spiphywarfare

Author: Derek

  • Christian Nationalism: Next Talking Point for BigEva?

    What is Christian Nationalism? Good question. One that needs answering as it looks to become the next talking point to used to try to shut down people who want to speak honestly about God, His Word, and His Church. Like Critical Race Theory (CRT), the term has been around for a while. This person, who I do not know, starts out as if they’re going to give it a sound, clarifying definition and then goes on for thirteen tweets to say, “All that to say, the threat of Christian nationalism to the Church & to the gospel is deep.” So the intention was never to define the term, only to use it as a term to vaguely cast aspersions on folks who won’t toe the line and label it, whatever it is, as a threat.

    It appears that Christian Nationalism will be the next catch-phrase used to demean, dismiss, and slander Christians. I don’t know if it is because “racist” and “white supremacist” are getting worn out and need replacing, or if it will become just another politicoreligious word in the arsenal used to shoot accusatory, fiery darts against the saints.

    Beth Moore used it to define a threat to the Gospel (if one accepts she actually knows what the Gospel is). She says “Trumpism,” whatever that is, is the most dangerous and seductive thing she’s ever seen the saints of God face. She then says, “This Christian Nationalism is not of God.” I guess he must not have given her a special word about it.

    Jon Harris is on it, and so is AD Robles (both links go to YouTube videos). These two guys each use their own tactics when dealing with issues and I appreciate them both. If you have the time, watch both of these linked videos discussing this issue.

    I’ll be trying to follow-up on this post with information that defines this but, sadly, I don’t hold my breath for clarity. Why? I asked for a definition of someone else online who wondered about Christian leaders pushing back against Christian Nationalism. I was given this article. It’s an article of over 3,000 words that, in the end, does not give a true definition. That’s one of the tactics I’ve noticed is so often used by unbelievers infiltrating the church. Obfuscate, muddy the water, and never define what the term used to slander believers means. I guess it makes their job easier.

  • Crazy Legislation/Legislators

    I guess this isn’t too far outside my stated reason for having this site. To encourage spiritual and physical health in others. I can see how both of these issues can impact your physical well-being. One other note, I know the image is not flattering, it may even be harsh, but given that Miriam-Webster defines dunce as someone who is slow at learning, I stand by it.

    So when I first heard about Representative Thresa Meza‘s HB 196 regarding changes to defenses against the use of deadly force, I was miffed. Please! Do not let this happen to my beloved Texas. The bill isn’t as bad as I’ve seen it presented but it needs to be opposed nonetheless. While it doesn’t impose a strict duty to retreat on you in your home, it changes it to require it to be your own habitation. Current law would allow an adult child visiting their parents home to defend that home with the same protections under the law. This bill would remove that. I suppose you would lose the protection for defending your small business location as well. Interestingly, it also amends the crimes this applies to when it says a person is justified in using deadly force against another…

    to prevent the other’s imminent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault,or aggravated sexual assault [,robbery,or aggravated robbery].

    Just to be clear, it appears that you would not be justified in using deadly force, even in your own habitation, to protect yourself from robbery, or aggravated robbery. In case you wonder what aggravated robbery is, and therefore what this bill would remove your protections from defending yourself against; here’s the definition of Aggravated Robbery from the Texas Penal Code:

    (a) A person commits an offense if he commits robbery as defined in Section 29.02, and he:
       (1) causes serious bodily injury to another;
       (2) uses or exhibits a deadly weapon; or
       (3) causes bodily injury to another person or threatens or places another person in fear of imminent bodily injury or death, if the other person is:
          (A) 65 years of age or older; or
          (B) a disabled person.
    (b) An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree.
    (c) In this section, “disabled person” means an individual with a mental, physical, or developmental disability who is substantially unable to protect himself from harm.

    I do not think this bill will see the light of day. I do think an even more nonsensical piece of municipal legislation, thankfully out of Seattle, may have a chance of becoming law. If I was a Seattle resident, I would sell everything and take my family elsewhere before the end of the year. This is asking for trouble and given the way it is being handled behind closed doors and outside of the normal process, I figure the City Council there knows it.

    Basically, addiction, mental health issues, and poverty would be a defense to prosecution for virtually every misdemeanor you can commit is your intent was to meet and immediate and basic need. According to this MSN.com story, “For example, if a defendant argued they stole merchandise to sell for cash in order to purchase food, clothes or was trying to scrape together enough money for rent. The accused could not be convicted.”

    God, please help this country.

  • Naked Bible Podcast

    If you haven’t heard of Dr. Michael Heiser, or his Naked Bible Podcast, then I’d urge you to correct that. 😁 Dr. Heiser is an expert in ancient languages. I’ve always heard that we need to read the Bible in context, he points out that we need to read it out in proper context which isn’t the context of a 21st Century, Western Christian.

    Not too long ago while reading through Deuteronomy, I was a bit perplexed by why the Israelites were instructed to build an altar out of unhewn stone. I had wondered if maybe it had something to do with using prohibited technology. It didn’t.

    How do I know that? I wrote Dr. Heiser a question, and it was answered in a recent episode of his podcast. I thought it was so considerate of him to give his time to help me understand this passage of the Bible. He has a saying along the lines of, “If something in the Bible is weird, it’s important.”

    If you, like me, routinely commute, I’d encourage that you give this podcast a listen with an open mind. I guarantee you I have not found anything he says yet that violates scripture, but he has sure pointed out that I’ve had the wrong view of some things.

  • On that day…

    I’ve been a little hesitant to post this as I take scripture seriously and approach it with respect. However, this just came out of my mouth the other day while having a conversation, and it keeps coming back to me.

    I personally make a point of not sharing those social media posts that say basically, “If you don’t share this you don’t love Jesus” because I’m not going to be manipulated, and I’m pretty sure that’s not a standard we’ll be held to.

    Right now, politics seems to have divided Christianity. And, I’m not saying that it is without good reason. I can easily say that one party’s platform easily is more in line with my beliefs. But, I’ve seen folks indicate that if you vote for Trump, your vote will lead to eternal destruction for people and nations. Likewise, I’ve seen some state that voting Democrat means you aren’t Christian. That said, I’ve noticed some things that make me wonder if some want to syncretize political platforms with Christianity. Weird.

    Finally, I know memes are a thing of our day. Done right, they get a point across quickly and effectively. Poorly done, they either leave you scratching your head in wonder or mislead people with funny but incorrect information. I’ve had plenty of “religious” memes that leave me thinking the creator needs to work on their theology a bit.

    I pray that as we continue through tumultuous times that, my brothers and sisters in Christ (including myself), we will leave behind that which is past and press on toward that which is ahead and press on to reach the goal and receive that Heavenly prize in Jesus Christ[ref]Philippians 3:14[/ref].

  • Getting Away for a Bit

    Maintaining our health involves more than exercising or making the right food choices. While both of those contribute to our physical and mental well-being, they’re not enough.

    Sometimes we need a break. I personally think that’s more important currently than ever before. We took a little break, but not many photos. Even so, I thought I’d share a few of them. Lake Whitney State Park…

    Lake Whitney State Park

  • The Sin of Achan

    The Sin of Achan

    I’ve been reading through the book of Joshua recently. Normally when I read Old Testament events regarding Israel, I don’t necessarily feel like they have a direct application today. Am I wrong? Maybe.

    I do think they are insightful into God’s character and valuable to understanding our faith. Chapter 7 of Joshua hit me differently. Maybe it’s because of events going on in our country and in the “church” in America. Maybe it’s because so many groups seem to have co-opted the word “church” without really belonging to the body of Christian believers. Whatever the reason, when I read it, as I thought about God’s character and his disposition towards his people, I couldn’t help but think of how that applied today.

    In Joshua 7:1 we find, depending on translation, that the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, that it was kindled against Israel, or that the Lord was furious with Israel. Why? Achan had taken things into the camp that were described as devoted, devoted to destruction, forbidden, or he is described as acting unfaithfully in regards to things under the ban.

    The rest of the chapter deals with the adverse effects of bringing the forbidden into the camp. It deals with searching out the offenders and removing them, in a most permanent way, and restoring God’s people to a right relationship. To be clear, I am not calling for burning anyone and their household in what follows.

    I am wondering if the church, God’s people today, have brought in things that are forbidden. Perhaps strongholds that should be demolished (2 Corinthians 10:4) have instead been looked at with greedy hearts and brought into our camp. Are we accepting banned things into our teachings in the church? I think we are. I implore you, if you’re claiming the name of Christ… READ. YOUR. BIBLE. Don’t just assume that what someone is telling you it says is truth, read it yourself.

    If we have done this thing, we should search it out and repent of it. Jesus is quite clear that he will come against the church in Pergamum with a sword (Revelation 2:16) for holding to teachings they ought not. In Thyatira, the church tolerated “Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess” and those who practiced adultery with her are promised great tribulation (Revelation 2:20-23).

    In his own words, our Lord did not come to bring a worldly peace but a sword (Matthew 10:34). The Rider on the White Horse comes in a robe dipped in blood, making war on the nations, treading out the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, and rules the nations with an iron scepter (Revelation 19:11-16). It is not hard to imagine that same God having his anger burn against the church when it has gone astray or brought in things that are forbidden and devoted to destruction.

    I pray that all believers would have peace. Not a false peace of being comfortable around everybody and never being offended or offensive. Not a peace with the world, but a peace with The Creator. I pray God’s people will be bold and protect the truth by removing the forbidden, and those bringing it in, from within the church.

  • The Social Justice Gospel

    The church is infected. The infection is an ideology based in Marxist thought that fundamentally opposed to the all-sufficient, saving work of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Like most things infected, it starts stinking if left untreated. Unbeknownst to me, the infection has been going on for years and the stench of it finally caught my attention.

    It goes by many names: critical race theory, social justice, social gospel, far-left orthodoxy, etc. It’s all the same stuff and uses the same special vocabulary. When you repeatedly hear terms like whiteness, white privilege, systemic racism, woke, and other similar phrases,  you are witnessing the infection. Bear in mind, I’m speaking of it in the church. Obviously, we should not expect those outside the family of God to adhere to God’s truths since they remain in rebellion. It appears some of the church’s “leaders” are in rebellion as well. There is something systemic, and it is this demonic doctrine.

    I’ve spent much of my free time for the last couple of months studying on this. It’s dizzying, disturbing, dangerous. Dizzying because its proponents use amazing communicative gymnastics to say what they are saying without saying it. Disturbing because it is so twisted. Dangerous because it has so embedded itself in the church.

    Rooting it out requires that we understand what we are looking at/for. Like I said earlier, they don’t speak clearly because they can’t. If they did, they would out themselves instantly.

    I came across this video. While it just scratches the surface in the hour it takes to watch it, this is probably one of the best places I’ve seen the problems this ideology presents when it is blended with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Very good info in the video description as well.

    I recommend this video.

  • At a Loss

    I’m at a complete and total loss. The more I go to look into the nasty, devilish teachings of Critical Race Theory (CRT), the more I find it has infiltrated into an institution I’ve long affiliated myself with. The Provost and Sr. VP of Southern Seminary, an institution of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), claims that “faithfulness, and orthodoxy, and truth, and righteousness, and justice” are actually a rotting corpse of white supremacy.

    Now, before I continue, I need to make something clear. If you’re not familiar with Southern Baptist church polity, it follows a congregational form meaning the SBC holds no authority over local congregations. This is important because you can’t conclude that every SBC congregation, or even a majority of them, are embracing what I am talking about. Although if not stopped, in the future the majority will. I surely haven’t seen this at the congregation I attend, or I would have withdrawn my membership there.

    Sadly, many of those sitting in the pews of those congregations are unaware that some of their giving is going to furthering the introduction of CRT into our seminaries. CRT makes a mockery of the work of Jesus on the Cross when it is blended in Christianity. We need salvation through Jesus, and then some more. At its core, it is a theory based on Marxist thought and as such is concerned only about power, and adheres to the idea that “truth has no independent existence.” Could anything be farther from what our Bible teaches?

    That’s how it becomes acceptable to teach future SBC ministers that “faithfulness, and orthodoxy, and truth, and righteousness, and justice” are ideas based on “the rotting corpse of white supremacy.” Do you want to be faithful? Congratulations, you’re practicing white supremacy! Do you want to express orthodoxy in your beliefs? Congratulations, you’re expressing white supremacy? How about the truth? That thing Jesus says will set you free. Do you want to proclaim it? Congratulations, you’re proclaiming white supremacy! And to top it off, your beliefs, truths, faithfulness etc. are a dead, rotting corpse. Don’t just take my words for it, hear him in his own words. The video below will start a few seconds before he lets that doctrine of demons spew out of his mouth.

    If you want to embrace these teachings, fine. Go ahead. Just know you will have to reject Ephesians 2:14-16. You have to reject 2 Corinthians 5:17. You have to reject Ezekiel 18:19-20. You will have to reject truth, faithfulness, and righteousness.

    Alternatively, you could keep all of that, embrace 1 Timothy4:1, and wonder if we’re near the end.

  • Where is Our Delight?

    Man, this is so true. For my believing family, who hasn’t experienced ups and downs in closeness to the LORD and who hasn’t experienced the unmatched joy of life when every aspect of your life is dedicated to his service.

    Psalms 37:4

    Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (ESV)

  • Publicly Rebuking Church Leaders?

    I was researching a completely different topic when 1 Timothy 5:20 popped out at me today at lunch time. It’s talking about elders/leaders in the church. I always thought issues were addressed behind. Implications? Ali and I talked about it on the patio.

    Publicly rebuke those who sin, so that the rest will also be afraid.

    1 Timothy 5:20