The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ The Gods of Copybook Headings

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Chip Murray

“Fathered by___________”?

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man. There are only four things certain since Social Progress began…That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire; And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins…When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! ~ Rudyard Kipling, The Gods of Copybook Headings  

God drew me back to Dickens last week, and I would have missed both Dickens and Kipling in this week’s Arts &Tradition section of the Epoch Times, had it not been for Ed’s email on Christmas Day. Time and time again, God speaks to us through each other when we make ourselves vessels for Him.

“Truth is treason in an empire of lies.” ~ George Orwell

Why is God drawing me to Dickens, Kipling, and Orwell just now? BECAUSE He knows that they knew who we really are. Actually…it’s more than that. They, perhaps the keenest observers of human nature our world has ever known, knew in the 1800’s who we were in danger of becoming. And in this same Christmas week, our Lady Joan of Arc-Barnhardt straightens out our modern misunderstanding of the lyric (from the same Victorian Era) God rest ye merry, gentlemen…restoring His original intention for us, God Make You Great and Mighty, Men!

That is certainly the primary message delivered by John Eldredge in his fabulous book, Fathered by God. Resting merry gentlemen is the last thing our Creator had in mind for us! Why do you suppose so few of us get it?

I wrote my New Year’s Resolution this past Thursday morning, Imagine a world in which “the Swamp” is finally drained, the real criminals are brought to justice, Truth is back in vogue, and virtue is rewarded once again. That’s my New Year Resolution…what’s yours? Think about it…something I didn’t do before it occurred to me to simply do it. My resolution implies that I, you, me, we, and they…ALL of US have the power to simply do it!

Who in their right mind wouldn’t want the world I’ve just described back again? But God help me, I can count on one hand the men I know who are prepared to stand as the men God made them to be…and simply do it. WE modern men have been subjugated slowly and steadily over the years to a near comatose state of passivity. I can tell you with near certainty, the Governor of Virginia is banking on the portrait of modern man I just painted, as being dead on the money. Oh, there’s a great abundance of keyboard moxie in the internet battle-space around the 2nd Amendment showdown in Virginia, but that’s imaginary as far as I’m concerned.

I did miss the last Men’s Bible Study Thursday before last, where we are now well into the Warrior Stage of Eldredge’s book…and not due to meet again until January 9th. It was suggested that my assessment of our group’s battle-readiness from two weeks back might have been less than fair. God I pray for this to be so. My actual prayer is, God make us great and mighty, men. What better place for Him to do so than in a place where one or more are gathered in His name…led by the perfect guide in John Eldredge? I chose the photo at the top of the page for a very good reason. First and foremost, it is brought to you by the father of lies who rules over the “empire of lies” as the polar opposite of who God fathered us to be, standing in front of a sign that furthers the lie. But secondly, and most importantly, it is a lie that has largely gone unchallenged. And if truth is treason in the empire of lies, then what is silence in the Kingdom of my Father? Hint ~ Read the second half of the sentence in Ephesians 5:11 after reading the Eldredge chapter on Warrior, and you will know.

Finally, there is a correlation between the confused young man pictured and the governor of Virginia. It is the very same bully standing behind and using both to get to us. I recently decided to mentor a young man through the Battalion program as part of the Christian Service Brigade ministry provided through my church. Its described as a “quest for manhood”.

The bully is Goliath in so many ways. Our churches are only half full, because as men we’ve lost our way on both battlefields; physical and the spiritual. The entire point of “warrior” and the objective of Battalion is to awaken the sleeping David in us. Hearts on fire for the love of God…who made us great and mighty, men.

“I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say—‘This, with God’s help, I have done.’” ~ The American’s Creed, William Tyler Page, 1917

 

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ Our Need for New Birth

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Chip Murray

Unto This World…

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”     ~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens penned his famous words as the very opening of A Tale of Two Cities…in 1859. What have we learned since? This has been another one of those weeks, with a minor difference. I’ve been asked at least a dozen times, “What do you think of the impeachment hearings?” To which I reply, “I don’t watch them for the same reason I don’t watch WWE Wrestling.” People rarely engage me or solicit my political opinion; it has usually been the other way around. But the fact that I am being asked this so frequently now signals a sea change to me. Why? Because the average person is now keenly aware of what Obi-Wan Kenobi referred to as a disturbance in the force, and feels the need to get their bearings.

These are the “best of times”, when you consider the overall quality of our lives, the homes we live in, the cars we drive, our access to goods and services, and the arts and culture to keep us entertained…and some might say, distracted. The more I reflect on Dylan’s lyrical road-map from the sixties, the more I realize he was pointing to something few of us were mature enough to understand…from 1966:

You raise up your head and you ask, “Is this where it is?”                                                      And somebody points to you and says, “It’s his”                                                                        And you say, “What’s mine?” and somebody else says, “Well, what is?”                             And you say, “Oh my God, am I here all alone?”                                                                         But something is happening and you don’t know what it is                                                       Do you, Mr. Jones?

I was raised by the “Greatest Generation” on simple truths. Truths like sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me. And who can forget, you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can never fool all of the people all of the time.

So me being the thinker I am, I wondered this week if there is a connection between the people who have turned using the words that can never harm us into hate crime, and the people who are attempting to fool all of the people all of the time?  Do you think they might be the same people? Here’s another truth we inherited from the Greatest Generation:

Righteousness ~ The conformity to a right standard, where no one but God sees us.

Son of a gun! Now that’s just too coincidental to be coincidental. What are the odds that the same word police trying to fool all of the people all of the time are unable to abide righteous people and have turned the world on its head by replacing morally correct behavior with politically correct behavior from K-12 all the way to the corporate boardroom, punishing the former, and rewarding the latter? What do you think Mr. Jones?

I have to say, I believe we are on the brink of THE GREATEST can’t fool all of the people all of the time moment in history…just in time for the release of my third album, When the World Turns Around.

One last thing I’ll say about the Greatest Generation. They never, ever would have fired the man for fixing the house they hired him to fix better than the four men before him, AFTER the same four men attempted to sell the house out from under them! Which brings us to three very interesting locations in our world today; Washington DC, Rome Italy, and Carol Stream IL…The People’s House, the Vatican, and Christianity Today.

The Majority voice in the People’s House of Representatives is attempting to fire the Fixer of the People’s House for the very crimes the same people needing to fool all of the people all of the time actually committed…

While the great pretender in papal robes spins the Word on behalf of the Globalist Dream, “This is not what Muslim converts want to hear from their pope….That the Pope seems to propose the Quran as a way of salvation, is that not cause for worry?” ~ William Kilpatrick, Boston College…

And the Carol Stream Judas collects his thirty pieces of silver, “Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency.” ~ Mark Galli, Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today

Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.’” Daniel 7:23 (The Israel Bible™)

Hear my cry, O God;                                                                                                                 Attend to my prayer.                                                                                                                  From the end of the earth I will cry to you,                                                                      When my heart is overwhelmed;                                                                                          Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.                                                                          For You have been a shelter for me,                                                                                      A strong tower from the enemy.                                                                                            I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;                                                                              I will trust in the shelter of your wings.        Selah                                                          ~ Psalm 61:1-4

God help me if I am not standing in David’s shoes…knowing and trusting in the very same God. If what we have been led all these years to believe as truth, turns out to be the lie…then what fool among us would refuse the loving shelter of Truth’s wings when they are finally made known to us? The realization of a God loving us this much, patiently creating the space each of us needs in our own way to cast off the father of lies, and finally know Him…begs our ultimate question…

Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? ~ Oswald Chambers, The Need for New Birth

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ~ John 3:3

Merry Christmas Dear Friend.

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ Who “Directs This Storm”?

Posted on December 15, 2019 by Chip Murray

"As a Nation of Freemen..."?

O God, You have cast us off;                                                                                                    You have broken us down;                                                                                                        You have been displeased;                                                                                                        Oh, restore us again!                                                                                                                  You have made the earth tremble;                                                                                        You have broken it;                                                                                                                    Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.                                                                                      You have shown your people hard things;                                                                        You have made us drink the wine of confusion.                                                              You have given a banner for those who fear you,                                                          That it may be displayed because of the truth.           Selah                                          That your beloved may be delivered,                                                                                  Save with Your right hand, and hear me. ~ Psalm 60:1-5

My lesson-learned this week: Men cannot be convinced of anything they’re not prepared, ready, or especially willing to know. Therefore, most all efforts to win a man to your cause in this way is most always a fool’s errand…as the intensifying toxic stream of Facebook political discourse continues to prove. As I said to the men in my bible study this past Thursday evening, “The thing about being the warrior as God intends us to be, is knowing, dealing with, and accepting the fact you will be attacked.” As a Conservative, I have long grown accustomed to the angry tone, foul language, and harmful intent unleashed in my direction. But I saw something in the “toxic stream” this week that gave me real pause. I saw these same tones, fouls, and intentions coming from our side in the culture war. It caused me to reflect back on the relationship between Saul and David, and their eventual moment of truth in 1 Samuel 24:1-22 It also made me think back to the famous line from John Page’s letter to Thomas Jefferson in July of 1776, “Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?”

When I read Psalm 60, It feels like David is writing about today. To be cast off by God is the worst calamity that can befall a man or a people; but the worst form of it is when the person is not aware of it and is indifferent to it. When the divine desertion causes mourning and repentance, it will be but partial and temporary. When a cast off soul sighs for its God it is indeed not cast off at all. Thou has scattered us. David clearly sees the fruits of the divine anger, he traces the flight of Israel’s warriors, the breaking of her power, the division in her body politic, to the hand of God. Whoever might be the secondary agent of these disasters, he beholds the Lord’s hand as the prime moving cause, and pleads with the Lord concerning the matter. Israel was like a city with a breach made in its wall, because her God was wroth with her. These first two verses, with their depressing confession, must be regarded as greatly enhancing the power of the faith which in the after verses rejoices in better days, through the Lord’s gracious return unto his people. ~ Charles H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David

What is the history of the world, but a series of storms separated by moments of calm on the perilous but consistent sea of human nature? King David and John Page both knew the answer to the question, “Who directs this storm?” From David’s brief retreat from King Saul in the Wilderness of En Gedi, to Jefferson’s Monticello retreat from King George at the birthing of our nation, to our Fathered by God focus on the “Warrior” God Himself fathers us to be, this past Thursday evening in Warwick, hunkered in the shadows of an even darker and far more menacing tyrant…these are the three touch-points of today’s message.

When I look at my countrymen today, I see the same lack of awareness, indifference, scattering, the flight of the warrior from the heart of men, the division in our body politic, and the very same breach David saw, and Lincoln famously warned us of in his Lyceum Address. How then shall we perform it?–At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?– Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!–All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. ~ Lyceum Address

I see these things more clearly than the noon day sun, and realize just as David realized and saw the Lord’s hand as the prime moving cause. Michael Snyder of TheMostImportantNews  suggests that our present state of “Lonely, Miserable, and Depressed is the Legacy of a Society that has Rejected Family, Faith, and Patriotism”. This must be what Lincoln was referring to when he wrote we must ourselves be its author and finisher. No?

Not a single man in the room of this past Thursday’s “Warrior” discussion saw the threat in Virginia to disarm law-abiding Americans as our battle, in spite of my best efforts to suggest otherwise. Which, to my mind, answer’s Lincoln’s either/or question on the fate that awaits this nation of freemen…

I’m an optimist. I’m also a songwriter in the middle of my third album, When the World Turns Around.  On it will be my song Just When You Think which contains the lyric, No flag I would die for could deliver a pain more eternally wounding than losing your love. God didn’t bring me together with the men in my Thursday night bible study to convince them, but He did bring me to challenge them. And I could surely feel the struggle on their hearts. Its not about fighting the things we hate. It is all about fighting for the things we love. And the artillery shells are starting to fall much closer to home. As we shudder at the thought of this being our 14-year-old son on the school bus.

That your beloved may be delivered…

In closing I need to share somethings to help you understand how God nurtured the warrior inside the man once mercilessly bullied as a young boy. For me, it began on sleepless night somewhere around 2010. I felt a tremendous sense of isolation as I lay awake in the middle of a very dark night, having lost childhood friends and people I loved because of my opposition to the building of a mosque on Ground Zero in Manhattan. It was a devastating place, and a major turning point in my life. I will NEVER forget the one email of support I woke up to the next morning from a friend in Ireland. She lifted my fallen spirit with a simple quote from Winston Churchill I can’t for the life of me remember, but it had to do with “when the lead starts flying”.

One last thing…there was something about getting hit in the face with a spinning back kick from my Karate instructor’s son, Harry Hamzy Jr., years ago…I liked it! I liked it because now I knew what it was like to get hit by the best…and get back up.

Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ “Tempted to Negotiate”

Posted on December 8, 2019 by Chip Murray
"Minding the Wicked Bluster"?

“Minding the Wicked Bluster”?

“The rod means two things—it is used in counting in the sheep, and it is used to destroy the wild beast that suddenly springs out on the sheep (Psalms 25:4) The man of sin will have his rod (ridicule), he will do clever tricks, he will put the mark of the beast on every business system that he sanctions, and those who do not have that mark on them can never do business under the regime of the man of sin. Suppose you find the people who are “counted in” under the mark of the beast succeed, and you do not succeed, you may be tempted to negotiate the thing and say ‘Well, I don’t know, if I did this thing it would save me; I had better just compromise a bit.’ We must never do that. ‘The (rod) of the wicked shall not rest on the righteous,’ God says. There is no need to fear, if we keep within the moral frontiers of God we can say boldly, ‘The Lord is my helper.’ We do not need to mind the wicked bluster and say, ‘If you don’t do this and that, you will starve.’ Be faithful, make holiness your aim, holiness in every relationship—money, food, clothes, friendship—then you will see the Lord in all these domains.” ~ Oswald Chambers, The Rod of the Wicked (Psalm 125:3)

I read this note from my Christian brother again this morning, in the context of today’s message: Come to me… It makes me think about John Eldredge and his assessment of the “self-made man” that we often put on the pedestal. Jesus told the disciples “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  It’s all about what he’s making us into… coming to him to be molded and shaped.  It’s all about what he is doing in us… not what we think we are doing in our own personal achievements.

Moments after reading the note above, I read this post from young man on the REAL Warwick FB page in response to my pointing out that the separation clause was to protect churches from the state, not the other way around as he has sadly been taught: But the churches still try and state otherwise. Sad. Religion should have no part in government other than acknowledging that each has the right to practice their own beliefs. Not to influence government to restrict others beliefs.

I pray for you to see in the note and post what has been done to us. The most gracious and loving invitation in the history of all mankind, has been deliberately twisted and perverted with the sole diabolical intention of being injected into the young mind…as a command.

Now, with this sad reality in mind, on to the message of the day. This Monday past I came across this article, Chick-fil-A’s Tolerance Gamble. I almost titled this issue, Chick-fil-A Missed the Class on the Peloponnesian War! For those unfamiliar, the Peloponnesian War may be the best example in history on the fatal consequences of appeasing your enemies. The article itself hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. But when I randomly happened on the Chamber’s quote at the top of the page, it instantly clinched today’s SMTU spot!

Why is the Warrior Stage so challenging for us as modern men? We seem to be very capable of putting men in uniforms, training them to fight, and sending them off to courageously kill in foreign lands. Why is it so hard to find men to fight the FAR more critical battles here at home…where THEIR families are in the direct line of the most devastating fire of all? WHY?

Most of the answer has been miraculously provided to us in the first term of President Trump. This one man, against every earthly power and force imaginable, has re-trained the focal lens of the American People away from the enemies outside, to the enemies within our borders. BUT he is only one man who has provided this generation of men with a rare and finite window in history. The rest of the story, as they say, is up to us. As St. Augustine so wisely put it, God provides the wind, man must raise the sail.

As I said to the men in my Fathered by God bible study group this past Thursday evening, there’s a thousand ways to fight. The Psalm 45:3 verse precedes Eldredge’s Warrior chapter for only one very importantly potent reason. Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one.

Think of action and engagement as the intended sword from the word of God. Think about my Christian friend who didn’t see the purpose for showing up to peacefully speak truth to the LGBTQ lie at our public library event. Think of the courage of the Christian men and women who showed up at the Town Hall in Dublin California to overpower the same lie that sought to fly its own agenda, in a sacred place of honor, above the town hall. Truth most always wins…when escorted by the courage of showing up.

I would argue that Charlie Kirk is girding his sword in teaming up with Liberty University to form this wonderful Christian think tank. “The Falkirk Center will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty University. Falkirk’s mission will be to ‘equip courageous champions to proclaim the Truth of Jesus Christ, to advance His Kingdom, and renew American ideals.’”  University Goes on Offense in Cultural Battle…EpochTimes_20191206_A04_0

By the way, who do you suppose would be against the “renewal of American ideals”? The young REAL Warwick woman who posted the photograph of the two young men mocking God in the SMTU from November 24, and the civically misguided REAL Warwick young man above are not the enemy. Rather, they have been led into the enemy camp, blinded by the wicked…100% enabled by our silence and refusal to show up and engage the lie in any and all places it breeds. The great irony is the wolf moves on without a fight when courage shows up. What has the potential of peaceful resolution evaporates in the vacuum of our silence. On the other side of that irrefutable fact lies a horror you can’t possibly imagine. Think of that the next time you’re tempted to negotiate with that which means to devour your very soul. And let the enemy know…

“There is NO Warrior more lethal and Dangerous than a saved Christian Warrior, Eph 6:10-17, Psalm 144:1, Matthew 10:34,” ~ A Christian NY Oath Keeper

 

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ “Let not your heart be troubled.”

Posted on December 1, 2019 by Chip Murray

“Tomorrow’s the story we write today, Hope is the Promise…”

The wicked are estranged from the womb;                                                                      They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.                                              Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;                                                                      They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,                                                                Which will not heed the voice of charmers,                                                                       Charming ever so skillfully. ~ Psalm 58:3-5

We drew our cue for this week’s Prayer & Fast Wednesday from two separate incidents. The six-hour standoff that took place in Putman County last weekend that seems to have been mis-reported as a “Red-Flag” event, and the recent suspension of a NY Dept. of Corrections employee at an upstate prison in Franklin County…for being an Oath Keeper. The distrust, deception, and betrayal among men today is no different than that found between Saul and David, culminating in 1 Samuel 19:18-24 as Oswald Chambers connected me to our yesterdays and today with his “The Commitment of Faith” message, “Let not your heart be troubled.” All of which guided me here…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

As these events were unfolding in the East, our brother in the West was drawn to the “Between Two Ages” element of Romans 5:18,19 Then as one man’s (Adam) trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s (Jesus) act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous…totally unaware that we in the East would be hosting Constitutional scholar Dr. Jerome Huyler of Between Two Ages the very next evening. As Dr. Huyler points out, our Founders designed our three-cylinder engine of governance to run on the fuel of Judeo-Christian truths, principles, and values. The author of Locke in America: The Moral Philosophy of the Founding Era, explains how we’ve devolved from the ultimate drive to a Progressive Pinto lemon named Adam’s Trespass, which of course we are forced to buy because no one in their right mind would ever want one. And it only gets worse I’m afraid…

We’ve become like lost children who’ve turned to a life of robbing banks and otherwise selling ourselves, totally unaware of the long-lost relative who’s passed away and left us a fortune. The Word of God, as found in the Holy Bible is the most reliable trail of breadcrumbs a totally blind Hanzel and Gretyl could have followed…We are a perpetual re-cycling of the same old human nature story; wash, rinse, spin, repeat. Chambers tells us in his “Commitment of Faith”, In the Cross our Lord deals with everything that keeps a man’s heart disturbed. Yet sadly, we grow more and more disturbed looking everywhere else…despite what the flowing river of happy, smiley Facebook posts might otherwise suggest. Facebook, for all its modern pleasures, is the greatest “head-fake-we-give-ourselves” ever devised. And far worse…it’s power to distract leads us in the opposite direction, and away from our own salvation.

Un-distracted, we’re left blessed to pay attention to things that matter…such as those important to every seaman not so long ago; Red sky at night, a sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. This week’s P&F focus connects some very important dots between the ages, from Adam to Saul to David to Solomon…to Jesus. The tug-of-war between condemnation/death, and acquittal/life, wages on in each of us whether we consciously accept it, or not. Modern medicine has a whole dictionary of diagnoses for those who refuse to accept…and just the right pill for coping.

So, what’s going on? The abuser in any and all relationships is always the one with power, right? Well, the same dark power that corrupted Eden, turned Saul against David, was discerned by Solomon, and seized our Lord at Gethsemane, oversees the correctional facilities in Franklin, and oversees the law enforcement community in Putnam…as well as most things of the modern world that we have grown to accept, and even become attached to. Its why no one can tell us to this day why 58 innocent kids were massacred in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017.

And why the Christian father who “seeks to save with the good news of the gospel”, also laments the “many Christians today, especially in the northeast where we often feel more outnumbered than ever before, struggle with having confidence in their beliefs.”

The Holy Spirit has been given; Jesus has been glorified; now the waiting depends upon our fitness, not upon God’s providence. The reception of the Holy Spirit in His fullness depends entirely upon moral preparation. ~ Oswald Chambers, The Promise of the Highest    

As we prepare for entering the Warrior stage in Eldredge’s Fathered by God this Thursday, it strikes perfectly in my heart and mind, that David’s actions reflected his belief and…his faith, which goes beyond belief to the sacred place of trust…in His Promise…the seed of our hope. I spent my day after Thanksgiving in Brooklyn recording three more songs which puts me a little more than half way through my third album, When the World Turns Around. One of the songs is Friend o’ Mine which I originally recorded in 2004 on Gone Wishin’…makes so much more sense to me now. As I realize I am less of the artist, and more of His simple reed…

Friend o’ mine, oh Friend o’ mine, life is a river that flows through time.                            Tomorrow’s the story we write today. Hope is a promise that never fades…away.

Join us in Dallas on July 31- Aug 1 for Promise Keepers 2020

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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Happy Thanksgiving America!

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Chip Murray

President George Washington

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington source

…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ~ 2Chronicles 7:14

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ The Victorious Voice for God

Posted on November 24, 2019 by Chip Murray

“…whom you have defied.”

Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands. ~ Samuel 17:47

With only 5 smooth stones…

There is so much grist for the mill in Samuel 17 after we are introduced to one of the most written about, fascinating and complex figures in all bible history, in chapter 16. Do you think its coincidence that my Tuesday morning reads of Pat Buchanan’s “What’s behind our world on fire?”, followed directly by Oswald Chambers’ The Victorious Voice for God, inspiring our Prayer & Fast Wednesday focus on Samuel 17:40-47, brought me to a roomful of twenty men on Thursday evening, as our Fathered by God discussion leader opened with the exact same bible book, chapter, and verse? Serendipitous?

Even more amazing…Thursday marked the end of our study of the second stage of manhood…the Cowboy. There is no study next Thursday because of Thanksgiving. But we return the following Thursday to explore the Warrior. The same God who seeks to father us, has blessed us with Pastor Craig, and provided us with leaders Matt and Kevin, now with perfect timing, He brings back the perfect teacher to fill the gap and instill in us our Warrior heart…He brings back David. And I mean that 100% literally. When Kevin, Matt, Pastor Craig, Tim, Chad, Neil, Jim, Jeff, Brian, Bruce, Chip, Robert, Matt, Alan, Andrew, Jason, Steve, Ed, Matt, and Cabot reconvene on December 5th, David will be right there with us.

The first thing that strikes me in Samuel 17, is how hopeless it seemed for the Israelis. Fearful to a man, they were defeated before they started. The second thing, related to the first, that struck me was the faithlessness of God’s army. The enemy is always bigger than he appears without our faith in God. The third thing that struck me like a smooth stone to my own forehead, was the fact that there was only one man in all of Israel in that moment who loved God enough to risk it all, with faith enough to stand up, without shield or spear, but stones alone. He alone took Goliath’s and the Philistine’s defiance of God personally, as if they had attacked his own father…because of course, they had!

This brings us to the Buchanan article and the young men pictured above, because…

It’s still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by ~ Dooley Wilson

But first must come the warrior…its Ecclesiastes, “Nothing new under the sun.” The ignorant youth pictured above are the direct product and consequence of our having abandoned the second half of Ephesians 5:11. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” It’s one thing to defy God, we all do in the modern world. But its another thing entirely, to mock Him. The young fools are the misguided puppets of the much darker force behind the “multiplicity of causes igniting and fueling the protests and riots sweeping capital cities across our world.” Reading Buchanan and Chambers together made the tumblers click. The young men above do not believe “the spirit of the whole human race incarnated in the Savior of the world” because the Globalist cause behind the multiplicity of causes needed them to disbelieve, and made it so. In the greatest battle of our lives, in the ultimate battle-space of principalities and powers, we are gathered again at Socoh. Uninitiated and unfinished men trembling in fear of an army that seems far too big to imagine, and way too powerful to defeat.

BUT- We are all fathered by the same God. As Eldredge writes, “He encounters evil face-to-face, and learns to defeat it. The young warrior learns the rigors of discipline—especially that inner discipline and resolution you see in Jesus, who ‘set his face like flint’ (Isa.50:7 NIV) and could not be deterred from his mission. He might join the marines, or he might become a math teacher in the inner city, battling for the hearts of young people. That he gets a mission is crucial, and that he learns to battle the kingdom of darkness is even more crucial. Passivity and masculinity are mutually exclusive, fundamentally at odds with one another. To be a man he must learn to live with courage, take action, go into battle.”

Its been four years and two months since my James 4:8 conversion in Esterbrook, and I have never been more certain that it will be in us as it was with David who said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ~ Samuel 17:45

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ The Higher Purpose

Posted on November 17, 2019 by Chip Murray

God’s Eye View

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ~ Matthew 6:19-21

As has been the case for the past four months or so, these Tune-ups have been more of a collaboration than my own individual drawing from the well. The Deplorable Brothers might be a suitable name for us in the business world…if it were earthly treasures we were laying up. One in the middle, and the other two on opposite sides of our country, we are bound by love of God and Country. The fact of the matter is that being true to who we are has cost each of us in earthly treasure. Our Prayer & Fast Wednesdays is our petition to the Almighty from those here below stranded in a lost world, on a continent that grows darker by the moment. This week’s beckoning came from our brother’s accountability group on the West Coast:

An Eternal Perspective

In the movie Gladiator, General Maximus Decimus Meridius seeks to stir his cavalry to fight well in the imminent battle against Germania. Addressing his troops, he challenges them to give their very best. He makes this profound statement: “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

These words from a fictional military leader convey a powerful concept that is of particular significance to believers in Christ. We are not just taking up time and space on a rock that’s floating in the universe. We are here with the opportunity to make an eternal difference with our lives.

Jesus Himself said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt. 6:20). Having the perspective of living for eternity can make all the difference in this world. How can we learn to set our minds “on things above”? (Col. 3:2). A good way to begin is to discover what our eternal God values. Throughout the pages of the Bible, He reminds us that He values people above possessions and our character above our performance. Those are the truths that last forever. Embracing them can bring an eternal perspective to our daily living. —BC

What is your purpose for living?

Mind you, the message above from my west coast brother was received this past Monday evening, giving birth to our Prayer & Fast Wednesday Focus on our Mat. 6:20 Higher Purpose. And don’t you know that very Wednesday finds me in a room with 400 Christians listening to one of the few men in the world (NASA Astronaut Col. Jeffrey N. Williams) who has seen our “rock that’s floating in the universe” from God’s perspective…elevating the following passage in his mind’s eye. He stretches out the north over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing. ~ Job 26:7 as his favorite scripture. For he has seen with his own eyes, as he shares, “There are no strings.”

Now I share with you, in the starkest contrast, in the instant of my focus on the heavens, I get this tug from below. A “Progressive” member of REAL Warwick had messaged me wanting to know how the Equality Act would affect me as a Christian. This was her reply to me after I told her I was at a prayer breakfast and would respond later. While you are getting your Jesus on. Read what he thinks about refugees, poor and marginalized people like Mary Magdalene. Read what he says about judgment and loving your neighbor. Read about forgiveness. Jesus covered it all. I don’t know…is it possible to go lower than to use God to further the ideology that rejects God?

It breaks my heart to know men and women I love who cling to the middle feigning impartiality, knowing the truth…yet fearful of siding with her should the lie win the day. I cringe to imagine that echo…

So you ride yourselves over the fields
And you make all your animal deals
And your wise men don’t know how it feels
To be thick as a brick

And the sand castle virtues are all swept away
In the tidal destruction, the moral melee
The elastic retreat rings the close of play
As the last wave uncovers the newfangled way

In Gladiator the lie took the form of Commodus who killed his own father to steal the power that was meant for Maximus. The same exact struggle for power between truth and lie plays out now. The lie is using our tax dollars and technology to enslave us, while one man fights with all he has to save the Republic. And the people love him for it…just as they loved Maximus.

From a Catholic perspective, Ann writes of the higher purpose of loving the man who ran from the Chair for fear of the wolves in Empathy, and follows with the sad example of how most men deal with truth, which is to say they don’t. Relying instead on the cowardly ploy of Reductio Ab Absurdum as their way out. Again, I cringe to imagine that echo…for all eternity.

THE way of life winds upward for the wise,                                                                                   That he may turn away from hell below.                                                                                          ~ Proverbs 15:24

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ When the Going Gets Tough…

Posted on November 10, 2019 by Chip Murray

Greater love has no man than this…

“But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” ~ Luke 22:28-32

Think about the never-ending trail of American heroes, Superman, Lone Ranger, A Man Called Hawk, Rambo, Bruce Lee, Billy Jack, Black Panther…where are they all now…when America needs them the most? On the other hand, 2,019 plus years later and counting…Just sayin’.

Simon (Peter) went on to stand and fall (three times) before he rose to defeat Satan. But we need to know, especially in our modern age of un-paralleled creature comforts, that Peter’s ride was anything but smooth, carrying the Light of the Cross every step of the way to his own death in Rome, where they finally crucified him…up-side down.

But WHO “are those who have continued with Me in My trials” today? Think of the confusion and chaos in the moment of Peter’s three consecutive denials. Their world had literally been turned upside down…very similar to the one we presently find ourselves in. It’s the easiest thing in the world to stand up and speak out for truth, until truth becomes falsely accused and hunted by the mob. You have to be crazy to stand up then…or do you? When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind. ~ C.S. Lewis

I’m thinking of the journey I’m on right now with twenty of my Christian brothers, winding our way through the stages of manhood in John Eldredge’s wonderful book, Fathered by God. This week we are in the Cowboy Stage. Its really quite remarkable to see grown (many of us well-seasoned) men from varied places and backgrounds, with amazing stories to share, open up to each other with such honesty, integrity, and the united purpose…of realizing we all share the same Father in Heaven, and discovering His expectations of us are the same as we have of our own children. We’ve all heard the term “helicopter parents”, but I had never heard the term “lawnmower parents” until this past Thursday evening. What I find so fascinating in all of this, is how all the adventures we dreamed of in boyhood, that tested us in our cowboy years, have finally come home to roost in the here and now…bigger, deeper, and way darker than any of us could have possibly imagined.

The whole entire point of our cowboy years is to experience that “we have what it takes”, so that we are completely confident in application when the moment of truth arrives…as it always does. As Eldredge himself points out with an old African proverb on page 70, “I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.” It is impossible to escape the magnitude of what is coming. The planetary forces of good and evil are closing in on us as never before. The only way to escape the crushing middle is to choose a side…not in a whisper. Not in a secret you tell yourself. And not in a thought you hide from those you love. But in a William Wallace-like shout your 1st grade teacher will be able to hear from the next life! Cue the Warrior…

“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” ~ St. Pope John Paul ll

 

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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The Sunday Morning Tune-up ~ The Dilemma of Obedience

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Chip Murray

“For I have seen violence and strife in the city.”

On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I tell him that I am about to punish his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. ~ 1 Samuel 3:12,13

Last week’s And Then There Was Light is remarkably linked to Our Dilemma of Obedience by the same fault and challenge we face today. We are all as guilty as Eli in our knowing and not restraining, as our Lord clearly calls us to do…

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ~ Ephesians 5:11

And our challenge in this modern world is to understand as Samuel did, where our ultimate loyalty lies. So work with me here dear friend…

On Halloween Thursday I spent the day watching my friend Lou masterfully apply his keyboard tracks to my song Angels From Devils. Who can tell rainbows from hell, or angels from devils anyway? In the very same moment, there is a discussion on the FB page REAL Warwick over my questioning a candidate for town council, who happens to be Gay, as to his position on Infanticide now made totally legal by the devils in Albany. What manifested on the page struck me with a stunning crystal clarity…there is no clarity. In other words, NOBODY seems able to tell rainbows from hell, or angels from devils…as (in the very same thread) they are ironically lamenting the sad fact that Halloween has turned into a PC-sterilized Hollow-scene. NOBODY gets it! All of this occurring on the very same day in which a cabal of the most ruthless criminals the world has ever known move a step closer to impeaching an innocent man for the crimes they themselves are guilty of.

Just last week in REAL Warwick, I encountered a young man who could not distinguish principle from value, or wish. So, the question in such a confused and disoriented environment for ANY sane individual has to be firstly, whom and or what do we trust? And secondly, to whom and or what are we loyal?

We could not be more like the pre-revelation house of Eli if we tried. I feel as though every single Sunday Morning Tune-up has led up to this day. We have become a nation of Hophni and Phinehas-lost souls ruled by the narcissistic appetites of uninitiated and unfinished men. With every breath and deed, we scourge Him repeatedly over and over, again and again.

DESTROY, O Lord, and divide their tongues. For I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go around it on its walls; Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it. Destruction is in its midst; Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets. For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. ~ Psalm 55:9-15

If we look a little deeper into the circumstances Samuel found himself in, like so many stories of the bible, we get a better understanding of who God made us to be. The first thing that struck me was the eerie similarity of the times; they were as turned away from God and given to false idols and wickedness as we are today. The second, for some reason, was how the subservience of Samuel to Eli as a master of more than just his house made me think of our own subservience to this world. Here is where it gets fascinating to me because this is where the dilemma of Samuel’s obedience comes into play…in two very remarkable ways. Not only did Samuel act against his own interest in delivering the brutally harsh truth of God’s message to Eli (he had no idea how Eli would take the news and more than likely anticipated it would leave him homeless at best), but Eli clearly acted against his own interest three separate times in facilitating Samuels connection to the harbinger of his own end, and the death of his two sons. ALL for knowing and not restraining. How many of us bear Eli’s sins and far worse in walking past evils that would make Hophni and Phinehas blush, each and every day?

Worse than that my friends, our modern-worldly master of the house is far less gracious and benevolent than Eli. I see the oppressive hand coming for my own throat in my own state, and in my own place of business. I thank God, I have found the Samuel in me…as most who know me can clearly see. I think Kanye found his Samuel. What do you think?

I pray for you to find yours as well…

 

Chip Murray: Wide Awake
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