Democracy under God, Just one generation away from extinction.

 

A Warning Against Hypocrisy: Matthew 23 NIV - A Warning Against Hypocrisy - Then - Bible Gateway

Freedom of Speech: Freedom of Speech - Origins, First Amendment & Limits (history.com)

Chomsky: Republican Party 'most dangerous organisation on earth': Chomsky: Republican Party 'most dangerous organisation on earth' - BBC News

Russia Takes Censorship to New Extremes, Stifling War Coverage: Russia Takes Censorship to New Extremes, Stifling War Coverage - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

2024 United States elections: 2024 United States elections - Wikipedia

Trump’s free speech app Truth Social is censoring content and kicking off users:

https://www.engadget.com/trumps-free-speech-app-truth-social-is-censoring-content-and-kicking-off-users-023153584.html

Musk Says Twitter Is Limiting Number of Posts Users Can Read: Musk Says Twitter Is Limiting Number of Posts Users Can Read - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Religion in the Bible.

 Religion in the Old Testament. 

The danger of being religious can be seen as early as our first parents. Adam and Eve's fatal mistake was an attempt to be more like God. Their error was not that they stopped believing in God, but that they began believing in a way they shouldn't have.

 

Their first son also tried to trust God on his own terms. The lord rejected Cain's sacrifice but honored the sacrifice offered by his younger brother. Burning with anger, Cain became so jealous that he killed Abel and ruined how own life in the process. But this issue isn't just something for an unfortunate few. The whole nation of Israel got in trouble for trying to serve and worship God on their own terms. Barely a month after God miraculously led them out of Pharaoh's clutches in Egypt and assisted their crossing the Red Sea, the people tired of not being able to see God. Although they had fervently agreed to do all God said, in Moses absence, they pooled their golden jewelry, melted it down, made a golden calf of gold, and began to party. The result? - God was angry, Moses was furious, and thousands of Israelites died (Exodus 32). 

Saul, the first king of Israel, was no different. He lost his kingdom by making religious errors. When Samuel, the priest didn't show up on time to offer a pre-battle sacrifice, Saul thought it was necessary to offer the sacrifice himself. He was wrong (1 Samuel 13:8-14 see also chapter 15).

 

God is concerned about what we believe and how we serve and worship Him because He is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24), not ritualistically, superstitiously, or ignorantly. God wants to be worshiped from a heart that is responding to the truth about His love and grace. 

 

It may sound complex, but it isn't. All God really wants is for us to Know and Love His Son. Good religion will follow (James 1:26-27).

Christ and the Pharisees

Jesus Knew the problems of religion. He was hated by some of the most religious people in Jerusalem. While the sinners and outcasts of society were attracted to Him, the religionists of His day - the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducee's, and priests - were, with few exceptions, His bitter enemies. The Sadducee's and Pharisees of Jerusalem were always trying to discredit Jesus. They had no use for Him and His "radical" ideas that challenged their well-established traditions. And they were convinced that the world would be a better place without him.  

 

But the Pharisees were not all bad. Many of them were craftsman and tradesmen, and they identified with the common man while being respected as some of the most godly and spiritually committed Jews. They believed in the God of Israel, advocating a God-centered life, 

 

and were determined to protect Israel from being compromised or absorbed into a Gentile world. The Pharisees also believed that Israel's future depended on whether or not they honored and practiced the law of God; they not only struggled with what the law said but how it applied to the smallest details of life. They also held tightly to the traditions of their spiritual forefathers, carefully memorizing, repeating, and entrenching themselves in the ancient practices.  

The Pharisees, however took some wrong turns in their attempt to make the law of God relevant and and practical to Israel. As they made an effort to show what the word of God "looked like" in daily life, their concrete applications became an end in themselves. Before long, they were lost in specifics and, according to Jesus, were "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Mathew 15:9). They focused solely on the details and lost the purpose of the Law - to Love. 

 

The Problem with Jesus. 

Religionists saw Jesus as dangerous. He was a threat to them because anyone who accepted Him would never need the religion of the Pharisees. 

 

While the Pharisees were good at detailing obedience to the law, Jesus taught that God would forgive the worst sinners. Jesus also caused a commotion that threatened to destabilize the delicate religious and political balance of power in Israel. He had a reputation for doing explainable things. He taught with an air of authority and shifted attention from external matters of religion to internal attitudes of the heart. In his Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5:1-11), Jesus taught that God is not looking for people who are doing well in their religion. He's looking for people who depend on God in every area of life, who grieve for the nature and results of sin, who willingly live under God's authority, who accept God's rightness, who care for others, who have clean hearts and motives, and who work towards reconciliation between people and with God. 

Jesus dis not flatter these religious leaders, He didn't leave room for the nothing that they were godly men who had merely made a mistake about Him. He said that if they had known His Father, they would have known Him. To their face, He called them hypocrites (Mathew16:3) and blind leaders of the blind (15:14). This isn't the storyline many of us might expect. We might expect Jesus' enemies to surface among the atheists, secular thinkers, and criminal elements of society. That wasn't the case. Street people were attracted to Jesus. Sinners were among his friends. Even Pilate, the pagan Roman governor of Judea, was inclined to give Jesus more consideration and benefits of the doubt. 

Jesus also took the time to teach His followers about the Pharisees were their leaders, and they must do what they told them to do. Then He said, "But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach" (Mathew 23:3NIV). He then told the Pharisees where they had gone wrong (Luke 11:37-52): They looked good on the outside but their hearts remained filthy with pride. 

Book share Discovery Series. Following Jesus - Relationship or Religion? by Mart DeHann.

 

 

 

Whatever Became of Sin?

In 1973, the world-renowned psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book entitled: Whatever Became of Sin? In his book the doctor projected the day would come when sin would no longer be an element of the human vernacular. He speculated that the explanation of sin and wrongdoing would be replaced by rationalizations excusing individual accountability.

Menninger predicted the term sin would be replaced with words like illness, disorder, dysfunction, syndrome, etc. 
Cartoon Trump Starts a G-7 for Ruthless Dictators
The human condition would be excused as a product of biochemistry, environment, experience, and trauma.


America's slow-motion coup keeps grinding forward it's shadow enforcers government for vulture global capitalism.

He projected that even crime would go unpunished as criminal activity would be justified and minimized as the result of some medical abnormality for which one could not be held responsible.

According to Menninger’s prognostication, the day was approaching when practically everyone would be considered sick and their conduct pardonable. 

No longer would there be any liability for human error, choice, and willful conduct. Everyone would be innocent, vindicated through biology, psychiatry, and humanistic reasoning.


Aren’t we just about there? The good doctor was a pretty good prophet!

Humanism has become the dominant theology of our day, embraced increasingly throughout society and regrettably, in the Church. Humanism teaches that everything is relative and there are no absolutes.


 As a result there can be no sin because there are no fixed guidelines of morality. Under this doctrine, man is considered good and deserving of everything it he wants.

Furthermore, humanism assumes there is no God. Man is his own sovereign ruler; wise, competent, and capable of making decisions that are best for him. 
The Cartoon Supreme Court Visits Mar-A-Lago
Salvation then is the pleasure and gratification of the human experience. 
Cartoon Trump’s Mar-A-Lago


Humanism is individually focused without regard to others and it seeks immediate gain without consideration of its long-term or eternal impact.

Since man is good, wise, competent, and deserving he literally can do no wrong. Therefore, if wrong is committed, it could not be man’s fault. In order for man to act badly, there must be a reason.
Donald Trump has no strategy, no beliefs, and no principles.
Bull's Eye: Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy.
Thinking and Listening.


And more than ever before we hear the Church employ the reasoning of the world and abandoning the language and clarity of Scripture:She isn’t a drunkard (1 Cor 6:9-10)…she has the disease of Alcoholism. He isn’t sexually immoral (1 Thess 4:3)…he is a Sexual Addict. The child is not disobedient to parents (Rom 1:28-32)…she has Oppositional, Defiant Disorder with ADHD. He isn’t an angry man (Prov 29:22)…he is reliving the patterns of his childhood abuse. She isn’t bitter and unforgiving (Eph 4:31-32)…she has Dysthymia (depression). He isn’t a murderer (Ex 20:13)…he has Bi-polar Disorder and was incompetent at the time of the crime.

In our efforts to explain human behavior in ways we consider relevant and applicable, we have become vulnerable to the leaven (Matt. 16:6) of humanistic psychology that speaks in terms of circumstance, experience, genetics, and biochemistry. These and other explanations have become the “reasons” individuals and families act as they do.

Within this process has been the slow erosion of the Christian worldview. 
Hypocrite! | Sermon on the Mount
The Bible is not longer considered the template for life and the Body has been led astray by the humanistic reasoning, which is overwhelming the Church. 
Consciousness and Competence



Jesus warned of the deceptive influence of false teaching:
People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil.
And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt 16:6).

Paul used leaven as a metaphor also to illustrate how insidious a false idea can be, noting how quickly incorrect teaching can spread and influence the believer and the Church. Paul wrote:You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view… (Gal 5:7-10a). 

Paul is asking the Church at Galatia where their false ideas were coming from. Why were they returning to a “yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1) when they had been set free? He indicates the church was “running well” until they were “hindered” (distracted) from “obeying the truth.” And Paul notes that this influence did not come from “Him who calls you.”

This letter could well be written to the current Church in America. Our race toward the prize (1 Cor 9:24) has been undermined with a little leaven…a smidgen of a lie. Humanism is the leaven that has “persuaded” the Church away from the truth, even though its ideals and objectives are antithetical to Scripture.
When God's about to Abandon a Nation: It is always instructive how relevantly it speaks to our time and to our lives that will be true.


So great is the humanistic influence that today, Scripture is regarded as insufficient and inferior to the theories and methods of the world. Listen to the language within the Church and one will hear that there has been a change in culture. Christians are ceasing to measure and monitor their lives by the truth of God’s Word and instead are relying upon the world’s wisdom (1 Cor 3:19).

By changing our language, focus, definitions, and solutions, the Church is quickly returning to bondage. Slavery is advanced by the avoidance of the truth that makes one free.
Has trump proven self doer of God's Word or merely hearer who redundantly deludes self and others?
Jesus said: If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (Jn 8:31-32).

To continue in God’s Word refers to an uninterrupted progression. We are not to be influenced, distracted, or inhibited from “obeying the truth” (Gal 5:7). In this progression we will be made free. To continue within a humanistic worldview is to be tied to the remedies of earth…for the rest of one’s life!


How To Deal With A Bully - Biblical Solutions To Solving The Bully Problem
When did the Church decide it was better to be sick than sinful? Illness often has no cure and requires the constant application of relief. But sin has a solution that heals and restores, even as our bodies are failing. Paul wrote:Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor 4:16-18).

As Biblicists, we must minister to the pain and suffering that comes through the physicality of life, but we must never forget about the “inner man.” 
The Remnant.
Our response to fellow believers must go beyond the temporal, always seeking the “things which are not seen.” 
God is on your side and God has got your back,
Our activities always bear eternal consequences. 

The Word of God is at Work - are you Listening?
Consequently we must not become entangled in the superficiality of humanism but rather advance the totality of Scripture, including the doctrine of sin and its remedy, the Lord Jesus Christ. Vigilantly guard your souls.
Presidential non-negotiable's in regards to what makes any incumbent the effective Spiritual leader - under God - a great nation founded upon principles deserves.
She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matt 1:21).

Educational share: Biblical Counseling Institute - https://bcinstitute.com/whatever-became-of-sin-4/

OR

The Ego And The Soul.

In many ways, the acceptance of any evidence of God involves a battle between the ego and the soul.

The soul is generally defined as "a God-created, God-nurtured, unique, developable, immortal human spirit."



Each of these modifiers is crucial. Of particular importance is that the soul is "God-nurtured," by which generally the spiritually enlightened believe that not only did God create us at the moment of conception but that God, through grace, continues to nurture us throughout our lives. It is additionally believed that there would be no purpose in her doing so unless she wanted something from us: the development of our souls.

But how are souls different than ego's?

The ego generally is the governing part of our personality.
Ego development-the maturation of this governor-is very much related to the development of our consciousness.

When people speak of someones "ego," what is usually referred to is someone's self-image, self-perception, and will.
This encompass not only some personality characteristics (often our more negative and defensive ones) but also what we think about and value in life.

Like the soul our ego can grow, change, and develop, but that doesn't mean it will.

One of the biggest differences between the soul and the ego is that the ego is closer to the surface of who we are or believe ourselves to be, whereas the soul goes deeper, to the core of our being-so deep that we may not be aware of it.

Everyone has a sense of their own "I," a sense of I-dentity.
This "I" is sometimes referred to as the ego, sometimes the self.

An "I" Example: My ego wanted to please my parent, to tough it out and follow in fathers footsteps graduating college. I'm wanted to succeed there.
But, gradually I found myself not only unable to be a quieter but additionally unable or unwilling to do what I thought I wanted to be even though it wasn't clear at the time yet what was clear inside "I" was no different from what my WASP upbringing had trained me to want.

Secular psychiatrists would say the true self-the whole self-is a conglomerate of psychic components: the id, ego, and superego; the conscious and the unconscious; the genetically determined temperament and our accumulated experiential learning.

No wonder some "I's" remain in conflict having so many different parts!

These parts are real, and are indeed in conflict.
Moreover, effective psychotherapy can be accomplished using this "conglomerate" model.

America's problem: the "I" voters sloth, to lazy to know how to feel like the walking conglomerate at Wharton.

And even stranger, the older these "I's" grew and the more "I's" recognized the realities of these different parts of them, the less they feel like a conglomerate.

America's additional problem: the "I's " who are still capable of feeling something deeper yet was going on, something very important that somehow could make me larger than myself.

America's solution: More "I's" had come to recognize that "I" had a soul.

It's important to bear in mind that souls and egos, being different, naturally operate on different levels. Americas patriotic "I" voters believe the distinction between the soul and the ego is both valid, important, and does not mean their is no interaction between the two.

Smart selfishness's "I" strongly believes that a conversion-change and growth-in the soul will dramatically change certain ways in which the ego functions, and will do so for the better.

Smart selfishness's "I"  additionally recognizes how and why ego learning can and will encourage Soul developments. And as far as exactly how the soul and ego interact in which remains mysterious within "I's" stupid selfishness's world. The spiritually mature "I" practicing foresight always knows where to look in the Bible first (as owners manual) that will matter today and can ensure future tomorrows.

Educational book share: The Road Less Traveled and Beyond - Spiritual Growth in an age of Anxiety