Original Publish Date: 12/23/2021
As we approach Christmas Day, it seemed fitting to resume my writing in a way that perhaps can serve as a springboard into the coming year as the RET community starts a new chapter in hopes to impact and hearts and minds of people looking for hope and encouragement in a world that seems to lack both. We are a small but talented group of individuals capable of not only great but mighty deeds. As the 1st annual Threadfest approaches we can look forward to seeing some of that talent on full display. 2022 should be both an eventful and purposeful year as we continue to watch ‘once in a lifetime’ events unfold right before our eyes. The coming year may also offer an abundance of challenges perhaps like we’ve never seen before. Here’s two a resilient, meaningful, and powerful new year!!
Since the dawn of creation, the Word of God has been used and abused by scores of individuals used by the enemy to kill, steal, and destroy. As Christmas nears I want to touch on topics from the lens of the Christian worldview. If God is not your cup tea, then I encourage you to stick around because it’s quite possible your brand of tea is out of date ☺. The Word of God says about itself that it’s alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and able to divide joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. In this issue we’ll address God from 3 perspectives….
What God Hath Said - What God Hath Hidden - What God Hath Done
What God Hath Said
To this day, one of the most powerful human exchanges I have ever heard came when I was driving cross country in the early 90s. I was listening to one of those late-night talk radio shows where people were calling in for advice from a local pastor who was also the host. The calls ranged from young kids asking for advice on how to deal with a big brother or sister all the way to mature adults asking deep theological questions. These are the kinds of shows that intrigued me because you literally had no idea what was coming next. At one point a lady named Caroline called in and I could tell from the moment she asked her question she was deeply emotional and at the end of her line. Her voice seemed to change tone from adult to adolescent as she described the many girl adventures she had with her sister Patty. She explained how she had grown apart from her sister after a falling away that cause each of them to go to their respective corners. Many years passed and her phone rang. It was her sister attempting to reconcile in an awkward and fumbling way but by the end of the conversation Patty was able to muster the words “Caroline I hope that one day you can be forgive me and we can be sisters again.” Two years passed with no further interactions with her sister but Caroline had been tormented and stricken with the inability to forgive. I remember thinking man I hope with pastor brought his “A” game tonight.
After a few more minutes of the pastor trying to console her through her tears Caroline suddenly raised her crackling, sobbing voice, and said “I don’t know what I am doing. Someone tell me what forgiveness looks like…please!”
And with a mastery of words that can only come from inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I believe God implanted the perfect response at a moment that demanded perfection. “Caroline, true forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.” Wow. Words for not only Caroline but all of humanity.
I knew that very instant that Caroline would never be the same because God had spoken. What she needed more than anything was something only God could supply. So often, we speak of God in platitudes so that He never really appears reachable but rather something that sits off in a distant land overseeing the worlds activities as they play out. This is the work of the enemy. The more distant, the more nebulas, the more abstract the enemy can make God, then the more hopeless and desperate we become and soon the God of a lowly manger, a criminals cross, and an empty tomb becomes this undefined thing encased in a fortress. A god of billions and trillions…the unknowable god.
Houston Post – July 27th, 1991 (Religion and Ethics Section)
From the journalist George Cornell. Headline read….
The World Desperately Needs a Noble Lie
Religious philosopher Loyal D. Rue says that modern culture desperately needs a noble lie, a myth that links the moral teachings of religion with the scientific facts of life. He says, ‘science has eroded the plausibility of the Judeo-Christian myths. It has got into our heads and consciousness in such a way that the traditional myths can’t be swallowed anymore. The myths include archaic views of the universe and a presumption that humans are at the center of existence and the story of Jesus’ resurrection and Moses bringing the ten commandments down a mountain. Dispel the myths of religion and all that is left is despair which considers life in the universe meaningless.
You see what being said here? We much get rid of these myths but once we do it leaves us completely desperate. The myths serve as a framework for religious teaching which Rue said:
…brought about man’s betterment but without the integration of cosmology and morality or cosmic facts with idealism …people will deny religious standards and do whatever they choose, splintering society. Or they might embrace the totalitarian option which relies on the government to force humans to behave. We need to start from scratch and create a new myth, a ‘noble lie’ that squares with what is known scientifically. Something that is convincing though it may not be factual.
What would that lie be? He doesn’t specify. He says,
It remains for the artist, the poets, the novelists, the musicians, the filmmakers, the physicians, the scientists, the tricksters, and the masters of illusions to propel us toward our salvation by seducing us into embracing a noble lie. Perhaps it is possible to rework, transpose the Judeo-Christian tradition to make it plausible again. In any case, the illusion must be so imaginative and so compelling that it can’t be resisted. So beautiful and so satisfying that all will feel they have to accept it. What I mean by the noble lie is one that deceives us, tricks us, compels us beyond self-interest, beyond ego, beyond family, nation or race and will walk us right into the view that our moral discourse must serve the interest of not only ourselves and of each other, but those of the earth as well.
You see what this man was saying some 30 years ago? That science cannot give you a morality anymore. How then do they help anyone make sense out of living? They build a lie.
So, what he is exposing here is that there is a fundamental breakdown and they do not know how to deal with the fact that God and God alone, as a transcendent being, gives us the point of objective existence and moral reality. You take that away and it’s all up for grabs. You do what you feel is right, I do what I feel is right and the two never cross paths. So, to keep us from totalitarianism we need to fabricate a lie, so we’ll think right and wrong are realities when in fact we know they are not.
In what seems like and eternity ago, I wrote issue 14, Bow Down Before The One You Serve. It was partially about an article written by a man named Rob Henderson. The article was entitled The Persuasion and Prestige Paradox. Are High Status People More Likely to Lie? In that article he said the following:
Many have discovered an argument hack. They don’t need to argue that something is false. They just need to show that it’s associated with low status. The converse is also true: You don’t need to argue that something is true. You just need to show that it’s associated with high status. And when low status people express the truth, it sometimes becomes high status to lie.
I spoke about how the crafty can use the condition of mental laziness to cheat at arguing to claim they have a valid point when in fact they don’t really have one at all. The primary objective is not to prove anything but rather to associate entire people groups to the claim you are making regardless if it’s true or not. Here are some obvious geo-political examples:
Trump supporters can be placed into a basket of deplorables.
Republicans are clinging to guns and religion.
Trump thinks all Mexicans are rapists and murderers.
January 6th was a massive insurrection caused by white nationalists and their leader Donald Trump.
The unvaccinated are largely republicans and they are an existential threat to America and the world.
But nothing about this tactic is new to the trained observer. Ever since the very beginning the enemy has specialized in using useful tools to try and twist human nature to make us believe that things which can’t possibly be true are true. The enemy's craftiness causes you to question your own realities.
Genesis 3:1-6
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Richard the Saint 1:1-5
Now the fauci was more cunning than any physician in his field which the Lord God had intended for good. And he said to the people, “Surely you trust the science and that God will take care of you by using wise physicians such as myself to protect humanity?” And the people said back to the fauci, “So many injections that have gone before have been thoroughly tested for our safety and in most cases were safe. God has asked us to protect our bodies from harm or death because they are part of His creation.” Then the fauci said to the people, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you receive the injection that all will be well and that you will become more like Him.” So, when the people saw that the injection was good and powerful, they took the received it as well as many more.
The biggest trick that Satan will ever play is trying to convince the world that he doesn’t exist. Don’t mistake LED lighting for the real thing. There are Fauci Lights, McConnell Lights…..all sorts of lights that are imposters and our job is to properly delineate the many Angels of Light from true SONlight.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
What God Hath Hidden
Do you remember the parable of the sower in Luke Chapter 8? It was essentially about how some seeds grow and other don’t dependent upon the type of soil in which they are planted but what was key was that at the end of the parable just called out “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. And He said,
To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Therefore, I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
Sometimes parables make us scratch our heads, and it can seem that Jesus was using them to deliberately confuse people. But even though they seem strange to us, they were a traditional teaching method that was always used to clarify rather than obscure. But again, the clarification only works for those who actually choose to listen. When I think of Q I tend to think in similar terms. The communication method employed by Q was always meant to be under a shroud of secrecy because only certain people are listening. But for those listening the information is invaluable. Luke Chapter 8 is one of many cases where Jesus wasn’t preaching to the choir but rather only to those willing to listen.
There’s an organization by the name of DMI (Digital Methods Initiative) one of Europe’s leading Internet Studies research groups. Comprised of new media researchers and PhD candidates, it designs methods and tools for repurposing devices and platforms (such as Twitter, Facebook and Google) for research into social and political issues. In a study they titled Understanding Normiefication they did a cross-platform analysis of what they called the QAnon conspiracy theory. Here is some initial findings on Normiefication as it relates to QAnon:
Normiefication is a vernacular concept that describes a process of normalization where “underground” content from fringe subcultural online communities' travels to and is popularized on mainstream social media platforms and news media. The concept borrows from subcultural actor language where “the mainstream” is said to be populated by “normies”: regular people that are not familiar with the Internet’s latest subcultural trends. Our research explores the various pathways of normiefication in an empirical manner, inquiring whether such a process can indeed be said to exist, and how exactly it works in a particular case. To this end, it takes the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory as a case study. Does this case warrant the concept of normiefication?
To a large extent, our findings can be said to confirm the “normiefication thesis”. We found that the QAnon conspiracy first appears on the imageboard 4chan (28 October 2017) before migrating to Reddit and 8chan (November 2017), more “mainstream” platforms (YouTube and Facebook), and eventually news media (New York Times, Washington Post, CNN). The results imply that platforms like YouTube and Reddit could operate as “bridges,” forming intermediaries that connect the “deep vernacular” with the “surface” web. Further, the findings suggest a slight “Streisand effect” after mainstream media covered the conspiracy, since it aligns with increased mentions of QAnon on other platforms, thus providing “oxygen” to once-fringe ideas (Phillips 2018). This reverberation occurred on more mainstream platforms like YouTube and Reddit, but also on QAnon’s birthplace, 4chan. As an exception to this finding, QAnon-related activity on 8chan seemed less affected by mainstream media coverage, implying a core group of somewhat isolated yet strongly committed Q-theorists.
When I first started to dabble into Q I found it quite intriguing, but I knew almost from the onset that it wasn’t something I was going to put the time and energy into trying to decipher. Not because I wasn’t interested because I can assure you, I was very interested. It had nothing to do with skepticism or doubt.
My reasons for abstaining from in-depth Q analysis were more personal believe it or not. Having said that, I could tell from the structure and timing of the messaging that what or whomever was on the other end was to be taken seriously. This wasn’t a trained professional pretending to be in the know but rather a true insider delivering messages to friends and foes alike. What I will say is that it’s nonsensical to say that Q is a conspiracy theory. Way too many Q breadcrumbs have already led to substantial events. So, at this point to call the movement anything other than legitimate if not even critical as history continues to exonerate it would be unwise to say the least.
But when you consider the worldly normiefication concept versus the biblical reality of temptation to disobey God you see a very common theme…the deception of satan at work.
In Genesis you see satan deceiving men and women into thinking a perfect God would lie about forbidden fruit. In normiefication you see satan deceiving humanity into thinking that the notion of imperfect men and women conspiring is actually itself conspiracy.
In an August 2020 article for the Biblical Recorder, Seth Brown wrote a scathing indictment of the Q movement. Here is an excerpt of some of that article…
So, there’s a few noteworthy observations I would like to make about the Biblical Recorder as it pertains to this particular article:
First of all, one would think that the journalistic standards for an outfit with “Biblical” in its name would be through the roof. Instead, it was as if I was reading something straight from Yahoo! News. No stated sources, no quotes from people in the movement, just full-blown attack mode from a firm that at a minimum should error on the side of verification.
Secondly, is it really a stretch to expect a conservative outfit to think the following may be plausible?
There may be perverted liberal politicians.
Media may manipulate or be complicit in unlawful activity.
Government officials may abuse power.
Pedophilia by people in positions of power may be possible.
The COVID narrative may not be on the up and up.
The truth is that we are consistently finding that the difference between what the world will believe and what the so-called evangelical church will believe is now razor thin. This is why apostate journalists and pastors can take the highroad on most issues because they know they have support both outside and, in most cases, inside the church.
1 Peter 4:17
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.
We all know I am a born again Christian and that I have minced no words when it comes to that fact, but at large the Christian leaders have overwhelmingly failed their flocks and even more so in recent years. I know that is a strong statement and may even come across as heavy handed but there can be no doubt whatsoever that God is doing precisely what he said he would do during the last days; he is separating the wheat from the chaff. This day and age has no place for the immoral and spineless which is precisely why God is calling a remnant of people from all corners of the globe to follow the true leader of the church…Christ Himself. The list of pastors (both prominent and local) that have fallen from grace is way too extensive to number here and God forbid we add in the Catholic leadership, as we would run out of space on slides.
When COVID first came on the scene and CDC and WHO officials were talking about shutting down part of society I knew immediately what was coming and that very few in Christian leadership positions would do little if anything to stand up for the people or the house of God. And sure enough…church after church after church shut their doors even though the Bible is explicit in saying that is not to happen.
Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
I’m sorry, I must have missed the COVID clause that God stuck in that Hebrews passage. What part of “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves” do these idiots not understand? In fact, we’re actually supposed to be assembling “so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” All church leaders participating in this lunacy should be ashamed, but they won’t because God is not their focus.
Their focus is on the things of the flesh and not the things of the spirit. It’s important that we understand how these type of people operate and how God will ultimately deal with them…
Jude 1:3-13
Contend for the Faith
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Old and New Apostates
But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Likewise, also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Apostates Depraved and Doomed
These are spots in your feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
So, judgement most certainly begins at the house of the Lord. But having said that, I would never make the mistake of interpreting those verses as thinking you may be better off not following Christ, as that would be a dire mistake. But rather to seek after the true and living Christ of scripture as opposed to the snowflake Jesus as embraced by the apostate crowd. When Jesus returns for His people, the true Bride of Christ, he comes to protect His followers with flaming fire wielding a sword…not a selfie stick.
So, keep in mind that God doesn’t operate within the realm of human understanding which is precisely why He is God. So before pre-judging what is said in a Q post consider the mystery of the Creator.
1 Corinthians 1:26-28
Consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world and what is viewed as nothing to bring to nothing what is viewed as something.
What God Hath Done
Nothing, and I mean nothing ensnares and angers the enemies of God like His creation. It’s simply unacceptable that a divine being would create the world and all that is in it in 6 days. This very concept undermines the enemies desire to make the creation process far bigger and more expansive than any of us could ever comprehend. It’s critical to create fake procedures like carbon dating which are able to extrapolate into existence these magical timelines that suddenly fall into the millions and billions of years. The bigger and longer the event the further they can push God away from the lives of men. “Sorry folks. He’s just too big and too far away to deal with people like you.”
And now you and l are alive to witness the entire squad of world-renown atheists (scientists and technologists) continue to try and alter the composition and future of God’s crowning jewel of creation…man. I quietly smile as I observe foolish men in their metaverse try to play God.
Ecclesiastes 11:5As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So, you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
We are less than 48 hours from what should be considered the most important day of any year. Because without the birth of Christ then nothing that follows is even possible…which means you and I would be doomed for eternity.
What drives the progressives and globalists crazier than anything else is…Jesus. But why? Why would they even care? I would think that from their perspective they would just look at the story of Christ as just another myth and they would simply move on. But they can’t simply move on. I mean if we’re being perfectly honest, we’re already at the point where 99% of Hollywood, 99% of big tech, 90% of big media, 90% of universities, and probably 75% of corporate America leadership is comprised of either literal or practical atheists. I mean when I average that out, we are at 90.6%.
Why not simply move on and let the fanatics live in their little Jesus bubble? The reason they won’t move on has nothing to do with percentages or control or agendas. The reason they won’t move on has no relation to democrats, republicans, independents, libertarians, communists, socialists, or the green party. In fact, I would even argue there is no connection between their unwillingness to move on and Christianity as a religion or a belief system.
They won’t move on because they can’t move on…it simply not possible to move on from God because God is immovable.
Romans 1:18-23
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man.
But let’s say for arguments sake they could ignore God completely which we all know is taking place right before our very eyes. Even if they could ignore God, they are faced with an even greater dilemma.
They are faced with a dilemma so great that every scientist, philosopher, mathematician, or big tech giant wrapped into one could never solve. They must solve the mystery of the uncreated creation as the sole creator and owner of…well…everything.
Colossians 1:15-18
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
In order to solve this puzzle, you would need to explain how an uncreated God created His son out of nothing. And then explain how that son turned into a man but remained God. And then you would need to explain how the son created everything (seen and unseen) that has ever been created. And then you would need to explain how He not only created everything but how he holds it all together. And then you would need to explain how God, having never been created, was actually able to be born, die, rise again, ascend back into the heaven he created, and then sit by the God that created him…but not really.
Can you imagine being on the wrong side of that story? Well, that is precisely where the enemies of God reside and unless they can make the Son go away, they know they are ultimately doomed.
Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Diwali, St. Nicholas Day…fill in the blank. They are happy to celebrate anything. But please, no Christmas. Because inside of Christmas is the unsolvable puzzle.
As we consider the magnitude of the gospel of Jesus Christ, let us not forget that we live in a fallen world. A world that is desperately looking for answers in all the wrong places. It would be easy to snub those that consider you to be their enemy. Why even give them the time of day? Remember, the message of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing but to those that are being saved it is the power of God. The Bible says we as believers will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. To whom much is given, much is required. Please, reach out to those that may not return the favor, remember that we have received what we did not earn and clearly did not deserve. We received…
Well yes and no. My older stuff was not in Substack format so now I’m converting it and letting people know it’s in Substack.
Rts...you had me the first time you were on with PP before Thredfest and you said...."they're gonna try this( something bad) but they won't succeed because God". I knew I was supposed to follow you. TY. Really that sentence instantly eased my fear. It's an honor to read your work. May God bless you and keep you in Jesus name Amen 🙏