Paul's Passing Thoughts

Church is a quagmire of confusion and decadence driven by an overt false gospel. The former is what we should expect from the latter, or in the specific wording, what we see now on a routine basis should be expected from institutions founded on a false gospel or ideology. An ideology that produces bad things should be deemed metaphysically errant and irrational as well.

What has happened to church? It was never like this until recently, right? As we now hear often, “Gee whiz, the Protestant church is looking more and more like the Catholic Church with all of these sex scandal cover-ups.”

Does the same fruit come from two different trees? Not really. So, what happened? Well, it all started in a garden far away and long ago when God talked to every individual face to face. Then the serpent introduced mediation. Obviously, the serpent sold Eve on the idea that he knew more about God than she did, and she would be more like God by following his counsel. Of course, we all know how that turned out.

Hence, the religion that dominated humanity from the beginning was the pagan-state. This is based on the idea that mankind cannot know reality: “A” doesn’t equal “A.” Man is unable to discern reality. Therefore, the supreme, whether a person, God, gods, the universe, or some other creative force, preselected individuals to guide the great unwashed masses to the best life now or a progressive utopia of some sort. Plato systematized this construct into three societal classes: philosopher king (priesthood), warrior (the state), and producer (the great unwashed).

Also note: Plato believed that the man/boy relationship is the highest form of love. This applied definition of love absolutely dominated Greco-Roman culture. In addition, Plato’s disdain for women and their relegation to second class citizenship was also a social norm. For a woman to be raped was a crime committed by the woman who deserved much worse.

Then God sent His own mediator; Christ. The establishment of Christianity completely turned world philosophy on its head. First of all, it identified holiness with the material world which shattered the foundation of world philosophy; ie., Dualism. Secondly, it claimed no kingdom on earth, but a future kingdom to come.

Not long after the deaths of the most influential apostles of Christ, a distorted form of Christianity competed with the pagan-state for enforcement of its own orthodoxy. This distorted movement sought to institutionalize the assembly of Christ which was organized in non-institution home fellowships. Unfortunately, this misguided movement which was nothing more than a different pagan-state with a Christian label was led by former disciples of the apostles. These men are known as the “Church Fathers.” They started with one church and one bishop located in Rome because that was the epicenter of world power at the time. This put them in direct competition with the pagan-state for Rome’s sword in enforcing its orthodoxy. At the same time, the “church” at Rome waged war against elder-led home fellowships. Over the next 100 years or so, the bishop-led institutional church became the Roman Catholic Church which was fundamentally Platonist.

What then led to the Protestant “Reformation”? The Catholic Church began to stray away from its Platonist roots because of Enlightenment Era influence. Martin Luther and John Calvin were rabid followers of St. Augustine, an avowed Neo-Platonist and Doctor of Grace for the Catholic Church. Seemingly strange is the fact that both Catholics and Protestants claim Augustine as their legitimate father; that seems strange if you don’t know real church history.

Even today, the Catholic Church is a confused mix of Platonist and Enlightenment ideas. Until 1970, the Protestant church had strayed further from its Platonist roots than Catholicism, but we must remember that both were created in a church-state and for a church state. The American Revolution furthered the confusion for both.

1970 marked the beginning of the New Calvinist movement which is a return to authentic Protestantism which sought to return the Catholic Church to its Platonist roots. The orthodoxy of Luther and Calvin sought to systematize and further define Augustine’s Platonist Christianity to pave the way to a hopeful reformation of the Catholic Church that never happened.

An articulation of that doctrine, and why it leads to sanctified rape in the church can be found here and is MacArthur/Holland relevant. Meanwhile, discernment blogs seeking to fix the church by exposing its ills still promote the very doctrine that produces this evil. The blog that revealed this latest scandal and cover-up recommends New Calvinist reading material on another page that promotes the very doctrine from which these evils flow. The roots of the church and its founding fathers represented misogyny on steroids and total commitment to church-state principles for which it was designed.

All of these root elements can be found in this most recent scandal as well as the former ones. The Protestant Church looks more like the Catholics that it came from in recent years because it is returning to its authentic doctrinal roots. As a footnote, Holland objected to the victim going to the police because in a church-state, what happens in the church is not any business for secular authorities; according to Protestant orthodoxy, God ordained them to enforce the church’s orthodoxy or whatever else deemed appropriate by the church. This is why churches insist that that the police are not to be notified in these cases; what happens in the church is church business and only the church has authority there to address these cases as it sees fit. And do they not state this plainly?

Meanwhile, our ministry waits patiently as this doctrine will produce more and more evil in the church and more and more questions as well. Right now, for us, these new revelations are routine and boring. This also pertains to churchians as well. Did you notice what was missed in the event due to these things becoming commonplace? For crying out loud, the girl was kidnapped and held hostage; you can get life in prison for that! However, we see more and more evidence of increased numbers of people who get it.

The late J. Vernon McGee predicted that Christianity will eventually return to its roots of home fellowship and we agree; as Protestant doctrine produces more and more evil in the church, those who have always sensed that there is something wrong with church will finally come home.

paul

Though the song, “I’d Do Anything for Love” recorded by Meatloaf in 1993 seems to be a mystery song that is deliberately ambiguous to garner attention, a careful observation of the lyrics reveals a generally profound concept though peppered with bad ideas.

The song is saying the man will do anything for love except things that betray love. Again, the song’s definition of love is distorted, but its idea of love as a paramount ruling principle is a good idea.

According to the Bible, love is the antithesis of fear, and all fear has to do with judgment. ALL fear flows from the condemnation of future judgement. According to the Bible, fear of death is defined solely as flowing from the fear of future judgment and subsequent eternal condemnation.

The Bible also defines mankind’s primary nemesis, sin.

Sin is God’s enemy and the antithesis of everything that defines God. If God says it’s an apple, sin says it’s an orange. Sin is against the ways of God, and is equipped with a unique weapon in its war against God; an ability to create desires to break God’s laws. So, when a person is exposed to a law of God, sin is able to create a desire or temptation within the person to break that law.

Sin’s ability to create these desires within each individual varies from person to person and depends on elements that need much more study, but there is an overall counteraction due to God writing the works of the law on every human heart. This is part of mankind being created in God’s image. As a result, the conscience either accuses or excuses our actions. Sin is able to create desires within people that are strong enough to short-circuit any ability to say, “no.” These are commonly known as “addictions.” Relatively speaking, a person’s character is defined by strength of conscience and its ability to say “no” to sinful desires.

How all of this relates to the saved person who is born again will not be visited in this article, but suffice to say for now that sin hates God’s law while the believer loves God’s law.

Back to sin. Though God’s creation is good, it is presently plagued by sin and sin operates within people while few are privy to the essence of it. Here is the thumbnail; watch out for a desire to control others. And how do we control others? We condemn them. Unworthy people who have no self-confidence are very easy to control and are full of fear. Ultimately, and unwittingly, sinful people who are seeking to fulfill their lust by controlling others are servants of sin.

Unfortunately, this is what’s really behind a desire to be a corporate manager in most cases. This sin can be tempered through reeducation that establishes different objectives for management. Nevertheless, corporate management will be fraught with control freaks who look down on the “little people” of the world.

This dynamic affects every stratum of human existence, but I am going to apply it to the profession of Nurse Aide. A true NA will do anything for love, but shouldn’t compromise the essence of love. Does the management of any particular facility promote love or short-circuit love? If a management bent on control effectively destroys your self-confidence and self-respect while filling you with fear for purposes of controlling you—you will make a poor lover of others. Remember, fear is the antithesis of love.

Now, you can ignore all of that and be who you are, but a problem arises thereof; nothing agitates a despot more than an inability to control someone. Invariably, they will use their authority to destroy who you are in the view of others. If you are wise they cannot rob you of a truthful self-assessment/self-esteem, but they can at least disparage you to people you love. To one who loves, having the respect of those they love is very important, and despots can at least use their authority to rob you of that.

When you determine that your manager is a despot, it is time to leave on your own terms regardless of your love for the residents and the nurses you serve. You must not stay; a NA defined by love (as all NA’s should) will do anything for love, but we mustn’t do that. In many cases when a despotic executive director perp-walks an aide or a nurse out of the facility it is payback for his/her inability to control through fear. In addition, it is an effective way to destroy half of the love equation with a possible added bonus of self-doubt.

As the director of TANC I have pondered these issues for several years and was able to recognize the position that I was in. Though it was very difficult to submit my two-week notice because of my love for the residents and the nurses I served, my endeavor to love better and more as a NA could not be jeopardized by a despot. The NA must remember this: a corporation’s decision to employ a despot is out of our control; regardless of our love, there are things we cannot do in the name of love, viz, try to love in an atmosphere dictated by fear because love and fear are mutually exclusive. In contrast to popular notions about love, those who love are not obligated to relinquish a true assessment of ourselves to those full of control-lust.

This brings us to Co-Dependency and its formal definition: “Codependency is a type of dysfunctional helping relationship where one person supports or enables another person’s drug addiction, alcoholism, gambling addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement. Among the core characteristics of codependency, the most common theme is an excessive reliance on other people for approval and a sense of identity.”

This applies to all relationships on every stratum of existence. Under-achievers are easy to control. Do your relationships in life foster fear or love? Do they foster fear of being all you can be or truthful self-confidence? Do your relationships foster cooperative love or co-dependency?

Is your self-identity determined by tyranny? We will do anything for love…

…but we won’t allow that.

paul

You do not get saved by faith &then prove it by works. There are no works related to salvation other than the work Jesus did. It’s by faith.

— JC (@DiscipleByte) September 26, 2017

Hopefully, the home fellowship movement will create a music awakening among Christians. Right now, whether contemporary “Christian” music or church hymnals, the lyrics, for the most part, represent lies in general and a false gospel in particular. The vast majority of all music in the church venue propagates progressive justification. Consequently, going to hell has never sounded better.

Point in case: the 60’s Rock song, “Get Together,” calls for a choice between love and fear in a spiritual sense. That’s the dichotomy between under law and under grace  that the Bible highlights. The song also mentions the one who has left us behind to preach this distinction. Good stuff.

What does Protestantism advocate for sanctification? Luther and Calvin taught that fear was the primary fuel that drives sanctification. Also, according to Protestantism, sanctification is the progression of justification (salvation). Hence, the same fear that saved you also sanctifies you, viz, keeps the salvation process moving forward. Since we are “all [saved and unsaved alike] sinners saved [being continually saved] by grace (salvation),” of course we should fear condemnation because we are supposedly still under law. According to Luther and Calvin, no fear of damnation would denote sinlessness.

Per Protestant assimilation using deception through the assumption of word meaning, “We are all sinners saved by grace” should be stated this way if stated honestly: “The saved are still totally depraved and are continually saved by returning to the same gospel that began our salvation.” That’s Protestantism, and it’s not arguable. And this doctrine defines its music in every church venue.  

I have documented the citations regarding these facts with thousands of articles, but I would recommend the book, “It’s Not About Election” which goes into Protestantism’s sabbath sanctification in painstaking detail.

We may also mention what will be absent from Rock music because of its separation from church; Jesus is My Boyfriend lyrics. Jesus is my romantic lover music comes from the Protestant historical-redemptive hermeneutic. Since every verse in the Bible is about Jesus and His salvation, well then, the Song of Solomon must be about Jesus and the church and not romance on a horizontal level because the Bible is strictly about the vertical. Hence, James MacDonald’s “Vertical Church” claim to fame.

If you want good and practical music about horizontal life that doesn’t include Protestant mysticism, look for it in Rock music or other secular venues that have commonsense lyrics.  

Again, I have documented the citations regarding these facts with thousands of articles, but I would also recommend the book, “The Gospel Transformation Bible; a Tool for Keeping Our Salvation?” in reference to the historical-redemptive hermeneutic. 

If you leave your address in the comment section along with a request, I will edit your address out of the comment and send you either or both of these books for free while supply lasts, or a pdf file.

So it’s Sunday, and a good day for listening to some good spiritual music…enjoy.  

Right, that’s the Protestant gospel, and that’s why it’s false. If we must repeat the same way we “became” a Christian in our ongoing lives, that is obviously progressive justification per John Calvin’s chapter stating such in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (3.14).

In other words, Calvin clearly advocated a progressive salvation in that chapter which shouldn’t surprise us because that’s what Protestantism is. And, the favorite cover for this is the subtle exchange of “salvation” for “grace,” and in this case, “we became a Christian” as well. You can restate the meme this way: “We live by faith ALONE to keep ourselves saved.” It’s clearly perpetual salvation through living by faith alone.

By the way, anything we do with intentionality, no matter how passive, or whether active or passive to keep ourselves saved is a form of works salvation. Keeping ourselves saved by doing nothing with intentionality is still a works salvation. If salvation is not presently complete as apposed to Protestantism’s “final justification,” we must DO something to keep ourselves saved. An unfinished salvation is mutually inclusive with works salvation in every case; this is unavoidable.

And this is is nothing new; James wrote a treatise against faith alone in the Christian life, “faith without works is dead, being alone.” Rather, we live by “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).

paul