Month: July 2025

I’ve expressed before how I’ve asked God where His sheep are. Where are those who will stand against this ever present and increasing evil? I look for those who will speak forcefully and without fear against what I see coming at an increased speed. I look for those who will stand against Trump and his acolytes. Especially those who claim to be Christians. And I’ve expressed my annoyance to Him about those whose only answer is “we must pray for Trump.” Too much pointing out the evil he does is labeled as condemning or one with a critical spirit. I must admit I’d like to do what Elijah did in 2 Kings 1 and call down fire. But I know I’d be answered just as Jesus did James and John in Luke 9 and tell me I don’t know what spirit I am of. So, I do pray that all come to a knowledge of Him and that all seek Godly wisdom. But I’m not naive or clueless. There are many on a path which I feel they shall never turn from. They have erected a god that meets their needs. And we must speak to them and their ungodly actions. Call them out.

In 1 Corinthians 5 the apostle Paul called out a man for his blatant and unrepentant sexual immorality. He said to deliver such a one as this to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his soul might be saved. In Acts 13 Paul addressed Elymas the sorcerer and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord.” Then he struck him blind. If Paul was around today, one could make millions renting out seeing eye dogs in Washington D.C. Disciples spoke against that which was not of God. They preached the Word even when it was not allowed. They obeyed God, not man. Yet today we find so many who claim to speak for the Lord constantly extolling the virtues of Trump and his followers. These are people who follow a doctrine of demons. Corrupt people who are destitute of truth who use His teachings as a way to gain power and make money. In Romans 3, Paul says of these people, “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” We are not told to pray for the/an anti-christ.

I have prayed for the president. Yet I feel this is one that cares little of what awaits him for using the name of God to hold/gain power. Yet what power has my prayer when Trump has said he has nothing to repent of. Even when other Christians say I must forgo speaking to his foibles and evil ways, as he is God’s chosen leader, I must speak to what I hear. And one’s position in office is not always His preferred choice for us. C.S. Lewis, in speaking of one manifestly bad, said, “The demand that God should forgive such a man while he remains what he is, is based on a confusion between condoning and forgiving. To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, to treat it as if it were good. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.” God will judge Trump and those who align with him but I will recognize the evil he has wrapped himself in and do my best to warn. We need to remember that Jesus spoke of King Herod as that “fox.” Knowing he was a man that looked only to himself and his “wants.” One that was unrepentant. One who looked to use Jesus. Wanted to see a miracle. Jesus said not a word to him. The Lord did not ask Herod to accept Jesus as savior. It’s a horrible thing to have One who holds the key to all eternity just ignore you.

So, I won’t ask to have fire called down on anyone as it may also hit me. He who is without sin cast the first stone. 1 John tells us that we should not be deceived. He who practices righteousness is righteous. He who practices sin is of the devil. If we can sit idly by when we see what is being done to those who are without the power to defend themselves, those of different color skin, the marginalized, those we disagree with and look to subjugate, then the love of God is not in us. We cannot attempt to love in what we say, but in our actions. In our truth. Blessings.

There was a term I heard expressed about 50 years ago that was said a bit in anger and at times said as if the speaker was in a state of disbelief in what they saw. It was a bit paradoxical. And it was surely verbal irony. The speaker said, “Christ on a crutch!” This of Jesus who healed the lame. Raised the dead. Multiplied a small amount of fish and bread that fed thousands and still had 12 baskets of leftovers pointing to who else would be fed. So, this surely is a contradictory statement yet it seems appropriate today in too many cases. Today I see people serving a god who limps.

I remember well, even a few decades ago, when there were healing meetings. I saw and participated in actual healings. I saw people come in with such expectation. Such hope. I saw backs healed. Vision restored. Surgeries having to be rescheduled as there was no longer a need. I took part in praying for a little 1-year old girl with a shunt in her brain because of hydrocephalus. When she went to her next Dr appointment the shunt had disappeared. Although overjoyed, I was not incredulous. This is the One I pray to. But the last couple decades have seemed to produce so very little of what we should expect. We see the “Church” go after that which will bring them a seat at the table of power but stupidly surrendering a seat at His table. There is a story of St. Thomas Aquinas that is shared in Dallas Willard’s book, The Spirit of the Disciplines.” It says, “While walking amid the splendors of Rome, a friend said to St. Thomas, “We Christians no longer have to say to the world, silver and gold have we none.” To which St. Thomas replied, “But neither can we say to the lame man, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk.'” We see a church today that has become wed to all Jesus told us to walk away from. We watch as the poor and marginalized are swept out of sight. Not a thought as to how measures in a “big, beautiful bill” will take away health care and food. But we see glee and pointing to heaven after this bill was passed. Giving God the glory for an evil He has no part in. And not one tear shed for those they starve, arrest and kill. How delusional must one be to cast off all the Word says regarding how we treat others?

Jesus was clear when he replied to the Pharisees in Matthew 22 saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” He said this is the first and great commandment. But the second is like the first; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus was saying this to those who proclaimed to know and be part of Him who sent Jesus. But they did not. They looked for their own power. So much like what we see in our Christian nationalism today. Much organization and many words but every step brings them further from Christ. For He is with those who are being left behind. He has no part in the lies masquerading as gospel. No part in a church that seeks to align with an oppressive, authoritarian government that looks to steal from those that are in need in order to enrich the top 10% of our citizens. They discard His word in Proverbs 21:13 saying, “Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard.” Do they not think they will answer for what they do to the least of them?

We are no different than Israel in the bible casting off His commands and getting rid of His prophets and discarding what God required as it interfered with their own lifestyle. Frederick Buechner wrote,” When God’s demands seemed too exorbitant, God’s promises too remote, Israel took up with all the other gods who still get our votes and our money and our nine-to-five energies, because these are gods who could not care less whether we are holy or not and promise absolutely everything we really want and absolutely nothing we really need.” We must come out from among those following a path contrary to His path. Have no part in them. They serve a god who limps. Blessings.

I watched with a mixture of sadness and incredulity as Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska stated the obvious evil being perpetrated on the American people by Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” only to kowtow to this wickedness and vote as Trump demanded. Something has gone horribly awry. We watch as if evil is mainlined into those given power to legislate, which is no different than one shooting heroin. And now this evil will go the House where it will find more purveyors of darkness.

In chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, we see the followers of Jesus having trouble understanding what He required. Many fell away. And then Jesus tells those that remain that He has chosen them and one of them has a devil. But no one asks who. Why not? Who is this Man that walks on water and feeds the multitudes? They are being given insight they cannot understand at this time. It is later in John 13 at the Last Supper that Jesus again speaks of one of them having a devil. This time Peter motions to John to ask Jesus who this person is. And Jesus tells him it is Judas. Yet Jesus still broke bread with Judas after He had washed his feet. Jesus tells Judas to do what he is about to do quickly. Do not tarry. This was a divine plan, but when we look at what we see going on in our country, I see nothing divine in it. This is the end result of casting off the restraints of what Jesus told us to do in the Sermon on the Mount and in all His words as they only serve to constrain those who look to enrich themselves. And somehow what is being perpetuated is wrapped in a bow to make it appear as if it’s from followers of Christ. These maga Christians have managed to present a gospel that appeals to the flesh rather than crucifies it. This spirit that betrayed Jesus is the same spirit we see in operation now that has come to rob, kill and destroy. It’s an anti-Christ spirit. And it’s gaining power every day. And the church is providing fuel to speed it up.

We are warned in 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits.” And so many have departed from what Jesus taught and the faith we are to walk in and have given heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. Why have so many fallen in line with a doctrine of lies and evil? Proverbs 24:1 tells us, “Do not be envious of evil men. Nor desire to be with them. For their heart devises violence and their lips talk of troublemaking.” Much of what we see before our eyes right now should cause great consternation. Instead, we see so many that were elected to serve become so inured to the evil being perpetuated that their consciences are no longer able to be seared. Yet they continue to build their own castles and surround them with a moat of laws and money they think will protect them. And the American people willingly serve them believing the tidbits being offered from their table will keep them alive and safe. But as it says in Jeremiah 49:16, “You think you’re so great – strutting across the stage of history. Living high in the impregnable rocks, acting like the king of the mountain. You think you’re above it all, don’t you, like an eagle in its aerie? Well, you’re headed for a fall. I’ll bring you crashing to the ground.” (Message Bible) I pray all come to a realization of the penalty for this path taken of ignoring evil. I pray all come to a knowledge of His truth and be separate from those walking in this evil.  Blessings.