2017: The Year in Review

Well greetings and welcome to Dividing Line. It is the last program of 2017 and I think

I recall mentioning a year ago that I knew that this was going to be one of the fastest moving years of my life and it certainly

Ended up being that way and in fact as I was reviewing the activities of this year's

Some of these things seemed like they were Yesterday and some things a long long long long time ago but I did want to take some time to look back over the years see what's coming up in the in the future and Just be thankful, you know, it's funny

I Suppose right now when I look back over 2017 there are certain what we would call negative things that certainly come to mind first, but Thankfully, I'm just one of those people that You know ten years from now

It's gonna be primarily the positive things that I'm gonna remember not so much the negative things

And in fact, it's it in a sense. It's a character flaw for me. I mean there will be times when you know, a name will come up or somebody will ask me to do something and this person has

Ravaged me in the past and I've forgotten all I've remembered was something positive about there isn't like that I end up doing stupid naive things because I try to remember the best about people and not the negative parts and that's that puts me to disadvantage in in some some circles these days, but certainly,

I mentioned Wednesday evening at At Phoenix Foreign Baptist Church when

I did the the Wednesday evening Devotional a Bible study that I think

I think it's good that the Lord has sort of built us in such a way Because of the way we live on this planet that circles this that star we call the

Sun we have seasons and though eventually we have to figure out what a year is because you know, those seasons are gonna keep repeating and and We've designed holidays and things that help us to pass the time see the passage of time and I think it's good to have an opportunity to stop and Think you know something more than just Facebook saying a year ago.

This happened or two years ago I said though I do like that I'll have to admit that is one of the nicer features of Facebook is you have memories to look back on today and half the time

I look at and go I Didn't remember that. That's a good that that's actually one of the best features.

I think of Facebook but I think it's good that the Lord designed us in such a way that we have these opportunities to to think back and to take stock of Where we've been where we're going

So many of us are so blessedly busy today under so much pressure and It's so easy to just go into survival mode

Rather than progress mode, you know because progress mode can be can require sacrifice it can it can it can be negative in the short term and positive in the long term and and a lot of us we we we compromise and go into survival mode and and Start treading water rather than making progress toward the goal.

So it's it's good to look back. I Think one of the one of the biggest problems with the

Millennials is that they don't look back they don't have any sense of their place in history and Do not

I think in many ways honor those who have gone before them now you can obviously, you know get into ancestor worship and silliness like that that that causes a problem, but there is a balance and There is no generation more foolish than a generation that does not recognize its debt to the generations that came before it and So it's good to look back

It's good to have an idea of your place in history and both ancient history as well as the present history

That's the only way you can then look forward with with with meaning Make serious plans for the future is if you can look back and as Christians we look back and see well

What is the Lord been doing in my life? What is the what is the process here? What's uh, You know and honestly examining ourselves and saying well, you know the

Lord the Lord has been doing this in my life and But he still got a lot more work to do in that area or in this area.

It's very honestly analyzing Where we are in our Christian life and we all know we all know

There's not as there's not a single person in this audience That's gonna sit there and say you know what?

I've been spending way too much time in Bible study and prayer and fellowship with the Lord I I need to I need to cut back on that I think there's this there's a single person that would actually be able to honestly

Say that at all and so here at the end of the year, especially In in my adult life

And I I hit the big double nickels Last week or the week before last see it goes by so fast you start losing track immediately

But once you're my age, you can just sort of go. Yeah. Well, see here's my a Mac card or whatever

So I can do whatever I want. I can you know I'm not I'm not concerned about those things anymore

It's it's a good thing I think to Take this time and to consider what the future

You know in the next few weeks for the rest of the year this year 2017 Fastest year of my life.

No question about it. No question about it, but I knew it was gonna be that way I'm not the world's biggest traveler.

I the world's biggest traveler is actually in the studio audio Today But for me being out of the country one out of every six days

This year was huge. I was first time that had anything even close to that had happened.

I've never spent that much. I'm not I've gotten better at it. You have to you either have to give up or or get better at it.

I've gotten better at it I can I can adjust to things a little bit easier than I used to but still

I Knew that the schedule that we had lined out last year was gonna mean this year was going to go by in a flash

The next two years can't go by that fast. They just can't I've I've I've got to get focused on the work that I need to do in On p45.

And so yeah, we're still gonna be traveling. We're trying to put it It's gonna be so hard and we've got to get to it immediately

Immediately But still trying to put together the round the world tour in May literally going around the world from here to London to South Africa to Zambia to probably

Perth and New Zealand and then back across the the Pacific literally around the world

Still gonna be you know, we've still got debates to do and things like that We've still got the dividing line to do but I have to become extremely

Focused upon other things so I can't I can't repeat this year and we all know one of the main reasons is it was the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the

Reformation and One of the things that we need to start doing on program Not starting on the second, but maybe after that we sort of stopped

Once I went over for the Reformation tour, we sort of stopped the church history stuff And we hadn't gotten to where we needed to be.

I actually have to go back I'm gonna have to go back in the archives and go Where had we gotten because I'm teaching church history at PRBC and so we're in a similar time frame and and so I'm not sure where I was but we need to go back and Continue that because I I think rightly tried to point out

I'm a little concerned about all the emphasis upon October 31st because that's just the beginning

That was just the start. There's all sorts of really important things to be thinking about and I think we should have some big old

Celebration of You know The Marburg Colloquy and we should we should do something about the

Worms. There's really no place to go for Worms. I Think we showed you those

Massively oversized shack shoes that they have at Worms, which are just the dumbest things that have ever been put anywhere.

But anyway But there's all sorts of reasons to be, you know, continuing to celebrate the

Reformation And so I knew this was gonna be a busy year. We had been planning a lot of this stuff for a long long time

But still it it it was amazing. So what what did we do? Well Who could have known you know, it's interesting to look back

January we went down to Atlanta and We went to the

G3 conference and we had a debate beforehand with Trent Horn of Catholic Answers and It was very well received and we we did the conference and AHA showed up and Rich Rich Discovered it's probably not not good to talk with AHA guys.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah and Just smile and say have a nice day as you walk by and then

I went from Atlanta To Memphis and Little did

I know Little did I know that that little Couple days down in Memphis before I then went down to the

Deep South Founders Conference after that those couple days in Memphis Were going to have such a huge impact on the rest of the year

Because of course that's when we had the dialogues with Yasir Qadhi in the mosque and in the church

And so that was what one two three, that was the fourth week of the year so early on now the

Kickback on that there. There were some people sadly one thing I will remember 2017 for is

I've never lost as many friends in one year as in 2017 and One I could tell that was happening back in November December of the previous year, but Some of the rest just stunning, you know,

I just never would have guessed just how On completely different pages.

We were as to our motivations for why we do what we do. And so Yeah There was there was some pushback immediately

But it was May when Everything took place there was sort of a delayed reaction

But that that was in that was in January. And so we had G3. We had the debate we had the dialogues

Yasir Qadhi and the Deep South Founders Conference and Then let me see here.

The next thing I pretty much had February to have Have at home and then we we did the

Masters Academy International Conference the the the pre conference to the

Shepherds Conference in LA and And you always enjoy meeting the people from around the world there and it's amazing how much planning you get you can get done when?

Everybody's at one place, you know, it's like hey you want to come to this location and do that? Hey, there you go and there's that guy to talk to over there and we planned all sorts of stuff and and Things like that and then very very shortly after that Was my first run down to South Africa and We do that.

Thankfully through London. We have so many friends There in London and London's just such an awesome place.

I mean You know, I've got my Oyster card and and you can get pretty much anywhere you need to go in London pretty easily

I think if I recall correctly though Yeah, yeah, that was the one where at the end when

I was in London Yeah, that was in March then the last night

I stayed at Heathrow and That was the same night as the attack on the bridge there in in London and So I wasn't anywhere near.

I mean Heathrow is a good drive from there, but Wasn't anywhere near it, but it was just you know

That's that's the type of thing that was that was that was going on and I didn't mention

I pretty much lost the first number of weeks of the year I had been hospitalized at the end of the previous year and so Still trying to sort of get back to speed even in these early months physically

But that was the first trip down. I was down in South Africa twice this year and I've lost track How many times

I was in London? this year again in comparison to others not much, but Then April remember

April What happened in April? Well, that was another one of the situations where you know, someone contacts me

I think someone contacted me by Facebook messenger and You know, we've got this situation up here in South Dakota You know with this this group, you know, and they've they've like bought this town and it's really weird and Well, okay.

Let's see if we can do something and that of course was the INC debate with with Mr.

Ventilacion and What an interesting evening that was

We've contacted them about doing another debate, but I I'll be perfectly honest with you right now I've got to get somebody else to take this over because there is no way

I had the time to be Doing this stuff. I mean, you know what? I think it is just may get hold of the guys up in South Dakota and say you already did this once you want

Do it again. It won't be in South Dakota, but you want to do you want it? You already know how to do this stuff.

Well, we'll just Hand it to you. Oh It's incredibly complicated and and the guys up there just had the just the right

Attitude about it all so I may we may serious I may seriously see if they wouldn't be willing to to pick up the ball on that and Because I just need to be able to show up and do the thing.

I don't have time to play the game I really don't actually that's a great plug -in because they're they're three -digit

South Dakota apologetics Yeah, we'll just change it and they can have an adjunct down there Yeah, cuz we're talking about a debate in San Diego, so so there you go down there and take over yeah

Yeah, so we've got the guys in channel but I'm also talking about the the guys up in South Dakota because they they really they had to have a lot of patience to to You know

Aaron and the guys up there had a lot of patience to put up with all the stuff that was involved with that But anyways, that's that was at the end of of April and then we didn't things got got busy because in in May once again back in London And in South Africa and No, no, no.

No, no, that wasn't South Africa this was over to Vittenberg and so I taught at the wonderfully named

German Shepherds Conference We haven't been planning this one for a long time and it always been a chuckle

That it was going to be the German Shepherds Conference In in Vittenberg, they always have it in Vittenberg, but obviously in 2017 that made it all the more special and Great to you know meet all those folks and I loved my

Plenary session with Martin Manton as my as my translator Because he and I just get along really well, please don't hold that against him.

But we get along really well and We have fun with the translation

I speak some German thankfully and It makes translation into German all that much more fun

Because I can understand what the other guy's saying. And so it's when they when they sort of Go NIV ish on me.

I can I can have some fun when that when that happens and then I had one quote from from Some Pope or something and Martin looked at it and he can see my notes so you can see the

English and he's like I have no idea what to do with that It's sort of like Okay, let's see if we can come up with another way of putting it here

You know, it was that's been posted online too, but had a great time there in in Vittenberg with the

EBTC guys and and I Was interesting

I was about the only person Running in the mornings in Vittenberg had the place to myself.

I mean even the dogs were asleep I it was if you wanted to run someplace Nobody was could get in your way.

And so yeah, that was that was in in May and Then where was this one?

Oh Yeah back to Was I gone that long that was that that that long of a trip

Wow, that was that was long But yeah, I think that was one of the longest trips I had ever had at that particular point in time if I recall correctly, so yeah of course in During the summers here in in Phoenix it gets a tad bit on the warm side

I went up as I normally do it as I love to do as I train all year to do I went up to Colorado in July spoke at some churches up there while I was doing the the triple -bypass ride

Mount Evans all that kind of stuff and Spoken Littleton and places like that met even had a group of Muslims come out to one of the churches

I was speaking at they just came out. They knew I was speaking on Islam So they didn't come out to you know, protest.

I was like that. They literally came out to thank me for Approaching the subject in a meaningful fashion a respectful fashion unlike so many others

And that was in in July That's a great great. I'll tell you

Colorado right now, you know, I'm not really into the cold all that much So yeah, but you know come

July It's a great place to be rather than Phoenix There's no no two ways about that then then back to Back to South Africa and London again in in August great opportunities down there

I'm so thankful for for all the people down in South Africa that put up with my weirdness

I mean, there's a family down there that I stay with when I'm in Johannesburg, and I've got sort of you know

It really helps when you travel So I'm not like some people that can just go to all these different hotels and just adjust everything.

It's really neat To get used to a particular place and So that you know when

I go up to Colorado, I stay with one family in Colorado. They put up with me every year They're you know, I'm part of the family there, but you stay in the same place so when you wake up in the middle of night, you know where you are, you know, and there's just there's just sort of a

Lack of pressure there I go down to Johannesburg. I stay with the same family in the same room.

I Know every running route around their neighborhood because okay, it's

Johannesburg. So it's a completely walled -in Neighborhood or I wouldn't be running in the dark.

I assure you not in South Africa I know every Centimeter of every place that can be run in that particular neighborhood and they just you know

There's no leave that the key in a certain spot that I can just go and do my running and come back and and all

And it makes it so much more enjoyable and easy to travel when you have that kind Flourish the way they do is they don't have to live with you all the time

You don't have to put up with you for a while and then you leave and that's probably a probably a good thing

But I think it was this one coming back is When I stayed at the

Royal Horse Guards in London on the way back because I think the earlier one Was where I stayed at a hotel not all that far away from it

It was a nice hotel, but they had had a fire alarm in the middle of the night and we were out in the cold Someplace what's that double tree?

Okay, and Yeah, and that's that was that was in a really good location too,

I mean that was that was fine But I mean, there's just no there's if you want to run around downtown

London if you want to Go eat at tortillas at Trafalgar Square if you want to, you know, see the sights

There's just no place like the Royal Horse Guards. It's just it's just perfectly located and there's a there's a tube station right down the block well, actually

There's tube stations all around that that area depending which line you want to get on And and I had a lot of fun just running around downtown ran over to the the

Marian Martyrs plaque and the Wallace plaque and and Now I'm bummed because I didn't realize how close

I was to the Handel house So that's the next thing on the list is going and visiting the Handel house

Which is well within running distance of everything's well within running distance just about depending on how far you're running these days

Just it's such an amazing city It really really is an amazing place and it's even more amazing now that I've found decent

Mexican food to eat there So that's that's that's pretty good. But yeah, I think it was that trip. That's also when it went down to Durban did the debate with Yusuf Ismail down there on Election and stuff like that.

So that was in that was in August and I knew it wasn't I wasn't gonna be home very long before we headed out again on the

Reformation tour to Germany and Despite the fact that some of the people on the tour had an almost fatal case of Deutsche phobia just you know just you know,

I Just really felt sorry for some people who will remain nameless And they're in their

Deutsche phobia We just Rarely does Kelly my wife get to go with me on most of these things, but she finally got to go and and On the way over we both managed to snag our upgrades, which was really nice That that helped a lot

Coming back not so much but going over is the most important thing because you know coming back yeah, you can crash for a few days, but but Just a

Well, what was it just what about ten days ago two weeks or so ago I posted the links to the video from the

Opportunity I had early on very early on we we flew into Berlin and I I didn't know how these things worked

I had I had seen for example about what was it a month and a half earlier is when y 'all were in with with Ligonier and Al Moller and stuff.

Okay, I had seen Tweets and stuff. Hey, we the program can't be operating right now.

I need to turn the warp drive back on. Sorry There we go, all right, whew, ah man

What yeah, yes, I see that the warp that the warp core is dead the dilithium crystals had died or something

I don't know, but we had to we had to fix that Anyways, I had seen tweets and stuff So I had an idea of the various places that people were going but I I didn't have a in my mind

How this is gonna work and so one of the things I had done is I was going man We're gonna be having to pack and unpack and pack and unpack

I need to pack so I can pack and unpack every night and move someplace else and well That's not how to do it.

And that's not how we did it. So we Stayed in in Berlin and then we stayed in Mainz like Weimar Weimar and then in Frankfurt and then you would you would take the bus to the various locations each day and You know

That's that's the easiest way to do it logistically now Chronologically, it meant you were sort of bouncing around as far as Luther's life and stuff like that went but That was you know, it's sort of like when it whenever you lecture on history, how are you gonna do it?

You can do it chronologically you do it thematically you got to make choices and So like we get to Berlin and The first day

Kelly and I run down to the Brandenburg Gate and I know some of you are too young to To have even been around when

Reagan, you know stood outside that When the wall was still up and mr

Gorbachev tear down this wall and and we're sitting there taking pictures of the foundation stones that are still in the street from where that wall was and You know being a

World War two buff, you know, it's not the first time I had seen it I've been to Germany a number of times and when

I was teaching for EBT see the first time they took me down there and So I had seen it before but it's still It was just so so cool just to go for a run

Through this really wooded area and then all of a sudden you come out and poof You realize you were in the

East German part part that no one could have gone to before, you know And so that you know that that's a great way to start things off But then you start you know, we go from there to Wittenberg.

I've been to Wittenberg. I had spent Days in Wittenberg earlier in the year But what's interesting is even though I had taken the obligatory picture outside the

The door and thing like that. I'd never been in the castle church I'd never been on any of the tour things where you get to go in and So what had been planned and of course

I You know, it's it's hard not to get your heart set on something But you always know that things can go wrong at the last moment.

And so you don't really want to Really get your heart set on something you want to go. Well, you know if it happens if it happens, that's great but it had been planned for quite some time that I would have the opportunity of speaking there and I Had seen pictures tweeted a month and a half earlier when

Dr. Moller had spoken in the castle church in the high pulpit And I was like, oh

And so I had actually talked to friends in I have some good Friends in Frankfurt.

In fact, I actually extended my stay Kelly went home before me so that I could speak at the

Reformed Baptist Church in Frankfurt and You know just tried to be an encouragement to the

Reformed Baptist brethren there in in Deutschland and so I had contacted them and I had sent them some quotes that I wanted to use in the

Sermon because I chose to basically do a sermon. Obviously, it was historically based, but it was it was still a sermon and So I had sent them these quotes

And I wonder if they could find the originals in Luther's German writings, which of course they did for me

Though in the process they were like man those English translations you got If someone's you know playing around with stuff here, it's not overly literal and here's a better translation and stuff like that Because I wanted

I've never been in there before and so I knew Luther was buried No, I just didn't know exactly where where well if I had if I had leaned over The the pulpit which

I didn't do but if I leaned over it, you'd be looking straight down at Luther's headstone

I mean, he's right there and so That was that was a risk on my part.

It's it's a risk to throw some original language stuff into a sermon you only have 30 minutes in the first place and It was a little bit of a risk, but I decided

I needed to do it Being right there and it was

It was fascinating There is a room back behind it's been a lot of modernization done based on the back part behind the church

I mean the bathroom that I went into back there was like Star Wars spaceship type thing.

I mean, you know automatic everything it was sort of freaky But there is this this room back there

Where I got changed because I wasn't gonna run around Wittenberg all day in a suit and tie

Though some other people do that. I can't pull it off so I got changed and as I'm waiting to to go there because there's like a

Dividing wall and then you you have the the stairs that go up. I know I had not even gone up there

So I did not even realize until I ran into it that there is a swinging door at the top Says like oh,

I guess I need to get around that. Hope we don't fall all over ourselves But I'm back there waiting to get started and there's this guy who works for the church and He speaks he's from America.

So he speaks perfectly good English though most believe me most Germans speak much better English than we speak

German, but that's been my experience and So he sees that I'm getting ready to go up because I'm all dooted up and stuff and and He says

I don't want to put any extra pressure on you. He says but Just thought you might want to notice that when you stand up in that pulpit

You're on the same level as the statues of all the Reformers in the room And if you look at the video or the pictures, yeah, you'll see you know

Luther's right over there And then you got Melanchthon and you got you know boots are I think boots isn't there somebody they're all on the same level

And as we were standing in the pulpit, you're saying the same level of the Reformers like thank you very much Appreciate appreciate that comment right as I'm getting ready to go out there

I I think he stuck around and listened though. So that was that was good Look there aren't that many people that have ever stood up there and looked out over an audience in that room

Especially if that audience is actually listening to you and You know, that's

I've described as a bucket list type thing, I mean I I hope the

Lord preserves me in such a way that when I get to my old old old age I'll still remember that at least

I've got a video we can we can show it to me. I can go Oh, I'd forgotten that. I hope that's not what happens but it was just it's just amazing to stand up there and to look out and and and I really hope that that what

I had to say was was important and we We did have

And I'm thankful we had a little buzz in The sound system. It wasn't all the time and it sort of went away toward the end

But we had this little Sound in in the sound system and I that kind of thing really doesn't bother me

I've been a sound man most of my life. And so I understand things happen But When we got done,

I was talking with some of the brethren afterwards and I started jokingly said well, you know We talked about the you could hear in the sound system

I said, I think that was brother Luther's spinning in his grave because a Baptist was preaching from his pulpit

I think that's just high -speed revs Down there, but but maybe after I quoted him a few times in German, then he's like, okay, the guy's not too bad

So we'll we'll let him we'll let him slide but that was

That would have been enough, you know, but there was so much more came because that was very early on That was like the second day

We started visiting other places and You know visiting all these different museums that I was pretty museumed out by the end but it was fascinating to see the different kinds of guides we would have and You know some just doing their jobs some really obviously enjoy their job

And they're the ones that are the most interesting people to talk to and stuff and we had this one guy that was just so Friendly that we invited him to come eat with us later on in the day and You can just tell you know

The people that do their job because they're getting paid to and the people who do their job because they really enjoy it it's it was fascinating to see that kind of stuff, but The the places we visit obviously for me the

The visit to the Vartburg Castle was the next big thing on the on the trip and Do we have an idea

Mike when that's gonna gonna be available No, no, no the

The Fritz Erba video next week probably next week, hopefully

We'll be posting a link to and this was it's not just because they happen to be staying in the other room

This is you know I'm not Trust me didn't talk with anybody about this and I'm the world's worst marketer

But I've already said this on the program said this to other people in other contexts One of the things that struck me

Was I was I? Was informed that I was touching on elements of the Reformation that many other people sort of avoid the very first night in Berlin I Said look

I realize I Would not be welcomed in Geneva under Calvin.

I would not be welcomed in Wittenberg under Luther I would not have been welcomed in Zurich Even Martin Buzer.

I'm not sure would have been overly kind toward me and You have to learn to do history you have to do the work

We don't one of I had not thought of before we got over there But I think the very first night or the second night.

I came up with the line. We don't want comic book Understanding a comic book understanding the

Reformation we want to know who these men really were we don't want to whitewash anything and So What had happened was

I've got to thank dr. Moller for this he had tweeted a picture While he was over there month and a half was it a month and a half month and a half earlier

And When I had seen it it had made a little light come on.

He it was a picture of this hole and He mentioned that this is where Fritz Erba had been imprisoned

And I was like So I you know jumped online ago, oh, yeah,

I started doing some reading I'm like, oh man I gotta see that I've got to see this and so I let the folks at sovereign know

I said we we got there I'm like I'd really like to see is this a part.

Is this such a normal part of the tour and they're like Fritz who I? Mean that's what's pretty much y 'all have never heard of him before me, right?

you had you had heard something, but but The the nice lady that took me there had not heard of this person and so They made phone calls for me and said yeah, it's like 50 cents to go up the

South Tower and you know see that but Yeah, that can be arranged and so I actually skipped box house

To get up to the castle early and Go visit this this site and The lovely

Kathy came with me and we had some you know, we had to get all the tickets and stuff arranged and we got up there and stuff like that, but We finally get over there and I'm nervous

Because I'm afraid of heights and if I can see through steps and stuff, I Mean, I could not make it up.

No, I probably could now but back in the 90s, I couldn't make it up into the torch or Of the of Lady Liberty because you can see through the stairs and I couldn't do it

That is just there's too much for me. So I was a little worried about what we're gonna be running into well We plunk our 50 cents in and it's for 40 steps up and boom

I look to my right there it is Now we went all the way to the top later on but there it was and You know while we were in there a couple people stuck their heads in and sort of You know, but this is not the most popular location in in the in the

Vartburg Castle. I was just You know,

I look down that first. I look down that hole They have a light down at the bottom because they didn't have a light down there You'd it would just be a black hole. You have no earthly idea how far down that is and I Knew what had happened.

I knew that Fritz Erba had been put in that hole in 1541 and died down there in 1548 seven years.

There aren't any windows down there. I Mean, it's it's a it's this it's the inside part of that tower

With no means of communication with the outside world no light no nothing other than that one hole

It's called the terror hole because you'd be bound and lowered down into the darkness. You don't know what's down there

Don't know how far down it goes And so I Knew what it represented and and after we took some pictures of it and looked at it

We went on up to the top and we're sort of look because it's beautiful views up there Looking around and I start blabbering about just the the

The contrast here we stand in that tower right above where Fritz Erba lived his last few

Years, and why was he down there? Because he had read the

Bible that Luther had translated 150 yards over there and believed it but because of sacralism

Because of Constantinianism because the state church The Bible was translated over there

He believes it The man who translated that Bible right over there hiding from the imperial authorities in his day never lifts a finger

To get him out of that in fact supports His being in that hole down there.

Well, of course Erba dies after Luther does but still he was well aware of the situation and that contrast that Contradiction that historical reality standing up there on the top of that tower

Was just overwhelming it was just amazing and Evidently I communicated that with some level of Fervor because Kathy goes so You want to bring our people up there and talk to them about this

Now, let me tell you something folks Let me tell you something Didn't talk to anybody about this.

There's nobody else out there that does these tours That's gonna do this. There's not they're not gonna think about it.

They don't care about it it was it took a it took work to okay, we need to go a little faster through here and even to the point where we're staying down there and Janica has a bag of 50 -cent pieces

So that we can get everybody through the little turnstile do hickey whopper thingy so someone had to think about doing that and and then

And what I didn't know at the time was out of their great kindness a wonderful Banquet had been arranged especially honoring

Kelly and I At the hotel just down from the castle, I mean I wish

I could show you a picture I could I suppose is on my Thing I have shown you a picture, but I mean it's like the

Knights the round tables It's just it's just gorgeous. And so you've got there's already timing involved here and so now we're having to play with the timing and Still did it and but the room so small we had to break our group up into two different groups

Because you can only cram what about 14 people at max You know doing this number and then in the midst of all this

Mike grabs his camera one of many cameras

The nice one well one of the nice ones and Tries to make himself a part of the wall because you need to try to have at least some distance in perspective and Videotapes, yes, right

Mike being the guy who can turn sideways and disappear Records my first presentation

To the first group that's up there and Then they all leave and we send up the second group and I try to as Closely as I can sort of repeat what

I did the first time around the recording of that Is hopefully what will get posted next week and it's it's only what about seven minutes about seven minutes long and it's short but I Think it's pretty unique.

I think it's it you know that and it was just the whole

Vartberg day was Was just incredible and we invited the guy that had given us the tour down in Eisenach up to eat with us and what

I really liked is we invited our bus driver, too and It was just it was it was just it was just absolutely magical.

I mean the whole the whole trip everywhere we went The only thing

I really skipped out in the Bach house to get up to the Vartberg Castle was I skipped the Gutenberg Museum because I was trying to find a

Bible to buy for our Muslim bus driver eventually found one though The people at the

Gutenberg Museum sent me halfway across the city to find a bookstore

When walking back I discovered that there was a bookstore literally 50 meters

Caddy corner from but they I don't know I guess I needed the extra steps that day or something

But even as it was when I found the bookstore big to level bookstore you ask for a

Bible and they're like Bible Bible, is that religious in this

I Mean you're near the Gutenberg Museum If that isn't if that isn't a parable for what has happened to European society.

I really don't know What is it was it was it was amazing. So and like I said, I stayed over one day so I could preach there in in Frankfurt Frankfurt is where we finished up and And Had a great time there they've posted the the trans the the preaching and the translation has been has been posted and That church just informed me about four days ago

That they have obtained the rights from Bethany house and are now in the process of producing the

German version of the Potter's Freedom So that will be available in in in Germany in German.

So I'm looking forward to reading that That'll be sort of fun in German. That'll be that'd be that'd be great to read your own stuff going

I think I should remember this. Yeah, so so we had it obviously had a great time and I'll just tell you

I like I've told you before I I asked the people on the bus Because I was doing these these bus lecture type things

Just to try to Make it as valuable to everybody who came along as as as possible

I asked everybody well, I think the last night so if we did the rest of the

Reformation how many of you would want to come along vast majority and put their hands up and so We want to we're definitely wanting to wanting to do that Got back

October down in Dallas Some of you know AHA showed up even at the conference we did in in Dallas But that was

Another opportunity for me to spend time with Jason Lyle and Dr.

Lyle, I think it was on the 14th. Yeah, the 14th of October was a

Saturday night and I'm now looking I have now put into my kit my calendar A Astronomical stuff and I can see now that was a fairly good night last quarter.

So the moon's getting When the moon's full is 25 ,000 times brighter than anything else in the night sky

So that's why during full moons or three -quarter moons Not even really worth it

But it was a good night and Dr. Lyle says so after the conference is over.

Would you like to go out and do some stargazing and I'm sort of like Wow going stargazing with Jason Lyle That's sort of like having

Michael Jordan come up to you and say would you like to shoot some hoop, you know? Sure. Okay, and so we went out set up his 14 -inch reflector and You know,

I was exhausted both of us were tired it'd been a long day we had both spoken during the conference

I think I'd spoken twice that day But I got bit

I mean I got bit by the bug Because it helps that the guy you're going out with Can show you

Saturn and then sit there and start ripping off all the moon on the names of all the moons And how big they are and they did it

It's yeah Jason Lyle is is responsible for the fact that my main

Christmas present this year was a 10 -inch Reflector Dobsonian mount go to and Yeah, yeah it

I'm sitting there now. I start looking at moon phases cloud cover all that stuff because it's like when can

I get out for a Really dark night because there's some stuff in the Orion Nebula. I'd really like to try it at you know, that kind of stuff and On my bike rides.

I've been working in hours and hours of astronomy lectures on right now going through Stellar formation and all sorts of incredible stuff like that.

It's It's fascinating stuff, but that was in in October And then

I went down to Texas and For example, I spoke at Jeff Neal's Church in in Texas had a great time down there.

It was great to get to Get together with him again, and then

I'm seeing flights. Oh, that's it's just flight back from from Dallas Uh Then st.

Louis once again st. Charles 17 years The first weekend in December.

Well, the first time we did it was actually during the summer, but It's been 17 the 17th time.

We've gone to gone to st. Charles and And then

I Took a trip up to see the grandkids just a few weeks ago up in Las Vegas I've spent a lot of time away from home this year and In the midst of all that we had we had debates in in Durban, South Africa We had a lot of stuff going on But you'll notice what

I didn't mention all that that was all the positive stuff. That was the traveling that was I'm You know for the first time in my life.

I am Executive platinum on American Airlines I Won't be next year,

I hope But it is nice I gotta admit, you know, it's sort of nice you do get treated

Fairly nicely when you're an EP, you know, I was sitting if you fly to Dallas on American There are 27 other

EPS on the flight too. So you're not gonna get an upgrade unless you've flown 500 ,000 miles that year

So you're back in the in the emergency exit row at least Which fine place in fact, it's almost easier for me to sleep there than it is up in first class because there's so much room to the wall in first class, but in in the exit row, it's right there as you

Actually sleep better, but I'm sitting there and this we used to you know, how old

I am we used to call them stewardesses A Flight attendant comes up to me and says

Dr. White, would you like something to eat? And I I know why they're doing it because you're executive platinum, but everyone else is sort of sitting around looking at you like Excuse us for being in the same row, you know

Sure Mmm and then you sort of eat it like this, you know, everybody else is sort of looking at it

Vultures sitting on your seat. It's it's a weird weird situation. But what

I didn't mention, of course was Starting as soon as I got back from Vittenberg the first time in May is

What we will probably always refer to as sadly What we refer to it at the time was the season of slander

Unfortunately, what we're gonna have to do now is call it the first season of slander or a season of slander 1 volume 1

I have a feeling there's gonna be a volume 2 and a volume 3 and a volume 4 unless the

Lord is merciful and that is when the name

Brandon house Became much better known to me and I had only known the name Because of the association with Chris Pinto and the movies that Chris Pinto cranks out about Codex Sinaiticus being a fraud and the

Jesuits are behind everything and That kind of stuff and I knew that Pinto was on houses

Network But I also knew there were some good guys on houses Network Justin Peters Mike Abendroth Ron houses

Network. And so I hadn't given the guy much thought and Within I think it was two days after I got back from Vittenberg Was when the first program dropped from Brandon house with Osama dak -dak and Just going after me as a useful idiot and all the rest of stuff and that's what started the whole

IFD controversy Which of course up until that point in time interfaith dialogue it always referred to liberals getting together with other liberals and agreeing that no one actually believed anything and given that My conversations with dr.

Khadi Started off by saying that's not what either one of us can do

It's very strange that that Phraseology has now been expanded out to have a meaning it didn't have very long ago at all, but that's when it started and So over the next few weeks

You had a number of people you had Robert Maury and Sam Shamoon and and then eventually sadly

Janet Mefford Got involved. I was I was up in Colorado with my own particular people

And I've said before I've said now now again, dr.

Khadi and I jihad For so because of that just astounding

I couldn't see that coming and let's be honest Some of those doors would not have been open were it not for the grossly adverse and grossly unfair and grossly edited

Responses that many people provided to that and So, you know in the midst of all the slander and everything else it's real easy to Wonder what

God's purposes are but you know, I've I've pointed back to 2000 when

Norman Geisler put out Chosen but free and my thinking at the time There's to be so many people that are confused by this and oh, you know

And that's what prompted me to write the Potter's freedom now nearly 20 years later. You look back and you go, you know

God knows what he's doing we we may lose perspective, but God really knows what he's doing and he does and he does and so yeah, you

You look at what has happened and you you look at What happened in that situation and then sadly just over the past number of months the

Recognition I I I think of anything to be honest with you. I think of anything

Hold on just a second here Okay, all right, I Think of anything that when

I look down the road The thing that concerns me the most

I'm not talking about global church issues here the continued rise of totalitarian secularism

Remains in my mind the greatest challenge to the church in Western Western countries it is

It is It's totalitarianism. It is an ABS you must

Well the the the cake decision that came down yesterday now that we all know

That that's going to be adjudicated in light of the Supreme Court decision That will come out in June.

So it's a temporary thing. But the the couple up there is supposed to pay $135 ,000 For emotional distress

Gross injustice Absurd on its face and Yet, this is what we are facing in Western culture.

So we're talking about global issues in Western countries, that's what we're facing.

The church is facing secularism totalitarianism. We will shut you down We will silence you that to me is the greatest threat

Obviously militant Islam remains a great threat. I Hear almost nobody talking about what's happening in Saudi Arabia.

However There's all sorts of odd stuff happening right now and I don't claim to know understand all of it.

But at least I follow people Muslims primarily who? Have a finger on the heartbeat and there's some there's some stuff going on in Saudi Arabia.

Okay That's really really interesting that the

West seems to be ignoring primarily But obviously militant

Islam, especially in Africa remains a major major issue I think of my dear friends in South Africa.

Oh my goodness. That nation is in trouble the corruption of the of the government there the

ANC Oh They are losing people right and left Anybody who can get an education get out is getting out

And that that's just dragging the entire Nation down So there's all sorts of things to think about along those lines

But when I look at Things closer to home when when

I look at The general movement with which I have been identified For my entire ministry, okay, you know,

I know we stink at this But guess what? 2018 is 2018 is the 35th anniversary of the founding of Alpha Omega ministries 35 years and Some of you going.

Yeah, you look like it Yeah, and and everyone in the studio audience going mm -hmm, yeah, man, it couldn't even help themselves 35 years

Little longer than most folks have been involved in apologetics ministry And For that period of almost all of that period of time

But especially since writing books like drawn by the Father God Sovereign Grace, so on so forth we have been a part of the

Calvinistic branch the reformed movement and Things are a change and I was a

Calvinist before it was popular to be a Calvinist And now it's become quote -unquote popular among at least in some some areas but I'm very very concerned because It seems to me

That in some ways the Lord is removing his hand of blessing from our movement and what

I mean by that is we are seeing a

We are seeing men arise in our midst Who lack the spirit that had always motivated?

The proclamation of the doctrines of grace I Was gonna grab it and I forgot to do so But ritual remember that back in 86 when

I first introduced the people in the ministry to the doctrines of grace

It wasn't long before I then introduced them to a little pamphlet written by a fiery preacher

I Albert Martin called the practical implications of Calvinism and It is a

Spurgeon esque Reminder That you can cross all your

T's and dot all your I's doctrinally But if it doesn't impact the way you live and how you interact with other believers then

It's all fury signifying nothing It's it's emptiness and in fact only bring greater condemnation upon you for having so much light and sinning against it

We've often talked about the cage stage. Well, it seems like there are people now they're saying you know that cage stage thing needs to be where we are all the time and I Suppose we we have to ask the question.

Well have those of us who have been Teaching on these subjects for so long just been missing the boat

Have we have we not been clear on this I suppose it's possibility, but I also recognize that Reform theology has ebbed and waned in the history of the church as a part of God's blessing or the withdrawal of that blessing

We can never assume That God is simply going to continue to bless his people

God has a purpose. I mean I've said it and I'll say it again a healthy discerning loving gracious Christian Church is a blessing on any nation

It's a blessing on any nation and what happens when God wants to bring his wrath against nation

You know, we always sit around going. Well the church failed to do this the church failed Yeah, what if it's just God is withdrawing his blessing upon a nation and so by his spirit.

He does not He does not Bless the proclamation of the gospel with as many converts you can't look back on the history of England and look at England today and not see that that happens and so What we're called to do in the midst of that is to be faithful no matter what but sometimes that means faithfulness in plowing very hard rocky ground

Very hard rocky ground. Well anyway It seems like there is a

Sudden manifestation of a hard -edged imbalanced immature constantly cage -stage

Calvinism and for years Non -Calvinists have painted us all in that way

If you even start to say well, it says in John 6 you horrid

Calvinist All right, we're all used to that got it, but now

I'm seeing it and Well, I'll give you an illustration

I had a pastor write to me just a couple days ago and He told me about something that had happened in his church

I'm not gonna give any details But just the just the conversation just in standing around, you know, how you stand around church and talk with people um

This this man makes the statement well, I I sure hope R .C. Sproul's with the

Lord, but it Doesn't look hopeful now if that Was stated in almost any context in almost any church at least

Reformed Church I can I can get that in a Wesleyan holiness church or in some radical, you know hyper

Arminian Context where they you know, the people who constantly put out YouTube videos about R .C.

Sproul, you know Never read a book. He wrote but they know he's that Calvinist guy. And so I I get that They were saying he wasn't going to heaven for a long time.

This is in a ostensibly Reformed Church and After some of the other gentlemen standing around pick their dentures back up off the ground and go what what what do you mean?

The gentleman's response was well, he was a tolerant Calvinist like James White.

Where did this come from? What what what has brought this on it's astounding but and and it's frightening it's sad to see

It's sad to see this kind of thing taking place But it is taking place and again when we look back five years ten years from now

If we ask ourselves a question now Lord, how can we respond to this? In a way that glorifies you in a way that edifies your people

If we can respond to this, is this gonna will this provide a needed corrective? Will this provide a needed?

Writing of the ship balancing of the payload shall we say We be able look back and go man

If it hadn't been for those hotheads that a completely lost balance on stuff then this might have happened or that much or that person wouldn't have been able to get that position and have such a

Great impact upon us. Who knows? I don't know and Even if none of that ever happens, even if ten years from now, it's just gotten worse and we don't see anything positive

We're called to remain faithful no matter what the situation is. No matter what the situation is now

Is it enjoyable To have your name used like that. I mean what?

It's really hard to understand exactly where these people are coming from because when you actually sit down If they will even sit down and actually start pushing through things

You find all sorts of false assumptions and and it doesn't matter what you've done your entire life

It just matters right now. You need to you need to condemn the same people I condemn And there can you need to look like me talk like me.

There is a deep deep streak of the worst of fundamentalism in This mindset.

That's why I was talking about fundamentalism last week what I said about fundamentalism got

Grossly twisted out of out of context. I mean on a level of self -deception.

That's astounding by certain people out there But the point is

That there is a mindset that says you need to look like me act like me talk like me condemn everybody

I condemn and it's the separationism idea You cannot be friends with anyone that I am

NOT friends with and If you are then you become my enemy That kind of attitude will destroy

The reform movement in the United States It will destroy it

And the funny thing is the people that are promoting it the very one saying we're saving the movement There can be no doctrines of grace without grace

Without grace are you left with their doctrines the Pharisees had lots of doctrines, but they didn't have the heart of the matter so To me this seems to be one of the biggest issues.

I mean It it just seems to me that so many in What is brought has run broadly called evangelicalism

Are so Willing to and so so easily distracted by Baubles and bangles

There are movements afoot amongst some of our greatest leading names that are extremely troubling

Extremely troubling, but how do you address those things? Do you address those things? by firebombing them personally, or Do you address those things by?

positively presenting a Counterpoint that is so rich and deep in biblical truth

That those whom the Lord blesses with ears to hear Will hear

We could become extremely frustrated Extremely frustrated if we come to the conclusion that it's us up to us to right the ship

This is God's doing these are God's days God still in charge.

He's still on his throne We are called to speak the truth You can either do that in a

Consistent deeply biblical rich way soaked in grace and Trust him with the results

Don't put him on some kind of chart like they have for you know The old church growth charts they used to have in the

Southern Baptist Convention Where you need to have this percentage of growth in Sunday school at this time or you just ain't doing things, right?

We need to double how many times we're going on knocking on doors and you know If someone comes once and fills out a card,

I don't care if they tell you not to keep coming back You keep going back this many times. No I'm not talking about that we need to be faithful and leave the results in God's hands and When you see that one person

That's been greatly blessed boy That one person's testimony better be enough for you for quite some time because that may be all

God gives to you I'm afraid there's a lot of folks that unless they see the numbers unless they see

I were winning the war. I just want to serve Christ and If it is not

Christ's intention For there to be huge massive crowds

Following after his truth as he brings judgment against the people. I Either have to accept that or I have to start making false converts and we've already seen what that does

We've already seen what that does. We've already seen the use of all the programs and all everything else

We see it happening right now, why do you think so many of us have been Talking about what

Andy Stanley has been saying Well, we've got to do it this way. We got to What what happened to trusting the

Lord and the power of the Word and the power of the Spirit Word and Spirit nothing's changed Oh Much has changed.

Well, yeah. Okay, as I said in Wittenberg as I said in the castle church The audience we're addressing is less

Spiritually ready to hear the truth Than the peasants of Wittenberg were

At the time of the Reformation They knew they lived in God's world We're dealing with people who think that all of this around us all this complexity all this beauty the beauty of life itself

Just happened We actually have I think a harder road to hoe than they did

It doesn't change the fact we're called to be faithful. It doesn't change the fact we're called to be faithful and so I Am NOT one of those people that goes this is what

I see coming in 2018 All sorts of stuff happened this year that none of us could have predicted

That none of us saw coming There are some people who are very good at Marking trends and things like that.

I'm not one of them Not even gonna go there All I know is we're called to be faithful to the message and we're called to continue to believe that God uses that message to drive people to himself

Therefore we have to be we have to adapt the situations we're facing. I've I've been saying for years

I fully expect our freedoms of expression To come under they are already under attack.

What happens if If The Supreme Court Abandons the fundamental freedom of religious freedom in the

United States It could happen in this session. I mean, I really think this one case could be enough.

We already know that Almost I mean look at the situation of Trinity Law School up in Canada the

The Totalitarians know if you control the judiciary control the judges mold them into your worldview.

It doesn't matter what constitutions or anything else say Because they can be molded like play -doh into what we want and So all they need is a decision like the

Supreme Court decision to start seeing all sorts of applications which means we need to shut down hate speech, which is anything we have to say and I've Quoted before but remember what

John Adams said The Constitution United States is meant for a moral and religious people. It is wholly unfit for the governance of any other well, what that means is

The assumption of the founders was a judge would actually judge based upon the Constitution. We already know that's a joke today they don't all you need to do is give them just a little bit of ammunition and And we're no longer sitting here talking to you and The proclamation of the church have to start making that decision

Are we gonna start meeting in homes? We have start doing the same thing that Christians do all around the world and other places and meet in private and have to know

Who's there? Always wondering who's the who the KGB agent is

What do we do then? Those are all questions that I hope we're not facing in 2018 but we need to be thinking about the trends that lead those directions and Praying that we will use the freedom that we have now not to have worries with one another

But to focus upon what really matters what's really centrally important That's certainly what we want to do over The next year whatever that brings whatever time we are given

Be faithful to what God calls us to do. Sometimes that's weird stuff like yesterday's program. I mean over two hours on black

Hebrew Israel isms Attempt to get rid of Matthew 28 19 and the resultant textual critical issues.

Yeah. Okay, we do some weird programs no two ways about but That needs to be done then

Hebrews a Hebrew Israel Israelism is growing Somebody's got to address it.

We can't address everything. But if you've got someone around who knows it We'll do it

But obviously we need you to stand with us during this time You Have probably figured out by now that when you watch the dividing line, you're not gonna be spending much time hearing fundraising.

I Hearken back to this guy knew back in the 1980s where I You know 25 to 50 percent of the entire airtime was nothing more than a guilt trip about What you did or did not give that particular ministry because without that particular ministry the entire kingdom of God was going to collapse

He's not really around much anymore, but that's not how we are and Every once in a while.

I just remind everybody We're not that way not because we don't have needs it's just that's we're not that way

Some people assume that because we ever talk about means we've just got everything locked up We had somebody dump a huge ton of money on us.

It doesn't work that way so yeah, we do need you to stand with us and in fact at this point in time with the

Slander That is now becoming so prevalent even the reform community need you more than ever if that kind of stuff

Bothers you then stand with the people that aren't doing it rather than the people that are

Keep those things in mind so we kick off next year Starting right where we left off.

There's there's no there's no vacays no holidays Right back at it.

There's so many things deal with the guy to get back to the church history stuff got to get back to Achmed's video that I stopped in middle of and I've done that many times before and can't do that so many things to Continue to get to on the program

But we especially need your support your prayers as we try to remain faithful I'm dystopian.

Okay. Well, I just happen to look over at the chat channel and then I thought

I was wearing a coogee How can how can you be dystopian if you're when you're wearing something like this,

I don't I don't know but anyway Pray that we'll continue to have the freedom to do this program to address the subjects we need to address

And do be praying for our country be praying for that Supreme Court decision Let's be honest, even if it goes the right way and we hope that it does

The other side will not stop They just consider that a delay

They will continue to bring case after case after case Specifically for the purpose of Establishing a totalitarian mindset.

That's that's what they want and The church needs to be prepared for that so there's the year in review

Next time next Tuesday. We will be starting a whole new year 2018 amazing

That's a that's a number I Back when I was nice Well, I've married almost 36 years now 2018 sound like a long time down the road and here it is

It will be 2020 before you know it and I still remember why 2k Remember that?

Everything was gonna die. We were all gonna die all the lights are gonna shut off it was gonna be we're gonna be Fred Flintstone on January 2nd and Here we are.

We somehow managed to survive all of it So, there you go Thanks.

Listen to the violin today folks. Like I said, we'll be back on Tuesday right after New Year's So don't celebrate too too hardly