The Book of Revelation and Present Events
Our home fellowship recently started a study in the book of Revelation to help us keep our sanity in the present circumstances. It helps to remember that as Christians, we await a kingdom on earth that will be ruled by Christ and Israel will be “the head and not the tail.” This is a subject I have studied for years, and have recently taken another look and challenged my previous understanding.
I will not go into detail here, but will share what I believe the landscape looks like. I am not one who believes America is bad because Christians need to suffer as a means to enter heaven. That Protestant attitude has given us Charismatic theology and sorry, the argument for triple imputation is just as logical as double imputation. If Christ came to live a perfect law-keeping life so he can impute it to our sanctification, which by the way, I reject, he also came to overcome death and sickness. Plainly, part of his life was healing sickness, and if his whole life fulfilled the law perfectly, well, you do the math. I reject both theologies, but merely want to once again point out how illogical Protestantism is in a myriad of ways.
So, America is a good thing. I am fortunate to be an ambassador here for God’s kingdom. No government has been a greater force for good than America. God likes good things. He loves justice, and God’s kind of country/government “rewards good and punishes evil.” World history reflects core spiritual matters; you cannot have one without the other, what we see on a historical level is a fight between individualism and collectivism. Neither will get you into heaven, but both have a huge impact on how we experience life. Unlike Martin Luther, I don’t think embracing suffering is the epitome of virtue and the key to salvation.
Here is the question: How close are we to the coming of Christ when he judges the world and establishes God’s kingdom on earth? Let’s consider that a few elements, or signs seem to be taking place in our day. The Antichrist will be a “lawless” leader. What we clearly see today are leaders who are above the law and surrounded by other leaders who lack intestinal fortitude to do anything about it. Presently, outright in-your-face lawlessness is ruling the day. Will Donald Trump prevail? And even if he doesn’t, will he make a comeback that will radically transform America?
The Antichrist will be much like a Barak Obama who thinks he is above the law, and has the audacity to take gaslighting to an all new level. It doesn’t matter how ridiculous his political theories are, it’s just the verbiage that will be on the placard at the top of your cross. His intent is to compel you to obey, by force if necessary, and to fulfill your preordained purpose of serving the state. Of course, for you own wellbeing; everyone should obey their purpose in life. Tyrants are always looking out for your best interest as defined by them. They know best. It’s tough love.
The Bible is clear: Christ returns “at a time when you think not.” Christ returns during a time of peace and prosperity. A time when people are saying, “peace and safety,” and, “Where is the promise of his coming?” By the way, morality isn’t necessarily mutually inclusive with peace and prosperity. At any rate, is Donald Trump the leader who ushers in that time of peace and prosperity? In addition, does the Antichrist come to power by pretending to believe in the same policies?
I do not believe socialism can usher in the coming peace and prosperity that will precede the lord’s return. I believe Trump, or at least his policies and statecraft, will prevail. There will be a calm before the storm that will usher in Christ’s return. The Bible is also clear: the Antichrist will lead a church-state on steroids; a church-state like no other ever seen in the history of the world. This will arise quickly out of the time of peace and prosperity; probably due to the first major crisis to come upon the world that the Bible describes as, “the beginning of birth pangs.”
This is why I believe the Trump populist movement will prevail; stay tuned.
paul
Furries and the New Calvinists
Chapter 11: Christian Furries?
There is a significant “Christian Furry” movement to consider in the midst of everything we have discussed in this book so far. What shall we make of it? It would seem, in light of everything we have discussed, that church has enough problems of its own without including furry baggage. Bad press about church is nearly a weekly event in America. For churches that believe the Bible is God’s documented truth, its imperative for avoiding all appearances of evil[1] would hardly be descriptive about allowing a furry program in your church. Yet, this chapter will explain the surprising history that reveals why the Christian furry phenomenon should not surprise us.
The short answer follows, and we will observe the details moving forward in this chapter. The medieval church was driven by an anti-humanity ideology, and the Fandom is also driven by anti-humanity ideology. Presently, the evangelical church is moving back to medieval theology. Accordingly, the Christian furry movement within the church should not surprise us.
Regardless of the bad press, to a large degree, the American church is still seen as this country’s moral compass. There is a reason for that. After the American Revolution, and until 1970, the American church was a tremendous force for good in our society. The American church is still living off that reputation. The American Revolution fundamentally transformed the church because it integrated Enlightenment Era ideas with church dogma. Frankly, enlightenment ideas concerning presuppositions about mankind are much closer to the Bible than medieval church dogma.
The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is what Martin Luther and John Calvin believed about humanity. The Protestant Reformation was really a clash between medieval ideology and the Renaissance. Luther and Calvin were hardcore disciples of Saint Augustine who was not only a church father of his era, but a forbearer of presuppositions regarding mankind that shaped the Dark Ages.
Without getting too technical, suffice to say Calvin and Luther believed that mankind is 100% evil and incapable of doing a single act of good. This is the total inability of mankind ideology that shaped the Dark Ages. Furries not only believe that mankind is inept, but they also believe animals are better. Beside that, seeking deeper spiritual awareness through nature in general, and animals in particular, is far from being a foreign idea in the church. The famous evangelical Francis Schaeffer was known as the first “evangelical tree hugger” and was arguably an outright pantheist.[2]
The inability of man ideology is an ideology that binds many philosophies together that seem to be strange bedfellow. But this should, by no means, seem strange to us. The logical conclusion of this ideology is that mankind must be ruled over by a wise minority, or some kind of enlightened elitist class. This was the premise for the long enduring church state construct that dominated human history until America came along. We must remember that Protestantism arose in the midst of a church state (Catholicism) and was designed for the express purpose of operating in a church state era. In fact, the John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion was written to, and for, the king of France. It argued against the Catholic charge that Protestantism was an anti-church state movement.
The American Revolution completely destroyed the longstanding historical church state worldwide. The emergence of Marxism in the 19th century was no coincidence; it filled the void left by the destruction of the church state albeit in a secular form. We have previously observed the Marxist roots of the Fandom.
Though Marxism is hastily regarded as the atheist enemy of the church, they have a mutual ideology that often units the two: their mutual disdain for humanity. Luther and Calvin not only dismissed human morality entirely, but even a human ability to reason. Luther famously stated that human reason was an ugly whore who desrved to have feces rubbed in her face.
Reason is the Devil’s greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore; she is a prostitute, the Devil’s appointed whore; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom … Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism… She would deserve, the wretch, to be banished to the filthiest place in the house, to the closets.[3]
Therefore, it should be no surprise that the Fandom has been swept into the church via the New Calvinist movement. The New Calvinist movement officially began in the early 1970s and is a return to what is sometimes referred to as “reformed theology.”[4] This theology has a strong emphasis on “the total depravity of mankind” and other medieval church themes. To the dismay and bewilderment of many, this movement, which has all but completely taken over the evangelical church, is in the process of embracing Marxism and progressive politics.
Certainly, New Calvinist leaders would have many disagreements with progressive politics, but the problem is cultural exposure to individualism for the past 200 years. Freedom and individual upward mobility have become a way of life in America and the envy of the rest of the world. The left’s endeavor to take over education and indoctrinate America has failed; freedom is a natural need created in the soul of man by God.
Hence, though the church is by no means fond of Marxism, they see it as a means to burn down individualism with the hope that the church can negotiate with what emerges out of the ashes. New Calvinists know they have a better chance of cutting a deal with progressives for the express purpose of returning to the church state of old. New Calvinists want their orthodoxy to be enforced by the state; this is the endgame entirely.
This is not to suggest that the Fandom is in league with this scheme, but to only show why the Fandom finds acceptance within the church and the New Calvinist movement. Furries would quickly and readily embrace a total depravity of mankind ideology.
With that said, the presence of the Furries within the church is certainly not going to lesson the ongoing scandals that have become routine there. Regarding any limits the church might implement in its relationship with progressivism, there are none.
This includes the Furries and everything mentioned in this book they bring with them, as if the church has need to increase risk to the wellbeing of children.
[1] 1 Thessalonians 5:22
[2] https://byfaithonline.com/the-chief-end-of-animals-part-1/
[3] Martin Luther, Erlangen Edition v. 16, pp. 142-148
[4] The Truth About New Calvinism: Its History, Doctrine, and Character, Paul M. Dohse, TANC Publishing 2011.
Democrats and Church Are Like Marriage Counseling and America’s Present Dilemma
True Christians, according to the Bible, are “ambassadors” here on earth that represent God’s kingdom. As a Christian, I seek to see events unfolding in America through the eyes of being God’s representative. With that said, I am fed up and ready for a fight. I think I am feeling like a lot of Americans: I have no desire at all to be civil with any Democrat. However, I can’t take that position.
Some years ago, after investing every bit of my life into what I perceived as God’s family, the truth came out about the church I was a longtime member of.
The pastors of that church have what we call, “religious authority.” Through the experience, I was taken to school about that issue. I was informed by them that I was one of the few people in church that didn’t get it, and by the way, that didn’t include the person I was married to at the time. I was told to stop asking hard questions, or the pastors at that church, by their authority, would inform the church on how to think about me leading to rejection of “the privileges that come along with being part of God’s family.” That, of course, supposedly includes salvation. I called them on the threat, thinking my longtime friends would laugh at the notion of being under that kind of carte blanche authority. I was dead wrong.
God used the schooling to make me a totally different person. I experienced what it was like to have nothing but myself and God. A few people stood by me, but it wasn’t enough to save my whole life from being burned down by church authority. In the process, I found out that you really only need God and yourself, and everything else is icing on the cake. I became a person builder; I became someone focused on building who I wanted to be under God’s guidance. It’s enough, it works well, It is an incredible feeling of freedom, but God doesn’t see it as ideal.
True Christianity is a body. It is being born into the one body of Christ. That’s the function. The identity is kingdom membership and ambassadorship. Also, the identity is royal priesthood. These identities function as a spiritual and material body according to cooperation, not authority. The only priests are ourselves ministering in our own bodies. Our bodies are the temples of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit which units us with Christ. There are no priests ministering in our own individual temples but us. We offer living sacrifices to God in our temples for purposes of love and devotion to God and others. There is no offering to God outside of our own temples. And these are love offerings; not offerings compelled by law or any authority outside of our temples. God doesn’t want law offerings to mere men, He wants love offerings informed by the law, but not compelled by the law through authority…not even His own. Love is the only thing that will endure eternally. Authority will not. Love doesn’t need authority.
Christianity is a family you are born into. Christ came to establish the new birth and He is the firstborn of God. His death made it possible for you to follow Christ in death regarding the old you, and to follow Him in resurrection regarding the new you. This is obtained by wanting a new life, and asking God for it; the Holy Spirit does the rest. You must be born again. When God’s family meets together, it is like any other family meeting together; it isn’t church and there isn’t any authority. You are a fellow member of Israel’s commonwealth working cooperatively with God’s family to edify His body and the world.
Susan and I have been working to formulate this biblical identity in our home fellowship movement. It is very difficult to convey and demonstrate a body exercising faith through love corporately and cooperatively without authority. Because church is under law and that is what people are accustomed to, it’s hard to operate according to love and not law. Love is to be informed by law, not authority. Freedom of conscience interprets truth, not authority. You may let authority rule you, but authority will not be your attorney when you stand before God.
Hence, Democrats and church are much the same. It is always interesting to watch authority-driven entities trying to get along. It’s truly a hot mess. It’s much like marriage counseling. What is marriage counseling? The concise definition follows: it is two people making a case for one ruling over the other because the other is worthy of more condemnation. That’s marriage counseling in a nutshell.
It is also, at times, co-dependency. Actually, more often than not. An abused spouse will often stay in the abuse situation for financial security and other forms of fear spawned and driven by low self-esteem deserved or not deserved. High self-esteem is earned and based on the truth. In the control-lust game, one must convince the other that they are worthy of condemnation and therefore need to submit to others for their own survival. You see, tyrants always present themselves as saviors for the sinful, but there is only one savior. In these co-dependent relationships, one supplies the other’s need for false security, and the other supplies and fulfils the need to control.
It is often said that America is a Christian nation, but the reason given is false. America is not a Christian nation because of church—church is more like the Democrats. The idea of being able and responsible for yourself is an Enlightenment idea, but in fact, closer to the Bible, much closer, than church which is driven by ideas of inability and the consequential need for man to be ruled for his own good. And again, tyrants always come to help you…to save you…because you supposedly need saving by someone other than Christ.
Donald Trump thinks you are able. He represents about half of the country. The other half do not think mankind is able, and are no different than a co-dependent spouse. Donald Trump is a threat because he might eliminate the ability to have a co-dependent relationship with the government. He must be stopped at any cost.
In all of this, true Christians who get it, stand with Donald Trump for the aforementioned reasons, but for other important reasons as well. Yes, we are mere ambassadors here and citizens of another country, but, God cares very much about justice, fairness, and freedom in the here and now. And, NO country has been a force for those things in the world than the United States.
This boils down to individualism versus collectivism, but I think it is better understood through bad marriages. Half of this country is content to be abused by the government to dissuade the fears of their own self-loathing. And besides, person-building is hard work.
My heart bleeds for Donald Trump. Prayer is not my gift in the body of Christ, but I have found myself on my knees a lot in the past few days. As an ambassador here for God’s kingdom, what is the premise of my prayer?
God loves justice and fairness, and the ability of people to live according to the conscience that he has created in every person. Pray for our president.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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