Paul's Passing Thoughts

“Sin wants to primarily do two things: create guilt leading to self condemnation, which readily submits itself to the ‘moral’ authority of others, especially religionists, and also wants to create fear…Where there isn’t any guilt, authorities driven by control lust will create guilt through false accusations and misinformation…We dwell among those who are enslaved by a lust to enslave others.”

Every generation decries the former one resulting in the present generation rolling their eyes and thinking, “Oh, brother, here we go again.” Yet, in our day, we must consider the idea that history is at a crossroads. Why? Because reason itself is under attack. Tyrants are demanding that we reject what is evident to all. The attempt is to completely overturn reality as we know it followed by an insistency that the common person knows nothing and is out of touch with reality. Yes, supposedly, even gender as we know it is not true.

This is nothing new as history has been dominated by the philosophers since the beginning of the ages. The Bible states that a knowledge of evident reality is created within each person born into the world. This can be ascertained through a careful reading of Romans chapters one and two. Philosophers have always been the dominate force behind cultural policy, not priests. Yet, the vast majority of professing religionists assume some dichotomy between philosophy and religion. To the contrary, the assembly of Christ, the ekklesia, is the only body of faith that can claim that dichotomy. The Catholic/Protestant debate is a world philosophy debate dressed up in Bible verses. “Sola Scriptura” is the pinnacle of historic propaganda. A cursory reading of the Reformation documents reveal that it was a world philosophy contention; nothing more, nothing less. EVERY Sunday sermon finds its roots in Platonism, Thomism, or a confused mixture of both. If you try to argue otherwise, you simply don’t know what you are talking about.

For the most part, world philosophy seeks to challenge the ability of the individual. Expertism flows from this resulting in a slight of words that conflates “authority” being a superior knowledge of something and authority that compels people to act a certain way regardless of their personal conscience. Indeed, some people know more than others about certain things, but we are talking about the difference between equipping the individual for self-rule versus ruling over the individual.

Some philosophies proffer the ability of the individual to rule their own lives. Those philosophies were responsible for the birth of America. Perhaps second to the paramount “Sola Scriptura” ruse is the idea that America was founded on “Judeo-Christian” values. The founding fathers of America were in league with all kinds of different men and the unifying principle was the ability of the individual, not religion. In fact, the primary organizing principle was the separation of church and state. Beyond the tyranny of the British, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the tyranny of the pilgrims who were puritans and also Calvinists. Separation of church and state is the separation of church and authority to protect the freedom of the individual to live by their own conscience. That is, the works of the law infused into every individual ever born into the world.

“That’s why church has always been good at pointing out sin, but weak on how to prevent it; because church is consumed by sin itself and filled with control lust. Plus, it poses itself as a cure for guilt, which is obviously a lucrative business to be in. The more sin there is in the world resulting in guilt, the more church is needed and rewarded financially, while it does nothing to prevent sin. You may want to ponder that for awhile.”

So, what drives people to want to control others? Answer: SIN. In the Bible, sin is described as an entity that is controlled by a desire to enslave others. Is this where slavery comes from? Yes. According to the Bible, SIN has an addiction: control. If you interpret reality accordingly, you will understand more clearly what is going on in your world.

“No, no,” you say, “sin is the breaking of God’s law!” It is, but that’s really the primary action promoted by sin to gain control. This is sin with the little “s,” we are talking about the Biblical sin with the capital, “S.” The endgame of Sin is to enslave, lawbreaking is just the means to that end. So, Sin wants to create sin, both real sin, and false sin, leading to guilt and subsequent condemnation. Guilty people are very easy to control. It makes them inferior by their own assessment, and willing to be ruled over by others. Those who are particularly consumed by Sin’s desire to control others are a minority in the world (see, “politics” and “ruling class”), not that most people, by nature, struggle with the desire. However, basic goodness inherent in things God creates overcomes that desire more than not. Yes, the idea that God created totally depraved humans, or that something God created could fall into total depravity, is an idea concocted by Sin in order to achieve more control. People, indeed, sin, but instruction on how not to sin in no way helps Sin’s agenda to control. That’s why church has always been good at pointing out sin, but weak on how to prevent it; because church is consumed by sin itself and filled with control lust. Plus, it poses itself as a cure for guilt, which is obviously a lucrative business to be in. The more sin there is in the world resulting in guilt, the more church is needed and rewarded financially, while it does nothing to prevent sin. You may want to ponder that for awhile.

So, what does the Bible have to say about all of this?

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Genesis 4:6,7

Sin is “lurking” or some translations, “crouching” at the door. What is it waiting for? Wrongdoing. Sin uses this to condemn people in order to control them. Notice the contrast, which can be paraphrased this way: “Sin desires to master you (enslave you), but you must, instead, master it.” How do we master sin? Paul stated it this way: as Christians, we need to strive in keeping a clear conscience before God. Of course, that’s the practical application, and not the gospel per se, which we will get to shortly.

Sin also uses a truth about sin; in fact, God will judge sin eternally. This is at the center of all fear. All fear is centered in death, and death equates to standing before a holy God in judgment. Unfortunately, Cain did not follow God’s counsel and Sin was able to use Cain’s wrongdoing to create a greater unhealthy desire within Cain. Murder is the nuclear version of control. However, what I want to point out is Cain’s paranoia immediately after he murdered Able.

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure! Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and I will be hidden from Your face, and I will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him seven times as much.” And the Lord placed a mark on Cain, so that no one finding him would kill him.

Genesis 4:13-15

Sin wants to primarily do two things: create guilt leading to self-condemnation, which readily submits itself to the “moral” authority of others, especially religionists, and also wants to create fear. Authorities other than God seek to first condemn in order to create guilt, and then offer a remedy for the guilt and fear. Where there isn’t any guilt, authorities driven by control lust will create guilt through false accusations and misinformation. The most significant example of our day follows: you are guilty of racism by virtue of being white. This is nothing new; it is the secular version of the Original Sin church doctrine and the origin of every caste system existing on earth.

Here is the gospel: Christ died on the cross to change the believer’s relationship to the law. Christ established a spiritual death and resurrection to change a person’s relationship to the law. That’s the gospel.

And Sin uses God’s law to bring about the condemnation. God’s law is the Bible and the wisdom and imperatives therein. Here is the gospel: Christ died on the cross to change the believer’s relationship to the law. Christ established a spiritual death and resurrection to change a person’s relationship to the law. That’s the gospel. The relationship to the law is not relative to Christ alone, but is the driving force behind sanctification; that is, the intimate relationship between the believer and God’s word. Believers fulfill God’s law through acts of love without fear of condemnation. Belief in Christ creates an act by the Spirit that baptizes the believer into the death of Christ. Hence, like any dead person, they are no longer under the jurisdiction of any law. Secondly, however, the believing person is resurrected with Christ as a new person.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:1-14

There you have it. You are either under law or under grace. These are two different relationships to the law. One relationship can only condemn to the degree one violates the law. The other relationship to the law uses the law to learn how to offer our bodies to God as living sacrifices. I am saying all of this to make the following point: Sin uses God’s law to further condemn people in order to enslave them. Sin is all about slavery. Therefore…

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

1Corintians 15:56

The sting of death is fear of judgement. Fear of judgment comes from a guilty conscience. A guilty conscience comes from condemnation. And Sin is all too happy to use the word of God “unlawfully” to condemn people in order to control them. This is religion in a nutshell. This is church in a nutshell. It’s a unlawful use of God’s law to control people.

We know that the law is good if one uses it properly [other translations, “lawfully”]. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

CLEARLY, religion in general and church in particular keeps people under the condemnation of the law in order to control them. If there is “NOW NO condemnation for those in Christ,” as the Bible states, there is no need to fear any man or bow to anyone but Christ. And that is the crux, while the secular world uses other things to condemn people other than the word of God like “white guilt.” And, if you buy into the idea that you really don’t understand realty, you can be condemned through unlimited means. In economies with high unemployment, companies tend to be unmerciful tyrants accordingly. The gospel fully explains the pagan-state of ancient times, the church-state of medieval times, and the corporate-state of our present time. We dwell among those who are enslaved by a lust to enslave others.

The gospel of Christ fully explains what we see trending in our present culture.

paul