Paul's Passing Thoughts

Church evil isn’t even news anymore; it’s now commonplace. The latest revelations of mega-church pastor James MacDonald being investigated for attempted murder-for-hire hasn’t even drawn the interest of secular news outlets. Regardless of the constant flow of evil from the church, is it still seen as a bastion of morality in our culture? I don’t think so, and I think most attempts to preach the gospel as a representative of the church will fall on deaf, if not incredulous ears.

Remember, as boasted by Dr. Albert Mohler at the last Southern Baptist Convention, the church’s testimony is strictly, “confessional.” What’s that mean? It means any attempt to practice what is preached is “moralism” and “Phariseeism.”  Preaching is all about what “Jesus HAS done, NOT what WE do.” If you have been paying attention for the last 40 years, the church has all but admitted the following: the notion of real personal change is only a pretense to get people into the church where they will be slowly indoctrinated with the real church gospel of progressive justification that is only a “legal declaration” to begin with.

The church gospel is a denial of the biblical new birth…period…end of discussion.

Not that long ago, James MacDonald even announced publicly that he was done trying to fix people because they can’t be fixed. That is, apparently, unless you have them killed. As bemoaned by this ministry for years; church, week in, and week out, preaches the total depravity of the saints and then fires its pastors when they get caught with both hands in the cookie jar. Why? Because moralism is a church pretense to initially draw people in until they are slowly indoctrinated. Right, that’s cult behavior, but we must remember that the very definition of a cult is the marriage of authority and faith. When pastors tout the authority of the church, they are, in fact, proclaiming that the church is a functioning cult.

For years, the church has survived all of its scandals by using the dichotomy ruse. What’s that? Church dichotomizes its leaders from the parishioners. Tisk, tisk, such and such has fallen into sin and is disqualified from the ministry. Well, such and such was supported by the parishioners for years while the congregation knew he was suspect. In fact, in one sermon some time ago, MacDonald suggested that his critics should be killed by launching them into the air with human catapults. The congregation laughed. The now disgraced Mark Driscoll referred to blessed piles of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill church.

The church has many other red herring dichotomies. “That sounds like a ‘high controlling church,’ not us.” “That’s ‘reformed,’ we aren’t reformed.” Etc., etc., etc. One of the biggest diversions was the trending implementation of “elder rule” in the churches or “plurality of elders” for the sake of, get this, “accountability.” What was the result? No church was accountable for any objective truth because, “Well, all of the elders would not agree with that position.”

Frankly, I think the jig is up. The church is in a downward spiral and refuses to change. Thanks to America, people cannot be compelled by force to support the church. My best guess follows: the Protestant church and the Catholic Church will unit for survival purposes. And, with the vast majority of government representatives being either Catholic or Protestant, and making laws accordingly, you have a church-state by default. This will be the final mega church-state that will usher in the last days.

Politically, I do not see the citizens of a country as victims of tyranny; they have the government they supported. Likewise, church parishioners share the guilt of the church they support. They share the guilt totally.

And as they feign gentle concern for you being “outside of the church’s love” while laws will compel faith more and more, remember that they laughed about the thought of you being run over by a church bus or “catapulted into the next county.”

paul

I had a special relationship with my grandparents who lived in the country outside of Portsmouth, Ohio. Their lives were storied with the narratives of rugged individualism that made America great. For reasons not stated here, they raised me much of my life.

Truly, life has pots of gold everywhere. If one were to make a sitcom based on my grandmother’s personality, it would be pure gold. For one thing, not one thought in my grandmother’s head was ever a mystery, and it was usually things other people wanted said, but were afraid to say it themselves. A little bit of that may have rubbed off on me. Her open commentary on life is family folklore, like the time she commented on a family member living with someone out of wedlock: “Well sure, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” My grandmother didn’t have to debate much; her statements usually left people shell-shocked and therefore speechless.

She was the perfect wife for my grandfather. He was not only a John Wayne like character in real life; he even looked like John Wayne. You might get an idea of what he was like based on the fact that he was a union leader for a boat dock and Operating Engineers during the 60’s and 70’s. When the union leaned on his men to vote for a Democrat in one particular election, he endorsed the Republican candidate to make a point, and his men followed him  accordingly.

Together, my grandfather and grandmother went from living in a barn and making $1.75 a week as farmhands during the depression, to owning an impressive homestead outside of Portsmouth.

And that homestead was my sanctuary growing up. It was a different world. Time stood still, there was peace and quiet there, and security. As a teen, I once said to my girlfriend; “See if your parents will allow you to go to Portsmouth for the weekend to meet my grandparents.” With permission secured, my girlfriend asked what my grandparents said about me bringing a guest. But that’s not how it worked. I never called when going there by myself or bringing a friend, or friends. You just showed up. If you were family, it was an open door policy. Prior arrangements were interpreted as some notion that you were not welcome. “Of course it is alright! Why wouldn’t it be alright? You know we never go anywhere. Do you think we are mad at you?” No, trust me, if grandma was mad at you, you would know it.

The Whistman homestead was exactly  2.5 hours from Dayton unless I was going for a new record. According to grandma, one could make it in 2.25 hours if they “drive like your grandfather.” When I was near, I observed the eta and announced to any guest that might be with me what would be happening when we arrived. If 6:30 pm, as we drove in, “Bo” the coon dog, and “Jack” the rabbit dog would sound the alarm as if the gravel driveway didn’t make enough noise to begin with. Grandpa would be in his recliner smoking his pipe with “Fran,” my grandmother’s Pekinese laying between his feet on the elevated stool. One of the two TV stations they could receive (because they had a tower antenna beside the house) would be on, and grandma would be in her rocking chair.

Grandma would stand up and walk to the door to report who had arrived. She would stand at the door until the arrivals walked up the steps and then she would open the door wide and say, “come in.” While standing in the living room, grandma would walk to the kitchen to remove leftovers from the refrigerator and instruct the guests to sit at the kitchen table. There would be no argument or refusal at that time; grandma often stated that all people from Dayton were underfed. As the spread was laid out, a virtual feast, as predicted beforehand to the guest, grandma would say, “I know it’s not much, but it’s all we have.” With the unfolding of each event, the guest would look at me in amazement as if I was a prophet of some sort.

Grandma always took pictures of my guests and wrote them letters, especially the girlfriends. All totally fell into her scheme to know what I was up to in Dayton. But in all cases, they were struck by the family unity and unquestionable love between us.

However, though I found this kind of love on earth among mere mortals, we find such experience with God elusive. Why? Though I knew my own weaknesses, and at that time knew very little about life, I never thought for a moment that my weaknesses could ever diminish my grandparents’ love for me or my brothers. Though much, much closer than I have ever been to feeling this kind of relationship with God, I still fall short. Why?

One reason: 30 plus years of church. I could have the relationship I had with my grandparents because there was no condemnation between us. Church is in the business of keeping condemnation between you and God. That’s church orthodoxy…period. Try to argue the point, and be sure to bring your favorite church expert sycophant; they will lose the argument big. Church orthodoxy NEVER states that the professing Christian is free from all fear of condemnation; such a notion is not in the church’s soteriology or membership contract. Church wants to control you…through fear of God’s condemnation.

Such fear is directly responsible for the trending evil in the church. In order to control people, there must be some fear of condemnation in regard to salvation. The Bible calls this, “under law” as opposed to “under grace” (under love). The church DOES NOT teach that the condemnation of the law is abrogated by under grace. Under grace is presented as a church system that enables one to continually strive against condemnation. According to the Bible, being under condemnation actually fuels sin against the law of God. Trending evil in the church is a direct result of the church’s false gospel. If you really want a thorough understanding of this, get “The Church Lie” (thechurchlie.net).

Church condemnation and its subsequent bondage to evil and fear begins with an understanding of justification by new birth as opposed to the church gospel of justification by faith. That will not be addressed here, and again, if you care to understand the difference, get The Church Lie. With that said, our relationship with God should be very much like my relationship was with my grandparents, and by the way, between God’s children as well. That is a primary goal of this ministry: we have the justification part nailed down; now we want to be a leader in striving to find that perfect love experience with God void of condemnation. This will require an utter rejection of the church’s credibility, especially their pseudo-authority, and a pursuit of individual understanding leading to a cooperative effort in Christ’s mandate. The cells of a kidney do not wait around to get permission from braincells to do what they are created to do. If they did, you wouldn’t live very long. God’s family is a body with ONE head, not a top-down institutional authority.

Church, that’s why we have relationships on earth that we wish we had with God. It shouldn’t be that way, not even close. And in another attempt to control people, church makes suffering a way of life. Yes, we are called on to “pick up our crosses and walk daily,” and “live by the cross of suffering.” Since life is supposedly all about returning to the cross daily for re-salvation via the church, we should also happily embrace the “suffering of Christ.” Current events in my life have caused me to look at that differently.

My grandparents took me in throughout my childhood when needed, often for long periods of time. More than once, my return to Dayton was a crushing experience. An attachment more than mere duty was the cause for the pain. I wasn’t old enough to experience their pain when I was with them a couple of years as a baby, but I saw their anguish vividly when it happened in my adolescent years…and, how they handled it. They handled it the same way they handled losing half of their extended family during WWII, they handled it the same way when they lost friends and loved ones during the depression. Life doesn’t stop. If you don’t tend to the garden because of grief, the living will not eat. If you take a day off work because of grief, one from the long line outside the factory gates will take your place. A world was on the verge of being taken over by three madmen, you must go to the arms factory and do your part. And on that day when it was determined that I was going back to Dayton, my grandmother did the laundry.  I remember that day like it was yesterday as I watched her toil at it with that helpless feeling I will never forget. That’s how life raised my grandparents; if you stop to grieve, life will run over the grieving. You tend to life in your pain until the pain passes. Indeed, time does heal most ills.

Of course, my grandparents would have never gone to court against blood, and the reasons for Susan and I having temporary custody of my grandson are far different. But if a court ruling is not in our favor, it will be painful. I never saw this coming at all; that I would share the same sufferings of my grandparents. When I was a young boy, I could only watch my grandmother doing the laundry with that helpless feeling, now I am doing the laundry.

However, because of the relationship I had with my grandparents, there is a certain kind of honor about it. The opportunity to follow in their footsteps, win or lose, is the highest of honors. Words cannot explain the experience of reliving what they did for me, and in their shoes. In understanding this afar off, I know this should be our like experience with Christ, but the church has robbed us of it. Condemnation has no place in a true relationship with Christ. We cannot share in his sufferings because we are under condemnation, Christ was never condemned. Suffering for love and suffering as a condemned person are not the same. We share in HIS sufferings that have become our acts of love as well. Christ never suffered for anything other than love.

Life is that way; it can throw you a curveball. It can inform you that you are being called on to be dad again at 62 years of age. That can certainly cause you to question some things. In case God hasn’t noticed, I have some other things going on. My grandparents were young grandparents; with me, not so much. But goldfish can remind you of what is important. Goldfish can remind you that grandparents have something a lot of people do not have; experience, and better yet, trial and error experience. Older grandparents obviously have more experience than younger ones.

I take what young people do and say seriously. Early thought patterns and habits make old ones. Of late, I have been concerned about my grandson’s lack of compassion towards animals. Animals are a lifeform. Then, the other night, when I heard him crying in his room, opportunity called. I guess I am like Christ in that regard; I see all of life as a teaching opportunity for myself and others. Christ didn’t need much teaching for himself, but he certainly never passed on an opportunity to use a life event to teach others.

When I went into my grandson’s room to investigate, I discovered the reason for his grief; his goldfish died. Yes, I took the opportunity to make a big deal out of that. After all, we live in an age when delivering a baby under DNRCC (Do not resuscitate comfort care) is a “mother’s right to choose what to do with her own body.” If you think delivering a baby and laying it on a table while the mother decides whether it lives or dies is wrong, you only want to “control her body.” Wow. So here we are; the ability to deliver a baby has nothing to do with God’s enablement or what God’s opinion on that would be. As the baby you delivered lays on the table awaiting your thumb up or thumb down as in the Roman Coliseums of old, God would say, “Damn right, it’s your body, and your choice.” Really? As the Bible states, people know better and deliberately suppress the intuitive knowledge of common good. And do I think diverting these kinds of attitudes towards life starts with how a child thinks about losing a goldfish?  Yes. After all, somehow, we go from crying about the loss of a goldfish to making the life of a newborn baby some kind of a political statement.

Look where we have come and become. In spite of decades of secular expertism, trillions invested in church infrastructure, and innumerable books on how to live life, we are further from knowing the love of God than ever. My grandparents grew up during a time when you figured out life on your own, or life would run you over. While grieving death, tragedy, and misfortune, not attending to life actively, and  in a better and wiser way, would only lead to more death, tragedy, and misfortune. Out of the individual strength and contributions of the many, a purer love was born, and a closer experience to the true love of God.

In other words, an authoritative collectivism is much further from God than an individualistic body life. A body depends on collective roles and the values of individual members, not the supposed wisdom of a minority expertism. Caste systems endorse  hierarchical condemnation, and where there is condemnation, there is no real love.

So, this is my prayer for all of us children of God; that we will be at complete peace in our relationship with Him and our heavenly family siblings; that we will feel complete security in Christ. Failure to love perfectly is not the issue as the church asserts; the motive of love flowing from our changed heart is the issue.

If we feel completely secure in earthly relationships, how much more should we feel secure in Christ? And why should we let any institution steal that hope from us? The church has had more than 1500 years to prove itself to humanity, and its supposed “reformed” version has had 500. What are the results? A lawlessness never before seen in the church and outside of the church. Obviously, the church is powerless.

Love believes all things and endures all things, and frankly, the Scriptures are clear; it is the only gift we will take with us past this life, and the only thing worth pursuing presently.  If we pursue love, and avoid the peddlers of condemnation of which the church is chief, we will experience a love and security in Christ never before experienced. Christ died to end condemnation. Fear of judgment is not a motivator for godly living, because…

“there is no fear in love.”

paul

The essence of sin is control lust and sin has no greater weapon than fear which is the antithesis of love. “Perfect love casts out fear.” For certain, one of the purposes of the book of Revelation is to inform Christians on how the world is going to end. And no, climate change doesn’t end the world as we know it. No, space aliens are not in the picture at all. No, earth’s inhabitants will not be living on other planets. No, a meteor doesn’t hit earth and destroy it.

Actually, the earth doesn’t end at all, Christ comes down and sets up His future kingdom. Then, after 1000 years, God the Father moves all of heaven to earth. This was pictured by the Jewish tabernacle in the wilderness. These events also coincide with the eradication of God’s enemies: Christ came first to end sin, the coming kingdom of Christ will end sickness and disease, and the new heaven and new earth will end death and all sadness.

World history is dominated by the marriage of church and state. This is state rulership in the name of God, or a plethora of gods. Religion determines the theology, and that theology is enforced by the state. It began as the pagan-state which ruled the world in various and sundry forms until it was overcome by the church-state in the fourth century. The marriage of religion and state force began shortly after Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden and reined in one form or another until the advent of Americanism in the 1700s. Until then, the pagan-state and church-state rained terror and misery on humanity.

Americanism rejected determinism, collectivism, Plato’s systemization of the pagan-state which was later adopted by the church, emphasized individualism, separation of church and state, and a government by the people and for the people. This turned the world order completely upside down. It also brought collective happiness and wellbeing to the world for the first time in history. America ended the church-state in the Western world, and communism filled the void with a secular version of Platonism.

However, what we find in the book of Revelation is the following: the church-state comes back with a vengeance. Its pent-up hatred for freedom and individualism will unleash hell on earth. The anti-Christ will be a renowned world leader who will proclaim himself to be God just like the Roman emperors of times past, and will be in unison with a false prophet and a false religious system. It is the return of the church-state on steroids.

The Bible is clear: during this time, if Christ does not return and intervene, humanity will not survive. Undoubtedly, due to weapons of the nuclear sort that the church never had at its disposal before. Check history for yourself; the VAST majority of wars prior to Americanism were religious wars. That’s just historical fact.

The Bible is also clear on something else: the world economy will be booming and there will be a time of relative peace on earth, and then out of nowhere, it all hits the fan. One can take these primary elements and do their own math in conjunction with present events.

paul

“Love is a state of being; grace is an action. Grace is the activity that takes place within the love reality.”               

It’s a common story: someone who has it all; everything they have ever strived for, and yet, depressed. Someone who has good health, a wonderful loving family, financial security, a career they love, and the respect of millions can, and often do struggle with depression or drug addiction in an attempt to self-medicate. Those who don’t have the perfect life strive for it in a quest for fulfillment. Their present misery is ok; one day success will bring contentment and happiness. There is light at the end of the tunnel; there is hope. When they read or hear about a famous person struggling with drug addiction or depression, they are perplexed, but do not question the silver bullet of success.

One of the symptoms ALWAYS present in so-called mental illness and depression is anxiety. That’s fear. The Bible has a very simple grand equation for what makes life tick: love and fear. These are not merely biblical words; the Bible frames these two words as two different realities or state of beings.

Let’s deal with fear first. In dealing with fear we will add another word to help explain the equation: law. Again, like “fear,” law is not just nomenclature for some object that is part of life, law is a state of being. The Bible refers to it as, “under law.” This state of being is also referred to as being “under sin” and “under condemnation.” Consequently, we also have “the law of sin and death,” etc. Death, sin, law, judgement, condemnation, and fear are all words that define the “under law” state of being.

1Corintians 15:56 states, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” Christ came to deliver us from that state of being. That’s the gospel, that’s the “good news.” Meet Jeff. Not his real name. A young, good looking guy who had it all. Jeff had an unfortunate bout with a drug overdose; the overdose won big. Jeff is totally disabled. He can hear, comprehend, and has ways of communicating with the aides. Other than that, Jeff can do absolutely nothing on his own. Jeff enjoys a few things, and we make sure he gets them. Some time ago, according to what another aide shared with me, Jeff had a medical episode, and during that time he could speak a few words. He was offered comfort care while excluding intervention to extend life. He opted for full code, and explained the reasoning: he was afraid to die. If you understand how the Bible frames the under law reality, you also completely understand where Jeff is coming from. Jeff is like many; they know any life right now may be better than what happens after death. Indeed, the Bible states that mankind is appointed to die once followed by judgment. People know this intuitively, but more on that later.

You can’t have it all in this life until the death issue is taken care of. The true gospel must show the way to a new state of being. Church orthodoxy does NOT present a gospel that abrogates the under law state of being and transports one to the “under grace” state of being. This is because of sin’s nature. Sin, according to the Bible, is defined by a desire to control others (Genesis 4:6,7). Church is Sin’s advocate and utterly full of sin. Its false gospel reflects its incessant desire to control others because that’s the essence of sin. If the gospel truly transports one into another state of being, and it does, what do we need church for? We don’t. Sin is a master that seeks to enslave, and the church is Sin’s co-regent. This is why Christ presents Himself as the other master, the good master who sets us free and gives us life, and life more abundant. In the same way that China misrepresents itself as the “people’s republic,” church represents itself as the enemy of sin, but in reality, church and Christ are mutually exclusive.

We cannot go further to explain under grace until we take note of the works of God (also referred to as a law) written on the hearts of every individual born into the world. This law is addressed in the second chapter of Romans. It is why people are basically good; the works of the law are created (written) in every heart (mind). This law also has an internal judge called “consceience” that either accuses us or excuses us in regard to our actions and thoughts. This internal witness is in conflict with sin. This internal conflict is responsible for the vast majority of mental illness in the world. A guilty conscience can and does destroy people from the inside out. Interestingly, the Bible also states that because of sin, or a sin-driven agenda, people deliberately suppress God’s internal law. When a person is born again, the function of this law does not change and the Bible encourages Christians to “keep a clear conscience before God.” I will also add that knowledge of this law often prevents me from engaging in various and sundry cultural debates because I know proponents of  issues like abortion know it’s wrong. Often, silence on an issue allows the conscience to say its piece. Let me cite an example: let’s be honest, everyone knows late term abortions are an affront to God. The best argument is to tell proponents of such that you know that they know it is wrong. In general, to what degree do we have mental health issues in this society as related to guilt over abortion? Ample.

“You must be born again.” That’s what Jesus said. What does it mean? It is a change in state of being. This is the primary reason that people resist the gospel: intuitively, they know salvation means the eradication of their present life in exchange for a new one. They also know that it isn’t by their own power; they know it’s an act of God. They know that they only need to want this tranformation and ask for it. This is why Jesus died and was resurrected as the first fruits of many: this was the establishment of the new birth. When we are born again we die with Christ to the old person and are resurrected with Christ to new creaturehood (Romans 6).

The Bible uses the following terms and words to identify the new birth: under grace (the primary term), under love, under the law of the Spirit of life (as opposed to being under the law of sin and death), NO condemnation (as opposed to being under condemnation), no fear of judgment (as opposed to being under the fear of judgement), and because there is no longer any judgement and subsequent condemnation, the eradication of death’s “sting.”

According to the Bible, sin has a way of using God’s law to create desires that run contrary to God’s law. The breaking of God’s law (and basic principles for living) is NOT love. The Bible is clear: sin is empowered by the law’s condemnation. Man’s goal is to obey the law to prevent condemnation, but that’s not love either. Christ died to end the law’s condemnation. In the same way that a dead husband is no longer under the law of the living, and his wife is therefore legally free to marry someone else, the born again are no longer under the law and its condemnation. They are free from the condemnation of the law of sin, and free to serve the law of love (Romans 7 and 8). The born again believer is now free to use God’s law for love with no fear of condemnation. And beacuse there is a real change of heart, the born again love God’s law (truth) and want to use it to love God and others. Failing to follow the law is now a failure to love, but not a failure that will bring condemnation. This is why the sting of death is gone for the born again: because death doesn’t bring the law’s judgement and condemnation. And, because condemnation is gone from the law, sin can no longer enslave the born again person by creating desires contrary to love. That is, very strong desires that enslave the individual. And as discussed prior, this includes a very strong desire to control others.

However, let’s not forget another thing that happens with birth: people are born into a family. This is literal. The born again are literally God’s offspring—they are born of God. Presently, the assembly of God’s family lack a family like existence. Because church hijacked Christianity in the 4th century and made it an authority based INSTITUTION for the purpose of progressive salvation, God’s born again family has little idea of how to function biblically. For the most part, those who have figured out that church is a lie are in limbo trying to discover what the true biblical mandate is. That’s where this ministry (TANC Ministries) comes in; this is one of our primary goals. We want to learn how to function as God’s family as opposed to a top-down hierarchical salvific institution. How interesting that church scholars actually refer to the church as an institution without even blinking.

Love is a state of being. The new birth doesn’t merely declare us righteous, it makes us righteous. As God’s literal offspring, we are said to be “perfect.” This is because of our new motive as God’s literal children; we are not trying to avoid condemnation, there is no condemnation, all that is left is love to a lesser or more degree. And, according to the Bible, “where there is no law, there is no sin.” Indeed, we live by grace. Love is a state of being; grace is an action. Grace is the activity that takes place within the love reality. As mortals, we are weak and therefore fail to love at times, but the Bible never defines weakness as sin.

Those who have obtained their perfect life are not perfect; they are subject to fear while “love casts out fear because fear has to do with judgment. Those who fear have not been made perfect in love” (or made perfect by love). That’s why those who have it all also have a train wreck for a life; they are still under law, and the fear of judgement.

Christ  came to set us free from the law, and we are free indeed. As God’s literal family, we function as a body according to the Bible. And, there is only ONE head of that body, Christ. Church necessarily keeps one under the law’s condemnation and then declares itself as a sanctuary city for God’s children who are supposedly still under condemnation. The church is condemned as an imposter by this one fact alone: its single perspective on law that makes grace a mere covering for sin, and not an ending of sin.

Church must have such a false gospel to fulfill its control lust. In the same way that grace is love in action, the church’s justification by faith gospel is fear in action.

paul