On August 23, 2025

NOTES ON THE SPIRIT OF DELUSION OF THE LAST DAYS: FROM SAUL TO SEDITION AND BEYOND – A CODICIL (WITH VIDEO)

THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul, and he raved [madly] inside his house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and there was a spear in Saul’s hand. Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, ‘I will pin David to the wall.’ But David evaded him twice. Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul.” – 1 SAMUEL 18:10-12, AMP

KEY TERM: “DEPARTED.” ‘Sur’ [סָֽר׃]: “A primitive root, ‘To turn off; to decline, eschew, take away or turn aside from; to remove.’” NOTE: “The verb סוּר spans the breadth of Old Testament revelation, appearing in almost every corpus—from Genesis through Malachi—depicting: ‘The act of turning, departing, removing, or causing something or someone to turn.’ Whether it is a heart drifting from covenant loyalty, an idol lifted out of sacred space, or Yahweh’s wrath withdrawn, סוּר portrays decisive change of position or direction, both physical and spiritual.”

QUOTATION. “With so much effort being poured into Church Growth, so much press being given to the Benefits of Faith, and so much flexing of religious muscle in the Public Square, the poor in spirit have no one but Jesus to call them blessed anymore.” ― BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, 2012; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘On the morrow the evil spirit from God’ — Which had formerly troubled him, producing melancholy (1 Samuel 16:14,) was brought again upon him. The very next day after he conceived envy at David, discontent and anger, the evil spirit was permitted by God to seize him again. Such is the fruit of envy and uncharitableness! ‘And he prophesied in the midst of the house’ — That is, he was actuated by such motions and agitations of body as the Prophets sometimes were.

‘And David played with his hand, as at other times’ — To compose and quiet his disturbed spirits. ‘And there was a javelin in Saul’s hand’ — Which he had provided on purpose, as the following words show, to dispatch David. ‘And Saul cast the javelin’ — Being now quite under the power of that evil spirit. ‘Twice’ — Once now, and another time, on a like occasion, 1 Samuel 19:10.

‘Saul was afraid of David’ — Lest, as he had gained the favour of God, and of all the people, he should also take away his kingdom. ‘Saul removed him from him’ — From his presence and court; which he did because he feared lest David should find an opportunity to kill him, as he had designed to kill David; because his presence now made him more sad than ever his music had made him cheerful; and principally, that hereby he might expose him to the greatest hazards.

‘And made him his captain over a thousand’ — Instead of Captain of his Guard, which required his attendance at court, he gave him a command broad; but where, or at what distance, we are not informed. This he did, hoping he might be killed in some expedition, or that an opportunity might occur for taking away his life privately. ‘And he went out and came in,’ &c. — As the leader of those thousand men.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

II. TEACHING

THESIS. In the wake of my astonishment over the Nation-wide Transgression of the White American Church over the past ten years as they deferred to the abominable corruptions of America’s King Saul, President Donald Trump, I have come to believe the following:

‘God is no longer with those 90,000 Christian Houses (out of roughly 100,000 churches in America). His Spirit has withdrawn from them.’

God’s Word has virtually shouted as much under such Apostate Conditions in the past, and He is no different today. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, New King James Version).

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell a savor or take delight in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and your cereal offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I look upon the peace or thank offerings of your fatted beasts. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice run down like waters and righteousness as a mighty and ever-flowing stream.” – AMOS 5:21-24, AMPC

So it is that when I visit these many churches either online or in person, I sense nothing. I mean, nothing. No evidence of His Presence. No miraculous signs among the brethren (except, far too often, false signs and false prophetic utterances). Nor is my own heart ever touched by such superficiality, though they have imported the best singers and the finest musicians and state of the art technical gadgets.

MATTHEW HENRY powerfully captures the Angst of the Holy One of Israel in this passage, sparing no severity given the grievous sins of the American Church.

“‘The Day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy Day to all impenitent sinners.’ When God makes a day Dark, all the world cannot make it Light. Those who are not Reformed by the Judgments of God, will be pursued by them; if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them. ‘A Pretence of Piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found.’ The people of Israel copied the crimes of their forefathers. The law of worshipping the Lord our God, is, Him only we must serve. ‘Professors thrive so little, because they have little or no communion with God in their duties. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, therefore God caused them to go into captivity among idolaters.’” – Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

Yet the American Church and the vast majority of her White Pastors remain in one of THREE PERILOUS CONDITIONS and preach from one of them. Scriptures are cast in the New King James Version.

NEUTRAL. ‘They completely ignore the American Crisis.’JESUS: “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” – Revelation 3:16

COMPLICIT. ‘They have endorsed Christian Nationalism and thereby embraced Antichrist.’ HOLY SPIRIT: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” – Revelation 14:9-11

FAITHFUL. ‘They have remained steadfast in Christ and have severed all ties to the Beast.’ JESUS: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved … Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man … Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” – Matthew 24:13; Luke 21:36; Revelation 3:10

DK. I will therefore conclude my remarks with a Codicil to the Opening Scripture about what happens to a Leader or a Church when God has had enough.

III. WHEN GOD LEAVES

“And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 THESSALONIANS 2:11-12, NKJV

“¡SE ACABÓ!” As I have mentioned in previous Commentary, on the very morning of my First Circuit Ride on June 17, 2021, I heard this Spanish Word that I am convinced was from the Lord. Translation: “IT’S OVER!”

After waiting for four years for the correct interpretation of this severe warning, I conclude it means this:

‘God is done waiting for the Church and Nation to Repent; they have believed The Lie for too long and are now Self-Deluded. However, there is still time for Individuals to Repent, but very little.’

If you have been increasingly persuaded by the Scriptures, by inner conviction and possible discussion with family members that this is the case, then you must consider a potentially Life-Saving Decision.

LEAVING BABYLON. This next section deals with a topic that I have not treated in any depth before, but I am convinced that now is the time. I am not necessarily going to suggest ‘Leaving America,’ though I am personally not opposed to that for even my family; God will decide. And I realized a number of you are considering it.

But here I refer to the very serious, prayerful decision to LEAVE YOUR CHURCH. After no fewer than a dozen or so attempts to find a church in our city that was unafraid to address the Nazification of America and her institutions. In Ten Years: No success. So we no longer attend services anywhere, except of course Online at a few trustworthy platforms.

To aid us in the deliberate consideration of so bold a move, I turn to a deeply thoughtful and Scriptural essay by a young and prescient writer, BRETT MCCRACKEN. He is a senior editor for the Gospel Coalition and the author of The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World (2021), and Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community (2017).

His article title, “7 GOOD REASONS TO LEAVE A CHURCH” (Crossway, Sep. 17, 2017; edited). I do not take on this proposal carelessly, having waited ten years for deciding this: To stay in a ‘Partial Gospel Church’ is much more perilous than going it on my own, with a few reliably faithful friends.

ORTHODOXY. “‘The Church Abandons Orthodoxy.’ If your church begins to fudge on matters of Orthodoxy [the Biblical Canon], placing cultural relevance or social gospel initiatives above Sound Doctrine and Biblical Authority, look for another church. Sometimes a church outright embraces Heresy, and it is loud and clear, but more often the march away from Orthodoxy is a slow and hard-to-discern series of Small Compromises. If you see your church headed in that direction and your alarm bells [or meeting with your Pastor] go unheeded, get out sooner rather than later.”
POLITICS. “‘The Church Becomes More About Politics than Jesus.’ If you’re in a church that succumbs to the broader culture’s current ‘Politics is everything’ orientation, placing political activism above Jesus Worship and Gospel Proclamation, you should look for another church. A church that is more interested in advancing a political party’s agenda than in advancing God’s Mission is not a church where you should stay.”
STAGNATION. “‘Transformation is Absent.’ Churches are not meant to be inert institutions where nothing and no one is ever changed. On the contrary, a church should be a living, growing organism where the Holy Spirit is sanctifying believers, changing lives, and transforming communities. If your church never sees people being saved or baptized, if church members never grow, and if nothing in the surrounding city is changing for the better because of the church, it might be time to find a new church.”
DISTANCE. “‘You Live Too Far Away.’ Perhaps you’ve moved a bit farther away from your church and the distance begins to pose challenges to your connection there. You find yourself going to fewer church events and meeting fewer people in your neighborhood who know about your church. When it comes to church, ‘Proximity is important.’ If there is no overlap between the people you worship alongside and the people who live in your neighborhood or city, it might be a good reason to find another church.”
SERVICE. “‘You Have No Opportunity to Serve.’ Every church member should be serving in their church in some capacity, whether it be welcoming guests at the door, taking up the offering, teaching Sunday School classes, or helping out in some other way. If you are in a church where there are literally no opportunities to serve (and this would be a very rare church indeed!), it might be a good reason to find a church where you can serve.”
SUBMISSION. “‘You Cannot Submit to the Leaders.’ If you find yourself unable to defer to the Authority of your church’s appointed leaders, and you’ve tried but can’t seem to resolve your issues with the leadership, it might be time to look for another church. Churchgoers who are chronically subverting leaders, or at loggerheads with them on everything from music style to preaching topics, are not happy or helpful churchgoers.”
HOMOGENEITY. ‘The Church is Uniformly Identical.’ This is a common problem, because humans are naturally prone to group together in like-minded communities that will naturally start to look inward and exist for themselves more than anything. But this is not healthy for a church. If everyone in your church looks the same (same life stage, same socioeconomic status, same culture, same ethnicity, etc.) and if your church feels more like a ‘Country Club Community’ than an outward-minded community on Mission, look for another church.

NEXT STEP. If you have already made this important change in your spiritual life, you will need to consider how to continue in healthy fellowship with true followers of Christ. Those who have not pledged Primary Allegiance to a Pastor, a Church, or a President.

We will close with careful consideration of that important matter.

IV. LAST THOUGHTS

THREE ALTERNATIVES. As I scanned the research literature for some good suggestions on what to do, it occurred to me that a Ten-Year Sojourn has taught me a few things that can encourage us. Here are Three Options to consider, courtesy of what the King has instructed me through many trials, many mistakes, and a few important victories.

DECONSTRUCTING CHURCH. When I was fired from my job for the first time by Jerry Falwell Jr., then President of Liberty University in 2016, I was left with a great deal of time on my hands. More than I had desired, I can assure you. While desperately looking for employment, not realizing that I was to become ‘a Pariah’ to the entire White Church Establishment, I sort of defaulted into a four-hour Morning Study each day with God and His Word. And it revolutionized my entire understanding of Jesus Christ, the Gospel priorities, and the staggering blindness and hypocrisy of the American Church. Dr. Richard Beck of Abilene Christian University calls this process a ‘Necessary Reassessment of Conventional Faith’ in order to tear down Cultural Christianity in order to see Real Faith. Such a ‘Lonely Sojourn’ is described by Non-Church Attender and seminarian Rick Pidcock as a form of “Spiritual Celibacy.” That is, a time of Spiritual House-cleaning. – “What’s Really Happening with the ‘Never Attenders’ and What Does Donald Trump Have to Do With It?” Baptist News, July 21, 2023; edited

RECONSTRUCTING CHURCH. Though I am no expert here, I understand that a growing number of “Non-Attenders” are forming these ‘Home Fellowships’ with a small number of friends or family members. This is best known as ‘House Church,’ a healthy alternative to the stultified Conventional Church that many of us have been attending for years or even decades out of nothing more than sheer habit and false assumptions about what ‘True Church’ is supposed to be. In the Early Church, Christian fellowship, prayer, and service took place mainly in private homes, as described in the Book of Acts of the Apostles (1:13; 20:20 etc.) The Latin term often used is ‘Domus Ecclesiae.’ Thus a ‘House Church or Home Church’ is a label used to describe a group of Christians who regularly gather for worship in private homes. The group may be part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish, but some have been independent groups that see the house church as the primary form of Christian community. – Editors, Wikipedia, May 24, 2025; edited

DIGITAL CHURCH. This alternative has been my most joyous discovery since Leaving Church. In the year 2020, at the leading of the Spirit, I ventured forth with just a tiny few fellow disciples and constructed an Online Teaching Platform that we have come to call, the Peloton Confessing Fellowship consisting of a few hundred people on the Facebooksocial media network, and now around 8,000 subscribers on my YouTube Channel (“Dr. Cliff ‘DK’ Kelly, Digital Circuit Rider”). I publish a major Teaching Commentary each Wednesday and Saturday on pressing issues of our times with copious documentation from both Scripture and the Research Literature. I would also highly recommend three other YouTube platforms for ONLINE FELLOWSHIP: Brother Paul’s Antichrist 45 YouTube Channel, Amy Hawk’s Channel, and also Renee Bonde’s Channel.These extraordinary teachers of God’s Word as it applies to the entire Trump Travesty offer Orthodoxy for your daily diet of practical theology.

CODA. Since difficult circumstances forced me to ‘Rediscover Biblical Truth I have never been more deeply satisfied and truly excited about being alive for Christ. Tough getting here, beloved, but oh, what ‘Divine Dividend!’ Since being removed from the False Cover of the American Gospel, I have truly free now to think and write and speak whatever the King instructs.

But it does take courage, and none of us have any of ourselves to speak of. ‘But He does!’ So I close with one of the most profoundly powerful passages for all of us who are now ‘Wanderers on the Way to Heavenly Jerusalem.’ It magnificently captures all that we may expect as we set out on these unprecedented roads ahead.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – JOSHUA 1:8-9, AMP

Beloved followers of the True Christ, these are our Marching Orders and Divine Promises that we shall not sojourn alone. Accompanied by the Holy One of Israel and the Pantheon of the Angel Armies of Heaven – Even Michael and Gabriel shall travel with us as we bear witness, as we sacrifice, as we triumph by our Mighty King who shall never leave nor forsake us.

THE ASSIGNMENT. ‘Think on this deeply and be richly encouraged by the Astounding Reality that awaits us who shall lovingly Persevere to the very End.’

Maranatha!

MEDIA

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/i4js-E4g1Wg