There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Have nothing to do with such people. -2Timothy3

Argue all you like that these are the last days. Frankly, last days have been with us for millennia and these signs are nothing new, just more evident and more laden with examples with the passage of time.

‘Having nothing to do with such people’ is a much harder route to navigate as these people proliferate and meticulously take down what remaining truth and civility we have left.

Insidious and deceptive, the truth becomes increasingly difficult to discern until they can only be known by the fruit they produce.

Terrible times breed terrible people, but terrible times also breed discernment and resilience in those whose only end game is to follow Jesus.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I would give my own life in exchange for the lives of my kids and grandkids. Let’s hope I never have to prove it, but their feelings for me at the time would be no factor.

I’ve no desire to be a martyr or so pretentious to prove my love but fact is, when you create a living being you bond to it inextricably. So much so that you long to save it from harm from within or without at all costs.

Here we see a perfect Father sending a sinless Son as His incarnation with an end game of dying to Himself as payment made for us to live forgiven.

You know the story. It was a painful but brilliant plan to demonstrate the depth of His love in a way we can all humanly comprehend.

And to seal the deal, all that’s required in turn is for us to evaluate the evidence and believe in His plan.

A complex example made for simple minds like us.

Just sign, date, and return enclosed.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭18‬, ‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Against the odds.

Against all hope.

When your back’s against the wall, what do you do?

Most of us back off or back down out of pride, fear, or worry that our wobbly faith won’t be enough to sustain us.

But against all hope, Abraham, in hope, believed that the power to accomplish such a destiny set before him was gonna have to be a God-thing.

Wobbly faith misplaces the true value of possibility on us instead of on God with whom all things are possible.

Summon the faith you now possess, then dig in your feet, and watch God do what He does best.

Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If we’re to be entirely honest, the things that plague our consciences with harshest endurance are our recollections of harm to others done at times when we knew better.

Swept under the rugs of time, it may make the place look nice but accumulated wrongs block a truly clean conscience due to those dirty hidden secrets.

Rugs don’t cover up sins.

Take ownership and responsibility and present your dirt at the cross of Christ for the promise of complete freedom.

A cleared conscience weighs nothing on your shoulders and wastes no mental energy.

Get real. Time is too precious to waste on keeping dirty rugs.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

People today are stupified by things some share as truth. Eons of simple facts are being questioned without benefit of evidence required from other assertions.

The gaslighting can make you crazy. And if you’re God, pretty angry.

So many in our nation are like toddlers who defy these truths purely for defiance’s sake just to assert nobody’s the boss of them.

It takes an incredible amount of determination to hold tight to a lie in the face of the truth yet some do so at any cost, indeed, both their sanity and their eternity.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭28‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In one ear and out the other.

Arguments and evidences, no matter how persuasively presented, oftentimes have little to no effect on senses seared shut by ‘truths’ presented by the world.

Whether faith, politics, or even travel advice (read Paul’s unheeded advice about God’s warning and promise) at some point, you have to move on to others whose hearts and minds are unafraid to change and whose pride hasn’t yet walled them in.

When you present the way to save someone’s life, soul, or even way of government, and they won’t listen, it moves out of your responsibility to report and wholly into their choice to accept.

Motivation from a place of love, care and compassion is never lost in the effort but the fact remains that it still takes two to tango, and plenty of others out there eager for a dance partner.

Carol called.

It’s been several years since I heard from her.

Now 85, she was once a client I helped through some really tough years.

Now in a wheelchair, she said she’d made it through the pandemic while most of her friends and neighbors had succumbed.

I explained I’ve been working from home for a couple years writing grants and doing donor relations work. She said she found my number in some papers and “just needed to hear your voice…someone’s voice today.”

She was always a tough, independent character who could take a joke and dish one better right back. But today her voice was different.

She has no one anymore. Friends and family are all gone and she doesn’t get out. I had found her a terrier pup way back but Trixie crossed the bridge several months ago.

Small talk wound down when in closing she said “It’s good to hear your voice.”

As we hung up I vowed to phone her for a chat on Friday mornings when I’m off work and while I’m still six feet above.

She’s just 20 years older than me.

That fact is deafening.

No one should have no one.

I’m not voting for Trump.

I’m voting for First Amendment freedoms.

I’m voting for Second Amendment rights to defend those freedoms and my family.

I’m voting for Supreme Court Justices who protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I’m voting for economic recovery and growth, lower interest rates, taxes, gas prices, food costs, and reducing inflation.

I’m voting for unnecessary U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.

I’m voting for the Electoral College.

I’m voting for police respect and law and order.

I’m voting for appointment of Federal Judges who respect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I’m voting for keeping jobs in the U.S. and a return to Made in America.

I’m voting to stop border invasion and a return to legal immigration. I am voting for voter ID and election integrity.

I’m voting for a strong Military & Veteran care.

I’m voting for unborn babies right to life.

I’m voting for peace in the Middle East and negotiations that make a difference.

I’m voting against human/child trafficking, pedophilia and protecting perpetrators.

I’m voting for Freedom of Religion.

I’m voting against censorship by special interests.

I’m voting for education over indoctrination that teaches our kids how to think, not what to think.

I’m not voting for Trump.

My list is by no means exhaustive but I’m voting for the candidate whose policies are most closely aligned with mine

Long ago, I read that Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord of all.

In either capacity, he claimed a mission to save us from the deceiver of this world.

Since his entrance on the world stage, billions and billions have come to believe in him as option three, Lord of all.

If he had indeed been a lunatic or liar, his mission against deception would have been a heinously more evil imposition of a second and more perverse deception in its place.

That’s not the Jesus understood by even lunatics or liars, leaving us only one divine option.