Silence Is Sin

Posted on February 11, 2018 by ehurst

Over the past few weeks I’ve tried to establish in our minds a fundamental truth: What happens in this world really doesn’t matter in the ultimate sense. What matters is our commitment. Your heart-led conviction will lead to specific choices and actions, but those things matter only as indicators of your commitment.

This is why we don’t have to come up with the same answers. This is why we can relax and let our brothers and sisters carry on with their lives in contradiction to our own preferences. In the end, it really doesn’t matter what we think or do; what matters is the heart of conviction. If we can see through the actions and apparent thoughts to the heart of commitment and faith, then we can set aside human differences.

When I share with you some of my ideas about how things could be better in this world, I hope you see the faith behind it, that your heart will assess the conviction behind it and guide your mind to understand what really counts for Christ’s glory. It may well be you would respect my opinion on something, but nobody is holding you accountable for echoing my thoughts — I sure don’t. There’s nothing wrong with bantering back and forth on a worldly level as the means to indicating something about our individual callings.

I’m not sure I can so easily slice and dice in neat packages between heart-led moral wisdom and seasoned social science. On the bottom line, until all human government bows the knee to the Covenant of Noah as the entry point to divine justice, nothing we see really matters in human politics. On the other hand, we could see ways to make things a little better within the context of what we now have. In terms of making things a little better, we should have differing ideas. No two of us will see the same problems, nor see those problems in the same light.

I can tell you that the US government has sinned greatly by poking around in the business of other governments. That’s a simple and direct violation of Biblical Law. The warfare in Syria is largely our fault in the first place; the revolt and the rise of ISIS was the result of our meddling via CIA spies and provocateurs, working alongside Mossad and a few others.

Giving aid to the Kurds in itself is not a problem; as a nation of distinct people they do not warrant the oppression of having their homeland partitioned between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. But that was something done to them long ago, so there is no simple answer. Still, there’s no harm in helping them. The problem comes in how we do not champion their independence, but manipulate and use them to make everything worse. Thus, our presence among them, particularly in Syria, is inexcusable.

I don’t have space to discuss Turkey in depth, but they are currently so very far from right that it doesn’t matter what they do, it’s almost all evil. Russia has been pretty much on the right side of things in Syria, in contrast to most other participants. Iran is there by invitation, as well. It’s nobody else’s business. Israel is even worse than Turkey; she has done nothing right. And so on…

All of that is partly a matter of Biblical Law and partly just my opinion. Your heart can tell the difference; I don’t need to justify myself in your eyes. You can discern what I’m trying to do here: pointing back to Biblical Law in contrast to the hopelessness of human striving for things nobody should have. Is there some hope that biblical wisdom can help make things a little bit better for human existence on this planet? No. They aren’t going to listen to God; nothing I say will provoke more than a tiny handful of folks to prayerful consideration of what is just in God’s eyes.

But I can’t simply say nothing at all. There has to be a prophetic warning to people to satisfy the duty to calling and mission. That’s what God’s people do. Whether with words like mine or through some other form of personal devotion to calling, we have to point out sin as sin. That tiny handful who will respond are the ones I care most about; they are the ones who justify my efforts to share what’s in my heart. I can’t do much to help anyone else, but I shall not neglect those the Lord has granted into my shepherd’s care.

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Sermon on the Mount 19

Posted on February 10, 2018 by ehurst

False Disciples 7:21-23

Jesus continues the thought in the previous lesson — there are false prophets and false disciples. The same criterion applies; it’s not enough to observe protocol. There has to be a solid connection with the heart and with shalom.

Who will be invited into the Messiah’s presence as a citizen of Heaven? Here Jesus makes it painfully obvious that He is the Messiah who will be ruling with such power. He warns in advance that observing ritual won’t be enough. Once He shows His real power and authority, who would dare be rude enough to openly reject such authority? Don’t come bowing and scraping and hoping to curry favor once it’s obvious. Any fool can do that.

Indeed, it won’t be enough to play political games and hitch a ride on His rising star. People could already see that Jesus did miracles, and the manner in which He did them spoke loudly of authority over Creation as a whole. Again, anyone with ambition can run around campaigning and advertising on His behalf. With all the political ferment among Jews, this was just one more party. So seizing upon the authority of His title as Messiah might have some very real effects on demons and diseases, but that isn’t going to somehow soak down into your life automatically.

Who will be welcomed into His courts for a plum job? The minimum standard is the same one everybody has known for thousands of years: Obey the revelation of God. Jesus says that’s His Father. The Messianic office is bestowed by the Creator, and it is the Father’s Kingdom first. So if you have been a loyal citizen of Heaven from of old, then you’ll be a loyal citizen in the new reign of the Son.

As the Messenger, John the Baptist had warned, now is the time to get right with the existing covenant and you will belong to the new covenant by default. It’s all a continuum. What pleases the Father and wins His favor will work just as well with the Son. He will publicly proclaim as His disciples those who walk by the heart of conviction. Everyone who does not embrace the revelation will be dismissed regardless of attempts to curry favor on the wrong terms.

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Remember the Future

Posted on February 10, 2018 by ehurst

It’s been quite frustrating from the human point of view. It started with a simple service call to replace a couple of case fans on a computer I built for someone a few years ago.

That computer then stopped working right after the job was done. Given the age of the hardware, that’s not shocking in itself, but it was wholly unexpected. And the lady had been planning to replace it anyway, so it was just a matter of timing. She didn’t plan on having to replace it so soon, though she happened to have the money for it. So a replacement was ordered from another supplier because I was no longer confident with the one that provided the previous hardware.

Then she decided not to have all of her eggs in one basket and picked up a laptop, too. And as I was trying to help her get this new system all set up with her favorite collection of software, we started having network trouble. After poking around her DSL modem, I began wondering if the thing was hijacked. I had trouble keeping connected to the modem interface itself. She called someone she knew who could help her with the technical details I couldn’t have known about her DSL connection (cable is not available in her area). For all he could tell, the modem itself was failing. Either way, we didn’t get far with the set up process because we couldn’t keep a reliable Internet connection working.

You get the picture: How many things can go wrong at once? Just when I’m there to help out with a few issues, everything dies on me. She doesn’t blame me for anything; she knows how this stuff works. But it seems just crazy that it all comes apart at the same time.

Of course, I say this is a good time to get stuff like that out of the way. She’s ordered a new DSL modem that has all the latest networking features, and two new computers that can run the latest and greatest software, so she’ll be future-proof. Once everything arrives and is properly set up, she’ll be in good shape for several years. It was all unexpected, but it fits what I believe God is doing right now.

My heart says to persevere because the Lord is actually trying to protect her from what’s coming. I’m going to keep working with her situation until it’s back on track for her business. I believe His favor rests on her, despite what it appears in the flesh. I’m reminded to think about what’s coming and how this fits the pattern of my convictions.

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Bits and Pieces 30

Posted on February 9, 2018 by ehurst

My lower legs all scratched up from yesterday’s ride. Dragging a bike through heavy underbrush is not a recommended activity. But I still feel it was worth it to see that lovely shoreline.

I’m trying to get used to working without a mouse. This XPS laptop comes with a really good touchpad and it takes only one console command to make the driver recognize a three-finger tap as a middle-button mouse click (synclient TapButton3=2) so that I really don’t need the mouse. This makes it easier to use the laptop comfortably under a wide range of physical settings. Besides, it only has two USB ports, so I need to avoid hogging one of them with a mouse. It’s still just a little tricky when processing photos, but I’m getting the hang of it.

The other thing I’m learning to do is avoid keeping all my files on just one machine. The “new” smartphone came with a bunch of free cloud storage. I’m not sure I’ll use anywhere near the capacity, but I suppose it’s convenient for stuff that isn’t too sensitive and private. I have learned how to move files using Bluetooth between the phone and laptop, but it’s not simple. I got a copy of Android Phones for Dummies so I can discover all kinds of tricks for taming this phone. I still don’t like Android, but there’s not much choice.

The current stock market plunge isn’t far enough to bring on a crisis. I figure it has to get down to about half the recent highs before it means very much. Still, we are in the early stages of something a lot of experts have been predicting for a long time. The market is waaaay over-valued. If the stock indexes keep falling, some of the other stuff I’ve mentioned will start happening.

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Photography: Draper Point 10

Posted on February 8, 2018 by ehurst

Point 10 is the other half of the previous adventure. Each of these long points of land has a ridge, and this one had a real high point with quite a view from the trail. I took the ridgeline trail out to the point, then came around the shore trail on the east side back to the main road.

Once I made my way down to the point, I stood out on the very tip and caught this image of the water washing upon the foot of the rocks. I couldn’t capture the multiple high rocky spots just beneath the surface, but you would need to cautious boating up to this point.

This was the view up the eastern side from the point. The shore has numerous insets. Sadly, at some point in the past a bunch of concrete rubble was dumped here.

Farther up along the shore trail was another large inset. You can just imagine the sound of the water washing up on the shore all along here. The wind was southerly, driving the water pretty hard. The red sandstone shelves are readily visible in the water.

On the eastern side of the point is a very deep cove where Point 11 is hidden. Thus, the view just across to the next nearest point is 12. We’ll be getting a closer view of that one this next week, if all goes well for me and the weather here.

This is another shot along the same shoreline using my phone. It’s not too bad. The shore trail was ridable about half the time, between pulverized sandy spots from equestrian traffic, and then lots of dead fall. I removed some of the smaller stuff, but there were huge trees downed by beaver along the way. It was a whale of a workout.

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Administrivia: New Phone

Posted on February 8, 2018 by ehurst

This is just an FYI. I ordered a nearly new but used Android phone on eBay from another customer using the same provider. Thus, the phone easily activated in my name and is quite usable. I’ve linked it to my old Gmail account: ehurst909@gmail.com — if you need the advantage of quick email contact while I’m away from a computer, that’s the one to use. Also, texting works a whole lot better.

And because this thing offers the usual GPS and mapping service, I’m likely to be chasing the wild trails more often. Also, it’s warming up again and our local weather services predict only one more cold snap of any significance for the season. I’ll be out later today on Point 10 at Draper Lake, if all works out as I plan.

I’m using the new laptop a lot more these days. The old tower system has gotten a little grouchy with the display and I haven’t felt eager to dig into why, but I suspect the video card is burning out. Still, it runs fine and makes a good file server. It’s pretty easy to exchange files over our home router using SSH. That really is the safest LAN protocol, folks. I use it with FileZilla.

Finally, this phone turned out to be in really good condition and I got it for a third of Sprint’s retail for the same device. The previous owner had done some really strange things to it, but it all wiped away pretty nicely with a factory reset. I did the research to determine which phone best matched my features list and got the fewest consumer complaints. You can always tell which complaints are anomalies or just plain idiocy and disregard them. Buying it outright means no extra juice in our cellphone bill.

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Tech Support Ministries

Posted on February 7, 2018 by ehurst

A good friend of mine does a lot of free lance computer graphics. Several years ago I helped her build a system she had always dreamed of having. This week she asked me to help her replace a couple of case fans that quit. As part of my assistance I took home her Win7 netbook, because it hasn’t updated in a couple of years. It was choked with malware and it took a mixture of tools to get it clean. And being a low-spec machine, we agreed she could do without a lot manufacturer bloatware. Mostly it meant turning off the switches that autoload this crap when the machine starts. But the system updates took two days, as is typical with Win7 and later.

I read a rather detailed report about that. Up through WinXP, it was just a matter of replacing files and it didn’t take too long. Starting with Vista, MS decided to keep the old versions of the files and do tons of cross-checking with every update because too many users were tinkering with the process. Can you imagine? People refusing updates that weren’t working too well, or did something they didn’t like? So now updates take forever to make sure you didn’t skip anything they want to force down your throat. When people complain of the delays and having their system hijacked with “Do not turn off your computer” running for half a day, MS basically said they don’t care if you don’t like it.

So while I was working over this poor little netbook, her main system died — right as she was finishing a big project. Panic ensued. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but she had been thinking about replacing it. I was helping her research the possibility of a refurbished high-end CAD computer, but now she may just have to settle for what’s on the shelf locally. She was hoping to find a gap in her projects because there is an awful lot of specialized software she has to install, some of it just to run the wide selection of machinery to cut and print stuff. That takes a couple of days by itself because most of it has to be tested, and some calibrated.

It’s nice to be working again, but because of my empathy for her situation, it shows up in my dreams. Welcome to the real world.

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Nightmares and Dreams

Posted on February 6, 2018 by ehurst

The bankers dream of a world where most everyone is dehumanized. They envision a world mostly impoverished and willing to serve in activities that allow the bankers to maintain their control. They know that for every trooper in the field, it takes not less than five in the rear making war possible. But they would prefer that governments not actually run the show; they dream of a world where there are just a handful of massive corporations providing everything — very few small businesses except for things they do best. They want governments to contract out everything, but they don’t want corporations replacing governments. Governments retain the fiction that allows the bankers to hold the populations accountable for all the debt that comes from war and everything governments have to do to keep making war.

Keep in mind that the bankers had their emissaries on both sides of the US Civil War. While they knew the South would eventually lose, they bound up the people under war loans simply to maintain control. We have some evidence they even provoked the war in the first place, stirring passions to make preposterous demands on each side. So obviously the bankers need to maintain control over the information and entertainment industries. Bankers are neither left nor right, neither globalist nor imperialist themselves. They sponsor the internal conflict right along with external conflicts because that’s what gets people spending and borrowing with a passion.

Their only real loyalties are themselves. They’ll provoke any conflict they can, pretending to support and befriend anyone and anything with a potential for disruption and destruction. The last thing they want is peace and prosperity, a rise in general welfare. They’ll tolerate that at various stages because it gets people invested in keeping something the bankers intend to take away later. It’s just part of the cycle of control. But their aim is profligate waste, destruction and death, so bitter resentment is a major tool. Their greatest nightmare is a significant population that is otherworldly and seeking shalom.

Any conflict will do. Any means of creating discontent and envy is part of their game. They’ve had a very long time to practice this stuff and have raised it to a fine art. They will infiltrate everything. Don’t be fooled by dystopian movies and stories that see everyone under a single great power, and everyone engaged in a single giant corporate operation. That’s what they want us to fear; they wouldn’t actually let something like that happen. They knew long ago that no mass population could be reduced to one simple thing. Control requires realism; they want people distracted by a thousand different interests, anything that keeps them from actually gaining a true sense of calling from God, a true sense of self and contentment. Let them ever be driven by a sense that something needs to be fixed, just one more item on a personal slate of agendas, never satisfied.

We of Radix Fidem seek the set people free from all that frenetic chasing after one more solution to the world’s problems. Cease striving and know that He is God. War only against your own sin nature. Frivolous pursuits of the heart are fine; there’s no need to worry too much about efficiency and “not wasting time.” What matters more is how you go about things, with a confidence in God’s provision and sense of calling. Take what comes and walk in the Lord’s footprints. There’s nothing to accomplish except growing in grace, regardless what our hands find to do.

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The Real Apocalypse

Posted on February 5, 2018 by ehurst

There’s a movie titled Virtual Revolution. It’s not hard to find and you can watch it on YouTube, if you feel like it. I’m not going to recommend it, though. I’ll save you some time: It depicts a dystopian future world not so different from the background of Blade Runner. In this world, the majority of us peasant types have been seduced into a life online, preferring to live in virtual reality because it’s everything their real world isn’t.

In the story, our hero is one of the few who lives a hybrid life. In meat space he’s a private investigator employed by one the big gaming companies that keep the virtual world everything the players want. He’s hired to track down some “terrorists” who seek to destroy the virtual world and force everyone to live in the real world. They managed to manipulate the hero into helping them, but the whole thing comes apart, and the terrorists are killed in meat space by a lynch mob. Meanwhile, our hero had gone home and was in virtual space when it happened. Later he meets with the boss of the company that hired him. They have tense words and he’s given a counter story to the one that the terrorists fed him.

He doesn’t know who to trust; he can’t tell what’s real in the real world. So he takes the final payout for his services and opts to join the rest of his kind and stays in the virtual world. His final lines in the movie suggest that, since the human mind can’t tell the difference, who’s to say the virtual world is a lie?

I’m going to tell you that this story is by far more plausible than most movies dealing with similar issues. A world where the government is happy to save money by giving people the bare minimum to live plus a network connection would be a lot cheaper than modern welfare states, and is typical of government thinking. Big corporations that run the simulations as a sideline while taking government money to operate automated war machines also sounds realistic (even if that’s not all included in the story line). But the most realistic thing is seducing the peasantry into a virtual world so that their real world life expectancy is around 40 years is by far the most realistic part of the movie.

Worse is that technology research is already trying to minimize the boundary between real and virtual, so that meat space acts and feels like some programmed ideal, ready to cater to every taste. Do you see how this counterfeits the reality we know in our hearts?

People in the West are taught that reality is reasonable, or that it at least should be. But you and I know that reason is always deceived by individual personal lusts. You cannot trust reason to tell you much that matters. Reality is already fungible in ways the West refuses to acknowledge. And while I doubt that online virtual reality gaming is likely to capture quite the high portion of population as in the movie, the real danger is a blended semi-virtual reality in meat space being used on us without our knowledge or permission. It’s not a question of seducing folks into dropping out of real life; there is the risk they may never really know it.

Would I, could I ditch computers and the online world? Of course; I’ve left behind all kinds of things with bigger implications in my life when I heard the call of God. For now, that calling is to keep messing with computers and keep in touch with people online. Meanwhile, I teach that the West is one of Satan’s greatest accomplishments, but I think the coming Networked Civilization will be worse in many ways. I still believe the heart is strong enough to beat this thing, but the struggles and stakes will be higher than ever.

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Prayer Request: Transportation Again

Posted on February 4, 2018 by ehurst

This is not a fund raiser; I want you to pray with us. There are complications.

Basic reality: My wife’s job requires reliable transportation; she’s obliged to drive all over the local school district, sometimes a different site every day. We’ve had our car for four years now and we’ve been blessed to have something like this work so well for so long. We’ve never had the income to buy a new one, or even a newer one, so this one stands out as truly blessed. But the truth is we’ve just about squeezed the last few drops of life from it. The issue is the electronic controls are degrading slowly. It should run for awhile yet, so now is the time to start praying for replacement.

Here’s the first complication: Maybe you are aware that the market right now is flat out strange. There is a massive auto credit bubble building and people seem to be aware of it. The used car market here is very dicey. We need prayer that we’ll be protected from predators.

The second complication is related: I’m still unwilling to use credit. I may eventually be forced to, but it’s very risky. I don’t want to go that route unless the Lord is beside us to protect us and make it work. The entire credit industry is really a mess, but it’s not dangerous across the board. It’s really hard to choose because there is so very much deception about it. We’ll take all the donations we can get, and they will be used for a car, but the market is tight. We are praying for an “angel seller,” an agent of God’s mercy.

The third complication: My wife and I can sense some very bad vibes around things in general. It’s a distraction. It would be inappropriate to tell you much about it because there are too many innocent folks involved. But there are some malevolent forces seeking to use some of our kin against us. We tried to keep them from knowing about this because they’ll use it as leverage. There’s a big suction pulling at us, lots of manipulation trying to absorb and control us like a personal convenience. This could hinder our ministry.

So pray with us that we can in due time obtain a replacement for our car.

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