Who Knew....Part Two

As a personal preference....I cannot think of too many things more enjoyable than conversation with another Christian on our God, our Savior and His written Word to us. Conversely....to spend an hour or so with a brother in Christ and not talk about our shared faith is more than disappointing. The following post from December of 2012 is a simple dialogue. Betty and John Hunter are their way to visit Jen and Tom Ayers. They know each other but as it turns out....not as well as they thought. What I want to do here in this post is take the same concept and apply it a little bit differently. I'll title the post which directly follows what is below....Who Knew Part II

Who Knew? (December of 2012)

One Act Play...sort of.

Betty: Where's your smile John?
John: This is my smile.
Betty: I know better than that.
John: I know. I like Tom. It's just....It's all hunting and sports with him.
Betty: What about me? Jen is like... almost a chef...(pausing) But they were nice enough to ask us over.
John: I just hope that I don't have to look at more pictures of Tom crouching over a dead deer.

Meanwhile at the home of Tom and Jen Ayers.

Jen: Tom! Try to smile. They're nice people. It's not going to be that bad.
Tom: Jen. I know they are nice but we have nothing in common. John is a contractor. Going to Lowe's is like sitting in the dentist's chair to me. And Betty...Her conversation is all triglycerides, blood pressure and vitamins while I haven't been to a doctor in my life.
Jen: (Peeking through the drapes as a light flashed outside) They're here...be nice.
Tom: I'm always nice!

 Betty and John enter with a bottle of wine as a gift.

Jen: Thank-you. Ooh, Tears of Gettysburg. It's one of my favorite wines!
Tom: Hi John. How's everything?
John: Hi Tom. Fine. How's everything with you?
Tom: Good.
Betty: It's just about to rain. My Arthritis always acts up in damp weather.
Jen: Well we have dry heat. Maybe you won't notice?

Jen served up a beautiful (there's no other word for it) vegetable plate and dip. and Tom didn't have to show pictures, for a mounted deer head was hanging a foot over John's head at the table. Tom felt obliged to comment.

John: Wow! Get that this year Tom?
Tom: Yeah....ten point. I was only an hour in the woods.
Betty: This dip is great Jen.
Jen: I'll give you the recipe Betty and walk you step by step through it.
Tom: What have you been up to John?
John: I'm remodelling the kitchen. The house is a disaster area right now.

An hour into the visit and John's complete design was laid out for Betty and Tom. Tom then started talking about his golf game. John just smiled and nodded not having the slightest idea what a slice was. Jen took Betty into the kitchen to prepare the dip while Betty analyzed the ingredients to see how the the evening would affect her triglycerides. The four then retreated to the living room and Tom was happy to get out from under the mounted dear head.

John: Whew! It's 9:30. Maybe we ought to be heading home Betty?
Betty: Well, church in the morning. We go to a 9 AM service.
Tom: Where do you go to church?
John: First Reformed Presbyterian in Lawrenceville. How about you?
Jen: We go to First Baptist right here!
Betty: Do you have a good preacher there?
Tom: Betty, he preaches the Cross of Christ every week. I don't know what I'd do without it.
John: That's unusual Tom...preaching Christ.....We're blessed too. I don't think that we have ever had a Lord's Day where the Gospel wasn't preached. We had spent five years in a church previous to First Reformed Presbyterian where the Gospel was never really preached; the name of Jesus was everywhere but nothing about our lost condition and Christ's atoning work on the cross.
Jen: Hey! Can you two stay a little bit longer. I'd like to go into the den and show you Tom's bookshelves. Have you ever heard of Michael Horton?

John: Jen, we were on a White Horse Inn cruise in April and had conversations with all of those guys! I'd like to see the books. Got any decaf coffee?
Tom: It'll only take a few minutes. What about getting up early?
Betty: Ah...we both had afternoon naps today...Right John?
John: I'm not tired at all.

John and Betty then spent and additional two and a half hours at the homes of their friends. In the car on the way home the conversation went like this:

John. Ya know. I really like Tom. He's a wonderful brother in Christ.
Betty: When do you think the kitchen will be done so we can ask them over?
John: The kitchen doesn't have to be done. I already asked Tom about coming over next week. You don't mind do you?
Betty: No! We'll just put some plastic up over the doorway to the kitchen.

Meanwhile back at Tom and Jen's:

Jen: How about that Tom, and I just love Betty. What a wonderful time tonight!
Tom: I was wrong about John. Yeah he has those interests but I never knew that they paled next to his Christian faith.
Jen: Who knew
Tom: Yeah. Who knew?

WHO KNEW....Part Two

Toni: Where's your smile Jim?
Jim:   This is my smile.
Toni:  I know better than that.

Jim:   I know. I like Pete a lot. It's just that all that talk about politics...all the time....and it's the same conversation and topics.
Toni: Well it's the same with Linda. If it's not the schools it's the library and if it's not the library it's something else.
Jim:   Listen to us talking about our best friends....not only friends but wonderful Christian friends!
Toni:  I want to get together with them....but I feel guilty every time the evening is over.

Meanwhile in the car pulling into the driveway....

Linda:  Try to smile. They're our best friends....and we love them.
Pete:     I just feel that I'm letting them down. I'm no help to them.
Linda:   I know....but how can we have best friends and they probably don't even know that much about  us?
Pete:     It's not only Toni and Jim....I don't think that I've had a real edifying conversation with another Christian in....I don't even remember when.

the dog begins to bark...

Linda:   They're here.....smile.
Pete:      I'm tired of smiling.

Jim and Toni brought a small plant as a gift....and the dessert. The meal that Linda prepared was wonderful. The four of them laughed all evening. Jim and Pete took off for a while to walk around yard as Pete showed Jim his new riding lawn mower. Meanwhile Linda and Toni just gabbed. Both couples attended the same church....in fact that's how they met about ten years previous....and the kids went to the same school. So at 10:00....they knew that it was probably time to wrap it up....so that they all could get up early in the morning....get the kids dressed....and head off to church.

Jim:    Well it's ten o'clock....
Pete:   And all's well!

Toni:   Yeah all's well.

It was Linda's turn in this little ditty...she paused....

Linda:  All's well that ends well.

She paused again as everyone was silent at that odd comment....Linda sensed this and continued...

Linda:  Maranatha....Lord Jesus come!

Toni looked at Linda a little startled...

Linda:  Yes Lord....come tonight!

Pete:     Have mercy on us Lord for what we have become!

Jim:      Open our eyes Lord.....forgive us Lord....prepare us Lord for what is to come!

It was as if....as if....the Holy Spirit had come down upon the four of them....as if the room was now a holy place! One after another their comments continued....

Lord blow away this fog....show us how near Thou art

Awaken us Lord....awaken me to the trivialities that have put me to sleep

Move upon Thy church Lord as a heavy wind upon the stalks of wheat

Move upon Thy shepherds Lord....give them courage to break away

Call Thy remnant together Lord....let us recognize one another

Call us out of the world Lord....forgive us for dallying

Reveal to us Lord the nearness of Thy coming

Give us boldness to proclaim Thy coming Lord....take our fear away

Lord we praise Thee....not for the blessings but for the mercies and the patience

Lord we praise Thee in that Thy will is perfect....show us Thy will Lord

This spontaneous praise and thanksgiving went on and on for what seemed like an hour. Indeed it was nearing eleven o'clock. For the first time they looked up at each other....and for the first time saw each other for who they really were! It was as if Jim saw Pete for the very first time....and Pete saw Jim....and Jim saw Linda....and Pete saw Toni....and Toni saw Pete...and Toni saw Linda....and Linda saw Jim....and Linda saw Toni....all for the first time. 

They all....all four of them....the two couples....had kept to themselves that they believed that Jesus was at the very door....and because of that....guilt had overwhelmed them after they met together!

There was no explanation needed as they embraced at the door....they had been freed from some sort of bondage. Pete and Linda rejoiced on their way home....and Jim and Toni as they closed the door and turned out the lights. 

And each of them....all four of them....as they lay their heads on their pillows that night....could only wonder in that they were so near as couples....and as brothers and sisters in Christ....and yet so far away!

Lord's Day Post

The following post is from October 4 of 2009.

Is This You?

          So you are over 30 years old... a husband and father, You are established in your job and there is a regular crew of friends that you and your wife get together with on weekends. You have a church that you are members of and attend regularly. The kids have their Sunday School. You are living the American Dream, but there are a couple of problems that are nagging at you more and more. The first is that the American Dream may turn into a nightmare. You can handle this but it is your children that you are worried about. It gets worse. The second problem is that you are coming to believe that there is more to this God thing than you had always believed. Sure, you never considered denying God, that wasn't necessary. Nothing in your life was so compromising that you were forced to either become antagonistic towards religion or change your life. There is a peace that comes over you when you consider Jesus as Savior and not just a name. There is something rock solid about that Bible you pick up when alone but that peace vanishes when you think of how you could be lumped with those weird born agains if you take this any further.
          There has to be a middle way. No, you know that there isn't for you have been living the middle way and there is no peace there, no Savior and no Word of God. This problem has been going on for a while. You tried the conservative politics way where you openly deplore the anti-God people, thereby placing you in the God camp, but that only increases the guilt of keeping God at arms length. You blame the Christian that you work with for not being perfect and you blame your wife for not dragging you further towards this Christ, thereby making it a little bit easier on you, but like Jimmy Buffet's song, the excuses don't work and you know that it is your own fault.
          Here is some advice to consider. You start by being honest. Ask forgiveness of your wife for not being the head of the family and insuring that God was the center of your family. At the very next family meal, you tell the children that as a family you are going to thank God for the food on the table for it is a blessing from Him. You tell them that from this day forward you are going to try to acknowledge God in every area of your lives. They are going to see you studying your Bible every night and when you have learned enough, you are going to teach them yourself.
          At work your task is a little bit more difficult. You wait for the first time that a negative comment is made about born again Christians, it won't take long, and you simply say I myself am moving towards these people. I've neglected God. I see myself in need of Him now and won't neglect Him anymore.
          As for church, this is the hardest problem of all. You know that you may eventually have to leave where you are but haven't the slightest idea where to go. In due time you will know enough to find a church with other Christians of like mind, most of whom have travelled the path you are about to take. Are you worried about the embarrassment for you and your family should you fail? I don't blame you for you have seen others fail and it's not a pretty sight. The good news is that it is God's task to keep you from discouragement such that you would fail, and He Himself never, ever fails!
          You know what trust is, right? Your children trust you in how many things? In this case, you are the one that must trust. How do I know this? I've been there. The day will come when you will thank God every day, throughout every day, for His mercies and for the joy He has given you. These steps that I mentioned are only personal advice, but what is not just advice is the trust. If you are having these feelings about God's goodness, the God whom you have neglected, then God is moving within you right now! If one could not trust God... then he would be no God. Do you have any plans on giving up on loving and protecting your family? Of course not, and you are but a mere mortal. Just one Scripture verse for you should you decide to set out for the Celestial City as Bunyan's Christian did in Pilgrim's Progress.... Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?

         

"For They Have Not Rejected You....(Samuel)....But They Have Rejected Me....(the LORD)....From Being King Over Them."

Preface: "It was thirteen and a half years ago that I wrote this post....in January of 2012. Little did I realize back then that although half of America had frittered away their heritage....that the other half....us....including evangelicalism....had to follow suit. In 1 Samuel 8:7....after God told Samuel to yield to the people who wanted a king to rule over them....the LORD said this to Samuel...."Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." That is exactly what we have done today." 

I have a vivid imagination when I want....but back in January of 2012....at the end of Barack Obama's first term....I could not have envisioned or even wildly fantasized what we as a people and a government have turned into.

America......Free......Free Fallin'

          Dawn breaks and pull by pull the flag rises until its stars and stripes blend into the red sky. The 21st century America cold front collides with the warm heritage of American liberty. Dark clouds form above the eagle perched atop the pole and the flag snaps as the winds begin another day of adding to the tatters and waiting for the rain that month by month fades the blue and red hues that Americans have savored as the taste of freedom for so long.

          An icy chill settles in the bones of the one raising the flag for he knows that its stars and stripes will be indiscernible before long. He looks down to see if the cracks in the foundation supporting the pole have widened from the tremors that increasingly shake America...they have. He steps back, standing as erect as he can under the burden of seeing his nation collapse, and salutes; a tear forming as he knows that he may be the last to perform this duty. His mind wanders from, first...the drum and piper escorting the newly created flag, to the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's poem, to the charging Union soldier picking up the banner dropped by a fallen comrade in arms, to the lifting of the flagpole on Mt. Suribachi, to the camo flag on the fatigues of the grunt in Vietnam, to the brilliant contrast of red, white and blue with the gray mountain of fallen steel, brick and mortar of the World Trade Center, to the first responders rushing up those flights of stairs. to the lone flag now raised in the Green Zone of Baghdad.

          In only a few hours cheers and shouts will be heard off in the distance, not for returning heroes, not as a President passes by, not as a war ends in victory but for the beginning of a football game. The Star Spangled Banner will play and be sung by the latest celebrity seeking a national spotlight but not a word of its lyrics will resonate with the power it had since Fort McHenry. 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." All the while the remaining Christians gather in their catacombs wondering if God's mercies on America are over; imploring of Him one more time for America to be a beacon to the nations, a people that not only openly proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind but evidence the beneficence, mercy, majesty, power and glory of Him who created the universe and without whom not one molecule would continue to exist.

          It was a marvel and a wonder while it existed in its original form....these United States of America, but now they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd. They are a people once different as night and day in their habits and their speech that bonded together as a new entity...Americans, freed from the tyranny of kings, freed from serfdom and most importantly freed from the lie that man is the master of his fate, the captain of his soul, but that freedom, once defended, is now merely petted in the lap of luxury, "Free" as the famous rocker penned..."Free Fallin'." The American Creed, never spoken but always evident, is now but a liberal screed against God, against tradition, and against history itself.

          The sun, obscured throughout the day by clouds, sets in the West. The rain that would normally give life to the fields, runs off of the frozen, barren and lifeless ground. The flag is lowered and gently folded into the shape of a tri-cornered hat, one of the last vestiges that remain of the fight for independence. No Taps is heard, only the music of the night coming from wherever the revelers gather after the game. The winds die down, no longer needed, for the flag has been taken down, while angels sent by God prepare to blow their trumpets.

The Rider On This White Horse Is Not Bringing Good News!

                Expanding a little on the post below on calculating the number of the Beast....there are multiple avenues to begin....this is just one....and I am using very simply concepts....just to get you thinking. The sixth chapter of Revelation reveals the first four seal judgements....otherwise known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I only want to mention the first horse and horseman here...."And I looked, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."
               So we have a rider on a white horse. The traditional way of interpreting this passage is that the rider is Jesus Christ returning to conquer....of which the judgments of the next three horses emanate. The alternate interpretation is that the rider signifies the Antichrist....or a false religion....certainly something malicious....but not Christ.
               I have looked at this for over forty years....and have tried to see the validity of the first interpretation....but cannot see it. This rider is not good news.....it is someone coming to conquer....and it is a king or ruler of some sort....which leads to the rest of the judgments that begin with war.
               Continuing on with the presumption that the rider on the white horse may be the Antichrist....what we see very clearly is that he is coming out to conquer.
               The Antichrist may indeed not be on the scene as of yet....but if he is....who out there can be described in the same way....that he is coming out to conquer? The number one person on this earth today who fills that description perfectly is Donald Trump. 
                This is a different Trump than in his first term where he took advantage of the situation of the departure of the Democrats ruling the economy....applied the results to himself....and made blunder after blunder....ending in disgrace. This today is a new Trump....who if you had to give one and only one description of his second term....it would be that he is coming out to conquer....everyone and everything....using any methods.
                  So along the lines of some of the things I put in the post that is below this....Donald John Trump is a legitimate....let's say potential candidate for the Antichrist. Consider this also....Trump is already proven to be a genuine biblical false prophet who has prophesied for ten years now the exact opposite of what God's Word tells us is directly ahead for America and the world. Consider that he has led evangelicalism totally astray from following and trusting in Christ....consider that every warning the New Testament gives as for people to stay away from....Donald Trump is a carbon copy....and consider that when the Apostle John wrote about many antichrists that will come....leading the church astray....and being an enemy of Christ....Donald Trump fills that bill also. 
                  This type of exercise is in line with what God is telling us to do. It shows that we have a desire for the return in power and glory of Jesus Christ along with His mighty angels. It strengthens us....but as with so many other areas it comes with a caveat to keep control of our thinking....to keep everything in perspective as to what we need right now....not to burn our bridges....and to have patience and trust and a continued great hope in the coming of our great Lord and Savior and King!

Afterthought: What I am primarily trying to impart to you here is not the possible identity of the future Antichrist....for there is so much on this that we do not as yet know....as much as this....that this man who evangelicals have chosen as their hope....who multitudes of pastors pray that he might succeed....is in fact a legitimate possible future Antichrist. That should shake up some readers....for if they are wrong on whether Trump is a blessing or a curse....if there is even the chance....then the allegiance they have given to him....may be allegiance given to an enemy of the gospel of Jesus Christ! It should at least give the reader pause....to pray to God for discernment!

And We Should Be Calculating....Almost On A Regular Basis

 "Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; His number is 666." Revelation 13:18 NKJV

               This verse is for you....that is if you are a believer. It has in a way always been for the believer....but it was written as if it were for today....June 14....2025. I write this because the antichrist is an adult on the earth today.
                I expect that the day will come when God's children....young and old....great and small....will clearly see the final calculation....but we are not there yet....but we can begin a nominating process....if fact there has been nominations offered going back to the beginning of the church.
               Pakistan recently nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for what he may have done when Pakistan and India were on the brink of war. The Prime Minister of India did not agree with the nomination. Well yesterday....Pakistan withdrew that same nomination because of what Trump did to Iran.
               Mikhail Gorbachev was a great nomination at one time for a possible Antichrist. Now there was a man of peace....with a mark on his forehead....that one commentator described as resembling the Hebrew number 6....with drops of blood emanating from it!
               Barack Obama was another good nomination. In 2008....while the Democrat Convention was held in a smaller venue....80,000 gathered at Mile High stadium in Denver....for Obama to accept the nomination. Mind-boggling isn't? I remember distinctly....and I posted on it later....when Rush Limbaugh was following Trump as one would a leader of a cult....that Rush once described the fanatical following for Obama....as a cult! Anyway....whatever the real name of the stadium was....those 80,000 and Obama could look up at the 27' statue of a bucking white horse. The mold used was that of Roy Roger's horse....Trigger. If that wasn't enough...the platform that Obama had designed to speak from in the stadium....had an earie resemblance to the Pergamon Alter....also known as the Altar of Zeus....and in Revelation as...."Satan's throne." Look the two photos up. That altar was long ago disassembled....and transported to Berlin....and reassembled in its own museum. The German Fuhrer had Albert Speer design that famous Nuremburg parade ground....and Speer used the Pergamon Alter as a model.
                 Let me conclude this post with another verse from Revelation that is hard to argue with as to its simple meaning....the third verse in that blessed book...."Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near." 
                 

"Next Question?"

                Why would Ted Cruz agree to an interview with Tucker Carlson? Carlson likes to play dumb at times....with his facial expression turning in an instant to perplexity....as if his line of repeated questioning was not all planned.....and he did that to Cruz. The topic was the Christian church's relationship to the state of Israel and the Jewish people. It was politically motivated....for he had to trap Cruz into appearing to not even know what he believed. Carlson is probably the worst of the worst of journalists.
                Senator Cruz's answer....though so basic that it came out as childish....was fine. He could go no further than repeating that God's Word said that those who bless Israel will be blessed....and those who curse Israel will be cursed. He was a childlike believer in this....simply trusting in what God's Word said....and letting the theologians argue out the details. This isn't addressing politics or bombing Iran. It is only saying that God's hand is on these people....and now this state of Israel....for blessings....and also...for judgments. Our part is to realize that God is at work here....and that in spite of Israel's sins....and many weaknesses and foibles....their enemies are historic and demonic haters not only of Israel and anyone who might help them....but haters of the true God who has already condemned them to the fiery pit....forever and ever.
                 In my theological background I know a lot of people....usually pastors or others who spend a lot of time in theology....who could not care less what happens to Israel....for to them the state of Israel has no relevance whatsoever to the Christian. Personally....I don't spend a lot of time trying to prove my opinion on this....for it is a trap....or a time-wasting snare that we can be caught up into,.
                From what I see in God's Word it is one of those things that is easy to discern....God has not totally given up on the Jewish people. That seems to be the God that I know of in scripture who mercifully saved my own soul...the lowest of the low....and most unlovable of the unlovable. I praise and thank God for His merciful promises to the people who rejected Him two-thousand years ago. 
                   So....research this topic all you want if you wish. I'll just give you one little video here...only a minute long. Observe if you will R. C. Sproul's reaction to the question. He answers it simply and matter-of-factly....and the crowd reacts with some gentle laughter. You can almost hear R. C. then saying...."Next question?'

                                                                    

                                     

We Are In The Midst Of A Famine Right Now

Preface: I was out doing errands....and was on a local Christian college where I occasionally leave something little for students that has the URL for this website on it. Over the many years it has been everything from pens to notebooks....and now it is bookmarks with a list of the books of the Bible. While walking quickly and passing these out I received a weather alert to take shelter....for there could be wind gusts up to 80 mph. I got home in time to watch a hundred foot tall maple bending as I've never seen it bend in over forty years. I had been praying on the way home. The damage so far has been minimal but there is another storm coming later. I have a brother-in-law who many years ago parked his Mercedes convertible at a park....this in Florida....and took a nice walk in the beautiful weather. A thunderstorm and deluge came quickly and by the time he made it back to his car....with the top down....the car was half full of water....and the insurance company totaled it. Weather alerts can be life saving blessings....and so much more of a blessing is the alerts that God gives us in His word. They are not with a shrill sound....but with a still small voice from the words of Scripture....a calm voice in our mind as we read but one packed with intense warnings! Instead of carrying an iPhone....we carry so to speak our Bible....and it does not vibrate....but the Christian upon reading faithfully as we should be doing should feel the intensity of the message. Alas we seem to value our iPhone today more than God's Word....but as in the book of Amos below....God as if tells His hearers that after the storm has passed and the carnage lay everywhere....He will still take us up and shelter us from that which endangers our soul!

                It was certainly one of the biggest earthquakes in history....8.2 is the most often used numeration. There is archeological evidence galore that it indeed happened....and that it covered a large area....and probably centered in what is today....Lebanon.
               The prophet Amos....a simple herdsman....began his prophecy by writing...."two years before the earthquake".....and Zechariah....maybe 250 years later still referred to that earthquake....as being during the time of King Uzziah.
                So Amos prophesied destruction upon Damascus and Gaza (the Philistines) and Tyre and Edom and Ammon and Moab and Edom and Israel and Judah....and he detailed what they had done to get God's anger to such a degree. Amos saw the destruction in multiple visions....and wrote about this later pointing out that he had these visions....two years before the earthquake. There was no need for him to try to describe a particular earthquake....for this was truly the....mother of all earthquakes.
               Chapter six should get our attention in America....for we have been for a long time...."at ease in Zion"....proud of our power...."I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it." (6:8) Here Amos is prophesying a future judgment....and also....unbeknownst to him....another future judgment after that....which would be us today....for we also sleep on our beds of ivory....so to speak....stretch out on our couches....eat and drink and be merry....all the while having no compassion on our brothers who are not safe under the great and powerful king....commissioned by God Himself to make us great again....or so we believe.
                So is there another earthquake coming in the same area? Yes....and even greater than the one during the life of Amos....as even the Mount of Olives will split in two....and we likewise are given warnings before the earthquake....and ignoring those warnings....just as did Judah and Israel.
                 There is much more than an earthquake coming....and the judgments have already begun. As you read through Amos....if you should choose to do so....you will find some interesting verses to meditate upon. You will read in 3:7...."Surely the LORD God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to his servants the prophets"....and God has indeed though men like Billy Graham warned us for a half a century. 
                  You will read where God told the Israelites to go ahead and offer their sacrifices and pray and give offerings....in Bethel....where they set up pagan idols to worship....kind of like us with Old Glory hanging just feet away from the pulpit. (4:4, 5:5)
                  God told them that He already sent many judgments upon them....one being plagues....or in our case a pandemic....yet we still did not turn from our idols. God told them that he despises their feast days and does not savor their sacred assemblies. (5:21)
                   The people told Amoz....this mere herdsman....with no credentials....to get lost....to go back to his own land....that they had their king!
                    The Lord's hand of mercy is also extended to the people....but not before Amoz prophesied of a day...."Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God....'that I will send a famine on the land....not a famine of bread....nor a thirst for water....but a hearing the words of the LORD'." (8:11)
                    The above famine of the Word of God is today folks. How was your sermon two days ago? Were you humbled under the holiness and judgments of God? Were you warned of the evil days that we live in? Were you told to look to that day when Jesus returns in great power and glory.....revealed to the whole world as One whom they rejected? Did your knees shake at times under the message....were there any tears either in the pulpit or in your own eyes? Probably not....but there was most likely an abundance of laughter and gaiety.....signifying....evidence of....brothers and sisters....that....famine of the Word of God.

R. C. Sproul has a wonderful YouTube video available on Amos and Hosea....Dust To Glory....Amos and Hosea.

                                                                            

                 
               

At Least Read The Passages Through A Couple Of Times

                So let's look at Israel and God's Word. There are a couple of ways that you can go about this. You can simply check your church's or your denomination's doctrine on this....or you can read a prophecy book or two....there's not a whole lot of work involved....and let it go at that....and go back to what is really important in your life.....whatever that may be....or you can read God's Word with the rectitude of a Christian that actually believes that God's Word can speak directly to us? Denominational traditions can serve a purpose....for not having them can be an invitation to confusion and even chaos.....but if not constantly checked....and reformed if necessary....semper reformanda....'Reformed and always reforming'....they can be nothing but....traditions....and as Tevye from Fiddler On The Roof would sing and humorously question at the beginning of that 1971 Academy Award winning musical...."Tradition! Tradition! Tradition! Tradition! Tradition! Tradition! You may ask, why did this tradition get started? I'll tell you why-I don't know."
                 From what I see....without someone telling me what I see....it is very clear....Israel would one day return as a people and a nation to their land....God would sustain them and protect them....even though they would be surrounded by those who hate them....and even though they were still in abject rebellion to Him....for He has a purpose....and that purpose is to not totally reject them....but to have mercy upon them at the end of days....through much tribulation. And that is where we are today.
                 What Israel is experiencing right now is thoroughly existential....their very existence is on the line.  It should turn them to the God that they once knew....for thousands of years ago....God did separate the waters for them to pass over....and He did send Haman to the gallows and not Mordecai....and the Angel of the LORD did kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night....and Gideon did see their enemy fight and kill each other in confusion....but He also brought about the judgments that He warned of through the prophets!
                 If I should say to you....Luke 21.....what would you think? Quickly! Nothing? What if I add Mark 13? Hmm....OK the third one is easy....Mathew 24 and 25. Right now....what is this the first day of summer....2025? The passages from these four chapters in these three gospels....should be second nature to us now. We should almost have them memorized....for they are the map that we are traveling right now. This is that which is known as the....Olivet Discourse. 
                 These passages should be the topic of synods and Bible studies and cell groups! What more could you want as evidence. Jesus gave a detailed description of what it will be like upon His return....and we can see them happening now! Jesus even tells them...."So you....when you see these things happening"....Jerusalem surrounded by armies for one...."Know that the kingdom of God is near." Signs in the sun and the moon and the start? We've almost got nothing but signs in the sun and the moon and the stars this last decade!
                  Verse 34 of Luke 21 warns us....keep playing around and these things will come upon us unexpectantly! That means....watch and pray and take heed....and they will not come upon us unexpectantly!
                  Let me slide on over to 1 Thessalonians to conclude this post....chapter 5....verses 2 and 3. This day....that day....the day of the Lord....is coming as a thief in the night. That's a phrase that is etched in our minds....and people will be celebrating a supposed peace and safety....but something else is going to happen....and we are not to be in darkness! 
                  Let me give you another Latin phrase....that I stored up way back when I was trying to guide our son in high school....tolle lege...."take up and read".....that's the phrase that the great Augustine heard repeated....from the mouths of children! So he took up and read. Will you at least do that for the three renderings in Matthew and Mark and Luke....of what we know today as the....Olivet Discourse?

                  
                 

OJT

                 The origin of this movement was earlier.....but the late 1980s is a good place to start the description. A zealous minister's church begins to grow and a newer and bigger building is going to be needed. There is nothing wrong with this. There were a couple of times when Spurgeon's deacons had to sit down and figure out how they were going to seat the growing congregation.
                  A new church growth discipline was established....no different than any company with a good product that seeks the brightest minds to cause the company stock to soar. Crosses disappear from the new sanctuary because that is not a message to bring people in....the entire venue is very attractive....everything is bright and welcoming. The sound system is now state-of-the-art....and then the lighting system that includes strobes or lasers or some such thing. At one time there was a small open room with simple refreshments....but in this church growth model that small room is now a complete latte bar.
                 Whether it is elders or deacons or just board members....the numbers of them begin to grow. Associate pastors are added...eventually in double-digit numbers. A radio ministry is started....and maybe even a television ministry which can become national or even international....and the budget is now in the tens of millions.
                 The pastor and the deacons or elders now have to be very careful....and the holy boldness they once had has dissipated....for they now have to avoid controversy or the whole ministry could suffer. With few exceptions....and few examples in those exceptions....there are no Spurgeon sermons. The churches are growing....but not because of the preached gospel....rather of a preached lifestyle.
                 It may be a pandemic or just a budding recession....whatever it is....the giving to the church or the ministry begins to drop rather severely....but the bigger problem is that when a church or ministry grows to an enormous size....they then have to be extra careful not to offend any sizable proportion of the congregation or listening ministry.
                 They have talked themselves into believing that their reach into the world with gospel must be protected. During the pandemic many of these churches chose to keep their doors open to keep the tithing and alms and giving coming in....and Fauci became the fall guy....but on the biggest of all the issues....the minister and the church could not say anything negative about Donald Trump....for that would be the killer....and people would leave en masse....and they could not reach the world as well with the gospel....and God would not be served or pleased....or so they perceived it to be so.
                  Of course all of these deductions are wrong. God does not nor did not need that or any ministry. He may use them according to His perfect will....and He did so in grand and glorious ways with Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul....and John MacArthur....and others....but there was a time and a purpose for them....Billy Graham to keep the gospel in front of the entire American public....R. C. Sproul was teaching those that the Holy Spirit was calling....particularly on the holiness of God....and MacArthur was warning of false prophets....and pointing the way through the wicket gate....which is a very narrow gate.
                   Today the Lord of Glory is at the very door in His return with His mighty angels....just as Billy Graham pleaded with us to believe for decades. The warnings were given....and ignored....followed by a falling away....and turning to a false prophet....who tells us that judgment is not coming....but rather a golden age.
                   We seem to have entered into a period of....on-the-job-training....OJT. The remnant is here....but we may have to figure it out on our own....for we still have the Word of God....and the believer still has the Holy Spirit within....and we still have the promises....and the examples of the faithful in the past who lived through times that we are approaching. God still gives His gifts....which include discernment....and the strength to go on when troublesome times come. 
                   It might be more accurate and hopeful to say that pastors are going to have to hear for themselves what the Holy Spirit is telling His church....for the national ministers and ministries that we all counted on are either disappearing....and there is just no one anymore to blow the trumpet.

                      
                     

I Always Keep An Eye On The Jewish Feasts and Fasts

Preface: The Jewish fast of The Three Weeks....begins this year on July 13....and ends on the Ninth of Av....August 3. This is to be three weeks of mourning in remembrance of catastrophes from the past:  

               God fulfills prophetic events on the Jewish feasts....and He uses blood moons and solar eclipses and comets as signs. Donald Trump was born on a blood moon. It was an ominous....in retrospect....warning to us. In other words we did not know it at the time but we can look back at it. Do you remember all the fuss about the 2014-2015 tetrad of blood moons? They came and went....and naysayers said....'See....nothing happened during that time"....but once again looking back on them.....right in the middle of them....Donald Trump came down that escalator right smack dab into the middle of evangelicalism.....prophesying nothing but great things for America....only the latest being the coming Golden Age....all of these prophecies being the exact opposite of what God's Word tells us is going to happen!

                No one really cares about this because God had judged His church first....and taken away our discernment. Nationally known ministers....including some of our best ministers....fell under the power of this false prophet. In five days it will be ten years to the day when Trump came down that escalator....and the last ten years has vexed and ripped evangelicalism to shreds. It's been like living the O. J. Simpson murder trial in the news every day for the last ten years! It has brought us down and sullied everything about us...so much so that when they have this military parade in a few days we will be cheering....as if tanks and planes and soldiers are our strength....oblivious that God told Gideon to get rid of all those soldiers....and trust in Him....and also oblivious to....Zechariah 4:6....which used to be a memory verse for us...."This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel....'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the  LORD of hosts'."
                 Returning to the Jewish feasts. The upheaval in the world today....began on October 7, 2023....the last day of the Feast of Sukkot. Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech to the United Nations on September 22, 2023....and I posted on it that it was...."wildly overly-optimistic." He boasted about the plans for peace that were in the making....and I added...."Whatever the details are....and we do not know them now....they may on paper be sound....maybe even genius....but they will not succeed. This is like trying to build a house of cards with an oscillating fan that will eventually pass the house of cards and blow them all down." Two months before the Sukkot attacks I reviewed the new movie that was out on Golda Meir....on the 1973 Yom Kippur War....and posted that Israelis should take notice because things like this could happen in the near future.
                  Tisha B' Av....otherwise known as....the ninth of Av....the Jewish month Av....is a solemn day every year for Jews who observe their feasts. God has used that feast in the past to judge Israel....and He will do it again. These things are just so obvious as to How God chooses to work. The Ninth of Av this year begins at sundown on Saturday....August 2.....and ends at nightfall on Sunday....August 3.
                   The purpose of God using the Jewish feasts to fulfill prophecy is not for us to expect something on this particular feast or that particular feast....but to strengthen us at the time....such as after the Sukkot attacks....in knowing that God has every day in the future mapped out....which includes the tribulation....and the great delusion....and the rise of the antichrist....and the nations surrounding Jerusalem....and His taking His church up....and His return in judgment on the nations and those who did not believe in Him!

From Sunny Skies To Surveying The Damage....In Fifteen Minutes

               Preface: The following is self-explanatory. It was May 30 of 2020:

This is an odd post. I started out just relaxing on my patio in beautiful weather and typing my thoughts on God's warnings to America.....not even sure that I would wind up posting it....when at 2:50 the weather started to change....and fast. After checking the ominous radar scope....I switched to describing the change in the weather. This whole episode lasted fifteen minutes max. My power came on at 8:00.....and after cutting up the limbs I'm adding this paragraph....and completing here where I left off....where a winnowing is coming in the church....because if the Lord's return is near....as we usually use the word near....then the delusions will just be too great unless one is firmly in the hands of Christ....born again....not just recruited....not just religious....and even here it is only Christ who has the power to keep those who trust in Him....and it is only trust in Christ that will keep.

here is the post that I started in beautiful calm weather....

            As one might read through the Old Testament prophets....either the major prophets....(major in the length of the book)....or the minor prophets....one would read of a nation that not only knew of but experienced the power and holiness of not only their God....but the only true God. The reader would see time and again that same people forget all the commands and the blessings and the miraculous protection that was bestowed upon them by that only true God. One would read of continuous warnings....in Jeremiah's case lasting decades....and one might wonder in true amazement how those warnings could time and again go unheeded.
            The judgments would come in God's timing....and we read an eye witness account of the horror that the people experienced. Interspersed in many of these books are judgments for the far away future....at the culmination of all things. Sometimes one has to have some help in reading as one verse might pertain to judgments of that day....and the next judgments for the future....and the next judgments for the end times....but it becomes clear as we read these books over time.
             Ultimately....after seeing the entire process as it played out with the Israelites....we then see ourselves....not only knowing of God but having experienced his hand upon our nation from the very first time that ships anchored off these shores....and we see hundreds of years that have passed.....just as with Israel and Judah....until we can hear....if we permit it....Jeremiah's and other's warnings of destruction aimed directly at us.
             If this were not enough to shake us up and bring us to repentance....and it hasn't been....there is the New Testament warnings....all the writers and Jesus Himself giving us an almost step-by-step description of a collapsing world before His return. We can see the wars such as there has never been before....and the violence pouring out of the peoples....and the numerous false gods. The miraculous establishment of the state of Israel alone should have told us that the long wait may be over....only the decades remain.
             At seventy years old I've witnessed the step-by-step disintegration of a whole people. I've seen God mercifully bring many into His kingdom.....myself being one of them. I've heard the warnings of many Billy Grahams....that reached deep into a remnant of the people but totally ignored by most. I've seen the church grow blissfully ignorant....and what is known politically as evangelicalism fall head over heels for a false prophet.
            There is not going to be a nationwide awakening in America....at least not one that changes the course of the country for decades....and certainly not a making of America great again. Our hope should be that God might have mercy on enough of the people of this land that we might look to Him as these judgments unfold. There is surely a winnowing ahead for the church....where those whose salvation is real....whose hope in that salvation is only in the merits of Jesus Christ....

here is where the weather suddenly changed

I'm going to digress here for a few minutes. We have a storm warning in our area due in the next fifteen minutes. I look up and the sky is blue other than white clouds passing rather fast. I'm on my patio...and can hear soft thunder in the distance....and darker clouds are moving in swiftly from my left.....the northwest. The temperature dropped a few degrees since I started this paragraph. The winds were picking up but they stopped altogether as the wooden chimes that were knocking wildly against each other but are now hanging limp. I took the opportunity to check the local radar....and a deep burnt orange mass is a few miles away. The wind has suddenly picked up and within a two minute span we have a deluge moving horizontally. We lost power....tree limbs are everywhere. It’s fifteen minutes later and I.....and all the neighbors....are surveying the damage....as sirens are heard all around us. I’ll hopefully look this post over later when the power is back....as I'm posting this on my iPhone.

Addendum: There is a message in this experience. At one moment I was kicked back with my feet up on the table....with blue skies.....and I barely had time to get my computer and books out of the wind and rain.

Majoring In Minutiae....With No One To Lead

                John MacArthur became ill on the Lord's Day....and New Years Day....2023. I remember it....not well....but in that he at the last minute could not preach. It has been almost 2 1/2 years since that day....and Pastor John has been out of his pulpit most of that time.....with continuing procedures....the latest being only a couple of weeks ago. The latest estimate is that it may be in a couple of months before he can preach again.
                I received an email this morning where I could listen to all of the conference talks....from a conference just completed....the topic being the Nicene Creed. These are all good men....and I may sometime get around to listening to the talks....and then again I may not. It's that time of year when denominational synods are taking place....and they will debate and argue over dozens of very important issues....none of which we drastically need right now.
                I have been harping on this issue for a while now....in that we have no highly regarded national ministers left to speak to the church on the whole....or be a spokesman for the church to the rest of the nation. Billy Graham is long gone along with R. C. Sproul along with Tim Keller....and Pat Robertson and even Phil Robertson! John MacArthur is two years now out of commission....and John Piper is....well I don't know where he is!
                 Maybe you take extreme umbrage with my statement because we have Franklin Graham and Eric Metaxas and Robert Jeffress and a hundred others. If they are indeed national spokesmen then we are in deep trouble. The national mindset no longer breeds the kind of men we used to have. 
                 I'm not Baptist....and I don't hold to much of John MacArthur's eschatology....and I think he made major mistake after major mistake because of Trump and politics and the pandemic....but we need him....the old John MacArthur....not yoked to anything in this life other than the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. So I'm waiting and praying that God might restore him....and bring John Piper back to sermons and conference exhortations....and strengthen others to stand in the gap....to stand up in a synod and challenge the men to get out of that box and discuss things that are in the news today....ripped out of the pages of the Bible....things of which we as a church need guidance and warnings and hope and explanation!
                 Just about all of our supply lines have been cut! We are like an army with meager rations and no ammunition. Yes Christian bookstores are all but gone but there are hardly any books being published anyway....not like the 80s and 90s anyway.
                 So we turn on the television....Fox cable of course....and we get....poison. We turn on the radio or we go to some podcaster....and we get more poison. The pastors have no one to rely upon anymore....and as I mentioned above....when we have a synod....which should be an excellent opportunity to blow the trumpet....in the assembly that we have called....we major in minutiae. May God....if it be in His perfect will....and to His glory alone....give boldness to men in the pulpits and in the pews....to stir up what once was glorifying to God and edifying to men.

What Grid Are You Navigating From?

                The Old Testament is replete with scenes where the people mixed worshiping the LORD of hosts in with worshiping other gods. Jehu tore a lot down....but not the high places where other gods were worshiped. Even Josiah left some of the false worship in place....and the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation paint a similar scene.
                 That is an exact picture of us today. A popular refreshing non-alcoholic drink....especially in Western Pennsylvania....is the Arnold Palmer....iced tea and lemonade....but this mixed drink in the church of false gods and the true God is....poison mixed with truth....where the truth does little good as the poison kills.
                 In 1662....this being in England....the Cromwell period was over and the people went back to the monarchy with Charles II. The latest Act of Uniformity came in April. All of the pastors now had to preach and observe according to the government's strict grid.
                 Now there were many Puritan pastors who were going to listen to God and not the government. They were going to operate from a different grid....and later in the year....2,000 of them were kicked out of their churches. Many were told that they could do more for God if they stayed in their pulpits....but their grid did not call for them to define success apart from God's Word.
                 In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....Christian saw in his....book....that they lived in the City of Destruction. Everyone wanted him to ignore the warning....but his grid showed him the path to take. I also see in my....book....that we live in a similar City of Destruction. That is where my decisions come from. That is why I point out so often that Trump is a false prophet. I get from my grid....my....book....the instructions not to have anything at all to do with a false prophet like this.
                  The generally accepted grid of today sees no City of Destruction to leave. There is no wicket gate to go through on this modern grid....nor Valley of Humiliation nor Vanity Fair nor Enchanted Ground nor Valley of the Shadow of Death. 
                   Our own Act of Uniformity....so far....in its initial stages....is a grid such as a Monopoly Board....where you simply move on....gaining property and wealth....and saving a get out of jail card in case you need it. This is our grid....do this and don't do that....make your empire great....but there are a minority of pastors out there who refuse to live on this grid....at least 2,000 of them....and maybe a hundred times that. May God give them the strength to live on the grid of God's Word!
                 

We Need Tears In The Pulpit!

                I want to preface this Christian post with something political because they are related. It was the mid-90s or thereabouts....and it was one of the three high-profile women Democrats from California....either Boxer or Feinstein or Pelosi.....I can't remember which one and was unable to research it. She was in an interview....and the question was about conservatives who were complaining that our Constitution was not being followed. This California government official was frustrated and blurted out the comment....."What's all this talk about the Constitution?" It showed how back then Democrats did not care anything about the Constitution. Today....miraculously....they talk about the Constitution all the time....but it is a fake concern. Also today....we conservatives do the exact same thing....for we no longer care about if something that this president does is constitutional or not. That is the principle for the following:

                In 1980....(I'm just picking an arbitrary date)....our minds were fresh and inquisitive. We didn't think that we knew it all. We were not saturated with texting and smart phones and streaming and podcasts. We had three or four television stations....and Billy Graham was on all the time....and there were Christian ministers on the national scene....literally everywhere....some in retrospect may have been much better than others but they all had the gospel! Christian bookstores were literally everywhere....and Christian radio was a big thing! Everyone knew someone who had just become one of those born again Christians! 
                When we heard....and everyone would hear from one source or another....the story about Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night....and Jesus telling him that one had to be born again....born anew....born from above....it amazed us. It was new to us. The Holy Spirit saved multitudes in this type of preaching! 
                Today Nicodemus is just a name from a weekly Bible study....a quaint little story that really has no important meaning behind it. It's just like the Constitution. There was a time when it was a hallowed document....but today it is just talking point fodder.
                 The ground today is not tilled and ready for planting. The soil has been used and abused. Our minds have atrophied from lack of intellectual exercise. We are just followers today....and it is not Jesus whom we are following. We are not lambs being taken care of by shepherds....but rather calves....roped and branded. We need preaching not podcasts!!!! We need humility.....and mortification....not pride. We need stirring up....not towards anger and revenge....but of the things of God. We need to understand the visit of Nicodemus. We need mercy and forgiveness. We need tears in the pulpit!

                                                  Here is one with some tears....

                       

These Are Not Lotto Odds Folks

                The political situation is untenable and unsustainable. A house divided cannot stand....and we are divided....it is an unbridgeable divide....and both sides are under the judgment of God. Do you get the picture I'm laying out? Your hope....is in something that cannot come. God has given us a half century of warnings....explicit warnings.....by good men....and then He took these men away....their task completed....and we in essence ignored those warnings....and then grabbed onto a false prophet....every bit a false prophet as Hananiah was to Jeremiah!
                Everyone laughed at the Christians back in the 70s when they pointed out that God's Word was pointing directly at Israel....and some kind of coming great delusion....and a world gone totally violent....and a mark on the hand if you wanted to buy something. Everyone laughed....and they were all wrong....and they still don't care as artificial intelligence is right out of God's prophetic word.
                You can go back to the Old Testament prophets....and see portraits of us in the people of Israel and Judah....and the nations of the world. It's a mirror if we have eyes to see! 6,000 years is nothing as to the entire history of man. That's only sixty centuries or 120....50 year periods! These are not lotto odds folks! This is it! There is no difference between an Ahab and a Jezebel....and leaders today. There were demons all over the place when Jesus walked the earth....and much of what is in our news today is demons.
                This that we live in is the culmination. Are you reading every day in the book of Daniel....or Revelation? At the end of Daniel....God told him to go his way....and seal up the book....forever? No....until the time of the end! That's today. And then Daniel is told that knowledge will increase. Guess what....that is AI and every other technological advance that we have had in the past 125 years!
                
                 

We Are Already In A Famine Of The Word

                It was certainly one of the biggest earthquakes in history....8.2 is the most often used numeration. There is archeological evidence galore that it indeed happened....and that it covered a large area....and probably centered in what is today....Lebanon.
               The prophet Amos....a simple herdsman....began his prophecy by writing...."two years before the earthquake".....and Zechariah....maybe 250 years later still referred to that earthquake....as being during the time of King Uzziah.
                So Amos prophesied destruction upon Damascus and Gaza (the Philistines) and Tyre and Edom and Ammon and Moab and Edom and Israel and Judah....and he detailed what they had done to get God's anger to such a degree. Amos saw the destruction in multiple visions....and wrote about this later pointing out that he had these visions....two years before the earthquake. There was no need for him to try to describe a particular earthquake....for this was truly the....mother of all earthquakes.
               Chapter six should get our attention in America....for we have been for a long time...."at ease in Zion"....proud of our power...."I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it." (6:8) Here Amos is prophesying a future judgment....and also....unbeknownst to him....another future judgment after that....which would be us today....for we also sleep on our beds of ivory....so to speak....stretch out on our couches....eat and drink and be merry....all the while having no compassion on our brothers who are not safe under the great and powerful king....commissioned by God Himself to make us great again....or so we believe.
                So is there another earthquake coming in the same area? Yes....and even greater than the one during the life of Amos....as even the Mount of Olives will split in two....and we likewise are given warnings before the earthquake....and ignoring those warnings....just as did Judah and Israel.
                 There is much more than an earthquake coming....and the judgments have already begun. As you read through Amos....if you should choose to do so....you will find some interesting verses to meditate upon. You will read in 3:7...."Surely the LORD God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to his servants the prophets"....and God has indeed though men like Billy Graham warned us for a half a century. 
                  You will read where God told the Israelites to go ahead and offer their sacrifices and pray and give offerings....in Bethel....where they set up pagan idols to worship....kind of like us with Old Glory hanging just feet away from the pulpit. (4:4, 5:5)
                  God told them that He already sent many judgments upon them....one being plagues....or in our case a pandemic....yet we still did not turn from our idols. God told them that he despises their feast days and does not savor their sacred assemblies. (5:21)
                   The people told Amoz....this mere herdsman....with no credentials....to get lost....to go back to his own land....that they had their king!
                    The Lord's hand of mercy is also extended to the people....but not before Amoz prophesied of a day...."Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God....'that I will send a famine on the land....not a famine of bread....nor a thirst for water....but a hearing the words of the LORD'." (8:11)
                    The above famine of the Word of God is today folks. How was your sermon two days ago? Were you humbled under the holiness and judgments of God? Were you warned of the evil days that we live in? Were you told to look to that day when Jesus returns in great power and glory.....revealed to the whole world as One whom they rejected? Did your knees shake at times under the message....were there any tears either in the pulpit or in your own eyes? Probably not....but there was most likely an abundance of laughter and gaiety.....signifying....evidence of....brothers and sisters....that....famine of the Word of God.

R. C. Sproul has a wonderful YouTube video available on Amos and Hosea....Dust To Glory....Amos and Hosea.

                                                                            

                 
               

The Hibiscus

                 How gracious is our God....and how merciful and longsuffering! I cannot at times but look back at 75 years....and wonder what the angels think about such mercy and forgiveness to someone as I! The blessings have just continuously overflowed....from a wonderful wife....to a wonderful son and his family.....to 37 years in one job....to a home....of which I am sitting on the patio right now....in 53 degree weather with a small fire pit....six inches in diameter....throwing a warm airy blanket over me.

                I thank God that I was given every opportunity in the world. I thank Him that I was not given some great gift....athletic or musical....where today I would be in some hall of fame....or asked for autographs when I am in a restaurant....for I would not have handled that well. I thank Him that I was not given too much or too little.
                What if I had not been born in the United States? No one would have been telling me of Jesus Christ at work....unless I was born in some impoverished country like the Philippines. I know and love a family that lives there. The one daughter FaceTimes with my brother-in-law every day. A hundred dollars is a lot of money to them....more than just a lot of money. They have devotions every morning in the sweltering tropical climate.
                There is a former professional baseball player who we know....whose name most everyone reading this would know....and he was given a $15,000 signing bonus at the time! It was a different country than it is today. My uncle....a Catholic priest....would take me to ball games in my youth....oh the sound of that ball hitting the bat....and a scorecard that I could record everything....and a hot dog....maybe two....and a Coke. They were heroes of a sort back then....but the sports.....all of them....are filled with idols today.
                 We have no leaders to speak of anymore. The few that survived up until about a decade ago have either died or slinkered down to being mere footstools to a different American way of life....a way of life that grabs....and protects what it has grabbed....living in fear that they may have to join the rest of us.
                 The pure exhilaration back in the early 80s of being born again is still in my memory....with Christian bookstores everywhere....and Billy Graham crusades on television throughout the year....and a humble man like Ronald Reagan in the White House!
                  That is all....gone with the wind.  There is no way that you could understand that unless you were there....and even that is no guarantee. The entire 19th century has been one of technological progress. It turned out to be nothing but suicide. God gave us a hint of this with the Tower of Babel. He knew where man would go....and He slowed it down so that the Son of Man would come....and gather up a motley crew....like Phil Robertson....(and me)....and turn him into the Phil Robertson that just went to his real home. 
                   Well Jesus was taken up into the clouds that day on the Mount of Olives....and He will soon return in the same way....and every eye will see Him. Even billionaires will try to hide in the rocks. His glory will be revealed....to everyone!
                    I don't deserve to know Him! I didn't deserve to live past those many times in my youth when I tempted fate. Off to my right on this patio is a hibiscus plant (tree) that I purchased just the other day. Are you familiar with the beautiful bloom of that flower? It lasts often for only one day....and then it closes up....and drops off! There are two blooms on the plant right now....there were about six two days ago....and there may be six a week from today. 
                    We are as those blooms....the only difference is that God takes of those blooms those who for some reason He has chosen....the 'one day' of the hibiscus is as the seventy years of the man....and we simply close up and drop off also....but He whose promises are true will resurrect our bloom....without imperfections.....never to close up and drop off again!
                     Are you one of those blooms! Do you want to be one of those blooms that God will preserve? Do you know that it may be a day or it may be a decade but you will eventually close up and drop off? Only you are not a plant that is and then is no more....for you have an eternal soul. Have you no concern what will happen to that soul? Ignoring the issue won't help. God did not leave us in the dark. He gave us His written word....and He gave us His Spirit. You are but one....humble and penitent cry away....from having your eyes opened! If it can happen to me....it can happen to you.
                  

Preachers From The Past....And Men Today Who Preach Like Preachers From The Past

 

               Michael Reeves is a professor and a college president....in Great Britain....Wales to be precise....an author....and a preacher....who preaches like men of the past. Try listening to this sermon....and see if you have ever heard anything quite like it.

Two Assignments

                 I just finished a book....the subject of which was a particular Secret Service agent. The time period was many years ago....so possibly the duties and responsibilities of Secret Service agents have changed....but that is not important to this post.

                At one time this particular agent was assigned to a president....and at another time to a vice president....and another time to the wife of a president....and yet another time....again to the president himself....a different president.
                When an administration changed....the agents would be told what their new duties would be....if any....in a new administration. They didn't have any choice....were not asked for any preferences....and did not question their assignments.
                So....the administration changes....and they know that their life for the next four years....maybe eight....may change drastically....as it might be protecting the President of the United States....or it might be going to kindergarten with a child of the Vice President of the United States. So....how is this going to be a Lord's Day post?
                On the particular topic of this post....which is peripherally the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior and King....Jesus Christ....I have lived two lives....or to use words earlier in this post....as with this Secret Service agent....I have had two different assignments. For a long time....oh thirty years maybe....I thought that Jesus was returning soon....but that 'soon' could be anywhere from a few years to a few decades.....in other words there was absolutely no imminence about it....certainly nothing particularly special....and no need to adjust my lifestyle in any way. I have lived the last....oh....just estimating....twelve years or so.....knowing....as much as any Christin today can truly know....that Jesus is coming back in my generation...of which is just about over!
                 That Secret Service agent experienced both....riding a pony with a child....and being a bodyguard for the most powerful man on earth. He greatly desired the latter. I want the latter also! There is no comparison at all in rejoicing and praising in the two alternatives. The former....'hey it might be fifty years till Jesus comes back'....not really knowing or even caring....is almost a life without purpose....more of a holding pattern. The latter is the trumpet sound!

                  I am not saying that everyone has to or even should hear....as Billy Graham once titled a book....The Approaching Hoofbeats....[of the]....Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I am saying that that sound is the heavenly sound of the return in glory and power of our Lord and our Savior and our King....and it should be preferred....and viewed.....(even if the Lord should tarry)....as the sun is greater than the moon....to a veiled....even remote....off in the distance....coming hope! I have my assignment....and it is in making ready the return. Have you really checked to see what your assignment is!