On April 28, 2021

NOTES AND RUMINATIONS ON ICHABOD: THE SEARCH FOR GOD’S GLORY IN AMERICA’S SPIRITUAL WILDERNESS Part III

PART III: “ICHABOD AS AMERICAN SHIBBOLETH.”

DEFINITION: “(1) A word which was made the Criterion by which to distinguish the Ephraimites not being able to pronounce the letter, ‘sh,’ who pronounced the word ‘Sibboleth.’ See Judges 12:6. Hence, (2) The Criterion of a culture or party identification; or that which distinguishes one party from another, and usually some peculiarity of that culture in things of little importance.”

SCRIPTURE. “You were running the race nobly. Who has interfered in (hindered and stopped you from) your heeding and following the Truth? This [evil] persuasion is not from Him Who called you [Who invited you to freedom in Christ]. A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump [it perverts the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church].” GALATIANS 5:7-9, AMPC

QUOTATIONS

“Thus it is necessary, that God’s awful majesty, His authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness, should be manifested. But this could not be, unless sin and punishment had been decreed; so that the shining forth of God’s Glory would be very imperfect, both because these parts of Divine Glory would not shine forth as the others do, and also the Glory of his goodness, love, and holiness would be faint without them; nay, they could scarcely shine forth at all.” – JONATHAN EDWARDS, ‘Works of Jonathan Edwards,’ 1739-1742; edited

“Can we give up all for the love of God? When the Surrender of ourselves seems too much to ask, it is first of all because our thoughts about God Himself are paltry. We have not really seen Him, we have hardly tested Him at all and learned how good He is. In our blindness we approach Him with suspicious reserve. We ask how much of our fun He intends to spoil, how much He will demand from us, how high is the price we must pay before He is placated.” – ELISABETH ELLIOTT, ‘The Path of Loneliness: Finding Your Way Through the Wilderness to God,’ 1990; edited

“Again, Salt and Light have lost their effectiveness, and now Darkness reigns. We who are called by the name of Jesus are responsible. We have failed to do our part either from complacency, or compromise with the world. Others have become afraid to boldly stand for their views – and their God. Regardless of our reasons, if we don’t speak Truth about our God and His Word to a dark, lost world, we deny Him. Accordingly, Jesus said that ‘if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before the Father’ (Matt. 10: 33). Therein is the problem.” – MARILYN CRABB, “America’s Turned Her Back on God–Now God’s Turning His Back on Us,” ‘Renew America,’ January 29, 2014; edited

FIRST THOUGHTS

America, it would seem, has largely become a Caricature of herself in the last five years or so. That is to say, we have come to believe certain things, memorialized in an endless array of Folk Sayings related to former president, DONALD TRUMP.

The following statements, for example, were made at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, August 24-27, 2020. – ‘US News (Reuters),’ August 27, 2020; edited

“If the Left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns, and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment and other Constitutional freedoms.” – DONALD TRUMP

“Donald Trump did not come to Washington to win praise from the Beltway elites. Donald Trump came to Washington for one reason and one reason alone, to make America great again.” – IVANKA TRUMP

“Today’s Democratic Party doesn’t want to improve life for middle America. They prefer that all of us in flyover country keep quiet. And let them decide how we should live our lives. They want to tell you when you can go to work. When your kids can go to school. They want to tax your job out of existence, and then send you a government check for unemployment. They want to tell you what kind of car you can drive, what sources of information are credible, and even how many hamburgers you can eat.” – MITCH MCCONNELL

“Four years ago, President Trump promised to be your voice. He kept that promise. But there’s still so much more to do. The choice before you could not be clearer. Forward in freedom or backward in socialism. Forward in prosperity, or backward in poverty. Forward in personal liberty or backwards in more government control.” – KEVIN MCCARTHY

“We have a choice: Do we want big government that controls our lives from cradle to grave? Or do we believe in the power and wisdom of the people and their ability to self-govern with help from a limited federal government?” – DR. BEN CARSON

“While they call it chaos, President Trump calls it change.” – DAN SCAVINO

“These continuous riots in Democratic cities, gives you a good view of the future under Biden.” – RUDY GIULIANI

ON JANUARY 6 INSURRECTION. “Right from the start, it was zero threat. Look, they went in — they shouldn’t have done it — some of them went in, and they’re hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know? They had great relationships. A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in, and they walked out.” – DONALD TRUMP, cited by Colby Itkowitz, ‘Washington Post,’ March 26, 2021; edited

So what’s my point? Just this: The American Right, including the Church, have become victim to their Leader’s ‘Intellectual and Moral Vapidity.’ In medical terms, an eminent psychiatrist referred to such condition as this.

COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS. “The struggle between Light and Darkness has broken out everywhere. The Rift runs through the whole globe, and the Fire that set Germany ablaze is smouldering and glowing wherever we look. The Conflagration that broke out in Germany was the outcome of psychic conditions that are universal.” – CARL JUNG, cited by Paul Levy, ‘Baltimore Chronicle,’ June 19, 2005; edited

MORAL INSANITY. My point has continued to be that for all intents and purposes, America and her Church Leaders have largely and willfully become completely incapable of being able to Distinguish the difference between Right and Wrong, True and False, Good and Evil, for both social scientific and spiritual reasons.

ISAIAH 5:20-21. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent and shrewd in their own sight!” (AMPC)

To Sum Up: The entire edifice of what we call, ‘The Conservative-Christian Right’ has become Corrupted by nothing less than a ‘Spiritual Virus,’ issued from Donald Trump from the very first day he set his mouth to a microphone. I shall call this American Disorder:

TRUMP SYNDROME: ‘A group of symptoms which consistently occur together, manifest in disordered, repetitive thought and speech patterns that imitate a meme or cliché, and lead to increasing levels of intellectual, spiritual, social, and political Dysfunction.’ – C.W. KELLY, April 25, 2021, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Selah.

THE PATHWAY TO PATHOLOGY

One of my favorite radio preachers that I used to listen to almost every day during my tenure at Liberty University from 2006-2016, was DR. J. VERNON MCGEE. Here is one of his most memorable declarations on how an otherwise great nation can end up in Catastrophic Collapse.

THE DOWNFALL OF A NATION “begins in ‘Idolatry’; it begins in turning away from the living and true God. We would like to think that Idolatry has gone out of style, that no one today in this country is bowing down to an idol. That, of course, is not true. Many a man today is worshiping the almighty dollar. Many a man worships sex. Many a man worships pleasure. May I say to you, anything that you give yourself to, anything that takes all your time or energy, anything that takes all of you is what you worship. That, my friend, is your god, that is your idol, and that is what God Condemns. God says that He is a jealous God. He says, ‘I made you. I created you. I have redeemed you. And I want you.’ When a man turns his back on God, he is doing the worst thing any man can possibly do.” – “The Downfall of a Nation,” ‘Through the Bible: Notes on Habakkuk,’ 1988; edited

I completely agree with Dr. McGee. At the heart of America’s Great Downfall, then, began the moment we decided we wanted ‘Another King,’ one more suited to our liking – less demanding, less holy, less involved in our lives. That is to say, much ‘Less Divine.’

EIGHT STAGES OF AMERICAN DECLINE. Now here I go out on a bit of an unusual branch, being so ardently committed to solid documentation. The following Historical Taxonomy is only indirectly attributed to ALEXANDER TYTLER, a Scottish judge, philosopher and historian, known for his “Tytler Cycle” of the Decline of Nations. I still believe that his model holds Biblical merit, so I use them here.

My adaptation of Tytler’s work comes from an excellent review and commentary by MSGR. CHARLES POPE, “How Civilizations Rise and Fall in Eight Stages,” ‘Brown Pelican,’ June 29, 2020; edited.

OPEN. “For those of us who love our country and our culture, the pain is real. By God’s grace, many fair flowers have come from Western culture as it grew over the past millennium. Whatever its imperfections (and there were many), great beauty, civilization, and progress emerged at the crossroads of faith and human giftedness. But now it appears that we are at the End of an Era. We are in a tailspin we don’t seem to be able to pull ourselves out of. Greed, aversion to sacrifice, secularism, divorce, promiscuity, and the destruction of the most basic unit of civilization (the family), do not make for a healthy culture. There seems to be no basis for true Reform and the deepening Darkness suggests that we are moving into the last stages of a Disease. This is painful but not unprecedented.

FROM BONDAGE TO SPIRITUAL GROWTH. “Great civilizations are formed in the Crucible. The Ancient Jews were in bondage for 400 years in Egypt. The Christian Faith and the Church came out of 300 years of persecution. Western Christendom emerged from the chaotic conflicts during the Decline of the Roman Empire and the movements of often fierce ‘Barbarian’ tribes. American Culture was formed by the injustices that grew in Colonial times. Sufferings and injustices cause—even force—spiritual growth. Suffering brings wisdom and demands a spiritual discipline that seeks justice and solutions.”

FROM SPIRITUAL GROWTH TO GREAT COURAGE. “Having been steeled in the Crucible of Suffering, better, more just world for succeeding generations. People who have little or nothing, also have little or nothing to lose and are often more willing to live for something more important than themselves and their own pleasure. A battle is begun, a battle requiring courage, discipline, and other virtues.”

FROM COURAGE TO LIBERTY. “As a result of the courageous fight, the Foe is vanquished and Liberty and greater justice emerges. At this point a Civilization comes forth, rooted in its greatest ideals. Many who led the battle are still alive, and the legacy of those who are not is still fresh. Heroism and the Virtues that brought about Liberty are still esteemed. The ideals that were struggled for during the years in the Crucible are still largely agreed upon.”

FROM LIBERTY TO ABUNDANCE. “Liberty ushers in greater prosperity, because a Civilization is still functioning with the Virtues of sacrifice and hard work. But then comes the first danger: Abundance. Things that are in too great an abundance tend to weigh us down and take on a life of their own. At the same time, the struggles that engender wisdom and steel the soul to proper discipline and priorities move to the background. Jesus said that man’s life does not consist in his possessions. But just try to tell that to people in a culture that starts to experience Abundance. Such a culture is living on the fumes of earlier sacrifices; its people become less and less willing to make such sacrifices. Ideals diminish in importance and abundance weighs down the souls of the citizens. The sacrifices, discipline, and virtues responsible for the thriving of the civilization are increasingly remote from the collective conscience; the ‘Enjoyment’ of their fruits becomes the focus.”

FROM ABUNDANCE TO COMPLACENCY. “To be Complacent means to be self-satisfied and increasingly unaware of serious trends that undermine health and the ability to thrive. Everything ‘looks’ fine, so it must ‘be’ fine. Yet foundations, resources, infrastructures, and necessary virtues are all crumbling. As virtues, disciplines, and ideals become ever more remote, those who raise alarms are labeled by the complacent as “killjoys” and considered extreme, harsh, or judgmental.”

FROM COMPLACENCY TO APATHY. “The word Apathy comes from the Greek and refers to a lack of interest in, or passion for, the things that once animated and inspired. Due to the Complacency of the previous stage, the growing lack of attention to disturbing trends advances to outright dismissal. Many seldom think or care about the sacrifices of previous generations and lose a sense that they must work for and contribute to the common good. ‘Civilization’ suffers the serious blow of being replaced by personalization and privatization in growing degrees. Working and sacrificing for others becomes more remote. Growing numbers becoming increasingly willing to live on the carcass of previous sacrifices. They park on someone else’s dime, but will not fill the parking meter themselves. Hard work and self-discipline continue to erode.”

FROM APATHY TO DEPENDENCE. “Increasing numbers of people lack the virtues and zeal necessary to work and contribute. The suffering and the sacrifices that built the culture are now a distant memory. As discipline and work increasingly seem ‘too hard,’ Dependence grows. The Collective Culture now tips in the direction of Dependence. Suffering of any sort seems intolerable. But Virtue is not seen as the solution. Having lived on the sacrifices of others for years, the Civilization now insists that ‘others’ must solve their woes. This ushers in growing demands for Governmental, collective solutions. This in turns deepens Dependence, as solutions move from personal virtue and local, family-based sacrifices to Centralized ones.”

FROM DEPENDENCE BACK TO BONDAGE. “As Dependence increases, so does Centralized Power. Dependent people tend to become increasingly dysfunctional and desperate. Seeking a ‘savior,’ they look to strong central leadership. But Centralized Power corrupts, and tends to usher in increasing intrusion by Centralized Power. Injustice and intrusion multiplies. But those in bondage know of no other solutions. Family and personal virtue (essential ingredients for any civilization) are now effectively replaced by an increasingly dark and despotic Centralized Control, hungry for more and more power. In this way, the Civilization is gradually ended, because people in Bondage no longer have the Virtues necessary to fight.”

THE CENTER OF THINGS. Noting that over the span of time, nations tend not to last for more than 200 years or so, depending on historic circumstances. Of vast importance to this discussion, it is the ABSENCE OF VIRTUE that remains as the central destructive force that ends a Civilized Order.

Just like the American Founders warned.

SAMUEL ADAMS, for example, wisely noted this at an astounding time when the mere exchange of personal letters served as the building blocks of a New Christian Order.

“Let me talk with you a little about the Affairs of our own Colony. I perswade myself, my dear Friend, that the greatest Care and Circumspection will be used to conduct its internal Police with Wisdom and Integrity. The Eyes of Mankind will be upon you to see whether the Government, which is now more popular than it has been for many years past, will be productive of ‘more Virtue, moral and political.’ We may look up to Armies for our Defence, but Virtue is our best Security. It is not possible that any State shd long remain free, where Virtue is not supremely honord.”- ‘Letter from Samuel Adams to James Warren,’ November 4, 1775

The Psalmist would heartily agree.

“No king is saved by the great size and power of his army; a mighty man is not delivered by [his] much strength. A horse is devoid of value for victory; neither does he deliver any by his great power. Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.” – PSALM 33:16, AMPC

WHEREWITH AMERICA, BELOVED? Without belaboring the obvious point, I propose that both the Nation and her Church, the now lapsed Center of Virtue, are leading the way Downward toward A TIPPING POINT, between Stages 6 and 8. Reminds of another apt Scripture describing similar condition in Ancient Israel.

“But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked. You became fat, you grew thick, you were gorged and sleek! Then he forsook God Who made him and forsook and despised the Rock of his salvation.” – DEUTERONOMY 32:15, AMPC

Fat. Thick. Gorged, and Sleek. Indeed, beloved, indeed. Selah.

THE WAY WE WERE

I know. I have cited this song title from the 1973 movie of the same name before, but it fits here as a Bridge to our Teaching for today. To This Point: What was America truly like ‘in the Good Old Days’ of our past? Were they as ‘Golden’ as we have been endlessly taught that they were?

I realize this is patriotic heresy, but bear with me here. Historic Truth is all I care about anymore, not the Spin of cultural memes and cliché. And yes, this is intended to poke a finger straight in the eye of egregious ‘Nation Worship,’ so prevalent among both Evangelical Christians and American Tribalists today.

Especially since 2016.

I take the following commentary from MILES SMITH, assistant professor of history at the well regarded conservative intellectual center, Hillsdale College. I love this piece for its objective presentation of THREE VIEWS OF THE AMERICAN STORY. He uses the magnificent ‘American Sea Eagle’ painted by Charles Audubon as Metaphor for his analysis; thus the Graphic selected for the present Essay. – “A Lie, a Mistake, or a Miracle?” ‘The American Conservative,’ April 24, 2021; edited

PROGRESSIVES. “Progressives point to the history of racism and slavery in the early Republic and argue that any articulation of the United States as a polity devoted to liberty and justice is a fabrication, and more particularly a fabrication done in the service of maintaining white supremacy in the modern American Order. Hundreds if not thousands of pieces of media have invoked the notion that the United States committed an unforgivable original sin in racism and slavery and that anything associated with the American Constitution or its founding documents must therefore also be tainted with the unforgivable legacy of racism and slavery. In this view the notion that the United States was or has ever been devoted to freedom is at least a fabrication, if not an untenable lie.”

ANACHRONISTS. “[This] second group of people view America’s Traditional Order as a well-intentioned but Anachronistic Mistake. Traditions, or anything that stands in the way of a more modern societal mores, might be beautiful, like Washington’s Eagle, but they can’t be defended according to modern scientific or social standards. The supposed unreliability of traditions and the empirically unverifiable nature of their benefits to society mean that they can and must be negotiated. Surely there is something new, more efficient, and more free that could be offered to society instead of ossified and antiquated tradition. Customs and Traditions are all well and good, we may be told, but they must inevitably give way to the Progress offered to society by liberal capitalism and changing social norms. Constitutional Government, said Woodrow Wilson, does ‘not remain fixed in any unchanging form, but grows with the growth and is altered with the change of the Nation’s needs and purposes.’ Latter-day Wilsonians don’t hate the history of the American Constitutional Order, but they think it retains Mistaken Traditions and Customs that modern theories must correct according to the needs and purposes of the societal moment.”

NATIONALISTS. “A third group of Americans view the Republic as something supremely Unparalleled. Audubon’s magnificent Eagle and the unique Natural Law regime founded by the American Republic had no equivalents. They were ‘Miraculous,’ only able to be created in a unique moment by unique legal and political talents. Like Audubon capturing in a painting the image of an almost extinct eagle, the Founders were at the right place in the right time and placed the right ideals into the American Constitutional Order to create the most perfect regime human history had ever seen. In his book ‘America’s Revolutionary Mind,’ political theorist C. BRADLEY THOMPSON wrote that the American Revolution was ‘the most important event in American history’ and that it ‘created a New Kind of Society unlike any other that had ever existed.’ Modern ‘Beliefs in equality, freedom, rights justice, the rule of law, were born during the Revolutionary Era expressed in its noblest symbol, the Declaration of Independence.’ Thompson argued that ‘in countless ways the world in which we live was shaped by the ideas and actions of 1776.’ Any doubts about the perfection of the American Regime, therefore, cannot be tolerated.”

A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. You will notice you may not ‘fit’ any of these three categories. Not to worry whatsoever. Though the Context of the following passage is linked to the Lord’s discussion of Spiritual Gifts, it points as well toward my passionate encouragement for us Christians to ‘Do it better’ than the world.

Including Loving Truth and Excellence as a central means of Honoring God.

“But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all—love].” – 1 CORINTHIANS 12:31, AMPC

I believe that Professor Smith achieves that beautifully in his Concluding Statement.

“I’m a trained historian; my vocation tells me to treat cautiously sensational claims. I trust official processes, verifiable sources, and the scientific method. But those things are not enough to create the True Story of American life. That which is fantastic, mystical, and sublime needs its place in the American Story just as much as so-called authentic or real history. Chesterton once wrote of Americans that they had ‘a certain Spirit that is childish in the good sense of the word; something that is innocent, and easily pleased.’ Perhaps if we today were more easily pleased with ‘a good childishness,’ we might as a Nation spend less time torching our society for its sins and imperfections, or desperately clinging to every passing capitalistic comfort multinational corporations enslave us with, or trying to convince ourselves that we’re somehow ‘The best’ or ‘The greatest’ people or regime that has ever lived or existed. We would be a better people if we spent more time hoping that great mysterious Eagles once swept across the waters of the Midwest, hoping that someday they might again.”

Selah. Selah.

THE TEACHING

“You were running the race nobly. Who has interfered in (hindered and stopped you from) your heeding and following the Truth? This [evil] persuasion is not from Him Who called you [Who invited you to freedom in Christ]. A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump [it perverts the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church].” – GALATIANS 57-9, AMPC

I have posed this painful Question before: What happened to us, beloved, just how did we arrive here at this massively divided, disillusioned, forever Trumpian America? This Scripture gives us the beginning of an Answer

WHO HINDERED YOU? Taken from the Greek term, ‘Anakoptó’ [ἀνακόπτω], meaning: “To beat back, check (one’s progress); cut down; cause you to mourn, lament or grieve; to stop or interrupt; obstruct or impede; prevent from moving forward; to retard one’s growth; interpose obstacles or impediments [toward the achievement of some goal].”

DK’S ARGUMENT. In short, ‘Bad Theology,’ the very cause of so many strenuous admonitions from both the Messiah and the Apostles who passionately forewarned of Bad Doctrine: “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

RICHARD WEAVER’S VIEW. “It seems to me that the world is no more than ever dominated by the gods of Mass and Speed and that the worship of these can lead only to the lowering of standards, the adulteration of quality, and, in general, to the Loss of those things which are essential to the Life of Civility and Culture. This book was intended as a challenge to Forces that threaten the Foundations of Civilization.” – ‘Ideas Have Consequences,’ 1948, p. vi; edited

To tie a Doctrinal ribbon on all this, I turn to an insightful Commentary by English Baptist scholar and theologian, JOHN GILL. He drives home my Thesis with precise Biblical assault against the ‘Those who hinder us’ the most in these Times of the Antichrist.

His Statement is so powerful, I will quote it at full length. Please let his words sink deep, for the Days yet ahead of us, beloved.

“Ye did run well.’ In the Christian Race; when they first set out in a profession of Religion, they embraced and held fast, and were zealously attached to the Truths of the Gospel; they were in the lively exercise of grace on its proper object, and very diligent in the discharge of duty; they made great proficiency in the knowledge of Divine things, and ran with cheerfulness and without weariness in the Ways of Christ, and in the Paths of Truth and Holiness. The Metaphor is taken from runners in a race; see 1 Corinthians 9:24 so far this is said to their commendation, but this should have been persisted in.

‘Who did hinder you.’ Not the Apostle, nor any of his brethren; no, they encouraged them to go on, and gave them all the assistance they could, to help them forward; but it was THE FALSE APOSTLES that hindered them, who did all they could to remove them to ‘Another Gospel,’ and turn them aside out of the Right Way.

‘That ye should not obey the Truth?’ – Of the Gospel, particularly the Truth of Justification by the righteousness of Christ; which they did not so cheerfully embrace, and show such a respect unto, as they had formerly done; see Galatians 3:1, and which [the Apostle] says not by way of inquiry, but of complaint and concern; and with some Indignation against the persons who had been the means of hindering their Christian progress, and ‘With a view to Reclaim the Galatians’ if possible.” ‘Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 1746-1763; edited

LAST THOUGHTS

Our Last Days Mission was poignantly captured by Dr. Gill: ‘To Reclaim those foolish Galatians!’ Yes, beloved, though my ways sometimes seem harsh, it is for the Witness of Alarm to those who are perishing, especially inside the very Sanctuaries of the American Church, our Modern day, “foolish” Galatians described by Paul.

“O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto whom—right before your very eyes—Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified?” – GALATIANS 3:1, AMPC

“BEWITCHED,” you say? From the Greek, ‘Baskainó’ [βασκαίνω]: “To slander, to bewitch; usage – I give the evil eye to, fascinate, bewitch, overpower; to [falsely] malign, accuse or charge; ‘to cast an evil spell, wishing injury upon someone; to bewitch’) – properly, to exercise evil power over someone, like putting them under a spell; figuratively, to captivate (‘be spellbinding’), appealing to someone’s vanity and selfishness; ‘to blight by the evil eye, bewitch;’ In classical Greek, Aristotle used baskaínō for ‘bewitching through the use of an evil power. That is, putting someone under a spell so they no longer could think (act) according to reason; is also associated with envy.”

Now, beloved, this is serious, sobering business here, to this incendiary, existential and theological point: Those who falsely accuse the righteous of evildoing, are doing nothing less than PRACTICING WITCHCRAFT, the penalty for which is Death.

Read this ever so carefully.

“He who is victorious shall inherit all these things, and I will be God to him and he shall be My son. But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)—[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.” – REVELATION 21:7-8, AMPC

CODA. ‘But Dr. Kelly, I am saved! I said the prayer!’ Are you now? For the sake of healthy argument, al least consider TWO CHOICES: One, to Disagree with my rendering of the Canon, and if you are wrong, risk Hellfire. Two, examine yourself to see if you are “in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5), and if not, ‘Repent’ right where you sit or stand, right now!

Please, hear the heart of the Apostle, the Lord’s heart, and my own as I close with this Shout to the American Church, should we Choose to see even a portion of God’s Glory Return to America.

“Pay close attention to yourself [concentrate on your personal development] and to your teaching; PERSEVERE in these things [hold to them], for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” – 1 TIMOTHY 4:16, AMPC; emphasis my own

Ever your servant, DK

DK BLOG-VLOG LINKS

YOUTUBE VIDEO – SUBSCRIBE!

FACEBOOK BLOG

https://www.facebook.com/DrCWKelly/

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Dr. Cliff “DK” Kelly

Digital Circuit Rider

PAYPAL: https://www.paypal.me/clifsuzkelly

GOFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dk-ministries-inc

CHECKS TO:
Dr. Cliff Kelly
PO Box 62612
Colorado Springs, CO 80962

CONTACT: