We Knew That Many Would Be Deceived......But We Had No Idea That We Would Be Among Those Deceived

                 Over much of the last four decades....primarily the 80s and 90s....we evangelicals....many of us anyway.....knew that very difficult times were just ahead....and that Jesus Christ was about to return....but the evangelical church has changed. The unction to share the gospel....it's not so much that it is totally gone....or replaced....but rather that it has been overshadowed by political issues and the collapse of the society that we once knew.
                 We had a little bit of light back then....enough to be concerned....and we might at times try to envision what these troubles would be like....but it was all speculation....and in retrospect....we really did not have a clue how bad and chaotic it could actually get. It was pretty much black and white to us....they would come to hate us....and to find ways to persecute and discriminate against Christians....but we thought that it would be easy to at least identify what was going on....identify the good guys and the bad guys....and then of course....in our naivete....we would just do what was right and suffer the consequences. Well it didn't turn out that way!
                  It did not help....(a huge understatement)....that the preaching in this present age is very weak. Oh the elocution is there....and the exposition....but the power of the gospel is not present....as the sermons became either Bible studies from the pulpit....something that we should by now be capable of doing for ourselves on a daily basis....or worse....nothing but therapy....and comforting. We were not fed....we became malnourished in that which builds discernment....we separated from progressivism and wokism but not from the world....and we gathered for ourselves idols which we labelled blessings from God....sports for one. So a professional says that Christ is most important to him....and that trump's all of God's Word about coming out of the world. 
                  We did not....nor was there any way that we could have....envision what transpired on our side of the political aisle. Seventeen people were candidates for the presidential nomination in 2016....which boiled down to ten....and then three. After eight years of Barack Obama the economy was going to revive with a republican president....whoever that might be. We had no idea how vulnerable we were intellectually and spiritually! There is no way that this could have been foreseen. We always held the high ground. There were always enough sound republicans around in the congress to be able to take over in an emergency. This was a war of good vs evil...and we were the good....but what happened next upended all the safeguards.
                  The first change that I noticed in the months after Trump's inauguration was in talk radio. I'll give you three quick examples. Trump had endorsed Luther Strange over Roy Moore. Surely we would explode over this....so I tuned into Rush....and nothing....for ten days not a word....and finally some lame excuse that he didn't want to be a distraction. Then came Mark Levin. Surely he would never give in....and he was critiquing many of Trump's decisions....albeit timidly. Then one day....I was listening in one day and he out-and-out said that he decided that he wasn't going to be critical of Trump anymore! He even used the word....'love'...."I love that man"....I think were his exact words. And then in succession came Rush and Levin and Hannity....as after some egregious examples of Trump lies....they all three admitted that yes.....he lies.....but that's just Trump....let Trump be Trump!
                     I found this interesting paragraph from March 17, 2018....typed and posted as I was listening to Breitbart radio...."Dispatch....08:06....It looked like it might be one of the best calls in over a year on any of the conservative radio talk shows....and one of the very few that was critical of President Trump that the call screener let in....it lasted about one minute and then the caller....someone who worked tirelessly for Trump.....was just about to make his key point....and then the call went blank....Alex Marlow said...."Oh....did we lose that caller? That's too bad" Conservative talk radio was gone. Our forum was gone. 
                      Any decent person in Trump's situation would have in 2018 backed out of the 2020 race....knowing that he would only generate a blood bath and chaos....but Trump would never do this....and here is where the sheer horror started. We were no longer individuals with a cause....we no longer could ask questions.....or even make comments if those comments did not support Trump. His forces played whack-a-mole with any Republican who dared speak any truth.
                      The pandemic tore us apart. China or no China it was pure judgment from God. Money was thrown every which way as we continued to change as a people. Wokism is a pure horror but so is Trumpism. For decades we quoted the phrase....'useful idiots'....on how liberals were used by communism....but in this delusion that has us in bondage....we ourselves have become the useful idiots for Putin! 
                      All of this....all the confusion and chaos....all the greed and pride....all of it was just setting the stage for what happened in Israel last October. It was only days after the 100 year anniversary of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch that elevated the ideology that led to the Holocaust. We evangelicals knew back in those 80s and 90s that Israel was eventually going to be surrounded by enemies. We were prepared for that. What we weren't prepared....and what we still are not prepared for....was deception and strong delusion within our own ranks!