Christmas 2020 Letter

Merry Christmas celebration!

Having lived through the election of 2020 with Donald Trump receiving about 74 million votes to Joe Biden supposedly receiving 80 million votes, I have come to a few conclusions. One, is that the media is extremely important in swaying people’s minds. Two, it is extremely important who we elect to lead us, even (maybe especially) in every local election. These are the ones who get experience, name recognition, and monies to proceed to higher elections if they so desire. We shall see them again and again in various positions positions of leadership. Three, we are an evil group of people not unlike the city of Nineveh, who God sent the great evangelist Jonah to warn of coming disaster, because of their wickedness. We definitely deserve being destroyed by a holy God. Nineveh repented, from their king King on down, and God relented the judgment on them. We have yet to repent! But by the slate of people we have elected to lead us, I would say, God views us much the same as He described the Ninevites and pitied “persons who can who cannot discern between their right hand and their left.” (Jonah 4:11)

May we as born again believers of Jesus Christ (by the way, Jesus said unless you are born again you will never see the kingdom of God) hold fast to truth for our churches, our land, and our families. Wherever we see wickedness we need to pray first, and then act to root it out. As I view it, this will become increasingly harder to accomplish. Money and power have such a hold on this world being led by Satan. I just thank God that He is in ultimate control. Without God we cannot have any hope for the future. But our God is a consuming fire. He can burn away the dross and refine us in the twinkling of the eye. Keep praying 2 Chronicles 7:14. I still believe God wants to send one more great awakening to the whole world. Sue and I, in 2003, went to every state capital and prayed on the Capitol steps (those that had steps) for the spiritual awakening and revival of America. I know this is the will of God. He is waiting on His people, you and me, to truly repent. What will it take for us to get to that point? Sue and I are praying about going back in 2023-24 to the churches where we spoke to fan the sparks into flames! Pray with us.

In 2021 I believe the DCEA is to reunite some of our old evangelistic prayer teams to go back into the inner cities of our land to prayer walk and evangelize the poor in spirit and the financially poor of America. Pray for our protection from the enemy forces of Satan whether it be physical people, or an unseen enemy such as COVID-19.  We are using Acts 1:8 as our guide in this endeavor starting in our Jerusalem/Gatlinburg, Judea/Sevier County, Samaria/Tennessee, and uttermost parts/USA and the world.

Keep praying and fasting. We are all looking for the coming of the Lord but Acts 1:7 says “it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power.” Unless Jesus comes, let us be faithful in what Jesus told us to do BMW– be My witness! Please pray for Shirley and Sharon, two ladies that I lead to Jesus last week at our annual Christmas store of our church. The fields are white unto harvest; people are ready to receive the Lord. God’s Word says to pray to the Lord of the harvest that He might send forth laborers into the field.

As I go throughout the land I keep my ears and eyes open for young evangelists that God is raising up. Mark Martin and I were most blessed recently to take seven youth along with a youth pastor, Andrew Chambers, and chaperone out into the fields/streets here in Gatlinburg. We had a great time and handed out about 1000 gospel tracks within two hours. I pray that in 2021 many more churches will want to bring their youth up to learn how to sow seed and share the gospel. May we see many come to Christ!

Please change our address in your phone and then your computer or wherever you have us. We are now at P. O. Box 74, Gatlinburg TN 37738-0074. Thank you for all your prayers and for all your support this past year. We have faith in God and live according to Matthew 6:33. Thank you for your obedience by allowing God to use you.

Jesus loves you and so do we,
David and Sue

June 2020 Update “At the Brink”

by David Cobb
The fields . . . are white already to harvest. John 4:35

Does it seem like the further we go the “behinder” we get? The great experiment of America is being challenged more than any time in our nation’s history. A man was arrested in Minneapolis for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. This man had been in and out of trouble with the law for most of his life. I’m not going to go into great detail, but it seems like the police used harsh force on the man probably causing his death. This is a most grievous turn of events. Rioting, burning, killing, and looting have become commonplace throughout most of our large cities the past week. A side note to this Is that we are still dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic that has been blamed for over 100,000 deaths in America since January, and virtually shut down the engine to one of the greatest times of economic blessing this country has experienced. We were shut up in our homes for the most part during the months of March, April and May. I have to wonder what effect the virus quarantine has had on people during the riots. I think it has escalated the anger of certain people.

Usually when I have the time after I have made a mistake and find my error, I like to go back and find out where I got off track, so I will not make the same mistake twice. There is an old Arab proverb that says, “No matter how far you have gone in the wrong direction, turn around.” Through my life experience and the reading of God’s word over and over, I have come to the conclusion that America has been going the wrong direction for quite a long time.

Did you know that our God is a God of order? Can you take a trip outside and look up at the sky in daylight or in darkness and understand that our God created this universe a long time ago and it has withstood the times because it was placed in extremely defined order? There are certain laws that basically hold everything In order. Break the laws and there becomes much disorder. This not only holds true for our planets and earth, but it also holds true in our cities and neighborhoods. Laws have been established by governments that have been established by God (Romans 13:1), and these laws are expected to be obeyed. Without laws governing people there is complete chaos. (I was in a state in India In 2008 which had no laws. We were driving on a four-lane highway that had cows, tractors, and other vehicles going with us and coming head on toward us for the duration of our travel time. It was most confusing and disconcerting to say the least).

In 1962 with President John F. Kennedy at the helm and Chief Justice Earl Warren head of our Supreme Court, our Congress decided to abolish the reading of the Holy Bible in America’s public schools. I was a senior in high school at the time and my class that graduated in 1963 was the last class that was challenged by God’s Word daily. I don’t think it hurt any of us. And another side point, our class had the highest ACT scores of any class since that time up until President Obama decided to lower the standards concerning those tests. This statement is not a statement to brag, but to help us understand that God blesses the reading of his holy Word in many ways. Within a year of this decision, President Kennedy was murdered. Ten years later we threw out the wisdom of Blackstone which had been the bedrock of our court system from our Founding Fathers. The Blackstonian view is:

1. God is the ultimate source of law.
2. God’s law is transcendent over man’s law.
3. A Biblical worldview is the well-spring of all legal knowledge.

Within a year of turning to the inferiority of legal precedent, in 1973, we said that abortion (murdering of babies in the womb) would be allowed in our nation. Less sixty million children later!

Deuteronomy is a key book of the Bible. In it, God commands His people to teach and to train their children in the ways of God. He gave them the 10 Commandments and He told them to teach them to their children and to their grandchildren. (Deut. 4:7-9) He told them, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with al/your heart and with all your soul and with al/your strength.# (Deut. 6:4) Continuing to read, God confirmed the blessings of a nation that would follow Him and the curses that
would befall a nation if it decided to turn from Him. He says in chapter 8 verse 18, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” I think America has come to the point where we believe we can turn on the flow of dollars whenever and however we want. Most of our decisions, it seems, are made without a concern for God. We are a nation drowning in red ink! 25 Trillion Dollars (25 million, millions to wrap your mind around it)I There IS a payday, some day. Could be SOON!

We were never set up to be a secular society. I’m going to be bold by saying that we virtually have a “foreign nation” that has risen up inside of our own nationI This poses a most grave problem. This “foreign nation” follows foreign gods. Our “God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:24) This “foreign nationn is at war with our nation. They have infiltrated our schools at all levels teaching socialism without God which Is nothing but godless communism. They are possibly even more prevalent in our religious schools teaching their liberal and liberation theology, they have rewritten our history books, they say wrong is right and right is wrong, they are as piranhas in many different streams. This “foreign nation” controls most major airwaves of our news agencies even having a “prince” (Satan; Ephesians 2:2) at the head of them. Non-Puritanical illicit sex and the perverted purveyors of pornography and homosexuality (sodomy) command the majority of our movie and music industries from Hollywood to New York City. Young lives that have not been fully grounded by the reading and study of God’s Word DAILY have little to no defense! Make no mistake about it, money and power are this “foreign nation’s” gods.

The true church of God must up her gameI The feel-good mentality that has permeated our pews of the past must be cast down. WE ARE AT WAR! WE ARE AT THE BRINK OF LOSING ALL !! Man up! Boots on the ground !  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds!” (2 Corinthians 10:4) We are unot wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) God says that His house shall be called a house of prayer. (Matt. 21:13) I’m not against preaching, but when was the last time we had a night of prayer? When was the last time we had a week of home prayer groups? When was the last time we had a day of prayer and fasting? (Matt. 6) When was the last time when we met the forces of darkness head on? Folks, God is concerned with usI He has allowed everything in the recent past to have happened. He will lead us out of the darkness, IF, WE WILL FOLLOW HIM! But it will cost us somethingI THAT WHICH HAS WORTH, COSTS! Our nation is worth itl Our children and our precious grandchildren are worth it!  We have allowed the pendulum to swing the wrong way too long and too far. Now is the appointed hour for God to move. Cry out to Him! Will you allow Him to have total control? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding. In a/I thy ways acknowledge Go_d, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5,6), PRAY! FAST! PRAYI And PRAY AND FAST some morel God bless you. May we be with God; May God Be With Us,

David and Sue

DCEA
Post Office Box 1419
Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738
(865) 436-7011

May 2020 update

The fields … are white already to harvest. John 4:35

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts and the wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

I hope that you are weathering the Covid-19 situation without too much difficulty. It is affecting each of us differently (I’m having trouble with what day of the week it is), but all in all I pray that we will come out better for it. Oswald Chambers says that we go through nothing that God does not know about. As long as God is in control, I’m not worried. He said that He would never leave me or forsake me, any of us! (Hebrews 13:5)

Most of my life I have been infatuated with the story of Samuel hearing God’s voice. (1 Samuel 3) When I was a little tyke, I would crawl up into my mother’s lap and request her to read that story over and over and over again. In fact, I believe it is the greatest blessing of the Christian after one is born again to hear the voice of God-to know God’s heart. I believe Samuel lived one of the purest lives illustrated in the Bible other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Toward the end of his days Samuel stood before the people of Israel and stated, “I am old and gray-headed I have walked before you from my childhood
to this day. Here I am. Witness against me before the LORD and before his anointed: Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.” And the Israelites said to him, “You have not cheated us or oppressed us, nor have you taken anything from any man’s hand.” (1 Samuel 12:2-4)

The Bible is replete with stories of men that grew up with godly parents but then their children turned away from God. The best story is perhaps about the prodigal son. But there are other examples such as Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas; or Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah. Eli was disappointed in his boys and Samuel was disappointed In his boys. There was a period in my own life where I turned away from God also. I can remember my Dad being disappointed in me one day as I hardly hesitated driving my car through the intersection of Park and East 22nd receiving a ticket, otherwise known as a citation. My Dad had a way of catching me every time I did something crazy and he drove up just as the policeman was driving away, took my ticket and went and paid it for me. That may have not been the wisest thing for him to do for even last year I did something crazy and paid the penalty for it.

But as I sit here and ponder the Covid-19 situation I can see America like a wayward son or daughter.

Sinful, you betcha!!! Statistics in America say that there is just as much sin in the church as there is in society at large. I say there is possibly morel People continually voice the falsehood that you cannot legislate morality. You can! And you must! The more something is available to the public-the more it is used; be it alcoholic drink, drugs and marijuana, pornography, abortion-you name it.

In the situation of God’s people in Samuel’s day saying they wanted a king so they could be as other peoples, we all fall to peer pressure and want to be as other people. Teenagers and adults buy the designer’s clothes, we have to have the latest devices to play on, or the most stylish automobile to drive. It is that familiar fleshly feeling of ours. We say no to God, we want a king to rule over us. Samuel told the people what a king would do for them. He would take their sons and daughters, increase their taxes, take their land from them-but still the people wanted a king. When Samuel went to God about this, God told him that the people had not rejected him, ”but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:7)

I wonder, have we wanted government to rule over us too much? Have we desired the pleasures of life and work too much-good roads, good healthcare, Social Security, peace everywhere, convenience? There is a price to pay for all we have. And our sons and daughters have suffered for it.

Samuel told the people, “Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the LORD has set a king over you. If you fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.” Samuel had heard from God-he didn’t speak from his own feelings.
Samuel then showed the people the God that they had rejected. “Now therefore, stand and see th is great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes: ls today not the wheat harvest? I will call to the LORD, and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking a king for yourselves. So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.” (1 Samuel 12:19) (BTW I believe we are getting ready to witness a great harvest of souls!!! The fear of the Lord is coming on people).

Then the people of God confessed their sin. “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.” (1 Samuel 12:19)

False prophets only tear down; Samuel’s exhortation shows that he was a true prophet of God-to build up, not tear down. “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go afte r empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the LORD will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people.” (1 Samuel 12:20-22) Samuel continued strongly in a personal note, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD i n ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (1 Samuel 12:23)

During Covid-19 and whatever follows I want you to know that Jesus is praying for you. Read John 17. Sue and I are praying for you also. The word of God is here to teach us. God uses his word to speak to us. Those are not just our thoughts we receive in our minds as we read his word, God is speaking to you and me. Hear His voice. Will we be God’s people through all the suffering days? Or will we turn from Him to rely on ourselves or upon our government? For Samuel 12:25 says, “But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (king=government)

FEAR the LORD, Serve Him in Truth with ALL your Heart;

Consider what Great Things He has done for You! (1 Samuel 12:24)

Love you in Jesus,

David and Sue

 

Post Office Box 1419 • Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738 • (865) 436-7011

February Update

Valentine’s Day is special to most of us! Maybe I should say our special Valentine is SPECIAL to us. Mine certainly isl Sue and I have been Valentine’s for over 53 years now.
We were in the Daytona area witnessing to the crowds before the Daytona 500 Race on Sunday. Last month a thirty-something year old lady and three young boys gave their hearts to Jesus as I preached during halftime at Upward Basketball. Pray we see many saved hereI TIME IS SHORT!I!

As we pulled into our hotel this week, two ladies came up to read the signs we keep in our van’s side windows. My side reads, ‘The Righteousness God requires is the Righteousness His Righteousness requires Him to require.” May be a little confusing but it generally sparks a conversation. No one can be righteous enough without the Lord Jesus Christ being the (our) Righteousness for us. But the ladies were not reading my sign, they were reading the one on Sue’s side of the van which reads, ”The Answers to all of life’s Questions are in the Bible.”  Stephanie was looking at the sign as Sue got out of the van
and said to Sue, “I have lots of questionsI”

Sue replied, “I will try to answer them. Do you have a Bible?” Stephanie answered that she did not have one. I came back out from checking in and Sue asked me to get her a Bible, which I did. Stephanie’s friend, Ellen, said she was Catholic and that she had one. Stephanie seemed troubled to some extent and kept saying she had many questions, yet when we asked her to give us one, she wouldn’t. Sue and I shared Jesus with Stephanie and Ellen but don’t think we made much headway. God commands that we witness; He will give the increase. Pray for these ladies.

We were booked into a certain hotel, but I was tired from driving and pulled into two wrong hotels. We were at the second wrong hotel when this situation (above) occurred. I believe God wanted these ladies to have a witness and directed me to the wrong hotels (or at least one of them).

Pray that every tract and every witness we give hits the target. Brother George Bellmany and his wife, Gloria, will be working with me again this year at Daytona. We expect to hand out thousands of Gospel tracts and a few Bibles. It has been speculated President Trump will be at the races. Sue wants you to know that we do not go inside to these events where we witness. Our monies are spent on Bibles, tracts and travel. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

We leave Monday and head to New Orleans for the annual Mardi Gras event. We are thankful for our friends Bob and Patty Hayward that give us rest along the way. Dennis Mohr heads up the MG event now and has over 50 men signed up to witness. Pray we see many souls transformed. This will be my thirty-ninth year to participate. Please pray for everyone’s safety as we preach and witness on the streets. Pray we have favor with the people and with the Authorities.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We go as the Lord leads, our Board of Directors confirms, and support comes in. Thank you so very much.
David and Sue Cobb

David shared his testimony at IAMtv.us

Here is the video of the program: