Lyle's Blog

We older people have watched society decay over the last sixty years much in the same way our parents and grandparents did watch theirs.  A lot has changed in the last hundred years but much has remained the same.  What’s remains the is the ongoing gullibleness of mankind.  I imagine the power of sin makes men susceptible to stupid thinking; maybe it would be kinder to say wishful thinking but then I’m not really that kind.

The book of Daniel and elsewhere reminds us that God chooses who will become a ruler of a nation.  We are moving relentlessly in the direction of Armaggedon and the pace of events is ever increasing.  Following is a partial list of the men that God has placed in the power of the United States and how they contribute to readying the world for the end of the age.

President Johnson:  His purpose was to initiate the social programs necessary to break down the family structure.  Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and all the rest of the safety net programs have usurped a man’s role as provider for his family.  Johnson also escalated the war in Vietnam.  The careless squandering of our youth in southeast Asia rightly led young people to revolt.  The hippie slob generation was born.  Drugs, music, and long ignored social problems made these kids an easy target for indoctrination in our public schools.  They were taught to hate America.

Enter Richard Nixon.  He took America off the gold standard.  This paved the way for some future president to approve budgets with deficits of unimaginable heights.  The EPA, OSHA, and other business-crippling agencies paved the way for our new friend China to overtake us.

Jimmy Carter:  Although the seeds of conflict in the Middle East were planted long ago, it was Jimmy who suddenly uprooted the previous crop of cronies,  leaving the seed of future war in the Middle East firmly planted..

Ronald Raegan:  He gave America a reason to be optimistic again.  His role was to expand the economy.  He was a kinder, less accomplished Donald Trump.

George H. Bush:  He watered the seed Jimmy Carter planted.

Bill Clinton:  His sole purpose was to degrade the office of the president with scandal and corruption.

George W. Bush:  Terrorism is born.  Not that we didn’t have real enemies but George Bush brought us all under the eye of Homeland Security.  The state was suddenly given power it was never meant to have.

Barack Obama:  If one had to put a label on him, it would be the great divider.  He wanted America to pay for its “wicked” behavior, bring her down a few notches, and make America more like the rest of the world: impoverished.  But wait, Mr. Obama was going to accomplish much more than that.  He was a tireless crusader for homosexual rights.  He hired a lesbian woman to hire as many LBGQWXYZ people as possible.  Ditto the military and everything else he could touch, legally or not.  As an aside, he brought Muslims into our government.  He was to so overstep his authority as to make enough people discouraged and hence Donald Trump became the president.  By exalting the homosexual lifestyle, he made it possible for America and the world to become like Sodom and Gomorrha.

Donald Trump:  His job is to free up the Christian church to spread the gospel to the whole world.  The economy will thrive under Donald Trump.  It will become like the days of Noah, eating, drinking, (a lot), giving in marriage, life as usual.  The world will be filled with violence.  We’ll get used to it.

Obviously, this is a much-condensed list of presidents and their contributions to our situation today, but hopefully in is as clear to you as it is to me.

I woke up early.  It was probably about the time of day Mary saw Jesus and didn’t recognize Him.  A disfigured man in the dim light would no doubt be mistaken for a gardener.  Of course, she wasn’t looking for a Jesus that was alive.

Two thousand years later I sometimes think we’re looking for a dead Christ.  We say He’s risen.  We celebrate it.  But for most of the “body of Christ”, He is a Jesus without power.  He might as well be dead.  How often do we see prayers answered?  How much do we pray?  Are we moving mountains?

I don’t know who reads this blog but these words I write are always directed at myself.  Of late I’ve considered what I believe and have to ask myself, am I ready to meet Him.  Did I ever have a moment when I realized how my sin has separated me from God and understand how desperately I need a savior?  Did I realize that I was knocking on hell’s door and just a whisper away from judgment?  Did terror ever grip my soul because I realized hell was real?

Repentance.  I’ve been good at spotting sin in others.  It’s easy to see it.  It annoys us, especially if we’re “pretty good” people.  But God deals with sin on a personal basis.  Are we saved?  Did we seek Him with all our heart, soul, and mind?  Which leads us to ask, are we worthy to escape the things to come?

As you celebrate Easter (if you do) ask yourself, am I worthy to take this cup, am I really wanting to partake of everything it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ?

Jesus asked His disciples if they were going to leave and follow another.  I have to say what they said.  Lord, where else would we go?  After many years I know there is nowhere else to go, no one else; it is Christ alone.

Seventy.  I will be seventy years old in a couple months.  Celebrate your birthday, isn’t that what you are supposed to do?  My kids live a thousand miles away.  They’d like me to go there but my kids live hundreds of miles apart; can’t be in two places at once.  How do you choose?

Birthday parties are for other people.  I’ve always downplayed my birthday because my wife, being born right after Christmas, has always hated hers.  So I don’t like to acknowledge mine much.  I’m not sure anyone even cares about this seventieth birthday anyway.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m glad I’ve made it this far and am in pretty good health but I just don’t feel like celebrating.

If the next ten years are as spiritually productive as the last ten, then I’d just as soon pass on the birthday.  Seventy is too old to start saying “you’re going to do something worthwhile”.  If I haven’t done anything worthwhile by now, what makes me think that this next decade is the one that I’ll finally do something of lasting value.

Am I finally at the point where I can admit that most of my time has been spent in vanity.  It’s only now that I realize what wisdom is, that being the winning of souls for Jesus Christ.  The Bible says to work while it is still day, praise God while you’re still alive because the day comes all too quickly when there is no light left.

Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.  That little plague hung in my mother’s house years ago.  It’s just of late that it’s message is hitting me so hard.

My wife and I are older (the sixties) and as is common friends, relations, and others die on a regular basis.  It’s sobering and makes one think about what’s truly important.  I’ve discovered there’s not much that merits my attention anymore.  I concentrate on eternity and what I can take with me and realize all I have is my will.

My wife’s best friend is in the last stage of cancer; maybe just hours.  It’s tough losing anyone but best friends?  Where do you get another?  Maybe there’s another spirit out there that’s akin to yours but time is short and passes quickly.   Usually, it takes years to run into that one person.  My wife and I are best friends but her “other” best friend is a precious soul of rare kindness.  She is someone that by happenstance my wife came to know.  There are other friends and they are great people.  Each friend is so appreciated.  But her best friend is one who is gentle in their approach, kind in every conversation, as close to your heart as one can get.

That kind of love is hard to find and will be terribly missed.  Knowing she is in the hands of Christ is our only comfort.  In the end,  you only have Jesus and He is enough.  But, it still hurts.

A millennial wins a political seat in Pennsylvania, Hillary still ranting, children protesting at school, Nancy Pelosi spouting the same, lame droning about nothing, is just a sample of the lunatic left coming unhinged.  With no desire to get to the heart of the problems we face, they continue pushing for tyrannical control of our lives.

The Democrats and the associated haters-of-America club are determined to return us to those thrilling years of yesteryear, of an Obama America where we had to pay for our white privilege.  That is why good economic news doesn’t have as much of an impact as it should.

You see the millennial mush heads want everything to be for non-profit, for the common good, from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.  MMM; wonder where they got that line.  As stupid and naive as this thought is, it has wide acceptance in the minds of our young.  What they want to achieve is a world of benevolence without God.  They want the glory for the goodness of man.

To say this will not end well doesn’t need to be said as this is the same old, tired story of the last generation.  No ethics, accountability, or morals will produce serfdom.  Their blind obedience to socialist dogma portends a bleak future in the end.

I recognize this generation as the “last”, meaning I know that once Israel became a nation after two thousand years, things were going to change rapidly.  God said He would make a short work of the end time.  I’m also sure that to Christians it won’t be short enough.

Donald Trump, like other presidents, was put into office by God to accomplish certain things.  One:  to give the Church the freedom to preach the gospel to the whole world.  Two: to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel; Three: to allow the United States to prosper; Four: to give America one more chance to repent.  The gospel will be preached to the whole world and then the end will come.  Jerusalem will be the centre of the world and nations will be driven to deal with it.  America has evangelized more of the world by far than any other nation so God will give us one more chance to repent.  America and the world must prosper for a short time because life will be like the days of Noah, eating, drinking, getting married, in other words, a day like any other.

The world must become just like the days of Noah and Sodom.  Godless, violent, and deserving of total judgement.  We have just a short time to do what He has called us to do.