Category: Faith and Reason

Faith and Reason

Truth is Powerless

Truth, well it is a valuable commodity, rare, precious, difficult to come by, and easy to pollute. Truth can also be dangerous, as any valuable and rare thing, possessing it can, in the right circumstances be dangerous. The bigger the truth, the more dangerous it becomes. If a truth is big enough, not only is it dangerous to those that possess it, it also becomes too big to believe, or process.

Consider Edward Snowden, or Julian Assange as two examples, related in many ways. What I am about to say does not excuse all of the subsequent copycat ‘whistleblowers” that tried to pull a Snowden, and under normal circumstances, what Snowden did was wrong. But what he exposed to the sleeping masses of the world was not ‘normal circumstances’.

Frankly, if you want to be honest, it was ‘march on the Bastille with torches and pitchforks’ sort of stuff. Many people that worked in and around the government knew most of what Snowden released, but nobody could really ever paint the picture of how vast and deep it was, how so many programs were the antithesis of how we see our reality. Snowden made it possible for anyone with eyes to see and a mind to think to understand it all.

Snowden ran for his life, risked never seeing his fiancé again. Assange spent a decade in prison because of the release of that data – make no mistake, no matter the pretext, he is a political prisoner.

Yet – in the big picture, none of it mattered. Any American can read for themselves things about their own government that nobody really wants to believe. But nothing changed. Nothing really at all. No outrage, or mass uprising in the streets, nobody was tarred and feathered, nobody (except Assange) went to jail. Nothing…Snowden released a truth that was too big for people to process.

Those that came after Snowden, I have less sympathy and respect for them. It seems they merely wanted to make a name for themselves ('seems', I cannot know). It is ironic that nearly all of them have either been pardoned, released, or forgiven, while Snowden will never return home and Assange will die in prison, unconvicted.

What Snowden released, as eye-opening as it should have been to almost everyone, was merely a drop in the bucket of the truth of our world. If people could not chew the meat he provided they will never see the rest. It is all rigged, all of it. There is not a single string one can pull that does not in some way eventually go back to an enormous, messy, jumbled ball of twine. If a person insists on pulling hard enough, well most never make it to the actual ball of twine, most get lost in intentional deceptions (or coopted) and red-herrings, those that make it past that, well some of those exited this world prematurely.

If by some strange twist of fate, and good fortune, a person got past all the guards, avoided red herrings, and got right up to the big ball of twine and unraveled it all – it still would not matter. In the end, they would sound about as rational as Alex Jones, a guy the twine masters seem to have put in place just for that purpose, to disseminate a little bit of truth wrapped in a lot of lunacy and lies.

I had my own little run-in recently with one small ‘string’. Attached to it were all manner of minor d-list misfits. Tools really, none of the main characters in the story will ever be in charge of anything important, they are bit players in someone else's movie, but they do play a role.

The Big Lie

Sounds like the making of a drama-thiller or a spy novel; art does imitate life. Truth is so irrelevant now that most of what has happened to us over the last year and a half was telegraphed. The scriptwriters essentially laugh in our faces, they know that even when we ‘know’ we are too stupid, divided, so easily deceived, and thrown off course to ever do anything about it.

It is a big club and you ain’t in it.

@onlyBarryLClark

The Problem of Interpreting Scripture Through our Emotions

Growing up, and far into adulthood, there were several things about the Bible that I did not understand. Invariably in each instance, my confusion generally began and ended with the insertion of my emotions into my reading, my value judgments onto the text.

Post-modern pastors do this a lot from the pulpit. They often begin each little talk they give with a story about themselves, grab a verse and then invite the audience to put themselves in the verse. Us looking to Biblical stories for examples is not wrong, per se. Us completely misunderstanding that the Bible was written for us, not about us, that is a pretty big flaw.

As a child, I first encountered a problem of doubt created by inserting my emotions into the text in Sunday School. All of the Old Testament stories repeated the theme of Israel being a chosen people, and of God doing things for or speaking with ‘his people.’ My second problem centered around the Parable of the Prodigal Son; “it is not fair”! I always thought. Lastly, as a child and a large fan of stories of the old West, I had serious questions about the idea that the only way to salvation was through Jesus; how unfair to the Indians I thought.

It took me years to understand the ‘chosen people’ thing. I had to go to college, study history, and become a fan of studying civilization and culture. I finally came to understand what ‘Judeo-Christian’ heritage meant, and how that was intrinsically tied to Western civilization. If you take that out of the equation, you no longer have Western civilization as we know it; different art, architecture, laws, and history. Likewise, if you take the Judeo part of that equation out, you really can no longer have the Christian part. Jesus said that he was all in the Old Testament and that it was essentially about him. The Old Testament is referenced many times in the New. Without scribes that diligently worked to ensure that every space, period, and vowel was faithfully and accurately copied, over numerous centuries, we would not have the Old Testament. If for no other reason, God needed a people to reveal to and to transcribe and pass down the Scripture. There are other reasons, but that one is sufficient enough to answer why God needed a ‘chosen people.’

A child misunderstanding the Parable of the Prodigal Son is not uncommon; particularly for a child with siblings. The problem begins and ends when one stops listening to the story at the point where the Prodical returns and the father clothes him and feeds him. If one but reads on, it is clear that the true and faithful son was not slighted. I stopped listening for years as a child mid-way through! I let my emotions take over.

My last objection, “what of the Indians”, well that is more complex, and frankly, man does not have an answer because the Bible does not tell us everything. It does tell us of the nature of God and it does say that Jesus is the only way.

Now look, do not take what I am about to say too far, after all, we only know what we know. But in addition to the above, we know that God gave us general revelation, built into the creation. We know he wrote natural law into our hearts, the hearts of all men. Those are facts that our faith, that the Scripture and our metaphysical view tell us. One thing that is not settled is eschatology, Christians mostly agree that so long as one’s eschatology does not produce a bad Christology, we can agree to disagree within a set of options on the end of the age of man sort of things. Some views of eschatology would perhaps have an ‘out’ for people that never heard the Word (key words there), could never know of the Revelation of Jesus but lived by the natural law; something like a second chance to choose and follow Jesus. We do not know. We only know God is just and there are many mysteries we are not provided answers to.

What all of the above does not mean is that Universalism is correct, or that once a person has access to the final revelation they can choose to ignore it and “just be a good person”. It does not mean we get to make up our own doctrines to fit our emotions because you know, God is love (and only love…).

My faith is big enough to understand that things I do not understand still make sense, my ignorance has zero effect on that fact. My discernment tells me that my emotions, my heart is very often wrong and that it is a terrible voice to ask for help understanding theology.

Theonomy is Bad, Why call us all Thonomists?

Count Dooku
A joke, if you know you know

Theonomy is an error, so why does there appear to be such a concerted effort to conflate all of Christianity with 'fascist theonomy' (this is their implication)? This reminds me of a topic that has puzzled me for years. Why do polls and the media lump so many disparate groups under the term ‘evangelical’ – what exactly is a typical evangelical? More on that below, but this appears to me to have an intent, and if not an intent at least an effect.

Look at this headline, “Hobby Lobby advocates for a Christian-run government in Independence Day ads placed in many national newspapers”. I did not see all of the advertisements, but the ones I saw can be placed in many different contexts – jumping straight to ‘theonomy’ is not on the top five I came up with.

To place things in perspective, we ought to evaluate U.S. history. The United States is not and never was a Christian state. The American nation, her people, were never and are not now wholly Christian. Those statements are provably true. However, it is also true that for much of U.S. history a significant portion of the American people held to a Christian worldview, it was predominant and affected even those that did not believe. It shaped public policy, politics, and culture. Lastly, and importantly, that worldview never stopped sin, it never banished error or mistakes. It simply provided a foundation from which decisions began; what humans did with that afterward is the story of what humans always do.

So, Hobby Lobby is not incorrect, if you filter their statements through an accurate historical lens. What has changed is that the historic worldview that previously prevailed is simply not held by many. What it means for culture and politics, this change in worldview, is that no longer do we operate from our historic worldview in the public square. In the context of speaking of people, individuals that make up a nation, it is correct to say that a nation that turns from God is in danger. These are nuanced things that those seeking to simply hate Christianity refuse to see. They hate Christ and his message, they do not have to see.

Whether it was intentional to lump all of ‘evangelical’ Christianity together (the crazy, the error, the wrong, and the less wrong) and then paint it all as hateful and fascist we cannot know for certain. The fact that two of the greatest deceptions of our time heavily influenced many in this group in 2020 seems not coincidental to me. I stopped seeing much of this as random chance some time ago. Were those deceptions intended to call out the crazy, make people look foolish, and then taint all that hold to foundational Christianity? I suspect so.

This is one of the reasons I am often so confused when people write of ‘evangelicals’. I personally know one person that bought into the Q stuff, they are NAR. I am not even certain we worship the same God, yet, I bet in the big umbrella group of the media, they lump us together. I stopped attending churches that hold massive pagan flag rallies years ago – but we are in the same group I bet. I do not buy into Gary North or Rushdoony, but, it seems we have been placed in the same club. I am not Catholic, but devout haters of Christ believe they do harm to me when they destroy their icons. Do you see the pattern? They do not understand nor do they care about doctrinal differences. Their hate casts a wide net, just to make sure they get authentic, real, orthodox (small o) Christianity no matter the pew it sits in.

Pull your head out of the sand. Politics is lost, the cultural war is lost. Others with less discernment and less understanding will fight that, and in doing so further endanger us all, but the danger is coming regardless. They put us all in one box for a reason, and that is a hatred of Christ. We can forgive them for not recognizing Him from imposters that claim Him but we ought not ignore them.

A Plea to Reformed Pastors

truth

Consider this as offered – a plea for Reformed Christian (Pastors and teachers) to read the room.

If you will not take the time to consider my entire argument then read this much:

Something significant has shifted in the world. I realize our view of eschatology, and our reliance upon an unshakable faith that God has a plan and all things happen in His time shapes much of how see the world, politics, and even history. But something has changed. The change was subtle thirty years ago and has accelerated. Preachers, teachers, and laymen owe it to others to both acknowledge this and to provide Biblical and doctrinal answers to it.

I get it. Rushdoony and North et al. really tainted the water with errors about our role in the world. Reconstructionism is dangerous and wrong. Add to that our brethren in denominations influenced by dispensationalism and raw nationalism resulting in their vocal and avid support of personalities and parties; it is unsavory to us. We also remember the foolishness that Baptists and Charismatics attempted in the 1980s-90s, their utter failure in politics, and where they are now.

I am not suggesting we enter that fray. I am not suggesting we fight the cultural war. That war is over. Read the room, look around. If you do not yet fully understand that the cultural war was lost and that we are now entering into a cultural revolution, you are not using good discernment.

I am suggesting, we have to come to terms with the world as it is and as it is about to be. The implications of the growing hatred of Christianity cannot be overstated; these cannot be ignored. We may or may not, right now, be imminently close to the eschaton but we are much nearer than we were two years ago. What was, in terms of culture and assumptions about our place in culture, no longer hold. Any honest and reasonable assessment of what is and what is to come says that things cannot go back, short of a divine act.

People see this change, people in your church see this change. A cliché related to Presbyterian ministers is that if you ask about end times topics you generally get an answer along the lines of “it is complicated” “Revelation is often overstated”, or “God Wins”. All true, and nobody suggests we channel an IFB pastor’s prophecy preaching once a month. But we need to talk about these things. We know we have been in the end times for 2000 years, and may be for another 2000, but things are getting worse and we are approaching the climax.

Failure to talk about our diminished status, the growing hate, the danger – that is foolish. Telling a man to “have no fear Christian’, is correct, failure to acknowledge that danger is afoot, borders on immoral.

I will say it plainly. You (we) do our duty related to church government and affairs, we do our familial duties, we work and provide. We believe God knows all things, that all things are according to his plan and that taken to a logical conclusion because things are foreknown, they are already determined. Yet, we do our duty in the work we have been provided. But the big things, the end of the story sort of things – just ‘too complex’, ‘too overdone’, ‘God knows and has a plan.’

Pastors need to teach the complex and intricate Reformed eschatology, and not just the literal parts in Mathew, Thessalonians and Peter. People see that the world is changing. If reformed pastors do not teach the full Word, people will look elsewhere to folks that are very happy to teach error.

“that there is nothing put forth in Scripture which it is not profitable to know.”― John Calvin, Commentaries

Some of you need to become a little uncomfortable and begin rebuking the error that flows daily in the form of churches and organizations around us. People are being led astray in flashy corporate services and Gnosticism masquerading as The Way. Many of those organizations will eventually become part of the great apostasy – what are you doing today to help the elect not be deceived? How many of you even understand the philosophical influences and sociological plans behind the megachurch movement?  Have you ever spoken out and preached against this communitarianism and worldly ideology? Are you afraid of being labeled a ‘hater’ or a square? You need speak truth, the core of this is not just church with smoke machines, it was designed for a purpose.

Those of you that do not fully believe the world has changed need to step away from your comfortable seclusion and isolation, look around, listen and learn. Get off your soft butts, make yourself uncomfortable and see the ugly truth that is becoming our reality. Find new friends if those you surround yourself with only reinforce your isolation. Preach and teach the whole Word, not just the comfortable stuff. Prepare and guard your flock by giving them full knowledge of the Word.

One day, maybe hundreds of years from now, perhaps in five years, every church that teaches the Word will be put out of business. All of the time and effort spent of church government (as necessary and important as that is) will not matter then. What will matter is the truth, that revealed in the word, and what is inculcated in the hearts of believers. Part of that happens when teachers and preachers talk of the whole Word.

Do your Job!

Pernicious Ways, Bad Ideology and Error

luther

When a man grows older, obstinance often increases. I suppose there are reasons for this. However, experience is a great teacher. Also, perhaps the accumulated knowledge one can build over time by simply having more time to read, see and think adds to certitude. This can be perceived by those with less experience as obstinance.

In the current ideological paradigm that holds sway in the minds of many millennials ‘lived experience’ is very important, often more important than knowledge gained through study and observation. Their PowerPoint slides, articles and mantras say ‘believe lived experiences’. Many of these folks accept this, as a rule, a form of Gnostic higher knowledge.

They do not apply the same template to the experience of older folks that synthesize knowledge from observation, fact, and what folks that came before learned. All of those ‘lived experiences’ are of much less value. There is irony in this duplicity.

This is not surprising, because most of this knowledge directly opposes the ideas of young folks held captive to a belief in secret knowledge obtained through empathy, feelings, and the stories of select groups (their mystics).

It is easy to take any human, examine their life and find the flaws and then compare those flaws to words and principles they may espouse later in life. “How can this old man believe he is speaking truth now if he did not always live truth”. This is a fair objection, unless and until one accepts that all humans are flawed, even those that would teach that empathy, feelings, and secret knowledge are superior to conventional wisdom. To dismiss such a person out of hand and the conventional wisdom they proclaim is to dismiss the lived experience that is so important to the ideology that infects so many millennials – it is a paradox they cannot resolve.

Another common objection is that folks that hold to conventional wisdom ‘always want to be right.’ This is a strawman argument, but let’s take it at face value. If someone is certain that a particular path leads to a cliff face, a fall, and death, and they say this to others, with great passion, can we accuse the speaker of ‘wanting to be right’ or is it perhaps more just to say ‘they firmly believe they are right based upon knowledge they have or believe they have.’ Clearly, the latter fits best if the speaker is operating from goodwill, honesty, and firm belief, the first claim is dismissive, and frankly intellectually dishonest.

I recant nothing I have said of the Drukerite megachurch movement. It was started for a very specific sociological goal, that goal was based upon a very flawed philosophy that denies the individual and turns the focus away from God and man to a notion of a god and community (not fully now, but that is where the philosophy points). Ultimately that last statement is true and will manifest as true more and more over time. The focus on being seeker-sensitive and embracing the world, combined with the idea of ultimately finding authority and truth in ‘conversations within community’ can only lead to predictable ends. Conventional wisdom and long-accepted doctrine tell us this is so.

This movement is a harlot, and ultimately, bit by bit will lead many into confusion, darkness, and servitude. I do not want to be right about this. I did not simply come up with this on my own. These are not merely my words and thoughts. There is a greater truth that tells us that this is so, revealed in the Word if one parses is it honestly, and articulated across the centuries by men that did just that as they shaped doctrines that opposed movements and ideas of this sort many times.

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound [a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 2 Timothy 4 2-4

I recant none of it. I have great sadness that I did not always live in such a way that my voice could have been stronger and more relevant when it could have made a difference. I have great anger toward the people that walked for moments in my life that aided and abetted some that I love being captured by lies and deceit. My soul is pained that I am now and perhaps always will be powerless to help those I love to escape the grasp of these terrible errors.

I did not want to be right, I am obstinate, I am hard-headed, I do speak words plainly and directly when things are important, but I certainly did not want to be right about this – but I was.

With each passing day this world becomes less my home. I do not fit in. I have but the hope of my salvation, faith in my prayers for the discernment and wisdom of those I love, a responsibility to provide and protect those that will draw near and hear sound truth, and a knowledge that what happens in this physical existence is not always understandable by us, but God has a plan.

I have spoken truth to you insofar as I am capable, from the limited understanding I have. I have prayed for you and I will do so until I draw my last breath. In times that I failed you I apologize. In times I protected you that you do not yet understand I was honored. In the times that I was too direct or pointed in my words to you, I am sorry if my method caused you hurt or confusion. But I have said you only the truth as I know it, in love and concern.

“I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.”

To the narcissist and manipulators that run these places (you false teachers, deceivers, and charlatans), most from my generation, I say to you that you should be shamed and rebuked publically. You must repent and change your ways, and cease pretending to be ‘spiritual leaders’. You know what you do is wrong, even the lies you tell others cannot still that quiet voice in your soul that screams otherwise.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.  And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” 2 Peter 2 (ESV)

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” 2 Peter 2 (KJV)

 

Be wary friends. Every church that calls itself Christian has errors, churches that were built on the Drukerite model are no different. The primary difference is the Druckerite churches have a refined methodology of control and indoctrination; they will embed the error in the very fabric of your being if you submit to them. They were designed for the ideological social change they have now made part of doctrine. Stay away.

Slides for video here

For more see A Primer in Truth, Megachurch Defined, The Problem with the Megachurch

 

How Big Eva became Catholic

Evangelical

Ok, I admit, the title has some problems, on the face of it at least. In many ways, most protestant evangelicalism is not at all like Catholicism (outwardly). But there are key similarities.

Since the reformation, the crux of the Catholic argument (the structural argument, not the details of dogma) against Protestantism is that without some mechanism of control, eventually, it would all just turn into every man defining doctrine for himself. The last 150-200 years of the 20th century perhaps supported that argument. Churches split, denominations divided over small matters, and in time drifted so far from each other their common roots were almost unrecognizable. Protestants counterargued that centralized control relies upon man, and man is sinful and flawed.

How then can I assert that Big Eva, modern pop evangelism is anything like Catholicism? It would seem that these folks are the very caricature of the historic Catholic objection.

Modern Protestant Evangelicalism does not have popes, bishops, saints, or even councils, most of these folks believe their megachurch complex and associated satellite campuses are really independent, getting back to the fundamentals of how the early church worshiped (with PowerPoint, smoke machines, and  Starbucks of course). Many evangelical preachers expressly state they are anti-doctrinal, go listen to them. This all seems very un-catholic…seems…

But they do have a doctrine, they even have a shared metaphysics (even if most in the pew cannot define it or talk about where it comes from). There is a common theme of philosophically derived ideology that permeates their foundation. In the case of Druckerite megachurches they absolutely have mini-popes, bishops and priests, an ordained and selected class that is not accountable to the congregation in any meaningful way. The saints of modern evangelicalism are less entrenched than those of the Catholic church, but they are there. Just check the bestseller list at Big Eva bookstores, pop-saints come and go and get switched out, but they wield tremendous influence in their time in the saddle.

In the Catholic church a group of men, unaccountable to the congregations that make up the church, establish and codify dogma and doctrine, they define scripture and fill in the parts they believe are missing. (I am not here to fight with Catholics, y’all do y’all, few ever are willing to honestly talk of these matters)

In the emergent evangelical church, the exact same thing occurs, it is just much more decentralized. It is led by ‘thought leaders’, megachurch pastors that run small corporations and answer only to their handpicked boards and pop-theologians and authors that are promoted by various complicit publishers (LifeWay, etc.). Instead of a dictate of a pope, the pope of Big Eva is essentially the mood of the crowd, a mood moved and shaped by the structural systems that define doctrine and influence outcomes. Big Eva even has its own ‘jesuits’ and its own orders and organizations to perpetuate its non-doctrinal doctrinal stance (the Gospel Coalition, The Leadership Network, etc.)

In essence, Big Eva is exactly like Catholicism, and if a person attends a full-on Druckerite megachurch they could (if they were honest and brave) attest to this fact fully. The will of the community, the voice of the leaders ought not be questioned, to do so shows some defect of discernment and righteousness in one’s own heart. Those that attend something more ‘traditional’, like say an SBC church, are perhaps only just now realizing how much alike they are with the Drukerites.

It took just over 500 years to move from valid protestations about absurd and made-up doctrinal statements and policies in the Catholic church to place most of Protestantism in a position where the only real tenet of doctrine is to get people in the door (God is love) – what you say once they are there matters little as long as they keep coming back. It took 500 years to move from resisting what men say doctrine is, when it had no Scriptural basis, to most of Protestantism accepting men (and women and folks in between) telling people what doctrine is, regardless of what Scripture says.

Mere coincidence? (The Megachurch’s Role in the Cultural Revolution)

The Center of Gravity of a Wicked Problem

I tuned into Alex Jones the other day to see where he is at currently. The guy has a large audience and influences the way many think, some by second and third-order connections. I wanted to know what he is saying about the world.

The message was in essence ‘your resistance has the globalists on the run’, the implication was that this is all soon winnable if just enough people wake up.

In principle, those are true concepts, but the statement misses the forest and all the key points. The focus on the ‘globalists’ has been and is misplaced. A few months ago, many people would have named several key figures as movers and shakers in that cabal, Bill Gates would have been at the top of that list. I have always argued you could order a simultaneous drone strike on all the people that you might place on such a list and it would not matter. Globalism, the elites and others that push for it, and any and all cabals associated with such are just one small wheel in the machine of the problem.

I began writing last year April that America was undergoing a color revolution. Events have proven that prognosis true and as I said then, if successful, most people will not even realize that it occurred. Most still do not, even those concerned with voting irregularities.  Yet, despite the complex tasks, planning, and execution required to pull that off, with the associated deceptions, information control, lawfare, controlled violence, controlled opposition, and more – the color revolution was but a meta-methodology, comprised of numerous other methodologies and leveraging opposing ideologies as tools. It was exactly what it was, but why it was possible in the first place leads us back to something more complex. If we had somehow stopped the color revolution it would have been but a small skirmish victory, not a war-winning campaign.

Much has been and is made of the rise of cultural Marxism and economic socialism. There is truth in the what and why, but we often miss the point. These ideologies are mere tools to those that truly seek change. Yes, there are die-hard believers in the support base, but those people matter only insofar as they are useful to those pulling the strings.

Intermittently we focus on China as a growing threat and rising peer-competitor and aspiring hegemon. The opposing view gaslights such concerns by pointing to the economically weak Russia as our greatest concern. China is a tremendous threat and will become a hegemon if unchecked, but they are not the nexus of the current struggle.

Many people spend an inordinate amount of time trying to connect micro-dots, hoping to piece together the known unknowns we see around us. This is an understandable pursuit, but I suspect in the whole will not produce much usable fruit. It is yeoman’s work, and it must be done, truth must be pursued, but uncovering truth alone will not win the war. As I have said many times, as a culture we are collectively no longer able to parse truth and measure it against a solid foundation. More data points will not help.

In strategic planning in the Army, we called what we face a wicked problem. A wicked problem is a set of interrelated complex and complicated issues that make it nearly impossible to identify the center of gravity of the opposition. Pick any problem related to our current situation, pull on the string of that problem and apply some methodologies to fix it, go ahead, play that mental game, you will invariably find that something else gets worse.

Do you honestly believe that removing or arresting several key players would fix it?

Will voting fix it? What is the foundation of truth and values that we use to judge those we vote for and support? Many have pledged themselves to politicians that say words they want to hear but have broken moral compasses and thus completely fail at the job.

And, if we could consistently pick good men for office, how are you going to outvote or outbred a growing segment of the population that is entirely seduced by the absurd, no amount of truth is going to change the mental path of those people at this point.

Prepping, and hunkering down will not save you. Being able to grow your own stuff and be partially self-sufficient may make your life less painful for a while but that is all. Just think back to the control mechanisms they have foisted upon us in the last year, do you honestly believe they would ever just leave you alone on your little homestead?

Do you not believe that the resistance to the absurd was not already baked into the plan and accounted for? You finally getting up the nerve to take off the face cloth in public was a known potentiality, they want you to resist now so that you can be slapped down as a bad person later.

What are you going to do when they tell you aliens are threatening us and we have to “go green” or they will eliminate us and all your ninny neighbors turn on you in fear? What if they tell you there is no food, or water, or power? Most of the population is primed to act out in fear at anything they are told. How do you solve that problem and take that powerful tool from the enemy?

We have not turned the tide, this was likely a planned phase. You will know things have not gotten better and no tide was turned by mid-summer and by November you will rue missed opportunities and poor choices.

I present the above not as a solution – I do not have one. I have not identified the center of gravity (beyond Luciferian evil). I have not seen anyone else make that identification either (beyond the obvious answer that we need to get right with ultimate truth). This is the most complex wicked problem I can conceive of. Nobody wants to hear, “I don’t know” but we need to start saying that a bit more and resist the notion that I mentioned at the beginning of this piece that “we have turned the tide”. There is no human solution to this.

Enjoy the sunshine, take off that stupid mask and never put it back on, don’t let anyone stick you with anything, plant a garden, read the Bible, pray and love those around you that are worthy of love and smile a lot more and be happy with what we have.

If you want to be part of the solution, just keep circling back to the one truth we can know – we have forgotten ultimate truth, we think wrong because we are arrogant; human solutions cannot thwart the schemes of the principalities and powers of darkness.

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. Ephesians 6:12

How Then Should We Live?

I resolved in January of this year to pull back from reading news each day, from viewing social media and essentially from consuming much of anything about current events. The events of 2020 and early 2021 required, for me at least, some reflection and thought. I have stayed true to that resolution insofar as it is possible, I could not help but see a headline here or there are to be exposed to information at random intervals through real conversations with people. On the whole, I was able to remain true to my purpose and reflect and think.

I am convinced it is all not nearly as complicated as it seems, not at the foundation. What has happened, what we have become and what is happening to us, and what is to come is related to two simple flaws.

How do we know what we know and how do we evaluate and parse data that we have access to in order to make value judgements? How do we ultimately define right and wrong, or justice without something fixed and unmovable as a foundation? Do we rely upon feelings? The opinion of the crowd or perhaps what is just utilitarian for the moment? How does that work? Has such ever worked?

Francis A. Schaeffer said it best in the late 1970s. I have read all of his books and it is clear to me that I was channeling his thoughts when I began writing on these matters a couple of years ago. He boils it right down to the particulate matter. Recently I watched How Then Should We Live? on Amazon, based upon the book of the same title. Schaeffer’s premise is that when a people or culture abandon a foundation for truth and for determining what is right all else eventually fails. I cannot recommend enough reading the book and watching the short series.

Our central problem is much deeper than the false dichotomy of the ‘left’ and ‘right’ divide. We have as a whole lost any hope of defining and understanding truth. The ‘right’ retains only the values of personal security and affluence, the ‘left’ with idealistic notions of justice. It is easy to pick apart the thought process of the ‘left’ and progressivism, without a universal and fixed point from which truth flows, justice can never exist and devolves into either what the crowd favors or what the overlords that hold power dictate. Taken to the logical conclusion, the idealism of progressivism, divorced from fixed universal truth always has and always must lead to authoritarianism and injustice. But the right has been and is little better. Relying upon economic policies that will in theory raise all ships absent a foundation in truth that would drive common-good actions results in what Wendall Berry termed economic warfare.

There is nothing to us but two camps of equally lost souls, one side hoping to just get theirs, the other operating off of emotions and a poorly constructed ethical base.

Compounding this foundational flaw is a growing inability to critically think. A true application of critical thinking by the majority of the population last year would have prevented much and changed a lot. It is curious, I recently heard a commercial by my state’s equivalent of the CDC essentially suggesting it was ‘time for us all to think critically and just get vaccinated.” How absurd, that is gaslighting and the absolute opposite of actual critical thinking. I recall seeing headlines for two articles in major publications a month ago suggesting that ‘critical thinking had not served us well in the pandemic’, suggesting that people questioning the logic behind cloth masks and arbitrary and inconsistent restrictions were wrong to ask pointed questions and doubt dictates based upon appeals to authority.

Critical thinking would have told us Trump was either a fool or part of something bigger for going along with the shutdown, that there were actual riots occurring despite what the media told us, that something was terribly off with the election last year. Critical thinking would have saved many from falling for the absolute garbage and lies of the Q thing, all the bunk passed around by Thomas Mcinerney and his ilk. Critical thinking would have prevented well-intentioned people from signing on with a Marxist organization like BLM, it would have helped put a stop to the hatred that their ethnic gnosticism breeds.

Yet, without any real foundation of truth, are we surprised we have all failed so poorly?

Some will argue that there are plenty of ‘conservative’ Christians in the United States. We could discuss and quantify “plenty” but I argue that this group does not exist in numbers. Have you looked closely at evangelical churches? Have you compared with what the Bible says versus what they preach and do?

I have made no secret of my disdain for the megachurch. It is a flawed, human construct that is becoming exactly what Peter Drucker envisioned for it; it slips further and further from truth with each passing day. In some cases, outright apostasy and heresy have come to the fore. The Submerging Church, also on Amazon, does a good job of summarizing much of what I have previously written. My only complaint with that documentary is it focuses heavily on easy to spot heretics, many sitting in megachurches would say “well that is not my church”, they have no clue about the organizations that birthed their church and the links to outright heretics and cannot spot the apostasy at their place because the social construct of the place encourages acceptance and discourages critical thinking and questions.

Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans might think themselves safe and immune, but you do not have to look far or deep to see how much garbage has infected those churches. My Catholic friends believe they are safe and right, but it takes active denial not to realize how wrong Catholicism is on many matters (no different for Orthodox).

My point, the visible church has utterly failed, and in some cases actively working for the wrong side. What we think we see of significant numbers of ‘Christians’ that ought to be able to discern truth and seek common-good solutions is often at best confused sheep, at worst social justice idealist that will help usher in our destruction.

 

It is as simple as that. We do not collectively know truth, nor how to find it. We are collectively incapable of parsing information and thinking critically. We are left with a choice of personal security and affluence or an idealistic hope that if we try Marxism just one more time it could be perfect this go around. In the end, we will get neither justice, security nor affluence.

I have pulled away from tracking a lot of things, but I have been unable to escape some knowledge. This summer will be far worse than last summer (riots, lawlessness, shortages, crisis). “They” have told us all along what was coming next, and they have told us of the infrastructure attacks, we hear now the rumblings of chaos in the street (it will be worse now). All of these are tools for those in charge to try to solve problems that are unsolvable through mere human understanding, problems that our inability to see truth created in the first place.

We are now beyond the slippery slope.

Summing up What Happened

I, like perhaps many of us, have spent a lot of time over the last few years talking about the problem of error from a macro perspective. Issues like how bad theology or bad ideology takes hold in a population, how the majority in the general population seem incapable of connecting dots, and seeing the relationship between items that will invariably lead to bad ends.

I may know a bit about how state-actors use techniques to influence perception, but I am still amazed at how effective this can be at the personal level.

Disclaimer: As I have said numerous times, all sides, right and left were deceived, intentionally, through methodologies that are possible at scale only to nation-state level actors. Many are beginning to see that now, most refused to hear it months ago. Many heroes were not, many were part of the deception.

Two encounters on social media, during my brief period attempting to engage in that medium, illuminated, for me at least, the crux of the problem, at the individual level.

First, there is a fellow I have engaged with; we will call him ‘A’. He is an intelligent guy that thinks and has grasped significant portions of truth about the world.  ‘A’ gets a moderate readership for his articles and is occasionally invited for interviews by moderate traffic podcasters. I noticed mere months ago that ‘A’ was going all-in on the narrative provided by Sydney Powell and particularly the stories related by LTG Thomas McInerney. I reached out to ‘A’ and pointed out the absurdity of the 305th MI BN story that McInerney was spreading, provided details as to why it was both absurd and impossible. Instead of considering my honestly provided information ‘A’ counter-argued with me. The great Q PSYOP ensnarled people that did not even know they were followers, otherwise intelligent people. How do you argue against such a powerful deception, that tricks people that would otherwise apply critical thinking skills into being active advocates of the deception? I concluded that it is difficult. The inertia of the lie took hold, far and wide. Truth and reason held no power against such a force.

Next, there is a guy named Roy. I came across some of Roy’s videos one evening and was intrigued by his atypical explanation of the world. I wanted to ‘see his work’ and deduce how he came to these conclusions. Roy advertised himself as a retired Army officer (Intel). I did not vet him, I listened for three hours until he set off my ‘BS’ alarm. At the time Roy had over 20k devoted Twitter followers and videos on numerous platforms. At one point in the past, he was apparently a frequent guest on Infowars as a military intelligence expert.

The thing is, Roy’s official record does not show any of that. Not an intel guy and never deployed to a war zone nor assignment to the Pentagon (as he has allegedly claimed) according to the official record (read about him here, here, and here). I reached out to the ole’ boy for clarification, nicely and politely. His response was one of anger and accusation (I was an “IC asset out to slander him”, denial and more claims that are provably false). When questioned or called out, these are the exact sorts of responses folks that make extraordinary claims always generally provide. Stolen valor sites have numerous examples of these exact sorts of reactions when caught. Yes, I know about ‘sheep-dipping’, I also know it is not very common and you are likely to never meet anyone that talks about it. A person that claims their military service was so secret the official record gives no clues are generally lying. (apparently, Roy was big in the Q scene before they outed him, then he re-branded as a prophet/preacher/something and began claiming that Trump was the antichrist). A lot of people listen to this guy hundreds of thousands have watched his videos over the years - evidence we are doomed I suppose.

The more fundamental question is; why do so many people listen to a guy like that to explain the world to them? Perhaps for the same reason, ‘A’ was so unwilling to consider the truth I laid on him. Deception is so pervasive people seek answers that are contrary to common-sense. At a macro level, we are weak and confused, and susceptible at the micro level to absurdities.

I began an attempt to engage with the greater world in earnest in December of 2019. I began writing about the marco-problem in the spring of 2018. The irony, the real problem that I initially observed in 2018 is the fundamental problem we face now. In general, we have abandoned the foundations of truth that ought to anchor us. Bad theology, absurd philosophy, and dangerous ideology infect all aspects of our world, all of our institutions and we all carry artifacts of that within ourselves.

Nothing will change until enough of the population rediscovers that foundation. In my considered opinion (and I am often wrong) nothing else will truly matter until we learn how to think, discern and process wisdom from knowledge instead of just parsing information. We need to return to first principle thinking and universal truths.

 

My last video below, sums things up.

A few helpful books:

Optimism, Grit, and Happiness in Hard Times

Some facts about our world that can both be mutually exclusive, each can be true:

◊ Things can be bad, life can be hard.

◊ Humans are often foolish and silly.

◊ Society and its opinions do not matter.

◊ The body can be hurt, imprisoned, or killed.

♦ God is in control

◊ Life is a precious blessing and is worth living.

◊ People are the creation of God in his image.

◊ The individual in society does matter.

◊ You own your will, integrity, spirit, and soul.

♦ We live in the world, we have free-will and responsibility

Look back across all of known history, you will see peoples invaded, impoverished, plagued with diseases, enslaved, and subjected to all manner of hardship. Read the Book of Job and empathize with his trials and suffering. Undoubtedly there are examples of entire people that essentially gave up in hard times, perhaps we have few records of such people as their own cowardice ensured they were forgotten. However, what we see, across time and cultures is that humans live, thrive, raise families, and struggle on even through the most difficult of times. Art does not cease to be produced, children are born, people fall in love, grieve the loss of elders when they die, work, play, and live - always. If this were not so, we simply would not be here today.

Even if you take two particularly egregious historical moments, the Trail of Tears and the Holocaust you find stories of love, hope, and life, even when it was dire and hope was forlorn.

Throughout history, humans have lived their lives, even under austere circumstances.

In 2020 we look around and wonder, what comes next. Even those disinclined to see conspiracy theories about government overreach and control as valid now look around and wonder just how far this all could go. Can we trust elections, can we trust the government to maintain order and justice, can we trust our neighbors? These are not unreasonable questions or concerns.

Read and re-read the Book of Job

A young person in high school or college might wonder what is in it for them, what does their future really look like. It might be easy to look around and wonder what is the point. They see a world where they cannot freely express their ideas, where social norms and social circles will quickly turn on them if they do not signal the right virtues. They wonder what will be left to them in a system that is willing to take on historical amounts of debt that can never be repaid. They must wonder if the generations in power now and those just a few years older than them calling for more radical and extreme measures are not condemning them and their future children to poverty, chains, and unhappiness.  (the chains and poverty piece might be true, but happiness is the sole right of each individual, no matter the circumstance.

Facts:

  • Our metaphysical reality consists of the physical and spiritual realms
  • God is real
  • In 2020, something is happening, things are about to change (one way or the other)
  • The only thing you actually own is your integrity, you spirit, your soul, and your free-will
  • Life has meaning, everything has meaning, the moment has meaning, the future also

Imagine for a moment if even the most outrageous conspiracy theories are true. Imagine if this is the 'end of history' and our future. If you have read the fictional stories below, imagine for a moment that we are headed for the middle of all that dystopian nightmare - what does it mean for you?

You are here

It simply means that is your lot in life.

But you do not give up. You do not say it does not matter and you ought not to try. It does not mean that you just resign it all to God and take no action. It does not mean becoming hypnotized by the drama, minutia, and 'entertainment' they offer you to keep you passive.

You must live, love, find things to be happy about, be engaged in important things. You must stand on truth and play your part.

You will not understand everything in a world filled with deception but you can understand that real truth exists.

Question everything

  • Think logically
  • Ground yourself on truth
  • Walk your own path
  • Be vigilant
  • Use discernment
  • Use your talents, take action and live life
  • Trust God

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9

Last thing: love people but never be afraid to speak truth, to rebuke magnificently as C.S. Lewis said. Particularly those that pervert real truth to fit the needs of the world (social gospel preachers).

Keep your chin up, be who God created you to be, seek truth, and speak truth.

Maybe do it a bit kinder than me...

(video of guy actually describing me)