"Yet I Will Exalt In The LORD!"

 The following post is from September of 2018. Billy Graham....just for one....warned us in America for a long time of God's coming judgments.. R. C. Sproul warned us. Both have gone on to be with their Lord....their tasks complete. Many have warned....having labored in obscurity. None of this really matters....for all you have to do is read the Old Testament prophets and you will see how this is the way it has always been.....God sends prophets....no one listens.....judgments come.....then everyone wonders why God was so mad. So why even warn? It may be because one can look back....after the judgments.....and see that they were warned. Jeremiah seemed to do this....remind the people after judgment that they had been warned again and again. It may be because some do indeed listen....bewail their condition....and actually repent. British poet Rudyard Kipling spent the summer of 1889 in our small town....in the middle of touring America....if you can look at this country of ours today....and it doesn't make your hair stand on end....and does not make you tremble....."You're a better man than I am....Gunga Din."

"Yet I Will Exalt In The LORD"

           The prophet Habakkuk speaks to us today....but will we listen? Hidden away in a slew of other prophets that we ignore....books labelled 'minor prophets' because of the short length....it gives us a glimpse of Habakkuk's extreme frustration as his beloved Judah was destructive and violent....full of strife and contention....where law is ignored and justice is never upheld. Does that description sound familiar?
           The prophet begins by venting to God his frustrations. Why isn't God doing something about this? Why has the LORD not intervened? The answer that God gave Habakkuk was not the answer that he wanted to hear. God was going to bring judgment upon Judah.....and he was raising up the Chaldeans to do that!
           Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah. Nineveh was about to fall....and Babylon about to rise. Nahum had just prophesied impending doom to Nineveh. Habakkuk was now....after God's answer to his question....even more frustrated in that God would use a more violent nation....Babylon.....to punish Judah. It's as if he then stood there and defiantly said.....'explain that God'.....and then waited to hear God's rebuke....but God didn't rebuke him....he calmly told Habakkuk to record the vision that he was about to see.
           Martin Luther would be transformed by part of what God told Habakkuk...."Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith." God was showing Habakkuk what would happen in the future...."at the appointed time." He was pointing to the Messiah. Yes Babylon would bring judgment upon Judah....but God then quickly taunted Babylon.....five times! Their turn for God's wrath would be next.
          So what would Habakkuk do now....offer a third challenge to God? No...even though his "inward parts trembled" and his lips "quivered" in acknowledgment of what was about to happen to Judah....God gave him a quiet and a calm....and a prayer that Judah would utter and sing even as Babylon approached.
          Habakkuk....like Jeremiah and Daniel......had to give their messages....but none of them would see the final fulfillment of their prophesies while in their mortal bodies. Habakkuk's inner parts did tremble and his lips did quiver after realizing what was going to happen to Judah....but his final words were....and they should be our words....as we have witnessed our nation rebel in ways eerily similar to Judah's...."Yet I will exalt in the LORD. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds feet, and makes me walk on my high places."
          Christians should know by now that judgment is coming to the nations of the West that once acknowledged and even reverenced God....but now violently oppose His mere presence even in tradition. In many of us....our inward parts tremble....and our lips quiver....but as Habakkuk's final prayer proclaimed the power and "everlasting ways" of Almighty God.....we for our part know very well....and should proclaim....the glorious return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....in the midst of judgment not totally unlike in its terror what Judah experienced with Babylon. (Folks....this was 2018....a bright and sunny day compared to today!

Lord's Day Post......'Risen'

              Have you by any chance ever watched the 2016 film Risen starring Joseph Fiennes? Is it a regular film or is it a faith-based film? Well it's both....and I was so taken by it that I viewed it about five or six times so far. I'm going to give the ending so please do not read on if you do not want to know.

             Fiennes is a Roman tribune.....not just a centurion but a tribune.....and that's power. Stephen Boyd played a tribune in Ben Hur.....Richard Burton in The Robe. Fiennes plays Clavius.....a tribune who has his own personal favorite god in Mars....but who through a series of events after the crucifixion....as his career is at stake unless he can find the body of Jesus....finds instead the risen Jesus Christ. Now here is why I'm bringing this up....there may not have been a real Clavius....but there surely has been men of power or wealth....who wanted nothing to do with this Jesus Christ....but who by God's direction were confronted with the truth....and had a life changing decision to make or not to make. 
             The film ends with Clavius walking out into the wilderness....no longer a tribune....with no money....or even a plan of where to go.....only the knowledge that the Son of the Living God....whose his men had crucified....had risen....and called men to Him....and in the case of Clavius.....'orders are in the mail.'
             We today need to be confronted with the possibility that we may have been taken in by the enemies of the cross....bewitched if you will. Focusing on this character of Clavius might just cause us to reflect on just what we have given up....or refused to give up....or up till now ignored? Do we merely have what is referred to as a 'personal relationship' with Jesus Christ....or have we been regenerated....and born again? Is Christ always in our thoughts....either joyously or sorrowfully as when we fall short....or is He rarely spoken of....demonstrating the real value and love that we hold for him?
             As tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day....I'll suggest another online sermon that you might want to gather your loved ones around to listen to. I listened to it yesterday.....for the second time I think.....just Google....George Whitefield....Marks Of A True Conversion.    

One Thing You Lack

  January 16, 2021

         I'm pleading with you to listen to this sermon by Charles Spurgeon. Tomorrow.....the Lord's Day....as you stay home and stream your church service....not having to fuss about getting clothes ready for church....or your hair or makeup....or wondering about the tire pressure on the way to church....or even going back and forth in your mind weather staying home during the pandemic is the right this to do....give yourself time and listen to this before your regular service begins.
        Spurgeon gave Oh Lord, Revive Thy Work...on a Wednesday evening....April 7, 1858. It was almost three years to the day before hostilities broke out in America's Civil War....but Spurgeon began his sermon with the great revival that had broken out in America....challenging his Great Britain to do as much and more.
        The title I chose for this post comes from a story that Spurgeon told about George Whitefield. How many times have we been in Whitefield's exact same situation....but more importantly....who among us today might the title be directed? It's 48 wonderful minutes....and easy to Google!

Note: I came across a YouTube on J. C. Ryle that I would like to add to this recommendation....just Google...J C Ryle...Give Me Your Heart

Counting The Cost

 "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20) "And he answered and said unto them. I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19:40) "Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee" (Luke 8:39) "For whoever may be ashamed of me and of my words...." (Luke 9:26a)    

The following post is from the summer of 2017. :     

         One of the failures of today's evangelicalism is that we fail to mention the cost of discipleship when we evangelize, and I have been guilty of this as much as anyone. I put a couple thousand miles on our vehicle recently and that usually means listening to a few more sermons or teachings from R. C. Sproul than I usually do. I had to go back into his archives a little bit to find one that I had not heard....and I'll give you easy directions to listen to it at the end of this post. Need I add that what you will hear will be eons in wisdom and knowledge beyond what I can type out?
         You have close friends....maybe you have a wife and children....maybe even grown children. If your plans are no more than just joining into fellowship of a church because it's something that you think that you should probably do....don't worry about the cost of discipleship....for there will be very little. There won't be any quantifiable cost to you involved in just joining a church or a Bible study....unless that church actually preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ or that Bible study moves quickly beyond the milk of the Word.
          Your parents...whom you deeply love...may show deep disappointment if you become a Christian. That's a true cost. R. C. Sproul had this happen to him with his mother, and I experienced the same thing with mine. It's very difficult and in my case it turned out to be over three decades of praying for wisdom in presenting the gospel to her....and asking for forgiveness of God for the many times that I felt that I failed miserably. Your family may reject you. Now there's a real cost, but if your not able to pay it then just sit back and let others do the work.
          A good friend will stay your friend but you will either wind up letting him alone in his life without Christ or you will try again and again to present the gospel to him and find that although you still may be friends you really don't have much to talk about anymore.
          Doctrines come with a cost. If you don't want to pay it then stay away from doctrine. Doctrine is simply a biblical truth.....that often is not simple! If you stay with the basic Bible studies forever then there will be little to no cost to you. Do you have a serious hobby? Most people do. Is there something you have worked at for years and you excel at? Maybe you're a scratch golfer? I was a scratch golfer....I'd hit the ball and have to scratch my head but maybe you actually know how to play the game? If you apply yourself to the Word of God with the same dedication then it will most likely cost you. You may have to leave the church that you love. Other Christians may consider you divisive. Stick with the golf if you don't want to pay the cost.
         These are really minor costs compared to what others have paid. Your wife may wind up leaving you. Your kids may hardly ever bring the grand kids over.  I've witnessed these things with friends.  We have all read stories in the news where Christians lost their business or their livelihood because of their Christian faith. Every one of us should never allow much time to pass at all without thinking about and praying for Christians around this world who suffer severe persecution and may even lose their lives because of their faith in Jesus Christ!
         These words were brief and not very profound. Here are some more not-very-profound words...that the great philosopher Stephen K. Bannon used to say on his radio program...."If your taking flak....then you must be over the target." Are you taking flak? If not...you may want to ask yourself why. My primary intention in this post was not to make a list of things that will cost you but rather to point out that we in America all too often fail to mention any costs at all as we ....'share the gospel.' Ironically there is a cost here but it is to America itself as the resulting church turns out to be week...society crumbles....and we find ourselves exactly where we are today.
    
R.C. has a couple of teachings titled...'The Cost Of Discipleship'....and I'm not sure which one I referenced in this post from 2017....so I plan on listening to both today....Lord willing....and may give some additional details later in the day. So for now just Google....'R. C. Sproul....The Cost Of Discipleship'

      

It's Not An Either/Or Situation.....But A Yes/Yes Petition

  

            At first I thought it was a sermon that I was listening to.....but about halfway through it became obvious that the young preacher was speaking at a conference. It would have been a wonderful sermon also. There was an unction in his voice that we do not hear often today....although it would have been a regular weekly thing in Charles Spurgeon's pulpit in London over most of the latter half of the 19th century. There must have been other ministers present....and the young speaker at one point seemed to discourage merely bringing men like Charles Spurgeon back to mind....but rather that we must produce a Spurgeon and Calvin and Edwards and Luther. We were to give God no rest in our petitions....and all so that this nation of ours would give God the glory that is due Him.
            Well I would never argue with that message....for we should never stop petitioning God.....always tugging at His cloak as it were....always crying out to be healed.....always bugging the king so that he would give us what we want....to get us out of his hair....or so the King of Kings has told us to do. Yes it is revival that we desire....and a great awakening....and a reformation if there is time....but there is something that we should desire even more...."Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come!"
             It is not an either/or situation....but a yes/yes petition....Lord Jesus come....come now....for this world is as a ship where the engineer has come up to the bridge and given the bad news....she is going to flounder! Lord gather us together as one....give us a voice to shout with....endue it with the power of Thy Holy Spirit....bring multitudes in with the same mercy that has been extended to us.....do all this Lord if Thou art willing....for Thou art able!
            There is a music composition playing very softly next to me as I type.....and I had to look over and see what it was.....a piano composition played by Richard Clayderman.....I Want To Know What Love is....you would recognize it.....for it is beautiful. Oh Lord....so many want to know what love is....and here it is Thee. Thou art love. Whether Thou tarries or are right now in that cloud racing towards us with Thy mighty angels....it matters more that we desire to see Thee....even as a child's eyes glisten as they look upon that wonderful present before them....just waiting for the parent to say...."You can open it up now!"

Addendum: I am sitting at a pharmacy waiting for my first vaccine shot. On the ride here I saw that R C Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries have for their Daily Audio....his decades ago message titled....Jeremiah’s Temple Speech....which I have posted on many times over the years. Please take the time to listen to it at....ligonier.org

Also:The Daily Video is very good....and if you view it please think about Donald Trump and what has happened to us over the past few years.

Wednesday morning: My guess that that Ligonier might be highlighting all week R. C.'s messages on the last days....as today's Daily Audio is...."Behold....The Day Of The LORD." I hope that you allot about 30 minutes of your day to this radio ministry that has so blessed the church today.

Looking For That Church

             I've had the occasion more than a few times of trying to find a church for a friend or a family member....most often from another state. I will usually initiate this search because they are in need of a church. I'll Google a list of all the churches in their area.....and then narrow them down to the denominations where I know at least the gospel is in their history....then I visit the website of the church....if they have one....which they usually do. There will most often be a....What We Believe link....usually with bullets of some sort....categorizing the beliefs as to the Father....and the Son....and the Holy Spirit....and then topics such as.....The Bible....Salvation....Heaven....etc....all very short and concise...and often there is more space taken up with directions to the church than their doctrinal statement.

            And then there are always the ministries....which in a megachurch can extend into the dozens....women's....men's....youth....toddler....small groups....outreach to the community....music....hospitality....and if the church is well known enough....there is a link for....giving. Most church websites do not list....sermons....although some do.....and when they do....it usually eliminates that church right there....for my search anyway.
            I know from experience that the best churches will be so small that they won't won't even have a website.....and there is really no way that I can find them.....but on occasion I can find a jewel.....or a diamond in the rough....with great links on not only what they believe....but terrific links on where one can go to learn online.....or great books one can purchase. I did find one of these churches last year....for a friend in distress....and directed him to it....even contacting the pastor in advance. So my friend did visit a couple of times....found it boring and left....and continues to flounder in his faith....for one has to know what is important in a church search....and not just what one desires.
           
            Here's my advice if you feel that you have to move on from your church today in which you have been...."always learning but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." Forget things like youth ministries as a selling point. If the music is great...the preaching probably isn't. You can get lost in  a megachurch....or so busy with all the activities that you forget what you were looking for to begin with....and it's probably not there anyway. If at all you can do it....check the sermons out before you go....or at least the titles of the sermons....and if you go....forget all the smiles and handshakes....look for some evidence in the faces that tears have recently been shed....shed for what what the world is coming to....what has happened to America....and the false answers to those problems that we have been given. Try to see what the conversations around you are about....are they of Christ....or of the great community of which everyone there shares?

            Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle.....located in Elephant and Castle on the south side of London's River Themes.....was a megachurch for its day.....but an altogether different type of megachurch. The ministries were numerous....with orphanages and schools and book & tract ministries....but there was a difference here....for all of these ministries had a foundation....the preaching of the whole gospel of Jesus Christ....the at times tortuous attacks the Christian experiences....the need to be born again....the surety of God's Holy Spirit there to guide us....the warnings of false gospels all around....and the heaven reserved for the Christian. Spurgeon read Pilgrim's Progress....according to his own testimony....100 times....and that is evidenced in his preaching. He read other faithful pastors of his past....never stopping to admire his own knowledge....and that is also evident everywhere in his ministry. I've heard it said that a small group of people were praying in the lower level of the church as Spurgeon preached above them. If a megachurch is missing evidences such as this....then all the ministries will most likely be hollow. So look for that church where 'success' is not necessarily determined in this life....but the life to come....keep this as your focus....and you will find that church.
            

Whatever It Is.......It Will Far Surpass....

            Sometimes I wonder....at seventy years of age....how would I feel about closing in on the end of life had not Jesus Christ called me....being least of the least....to Himself...the Bread of Life....the Way the Truth and the Life....the Light of the World....the....Lord of All?

            I guess that I could speculate....come up with some words and phrases....but there is no way that I could know for sure....but I can say this....I may not know what I would feel....but I know for a certainty what I would not feel....closing in on the end of life. I could not possibly feel the building anticipation of the most joyous and wonderful coming home to a most majestic and loving Savior that I.....and all Christians....feel....as the baubles of life wax more and more insignificant the longer we are on this earth!
            There could never be this joy. The closest that comes to it would be a youthful romantic elation that can overwhelm....but always proves fleeting....as a love itself may remain for a lifetime in marriage....but the overwhelming youthful ecstasy of those first days could not possibly be sustained....wherewith in Christ it not only is sustained....it increases....over the years.....and over the decades!
            I bring this topic up....as it seems that every day we read of some celebrity in the news who may have passed away....some of them in my case....actors and actresses that I have been more than familiar with for my entire adult life. Or maybe they make the news....and are unrecognizable in their twilight years. They had it all as the world views it....but in retrospect....I thank God....with all my heart....that I was never taken down that path of riches and fame....where Christ then might not have had mercy on me.
            These thoughts came to me yesterday as I just happened to turn on the television....and some kind of reality show was on....where the host travels the world....and in this episode it was the Caribbean....on a sailboat! Now when I let myself fantasize....daydream....it usually involves a sailboat....and blue/green water....and maybe white sands. Of course for this to ever happen I would have to know something about sailing....which I don't....but that is what daydreams sometimes are made of....are they not?
             As I watched this half hour show....with a sailboat right out of my daydreams....I forced myself to answer a question that I posed to myself. Would I reject this lifestyle if offered to me....of grabbing that beautifully warm breeze.....and expertly having it take me here and there....wherever I desired....stopping only to swim with blue and yellow fishes....or swing ever so gently in a hammock between two palm trees....looking out over a calm turquoise bay? 
             I guess that's what we might call temptation....for it was not a weak draw....but I remembered immediately that whatever Christ has planned for us....in whatever eternity with Him will be like....it will far surpass the daydreams that a mere mortal could ever even imagine! 
             So although I cannot put myself in the mind of a seventy year old that does not have faith in Christ....I surely can discern that there is a difference....which leads me to say just one more thing....you may not know....or even care about what I'm describing....but you may be forced to admit to a lack of knowing anything for certain as to what happens when this life ends....and if you are honest with yourself....it may even cause you to tremble at times....if so....call out to Jesus Christ....and you may find out later that He had you call out to Him....for you indeed have nothing in yourself to seek Him....as I or no one had....and it just may be that you too in the future may then come to....the building anticipation of  the most joyous and wonderful coming home to a most majestic and loving Savior!

You And I Will Be United....Ugh.....That Doesn't Sound Too Good To You Right Now Does It?

The following few paragraphs are from a November 2017 post. The purpose of this post.....and others that were like it....was to point to a....winnowing....that will be coming to the church. Evangelicals are going to have to make a decision now that Donald Trump is gone.....will they continue to walk a balancing line with politics and their Christian faith....(and folks that word 'balancing' is generous....for it has been about 99% politics and 1% Christ)....or will we become a peculiar people that knows....and pleads....that Jesus Christ will soon return to this collapsing world....and this nation that has gone from ignoring Him.....to giving great lip service with increasingly blank and meaningless prayers on a national stage....to adding Amazing Grace to a playlist of themes that do not glorify God. 

              How was your church service yesterday? Fine you say? Did you find yourself praying for your pastor during the sermon because the burden weighing him down seemed so great? If not then maybe the service was not so fine after all.
              Our pulpits in America have let us down.....they have let Christian believers down......and most important of all they have let their Lord and Savior down! Did they do this out of malice to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? No.....they did it out of ignorance. The worst that can be said about them is that they became lazy....(or else they knew it all)....and that when finally apprised of what is going on they...many of them...still refused to sound a clarion call.
              Now maybe you are angry with me......how dare I you say! Folks....in a world as you perceive it to be at this time.....I might agree with you. In the actual world that we live in.....it's time to throw the passions of football and exercise out the window and get to work and prepare....
              Is there any good news? The good news is so overwhelming that when one understands it one must fall before the majesty and the power and the glory of Jesus Christ. One must then have His hand put on them hearing..."Stand....fear not....for I am with you." He's coming back folks. Every child's tears throughout this world will be dried. Every mother's cries are heard and will end. Every Christian father's prayer for their children will be answered. Every war will end. Every crushing the skull of a beautiful pre-born baby will cease. Every abomination will be seen for what it is. Every slaughter of God's wonderful animal kingdom will stop. There is a cost to discipleship and we....in America....but not everywhere.... are about $20 trillion in arrears.
              Difficult times are at our doorstep with a foot already in over the threshold. If you don't see this then you are not looking. There are multitudes of pastors out there who would express the same thoughts that I have given in this post. There is a winnowing ahead. Possibly the hardest thing will be multitudes....in the church....who will dig and dig until they come up with an excuse...not to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ! The rest of us will be united in the love of Jesus Christ. You may not feel so united with me right now but we're coming together....may God add multitudes to us! Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!!

DISPATCHES

Preface.....Drudge beat me to it. I tuned in just to see how Trump presented himself in the CPAC speech.....but He wasn't introduced yet and I wasn't going to wait....but there were men on the stage announcing this year's CPAC poll.....and to me their excitement seemed contrived in how they were building up the results to be pro-Trump. Anyway it was announced that 95% of the attendees still want Trump's policies. OK....that's expected....most of those policies were our policies for decades....but then came the poll.....'do you want to see Trump run again'.....and only 68% said yes! The man who announced this had to add that it's difficult to get 70% on anything. That's all that I watched....that's all that I wanted to know on that poll....but I wondered if anyone else saw 68% as a low figure....on a poll in Orlando no less. I just checked out Drudge....and he has as one of the headlines....."But Only 68% of Attendees Want Donald To Run Again...." Yep.....someone else saw it like I did.             

I often fashion sentences in very stark terms....some might say shockingly stark. I do this because time is short....and I do this because I need to get the attention of the typical evangelical of today....just as much as I need to hear what they have to add to the church. We need the daily Bible study type of Christianity....but if this is all that we are....then what we would have would be.....well today....with little to no discernment on the nearness of Christ and our severe lack of preparing for it.....while falling for delusions and fads as they came along......and if everyone were just to point to the return of Christ....and nothing else....then there would be pure chaos....and an equal lack of preparation on having our lamps full with oil. This is how God designed it folks. There are various gifts. These are only two....simple daily Bible study would be one.....and discernment not only on the end times....but even more so at the end times.....would be another. If a visitor were to read but one post here on the imminence of the return of Jesus Christ....and then leave forever in disagreement....at least some of the  'whys and wherefores' would be there to recall when they could no longer explain what was going on around them.

I was doing a little of general interest research the other day on the archaeology of ancient Babylon....but it wasn't until I found some photos and graphics with a bird's eye view of the area that I was able to picture what that city on the plain might have been like. We at times need both a micro and a macro view to make sense of things.....and no more in my opinion than where America is today. There are so many ways to get that bird's eye view. The Academy Awards might be one way....at least it is to me...one who has spent so much time watching movies over the years. No decade is more disconcerting than the 60s. Pop music might be another way....as one day the whole family listened to songs like The Locomotion...(or Loco-Motion...however you want to spell it)....but only a few years later the Doors and other groups had our minds. Looking back on it we fell apart as a nation back then....and I think I led the way in being a simpleton follower of what we were fed. This isn't just theory folks....for unless we have some idea of this bird's eye view....we will be unable to see just how irreparably fallen that we are today. Reiterating here....as plain as I can put it....we have no idea how fallen we are...and consequently how patient God had been....how He warned us the whole time....and if we look closely....we should be able to clearly see that the judgments have started and are coming closer together. Without this view we will never be able to say maranatha....'Lord Jesus come'....we will continue to fall for delusions....and we will be increasingly confused at why God is letting all this happen.

Charismatic prophecy teacher Jonathan Cahn.....and Baptist pastor/teacher/author John MacArthur....both have put out warnings to Joe Biden....that God will judge America if he continues with his policies. Where were these men when the false prophet Donald Trump devastated the church and evangelicalism...and when a malignant narcissism and sadistic revenge and interminable lies from the small to the great ravished the conservative mind? Both are now covering their tracks....having been 'no shows' over the past four years....and actually it's worse than that as Cahn sold a lot of books telling us the the good news was that Donald Trump was the Bible's Jehu....come to rescue us.....whereas MacArthur....who only weeks before Donald Trump came down that escalator....gave a very strong warning on his radio show on false prophets....but previous to this past general election....took a call from President Trump.....and bowed down to him....telling him that true Christians will vote for him.....when most of the Christians that I know did not vote for either of these men. These warnings to Biden also send the wrong message to the church....the one that already put us to sleep....that it is the bad liberals that God is angry with....and not us republicans who He loves because we like less taxes....and lots of military might.

Note: you can easily listen to John MacArthur's May 15, 2015 warning by Googling....John MacArthur....Beware Of False Prophets....please do so....and consider visiting MacArthur's Grace To You website....gty.org....because his mistakes over the past year....(generated by none other than Donald Trump)....are separate from his long ministry of strong and sound teaching. You can also go to ligonier.org and/or whitehorseinn.org., or John Piper's Twitter feed for some very edifying devotional thoughts,

Addendum: to my readers who do not believe that the Lord must be returning soon....who are just not convinced....or may not even care about this....I have a question for you to meditate on at your leisure....accepting for the sake of argument that Jesus may indeed be many years away....what is it that you think will happen in the immediate future? What can you possibly look forward to? You see where technology is taking us....with AI and surveillance and drones and personal robots....you see the political situation and that half of the electorate has very very little in common with you....you know of all the plans in the works for a one world government....(we Christians have warned of this for a half century now).....you see where society is headed....we would not have believed what is happening just a few decades ago....so how on God's green earth can you not hope for Jesus to return soon.....(Webster's 'soon')? How many elections are you going to let the talking heads tell you that this is the most important election ever? I can't even remember when I first started hearing that! Is it not possible that the best that we can hope for is an awakening....(even here there are so many false prophets out there that they will surely try to  take that over....they just tried with Donald Trump)....an awakening not to make America great again.....but that when these judgments increase greatly in intensity...that we might know what is happening....and say...."The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation."   (Psalm 18: 2)

Saturday....Lindsey Graham is reportedly down at Mar-a-Lago trying to make a deal with Trump....the same with Kevin McCarthy....a deal on how the two sides...the 'I want Trump' side....and the 'I never want to hear the name Trump again side'....can somehow come together in order to win in 2022. Ivanka was seriously mentioned as a republican candidate for Senator from Florida....a thought if uttered in 2016-we conservatives would right then and there have thrown the gauntlet down on. Lara Trump has already been assigned North Carolina....Huckabee Sanders....Arkansas. This and more is happening as the Trump tentacles everywhere are trying to grab and drown as many of Trump's opponents as possible. Meanwhile Trump will speak at the CPAC....moved to Florida this year....where the real devotees will gather to worship. This does not look good on the surface....for this type of 'purge and persecute' politics is very effective....and terrifying if one actually looks at what is happening....but God will decide that....not Lindsey Graham or Kevin McCarthy. The job of the church right now....what is left of it....and what will be added to it...is to fall on our faces in abject horror and repentance and humility at how easily we were fooled....and pray God that it would never happen again....but should it prosper....this easy-believism....Trump/Christ Party....it would claim to be doing God's will.....making it so much more difficult to stand firm against.

Ted Cruz had been my candidate for president ever since he first threw his coonskin cap into the ring. Trump and Cruz were different as night and day in just about everything. I posted this on his 21 hour Senate filibuster back in October of 2013 in his attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act...."...Senator Ted Cruz's 21 hour and 19 minute speech, or filibuster if you will, to Senate seats....and to America. It was not only American history being written, it was one of the great oratorical stands in our history, a history with the likes of Patrick Henry." I posted this two months before his 2018 senate reelection campaign...."Senator Cruz is a good man and deserves our respect and certainly the vote of Texans.....but he made a big mistake in seeking President Trump's endorsement. Does this fine Senator think that God cannot keep him in office without his seeking President Trump's blessing....or does he all of a sudden think that he is so important that God's will cannot be done without him in office....so he simply has to seek this President's hypocritical support?" Ted's biggest mistake was joining forces with Donald Trump....of whom sooner or late everyone who flies too close his flame goes down in flames....the Cancun decision was only the latest lack of discernment....from a once....and hopefully future brilliant man.          

Thursday morning....the Trump Plaza hotel and casino opened in 1984 in Atlantic City....the first of Trump's three casinos in the famous boardwalk town....and yesterday....February 17, 2021....it came down....imploded....in a coordinated planned explosion demolition. It was odd to see the video of what signified Donald Trump's ultimate failure in his Atlantic City ventures....on the same day that Rush Limbaugh passed away. Rush was more than Donald Trump's biggest defender....for I turned on his show more than a few times after then President Trump had the day before made a serious blunder....a blunder that might have taken another man down....but Rush would explain it in a way that the President was off the hook....until the next time. Only Rush had this ability....and he had the audience to showcase it. So to me it was odd that both of these events transpired on the same day. 

Monday afternoon....Presidents Day....at least for another year when it will be probably be called....Precinct Captains Day: So there are woke teachers who want to do away with Shakespeare? This woke culture is a mild form of insanity....with a garnish of suicide on the side. Yes we are to pray for our leaders to hold the line on this stuff but folks....whether it is a two or six year term....these people aren't going to jeopardize that parking spot at the capitol....or the incredible retirement benefits package....or that annual Amazon Prime membership....or the daily massage and pedicure they probably are entitled to.....not for some principles that they may have memorized for having handy at photo ops....but in real life could not care less about. They have the appellation....'The Honorable'....guaranteed to them by their position....why would they take a risk for something they already have? Pray for your pastors folks! The perks aren't nearly as tempting....the best seats at the monthly pot luck dinner....two vacation conferences a year at places like the Poconos or Grand Raids....guaranteed starting third basemen on the softball team....a liberal book allotment that can be carried over if John Grisham and James Patterson don't meet their publishing deadlines.....and a 'clergy' sticker to put on the back bumper. OK I vented.....four...five...six...seven...eight.....breathe in....breathe out. If the pulpits do not warn us....then we are sitting ducks for every delusion that comes along. Pray for these men folks....every day....every hour of the day if you can....that God's Spirit might blow His holy breath on whatever spark may have been present at the beginning in these men....and that they might once again actually preach the cross....and that one must be born again....and that 'good work's might look good on a Man Of The Year award.....but not a death certificate.  Pray that God might bless them....thereby blessing us.....and all that He might thus receive all the glory due Him in His church and the world! Note....this paragraph will stay up until my heart rate returns to normal.

Jeremiah 23:1.....”Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.”

Jeremiah 24:3.....”And I will gather the remnant of my flock....”

Jeremiah 23:4.....”And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them....” (KJV)

Rush......No Last Name Is Necessary

I was in the army and overseas when Rush Limbaugh started his career as a DJ just a few miles from my Pittsburgh suburb apartment home....and he still had his show when I returned in February of 1972. He would move to another station....even a little bit closer....replacing none other than Jim Quinn....who would much later go on to conservative talk radio fame. Two local stations were battling it out for the top spot in Top 40 radio. My cousin....eight years older than me....started out as a DJ....succeeded....and then became a program consultant on a national level....with Time Magazine doing an article in 1974 on his innovative methods. Anyway....he was brought into town and changed the name of the one station to a catchy....13Q. I remember a story he told me about a board meeting at some station where he was contracted....I can't remember if that was here in Pittsburgh or not....anyway....he came in....hair dyed red....bushy beard....no shoes....and got up on the conference table and started crawling around....before telling the men in business suits....that he does things differently. They won the battle of Top 40 stations....he moved on....and Rush's station decided to become an all news format....as Rush also had moved on....which down the line culminated in his place at the top of talk radio....with no one even remotely near him....nor ever will be remotely near him. Johnny Carson is the only other name that I can come up with whose communicative skills as they relate to an audience can be compared to Rush. I used to have a homemade bumper sticker that read....'RUSH IS ON NOW....104.7....and I would put it on my bumper from 12 to 3 in the afternoon....(some things never change.) President Donald Trump had a lot of real and faithful allies....but very few that I can bring to mind right now....that would qualify as 100% loyal.....and I mean a mathematical 100%....not just a cute expression. In Rush....there was no decision that President Trump could make....no tweet that he could send....no gaffe or mistake made....that Rush could not only defend....but defend in an extraordinarily effective way....and that is where I came to differ with Rush in the past few years. He worked his primary mission in life right up to the end....in a most extreme dedication to cause....and was as lucid and cogent in his last broadcast....(knowing that his illness was terminal)....as he ever was. Should history go on.....that should the Lord of Glory tarry....and some historian compile a list of every president of the United States....and the one person most important to them....vital to their very presence in the executive office....whereas to Jefferson it may have been Madison....and to Madison...Jefferson....and to JFK it may have been RFK....and to Reagan and Clinton their spouses....and to George W.....George H. W.....to Donald Trump it was certainly Rush Limbaugh....who along with his influence on another president in George W. Bush....and tens if not hundreds of millions of people over a thirty year span....was not just a radio talk show host....but one of the most influential and thus important people in the entire world.

Who Is Making Preparations For You?

Preface:  I came across this older post....(from June 6, 2012)....and thought that I would bring it back because in it I wrote that...."in ten years"....the young reader would have new friends....and new interests. Well it's only been eight years and eight months....but I think that's long enough to prove my point. Whatever college student may have read this post back in 2012....(and I left a lot of Special Dog pens on college campuses)....they probably cannot even remember much of that year....my point in this post for the young person of today being....you are not preparing for the eternal....because you value the things of the present too much....but those things that you value above your eternal soul....will in the not too distant future be replaced and often forgotten....just as the things of that young person from 2012 have long since been replaced and forgotten. Today is the day young person! You must consider taking the advice of those who talk to you from experience....everything will pale to Christ! Every moment of joy will be recognized as a blessing from Him! Every seemingly unanswered prayer will make sense! Every closed door....that you may cry over today....will be seen in light of God's perfect will for you! That is....if you today seek Christ first.....for if you do not....you will find yourself in an endless cycle....of always looking for something better that would finally give you perceived fulfillment that you value so much...but as the popular song of the 60s correctly warned us...."Kicks just keep getting harder to find." 

Who Is Making Preparations For You?

            Every once in a while I direct a blog solely to the youth....late teens….early twenties.  I’d like to segue into this one by first giving a few lines from my blog of last June 11th....(that would be June 11, 2012)....that I had titled In Due Time.....“Life was black and white....heroes and villains....good and bad.  I had no idea what I wanted to do in this life. I stumbled around in the confusion of unmentored youth until I joined the army and then marched around in the confusion of unmentored young adulthood.  I married a wonderful young lady ( I still can’t understand how that happened) and then stumbled around a little bit more before God said....‘I will have mercy on that one.' I will never figure that out until He explains it Himself. And then a son came....and I only had one bit of wisdom from my past for what was within my scope of raising him; whatever I did in my youth....have him do the opposite!  The television was stored in the basement for nine years and he later graduated with honors from law school.” 
            So where are you? Before you answer that I’d like you to consider a few things.  The culture that I was raised in was bad….yours is ten times worse....if not more! I wasn’t raised on the concept of self-esteem....the authors knew more about their writings than we did....Twilight Zone was as close as I came to the occult....there were far more sane and patriotic leaders in our government than there are today....the news media actually cared about truth....and here’s the real kicker....a college education was worth the money.  If I wanted to call a girl I needed a quarter and a quiet telephone booth….and maybe a push. With all those relative benefits....I barely made it through! 
            You live in somewhat of a Matrix only it's not machines that rule every thought....it's still the men who make the machines. What Solomon wrote is as true today as it was then....nothing is new under the sun....and all is vanity. So what do you have planned? Have you played with Lego's lately? Of course not. Well here's something to chew on....most of your hobbies....will have changed in the next ten years. Most of the friends that you  have now will be replaced. What am I getting at? If you don't prepare for something....something will be prepared for you. You won't have choices and you will be running from regrets.
            You want irony? The goofy kid who sits next to you in class. You know, the one who looks like he buys his clothes from Kmart? The one who goes to church? The one who seems to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose every minute? The one who looks like he'll never get a date? He'll have a good job....a pretty wife....and kids....because he didn't have the distractions that you value so much today....and deem indispensable.
            You want another irony? This culture that constantly tells you that you are special....actually treats you like you are nothing....while God....who says that you are a sinner....has demonstrated love for you! There it is! There is only one friend who will always be there....only one king that will never forsake you....only one fear that actually gives life....and only one answer to the questions that haunt you in your dream world....and that is incarnate God....now ascended in glory....who knows your thoughts before you do....and even as you read this makes preparations for those who He has called. Has He called you? Respond as if He has....in humility....and you will find out!

Your Pastor May Be Preparing His Message As You Read This....Won't You Join Me In Praying For Him?

             As the story goes.....and as I have related so many times in these posts of over twelve years....someone once asked Martin Luther something like this...."Father Martin....if you knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow.....what would you do?"....upon which Luther answered...."I would plant a tree."
            On the one hand we are to act as if the years will continue to keep on rolling along....as we make plans for our children's education....or for our retirement....and even that we might elect godly men and women to our governments both local and national. I planted a tree a few months ago....and my wife and I contribute to a college fund for our grandson....and I will continue to vote....Lord willing of course....for sane God-fearing individuals.
            Trivia question....what television detective would often say...."I could be wrong.....but I don't think so."? Hint....it wasn't the monk Martin Luther. I myself am closing in on forty years of studying prophesy. This study has evolved greatly over the years....as in the beginning one tends to run with prophesy....but as the decades roll on....and maturity hopefully sets in....one tends to walk very slowly....realizing the limits of what God has revealed....but also realizing that this is still God's Word....and there is a purpose.
             Looking back on everything that has transpired in the twentieth century....right up to today....Israel included....an at times demonic technology included....as well as the violent world that we see before us just as in Noah's day....any 'fanaticism' would be in a fanaticism to at all costs....and in spite of all evidence....deny that the world is about to experience God's wrath. That's right....the real fanatic today isn't the one saying Maranatha....it's the one who refuses to even consider God's warnings in spite of all the evidence from His Word that He must surely be near in His return.
             The specifics of the Lord's return are in God's Word....they are just not revealed as of yet....although at times it's as if one can see the fog dissolving right before our eyes....and we shouldn't want it any other way....for God's timing is always perfect. We can at one time be a people who outwardly appear as normal as all the rest as we make plans for the future....but at the same time we are not to be 'normal' in our hearts and in our hopes....as we live and work and try to be an influence to our culture....but always and only as pilgrims on their way to the Celestial City.
             Tomorrow is yet another Lord's Day....will you join me even now in praying....as so many pastors are working on the message they will give....that God's Spirit might open their eyes as to the specific needs of the sheep with false prophets all around....that they will bring to us both law and gospel....sadness at what has happened but joy as to what Jesus has promised....both hope and warnings....to both comfort yet awaken?
             
           

The Daily Regimen Of Some Famous Men....And Me

             Drudge carried a story about the daily regimen of Tom Brady....and how his determination to stay fit has enabled him to play football at 43 years old. He wakes up at 5:30 to drink an electrolyte solution and a smoothie.....breakfasts at 7 a. m. with his family.....and then hits the gym. Apparently he likes to spend some time at the beach....studies game film and works out some more during the afternoon....has dinner with the family at 6 p. m.....reads to the kids....and goes to bed at 8:30. 
              Benjamin Franklin was known for his rigorous daily scheduling.....and even Jay Gatsby.....according to F. Scott Fitsgerald's imagination....began his day with...."Rise from bed 6:00.... exercises....study electricity etc.....work 8:30 to 4:30 p. m......practice elocution, poise, and how to attain it.....no more smoking or chewing....read one improving book or magazine per week".....and a few other things.
              These type of routines can certainly be helpful....but some men had more in mind than worldly accomplishments. This for example.....something Jonathan Edwards originally penned at about 19 years of age.....and added to it over the years....

1. Resolved: I will DO whatever I think will be most to God's glory; and my own good, profit and pleasure, for as long as I live. I will do all these things without any consideration of the time that it takes....
2. I will continually endeavor to find news ways to practice and promote the things from Resolution 1.
3. If ever-really, whenever-I fail or fall and/or grow weary & dull; Whenever I begin to neglect the keeping of any part of these Resolutions; I will repent of everything I can remember that I have violated or neglected....as soon as I come to my senses again.
4. Never to do anything, whether physically or spiritually, except what glorifies God.
5. Never lose one moment of time; but seize the time to use it in the most profitable way I possibly can.
(these are only 5 of 70 Resolutions and condensed somewhat. You can easily Google these and read them)

               I personally try to stick closer to Edwards.....America's greatest theologian....and according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.....(an older edition anyway)....America's greatest intellect of the 18th century....uh....that would include Jefferson and Franklin and a few others.
              This is my personal regimen....up at 5:30.....(after going to bed around 2 a.m)....to turn on the radio and the computer and the Keurig. Work on a post until about 9:00....eat breakfast.....eggs and bacon almost every morning....take a nap....try to do at least one job that my wife would like done....work out on the same weight set that was a Christmas present in 1963....(along with the Beatles....She Loves You 45 rpm)....or take a walk....either while listening to a Charles Spurgeon sermon on my wireless headset....take another nap....read until about 5:00....(unless it's Tuesdays at Barnes & Noble)....dinner with wife where I sometimes cook....and always clean the dishes....take another nap....read some more and attempt to fix the palty post I published in the morning....(like this one)....rest and relaxation for an hour which usually means an old movie or Monk or Dick Van Dyke rerun....this with my wife.....she then retires.....asking me if I'm going to bed....in which I invariably respond with Robert Frost's words....."The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep....and miles to go before I sleep"....upon which she rolls her eyes....while I read and work on the computer....(the reading is always in God's Word....with some time spent in either a Christian or secular book)....fall asleep in the chair.....then find my way to bed for a couple of hours....before I wake without an alarm at 5:30 to start the whole process again.

DISPATCHES

Monday morning: It was a calming feeling of sorts having Lindsey Graham....and other experienced people such as he is....at least present with foreign policy decisions on those days when Donald Trump was forced to give up golf for a few hours to discuss some pressing issue that could effect the entire world. Mitch McConnell gave his....'this guy's nuts.....I give up on him'....statement over the weekend. Graham gave his a few weeks ago after the capitol riot....but yesterday he said....I would say 'with a straight face'....but you would have to see Graham speak for yourself....for it wasn't exactly a straight face....it was more like a bank clerk's face as he put money into a sack at the threatening direction of a bank robber....he said that Lara Trump represents the future of the Republican Party. Maybe I should view it again and see if he was blinking out some Morse Code?

It has been part of the conservative's argument for at least the past thirty-five years....when a young person matriculates to just about any college or university in America....he or she will upon graduation have changed....the values having been instilled in them by their parents....and often even their nascent faith in God....relentlessly and in some cases savagely attacked....and ultimately jettisoned in favor of a modern liberal mindset. Well here's the kicker....a most disturbing irony....most conservatives have just spent four years under the total tutelage of Trumpian talk radio....(with Fox primetime cable television for extra credit)....but whereas its former strength was in that it initiated many listeners to conservative values....and educated as to the Republican form of government that our constitution lays out....it has for four tormented years....done away with the classroom discussion....and replaced it with an indoctrinating curriculum of monologues.....followed by guest speakers....all part of a Trump Party cadre of experts....who also no longer seek to educate....or strengthen the mind....but to train the listener to be useful....the listener whose values having been similarly changed as that of the college student of today....where with us human life has been devalued during the pandemic....as we are more Darwinian 'survival of the fittest' today....and evangelical faith politicized....can be part of a new patriotic religion....and consequently excommunicated if they so much as question....or even read unauthorized literature that criticizes the movement and its leader.

Saturday...4:15 in the afternoon: I didn't watch a single minute of the impeachment proceedings although I followed it in the news....and just received a news bulletin on my phone....as you probably have....that the trial if you can call it that was another acquittal. Folks....I voted for this man four years ago....and celebrated....but after eighty books on Donald Trump....including some from every decade of his life....and reading these books since it became apparent in early 2017 that the man who ritualized the use of the words fake and hoax....was and is the biggest fake and hoax of them all...after seeing clearly now who he is....severely psychologically disturbed....and having watched his full four years in office.....it is also clear that he could have been removed from office because of his obstruction of justice in the Mueller probe....and his perfect call on the Ukraine....and now also as he for four years straight....along with his talk radio generals....incited this very sizable fringe element on January 6th....(I'm referring to the ones at the front....not the multitude of moms and dads who were doing their best with the knowledge that they have)....they have to summoned them to the  capitol....reveled in it as it was taking place....and relied on a Republican Party that is now worthless as to integrity for failing to defend the American public against this happening again sometime. Ben Sasse of Nebraska was one of the honest Senators who voted to convict....along with our own Pat Toomey here in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump is a destroyer....and has been every bit the judgment upon America and upon evangelicalism....as the other party that had long since abandoned America's God-fearing heritage....has been a continuing judgment on us from the other side of the aisle.

I posted the following paragraph on Wednesday morning....January 6....and as you can see noted it as such: 

"Wednesday morning at 11:30....The melody is beautiful.....there's no denying that....and it gives me chills....but the wrong kind of chills. I'm talking about Leonard Cohen's....Hallelujah. The word 'hallelujah' is special......for in essence it means....'praise Yahweh'.....or....'praise Yah.' I cringe when I hear in used other than where it should be used....and that includes Neil Diamond's.....Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show. So I booted up the computer a few minutes ago to hear what President Trump was going to say in his appearance at the Washington protest/rally.....and Cohen's song was playing. The chills were there.....and I didn't like it....but to make matters worse.....as the video feed showed from the rear of the first twenty or so rows of people....I saw a few raised hands....swaying back and forth to the song.....as if in a charismatic church. What were they praising...for it's hopefully not the object of the Cohen song? Trump eventually came on.....he is speaking now....and I had to turn him off....because folks it is unnerving....the sway he has....as this very large crowd chanted.....fight for Trump....fight for Trump....fight for Trump!"

I visited a friend yesterday who I had not seen in a while....who has had some lingering health issues for years....I didn't even go close to the screen door as I only wanted to see how he was doing....just hellos and a little bit of information sharing....and he told me to call sometime. I asked for his email....it was obviously cold....and later in the day explained in the email that I'm just not a telephone person. A month ago or so ago a different friend visited me....and we sat at opposite ends of the small room for a few hours....we do this about once every six weeks or so....and used to do it much more frequently....and I remember early on in the conversation.....during a pause....telling him how much I appreciated that he knew how 'pauses' were important to me....that he or I did not have to just keep on immediately responding....as so many conversations go....for I like to ponder what is being said....and think before answering. So I explained this yesterday to my friend in the email. This may be why I do not call in often to radio talk shows....for that option is not available. You might read one of my posts in two or three minutes.....but it may have taken me two or three hours to compose. I love conversation....and miss it terribly during this pandemic....but so often in the past have felt depleted after a conversation....because that pause was not available....and we in essence just played a game.

The twelve books of the Old Testament labeled....'minor prophets'....Hosea to Malachi....minor in their length only....were often in the past and in Jewish history considered but one book....'the book of the prophets." Whether they be one book or twelve individual books....they should be read by Christians on an almost daily basis....along with the 'major prophets'....major in length only....and our pulpits should not have ignored them....as they have....except to pull out one verse here or there to bolster a political or theological opinion. Why not try giving yourself a day to read each of the minor prophet books....and use an online commentary....meditating on what you read....and rereading a few times. I rely often on John Gill's commentary. He was an 18th century London baptist preacher. There is just something about his scholarship that over the years has sat very well with me. I like the way that he gives various opinions....rather than being too authoritative....except on those doctrines where we are absolutely sure of the meaning....for the perspicuity is amazingly and wonderfully evident

Can A Professional Football Player Be A Christian?

             OK....before you leave.....oops.....too late for most...but for the rest of you...I have at other times titled a post as provocatively as this one. Sometimes just to get someone's attention....but here I want to explore the question in the title. Now....obviously....yes a professional football player can at the same time be scoring a touchdown on the Lord's Day and a Christian....but that is far from the end of the question.
             The church is divided on this issue.....what exactly is the Lord's Day to us? The 'continental view' would be what most of us today believe....yes it may be a special day....but not like it once was. The 'Puritan view' would have been from England primarily....not on the continent.....but an island.....and American Christianity primarily held to this view.....until it didn't.
              There are more books on this than you could possible read.....on both sides.....but that's not what this post is about. It's just a conversation really....so let me start....and when I'm finished you can think about it on your own if you want.
              If Sunday is no longer the Lord's Day as most today believe it not to be.....what exactly is it? Is it church....worship....and then whatever you please....as long as it's not against the nine commandments that are still in effect? There is something not right here. I've studied the other side of this for decades....and there is still something not right here.
              There is really no way that we are going to give up our Sundays. That's asking too much. That's worse than wearing a mask! So we have labeled it legalism....and we can thus sleep at night....but if we are wrong on this....then surely God will bring our country to.....to....to where it is today.
               This is not the only mistake that we make. We are all in one way or another responsible for what has happened to America.....in so many more areas than this....and I have been over my life a co-leader in this rebellion....but it is time that we started asking ourselves where we may have gone wrong.....instead of just blaming our demise on abortion and other many and various abominations that the other side does.
               This Lord's Day.....or Sunday if you prefer.....will be Super Bowl number fifty-five....LV! I was a big AFL fan in those early days....so since my Bills were not in it....I rooted for the Chiefs....and then the Raiders....and then the Jets! I celebrated in downtown Pittsburgh when the Steelers won. I know how big the day is. 
               Christian men by the millions will hurry home after church.....and in some way prepare for the events of the big day. I don't remember the year....it was in the 90s.....and we went to church on Super Bowl Sunday evening....and there were plenty of cars in the lot.....but hardly anyone in the sanctuary....because most were in another room watching the game. 
               How could God have fashioned something like this? It not only makes no sense....it goes against just about everything else that His Word tells us. There will be Christians on both football teams....that's a certainty every year.....forget that they are luring Christians away from the Lord on His day. Which ones will God bless? How absurd a thought that is. The world is about to usher in you-know-who....and some guy with a $60 million contract is pointing to heaven because he scored six points. There's something wrong with this picture folks....and I don't mean on the 80" television screen.
               Jesus answered....when the Pharisees asked Him about divorce.....trying to trap Him...."Moses....because of the hardness of your hearts. permitted you to divorce your wives. but from the beginning it was not so." So maybe.....because of the hardness of our hearts....we can skate by with our view of the the Lord's Day....but skating by doesn't seem accurate when you look at America as it is today. The Lord's Day was to be a hedge of protection....and we cut that bush down.....and now look at us.
               So no.....it's not our only method of rebellion....and I have my own. I'm not judging....what I'm doing is saying....shouting hopefully....."The ship is listing heavily to the port bow.....everyone to the starboard quarter....where are Jeremiah's....'Ancient paths, where the good way is'.... have you not wondered why the propellers are up out of the water?" But alas we have responded....."We will not heed Jeremiah 6:16!" Here is where we need our pastors.....but most of them will be watching the game.
               Well that's all I have to say.....what do you think? Legalism....or possibly does something not seem right to you either?

            

Veni....Vidi....Vici....Veneni

             The Republican Party....conservatism in general....and evangelicalism....all have been 'poisoned' during the tenure of Donald Trump. Where exactly did it start? Well the virus itself has been in him since his youth....but it wasn't until he had the full power of the presidency that he was able to become a superspreader.
             His comments on Carly Fiorina....("Look at that face")....and Heidi Cruz....and the disabled journalist in a wheelchair that he made fun of.....(don't believe he did that....bought the talk radio denial....watch the video for yourself)....was when I first recoiled at his personality....and Christians should have said no to him right then and there. The destructive effects began early in his term....as he ridiculed generals and our intelligence community.....all of whom Donald Trump could probably not even carry on a conversation with had he not the gavel to pound for everyone to be quiet and listen to him....and to call these men "babies"....who he "wouldn't want to go to war with"....should have shown to be a clear and present affront to every veteran....but apparently it didn't turn out that way.
            Press secretaries and communication people would fall by the wayside....unable to handle the dichotomy of being spokesmen for someone who was allergic to truth. Some like Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany were able to stay the course....but they had to give up a lot of integrity to do it. Over the years Trump would one by one purge....in one way or another....by any means possible....anyone who had the audacity to challenge him....and then replace them with someone who would never think for themselves.....and sometimes he had to purge two or three times before he found that person.
             Conservatism was destroyed.....and evangelicalism was poisoned so that even stalwart defenders of the faith missed the warning signs....including one of the most respected teacher/pastors in the church...who he himself would suffer martyrdom before knowingly compromising the doctrine of salvation by grace alone...through faith alone.....in Christ alone....essentially told Americans that they were not a Christian if they did not vote for Trump's reelection....this after he told us that there was no pandemic.
             Today.....even after Donald Trump has left office....the attempt to defend him by way of the purge continues. Throughout this entire mess I have often wondered if Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows even remember how Trump threatened them in early 2017....and the entire Freedom Caucus....the best we had in the Congress....(which was also threatening all conservatives)....if they didn't close their eyes and pass his fake Obamacare repeal and replace  bill?
            Republicans in Nebraska are now going after Ben Sasse....who in my estimation is the most steady and true conservative that we have in the Senate....and the most scripturally sound representation of what a Christian in government leadership should be....and we are trying to get rid of him....all this and more as a result of a poison has that has spread throughout the body....by choosing Donald Trump as our nominee in 2016....over some very capable men and women....who would have delivered much the same results with Supreme Court judges and the economy....without ripping the nation apart at the seams. Thus the title of this post...."I came....I Saw....I conquered....and I poisoned.

Five.....Four.....Three....Two....One.....

         Well by the time that I finish these two or three paragraphs....which is what I have planned....I will have turned seventy-one years of age.....Lord willing of course. This thought is always very difficult to convey....and tough to post....for in essence I have to tell readers not to get stuck here....for all I am or have ever wanted to be was a signpost. I have absolutely no desire to just be a Christian pundit of sorts. This is not a pastime....and certainly not a game....the warnings are real....the stakes are real....the call for reformation is real....and the need to be a peculiar people once again is real.
        I don't know that God has another day let alone another year for me....but whatever it is....I want to spend it telling people that He is coming.....and to make sure that their lamps are full....to be sober and vigilant....keeping an eye out for deception....holding everything up to Scripture....including these paltry verses that I peck out.
        Latch yourself onto ligonier.org....or whitehorseinn.org. Pull up and listen to a Spurgeon sermon a couple of times a week until you can find a pastor who preaches like someone out of the past. Find someone for a close friend....who when you find yourself alone with them....the talk will immediately turn to our Savior. I have a legitimate motto....for lack of a better word.....press on....no standing still....if you fall down....get up.....one foot after another....always trusting in Him to give light to your path!

          

            

On The Boardwalk

            The link that you see at the left....Isaac Crockett....is a novella that I wrote over twenty years ago. It's the story of a young man raised in Ocean City, New Jersey....whose father is the pastor of the local Reformed Presbyterian Church....who along with a few of his mates started a rock n' roll group....Pilgrim....that became one of the biggest bands in the country. At the very beginning of the story he comes to the rescue of a young lady....thinking never to see her again....but God had other plans. She is Roman Catholic.....they do meet again.....and well....then I told a story. I named every character after someone I had known in life....it was just easier to pick names that way....and I went to the funeral of one of these friends a few weeks ago.
             Ocean City and its boardwalk are one of my favorite vacation destinations. My wife is more of a resort type person....but I like the boardwalk.....walking it....stopping in just about every store....walking past the hermit crabs....and browsing the little figurines....and just enjoying the sight of families having fun....then buying a cup of those greasy french fires.....and washing it down with a milk shake. I've been known to walk the entire boardwalk with some googly eyeglasses that I bought in one of the stores.....or wearing a long pony tail under a hat....or anything that blinks a neon light really. I still have my.....Harvard Law....(big letters)....just kidding....(little letters).....t-shirt! That's me.
            There's one other thing that I have done on every beach vacation for the last three decades at least. It started with our young son....as he and I would buy a couple of those little bottles with a shark's tooth or sand and shells in it....plugged by a cork. We would write a little evangelistic message on a piece of paper....put it in the bottle....push down on the cork....and throw them into the surf....for someone to find. As the years passed....I would put the URL of this website in the bottle.
            OK I'm a little weird....but you knew that already anyway. A few times a week I visit a webcam from Ocean City N. J.....and just look at the waves coming in.....real time....and the boardwalk....even though in the winter there is barely a walker or two on it. So I brought it up on Saturday.....and a message said that the camera was down.....and I checked later in the day.....still down. Later that evening I read in the news where there was a fire on the boardwalk....at the amusement park arcade....on top of which I presume is the same camera that I pick to look over the surf. It's only been a few days but hopefully these folks will recover quickly....and that seems to be the plan.
            One last thing.....at the end of my novella....after a lot has happened in the lives of Isaac and that young lady Anne....and the story seems to be at an end....a fire breaks out at a shop on the boardwalk....the Christian bookstore owned by Isaac and Anne....which leads to what God's new plan will be.

There has been 2492 visits to the novella....so some must have read it.
           

Weather Advisory Sermon

       

We have in Western Pennsylvania....a weather advisory for tomorrow....and I expect that more people will be streaming church than usual. In case you are one....and in need of something to stream....I have a couple of recommendations from an August 2020 post. The first I believe is not a sermon but rather someone reading from J. C. Ryle's classic book.....Holiness. Just Google that....J. C. Ryle sermon....Holiness....and it will come right up. I can't recommend anything titled Holiness without adding this which I did in the post from last August.....

Just in case you might be thinking that I am being somewhat presumptuous in recommending to you a sermon on holiness....as if I'm trying to lead you to what I have found.....it is just the opposite....as a message such as this is at the same time a wonderful blessing.....and a hard look into a clear mirror.

I also recommended this in that post:

Today yet another wonderful surprise as a eulogy given by John Wesley....on the recently departed to be with his Lord....George Whitefield....appeared....(in sequence on my iPhone)....you can hear it by Googling....John Wesley....On The Death Of The Rev. George Whitefield. Oh that Methodist congregations today would en masse return to the sermons of their founder. Wesley at one point recounts some comments written by Whitefield on his first trip to the American colonies....as he wrote this upon the voyage that was finally under way...."Blessed be God....we can now live very comfortably in the great cabin. We talk of little else but God and Christ....and scarce a word is heard among us but what was referenced as our fall in the first....and our new birth in the Second Adam." I'm sure this account on the life of George Whitefield will edify if you choose to listen to it.

Dispatches

On this latest impeachment....if Donald Trump were to be in office for four more years....there might very likely be more impeachments....for he has little to no control of his actions....and no wisdom with which to keep him in the boundaries of the law.  On the first impeachment....I was pulling my hair out as he quite obviously was obstructing justice as he was signalling to witnesses through twitter....and I was uttering to myself....frustrated at what he was doing...."You cannot do that!" On The Ukraine matter....it was indeed a perfect phone call....perfect evidence that again he was doing what he cannot do! If you listen to talk radio today....their defense of this latest imbrolio is....that if you listen to his speech....you will not see guilt as to what he is charged with. This is a ploy....the best that they can do....for the issue of inciting trouble extends far back in his term....but specifically to the general election....where he and his political generals and media sycophants who take their cue from him every time....stirred up his army to a fever pitch....culminating with the obvious purpose of causing some king of ruckus in the capitol....not at the capitol....in the capitol....as he summoned all his most fervent supporters.....in amongst the multitude of people simply trying to salvage our electoral system....directed them to the capitol....and then watched what would happen in his tent headquarters. Folks....Biden is going to be a disaster.....his policies point to that....the state of the world points to disaster no matter who is in there....for God is judging this world....and whatever the scenario might be....you can take it to the bank that Donald Trump will proclaim that it wouldn't have happened if he was in office! 

R. C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministry publishes a daily devotional....and I have a stack of them going back to 1996. I never throw anything away.....unless something spilled on it....and it would have to be very sticky....possibly radioactive. On April 29 of 2015 they published an article titled....Can Satan Deceive God's Elect. The answer was.....ultimately no....but temporarily yes.....and we are always to be aware that something that looks good might in fact be a false sign....or a false miracle....or a lying wonder of some kind meant to deceive us. A week after that Ligonier article came out....John MacArthur.....on his daily radio program.....gave a very helpful teaching that you can Google....titled Beware Of False Prophets....

Five weeks later....on a Lord's Day....Donald Trump came down that escalator....a genuine biblical false prophet....who told us until it became a mantra in our dreams....that our best was yet to come....but no sooner did he exit last year's State of the Union celebration....to our cheers and blind adulation....that God brought judgment upon us. So here we are today....dragged off the high ground....cult-like in our behavior....with ruins all around us....and in denial on what we have helped bring upon ourselves....as we sought our protection in the strength of man....and a diabolical and deceitful and malignantly narcissistic man at that....demanding our religious liberty....that we only use to rally for political cause anyway.....or to build a megachurch to assuage the guilt of no longer being a peculiar people....instead of looking to Christ alone....wherein is our only true hope.

The only complaint I have against Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse is that he didn't do two years ago....when I urged him to challenge Trump in the primaries....what he has been doing for the past few months. Ted Cruz will continue to get his name in the news....but he essentially ruined his career by taking the bait and trying to overturn the election. Donald Trump has not yet destroyed everyone around him.....so he is still at it....and Kevin McCarthy is the latest taking the bait. Senator Sasse warned Cruz and Hawley that what they were doing was a "dangerous ploy".....but they wouldn't listen. After the insurrection at the Capitol....Sasse was out there testifying to what White House insiders had told him that Trump was at the time...."delighted"....in what was happening at the capitol....and could not understand why his aides were not also delighted. If the Republican Party does not officially say goodbye to Donald Trump....it will continue to fracture....along with the country. 

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! Quite a number of years ago I put those words on the tailgate of my truck....along with this website.....and a post about a book that I thought people should read. I received a polite email from someone at work who did not know me....and who I did not know....telling me that they didn't like me telling them not to read a book....so they were now going to read it. So....in the same vein....DO NOT READ....CRAIG UNGER'S....AMERICAN KOMPROMAT! I didn't know that it was coming out....picked it up about an hour after it was put on the shelf....and Drudge had it as his lead story and hour after that. It is not a knew theory....I've been concerned about it for quite some time.....but it should give Republicans at least something to think about on where they go from here. Note: I had read only half the book when I wrote this. It gets very lurid when it enters into the Maxwell/Epstein connection. Be aware of this in advance.

After reading this book I would think that most conservatives would at least say...."maybe that Comey and McCabe and Strzok weren't so Deep State after all....and maybe that investigation wasn't such a hoax....and maybe Donald Trump isn't as smart as we thought that he was....but hopefully everyone who reads it would realize that we are in more trouble than we thought that we were?

I voted for Trump in 2016....celebrated.....(this is all documented in these posts)....but saw early that something was really wrong.....so I started reading about him.....his whole life.....over eighty books now. Yes I know that this election was rigged....just like Putin's influence campaign helped put Trump over the top in 2016....just like both Clinton's and Trump's senate impeachment trials were rigged....just like Obama used social media to win the White House....welcome to America circa 21st century. Donald Trump cannot accept being out-conned....because he was the reigning champ. His actions subsequent to the general election most likely blew the Georgia runoffs.  There are a lot of people sick of him. I know a lot of people sick of him....and I don't even know a lot of people. Everything that he does is for himself....and that is what we on our side just can't seem to understand. I....for the longest time....wanted him to be a one-term president....to see the handwriting on the wall....and not run for reelection....to retire to Mar-a-Lago and just golf to his heart's content....enjoying the great accomplishment of becoming the 45th President of the United States of America....but that was never going to happen with a man accursed with the debilitating narcissism that so dominates him.

Super Bowl.....the exact year escapes me....if I had to guess it would be late in 2015....or about this time in 2016....I was in conversation at work with a good friend.....at lunch as It remember it.....and I as usual was trying to impress upon him the dangerous times that we live in....without much success.....as he segued easily into the upcoming Super Bowl....upon which I blurted out for effect of my warnings....."Jerry".....(I just picked a name)...."Jerry.....there's not going to be a Super bowl this year." Well....he reminded me of that comment after the Super Bowl.....and the next Super Bowl.....and then I retired so I wouldn't have to hear it anymore....but my initial point is still valid....we are to take nothing for granted....except that which God has impressed upon us from His Word. As I type this....and just think about what has been going on in even the 29 days so far in this year....and in the last week....and in the last few days.....and probably the last few hours if I knew....I can only think....'Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come....and if thou continue to tarry....give us all wisdom in this fallen and falling world....separate us in order to unite us....for Thy glory alone.'

 🚹😇1Jn1:8😰Jn3:3🙏🕮🕆😂2Pet1:12⛅🌩🌪YHWH

Handlers....Enablers....& Caretakers

  January 29, 2021 

            The day that George Herbert Walker Bush left the White House was....politically speaking....the beginning of the end of America as it had always been known....for there was in that election that brought Bill and Hillary Clinton to office a paradigm change....from common sense and reason to personal interests and greed. No I don't put George W. Bush into that category but the dye had been cast.
             Although Bill Clinton had been reasonably sensible....he and particularly his wife....had opened the floodgates to the 'fundamental change' of Barack Obama....and what we have in Joe Biden and this Democrat Party of today. Donald Trump needed handlers....who probably steered him away from a few disasters....but they were by an large over time replaced by enablers....who failed him miserably on the whole....for they were totally unable or unwilling to attempt to reign in or even inhibit his serious psychological disorders. Joe Biden on the other hand needs caregivers. 
            Reagan was far from perfect....but he was so decent....that it was hard not to love him....and we had Margaret Thatcher....to support him on the other side of the pond....and there was John Paul II....but all of that sensibleness is gone.
            Donald Trump was judgment on the church....on evangelicalism....and on conservatism....as he destroyed not only his base....but most of his wingmen with his erratic flying. Joe Biden is judgment on the rest. Have you ever noticed how when Kamala Harris was interviewed that she inevitably would break out into laughter....as if she was a Miss America contestant? I don't know that she understands the seriousness of what she has gotten herself into. Joe Biden got what he wanted for longer than Hillary Clinton wanted the same thing....but he won't get to enjoy it.....for we do not live in the same world as we did not that long ago.
            As for us....we are in need of pastors....who unlike our legislators....are willing to put their job in jeopardy....and who unlike our former president....are not concerned over their own success....and individually....we need to be unlike those who went to the voting booth....(figuratively speaking).....who failed to look inwardly....as to how much we ourselves brought on these great catastrophes....and plead with God....to open our eyes....that we might know how to pray....and what to pray for....all the prayers drenched in humility....and all to bring forth His glory alone.

Lord's Day Post

January 23, 2021

           I've brought this up with brothers and sisters in Christ on a few if not a number of occasions....but always felt that it was never really accepted by the hearers....or possibly that I never really explained it properly. I've put the thought in a few posts....and there also had no confidence that I explained it adequately....but today while listening to a Charles Spurgeon sermon....he told a story that came very close to conveying what I have been for so long trying to convey. Here is that story...

           There was a young man who was not a believer....who was utterly lost....but who heard a preacher at a small country church....who preached the gospel...."earnestly and fervently....with tears in his eyes".....and the young man felt the weight of his sins!  He followed the preacher home after the service....conversing along the way....and they stopped at a friend's house and had dinner. The young man entered the house feeling as a sinner should feel....guilty and in need of a Savior....but the preacher's conversation on the walk and at dinner was worldly....lighthearted....with joking. The young man wished that he...."could unburden [his] heart"....but he could not....as the preacher did not talk...."on anything that he said in the pulpit." The young man left the house that night and stomped his foot.....saying that it was all a lie....for the preacher's words of great importance were obviously just words.
            Later in life that man....no longer young....was ill and called for that preacher....who came....and he asked the preacher if he remembered him...."No"....was the answer. Did he remember once preaching at that country church....that the preacher did remember. He told the preacher that upon hearing the text of his sermon that he was...."laid very deeply at my heart"....on which the preacher said..."Thank God for that"....but the man told him not to thank God too quickly....for he had during the sermon...."deeply felt his sins"....but the worldly conversation afterwards.....on anything but Christ....."scattered" all those impressions....and he was now dying....and headed to perdition.
           I can understand this common behavior....worldly talking and laughter...."frothy light-heartedness" as Spurgeon I believe put it....after a sermon that is typical of today....but not after Christ and His gospel are preached...."earnestly and fervently"....even at times with tears. I've experienced the latter on occasion when I could detect sadness in the preacher's eyes after the sermon....that the congregation had so soon joined into triviality....and I've experienced also where the preacher had himself....so quickly....returned to the world. 

Note: This sermon by Spurgeon was titled....Not Of The World....and can easily be Googled.

Thoughts From Past Posts....On This....Martin Luther King Jr. Day

             It was a week that should be remembered....the last week of August 2011....as a 5.8 earthquake violently shook our nation's capitol....damaging the Washington Monument.....and the Washington National Cathedral....our nation's supposed House of Prayer. I posted these words a few years later in 2018:

            Three of the four grand pinnacles of the cathedral...each weighing 50 tons....collapsed. Gargoyles were damaged with one decapitated by falling debris. Today....seven years later....they are only half way finished with the repairs. That earthquake was a message to us from God. 
            Just as those gargoyles were shaking....a hurricane formed in the Caribbean....that would in the next few days bounce a couple of times off our east coast....from the Outer Banks....To New Jersey....To Brooklyn....and even into Vermont....and this as the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument in our capitol had to be postponed.
           I posted this also in 2018....concerning those memorials of which we have visited often over the years....along with my father's grave across the river in Arlington National Cemetery...."I love America and that sentiment is written throughout these posts....but I love it as the gift that has been given to Americans and to the world. It is the Gift-Giver [alone] that deserves our adoration! God will either save America for His purposes or He will let us fall in our own delusion. He will not be mocked....nor will He meet us halfway....nor can we convince Him to see it our way. We will either prostrate ourselves before Him or He will prostrate us before our enemies."
           The enormity of the April of 1912 news coverage over the sinking of the....'unsinkable'....Titanic seemed as an omen to Great Britain....and America actually as the ship was British operated but American owned.....as World War I....the Depression....and World War II followed in short order. I have likewise thought that those images of the Challenger exploding in 1986 were a warning to us in America....and as I once wrote in these posts...."Laugh this off or shrug it off if you wish but you might want to direct the laughter at me....and not God....for He will not be mocked."
            One last thought from the past....on those whose accomplishments have been memorialized in stone...."Martin Luther King's legacy is one of peace and reconciliation. His death was as destructive to this nation as John Kennedy's, or Robert's. His sacrifice and efforts (positively and profoundly) effected the relationships of our races. We were a better people because of his life"....but MLK and others...."were men and women of great accomplishments....but [also] fallible, sinful, rebellious men and women....(as we all are)....who were in need of a Savior....who have since stood before the Creator of everything that exists....many of whom would gladly trade a granite memorial....(or a day in their name....or a building or a bridge or an aircraft carrier....or their face carved in the side of a mountain)....for a robe of Christ's righteousness to cover their unrighteousness."