Paul's Passing Thoughts

Politics are the residual overflow of biblical reality. The Bible is God’s full-orbed philosophical statement to mankind. The Bible was written to the individual, which is evident because most of the Bible books are written to whole assemblies, and the private letters are now public as the Bible is the most published book in human history by far.

Furthermore, how the Bible is interpreted is a vast consideration depending on, and calling for individual diligence. If Christ warned people against adding to the Bible or taking away from it, and He did, then obviously we know the possibility of this is real. Nevertheless, the Bible is written in a way that maintains all truth and what is needed for life and godliness.

Are we in the last days? Sure we are. Here is how the Bible defines the “last days,” they begin with the ascension of Christ and end with His visible second coming. But more importantly is how the “last days” are defined: it will be a time of unprecedented steroidal deception. Yes indeed, as defined by the Bible, there will be a demon behind every bush in the last days and I really don’t want to take the time here to cite the numerous Bible versus that state such. Suffice to say that the last days are a contra-reality to a church being on every corner of every American city and every mile in-between, and endless conferences featuring 100 biblical experts speaking truth. Seriously? Christ asked rhetorically, “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on earth?” Any questions? Hence, the church education industrial complex doesn’t add up with the Bible…not even close.

Knowledge is power and knowledge is freedom. Expertism and caste systems do not expedite knowledge, they suppress knowledge by supplying prisms that result in favored conclusions and enable people to function in ways that contradict intellectual proclamations. The spiritual power brokers of our day are completely content with individuals being clueless regarding their intellectual talking points as long as they function according to slavery. Hence, your average parishioner or professing Christian is completely comfortable with contradictions and functioning in a paradoxical reality.

Are we in a dark age? Sure we are. Did Christ ascend in the past, and is His visible second coming in the future? Yes.  Next question: “What did the Bible say these days would be like?” So, yes, we are in a dark age. We really know very little about the Bible. And there is really only one way that will change: a collective effort by individual Christians, if you will, the laity, to cultivate and mine biblical truth. The prime example of that is our very own Andy Young. This ministry needs many more Andy Youngs, and I predict that will happen in time. The Bible does not support a knowledge caste system; the extreme opposite is true. Church is a lie, and seminaries are an even bigger lie.

In the Old Testament, it is predicted that people in the last days will be going to a fro and knowledge will increase. I believe that refers to individuals searching for truth on their own, and will succeed in that endeavor. Again, biblical hermeneutics are an individual affair. Likeminded individuals then come together to do the Lord’s business as a cooperative group effort. The worldly presuppositions about mankind being inherently selfish and chaotic without authority is just dead wrong. Sin, and how the Bible defines it, pretty much explains what we see in the world A-Z, and it’s not all about law-breaking and total depravity, it’s also about sin’s desire to control people. In fact, it can be argued that control-lust is the epicenter of sin. Therefore, authority in and of itself is always suspect though necessary when properly balanced.

Individual efforts to find something meaningful to hookup with in our day include many different movements. Since salvation is of the Jews, one popular approach is various and sundry Messianic movements. This is a good approach because Gentiles are the unnatural branches that were grafted into the natural tree. In the New Testament, we find that the “mystery of the gospel” is the revelation that the Spirit baptizes Jew and Gentile into one body, or “one new man.” That doesn’t mean it’s something new that is distinct from the Jewish nation, it means that all true believers are “true Jews.” And be sure of this: it also explains the mystery of anti-Semitism in the world.

Susan and I were once heavily involved in the Messianic movement. I was even invited to teach at a location here in Xenia; it didn’t go well. In fact, in one particular instance, I was concerned about my physical wellbeing. And for me, that’s saying something because I didn’t exactly grow up on the right side of the tracks. The problem grew from my knowledge of church history and its philosophical connections, thanks to John Immel, and my knowledge of church orthodoxy in particular. In one example, the “biblical” view of the Sabbath promoted by this particular Messianic church was the exact same as John Calvin. Um, be sure of this, Susan and I didn’t get involved in the Messianic movement for more John Calvin; that’s what we were fleeing. But such is the reality in this present dark age: out of the frying pan and into the fire.

By all means, pursue our Jewish roots, but beware of the various and sundry deceptions of this age. And look, Protestant scholars need to stay out of Jewish affairs altogether. Any Protestant involvement in anything Jewish is Colonel Sanders preaching love to a group of chickens. There are no exceptions here: church plus anything equals church dressed up as something else like the “Unchurching” movement which is church orthodoxy in a house; it’s still church. Another thing to avoid is anything that evolved from the Jewish scholar Philo which is the exact same Jewish ideology that was the primary nemesis of Christ’s ekklesia. Philo’s Platonism has strong commonalities with church orthodoxy. And in regard to Orthodox Judaism, Ben Shapiro made a profound statement to John MacArthur in their interview: Protestantism and Judaism are both sacramental. That is a profound observation. Of course, MacArthur quickly changed the subject to Jesus as Messiah and Jews don’t believe that…blah, blah, blah. Take note, there are may ties that bind which will lead to the greatest church-state in all human history shortly before Christ’s visible return. A few are progressive justification and many other sacramental gospels. The biblical new birth requires NO further sacrament. This is what separates justification by new birth apart from all other gospels.

With all of this said, I will finally get to the meme that inspired this post. While being one that will do anything I can to promote a good Messianic movement, like with all things in this dark age, buyer beware. The meme follows:

The first thing we see here that is a huge problem is Walter Brueggeman is a church scholar. Worse yet, he is a progressive “Christian” of the socialist stripe which is of Platonist roots. The meme is a socialist statement, and suggests Judaism is predicated on Socialism. NOT. Actually, the Sabbath was about worship because all of life is worship because our individual bodies are temples and we are the High Priests of our own temples. And, we offer the members of our bodies for living sacrifices pleasing to God, so, everything the Christian does is supposed to be worship. That’s just good Jewish theology and always has been.

Secondly, the Sabbath was primarily about fulfilling the law through love. As true believers, we uphold the law, through love, and not for justification. Any location overseen by any kind of priest other than ourselves or Christ is by default a sacramental gospel or the fulfillment of the law for justification. This is an unavoidable fact. Ekklesia is a gathering of temples at a place where the location has no significance whatsoever. Purpose builds deny the new birth that makes our body the temple. But I digress a little, the point here is what Jesus said about loving on the Sabbath. Love is a work apart from the condemnation of the law.

Thirdly, as a good Platonist, WB intrinsically links work with “production,” “anxiety,” “consumption,” and the pursuit of wellbeing through selfishness. This turns the biblical view of work totally on its head. For the Christian, work is love and the source of proper self-image. As someone who has counseled many people with anxiety related issues, the violation of conscience is always present with laziness not far behind. We were created by God to produce. And, we are instructed to “work with your hands in order to supply for those in need.” Friends, the worst of sinners will leave retirement and go back to work to pay for a grandchild’s college education. People don’t primarily work for self-consumption, that’s a socialist presupposition. People don’t pursue the ability to self-consume for wellbeing, that’s also a socialist presupposition. That’s why socialists believe that those who understand the total depravity of mankind (which qualifies them as being philosopher kings and queens), must rule over human selfishness and constrain it. And of course, being special because they know this, they deserve to be the ones that consume at will. This is exactly why the ones who want to tell us what to eat, what to think, and how to do everything including going to the bathroom, live in splendor overlooking the deserved poverty of the great unwashed who would only squander production with self-consumerism if not constrained.

And, this SAME ideology has always been the foundation of church orthodoxy with no exception except 150 years of confusion after the American Revolution.

Actually, the Sabbath was about love, like all of God’s laws that are “used lawfully.” The Pharaoh system spoken of went like this: while all the wealthy 10% rested, slaves and animals didn’t get a day off. They were stretched like rubber bands and then replaced with new rubber bands when they broke. As former slaves that were on the wrong end of this caste mentality in Egypt, the Israelites were not to copy that cultural mode in the new land. But, they did, leading to judgement. They were punished times seven for every year they violated the Sabbath principles.

So, many go to church on the Sabbath because it’s the Sabbath rest. I remember being told that some believed watching football on Sunday was a sin, and for certain, actually going to a football game instead of church was outright demonic. Like, you know, no one is doing any work at church, and you know, when we all met for lunch after church restaurant folks weren’t working ether. But remember, like the Sabbath of old, the rest was for the upper-crust.

I’m sorry, but I guess the point of this post follows: in this age, there is a demon behind every bush, and just because this makes us paranoid, it doesn’t mean no one is really out to deceive us. Fact is, almost everyone is.

Nevertheless, never grow weary of well-doing and pursuing the truth. Salvation is of the Jews, so be zealous of that in the form of the pure milk of the word.

paul