But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

• Isaiah 43:1-2

Appoint a wicked man against him;

let an accuser stand at his right hand.

When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;

let his prayer be counted as sin!

May his days be few;

may another take his office!

May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow!

May his children wander about and beg,

seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!

May the creditor seize all that he has;

may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!

Let there be none to extend kindness to him,

nor any to pity his fatherless children!

May his posterity be cut off;

may his name be blotted out in the second generation!

May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,

and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!

Let them be before the LORD continually,

that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!

AMEN.

Let his own table before him become a snare;

and when he is at peace, let it become a trap.

Let his eyes be darkened, so that he cannot see,

and make his loins tremble continually.

Pour out your indignation upon him,

and let your burning anger overtake him.

May his camp be a desolation;

let no one dwell in his tents.

For he persecutes him whom you have struck down,

and he recounts the pain of those you have wounded.

Add to him, punishment upon punishment;

may he have no acquittal from you.

Let him be blotted out of the book of the living;

let him not be enrolled among the righteous.

AMEN.

?

In 1862, during the Civil War, the Washington DC swamp (dews and damps), dimly lit through the fog, surrounded my the Union Army, the good news of their imminent victory was written fiery letters on their “burnished rows of steel” and the eventual victory of Christ over the forces of Satan. Our God is marching on - even now.

“I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on.”

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: "As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal"; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on.

^^

PREFACE:

The earliest book in the new testament is Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (c.50 AD). In it, he refers to "the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand.." and in this earliest book he records the earliest confession of faith.

Paul goes on to say he "delivered to you [Corinthians] as of first importance what I also received", referring back to a confession he (Paul) had himself received after his apostolic call (33 AD), certainly not later than his visit to Jerusalem in 35 CE, when he saw Cephas (Peter) and James (Gal. 1:18-19), who, like him, were eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ.

WHAT WE SHOULD ALL AGREE ON: - earliest known words recorded in the NT:

--> "..Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve.." <--

Let us say with Paul, "But by the grace of God I am what I am.."

In these dark hours, we don't ultimately believe in men to solve our problems, either politically or personally. Trump is the President, duly elected. But, if all our last efforts fail, and all the hopes we put on him come to nothing, let's agree on this:

Jesus is our Savior. 1 Cor. 15:1-11

NOW, get back in the weeds, pedes. We've got work to do!