September 24, 2021

Libido Dominandi - The Lust to Dominate Saint Augustine

Power is a Rorschach word. Define it and you immediately say a great deal about yourself. As Tacitus reminds us, the lust for absolute power is more burning than all the passions. If you look around the world you cannot help but observe the craving for the assembling of power. Whether it is in North Korea and China or Iran and Afghanistan, and even Canada or the United States, the lust for power is ubiquitous. There are three types of power. Condign - physical force, Cognitive - mental manipulation, and Compensatory - money. Most dictators or dictatorial regimes utilize all three to control and contain people. The most effective dictators start out by cognitively providing a heroic narrative of the love of man expressed in terms like the desire for equality and equity. This is followed by a compensatory provision to buy off the mass of men. If force is needed, condign power is selectively and strategically implemented to ensure compliance by the masses. Any semblance or resemblance this reality has to current world affairs is up to you to determine. It is unfortunate that the Church has historically engaged in all three of these manifestations of power devoid of spiritual sensitivity and the results have for the most part been less than spiritually satisfactory. Jesus seemed to shun both condign and compensatory power but utilized cognitive power frequently. He out argued with both logic and eloquence. But the power of His message was manifested and magnified by loving the unlovable. Just think of all the un-sanitized, ugly, and unsatisfactory people - either mentally or morally, whom Jesus met with and cared for. Jesus manifested what Joe Aldrich called the “music of the gospel” and the “message of the gospel.” Both are forms of powerful communication that attract and appeal to people living in a lost and dying world. So, if you are looking to have power or be powerful, might I suggest you read First Corinthians chapter 13 --all of it… and then see…..                  “But the greatest of these is Love”   Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred

September 17, 2021

Confusion Concerning Counterfeits “There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.” ~Walter Lippmann~

The history of The Crusades (1094-1290 AD) reminds us of the ever-present attempt of the devil to destroy the church of Jesus Christ. The demonically inspired attacks of Islam were a series of battles to destroy Christianity and Judaism and seize Jerusalem. It seems that not much has changed. Today, the attacks against the United States in the mind of Islam are actually attacks against the “The Great Satan and the Infidel” and all who will not submit to Islam and its global and religious agenda - world domination and submission to Sharia Law. The bloody history between the Crusades in the Middle East and across Europe and the impact today has been chronicled in splendid detail to describe the savage destruction upon millions of people. But “woke” revisionist historians have sought to rewrite the Islamic agenda as one of peace and blessed contribution to the world. As Napoleon reminds us, "History is fiction agreed upon." However, we must remember that the devil is able to “walk and chew gum at the same time.” He is more than capable of conducting multiple fronts with a united purpose - to destroy the church of Jesus Christ in the United States of America. It was Antonio Gramsci, a founder of the Italian Communist Party, who wrote in his Prison Notebooks, 1929-1935: "Any country grounded in Judeo-Christian values can’t be overthrown until those roots are cut ... Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity ... In the new order, Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society." I think this man was extremely prescient and understood how to destroy not only Europe but also the United States by destroying the church of Jesus Christ. Also, infiltrate the universities - not to mention the grade schools, and use the media to accomplish this, and then weaken the church- by the demise of the importance of doctrine from the Bible and turn the church into a social club! Perfect strategy. And that is the issue. It is the devil’s strategy, and his scheme is not unknown to us. The devil is an angel of light and a counterfeit. He confuses people by turning things around. Many Christians think that loving your neighbor validates the demand for what is today called “social justice” and conclude that the biblical response is called Socialism which actually is a satanic counterfeit. Have they ever seen what socialistic countries do to people? (I wonder why people from Communist and Socialist countries always want to come to American and not the other way around?) Ayn Rand, who was an atheist, understood that “Communism proposes to enslave men by force; Socialism – by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide." I am not advocating for what has been termed Christian Nationalism, and I am not advancing any political candidate. But I am suggesting that, as Richard Weaver told us in 1944, “Ideas have consequences.” And lest we forget how the devil creates confusion and corruption in the form of a counterfeit, remember we are now living in a culture that thinks homosexuality, lesbianism, and trans-genderism are not only not wrong, but actually God’s divine gift. Talk about confusion and a demonic counterfeit. (Lev. 19 & Rom. 1) And many in the church see no problem dismissing the divine world view, desiring the new world order. Remember the words of Arthur Schlesinger; “The declining faith in the supernatural has been accompanied by the rise of monstrous totalitarianism of the 20th century.” Do not be confused. Do not believe the counterfeit. How do we do this? We listen to the sacred scripture; the inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of God. Psalm 119:9-11 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word.            With all my heart I have sought Thee; Do not let me wander from Thy commandments. Thy word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against Thee. 2 Timothy 3:16            All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness… 1 Chronicles 12:32 The sons of Issachar, were men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do… The sacred scriptures, now as always, hold the answers for life for such a time as this. Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred

September 10, 2021

Living Together

The most sublime summary of ethical engagement is presented in the answer to the perennial question; “What does the Lord require of Me?” The answer to the question is profoundly simple and yet it singularly leads to a plurality of applications in my life. “...But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) Notice the triad of actions involves my behavior toward others, also especially and essentially toward God. Most of life’s questions and answers include the three-fold relationship of myself, others, and my God. And yet my answers to some of life’s ethical dilemmas may not be your answers. And to make it more difficult, how do corporate responsibilities mix with individual rights? Let’s do a thought experiment. Does the question of “the wearing or not wearing of masks” relate in any way to what the Apostle Paul talks about concerning living in love with the weaker brother in Romans 14- 15:6? (Take a look if you do not remember the passage.) Notice, I did not say who was who, and I am sure I do not mean you. However, as the late Helmut Theilike reminds us, “Do we not have to accept the fact that under the shadow of forgiveness different decisions are possible and different loyalties and liberties may exist?” I think the answer is…. Yes. Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred

September 3, 2021

Ethics are Entwined with Eschatology

How we live today is to a large degree dependent upon how we view tomorrow. That view has a significant impact on how we make decisions and how we lead. Leadership that is without principles leads to precarious results. The ancient Greek dramatist, Sophocles, in his tragedy Electra (c.420 BC) concluded, "The end excuses any evil." The Roman poet Ovid wrote in Heroides (c.10 BC): "The result justifies the deed."   In the modern world, this is what is called "consequentialism." Consequences are neither right nor wrong, they are simply the way it is. Shakespeare expressed it more eloquently - “Things are neither right nor wrong but thinking makes them so.” This way of thinking replaces the biblical belief of an absolute right and wrong with the subjective reasoning that the rightness of an action is based on whether the person committing it thinks the consequence or end result will be good. We see this hedonistic utilitarianism in The Prince, by Machiavelli (1513), who is sometimes called the father of political science. He wrote, in politics, “one must consider the final result.” I am afraid I see this view of truth and decision-making in operation today. When I was in college, the book Situational Ethics by Joseph Fletcher was all the rage for ethical consequentialism. Decisions were based on the situation you found yourself in, not on ultimate objective truth, and certainly not on God’s word. Christians must not give in to the utilitarian pragmatic view of truth no matter how difficult the situation. We must engage in principle-centered leadership and those principles must come from the inspired word of God. Perhaps you might ask, why is this important? Hear the words of sacred scripture: For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:14 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. ~ II Corinthians 5:9-10 That is why. Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred