Recognizing the Need for Redemption

Posted on November 2, 2018 by ehurst

The number one problem with life in this world is that we are fallen beings. Anyone with half a brain can look around and see that this world is broken. The problem is that our broken nature prevents us seeing the real problem. All we know for sure is that we aren’t happy, and we have something inside us driving us to seek a solution. All the solutions are bogus, because they arise from a false and broken perception.

The only answer is God’s revelation of the problem and His solution: Biblical Law, as expressed in the life and teaching of His Son, Jesus Christ. Every other proposed solution is guaranteed to fail. That’s in part because without His solution, one cannot even understand where they are and what could possibly help. In other words, all other solutions are inconsistent with reality. Those other answers appear to work for awhile, but they are fundamentally flawed.

Granted, an awful lot of the discussion about those other, failed solutions does include bits and pieces of brilliant insight. God is merciful and grants enough light to every human to know they need His revelation, but He does not force the recognition on them. So they misuse that insight without ever bowing the knee to Him and never seeing the whole story.

The Son of God came to earth as the Messiah of His people. The problem was not the people, but with their failed perception of things. In other words, the problem is Judaism, not the people. As long as they think of themselves as Jews, they serve Judaism. And of course, we have to notice that Zionism is just an extension of Judaism, but even more idiotic. The fundamental flaw of Judaism is it pulls down everything into the human sphere and denies the mystical truth. In particular, Judaism denies the Fall, in effect if not in doctrine.

Most of the world can see that this creates a serious problem. Jews assume fundamentally that they are the only real humans, and that all Gentiles are something less than human. It’s there, inherent in their basic orientation on life, regardless of any conscious awareness. So their unreasoned assumption is that the Gentile world owes them. The norm they attempt to restore is dominance over Gentiles. Anything less is antisemitism.

Jesus called them the Synagogue of Satan (speaking to John in the Revelation). They rejected their own Covenant Messiah, but refused to disband. Having rejected the Covenant that gave them their national identity, they were adopted by Satan. He is now their deity, even though they keep calling him by the name of the God they rejected. But they are devoted servants of Satan, and his special people in this world.

Still, they remain closer to Biblical Law than Gentiles. That’s the diabolical truth: They could have everything they claim to want, and more, if they would just embrace their Messiah. He was theirs first. But as long as they refuse, they are paradoxically farther away than clueless Gentiles. In that odd sense, they are both better and worse off than the rest of the world.

We have been grafted into that holy vine and it makes our lives fruitful. We have been granted some insight into Biblical Law and we have all the blessings the Jews rejected. The answer to human sorrow is the heart-led way of following their Messiah, who has become everyone’s Savior. It’s a mystical life, a rejection of the inherent lie of this world. It is necessarily otherworldly. If you aren’t a mystic, you are doomed to chasing after the wind, both Jews and Gentiles.

Right now, the Jews have a gripe with the world, and the world has a gripe with them. Honestly, most of this world’s gripe with them is at least partly valid. They were supposed to lead us into God’s truth, but rejected it for themselves, and actively try to keep us from getting it. Over the centuries Jews have engaged in some very deep and savvy deception to keep any of us from truly finding Christ. That’s their duty in serving Satan, though it usually looks like serving the false idol, Mammon. They are materialistic to the core. Their alleged mysticism is aimed at a worldly material result.

We aren’t going to be sucked into fighting them for the turf they believe they want. Let them have it; there’s no value in shadows and mist. That’s all you’ll have if you seek worldly political power. And God has shown repeatedly in history that it will never last; see the Tower of Babel. If there’s anyone doing the work of Sisyphus, it’s the Jews. And it’s the same with any other agency that seeks to rule empires. They are all inherent violations of reality.

Nazism (as a political force) arose in response to a very real problem with Jews declaring economic warfare on Germany, but it was the wrong response. There’s nothing to gain by their methods and aims, though the inherent problem of Judaism serving Satan is still plaguing us today. Globalism won’t solve anything, because it’s a blatant rebuilding to the Tower of Babel. Neoconservatism is no better, only more secret, and more deeply dug into the political landscape. Zionism is simply Jewish Nazism.

And we could go on and on, pointing out how the very foundation of the US is Anglo-Saxon supremacy. In order for America to continue, it must cling to that culture, and compel every immigrant and resident to embrace it. This is frankly why the US became so rich and powerful — the predatory brilliance of Anglo-Saxon culture. But it’s out of style now, so America is doomed. Everyone living here who seeks their own cultural rights, along with the material success, will have participated in destroying that wealth and power, because they lack the engine for serving Mammon the way Anglo-Saxon culture does. Hint: Anglo-Americans learned some of it from Judaism, though indirectly and somewhat unconsciously. It’s way Western Christianity is so perverted.

It’s all contrary to reality, contrary to Biblical Law. It’s all doomed. The proper biblical approach is to notice all of this and just trust the Lord to show us how to exploit things for His glory. Every sorrow is an opportunity to demonstrate how heart-led mysticism in Biblical Law is the only answer worth human consideration. His glory is always in our best interest.

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Recognizing the Need for Redemption

Light of Truth Glaring through Shadows

Posted on November 1, 2018 by ehurst

There is so much lying and bogus secrecy that it’s hard to know where to start.

Let’s take for example this crazy bomb hoax business.

The facts of the case, the choice of targets, details about the suspect’s van and social media, and continued delivery of parcels after his arrest all indicate that law enforcement has erred in finding the parties truly responsible for the delivery of the mail bombs. The FBI’s history of incompetence and unethical behavior provides further incentive to contest the official story being fed to Americans and the world. Hollywood and media involvement in perpetuating public bias against the accused has similarly contributed to this unfortunate situation.

There is no vested interest in finding the truth, much less reporting it to the public. And make no mistake — it’s been like this off and on for at least two centuries here in America. Nor is the current level of violence particularly new. It is simply not possible to get a true account of how we got where we are today, and God alone knows where it’s headed.

Two major groups have built a massive system based on deception: globalists and necons (imperialists). Both have openly embraced what they consider the necessity of lying to the whole world. Despite a competition that has come to violence, they share one common trait: They are both hopelessly evil. Please, never allow yourself to be sucked into this dispute. Don’t permit your enthusiasm to be stirred. The only possible result will be the destruction of the US, no matter who wins what, and this is their confessed intent.

The only way to defeat them is the same as with any other servant of Satan. It’s a triple threat to them mentioned in Revelation 12:11 — we are bought with a price and are loyal servants of our God (Blood of the Lamb), we cling to the power of divine revelation by living it (word of testimony), and we aren’t concerned with what belongs to this world (not loving our lives unto death).

We know that the likes of globalists and neocon are going to win their political battles only to have nothing once they win. Satan has blinded them to what is worth fighting for. They are fighting over shadows and mists in darkness. There’s no reason to stop them. Rather, we redeem from their clutches the souls they despise by offering a very winsome alternative to their slavery. These souls are our birthright, as we share in the household of Christ.

We can see right through their lies and secrecy. They cannot possibly calculate the power of heart-led faith; they cannot even comprehend it at all. The divine gift of moral vision pierces everything they seek to build.

Stay on track living the truth of your calling and mission.

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Light of Truth Glaring through Shadows

Mixed Ride Photos

Posted on October 31, 2018 by ehurst

These are collected shots from Monday’s ride around Draper Lake and Tuesday’s ride on the River Trails. First up is the window shadow effect from the dam at Draper. The long slope compresses the air and increases the wind velocity as it crosses the dam. The water closest to the dam is shielded from the wind, so the water is quite smooth there.

These persimmons are ready, but not ripe. We haven’t had a single frost yet, so they are still ripening very slowly. The flavor is very good, but still too astringent. However, this year has been very bad for wild fruit in general, and these persimmons have an unusually high proportion of seeds to flesh, so it’s almost a waste of effort.

Here’s where the bikeway crosses a road that has been closed for 20 years or so. I realize it’s difficult to see the path running off in the distance because it’s covered in our red mud, but after laying asphalt for the bikeway, the crews then tore it up and laid a heavy concrete apron at the crossing. Just off the end of the apron on the left, the road is almost unusable by any motor vehicle. Rules are rules, I guess.

I noticed this striking red-headed grass planted along the canal portion of the River Trails. This waterway runs to a cul-de-sac at the passenger dock for boat rides that are available only rarely right now. This is the grass’s fall color display.

I noticed on the south bank that city crews had been doing the preparatory work to extend the River Trails to the Eagle Lake Trail. At this stage, they are laying crushed (reclaimed) asphalt in bad spots. Here they had to dig down and repair something on the culverts running under the route. After they got it covered in crushed asphalt, a sink hole opened up. Good quality work, no? It’s been raining too much for them to come back out and try again.

Indeed, it has been one of the wettest autumns we’ve had in a very long time. All the dams along the North Canadian River have been letting water flow. To be honest, this river suffers severely from water capture, and it’s quite rare to see much of any depth flowing along the bottom. It’s typically a trickle most of the year. This image is at the last dam on the River Recreation area near Downtown OKC, where Eastern Avenue runs over the river.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mixed Ride Photos

Present versus Future Orientation

Posted on October 30, 2018 by ehurst

Live in the moment.

I’ve read excerpts from court cases where judges have ruled that the only proper orientation is a future-oriented outlook. Some have flatly said that living in the moment is barbaric. If you aren’t working for tomorrow, you are somehow suffering from diminished capacity and can’t be treated as an adult. Coming from another culture simply doesn’t matter.

This is evil. The Bible clearly teaches you to live in the moment. Granted this is not the same thing as living for the moment, allowing your physical appetites to control your decisions. We are talking about making the most of the moment because no one can promise tomorrow. And if there is a tomorrow, you have to get today right or tomorrow won’t matter. Those same judges’ rulings conflate mindless living with a mindful get-it-right-today. The only right answer is living for tomorrow.

In the Bible, you take what God grants today and obey Him with it. If His Spirit moves you to extravagance, then you give freely. If He leads you to taking only what you need, then you save the rest according to Biblical Law. We take seriously the promise that God will supply our need. If tomorrow sees the pantry empty, then doing without is for His glory. It’s not a matter of having the same answer for every moment, but of being sensitive and trusting Him.

In a certain sense, to be Western is to deny God’s existence. You can come up with all kinds of rhetoric asserting a belief in God, but all your actions and your frame of reference in Western culture presumes there is no God. You end up assuming that you actually have some major control over the future.

Testimony: During my time in the military, I was chosen by my superiors to exercise leadership far more often than I actually wanted. I typically went into a situation — particularly at training/schools with a relatively short duration — with an expectation that I was going to promote someone else. I kept looking for people I could encourage and push to the front.

I expected to have influence; I did plan to help shape things. But that was always aimed at bringing peace; I actually hate conflict. I’ve often simply walked away from all kinds of people who insisted they had some divine right to stir up conflict with me. I flatly refused to participate. If walking away was not allowed, I simply refused to respond.

It’s not that I was never willing to fight, but the one thing I could not abide was senseless conflict, which is mostly all human conflict. My aim was always to bring order into a chaotic situation so that everyone involved could get on with what they thought really mattered. Frankly I wasn’t all that concerned with what got accomplished. I was always looking for ways to improve the working situation. I wanted to build people up. I have never had ambition for winning accolades and positions; I just wanted things to go well while they were going, wherever they were going.

Notice how this is the whole point behind the Law of Moses. Nothing in the Covenant talks about conquering the world or converting everyone. It was all about living right from day to day and focusing on making sure to stay in God’s favor. He took care of everything else. Life itself was the whole point, not necessarily living long or getting rich. Those things were admired on some level, but it never ranked all that high in the scheme of things. The Law Covenants have always been about the process, not the product.

So I followed this instinctively in the military and kept getting pushed up into the leadership positions. And stuff kept getting done, but I would never revel in the glow of awards. I treated them as simply fulfilling the rituals. I wanted to get done with the ceremony and get back to work. My greatest joy was day to day watching the power of God touch people’s lives and make a difference, whether small or great.

This wasn’t planned; it was simply what drove me. It turned out to be the best strategy for promotions. It was always in my best interest, but I was focused on how it was in everyone else’s best interest. This is simply how God worked in my life.

The other thing that drove me was finding ways to get out and be alone. I’ve always been an introvert with a powerful need for isolation to recharge. I never wallowed in human company. I love people, but I know that one of the best things I can do for folks is get away from them for at least a part of each day. I often had to beg for a chance to get some solitude during military training/schools. The instructors understood, but the military culture denies such a need exists.

I still miss the serving, but I don’t miss the idiocy of military “doctrine.” Military doctrine pretends that you really must be future-oriented, but the very best way to survive the military experience is to expect the worst of tomorrow and make the most of today. Most troops were reduced for at least a time to just fulfilling their fleshly lusts as if there were no tomorrow. However, early promotions fell on those who managed to live in the moment with some level of moral accountability. Granted, it didn’t require much depth, but it did require seeing how you had to focus on the mission at hand, never mind whether it actually mattered in any wider sense.

In the end, once I got hurt, I made some of my superiors angry because I refused the next promotion on the grounds that I was on my way out the door, and they needed to give that promotion slot to someone else. I still believe I did the right thing. Somebody else got that promotion and stayed in service.

I’m still living for today, because it’s the best way to handle however many tomorrows I get.

Posted in eldercraft | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Present versus Future Orientation

Beware the Leaven of Neocons

Posted on October 29, 2018 by ehurst

In the long term, the biggest threat to you and I in our virtual parish are the neocons.

The situation is complicated. First, we need to remind ourselves that liberalism versus conservatism is not the issue. Those two ends of a spectrum are entirely natural in a healthy society. In a single family household, you are likely to find a relative range of opinions across the left-right spectrum. There is no concrete definition of either position; the meaning of the labels is inherently relative.

Further, at any given point in American history, both the Democrats and Republicans have espoused policies that were rather extreme on both ends of that relative scale. The only real issue right now is which brand of oppression you will get by voting in a slate from one party or the other. The real problem is elitism, a very real secretive society ruling things.

The secrecy keeps us from knowing the detailed journey of each side, but it’s also hindered by the sheer volume of people involved and the mass of publications designed to deceive. They use an insider vocabulary and cling to their masking, and you can never be sure if something they’ve written is just for public consumption, bearing little relation to their actual plans.

What we can see right now is that the globalist team of this elitist society is currently very vulnerable. They’ve been building up a political infrastructure that is now being used against them. They have consistently overestimated their ability to herd the public and harvest the vote count they needed. The scale of vote manipulation and hacking was not big enough to win. They failed to focus on selling a plausible popular religion as a cover for their cult; Social Justice is a painful and hateful religion. Furthermore, appealing to minorities means never winning a majority.

If there is ever to be a literal Antichrist figure, he will use a religion. Mankind is inherently religious, so that even Secular Humanism meets the definition of a religion because it deifies humanity and demands a religious approach to ultimate questions of philosophical orientation. You cannot argue against theology without building another theology because it’s the questions themselves that generate a religion. A putative literal Antichrist cannot arise without using some kind of religion to seduce a sufficient plurality of mankind to wield power.

But an Antichrist religion would look more like the work of Joel Osteen, while the actual religion practiced behind the scenes would be radically different. It would have to be kept more secret than the globalists have done, because their insatiable lust for power has betrayed them. Think in terms of child sex trafficking and other forms of degrading slavery. This has come to define Hollywood, much of the music industry, and globalist political organizations. Every day more revelations leak out about this stuff. It’s not hard to analyze and see that it’s due to a very hideous form of idolatry, in which the dehumanizing sexual depravity is an act of worship.

The neoconservatives have done a far better job of hiding their cult. Things were more public during the last Bush administration, but neocons have craftily receded into the background until they can reassert their dominance. That is, they went into infiltration mode by pretending to support more popular agendas and figures like Trump.

The very birth of this political doctrine is occulted, intentionally hidden. No one who espouses the viewpoint fully admits to the label. A fundamental tenet is that popular religion should be manipulated and promoted for the common folk, while those who actually run things should actually hold no mainstream religious belief. This is where it becomes a secretive cult. Indeed, one of the generally acknowledged founders, Leo Strauss, read political philosophy through the eyes of Medieval Kabbalism. This echoes how mainstream Judaism, orthodox branches in particular, are secretly Kabbalistic. They deny it in public and among the bulk of their followers, but the rabbis are clearly Kabbalists in their scholarly writings.

This business of masking boils down to knowingly lying about almost anything they believe matters. They are imperialist and Zionist, and assert that the common folks have no business influencing government policy. At the same time, they tout Democracy as their excuse for war. They clearly understand cyber/information warfare, too. The recent wave of political censorship in social media is largely the work of necons. They will tell what to think and when to think it. If you understand the academic discussion of their philosophical approach, then you understand that they are the ultimate Progressives.

You should understand that the majority of neocons fall somewhere on the spectrum of psychopathy disorder. These are the people who never give a moment’s thought to slaughtering folks like you and me, so any number of lesser oppressions are simply expected. But this is not a uniquely American thing; it’s just that the US is currently the best base from which to exercise their demonic tyranny. In previous centuries it was Europe, for example. They’ve always been around and will remain a part of the human landscape right up through the Return of Christ.

In other words, neocons are the ultimate expression of The Cult (PDF). And you need to understand that they have a powerful influence on our president, to the point that it is likely he will eventually be listed in their ranks someday. If you were a genuine believer in assassination as a means of political change, I think sniping the major neocon actors today would do more to “save America” than going after any other targets. Not that it would accomplish much; we deny the utility of activism of any kind, because in the end, politics and every other human endeavor is a waste of time. This world is slated for destruction and God’s righteousness and glory cannot be accomplished via any political activity.

We are called to be aware of such activity from a heart-led perspective so we can understand how God herds fallen humanity to His final objectives. All human striving is vanity and chasing after the wind, He tells us. Holiness under heart-led obedience to Biblical Law means we focus on the process, not the ends of human behavior. We know what brings stability in this fallen world, and that’s what we seek, regardless of what people believe they have to accomplish. The mercy of God is in keeping things stable (shalom) regardless of the goals.

Posted in social sciences | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Beware the Leaven of Neocons

The Mainstream Is Inconsistent with Our Way

Posted on October 28, 2018 by ehurst

There have been several people trying to convince me to come back to churches I used to attend years ago. Regular readers know that if I were to do so, I would never remain a silent participant. I would most certainly have my say, and it would be contrary to the orthodoxy.

One of three things would happen. (1) They would tire of me and ask me not to return. (2) Some portion of the members would be swayed by my teaching and the church would fracture. (3) A dominant majority would embrace my teaching and the whole church would be kicked out of the denominational organization. These latter two options would likely result in very bad publicity for yours truly, since no one would be interested in my side of the story.

I’m not willing to cause trouble like that. Sure, I’m utterly convinced of my message, but my message includes the warning not to stir up strife as the means to publicity. There are already too many groups, both fringe and mainstream, using that as tool of “evangelism.” That’s the worldly way of doing things, and results are worldly, too.

We don’t want people who are persuaded to join us. Persuasion is a mere shift in psychological orientation. We want souls who are called by God. We trust in God for whatever publicity He considers appropriate, because this is His work in the first place.

We very much wish we could share this with every human on the planet. But we’ve seen the very bad results of doing that in the flesh, and we don’t need more of that. Granted, there’s not a thing we can do to prevent people joining us from fleshly motives, but we can make it very difficult for them to stick around by keeping things focused on the heart-led way.

The heart-led way is what’s missing from every church I’ve ever been a part of so far in my life. That’s not to say there were no heart-led people in them, but that the official orthodoxy of those churches excludes teaching the heart-led way. The heart-led way would pretty much destroy every organization currently standing, in the sense of gutting its power to stand. The organizational structure itself is the thing that would die. You cannot walk very long in the heart-led way without being drawn into radically different ways of doing things.

The heart-led way unveils the natural tension between all the traditions and methods of men versus that of Biblical Law. I’m not saying it will drive you out of your church, but it has that tendency. The longer you walk the heart-led path, the more alienated you are from all the failed crap humans have tried to use as a means of capturing faith under their control. Sure, I miss the fellowship, but I don’t miss the stifling systems that would treat me as a troublemaker.

Those organizations are built on the false assumption that God is the Author of their system and orthodoxy. They demand proof for changes, and there is no proof for genuine faith in the first place. You either get it miraculously or you don’t get it at all. If the word of truth doesn’t awaken a recognition of God’s hand, then my human efforts surely won’t make it any better.

We want the whole world to hear and respond to this message. God has already said that won’t happen, but that He will move in the hearts of some. So we eagerly accept those who respond, never mind why or how, and look forward to communion in the heart. We are building something entirely new, and there’s no room for the failed efforts of the past. Should the Lord keep this thing small, that’s His business, but we intend to spread this message first and foremost via the rich shalom life He has granted us. But we surely desire to see everyone get it.

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Mainstream Is Inconsistent with Our Way

Teachings of Jesus — Mark 9:38-40

Posted on October 27, 2018 by ehurst

A couple of items before we continue. First, Mark’s Gospel offers little that isn’t in Matthew’s, so if a teaching was covered in Matthew, it will be skipped in Mark. We actually won’t spend much time in Mark in this series. If you think I’ve skipped something important to you, all you have to do is ask. It’s especially helpful if you ask specific questions about a passage or doctrine.

Next is a background issue that fits in best right here. We know that Christ came to make one last offer to bring the Nation of Israel fully back into the Covenant. They had long departed far, far from Moses. With very little exception, the teachings of Jesus are a renewal of the mystical core behind the Law. Jesus updated Moses to the current situation under which the Jews lived, but also made it painfully clear that He was superior to Moses, since Jesus was the Son of God, while Moses was just a servant.

A critical element in Jesus’ ministry was healing and driving out demons. Historically we know that Jews suffered an unusually high incidence of such things. The obvious reason is because of that departure from Moses, and the resulting loss of Covenant protection and shalom. A medical diagnosis doesn’t change the fact that the underlying cause is national sin. The cure was repentance and restoration of the Covenant blessings. Jesus was restoring divine justice in these individual lives.

Compared with today, the primary issue is that no nation acknowledges any covenant. There are no blessings outside of a valid covenant relationship with God. Western theology has a tremendous depth of deception about covenants in general, and a highly false concept of the Covenant of Christ, because it requires the heart-led way. Further, Western culture does not recognize genuine demonization. We are trained to think in terms of triage and symptoms, with no consideration at all of moral issues that aggravate our fallen condition.

It requires a heart-led awareness of moral revelation to recognize when a particular instance of human suffering rests on sin, and to what degree. So Western Christianity is horribly mistaken on most of this. American Christendom in particular is rather like the folks in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. We are so convinced we already know Jesus, and we don’t know Him at all, so He can’t do that many miracles here any more than He could at home.

In the narrative for this lesson, we see that the Twelve have encountered an independent demon chaser. Apparently this fellow had attended to some of Jesus’ preaching sessions and had taken it to heart. He was acting in the authority of Jesus the Messiah and casting demons out of people.

The disciples tried to tell the man he didn’t have permission to do that. He wasn’t part of the little club Jesus called as His disciples. So far as they knew, Jesus hadn’t ordained this fellow to the ministry, so it couldn’t be right.

The essence of what Jesus said is that there could be no miraculous powers exercised in His name if the worker didn’t submit to His authority in the first place. Thus, “He that is not against us is for us.” The mark of God’s favor is power to restore divine justice in one way or another, whether by words, deeds or outright miracles. It’s not a question of rituals and rules, but of genuine commitment from the heart. People might be able to fool other people, but nobody can fool God Almighty.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Teachings of Jesus — Mark 9:38-40

The Die Is Cast

Posted on October 27, 2018 by ehurst

Most of you probably don’t have the time to read something like this, but I highly recommend this analysis of our current political situation. The author explains the background of political tension better than anything else I’ve seen in quite a while.

This is our revolution: Because a majority of Americans now no longer share basic sympathies and trust, because they no longer regard each other as worthy of equal consideration, the public and private practices that once had made our Republic are now beyond reasonable hope of restoration. Strife can only mount until some new equilibrium among us arises….

The logic is rooted in disdain, but not so much of any of the supposed inferiors’ features or habits. If it were, the deplored could change their status by improving. But the Progressives deplore the “deplorables” not to improve them, but to feel good about themselves. Hating people for what they are and because it feels good to hate them, is hate in its unalloyed form.

This is something built into our culture. Our American intellectual tradition of believing in objective truth is the root of this spite, and it infects both left and right. This is not like God at all; it’s contrary to the underlying assumptions of divine revelation. In our fallen state, we cannot afford to imagine that any particular agenda is morally superior. Revelation teaches us that politics is just a means to living together and making the most of our fallen condition. The mythology of objective truth yields an inevitable failure against what God had in mind.

Historically here in the US, the turning point for the current generation of citizens was the debacle of the 2008 financial crisis.

The 2008 financial crisis sparked an incipient revolution. Previously, Americans dissatisfied with their Progressive rulers had imagined that voting for Republicans might counter them. But then, as three-fourths of Americans opposed bailing out big banks with nearly a trillion dollars, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates joined; most Republican legislators joined all Democrats; The Wall Street Journal joined The New York Times, and National Review joined The Nation; in telling Americans that doing this was essential, and that their disapproval counted for nothing. And then, just as high-handedly, all these bipartisan rulers dropped that bailout scheme, and adopted another—just as unaccountably. They showed “government by the people, for the people” to be a fable.

Notice something here: The only reason Trump has any traction is because he has managed to convinced a bare majority of voters, a mere majority-in-effect, that he is not a part of that ruling elite. His support will evaporate the minute he fails to convince his constituency that he represents their interests. Furthermore, this undercurrent of revolution against the political elite is what makes things likely to turn to bloodshed. Despite all the efforts by Trump and the Q army to create a doctrine of non-violence, it is only a thin barrier that will eventually break as the undercurrent of violence gets stronger on both sides.

Also, please note that in the linked article, the author equates “Progressive” with a particular agenda. This is wrong; it is a style of politics, not particular to a left or right agenda. It is elitism under another name. The agenda of progressivism is elitist to the core, and it characterizes both left and right in American politics. Whether the population is consciously aware of it or not, this is the reason for a violent undercurrent in our current crisis. The progressive approach breeds mutual contempt, and it was the elite who drew first blood. They started this crap.

Now we see a situation where the revolution that Trump has pushed forward may well now run off without him. If there are no arrests of globalists during November, the patriot army that Q has tried to organize will turn into a lynch mob. As I have noted in the past, it isn’t what Trump himself does that will change our future; it’s what his election has done to breathe life into a demand for relief from elitist tyranny. Whichever way the elections go in the future, that demand will only grow.

The greatest danger for you and I, Brothers and Sisters, is that we will not see these things as they are in moral terms. The spirit of what family should be, united despite differences in agenda, is simply not possible as an element in US politics because it is missing from the intellectual assumptions about reality. We have to rebuild the intellectual assumptions of a far more ancient place and time in order to move forward as a body of believers. We must understand that our world is fallen, and that political outcomes means nothing if we aren’t focused on shalom and the ultimate goal of social stability. We must understand that the priority is unity, not uniformity.

This calls for shepherds who understand that some will always demand things not in their best interest, and that to some degree, they should be allowed to choose such things. There is a whole range of leadership thinking arising from the heart-led way that counts on moral volition. Sheep are led by the shepherd’s movements and voice, not by coercion. That’s how our Lord leads us.

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Die Is Cast

Sometimes We Aren’t Supposed to Get It

Posted on October 26, 2018 by ehurst

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

I’ve said that the mind is full of barriers against convictions. Some of them are simply beyond us to remove by mere conscious effort. Sometimes it takes the power of the Holy Spirit working in the subconscious to bring truth to life and overwhelm the flesh. When it does, that force can be an awesome experience. It’s what’s behind things like speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, prophecy, words of knowledge and words of wisdom. It’s not that it overwhelms your consciousness, but that it overwhelms the fleshly intellect.

Today I didn’t ride that far; just down to a large and busy shopping area a couple of miles away from home. I felt led to just allow my mind to wander because that’s how things pop up into my awareness from the heart-led subconscious. So for awhile I simply sat on a bench in an alcove I had to myself.

I watched as a repo wrecker pulled up in the parking area. The driver walked up to the front of one car, gazed for a moment at the base of the windshield where most cars sold in the US have their VIN number displayed. Then he quickly backed up his wrecker and snatched the car, taking advantage of the convenient placement for grabbing the front axle. It was done in a matter of seconds. A little later as I was about to leave, I overheard a woman whining about not finding her car.

I asked, “A silver sedan with tribal plates?” (Most Indian tribes in Oklahoma have their own vehicle license plates.)

“Yes. That’s it!” she replied.

I told her a repo man took off with it. She almost wept as she thanked me and started making a call on her cellphone.

My heart reminded me that this was a sign of the times that a rising percentage of folks cannot keep up with their loans. I’ve seen the repo wreckers an awful lot lately. It’s a form of financial chaos, just like the rising partisan political violence.

This is a war folks. Representatives of both sides step up to condemn the other on imaginary moral grounds of fair give and take, but anyone who has been paying attention knows that was always a facade. The threat to both sides is very real, and nobody should be fool enough to imagine we could go back to a more civil debate, since there really never was one. The only difference now is that the pretense of civility has worn so thin most people are starting to ignore it. The moralistic finger shaking is just another weapon in the fight, and the bombs will be real soon enough.

Just a reminder: Both sides are wrong. Don’t get drawn into this nonsense, Brothers and Sisters. The globalists, and their army of leftists, are particularly Satanic. But the imperialists and conservatives are simply Pharisees with a different uniform; they still worship Mammon. The latter will trounce the former in God’s good time, but then they’ll turn on folks like us. The saints of God will tribulate.

One of the partisan warriors on the right from an earlier era went to prison for his warfare — Charles Colson. Shortly before his arrest, he converted to Christianity. After his release from custody, he later discovered he had cancer. He did get one thing right: He said that the difference for Christians was not that they escape the sorrows of this world, but that they handle it differently from the rest of the world around them.

The recent series on fighting fear was to help you understand that God has provided a way to protect His own. But it’s not absolute, and some of His wrath on America will inevitably splash on us. Some of it will make no sense at all to us. It doesn’t have to make sense to your mind; your heart already knows the answer. Our patience and persistence in the face of tribulation is our witness.

“We will understand it better, by and by.”

Posted in eldercraft | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Sometimes We Aren’t Supposed to Get It

Antidote to Fear 05

Posted on October 26, 2018 by ehurst

First, a taxonomy of curses. There are valid curses that arise from violating covenants. The prime example is the Curse of the Fall from violating the Covenant of Creation. Some of you may recall the very dramatic ritual that took place on the facing slopes of Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, recounting some curses of the Covenant of Moses (Deuteronomy 27:11-26). The whole point is that the way to avoid a valid curse is heart-led obedience to whatever covenant applies to you.

There are also a great many curses that are not valid, even if they are effective. These arise from lies of Satan. Your mind can validate a false curse and empower the effects. Thus, if you experience someone pronouncing a spell or curse based on dark arts, and you lack the frame of reference to reject it in your heart, it can affect you. If it takes root in the mind of someone in authority over you, it can still bear some evil fruit in your life.

Next, let’s review some Bible verses that address the subject of curses.

Exodus 20:5 – Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me…

Deuteronomy 5:9 – Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me…

Numbers 14:18 – The LORD [is] longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation].

Ezekiel 18:19-20 – Yet say ye, “Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?” When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, [and] hath kept all My statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

Leviticus 26:40 – If they shall confess their wilfulness and the wilfulness of their fathers, with their sin which they sinned against Me, and that also they have walked contrary to Me…

Jeremiah 17:5 – Thus saith the LORD; Cursed [be] the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

Isaiah 54:17 – No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue [that] shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This [is] the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness [is] of me, saith the LORD.

Mark 11:25-26 – And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive it so that also your Father in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses.

Ephesians 6:12 – For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

James 4:7 – Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Proverbs 18:21 – Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

We note the doctrine here of family curses. You can inherit curses from your ancestors, your government, from previous residents of the land, and historical curses on just about any organization or activity you join. The problem is awareness. If you aggressively court the Lord’s favor, there isn’t much to worry about. However, it does your soul some good early in the heart-led walk to breathe life into your perception of such things by a cleansing ritual. And sometimes you simply need such a ritual reminder that Our Lord reigns over all things.

Spend some time contemplating how those who came before you in the various forms of human activity and association might have brought down curses both valid and fake. Let your heart tell you where it’s applicable. Don’t confess anything that isn’t in your convictions, but do give full vent to what your heart might have to say. There is a long standing logical order that seems to work for most folks in building such a ritual.

1. Full surrender — The primary image here is approaching the divine Throne with a petition to quit all curses. It’s good to breathe life into the image of ANE feudalism by starting with a few words of ceremonial address. You are calling on the Creator: “O Lord God Almighty” or words to that effect. Renew your statement of feudal loyalty and surrender.

2. Confession — Confess your weaknesses and the sins of your predecessors. Don’t fearfully try to cover all the bases “just in case.” Deal with your own fallen nature and those residual sins that you genuinely suspect have stood in your path.

3. Be willing to fully forgive — We get this from Matthew 5. This requires we struggle with the difference between a senseless grudge and valid curse on someone else. You cannot undo their curses, but if you harbor any unforgiveness, it will curse you, as well. We remind ourselves of Ephesians 6, where those who work against our faith walk are pawns of the Devil. We are ready to forgive when they step away from demonic leadership, but they can’t claim forgiveness without doing so. Still, we are prepared to hold the door open.

In addition, we need to be sure we renounce the sins of immediate family for release from curses they brought upon us by their authority over us. Again, this is not a matter of legalistic removal, but in many cases is simply mitigation of things we cannot change.

4. Break unhealthy emotional bonds to anyone who sinned against you, and thus cursed you. — This is the hardest part for most of us. Remember how Israelis were required to ostracize and mourn the moral “death” of someone who went too far. This restores your shalom by denouncing them as now outside the covenant.

Then again, we lack the social leverage of actually getting someone kicked out of your life completely if the secular world still regards them as justly part of your life. You’ll have to make adjustments in how you relate to them on a daily basis, but you are empowered by God to break the emotional dependence that binds you to their curses. Call on the Lord to set you free from those bonds.

5. Renounce all those curses. — Familial curses, other relational curses, inherited curses, national curses, geographic curses, cultural curses, etc. Whatever your heart indicates applies to you, this is where you nullify those things that aren’t valid under Biblical Law.

6. Give thanks — Celebrate the Lord’s faithfulness in bringing you out of moral darkness.

I’m not going to put words in your mouth. Use whatever ceremonial language fits your sense of calling and mission. If you lack imagination, echo the language of your favorite Bible translation, using phrases that seem to apply. The Psalms are loaded with appropriate stuff. But don’t be fake, as if the words really matter. The one thing we want to do is break the power of mere words to rule over you.

Finally, let me cite a common everyday example of how stuff like this takes root in our lives. If someone denounces another using that nasty f-word, it’s the same as uttering a curse. If that denunciation is valid, if it’s consistent with Scripture, that’s fine. If it’s invalid, such as arising from senseless hatred, then it becomes a curse on the speaker. Don’t confuse this with crude joking. People who unjustly hurl “f**k you” at you are surely cursing themselves, so learn how your heart can reject the power of that curse over you. If there is any justification for it, your confession and repentance removes that curse.

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment