Archive for the 'Religion' Category

Material Wealth has Driven America to a Poverty of the Soul.

I’ve been reading some Machen. The introduction of his short work, Christianity and Liberalism, is an excellent snapshot of the progressive conquest up to 1915 or so. The leaps the communists have made are clear from that starting point forward. This post is random thoughts, less so on the depth of the problem, but offers, from my own negative experience, some possible solutions.

Public schooling has reduced all education to a simple tactic, obeying the State expert and paraphrasing information, willfully neglecting consideration of that information’s purpose, usefulness, or validity. But it’s gotten worse still, full of communist dogma.

That system has been so deeply ingrained that Christian education is little more than State education without the overt worship of centralized authority. However, even then, most Christian schools still teach government worship while adding veneers of wholesomeness or tradition that are also accurately described as teaching helplessness but with Christian-sounding words and themes. Changing a curriculum is not enough if it still teaches children to remain dependent on the thoughts of other men.

Under the communist program, all hope of a child later finding his true purpose and potential is gone before ten years of age. Please don’t do this to your children; don’t teach them, as the heathen religions do, to reject the honest exploration of God’s purposes in anything. The object must be for boys to fill them with the ability to do things more significant than themselves. When boys hit young adulthood, they desire to be part of something bigger than themselves, for their people.

Gone from modern society in the last 100 years or more are excellent and beautiful art of all types. Also absent is the study of science, which the Christian correctly defines as the examination of God’s creation and His created order; science should always look for God’s purpose in a thing, or science itself becomes a false religion. To the religious mind, understanding that sin exists, where evil appears in creation, does not excuse that evil for some purported greater good in the name of “science.” Science absent from God can only lead to one place; mass murder.

There are no literary works of worth, probably because people must be taught how to write but are only shown what to repeat for a grade. Writing starts with critical thought upon the ponderance of an idea. Or, it begins with something else for the creative mind; I don’t know what that is; ask them.

The purpose of this is not yet another litany of complaints but to present a few ideas we hope will help. Sadly, almost all of these suggestions come not from positive experiences but from negative ones, so untested they remain.

I’m not claiming to be a good writer here. Of course, good writing starts with reading complex and rich texts, which is not the primary, but one reason that I reject all modern translations of the Bible. Reading that educates and teaches a man to think requires work to understand and, in the case of the Holy Bible, prayer. Much of the purpose of reading should be not to assimilate information but to teach the mind to take ideas and apply them critically, teaching how to think. Don’t teach children to read things to know what is said, becoming consumers of other men’s thoughts; they must read rich and complex texts thinking for themselves. Avoiding specific texts is prudent, but reading should teach how to think, not what to think; children learn that from listening to parents daily.

One positive is that my father taught me how to read and instilled a particular love for reading, or more precisely, respect. The Department of Defense, for all its flaws, taught me how to teach myself. That didn’t come by general instruction offered to every recruit but from a small program that required not compliance with orders but problem-solving in a unique environment. But, the point is, people can be taught how to teach themselves; this is a gift of immeasurable value to impart to somebody. Teach your children neither by rote nor through informing but by showing them how to learn and teach themselves.

It’s been many years since meeting a heritage American who speaks more than one language, other than missionaries who get trained as adults. So thorough is the brainwashing that folks with language knowledge are viewed with suspicion. There may be a sound basis for that; foreigners bring foreign ideas, but Christians shouldn’t consider teaching language to their children as some anti-civilization enterprise; quite the contrary. Otherwise, why do we train missionaries in language except to bring the great truth of Christ to that people’s dying souls and meaningless religions? Much of the spreading of quality of life beyond Europe had a humble beginning in the missionary work of extending the Gospel to every creature. Giving the heathen skills and resources makes them merely a more effective enemy of Christ; they need salvation.

Missing are complex and rich music, local agriculture and horticulture, and training in religion, including the history of the Church. Everything seems geared toward repeating what some other person has discovered or produced, perhaps worthy, perhaps not, but gone is the free expression of ideas, teaching children to think for themselves and act on their own accord under the law of grace.

Material wealth has driven America to a poverty of the soul. All aptitudes of intellect and physical ability are of God. This is the root of the problem; denying God’s grace in ordinating men’s gifts or talents denies the grant’s purpose from the giver. Of course, the converted must walk by faith in using the spiritual and material facilities that God endows. Our purpose on earth is to glorify Holy God; this is why He made each individual the way they are and gives children aptitudes toward certain enterprises so that they may bring glory to God in those pursuits.

I’m not sure that American Christians believe what the Holy Bible says; the communist project has been so thorough that it’s hard to know where to start, but as with all things, prayer and the word of God must be first.

To grow children in resurgent traditional heritage America, outside help with language, music, art, natural science, etc., is needed. Other than old books, I don’t know where to get good help, but language training needs to start well before eight years old, and so does music training. Where to get training not overrun with the effects of willfully making children dumb and dependent on central authority is a huge problem even in Christian curriculum.

Civilization is gone because of the loss of classical liberal education. Just using the words liberal education causes consternation; since the War of Northern Aggression, communist demagogues have entirely destroyed the word liberal.

The point is that the simplicity that is in Christ is the foundation and root of all expression that lifts man, causing his mind to wonder at what he could create, his soul to yearn for a better day, and his heart to seek well and thoroughly the gifts that God has given not that he may walk in the uselessness of private knowledge but that he may bless his fellow man through works using the skills that God has ordained. The grace of God teaches us to share our gifts, for He shared His own Son upon a cross for our sin against Him, bringing the miracle of salvation unto eternal life in us through the resurrection. And He continues to teach us through His word and lead through His Spirit.

Teaching children to be anti-state is not enough; they must be pro-civilization and pro-culture of grace and love. Teaching children merely the basis of knowledge is quicksand over generations as each loses a small fraction. Preparing children in anything, however right and proper, without emphasis on our duty to Christ to be of service to civilization will not save the next generations.

Communism or socialism isn’t the only problematic cause. The hyper-personalization of Christianity is destroying the religion. Personal soul salvation is not the end; it’s the beginning, the launching pad from which the great faith of grace and truth in Jesus Christ is to permeate all aspects of society. Hiding Christianity away will not save it, for the agents of evil will not be satisfied with merely locking you in your church buildings or limiting you to silent prayer. Nor will they tolerate compromise within the word of God when Christians allow adding theoretical origins and hypotheses to the creation and other events in the Old and New Testaments. Evil will not stop its march if we integrate sciency-sounding excuses into the faith of the Old Testament forefathers. If science “proved” Christ never walked the earth (because that’s the direction we’re headed), would you still believe? Would you still earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints?

Though solid doctrine hid well in the heart that we might not sin against God is foundational, and teachers of the Christian religion abound, but where are the doers of the word, where are those dedicated to the Lord of the harvest, how are His fields ripe for the picking but left fallow? Hyper-personalization leading to a secret selfish religion is how Christianity shrinks to a mere ember. Evil will never be satisfied until Christ casts Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. But the grace of the cross exists because Christ had a mission; do you think you’re immune to the onslaught of evil or that neglecting the assignments of a disciple will save you or your people?

All things come by the grace of God, for He owns all things. That simple fact produces character in the young, humility before the Creator builds love in a man’s soul. I deeply fear that God must take our material ease from us to bring us back to faith and knowledge of He who created and bestowed these things upon us.

The government has its own project of dependence, but God will not long compete with this mocking. The tremendous redemptive religion that is in Christ appears backed into a corner with enemies on all sides. Still, we reckon that’s just how Christ likes to fight, up close, personal: restorative or damning to the hearer of the word, for a man chooses his way upon contact from God, heaven or hell?

Read Joshua 23 and 24. We have gone the wrong way in all things, yet God offers a choice.

There is a longing for traditional ways, but it’s not enough to be anti-modern. There must be more than pious-sounding yet vacuous religious tenets for the building of a resurgence. With all assuredness, we begin in our own houses first. From there, the way to a future for our people is through knowledge of the giver of all graces who granted dominion to us over His creation, and becoming doers of the word in the name of Jesus Christ.

Under the Old Covenant, men were put to death if certain criteria were met. First, the sin had to rise to the standard of such a wicked act specified in the law of God. Secondly, two or more witnesses were needed to corroborate the accusation. Also, importantly, those worthy of death were not shipped off somewhere to be put to sleep with clinical precision some years or decades later, but the accusers would throw the stones of judgment in an hours-long gruesome death. It’s not the purpose of this writing, but as one might horridly imagine, the effect on crime was dramatic when family, friends, and neighbors were called upon to kill their own in such a brutally sobering affair.

“At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.” – Deuteronomy 17:6

John Baptist, as a witness of the truth, told of Christ’s coming. John said; there standeth one among you, whom ye know not. Jesus would, shortly after, begin His work revealing Himself. Jesus later would exclaim His witness is the most significant, not only for the miracles seen by hundreds of thousands but that He and the Father are witnesses together of the Son of God. This is a pronouncement of death upon the first-century keepers of the old law, and it extends into the New Covenant for us today.

“Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” – Hebrews 10:29

Jesus is the witness, and ultimately by His command, the soul that sins shall surely be put to death in hell. Jesus shed His own blood; in effect, though all men are guilty of breaking the law of God, making you therefore worthy of death, He took upon Himself this condemnation, as the true and faithful witness, that He would pay by blood for your sin. You are guilty of sin, your own conscience bearing witness against you, but the Saviour has cast the first stone upon His own head for you.

Are you counting the blood of the covenant that God has made as an unholy thing? Is God not holy? Christ was sanctified, set apart for this purpose, that your sin might be forgotten, the law satisfied being revealed to you today. Vengeance through God’s wrath belongs to He who rules heaven and earth; He has declared these things as the sole arbiter of your debt for sin and how it must be paid. Please don’t spitefully rebuke the Spirit of God that comes to you through grace and truth. Would you pay with eternal damnation when God has already offered to transfer that debt through His own Son, making it settled in full?

You, who have rejected the Christ of God and have decided to take the full force and brunt of the law of God, deny the wonderful gift of Jesus’ death for your sin. How much greater shall the wrath of God be for not only accepting your guilt and admitting hell is your destination but, in so doing, the depth of the offense toward God is immeasurable; it’s a personal affront. You heap wrath upon wrath on your head. Christ already died, and you declare His death was not worthy to reckon you among the living, forgiven at last. Not only has sin powerfully condemned you, but you indicate to God that He offered His own Son in vain. How much sorer punishment suppose ye is the price upon your eternal soul! You have valued God’s perfect sinless sacrificial forgiveness through the cross as naught! He is King of all; what have you done?

And that’s it, a concise post in which is the truth of the price on your head under the law, a price you could never pay. Jesus died the death of a sinless sacrifice for you and rose again so that you both might live. That’s how much He loves you. Christ is alive, so your life may be in Him, made like brothers before the Father.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” – John 3:36

Believe the witness of Christ; accept it. The value of Christ, for He is all-sufficient, will by faith, change your worth from condemned in eternal death to not only forgiven, but because you have accepted by faith the price of Christ, God will receive you, counting your faith as righteousness for trusting so thoroughly, so completely in Him. God smiles upon all who say in their heart, I believe; thank you for your Son. Take the offer to walk away from death, not guilty; turn toward Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. He paid the terrible price you never could; go, God, having recast wrath to peace during your few remaining days on earth and changing your final home to everlasting life with Him; do you believe?

God calls Ezekiel Son of man. (Chapter 2:1, 3, others. It’s capitalized for both Jesus and Ezekiel in the KJV.) I’ve often thought about this in connection with Christ’s own expression of Himself as the Son of man.

It’s a qualifying term. Ezekiel, acting as a type of Christ, is called upon by God to both prophesy and judge. There’s a typological connection with Ezekiel as a prophet to the Jews and a judge to Jesus, who is Prophet to all men and the Judge of all men.

Keeping in mind that the New Testament interprets the Old Testament, this study shines much light both on Christ and Ezekiel under the term ‘Son of man’. It would be well worth investigating Ezekiel’s role more fully, but Dr. Gentry explains for us why Christ calls Himself the Son of man.

It’s a fascinating short study with detailed Scripture references while also being expressed in a manner that even I can understand. Jesus is both fully God and fully man. He’s solely qualified to judge all men justly, not just the first-century Jews.

Though believers are accountable to God for violation of His law, it’s wonderful to know that God, in His mercy, doesn’t judge us only by His own perfect, inerrant, and holy standard. Though saved, now we cannot attain; He is the Creator; we are the creature incapable of being co-equal with God.

Jesus, being the Son of man, solves the need both for the final holy sacrifice to usher in His Kingdom and, being fully man, He’s uniquely qualified as high Preist to believers and Judge of the quick and the dead. He knows our temptations and infirmities; Christ walked a mile in our shoes, as the expression goes. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” – Hebrews 4:15.

Folks who may be on the fence about Jesus, refer here for a more thorough explanation, in simple-to-understand terms, of who Christ is and why you need the salvation of Holy God.

Nothing from me this Sunday. Below are a few key paragraphs from this excellent study. Have your Bible handy for reference, and do read the whole thing.

As we consider this phrase in the Gospels, we must keep three important issues in mind: (1) Jesus is the only one who ever uses this phrase. Never do his disciples, the Jews, or anyone else mention it. (2) The phrase is always used with the definite article: “the son of man” (3) In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus himself does not even begin using it until Matt. 8:20. Each of these points is significant.

In the Gospels, we find four key predicative-expressions serving to identify who Jesus is: (1) “the son of David” (Matt. 12:23; 22:42); (2) “the Messiah” (Matt. 16:16, 20; 26:63); (3) “the Son of God” (Matt. 26:63; 27:43, 54); and (4) “the king of the Jews/Israel” (Matt. 27:11, 42). And these are often used by persons other than Jesus — even by God himself (Matt. 3:17; 17:5), Satan (Matt. 4:3, 6), and demons (Matt. 8:29).

The phrase “the son of man” is a technical term, but not a term of identification pointing out who Jesus really is. That is, we never find it mentioned as a predication, such as “he is (or is not) the son of man.” Despite modern popular opinion, it does not function as a christological title. And it is not a substitute for “Messiah.”

That key sentence was bolded by me. It’s something not previously considered.

Note: Tagged Gospel Witness with the other posts in this series.

“11 If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; 12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” – Proverbs 24:11-12

Herschel mentioned these verses the other day. They caught our attention. Certainly, the correct understanding is the defense of innocent life under the watchful eye of Holy God. A man is also to capture his brother’s ox that is astray and return it (Deuteronomy 22:1), and more so, we are commanded to return even our enemy’s wandering ox or ass (Exodus 23:4). Though He is at enmity with Holy God for his sin, how much more is a man than a beast to the Almighty who has numbered every hair on his head (Luke 12:7)? We must tell all men how to avoid hell, leading them back to their rightful owner who is holy Father God.

Throw a rock in any direction, and you’ll hit a sinner who’s being drawn unto death beneath the curse of sin; the devil has blinded their eyes to the truth, except some man should be their guide. They live in the kingdom of death and hell hopeless without the saving love of Christ, and we, having a saving knowledge of the Master, are duty-bound to warn.

For His Church today, Christ instructs us by parable in the cause of finding the one lost sheep, rejoicing when it is brought again to the ninety-nine (Luke 15:1-7). That parable is about the sinner’s restoration and may apply to those who wander like a sheep that’s gone astray from the truth and those men who have yet to be converted. He says in another place, more to the point; “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” – Matthew 18:11

The spread of the Gospel didn’t stop; it went into all the world as Christ was made the ruler of all the kingdoms on earth after the temple was destroyed, ending the Old Covenant. Under a new, better, everlasting covenant, the Church exploded in number as God built His new heavenly temple. This work is ongoing; we should be deeply bothered by the ebbing in our day, praying for the lost and that Holy God would move whole continents to faith again.

Under the Kingdom of God, a disciple of Him who came to seek and to save should also be about this same divine business of spreading the Gospel. For we are all witnesses (Acts 1:8); the Gospel is to be preached to every creature (Mark 16:15) under heaven until the commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is fulfilled. Whenever you see something in God’s word three times, He is emphatic; you have been commanded thrice to spread the Gospel.

All men must hear the glorious truth of the Christ of God who died for our sins according to the Scripture and rose again the third day according to the Scripture that all might be fulfilled necessary to save God’s lost sheep. If they die, dear watchman on the wall, and you warn them not, their blood is on your head (Ezekiel 33).

Searching and seeking for those Christ would save by His mighty power as life-giver and author of the second birth by the Spirit of God, Christ directs every Christian to this vital task. There are no exceptions and none who may say, “Behold, we knew it not.” You, too, were headed to death and hell for grievous sins against God and His righteous standard, and so is the whole of man.

Jude well says: “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.”

God does know your heart; there is no day of excuses; all must meet the Maker of heaven and earth. Consider how God ponders the ways of men, for He is the keeper of your very soul. He who issued the breath of life into you, and made Himself sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, doth He not know your frame? Christ will render to every man according to his works. Deny Christ now; He will deny you in heaven before the holy angels of God (Luke 12:8-9).

Sinners are easy to find; we are without excuse. Telling them the truth is simply a matter of forsaking your own will and seeking to accomplish the works for which you are appointed. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10

“19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” – Ephesians 2:19-22

We are citizens of the Kingdom, raised up with Christ Jesus, fellows with the saints who were mighty men of valor by great acts of faith in deed and service of the Almighty. That same Spirit rules in us; no mountain cannot be brought low, conquered by the will of God in us. Stop doubting; you are of the household of God who is your Father. Why do you fear? Call upon the Lord of the harvest for renewal of the Holy Spirit in you; it’s not by your own power but by His that the love of Christ is broadcast near and abroad.

The foundation is sure, built upon the Rock, which is holy, the prophets and apostles attesting to us daily in the word that all is made sure in Christ, the chief cornerstone of us who, if only we are willing and active to follow after, are laid a sure foundation offering the hope of life everlasting to those who need Him.

When you serve God, you not only work on building the holy temple of the Lord in yourself, but you grow it outward, the Lord adding to His Church daily such as should be saved. God prospers you, fitting you to duty, honor, love, peace, joy, and service of mighty works to His glory, growing together all His saints into that holy temple in Christ our risen Saviour and great High Priest, Just Ruler, the King of all domains.

Salvation is of faith, but so too is the life of the believer; by the Spirit of God in you, walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), taking one initial step in the belief that God will save thousands by His word from your mouth and watch God pour out His Spirit upon those being called to His great purposes into the everlasting Kingdom built on the resurrection of Christ and destruction of the defunct old way. It’s a New Covenant in the blood of Christ; your life is not your own; go, making the way of salvation sure to all who hear God under the sound of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is given a Kingdom that we are to build with Him sharing the word of God as He draws and calls all men to the foot of the cross, some, sadly unto condemnation, but brothers and sisters in Christ, millions and millions have been reborn by the Spirit already. And many millions more by their faith, and not theirs alone, but ours to tell them what great things our God has done that they might hear and believe. And if the Lord allows, even billions more may be added. How could you do nothing?

The parental rights movement actively threatens the safety and wellbeing of children and by extension, democracy itself: https://t.co/kGW6sVSh7v

— Sarah Jones (@onesarahjones) April 8, 2023

Sarah Jones writes for NY Magazine.  Of course she does.  She is a lonely cat woman who will regret her life choices when she remains unmarried her entire life, wasting the very reason she is a woman by rejecting her role as a wife and mother.  But hey, she thinks she owns your children.

The “parental rights” movement is not new, but it is enjoying a resurgence. Adherents say they’re protecting children from harm, broadly defined. After an art teacher at a Florida charter school showed students a picture of Michelangelo’s David, parental complaints forced out the principal. Members of Moms for Liberty call for book bans across the country; books with LGBT content are at special risk of removal. The architects of state bans on gender-affirming care for minors say, falsely, that children are at risk from predatory physicians and activists. A “gender cult” destroys families, claimed conservative commentator Matt Walsh. “The child they held as a baby and raised and gave their lives to and loved and still love becomes, suddenly, unrecognizable,” he said. “I would rather be dead than have that happen to my kids.” The real sin isn’t that trans youth will suffer but that the parental grip might loosen.

Conservative interest in the child extends beyond a traditional hostility to LGBT people. In March, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, signed a bill into law that makes it easier for companies to hire children under 16 years old. More states may follow, as Terri Gerstein, the director of the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife Program’s State and Local Enforcement Project, pointed out in the New York Times. Bills that would allow “14- and 15-year-olds to work in meatpacking plants and other dangerous jobs in Iowa as part of training programs and 16- and 17-year-olds to take jobs at construction sites in Minnesota are under consideration,” Gerstein wrote, noting that the bills coincide with a rise in dangerous child-labor violations. Not long after Republicans sought to put more children to work in Arkansas, Republicans in North Dakota killed a bill that would have expanded a free-lunch program for children from low-income families. “I can understand kids going hungry, but is that really the problem of the school district? Is that the problem of the state of North Dakota? It’s really a problem of parents being negligent with their kids,” said State Senator Mike Wobbema. His message was clear enough. A hungry child is not a collective responsibility but a private failing on the part of the parents.

Like any piece of property, a child has value to conservative activists. They are key to a future the conservative wants to win. Parental rights are merely one path to the total capture of state power and the imposition of an authoritarian hierarchy on us all. So it’s no surprise that children have long been a fixation to the right wing. The late Christian reconstructionist R.J. Rushdoony was a prominent advocate of Christian homeschooling in the 1960s through the 1980s. To Rushdoony, all education was religious, as Dr. Clint Heacock observed in a 2021 piece for Public Eye magazine. So-called government schools are churches in their own right, Rushdoony believed, indoctrinating students in the religion of secular humanism. He thought parents ought to be solely responsible for the care and education of their children instead of relinquishing them to an anti-Christian state. That fear of state influence, and belief in total parental control, isn’t limited to Rushdoony.

Literally everything she says is completely wrong.  Rushdoony had no fear of public education – he just believed it is illegitimate and a tool of statism, and taught what the Scriptures have to say about education.  Sarah confuses fear with simply knowing more than her and having a world and life view founded in Christian philosophy rather than on nothing, like Sarah.

She asserts that Christians behave and believe that children are property and a tool for taking control of them (whomever “them” is).  In fact, this is exactly the opposite of the Christian view.

You see, as I’ve pointed out so many times before, the state doesn’t own your children, but neither do you.  Ownership implies the right to enslave and abuse.  God owns our children.

That means parents are responsible for their upbringing and instruction in the way of the Lord because parents have been give authority and responsibility as lover of their children, custodians of this children, and teachers of their children – by God.

This view is embedded in and parcel to a world and life view that is as old as the Holy Writ.  To be fair, so is Sarah’s view.  Aristotle said it slightly more clearly than her.

“Neither must we suppose that any one of the citizens belongs to himself, and the care of each part is inseparable from the care of the whole.  That education should be regulated by law and should be an affair of state is not to be denied.” – R. J. Rushdoony, “The One and the Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order and Ultimacy,” pages 85-86

It was against such men that Paul argued in Athens, when he said ” … for in Him we live and move and exist … Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent.”  Sarah is a communist.  Paul is not.

This is a clash of world and life views, not an artifact of a twenty first century fascination with child castration.  Because Sarah doesn’t read the Scriptures or philosophy, she doesn’t know anything about all of that.  And Sarah hasn’t repented of her sins.

But you do.  Teach your children to fear the Lord.  You have been empowered and ordered to do so.  He is watching you and watching over you with an army of angels to protect your family because you belong to Him if you know Christ.

Now, Bill Lee, the Tennessee Governor, is getting in on the act of rule by kingly decree while also calling for a TN Red Flag law. This is fallacious because TN can already take a person’s gun(s) for mental health reasons. I can’t recall the exact language, perhaps somebody knows, but it, of course, involves harm to self and others, imminent threat or danger, etc.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed an executive order Tuesday to strengthen the state’s background check process for purchasing firearms and encouraged lawmakers to pass a “red flag” law that would prohibit dangerous people from owning guns, in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Nashville last month—one year after Lee said he would not support tighter gun laws.

Define “dangerous person.” All men are dangerous; some are peaceable, while others are harmless; may the Lord never find you in the latter category.

Key Facts

The executive order requires all crimes to be reported to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation within 72 hours, after which they are “accurately, completely and timely” processed into the state’s background check system.

“all crimes?” Does this mean even misdemeanors and previously nonprohibitive petty crimes? What about folks that have served their time and are now productive citizens and gun owners? Will they be the first to get an early morning SWAT raid?

The state investigative service is also required to examine the state’s process for firearms purchases and submit a report listing any needed changes to both Lee and the state legislature within 60 days.

I’ve always had concerns about Lee since I met him early in his first campaign. I asked him about Constitutional Carry, to which he responded forcefully and without hesitation that he was against it. It was a gut response from which one could immediately know that he firmly believes that only government should have guns. He even went on to say that he would have to consult with the police about that. And so here he is, many years later, consulting with State Police over who should be allowed to have a firearm.

Lee called on the state’s GOP-controlled legislature to pass a “new, strong” order of protection law—also referred to as “red flag” laws—that would prevent people who pose a threat to themself or others from owning firearms.

Now Governor Lee wants 3 a.m. Red Flag raids on people who some antichrist “doctor” will unlawfully warrant. We’re coming to expect more of this “trust the experts” from the inexpert power-hungry profit-motive governments at all levels in the United States.

Is a man with publicly obvious spiritual, mental, and emotional problems that thinks he is a woman a qualifying mental problem? No, by federal law! So who are these Red Flag laws going to target; people who say there are only two sexes, made in the image of God, and all else is sin, a wicked prevision? Transexuals are obviously deviant and socially deficient; any serious Christian would know they have a demon; why are our rights in jeopardy over the influence of the devil in the soul of the godless?

Lee, who said new restrictions would “give the people of Tennessee what they deserve,” indicated last year he would not support restricting firearms or strengthening gun control laws after two previous mass shootings in the state.

Crucial Quote

“We should set aside politics and pride” and take steps to prevent future gun violence, Lee said in a press conference Tuesday at the Midtown Hills police station in Nashville, which responded to the shooting at Covenant School last month.

Lee is governor; every decision he makes is politics. This is also a fallacious argument.

Bill Lee also must be a fake Christian, or he would know better than to infringe on the rights of the law-abiding. A Christian would understand, in his heart, that to accuse his countrymen of the sin of pride over their Biblical duty to protect themselves and their families is False Witness (Exodus 20:16), which is a crime against God. “Thou shalt not kill.” is enjoined. That discussion of self-defense before the throne of God is already over by the Commandment of the Holy One, our true King, not Bill Lee, who is treading dangerously on ground that would usurp God’s sovereignty.

Can evil cast out evil? America has serious spiritual problems due to sin against God. More sin against God by decree of government will not solve this problem. “18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. 19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.” Luke 11:18-19. Can sin cast out sin, Governor Lee? The solution to the devil is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ but so-called Christians don’t believe in the power of the Gospel because they are not actually converted.

What’s offered; more gun control by Republicans! When will America awaken to the falsehood of two competing parties?

And a review of Tennessee’s permitless carry, which Lee signed. It’s NOT permissive but restrictive. The only place it authorizes carry is on private property. That’s not permitless carry, let alone actual Constitutional Carry. Millions of Tennesseans daily carry a firearm, thinking they have a right to carry, but they don’t. The fake NRA sponsored the counterfeit Constitutional Carry bill that was passed in TN.

Googled today, Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023.

“24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” – Acts 2:24-27

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. ² And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. ³ And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook from fear of him and became like dead men. ⁵ And the angel said to the women, “^[a]Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” – NASB

Part 1

“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” – 1 Corinthians 11:3

Unless you are her leader, your wife can’t be happy and will be useless to you. The man is to offer his family to God, without spot, sanctified by obedience to the Holy Writ, just as Christ will present His Church, cleansed from all sin by His blood, to the Father.

True contentedness in marriage only exists when each knows and subordinates themselves according to the law-word of God. The Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12), the Seventh Commandment (Exodus 20:14), the Eighth Commandment (Exodus 20:15), and the Tenth Commandment (Exodus 20:17) all apply directly to the man’s responsibility not only to his wife but to all women, both those that his own family, and those that are not. Therefore this responsibility to the Almighty extends to God’s ordained family for its purpose in creation, structure, and function.

The family is central to God’s plan for every person. The family is critical to a foundation upon which God will build a functioning civilization. The Left sees the family as a primitive construct, a fiction that can be reimagined to fit any abominable wickedness of sin ever considered by the heart of man. Without the family, as God supplied, society rapidly breaks down under the weight of sin. Please keep in mind that it’s not the lack of family; it’s the presence of sin that causes the absence of family to perpetuate total degeneracy; sin always comes first. No sins can stand alone; the corruption of man’s heart has far-reaching and horrific consequences once a bit of evil is allowed.

We don’t have space here to answer many aspects of these four commandments of Holy God. However, as we’ve stated over these pages, violating only one of the Ten Commandments is nearly impossible; there’s too much cross-application among them. It’s impossible to keep the whole law.

It was an act of God’s caring, which had Him provide a helpmeet. And by His mercy in creating the family for us, it’s an act of reciprocal love for the Almighty to constitute your family upon the foundations of the Holy Bible. If you are Christian, God’s word should be your sole worldview, within which you establish a functionally just society, the head of which is Christ, and must include the sound family structure revealed to us in God’s law and word. It’s a lie from the pit of hell that women can lead the family, the fruits of which lay glaringly evident at the fall and today; sin abounds, begetting even more corruption.

Women are to be a helpmeet for the man (Genesis 2:18). The man is to lead the woman (1 Corinthians 11:3). When the woman directs, sin enters in (Romans 5:12). That’s what happened in the garden with Adam and Eve. Adam stood right there when Eve sinned against God, and he did not stop her (Genesis 3:6). The whole Earth stands cursed because the man failed to lead as the head, harkening unto his wife instead of Holy God.

It’s the man’s job to lead the family in righteousness. Perhaps you esteem God’s word lightly, but no matter: what’s explained here isn’t Christian theory; it’s a fact evident in nature (His created order), to any man of sound reasoning, that God was kind enough to warn us about in His word.

God has given three central institutions of which Christ is to be the head; Church, Family, and State. Men are to lead in each instance as Christ’s representative to those under his charge. Woman’s leadership leads to sin, destroying family and Civilization with it.

“19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” – Ephesians 1:19-23

Christ is the head over all things to the Church. If you are Christian, you are a member in particular of the body of Christ, so to you, Jesus Christ is above all things; He has the preeminence. We keep the commandments of God by faith in Christ our King. See Exodus 20:3 and John 1:1.

We might as well address this while we’re here. Marriage is a covenant one man and one woman makes with Holy God. It’s not a state-licensed activity between two people of any sex to be disannulled at a whim.

At marriage, the man and the woman are made one, no longer twain (Mark 10:8), but one flesh, a joining by covenant in a holy union with their Creator. Christ is the head of the Church, which is His body. The man is the head of the woman, now made by marriage one body. As Christ is the head of the Church, which is His body (at marriage, the man and woman are made one body), the man is the head of the woman and his children; this constitutes the body of the family; they are the man’s charge, under Christ our Lord.

In the section of Mark below, Jesus discusses divorce, but the direct application is thoroughly made with no reservations to the family as a whole.

“5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. – Mark 10:6-9, Jesus refers to Genesis 2:24.

Carefully consider that monogamy is disappearing, so too, prostitution has waned; what in one is pure before God and the other terrible wickedness are merging under the Leftist program. Sadly, women are so terribly misled that they consider themselves free from the constraints of patriarchy, while men view them as unpaid servants of pleasure. Men don’t like women who give themselves away but view them as a simple physical utility to an evil end. Being broadcast across all media, it’s a lie from the pit of hell that physical interaction equates to love. Women themselves have taken this up and are promoting it, only to end later in life with a devastated soul longing for the satisfaction that God, from the start, offered by obedience to His design purposes for the woman to belong to one man, raising a family. Sin never finds a comfortable middle ground; it invariably progresses to destructive ends.

The man and the woman have exclusive property rights to the other’s body. The exclusive right to be the only desire of the heart and mind takes much steadfastness in the faith with prayer, Bible devotions with reading both separately and as a couple, gathering together with other faithful and monogamous Christians in the worship of your Lord, and serving Christ together in building the Kingdom of God while seeking His return. Nobody said marriage was easy but fulfilled are the man and woman who look upon their marriage as consecrated by the Almighty that He alone has dominion over.

——–

Part 2

We thought to provide the meat up front in Part One. What follows is a common outline. It’s not enough; it’s not holding the family together, even in the churches, this lightly touched-upon explanation that’s taught everywhere. As though God were merely suggesting these things and not commanding in His might from the throne of wrath that His people obey or suffer civilizational collapse. The New Religion soft peddles everything ruining your future.

God made them male and female (Genesis 1:27).

God gave Eve to Adam to be his helpmeet. This is why, in Christendom (we suppose a type of symbolism), the woman is given by her father. Her father was, before marriage, her image (type) of God, leader, and priest. She is given by her father to her husband, who now becomes her sole leader and priest in the image of Christ.

Continuing to emphasize the likeness of the Church, Jesus Christ being her head, with the man as head of his wife and family, Ephesians 5:25-31 is often cited. But first verse 32 because it tells us the purpose of this section.

“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” – Ephesians 5:32

What’s being spoken of is the Church of Jesus Christ. Remember that a mystery in the Bible is not something hidden but something that has been, or is being, revealed to us in Scripture.

In the section of Ephesians below, the writer uses the family as an illustration of the Church. These illustrations in the Holy Bible are instructive by design, so we must look for the lessons contained in them. One thing about them is that they often take something self-evident in God’s institutions to explain a more significant function relating to our understanding of God’s purposes for us in creation. In this case, God uses the husband’s relationship as the wife’s leader, which should be evident in the macrocosm as common knowledge, to explain a more profound truth of Christ and His Church, bringing the obscure into the light by using marriage as an example of His Church, Christ as the head.

Still, many have taught, in our day, the government of family structure and roles based upon Ephesians chapter 5, and this isn’t wrong. It is gravely disappointing that Western Civilization has fallen so far that one must teach this section from a reverse perspective. Still, in verse 25, instruction to the husband is what we find. The man is to present his family to God, without spot, sanctified by obedience to the Holy Writ, just as Christ will present His Church, cleansed from all sin by His blood, to the Father.

You’ve seen these verses before, so take them and hide them in your heart, that you might not sin against God (Psalm 119:11).

“25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” – Ephesians 5:25-31

These duties are immense and can only be undertaken with much prayer and steadfast insistence.

-The man is commanded to be a type of Christ

-Die to save her life

-Be the spiritual leader as the priest of the family

-Be both submitted to God yet the leader of the household simultaneously

-Love his wife as much as Christ loves him (that’s a command of Holy God)

-Ensure the family is without blemish before God

-Be sinless, spotless, and above reproach, and keep his help meet the same

-And he must sacrifice his own will, unto God, so that his family will thrive

A man has an innate drive by the design of God to fulfill these roles. And a woman would be much better off letting her husband lead the family, tribe, and nation. An intelligent woman will recognize Ephesians 5 as a grand and useful master list, from God Himself, on how to support her man to maximize the realization of their dreams together.

The Left is destroying men by insisting that these tasks belong to government and also indicating that they aren’t needed duties but that women can suffice to do them. It’s gibberish, and all lies.

The fall of man as it relates to sin today and the destruction of society must be considered.

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” – Genesis 3:6

It’s not hyperbole to say Civilization hangs in the balance when we sin against the Almighty. The man was with her and, as the leader, failed to stop his wife from her sin, and in so doing, Adam disobeyed God. Sin brought the fall of man, and with it, the whole earth is now cursed.

Christ’s sovereignty came by submitting to the Father, even unto the cross of humiliation. For us, by submission to Christ as our head come the blessings of the authority to carry out the roles in God’s design for men and women.

“For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” – John 6:38 and many others.

Even Jesus subordinated Himself to the Father. We must subordinate ourselves to God’s word. The man must take charge, and the woman must submit to the glory of God the Father. Once this is accomplished by continuous active pursuit, a colossal burden is lifted from the family. Keeping God’s ordination brings blessings evident in nature and daily living to those faithful to keep His commandments.

The result of sin today is evident all around. Only the devil wants women to be like men and men to be like women. Why? Because the devil and his workers of iniquity hate you and want you destroyed and dead.

If the man and the woman are to be under Christ, the woman is subordinate to the man. The priests of the New Religion will never be allowed to say that women acting like men publicly in society and at home have caused major mental and emotional problems, but it’s why 40 percent of women are taking antidepressants. They’ve been told that they can, and even should have been, just like men in all aspects of the associations they inhabit.

God made men to work, protect, hunt, build, and make hard decisions to ensure the survival of the tribe. God made women to nurture, gather, encourage, and, yes, especially to inspire. These traits of women are not belittling to mention; this notion is absurd brainwashing. Women are necessary for the proper raising of children, maintaining a family, and critical to nurturing that familial relationship without which all of society falls apart.

The choices of blessings or curses are set before us each day; choose wisely.

I’m not qualified to have written this, but it’s by the dispensation of the grace of God that would allow teaching to men and women whose shadow I’m not worthy to gaze upon.