Ja

January 5, 2025

CAN I FIND A DAVID FOR TODAY?

I believe the story of David and Goliath has so many possibilities for sermons, illustrations for daily living, sermonetes, thoughts for the day, along with a myriad of other valuable uses derived from Chapter 17 of First Samuel, that someone could almost make a living out of all the material found there. The gold rush of the 1800’s didn’t produce as much wealth as there is in Chapter 17 of First Samuel. And one does not have to build a slue, use any dynamite or pressure hoses, or spend all day looking though the screen to find one little nugget.
But one does have to keep their wits about them because there are claim jumpers, bandits and crooks all about who want to steal, kill and destroy the nuggets in Chapter 17 of First Samuel. The Goliath of today is the Deep State, the media, the marxists, the woke, and all those who have invaded the truth of the Word and distorted or even outright denied it is the Word of God, which directly goes against II Timothy 3:16,17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”.
They have denied what Heb. 4:12 says: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
While David lived a few years before Paul came along and wrote II Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”, and even though he did not have the written word as we have it today, he understood the principle of handling the word of truth, and that is that one does not taunt God and not eventually suffer the consequences.
I think one of the most important realizations from the story of David and Goliath is often overlooked as Goliath is denying the God of Israel is who He says He is and David is not going to let Goliath get away with that loud denial. And if we look at the Goliath of today, the infiltrators of the church who say homosexuality is not a sin, who say God will not judge anyone because He loves you, who refuse to acknowledge the Word of God as the Word of God, who are all about loving themselves to the exclusion of loving others as themselves, who have the seared conscience described in Scripture so they are able to lie, cheat, and steal without any idea of retribution or punishment coming in some form somewhere along the path of life, and cause division instead of peace among all men and women.
The disturbance in my soul is caused by wondering, “Where are the David’s of today?” I know there must be some somewhere who are willing to take on the Goliaths of today, the ones who are taunting the Lord with their evil lies, deeds and commands. But since I read the beginning and the end of the Greatest Story, the denier has always been there but he does come to an end in Revelations, and in a way it is by a stone. Jesus is the Rock and it is His sword that does the final cutting, just like David did to Goliath as he lay in the dust and dirt. I still think we could have a few David’s throw a few smooth stones along the way for the present day Goliaths while we work our way towards the final chapter of the Greatest Story.

January 6, 2025

The Telltale Sign

I wrote yesterday’s musings, left the computer to get cleaned up for church and never made it back to the computer until this morning, To my amazement, I discovered I did not post what was showing on the computer after I chased away the blank screen. I remembered I was going to come back and pontificate a little longer. Do you know, I am not sure this morning what the magic pontification was going to be, It is terrible to be so brillant that new thoughts chase wasy the old ones before they can even bear fruit.
Now, the shine has really come off the brilliance and there is only a fog left covering up that brilliance. And all my pores are leaking the same message, you have to come up with something for this morning and you have to do it now! Can one talk back to their pores?
I think mine are plugged up anyway. How can they be leaking anything if they are plugged up? I will wager none of you mortals experience anyuthing like what is going on here at Elrovia Ave. this morning. Thor loses his hammer but it always seems to come flying back at just the opportune moment. Captain America has his shield and Superman has his blue and red underwear. What? You don’t think Superman’s powers are tied up in his outfit? Does he ever show off when dressed like Clark Kent? I rest my case.
Two of my favorite characters in Scripture are Elijah and Elisha. Now there were two guys who had a one super power that was greater than Superman, Batman, and all the rest of the Marvel and DC heros. And their story book is a lot older as DC started in 1934 and Marvel, (under another name), started in 1939. The Bible had to be completed long before these two upstart comic books came into being. Also, Elijah lived in the 800 BC era, with Elisha following Elijah in that period and they were real men.
These two prophets had a mantle, which Elisha picked up from Elijah when he went up to the heavens in the chariot of fire. They both used the mantle to strike the Jordan for the waters to part so they could cross on dry land, Elijah on the way into Jordan and Elisha on the way out of Jordan..
The answer to my question raised yesterday is found in Sripture. I know why the Lord had me pour out the story from my pores as Elijah was also wondering why he was the only one left who was following the Lord. It came about Elijah was making some statement like I was yesterday and God told him He had a large number who had not bowed the knee to Baal. It took me a moment or two but I found one of the verses where Elijah made that statement: I Kings 19:14. Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” I will admit, that was somewhat how I was feeling, even though I certainly am not attempting to equate myself to Elijah.
Then God tells Elijah in verse 18, after giving him the 411 on what He was going to do, that there were going to be 7,000 left who had not bowed the knee to Baal, “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” Did you notice how there is some kissing involved here?
So the question for today is, (whatever the number is today, it was 7,000 in that verse), are you in the majority or in the 7,000? You can answer by letting me know, (God already knows!), “Are your knees dirty and does your mouth have a little smudge on it?” I guess having bad breath from kissing the idol would also be a telltale sign.

January 7, 2025

NUMBER 11 COMING UP, WATCHING OR READING

If my name was Trump, all those with TDS would call me a liar. The other day, I stated I do not like to watch the same show over and over. I didn’t go back and look, but I hope I put some qualifiers in there, e.g., almost never, very seldom, etc. The TDS’ers would still call me a liar if my name was Trump.
A movie called, “Forsaken”, came on the other day and I watched at least 2/3rds of it. I have sat in front of the screen for this movie a few times, taped it, deleted it, taped it again the other day, and may or may not watch it again, but chances are if I find myself wide awake some morning at 3:30 am, the start button will be pushed and “Forsaken” will fill the screen once again. The Sutherland family, Donald and Keifer. are the main characters.. I put that period of time in the movie, the middle 1800’s, as one of the eras that would have been great to live through. But one movie I will watch more than once certainly does not change the fact I do not watch the same show or the same movie over and over.
When we moved to Florida, I started the 6th grade. The Colorado school system was so far ahead of Florida at that time, I used to joke that I could turn in a blank paper and get an “A”. I was already a reader at that age and would devour library books at a breakneck pace. I continued down the path of reading and came across, “The Carpetbaggers”, by Harold Robbins. While the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew peaked my interest in suspense and mystery, Robbins’ book was probably one of the first books that made an impression on me which put some goals in my life.
“The Carpetbaggers” was supposedly about Howard Hughes, who was a big name when I was growing up. And the Max Brand character was supposedly Hopalong Cassidy. So I decided I was going to live a life of adventure and make my mark on society like Hughes. In some ways, I did make a mark, but it was not the mark I set out to make after reading “The Carpetbaggers”.
I became one of those Stoic characters who didn’t ask for help but went around rescuing damsels in distress, all the while riding my white horse. One issue I had was I was grumbler and that is not a characteristic of a quiet resucuer. While in boot camp, riding in the back of a truck, in the rain, on the way to the range for target practice, Sanchez called me a grumbler. We did settle up who has the right to call me a grumbler later that day, but I decided grumbling was not going to be a way of life for me if I was going to be this tough guy adventurer.
So I kind of identify a little with John Henry, the Keifer character in “Forsaken”, and Marshall Dillon in “Gunsmoke”. But being those characters has its drawbacks. It is hard to have fun, enjoy life, be a hugger in the Christian life.
But then I found a book that had an even more profound effect on my life, the Bible. I found a verse in there that said I was a new creature, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” II Corinthians 5:17
While I never found where Syndley Whiplash tied Nell to the tracks so I could recuse a damsel in distress, I have a new task now, which is to go in all the world and make diciples, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”, Matthew 28:18-20
I know I am a new creature, but I would still like to use the positive lingering of John Henry and Marshall Dillon traits to accomplish my task. Maybe I will go and watch “Forsaken” one more time and see if there are any pointers I missed the last 10 times I watched it. Or I could read Proverbs once again for the eleventh time. Decisions, Decisions.