NOTES ON THE ABSENCE OF FEAR OF THE LORD IN THE DAYS OF APOSTASY: TRUMP’S CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM AND THE DYING OF AMERICAN LIGHT

SCRIPTURE. “The wicked shall be turned back [headlong into premature death] into Sheol (the place of the departed spirits of the wicked), even all the nations that forget or are forgetful of God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the expectation and hope of the meek and the poor shall not perish forever.

Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before You. Put them in fear [make them realize their frail nature], O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!” – PSALM 9:17-20, AMPC

QUOTATIONS

MAYHEW. “It is blasphemy to call tyrants and oppressors, God’s ministers. They are more properly the messengers of Satan to buffet us. No rulers are properly God’s ministers, but such as are Just, ruling in the Fear of God.” – Jonathan Mayhew, ‘Discourse Concerning Submission,’ 1750; edited

HITLER. “The State is only the vessel and the Race is what it contains.  The vessel can only have meaning if it preserves and safeguards the contents … The supreme purpose of the Ethical State is to guard and preserve those racial elements.” – Adolph Hitler, ‘Mein Kampf’ [My Struggle, or My Fight], 1925, p. 358; edited

HINCKS. “The Modern [American] Church tends to be filled with False Teachers who downplay (or even deny) the need for people to fear God. They never tell you what Scripture associates with the lack of such fear. In fact, they wouldn’t want you to know what it says, for then you would realize how false their teachings really were!” –  Dennis Hincks, “The Absence of the Fear of God,” ‘Journal 33,’ 2004; edited

Selah.

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

THESIS. The American Church of today no longer fears God, the major consequence of which is the successful rise of Donald Trump’s Christian Nationalism, rapidly dividing, overtaking and replacing orthodox, canonical Christianity.

I could marshal study after study to support this Thesis (and there are many), but true Christian disciples know this by painful experience.

Families are at each other’s throats. The Politics of the Nation have never been this volatile. Our Military and Police are increasingly split, Business and Medical facilities are equally divided over how to handle the Covid-19 Crisis, with as many as 40% of the nation refusing vaccinations, including tens of thousands of medical professionals! Except for United Airlines with its 95% compliance on the vaccine, thousands of airline personnel are refusing the vaccine (or “The Jab” as they so love to call it).

Vastly more seriously, the moral heartbeat of the Nation, the American Church, is split down the middle some surveys say. Others find up to 81% of 2016 Christian voters likely holding steady for Trump in 2021. – cf. KENNETH L. WOODWARD, “Evangelicals, Trump and How Politics Shapes Religion – Not the Other Way Around,” ‘Washington Monthly,’ May 28, 2021

Even after, even after the bloody January 6, 2021 Insurrection at the Capitol in Washington, DC.

DEFINITIONS. We must begin our investigation of these volatile matters with some careful delineation of just what we are dealing with.

• CHRISTIAN ALTRUISM. “JESUS used the concepts of ‘Salt and Light’ a number of different times to refer to the role of His followers in the world. One example is found in MATTHEW 5:13: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.’ … Believers in Christ are Preservatives to the world, preserving it from the evil inherent in the society of ungodly men whose unredeemed natures are corrupted by sin (Psalm 14:3; Romans 8:8) … In the analogy of Light to the world, the good works of Christ’s followers are to shine for all to see. The following verses in Matthew 5 highlight this truth: ‘You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven’ (MATTHEW 5:14-16, NASB). The idea here is similar—the presence of Light in darkness is something that is unmistakable. The presence of Christians in the world must be like a Light in the darkness, not only in the sense that the Truth of God’s Word brings Light to the darkened hearts of sinful man (John 1:1-10), but also in the sense that our good deeds must be evident for all to see.” – EDITORS, “What Does it Mean that Believers are Called to be Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13-16)?” Got Questions,’ April 26, 2021; edited

• CHRISTIAN DOMINIONISM. “‘Dominionism,’ or ‘Christian Dominionism’ [pioneered by ROUSAS RUSHDOONY in 1973] is a term coined by [theologians and] social scientists and popularized by journalists to refer to a subset of American Christianity that is conservative, politically active, and believes that Christians should, and eventually will, take control of the Government. The term is sometimes used as a ‘catch-all’ by bloggers to describe any politically active Christian, but not every conservative, politically minded Christian is a Dominionist. Christian Dominionists believe that God desires Christians to RISE TO POWER through civil systems so that His Word might then Govern the Nation. The belief that ‘America is a Christian Nation’ is sometimes called ‘Soft Dominionism;’ the idea that God wants only Christians to hold Government office and run the country according to Biblical Law is called ‘Hard Dominionism.’ Dominion Theology’s beliefs are based on Genesis 1:28, which says, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth’ (emphasis added).” – EDITORS, “What is Christian Dominionism?” ‘Got Questions,’ September 21, 2021; edited

• CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM. “Christian Nationalism, [originating via the launch of The Moral Majority in 1979 by JERRY FALWELL, SR.], is the belief that the American Nation is defined by Christianity, and that the Government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian Nationalists assert that America is and must remain a ‘Christian Nation’—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future. Scholars like SAMUEL HUNTINGTON have made a similar argument: that America is defined by its ‘Anglo-Protestant’ past and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural inheritance … [This presents] a serious problem. When Nationalists go about constructing their nation, they have to define who is, and ‘who is not,’ part of the Nation. But there are always dissidents and minorities who do not or cannot conform to the Nationalists’ preferred cultural template. In the absence of moral authority, Nationalists can only establish themselves ‘by force.’” – PAUL D. MILLER, “What is Christian Nationalism?” ‘Christianity Today,’ February 3, 2021; edited

• ‘WHITE’ CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM. “White Christian Nationalism [birthed as the Second Ku Klux Klan led by Southern preacher WILLIAM JOSEPH SIMMONS on Thanksgiving, 1915] is, first of all, a Story about America. In this Story, America was ‘Founded as a Christian Nation.’ It was Founded by and for (White) Christians; and its laws and institutions are based on ‘Biblical’ — which is to say, Protestant — Christianity; or perhaps even breathed into the Founders’ ears by God, Himself. This much is certain, though: America is DIVINELY FAVORED [i.e., ‘Exceptional’]. Whence its enormous wealth and power. Divine blessings lead to National obligations. America has been entrusted with a Sacred Mission: To spread [Christian] Religion, Freedom, and Civilization — ‘By force,’ if necessary. Today, that Mission is endangered by the growing influence, and even the mere presence, of non-Christians (also: non-Whites) in America. White Christians must therefore ‘take back’ the culture and the country — which are, after all, their rightful possessions. What White Christian Nationalists hear when Trump promises to ‘Make America Great Again’ is to ‘Make America Christian Again’ (and, sotto voce, make it ‘White Again’, too).” – PHILIP GORSKI, “White Christian Nationalism: The Deep Story Behind the Capitol Insurrection,” ‘ABC Religion & Ethics,’ January 13, 2021; edited

• CHRISTIAN FASCISM. “DR. JAMES LUTHER ADAMS, my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, told his students that when we were his age — he was then close to 80 — we would all be fighting the ‘Christian Fascists’ [a school of thought pioneered by German liberation theologian, DOROTHEE STEFFENSKY SÖLLE]. The Warning, given [in 1982], came at the moment PAT ROBERTSON and other radio and television evangelists began speaking about a New Political Religion that would direct its efforts toward ‘Taking control’ of all institutions, including mainstream denominations and the Government. Its stated goal was to use the United States to create a Global Christian Empire. This call for Fundamentalists and Evangelicals to take political power was a radical and ominous ‘Mutation’ of traditional Christianity. It was hard, at the time, to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously, especially given the buffoonish quality of those who expounded it. But Adams warned us against the blindness caused by intellectual snobbery. The Nazis, he said, were not going to return with swastikas and brown shirts. Their ideological inheritors had found a mask for Fascism in the pages of The Bible. He was not a man to use the word Fascist lightly. He had been in Germany in 1935 and 1936 and worked with the underground anti-Nazi church, known as the Confessing Church, led by DIETRICH BONHOEFFER.” – CHRIS HEDGES, “The Rise of Christian Fascism and Its Threat to American Democracy,” ‘Alter Net’ February 8, 2007; edited [NOTE: No Christian journal would publish this article].

A DARK CHRONOLOGY. The great Spanish philosopher and author, GEORGE SANTAYANA, once famously wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it” (‘The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress,’ 5 vols., 1905-1906). Even more severely to the present point, PAUL the apostle wrote this around 54 A.D.:

“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 5:9, AMPC

Y’all getting this?

First came the Early Church Allegorists (Origen and Augustine), followed by 1,000 years of Catholic Dogma, leading to the hyper-intellectual Higher Critical hermeneutics of Germany in the late 18^th century, to the Dominion Theologies (e.g., Calvinist Reconstructionism, Roman Catholic Integralism, Charismatic and Pentecostal Kingdom Now Theology, and the New Apostolic Reformation Movement). Its American Offspring:

Trump’s White Christian Nationalism.

THE CONSEQUENCE. Save for the 300 year-long, ‘Burst of Light’ in the Reformation, a gradual, 2,000 Year Dégringolade [Precipitous Decline], currently taking the form of GENE EDWARD VEITH’S virulent MODERN FACISM proposed in 1993. We are rapidly headed there ‘again,’ beloved, as surely as the sun shall rise in the morning. All the signs and portents fairly shout it to those who can hear.

1. SERVANT LEADERSHIP

During my long tenure at Regent University in the 80s and 90s, I was introduced to a concept back then that was new to me, if not outright foreign to my political activism and public policy focus. It was called, ‘Servant Leadership.’

ORIGINS & DEFINITION. I cull most of what follows from a superb, though largely secular, doctoral dissertation by DONALD PHILIP VALERI, “The Origins of Servant Leadership,” granted by Greenleaf University in 2007.

• THE ANCIENT WORLD. “In his Republic PLATO (428-347 BC) expressed the view that Leadership would be best when ‘philosophers are kings, or kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one’ … The ultimate aim of these ‘Philosopher Kings’ or ‘Guardians’ was the welfare of those they led. This was probably his Idealistic View … In his ‘De Officiis,’ CICERO (106-43 B.C.) expressed his understanding of the concepts of unselfish service and trusteeship, that are imbedded in Leadership: ‘Those who propose to take charge of the affairs of Government should not fail to remember two of Plato’s rules: First, to keep the good of the people so clearly in view that regardless of their own interests they will make their every action conform to that; Second, to care for the welfare of the whole body politic and not in serving the interests of some one party to betray the rest.”

• THE EARLY CHURCH. “In this period, one would be remiss if not negligent in not mentioning any notable religious leaders who lived then, the most obvious and closely connected to servant leadership being JESUS. Whether or not one believes that such a Person really did live and die in ancient Palestine as described in the New Testament of the Bible, there is no doubt that His Teachings became the foundation for a New Religion and have had a massive impact on humanity and Western civilization. Many consider him to be the Founder and perfect embodiment of a Servant Leader … One can simply rely on His own the Words in Mark 10:43, that ‘Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.’ When Jesus washed the feet of His disciples (John 13:13-15), His Actions spoke louder than His Words. Lastly, it is extremely significant that the modes of behaviour of so many Christian leaders and saints, down through the centuries, were SERVANT LIKE in their expression. It is inarguable that they made profound and immeasurable contributions to our 21st century notions of Servant Leadership.”

• THE MEDIEVAL ERA. “The first of this group of writers, THOMAS AQUINAS, did much to revive the teachings of Aristotle, making them available and acceptable in the West again by ‘combining and reconciling’ Aristotle’s Scientific Rationalism with the Christian Doctrine of Faith and Revelation. Most importantly, he restored some of the Ancient world’s trust in the innate GOODNESS OF MAN [an Enlightenment Idea], as opposed to his baser and more mendacious capacities that had burst forth in the Dark Ages following the collapse of Roman civilization. This trust, as will be seen, is part of the bedrock foundation of Servant Leadership. Aquinas believed all men had ‘a Divine spark,’ and [all] were capable of leading a Christian life. He was also one of the early Church Fathers who nobly proclaimed, ‘The elevation of means into ends is the essence of sin.’”

• THE MODERN WORLD. “If one wants to deeply understand Leadership in the context of American Democracy, there are two major political works that one must ultimately read. One is ‘The Federalist Papers’ (1787) by HAMILTON, JAY AND MADISON. The other is ALEXIS DE TOQUEVILLE’S ‘Democracy in America’ (1835). A Frenchman, De Toqueville (1805-1859) spent a concentrated eighteen months of study, travel and observation in America in the 1830’s. The picture he painted of America at this time was a vindication of Rousseau and Jefferson and the Spirit of the Enlightenment [sic] … The greatest danger de Toqueville saw facing the young Republic, was the potential, if not tendency, to degenerate into a ‘Tyranny of the Majority’ … [He also wrote]: ‘As I see it, only God can be all-powerful without danger, because His wisdom and justice are always equal to His power. Thus, there is no authority on earth so inherently worthy of respect, or invested with a right so sacred, that I would want to let it act without oversight or rule without impediment’ (p. 290).”

THE GREAT DIVORCE. Borrowing the title from C.S. LEWIS’ 1945 treatise on Heaven and Hell, we clearly note the massive DISTINCTION between the ‘Triumphalist Model’ from Donald Trump’s Nationalists, and the ‘Christocentric Service Model’ of becoming ‘Salt and Light’ to the culture, serving them wholeheartedly with God’s Love, Truth, and Power.

This ‘Great Separation’ between the True Spiritual Church and the False Secularized Church is what Lewis was ultimately describing – the TWO CITIES: God’s, and Man’s.

So do we turn now to the Main Message of this Commentary, regarding the central ingredient of THE REMNANT CHURCH of Jesus Christ for these Last Days:

‘The Fear of the Lord.’

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “The wicked shall be turned back [headlong into premature death] into Sheol (the place of the departed spirits of the wicked), even all the nations that forget or are forgetful of God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the expectation and hope of the meek and the poor shall not perish forever.

Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before You. Put them in fear [make them realize their frail nature], O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!” – PSALM 9:17-20, AMPC

As always, we turn now to the KEY TERMS that largely define the understructure of this important set of Doctrines.

• THE WICKED. Defined by the Hebrew term, ‘Rasha’ [רָשְׁע], meaning: “Evil, criminal; ‘one guilty of crime,’ deserving punishment; morally wrong, the unrighteous; guilty of hostility to God or His people; stands condemned [before God]; a sinner, oppressor; ‘an apostate;’ God is opposed to these types of people; connotes turbulence, restlessness, what is disjoined and poorly regulated; living inside a state of confusion and perpetual agitation which they cause others (to experience); in violation of the social rights of others through oppression, greed, exploitation, murder, dishonesty in business, and twisting justice.”

• TURNED INTO SHEOL. From the primary Hebrew word, ‘Shub’ [שׁוּב]: “To turn back, return; go back to [a place not originally appointed]; signifying ‘premature death,’ or place of the dead; an absolute change of course from good to bad; figurative of spiritual relations; brought back to judgment; depart unto infamy; to restore captivity; bring back in retribution; to turn oneself away from Jehovah; to cease from righteousness; to ‘unconvert’ in spiritual departure from the Lord; return to the worship of idols; to forsake justice; to seduce [or be seduced]; ‘revoke [one’s birthright]’; to the underworld, the abyss, the grave, the netherworld or realm of the dead.”

• THE NEEDY. By radical contrast, here we have those defined by the word, ‘Ebyon’ [אֶבְיוֹן], or: “The destitute; the willing, or those in want [of deliverance]; the poor; the acquiescent; a beggar or beggarly; necessitous; indigent; very poor; distressed by want of the means of living; the generally afflicted (by life circumstances).” ALSO: Closely related to ‘Ani’ [עָנִי], “The oppressed, poor or humble; the weak or lowly; often those pious who are opposed by the wicked; depressed in mind or circumstances; most often to be oppressed by the rich and powerful.”

• EXPECTATION MET. This now the Promise for the faithful Remnant, in the context of this Teaching. From the Hebrew, ‘Tiqvah’ [תִּקְוָה]: “Based on a root word, ‘Qavah’ [קָוָה]: a cord that binds or gathers together; i.e., hope, life, the thing longed for; the act of looking forward to a future event with at least some reason to believe the event will happen; state or qualities in a person which excite expectations in others of some future excellence.” In the present context, as with the Return of Messiah for Judgment of good and evil.
  
  
• PUT IN FEAR. Here the idea is that God’s Justice is engaged so as to bring the wicked to bear. From the Hebrew, ‘Mora’ [מוֹרָא], translated as: “A fear or terror; respect, reverence; awe inspiring spectacle or deed in exhibition of great power; to dread the terribleness of something [or someone]; to make afraid; in reference to something stupendous, wonderful or terrifying (with reference to Almighty God); provokes the emotion and intellectual anticipation of harm, what one feels may go wrong for him, as with trembling; a ‘holy respect’ [for the One deserving of it].” WEBSTER (1828): “A filial or a slavish passion which springs from a just view and real love of the Divine Character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun everything that can offend such a Holy Being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience.”

COMMENTARY. There is a Day Coming, when it will appear that He has not forgotten the ‘cry of the humble;’ neither the cry of their blood, or the cry of their prayers. We are never brought so low, so near to death, but God can raise us up. If He has saved us from spiritual and eternal death, we may thence hope, that in all our distresses He will be a very present help to us. The overruling Providence of God frequently so orders it, that persecutors and oppressors are brought to ruin by the projects they formed to destroy the people of God. Drunkards kill themselves; prodigals beggar themselves; the contentious bring mischief upon themselves: Thus men’s sins may be read in their punishment, and it becomes plain to all, that the destruction of sinners is of themselves. All wickedness came originally with the Wicked One from Hell; and those who ‘continue’ in sin, must go to that Place of Torment. The true state, both of nations and of individuals, may be correctly estimated by this one rule, whether in their doings they remember or forget God …  God will make it appear that He never did forget them: It is not possible He should. Strange that man, dust in his and about him, should yet need some sharp affliction, some severe visitation from God, to bring him to the knowledge of himself, and make him feel who and what he is [and is not].” – MATTHEW HENRY, ‘Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

In all of this, beloved, there is the unmistakable imprint of GOD’S LOVING JUSTICE to bring all things to His Light, thereby ‘to Restore’ all things to His Order – both in this life but most especially in the Life to Come following The Judgment. He shall leave no moral stone unturned, that shall not be assessed either severely or effusively – depending on the act and the motive of heart.

1. CLOSING THOUGHTS

During these past three years or so, as I have watched myself become more aggrieved and more angered, then fully outraged at what is transpiring in the Nation and more so in the Church, A QUESTION has been posed to the Lord:

“Dear God, why am I so incensed at so very much today? This has not been my way for most of my Christian life.”

TWO ANSWERS. Though it took a good deal of time to hear His Reply, two strong impressions from two strong voices – one New Testament, the other from the Old – came to me just this week that I want to share with you. I trust this may encourage those struggling with anger as well.

• THE BAPTIST. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the [divine] wrath and judgment to come? So produce fruit that is consistent with repentance [demonstrating new behavior that proves a change of heart, and a conscious decision to turn away from sin]; and do not presume to say to yourselves [as a defense], “We have Abraham for our father [so our inheritance assures us of salvation]”; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children (descendants) for Abraham.’” – MATTHEW 3:7-9 (AMP), the Last Day of Sukkot, September 27, 2021

• ANALYSIS. The Law and the Prophets, the Apostles, and Jesus Christ Himself did not call us to lambaste ‘the uncircumcised,’ but only the RELIGIOUS HYPOCRITES of their day. Beloved, it is the very same today! Thus my harsh language and voice toward those who would likewise lead the people of God to stumbling, even to Perdition itself. WILLIAM MACDONALD reminds: “The Pharisees professed great devotion to the Law, but they were inwardly corrupt, sectarian, hypocritical and self-righteous; the Sadducees were social aristocrats and religious skeptics who denied such basic doctrines as the resurrection of the body, the existence of angels, the immortality of the soul, and eternal punishment. Therefore, he denounced both sects as a ‘Brood of Vipers,’ who pretended to desire to escape from the Wrath to come but exhibited no signs of true repentance.” Can you hear me, beloved? – cf., respectively: ‘An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers, 1878, 1879; ‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995, p. 1211; edited

• THE PSALMIST. “Truly God is [only] good to Israel, even to those who are upright and pure in heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped. For I was envious of the foolish and arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked … For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You will destroy all who are false to You and like [spiritual] harlots depart from You.” – PSALM 73:1-3, 27 (AMP), the Day after Sukkot, September 28, 2021

• ANALYSIS. Now here we have even harsher language, in the incendiary reference to ‘Spiritual Harlotry’ – a phrase that has not likely shaken the sanctuaries of any Christian assembly for several generations. Note: Brace yourself for some very strong language. It is from the Hebrew term, ‘Zanah’ [זָנָה], translated: “To commit fornication; to whore, play the harlot; to apostatize; [spiritual] adultery; improper intercourse with false gods or foreigners; to seduce; prostitution; infidelity; idolatry.” JOSEPH BENSON, in the most piercing language, explains Divine outrage, and even hatred, of such betrayal: “And thou wilt still certainly and dreadfully destroy; all them that go a whoring from thee — Who, having professed subjection to thee, shall afterward revolt from thee, which is called whoredom or adultery (figuratively speaking) in Scripture. For none are more hateful to God than willful and wicked Apostates from the principles and practice of the True Religion which they once owned.” – cf. ‘Notes on the Old and New Testaments,’ 5 vols., 1811-1811; edited

CODA. Should you ever have wondered at my severity, my choice of blunt and direct (but not profane nor salacious) language, this is why. My indignation is palpable – as it was back then for our Forefathers. JESUS THE MESSIAH similarly and publicly excoriated the Religious Hypocrites (Matthew 23:13-36), the APOSTLE PAUL, the false teachers,  Hymanaeus, Philetus and Alexander the Coppersmith (1 Timothy 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:17), and PETER, Herod and Herodias (Acts 5:1-11), who dropped dead on the spot when confronted, in public, with their Lies to God.

I tell you true, all you hearing this who “profess” Christ: The Days of Elijah and Ananias are all but upon us, standing even at the door! So do I call, with Jesus and John: Repent! Turn from your Harlotry while the sun still shines, however dimly. You have trifled with Strange Fire long enough!

A CONFESSION. I close with a very ‘personal fear’ the Lord placed in me way back in 1980 or so, before I could hardly spell “Christianity,” or fully grasp what I would be called to do and say for Him much later. And please don’t take this as pretension on my part, but as Words that literally terrify me, should I disobey.

“‘But you, gird up your loins [in preparation]! Get up and tell them all which I command you. Do not be distraught and break down at the sight of their [hostile] faces, or I will bewilder you before them and allow you to be overcome.” – JEREMIAH 1:17, AMP

CAVEAT. This is not for everyone, so please note that God prepared me for no fewer than 40 years for such ministry, until I was an elder, a seasoned teacher of the Doctrines. I hold no earthly office. I bear no titles nor any stately mansion. Only  His Calling, and His Commands.

It is enough.

To this Final Word to our small company, from the brilliant and tragic Welsh poet, DYLAN THOMAS, in his epic poem first published published in ‘Botteghe Oscure’ in 1951 (edited).

They describe my Heart Cry to the letter.

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the Dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no Lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.”

Nor will I, beloved. Nor can I.

Ever your servant, DK

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