GOOD EVENING

GOOD EVENING TO ALL OUR FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS.

   AS MANY  OF YOU KNOW WE CLOSE THE BLOG FOR THE HOLIDAYS SO THAT OUR READERS ARE NOT SWAMPED ANYMORE THAN NORMAL, WE WILL BE BACK THE FIRST WEEK OF JAN. MAY WE WISH TOU ALL A GREAT THANKSGIVING AS WE HONOR THE PILGRIMS WHO FIRST CAME HERE? A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS WHERE WE CELEBRATE THE CHRIST CHILDBIRTH. WE DO NOT KNOW THE DATE FOR SURE. A VERY FAITHFUL NEW YEAR AS YOU LOOK AT YOU PAST AND SEE WHAT THE LORD WANTS YU TO CHANGE. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS FEEL FREE TO GO TO MT EMAIL. OUR LOVE TO ALL. A GREAT DEAL OF THANKS GO TO BOB D. WE THANK HIM FOR HIS MANY LESSONS. GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL. WITH MUCH LOVE


THE STAFF OG THE ROSE OF SHARON
ZELMA AND CRAIG
BOB D.

GOOD VERSUS EVIL

Good verses evil

I will be going over Jude 1:16-25. Jude seems to be going over popular personalities that had center stage and were way off to the point that they were so far away from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are like the average person being off to the side in life you do not fit in this category as you travel through life; however, this passage is still applicable for you.

It is interesting to me that verse sixteen starts out with these people being murmurers  (that is how they spelled this word in that day) or complainers. I have seen many of these people but I never personally made the connection. Their not content with themselves, other people or God. I hope you are starting to see motive.

They walk after their own lusts and may I say without conscience so there is no room for God in their life. If we as Christians walk after our own lusts the presence of the Holy Spirit is less if at all so we would have to repent of our sins. The people that I mentioned at the top of the paragraph don't even care and move to the next step.

They speak great swelling words which is almost a lie every single time. When we as true Christians talk we have to be very honest in a Godly way. We can be honest in a controversial way or at the expense of someone else but that is not acceptable to God. These people at the top of the paragraph just lie. True Christians have been told from the beginning to be honest before God and other people.

They have to move to the next step of becoming mockers and once again Jude repeats himself that it is still because they are walking after their own lusts. This should give us an extra clue that we as Christians are not to be walking after our own lusts.

Jude mentions a third time that they are separating themselves in a sensual way and they don't have the Holy Spirit living inside of them; however, we do and desire His full presence. Jude encourages us to build ourselves in our faith in Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are also told to keep ourselves in the love of God and look for the mercy of Jesus Christ in our lives. He also keys on compassion and how special that can be especially in a world like this where most people do not even care. Let us Christians be the ones that care for people. Individuals still have a choice to accept or reject Jesus Christ into their lives but that is a different subject.

Jude finally gets to two of the most popular verses at the end of this New Testament book. God desires to keep us from falling and present us faultless ... "Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."

In the last verse praise is giving to the only wise God our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. I will quote the original text in the book of Jude so you can read this passage and perhaps make reference to it for this particular Bible study.

(16) "These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. (17) But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; (18) How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. (19) These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. (20) But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, (21) Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (22) And of some have compassion, making a difference: (23) And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. (24) Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, (25) To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 1: 16-25.

Jude gets somewhat detailed on the character of these evil men. They are seducers but murmur and complain at the very least on the inside. They have bad character, they are weak but very wicked. They usually are very angry at most situations. The world is almost always wrong and nothing is ever good enough for them. Their will, appetite and fun are all they seem to care about so just be the exact opposite of these people.

The people that Jude was writing to were well taught in the word of God. They had strong faith but the Apostle had to remind them in a convincing way that if they listened to these people their trust in Jesus Christ would turn to self.

We can tell if we are being properly guided if the leaders truly love us as Christians. A hard spirit and bitter words might persuade some people but they have no discernment.

We also need to have faith that in the midst of all this evil Jesus Christ will keep His promises and maintain His church. I noticed that the more Christians are ridiculed or even persecuted the stronger believers in Jesus Christ seem to be armed in a spiritual way because under these trials strength and firmness in Jesus Christ prevail.

Jude seems to imply that these evil people are sensual and do not have the Spirit of God. They are not holy in Jesus Christ. When we see this we should be even more determined to have sound doctrine in Jesus Christ and be of good conversation which is the way we live in the world. We should be all the more determined to continue in truth and holiness.

Let me make this simple. If we already laid our foundation in our faith in Jesus Christ we have to build upon it because that is abiding in Jesus Christ. If we live by the right Godly principles we will stand any test even in a fiery trial under or being influenced by evil men. 

Jude also talks about praying in the Holy Ghost. Prayer is our nurse for our faith in Jesus Christ. When we pray in the Power of the Holy Spirit there is a pretty good chance that we will receive guidance and influence from God.

Jude also tells us to keep ourselves in the love of God. If we do this we have to keep ourselves in the ways of God but the key is to continue in the love of Jesus Christ.

Jude also talks about mercy. Eternal life through Jesus Christ is all about compassion. This is our only plea before God because we can not get to heaven by our merit. Jesus Christ is our Redeemer but it is by His mercy that we were saved through His precious blood. These truths are pertinent to remember when we go back to the main theme Jude is trying to portray. A faith that is alive in the Person of Jesus Christ has the advantage to mortifying our lusts we struggle with in life. 

Jude directs the strong Christians on how to behave toward believers in Jesus Christ that are steeped in error or people that are just plain false. I am at verse twenty two and twenty three. We should do everything we can to rescue these people out of the bait of Satan. We are our brother's keeper but this involves compassion which makes all the difference in the world for heaven.

Once again I have to put this in this article just similar to a previous writing that was already posted. We have to distinguish between the weak minded/hearted and willful sin.

I have found that tenderness with boundaries is so desired to the weak Christian because this world lacks mercy. When I was young and weak I did not appreciate people especially Christians being harsh or severe to me because it just put me into more of a depression. Being hard to the stumbling Christian when they are trying does not mix with one another because it usually causes more harm than good.

Jude talks about others saved with fear pulling them out of the fire. Should we frighten people out of their sins if they are willful? The answer is yes. I am not saying the person that is not sinning willfully does not have to get right with God through His Son Jesus Christ but there is something spiteful about willful sin. They might have good intentions but lack the fear of God. They need to reclaim their once strong faith in the Son of God. The truth about the conscience is it is like a rubber band. The more we sin the bigger the rubber band expands and at some point it becomes willful.

Jude writes something very perfect after all this by saying ... " Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." God has such high standards for His children that we are to keep ourselves at a huge distance from what is sin or appears to be evil. We sometimes forget this fact but look at it this way --- if the world demands perfection (and it does) how much more should we desire to please God?

Jude really ends this book by giving glory to our Great God. This is such a positive way to end these last two verses. God is both able and willing to keep us from falling into sin.

Can you imagine if we served a God that desired us to fall into transgressions? Jesus Christ died for our sins on the cross. I personally confess my known and unknown sins every day but I need to make a point. Even on my best day of righteousness in the Person of Jesus Christ my works would still be seen as filthy rags and it would not get me into heaven. What I am saying is I am at fault with my sins before God but in true repentance to God through His Son Jesus Christ my transgressions will not be imputed to my account.

When Jude says ... "Before the presence of His glory" ... doesn't that just put goose bumps in your soul? Jude is going from get your sins right before God because we as Christians are destined to be in His presence of His glory. On earth it is the object of our faith but in heaven it will be the object of our sense. We believe in Him now but we will see Jesus Christ soon in heaven. If we allow Jesus Christ to take care of our sin problem the reason why we can face the Son of God with exceeding joy is because we will be presented faultless before Him. If there is no sin there is no sorrow so why do we mess around with transgressions down here on earth? If we are going to be perfectly holy in Jesus Christ it is pretty obvious that we will have exceeding joy in heaven.

If God loved us so much by sending His Son to die for our sins we should want to try everyday to be holy. Jude concludes that God is worthy to receive glory, majesty, dominion and power to the which I say Amen. We should be giving the Triune Godhead this now but we will be engaged in this forever.

If you are struggling with sins now join the club. Let me ask you a question. Are you sincere about getting right with Jesus Christ by repenting of all your sins? Do you know this takes courage? This is the very least we can do based on what Jesus Christ did for us past tense, is doing for us present tense and does not want our sins imputed to us at the day of judgment future tense. Sin causes hardship but living holy in the Person of Jesus Christ allows us to have a destiny with exceeding joy.

If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord by repenting of all your sins and inviting the Son of God into your heart I believe Jude puts on a really good case as to why this is eternally pertinent to our life and destiny in Paradise. If you just made that decision be glad but also abide in Jesus Christ and live a holy life. If we sin/sins we need to repent and try our best to forsake our transgressions but remember it is for our exceeding joy in Jesus Christ now and forever in heaven.    

  God Bless you         

 Bob D

PUBLIC FIGURES TALKING AGAINST GOD

Public figures talking against God

Dreaming in a sinful way will eventually reach the physical realm and defile the flesh. This does other things but I will save that after I quote Jude 1:8-15.

Jude digresses and explains that Michael the archangel had a dispute with the devil about the body of Moses but refused to bring an accusation against Satan but said ... "The Lord rebuke thee." This is kind of interesting to me because I hear so many Christians rebuking the devil.

Defiling the flesh and a person having the ability to corrupt themselves is a very big theme with Jude. He uses the example of Cain and Balaam just like the examples of Egypt, angels in eternity past along with Sodom and Gomorra. In my previous article I went over Egypt, angels in eternity past along with Sodom and Gomorra. I will touch on some other truths in this writing.

Some verses that Jude writes are very hard to interpret but in the most broad sense of the word sin will lead into dead fruit but he gets much more specific. Fruit alive is through the Person of Jesus Christ in all His pureness.

Jude talks about the shame of sin not dealt with and describes them as wondering stars reserved in the blackness of darkness for eternity.

He also goes back into history and talks about Enoch who spoke about the second coming of Jesus Christ. There is a difference between the rapture and the second coming/second advent. The rapture could happen today as opposed to the second coming which happens at the end of the seven year tribulation period. The rapture happens before this seven year time frame so as you can see there is a vast difference between these two events not to even mention they happen at different time periods with a completely different purpose attached to each occurrence.

In verse fifteen Jude writes very struck about Jesus Christ executing judgment because of their ungodly deeds they committed. He also more specifically talks about hard speeches that sinners speak about Him. It just goes to show that if a person feels that way about God it would be a good idea to keep it to yourself because these people are influencing other individuals/groups away from God. Let me quote the original text in the book of Jude so you can read it for yourself.

(8) "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. (9) Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, dare not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. (10) But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. (11) Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Co' re. (12) These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; (13) Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (14) And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints. (15) To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." Jude 1:8-15. 

It is very interesting to me that Jude starts out this passage with people that dream and fall into the flesh/sin. Be very careful of your imagination because it could lead into transgressions. If we keep doing this we will sin as a lifestyle and the surprising answer to the question is it all starts with our thoughts. If we entertain bad thoughts it is pretty much guaranteed that we will go to the second step into sin. The reason for this is because our will is stronger than our thoughts. Remember we are at the next step if we are thinking about sin and that second process is our will. This is going to sound like a silly analogy but if our will arm wrestled our thoughts the imagination in our mind would lose to our will. This is why we hear so many Godly people saying, "Do the will of God." These deceivers were seducing the disciples of Christ and that is what Jude was talking about in this writing.

The deceivers were defiling the flesh. It starts with the mind and the sin goes against the body but these transgressions will also hurt the soul. They were despising dominions and speaking evil of dignities because these people desired to attack the conscience. They probably wanted to banish this from the entire world because that was the level they were on but most people just engage in this on a private and personal way. Jude was writing about public figures that were converting many people to darkness.

I have seen certain select individuals try and get rid of a "Good" conscience out of life so people will defy God and just do what they want to do in their circumstances.

In verse nine nobody really knows what the dispute about the body of Moses was but it does not really matter because the main theme is very evident in this verse. God did not want Michael making an accusation against the devil but just say ... "The Lord rebuke thee." Truth does not need any kind of support from something or someone that is false. With friends like that we don't need enemies. Do not argue with the devil because he is very good in this circuit.

Jude uses the example of Cain to explain how greedy and covetous they were to gain worldly advantages because no thought or respect was given to their afterlife. Jude talks about spots in your feasts of charity. The love we show on earth means very much to God but the awards we get to please man will not mean anything to Jesus Christ. Christians struggle with this issue so how much more the brute beast ?

Jude says ... "When they feast with you, they feed themselves without fear." They wanted to gratify their appetites but we Christians need to drink a holy fear because consuming food is just what we have to do to get through life. In like matter what we eat spiritually will determine who we are for good or bad.

The ... " Clouds they are without water" is Jude's way of explaining that they make promises that it will rain in a time of drought. Be careful of high profile people making promises because they may do just the opposite.

When he spoke of carried about of winds these people are easily moved by circumstances. They are empty and ungrounded which is just the opposite of what a true Christian is supposed to be in the Person of Jesus Christ.

If they were trees whose fruit withereth they were fruitless. We were once dead but Jesus Christ raised us to life through Him when we accepted Him into our hearts. Being fruitful sounds better than being fruitless. This is what Jude was talking about when he said they were plucked up by the roots.

Raging waves of the sea but that is just a person full of talk.

When Jude says they were foaming out of their own shame this made the person living right before God very uneasy. If they do this as a lifestyle they will have greater shame than their original state. If you are this person and care start with an apology. Your victims are passengers on a boat with raging waves but that ship will come to port. It will be forgotten but not by the person causing the turbulence.

Wandering stars is a term for false teachers. They go back between truth and error and blind their listeners with back and forth theology.

Jude talks about the doom of these types of sinful people. False teachers will get a bad punishment in the afterlife. I have to watch myself very carefully because I am an expositor of the word of God. God expects the highest standards from me so I better be obedient to Jesus Christ. If you are a teacher being cautious is a good thing because we all will have to give an account to Jesus Christ on the day of judgment.

In verse 14 and 15 Jude makes mention of Enoch. He said that Jesus Christ will come in the second coming with His saints to execute judgment on an unbelieving world but the Apostle John says the same truth in Revelation chapter nineteen.

The word ungodly is mentioned four times in verse fifteen which means something to me especially in a world that has virtually no regard for righteous living. I hear people mocking or I might see a lot of apathy for Jesus Christ. There are also many hard speeches against the Bible, Jesus Christ and Christians.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your very own personal Savior and Lord now may be a good time to repent of all your sins and invite Jesus Christ into your life. With everything that I am seeing in this world the rapture of the church may not be to far off but much of what I am seeing on this planet is found in Jude 1:8-15. I tried to break down this passage and it is pretty obvious that Jude had some pretty heavy duty truths to say about his time and evil world. It is even worse now so take heed because God will only put up with so much that is present in this world. One day probably soon He will return and rapture His true children before His wrath comes down on this earth. Then at the end of the seven year tribulation the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will return back to earth with His children. When a person makes this decision and lives a holy life of obedience to Jesus Christ this Blessed Hope promise is for him or her to be snatched up to heaven at the time of His coming. Think about what Jude says about these evil people and run in the opposite direction to God.       

      God bless you    Bob D. 

              

RESPECT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD

Respect for the grace of God

I will be going over the book of Jude for the next couple of articles. Jude is one of the more blunt authors and he certainty is not boring. He gets right to the point.

As tough as Jude is he first calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ. He was the brother of James and also writes to those who are sanctified by God the Father. It is the same principle as salvation. When we accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts we were justified in the sight of God through His Son Jesus Christ. Notice he is writing to the sanctified by God. When we live holy and pure by abiding in Jesus Christ the sanctifying process takes place in our life. We are preserved in Jesus Christ (kept) because as Christians we are justified and sanctified through Jesus Christ by God.

Jude is very generous in his writing before he gives very tough examples of defeat. Jude says mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you. He said he was a diligent man to write to them so they would content for the faith.

Jude also points out that certain men crept in unaware turning the grace of God which is one hundred percent holy and pure into lasciviousness. That is bad but they also added insult to injury. They denied ... " The only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." 

At this point Jude gives three very harsh examples of destruction. He explains that in each case God showed no mercy.

In the first example Jude explained how the Lord saved His people out of Egypt. I think of God parting the Red Sea and how their enemy was just so confident that they would be able to go through but the water overcame them and death happened almost immediately to the Egyptians. His people saw and experienced one of the five greatest miracles of all time yet they did not believe God after this deliverance and paid a very heavy price.

The second example goes into the angels of eternity past that kept not their first estate. I struggle over this scenario because they probably did not know the difference between good and evil because there was no sin present in heaven. This was a campaign lead by Lucifer who wanted to rule heaven and got converts for his mission. The angels were probably told many times by the Triune Godhead that this was wrong. You have to admit if someone keeps saying "No" to you in a relationship the only alternative is to walk away because his or her will is rejecting the fellowship. The end result has been a living nightmare for them and they share their misery and deception with us but we choose to follow Jesus Christ. This happened before Creation but the point is God was not able to show mercy on these angels.

The third example Jude talks about Sodom and Gomorrha giving themselves over to fornication and other types of sin. Some history books found evidence that people were not allowed to feed the homeless and had to make fun of them. I don't know if this is true but once again God could not bestow mercy on them but had to judge this area of the world. The Triune Godhead does not desire to place a society under the law but Jude points out that divine judgment is inevitable. When the created creatures from God are sold over to rejecting Jesus Christ or giving themselves over to sin Jude is saying that this judgment lasts forever. I still find it amazing that many people around me think eternity is a joke. Let me quote the original text in the Bible so you can read this passage and perhaps make reference to the Scripture verses if you feel this is applicable for you in this particular study of the Bible.

(1) "JUDE, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: (2) Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. (3) Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write uno you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly content for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (4) For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungoldly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (5) I will therefore put you in remembrance, through ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. (6) And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (7) Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 1: 1-7.

I know people get excited when they get saved through Jesus Christ but sometimes I feel the more appropriate word is possession. What people do not understand when they make fun of eternity is if you die apart from Jesus Christ and go to the horrible place you are in the "Possession" of demons. Do you think they are nice? They hate God and you because human beings are created in the image of God. They despise you, will abuse and torture you because outside of Jesus Christ they have "Possession" of you or anybody that rejects the Son of God. Before you completely give yourself over to sin, a false God or just simply don't want anything to do with Jesus Christ please consider this paragraph.

Jude desires his readers to have mercy, peace and love. We can not have true peace from God unless we have mercy bestowed on us from God through His Son Jesus Christ. Love stems from Godly peace. The love of God to us and our love to Jesus Christ is part of the process but of course we can not forget our brotherly love for one another. Jude actually prays that all these good truths from God be multiplied to his readers.

Jude desires his readers to be established in their Christian faith. Nobody is excluded from accepting Jesus Christ into their hearts unless they exclude themselves.

Abiding in Jesus Christ is great but we are always in danger of being seduced into sin. This is why we need to treat our own salvation with care and diligence. To contend earnestly for the faith is to suffer patiently with courage in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Ungodly people are sometimes enemies of the faith in Jesus Christ and peace for the church. These people tend to cause senseless debates, start questions that should never be asked and cause divisions that were never really necessary. If we desire to continue with Jesus Christ we should remember the words fidelity and godliness. To have this attitude with the Son of God is at the very least the right path to righteousness.

You have to remember that when a person publically says he or she is against Jesus Christ or does not believe in God they are obviously living without the Son of God in this world but more specifically have no regard for God in their conscience -- you do. Jude implies that the worst ungodly people are those that turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. It is when sin gets turned to the point when these transgressions take center stage and the grace of God takes a backseat to the point where Jesus Christ is nowhere to be found. The foundation of our faith is to accept and invite Jesus Christ into our lives not reject Him.

Jude says those that turn the grace of God into lasciviousness are ordained to condemnation. If we as Christians sin we have to die to our flesh and repent to God. By the way flesh does not mean our physical tabernacle but is an independent streak against God.

If you think it is easy to obey God think again because it is difficult to follow Jesus Christ. These people that came in unawares chose the easy way but will go throughout eternity the hard way. I guess they forgot to factor in that reality. When we are confronted with these people we are to contend for the faith. They try and rob the truth we try and hold fast to it because we do not shape truth, truth shapes us in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Jude in essence says talk the talk and walk the walk. Jude says I will put you in remembrance which means feed on what you do know but don't feed on what you don't know. If we read the same passage twice in the Bible we may know the knowledge but our spirit needs the process of reviewing the passage.

The unbelief of the Israelites in the miracles of their abundance should be a strong warning to us as Christians. We really need to depend on Jesus Christ all the time because the alternative is trusting in ourselves and falling into sin which is a wilderness.

The angels of eternity past rebelled against God. They refused to be servants to their Creator and became slaves to the justice of God. We should always see ourselves as servants of Jesus Christ. Jude introduced himself as a servant to the Son of God.

Sodom and Gomorrah engaged in fleshly lusts that war against the soul. God is Holy and Jude clearly says these people are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. I would often ask myself, "Does hell serve any constructive purpose?" The answer to this question may be in Jude 1:7. Unregenerate sinners are experiencing the vengeance of God. The anger of God is being satisfied. Other than that I can not think of one constructive purpose that this horrible place serves but if you can you know more than me about this subject.

If you never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord please repent of all your sins and invite the Son of the Living God into your life. I hope you just made that decision. Do not believe denying your flesh is easy because it is hard. This will be a struggle you will face every day but remember a true Christian wrestles with his or her sin but an unbeliever does not struggle with transgressions. Choose the narrow path in Jesus Christ because it is the correct journey as we travel through life as believers in the Lamb of God that died for our sins.

God Bless you,

Bob D.