NOTES ON RELIEF FROM CONTEMPT: VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS IN THE LAST DAYS

SCRIPTURE. “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on and loving-kindness for us, for we are exceedingly satiated with contempt. Our life is exceedingly filled with the scorning and scoffing of those who are at ease and with the contempt of the proud (irresponsible tyrants who disregard God’s Law).” – PSALM 123:3-4, AMPC

QUOTES

“TIME is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.” ― CARL SANDBURG, Pulitzer Prize winning American poet, author of Good Morning, America (1928), and Abraham Lincoln biographer; edited

“Dude, the place is filling up,” I say. “It feels like we’re living in the bottom half of an Hourglass. Like somehow ‘we’re running out of time.’” ― CHUCK PALAHNIUK, ‘Choke,’ 2001; edited

“The Globalists, the Democrats, the Collectivists, hate anybody who’s conservative, anybody that believes in the individual. And, the fact is, those people promote individualism, nationalism, and that’s why they’ve got to be eradicated. What a horrible world if the system is successful.” – ALEX JONES,  Conservative Christian Conspiracy Theory radio host of Infowars; ordered by a Texas jury on August 5, 2022 to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

THE QUESTION before the house today is quite simple and direct: ‘Does God ever run of patience,’ and subsequently let Judgment fall on a Procrastinator?

Though you would not know it by most sermons being preached in the American Church today, the answer should be self-evident if you have ever picked up your Bible and read it even just a little bit: YES!

• GENESIS 6:3; 7:12 (NKJV). “And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ … And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.”

• GENESIS 18:20-21; 19:24 (NKJV). “And the Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know’ … Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.”

• ACTS 5:9-10 (NIV). “Peter said to [Sapphira], ‘How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband [Ananias] are at the door, and they will carry you out also.’ At that moment she fell down at his feet and died.”

• REVELATION 21:8 (AMP). “But as for the cowards and unbelieving and abominable [who are devoid of character and personal integrity and practice or tolerate immorality], and murderers, and sorcerers [with intoxicating drugs], and idolaters and occultists [who practice and teach false religions], and all the liars [who knowingly deceive and twist truth], their part will be in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

In each of these cases, God reached a point beyond which He would go no further in relenting from bringing Severe Judgment to those who did not listen to His many warnings. Countless examples of this can be found of course in both Old and New Testament passages.

But for now, let’s examine just why God sometimes moves in these extreme directions.

THE SEVERITY OF GOD. For reasons I cannot entirely identify God this phrase has been running through my mind for months on end now: “The Severity of God.” It is not an unfamiliar term to most American theologians, but it has tragically become an alien concept to the majority of today’s American Church, which could well be renamed: ‘Church of the Perpetually Sweet and Gentle Jesus.’

Notwithstanding my sarcasm, that statement is true, but only partially. The point is, that is not always the disposition of the Godhead.

This important Doctrinal Idea is ably summarized in a ‘Forerunner Commentary’ on Romans 11: 22 by JOHN W. RITTENBAUGH, published January-February 2012.

• PRINCIPLE I. “Paul admonishes us to ‘consider both God’s Goodness and Severity.’ ‘Both of these characteristics are part of what He is, and therefore we must respect both. We can make the contrast between them very sharp: Until Adam and Eve sinned, they received all Goodness from God. After their sin, it appears that His Severity hit them immediately; they were ushered out of the Garden. In Genesis 4, Cain sinned by killing Abel. At first, Cain received Goodness from God in that he was permitted to live, but he also received Severity in that he had to live as a marked vagabond. In these two early examples, both sides of God’s Judgment appear, and A PATTERN has become especially clear: ‘Severity results because of sin.’”

• COROLLARY. It logically follows from this First Premise of God’s moral universe that, conversely: ‘Goodness results because of obedience.’ there are as many examples in scripture of the consequences of such obedience including: ABRAHAM’S willingness at age 99 to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac on Mount Moriah; NOAH’S extreme obedience to build an Ark of gopherwood in the midst of a Pagan culture that remained fatally indifferent to what he was doing and why; DANIEL’S courageous defiance of the King’s command to eat certain foods and drink certain drinks; finally, the Supreme Act of Obedience by JESUS THE CHRIST who agonized in that Midnight Garden to submit Himself to unspeakable savagery so that others might live forever with Him.

This Doctrine is so blatantly clear that it is stunning how completely it has been ‘hideously expurgated’ in the past several generations from most American Pulpits. So we turn now to one of the most brilliant and accurate statements of God’s Severity from one of Americans most respected preachers.

DR. W. A. CRISSWELL. ‘Wikipedia’ describes this great man of God as: An American pastor, author, and a two-term elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1968 to 1970. As senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas for five decades he became widely known for expository biblical preaching at a popular level, and is regarded as a key figure in the late 1970s “Conservative Resurgence” within the Southern Baptist Convention.”

On the morning of November 18th, 1973, Pastor Criswell preached his own  classic sermon entitled, simply “The Severity of God.” As with most of our old school preachers in America, he pulls no punches as he cites one among many Canonical passages that lays waste to the Hyper-grace Model of our current Church.

1 PETER 3:12 [AMPC]: “‘For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), and His ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who practice evil [to oppose them, to frustrate, and defeat them].”

‘Prosopon.’ The Countenance, the Face of the Lord is against them [1 Peter 3:12], ‘epi, epi’ is usually translated ‘upon.’  But in its intensive use, it refers to a moving upon and thus a meaning of ‘moving against.’  It is a very active preposition used here. But the ‘Prosopon,’ the Countenance, the Face of the Lord is epi, moving against them that do evil. And it was this Text that brought to my mind that subject of THE FACE OF SEVERITY – unveiling ‘the severe countenance of God’ …

So the Text, “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil” [1 Peter 3:12], the Face of Severity – When I turn to the Bible, that is what I read about God all the way through; ‘nor is there ever any deviation from it.’”

THE DOCTRINE.  In looking for an adequate Summary of what was rightly called an official Doctrine of the Severity of God, I happened upon a wonderful Australian Bible scholar and teacher named RON GRAHAM, a generational legacy of the Church of Christ. Aided by Scriptural insight, he nicely sums up the foundation for this study in the following elaboration.

“In The Visions which John was given, Christ is portrayed as a powerful Warrior King. Upon His white steed, He ‘treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty’ (Revelation 19:11-21). It is not a popular picture, this Vision of our Lord as a God of fury, wrath, and fire. We hear much (as well we should) of the grace and kindness of our LORD. But we hear too little of the other side. The Scriptures treat both sides of Divine Nature — ‘Grace and Wrath.’

We are encouraged [therefore] to ‘Behold the goodness and severity of God’” (ROMANS 11:22).” – “The Severity of God,” ‘simply.bible.com,’ 2001; edited

THESIS. To extend my ongoing argument of the past two years or so, I propose that the American Church has held fast to the Doctrine of Grace but jettisoned the Doctrine of Severity for reasons that by now should be obvious to us all:

‘Convenience,’ for lack of a better term, in the attempt to avoid offending anyone for any reason.

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on and loving-kindness for us, for we are exceedingly satiated with ‘contempt.’ Our life is exceedingly filled with the scorning and scoffing of those who are at ease and with the contempt of the proud (irresponsible tyrants who disregard God’s Law).” – PSALM 123:3-4, AMPC

As always, we move to a closeup examination of this passage that clearly reveals to us TWO CATEGORIES of human beings: ‘The Righteous,’ and the ‘The Unrighteous.’ There is absolutely No Middle Ground – No interim subcategories, no infamously posited ‘Gray Zones,’ no Purgatory, beloved, nor any extenuated or implied ‘Between Groups’ Only the two.

• MALACHI 3:17-18 (AMPC). “‘And they shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him.’”

• MATTHEW 12:30 (AMP). “He who is not with Me [once and for all on My side] is against Me; and he who does not [unequivocally] gather with Me scatters.”

PRINCIPLE II. Almighty God Constructed the universe in such a way that ‘The Righteous’ are nearly always held in severe CONTEMPT by ‘The Unrighteous.’  That is the way the entire Biblical Canon reads, from Genesis to Revelation.

With that in mind, let’s take a deeper dive into this Word that serves as our crucial yet painful Teacher that will help prepare us for the days yet to come.

• CONTEMPT. This important Hebrew term comes to us from the word, ‘Buz’ [בּוּז], defined in its original use in the Scriptures as: “Being held in extreme derision; debased, shamed; severely disrespected or treated as one who is despicable or vile; regarded as completely worthless; disdained and hated;  considered an utter disgrace; viewed as ‘a laughingstock’ to be mocked and scorned publicly.” N. WEBSTER (1828): “This word is one of the strongest expressions of a mean opinion which the language affords.”

• THE PRINCIPLE RESTATED. “Indeed all who delight in piety and are determined to live a devoted and godly life in Christ Jesus will meet with persecution [harassment; oppression; otherwise be made to suffer mercilessly because of their religious stand].” – 2 TIMOTHY 3:12, AMPC; edited

COMMENTARY. “Persecution is an integral part of a devout Christian life. It is well that every young Timothy should be reminded of this. Otherwise, when he is called upon to go through Deep Waters, he might be tempted to think that he has failed the Lord or that the Lord is displeased with him for some reason. The fact is that Persecution is inevitable for all who desire to live in a godly manner.

The reason for this persecution is simple. ‘A godly life exposes the wickedness of others.’ People do not like to be thus exposed. Instead of repenting of their ungodliness and turning to Christ, they seek to destroy the one who has shown them up for what they really are. It is totally irrational behavior, of course, but that is characteristic of fallen man.

Paul had no illusions that the world would gradually become better and better, until finally all men would be converted. Rather, he knew by Divine Revelation that the very opposite would be the case. ‘Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse [in the Last Days].” – WILLIAM MACDONALD, ‘Believers Bible Commentary,’ 1995, pp. 2122-2123; edited

THE APPLICATION. There are TWO DATES on the American Calendar that are significant of the Great Changes that have transpired in our Nation, her Politics, and in the Church since 2016.

• JUNE 21, 2016. Trump met with 1,000 Evangelical Leaders to discuss support for his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. While he made only marginal gains at that meeting, the Trump Brand and Narrative was planted deep in the soil of virtually all Christian Leaders in a single day, with 39 percent pledging their support of Mr. Trump for the presidency.

• SEPTEMBER 29, 2016. Six weeks before the 2016 election, Donald Trump was in a conference room at Trump Tower in New York talking to select leaders of the Religious Right about sex-reassignment surgery. Here is journalist ALEX MORRIS’ riveting Summary of that historic meeting (“False Idol: Why the Christian Right Worships Donald Trump,” ‘Longform,’ Dec. 2, 2019; edited).

“The meeting was chummy, solicitous. None of the points mentioned were likely to be ones that Steve Bannon would have let escape Trump’s attention, but the gathering allowed him to demonstrate not just his allegiance but also his attention. ‘[Romney] made no outreach like you’re doing,’ Jeffress pointed out. ‘Bush didn’t do it. McCain didn’t do it. You’re the only candidate who’s asked people to come and share.’ As the leaders went around the table, Trump got talking points, things to say on the trail that would — like a dog whistle — signal something meaningful to a massive group of voters. In turn, the leaders got the promise of a bully pulpit, someone willing to be their mouthpiece on the American political stage that the whole world was watching. ‘You go out on the campaign trail,’ said [Fank] Turek, ‘and every news organization is going to cover what you say’ …

[BY 2019], 82 percent of White Evangelicals would cast their ballots for Trump. Two-thirds believe that he has not damaged the decency of the presidency, 55 percent agree with Sarah Huckabee Sanders that ‘God wanted him to be president,’ and 99 percent oppose impeachment.” –

SPIITUAL SUICIDE. I realize this narrative is excessively long, but beloved, you must stay with this because of its terrible and destructive impact on the American Witness for Jesus Christ since the rise of Trump and the shameless Church Capitulation to him.

Consider what happens next with the  clear-eyed understanding that we have never ever been the same, nor ever shall be again, SINCE TRUMP.

“‘Not everyone capitulated.’ There were still those who balked at the idea of stumping for a man who famously referred to the biblical book Second Corinthians as ‘Two Corinthians,’ and who once opined that he had never had the need to ask God for forgiveness. In a much-debated blog post titled “Decency for President,” Christian author MAX LUCADO wrote, ‘If a public personality calls on Christ one day and calls someone a ‘bimbo’ the next, is something not awry?’ Likewise, pastor TIM KELLER worried in The New Yorker about the damage Trump had done to the very word ‘Evangelical’; and RUSSELL MOORE, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public-policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, referred to Trump as ‘an arrogant huckster’ and called the support Evangelical leaders offered him ‘a disgrace.’

‘Moore was quickly chastised.’ More than 100 churches threatened to cut funding to the SBC, and some left the denomination altogether. Immediately after the election, all of the big Southern Baptist megachurch pastors called [Moore] up and said, ‘You are to shut up about Donald Trump, or you’re out of a job,’  says Thornbury … JERRY FALWELL, JR., perhaps not incidentally accused of hiring Michael Cohen to help him deal with some compromising ‘personal photos,’ condemned Moore, saying the pastor was part of an ‘SBC deep-state regime.’ [GREG] THORNBURY knows Moore and watched it all transpire. ‘There’s now this mob,’ he says with a sigh. ‘If you criticize Trump, they will come after you.’” – “False Idol: Why the Christian Right Worships Donald Trump,” ‘Yahoo.com,’ Dec. 2, 2019; edited

DK. So it began, with TRUMP MOB RULE seizing the Republican Party and the White Evangelical Church by the neck with a chokehold from which it has not wrested itself free. And to be blunt if not brutal – nor does it seem that it ‘wants’ to free itself at all. Nor do I see any evidence among the ranks of American Church Leadership to encourage me that they will ever have the courage to break free.

If I am correct, do please deeply and prayerfully consider the implications for the next several years in America.

1. THE BIRTH OF AN AMERICAN BEAST

Now back to the idea of God reaching a point where He decides He has had enough with a Rebellious House. Beloved, with all my heart and being and ability to grasp the nature of our times, I believe Yahweh has reached that point with America.

“You put away and count as dross all the wicked of the earth [for there is no true metal in them]; therefore I love Your testimonies.” – PSALM 119:119, AMPC

A RECKONING. I will confess right up front that when I sensed this tiny little passage coming to me early on the morning of August 2, 2022, at first, I didn’t think much of it. But then it almost immediately triggered a flood of memories of many blows struck at me, my family, and many of you for not supporting Donald Trump since 2016, right through the present hour.

From Christian employers to university colleagues to family members and closest lifelong friends find, and even to relative strangers met in various coffee shops across the landscape of my city here in Colorado Springs. Finally topped off by my several Circuit Rides through 25 American states thus far, A SIMILAR MESSAGE:

To be a true American or a good Christian means to support and vote for DONALD TRUMP and those candidates who think like him. “We need Trump!”

A POLITICAL JUGGERNAUT. Writing for Breitbart on August 3, 2022, NICK GILBERTSON summarizes the breathtaking results for Republican candidates backed by Trump. I strongly urge you to be sitting down as you read what comes next.

“Candidates backed by former President Donald J. Trump are now 172-10 in statewide and federal races in 2022 after a perfect night in Kansas, Michigan, and Missouri. His candidates are undefeated so far in Arizona – but results are still pending in the gubernatorial race – while he also has two candidates in Washington whose races are still awaiting results.”

SLOUCHING TOWAD GOMMORAH. It was the brilliant and much maligned jurist, ROBERT BORK, who published a book by that title in 1996. Though he was then aiming his cannons at Modern Liberalism, were he to rewrite it today I am confident that he’d be pointed directly at Donald Trump’s New Christian Nationalism.

A Summary of his Central Thesis is ably provided by the dispassionate EDITORS at Wikipedia (JULY 14, 2022; edited). Though Bork aimed his ordinance at the Political Left back then, had he lived to see what’s transpiring today I am confident this true conservative would have shifted 90 degrees to the Starboard Bow.

“Bork’s Thesis in the book is that U.S. and more generally Western culture is in a state of Decline … The title of the book is a play on the last couplet of W. B. Yeats‘s poem “The Second Coming“: ‘And what rough beast, its hour come round at last / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?’ Bork contends that the ‘Rough Beast of Decadence’ … now sends us slouching towards our new home, not Bethlehem but Gomorrah.”

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist CHRIS HEDGES just published a scathing indictment of this historic Rejection of all that has made America great up until the Era of Donald Trump, and the barely disguised American Fascism that he brings to the table.

“I do not use the word Fascist lightly. My father was a Presbyterian minister. My mother, a professor, was a seminary graduate. I received my Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. I am an ordained Presbyterian minister. Most importantly, I spent two years reporting from megachurches, creationist seminars, right-to-life retreats, Christian broadcasting networks and conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with members and leaders of the Christian Right for my book ‘American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America,’ which is banned at most ‘Christian’ schools and universities.

Before the book was published, I met at length with FRITZ STERN, the author of ‘The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the German Ideology’ [1974], and ROBERT O. PAXTON, who wrote ‘The Anatomy of Fascism’ [2005], two of the country’s most eminent scholars of Fascism, to make sure the word Fascist was appropriate.

The book was a warning that an ‘American Fascism,’ wrapped in the flag and clutching the Christian Cross, was organizing to extinguish our anemic democracy. This assault is very far advanced. The connecting tissue among the disparate militia groups, QAnon conspiracy theorists, anti-abortion activists, right-wing patriot organizations, Second Amendment advocates, neo-Confederates and Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol on January 6 is this frightening ‘Christian Fascism.’” – “The Rise of American Fascism,” ‘Common Dreams,’ Jan. 27, 2022; edited

DARK FORCES. Time and space do not allow me to detail the Root Systems of this Advance, though I have done so in previous commentaries. Such Developments as:

The relentless assault on orthodox Biblical Eschatology; the replacement of traditional Futurist Hermeneutics with the highly allegorized systems of Historicism, Idealism, and especially Hymanaean Preterism; the insertion of the Hyper-Calvinist model of Reconstructionism into the theological equation during the 1970s and beyond; then came the formation of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, toxically mixed of course with the insidious Prosperity Teachings; then the Hyper-Grace Seeker-Friendly Church Growth strategies, seditiously topped off with the explosive popularity of Seven Mountains Dominionism and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) aberrations found nearly everywhere today.

THE RESULT. The veritable Death of Christian Doctrine in America. And yes, followed by the ‘Rise of Christian Fascism’ in its place. Selah.

1. LAST THOUGHTS

I have argued long and hard that America’s “120 Years” based on the principle established in Genesis 6:3 about how long God would contend with a nation, started in the year 1900. Which of course brings us right up to ‘Year 2020,’ an epochal year indeed for lots of obvious Biblical and historic reasons.

Then this.

“¡SE ACABÓ!” Some of you will recall that Spanish term or phrase that I heard the morning I launched my furry first circuit ride in June of 2021. It proved to be an accurate assessment elsewhere we think God part was headed by that date. Literal translation:

“It’s over!”

But if this is God truly speaking, just what is it that is “Over”? I believe we find the beginning of the answer in the fiery passage that follows.

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” – GALATIANS 6:7-8, AMP

MOCKING GOD. This violent term is taken from the Greek word, ‘Muktérizó’ [μυκτηρίζω]: “To turn up the nose or sneer at; (properly: I turn up the nose as a sign of contempt); to disdain; literally, ‘to make mouths at’ or ridicule; scornfully deride or make fun of; to laugh at, or otherwise ‘to treat [God] with scorn or contempt.’”

Returning now to the Scripture upon which this entire teaching is based, you will recall that those of us standing against these blasphemous forcesare likewise “exceedingly satiated with contempt.”

PINCIPLE III: RECIPOCITY. Based on Galatians’ clear Proclamation of Reciprocal Justice deeply embedded in the foundations of the Biblical Canon, and in full recognition that those of us who have stood against the Church’s shameless and perilous embrace of Trump-inspired Nationalism: TIME IS UP – God’s judgment is now upon us.

THREE CATEGORIES. My social theory background took over at this point as I pondered the last several years of treachery by ‘Trump Christians’ (1 Cor. 5:11) against ‘Canonical Christians.’ I see three different types of Trump Supporters that I believe will mitigate God’s Dealings with each category.  

1. THE ACCOMMODATORS. This group is largely made-up of those Christians who possess little if any information one way or the other about where they stand regarding Trump’s impact on Christian faith and practice. They remain Neutral or perhaps Indifferent, unwilling to cast a vote either with their speech or with their feet. Therefore, they remain largely Silent as they “Accommodate” the undermining of Truth by tapping out, opting out, refusing to engage the struggle at all.

1. THE ADVOCATES. Here we have Christian individuals who Speak Out of why we should also likewise support Trump. They engage the debate and demonstrate considerable passion about their position, sometimes but not often marshalling research or Scriptural and historical support for their arguments. They remain largely civil and though passionate, try to remain somewhat respectful of the opposition. Yet they remain firmly committed to Donald Trump as God’s Agent of Rescue for the American Order as they consistently understate any impact upon Church Piety.

1. THE ACTIVISTS. Here we are dealing with The Trump Base, most if not all of them in harmony with or members to the QAnon Conspiracy Cult. These are ‘True Believers’ in the harshest sense of that term, the ones largely responsible for the January 6th, 2021 Insurrection and who are planning even now for further, similar terrorist acts in the effort to overthrow the Republic. Whether they realize it or not, they have given themselves over to the Steve Bannon Chaos Theory approach to the annihilation of the present order and the institution of a new Authoritarian Order under the iron fist of Donald Trump.

GOD’S JUDGMENT. I propose therefore that God is about to pull many triggers releasing His Judgments upon these three groups, but equitably. That is to say, according to both the Principles of ‘Lex Talionis’ and ‘Reaping and Sowing,’ CHURCH LEADERS will very likely be the first ones caught in God’s Divine Crosshairs.

Think militant Donald Trump defender ALEX JONES right about here.

• 1 PETER 4:17 (NKJV). “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

• LUKE 12:48 NKJV). “But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

• JAMES 3:1 (AMP). “Not many [of you] should become teachers [serving in an [who are teachers] will be judged by a higher standard [because we have assumed greater accountability and more condemnation if we teach incorrectly].”

CODA. Therefore do I  fearfully issue FINAL WARNINGS for those of you who continue to support the theological sedition of Trump Christian Nationalism, which I declare to you in His authority is an Abomination.

Further: Without Repentance, Judgment of one kind or another is now coming to each of us, but in perfect measure. And to all who have held firm in Faith and the Doctrines of the Church, He would remind us all:

“But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me [this is that which I impart to them as their justification], says the Lord.” – ISAIAH 54:17, AMPC

Theologian, abolitionist and temperance advocate ALBERT BARNES (1884) offers this lovely Benediction as we close:

“No one shall be able to injure you by words and accusations. If a controversy shall arise; if others reproach you and accuse you of imposture and deceit, you will be able ultimately to convince them of error, and, by manifestation of the truth, to condemn them … ‘And their [vindication] is of Me.”

Ever your servant, DK

YOUTUBE VIDEO