The Fear of the Lord, Evil, and Suffering—an important topic overlooked by most Christians [Is God In Complete Control...? Did 99% of His Creation Just “Go Bad”...? Can Anything “Take God By Surprise”...?]
If you don’t fear the Lord, you don’t love Him. If you love Him you obey Him. If you love Him you trust Him and know that all things He has ordained for His Own Glory; and our duty is to submit to what He has ordained. God’s creation did not “go bad”. Nothing evolves and nothing falls on its own. God is Master of His universe.
ALL SCRIPTURE...! (II Timothy 3:16,17)
Most “Christians” only want to hear “smooth sayings”, words that tickle their ears; pleasant words—not words about sin, repentance, evil, and Judgment—because they are humanists. They are like those immature individuals who only want to eat things that are “sweet” (which rots the teeth and the “empty calories” do not nourish the body, and result in sickliness); and such “Christians” only want to believe in what I call, “Cotton Candy Christianity”.
The concept of evil and suffering, God’s Goodness and Sovereignty, as taught in the Bible is easy to understand; but truly suffering is hard to appreciate (especially when smack dab in the middle of it; Hebrews 12:11).
“11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which [that] are exercised thereby. 12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13And make straight [level] paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12)
“16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for Doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (II Timothy 3)
The problem is not the “intellect”; the problem is man’s carnal, selfish, sinful will. Sinful man (including most “Christians”) wants to be in charge (actually, wants to be God)—and God gets in the way of sinful man actualizing his cherished, self-idolatrous delusion. Sinful man (including most “Christians”), therefore, invents his own notion of “good” and “evil” and “fairness”—and then, as if throwing a Halloween costume at God’s Feet and barks: “Here. Put this on!” Such know not God. God Himself responds:
“...thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them [truth] in order before thine eyes.” (Psalm 50:21)
God takes orders from no man. Neither is any man part of the Heavenly Congress according to which God makes His unchanging Decrees, Covenants, Promises—His overall, completely perfect and fully planned and written Script to His Drama of the Ages—fully planned and established e’er He first declared, “Let there be...”. He will not share His Glory with another; neither will He share in any inferior’s imperfection. God does not merely “help”, that is, a partial helping hand—He fully determined all; He fully empowers all.*1 There is no one above Him in authority whom He must obey (Daniel 4:35; Isaiah 45:9; 46:10; 64:8; Romans 9:13-23; Philippians 2:13). He is Perfect and Omnipotent and has all Right;t*2 He is Holy*3 and what He decrees establishes reality.
[*1 “It is in Him that we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28); “for without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). He is our life and our length of days (Deuteronomy 30:20). He is our breath. God sends delusion and controls the mind / heart and will of all (Phlippians 2:13; Isaiah 66:4; Romans 9:18; II Thessalonians 2:11).
*2 That is, He is Righteous. He is Righteous because He has all Right—all authority. God is not defined by what He does; what He does is defined by what He is. God is not Good because He does Good things; because He is Good whatever He does is Good. The same goes with Right. However, “Goodness” is not defined by man, but what God is; what God Decrees. The nature makes the act; not the act the nature—which again reveals the hopelessness of man attempting to reach God on his own.
*3 That is, He is “100% pure” (which, indeed, is redundant, because something is pure or it is not;* and “degrees” of relative purity is actually, ironically, a corruption of the notion of purity, which is absolute; the measurement is actually of impurity, though incorrectly expressed in terms of approximation of purity, if it is not actually pure). Thus, being Pure, God has no equal—He is in a class all by Himself because that which is holy is to be set apart from that which is common or unholy. Normally, this separation is to prevent contamination; but in God’s case, He is Omnipotent, Perfect, and Immutable, and is not affected by anything external to Himself (that is, anything that is not Him; that is, anything that He created; and nothing exists that He did not create; though most things that He have been corrupted in one way or another; though He preserves a remnant).
There are various words that are absolute, and, unfortunately, because of the dumbing down of our institutions of learning, and the injection of falsehood as truth, our language is being destroyed, and the minds of our people are being destroyed. “My people are destoyed for lack of knowledge...” Other words that are absolute (or binary: on or off; it is or it is not) are unique, circular, infinite, pregnant—these words have no “dimmer switch”; and in most all cases the addition of a modifier / adjective is improper, and often demonstrates that the speaker / writer does not understand the word. The one that is most-commonly abused is unique; in which people say something like, “That is really unique”. Something is unique or it is not. Most often people mean, “novel” or “unusual” or “clever”. However, without proper teaching, error “becomes” colloquially accepted as “truth”; which only lobotomizes those with no desire to truly learn. This can be compared to 5-year old’s superficial understanding. Such a child may say, “oh, chocolate, that is my favorite; oh, vanilla, that is my favorite”. However, in reality, if everything is “favorite” then nothing is favorite. So also with the word special.
Some also misunderstand poetic / figurative language as literal (and literal as figurative), in general, but specifically in the relation of God’s Holiness. Most misunderstand Habakkuk’s declaration: “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (1:13). This is not literal. First of all, it is a figure of speech called an anthropomorphism. God is Spirit and noncorporeal. He has no eyes. His Omnipresence and indeed, His “Eyes” are an expression, an extension of His Omniscience. If God could not look upon evil, He could not have confronted Cain, Satan could not appear before Him on a regular basis (or ever) to give an account of his doings, He could not have “gone down” “to see” the wickedness of Babel or Sodom; His Eyes could not go to and fro throughout the earth; He could not even look upon His people; yet His Watchcare is a Promise. As I explain in my book, God and Evil, God is Immutable and unaffected by anything that is external to Himself, anything that He created. However, because He is Holy, He cannot have fellowship with that which is repugnant to Him; that which violates the unchanging Moral Standards that He decreed. This itself demolishes the notion of man approaching God of his own merit. Psalm 65:4 says, “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee...”.]
God is Creator and He created HIS universe as it pleased Him (which is the meaning, during the Days of Creation, when God declared that each thing that He created was “good”). However, God is also Lord. Every single event of history, in every single aspect of life (inward to the micro-universe, down to every last atom, and each electron spinning in each atom that comprises all matter and energy; and all the way outward to the macro-universe, every last planet, star, moon, meteor, asteroid, comet, space dust, etc.) is God’s Drama and He penned it exactly as He wanted it. He is in control and has planned and ordained all things.
Now, if you were God, would you not create your universe the way that you wanted it to be? If you were writing a novel, would not you write it the way that you wanted it to be? If you were God and you created everything perfect (which can be only one way) and then your tiny, small-minded, sinful, selfish creatures took a vote and the majority decided that they new better than you how to create a universe and demanded that you change it to suit their corrupt notions—would you not both laugh and be outraged at the same time...? So does God (see Psalm 2). What if you penned a novel, which novel was then turned into a movie, and then the characters in your novel then mutinied and decided they they were not going to follow your script, but that they would think and say and do things that they deemed to create a “better novel”—imagine that...! people who were hired and paid to act out your novel, then deciding that they would reject your script and write their own...! What would you think? How would you act? Scripture even mentions this, in a limited application:
“33Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [farmer], and went into a far country: 34And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, ‘[Surely] They will reverence my son’. 38But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance’. 39And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41They [Jesus’ disciples who were listening to Him] say unto him, ‘He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons’. 42Jesus saith unto them, ‘Did ye never read in the Scriptures, “The [Corner] Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?”’ 43Therefore say I unto you, ‘The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44And whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder’.” (Matthew 21)
[Those who do not understand Scripture—or who purposely misinterpret it, liking their own interpretation better than God’s Plan—and those who reject the Biblical God and invent a world-pleasing God (a God who dances to each new tune that sinful man plays) spuriously interpret this to mean that God rejected His people and then chose a new people (or that He chose “everyone”). This is unbiblical. God is True and His Decrees, Covenants, and Promises are Immutable and Sure. The distinction in this or any other similar passage is not between God’s people and other people, but between God’s people at that very moment in time (that stage or act of His Play) and His people millennia later (toward the fulfillment of His Drama), up to which time He had led His people (though He scattered them throughout the world), whom He preserved, blessed, and multiplied, and whom He will one day regather—the peoples of Christendom; that is why they are Christendom; the only Christendom (and it is falling due to violating God’s Command to be separate and not amalgamate into a melting pot: Babylon, “confusion by mixing”); of which God has nothing good to say, and which He will destroy.
For more details, see my Sacred Truth Expository Commentary: The Book of the Prophet Hosea, 466pp., pb., 24.00 +, P&H; and Uncovering the Mysteries of Your Hidden Inheritance, 192pp., pb., 18.00 + P&H, Hb., 28.00 + P&H; and Calling the Remnant of Christendom: Come Out From Among Them and Be Ye Separate...!, 88pp., 7.00 + P&H).]
Theology and True Bible Doctrine center around, glorify, and please God. Anything less is humanism, which centers around, glorifies, and pleases man. Humanism is actually Satanism: for there are only two competing powers in the universe (by no means “equal”)—God, and Satan. Satan is not a “free agent” and he only has power that God has given him: for Satan is a limited, fallen created being. God created him for a purpose, along with all other “vessels of wrath”. All dramas need villains and victims, as well as heroes. That is what makes a drama. God even penned this drama in the heavens.* God created vessels of wrath, upon which to display His Wrath, but so that His Wrath would not have to be displayed upon His own children; sort of like “crash-test dummies”. They serve as a powerful illustration and learning experience, so that we do not have to fully know, first-hand, the “Knowledge of Good and Evil” by ourselves sinning and suffering in every possible way.
[* See my: Are Celestial Mysteries, History, and Prophecy Revealed in the Orion Nebula, the Stars, the Constellations, and the Zodiac...?, 82pp., 8.5” x 7”, pb., 58 illustrations, 2 full page color; 12.00 + P&H. completely different perspective / conclusions than authorities (Rolleston, Seiss, Bullinger, Capt); using Bible numerics as decipher card, reveals / explains God’s Plan for Ages by correctly identifying / interpretation of each of 12 constellations in light of prophecy. Do not confuse historic astronomy and the names of the stars, the Zodiac, which displays God’s Drama symbolically in the heavens, with the “hijacked” humanistic, occult practice of “individual horoscopes”, which is witchcraft that God forbids.]
The best lessons (those learned with the least amount of pain and suffering) are those that can be learned by example, in seeing someone else do something (good or bad) and then see them reap the consequences of their actions (blessing or suffering)—and then you learn by their example to make godly and wise decisions so that you do not have to so suffer; or see them do something stupid, in violation of God’s Commands, and see them suffer for it. For example, seeing someone who carelessly plays with gasoline and matches, or with a sharp knife, or who performs “daredevil” tricks on a wall or ledge on top of a tall building—seeing someone suffer incredible pain, disfigurement, being crippled for life, or even experiencing death is certainly good motivation to not make the same foolish mistakes. Extremely painful mistakes that one personally experiences are usually (but not always, as some people are really, really stupid, and possibly even have a “death wish”) never forgotten, but seared permanently into the brain and nerves throughout the body. Such painful experiences are so powerful that they may even cause a person to cringe and feel bodily pain merely thinking about such an accident or disaster. However, such learning experiences often leave scars—permanent, even crippling ones. For this reason also, God created the vessels of wrath. His first reason was for His Own Glory, to display His Wrath (for that is one of His Attributes,* terribly misunderstood and ignored by the majority). Secondly, He created the vessels of wrath so that we His people could witness His Wrath—and live, by seeing the force of that Wrath displayed upon the wicked, rather than upon ourselves.
[* See: The Attributes of God (1930) Arthur W. Pink, “Critical Edition” with detailed Preface, Biography, and my detailed Annotations, doubling the page count, 199pp., pb., 17.50 + P&H.]
Christ Himself declared,
“Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (Matthew 18:7)
Why “must needs” offences come into the world...? —because that is what God determined for His Drama. Let us imagine that a young girl suffers terribly, due to some debilitating and excruciating physical ailment that crippled here (as depicted in Volume 5 of The Emily Sarah Holt Library, which I am currently preparing, which is Miss Holt’s lengthy and very well crafted story, Lettice Eden). Now, in parallel to the old expression, “killing two birds with one stone”, an individual’s personal suffering is never merely existential, or for himself. Scripture informs us that ultimately the suffering of God’s children, first of all is for His Own Glory (John 9:3); as is the suffering and Judgment of the wicked (Romans 9:22,23), though for different reasons. Secondly, it is for that individual, for God to teach what can only be taught through, as Albert Schweitzer expressed, “The Fellowship of Those Who Bear the Sacred Mark of Pain”. However, again, this is not existential, but teleological and reformative; and it is not secular, but God centered. Thirdly, it is for all those who will know of such a person’s incredible suffering, for them to learn by example (and not by personal experience), as Scripture informs us:
“...we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5And hope maketh not ashamed...” (Romans 5)
“3Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation [deliverance].” (II Corinthians 1)
“10Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 12Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is Faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (I Corinthians 10)
Suffering is the means by which God determines to get the “full and undivided attention” of His child whom He afflicts,* as well as many others close to that person; and all who will learn of the testimony—if the person who is suffering bears up under the suffering with grace.
[* “I know, O LORD, that Thy Judgments are Right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.” (Psalm 119:75)]
You see, God often makes “Appointments” with His children, during which, He would teach them spiritual lessons, so that they mature into better persons, are conformed more into the Image of Christ—for His Own Glory and Purpose. However, most often, the majority of His children spurn* these Divine Appointments, considering just about anything else in their lives to be of superior importance.
[* Again, most “Christians”, like toddlers and spoiled children, only want to play and have fun (and not study or work), and eat and drink only sweet things (and never sour or bitter). However, such result only in a weak and sickly individual, with no character, strength, discipline, or wisdom. For more thought along these lines, see my Bittersweet Impressions & Inspirations, Vol. 1, original poems & few short stories, 310pp., pb., 6x9, 20.00 + P&H; and in far-greater detail in my yet unpublished, Teach Us To Pray — Help Thou My Unbelief — Lord Save Me!: The Disciples Handbook For Prayer, Faith, and Deliverance, projected 700pp., 6x9 (inquire).]
Thus, those of His children whom God predestined unto Life, whom God loves, if they are “no-shows” at these Appointments, He will often then implement a powerful circumstance that will be so “life interrupting” that keeping the Appointment will be unavoidable. For example, a car accident usually produces an immediate appointment at the Emergency Room, in which the victim himself often has no say in the matter, and is not even in control (often being unconscious) in being transported there. God makes all such Appointments for His children. The purpose of such appointments is to convict them of their sin and give them cause to consider their ways and repent; or test them to make them stronger. Like the Prodigal Son in Christ’s parable, God has orchestrated every single event (nothing is “random” or invented in man’s mind, and nothing is by accident) in a person’s life to bring him to the point that he has nowhere to turn but to God.
[* This chastening itself is the “Goodness” of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). The Goodness is not, as humanists would imagine, God leaving a trail of cookies and candy along a path made of salt-water taffy, lined with bushes made of cotton candy. Contrary to the perverse notions of the wicked world, chastening is love and those who do not chasten their children, hate them (Proverbs 13:24; 19:18; 23:13,14; Hebrews 12:4-10). If you stop to think about it, actually the purpose of a spanking is mind blowing: to prevent all future spankings—thus, it must be a good one (given in love, not anger).]
However, even in such cases, there are those who are unreformably obstinate (which is strong delusion that God Himself has sent: for His Glory and His Purpose in His Drama), who, instead of drawing closer to God at such times (then eventually to remain and draw ever closer) blame God (which is evidence such minds are carnal and think that the God of the universe is answerable to His creatures; and that God is supposed to serve bow down and serve man) and such either depart farther from God—or God was never in their thoughts; and God will use such circumstances either eventually to get the attention of His elect children, or destroy them. Even though such notions are repulsive to the majority of “Christians” (who are humanists)—God did not create sinful, damaged, confused, small-minded humans and then ask them how He was supposed to order His universe. Such is the dividing line that establishes whether one is actually a Christian, or a humanist who wants God to worship and serve man.
Similarly, we now in our current day are facing the greatest evils and abominations that the world has ever seen—in which Christendom is about to fall. God Himself has sent all this evil (by Divine Appointment; Ezekiel 7:24) that we His people deserve: because our people “embraced” evil rather than hating and rejecting it as God commanded. God is causing Christendom to reap what it has sown (or ignored and allowed to be sown under their very noses; instead, “tolerating” it). This is God’s Method of getting the attention of His people—while at the same time, driving on the wicked to their own destruction even as moths are drawn to the flame: so that they fill up the full measure of God’s Wrath.
Neither you, nor I, nor any other human is God. God is God. That indeed is what is called a tautology (stating something that is already known*)—but indeed, it is a tautological truth of which the vast majority of “Christians” are utterly ignorant. They are so ignorant, because they are humanists and pervertedly think that the world revolves around them and their individual happiness; and that God should calibrate reality to their individual confused and perverse notions.
[* A humorous example is: If we had some cheese, we could have some cheese and crackers—if we had some crackers.]
Clearly, the majority of “Christians” do not know what GOD and LORD mean. They do not even understand the concept of GOD. To them, God is merely like the builder of an apartment complex, who built the apartment—and then moved on to other building projects that are of no concern to them; a builder whom they never met; and a builder to whom they do not consider themselves indebted, though they live in his apartment complex.
“I pay my rent”,* he subconsciously reasons, “God has no greater claim to me, my thoughts, actions, possessions, or time”. The average “Christian” may go to church once a week (or only on holidays), tosses a few coins into the collection plate, subconsciously reasoning :“God demands 10%; but I think .05% is enough; God demands the entire Sabbath, I think one hour once a week on any day that I choose is enough... if I have nothing better to do”. He pays half attention to the “sermon” (which in most “Churches” is more of a humanistic “feel-good” pep talk / motivational seminar). He may even stand and halfway sing a song declaring God and Jesus to be “Lord”—without even knowing or caring what that actually means; his life demonstrating that fact. It is all a mere ritual, a superstition not too different than the pagans a few millennia ago, who occasionally threw a young virgin into a volcano to appease the gods; then ignoring the volcano as if the gods do not exist, and going about their lives for several years without of thought of the gods until the volcano again acts up. Like tossing a small percentage of the money owed (instead of paying the full monthly amount due), every now and then, to keep the bill collectors at bey.
[* —whatever that may be in any “Christian’s” mind: a rent in the amount and based upon terms that he himself arbitrarily decrees, based upon what he is willing to offer, and that which he, in his selfish mind, deems “fair”; though he has zero authority to so think or act. Like Cain, he reasons in his fallen mind, “That is what I am willing to offer: Take it or leave it”. Well, in the case of Cain, God “left it” (did not accept it). Christ declared that MANY on the Day of Judgment, who thought that they had done so many “wonderful works” in Jesus’ Name—will be surprised, when they hear Christ reject them, declaring that He never knew them; that their “goodness” was actually rebellion and disobedience.]
God is not fooled by robbery by His children (Malachi 3:8-10) any more than He is fooled by their lukewarmness, lipservice, and apostacy. They want the best of both worlds; to give God token worship and obedience (and obedience itself is true worship) while satiating their own lusts; having their cake and eating it too; grazing for free in someone else’s pasture, expecting the shepherd to maintain the pasture for their convenience; taking without giving; wanting to reap where they have not sown (which is theft), and not reap the judgment that they deserve for violating all that God commanded; thinking that they can circumvent God’s Law of the Harvest. However, Scripture warns, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). Most ignore this warning, and ignore His Commands, because they are unregenerate. That is the only explanation—being spiritually dead—when reading / hearing Scriptural truth and not being moved by it to obey God in every area of life. They like the “idea” of God—as long as He stays where He belongs and does not interfere in “his” life... unless He is needed. God is desired as an “insurance policy” that he hopes he can cash in on without actually paying the monthly fees. However, God requires His fees not in one monthly lump sum, but daily by the minute: continual obedience in every area of life.
GOD and LORD mean “MASTER, OWNER, CONTROLLER”. The unregenerate, carnal mind rejects this; and that is why “Christian” doctrine has been corrupted into humanism: ideas that please man.
[We have been living (for the past several decades) through what I have long called the “Age of Irresponsibility” (which has led into the overlapping Age of Immorality and Age of Insanity). Slaves have been emancipated from their owners (and though it was over 150 years ago, it is daily denounced as “America’s Great Sin” as an unpardonable crime and ultimate great evil—as if it still existed today; despite the fact that God nowhere condemns slavery*). I repeat, slaves have been emancipated from their owners; wives are emancipated from their husbands; children are emancipated from their parents. And thus (since all 3 of these relationships mirror the God-ordained relationship of God’s people and their God) it is no surprise that the modern “Church” and most “Christians” have emancipated themselves from God (rejection of His Law in favor of doing what they want; their “freedom”); and thus the Apostate Church is called the Great Whore (for actual whoredom, in numerous ways, as well as the Jezebel spirit of “independence” and “self-empowerment”—even as Satan tempted Eve in the Garden: “You can have it all, do whatever you want, and be your own god, subject to no one”).
* Don’t misunderstand me. Focus on the principle, not the knee-jerk reaction, which has been carefully cultivated in the minds of the masses as a programmed response; a “vaccine” against Biblical Truth, which causes the hearer (as if someone hypnotized with a “post-hypnotic suggestion”) to violently reject truth when it appears; the mind shutting down and the emotions turned up to maximum capacity. The Civil War was not to free the blacks, but to enslave everyone on the Federal Plantation, gradually, until we are under totalitarian control, own nothing, and are chattel ourselves. The majority today do not realize that they are slaves;*1 and they are in favor of socialism, not realizing that socialism only lasts until there is no one left to rob. The masses are content to live, receiving “benefits” that they do not deserve, to which they have no Constitutional or God-given right, and perpetuate the “rob Peter to pay Paul” mentality, buy now—worry about someone else paying for it later. These people (all those on welfare, subsidies, who file for bankruptcy, default on their debts, etc.) who should be slaves, until they pay off their own debts—have been emancipated from responsibility and they are rewarded and awarded more money, taken from those responsible producers. This is communism; pure and simple: The U.S. follows not the 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution (or the 10 Commandments,*2 upon which the Common Law was founded); but the U.S. follows all 10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto.*3 These useless eaters are used to weaken the nation so that it falls. Once the nation falls, the many tens of millions on Welfare will have a head-on collision with reality and learn that the “good ole’ days” are over and the Gravy Train has not only reached its final destination, but also has been permanently derailed and the tracks dismantled. Those previously on welfare and a life of ease will be told to work, or starve to death; and if they are caught stealing, even food, they will be executed or put to slave labor in a prison camp—because all property is now owned by the “State” and thus, all crimes are against the State. There is no honor or loyalty among thieves, traitors, or adulterers. Even one who, in confederation with others, stole, betrayed, or cheated can himself no longer be trusted. This is why communists who have hijacked the government of a nation end up killing and purging each other.
*1 Before the unconstitutional creation of the Federal Reserve in 1917 there was no income tax. The high cost of continual wars, the endless growth of the Welfare State, and unconstitutionally “borrowing” money and the “government” counterfeiting a worthless currency (that is what it is called when someone prints money that is not backed by gold or silver) and the creation of, and endlessly adding to a so-called “National” debt is what is used as the excuse for politicians to claim that the (unconstitutional) income tax (and ever-rising, tyrannical, unconstitutional property taxes and income taxes) is necessary. See my book, The Liberty Document, 350pp., pb., 20.00 + P&H.
*2 The Ten Commandments are not merely 10 individual laws, but ten categories of Law, under which each law of God is organized. See my: Ten Commandments For Youth —For Everyone!; 440pp., 6.25 x 9.25, pb., 25.00 + P&H.
*3 See my edition of The Communist Manifesto (1848) [Originally titled: “Manifest of the Communist Party”] by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (56pp.) — with Illustrated Historical Introduction — & A Comparison of the 10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto, “Democracy,” and Marxist, Unconstitutional U.S. Law, with the Bill of Rights / the 10 Amendments to the Constitution and the 10 Commandments - also containing the Declaration of Independence, Common Law Citations, Court Rulings and Quotes on Freedom; exposes Marxist roots of modern banking conspiracy, and those who opposed it: quotes by Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, several U.S. Presidents who spoke out against it and tried to stop it and were assassinated (Lincoln, Garrison, Kennedy). 132pp. total, pb., 12.50 + P&H.
Regardless, God does not declare every form of slavery to be moral (for instance, manstealing / kidnapping is a crime*). His Law has specific laws governing slavery; and even in the New Testament God does not “emancipate” slaves; but commands them to be obedient to their masters. However, if God’s people went to war against their enemies (not counting those who were God’s enemies, the people of His Perpetual Curse, not counting savages), they were to first extend the offer of peace (and tribute); if that peace was rejected that tribe or nation was to be destroyed, and any who were not killed could be enslaved (and only virgin women of pure kinsman nations could be taken as wives).
* Contrary to endless propaganda, whites did not simply traipse through the jungle and kidnap Africans. Black chieftains sold their own people (or neighboring tribes of their own people whom they conquered) to the Jewish, Turkish, Arab, and Black slave traders. See: Who Brought The Slaves To America?, Walter White, 42pp., 4.00 + P&H (retypeset edition, with improved illustrations, and a few extra, and a few corrective or complementary notes); and A Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of Slavery from the Days of the Patriarch Abraham to the Nineteenth Century — addressed to the Right Reverend Alonzo Potter, D.D. of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania (1864) by John Henry Hopkins, DD., L.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Vermont, 376pp., 6x9 (original book and print was small, so the print is enlarged 23%), 22.00 + P&H; and The Last Expedition: Stanley’s Mad Journey Through the Congo, Liebowitz; harrowing true story of Henry Morton Stanley’s final trek across Africa to rescue Emin Pasha, lieutenant of martyred General Gordon, governor of southern Sudan. Expedition lasted nearly 3 years, cost perhaps thousands, of lives; good used Hb., 320pp., 26.00 + P&H; new pb., 355pp., 16.00 + P&H.]
This traditional warfare is completely different than the modern notion of warfare—that is, as it is practiced only in the nations of Christendom: for antichrists have hijacked our nations and as hostages force marched us (through brainwashing and dechristianization and demoralization) through the very opposite of what God commanded in every single area of life. Today, if a Christian nation goes to war against any other nation, instead of utterly destroying that nation (so that it could never again pose a threat), and taking all of its natural resources to pay for the war—the subverted “Christian” nation carries out an expensive war, maybe $40 billion—and then after the expensive war builds that nation back up even better than it had been, spending another $40 billion; the majority of which money is charged to the people of the “victor” nation, indebting them while having made the enemy stronger. That only happens because of corruption at all levels of “government” within Christendom, which is intended to weaken Christendom so it can fall. What has weakened Christendom is violating all that God commanded. God then is not with us, and thus, He does not shield us from the bitter fruit of the Law of the Harvest. This was the very “Balaam” Plan counselled to the Moabite King Balak: The only way to defeat God’s people is to get them to sin by violating what God commanded and God will then not protect them.
See my books, The Post-Christian Era and the New Dark Ages (2012), 112pp., pb., 10.50 + P&H and The War Between the Children of Light and the Powers of Darkness (1995), 506pp., pb., 25.00 + P&H; Hb., 35.00 + P&H.
However, the purpose of war is to utterly destroy—it is not a birthday party celebration. God Himself calls Himself “a Man of War” (Exodus 15:3). God is not double-minded. War is not intended to be an aura-fluffing experience. It is the last option when an aggressor nation will not respect boundaries, keep its own people in its nation, and stop acts of terrorism, theft, vandalism, rape, murder, etc. The existence of power and the real threat of destructive, vanquishing force can be used as a powerful tool to prevent war—if it is used as it should be:
“We do not want to go to war against you; but if we do, we will bomb you back into the Stone Age where you belong—and leave you there! We will exterminate the majority of your people (which will make it easier for you to keep your people in your nation and stay out of ours; and we will solve for you your overpopulation problem and your crime problem). We will then take all the wealth and natural resources of your nation until the entire war expenditure is paid for in full, and a little extra for our inconvenience. Then we will leave you in shambles to exist like rats in a condemned building. If you don’t like that prospect—then STOP doing what you are doing so that we will not have to resort to war. The choice is yours.”
The corrupt legal system (we have no Justice System any more), the politicians, the brainwashing factories (public schools, institutions, media, publishing, entertainment, etc.), and the penal system (and the Welfare State itself, which is theft) actually encourage crime; because laws against real crime are no longer severe enough (as God commands) to deter the majority of criminals, and to execute those whom the threat of death does not deter. Babies are killed and killers are babied. Victims are berated and re-victimized and criminals are apologized to and sympathized with, and housed and fed for free, given free health care—and even are given “conjugal” visits so they can continue to breed at the victim’s and taxpayer’s expense. In fact, instead of obeying God and putting to death those guilty of certain crimes (God said that He hates and visits the iniquity to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him)—we allow that cursed blood to reproduce more criminals; and thus Christendom reaps wickedness, immorality, corruption, and death because it allows wickedness to be sown on a commercial scale—putting the wicked (tens of millions on welfare, and over 2 million prisoners) on a tax-payer funded breeding program; instead of irradicating the toxic weeds the moment they are discovered in the garden. So also the threat of war acts as little deterrent, even as lax laws, which actually punish the righteous and reward the wicked, do not deter crime, but cultivate it. This is clearly seen when the savages riot and burn a city down; the corrupt politicians simply charge it to the taxpayer (including “quantitative easing” to bail out the insurance companies) and then rebuild the city nicer than ever for the savages who burned it down.
Furthermore, “Christians” who violate all that God commanded, then condemn what God did not condemn (and in so doing judge God...!)—and reveal themselves to be unregenerate humanist hypocrites who imagine that they are holier than God Himself...! This is Antichrist, for Christ Jesus is the Creator (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:13-16), Lawgiver (Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 9:6,7; 33:22), and Judge (John 5:22; II Timothy 4:1; Acts 10:42). We are not to add to or detract from, we are not to turn aside from, to the left or the right of God’s Law. That which is Perfect has no need of adding to, nor detracting from—not one jot or tittle. The universe is God’s and He has decreed all things; yet “Christians” who are “friends of the world” choose the world’s corrupt notions over what God declared; and thus, they are the enemies of God who entertain the profound delusion that they are the best of friends.]
Yet the majority of “Christians” live as they please, day in and day out, with little thought of God—and even littler obedience; even declaring that God’s Law was abolished (although Jesus said that it was NOT and even though Jesus said THINK NOT such blasphemous lies). They even have the brazenness to declare that sin is no longer sin—which then enables them (in their confused, perverse minds) to live as they please, violating all that God commanded (which blasphemies and abominations grow more blatant and perverse each year; which is the only natural progress of unchecked wickedness; wickedness that is even declared to be “wonderful”). Such know not God. Jesus is not Saviour of those for whom He is not also LORD. Scripture informs us:
“19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6)
Those who live as if they are their own were most probably never bought with a price.
“16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21Not every one that saith unto Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the Will of My Father which is in Heaven. 22Many will say to Me in that Day [the Day of Judgment],‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils [demons]? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works?’ 23And then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity [lawlessness]’.” (Matthew 7)
The only valid fruit that a Christian can demonstrate is obedience to all that God commanded in the spirit and in the letter. All else is counterfeit fruit, replacing the Commandments of God with the humanistic doctrines of men (Matthew 15:9). This true “fruit” (obedience to all that God commanded) does not contribute to salvation; but is the evident by-product of regeneration—the natural result of truly being a branch on the True [grape] Vine (John 15:1) — Christ Jesus. Understand: The existence of a “true” vine infers the existence of a false vine. That false vine is humanism—sinful people (including most “Christians”) doing what they want to do, using the flimsiest of excuses to justify (in their own fallen minds) their disobedience to God; even declaring that it is not sin or disobedience. God declared, “... the curse causeless shall not come” (Proverbs 26:2). If Jesus abolished the Law of God (which He said that He did NOT do, not one jot or tittle) then sin does not exist (sin is transgression of the law; where there is no law, there is no sin; I John 3:4; Romans 4:15); and, thus, it is no longer possible for anyone to sin—and thus, there is no reason for anyone to “repent” or “be saved”. If “Christians” (in their own rebellious, deceived minds) do away with the Law of God, the logical inference, the next step, the teleological conclusion is that they will then do away with the Lawgiver: for what purpose is there for a Lawgiver or Judge—or Lord or King—if there is no Law...? There can be no Kingdom, without a King and His Laws. As I have written for a decade, the humanism that has replaced Christian doctrine, by spurious interpretations that please man, is the “Step-down Plan” toward weaning the “believer” off God entirely. Once the foundation, structural support, and viscera have been removed, leaving only a hollow façade—the useless edifice that is simply in the way will eventually be demolished to make way for other things. An eviscerated Christian doctrine is a mere sterile ritual that will eventually be discarded entirely.
However, the Word and Law of God are extensions of His Mind and His Will, and abideth forever; not one jot or tittle of which shall ever fail or pass away; as will all those who are truly regenerated by the Holy Spirit (and not merely names on a church membership roster), the regeneration being evident in the fruit that they produce in obedience to all that God commanded, showing true love (which is not an emotion or gushy feeling—though emotions and gushy feelings can accompany true love—but self-sacrifice and commitment).
“23...the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.... 25But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.” (I Peter 1)
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)
[Understand: It is a false inference, a false reading, false logic that the above verse says “the Law shall pass away after heaven and earth pass away”; but that is not the case. The Law of God will exist in the New Heavens and New Earth. The verse says, not a single jot or tittle (smallest letter or slightest pen stroke, a flourish of a small hook at the top of a letter) shall pass for as long as heaven and Earth exist—but even when heaven and earth cease, the Law of God will continue on. The parallel text in another Gospel expresses: “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. ” (Luke 16:17) Christ, the Lawgiver, then said:]
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)
“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the Will of God abideth for ever.” (I John 2:17)
“If ye love Me keep My Commandments.” (John 14:15)
“If ye keep My Commandments, ye shall abide in My Love; even as I have kept My Father’s Commandments, and abide in His Love.” (John 15:10)
[Christ’s Commandments are the very same as the Father’s.]
Again, do not confuse “cause” and “effect”. A tree does not become an olive tree because it bears olives; an olive tree bears olives because that is what The Creator determined for it to bear. One does nothing “to be” a branch on the Tree of Christ—that is determined by God. A branch does nothing to bear fruit; the bearing of fruit is the natural by-product and purpose of existing as a branch on the tree. The tree supplies the branch with nourishment naturally to produce; but even as Matthew 7:19 indicates, those trees that do not bear good fruit are hewn down and cast into the fire (along with tares, thorns, briars—and every plant that our Heavenly father did not plant [hybrids, which are a destruction of His Creation and an assualt against His Law and Lordship]). Good fruit—Goodness in general, in any area—is defined by God. Morality never changes. Most people can see this in “extreme” or more weighty areas of the Law; such as rape, and murder; but they are double minded due to their egocentric humanism in thinking that other laws are not moral issues, or important (but the King’s law does not cease to exist because His subjects determine it is not necessary; even as daddy’s laws do not cease to exist because the 5-year old thinks they are “unfair” or “stupid”). Every single law that God gave, including laws of diet, agriculture, animal husbandry, marital boundaries, the Sabbaths are all moral issues. God forever established morality (the difference between right and wrong; between good and evil) every time that He commanded: “Thou shalt not” and “This shalt thou do”; not one jot or tittle of which has passed away, or ever shall; again, because morality never changes. Sinful, confused “Christians’” perverted notions about morality do not invalidate God’s Word. The counterfeit and illegitimate do not become genuine and legitimate simply because a person is fooled by them—even if the majority are fooled by them; even if the majority prefer counterfeit, illegitimate, falsehood over what is true.
Each successive generation the world contaminates the minds of God’s children more and more, and draw them farther and farther away from Him; all the while under the delusion that they are so “spiritual”. It seems like a corollary to the fact that genetic anomolies (DNA-coding mistakes) are cumulative; that is, due to the physical changes in the Earth due to man’s sin at the Fall (the Earth being cursed), and the removal of the vapour canopy at the Flood (which shielded Earth from ultra-violate, gamma, and other radiation, after which the lifespan of the descendants of Adam gradually reduced*) every new individual that is conceived, there are DNA errors for that new generation (about 60 per generation)—but he also inherits each and ever DNA error coding from all his ancestors; and his descendants will have new errors of their own, but inherit all the DNA errors of their ancestors. Often these errors may be insignificant and even unnoticeable; but other times they result in deformity, disease, weakness—but the cumulative load is the real issue of importance. Some pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion or miscarriage. That affects the one that died (and actually helps keep the family stronger). However, in terms of the entire race of Adam, this is actually evidence that the earth is not older than the nearing-6,000 years that Scripture indicates: for due to the cumulative nature of inherited DNA-coding errors, the human race would have ceased to exist after merely 350 generations; and it is only about 184 generations back to Adam.* Soon, what they “believe” is the complete opposite of what God’s Word says. Thus, it seems there is a parallel, in that (without serious Reformation) each new successive generation inherits the humanistic false philosophy and false doctrine of the generations before him.
[* See: A Coordinated Chronological Table of the Patriarchs: From Adam to the 12 Tribes of Israel and the death of Moses... Fro Creation to the Exodus... [Covering 26 generations and 2,553 years of history, with around 3,000 co-ordinated dates.] — a 10-year project - 38” x 50” full-color wall chart showing all Patriarchs from Adam to Moses; how old each was at time of all other Patriarchs; age in relation to Flood, 2 Calls of Abraham, Tower of Babel, Sodom & Gomorrah, Exodus; dates in terms of age from Adam, and B.C. dates by 8 different methods / chronologists; incorporates 2 other small charts: calendar of events of the Flood & difference between Masoretic and Septuagint chronologies; clears up numerous chronological mysteries, 2 dozen pictures. Most-detailed, comprehensive work of this kind ever attempted. wealth of info. Invaluable to any Bible student, pastor, author, researcher. Easily see who was alive and when; in relation to everyone else & key events. 27.50 + 8.00 P&H in rolled tube.]
Little chicks are safe when they stay close to their mother; but those that stray are quickly devoured by predators—and disappear without a trace. I know. I have raised chickens. Now, chickens (adult or babies) do not have the cognitive powers or awareness that humans do; however the result of straying is the same. Sinful man (including most “Christians”), like a headstrong 5-year old, thinks daddy’s rules are not “fair”; thinks that he knows better than daddy; thinks that he is in charge and control of his own life; and thinks that he understands the world better than daddy does and that he does not need daddy: even though his mind has not progressed much farther than beyond his sandbox; and though does not even realize that his house, a warm bath, clean clothes, food, water—everything that he takes for granted—do not simply “magically appear” out of nowhere.
Most “Christians” are humanists and reject sound doctrine because of their sinful selfishness; and it has its roots in a false conception of God Himself—a total ignorance of or rejection of the Attributes of God. Christianity is doctrine—what God decreed. The vast majority of “Christians” do not merely not understand doctrine, they have no desire to understand it, and they reject it if it does not sit comfortably with their humanistic emotionalism. Their minds have been contaminated by the world, with a perverse notion of “fairness”, “luv”, “equality”, and “democracy” (which the U.S. was specifically founded NOT to be), and they imagine that the sinful, modernist majority can simply outvote God and He will have to comply with His tail between his legs.
The majority imagine God to be like the gods of pagan mythology, gods with the very vices, faults, and weaknesses of the humans who invented them (or possibly, who corrupted them from the character of the one true God and history mixed with legend). Luther rebuffed Erasmus of Rotterdam, “Your thoughts of God are too human”; and that indictment applies to 99% of most “Christians” today, who think that God has to operate according to sinful modern man’s perverted notions of “fairness”. It is actually idolatry, to imagine God to be other than He has declared Himself to be; because “self-righteous” deluded “Christians” think that their “version” of God is “nicer”. They declaw and neuter God, and He is a mere “trophy” on their mantle; and only brought out on “special occasions”; or when needed as a talisman, in a time of need. Most “Christians” believe in a grotesque caricature of God (thinking it is Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, when in reality it is a Picasso’s Portrait of Dying Love), in keeping with “Smorgasbord Theology”, keeping what they like (of God) and throwing the rest away. Their God (of Cotton-candy Christianity” is only, “Sugar and spice and everything nice”. They believe that the God of the New Testament is a “much nicer guy” than that old vengeful, wrathful God of the Old Testament; now that He is “on his meds” and taken anger management classes and cultural sensitivity training. However, the God of the New Testament is the self-same God of the Old Testament—in whom there is no shadow of turning: the same yesterday, today, and forever—who changes not.
Neither is Jesus “sugar and spice and everything nice”. The first time He came as a Lamb; the second time He will come as a LION to avenge His bride...! Have you ever watched a movie or nature special with male African lions? They don’t have a cute little meow or drink milk from a saucer and purr when you tickle their chin; and they don’t dine with silverware and a napkin tied around their neck—they kill and feast, tearing flesh from bones and sinews and are covered with blood from their face to a third of the way down their body. A blow from a male lion’s paw can crush the skull and break the neck of a human. He’s not coming back to throw the wicked a party; well, maybe a barbeque.
“Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God: on them which fell, Severity; but toward thee, Goodness, if thou continue in His Goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” (Romans 11:22)
“6Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8In Flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel* of our Lord Christ Jesus: 9Who shall be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of His Power; 10When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that Day.” (II Thessalonians 1)
[* Notice here that the Gospel is something that is to be obeyed. The Gospel is not merely “Jesus loves you”. The Gospel is the entire picture of why the Gospel was even needed—all the way through to Redemption and Regeneration: God establishing His Law, Adamkind falling from it, Christ bearing our Judgment according to the Law, the Holy Spirit regenerating the elect of His people, those truly regenerated walking in newness of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, living in obedience as God commanded, which is evidence of regeneration. Understand cause and effect. Obeying the Gospel does not “save” you. Obedience is the by-product of regeneration. A boy obeying his father’s rules and walking in his father’s footsteps does not make the boy his father’s son. He is the father’s son by the father’s will and act of procreation. Through obedience he is established as an honorable son, whom the father will bless, and cause to inherit of him. Scripture also says that Christ shall appear, when He returns the second time, to those who look for Him (Hebrews 9:28). Understand, again, cause and effect. This is not a causative statement. It is a declarative statement. The looking for Christ’s Return is evidence of regeneration: new life, love—obedience (Mark 13: 34-37), longing produces this looking. This Greek word for “look” does not refer to the action of the eyes (as many other Greek words do), but to the dynamics of the soul, inner being, heart / mind: #553 apekdexomai, “to expect fully, to look (wait) for”, thus “anticipate, expect”. One so looks because Christ is coming (not vice versa). One so looks, anticipates, because he has an appointment. Excepting those under profound delusion (those who think that Jesus abolished the Law of God) one who is disobedient will not look for the Master’s Return—he will fear it...! (Luke 12:42-48) and that is why they will cry for the rocks to fall and cover them, “to hide them from the Wrath of the Lamb”...! (Revelation 6:16)
This is one of the many full chapters of Scripture I put to emphasized verse in my 2 books of poetry; the last portion of this chapter I render:
15Kings of the earth, prom.i.nent, rich,
captains and valiant—posts did ditch;
both slave and free did off to hide,
in dens and caves to there abide.
16In agony and terror great,
did cry aloud t’ ‘void their fate;
and of the rocks did beg and plead:
‘Fall thou on us, with all due speed!
and hide us fast from God’s Great Throne;
from fiercer Wrath than we’ve e’er known;
and from the aweful, vengeful glare,
of God’s slain Son Who sitteth there;
from the Lamb’s Wrath, Who died—yet lives!
Who rules the world, all Judgment gives.
17for lo Great Day of Wrath is here;
none can there stand — collapse in fear.’
[Bittersweet Impressions & Inspirations, Vol. 1 of poetry & a few short stories, 310pp., pb., 6x9, 20.00 + P&H.]
Indeed, this is a different Lamb that is returning: A Lamb whose Wrath is terrible, and to be feared. The Lamb that is a Lion.
Again, many who thought that they were Christians (but were friends of the world, antinomians who lived in rebellion, who rejected God’s never-changing Standard of Morality, and invented and practiced their own perverse notion of “morality”, equality, fairness, luv, acceptance, tolerance) shall hear, “I never knew you, depart from Me ye that work iniquity [lawlessness].” Many of them are actually tares [serpents, swine, dogs] sown in among the wheat; and the chaff (woody, dead, useless part of wheat) / goats (rebellious, lawless, independent sheep). Every tree is known by its fruit; every plant that God did not plant shall be uprooted and removed and cast into the fire along with the chaff.]
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)
“...What? shall we receive good at the Hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?...” (Job 2:10)
God is not a caricature. Yet like a funhouse mirror or Silly Putty, “Christians” distort the perception of God’s Nature—sterilizing Him; rendering Him innocuous and impotent; turning Him into a humanistic god; extracting only the qualities that sinful man likes (“luv”, “goodness”—which qualities man filters through his own sinful eyes and darkened heart and mind, actually reducing virtues to vices and glorifying abominations; calling “evil” what God called good; and calling “good” what God called evil); and “purifying” God of all His Attributes that a sinful mind rejects. The result is a false god whom they worship, and a false christ (Gandhi with a makeover) whom they follow, the Pied Piper of Babylon—who leads them away from God to the abyss, as moths are attracted to the flame. Their notion of love is perverse (which I render as “luv”). Their god is like white sugar or white bread, which has been denuded of all its vitality, and all that is left is something pretty; but which provides no nourishment. In fact, instead of nourishment is delivers serious side effects due to the chemicals and bleaches used to create the artificial substitute—and act like a vaccum or magnet, that suck in and attracts and depletes the body of its nutrients, rather than giving the body more nutrients. Those raised on it cannot even handle whole milk or whole wheat bread, let alone meat.
Their god is reduced to just “luv, luv, luv”... who requires nothing and overlooks everything, and like a addlepated old toothless grandfather with drool running down his chin, just smiles at everything. Such a god commands no honor, no respect—and certainly no obedience! Such a god is not to be feared. Such a god is not LORD, but a servant who only exists to do the bidding of the degenerate, thankless, perverse grandchildren who now run the manor, living in the House that the grandfather built, running the place into the ground, running roughshod over him; keeping him around merely to write the checks that pay the bills. Once he is rendered completely useless, and cannot provide the things that the grandkids demand, and he is “more trouble than he is worth”, what shall be done with him? The generation raised declaring they had the right to abort their children, will then find that those few children that they did not abort, will abort their parents and grandparents via euthanasia. You reap what you sow. But God is no such parent or grandparent!
God is Perfect and Immutable, and does not “react” and is not passive. He did not “grow” a “new attribute”—Wrath—because of man’s sin. He did not create Hell as “damage control”. He makes no mistakes. He overlooks nothing. Nothing catches Him by surprise, frustrates, or hinders Him. He does not change His Plans along the way. God does not play ping pong any more than He plays dice. He does not react. He is not a passive observer in His universe; but Master of it—Playwright and Director. Pure Anger, Hatred, Wrath is directed against that which is its opposite, because God is Holy and Just.
Carnal, liberal, humanists, dumbfounded and in rebellion (delusion that God has sent) assert, “Why would God want to hate, demonstrate wrath, punish, cause suffering? Why would God want anyone to fear Him?” But they have “God-envy” and have a “God-complex”. They irrationally think that God should be like them* (not even realizing their shallow, limited, sinful, and damaged minds, attempting to assert their will in matters of which they are utterly ignorant); rather than that they should be like Him if they were created in His Image; since He is GOD and CREATOR and LORD and they are not. But they are guilty of violating the first Commandment all the way through to the last Commandment, like a 100-car pile up on the expressway; like a freight train that derails going through a small town; like a bull in a china shop—they worship themselves; and what’s more, they expect God to worship them. They don’t believe in the true God; but a “do-it-yourself” god. The problem is (one of many)—They cannot breathe the Breath of Life into their god. He can never resurrect (nor resurrect them), for he has never existed. It is their fantasy, delusion that God has sent: for they are the villains in His Drama. Further demonstrating their unreformable obstinancy (as vessels of wrath), they complain about God’s “unjustness” and accuse Him of being evil, and still demand Him to change to please them; rather than falling on their faces in repentance and fear before the High Court of Heaven and beg for mercy.
[* Again:
“...thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them [truth] in order before thine eyes.” (Psalm 50:21) and
“8For My Thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My Ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My Ways Higher than your ways, and My Thoughts than your thoughts. ” (Isaiah 55)
“But the LORD is in His Holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)
“Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for He is raised up out of His Holy Habitation.” (Zechariah 2:13)
God is God and man is not. It is man’s duty to submit; not live in rebellion; not “judge God”; and not apologize or make excuses for Him! or be ashamed of His Decrees. It is a faithless, rebellious, and shameful and wicked son or servant that apologizes to sinful men for the Nature and Decrees of his father or master. In the Bible, disbelief is synonymous with disobedience (rebellion).
“14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15For he saith to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion’. 16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. 17For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, ‘Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My Power in thee, and that My Name might be declared throughout all the earth’. 18Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. 19Thou [the rebellious “Christian”] wilt say then unto me [Paul], ‘Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His Will?’ 20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, ‘Why hast thou made me thus?’ 21Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22What if God, willing to show His Wrath, and to make His Power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to [created unto] destruction: 23And that He might make known the riches of His Glory on the vessels of Mercy, which He had afore prepared unto Glory.” (Romans 9)
In Exodus 4 to 14 God said that He would harden, or He hardened Pharaoh’s heart no less than 18 times—and punished him for having a hard heart. God doeth all His Will in Heaven and Earth—and none can stay His Hand or authoritatively question Him.]
The truth is, most “Christians” would refuse to worship God, and they would turn their backs on Him, if they understood true theology; true doctrine. Some are brazen enough to vocalize it; as the late Primate Desmond Tutu, who declared he would not worship a homophobic God that was not LGBTQXYZ and that if God did not let such into Heaven then he would prefer to go “to the other place”. This is actually the attitude most “Christians” would have if they understood the true God. They do not worship God, but themselves, and they expect God to tag along obediently like a puppy dog on their leash: “Sit, God. Stay, God. Good God!” They want to be the master. They have a god complex—the very same with which Satan tempted Eve. Unlike Eve, they are not ashamed; and neither are they covered by the Blood of the Lamb.
As The Book of Common Prayer (first written in 1549; under the presidency of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury) in the General Confession, the collective prayer that opens the service of (the Anglican church’s) Morning Prayer, reads ever so eloquently:
“Almighty and most merciful Father, We have erred and strayed from Thy Ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, We have offended against Thy Holy Laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done, And there is no health in us: But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders.”
[However, mouthing these words does nothing. It is not true confession—though it can serve as a “warm up exercise” toward true repentance, if the conscience exists and the spirit has been regenerated; in which case the individual believer will actually repent of sin (not merely having the “thought” of repenting) and turn from it, confess it—itemizing each one as required by the Bookkeeper of Heaven—and asking forgiveness for it and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to not return to sin as a dog to its vomit and a pig to his mire (urine and feces).
Note: I disagree with high-orthodox ritualistic services in general, with rote responsive readings and recitation of prayers: standing, sitting, kneeling, standing, sitting kneeling, etc. (more like an aerobics class, or a “yo-yo service” as I call them, as if the congregation is tied by a string to the minister’s finger).
The periodic recitation of a certain Creed (Nicene, etc.) is good, for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation; and if the creed is good, then those who profess it stand for what it says. However, those who simply repeat it because everyone else is doing it, if they don’t really mean it, possibly find a corollary to the Judgment of those who partake of the Lord’s Supper unworthily; as it amounts to blasphemy if one does so knowingly, in deceit. The Lord’s Prayer, or Psalm 91, or Psalm 23 are not anything spiritual to recite (though of course, if one is picking something to merely recite, they are far better than the Gettysburg Address or Mother Goose); but they are not a talisman or magical spell as so many blindly seem to think. While there is power in the spoken word, it is not to be spoken existentially. Such words are not an incantation that will deliver. Even more importantly, even if those words did deliver, the average “Christian” would have no right to them. God does not hear the prayers of those of His children who are in rebellion; and He does not hear the prayers of those who are not His children, but bastards; and if one lives in rebellion to all that God commanded and God does not chastize them, that is evidence that they are bastards, and not sons (Hebrews 12:8). Those whom such words do not cause to tremble and search their own hearts and to desire to learn true doctrine so that they will be right with God (Philippians 2:12*), are spiritually dead and were never regenerated or died a spiritual crib death. The demons believe also—and tremble (James 2:19); but even their trembling (which the vast majority of “Christians” would never even imagine) does not save them.
* The Greek word rendered “work out” (in fear and trembling work out your own salvation), katergadzomai, is in the present imperative middle or passive tense. It actually can only be the passive tense; not the imperative. Man can do nothing to earn his own salvation, so it cannot be a command (imperative). The proper interpretation is in consideration with —
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ Jesus is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (II Corinthians 13:5)
How is this proving / “working out” accomplished? —by looking into the Perfect Law of Liberty; and not being as the unregenerate (natural) man, who sees all his flaws in the mirror, and simply moves on and ignores and forgets them, rather than fixing them (combing his hair, shaving, popping a pimple, removing a booger, etc.). This Law of Liberty is NOT, as Antinomians anti-intellectually imagine, the liberty to sin (God forbid!)—but the liberty to NOT sin; by the Power of the Holy Spirit to enable the believer to desire and succeed in swimming upstream and not merely going with the flow of the sin nature. “Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (the violation of all that God commanded). It is God’s proving ground; not our own. It is God working in us His Grace to conform us more into the Image of His Son. If one looks into God’s Word (realizing that His Law, His Standard of Morality has never changed—not one jot or tittle) and then looks at his life, he will realize whether or not his life is a true reflection of that Word. If it is not, then he will realize that he has taken a detour and did not continue walking in the Spirit. He will then repent and “put on Christ”; that is, walk in the Spirit where the Spirit is going; not attempting to hijack the Spirit to go where self wants; which the Spirit will never do. Those who stray too far from the Spirit (or who were deluded into ever thinking that had been in the Spirit) will be like that little chickie who strayed too far from it’s mother, and will be an hors d’oeurve for predators. Sadly, the majority of “Christians”, if they ever learn that God’s Law was never abolished or altered in any way, instead of seeing their violations and guiltiness, irrationally expect God to change it to suit his own sinfulness—irrationally expecting the God of the universe to rearrange His entire universe (calling good evil and evil good) to suit him. When one realizes that the majority of individuals cannot agree on anything, this would reduce the true faith to Hinduism, in which there are many billions of gods each created in the confused and perverse mind of each individual. The fear and trembling, the examination whether one be in the faith is looking to see if the fruit that should be there, being produced by Christ in the believer, is there.
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Romans 8:9)
The Lord’s Prayer is more properly the Lord’s Model Prayer for His Disciples,* which is a template by which you are to construct your own prayer, according to your specific (not general) needs, sins, intercessions, etc.
Would you want your true love to give you a “love letter” that someone else wrote? Would you like for that loved one, on special occasions, to whip it out and merely read it or recite it to you? There is nothing spiritual about reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Often, it reflects spiritual immaturity in people merely as a herd reciting something (that itself is spiritual) on cue; rather than realizing that they should develop their own prayer, tailor suited to their needs and life—and communicate that to God, spontaneously, as each situation calls for. While there is a time and place for formalism, and there is aesthetic and emotive value in good literature, well-turned phrases, and profoundly crafted thought, worship of God should not be a “still life” painting—though, again, such has subjective, nostalgic, and aesthetic value—but if starving to death, would you want a well-painted picture of a hamburger and fries, steak and salad, spaghetti and meatballs, etc., with a quality place setting and decour, and the light softly coming in through the window; or would you want the actual meal? Well, most “Christians” are starving to death, spiritually, and don’t even know it; and even when they are informed of it, they do not care.
* See my, The Lord’s Prayer and The Ten Commandments: Their Parallels in Light of Bible Numerics; 224pp., plastic comb-bound, 16.00 + P&H; deep / interesting study showing how intricately connected Bible is; the 1st Commandment parallels with the 1st segment of the Lord’s Prayer; the 2nd Commandment and the 2nd segment, etc.—all the way to the 10th.
Anything done rigidly in a specific order and manner is prone to ritualism. What is important is the content. Indeed, there is a specific way that God has commanded that He be worshipped (and worship should never violate that in spirit or in Principle or Command). Nothing should become mere ritual; but neither should anything actually distract from the object of worship: God and God alone, in Spirit and in Truth. Ritual detracts from conscious awareness and results in complacency and deadness of heart; and some individuals can even begin to think that there is some intrinsic power in the ritual or words. What is important is that it is real and spontaneous, in the spirit and letter (not like Cain, thinking he would offer something other than what God commanded), and as natural as breathing, as prayer and mental communication with God should be throughout the entire day; even as you would (hopefully) talk to someone you loved all day as you held hands and walked together.
Praying the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23 in a time of need makes as much sense as, instead of asking your boss for a raise, simply reciting the addition and mulitiplication tables. What you would need to express is your exact situation: “My bills are this ____. My paycheck is this ____. I need $x more; this other company has offered me $x, but I would prefer to stay and work for you. What can you do for me?”]
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Corinthians 2:14)
“22But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25But whoso looketh into the Perfect Law of Liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1)
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” (Colossians 2:6)
[* that is, by faith, which is a gift of God to the elect of His people. That faith, if it is true, will produce the works that God fore-ordained [His Holy, Perfect Law, the only Standard of Morality in every single area of life] unto which we were called, appointed—that we should walk in them. “Faith without works is dead.” It is not “faith + works = salvation”; but genuine faith imparted by the Holy Spirit at the time of regeneration produces what it was given to produce: obedience to all that God commanded.]
The majority of “Christians” live in sin (which includes espousing false doctrine, humanism, friend-of-the-worldism, Antinomianism) because they do not fear God. They do not fear God because they do not know Him. If they knew Him they would fear Him, knowing that He is Holy and Just and will punish sin. Every tree is known by its fruit. Those that do not produce as they should are pruned (chastened) that they produce more and better. Those that are not worth pruning, that are unreformably disobedient, that were ordained unto Judgment, are hewn down and cast into the fire. God’s Covenant Name is Yahweh. But His Name is also Qahn-naw: “Jealous” (Exodus 34:14). Understand, jealousy is not a sin when one has all right over that which is zealously guarded—that is, not merely an object of the jealously (such as ones wife and children)—but ones name, reputation, honor. This includes God’s Holiness. One of Christ’s Titles is Melchizedek — King of [All] Right(eousness). This refers not merely to “doing” what is right; but also having all Right / Authority. In the same breath (Genesis 14:18) He is called the King of Salem (peace, prosperity, complete). Only because He has and exercises all Right (and does not impotently submit to the demands of His sinful, damaged, perverse creatures) can there be true Peace; again, not the world’s sinful corrupt notion of “peace” (compromise, tolerance)—but the eventual utter banishment of evil, filth, corruption, perversion, abominations, rebellion, and wickedness.
Indeed, Christ shall return with a sword—but the question that is most important, is: On which side of that sword will you find yourself when He returns?
“But those Mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me.” (Luke 19:27)
Those who reject God’s Law—not one jot or tittle of which has been or ever shall be abolished—would not that Christ [the Lawgiver, Lord, and Judge] should rule over them. Christ shall not return to a rebellious bride unwilling to be in submission to Him. Those who reject God’s Law reject God; for His Law is part of His Word and and He decrees, which are an extention of His Mind and Will—which is His Being. Regeneration results in being born anew in Christ, Who is our Life (Colossians 3:4). If that regeneration took place, it will produce the same effect:
“15For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4)
Christ did not set the example for us—for us to then do something else. God declared, “Be holy as I am Holy”. God is Immutable. His Standard of Holiness for Himself does not change; and it cannot change for us either—or we cannot be holy as He is Holy.
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
“Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me.” (Exodus 32:26)
For further study, see my:
- Does God Repent...? Can God Change His Mind...? [And an Utter Demolishment of the Humanistic Myth of Man’s “Free Will” and Arminianism], 506pp., 25.00 + P&H. Dovetails nicely w/ God and Evil & Sovereignty of God. Lively, profound, revealing, thought provoking, convincing thought, logic, Scripture. Exposes subversion of true Christian faith in counter reformation re-introducing false theology of Origen and Pelagius; corruption of modern church by Jesuits, crypto-jews & terribly deceived humanists (Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Spinoza, Barth, Schweitzer, Erasmus of Rotterdam, etc.); undermining of Puritan church by Solomon Stoddard, and much more; dissects false theology from 1 chapter of 2 different books (1 by Dr. Norman Geisler and 1 by Brother Andrew).
- God and Evil: Did God Create Sin and Evil. The Facts of My Imaginary, Evanescent Heresy Trial - The Death Knell of Arminianism at the Hand of the Word of God, 280pp., pb., 18.00 + P&H.
- The Sovereignty of God, Predestination, “Free” Will, and the Protestant Reformation; 192pp., pb., 16.00 + P&H.
and my annotated editions of:
- The Attributes of God (1930) Arthur W. Pink, “Critical Edition” with my detailed Preface, Biography, and Annotations doubling the page count, 199pp., pb., 17.50 + P&H.
- The Sovereignty of God, Arthur Pink, Critical Annotaded edition (200pp., of Pink’s original, the rest my annotations), 648pp., pb., 32.50 + P&H.
Please share the links to articles like this with everyone you know who cares about the Truth. If you care about the Truth, how can you not...? If you care about the Truth (especially if you realize the imminent Judgment we are under) how can you not want to learn more? how can you not want your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and relatives to know...? If it was an easy cure for cancer or any painful, terminal illness, how could you not share it with them?
See also: [P&H = 10% / 5.00 minimum within the U.S.]
- What is Man...? (Personally Speaking) & Some Thoughts on The Trinity and on The Deity of Christ — Deeper Implications Than Most May Think, 84pp., 7.00 + P&H.
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