Lord's Day Post

               One of the many things that are lacking in evangelicalism today....when actually evangelizing....is telling plainly the listener....of the cost of discipleship. We may have....and in fact we did get away with this twenty and thirty and forty plus years ago....but it is more important today than ever that we tell those who have an interest....that it is a soldier's vocation that one is being called to....and a soldier means battles.....and wounds....and at the very least.....great difficulties!
               The doctrine has always been the same....it's just that today....I'm writing this on January 31, 2026 but it could have been any time in the past seven or eight years...today we are heading....if we are not already in....that seventieth week of Daniel....otherwise known as....The Tribulation....as opposed to....tribulation....which has always been a possibility for the believer.  
                I would have liked just to put a YouTube up of this sermon from R. C. Sproul....for it would have been easier....but a YouTube is not available on this particular sermon of 28 minutes....but please consider putting the URL that is below on your address line....and be blessed by a sermon from this man who went to be with his Lord and Savior and King....eight years ago. R. C.....who may be the finest of all teachers that God had given the church in the past fifty years....was also a Pittsburgher.

https://learn.ligonier.org/sermons/cost-discipleship-luke-weekends

All In The Family

                My hope and recommendation is that all born-again Christians....(that is no longer a redundant term)....my hope is that they all go to see the new Melania documentary....as I did this morning....at a 10 A.M showing....to a full house....albeit in one of the smaller theaters!
                There were no surprises....except one....which I will state in the next paragraph....but no specific controversial revelations.....probably because there is practically nothing to the hour and forty-four minute documentary....narrated by Melania....a film that she produced and certainly had her own imprint on every frame.
                 The reason that I think that Christians should pay the money and go see the film....is that they need to see....how far we have fallen....in our Christian walk....in our intellectual state....and in compassion and wisdom and common sense.
                  Melania obviously has no embarrassment in revealing this lifestyle of the super-rich and famous....of which I could easily understand it if she were only a celebrity....but not the First Lady in America's White House? It was real odd in that she considers her meticulous perfection in every quarter-inch of her inauguration gown....or the band on her inauguration hat....or any of the crown & jewels protocols in a Trump White House....(as opposed to a frumpy Kamala or Jill.....or Barack without Michelle....who make passing appearances)....to be a superior character trait? 
                  Donald himself is in the film a fair amount of the time once 20-day pre-inauguration time period gets closer to that day....and there are certainly no surprises there as Donald Trump is so one-dimensional. This is same persona of....The Donald....from the 70s/80s....to the man in The Apprentice boardroom of the 90s/2000s....to the evangelical conservative's Jehu/Cyrus in the last decade. 
                  To anyone who might think that Melania just puts up with her husband....the film makes it very clear that she had coveted this throne as much as he did. So....if the born-again evangelical were to see the film....they would have to sit there for almost two hours....as opposed to just watching a Hannity interview....or a rally speech....or an Oval Office....thirty pastors laying on of hands video clip....and it might just be enough of reality....to turn off FOX....no longer just streaming biased news....and opening God's Word...."As a deer pants for flowing streams..."
                

                It's been a while....years actually....and I thought that this might be a good time to post a small biographical sketch....a little more than is in my profile. Lord willing....in six days I will turn seventy-six years old....Lord willing again....for we do not know what a day brings. 
                I was born in Buffalo, New York. My father worked at Westinghouse in Buffalo. He was born in 1921 right smack dab on the land that the Battle of the Monongahela was fought....where George Washington had bullets go through his coat....that in 1755....on what was known for a time as Braddock's Field....in Braddock, Pennsylvania....about eight miles south of Pittsburgh. My father was severely wounded in a kamikaze attack at Guadalcanal....received extensive medical treatment....and met my mother at Braddock Hospital....they moved to Buffalo as Westinghouse opened a new plant. He and my mother separated when I was nine....my mother and I moved back to her home in Pittsburgh. My father died on November 4, 1979....the day that Iranian students took the American embassy in Tehran....and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
                 It is entirely possible that both of my grandfathers were working at the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh on November 2, 1920....when KDKA had the first commercial radio broadcast from the top of the building. That broadcast was the election returns of the Warren G. Harding/Calvin Coolidge....James M. Cox/Franklin D. Roosevelt contest.
                 I attended Catholic schools through high school....joined the army....served a year and a half in Vietnam as a morse code intercept analyst....returned home....graduated from Pitt with a major in economics....and met and married my wonderful wife. We have a wonderful son....and a wonderful daughter-in-law....and a wonderful grandson. Isn't life wonderful?
                 I abused alcohol and my own body....and collaterally other people....over a torturous five years. No....life could not be described as wonderful....not because I would roll around as a drunken bum fighting in the street or a bar....and not because I was no help to anyone....but rather because even though I was religious.....attended church and wore medals around the neck....and prayed to Jesus for things I wanted....that kind of thing....I was totally lost....without Jesus Christ....whom I did not know even though I prayed in His name....for to me He was only a token....a sacred name that I would actually nod my head when I uttered it....unless it was in a curse.
                 I had nothing going for me. I deserved to fall off of that water tower while drinking a bottle of vodka....(I didn't fall off)....I climbed down and fell asleep on the ground. (I could give  numerous other examples like that) Time passed....I got out of the army and was married....my wife was patient....I quit alcohol....(only God could cause me to do that)....God gave me a job that I did not deserve....and then that truly wonderful day came when my wife was shopping for curtains....and I was bored....so I walked the shopping center concourse....and because of that boredom....decided to walk into a Christian bookstore. What was this stuff....(fifteen years later we would own and operate a Christian bookstore)....and I walked out with an odd book....written in an outline form....Josh McDowell's....Evidence That Demands A Verdict. (I saw that same book last week....forty-three years later....on the shelf at Barnes & Noble!) Praise God!
                  In that book I learned that there is all kinds of evidence....amazing evidence....for the reliability of the words in those Bibles that just about everyone in America owns but hardly ever reads. There is evidence that Jesus was the expected Messiah. There is archaeological evidence of those towns and battles of the Old Testament....and Noah's Ark....and the Tower of Babel....and the temples on Mt. Zion....and on the fulfilling of hundreds of prophecies....and of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus....and the accuracy of the various manuscripts that have come to be used to compile God's blessed Word to us in this these sixty-six book Bibles!
                  Life was not wonderful yet....for I only knew....and acknowledged....or assented to....the truths in God's Word....but it was the beginning! I became through God's grace....like a child....in that I knew that I had a heavenly Father....and that I had rebelled against Him. I then knew that I wasn't nearly as smart as I thought that I was....in fact I knew that I was ignorant. This was terrible! There was no way out....for I knew who I was....and there was no answer....until there was an answer!
                 Could this be as wonderful as it seemed? Everything that I had done....and everything that I was....could be forgiven? These days were a blur. I was telling everyone that I could about this Savior....Jesus....and not doing a very good job of it....but then I was only a child. So I kept running towards this Light that beckoned me....and I stumbled a fell quite a few times....and had people laugh at me because of it....but I knew that there was no where else to go....for I had seen something of this glory and this majesty. Those same words in the Bible that I had read in religion class in high school....were now leaping off the page....informing me of the greatest story ever told!
                 Forty-three years now? How could He have had such patience....and keep me? How could that glorious gospel....become even more glorious as decades passed? How could the Bible....be like the ever-present fish in those baskets that fed the five-thousand.....and keep on feeding and feeding and feeding me? Doesn't that revelation ever end? How is it possible that even the joy could increase and increase? I'm seventy-five....I can't even remember where I put my keys....but I remember all of His promises....is there no limit to His mercy?
                  So that is me....evidence that God can have mercy on the lowest of the low....and the most unlovable....(I think I used those words in my profile....It's hard not to repeat them over and over and over!) What about you? Maybe you are seventy-five years old? If God calls you this day....I will have absolutely nothing at all on you even after a forty-three year head start....for it doesn't work that way! I didn't choose to have faith....I would never have chosen to have saving faith in the gospel....or in the shed blood on Calvary....or the empty tomb....unless He conquered me....and gave life to my dead heart....that it might beat....for His mercy once extended even on the thief on the cross next to Him....extended to someone as I! 

                 It was in the Ministry of Love.....where Winston Smith was being tortured....in the classic book....and many movies....of George Orwell's....1984. You can easily Google up a clip on the scene where O'Brien....extends fingers of his hand in front of Winston....and asks him how much is 2 + 2....upon which Winston correctly says...."four"....and is given an electrical shock. This continues until Winston finally says....what O'Brien wants him to say...."five"....so 2 + 2 = 5!
                  Some say that it was a Joseph Goebbels quote...."if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it....people will eventually come to believe it." Whoever said it first....it has in the past proved to be a true theorem. We've seen it a number of times in the past ten years....one example would be....'The Russia Hoax'....for the investigation was anything but a hoax....but most of those on the one side have come to believe that it was indeed a hoax.
                   We are seeing this method play out in Minnesota....where certain individuals will calmly speak to the camera and microphone....and state what videos prove to be incorrect! It has been a few weeks of this....since the first horrible incident....and it doesn't seem to be working that well....because the people....as Winston Smith did at first....know what they saw in the videos....and even Republicans are starting to challenge the narrative. We will just have to see how long this narrative will be continued....or if it will be decided to spin the situation in another way.
                  
 
                 

"Is Donald Trump The Antichrist?"

Preface: 
             The primary reason that I have titled a few posts from the past with the same title as this post....is not about Trump possibly being the Antichrist....which hopefully he will not turn out to be....(because if he is....then it would have been the church that put the Antichrist in power!)....but it is rather....that he is not only a candidate for Antichrist....but probably the leading candidate right now!
              If he is the Antichrist....then no matter how diabolical he is as president....and no matter how many terrible mistakes that he makes....not even how many laws he breaks....he would succeed....and there is nothing that we could do about it. No....the more urgent problem is that evangelicals have not only been taken in by....but they still support....a man who if nothing else....is a....genuine.....biblical.....false prophet....and that as the Apostle John warned of "many antichrists"....he is one of them! We do not have to wait to hear about that!
              He came down that escalator right smack dab into the middle of the church....and prophesied great things....for over ten years now! Jeremiah faced someone like him in Hananiah....who ridiculed the warnings of God's prophets....and prophesied that the yoke of Babylon would be broken within two years. Trump emaciated pulpits all over America. He hurt the ministries of some very strong Christian ministers....John MacArthur being one. He turned us cold....looking the other way at racist jokes....and cheering drone strikes....with videoed crosshairs on human beings....as they were being blown to smithereens!
              Barack Obama said that he was going to fundamentally change the United States of America....and we were outraged....but it turned out to be Trump....which means us....that fundamentally changed the United States of America?
              God's judgments on America began in earnest with President Obama....got worse with the amateur Trump 45....went off the charts with Biden....and then blew past Biden with this new resurrected second term Trump who has come out....(whether this has biblical significance or not)...."Conquering....and to conquer." (Revelation 6:2) 

Is Donald Trump The Antichrist....July of 2025

                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.

'Mona's Eyes'......And Our Eyes

                I did not read the book. My wife though was captivated by it although she thought it a bit long. I scoured the Internet for opinions....and there was somewhat of a love/hate relationship.....although the book was and is an international bestseller. Mona Eyes by Thomas Schlesser was awarded a number of Book of the Year accolades....so I guess the love won out over the hate.
                 Here is a summary. An eleven year old girl temporarily....for 63 minutes....goes blind. There is no firm diagnosis....and she suffers anxiety over the hour of darkness. Now she has a grandfather who is a little bit different....kind of like our grandson....and he offers to help by taking the young girl once a week for therapy....only unbeknownst to the parents....it is his own type of therapy....as he is an art lover....and wants to share that love of art with the young girl....to help her anxiety go away. (this takes place in Paris) So they go to art museums on that one day a week for a whole year....as the grandfather analyses one piece of great art a day to her.
                  I did read through the prologue....and my first thoughts were of course theological....for we Christians supposedly today have sight....but we do not see....so my mind wandered to something happening in the world.....catastrophic....which by the way is coming....and all of the Christians then suddenly turn to God's Word....and then to the world....and begin to see what they should be seeing right now! 
                 So you see how I might qualify as a different type of grandfather in such as a situation as the book presents? My therapy though would be a little bit different....for instead of great works of art.....I might.....(actually believe it or not....I do this to a certain extent today)....I might have the grandchild sit down and watch one great....specially chosen for the message....movie a week.
                 Sometime last year.....maybe it was in summer....as we were watching our eight year old grandson....I wanted him to sit down and watch Chariots Of Fire with me. Being a very active child....he wasn't thrilled at my offer.....but we did watch it....and he absolutely loved it!
                  I can't remember if I provided any narration or not....but if I did I would point out that God can give a young man....(or a young woman).....great gifts of athleticism....(which he seems to have)....but they must be used to bring Him glory....and that is exactly what Eric Liddell had done in the 1924 Paris Olympics! I might have pointed out to him that we have all week to play games of any kind....but Sunday is the Lord's Day....and not a day for sports. 
                   I might have talked about how an athlete must train very hard....and the goal of winning a championship might be a good thing.....but it must never take precedence over winning the crown that Jesus will give us! I might explain to him how love for one's country....in our case America....is good and honorable....but also must never impinge....(I might use a different word)....impinge upon our love and duty to our great King....and His kingdom of which we also belong!
                    Friends....brothers and sisters in Christ....we are not using our spiritual eyes today....or hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd! May....if it be God's will....at some point....use the senses that He has given us.....for our eternal benefit....and His even temporal....and eternal glory!

                   I'm adding here a movie....a short....and wonderful....seventy minute docudrama....on Charles Spurgeon. It was also last summer sometime....and I asked our grandson if he wanted to sit down and watch this particular movie with me. He demurred....for it was summer....and there was some ball somewhere waiting to be picked up and kicked or thrown or tossed....but I sat on the couch and started watching it by myself....(for at least the tenth time!)....and he would slowly walk behind me. I acted as if I didn't notice....and he walked around to the front of the couch and sat down....and soon he was hooked....and when his parents came home he told them how much he loved the movie! Praise God!

                                                                            

"If You Have Raced With Men On Foot....And They Have Wearied You....How Will You Compete With Horses?"

              Anti-ICE protesters invaded a church sanctuary in Minnesota....and it is in all the news. A couple of the pastors from that church are affiliated with John Piper's desiringgod.org ministry....and are faithful preachers to the Word....writing wonderful articles for that ministry. One of those faithful pastors is also somehow affiliated with ICE....or so the reports are saying. It seems very unwise to me....very unwise for a pastor to be involved in that....but it's only been one day and we do not know the whole story by any means. 
             I would though like to segue for a moment. During the pandemic....political pastors made a big deal about church closures....and Trump did his thing pretending to be a great defender of Christianity. The closures were not an attack on Christianity. Whether those in government health who were making those decisions....were making the wisest decisions or not....they were trying to limit Covid deaths. A win was needed in the 2020 election....Trump needed anger....and we took the bait....on church closures....on masks and vaccinations.....everything! From a theological perspective....most of those churches needed their doors shut anyway because the gospel had long since departed.  God expressed anger with similar worship in the Old Testament....many times actually....but in Malachi 1:10 He expressed it this way...."Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors....that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain."
             So today....those same political pastors are outraged.....but we need mortification....not indignation. Jeremiah complained to God....(chapter 12)....that the wicked prospered....but God rebuked his complaint....telling him that the people had brought devastation upon themselves....(something we do not want to hear today....and there are few pulpits telling us that anyway)...."Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard...." (Jeremiah 12:10) 
             Protests such as what happened in Minnesota are indeed part and parcel of what the world throws at us....but it going to get much worse.....thus God challenged Jeremiah with this in verse 5...."If you have raced with men on foot....and they have wearied you....how will you compete with horses?"

DISPATCHES

Wednesday evening....FOX continues to attack the man who was shot multiple times on a Minneapolis street and is dead?  An older video was found where the man....curses,,,,spits,,,,and kicks an ICE vehicle. Maybe a longer video is out there? What happened just prior to the curses and spitting and kicking the vehicle incident? Was the outrage of the man only because ICE had shown up? Or did something happen before the cursing etc. occurred? Were they about to arrest a gang member....or a Mexican restaurant worker and his family? We have no idea right now. Other networks handled the video without the aspersions.

Wednesday....January 28....It was announced today that "nearly" 3 million "illegal immigrants'....left the United States in 2025. That is a high number....and I hope that the government would be 'asked' to provide verifiable documentation of that estimate!

As I've stated many times....I check the digital Internet news throughout the day....every hour of the day....on all of the major sources....and this for many years....and I watched FOX digital go from fair and balanced....to pure propaganda under Trump. Fox leads all of the networks on digital....and its digital leads by far its television daytime news....while primetime Fox is even significantly higher in viewership than daytime news. The Five....is nothing but our version of The View. When a Christian friend tells me....proudly tells me....that they only watch FOX....which happens often....I feel so very sorry for them....for they will not have a balanced diet of news to navigate the crises in our country....and it shows in that invariably their compassion is gone....as is the wisdom that in so many that I know once had before Trump took them captive.

So far this past year is turning out to be the year that America abandoned its heritage....as freedom of speech and expression are being criminalized....where militarized authorities no longer even need a warrant....and lies and gross exaggerations on incident reports are becoming standard....and most condemning of all....the people who at one time were the remnant of that heritage.....have now followed other gods....lured by the promise of riches....as they have chosen a man to lead them to peace....who himself is the essence of conflict and destruction.

May God have mercy upon all the supposed shepherds in the United States of America....who have consistently searched and researched for convenient excuses....not....not to warn their flocks that a wolf in sheep's clothing has elbowed and flattered and promised and threatened his way into the sheepfold....with some whose pride in their theological tradition is so strong....that the very clear words that even a 'simple ploughman' can understand....are veiled by diplomas and catechisms and accolades of all sorts.

The following is from the final scene of....Bridge On The River Kwai....and Colonel Nicholson's words will be repeated by many after they see the signs that they missed! 

                                                                             

Trump is about to sign yet another executive order....securing four broadcast hours in the afternoon....every second Saturday in December....for the Army/Navy game....with no other games allowed to be broadcast...a small but only the latest step in normalizing a militarized state....and another infringement on free speech.

This is a hero of veterans and active duty military.....whose father owned the building in which a doctor rented office space....and gave Trump a draft exemption for bone spurs.

The following is a paragraph from a recent post....(below)....titled....Silencing The Shepherds...."There are two major conferences coming up....R. C. Sproul's Ligonier National Conference on February 9-11in Orlando....and John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference on March 4-6 in Los Angeles. Paul Washer is speaking at both....and they can be streamed live. My prayer.....should it be in God's will....is that the Holy Spirit would shake the very foundations of these patterned and at times timid conferences....'timid'....in that....for instance....the topic of the Shepherd's Conference is a remembrance of the wonderful ministry of John MacArthur. As truly wonderful as that ministry was....it is like a ship that is sinking....but the entire crew stopped bailing water to present the captain with an award....and it is probably the last thing that the captain would want."

We Will Never Know What These Men Would Say Today

               What would Billy Graham....R. C. Sproul....John MacArthur....or Phil Robertson....say about Donald Trump today? The Reverend Graham died in February of 2018....but hardly spoke at all in his last year. He voted for Trump in 2016....but then so did I. He warned....over the last half of his long ministry....about the dangers of politics in the gospel! His son has not taken that warning to heart.
               Was there anyone as strong as John MacArthur in defense of the gospel? It was a long and wonderful ministry....and most of you....and I....watched his health fail beginning in January of 2023. Not Spurgeon....the Prince of Preachers....or Luther....or Calvin....or anyone was perfect in their ministry....and we can be thankful for that....otherwise we might make idols out of these men. Neither was John MacArthur perfect. I watched through streaming as John stood before his congregation in early 2020 and said....slowly as I remember it....for emphasis...."There is no pandemic." It was a major mistake that led to too much emphasis on church closures....and it led to John MacArthur....the man who warned of false prophets his whole ministry....miss the false prophet Donald Trump. So what would he say today? Those who know him personally might say that he would hold to the same positions....but I believe that he would have come out strong against Trump by now. I say this because the continuous flow of evidence against Trump has become a veritable tsunami. Pastor John's voice was noticeably slower in the few sermons of his last two years....but to me that made them even better....and he had some wonderful sermons!
                 How about R. C. Sproul? He went to be with the Lord in December of 2017....two months before Billy Graham. He only saw Trump in action for eleven months....and Trump's first term was mild compared to this his second term....of which I described a few times in these posts....as being similar to how Revelation 6:2 describes the rider on the white horse....who came out...."conquering....and to conquer." I think that R. C. would have begun warning long ago.
                  How about Phil Robertson? Let me relate one anecdote that I posted on at the time. It was late September of 2017....at a Roy Moore rally in Alabama....and here is what I posted on that day...."Phil Robertson followed Steve Bannon. [to the stage] Robertson's talk was nothing short of profound in his emphasis on the eternal over the temporal....[and]....as he finished....before he walked off the stage....he said with the most serious expressions to the crowd....'We better get a godly man in the White House'....[as he walked off the stage he added]....'the Ten Commandments....'trump'....politics....pun intended.' In my opinion....some in the house were stunned for a moment." They were stunned because Donald Trump was already in the White House! I do not know how Phil Roberston would react today to what is going on....I only have a hunch....because I know what men of discernment would do....and Phil Robertson was a man of discernment....I believe that he would want nothing to do with this continuation of strong arm tactics with no compassion and no wisdom.
                    As I have emphasized so man times in these posts of late.....God has taken these men home. The warnings to America seem to be over. We are no longer as Nineveh under the message of Jonah....given time to repent....but we are Nineveh...as under Nahum....no longer given warnings to repent....but warnings to prepare for what is ahead.

Note: I'm adding one of those John MacArthur sermons that I mentioned above"

                                                                      

                  
                    
          

We Have Lost Our Way

                Let me start with Rudyard Kipling....of whom my favorite verse in all of his writing is...."You're a better man than I am....Gunga Din."....ah but that's another story. It is said that Kipling himself once summered in our small town....in the home of a friend luminary of his....this maybe two blocks from where I am sitting.
                They had a term for it in England....that came from Kipling....oh a hundred or more years ago....Gentlemen-Rankers. Essentially it described rich college-age young men who matriculated to university and then wasted their time in bars and other forms of entertainment....they....then admitting their serious errors of judgment....would join the military as enlisted men....not officers as they should have been....and they would work their way back up. There were other modes of becoming known as a gentleman-ranker....the most famous of which would be T. E. Lawrence....otherwise known as....Lawrence of Arabia. Well that's the best that I understand it anyway.
                 Let me segue to America....and Yale University....circa 1907 or 1909. There were young men....rich through their families....who also liked to spend time in the college bar....(I could write a book on that mentality).....so as a lark....they adapted the older poem by Rudyard Kipling into a song....which has over the past century made its way into many movies....and even part of the theme song of a television show. The Royal Air Force....RAF....during WWII....adopted it as its own....as a camaraderie theme in difficult times.
                 The essence of the poem and the song is regret. You would....and will laugh at the song if you pull it up on your computer....it might be a good gag to sing at Karaoke...but to me....when I hear it....which isn't often....but for some odd reason was this morning....it is a lament for evangelicalism....for us high and mighty children of the King....lambs of the flock....who have lost our way....prodigals who went for the money....and followed a false prophet and pied piper....and now are living....or will soon be living....in regret and remorse!

                  You can google all the lyrics of the Whiffenpoof Song if you wish....but here is the last stanze....that was actually sung by popular crooner Rudy Vallee...on the Ed Sullivan Show.....in 1949....of which you can also Google.

We are poor little lambs
Who have lost our way

Baa! Baa! Baa!

We are little black sheep
Who have gone astray

Baa! Baa! Baa!

Gentlemen songsters off on a spree.....(Kipling's words were....Gentlemen-rankers)
Damned from here to eternity
God have mercy on such as we

Baa! Baa! Baa!

Dispatch From The Ruins

              I'm choosing to be a little secretive here....with names....because specific personalities are not the issue....the gospel is the issue....so here I go....a famous person died....and left his own epitaph of sorts. This person was not...."a believer"....as admitted in the epitaph....but being a very pragmatic and common sense person....with a formula that was presented to him by Christian friends....in order to cover all bases....once again admitted in the epitaph....he recited on paper that formula.....that he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
              At seventy-five years old....and a news hound my whole life....I've read countless last statements and last words.....and all of them are in one way or another sad....as was this one with the celebrity....but the sadness in this case expands because I just watched a podcast....that described what I just described to you of the celebrity's epitaph....and the host of the podcast solemnly rejoiced....that the aforementioned celebrity....had become a Christian! To reiterate....because it is confusing....the celebrity admitted that they were not a believer...but just to be safe....admittedly just to be safe....publicly assented to the statement of belief....and a Christian podcaster rejoiced that the celebrity was saved! This is how far evangelicalism has fallen....fallen!
             I'll relate another story to you here. In a major city....a new church literally took off in popularity....with thousands in attendance weekly....so astonishing that I read about the church in the national news a few times. I went to the church website....and it was typical entertainment based....but I did find a "what we believe" link....and the statement within was perfect....but it was just a statement....another statement....with nothing to back it up. Now most of the regular readers here will say that this does not describe their church....and I'm sure they are correct.....but like it or not....this is America.
                    Evangelicalism has collapsed. America as it stands today....in essence does not stand....for it also has collapsed. Chaos and confusion and gross absurdities are everywhere....every day! NATO....in a symbolic move of course...just sent troops and fighter jets to Greenland....to defend the country against the United States! A military brigade....to use that term....has been formed to invade our cities....and rid them of all the Mexican restaurant workers....and their wives and children. Yes it's an absurd statement that I just made....but this whole thing is absurd....was never properly conceived of....for it is mostly political....and very dangerous....in the short term and in the long term....in that a permanent internal armed force is created....that can conceivably be used for any 'law enforcement' reason in the future....which is more than problematic with a wild and impetuous and uncontrollable man as president who has a habit of purging political opponents....and thinks that we may not even need a mid-term election!
                    Now you are young....(hey even forty or fifty would be young compared to me)....and you don't believe my somewhat dystopian comments....but in my eyes this much is sure....this is not the America that I grew up in....or that our son grew up in. It is something different....far worse in every capacity....and just as the above church says all the right things....and the above gospel message has some of the right words....they are mere holistic apparitions of something that once was....but has fallen away!

Addendum: I want to add here a bit on the psychology of a mass movement with a charismatic authoritarian leader....involving groupthink and emotional manipulation and a common enemy....all this as it pertains to the woman in Minnesota that was shot and killed in her vehicle. It's been reported that eight in ten Americans have viewed at least one video of the incident. What is clear is this....the woman's smiling last words were...."Hey dude....I'm not mad at you." She turned the steering wheel away from the ICE officer beginning to slowly roll the vehicle....and was shot....probably in the right chest....through the windshield....which would have elicited a spastic reflex where her foot pushed on the gas pedal....and then she was shot through the open door window....in the head. Now....the government's depiction of what happened goes against what we can see with our own eyes....but even that is not what I'm getting at here....which is how....what word should I use....'the right'....'Trump supporters'....I'll use 'we'....for we all once were the conservative right....how we abandoned all compassion and common sense and justice....in order to support the claims of our charismatic leader....of which....in itself....is a frightening trend! (I may move this paragraph later to one of the DISPATCHES posts.

"What Was That!......Did You Just Feel Something Shake?"

                It was only a thirty-second interview....with Matt Damon....on the news....as he was entering an event focusing on the trouble in our streets today....but it was his last sentence that stuck with me in that he said that the event...."hopefully will promote a larger discussion about this."
                On the more demonstrative end....my hope here in these posts is that they would....shake or rattle the timbers or the pillars of our conferences and synods and Bible studies and cell groups and pulpits and even everyday conversations....in other words that they would get the attention of people on things that need to be discussed! On the less demonstrative side it would be as Matt Damon described his situation....that it might a promote a larger discussion.            
                 The larger discussion will do it....because when you let a little truth out....it begins to spread like a wildfire. I was glued to a Venice Beach webcam last January....as for days on end the camera focused on the other side of the beaches where the Palisades fire just kept creeping up the hillsides. 
                 We need to put the socialist and woke conversation aside and talk about Trump....and if his constant....ten years running narrative....that our best times are ahead....a literal golden age....qualifies as a genuine biblical false prophet? We need to ask why just about everything in God's Word concerning who and what to not only stay away from....but flee from....and even warn about....describes Donald Trump to a T....yet we do the exact opposite?
                 What about...."Not by might or by power but by My Spirit?" (Zechariah 4:6) What about "come out from among them and be separate?" (2 Corinthians 6:7) What about all the admonitions to stay vigilant ant awake and alert? What about all the warnings of false miracles and false prophets and a great delusion and a falling away that is coming....so strong of a delusion that even the elect....that is you and me folks....that even we can be taken in....if it were possible....which means temporarily....which is already what has happened to so many!
                  We need to compare sermons that men like Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones gave....and even MacArthur and David Wilkerson....and why our sermons today are not even similar? Why are there no tears in the pulpits? Why no mortification? Why are our entertainments and sport without moderation? Do we even know what an idol can be in this day and age....or even what idolatry is?
                  We need an entire conversation on whether God meant for us to look for the signs of the Second Coming? We need to sit and watch....(or listen)....to R. C. Sproul's series on the Holiness of God. We need to explore in depth what the cost of discipleship once meant? 
                   We need a crash course in humility....and so do the pastors! We need to make sure our salvation every day! Every one of us needs to look around at what our nation and society has become....and admit that we all played a part in it all! It's not just the woke....it's the greed and the laziness and the pride and the triviality and the boredom with the holiness of God....thinking that everything is just joy and happiness...not realizing that true joy comes from seeing what was done for us on that cross and in that tomb and on that hill of ascension....with the way paved for us by the blood of martyrs and reformers and missionaries who would weep to see what their efforts had turned into in the American church and pulpit.
                     Maybe the reader would take great umbrage with my statements....so let's talk about it. Is there any possibility that we may have missed things that are very important....that we have left our first love....or that our shepherds may have left the sheep defenseless....that politics may have plopped us into the lap of pompousness...and that....ecclesia reformata....semper reformanda....(the church reformed....and always reforming)....is not worth the parchment it was written on....if one doesn't examine themselves first!
            

                

"War Is Peace....Freedom Is Slavery....Ignorance Is Strength"

              It was television....circa 1953....television that my parents watched. The Honeymooners was 'day vs night' different from say.....Modern Family. Actually it was more....theater put on film.....than what we know today as television.
              All of my family....mother's and father's sides....worked for Westinghouse. It is more than possible that both of my grandfathers were working at the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh the evening on November 2, 1920 when the world heard its first commercial radio broadcast....the presidential returns of the Harding/ Cox race....from a shed on the roof of the building. (That was Warren G. Harding and running mate Calvin Coolidge over James M. Cox and Franklin Delano Roosevelt!)
              Westinghouse Studio One was one of the popular regular television shows of the day....and in September of that year of 1953....my parents....with me crawling around on the floor at about 2 1/2 years old....may have sat down to watch a presentation of George Orwell's....1984....that starred Green Acres's Oliver Wendell Douglas as Winston Smith....and Bonanza's Ben Cartwright as O'Brien....and Fiddler On The Roof's Tevye's wife Golde....as Julia....and television's I Spy's Kelly Robinson as the telescreen's male announcer. In today's world of pretend and fantasy it might be easier to refer to the character's name's rather than their real names....Eddie Albert and Lorne Greene and Norma Crane and Robert Culp?
               Movies were made of Orwell's classic book...one in 1956 and another actually in 1984....but I'm adding below that Westinghouse Studio One adaptation....for one because it is shorter....only 50 minutes....but it includes the key elements of the film....the division of the world....after the war....into three geopolitical areas....which seems to be where we may be going....and that the people were under camera observation just about all of the time....and no one was permitted to actually think on their own....for the power to be at the time....Big Brother....was in total charge of the media and would tell them what they can read and what they must think. Indeed Winston Smith's job at the Ministry of Truth.....was to take the reports of the news....and change them into what Big Brother wanted them to report....and also to take past history....and align than with what Big Brother wanted it to say! That sounds a lot what is happening today does it not?
                 We all had to read 1984 in high school back in the 60s....I imagine that the book is still read in schools today. Another key element in the novel....and represented in the movies and the television adaptation....was that the people....multiple times every day....upon being alerted by the announcer on the telescreen....would gather for two minutes.....it was actually called.....the 'two minute hate'....while Big Brother's ideological and political opponent's face would appear on the screen....speaking what the people were told were lies....or fake news....and they would for two minutes....yell and scream hatred towards the man on the screen. That also is not all that dissimilar to cable news today.
                 Neither Orwell or Brave New World's....(1932)....author....Aldous Huxley were Christians.....but they could discern the times better than most of evangelicalism today. The post title here was the motto seen everywhere.

"If the Son therefore shall make you free....ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36 KJV

                                                                   

             

A Blog About A Dog....Only It Wasn't

                 You found a paper bookmark on a bench somewhere....and on it were a list of all of the books of the Bible. You knew that you really should learn the names of all the books and the order that they are in....so you put the bookmark in your purse or your coat pocket. Later that day....or maybe a week later....you remembered the bookmark. Maybe you started with the first five books of Moses....and Joshua Judges and Ruth....or maybe with the four gospels and Acts and Romans....or maybe you started with all the prophets beginning with Isaiah....but you began to memorize. 
                 Only then did you notice that on the back of the bookmark was what appeared to be the URL of a website....a blog....about a dog or something....SPECIALDOGG.BLOGSPOT.COM....with a verse from the Psalms....Psalm 20:7...."SOME TRUST IN CHARIOTS." You're not really that much of a dog person....so it wasn't for a month or two later....that you finally went to that blog about a dog....only it wasn't! (This was seventeen years ago....when I had to put two 'Ds" in dog because the one "D" name was already taken)
                  Maybe you are in your mid-30s....or 40s....or 60s....and have been a church-goer for your whole life? You probably never go a week without picking up and reading for some reason the Bible. You have served on at least a dozen committees in your church over the years....and were even part of a committee to call a new pastor....and you have taken your turn at teaching Sunday School....but for the life of you....you cannot figure out....nor could you ever figure out....what these born again people are talking about?
                    You relegate these folks to being new Christians that are just overly excited about understanding the gospel for the first time....and older folks like me you just pass off as weird fanatics with nothing better to do.
                    Still....it bothers you. Surely there is nothing to this? You know that Jesus is the Son of God....and that he was born of a virgin....and lived a sinless life....and died for our sins on that cross. You acknowledge all of that and would never deny any of it.
                    This is where the rubber meets the road. You can go either one of two ways....one....just live life as you always have....and politely ignore what these people are saying.....but then you really don't know what they are saying because you have never looked into it. Or two....even the thought scares you for some reason....you decide to look into this whole thing.
                     Friend....if this describes you....then I should tell you this....if you are seriously considering looking into all of this born again stuff....not to debate with anyone.....but because you for some reason feel compelled to....that feeling of being compelled may be coming from the Holy Spirit!
                     When I was working at my job....for thirty-seven years before retiring....I worked around some huge fans....as big as a small house....and there was a big sliding door that you could enter to check on the fan....or you go through an airlock door. Sometimes we were in a hurry....grabbed onto our hardhat....and carefully inched into the fan room through that open sliding door....but if were we not careful....the draft would suck us in....not up on the pedestal and near the fan blades....but enough that we might wind up on the ground. There is more than one funny story that I could relate concerning this.
                      That is where you may be....and maybe you should know it beforehand. If you are in any way concerned that you may have missed something about your salvation....that also may very well be from the Holy Spirit....and when that draft hits you....friend....you are going on the ground....in effect prostrated before the Holy God that you are about to meet.
                       It is the most wonderful thing in the world....when the noise and the wind stops....and you stand on your feet....knowing that you are in the presence of Jesus of Nazareth! All of the distractions are  gone....everything that you previously thought of yourself as being good....is gone. You see yourself and your sin maybe for the first time....and you know that God sees you....but it was He that raised you up....and you feel His love for you....and you turn around to see if there is anyone that you can tell....for you just have to tell someone! There is a Bible in your hand....and you open it up....and these glorious words fly out to you....and you breath them in but have to keep turning pages to have more glorious words fly out....
                      Oh....excuse me....I get carried away talking about this....it's only been 43 years. I don't know where you will be after that....or what you will do....but I do know this....some day....Lord willing....(you will say 'Lord willing' a lot)....some day you may leave something on a bench or a table somewhere....and you will pray....'Lord....I am the least and weakest of all the vessels that you have made....thank-you for that....for I know that you like to utilize the least and the weakest vessels....for it shows your glory even more! Have someone pick this up Lord....if it be Thy will....and to Thy glory alone....and send them to Charles Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or R. C. Sproul or John MacArthur or Paul Washer....or anyone Lord....where they might also hear this glorious good news....of a wonderful salvation....and....! Oh....there I go again. I better stop here or I could go on all night!
                 

A Tale Of A Few Cities

 "I tell you. it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades." Luke 10:12-15 ESV

             It is one thing for a man who is for whatever reason overcome with emotion to say that America is the greatest nation in the history of the world. It can be understandable. It is altogether another thing for a political party or a group within a political party....such as MAGA....through radio and podcasters and speeches and rallies...to repeat that statement over and over again....not as some kind of expression of love....but as a motivational tool.
             The above verse from the gospel of Luke is pretty clear. The 'seventy' were sent out to the cities of Israel. Some cities would reject the message of the 'seventy.' Yes....Jesus was speaking about Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum....but He was also speaking to any and every city in America!
             We need desperately to understand this....in that we who expect later this year to celebrate a 250th anniversary....not to mention all of the glories of the colonies....and have either witnessed or read about all of the mercies and blessings and protections....even right up to this latest quarter century....we are just as those three cities mentioned by Jesus. We have no excuse!
              Those who I am writing to here....have attended church maybe their whole life....a life filled with Bible studies.....so we certainly know of all the times that God let Israel lose in a battle.....until someone lifted the arms of Moses....or until Gideon's army was pared down to next to nothing....or some such thing....specifically to tell us that it is not us! It is not our power! It is not our armies or our missiles or our fighter jets or special operations teams! 
                Jesus is speaking to us right now....and our bragging about our military power....actually it is the seriously mentally ill man in the White House who does the bragging....but we cheer when he says cheer....and jump when he says jump!
                "Not by might, nor by power"....we all have that etched into our mind somewhere. Add to all of this that we are never to be over-confident....not even into the next day....nor are we to be prideful....or taunting....or vengeful....or merciless or without compassion! Yet we are all of these things!
                 So why do we not listen to our pulpits on this? It's because our pulpits never tell us this....for they also have lost their way! There has been a distinct falling away in the church....over many decades but specifically over the past ten years.
                 God has taken away the national ministers who kept us somewhat in line. Our supply lines....to use that military term....Christian bookstores and Christian radio and television....have essentially been cut. We are not evangelizing anymore....we are recruiting. We do not have to be born again anymore....only mobilized. There are no tears anymore.... or guilt....or mortification....not even laments....only chants and cheers.
                 May God....if it be in His perfect will....apply a balm to us as we begin to see how far we have strayed....for otherwise it might be too much for us to bear....but God is surely merciful....otherwise someone like me would not be writing a warning. May we bond together for strength. May we all hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. May we all flee the flatteries of the false shepherd and reject the false prophets who tell us that our best is yet to come....and that there is a golden age ahead for America.
                 

              

We Need More Than Memorization......We Need This Verse Etched In Our Consciousness!

                I would ask the evangelical reader what they think about this verse....1 Thessalonians 5:3...."For when they say....'Peace and safety'....then sudden destruction comes upon them....as labor pains upon a pregnant woman....And they shall not escape." Before you answer....please take some time to think about it....for this may be one of those verses that we have committed to memory....and completely stopped meditating upon....as if quoting the verse is more important than understanding it? Can it even be stated any more clearly or more concisely than what it is? Sometimes we need to go beyond the mere memorization....to state a verse in a different way....so let me attempt to do that....'When everything looks like peace....and everyone lets out a big sigh of relief....then all hell will break loose....so be very wary....and super-abundantly cautious....when this evil world looks like it will finally have peace and security!'
               
                 I gave the following thoughts in a post of three months ago that I titled....A Colossus....And A Colossal Disaster....after Trump was told in person....in Israel....that he will be given the Presidential Medal of Honor.....

"The Speaker of the Israeli Knesset only hours ago said this about Trump...."A giant of Jewish history....look back two and a half millennia into the mists of time to find a parallel: Cyrus the Great....President Donald J. Trump....you are a colossus who will be enshrined in history thousands of years from now. Mr. President....the Jewish people will remember you....your election to the presidency marked a turning point, not only for the United States.....but for the entire world." From a historical....not Christian perspective....the Trump phenomenon is something to behold....for there have been few figures like this in modern history. The problem is....it is all fake. It's all a lie....and a delusion. We do not know how far the phenomenon will go on....or to what extent he will assume or usurp power in the future....particularly with the boost of the moment....Trump told the members of the Knesset....'This is not only the end of a war....but the end of an age of terror and death....and the beginning of an age of faith and hope.' He thanked...'the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob'....and continued....'After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger....the sun also rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace....It will be the Golden Age of Israel....and the Golden Age of the Middle East'."

              More recently Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the Trump will also be awarded the Israel Prize....the first time that it will have ever been awarded to a non-Israeli. Israel can't be blamed for missing a false prophet....but we can! They have interpreted Trump's bombing of Iran....and moving the capital....and enticing some Arab nations to sign the Abraham Accords....as genuine care for and support of Israel....but just as we were....they have been taken in by a wheeler-dealer of a man who has no ideology....who has no foresight....and no concern for consequences or collateral damages....whose entire life has been....take a chance....go for the big score....sometimes it works....sometimes it doesn't....and cut your losses and get out quickly if you have to. All of this is why we need to keep 1 Thessalonians 5:3 close to our heart...and in the forefront of our mind!

          

DISPATCHES

Monday morning....January 19....this is new....there was a situation last evening in St. Paul, Minnesota with protesters in a church. Trump will surely jump on that....claiming that he is a defender of Christianity....when in reality....when in reality....he is the great destroyer of everything he touches....and this his whole life....who has divided the church....and weakened evangelicalism through fear and anger. And do you know what? Evangelicals will believe him....because we have no shepherds anymore....just hirelings!

Monday evening....a couple of the pastors from the above church are affiliated with John Piper's desiringgod.com ministry....and are wonderful preachers and faithful to the Word. One of those faithful pastors is also affiliated with ICE....or so the reports are saying. It seems very unwise to me....but it's only been one day and we do not know the whole story by any means. I would though like to segue. During the pandemic....political pastors made a big deal about church closures....and Trump did his thing pretending to be a great defender of Christianity. It wasn't an attack on Christianity. Whether those in government health who were making those decisions....were making the wisest decisions or not....they were trying to limit Covid deaths. We were outraged because of politics. From a theological perspective....most of those churches needed their doors shut anyway because the gospel had long departed. So today....those same sources....and of course Trump's DOJ....on his orders surely....and for purely political purposes....are trying to blow this protest all out proportion. If we cannot handle shouting protesters....how are we going to handle what is ahead? Jeremiah 12:5 "If you have raced with men on foot....and they have wearied you....how will you compete with horses?"

Trump wants his own hemisphere. Putin can have his....and Xi Jinping can have his.

Ten years of threats....and ten years of inducing hatred and anger. Wake up in the morning and see who we are threatening now. Who is there new to hate? Who must we get revenge upon? 

To the Fox poison network....concerning what happened last week on a Minnesota street....we saw with our own eyes....what we saw with our own eyes...and no amount of nuanced verbiage can change that.

There is no righteousness in our attempt at making America Great again...."Unless the LORD builds the house....they labor in vain to build it....Unless the LORD guards the city....the watchman stays awake in vain" Psalm 127:1

Trump wanted and got the World Cup and the summer Olympics. That is his kind of world....pageants and tournaments and peace prizes. So this is scheduled to be an almost nonstop year for Americans and sports....as we have the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl right now....and the Milan and Cortina winter Olympics in February....March Madness of course....hockey and basketball playoffs and the beginning of baseball....then the World Cup beginning June 11....running into the Olympics which will extend to the end of July....with the PGA US Open and the British Open in that period....and at one point....July 16-19....all three of the World Cup and the Olympics and The Open at the same time....and you can throw in....no pun intended....baseball's All-Star game on June 14! All this of course if the World Cup and the Olympics do not bail because of political tensions with Trump. This is an overdose year for Americans in sports....but more importantly....an overdose in idolatry....and blinders on discernment for Christians who....if we are honest....display a whole lot more passion for sport....than the one who presumably saved their souls.

How utterly and absolutely absurd to even consider Greenland as a US state....as a bill put forth today aims to do. How treacherous to even hint at taking it by force. If only the Republicans feared the wrath of God as much as they fear the wrath of Trump!

I'm on college campuses fairly often over a year's time....leaving something to do with these posts....and my hope has always been twofold.... one that maybe as many as six students would come together and bond in their passion for Christ and His gospel....something like what happened to George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers at Oxford so many years ago....and two....that these posts might generate some conversation on some of the issues that I consistently bring up in these posts.

The War Powers Resolution act of 1973....during the Vietnam War....was meant to insure that a president could not start a war without the consent of the Congress. Nixon vetoed the bill but the Congress passed it over the veto. Today....Five Republican senators joined with Democrats to apply that act to Trump and Venezuela. Trump will not sign it if it gets to his desk....and right now there are not enough votes to override the veto. I want to point out here that two of those Republican senators were....Rand Paul and Josh Hawley....of which immediately Trump texted that they should never be reelected. Trump does this type of thing....all the time....because what it does is that every Republican in Congress....and in state governments....see that if they dare do not go along with Trump....then he will attempt to turn all of his MAGA constituents against them. It is....unfortunately....a powerful tool....that hopefully will change....and maybe even backfire in this case.

Update on the above: Senators Hawley and Todd Young changed their votes after Trump threatened to primary them.

State of the Union Address....I have posted since the Obama administration for Republicans to boycott the SOTU....or if they were in the majority in the house....not even to invite Obama. Thomas Jefferson wouldn't even give one because he saw it as a continuation of England's Speech from the Throne. There is nothing in the constitution requiring a speech in person. I continued to post on it through Biden's and into Trump's first term....but today it is more than just a farce....it is a force....for 'conquering!' The 2020 SOTU was held on February 4....and it was a spectacle that I had posted on. Trump went on and on how great things were going to be. It was hard even to watch....and the Republicans in the room were having a party....but God was not impressed....as the coronavirus was just beginning to spread. First of all....if we get there.....I always add that....the Democrats should not even go....and make sure that Trump doesn't fill their seats. There comes a point when you have to say....'No....we will not partake of this with Trump tearing the fabric of the nation to shreds.' Johnson has already scheduled the speech for February 24. It would be a good day for a day of prayer to petition God....should it be His will....and to His glory alone....to have mercy upon us and open our eyes to discern that Trump was....and is....a false prophet....of the most destructive kind....that everything of a warning nature in the New Testament tells us to flee from!

There is a fundamental problem with a paramilitary force inside America's cities....with no need for local police support....and there is no designed end to it....as many Latinos and others will constantly live in fear of that day when they are arrested and deported. How did we let this happen? We saw just yesterday in Minneapolis....how there is a serious problem in giving free reign to such a group. The videos are clear....the president blatantly lied....there was no threat to bodily harm....the driver just naively thought that she would drive away. The agent could have easily disabled the vehicle with a shot to the tires. It seems that everyone today that protests anything is looked at as a domestic terrorist? Where are the Republicans. Why are they not demanding accountability? I'll give you the answer. They want their jobs....and if they say anything critical of the man who commissioned the paramilitary force....the man who thrives on revenge and punishment....they will lose their jobs....and no longer have the prefix before their name....'The Honorable'. 

Had Trump only gone after criminals....the American public would have been behind it....that was his promise right? But here is the situation....Trump really wants numbers....big numbers....so that he could brag about it at election time....so he had to go after....restaurant workers....landscape people....moms and dads....anyone and everyone....to get close to those big numbers....and the evangelical did not stand up in compassion for the alien in our midst.  He has changed us in so many ways....and none of it good.

Hitler.....!919......to......1939

The following three posts were from this past summer:

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 an opportunity of 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!

"The Righteousness Of Our Cause"......Has Departed

                The speech was composed....probably by Ted Sorenson....and typed out on a sheet of paper. The young president with actual ideals....had looked it over....enough that he could stand before his audience in Dallas and....glancing down every few sentences....give it with his usual flair of Harvard and Camelot. Almost exactly twenty years earlier this man was towing by way of a rope in his teeth....a wounded sailor....in shark infested waters of the south Pacific.
                Of course he would never give that speech....but the paper surely is filed somewhere in the archives of this 35th President of the United States. Sorenson....or whoever....constructed the last sentence as a poetic Judeo/Christian benediction. It came from the 127th Psalm of the King James Bible....and was the second half of the very first verse...."Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
                 It's odd....but understandable why only the second part of the verse was in the speech....for the first part reads...."Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it." The latter....the second half....or the part that the young president was to say....acknowledged that God protects the city....something that all Americans refer to when they say...."God bless America"....but the former....or the first half of the verse....was a little too personal....a little too specific....inferring that God is actually building America....implying that it is His design....and something is required of us.
                 That is well enough though....and we can be satisfied with a half verse of God's word....but it is the words that President Kennedy was to lead into the Bible verse....that are the courtroom charges against us today....for those words never spoken were...."The righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength....for it was written long ago...."
                  These last 250 years have been a struggle with our conscience....in the way that we treated the inhabitant of this land mass before us....and in how we kidnapped....murdering many in the process....a weaker race of people....to build our 'city.'
                   Similar to the conviction of the people of ancient Nineveh....after seeing and hearing the fish belly and sun bleached-out prophet Jonah....who repented with mortification....we also showed signs of mortification in the middle of the carnage of the Civil War.
                    It took Nineveh about....(we do not know the exact dates)....about 150 years before Belshazzar saw the fingers writing on the wall of the grand feast in the....what could be described as a ballroom....with a thousand present....and it has taken roughly 150 years for us in America to shuck off the smelly husk of mortification....to become what we are today....for we have little to no righteousness in our cause anymore....as our president has been for seven years now dreaming of billions of dollars in oil....sitting right there....next door to us....and how we today have little to no concern at all for the alien in our midst....as if we had no part in this....but scoop them up as in a vacuum cleaner....the good and the bad....anyone....to be dumped somewhere....anywhere that we do not have to be reminded of them....or in how we demand every penny that is perceived to be owed to us....no matter who suffers in the collection process.
                     The mother called the child's name....Ichabod....which means....'the glory has departed'....for the rotten sons of Eli thought that merely saying in effect....'God bless Israel'....would cover their sins. The handwriting is on the wall for us also....as we have been weighed in the balances and found wanting....and our kingdom has been divided and given away! 

The Silencing Of The Shepherds

               My opinion? I would say that Paul Washer is probably the strongest preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have in America today on somewhat of a national scene. You may not even know who he is. Please look him up....and his ministry. I'll give you an example of what he is like. He was giving a conference talk to young people....and he described today's church wasting time and chasing after baubles....and everyone started clapping....showing agreement....whereas Washer....in his soft and halting voice asked of them....'What are you clapping about? I'm talking about you!"
                R. C. Sproul has meant more to me than any nationally known minister. I've probably listened to his last sermon from late 2017....at least a dozen times. I have all his books and many of his tapes going back to VHS tapes! God took him home in December of 2017....rather suddenly. We lost that voice.
                We lost Billy Graham two months after R. C.! Actually we lost his voice a few years earlier because of his age. We lost Tim Keller in 2023....Phil Robertson....the Duck Commander last May....Alistair Begg retired in June....John MacArthur went to be with his Lord in July....and Voddie Baucham in September. Many more faithful unheralded pastors have gone on to glory. The silence has becoming deafening. 
                 To make matters even worse....there are probably more false voices today than at any other time in the history in the world....and more podiums and podcasts and broadcasts to carry those voices to itchy ears.
                 There are at least two ways of looking at this....probably more....God punished us by taking away our strongest voices....or this....God took our strongest voices away to force us to rely only on Him!

Addendum: There are two major conferences coming up....R. C. Sproul's Ligonier National Conference on February 9-11in Orlando....and John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference on March 4-6 in Los Angeles. Paul Washer is speaking at both....and they can be streamed live. My prayer.....should it be in God's will....is that the Holy Spirit would shake the very foundations of these patterned and at times timid conferences....'timid'....in that....for instance....the topic of the Shepherd's Conference is a remembrance of the wonderful ministry of John MacArthur. As truly wonderful as that ministry was....it is like a ship that is sinking....but the entire crew stopped bailing water to present the captain with an award....and it is probably the last thing that the captain would want.

After posting this.....I thought That I would give you an example of Paul Washer speaking.