The past is a memory, the future is a dream and we only live in the moment.  It is how we live in the moment that matters…  It [the future] is determined by the will of God and the choices we make.”
               –Dan Arnold (Bear Creek)

     “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should liver soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”
               –Titus 2:11-12 (NKJV)
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I noticed a few days ago where a woman questioned whether or not the Four Horsemen of Revelation had already been released.  The answer is “No!”  What we are seeing now in this country is petty compared to the havoc they will release. 
     I wrote of them a few months back, but I want to take time to review a little.  First, however, I need to give you two Scriptures from
1 Thessalonians.

          “And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
                    –1 Thessalonians 1:10 (NKJV)

          “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
                    –1 Thessalonians 5:9 (NKJV)

The people of God are not to face His wrath.  Jesus is to deliver us from that, hence what we know as the Rapture of the Church.  Salvation comes and that means salvation also from the wrath of God.
     Remember the scene in heaven:  no one was found that was able to open the scroll until, “Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (5:7).  The “Lamb” took the scroll and began to open the seals.

          First Seal:  The Conqueror on the White Horse–the Antichrist.  This is the “lawless one” that Paul writes about in 2 Thessalonians 2.  “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2:9-10).
          Second Seal:  War–Conflict on Earth.  The rider of the Red Horse was granted power to take peace from the earth.  Yes, there will be wars, but people also will be killing one another.
          Third Seal:  Scarcity on the Earth.  The rider of the Black Horse will bring famine and economic collapse.
          Fourth Seal:  Widespread Death.  The rider of the Pale Horse will bring death to kill a fourth of the earth.  He will do it will hunger, pestilence and by the beasts of the earth.  Perhaps pandemic after pandemic.

Put these together and you have the rule of Satan.  Think of the riots now, people killing people.  Think of the troubles and shortages now, but when devastating pandemics strike, that will bring more animosity of man toward his neighbor resulting in more killing.  There will be no law and order on the earth.  What the people in places such as Seattle are clamoring for will in truth be fact.  This will lead to the ultimate police state ruled by the “lawless one.”  It will take a lawless person to rule a lawless world.  It will take the man of confusion and chaos to rule the world that is now thrust into confusion and chaos.
     Folks it has started.  It starts when people begin to declare good, the things of God–evil.  And to call the things of darkness and Satan–good.  This is the beginning of confusion.  This is the work of the devil, for he was a liar from the beginning.
     The “Horsemen” have not been released.  Woe unto those who are the earth when they are released.  They are just the beginnings of the sorrow that will come upon the earth.  Evil, chaos, and the works of the devil will continue until that dreadful day of the Lord that will culminate at Armageddon.
     Take hope, therefore, in this day, the day of salvation.  Look up, be ready, for the hour of His coming is soon.  The wrath of God has not yet come upon the earth, but we “are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13, NKJV).
 

Money was no yardstick of a man’s worth.”
               –Elmer Kelton  (The Good Old Boys)

     “This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.  These things are good and profitable to men.”
               –Titus 3:8 (NKJV)
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Many times Father’s Day is on my Dad’s birthday.  It is fitting that I write something about Dad, and Father’s Day.  My Dad died fairly young, he was 57.  It was a drowning “accident”.  There are still questions on the books if it was an accident or if he was killed.  I have my own thoughts on that, but this is not the place nor time for that discussion.
     Dad was born in 1922, the first to Robert and Ollie Adkisson, back in Williams, Oklahoma.  It was a coal-mining/farming community.  By the age of 12, Dad was doing most all of the farm work, while Grandpa worked in the coal mines.  In 1936, the family moved to the region near Pitkin, Colorado where Grandpa worked as a lumberjack; Dad borrowed a rifle and was expected to keep meat on the table.  A few months later the mines opened up in Superior, Colorado and the family moved.
     He worked several jobs:  cowboyed a year in Wyoming, worked in the CCC, served in the Army in the Pacific during World War II, but mostly he was a truck-driver.  When our little church was in town, Dad would drive by in one of the eighteen-wheelers and pick me up from Sunday School.  I remember climbing up into one of those big rigs on Mapleton and Broadway street thinking I was pretty cool to picked up in a “big truck.”  One of the greatest compliments my Dad ever gave me was when I borrowed a truck to help the family move from Spruce to Grove in Boulder.  I backed the truck up to the back door to unload.  Dad told my Aunt Bern, who later told me, “I couldn’t have done it better myself.”
     To describe Dad would be to say that he was generous.  He would help anybody and if need be give them the shirt off his back.  Work, he always said the most valuable thing that Grandpa gave him was knowing the value of hard work.  Dad knew his baseball, and the modern game would frustrate him.  His favorite player was Joe DiMaggio.  He was adamant about knowing and practicing on fundamentals.  Dad played when he was younger; though small 5’7′ he played catcher – that way he would be in on every play.
     I even learned from Dad’s weakness:  alcohol.  I learned never to touch the stuff.  I saw what it did to him, how it changed his personality.  But in all the times I saw him drunk, I never heard a cuss word escape his lips.  When Dad was under the influence of alcohol, he wouldn’t shave, he’d sort of mope around, but when he sobered up, he cleaned himself up.  When he went to town, for whatever reason, he always shaved and cleaned up.  He would work around the house, but if money came his way it was soon spent on drink.  He’d try to lick it; he went to Fort Lyons a few times to detox, but he just couldn’t quite do it.
     Father’s Day means to remember my Dad.  The things we did together, mostly baseball-related.  But this is a day when I also remember my heavenly Father.  Dad would work, but Dad was feeble in some areas of his life.  My heavenly Father is all things good.  He is never feeble, or weak, and is always faithful.  Sometimes, when I think of Dad, I get a little weepy-eyed.  Sometimes, when I think of the wondrous love of my heavenly Father, I get a little weepy-eyed.
     One last thought.  One of the reasons America is seeing so much chaos and problems is that there is no father in the homes, or if there is he is not fulfilling his obligations as a father.  People can get a wrong idea of a heavenly Father because of an absent or abusive earthly father.  If more dads would take an affirmative action in the raising of their children there would be far less trouble in this country today–FACT!
 

It’s cheaper in the long run to turn the other cheek.  Of course, a man ain’t got but two cheeks.  After that the lid is off.”
               –Elmer Kelton  (The Pumpkin Rollers)

     “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”
               –2 Corinthians 13:8 (NKJV)
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We are most definitely in the midst of a pandemic.  I don’t mean a pandemic of the coronavirus, but a pandemic of absurd stupidity!  Add to this stupidity, hatred, and you have a bomb ready to detonate and has already in some places.  The media, bureaucrats, “celebrities,” and others are labeling it all in the cause of racism or social equality.  Baloney!  It is straight from the pit of hades, and is to bring anarchy.
     Look at the culprits, those to whom the hate is directed:  Christians, churches, law enforcement officers, conservative leaders.  These are the supposed “bad guys.”  Woe, when people call evil good and good evil.  Folks, justice is coming.  The Lord is ready to come for His people, then anarchy and chaos will show how evil it can get.  Right now we are looking at the spirit of the antichrist; with the coming of the Lord the “Antichrist” will appear and rule the world through hate and evil.  Oh, he will use the right rhetoric, but he is a master deceiver, the ultimate liar.
     Though the days are evil.  Though hatred is spewed from the mouths of some.  Though confusion seems to reign and common sense has departed to regions of unknown, there is hope for the believer.  Have joy in the midst of all the chaos and look up for our redemption draws near!

          “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
                    –John 16:24, 33 (NKJV)

Someone has called this the “theology of joy.”  Not just a flippant, “don’t worry, be happy,” but true, honest-to-goodness joy.  We have the hope of glory; we have the Lord on our side.  His will cannot be thwarted.

          “…Joy cannot be manufactured by politicians or by government agencies or actions.  It comes about because of what is inside the person.
          Jesus came to bring joy and peace in the inner man, first of all by removing the sin that causes sorrow, and then by sharing with us his Holy Spirit–his ‘Comforter’ and our ‘Advocate.’  So that no matter what the turmoil about us may be, we can be serene and secure, resting in the knowledge that Jesus has ‘overcome the world.'”
                    –Ernest A. Matson

     Don’t be watching too much of what the media is feeding you or the devil will take away your joy.  Don’t give into his wiles and watch where you step to avoid his snares.  Feed on the Word of God, and get the “joy, joy, joy, down deep in your heart,” despite the anarchy and chaos that is being seen.
     Remember the words of the old hymn:  “It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, Oh, the half has never yet been told.”  (B.E. Warren)  What is?  Being with Jesus each step of the way in this life.