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Some Notes On Freedom

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We don’t need freedom. We already have freedom.

What we are seeking to gain or defend is liberty. Because liberty means to be liberated from something, while freedom speaks of autonomy and self-determination. We already have free will, and can do what we want, with or without consequence.

The only right the biblical God seems concerned about is your right to act in a moral fashion. Even a slave is free to act morally. If you think about it, it explains a lot about why the Bible is not a social justice tract, because it is not meant to be.

Thus, we are free to do what we want, basically. What we fight for is liberty: to live without the oppression of states, governments and political factions. Even a Chinese citizen is free to act as a Christian, but will pay the price imposed by the communist oppressors.

When we speak of freedom, we are only speaking about the ability to navigate morally, which we all have.

We can make a commitment to evil, and keep it, but we cannot keep our commitment to good. This is how we know that we are fallen.

John Rodi

But on the other hand, if the founding fathers of the United States returned, they would probably wonder at why we have recommitted to a European, hedonistic flavor of bondage again. They would not recognize us as liberated, I think.

The truth is that we only have liberty if we are free to pursue the truth, no matter where it leads.

True freedom is the ability to live out a moral life, without interference from the state.

But if you are constantly pursuing happiness, you are not free at all. This is not merely a Buddhist concept, but is the signal that you are enslaved, a prisoner of the lusts of the flesh, under order of the body. If a man is happy, it is because he knows that God is his father, and then he has been liberated from this pursuit, entirely.

Freedom to sin, or to do evil, does not define true freedom. True freedom is freedom from sin.

After the fall, Adam and Eve were exiled from the presence of God. Would you say that divorce from God and his immediate presence is freedom? Would you frame that as a good, positive thing? Of course not. But we do.

You can never be free to make good, sound, rational or moral decisions in a world of propaganda and lies. That is why we have the gospel. It cuts through all of the cultural white noise, exposing to us the soul of rightness.

Outside of this relationship to God and the gospel, there is no freedom. There is not even choice. Choice is an illusion, because mankind is a prisoner to sin, subject to the whims of the flesh, encased in the cell of the body.

We can make a commitment to evil, and keep it, but we cannot keep our commitment to good. This is how we know that we are fallen.

Truth is just freedom from lies. Truth doesn’t grant freedom, but is the essence of freedom itself.

But there are no free choices if you are deceived. If you are misinformed, you cannot be free to make good, sound moral decisions. Therefore, freedom can only exist where no lies exist, and that certainly is not here, on earth. You can only be free after you disconnect from the world of lies.

We can make a commitment to evil, and keep it, but we cannot keep our commitment to good. This is how we know that we are fallen.

The bible says, where the spirit of the lord is, there is freedom. That is the only place you will find freedom. In the presence of the Lord, where the spirit is. Not down here on earth. Because in His presence, you will have liberation from want and lack. Christ said as much. He said that we “will ALWAYS have the poor among you.” There is no perfect world on the horizon. Its end is destruction and apocalypse.

It is our death that grants us our love for freedom. Our yearning for freedom comes from a deep desire to accumulate experience as defensive infrastructure against death. But no matter how much travel we do, or selfies we take at National Parks, we will not escape the prison of death. You cannot assemble anything against death, except good works and faith. They are the only tools we have.

Death, also, frees you completely. Liberated from want, lack, need and desire. But the problem with death is that it also frees you from yourself.

We are not even born free. We are not free beings by default. Instead we are born as bilious, blubbery, fatty, wailing nymphets. We are undressed and prone to all manner of harm. If we were all truly born free, we would all be dead.

And this brings us to rights.

I don’t know that natural rights exist except as vague metaphysical declarations. We are free to live, to die, to suffer, to resist or comply. Besides that, we are only free to be moral or immoral. We are only truly free to do good or to do evil.

Freedom itself is described as “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.” And that is exactly what it is. It is not a thing in itself, or a material substance. It is the absence of oppression, like darkness is the absence of light. We have freedom when we don’t have something or someone else oppressing us.

If we don’t participate in the political arena and the culture war, the godless will gather up more power and influence, and persecutions will be inevitable. We must vote. We must attend church. We must band together.

Finally, an allowance to be moral is true freedom. If you think about it, this is what the democrats are seeking to take from us, by criminalization of traditional Christian acts– feeding the homeless, filling meters, treating a person struggling with homosexuality, persuading someone not to kill their unborn baby, or of late- even attending church.

There is no doubt that American Christians have failed America. When you consider the transformative effect that one committed, passionate person can achieve, and you consider how many Christians we have in the country, it becomes clear that the great majority have dismissed their spiritual birthright. Because if one man can turn a country on its head, think of how much power millions of Christians should wield. It is clear that there is something lacking, something missing in the believing community.

They don’t even know that their only natural, God-given right is a freedom to behave morally, to take up their cross and follow Christ.







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The False Religion of Victimhood

Definition.
Victimhood: the condition of having been hurt, damaged, or made to suffer, especially when you want people to feel sorry for you because of this or use it as an excuse for something.

The truth is, victimology is a lazy play on morality. People think they can use it as a cheat-code to attain righteousness.

If the mantle of victimhood is granted to you gratis, you don’t feel like you have to be persecuted for telling the truth, or doing what is right. Persecution is often imagined, or cooked up. You imagine that you are just born into it. And so, no moral effort has to be made, because a coat of righteousness is already yours, and it was free to claim.

What is really appealing about this racial victimology that we see in play today is that you don’t have to DO ANYTHING in order to suffer persecution. Rather, you are crowned and initiated into a false sense of moral goodness by just being yourself, by just having the wrong skin color or the wrong last name.

Your goodness, and your special place in the moral hierarchy comes directly from something apart from your own moral choices and behaviors. It is almost as if goodness becomes a grace, something that does not have to be earned by actively BEING GOOD.

This is the danger of victimhood. You take the apple in hand, and it is shiny and it looks good for eating. But if you eat it, it becomes part of who you are, and you lose your moral status, exiled from the grace that you assumed was yours all along.

The victim has special rights.

You do not have to be charitable. You do not have to feed the poor.

You do not have to take care of the widowed. No. You are special and unique, and inherit your goodness based on forces you cannot control.

This is a false moral system, much like a religious meme, that is spreading widely in our culture. Victimhood is the lazy person’s path to righteousness. One does not need to be just, because everybody around you is unjust, and your victimhood is a kind of shield that protects and defends you from moral responsibility.

This is really about persecution, and you should know it.

Persecution that is earned by a commitment to goodness, rightness and truth is legitimate persecution. It is true persecution, because one knows in advance that in a world of liars, a truth-teller will never escape suffering. But in a world of liars, the lies we tell ourselves are just as important as the truths we should be committed to.

And we should distinguish one from the other. Too many groups and nationalities and cultures today are erecting worlds of persecution around themselves, in order to shield themselves from moral responsibility. And THAT is a big problem.

That is a moral failing.

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faith politics Uncategorized

No faith. No Freedom.

If there is one thing that any society cannot afford to lose, it is faith, and people of faith. Faith is the glue that holds together a free and safe society. Without faith, there cannot be freedom.

What is it that all communist and extremist socialist societies need, more than anything else?

They need a citizenry that will comply and conform to cultural conventions set by the state apparatus. They need a robotic, workaday citizenry, who are willing to silently and internally groan at the authoritarian government structure, but hold back on outrage, on rebellion, on putting their lives at risk in order to bring change.

Years ago, there was a horrific story that came out of Communist, authoritarian China. An infant had crawled out from the sidewalk and into the road and had subsequently been struck by a car.

Video shows one good citizen after another walk by the dying, injured infant, stop and look, and then push on. Cars slowed down and people gawked, but nobody stopped, nobody helped.

The fact is, that once you can successfully remove religious faith from a society, and replace it with servile obedience to the god-like state, you won’t have to worry about the people stepping out of line. There will be no bravery. There will only be cowed drones.

You see, the thing about faith in God, or even in what is right and what is wrong, is that it becomes more important than yourself, and your own well-being. You begin to realize, as a man or woman of faith, that doing what is right is more important than preserving one’s body and health and life.

In fact, the older that you get, as you look back on your life and the decisions made in it, you begin to realize that doing the right thing was the only thing that mattered. You realize that you are not defined by your gender, your race, your culture, your relationships, or anything else but your sense of right and wrong. In fact, I will go so far as to say that being a man is just being a person who knows what is right, and puts that above all else.

You cannot have a safe and free society without people willing to die for what is right. You cannot have freedom from tyranny and authoritarianism without a populace that is willing to die for what is right.

This is the rather obvious reason, historically, that communist and socialist countries crack down on the church as their first order of business. It is not religion that they are afraid of, per se, but faith. They know that to accomplish their social objectives by force, they cannot have people willing to put their own lives and social standing in jeopardy for what is right. They cannot have a society of do-gooders; the kind of people who will see a bleeding, dying, mortally-injured child in the street and stop to help, despite the social risk, because they that is the right thing to do, persecution be damned.

No. ‘The good’ must be viewed as a distribution from the government. The government must be seen as the source of distributed goodness, as it were. Individual, personal charity must replaced by a willingness to pay higher taxes, to sacrifice their lot for the greater societal good.

Conform. Pay your dues. Don’t make a stir. Be a good citizen by viewing yourself, not as an independent agent of goodness, but merely as a small contributor to the overall ocean of positive change enacted by the authorities.

Faith in God, and especially a God that is always watching, is replaced by a constant surveillance by your fellow citizens, neighbor, police and digital overlords.

Therefore, faith in a personal God, and His watchful eye, must be replaced by obedience to the equally ever present observation station of the supreme authority of the government. That is how it works.

It is not faith that they are after, even, but a belief that if you resist, if you step out of line, you will be caught, and ostracized, exiled, and punished in this present time. You will be canceled, shut up, censored, banned from communal activities, even re-educated.

Faith is the driver of freedom. A self-determinate person, who is willing to do good, or do the right thing, is the greatest danger to authoritarianism. Faith is more than just the glue, but the very fabric of freedom woven into a free societal superstructure. Without freedom, faith is replaced by cowardice, by fear, by fretful conformity to societal rules and obligations. True faith is a personal commitment to risk in the face of overwhelming societal dangers. It always was, and always will be– just that.

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creative essays politics revelation Uncategorized

The Most Important Blog Post I Might Ever Write

Laying in bed the other night, my mind was swirling. I was thinking about a verse that has served as a lens through which I am now filtering reality in some way:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12

I thought of the current political environment in America, how the lines are clearly drawn between left and right, christian and godless, Northerner and Southerner.

I wondered if there was a hidden determinant to all of this conflict, if the sides were equally drawn on the spiritual plane, as it were.

What if, since 65% of the citizenry identifies as Christian, the opposition to church outreach services and charities, is really just an anti-church movement in disguise? What if their unyielding promotion of state and government services for the poor is all about taking social influence away from the church and moving it over to themselves?

What if the idea that the government must take care of its citizenry like a parent does a young child is just the design of a godless institution competing vigorously against the influence of the church for the souls of men?

What if the movement to tax the middle and upper classes is likewise an anti-christian movement, as most millionaires identify as Christian? What if it designed to defund and defang the church by stressing its main funding sources to the point of breaking? What if it is akin to a religious tax that targets a protected minority, much like some Muslim-majority countries institute an abusive Jyzya tax on Christians living in their lands?

What if faith is the most important ingredient in the recipe for the making and maintaining of a free nation? What if the willingness to die for what is right and moral and just in the face of tyranny is the one thing that the authoritarian state must overcome in order to emasculate its citizenry, making them fearful, robotic conformists–impotent and flinching at its immense authority?

What if democratic, secular leftism is really, actually anti-christian sentiment and bias wrapped up in a political sophistry, much like the bible says of the devil, that he comes disguised as an angel of light? What if the road to hell truly is paved with good intentions? What if the road to hell is really paved with our own, all-so-human intentions?

What if the political lines, having been drawn, and then apprehended, really show a clear dividing line between good and evil, with no in between, no wriggle room.

It is a hard place to go, difficult to digest, distasteful in the mouth, even. Even the most fallible of Christians might find themselves rebuking these thoughts as too extreme, just all too much.

Even worse than all of that, speaking as a protestant Christian, what if the breakaway protestant church has been the main contributor to this societal divide, allowing disparate doctrine to be taught from one church to another, genetically distinct from traditional and authoritative christian ideologies? What if you lived in a country where, if you wished, you could easily find a church that is pro-choice, supports censorship of their neighbors in their community, and where its members hold no political or moral beliefs that distinguish themselves from the godless masses?

Isn’t Protestant America such a place?

What if the church’s ‘anti-gay’ beliefs are really pro-gay, pro-mental-health, pro-human, and like Jesus said: ‘the sabbath day of rest was made FOR MAN’S own good.’ What if modern-day views about racism and hate speech are not sins, and never were, because they are not consistent moral constructions? What if they are just secular, counterfeit euphemisms for evil? What if this alternative moral code being taught to our children is just a ruse to get them to take their eyes off of the time-tested dichotomy of good and evil and instead take the shiny, appealing apple of their own moral fruits to their mouths?

What if school lock downs are anti-christian in nature, as most people having children and having large families are Christian, and lock downs only serve to financially devastate the nuclear Christian family?

What if this is truly a spiritual war, a struggle against dark principalities and evil forces?

These are questions that I don’t think any Christian should sleep on.

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creative essays politics racism revelation Uncategorized

How Many Americans are Anti-Christian?

There was a discussion at the kitchen table the other night about social services and government help programs. Food stamps was up for grabs and on the docket on this cold, snowy night.

The republican thought that too many were taking advantage of the system. The Democrat said that “SOMEBODY has to help these people.”

And just after he finished saying that, an epiphany struck me, about why both of them were deceived, and how the problem isn’t about who we should tax, or who we should distribute government and State funds to, but rather, the real issue was much deeper, more critical, and struck at the heart of what it means to be an American.

Immediately I thought of a verse in the Bible that states that we don’t fight a physical struggle, but that the battle is spiritual, against spirits, powers, principalities and dark forces.

So, what would happen if, tomorrow morning, food stamps across the country were cut off, completely, nationwide?

I know what the average liberal or democrat would say. I heard the implications of what they believe last night during our political dialogue.

They would say that people would go starving, that children would go hungry, that within weeks, looting and rioting would occur, and social chaos would ensue.

It would be a net negative. It would be cruel and coldblooded for such a major transformation to occur. It would be heartless, gutless and evil.

But I realized that it just isn’t so.

The democrat is wrong, dead wrong.

Not only that, but it is an anti-Christian sentiment.

Instead, what would happen is that you would see the greatest charitable mobilization ever seen in the history of mankind. You would see Christian, middle-class America come together and fill every food pantry from coast to coast. They would donate money, time and their physical presence to fill that sudden need.

Not one child would go hungry. Not one person would be hospitalized for malnutrition. Not a chance in hell.

And the social ripples that would spread out from this event would lead to a precipitous drop in crime, a major drop in out-of-wedlock childbirth and abortion, and would ultimately be the precursor to a major leap toward societal and political unity like never seen before in this country.

Here’s how.

Democrats have been fostering class warfare for years. It is their bread and butter, and antagonism between economic classes is necessary in order for their brand of political philosophy to flourish. People must be taught that their neighbor is their enemy, not to be trusted, and that they are only out for themselves, and not for you.

This only works today because the church has been replaced by a government-printed check. The church is just a building to most, dotting the roadways with steeples and over-large parking lots.

That disassociation would be broken forever, however, in our hypothetical event.

Because the people in need, who have been taught all of their life that the nameless, faceless government is their best hope in life, would suddenly find themselves face-to-face with their neighbors, as it were. That little old curly-haired middle-class caucasion woman would be handing them a bag bursting with comestibles, that she contributed to, personally. The effects of this would be dramatic and long-lasting.

No longer would poor inner-city citizens be able to carry antagonism and anger in their hearts toward the middle class. No longer would neighbor hate neighbor, steal from neighbor, carjack their neighbor’s car or steal a package off of their porch. Because they would, for the first time, have the scales of socialism fall from their eyes, being able to see clearly that their more-statused neighbors care, and have a Christian love inside of them.

Here is what those who worship at the altar of big government cannot see, that even though it is true that people cannot be trusted to do the right thing, Christian America can.

65% of Americans identify as Christian. That makes this a majority-Christian country.

Despite the hundreds of charity hospitals started by Christians, the thousands of food pantries in churches all over the country, the Saint Judes’ and Saint Agathas’ and so on and so forth, somehow most people are blinded to this Christian infrastructure, though it swamps them, hems them in, cannot be escaped from. Because it is a spiritual war we are fighting, and not a struggle against flesh and blood. They are spiritually blind to the answer to all societal ills in this country, though they are surrounded by the answer, and cannot escape it no matter which way they look.

The fact is, Christian American can be counted on, could always be counted on. It is like a sleeping giant waiting to be roused from its slumber. The country would unify, and the political grifters would be desperate for animosity and hatred to return; desperate to make them believe again that their neighbor should be distrusted, is unreliable, in unchristian, is a hypocrite, is a racist, is a misogynist, and is only out for themselves.

The lie, the false belief that their neighbors must be forced toward social positives in a nation full of Christians would be shattered once and for all. The blinders would be broken from their eyes and the citizenry would gain again a renewed optimism in America, God and country.

The fact is, the government is a natural competitor to the church. The bigger the influence of the state in people’s lives, the lesser the influence of the church in people’s lives, and the more people lose an essential ingredient for social cohesion, being face-to-face interaction with priests, with saints, with everyday Christians.

There has been, throughout history, no government allowed to grow to unparalleled power and moral authority, in which the church has survived and thrived.

Therefore, with every new and over-sized government-sponsored social program, another chip is taken off of the church’s sphere of influence.

The answer to all of America’s social ills lies in its Christian citizenry. They are yet dormant, having been suppressed by the opposing and contradictory reach of the state and government.

In all, the real difference between the republican and the democrat boils down to faith: one has faith in his church, in his neighbors, in his community, in his fellow Christians and countrymen. The other believes, without cause, unblinkingly, as a matter of rote, that people cannot be relied on to do the right thing, to lift up his neighbor when they need it, and that they must be forced to do so, under threat of violence, if need be.

One spreads fear and pessimism about his neighbor, while the other spreads optimism and faith about his neighbor.

Finally, while observing the conversation in the kitchen the other night, the democrat interjected a strange statement, seemingly out of nowhere, about how the church should be paying taxes, should have taxation forced upon them. I’ve noticed this trend when in conversation with liberals, that anti-christian rhetoric somehow, some way, finds itself injected, as a matter of course, into the conversation. Nobody usually takes note of it.

It makes you wonder about it, that if one were inclined to believe such a thing, one might think that the ones who worship government know all of the aforementioned beforehand, and are deeply conscious of the fact that their programs and systems and infrastructures are truly unnecessary in a Christian country, one full of believers, but instead, perhaps they are fully aware that they are fighting an ideological war, a spiritual war, just as the bible tells us.

To take it even a natural step farther, if the majority of a citizenry in a country are Christian, and a political party or faction spreads fear, insinuation, hate and misinformation about the people, who are majority-Christian, it is not crazy to assume that this sentiment is, at heart, anti-christian in nature.

Yes.

Anti-Christian.

Mull that one over.