Just because God is transcendent …
Doesn’t mean our perceptions of Him transcend Scripture.
After all, God is also immanent …
As is His written Word.
Category: Simple Truth
Contrast the vulgarity of the recent so-called “Woman’s March” …
With the dignity of yesterday’s March for Life.
One degraded women and the entire human race …
The other elevated women and everyone else.
I choose life because I choose dignity …
For all.
The charm of a charmer …
Leads many astray.
Be careful who you quote, promote, support or “like” online …
Or anywhere else.
Sure, they may say, write or do things designed to make you feel good so they look good.
But that doesn’t mean that they or their agendas are good for you …
Or anyone else.
When leftist elites redefine “love” as vulgarity and virtue as “hate” …
What we saw at the so-called “Women’s March” in Washington last week is the result.
Don’t get upset at the March’s resulting, open display of depravity by regressive “progressives” …
But rejoice that their utter contempt for decency and virtue – which they previously hid in the shadows while working to undermine our culture – is now on full display for all to see.
The more they expose their true ideology of oppression against all that is right and decent …
The more men and women of good faith will be stirred to action against their underlying obscenities.
Make no mistake:
True “rights” are based on virtue …
And lift everyone.
Anything less is a lie.
Rejoice that their lies increasingly are becoming evident for all the world to see …
While resolving to stand firm once again for true rights based on doing right …
For all.
The ultimate temptation exploits your greatest strength …
Not your greatest weakness.
Words have power.
Daily, I see the bondage they bring when misused …
And the liberating freedom they create when of God.
Is it any wonder, then, why “Christians” who reject God’s plenary authority of Scripture as His revealed, written Word …
Inevitably remain stuck in an existential quagmire of self and doubt?
Christian mysticism says we die to self to lose ourself in a mystery beyond us.
Biblical discipleship says we die to self to find ourself as God authentically defines us.
Big difference.
Only when we get to the end of ourselves, can we find ourselves …
As God intended.
Governments that can afford to subsidize the bad consequences of our irresponsible choices …
Can’t afford to let us enjoy the good consequences of our responsible choices.
Sola fide?
Yes, of course …
We are saved and live by faith alone.
The problem, however, is we no longer seem to affirm full faith …
As actually taught and understood in Scripture.
Continue readingThe old legalism said we must always “act good” …
While the new legalism says everyone else must now make us “feel good.”
Seriously, these things run in cycles …
As adherents of each diss anyone and anything that doesn’t feed their own insecurities.
Unfortunately, those who buy into each extreme – while still in it – seldom see how artificial and shallow it tends to be.
Which is why Jesus and His Word are about plumblines …
Not pendulums.
You can either have self rule based on Godly truth and virtue …
Or be ruled by oppressive “progressives.”
But you can’t have both.
Choose wisely.
Christ’s finished work on the Cross …
Doesn’t mean that His work on the Cross is finished in us.
Staged “church” …
Is very scripted, professional and alluring.
But …
Is it New Testament?
“Christian Nationalists” and “Progressive Christians” are just different sides of the same coin.
That’s because they’re both utopian ideologies – even though at odds with each other – which claim perfectibility in the here and now.
Inevitably, this leads to tyranny as they are reduced to seeking unlimited government power to impose their unrealistic goals on everyone else …
Under the rationale that it’s for our own greater “good.”
Ultimately, they can’t allow opposing views to get in the way of creating their perfect societies where everyone thinks, believes and acts like them …
Through coercion if necessary.
In contrast, civil liberty this side of Heaven is only possible if we acknowledge our frailties and imperfectibility …
And give government only enough power to protect us from evildoers – rather than the unlimited power needed to turn us into somebody else’s notion of “do gooders.”
Only then can we be free to pursue true virtue as God directs and intends …
Rather than live under the false virtue of utopian tyranny.
Don’t fall prey to either form of unbiblical extremism …
Because God’s into plumblines, not swings of the pendulum.
To preserve civil liberty in a diverse culture, Christians need a clear concept of what that means.
The First Principle of Liberty is the right to live virtuous lives, and enjoy the benefits, without undue government interference.
The Second Principle of Liberty is the right to live otherwise, and suffer the consequences, again without undue government interference …
So long as it does not violate the right of others to pursue the First Principle.
Even God, with His covenantal blessings and curses in the Old Testament, affirmed these principles.
As the New Testament also affirms, the basic role of Government is to forcibly protect the virtuous against evildoers (Rom. 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-15) …
Rather than forcibly compel us to be virtuous.
Both repressive “Progressive Christians” and repressive “Christian Nationalists” would do well to heed these distinctions …
For the good of all.
Repressive “progressives” cry “acceptance”, “tolerance” and “understanding” for all …
Except those with whom they disagree.
It’s not just that they are hypocrites …
But when they gain power, they use it to oppose virtue and oppress liberty.
Freedom demands that we not ignore either their hypocrisy …
Or their agenda of tyranny.
Without truth, there is no grace …
Because without truth, grace is meaningless.
If your faith never offends, it’s not faith …
But some pseudo-spiritualized comfort zone.
Take away “the Senior Pastor,” his stage, his pews, his “worship” team and his building …
And what’s left?
Perhaps, God willing …
The beginning of “church” as actually taught and shown in the New Testament.
I’ve seen – up close and personal – the devastating reality of the nanny state …
As I’ve gone to minister God’s grace, redemption and discipleship in the woods, in the ‘hood, in the jails, and in other communities of despair where others fear to tread.
It taught me an important lesson.
Being an adult means being responsible for the consequences of our own decisions …
For good or for bad.
Long term, government policies and programs which ignore this principle are doomed to fail …
At great cost to everyone.
Those costs include the rise of burgeoning bureaucracies and the loss of Godly dignity for those being “helped.”
They also include bureaucratic “solutions” that usurp healthy families and local communities …
Thus destroying the relational context needed to actually help the truly needy among us.
Maybe that’s why God doesn’t countenance the idea of a nanny state – by example or precept – anywhere in Scripture.
Nope, not, nada …
Just ain’t there.
Sometimes, I wish I was ignorant …
Because I hear that’s bliss.
😉
Mega-Church Celebrities and Television Preachers:
Multimillion dollar mansions, private jets, net worths exceeding tens of millions of dollars …
All from “ministry.”
Paul of Tarsus:
“Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”
Get it?
Repressive “Progressives” and other cultural marxists feign surprise when their ideologies of victimhood and entitlement …
Destroy personal responsibility and economic opportunity.
This then leads to big-government cronyism, with them at the helm …
Which allows them to peddle even more victimhood and entitlement to the very people they harmed.
And so the downward spiral continues …
At everyone else’s expense.
I’ve seen – up close and personal – their bitter fruit as I’ve gone where others fear to tread in fulfillment of the Great Commission …
In homeless encampments, jails, crime infested housing projects, fatherless wastelands of subsidized poverty in the ‘hood, and other dysfunctional communities of dependency beyond the fringes of “polite” society.
While there, I saw God redeem lives.
But I also saw the stark reality of ignoring a fundamental Biblical principle, mainly:
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3
It’s time for those of true compassion to rebuild our nation’s foundations by breaking the repressive “progressive” cycle of despair …
And restore the hard dignity of Godly cultural precepts – like local community accountability, strong nuclear families, prioritized self government, responsible personal benevolence, and the moral imperatives of individual culpability – in our society once again.
Anything less will continue to destroy lives and the very fabric of our nation.
The law may not make anyone moral …
But I’m sure glad it can protect us from their immorality.
That’s why I won’t vote for candidates who think they can pass laws that will make people good …
Because that’s God’s job, and it never turns out well when governments try to usurp His authority.
But I will vote for those committed to passing laws that protect what’s good and our right to do what’s good …
Just like God intended.
Big difference!
Plumbline Faith 