Holiday Hymns

 It is generally agreed that music embodies geopositioning and time-traveling qualities.   You can hear a song and be transported mentally and emotionally to another place and time where you heard it before. 

A handful of hymns do this for me.  Easter doesn't really come in fullness until I hear  "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," preferably from obnoxiously loud organ pipes.  I also need "Joy to the Word" to feel like Christmas is complete. Those two hymns can take me back to my childhood church.  I spent three years of my life at a church where they mostly skipped traditional Christmas music, and I am poorer for that.  I say "mostly" because one of those years they did perform "Joy to the World," but it had an odd tempo and they clapped on the upbeat. 

I have heard "Silent Night" so often that it isn't tethered strongly to any specific church congregation; in fact, I associate it more with public school.  I entered elementary school at the time that prayer was being banned.   But that did not stop the teaching of culturally relevant music history, so in addition to "Silent Night" leaving me with a mental image of Franz Gruber trekking across the Austrian Alps with his guitar, we also learned the hymn "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" at Thanksgiving.  

And because that wasn't played at my church this past Sunday, I looked up videos on YouTube... 

Whadda'ya know!  

 First I noticed that the lyrics I learned don't match the "traditional" version on YouTube. I have no explanation, but "God's own temple" was not part of the verse that I was taught in school.  

Here's the first verse:

  Come, ye thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest home;
all is safely gathered in,
ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide
for our wants to be supplied;
come to God's own temple, come,
raise the song of harvest home. 

At my school, instead of the line "come to God's own temple, come," we repeated the first line, "come, ye thankful people, come."

Secondly, I was amazed at how much eschatology there was in the remaining verses. The topic isn't food supply, it's about angels gathering the end-time harvest of souls.

And lastly, that hymn was written in London in 1844, which is 224 years after the Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth, England, and it wasn't about them at all! But the picture from my school days had connected this song to thankful Pilgrims, and that bond isn't dissolving any time soon.  

 

 

When *Free Choice* is Coercive

 The Supreme Court of the United States began its Fall Term yesterday.  (October 4, 2021)

This term they will be looking at Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health Organization, a case that originated in Mississippi and directly challenges the shadowy "penumbra" ruling of Roe v. Wade. If you are interested in that, go do a search. Today I want to talk about coercion.  

 
When the Medical Science Monitor published the results of a study on 'induced abortion and traumatic stress' in 2004, the pro-feminist press suppressed the finding that 64% of American women who had abortions felt pressured by others.  That study appears to have tried to be bias-free.  —   A definitely prolife book, Aborted Women, Silent No More, published two years earlier had asked a similar but differently worded question from women who sought post-abortion help and found that 83% said they would have carried the baby to term *if* they had felt supported.  —  Those studies are approaching twenty years old, and yet the findings are consistent with more recent studies.  The largest study within the past few years reports that 73.8% of the women disagreed  that  their  decision  to  abort  was  entirely  free  from  even  subtle  pressure  from  others  to  abort.  (Population Research Institute, 2018)

I wanted to establish that more women than not feel some amount of coercion; getting an abortion is not the "free choice" portrayed by feminist propaganda. I don't want to get hung up on statistics, but one more anyway:  from the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Vol No 4

   "13% (of respondents) reported having visited a psychiatrist, psychologist, or counselor prior to the  first  pregnancy  resulting  in  an  abortion,  compared  to  67.5% who sought such professional services after their first abortion. Only 6.6% of respondents reported using prescription  drugs  for  psychological  health  prior  to  the  first  pregnancy that ended in abortion, compared with 51% who reported prescription drug use after the first abortion. These data  suggest  that  the  women  as  a  group  were  generally  psychologically healthy before their first abortion." 

After having an abortion an additional 55% sought counseling to deal with what they'd done, and half of them were now using prescription drugs.  These were the clinical study findings.  They ignore the spiritual warfare of the enemy, and that we are spiritual beings.  Abortions affect three states of being:  There is the Physical cell tissue. There is the emotional/intellect of the Soul realm. 

Even though abortion is politically marketed as "a woman's choice," coercion has generated a lot of people with hurts and issues that only Jesus can heal.  These missing babies, the wounded moms they left behind, and the hardened hearts of the coercers have adversely affected our national well-being.  
The lies that have pushed this deadly insanity for the past half-century have been many and deep.  It is a total myth that an abortion is a sign of a strong woman taking charge of her own body; it is more likely that the abortion was performed on a scared and conflicted woman trying to please a man, escape the judgment of her parents, or bury her mistake along with the baby.  

What has the sustained onslaught of feminist propaganda done to the men in our nation?  It turns many into soy boys; or at the opposite end of the spectrum they check out of relationships and into their man caves.
The good news is that after decades of hits, misses, and failures to influence a decaying society with what ought to have been preservative salt, the Church is finding her voice.  After years of trying to slow the abortion river with a chain fence (more open surface than solid substance) a stand was taken on the steps of the Supreme Court yesterday.

My Journey Through Historical Culinary Science

Yesterday I did not know the melting point of food-grade paraffin wax. Today I can tell you that paraffin is a mixture of solid straight-chain hydrocarbons with a range of melting points from 120° to 150° F.   And just as there is a range in melting points, there is also a range in the specific gravity. Specific gravity for paraffin wax varies from 0.82 to 0.96. The variations arise from the degree of refining - the less refined, the higher the oil content, the lighter the wax, the lower the specific gravity.  This will become important later. 

"Melting points and specific gravities?" you ask.  The issue arose because there's been shortage of canning lids for the past two years. That's been common knowledge in some circles—the Preppers in online Zombie Apocalypse chat rooms have been trading notes on the phenomena for months. But the shortage got personal for me a little over a week ago when the muscadine vines were beginning to ripen and the hunt for jelly lids was on!

That's is when I remembered that my mom made grape jelly every September and sealed the jars with Gulf brand paraffin. Food-grade paraffin seals are a good, economical alternative for preserving jams and jellies that will be eaten within a year.  I recall the process pretty well, and I also have cook books dating to that era which I reviewed before writing this piece. Then I checked that knowledge against what shows up in DuckDuckGo searches in 2021. Oh, my goodness!

WARNING!  TIME TRAVELING IS INVOLVED! 

Some of the "modern science" search results warned against using paraffin claiming that the seals were unreliable, allowed mold to develop, and had short shelf-life.  But I believe that I figured out what they were doing wrong. They are ignoring the old physics of melting points and specific gravity when it came to reliability and mold growth, and as to the storage life, if the intent is to store your jelly until the next canning season comes around when you can make more, no problem, you'll be fine.  

The sites that did give instructions for sealing with paraffin were pretty insistent on using a candy thermometer to keep the wax from catching fire.  They warned to not let the melting wax get any hotter than 375ºF. That seemed crazy to me. Not the fire warning part, but the implication that 374º might be safe. 

And that is where my mental time traveling began. We never used a candy thermometer. We kept an eye on the pot. When one seals jelly like this every year, you develop a sense for melting the wax.  (Smoking wax is bad!) The paraffin will turn clear and be fully melted at much lower temperatures. Use a double boiler set-up that will help keep it below 250ºF. 

The main difference I found between today's instructions and the way my ancestors made paraffin seals was that, after pouring the hot jelly into sterilized jars, they let the jelly cool enough to begin to set up before either pouring or spooning on the melted paraffin.   

>> Jelly does not have to begin to set up solid before sealing it with paraffin! <<  

Waiting for it to begin to set only gives the jelly more time to be exposed to the air and become contaminated at lower temperature before sealing, and cooling first increases the possibility of an air bubble under the seal. The only real reason for waiting would be if you were unsure if the pectin level was high enough to cause the jelly to set at all.  And that's a whole 'nuther issue.

So this is where the science of specific gravity comes in.  Pure water with no dissolved salts has a specific gravity of 1. A specific gravity of less than one means the substance is lighter than water and will float on it; a specific gravity greater than one means the substance is heavier than the water and will sink. Jelly is heavy. Paraffin will float on jelly. (Also why, if the aforementioned smoking wax does catch fire, water won't help douse the flames; it floats them over to ignite the next flammable object.)

Here are the facts: Melted food grade paraffin does not mix with hot liquid jelly. You can pour melted paraffin into the jars of hot jelly and it will float to the top, making an air tight seal as it cools and solidifies.  Pour in enough paraffin to raise the surface level about one-third inch. That gives a comfortable margin for error when eyeballing the thickness. You want a quarter-inch minimum, but not so thick that the seal is hard to break when it's time to eat the jelly. 

Won't trace amounts of paraffin be trapped in the jelly? Probably, if you are measuring down to ppm. But if you are worried about that, you will also have to give up chocolate chip cookies and chocolate candy bars for life, because glossy chocolates and chocolate chunks that resist melting in your hand probably have paraffin added, and so do cosmetics and lip glosses.  Are you ready to give up your ChapStick® too?  

Do you need to add lids on top of the  paraffin seal?  It depends...   The jelly needs to be stored in a dark and reasonably cool place, below 90º at which point the paraffin may start to soften. Adding a metal or plastic lid adds another layer of safety in a couple areas. A lid eliminates problems of dust getting into the jelly when the seal is broken, because it is easier to wipe off a lid than it is to dust off wax. Lids would be important if the jelly is kept in a root cellar that critters might break into. Having a lid is useful after the jar is opened because the paraffin gets thrown away or otherwise recycled, but it is not reusable as a top for the remaining jelly. 

That's the practical part of the story, but it misses the fond memories part.  The fond memories part includes my mid-summer discovery of hard green balls growing on the vine and anticipating their ripening into grapes. It includes the heavy-duty scissors (where I'd watched the salesman cut a penny in two to prove their strength) that were used to harvest the grapes.  It included memories of the kitchen window that did not open, but had a 3½" high screened vent at the bottom (and a panel that would cover it in the winter), and how precious the feeble airflow was when boiling down the grapes on a hot stove. I remember straining the juice using an old cloth diaper that was rigged to hang from a cabinet handle and catch the dripping juice in a stoneware crock. Those kitchen cupboard handles would have looked equally at home on a 1950 Cadillac, but they were durable! I recall being amazed watching the paraffin float to the surface of the hot jelly. And One More Thing—  it was a very special privilege to be chosen to break the seal on the jelly!   It is so much cooler than unscrewing a jar.  

  

God's Mocking Judgment of the USA

♦ Introduction ♦

 The word JUDGE occurs 191 times in 170 verses in the King James Authorized Version of the Holy Bible.  The first time it is used, God is the Judge of a NATION, not individuals, cf Genesis 15:14. (This could make a good trick question because probably many would guess that it was used in the Adam Leaves Eden story.) 

 The word JUDGMENT occurs 294 times in 285 verses in the KJV.  The first time that it shows up explains Why God Chose Abram. 

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Genesis 18:19

The first time that instruction is given regarding How to Judge and Making Judgments is in Leviticus 19:15.

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

The requirements are fairness and righteousness. God had commanded Moses to tell this to the people as He was founding the nation of Israel.  To round out our introductory foundation, I am add two more points as "givens."  1. One of God's roles is that of Judge. 2. His judgments are always consistent with His character, including but not limited to Goodness, Truthfulness, and Righteousness. 

♦Funneling Down ♦ 

Practically anything can be judged: art, behaviors, chickens, foreign gods... Judgments take many forms: favorable/unfavorable,  connection/separation, fecundity/famine, tranquility/tempests...  And judgments run a scale from mild to moderate to severe. There are also timing factors; "Justice delayed is justice denied" is a legal maxim. The point being that righteous judgment is better viewed as multi-dimensional, not as a linear cause→effect. 

Today we are considering a judgment of nations, the USA in particular.  The form we will be talking about is unfavorable mocking.  I think it will become self-evident that we are pegging on the psychotic fool end of the scale. It is hard to think of a more extreme example than what we currently have in the United States—maybe Nebuchadnezzar during his seven years of madness was a bit further gone; at least Mr. Biden still has someone to trim his nails for him.

 ♦ Precedent in Scripture ♦

Isaiah  23:8-9, using the Passion Translation

  8
Who has planned this for imperial Tyre, who once wore her crown?
Your merchants were nobles,
and your traders were honored by the world.
9
Yahweh, the Commander of Angel Armies, has planned it!
His plan is to eliminate the pride of your presumed splendor
and to humiliate the honored of the world.

 In this Learn-From-History moment, there are patterns and types where Tyre correlates with the US. In the physical, both Tyre and the US had an upper-class that was respected (by other men) for its wealth in world markets. Spiritually, these merchants share the same vices, chief among them being pride. Tyre was to be humbled by bringing them to disgrace. Has the Lord purposed, in the words of the Amplified Classic, "to defile the pride"of these elite and "to bring (them) into dishonor and contempt?" 

 

Psalm Two  - Poetry in IV Acts.

Act I. -  Verses 1-3  The Nations speak; they are plotting to break free from God!

 1
How dare the nations plan a rebellion.
    Their foolish plots are futile.
2
Look at how the power brokers of the world
    rise up to hold their summit
    as the rulers scheme and confer together
    against Yahweh and his Anointed King, saying:
3
"Let’s come together and break away from the Creator.
    Once and for all let’s cast off these controlling chains
    of God and his Christ!"

Act II -  Verses 4-6  God the Father speaks; and His tone of voice is derisive laughter.

4
God-Enthroned merely laughs at them;
    the Sovereign One mocks their madness!
5
Then with the fierceness of his fiery anger,
    he settles the issue and terrifies them to death with these words:
6
"I myself have poured out my King on Zion, my holy mountain."

Act III - Verses 7-9  The Son speaks; sharing what the Father told him.

 7
"I will reveal the eternal purpose of God.
    For he has decreed over me, 'You are my favored Son.
    And as your Father I have crowned you as my King Eternal.
    Today I became your Father.
8
Ask me to give you the nations and I will do it,
    and they shall become your legacy.
    Your domain will stretch to the ends of the earth.
9
And you will shepherd them with unlimited authority,
    crushing their rebellion as an iron rod smashes jars of clay!'"

Act IV –  Verses 10-12  The Holy Spirit Speaks; outlining a comforting way of escape— if they will listen and act quickly.

10 "Listen to me, all you rebel kings
    and all you upstart judges of the earth.
    Learn your lesson while there's still time.
11
Serve and worship the awe-inspiring God.
    Recognize his greatness and bow before him,
    trembling with reverence in his presence.
12
Fall facedown before him and kiss the Son
    before his anger is roused against you.
    Remember that his wrath can be quickly kindled!
    But many blessings are waiting for all
    who turn aside to hide themselves in him!"

Some cross-references

Psalm 37:13
but the Lord laughs, seeing that their day is coming.

Psalm 59:8
But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

Proverbs 1:25-26
because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction, in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you.

We do not commonly think of God as "sneering," and yet, there it is.  And each time, the mocking laughter is brought on by prolonged disrespect, even when warned. 

♦ What Mocking Judgment Looks Like ♦

It is a fair question, "When God is laughing on His heavenly throne, as described in Psalm 2:4, what does it sound like on earth?" 
It will sound and look like a public spectacle. Foolishness will be on open display. 

For the past week,  I have been posting a series of memes on Facebook to illustrate this. The topics have included, (a) a proposal to cut Border Patrol funding by a Billion Dollars at a time when illegal border crossings and trafficking are at all-time highs, (b) the Secretary of Education refusing to answer congressional questioning about how many genders there are, (c) grant money for child-friendly prison visits, (d) Chuck Schumer trying to claim there was massive voter suppression despite record-breaking numbers of ballots were cast, (e) a transsexual winner of a beauty pageant lamenting how hard it is to find a dress that fits, and (f) that the U.S. media scored top dishonors in the "least trustworthy" category in a poll comparing 46 countries. 

There was a lot to choose from, and some instances were so gross that they were unusable, not even satire sites would go there. For example, currently passed and awaiting a signature is an Illinois bill that requires free feminine hygiene products be placed in both girls' and boys' school bathrooms for grades 4 and up. I guess the state legislators have forgotten the immature antics of teenage boys, or they have no vision of how such items will be "put to use. (Can you say *hazing*?) At any rate, state Sen. Karina Villa displayed her intellectual acuity by arguing that in passing this, the taxpayers would be helping to "end poverty." Seriously? Putting maxi-pads in boys bathrooms will end poverty? Who voted for her?

I never used Joe Biden as an example for those memes, because frankly, that would have been too easy. Typing "biden gaffes" into any search engine will provide hours of reading material, there are that many. As long as the nation tolerates these as bloopers rather than realistically recognizing that many of them are divine judgments, we remain Total Failures at having spiritual discernment.  

♦ God's Mocking Judgment of the USA ♦

 The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them, but the Lord laughs, seeing that their day is coming. Psalm 37:12-13

USA - The acting administration has been a wicked train wreck about to happen since the first hours of its illegitimate reign. First up was bringing back abortion. Close at its heels came the reopening of the borders to facilitate trafficking of drugs, sex, and weaponry. The list of war-on-America decisions continues: stopping the keystone pipeline, halting border wall construction, reinstating Paris Climate Accords, restoring relations with a the globalist (God-hating) United Nations and its World Health Organization power mongers, a return to the CFR's Iranian nuclear deal...

World - International relations also deteriorated quickly. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's team got a 20-minute dressing down from the Chinese during "negotiation" in Anchorage, AK, last March.  More recently, Putin laughed at Biden's weak boasting during the G7 meetings in Cornwall, England, UK. Earlier, during the election-steal, North Korea's press called Biden a rabid dog who is greedy for power and deserves to be beaten to death.

The Prophets - And that makes a beautiful segue into what the prophets are hearing, which is the Lord calling Biden a jackal.  Jesus called the Pharisees "vipers,' so calling Biden a "jackal" is not the least bit out of character. The prophets' voices should carry special weight in this season because of — precedent.  Whenever the government of ancient Israel began going sideways, God would raise up prophets to instruct and/or warn the king. They were to work as a team; that's God's order for governance until Christ returns; when it doesn't happen it is because men chose to reject God's best. That happens often. (The Deep State went apoplectic when Mr. Trump showed interest in checking to see what Paula White might say.)  God's design was to have a seamless alliance between what we might label 'church and state.'  Anyway, being called a "Jackal" qualifies as a mocking judgment.

♦ What Comes Next? ♦

Like sin itself, God's judgment of sin in the Age of Grace has been progressive. At the early end of things, we are given an opportunity to judge ourselves cf 1 Corinthians 11:31 if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. Also at the front end of the scale is the use of conscience; when children have a support system of parents and mentors they learn self control.  But in this life there is always someone or something coming at us, and as we learn from the Parable of the Soils, Mark 4:19, the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things will make the way thorny if we neglect the weeding. Decent people get led into sin while evil persons pursue it. Judgment intensifies, and God will not strive with man forever.  Mocking judgments are near the far end of the scale. By this time, hearts are obstinate and rebellious. Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah all speak of people who are "following their own devices," a time when God has turned them over to their own thoughts and intentions. God will stand back, let them have their way, and then laugh at them. Mocking judgment signals the last chances for the stubborn hearts to repent before he unleashes full fury and wrath.

The answer to what could come after mocking judgment is the fierceness of God's fiery anger.   

♦ Conclusion ♦     

It is sad, really. But I believe America chose this stage of judgment for herself.  Jesus taught men to "do to others as you would have them do to you."  This is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.  Quite frequently, and in full character, God uses this standard to judge men.  They fall into the same pit they have dug for their enemy. cf Psalm 35:8 We see this in the story of Haman who was hung on the gallows he built for Mordecai. cf Esther 7:10  We see this principle preached in the Gospels, "in what measure you measure, it will be measured to you." cf Matthew 7:2, Mark 4:24, Luke 6:38. 

For four long years the media relentlessly mocked our President. And whether they liked it or not, Donald J. Trump was legitimately placed in the office of President, and God's anointing was upon him. The radical Left, with full aiding and abetting from both legacy broadcast media and big tech social media, have been engaged full-on in kicking against the pricks.  cf Acts 26:14, meaning to resist authority, and in this case, the authority placed by God Himself. 

But God has declared that His Spirit will not strive with men forever. cf Genesis 6:3  At some point "the cup of iniquity" becomes full and God says, "Enough!"  In this final meme I tell what I think will likely happen.  Below that is a link to how Newsweek covered the debate that I refer to. 

 

 

 https://www.newsweek.com/keep-yapping-man-biden-calls-trump-clown-tells-him-shut-during-debate-dispute-1535159

 

 

 

Battle Of Lexington — Yes, FREEDOM *is* the responsibility of the church.

 This is a portrait of Rev. Jonas Clarke, who was pastoring the Church in Lexington, Massachusetts, in April of 1775. (Sometimes his surname is spelled "Clark" without the final e, and I haven't found a cause for the different spellings.) 

On the evening of April 18th, John Hancock¹ and Samuel Adams² were staying with him when Handcock received two separate messages saying that eight or nine of King George's troops had been seen earlier that evening on the road to Lexington. The king's troops were described as having "a musing contemplative posture" and were suspected of being "out on some evil design."³ The evil design being arrest, or possibly assassination, because Handcock had been threatened multiple times by the British. 

Indeed, the first shots of the War for Independence would take place the next morning, only a few miles away. And more messages would be delivered by Paul Revere and the other riders a few hours later regarding threats to stockpiled ammunition in Concord.  While most American History courses cover the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and most American Literature classes read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem titled 'Paul Revere's Ride,' those are only the historical setting for this particular blog.  My main subject is the responsibility of the Church, the ecclesia, the assembly of believers in Jesus. 

But first, let's take a quick side trip to Leviticus 25:10. 

  And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. -KJV

The emboldened portion of this verse is engraved on the Liberty Bell. It is my studied and researched opinion that this phrase is the most succinct expression of the Lord's plan and design for the United States. When John Winthrop (1606-1676), a Puritan governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, envisioned America as a fulfillment of Matthew 5:14, a shining city set on a hill whose light cannot be hidden, he was seeing prophetically across the years to America's God-ordained destiny.  Today, that destiny has come under full satanic assault. But God has not changed His mind. It is still the responsibility of believers to assemble together to proclaim liberty throughout all the land for all its inhabitants. 

And back to Jonas Clarke...

When Rev. Clarke saw the threat to his house guests, he got ten or twelve men from his congregation to guard his house for the night. Apparently the king's officers did not know that Handcock and Adams were staying at the parson's home because in Clarke's journal of the event, he says that this small group passed on by Lexington on the way to Concord. It was now about 10 PM, and three men on horseback were sent to follow the British and see what they were up to. 

The rest of the night would prove fairly chaotic. Clarke recorded that in the hour following midnight they got word that the scouts had been detained and threatened by the British, and Revere's riders had brought word that an estimated 1200 British troops were on the way to the arsenal in Concord. 

With this news, the Lexington militia was alerted. But when riders from Cambridge reported a couple hours later that the British troop movement had been a feint, Clarke wrote that militia was "dismissed for the present, but with orders to be within the call of the drum."³  Envoys were sent out to check, but despite the effort to get the best intelligence possible, Clarke continues, "after all this precaution, we had no notice of their approach 'till the brigade was actually in the town, and upon a quick march and within about a mile and a quarter of the meeting house and place of parade (where the militia was to assemble)."³ 

The militia (50-60 men) was called back at roughly 4:30 AM, and the British (then estimated as 1200, but later, after daylight, revised downward to 800-1000) had made it to the east end of the meeting house. Clarke records the separation as 12-13 rods (~200 feet).³  My college textbooks, in an effort to condense the Revolutionary period into a chapter or two, skipped over Lexington and told of the Battle at Concord, 18 miles from Boston, where ammunition had been stored and the Minutemen defended the bridge. But the first armed confrontation, and the first eight deaths of Americans, was at Lexington, in the predawn of April 19, 1775.  

The meeting house is to the right of the tree. The lighting in this picture, however, is misleading; the battle at Lexington began before daybreak, and in mid-April the trees would not yet be in full leaf. (The building to the left of the tree is the public house/tavern, and the steeple-looking building is the well. Animals grazed on the common green in the foreground). 

 

The Minutemen of Lexington were not totally unprepared for conflict. Rev. Clarke and one of his deacons, John Parker, who had experience as a Captain from the French and Indian War, had been training and organizing the men of Lexington on Sunday afternoons after church. It was Parker who led the Lexington militia, but Clarke's courage and leadership held a critical role. The preacher was not conflicted about submitting to the authority of the crown. When asked if the men in his congregation would fight, he replied, "I have trained them for this very hour. They would fight, and, if need be, die, too, under the shadow of the house of God."

Indeed, the first men to die were his own parishioners, and in the aftermath of the Battle of Lexington he made the observation, "From this day will be dated the Liberty of the World."⁴  Like John Winthrop a century earlier, he had caught a vision of the destiny that God has for America.

King George feared the power of America's Colonial preachers. "King George III blamed the war on the preachers by calling it a 'Presbyterian rebellion.' Horace Walpole, the English Prime Minister, said, 'There is no use crying about it. Cousin America has eloped with a Presbyterian parson.'"⁵ Certainly there were far more Christians besides the Presbyterians who fought for domestic liberty, and the king's generals were *more inclusive* when they disparagingly referred to all of America's clergy as the "black-robed regiment."  But the point is that The Church, the assembly of believers, was being Salt & Light to the world; and it had its effect in producing a land of liberty. 

God has not changed His mind.  The responsibility of securing freedom still rests on His people. The Democrats & RiNOs surely aren't going to deliver. 

Footnotes

¹ Most famous for his oversized signature on the Declaration of Independence, John Handcock was an American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

² Actually, yes, Samuel Adams did have a tangential connection to beer. The Adams' family business was making malted barley and selling it to brewers. But it is an honorary connection only, because the Boston Beer Company did not introduce that brand name until two centuries later in 1984. The Samuel Adams of the American Revolution was instrumental in organizing the boycott of British goods as a way to protest "taxation without representation." Progressive historians like to brand him as a "rabble rouser" but a more honest description is that he was a Puritan who believed in civil disobedience to tyranny. Adams was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 

³ Jonas Clarke's Narrative of the Battle of Lexington.

⁴ http://www.famousamericans.net/jonasclark/

⁵ http://reclaimamericaforchrist.org/2010/12/20/the-black-robed-regiment-preachers-who-fought/

A Deacon Parker Quote? 

The statement "Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here," is often attributed to one of Rev. Clarke's deacons, Capt. John Parker.  No one had an iPhone to record it, but there are many sources that support the first part, and Parker's official report said that he ordered the militia to disperse and not to fire. Shots were fired, however, and who fired first is in dispute with both sides claiming the other side did.   The two sources for the second half of the quote are Sergeant Munroe who served under Parker, and Parker's grandson,Theodore. This part made it onto the monument that commemorates the battle, and if not wholly true, is at least legendary.  

 

It it Sad? Or is it Disturbing? Probably Both. Evil? Maybe all Three.

 

 I am fairly confident that the world did not pay much attention to the press release of the NAE this week. And that is not because The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is short on potential influence; it represents nearly 40 different denominations.  In theory, their press release should speak for millions of evangelicals.  But like I said, I am fairly confident that the world did not pay much attention. 

The reason for my confidence is that they were being "good little Christians." And by putting "good little Christians" in quotes, I mean that they were compliant. The NAE readily conformed to the talking points of the legacy media. 

The NAE is a Washington-based lobby. It purports to represent and speak for millions of Americans who believe in salvation by faith in Jesus' atoning death. An individual membership is $50 a year. A small church could join for $100, a mega-church is ten times more. They also offer memberships for schools, businesses, and non-profits.  The membership is supposed to buy professional eyes & ears to keep tabs on legislation and regulation, and to be your voice in advocating for evangelical interests.  Their paid lobbyists are supposed to work to influence political outcomes on behalf of an evangelical paradigm and worldview.

Sadly, or disturbingly, or both, the National Association of Evangelicals is very far afield from representing me. 

The press release is titled, "NAE Denounces Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol." Right off the start they have used the buzzword insurrection. That is over the top. Protesting demonstrable election fraud is not equivalent with rebelling to overthrow a legal government. The NAE doubled down and repeated the term in their introductory paragraph.  

Yesterday Americans and people around the world witnessed a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. The insurrection epitomizes the rancor and polarization present in our country. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) denounces the violence at the U.S. Capitol as well as the nation’s longstanding vices that led to this chaos.

 Insurrection is right up there at the level of coup, mutiny, and sedition. The protest was none of that. The Trump supporters were protesting the stealing of their votes, and they were doing it peacefully. They protested by singing hymns and waving flags.  Other than the insurrection hyperbole, it would have been a good, strong paragraph—  except that in the body of the press release they misidentify the "nation’s longstanding vices."

The second paragraph leads with "Followers of Jesus are peacemakers." That statement is true enough if you want to hang it on a tree like a Christmas ornament, but in this context, it was a complete mischaracterization of purpose. They could have said, "Followers of Jesus are Justice seekers." That would have stayed on topic. True peace cannot exist without justice.  The Lord loves justice (cf Is 61:8). It is one of the foundations of His throne (cf Psalm 97:2).   He commands his people to seek justice and rebuke the oppressor (cf Is 1:17). Jesus exhibited behaviors that ran the gamut of emotion. Peace was only one of them. He also expressed outrageous zeal on occasion. And he wept. And rebuked. And was move by compassion. And he set his face to go to Jerusalem. (cf Luke 9:51) The world need not wad its panties if Christians set their face to go to DC.

Furthermore, the NAE made the topic sentence into an absolute.  Since when is being an earthly peace maker more important than being a justice seeker? I can tell you when it was Not More Important for Jesus!  

"Do you think that I came to give peace on the earth? No, I say to you, but rather division." Luke 12:51

If you have a red letter Bible, that verse is in red. So is its partner in Matthew 10:34.  I posit that the NAE should not be clobbering evangelicals with off-topic accusations! When I am imploring the Heavens for Justice, don't point your finger at me about not being a peacemaker.

The next sentence is, "Some images from the protests demonstrate a disturbing conflation of Christianity and a nationalist ideology that is far from the way of Jesus."  That is simply sucky theology. I don't have the time to argue it here, but the Tower of Babel proves that God is a nationalist. The antichrist spirit is the globalist. For dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations, Psalm 22:28. Go ahead, search the Psalms and discover that the Lord reigns over nations.  At the second coming, Jesus will rule over nations (cf Revelation 19:15).  NAE is wrong. Christianity blends and fuses nicely with nationalism. 

The press release continues, saying that Christians are commanded to seek unity. Surely they cannot mean unity with evil!  But, yes, when you diagram the sentence, they are unconditionally saying to seek unity with the city where you live. Remember when Lot tried that? It was not an optimal experience.  Sadly, in the mindset of the NAE, the church has already been carted off to Babylon and we should happily endure our oppressors.  Bunk! 

In the third paragraph, the NAE laments the "painful reminder of racism that plagues our country." This is another "go-to" of the legacy media's talking point. The January 6th rally was not about racism. It was about the utter failure to investigate election fraud seriously.  It is disgusting that the NAE tries to inject racism into a Stop the Steal rally. 

The fourth paragraph of the NAE press release began with a flat-out lie and ended with satiric irony befitting the Babylon Bee.  Read it for yourself: 

The mob at the Capitol was provoked by leaders, including President Trump, who have employed lies and conspiracy theories for political gain. Evangelicals are people who are committed to truth and should reject untruths.

If the NAE was committed to truth and rejecting untruths, they could never have accused President Trump of employing lies and conspiracy theories for political gain. Seriously, they do not have a clue about what makes him tick and they are plumb wrong about both his method and his motive.  This is a display of massive, hypocritical disrespect for a duly elected, sitting President. 1 Timothy 2:3 and 2:1 say that it "is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior" when "entreaties, prayers, petitions. and thanksgivings" are made for those in authority. Funny, but I did not see "calling them liars" on that list. 

The truth is that peaceful protesters were infiltrated by provocateurs. There is an abundance of video evidence and testimony from law enforcement to support that. There were videos of men in police uniforms opening barricades and admitting the crowds, even directing them. Planned and Staged. And for the first couple days following, there were braggarts on social media admitting to it, although many of those posts have since been scrubbed once a few of them were arrested. And when they were questioned after being arrested, no, they were not Trump supporters. Some were BLM, some were antifa, and two were off-duty police officers from Virginia!  Plus, CNN photo-journalist Jade Sacker, disguised as a Trump supporter, was caught on video storming the Capitol and saying “we did it!” 

"President Trump had more than 80 rallies between Labor Day and the 2020 Election.  In all these events, (totaling over 1.1 million people) not a single window was broken, not a single policeman attacked or an attendee murdered. (GP)" The same cannot be said for the Left—

The truth is, between 2017 and 2020, the Senate office was occupied by leftist protest mobs three times, protesting everything from border security to the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. None of these were labeled as insurrection or domestic terrorism. Instead, several Democratic senators joined the occupation of the Hart Building in the Senate and declared "this is what democracy looks like." 

 •    •    •    •    •

So who is the NAE really serving?  I am saddened by their shallow, prissy theology. I'm disturbed by their worldliness. And honestly, I would not be surprised if Jesus would call this press release an evil treatise. The NAE cast their lot with the globalists, against liberty loving Americans, to walk with the weak who want to compromise and make a false peace, with those who want unrestricted abortion, who devalue marriage and promote gender dysphoria, and who will assuredly abandon Israel.  

 I am fairly confident that the world did not pay much attention to the NAE because it is playing along with them in self-righteousness.   

 •    •    •    •    •

• Has the NAE issued a press release condemning platforms for tramping on a sitting President's free speech? No. Don't they understand that under the guise of political sanctimony they are restricting the freedom to legally preach the gospel as well?

• Did the NAE include a statement in support of the right to peaceably assemble? No. Don't they understand that by siding with a Baal-driven media that they are cooperating with those who would regulate their membership out of existence? 

• Did the NAE condemn certifying ballots while evidence mounts that the count was inaccurate? No. Don't they fear knowingly participating in fraud?  Is that what Jesus would do?

• Does the NAE not know that separation of church and state is a myth for any God-fearing person? I do not know where they stand on that; I know God should not be put in a box, nor should He be barricaded outside of it. 

• Does the NAE distinguish between the peace of the kingdom of God and peace with men on earth?  Judging by this press release, not always.  The kingdom of God is ... righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (cf Romans 14:17). It is wrong to trade the real for an earthly version of peace.

An organization that is serving the True Jesus does not scold victims of injustice, avoid calling out obvious fraud, and push for conciliatory, peacemaking alliances with evil. The press release was chiefly perfunctory and did just that: scolded, avoided, and advanced the propaganda of the leftist media.   It promoted the narrative of how the world thinks the church should act, therefore the world does not pay much attention to what they have to say. 

2020 was the year that Jesus was Done with Lukewarm. Those who choose to stay tepid in faith so that they can get along in the world will be spit out. Vomited, actually.  

Going forward, there is no more fence sitting.  We cannot placate the world by making treaties with it  and then expect to draw the covenant-promise blessings of heaven.  Some of the promises come with a conditional availability: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Matthew 6:33. Seeking peace with the world first does not score the "added unto."

If we wish to speak with Holy Fire that will grab the attention of a lost world, we must give up virtue signaling for their acceptance and first seek the kingdom of God.

The world... hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil. John 7:7