"The Cost Of Courageous Preaching"

              John Piper's wonderful ministry....desiringgod.org....had changed a few years ago....whereas before it was dominated by his sermons....and today it is dominated by teachings. This in itself was not the best move because we in America right now need the preached word....more than teachings as if everyone has already heard the preached word....but having said that....there are still powerful moments....and today's desiringgod.org was one of them.
              What John Piper does nowadays is give a platform to quite a number of men....and some women....to teach through either just a written article or a written article that they also record. I'm starting to get familiar with the names of these men and women....and all of their offerings are good and a blessing.....but some enter into the realm of preaching.....and are powerful. Today was just such an offering by a man who I have become very familiar with....and whom I mentioned in posts before.
              So....if you should so desire....please go to....desiringgod.org....and listen....(or read)....the offering by that young man whose name is Greg Morse. The article for today will be right up front....and the title of it is the title of this post....The Cost Of Courageous Preaching.

Update: Well it's the third listed today.....but you can also just Google it and it will come right up!

"Trouble Ahead; Prepare To Meet Thy God."

The following is a previous preface to this 2019 post:

Preface: The following post is from September 13, 2019. It was a warning about a storm that was coming. Two months later a cluster of patients in Wuhan, China developed pneumonia symptoms that did not respond to treatment. Billy Graham wrote his book Storm Warning in 1991. It was published on New Years Day 1992....and the book was "completely revised and updated" in 2010. I no longer have the 1992 edition....so I don't know if the following comment from page 73 was also in the earlier edition....but I tend to think that it was not. He wrote...."I look back on my many years as an evangelist and wonder, Have I made the Christian faith look too easy......in my eagerness to tell the world about the greatest gift that comes from God....I ask myself if I have comprehended the price He paid for our freedom....Have I adequately explained the price we must pay in humbling ourselves, turning our backs on pride, and sacrificing our earthly desires out of obedience to the Lord?" I do believe that this comment was in the original....."[This] storm warning carries a booming jolt of truth--Trouble Ahead; Prepare to Meet Thy God." 

Storm Warning.....September 13, 2019....[and a whole lot has happened since then]

           As I watch with everyone else the progress of Hurricane Dorian....I'm reminded of another hurricane force storm that occurred in the eastern Mediterranean almost two thousand years ago that was recorded in great detail in the 27th chapter of the books of Acts. That storm also lasted a couple of weeks. There was a similar storm at the end of September 1969. (Mediterranean storms that might be equivalent to a category 1 hurricane are somewhat rare.) In that storm a 20,000 ton tanker....named the Angel Gabriel....struck a reef near Malta and split in two.
            As of this evening....Dorian just doesn't want to move away from parts of the Bahamas.....very similar to how Paul and his 275 other shipmates fought and fought the storm for many days. We still are not sure of the exact path that Dorian will take....but we are sure of this.....God rules the waves of the sea as he rules every atom in this universe.
            I wonder how many of those Roman soldiers....and that ship's crew.....and the inhabitants of Malta....eventually came to faith in Christ because of that storm? An "angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve" wrote Paul....and Paul relayed it to his shipmates....."that there would be no loss of life.....but the ship would be lost." God's Word speaks similarly to us today in that there will be no loss of eternal life to those who belong to and serve Christ.....but the ship will be lost. Paul himself must have been gravely concerned at first for the angel had to tell him not to be afraid. He then in turn told all that were with him to take courage.
            There is another storm coming folks. Meteorologists speak in terms of rotating low-pressure weather systems and maximum sustained winds but God's Word as it pertains to this storm that is coming speaks in terms of birth pangs. The rotating low-pressure....as it were....is almost becoming unbearable to watch.....while the maximum sustained winds are increasing.....the cries of pain all over this earth are increasing....and the contractions are coming closer together. We are still told to take courage....but therein is the rub....there is a difference between knowing what is ahead and yet remaining calm.....and having no knowledge of or concern for what is ahead......and remaining calm.
            Folks....we....meaning Christians.....on the whole....could not care less about judgment coming. You would have to have lived in the 80s to know what it was like for the church to know how far we had fallen....and that God was giving a strong warning of impending judgment....but our discernment is just about all gone. The Pre-Trib rapture has done it's damage as Christians think that they are going to get beamed up out of an NFL football game if necessary before the tough times start. Look at what's on Christian television....it's as if God exists just to make us happy! What was left of us were taken in by a huckster in Donald Trump whose idea of wisdom is getting every dollar owed us around the world. It is eerie.....personal opinion here....to see how we have regressed....but it in itself seems to be part and parcel of what God's Word tells us that the world will be like upon His return.
            Trump deconstructed conservatism....and built in its place Trumpism....with faulty steel and cheap concrete....and an ideology-free foreign policy built on the best sale price at the moment....weakening policies that which had kept us out of world war for seventy years. Domestically he has tormented us....purposely....poking and jabbing every day to stir up anger.....and foment hatred. He has been a destroyer his whole life....(seventy-five books...(now 107)....on his entire life have shown me this)....with not an ounce of empathy for any living thing.

Lord's Day Post

               My wife and I recently received a thank-you card in the mail for a high school graduation gift. Just today I mailed out a card to a friend....not a thank-you card but more of a remembrance card on the passing of my friends wife. I imagine that we have all sent out many thank-you cards in our life. Theres not a whole lot there....just a card and some remarks....but it is nice and appropriate.

               "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 
               "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14
               "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 all ESV

               So they took the Son of God...and spat on him....and beat him....and drove a crown of thorns into his scalp....and nailed him to wood....let him hang there....and then drove a spear into his side. He voluntarily let this happen....that anyone who believes might not experience the wrath of God in hell.
                After forty-two years....that is still hard to wrap my mind around. I stub my toe and I am not happy. He was nailed to wood....and then lifted up....to keep a wretch like me from what I deserved? So what do I do....send him a thank you card? Or maybe send him a card once a year....like a birthday card? 

                I have often posted on how devastating it has been for the church that essentially there are no more Christian bookstores. I was in a Barnes & Noble again today....looking in their 'religion' section....and it is really a waste of time....but I still do it because occasionally they carry a good book....but none today. Back in the day....the 80's....when there was Christian bookstores everywhere....they had all types of Christian books....and I bought them up consistently until the last local Christian bookstore died. One of those categories was Christian history....another was Christian biography.
                In those books I found what Christianity once was. Today we as if send God thank-you cards once....maybe twice a week....for what Jesus did for us on that bloody cross. In times past....without a 150 television stations....and fifty sport teams....and twenty-five different brands of walking shoes....you get the picture....they praised God every morning upon awakening....and every evening upon laying their heads down to sleep...and throughout every day.
                They had a Lord's Day back then....at least those who wrote books....or who had books written about them. They wouldn't last one day in this culture without weeping uncontrollably. 
                 Roughly eight or ten hours from my typing right now....men will enter a pulpit or stand behind a lectern....and read a Hallmark greeting card to God.
                 

DISPATCHES

Trump in a way can be likened to the graphic of a sunburst....with lines or rays pointing out around the sphere. Each ray can symbolize a major problem with this man. I will mention but one small 'ray' here. It is believed that Trump performed one of the greatest comebacks in winning the 2024 election. This is not correct. After January 6 of 2020....Trump should by all rights have been done forever with any kind of politics. Everyone knew that at the time. These men like Lindsey Graham knew it at the time. I watched that rally that morning....and had to turn the television off....because it was....as I posted that day...."unsettling"....to watch how he and others fomented the violence that followed. The day was pure horror. Trump then called in every political debt owed him....told lies and threatened any republican who would not stay with him, The primaries in 2024 were a sham. Trump twisted arms....and what should be to our everlasting shame....republicans cowered and supported him or else they would get primaried out of congress. So this man who blusters about stolen elections....stole that one from conservatives. In what is absolutely mind----boggling....republicans today actually seem to believe that Trump did nothing wrong on that day. That my friends is how cults operate. The people simple no longer use their own minds. They read or listen to only what they are allowed to read........(Fox made a 180 degree turn from the 'fair and balanced' news media they once were)....and never....ever....on the threat of excommunication....challenge in any way the leader of the cult. 

Note: This paragraph is from a recent Dispatches. If you are the age that I mention then you have been at an extreme disadvantage....(an understatement of the year.) You have been misinformed on America's true problems....underinformed on the gospel of Jesus Christ....and not informed at all on God's warnings to the church....and the imminent nearness of His return. You are in this respect probably the most disadvantaged generation in the history of our country....and yet you probably think that you are the most informed generation ever. "If you are around 40 years old....an adult for say twenty years....then the last ten years of your short twenty year adulthood had been a graphic novel...TV reality show....tabloid....true crime....seedy stateroom cruise down the River Styx. You have never experienced the America that once was....even in its last few decades....and you have never experienced the gospel as a mainstay in the church....or preaching that mortifies man and glorifies God. Read Daniel 9....and see what a prayer for national repentance is supposed to sound like."

That God miraculously brought the Jewish people back to their homeland in 1948 should be obvious to everyone. We Christians should recognize the prophetic in what happened. President Truman recognized Israel as a state immediately after they made the declaration....and we have always supported Israel since then. God in His Word gave some very strong warnings to anyone who would even laugh at Israel's misfortune. Israel today is a legitimate state that has continuously fought off attackers....and terrorism....the worst of which was the Sukkot attacks on October 7 of 2023. What God has not done is to tell....in this case us....to support Israel as it reclaims all of its biblical heritage. I'm referring here to reports that some in Israel want to resettle Gaza. The Christian's support is based on Israel....the Jewish people....defending itself....not on Israel....the state....fulfilling biblical mandates given to Joshua. A new temple has nothing to do with the Christian's concern for the salvation of the Jewish people.

I do not think that a civil war is coming in America. I do think that a revolution is occuring....similar to how the Bolsheviks took over Russia....and how the National Socialists took over Germany. Republicans in congress are letting this happen. Trump just does whatever he wants. He's not worried about what it looks like. He owns the Republican Party right now....along with the Justice Department....and all of our intelligence agencies....and seems to be forming his own police state apparatus. He is going after everybody who is a potential threat to his power-mongering. 

The movie....Superman....was more believable than what is happening in the Epstein case. In Trump's 2024 criminal trial he finally found a lawyer that he liked....who had previously represented Paul Manafort. You might not remember the name but you would remember the frown that he always had on his face. So....Trump nominated his lawyer for Deputy Attorney General in November....and it was this former lawyer now Deputy Attorney General who interviewed the Maxwell woman in prison....who wants to get out of jail real bad. Yeah....Lois Lane interviewing Superman was more believable.

Fox....(who else)....is reporting today that FBI deputy director Bongino has uncovered evidence that shook him to his very core...and that he and the FBI director are committed to bringing the truth to the American public. So Trump has Bongino back in the fold after last week when Bongino was near resigning because Trump....(through Bondi)....was withholding the truth in the Epstein case. The way Bongino did it was this....he used his social media to give his cryptic message. That is pure and unadulterated Trump. That is how he does it. So they apparently explained to Bongino why he didn't see what he was so angry about with the Epstein case. This is the problem throughout our government today....and throughout evangelicalism. Everyone has come to believe that America cannot survive without Trump leading it. This is a grand delusion....(biblical)....that if possible even the elect are buying into....(biblical.) God on the other hand....has told us that our days are numbered because of who we are and what we have done.

The issue when the first investigations began of Trump....was....is he possible kompromat material for Putin? That is what the intelligence agencies were concerned with. That is what their responsibilities include. A decade after the investigations began....with Trump trying to throw those who investigated him into jail....looking back at everything Trump has done....it appears that the initial concerns about Trump may have been legitimate. That is why Trump has to remove all of these people. That is why at this late date the narrative has to point the other way....and away from Trump.

Evangelicals today are celebrating Supreme Court rulings on LGBTQ and judicial parameters....thinking that the path they have taken pleases God....but on the more weightier issues such as love for their neighbor....taking care of the widows and the poor and the alien in their midst....and worshiping God in spirit and in truth....it has been a failure.

Right Now....There Is No One Of Stature....Willing To Stand In The Gap....To Defend The Gospel....And Protect The Sheep

                I am in a Barnes & Noble about fifty times a year.....usually on Tuesdays when the new releases come out. I walked quickly through the current events section and then what they label today the....'religion' section. It used to be 'Christian living.' I'll usually find a B&N even when on vacation. Some are better than others but they are all basically the same.
                Every B&N will have at least 1000 books in the religion section.....some may have up to 2000 books. If I were to take a friend into one....with the purpose of buying him or her a Christian book that would help lead them to salvation....I would be hard pressed to find one book. There are basically no Christian bookstores left today. When we travel south I can find one somewhere in North or South Carolina....and we will leave the highway for a short drive to visit it. There is one in Beckley, N. C. that is out of the past.....and I found one in Myrtle Beach this year that was good....but as far as a beacon of the gospel in our communities....they are gone.
                 So how do evangelicals today find Christian books.....for they do....and how good are those books? Well they will hear about them on their favorite Christian TV or radio or podcasts....and then order it online. Christian television today is dominated by the charismatic movement....that believes that God sent Donald Trump to us....and podcasts are dominated by Christian nationalism....politics in place of Christ.
                  Billy Graham is long gone....as is R. C. Sproul and Tim Keller....and now John MacArthur. We have absolutely no direction in the church today. You are not going to get any warnings from the Bible studies that are probably in every church in America. It is all milk. The glory has departed from the American church. God has taken His hand off of us....and we are on our own. I doubt if anyone reading this....knows of a single pastor in their community or even major urban city....that will warn the congregation to stay away from Donald Trump. The horror of Trump is so ingrained in the evangelical psyche that the pastor would start a war in the church if he said anything.
                  Who am I to make such strong statements? Well....I've done my homework. Look back over these posts of almost seventeen years....which isn't even the half of it. Years ago I came across Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermons on tape....and there is not a day that goes by where I do not hear the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ....preached gloriously. It's only 11:30 as I type and I've already listened to the John MacArthur sermon that is on his gty.org website. Folks....this has to have an effect!
                   So....if you have read this entire post....that is something....and you may be a little upset....but if you happen to wonder about that John MacArthur sermon that I mentioned....and go to gty.org to listen.....(watch)....well....after it is over you won't be that upset with me anymore. For there is power in the preached Word! All of the reading and all of the talking cannot replace God's minister....through the Holy Spirit....breaking down our defenses....through the spoken Word!
                     
Note: the sermon title on gty.org is....Finding The Narrow Way To Heaven

                    

On The Corner Of Broadway....And The Narrow Way

                The world with man on it is only 6000 years old....6 millennia....60 centuries. Now you can wage the 'young earth/old earth' debate if you want but that is not the focus of this post. Fifty-nine of those centuries moved along as to scientific or military progress....on a slowly rising curve with a few sizable bumps....but in about 1900....that curve took off like a rocket! That was what Daniel wrote about with...."But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Man shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." (Daniel 12:4) At one moment a man is laying down in the skeleton of what would become known as a plane....and go airborne for a few hundreds yards....and they called it flying. If a child was born on that day....he or she would not yet quite be 66 years old when Neil Armstrong rocketed to the moon. And today....because of greed....artificial intelligence is in effect about to tell us....to get out of the kitchen if we can't stand the heat. Nope....this is it folks....that which Daniel wrote about!
                 The rocks will be flying towards us in the cosmos at some point. There will be an earthquake similar to whatever shook the continental plates apart. More pandemics are coming....and famine. Eighty years ago....a week....we tested a nuclear bomb for the first time. That may be the...."great sword"....that God's Word described in Revelation 6:4. Mock the thought all you want of Israel's relationship with God....but your life is about to change because of that tiny plot of land at just about the center of the earth. 1948 was the Christian's wake-up call.
                  The core of the problem that we have is as old as man himself. We just do not....on our side....think that we are that bad! We actually think that God is pleased with us and rewarded us with Donald Trump! We do think that the Democrats are that bad....what with abortion and LGBTQ. Oh yes....God will judge them....but not us.
                  We give God great lip service.....and fill our megachurches every week....and put republicans in office....what more could He possibly want? Well He wants a broken heart. He wants tears and remorse. He wants love for others. If we want mercy then we would have to extend mercy. 
                  God has taken away all the men who had been warning us. Interesting the name of that avenue in New York City isn't it....Broadway....the hub of  "commerce and tourism and entertainment" as it is dubbed....but Jesus told us in John 7...."Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."

Why No Comment Link

                I've put out a couple of posts like this in the past but not for quite a few years. I just want to answer a question here......a question that I have been asked on occasion. Why do I not have a comments section here for others to rebut or whatever they want to do?

                  Actually I did have a comment link when I first started these posts back in October of 2008....and I had four comments right away....and knew right then that this was not going to work. I was working at the time....and with everything else that I was doing I did not have time to write posts and answer comments.

                I had a 'follower' link at the beginning also. I was new to all this....and I saw that I had a follower. Well....I didn't want anyone to 'follow' me. The concept just did not sit well. So I disabled that link.

                Over time the reason for not having a comment link changed. I have even less time now than when I worked....for if you look at the number of posts I put out over the years....(to the left of this)....you would see that those numbers went up big time after I retired in October of 2016.

               On a side note I do find it odd that I retired less than a week before the 2016 general election. I would not have been able to read 106 books on Donald Trump if I were working!

               Anyway....here is why I do not have a comment link today. Everyone....everyone that I know anyway....gets all their information from the main news sites....videos and podcasts....cable TV....and talk radio. None of them seem to read many current events books on their own. They sit and they watch or listen and they absorb. There's not a whole lot of room for meditative thought. The visual dominates over the word today....the experiential over the objective,
              So....everyone is filled to the gills with talking points. I'll give you an example. The term 'Russia hoax' is back on the front page today. We have purposely and very effectively been smothered by that phrase over the past decade. Everyone on our side believes it....and it isn't even true! Trump is going to the well once too often on this. It's been a good ride for him and he fooled a lot of people. 

              The quote has been attributed to Abraham Lincon....(oh I just smile to myself when I think of president like that)....the quote is...."You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." If this charge of a Russia....hoax....is defended against correctly.....the people will see that the CIA and FBI had every right and duty to pursue that investigation.

              But I am getting off the subject. This is what is normal today....we....anyone of us....has an opinion....say MAGA.....and there are others that share that same opinion. That is our side. Now there are those who are....anti-MAGA....the other side. So the goal is either to win someone from the other side to our side....or besmirch their person....so that they cannot win anyone to their side. I don't want any part of that nonsense. These posts do reach throughout the world.....though in small numbers. I want to give someone....somewhere....the opportunity to hear something they have not heard before.....or in a way they have not heard before. I am a firm believer that the truth wins out. I'm not looking for scalps. I will never meet these people....not until heaven anyway. I just want to put something before them....and give them the opportunity....not to comment or to rebut.....but to become interested....or to choose to ignore.

 
                

Trade Agreement....We Get The Money....But Give Up The Friendships And Respect

                I had a few peccadillos as a teenager growing up. One sprouted up at the age of 18....alcohol....and lasted about a decade until God had mercy upon me. In November of 1979....after my father died of cirrhosis of the liver....this 46 years ago....I made a vow....and God enabled me to keep it....as I have never had more than one drink in any one day...beer or wine or a mixed drink.
                There was only one incident in my teens. My friend and I were picked up....stumbling home inebriated....and put in a cell. A couple things about that. This was our hometown....and we knew and liked the older experienced policeman who hauled us in. They followed the protocol and brought us before the magistrate....this only an hour after we were picked up stumbling home....and then called my friend's parents and my mother to come and get us.
                Shortly afterwards I joined the army....for four years....and there was something that I very much wanted to do in the army.....but you had to have a top secret clearance. There was no guarantee when you went to the Federal Building and joined that you would get the clearance. 
                 It was a little nerve wracking but I had a few things going for me. The chief of police was the father of one my best friends....and I spent many days in his house. He knew me very well. Another friend's grandfather was the mayor who lived across the street from me....and he knew me as someone who respected his elders. They were my references for that top secret clearance.
                 It was announced yesterday that the United States and Japan entered into a trade agreement. Trump of course says that it will be great for Americans. There are no such concerns as pandemics and war and natural disasters with Trump. He cannot see any further than the end of his term. In 2018 one of his top economic advisors warned him that if he continues with trillion dollar omnibus bills that it will all come to a head about the time that his eight years would end. His answer was...."I'll be gone then!"
                 This is what is happening everywhere today.....we threaten....they stew....maybe a trade accord is announced....maybe not....maybe there are smiles....but one thing is for certain....we once had a friendship with that country....but it is today no longer a freindship.....it's just a deal. We had our differences over the decades but we trusted each other....and were allies.....and would be there for each other if needed. This all was second nature to Americans. As I grew up....Japan and England and France and all of these countries were our friends and allies. You did not even think about it.
                  If back when I joined the army....had I been a troublemaker....who did not respect my elders....and did not have those friends....I may not have been granted that military intelligence clearance that I needed!
                  No one can really trust America today....and with good reason. We might be there if needed....and we just might not. It depends on what is in it for us and if they have been scratching our back lately.
                  This is what you get when money and riches rule you.....when you demand everything that you say that you deserve. Maybe you get the money....but you lose the friends....and their respect for you. Maybe they would be there for us if needed.....and maybe they wouldn't?
                   There is more than one meaning for the word 'trade' here....for we have traded something. We traded friendship and respect....for profits and glory.

Is Donald Trump The Antichrist?

Preface: I've posted at least twice before over the years under this title. There is no one on this planet who does not want Trump to turn out to be the Antichrist....more than me.....because evangelicals put him where he is....and continue to support him:           

                Is Donald Trump the Antichrist? Well....If he survives politically the absolute mess that he has made of the White House and the presidency and of honor and decency and integrity....then he may very well turn out to be the Antichrist....or you could put it this way....if he is the Antichrist.....then no matter how disgraceful he is....no matter how much he destroys....then he will even gain more power in the future!
                As bad as Joe Biden was as a president....and no one....not even Trump in his first term....came anywhere near being as bad as President Joe Biden....but as bad as he was....Donald Trump in his second term has left him in the dust.
                Neither of the political parties in America are the same anymore....nor is evangelicalism or Christianity in general. The people are no longer what the American people at one time were. There is no news media. Pride and greed and idolatry rule everywhere in America. Violence has to have a titillating story to go with it to even make the front page.
                God has judged the church first....as the sheep are scattered and the shepherds are clueless as to what a shepherd is to be. Trump has incapacitated the evangelical churches. They cannot preach anymore....for the glory has departed. They cannot warn of anything. 
                At this moment in time Trump rules most of the world with threats. He rules by fear. He is a catastrophe waiting to happen. His social is called....Truth....but truth has no part in him. He is masquerading as an angel of light.
                He may not turn out to be the Antichrist....but even if he doesn't....he is still a false prophet....and "an" antichrist as the Apostle John described them....and he has damaged enough of Western Civilization to precipitate a world at war that would bring an entirely new world order.

Addendum: What do you think about the following verse? 

"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

What is it....just filler...to keep the mystery of Revelation?

How about this verse from the beginning of Revelation?....

"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." 

Every indication in God's Word that addresses what is going to be happening when our Lord and Savior and King returns....points to....this time period that we are living in. One would literally have to avoid God's Word on the end-times as if walking in a mine field trying to avoid mines. 

                 

We Need Each Other

               Economist Milton Friedman rather famously in 1980 gave a talk and produced a video....in which he held up a pencil and said that there is not...."a single person in the world who can make this pencil." He then went on to talk about the need for wood and steel for a saw and the compressed graphite and the rubber from the eraser and the yellow paint and the glue....all coming from different parts of the world. His point was that it takes everyone working together to make capitalism work.
               The Apostle Paul made a similar point many centuries before as he described....through the Holy Spirit....how believers are all part of the body. Some parts may have more glory than others but we all need each other.
               In 1975 I was working at a beer distributor....and two of the best tennis players in the world walked in to buy a case of pop.....some of you mistakenly call it soda. Those two players were Vitas Gerulaitis and Evonne Goolagong....who were on the then professional team tennis....Pittsburgh Triangles. I played tennis at the time and knew who they were. They were friendly and talkative....and I followed their careers. Some people may have more glory in this world than others....but we are all just people....come into the world estranged from the creator God of everything....and in need of mercy through salvation.
                A friend was talking to me the other day about how divided the church was. He was really distraught. Some have more glory than others. John MacArthur had more glory than my friend who is the janitor in his small church....who has more glory than me.....because everyone has and deserves more glory than me....but we need each other. John MacArthur could not do it without the janitor in his church....for if there were no janitors in that megachurch....there would not have ever been a megachurch.
                Christians known as....Reformed....with their history of doctrinal soundness....have a glory deservingly unto themselves. Pentecostals in my experience with them....share the gospel with a passion more than anyone. Some in the church today know more than others that Jesus is coming back right now....because they have a passion for Jesus to return right now....and Jesus rewards that passion, There is a glory for the churches in Africa and Asia and Eastern Europe that we in the West can only read about. There is a glory for the common uneducated laborer that the genius billionaire will never know.
              There is a glory for the humble....and a glory for the servant.....and a glory for the minister of a small fundamentalist church that the megachurch pastor of tens of thousands will never know.....but the grandest glory of all....is the glory that any one of us....Jew or Greek....man or woman....master or bondservant.....can give to the only who deserves all the glory....the Son of Man who came to set us free....who ascended to the Father....and who pleads our case and gives us strength to persevere until He comes again....to receive from all creation the glory and honor that has always been His! Marantha.....Lord Jesus.....come!

Save That Scott Bessent Rookie Card....It'll Be Worth A Billion In Trump Crypto Coin Some Day

                Tulsi Gabbard said that...."We"....meaning she....the DNI....are directing the Obama documents to the DOJ....which means Pam Bondi. She demands  'accountability." How sadly absurd we have become....Tulsi....(the Director of National Intelligence)....directed the material to Pam Bondi....the Attorney General....which really means....Trump ordered Tulsi to direct the material....to see if they could get Obama or Biden on things that Trump has been doing without any accountability for sixty years. That is what all of these people are doing....instead of their jobs. Our intelligence agencies and justice agencies are right now driven in their pursuit of who Trump wants them driven in pursuit of....who are anyone and everyone in the past who while doing their jobs....investigated him in any way.
                Trump wants a baseball team and a football team to change their names back to what they were....or else. He wants UFC....(is that the correct acronym)....he wants UFC fighters to roll around punching and kicking each other on the White House lawn. The Oval Office looks like Louis XIV's drawing room. In his first term he gave press briefings in front of a roaring helicopter....in his second term he sticks his out of Air Force One's door to the press. All of his loyalty appointees like to pray....but none of them seems to ever like to confess anything.
                 When this house of cards....built with celebrity cards....(I'll trade you Tulsi on a surfboard for a Kristi Noem in her Bonnie Parker pose)....collapses....he'll start rebuilding with Tarot Cards.

Lord's Day Post

                OK....I'm going to do a little experiment. I have given this anecdote in the past....in these posts....and more often in conversations with others. It was about....oh I don't know....the mid-1990s....and I was working shiftwork....in a power plant....on a crew of about twenty-five or so men....(and a few women.) We would take our breaks together and do what hard-nosed guys do at times like that....we blathered about this and that.... laughed a lot....swore a little too much....complained....but never cried.....and then I had an idea. I brought in an old Christian game that could be bought in any Christian bookstore....called....the Ungame. I have one in my hand right now.....over 4 million sold! It is a non-competitive game that simply gives each player a topic to talk a little about. If successful....these hard-boiled men would open up about things in their lives that we would never ever otherwise talk about. I talked them into trying the game....and it worked.....and a few weeks later we knew each other better than we had before. So....I am going to pick three random cards right now.....and answer them as if I were with those men....or with other Christians. I have no idea what the questions will be. If they stink....then you will never read this post because I will have never typed it....here we go....

First question..."If you could go back in time, into what Bible Story would you like to enter?"

Hmm....Let me think about that. I'm still thinking. I got it......1 Corinthians 15:52...."In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." This moment is actually coming up soon!

Second question....well this is one of the odd ones..."Ask someone a question....or comment on any subject....or take another card." 

I think that I will ask you a quesation....."To the best of your knowledge and understanding....when were you born again?"

Third question...."How does your Christianity show when you are driving on the highway."

Well....let's take yesterday....I had my bumper stickers on the back of my truck....that have the URL for these posts. I was coming back from Barnes & Noble....and it was a long stretch where I had one car behind me. I couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman but I believe that it was a woman. I was thankful that he or she had to stop behind me long enough to read the address of my posts on my bumper stickers....and I prayed for him or her....'Lord give me wisdom with these posts....and I pray your mercy upon that man or woman behind me." So far so good....then a little on down the road a light was coming up....and it was yellow....and I sped up a little to get through....no big problem but not exactly what I wanted that man or woman behind me to see. Actually....that is the hardest part of my having these bumper stickers on the car....doing something wrong....or maybe even unwise....and knowing that the person behind me might go to my website and say to themselves...."Oh yeah....that guy's a Christian alright!"

Well hey that's it. I thought that it worked well. Why don't you go to Amazon and order the game....so that when your Christian friends come over....you can try what I did with my fellow-workers?

And The False Prophets Take it....(The White House)....By Force

                There is a particular belief system that is shared by otherwise almost polar opposites in evangelicalism. To make this even more of an oddity....these two theological systems dominate Donald Trump's White House. When we hear about all these prayer meetings in the White House....and religion advisory staff....and the Department of Defense....and media events....they are probably emanating from either of these two groups.
                 There are different names that are applied to this theology but the most common would be....Dominion Theology....where it is taught that Christians should take....take....dominion over all aspects of society.
                 Reformed Theology has its own version of this....and charismatic Christianity has its own version....but in the latter....charismatic Christianity....this dominion teaching absolutely dominates! In fact....if it were not for this charismatic theology....Donald Trump would not be in the White House today!
                 I'll recommend at the end of this post a book to you that was published back on October 1 of last year....that will give you all the information that you could need on the charismatic aspect of where Donald Trump's influence in evangelicalism comes from.
                 The former influence....which lives within Reformed Theology....is known as....Reconstructionism. We see this primarily through the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
                  The latter we see in the influence of Paula White....and all of the self-proclaimed prophets and apostles without which Donald Trump would not be in the White House.
                   So Pete Hegseth can have his monthly Department of Defense voluntary prayer meetings....which at first glance might seem wonderful....but ultimately there is no disassociating from a man in Donald Trump who has continuously prophesied....prophesied....to all the evangelicals in the church....this for nine years running....and taken evangelicalism captive....that America is going to keep on winning...winning...winning....(the pandemic must have been a glitch)....and its best is yet to come....and a new golden age is coming....when God's Word to us....tells us very clearly to those who have ears to hear....that the exact opposite is coming....judgment!
                   So Donald Trump is that false prophet....false prophet....just as Hananiah was the false prophet that opposed Jeremiah....and today those in the church....at least the ones with the media savvy and huge platforms....are his biggest supporters!

Note: That book is....The Violent Take It By Force....the Christian Movement that is Threatening our Democracy....by Matthew D. Taylor. It sells for $32.99 at Barnes & Noble....but you can get it a little cheaper on Amazon....and there is a Kindle version available for about $21.

                 Moshe Arbel is a Haredi Rabbi....and the Minister of the Interior in Israel. Mike Huckabee is an evangelical Baptist minister....and the United States Ambassador to Israel.
                 Ambassador Huckabee just did something rather remarkable. He sent an official letter to the Israeli Minister of the Interior....and copies to other Israeli leaders including Benjamin Netanyahu....he wasn't fooling around....and in the letter he threatened reciprocal measures against Israel if the issue was not resolved quickly.
                 So what is the issue? Numerous Christian evangelical organizations are applying for visas to Israel....probably more than usual....and Isreal is making it hard for them to get those visas. Huckabee's argument is that we are Israel's strongest ally....an understatement....and they are treating us this way.
                 The Israeli position....at least from this government minister....is that they appreciate the support....but do not appreciate evangelicals trying to convert them....and thus changing their heritage.
                  Evangelicals look at this as a simple freedom....but Jews do not evangelize individuals unless asked to evangelize.
                  I would think that this would get resolved. I read a couple of dozen comments on this from Israelis....this whole thing is in the Jerusalem Post....and most of the comments support the Israeli Minister of the Interior. None of this is really new. What interests me is....did Mike Huckabee do this on his own? Did President Trump find about it after the fact? Or did Huckabee run it by Trump first to get the OK.
                 The Freedom Caucus in our congress was....(it still exists)....a group of real conservatives who actually believed what they preached. They were heroes of a sort back in the Obama years. Trump wasn't in office but a few months....and an issue arose....and Trump blurted out immediately.....he never has any patience in these things....that he was going to primary the Freedom Caucus members who had the audacity to disagree with him. More recently as we are all aware today as we read the newspapers....(that is an archaic slip....for few read the few newspapers today)....more recently Trump attacked his radical MAGA people....once again without any patience to think anything through.
                 So....if the day comes when evangelicals cause the problem....then they also will all of a sudden be the enemy. 

There Are Many Benefits On Growing Older In The Lord

               My introduction to John MacArthur came in 1993.....probably.....for that is when I purchased his....at the time new book....Ashamed Of The Gospel...When The Church Becomes Like The World. It is listed among my favorite books on my profile. I don't know how many of his books that I have read but it would be a lot. Charismatic Chaos came next even though it was published a year earlier.
                In 1995 he spoke at a conference in Pittsburgh and signed for me his new book....Pastoral Ministry. That was a memorable conference for me.....for as I browsed the book table I met a man....through his name tag....who was a Presbyterian pastor in nearby East Liverpool, Ohio. We struck up a friendship that has lasted to today....and became members of his congregation. He is retired and living in the South.
                So John MacArthur's radio ministry....Grace To You....gty.org....became a daily thing....along with R. C. Sproul's....Renewing Your Mind....renewingyourmind.org....and Michael Horton's....White Horse Inn....whitehorseinn.org. I have dozens of cassette tapes and VHS tapes of John MacArthur's ministry packed away in our basement.
               Two days ago....after John MacArthur went to be his Lord and Savior and King....I came across while Googling his sermons an older sermon of his with an intriguing sermon title....Why God Pulls You Away From People After 60. I have listened to it twice so far and probably will try to listen to it again today.
               So if you are older than 60....particularly if you are older than 70....you really should listen to this message that I will add at the bottom of this post. Pastor John begins with a rather long dialogue on how God has determined the day of our death....and here I came across the sermon the day after he died.

                                                                           

Note: This YouTube will come will a few ads. Just wait for....Skip...and clip on that. One last thought. John MacArthur had referenced Charles Spurgeon often....and that is an understatement....and as I listen to this I see so clearly the same wisdom that God had given the 19th century London Prince of Preachers. I have noticed over the past few years a number of believers have backed away from me....and I believe that is partly because I continuously warn them of the genuine biblical false prophet in Donald Trump....that they simply cannot support a false prophet.....and enemy of our Savior....no matter what they think that it means to America....and I emphasize again and again that the gospel in this age has seriously been compromised....with no need any more to be born again....and no wicket gate.....and no narrow way....and no desire to hear of any pending judgment. So that is sad for me....but if you listen to the message in the above link....you might see that this separation comes with a great blessing....of having distractions removed in order to see more clearly that which is our inheritance with such a glorious and loving and merciful Savior!

Would You Rather We Had No Warning At All?

Jeremiah was told by God to stand in the gate and proclaim to the people not to oppress...."the stranger....(the sojourner or the alien)....the fatherless and the widow." Well that is pretty much exactly what we Republicans are doing.....oppressing the alien and the fatherless and the widow. We are taking money from as many people as we can all over the world....to fill our coffers. Right at the same time that Jeremiah said this to the people....he also told them...."Do not trust in these lying words saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD'." (Seventh chapter of Jeremiah) This admonition and command is pretty much the same as in every single rally Trump would end it with...."And we are one glorious nation under God." Folks....I'm just passing this on. Reject it if you want. The following post is from July of 2019....just before the punishments began in earnest on America and the world:

Would You Rather We Had No Warnings At All?

                  The Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade came down on the same day that former President Lyndon Johnson died....January 22, 1973. Watergate would consume the rest of the year. In November Billy Graham held a crusade in St. Louis, Missouri. In one of his nightly messages he thundered about the Babylonian king Belshazzar. Nebuchadnezzar was dead and his grandson took the vessels previously taken from the temple in Jerusalem.....and all present in that great feast of his drank from the holy vessels. That's when the hand appeared....writing on the wall....as the book of Daniel describes to us. Billy Graham pointed out to the people in the packed arena....once again this back in 1973....that America was becoming as Babylon had been under Belshazzar.
                  Folks....that crusade was over forty-five years ago. (almost fifty-two years now) I was partying on the Pitt campus at the time. Did I somehow catch that particular night's message? Possibly....as I did spend some time at home....and I did surf the 13 or so channels....but at the time I would not have known the Old Testament book of Daniel from a bottle of Jack Daniels....but here's the thing....what Billy Graham saw in the America of 1973....was absolutely nothing in terms of rebellion to God as we have today! (folks I wrote this six years ago....and we are much worse today!) Reverend Graham would continue to preach this message....with increasing fervor....until he went to be with his Lord more than forty-four years later.
                  Was Billy Graham incorrect or premature with his message of judgment forty-five years ago. Was he about a half century too early to give such a message? No....Jeremiah prophesied God's warnings for forty years. Most of God's prophets in the Old Testament did not live to see their prophesies come true....and Billy Graham would never see his beloved nation undergo the full judgment of God.
                   I've had it said to me....eyes rolling....many times....(the most recent two days ago)....'Oh Special Dog....you've been saying for a long time that God is going to judge America." My usual response has been....'What would you rather have....God judging us without a warning.....without giving us an opportunity to turn to Him....or would you rather have what He has been doing for at least a half century....sending faithful preachers to show exactly how we have turned away from Him....what God's Word tells us will happen....and what we must therefore do?
                   We don't have the Billy Graham Crusades for the unbeliever to stumble upon....and we don't have Christian bookstores anymore....and we are losing these faithful preachers who one by one warned us. (John MacArthur just two days ago) In short....our supply lines have been cut. May God open our eyes once again....in the pulpit and in the pew....in time to turn to Him.....to look to Him....and to rely only upon Him in the turmoil that surely lies ahead.

DISPATCHES

Diversionary Fire....Lindsey Graham wants a special counsel to investigate Obama on Russia's trying to help Trump in 2016. Trump is in real trouble right now....for the umpteenth time....and needs diversionary fire to get out of it. Senator....Trump had been dealing with Russians for three decades before the 2016 election. He was prime....primo....Soviet kompromat material....even former Soviet KGB people stated that. That doesn't bother you? He has been an opponent of NATO since 1987 when he paid $100,000 for a full page ad in the NYT. In his first term he met with Putin....without any aides present....for hours....to the astonishment of his aides. He is walking a fine line between seeming to support the Ukraine....because people like you are forcing him....but demurring to Putin time and again. Will your special counsel have the freedom to look at both sides of the....Russia hoax? Of course it wouldn't. This isn't about truth....it's about keeping the Republican Party in power.

Farce....The deputy attorney general....who Trump nominated back in November....who will interview Ghislaine Maxwell....is the man who was Trump's lawyer in his 2024 criminal trial. He also represented Paul Manafort in 2016.

Cryptocurrency and the Mark of the Beast.....Trump long ago said that he wanted to make the United States the crypto capital of the planet. A regulatory bill was signed into law today....July 18. Trump has made hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone on digital currency. There could not be a 'mark of the beast' method of currency with money as we have always known it. Digital currencies lay the groundwork for buying and selling by whatever this mark turns out to be. Taking this one step further....keep it in mind that it is Trump who is pushing this....the same Trump who evangelicals essentially put into office....who came out early this year with his second inauguration...."conquering....and to conquer."

Show Trials.... The Democrats have always approached the Russia/Trump investigation and aftermath from the wrong direction. Trump had a lot of dealings with Russians beginning in the 80s....and particularly after the Soviet Union collapsed....as he was selling luxury condos to Oligarchs....who would use them to essentially launder money made after the collapse. Trump was also prime....primo....Russian Kompromat material. So this man was going to be a major party nominee for president. It would have been criminal for Comey and others....not....not to have moved fast to see how deep these Russia/Trump connections were. Add to this that since becoming President of the United States he has been an ally of Putin! He began his attacks on NATO decades ago....and now with Putin's war on the Ukraine....he is trying his best to pacify him. I've read most of the books that these men....Comey and the others....have written on what went on....and they have a good case. These are expected to be show trials....but Trump may be going to the well one time too many on this....as he needs something right now because of the Epstein fiasco. 

Churches Can Now Endorse Political Candidates.... Donald Trump campaigned the first time on getting rid of the Johnson Amendment that could possibly be used against churches that entered in any way the political arena....and then for a few years after becoming president he just outright lied and said in just about every rally that he got rid of the Johnson Amendment....when Congress was the only one who could do that. The amendment itself had been a moot point for a long time....and the Johnson Amendment is still there....but today....July 8, 2025....Trump's IRS announced that its new interpretation of the Johnson Amendment would not threaten churches that entered politics. Evangelicals no doubt will celebrate this kept promise....sort of kept promise....even though it's a little late in coming....but this is not good news because it is a Pandora's Box....that can open up so many problems that I could not even list in a short DISPATCHES post.

Hollywood and Trump....Kevin Sorbo was the TV Hercules star in the late 90s....or so I read....and he later became a regular in independent Christian movies....of which I have watched quite a few....and he always does a good job. Well....he believes that Hollywood is now....with Trump.....going to be forced to changed. Here is a recent quote...."I think with Trump in office again right now, there's definitely a shift. People will hate him in front, but those people that hate him, they're gonna see their lives get better. Trust me." The other side of the coin is this. There is a big and eternal difference....but with a fine line to cross....in producing a movie like....Chariots of Fire....which would win a Best Picture Oscar....and Leni Riefenstahl who would be directed....to direct.....the film....Triumph of the Will.

ICE....There was way too much money given to this agency....and way too many agents....with way too much power....and way too many horror stories....at the direction of a man who is way too unbalanced....and has way too many soulless and conscienceless yes-men....leading way too many people who for some reason have lost all compassion and common sense!

On The More Weightier Issues...Evangelicals today are celebrating Supreme Court rulings on LGBTQ and judicial parameters....thinking that the path they have taken pleases God....but on the more weightier issues such as love for their neighbor....taking care of the widows and the poor and the alien in their midst....and worshiping God in spirit and in truth....it has been a failure.

Cruise Down The River Styx....If you are around 40 years old....an adult for say twenty years....then the last ten years of your short twenty year adulthood had been a graphic novel...TV reality show....tabloid....true crime....seedy stateroom cruise down the River Styx. You have never experienced the America that once was....even in its last few decades....and you have never experienced the gospel as a mainstay in the church....or preaching that mortifies man and glorifies God. Read Daniel 9....and see what a prayer for national repentance is supposed to sound like.

Obama Never Transformed us....Trump Did....I had posted critically on President Obama for the eight straight years of his two terms....for he made it known that he would like to "fundamentally transform" America....but at no point during those eight years did I feel that we had changed in any fundamental way....nor did I feel isolated from my own country. On the other hand....Trump has already fundamentally changed America....a totally new and unrecognizable America that feels it needs no friends....trusting now in its gold and silver and military hardware....of which God has told us that these are broken cisterns....and do not come to Him when in trouble....but go to the gods that we have now.

This Is How It happened Before....It is difficult to assess the makeup of ICE....Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I would think that they are typical professional-minded Americans seeking a career....in service to their country....and that may indeed be the case....but I also would think that there would be some inner turmoil when called upon to rush into a Mexican restaurant....and take away the workers....or to take a man off of his lawn mower....and send him back to his country....where he may not even have such employment. What bothers me most when I look at what is going on....is that Germany in the 1930s and Russia both before and after the Bolshevik Revolution....and many other authoritarian governments....have had and still have what amounts to their own personal armies....or their dictatorial leader's own personal army. No we are not there yet....but Trump is only a signature away from a new enforcement agency....enforcing whatever he might want to enforce.

A 'Falling Away' would come first....We all know....anyone who reads at all into prophecy....that there is a falling away at the end....a falling away of the church. We do not know the specifics right now....but I want to reiterate something that I titled a post with back in April....and it is this...."If this is not that....falling away....(meaning evangelicals and Trump)....then it is a good imitation!

Did Something Catastrophic Happen During That Blood Moon Tetrad? The following is from an earlier DISPATCHES post: "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. In May of 2022 I 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!"

The Power In The Temptation Of Donald Trump

                 I spent a little time today with a very good friend....and a wonderful Christian brother....mature in the faith....and a prayer warrior. We have known each other for at least forty years....and our families used to get together before the kids grew up and moved away.
                 We usually talk for about three hours but today we only had about an hour and a half. He and I know each pretty well. It's a great blessing....and continues after today even though there were a few surprises.
                  We always touch a little on politics but we don't really get into it because we know how each other feels. We have always been negative on Trump....but even I don't get too intense in our conversations because we were basically on the same page.
                   Well towards the end of our conversation today we touched again on politics....I believe he brought it up....and he said matter-of-factly...."I've been watching Fox news lately." I never knew what his news watching habits were....but when anyone would say....as if it is a new revelation.....that they are now watching Fox news....I would be a little concerned.....because at least a half dozen times in these posts I came straight out and advised Christians....'stay away from Fox News.....it's poison!'
                    So the last fifteen minutes of our conversation....he defended President Trump on a number of issues such as immigration and the budget and the Doge firings....and then went on about how bad President Biden was. I recognized it all as Fox and talk radio and podcaster talking points.
                    As for my own news habits....it's all Internet as I do not get cable news in the home....but I check each and every major news source....ABC & NBC & CBS & CNN & FOX & BREITBART and others even international news sites.....literally....dozens of times a day....almost but probably not quite every hour of every day! That's what I do. That's what I have done for many years....along with reading....and I am right now on book number 106 on Donald Trump! 
                   So....the reason for this post is two-fold.....as I get to say again....."Christians....stay away from Fox news....it is pure poison because it presents only one side....and it does that with purposeful ignorance of the existence of another side....or of Trump's myriads of lies and deceptions that are every bit as horrendous if not moreso than even Joe Biden's! I've read Fox news since the good ole days when it first came into being....when it was truly....fair and balanced....but this is a different animal than that Fox news! This is a predator.
                   The second reason for this post is to admit....that as I listened to my friend....and saw the subtle change....in a mature Christian....that Donald John Trump is winning this war for the hearts and minds of even evangelicals. Because I acknowledge this reality....I can write this as an observer more than anything else. The power that he....Trump has....over people....is more than just extraordinary....and would be beyond comprehension....if I did not know where the power came from....and folks....it is not coming from God.

Salvation Is For The Destitute

Preface: The following post is only two weeks old: 

          In the afternoon of January 1, 2023 I booted up John MacArthur's church's streaming sermon....but he had taken ill. It was reported a few weeks later that there was some artery cloggage....a procedure was done....and the pastor would need a few weeks of rest. It has been 2 1/2 years since that day....and he has hardly been in the pulpit at all....as one new procedure would follow another.
            I check every week to see if he might be back in his pulpit....and I pray every day that he his lungs would function well enough for him to preach. I'm doing this in faith that God would....if it be in His perfect will...give us back the old John Macarthur as in the sermon YouTube that is below....which is pure John Macarthur...and one of the strongest evangelical sermons that I have ever heard him preach!
           John MacArthur is not perfect....nor was Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or any of the great preachers of the past. He fell for the lure of politics about six years ago...and he missed the false prophet that he had been warning us of for the past for decades....but God is merciful....or a wretch like me would not be typing here right now.
           We in evangelicalism are essentially shepherdless right now. God has taken most of his faithful shepherds home....Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul and Tim Keller and many others....men who would not have shrunk back and refused to warn....as all the others have today.
           It may be that John MacArthur would return to his pulpit....and not be the warning that I would expect him to be. That is in God's hands. As for me....I know that evangelicalism right now is in the dark....and they need a voice of warning....a trumpet!
           Have you come here and read my pitiful posts on the gospel of Jesus Christ....and been frustrated because it is not sinking in? Are you a long-time church goer and frustrated because you have never understood what all the fuss was about. Are you about to give up? Give it one more try....listen to this sermon by John MacArthur....because it is for you!

Tell Us Of Good Times Ahead......Not Bad Times

                There was a time not all that long ago when Lindsey Graham was one of the more sensible senators in our Congress....this when John McCain was around. He has since lost his abilities to think through things. 
                So right now Senator Graham is boasting a bill in the works that will give Trump the ability to put up to 500% sanctions....a "sledgehammer"....on countries that do business with Putin....that includes India and Brazil and a lot of countries....particularly on oil and gas and uranium....because that is where Putin gets the money to fund the war in Ukraine.
                 China is too far along on its plans to invade Taiwan to sit and watch its economy totally collapse. It is now or never.....and Putin is rearming as fast as he can for his role in the war....he is not going to let NATO build up their militaries....and Kim Jong-Un is just going to do what he is told.
                 Our intelligence agencies....or what's left of those there who are professionals at what they do....they know that war is coming. God's Word tells those who have ears to hear that judgment is coming right now.....and war is part of that judgment.
                 It's not that if this 500% tariff bill is not passed that there will be no war. The war is coming. Nineveh had forty days....and we in America have had at least forty years of warnings. 
                 Is there something inherently or even biblically wrong with a Christian saying that war is coming? Jeremiah told the king and the priests and the princes that Babylon was coming. Jesus told the Pharisees that they could discern the weather but not the signs of the times. Daniel and Ezekiel and Isaiah and all the others laid it out for us....but you wouldn't....and we don't....know anything about it from what comes out of our pulpits.

The following was posted in August of 2019....probably as the coronavirus was germinating:

Good-bye Langley

              You are an analyst for the CIA. You're 64 years old and set to retire at the end of the year so you have seen a lot in your career....and developed a sense of spotting trouble when something is not right. Today Putin is being pushed in Russia....and he has a nasty habit of pushing back. Hong Kong may explode. The trade wars may back the Communist Party of China into a corner that they will have to fight their way out of. Both Russia and China have fiercely been stocking up on gold. The Mullahs in Iran are more than willing to go to war....along with their surrogates....provided there are other wars going on. Meanwhile.....Kim Jong-un just commissioned his newest submarine and is testing ballistic rocket systems right and left.
              You've got a memo already typed up and ready to push the send button....a worst-case scenario....but no one to send it to....for everybody above you is focusing on Venezuela....on the possibility of a blockade.....for 'humanitarian purposes' of course....certainly not oil. You wonder if you should have included Venezuela to get their attention. You delete the memo from the computer and roll up the printed copy....tossing it the waste can....to be burned later. You decide to vacation out instead of waiting until the end of the year.
             They all shake your hand on your last day. You buy a comfortable cabin in the remotest section of Cook Forest, Pennsylvania where there is no Wi-Fi or cable television. You bring a book that you've always meant to read.....page one....by the time that you have read through the book of Daniel you wish that you had sent that memo....by the time you've finished Revelation you think about....and utter the words out loud of the second thief on the cross....from the Gospel of Luke you believe....for you know no other way to put it...."Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

                
              

Three Weeks Of Mourning....But How Many Are Mourning....And How Many Even Care?

                 Last evening at sunset....Israel time is seven hours ahead of us....the Jewish Faith began what is known as....The Three Weeks. After perusing the major Israeli newspapers....it seems as if few in Israel even care....but some do.
                 This is a three-week continuing and changing somewhat observance.....a remembrance....and a mourning....over the disasters that have happened over the millennia....to the Jewish people and the Jewish Faith and even the temples....as the walls of Jerusalem were breached on today's date....the 17 of Tammuz....and the two temples destroyed twenty-one days later...on ninth of Av....or....Tisha B'Av....or August 2 & 3 on our calendar. 
                

Maybe It Was Because Of The Dog?

                After reading of all the hubbub about the new Superman movie being politically correct....I couldn't detect anything of that nature while watching it. If I looked for things I surely could have found them....but in just watching it for some uplifting entertainment....well....they weren't jumping out at me. All of the theaters and the numerous show times were nearly filled. We had to go to an 11:45 AM showing to get the seats that are my favorite. Yeah....I have favorite seats....first row luxury....aisle seats....with a wall behind me.
                 I was not a comic book kid. Oh I take that back because I did buy Archie and Sad Sack comics. I buy comics occasionally today....sort of.....Christian graphic novels....and then I give them away to young people. I don't know that I have ever gone to a Batman movie....and I never saw any Superman movies before this....including the original Christopher Reeve/Marlon Brando film....and I certainly never saw any super hero movies of any kind....but I just kind of felt like going to this one. Maybe it was because of the dog?
                 Let me give you one scene that describes this particular Superman. Buildings are collapsing in Metropolis....and a squirrel is about to get crushed....and Superman zooms in and grabs the squirrel!
                 A little spoiler here....not much....but in the beginning of the film Superman pined over thoughts of his parents back on Krypton....but at the end of the film....he pined over thoughts of his childhood with his adoptive parents. So....dogs and things like that....yeah....this was my kind of movie.

               
                
                

                

I'm Not Going To Use The Term In The Title Of This Post......Because Then You Would Not Read It

Preface: We all know about Ananias and Sapphira. My grandfather's middle name was Ananias and I always thought that a strange name. According to Acts 5....they sold a plot of land....only gave a portion of the proceeds to the apostles for the care of the church....but told Peter that they gave to the church the full amount from the sale. And we know what happens next. Was Peter all that concerned about the money. Does that sound like Peter? No....it sounds more like Judas. If Ananias and Sapphira were truly regenerated and converted....aka born again....they could not....so easily....and so boldly....without guilt....lied to Peter. There was a similar incident in the Old Testament where after Jericho fell....Achan hid some of the spoils under his tent. Israel then went into battle with Ai and was defeated. What is it about fake believers in the church that is so important? So....there is someone that we so dearly love....a child or a parent....but we do not understand our own saving faith....and in not understanding true saving faith....we take it upon ourselves to in effect grant salvation and heaven to that one that we so dearly love....but like Ananias and Sapphira....they are not truly converted. What we have done is to condemn....to be part of the condemnation....of the one....that we so dearly love! We would give our life for them....but as it turns out we would not even take the time to see what salvation is! It should make us question whether we ourselves are truly saved. What happened to Ananias and Sapphira struck fear into the church. We need a little of that same fear today.               

                You are a member of a large church....maybe it would qualify as a megachurch.....of 2,000 or more. You have been active in the church for many years....and have met dozens....maybe hundreds of people over the years in various events.....cell groups or men's breakfasts or Bible studies....and certainly in the pews during Sunday services. You have a core group of good friends....and a much larger group of very friendly acquaintances....but you have never....apart from two or three sermons a year that might have touched on John chapter three and Nicodemus......you have never heard anyone use the words....born again....not in their own testimony of sorts....or in any stories they might relate.
                In the 1980s....and certainly the 70s but I wasn't there....the term was spoken all over the place....as....."So when were you born again?"....might be a standard question.....and of course Billy Graham was all over the television calling people in the arenas to be born again....and R. C. Sproul and MacArthur and Piper and all the rest of the men with national and international ministries would teach or preach regularly on being born again.
                 They are all gone now.....gone to be with their Lord.....most of them anyway....and our conversations no longer incorporate that biblical term....born again.....nor 'saved.' We don't even talk about when we became Christian.
                  Have you ever thought of yourself as being born again? Do you ever wonder if your son or your daughter or your mother or your father or your spouse or your best friend has been....born again. Probably not. Now you might say that they are or are not a Christian....but that term....born again....has become a nebulous term....that is best to avoid.
                  The problem isn't that we just don't use that term anymore. The problem is that we no longer know what happens when a soul is....saved. And if we do not know that....then we do not know if we are born again....or any of our loved ones.

                   Every person is born lost and headed to perdition....every person....bar none. The heart spiritually is dead....dead to salvation....and dead to God's Word as the power of salvation. Something must happen....and it is not our all of a sudden choosing faith in Christ....because we do not have that ability. It certainly is not just going to church....even for a lifetime....or even becoming a minister.....or even an evangelist in our own sphere.
                    God must regenerate that heart. He does the choosing....but we are still not born again. The Holy Spirit convicts us....and somehow we hear the gospel from the Word of God....and we then choose....because with the Holy Spirit moving upon our hearts we are going to believe....period. We then are born again....and everything is changed. God's Word now can have its effect on us. The circumstances vary but we now know not only that we are saved but we know what we were saved from and why we needed being saved....and we have now a built-in desire for our loved ones to know Christ as we do! And generally....we cannot stop telling people of Christ and His mercies and what He has done for us and what He requires of us!
                    The first thing we want to do after hearing something like this is to say....now wait a minute....not everyone who is saved is running around telling everyone about Jesus. People have different experiences and different personalities....and that is absolutely true....but that does not negate the fact that at one moment a person is lost....and the Bible has no power in him....and the next moment....which may seem like a year....he or she is no longer lost....praise God....how can you not at least praise God....and God's Word now is like an explosion of wonderful truths! (and that stays the same for a whole lifetime)
                    So what can we do.....if we have been born again? Well....we can tell people at least the time period that we were born again....and we can watch their reaction.....and we can ask them when they were born again....and we go from there. We might ask them if we could talk about it.....or we might boot up a computer like I do.....and ramble the best that we can....hoping that as many as God might lead....would read what is posted....and then they would go on a mission to find out what this is all about....and if that happens then most likely the Holy Spirit has regenerated the heart....and is beginning to drag you.....go ahead and kick your heels into the ground all you want....it won't do any good!

So when you leave here.....you can go to so many places to follow up what I so inadequately posted....you can go to ligonier.org or gty.org or desiringgod.org....or whitehorseinn.org or refnet.fm. You won't have to wait long until these men are preaching or teaching on being born again!

                                                                         

The White Horse......And The White Whale

              "Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals....and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder....'Come and see'....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." Revelation 6:1,2....NKJV

               If you go back one chapter you see that this is a very momentous thing that is happening....the Lamb takes the scroll...."out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne." The "four living creatures" and the "twenty-four elders" then fall down before the Lamb....and praise is given to the Lamb to the end of the chapter that concludes with...."And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever." (verses seven and fourteen)

               And then it begins! But what begins? Well we know this...that all kinds of judgments follow....beginning with the four horses and the riders thereon....that we have come to label....the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
              The war and the famine and the death that comes from the riders on the red and the black and the pale horses are easily identifiable. It is the rider on the white horse that is not so easily identifiable.
               The rider is given a bow....with no mention of arrows. Some interpret this to signify a man of peace? And then a crown is given to the rider. Some interpret this to mean that he becomes the leader of the whole world? 

                The pandemic has become nothing but politics today....and for evangelicals that was....keeping church doors open. The bad vaccination people are gone. John MacArthur once stood before his congregation and said...."There is no pandemic." I saw that with my own eyes....and heard that with my own ears. We....evangelicals....believed that Trump just had to stay in office....and no pandemic was going to keep him from it. It turned out to be a disaster upon a disaster. We are still fighting that battle today. Whatever way you might look at this....you must at least concede that the coronavirus upended the entire world....and just as it took Trump out of office in January of 2021....it helped put him back in office in January of 2025.

                  I posted the following in January of 2024...."So what is a....corona?  The Merriam-Webster definition for corona is...."something suggesting a crown." OK....that could be the 'crown'...but what about the 'bow'? As I wrote in a previous post....(a post from January of 2023)...."The ancient Greek fighters would put poison on their arrows. They called this....toxikon pharmakon....the archery drug. The evolution of this whole thing has given us the word....toxic. Oxford's Word of the Year for 2018....before the pandemic....was....toxic. According to the Oxford website....'the Latin word itself....(toxicus)....came from the Greek term....toxon....meaning....bow.' So....coronavirus revolves around the word....crown....and the word....bow....basically means poison."

                   The white horse and its rider....can and should at least be looked at....as possibly pointing to the pandemic....which is the single biggest catastrophe in my lifetime of 75 years....and of which Donald Trump is tied to as Captain Ahab was tied to the white whale. Ahab previously had part of his leg severed by that white whale....and revenge drove him to kill that whale....just like Trump possibly had his second term severed by that white horse....and is now going out...."conquering....and to conquer." (verse two)
                    The real issue for us should not be in identifying the white horse.....as much as discerning that the seals of Revelation six....whether the white horse is the coronavirus or not....are being opened right now by the Lamb!

If You Are Not That Interested In Knowing.....God Is Not That Interested In Revealing

"And do not become idolaters as were some of them. [in the wilderness with Moses] As it is written, 'the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' " 1 Corinthians 11:7 NKJV            

              This is by far not the first post that I have ever done on this subject. I just believe that it is important enough to keep bringing it up.
              To most Americans....walk out of your home....in the morning or afternoon or early evening....and s.troll around....maybe even in town....and there is not a care in the world. The birds will be singing....lawn mowers will be running....and children will be playing and laughing here and there. A man might be washing his car with music playing by him....or a woman pulling weeds from between the Hydrangea and the Hosta.
               The television shows are the same....as are the magazines....whether they are sports or women's magazines. There is always a movie to go to see or a concert or a professional game of any one of a number of sports.
                The conversations are the same....bad knees and new diets and so-and-so whose husband left them and the weather and the next vacation. Church is the same....if one goes to church....with more smiles. There's mom or dad who should not be driving anymore....or a child who just drives too fast from stop sign to stop sign....and there is the eldest daughter or the second eldest son who are getting married....which will take up all the free time in preparation until that big day comes.
                There is absolutely nothing unexpected about this situation....for in that great chapter in Matthew.....twenty-four....verses thirty-eight and thirty-nine....Jesus described the time of His return as....in the days of Noah....not the Lancaster Sight & Sound production....but the real Noah...."For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and there were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." 
                 I could make this sound genteel....while slowly describing the problem....but I'm not....for there is really little time.....even if Jesus tarries a few years....there is little to no time to waste. So I will pick the Steelers....it could be the Browns or the Dodgers or Golf or this hobby or that hobby....but I'll pick the Steelers because I know this problem....in fact I used to be part of this problem. If your desires are more on a professional team of any sport....meaning you follow them daily for most of the year....for decades on end....and you are more interested in them than Jesus Christ....the Lord of Glory....coming back in vengeance and judgment....with the whole world ablaze....than you just will not discern a single thing about what is going on today....and that is exactly what I have witnessed.
                 So....on that walk.....yes the birds will still sing....and the mowers will still buzz....and the kids will still play....and the newest Netflix series will still air....until the wars start....and then it will all change....and you will be pouring through your Bible to make sense of it all....looking for oil to add to your lamp....and wondering why your decades of faithful attendance at church didn't grandfather you in?