How He Did It

The following post and preface is a December 13 post:

Preface: Here is the predicament that I am in with evangelical friends. Imagine this....I touch on it in the post below....two brothers....twins even....oh let's call them....Mike and John....Milner....how's that? Now they are adults....and everyone in the community thinks that John is the greatest. All they see of him is what he presents to them in whatever setting it is....if it is a church....then he presents himself as a devout Christian....if at a party....then he is the life of the party....if it is at a town hall meeting then John is a defender of what is right and good....but Mike has lived with John his whole life....and knows that John is a despicable individual through and through. He wants to warn everyone that John is not who he presents himself to be....and if people get entangled with him then sooner or later they will see who he really is and regret ever meeting him.

                   I understand why it is. Donald Trump right now has a 50% favorable opinion rating....the highest in seven years.  Let me try to explain why I would give him a zero percent favorable rating. I feel like I know him like a brother....and that the public does not know him at all. How can I say something like this?
                   The left....or dyed-in-the-wool liberals....they always knew who Donald Trump was....because he was one of them. They knew he was a fake from the get-go! We didn't live in New York City. We only knew Donald Trump as...the Donald....a rich builder of skyscrapers who was a celebrity because of his arrogance and his ego. We might read a news clipping here or there....or see Trump interviewed on the Tonight Show.....but other than that we really knew nothing about him at all.
                    So when he announced back in June of 2015 that he was running for president....as one of us....we didn't really do anything but laugh it off. The reason he succeeded was that all of the other Republican candidates were blase'. They obviously were not ready for a fight....and here was Trump who with his shouting....was already in the ring. The problem was that it was a pro-wrestling ring....all fake....only for the enjoyment of the crowd....and he was just like a wrestler with a gimmick.
                    Rural America was more than ready for him....and embraced him with open arms. The phenomenon grew by leaps and bounds....and I knew prior to the 2016 election that he was going to win. I had been following politics since the late 60s....and had never seen anything like what was happening.
                    So he did win....and I celebrated....even though I did not like him....and here is where the next stage of the problem started. He was only a few months into his term....and we started to get a glimpse of who he really was. Fox cable and podcasters control everything today but back then it was conservative talk radio. Rush and Hannity and Levin knew that Trump lied a lot...and all three admitted it....for I heard all three admit it....but they decided to let it go because the 2020 election had to be won....along with the 2018 mid-terms. I did what I do....I started to read who this man was....and I am over 100 books today. I must have watched thirty or forty rallies....analyzing it all. I need to segue here for an anecdote. 

I watched the movie....The Blind....about the "Duck Commander" Phil Robertson....this morning....at a friend's house....I asked if they would like to see it....(my wife and I already had)....for they need to hear the gospel....they said yes....whallah....we watched it....and I praised God.  Anyway....I posted on this way back when....it was a Roy Moore rally....and Phil Roberston was the last speaker....this was December 2017....Phil gave his usual good talk....and the last thing that he said before walking off the stage...with his usual grim and serious face....was...."And we need a godly man in the White House." Folks....Trump was in the White House at the time that Phil was making that comment....and the crowd picked up on it....and was silent. Then Robertson said one more thing...."The Ten Commandments Trump politics." I knew then that Phil Robertson saw the same thing in Trump that I did. Where is Phil today on Trump? I Don't know. Phil is in the news over his health concerns....but he knows as well as I do.....Jesus is coming back....soon!

            OK....back on track....I followed Trump every day in the news.....and probably wrote about him in 100 posts....and mentioned him in hundreds more. I read into every decade of this life....and on many different areas of his life. I read books for him and against him and even some of his own books. He lived in my head....to use that popular phrase today. I could see through why he did things....and even anticipate things that he would do before he did them. He needed the Jerusalem embassy pick-me-up at the time. So many times he needed a boost or something to deflect what his latest foible was....and he pulled out an escape card that he had been keeping. His lies were big lies and little lies and in between lies. It didn't even bother him when he was caught because he had everyone under his spell.
                  Russia was not fake....(he had thirty years of money dealings with Russians....in Russia....and was prime kompromat material...our agencies were not only within their rights....it was their duty to investigate a potential president in this instance).....and neither were the impeachments....but today everyone has long ago given up rational thinking....and they actually believe that Russia was fake. It is utterly amazing to have watched this happen. Anthony Fauci is a good man who did his best....(Trump was screwing things up big time for a month before they got him under control)....but just today I heard two women friends....(no longer guided by God's Word but by Fox cable)....still beating on Fauci! They have long ago lost the ability to think for themselves. 
                  Here is my third and last point in this post. His followers....and that is an accurate way to put it....they think that he merely decided to run again....and was determined....and won....case closed.....but that is not how it happened.
                   First of all he and he alone is responsible for what happened on January 6, 2021. It was pure horror....he instigated it....then denied that it even happened....and once again....almost beyond belief….his followers again believed it! It's astonishing. This is history in the making.... the rise of a great deceiver! (I want to add here that I was watching Trump speak on that January 6....and I had to turn the TV off.....I had to turn it off for what I was watching was so disturbing!)
                   He would not have successfully come back without the core of politicians who simply believe his lies and obey anything that he tells them to do. This is a most powerful tool! Without it....Donald Trump would be long gone by now if not in prison. The rest who do not like Trump....such as Lindsey Graham and Cruz....well....they were essentially destroyed like everyone who flies too close to Trump's flame.
                   Trump stayed out of the debates this time around....and we all let him do it. He would give a lame excuse at the time on how the felony charges against him prevented him. He threatened his way to this nomination....and he continues to this day to threaten! He is gone folks....in his mind. It is that bad! Yet....his glory continues to rise. It is long past time for evangelicals who are actually born again....(we are a remnant folks...probably less than 10%)....to look this whole situation over....in humility....examining ourselves....and our motives. There is surely a winnowing coming. The Trump supporting evangelicals are in the great majority now....but this is an age that you do not want to be in the majority!

Addendum....January 8....to evangelicals....you have followed a false prophet....a false prophet. There is not a day in the past nine and a half years that he has not prophesied to evangelicals whom he needed that the best was yet to come....and today he prophesies the coming....Golden Age. You put your America and your own future in front of the gospel and glory of Jesus Christ. Ministers have done this....national....respected ministers have done this! They have failed to warn their sheep!

                  

"Stay Awake!.....For What?"

                Smooth.....is the word that came to my mind. It just kind of slides in there....and there is not much you can do about it. I'm referring to that easy....it almost flows off the lips....that easy Bible verse used in conversation misinterpreted as meaning....'there's nothing here....end of discussion.'
                What I'm talking about is the standard...."But concerning that day and hour no one knows. not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." (Matthew 24:36) I heard a contemporary pastor very recently dispatch studying Bible prophecy...from God's Word....flippantly saying....'Hey....maybe it will give you a fun afternoon?" That was his thought on God's gracious warnings to us! No we do not know what hour....which is why Jesus said six verses later...."Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming"....and again in 25:13...."Watch therefore, for you know neither the day not the hour in which the Son of Man is coming"....and emphasized in Mark 13:37...."And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"....and again in the parable of Luke 12:37...."Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching." Paul reiterated this thought in 1 Thessalonians 5:4,6...."But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief....let us be awake and sober"....and the Apostle John many years later added...."This calls for wisdom; let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666."....Revelation 13:18....and Jesus speaking in 16:15...."Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake."
                His whole sermon was on the topic of staying alert....and staying awake....in itself all very good....but in my mind I'm responding...."Stay awake? For what? You just told us not to focus on end-times events?"
                 What he meant by...."stay awake"....was to stay true to our faith. He mentioned the five foolish virgins. That part was all very true and necessary....but he went on to belittle that which we are to stay awake for.....what we are to look out for! 
                 I'm very familiar with this pastor's international ministry. I've recommended it here in these posts at times. (this isn't John Piper folks) I don't believe that he believes his own words....for I've heard him in the past preach warnings that would contradict these recent words.
                 So why the sudden shift? I could write until the reader here would say....'this is too long....I'm outa here"....on why that verse in Matthew is not telling us not to study Bible prophecy. I rather want to point out the cause of the statement that he made on studying Bible prophecy...."Hey....maybe it will give you a fun afternoon."
                  It is pride....and fear. Pride in that we don't like to admit that we can make mistakes....so we avoid such topics as Bible prophecy....and fear that if we should be caught in a mistake....that our exalted opinion of ourselves will take a hit.
                  This minister could have easily given the verse that he did....and warn of the possible pitfalls....but at the same time encouraged his congregation to keep that in mind as they study....and pray....and say with great hope and fervor.....Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come!
                   There are also pitfalls in having a national or international ministry....or a six thousand person church and name recognition. They can get so big that whereas once....with nothing to lose....they boldly proclaimed that which their discernment led them....but then later....after their ministry had been firmly established.....with something to lose....they become timid on those things they were once bold.
                   
                

Homestead......The Movie

            Yesterday's post essentially began with this....Has anyone wondered why they can't listen to the television or the radio news ...and not be hit with one vicious, horrid news event after another? That sentence....as you may read....was composed in February of 1993. And today....the first day of the new year....we wake up to more horror....this time in New Orleans.
            I purchased the tickets a few days ago so we went to the theater this afternoon to see the new Angel Studios....(a Christian-themed film distribution company)....production of Homestead. This....I take it....is one of those....see the movie in the theater and then watch the continuation in a series at home through streaming.
            So the movie has an ending....sort of....but you see highlights of the next installment. I don't think that this is a spoiler because the movie goer deserves to know that detail in advance.
            As for the film itself....it begins with a terrorist nuclear explosion in Los Angeles. A wealthy prepper family on a mountaintop is ready for something like this....and thus it is the setting for things that may....or probably will happen in such a dystopian situation.
            Personally....I feel that I have to see movies like this....and read books of this nature....for I need to see what is influencing parts of the evangelical community....or what parts of the evangelical community are calling for from film makers.
             This is certainly not the first time that the aftermath of a nuclear war was presented in film. On The Beach....was a 1959 film starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner that revolved around an American submarine in an Australian port as nuclear war broke out around the world....and the November 30, 1983....a Sunday evening....television broadcast of....The Day After....is still today one of the most watched non-sport television shows of all time.
              So is this new movie....Homestead....a prepper film....or an anti-prepper film? I don't think that you will know as you walk out. It is definitely informative on how some people are preparing for an apocalyptic scenario. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is necessary for Christians to see the film....but I do think that it is a dystopian scenario that we all at some time have to at least come to grips with. The cast is good....the cinematography is very good at times....but the storyline every once in a while makes you want to say....OK....I guess that I can believe that.
              The biggest problem of the film with me is the Christian aspect of it....which is hardly there at all....a prayer here or there. I suspect that as the series continues that this element will expand considerably....but that is not necessarily good news. Angel Studios produced the series....The Chosen....that I would recommend to avoid at all cost....but it did a great job with Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson's biopic....The Blind.
              Folks....brothers and sisters in Christ....God's Word describes a dystopian apocalyptic world. I imagine that we will be meeting in secrecy in each other's homes at some point....or in the woods or on a mountain. This movie will probably move some people to prep more....nothing wrong with that....Joseph prepped for seven years of famine....but the real preparation that we need in in God's Word....and from pulpits. In a way along those lines we are already in a dystopian situation....with a famine of the preached Word. I can't help you with that....but there are storage houses out there with solid food ready for the taking. I'll give you directions here to a few of those storage buildings....

mljtrust.org
spurgeongems.org
ligonier.org
desiringgod.org
whitehorseinn.org
gty.org

            

Possibly The Most Penetrating....Maybe The Most Clear....And Certainly The Most Urgent....Evangelistic Sermon That I Have Ever Heard

The following was first posted in June of 2023:

             Home from vacation....with a couple of days of yard work waiting for me....I just had to stop midway this morning to give you this post. Listening to sermons as I cut grass and do other tasks....as I always do....from either....men from the past....or men today who preach like men from the past....I stumbled across this morning possible the most wonderful evangelistic message that I have ever heard.
             The sermon was preached by Charles Spurgeon on a Lord's Day evening on May 10, 1891. Spurgeon had less than nine months to live. Well let me give you the sermon title....you simply have to Google it....An Urgent Quest For An Immediate Answer. I understand so well where Spurgeon was coming from in this sermon. He had preached the gospel for four decades....most of it in the heart of London....and he...as it were...was upping the ante....and demanding an answer right then as to whether his unconverted hearer would be converted.
              I have found myself in these posts becoming more and more urgent as time goes by. Either believe or don't believe....either become serious in your faith....or admit that you will not become serious in your faith.
              Spurgeon will not let you go away unchallenged in this sermon. Settle it now friends. Why waste your time in hesitation that is only sinking you deeper in unbelief....and taking the precious time of ministers and Christians who try to throw you a rope out of the judgment that you will come to....where you will no longer be able to put things off.

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Even The Elephants Could Detect Danger....And Ran For Safety

               We just passed the twentieth anniversary of the 2004 Christmas Day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. I developed a fascination for what happened that day....and maybe not regularly but often return to the same YouTube videos that I've watched over and over....and occasionally as I did yesterday find some new ones.
               That earthquake was the third largest ever recorded and the first tsunami of that size since the late 1800s....and was followed a little less than seven years later by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
               In the videos that I found yesterday....a German tourist was recording at the beginning of the beach in Khao Lak, Thailand....when the water receded almost 500 yards. I have often wondered what I would have done on our many beach vacations had the water receded suddenly...and so far? I can't say....but I know what I would do today....and I see the same warning in God's Word.
               The loss of life in that tsunami is estimated at 250,000! In the first video that I came across yesterday....with the German tourist....there is laughter all around them....but the man taking the video notices something strange on the horizon. His focus comes in to some children playing in the surf....and then to two people paddling out on surf boards. It takes two or three minutes but the giant wave comes in....and the people now are walking away fast....then running....then screaming. The only thing discernable on the video is an occasional shot of a running foot....or a tree limb....as it is all a blur.
                In the second video it is a French couple filming. The woman wades out and climbs in a boat....the man takes a video of it....and then the water disappears. The woman gets out of the boat in the mud....the man senses something is wrong....they begin to walk away fast.....then run....then comes the screaming. This couple survived as they entered the hotel and climbed to the highest level.
                We were on the road yesterday....and I'm one of the slower drivers....as I actually enjoy the scenery. So at least a thousand cars passed us on the trip. My website bumper stickers are always on the back of the vehicle as we take a trip of any distance....and they were on yesterday. I always add another sticker to get the attention of those who are behind....and we were pressed for time so the sticker that I put on was not a great choice. It simply said.....WARNING. I can tell when an iPhone or a mobile device visits this website....and on that four hour trip there was not one of the thousand cars that passed by where the passenger was intrigued by the word....WARNING. I would have thought that even a laughable curiosity would have drawn some to see what the warning was.
                I really wasn't surprised that no one was curious....because I have encountered this same false feeling of safety for years now. It is the exact same false feeling of security that the both Israel and Judah.....and Jerusalem had....before the judgments that God had been giving them through his prophets...sometimes 40 years of warning....before the judgments arrived....first as an odd wave in the distance....then something to be concerned about....then everyone coming inside the walls of the city....and then the slow catastrophe. That Catastrophe is just ahead of us....and we have had dozens upon dozens of warnings
                All of the surrounding countries in the Indian Ocean commemorated the 2004 tsunami. One man....British I believe....was holding his teenage son to a tree until the water ripped them apart. Only the father survived. In another a young boy was tending his elephant....when the animal took off for the hills. This before the wave even came ashore. The boy ran after him....and that saved his life. In another a woman on a boat commented that all the fish were suddenly swimming out to sea. Even the animals can discern the warnings!
                Today they have tsunami alert sirens installed. With us it is the opposite....as we once had our sirens....in men like Billy Graham and Sproul and many others who....their job of warning over....they were called home to their Lord and Savior and King. The surf today has receded....and in the mud we can see Trump and Biden and Obama and all of the other sordid crustaceans that always lie below the surface. The giant white wave is visible on the horizon....and we are at this time simply staring at it sayings things like...."Look at that....that's odd."

Jesus to the Pharisees and Sadducees from Mathew 16: 2,3

"When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."
                

Save The Oceans!

                So what would entail a great falling away? We never really focused on it over the past forty years or so but it was always in the back of our mind. We knew from God's Word in 2 Thessalonians  2:3 that in the last of the last days there would be a great falling away. If you had asked us for a definition......I'm guessing that we would have described a church with outlandish heretical doctrines....and that may indeed turn out to be right....but I am starting to have some doubts about that being the only description. Oh....the outlandish doctrines are indeed there.....and have been for a hundred years or so....but does that qualify for this end-times prophesy of a great falling away?
                 I've seen evidence of this for quite a while but it just keeps getting more and more pronounced. The gospel of regeneration has been displaced by a gospel of pacification. God just has to be pacified....no longer does sin have to be expiated. Propitiation no longer has to be made. To put it most succinctly....no longer does anyone need to be born again. 
                 Everyone seems to be as nice as can be. The guys don't....smoke or chew....or go with girls that do. Pastors would never get drunk watching a Steeler Game on the Lord's Day....they'll watch the game on the Lord's Day.....but they would never indulge. Everyone seems to reserve ninety minutes a week to some kind of Bible study. Fathers....provided it is not summer....or the Steelers do not have a noon kickoff....will be in church. 
                 We seem to have fallen away from the need for regeneration! Now I have no doubt that in any average evangelical church that there are regenerated born again members. I see them all the time. The problem is that they do not even know what happened to them....and if they don't even know what happened to them....then there is no way they are going to be able to explain the gospel to others!
                  I'm just comparing notes....from forty years ago....and today....and seeing if God's Word can clear some questions up. The mortification is missing. There is no need for expiation of anything....only change. We used to be fishermen....fishers of men....today we are just trying to save the oceans so that the fish can survive.

Addendum: Since posting the above....I asked a young person....a Christian....early 30s maybe.....when the last time was that he heard the term mentioned in casual conversation among other Christians....that term being....born again. He thought for a good while and could not remember. I would hesitate a guess that he may have never heard other evangelicals using it. I myself would probably have to go back two decades. (I bring it up all the time) This young person did hear it occasionally in a sermon. How about you? When was the last time that you were in a private conversation with a Christian brother or sister and the term came up? How should it come up? Well....one way would be for someone to casually say that they heard that someone else had been born again. We no longer think in terms of being born again. I dare say that the phrase today might even qualify as a....non sequitur....something out of place....or odd to bring up in a conversation about Christians? This is an essential of the gospel of salvation...a person is dead in their sins....but then....born again....adopted into the family of God....whose name has been written in the Lamb's Book of Life....of which caused angels to rejoice....and we apparently do not even know what it is!
                 
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What Do You Think About These Videos....Would You Want Your Son or Daughter In Attendance....As You Along With Most Other Christians Are In A Different Worship Service?

What you see in the above video is about half of the electronic introduction at today's final day of the Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix. This was about 10:30 Phoenix time....the Lord's Day....with a packed convention center....of our nation's youth....many if not most of whom probably are evangelicals. Does this bother anyone....any parents....any pastors? Folks....I wish that this were just....WWE Smackdown kind of stuff....but it is much worse than that. Watch it again and again if you would....and maybe pray as you do for discernment on the origin of this type of mind manipulation. The whole video was too long to process.

Christianity Today reports that Turning Point USA signed up...."nearly 800 college chapters".....over 45 of which are Christian colleges and universities.

There's a line from that old 50s song....Sixteen Tons...."If the right one don't get you....then the left one will."  That's similar to America today concerning our children....if the Left don't get them....the Right will.

                                   

The above snippet from the Phantom of the Opera....the song being The Point Of No Return....was played shortly before Trump came out on stage. Why....why....would anyone choose this clip? The entire composition was not incorporated into the intro....just a few lyrics sang from of the Phantom to Christine,,,,

You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge
in pursuit of that which till now has been silent

I have brought you
That our passions may fuse and merge
In your mind you've already succumbed to me....

                                    

Lord's Day Post......With A Plea At The End

                If you have never been to John Piper's ministry website then today would be a good time to start. (desiringgod.org) He refashioned it a year or so ago. What you will find nowadays is the most recent article at the top of a list of articles....(some with audio)....from either him or of the handful of men....and a few women....who contribute to the ministry....and they are all excellent. It might be one of John Piper's sermons....or a 'look at the book'....teaching where you can see the scripture and John's pen underlining or circling here or there.
               Everything moves fast on the website....so today there is one of those teachings....but you may have to look or scroll down a bit to find it. My heart leaped for joy....(can I use a phrase like that....if I really mean it)....my heart leaped as I listened to this teaching.....for I have posted on these verses many times....and it is what we need today. More than that....for we are spiritually dying from a lack of discernment....and falling for delusion everywhere!
               The title to look for is    Why Such Bleak Predictions of the End Times?....and the scripture used is 1 Timothy 4:1-5....and this is only a Part One! Piper interjects a few other verses along the way in this twelve minute teaching....one being from 2 Peter 3....where Paul gives a list of character traits in people that we should avoid! When I posted on this passage....I mentioned how Donald Trump not only has all these traits....he is almost a poster boy for many of them....but not only did we not avoid him....we embraced him....and called him to lead us! It is pure delusion for which we have fallen.
               So Piper is going to bring up delusion and false prophets and doctrines of demons. I'll have to listen to it again but he seems to bring up something else that I have dwelled on occasionaly....that being that demons seemed to have been everywhere when Jesus came the first time....and that scripture says that demons will be everywhere when Jesus comes again! That folks....is what we see in our newspapers every day.
              A friend yesterday texted me a short video on how someone had contracted with the many electronic billboards in Times Square....and put a magical Christmas display on those electronic billboards. I watched it....and it was impressive....and then I researched it. Apparently this video was from last Christmas....(they are continuing with the electronic messaging in a different way this year)....and that it was the Mormon church that did this. Folks...this is a great example of how emotion can never displace doctrine....for in this case the Mormon church....started and continued by demonic influence in their teachings.....presents what could be characterized as a....delusion....certainly deception....for it is meant to soften the unsuspecting and ignorant public on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.....the Mormons. I would be very, very surprised that if you had already watched this video....(you can Google it a....nativity, Times Square)....that you did not feel blessed and thankful upon watching it!

               Please....please....watch this teaching by John Piper....and hopefully....it's what I hope for anyway....you will take John Piper's Desiring God ministry as a guide....and incorporate this ministry into your daily devotions....and then leave my paltry offerings....for I would have accomplished what I want to do here....and that is lead people to sound ministries in this age when our pulpits are fast asleep!

Note: This John Piper....'look at the book teaching'....along with the title....can be Googled....but I hope that you go to the ministry itself.

"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"

                The gospel of John is different from the other three gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke. John here is giving a heavy emphasis on the divinity of Jesus Christ. This is the way that the book is usually described to us....along with the miracles of Jesus that John writes about....and we can see this for ourselves....and it is the way that I have always perceived it....but there is something else that jumps out to me.
                 When I was in the army....way back when....my schooling after basic training took about five months....the training was a general military intelligence...but specifically in electronic surveillance and analysis. At the time....mid-1970....probably 90% plus of the entire class was sent to Vietnam. I have to smile about it to this day....for they gave us a 'dream sheet' of places that we would like to get orders for. I think I put down Hawaii....for we had a station there. Well I did go to Hawaii....for that is where the plane set down for about an hour. I actually set foot in Hawaii....and never been back since. 
                  Before we left for Vietnam....we spent a month at a special school in California....where all the basics that we learned were directed to what we would see in Vietnam. That is what I see in the gospel of John. It was crunch time for the apostles and disciples. No more hard to understand parables....but last minute maps and orders...with detailed descriptions of who this was who had called them....and what abiding in him really meant.
                  So I'll bring up one familiar passage....Chapter 14....verses 1-4. Think about Sean Hannity for a moment. Close your eyes....and you can almost hear him saying...."Let not your heart be troubled." Am I right? He says it all the time...and this for at least thirty years....but have we ever associated that with these verses in John?

"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.......In my Father's house are many mansions....I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

                  That is a wonderful promise that we all have taken joy in many times....but I left out a little bit....didn't I....where Jesus said...."if it were not so, I would have told you."

"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe God, believe also in me......In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

                  "If it were not so I would have told you."....this is also is a promise that we should take great joy in....but I don't think that part of the verse has really registered in us. If there is something that we disparately will need to know....then it will be in God's Word to us. There is a heaven awaiting us....and we know it. Our salvation is safe within the hands of Jesus! The Holy Spirit will guide us and Jesus will be with us through the valley of the shadow of death. Resist the devil and he will flee from us! All these things we know and rejoice in!
                  We will go into tribulation at that time before Jesus returns. We know this. There will be a great falling away where even family members will condemn Christians to death. We have been informed of that! We were warned many times not to fall asleep! Message received. Don't worry about what to say when dragged before authorities at this time. We are going to see wars as there never was....and earthquakes and famines and pandemics. We got that checked off. There are going to be false prophets all over the place....even working signs and wonders.
                  "If it were not so I would have told you"....Jesus here is not just addressing mansions in heaven! The structure of the sentence implies that He has everything concerned about us covered! It's almost as if He could have said....'Don't be concerned about things I haven't told you about.'
                   All this being said....it would behoove us would it not....to not only.... not be concerned about that which Jesus and His Word have not told us....but to pay particular attention to that which we have been told....particularly concerning the signs of the coming of our Lord....and the many warnings to stay awake and be vigilant....and the great delusion that will be so strong....if possible....even the elect....(that means you and me and even pastors)....will be led astray. (Matthew 24:24)

"Hobgoblin, nor fowl fiend, Can daunt his spirit; He knows, he at the end shall life inherit. Then fancies fly away, He'll fear not what men say, He'll labour night and day...To be a pilgrim." This is from John Bunyan's....Pilgrim's Progress/

A Timely Sermon Recommendation

                  The quality of the sermon audio is a little subpar....just a tad....but in a way it proves that the listener really desires to learn. The Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust has regularly....almost every week....been releasing a 'newly found sermon'....and this is the latest. You can listen to it by going to mljtrust.org....clicking on sermons....and then newly found sermons. It is at the bottom of a short list and is titled....The True Nature Of The Christian church, Part Two.
                   This is a very special and very distinctive sermon by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It isn't a mere description of what the church should be....but a piercing examination of what the church is today. I experienced this in my own life as for many years....maybe even decades....I recoiled from what has become our habit to only talk of things of the Lord on either Sundays....(please notice that I didn't write....the Lords' Day....for that concept has become foreign to us today)....on Sundays....and really not even then....but rather at a weekly Bible study. We tend to meet once a week to talk about the Lord.....and we have come to believe that that is normal and pleasing to God. Well....that is what Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses in this sermon.
                  He is using the biblical example of the early church as his evidence. They didn't get together once a week....or every once in a while....and talk about politics....for they wanted and desired and actually panted for conversation on their Savior and their salvation....with others who felt exactly the same way that they did.
                  In my own case I feel as though I'm am often the odd one out....always trying to interject something into the conversation of our shared faith....but only able to continue this for maybe five minutes or so before I feel that I've taken this talk as far as I can. What I experienced for many decades while I was working is that Christians would engage me in conversation about our faith when I would bring it up....which was often....but they hardly if ever brought it up on their own!
                  I'm going to pause here and publish this post....and listen to the sermon again. I don't....nor do I ever want to do this while recommending sermons....give a step by step description. I want to give only enough to encourage and motivate the reader to become a listener for themselves. And I have a tendency....maybe it's not the best tendency....to want to get these new posts out to visitors to these posts as soon as I can....for there will be regular readers checking in in the morning....which is right now as I type....but will not come back until tomorrow morning. I may though add more here after listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones again.

Addendum: There is an immanency around us today....and the difficulties that are ahead. We do not have the luxury to for example say...."I'll order that book and get it in a week....when we can go to a bookstore and purchase it that day"....or say...."I'll give my friend the book that he desperately needs next weekend when I see him at church"....when we can get it to him today with a little effort. I will add here that when a pastor announces that he will start preaching on a specific book of the bible....and continue on it for maybe a year....that he then is in danger of having taken the Holy Spirit out of feeding the flock....for a year. This world and culture is in flux....and pastors need to be on their knees every day seeking guidance from God on what and where to preach from...the very next Lord's day!

Note: Two years ago our pastor peached for a year from Revelation....and this year he preached from Luke....(he is still not finished.) Both of those worked out well....but then with Revelation and Luke....you are dealing throughout with an ongoing conflict that can address the world that we live in today. All I am saying is that the pastor has to be careful not to inhibit the preaching on what we....the flock....need to hear on a weekly and changing basis.

I did listen to the sermon again and I highly recommend that you sit down and listen to it. We do not get fed like this in America....not on a regular basis anyway....but then....Martyn Lloyd-Jones....as was  Spurgeon.... was a special gift to the overall church. It's an understatement....but it would do pastors good to go back and learn from these men!

                  

"All The World's A Stage....And All The Men And Women Merely Players....They Have Their Exits And Their Entrances." Shakespeare....And Elvis

                I took one acting class while at Pitt....this back in the early70s. I had one scene that I was to work on....from Neil Simon's....Barefoot In The Park. I was the character Paul Bratter. It was supposedly in a small apartment's living area....and I would stand on a chair....and look up at a hole in the skylight....and say a few things to that hole that had snow flittering through it. I think I coulda' been a contender had I not quit. Anyway....when I pulled that chair over to the front of the class....as the phrase goes in theater....the stage was set....there was no scenery....and the only prop...the chair....was in place.
                 Literature uses that phrase a lot....the stage is set....or....the stage was set. In other words....everything is in place....nothing else is needed. The disciples asked of Jesus what the sign would be for His coming and the end of the age....this in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21. The stage was not set....for many had to come in His name saying that they were the Christ....and there would be wars and famines and pestilences....(pandemics)....and earthquakes....and persecutions and betrayals....and hatred everywhere....and lawlessness....and coldness....and false prophets....and the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world.
                  Less than fifty days later....just as Jesus was to ascend to the Father....the same disciples and others asked Him if He at that time was going to restore the kingdom to Israel! They must have forgot about the wars and pestilences and everything. Jesus told them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them....and they would be sent to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria...and to the ends of the earth....and then Jesus was taken up!
                  Early in Paul's missionary journeys....while writing letters....he wrote to the Thessalonians because someone had told them that Jesus had already returned. Paul straightened them out and told them that a rebellion....or a falling away would come before Jesus returned....and that the man of sin...or lawlessness....the son of perdition....or the son of destruction....would be revealed.
                   I submit to you that all of the above has happened....and the gospel has indeed gone throughout the world....(as it pertains to the Second Coming)....and that the falling away is already in progress....but this man....whoever he is....as of today.....has not been revealed.
                   So the stage is not quite set....for there may be scenery and props all over it....but it still awaits the entrance of that son of perdition....of which Judas was also called....before Satan...."entered into Judas called Iscariot."

Acts 1:6-9
2 Thessalonians 2:3
Luke 22:3       
John 17:12      

Title: 
Shakespeare....As You Like It
Elvis....quoting Shakespeare....Are You Lonesome Tonight

"Imagine There's No Heaven......No Hell Below Us"

             I did not know that Rosalynn Carter requested that John Lennon's song....Imagine.....be sang at her funeral. I would presume that most everyone knows by now that President Carter made the same request of Garth Brooks....and he and Trisha Yearwood honored that request today in the Washington National Cathedral. I need to segue  a little bit here. I posted the following back in a 2018 post:
 
"You may remember that the Washington National Cathedral and the Washington Monument were badly damaged in the Virginia earthquake of August 23, 2011. Three of the four grand pinnacles of the cathedral...each weighing 50 tons....collapsed. Gargoyles were damaged with one decapitated by falling debris. Today....seven years later....they are only half way finished with the repairs. That earthquake was a message to us from God.  The Washington Monument was closed for three years for repairs. It reopened but is closed again due to chronic elevator problems and not expected to be open to the public again until 2019. I wrote these words in a preface to this post a few years ago...."I love America and that sentiment is written throughout these posts but I love it as the gift that has been given to Americans and to the world. It is the Gift-Giver that deserves our adoration! God will either save America for His purposes or He will let us fall in our own delusion. He will not be mocked nor can we convince Him to see it our way. We will either prostrate ourselves before Him or He will prostrate us before our enemies.....Just as those gargoyles were shaking....a hurricane formed in the Caribbean....that would in the next few days bounce a couple of times off our east coast....from the Outer Banks....To New Jersey....To Brooklyn....and even into Vermont....and this as the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument in our capitol had to be postponed."

             It was reported last week that lightning struck the Washington Monument and the Capitol.....and also the Empire State Building and the One World Trade Center. Back to former President Jimmy Carter...the following was first posted in July of 2015....as my wife and I returned from a cruise to Bermuda. What's not in this post is that Jimmy Carter thought that Mormons were Christians. This helps explain why he has no problem with John Lennon's song. You cannot do the simple American staple of Bible study....and ignore the necessary doctrine on what happened on the cross and in the tomb and on the mountain. If you do not have that knowledge and understanding....then that is what you do first! This is what Jude referred to when he wrote....."I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints." 

Fiercely Ineffectual          

          Jimmy Carter was quoted in the news today. The title of the CBS article is "Jimmy Carter: Jesus would approve of same-sex marriage." His actual words verified choosing this title. It's not the first time that he showed complete and utter ignorance of his own Christian faith for which he is known.

          Part of my preparations for a vacation, even before a toothbrush and underwear, is books. One of the books for last year's cruise to Bermuda was Redeemer, The Life Of Jimmy Carter by Randall Ballmer. I never wrote a post on it but I'm going to reference it in this post.
          Jimmy Carter was and is a good man. As naive as he had been on foreign policy during and after his presidency, as destructive to our economy as he was as a United States President and as unknowledgeable as he is of the Bible that he teaches, I could at least see a Christian man and respect him in his many errors. Carter, like his political nemesis Jerry Falwell, never backed down on his Christian faith but there is something that we are woefully unaware of today in most of the American Christian church, that being that there is both, apart from the radically liberal church that is Christian in name only, a strong vibrant Christianity, albeit relatively small.... knowledgeable of the truth contained in God's Word, vigilant and ever learning and ever reforming when necessary, and there is a simplistic Christianity, saving but atrophying at the same time, fighting fiercely only to remain in the infancy of the "four spiritual laws" and Daniel and the lion's den.  Our former president is part of the latter and fiercely defends it.
         Carter was raised in this atmosphere and he is even on the lower end of it as to discernment. Throughout the book, which I recommend, you see biblical doctrine pushed aside, distorted and ignored by good works that are elevated, not as evidence of salvation, but as part of 'justification' itself. As far as race relations and bigotry is concerned one would have to look far and wide to find a stronger representative of Christian love than Jimmy Carter. He is a model in this area, but his failures in Christian doctrine are as remarkably bad as his love for fairness and equality is good.
         Why is this important? One reason is that our leaders and members of Congress that watched, and continue to watch, as our Constitution is shredded, our heritage besmirched, our enemies emboldened, our military weakened and dependence upon and reverence for Almighty God cast aside....these men and women come from these churches. The culture has defined the church. Rebuild the church America! Carry the lumber from old books, catechisms and confessions, use the labor of only those that are faithful and pound the nails with the same hammer Luther used at Wittenberg.
         
       

Hanukkah....This Year Begins On Christmas

                Hanukkah....or Chanukah if you prefer....the Festival of Lights.....falls on....or rather begins on Christmas this year.....something that has only happened four other times since 1900....although in 2027....Hanukkah will begin on Christmas Eve.
                Before the great Maccabean revolt....maybe a third,,,,according to some sources....of the Jews....had become what was known as....Hellenists. Since Alexander the Great....and then with the Seleucids....many of the Jews became more Greek than Jewish....and this caused a great division. The Seleucid king....Antiochus IV Epiphanes....did not have a temperate response to the Jews who wanted to remain Jews....as did those who preceded him who were considerate of the Jewish religion. He put a statue of Zeus in the temple courtyard and sacrificed a pig on the altar.
                 The ensuing war.....led by the guerilla tactics of the Maccabees....lasted years....but they were victorious....and it was time to cleanse and rededicate the temple....which was a very ritualistic process and would take time....and they only had one jar of the acceptable pure olive oil for the lights. It would take eight days to prepare enough olive oil to finish the purification....but....according to tradition anyway....that one jar lasted eight days when it should only have lasted for one day. So that was the miracle that is celebrated today on this eight day holiday. This is a happy festival.  
                Will Hanukkah have prophetic significance as most of the other feast days and holidays have already done at times....(the Sukkot attack of October 2023 being the latest)....and probably will in the future? I don't know.....but I have for years paid close attention during the main Jewish feast and fast days....and I would expect that something extraordinary might happen on some future Festival of Lghts.....or Feast of Dedication as Matthew puts it in his gospel....of which Jesus was in attendance.
                 

Mount Hermon

                The Sea of Galilee is a little over 600 ft. above sea level....and about 30 miles to the north lies the mountain range on the border of Syria and Lebanon....of which contains Mount Hermon....which God's Word puts at the northern border of the Promised Land....and of which at its base begins the Golan Heights.
                There are photos in the news today of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu....surround by about twenty members of the Israeli Defense Force....on the highest peak of Mount Hermon....on the Syrian side of the line that divides Syria and Lebanon.
                I am typing here in a location a little over 700 ft. above sea level....and Pittsburgh is roughly 30 miles to the SE. So if I could imagine a 9,000 ft. peak 30 miles away at Pittsburgh....it would be similar to men in a fishing boat on Galilee....looking off to Mount Hermon. I just tried to imagine it....that huge mountain range only 30 miles away....it's difficult to do!
                It is said that wind gusts form on the slopes of Mount Hermon....and then rocket down onto the Sea of Galilee....causing at times severe storms. Well....we Christians know about storms on the Sea of Galilee don't we...for in one biblical instance Jesus was asleep in the boat during a storm.....and in the other both Jesus and Peter wound up walking on the water....and in both cases Jesus calmed the sea!
                Tradition has it that Jesus was transfigured before Peter and James and John on Mount Hermon...."And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves."....Matthew 17:1 ESV.
                 This isn't of esoteric interest....a mystery solved....the Israeli Prime Minister standing on the highest peak of Mount Hermon....as enemy territory has been taken....and at least temporarily Israel's northern biblical border restored....but it is there for anyone to see....and to glean from and take encouragement if they can....as events in the world are moving at an even quickening rate than that which was already fast! 
                  There was a day....oh roughly 40 years ago or so....when Christians would hear or say the Greek word.....maranatha....and an expectant joy would be stirred within them. I know....for I was there! May that word once again....ring in our pulpits....and move us to prepare for the coming of our Lord and Savior and King!

"And Many False Prophets Will Arise And Lead Many Astray"

                I've heard Benjamin Netanyahu recite at length the history of the hatred of the Jews and Israel....without a script. He made international news in referencing the Amalekites after the Hamas Sukkot attacks....as if he were an orthodox Jew....but he is a secular Jew....who often quotes the Bible....when in public anyway. He has his own story of resurrection as he has been Prime Minister three times now....and after his first term ended it appeared as if he was finished.
                Earlier in his career he considered the most powerful modern-day rabbi....Menachem Mendel Schneerson....to be a mentor....at least that is what he said at the time. Supposedly....the man known worldwide as....the Rebbe.....or....the Lubavitcher Rebbe....considered by some of his followers to be the Messiah....(he died in 1994 and some still think he is coming back)....told a younger Netanyahu that he....Netanyahu....would be the last Israeli Prime Minister....and that he would hand the Scepter to Messiah Son of David! Consider that....this ultra-powerful rabbi gave a 'prophecy' on the current Prime Minister of Israel!
                I posted on September 22, 2023 on a speech that Benjamin Netanyahu gave to the United Nations which was wildly and overly optimistic. I was unnerved by how he sounded so much like Trump at Trump's February 4, 2020 State of the Union Address. A couple weeks later came the Sukkot attacks. If you apply Truman's saying that....the buck stops here....then Netanyahu's government left the concert goers and the kibbutzim exposed to the attacks....and here he is showing that Trump swagger again.
               The Israeli Prime Minister is once again speaking of a....new Middle East. He needs to be more familiar with God's prophets in what we call the....Old Testament....but he would refer to as....The Hebrew Bible....just as evangelicals here in America need to be more familiar with God's Word....than the prophecies of Jonathan Cahn....who would have Trump be a modern day Jehu....and all the other 'prophets' everywhere today who are exalting Donald Trump as some kind of savior.

Title: Matthew 24:11

I Am No Giant.....(An Understatement For The Ages And Eternity).....But Rather It Is These Many Men Whose Stature Is Shrinking.

                I thought this worthy to put in a post. This morning....the Lord's Day....we had  guest speaker in church....and the sermon was announced beforehand to be on...unity. Now in my opinion a pressing issue in the church is that we need to focus on....separation....and then on unity with those of us who are attempting to separate from Vanity Fare. So I thought it over....and prayed....and decided....just to be safe....to stream another church today.
                So we streamed Alistair Begg's 9:00 service. The pastor took the pulpit and the sermon was going to be on....unity! Can you believe it? I can....but I had no concerns because I am very familiar with Alistair Begg. So the message was wonderful.....as he looked at the issue as would Martyn Lloyd-Jones....in fact he mentioned Lloyd-Jones a number of times.
                 Now that guest preacher in our church may very well have given a similar sermon. I wouldn't be surprised.....but I did not know for sure....and in this day and age where unity is just a vague and all-inclusive common denominator....I did not want to have a disagreement with a sermon on the Lord's Day.
                You probably know this but maybe not. About a year ago Alistair Begg was involved in a controversy of his own making. He made one statement on his radio broadcast....truthforlife.org....on the LGBTQ movement....that did not align with conservative evangelicalism....nor did it in my opinion also....align with God's Word....but it was one single statement....one mistake....on an issue that his established and very public theological beliefs are certainly in accord with God's Word. But the over-all conservative evangelical church had no mercy on this. Alistair Begg....with maybe forty years of faithful ministry....became a persona non grata.
               Now this is my opinion only....looking back on this....it was another case where politics has come to dominate the gospel and the church. We simply could not give ground to the Democrats with a big election coming up....which was this past election in this past year. Abortion and gay issues and wokeness and the economy and legislation etc. have become our new fundamentals. The Republican candidate had to win....even if it meant that Alistair Begg had to go. Now this opinion that I just gave may only be mine....and I am not on a level with all these national ministers....but then this is an area in which they are in the process of making continual mistakes. It should not take a Spurgeon or a Martyn Lloyd-Jones to know that Donald Trump is a genuine biblical false prophet.
               J. I. Packer once said concerning the Puritans....that is it not that they were giants....but that we today are Pygmies! I am no giant....(an understatement for the ages and eternity)....it is rather the stature of these many men in the pulpits today that is shrinking.

Note: You will probably be able to listen to this sermon from Alistair Begg in a few days on his ministry website....truthforlife.org.....and I'm sure that you can listen to it on the church website....parksidechurch.com

It Probably Will Not Be Tomorrow

                 I had posted so many times over the past sixteen years....a hope that the next Lord's Day would be that day when God would awaken our pulpits and have mercy upon all of us. So will tomorrow be that Lord's Day? I don't think it will be. I see absolutely no indication that Christians are worried about anything. They have their election win....they therefore think that God has blessed them....and they are waiting for the good times to start rolling again. There is no evidence of any mortification in their speech....or in the pulpits. They have no interest in even considering any warnings....of which they hear none from their pulpits anyway. They are more concerned....the men anyway....with the Steelers than they are the Antichrist.
                 We might as well put pillows in all the pews?  What you will have tomorrow in most pews of most....at least conservative churches in America....is cheerful  banter. We went from banners to banter. No one....generally speaking....will be convicted of anything. One wise minister long ago said that the purpose of the sermon was to convict....and then to comfort. Well we just scratched off the convict part.
                 This is all going to change folks....but probably not tomorrow....for it seems that we have a little bit more to go before we hit rock bottom. Trump has changed the gospel...and redirected our hope. Our fall is going to be hard....as maybe even in a day we will see what we have allowed to happen. Then....on the Lord's Day following that....God may show these pastors that they miserably failed to warn their sheep. 
                 It will be a hard time for all of us....for we all contributed to the collapse. May God....if it be His will....and if it be in His mercy....may he then apply a balm....that we ourselves might not collapse under the weight of our guilt. May He have mercy on these men in the pulpits....that instead of panic and confusion....or worse....denial....that they would....through the strengthening of the Holy Spirit....lead us all in humiliation and mortification.

"They May Build......But I Will Tear Down"

                It is said to almost be a second anthem for Great Britain. Its popularity took off almost immediately after it was composed in 1740 by Thomas Arne...on lyrics written by James Thomson. George Frederich Handel composed a patriotic oratorio that included these lyrics...."Prophetic visions strike my eye....War shall cease....Welcome peace." Beethoven toyed with it....as did Richard Wagner and Sullivan....of Gilbert and Sullivan. It is truly very stirring when...."Rule.....Britania.....Britania Rules The Waves is sung.
                 The following is not stirring.....but rather unnerving.....a song in the middle of the Liza Minnelli musical.....Cabaret.....odd in that it won eight Academy Awards....but not Best Picture. Michael York and another man are sitting in a German countryside cafe when....another man....a young man as you see....breaks out into this song. The movie was released on September 13, 1972....six days before I got out of the army. I remember it well....as well as seeing the University of Pittsburgh Theater Arts Department choose it as their yearly offering at the Stephen Foster Memorial theater ....probably in 1975. The movie....and the play....have always....unnerved me!

             Both nations....Great Britain and Germany....were rising to their apogee....or perceived apogee at the time. That seems to be where we in America perceive ourselves to be today. Certainly we thought that we were on February 4, of 2020....when Donald Trump gave the State of the Union address to an at times deliriously cheering Republican audience. God had other plans as the coronavirus was about to change the course of world history. Indeed....God gives warnings of such arrogance in Malachi 1:4....concerning the descendants of Esau....in Edom...."If Edom says, 'We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins.' the LORD of hosts says, 'They may build, but I will tear down....'."
             Music is powerful....that surely is no surprise to any readers here....but it is God who installs kings....and deposes kings....and raises nations....and brings nations down.

We Have Come Down To Their Level

                Please bear with me on this....for on the face of it....it may not seem like much. We have in America for the longest time had two ideologies opposed to each other. That opposition was easily detected in taxation. The one side wanted things for itself....whether it was cultural or 'free money' type of things....and taxes were the easiest way to get them. The other side looked at this....and protested...."you are taking something....from me.....money in this case....making it harder for me to provide for my family the way that I want to provide for my family." So essentially.....one side wanted something for themselves....and the other side did not want something taken from them! The latter side was standing on firmer ethical ground....the high ground if you will.
                 A subtle change has taken place over the past few years. Concerning the former side....the side that sees taxes only as a way of getting something that they want....this has remained the same. It is with the latter or the other side where something has significantly changed. Their focus has changed to....cutting benefits....instead of cutting taxes.
                 At face value it may seem that cutting benefits has the same general goals as cutting taxes....and there indeed is some rational thought there....but the difference is on the ethical or the higher ground side of it. For in the former ways....there was a good and a bad....there was a higher ground....but in the new way....the focus on cutting benefits....(expenditures would be a word they would use instead)....they now also....want something for themselves....more profits....or the potential for more profits.
                 There is no higher ground in this situation. No one is ethically superior....both sides are ethically challenged....both sides now only want something for themselves. So formerly we had a moral battle going on....where half the country was at least trying to do something that was right....but today....neither side is concerned with what is right or what is wrong....for both sides only want something for themselves.
                  Compounding the problem....without a moral foundation....which we no longer have....cutting benefits or cutting expenditures....places one in the same situation as those who tax only to get things for themselves....in this case....taking things from others....for ourselves.

Just Keep Reading!

               I often wonder why scripture at times uses the name of Jacob....and at other times uses the name of Israel? At times they are used in the same passage....as in Psalm 53:6...."Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad." I've read the many commentaries on this....and probably at least one of them is correct....but still the theories do not completely answer my question.

              I admit it....I look for prophecy in scripture everywhere. And prophecy is everywhere....at least in every book....and in some books every chapter. I color-code highlight my own Bible....and orange is what I choose for anything that has anything to do with prophecy.....and that orange is all through my Bible....and I am not finished yet....nor will I ever be finished with reading God's Word....as if I were reading verses and passages for the very first time...for this is God's time-release....or lifting of veils....the methods that He has chosen in revealing many prophecies.
             The result of all this with me as it concerns Jacob and Israel....is that if there is even a hint of prophecy when the name Jacob is used.....my mind gravitates towards America....or at least Western Civilization....sometimes the church....and when I read....Israel.....I see the state of Israel today....or at least the Jewish people today. I can prove nothing....but the verse or passage makes sense to me when I do this.
              The warnings given in these passages....many times anyway....seems to differ with the two names....with Jacob alluding to a people of faith....who may or may not have walked away from that faith....and Israel alluding to the nation today that still does not recognize its Messiah. One of the theories is the exact opposite...with Israel being the more faithful characterization.....but I surely do not see that.
               I mention this primarily to stir your interest when reading the prophets. Did not Jesus....with the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus....being unknown to them at the time....as Luke records in 24:27...."Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets. He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."? NASB

Note: I would like to take this opportunity to recommend yet another message....this time from John Piper....and this time a conference talk. Just go to desiringgod.org....and there about four messages down is....The Great Commission Is Neve Convenient. As a matter of fact it is available on YouTube so here it is

                                                                                     

                                                                

Frog Soup

Preface: The following post is from October 2, 2023....only a hundred and some hours before the horror Sukkot attacks in Israel:                    

                 One of the standard comical lines on the television show Monk was that someone would compliment Adrian on his unique ability to solve cases....and Monk would respond with....."It's a blessing".....then he would pause as we all knew what he would say next...."And a curse."

                 Well it is a perilous situation....and challenging.....but a blessing to be so thankful for knowing that our Lord and Savior and coming King of Kings Jesus Christ is at the very door in His triumphant return in righteous judgment. Perilous because of what is ahead....a wake-up call for all of us to look inwardly and prepare....challenging because there is a blindness upon evangelicalism....like a blanket....and it is difficult watching just about everyone grope around in the darkness....oblivious to the clear warnings....almost step by step warnings....in God's field manual to all of His children....but then one of those warnings....is that if they have no interest in warnings....then no warnings will they understand!
                 Jeremiah did not want the job that God had given him. He just wanted to get married and live a simple life....but God told him that he was not even going to take a wife. He kept going to the king and the princes and telling them that God was going to judge them....but the false prophets were always there to tell them that they were going to make Judah and Jerusalem great again! This went on for forty years! Even when Jeremiah's prophecies started coming true....that didn't cause the people to believe him. I think of Billy Graham when I think of Jeremiah....and I think of many other ministers faithful to God's Word who....their days of warning done....are gone on to be with their Lord! I do think of the few ministers today who are still warning the sheep....but then I think of the vast auditoriums that I see on television....filled with smiling evangelical faces....following false prophets....like Joel Osteen!
                 I'd like to ask the blinded evangelical of today....just what is it that you want? Do you really think that you can just go back to building a 401 and watching your children go off to college....this as God has departed the church....and law the land....with violence everywhere....as we fill our stadiums that are becoming nothing but gladiator arenas?
                 We no longer have compassion for suffering people....for the alien....for whole nations victimized by mass murdering despots....or for anyone overly susceptible to a killing virus.
                 There was a time when the evangelical was not racist....but Fox news and talk radio constantly beat it into us how superior we are to everyone else. It started with Trump's promises to us during the last campaign how he will keep those low-income people away from our communities. We let that not-so-subtle racist campaign promise slide....and pastors let that slide....and God let us continue our slide into oblivion.
                 Forty years ago we might quite naturally talk about the frog in the pot under a slow boil....using that example to warn of where we were heading....and here today we ourselves are....frog soup!
                 Only naivety can explain why we cannot see war coming. Only obscurantism can explain how we cannot see artificial intelligence as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy....and only stubbornness can explain not admitting that the level of violence in this world today....along with what is ahead....is just as in the days of Noah.

"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark." That passage is from the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24....which is also recorded in Mark 13 and Luke 21. We almost should have that discourse memorized. Eighteenth century pastor/theologian John Gill's commentary which I refer to often....makes some interesting comments on 'marrying and giving in marriage." He points out that there is nothing wrong with marrying and giving in marriage....that what is meant here is 'libidinous and unlawful marriages." Is that not a scourge of this age....for not only do we 'marry' anyone we want....any gender....but we live any gender that we choose to live.

                    Absolute chaos is ahead....and artificial intelligence will be there to help us out of the mess we got ourselves into! The mesmerizing hold that political campaigns have upon us is perpetual. Fox cable....talk radio and podcasts have become a curse....pulling us back in the fog covered fetid swamp of anger and hatred every time that we show any signs of humility. God is judging us as He had judged Judah and Jerusalem....and this after he had judged and taken off into oblivion the ten northern tribes....just as He has previously led our liberal/progressive/pagan element of society into oblivion.

"Because They Have Forsaken Me....And Burned Incense To Other Gods"

 "For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders, so as to misled, if possible, even the elect." Matthew 24:24  NASB

I submit to you that Donald Trump is one of these false messiahs. So how did John MacArthur....the foremost public authority on false prophets in the church today....how did he get misled....or deceived....or led astray....as other translations put it?

I do not know that answer....but I know that John Piper was not fooled. Franklin Graham was taken in.....completely....Russel Moore wasn't.....Robert Jeffress was....but many pastors in their pulpits were not.

The entire charismatic movement was not only deceived....but they have all their false prophets out there giving false prophecies on Trump. MacArthur only had his attention misdirected. The 700 Club today couldn't spot a false prophet if one applied for a position under that title. Many pastors all over America are cowering in fear that if they would warn their sheep of the wolf...then half their congregation would leave....but half of a healthy flock....fed and warned and protected....is better than a malnourished whole flock with a wolf within it....set to devour it. 

Even a little bit of discernment.....and a morsel of humility....should make a Christian look at Donald Trump....and say....I want nothing to do with this man....or his promises....for I see the bones of dead goats all around him....and wounded sheep ready drop over
Even just a barely navigable amount of vision on America and the world right now..., should give a view of the great falls that we are about to be washed over. Why is this? It's because we have lived for ourselves and our own goals....and set idols up in every city. We simply but very determinably did not want to hear anything about separating from the world....and we paid for this very dearly.

When King Josiah's priests found the Book of the Law....the king tore his clothes. I submit also to you that when we see what we have wrought in Donald Trump....we will in effect tear our clothes! The king wanted an answer from the LORD....and sent men out....and they went to a woman....Huldah...a prophetess....and here is what she said....

"Thus says the LORD God of Israel; 'Behold I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah....because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods...'."

What we are witnessing right now...with the making of a government of loyalists....kissing the ring of the king....willing to do anything that he commands....and world leaders bowing down to him as if he were Nebuchadnezzar at the head of his armies....is part of the curse. A coronation is planned....but without God it will be as when Nebuchadnezzar....not God....put the crown on the head of Zedekiah.

Huldah speaking for the LORD again....gave word to King Josiah that because he read the Book of the Law....and tore his clothes....and humbled himself....and wept....that the LORD God would hear his prayer! May that be us today....weeping at what we have become....and humbly seeking mercy....that God might bring us together at this time....and open our eyes....and apply a balm....that we might not collapse at the weight of our mistakes.

On The Playing Fields Of ESPN

         "The origin and meaning of the phrase may be somewhat in doubt but it still holds its sway in our minds....The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton...but if a similar phrase is to be constructed in the future it may read....American liberty and freedoms were lost on the playing fields of ESPN."

         The above paragraph is from a December of 2015 post that was titled...On The Playing Fields Of ESPN. At the time I was addressing the idolatry that we have made of sport. I typed up the paragraph below....read it through....and then just filed it away with no intention of using it in a post....for I thought that I may have been overdoing this topic lately...but then yesterday a probable high draft pick playing in a bowl game....played the first half....achieved a record of some sort....then decided  on his own not to play in the second half. His team lost by a point. Sport is just one area that America has totally collapsed. Here is that long paragraph...

          We were sitting around the fire in the living room of our son and daughter-in-law's home....Christmas evening....and I opened my laptop just to check the news....and there on Fox was a headline about the Pitt bowl game which I had forgotten about....although I lived for such things fifty years ago. Curious....I read the article. The game made the news because of a record six overtimes. I have no idea what an overtime consists of nowadays. Here is the reason for this post which I will only leave up for a short time. Three years ago as Pitt was going to a bowl game....their star quarterback opted not to play....where he could get hurt and cost him money on a pro contract. The next year Pitt was again going to a bowl game and their quarterback decided to change college teams which made him ineligible for the bowl game. This year Pitt was again headed to a bowl game but the first string QB was hurt. The second string QB had decided to change teams....so he could not play....and the third string QB also decided to change teams....so he could not play. A fourth string walk-on played in the game. Switch over to Penn State for a minute. They are in the play-offs and before the first big game....the second string QB....who they utilize a fair amount of the time....decided to leave for another team. 

Addendum: The standard had been that athletes in the military academies had to wait two years before they could play professionally. Roger Staubach is the most well-known example of this. The Obama administration made a slight change in that if the athlete could get accepted into a reserve status, then he could go directly to his sport. In 2018 Trump's Department of Defense changed that back to the original rule...."Our military academies exist to develop future officers who enhance the readiness and the lethality of our military services," Trump then ordered the DoD to allow athletes to play immediately....because they have such a short window. Biden's DoD put it back to what it originally was. 

Bouncing thoughts Off Each Other......Until They Were Both KO'd

            Life is beautiful.....wasn't that the name of a good movie about twenty-five or so years ago? Retirement was good for Tim. Bradenton had some great pickleball courts. Today it was just his daily walk around the retirement community....down Melrose for about a mile....then back on Finley for another mile....and one last turn on Jameson.

Life was good for Rick also. He was a little older than Tim but he could still log 15,000 steps a day. His route was a bunch of lefts and rights and lefts and rights as he liked to see neighbors more than concentrate on his pace.

Tim and Rick attended different churches but did see each other at Trump rallies and boat flotillas. This day their paths merged at the corner of Jamison and Stoudt.

Tim........"Hey....brother Rick....how we doin'?"

Rick......."Tim....I've seen you walking a few times but you always look like you are on a mission."

Tim........"Well I'll slow down today. What's new?"

 Rick......"Trump won."

They both laughed.....paused....thought about Trump's win....and laughed again.

Tim........"It was great wasn't it? Send that woman back to wherever she came from."
an
Rick......."Yeah....praise God....Trump's moving fast isn't he? There's no stopping him now."

Tim's perfect implants and Rick's bright dentures were sparkling in the Florida sun.....but they paused smiling for a split-second at Rick's comment....took a few steps....sneaked a cautious peek at each other....and then resumed their conversation...

Tim......."They're trying to get his nominees but if any Republicans cause a problem....Trump will round them up and get them!"

Rick......"We'll get a new FBI....and a new CIA....and maybe a new NSA....and a Trump ally at the Justice Department...."

Tim continued Rick's thoughts....

Tim........"And Trump allies everywhere! Who would have thought that Musk and that other guy would be on our side?  They'll save a trillion on cutting jobs alone!"

That last comment hit them both a little bit....and they sneaked a side-of-the-eye peak at each other again. Rick continued a little more subdued....

Rick......"Yeah....no more Fauci and all those....health scientists!" 

They both then thought about RFK Jr. and paused again.

Tim........"Did you see that monster bomb that Israel dropped on Syria yesterday? Hamas is gone.... Hezbollah is reeling....Iran is shaking under their turbans...?"

Rick......."It looks like we may finally get peace and security in the Middle East...."

At that Rick paused and stuttered a bit.... realizing what he just said...

Rick....."Of....of....of course God is in control of everything."

Tim......"Of course."

They came to where Tim would go left and Rick would go right....each one thought about some of the words that had come out of their mouths....."no stopping him now"....and...."Trump will round them up and get them"....and...."No More Fauci....and all those....health scientists"....and most of all...."Peace and safety." In just a few hundred yards walk together they had inadvertently cast a little doubt on each other's optimism. 

Resurrected Yes........But For What?

                 What I'm going to say here....at least what I'm going to begin with here....will make evangelical Trump supporters feel very satisfied....but not what I'll conclude with. I sit back and observe what is transpiring in real time before my very eyes. Four years ago it looked like Trump was going to be relegated to the ash heap of history. Today....I am amazed every single day on how world leaders are lining up to get in his good graces! It is more than remarkable....more even than extraordinary!

               On January 6....that notorious January 6 of 2021....at about a half hour before noon....I turned on the television just to see what was going on in our capital....on the ellipse. As I watched the crowd I booted up my computer and started....shorthanding my thoughts....I do that often....to publish later....which I did. I typed in that I had to turn the television off because what I was seeing unnerved me. People....evangelicals in the crowd....were raising their hands to the playing of Leonard Cohen's....Hallelujah. This is not a Christian song folks....it's a blasphemous song....and in this situation it was alarming....almost demonic. People were shouting.....fight for Trump....fight for Trump....fight for Trump. Four years earlier....on January 7. 2017....the day before Trump defeated Hillary Clinton....eighty-two year old Leonard Cohen died....after a fall in home home....leukemia being a contributing factor.
               The word....resurrected....is an apt description of Trump these past four years. In my opinion....with over a hundred books read on Trump's life....and maybe a hundred posts as I detailed the past eight years almost on a daily basis....what is happening is supernatural. Now evangelicals would heartily agree with that at face value....for they think that God is doing this to bless us....for what I can't imagine....as we in evangelicalism have little interest at all in God's glory....for He is just an emotional support god....like an emotional service dog....to comfort us enough that we can continue to enjoy our sports and family recreations and hobbies and work towards our personal goals.
                No....this appears to me to be supernatural in that it has end-times written all over it.....but in what way I do not know. I do know this though....evangelicals have been deceived....the extent of which is phenomenal....and appears biblical....in that we were warned of this. May God have mercy on us....and apply a balm....and strengthen us....as He continues to remove veils on what is ahead.

Addendum: Have you spent much time lately reading the prophet Zechariah? We might want to consider what he wrote in chapter 7 verses 12 and 13:

 "Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets, (that would be Jeremiah et al) Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts....'Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear....so they called out and I would not listen', says the LORD of hosts."