Category Archives: Religious Philosophy

The First Church of the Lesbianna Cult of Gayiety

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USA 07 SEP 2015 — An aggressive group of devout Christians who claim a strong affinity to the specific words ‘Gay’ and ‘Lesbian’ along with a worshipful attraction to the ‘Rainbow’ symbol — are creating a New Age Church of progressive Christianity. The new church will be called The First Church of the Lesbianna Cult of Gayiety.

Their doctrine, among other basic Christian philosophy as interpreted, will be built upon something they refer to as “reverse love.” One of its main tenets will be a precept built upon that particular principle where righteous tranquility may be achieved through a discipline they call jotuiiea. One very disturbing trait resulting from this personal exercise is the ability to become — and remain totally void of, and violently against any degree of Homosexuality and Transvestitism. Other points of doctrine will include the highest degree of love and admiration of Mother Earth, Nature, and some animals, along with men and women living modestly within their most natural habitat, and participating in the often repeated ritual of covering themselves with river mud mixed with roughened fish scales. This ritual is in the similitude of the blind man rubbing mud in to his eyes and washing it out in the river, whereas being able to miraculously see afterwards — with the roughened fish scales representing the miracle of the loaves and ‘fishes.”

Thousands of people each month are being drawn to this new religion which seems to be growing rapidly in popularity. When asked if this was just another passing fad — Reverend Albert A. Culpepper of the Eastham congregation said: “Nay to the mighty, when windswept followers have become drawn to such a sea of iniquity. Let us face the sprawl and swather forward into the hollow-fold of light and invisible mass!”

When asked why the name of the church included the words Lesbianna and Gayiety, and featured a Rainbow in its logo – the churches executive spokesperson Hy Hyik said “we like the power behind those two particular words, and what has been accomplished within the LBGT community through the use of them. We are also drawn toward the all-inclusiveness represented by the colors of the rainbow. That great symbol along with those two powerful words simply have great impact in today’s society, and we want to be sure and take advantage of – and benefit from all they would lend toward the building of our particular sect of Christianity.”

When asked whether or not those defining terms and the defining rainbow symbol were already identified with the LGBT community, the reply was “no one owns the terms, or the rainbow, and we have every right of claim to their use as the LGBT community has to the term marriage (which we believe to be a sacred term identifying the bond between a man and a woman). Our goal is to proselyte to the world and market our beliefs in a manner that will fundamentally change the meaning of the terms and symbol to define (at a glance) our sacred and chosen way of life. In short — we identify with these things, and we want them to identify us.”

We wanted to probe more, but started noticing the rather odd manner in which they all started coming across. Plus, we became informed by an unknown source that they were all carrying guns and ice-picks — even the children, so we ended the interview.

 

-TomZom
The TomZom World Report USA 07 SEP 2015

Do some Religions experience more freedom than others?

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“Memories Pizza was forced to close because of death threats the business received in response to its owners’ statements regarding RFRA  and service to gay customers (they said they would serve anyone but could not in good conscience cater a gay wedding).”

Click Here for further details on this story on Fox News.

Here, Steven Crowder discovers that there are Muslim run bakeries who also (as a basic tenet of their belief) refuse to endorse Homo Sexuality! However, they seem to be able to go about practicing their religion completely un-harassed and unencumbered by liberals (unlike Christians). What do you think — is there a double standard going on here? Watch this great video and VOTE below!

Love or Hate?

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Preface:

(Allow me to reiterate, if you haven’t read my blogs before, that I love the human race.  I love people and individuals.  I love learning about people’s life experiences, and while I do not agree with everything everyone chooses to do, I do believe the greatest gift God gave us is our freedom of will.

That being said, I do NOT tolerate bullies in any form, and will stand up for anyone who is peaceably living their life WITHOUT infringing on the life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness of others.)


I’ve noticed throughout the years that ever since things started to become “politically correct” that the wolf of hate has more and more frequently donned the proverbial sheep of love’s clothing.

Lets look at a very obvious example.  The Westboro “Baptist Church.”  I think we can all agree that a group who pickets funerals of fallen soldiers with signs that say “Thank God For Dead Soldiers” along side other signs that say “God Hates F*gs” is more than a little misguided and is spewing hate.  The really sad part about this organization is that they have convinced themselves that they do this out of love.  They believe so vehemently  that God is dooming this nation because of the acceptance of homosexuality.  Check it out for yourself here.

Do I agree with “gay marriage?” No.  But that’s a different post altogether.

On the flip side we have the Chik-fil-A protesters.  Remember this guy? His name is Adam Smith and he was the CFO of Vante.  After making a fool of himself by way of video-selfie and harassing a young woman who was just doing her job, he takes his frustrations about the whole corporation out on her.  Then he has the brilliant idea to post it online.  Guess what?  He got fired.  Vante stated,

“Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A … Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company.”
“We hope that the general population does not hold Mr. Smith’s actions against Vante and its employees.”

If you didn’t watch his video that I hyper-linked, let me set the stage and give you some of his gems.

He’s mad because the CEO of Chick-fil-A for publicly stating he was in support of traditional marriage and had given money to organizations that support traditional marriage.  During the filming of this video, Chick-fil-A was under a lot of backlash, and other individual supporters of traditional marriage showed up in droves around the country in support of the CEO’s statement and beliefs.  Chick-fil-A’s all over the country were running out of food because they had no idea of the support that would come in.

But there was another group of people as well.  A smaller group of people that were trying to counteract the income of all the support Chick-fil-A was receiving by ordering a free water. 

REALLY?!?

Are there really so many people arrogant enough to think that a handful of people ordering nothing but water would counteract the sales of millions of people waiting in lines miles long to purchase any product they could just to show their support?

Some of Adam Smith’s quotes, while he’s waiting to order and in the process of getting his free water.

“People have to have their Chick-fil-A, anti-gay breakfast sandwich.  Mmm! Always tastes better when it’s full of hate! Mmm! Yeah. Love it!”

“Here I go!” said with an enthusiasm of someone about to go on a roller coaster.

“Is this my free water? You know why I’m getting my free water, right?  Because Chick-fil-A is a hateful organization.”

“The corporation gives money to hate groups.”

Groups he was referring to?  Winshape, a Christian organization that supports traditional marriage. The Marriage and Family Foundation, that supports traditional marriage.  The Family Research Council, another organization that supports traditional marriage.  Other information on it here.

So once again, before you go saying that “traditional marriage is against gay rights,” you didn’t read my other blog on gay marriage.  Please, read it here.

Believe it or not, I actually do have love for all people.  “Marriage” is what defines the religious union between a man and a woman, bound by God.  Trying to “redefine marriage” to me makes about as much sense as trying to “redefine gravity.”

So on to my main point.  I saw this on Facebook, and I could not ignore it.   Please take the time to read and watch this whole video so we’re on the same page.

And in case you don’t here are some quotes from it.

“Jihad is means, and not a goal in and of itself.  It is a means to establish monotheism on the land.”  “I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify…”

“The life and property of a Mushrik (someone who worships another than allah) holds no value in the state of jihad.”

“The life and property of a Mushrik becomes ‘halal’ (officially allowed by sharia) while in a state a jihad.”

Here’s the most disturbing part,

“I have been commanded to fight the people until they say (declaration of islamic faith) and when they say (declaration of islamic faith) … their life and property become protected from me.  Which means if they don’t say ( declaration of islamic faith) their life and property are halal (free for the taking, legally) for the Muslims.”

“So the Christians do commit shirk, they are kufar (unbelievers) they are mushrakoon (polytheists.)  The mushrakoon are filthy.  They are … filthy. A spiritual filthiness which can only be purified by the purity of monotheism.  Allah calls the mushrakoon ‘nudges,’ which is a very evil thing when Allah himself calls the mushrakoon ‘nudges’ himself! They are najasa (feces, urine, filthy or contaminated) a filthy impure dirty substance. “

So in essence they believe that anyone who does not believe what they do, is filth that they must fight them until they testify the same thing that they believe, and until they do, their life and property are legally free for the taking.

All in the name of Allah.

This, from the “religion of peace.”

Then you have the favorite liberal argument, “Oh well you’re just racist.”

Really?

How do you know what’s in my thoughts and what resides in my heart?  How am I a racist for simply expressing my beliefs? How I am a racist because I address unconstitutional policies that were put into place by usurping the Constitution?

All these things have led me to the conclusion that everybody that is spewing how “hateful” and “racist” that everyone else is, are in fact the hateful people themselves, and are projecting their emotions onto others.

I recently saw another story on Facebook that caught my eye as well.   His story is very unusual, but it is coming from the mouth of a former Muslim, who converted to Christianity.  Take it for what you will. But I highly recommend you watch it here.

He saw that every Christian he encountered wanted to help him.  Out of love and compassion.  That is what Christ taught.  Love and compassion and giving.  Not killing.  Not hate.

I don’t understand why so many Americans have become intolerant of Christians, when Christians (true Christians anyway) are taught to be like Christ. In love, forgiveness, and compassion.

If we all had a little more love for one another, and followed the first two commandments, I think this world would be a much better place.

Mark 12:30 teaches us

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

And 31 says,

“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

If we all acted like we love God and acted like we loved our neighbors, what a difference we could all make in this world.  Actions would become habits, and habits would become part of our nature.

Again, I believe the greatest gift God gave us is our freedom of will.  Our will to act how we want, and what we do with that will, is what we will stand in judgement for in the judgement seat.

-Joseph Forefathers

 

Why the “Gay Marriage” Debate Will Never Be Settled

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As stated in previous posts, I am a Christian, and a conservative, but before you just click on to the next page, hear me out, because I may not come across as offensive as the title may suggest.

For us Christians marriage was designed by God Himself when He created Adam and Eve.  He created Eve as “an help meet” for Adam as a companion and spouse.  So because marriage is as old as the human race itself, it is by and far a religious institution and according to the first amendment of the Constitution

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” therefore Congress has no right or say on what “marriage” is defined as.  Because, for us Christians, marriage was created by God, and trying to change the definition of marriage is as ridiculous to us as trying to change the definition of the law of gravity.

What I’ve observed over the years is that those that believe otherwise, and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, is that they believe that marriage is a government institution and therefore needs to be governed by the laws of man.   And surely this must be so if marriage is recognized by state laws, and we have tax breaks for married couples, surely marriage is a government institution, right?

Well considering the fact that the Constitution was written specifically to protect religious freedoms, ie, that you may practice how you want, or are free to not practice any religion at all, and the Constitution specifically does state, in the 10th Amendment,

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

we can infer that marriage is not governed by the Constitution, and is left up to the states.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Lets examine the Bible for marriage references.

1 Corinthians 7:38,

Luke 20:34, 

John 2:1

Hebrews 13:4

Matthew 22:9

Ok, I could keep listing numerous scripture references, but I think you get the point…marriage is in the Bible, and if we read Genesis 4:1 it clearly states that Adam and Eve were married.

If the Bible clearly states that Adam and Eve were married, and Adam and Eve were created by God, and the Bible is religious text, then it can hardly be argued that marriage is NOT religious.   And if marriage IS religious, then the 1st Amendment applies and “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

So say us Christians.

On the flip side, I hear the argument all the time, “Marriage is between two people that LOVE each other.” And “equal rights for gays and lesbians!”

But from a Christian viewpoint, if God created Adam and Eve, and Adam and Eve were married, then it stands to reason that only a man and a woman are even ABLE to get married.  So like the gravity analogy, for us Christians, it’s like saying you want gravity to only apply in certain situations.   It’s like saying, “Well, just because the majority of right handed people are affected by gravity doesn’t mean we should all be affected by it, so gravity shouldn’t apply to anyone who is left handed. LEFTIES of the world unite!”

So it’s not about us not loving you; we DO LOVE YOU! It’s not about discrimination, it not about hate, or bullying.  But what you’re asking simply does not make any sense!

…to us.

And on that note,  let it be known, that I do have many gay and lesbian friends, and no, not just “facebook friends.”   These are people from my childhood.  From college.  From life.  And I would personally take a bullet for any of them because I love them!

I DO NOT CONDONE BULLYING, AND ABHOR IT IN ANY FORM!!!

So back to trying to explain the flip side, I can empathize and attempt to understand why “it’s not fair” that just because laws are written a specific way, that it prevents you from “marrying” the one you love.

So, here’s my solution.

Government no longer recognizes marriage.

Yup, I said it.  Take marriage out of the equation.

From now on, government can only recognize and authorize what I’m going to call “legal unions.” And ANY TWO consenting adults (younger with parental consent) can get a “legal union.”  You can only get ONE legal union at a time.  You can sever it at any time through the courts, and get another legal union to somebody else, but only one current union at a time.  Go ahead and transfer all current marriages into unions and throw away the “legal marriage certificates.”  Put any name you want on it, bond, partnership, couple-hood, anything, except marriage.  A government “legal union” will give you all the same rights, tax breaks, etc. as a marriage, but it is NOT a marriage.

Because marriage is a religious institution, marriages will still be performed, but only by authorized members of the clergy from religious organizations.  If you want a “marriage” it can ONLY be done in a church, but a marriage gives you only the recognition of the church that performed the marriage, NO LEGAL RIGHTS.

Which brings me to another topic that I have to address, but won’t go into too much detail.  The Oregon couple who were forced to pay $150,000 in damages to a lesbian couple for choosing not to bake them a wedding cake.  This is where things cross the line.  The Oregon couple had served and sold their bakery goods to this lesbian couple before, but because of their Christian beliefs, felt it was a violation of their conscience to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.  (What happened to “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason?”) This baker couple’s 1st Amendment rights were violated when they were forced to pay anything for a reason like this.  This is a very slippery slope, because how long before the government starts forcing churches to perform weddings that aren’t in alignment with their beliefs?

So because all this is very unlikely to ever happen, this is why the “gay marriage” debate will never end, and probably never be resolved.

Obviously any two people who are in love can’t deny their feelings.  Conversely, people who are bound at a fundamental level in their faith, can’t deny their feelings either.

My attempt at a resolution  by introducing the “legal union” is an attempt to agree to disagree on a legal level, and to keep the peace, and try to make everyone happy.

Your thoughts?

 

-Joseph Forefathers

What exactly do they want?

 

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The Shoe Bomber was a Muslim
The Beltway Snipers were Muslims
The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim
The underwear Bomber was a Muslim
The U-S.S. Cole Bombers were Muslims
The Madrid Train Bombers were Muslims
The Bafi Nightclub Bombers were Muslims
The London Subway Bombers were Muslims
The Moscow Theatre Attackers were Muslims
The Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslims
The Pan-Am flight #93 Bombers were Muslims
The Air France Entebbe Hijackers were Muslims
The Iranian Embassy Takeover, was by Muslims
The Beirut U.S. Embassy bombers were Muslims
The Libyan U.S. Embassy Attack was by Musiims
The Buenos Aires Suicide Bombers were Muslims
The Israeli Olympic Team Attackers were Muslims
The Kenyan U.S, Embassy Bombers were Muslims
The Saudi, Khobar Towers Bombers were Muslims
The Beirut Marine Barracks bombers were Muslims
The Besian Russian School Attackers were Muslims
The first World Trade Center Bombers were Muslims
The Bombay & Mumbai India Attackers were Muslims
The Achille Lauro Cruise Ship Hijackers were Muslims
The September 11th 2001 Airline Hijackers were Muslims

**********Think of it: *************
Buddhists living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus living with Christians = No Problem
Hindus living with Jews = No Problem
Christians living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Confucians = No Problem
Confusians living with Baha’is = No Problem
Baha’is living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Sikhs = No Problem
Hindus living with Baha’is = No Problem
Baha’is living with Christians = No Problem
Christians living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem
Confusians living with Hindus = No Problem

**********But, ****************
Muslims living with Christians = Problem
Muslims living with Jews = Problem
Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem
Muslims living with Baha’is = Problem
Muslims living with Shintos = Problem
Muslims living with Confucians = Problem
Muslims living with Atheists = Problem
Muslims living with Hindus = PROBLEM
MUSLIMS LIVING WITH MUSLIMS = BIG PROBLEM

**********So, *****************
They’re not happy in Gaza
They’re not happy in Egypt
They’re not happy in Libya
They’re not happy in Morocco
They’re not happy in Iran
They’re not happy in Iraq
They’re not happy in Yemen
They’re not happy in Afghanistan
They’re not happy in Pakistan
They’re not happy in Syria
They’re not happy in Lebanon
They’re not happy in Nigeria
They’re not happy in Kenya
They’re not happy in Sudan

******** So, where are they happy? **********
They’re happy in Australia
They’re happy in England
They’re happy in Belgium
They’re happy in France
They’re happy in Italy
They’re happy in Germany
They’re happy in Sweden
They’re happy in the USA & Canada
They’re happy in Norway & India
They’re happy in almost every country that is not Islamic!
And who do they blame for this? Not Islam… Not their leadership… Not themselves…
THEY BLAME THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE HAPPY IN!!
And they want to change the countries they’re happy in,
to be like the countries they came from where they were unhappy,
then finally they will be get what they want, which they have no idea what that is,
so they are screwed, and so are we if we don’t wake the hell up!!!

************Remember: **************
Islamic Jihad: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
ISIS: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Qaeda: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Taliban: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Hamas: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Hezbollah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Boko Haram: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Nusra: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Abu Sayyaf: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Badr: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Muslim Brotherhood: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Lashkar-e-Taiba: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Palestine Liberation Front: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Ansaru: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Jemaah Islamiyah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Abdullah Azzam Brigades: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
AND A LOT MORE!!!!

Thank you Religion of Peace!

Mountain Top Experiences

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Mountaintop Experiences

By TNSr5r@unseen.is, October, 2013

 

I am tired of them. I don’t want to go to them anymore. I won’t participate in them again. I don’t even want to hear from anyone else about them.

What am I talking about? Some people enjoy them as worship experiences. Others value them as mountaintop experiences. I call them Christian pep rallies; the pep rallies that so many churches and Christian groups hold in the name of God.

You know what I am talking about.

These pep rallies often center around top name Christian singing groups, all of which have a strong high tenor or a strong high soprano, or both, whose voices are always very powerful. A song starts out in a normal key so most of the audience can sing along. But each verse transitions into a higher key so that, after four or five verses, only a handful of tenors and sopranos in the country can sing that high and that strong. And then the final chord of the final verse is held so high and so strong and so long that it raises the hair on your arms and gives you goose bumps. When the song breaks, it leaves you so excited that you absolutely MUST shout something. So you shout something spiritual like everyone else around you. And just then the group starts another verse in an even higher key.

After a few of these songs, everyone is so emotionally jacked up that shouting spiritual words and phrases is almost impossible to resist.

And then the worship leader starts a slow, soft song, accompanied by some sort of announcement that “the Holy Spirit is in this place.” The Holy Spirit apparently waits for a slow song before he shows up to these things… At this point, the leader often says something like, “Raise your hands if you can feel the presence of God.” Of course, nearly everyone can feel SOMETHING, so nearly everyone raises their hands. And the worship leader leads the audience through several verses of that slow song so that everyone gets the chance to feel God even more.

And often this whole process is repeated two or three times more, so everyone can go home claiming to have participated in such an awesome worship experience.

But was this truly a valid worship experience?

And if this was a valid worship experience, was it a good thing

And if it was a good thing, was it a biblical experience?

Before I get burned at the stake for asking such questions and raising such doubts, let me make this clear: I LOVE THESE WORSHIP EXPERIENCES!!

I have attended them; I have sought them out on the radio; I own them on CDs and DVDs; I have even led these experiences myself.

But I have come to realize that they are often nothing more than an old-fashioned high school football pep rally with a spiritual emphasis. Pep rallies have a purpose; they aren’t bad in and of themselves. But they are pep rallies. And their purpose, be it at a football game or at a Christian concert, is to get people excited.

I can, and HAVE, reproduced the same sort of feelings in myself and in others by using the same psychological gimmicks, but without any mention of Jesus.

During the fall of each year, the same level of emotional euphoria and near-hysteria is accomplished hundreds of times each week on high school and college campuses all over America.

Okay, I admit, I probably just made it impossible to avoid being burned at that stake by a mob of angry but sincere Christians.

But before I meet that stake, before you strike that match, I really need to ask the question few people ever want to answer: WHY?

Why do we need these emotionally manipulative Christian pep rallies?

Does God need them in order for the Holy Spirit to visit our worship experiences?

Or do these pep rallies primarily benefit the spiritual junkies who need still another “mountain-top experience?”

And is a “mountain-top experience” good for our spiritual lives?

As I said before, I LOVE these mountain-top experiences. I am, to some extent, a spiritual junkie myself. But I have to ask of myself and of others, “Exactly what benefit do we receive from being emotionally jacked-up, even when it is done in a spiritual environment?”

Maybe we should have started this article with a look at the mountain top experience that Jesus shared with some of his disciples. Perhaps we can get some clues as to the value of that type of high by looking at and listening to Jesus

We can find the account of this mountaintop experience in Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 9:1-13, and Luke 9:27-36. All three accounts are virtually identical and all three accounts tell us of the same events preceding this experience: Jesus taught of his coming death; Jesus taught about us taking up our crosses and following him; and Jesus and his disciples took a week off. Then Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain.

There he was transfigured before them. [Matthew 17:2, New International Version]

While transfigured, Jesus walked around with Moses and Elijah for a while. And God put his seal of approval on this particular mountaintop experience by doing his Exodus cloud thing and saying,

“This is my beloved Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”  [Matthew 17:5, NIV]

Can you imagine anything more exciting than this? Think about it! You have witnessed Jesus healing people and casting out demons more times than you can remember. You were hand-picked by Jesus to be in his core group of disciples. And over the past few weeks and months, your role has developed into the primary disciple, Christ’s main man! Then you get to see Jesus transfigured. You get to see Moses and Elijah alive and talking with Jesus. God shows up in a cloud like he did almost 2,000 years ago. THEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU!

And what do you do?

You propose doing something that Jesus does not want!

Peter may have been well-intentioned but his agenda was NOT Christ’s agenda. In fact, it was so far from Christ’s agenda that Jesus told them not to tell anyone about the entire experience; not even the other disciples!

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” [Matthew 17:9, NIV]

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. [Mark 9:9, NIV]

The greatest mountaintop experience in Scripture led the greatest disciple on record to suggest the wrong thing to do!

Or let’s look at what might be the second greatest mountaintop experience in Scripture; this one in the Old Testament and in this one Elijah was not a secondary character.

In I Kings, we can read the story of the first time Elijah was on earth. Starting in chapter seventeen, we see Elijah introduced and given his first assignment – he was called by God to denounce the most evil king the Jews ever had.

And Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all before him. As if it had been a light thing for Ahab to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he took for a wife Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal King of the Sidonians, and served Baal and worshipped him. [I Kings 16:30-31, Amplified Bible]

Not only was Ahab the most evil king the Jews ever had, he married the most evil woman the Jews had ever known! And they both worshipped the most evil god the world had ever seen!

And God called Elijah to denounce Ahab and tell him that God was sending a drought to Israel because of what Ahab was doing. And Elijah did exactly what God asked and actually survived it!

Talk about a rush!

Then God told Elijah to hide in a cave by the brook called Cherith east of Jordan.

After many months, the brook dried up. After all, there was a drought going on, right? So God gave him a new address and Elijah moved to a small town called Zerepath. There he met a woman who was a widow, who had a child and who was starving to death because of the drought Elijah had called down. Elijah asked for some food and she told him she had almost nothing for herself and her son. Elijah told her that if she fed him God would make sure she would not starve. She could have said, “Right!” and walked away. But she decided to trust God and did what Elijah asked. As a result of her faith, God fed her and her son “for many days” until the rains came and everyone had food, as it says in chapter 17.

Then something horrible happened: the woman’s son got sick and died. You know she had to be thinking, “Oh yes, God promised that my son and I would not starve, so he let my son die of a fever.” But Elijah was still walking in the excitement and knowledge of God, and he took the son away to the attic room where Elijah slept. There Elijah prayed and the son lived again. And Elijah lived in peace with the widow and her son until the rains came.

Sometime after raising the boy from the dead, on toward the end of the third year of the drought, God told Elijah to go back to Ahab and tell him it was about to rain. So Elijah and Ahab met, and Ahab was not at all in a good mood.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you he who troubles Israel?”  [I Kings 18:17, AMP]

I am certain that Elijah responded with, “You haven’t seen trouble yet. But trouble sure is coming!” I haven’t found any translation which includes that comment, but I am sure Elijah said it. Be that as it may (or may not), we do know that Elijah said the following:

Elijah replied, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, by forsaking the commandments of the Lord and by following the Baals.” [I Kings 18:18, AMP]

And Elijah issued a challenge. He told Ahab to gather 450 prophets of Baal (who Ahab followed) and the 400 prophets of the sex goddess Asherah (who Jezebel followed), along with all the people, and bring them all to Mount Carmel.

Once there, Elijah put together a rigged demonstration; rigged against Elijah and his God. The 450 prophets of Baal, assisted by the 400 prophets of Asherah, set up an altar of stone with wood on it and a bull, fully cut up and prepared, placed on top. And then this 850 prophets of foreign gods were given hours, from early morning to late afternoon, to pray down fire on the sacrifice.

And nothing happened.

Then Elijah built his altar and prepared his sacrifice. Further, he asked that four large water jars be emptied on the altar; and again; and a third time. After twelve large water jars had been emptied on his altar, Elijah prayed 63 words. Not twelve hours, but less than one minute. And then fire came down from heaven and consumed everything: the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, even the water that had drained off the alter and into the trench surrounding the alter.

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!” [I Kings 18:39, AMP]

I mean, ya think?

With the people properly motivated (and intimidated!), Elijah had them kill all the false prophets of Baal and Asherah.

And then Elijah prayed for rain, and it rained.

Something that is seldom mentioned in sermons and teachings on this event involves everyone leaving Mount Carmel before it rained. Elijah said something like, “King Ahab, I am about to ask God to empty the clouds and have it rain all over us. You better get down the mountainside before the roads get so wet that your chariots won’t be able to make it down the roads.” So Ahab headed down the mountain while Elijah prayed. After praying, but before the rain started, Elijah headed down the mountain himself. But Elijah was so excited and so motivated by his “mountaintop experience” that he ran all twenty miles back to town and got there before Ahab and his chariot.

How was that for mountaintop excitement?

But no sooner than Ahab told Jezebel about everything, including the loss of 400 prophets of her god that she used as personal servants, than Jezebel sent a message to Elijah: “I am going to make you as dead as you made my prophets, and by this time tomorrow.” See I Kings 19:2.

And no matter what his mountaintop experience, and no matter how excited he was about serving God under miraculous circumstances, Elijah allowed his emotions to continue in control, and…

Elijah was afraid, and ran for his life. [I Kings 19:3, NIV]

So what can we take away from a short review of two important, even awesome, mountaintop experiences? There are perhaps any number of lessons, or conclusions, we can draw from these two experiences, but I suspect that most would make for poor theology. However, I do believe we can draw two valid and valuable principles from these two Scriptural events.

First, mountaintop experiences do not impart spiritual maturity or spiritual wisdom.

Second, mountaintop experiences feed our emotions, and emotions are seldom logical or wise.

I do not believe that I err when I suggest that a mountaintop experience will often lead to a significant spiritual challenge, even a spiritual setback. Think about it.

In both of these biblical experiences, we see the people’s emotions in control of them and unwise, even wrong, decisions that come out of these emotions. Peter wanted to build three temples so he could continue, or repeat continuously whenever he wanted, that wonderful experience. And Jesus not only wouldn’t let him do it, Jesus wouldn’t even let him talk about it. And Elijah was so excited about God’s victories that after seeing God’s fire consume his sacrifice, after facing 850 enemy prophets and killing them all, even after outrunning Ahab’s chariot for twenty miles, he runs and hides from one woman’s threat.

When our emotions are running high, our emotions often make our decisions for us. And emotional decisions are seldom based on the Word of God. When we react to what we see and hear and FEEL, it is our emotions that are in control of us and not the Spirit of God.

We live by faith, not by sight. [II Corinthians 5:7, NIV]

Or even more clearly translated:

For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance. [I Corinthians 5:7, AMP]

So, are mountaintop experiences, are Christian pep rallies, wrong?

Absolutely not!

But if we NEED them, if we COUNT on these experiences to maintain a walk with God, if the emotional high is necessary for us to feel close to God and stay committed to following Jesus, then we need to recognize the FACT that we are Soil Type Two, from the parable in Mark chapter four. We need to admit that we receive the Word of God with joy and excitement, but it doesn’t take much to stifle our walk with God, or sidetrack our walk entirely. We need to take steps to strengthen our faith and our commitment so we can survive these simple and frequent challenges to our life in Christ. We need to develop the discipline inherent in the word “disciple” and from which the word is derived.

How?

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. [Ephesians 3:14-1 9, NIV]

In other words, USE those emotions.

Use those emotions to drive you into God’s Word, to make you want his Word, to make you thrill at the things his Holy Spirit leads you to learn and apply. Feed and strengthen your heart so that your love is more stable and more consistent. Allow God to turn your feelings into a new creation, a never before existing love for Jesus that is as strong and predictable as God’s love for us.

We need to exchange our natural love for the love that comes from God and is focused on God and points us continuously and forever toward God.

More specifically, we need to move our eyes from our love for Jesus and put our eyes on his love for us. As long as our eyes are on our love for Jesus, we will look for opportunities to feel that love and to express that love. When we cannot FEEL love for Jesus, we will lose sight of the FACT of his love for us. If we don’t FEEL our love for Jesus, we will tend to question his love for us, and to feel distant from him. And then we will tend to seek out mountaintop experiences to help us FEEL our love for God. This will tend to make us dependent on those mountaintop experiences.

But if we keep our eyes on his love for us, then our love for him will be a natural response to his love for us. And a natural response to his constant love for us will be a more consistent love for him.

It is natural for us to be aware of and to experience our emotions. But it is spiritually immature for us to allow our emotions to drive our relationship with God. We MUST keep in the forefront of our minds God’s love for us, and the constant and eternal nature of that love, or we will waver and fluctuate in our love for him. It MUST be his nature that provides the foundation for our relationship with him, and NOT our natures.

A mountaintop experience tends to move our eyes from God’s love for us to our love for him; from his constant and eternal love for us to our fluctuating and temporal love for him. And if our eyes are on our fluctuating and emotional feelings for him, as soon as that mountaintop experience is over, we are particularly exposed to Satan’s deceptions. That makes our mountaintop experiences a danger to our walks with God. Remember, the higher we get, the farther we can fall.

But when God’s love permeates and saturates our hearts, we will see wisdom come from our emotions. When God’s constant and consistent love for us is the “solid as a rock” foundation of our walk with him, we will see stronger and more stable walks with God after all our mountaintop experiences. We will see God change our lives and the lives of others around us. And we will watch God change us from Soil Type Two to Soil Type Four in that parable.

And then we can totally enjoy and benefit from our Christian pep rallies.

Now, when is the next Carman concert?

 

 


 

WARNING!!!

Mountaintop Experience Ahead!

Mountaintop Experiences produce high levels of excitement. High levels of excitement reduce our natural sense of caution. Walking on the edge of a sheer cliff does not seem so scary when on a spiritual high. If you believe you can fly, you are not so concerned about falling.

Keeping your spiritual guard up is most important when coming off a spiritual high or a mountaintop experience. Keep your eyes on God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide your steps. Only in this way can you avoid tumbling off the cliff.

Enjoy your mountaintop experiences, but always recognize them for what they are – an opportunity for you to make unwise and emotional decisions or to rely on your feelings in order to walk with God.

Don’t be a spiritual junkie where your feelings need constant feeding. Instead, feed your spirit with the Word of God and the fellowship of the Saints.


 

We have so much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s Word all over again. You need milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity [Hebrews 5:11-6:1, NIV]

Religious Delusions

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Religious Delusions

By TNSr5r@unseen.is, November, 2013

 

One of the many possible examples of Soil Type One in the Parable of the Soils, as recorded in Chapter 4 of Mark, is the intellectual person who is just too open-minded and inclusive to believe in the impossibly confining views and demands expressed in the Bible. And these so-called Intellectuals all tend to look and sound the same.

In psychological circles, one is often labeled as paranoid schizophrenic when one builds one or more delusions, or fictional worlds, within which one likes to dwell, or continually dwells, to the exclusion of what the rest of us call “reality.”

In religious circles, we can see that exact same situation.

Some of the symptoms, or traits, of a strong paranoid delusion include: a clear “we versus they” duality; an obvious but usually undefined set of rules for this delusional world; a tendency to quickly judge those who do not spontaneously obey these rules without explanation, who do not know the rules without being told them, as being deficient or inferior in some way; a developing or evolving story line; few, if any, are on the “we” side and almost everyone is on the “they” side”; “facts” to support the delusion are taken from many sources, even diametrically opposed sources, but nearly always taken out of context so they can be misconstrued or misrepresented easily; underlying assumptions and presumptions – sometimes even the primary beliefs are unconscious beliefs, with the delusional individual often unaware of them.

Unfortunately, a strong religious delusion shares almost all the same symptoms.

The purpose for this essay is not to outline a strategy to change or “convert” these people. The people who maintain these religious delusions are usually quite firm in their beliefs, and seldom open to changing them. Any discussion or debate of the issues is fun for the intellectual exercise, but normally become frustrating all individuals who are involved. In other words, argument is probably a waste of time. Further, argument will almost always degrade to personal insults and subjective perspectives.

Allow me to offer some definitions for the purpose of our discussion:

Christianone who perceives oneself to be a follower of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, to the exclusion of all other religious leaders; one who perceives the Bible as the primary religious text concerning Jesus

Evangelical Christiana Christian who perceives himself or herself to be on the conservative side of the collection of individuals claiming to be Christians; one who believes that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are established historical and spiritual facts; one who believes that the Bible is inspired by God in the original texts and TRUTH for all Christians; one who believes that the purpose of all Believers is to live like Jesus as closely as possible

Biblea collection of writings involving dozens of writers over thousands of years compiled into a document that was and is inspired by God and accurate in the original texts; a “book” that exists today only in translation, which is just that: the result of sincere people performing a careful and detailed translation using what they believed to be the best texts available to them at the time; the major translations today being so similar in text that the differences are more in the depths and nuances of meaning than in actual meaning of the words; does not include some later attempts to “translate” based on a clear and usually stated attempt to change the meaning of earlier translations in order to conform more to the current social and religious beliefs of a minority of people who may not even call themselves Christians (e.g. a certain “modern translation” by a well-known science fiction author to render God either female or gender neutral)

Over the years, I have found myself put in the position of dialoging, even debating, with quite a number of people who refer to themselves as Christians in their earlier lives but later tended to pull back from that description. They have all been quite intelligent and well-read. And they have all tended to embrace the fairly common belief that all major religions teach the same core “truths” and worship the same God by one name or another. Within their ranks, they are not unique but often believe they are.

I have always treasured these discussions, not so much because I saw any victory in pushing or pulling the other individual in any given spiritual direction, but because I valued the refreshing and stimulating thought processes involved in these often intense discussions. One must be an original thinker in order to swim upstream against the current, and I will always appreciate an original thinker. But from these discussions, I have observed some similarities in those thought processes that I thought I might put forth, evidence that not ALL this thinking is original. And I have decided to write about why I believe at least some of those thought processes are inherently wrong, internally inconsistent, and even intellectually dishonest. And these beliefs are all a closed world, are all self-reinforcing, and are all accountable to ONLY their own subjective realities.

I am not saying that any of the individuals were dishonest, but that certain similarities in the thought processes of these people tended toward internal inconsistency and even intellectual dishonesty. In truth, I believe that each of these people were engaged in a spiritual delusion of monumental importance, and most were not aware of this fact.

Allow me to describe and to build a delusion of my own for you to review and comment.

Naturally, there are some ground rules that we must accept for our discussions, or we can go no further. This condition of mandated ground rules is, of course, the norm for all spiritual delusions I have encountered, although normally left unspoken until it was needed to defend the delusion.

First, there is a God, and there is only one God, but this God is NOT like any God or god worshiped in any of the well-known religious traditions; similar to all of them, but different from any of them. Instead, my God is more an amalgam of a number of these traditions. God is, after all, a representation of a particular religious perspective, but in reality the same God is worshiped by all. What you call your God is merely your view of God from the position where you stand. Others are standing in different positions and see a slightly different view. It is pompous and prideful for you to claim that your view from your perspective is correct to the exclusion of all other views and perspectives. God is too great to be limited by any man’s vision and understanding.

Second, God has chosen to reveal himself in many ways and to many groups of people. I accept the Bible and the words of Jesus as authoritative. I also accept other religious writings and other religious figures as authoritative. But we must accept the proviso that the Bible we have today was written by many authors over thousands of years. We must accept that no effort of man is without flaws. We must accept that almost all biblical authors had little or no knowledge of the other authors, or of the other texts, and so had no opportunity to coordinate and cooperate with the messages of other writers. As a result, the collection of stories and letters that is today accepted as the Bible must also be understood to be both incomplete and embellished. Incomplete because there is no reason to believe that God is finished inspiring authors to write; embellished because newer writers and translators over time have added snippets, perhaps entire sections, in order to clarify what they believed was the intent and meaning of the original authors and the original texts.

Third, I accept a long list of authors and teachers as authoritative about God: who and what he is, what he is like, what he wants, and how to get to know him. I quote these authorities often in discussions of God and religious issues, and I expect you to have read these authorities and understand what they believe when we discuss these issues. If you cannot, then we both must accept that you can have very little of importance to add to our discussion or to my beliefs. We both must accept that you are intellectually limited for purposes of our discussion. I will USUALLY listen to what you have to say with some patience, but only with that proviso. I am, after all, a Christian, and Christians are if nothing else loving and open to others of a different belief.

Fourth, the only restriction to our discussion, and this is a major point that cannot be debated or negotiated, is the fact that no author or teacher viewed as a conservative Christian is accepted as authoritative unless only certain claims are allowed and other claims can be dismissed, at my discretion. Any author or teacher who once held a conservative Christian view of God and who has more recently modified his views to be more open and inclusive, is naturally considered to be more authoritative in his more recent views. All honest thinkers must be open to further enlightenment, and those who are not, those who have remained unchanging in their views over time, have limited content to add to our discussions.

Fifth, the actual context of any biblical reference is insignificant. What any biblical author or character has said is at issue; who it was said to, what those listening believed, how they responded, what was going on before or during what was said – all are unimportant factors when it comes to interpreting what was said and what we should “hear” from what was said. What those people intended is never as important as what we conclude. Included in this ground rule is the fact that there is no TRUTH, no absolute, no “fact” that is true under any and all circumstances and for any and all people. Everything in this life is subject to interpretation and to personal application in ways that might vary from individual to individual. In other words, you can never tell me that I am wrong.

And last, it is stipulated by all parties in any discussion that sources and claims which are contrary to those offered by Evangelical Christians are to be accepted as equally authoritative, and are acceptable as a complete and effective rebuttal to any claim or quote made by an Evangelical Christian, regardless of the source or of the beliefs of the source.

So what will our discussion sound like?

Like every conversation I have had with a knowledgeable cynic who had the above perspectives on these issues. Like almost every discussion I have had with a Soil Type One individual.

No matter what is stated, one or more of the ground rules allows for a counter that can pretty much stop the conversation.

And what really is the purpose of those ground rules? It allows me to pick and choose what I believe and who I believe, and does not allow you to offer any argument that I cannot easily dismiss.

In fact, my favorite tactic is to counter a conservative argument with some quote from someone famous, usually someone with strongly stated spiritual views. He or she doesn’t have to have any particular educational qualifications, just strongly stated views that are contrary to some conservative view stated by you. For example, you can make some claim about God and I could rebut your claim by quoting some politician or some scientist, ANY politician or scientist, who disagrees with your claim. And since any claim by anyone is considered a credible claim when it is counter to any claim offered by a conservative Christian, then my claim trumps your claim and you cannot win.

My delusion is self-validating and self-reinforcing. No one can win any argument against me because I am in control of what is and what is not authoritative.

And the real issue is that I am in control. I decide what is right and wrong, who is right and wrong, what is acceptable and not acceptable. And often I do so by claiming that there IS no right and wrong. I get to control the argument. And because I control the argument, I cannot lose the argument. Ever.

AND I GET TO DEFINE GOD!

While I will NEVER admit it, I have become my own idol. I have taken the position of God. I have defined what is TRUTH. My intellect has become the most important and most powerful force in the universe. I can quote more authorities than you. I can reference more books and authors and theologians than you. I can assume without proof that I MUST be right because I CAN reference more books and authors and theologians than you.

He who knows, wins.

And since I control who and what God is, I don’t have to FEAR taking any authority away from him. I don’t have to FEAR making God a creation of mine.

I don’t have to FEAR God!

The ONLY thing I have to fear is for you to understand the presuppositions and the stipulations of our discussion. I cannot admit to them, and you cannot delineate them. All the presuppositions and stipulations MUST remain unspoken. And if anyone points them out, I will deny them. No matter how much I have used any particular item above, I will deny believing that item or using that item.

I KNOW that the presuppositions and stipulations are totally unreasonable, totally illogical, and totally unfair. But my entire peace and confidence, my entire life, depends on those views. And it depends on those views remaining unspoken, so I never have to confront how unreasonable and illogical and unfair are the foundations of my belief system and my life.

As long as you and I remain within the confines of those presuppositions and those stipulations, we can have a profitable and fruitful conversation.

After all, I am open-minded, right?

 

God, Logic & Understanding

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I was raised in a Christian home.   All my life I have been taught that God created all things.  I was also taught that Jesus Christ was His son, and it is through Christ alone that we are able to return to Heaven someday.

God, in all His wisdom, created not only the world, galaxy, and universe, and everything in and on them, but also the laws governing all these realms of existence.  If God created laws to govern the physical world, then it stands to reason that these laws are absolute, and cannot be broken.  We may have only given names to a few of these laws (Law of Gravity, Laws of Thermodynamics, Ideal Gas Law, etc.) but there are other laws God has set into motion such as natural law, as mentioned in the very astute posts “What I Believe,” and “So Called Gay Marriage.”

Another law I would consider to be a “natural law” would be mathematical law.  (1+1=2,  anything that opposes that goes against that natural law.)

I have also been taught, and fully believe that God cannot lie.  He tells the truth, regardless of how that makes us feel.  He tells us what is right.   Isaiah 65:16 tells us that God is a God of truth.

I also believe that because of the numerous references of God, as “Heavenly Father” that we are His  children.  1 John 3:10 tells us we are his children. And that He knows and loves each one of us as any loving father loves his children.  Completely and unconditionally.  And as a Father, God wants to teach us, and wants us to grow, and learn, and succeed.

So if God is our Father, and we are His children, and He only tells us truth, and as children He would want to explain things so we can understand them, and we have scriptures like Acts 7: 55 that describe prophets literally seeing God and Jesus Christ as two separate and distinct individuals, why does so much of Christianity tell us that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are one being in three bodies? In fact he even re-iterates himself in the very next verse 56 as if to say, “LOOK! This is what I saw, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying!”

Matthew 3:16 documents when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and even describes Jesus being in the water, the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and in verse 17 God speaking saying, “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Three separate beings.

John 20:17, after Christ’s resurrection He tells Mary, “touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” Why would Jesus talk in third person about “himself” if he is also God the Father?  furthermore why would he have to “ascend to” Him? If He is the being that He needed to visit, talk to, confer with, etc, why would He HAVE to leave in order to do what needed to be done?

When Jesus was a child and he was teaching the elders in the temple Luke 2:49 Jesus directly refers to God as “my Father,” when Mary asked his where he had been.

Why would there be so many references BY Christ himself, to “The Father,” if they were one person?  I know some of you may quote John 10:30  “I and my Father are one.” But I don’t think he meant this physically.   But if he meant that they were in fact ONE BEING, why didn’t he just say it?   Mark 10:8 states “And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.”  But here Jesus is specifically talking about a husband and wife being “one flesh.”  So if he was able to articulate “one flesh” about a husband and a wife, but he only ever spoke about He and his Father as “one,” but constantly talked about the Father in the third person, then to me, that says they are two distinct, individual beings.  Like when my wife and I talk to our kids, if they ask one of us for something, it’s as good as asking both of us.  We are “one in purpose” and as Mark 10:8 says, even “one in flesh,” but that does not mean we are the same person.  I am my own person, just as my wife is her own person, so although we are two individuals, our marriage makes us “one.” Just as The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are “one” it is in purpose, not “one being.”

All this leads me back to Acts 7:55 & 56

55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

From all this, I know that God is our Heavenly Father.  We are his children.  Jesus Christ is His son. Children from the same father are siblings, so I think it would be fair to conclude that Jesus is our brother.  What an AWESOME thought! And the Holy Spirit is God’s messenger, who speaks to us and gives us guidance.

And that’s what I believe.

-Joseph Forefathers

Christian Fatalism

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Christian Fatalism

By TNSr5r@unseen.is, January, 2014

I hear the question/issue almost every day: “What is God trying to teach me by putting me through these circumstances?” Or maybe, “…by sending me to prison?”

First, personally, I don’t believe that God sent me to prison. Second, personally, I don’t think that God sent me to prison because he couldn’t teach me some specific lesson in any other way. Third, generally, I really don’t believe that Scripture teaches that God sends bad things or hard times to teach people lessons. Fourth, generally, God often sends believers into circumstances (good AND bad) to be in place for someone else’s need or benefit.

First, I don’t believe that God sent me to prison. I believe that I started on a path back in 1990 which had the risk of getting negative attention from the IRS. As soon as I started helping others fight the IRS, I was in danger. I thought about that a lot before launching. My wife and I prayed about it a lot. And we both concluded certain facts: that we must follow this course of action; that it was to benefit others who could not help themselves; that it was legal and lawful; and that it was our only option if we wanted to maintain our integrity after studying the issues as much as we studied them. At that time, I believed that the greatest risk was a felony conviction resulting in 5-8 years in prison for me, but no prison time for Bonnie. We decided to move ahead and run that risk back in 1990. It was our decision, and my actions, that resulted in me being in prison. God did not send me there; a dishonest prosecutor and an ineffective defense sent me there.

Second, I don’t think God sent me (or anyone) to prison to teach me (or us) something that he could not have taught me (or us) on the outside. It is an easy thing to predict in advance or perceive after the fact certain actions or behaviors that will result from prison influences, and it would be an easy thing to cling to one or more of them in explanation for my going to prison. It would probably be impossible to choose one of those actions or results and claim with confidence and spiritual authority that THIS is why God sent me to prison, but I could select several of the perceived benefits, or even all of them, and claim that they were why God sent me here. Most people would make a list of all positive results of being in prison, and refer to that list as answer to the above question.

Most people HAVE to have a logical explanation for their bad circumstances in life to which they can point in order to maintain their faith in the love and goodness of God.

But think about it, folks. Job was going through life enjoying EVERYTHING because EVERYTHING was awesome. Then God bumped into Satan at the mall and bragged about Job to Satan. And then Satan set about destroying Job’s life. When Satan was

finished taking Job’s health and everything good away from him, and Job asked God “Why?” God NEVER answered Job and NEVER justified allowing Satan to destroy Job.

Look again at Scripture. There was NOTHING Job needed to learn, yet his life was destroyed anyway. Perhaps the only thing Job learned by going through his horrible circumstances was the fact that God had the right to do anything he darn well pleases with and to any of us. But anyone who points that out to us scares the crap out of all of us, and paints God as being a mean and vicious God.

Of course, we like to remember the last part of Job’s life where things were better than they ever were before. We like that because it allows us to hope that if we go through anything like Job did, well, at least things would be better after all the dust settled and the blood dried.

But there was no lesson for Job to learn; there was nothing God wanted to teach Job that required such destruction and pain. I mean, read the first 3 verses of Job again:

“This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil… He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.” [Job 1:1-3, in part, NIV]

Job was blameless before God, and then Job went through hell.

Most people claim that Job had too much pride and needed to learn a lesson. I believe that such claims are based in ignorance and the NEED TO FIND A REASON. Please notice that it was not Job who claimed “he was the greatest man among all the people of the earth,” which has been falsely claimed by many — it was the narrator of the story who made that claim as he was describing Job. Scripture gives no evidence at all of any sin in Job’s life, and no evidence at all of any need to be taught any lessons.

Third, I don’t believe Scripture teaches that God sends bad things or bad circumstances into the lives of believers to teach them spiritual truths. There may be many good things that believers learn when they experience bad events and bad circumstances, but I see no passage that teaches this as one of God’s teaching tools.

In fact, I see just the opposite. Bad things happen. Period.

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” [Matthew 5:45, NIV]

“…for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” [Matthew 5:45, KJV]

“…for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” [Matthew 5:45, NASB]

Bad things happen!

Sometimes those bad things come from God. And no amount of positive thinking or self-help is going to remove a really bad day when that really bad day is sent by God. Further, no amount of lessons learned will take that bad day away.

But most Christians NEED to see a reason for bad things or bad circumstances!

Most Christians NEED to believe that God has a reason behind the horrors of their lives in order to for them to continue in faith, believing in a loving and gracious God! Most Christians today would NEVER survive Job’s experience! Most Christians today would follow the advice of one of Job’s friends to “Curse God and die!”

It is hard, or even impossible, for most Christians to believe that God would allow bad things to happen without making them better. It is even more difficult for them to believe that God just might SEND bad things.

Fourth, God sometimes sends believers into bad circumstances to have them in place for the benefit of someone else. Remember, Paul commented once that it would be better for him to go home to heaven, but it would be better for others that he remain on this earth in bad circumstances. So Paul chose to remain. Remember also, in the Garden, Jesus just plain didn’t want to go through the whole crucifixion thing, including being separated from his Father. Yet he submitted to it because of the unbelievable benefit to the entire world.

I have learned to say each morning as I awake: “I am but a pawn in God’s Great Chess game. I wonder what move he has for me today!” I have learned that living this way allows for each day to be exciting and fulfilling, regardless of being in prison; regardless of ANY circumstances! And I have also learned that sometimes pawns get sacrificed.

But, as Paul said in Romans:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” [Romans 8:28, NIV]

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. [Romans 8:28, KJV]

It does not say that God CAUSES ALL THINGS; it says that God causes all things to work together for our good and his glory. Sometimes that means the Father causes my circumstances to work together for my good. Sometimes that means he causes my circumstances to work together for someone else’s good. No matter what, SOMEONE gains eternal benefits from my circumstances. And I can live with that!

The question here is not “What should I learn here?” but “How can I be used here?”

And God has used me greatly in prison in ways that are very exciting, and I will always treasure my time spent here.

No, I will NEVER like prison! No, I will NEVER believe that I deserved coming here or my prison sentence. No, I will NEVER believe that prison was a good thing for me.

But I will always treasure the opportunities I have had to touch the lives of men who are hurting and struggling and trying to see God in all of this.

And there are a lot of believers here; some preachers, some Bible College professors, some sincere Christians who just don’t know how God could allow them to go to prison when they believe they were innocent, and ESPECIALLY many men who believe that God no longer has a use for them and has discarded them.

And I have the privilege and the thrill and the honor of talking with these men and of helping them to see how God still wants to use them, and of helping them grow in ALL their lives’ circumstances.

There are too many examples in Scripture to mention all of them; of good people going through bad experiences with no clear explanation from God. If we go back to Daniel, we see that he believed God COULD keep him alive, but NOT that God WOULD keep him alive. I believe that Scripture indicates that Daniel expected to die that day, and he was at peace with it. When God finally DID keep him alive, Daniel gave God the credit for his miracle and received a job promotion! Undoubtedly, God keeping Daniel alive got people’s attention. But if you read the entire story again carefully, you will see that it was Daniel’s attitude all through the process (as well as all through his captivity) that so impressed the Chaldean ruler that Daniel was promoted after he partied with some lions and angels.

Something similar happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They suffered a death sentence and survived, and that got them attention. I believe Scripture indicates the men believed they were going to die that day, and they faced it with godly attitudes. And a careful reading of the passage shows that it was their attitudes, that day and all through their captivity, which got them promotions and made their lives better.

They were (all 4 of them) in cast in very bad circumstances, and they were (all 4 of them) manifesting an attitude of loving and serving and worshipping God through it all.

And they were (all 4 of them) NEVER given an explanation by God!

God wanted that attitude more than anything. And when they survived their death sentences, did God free them and allow them to go home? No. But God did give them promotions and other benefits.

And God used their hearts, shown by their attitudes, to touch other people’s lives!

I am convinced that God is not situational in his perspective, but attitudinal. What I mean is, God is less concerned about our circumstances than he is about our attitudes IN our circumstances. It takes the supernatural grace of God to face bad circumstances with the right attitudes. And it is those right attitudes that affect the hearts and lives of those around us.

Yes, surviving a death sentence gets attention. But that only sells tickets. It is the heartfelt attitude of “Yet though he slay me, I will still serve him” which Job showed that touches hearts and brings people to God.

God is more concerned that I face each day as his Ambassador, ready for his use, than he is that I am in prison serving an unjustified sentence. I may have to deal with being in prison, but it is in being in prison that I get the joy of touching the lives of these men.

WHERE I am is merely SO THAT God can use me in the life of someone here!

Christian’s Guide to Political Activism

Blog-Icon---Political

The Christian’s Response to Political Activism

by TNSr5r@unseen.is

January, 1999

 

 

Introduction:

Our current political climate has presented Americans with issues not faced for at least the first 200 years of our Great Nation. The very foundations of our national identity and what America was created to be have been changed and modified over the past one hundred years, leaving millions of Americans feeling that these united States (not a typo) are heading in the wrong direction. A mounting set of global philosophies and policies are being put into place in America which control our nation’s future. Many Americans believe these policies have gone beyond what the Constitution allows, and some believe things have gone much too far to reverse.

Further, many conservative Christian churches and denominations see the new millennium as the initial stages of the biblical events surrounding the end of time as we know it. “End Times” messages are the norm in our Sunday services. The Tribulation is suggested as beginning either January 1st, 2000 or shortly thereafter. It has been suggested that the Rapture of the Church will relieve Believers of the chore of planning and attending New Years Eve parties. Essentially, it is believed, these apocalyptic events do not allow for conservative Christians to involve themselves in political pursuits, and that these Believers should not be pre-occupied with any matters that are not spiritual because the “time is so short.”

In the 1980’s, we saw the rise and fall of the Moral Majority. In the 1990’s, we saw the rise and fall of the Christian Coalition. Both groups are still around, at least to some extent, but their effectiveness has dramatically diminished. Both groups have been accused by conservative Christians as being outside the will of God for Believers because of their political views and activities. Both groups have been disavowed by many Christians as way too political and too involved in the worldly nature of modern existence. In addition, many Christian leaders have taken the position that political involvement has little or no spiritual validity, and absolutely no spiritual validity if that involvement brings out criticism, or worse, condemnation, of our current political leaders. Some of these spiritual leaders and their Christian followers take these views based on their understanding of what it means to be “salt and light” in this world. And some have taken these positions because they believe the Christian’s duty is to submit to our political leaders. This is usually interpreted to include submission to their plans, the laws they pass for us to obey, even their political philosophies and where those philosophies are taking this great nation.

On the other hand, there is a growing group of Believers who are facing their political leaders and calling them accountable to the Constitution and to the Bible. This group is vocal about the beginnings of this nation, its foundational beliefs and philosophies, and how far America has strayed from its intended form of government. This group is calling our political leaders to take America back to what the Founding Fathers envisioned. This new movement within conservative Christianity, which is really not a new movement at all but a resurgence of what most Christians believed more than a hundred years ago, claims that America was planned and blessed by God to be a unique nation, one which would be able to take the Christian gospel to all the world with a greater effect than ever before in history. In addition, these Christians hold that God blessed America with a greater sense of freedom than any nation in history, which was intended by God to allow Christianity to grow and Christians to mature in ways simply not possible with other less free nations.

These politically active Christians believe the Bible calls all Believers to preserve God’s intentions for this nation, or face His wrath.

In this essay, we will examine political activism in light of Biblical mandates on the conservative Christian. As previously stated, many people in the conservative Christian community have, over recent years, embraced a philosophy that allows minimal or no political views, or at least minimal or no resistance to political events and eventualities. This philosophy is usually expressed with claims that submission is the biblically mandated response to our federal government, its administrations and agencies. Further, it is claimed, those groups and individuals who espouse any form of resistance to and even negative expressions toward the government, especially the federal government, are contrary to the Biblical mandates of submission to and support of the government, and are condemned by much of this group within the Body of Christ. Even Ghandi’s and King’s passive resistance is condemned by these Christians as not being in submission to our leaders. In this essay, we will discuss both groups of Christians, the politically submissive and politically active, and examine what the Bible has to say about both views.

A Call to Submission:

There are too many articles, and even books, written on this issue of submission to our rulers that have been much more exhaustive in their research and their presentation than is possible in this short discussion. We won’t attempt to repeat all of their views and assertions in this short essay. Instead, we will attempt to summarize some of the various arguments for and against political activism within the Body of Christ. In this essay, we will discuss, among other issues: submission to our governing authorities, support for our governing authorities, the Christian’s responsibilities concerning stewardship, and finally the Christian’s responsibilities for self-determinism and even self-reliance. And we will try to do so in just a few short pages.

The first issue that seems to need examination is the concept of submission, with all its connotative and denotative meanings. If we perform a word search within the New International Version of the Bible, we find twenty-four references for the word “submit,” six references for the word “submission,” and forty-two references for the word “subject (v).” Not all of these seventy-two references are specifically germane to the issues we are discussing here, but many of them are. Of greater importance, however, are the Hebrew or Greek words used which have been translated into the English words mentioned. Let us take a closer look at what is perhaps the most common of Biblical passages used in this type of discussion. The reference is in Romans 13, and includes several verses. We will quote the first five verses of that chapter to give a more complete context.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.  For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.  For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.  Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. [Romans 13:1-5, New International Version]

The common dictionaries tell us the English word submit means to yield to governance or authority. It can further mean to yield to any authority. The word subject means to bring under (sometimes by force), or to make amenable to, the control, dominion or discipline of a superior.

Further, these same dictionaries tell us the word authority means power to influence or command thought, opinion or behavior, or a government agency or corporation to administer a revenue producing public enterprise.

To get a more complete understanding of the words used here and their meanings, let’s look beyond the common dictionaries of today and examine the actual Greek words used and what they meant to those reading the above passage in the first century.

The Authorized Version (also known as the King James Version) uses the words “subject yourselves.” The Greek word is hupotasso, and if we combine Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, we discover that the Greek word means to subordinate, be obedient to, put under, make subject to, to obey.

These words and their definitions seem to leave little “wiggle room” but instead seem to demand total and complete obedience. The submission to which the Bible calls Believers is apparently unconditional. In addition, the passage carries an implied call to not only submit to but defend the authorities (the government) that God established. Some would say that if God established the authority in control, then we as Believers are called upon to support and even defend that authority, assuming we want to be within the will of God.

So, at first glance, we can only conclude that those who resist the federal (or any) government are outside the clearly established intentions of God. But to truly understand what Paul is telling us in this passage, we need to take a second, deeper look.

Submission to What?

The above words are strong words, suggesting that one must submit regardless of issues involved. But is that really what God is saying in these verses, and in other verses that say basically the same thing? Does God really demand total submission to the governing authorities and their actions and activities? If there are any possible reservations to this apparent total demand, what are those reservations, and under what conditions may the thinking Christian feel free to resist authority?

If we were to stop with the conclusion stated above, we would be correct, but we would be terribly incomplete. While we have examined the dictionary meanings of the words submit and subject, and have discovered the meanings of those words to be clear and mandatory, we have not yet established the exact nature of that to which we are called to submit. Specifically, what did Paul actually mean when he called us to submit to our governing authorities?

The NIV used the phrase governing authorities; the Authorized Version used the phrase higher power or power. We need to examine the actual Greek words used and the meanings intended in order to understand that to which we are called to submit.

The Greek word used in the Romans 13 passage is exousia, which means an authority, jurisdiction or power. The words used here imply the authority behind the structure.  Specifically, Paul is calling Christians to submit to the authority that God established. But does this passage call us to submit to the actual individual or individuals temporarily in the position of power? This is an extremely important question, and I suggest that Romans 13, and other similar passages, call Believers to submit to the authority, or the system of government, that God established, and not to the actual individuals temporarily in power or to their actions and activities.

This is an important claim, in light of the reality that some political leaders twist and pervert the system of government in effect when they take power. This is a powerful claim, in that it calls into question the beliefs of some spiritual leaders who would exhort us to support whatever the current political leaders state and enact. And this is a radical claim, and requires substantial supporting evidence to be believed.

There are two sources of proof to this claim. First, we have a number of Biblical examples of individuals going against the established people temporarily in power, examples which carry no apparent condemnation in Scripture. Second, the foundational beliefs under which America was created establish this same principle very clearly.

Biblical examples of individuals going against authority, with no apparent Biblical condemnation, include:

  1. the midwife who delivered Moses disobeyed Pharaoh and the law
    2. the servant of Pharaoh’s wife lied to her mistress
    3. Rachael disobeyed the law and lied to those in authority
    4. Rahab’s very life disobeyed all moral laws and her actions in support of Joshua’s spies broke existing political laws
    5. Peter and John disobeyed the authorities and preached about Jesus anyway
    6. Paul disobeyed the authorities, Greek and Roman, many times in his efforts to preach the gospel, for which he was often punished
  2. Jesus showed disobedience of the established religious leaders and their beliefs for three years and was crucified for it

The above examples do not carry with them any Biblical condemnation. In fact, most of these actions are praised later in Scripture. In addition, there are many more examples of disobedience that are contained in Scripture, both Old and New Testament, and few if any of them carry any condemnation. So, does this really mean that Paul is demanding something which many Biblical characters, including Paul himself, felt free to disobey when they found it inconvenient? Or does this mean that Paul is demanding submission to the authority established by God, the authority which certain individuals seemed to hold at any point in time? I suggest this means that Paul was demanding absolute submission to the authority established by God, and not to any given individual who claimed to be in charge. Let’s look at America, and what God ordained and established in the late 1700’s. Let me start out with a story from history. Then we will come back to the Bible again.

 

A New World:

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there were thirteen colonies that were created and “owned” by a nation far away. These colonies were inhabited by many of the most industrious individuals who formerly lived in that far-away nation. Truthfully, who would abandon that great society established over hundreds of years just to go to a far away land inhabited by dangerous animals and bloodthirsty natives? Who would leave their comfort and security to struggle in a land with few comforts and no security? Surely, only the most ambitious and the most dissatisfied would.

The people left their comfort and security, survived a difficult voyage, established a tough life, worked hard, and saw their labor produce much fruit. Over the years, animal skins, meat, vegetables and grain were abundantly available, with much left over to ship back to the mother country. But some business leaders in control in that mother country were very greedy, and they decided to get the governing leaders to pass laws that would create strong limitations on and requirements of those ambitious (or dissatisfied) settlers. So laws were passed which required that all goods and products produced in this difficult land had to be sold to large companies owned by these business leaders at a price fixed by these business leaders. These large companies would then ship the products back to the mother country to give the people at home first crack at buying these goods. What was left over could be shipped back to this new land to be purchased by the settlers at a much inflated price (to cover the costs of shipping and only a small corporate profit, you understand). Over time, more and more of these laws were passed requiring the settlers to not sell or barter anything with their friends and neighbors but rather sell everything they did not consume themselves to the big businesses owned by these rich business owners. As time went on, the politicians wanted their fair share of the money being produced in that productive land, so they passed new tax laws. Everything that was shipped to the mother country was already taxed as they were imported and as they were sold, but these new laws required taxes to be paid on all goods and services shipped back to and purchased in that new world by the settlers.

As you might imagine, the settlers would often ignore these new and difficult laws, and sell to or trade with their neighbors without first selling things to the big businesses and then buying things back from those businesses at an inflated and taxed price. The more there was trading between friends and neighbors, the higher became the fixed prices and the more taxes that were applied. Finally, there was virtually no product or service that could be traded in this new world without first being sold to the big businesses, shipped back to the home country, taxed, shipped back to the New World, and then resold to the settlers at a high fixed price and subject to additional taxes.

These ambitious and courageous individuals, the only types of people who would risk everything, including death, just for an opportunity to succeed; these people finally did what any thinking person would predict: they rebelled. The rebellion started with a tea party and ended after eight years of war.

At first, this was just a disagreement over pricing and taxes. But as soon as the business leaders saw the possibility of their profits disappearing and the political leaders saw disobedience and insurrection, things escalated into a full scale war.

At the beginning of the protest (for that was all it started out to be!), some of the more learned men in these colonies got together and tried to provide at least some wisdom and insight for the colonies. As things grew worse, these men got together again and discussed “Where do we go from here?” They decided things had progressed to where further relations with the mother country were simply intolerable. So these men decided to create a new nation. And they wrote their Declaration of Independence.

As these men considered what the new nation would look like and function like, they reviewed virtually every type of government in history. One point in common with almost every type of government known to man was the strong belief or assumption that all rights and authority rested in the leadership or rulership or kingship, and certain limited rights, or none at all, were granted to the people. As these men considered this new insight, they decided to try something that had never been attempted before in the history of mankind. The decided to create a nation based on the beliefs that:

  1. all rights came from God, not from the government; and
    2. all rights were given by God to individuals, not to governments; and
    3. certain responsibilities and authorities were delegated to government, and over only those delegated responsibilities did the government have jurisdiction; and
    4. all other rights not specifically delegated to the government were totally outside the authority or jurisdiction of that government

No such government had ever been created in the history of mankind. Ever. No government ever believed that rights came from God and rested in mankind. No government ever faced the limitation that anything not explicitly delegated to the government was explicitly withheld from the government. No government ever allowed such total and unlimited freedom for its people, individual freedom that was limited only by God or by another individual’s freedom. This was truly a new world!

These men who created this new nation, these Founding Fathers, all believed in these new concepts. They believed to the extent that almost all of them lost their entire fortunes, and most died, to give birth to this new nation. All of them truly believed that God was behind the creation of this new nation, although not all of them agreed totally with each other on the specific definition of that God. But they generally recognized that the God of the Bible was the author and creator of this new nation. And they all agreed that this God was leading the rebellion, the war, and the birth of the new nation.

An interesting note as to the rebellion: at the beginning, before war actually broke out, while it was only a rebellion against unreasonable commercial controls and intolerable taxation, only about five per cent of the population was actually behind the rebellion. About five per cent considered the rebellion itself to be treason. And about ninety per cent of the people were on the fence, wanting peace, and accepting the status quo.

Those sitting on the fence condemned those they considered “activists” and claimed they were rebelling against God. Many sermons were delivered stating that these “activists” were not in submission to the government as God required and demanded in Romans 13 and other passages. America has always had its pacifists. America has always had its sincere Believers who either quietly or loudly condemned political activism. America has always had its group of spiritual leaders who asked, “Can’t we just get along?” And America has always had its leaders who did not appreciate those who did not follow their leadership.

One man in the mid-1700s who was against the “activists” was a well-known preacher. He used his pulpit to condemn many of these so-called rebels and became a powerful historical figure. He had no real church, but traveled from town to town looking for pulpits to preach from for a week or two at a time. He came into a small town one day and saw some men in the middle of the town square who had been beaten and tortured. When he inquired as to the reason for the torture, he was informed that these men were preachers who did not preach what the Church of England demanded. Since they preached other beliefs, they were punished. This man explored more fully, and was so stirred in his heart by what he discovered that he took up their defense in the established court. As an attorney under the authority of the British king, he had almost total freedom as to what he could say. And as a preacher, he gave a tremendous sermon, inciting the entire town to rebel against the tyranny of the British government. In his sermon delivered in court to the judge, this man uttered words which would later become one of the most quoted phrases in our nation’s history. He first delivered his comments in court in defense of those preachers, but later he would deliver the same words to the leadership of what was to become our new nation. In his condemnation of the judge, the troops and the British government, this lawyer and preacher claimed that man must always be free to believe and to preach what he felt God gave him to preach, and should never be faced with the threat of violence or death for preaching those words to their flocks. And when faced with the possibility of changing what God wanted a man to preach in order to live, this man, this lawyer, this preacher, this Patrick Henry, uttered his soon to be famous quote: “Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” The words of the sermon delivered before the British judge was to become the rallying cry for a new nation. When faced with submission to the British church, Patrick Henry knew what his Biblical response must be. Months later, he delivered what was probably the most powerful speech the new nation’s leadership ever heard, which included his now famous quote. His speech, delivered to a wavering and undecided political leadership, directly resulted in the declaration of war against England.

Patrick Henry knew about submission to the governing authorities, and he knew when to resist.

The point of this history lesson, aside from reviewing facts that most Americans have forgotten or never learned, is to clearly establish exactly what “governing authority” God actually put in place over Americans. The governing authority that God put in place was a Constitutional Republic of limited government and maximum individual freedom, NOT a specific leader or a specific elected representative, and certainly not what we have in Washington, D.C. today. In fact, according to most of the Founding Fathers, God authored the Constitution. According to all the Founding Fathers, God gave all those rights to mankind, and mankind, by way of the Constitution, delegated certain powers and limited authority to the federal government. In case some didn’t understand the concept of limited delegation, the Founding Fathers stated it more clearly in the Bill of Rights.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Amendment 10, Constitution for the United States of America.

The government has only a few specifically delegated responsibilities in the Constitution, and outside of those limited responsibilities the federal government has absolutely nothing lawful to do. It cannot create for itself new powers or new responsibilities. It cannot create for Americans new programs that are based in powers or authorities not explicitly delegated to it by the Constitution. It cannot exceed its Constitutional limitations without losing its Constitutional authority and the legal justification for existence. Once the government exceeds its lawful and Constitutional authority and limitations, it becomes unlawful and unconstitutional; a rogue government, outside of the control of the Document that created it and gives it authority to exist.

More importantly, for every new power the government takes on, the rights of the people are reduced, usurped, or wrongfully taken away. The government usurps what was given by God to the people every time it creates for itself a new role or a new responsibility. The Founding Fathers believed that no government which wrongfully takes God-given rights from the people to whom God gave those rights can be viewed as being within the will of God. They believed that no government that wrongfully takes authority or responsibility upon itself that God did not write into the Constitution can consider itself to be anything but a rebellious and unlawful government. They believed that no government official, elected or appointed, who continues to participate in this process of wrongfully takes on authorities and responsibilities that rightfully and Constitutionally belong to We The People can call himself or herself anything other than treasonous.

If God designed America to be run in a certain specific manner, and the government evolves into something else by usurping authority from the people, then that government MUST be brought back into conformity with what God intended.

And We The People are the only ones who can do that. It was to We The People that God granted all those rights. It was to We The People that God gave this great nation. It was to We The People that God gave this unique form of Government. And it was We The People that allowed the government to expand beyond its restrictions and become unconstitutional.

Therefore, it must be We The People who are charged with bringing America back to its roots, back within its limitations, back to what God created.

A Biblical Mandate:

Those of us who call ourselves Christian have allowed those who we appointed to guard our freedoms to instead usurp those freedoms. That which God gave to us, our rights and freedoms, have been wrongfully taken from us. And God has charged all Believers to be good stewards of everything he gives us. God gave us those rights and freedoms for specific reasons, to accomplish specific tasks for his Kingdom. God calls us to protect and defend the authority he delegated to us and that we wrote into the Constitution. Can we then ignore this process of usurpation by our government and still call ourselves good stewards? Can we accomplish for God the tasks he designed and intended for us unless we are good stewards of the tools which he expressly gave us? Can we allow this Great Nation, creation of God for this world and a gift from God to us, to be changed and modified to such an extent that it barely resembles what God intended? Do we have any Biblical justification for allowing a small number of ambitious and greedy and unlawful people to continue to pervert what God created? Can we sit still and keep our mouths shut while all this is going on and still think we are following God? Can we continue to submit to this unconstitutional and ungodly federal government with no protest?

I think not!

I believe any Biblical understanding of the concept of stewardship requires all Believers to rise up and support a call to our government that it return to the Constitutional Republic created by God and by Godly men. We cannot do otherwise. We MUST submit to the authority given to us by God and demand that our government do the same. If we do not, history will condemn us, our Founding Fathers will condemn us, the Scriptures will condemn us, and God will condemn us.