The Silence of the Lambs, Covid-19 Version, Part 3
A dead (if you will) giveaway as to the verity of the contrast between the World System managed by The New York Times on behalf of its much-better-known superior than they think, and the Kingdom where The Savior reigns among those whose silence is deafening at times, came up in an MSNBC interview with System-beloved religious expert Resa Aslan, best known for writing a splendid book about one of the finest fictional Jesuses one could worship.
Aslan and the interviewer were going off yet again about those dastardly evangelical Trump supporters, exhibiting great dismay at their folly for voting for such a lout, and Aslan started getting into the typical racialist thread by claiming that white evangelicals comprise a doomsday cult. If he means that followers of Christ generally think the world is a pretty rotten place and wait eagerly for its redemption in the second coming of Christ, then yeah, I guess we are -- hmm, thanks for the compliment!
But it just means followers of Christ have a very realistic view of things -- that death is all around, that this is a very bad thing, that it is an individual's sin is what makes one die and maybe it'd be good to let him or her know about that as well as who The Savior is -- all of this is pretty standard evangelical practice and quite reasonable, really. I'd venture to say that most black evangelicals feel the same way no matter who they may have voted for in the last election.
Yes, that's the Kingdom at work, people loving others enough to tell them the truth about things. With compassion, charity, and even great self-sacrifice: minister Christ to them.
The World System has a thousand different counterfeit ways to do that, and many of them appear extraordinarily wholesome and good. And I'm not even dismissing the genuine wholesomeness and goodness of those things!
May I share with you another graphic a Facebook friend posted. I've enlarged it so you can gather the whole idea. It isn't hard, and really, it is quite inspirational, very much so -- we should all have such gratitude all the time.
Yet, sorry, there are serious issues with this seemingly sublime piece of wisdom. Please know that the woman who posted this is a great friend, wise, thoughtful, giving, gracious, and an exemplary follower of Christ. She is amazing.
First there is the American flag motif, and while I'm sure my friend wasn't thinking about it -- most Americanists don't, I understand that -- the flag is an idol, by the stated declaration of U.S. statute itself. I agree this isn't a critique to take to the mat, because again I'm sure the artist was merely using the flag imagery to indicate that these people are doing wonderful work in this country. No disrespect whatsoever to those who must give their allegiance to such an item.
However, you'll note that there are 24 distinct major occupations in this graphic, 24 of them, and there are countless others that must be at work for some substantial amount of time in the work week, out and about in the work force to ensure these people can produce abundantly enough for all of us. This is a clearly obvious admission that, yes, yet again...
The coronavirus itself is nothing. It is mostly hysteria spewed about for the most robust virtue-signaling to elevate the political capital of a prominent ruling class.
If the coronavirus situation were as dire as they say, very few of these people would be at their jobs. We'd all be energetically employing the best survivalist skills and applicable community interactions we possibly could to do the work needed to survive. Our predicament would be far more intense than shopping for the trendiest face mask style.
Another issue with the graphic is the most important one of all: the absence there of the most important person on the planet, the one for whom we should be most thankful. Yes, sorry, but that person is the evangelist. None of this stuff means squat unless the purchaser of said product has some lasting meaning in life. That only comes through Christ.
Every single world view that does not incorporate a truthful conception of rich, abiding life into eternity is just nihilism. Certainly nihilism may be a meaningful world view to its adherent, and yes there are quite a few of them, but ultimately any benefit one derives from the product of these economic contributors is in the end "chasing after wind" as the writer of Ecclesiastes said.
This is why I am tremendously saddened when I see news stories like this one today: "Churches sue for 'essential' status." What? Why don't true worship assemblies just gather? It doesn't mean they will carelessly refuse to be protective and hygienic, but so far law enforcement has been trying to keep them from meeting to worship even when in their cars in the parking lot.
Why do churchgoers feel the need to appeal to Caesar for his approval? They wouldn't have to be doing that if they weren't obligated to Rome through their 501(c)(3) incorporations.
When Paul appealed to Caesar for proper legal consideration at his trial, he knew what Caesar himself was obligated to do -- fully allow Paul his already God-give freedom to share Christ with others. Caesar had no jurisdiction over Paul's activities except to make it safe for him to do his work.
The key here is if your church is a Roman Catholic subdivision by having a contractual agreement with Caesar to gain his benefits -- tax exemptions, grants, pastor allowances, and so forth, then yes, you are subject to Caesar's official decree that you are "non-essential." No wonder The Evangelical is silent to the World. So many people who say they believe in this Jesus fellow are still emotionally and even financially connected to the System. All they know is Cain's legacy, and that comes with the most sobering reality of all in this.
Please check out Robert E. Wright's piece at the American Institute of Economic Research, "Why Aren't Americans Suing Their Way Out of Lockdown?" It is a decent piece that adds further veracity that Catholicists feel the need to have Caesar decide what they must do with their affairs -- again, a quite legitimate exercise for those who desire it.
What you'll want to do is go about halfway through and note that a professor at Georgetown laid down a brilliant historical pretext for assembling a rigorous program for pandemic emergency situations titled "Biodefense and Constitutional Constraints." The author and the title say so much.
It is no coincidence the author works at the top Jesuit school in the country, veritably the pre-eminent public policy forming institution on the planet. The title refers to nothing other than "Rex 2020," the proficiently authoritative program of mass constraints to try to corral some evil thing that is brewing all around. If you remember, "Rex 84" stood for the "readiness exercises" in 1984 that arranged for the use of substantial confinement facilities in case certain threats of some magnitude must be neutralized. Many constitutionalists scream bloody murder over such things, but the fact is Caesar must employ such to do his job effectively. Interesting that rex is indeed Latin for "king."
The whole point is this: This relatively minuscule coronavirus thing now? All the silly curbs in place with everyone following right along because they just don't want to deal with being cited by police or ostracized by sneering mobs?
This is just a trial run.
As Wright so well points out, very simply, "All business is essential." Yes some people sell things that harm or kill, and some people do so much rent-glomming that they care much less about what they're selling than how many favors they can buy from Caesar. But this means what Caesar does to manage people's sinfulness is also essential.
Thing is, how far will he go to manage people's sinfulness? He's gone quite far with this coronavirus thing -- pretty decent sized test run if you ask me. One of the things we've discovered with this one is Caesar really doesn't have to do a whole lot! The nation is so Catholicized that merely making very strong suggestions gets people to dutifully comply!
Real quick, here's another terrific piece, this one by Jon Rappoport, detailing the effects of such a program. He does so with the typical remonstrations, but he does do a fine job of describing the way the people want things to be. Once again Caesar only does what his people need him to do to properly manage their evildoing. In these cases it requires autocratic machinations, divinely permitted -- democracy is wonderful! The human sacrifice that results from these legitimately authoritarian actions will dwarf the deaths from any coronavirus-related instances.
It might be good to note who's doing all the administrating, and then think about dwelling a bit more frequently and expansively in the Kingdom. Again, I can't emphasize this enough, God will do amazing things out of all of this. Often what is required to shake people from their spiritual slumber is some real shit happening and the realization that their System-concocted world view is worthless in the face of all this.
Wow, think about what Rex 2030 will look like.
Then maybe The Evangelist will get a chance to not be so silent for just a bit.
__
If you wonder how a church could be sold out to Rome and Caesar's decisions over its affairs, here are some things to think about. Here are further thoughts about the Acts 2 church.
__
Aslan and the interviewer were going off yet again about those dastardly evangelical Trump supporters, exhibiting great dismay at their folly for voting for such a lout, and Aslan started getting into the typical racialist thread by claiming that white evangelicals comprise a doomsday cult. If he means that followers of Christ generally think the world is a pretty rotten place and wait eagerly for its redemption in the second coming of Christ, then yeah, I guess we are -- hmm, thanks for the compliment!
But it just means followers of Christ have a very realistic view of things -- that death is all around, that this is a very bad thing, that it is an individual's sin is what makes one die and maybe it'd be good to let him or her know about that as well as who The Savior is -- all of this is pretty standard evangelical practice and quite reasonable, really. I'd venture to say that most black evangelicals feel the same way no matter who they may have voted for in the last election.
Yes, that's the Kingdom at work, people loving others enough to tell them the truth about things. With compassion, charity, and even great self-sacrifice: minister Christ to them.
The World System has a thousand different counterfeit ways to do that, and many of them appear extraordinarily wholesome and good. And I'm not even dismissing the genuine wholesomeness and goodness of those things!
May I share with you another graphic a Facebook friend posted. I've enlarged it so you can gather the whole idea. It isn't hard, and really, it is quite inspirational, very much so -- we should all have such gratitude all the time.
Yet, sorry, there are serious issues with this seemingly sublime piece of wisdom. Please know that the woman who posted this is a great friend, wise, thoughtful, giving, gracious, and an exemplary follower of Christ. She is amazing.
First there is the American flag motif, and while I'm sure my friend wasn't thinking about it -- most Americanists don't, I understand that -- the flag is an idol, by the stated declaration of U.S. statute itself. I agree this isn't a critique to take to the mat, because again I'm sure the artist was merely using the flag imagery to indicate that these people are doing wonderful work in this country. No disrespect whatsoever to those who must give their allegiance to such an item.
However, you'll note that there are 24 distinct major occupations in this graphic, 24 of them, and there are countless others that must be at work for some substantial amount of time in the work week, out and about in the work force to ensure these people can produce abundantly enough for all of us. This is a clearly obvious admission that, yes, yet again...
The coronavirus itself is nothing. It is mostly hysteria spewed about for the most robust virtue-signaling to elevate the political capital of a prominent ruling class.
If the coronavirus situation were as dire as they say, very few of these people would be at their jobs. We'd all be energetically employing the best survivalist skills and applicable community interactions we possibly could to do the work needed to survive. Our predicament would be far more intense than shopping for the trendiest face mask style.
Another issue with the graphic is the most important one of all: the absence there of the most important person on the planet, the one for whom we should be most thankful. Yes, sorry, but that person is the evangelist. None of this stuff means squat unless the purchaser of said product has some lasting meaning in life. That only comes through Christ.
Every single world view that does not incorporate a truthful conception of rich, abiding life into eternity is just nihilism. Certainly nihilism may be a meaningful world view to its adherent, and yes there are quite a few of them, but ultimately any benefit one derives from the product of these economic contributors is in the end "chasing after wind" as the writer of Ecclesiastes said.
This is why I am tremendously saddened when I see news stories like this one today: "Churches sue for 'essential' status." What? Why don't true worship assemblies just gather? It doesn't mean they will carelessly refuse to be protective and hygienic, but so far law enforcement has been trying to keep them from meeting to worship even when in their cars in the parking lot.
Why do churchgoers feel the need to appeal to Caesar for his approval? They wouldn't have to be doing that if they weren't obligated to Rome through their 501(c)(3) incorporations.
When Paul appealed to Caesar for proper legal consideration at his trial, he knew what Caesar himself was obligated to do -- fully allow Paul his already God-give freedom to share Christ with others. Caesar had no jurisdiction over Paul's activities except to make it safe for him to do his work.
The key here is if your church is a Roman Catholic subdivision by having a contractual agreement with Caesar to gain his benefits -- tax exemptions, grants, pastor allowances, and so forth, then yes, you are subject to Caesar's official decree that you are "non-essential." No wonder The Evangelical is silent to the World. So many people who say they believe in this Jesus fellow are still emotionally and even financially connected to the System. All they know is Cain's legacy, and that comes with the most sobering reality of all in this.
Please check out Robert E. Wright's piece at the American Institute of Economic Research, "Why Aren't Americans Suing Their Way Out of Lockdown?" It is a decent piece that adds further veracity that Catholicists feel the need to have Caesar decide what they must do with their affairs -- again, a quite legitimate exercise for those who desire it.
What you'll want to do is go about halfway through and note that a professor at Georgetown laid down a brilliant historical pretext for assembling a rigorous program for pandemic emergency situations titled "Biodefense and Constitutional Constraints." The author and the title say so much.
It is no coincidence the author works at the top Jesuit school in the country, veritably the pre-eminent public policy forming institution on the planet. The title refers to nothing other than "Rex 2020," the proficiently authoritative program of mass constraints to try to corral some evil thing that is brewing all around. If you remember, "Rex 84" stood for the "readiness exercises" in 1984 that arranged for the use of substantial confinement facilities in case certain threats of some magnitude must be neutralized. Many constitutionalists scream bloody murder over such things, but the fact is Caesar must employ such to do his job effectively. Interesting that rex is indeed Latin for "king."
The whole point is this: This relatively minuscule coronavirus thing now? All the silly curbs in place with everyone following right along because they just don't want to deal with being cited by police or ostracized by sneering mobs?
This is just a trial run.
As Wright so well points out, very simply, "All business is essential." Yes some people sell things that harm or kill, and some people do so much rent-glomming that they care much less about what they're selling than how many favors they can buy from Caesar. But this means what Caesar does to manage people's sinfulness is also essential.
Thing is, how far will he go to manage people's sinfulness? He's gone quite far with this coronavirus thing -- pretty decent sized test run if you ask me. One of the things we've discovered with this one is Caesar really doesn't have to do a whole lot! The nation is so Catholicized that merely making very strong suggestions gets people to dutifully comply!
Real quick, here's another terrific piece, this one by Jon Rappoport, detailing the effects of such a program. He does so with the typical remonstrations, but he does do a fine job of describing the way the people want things to be. Once again Caesar only does what his people need him to do to properly manage their evildoing. In these cases it requires autocratic machinations, divinely permitted -- democracy is wonderful! The human sacrifice that results from these legitimately authoritarian actions will dwarf the deaths from any coronavirus-related instances.
It might be good to note who's doing all the administrating, and then think about dwelling a bit more frequently and expansively in the Kingdom. Again, I can't emphasize this enough, God will do amazing things out of all of this. Often what is required to shake people from their spiritual slumber is some real shit happening and the realization that their System-concocted world view is worthless in the face of all this.
Wow, think about what Rex 2030 will look like.
Then maybe The Evangelist will get a chance to not be so silent for just a bit.
__
If you wonder how a church could be sold out to Rome and Caesar's decisions over its affairs, here are some things to think about. Here are further thoughts about the Acts 2 church.
__
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