Whenever This Will Happen.....It Is Today One Day Closer!

             "Benjamin Franklin remarked in his autobiography how it was "wonderful to see the Change soon made in the Manners of our inhabitants"....and....'it seem'd as if all the World were growing Religious;  so that one could not walk thro' the Town in an Evening without Hearing Psalms sung in different Families of every street.' These words were in response to the effect on the people by the mostly open-air preaching of George Whitefield in what has come to be known as the First Great Awakening. (1730s-40s) This is what happens when God....of his own volition and purposes....moves mightily over an entire people. Nothing can stop it. If one is not part of it they can only sit and watch."
             The above paragraph is from a much older post. The video above that is labeled on the Internet as....Christmas Food Court Flash Mob In Philadelphia Sings The Hallelujah Chorus.
             Our seven year old grandson and I devised a plan to surprise his dad. He would be in the dining room....just working on a LEGO or something....and would suddenly sing out.....King of Kings....And Lord of Lords....and then I in the living room would join in....Hallelujah! Hallelujah!....and we would go on like this for a few of those famous lyrics. It was meant to surprise his dad as would a flash mob. It worked well in practice....but not so well later. Oh well we tried....and his dad was blessed.
              There will be a Hallelujah flash mob some day friends! Maybe we will sing the King of Kings....and the myriad of God's holy angels will sing.....Hallelujah....or vice versa....but whatever it is it will be glorious....and whenever it will take place....it is today one day closer! 

'We Interrupt This Broadcast....It's 10 PM....Do You Know where Your Steelers Are?

             When I hear a news report such as this one today where the Biden administration reversed itself and is now authorizing the Ukraine to strike deeper with their missiles into Russia....I am tempted to analyze it as usual....but the course of events is changing so quickly that I now first step back and look at them as part of God's plan in the judgment that is just ahead for all of us.
             I readily admit to being amazed at Trump's aggressive moves....the unconditional support that he has....and appears will have for some time. In itself that support could be typical president-elect stuff....but all of these people.....celebrities....professional football players even who feel comfortable enough to do their little....Trump dance.....they signal that a power of some kind is rising. A year ago these football players would not be doing this dance. Today with the victory....and an increasing bravado feeding off each other....it is unnerving even thinking about where it could go and what twists and turns it could take. It has happened many times before folks!
             Evangelicalism is totally deflated. Everyone was so excited when Mike Johnson was voted in as Speaker of the House. Evangelicals thought that God was really working in our favor. As it turns out....this man is a super-lightweight in discernment. Franklin Graham is another....totally buffaloed by Trump. He tweeted that Tulsi Gabbard was another great pick. Trump used and abused him now for eight years. He learned nothing of the warnings on politics from his father. I have to wonder what he will say when he finds out how deceived he was? Will he admit it? Will any of these ministers admit it? 
             So I sit back and watch....knowing that everyone's lives in America ....are about to change. All one can really do is watch to see the order that God will do these things. 
             It was a familiar public service announcement back in the early to mid-60s.....on television and on radio.....an announcer would break into the broadcast or the news and ask...."It's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?" Well....it's 10 PM on a Lord's Day evening....do you know what the Steelers did? If you do....that's why you do not know what God is doing....for He is not going to open the eyes of evangelicals....or warn or give any discernment at all...to those who want to serve at the same time....God....and....Milcom. Zephaniah 1:5

Note: I've used the example of the Steelers before in these posts....but it could be anything that has taken precedence in our minds over the glory of God. Moderation in everything....except exaltation and joy in our great God and Savior and Lord and Coming King! No....when God sees that our interests are elsewhere other than in His Son....then it would be the height of presumption to think that He would give us discernment on anything. These pastimes will fade away....and these are evil times that demand discernment.

What Are The Possibilities?

                              

The possible immediate but not necessarily permanent outcomes of tomorrow's election are pretty obvious.....they are these:

1)   Trump wins along with both houses of Congress.
2)   Trump wins with a Senate but no House.
3)   Trump wins with a House but no Senate.
4)   Trumps wins but the House and the Senate are Democrat controlled
5)   Harris wins along with both houses of Congress.
6)   Harris wins along with a Senate but no House.
7)   Harris wins with a House but no Senate.
8)   Harris wins but the House and Senate are Republican controlled.
9)   The electoral count is 269/269.
           The House will then choose a president.
           and the Senate will choose a vice President.
10) The possibilities here are:
           Trump and Harris both are rejected. Which would be probable!
           We wind up with a Democrat or a Republican or an Independant president,
           We wind up with a Democrat or a Republican or an Independant vice president.
           They could be mixed in any of the nine possibilities of Dem. and Rep. and Ind.

Next Lord's Day....November 10....the church will have to move on with whatever 
the outcome turns out to be. The possibilities are these:

1)  Trump has partial or full wins and the current abandonment of the gospel continues.
2)  Trump wins but God wakes up the church to the mistakes it has made.
3)  Harris has partial or full wins and the church continues to try to win by power and might.
4)  Harris wins and God wakes up the church to all of the mistakes it has made.
5)  Two....as yet to be determined men or women are in the Executive Office....
              and the church continues as it is,
              or the church finally looks to God alone.

              How many....'storm of the century'.....reports do we need to hear before we admit that these are not normal days? How is it that AI alone does not cause all of us to see that the prophecy of Daniel...."and knowledge shall increase"....has come to pass? Are you familiar with this verse from Daniel...."Go your way Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed the time of the end." That sentence doesn't sound right does it? There is a word missing...."until"...."Go you way Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed....until....the time of the end."
              War is going to follow as are other catastrophies....this no matter what the election outcomes are.....and no matter what 'peace and safety' may initially be celebrated. The winnowing of the church will continue. God may or may not add great numbers to the church. Israel indeed has its most difficult days ahead of it....and it will be evident who has treated them fairly....and who lied to them....or simply cared not at all what happens to them. God will respond as He said that He would. The church will eventually be winnowing down to a remnant....in terms of percentage of the whole world....whether God adds to it or not. Israel will be at the brink...and then see their true Messiah whom they rejected....and the rest of the world will wail and gnash their teeth. This is a generalization of what God's Word tells us.

           
    
      
          

 

Are You Certified To Fly By Instrumentation?

                                     On July 16, 1999 my wife and son and I were returning from a week at the beach....Ocean City, New Jersey. I remember remarking to my wife as we passed through Philadelphia that it was hazy. I recalled that the next day when the news reported that John Kennedy Jr. and his wife and sister-in-law had died in a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean on their way from Fairfield, New Jersey to Martha's Vineyard...a short plane trip ENE...east-northeast.....mostly following the coastline.

               At the time of his death...his magazine....George....was not doing well. He had started it in collaboration with publisher David Pecker....the same David Pecker who was a witness....granted witness immunity....in one of Donald Trump's trials. Pecker was already publishing a magazine called....Trump Style....(not to be confused with Hugh Hefner's two-issue 1957 magazine of comics and satire called....Trump)....Trump Style was for quite a while given away free to customers on Trump properties. Donald Trump appeared on the cover of George on its February/March 2000 issue....not long before the magazine folded.
               As most of us are aware of....the final verdict on JFK Jr.'s crash was blamed on the concept of....spatial disorientation....where it is not uncommon for pilots to lose proper perception on what their plane is doing when they are flying in poor visibility conditions. JFK JR. was not certified to fly by his instruments. He had to fly by what he could see....which probably was not good at all....just as I remarked to my wife how hazy it was on our trip home from New Jersey.
               Are you....as a Christian....certified to....fly....if you will....by your instrumentation....God's living word to us? By this I mean when everything is bleak....and you cannot seem to see where you are going....are you able to open the Bible....and read....and begin to navigate safely again?
               This is not an easy thing that I describe....not if you are really in trouble. Sometimes we can sit back and do our very best to look over our entire situation....and still not make the best or the right decisions! I know this by experience to be the case....but it also appears to be the case in much of evangelicalism right now.....to some of us anyway.....as we look around at our nation....and the church....and the lack of discernment almost everywhere....and if you are like I am you can become at times discouraged....but thanks be to God....the instructions are clear and perspicuous....easy to follow....if only we pick them up to read!
               So if you are not....certified....then open that book every chance you get. Do not wait for even a day. Get instruction before you solo. Avoid the night flights until you are comfortable.  Be tested and keep up with your recertifications....or biblically speaking...."Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" Romans 12:2 ESV

Do You Ever Use The Word....Precious?

                It's not a word that we use or hear often today....Precious. We might hear of precious metals....but most of the time the word is used to describe a newborn baby. I do recall a 70s song that began...."Precious and few are the moments we two can share....aire aire aire aire." It was in 1972....in my alcohol abuse days. I find that interesting and odd...the words....'precious and few'....that bring back memories that were anything but precious and few.
               Roughly three or four feet to my left as I type....hanging in a glass covered wooden frame....is a wall hanging....certainly not a decoration.....that is almost precious to me. It was a gift from our son on Christmas a few years ago. This will take a little explanation. 
               Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached in England....and primarily in London....in Elephant and Castle.....at what still stands today as the Metropolitan Tabernacle....for roughly forty years. There are many preachers who have stepped into a pulpit and preached a wonderful and powerful sermon....but none anywhere near the consistency of Spurgeon....not even John MacArthur or John Piper. Only London's preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones....at Westminster Chapel....comes close to Spurgeon. These two men were great gifts to a people once blessed but today lost. Both of these preachers warned....and warned....and warned. There are wonderful preachers today in England....one is in Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle....but they are only a remnant.
               I've written a lot in these posts on the Titanic and even November 22, 1963....and the Civil War....but all of them combined do not match the time writing about Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
               So in that glass covered wooden frame is a piece of paper....with a couple hundred words written in primarily black but also purple ink....with a purple ink splotch the size of a Canadian dime in the middle of the paper. On the Lord's Day....March 30....1890....134 years....6 months....and 29 days ago....(thank you Google)....a scribe wrote down the words in black ink that Charles Spurgeon preached from his pulpit. After the sermon.....Spurgeon would make....in purple ink....any corrections that were needed, 
               The title of the sermon that Spurgeon preached in that worship service was....CHRIST PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS....and the piece of paper in the frame is the original.
                Brothers and sisters....is Christ precious to you? Do you ever use or even think the word in your minds....precious? Or is that just a little too syrupy a word to use? I've been trying to use it lately in my conversations with believers. I want them to hear it used in the context of our blessed Lord and Savior....(another word....blessed.) For what in life could there possibly be as precious as Jesus?
                You can....if you so desire....Google....Spurgeon sermon YouTube....Christ Precious To Believers.

Note: A young Spurgeon preached a sermon under the same title in 1959....and other sermons over his ministry of over forty years were similar....such apparently was the importance that he placed upon the word precious.
                  

But God Had Different Plans

"Those who bow down on the roofs to the hosts of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom" Zephaniah 1:5 ESV

             I certainly have never seen anything like it. The only thing close was the Trump race in 2016. From a historical perspective.....it is right up there at the top with others....no names needed. From a psychology perspective....it is more than troubling....and from a Christian perspective....it has end-times deception and delusion written all over it.
             Zephaniah....who was a contemporary of Jeremiah....and prophesied during the reign of Josiah....is primarily an end-times prophet. Solomon built altars to Milcom....one of them on the Mount of Olives.....and Josiah tore them down. Zephaniah was in effect saying to the people....'What gives?.....you worship Yahweh when you want....and Milcom when you want?'
             That is what is going on in Madison Square Garden as I type this. Maybe the evangelicals there were in church this morning....probably not because apparently the crowds were massive much earlier in the day.....but some surely were....and the others are watching....and they are living out the words of the prophet Zephaniah.
              I'm listening in as I type...."Our country will be richer....safer....stronger.....than ever before.....we will achieve success that no one can imagine....this will be a new American golden age....we're going to make America great again....and it's going to happen fast....(the crowd here breaks into USA USA USAs)....we will quickly build the greatest economy in the history of the world." 

              Pastors....especially those who perfunctorily....mechanically.....with little enthusiam....warned of false prophets at various times in their ministry....why is this man not a false prophet? How would John MacArthur answer that question....and if some admit that he is a false prophet....why won't they warn their sheep? What they will do is push that question out of their mind as fast as they can....because they do not have an answer for it.
             We had four years of...."we are going to keep on winning....winning....winning....and our best is yet to come".....this is only round two....what does it take today to identify a false prophet? There's no BPRA....Biblical Prophets Registration Act!  All these prophecies of peace and security were given before....on....and since....February 4, 2020 at the State of the Union....but God....but God....Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached those words often....but God had different plans!

              The prophecies are still coming on my iPhone next to me as I continue to type...."And I will prevent World War III from happening....and build a beautiful dome over our country....and will tell our allies that it's about time we take care of ourselves....and everyone will prosper....every family will thrive"....and of course it all ended with...."For we are one glorious nation under God".....(why not bring that phrase back....it is the Lord's Day after all)....and...."We will make America.....powerful....and wealthy....and healthy....and strong....and proud....and safe....and....great again."
             

Lord If It Be Thy Will....To Thy Glory Alone....Wake Up the Pastor McMurphys In Our Pulpits!

                Russian activist Alexei Navalny has a posthumous memoir that was just released titled....Patriot....of which I have only begun. I'm reading it because I want a clearer view of what the average Russian mind has been since the fall of the Soviet Union. The first words in the book are these....Dying really didn't hurt. His day began normally.....preparing for a flight....but he was poisoned on that flight....and fell into a coma. His descriptions of what it felt like to first realize that he was poisoned....and then that he was going to die....are intriguing to say the least....but his in-depth description of the long process of coming out of the coma are what precipitates this post. It is where my mind went to as I sat reflecting on what Navalny was telling the reader.
               I think of this often....by 'often' I mean regularly at least once every few months over the past few years....as I look back at least six decades of my life in an America that is no more. Metaphorically speaking we in America were having a normal day....with Ronald Reagan having been president for eight years....but we were poisoned. Some just fell then and there into a coma....others....myself being one....remember the first feelings of numbness....and confusion....and anger at what was happening. I tried to call out to someone....anyone....but they....as they did with Navalny....just kept saying...."Keep breathing....keep breathing." 
               And then I woke up to see the damages. I'm reminded of one of the most stirring scenes in all of Hollywood cinema....Randle McMurphy had tried his ever-loving best to wake the patients of the asylum up to life itself....the film being One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest....but the authorities would not accept change....and Jack Nicholson's character was lobotomized. It's a scene that can stick with you for life.
               So here we are in the church today....just coming out of a coma....some of us....while others of us are hallucinating wildly as did Navalny....as this great white stallion appeared.....with a rider on it with a sword in his hand....slaying all of our enemies....as we cheer him on! Is this Christ? No....certainly not....but Christ must have sent him! Why doesn't everyone rejoice with us as we try to form words to tell them? 
               The brain fog is clearing up for some....and the words are slowly coming back. They are told that there was no great white stallion with a rider on it. It was all a hallucination from the drugs of greed and power....but they deny it. Where are the doctors....which would be the pastors? Why aren't they telling us what happened to us? Why do they just keep saying.....everything is going to be alright....as they give us another pill?
                It's a stretch....this story....I know that....but we in evangelicalism were once fairly vibrant....but we got caught up in our own euphoria. We were sure that we knew where we were going....but completely forgot where we came from!
                Billy Graham told a very humorous anecdote in a speech while being given an honorary doctorate. It seems that a man went down south on his annual hunting trip....and asked the proprietor of the hunting lodge if he had a dog named Preacher. The owner said "No"....but the man persisted....."But I heard that you had a very good hunting dog named Preacher?" Then the owner remembered..."Oh yeah....we did have a good hunting dog named Preacher....but then someone came down here and called him Doctor....and he ain't been a lick a' good since."
                 We seem to have doctors everywhere....trying to heal us....but no preachers. Tomorrow once again....men will enter their pulpits....as it turns out....they themselves were in a coma also. They will stumble around on what has now become more of a stage....the words long gone....if they were ever there....that contain the healing balm that we need....in far too many churches the blind leading the blind around....just as McMurphy was in fact blind....capable only of giving the men in the mental institution a hope that fades quickly.
                  But thanks be to our great God and King....there are still men out there that were never comatose....having been vigilant as God's Word instructs them....and there are many who have just come out of that coma....and they will preach the glories and the power and mercies but also the judgment and the warnings. Pray with me this day....that tomorrow be the day that God has chosen to awaken multitudes of sleeping pastors! Pray that tomorrow....October 27, 2024....the Lord's Day....be that holy day when God will begin to have mercy upon his church!
                  And if it be not tomorrow....(I've had a hundred 'tomorrows' come and go)...then Lord let it be next week.....or the week after that if needs be! Whether or not God begins his mercies on us at this time.....let our mantra always be....every morning and every evening....Maranatha....Lord Jesus.....come!

We Have Appealed To The Throne Of Heaven....Adjudicate This Oh God....Give Us Our Inheritance Back!

"Then one in the crowd said to Him. 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me'. But He said to him, 'Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you'?" Luke 12:13 NKJV 

                 Jesus then spoke to the crowd that had already gathered around Him...."Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." And then Jesus gave the parable about the man whose yield of crops was so plentiful that he decided to build bigger barns to store them in.
                The man in the parable said this to himself...."Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." God then said to him...."You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided....(or accumulated.)" Jesus then told His disciples not to worry about food and clothes....and gave the examples of the ravens and the lilies of the field. 

                  Where do 401Ks fit into all of this....or pensions....or even bank accounts....or even free speech? Where even does capitalism come into it?  We have appealed to the throne of heaven.....adjudicate this Oh God....give us our inheritance back.....God....bless America! How did so much of evangelicalism get to the point where Jesus could very well look at us and say...."You fools....trying to make your country great and wealthy and powerful....prepare to meet thy God"?

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." verse 34

                  Please read and meditate upon verses 14 to the end of chapter twelve. All of this and more.....from that one demand...."Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." We are not....nor have we ever been...."One glorious nation under God." Were it merely food and clothing and peace that we desired....then the words of Jesus in verse 31....would apply...."But seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you"....but we are lamenting....no that's not a strong enough word....we are agonizing and revoting against losing our inheritance in America....but Jesus said previously in verse 5....

"Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; Yes, I say to you, fear Him!"

The Power Of The False Prophets And False Teachers

                Adlai Stevenson was the Democrat nominee for President in 1952 and 1956. JFK came very close to being his running mate in 1956....and it has always been considered that missing out....and thus missing out on the defeat....made him the likely nominee in 1960. Stevenson was a Unitarian....thus not a Christian....but he knew enough to make this comment on Norman Vincent Peale...."I find the apostle Paul appealling.....and I find the apostle Peale appalling." Even Stevenson knew that Peale's gospel was not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
                Donald Trump was somewhat of a churchgoer in his early years....introduced by his father....but the church was Norman Vincent Peale's church in New York City....and the gospel of positive thinking. Peale's book....The Power of Positive Thinking....may be the only book that Trump has read cover to cover. Psychologists took aim at what was considered a psychology cult....and Christian ministers warned that this was not Christianity. Robert Schuller was of this variety and Joel Osteen is only the latest.
                Trump spoke over the weekend at a 'faith summit' in North Carolina. Paula White....Trump's chief spiritual advisor....another purveyor of gross heretical teachings was present....as was Ben Carson....whose life journey was simply incredible. He embraced the Seventh Day Adventist faith of his grandmother while living with her for two years during a tumultuous childhood. There was a day in the church when we recognized the various cults and more than problematic denominational sects. We all may not have been experts....but we knew enough to discern major problems. That is all gone today as evidenced by this faith summit....and many other political faith gatherings and organizations.
                 Donald Trump gave an abbreviated rally speech at the summit....extolling Norman Vincent Peale....and the attendees didn't seem to care a bit as they applauded....while chanting at times....USA USA USA. This is what evangelicalism has come to! We are blind today to the wolves....and the antichrists....and the false prophets!
                 Evangelicalism would not be what it is today had not Donald Trump....an antichrist....of which the apostle John warned....who had come out from among us...lured us into following him through flatteries and false prophecies....drew us away from trust in Christ....and changed us within and without.
                 

Note: This is very good news....John MacArthur appeared at the evening service....and spoke for about six minutes....giving an update on his health.....giving his opinion on an issue that had come in the church and evangelicalism....and speculated that he might be back in the pulpit is four to six weeks. Each week I had been praying for him to return....to preach the gospel....and to warn. Now for the not-so-good-news....John MacArthur had been the loudest minister on the national scene over the decades....warning of false prophets in the church. Just Google....John MacArthur....Beware Of False Prophets. That series of programs is from 1980 or 1981....and it has been rebroadcast many times since then....but when the pandemic came....and they attempted to close his church....this stalwart minister of the gospel....made a series of serious mistakes.....all revolving around politics. He denied the pandemic....(I heard it with my own ears folks)....and said in an interview just before the last election that any true believer will be voting for Donald Trump....which essentially kicked me out of the kingdom....and also questioned the faith of men like John Piper. OK....we all make mistakes....no one more than me....but in that same interview that I just mentioned....he again strongly implied to put it mildly....voting for the false prophet that he had missed.  John MacArthur's serious health problems began on the first day of this year. may God restore him to his pulpit in these tumultuous times....permit other strong voices to be on the national scene....and stir up all of His faithful shepherds....while opening the ears of all of us.....all to His glory alone!
                  

Listening To The Wrong Speaker

              My wife has been busy all afternoon in the kitchen...I just sat down a few feet away to work on this post and asked her if she would turn the music off for a little while. She looked over at our Sonos speaker and said...."Google....turn music off"....but Google didn't obey....so she gave the command a second time....and louder a third time....then sheepishly turned around and pushed the off button on the Panasonic radio under the cabinet.
              One of the fascinations in my life has been the Titanic. I watch the 1958 film A Night To Remember a few times it seems every year....sitting before it almost as I would a sermon. A friend recently loaned me some of his Titanic materials....8' blueprints every bit as detailed as those that Thomas Andrews and Captain Smith looked at in the film....and volume one of a book so detailed that you could find all the specifications of any piece of the ship's equipment if you so desired.
               There have been many ship sinkings more disastrous as to loss of life than the Titanic. The side-wheel steamboat....Sultana.....was grossly over-loaded with Union soldiers just released from prison camps after the Civil War ended. She sank on the Mississippi after a boiler explosion. Loss of life and survivor figures differ in the various sources....but they were roughly the same figures as the Titanic. Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed twelve days before the Sultana sinking.
                The Titanic was a British registered ship....of the British White Star Line....but owned by an American company. Great crowds cheered as she was launched. You see....not only was she grand beyond imagination....but she was unsinkable! She was a testament of what great things that man was capable of doing!
                 I have long felt that the sinking was an omen for both Great Britain and America....as two world wars and a depression followed....and I also have felt for a long time that the Challenger disaster of 1986 was an omen for America and the world....as I've written of it in previous posts with...."its multi-cultural crew...male and female...scientist, military and civilian...Caucasian, Asian, African-American...Christian, Jewish and Buddhist."
                We have had since then Middle East wars....and 9/11....and a pandemic....along with a collapse of society....and evangelicalism....and now the worst possible election cycle that anyone could ever imagine.
                As you can read in Genesis 11....after the flood....the people were going to build a tower. We're not sure the exact purpose they had in mind....but we do know that it was a common belief that the gods resided on the tops of mountains. Whatever it was....it was surely a challenge to God.....and He was going to put a stop to it....similar to today where scientists are certain that within a few years....we can mesh the computer with the human brain....vastly increasing the neurons....and thus its potential power. Well....God will put an end to that also.
              What surprises me most today....is that we will be stirred by the warnings of a podcaster....or a radio talk show or cable news show host....but have no interest at all in the warnings of God! It's kind of like the inverse of that little anecdote at the beginning of this post....where we are looking one way....but the sound is coming from behind us!

 

"But Lord......He Makes So Much Sense!"

              I was recently listening to a wonderful sermon on the preeminence of Christ over even the great buildings of the temple in Jerusalem. The Scripture used was the beginning of the Olivet Discourse in chapter 21 of Luke. As with all this man's sermons....Jesus Christ is the center of our hope. The congregation surely must have been awakened after a long week in the troubled world....but then the preacher made a statement that....in my opinion obviously....put everyone back to sleep. He may as well of....spiritually speaking....called for the singing of a lullaby before sending them home.
              All of you readers should be not only familiar with but reading through regularly the three.....Olivet Discourses....in Matt 24 & 25 and Luke 21 and Mark 13....and studying it intensely....for it is speaking directly to all of us today....but the reality of the situation today in the church is that we want the conquering Christ....but not the returning Christ.
              The pastor said that Jesus could return tomorrow....or in ten years....or in five thousand years. That is pretty much the standard take today in churches on the return of Christ. With that statement he in effect told his listeners that there are no special prayers needed for today.....for Israel....for world war....or for any great delusions or lying signs and wonders that we were warned of in God's Word.
              Too often in our churches we run from this conversation. We in evangelicalism have been burned too many times by prophecy teachers giving a date. Those instances my friends....were the workings of Satan for this very purpose....that when veils begin to blow off of our eyes as singles off the roofs in a hurricane....that we will back off from what we should see so very clearly.
               I could end this post here but instead I'll give but one glaringly example of warnings that we are ignoring. For nine years straight now....and famously at the end of every single solitary rally....up to and through and after the pandemic....Donald Trump has prophesied greatness and winning winning winning....and that our best is yet to come!
              When Jeremiah prophesied that Babylon was going to come back and capture Jerusalem....Jeremiah was even wearing a wooden yoke to demonstrate it....Hananiah broke that wooden yoke and prophesied that in two years Jerusalem would be free of Babylon! That is a false prophet friends! What does Donald Trump have to do before we even consider that he may be a genuine biblical false prophet?
              He came down that escalator into the middle of evangelicalism....into the middle of the church....and proceeded to change us into rabid haters of everyone on the other side. What would it take before we would even consider that Trump may be one of the many antichrists....that the Apostle John warned us of.... that would plague the church?
               If the Christian today does not know that God's judgment is imminent....indeed already in progress....then they surely have been blinded by something. God is so very clearly showing us that His wrath is sure and it is near....but this man Trump tells us the exact opposite....in spades! 
               We are not talking to God in our prayers on this....for if we were the prayer would go something like this....."Lord....yes....this man tells us that things are going to be great again....which is the opposite of what Thy word tells us....and yes....he has made us angry....threatening and vengeful and even hateful....the opposite of what we are to be striving to be....but Lord....he makes so much sense!" There is no way out of this folks. We ignored God's warnings of judgments for a half century from men like Billy Graham....and no false prophet can change that.
               

  

Avoid The Rush Hour

                There is a young couple in our town....who are always on the go....busy with children and animals....seemingly darting to and fro all the time....and I heard that the young wife was in three or four small fender benders in the last few years....each one taking one of their automobiles away for a week or two....and each one adding to their insurance premium. My initial response when told about the latest fender bender was....'slow down....don't drive so fast'....until my wife told me that she was going about five miles an hour on the latest. So much for that theory.
                 A little later I was still thinking about this....and of my initial response of 'slow down'....and I began to realize that here I am....seventy-four years old....no job to rush off to....no kids to be taking to school or activities or doctor's appointments....no animals....no golfing....few if any appointments to keep....no wonder I haven't had any fender benders. I hardly even need a watch on my wrist....for the only daily appointment that I have is....dinner....and my stomach tells me what time it is.
                 So I kept thinking about this. The only real hobbies I have are these posts....and reading....and listening to sermons....hundreds of them....from either preachers of the past....or preachers today who preach like preachers of the past. No wonder I know that the preaching today is weak and powerless. So I reversed the chronology of events and applied all of this to my own life. I didn't have a wreck by getting side-swiped by Donald Trump. I don't have to navigate stadium parking lots with hundreds of other cars trying to beat the rush and get home. There are no rallies to go to....no concerts to speak of....no getting all the kids in the car to get to church on time....no sales at Boscov's or Macy's....and as I said above.....almost no appointments to keep at all! No wonder I know who Donald Trump is....and no wonder I can recognize pandemonium....and see warning signs all over the place!
                  So maybe my original thought....to slow down....wasn't that off track after all....but by 'slow down'....I now mean to slow life down a little....to be able to see the people that are on the roads today....and to realize that there are crazy drivers in this world....Donald Trump being one.... stay out of his lane. Avoid the rush hour. Cut down on all the activities....the time of which can be better spent in meditation on the day and age that we live. And the same wisdom would apply for raising our children....for if they are too busy with activities....they will have their own fender benders.

"And All The World Marveled...."

   If I wanted to get away from the presidential election for an afternoon....this wasn't the place to go. The movie was Conclave....where Ralph Fiennes plays the Vatican's Dean of the College of Cardinals.....(Don't confuse that with our electoral college....although it would be easy to do.) The pope had just died and the Fiennes character was in charge of the sequestered senators....excuse me cardinals....until a successor president....excuse me pope would be voted in. If we ever wound up in an electoral tie....it would be the same type of conclave....and we tonight are in effect waiting for the same white smoke.
               Many of the same issues were there as in our election....two factions....conservative and liberal....dirty tricks....terrorism....and scandals. In fact there was one scene where the Fienness character was frustrated and compared choosing a pope to an American election for president. This is a film where you do not want any hint of a spoiler. The movie was based on a 2016 novel....and I hope that you don't know anything that novel....because the ending is....well let me just say that it is a shocker.
                Who would think that watching sequestered meetings of old men dressed in red would keep your attention....but this film does that and more. As my wife and I were walking out of the theater....she asked me what I thought. My response was that it just kept reminding me of biblical prophecy....not in specifics as much....but in that we had better remain vigilant....for there are surely some heart-stopping surprises ahead. 

Title note: Revelation 13:3 ESV

     

!

Something To Pray For?

Preface: The following post....269-269....is from October 3. God will place whomever he wants into the White House....for whatever purpose that He desires. Right now....today....the projections are that Harris has about 222 electoral votes that appear to be secure....give or take 5....while Trump has about 223 electoral votes that appear secure....once again give or take 5....meaning that Harris needs 48 or thereabouts to win....and Trump needs 47 or thereabouts to win. (each network or political affiliation varies as to these exact numbers) Meanwhile there are ten states right now that are considered tossups....(once again that number varies)....and....there are two states....Nebraska and Maine....that can possibly split their electoral votes....(5 in Nebraska and 2 in Maine.) So....the possibility does exist at least that both candidates could get 269 electoral votes....and thus the post below....(the full post is still there from October 3.) We don't know God's plans....other than judgment is coming....indeed it has already begun....and that Jesus is near in His powerful return. These two candidates are part of that judgement. Would it not be reasonable to pray that if God should grant it....that someone at least humble and somewhat capable person or persons....including the Congress....might be at the helm when the full brunt of the storm arrives? Either way it is God's will that we should want....and mercy upon us for discernment at to what it is.

269-269              

                   Should neither candidate get 270 electoral votes....meaning that each would get 269 electoral votes....the election would go to the House for the President...and the Senate for the Vice President. You may not know this....the individual state delegations then would get one vote....with 26 votes needed to elect a president! The Senators would get one vote each....with 51 votes needed to elect a vice president.
                  Can you see any Democrat state delegations voting for Trump? I can't. Can you any Republican delegations voting for Harris? I can't. The result would probably be that someone considered a moderate would be chosen. They could even pick a Democrat for one position and a Republican for the other position.
                  Now there are other problems here.....for instance in some states they do not have laws that electors have to cast their vote according to how the popular vote went....but seriously folks....do you think there would be any individual electors who would take it upon themselves in this contentious culture to do that? I don't. It's one thing to do this as a protest vote....but another to do it and actually decide the president. 
                  Even in this situation....(269-269 and two moderates in the executive office)....all it could possibly do is give us some humble leaders who might seek God's wisdom in the coming storm. 

Pulp Non-Fiction

                I'm holding the book in my hand right now....and I opened it....I didn't notice where it opened to....and I put my nose right up to the inner spine. I would do this on occasion over the years....thirty....twenty....ten years ago....and I could detect a faint smell of pulp paperback...and it took me back to early 1973. I had just started at Pitt on the G. I. Bill....and my habit was to cross Forbes Avenue and browse the National Record Mart....for a new paperback to begin reading on the bus trip home. I should have been opening a text book but after getting out of the army after three years....I wanted to major in intellectual life before concentrating on Economics or Psychology 101.
                So I would put the old paperback up to my nose and that faint aroma transported me back to that bus ride home....as I opened for the first time in my life....the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The book was and is....Reach Out....The Living New Testament Illustrated....a paraphrase of the New Testament by Ken Taylor and published by Tyndale House Publishers....1967. This was a pure and childlike reminiscence of the glimpse of a Father in heaven....and in His Son Jesus Christ. I put that book down back then after only perusing it for a few days. It would be almost a decade before I opened the New Testament again.
               Tonight....it is 4:45 in the morning....and I couldn't sleep....and I no longer can detect that faint smell in the spine of the book....not even a moldiness. Maybe my olfactory senses are getting weaker....in fact I know they are....but in just holding this now very supple paperback....I can take joy in remembering that I was once lost....but not lost to Jesus....and that in His perfect timing He had mercy on the least person in this world deserving of it....in fact deserving of it not at all!
                This whole thought....and taking the book off the shelf....came to me tonight as I was reading the latest news story on multiple baptisms at universities....mostly in the South. I thought about what we knew as Jesus Freaks back then....and I recalled the recent movie starring Kelsey Grammer....The Jesus Revolution....about the early days of the ministry of Greg Laurie....and I went over in my mind the movie that my wife and I saw about twelve hours ago in the theater....Average Joe....that is about the high school football coach that prayed after games on the 50 yard line....causing such a stir that it wound up in the Supreme Court of the United States....(it's an enjoyable film by the way....in the genre of the 60s Jesus Freaks....and the college baptisms of today.)
                I Googled news on John MacArthur. I do this every few days....hoping to hear something encouraging on his illness....and that he might return to his pulpit soon....because we in America need an authoritative voice to get our attention! For they are all retiring or dying away....replaced by younger men on the national scene who may have that college baptism vitality....but lack the gravitas of an experienced preacher....a Paul or a Bunyan or an Edwards or a Spurgeon or a Martyn Lloyd-Jones....or a Billy Graham. 
                After that quick Google search I went to MacArthur's Grace To You....(gty.org)....website....and listened to a 2022 sermon....of which I recommended to you here....The Most Hated Christian Doctrine. There is more here than showing up on campus to be baptized.....(or in the ocean)....encouraging as that may be....for it is something that all of us evangelicals....of even forty years such as myself....need to hear on a regular basis....the pure....and adultlike....reminder of where we were....and what indeed Jesus accomplished for us. The following was included in John MacArthur's prayer at the end of his sermon...

"And I just pray today that, in the clarity of this, all of us who are true believers might have a fresh and new commitment to be honest with the truth of the gospel, honest with the bad news....honest with the good news."

                                                                             

Michael Horton And Elon Musk

               I would like to use this post to introduce the reader....most of them anyway....to a man who came on the Christian scene about forty years ago....and proceeded to take apologetics by storm.....he was that good....and still is that good. He was right in there with R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur and James Boice. When we had our Christian bookstore....just previous to 9/11....I had....(and still have it in my basement).....a top to bottom long framed document called the....Cambridge Declaration.....that was put together by those men in defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that was and is under attack by liberalism and then progressivism....and today by grand ideas such as transhumanism. 
               His name is Michael Horton and he today does not look or sound his age of 60 years. One of his first books had a profound influence on me....Putting The Amazing Back Into Grace....(1991)....and I'm looking forward to reading his latest....Shaman And Sage....the Roots of 'Spiritual But Not Religious.
               He was a co-host of radio program for many years called....The White Horse Inn....and it is still there....and I listened to the most recent episode just now....and that is the tie-in to why I want to recommend him to you today.
               If you would go to....whitehorseinn.org....that latest episode is right there.....titled....The Theology Of Elon Musk And Transhumanism.

               Here's the thing....we Christians come in all kinds of styles of personality. Some are very academic....and some very....down home on the farm. Both have their advantages....and we need both. Michael Horton is of the former. Some visitors might be a little overwhelmed....others will feel they finally found a theological home. Also....right now....they are offering a free book just for the asking....on a topic that transformed my theology thirty years ago....Law And Gospel.            

 

"No Place For Truth"

                The demise of the Christian bookstore has been a disaster for the church....and thus for America. I've posted on this many times. Thirty years ago or thereabouts there were five Christian bookstores within a ten mile range of where I live. If you include the Christian bookstore that my wife and I owned then it would be six Christian bookstores. I don't like admitting this but I used to criticise a lot of these stores because they sold so many Christian knickknacks and wall coverings and music. I was majoring in minors on this....and didn't realize how valuable these stores were until they were no longer there.
                Here is what you would find if you walked into one of those stores from way back when. There would be books everywhere....in-between and around all the knickknacks....and all shelved in categories....Christian Living....Classics....Prophecy....Bibles.....Bible Reference and Helps....Devotionals....Biographies....Men's Issues and Women's Issues....Apologetics....and....New Releases. There was a rack with Christian magazines. Two stores near me actually had a Puritan book section. Our store was nothing but Reformation or Reformed theology.
                There was good stuff in the typical Christian bookstore...and there was bad stuff...and there was great stuff. Excellent Christian books were coming out literally all the time. Hank Hanegraaff usually had something out there....as did R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur and Michael Horton and David Wells....and the list goes on and on! I'll give you one example....as I have the book in my hand....and used the title of it for this post. It's left over from our stock of books....David Wells....No Place For Truth....Or Whatever Happened To Evangelical Theology. This was 1993 folks. Since then almost all has been lost.
                 Here is the key to the necessity of these bookstores. The average Christian...and back then there were new 'born agains' all the time....that average Christian needed the choices....the good the bad and the ugly....to eventually see the good. That is exactly what happened to me. I walked in a Christian bookstore called....It Is Written....back in 1982....with nothing else to do as my wife was shopping at Penney's....and I asked if they sold rosaries....because my rosary had snapped. They didn't....and all praise to our merciful and loving God....I walked out with Josh McDowell's....Evidence That Demands A Verdict! Not that long after this a neon orange paperback cover caught my eye....William Gurnall's....The Christian In Complete Armour....Volume I. You are not going to find books like that today even in the Christian bookstores that still exist.
                 Our supply lines have been cut! I research Christian bookstores when on vacation....as I did recently on a trip to Tennessee....and go out of my way to visit them....and I am thankful for what is there....but it is not much. The great and necessary books are not being published for one thing.....at least not many of them. No one is going to stumble into anything today! So forget the average bloke....that was me....stumbling across the gospel while their spouse is at Penney's. Forget Barnes & Noble. I'm in there almost every Tuesday....news releases day....and while there are hundreds of 'Christian' books....they are 99% pablum at best! You can find a good one but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
                The loss of Christian bookstores is not the only problem that we have in the church today. Back then we had a dozen or so nationally known Christian leaders or pastors or teachers and authors. Once again there was the good the very good and the not so good....but their voices were present and very vocal in America. Billy Graham was the big one....John MacArthur right behind him....and R. C. Sproul behind him....John Piper after him....and plenty more after that. David Wilkerson could warn the sheep as well as any of them....and even Pat Robertson was a loud discerning voice. Just about all of these men are gone. John MacArthur was missing from his pulpit today for health reasons....and this for the thirteenth straight week! I hope you are praying for his voice to return because we need it. John Piper is still here....but retired as a pastor. Alistair Begg recently announced his retirement as pastor of his Cleveland church. Since when do Christian pastors retire short of having to be helped in and out of the pulpit?
                 So in these two very important areas we are in big trouble. We have gone politics....and followed a wolf in sheep's clothing....and there is no one on a national stage to warn us. The transition to the megachurch has hurt. People were leaving small churches with pastors who very humbly preached the gospel and warned of the wrath of God....and going to these fancy churches that are starting to resemble more....basilicas....functioning for the public good...and providing a pulpit for an eminent pastor.
                 These are end-times changes. Christians used to listen to Christian radio all the time....even in the background. We wanted conversation. We wanted to be told why we were a peculiar people. We rejoiced in the surety of hearing about how one has to be born again. There was stimulating talk on serious issues....and the Bible Answer Man challenged the cults. We don't seem to care what a cult is today....and many of us are actually a part of a cultic political movement.
               We need pastors to pack their bags....and then go into their pulpits....ready to move on if there is no place for truth in those pulpits.

"Signs And lying Wonders"

                The title of this post is from 2 Thessalonians 2:9. The ESV reads...."The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders."
                Woody Allen experimented with it....and it became popular with Forrest Gump. Holographs started appearing. ABBA made news with it....Randy Travis did it with the voice. Patty Duke used a split screen way back in the 60s. (I couldn't make up my mind which girl I liked best) They....(the inventors of these various technologies)....can make you believe that you are watching someone say something....a celebrity of some sort....passed on or still with us....but it's right before your eyes....only it is fake....artificially manufactured somehow. 
                Where is all of this going? Are there any limits to where it can go? Pick someone out of history....someone good or bad.....Reagan or Hitler or anyone. Now on the screen before you....or in the holograph in front of you....they appear. Let's make it Ronald Reagan because we are all so very familiar with his voice and his smile and his mannerisms and his personality. Well there he is on that giant television that so many of us have today. (our TV is a 32") And as he speaks to us he is referencing things in the news that may have only happened that morning or the day before. And he even addresses the fact that he knows that he passed away....and he knows that none of us will believe this....(unless we put our hands on his side....which we can't)....and in his so very convincing way....he tells us that we just have to believe him because he cannot prove it?
                Now in the case of Reagan....all of us conservatives loved him. What more could we ask for....honesty and wisdom? So would we be won over again by him on this screen? He might just start to give us a campaign speech of sorts....as good or better than it had ever been....simple guidance on where to go and what to do. No problem there right? He never led us astray before. But what if Lenin would come back from his 'head wound'....or the Nazi Fuhrer....or Einstein? Suppose Albert Einstein not only came back but gave us life changing mathematical equations? Suppose whoever it was gave us an instant cure for cancer or dementia?
               I'm using the hypothetical of computers and artificial intelligence here because we have already lost any defense on this....but this "power" and these 'signs" could conceivably be anything....an alien maybe? Did Sister Lucia really see the Virgin Mary at Fatima? Well we know the answer to that. And we know that no angel from God appeared to Joseph Smith.... but what if it was Billy Graham that came back? 
               Was it really the prophet Samuel that appeared to King Saul through the the woman medium from Endor? Are you sure you know the answer. R. C. Sproul was asked that question and vehemently answered that we do not know if that 'Samuel' was from God or was a demon. The Apostle Paul warned us in Galatians 1:8...."But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed"....and then he repeated himself! Paul also wrote to the Corinthians...."And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11:14)
               Roughly forty years ago....when I miraculously came to faith in Christ....only understanding the gospel enough to fall prone before it in thankfulness and awe....I did know enough to recognize that there were false gospels out there....because they were not what happened to me....and the 'christ' of those gospels was not the same Savior that opened my eyes. So I jumped right into Christian apologetics. At least you cannot get into too much trouble defending what the Bible says about who Jesus Christ is....and what He has done for us. I knew this much....and I know it today....the best way to identify what is fake....is to first learn what is genuine!

I Voted.....How About You? (A Lord's Day Post)

                Lord willing....we do not know what a day brings....I will enter a voting booth on November 5.....vote for senator and representative and a few other things....and leave the question on president....blank. They may give me an....I voted....sticker....but if this comes up in a conversation with a Christian friend or acquaintance....(this has already happened a few times)....they invariably tell me....usually in disgust....that not voting for Trump is voting for Harris.
                In a strictly political sense....this makes sense. Yes...not adding a vote to one candidate gives a one vote advantage to the other candidate....but this whole issue of casting a vote is not as simple as that.
                I've heard often....and I'm sure that you have....that a response in this situation might be something like this...."No....by not voting for anyone....I did cast a vote....a vote of protest." This makes sense also....but isn't likely to win any debates.
                I know a man who has a sign in his window that says...."2024....Vote For Jesus." The message is clear....depend on Jesus over mere men....and once again it makes sense.
                So taking all of these things into account....as I admitted....they all make sense to a certain degree....but there is more in this overall realm of the concept of voting!
                I wrote a post a few years back titled.....Advantage Pilgrim....about two good friends that I had over many years. One has since died. We worked closely together for over three decades....and had many conversations on life....and on the gospel. One friend openly and consistently....and politely....over all those years....took the position that there is no way to know any of this stuff about God. The other man loved to talk about these type of philosophical issues. In fact that's about all he wanted to talk about. He would talk inquisitively about Jesus or Paul or Israel....but then he would say with a smile....'Oh I don't believe any of this in a literal sense.' He is the friend who died....of Covid related issues. The last time I saw him was in a Barnes & Nobel. He spied me first....came over and talked....asking a question about the Apostle Paul! He wasn't on the way to being converted....he was just intellectually interested! 
                OK.....I'm already taking too much of your time. Here is my point. On the biggest issue of all to man....these two friends of mine in this instance....they voted....so to speak. It wasn't a protest vote....and by not believing....it wasn't a vote for Satan. It was just a vote saying in effect....'No....I will not believe....that's my vote....at this time.'
                Believe it or not this is related to my original statement that I will in the voting booth....(Lord willing)....leave blank the oval for president. My vote is my vote on life....I am a sinner saved by grace. I believe those sixty-six books comprising the Bible are the very word of God to us. And in that book it tells me to trust in God....Father, Son, and Holy Spirit....and not in man....and not in armies....and not in power. My voting for Trump....who is probably a genuine biblical false prophet....("our best days are yet to come"...they are not)....and possibly as the Apostle John describes them....'an antichrist'....("So now many antichrists have come")....would be placing my trust in man....and in armies....and in our own powers.
                I listened to an older Charles Spurgeon sermon today on the return road trip from Ohio. It was preached on December 5, 1858. Spurgeon was a young pastor at the time. That sermon generated this post....for Spurgeon....the Prince of Preachers as he is known....is in as much as saying throughout the sermon....'You have a vote....cast it today....not tomorrow....Jesus is calling you today.' 

You can simply Google...."Make Them Come In! Charles Spurgeon sermon."             

GAME DAY!

                 Tomorrow....Sunday....the Lord's Day.....is Game Day! I'm using the title of this post as a colloquialism. Unfortunately tomorrow will be a different kind of game day for tens of millions of Christians in America. How many NFL home games will there be tomorrow....fifteen? If so fifteen stadiums in major American cities will be filled....and probably about a third of the fans will be evangelicals....supposedly so worried about where America is going....and the coming election....but not worried enough to stop them from screaming their lungs out for their team!
                 I've spent about half of my Christian life with the majority....thinking that Sunday was church day....and then family or fun day....and not necessarily in that order. My testimony....in retrospect....is that there is no comparison. As weak as I still am in holding to the apostles view of the Lord's Day....I would never want to go back to thinking that it was just a day that we go to church. Worm that I am as I crawl into church....(figuratively speaking....for due to a family situation with an elderly loved one....I have not attended church since Covid....we stream)....worm as I am....the Lord's Day is now really something special! 
                  Everything in moderation....except our Christian faith. Sports in moderation....exercise in moderation. I spent thousands of hours in stadiums in my youth....and was a giant Pitt fan. I found out only three days ago that the Pitt football team is 5 and 0 so far this year. They could have been 0 and 5 as far as I knew. Good for them.....but it is only a game.
                  Here's a trivia question for the football fan. Penn State won the national championship back in 1986. Who was their quarterback? Here's a hint. In high school and college he was 65 and 1....(if memory serves)....65 wins....and only lost one game. You would think that you would remember his name but most will not. John Shaffer! He did not have great physical skills....but on game day....he was there.
                  I still remember the Fiesta Bowl that year....for the national championship. Miami football players were slouching around all week....wearing army fatigues for some reason....brash and arrogant and over-confident. While the Penn State players were in a suit and tie every time you saw them. Penn State showed up on game day.
                  So we Christians go through the six days leading up to game day....beaten up at times....frustrated at times....crying at times....and no more so than today as our country and the world is in a tailspin. And then comes game day....the day given to us for worshiping God....for exalting in the glories of our Lord and Savior and coming King! It's game day for the pastor. His whole life is supposed to revolve around this responsibility of feeding us....exalting in what Christ has done for us....and encouraging us and warning us when necessary! It's game day for us also as this is the day when we show up....and cheer....albeit with the joy in our hearts....knowing that Jesus Christ had his body ripped apart on that field on Calvary....for us! We were headed straight to eternal damnation....deservedly so....and He....Christ....out of pure mercy and love....plucked us up out of the fire! Glory to God for designing it as such....and to the Son for living for us....and dying for us....He is risen! And to the Holy Spirit for giving us eyes to see and ears to hear and a new heart....and a mind to rejoice in our Savior!

Christopher Steele's Story

              As the months and years passed....one by one....came the books about Trump and Russia. Comey would tell his story....and McCabe....and the Mueller probe came out in detail....and Crossfire Hurricane...and on and on. The latest book was released three days ago by none other than Christopher Steele himself....the author....(his company actually)....of the famous Steele Dossier. It has a $32.50 list price but Barnes & Noble has a 20% off sticker on it. 
              So here is a quick synopsis of Steele's account of what happened. He was a 22 year veteran of the British intelligence community...fairly high up the ladder....with his expertise on Russia....and sharing information regularly with the FBI. So he left the....Crown Service....and opened up his own intelligence company....(this was not unusual)....where he and his partner would be contracted primarily to provide hard to get information to corporations on why their business ventures were being stymied. And if politicians needed their work....they did that also.
              So they wound investigating Trump's business dealings with Russians but came across something that as former government intelligence people worried them considerably. Steel doesn't even mention Trump until the second part of a three part book....as he gives his life story....and coming up the ranks.
             They came across intelligence where it was obvious that Putin was trying to help Trump win....and they came upon more information that made it look like Trump might be preparing to help Putin after elected. It didn't help that Steele had been one of those in the intelligence community that was warning that Putin was up to no good. 
             So Steele tried every way he knew to get the FBI and the State Department to at least consider the information that Steel's intelligence gathering company came up with....and he tried the same thing with British intelligence which he had once been a part of. It was all supposed to be for your eyes only....according to the author....just info to consider....but it exploded upon the international scene.
              This was never a hoax. This is not deep state. How the Democrats handled all of this....(does anyone really expect them to do anything right or for the right reason?)....and how the FBI may have mismanaged and screwed everything up.....and how the Republican Party then turned Trump into a persecuted hero....all of this is separate from the original situation where an American billionaire was also prime kompromat material....and as it turns out....who became president and then acted like he was a kompromat graduate.
              The only purpose of a book like this is that we now know who Putin really is. In Steele's opinion....given at the end of the book....Putin doesn't really care who wins this election....although he will still help Trump if he can....for if Trump wins Putin at least gets a big part of the Ukraine....and NATO and the EU continue to get weaker....and if the Democrats win....America's internal strife will tear it apart.
              I empathised with Christopher Steele as I read through the book over how he has been portrayed....but didn't warm up to him as a great and wise intelligence operative. I disagreed with a lot of his interpretations on world affairs....but the book demystified in a way the Steele Dossier....while adding even more mystery as to the relationship between Trump and Putin.

"A Stormy Wind Came Out Of The North...."

A friend who lives in Easton, Pennsylvania....74 miles east of New York City....and 77 north of Philadelphia....only a few hours ago sent us these photos from her back yard....of the Northern Lights that were predicted to be viewable tonight in certain states....due to the solar storm that we have been reading about for the past few days....

"As I look, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal." Ezekiel 1:4 ESV

There Is Only One 'Supreme Court'....The Father....The Son....And The Holy Spirit

                        Israel does not have a constitution. Their Supreme Court can overrule their Knesset. Supreme Court judges are chosen from a nine member committee....from three segments of society....in a complicated process. In 2023....well before the October Sukkot attacks....the country was in turmoil as Prime Minister Netanyahu was making an attempt at judicial reform. You may remember the massive demonstrations from both sides?
                     We in the United States have a constitution. Our court is considered conservative. Israel's court is considered liberal. Our legislature can in effect overrule Supreme Court decisions. Our Supreme Court judges are nominated by the president but have to be confirmed by our Senate.
                     Israel originally intended to have a constitution but that never came about. In effect they have something similar to our Bill Of Rights....which is their fourteen....Basic Laws. They have the same divided country that we do....and consequently the same....packing the court....arguments.
                     Yom Kippur begins tomorrow....October 11....at sundown. The Orthodox element in Israel had a ceremony planned in one of the parks in Tel Aviv....and in that ceremony there would be the traditional gender separation. The Tel Aviv officials denied the required gender separation in public on an equality basis....(it's OK in private they say)....the group planning the Yom Kippur event took it to their Supreme Court....which ruled that the event could go on as planned.
                     Demonstrations were then planned against the Orthodox gender separated event....and the Orthodox group decided....to keep the peace at a holy Yom Kippur service....and as a war is in process....not to hold the event as planned.
                      Whether it is in America or Israel or England or Germany or wherever democracy is involved in the government....the strength of that government will be determined not only by the unity of the people....particularly the lack of a 50/50 division....but to what degree that people has remained a God-fearing people....and to what degree that people's....'god'....has not become themselves. In this respect....concerning God....we are now in an....'ice age'....giving the cold shoulder to anything pertaining to God. This had to come about for it is the natural course that man always takes. We are about to find out first-hand the natural course that God always takes.
       

The Call Is To...Evacuate....Vanity Fair

Preface: As for me personally....my warnings started to increase greatly in 2018....and again in the fall of 2020....when Covid was in an incubation stage. The Christian does not need Jonathan Cahn to tell us that the Second Coming is near....for the warnings are all around us.....and getting stronger all the time....in fact he takes us away from Scripture....into a metaverse if you will....an augmented reality....that disappears when the glasses are taken off...or the movie ends....or the book is put down. When this hurricane was churning at 180 wind speed....it got people's attention. What will it take to get our attention? Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as our only choices when America and the world are at the very precipice should be enough to have us in effect....'evacuate'....Vanity Fair or flee the City Of Destruction....as John Bunyan would put it....and as every day passes...the remnant of Christian believers....seem to more and more be packing up. The following was first posted in April of 2022:

This Storm Cannot Be Outrun

                The news is almost unbearable. I'm referring to the news everywhere....on a daily basis....but more specifically this evening the wanton violence on our police officers in Kentucky. God help us. God have mercy upon us. When Billy Graham and other faithful preachers were giving lamentations like this.....decades ago....we were not nearly as violent as we are today. Idols....every bit as destructive and demonic as anything Canaan or Phoenicia could come up with....litter our lives. Celebrities parade before us with their idolatrous wares....their platinum lives....and ivory teeth....with a gold cross along their low-cut neckline or open shirt....hawking their latest book telling us how much Jesus means to them....and sports heroes give all the glory to God....for putting a basketball through a hoop or some such nonsense....possibly even on the Lord's Day....with the Christians showing more passion than they did hours earlier in their worship service.
                The churches pride themselves for keeping their doors open during a pandemic....unaware that Satan also wants those doors open....for he is author of the gospel in most of the pulpits today. He wants this pablum to continue to be served up. Malachi gave us these words given him...."Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain!"
                 I would ask you to....for only a few moments....put all of the legislative stuff out of your mind.....all the elections and nominations....and all of the anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage. This so that you can more clearly see that we live in this society as a fish lives in water....and if you do.....if you just glance at one current danger after another....from world war to natural disasters to AI to famines and plagues and false prophets and a new world order....in a world gone mad....you might see that we cannot turn this around....nor can we stop.
                 This storm is not going to die down. We are going through it. The "Captain of the LORD's host"....is the same...."Captain of our salvation!" Here is your....'trust in God'....not before the storm that you do not even think is coming....but during the storm....the winds of which are already shredding flags and pennants. The Psalmist says to those who know Him...."and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me"....but to preachers who play with His words as a clever politician...."What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?" (Psalm 50: 15, 16)

The Weather Channel

                In that it started in the Western Caribbean....and that at one point had winds of 180 mph....with an almost record of 897 millibars....giving a few days of warning....there was little doubt that Hurricane Milton would be more than just dangerous coming into the Tampa area. I sat in front of the Weather Channel on our television for about eight hours on Thursday, September 26....when Hurricane Helene came ashore....and that is the only channel that has been on our TV since yesterday. It is hard to get my mind off of the people that live in this coastal area....hoping that they can get out....hoping and wondering and praying about those who do not have the means to get out....or even the mental acuity to stay abreast of what is happening. 
                There was one state or county official who I remember imploring of the people in tears to get out before Helene....warning that there could be hundreds of deaths. Yesterday one local meteorologist was in tears describing Hurricane Milton. A few minutes ago....as I am here typing....a Weather Channel meteorologist interviewed a man on a small craft in the Tampa marina area. This man said that he is new to Florida....and that he was in his boat during Helene....and was going to do the same thing with Milton! He said that God will protect him. I can only hope that he changes his mind and takes shelter in one of the high rises that were in the background of the video broadcast.
                 God had always given warnings with Israel and Judah and Jerusalem....at times forty and fifty years of warnings! Londoners were given warnings before both the Great Plague and Great Fire of 1665 and 1666. Charles Spurgeon warned London....and those around the world who read his wireless-sent sermons....of the falling away that was occurring from Biblical truths.
                 And we are in the same situation today in America as we have had forty and fifty years of warnings....but we are mere humans....and do not want warnings. We are fully immersed in our own plans and goals. Every disaster that passes only strengthens us in our resolve that God will not change our lifestyles....He will not judge us with any more than small disasters from which we can rebuild.
                As the Jews slowly and incrementally returned from Babylon.....Haggai rebuked them for building their own houses while the Lord's house remained in ruins. They were stirred by God's Spirit but many grew disappointed in that the new temple was not looking nearly as great as the one that some of them remembered. I submit to you that we today are trying to rebuild our own houses as the church essentially lies in ruins. 
               I encourage you to forsake this....Make America Great Again....and seek to rebuild the church. If you would but Google....The Holiness Of God, Ligonier, YouTube....there is available to you a series of teachings by R. C. Sproul that....if you listen to them with the intent of humbly seeking guidance from God....you will get more than guidance....but will as so many in the past have....prostrate yourself before the glory and sovereignty of God.
               I listened to a Charles Spurgeon this morning....from 1886....and this particular sermon was directed to me....in that Spurgeon sought to encourage those who were discouraged by the state of the church. You can listen to it if you are so inclined by Googling....Spurgeon sermon YouTube...The Abiding of the Spirit the Glory of the Church.

"Oh Lord....Where Am I In Those Seven Letters?"

                Generally I would believe....over the centuries....when a nation is on the very brink....a nation with a strong Christian history....the typical pastor would enter his pulpit with an extreme solemnity and soberness....maybe even with prayers of mortification. I think that is what it was like in England during World War II....and other European nations.
                Today....with America on the brink....a nation with a very strong Christian history....the very typical pastor will enter his pulpit with a twinkle in his eye...and a smile from ear to ear.
                In the former instance there is a rider on a white horse...."On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lord's." (Revelation 19:16) In the midst of the concern and the worry....the congregation knows and is reminded that their king has already secured victory....only it will be in his timing. That king is Jesus Christ.
               In the latter....it is a different rider on a white horse....and on his hat is written....Make America Great Again....and his victory has a date attached to it....thirty days from now!
               In the early to mid-1930s in Germany...after the despised Weimar Republic was done away with....most of the men in the pulpits also had that twinkle in their eye and with a smile from ear to ear....because Germany was going to be great again....but just as with us today....there were a smaller number of pulpits with pastors who in great solemnity cried out to God for mercy....and warned their congregations. 
              Laodicea was a city in the right place and at the right time. It was very wealthy....and very artsy....and there were a lot of Jews....formerly from Babylon....that lived there. The city had two amphitheaters....and the ruins of one remind me a lot of the Colosseum on Los angeles. There was another odd quirk about the city....when the Roman persecutions came....the people of the empire were told that they had to worship the Roman emperor as a living god....or they were persecuted even unto death if they did not....well the persecution seemed lax at Laodicea because it almost seemed a lost cause to the emperor with so many Jews and Christians there. That is my take anyway on reading about this.
              It that was the case....then the church at Laodicea was not only rich....in what was considered by Rome a 'free city'....and so involved with all the entertainments available....that it must have thought that God had just really blessed it....and that they were doing just fine as a church! That is indeed the case today in our megachurch culture....where they have enough money to build these great and beautiful churches....with state-of-the-art everything....and where the world may be crumbling around them but they have their free and happy little communities of their own.
              Those were believers in the Laodicean church of Revelation....for Jesus said to them...."Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent"....(Rev: 3:19)....and were given a stern a warning as you could get if they did  not...."I will spit you out of My mouth" (Rev: 3:19.)
               Those seven letters to seven churches in one way or another address all of us. I may not be lukewarm....but there are enough other condemnations in those letters for me. My hope is that we might come to see our gross guilt....not only in the hope that we put in politics....a hope that surpasses our hope in the return of Christ....but our hope in a man who is the antithesis of everything that we are told to be.
                Trump seems to be doing away with his old reliable....we are one....glorious nation under God....(which we most definitely are not)....and replacing it with America's Golden Age to come. The good old days are not coming back folks....Jesus is coming back! Each and every one of us might want to read again....and reread and reread and reread....and meditate upon....and plead with God for wisdom....those seven letters to seven churches in Revelation two and three....to see where we might be....and repent accordingly.