Ephesians 6: 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
There either are objective truths (the Tao, natural law, created order, whatever) or there aren't. The world will collapse if we continue to act as if there aren't.
If there are objective truths (things we can embrace without question), there are binaries – either / or: either black or white, either male or female, either good or evil, either an unborn human being or a clump of mush.
If there aren’t objective truths (i.e., we each get to make up our own truths), there can never be conversation. And without conversation…well, look around us.
Do Christians (or those who are after liberty) always have to keep butting their heads against a wall of obstinance in conversation? Jesus had a thought on this:
Matthew 7: 6 Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Dogs and pigs. Why would Jesus say such things? The same Jesus who said love your neighbor and love your enemy? Perhaps there are too many mission fields to be harvested to waste time on those fields that are strewn with rocks and thistles. Perhaps He recognized that the Sons of Disobedience also walk among us. Not all enemies are created equal, I guess.
Jesus went further:
Matthew 10: 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
And don’t look back. Pillar of salt and all that.
I heard of a great quote from the latest Pageau-Rohlin video, attributed (rightly or wrongly) to Genghis Khan: "I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
God used Babylonians, Assyrians, whatever, to punish Israel and Judah. In our day, it appears God’s vehicle for punishment is wholly internal, self-inflicted – call it a spiritual force that is consuming western humanity.
Conclusion
Let's pray that Abraham is currently pleading with God for mercy due to the small handful of righteous souls to be found here. From Richard Rohlin: “Christianity always wins through martyrdom.” Martyr means witness. Well, it means this before it comes to the dying part.
Epilogue
Psalm 123:
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our soul has had more than enough
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
The binary is what ancient philosophy even religion was all about. Right and wrong. God and devil. Life and death. Wealth and poverty. Liberty and slavery.
ReplyDeleteHowever those wise intellectuals came up with a new scheme (or very old). We will make an abstraction of right and wrong. We will call it thesis and antithesis. But we will deny that these things really exist but that they work together in some kind of mystical (but not spiritual or godly) process. Thesis and antithesis work together to produce synthesis. Something new which also becomes a new antithesis for the previous situation which was the thesis. The dialectical process was formulated and applied to every aspect of life.
This has been the scheme of the spiritual forces of evil for the last 200 years.
https://thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com/2021/01/how-should-we-then-live-chapter-8.html
https://thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com/
If God is using the current global elite and their followers to punish his chosen people, does this mean we should not fight back? Should we take our lumps meekly and allow these Godless titans and their minions to oppress us without complaint? What if it comes to extermination? Should we be the salt that doesn't lose its savor even in the face of annihilation? Should we pray in secret or be the light of the world against such a threat?
ReplyDeleteIs God using the current global elite and their followers to punish His chosen people? What about all the people who are being "punished" alongside The Chosen? How do we know when the "correction" is over and we can begin pushing back? Or walking away? What are the signs that this has occurred? Will we be allowed to push back when the beating subsides? Are we doomed to be whipped forever because we take a fatalistic, pacifist attitude toward the abuse which comes our way?
DeleteI daresay that it is not God Who is punishing us, but rather the consequence of years, decades, and centuries of continuous widespread violation of The Law, which can be summed up in just a few words: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
"In our day, it appears God’s vehicle for punishment is wholly internal, self-inflicted – call it a spiritual force that is consuming western humanity." -- Bionic
Mosquito
The situation we are in now is certainly self-inflicted. We have built and perfected the system. We are to blame because, instead of loving our neighbors the way we love ourselves, we have been more apt to loot our neighbors so that we could have more for ourselves.
This will have to change.
For a more direct answer to your questions, see this article by Caitlin Johnstone on Zero Hedge.
Deletehttps://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/johnstone-our-entire-civilization-structured-around-keeping-us-realizing-we-can-do
These are difficult questions asked by both ATL and Roger - and I will come to some thoughts shortly:
DeleteRoger: "I daresay that it is not God Who is punishing us, but rather the consequence of years, decades, and centuries of continuous widespread violation of The Law, which can be summed up in just a few words: "Love your neighbor as yourself." "
Is there a difference - does not God contain the commandment to love our neighbor? Hence, a violation of those words results in punishment by God - the author of those words and the author of the creation of those words and the author of the consequences for violating those words?
As to what actions we take...protests, uprisings, etc. In Sri Lanka, my understanding is they were starving. In the West, we are nowhere near that, so I put no real faith in such massive demonstrations in the West. They won't happen as long as we have netflix and iPhones.
As for Christians...Two thousand years ago, Christianity grew on three pillars: 1) preach the Good News, 2) charity (love your neighbor), and 3) martyrdom.
Why would we think today is different?
With that said, we each have to decide where to draw the line separating martyrdom from defending those whom and that which we live. When I am faced with that decision, I know my choice - and I will leave it in God's hands as to how He deals with me and my choice (as if I have a choice about that...).