Ides of March....Do they still teach of Julius Caesar in grade school? I Don't know....I thought that maybe nowadays the history of Rome might have been replaced with the history of PBS or NPR or something like that....and Shakespeare with Beatles' lyrics? If not then you know that today....March 15....is known as the Ides of March. The Romans couldn't just number their calendar days....1...2....3....4 etc....they had to give you directions....'go to the middle of the month....and then count backwards'....or something like that. So their pivot points were the nones....and the ides....and the....kalends. A soothsayer warned Julius Caesar not to go to the Senate on the Ides of March....and well you know what happened there. It started a civil war. Four years later on the same Ides of March....Octavian....or Octavius depending on how well you knew him....after a victory....executed hundreds of political enemies. After consolidating all powers in 27 BC he changed his name to Caesar Augustus. Halley's Comet....(Not to be confused with the bright light of Nikki Haley that just passed by)....Halley's Comet zipped through space and Octavian said that that was Julius going to heaven as a god....so he must be a god too. Not a whole lot has changed in Republican politics.....from the Roman Republic to today's Caesar Augustus Republican Party.
OK....the first reviews are out on the new blockbuster movie set to be released on Friday April 12....four days after the solar eclipse. It had a one day-one theater opening yesterday. The movie is....Civil War. What we knew about it before yesterday was that 19 states secede from the union and civil war breaks out. We don't know all that much yet even though I read four or five reviews that said the film tried to downplay the reason for the states seceding....instead focusing on the war journalists. You can Google this to see if there were any reviews with a little more analysis. Aside from that....the exit interviews....all of them that I read....were moviegoers that were stunned by what they saw and experienced. We don't know what a day brings....or an hour....or a minute....but my habit on a film like this is to reserve the tickets the first day they are available....and be in the theater on the first day of the release.
I had been praying and posting for six weeks for John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference that on Friday concluded three days of talks and general sessions. After the first two days it looked like it would be a normal conference....blessings although they are to those in attendance....but the conference concluded with two needed and powerful talks that were also live streamed. Virginia pastor Jesse Johnson spoke on the dangers of Christian Nationalism. Five thousand pastors will be going home with the strong warning not to mix Christianity and politics....for when politics dominates the mind....the Christian tends to lose his/her first love! And Steven Lawson completed his talk on Jesus coming back in judgement with this....spoken very slowly for emphasis....I may get a word or two out of place...."I...don't...see...how...it....would be possible....to read the Bible....and not realize that Jesus....is about....to return."
I have been writing in one capacity or another for about thirty-five years....first in letters-to-editor....and then a newsletter that I sent out to about 125 people...and with a small novella....and now with these 3000+ posts of 15 1/2 years. There is hardly a day that goes by where I do not consider stopping. From a human perspective I hope that people will at least say that he tried. From a spiritual perspective my hope is that by God's mercy upon the lowest of the low that I directed some souls to ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ who have remained faithful....Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones and Piper....the warnings of Billy Graham and others. I probably could count on one hand the number of times I have asked readers to pass these posts along....particularly to their loved ones who have no idea the darkness of the age that we live in.
I thought that I would add the conclusion of a Spurgeon sermon that I was listening to this morning....titled....A Sermon For The Time Present....this from 1887. After describing the state of the country and the church of the day he said...."Let us expect great judgments in the future." To the remnant within the church he gave an anecdote about Alexander the Great....when told of the hundreds of thousands of the Persian enemy before him said...."The butcher fears not myriads of sheep"....and when told that their arrows are so many that they will darken the sun....he said...."Then it will be fine to fight in the shade." He went on to say to Christians that if the odds against us are 100,000 to one....let us wish that they were a million to one....that the Lord might get the greater glory. He said that it is a small thing to be quite alone in the warfare of the Lord....for then there is more room for God. I post this primarily as an encouragement for pastors who feel alone....for Elijah felt that way also....but was told that God has 7000 other faithful men out there who will not bow to Baal....and there are more than 7000 faithful pastors out there today!
