Lord's Day Post

Preface: Evangelicals today are very faithful in defending their pastors.....and their congregations....even their denominations....but not very good at all in defending the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see when we defend our pastor....or our church....we are essentially defending ourselves....for if we faced the facts of a weakened church age for preaching....we might actually have to do something....maybe leave our church. So this is really about us. We are defending ourselves....at the expense of the gospel!                

                 It's not the first time that I have had this thought....but they are getting stronger....so this is the first time that I will have expressed that thought in these posts. Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day....and I have prayed for longer than I care to remember that this day might be the day when the Holy Spirit moves over pulpits and congregations as wind over wheatfields...but I no longer believe that will happen. God can certainly do that if He wills it....I just no longer think that He would will it!
                 In a way I feel better saying this....or rather posting it....because even as I prayed in the past that that Lord's Day would be the day when God would begin to have mercy upon us....I never saw any evidence that evangelicals even desired any discernment. So I was praying for people who had no interest in learning anything or changing in any way. They were always happy where they were....with the exception that that happiness was seriously impinged upon by Joe Biden and the whole progressive and woke crowd....but that did not turn them back to God.....it turned them to a vile false prophet in Donald Trump....which is worse than if they had done nothing at all.
                 This afternoon I sat....along with my entire family....at a Sight & Sound production....this year being Noah. There were....it is always filled....2000 plus people in attendance....and this three shows a day....for just about the whole year. It's estimated that 1.5 million people see the shows each year. Last year it was Daniel....and the year before....Moses....and next year......Lord willing....Joshua. They are all wonderful....and everyone I presume is edified in some way. I love them....but they do not change us. They edify for the moment....but do not mortify unto eternity.
                 I mention this because there are numerous supposed revivals all over America every year....where thousands of young people show up at a Christian music concert or conference....or some college ministry baptizes hundreds if not thousands of young people....or an evangelist has a crusade that fills a sports stadium....with hundreds if not thousands again....coming forward in the emotion of the moment....but these are not George Whitefield or Jonathan Edwards or Charles Spurgeon type of revivals....because the people in Whitefield's time or Edwards' time or Spurgeon's time....did not come from America circa 2025....or have this culture to go immediately back to. 
                   The gospel is not the same....the message is not the same.....the call and the warnings are not the same....and the churches to go back to are not the same. Add to this that the temptations of money and lust for this and for that may always have been present in man....but this present advanced materialistic and capitalist culture bombards us almost every minute of every day....from every direction!
                    Idols are literally everywhere....almost on every street corner. We have talked ourselves into believing that we can go and burst a blood vessel cheering for a football team on the Lord's Day....or in front of a television set....and somehow think that this was a blessing from God....and if Trump doesn't save us....we might not even have those football games anymore.
                    No.....the preaching today is not going to produce any genuine movements of God....and if they do produce movements of some sort....they could be worse than no movements at all because of the extreme error everywhere!
                     Rock bottom is coming. May that be God's plan....to awaken us by shock therapy.....but it is not going to be from a sermon without the glory of God and the preeminence of Christ moving the listeners to tears. That's right....to tears. We need tears in the pulpits and in our own eyes....over what we have let happen to ourselves and our churches.
                   

"And Which Of You By Being Anxious Can Add A Single Hour To His Span Of Life?

                                                                                    

              
                       It may be myth....and it may just be embellishment....and then again it may be true. Pope Adrian IV was the only English pope....and until the American Pope Leo XIV....the only pope that was Anglo in his ethnicity. The myth or the truth is that he died....this in 1159....after swallowing a fly while drinking wine. Either way it was a throat issue that caused his death.
                     A few weeks ago....in June....an Indian billionaire and good friend of England's Prince William....died of a heart attack after swallowing a bee while engaged in polo. When I heard that news story my mind immediately went to an 1884 sermon by Charles Spurgeon.
                     Prince Leopold....the youngest son of Queen Victoria....had died at the age of thirty....and it was in his sermon that Spurgeon mourned the death of the young royal....and mentioned the fly incident.....along with other men who had just dropped over dead at a young age....thus the sermon title....What Is Your Life?
                      Will any readers actually take fifty minutes to listen to this wonderful and challenging sermon? Probably not....except you....and you might be greatly blessed by it....and I would be so thankful simply to in effect....deliver this sermon in someone's....mailbox....so to speak.

Title: Matthew 6:27 ESV

What Does...."One-On-One Mean?".......We'll Find Out

Preface: The following was posted on August 6....only hours after a Trump/Putin meeting was hinted at. Today Trump's press secretary said that the two would meet "one-on-one"....but that could be interpreted two ways....as it could mean one head of state to another....without a third....Zelensky....or it could be a sly way of saying that Trump and Putin would actually be alone....without anyone from their team. The Democrats should be shouting right now that Trump is not to meet with Putin without anyone else present....but they are not. You cannot have Putin meet alone with someone who was once prime kompromat materiel! This post will be up front for only a short while. It is still six posts below this.

Update....Thursday, August 14:  Russia also said today that Putin will meet with Trump...."one-on-one"....before they meet with their delegations....but we still do not know if at least one of Trump's team will be present. To me this is unfathomable that members of congress are not speaking up and demanding that Trump is not allowed to sit down with Putin with no one else present!   

After the meeting update: Well Trump did it again. He slid into the Beast....and Putin slid into the Beast next to him....and they talked in secrecy without any aides present. There probably was no stopping this because Trump does what he wants to do....but both the Democrats and Republicans could have made a stink before hand....so that at least Americans would know that once again that these two men with similar worldviews plotted on their own....and the world will never know what they said.    

No Meeting Without Someone From His Team Present!

                 Trump said that there is a good chance that he and Putin might meet....even in as soon a week. A couple of things about this.....Trump and Putin met in July of 2018 in Helsinki. During that summit....Trump and Putin famously met for two hours with only an interpreter present....which dumbfounded Trump's team. What did they say? We don't know....and the democrats gave up a few years ago in trying to get the notes of the interpreter.
                 There are FBI and CIA officials who today have criminal investigations of them....by Trump's people....because they were very concerned....and may have acted like they were very concerned....that a prime Russian kompromat candidate in Donald Trump might actually become the President of the United States!
                 So if there is a week until a possible meeting between Trump and Putin might take place....then there should be plenty of time for someone of influence to lay the ground rules before the meeting.....no private meetings between Trump and Putin. Of course Trump doesn't lower himself to such ground rules.....but someone has to try.
                 Also.....we do not know much about the recent meeting between Steve Witkoff and Putin....but one sentence released drew my attention in that one of the things talked about was...."the prospect of possible development of strategic development" between the two countries. It is estimated that there have been one million casualties in the Russian military with possibly as many as 250,000 killed....and a half million casualties from the Ukraine with as many as 80,000 soldiers killed. The estimates of civilian casualties in the Ukraine are over 46,000 with over 23,000 killed.
                We now know who Putin is. The words...."strategic development" between two countries....and hence leaders of two countries....seems to me to be too plebeian....too normal....too positive....to use when one of the leaders is a madman war criminal....but with Trump's history of complimentary statements about tyrants....it does seem quite natural. 

****Hitler....1919 To 1939****

I combined here the three posts on Hitler....Up To 1934....1938....and 1939....under the post title....Hitler....1933-1939

Hitler....Up To 1934             

                My disgust with the historical memory of Hitler is such that when I have referenced him a few times in these posts of almost seventeen years I would refer to him as....the German Fuhrer....but I will use his name since this post is about him.
                 The world looked at him as a comical figure...with his little mustache. When he came on the scene in 1919 Germany was falling apart. Hitler wanted a racially pure Germany....and he hated the Jews and the Socialists. He joined the fledgling German Workers Party....and became a prominent member....raging in his speeches. There was something about his speeches that mesmerized....and people just wanted to follow him. He demanded that he was to be the sole leader of the now newly named Nazi Party. If someone didn't get on board they were taken aside and....urged to reconsider....but Hitler and others moved too quickly and what followed was the infamous....Munich Beer Hall Putsch in November of 1923....a rally meant to be a coup in Bavaria that would then march to Berlin. The coup failed and Hitler wound up in prison for nine months. His sentence was longer than that but he knew people high up and he was pardoned. He started writing Mein Kampf while in prison.
                  As the 1920s wore on...the Nazi Party fizzled in the elections because things were looking a little better economically....what with the United States and others providing low interest loans. And then came the crash of 1929....the best thing that could have happened to Hitler....or so he thought at the time.
                 The army of Brownshirts was now large and strong and brutal....and Hitler would then form what would be the SS as personal guardians.....and then the secret police....the Gestapo.
                  Everyone higher up who also hated the Weimar regime....disliked this raging former corporal....but they thought that they needed him to stop the violence in the streets....and they thought that they could control him....so they gave him power...and he was appointed as Chancellor. By this time though everyone except his growing group of rabid worship followers knew that there might be a problem.
                  Hitler wasn't even a citizen....being Austrian....and he needed that citizenship in order to run for office. The second time around was a whole new ballgame. The people from all areas of society flocked to him as the savior who promised to make Germany great again.
                  This new Third Reich was forming now....and Hitler flew from city to city to rallies....promising a 1000 year reign that turned out to be only twelve years. That's when he made his biggest decision yet....and the first in his incarnation as savior. It was time for paybacks. His forces rounded up all of his old opponents and others who could not be trusted....hundreds died....many of whom were executed....including his long time closest ally....the leader of the Brownshirts....who worried that Hitler was betraying the movement. Rohm was thrown in jail....given a gun with one bullet to kill himself....and then shot in his cell when he refused to kill himself. This night that extended over a couple of days and nights came to be known as....the Night of the Long Knives. Would the Brownshirts accept him after he had their leader killed? Hitler gave one of his patented speeches on protecting the country....and wallah....they were all back in the fold.
                   Most of the Christian church came on board....believing the promises that were made....that the church was too much of an important German institution to do anything to. Of course that promise went by the wayside.
                   It was too late now. The popular Hindenburg....elected again as president....who was talked into naming Hitler as Chancelor....was now only an old-man figurehead....and died shortly afterwards....as he could only watch the change in the country and its people. It was only 1934.

Afterthought: We need to be aware of history. Germany after World War I was divided as we are today. They were susceptible to the rantings of a man who promised to restore nationalism and greatness. He used fear and hatred to push all the opposition out of the way. Even the church fell for the promise of prosperity and greatness. Paul asked of the Galatians....who had bewitched them? Were they so foolish to begin in the Spirit....but go on to perfection in the flesh?

Hitler Up To 1938

                One of the problems we face....those of us who know there are multiple serious problems with who Donald Trump is....primary mental and psychological....is that when Hitler is mentioned then Trump supporters fly off the handle....outraged that he would be compared to such an evil man. It's a deterrent to even bring up the subject....and a win for Trump....but the issue is with the methods that the German Fuhrer used to captivate the German public....the promises and gifts and threats and intimidations and instilling fear and anger....and their similarity with the rise of Donald Trump.
                 During the 2016 election reports came out that Ivana....Trump's first wife....told her lawyer that Trump kept a copy of Hitler's speeches by his bedside. Trump called that fake news....as he calls everything negative on him fake news. Reports continued and Trump then said that he didn't have such a book but if he did have such a book he would not have read it. That absurd statement is typical Trump that just makes you roll your eyes. Reports continued and Trump then was forced to say that a Jewish friend of his gave him the book. Reports continued and then it was reported that the friend was identified....and that friend said that he is not Jewish. This is Donald Trump. This is a man whose social is called....Truth....but he himself cannot now nor could he ever in his life....distinguish between truth and lies....but the point remains that he....a man who is famous for not being a reader....apparently was interested in why Hitler's speeches were so effective!
                    A couple of posts below this is a narrative on Hitler's rise up until 1934. This post takes it a few years later. After He had purged all of his enemies and potential enemies....the work towards building the broken economy started. Hitler expanded the autobahn and provided German cars for the people to drive on the autobahn. He was building everywhere which put people to work. Pensions were increased and many and various benefits were awarded to the people such as paid vacations and child care benefits. The army doubled in numbers almost immediately and work started on building a powerful Luftwaffe. Submarine building took off. The Nazis confiscated a lot of money from the Jews to finance their projects. They just took their money! As all these other projects were being built....so were concentration camps!
                  Germany had previously been awarded the 1936 summer Olympic games....and Hitler was determined to show the world the greatness of Germany. We get the term....Olympic village....from the changes that he made in hosting the athletes. The stadium was....state-of-the-art. Everything went almost perfectly and the games were a great success.
                   Young people were mobilized to grow into patriotic and physically fit adults...ready and willing to serve in the army. Propaganda was one of the keys....particularly through radio and the film industry and newspapers and posters!
                   Hitler began to expand the territory. They just sashayed into the Rhineland and no one said a thing. The Austrian government....'requested'....that the German army enter the country for stabilization. The people cheered them....and then Austria became part of the German Reich. Hitler then occupied the Sudetenland....and again England and France said nothing. It was now only 1938.
                    The point here is that the destitute economy was now expanding....and the people were told to take pride....and they were rewarded....propaganda was now the key to win over the hearts and minds....territories were being added....all opposition was being silenced....they were celebrating Hitler's birthday every year. Germany was great again and he was the reason.
                     We in America are between a rock and a hard place....in that the very issues that should be brought up along with Trump's rise....Trump uses to 'prove' that there is a Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Note: There are a number of excellent movies out there on Corrie ten Boom....the most well-known of course being....The Hiding Place....but....Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace....should also be watched.

Hitler Up To 1939

   In 1938....Hitler demanded a return of a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland....that had a heavily German speaking population. He claimed that the German speaking people were being persecuted....that was his excuse. England and France and Italy gave him what he wanted in what was called....the Munich Agreement. Czechoslovakia was not represented in the talks that ceded the Sudetenland to Hitler. British prime minister Neville Chamberlain famously returned to London with Hitler's signature....holding the paper over his head....where Hitler promised to stop his aggression in Czechoslovakia....but one week later the German Fuhrer proceeded to occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia's Moravian and Bohemian areas. Hitler had already purged most of the Prussian military generals who might not have gone along with his plans of conquest. Although outraged....all that Britain and France did was to guarantee protection for Poland if they were invaded. Does this sound familiar? Putin wants areas of the Ukraine with Russian speaking people. He already was essentially given the Crimea....although he only annexed it....and that didn't stop him.
                Hitler next wanted the free city of Danzig....which today is Gdansk. He then signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union with secretive elements to it....which would free him to invade the western areas of Poland....while Stalin could take other parts of Poland that he wanted. Hitler did invade Poland....and England and France declared war on Germany. Stalin then invaded eastern areas of Poland....but England and France were not ready for another declaration of war....this time on the Soviet Union.
                On the home front in Germany. Hitler always wanted an excuse for his aggression....(the Reichstag fire of 1933 started it all)....and he got it on November 9, 1938 with the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a German-Polish Jewish man. Brownshirts and the SS and even some German youth and citizens then tore through German towns....ransacking Jewish stores and synagogues....in what has become known as Kristallnacht....or The Night Of Broken Glass.
                On the home front today in America........Lindsey Graham thinks that Putin should be given some of what he wants but that European boots should then be placed on the ground in the Ukraine....which would deter Putin from any further invasions of the Ukraine!

Note: The news is dominated these past few days by Trump using federal troops ostensibly to make the capital streets safer....and beautiful. The intellectual affliction of the day is that we cannot....nor would we desire to....think through issues and take them further. We....you and I....created these urban areas. There were always those who sought their fortunes by selling us what we do not need.....and we complied....this ever since the 1960s. As this culture evolved we sat there enjoying that which we thought made us happier....but there were consequences. Not everyone can buy these things....but everyone wants to buy them....and many do....at the expense of building stable lives with the resources available. So what do we do? Well we just blame those who are not demographically as fortunate as we were. You see....we are honest and hard working....and they obviously are not. We have an Olympics coming up in America as well as the World Cup in soccer. Trump brags about this all the time. Well....Hitler bragged about the 1936 Olympics for the same reason....to show the world how great Germany was becoming. Homeless and slovenly appearing people....as well as Gypsies....were taken out of Berlin.... and the streets were cleaned up. There would be no crime while the world watched.

              

Dinner And A 'Prophecy'

               So my wife and I were in Barnes & Noble yesterday....and I had prophecy book in my hand....and then set it down to look at a politics book....which I also bought....my 107th book on Donald Trump! Only when I picked the first book back up....in a hurry as we were on our way to the movies....I picked up the wrong book.
               When we returned home later....after dinner.....dinner and a movie.....I sat down in my recliner intent on reading the prophecy book for a while...,and I saw that I picked up the wrong book! I was in hurry to make the show time and did not even ask for a receipt....so I am stuck with this book. So what is the book? Well....let me just say this....the blurb on the front of it is by Benny Hinn!
                Benny Hinn woke up one morning way back when....this in Toronto, Canada....and according to him....the Holy Spirit was in the room with him....and he said...."Good Morning Holy Spirit".....which became the title of the book that sent him on his way to celebrity.
                It was about 38 years ago....and my wife and I were in a large gathering of Pentecostals and Charismatics....regular meetings that might be described as....dinner and a testimony. Maybe there were a few hundred people there....and we were sitting at a table in the back. My back was to the wall. A minister of some sort....was giving his testimony that evening....and his 'ministry' included calling people up front to prophesy over them. He called about eight people at random up front....of which I was one. He pointed to the back....'You....by the wall.' The first thing he did was pray loudly in front of each person and put his hand on their forehead....and some would fall backwards. I didn't...and he pushed on my forehead....and I still did not go backwards. Then he gave a prophecy over each person. Mine was short...."You want to speak in front of large numbers of people. This is not what you will do. You will speak to people one on one." That was it. We went home....and I didn't think about it for about twenty years....and have since only pondered that night for a few minutes....a few times.
                There is a big difference between Pentecostals and Charismatics. This is from my ten year experience anyway. Pentecostals....tend to be....tend to be....Jesus people who also believe in the Holy Spirit. Charismatics....tend to be....Holy Spirit people....who also believe in Jesus....and therein is and has been the problem.
                  I am reading the book right now....but have read dozens of these kinds of books back in the eighties. It is a blend of Gnosticism and Christianity....as is the Charismatic Movement itself.
                  I'll add this anecdote. There was a wonderful Christian woman....she has since died....who was a Sunday School teacher in our first church....an Assemblies of God. We moved on....as I became Reformed partially because of men like Benny Hinn who were taking over Pentecostalism. This lady moved on also....to a charismatic church. Years later I ran into her at a Christian bookstore. She had somehow changed. In our short....maybe ten minute talk....of which she talked almost the whole time....she must have told me a dozen different specific things that the Holy Spirit had told her.

Note: I fully intended to go back to the Barnes & Noble today to get that first book. In fact I called there and had them put the book aside. Then I....for some reason....Googled the book....and here it is an updated book....with a slight title change....a book that I probably read the first time out. So I cancelled that.

"Leave If You Must....But Do Not Bring This False Prophet Into The Church....In Any Way.....Shape....Or Form"

Preface: The following post is from December 13 of 2021! The last paragraph began with....."Pastors....it is only going to get worse." My goodness....that was an understatement of the ages. God has judged His church first......for the pulpits have utterly failed in warning us. Evangelicals can show righteous indignation at a statement like that....because you see....we boldly defend our pastors today....how dare anyone cast aspersions on this good man.....but what is going on is that the evangelical has no interest in defending the gospel of Jesus Christ.....but their personal pastor.....and in effect by defending their personal pastor.....they are defending themselves. As for the pastors....God told the shepherds in the Old Testament....that if they warn....and the people do not respond....then it is on them....the people....but if the shepherd does not warn....then it is on the shepherd! 

                It is well past time for pastors to bring up Donald Trump from the pulpit....(this was 3 1/2 years ago)....not in any political sense....but as a warning to all in their congregations that a false prophet has entered in among us....and torn us apart as a wolf in among the sheep. These are the shepherds are they not? Then where are they....and where have they been for the past few years....and why do they continue to refuse to warn us?
               The answer may be multi-layered....but primarily they are worried that if they so much as cast the slightest dispersion upon this vile man....that dissension will come into the church. Well here's a flash....dissension is already here because of Donald Trump. You can feel it in the mask controversy....and the whole coronavirus controversy as well....both of which are absurdities brought on because Trump hated that virus....because it deprived him of a second term....and you can sense it in America....our America....the supposed God-fearing side....where not a day passes that we are not driven to anger....destroying everything and anyone in our path that does not bow down to that false prophet. (once again....this post is 3 1/2 years old. What we are seeing today is right out of Germany in the 1930s and in Stalin's purges!)
               The pastors have to say to their congregations....'leave if you must...vote as you want....but do not bring this man or his machinations into this church....in any way or shape or form....or comments on masks or vaccines or Joe Biden or anything....do that outside of God's church.' 
                Trump said it again in Iowa a few days ago....'we are one glorious nation under God" What do pastors think about that? They know very well that we are not one glorious nation under anything. Trump told that same rally crowd again that peace and security and prosperity and greatness and pride was coming again. Any thoughts on this pastors? What does the Word of our God say about it?
                 Pastors....it is only going to get worse. This man is using Joe Biden and socialism and all of the horrors that our culture is falling sway to....to cement his demonic hold over us. What does your personal Bible say about the days before Jesus returns? Anything in there about false prophets and false teachers and false miracles? Would 'Trump crucified' or 'Christ crucified' most describe your congregation? Do you ever preach vigilance and soberness? Yes there may be an extreme winnowing ahead....and it may indeed show up at first as dissension in the church....but are you a shepherd of the sheep....or just a caretaker of the grounds? You say all the time....'trust in God'.....then why do you not trust in His warnings? Is it defense of the gospel...or defense of capitalism that you were called?
                
               

Golf Digest

              I have no plans on taking up golf again. It's been twenty years since I was on a golf course....and it was probably about ten years before that....but I do miss the serene beauty of eighteen holes with trees and water and Caribbean white sand in the traps. The last two days I just stopped by the side of the road by a par four of a golf course....just to take in the atmosphere and watch some foursomes. Today there was just one man....carrying his bag of all things. He had a long drive but was in the left rough. He looked for his ball for quite a while and then just dropped one. His second shot was pretty good but over the green. It took him a while to find that ball. Then I watched him walk to the next tee and drive another long ball. He was now off in the distance....but I could see him looking for his ball again....so I drove off. It reminded me of the way that I played....always looking for the ball. I was looking for golf balls in my dreams. 
               So....I passed a driving range on the way home. I was laid up last year with a bad knee....and there have been some heart issues this year....but I stopped anyway. Once again it has been many years since I was on a driving range. The last time I stopped at a driving range....I was so new to it that I didn't know that you had to put a bucket down before the machine dispensed the balls. I guess that I thought that a person was in there and I would see an arm reach out with a bucket of balls. I was so erratic that I faked an injury....a reason for why I was so bad....in case someone saw me....even though there was no one there to see me. There was a giant green fence off to the right to keep the balls from going on the regular course. I put one over that fence even though the designers probably didn't think a human could do that.
              Today....I may have damaged a young tree on my first drive. It's off about 45 degrees to the left and I'm sure that no one has ever hit it before. I did actually have a couple of good drives....two is a couple right? It's different today as you pour the balls down into some hole....and a ball comes up already teed. That's great because I didn't have to bend over fifteen times. I probably would have feinted with bending over fifteen times and swinging the club fifteen times. Today I have the swing of Doug Sanders. You surely do not know who he was but he was a popular professional golfer back in the sixties. He was known for his colorful clothes and his short backswing. My backswing today was the same....because I couldn't possibly raise my arms any higher.
              Maybe I'll go back sometime for another $5 bucket....Lord willing....with my own driver....that my dad bought me back in 1965.....(I'm not kidding)....and the same putter that back in 65'....in anger on an 18th green....I spun around and heaved it....hitting a tree and bending the putter. It still has that bend in it. I don't think that I could putt....if I could putt....which I can't....with a putter that wasn't bent.
              When I was a runner....I always had an earbud in....listening to some sermon from some preacher from the past. So I would run and praise God while running! I could not have the same experience on a golf course!

DISPATCHES

I give credit to Fox news Internet....although they probably didn't know what they were doing....as a lead story has two videos.... and in one of them the agent in charge of an ICE raid outside of a Gavin Newsome event is questioned by a reporter....and the other is of the California governor inside the event. The person in charge of the raid...politely but a little too confidently stated how he is making California safer....and that these methods will continue....apparently forever....which means that multitudes of families who made a difficult trek to America for a better life....will live somewhat in fear....forever. It made me wonder where Trump could potentially take this growing paramilitary force....particularly if he labels something an emergency? There must be better ways to do this! While Gavin Newsome....who I am no fan of....looked very presidential. Republicans....you should be worried. Also...keep in mind that Newsom's event was a political event. This could very easily be considered political....even election....intimidation. The agent in question was answering questions. I would have a question...."To the best of your knowledge....where did the idea or the order to raid a Gavin Newsome political event come from. Did it possibly emanate from the White House?" They are apparently doing a lot of hiring for these positions. Are there safeguards in place to insure that radical elements are not being considered....or are they just filling the positions as fast as they can? I would think that with Trump micromanaging everything....that radical elements might be preferred or even sought out.

Fifty-four years ago I was on the losing end of a beat down similar to that happened in Cincinatti. What Fox is doing on a daily basis is pure racist incitement. They are pounding it into our heads....(there are always articles on their news website similar to this)....that we are to fear and hate minorities. Trump thrives on this type of fear-mongering.....and evangelicals are right there with everyone else! He uses these type of stories to in effect say...."See....you better support me!"

Imagine this scenario...two large houses next to each other....a family with children in one....and a couple without children in the other. They are friends....and for decades the deal was that one of the kids would cut the grass and shovel the snow for the other couple....and in return that couple would always take good care of the family dogs when the family went away....which was often. Well the parents eventually passed away....and the eldest son went over to the couple and said that they had been taking advantage of his family for decades....where their grass was cut and snow shoveled all year.....for nothing! Reminded that they did watch the dogs....the son said that they got rid of the dogs. Trump has never been a dog person anyway. So we act like we did all of this for Europe....and other countries....and they never did a single thing for us....that we never benefitted in any way by their friendship. All that is important....all that could be seen....is that we had cut their grass and shoveled their snow....and that is going to stop.

The Ninth of Av in Israel began our time a little after noon on Saturday and ended around the same time of Sunday. It was unofficially announced during that time that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had decided that Gaza would be "occupied" and "conquered"....that apparently is the meaning of the Hebrew word that was used. Remember that Trump envisioned a Mediterranean seaside resort area....probably with a casino or two. He wanted to move everyone out....kind of like what we did to the American Indian. My prayer has been for wisdom for Netanyahu and others in Israeli leadership....and not influenced by Trump....because there is never any wisdom there. 

Fox Internet news this morning has ten leadoff news stories. Three are pure racism bait.....where the readers are stirred up anew as the day begins to hate minorities....four are pure Trump supportive stories....two are celebrity news....and one of a quadruple murder. This is not the Fox news of the past....but merely a media supportive arm of the new authoritarian political system in charge today of America.

He didn't like the recently released economic statistics....so he fired the person who compiled the statistics. No doubt the person he replaces them with will provide economic statistics that he likes. This is what we have become in America.

A neighbor is selling their house after a double-whammy of tax increases. It's a very modest house....but with a lot of square feet. It's probably been the family for fifty or sixty years....but it will be bought by a real estate flipping company that will modernize it and bring people in that are more suitable to our economic status. This tariff situation in the news is similar in that legally....and that is all that matters.....we can raise these which are essentially taxes....to get more money for us....which also is all that matters. People in need of government assistance....will be getting less benefits in the future....all back door but still very legal....and that also will give us above the water line....more money.

In 1956 Khrushchev famously said of us...."We will bury you." After the Cuban Missile crisis....JFK moved nukes out of Turkey...and away from Russia....and Russia removed nukes out of Cuba....and away from the USA. Recently in response to comments made by a Russian leader....equivalent to maybe one of our national security advisers....our president moved nukes closer to Russia....and Russia announced that they are moving nukes closer to NATO. Therein is one difference in our leadership today....and the extended result of our desire....essentially for more money for us.

When I was in my early teens....a small transistor radio was the greatest thing to own. Even in 1972....Radio Shack's $7 Flavoradio....was cool....and I had one....I listened to Rush on it who was broadcasting as a DJ only a few miles away. No family that I grew up around owned two automobiles. No family ever vacationed at the ocean. No friend ever went to Disneyland....or later Disneyworld. Today it seems that every kid has an iPhone or the equivalent....that puts all the abominations of the world within reach. God has warned us over all of these years of where we were heading. The warnings are over. 

Sydney Sweeney....I have absolutely no idea who she is....give me a minute to research this....OK....she is some kind of actress/producer. Euphoria? Never heard of it. I have no idea what all these news stories are of a commercial that she made....let me look that up. OK....it's definitely something that you do not want your Christian child to take notice of....because of the sensuality....and the covetousness....but that is a wasted statement....because we are part of the culture today. Here is why I am adding this paragraph. On one of his airport tarmac....take media questions....Trump was told that Sydney Sweeney is a registered republican. He repeated himself as he made it clear what if Sydney Sweeney is a republican....then he likes her commercial! There is no ideology in this man or true ethical or moral beliefs....everything is transactive! If this commercial or this politician or this person in prison is for him....then he is for them.

Keep this in mind. If evangelicals are for him....he will be for them. If they are ever to see who he is....and Pastors then warn their sheep....then Trump will not be for evangelicals! 

Lord's Day Eve Post

                My prayer this Saturday evening.....my prayer every Saturday evening.....for years....has been that pastors....as they turn out the lights and go to bed....that the Holy Spirit will cause them to toss and turn....as if they were having a caffeine fit....only it is the uneasy feeling of sudden discernment....on what needs to be said from their pulpits....that when they open the notebook the next morning....and look at their prepared sermon notes....they will crumple them and ask the Lord for new words....and the courage to preach them.
                I know that if they saw the enemy surrounding us here in America....that they would also see the angels protecting us....not from disaster....but from shame. As it stands....they can see neither....for there is a marching band passing by obstructing the view....and then parade floats....and fire engines....and jets above breaking the sound barrier. Even if there were no parade the crowd is too thick to see over....and even if they could turn around and climb a grassy knoll to see over the crowd....it is a hazy day.
                 My prayer is also that the Lord....as he scatters the parade crowd with threats of a storm....would blow away the haze....and then apply a balm along with discernment....for otherwise when these pastors see what is before them that they have missed....it might be too much of a burden.
                 May God if it be in His perfect will have mercy upon them...and thus have mercy upon us in the pews....who never asked of any of them....sermons that would mortify us....but more sermons that would indulge us. And when He does....and they do....may we thank Him for mercies and a longsuffering that has given us time to prepare ourselves....and to have oil for our lamps....and flasks of oil for the journey.

Afterthought: The following message by Martyn-Lloyd Jones may come from a Lord's Day sermon.....or a Thursday evening message.....or some other day. The topic as you see is....the Armor of God. You may say that you have heard dozens of messages on that over the years....but try if you will to hear how the Doctor.....as he was lovingly called....views the armor....and see if it doesn't stir things in you where you may have never been stirred.

                                                                          

                ..

                  I have bought most of my wife's purses over the many years that we were married. What can I say....I got a good eye for purses. For Mother's Day....for summer....I bought her a nice blue and white purse from Boscov's. I do this because I know that she would not buy this for herself. And she received a lot of compliments on it. I did something for my wife and I was happy.
                  Then about a month ago I was in Boscov's budget room and saw another very nice summer purse....blue and white also....for.....$15! I bought it for her....and I think she likes it more than the purse that came out from under the secured glass counter.              
                   In 1984....an intriguing numerical year in itself....an English actress was on a flight....and everything fell out of her handbag....while the head of a fashion house was trying to put it in the overhead compartment. One thing led to another and the fashion head designed a bag with pockets and two handles so that women did not struggle with compartmentalizing all the things that they carry.
                   Years passed and then decades....and that handbag or purse design became a symbol of wealth. Each bag is made by one person and then signed in some way. Today those bags usually sell for at least $20,000 and often much more. In the past few days one of the very first....if not the first of these bags that were designed and made....sold at auction for....$10,000,000!
                     Women may need something for their keys and lipstick but money is the primary reason for carrying a purse. Judas carried the purse or money bag for the disciples. When Jesus sent out the seventy....He told them not to even carry a purse....or a money bag....but to rely upon the people who would provide for them.
                      Peter told the lame beggar that he didn't have any silver or gold so apparently he didn't carry a purse or money bag. I knew a man once who carried on his person at all times at least $1000 in $20 bills. We call that a wad. It was some form of security to him. Our House of Representatives is said to control the purse strings. Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying that if we ever find out that we can vote ourselves money....then that would herald the end of the republic. Well that happened and we are no longer what would be called a republic.

          

The Lost Decade

                Our beloved dog Special died suddenly on a rainy late November, 2008 day....and I desperately needed something to occupy my mind. I knew nothing about blogs. I just researched the topic and saw that I could start in a few minutes to write something on the Internet. The first post was on Thanksgiving Day and the topic of a la carte cable....where because cable stations were bundled.....we essentially had to pay for stations coming into our house that we didn't want....nor did we want to support them. Thus the title that I chose for these posts....Special Dog.
                I am now over 3700 posts. If these were just normal Christian posts....I would have wasted almost seventeen years now....writing things that literally can be found everywhere on the Internet....and better than I could write them. If these were primarily political posts I would also have wasted my life from the age of 58 to now 75.
                I was recently watching the 2013 movie Parkland....about that terrible day in November of 1963....and I have to just sit amazed at the skill....not only of doctors but all of the medical personal in that emergency room of Parkland Hospital in Dallas. I get amazed at men and women from all kinds of different professions and crafts. What can I possibly offer?
                Well it takes many years of hard and intense study to become a doctor....or a nurse. I could never have even begun anything like that....but I do have things that I put in the time and the study and the sweat and the tears. Whereas a doctor may have given up some pleasures in life to become a doctor....I have given up many....what we call pleasures....sports and hobbies....to learn what I have learned....of which few if anyone recognizes let alone appreciates....but I am happy because the Word of God is my emergency room.
                 So the purpose of these insignificant posts is to describe the gospel in words and thoughts that others may not have heard. Which is why I focus so often on being born again. This truth of eternal salvation is essentially lost in this contemporary church....particularly in the last....Lost Decade....of Trump and Biden and Trump....judgments from God on a very deserving people such as us.
                 I know what is out there available to the Christain public....and I know what is the power and the glory of God....Spurgeon....Lloyd-Jones....Sproul....MacArthur....men like that....and I know the fake.....false prophets....and I know the vast and powerless gospel that pervades all of evangelicalism across the country today. So I have constantly pointed to these and other men.....and added links to their sermons and teachings....and if the reader rejects it....that is God's business in dealing with it.....all I can do is warn.
                 So the reader here might wonder how I can say some of these things and yet it seems that Trump is the topic all the time? That's right....he is....but not because of politics. If Trump was just politics I would have hardly mentioned his name.....just as I hardly mentioned the names of Obama and Biden over the years.
                  No....this is not politics. This is a man who came right smack dab into the middle of evangelicalism in 2015....hence the Lost Decade....and prophesied and prophesied....even up to yesterday about the Golden Age that is to come.....when all of it is the exact opposite of what God's Word tells us of imminent judgment coming! He has single-handedly neutered and decimated evangelicalism in America. Ichabod....The glory has departed!
                  So he is a genuine biblical false prophet who has successfully led just about all of the evangelical sheep....astray....away from Christ.....trusting in princes and armies and money. And even worse than this....he....Trump....changed us where we have no wisdom or discernment to speak of....and no compassion on the poor and the alien among us....and are in fact driven by hate and anger and lust for money and power!
                  I could never be an EMT. I am not made of that stuff....or a policeman....but what I can do I pass on for you. I warn of imminent judgment and the near return of our Lord and Savior and King Jesus Christ. I warn that we need to become a separate and peculiar people once again. I warn of delusion and false prophets and the demonic that are everywhere today....even in the church. And I offer....and pray that you would take advantage of....the preaching and the teaching of men that God has in the past used mightily! I'll bring back the preaching here of just one of those men....