It is, in a kind-of sense, 'natural' for human beings to want to be part of human society.
We are 'social animals' after all - and under ancient conditions Men could not survive alone. Exile meant death.
The problem is that - for most people, now - there is no human society to be a part of: not really, not by the standards of the past.
What now masquerades as human society is The System, a global and totalitarian (hence necessarily evil) conglomeration of all the major governments, corporations, financial and social institutions, and the mass media.
The System has assimilated or destroyed all the large human groupings - including the churches; has infiltrated and subverted even friendships, marriages and families - and therefore there is (for most people, a large majority) no real human society.
Instead there is just The System, which pretends to be a human society, but is increasingly not even a System.
Through 2021 I have observed The System becoming nothing-more-than an evolving series of lying excuses for its own ongoing collapse.
Everything is breaking; and The System is only united in generating fake explanations for this.
As 2022 approaches, that is - indeed - pretty much all that The System does. The System is consuming-itself - increasingly dominant Sorathic-demonic elements are injecting chaos into the Ahrimanic-demonic bureaucracy.
(Consider the Litmus Test issues. Any supposedly constructive aspects are now swamped by a rising tide of chaos. The birdemic-peck responses have substantially destroyed culture; and are causing mass sickness, poverty and spiritual despair. Antiracism is causing racism, riots, violence and murder - and destroying effectiveness everywhere. The sexual revolution (especially its latest trans manifestation) is ruining all it touches in culture; mutilating and poisoning children, 'gaslighting' the world with mandatory lies and delusions. The climate change fraud is - very rapidly, and accelerating - shrinking and wrecking the world economy. All these core leftist strategies are overwhelmingly net destructive, and on an unprecedented scale. Whatever nonsensical theories are propagated to justify them as positive and necessary; all are in truth gratuitous sabotage.)
The Ahrimanic planners are still intoxicated by their grandiose visions of (allegedly benign!) omni-surveillance and micro-control via a single world bureaucracy (Great Reset, Agenda 2030 etc) - apparently made possible by the international coup of early 2020.
But in truth The System - its officials and media - is occupied 24/7 in explaining (over-and-again, a new one every day) why nothing works, why harm is healthy, why insanity is common sense, why evil is a higher kind of Good...
The demons of 'chaotic evil' are winning everywhere; but their 'lawful evil' subordinates are still telling each other (ever louder and more often) that they are on the verge of a final victory.
How can a (Romantic Christian) - isolated, without reliable support - respond to all this? The answer is - spiritually. By thought, discernment and intent - rather than by some formula of activity that aims to save his nation, or the world. By reliance upon divine providence rather than planning.
Part of what is needed as the world is being deliberately-collapsed, seems to be restraint; restraint from advocating and defending the lesser evil from the greater: avoiding fighting for The System and against the injectors of chaos.
This is difficult - because it is - in a material sense - The same System which keeps us alive - and much else. Yet that same System is now (obviously!) net-evil, and dedicated to our damnation by systematic value-inversion.
We need to do Good, not to empower lesser-evil.
So when your net-evil "Christian" church is collapsing into chaos - you need to ensure that your response is Not one that will simply strengthen the evil-motivated bureaucracy. Same applies to all other social institutions. All are Here-and-Now part of Team-Evil.
A Christian cannot join Team Evil and stay a Christian.
This will probably mean more suffering - up-front, rather than delayed.
But - from here, and with a net-evil world - delay is all that can be achieved; and it is worse-than-folly to sell one's soul merely in hope of avoiding suffering today; when by your actions suffering tomorrow is made more certain and more extreme.
I believe that a lot of what Christians ought to be doing, is avoiding 'doing' - after all, for many people, what can actively be done at a societal level is very limited - and instead focusing on spiritual discernment, thinking and understanding.
To see-through the lies and understand the truth is maybe the most valuable thing anyone can do in 2022 - valuable for your own soul, and valuable for the whole world.
God is in control; but divine providence must have something to work-with!
God can do more Good with one Good Man - one Man who has consciously chosen to be on the side of Good; than can be done with any number of millions who have taken the side of evil (albeit 'lesser' evil) - and are thereby sustaining the motivations of the devil.
This is inspiring stuff. Thanks Bruce. I think what you are saying is "Watch and pray" which is the best advice anyone can give a serious Christian or any individual who sees the evil of the present day. Such a person is going to be isolated more often than not but he doesn't have to do anything. He only has to not do certain things and stay faithful to the truth. That inner faithfulness has a spiritual power that can be used by God and his helpers in the higher worlds to spread a little illumination in the current darkness.
ReplyDelete@William - Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAs so often I am here exhorting myself, because it is hard to shake the habit of defending some 'institution' or another on the basis of what it once was and once wanted; rather than what it is now and wants now - and these are often opposed. The same applies to people.
Though you may be exhorting more specifically to yourself, Dr. Charlton, your thoughts do encourage your fellow believers, fellow followers of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and this we are admonished to do in Scripture, so thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much to you and others found through Synlogos. I found this quote today and thought it apropos for our times. You have helped me more this year than I can express.
ReplyDelete“Although we live in the richest society in the history of the world, we still assume that there is not enough. Not enough life, not enough food, not enough entertainment, not enough happiness. This keeps our economy going. The truth is the opposite. There is too much. We are overwhelmed, and our imaginations can’t take it all in. There is limitless beauty for us to wonder at. There is truth to explore—not just the dimensions of science or the ponderings of philosophy but the depths of poetry and the testimony of history. There is goodness in the human spirit to admire—in great explorers and mighty warriors, in the humble potter or the resourceful mid-wife. Yet there is also the temptation to steal, because we fear that there will not be “enough.” We are generous when we trust that we’ll have enough; we are covetous and anxious because we have lost this trust.”
— Samuel Wells, as quoted in Christians in an Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship by Craig L. Blomberg.
@JV and Genie - Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to thank you for some help with continued spiritual progress (however small).
ReplyDeleteEspecially 1) Understanding that our "bearing crosses" is often a learning opportunity. 2) The primacy of relationships, this has helped both my relationship with others and in prayer (that was before mostly rote repeating). 3) Intuition thinking. I'm very, very bad at this, but intelligent enough to see that my attempts at decision-making rationally are easily errored and highly flawed, and that even what we think our goal may be could be the wrong goal.
Something shifted in this, in that I have completely lost interest in any party, group, or worldly institution as providing an answer to our problems. It is a spiritual trap, I repeatedly fall for, to engage in this world of political happenings, fake information, feints, etc. etc. and need to continually repent, but it brings great peace to leave it behind. It destroys and distracts from what actually matters.
@MA - I'm glad the blog has helped you.
ReplyDelete