Lord's Day Post......Redux

                 Do I ever get of tired of this particular type of Lord's Day post? No I never get tired. I don't even get frustrated. I know that God will eventually wake all of these shepherds up....or at least all of them that are truly faithful shepherds. And I know that it will be soon. I just do not know if it will be this Lord's Day....June 1....2025.

                The pandemic and 9/11 both showed us that catastrophes do not necessarily lead to awakenings. What we do is we change....for a little time....forced to think about serious things....until those concerns just fade away.
                We do not choose to be saved. If we did then yes maybe a major catastrophe might bring on an awakening. God does all the saving. If I thought that I personally had anything to do with my salvation back in the early 1980s....then I would think that God owed me something. But I know that God took the lowest of the low....and regenerated my dead heart....and then drew me towards Him....with an....irresistible draw. So much then for God owing me anything....but rather I owe Him everything!
                Men will enter their pulpits this Lord's Day....and their mission will be to encourage the saints.....bless them....and comfort them. They will preach a Bible Study. They will take verse by verse and explain what we could see and understand with our own eyes. They took over our own responsibilities to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord....freeing us to pursue other comforts in life....and providing they themselves with....maybe no longer a vocation....but a profession at least.....with the title reverend or pastor or minister so-and-so.
                 Preaching is believed to be....by many of us....a primary means of grace. Something supernatural is to be happening here! This makes sense when someone is born again through the preaching....as was Charles Spurgeon on that cold winter day in 1850....when an unlearned man was forced into the pulpit.....and he preached as best as he could on a verse in God's Word....and Spurgeon was regenerated right then and there. "Means of grace" does not make sense in a Bible study. There is no miracle in understanding basic Bible doctrine or the efficaciousness of the Sermon of the Mount. There is though a miracle in understanding that we were lost but now we are found. There is a miracle in falling before a Holy God. There is a miracle in having faith and trust and hope. 
                  So again....men will enter their pulpits this Lord's Day....or they will walk behind their plexiglass lecterns....there may be thirty people or there may be thirty thousand before them....instruments and music and even praise may....'raise the roof'....so to speak....but on the whole in America....and for a long time....there has not been....and there generally is not now....no matter how many are falling in the aisles....and how perfect our doctrine may be....and no matter how many good works the church may do....the glory of the LORD descended in the sanctuaries.
                   Lord willing....and Lord willing only.....we have absolutely nothing to do with it....the Holy Spirit will this Lord's Day have mercy upon all of us....you and I....humble us and strengthen us through this....'means of grace".....and bring us together....and give us discernment....both miracles. Otherwise....if it not be His will to have mercy upon us....maybe it will be next Lord's Day.....June 8.....2025....or in 2026....but it will not be long....for the steady hearing of the preached Word by either men from the past....such as Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones....and those men today who do preach like men of the past....has made it clear to me that not only is the coming of our Lord and Savior and King near....but also that of our great need of His near return!

Afterthought: This is for those readers.....and I am confident that some of you are here....who have attended church many times in your life but just cannot see what all the excitement in some people is all about....I have this advice for you. Google either....hopefully both....Spurgeon sermon YouTube or Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon You Tube....and listen to a few of these sermons from men who had preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.....so powerfully and so effectually....that not only did they make a mark on the church in their time....Spurgeon in London in the latter half of the nineteenth century....and Lloyd-Jones in the same city in most of the twentieth century....but their ministries to this day....(I am but one example)....bless the entire church in the whole world!

If I haven't yet led you to listen to these men preach....you might try this....for it is tremendously enjoyable....on your computer or on Roku you can watch the 70 minute docu-drama....Charles Spurgeon: The People's Preacher.

                

I Heard Them Speak....And I Saw The Crowd Reaction....And It Was....Unsettling!

                 I never watched ten seconds of the fifteen year running of the television show....The Apprentice. I had no desire to see this comical tabloid figure fire people on television....but we have had ten years now of almost forced indoctrination on who he is....how he acts...and common phrases that he uses.
                Yesterday on Trump's news network....his director of the FBI hammered two former directors of the FBI. Trump divides and he destroys....always has....always will. There are quite a few books that have been published by these men from the FBI and the CIA on what actually transpired over the past eight years. You should sometime try reading what these men said happened and how everything transpired.
                So yesterday Trump's FBI director promised that some shocking things were going to be revealed about January 6. After ten years of researching Donald Trump I can recognize phrases that originate with Trump...and some 'shocking things' to be revealed is one of them. How many times have we heard about the JFK or the RFK or the MLK or the UFO reports that were going to be revealed? This is Trump's MO....or modus operandi....or method of operation....divert attention! It does not matter if anything is ever revealed....for the effect is already in the mind of the true believer.
                I remember January 6, 2021 quite well....and I posted about that day....on that day. First of all what did MAGA people believe was going to happen? Did they really expect the Congress was going to ignore election results and refuse to put Biden in office. This was a sick plan to begin with.
                I turned the television on just before Trump began to speak on that morning and was upset on how evangelicals were waving their arms and hands in the air....in praise....as Leonard Cohen's very distinctive song melody....Hallelujah....was playing over the crowd. Hallelujah is transliterated....not translated....let us praise Yah. This is not a Christian song. It is essentially an anti-belief song....extremely secular.....and evangelicals were swaying and praising to it because its melody is mesmerizing and Trump picked it. Trump also used it at the 2020 RNC Convention.
                So I listened to a few speakers and then Trump came on....and as I posted at the time....I had to turn the television off....because the whole thing was so...."unsettling"....was the word that I used at the time! It was making me ill watching it because he was stirring up the people for something that could not be good!
                So now the new director of the FBI....who is Trump's puppet....is going to tell me that what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears....did not happen! I sat there and watched for the rest of the day....all of the....horror....that Trump and the other speakers had so very clearly instigated!
                Lindsey Graham and others were rightfully....done with Trump....after that day. What kind of spiritual force could lead people....and evangelicals....back to him after what we all witnessed on that day?
                Folks you have to break this spell of not questioning what Trump does! We had a mind of our own in conservatism at one time....and we in evangelicalism at one time prayed to God for wisdom and discernment!

The Worst......And The Second Worst

               Not only the worst president in the entire history of the United States of America but the most destructive force ever on this nation....not the least because he utterly decimated the biggest strength in America....that being evangelicalism....in other words Christianity in America....had been and continues to be....Donald J. Trump.
               The second worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the second most destructive force ever in this nation....has been Joseph Biden! This and this alone should set the Christian thinking about the meaning of judgment on America!
                Now it must be said that Joseph Biden....the second worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the second most destructive force in our nation's history.....is the reason that the worst president in the history of the United States of America was reelected to a second term of disaster. 
                So it might therefore be said that because Joseph Biden was the second worst president in the history of the United States of America and the second most destructive force in America to begin with....and that he was the reason that we now have the worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the most destructive force in the history of our nation....that....Joseph Biden might be considered the worst president in the history of the United States of America....and the most destructive force in our nation.....therefore evangelicals were correct is saying that had no choice other than to vote for Trump?
                 This though is a logical inconsistency and cannot be the case because in spite of how bad of a president Joseph Biden was....it was and is Trump who destroyed Christian discernment....alienated a chief strength of America in our allies....is fundamentally changing us from a constitutional republic to a pied-piper monarchy....with no set law.....govern by executive decree....purge all opposition....led by the unqualified who were given responsibilities because they were considered safe bets against ever voting for impeachment....and an attempt at a new world order where the only truth in the universe is that he who has the most money....has the most power....and therefore wins!

                  Folks....brothers and sisters in Christ....the church has been judged first....just as God's Word said would be the case. We have had our two worst presidents....by far the two worst presidents....as our last two presidents! We have had a pandemic that not only killed people but killed discernment and common sense. Our woes directly affect Israel. They are in more trouble right now than ever before....not only beset upon from all sides....and as rebellious to God and divided as we are....but now without the surety of a strong hand of an ally behind them.
                  We have AI....that is a threat of biblical proportions. We have methods of war....and mass killing....that are almost over-the-counter products today. Our defenses are down in spite of how much bragging is being done on how much money is being spent....and how many woke individuals are being purged. Our intelligence agencies have been severely compromised for political gain. We have weakened our defenses against a future pandemic. Trump is trying to make billions for himself....while the poor and needy in our country are going to be put on belt tightening restrictions....all for the love of money....by those who have the most....and those who care first and foremost only about themselves.

You have Seven Minutes To Read This Post Or It Will Be Gone!

              The mind-control principle goes back thousands of years....but in this information and Internet age it has taken on a new life....the....infomercial....talking someone into buying something through an extended and professionally produced and edited.....video.
               All of us are very familiar with these videos that pop up on television or our computers. We can go back many decades with the television infomercials. I remember enjoying the old....60's Pop Music....informercials on TV. It was fun just watching the hour long presentation of music....and I even bought some of those CDs....and enjoyed them! Most but not all of these presentations today are on finance....Wall Street....and health issues....often on losing weight. 
               I had some time this morning and clicked on one of these informercials. I won't mention the topic. All of these seem to have a gimmick....some special little attention grabbing ploy....that certainly has been carefully crafted by those trying to sell whatever product it is. On this one today the gimmick was that the presenter....(these are usually well-known financial or medical 'experts')....the presenter said that they were essentially forced by legal constraints to give this information away.
               They would give the....what word shall I use....the secret....away....and there would be no selling involved. As it turned out they never did give away the....'secret'.....and half of the hour-long video was the normal selling....and there were only a few hours left to take advantage of the offer! 
               This short post is not on informercials per se....but on Donald Trump....and his ten year now....personal Trump brand infomercial....that has been very effective in selling the product.....himself!
               Most of us are familiar with that advertising gimmick of old in the movies where somewhere embedded in the theater promotion....picked up in the subconscious....are the words...."drink Coke." Today the word is that on the Coke can....the 'C' is made to subconsciously resemble a smile.
                I had never watched one of these informercials as the one I watched this morning where it was an hour long continuation of.....'bursts'....that a great word to describe it....bursts of one new few-second clip after another...with the exact same short concept message repeated dozens upon dozens of times. It was pure psychological manipulation but I had to admire the editing.
                OK....Trump....the bursts are not quite as short with Trump....they each may last a minute or two....usually in texts....but the concept is exactly the same....mesmerize the viewer....make claims which can never be verified....and make them over and over and over again....ad nausieum....year after year after year. In the informercial that I watched today the presenter said the same thing....from the very beginning to the very last words. The promises were not kept....but by the time the presentation was over no one would even remember the promises made....and to make it more remarkable....the presenter said in effect....'there....I gave you the secret'....no....the specifics of the secret were never given....but you could buy the product that had the secret within it!
                Russia hoax! If I had a dollar every time that I heard that phrase I could buy the secret from the informercial today. There was no Russia Hoax. There are numerous books out there to explain in detail why there was no Russia hoax....but those folks are not good at getting the information out in the very effective....informercial....whereas Trump perfected it!
                The long and short of it is that we....I'm referring primarily to evangelicals....have successfully been put under the spell. 'Spell' is not a bad choice of words because this whole thing is supernatural.....demonic to be more specific. We had not renewed our minds every day....as God's Word tells us to do....and we were taken in hook....line....and sinker....reeled in....filleted....(that word would be a stumper in a high school spelling bee)....and devoured by the Trump family.
                 God has a different use for fishing.....we are to be fishers of men! That is what I try to do in these posts of so many years. You remember the Bible passage where Jesus told the disciples to cast the net on the right side of the boat. The fish came into the net. That's all I or any Christian is to do....cast out as a net the gospel....and God will direct the fish!

                

Today Explains A Lot Of Things From The Old Testament

                How did it happen? How did they wind up killing so many of the prophets....and rejecting the rest? It's not like Jeremiah was alone.....Zephaniah and Habakkuk and Ezekiel and Daniel were at one time or another contemporaries with him. Even after Nebuchadnezzar's army fulfilled Jeremiah's prophesies....and even after the Babylon king recognized Jeremiah as a prophet....the people of Jerusalem still gave him a hard time!
                Well we now know how things like that happened.....for all we have to do is look at Donald Trump who for ten years now has prophesied great and wonderful things for America....his latest prophecy being the coming Golden Age....and we have had one horror after another for those ten years....and the people still want him as their prophet!
                That doesn't answer the question though....OK....they believed Trump....but why did they believe him? That also is the same as with the peoples of Israel and Judah and Jerusalem....for they wanted good news....and we want good news. Hananiah told them what they wanted to hear....that Judah was going to be great again....and that they would throw off the yoke of Babylon in two years! that's about the same thing that Trump told us! The yoke of China was going to be off of us!
                The bottom line is that you have ten years of this man to look back on. Turn Fox News off and all the other propaganda machines and you might see who he really is and what he is really doing....but more important than this is that you have God very clearly telling you that judgment is coming....and you have Donald Trump telling you that a golden age is coming!
                We have been lulled to sleep by living the American dream. World wars just do not happen to us....because....well because....we are....us. These wars happen in places like the Ukraine! Besides.....God wants to bless us! Don't you ever watch TBN?
                 Plus....we in America just do not want Jesus to return right now. We either have big dreams for our kids....or big plans for our retirement. Why would God give you discernment if your personal goals or political goals are more important than preparing for Jesus to return....or even preparing to meet Him if you are called? Why would He give you discernment on the Lord's coming if the American Dream is what is most important to you? He is going to put blinders on you. That is why you do not see His very imminent return....and that is why you fell for a false prophet!

Afterthought: But you see....we don't believe in there being false prophets anymore....and we don't really believe that there are demons....and no one has to literally be born again anymore....just a good person who votes republican will do....and certainly no one has to separate themselves from the world....in fact just the opposite....we need a nation of Christian nationalists.

The Main Course Being Bypassed....We Have Become Buffet Christians....Just Take What You Like

Preface: The Lord's Day is gone in America....and America is gone with it. Sunday has become a quaint sermon....Bible study is a more accurate word....nothing that we can't and should be doing on our own....and the rest of the day for family and friends and a game or two. I ran across this post from March of 2009 and thought that I would bring it up front:             

               I had read a few books on the history of "Sunday" in Western culture, and they were good, but the information was becoming redundant. I finally got around to reading yet another, a Christmas present, The Peculiar Life Of Sundays by Stephen Miller, Harvard University Press and was pleasantly surprised. Miller has walked his readers through the history of England and America through the eyes of literary figures using their writings and letters.
               The overall complaint by these many people was the "gloominess" of the day when Sabbatarians were in power. There was a distinct correlation between those that either rejected Christianity, doubted its legitimacy or were outright pagans and their desire to experience the wonders of nature and the joys of recreation on the day. The second correlation was the general health of the nation when it respected the Lord's Day and the disarray and general decline when it rejected God's commandment. In both cases, the church declined as its honoring of the Lord's Day did. According to Miller, William Wilberforce had two goals in life, to rid England of slavery and to see the improvement of manners which Miller said included a return to honoring the Lord's Day.
               Time and time again, over the years, the issue would come to a head. Miller describes the situation in 1858; "The Sabbatarians did not get what they wanted. Their clamor for change provoked a backlash. Twice in June and July 1858 more than 150,000 people demonstrated in London against a bill that would curtail Sunday trade and further restrict the hours that pubs could be open on Sunday. Karl Marx, who was present at the first demonstration, was ecstatic. The "English Revolution" had begun, he said."
               As a sign of the times, in 1932 the English were finally given the right to play soccer on Sunday. Adolph Hitler came to power a year later. Our NFL football moved to Sunday play in 1933. My elementary and high school education was filled with glorifying accomplished writers from American history that discredited Christianity in their writings and certainly were opposed to the Christian concept of the Lord's Day. Ralph Waldo Emerson, speaking to Harvard divinity students, told them "On Sundays, it seems wicked to go to church" and advised them to "dare to love God without mediator or veil." Walt Whitman was a Pantheist that read scripture. He admitted that he was not Christian but applied it when he thought it would sooth others. Henry David Thoreau, of Walden Pond fame, was a Pantheist and a Pagan. Quoting Miller on Thoreau "Christianity, he says, turns people into neurotic souls who worry that an angry God will punish them for being idle, and for not observing the Sabbath." Writing with his typical satire, Mark Twain, in Extracts From Adam's Diary (from the Garden of Eden,) has Adam write "I believe I see what the week is for: it is to give me time to rest from the weariness of Sunday." I'm certainly not for legislation in this area. Even the church has found the perfect agenda of worship in the morning, sports in the afternoon and a good television special in the evening.
               No, this is an individual thing. God laid out His design and we have conducted our revisions of it. Unfortunately, not only were, and are, Sundays gloomy to unbelievers, they are to many Christians. My personal experience is that when Christ is preached in all His glory and majesty, I am being rejuvenated and the day prepares me for the following week. When Christ is not preached, I also see it as gloomy; not that the scriptural application coming from the pulpit is not good and needed, nor that meeting with others who are Christian is not what we should do, but rather that the main course was bypassed.

"The Debt That We Owe Them"

                                  "To keep in memory the debt that we owe them."

               The above is just one of the descriptions of Memorial Day that I read....this from the 1860s as the observance was first known as....Decoration Day. 

"We shall not sleep, though poppies grow....In Flanders fields." That is the end of the short poem by John McCrae....that became popular during World War I. The meaning....concerning the poppies....is that even the drowsiness brought on by the flowers would not let the buried dead sleep without remembrance. 

We had to memorize the Gettysburg Address in the fifth grade. That would to me have been in in 1960/61. President Lincoln....(I can hardly pronounce or think the names....President Lincon or President Kennedy or President Reagan....(there are many others)....without a rush of adrenalin)....Abraham Lincon gave that beautiful speech on November 19, 1863....100 years and three days before President Kennedy's life was taken.

I tried to recite the Gettysburg Address just now from memory....and was pleased with how much of it remains in my memory....including this from President Lincoln....who also had his life taken...."and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

My father is buried in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetary. When I visit his grave I walk over to Section 59....to the gravesite of that brave navy diver Robert Stethem....who was tortured and killed.....his body then thrown on the tarmac....this in 1985....from a plane hijacked by Hezbollah terrorists.

"The debt that we owe them!" We are in arrears right now. They sacrificed to keep something that we let slip away....not greatness....it was much more valuable than mere greatness. It was not family....for there were single service personnel without family. It was ultimately not even for country. They sacrificed....for others....in the place of others.....black-white-brown-yellow...others....this political persuasion-that political persuasion....others. We need to pay back that debt....to remember them....from the Medal of Honor winner....to the remains in the grave with no name....and under the tiny marker in some nondescript rural cemetery....to the blue ocean that received the bodies....to the bodies never found in Korea and Vietnam.

It's No Good Pinching Yourself.....It's Real!

                We have all had these moments to one degree or another. For example.....you are somehow on the side of a cathedral spire....and the ledge is at a slight slope. The sleet is falling fast...the temperature is dropping....and you have to move quickly along the ledge to get inside....only that ledge is now all ice....going both ways. Panic sets in! What are you possibly going to do to get out of this? And then in an instant....you wake up....and everything if fine again....for it was just a dream.
                So you fluff your pillow and try to go back to sleep. Then you are walking along a popular beach boardwalk. Families are having fun....the evening weather is perfect....when you notice that there is a gathering of people on the beach side....and another gathering of people on the stores side. You along with many others are passing between them. The two groups are yelling at each other....and then they start throwing things....and then you see a gun brandished....and you hear shots all around you. Whatever happens....all these innocent bystanders need to get out of the way and fast....and then you wake up!
                 Two in one night! Well....it's not the first time. I just picked two possible wild nightmares. Mine are usually something like last night....where I was walking the entire course of a boardwalk....enjoying the laughter and occasionally looking out at the surf....when I reach up to my face and my glasses are not there! Oh no....did they fall off ? Did I set them down and forget to pick them up. I look back at about a mile of boardwalk. How do I possibly go about backtracking....and then I wake up.  I'm so used to this that I don't even have to tell myself that it was only a dream. I just smile and go back to sleep!
                 I've had other interesting things happen. I would wake up in a sweat thinking about what in my dream Trump had said or done. This cannot be true. How could he possibly say anything like this....or do anything like this....and fool so many Christians? Then I know that it was a nightmare....and I relax....before I realize that yes it was a nightmare....but I had the nightmare because he actually said and did those things....and fooled so many Christians! At times like that I just pray for God to have mercy upon His people and open our eyes. Let the world be taken in....but not His people. And that is where I am this morning.

Today Was A Patriotic Day....Tomorrow Is For Our God

                It was a very patriotic day for me. A good friend was being honored for his decades of work helping and honoring veterans. We sang a couple of songs....and held small American flags....holding them high at times. It was just a pleasure seeing this good man honored....as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
                Then my wife and I went to an afternoon movie....A Christian movie. We try to see most of them that are released....and they are always enjoyable....often with tears flowing....and the audiences are dream audiences....just people who want to see some kind of encouraging Christian message. I always feel at home and comfortable with these people.
                 Today was no different. The title of the movie doesn't matter. You could probably figure it out for yourself if you really wanted to know the movie. There was something that happened towards the end of the film. In the scene....in an arena....our national anthem began to play. I had the advantage in that our town bells often play the national anthem in amongst other patriotic contributions. I'm not a fan of that....for it places the Star-Spangled Banner in with other music....therefore taking away its special meaning. This has been years running...and on the busy street when the national anthem plays....I stand at attention and face the nearest flag. It's awkward....for just about everyone is too busy heading to the car or heading to the bakery to realize what is playing.
                 So this was not new to me....and when the anthem started to play....I lowered the foot rest....and stood up in the front row of the audience.....spilling my bag of popcorn. I didn't think anything of it but when the film ended people came up to my right and my left just to thank me. I would have liked to tell them that the situation was not new to me....but the opportunity did not present itself.
                 I would not have thought to do a post on what happened in the theater....except for this....which almost forces me to do this post. Most if not all of the people who are strong supporters of President Trump....hold to these same patriotic thoughts about the national anthem. Probably everyone who came up to me is one of these folks. I love them. We share so much of the same concerns for our country....and I have been one of them for at least forty-five years now. I do not like this division. I do not like not being able to discuss these things in friendship.
                President Trump was at West Point today. Most of these folks would probably differ with me as to President Trump's appearance at events like this. That went through my mind this afternoon.
                I'm....pretty sure....that my friend who was being honored today....is a MAGA person.....but I really do not know because he has been honoring veterans for twenty-three years....that I know of! It's the veterans that he loves. I know that.
                Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day....and it is Jesus that we love....and His gospel that we defend! Everything else....country....even family....takes a place behind that. May God have mercy upon us. May the Holy Spirit this very night move upon and within the pastors sleeping in their beds. May we in the pews realize more than we ever have in our entire Christian lives....that are standing before a Holy God! 

              

One Big Beautiful Broken Cistern

Preface:  About a month ago my wife was in the car with three ladies....to and from an event. They were probably mid-70s....just guessing....and according to my wife they were gushing about Trump....saying things that made no sense at all. We evangelicals have lost the understanding on what racism is....and we are not aware of that. The philosophy behind this....'big beautiful bill'....will take food out of the mouths of millions of children....and benefits away from millions of seniors....all backdoor of course....so he doesn't get the blame....and we are actually cheering this! Delusion....and false signs and wonders....false prophets prophesying peace and security....all of this and more has overtaken evangelicalism. The national defense is....systematically....little by little....from one institution to another....being weakened. The entire Republican congress.....and....all the conservative pulpits in America....live in abject fear of Donald Trump....that if they dare criticize or warn of him....they will pay dearly by loss of support. This is all judgment from God upon us as we rejected trust in Him and put that trust in one big beautiful broken cistern. 

So Trump is starting the tariff threats again. Let me tell you something about what I've learned about Trump after ten years and over 100 books on his life. He is a sociopath who is not satisfied unless he is causing consternation in someone else. This has been him his whole life....even when he was young. There is not an ounce of truth or compassion in this man. He has at all times to be inflicting some sort of suffering in someone. As for his megalomania....it is so advanced that he has no concept anymore of consequences or collateral damage on anyone or anything. The following post is from February 11....this that we are witnessing is not the final falling away....but it may be the beginning of that biblical prophecy.

As I finish this Trump is giving the West Point commencement. That he once said that soldiers were losers doesn't mean anything. He simply denies having said it....case closed....like he denied saying that the White House was a dump. There are hundreds of quotes like this....that he simply denies ever making....and his followers of course believe him!

If This Isn't That...."Falling Away"....Then It's A Good Imitation

                     It is a different church than it was thirty and forty years ago. You could tell back then who the Christians were. You can't tell that today....as they have been swallowed up by patriotism....so everybody says that they are Christian. The world would shy away from us back then because we would always talk about Christ. They stay away from us today because we always talk about Trump.
                     Even though our country was nowhere near in rebellion to God as we are today...we had the fear of God in us. Our youth were Christian youth back then. They are republican youth today. We just knew that Jesus was about to come back soon. Today....a genuine biblical false prophet leads our nation....and we put him there. We are right now on the very precipice....and this man shows every sign....of every tyrant in the past....and just like in the past....that tyrant has a people who believe every lie that he says. It is nothing less than astonishing.
                     We knew what cults were at one time. We might read a book now and then on any one of them. The charismatic leader had complete control....using mind-altering methods on the members....where they only read what they were told to read....and were shunned or purged in they didn't toe the line. We don't even know or care who those cults are today....and there is a very strong likelihood that that we have been taken in by a new one.
                     God has judged His church first. He has put blinders on us....which is the only explanation on how someone as empty and as bloodthirsty as Donald Trump....could successfully bind and lead away most of evangelicalism.
                     God's Word says that there will be a falling away. If this isn't it....then it's a good imitation. The Bible talks about last days/end times false signs and wonders....and delusion....and deception. We've been taken in to believe that what Trump has done in a few short weeks is marvelous! We actually think that what this man is doing....will bring peace and safety....and we are oblivious to that being exactly what God's Word tells us we will think! Benjamin Netanyahu....this surprised me anyway....was taken in also by Trump's promises and rhetoric....but then so has Ted Cruz and so many others.
                     We are in the midst of a winnowing. A strong wind is passing over the threshing floor....as we are being tossed up....again and again....trying to breath through the dust...vexed....and landing hard time after time. Whether the Lord gathers us up....or replants us to sprout new wheat....it will be His perfect will.....may He give us the strength and wisdom and discernment necessary to wait upon the Lord....and to endure to the end.

"Truly....truly.....I say to you....unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." John 12:24

                There was no king at the time in Araria....only a vice-regent....and the royal family constantly squabbled amongst themselves....differing in who was the rightful heir. The kingdom was along the shores of a beautiful coastline of white sand and turquoise water.....but there was centuries of driftwood everywhere....and more than a few shipwrecks. A man of great wealth came in on a caravan....on a gilded litter....carried by poor servants. He moved through the town waving and throwing candies to the children.
                He met with the vice-regent and proposed to them a glorious plan of cleaning up the beaches and building a great resort where the rich from all over the world would come....to spend their monies....building up the economy of Araria where everyone would be well off!
                The people clamored for the vice-regent to hire him to do just that. He was hired and began to build but just as the great buildings were being laid out a great storm came....and destroyed everything. The wealthy man wanted to build again....but the people were weary of everything....and sent him away.
                Years passed and he returned....but not alone....for he had a small but powerful entourage of men with him. He promised the people greater things than he promised the first time....and he threatened everyone who didn't immediately agree to the contract. The vice-regent was a small man....and holding his gavel in court he looked like a child playing with a great big toy. He just did whatever the wealthy man told him to do.
                So the wealthy man started plowing up everything in Araria....and moving people out of the homes that their families had lived in for centuries. He just kicked the poor people out of Araria....while flattering everyone else and promising a golden age for Araria.
                He built a great pier with a music hall on it....and changed the currency with a new metal that had his facial imprint on it. Everyone feared him....for he would banish them from the kingdom if they did not raise their hands and praise him when he passed by.
                The great resort was nearing completion....and the gold glittered above the sun-drenched beaches. The wealthy man climbed to the top of the greatest building....looked over all that he had built....and just shouted off into the heavens....."Look at what I have built for my glory!"
                A thousand birds that were nesting in the gardens suddenly flew off....startling the wealthy man....and then the shaking started! The ground was quaking...and the smaller buildings began to fall first. The wealthy man shook his fist to the heavens....but that grand building that he was on rocked violently. The lower tiers off to his left and right fell. Dust was everywhere. The wealthy man expected to fall at any moment but the shaking and quaking stopped....and shortly after that the dust began to settle. There he was at the top of the innermost tower in that great building....the only thing in Araria that remained standing. From that extreme height he could look off into the distance and see the poor people in their shacks where he had banished them....far enough away that the quakes did no damage to them.
                He looked out to sea to shake his fist again and noticed a great white cloud approaching fast....in the middle of which was a blinding white light....greater than the sun which was to his back!

A Recently Discovered Martyn Lloyd-Jones Interview

                The Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust....mljtrust.org....discovered an old interview from April of 1975 in....The Evangelical Magazine Of Wales....and emailed it out to those who sign up to receive such news. The interviewer asked Lloyd-Jones if he was disappointed that there had been no great revival in Wales during his long ministry. His answer was yes but that God is in control of everything. The interviewer made a comment that inferred that such a revival would have an effect on pastors and their preaching but Martyn Lloyd-Jones disagreed in that it would have to be the opposite....that God would use preachers to bring the revival. The following is his entire answer:

"Certainly, but I would not put it that way, that all this has to have an influence on preachers. I would put it the other way. You will not get the things I mentioned....(related to a revival)....until something has happened to the preachers. The present state of things is a reflection of a defect in the preachers; it is great preaching that produces great believers and great listeners and congregations who rejoice. I heard of a preacher only the other Sunday. In the act of preaching he stopped and asked the congregation: 'Why are you not shouting?' The man did not realize he was condemning himself. When a man preaches under the influence of the Holy Spirit he does not ask people to shout-he tries to hinder them doing so. The congregation is stirred by great preaching. And that is what happened in the great revivals. It is something that happens first of all to one preacher, or a minister, or a man like Howell Harris, and as a result of this great experience he is constrained to give it expression, and so he preaches. And therefore, to me, this is the saddest thing of all in our present condition-the lack of preachers. This is the greatest problem, it seems to me-why do we not have great preachers in these days? I believe we have traced the explanation in what we have been discussing. Our danger all the time is to be satisfied with one side of the matter, and especially to forget the living God who gives a strong and powerful experience to the man himself.  There is little hope for the people or for the churches until the preachers themselves have been set on fire and are full of this joy. This is the order, I would think. It is exceptional for this to start in the congregation and then spread to the preacher. The preacher first, then the congregation. The congregation mirrors the condition of the preacher, and therefore I would start with the preacher himself."

Afterthought: It is my habit to pray for my pastor every day....and also for our son's pastor....and then for all faithful pastors....and then for national ministers such as MacArthur and Piper who have such large listening audiences. It was said that there were those in the basement of the Metropolitan Tabernacle praying for Charles Spurgeon....as he was preaching in the pulpit. The preachers today have indeed failed us....but then we have failed them also! In light of this....my continued advice over the years to readers has been....no matter who your own pastor may be....incorporate into your lives the preaching of great preachers of the past....such as Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones....and those few preachers today who preach like preachers from the past. Both Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones relied on the gifts that were given to men who preceded them. If you take this advice....then you will surely wind up praying fervently for your own pastor....because you will see how much need he is in!

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:14 KJV

The Church Once Again Has Become Easy Prey Because Of The Lack Of Preaching

                When dictators are in office....with all of their cadres of 'muscle' ensconced in positions of power....they exude an extreme confidence....and an overbearing arrogance. That essentially is Trump right now. Even in the darkest hours of concern in the past over what the Democrats might be planning....it was nothing compared to what Trump is doing right now. From his perspective....which is the extreme shortsightedness of the common dictator....their power will never come to an end....but what is also endemic in dictatorships is that things tend to collapse suddenly. Dictators don't just fade away....but rather their run of luck runs out....and they flee to another country before the law catches up with them.
                We all talked about coups in the past....but this is textbook. The coup is on our constitution. The dictator merely usurps all power and distributes it to his allies....and this is just the beginning! They are coming after anyone who ever made Trump mad in the past.
                One of the first things that Trump did to build his base was to go after the evangelicals....which turned out to be a relatively easy victory....so very similar to what the Fuhrer did when he lured the German church in with promises to make Germany great again. Our pulpits have long ago lost the unction to preach the gospel. No one has to be born again anymore. Pastors instead preach helping others....community service churches....that is what has replaced the gospel of salvation. No preacher did more for the community than Spurgeon....but that work did not replace the intense searching of the heart from the Holy Spirit that we must have!
                Apparently there was a prayer meeting at the Pentagon within the last few days....with the Secretary of Defense there.....and his pastor....at least one general....and anyone else from the Pentagon who wanted to attend. The Secretary led a prayer....a very humble prayer. What could possibly be wrong with that?
               Let me in a few words....describe something that has been debated for centuries. This will be very simplistic. There are Christians.....many....who believe that Christ will come back....and then there will be a literal thousand years with Him leading the church on earth....before....another time of trouble. There are others who do not believe that there will be a literal thousand years....and that as the world is about to explode.....Jesus comes back. And.....there are those who believe that it may take a long time.....but the church in the world will win out....and Jesus will return and offered this victorious church. This is no small doctrinal theological and eschatological debate! Where do you either stand or lean here?
              OK....let me tell you that the Secretary of Defense.....believes in the third option. So....put your thinking caps on....if one believes that the church will eventually win the world....then this becomes a....black flag....give no quarter....battle or war. The end will justify the means. We no longer have to worry about ethics and collateral damage....because we are doing all of this for Jesus! We thus have become easy pray for someone like Trump....who sneers at evangelicals behind our back.

              

               

You Gotta Tell Somebody....You Got To Tell Somebody....What Jesus Did For You!

              Jesus told us through His word that we have to be born again. Charles Colson was a rat. He would be the first to tell you that. He was Nixon's hatchet man. Well he was thrown in prison with a few others from the Nixon administration....and this former marine....tough guy....if I remember correctly from his best-selling book....Born Again....sat in his car one night before going to jail....his life in ruins....and he cried....and he cried out to God....and was gloriously born again!
               So just what is this being....born again? Well there are a few ways to go about answering that. There is the doctrinal way that describes what happens to the man or woman....whereas righteousness is imputed to them....not infused or poured into them. There is the operative way that tells how it is all of grace....that your works do absolutely nothing in this....operation....for anyone....a Buddhist or a Hindu or anyone can do very good works. And there is the experiential way....or what does that man or woman experience when they are born again.
                That is what I want to attempt to answer in this paragraph. Speaking for myself....there was a time when I knew that I was not a good person. I wasn't sure there was a hell....and if there was one I wasn't sure that God would send me there. I did absolutely nothing at that point. God for some unknown reason other than He tends to have mercy on the lowest of the low....regenerated my heart. I was now not spiritually dead....but I was not spiritually alive either. God started a work and was going to finish it....for He always finishes His work. I saw that I was going to hell before I even knew for sure that there was a hell. I knew that there was no way to avoid this....and then I saw that God had provided a way....believe in what Jesus did on the cross....in paying for something that I could never pay for. Imagine if you will....the exhilaration of such a situation....on the gallows....and then taken off the gallows! I could now see Jesus whom before I could only attest to believing in. His Word....all of a sudden....became understandable....like a child who first learns how to read. I was previously on a pedestal....but I got off fast....and looked....and Jesus was on that pedestal in all of His glory!  I looked around.....figuratively speaking....to my left and to my right....who can I tell? I have to tell someone...."I gotta tell somebody"....as the old Don Francisco song put it...."what Jesus did for me!"
                 There are variations of this....but only variations in how to describe it. If you cannot look back and say that you at least understand every word that I just said....then you must drop everything and go to God to find out why....why are you.....figuratively speaking again....why are not able to peddle the bike and keep it from falling....for it is so simple. Something is missing that you must have!

                                                                          

DISPATCHES

May God if it be His will save us from this man....may He forgive His church and its shepherds for the abject failure....right up to this moment....to have spotted and warned the sheep of the wolf that has decimated the flock.

How long will Mark Levin last. I go way back with Mark Levin and have read all just about all of his books over the years....and was a regular listener to his radio program for years. I remember the day....well....in 2017....when he was....like I was....criticizing this Donald Trump that was coming to light after the first inauguration....and then one day....one day....I was listening in....he said that he was no longer going to criticize Trump. It was a decision that he made. So Levin had been sucked in with many others....and as of today is still sucked in....but....there is no sucking Levin in when it comes to Israel. He has been heavily criticizing Trump on that....and most recently likened it to the appeasement with the German Fuhrer. A month ago Trump named him to a government advisory position. Normally....with comments made like Leving has been making...Trump would have fired the person immediately.....but this is a little different for Levin is still valuable....but I still have to wonder how many of these comments Trump will take?

Phil Robertson is now gone to be with the Lord. God is taking them one by one....Graham and Sproul and Keller and Wilkerson and Pat Robertson....and Packer. A few of them got sucked in by Trump early on....hey I voted for him in 2016....but I think that they all knew who he was at the end of their lives. By and large the sons are not quite of the same mold as the fathers. God is leaving us to our own designs.

When Mike Johnson was elected Speaker....evangelicals cheered. Just look at any photo of Mike Johnson. Look at this eyes. This man is lost. Today he said that there is a "moral component" to Medicaid cuts. At least one of these people finally admitted there will me Medicaid cuts. There are people criminally taking advantage of the government. So the moral thing to do it to cut the monies off. The moral thing? Trump's lust for power and riches is now....the moral thing. They are trying to make us believe that the only people who will lose benefits are the criminals!

Four days ago....(maybe in honor of Memorial Day?)....ground was broken....and it was announced that Trump will build two golf courses....designed by Bryson DeChambeau....a five-star hotel and luxury villlas....near Hanoi. Then Eric flew down to Saigon....(they call it something else)....to talk about another major project. How absurd the world has become.

Former FBI Director James Comey recently described Donald Trump as a monster in a horror movie sequel. I agree with half of that. In his first term he was just an incompetent conman....and a false prophet....but something....maybe supernatural happened to him....and he returned a monster of some sort....more than just a false prophet.

When dictators are in office....with all of their cadres of 'muscle' ensconced in positions of power....they exude an extreme confidence....and an overbearing arrogance. That essentially is Trump right now. Even in the darkest hours of concern in the past over what the Democrats might be planning....it was nothing compared to what Trump is doing right now. From his perspective....which is the extreme shortsightedness of the common dictator....their power will never come to an end....but what is also endemic in dictatorships is that things tend to collapse suddenly. Dictators don't just fade away....but rather their run of luck runs out....and they flee to another country before the law catches up with them.

Tuesday morning: Trump today made a big deal about telling the Congress not to touch Medicaid. This is a ruse....for the bill already touches Medicaid....through the back door....for you cannot take money away from the states and not expect them to take benefits away from Medicaid. Trump's many cost cutting policies have already hurt people who rely on the government. He could care less....unless it affects him.

President Biden has been out of office for almost four months....and Trump and his press are humiliating him almost every day. For one....this is a sickness....but it is pure Trump. It is doing something else in that while they are calling out Democrats with a vengeance for not acting on Biden's mental issues....they are setting themselves up....because they will now find it difficult not to call out Trump on his mental issues!

This 'big beautiful bill'....will lead to Medicaid cuts....and thus health care cuts....on the people that need benefits the most....but these people doing this....(most of them)....could not care less. Neither Trump nor Musk have an ounce of compassion in their combined bodies. The Feds will cut money to the states which in turn will have to cut benefits. Much of the things they do will be back door....where they don't really cut the specific benefit....but take the money away so that someone else has to cut the specific benefit....and get the blame.

Vote counting shenanigans have been going on in the Democrat Party for a long time. I remember the hubbub and analysis of how JFK won both the nomination and the election because of backroom shenanigans in West Virginia and Chicago. Every election since then we conservatives knew that we had to get a 3 to 5 percent lead in just about every election to counteract the Democrat shenanigans. So...in this respect....the Democrats did their normal shenanigans in the 2020 election....but then Putin was on Trump's side....and in the campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination....Trump....in effect....through many and various nefarious schemes and techniques....stole the nomination for the other contenders. The bottom line is that Trump's constant shouting about the 2020 election being stolen....is misleading....and the pot calling the kettle black. 

Can our own lives become idolatry to us? Of course. I would like to recommend a Spurgeon sermon to you. You may have to work at keeping up with it. It describes those who do not want their own lives to become idolatry. If you can pause this sermon....then I recommend that you do so from time to time. Otherwise these words of Spurgeon near the end of his ministry and his life will not sink in....for they will come in too close succession...and are too profound....to easily meditate upon. Spurgeon could have extended his ministry....and his life....if he had not spent years warning the church of his day of the error that they had slipped into....that was known as....The Downgrade. You can easily listen to this sermon by Googling....Spurgeon sermon YouTube....The Hunger and Thirst Which are Blessed.

The most underappreciated chapters in all of scripture in this day and age...are Revelation 2 & 3. This along with chapter 1 sets the stage for the book of Revelation...but we refer to these seven letters to seven churches as if they were historical filler. You are in one of these churches....maybe two or more....and so am I. Smyrna was told that they would be thrown into a prison....to be tested....for ten days....of which it is likely that it would be ten years. It was just about ten years ago....June 16, 2015....when Trump came down that golden escalator.....effectually right into the middle of evangelicalism. Apparently.... Smyrna....those representing the church of Smyrna....had been tested severely by watching what Trump has done to other churches. If we had not departed from our....first love....as had Ephesus....we would have spotted him for who he truly is. Faithful Pergamos....would have spotted him but they themselves fell into the trap of Balaam and Balak. Thyatira was faithful also....but fell for the false prophetess Jezebel. Much of evangelicalism today is Sardis....thinking itself alive....but actually dead....and Laodicea today is the headquarters for MAGA. Philadelphia....as with Smyrna....receives no condemnation....and was told that they will not fall for the great delusion...."the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole earth"....who will follow the Antichrist....whoever or whatever that will be revealed in God's perfect time.

There were at least three major book publications at the time of the 2014/2015 tetrad of total lunar eclipses....or blood moons. The first by Mark Biltz. The second by John Hagee....and the third by Mark Hitchcock. Most but not all of the articles written at the time indicated that the tetrad was a sign of a major catastrophe....of some sort....in the world. When the tetrad passed and there was no war or pandemic or any other major catastrophe....the blood moon theory was considered to be bunk....and forgotten. I posted on this tetrad back in April of 2014....and wasn't that excited about it other than the same interest that NASA would have. I posted many times on blood moons since then....and in May of 2022 first mentioned that something extraordinary did indeed happen during the 2014/2015 blood moon tetrad....that being that Donald Trump came down that escalator and proceeded to take America by storm. I've also mentioned a number of times that Trump was born on a blood moon on June 14....1946. Tetrads are not all that uncommon. There are 8 scheduled in this century.....but then again....there were none from 1600 to 1900. There is a lot more to the rarity of that particular tetrad than merely there being a tetrad....and you can easily read about all of that if you do not already know it. It also should be noted that a solar eclipse occurred in the middle of that tetrad....and it should be noted....indeed NASA noted it....that all four blood moons of 2014/2015 were visible in all or parts of America. So in summation....something did happen during that 2014/2015 tetrad....repeating it here....Donald Trump began his quest that is still dominating America and the world!

In A Remarkable Turn Of Events.....

                Russell Vought is an evangelical Christian....Wheaton graduate.....former Deputy Director of the OMB in Trump's first term....Director at the very end of Trump's first term....and the Director of OMB again in the second term. He made news....and I posted on it in early 2018 when at his confirmation hearings....Bernie Sanders attacked Vought simply for not denying that his Christian faith leads him to believe that eternal salvation is only through Jesus Christ.
                 Russell Vought will tell you proudly that he is a.....Christian nationalist. I referred to him one other time....in 2019....when after Trump was being castigated because or another enormous budget....the same Russell Vought....whose passion is cutting budgets and the national debt....commented oddly that things were right on schedule?
                 Let me segue here a little. A month ago Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was embroiled in a controversy after he mistakenly invited the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic....to a government chat group. It has been my opinion that that magazine....The Atlantic....is the best current events magazine out there. No they are not conservative....but they are professional....which is something....and they are good at what they do....which is actual journalism.
                  Their latest issue has another top-notch article....and it is on Russell Vought. You can easily Google this at....The Visionary of Trump 2.0....by McKay Coppins. If the thesis of this article is correct....then it answers that question that I had in 2019 on why Russell Vought was satisfied with the way things were going on the budget.
                  If I could summarize that which I think is most pertinent in the article....Vought....and many others....(we are familiar with the term....Project 2025)....have given up on the hope in change that would have to follow the restrictions of the constitution. They are not into slow change because they do not believe that it would ever happen. No....they want essentially to destroy the federal bureaucracy....no matter how much chaos comes with that....and coinciding with that....increase the powers of the executive office....so that we would no longer have to worry about this concept of democracy. They want all the opposition purged....and replaced by loyalists. It was looked at as a conspiracy theory....too radical for anyone to actually be serious about....but after the quakes of the past 100 days we can see that it is not just a conspiracy theory....that that is what they are attempting to do.
                  I have a few major problems with this that are not going to go away. First....they would....and are....(these people....this plan)....hurting tens of millions of people in the process....poor people....people who do not have a 401 to cash in. Liberal policies gave us this entitlement culture....but like it or not....agree with it or not....it is there....and multitudes....tens upon tens of millions are dependent upon it....and you cannot just watch them suffer and die just to replace a bad political science with a better one. This is Ayn Rand me-centeredness....totally lacking in compassion....and not Christian in any way.....but it is nationalist!
                   Second....these folks seem to no longer have use for the constitution. Even in the worst of days when the Democrats were in power....it wasn't that they hated the constitution....it was that they had no idea what it was....and why it is important....and how it is something wonderful to behold. So in a remarkable turn of events....the Democrats today are defending the constitution over the Republicans who no longer have a use for it!
                   Third....these people want an authoritarian president....in a ruling party atmosphere that has no challengers. Folks...it's already been done in the past....and we have never fully recovered from it. This is where the pulpits are to warn us....but who is there anymore to warn them? (Please see my post below titled....God Has Taken Away The Spokesmen)
                   Russel Voight was and is to be commended for his defense of the gospel when attacked by Bernie Sanders....and I did commend him....but his particular gospel comes with the promise and command of an earthly dominion that God's Word does not give. This is Peter cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant. This is the leaders of Judah who rejected Jeremiah and said that they were doing to throw off the joke of Babylon.

Franklin Graham......The Martin Niemoller Of Our Day

 "Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke to our troops at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. What an encouragement to the men and women serving on the largest U. S. military base in the Middle East!  He just doesn't stop-I've never seen anyone with so much energy. He is making deals, negotiating peace and security, building relationships, projecting strength, and waving the American flag unapologetically with every step and every stop on this trip. Pray for President Trump as he meets with leaders in this region. Pray for his health and strength-this kind of schedule is grueling. May God give him favor and wisdom, and may God bless and help America as we call on Him."

           The above is Frankling Graham's Facebook post from this morning. Reverend Graham missed the mark on every single description that he attributed to Trump. His deals are money over everything....even CBN is headlining right now these...."Bonanza Deals." These deals are unwise and very problematic as to how they will affect Israel. Revered Graham mentions...."peace and security"....so did Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:3...."While people are saying. 'peace and security.' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape'." (ESV)
            He says that Trump is...."building relationships"....whereas Trump is the great divider! Trump is not "projecting strength." He is projecting a weakness under the spell of the lust for great wealth and power. Our enemies know him very well....and they are buying him off....and it is not the American flag that he waves unapologetically....it's that of a new world order. 
            Using Franklin Graham's template for prayer....May God give wisdom to the Israeli Prime Minister at this time....and to anyone in our government not under Trump's spell....and may He have mercy upon America....as we call on a false prophet....and not on Him!

I posted this sentence in a 2008 post....

"Israel has a decision to make, and soon. Are they going to let Iran produce nuclear weapons?"

I posted this in 2009....

"Earlier in the year, Israel made it known that it would wait until December to see if the United States could produce results on Iran giving up its nuclear weapon program. Negotiations with Iran initially produced quasi-agreements on sending 70% of its enriched uranium to Russia. Iran is dragging its feet on this.

The following is from a February 12, 2010 post....

"....the headlines the next morning on the web were all similar, Iran Is Now A Nuclear Nation! What Iran....had done is formally announce that they had indeed achieved the breakout capability that Scientists describe as the moment when a nation proves it can enrich uranium to weapons grade. This is what Ahmadinejad had announced. They had produced their first product of 20% enriched uranium.....our intelligence agencies, officially, have stated that the earliest Iran could produce a bomb would be around 2013 while various independent scientists have said that they have the capability right now....Iran has the capability to go from 3.5% to 20% enrichment through the centrifuge process. This is the breakout. Advancing to 80% or 90% enrichment is simply a matter of time and this is not a long process. The reliability of Iran's centrifuges is the only hindrance in their producing enough enriched uranium for one bomb now and many others in short order. This is assuming that Iran does not have secret facilities, and that is in no way out of the question. What we have known all along is that Iran has a problem with quantity of uranium to be enriched. Before you relax, the problem is that they do not have enough uranium for uses in nuclear power plants, but they do have enough for producing quite a number of bombs. I have stated many times in this blog that Iran's missile technology is not the most pressing issue with a nuclear weapon, rather who might they give a device to when built, if not already built?"

Folks....these three posts were 17 and 16 and 15 years ago! Our intelligence agencies use what they call....'indicators'....to draw conclusions on how far along Iran is with its nuclear program. In other words it is no more than an educated guess! And if that were not bad enough....Trump has been purging experienced intelligence personnel and scientists....and replacing them with people who are heavy on loyalty but light on experience and knowledge! There were scientists who believed....
15 years ago....that Iran could produce a bomb right then! If Iran all of a sudden says that it is ready for a deal....it could very well be that they have their bomb or bombs....enough of them anyway.

The Love Of Money

                It was a 1967 Burt Bacharach tune that Dusty Springfield turned into a hit. The beginning lyrics which include the title are....

The look of love is in your eyes
A look your smile can't disguise
The look of love
It's saying so much more than just words could ever say.

                 I hope to add a photo later of Trump and Saudi Crown Prince MBS. Trump has that look. He loves the Saudis and other fabulously wealthy sheikdoms....and his sons have been since his second inauguration over there making deals....big deals....that can make the Trump Brand a lot of money.
                 A month ago Benjamin Netanyahu had that look when talking about Trump....only it was more of a puppy love where there is not a whole lot of thinking going on. He is probably pacing the room today. Trump's god is wealth....and he believes that he is this god's prophet.
                 We have to deal with these nation states....and if they are at odds with Iran then we have to try to take advantage of that....but they are never to fully be trusted....and selling them advanced aircraft....especially just to make a deal....is not wise. Things can  change....big time....and fast!
                 There are visitors to these posts from Israel literally every single day....and I've already had some today. They must agree somewhat with my warnings on Trump or they would not be coming back. Christians.....most of us....certainly not all....often have that look of love in our eyes when we talk about the rebirth of Israel....for we know that Jesus will come back for them just when they need Him most....and they will finally recognize their Messiah....for God's Word is very clear on this....in spite....as I alluded to....of there being Christian denominations that are firm in their belief that Israel today....as I heard a pastor recently describe....almost in disdain as...."that little nation in the Middle East."
                  Trump is so confident that he has the Republican Party in his back pocket....and Fox News to have his back....(Fox exists today for one purpose....to twist the news in Trump's favor)....that it appears he is actually going to accept the monstrosity of a gift of that regal and royal jet from the Saudis. Everything about it is absurd and dangerous....and Trump is setting the stage for impeachment charges once again....and this time he may be going to far.
                  As I type this....Drudge has a story on a new....anti-Biden book. You will never find anything against Trump on Fox. A few years ago....oh maybe eight....Trump off the cuff asked the question...."What's going on with Drudge"....for Drudge had always leaned conservative. What happened is that Matt Drudge....as had so many of us....found out who Trump really is!
                  Everything revolves around that...."little nation in the middle East." 1948 was God telling us that we are on the last leg of this journey. As a people....Israel is really no different than us....divided....blind in many ways....rebellious to God....claiming His imprimatur....but unaware that they have followed other gods....and always asking as Judah many times asked of God....and as we at times ask as we are confronted with charges that the glory has departed from our churches....'Us....what have we done....how have we rejected you?" 

Note: Drudge has that photo at the top of his page right now....11:00 AM.

Pope Bob

Preface: Everything about Robert Francis Prevost will be scrutinized....and every word that he says...and with good reason....but for now he kind of looks like a grown up Timmy....from Lassie....John Provost's Lassie!     

                                                                           

        

               I was baptized and raised and confirmed and married in the Catholic church....and attended Catholic schools through high school. Both paternal and maternal families to this day are Catholic. My mother had a St. Anthony statue by her bedside until maybe two years before she passed away in 2015. One day as I visited her....she was watching television.....I said hello and her response was....Special Dog....we have a bad pope. Something....I never knew what....bothered her about what the new Pope Francis was doing.
               My great-grandfather was a protestant minister. He had two sons....one rebelled big time. He married a young Irish Roman Catholic girl....converted to Catholicism....and was a devoted parishioner....until the day he died.....always volunteering around the church. The character of Casper Wiskovitz in my novella that is linked to on this page....is modelled after my grandfather. I rebelled just as did my grandfather....and I was also converted probably at about the same age....thirty-two....only I wasn't converted to a religion. 
                I remember when Pope John XXIII was chosen. Everyone was excited....and then there was Pope Paul VI....and then John Paul I....and then the Polish Pope....John Paul II....who skied and spoke a whole lot of languages. We were excited again. I was out of the loop with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis....the Jesuit. John Paul II was the first pope that we in America were familiar with his first name....Karol....but now....it's a whole new ballgame....no pun intended.
                Unfortunately the great polarized split in America is still there with Pope Leo XIV....or Pope Bob....who we in America can call him....for everyone knew him as Father Bob. I read earlier in the day that he was a Cubs fan....and then I read that no....he was a White Sox fan! He may or may not ski....but he was a tennis player! And he also speaks a number of languages.
                This is the first time in America where Catholics might be able to say....'I went to school with the Pope....or I bullied the pope....or the pope bullied me? He and I might have been at the 1964 World's Fair in New York at the same time! He graduated from Villanova in 1977....and I graduated from Pitt in 1976, Maybe he attended the same....Peace and Conflict Studies conference at Harvard that I did in....I'm guessing 1974? He would remember....I was too inebriated to recall anything. 
                 My point here is that Italians were used to it....a local bishop becoming the Pope....to us it was always a foreigner....someone almost not really real. Someone saintly....not someone who watched Saturday Night Live and All In The Family. That's one thing that came to my mind today when I heard that there would be the first American pope. How will it affect Catholics who are already struggling with their church? Americans will not need to decipher the short speeches that were always given by a foreign pope....now they can listen to an hour-long interview....or maybe Joe Rogan will interview him....but more likely Anderson Cooper....but then again....Maybe Hannity?

The Weather Channel....(Available Upon Subscription Only)....But The Forecast Is Still In The Word Of God

                It's the first century.....maybe you are a fisherman for a living....on the Sea of Galilee....or maybe you are a centurion....or the wife of a centurion. I don't know what the life expectancy was back then but it surely was shorter than ours today. Whatever it was....the progression was the same....husband and wife....children....they have children....and their children have children.....and then they die....not a whole lot different than today.
                This isn't going to resonate with young people....or even the middle aged....but I hope that it does with the rest of us. Think about your favorite movie from when you were growing up....maybe Casablanca....or....It's A Wonderful Life....then think of the cast....three or four of them were probably movie stars....add to that your favorite television show.....maybe it was Bonanza. Guess what? They're all dead! You would think we would figure it out by now that fame and riches may be desirable....but they are short lived....and then comes judgment!
                I am not being facetious....and I'm not trying to be humorous....I'm as serious as a dead rat....and I'm 75 years old....and as the insurance commercial goes...."I've seen a thing or two." To the evangelical who leads a life of living in a gated community....attending the most popular church in the area....with just enough free time from being a soccer mom or coaching Little League to lead a weekly Bible study....(except in the summer....see you in the fall)....and shout more for your college football team than you ever did for Jesus Christ....and go to the early service....(the most popular churches always have two services)....on the Lord's Days in the fall....so that you make the tailgate party....if this is you....you are a prisoner of your own imagination....and a captive of this age of ignorance. 
                 Just for once....sit down and think about how absurd it is to have a Savior....who is God Himself come down to dwell among us....who then knows that He will be crucified....not so much to save you....for you haven't quite come to grips with this hell and judgment thing yet....but more importantly to make it that you can be blessed with things every day of your lives....the greatest blessing of which may be that you were not born in China or Russia or Syria or Nigeria or Pakistan or India!
                 So back to that fisherman in Galilee....who may have wound up living in catacombs below the city of Rome. Folks....there is Cat 5 hurricane coming in on top of a  9.9 earthquake....and you are not aware of it....because your session or your church board of directors or your pastor cancelled the cable subscription to the Weather Channel because the forecasts were upsetting too many people....but the forecast is still right there in the Word of God!

DISPATCHES

First it was bars....then sporting events....and trips to see his girlfriend....and now it's reported that he cut way back on daily briefings. This is the head of the FBI. The other side always tries to come up with something on opponents....at times there is no truth there....at times it is all truth. Kash Patel needs investigated....somehow....and if he is just playing around with this position then get him out....and Trump will appoint another crony....maybe Hulk Hogan....and if he is the same then get rid of him....until Trump is forced to put up a legitimate nominee. If Patel is doing the job....then let's go on....but we have to make sure.

Trump yesterday fired the acting head of FEMA....because in testimony before Congress he said that it would be wrong to eliminate the agency. They asked his opinion....he gave it. Do you see what happened here for the umpteenth time under Trump....if you do not toe the line perfectly....you are out....you are to have no mind of your own!

Trump is floating the name of Stephen Miller....as National Security Adviser! This is more nonsense....a computer game....build your own government. Trump would want him in there....not for any national security strengths and experience....but to keep an eye on the rest of those attending National Security Council meetings....to make sure that no one ever gets any ideas of doubting Trump. I'm adding at the bottom of this post....a post from 2020 on a biography that came out on Stepehen Miller:

O Can...ada....just a brief thought on Trump and this Canada nonsense. It is so epically absurd that it has not even been worth talking about. It's just Trump being his absurd self. He says things just about every day of his life that shows a mind that has never been fully developed. The real surprise is that people actually take him seriously....but on Canada....they are a proud nation of their own....and even if they thought they needed some kind of merger....why on earth would they want to be part of this mess? I would never have called us a mess ten years ago....but this administration is totally screwed up....and we apparently have no one in Congress to stand up to this man....(OK maybe two or three)....and few pastors to tell the sheep that they just invited a wolf in for supper....and guess who is going to be supper?

"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." That was Barack Obama in 2008. He never did fundamentally transform America....Trump did. So why didn't Trump do this in his first term? Some people theorize that he saw all the mistakes that he made back then....and this time he wasn't going to make those mistakes. It has to be more than that. We have all heard this word used to describe Trump....he is....vile....he always has been vile. He is a destroyer....and he is a deceiver....but there has to be more than even that. A clue might be January 6, 2021. I was watching that morning....not expecting anything....I just wanted to see what was happening on the ellipse....that had been in all the news. I've posted on this often. What I heard from the speakers at the microphone....and what I saw in the crowd reaction....was....as I posted at the time...."unnerving." I had to turn the television off....and this was before Trump finished his speech! Something happened to Trump that day....for before that he was just....vile....after that day he became possessed of something or for something.

Trump knows how to manipulate people....and he knows how to get his way....but he is not a very smart man. He's had bankruptcies and almost lost his empire....which he wouldn't have had to begin with without his father's money. If he wasn't so good at getting his own way he would have been in jail by now....many times over.....and now he is using his position in the White House....for himself and his brand....that surely will be investigated tooth and nail....if and when he finally pushes the envelope too far in his authoritarian measures. Trying to double and triple his wealth while president....and as the world is at the precipice....is not smart.

Are you a gambler? Of course your aren't....for you are a Christian....and Christians do not gamble. This disastrous mess that Trump has made in our government....and what is happening every day....is nothing but a gamble. He is gambling with China and Russia and the economy and the lives of all of us. Of course you do not know this because his foot soldiers at Fox and on radio and podcasts spin everything to make it sound like something it is not. So you who put this man in office and brought him back....you indeed are gamblers after all.

Evangelicals today are gamblers anyway....and the stakes are their eternal souls. There is evidence out there....in church history....and God's Word.....which tells us very clearly that if one is born again then one will and must be separate....for he or she is no longer of this world....but as the church compromised....so did our interpretation of the gospel of Jesus Christ....the result being that all we have to do today is say that we are Christian....and maybe go to church....and we are then free to waste our lives in stadiums....and politics....making it sure that we can continue to go to our stadiums at our leisure.....and we call all of this....freedom and liberty....but as I put in a post many years ago...."We are not as the Roman Empire falling, we are as the Roman Empire beginning whose gods are numerous, whose Caesars consolidate powers given by a populace that only wants another day at the Coliseum. God's hand is being lifted and the exhilaration of choosing our own destiny emboldens us to stare into the eyes of Caesar and say not, "Give me liberty or give me death" but "Give me liberty to choose my own death."

Addendum: August of 2020 post that was titled...."Something Is Missing"

             "So many have left the Trump administration on bad terms....to say the least.....some fired on twitter because the man whose career was saved from oblivion by The Apprentice....where he fired someone on television every week....and who in real life cannot empathize nor is he compassionate....delegates or distances himself from the dirty work.
             Mnuchin has survived but there is no surprise there for both he and Trump have only one pratical interest....that being money....and Vice President Pence has too many evangelicals behind him....but there is really only one man who has the same killer instinct as Trump.
             To look at him you would think that he is in his 40s....but it wasn't that long ago that his political aspirations started to bud in high school with talk show host Larry Elder as his mentor....and later started to blossom under David Horowitz. SNL portrayed him in their skits as a Cobra popping up out of a wicker basket. We all know his name....and hear his words come out of Donald Trump's mouth....Stephen Miller.
              I passed up the book when it first came out as the title....HATE MONGER....Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda....seemed a little over the top....and I already had a book in hand at Barnes & Noble this past Tuesday....when I decided to give it another look....and picked it up. I'm well over seventy books now on Donald Trump....books for him....books against him....books by him....but this one by Jean Guerrero is a must read to more fully understand Donald Trump's rise to power.
              Guerrero appears to be the Left's version of Branden Darby....both passionate....both well informed. She interviewed more than 150 people....most who were either Miller "friends, family or colleagues." If they said something good about Miller it was in the book....if they gave opinions on why Stephen Miller is who he is.....or if they are outright critical....it's in the book also.
              The author starts way back with Miller's lineage....with an emphasis on the maternal line....in nearby to me....Johnstown Pennsylvania....but Miller's high school days in Santa Monica are where the man was created. We see him....with the notoriety he garnered from his high school protests....head off to Washington....move up the ladder....wind up with Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions....become involved with Breitbart....controversies all along the way....and finally....and extraordinarily....become candidate and President Trump's chief ideological marketer. 
               We see Steve Bannon go....but Stephen Miller stay....which meant that Donald Trump would never grow into the job....but dehumanize it. Bannon marketed ideas....but Miller marketed fear. Watch him at your leisure on YouTube....as his continuous pounding of factoid after factoid...done with either a condescending smile or verbal attack....this apparently going all the way back to high school....is more a power show than a debate. 
               You can see Miller in the supposedly great speeches that President Trump has given....the inauguration....state of the unions....and Poland. President Kennedy had great speechwriters....as did President Reagan....but the patriotism was real with these men....with Donald Trump it is but a marketing strategy....for there is something missing in Stephen Miller....the same thing is missing in Donald Trump....something that has to come with maturity....something that works to fend off disastrous consequences."