Preface: I listened to the sermon below four times in the past few days. The preached word is primarily where we get our discernment and strength. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones has said....yes....reading the Word but primarily the preached word. Friends...you are not getting that in the power of the Holy Spirit today. God does not care how big your church is...and how many campuses you have spread around.....and how much noise you make....this is not an age of powerful preaching. Men like Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones would tell their congregations.....flee the wrath to come. When if ever is the last time you heard that from your pulpit? We are in trouble in the church right now....for we are Laodicean....thinking that we are rich in everything....but in fact we are blind.
First I want to recommend to you a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon that I randomly chose to listen to on a drive this evening. You can simply Google....Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon....Whoa Unto Thee. I had no idea where the sermon was going but it turns out that there was an election coming up in Great Britain....and Lloyd-Jones used that in his sermon.....but there was something else that struck me....two things actually....and they will be the focus in this post.
I'm confident in saying that all of us are familiar with this axion. Josh McDowell used it prominently in his classic book....Evidence That Demands A Verdict. It's an apologetic argument that states that Jesus....must....be either who He says that he is....the Son of God....or He is a lunatic and a liar....one or the other. You remember that right? Other ministers have used it...as did Martyn Lloyd-Jones in this sermon that was probably from the 1960s. C. S. Lewis wrote that Jesus Christ was either a liar or a lunatic....or Lord?
So where am I going with this? Where else....Donald Trump....for that is what came into my mind. Lloyd-Jones said that Jesus would be the most arrogant man in history if He was not who He proclaimed that He was. Well....that was probably the trigger....for who in your mind....I know who it is in my mind....who is the very most arrogant man in history?
I also want to bring this up from the same sermon as the great 20th century London preacher spoke considerably about how Jesus came to bring division....ultimately between those who were to be His....and everyone else. You are with me on this right?
Here is what I am putting before you to consider....indeed....Donald John Trump is either what he proclaims himself to be....the greatest answer to what the entire world needs....or....he is something else. What would that something else be?
As for the concept of division....who in the history of America...has manufactured division more than Donald John Trump? He has turned brother against brother....and neighbor against neighbor...and even husband against wife. He thrives on division!
I don't have any personal friends in life who might be potential nominees for some position in Washington D. C. in this next administration....with the possible exception of a lifelong friend who is a professor of rhetoric at one of America's elite universities. I bring this up for this reason....if he were to be picked for some post....which he won't....for he is a Democrat.....but if he was.....I would push the envelope in warning him not to take a position that would be under Donald Trump! It would either change him....or he would hate himself for having to give up his self-respect in becoming a mere automaton that can never think for himself.
Who would take a position such as Secretary of State under a Donald Trump? He or she either would have to have no scruples....or they would eventually learn....the hard way....as so many others have....and wind up being fired by a text. Well someone will....as some will fight and beg like RFK for all of the positions of power. Does anyone want to start a pool on what date a Republican congressperson will be the first to stand up and say 'no' to Donald Trump? Or who would be the first minister on the national scene who stands up and warns on what is ominous happening within America....and the church?
Addendum: Martyn Lloyd-Jones is a 20th century example of a preacher from the past....Charles Haddon Spurgeon from the 19th century....and George Whitefield from the 18th century....of whom you can hear a sermon of his read by Googling....George Whitefield sermon YouTube....The Wise And Foolish Virgins. To those of you who are so proud to be called patriots....listen to what a man who preached up and down the colonies....to a man who was a close friend of Benjamin Franklin....and who God took home at 55 years old...listen to what he thought most important!
