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Friday, September 18, 2020

Floating in the Æther?

This one will be a bit tough for those here (if any remain) who believe the non-aggression principle alone can stand for our liberty and against liberty’s enemies.  After reading through this, if you still believe our libertarian ideas will be sufficient to win out, please provide some evidence (beyond the legalization of marijuana) or at least some coherent, rational argument.

Ephesians 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I have been thinking about this verse, wrestling with this verse, considering what it means in our current context.  I have wondered, and have written, and have discussed a few times – on these pages, at comments at a couple of other sites, in conversations with friends and relatives.  I ask: do you think these principalities and powers are working through something other than human agents? 

Is that even possible that they would not be working through human agents?  For example, is it just something in the air, something from another dimension just messing with our minds?  Well, yes…and no:

Ephesians 2: 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…

That’s the “yes” part.

…the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

That’s the “no” part.

In time past, we had our conversation with these children of disobedience – the children of wrath through whom the prince of the power of the air does its work.  Were we merely hallucinating at the time, a nice acid trip, perhaps?  No.  With them, we fulfilled the lust of the flesh.  There was active engagement, on this world stage.

Let’s start with some easy examples – well, easy for some of us, at least, those of us not cheering on those who are rioting in the streets.  Is it possible that Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Lenin, and Marx were just good guys trying to implement a good idea, but things just didn’t work out so well?  Or was there something more, perhaps the handiwork of this prince of the power of the air?

Paul Kengor, a professor at Grove City College, has just published a book: The Devil and Karl Marx.  From the description:

Not only did the horrific results of Marxism follow directly from Marx’s twisted ideas, but the man himself penned some downright devilish things. Well before Karl Marx was writing about the hell of communism, he was writing about hell. “Thus Heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well,” he wrote in a poem in 1837, a decade before his Manifesto. “My soul, once true to God, is chosen for Hell.”

The book is reviewed here by Walter Williams.  Williams notes some of the many prominent organization that laud the glory of Marxian socialism: the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, Green for All, the Sierra Club and the Children’s Defense Fund.  He adds that Jews might want to consider Marx’s views about Jews, and that Black Lives Matters leaders might want to look into Marx’s views of black lives. 

There is a video interview with Dr. Kengor.  Through it, I learned of Marx’s poem, Oulanem, A Tragedy.  I did a little searching: lo and behold, just like on every topic known to man, Murray Rothbard has written about this:

In the course of this drama his hero, Oulanem, delivers a remarkable soliloquy, pouring out sustained invective, a hatred of the world and of mankind, a hatred of creation and a threat and vision of total world destruction.

A few lines from the poem will help illustrate:

… I shall howl gigantic curses on mankind:

Ha! Eternity! She is an eternal grief …

Ourselves being clockwork, blindly mechanical,

Made to be the foul-calendars of Time and Space,

Having no purpose save to happen, to be ruined,

So that there shall be something to ruin …

If there is a something which devours,

I'll leap within it, though I bring the world to ruins-

The world which bulks between me and the Abyss

I will smash to pieces with my enduring curses.

I'll throw my arms around its harsh reality:

Embracing me, the world will dumbly pass away,

And then sink down to utter nothingness,

Perished, with no existence — that would be really living!

Rothbard adds a few demonic lines from other of Marx’s works:

Then I will be able to walk triumphantly,

Like a god, through the ruins of their kingdom.

Every word of mine is fire and action.

My breast is equal to that of the Creator.

And:

See this sword?

the prince of darkness

Sold it to me.

With Satan I have struck my deal,

He chalks the signs, beats time for me

I play the death march fast and free.

This doesn’t sound like a good guy with a bad idea or a good guy with a good idea but just implemented poorly, does it?

When leaders of Black Lives Matters publicly proclaim their support of Marx and communism, it is this that they are praising.  When supporters of the BLM movement advance the cause – whether by rioting on the streets or placing signs on their lovely suburban lawns – they are, knowingly or not, supporting the work of Satan.  In any case, knowingly or unknowingly, they have no excuse:

Romans 1: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

When George Bush and Barack Obama destroyed the lives of millions in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, is it fair to ask on whose behalf are they working?  When Madelaine Albright says, without any remorse, that the loss of 500,000 Iraqi children was worth it, or when Hillary Clinton gloats about “we came, we saw, he died” about Kaddafi getting sodomized with a knife – should we consider that they are just overcome with the shortcomings and failings of your neighbor or brother-in-law or you – in other words, we are all fallen?

I know, as Solzhenitsyn writes, the line dividing good from evil runs through each one of us.  But he never said the division is in the same proportion in each one of us.

When European leaders celebrate the opening of the new Gotthard tunnel with a ceremony fit for demons, do you think it is just a racier version of Cirque du Soleil?  When Fauci purposely destroys the lives of millions, and almost all world leaders are on the same path – what are we to think?  New vaccines to be forced upon billions with God-only-knows what side effects, as if humans have no defense against a flu?

When Christian leaders voluntarily close churches for months – including Holy Week – is this God’s will in action?  Or when priests compare George Floyd to Jesus Christ, is it perhaps just a minor doctrinal difference, understandable given the difficulties in Scriptural interpretation?

When gathering for Church is illegal, but burning down buildings and shooting police quietly sitting in their vehicle is lauded; when the only black lives that matter are the handful shot by police, but not the thousands of black lives shot by other black lives or the hundreds of thousands of black lives aborted by their black mothers…oh, enough already.

Those whom we count on to lead in this battle, the church leaders, are failing.  Antonio Gramsci knew that even these would have to be co-opted in the war to transform the culture, as summarized here:

Gramsci identifies two groups of these intellectuals: organic intellectuals, coming from the working class, and traditional intellectuals—the clergy, philosophers, academicians. This latter group presents a false air of continuity from their predecessors.

Oh, but they are clergy, priests, pastors – men of God!  Who am I to say that they are following an evil path?  Well, let’s try words from a higher authority:

Matthew7: 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

How will we know?  One clue, offered by Jesus earlier in the same chapter:

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

We know them; we see their fruits.

Conclusion

The Apostle Paul writes:

2 Corinthians 11: 12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Satan’s servants – both inside and outside of the church – are human actors.  They will not be convinced by the logic and purity of the non-aggression principle.  If all it took in this world was for reason to govern, libertarianism would be the accepted political regime globally.

It is not, and I have no better explanation as to why than that presented here.  We are governed not by good people with bad ideas; we are governed by servants of Satan.  As Jesus told us regarding demons of this sort: “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” 

If you expect that I will have better advice than that which Jesus Christ offers, well, I am sorry to disappoint you.

43 comments:

  1. It looks like now you are beginning to get it.
    It's all there in one verse. Jn 8:44. All you have to do is figure out who it is that He is talking to. Not hard if you're willing to accept them for who they are as opposed to who they SAY they are. Rev. 2;9-3:9. More-so, who He says they are.
    Originally, there was only one group to whom God showed the Truth to. Those "men" of Rom. 1:18 were those who held the truth in unrighteousness.
    It was obvious that He hadn't yet shown it to the Greeks when Paul told them that he had come to reveal "...the unknown God." to them.
    I sincerely hope that you can continue on this tack because it's the only one that counts. But if you do, I also hope you can withstand the persecution that will surly come with it.
    roger

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    1. Roger, I hope I was beginning to get it before today!

      Over the last few years, my focus has been the intersection of Christianity and liberty. It will remain my focus - albeit with posts that lean much stronger toward one side or the other.

      I know this was perhaps the strongest lean into Christianity of any post, although I do believe and do emphasize the undeniable link to liberty even here.

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    2. "I hope I was beginning to get it before today"

      I think there may be "some evidence" as to the validity of this claim. ;)

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  2. I ask: do you think these principalities and powers are working through something other than human agents? 

    No. Individuals follow Christ or not-Christ. Moment by moment. We act in the spirit of Christ or not in the spirit of Christ. That individual choice between “good and evil” (as Solzhenitsyn points out) runs right through the heart of every human being. The following video (less than 20 minutes) explains it well.

    What about Hitler - A Christian Approach to the Question of Extreme Violence

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Th8QYOFAb8

    The issue is nihilism. You don’t have to read much of the poem to see that it negates individual choice: “Ourselves being clockwork, blindly mechanical, . . .” And when someone claims they don’t have individual choice run fast - you can be assured they aren’t actively seeking the will of God.
    “Thy kingdom come.
    Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

    Ultimately nihilism is an issue of will, will to power (not God's).

    roc’s comment on the “Unknown God” is actually key to choosing to turn through self-reflection using the intellect my will toward God’s: “baptism of repentance”/metanoia/nous. There’s likely a reason the New Testament was written in Greek and has this aspect to include the mind?

    A good book on this:
    “Unknown God, Negative Theurgy In Platonism and Mysticism”
    A text version can be found here (not the best format):
    https://archive.org/stream/CarabineDeirdreUNKNOWNGODNegativeTheurgyInPlatonismAndMysticism/Carabine-Deirdre-UNKNOWN-GOD-Negative-Theurgy-in-Platonism-and-Mysticism_djvu.txt

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  3. "When Madelaine Albright says, without any remorse, that the loss of 500,000 Iraqi children was worth it..."

    Just to be clear, and speaking as a Muslim, Muslims don't go around thinking that America caused these deaths. This is because Islam is an occasionalist religion, i.e., everything comes from God. "Puppets on a string" but we get to choose what type of puppets we are. This maintains both Divine sovereignty and human free will. And when Muslims war, they say that death comes not from them, but rather through them.

    Incidentally, Hinduism is also an occasionalist religion. This from a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which as you can see from the title, he credits to the Katha Upanishad:

    “If the red slayer thinks he slays,
    Or if the slain think he is slain,
    They know not well the subtle ways
    I keep, and pass, and turn again.

    Far or forgot to me is near;
    Shadow and sunlight are the same;
    The vanish'd gods to me appear;
    And one to me are shame and fame.

    They reckon ill who leave me out;
    When me they fly, I am the wings;
    I am the doubter and the doubt
    And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.

    The strong gods pine for my abode,
    And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
    But thou, meek lover of the good!
    Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.”

    ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brahma

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    1. Puppets on a string would indeed account for pretty much every single U.S. foreign adventure as each American I have ever met has been a great person individually that would do anything to help you (maybe just me?), they'd give you the shirt off their back.

      Even their founding fathers warned about overseas adventures. Warning about looking for Dragons to fight.

      However someone managed to convince them to go against their nature and here we are. I wish it were otherwise.

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  4. I am being redundant, but what John Paul II wrote linked to the video below should be repeated often . . .

    What about Hitler - A Christian Approach to the Question of Extreme Violence

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Th8QYOFAb8

    In this insightful video, you will learn about people like Hitler.

    Between Pilate and/or Caiaphas and the tortured and dead body of Jesus there are scores, perhaps hundreds, of human beings. Each of these human beings has his own intellect and free will and therefore is morally required to follow his own moral truth—even if it contradicts a society’s moral truth, or the moral truth of a superior. John Paul II writes:

    All human beings desire to know, and truth is the proper object of this desire. There exists a prior moral obligation, and a grave one at that, to seek the truth and to adhere to it once it is known…The thirst for truth is so rooted in the human heart that to be obliged to ignore it would cast our existence into jeopardy. One may define the human being, therefore, as the one who seeks the truth.

    The Roman soldiers, the armed servants of the High Priest, the Temple guards were not Neanderthals, nor some other sub-human species. They were human beings, Homo sapiens, exactly like us. Self-consciousness, consciousness of others, a free will, a conscience and a faculty for empathy were theirs as much as they are ours. By nature they also desired to know the truth, including the truth about what is good and what is evil. Did all, some, or any of them think that what he was doing to Jesus was evil, wrong, not in conformity with the universal, innate, moral imperative of the human conscience: i.e., To do good and to avoid evil?

    Pilate and Caiaphas never laid a hand on Jesus. Everything that turned Jesus into an agonized wreck of a human being, who in utter misery, suffered and suffocated on a cross, was done by the human pawns of Pilate and Caiaphas—the soldiers, the Temple guards, the armed servants. Were it not for them and their use of their intellects, free wills, and bodies to torture and murder Jesus, Jesus never would have been tortured and murdered. So why are they not held to be morally responsible, or at least as morally responsible, for the destruction of Jesus, as are Pilate or Caiaphas? (Why is Hitler, in the same way, considered the incarnation of evil when he invades Russia, France, etc., while those who do his murderous dirty work are considered respectable, honorable, noble, and even faithful Christians?) Why are the soldiers, armed servants, and Temple Guards not explicitly called to moral accountability in the catechesis of the Churches? Why are Christians not told that they cannot do what these people did—follow the orders of a civil leader—or religious leader—when those orders contradict what is believed to be God’s will? Why is the moral dereliction of the soldiers, armed servants, and Temple Guards not continually noted, pondered, theologized about, and preached on in the Christian Churches? Why the moral free pass for those who actually did the torturing and murdering of Jesus of Nazareth?

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    1. Nat, I agree foot soldiers should be held accountable and blamed publicly just as much as the leaders. That they aren't is a mistake. They are just as responsible.

      However, the other factor to take note of is that leadership matters. It doesn't absolve the wicked acts of the servants. But it highlights the nature of humanity. We all seek to follow those who lead us. We all recognize societal order and authority. It is who we are. For humanity to be good we have to have good leaders, at least in principle. There will always be the contrarians, free thinkers, dissidents. Their purpose is to criticize the leaders when they go astray and to facilitate the formation of "good" leadership.

      I haven't addressed this specifically to what BM is talking to here. But generally here is how I think human civilization is designed to work.

      https://thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com/2020/06/connected-individualism.html

      https://thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com/2020/08/defining-cooperative-individualism-part.html

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    2. Nat, what of knowledge - even the possibility of gaining the knowledge? Did the foot soldiers who crucified Jesus know anything of Him beyond the two that were also crucified on either side. To my knowledge, only after the fact - but I would have to go back and read the passages more carefully with an aim toward this point.

      This, unlike the knowledge of the Priests, and Pilate's indifference to guilt or innocence.

      Regarding today's foot soldiers: given the amount of information so easily available regarding the battles around us - whether in the Middle East, whether in university critical racial curriculum, whether on the corona nonsense - there is no excuse.

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    3. For what I have seen in the news during my adult lifetine, it is the foot soldier that gets the blame and the officers skate. The higher the officer the smoother their skating.

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    4. RMB, you said, “we all seek to follow those who lead us.” What if, instead, we sought the Truth moment by moment? I don’t think my statement negates leadership (think of the voluntary church structure). To indiscriminately give your choice/free will to someone else for a period of time may be a dangerous temptation. We can try (effectively do it through the flesh with limited contract in the world), but we can’t sell our “life/soul” to slavery - we don’t own it. There’s a reason the New Testament clearly states no oaths.

      - - - - - - - -

      bionic, you mentioned “after-the-fact” knowledge - going back to read passages more carefully with this aim. Yes! This is exactly why I mentioned “baptism of repentance”/metanoia. Our lives (and the Bible) are filled with revelation/“after-the-fact” knowledge events. The greatest model of this is the apostles at the last supper: did they fully understand what Christ was telling them at the time? Was the importance of this event only fully revealed at the resurrection? What kind of self-reflection did each of them undergo to fully understand the events “after-the-fact?”

      We experience this similar kind of revelation in our own lives daily (real learning of one’s own volition and self-reflection). Unfortunately, I don’t think it is the conditioning method most of us are used to (I can’t bring myself to even come close to calling this cultural behavior training that objectifies ourselves and others learning).

      When we follow a method of categorizing individuals as “things” we put ourselves (our will) at the center of it all and expose our desire for a false sense of certainty, control (we put our trust in man). Under these conditions how easy is it to desire God, the Truth? Are we willfully denying revelation? Just give a moment’s thought to the current "plandemic" and self-reflect. Do not fear, Christ has risen! Turn and go.

      I offered a book about the “Unknown God” earlier because it might point out some philosophers/christians that would be worth investigating to better understand a methodology of revelation - especially the early church fathers. Jean-Luc Marion has a good lecture on “A Possible Epistemology of Revelation” and many Pierre Grimes lectures are available to better understand these thinkers and a methodology (apophatic/negative theology) we should be taking seriously. A real opportunity for our time.

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    5. Nat, I have been thinking about my comment of "after the fact..." The Apostle Paul also writes that no one has an excuse. Just one of the many mysteries where careful study is necessary - and yet may not prove sufficient.

      When did the apostles realize what that were offered...?

      Only after the Ascension. In John, we read of their fear - keeping the doors locked even one week after seeing the risen Lord (despite receiving the Holy Spirit one week earlier).

      I believe the disciples had no idea what to make of Jesus prior to this. They seem constantly confused during His three years of ministry on earth.

      Peter is telling: Jesus tells him that he will betray Jesus before the morning. We immediately skip to the betrayal, forgetting the part in-between where Peter is ready to fight the soldiers with a sword. Peter's action makes perfect sense if he believed it was a revolution - a physical kingdom, with Jesus as king. Just the century before was the Maccabees revolt - Jesus was thought to be the new leader for revolution.

      This Peter, ready to fight, then was coward by a woman a few hours later. And he, along with the others coward after the crucifixion and even after seeing the risen Lord. Only after the Ascension did they show a spine - understanding that the kingdom Jesus preached was not the type of their imagining.

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    6. Did you just describe John 18:36?

      I love that you said: “Just one of the many mysteries where careful study is necessary - and yet may not prove sufficient.”

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    7. In a way, yes, but not really. It isn't the same. His servants (at least one of them) DID try to fight to prevent His arrest. There was no "if" about it.

      There is also the idea that Judas betrayed Jesus because he believed it would bring on this fight for revolution and independence. When Judas saw this wasn't the outcome, he killed himself. Did he kill himself because he realized the true purpose of Jesus (and, therefore, his horrendous sin), or did he kill himself because he felt he just wasted three years of his life?

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  5. Dashiell Hammett gave Sam Spade a great line in The Maltese Falcon.
    Some-one says "We don't want any trouble"

    Spade: "I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble".

    That's about what it takes.

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  6. BM, this your most powerful article to date, at least that I have read. I completely agree with the sentiment 100%.

    You trace the involvement of Satanic influence back to Marx and into our day. I haven't articulated it as well.

    But in July, I was sitting in a living room with a group from my church, just before Gov. Abbott re-locked down our state unilaterally. As I was watching the corona reporting and looking at the actual data and listening to interviews with several epidemiologists it was very very clear we were all being lied to. And politicians Rs and Ds were using the false narrative to take away not only our freedoms but our dignity. For many the lockdowns have taken peoples' livelihoods and even lives. All of this was done in the name of health, safety, and love.

    Looking at the situation, at everything together, it was evident that this was the latest of Satan's activity in the world. He always uses a kernel of truth even in Genesis 3, "hath God said?", but it is merely a covering for a deadly lie. Sadly, humanity is only too eager to carry the devil's narrative forward, and always for the "good of the people."

    Even reading through this article, I think I saw a new part of this lie. From the eyes of the normal Christian, all the world, in the US media at least, is against him, except for 2 things, at least on the surface, Fox News and Donald J Trump. So Christians have seen the deception but fallen for the follow up deception as you rightly point out in this article. In our desire to maintain order and peace we have sided with the military and Conservative political apparatus. They are not openly against Jesus like the Left. They are against abortion at least. But "we" have pledged allegiance mistakenly to the military industrial complex and the intelligence community.

    Even though the intelligence community has been exposed in its pursuit of Trump and Brennan/Clapper's lies about spying on US citizens, Conservatives will alternatively curse them for the Steele dossier but laud them for bombing Syria or Iran.

    But for he who has eyes to see and ears to hear, the truth can be known. We need to be praying that our eyes and ears are sensitive to His voice in the middle of all this chaos.

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    1. RMB: "In our desire to maintain order and peace we have sided with the military and Conservative political apparatus."

      This is both a symptom of the uncritical thinking skills of many Americans and the deviousness of those who maintain a system that gives us no real choice.

      As to abortion and republicans: not once, when they controlled the executive and congress, did they defund planned parenthood. Anti-abortion, for republicans, is nothing more than a fundraising commercial.

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    2. Better a hollow ring than "Damn the torpedos, full term abortions ahead."
      Trump has refunded PP to some degree. Better record than Saint Gipper.

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    3. There is something to be said for principled principle. At least, with "...full term abortions ahead." everyone knows where you stand.

      It has been said that politics is the art of compromise, but all that compromise gives is a "hollow ring". Better to give it everything you've got, even if it means the loss of everything you have, then to settle for the lesser of two evils.

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  7. Outstanding! Hebrews 5:11-14 perfectly illustrated as a requirement to understand Ephesians 6:12.

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  8. Fr. Atlman has been on fire lately. Some of you might have noticed that parts of the Catholic hierarchy is trying to silence him since his streamed rebellious homily's against the Covid-19 mandates by government(s). (I was made aware of him via LRC a couple of months back)

    Not only did he double down when he recently put out a video saying you can't be a Democrat and a Catholic, he tripled down this morning when his issued this video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVt10eZMN1M

    While he has a blind spot to some of the failings of Trump(or maybe he's just focusing on the "bigger" problem of a shift culturally towards Marxism)- I believe his message is on point regarding Leftists and highlights the issue BM has made over the importance of the proverbial "cultural soil".

    I hope you all enjoy the video and consider watching the one that spurred it as well.

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    1. Nick, I am not assuming you missed it, but maybe - and for others who did not see this: I commented on this issue last week. If you haven't done so, please contact his bishop:

      http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.com/2020/09/please-contact.html

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    2. Nick, I just watched it. He gives me chills, every time I have heard him since he came on the broader public stage.

      Has he been defrocked yet? I am only half-kidding. Do you know the status?

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    3. You're welcome ATL!

      I did see it BM, but didn't register it mentally when when I posted the link. I saw the original Covid sermons last month via LRC but did note your link as well.

      I cruise around to different sites when time allows and can't always remember who is doing what so to speak...lol...I'm 49 so I suppose it might only get worse over time. :)

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    4. One more thing regarding his status BM:

      https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/courageous-priest-reprimanded

      It doesn't look good...for the Catholic church that is.

      The article gives a pretty good contextual picture of what's going on...

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    5. From Callahan: "...particularly on abortion...Our approach must never seek to divide, isolate and condemn."

      From Jesus (Luke 12): "51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

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  9. Great post. Agree 100%. I've been thinking of another Bible verse lately, with, I'll admit, not a little wrath in my heart.

    "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

    Jesus invited a little child to stand among them. “Truly I tell you, He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.

    But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

    - Matthew 18:1-6

    Jesus especially loves (in the perfect sense of this word) children. Demons or the principalities especially hate Jesus. I don't think it's a coincidence that so many powerful people on this earth have been sexual abusers of children. They've all "struck their deal."

    I think it's time to make millstones a new gardening trend in the front lawns of those good folks who think it wouldn't be so bad if acting pedophiles (and all those trying to normalize these monsters) got the treatment Jesus prescribes above.

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    1. ATL, the millstones should be placed on their yachts, available for immediate use - far more efficient!

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    2. Now we're talkin!!! I mean joking... eh hem.

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  10. This article starts by firmly stating that it will disabuse us of idea that "the non-aggression principle alone can stand for our liberty and against liberty’s enemies." How exciting! This strongly intimates that the rest of the article will be about how we can combat evil by being aggressive directly against the perpetrators.

    However, then the article quickly devolves into proving that our enemies on the left knowingly work for Satan. The original idea of what WE should do about it is completely dropped from discussion. How feckless! Which to me means that this question, one of the most difficult in Christianity and now seemingly the most relevant, is sidestepped, bypassed, and overlooked in order to take the easy way out.

    Let's engage in a hyper example, by pushing the envelope on this issue to it's limits...

    “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Jesus Christ

    So that requires the following prayer from each of us...

    Dear God, bless all leftists and anti-fascist bolsheviks and egalitarians. I love them and forgive all of them forever and ever. Bless their motivations, and help all their plans come to fruition. Ensure that they eliminate all white people and all Christians, including me, and enslave any that remain. Ensure that they destroy Western Civilization, and help them raze it to the ground. Ensure that I have no anger or hate in my heart, and that I will never resist in the slightest way as they torture me and dispense with my family. Bless their ultimate objectives, so that true and perfect equality for the races and for absolutely all things will rule the earth, up to and including the thermodynamic heat death of the universe such that all distinctions and separations of Your Creation are eliminated. Bless them as they replace individual sin with collective sin that can never be expiated by your Son's Death and Transfiguration on the Cross. Fulfill all their moral fantasies including the total destruction of Christianity, so that nobody ever again has to worship You or Your Son, and never again has to hear His Name. This is the perfect result of what You have preached, and so this is what I want in Your Holy Name, amen.

    Well ???? Do we fight, or do we roll over in this existential war declared long ago by the left. Satan's minions well certainly not stop physically coming for us if we just beseech them with a few good Bible quotes. Will the pursuit of equality become the official religion of mankind? Or will we find a way to fight, like Constantine, or like Europe in 1683 at the Gates of Vienna? Doing nothing and expecting a miracle is fine I suppose, but I'm just a little bit tired of depending on God's Great Pendulum of History to swing back my way, because I'll certainly be in the afterlife long before it has any discernible effect on this world. To the standard smarmy non-answers I expect from my question, all I can say is yeah yeah yeah, what else is new?

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    1. "The original idea of what WE should do about it is completely dropped from discussion."

      Maybe you didn't read to the end.

      As to your prayer, to describe it as nonsense would be an insult to nonsense.

      As to fighting, I pray it doesn't come to that. No one should desire it, albeit everyone should be prepared for it. I have addressed this issue of the possible necessity of fighting and defending Christianity many times - as recently as nine days ago; you are obviously new around here and have decided to pop off without really knowing much about my thoughts.

      So, if you desire a fight, go elsewhere.

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    2. Oh yes, I did read to the end, and also viewed the linked videos. As for your other comments, including those of nine days ago, I searched, and the only related thing I could find was Peace Through the Sword. Here's what you said:

      "It gives me pause to wonder: how to understand the idea of “love your enemies” when your enemies are after nothing but your death. (Para) Would Christianity have survived if every Christian meekly accepted martyrdom? And yes, I understand what can be said about the opening verse in the context of this question. (Para) Too much for me to contemplate, so I will just get on with the story."

      You believe that to be "addressing" the issue? All you really did in the article was to describe some history. By your own admission, you clearly sidestepped the fundamental problem.

      As for my prayer, I clearly prefaced it by telling you that it was deliberate exaggeration to illuminate a point, which you again refused to address. Perhaps YOU are the one with poor reading comprehension. Now after reading more of your efforts, my critique still stands. But more importantly, I am addressing a fundamental problem in current-day Christianity's understanding of existential defense. That understanding is obviously not the same as what Christians thought in the past. How did it change? Why did it change? Which understanding is moral? Both? Neither? If you want to mischaracterize my questions as desiring a fight, then that's your problem, not mine.

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    3. What is your answer? I have given mine: prayer and fasting; be prepared to fight if necessary. Necessary, of course, is something that can only be subjectively determined by each individual. Except as follows:

      The other answer I have given many times: without church leaders who act as church leaders - speaking truth to power, speaking out against wars of aggression, speaking out against the divisiveness of the current race-baiting talk, speaking out against the drug war, taking action on poverty, abortion, etc.

      This is best summarized here:

      http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.com/2020/05/if-christianity-is-to-play-its-part.html

      So, as you don't seem to like my answer, my approach, my writing, or pretty much anything about what I have to say - I will ask: what is your answer?

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    4. To edit: "We need church leaders who act as church leaders..."

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    5. MO,
      I. tried to reply but it was not accepted.
      roger

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    6. Roger, I didn't reject anything and there is nothing in the spam folder.

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    7. MONOTONOUS
      No smarmy answers here. I do have a question or two.
      I have tried to reach some people with a few questions about things you are concerned with. Not much luck there. Folks get nervous when you start to suggest things that make them have to think that maybe they've been had or lied to or that makes them uncomfortable.
      I get very upset with those who seem to think that they have all the right answers, or that facts don't matter. I certainly don't have them all.

      An example: "We all know that there is only one Mona Lisa. I don't think there has ever been a value placed on it. Who would decide and who would accept it? There are many reproductions of it and I suppose some are very convincing to those like me who would not be able to tell the difference from the Original and ONLY one. And of course if it's good enough, how much difference does it make when wanting to just "see" what the painting reveals. Everything that the original has is there to see in a perfect re-production. The question comes down to how much is the repo worth? What will one be willing to spend for a VERSION of it?"

      This is extreme I know but the point is this. When one is talking about The Word of God, like the painting, there is only ONE ORIGINAL. And although he who painted the Mona Lisa was very good at what he did, God is absolutely PERFECT about what He is doing. No mistakes, and although the painting might become less perfect just because of time passing, God is certainly able to preserve His Message to His people flawlessly and perfectly for eternity if need be. And He said so.
      "Caelum et terra transibunt, verba autem nea non transibunt." Translation: "Heaven and earth fhal paffe, but my wordes fhal not paffe." Rheims translation of the Vulgate. Not some VERSION.
      This is the Truth from the mouth of God. So we can believe that all of His other Words shall not pass either. And as John was told to write, "And if any man fhal diminifh of the words of the booke of this prophecie: God fhal take away his part out of the booke of life,...". Rev. 22:19 Rheims.
      The KJV says: "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book...".
      Well the word diminish has been taken away from the words of the KJV book. Why? What is the definition of diminish? Is it important for perfect understanding?
      Like you, I expect some smarmy replies, if any, but I hope I'm right that they won't be from you.
      There's much more if you are interested.
      roger

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  11. BM
    All I can say is that when I hit Submit I got a notice that Your HTML cannot be accepted. Something about too much (4006) content?
    Never-the-less it was not accepted.
    Maybe there is something involved that you are not aware of. Or is there now a limit to the length of a comment?
    I have posted longer ones in the past.
    With respect
    roger

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    1. There is a limit on characters, I have no idea if this limit has changed. Usually if that is the issue the message will say that there is a character limit of X.

      It must be something like this, though, because you are able to comment.

      Long ago I had a similar issue: for no apparent reason, comments of mine at a certain site were not published if over some minor number of characters. I switched to a different browser and the problem was resolved - there was something buggy about my browser, not the site. Maybe try this?

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