhere in the middle of this idolatry? If that doesn't win a debate....add to it....tens of thousands of.....evangelical pastors....with souls in their pews hanging by a thread over....(can I use this word).....hell....and they will be sitting in front of the giant TV....showing ten times more emotion that they had hours earlier in the pulpit?

Phew....that was longer than I expected....and I still have two questions left. Alistair Begg....is involved in a major controversy. He gave advice on his radio program for a grandmother to go ahead and accept the invitation to a grandson's wedding in a same-sex wedding....and take a present! The advice caused a furor on the Internet....40 year pastor Alistair Begg was essentially disinvited to speak at a major conference....and a couple of hundred radio stations cancelled his program. Folks....methinks there is something rotten in the state of Denmark....for I also disagree 100% with Alistair Begg's advice....but this was an unforced error....a serious unforced error....not heresy. Consider this....55 year pastor John MacArthur made several unforced errors in the past few years....the major one being recommending that we all vote for a false prophet for president....and then insinuating that those who do not support the false prophet are not real true Christians! Why does he get a pass and Begg gets a penalty? Consider this also...John MacArthur strongly warned against false prophets for all of those 55 years! Google if you are interested....John MacArthur, beware of false prophets....May 8, 2015.....exactly that....to get the full effect of the message.

Last question....particularly but not exclusively to young people. If there is a military draft coming....and there probably is.....what will it look like....and who will be drafted? How will the gender thing come into play....for everyone today is in the same workforce....or the transgender thing....and how will the undocumented come into play....and will all of the athletes in all of the sports....in all of the colleges....get a draft notice....football-baseball-basketball-swimming....the NCAA would essentially be depleted would it not....and as for all of the professional athletes.....Patrick and Travis and Brock and Christian....and all the NBA and MLB players....will they get a deferment? Lastly....do we all know today that there is no longer a college deferment as there was in the past....except for the semester in progress at the time of the draft?

NOTE: This will be up for a few hours on Saturday....and then placed back in the pack of posts.

"This Way To The Lifeboats....And Remain Calm....Praising God In That The Captain Of the Lifeboats Commands Even The Seas!"

              My wife and I have a philosophical difference in this one thing.....she will look at an object....any object....and say.....if I'm not using it right at this very minute....throw it out. I on the other hand will look at any object....and say....that somewhere in the future....twenty or thirty years possibly....I might have a need for just such an object. So in an attempt to breach this philosophical divide I have been trying my best to sort through things in the basement for most of this week to find some things to throw away....and I came across some letters-to-the-editor that I had written back in the 1990s.
               I think that in the process I may have discovered why I do not have many friends....for in one letter....that the newspaper titled....Only God Can Save America....there was this paragraph...."And to the churchgoers who meet in their Bible studies once a week with a pencil in one hand and a doughnut in the other. I recommend that they put down the pencil and the doughnut and pick up a Kleenex. For as they meditate in Scripture surely tears should be produced by what they read." In retrospect I probably could have expressed the same thought in a different way....so....put down the doughnut....turn off the country music....forget the Super Bowl....and concentrate on the topic at hand!
               I have been writing for a long time. Before these posts that began in November of 2008 I was putting out a newsletter....that I titled....A Pilgrim's Progress....and sent it out to 125 friends and acquaintances....and as I mentioned I wrote letters-to-the-editor....and there were journals where I was basically writing to myself. Back in the 80s and 90s.....before email and texting....we wrote letters.....with a pen and paper. I know that that may seem odd to you but believe me....the world existed for millenia using this type of communication. So I had to sort through all of these papers as I was working in my basement....and as I read through what were all basically.....my thoughts.....on this and that and anything....I was very disappointed....in myself. Oh I have always had the same love of country mentality....and I had always warned that America was going down hill fast....and there was always an unction for seeing men saved ....but looking back on it....it was twenty-plus years....of just....data in-data out.....regurgitating the thoughts of others....a follower. of someone somewhere...mistakenly confident that I was somehow advancing in maturity and knowledge. Yes....it was disappointing to say the least.
                So as I look back at the past ten years or so....I have to confront myself....OK Special Dog....you do indeed know how evangelicalism has collapsed....and how the church accepted a genuine biblical destroyer false prophet into the fold.....and how the church....has little discernment or even a desire to gain wisdom on the return of our Lord and Savior and King....but do you not realize that you went twenty-five years basically in the same condition as they are now?
                 If you read my 'profile' to this website....written back in 2008....you would see that I rightfully consider myself the....least of the least. It's not that I have ever thought myself any better than anyone else....as a matter of fact I realized that I was nothing but a messenger....who God seems to want to make a point that anyone can be forgiven....and anyone can actually be used to warn and direct.
                 So looking back to the past fifteen years....I seem to be OK in reaching people in France or Germany or the Netherlands....or even India or Saudi Arabia or Vietnam....or California or Georgia.....but maybe not so good at reaching people on the next street over or the next town over. Ultimately my advice is not to stay and listen to me as if I were a street preacher...but more as a ship steward.....shouting to the people on the top deck who are standing around wondering what they were summoned out of their staterooms for.....and pointing them down to the second deck with all the lifeboats....and making sure that the boats are filled to overcapacity....not concerned about the waves capsizing the boats....for Jesus controls the waves....and will see these boats safely to harbor!

Note: In one entry to the journals that I read through....I was mad at our dog who I found drinking some dirty water....and then I saw that his water bowl was empty. Therein is the lifeboat for us at this time. As I am critical of how evangelicalism is drinking the dirty water of politics and false prophets and false teachers....it would do me well to remember that....our bowl is empty! We are not getting the preaching of the glory of Jesus Christ in the sermons of today. That is a simple fact....born out by history if one is aware of what preaching should be....so....go to the lifeboats.....Google the sermons of Charles Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or John Piper....these are three sure examples of the 'means of grace'....that we need!

Just A Synopsis

                What I want to do here is give a short synopsis on Bible prophecy since the beginning of the twentieth century. Generally....believers can go in one of two directions. In one they can simply take the very easy way out and point to a Bible verse that says that we cannot know the day or the hour of Christ's return. That in effect frees them to do absolutely nothing....to be concerned about nothing other than political elections....to prepare for nothing....and essentially to give no glory to God or help to others as that day approaches. The other direction believers can go in is to earnestly desire for Jesus to return....and therefore search the Scriptures....continuously....and patiently....and humbly....knowing that God will reveal prophecies in His own perfect timing. I am of the second alternative on this. Maybe you are of the first....or somewhere in between.

                All of what I am about to write is after about forty years of studying. In the beginning of my study I had little sound foundational knowledge other than Jesus would indeed return in power and glory and in righteous judgment some day. If I read something from some prophecy 'teacher'....more often then not I had a tendency to just accept it. Decades passed....and long ago I found out that there was more to Bible prophecy than just reading and believing what you read. It entailed the whole Christian life. God was not going to give discernment on these things to us just to titillate our curious occasional hobby-like pastimes. He was not going to bless us if our heart was not in it....and even after He does start to at least give guidance in the right direction....it is still slow and dependant upon where we are at in our pilgrimage.....are we on the path....or have we taken a detour?
                OK....that said. 1900 was essentially the beginning of the end.....to use that term. The Titanic was a sign....but this in retrospect more to us today than to those when the great ship sank. World War I....the 'roaring twenties'....the collapse of Wall Street and the Depression.....the rise of Hitler....of which much of the German church was deceived....trying to make Germany great again....the Holocaust.....World War II....the beginning of atomic warfare.....wars one after another....the great rebellion through entertainment beginning in the 1960s....the beginning of the collapse of Western Civilization....the ignorance of Communism in the West and then Islamic terrorism....the Challenger disaster as a sign as we look back on it....the rise of the Clintons which has metastasized into Obama and Biden and all of the other useful idiots....and finally the rise of Donald Trump.
                I missed something didn't I? That's because the above were general signs in the world that we live in....what happened in 1948 is direct biblical prophecy. When Israel miraculously came back into existence.....it was the beginning of the end....of the end. That event basically told us that the clock starts! So how long is that clock wound up for? Some thought forty years. Well that was impatience and that was wrong. It seems the seventy years is the limit on the long side....and that ended obviously in 2018. 
                It seems as if the Psalms 'may' give us a message here....as Psalms 118 and 119 are messianic and law Psalms....just as were Psalms 18 and 19.....this all in the 19th book of the Bible. The 117th Psalm....the shortest chapter in the Bible....set the stage....and the year 2020 was to begin something....to put in motion something....but what?
                 The most difficult part of putting out a post like this is that just about everyone that I know will think it is unbalanced or unsound or something like that. That is evidence against a post like this. Evidence for a post like this is that just about everyone that I know has very little interest....real interest....desiring interest....in the literal imminent return of our Lord and Savior and King. God will not open or reveal His prophetic Word to Believers who show little to no interest! 
                  This as I worded it at the beginning....is just a synopsis. I could probably write a post on every sentence in this post....as this year....this time right now....with world war on the edge....and Israel in more danger than ever before....as their allies.....us primarily....are lost in our own world of chaotic deception and delusion....where even believers are more interested in a false prophet becoming president....than the return of the Lord of Glory!

Shepherd's Conference....One Week Closer....Lord Willing

                 Arthur F. Burns was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve back in the 70s when I was majoring in economics at Pitt. There is a story about him and his pipe smoking that has stayed in my mind over the years. As best I can remember it he was part of a delegation to the Vatican. He was the only one who was Roman Catholic as the delegation attended a Mass....so the others looked to him for help with all the standing and kneeling and hand symbols. Well....before entering the church Burns put his pipe in his suit coat pocket. I know what happened here folks for it has happened to me a number of times. Once...back around thirty years ago....my son and I were in downtown Pittsburgh and stopped into the original Blockhouse...from Fort Pitt during the French and Indian War. I put my pipe in my leather coat pocket. While inside...I could smell a little smoke....and so could the curator. I hurried my son out before anyone knew that a Kleenex in my pocket was smoldering. So back to Arthur Burns....during the Mass his pocket started to smolder a little....and he began to pat his suit coat pocket....to put out any smoldering.....and the men around him thought that he was simply performing some of the Catholic Mass rituals...so they all began to pat their suit coat pockets. 
               When I first came into the faith my emphasis was on Christian apologetics....defending the Faith....and particularly on the Jehovah Witnesses. I ran a message in the Personal section of our local newspaper that read...."Are you studying with the Watchtower organization. If so....please call me"....along with my telephone number. It was my attempt to reach people who were just beginning to be taken in by the JWs. I remember and greatly regret one day when two of their members stopped by our house on one of their normal neighborhood visits. We talked until they had enough. I remember offering them a copy of Crisis Of Conscience....by Raymond Franz....a member of their Governing Body....who had found the true gospel and left the organization. The man raised his hands and refused the book. I still have it here....and then I did what I regret....as they left I said...."God bless you." I had offered a blessing to members of an organization than worked feverishly in attacking the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't take that back....but I learned from it.
               About twenty days ago I began to be overcome by an idea concerning John MacArthur's long-running and wonderful....yearly Shepherd's Conference. I posted on it two Wednesdays ago. My prayer was that as these thousands of pastors....Shepherds....gathering for what they thought would be a normal time of fellowship and teaching....that God....as the Second Coming of Jesus gets even closer....would have other things in mind....that the conference would be taken in areas not on the agenda....and then a few days later came the major controversy over Alistair Begg's favorable comments on attendance at a wedding of a same-sex couple. Alistair....one of the major speakers....has since withdrawn from his role at the conference. Right now....as I type....this topic is not only a distraction but potentially very divisive in the church. We will see where God takes us in this.
               I have had to wonder if there was a message here to all of these ministries such as Alistair Begg's....and John MacArthur's....and even John Piper's....and so many more.....that have been blessings to me and to multitudes over the years....if the size and the goals of the ministries could possibly be problematic in themselves? Is it possible for even great ministries to lose sight if even for a moment....if not always vigilant? John MacArthur is another example. He was surprised by a telephone call back in 2020 from then President Trump on a Lord's Day....this is typical Trump. MacArthur made a statement that was as unwise as that statement recently made by Alistair Begg....in that he famously said...."Any real, true believer is going to be on your side in this election...." Well what about those of us who really and truly believe that Trump is a false prophet and even an antichrist as the Apostle John labelled them? What about John Piper and so many others who choose to trust in God and not in man?
                Please continue to pray with me for this upcoming Shepherd's Conference....which now begins four weeks from today....Lord willing....that God is mysteriously moving in all of this turmoil....all ultimately for our good....and all to His everlasting glory!
              

It's Not As Good As It Once Was......But It Never Was....As Good As I Think It Was

              Now you definitely have to be at least seventy years old to appreciate what I am about to say....and you probably have to be a male. Maybe once every few years or so....but as recently as a few week ago....I downloaded and listened to an assortment of television western theme songs from the fifties....and early sixties. It might be like another person putting on some Bach. It soothes me....Gunsmoke....and Have Gun Will Travel....and Tombstone Territory. It was a time in my life before I was a teenager....safe memories from the past....and an America that is no more and will never be anymore.
              A few weeks before that....and I posted on it at the time....I instead listened to all of the army and navy and air force and marines service songs....for similar reasons. A few days ago....on the computer....I booted up and watched an old WWII movie.....Sink The Bismarck....and then listened to Johnny Horton's popular song of the day of the same title.
              I will at times listen to the whole movie soundtrack from Chariots Of Fire....or....Master And Commander....or even....Funny Girl....or any one of a number of the Broadway plays of the day. How about Oook-lahoma....."We know we belong to the land....and the land we belong to is grand!"
              I've mentioned a few times in these posts how my wife constantly has country music on the....whatever it is...."Hey Google....play country music"....and I do my best to ignore most of it except one song that when it comes on I say...."Hey Google....turn up the volume."
              Toby Keith died yesterday....as you probably know by now....but his song....Courtesy Of The Red, White, and Blue....gets turned up loud every time it comes on....as recently as three or four days ago. 
              The contemporary church of today can have their....praise music....it's like singing in front of a mirror....but the hymns....oh the hymns....there is the real soothing....and the real peace....and the real praise! In my mind there cannot possibly be a greater or more glorious musical composition than Handel's Hallelujah Chorus....although some hymns come very close. Our town has a musical bell tower in the middle of it....and when it plays the Star Spangled Banner....I turn to the sound and cover my heart with my hand....no matter where I am walking or who I am with.
              This MAGA patriotism of today is something that I am not familiar with. It brings back no memories. It certainly does not soothe. Lee Greenwood's....God Bless The U. S. A....is wedged between Macho Man and You Can't Always Get What You Want. It's a jumbled mix of nothingness....assembly line....conveyor belt patriotism....neon Christianity with a hangover every Monday morning.
               Thinking like I do at times....of the past....if you are not careful can be like a dog returning to his vomit. It's as Solomon must have felt as he remembered his early days....where in old age he could only say...."Fear God, and keep his commandments"....no longer capable or desiring of glorying in the past....which today only looks good compared to the present....a very real and earthy tombstone territory. So I can at times go back to it in my mind....not with a hope to someday return....or a wish to be there....but more as a reminder that....it's not as good as it once was....and it never was as good as I think it was....but our hope is in the One....Jesus Christ....who is...."the same yesterday and today and forever."

Hebrews 13:8