Rapprochment

Posted on February 23, 2017 by ehurst

Let’s recall something very important: In Christ we live the paradox of having on the one hand a command to commune with others because it’s the nature of our communion with God. To be one with the Father is to be one with His Creation, and that includes humans. But humans alone in Creation are fallen, so it stands to reason that our fellow humans will be the biggest problem we have with enjoying that communion. On top of that, while our minds might well detect trends and similarities in human behavior, we cannot allow ourselves to forget that no two of us will serve God in precisely the same way. So on that other hand, we must not assume we will commune sweetly with every human. Something fundamental to this whole question is that we are designed to commune in small circles, and that everyone we encounter will be varying degrees of far or near, and that it can vary over time. Further, that communion may be highly selective in our various pursuits of God’s glory, so that we fellowship in one activity, but not in others. This is all good and right; this is assumed in God’s revealed will for us.

When you start to embrace the moral reasoning of the heart, absolutism dissolves into silliness. You can begin to see that something you cannot do would be quite reasonable for another believer. The intellect does not like “iffy” stuff and rebels against the idea that holiness before the Lord is flexible. How can something so eternally important be so hard to nail down? But the heart knows that there is a lot the brain cannot handle by itself, and so constrains the mind to pretend now and then that maybe, just maybe, the other person is right with God despite the differences from those things that bring us peace with the Lord.

Some of the worst sins and abuses of humanity are enacted in the name of religion that is too deeply wed to human reason. The intellect is proud and insists on controlling things the way it prefers to handle them. The intellect by itself is incapable of deeper moral reasoning that sees beyond the particulars. The intellect has a reflex to project it’s preferences upon the face of God. The intellect arrogantly assumes that what is logical internally reflects objective reality, but never realizes that reality cannot be objective. I’m not just agnostic about some things. I teach that reality is far more flexible and responsive because it is alive, sentient and willful in itself. I’ve learned that the intellect is part of our fallen fleshly nature, so it is given to fleshly preferences and deceives itself in assuming that it’s being objective. I don’t trust my own reason.

In God’s mercy, we were granted a higher faculty than the intellect. Otherwise we would never know God as a Person, because He doesn’t speak to the intellect directly. We commune with God in our hearts, and in Scripture the heart is the seat of faith, the repository of convictions and the one part of our awareness where we can meet with God in Person. Once we become aware of that divine Presence, we find ourselves obliged to reorder our existence to meet the heavy sense of moral obligation. What a great and joyful thing it is to know the Lord! How can we not make Him truly Lord? It is then we discover what our minds are for, and we begin to discipline the intellect for it’s true mission: to organize and implement what faith demands. We call that process “religion” — the human expression of faith, but not the same thing as faith. And religion includes doctrine and theology. What we can put into words is religion; faith signals without words, peeking at us through the words and actions.

So I don’t have to justify my religion. I don’t have to defend it, though I do owe you an explanation. That’s because I am obliged to testify of the glory of God as I experience it. The idea is not to project my religion into your life, but to indicate my faith by the simple fact of having a religion. God says He will speak to my world through my religion, but I am never to imagine that my religion is normative for others. That includes my doctrine and theology. That’s just how I organize my obedience to God; you can take some clues, but God forbid you copy my religion any more than it takes to awaken your own heart-led response.

For this reason, I refuse to debate my theology and doctrine with anyone. I’m glad to explain, as much as possible, how I arrived at those statements of my personal commitment to Christ, but there is simply no need at all to debate whether my personal religion is valid. It’s not subject to your approval, thanks be to God. And it works both ways; you have no need to seek my approval. What we can do is borrow from each other as we seek God’s favor. The amount of borrowing between us will strongly shape our fellowship in the flesh. At any rate, on this blog there will be no debate. If you want to argue with me, do it somewhere else and don’t expect me to participate much. Debating religion itself is not biblical. None of us has a commission from God to correct another’s religion. We can, at most, discuss why we don’t fellowship with someone in terms of how impractical it is. Disputes are disruptive.

Now, if you choose to associate with me, and by the strength of my expression of conviction you decide to follow my lead in fellowship, then we can join in a covenant of faith and community of faith. We can share a certain amount of religion and do things together to express communion. Fellowship indicates communion, and communion is the glory of the Lord at work in this world. It’s voluntary from end to end; I’m not compelling anyone to march to my drum. Join in or fall out as you sense God requires it of you. But by no means should anyone walk along and disrupt this fellowship by beating a confusing rhythm. In more concrete terms, if you show up on this blog and start picking at what I say, trying to correct what you see as flaws, then you don’t understand what it’s all about. You might well insinuate that it’s arrogance, but I can’t help what you feel. What I can do is keep your comments from showing up on the blog, and I will do that if I sense it’s not going to serve the purpose in having a blog in the first place. I’ll try to use even the nastiest provocations to teach those who want to learn from my answers, but at some point it can get tiresome. I’m a human with limits to my endurance on some things.

I’d prefer to turn every enemy into a friend, and I trust in the power of God to make a brother/sister out of anyone. That doesn’t mean it works out that way all the time. In some cases, it’s just a matter of giving it time. As I get older, I get more patient about such things, because I keep looking in the mirror and wonder how God puts up with me. Still, I have a mission here and I can only give so much before some people have simply gotten in the way. The guidance in Titus 3:10-11 indicates there ought to be limits. Lots of people claim good intentions, but bad results still require a response.

I was close to locking the door on Steven, as noted in this post (since updated), but something told me to give it a little more time. It’s not a question of coming to agreement on particulars, but hoping that the interaction could get better. Let me put it like this: In recent comments between us, Steven now seems like a real person, not just an avatar of disruption. When we open ourselves up as humans to each other, a lot of things in the context change meaning. And I’m glad I didn’t make the mistake of closing the door on him. So for what it’s worth, I’d like you to join me in keeping that door open for fellowship on whatever terms we can agree. Surely there is something we can do to bring God glory in both receiving from, and investing in, each other’s religion.

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Not Grumpy, Just Realistic

Posted on February 22, 2017 by ehurst

If you think Microsoft is treating their users bad by firing their entire quality assurance team and foisting alpha and beta ware on everyone, or their Orwellian snooping built into the OS, and the forced advertising, you should see how they treat folks who don’t use their software. Several stories have cropped up lately that indicate their spiteful tactics haven’t changed. When they can’t buy you out, they simply destroy you.

A lot of the reports are anonymous for obvious reasons. Folks who manage IT projects have been facing proverbial torture from Microsoft inquisitors for the sin of running something besides Windows on their computers. More than one manager has been fired because he/she turned down a Microsoft (MS) sales pitch. Not fired because their superiors loved Windows, but fired because their bosses were threatened by a massive company that could buy them out and close the shop — and MS has done it several times. It’s raw oppression in the name of decidedly inferior products.

A case in point is the recent “review” by the municipal government of Munich, Germany. Various government officials deny it, but insiders are leaking the facts: After ten years of the city using their own Linux distribution, MS has finally rubbed everyone raw. Their lobbyists have leveraged political pressure from every regional and national agency Munich deals with to force Munich back into the MS fold. And you thought the CIA was rough on governments they didn’t like. No, really; MS hires hatchet men just for this purpose, psychopaths who have no morals at all.

There must be some iconoclasm in my blood; I love it when people are willing to take some risks in ripping the cover off secretive dirty dealing. It amuses me when people gore the sacred cows. For example, while I really don’t like the slimy James O’Keefe, I love it when anyone manages to prove what we all knew or suspected all along. His next exposé will show up CNN.

Here’s a general principle: Someone who truly believes in something will not be intimidated, particularly by attempted public shaming. When the partisan rhetoric closes off certain avenues of debate, they are always shocked when their opponents are willing to wear the scarlet letter to spite them. You tell me I can’t claim to support the troops if I don’t support their immoral mission? Fine, I don’t support the troops. Watch those troops support me.

If you thought Anglo-Saxons were bad back in the days when slavery was legal, just wait until you back them into a corner with anti-white racist rhetoric. You’ll discover the meaning of “scorched earth.” Just take a quick review of Beowulf to get a feel for how Anglo-Saxon culture looks at the world. You have to be born into a Germanic culture to enjoy reading it. There is a powerful subconscious element of doom, a sense that everything is going to Hell sooner or later, so grab a little glory and enjoy the berserker spirit. They’ll gladly die taking down their enemies for nothing more than pure spite. Everyone has their breaking points, but it’s the backlash that distinguishes cultures. It was Anglo-Saxon spirit that seized upon nuclear weapons and has already used them. What a nasty culture; I renounced it long ago.

The world has gone mad. It’s getting harder to see evidence of wisdom. The vast majority of humanity would prefer peaceful coexistence, but they keep letting people lead who suffer delusions of grandeur. This is the awful consequence of Western mythology about democracy. The most godly leaders in the whole sweep of human history were drafted, not volunteers. In Scripture, the shepherd is conscripted by God, often while he was pursuing other plans. Whatever problems we might imagine such leaders have caused, our “sacred” democratic ideals have brought us to a far worse state. The only people eager to rule are psychopaths.

This is my Father’s world. I don’t have to cling fearfully to whatever little bit of property I’ve amassed by my talents and self will. I’m an heir to the whole of Creation, and it’s a world that sings to me of my Father’s glory. True joy and peace, the sheer giddy delight of communion with His character in all the I see and touch — no one take that way from me. It’s the paradox of knowing that we live in shadows, a kind of Hell before dying, even while we bask in the light of His favor. It’s a taste of what’s to come. I have the sure promise that what awaits after my passing from this world is even better.

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Bits and Pieces 21

Posted on February 22, 2017 by ehurst

singingflockIt was a good time to take the medium loop out around Draper Lake. At the farthest corner from where I live, I was arrested by the sound of hundreds of migratory birds. They were clustered in the tree tops just a short way off the road. I’m not enough of a bird watcher to recognize the species, but the thick chorus of twittering at high volume was enthralling. After dismounting, I stood and listened for several minutes.

Yesterday’s ride was the first time in over a year when I felt really strong and had the stamina to push myself the whole way. There’s a reason for trying so hard: It’s necessary equipment for the next mission. It doesn’t require concrete factual knowledge of the mission to know my heart demands this of me. It’s rather like what the military refers to as “a warning order” — get ready for something. That sort of command notice offered only those specifics we needed to know to be ready. That’s what I have from God. I know to push my fitness level up in certain ways, but I don’t need to know how it will be used later, only that it will be used.

By the same token, I’ve been given several other gifts from God, rather like the issuing of fresh equipment and supplies for the mission. Some of it I struggle to describe in words. It’s almost like an infusion of steel in my being, a strength of focus and purpose that clarifies a lot of things. Unlike a kind of random, “What do I do with this,” it’s more like, “Okay, we don’t need this any more.” Turn it back in to the supply room. There’s nothing wrong with being wide open to a lot of stuff you aren’t too sure about; that’s my general habit of mind. It’s that libertarian nature without all the theoretical vigor. But when a strong sense of calling comes flooding in, you realize that it doesn’t matter whether something is harmless of harmful; it has to fit the purpose at hand.

highcreekflowAs a general reminder, a persistent effort to live in your heart changes everything. This is how you get your house in order and make the demons feel unwelcome, giving them no room to camp out on your sofa, much less have their own room. Don’t feed them. Invest the resources in consciously staying focused on the eternal moral guidance of your heart. “And the things of earth/ will grow strangely dim/ in the light of His glory and grace” says the old song (“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”).

If you don’t sense that kind of purpose, make it a major prayer request. The answer is not likely to be written in the sky for you, but you’ll see it everywhere. In the Kingdom of Heaven, we don’t find much value in being well-rounded like some Renaissance Man or Woman. What really matters is first an overwhelming sense of availability, and when the time comes, a powerful drive to act on something that brings Him glory. Start where you are and listen for that call from Creation itself. That’s where the first clues will be found. If you walk in the light you have, He will move you along the path for His glory.

The key is obedience. Don’t keep referring to what your learned in your head, but accept answers from that source impossible to define inside your own soul. If you can accept the notion that there is a difference between your head and your heart, that awareness alone is the starting point. Part of the reorientation is also ditching the idea that what comes early will remain for life. What comes first is the territory you have to cross in order to get to the right place. And somewhere in the background is the awareness that you never really arrive. Once you get there, you still have to start building and making a home for the Lord. It’s never done, and the Bible warns us that we will be called Home in the middle of faithfully plugging away at the job.

I testify to you what I live daily.

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The Nuclear Option of Faith

Posted on February 21, 2017 by ehurst

When your heart belongs wholly to Christ, and you strive to walk by that heart of faith, you will inevitably encounter resistance from a sinful world. We must always keep before us that our real enemy is Satan and his demons. It is grammatically appropriate in English to capitalize that as a title: our Enemy. He’s the only enemy that really matters. Our difficulty in this life is chiefly humans who serve his purposes, knowingly or not (Ephesians 6:10-20).

We would prefer people to repent from serving our Enemy’s purposes, and to escape his dominance in their lives. That’s our hope, even as we keep in the mind the warning of our Lord that most people will not repent. Indeed, we should be quite happy just to get them off our backs, most of the time. There is that sense of dominion from God that says: As long as they aren’t hindering my mission, they aren’t my problem. The majority of those we encounter in this life will remain a part of the broader background of fallen humanity. Significant they are while we share space with them, and worthy of tearful prayers for redemption, but we know to let God decide something He didn’t put into our hands.

Repentance is required for redemption, and repentance itself is a divine miracle. We have to prepare our minds to understand that most will pass in and out of our lives with neither repentance nor redemption. Further, we know that a great many folks we encounter are somewhere between initial repentance and a deeper understanding of heart-led submission to the Spirit, such that they may need repentance from of lot of things still keeping them tied to Satan’s schemes. These people merit a special effort, because we are obliged to presume they are family already, but still struggling to find their place and not at peace. Such are we all in one way or another.

We humbly ask others to pray for us as we confront the demons in our own lives. Those demons have found a bit of home ground in us on issues that we haven’t conquered. This is where we get the higher meaning behind Deuteronomy 7:22-23, as Paul noted 1 Corinthians 10, particularly verse 11. The Conquest stands as a parable of how God works in our lives to drive out demonic forces. We don’t conquer the external world, but conquer our own human existence and occupy it for God’s glory.

But there is another tactic in this war against sin.

First we need to refresh in our minds that this is a time of tribulation, a time of God’s wrath falling heavily upon this world. In such times as these, we are intensely aware of what biblical curses mean. The sword of God’s power on this earth is revealed in His Law Covenants as blessings and curses, two edges of that same sword (Hebrews 4:12; Genesis 3:24). We emphasize blessings a lot, but the same event that blesses His children can be a curse on those who reject His revelation. We can talk about the difference between curses and blessings, but in many ways, it’s all one thing.

Indeed, there is a sense in which pronouncing a curse can result in a blessing, particularly if the sorrow from the curse brings repentance. We must never fail to understand that the ultimate goal of the Law of God is repentance, leading to redemption. This means that the curses and blessings attached to biblical law all have the same redemptive end.

This is where I insert the comment about how there are several Hebrew words translated as “curse” in the Bible. We aren’t talking here about the spiteful condemnation that belittles someone. That kind of curse is what we see in Exodus 22:28, a command that you not “curse” a ruling official or king over you. It’s paralleled with the command that you not “revile” God, because it’s all the same kind of mistake. The point is that you render due respect to roles of authority, even if you find the person in that role despicable as an individual. This is not the kind of curse we are referring to here.

When we talk about a lawful curse, we mean calling someone’s attention to their evil. There is a critical element here in testifying to God’s Word. How can they repent if they have not heard? You have been sent to make them hear, so testify faithfully of God’s revelation. At some point in your dealings with your fellow humans, they will give evidence your heart can discern that they are hardened in some particular grievous moral error. They need to know about it. There might be any number of ways you can tell them, but uttering a curse is one of those ways.

You’ll have to let your heart tell you when you are up against the wall of someone’s hardened sin. I can’t offer you a memorized formula for this; we each have to come up with our own rituals for expressing divine truth. However, I can tell you that I would try to find a way to say something along these lines:

May God curse everything you do, may demons infest every corner of your existence, until you repent or die.

And then you pray that what you said comes true, because you would have been praying about this kind of thing, if not this specific confrontation, for a long time already. You would be standing on firm moral ground and genuinely expect that troubles and sorrows would sprout and bear fruit aplenty in their personal existence. That’s the kind of thing we saw in the Ten Plagues on Egypt, where God shattered Pharaoh’s confidence in everything he thought he knew. In many cases, you will be dealing with someone who has a human legal authority to afflict you, trying to compel you to conform to something you know is sin, so you are looking for God to let that fool know who is God.

And it ain’t you. It has to be done with confidence and humility. You have to make sure the ground is plowed and watered with your carefully considered, heart-led response to everything involved before you come to that point. The same seed of obedience will bring forth a harvest of blessing and curse, and the difference is in the soul of the person who walks into that field.

By the way: It’s protocol to keep your distance from someone you’ve cursed on the grounds that you have full faith it’s going to happen and you don’t want to be close enough for the destruction to fall on you, too.

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For Example, Racism

Posted on February 21, 2017 by ehurst

For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. (1 John 2:16 NKJV)

I’ve covered this before, but we need to keep drawing out the implications. That “pride of life” is keyed into the very essence of fallen nature in that humans naturally reject the idea that they are fallen. Cite any social or political problem you care to name, and I can show how it traces back to human fallen nature. Thus, when we propose a solution, it must take into account the reality that mankind is fallen.

For the most part, the revelation of God says that you cannot fix this world. God’s Law is aimed at mitigation when it comes to human interactions. Redemption is not a direct goal of the Law Covenants because law cannot redeem; it only condemns sin. So we use our heart-led connection to God’s truth to bring His Law to life on the earth as condemnation. That’s how it works, for without the awareness of fallen nature, no one repents. Repentance is the not the proximate goal, but the ultimate goal of law. That there is blessing in obeying the Law of God simply shows the power of conviction awakened.

But God said quite bluntly that we should not expect too much, because for reasons we could never comprehend, the whole of humanity cannot be redeemed. There is a volitional element in redemption, and redemption as God offers it means nothing if everyone takes it. The question is tied into His divine nature and the meaning of holiness. I struggle to make this all clear in human language, but one thing that remains utterly certain is that a majority of humanity will not accept the terms of redemption.

The point here is that you cannot change fallen human nature, particularly in its brokenness. You can at best mitigate fallen nature. The fundamental nature of law is to condemn sin, provoke an awareness of what sin is. But in presenting a code of law, God also points out ways we can restore some measure of sanity by putting up barriers and restraints on some elements of sin.

Need I restate the obvious that absolutism has no place in this? Stop dreaming about the purity of your logical vision and learn what the word “Utopia” actually means.

Any approach to legislation must start with the idea of mitigation. It’s the same with culture and religion and everything we as humans do to organize how we shall live on this earth. What we do must reflect the wisdom inherent in God’s Law Covenants. In particular, we bank on the Law of Noah as the ultimate expression of God’s will for human conduct on the earth. That governments today have failed is painfully obvious, but to explain the failure requires reference to Noah.

Pick any social problem you like; it requires Noah to understand that we can only mitigate, and how we should do so.

So let’s look at racial tension. What’s the problem? Right now I’d say the major flaw is expecting too much. On the one hand, we acknowledge that a lot of social tension labeled “racism” simply isn’t, but we can see that there are problems seemingly rooted in differences that are associated with ethnic identity. The first mistake is assuming that the tension of itself is wrong. There is a difference between “unpleasant” and “evil.” Not everything that makes us unhappy is evil.

Already you can see that virtually every attempt to bring the power of law enforcement against this tension is misguided at best. Indeed, a lot of anti-racist law is more evil than the problem it pretends to address. Law cannot fix the problem of racism itself and should not try.

It is fundamental to the Law of Noah — fundamental to reality itself — that we are tribal. Thus saith the Lord: You cannot live and prosper on this earth without a tribal social structure. While you need not rest your tribal identity on shared DNA, that is the default. It takes a higher level of awareness to shift the emphasis over to a shared covenant, but covenant is part of Noah’s Law. However, the point remains that people are hard-wired to live together with folks of like custom and habit. That’s not evil; it’s necessary and righteous. The mythology behind what passes for “cosmopolitan” and “open society” philosophy is from Hell.

The utter necessity of ethnic identity lends itself to a certain level of exclusion of folks who are different. Have you noticed how everyone of every color revels in their own cultural background? How you work out that exclusion is a matter of custom and habit, but a certain guardedness is essential. You are damned if you refuse to understand that. You are further damned if you pretend that previous conflicts make no difference. And even more so are you damned if you refuse to recognize that one person from one tribe causing trouble doesn’t heap God’s wrath on the whole tribe. The tribe with the offending member becomes liable before Noah’s Law for making amends if they can’t get the offender to do it himself.

The next question is how to make amends and restore some level of stability, but that in itself rests heavily on properly understanding what constitutes stability and peaceful coexistence under Noah. I don’t have space to write that book here. All I have to do is remind you that materialism is a part of every wrong answer we live with today.

But perhaps you will understand that whatever social justice crusaders mean by “racism” is a complaint against human fallen nature. The pretense of changing human nature is just damnably evil; it’s part of the problem. The only path to social peace starts with recognizing that racism is utterly normal and cannot be eradicated. Instead, it can only be mitigated.

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Latest Fitness Efforts

Posted on February 20, 2017 by ehurst

01tirestorefirecleanThese are shots I took on Friday’s ride up north. The first one is the old tire store that burned down awhile back. Somebody finally cleared off the site; I have no idea whether anyone will build there again. It’s less of an eyesore on my route north. Still, most of my shots aren’t so much trying to show something as just answering the call of Creation to take a picture. The value of these images is what each one says to you.

02ncannrcrutchocrkI’ve just started to pick up the pace a little on the bike. I first noticed it as the urge to push a bit. Now I’m staying on it a little harder and a little longer. I still take time for pictures when something calls to me. It’s important to pay attention and let my heart run the show. But now my riding feels more like training, as training has taken a higher priority now.

03oldshedWhile most of what you’ll see in this collection of shots is still winter drab color, the green-up has begun. For example, I’m seeing henbit and chickweed both sprouting around the apartment complex. If you look closely at the foreground on this image to the right, you’ll see the first sprouts of green just about everywhere.

04quietspotAnd of course, I still seem to hear that call to prayer on almost every ride. There’s not always a lot on my mind, but plenty on my heart. Right now, the sense of calling to prepare for a mission adventure is overwhelming. So in the midst of what I have been doing all along, I’m working and praying hard on more recovery from that collision last year the chewed up my right knee. Today I was able to stand up on the pedals for the first time. Just a few strokes, and still a little discomfort, but I can do it now when needed.

05ruralbridgeI’m starting to alternate long rides with more intensive full body workouts again. Today I rode to Barnes Park and used some of the equipment to simulate a gym workout. I’ll be sore in the morning, but it’s worth preserving whatever fitness my aging body can handle. That I have the urging of the Spirit and a promise of blessing is not taken for granted, but has become a conscious part of the routine. I’m always thankful.

06abandonewellhouseSometimes the stuff I see reminds me not to let myself go like the owners of the property. I’m not worried about weight; that usually takes care of itself. I’m more concerned with my clothes still fitting properly. That is, my waist needs to stay down to a reasonable size. It’s not so bad if I have to give stuff away because it doesn’t fit somewhere else on my body.

08crutchocrkmwblvdThe spring rains are hitting more frequently now. We could have another frost or two, but winter is gone here in Central Oklahoma. It’s more likely we’ll see damaging storms and flash floods.

Stay faithful, brothers and sisters.

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Non-partisan Support

Posted on February 20, 2017 by ehurst

We don’t encourage activism because it brings you too close to idolatry. It traps you in the Western mode of thinking and material reality. We don’t promote “Christian” virtues as law because it reduces religion to mere legalism. What we promote is God’s own standard for human government: the Law of Noah.

Every little bit helps, and we can understand Noah in terms of proximity to the ideal. First and most important is that heart-led mystical approach to thinking, which means rejecting Western materialistic logic. We do not trust human intellect to lead, but use it only as a tool for organizing conduct according to a higher, mystical moral understanding of God’s character. Second, we treat all of Creation as alive, sentient and willful. There are millions of persons who aren’t humans, down to the smallest subatomic particles. Third, we assert that human government must stand on the family, clan and tribe. Your first line of government is the folk with whom you share DNA and/or covenant commitments.

Those are prerequisites. We mention them because folks whose first language is English never heard of such things. These elements were the universal norm of human life until the birth of Greco-Roman Civilization, the predecessor to Western Civilization. Even the Greeks and Romans understood that your first line of government was family, but they pulled too many government functions into centralized government hands. They did tend to think of their world as alive and sentient, but they rejected revelation in favor of a broad mixture of heathen religions. With no consensus of how to approach it, Roman Law ignored it. Western Civilization rejected all of it.

From our perspective here at the end of Western Civilization, we aren’t surprised that Noah is an impossible standard in our world. But we do see that certain elements in modern political culture do approach Noah here and there. The single strongest element of Noah in our world is political nationalism. That’s as close as we’ll get to tribal social structure. While the other two prerequisites are out of the question, we can engage them for ourselves. That’s how we know better than to get too deeply involved in ambient politics.

We are left with giving some half-hearted support to candidates and organizations that promote nationalism. Not the mean-n-nasty version, but the core idea of decentralized government. Centralization is the single greatest political threat to our obligation to Noah. We believe that a loose confederation bound by custom, not law, is far better than a huge centralized secular state. The less centralized, the better. We can get behind that with some level of enthusiasm and not sin.

If you can’t escape the urge to get involved in the national political conversation, first you need to recognize that it’s not a conversation. It’s a propaganda war. It’s two entirely alien cultures yelling past each other. As long as you keep that in mind, there’s nothing wrong with sharing ideas with various partisan individuals and organizations, so long as you stick with the one thing that matters to us under Noah: decentralize.

And it’s possible to approach some element of tribal association via the Internet. That is, while there are precious few Noah-minded believers in any one place, there is a surprising number of folks out there on the Internet, scattered all over geographically, who can share our convictions to varying degrees. Isn’t that what our parish does with religion? You can do the same with politics. Otherwise, you’ll be pretty isolated and you’ll feel like Noah himself building that big boat for just your immediate family. We aren’t facing a literal flood any more, so let’s try to build a virtual agenda that we can support.

I’m not going to organize a Noahic PAC (political action committee). There’s way too much money in politics already, a major waste of resources. What we need is some form of direct witness to the world about what we believe really matters. And given the essential mysticism, I’m not about to crack the whip about organizations and candidates. You have to find your own sense of moral necessity according to your divine calling. What I will do is provide a little prophetic guidance to get you thinking, even if you aren’t going to follow my specific example. God forbid you should ever get the idea that my choices are binding on you. What matters is that we all agree how we approach the question and what’s essential.

Keep in mind that I adhere to the King David’s image in Psalms about how God runs the world. Human politics outside of a Law Covenant will always be likened to herding cattle. The cows will never understand what God is up to, but respond to a very limited range of prodding in various directions as God sees fit. In our minds, the current government isn’t His “anointed” but is His choice for the alpha bulls, so to speak. Meanwhile, the Devil isn’t sneaking around the herd trying to undermine God. His job is to see if he can fool people into buying his temptations, and then implementing God’s wrath from time to time as a result. Satan is our enemy, not God’s.

Trump is the current alpha bull. He’ll be butchered in due time, but for now, it’s wise to avoid getting in his way. It doesn’t matter what Trump believes; we know he doesn’t embrace Noah. But God has put him at the head of the herd, and it tells us more about where the herd is going than it does about Trump. A critical element in what God is doing includes crushing some elements of those who naturally oppose Trump because they oppose where God is taking the herd. If you stand with Trump’s enemies, you’ll probably get hurt. It may still be your calling to stand there, but don’t complain about what falls on you. Try to separate your personal revulsion from your heart-led sense about what God is doing.

You can view Trump rather like Daniel viewed the various Babylonian rulers. Notice that Daniel gave proper support to each, even the last one. He faithfully reported to Belshazzar what the writing on the wall meant, and knew it could also mean his own death. I honestly believe Trump’s time is short, but until we get there, I’m not going to agitate against him.

Instead, I’ll give him the same support Daniel did. God is my True Ruler in Heaven, but I’ve been loaned out to Trump for a season. If you live in America, you are also on loan from God to the government earthly political considerations. If your job is to oppose, then do it righteously. Otherwise, try to find where God intends you to serve in support of Trump. Not his agenda, but the man himself. We support what God says is in his best interest, so you can bet I’ll oppose his support of Israel. More importantly, I’ll be fighting the neocons tooth and nail, just as I will the globalists who serve Soros.

It means I’ll support the evisceration of the globalist Intelligence Community. I’ll resist those folks in the Pentagon who want any war they can provoke. Anything that reduces centralization is a good move. Anything that devolves government power down to a lower level is a blessing, even if it means local taxes go up while federal taxes go down. That’s how it should be, though less of any tax is a good thing. I’m all for firing millions of government bureaucrats, because whatever it is they do is surely better at the local level, more responsive to the local population. I’m all for accountability.

Because our current system is so utterly wrong on almost everything, and it’s been steadily getting worse, I know Trump’s presidency means bloodshed, both literal and figurative. America is too deeply invested in moral evil for God’s wrath to be gentle. I’m not cheering human suffering; I’m cheering the hand of God revealing His character. I know that I’m standing right beside some folks who will suffer greatly from His wrath and some of it simply must fall on me, as well. But I also know that the Father will moderate things on my behalf because that’s how His glory works.

So Trump is a lumber ox destroying a lot of stuff that was of no moral value in the first place. Look for it to happen. Despite the drama, despite the wishful thinking inherent in the propaganda of his enemies, we should not be deceived about how this will play out. If it’s not Trump, someone else will step in with an even harder iron hand.

That’s what God is doing.

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Why Noah’s Law?

Posted on February 20, 2017 by ehurst

It’s a matter of faith: We stand ready to die for the name of Christ.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer just me living in this fleshly body, but Christ lives in me, too. Now the life I live in this fleshly body is a life of faithful service to the Son of God, who willingly sacrificed His life for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Does that mean anything to you? We were told to take up our own crosses (Matthew 16:24-26). While it has turned out to be literal at times for some, it is symbolic of a life purchased at great cost, wholly owed to the Son of God.

Many Americans, Christians in particular, struggle with the where to draw the line between parable and literal meaning. I use the term “Two Realms” to point out a teaching that is greatly needed in postmodern Western Christian thinking, because mainstream Christian religion confuses parable and literal teaching. Thus, most mainstream Christians tend to take parables literally, and dismiss as parable what Scripture meant literally. They pull Christ down to an earthly regime, and push biblical law off into “a spiritual thing.”

This is a major struggle for people trying to recover a genuine biblical view of this world. If you show up at our parish, you may stumble over that issue. You may find yourself frequently missing the point on things because of that long history of improperly mixing the Two Realms. We owe that to the Judaizers. They succeeded in subverting the mystical approach in the organized church hierarchy by the end of the First Century.

Jesus spoke of mystical truths, but then taught people how to use that mystical approach to understand the Law of Moses. The Torah is a mystical document; all the specific concrete requirements represent a much higher mystical truth. The Jews had forgotten that. By mixing Hellenized logic into their ancient Hebrew Law, they became legalistic and pushed mysticism off to the side. Mysticism was there, but not taken seriously as the primary proper approach to understanding the Scripture. So Jesus had a running battle with Jewish leadership about how to read Moses. He taught Moses, as Moses was intended, against their “traditions of the elders” (eventually formalized in the Talmud). Jesus was restoring the ancient Hebrew faith.

As the gospel spread across the Mediterranean Basin, it first went among Jewish communities planted all over the place. We call that “the Diaspora” — Jews living in a Gentile world outside their own kingdom. There were plenty of Gentiles attracted to the Jewish religion, but when they heard the gospel correcting it, they embraced it quickly. And while plenty of Jews also embraced the gospel, there was a natural tension in the whole process. Jews still suffered from that legalistic instinct, so the Apostles had to find a way to put out the fires of conflict.

In Acts 15 they made it clear that one did not have to become a Jew first to become a Christian. On the one hand, if Jews wanted to follow Christ, they could drop the Talmudic stuff and stick with the mystical truth. If they embraced Moses as Jesus taught him, then it meant no legalism and life was much simpler. Jesus pointed out how certain provisions of Mosaic Law weren’t even applicable outside of the more ancient historical context. With the sacrifice on the Cross, whole swathes of ritual were gone. What remained was the core of ancient Hebrew moral values.

Gentiles had their own brand of mystical law covenant: Noah. The list of prescriptions in Acts 15 was an echo of that more ancient law. The Apostles left out those parts of Noah that were covered under Roman Law and focused on what was left, the parts that were demanding enough on Gentiles from a broad range of pagan backgrounds. And for a deeper understanding, there was an expectation that churches would generally study the Old Testament Scripture to provide an expansive explanation of what Noah meant. Moses was a more explicit and particular application of Noah. The promised blessings and warned curses of Moses were inherent in Noah.

For Jewish Christians it was, “Christ in your hearts, Moses in your hands.” For Gentile Christians it was, “Christ in your hearts, Noah in your hands.” You could lie about having Christ in your heart, but you couldn’t easily lie about what you did with your conduct and your habits of life before the church. Your fellow church members knew to treat you as a fellow Christian because you had the good sense to walk and talk according to a mystical law covenant as applicable.

You have to understand that mysticism from those ancient times was not “mysticism” as commonly understood today, particularly in the West. That business of heart-led wisdom was well understood and widely discussed in literature going back into pre-history. It was their normal intellectual climate, an assumption taken for granted. It’s utterly foreign to us; we have to learn it from them. We have to learn how normative the heart-led mode of life is, and how it works when examining our own conduct, as well as that of the folks who share our household of faith. Thus, we are not legalistic, but strive to discern the heart of the matter — by taking that “heart” business rather literally.

For us, that call to crucify the flesh is a matter of keeping the intellect subjected to the heart-mind. Not just in those “spiritual” moments, but all day long. That way those spiritual moments aren’t just a matter of ritual, but they strike us with the power of God whatever it is we do. We place the initiative to act and respond to all external events within the heart. We test each moment by our convictions.

Because we need some kind of structure for the mind to obey the heart, we refer to the Law of Noah. If you prefer a Jewish approach, then it’s Moses — but it’s Moses as taught by Jesus, not by the Talmud. That phrase, “under grace, not under the law” refers to the Talmud as “the law,” a burdensome legalistic pile of nonsense. Jesus cut through all of that (Matthew 22:34-40). The difference between Noah and Moses turns out to be no more than a matter of ritual behavior.

Kosher was no longer law but a matter of personal preference, as Peter learned in his vision of the sheet (Acts 10). Ritual separation from Gentiles was never meant to be an excuse for racist hatred, but a way to call the Gentiles to a higher moral standard. The business of eating with someone had long been a matter of declaring peace, so eating with believing Gentiles was never a sin. Gentiles could not be held to the Law of Moses unless they wanted to become a citizen of Israel. They were held by Noah, instead. While Jews didn’t share in Gentile food (“sharing a table”), they could share their food with Gentiles. They also could associate with Gentiles socially long before the rise of the legalistic perversions of the Law. So Jews in the churches could continue being fussy about food, and even Gentiles should avoid pagan ritual meals, but that arrogant spite about “unclean people” was just plain wrong. What mattered was a circumcised heart.

In our parish today we refer to the Law of Noah, understood in light of the Law of Moses, which in turn is understood through Christ’s teaching, as the visible manifestation of an obedient heart.

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Here We Go

Posted on February 19, 2017 by ehurst

By now my regular readers should understand that I have a renewed sense of calling. In particular, it’s an overwhelming sense that God has granted my request for one last mission adventure. What struck me so hard that day while out riding around Draper Lake was the character of the adventure part.

I had a vision of playing some of Daniel’s role. How do you suppose it felt to be conscripted into the imperial bureaucracy of the ruler who destroyed his nation? Daniel understood the wrath of God, and knew that the true enemy was Israel’s lack of commitment to the Covenant. He didn’t blame Nebuchadnezzar for doing what God sent him to do. But he determined to learn from his nation’s failures and willingly faced death to hold fast to the Law of Moses. Daniel’s buddies faced the fiery furnace and Daniel slept with lions.

Some very few of you may be aware that when I first started this blog 8+ years ago, I was then serving as the personal assistant to a real estate broker who was winding down his business because he was going blind. I discovered how I could be loyal to someone personally, standing against the rest of his family even, despite the differences in how he and I viewed the world. He trusted me with knowledge of things no one else knew. It was poorest paying, but best job I ever had. I felt truly alive and in tune with God’s will.

God has told me to get ready to do that job again. It’s not the same as predicting what will happen; I was told to get ready. That command for readiness includes a few things that frankly surprised me. The key element is that I should be ready to work with someone deeply involved in our current political turmoil.

As you probably know, I could care less what position this employer takes on any of that turmoil. There’s nothing in this mess that stirs my hopes for America returning to the Covenant of Noah. My sense of loyalty to government at any level is provisional; it rests on what I see as God’s plans and my sense of calling. I’m not stirred by the propaganda from any source, but I do see God pushing things in a certain direction. My faith binds me to play along, despite knowing it will come to no significant improvement. Thus, I have no vested interest in the outcome of any political efforts.

This is what equips me to serve the man instead of his agenda. The context elevates the moral importance of the personal loyalty that characterizes God’s very own personality in Creation. It’s not about process or outcomes, but it’s all about that personal connection. That’s our God. People are going to see that; it will be a testimony in itself.

Folks, one more time: What we see in American politics is not about the famous faces that dominate the media. Those faces are mere manifestations, symptoms of the deep failure of the American Way. Despite all the rhetoric, America as we knew it is done. So whatever labels men use, I can assure you that no one can save or restore anything. And because of how very bad it has been all along, there will be some awful stuff happening at the end of it. The broader injustice will spawn a million small injustices. From a human viewpoint, it will seem that people die for nothing, and many will suffer lesser fates that appear to have no connection to their moral conduct. This is no longer America as people once imagined it.

So a lot of changes are coming, some of them quite shocking to our human senses. Because I’m striving to stay in tune with God’s moves here, I’ve personally been put through at lot of little changes. I’m not in a position to predict what’s coming, but I know how to hang on as things force my hands. What you see on this blog is sure to change, too. It’s a time of shifting things around, and some of you will stop visiting here so much, while new folks show up as the mission follows this wild path.

Sister Christine has resigned her role as Mama Elder. It’s a good move for her; she needs to give her attention and energy to other things. Join me in pronouncing God’s blessings on her work. I’m leaving the link to her blog on my blogroll because we have learned so very much from her insight.

Jay DiNitto in on board as our new elder. God alone knows what Jay’s service will bring to us, but he has a unique wisdom that will bless you.

There is no timetable for any new adventures for me. All I know right now is the dire necessity of making sure I’m ready for it. At the same time, I sense that a lot of you will also face some big changes; the spiritual fruit of this age has ripened.

God bless you all.

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Psalm 119: Tau 169-176

Posted on February 18, 2017 by ehurst

The final octet shows us the Path to God’s Favor. We note that the psalmist is wholly confident in his requests because the promise is written into the revelation. Unlike many human rulers, Jehovah doesn’t create hurdles to His attention, but commands that we call upon Him for help obeying His Word.

The first couplet is a parallelism. We cry and supplicate; we long for our petitions to be heard. But notice that this equates moral discernment with rescue from adversity, because one leads to the other.

The second couplet in like manner is also lyrical repetition. Our mouths testify in glowing terms of God and the revelation of His divine moral character. The resounding theme is that His discipline and guidance is the definition of righteousness.

Again, the third couplet bears a parallel construction. We can anticipate joyfully God’s consistent response to our call to protect and deliver us from sin, because we are wholly committed to His revelation as the greatest possible good in this world.

If the Lord should prolong our days on the earth, it is just and right that we make a lot of noise so others will know whom we credit. We want everyone to know that the legacy of His judgment is the highest treasure. The psalmist confesses openly he is no more than a sheep that keeps wandering off into trouble. The Lord is our Good Shepherd who always comes looking for us. We might forget where we are or how to get back where we belong, but His Law is written on our hearts.

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