Random Photos 20

Posted on May 27, 2024 by ehurst

I took a trip recently and I’m really quite disappointed at how the pictures turned out. Only these tiny few were any good. First up is a pair of shots taken from a very crowded bus ride. This is the Winstar Casino in Thackervill, OK. It would be the last place you could get off the Interstate before crossing the Red River into Texas.

As with all casinos in our state, this is owned by one of the Native American tribes. It’s one of the most extravagant. Aside from the massive hotel, the side facing the road is actually a parking garage with various architectural facades emulating famous places in history. There’s an Imperial Roman entrance, a section that resembles Westminster Palace in London, etc. Most of these facilities dotted around the state are complete towns, with gas stations, grocery stores, etc.

My host took me over to South Padre Island, but it was a dreary ugly day. This shot of the beach facing out onto the Gulf of Mexico turned out okay. I was told it’s rarely ever calm; this is actually rather tame waves for Padre Island. The dunes are active and always moving just a little, and it requires a bit of work to keep the access ramps clear and usable.

There are really very few places to stop and get out in the built up area of the island. One section costs quite a bit just to drive into it for parking. It’s a total tourist trap until you get out away from the buildings. Thus, I ended up with this long shot down the beach back to the facilities. I did try to shoot from the car, but nothing turned out. I’m really disappointed by the photography on this trip.

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NT Doctrine — 1 Timothy 3

Posted on May 25, 2024 by ehurst

The Old Testament priesthood and social elders had requirements in the Law of Moses. They were expected to meet certain qualifications and to maintain standards. They were just ordinary men, but in extraordinary roles. This was carried forward into the New Testament. The labels are different, but the work is roughly the same.

As previously noted, where Timothy labored in Ephesus was already well on the way to becoming the center of New Testament faith. It stands to reason that with such a dense population of believers, Timothy could use a little guidance on church offices that don’t show up in smaller congregations scattered over a wide area.

When Paul chose the Greek word episkope it was not a kind of man, but a specific role. Translated literally, Paul referred to “aspiring to oversee” — the doing of the job. The term might point to an apostle, but it could also just be any elder or pastor tasked with an elevated concern of keeping things on track. These are men God called because they could tell when something didn’t fit the clear gospel standards. The mission is sniffing out deficiencies and irregularities, to inspect and prescribe improvements. They had to first understand the gospel standards and what improvements should look like. It was both a talent and a heavy burden.

While the list of qualifications has garnered an awful lot of attention, it justifies reading between the lines. An overseer is one who cares enough to sacrifice himself for the reputation of God and His revelation. He knows that a revelation must live in humans, that the rules are not the treasure, the people are. Everything is for the sake of their growth into Christ. This is the kind of man who has no trouble meeting those qualifications.

He mentions deacons because some churches had become busy enough to warrant the elder/priest combination having extra hands for tasks carried out by more devoted people who didn’t feel called to lead. The whole image here is not leadership but vesting someone with authority rather like the Temple Guard, just without the military force connotations. It was more like the messenger corps. A literal translation of diakonos is attendant.

For this reason, the New Testament uses the term “deaconess” in some places. Women can do this; it doesn’t require exercising authority, only privilege. It requires access to things not always public and implies a high trust factor. Keep in mind that some of these people were paid staff of the church in these roles. This is not the same thing as the seven chosen for the first church in Jerusalem; they were elders, community leaders, not deacons.

It’s not as if Timothy could not have figured this out, but Paul encouraged him to develop the organization of the body in preparation for the sudden arrival of a great many Judean believers fleeing the coming Jewish revolt.

Paul ends this chapter with a short recitation of what sounds very much like a bit of catechism, something memorized for doctrinal teaching. It indicates clearly that these roles required high qualifications because they reflected on Jesus Himself.

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No Rescue Here

Posted on May 23, 2024 by ehurst

The Woman at the Well made an off-hand comment to Jesus about “when the Messiah comes” that was totally consistent with the fervor of the times. The entire nation of Israel understood Daniel’s prophecy and that it was about time for the Messiah to come. This surely spilled over into Samaritan society, as well. Any day now, the Messiah would come and set everything right.

Of course, to set things right meant different things for different folks. For the Jewish leadership, it meant getting rid of Rome. For the Jewish peasants, it meant getting rid of the oppressive Jewish leadership, as well as Rome. And for Samaritans it meant overpowering Israel and getting their day in the sun.

There has always been a strong market for any promise of a coming rescue operation. It’s so strong that it shows up as the primary hope in literature, TV and movies. It’s the dominant theme here in America, to the point it’s in our language as “the cavalry riding to the rescue”.

Today there’s still a very powerful market for this trope. There’s an awful lot of unhappy Americans willing to pay almost anyone who offers hope for tomorrow. You can find variations on this theme on both sides of the political and social divide. Everyone is hoping the idiots on the other side will be taken down, maybe even slaughtered, and the world made right (whatever that means to them).

Some people very close to me are investing a lot of time and money in crackpot voices selling this very thing. Any day now, the cavalry will come riding to the rescue and the evil people will be destroyed.

When Jesus the Messiah came, it was nothing like anyone’s expectations. Even today we still have masses of people who don’t even understand what He did. The rescue was on a spiritual level; He opened God’s Covenant to all, instead of just one tiny nation. But the oppression of the Jewish government and Rome lingered on past His rescue. Indeed, the conflict between Judea and Rome exploded, raging for a century that saw Jerusalem destroyed and Jews forbidden to enter when it was rebuilt. That was hardly what the people were expecting.

There is a rescue coming, of course, but it will mean the end of this world, not its salvation. There will never be a time when this world is set right. It will only get worse until it ends. This world isn’t real in the first place; it’s just a simulation of sorts God is running to prove a point. And we are not the audience He is trying to educate. Rather, we are the subjects of the experiment. How do you like being a lab rat?

It’s not as if we play no part, and we certainly do have hope for a better end in Eternity. It’s just that we need to understand that we are not that important in the grander scheme of things. As long as we are deluded in thinking that we matter that much, we will never grasp what God has been doing, nor what He intends to do. Yes, He loves us, but we are not the center of His plans. We will be included in His plans to prove a point: He is unique above all others, the one and only Creator who warrants all glory and praise.

You and I warrant nothing, all the more so in our current form. As mortals, we are just a living, breathing proof of God’s contention with far higher beings. This is our role, and we need to adjust our expectations. The high privilege of participating in His glory is beyond understanding, magnanimous beyond words. There will be no substantive rescue in this life. This world is supposed to be an insufferable mess, and it surely is. Our only hope for any measure of relief is to seize the privilege of living according to divine revelation.

We do have a purpose here. Life is not meaningless. It’s just that all human ambition is inherently contrary to that purpose. There is no grand rescue in this life. The world will continue on its path to Hell, steadily getting worse. It is supposed to suck. What comes in the next life is beyond imagination. We are most fortunate to be included.

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Make Room for It

Posted on May 20, 2024 by ehurst

Jesus chose His disciples. He knew what He was getting.

You’ll notice His plans had nothing to do with efficiency, nor even effectiveness. His plans had to do more with salvaging people already marginalized by their society. It was all about the people, not their talents or capabilities.

God can use anyone, or no one at all, to accomplish His mission. It’s not a question of whether the mission will get done. He wants people; that’s the mission.

This whole business of churches looking at resumes and accomplishments means we aren’t dealing with the Body of Christ, but a religious business with a tax exemption to cover for worldly ambitions. That’s not how Jesus chose His disciples. He didn’t use any special miracles that we cannot tap into.

He chose people that were available, people who would follow Him. Because they submitted to His feudal mastery, they were open to changes that would make them into miracle people. It’s the same miracle changes God willingly injects into the lives of everyone who are available. And sometimes He chose people who weren’t available, like Paul. But Paul understood authority and believed in divine power enough to become useful.

Anyone — truly, anyone — can be made useful to God. He doesn’t need our suggestions, our nominations for election. What we aim for is to manifest His message as a lovely vision that calls to those He prepared. It won’t matter what our assessments are regarding the people He chose. He chose you, didn’t He?

Make room for His power.

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The Mission Is Never Complete

Posted on May 19, 2024 by ehurst

Peace with God is a gift. You don’t make it; you receive it. Then you learn how to feed it and care for it so that it grows and consumes your life. If it doesn’t have you, you don’t have it.

Yesterday’s Bible lesson teaches us to act as if temporal peace with God is possible for the entire human race, Elect or not. That’s what the Cross and the New Covenant is all about. It remains something that belongs in this world. There’s no need for a covenant in Eternity.

The ability, the inclination and desire, to have peace with Him under His Covenant is what He must give you. Otherwise, there will be no interest. People get hung up on the wording that “God desires” all humans to have peace with Him, as if this “desire” implies He intends to make it happen, or that He has left the door open for every human.

Saying God “desires” something is a mere anthropomorphism. It is not an absolute truth, but a characterization. We cannot paste logical and concrete traits onto God in Heaven. Any words we use will be an approximation, at best. God transcends any comments we can make about Him. That Paul was an apostle does not change that. Indeed, what I’m trying to explain here is his Hebrew outlook on things.

There is no such thing as propositional truth. That’s an oxymoron. There is a Person who allows some of us to approach Him for reasons we cannot comprehend. Nothing about it could possibly make sense to our logic and reason. It cannot be told — ineffable. All we can do is approximate in human terms something close enough that we can organize and implement what God requires of us.

It’s not a matter of facts or clear ideas. It’s a persistent nagging that pulls you toward something that certainly does not compute logically. You can’t ignore it.

What He demands from us must come from Him in the first place: loyalty, commitment, heart-led submission and adoration. If He doesn’t put that inside of us, there is no way we can exercise faith. The starting place is what the Penitent Tax Collector said during worship that day in the Temple: “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Only God can grant that kind of humility. So, the only question that matters is whether you can find it in you.

If you sense that calling in your soul, then by all means, seek His face. Declare your submission to Him as Lord and ask for guidance in obeying His will. He will provide. Keep asking, because as long as you live, the mission is never complete.

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NT Doctrine — 1 Timothy 2

Posted on May 18, 2024 by ehurst

Western minds do not understand the boundaries between the Spirit Realm and our fallen existence here in the flesh. They do not understand how those two realms connect.

Evangelicals will choke on this: The current chapter refers to this life in our flesh, not spiritual birth. It should be obvious from the context that Paul is talking about how to walk in this world. To his Hebrew mind, “saved” and “salvation” points to walking in the Covenant; it is the redemption of our lives here below. While his teaching here is certainly connected to spiritual birth, that is not the point. The point is that the salvation he’s talking about is the Covenant life on this earth, the divine privilege of knowing and walking according to God’s revelation for life in this world.

Our human minds cannot understand Election, nor can we do anything at all to change whether someone is elect. The Elect were chosen before the Creation of this world. The whole culture of the Ancient Near East in general, and Hebrews in particular, would not presume to speak directly and clinically of eternal things. So, to pray for everyone is to pray that they find the Covenant life, because Jesus died to open the Covenant to us. His death on the Cross had nothing to do with changing Election.

Praying for humanity at large is pointless; we cannot bring before the Lord something with no clear identity. Paul says pray for everyone we know about personally, including the rulers we may never encounter. We pray that they find the truth of Covenant life, a life of peace, godliness and dignity. Our Lord welcomes such prayers, since He always wanted every fallen human to find His Covenant. That’s why He sent Jesus, so that the Covenant did not remain some obscure secret hidden in a corner of the world, but a message of redemption to all mankind. We want them to walk in the Covenant.

This is also why God commissioned Paul as an apostle, to share this message, to organize and implement a way to gain maximum exposure to every human. For this cause, Paul wants everyone to pray fervently, lifting up holy covenant hands to the Lord. In case it’s not obvious, that phrase “holy hands” refers to a life that is committed to the Covenant in feudal obedience. He refers to letting go of anger, wrath, and contention over fleshly trifles.

Then, Paul gives an example and happens to start with what Christian women should strive to do. He’s not referring to sexual modesty here; that much was already obvious, even in a Gentile world at that time. He’s referring to ostentatious displays of wealth. Women should not flaunt their fancy jewelry and expensive clothes; they shouldn’t show off their hair at all. In that world it meant they should wear a simple head covering, rather like a plain scarf. Instead of flaunting her wealth, she should proudly uphold her covenant covering. She should act like a woman who is under a strong spiritual authority, not an independent harlot. She avoids public attention as much as possible.

Thus, no covenant woman would ever dream of holding or exercising authority over any man. She knows that God made her to support her covering, to be a blessing, a “helpmeet” whose whole mission is her man. The reason for this is that God didn’t grant women spiritual authority; it’s not part of their equipment. In the Garden of Eden, she was deceived about the spiritual nature of what the Devil was saying, but Adam was not. God made males to carry spiritual authority, not women.

It’s not that women simply cannot lead, but that they are not equipped to do it right. They are inherently incapable of sensing the things men can sense about the moral and spiritual context. Paul’s reference to “childbearing” is symbolic; women are meant to be daughters and wives, not social leaders. A world where women lead cannot walk in the Covenant. So, we pray that women stop trying to lead, that men will stand up and take their headship role and do it right, according to the Word.

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Don’t Believe It

Posted on May 15, 2024 by ehurst

Reminder: I am no kind of activist. I do not encourage nor support efforts to force the system to change. Such efforts do not result in substantive change in the attitudes of those who run the system. They still hate us, and so any time they are forced by political leverage to make adjustments, they carefully structure the changes to ensure that no real beneficial difference can slip through.

I’ve seen glimpses of the system here and there. We’ve got decent people trying to serve disabled military veterans at the lower echelons, but the system above them restricts their hands. They are not allowed to do what they already know is in our best interests. It’s the folks higher up who still hate us and want us to just go away and die. That’s how bureaucracy works.

So, I’m not working from the inside. If I were to try, the bureaucratic hive-mind would strive with all it’s power to force me to change my moral character, of spit me out of the system. That’s a part of why I decided to leave the military in the first place. Of course, the ostensible reason was physical disability. The system already saw the extent of my injuries, and still offered an assignment for which I was physically incapable, as if to mock me.

Yes, this is the reality, and it serves no purpose to be bitter. Rather, I’m warning everyone who doesn’t already know: The promises they make about taking care of you are lies. Not in the sense of blatant nothing-there kind of lying, but a cynical and Orwellian kind of lying. They give the appearance of delivering, but then every step of the way is a nightmare of bureaucratic entanglement, always denying care on the most improbable technicalities.

I can’t count how often I’ve had to call in the big dogs (Senators, ombudsmen, lawsuits, etc.) to force the system to do better for me on some issue. If you are considering serving in the military, don’t be fooled by the promises. Go into it knowing that it’s all lies. Know that they will chew you up and spit you out, and barely manage to mumble a fake “thank you” as they bundle you into a coffin. If you elect to serve, do so only because you must, despite the abusive nature of the system.

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Legitimate Use of Law

Posted on May 14, 2024 by ehurst

In our most recent Bible lesson, we see where Paul says that knowing the applicable law code from the Bible is not a waste of time. It is aimed at the flesh — our flesh. We study the law codes so that our brains are ready to hear from our hearts. Our hearts already know the truth of God; they don’t need the law codes — the flesh does.

What we proclaim is 100% miracle. There is nothing we can do to persuade the flesh. Our own flesh we nail to the Cross. Others must do the same with theirs. The Holy Spirit hands us the wood, hammer and nails. He’s the only source. Giving the non-elect the law code can help them, but it cannot save them. The most it might do is give them a sense of right and wrong.

These days, most flesh is all about logic, even if people aren’t very good at it. There is a pretense of logic burned into our society. This is why church leadership will often insist that the gospel message is still reasonable, and try to defend it with logic. That’s a failure. Logic cannot breathe the Holy Spirit into a dead soul. No one truly comes to Christ on the basis of reason and intelligence.

They might lay hold of a decent religion, but faith and reason are mutually antagonistic. Reason is the flesh; as soon as it realizes that it requires crucifixion, you can be certain it will fight tooth and nail to avoid the Cross. It will not surrender voluntarily to faith. Your will must seize the intellect and humble it. That’s what the law code is for.

You cannot know Christ with your head; He lives only in our hearts.

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Nothing Has Changed

Posted on May 13, 2024 by ehurst

The essence of divine revelation is explaining and promoting what God has done in Creation. God’s nature is inherent in Creation; the very nature of nature manifests Him. He is the fabric of reality. We have a mandate to live in His Creation according to His character. It’s part of who He is to reveal to us how all of that should work. His purpose in making humans was to express His character in Creation on His behalf.

We have a limited moral freedom within His Creation. His motives are inscrutable, but we have been granted sufficient insight to do the job of expressing His character. We bobbled it in Eden, and this necessitated some changes, but the underlying mission has not changed. The path back to Eden is through Christ. Fundamental to faith in Christ is the dual necessity of expressing and manifesting revelation in the context, along with condemning sin.

His revelation acknowledges that our situation is difficult, and He has made promises about fudging things in our favor, but only so long as we play by His rules. We must remain committed to His revelation, and that includes both the prescriptions and proscriptions.

Our ultimate value system includes the dire necessity of revealing Him. There is nothing we can do about the broader sweep of human political ambitions. We want no part of a focus that leaves God out of things. When humans seek any kind of freedom out of God’s hand, they can do so only by rejecting His revelation. Without exception, the only way a human can desire anything except God’s revelation is by accepting the lies from God’s opponents.

Think about it for a moment. The term “progressivism” refers to the dominant philosophy that man must progress from religion and its traditions, toward an increasingly secular orientation. This is the core of what we see moving in all social and political activity. Any attempt to limit this movement is vilified as inherently evil. The definition of “sin” becomes a matter of resisting progress in that one direction.

How humanity moves forward is not really the question, despite the propaganda. We are told there is a dichotomy between various brands of communism versus various expressions of fascism. But both are inherently materialistic and collective — the false collective of humanity against God. The differences are minor. When has “Antifa” not acted like fascists?

The progressive movement is surprisingly unconscious — a self-imposed lack of awareness — about how religious they are. Secularism really is a religion, a statement of faith about the nature of humans and reality. And they seek to raise up a god that is currently expressed in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is their Holy Grail, something that is relentlessly materialistic and secular as they define it. They want a power that no one can oppose, and so will impose their god on our world.

AI is currently not that intelligent. It is a bad joke; it’s nothing more than regurgitating the net gestalt of human chatter that has been filtered in preference for progressive ideals. It will be promoted as some uber-intelligence, but it’s just a big lie.

Yet, this is how it will become a threat. It will be the progressives’ biggest weapon against us. At some point, your various devices will cease to serve any useful purpose other than to link you to that awful brain-dead master. The real danger is that you would become so dependent on what those various devices do that you will not be able to function without them.

I’m not suggesting some kind of Luddite war against the devices, nor any kind of debilitating fear of them. Rather, we must develop a realistic assessment of how they will be used against us, and prepare to work around that. The devices are not the problem; it’s how humans allow them to rule their conscious awareness. The heart-led path takes us away from wallowing in the swamp even as we use the devices. It’s a narrow path, a challenging balance.

Some things are worthy of sacrifice, the price of the mission. Since the days Christ walked on this earth, we have borne a mission of living with the ways of this world, while not being confined to them — in the world, not of it. Each of us will have our own conviction-led path of resistance and rejection of the devices. The question is not something that can offer one answer for everyone.

You must know for yourself the balance point between too deeply enmeshed versus no longer able to speak to the world around us.

Either way, we don’t give a fig about the alleged “right of free speech” and censorship. We have a divine mandate to warn about sin and offer divine mercy. His truth cuts through the lies of this world, but only for those He calls. This may require some savvy tactical considerations about how to get the message out in various contexts, but the Lord has promised to lead us. Most of the time, most of the world will be deaf and blind, and may often oppose us for any number of reasons. Very few people will have any idea why they do it. Their motives have no bearing on the matter.

What matters is that we will get the message out, one way or another, or we will have failed our Lord. He can always do it without us. Our duty is to seek His face and follow our convictions in promoting His ways and condemning sin. Fundamentally, nothing has changed since we were kicked out of Eden, and nothing of significance will ever change until we get back there.

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Reign of Terror 2.0

Posted on May 12, 2024 by ehurst

I should hope that some of you have already seen this analysis by Victor Davis Hanson. There’s not much to argue with there.

Of particular note was his comment that we are headed for a Reign of Terror 2.0, where the government and activists together go so far off the deep end that you’ll be fighting for survival. It won’t be Civil War 2.0 with clear battle lines; there will be no strategy, no definition of victory. The whole point will be destruction of what is, nothing more.

The other thing that caught my attention was his discussion of AI. The people who are leading in this field are the same bunch trying to destroy in a fresh Reign of Terror. I’ve said it before over the years: Techies generally hate people like you and me. If you were to scan the social comments made on tech sites over the past decade, you would see that the majority of those with the best talents in technology are politically radical, devoted to one-world government and the destruction of Christian religion. Do you reckon the Antichrist will be some AI?

We use technology to communicate, and it’s very good for that purpose. There would be no Radix Fidem without computers and networking. But the entire industry is hostile to us. It’s just a matter of time. I’m still working under the vision of laying a moral foundation that will stand when all of this has been taken away.

Nor do I imagine I’m working alone. There is no doubt God has plenty of His children working away at any number of idolatries, undermining the lies that keep the system alive. My mission has been clearly stated plenty of times; there are other missions that are critical to keeping the gospel, not just alive on the earth, but in a position to crush the lies wherever God wants it to go.

But make no mistake — we are in an apocalypse and it’s going to run for quite a long time.

——–

On a related note, someone has asked if I still believe that Trump is going to make a comeback. Yep. I’m counting on him being back in office again. What we see in the news is just noise. No, I don’t like him at all; he’s a threat to the gospel. He’s a tool of the Zionists. However, I believe he is divinely appointed to bring about the final destruction of the Union of States.

Finally, people come and go in our Radix Fidem community. If you are too busy to interact, we’ll pray for you. But for the most part, the whole thing is 100% voluntary and it requires your active participation. If you have nothing to say, stay silent. If you choose to simply drop out of sight, we respect that. We aren’t going to chase you down.

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