On April 9, 2022

VISION OF THE CIRCUIT RIDE COVENANT: THE COMISSION, THE CHARGE, THE MESSAGE, THE PROMISE – WITH END NOTES FROM THE BOOK OF ELI

PART I: THE COMMISSION

PART II: The Charge

PART III: The Message

PART IV: The Promise

PART V: Endnotes from The Book of Eli

SCRIPTURE. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; ‘If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.’” – ZECHARIAH 3:7, KJV

QUOTATIONS

TOLKIEN. “[Gandalf] ‘I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.’ [Frodo] ‘I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!’” – J.R.R. Tolkien, ‘The Hobbit,’ 1937, p. 7; edited

HOFSTADTER. “The Puritan Ideal of the Minister as an intellectual and educational leader was steadily weakened in the face of the Evangelical Ideal of the minister as a popular crusader and exhorter … By 1853 an outstanding clergyman complained that there was ‘an impression, somewhat general, that an intellectual clergyman is deficient in piety, and that an eminently pious minister is deficient in intellect.’” ― Richard Hofstadter, ‘Anti-Intellectualism in American Life,’ 1966; edited

JOHNSTONE & JOHNSTONE. “In his younger days, Taylor Callahan didn’t know right from wrong—and didn’t much care either. As a Confederate bushwhacker, renegade outlaw, and all-around hellraiser, he gave the Devil himself a run for his money. Most folks figured Taylor would end up swinging from a noose or shot dead in a poker game. But somewhere along the road to Perdition, he decided to change his wicked ways. To atone for his sins. And to fight the good fight—against the evil that men do … So he became ‘a traveling preacher.’ But Taylor Callahan is no ordinary preacher. He rides the Western Circuit looking to help lost souls.” – W. W. Johnstone & J. A. Johnstone, ‘Taylor Callahan, Circuit Rider,’ 2022; edited

FIRST THOUGHTS

ORIGINS: FEB. 5, 2020. To begin the Story, it is set squarely in the historic year of 2020, on the very day when then-president DONALD TRUMP was acquitted 52-48 on charges of Abuse of Power, and 53-47 on Obstruction of Justice, in his First Impeachment Trial in the House of Representatives.

Among other charges was this now explosive one:

‘Trump withheld military aid and an invitation to the White House to Ukrainian president VOLODYMR ZELENSKYY in order to influence Ukraine to announce an investigation into Trump’s political opponent JOE BIDEN and to promote a discredited Conspiracy Theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 presidential election. A phone call between Trump and Zelenskyy on July 25, 2019, was particularly important—whistleblower Lt. Col. ALEXANDER VINDMAN was a participant in the call, and later informed Congress” (‘Wikipedia,’ rev. Mar. 19, 2022; cf. SETH ABRAMSON, “The Truth About Trump and Ukraine,” Mar. 30, 2022; edited).

THE CALL. The implications are now beyond dreadful. What the American President did, whether inadvertently, or vastly worse, in possible unison with Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN, directly contributed to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, and the virtual genocidal slaughter of thousands of civilians – men, women, and little children.

Little did I realize that on the heels of these ‘First Moves’ by Trump and Putin, I would be Called to engage this Historic Event in ways I had never even slightly imagined.

BIRTH PANGS. Back in my comparatively quiet world, I had as usual begun my morning study and devotion that cold February morning around 6 am, but had no hint of that of the historic decision to come down later in the day. And for some rather uncanny reason, I was drawn first to TWO VERSES & ONE LEADER that would forever reshape the direction of my own latter days, however limited or lengthy.

THE SCRIPTURES. “I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise You … But [as for] you, teach what is fitting and becoming to sound (wholesome) doctrine [the character and right living that identify true Christians].” – PSALM 22:22; TITUS 2:1; AMPC

THE MAN: JOHN WESLEY, an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist, who was a leader of a Revival Movement within the Church of England known as ‘Methodism’ [emphasizing the formation of Christian character]. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist Movement that continues to this day. Wesley had felt that ‘the Church failed’ to call sinners to Repentance, that many of the clergy were corrupt, and that people were perishing in their sins. He believed he was commissioned by God to bring about Revival in the Church, and no opposition, persecution, or obstacles could prevail against the divine urgency and authority of this Commission.” DK: His Methodism therefore was not aimed at the unsaved, but rather toward the ‘Reformation of the Church.’ Selah.

THE COMMENTARY. “The Devil is not fighting Religion. He’s too smart for that. He is producing a ‘Counterfeit Christianity,’ so much like the real one that good Christians are afraid to speak out against it. We are plainly told in the Scriptures that in the Last Days men will not endure Sound Doctrine and will depart from the Faith and heap to themselves teachers to tickle their ears. We live in an Epidemic of this itch, and popular preachers have developed ‘Ear-tickling’ into a fine art.– DR. VANCE HAVNER, Playing Marbles With Diamonds, 1985; edited

THE CONTEXT. It was from this stormy Ideological and Personal Milieu that converged on that morning of FEBRUARY 5, 2020, that somehow came what is still being shaped as The Vision of ‘DK Circuit Rides.’

You will note when this Vision spilled into me that morning, I had had no means of steady income since 2017, bills were piling up with no prospects of being hired by any religious institutions due to my opposition to the spiritual and political forces of Donald Trump.

All I had was The Vision, and pretty much nothing more.

Then, seemingly out of Nowhere, ‘after’ The Vision began to come forth and take shape in February – The Patronage began to stream in at the modest monthly support I had set before the Lord. It has been consistent ever since that time – MARCH 2020 – so much so that I haven’t needed to actually ask for support in months.

All glory to the One who issued The Vision, and the faithful among you for supporting it.

SHORT HISTORY OF THE CIRCUIT RIDES

The following review is borrowed largely from that First Essay I published in February 2020, with considerable revisions and updates – and corrections of some historical errors I had made.

BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUIT RIDES. ‘Britannica’ (July 20, 1998) records that John Wesley was born June 17, 1703, Epworth, Lincolnshire, England—and died March 2, 1791, London. He was known as a leading Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and founder, with his brother Charles, of the ‘Methodist Movement’ in the Church of England …

Following his father’s death in April 1735, John was persuaded by an Oxford friend, JOHN BURTON, and Col. JAMES OLGELTHORPE, Governor of the Colony of Georgia in North America, to oversee the spiritual lives of the colonists and to missionize the Native Americans as an agent for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Accompanied by Charles, who was ordained for this Mission, John was introduced to some Moravian emigrants who appeared to him to possess the spiritual peace for which he had been searching … During a meeting on May 24, 1738, composed largely of Moravians under the auspices of the Church of England, Wesley’s intellectual conviction was transformed into a ‘personal experience’ while Luther’s preface to the commentary to the Letter of Paul to the Romans was being read [known as his “Aldersgate (conversion) Experience”].

‘Britannica’ (Nov. 18, 2011) also reports that his Methodism was introduced into America by Irish immigrants who had been converted by John Wesley. Wesley also sent preachers, the most successful of whom were WILLIAM STRAWBERRY, PETER CARTWRIGHT, and FRANCIS ASBURY, a blacksmith, who arrived in 1771. He adapted Wesley’s Principles to the needs of the settled communities and of the Frontier, but, unlike Wesley, Asbury supported the American Revolution and the New Republic. Despite this difference, Wesley sent the presbyters he ordained along with THOMAS COKE as superintendent to help Asbury in 1784. In the same year, The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized, and Asbury and Coke allowed themselves to be called Bishops.

NOTES ON ASBURY. After limited schooling Asbury was licensed as a local preacher, and at the age of 21 he was admitted to the Wesleyan Conference. For four years he served as an itinerant preacher in England. In August 1771 he volunteered for service in North America.

Landing at Philadelphia the following October, he preached wherever he got a hearing, and he was soon made John Wesley’s General Assistant. To enforce Wesley’s rules for his preachers and societies, Asbury required every preacher to ‘travel a Circuit.’ He favoured American Independence and remained in the country when every other active preacher appointed by Wesley had departed for Britain. In 1778 he became a citizen of Delaware …

It was Asbury, who, as Wesley’s General Assistant, was responsible for organizing The Circuits. While the erudite, Oxford trained man of letters, John Wesley, often leaves us with the image of a circuit rider of considerable station, the American version, typically, was described by one historical review as, “the toughest men in the mountains.”

Here is a still more detailed description of these intrepid Riders, one that I particularly love, so perfectly contrasted with the kind of preachers we too often encounter in today’s American pulpits.

“In an age of fancy pants televangelists, soft-spoken ministers and almost cartoonish local clergy, it might be difficult for the average American to understand that not too long ago, there was a sect of ‘Preachers who feared neither man nor beast.’ Standing head and shoulders above most, these fearless men of God braved terrifying storms, endured hunger and battled deadly gangs at nearly every turn, simply in order to fulfill their calling to ‘faithfully execute the Scriptures.’” – EDITORS, “Circuit Riding Preachers,” Appalachian Magazine, September 27, 2017; edited

Resembling Clint Eastwood more than Pee Wee Herman, these heroic figures helped bring Order out of the Social and Doctrinal Chaos that prevailed on the 18^th century, hard scrabble American Frontier. The early Frontier ministry was often lonely, and very dangerous, and simply could not be tended by less stalwart Christian leaders.

A hymn by SAMUEL WAKEFIELD, for example, describes a Circuit Rider’s family anxiously waiting for the preacher’s return. The final stanza reads thus.

“Yet still they look with glistening eye,

Till lo! a herald hastens nigh;

He comes the tale of woe to tell,

How he, their prop and glory fell;

How died he in a stranger’s room,

How strangers laid him in the tomb,

How spoke he with his latest breath,

And loved and blessed them all in death.”

AWAKENING & REVOLUTION. The impact of decades of these Rides was no less than the very Transformation of the Church from the mid-1700s to the early 1800s, toward Orthodoxy and the crucial emphasis upon ‘Christian Character.’ And many historians would argue, set the stage for the arguably, theologically justified American Revolution of 1776.

Ideas have consequences and Big Ideas have Big Consequences (cf. Richard Weaver, 1948). The EDITORS at ‘Wikipedia’ again give us sobering elaboration.

“The First Great Awakening … or the Evangelical Revival was a series of Christian Revivals that swept Britain and its thirteen North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. The Revival Movement permanently affected Protestantism as adherents strove to renew individual piety and religious devotion. The Great Awakening marked the emergence of Anglo-American evangelicalism as a trans-denominational movement within the Protestant churches. In the United States, the term Great Awakening is most often used, while in the United Kingdom the movement is referred to as the Evangelical Revival.

Building on the foundations of older traditions—Puritanism, Pietism, and Presbyterianism—major leaders of the Revival such as GEORGE WHTFIELD, JOHN WESLEY AND JONATHAN EDWARDS articulated a Theology of Revival and Salvation that transcended denominational boundaries and helped forge a common Evangelical Identity. Revivalists added to the doctrinal imperatives of ‘Reformation Protestantism’ an emphasis on Providential outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Extemporaneous preaching gave listeners a sense of deep personal conviction of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ and fostered introspection and commitment to a new standard of personal morality. Revival Theology stressed that religious conversion was not only intellectual assent to correct Christian Doctrine, but had to be a ‘new birth’ experienced in the heart. Revivalists also taught that receiving assurance of salvation was a normal expectation in the Christian life.” – Mar. 17, 2022; edited

Indeed, it had, or at least until the 1830s and then later, 1900, when many historians trace the beginning of America’s Religious Decline to those two Eras.

THE 1830s. Such revolutionary thinkers and new streams of thought would come to the forefront of America, such as: Emerson and Thoreau’s Transcendentalism (or Spiritualism); Schleiermacher’s Theological Liberalism; Darwin’s Evolutionism; Kierkegaard’s Existentialism; and a host of new Christian Sects and Cults having little to do with the Canon (Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarianism etc.). Thankfully, the Second Great Awakening rose up from the preaching of Finney, Stone and Campbell and starting with the historic Cane Ridge (Kentucky) Revival in 1801.

THE 1900s. Whether for better or for worse, American Christianity began to take a much more Populist approach to the Bible at the turn of the 20^th Century, lessening its grip on a high view of the Scriptures. Along with increasing Secularism, such figures as William Seymour, Aimee Semple (McPherson), L. Ron Hubbard, Kathryn Kuhlman, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell Sr., Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Franklin Graham, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Andy Stanley, Ted Haggard, Kenneth Copeland and a host of other, largely Populist, Fundamentalist, Pentecostal and Charismatic preachers would collectively reshape the entire landscape of American Christianity for the future America inherited by 2020.

MY THESIS. I continue to posit that America’s Last Warning begin at the Turn of the 20^th Century, base on this passage: “Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive and remain with man forever, because he is indeed flesh [sinful, corrupt—given over to sensual appetites]; nevertheless his days shall yet be ‘a hundred and twenty years.’” – GENESIS 6:3, AMP

Which brings us neatly, again, to that Epochal Year of 2020. Selah.

THE TEACHING

As always, we shall first look at the KEY CONCEPTS contained in this passage, that constitute the First Commission I received from the Lord for the carrying out of the Circuit Ride Covenant that God initiated with me – and not the other way around.

You will note that this Covenant is ‘Conditional,’ as are all such agreements with God: Conditional Upon my sustained (not perfect) ‘Obedience.’ After months of fervently inquiring why God asked me to do this, with copious confessions of my many shortcomings, He finally replied: “Because you said ‘Yes.’” Selah.

IF THOU WILT WALK. From the Hebrew ‘Yalak’ [יָלַךְ]: “To go, walk, come, depart, proceed, move, go away; to die [to selfish motives]; to live a manner of life (figuratively); as a messenger who walks for Another; to walk a journey or lifestyle; depicted as a nomad who traveled on foot with a staff in his hand to provide support in walking as well as a weapon to defend against predators or thieves.”

IF THOU WILT KEEP. Here the word is, ‘Shamar’ [שָׁמַר]: “To keep, watch, preserve [His Word]; have charge of (as with a garden); to be prudent of speech; to retain, as with the storing up of food; to keep covenant and celebrate His truth; to discharge an office [or mission]; to protect; be on one’s guard by reason of the sword; to refrain or abstain from those paying regard to false vanities; to hedge around something as with thorns; to revere.”

JUDGE. From the Hebrew, ‘Din’ [דִּין]: “To be obedient, submissive; requite, compensate, rule, govern; ‘God has plead my cause;’ for a time when all God’s people were at strife throughout all the tribes; to be humbled by and in this assignment; also, to regulate, to sway, defend [the truth]; to contend with or strive against opponents in a controversy; thereby to govern His house by the authority of His Word and Holy Order.”

HAVE CHARGE. From the Hebrew, ‘Mishmereth’ [מִשְׁמֶרֶת], or: “To have custody, be a guard over; watch, charge, function; to keep and preserve a thing; the function of a Levite or priest; to serve as a sentry at one’s watch-post; a sacred obligation of service to be performed; to safeguard a Command or Law; fidelity to God and His Ordinances; implies an oblique reference to ‘Manna.’”

PLACES GIVEN. As a reward for Keeping Covenant, the servant is promised, in the Hebrew,’Mahlek’ [מַהְלֵךְ]: “Access to journey or travel to (a variety of places); a spreading out; freedom to wander or rove about; to traverse, travel [freely]; to travel form place to place; to pass from home to a distance; some implication of favor given, for access.” DK: I have asked the Lord to take these Messages to the whole world, if they be True enough – whether I am here or not to carry it out.

COMMENTARY. “‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts’ – For this Angel was no other than the Lord of Armies in heaven and in earth: ‘If thou wilt walk in My ways’; prescribed in the Word of God, moral, ceremonial, and evangelical; in Christ the Grand Way, and indeed the only way of salvation; and in the paths of faith, truth, righteousness, and holiness; in the ways of God’s Commandments, which are pleasant, and attended with peace; such a walk and conversation, and such obedience, the grace of God teaches, and obliges to.

‘And if thou wilt keep My charge’; the things He gave in charge, all His Commands and Ordinances, particularly such as belonged to the priestly office and Levitical service … ‘Then thou shall also judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts’: Preside in the temple, be governor in it, and have the care of all the courts belonging to the people and the priests, and the advantages arising from thence. The meaning is, that whereas the office of the priesthood was in disuse through the captivity, and was become contemptible through the sins of the priests, it should now be ‘Restored’ to its former honour and glory: To have a place in the House of God, the Church, is a great honour, and still more to be a governor and ruler in it [by solemn reverence for His Word].

‘And I will give thee places to walk among those that stand by’; either among fellow priests, or fellow saints; or rather among the angels that stood before the Angel of the Lord, and ministered to him; signifying that he should enjoy their company, be like unto then, and join in service with them in Heaven, in a future state: and ‘walking places’ among them denote the pleasures of the heavenly state, as well, as the safety and glory of it.” – JOHN GILL, ‘An Exposition of the Old and New Testament,’ 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK. The point here is not to elevate this old man, but the SACRED DUTY we all share in protecting, preserving and promulgating ‘The Doctrines of the Church.’ As with the Early Circuit Riders and Reformers, it grants Divine Access to the faithful holder of that position or assignment, to God’s Company in the heavenlies, who oversees and likewise preserves and protects The Mission of that individual.

Importantly, the entire focus is upon: Keeping God’s Truth! Beloved, this is the beginning, the middle and the end of ‘true holiness in life or death Fidelity to Christ,’ most especially in The Last Days of Anti-Truth.

THE DK CIRCUIT RIDES

FIRST EFFORTS. Working with some dear friends back in February 2020, such as our wise and courageous friend, Kendal Casey Unruh, I began to plan the first “Ride” somewhat close by at the Library of Castle Rock Colorado. Here are some of the details of that First Plan.

Standard Expectations with the selling of tickets at a modest price. Prepped for about 50 people while making arrangements for an off-duty police officer to keep the peace. Was also calculating how to advertise for the meeting and plan to delivering a 45-minute talk based on a current Commentary from my arsenal.

Then came COVID-19 that MARCH 2020, and the whole world changed – including my Vision for the Circuit Rides.

TO MIDDLE EARTH. As the months passed, I found myself out of necessity transforming into a completely ‘Digital Rider,’ posting major Commentaries twice a week (Wed. & Sat.), pretty much knocking myself out. Until I slowed down to once per week sometime last year, in 2021.

Then Covid slowed.

Therefore, I planned and launched the First Circuit Ride for JUNE 2021 to largely cover the Southern States. But not to the teeming audiences that would never show up, but rather to individual households and groups – not unlike many of the Early Riders of the 18^th Century. And that worked wonderfully for the most part. Broke bread with a number of you, encouraging each other in The Faith, interlaced with a great deal of joy and laughter and deepened connection.

My Second Attempt in DECEMBER-JANUARY 2021-22 to the Great West proved much less successful. Weather forced me far south, away from a literal 6-Day snowstorm some weathercasters labeled, “a lalapalooza.” On top of that a serious misunderstanding with one individual on the travel itinerary further distracted me from my plans.

The final blow came in my effort to try again in MARCH 2022, as “Influenza-A” sidelined me for about 10 days.

I am now planning the finish of the Great West Ride for this JUNE 2022, when my wife is free from her teaching schedule, and I can give the better part of 10 days to complete the original Ride, largely to the Great Northwest: Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana-Wyoming-Idaho, Washington State, Oregon, North California, Nevada-Utah, then home to Colorado).

THE FUTURE RIDES. I have one more major tour scheduled for AUGUST 2022, to steam East again, likely through the South once more (for personal reasons), and then straight North to New England. Might return via Canada, depending on the restrictions of gun laws and the price of gasoline. If not, straight West through the Midwest then dogleg south to Colorado.

MY GREATER HOPE. The new book is being released internationally this summer by Christian Faith Publishing, about the time of the Third Ride: “The Sixth Seal II: A Pre-Wrath Commentary Redux on the Rise of Trump Nationalism and the Decline of the American Order, 2017-2021.”

PLACES TO WALK. Depending on God’s opinion of that work, plus its reception by the reading public, I hope against all hope that it can open some new doors for the Message we carry of a Return to the Canon. My audience remains The Church more than the unsaved, though there will be some to some who will come inside The Ark, I trust, as a result of just proclaiming the True Gospel in its practical applications to Church Morality.

Whether of not any of that happens, is nearly entirely up to our King. I will do the lighter lifting of continuing to write and speak out, but such Favor only comes from Him.

LAST THOUGHTS

So just what are these Circuit Rides designed to achieve? TWO OBJECTIVES: ‘Church Reform and Preparation for the Second Advent.’. The Scriptures are clear on these Commissions in relation to The Last Days, in Paul’s razor-sharp warning to us all in his Letter to his young disciple.

“But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning].” – 1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2, AMP

HISTORIC REALITY. Beloved of God, I tell you straight out that this is today’s American Church of Trump Nationalism. It is nothing less than what the Apostle wrote to Timothy, but now with flesh and blood ardent and de facto ‘False Teachers’ everywhere to bring it to stunning relief for all to see.

One Biblical scholar writes scathingly of all this time, though some 25 years ago, and I quote him at length.

“It is expressly taught that the Latter Times will be characterized by the Departure from the Faith. Latter Times means ‘in later times,’ periods of time subsequent to that time when the Apostle was writing. ‘Some will depart from the faith.’ The word ‘some’ is characteristic of 1 Timothy. What was a minority in this Epistle seems to have become a majority in 2 Timothy …

One can scarcely read this section without thinking of the Rise of Cults in our own day. The way these false systems have spread is accurately described here. A great part of their membership is made up of persons who were formerly in so-called Christian churches. Perhaps at one time these churches had been sound in the faith, but then they ‘drifted’ toward the social gospel. The cultist teachers came along offering ‘a more positive message,’ and these professing Christians were ensnared.

They gave willing heed or assent to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. ‘Deceiving spirits’ is used here in a figurative sense to describe the false teachers, indwelt by evil spirits, who deceive the unwary. ‘Doctrines of demons’ does not mean teachings about demons, but rather doctrines which are inspired by demons or have their source in the Demon World.

The word ‘hypocrisy’ suggests “wearing a mask” … They masquerade by using Bible terms and singing Christian hymns. Not only are they hypocrites, but they are ‘liars’ as well. Their teaching is not according to the Truth of God’s Word; they know this, and purposely deceive the people.

‘Their conscience is seared with a hot iron.’ Perhaps early in their lives their conscience had been tender, but they suppressed it so often and sinned against the Light so much that now their conscience has become insensitive and hardened. They no longer have any scruples about contradicting the Word of God and teaching things they know are untrue.” – WILLIAM MACDONALD, ‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995, p. 2091; edited

CASE STUDY. One of my favorite YouTube videos is that of a highly regarded and internationally acclaimed American pastor, MARK GUNGOR of Celebration Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Here is his bio-blurb online.

“Mark Gungor is one of the most sought-after speakers on marriage and relationships in the world today. Each year thousands of couples attend his Couples’ Comedy Events. Mark’s candid and comedic approach uses unforgettable illustrations and the power of laughter to teach proven principles that are guaranteed to strengthen any relationship. For over a decade, Mark’s materials have been the #1 resources for improving relationships used by the US Military. Mark has also been featured on national broadcasts and publications such as Focus on the Family, Life Today, ABC News and the Washington Times.”

So yeah, he’s a pretty big deal, right? A Christian bigshot success by any American standard. So here is what happened when I wrote to him about his support of Donald Trump. His very words, best I can recall.

“What? Are you serious? [In a mocking manner] You know, I think you need some therapy, and I can give you a list of them to consult. You really need help, I mean you sound insane. What is wrong with you? Seriously, you need a therapist!”

One reason I wrote to him was because he came to the pulpit dressed out in a stars and stripes jacket, tie and pants fitting for a scene from ‘The Music Man.’ He was all smiles and jokes and Lingua Americana, and I was provoked to confront him. Modestly, but directly.

CODA. I both grieve and remain outraged at this Postmodern circus caricature of both the Gospel and seditiously, a “Laughing Christ” so popular in our churches today. You know: Loving. Smiling. Forgiving. Jocular. Embracing. Nurturing. Uncritical. Always tender. ‘Another’ Jesus, an ‘American Jesus’ – whom I have never, ever known. – cf. 2 Corinthians 11:4

Thus, My Commission: To Go the Church with corrective messages of some severity. Just yesterday morning was praying about what should be my approach, and before I could finish the question I confess publicly, the Word came swiftly and emphatically:

“Shout!”

This is the very same Word used by the Apostle in an epic passage with which we are all familiar – or should be.

1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-17 (NKJV). “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with A SHOUT [‘Keleusma’ (κέλευσμα), ‘a commanding, arousing outcry’] with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

DK’S TAKE. My purpose is to help ‘Awaken’ a slumbering American Church and Pastorate. This is why I am severe – He has commanded it, so that they don’t face an infinitely more Severe Judgment when He Arrives. It is out of His Love mixed with Grief and Anger that He approaches His Church. But always, always ‘to Rescue,’ beloved. Rescue is His very name!

LAST WORD. This, therefore, is My Commission, and why I carry it out with such intensity and urgency. Millions of “Christians” have signed on to a softer gospel, what I referred to before as a ‘Gospel of Soft Magic.’ One that will lead them to Perdition and total, eternal destruction.

This is why I now “shout,” beloved. He has told me to, may God help me.

Ever your servant, DK

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