"Puff Graham"

                They put six large circus tents together....in downtown Los Angeles....this in the fall of 1949. The crusade was supposed to last for three weeks...and after the first few nights....although well attended....it looked like it might end on schedule....but William Randolph Hearst sent out a directive to all of his newspapers to...."Puff Graham"....which was newspaper lingo for....'put him on the front page and make him look good.' It was like a king's decree....almost knighting Billy Graham. The crusade was extended to a full eight weeks...with 350,000 people attending.
               The London crusade lasted 12 weeks in 1954....with the last evening filling Wembley Stadium with 120,000 people....and then there was 16 weeks at Madison Square Garden in 1957. The crusades went on and on over many decades....all over the world....417 crusades in all....226 here at home....one of which....in 1968 at Pitt Stadium....my future wife and her two friends went forward.
                In the early 80s we only had three major commercial TV networks....and PBS which was usually on a UHF channel. So with four stations....it seemed like Billy Graham crusades were on all the time....and when we weren't running into a crusade....it would Pat Robertson's The 700 Club. There were six Christian bookstores within a twenty minute drive from our home....and I hit them all....regularly. It seemed like I was going to three or four conferences every year....some relatively major....and others maybe a weekend at a local church. I handled the book table at the monthly Full Gospel Businessmen's dinner. Twice we had conference speakers stay at our home....once a newspaper editor from Romania....and once a visiting Baptist pastor from Australia. This was normal stuff for an evangelical in the 80s!
                Reagan was president....Tip O'Neal was the Democrat Speaker of the House. Canadians were like family. My wife and I were kept awake one night by young Londoners singing.....over and over and over again below our hotel window....Don McLean's....American Pie. Television news was great....as were newspapers....of which I read three a day. It was during this period that Trump began his Atlantic City casino adventures....which turned out to be a disaster that almost brought him to personal bankruptcy. I have always had a question about his owning casinos....if they had not failed he would still proudly own them. Have evangelicals ever faced the fact that this is a man who wanted to make a fortune in casinos....gambling....that ruins so many people's lives?
                  Billy Graham....according to his son Franklin....voted for Trump in 2016....but so did I. Trump took office on January 20, 2017. Billy Graham went home on February 21, 2018....13 months or 397 days later....and Franklin has said that his father did not even speak much in his last year.
                                                                  

                 The above commercial for a brokerage firm is from the 70s...."When E. F. Hutton talks.....people listen." To you young folks....believe me....this commercial was a big as any of the popular insurance commercials of today. For decades we in the church had a handful of men who spoke with gravitas. When they said something....we listened....Billy Graham who was constantly warning of coming judgment....and John MacArthur warning of false prophets....and R. C. Sproul....and Tim Keller....and Voddie Baucham....and David Wilkerson....and Pat Robertson....some of them significantly theologically different from each other....but all of them with an obvious sense of discernment on the day and the age that we live....and they are all gone. God has called them all home. Add to this a collapse of some other very well-known reformed ministers....either through scandal or other human frailties....and with a few exceptions such as John Piper and David Jeremiah....we are today essentially leaderless....with no one there who when they would speak....we would listen....not only in the church but in the media. To compound the problem....there are many others who we listen to today....MAGA podcasters and Internet news sites and Fox prime time cable hosts....that not only do not warn us....but they are the purveyors of the things that Billy Graham and others would be warning us about!
                    The younger generations are the ones that are particularly vulnerable.....because they do not know what the church was like forty years ago....let alone in ages past. Most of them never experienced a Christian bookstore. I travel a lot....and always look for Christian bookstores....and have a hard time finding them. Pentecostals probably never heard David Wilkerson preach. They think that podcasts are normal....or that youth political conferences under the guise of the gospel are normal?
                     There may come a tipping point....where Trump does something that just cannot be ignored in our pulpits? Or maybe someone in the church will rise....or the Ligonier conferences or MacArthur's Shepherd's Conferences will make national news? Maybe the media will essentially do what the famed William Randolph Hearst did back in 1949....'Puff Piper....or Puff Jeremiah....or Puff Paul Washer? Who is Paul Washer? Back in March of this year....at John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference....the first conference since he went home....Paul Washer gave the message in Session Ten....and he actually addressed the issue of ministers like John MacArthur being gone....what do we do now! Here is that message that I have posted before....

 

                                                                              

                                                                                

"Something We Couldn't Predict."

              Tomorrow....Sunday....August 30, 2026....NASA will launch a new telescope into space....called the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope...after NASA's first chief astronomer. To say that scientists are excited would be a gross understatement as they are hoping to find possibly explosive answers on things like dark matter and dark energy. One scientist said that the telescope may lead to a new atlas of the universe. Another was quoted in an article that I read...."I very much hope....and in fact expect....that the most exciting science from Roman will be a surprise....something we couldn't predict.
                Another quote from the article is that it may prove a serious flaw in the standard model of cosmology....the current understanding of how the universe....and everything in it....has evolved. It might even indicate dark energy is not the constant force it is thought to be....but might change over time."
                Folks....I'm interested in astronomy....but it would have to have biblical implications before I would write a post on it. Such is the case with blood moons and solar eclipses. So....what these scientists are essentially saying is something that I have pointed out ever since I began to study biblical apologetics. They are admitting....(it's easy to admit something when they are behind the new discoveries)....they are admitting that things that they tell us now that are constants....may in fact turn out not to be constants! Right now....for example....we just absolutely believe that radiocarbon dating is a constant....therefore...such and such a thing....is this old or that old. Well...maybe and maybe not. We may find out some day that the period of decay in the sample is not a constant as we believe now.
                Another interesting thing....to me anyway....about the launch of this new telescope....is that after it is set up and synced in....three or four months maybe....and it sees much farther into the universe....and in much greater detail....that scientists may see a strange phenomenon....that I speculated about in the following post....from 2017....

Keep Looking To The Skies

        The scientists remained busy in their work as chaos enveloped the entire world. Their mission had been to find life in the outer reaches of the universe and then communicate with them. It was a project that was given every conceivable help in its mission. There were no budgets, no rules and no hindrances of any kind. Mankind, science to be more exact, was certain of two things....the human race is self-destructing and if there was to be any help it would have to come from intelligent life outside of our own.

         A nuclear war had devastated most of the inhabited world. Over-population would no longer be a concern....for most of humanity had either died in the war or through starvation and disease. There were factions posing as governments who still struggled to control what little resources were left on earth. The scientists at this super telescope had not found any help in time to avert nuclear war but they were permitted to continue for there was progress of sorts being made.

          A very special code was developed and sent into space in every direction. This code was so advanced that even its creators could not fully understand it. The hope and expectation of the scientists was that any intelligent life outside of the earth that would pick up such signals must therefore be more advanced than ours and would be able to explain our own code to us, understand our primitive attempts, and discern our objectives even in the midst of our own confusion.

          As if wars would not have been enough, the cosmos picked a terrible time to erupt upon earth. Asteroids appeared only at the last moment before striking our planet. The earth itself remained on its axis but every people group in the world was in a tailspin. The combination of nuclear explosions and asteroids striking the planet caused many earthquakes but they did something even more devastating, as the earth's tectonic plates began to move once again over the earth's mantle. It had always been assumed that the first continental drift took long periods of time but here one could measure the movement every day. The Americas were heading back to Europe and Africa. Greenland was returning to its original position as was Australia. Even Antarctica was drifting northward.

         There were tyrants and dictators and mass murderers in the aftermath of war but there was one particular man who had success assuming power over much of the world's people....but he himself was now almost ignored in the sulfur filled atmosphere and little light on earth.

         Remarkably, the scientists kept to their work. Had they made no progress they too might have panicked and their work abandoned but something was happening. They were picking up signals that were not chaotic or coincidence and were placing these signals over the grid of the code they had constructed even though they had no specific formula for decoding them, for they were depending upon the aliens for this.

         Word was leaked to what remained of humanity that distinct signals were picked up from outer space and this was received with great joy and expectation with no fear whatsoever. All were now focusing on a future once again and not the cataclysms they had been experiencing for a few years. One person was not enthused about this...that was the man who had assumed control over most of the world's people. His time had come to rule and he wanted no help from any other intelligent life. In fact he alone showed fear at the reports of the scientists.

         The signals coming back to earth were distinct and powerful. Scientists determined that the first signal received was the letter 'I.' They put forth the possibility that it could be a pronoun. The same message came in every three hours. Computers and scientists worked on the decoding. There seemed to be three words and then a pause and then another word. The second word was deciphered as....'am.' Scientists were now sure that the 'I' was a pronoun and that the message was beginning with 'I am,' with two more words to be decoded.

         Those on the telescope had discovered a cloud formation....(from the new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope?)....coming from the direction of the signals and it was becoming clearer the closer it came. The determination of everyone involved was that aliens not only were responding with signals but they were approaching also. The information was leaked to the listening world. Panic was decreasing as hope was spreading. The only exception to this, once again, was the leader who continued to demand that all eyes be on him. This leader had prohibited scientists from giving out news but others set up a continuous broadcast from the telescope and laboratories.

         Who would these aliens be who were coming to help? What would they look like and just how would they help? Surely they were the long-expected rescuers! Man would survive after all! He had determined long ago that he was the measure of all things and now he was to be rewarded.

         Scientists were decoding the last two words. The first was 'coming.' "I am coming'  was the message followed by a pause. The fourth word was more difficult. Its letters made no sense. Perhaps it was a name of the approaching alien but such a powerful intellect would have known that we could not decipher its meaning.

         The cloud formation became even more clear in its approach. It appeared to be spaceships. The form of spaceships could not be seen but what else could they be? It now could no longer be described as a cloud. Light was all around it with an intensity that seemed to be brighter than the sun itself.

         Peoples all over the earth, when told of the sightings, began to make images of the approaching aliens and pay homage to them. The earth still stank of sulfur as cosmic bodies still pummeled it. Winds and hail tormented many parts of the earth but the people shouted joyfully to the skies that previously frightened them.

         Scientists all over the world were put to the task of decoding the last word. An answer seemed to have been discovered but this was not leaked to the people. There was great disagreement within the science community. Some scientists were seen leaving the laboratories in a panic and this panic began to spread to the people.

         One pale-faced scientist appeared before the microphones and described the lights as they were getting nearer the earth. He described them as looking like horses! The world was dumbfounded. Then word came from the decoders who were closing the laboratories and hastily leaving. The last word was from an old language of the Middle East. It was actually many words within one. The final interpretation was....'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.'

          

Lord's Day Post

           The Lord is coming back to a church that wants America to become great again....more than it wants Him to return. He is coming back to a church that is excited because football season is starting again. He is coming back to a church that has lost its first love....with little compassion left for anyone. He is coming back in the midst of a great falling away. He is coming back to a church that has followed a false prophet....that promised a....golden age....of prosperity and peace and power and respect.
           In the parable of the unjust judge....Jesus tells of a woman who keeps nagging an unrighteous judge to avenge the wrong that was done to her....but the judge keeps ignoring her....until he just wants her out of his hair. The point is that we are to keep praying and praying and praying.
           So what was this widow praying for....and what is it that is inferred that we should be praying for?  Jesus said this....after instructing those before Him...."Listen"....(did you catch that? Listen!)...."Listen to what the unrighteous judge says....now....will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night?"
           "Cry out to Him day and night?" Does that sound like MAGA to you? They're not crying out to God. They're just shouting out accusations. I'll tell you who is crying out day and night....those who know that judgment is coming....and has already started....those who are vexed by this false prophet!
            The verse in Luke 18 continues...."and will He delay long for them?" That is the return of Jesus folks! The parable concludes with this...."I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However....when the Son of Man comes....will He find faith on the earth?"
             It doesn't look like it now. No one even has to be born again anymore. The scarlet cord of the blood of Jesus has become the red....white....and blue cord of patriotism....but this will surely change....for God is merciful and slow to anger....that is the prayers that we are crying out for day and night....that God might wake us....His church....His bride....out of our deep sleep....and open our eyes to what is going on around us.
             May if it be God's will begin tomorrow. May this night witness pastors everywhere tossing and turning in bed....and getting up to pace around....running their fingers through their hair....and finally collapsing to their knees....as the Holy Spirit tells them to go up into their pulpits....or more likely behind their plexiglass lecterns....and warn us....the sheep....to prepare...and to fill our lamps....and bring extra oil!

"What Have I Done?"

                Trump today....through another inane executive order....renamed Lake Ontario....to Lake America. Folks... I have done dissertation volume research on this man for a decade now. Is there a fine line between evil and crazy. If there is he is at least on that line. He has been vicious his entire life. He is a destroyer....either purposely trying to destroy people....or others are destroyed simply by flying too close to his flame. Pastors fall under the latter category....supposed shepherds....who are to protect the sheep....they in this case have been but mere hirings over the sheep. They will....in due time....see themselves in their pulpits for all of these years....silent on the wolf right in our midst....and weep. Why are they silent? Why are Republicans in congress silent? A Democrat today likened them to "trained seals"....flapping their flippers for a frozen mackerel. Pastors probably have all kinds of excuses to choose from. This is no longer a political issue....as it was at first....but a very defense of the glorious gospel and God's Word given to us! A number of people have commented on this issue of silence....but I'll choose Elie Wiesel...."Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." We....evangelicals....put this man in power....and we kept him in power....in spite of all the evidence that he is judgment from God upon us....a judgment that we so richly deserve. These pastors....and all of us....will someday utter what the character of Colonel Nicholson says at the end of the 1957 film....The Bridge On The River Kwai....

                                       

DISPATCHES

In one of his first meetings with national security advisers.....in his first term....Trump made this statement...."Venezuela....that's the country we should be going to war with. They have all that oil....and they are right in our backyard." Well....he got his oil.

Folks....we have Putin with his back up against the wall. We have China waiting for the perfect moment to move on Taiwan. We have a war that was shock and awe....until it wasn't? What happened at the beginning of April? We need a president in control of himself....listening to the advice of others who should be the best that we have in these areas....but we have a president still fighting with Canada....who cannot control his mouth or his temper or his actions. This is serious stuff! This should be sending all of us to our knees....where we couldn't possibly sit before a TV set for a whole day watching football!

The footage out of Nepal is more devastating than all the footage that I have seen of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami....even though it is estimated that 230,000 people died in that disaster. It is a stark reminder of how disaster can come about....on a major level....in an instant. 

Blood Moon tonight....although technically not a full lunar eclipse blood moon it should be something to see. It will begin around 9:30 ET but a little after midnight is when you would want to look at it.....the following paragraph is a week or so old...."So the solar eclipse was spectacular. The next event will be a partial blood moon....occurring at its maximum here in the eastern United States a few minutes after midnight....August 27/28. This partial will be 96.2%....so it is supposed to be very effective. The next total blood moon will be on New Year's Eve 2028....and the Middle East will be in the middle of it. Rosh Hashanna will begin on September 11....and Yom Kippur on September 20. I always have the Jewish lunar calendar in the back of my mind. I have long since been convinced that God uses signs in the sky....and....Jewish holidays. These things just serve as alerts....reminders....that God has used them in the past....and will certainly do so in the future."

 A first time ever event....the Republican midterm convention is scheduled for September 9 & 10. Will the networks cover it? Hopefully not. 

I am so often....so very sad....in that many nations....that were once strong allies....for example where a Canadian was almost as a brother...have become almost enemies to us....because of one man....whose bloodlust for greed and personal glory....destroyed that trust and friendship! May God have mercy upon us....for seeking our glory....and not God's!

Our national debt was around 18 trillion when Trump took office. We just hit 40 trillion. The Trump and Musk cuts were for show.....and with the chainsaw massacre of USAID and the numerous domestic cuts through things like food stamps and children lunches and Medicare benefits....the poor had suffered....the new Les Misérables...while money was poured out like water on White House and D.C. "beautification". If you listen closely you may hear the echo from the past...."Let them eat cake."

Jonathan Cahn's much anticipated new book is scheduled for release next Tuesday....September 1. We do not know what a day brings but if the Lord permits....I will be at Barnes & Noble in the morning....and have the book read by evening....and reviewed here the next morning. That's what I do. To evangelicals....who buy into the secret mysteries of people like Jonathan Cahn....this man....our president....who you think that God sent....could not care less about any peoples....in any area of the world....or even America. Everything is a deal.....transactional....with he himself being the only beneficiary that must be satisfied.

The idiom has been around for a long time....between a rock ad a hard place....but it is as if imagined for us today. If the Democrats win the House and/or the Senate....to use another idiom....there will be the devil to pay....but if Trump keeps his congress Praetorian Guard in place....can you imagine....can you even imagine....where his political and egomaniacal bloodlust will take him? 

Jonah and the whale....and Nineveh....and us: There is a new movie scheduled for an October 16 release. We do not what a single day brings. I do not know what the next hour may bring....but I will look forward....Lord willing....to seeing the Josh Brolin film....Whalefall....where a scuba diver is swallowed by a sperm whale....and has an hour of air to escape. Now I would expect that neither the movie....or any of the reviews forthcoming....would give any credence to Jonah....but I don't care....for the concept alone of a man swallowed by a great fish....at this biblical time in history....put before the American public....is encouraging. May God if it be in His perfect will....make us think through this film....no matter what it might try to say!

I do not have a link here telling how many hits this website has had....this because bots have effectively muddied the statistics....but I do pay attention to the number of people who visit my profile....because that statistic is not affected by bots. So if you are new here....it would help me out to know that. Thanks.

                John MacArthur's Grace Community Church finally named a pastor to succeed him after his death in July of 2025. Nathan Busenitz is 48 years old....and the GCC website describes him as having had grown up in the church"....before becoming a trusted assistant of John MacArthur. He will not have time....as John MacArthur did in 1969....to grow into the position....as he will be the one called upon to take the church into the last week Daniel's prophecy of 70 weeks....of which John MacArthur himself warned us for so long was coming! 

                Phil Johnson is one of the more recognizable names from John MacArthur's Grace To You ministry. He preached a message at the GCC evening service this past Lord's Day....and I streamed in because the topic was Christian Nationalism. What he said in his talk was true....as there are serious problems with racism and antisemitism in Christian Nationalism in this....evolving not reforming....church of today. As one would expect....he spent a good bit of time on how politics was not the answer to our problems....and reforming society was not our chief objective. The message was effective and helpful in what was said. The problem is in what was not said.
                 It is one thing to warn us of what is going on with this rising racism and antisemitism....but something else has to happen. We have to ask and explore why this is happening. I know a good place to start....MAGA. Phil Johnson's sermon on Christian Nationalism was a strong warning....names were named.....but not Trump's....even as the elephant stomping and Trumpeting around the church sanctuary of Grace Community Church....was Trump ! 
                 Phil Johnson's talk/sermon was erudite....and clear....easily understandable....and genuinely helpful....but did not go far enough....for although it identified a number of serious heretical radicals within Christian Nationalism....and also gave strong biblical evidence on why we may be involved in politics....but must never put it in front of the gospel....it ignored the chief culprit in  all of this....and in doing so it thus prevents the church from repenting of what we did....and permits the captivity and bondage by greed and power that we are under....to continue!

                   

Conservatism Itself Saves No One

The following was first posted on November 30, 2008....almost 18 years and roughly 4,035 posts ago....as it was only my fifth post. I could write similar thoughts today. I could copy and paste letters-to-the-editor written over thirty years ago that express the same thoughts. The only difference is that since 2008....God has revealed a lot to us on the last of the last days. Unfortunately....we did...."alter our ethical beliefs or compromise that which is our only hope, the gospel of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ"....as I warned against in the below post.

Conservatism Itself Will Save No One

                I agonized for a long time over how the Christian is to deal with politics. I read books on the subject and certainly went to Scripture. I've been on both sides of the issue. Edmund Burke wrote "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Burke was not a Christian, and I am not "good," but the concept and the logic still hold weight.
                Our nation is crumbling fast and most of us are the proverbial frog in the kettle. The local news from the metropolitan city that I live near started their telecast last night with three different killings among young black people. Yesterday's paper had a picture of two beautiful young children joined at the head while the surgeons were dismayed that nothing could be done for them. Every day the sufferings of people are there to remind us of the fallen condition of this world. We say that we yearn for Jesus to come back but do we?
         Martin Luther once said when asked what he would do if he knew that the Lord was coming back the next day, "I would plant a tree." In the final analysis, we cannot quit on this nation. If people's sufferings are to be alleviated, if we are to return to at least being a "God-fearing" nation we have to seek God's mercy and try our best to be good and responsible citizens.
         This blog title has the word "conservative" in it to get the attention of who it is meant for but conservatism itself will save no one! Our hope is not in princes or their military power. Christians, who have been relegated to being part of the "religious right," must remind themselves of this every day. This does not mean that we do not support a political party or ardently work for its success but it does mean that we never alter our ethical beliefs or compromise that which is our only hope, the gospel of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
         We lost our moorings in this long before we lost this last election. Our churches are social gatherings with political causes meant to assuage our guilt of not knowing who we really are in Christ. Our pulpits mention Jesus every week but rarely preach His cross for they have lost faith in the power of preaching Christ and prefer to give biblical advice on how to live. I stumble into church every week to hear the atoning power of the blood of Christ and of what He has done for me and how He will keep this poor wretched sinner despite my gravitation to dally with the world.
          More than anything, we need to pray that ministers enter their pulpits, look over the congregation and set forth to lay out the glories and majesties of Jesus Christ present in every book of the Bible. Only having done that can they begin to exegete the passages on how we are to live.

"Heaven Taken By Storm"

           Let me start this post with a very important verse of Scripture....a verse that we in this modern and compromised church need to heed....Jeremiah 6:16....this from the ESV...."Thus says the LORD: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls...."
           Have your ever heard the word....anabaptists? They separated from the Reformation because they didn't want anything to do with creeds. They only wanted what they thought was the simplicity of the church at its beginning. They were going to be the pure church....with no tares. It was a terrible mistake....and the Mennonites and the Amish came out of that movement.
           We do need to go back...but only to truer paths....and away from this church that has become too Laodicean....that no longer wants to be bridled by doctrinal truths....one of which is Matthew 11:12....this from the NASB...."And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been treated violently, and violent men take it by force."
           This is one of those verses that we need help with....and the highly regarded Puritan preacher Thomas Watson was the first one to help me....from his well-known and greatly valued book....Heaven Taken By Storm....Showing the Holy Violence A Christian is to Put Forth in the Pursuit After Glory. 
           An army is full of soldiers....and soldiers by theory are violent.....and we are to be soldiers for Christ....so there has to be a holy violence on our march toward heaven. I'll try to make this short in describing the 'violence' that Thomas Watson writes about in his book.

We need to be violent in reading God's Word as a father's....last will and testament....to see what has been left to us...."pardon of sin and adoption and consolation."

We need to be violent in hearing God's Word....that we should prepare for....and expect our next sermon to possibly be the last time that we hear His word to us before we enter into glory. The advice that I give so often in these posts is that in this modern age of weak preaching....we should incorporate into our weekly lives....sermons from preachers of the past....and the few preachers today who preach like preachers of the past. It is so easy to boot up and listen to sermons from Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or John MacArthur or R. C. Sproul and many others if we but put our minds to it! As a starter....you might want to Google....R. C. Ssproul's last sermon....preached only weeks before the Lord rather suddenly took R.C. home to glory.

We need to be violent in prayer....as Watson writes...."Mercy is purchased by Christ's blood....but is conveyed by prayer."

We need to violent in meditation. Spurgeon preached on this also....as we need to train our minds to push out the things of the world....and onto our Savior. Watson writes that...."Satan does what he can to hinder this duty. He is an enemy of meditation."

We need do violence through self-examination. Watson points out that...."the foolish virgins thought they had oil in their lamps the same as the wise."

We need to offer violence by sanctifying the Lord's Day. This is a hedge of protection....and today we have brush-hogged that hedge and replaced with artificial turf.

We need violence through holy conversation. Spurgeon lamented the fact that many in his congregation would leave a worship service and immediately enter into trivial conversation. He likened it to....(remember this would have been the nineteenth century)....striking the flint....(the sermon)....starting with small embers....and immediately upon leaving the church....putting the lid on the tinder box....before it could grow into a flame. Watson writes that holy conversation with brethren edifies....but that Satan wants to enter the conversation by taking us back into the world.

Watson writes that Christian violence is to be offered to Satan himself who tries to storm the castle of our heart....by force if he can...or by fraud....which would be deception. One striking example he makes is that a pirate ship often would hang out false colors....and that Satan attempts to draw men to evil under the pretense of doing something good. This is what politics has done to us today.

We need to offer violence to the world's lure for.....as Watson writes...."Filthy lucre."  

We need here also violence towards heaven...."Fight the good fight of faith." Watson rightly says that the way to heaven is not an easy one....and writes that Calvin rebuked Melanchthon in that...."he should not so affect the name of moderate....that at last"....he would lose...."all his zeal." Watson wrote...."to be lukewarm in matters of religion is far from offering violence to heaven.

             I have given here such a poor description of Thomas Watson's book....for there is so much more of Watson's thoughts. One last thing....that verse from Jeremiah six....has a few more words...."But they"....(the people of Jerusalem and Judah)..."But they said....'We will not walk in it.". So many have tried to get us back on the path....MacArthur and Billy Graham and Piper and Paul Washer....and we listened....but in as much as walked out of the church....and rejected the essence of what we had just heard!
               I'll end here with some of my own advice....to college students....because I am so often on their campuses. Seek others to meet with....who also want to seek those old paths....just as John Wesley and George Whitefield and a few others gathered together at Oxford back in 1729! Here's an idea....for starters....find a setting with a big TV....gather together....invite others....and stream that wonderful new film....A Great Awakening!

An Unspeakable Joy

              Spurgeon once preached....(he may have preached it more times than once)....that a broken and a contrite heart....is not something that only occurs before salvation. He was adamant on this point....in that not only are we to have a broken and contrite spirit many times after conversion....but that it is one of the greatest joys that a Christian can experience.
              He quoted a fellow preacher from back then....that the one thing that he might regret upon entering heaven....is that there will be no more feelings of humble brokenness before the Lord....because along with the broken contriteness comes the glorious realization of God's holiness and mercy.
              I think I understand what Spurgeon was getting at....for in those times when I feel so broken before the Lord....so much of a failure....or very weak and frail....which are often....and I thank God for that....I even feel that I could not do without those times....in those times also comes a recollection of what God has done for me! These are feelings that are not readily there even in worship and in evangelizing....and certainly not when I write these posts....unless in those posts I am fighting depression by exalting the glorious mercies that God has always waiting for those who come to Him in godly fear and expectation.
              So if you are experiencing any form of spiritual depression....know this....that when our cup runneth over....(Psalm 23:5)....it is a wonderful thing....but Peter....when his readers had been...."distressed by various trials"....(1 Peter 1:8)....laid before them an imperishable inheritance.....reserved in heaven....and a....joy "inexpressible"...."unspeakable"...."filled with glory."

Hypothetical: You Live On the Beach Somewhere In Florida....And A Cat 5 Is Forecast To Make A Direct Hit Right On Your House....What Would You Do?" Well....God's Word Is Giving You A Similar Forecast Right Now!

            I've had a few fascinations in my life. JFK would be one. I've read and studied that horrible day in November of 1963 for over fifty years now....and I will unabashedly say this....Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill our president. It is not amazing to me that so many people believe that Oswald did this....but it is amazing that so many who have researched and written on this....actually still believe that it was Oswald! Enough of that.
            Another fascination is with the Titanic. Let me just give you one anecdote. John Harper was a Scottish Baptist widower minister....on his way to Chicago with his young daughter....to receive a calling to a famous American church. He was reported during the panic at the boarding of the lifeboats....to have yelled...."Women and children and the unsaved first!" He gave his flotation device away while in the water....and perished....but only in the body.
            I have had another fascination developing for some time now....storms....hurricanes particularly....Atlantic and Caribbean hurricanes most particularly. The Weather Channel....is my favorite television Channel. The Fantome was a solid four-masted schooner....a beautiful ship....that sank in the Caribbean in late October of 1998. Here is the story....it had about 100 passengers....mostly American....during the scheduled cruise....when news of a Caribbean-birthed Hurricane was forming. Its experienced captain debarked all of the passengers to safety....and then....in communication by telephone with those who owned the ship....made a plan to escape the hurricane.
             The hurricane forecast models had the storm turning west-northwest....so the plan was to quickly sail south-southeast....only the forecast proved incorrect....the hurricane turned south-southeast also. As of today they have not located the sunken ship....its 31 crew members were lost....nor do they know exactly what happened in that final hour....but from what I have read....it most likely was laid on its side by 40 foot waves....and the water entered from the entry-points on the deck.
             The oceanographic/meteorological aspect of the storms fascinate me....as do the ships and all boats....down to little dinghys....but it is the concept of a storm....particularly as it relates to God's Word....that drives and animates me....because the Bible uses the concept of a storm so often....particularly in judgment of rebellious peoples....from Israel of old....to Isreal today...to pagan nations of old....to us today!
              The captain and the owners of the Fantome tried to save that beautiful ship....and they most likely would have....but God's Word tells us in Isaiah 51:15...."For I am the LORD your God....who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar (the LORD of armies is His name.)"
               I have another anecdote for you....It was 1983....and My wife and I were on a Caribbean cruise. Cruise ships were much smaller in those days. We were on the last leg of our journey....rounding the western tip of Cuba....and a sudden storm brewed up. The ship rocked....and everyone had to go to their cabins....which we did. I was a brand-spanking new Christian....who did not even know enough to bring a Bible with me on vacation. I lay in bed.....there were two single beds in this mid-ship cabin. The ship was rocking so much that a glass of water almost slid off the bed table. I reached into the drawer on that table....and there was a Gideon's Bible....so I brought it out of the drawer...and did what all budding theologians do....I randomly opened it up....and put my finger on a page....to see what God might have to tell me....it was Psalm 93....and as the ship rocked violently....here is what I read....

"The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he has girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house,  O LORD, forever." (I used the KJV here....for I imagine that is the translation that the Gideons used at the time)

             Folks....there are storms coming....in the atmosphere and the ocean....and in the world. Some may begin as disturbances off of the west coast of Africa....giving us weeks to watch as they strengthen on their westward journey....and we already see many of these coming closer....but some may appear almost overnight....giving little to no time to prepare.
              A few years ago....May of 2020 to be exact....I was typing a post on our patio in beautiful weather. The post was just like this one....warning of God's coming judgments....(this was at the beginning of the pandemic)....and suddenly my iPhone weather alarm warned of a severe storm that would arrive in 15 minutes. The storm came....and damage was done in two minutes. You can read this post if you want by going back to June 21 of 2025...and  a post titled....From Sunny Skies ....To Surveying The Damage....In Fifteen Minutes.
              If you wind up reading this post tonight....Saturday evening....you might want to meditate on your pillow these words of Jesus to the Pharisees in Matthew 16:2,3...."When it is evening you say, 'it will be fair weather for the sky is red'....and in the morning....'it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening'....Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky....but you cannot discern the signs of the times."

"Beware Of False Prophets"

               Forty years ago....sermons and Sunday schools and even seminars and conferences would often warn the church about false prophets. Christian bookstores were literally everywhere....and every one of them would have a section on the cults. John MacArthur had often over the decades preached sermons and written books on the cults and false prophets. Below are two sermons. My guess is that they are from about 1980. I have listened to them numerous times over the years....and I have put them in these posts on a number of occasions. Please consider this....you need messages like this sometimes in your Christian walk....and really you need them fairly regularly. Take the time to listen to both of these sermons. There is in one of them a lengthy section on the false prophet Jim Jones. You might find this difficult....but if I put it in your mind it will be there. Keep Trump in mind on the many descriptions of what a false prophet is. There is a graphic at the bottom of this post. This is what John MacArthur used for this two-part series on his website....(gty.org)....Beware of False Prophets....for many years....until his ministry switched to a different graphic. Maybe....I don't know....but maybe it was because this graphic might be a little too controversial.

  

 

 

Good-By Langley

The following was posted in August of 2019:

Good-bye Langley

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

Two Prayers......Nine Years Apart

Preface: The following are two prayers that I offered for Donald Trump....the first after I had....through what I thought was political necessity.....voted for Trump in 2016....and celebrated the victory....the second....nine years later. Trump was by then no longer just vile....which we had known back in 2016....but diabolical. 

Prayer for President-Elect Donald Trump....posted in December of 2016:

            Lord I lift this man up to you who is to become our president.... for mercies upon his soul Lord and for wisdom that might in turn lead to mercies upon we your children. I see myself in him Lord, not the fame or wealth or great abilities in business but in his blindness and even arrogance. I see myself when I was cast off from your blessings of grace and knowledge of your majesties....I see myself even now in need of the same mercies. Lord, you permitted him to attain that which this world calls great success...show him that it is but a dung heap. He finds himself in a position that he believes talent and purpose has brought him....maybe even fate as he perceives fate to be. Surely his countenance of supreme confidence must dissipate at night when he has nothing to do but lie in bed and contemplate what has happened to him in the last year. Surely Lord the responsibilities must unnerve him. Does he marvel Lord? I pray that he doesn't, for he would not marvel at what you have done for he has shown no inclination to consult you, therefore he would have to marvel at what he perceives he himself to have done....just as Nebuchadnezzar had marveled. In whatever is in store for him in this exalted position he is to assume I pray that if it be thy will that his eyes would be opened to the realities surrounding him...the realities of a world that has rejected its Creator and will therefore be judged by its Creator...and the reality that he also has fallen under this prideful self-exaltation and is in need of the mercy of redemption. Cause him to tremble Lord....at your holiness....at his sinfulness....and if it be in thy plans to have mercy upon us then cause him to humble himself before you just as you did so with us.... and that the accompanying eternal and unsurpassable blessings would also be his as they are ours. I ask not Lord for him to be the champion that he projects himself to be, for you alone Lord are our champion...our captain...and our king. I ask not Lord that our nation would merely be granted more time to move further away from you... but that it would...in whatever time you give us...display clearly to the world a refusal to follow the schemes of those whose plans are for building a new world in total antithesis to you its Creator. Lord, this man is not alone in need of mercy for we ourselves have failed miserably. Show us this Lord....and set us apart once again....for your purposes. If you should will it that we return to you then no force on this earth or in the heavens can thwart our return. Lord, this man has advisers all around him. Some acknowledge that only you cause nations to rise and to fall but most do not acknowledge you. Blind this man who will be called the president to those that are blind to you Lord! Give this man no strength apart from trust in you Lord, for any other perceived strength is worthless and deceiving. Then should turmoil come, we shall have perfect peace Lord...not necessarily peace as man views peace...but peace in the midst of travail....our minds set upon you who not only created the heavens and the earth but controls everything and everyone in this your creation.....and if peace should come....as man views peace....we could do nothing but gratefully acknowledge that you have brought order out of chaos for thy glory alone.

My prayer today....posted in October of 2025

         Lord.....if it be Thy will....and to Thy glory alone....I pray that Thou might open the eyes of Thy children to see who this man truly is. Have mercy upon us for going the way of Balaam....for profit. Have mercy on our pulpits for not warning of this false prophet....and on us for not demanding that they warn us. Lord....we forgot that Thou and Thou alone hast protected and sustained us over these many years and even centuries. We have thus went to Egypt for help. Bring us back as prodigals Lord....for Thy name's sake! Use this falling away for good....in winnowing us....that we might come together.....repenting together.....hoping and trusting together....free from the bondage....with the fog lifted that restricted our view of Thy imminent return....and the doldrums replaced by gales of wind from Thy Holy Spirit....guiding and empowering us even in our weakness....that we might show that Thy mercies are as great as Thy judgments....and Thy staff as gentle as Thy rod was harsh!

Addendum: After posting this....and while doing some vacuuming around the house....listening to a sermon on my headphones as I always do with such tasks....I came across an 1886 sermon from Charles Spurgeon. So here it is for you.... a sermon from the man rightfully known as....the Prince of Preachers....a sermon given six years before he went on to be with his Lord and Savior and King....thus after thirty years of humbly serving as a shepherd.....which turned out....in God's will....to be somewhat of a shepherd to tens of million of sheep....all over the world....over the past 134 years since he went on to glory!

                                                                         

Great Dialogue....And A Welcome Relief....If Only For Two Hours

               Younger people today have no way of knowing what it was like with Ronald Reagan as president. Eight years is a long time....and there are going to be issues like Iran/Contra....but overall America had a hard time not liking this man....even loving him. There is a story about his last day....as he left the Oval Office for the last time as president. He left some peanuts and a Beware of the Dog sign....and a note for the squirrels to "beware....the new guy has a dog?" Reagan just set us at peace. What a blessing it was to have a God-fearing leader like that.
               The White House Correspondents Association Dinner was in the news this year over some very serious issues of life and death. Even the rescheduled event was not a fun thing to watch. Sometime at your leisure you might want to Google...."George W. Bush White House Correspondents Association Dinner"....and it will come right up....a skit with W. and Steve Bridges....a Bush impersonator. And as you watch this....look around at the press corps seated at the dinner tables....and see their genuine smiles as they looked up on the dais at Bush whom otherwise they were not kind to.
                It was a different age....and a different America. As much as I vigorously differed with Barack Obama....and I posted a lot on his presidency....on that day of his inauguration I could not help but feel a portion of great joy in imagining all of the black faces around America....especially the children....as they saw someone like them....take on such a great and important position! No....we are not the same country anymore. Anger is now ingrained into us....to fight....and even to hate. Every day is another slur....or another threat....another churning in the stomach. 
                This film that I just returned from watching....The Brink Of War....on the 1986 Reykjavik meeting between President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev....was a welcome relief....if only for two hours....a trip back into the past. It was probably 95% dialogue around a table....a screenwriter's dream I would think....and that screenwriting was truly great.....otherwise it might have been a boring movie.   
                 Reagan and Gorbachev were sane men. JFK and Khrushchev were sane men. Khruschev Remembers was the first book that I read after getting out of the army in 1972. In the film that I watched today....Reagan and Gorby bantered back and forth quite a bit....and pounded the table a couple of times....although they also smiled at each other a fair amount....but it was the dialogue that hit the spot every time....legitimate questions....from both sides. There was no great victory in that Reykjavik meeting....for either side....but neither was there defeat....rather a victory of sorts for both....for hope....vain in the long run though it truly is. The following quote appeared twice in the film....of the ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi....from Gorbachev once....and once from Reagan....(if I remember correctly)...."A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

The Color Of Money

              It was 2015.....and we were facing more than the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency. Rush and Levin and all of our long-time conservative media were in top fighting form. We wanted....for a change....a successful businessman in the White House....and we wanted something more than milquetoast republican establishment candidates. If it were ten years prior to 2015....when Trump came down that golden escalator....we in the church would have rejected him immediately....but the spiritual revival of the 70s and 80s had waned....as all spiritual revivals do....and we were ripe for the picking by a wolf in sheep's....(albeit a ram sheep's)....clothing!
              Looking back on it....it's a disgrace that we in the church let him just come in and walk all over us. There is no excuse. Hillary is no excuse. R. C. Sproul and Pat Robertson should have spoken out more....Piper and Keller must have thought that this fad soon would pass....and John MacArthur....the greatest defender that we had against false prophets....fell for the mother of all false prophets. This movement grew so fast that before the everyday pastor could get a warning out....half of his church was following the false prophet....so they choose not to warn!
              Trump's first term was just disaster....and we have had disasters in the White House before....but January 6th took all of this out of the political realm and put it into the spiritual realm! I watched everything unfold on that incredibly evil day. The man had lost his mind. He was done....there was no question about that....and then....wonder of wonders....he wasn't done. His political career was resurrected....and he came out....as Revelation 6 describes the rider on the white horse...."conquering....and to conquer."
               Within the year Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul had died and gone to be with their Lord. It was January 1 of the new year of 2023....and John MacArthur was taken seriously ill. I followed his health....and listened to his powerful sermons....(streaming)....over the next two and a half years before he also went on to his Lord and Savior. He had made mistakes at the end....but we are all frail....and none more so than me!
                Trump's actions in this second term resemble how the National Socialists operated in Germany of the 1930s. This is textbook tyranny that we are witnessing....but then....we are no longer into reading textbooks anymore....for we prefer the flattery that we get from podcasters.
                I'm not really surprised about what this man has morphed into....for after playing Trump biographer over the past decade....it is apparent to me that he is now merely showing his true colors....and they are not red...white and blue. They are just shades of green....the color of money.
               Trump is not the successful smart businessman that his supporters think that he is. Technically....because of his father's inheritance strategies....Donald was a millionaire in his early teens....and he was given a big financial head start in the world of real estate. He has probably had as many failures as successes....and was really in dire straits when NBC picked him....because of his celebrity....to star in their new TV show. This new Trump in the White House today....is accumulating wealth so quickly....that he doesn't appear to even be concerned about the legality of it all! It is brazen....as the dictionary puts it...'done out in the open....with no shame or guilt'....brazen....corpulent....greed.
               There seems not to be a day pass without a new mind-boggling news report. The spiritual eyes of evangelicals have been blinded by God. I've said this many times....God judged the Democrat Party first....and they have since collapsed into absurdities....culminating with Biden and Harris....and what they have today....but then we in the Republican Party were judged....(just as Judah followed Israel into rebellion)....with Donald Trump....as we became greedy...,compassionless....and even....believe it or not....racist at times.
               May God have mercy upon us. We rejected the warnings to us from His messengers....and from His Word! We thought too highly of ourselves....which turned into full-blown pride. Ichabod....the glory has departed the church. If it be His will....and to His glory alone....may He apply what would be a needed balm along with discernment on how far we have fallen....because it will be difficult when we finally see what we have done!

                

              

It's Readily Available Now.....So What Is Preventing You From Watching it?

Preface: The following in italics is a post from July 17....below it is an update from today"                  

                  "There is an anecdote that I remember from the past about George Whitefield. It would be hard to describe the popularity that he had at the time. He arrived in Philadelphia for the first time in 1739. Here is the anecdote....when Whitefield had arrived at a certain town or area....word of it spread literally like wildfire....and the population also literally dropped whatever they were doing....got on their horse or their wagon....and literally once again....sped to see him! The anecdote described what appeared to be dust storms along the countryside....as men and women and families would almost race each other....similar to what it must have been like in the Oklahoma Land Rush!
                What are you doing this evening....as the smoke from Canada wildfires makes it hard to breath here in Western Pennsylvania? Well....you have the opportunity to be blessed....maybe even eternally blessed....by sitting down with your family to stream that wonderful recent film....A Great Awakening!
                It looks like the film is now available on a number of streaming platforms. My plan....Lord willing....is to order the movie right now on DVD.....so that I can watch it again and again and again....which I have done on so many other movies....such as Amazing Grace....and Chariots of Fire....and C. H. Spurgeon, The People's Preacher....and Jeremiah....and Risen....and so many other Christian films!"

Update....August 15....The film indeed is available on a number of streaming platforms. Recently....while visiting Lancaster's....Sight and Sound production of Joshua....(it's wonderful by the way)....I picked up the DVD of....A Great Awakening....since they made the movie. Yesterday....while visiting relatives....I asked for and received permission to purchase the video from Prime on their television set.....$15. There is one scene from the film that I would like to relate. A young George Whitefield is preaching at one of the established churches in our colonies. He's not welcome....as the ministers do not like this new gospel that actually addresses the heart....and one of the ministers tells him...."I do not like your being here!"....whereas the young Whitefield replied...."Neither does the devil." I hope that God might have mercy upon me in that I might be able say that also....after so many people do not like the overall message that I put out in these posts.

We Have No Way to Get Supplies In....Or Messages Out!

             As we all know if we have read Revelation diligently....Babylon the Great will be destroyed in one hour....and all of the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn ....for...."the merchants of the earth have become rich from the excessive wealth of her luxury." Revelation 18 also speaks of cargo that was sent all over the world....and lists quite a few examples of fine cargo that includes what you would expect in gold and silver....but also....in verse 13...."slaves and human lives." Does that wording sound familiar? It should.
              As for identifying Babylon the Great.....as a country or just a system.....that has not been revealed to us as of yet.....but we should know enough that when we see the ever-increasing group of ultra-rich such as all of these tech and AI CEOs.... Musk obviously being number one on that list....we should rightfully feel confident that Revelation is talking about us.... right now.
               When we have had major economic collapses in the past....we always eventually read about how much wealth was lost. Well....we read in Revelation 18:17...."for in one hour such a great wealth has been laid waste! (This is the wealth of the whole world folks) And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor....and all who make their living by the sea....stood at a distance....and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning."
                As I mention many times in these posts....we in the church have no leaders or evangelists of renown left. Oh there are plenty of solid pastor/teachers out there....David Jeremiah and others....but none that can stand up and make America take notice. The church has never really been in this situation since the Reformation....as there was always a Luther or a Calvin or the Puritans or Edwards or Whitefield or Spurgeon or Lloyd-Jones or Billy Graham or John MacArthur or a Sproul or a Wilkerson or a Robertson.
                Christian bookstores are gone. The average person today has nowhere to find Christ....and everywhere....including churches....to stumble across a facsimile of what used to be the gospel! We sit around in our little cell groups or Bible studies and cannot see that the people that....(mostly because of a collapsing culture)....are drawn to larger churches....are hearing enough from the pulpits to sign a pledge card....but not enough to fall before a Holy God in remorse and conviction. We are no longer evangelized....'born again' is an outmoded expression....as we are now merely recruited!
                The warnings that are out there are that we may lose our freedoms and even out country. That is what pushed people to churches....but we have no warnings on losing our eternal soul....and no warnings of false prophets or compromised gospels! We have no warning that we may have fallen asleep in the lap of luxury.
                God has taken all those men home who did warn us....and were able to stand up and make America take note....and keep us in the church at least awake. He has taken them all home. He took the Christian bookstores and the major ministries away....for today we have but circled the wagons....and have no way to get supplies in....or messages out.
                 We had our Jonah moments over the past seventy years or so....and we responded from time to time....but there is no longer a 40 day-type of warning as given to Nineveh. This is Nahum's time folks....to the same city....prepare for what is ahead.
                  Mystery Babylon is great tribulation language. Whatever Babylon turns out to be....its collapse changes the whole world....so we can forget our 401s and our bank accounts. There will be no constitutions....and probably not even any capitalism....and we are not being told this....because the glory of God has departed from the church....for a time....and for a purpose....that the chaff and the grain would separate. That is going to be a painful process....and it is surely coming....and already starting!

"Dave....My Mind Is Going...."

Preface: In 2010 I posted a long book review on  Nicholas Carr's....The Shadows....What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.(a 2011 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction) It's much too long to bring back but I have chosen just a few paragraphs. The reason is this....evangelicals want to make their country great again....and do not want anything more than a token reminder now and then about judgment of the last days. Carr's book does not mention this....(although he did include some Bible verses)....but he does inadvertently address the issue in that the coming and even present world that he describes....is not a world that we should look forward to....and 'making America great again' or not....we are in line to enter a horror movie. In this scenario....do you see how we in the church today are strenuously laboring to restart the ship's motor....to get to the scheduled destination....not realizing that if we finally get to that destination....and step on shore....and see what is before us....we will turn in a panic and attempt to take the skiff back to the ship....and as far away as possible from this future dystopia as possible? A lot has changed and been discovered in the sixteen years this book was published....and it is all even far worse than what the book describes! If there is to be a Last Days revival....there will have to be....mouths in the pulpit that finally begin to speak....and ears in the pews that can hear what previously has not been spoken....and eyes to see and discern what is going on....and noses to smell the stench....and hands to lift to God seeking mercy....and feet to run....to run as fast as we can from the false prophets....and to the ship whose Captain is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I recently went back to Pitt's Hillman Library....after its remodeling....where I had worked as a student fifty-some years ago....and I walked from the fourth floor down to the bottom....five floors....looking for books....any books? We do not need books anymore....we need links....to information. We today would hardly know how to process....let alone read through academic and scholarly books. We no longer need to know how to analyze anything. Others do that for us!

           "Nicholas Carr begins and ends his book The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains with thoughts on HAL from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. "Dave, my mind is going...I can feel it. I can feel it" were the computers last words as the astronaut disconnected circuits. Carr follows with I can feel it too. Over the last few years I've had an uncomfortable sense, that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.

               Marshall McLuhan appears throughout the book with warnings from years ago that we would experience the dissolution of the linear mind and that we were breaking the tyranny of text over our thoughts and senses. Carr writes The Net's cacophony of stimuli short circuits both conscious and unconscious thought, preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively. Our brains turn into simple signal-processing units, quickly shepherding into unconsciousness and then back again....If our brains are computers, then intelligence becomes indistinguishable from machine intelligence.   

                Numerous experiments are referenced showing that the hypertext-laden usage of the Internet is producing that cognitive overload. Carr writes research continues to show that people who read linear text comprehend more, remember more, and learn more than those who read text peppered with links. He quotes a certain Rhodes Scholar in that he is comfortable admitting not only that he doesn't read books but that he doesn't see any particular need to read them and cites a digital expert in that we have been emptily praising  great writers of the past. Carr asks Why bother, when you can Google the bits and pieces you need in a fraction of a second. 

                Memory is outsourced as Carr quoted another author.. 

                I want to add Carr's experience in writing this book as he was without the Internet as he worked on it: The dismantling of my online life was far from painless. For months, my synapses howled for their Net fix. I found myself sneaking clicks on the "check for new mail" button. Occasionally, I'd go on a daylong Web binge. but in time the cravings subsided, and I found myself able to type at my keyboard for hours on end or to read through a dense academic paper without my mind wandering. Some old, disused neural circuits were springing back to life, it seemed, and some of the newer, Web-wired ones were quieting down. I started to feel generally calmer and more in control of my thoughts-less like a lab rat pressing a lever and more like, well, a human being. My brain could breath again.
             
                Carr's brief sojourn in the Bible was profound in these verses:

Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not;
eyes have they, but they see not;
They have ears, but they hear not;
Noses have they, but they smell not;
They have hands, but they handle not;
Feet have they, but they walk not;
Neither speak they through their throat;
They that make them are like unto them;

Tuesdays With Special Dog

                Do you like those Progressive Insurance commercials about the older man who is always trying to steer others from becoming like their parents....always going down rabbit holes? I do. I know what the commercial is alluding to....for I see this in people all the time. Maybe I'll switch over to Progressive because I like their commericals?

                It was a Tuesday....and I was meeting with someone at a Starbucks....as I often do....with the sole purpose of it being a Bible study....the particular topic this day was....the Antichrist. Joe was already sitting down at a table....immersed in his computer open before him. I thought that he might be prepping for our talk...

Bob......."Hi Joe

Joe........."Oh hi Bob."

Bob........"What are you looking at?"

Joe.........."Did you know that cats have nose prints just like humans have fingerprints?"

So much for preparation.

Bob........."OK.....the Antichrist....let's get started...."

Joe..........."Right....so are you going to tell me who the Antichrist is?"

Bob.........."No....we're going to talk about what to expect that the Antichrist will do."

Joe............"Well I know who the AntiTrump is....it's that guy on the Internet.....Special
                   kind of dog or something like that.....he leaves stuff around my campus all the
                   time!"

Bob..........."Joe....that's me....Special Dog."

Joe............ "Ooooh.....sorry....some of the guys actually read it."

Bob..........."No problem....'some of the guys'....is all I can hope for. It's not so much that I am anti....Trump....as much as....
                     anti deception....and anti false prophets....that kind of thing."

Bob looked at Joe who was staring out the window....

Joe............"Wow....it's 97 degrees out......and that guy is wearing a hoodie!"

Bob..........."Joe....Joe....the Antichrist?"

Joe............."Right....go ahead."

Bob..........."First of all....the Antichrist is going to fool a lot of people. That means
                                  that he will use great methods of deception and....Joe?

Joe was going from one pocket to another

Joe............"Sorry....my hearing aids are in one of my pockets."

Bob..........."Oh I'm sorry....I didn't know that you had hearing problems!"

Joe..........."I don't....I just have these with me at all times in case my hearing starts
                  to go."

Bob needed a few seconds to let that one sink in

Joe............"Here they are....wrapped up with my migraine pills."

Bob..........."Oh.....do you get....

Joe............."No.....just in case I ever get one?"

Bob............"Well maybe all this is good....because you like to prepare for bad
                     things....like maybe the seven years of tribulation coming up?"

Joe..............."Well I don't ever think about that....I mean it could be another twenty
                       years or so."

Bob.............."You're not concerned about wars and earthquakes and famines and 
                       pandemics.....but you have hearing aids in case you go deaf at Starbucks?"

Joe................"Well doesn't the Bible say something like....we're not going to know 
                        nothing at all....just be ready to be zapped up....even from a Steeler
                        game....or Bruce Springsteen concert....or something like that?"

Bob..............."Hmm....where do I start with this one? Let's just go back to the
                        Antichrist....so people.....even many people in the church.....are going
                         think that this man is sent from God....as a good thing....a blessing even"

Joe..............."I just thought of something."

Bob.............."What's that?"

Joe..............."Did you know that the name....of the first mate....in Moby Dick....
                        is....Starbuck....and then there was captain....Ahab....and Ishmael!
                        Do you think that Melville was coding something to us about the Antichrist?"

Bob..............."Joe....you are going down rabbit holes."

Joe................."Yeah....I tend to do that. I forgot to take my ADHD medicine this morning.
                           Well it's not really medicine....it's more of a vitamin and mineral formula.
                           Did you know that there is an island off the coast of Greece.....where a 
                           certain...."

Bob................"Joe?

Joe.................."Where a certain olive grows..."

Bob................."Joe!"

Joe..................."Yeah?"

Bob.................."I have an idea....Let me just send you a video that you can start to watch...
                           and if a squirrel jumps on your window sill....you can take a break....and 
                           listen again later?"

Joe..................."Odd that you mention squirrels. I have one in my yard that absolutely will
                          not eat peanuts! Can you imagine that?"

Bob.................."I'm trying not to."

Note: The problem isn't that we all have ADHD....it's that we just are not that interested in the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior and King....Jesus Christ.

IS DONALD TRUMP THE ANTICHRIST?

"Preface: I purposely gave this post a provocative title to bring attention to what I consider a serious problem. Donald Trump's megalomania is obvious to anyone willing to look at how he acts. Combine this with an almost sadistic penchant to seek revenge on even the lowest person on the totem pole....and I have to wonder what he would do if he indeed did pull this election out....or even in the two remaining months if he lost? Yes the pandemic was judgment from God....but it is where the church is going that may be the more serious judgment. I have studied cults and biblical prophecy for nearing forty years....and history a lot longer than that....and I can now see in Donald Trump how a dictator actually takes over a nation....and it is frightening. I can actually see not only why but how Trump's army of believers are deceived."

               The above preface/paragraph....as well as the post below....are from October of 2020....during the pandemic and weeks before the November election. This was six years ago....and I wondered what Trump would do if he retained power. After now having witnessed what I was so concerned about....these 2020 comments may have been somewhat prescient....particularly the "two remaining months if he lost"....(remember January 6?)....but they nowhere near described what we have witnessed with our own eyes for not only the past 18 months of his second term....but the five and a half years of escalating authoritarian purges and beatdowns with a megalomania that alone should have driven every single solitary Christian to their knees for not fleeing from this man long ago.
                So do I think that Donald Trump will turn out to be the....Antichrist? Whoever the Antichrist will be....he will retain power for quite a while....miraculously retain power.....and that certainly has been Trump. He will build statues to himself....and exalt his name above everyone else on earth....and that surely is Trump....and he will make a covenant....and then blatantly break it....and that is what Trump is showing himself to be....not a promise keeper....but a covenant breaker. He may turn out to be the Antichrist....and he may not. What is most important is that evangelicals put him where he is! This is great delusion....and it is a falling away....as Trump is at least a false prophet who has prophesied to us for a decade now....peace and prosperity....and greatness beyond measure....a Golden Age....and American Age....and we bought it all....hook....line and sinker....because it is what we wanted more than the return of our Lord and Savior and King to a violent....fallen world....with evil technologies alone that should make all of us cry out....Marantha....Lord Jesus Come! Here is that post from October of 2020:

Is Donald Trump The Antichrist?

              It was nothing less than incredible to watch as Mikhail Gorbachev....the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union....brought about the end of the cold war through reforms such as glasnost and perestroika....and then to see the Soviet Union itself collapse. I remember a speech that Gorbachev gave in Israel....as he was cheered as a hero and man of peace....this may have been 1992....when a dove alighted upon his shoulder....in Jerusalem!
              Then there was the 2008 Democrat convention stage in Denver's Mile high Stadium....(nickname)....that was shaped like....and resembled....the Pergamon Altar of Zeus....thought by many scholars to be the Throne of Satan....mentioned in Revelation 2:12. Google the two....'Pergamom Altar' and 'Obama 2008 acceptance speech'....to see for yourselves. Added to this was the giant statue of a white horse that rears up on top of the stadium.
              The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:18...."and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come." Opinion here of course....but an opinion held by many....the final antichrist is probably walking around today as an adult. There has been so much written on this. Some scholars are absolutely convinced that he will be of Middle-Eastern descent. I don't think that anyone can be absolutely sure.
              So what about Donald Trump? I bring these examples up....and this post title....primarily to get your attention. I think that maybe it worked....but there are a couple of nagging concerns that I have about him. One would be that after seventy-plus books (115 now) on every aspect of his life....and every part of his life.....what comes out most of all about him.....is that he is totally vacant on any real ideological beliefs....with no evidence of a conscience whatsoever....the emptiest man that I have ever seen in American political life. Whether it is abortion or America or anything....there is really nothing behind the professionally crafted words. (He has a half century of experience in his resume' as a master con man.)  And if there is nothing there....then there is plenty of space to be filled by something. That's one concern.
                Another would be that after having studied 'Christian cults' for many years....even putting personal ads in the newspaper to meet with anyone interested....and therefore being familiar with a typical charismatic leader that is able to lead otherwise intelligent people into disaster....I've never witnessed personal magnetism in the form of outright lies as I have in Donald Trump....at least not to the extent of the number of followers.
                I've never seen or read about anything in America quite like the total allegiance to a hero....no matter how much evidence to the contrary may be out there.....than that is happening today with Donald Trump. I've seen it in the history of a number of other countries....but not here. Rush Limbaugh is a total convert....as are many others. Fox network executives are totally under his spell....with their best reporters becoming a discouraged smaller minority all the time. Do we even remember let alone have any concern for the comment that Donald Trump once made where he could shoot someone right on Fifth Avenue and would not lose his supporters? Don't you think that this might have been a clue?
                My hope remains that if it be God's will that He might humble Donald Trump as Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by madness....but Beltashazzar is the more likely role model....and I'm not even sure that Donald Trump would be concerned about fingers writing on a wall....as he'd probably just call them a hoax.