Law of Moses — Leviticus 17

Posted on January 18, 2020 by ehurst

We pass over a great deal of ceremonial detail that could not apply to any other context but Ancient Israel. The nature of our study here is to understand the background of the Law in terms of how it would apply to us today. This chapter follows upon the instructions for the Day of Atonement, and stands in the context of making offerings. However, we find here an eternal divine principle of how God demands respect for His Creation.

Thus, the first six verses refer to any food that is ritually consumed in the Presence of Jehovah, in the sense of a shared meal declaring peace with God. This does not refer to common food preparation. It would be impossible for the priesthood to handle overseeing a ritual slaughter every day of the year for several hundred thousand households. This is for those special times of celebration. The idea is that bringing the dead carcass to the Temple is an insult to the Lord. You can’t treat a special meal in the Divine Presence as any other meal. The blood must be poured out before Him, and the entrails and fatty parts offered on the altar.

But then the commandment makes a particular point of warning that Jehovah is the only deity Israel serves. God refers to making sacrifices to goats, and it is often rightly translated as “demons” because it’s a reference to the goat idols some Israelis had picked up in Egypt. We know from rabbinical traditions that some small minority of the nation carried idols throughout the Exodus, and this was the source of much trouble. What the text here says is that, if they get caught, they can executed (“cut off”).

Next comes something that applies to all of humanity until the End of All Things: You shall not consume the blood of animals. Even in the daily food preparation at home, there must be a reverence toward God and His Creation by draining the blood carefully before any further processing of the carcass. God notes that this applies to every human, and we see that the Apostles in Acts 15 take it that way.

If nothing else, we should show reverence that one of God’s creatures must sacrifice its life for our survival. The whole point of the ritual law that we skipped over at this point is the symbolism of bloodshed to mark the price of sin. Sin kills; God allows us to use the blood of proxies to cover our sins. Adam and Eve covered their nakedness with animal skins, meaning animals died to protect them after the Fall. Eating meat is optional, but shedding blood is not. If you eat meat, it has to be done properly.

Furthermore, that blood should ideally be shed at your own hands. God makes one small allowance for eating meat from animals you didn’t kill yourself (or someone in your family killed). Presumably, you’re going to make sure it is bled before eating it. If you eat it, then you have touched a carcass. Have respect for life by noting that you are ceremonially unclean among human company until the next day (Hebrew days started at nightfall). Consider that the folks most likely to eat what we might jokingly call “road kill” would be people too poor to own or buy animals they could slaughter.

This is how we handle things today. While we no longer face the rituals that applied to Israel, we can easily understand how the modern food industry often ignores the thrust of this commandment. The whole idea is not the rules; God realizes that we don’t always have too many options. Our reverence for life is the issue, not the Kosher Law. Jesus made that point, and Peter’s housetop experience in Joppa leaves no doubt. We don’t bless the food, we bless the God who provides it.

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The Real Parties

Posted on January 18, 2020 by ehurst

There are two political parties in the US. Some claim there are more, but those others are just variations on the basic two. First is the materialistic middle-class pretentious liars. Their moral self-image is a false front, a moral depravity of its own. Second is the libertine folks who commit the same gross sins, but do so openly. Thus, the only real conflict is whether those sins should be publicly condemned, not whether anyone should engage in them. The whole debate is inherently materialistic.

The single greatest lie of Western Civilization has always been that there can be no hidden moral agency in the universe. That is, everything about our world is inherently discernible with the five senses. The heart is just an organ that pumps blood. Everything is down to a matter of physics and chemistry. It is a doctrinal assumption that, sooner or later, all things must be discerned by human agency. In the meantime, when anything is inexplicable by that approach, the difference between the two real parties is what brand of mysticism they permit.

Both are shallow and false. The first group says that there must be some deity who keeps us in the dark about it, but that said deity will reward those who persist in keeping certain silly rules, at least in public. Their god demands the silly charade. The second group says that there is no god, and that we are held back by our silly moral rules. We just need to embrace reality with our spirits, thus making a deity of the fallen human will.

The variations between these two basic positions are not of a different type, but a difference in degree and flavor. Very few Americans have any consciousness outside the boundaries of this essential debate. These two parties also represent two branches of the same basic materialistic religion.

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A Gossamer Distinction

Posted on January 14, 2020 by ehurst

In Radix Fidem, we make much of the Old Testament as the foundation for what Jesus taught.

If you were to step back and examine the Old Testament, you would see that, while some rituals were carefully structured and regulated, actual theology was very thin. There are obvious doctrinal statements here and there, but precious little of any systematic belief. The cultural and intellectual background was the real controlling factor in that sense.

The teaching of Jesus only reinforced this. There is really very little theology, but a lot of moral structure. The emphasis was always on feudal commitment to God and a powerful sense of conviction.

This is what we strive for in Radix Fidem. It’s not something that makes for a strong movement in our Western society. This makes it painfully difficult to create a distinct identity. Once inside this covenant, most of us have no trouble recognizing each other, but people on the outside would struggle to point to any identifying elements. That’s just the way it is for us.

All the more so with all the Old Testament rituals removed. They make no sense in our world, for the most part. They belonged to a different time, place and people. So we are left with something that the people around us are unlikely to even notice. That is, they won’t notice until we put it into practice. And while they still won’t see much that registers as a common moral thread, they will certainly notice our faith individually once we all feel the effects of tribulation.

There will be others out there who handle things with a similar faith. Who can say what will motivate them? We applaud anyone who manages to persevere in moral purity in the midst of trials, but it also tends to wipe away our gossamer distinction. It requires a measure of heart-led perception to see clearly any part of our shared faith. That is, unless folks notice that we don’t criticize the strength of outsiders. One of the few distinctions we have on that level is our lack of cheerleading our own identity. What we have is beautiful beyond words, but that doesn’t mean others don’t have something, too.

People who notice our lack of exclusivity will likely mistake us for belonging to something else they do know about. We must be ready to tell them when we sense that it makes a difference in our testimony. We allow the Holy Spirit to guide how much we invest in someone else, and what we should expect to harvest from their lives. We certainly don’t try to package it as a sales kit.

In terms of how our society measures such things, our religion will fail. It doesn’t even qualify as a movement. And yet it remains the most profound change in all of us who have crossed over into the moral realm of awareness.

This is what we think about when we use the word “evangelism.”

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Point 13, Draper Lake

Posted on January 13, 2020 by ehurst

It was almost cold today. During my ride the temperature ranged between 40-45° F, with a stiff southerly breeze around 20 MPH. It was also overcast and even just a bit hazy at times. I still managed to ride out to Point 13, the last time I have to deal with a “no wheels” policy for a while. But then, on both sides of this point, the old shore trail has been washed out at some point, so there’s not even an equestrian trail out here.

Because the point faces south, today the waves splashed pretty hard on the rocks there. I have pictures from a couple of years ago, but I don’t recall seeing this point at all. There is extensive flat rocky shelving here partly because of the erosion. You can see the bottom end of the sign marking this as Point 13, lying over in its side.

This is the view back to Point 12 from the west side of Point 13. It’s got a short bluff for quite some ways back. The eastern side of the point is thickly covered in trees right down to the water in most places. The remains of the old shore trail are nearly completely overgrown since there’s virtually no way to get to it across the washout. Even that wasn’t very picturesque.

Next up is the long trail out to the longest point on the lake.

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Law of Moses — Exodus 32

Posted on January 11, 2020 by ehurst

We take a break from study of the content of the Covenant and examine some historical context, in that the Covenant almost didn’t happen.

The story itself is familiar to most of us. Moses was communing with God on Mount Sinai while the nation below became impatient. For all they could tell, Moses went up in that cloud and died. His brother Aaron was recognized as the spokesman, while Moses himself seldom actually spoke in public. Again, get used to the idea that the narrative gives credit for actions to the people who commanded things, but didn’t literally put their hands to the work. Since Aaron was the recognized vocal agent and High Priest, they demanded that he come up with something they could recognize as a deity so they could get back on the march toward Canaan Land.

We can’t estimate how much gold Aaron received, but the symbolism of taking earrings is that the people agreed before hand to give their “ears” (obedient attention) to this deity. The idol probably wasn’t all that large, perhaps just visible if held aloft, and shiny because it was formed from freshly molten gold. Most likely it was cast by making a model of clay (thus, the engraving tool), and covering it with a thin layer of molten gold, which was then polished.

The idea typical for the Ancient Near East would not be worshiping the calf itself, but that the invisible deity would be riding on the calf, though we might think of it as a young bull as the image of strength. This was quite common among Semitic nations with Mesopotamian roots, and the phrasing of the declaration distinguishes their deity from the ones more common among Egyptians. “Our god defeated the Egyptian gods!” This is better than wallowing in Egyptian slavery, but not by much.

However, Aaron connected this symbol with Jehovah’s name, and defiled it with pagan rituals typically associated with the degrading cults of Canaan. They made offerings on their makeshift altar, then feasted and “got up to play.” This almost certainly refers to drunken nude dancing. This is what the text means by referring to making them a laughingstock before their enemies. Most nomadic Semite tribes would have been more sober in their worship rituals, and this made Israel appear to be no morally better than the folks in the Land of Canaan where they were supposed to root out corrupt religious practices. You can bet scouts from their enemies were around them, spying on all of this.

So God broke off this sweet communion with Moses and ordered him to stand aside while He destroys them. He would start fresh with the family of Moses and make a new tribe. Moses prayed on their behalf, noting that it was a little too late for that. After wiping out Egypt to deliver Israel, how would it look for the name of Jehovah if He made it seem like He lured them into the desert to destroy them? Yes, they were stiff-necked indeed, but that’s exactly the kind of problem revelation was supposed to solve. Moses implored God to keep His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God relented and Moses went down to clean up the mess. He bore two slabs of slate with detailed fine writing by God’s own finger on both sides. As they approached the camp, Joshua herd a racket that made him think there was a battle. Moses spoke in a prophetic verse that it was neither victory nor defeat that caused such a tumult, but fools partying in the desert. When they came down upon the scene, Moses couldn’t restrain himself. He shattered the two stone tablets to symbolize that they had already broken the covenant they had not yet officially received.

First he fussed with his brother, Aaron. The latter gave a lame excuse. Moses called for anyone who might have not yet caved into temptation. Of course, his own tribe was with him; they had not yet stripped naked and indulged in this orgy. The command they received is not easily translated into English. What it amounts to is sending armed men to execute people acting out the most egregious displays of immorality. Several thousand men were killed that way. They would have all been unarmed, since they were naked, and too drunk to resist.

Please don’t envision long steel swords flashing in afternoon sun. These would have been bronze weapons, not longer than a man’s forearm, a big dagger. That mixture of cooper and tin would have been too brittle for anything larger. The slaughter was a matter of grabbing a man, often by his beard, and stabbing his midriff. It would have been pretty messy.

When the armed Levites returned, Moses ordered everyone to observe sober mourning rituals as previously commanded in the ritual law. Whatever they were doing, it wasn’t Jehovah they had been celebrating. The next day as they fasted and mourned, Moses returned to the clouds on the mountain and begged with God to spare the nation.

The Lord’s answer was quite pointed: Those who defy Him will receive their individual justice. The implication is that He would judge by what’s in their hearts, and the punishment would match the sin. He ordered Moses to take the lead again and expect to see an angelic presence, but that when God came to visit, it would mean wrath. They couldn’t afford to have God leading them in person on a regular basis. For some time after this incident, a portion of the people suffered various kinds of plagues.

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Points 11 & 12, Draper Lake

Posted on January 7, 2020 by ehurst

Yesterday I rode out to Draper Lake and visited Points 11 and 12. As I passed the road to Point 8 I spotted an OKC police cruiser sitting on the road, facing outward rather like a speed trap. As I rode past it occurred to me this was just a standard patrol, something that I hadn’t seen much in the past. Some distance beyond that on the bikeway was the turn for Point 11.

I rode out to the point and saw a rather new sign warning that this point was now under recovery, and no wheels were allowed. So I locked my bike to the sign, since no other suitable fixed object was close to the pavement. As I was doing so, that patrol cruiser rolled by slowly, then left. I strolled down the slope and took a couple of shots. This next one (above) shows how the natural bluff was washed out because of wheeled traffic running down to the water during times when it wasn’t nearly this high.

I can recall that this rock shelf (left) was above the water a couple of years ago. Indeed, there were several more like this around Point 11. But this point was never beautiful, and it has seen a lot of foot traffic and litter that never gets picked up.

After looking around a bit and noticing that the equestrian trail was now heavily overgrown, I left and came around to the Point 12. On the one hand, this point is much prettier. On the other hand, it suffered greatly from a very bad brush cutting a few years ago. A few trees were cut and thrown down on the shore.

The crew that did it failed to cut the underbrush off at ground level, leaving hard stubs in the ground, most of which have already sprouted again. Meanwhile, the rest are there to trip you up, or even threaten to poke through the soles of your shoes.

Here’s a man sitting on the rocky shore at Point 12. He had a large dog with him, running around and chasing a toy, quite non-threatening. The man threw it out into the water a couple of times, and the dog dutifully swam out to fetch it.

Here we can look back to Point 11. While it’s just barely visible in the far background, we have a lovely view along the western side of Point 12. If you look closely, you’ll see the dog lying in the deep grass.

If the details of the local map mean anything, then Points 8, 11, 12 and 13 along the north end here are under recovery protection. I’ll be visiting 13 next, so the point itself is no-wheels, but the old shore trail from there to the Point 14 is outside the recovery zone. I’m hoping the equestrian track there has seen recent use.

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A Persecution Hymn

Posted on January 6, 2020 by ehurst

You have probably participated in singing the song, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” Maybe the group you were in used the verse that goes:

The world behind me,
The Cross before me…

The song comes from the predominately Christian hill tribes in the far northeastern area of India, typically referred to as Garo. There were several waves of missionaries who went there. You can find several different stories about the origin of the song, and they are quite varied. So the actual composition is lost in legend, but the song reflects a resolve in the face of persecution, about which those Christians could tell us a thing or two.

Yet you know already in your heart that most people who mouth the words of that song have no real concept for what they are saying. Teenagers especially are at a time in their lives when a radical commitment to something beckons them. For them, it’s not a question of sincerity. It’s as real as anything else they know.

And it’s not as if they never experience any persecution for their faith. Our society has created a subtle system of rejection for genuine commitment to Christ. The problem is that a huge portion of American Christians have faced this, and the real danger is not their lack of commitment, but the vast layer of substitution for the genuine power of conviction. They aren’t taught conviction, but to work this all from their minds. Intellectual belief is substituted for conviction, and there is a heavy curriculum in apologetics to ensure it all sounds logical.

Between the Zionists and globalists, we are headed for a more overt persecution. People of genuine faith will be under pressure to compromise with the prevailing definition of “Christian” religion. Overt persecution always shakes loose the fakes. People who sing that song may not be truly rooted in the faith that generated those words, and it is they who will hold the institutions.

Radix Fidem doesn’t make you better than other folks, but it does tend to demand enough from you that fakery becomes difficult. Prepare your hearts for persecution, folks.

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Law of Moses — Exodus 31:12-18

Posted on January 4, 2020 by ehurst

We skip over the detailed description of the Tabernacle, priestly rituals and vestments, and related matters. They are a grand archaeological resource, helping us envision things, but not of any great essence in understanding the implications of Biblical Law as a whole.

To some degree, we might almost say the same thing about the Sabbath Observance. However, the symbolism here is more deeply woven into the very fabric of Creation itself. But before we dig into that, let us review critical statements Paul made regarding how we translate the Sabbath Law into the service of Christ:

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17)

The whole chapter there is Paul warning against legalism, using the Law as a club to make others miserable. There is no virtue in that. He also warns against trusting in logic and reason, but emphasizes trusting your personal convictions.

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14:5)

Same story, but in more detail, Paul obliterates the legalistic position regarding Sabbath observance and other holy days, along with Kosher and similar matters. He uses the Greek word nous, translated as “mind,” but in this context meaning something akin to a sure knowledge of your own convictions.

Finally, in Hebrews 3-4, the author argues that the whole point behind the Sabbath was to symbolize the rest God promised, in that Sabbath is from the Hebrew root for “rest.” God created all things in six days and rested on the seventh, establishing the pattern for us. Israel never actually got to that rest, so the Son fulfilled the meaning of the Law for them, and for us. If we follow Him with a commitment from the heart, we cannot fail to enter God’s rest.

This is how we understand this passage in Exodus 31. It’s a divine privilege to take off one day in seven and still be assured that everything will be fine. Israel could give that day back to God and still prosper. They could devote that day to contemplation and renewal of their personal commitment to Jehovah as Lord. Meanwhile, they could bless the Lord by giving everyone else a break by making no material demands on them. Slow down and take care of your own personal needs that day.

The whole point of this passage is to emphasize that Israel must take this command very seriously. It’s a symbol of the Covenant itself and the promises to future generations. This is a call to trust the Lord to keep His promises, letting faith overrule the human logic based on fear and distrust.

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No Going Back

Posted on January 3, 2020 by ehurst

Sometimes I hit those moments when there is so little I can say. It’s not writer’s block. Something in me is at rest, as if some major task is finished. For at least a little while, there is nothing I can say, just stare at what was done and absorb it for what it is.

What I felt called to do for this past decade or so was to give people a way to talk about this kind of faith. I’ve tried to offer examples of words that will capture just enough of the essence of this Radix Fidem life, so that we can have a realistic hope that others can catch it. I’m sure I’ll be adding more to that body of expression, but I sense that it’s mostly done enough to make it work.

I have before me a fresh task, though. It’s building this into a way of faith and religion that stands firm with very little support. Those of us who have embraced the heart-led way are often quite alone in the real world. It’s not that other folks have no convictions, but their faith doesn’t draw them where mine does. I’m so far out there, I sometimes have wondered just who could my audience be in the first place.

It’s good to know that some of you have offered your fellowship, sharing your own experiences of walking through this world and hearing all Creation talk to your heart on that divine wavelength. It’s good to know that other folks can hear the call of Biblical Law in the New Testament stories of Christ. I know that I am most fortunate to have a wife who grasps this. How many of you have that one special person near you who walks the same path?

All my life, one church or another has been my social outlet. That ended about 15 years ago when I was made unwelcome at the last church where I actually had membership. I tried several others, but the door was never really open. They didn’t want me; they wanted something they imagined they could make of me. I gave up on that.

Right now I’m poking around in other kinds of human gatherings where I can be the man God called and not have to worry they’ll run me off. We’ll see where that goes. Perhaps I can stumble into something that will provide new experiences to share with you about how faith moves mountains.

Right now the theme remains: decentralized religion. We must each become the kind of person who can stand alone, and sometimes very quietly, while the world around us goes to Hell. Sometimes the very act of standing in faith itself is the loudest trumpet for the gospel message. It really depends on your calling and mission. Still, Radix Fidem points to something that will tend to isolate us from the mainstream. Be strong. This is not an insignificant calling.

However, I know that once anyone tastes the heart-led way of faith, there’s no going back. Let’s pray for each other.

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Red Pill Religion and Gamma Boys

Posted on January 2, 2020 by ehurst

I’ve talked about the men’s Red Pill movement and mentioned Gamma Boys a few times. Gammas are the guys with significant intelligence and talent, but raised poorly so that they feel entitled. They are socially damaged; they have a very poor connection with reality. They can do very useful stuff, but they can’t understand the world of people around them. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about such things, nor do I expend that many electrons posting about it. I embrace the whole concept as a partial reflection of Biblical Law, but God has other things for me to focus on.

However, I have recently run into some Gamma Boys of the mainstream churches. Not so much in personal encounters, but guys trying to persuade me to feature their ideas on my blog. And their ideas have nothing to do with Red Pill stuff, but religion itself. A primary annoyance has been the vast walls of text they try to post in my comments.

Keep in mind that “walls of text” is a specific term referring to vast wads of verbiage meant to convince, to sell something. Even when well written, you can tell someone is trying to push something down your throat. It uses some standard advertising verbal manipulation techniques (AKA propaganda). For heart-led people especially, you get alarm bells ringing when you start the read this stuff, for the underhanded approach, if not for the content.

It’s one thing to hold out an invitation for someone to explore ideas you are sharing. Radix Fidem is a path, not a destination. It’s another thing entirely to aim at trapping people by seeking to close off mental escape routes. Gammas routinely communicate in walls of text; they have no concept of cutting to the chase. Their whole game is not actual communications, but manipulation. They cannot imagine asking sharp questions to get people thinking. They don’t want you to think; they want control. They believe they are entitled to it, commissioned by God to seize it.

Their ideas aren’t from the heart, but from their own reasoning. Gammas tend to be spiteful and arrogant, as you would expect from mere intellect, but it seldom shows until you reject their overtures. They take it personally, as if you are rejecting them. They are all messiahs in their own minds. The mark of a mature spiritual person is not taking themselves too seriously, and handling with equanimity the interactions where their ideas aren’t received well.

While Gamma Boys will always manage to grab a few minds here and there, they never succeed at entering the mainstream. Thus, they run around trying to promote their ideas by posting big walls of text in the comments section of blogs and similar sites. They imagine their verbiage is somehow persuasive, or that at least it ought to be, because it was so enervating when they first dreamed it up in their own minds. They imagine that they are supreme debaters, vanquishing all resistance by the power of their minds, and you must be a loser if you can’t admire it.

There was a time I might have tried engaging them by answering their nonsense. You have to be discerning about such things. Not all of them start off with a huge long comment. I try to answer with, “This is what my convictions say.” If that gets a bad reaction, betraying a sense of entitlement, I cut them off, marking them in my minds as confirmed Gamma Boys. I pray for them, but delete any future comments without response, unless they start to turn in a good direction — it does happen with some. I know this because I was once one of them. But I’ve cut off quite a few over the past couple of years because they are too locked into their castles to listen.

This problem appears on a spectrum of disorder. It’s a tendency, not a single defined issue. There are lots of smart people out there seizing on some special logical angle, and with varying degrees of charisma, they can be persuasive. Maybe they attract a small crowd who become enthralled with their notions. We have a lot of deception out there that sprouts up like this. To heart-led people, it is clearly based merely on human talent, not the moral truth woven into the the fabric of Creation.

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