Latest Edition of the Tower of Babel

I’ve noted often that if you evaluate Western Civilization by Western values, it’s hard to notice the flaws. There are different kinds and levels of systems, but Western Civilization as a system is devoted to proving the system is right. Removing all references to a more objective frame of reference is part of the game, as is changing the definition of “objective” so that it points only to something inside the system. It’s pervasive, a closed loop that allows no escape.

This is why I teach that you have to reject the system in order to escape. It’s a big lie, with boundaries that are mere shadows. Step through and see what’s actually outside this imaginary bubble. In doing so, I embrace the frame of reference reflected in the Bible. I won’t even bother to suggest the Biblical perspective is the only one, but that it’s the one to which I am committed. After a lifetime researching what’s involved, I came to the conclusion that Western Christianity is still essentially Western, and therefore not genuinely Christian. If you want to suggest Christ was anything close to Western ideals, I’d warn you that you are approaching blasphemy. Even Western scholarship itself can make it obvious Our Savior was nothing like that.

So why do these Western scholars themselves not escape the system? I suppose the individual answers will vary all over the map. In other words, I won’t pretend to answer for them. I do know what path I used to escape, and it seems to share an awful lot with others who have escaped, even those who encountered me afterward. Not uniformity — another Western obsession — but we possess commonality sufficient that we can talk and fellowship and make the most of Christ’s divine compassion and mercy. We share something beyond words, so that when I put something into words, God allows them recognize His fingerprints. He decides whom He touches and how. I’m just a servant, a living tool for His glory.

One of the things He made obvious was that a human race united without His divine glory is not going to happen. The harder people push toward a distinctly human unity, the harder He makes it crash when He’s had enough. That’s part of the lesson in the Tower of Babel narrative. Secular unity is an abomination. We are designed to live a tribal existence. It can certainly go wrong with the ugliness of racist abuse and hatred. Still, in our fallen state, the path back to Eden for us in this world means we accept a certain level of division as optimal for divine justice. We are supposed to live in extended family households with no one poking into our business who isn’t doesn’t share our DNA or a covenant before God.

As you might realize, not a single Western government would tolerate such a restriction on their power. The system says there is no God, at least not in the sense that His revelation matters to life here in this world. If His divine mastery of Creation isn’t disemboweled and pushed into safe la-la land mythology, then we aren’t allowed to talk about Him.

Instead, the system is determined to force us to live as one people without God. Anything “global” is damned in God’s eyes. Only a Westerner could imagine even religion being somehow universal in scope. God says flatly in His revelation that He works only with individuals, that He alone decides what is required from each unique person for Him to bless and guide them back to Eden. No two of us will find the same exact experience when facing the Flaming Sword. Thus, any grouping must permit maximum freedom to be an individual. It requires a whole bunch of cultural shift for Westerners to live in a household that tolerates a large degree of uniqueness. Whatever functional unity we might have is constrained in His justice to a pretty small sized grouping. God Himself suggests that anything bigger than fifty means noticeable variations with the next fifty. Anything bigger than a thousand or so means variation that is quite significant. I didn’t make up those numbers; they are part of the language of revelation.

Remember what I said about infiltration. We don’t make demands of a blind world; God takes care of that kind of thing. We make demands on ourselves so that we can find His place for us in a world that hates Him. We allow Him to bounce His glory out of our lives into this world. We shine because we work with Him to polish off the rough spots and reflect the light of His glory. We are no better than mirrors, sparkly disco balls and chandeliers. Nobody can view Him directly lest we cease to live and find ourselves pulled directly out of this world. But we can shine.

We can shine by noting how ominous are the plans of the demonic Cult to force us into various Borg schemes of soulless uniformity. Global open trade is a sin. Global open exchange and surrendering local controls are inherently immoral in God’s eyes. We might debate what kinds of things God expects the local tribal government to control, but the necessity of “inefficient” constant renegotiation is the general shape of what God requires. It’s shocking for Westerners to imagine God has little interest in efficiency as we think of it.

We cannot obey the whims of Our Lord if we surrender too much control to those who aren’t a part of us. We cannot obey the whims of Our Lord if we defy Him in calling “family” those who don’t meet His covenant requirements. We are supposed to be a little clannish in that sense. You can pack all kinds of false baggage into that image, but that just shows you have no moral discernment. Whatever flaws you see in the tribal social structure, you can only do worse by any system you dream up. What you dream up is inherently short of God’s character, which character pervades reality itself.

So while we work within a fallen world, we don’t give our blessing to things that defy God’s revelation. Even as our hands participate in things we know aren’t going to work out, we focus on the divine opportunity to be there for His glory. So if people ask, we give them as much honest answer as they can handle. Try to sense the degree and level of moral kinship. The honest answer is that any global trade and government system is doomed to failure. Trade itself is not the problem; it’s how our current system demands surrender of way too much to engage in trade. You aren’t supposed to run around naked outside of Eden. You have to accept the covering of His Laws in a hostile climate, or Satan will get inside your life and ruin things.

(No, the Internet is not a violation of this principle. I’ve explained often enough that virtual space has its own divine justice and it’s not the same as meat space.)

So, our problem is recognizing what among human political wrangling constitutes a violation of divine justice. When someone in politics talks about borders, trade restrictions and purely defensive nationalism, the Cult will go after them. Look for it. When it serves their greater agenda temporarily, they’ll encourage almost anything, but we know they intend to rule the whole world in the end. They will not tolerate obstructions to their will. Their primary means is through debt (usury), which in turn grants control over our material existence. They assume that our material existence is all there is and aren’t friendly to any notion that gives people any escape from fear.

Expect them to eventually try to crush what we teach here, but only when it looms significant on their radar. It’s possible we could never attract enough attention to be noticed before God moves to destroy their works. My point is that we should be ready when the next confusion of tongues happens and God stops this latest Tower of Babel project.

Meanwhile: Shine Jesus, shine.