tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75602206152713373592024-03-17T20:03:09.387-07:00Naming His GraceViola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.comBlogger1384125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-78256267309933232772024-03-07T22:27:00.000-08:002024-03-07T22:27:42.574-08:00Donald Trump, allowing himself to be an idol: A rewrite for a new election year<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-size: 14pt;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQLMrR5BWnKJFnBU4zALQo-a9YoGCWwkAa8fgxflzOAdUUQKSZ79Jyx3nRlK15Xk9cWz527dS9bwGbHefpFrCaU_pSA5p5kGf2STfGFOlq5H8Z2ReG3jwMXd8v0R1wasXTGu3ickEYjoQAH6k72OmhbnfFJQ-6LUuZkJ65wzSQcEosm-qm_NAWPbRGaA/s600/Pt%5B1%5D.%20Reyes%20July%202007%20004%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="600" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQLMrR5BWnKJFnBU4zALQo-a9YoGCWwkAa8fgxflzOAdUUQKSZ79Jyx3nRlK15Xk9cWz527dS9bwGbHefpFrCaU_pSA5p5kGf2STfGFOlq5H8Z2ReG3jwMXd8v0R1wasXTGu3ickEYjoQAH6k72OmhbnfFJQ-6LUuZkJ65wzSQcEosm-qm_NAWPbRGaA/w400-h386/Pt%5B1%5D.%20Reyes%20July%202007%20004%20(2).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>I am partly
rewriting a posting I wrote before the 2016 presidential election. I was troubled in 2016; now I am simply a Christian who knows only one true leader,
actually a King. I am a Democrat who almost always voted Republican because of
my concern for the unborn. Now I have no political home. The democrats are
mostly anti-life, and Donald Trump is an immoral, bombastic liar who is suggesting
to his followers that he provides a kind of redemptive substitution for them.
He is leading too many astray.</i></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dietrich
Bonhoeffer wrote and spoke about the authoritarian leader just as Hitler became
the “democratically elected chancellor of Germany.” Speaking of a leader
reaching beyond the authority of the office, Bonhoeffer stated:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If he
understands his function in any other way than as rooted in fact, if he does
not continually tell his followers quite clearly of the limited nature of his
task and of their responsibility if he allows himself to surrender to the
wishes of his followers, who would always make him their idol—than the image of
the Leader will pass over into the image of the mis-leader, and he will be
acting in a criminal way not only towards those he leads, but also towards
himself.”<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It follows,
according to Bonhoeffer, that the leader must, “lead his following away from
the authority of his person to the recognition of the real authority of orders
and offices. … He must radically refuse to become the appeal, the idol, i.e.
the ultimate authority of those whom he leads.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now it is
true that many of those seeking office, both Republican and Democrat, need to
be reminded of who they really are, in the presence of God, simply office
holders chosen to serve the people. But in Trump, one finds a need to be the
ultimate authority mingled with immorality and dishonesty. Those who follow
him, follow a lie. And those who desire to follow truth shudder because of
those who follow the lie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Still, there
is a beautiful, biblical picture of a leader who has all authority but who is
truly goodness incarnate. The leader is found in Psalm 72. A Psalm that was
either written by Solomon or his father David. Scholars are uncertain.</span><a name="_ftnref2" style="font-size: 14pt;"></a><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola%20larson/Documents/I%20am%20troubled%20by%20a%20presidential%20candidate.docx" style="font-size: 14pt;">[2]</a><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> It is a king’s prayer to be a
righteous yet gracious ruler, something that neither man, although they were
great men, were able to accomplish. And in this Psalm one clearly sees the
beauty of the ultimate, King, the messiah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The prayer
is that the king will judge his people with righteousness “and the afflicted
with justice.” He will save the children and still crush the oppressor. He is
like rain is to mown grass and “like showers that water the earth.” Everything
flourishes because of his reign. There will be peace and those who are
righteous will flourish. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“His rule is
from sea to sea.” It is to the ends of the earth and all kings (and presidents)
will in the end bow down to him. His compassion is perfect:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“<i>For he
will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who
has no helper. He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of
the needy he will save. He will rescue their life from oppression and violence,
and their blood will be precious in his sight. ..”</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Psalm
goes on to praise God for his wonders and glory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many years
ago, in a sociology class, the professor asked us to take a quiz to help him
with a project he and some other professors were conducting. The quiz consisted
of choosing between two different actions we would take, at first a good action
or a bad one. But as we went further into the test both actions to choose from
became bad. Finally I returned the quiz to the professor, telling him I could
not finish because I could not choose either action. This election is the same.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I hope and
pray that many of us, who are Christians, if we must, will not vote, but will
instead cling to that One who will and does reign in righteousness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is taken from Eric Metaxas’ book <i>Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, </i>(Nashville:
Thomas Nelson 2010) see chapter 9, “The Führer Principle” However Metaxas is now
insisting that those Christians who won’t vote for Trump are sinning. Sounds
like he is making Trump an idol to me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola%20larson/Documents/I%20am%20troubled%20by%20a%20presidential%20candidate.docx" name="_ftn2" style="background-color: #d6e0ff; color: #005cd6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 14.98px;">[2]</span></span></span></a><span style="background-color: #d6e0ff; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Derek Kidner, <i>Psalms 1-72: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, </i>(Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity 1973)</span></span></span></p>
</div>
</div>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-7085256431487628612024-03-01T23:01:00.000-08:002024-03-01T23:01:22.472-08:00Eric Metaxas' Letter to the American Church and the Rest of the Story<span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmF8HUffiur18Y_1boOFTDAJU_MLeknvBuTxTqDOEgQH7LTTmYOZ46-sb-NX5dlBEE9UoYMBOd0ytaDScYoGP8irs9k0kFv4b55mYj7k1w4IMyaxtGv4aOjHGAasUQQOIvRXfSF-yQ3uRXLatM73DzdoBo-F0pGxuR9308wrBbuWok4oCVgxUcxN1494/s640/Elizabeth.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmF8HUffiur18Y_1boOFTDAJU_MLeknvBuTxTqDOEgQH7LTTmYOZ46-sb-NX5dlBEE9UoYMBOd0ytaDScYoGP8irs9k0kFv4b55mYj7k1w4IMyaxtGv4aOjHGAasUQQOIvRXfSF-yQ3uRXLatM73DzdoBo-F0pGxuR9308wrBbuWok4oCVgxUcxN1494/w400-h300/Elizabeth.png" width="400" /></a></div>In October of twenty-two I wrote a book review of Eric Metaxas’ book, <i>Letter to the American Church</i>. I have since wanted to renew the review for several reasons. One reason is it has now been made into a documentary with footage that includes scenes of the horrific times of both Hitler and Stalin meant as a warning to American Christians that they can prevent such awfulness. The Documentary includes thoughts by Charles Kirk of Turning Point USA, an ultra-conservative organization. The documentary has been promoted on Epoch Times TV a branch of the news magazine <i>Epoch Times</i> which is affiliated with the religious group Falun Gong. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">There are two other important reasons. In the review I was attempting to counter Metaxas’ poor understanding of Martin Luther’s view of justification by faith alone. He believes Luther became obsessed with the idea that believers are redeemed by faith alone and that this caused the faithlessness of the German Church in the Nazi years. I have since found wonderful material in the <i>Lutheran Formula of Concord</i> which clearly disproves this. Metaxas does not understand the biblical scope of “by faith alone.” The other reason, I did not know at the time that I wrote the review that Metaxas was aligned with many in the New Apostolic Reformation movement (NAR) and even allowed guests on his show that hold QAnon beliefs.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Both the book and the documentary have been shown widely among evangelical churches. This includes Calvary Chapels, Baptists, Nazarenes, and Assemblies of God churches. This doesn’t mean that all of those denominations accept what Metaxas has written but some of their churches have. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> In my earlier review writing about Metaxas’ view of Luther’s biblical understanding of justification by faith alone I quoted Metaxas: </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But in his understandably giddy joy, Luther may sometimes have gone a bit farther than necessary, or at least opened the door for others to do so. For example, when he translated Romans 3:28 from the original New Testament Greek into German, Luther added the single word “alone” to the following sentence: ‘For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the law.’ Luther’s version was, ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith alone without the deeds of the law.’ Luther felt the need to add that word to underscore what for him was essentially the central idea in the universe, and he may be forgiven for this. </span></div></blockquote><p> <span style="font-size: medium;">And also: </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> We might say that Luther had in his zeal made an idol of his idea of faith, so that the genuine faith to which God calls us was crowded out. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span>Plus: </span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The phrase ‘faith alone’ had made the Christian faith so simple—and ultimately so thin and one-dimensional—that over time it was easily and blithely assented to by nearly everyone in the German nation, so that Bonhoeffer wrote about it in the <i>Cost of Discipleship. </i></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span>After this last quote I explained that Bonhoeffer, a martyr of the Confessing Church, did not refer to Luther </span>as the cause of the faithlessness of the German Christians in his book <i>The</i><i> C</i><i>ost of Discipleship</i>. But as far as the seeming problem of "faith alone” <i>The Formula of Concord </i>(Second Part) quotes from Luther’s preface to Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Faith, however, is a divine work to us that changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[12-13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O, it is a living, busy active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.
</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span>Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge and confidence of God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all creatures. And this is the work that the Holy Spirit performs in faith </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad
to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love
and praise to God, who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate
works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. [LW
35:370-71]</span></p>
</blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Metaxas in
his failure to understand the biblical view of faith alone added to the problem
in his book, by melding the two sides of the churches during the Nazi years
into one body. He didn’t do this in his book on Bonhoeffer but for some reason
he did in </span><i>Letter to the American Church. </i><span>Perhaps it made it easier to
insist that the American Church was not standing against the evils of the
culture. But as I pointed out in my first review there existed in Nazi Germany,
both the German Christians who aligned with Hitler and the Confessing Church which
would only confess Jesus as Lord and did not stand with the German Christians.
Bonhoeffer and many others including the first pastor martyred, </span><a href="https://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2008/04/paul-schneider-chestnut-tree-and.html">Paul
Schnieder</a><span>, were a part of the Confessing Church.</span></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span><span>The problem
with all of this is that everyone who Metaxas aligns with, including Metaxas, insists
that if Christians do not stand with Donald Trump, they are part of the church that
will fail God, causing a tragedy greater than the Holocaust. This is really what
his book is about. It is what Charles Kirk insists on. It is what </span><i>The Epoch Times</i><span>
and Falun Gong stand for. In fact, the people publishing the </span><i>Epoch Times</i><span>
do not even believe in Jesus Christ as Lord so they do not understand what it
means to confess Him.</span><br /><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>For all of their
talk about Hitler, fascism, Marx and socialism, all those I have named,
Metaxas, Kirk, the Epoch Times, the political members of the New Apostolic
Reformation and QAnon, are lifting Trump up </span><a href="https://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2016/02/donald-trump-allowing-himself-to-be.html">as
an Idol</a><span>- they themselves are guilty of conforming to a loyalty that mimics
the German Church as they lifted up Hitler. When they call out brothers and
sisters in Christ who will not conform to their expectations about Trump and malign
them, they are imitating the German Christians. This is not to call Trump or the
Maga movement Nazis </span><a href="https://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2024/01/julie-green-eric-metaxas-still-it-is.html">but
their actions</a><span> concerning those who disagree with them are not much
different.</span><br /><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>In all of this
ideology that lifts up Trump as a savior for America the cross is missing. The
followers of Jesus are not called to seek power or position but rather to take up
their cross. The promises of Jesus are not rooted in this world or its kingdoms
but rather in the Kingdom of Heaven. We have a King who endorses no one but
Himself. The innocent, perfect Lamb of God, the eternal Son, begotten of the
Father calls us to a hidden place in Him. I have on my bulletin board a program from my church with the words of Jesus, "I have not come to bring peace but a sword." Some might think that is a call for Christians to take up a sword against their enemies, but it isn't. It is a truth that the world will too often take up the sword against the disciples of Jesus. Metaxas and others have it backwards, do not seek power, seek instead faithfulness to Jesus. </span><span> </span><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span></p></blockquote></div>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-71642607845614245542024-02-10T15:23:00.000-08:002024-02-24T10:10:59.611-08:00My Mail and a Candidate for Assembly in California<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I just
picked up my mail today; the only bit was a flyer with the front sporting a pair of pink boxing gloves with the words:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_azT5k5R9F00GqfWSHwDbT2ekmugtJSPbgY35LSmYSZEljq6Ky8PW-Bko2e29tpRCSe1hdF2jP1y-9V0wmr_Y8v1KTutALEvUiGR97gWIiHC-1Ufkq8_7OhMaiGpguBB36MQGJKC_IaDSmcd9FPb-WVVsTflDkMzEH3X8mOahUFfNQY2wzoEOQSBAFE/s600/Mid_October_2008_057%5B1%5D.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_azT5k5R9F00GqfWSHwDbT2ekmugtJSPbgY35LSmYSZEljq6Ky8PW-Bko2e29tpRCSe1hdF2jP1y-9V0wmr_Y8v1KTutALEvUiGR97gWIiHC-1Ufkq8_7OhMaiGpguBB36MQGJKC_IaDSmcd9FPb-WVVsTflDkMzEH3X8mOahUFfNQY2wzoEOQSBAFE/w300-h400/Mid_October_2008_057%5B1%5D.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">What does her role as Planned Parenthood of California’s
chief lawyer tell you about how <b>Maggy Krell</b> will represent us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Well, I don’t
need to read the rest. She is interested in preserving the right to kill little
boys and girls who are not yet born. The boxing gloves may be pink but they are
not girlish, womanish, or sweet and nice. They should be blood red. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Inside it
mentions that Krell is fighting for rights including the rights of children—but
both scientifically and biblically unborn babies are children, little human
beings who deserve the right to live. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Jesus took
the little children to himself and blessed them. Life is the beautiful gift
that God gives to everyone—to take it from the innocent is a horrific act. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">While Detrich
Bonhoeffer, one of the Confessing Martyrs during the Nazi time in Germany, in
his book <i>Ethics</i> wrote that although at times it my be the community that
bears the blame for abortion, when a mother is in great need, it is still
murder. He wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Marriage involves acknowledgement of the right of life that
is to come into being, a right which is not subject to the disposal of the
married couple. Unless this right is acknowledged as a matter of principle,
marriage ceases to be marriage and becomes a mere liaison. Acknowledgement of
this right means making way for the free creative power of God which can cause
new life to proceed from this marriage according to his will.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">And of
course, this also applies to those who bring about life outside of marriage.
The child is still God’s creation. We should pray that neither our nor other’s
hearts be hardened by the murder of children. We should pray for but not vote
for Maggy Krell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-43650412981273740132024-01-30T22:47:00.000-08:002024-01-30T22:47:53.882-08:00Julie Green, Eric Metaxas, ‘Still’ it is said, ‘still, shall the City of God abide, lusty beside her tiny stream’ <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eAdSFRCa4YuOYNsLZWKqCaN6cTAC4R9rdK0_hYxJBYB9PDlPUTzN7l34dHyhjBFO8QIkWT04PMjEng2PMMV1PhQPePsnjOfj8jG6i7NdewfNKc-rc2YvXFcRdd8rmGVeFA_2sa2_3VW5nAPmAfvrhYbcUj0esOB0PXxNQjvnesb_zqYwCa7Y_vsCr3c/s945/christ%20church.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="945" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eAdSFRCa4YuOYNsLZWKqCaN6cTAC4R9rdK0_hYxJBYB9PDlPUTzN7l34dHyhjBFO8QIkWT04PMjEng2PMMV1PhQPePsnjOfj8jG6i7NdewfNKc-rc2YvXFcRdd8rmGVeFA_2sa2_3VW5nAPmAfvrhYbcUj0esOB0PXxNQjvnesb_zqYwCa7Y_vsCr3c/w400-h269/christ%20church.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is a
beautiful peace that belongs to the children of God, those who belong to Jesus,
who are held within His redemptive kingdom, who wear the blood washed garments
of grace. They are yoked to Jesus’ easy yoke even in the midst of suffering. But
there are those meddling with evil, pushing, or believing lies, who end up
substituting idols for Jesus. And sometimes those who meddle in heresy reach demonic
depths. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The leaders
of the MAGA movement, (Trump’s movement), and leaders of the New Apostolic
Reformation movement are growing in their vengefulness’ and verbal abuse. I
have been listening to various videos, one of Eric Metaxas on Steve Bannon’s <i>War
Room, “<a href="https://rumble.com/v41yxiw-eric-metaxas-on-loving-your-country-too-much.html">Eric
Metaxas on Loving Your Country Too Much</a>,”</i> a putdown of Tim Alberta’s
book, <i><a href="https://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2024/01/a-book-review-tim-albertas-warning-and.html">The
Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism</a>,</i>
and his many interviews. And many of Julie Green’s videos. She is considered a
prophet within the NAR movement. Green gives supposed prophecies almost every
day. The prophecies are offered as though Jesus is speaking directly through her
as though she is a medium.<br /> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bannon and
Metaxas refer to Alberta as a Marxist, globalist, and his book as coming from
the “pit of hell” insisting that it is meant to silence the Church. But,
instead Alberta’s book is a warning and a gift to the Church calling us back to
faithfulness, not to the kingdoms of this world, but to the Kingdom of God and
to the King, Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Green’s
prophecies have mostly, seemingly, been calls to stand up for God; but one does
not listen long before hearing political messages. Trump is referred to as God’s
David and the people of God are interchanged with God’s United States. God will
punish His enemies referring to their actions as infiltrating all American
institutions and stealing elections. Green mentions what some of these two
movements are calling the Haman effect, which refers to the biblical Haman who
planned to have Mordecai, Queen Esther’s uncle, hanged but was himself hanged
on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The belief is that many of the enemies
of the two movements will be hanged or imprisoned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Probably the
worst of the prophecies Green has released was, at my writing, less then a day
ago. The video is entitled <i><a href="https://rumble.com/v497c4l-judgment-is-here-and-judgment-is-clear.html">Judgement
is Here and Judgement is Clear</a>.</i> I am focusing on this video because it
has a demonic quality to it. As Green supposedly begins to allow Jesus to speak
through her, her voice becomes harsh and loud and her face begins to be
contorted. It is frightening, not because I am frightened by God’s judgment—after
all, I belong to Him; but I feel deeply sorry for Green who has allowed herself
to be pulled into a very dark world for the sake of a very bad man. And she and
others, Metaxas for one, are pulling many lost sheep into this dark world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The messages
coming out of these videos and also the conferences are about enemies, who want
to destroy America and Christianity. But the words one hears are about judgements
on those Christians who don’t agree with either the MAGA leaders or the NAR
leaders. And there is nothing about loving enemies. When writing a review of Metaxas
book, <i><a href="https://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2022/10/letter-to-american-church-by-eric.html">Letter
to the American Church</a>,</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quoted
Barth which I often do—it speaks so well to the real need and purposes of the
Church in the middle of trying times:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Of course something has to be done; very much so; but most
decidedly nothing other than this, viz. that the Church congregations be
gathered together again, but aright and anew in fear and great joy, to the Word
by means of the Word. All the crying over the Church will not deliver the
Church. Where the Church is the Church she is already delivered. Let
persecution be never so severe, it will not affect her! ‘<i>Still’ </i>it
is said, <i>‘still, </i>shall the City of God abide, lusty beside her
tiny stream’ (Psalm xlvi. 5; Luther’s translation).<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/When%20meddling%20with%20evil.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/When%20meddling%20with%20evil.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Karl
Barth, <i>Theological Existence To-Day: A plea for theological
freedom, </i>( Hodder and Stoughton: London 1933) 77,78.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-90854713978078491742024-01-05T23:34:00.000-08:002024-01-06T08:00:23.979-08:00 A Book Review: Tim Alberta's warning and gift to the Church. <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A book
review by Viola Larson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Author: Tim Alberta<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Harper Collins: 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Writing in
2024 I intend, to focus on Jesus as Lord and the good news of redemption.
Still, I see painful times ahead and believe there is a warning that needs to
be given to Christians. It is about idolatry. Tim Alberta’s new book <i>The
Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory</i> is to the Church a gift, a warning and a
carrier of hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Alberta who
is a political columnist for Atlantic, as well as a Christian, began his journey
of writing his book after experiencing harassment at his father’s funeral. (His
father had been an evangelical pastor.) After Alberta’s book American<i>
Carnage</i> was published many of his fellow church members were unhappy with
his views of Trump. He was given an insulting letter by a church elder. Alberta
writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">“I was part of an evil plot, the man wrote, to undermine
God’s ordained leader of the United States. My criticisms of President Trump
were tantamount to treason—against both God and country—and I should be ashamed
of myself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">However, he assured me, there was hope. Jesus forgives and so
does he. If I could use my journalism skills to investigate the “deep state” he
wrote, uncovering the shadowy cabal that was sabotaging Trump’s presidency then
I would be restored. He said he was praying for me.” <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">This and
other harassments sent Alberta on a journey, exploring the causes of such
idolatry in the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Some
chapters in his book explore the roots as well as the present ideology of
believers caught up in extreme loyalty to Trump. Those explorations cover a
past that was itself a move away from the words and work of Jesus, including
the formation of Liberty University. And a present which includes mega churches
who with ultra-patriotic sermons and flag waving captured the loyalty of
members of other churches that were attempting to protect their members from
COVID by staying closed during the worst of the pandemic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">It should be
pointed out that Alberta believes that those evangelicals who are a part of
Maga not only idolize Trump, they, going beyond normal patriotism, idolize
America—see America as a covenant nation meant, like Old Testament Israel, to
obey scriptural laws. They do not see America as a pluralistic democracy and
they tend to confuse that with their real biblical position as citizens of the
Kingdom of Heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Alberta has one
chapter on Clay C lark and Michael Flynn’s Reawaken America Tour, a movement I
sometimes follow and write about. His description of his experience in one
meeting in Branson Missouri covers the nightmare well: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">“Sitting in the second-floor gallery of the Mansion Theatre looking
out across a standing-room—only crowd of people clad in garish cross necklaces and
Qanon sweatshirts and red Maga hats, I could practically hear the voice of the
Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, who declared sometime around 600 BC that the
people of Israel possessed ‘no shame at all. ‘They had, Jeremiah said in one
translation, ‘forgotten how to blush.’ In fifteen years of political journalism,
I had witnessed political chicanery and skullduggery of every sort. Nothing
could surprise me anymore; I was immune to outrage, bereft of the ability to
recoil from iniquity. And then I discovered the Reawaken America Tour. <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Positioned
here and there within various chapters are Christians who represent hope. One
person is the pastor following Alberta’s father. Timid at first, fearful of
those in his church who constantly pushed far right political issues including
conspiracy theories, losing members during the COVID pandemic, Cris Winans grew
mature, brave, and wiser. Alberta writes of how Winans begin to deal with the
members of his church:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">“Winans wanted to bring his congregation along to compel them
to second-guess their extrabiblical desires. But make them think it was their
own conviction. He would preach on godly character then play dumb when someone
approached him afterward to admit they were rethinking their allegiance to certain
politicians or pop-culture personalities; he would preach on the spiritual
principle of discernment then offer a bemused shrug when someone confessed to
him that they were beginning to doubt conspiracy theories or question
information they’d been imbibing on social media.”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">A couple of the
pages of hope are contained in one chapter with so much hope it is impossible
to cover all in a short review. A conference at Wheaton College. Several
outstanding speakers return the audience to the need for Christians to return
to love and compassion for those outside the church. And there is a reminder
that, yes the church was once persecuted greatly and in other parts of the
world still is, but here in the West, in America, contrary to many evangelicals’
views. there is not that kind of persecution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">And
additionally, there can be great ministry because of push back to the gospel.
As one speaker, Laurel Bunker, reminds the audience of the world’s real need:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">“The Black kids of the city of Chicago; the gay kids who
struggle with suicidal ideation; the single mothers’ the prostitutes; the
broken of society. The only way they will know is if we go.” … “they are not
going to come to us. They don’t care about our steeples. They want to know, is
my life redeemable? Does my life have purpose?”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">And then there
is the chapter that covers an event in France where an Orthodox Ukrainian monk,
Hovorun and Miroslav Volf, a well known theologian and poet, from what was once
Yugoslavia, now at Yale, spoke covering the political religion that Vladimir
Putin embraces as an excuse to keep power and enlarge it. While there is so
much information in this chapter that is so thoughtful and helpful the discussion
on civil religion versus political religion is particularly enlightening in
regards to Trump, Maga and evangelicals who are pushing toward nationalism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Alberta states
that Hovorun notes that political religion is enforced by the state and gives
examples of “Hitlerism, Nazism, and Communism.”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
According to Alberta, Hovorum also stated, “In Trumpism, we are still dealing
with civil religion—a form of civil religion. Its not <i>yet </i>political
religion.” (Italics Alberta’s)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">To take this
further Hovorun points to what he believes is hopeful, political evangelicalism
is “Christ-centric.” But Volf disagrees, his words “I’ve come to believe … that
the Christ of the gospel is a moral stranger to us.”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There is more,, The book is full—as I said at first it is a warning and gift to
the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Alberta,
<i>The Kingdom,</i> 9<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Ibid.
263.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Ibid.
430.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Ibid.
143.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Ibid.
241.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/fbd90c10bbcfd011/Documentos/A%20book%20review%20by%20Viola%20Larson.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Ibid.
242.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-13793852805718715932023-11-09T18:10:00.000-08:002023-11-09T18:10:16.091-08:00Kristallnacht & Christabel- The wickedness of hatred<div class="separator"><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztsjdaBLywV9Af2A4xWetn4MR5JILrXtUB9TVNvtXXkL0P8AKwpdUXk8t3HUl5VvXhlhTpU5qri4kEhO9a2XH5FfAPyKCQjDAwsFNh_R4VYndjnA7Gz_6fm9vB0gv4RaFeX1GJ_sq7XhVSKtIVaCl4PsClsv9bhOvd2_bIkam8CuQJEOpIvz8xqhb4oE/s604/glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="453" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztsjdaBLywV9Af2A4xWetn4MR5JILrXtUB9TVNvtXXkL0P8AKwpdUXk8t3HUl5VvXhlhTpU5qri4kEhO9a2XH5FfAPyKCQjDAwsFNh_R4VYndjnA7Gz_6fm9vB0gv4RaFeX1GJ_sq7XhVSKtIVaCl4PsClsv9bhOvd2_bIkam8CuQJEOpIvz8xqhb4oE/w300-h400/glass.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Today is the
85</span><sup style="font-size: 14pt;">th</sup><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> anniversary of </span><i><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Kristallnacht</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> [the Night of the Broken Glass] </span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">the horrible night in Nazi German when Nazis
destroyed Jewish businesses, synagogues, and beat up and killed many Jewish
people. There is a movie, </span><i style="font-size: 14pt;">Christabel</i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">,
that I always think of when I hear a reference to </span><i><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Kristallnacht &</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">, </span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The movie is based on the true story of Christabel
Bielenberg, and taken from her memoir, “The Past is Myself: Looking Back on the
Years 1932-45.”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Christabel,
although British married a German lawyer and they lived in Germany during the
Nazi years. Her husband was part of the underground that attempted to kill
Hitler and was imprisoned in Ravensbrūck. Many of their friends were hanged for
their righteous attempt. In the movie I first saw on PBS, although not in the
one I own there is a poignant scene where Christabel is in a church on
Christmas Eve, they are singing Silent Night, at the same time the viewer is
seeing one of the friends being hanged. But this is not why the reference to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kirstallnacht </i>always reminds me of the
movie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is a
scene where Christabel and her husband are returning home from a concert and
they come upon a street filled with violence—windows of shops broken, Jewish
people being harassed and beaten, buildings on fire. They then know that it is
time to act—they must be against the Nazis. They must, although underground,
plot to end the horror happening in Germany. Violence in this case is a signal
that complacency must end.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As I listen
to the various videos of protests against Israel and the Jewish people, and
watch the videos of protesters tearing down pictures of those who have been
kidnapped by Hamas, I am aware that there is a great deal of ignorance about Israel
and the history of the Jews and the Holocaust. One young person being
questioned suggests that if the Jewish state is annihilated the Jews just go
back to whatever country they came from undoubtedly not realizing that the Jews
were chased out of those countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> And many of the protestors sound as though
they have never heard of the Holocaust or perhaps don’t understand how it was
that 6 million Jews were murdered because of the lies told about them. But at the same time there is a strong whiff
of ugliness, wickedness to be exact, in their comments. Idealism (the attempt to be altruistic or always
choose the good), too often turns to wickedness when it is centered in secular
paganism; that is a kind of religious bent that is centered in natural super
naturalism, a materialism that leaves out the image of God in humanity. So one
makes their own decision about right and wrong, emotion is the main authority. What
is called good may in reality be evil. Such as celebrating the killing of
children and babies, the mutilation and burning of families in the name of
helping Palestinians. Right and wrong, good and evil have been turned upside
down.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The people I
wrote about above, the Bielenbergs and their friends, saw evil and knew evil
when they saw it. At first they didn’t realize the enormity of the crimes
committed against Jews and others, but their knowledge grew and their courage.
After the war they moved to Ireland and the lawyer became a farmer. But this is
the scary part: too many today see the evil and think it is good. May there be
mercy from a gracious God to fall on us in torrents.<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-91378254212908483692023-11-07T14:28:00.001-08:002023-11-07T14:28:14.051-08:00The Traumatizing Stories that Break the Heart<p><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvpdJ8qsEg5_IYqY9JHWq_B5W9_Cka8ivJ4nhgh1_jKEH3uPpfc2Hn8EXNBXX0bGkrnQ70PZqvjQC7RIqJabjgc1GrDenLZQfI06VQR-WvCgWw1RCdNnLHnwiw92839dgdxMC-ifL2G2Q2f8k3z285-68arSvcEa7ENn53TH4hYlnYIED9J_baPRCc8k/s954/red%20clouds.bmp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="954" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvpdJ8qsEg5_IYqY9JHWq_B5W9_Cka8ivJ4nhgh1_jKEH3uPpfc2Hn8EXNBXX0bGkrnQ70PZqvjQC7RIqJabjgc1GrDenLZQfI06VQR-WvCgWw1RCdNnLHnwiw92839dgdxMC-ifL2G2Q2f8k3z285-68arSvcEa7ENn53TH4hYlnYIED9J_baPRCc8k/w400-h266/red%20clouds.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">They say it
helps to write, but this is hard, hard to write. Because I often write about
anti-Semitism, I have read many of the posts on what happened on October 7<sup>th</sup>
in Israel. I’ve watched many of the videos. I am traumatized. How does anyone
deal with the nightmare image of a family where the father has his eye gorged
out, the mother has a breast cut off, the small boy has his fingers cut off and
the young daughter has her foot cut off and then they are burned alive.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I read the
story of the family of three, a mother and father and their 16-year-old son. The
father and mother laid on their son to protect him. He lived. The last thing he
remembers from his parents is his father saying, “my arm is gone.” And his
mother dying. This struck me very hard because two summers ago I broke my arm
at the point where it fits into the shoulder blade, and when I got up from my
fall I could see my arm sticking out from my body but could not feel it or control it. I had to take my
left hand and reach out to my right arm and move it next to me. I was terrified
and how awful one must feel as they are dying to have lost the arm that was probably
trying to protect a son. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">And the
mother who was dying; I watched my husband die with Alzheimer’s. I read all the
signs to look for—the breathing is one. As he died he began to breathe with short
puffy breaths that one could hear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
those would probably have been the last sounds of a mother given to her son. My
anger and sorrow have not ended; probably will not end until eternity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Kevin D Williamson
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/wanderland/israels-job-right-now-is-to-fight-not-to-be-admired-by-american-journalists/?utm_">The
Dispatch</a></i> wrote of how Israeli warriors were not meant to be models of
goodness for journalist but were rather supposed to be protecting their people.
That a nation’s job was to protect its people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">As a
Christian my first duty is “to love my God with all my heart, with all my soul
and with all my mind,” and my neighbor as myself—but a nation is called to
protect its people before it protects any other. Carefully with concern but
still protect its people. It seems too many with a misplaced understanding of history
and yes with Jew hatred, with a warped understanding of their own prejudices
and biases, believe that Israel is the only nation that should not protect its
people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The darkness
that is falling over this world has always been here, it is the reptile hiding in
the bushes, twining about the tree, calling out lies to many who allow their
hearts to be bittered by anti-Semitism. Even when they smile one sees the hate
and bitterness in the face of those who are tearing down the posters of the
kidnapped Israelis. Their idealism has turned into a farce. Their activism has
turned evil....<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">G.K. Chesterton
in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Everlasting Man, </i>with
thankfulness that Rome had overcome Carthage, since it was a battle between
Rome’s household gods and Carthage’s demons, is not aware when writing of the coming
darkness of Nazi Germany. Chesterton explains the relationship of Carthage to Tyre
and Sidon, and their god Moloch who could also be called Baal. He explains
their method of worship was to throw babies into the great fire of Moloch. The
Romans, Chesterton explains, would not understand nor would Chesterton’s
contemporaries. He writes:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">We can only realize the combination by imagining a number of
Manchester merchants with chimney-top hats and mutton chop whiskers, going to
church every Sunday at eleven o’clock to see a baby roasted alive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Such evil
returned with the Nazis and now with the Hamas warriors who also roasted a baby
alive. There are surely those who are simply concerned about the welfare of
Palestinian citizens but far too many are sinking into dark paganism,
worshiping the god of anti-Semitism. When protesters won’t cry out against the
butchery of Hamas, they stand not with Palestinians but with Hamas, with
terrorist, with ancient evil.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></span><p></p>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-78433953168270144162023-11-01T00:16:00.000-07:002023-11-01T00:16:00.141-07:00Anti-Semitism-Killing People -Killing Our Souls<p> by Viola Larson</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFQfw97dT5r7mcinnoS8y5tiERV4UljJTlKLEViZU7TA5bEAlJjqv0zb6VNQG5qzWbMw7F4BFJKGGrPEtwcdOthsTF65iNylcClrhvhOweGhSpxVSueSKovCBLMdWjPK3aM5vZBlgBWH22AVB8yRR0ZKh-CROwet_pmYEklU79QjGaLzqswyZSHPUwpA/s604/twigs.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="604" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFQfw97dT5r7mcinnoS8y5tiERV4UljJTlKLEViZU7TA5bEAlJjqv0zb6VNQG5qzWbMw7F4BFJKGGrPEtwcdOthsTF65iNylcClrhvhOweGhSpxVSueSKovCBLMdWjPK3aM5vZBlgBWH22AVB8yRR0ZKh-CROwet_pmYEklU79QjGaLzqswyZSHPUwpA/w400-h299/twigs.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Around forty
years ago my husband and I attended Warehouse Ministries a church which was
part of the Jesus Movement. The arts, painting, poetry, acting, etc., was a
part of that ministry and one of their events was a play about Dietrich
Bonhoeffer a German theologian, who was part of the Confessing Church during
the Nazi years. He was one of the Christian martyrs killed by the Nazis toward
the end of the war. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was on my mind
as I heard one of our Christian radio stations advertise a speaker with a “great
message”; so I listened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His message was
that the Jews were the evilest group of all races and religions. Surprised and
angry I called the station to ask about him and they gladly gave me his phone
number. That was my first introduction to someone who was a holocaust denier. Thankfully
he never spoke on that station again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Later,
folding clothes and watching TV on the Sacramento interfaith station I found
they had a speaker whose program went on all day because he was free. The two
ladies, one a Science of Mind pastor, the other a Seven Day Adventist, were
using his program (for free) and did not know that he was an anti-Semite. He
hid it by referring to the Jews as Kenites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With the help of a Jewish professor at Sacramento State University he
was removed from the station. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went on to write about these supposedly
conservative anti-Semites believing that such racism was simply tied to deceived
and deceiving fundamentalist although many were also involved in occultic
beliefs. But later, belonging to the Presbyterian Church USA I discovered that
progressives could also be deeply anti-Semitic. One organization in that
denomination, The Israel, Palestine Mission Network, is simply as anti-Semitic
as any of the conservative groups I have written about—publishing slick
booklets that tell lies about the Jewish people in Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So I have
seen all these pockets of anti-Semitic groups here and there in the United
States and elsewhere. But never have I thought that whole sections of our
country and other countries, on college campuses, in large cities, in newsrooms
with their coverage, would hate the Jewish people so much that they would riot,
send death threats, tear down posters of kidnapped Jewish children and praise
the terrorist, Hamas, who tortured, murdered, raped women and burned families
alive. This is the scourge of Nazism rising again, not in one country, but in
the whole world and horribly in our own country. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This kind of
hate is deeply evil, like the blackness of hell. It will turn our whole country
sour and if we do not stand against it deaden our souls. C.S. Lewis had some
dire words to say about how we are either becoming splendid beings or the
monsters of nightmares. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dante places the
devil in his lowest circle of hell frozen in ice—and that is perhaps the gravest
transformation—so frozen in time and place because we no longer care about any other
being but self. I have seen videos of those tearing down posters of kidnapped
children, and they are frozen unable to feel shame or sorrow, they can only
smirk or sneer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are well on their
way to finality in that condition. Lord have mercy on all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-29472344599290677532023-10-14T17:54:00.002-07:002023-10-15T15:26:34.964-07:00And then there is evil, dark putrid, hellish evil—the kind that walks the smelly burning tunnels of damnation.<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In 1999
three synagogues in Sacramento were firebombed. One was destroyed. The
perpetrators were two brothers, white supremacists who also killed two gay men
and bombed an abortion clinic. While much of the community came together and
supported the Jewish community some failed in their concern and attitudes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rBsJybKx-bjC7wQXyoEzV21hq_O7pHlwMQa9S3A98M8EvoTKbpGwmd14AudLtrsM0J0TlgszUmkSYWoetC8X0XWDsUCl-5hufGXQFqJ9-6lMm9MLwj-CKNGFjoOYjN7dL72KgUbZlAoD4C4GNeqUxvO1XjlB-kI6aq3aYcunEDy8TmcZVEbtdpYllXY/s500/two%20birds.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="500" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rBsJybKx-bjC7wQXyoEzV21hq_O7pHlwMQa9S3A98M8EvoTKbpGwmd14AudLtrsM0J0TlgszUmkSYWoetC8X0XWDsUCl-5hufGXQFqJ9-6lMm9MLwj-CKNGFjoOYjN7dL72KgUbZlAoD4C4GNeqUxvO1XjlB-kI6aq3aYcunEDy8TmcZVEbtdpYllXY/w400-h321/two%20birds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Picture by Penny Juncker</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The Inter
Faith director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center called me later, perhaps several
months or a year, (I have forgotten) asking if I could help them find a
Presbyterian church who would show a film on anti-Semitism. They had inquired
of several different Presbyterian churches and the local PBS station and so far
had been turned down. I did find a Presbyterian church, a small, Evangelical
and multi-ethnic Church. It was where one of my daughters was a member. The
meeting was small but fairly well attended given the size of the church.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">What
surprised me was the emotions of the two Jewish people who brought the film.
One of them, who worked with a music association, as we talked after the film,
told me that she was liberal in her politics but had become so discouraged with
the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the left. She no longer would join them in their
marches. Both were discouraged. That was over twenty years ago, and now, today
how must they feel?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">While as a
Christian I believe all are sinners, there is evil, and then there is evil,
dark putrid, hellish evil—the kind that walks the smelly burning tunnels of
damnation. The kind that must lie where Hitler, Stalin and other horrid tyrants
lie in a Dante like circle of hell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">This is the
evil that visited the Jewish nation, raping women, beheading babies, burning
families, blowing young people to bits as they hid in terror. Turning a merry
dance into Satan’s awful ball. The perpetrators were religious in the same way
the ancients of several lands were religious—worshiping the god of this world
who cares nothing for the dignity of humanity despising the image of the
Creator. The ancients sacrificed their own children to the monster Moloch, The
Hamas terrorists sacrificed Jewish babes to Hamas’ dark gods. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Dietrich Bonhoeffer
a pastor during the Nazi years experienced what is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kristallnacht </i>(night of the broken glass), a night when many Jewish
shops, synagogues and homes were destroyed by the Nazis. Many Jews were beaten
and even killed. Bonhoeffer was reading Psalm 74 which he marked because it
speaks of the houses of worship being destroyed: “They have burned your sanctuary
to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name. They said in
their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.” They have burned all the meeting
places of God in the land.” Psalm 74: 7,8. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There is
much more but I found some verses at the end of this Psalm that in this time is
so helpful:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Consider the covenant; for the dark
places of the land are full of habitations of violence. Let not the oppressed
return dishonored; -let the afflicted and needy praise your name. Arise, O God
and plead your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day
long. Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries, the uproar of those who rise
against you which ascends continually. (74 20-23)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Too many on
the left and the very far right are following behind Hamas praising their evil,
calling it good. We need to pray for the Jewish people, pray against Hamas,
pray against those who are backing Hamas, and pray for a great repentance among
those who are cheering such evil. And, yes pray for ourselves that we will walk
faithful to the Lord of creation whose holiness includes truth, kindness,
compassion, forgiveness and redemption. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-50414528354760795572023-09-17T15:17:00.001-07:002023-09-17T15:17:47.313-07:00Snakes, light bulbs, Area 51, Sacha Stone & Scott McKay--Wolves<p></p><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6uYZG645LL135xtmxGnSH0lIackJKAueSLS4-xHxad9-41gNPlvsLxeAiF29mkrPS-jPMhZ2UNV9YVvST0Ax5_g7cdeYvsL9VdtITdQbhna4JUeeXKdjfx8G0jq3I0uabD6hsM5CKGMdXAR0J3pfANVjt6f3oN9sLYLx2OXZ8UYggZXRxQ1lVDPJPJ0/s1153/branches.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1153" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6uYZG645LL135xtmxGnSH0lIackJKAueSLS4-xHxad9-41gNPlvsLxeAiF29mkrPS-jPMhZ2UNV9YVvST0Ax5_g7cdeYvsL9VdtITdQbhna4JUeeXKdjfx8G0jq3I0uabD6hsM5CKGMdXAR0J3pfANVjt6f3oN9sLYLx2OXZ8UYggZXRxQ1lVDPJPJ0/w640-h410/branches.bmp" width="640" /></a></h1><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Over thirty years ago when I wrote an article for <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.equip.org/articles/christian-identity-a-christian-religion-for-white-racists/">Christian
Research Journal</a></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>on a
racist movement “Christian Identity,” I told a friend I would not write on
racist groups anymore because the material was so ugly. God had other plans.
While in the PCUSA I was constantly writing about a Presbyterian committee
which are both progressive and extremely anti-Semitic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am now
Lutheran (Missouri Synod) and I just recently saw an article in the religious news
that several white supremacists, (really Nazis) had recently been banned and
excommunicated from a Missouri Synod Lutheran church. The President of The LCMS
has written <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://reporter.lcms.org/2023/president-harrison-denounces-disturbing-ideologies/">a
faithful letter denouncing such ideology.</a></span> While I want to write
about one of the articles written by this particular racist fellow, he insists
that Hitler was a Christian—I’ve spent several afternoons listening to some
horrid garbage espoused by one of the speakers from the last Reawaken America
Tour. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In my last article, <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-second-coming-of-fascism-to-united.html">The
Second Coming of Fascism to the United States<b>,</b></a></span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I wrote of how reporter and columnist Jake Tapper “ in a <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=search&v=2171088166614203&external_log_id=ee07fefd-e8a5-43db-b4f5-0fad28f4b">video
on Facebook</a></span> shows a small part of a video where Scott McKay [a
sometimes speaker on the Reawaken America tour] states that Hitler was fighting
the same enemies that he and others are fighting.” I added:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Tapper contacted Eric Trump
Jr. who is not only a part of Clay Clark’s Reawaken America Tour but also the
son of ex-President Donald Trump. In the exchange with Trump Jr. and Clark it
is still uncertain whether McKay was allowed to speak at recent conferences or
future ones. What is certain is that McKay is still speaking at many of the
rallies and conferences provided by different adherents of Christian
nationalism.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Now Scott McKay admits in a video,
that he was not allowed to speak at the gathering. But one of <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://rumble.com/v3bkfs1-reawaken-america-tour-las-vegas-day-1.html">his
friends, Sacha Stone, did speak.</a></span>. Both of these individuals are
extremists with wild religious views and using <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2021/05/khazarian-mafia-final-conspiracy-theory.html?fbclid=IwAR0CmO53fBkvyFLC7aKZfZC8">Khazarian
mafia</a></span> conspiracy tales are rabid anti-Semites. Stone <a href="https://rumble.com/v3etkx0-9.7.23-patriot-streetfighter-and-sacha-stones-epic-display-of-the-luciferia.html">pushes
the idea</a> that aliens are in control of many governments’ referring to area
51.There was, according to Stone, a plan to place alien DNA in the human gene
pool. Stone insists that millions of humans are hybridized He states:<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now the real
interventionism or alien invasion are MRNA and DNA related that is connected to
Fauci, connected to Bill Gates, that’s connected to Obama, Bill Clinton, Bush,
… and obviously incumbent puppet Biden regimes are all directly connected …
which is how the devil is being permitted, granted permission by the status quo
on your behalf, on my behalf over the last fifty, seventy-five years or so-in
the main to infiltrate the human MRNA and DNA. All of these systems have now
been infiltrated by the kingdom of the devil through synthetic molecules.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Stone insists that the alien invasion is now inside of
us. He asks and states, “What are we discovering inside human biology? We are
seeing microbe snakes … we are seeing what appears to be spontaneous induction
spontaneous manifestation of reptilian serpentine microbes, little microbe
snakes with scales … He goes on, “with the 5G infrastructure in place and the
pulse waving, pulsing and happening to the 5G antenna …” Stone goes on to point
not only to the 5G towers but also to vaccines and lead light bulbs as the
means of invasion..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">How is this all overcome?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humanity according to Stone has to manifest
utopia using Christ Consciousness or/and their<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kundalini#:~:text=Kundalin%C4%AB%20is%20the%20feminine%20form,through%20prescribed%20p">
Kundalini</a> power. Christ Consciousness is a term McKay uses quite often. Many
Christians hear it and think it applies to Jesus and is personal but instead it
destroys the biblical understanding of Jesus. Christ consciousness is an
impersonal power or force that eastern and/or new age teachers believe must be attained
in order to do miracles or even to evolve into deity. Those advocates for
Christ Consciousness do not believe Jesus is the unique Christ, the second
Person of the Trinity, but that he is simply a man who attained Christ
Consciousness and that we can all do the same. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The Scripture is very clear:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is the liar but the one who denies that
Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and
the Son. 1John2:22.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">It is a great sin that Eric Trump Jr. and Clay Clark and
Michael Flynn keep inviting speakers to their gatherings who are horridly anti-Semitic.
It is also a great sin, perhaps a greater sin, that the three men who call
themselves Christians keep inviting absolute heretics, wolves who will bloody
the sheep to be speakers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">It is not enough that pastors and speakers who call
themselves Christian are invited to preach, or that there are shofars blown or
even baptisms and prayers, they are being used for political purposes. And to
be used that way among the ungodliness of unbiblical teaching is to be placed on
the side of evil. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-38217798687216061122023-08-20T23:25:00.002-07:002023-08-22T19:01:00.162-07:00The Second Coming of Fascism to the United States<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFzCP3UEa1vb5P1ACAPHmt8LK87FhWeO83MLM-kavFsrSfWvBZpG4bq7g3oDs3PsRNUzUuvlbgrN4NUaXfSYi85C2niNpS0PVEygpFz5budvldwU2rF5bQ3UnekEO0K0Z5hjI7iVHjyJaqnDzqjaEvEE0os1OUxQ-YvQEddNns4QzzXpf26JJygUMMbg/s604/Dark%20Ocean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="604" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFzCP3UEa1vb5P1ACAPHmt8LK87FhWeO83MLM-kavFsrSfWvBZpG4bq7g3oDs3PsRNUzUuvlbgrN4NUaXfSYi85C2niNpS0PVEygpFz5budvldwU2rF5bQ3UnekEO0K0Z5hjI7iVHjyJaqnDzqjaEvEE0os1OUxQ-YvQEddNns4QzzXpf26JJygUMMbg/w640-h478/Dark%20Ocean.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">,Volodymyr
Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is Jewish—his grandfather fought with the
red army against the Nazis.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
It was when I read that Tucker Carlson, the recently fired Fox news commentator, stated
on his new Tweeter show that the President of Ukraine was “rat like,” a Nazi
reference to Jews, that I decided to write this essay.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">There was another
time when fascists vied for power in the United States. They even attempted to
place their own candidate in the White House. Some were isolationist who didn’t
want to be involved in a war against Hitler. Some were very far right and
involved in Nazi radicalism such as the Silver Shirts. Some were businessmen and
senators who were doing business with Nazi companies. </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Two well-known men were religious fanatics,
one Catholic and one Protestant, both anti-Semites. Father Charles E Coughlin
produced a </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">popular radio program aimed at promoting Jew hatred and
Gerald Burton Winrod, son of a protestant minister, published Nazi slanted
material, had a radio program and spent time in Germany visiting with German
officials. </span><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> And
finally there was the growing movement of American firsters eventually led by famous
aviator Charles Lindbergh.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Bradley w. Hart
in his book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitler’s American Friends</i>
writes of Lindbergh’s speech in Iowa, September 11, 1941, “Before a crowd of
thousands, he denounced ‘the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>British,
the Jewish and the Roosevelt Administration’ for pushing the country toward
war. ‘We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other people to
lead our country to destruction.’ He concluded If America were to enter the
war, he warned darkly, Jews would ‘be among the first to feel its
consequences.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Lindbergh’s
attitude toward the Jews was confirmed by an earlier passage in his journal.
Hart quotes Lindbergh <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">We
feel that the Jews are among the most active agitators, and among the most
influential. … We feel that, on the one hand it is essential to avoid anything
approaching a pogrom; and that , on the other hand ,it is just as essential to
combat the pressure the Jews are bringing on this country to enter the war. The
Jewish influence is subtle, dangerous and very difficult to expose. As a race …
they seem to invariably cause trouble.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">This was the
earlier Fascist movement in the United States before World War II. But is there
a definition of fascism that fits both this past movement and todays American
Fascism? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">George L. Mosse,
who has written many books on the culture of Nazism, in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General
Theory of Fascism</i> points to several important aspects of Fascism. He
writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Nationalism
is a belief system which provided the foundation for all Fascists movements, it
was the bed rock upon which they were built. Racism of prime importance to
Germany enhanced nationalism and gave it its cutting edge. Finally Fascism must
be understood as a nationalist revolution with its own ideology and its own
goals.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mosse also writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Ideas
of regeneration, of sacrifice, and a vision of utopia were the staple of all of
fascism, as was the need to triumph over ever present enemies. If a heightened
nationalism became a civic religion than racism for all its scientific
pretentions was a belief system as well. <a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">And on religion
Mosse, writing of National Socialism, points out the need for ritual, myth and
symbolism and explains that fascism borrowed from Christianity. He clarifies: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Christianity
was used in order to give fascism a familiar cast, to make it correspond to
something people knew well. The structure of one belief system reinforced
another. These borrowings from Christianity were, of course, stripped of their
content, and nationalism was substituted instead.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Having explained
the features, structure and ideology of fascism, I want to point out that I am
not writing about conservatives, I am after all a conservative. Nor do I
include all of those who are lumped under Trumpism, although many do fit into
this category. And notice that not everyone will be racist although it is
possible that the movement will move into that dark abyss. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking of Anti-Semitism, some already have.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">I have already named
Tucker Carlson, and other articles I have written provide characters that fit
the fascist mold. For instance Bo Polny, a New Apostolic Reformation pastor who
is predicting the hanging of enemies on television as well as a utopian ending
to a financial collapse, fits squarely into this frame. But basically I want to
look at the fascist ideology as it is being expressed in an American, mostly
far right and religious, context, rather than looking at people. Still, that
will, in some cases mean pointing to some people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Nationalism is
certainly a part of the rising fascism, it is the foundation for most of the
movement. The adherents are being called to a pseudo “Christian” nationalism.
“Christian” because the leaders insist that those in the movement must battle
for a Christian nation. Pseudo because their idea of Christian falls short of
orthodox Christianity<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Those tending
toward fascism in the United States are using Christianity in a more literal
way than those in Nazi Germany. Perhaps because as Arthur C. Cochrane points
out in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Church’s Confession Under </i>Hitler
the so called theologians backing Hitler were, “a liberal, nationalistic sect.”
The nationalists in America call themselves evangelical. They attempt to at
least project their image as biblical Christians. But leadership is still
manipulating faith for the sake of political advantage. Using it as a means to
legitimize their nationalist ideology.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">The so called
“Christian Nationalist” in the United States have Christian worship services
not only at churches but within various conferences and rallies. For instance
at Clay Clark’s The Reawaken America Tour there are sermons, baptisms and
prayers but they are mixed with political speeches, the promise of jail and
death to enemies and a constant stream of conspiracy narratives. The Fascist
undertone is the political slant of sermons and prophecies, all laced with the
promise of utopia. Not the second coming of Jesus and the new heaven and new
earth but the wiping out of enemies—Democrats, Communists, Marxist, and Globalist.
A work that is human centered rather than God given and comes with no offer of
the grace of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">. Not unlike the
National Socialist of Germany such leaders as Michael Flynn and Clay Clark as
well as too many pastors who follow them insist on twin allegiances to both
State and Church. Not the State as it is in reality, full of saint and sinner
and a great deal of diversity, but their ideal state—a projection of their own
ideology. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Michael Flynn has
suggested that followers put away their Bibles and instead study the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Constitution</i>, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Federalist Papers</i> and other founding documents. These are of course
great documents to study, protect and care about but the Word of God comes
first. The Word of God is the Christian’s authority. When German Christians in
their Rengsdorf Theses wrote “There is no contradiction between an unreserved
position in favor of the gospel on the one hand and an equally unreserved
position in favor of German nationality (National Socialist State) on the other
hand.” Theologian Karl Barth responded:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">The
Christian Confession of Faith is the only “unreserved” position that is
required of us and permitted to us. Hence all other positions (including those
in regard to German nationality and the National Socialist State) are subject
to reservations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">Whoever
today talks about two ‘unreserved’ positions imagines he is able to serve
Yehweh and Baal, God and Mammon, and places himself outside the evangelical
Church.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">One must say the
same thing to the American Church, “Christian Nationalism” is a contradiction
in terms—the Christian Confession of Faith is our only unreserved position. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">In this American
fascist movement are those who have moved into a Nazi flavored fascism plus there
are those who have cast aside any sense of Christian orthodoxy. I have written
about one particular person, Scott McKay who detests the Christian Church
predicting that all Christianity will change and be involved in Christ
consciousness a rather New Age sounding spirituality. He connects both on his
platform and others with wildly fringe religious views which even includes
aliens. And yet he is invited to speak at Clay Clark’s Reawaken American Tour. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">McKay also holds
to some very strong anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. CNN reporter Jake Tapper
in a <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=search&v=2171088166614203&external_log_id=ee07fefd-e8a5-43db-b4f5-0fad28f4b">video
on Facebook</a></span> shows a small part of a video where McKay states that
Hitler was fighting the same enemies that he and others are fighting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also points to another anti-Semite Charlie
Ward. Tapper contacted Eric Trump Jr. who is not only a part of Clay Clark’s
Reawaken America Tour but also the son of ex-President Donald Trump. In the
exchange with Trump Jr. and Clark it is still uncertain whether McKay was
allowed to speak at recent conferences or future ones. What is certain is that McKay
is still speaking at many of the rallies and conferences provided by different
adherents of Christian nationalism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">There are others
who have also moved into the very radical and uglier side of fascism such as
Nickolas Fuentes who denies the Holocaust; his followers are referred to as
Groypers. This mixture of occultic views, anti-Semitism and other’s attempt to
hold on to Christian “nationalism” is not unlike the fascist movements in both
Germany and American during the 1920’s and 30s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">So where does the
Church belong in the midst of all of this? Faithfulness to Jesus has nothing to
do with promoting a Christian nation but instead lifting up the Lord and His
kingdom. When Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king, Jesus answered that He was
but said “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My kingdom is not of this
world. If My kingdom were of this world then my servants would be fighting so
that I would not be handed over to the Jews but as it is My kingdom is not of
this realm(John 18:36).<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">While there are
social evils that the Church must stand against such as racism, sexual abuse,
abortion and social ills such as homelessness, addiction and poverty that
Christians must work and pray for solutions to, this should not be the major focus
of the Church in the midst of a faith crisis. That there are those who call
themselves Christians who are confused and misled applauding the heresy of
giving “unreserved” allegiance, as it has been put, to political parties and political
leaders placed on golden pedestals, will produce a nightmare for the faithful.
We simply cannot stand in two places.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Constantia",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Traditional Arabic";">The solution
however is not political nor is it activism but the call the church has always
possessed. Go into the world and preach the gospel. Stay faithful to Jesus
Christ—neither the right nor the left. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Continue
being the Church—she is upheld by the Lord and in the midst of what may seem
like unbearable upheavals she will be the one steady, stable haven open to
those who seek safety and comfort.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://jewishunpacked.com/who-is-volodymyr-zelensky-the-jewish-president-of-ukraine/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwuNemBhCBARIsADp74QSWzKg6w5iTpteXl4ULvIdKWo4_EUTNjC50o22ODBTSsGoKDZHuSvQaAqfrEALw_wcB">Who
is Volodymyr Zelensky, the Jewish president of Ukraine? - Unpacked
(jewishunpacked.com)</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/world/news/tucker-carlson-called-ukraines-jewish-leader-zelenskyy-rat-like-on-his-tw">https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/world/news/tucker-carlson-called-ukraines-jewish-leader-zelenskyy-rat-like-on-his-tw</a></span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Bradley
W. Hart, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitler’s American Friends: The
Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States, </i>“The Religious Right,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>(Thomas
Dunne Books St Martin’s Press: New York), See also, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and
America </i>by Steven J. Ross<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>`<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="tab-stops: 153.75pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ibid. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitler’s, “America First.”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ibid, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitler’s, “Lindbergh sees a Plot
for War,” New York Times. 2; Berg, 427.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ibid. Hitler’s American, 179, 181. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> I
should explain that Mosse points out that not all Fascists nations were racist.
Spain was not and at first Italy was not.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
George L. Mosse, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fascist Revolution:
Toward a General Theory of Fascism, </i>(New York: Howard Fertic 1999) xi, xv.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Mosse, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fascist Revolution</i>, xii.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/It%20was%20when%20I%20read%20that%20Tucker%20Carlson%20(Autosaved).docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Arthur C. Cochrane, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Church’s
Confession Under Hitler, </i>(Philadelphia: Westminster Press 1961) 120,121.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
https://youtu.be/0FhK1CBpVsoViola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-20945699130369722042023-07-15T20:28:00.002-07:002023-07-15T20:28:59.519-07:00The Sound of Freedom and a serious problem with truth<p> </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUz4JB7dMFDPTyn1W8dQzl0OI02aVbNQyiJaWngRoQs7EXq2oiHEbQqXBWU0zzjbthXrBASTmL8-n3YumGyIpJHSiQXXY8raYB0rE6zKjtOzzo97bSXlV7lH4eh__WFv_Ogy337-FF6O5bctEf1AeCktyZ5Paj7legZMxrFGUIOmAhbVMse_a4-hJTGV0/s320/Picture1+007%20starving.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUz4JB7dMFDPTyn1W8dQzl0OI02aVbNQyiJaWngRoQs7EXq2oiHEbQqXBWU0zzjbthXrBASTmL8-n3YumGyIpJHSiQXXY8raYB0rE6zKjtOzzo97bSXlV7lH4eh__WFv_Ogy337-FF6O5bctEf1AeCktyZ5Paj7legZMxrFGUIOmAhbVMse_a4-hJTGV0/w300-h399/Picture1+007%20starving.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">picture by Melissa Tregilgas</td></tr></tbody></table>by Viola Larson<br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I’m writing about “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Sound of Freedom</i>” and first I want to put down some facts about the movie
which I admit I have not seen. And then I intend to point to one particular
serious problem with the whole enterprise. It is a problem that is so serious
that it is possible to lead many Christians away from the seriousness of child
sexual abuse and send them toward a damnable ideology.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The first fact is that this movie is about a
horrendous and grievous subject, human trafficking and in particular the
trafficking of children. A subject we should all care about, seeking God’s
mercy and help.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Secondly most writers who disparage the movie at least
admit that it does not draw on conspiracy theories to fill out the plot. Rather
it is somewhat of an action movie portraying the work of Tim Ballard and his
organization Operation Underground Railroad as they rescue children in South
America.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Third fact Tim Ballard is a devout Latter Day Saint
(Mormon) who speaks of his faith. On a LDS video he quotes from the Book of
Mormon a verse he says has helped him in a time of fear, Alma chapter 58, verse
eleven. <a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/blood.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The fourth fact, the actor who plays Tim Ballard, Jim Caviezel,
is a devout Christian, a Roman Catholic. In many interviews he speaks of loving
Jesus and even of Jesus’ return. But here lies the problem possibly tied to an
extreme naivety. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Caviezel has promoted the movie on many far right and
even QAnon platforms including Steve Bannon’s War Room, and he promotes many
awful conspiracy theories in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Caviezel
believes the conspiracy theory that many elites torture and kill children to
drain their blood to obtain what is called adrenochrome which supposedly (but
not really) gives youth to those who use it.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/blood.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> He states that such officials
as the CIA and FBI are the main perpetrators of child trafficking. He insists
that barrels of children’s body parts and blood are going to bio-labs in
Ukraine thus implicating Ukrainian officials in the crime.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/blood.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accusations of child stealing to obtain their
blood is an ancient conspiracy theory used against the Jews. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that old anti-Semite ruse, the use of bankers,
mainly the Rothschild’s, Caviezel names as those who are involved in child
trafficking. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Many Christians and others who consider themselves
patriots seeing the actor who played Jesus in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Passion of the Christ</i> and now plays a heroic man rescuing children
in the jungles of South America will without thinking believe such horrid lies.
This is what happened to too many Germans during the Nazi years. They excused
and followed monsters because they believed the stories that the Jews were
destroying their nation, their families and their culture. Today people are
being asked to believe that many in Hollywood, the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and Democrats
are stealing children, raping, torturing, and killing them for their blood. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">This is not to say that there isn’t a terrible plague of
human trafficking, there is, and there are people and organizations working
against this crime. They understand that human greed and lust are the
motivating factors in such sins. Some of the organizations are <a href="https://childrescuecoalition.org/">Child Rescue Coalition,</a> <a href="https://timtebowfoundation.org/">The Tim Tebow Foundation</a> <a href="https://lanternrescue.org/">Lantern Rescue </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.hugproject.org/">Hug Project</a>,
and <a href="https://www.ncptf.org/">National Child Protection Force</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The person who follows the conspiracies touted by
Caviezel may finally attempt to solve these problems, which are based on lies,
by political means and/or violence. That is what happened with the incident
called Pizza/gate. Some conspiracy advocates kept insisting that there was a
pizza parlor in Washington D.C. where elite democrats (The Clintons for one)
were holding children, torturing and killing them for their blood. One man
hearing this was so incensed he went there with a rifle meaning to rescue
children. As it turned out there were no kidnaped children and although shots were
fired no one was hurt. The man was sentenced to prison. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In a recent blog posting entitled <i><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We cannot promote conspiracies and still be
prepared to speak of the one who is Truth.</span></u></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I wrote, “We
cannot promote conspiracies and still be prepared to speak of the one who is
Truth. We cannot major in our own particular ideology over the truth of the
triune God of the Bible. Our urgency, if we are faithful, whether apologist or
simply follower of Jesus, must be to clear away the rubbish of false doctrine
which includes conspiracies. It is to make the path clear so that others can
freely rejoice in Truth as they submit to the Lordship of Christ.” Our children
are in trouble—they need us to major in truth and in their safety. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/blood.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJof2_59vbc">Tim
Ballard: The Scripture That Saved My Life From Human Traffickers - YouTube</a></span>
.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/blood.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> For
a very complete history and details about adrenochrome see, <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/pseudoscience/qanons-adrenochrome-quackery">QAnon’s
Adrenochrome Quackery | Office for Science and Society - McGill University</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/blood.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://rumble.com/v2vvfmr-jim-caviezel-bombshell-adrenochrome-child-body-parts-ukrainian-bioweapons.html">Jim
Caviezel Bombshell: Adrenochrome $77,000USD per barrel of child parts,
Ukrainian Bioweapons, 3-Letter Agencies & more (rumble.com)</a></span>. <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://rumble.com/v2x2kyf-6.29.23-patriot-streetfighter-roundtable-w-jim-caviezel-on-the-sound-of-fre.html">6.29.23
Patriot Streetfighter ROUNDTABLE w/ Jim Caviezel on "The Sound Of
Freedom" & Operation Underground Railroad’s Nate Lewis (rumble.com)</a></span>
and others.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-13097761511046388772023-05-30T23:48:00.002-07:002023-05-31T10:46:25.374-07:00The Manifested Sons of God, The New Apostolic Reformation and Dark Political Visions<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3sENHguPxkVFMwRMpIXMesL6qdA50I7cn5vj2vNkLGZI6eNFnXgN2zbUhn8Jc9wU9h-tzDph2RGkq_cH60N9JJ5u5DItLqAqW_cIED65_xM_VQ3UdUaiAxOsmV-RBqeLOck3P2RxdnctbnSUd6Iopn2KGRlIHmUpvGtTmUUPGoSS-LuPvDKCN5Ib/s1153/branches.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1153" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3sENHguPxkVFMwRMpIXMesL6qdA50I7cn5vj2vNkLGZI6eNFnXgN2zbUhn8Jc9wU9h-tzDph2RGkq_cH60N9JJ5u5DItLqAqW_cIED65_xM_VQ3UdUaiAxOsmV-RBqeLOck3P2RxdnctbnSUd6Iopn2KGRlIHmUpvGtTmUUPGoSS-LuPvDKCN5Ib/w400-h256/branches.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;"><div><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 107%;">by Viola Larson</span></div><div style="font-size: 14pt;"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">When words such as suffering, cross bearing, humility,
repentance and forgiveness are spoken the Christian generally feels drawn into
a familiar circle. It is a hard circle, but full of the warmth, compassion and
love of Jesus. It is rarely full of glory or worldly victory or great
prosperity, it may be full of sorrow and even despair. But Jesus, He remains
within the circle.</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">This article is about a festering “Christian” movement
preparing to bypass the cross and insisting on glory, worldly victory and great
prosperity. I am returning to issues I have written about in the past, over
thirty years ago. Then it was family and church members entering my office with
tapes and booklets asking me to review them and explain what their family or
friend was involved in. Now it is a movement turning political and dangerous,
marrying the Christian name to ideas of vengeful violence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Years ago writing about two heretical religious movements
I saw they were so connected that I could see them merging into one large
movement. One group was Christian Identity, a movement of anti-Semites who
believed that most white people were descended from ancient Israel, and that
the actual Jews were the literal children of Satan. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The other group, often referred to as the Manifested Sons
of God, believe they will overcome and destroy evil and even death before the
return of Jesus; these two groups were so mixed that I eventually wrote a paper
on the Manifested Sons of God which contained quotes from both groups. And then
I focused on the racist group and wrote <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.equip.org/articles/christian-identity-a-christian-religion-for-white-racists/">Christian
Identity: A “Christian” Religion for White Racist.</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Recently I read three books on the New Apostolic Reformation,
a movement that contains adherents to the Manifested Sons of God teaching. All of
the books are written by Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The books are: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and
New Age Practices in the Church; A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical
Response to a Worldwide Movement; </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God’s
Super Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement. </i>The
books reminded me of my past papers on the <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2021/02/restoring-church-new-revelations-problem.html">Restoration
Movement</a></span> and The Manifested Sons of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The movements I wrote about were the very early beginnings
of the movements Pivec and Geivett have written about. Their information is
excellent. They not only write about the heretical ideas but analyze them from
a strong biblical point of view.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Recently I wrote about Clay Clark, Michael Flynn and Scott
McKay who are part of the far right and hold many conspiracy views.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> They all, along with
others such as Julie Green who is considered a prophet and Eric Trump the son
of past president Donald Trump, are a part of Clay Clark’s The Reawaken America
Tour, and many have connections to the New Apostolic Reformation. While pastors
and writers such as Lance Wallnau and Eric Metaxas may not have attended the
tour they have interacted with and interviewed many participants including Clay
Clark. The movement’s connections are growing within the far right political
groups. <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Among many of them one hears that God isn’t ready for the
tribulation so Christians must fight against the so-called globalists, Marxists
and Democrats in order to delay it. From Eric Metaxas <a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>one hears that if
Christians don’t fall in line, obeying the political ideology pushed by the far
right, a greater evil than the Holocaust will happen. Pastor Michael Petro a
Manifested Sons of God teacher suggests to Bo Polny, his video guest, that the
early church taught that God would “pull a remnant out of the church then God
will cloth them in the glory that Adam lost and they will pull the greatest
revival that’s ever been seen.” Polny agrees with him.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In their speeches and sermons atonement is rarely
mentioned but when it is, it is sadly connected to political salvation. God is going
to help Christians overcome and rule the nations by destroying their enemies. In
a slide show Bo Polny, one of the supposed prophets, is predicting what he
calls the Haman effect, a televised hanging of the movement’s enemies.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Some are predicting a
catastrophe with banks and financial institutions in many countries failing and
most wealth, meaning all gold, silver and real-estate, falling into the hands
of the Christians who belong to this movement. And some antisemitism is
connected to this particular prediction since several refer to the banks as
controlled by the “Khazarian Mafia” which is simply a name taken from a
Baltic tribe that converted to Judaism and is mythicized by several members of
The Reawaken America Tour into evil conspirators. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There are two ways open to followers of Jesus in this
moment. One is biblical consisting of both quietness in lifestyle (1Thess 4:11)
and courage in confession. The other comes from the father of lies and lifts up
sensuality, pride, a security that is tied to human strife and manipulation.
Some theologians refer to the two as the difference between a theology of glory
and a theology of the cross.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> The first seeks constant
victory, material blessings and supernatural events; the other clings to Jesus,
accepting a cross that mirrors His.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The first doesn’t begin erroneous, it begins with the truthful
understanding that God is the creator who is powerful. (Rom. 1:19-20) But the
kindness and compassion of God understood in the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus is not known by simply finding God in creation. God’s revelation in
scripture is Jesus Christ and God’s gift through Him of forgiveness of sins and
everlasting life. While many in the NAR movement and those on the extreme right
speak of God, even Jesus and salvation, they focus, as I have noted, on God’s
power, vengeance and His material blessings. They see supernatural signs as
proof of their own righteousness and correctness predicting a great revival
when people see how the world’s wealth has fallen into their hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The second way Christians are called in this moment, and
that by the Holy Spirit, is the way of the cross. We are called to live a life
that is often full of suffering. We are called to live our life in quietness,
confident only in the knowledge of our relationship to our Lord and our hope in
the resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">And we are called to make our confession to others
including both the far left and the far right. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Lance Wallnau, one of the New Apostolic Reformation
leaders, teaches there is a difference between the Jesus who came to suffer for
our sins and the end times Jesus; not in his person but in his attitudes and
function. Wallnau sees the first as the compassionate Christ and the end times
Jesus as the vengeful warrior. But Jesus does not change, As Hebrews states He is
“the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb 13:8).” He is always the
compassionate Lord and He is always the ruling King.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The problem with Wallnau’s teaching about Jesus coming
back as a wrathful warrior is not this image, but rather his teaching that
Christians must now become more like the end times Jesus in their ministry
seeking power in the various cultural vocations including government and education.
But rather Jesus called His followers, before His return, to abide in Him, to
make disciples, to pray for rulers and individuals, to pray for deliverance
from human evil and immorality, to care for those in need. We are not called to
seek power, position or wealth in his name. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Yes, Christians have vocations in this world, doctors, teachers,
senators, home keepers to name a few, but those vocations are not meant to be
political attempts to defeat enemies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">This festering movement consisting of heretical pastors,
so called prophets and apostles, political extremists and the people they are seducing
may in the end scatter, find darker visions and fade into nothingness. Or they
may become connected to an elected leader and believe they are fulfilling their
own prophecies. They may even attempt to fulfill their darker violent visions. Prayers
for them and their followers. Prayers for the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">But
sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to
everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 4:15).<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2021/07/clay-clark-michael-flynn-and-scott.html">Naming
His Grace: Clay Clark, Michael Flynn and Scott McKay: the Wolf cometh</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2022/10/letter-to-american-church-by-eric.html">Naming
His Grace: Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas: An attack on
"Faith Alone": a book review by Viola Larson</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE-bVGmPYlc">'Sudden' Worldwide DEATHS in
24-Hours! Bo Polny, Michael Petro - YouTube</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=448JHDuOSns">GOD
WINS, 45 RETURNS, HAMAN EFFECT, to be "SEEN ON TV"! Julie Green, Bo Polny
- YouTube</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Often%20dark%20movements%20bleed%20into%20darker%20movements%20and%20become%20dangerous%20and%20too%20often%20the%20danger%20becomes%20political.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Gene Edward Veith Jr.. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Spirituality
of the Cross, </i>(Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2011); New
Dictionary of Theology, Sinclair B. Ferguson, David F. Wright, Editors, J.I.
Packer, Consulting Editor, The Theology of the Cross, R.J. Bauckham. (Downers
Grove: intervarsity Press: 1988).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-7216988771400045272022-10-21T13:30:00.002-07:002022-10-24T22:49:13.370-07:00 Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas: An attack on "Faith Alone": a book review by Viola Larson<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKS_rKuDA9SEk1rarFqn-T1GnGH_QEyPmaMtibwa4UsT8zkmaoBXTw4RBoNiQ5Ab-adDN-U_Qd_PGF2D0Ck7xnPH7H54vkVrILOuodUGu5DHW1XcXmdJo6JS75DP3sY_pcSVz_OOWQmKQIoEOkhfO_gIrHQitBJA3hSEYVAYESIgk4elTDySh5fuiP/s604/Dark%20Ocean.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="604" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKS_rKuDA9SEk1rarFqn-T1GnGH_QEyPmaMtibwa4UsT8zkmaoBXTw4RBoNiQ5Ab-adDN-U_Qd_PGF2D0Ck7xnPH7H54vkVrILOuodUGu5DHW1XcXmdJo6JS75DP3sY_pcSVz_OOWQmKQIoEOkhfO_gIrHQitBJA3hSEYVAYESIgk4elTDySh5fuiP/w482-h360/Dark%20Ocean.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Sometime around 2011, 2012, my husband and I were
boarding a plane on our way to a Presbyterian renewal meeting. It was an event
meant to discuss forming a new Presbyterian denomination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We discovered that many other Presbyterians
were also boarding and many of them were carrying a book by Eric Metaxas,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. </i>Some
of us sensed renewal and courage in the book. I even used some thoughts out of
the book to blog about the politics of 2016, <span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><i><a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2016/02/donald-trump-allowing-himself-to-be.html">Donald
Trump, allowing himself to be an idol: playing with the Führer Principle</a></i></b></span><b>
</b>not realizing that Metaxas evolving politically and religiously would, over
the years, severely disagree with my posting. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Recently someone sent me a link to Metaxas speaking as
a guest on James Robison’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">show The
Stream.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i>
He was being interviewed by Robison about his new book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter to the American Church. </i>Metaxas has been interviewed by many
evangelical pastors and has spoken at many evangelical churches about his book.
Many will hear only his warning about their silence on abortion, transgenderism
and same sex marriage, issues that are troubling evangelical and orthodox Christians.
They may not hear his underlying attempts at justifying ultra conservative
politics over the proclamation of the gospel. Many will not understand or
realize that Metaxas is, probably unintentionally, attacking their faith and
their vocation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Metaxas is using Bonhoeffer, the church in Nazi
Germany and the Holocaust to warn the American Church that if they are silent
they will be the cause of an event worse than the Holocaust. In his interview
with Robison he insists that the warnings are not his but God’s. Metaxas
states: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">“Of course it’s not me
talking when you title a book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter to
the American Church</i> I’m not arrogant enough to think that this is a letter
from Eric Metaxas to the amer… this is in the tradition of letters to the
Philippians. … You know you want to write exactly what you think the Lord is
saying”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Metaxas goes on
to say, “what I believe the Lord is trying to say in this book is exactly what
he said through Bonhoeffer to the German Church which they did not listen to.”
He goes on to portray Bonhoeffer as the prophet that the church in Germany did not
listen to and he blames most of the church in Germany for causing the Holocaust.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I see four problems with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter to the American Church.</i> First, although Metaxas does not, in
his book, claim it is God’s word to the American church, still he has done so
in public. But only Scripture is God’s word to the Church. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Second, Metaxas lays out a simplistic history of the
church in Nazi Germany and uses it to hold the American Church accountable for
a future social disaster that is greater than the Holocaust. Third, Metaxas’
goes beyond concerns of orthodox Christians and includes what he refers to as globalism,
which has nothing to do with biblical principles and is generally part of the
debate about nationalism and isolationism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a very political term. Fourth, and I
believe this is the most troubling problem, Metaxas plays with biblical
doctrine attempting to water down such teaching as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">salvation by faith alone</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">evangelizing</i>/<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">preaching the gospel</i>, in order to
emphasize the church’s need to be political.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Of the German church Metaxas does write in chapter
five of the difference between the Confessing Church pastors and the German
Christians but he only refers by name to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoller
and Karl Barth. Metaxas writes of the drafting of the Barmen Declaration,
declaring “It essentially said that the German state must not and could not
co-opt the Church, that the sanctity and separation of the Church from the state
must be clear.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Yet the Barmen Declaration said so much more, it begins with the essential
truth of the Church, it begins with the Gospel, the word of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">…1.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by
me.” (John14:6) “Truly, truly I say unto you, he who does not enter the
sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a
robber … I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” (John 10:1,9.)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Jesus Christ, as he is
attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear
and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">We reject the false
doctrine, as through the Church could and would have to acknowledge as a source
of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other
events and powers, figures and truths as God’s revelation.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Often, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter
to the American Church, </i>Metaxas is both outwardly and subtly pleading with
the Church to fight its battles in the political arena more so than proclaiming:
the gospel. He believes the Church must change its tactics because of the
changing times. But Barmen places the Gospel as the priority of the Church.
Karl Barth, who Metaxas acknowledges and who is the main author of Barmen
(Bonhoeffer was in London pastoring when the synod of Barmen was held) writes
in his small booklet, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theological
Existence Today</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Of course something has
to be done; very much so; but most decidedly nothing other than this, viz. that
the Church congregations be gathered together again, but aright and anew in
fear and great joy, to the Word by means of the Word. All the crying over the
Church will not deliver the Church. Where the Church is the Church she is
already delivered. Let persecution be never so severe, it will not affect her!
‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Still’ </i>it is said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘still, </i>shall the City of God abide,
lusty beside her tiny stream’ (Psalm xlvi. 5; Luther’s translation).<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Metaxas too often merges the two differing church
groups, the German Christians and the Confessing Church, using them as straw
men in order to make his point that the silence of the church in Germany was
the cause of the Holocaust and that the Church in America might also become a
cause of disaster. There was a group of churchmen, the German Christians, who
sought to gain power, political power, by aligning with a tyrant, a madman who
constantly sought power and lied about his intentions to protect the Christian
faith. His religion was in a positive Christianity with no place for the Jesus
of the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The German Christians did not cause the Holocaust but
they did contribute to it by their political maneuvering and their
unfaithfulness to the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ. They too had no place
for a suffering Savior.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There was a true Church, the Confessing Church, yes
weak, and sometimes silent when they needed to speak out but nonetheless faithful
to Christ holding to the teachings of the Word. Dean G. Stroud, editor of the
book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Preaching in Hitler’s Shadow </i>writes
of the pastors preaching the gospel in such a way that Hitler and Nazism was
confronted. He writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Compared to Christ how
small Hitler appeared. Against the horrible distortion of words by Goebbels and
his propaganda machine the Christian in the pulpit offered the truth of the
gospel and the integrity of the “word made flesh.” In so doing certain themes
stand out in these sermons of opposition: the authority of Jesus Christ; the
sovereignty of God; both the Old and New Testaments as Holy Scripture; the
purity of the church; the certainty of God’s judgement on Germany for
immorality and for failure to love the neighbor, especially the Jewish brother
and sister; the relevance of the gospel after the European Enlightenment and in
spite of Nazi pseudoscience and paganism; and the gospel’ insistence that
Christians must risk even their lives for the truth of Christianity. <a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">This leads to my biggest concern with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter to the American Church. </i>Metaxas
plays with some basic biblical doctrines in an attempt to justify politics and advocacy
over the preaching of the Gospel. Writing of Luther’s attempts at justification
through his own works and his delight in the free gift of grace he found in
Scripture, Metaxas states:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">But in his understandably
giddy joy, Luther may sometimes have gone a bit farther than necessary, or at
least opened the door for others to do so. For example, when he translated
Romans 3:28 from the original New Testament Greek into German, Luther added
the single word “alone” to the following sentence: ‘For we hold that one is
justified by faith apart from the law.’ Luther’s version was, ‘Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alone</i>
without the deeds of the law.’ Luther felt the need to add that word to underscore
what for him was essentially the central idea in the universe, and he may be
forgiven for this. <a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Metaxas in his attack goes on to write:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">We might say that Luther
had in his zeal made an idol of his idea of faith, so that the genuine faith to
which God calls us was crowded out.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Bringing this idea to the question of the Church in
Germany during the Nazi years and the American Church today, Metaxas writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The phrase ‘faith alone’
had made the Christian faith so simple—and ultimately so thin and
one-dimensional—that over time it was easily and blithely assented to by nearly
everyone in the German nation, so that Bonhoeffer wrote about it in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cost of Discipleship.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">However countering Metaxas’ opinions about Luther’s
translation is information on the web site <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.thereformationroom.com/single-post/2017/01/12/did-luther-add-alone-to-romans-328">Reformation
Room.</a></span> Luther was not attempting to develop new doctrine but was
concerned with translation. He was “simply striving to bring the precision of
the Greek into the German.” And while it is mainly Roman Catholics who dispute
his translation still many of them except it. For instance Timothy George,
Associate Professor of historical theology and church history at the Southern
Baptist theological Seminary in Louisville, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theology of the Reformers, </i>places a note under his commentary on
Luther’s use of faith alone:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luther did not of course invent this phrase.
The German Bible published at Nurnberg in 1483 translated Galatians 2:16 as
‘gerechtfertigt … nur durch den Glauben.’ [justified by faith alone] Further
the term <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sola fide </i>was well
established in the Catholic tradition having been used by Origen, Hilary,
Chrysostom, Augustine, Bernard, Aquinas, and others but without Luther’s
particular nuances.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Going further Metaxas mentions that Bonhoeffer in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cost of Discipleship </i>wrote about
Luther’s translation and its bad influence on the German population. But the
truth is Bonhoeffer never accused Luther’s translation, nor joy in grace alone,
of being the reason the German Christians became so lukewarm. He in fact uses
Luther to refute their lazy discipleship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bonhoeffer writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">When he spoke of grace,
Luther always implied as a corollary that it cost him his own life, the life
which was now for the first time subjected to the absolute obedience of Christ.
Only so could he speak of grace. Luther had said that grace alone can save, his
followers took up his doctrine and repeated it word for word. But left out the
invariable corollary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no need
for Luther to always mention that corollary explicitly for he always spoke as
one who had been led by grace to the strictest following of Christ.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Metaxas believes he is calling the Church to a
righteous cause. Yes, Christians and others must speak against the killing of
the unborn, for the sacredness of marriage between man and \ woman and speak
against the mutilation of the body in order to claim a new gender identity. But
the calling of the Church is much deeper. It is not a call to politics but a
call to the cross, to the suffering Savior—a call to the gospel. Faith is a
gift that God gives through Jesus Christ. As Paul writes in Ephesians:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">“For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph.
2:8,9 NASB)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Even the good works we are called to are prepared by
God so we fulfill His purposes as a gift. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.(Eph. 10 NASB)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Rather than applauding Metaxas’ attack on “grace
alone” the Church should be frightened at the possibility of a new, perhaps old,
darkness entering the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1g-DOb3jcc">Let's
Learn From the Silence of the German Church Before the Holocaust - YouTube</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Eric Metaxas<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, Letter to the American
Church</i>, (Salem Books: Washington D.C. 2022) 43.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Arthur C. Cochrane, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Church’s
Confession Under Hitler, </i>appendix VII, ( Westminster: Philadelphia 1961)
239<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Karl
Barth, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theological Existence To-Day: A
plea for theological freedom, </i>( Hodder and Stoughton: London 1933) 77,78.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Dean
C Stroud, editor, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Preaching in Hitler’s
Shadow: Sermons of Resistance in the Third Reich, </i>(William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company: Grand Rapids 2013) 48.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Metaxas, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter,</i> 57,58.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ibid<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, Letter</i>, 58.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ibid, 67.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
CF.Kling, pp 249-250, Timothy George, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theology
of the Reformers, </i>(Broadman Press: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText">Nashville 1988) 70-71.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/eric.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cost of Discipleship, </i>(A
Touchstone Book, Simon & Toronto: New York 1995) 40-50.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div><br /></div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LLevsV6QuoM?start=209" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-79679237758352610392022-04-06T21:41:00.001-07:002022-04-06T21:43:14.707-07:00The Awful Lie-The Ukrainians are not Nazis, but Putin and Russian leadership should assume the title <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3zWGYCC2qEW-xgNDZofD7N4geJFAp53D6S-_FtiK9Q9hJt1V_1IQ7ZzAxQ_aj1deDHfvpMmVtbchFMQNZXsq8mQU2DjWEweqkSjtW7JH1YBH61HinWLsU_VpCIW8OhEUZ6RfEy9a3SVcchm1nAzt8Ie2KQuHBrIPXzZ8zSInyZnaAz5agkXsnuvh/s774/david%20garden%207.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="774" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3zWGYCC2qEW-xgNDZofD7N4geJFAp53D6S-_FtiK9Q9hJt1V_1IQ7ZzAxQ_aj1deDHfvpMmVtbchFMQNZXsq8mQU2DjWEweqkSjtW7JH1YBH61HinWLsU_VpCIW8OhEUZ6RfEy9a3SVcchm1nAzt8Ie2KQuHBrIPXzZ8zSInyZnaAz5agkXsnuvh/w640-h378/david%20garden%207.bmp" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Jonah Goldberg of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Dispatch, </i>in his article, “<a href="https://gfile.thedispatch.com/p/is-it-okay-to-use-the-g-word?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0MzQxMTYyLCJwb3N0X2lkIjo1MTc0NjcwNiwiXyI6ImxmeTVaIiwiaWF0IjoxNjQ5Mjk4MzYxLCJleHAiOjE2NDkzMDE5NjEsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNzgxOSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.ohaFF-XX4FsvXDtkxgjX9SvEpyMWwT4Se07p_shermc&s=r">Is
It Okay To Use the ‘G-Word’?</a>”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>linked
to a horrific article written by a Russian propagandist and <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">published in a Russian state-owned “news
agency <i>RIA Novosti (Russian: РИА Новости</i>).” The article, “<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://medium.com/@kravchenko_mm/what-should-russia-do-with-ukraine-translation-of-a-propaganda-article-by-a-russian-journalist-a3e92e3cb64">What
should Russia do with Ukraine?</a><b>” </b></span>is posted in English at Medium.Com
and introduced by Maria Kravchenko. Some of Kravchenko’s explanations are:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The
author, a Russian political technologist, also has the audacity to talk about
the Soviet occupation of Ukraine. He is trying to support Putin’s narrative
about Ukraine as an artificial country. Instead, the world should remember that
the Soviet Union terrorized Ukraine for almost a century with forced collectivization,
Great Purge, Terror-Famine (Holodomor), forced deportation, etc.<br />
</span></i><i><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">⠀</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br />
In this article, the author is describing ways how Russians want to wipe out
Ukraine in the same way the Soviet regime did it.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">All
of the article is a lie and is a design for murdering, imprisoning and destroying
Ukraine and its people. Kravchenko pleads:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s
important to spread this article. The Russian war should be stopped now. It was
supposed to be stopped 8 years ago when it only began. 71% of Russians feel
proud about this war. 75.5% of Russians approve of the idea of a military
invasion of the next country and believe that it should be Poland. According to
respondents, this is a logical continuation of the so-called “military special
operation of the Russian Federation”.<br />
</span></i><i><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">⠀</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br />
The world should be aware of Russian methods, crimes, and plans. Putin will not
stop until he is stopped.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Also
Timothy Snyder, a historian and professor at Yale and author of many books on authoritarian
nations including, <i>Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin </i>has referred
to the article on Twitter writing, “An article in the official state Russian
news agency RIA Novosti advocates the elimination of the Ukrainian people as
such. The text is so despicable that I’m not going to link to it. Will write
about it later.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Hopefully
he will write about it soon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The
article claiming most of Ukraine is Nazified attempts to purify Putin’s actions
but in reality reveals an ideology that shows that the leadership of Russia is truly
copying Nazi Germany. Some of the statements remind the reader of Hitler’s
final solution of the Jewish people only now it is about the Ukrainian people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For
instance, “Apparently, the name “Ukraine” cannot be kept as a title of any
fully denazified state entity on the territory liberated from the Nazi regime.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And,
“Unlike, for example, Georgia or the Baltic States, history has proved it
impossible for Ukraine to exist as a nation-state, and any attempts to “build”
such a nation-state naturally lead to Nazism. Ukrainism is an artificial
anti-Russian construct that has no civilizational substance of its own, a
subordinate element of an extraneous and alien civilization.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Also:
“Denazification as a goal of the special military operation within the limits
of the operation itself means a military victory over the Kyiv regime, the
liberation of the territories from the armed supporters of nazification, the
elimination of hard-line Nazis, the imprisonment of war criminals, and the
creating of systemic conditions for further denazification in peacetime.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">And: “— The seizure of educational materials and the
prohibition of educational programs at all levels that contain Nazi ideological
guidelines;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">— Mass investigations aimed to establish personal
responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity, the spread of Nazi
ideology, and support for the Nazi regime;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">— Lustration, making the names of accomplices of the
Nazi regime public, involving them in forced labor to restore the destroyed
infrastructure as punishment for Nazi activities (from among those who have not
become subject to the death penalty or imprisonment);”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Remember every time the term Nazification or Nazi is
used in this article it is a lie, an evil misuse of language in order to
destroy a people. It is meant to allow Putin and the Russian Government to slander,
kill, maim and destroy in the name of some kind of supposedly righteous angel
who is in reality a demon from hell. An anti-Christ in words and actions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">All of those on the far right, the Christians on the
far right, who are glorifying Putin or anyone who agrees with him are reminiscent
of the German Christians during Hitler’s time who were willing to send Jews,
socialists, the disabled and yes, even Confessing pastors to concentration
camps and death chambers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dom89BdgE50" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-61710486411191223882021-08-14T01:03:00.002-07:002021-08-14T07:03:58.571-07:00We cannot promote conspiracies and still be prepared to speak of the one who is Truth. <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkziOo8a2dpt_CwPZ-30br0el13fToq2_ZNgM8qok6PhFRhofb5SHyiwJRas_tRIDze2eaVocwQLjlnuY1kNdQY00lE4_8UD_3CO-YKFEJpRc20xNALCXNAkuqev8XtezDdfvTykNIPEY/s640/July2007redwoodstrip035.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkziOo8a2dpt_CwPZ-30br0el13fToq2_ZNgM8qok6PhFRhofb5SHyiwJRas_tRIDze2eaVocwQLjlnuY1kNdQY00lE4_8UD_3CO-YKFEJpRc20xNALCXNAkuqev8XtezDdfvTykNIPEY/w640-h334/July2007redwoodstrip035.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Grief keeps following me—it seems that the past keeps
unraveling—but God surely knows—His ways are not in darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I have written before about a time, when working in
apologetics and new religions ministry I watched various apologetics groups
around me fall into troubling ways of doing ministry. One group, in Berkeley,
started using conspiracy theories even anti-Semitic theories. Jesus chased the
money lenders out of the temple and they went out and became the international
bankers they wrote. Another apologetic group tried to solve heresy problems by
attempting to cast demons out of Christians a heresy itself. The Holy Spirit does
not dwell where demons dwell and one is not a Christian without the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Now I am grieving over another ministry group as I
watch them go down the broken road of conspiracies and radical ideas. This is a
ministry I have loved and respected. I had taught workshops alongside them and
used the materials they sent about worldviews, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but now …. The head of their ministry, Rich
Poll, wrote in an e-mail sent August 12, “<i>My wife Pam and I began the
ministry of Apologia in 1995. Since then, our work has had a growing focus of
tracking the worldview/ideology/human rights connection. It began with
worldview alone, but lately the rest has become ever more urgent.” </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">But what is the rest? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">There are three items in
the e-mail and two are very troubling. Poll quoted an e-mail his wife had sent
out, “I've been researching election fraud since last Nov and what I've
discovered is that, according to physicists, mathematicians, statisticians, and
cyber security experts, the voting machines used in the USA are totally
unsecured and easily hacked.</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Several of these experts have proven the machines
are controlled by algorithms and hackers.” She goes on to write about an event
which will supposedly prove the truth of election fraud. She writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There's a big event
happening this week called a Cyber Symposium which will be streaming all day
and night this Tues Wed and Thursday on <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.frankspeech.com/" target="_blank">www.frankspeech.com</a></span>.
A group of white hat hackers recorded the Packet Captures for the entire Nov
2020 election which means they can prove what exactly happened in the voting
machines — if they were hacked and if votes were changed. [If you click on any
of the links in the e-mail you will reach “Frank” a new platform promoted by
Mike Lindell. You have to join to hear anything. I have not joined.]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">This is about Mike Lindell’s insistence that the 2020
election was stolen by China. If you are interested in the truth about Packet Captures
and Lindell’s films there is an excellent article on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dispatch </i>site, <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-checking-absolutely-9-0-the">Fact
Checking ‘Absolutely 9-0,’ the Latest Documentary From Mike Lindell</a>.</span></span><b>
</b>However you also need to subscribe to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Dispatch </i>to read the information. There is a great deal of detail in the
article but I will try to cover a few points here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The article simply details the impossibility of
Lindell being able to see what he claims to see. Khava Himmelman, author of the
article writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kevin Skoglund, president and chief
technologist of<a href="https://www.citizensforbetterelections.org/?page_id=350"> Citizens
for Better Elections</a>, a nonpartisan nonprofit described as being “dedicated
to promoting election security and efficiency in Pennsylvania,” explained in an
interview with <b>The Dispatch Fact Check</b> that PCAP, or packet
capture, is a standard networking way that you can view traffic over the
internet. “Traffic over the internet is sent as packets of information,” he
said. “They aren’t encrypted, necessarily, but they are encoded, because they
don’t need to be human-readable while they’re in transit.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Further into the article Himmelman quotes “Douglas
Jones, an associate professor of computer science” writing:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Jones also noted why it
would be so difficult to access this information. Jones mentioned that Lindell
is claiming that his PCAPs show exactly how many votes were stolen through
these internet transactions, but his evidence doesn’t hold up. “The only way to
capture packets addressed to and from all those different election offices
around the country would be to have the resources of the NSA [the National
Security Agency],” he said. “That is, if his data is real and not entirely
fictional, the only source would be someone inside the NSA providing it. This
would be a felony violation of U.S. law—actually a compound felony.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Himmelman continues:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Jones also pointed out a
number of flaws with Lindell’s supposed PCAP evidence. “He claims to not only
know who sent and who received the packets, but also what those packets meant,”
said Jones. “That means that his source has decrypted the traffic. Modern
cryptography is really strong. The NSA and the FBI have a very hard time
breaking codes used routinely for such things as encrypted email and web
service.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, as Jones
points out, Lindell says that in certain cases, PCAPs show evidence of specific
numbers of votes stolen. “That requires understanding the mechanism of vote
theft,” he said. “It's very hard for me to imagine a message, in a single
packet, saying ‘steal 10 votes from Trump.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There is reference to another film, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/inside-the-shadow-reality-world-promoting-the-lie-that-the-presidential-election-was-stolen/">The
Deep Rig produced by Patrick Byrne</a>, also insisting the election was fraudulent.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The other item in the e-mail that troubled me was
connected to the pandemic we are all experiencing. Once again Pam Poll is quoted:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I believe this
authoritarian control is the ultimate goal of the perpetrators of the Covid
virus. Vaccine passports are now required to function in Israel. Even though
the vaccines have failed to protect people from the latest mutation (driven by
the vaccines), they are still forcing people to get injected regardless of
millions of adverse reactions worldwide including death. Hard to understand
such evil would take place an (sic) a country that was founded by Nazi
survivors. Pray we can resist Vaccine Passports here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Clearly there are several problems here including the
assumption that there were perpetrators who sought authoritarian control, we
don’t yet know how COVID-19 occurred, we may never know. The other problems—the
idea that the vaccines have failed to protect from the latest mutations—that the
latest mutation was driven by the vaccines—that there are “millions” of adverse
reactions caused by the vaccines—that vaccine passports are evil. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There can of course be differences of opinion
on the vaccine passports but when the opinion is based on conspiracies that is
another matter. And this leads to my overall concerns.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The biblical picture of God and His rule is kindness,
compassion, justice and truth. And those attributes go together. In fact, Jesus
Christ, very God of very God, is Truth, is Life, is the Way. When I was still
in the PCUSA our presbytery leader, upset at some words I had written on my
blog, asked me to read I Corinthians 13 as part of our worship service and read
it twice. I was fairly certain that he asked me to do the reading because he
felt I needed to know more about love but before the day came he called and
suggested I should probably only read it once. I told him no I would read it
twice. Here is the reason why. The chapter explaining what love is and does
states in verse six “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Does not rejoice in
unrighteousness, but rejoices with the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">truth.”<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">We were concerned at the time with voting to retain
the biblical view of marriage which is biblically between one man and one
woman. We failed and many of us are no longer PCUSA. But now, for me, and
hopefully for other Christians the issue is the Lordship of Jesus. We cannot promote
conspiracies and still be prepared to speak of the one who is Truth. We cannot major
in our own particular ideology over the truth of the triune God of the Bible. Our
urgency, if we are faithful, whether apologist or simply follower of Jesus,
must be to clear away the rubbish of false doctrine which includes conspiracies.
It is to make the path clear so that others can freely rejoice in Truth as they
submit to the Lordship of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9zZSsBDxCvo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-4610281961329677902021-07-19T23:01:00.002-07:002021-07-19T23:23:00.324-07:00Clay Clark, Michael Flynn and Scott McKay: the Wolf cometh<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiHfP47XgVRQ0fg8E4_s0oiuJQdLq__RQ3F3RBH5mk7h_san10MvmS5KxptQxDxA_lvRArIA0nJqEgomr7-iKrQl3qpU4YxJ6bRR31G5miE7UwASkobXzMyVqh8qzMHtFWZUMQF87Nf4/s747/door+in+France.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="520" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiHfP47XgVRQ0fg8E4_s0oiuJQdLq__RQ3F3RBH5mk7h_san10MvmS5KxptQxDxA_lvRArIA0nJqEgomr7-iKrQl3qpU4YxJ6bRR31G5miE7UwASkobXzMyVqh8qzMHtFWZUMQF87Nf4/w278-h400/door+in+France.jpg" width="278" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The Wolf cometh….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I have written in the past about Paul Schneider the
first Protestant pastor to die at the hands of the Nazis. One of his many objections
to the Nazis was their war against true Christianity, which included their
paganism. In an earlier article I wrote, “<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2008/04/paul-schneider-chestnut-tree-and.html">Paul
Schneider: A Chestnut Tree and the Confessing Church</a></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">,” I began with:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Pastor
Paul Schneider at the funeral of a child “denounced the web of pagan mythology
that for political reasons was being superimposed upon the Christian concept of
the hereafter.” He, like other members of the Confessing Churches had denounced
the attempt by various groups and people in Germany to de-Christianize the churches.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I wrote that article with
the progressive mainline churches in mind as the “German Christians” were both
liberal and nationalist, fighting for the superiority of the Germanic race
while attempting to reinterpret the Scriptures. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, thirteen years later, I am writing this
with a far-right movement in mind. There are people who profess Christianity
and yet cling to many of QAnon’s conspiracies without understanding the
horrible faithlessness to Christ their commitment to QAnon entails. They are
seemingly unaware of the true ideology many QAnon leaders hold. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I listened to a video of two
of these leaders, Scott McKay and Michael Jaco, who were discussing their
religious views while suggesting that the churches of today would be destroyed
as their new utopia world is revealed. One of them begins the conversation by
stating, “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">We determine what we want; our conscious thoughts
create what we want.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In the continuing <a href="https://rumble.com/vhbxsv-scott-mckay-and-michael-jaco-we-are-in-the-final-stage.html">conversation</a>
Scott McKay says:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Getting to the religious
order Mike … here’s the thing what most people don’t understand is that a
satanic order has had a massive influence on the Bible itself stripping out
many books out of the Bible taking many things that are actually indicative of
this realm of human consciousness, the Christ’s consciousness, God’s
consciousness that you and I understand. A lot of people don’t. There was a
time when I didn’t either … The satanic order has made our existence as
spiritual beings, have muddied it so much that when this all comes down and the
people are going to learn the truth of a lot of things they’ve thought about from
the religious aspects of their lives this entire institution of religion which
Christ was never a proponent of, neither is our Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">McKay adds, “We who have this consciousness of light
rising …now that we know there’s going to be a hayside taken to the religious
order to get them out of the way to learn the truth.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Scott McKay is one of the fellows I have written about
who is anti-Semitic since he imagines, what he calls the khazarian elite
bankers, the khazarian Jews, as those who are controlling world events. As I
pointed out in another <a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2021/05/khazarian-mafia-final-conspiracy-theory.html">article</a>,
McKay is attempting to portray the Jews of Europe, those who lost 6 million
members to the Holocaust, those who were at the forefront of establishing the State
of Israel, as fake Jews and evil conspirators. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Now McKay’s thoughts and speech have and are being allowed
at huge gatherings promoting conspiracies about the 2020 election and COVID.
General Michael Flynn and Clay Clark, who endorses extreme conspiracies, are
involved in what they are calling “The Reawaken America Tour.” McKay, who
several months ago interviewed Clay Clark on his own Patriot Street Fighter
YouTube video, is among the many speakers including <a href="https://americanfaith.com/anaheim/">Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Lin Wood,
Mike Lindell, Clay Clark and several pastors</a>. McKay’s speech is extremely
troubling:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holding up the Tomahawk he sells and carries
he states, “so for those we have to work on, because of my native heritage this
tomahawk represents what we are going to offer these scumbags and these
criminals, these politicians, these corrupt people. This is a peace pipe, this truly
is a functional peace pipe and I’m going to get to the point, no we never
smoked anything out of it yet—this is what we offer them if they put down their
corrupt ways, leave power, leave office, and move on and give us our country
back this is what they get. However if they chose to continue the corrupt ways
the only thing left for them is the blade of war of we the people and that’s coming.”
[The tomahawk comes apart and one end is a peace pipe.]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">McKay begins talking about his internet programs and
combines it with what he calls “spiritual ascension and human consciousness” and
aims it at those he calls scumbags. Then he turns to the preachers. He harangues
them: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">You know what the problem
is? We need the preachers and the pastors in the country to come on this
battlefield, with my attitude, all over the country. I assure you if these guys
came into the public forum of conversation with my attitude this thing would
end fast believe me! Believe me, you have the pastors coming out in the country
like it is the revolutionary war putting the Bible down, grabbing the musket
heading out into the hills, packing gunpowder in that thing and start going into
the fight, taking human life. If they would come at it from that perspective this
thing collapses quickly, most of you know I attack the religious order every
chance I get. Why? Because if they worked, if what they were doing was
efficient, if that message was working this world wouldn’t have ascended into
the satanic world it is. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">During McKay’s speech he refers to the small children who are supposedly being abused and their blood used as a restorative potion. This
is the new blood libel not unlike the one told about the Jews in the medieval
years, but now it is the Democrats, Hollywood, etc. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul Schneider,
the first Protestant Martyr under the Nazis was beaten and then poisoned to
death because he would not comply with Nazi ideals. Last night I watched the
movie, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Hidden Life, </i>about the
Austrian Catholic farmer, Franz Jägerstättar, who was imprisoned, beaten and
then beheaded simply because he would not take the vow to serve Hitler. Neither
of these men were considered great in their communities. One a pastor the other
a farmer, both husbands and fathers of several children, they understood both
obedience to the ultimate authority, His word and their own conscience. They
would not accept the lies and distortions of the Christian faith. They would
not accept the slanders prevalent at the time, the slanders that cut away the
humanity of innocent people. Their faith was centered absolutely in the cross,
not guns or swords, no not even tomahawks. Their glory was the cross.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The one conference video I watched was filled with
people cheering McKay on in his speech. Many of the speakers listed for that
and other conferences are considered Christians, most undoubtedly charismatic and
many part of what is called positive Christianity or “name it and claim it”
Christianity. They have forgotten the cross, their calling.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The efficient work, the efficient message of the pastor, the
preacher, the elder, is Jesus Christ crucified. Lord lead us back to the cross—make
the cross central to our lives—it is our true calling.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8nLXXephYRI" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-58312553302767660562021-05-11T22:42:00.001-07:002021-05-12T13:14:19.486-07:00Khazarian Mafia- the final conspiracy theory that opens the door to hell<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOumvBxSjydDSzcmzTGVwvBoUGCKWZWPpWuPtrO_C3NqcVmrq5HnX3nNEyyaMQ6VPU4rjA29KWM5I7r6sVbnr7jm2lvTwRgn-bpyr_Kow-buANTEC-1PcMI1DVUX7hHMkBfjzyNvdljU/s720/dark+shadows.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOumvBxSjydDSzcmzTGVwvBoUGCKWZWPpWuPtrO_C3NqcVmrq5HnX3nNEyyaMQ6VPU4rjA29KWM5I7r6sVbnr7jm2lvTwRgn-bpyr_Kow-buANTEC-1PcMI1DVUX7hHMkBfjzyNvdljU/w452-h271/dark+shadows.bmp" width="452" /></a></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">If the darkness
of conspiracy telling had ended with the 2020 election truth might have better
entered the broken corners of America. But
there are thousands of listeners on YouTube, and the more radical places on the
internet, being led on a bizarre journey which is troubling, frightening and
evil. Led by numerous so called warriors, prophets, political celebrities and
the odd military retiree, with stories about the illuminati, tunnels six miles
under the United States where children are tortured and their blood drained,
aliens from other worlds and supposed top military personnel busy arresting
Democrats and others—and then above all there are the Jewish people, the
scapegoats of history. Yes, too many are descending into that deep
abyss—Anti-Semitism. And they are taking thousands with them by twisting the
truth.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the
more popular personalities among these “warrior patriots” is Scott McKay<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
In one video, joined by Mike Jaco & David Nino Rodriguez, McKay speaking of
the cabal, a group QAnon adherents believes is controlling the world, states: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This Cabal is in a death spiral regardless of what people
think because as you know I often for over a year now have been hammering away
on this khazarian mafia. No one…in the past wants to come right out and name
exactly what they are, the khazarian elite bankers, the khazarian Jews who
aren’t even Jewish at all they’re Judaic by adoption of a religion but these
people have never lost power [for] 1400 years and then what happens they lose
power when Donald Trump is elected<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In another
video McKay calls the Khazars, Satanist murders who “infiltrated every
country,” continued “satanic ritual abuse murder,” infiltrated European banks
and killed all of the royal families. inferring that the Windsor family of Britain
are Khazars. In other words what McKay is implying is that the Jews who
eventually found their homes in Europe, Britain, and eventually the United
States, are not really Jews.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
And remember these are the Jews who died in the Holocaust. They are mostly the <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews">Ashkenazim</a></i></span>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Scott McKay
is not the only one touting the view that the Khazars have been ruling and
manipulating the world through banks, politicians and governments. Many of his
guests both on his show and on their own agree. But who are the Khazars and how
are they connected to the Jewish people?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Harry Ostrer
in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Legacy: A Genetic History of
the Jewish People, </i>writes of the Khazars, “The Chozars (or Khazars) were a
people of Central Asian Turkic origin who ruled a Jewish state between the
Caucasus Mountains and the Volga River.” He goes on to explain:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the middle of the eighth century, the Khazar king and
aristocracy embraced Judaism. Ordinary Khazars retained their traditional
beliefs and were eventually converted to Islam or Christianity. Around 965 c.e.
the Russians overcame the Khazars destroying their capital and other cities.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">David B. Goldstein
a professor of molecular genetics at Duke University, who with another genetics
professor traced the genetic background of the Jewish name Cohen, which means
priest, close to the time of Solomon’s temple, is interested in the Khazars and
the possibility that they have contributed to the DNA of the Ashkenazim Jews.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
That there once existed a kingdom that converted to Judaism is a point of pride
to the Jewish people but so far this has not been proven genetically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And although Goldstein sees at the moment no
genetic link he and others see the possibility of linguistic links.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Kevin Alan
Brook in his 2006 edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Jews of
Khazaria, </i>writing about the new revelations he has found since his first
edition, states in his introduction:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">… it has become clear that the Khazar ancestral component in
Ashkenazic Jewry is not as large as we might have once imagined. Nevertheless
the basic theory that I proposed in the first edition—that East European Jews
descend from a mixture of Khazars, Slavs, Middle Eastern Jews, German Jews and
Czech Jews—remains in accord with the known evidence, and we still see the East
Slavic-speaking Jews who inhabited Kievan Rus’ and Lithuanian Grand Duchy as
the missing link between the Turkic-speaking Khazars of the early medieval era
and the Yiddish-speaking Jews of later times. We will also encounter
confirmation that Ashkenazic Jews are closely related to Sephardic Jews,
Italian Jews, Mountain Jews, and several other Jewish populations.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What can be
seem from all of these scholars is that the accounts of the Khazars and the
Jews given by McKay and other anti-Semites is not historical. While there are
links between the Khazars and the Jewish people there is no proof that the Jews
of Europe became the manipulative “Khazarian Mafia” as McKay calls them. But
his followers need to know that when he calls a group of people the Khazarian
Mafia he is actually referring to a group of the Jewish people. And because he
places them in Europe and then in Israel he is referring to those Jews who lost
whole families in the Holocaust. To follow McKay is to follow a copy of an
image from the Nazi era. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And to
enlarge the image, make it stronger, most QAnon leaders sell things like hats
and t-shirts and McKay does also but he also sells hatchets. Yes, real hatchets—ones
with what he says is a peace pipe on the end—so offer peace but if not then the
hatchet.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How to put
it plainly—the Jews are the Jews, all of them—they are God’s chosen people.
Contrary to what some QAnon leaders say the “Kazarian Mafia” has not put false
words in the Holy Bible. All of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, speaks of
God’s redemption coming through the Jews. Jesus told the Samarian woman:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You worship what you do not know. We worship
what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (John 4:22)</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To continue days on end listening to these
false prophets is to follow darkness into spiritual death. These wolves are
attempting to point others toward their version of a utopia after supposedly
top military officials will arrest all evil doers and jail or execute them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gone is any vision of a redeemed world—and a
redeemed people. Instead laid out before their followers is hell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-size: medium;"><br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
While in the midst of this I saw his face appear in an NBC news story about how
social media is dividing Americans. While I am sure they know he is QAnon I do
not think they know everything he is teaching his listeners.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Patriot
Streetfighter 5/3/21 ROUNDTABLE with Michael Jaco & David Nino Rodriguez, <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKsjBcDZV8">Patriot
Streetfighter 5/3/21 ROUNDTABLE with Michael Jaco & David Nino Rodriguez -
YouTube</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV6wZw3kvAU&list=PL1aGZuuwE_hbhC1CzQYzoErJmCHdOTpo8&index=7">PATRIOT
STREETFIGHTERS 5/4/21 EXCLUSIVE TRUMP NEWS BREAKING - YouTube</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
Harry Ostrer, </span><i style="font-size: large;">Legacy: A Genetic History
of the Jewish People, </i><span style="font-size: large;">(New York: Oxford University Press 2012) 24-27.</span><p></p></div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
David B. Goldstein, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jacob’s Legacy: A
Genetic View of Jewish History</i>, (New Haven & London, Yale University
Press 2008) Chapter 1 & 71-74.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Kevin
Alan Brook, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Jews of Khazaria, second
edition, ((Lanham, UK: Rowman & Littlefield 2006) Intro. Xii.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/This%20Cabal%20is%20in%20a%20death%20spiral%20regardless%20of%20what%20people%20think%20because%20as%20you%20know%20I%20often%20for%20over%20a%20year%20now%20have%20been%20hammering%20away%20on%20this%20kazarian%20mafia%20no%20one.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://qgear.us/product/patriot-streetfighter-tomahawk/">Patriot
Streetfighter Tomahawk - Q Army Shop (qgear.us)</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f0bw1U59liE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-33789932175339750952021-03-21T00:00:00.003-07:002021-03-21T00:18:56.085-07:00What angels long to look into<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_132JWiZmdvscyFx9HmLhfD2BFdyPApQ9LdvEi3Dq0yZrKjPlZQH3koAX-HpzyuoV_0YwbhYc-pcyyDfSAn6uDUdTHMkJSGWTgddrqgMFfBNYKQ4Z0dOAbbDOBm4k9UhpFmLRZzpV2K4/s960/penny%2527s+road.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_132JWiZmdvscyFx9HmLhfD2BFdyPApQ9LdvEi3Dq0yZrKjPlZQH3koAX-HpzyuoV_0YwbhYc-pcyyDfSAn6uDUdTHMkJSGWTgddrqgMFfBNYKQ4Z0dOAbbDOBm4k9UhpFmLRZzpV2K4/w283-h320/penny%2527s+road.jpg" width="283" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />“It was not always so. Once we knew the Oyarsa of your
world—he was brighter and greater than I—and then we did not call it
Thulcandra. It is the longest of all stories and the bitterest. He became bent.
That was before any life came on your world. Those were the Bent Years of which
we still speak in the heavens, when he was not yet bound to Thulcandra but free
like us. It was in his mind to spoil other worlds besides his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He smote your moon with his left hand and
with his right he brought the cold death on my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">harandra </i>before its time; if by my arm Maleldil had not opened the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">handramits </i>and let out the hot springs,
my world would have been unpeopled. We did not leave him at large for long.
There was Great War, and we drove him back out of the heavens and bound him in
the air of his own world as Maleldil taught us. There doubtless he lies to this
hour, and we know no more of that planet: it is silent. We think that Maleldil
would not give up utterly to the Bent One, and there are stories among us that
He has taken strange counsel and dared terrible things, wrestling with the
Bent One in Thulcandra. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">But of this we
know less than you; it is a thing we desire to look into</b>.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Out of the Silent Planet </i>C.S. Lewis<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“It was revealed to them [the prophets] that they were not
serving themselves , but you, in these things which now have been announced to
you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from
heaven—<b>things into which angels long to look</b>.” (1 Peter 1: 12)</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The music below is from the great Welsh revival- Here is
Love—words first in Welsh and then English. It is into the death and
resurrection of Jesus that the angels long to look and surely do look. But only
sinful humanity can truly understand. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EM6Kg-mK4jY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-60127167149310543852021-02-09T22:36:00.001-08:002022-12-03T10:32:53.983-08:00Restoring the Church? New Revelations? the Problem<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDlvDnDt8WTXpPVoagX1EYG0wMWWxJRwsOH7UsRajIyaopYHCfL62No0NzZNODiEWxzrwgHBnwF-MJD2aPdhyphenhyphenGGZI9sGkHKar_PZjc71lPLm_IgOgu2AT-9u-q4G2xizfA8uj5jwhNwsk/s2427/DSCN0109%255B1%255D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2427" data-original-width="1583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDlvDnDt8WTXpPVoagX1EYG0wMWWxJRwsOH7UsRajIyaopYHCfL62No0NzZNODiEWxzrwgHBnwF-MJD2aPdhyphenhyphenGGZI9sGkHKar_PZjc71lPLm_IgOgu2AT-9u-q4G2xizfA8uj5jwhNwsk/w417-h640/DSCN0109%255B1%255D.JPG" width="417" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Over thirty years ago I researched and wrote on a movement
called “Restoration.” It was a movement that contained both reasonably orthodox
believers and wildly heretical teachers and preachers. Even among those who
were orthodox there existed some very peculiar beliefs. And it was troubling
that out of this movement some extreme doctrines had formed. I actually began
my research when exploring another movement “The Manifest Sons of God.” They
were a group of teachers and preachers, with many connections to Restoration, they
taught that within the Church is a group of people who will overcome death,
before the second coming of Christ, and supposedly save the Church during the
tribulation. At the very edge of this latter movement I discovered the
“Christian Identity Movement,” a group believing that the Anglo-Saxons are the
only true Jews—the tribulation battle that would come would be a race war. This
is the road map of declining truth as it moves into utter falseness and evil.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Recently I read an article In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Religious News Service</i> about Sean Feucht, the man who has been
going around the United States holding outdoor worship services. The article, “<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://religionnews.com/2020/10/23/theres-a-theology-driving-sean-feuchts-worship-music-protests-and-its-a-popular-one/">There’s
a theology driving Sean Feucht’s worship music protests — and it’s a popular
one</a></span>,” written by Adam Perez. The author to my surprise points to the
Restoration Movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perez writing of
the kind of worship and theology Feucht uses states:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The core of this theology is that
praise and worship manifests God’s presence. Liturgical historian Lester Ruth
has traced this theology back to a Pentecostal preacher named Reg Layzell in
1946 who popularized the idea that “God inhabits praise,” based on Psalm 22:3,
which, in the KJV translation, reads: “But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By the late 1970s, a rich and
diverse biblical theology had developed around this and other teachings as they
related to a present-day restoration of musical worship modeled after the
liturgical patterns instituted in the tabernacle of King David (1 Chronicles
15).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So in this posting I am going to renew my Restoration
article. However since I have recently discovered groups of house churches,
they call themselves the Ekklesia, rather than church, who are part of both
Restoration and Manifest Sons of God and QAnon, I will at the end be adding
more to the past article. Much of the beginning of the Restoration movement is loosely
connected to teachers and religious organizations that no longer exist or are
not so important to the contemporary movement, but the scriptural
misunderstandings still exists and in some cases has evolved. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Revival Churches, a name they also used, or Restoration
churches as they are usually called, began around 1947-1948, as a part of the
“Latter Rain” movement. Leaving behind the centers of the 70’s and the
particular books and booklets they published they all will prescribe to at
least one or more of the doctrines I will touch on and they all will agree that
the Church must reach some greater measure of unity, perfection and power
before Christ can return.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Dying Church:
History Misread<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The name Restoration was given to these churches because of
their unique view of church history. According to their scenario, the Church is
seen as losing almost all of her authentic spiritual experience soon after the
death of John the Apostle. According to the movement the Church was weakened
almost to death until Martin Luther began “the restoration” with his teaching
on justification by faith. Within this simplistic view of Church history, the
Church loses all and then is slowly restored back to proper doctrine until she
excels the early Church and brings back the King.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">One Restoration writer states,”180 A.D. - By this time the
Spirit had very little control over the lives of individuals.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
He implies in his church history that few believers after 100 A.D. walked in
the Spirit, yet for those first three hundred years, the Church was victorious
in the midst of terrible persecution. Without the comfort, guidance and control
of the Holy Spirit that victory would have been impossible. A more authentic
view of church history is fluctuating decline and revival throughout her two
thousand years. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Restoration view fails to hold on to the completed
revelations and teaching of the word of God and attempts to add more and more
supposed new revelations to the Church’s tenets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Beginning of
Revelations:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the first revelations taught by this movement was that
the gifts and ministries of an individual were to be predicted and received by
the laying on of hands. The introduction of this new revelation is found in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sharon Star</i>, August 1, 1949, in an
article entitled “How This Revival Began.” A preacher named Hawtin writes, “I
shall never forget the morning that God moved in our midst in this strange
manner…The Lord spoke to one of the brethren. ‘Go and lay hands upon a certain
student and pray for him. “… He went in obedience and a revelation was given
concerning the student’s life and future ministry.” As this teaching developed,
the presbytery ministered to the body in this manner, and by prophecy informed
individuals of their ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Restoration movement’s early beginning appears very
biblical, however using one small portion of scripture to support subjective
revelation tends to produce teaching which fails to include the complete
instruction and reproof of scripture on any given subject. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance in I Timothy 4:4, Paul tells
Timothy not to neglect the spiritual gift within him which was bestowed upon
him through prophetic utterance and the laying on of hands. This text is taken
as a proof-text that a ministry, gift, or calling is always received in this
manner. Yet this verse says nothing about a set pattern for calling believers
into service. For example, in Acts 6, the apostles asked the congregation to
choose seven men to serve tables and afterwards they laid hands on them.
Prophecy had nothing to do with the choosing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">From this early beginning, a pattern was set: revelation
comes first and is then checked by scripture; moreover since the only scripture
texts that are sought tend to confirm revelation, not all scriptures on the
subject are studied. The believer’s personal life-choices as well as church
doctrine then is guided by subjective revelation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Hand or Five-Fold
Ministry:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The “five-fold ministry” and/or “Hand Ministry” was a
teaching that was supposedly restored to the Church at this time. Ephesians
4:11-15, the ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers,
is the basis for this teaching but is misapplied. The early Restoration leaders
considered the apostle and prophet restored in a foundational sense, i.e., with
the ability to give new revealed truth. In contrast the Bible teaches that the
Church is being built upon the foundation laid by the Apostles and Prophets of
the Old and New Testaments. This foundation, having already been given cannot
be added to or changed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The foundational Apostles laid foundational truth, the New
Testament. This was possible because they were eyewitnesses to the resurrected
Christ, and he chose them for this ministry. In fact, Paul refers to himself as
“one untimely born” (1Cor. 15:8) because last of all Jesus appeared to him.
Also see Acts 1:21-26 for the biblical requirements for an Apostle. Those that
we might refer to today as apostles are, according to the N.T., merely “sent
ones.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Restoration churches began to accumulate “restored
doctrine” on the return of Christ. Restoration teachers often insist Jesus will
not return until the church is mature and perfect. As I will show at the end of
this piece the outer fringe of these teachers, the Manifest Sons of God, will
use this idea of a perfect and mature church to build an elaborate and
extremely heretical teaching on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>second coming. But one important point is according to Restoration
teaching the second coming of Christ is contingent upon the new revelations of
these restoration apostles and prophets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">David’s House:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the new doctrines concerns what is referred to as
“The Tabernacle of David.” The Old Testament tells of David the King bringing
up the Ark of the Lord, and rather than placing it in a tent of meeting at
Gideon, he placed it in a tent he had prepared for it in Jerusalem. (2 Chron
1:4) most in the Restoration movement believe David did this at the bidding of
the Lord. They believe that God established a manner of worship in David’s tent
different from that of the tabernacle of Moses. This new style of worship was a
more spiritual style, and is, they believe, a picture of the type of worship
the Church is to perform.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restoration teachers
are thus concerned with worshiping God in a certain way: Not only prayer,
praise, kneeling, and standing, but dancing (altogether), clapping, lifting up
hands, and shouting. It must be understood that this is not biblically wrong,
the error is in the idea that this is restored doctrine and the only correct
way to worship God. Their flawed assumption is that God will then inhabit the
praises of his people, and as God is praised, the congregation is more
spiritually empowered to restore the Church and raise it to perfection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The biblical texts corrects this view. Two important texts
concerning this doctrine are Amos 9:11-12 and Acts 15:14-17. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vines’ Repository Dictionary of New
Testament</i> gives the meaning of tabernacle in Acts 15-16 as “tent, booth,
tabernacle … (f) the house of David, i.e., metaphorically of his people.”
Obviously this refers to David’s family line which culminated in Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">In Acts 15 Peter is speaking to the Church concerning the gentiles
in the Church and whether they needed to be circumcised. The question here
concerns grace or law; must the gentiles worship in a certain manner (by being
circumcised and observing the order of the temple) in order to be acceptable to
God? Peter reminds the elders that the gentile’s hearts are cleansed by faith
alone (verse 9) and that they themselves, “are saved through the grace of the
Lord Jesus.” The issue is not animal sacrifice and circumcision versus dancing,
clapping, shouting, etc. in order to please God but, rather, are the gentiles
saved by faith or works?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then James, in agreement with Peter, began to speak and
quoted from the Prophets, in particular Amos, addressing the rebuilding of the
tabernacle of David. James quoted from Amos and then explained that the House
of David which God had promised to establish forever (1 Chron. 17:11-14) found
its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the descendent of David. The coming of Jesus
Christ established the house or tabernacle of David, and His death on the cross
and exaltation established the Church, God’s true house forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Perfect Church:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Bible verse, “That He might present to Himself the
Church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that
she should be holy and blameless.” (Eph. 5:27) is used by Restoration churches
to prove that the last generation must come to maturity and perfection before
Christ can come. They falsely teach that this refers only to a last days Church
and is something Christ has been waiting for throughout the entire church age.
They conclude that those who do not receive their restored truths will not come
into maturity and, by implication are also hindering the Church and Christ’s
return.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Eph. 5:27 is actually set at the end of a chapter describing
the love Christ has for the whole Church as an example of the love a husband
should have for his wife. Verse 27 gives the ultimate reason Jesus died for the
Church as well as the outcome of the sanctifying work of Jesus within the
Church and within the believer. The Bible speaks of the Holy Trinity being the
one who sanctifies: God (1 Thess. 5:23), Jesus (Heb. 2:11), and the Holy Spirit
(1 Pet. 1:2). The word of God (John 17:17, 19), and the blood of Christ (Heb.
9:14) are the means of sanctification. Scripture teaches that God sanctifies
the believer as she submits to God. It is a progressive process and it is never
separated from the atonement and is always concerned with the entire Bible
taken in its proper context. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Each believer goes through this process of sanctification;
it is individual as well as corporate. This process clearly includes the whole
Church from the beginning of the church age to the end, not an elite end-time
church. In John 17, Jesus prays for the sanctification of his disciples and all
those who would believe in Him through their testimony; that again includes the
whole church age. God is not waiting for any particular part of the Church to
grow up. He is waiting in patience for all who will come and be saved (2 Peter
3:9). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Indeed though Christians are cleansed from sin by the
sacrifice of Christ on the cross and are progressively made holy in their
growth in the Lord, they are not altogether without a sinful fallen nature
until the return of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Church as the
Body of Christ:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another teaching within the Restoration churches concerns
the biblical understanding of the Church as the body of Christ. As a biblical
teaching it is beautiful, but the Restoration movement pushes the metaphor to
an extreme. The description of the Church as the body of Christ is meant to
show the relationship of Christ to the Church and of individual members to one
another. Christ is the head of the body, meaning both that He is the ultimate
authority and the very source of life to her. (Col. 2:19; 3:4) The members of
the Church are in need of one another and cannot function alone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the context of Restoration teaching, the body (the
Church) becomes Christ’s only way of functioning, just as people need their
bodies in order to accomplish any earthly task. As one Restoration teacher
explains, “But the enforcement of Calvary’s victory was placed in the hands of
the Church, Christ’s corporate Body upon earth. The body with hands and feet is
the vehicle which carries out the commands of the Head. If the Body fails to
respond, the will of the Head becomes a dead letter.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The difference between creature and Creator is blurred and
on earth the Church becomes indistinguishable from Christ. This eventually
leads into the doctrines of the Manifest Sons of God, since it is they who
teach that the Church is the ongoing incarnation. Concerning this, theologian Richard
C. Lucas points out that:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is this egregious error that has caused
misunderstanding and grief again and again in Church history. For example when
the Church is regarded in literal terms, ‘as an extension of the incarnation,’
the claim is made that Christ is so joined to His church on earth that its
teaching becomes His teaching, and its traditions an expression of His mind.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[3]<br /></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">In this context the prophet and apostle of the Restoration
churches become the voice of God to the individual, and the door is opened for
tyranny within the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Also, within this misunderstanding of what it means for the
Church to be the body of Christ, Restoration teaches that the Church is
required to do all that Christ did and be all that Christ is. The Church, seen
as the literal body of Christ, and possessing the true feet of Christ, is to
destroy all the enemies of Christ. One early Restoration teacher wrote, “Now we
are the body of Christ, and we, too, are to have all things in subjection to
us. At the present time we don’t see this reality with the natural eye. But the
day is coming when we will be full partakers of Christ’s dominion (Heb 2 6-16<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">). God is waiting until all the enemies of
Christ are put under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. There
will be a generation of people created in the last days who will break their
appointment with death</i> (Psalms 102:18)”<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
(Emphasis mine) Here, already in 1975 the Manifest Sons of God teaching is
promoted within the Restoration movement itself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Restoration, Manifest
Sons of God and QAnon: <o:p></o:p></span></b><span style="font-size: large;">[Since January 6, the time of the insurrection, the Home Congregations have changed most of their pages totally removing all of their QAnon information and links to some of the weirder preachers. While I am not sure what this means the information given below is what they advocated for before Jan. 6.]</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have discovered that some QAnon followers, who are also Restoration,
now hold to the teachings of the Manifest Sons of God. Besides adhering to such
teachings as “the fivefold ministry” and continuing revelations they are
extremely political and have mixed their very bizarre ideology with their
commitment to former president Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have combined
all of their bizarre ideology so as to fluctuate between a strong commitment to
Israel and the Jewish people while at the same time linking to QAnon videos
that are extremely anti-Semitic. The videos they are linked to attempt to show
that those, who are in reality Ashkenazim Jews, are not Jews but are part of a
secret group controlling the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Merging the Masons and Illuminati with the Ashkenazim Jews they portray
them as those in charge of the “Deep State,” the Democrats, and Hollywood. The
videos raise the old blood libel insisting that all of these groups in thrall
to their masters are kidnapping children for sex and drinking their blood for
its life energy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://homecongregations.org/resources/the-great-awakening/">The Home
Congregations</a></span>, call themselves Ekklesia rather than Church believing
the Church has failed in its calling and commitment. Added to this are links to
supposed Bible studies written by <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.bibleconcepts.com/">Eric J. Ellis</a></span> an obvious
Manifest Sons of God teacher. Ellis believes there are two sons birthed: Jesus
by Mary and the “overcomers.” By following an elaborate scheme using a great
deal of scripture which Ellis turns into symbolic steps, the “remnant” come out
of the supposedly old Church order and birth Christ within themselves <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>becoming the overcomers or the second son. <a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This doctrine of overcomers or manifest sons of God has its roots in Romans 8:18-23:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For I consider that
the sufferings of this present times are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that is to be revealed to us.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For the anxious longing
of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (18-19)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The whole text concerns the resurrection of the whole Church
and what that means for the rest of creation. It has nothing to do with an elite
group moving out of the Church and experiencing the resurrection in order to do
Christ’s work for Him. Both the Restoration churches and definitely the
Manifest Sons of God have begun to add works to their view of what it means to
be saved. I wrote in a much earlier paper:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The gift of God includes redemption, justification,
sanctification, and glorification of our bodies at the visible coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing more that could be added that we should
want. God’s gift is complete and belongs to all of His Church, and it is His
all His work and not ours. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For it is God
who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure</i> (Phil.
2:13).” “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For I am confident of this very
thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of
Jesus Christ </i>(Phil. 1:6).” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-size: medium;"><br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Dick Iverson and Bill Scheidler, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Present
Day Truths, (Portland: Bible Press, 1975), p23.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Paul E. Billheimer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Destined to Overcome </i>(Minneapolis:
Bethany House Publishers, n.d.) p 33.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
R.C. Lucas, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Message of Colossians and
Philemon, </i>p138.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Dick Iverson and Bill Scheidler, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Present
Day Truths </i>(Portland: Bible Press, 1975) p 132<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Over%20thirty%20years%20ago%20I%20researched%20and%20wrote%20on%20a%20movement%20called.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> See<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.bibleconcepts.com/bible-lessons/the-eight-milestones-to-maturity/">The
Eight Milestones to Maturity - Bible Concepts</a></span> and <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.bibleconcepts.com/bible-lessons/the-three-days-journey/">The
Three-Days Journey - Bible Concepts</a></span>.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9rIS166ppoE" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-8028852595069491152021-01-29T00:01:00.000-08:002021-01-29T00:01:15.886-08:00Facing the future as a Christian<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXmOO8LzBaseTdKPA8yAKYOWjO5drFlSnby9aOF0nt2AG_n15izFVkHs9cQrG8t5ih4fj5goccszcgxUzOjUF4lVjNBOZj4Cv19clH9CI5iBjr42y16uE6CcV8_P2ODFzqh3x_77UO2o/s600/forrest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="600" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXmOO8LzBaseTdKPA8yAKYOWjO5drFlSnby9aOF0nt2AG_n15izFVkHs9cQrG8t5ih4fj5goccszcgxUzOjUF4lVjNBOZj4Cv19clH9CI5iBjr42y16uE6CcV8_P2ODFzqh3x_77UO2o/w421-h286/forrest.jpg" width="421" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">When President Trump lost the election for a second term and
I in frustration unfriended some friends on Facebook I felt a certain freedom.
But it was the kind of freedom the Israelites must have felt walking on dry
ground with towering waves on both sides. Only faith in a sovereign Lord would
keep you going step after step. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">To be clear I unfriended some friends because after pushing
and pushing into the realm of awful conspiracies in order to make it okay to
tell others they weren’t true Christians or they had blood on their hands, the
friends then insisted it was not trumpers who invaded the United States Capitol
but Black Lives Matter and/or Antifa. I also unfriended them because I realized
they were making all others enemies. It wasn’t that some Democrats were left
leaning and some desiring a socialist government, but they consider all
Democrats communists/Marxists. How many times have I seen a picture of
President Biden with the communist flag draped under his face? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I still love them, still pray for them, but they have headed
so far into the darkness that prayer and silence on my part is probably the
only way. (I was becoming a troll.) And in the clarity of the moment I have
some thoughts about the future of orthodox Christianity in the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">First are some very personal thoughts which entail my own
walk with Christ. In sorting <br />through all of the reading material on Twitter and
Facebook<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>I have discovered that some
pro-life sites are lifting up some of the same conspiracy theories as my
Facebook friends. So I am busy scouting out groups that are truly pro-life.
That is, they are pro-life from the womb to the tomb. And they include
anti-racism and the needs of the poor and immigrants in their concerns. I
recently posted two videos on Facebook from sites that embrace that fullness of
Christian compassion. See <a href="https://vimeo.com/313613051?fbclid=IwAR1p4vjFRhudBGz1tMseT3Ldb8g6vz5EG7vmjKHLAJNL4iW-MrSRWEAYqns">Pro-Life
and Civil Rights: Loving Our Unborn Neighbors - Karen Ellis</a> and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9gGZBLocdOU?fbclid=IwAR2BYtCg-kVBEyWtMniz4_1l2TxsvJgcLsxK2GOaviilE-OIQUPqI2Uq92M">What
Does it Mean to be Pro-life</a>?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But still I see the problems that are entangled within the
progressive movement which are unbiblical and as deadly as the conspiracies of
the far right. That is why I see this particular time for orthodox Christians
as a time of walking on dry land with towering walls of water on both sides. Already
it is clear that both abortion and unrestrained sexual desires will plague the
future but the biggest concern for orthodox Christians will be, and must be,
fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">That fidelity means not embracing the lies and immorality of
the far right which includes generous doses of anti-Semitism, paganism, materialism
and idolatry and not embracing the immorality and lies of the left which
include lies about the worthiness of human life in all of its stages and
relationships. Christians cannot embrace the murder of the unborn, the tearing
apart of immigrant families, the hatred of the other, the mutilation of
childhood’s innocence, the redefinition of marriage, the blood libels against Jews
and others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">It isn’t an easy road ahead but we have the promises of God.
I love the way that Karl Barth put it in his little book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theological Existence Today</i>, written as the Confessing Church was
forming during the early Nazi years:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Within the Church it is agreed that
God “upholds all things by the Word of His power” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hebrews i. 3): </i>that He supplies answer to every question, that He
allows righteousness to experience all anxieties, that He sustains all that he
has made, and leads it to its truest end, that no thing can subsist and
flourish without His Word.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So the Church, Christ’s disciples, the orthodox Christians
in the United States have the word of God, have the good Shepherd leading and
caring for them, yes in the midst of anxieties and even perplexities. We will persevere
and flourish in His care. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But you, beloved
building yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep
yourselves in the love of God waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ to eternal life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And have mercy on
some, who are doubting; <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Save others, snatching
them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment
polluted by the flesh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Jude 20-23)</span><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zOhPHp6Alaw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-46342295023809383362021-01-18T22:48:00.001-08:002021-01-19T18:22:56.516-08:00Christian don’t walk down that road, not even in its shadow: QAnon and anti-Semitism <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwm7eb3hVQF_T5LFoszBtX_S5WWL7y_YQcQM1qtxsJe1jTcgvdHya2QpcYgI2NUUv8C4RCmFYf5rqvCLlQ26CsxY8AWlWqmDRix1Au6Addn1Omhr2UaBIvVIEacw8f3psugBM6itSbU3I/s960/sea+with+red.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwm7eb3hVQF_T5LFoszBtX_S5WWL7y_YQcQM1qtxsJe1jTcgvdHya2QpcYgI2NUUv8C4RCmFYf5rqvCLlQ26CsxY8AWlWqmDRix1Au6Addn1Omhr2UaBIvVIEacw8f3psugBM6itSbU3I/w400-h300/sea+with+red.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture taken by Ethan McHenry</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">After writing an article for <i><a href="https://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/">Christian
Research Journal</a></i> on an anti-Semitic and racist movement called “<a href="https://www.equip.org/article/christian-identity-a-christian-religion-for-white-racists/">Christian
Identity</a>” I told a friend that I wasn’t going to major on that topic
because I found their literature so
ugly. I had no desire to delve into that kind of material anymore. But of
course God doesn’t always agree with our personal plans. Just a few years later
as an evangelical in the Presbyterian Church (USA) I found myself constantly
writing about a group in the denomination who were both progressive and extremely
anti-Semitic. The Israel/Palestine Mission Network even published glossy
booklets with such ideas as most of the people in Israel are not ancestors of
ancient Israel but descendants of an Eastern European tribe.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And now, out of the PCUSA and belonging to the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church, I see once again, but in a greater way, an anti-Semitic
movement growing across the United States. It is part of the QAnon movement I
have already written about in, <b><a href="http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2020/07/q-and-cross-of-jesus.html"><i>Q
and the cross of Jesus</i></a></b>. In that article I do mention that there is
potential for the movement to become anti-Semitic. But now after exploring some
videos that, <a href="https://homecongregations.org/resources/the-great-awakening/">“Home
Congregations,”</a> a QAnon site, has recently linked to, I see that their
anti-Semitism is equal to the Nazis of Germany.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/After%20writing%20an%20article%20for%20Christian%20Research%20Journal%20on%20an%20anti.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">The first video, authored by Janet Ossebaard, a Dutch conspiracy
theorist, attempts to go back in history and show where those who are
supposedly controlling history originated. The narrator of this weird story
eventually points to the, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews" title="">Ashkenazim</a></i>,
those Jewish groups who eventually immigrated to Germany as well as other parts
of Europe. The narrator instead of connecting them to Abraham, like the PCUSA
group mentioned above, connects them to an Eastern European group the Khazars.
The Khazars, in reality first converted to Judaism and then to Greek Orthodoxy
and are not genetically linked to the Jewish people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is one of the bigger lies of many
anti-Semites, that the people who died in the Holocaust and settled the modern State
of Israel are not really Jews. Rather the anti-Semite insists they are a group of
people who infiltrated nations with their greed and desire to control the
world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">But these videos get weirder because the narrator using
every <br />conspiracy theory possible connects the Jesuits to the Free Masons after
having connected them to the Knights Templers. And somehow in all of that the Illuminati
also gets connected to all of them—they all merge together. And then comes the
forth video that begins with the fraudulent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion </i>which is allegedly a group of Jewish elders
getting together and planning how to conquer the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">All of this undergirds the lies about Jews controlling the
nations, financing wars, turning Russia into a communist empire, causing the
great depression, manipulating political parties, and encouraging the Nazis. (Hitler
is said, by the anti-Semite, to actually be a Rothschild.) And today, connected
to QAnon these same lies are about how this group, the merged Ashkenazim, mason,
Illuminati, are in charge of the “Deep State,” the Democrats, Hollywood, and
the old blood libel that all of these groups in thrall to their masters are
kidnapping children for sex and drinking their blood for its life energy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Christian don’t walk down that road, not even in its shadow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Don’t become attached to any of the lies, the conspiracy
theories, not even the election conspiracies. Darkness and evil are behind all
of it. If you embrace one lie, you will be guilty of abetting anti-Semites. The
father of lies must be laughing at the Church in the United States. We have forgotten
our Lord and because of it souls are being lost, human lives are being lost,
truth is being trampled on the ground. Remember when such lies were told in the
1920’s and 30’s the end was the horrible deaths of six million Jews plus many, many
others. Let’s not walk this awful bloody road again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-size: large;"><br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/After%20writing%20an%20article%20for%20Christian%20Research%20Journal%20on%20an%20anti.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Here is the page the links are on: <a href="https://homecongregations.org/resources/the-great-awakening/">The Great
Awakening – Home Congregations- Worldwide</a>, and here is the site where the
videos are: <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/BRizDPuLs8c4/">THE SEQUEL
TO THE FALL OF THE CABAL - PART 1 (bitchute.com)</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-49739763537311280272020-12-29T15:17:00.001-08:002020-12-30T12:25:50.990-08:00On the President’s Proclamation on 850th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkbB1zRtL0z1Bojes7R8CGhpFJkAgTF2-uvhqrQzuQis7KS2Up44PQBclntPZ1Fu2VC575zc3WRzYYwUbGm0d-Cbboc81IKc5Vpvbi4TzhWcyOFN6lOql0W48bjQrY99eMgv-qruu5Io/s1174/scan0001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1174" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkbB1zRtL0z1Bojes7R8CGhpFJkAgTF2-uvhqrQzuQis7KS2Up44PQBclntPZ1Fu2VC575zc3WRzYYwUbGm0d-Cbboc81IKc5Vpvbi4TzhWcyOFN6lOql0W48bjQrY99eMgv-qruu5Io/w406-h282/scan0001.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;">I have noticed on Facebook some have praised President Trump
and the White House for the “<b><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-850th-anniversary-martyrdom-saint-thomas-becket/?fbclid=IwAR0GZyjgdvVXySmuQ3CTW_OSIWpILYjpeVewAlwTr7FJeoC-0lDFbeFVMlg">Proclamation
on 850th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket</a>.” </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I do find much to praise in this proclamation,
the call for religious liberty in all countries is to be applauded and the
emphasis on life, both born and unborn, is praiseworthy and yet<b> </b>I
disagree with much of this. Let me begin by referring to an experience I often
have on Easter when in boredom, at night, I watch bits of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ten Commandments, </i>which is too often shown on TV during the
holiday. After watching all of the religious drama one comes to the end and hears
Moses proclaim, “Go out into the world and proclaim liberty everywhere.” And of
course that has nothing to do with God’s work among His people. I will return
to this at the end.<o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">First the President
probably did not write most of this but still it is his proclamation and he
signed it. The document states:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When the Archbishop refused to allow the King to interfere in the affairs
of the Church, Thomas Becket stood at the intersection of church and state.
That stand, after centuries of state-sponsored religious oppression and
religious wars throughout Europe, eventually led to the establishment of
religious liberty in the New World. It is because of great men like Thomas
Becket that the first American President George Washington could proclaim more
than 600 years later that, in the United States, “All possess alike liberty of
conscience and immunities of citizenship” and that “it is now no more that
toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people,
that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While I agree that
Thomas Becket was a faithful servant of the Church, dying to protect her rights
from secular power, this wasn’t actually about what we think of today as
religious liberty. For over a thousand years the Roman Catholic Church and
various kings and emperors had fought over who had the right to rule. Should archbishops
and/or popes have the right to crown Kings and Emperors? Should Kings and
Emperors have the right to tell clergy what to do? A lot of this was tied up in
the battles between Becket and Henry II. Henry thought that the lower clergy should
answer to the state when they committed crimes—Becket thought they should not,
they should answer to the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps the greatest
argument between them was when several Church officials officiated at the
crowning of Henry’s son. By custom that was the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Thomas Becket. Becket promptly excommunicated the three officials. (And here I
must say I don’t disagree with church discipline; I believe secular office
holders, and all others who encourage and uphold abortion should be
excommunicated—and that’s coming from an evangelical not a Catholic.) But the
decision about who had the power, was just that. The King was seeking power and
so was the Archbishop.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And while I believe
Becket was a saint as the Catholic Church defines saints I don’t believe Becket
was the beginning of what we now think of as religious freedom. Truthfully we
have to think of the Baptist, the Anabaptist and the Quakers as those who truly
planted freedom of religion in first our hearts and then our laws. For instance
Rhode Island, acquired by a Baptist, and Pennsylvania, procured by a Quaker
were the first truly religiously free states among the colonist. This does not
deny the faithfulness of Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics and others;
eventually all began to understand faith, in particular the Christian faith,
would prosper further under the stewardship of religious freedom. But it is a
lesson we have had to visit over and over.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But this is not my
only problem with President Trump’s proclamation. While this statement is
basically right,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As Americans, we were first united by our belief that “rebellion to
tyrants is obedience to God” and that defending liberty is more important than
life itself. If we are to continue to be the land of the free, no government
official, no governor, no bureaucrat, no judge, and no legislator must be
allowed to decree what is orthodox in matters of religion or to require
religious believers to violate their consciences. No right is more fundamental
to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s
religious convictions.<br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This final part of
the proclamation contradicts it,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 29, 2020, as the 850th
anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. I invite the people of the
United States to observe the day in schools and churches and customary places
of meeting with appropriate ceremonies in commemoration of the life and legacy
of Thomas Becket.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the state
telling not only churches but also schools and other gatherings to commemorate
a religious holiday. By decreeing Becket’s martyrdom a special anniversary, the
state and in particular a president, is in a real sense “decree[ing] what is
orthodox in matters of religion.” This has undoubtedly happened because the
author of the proclamation has imagined religious liberty to be a doctrine of
Christianity. It is not of course but is instead a protector of all religions. That
is the same as equating the story of God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from
their slavery in Egypt with a general call to proclaim liberty to the world.
Freedom is a blessed gift of God, and God was freeing the slaves, but he was
doing so much more. His purposes were far deeper and pointing to eternity. God
was calling a people to himself, redeeming them from not only hard taskmasters
but purifying them for Himself. Preparing them as a people who would fulfill
His purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A document such as
this one should be tied to the principles of our Democracy not to the celebration
of the anniversary of the death of a saint. Freedom, a gift, is surprisingly less
a gift to the Church, then the gift of Christ’s saints, in their death. Thomas
Becket should not become a symbol for our freedom, he does not belong to the
American dream, but to the Church of Jesus Christ. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-55656130715774972572020-12-18T00:09:00.002-08:002020-12-18T07:59:48.543-08:00Flirting with a Soiled and Ragged Crowd: A new religious movement<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUnm4k_LxyL_qGJ3ti_JjgdHk_58edaGtSpl8nF1VnRSChWGDRfHN1Uzjo8YGt6_AEWw1mgvXhKpDxW_pv-oIkJCHaaKGXkjox-5kioMKbpItjsD2aioK8J9qdicsHMe_w8i-Kmt3_Yk/s604/bridging.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="604" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUnm4k_LxyL_qGJ3ti_JjgdHk_58edaGtSpl8nF1VnRSChWGDRfHN1Uzjo8YGt6_AEWw1mgvXhKpDxW_pv-oIkJCHaaKGXkjox-5kioMKbpItjsD2aioK8J9qdicsHMe_w8i-Kmt3_Yk/w418-h239/bridging.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">During the seventies and eighties the name “cults”
was changed by many in ministry and secular scholars who abhorred the use of
the word cult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new religious groups
are generally now referred to as New Religions. That is a better way of
addressing such groups as Jehovah Witnesses or Christian Science—I was and am
happy for the new way of seeing the many new developing groups. However there
are still groups I refer to as cults. Scientology is one. Jim Jones group, seduced
by Jones to reject all family and friends as well as God’s word, but to accept suicide,
was a cult. A once local Sacramento group, Aggressive Christianity, was a small
group whose members have dwindled since moving to another state where several of
them, in the last few years, were arrested for child molestation. And that is a
clue of why I would still call them cults, because their leaders attempt to absolutely
control them and too often that controlling leads to bodily harm. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There is of course spiritual harm to members who
belong to any false religious group. But generally there is no intent of
absolute control. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There is, however, another description of religious
groups, they can become movements rather than institutional entities. I think
you could rightfully call the Fascists of the thirties a political/cultic
movement. Each leader of the various countries, Italy, Germany and Spain were charismatic
figures who became dictators. They were adored by many who felt they had
returned their various countries to morality and prosperity. And, of course,
there were those who detested and feared them, rightfully praying for their
defeat. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I have been both reading and posting articles on
Facebook whose authors believe that a new religious movement is growing among
some Christians which they call a cultic movement. That is Trumpism. This Thursday I discovered on messenger a Facebook friend had left me a video—“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXtGItm1bvQ&feature=emb_logo">The Plot
to Steal America</a>,” a video filled with conspiracy theories about the
presidential election which supposedly led all the way to China. I did some
searching and found that this person, Seth Holehouse, is a seemingly well to do
man who loves fancy watches and motorcycles. And he was asking for donations. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Holehouse is on most of social media including the new
<a href="https://parler.com/profile/ManInAmerica/posts">Parler</a>. And yes, he
goes by the name Man In America. I wondered who he was attracting besides my
Facebook friend. I did a lot of exploring, clicking on comments to what he
posts and following up on the commenter’s site. It is troubling. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">First, a day ago, he placed a link to “<a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/we-people-united-states-request-president-trump-invoke-insurrection-act-take-back-our-republic-wmilitary">We
The People Site</a>,” which begins with this statement: <b>We The People of the
United States Request President Trump Invoke Insurrection Act to Take Back Our
Republic w/Military.</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> And there was
a place to sign. Another posting or reposting was from “<a href="https://parler.com/profile/GroyperDad/posts">NO.1Dad<span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol";">☕🇺🇲</span>·</a>.
He describes himself as, “American Nationalist, Fascist, Christian, White Lives
Matter. On his site I found this remark about the recent Russian Hackers, “I
wonder if every time Russia is blamed it's actually Israel.” And there is the
far right’s use of Pepe the frog. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Another commenter calls
himself Q tip and has all of the signs of QAnon plus also Pepe the frog. Another
has posted a picture of soldiers saluting Hitler with this caption, “Adolf
Hitler The Greatest Story Never Told (Full) PLEASE BE ADVISED: International
Jewry has declared war on truth! This documentary like many others that are
exposing the greatest lies of the 20th...” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There is more but that is
enough. Is Trumpism a Christian cult attempting to mix religion with nationalism
and using the fringe right to build a wide and greater movement? Well I’m sure
my Facebook friend doesn’t think so. But it is simply a fact that cannot be
denied. Some Christians are being seduced and within that seduction they are tearing
the Church apart. Sadly they are hurting their own spirituality, their
relationship with Christ. Any Christian who is flirting with that soiled and
ragged crowd needs, as Jude, says to be pulled away from the fire. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Save others, snatching them out of the fire;
and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the
flesh.” (Jude 23)</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Truthfully, biblically, we
are called to that soiled and ragged crowd but not in cahoots with them, not in
helping them in their delusions, anti-Semitism, and hate for other people but to
proclaim the freedom of Christ to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8usMOvoKTcQ" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560220615271337359.post-83851942752755609002020-12-13T23:17:00.001-08:002020-12-14T11:22:48.143-08:00The Jericho March and the Holy Name of Jesus<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">A march was
held in Washington D.C. called a Jericho March with the intention of assuring a
part of the American church that Donald trump who lost the 2020 election for
president would be able to overturn the results. The name of Jesus was
constantly used to undergird the wishes and dispel the fears of many. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5RuPq8t2Q_Bm0nXT_1sdLLMDnU6yrENpnE5RoLPKF5l89sU8aVtAPGtxTa_QXNFUMLV543oqaP5Z09ViHoUbeeKg92hsNjFdp6wc6yUGrYRkji6bnPfRerE7vRVjYdCXYvMJJ9QPuKKM/s600/Georgia_May_09_121%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="449" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5RuPq8t2Q_Bm0nXT_1sdLLMDnU6yrENpnE5RoLPKF5l89sU8aVtAPGtxTa_QXNFUMLV543oqaP5Z09ViHoUbeeKg92hsNjFdp6wc6yUGrYRkji6bnPfRerE7vRVjYdCXYvMJJ9QPuKKM/w324-h400/Georgia_May_09_121%255B1%255D.jpg" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Alex Jones
used <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fYI12iYkw&t=25s">the name
of Jesus loudly</a>. He’s the fellow that insisted that the shooting of the elementary
school children at Sandy Hook school never happened.* In the face of parents who
could think of nothing but the terror, pain and great need of their dying
children, Alex Jones said it never happened. Too many listened to Jones praise Donald
Trump while insisting that many American citizens voted illegally in the
election. Many applauded him. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Eric Metaxas,
the author of a bestselling book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was the emcee. He
also, both at the march, and on his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgkKp5zkTgzJpuEeMaTemjg">radio and YouTube
show</a>, uses the name of Jesus, slanders others and lifts up Trump and Trump’s
claim of a fraudulent election. In a recent video, in a parody of “Mary, Did
You Know?” he accuses the Democrats, among other things, of being in league
with the “Soros Folks” and Venezuela.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Would%20you%20follow%20the%20leadership%20of%20Alex%20Jones.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Many applaud his use of Christianity as he calls people to stand against the
recent election? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Bonhoeffer was
a German pastor, a pacifist, who because of the horror of Hitler joined the
German military helping a secret group of military officers as they helped
Jewish people escape into Switzerland and plotted to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer went
to prison for helping Jewish people escape, he was killed when it was
discovered that he was part of the plot to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer struggled
with his decision to join the military and to kill. He was devout and dignified,
an intelligent and caring individual who wrote letters, poems and theology from
his cell. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Bonhoeffer
wrote in his book<i> Ethics </i>of how those
in the Church during the Nazi years must lead the German nation in confessing sins.
One of those confessions was because the Church had allowed the nation to
misuse the name of Christ. They tried to make Jesus Christ into a German
nationalist. Bonhoeffer writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The Church confesses that she has taken in vain the name of
Jesus Christ, for she has been ashamed of this name before the world and she
has not striven forcefully enough against the misuse of this name for an evil
purpose. She has stood by while violence and wrong were being committed under
cover of this name. And indeed she left uncontradicted, and thereby abetted,
even open mockery of the most holy name. She knows that God will not leave
unpunished one who takes His name in vain as she does.<a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Would%20you%20follow%20the%20leadership%20of%20Alex%20Jones.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Bonhoeffer’s
call to confession was for the church, for himself and down to this day for me
and you. Many men and women stood up during the Jericho march claiming Christ
and his blessing but making it a political call to Christian nationalism and
for the sake of one man, Donald Trump. But Christ is uniquely and only Lord of
the Church—someday He will be Lord of not only this nation but all nations—but in
the Parousia. The Church can claim Jesus but not the world, and it is the
Church’s duty to hold His name Holy, to not use it as a political tool.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I am
thinking now of how I fail to hold His name Holy. I am praying that both I and
the Church in the United States find only praise for that name the name of
Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
*Here is where you can find a picture of one of the children who died that day. Jake Tapper just placed it on Twitter. He does this with the children every year .<a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1338547014972432394/photo/1">Home / Twitter</a><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Would%20you%20follow%20the%20leadership%20of%20Alex%20Jones.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzG1CcpYzX0">"Biden Did You
Know?" A Parody - YouTube</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/viola/Documents/Would%20you%20follow%20the%20leadership%20of%20Alex%20Jones.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, <i>Ethics, </i>1949, reprint<i> </i>(New York: Simon & Schuster 1995),
113-14<br /><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
</div>
</div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PTqO1rO-_wc" width="560"></iframe>Viola Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09146967423654966140noreply@blogger.com1