The totalitarian rulers of the Western world are extremely powerful - especially in destruction.
As well as having control of armies, police, and weapons; they have immense resources of surveillance and propaganda/ 'education'.
Such a combination of capability and cover; means that people, organizations and things can be eliminated with impunity - since even great evils can be ignored, explained-away, or memory-holed.
And yet... There are many evil but expedient eliminations that They do Not do.
They do not simply kill-off all their opponents; despite the continual hysterical clamour that They should eliminate such things; coming from mid-level functionaries-of-evil such as managers, journalists, bureaucrats and others of the almost-wholly-corrupted intellectual middle class.
Why don't They just eliminate their enemies?
The answer is one that the functionaries-of-evil do not understand; which is that from the top-level of global (Western) leadership this is a spiritual war - ultimately.
Therefore; what is sought is not the physical elimination of enemies of evil, but instead their spiritual corruption.
It is often said that They do not kill someone because They do not want to create a martyr. And this is true; but literally not 'metaphorically' true as is usually meant.
When modern people talk of not making a martyr, they mean that a martyr might become a figurehead which could inspire resistance from others. In other words; the level of explanation is this-worldly, and materialist, and to do with social interactions.
But this fear of material-martyrs is probably untrue nowadays; since - apparently - the masses are so demotivated that no thing, no conceivable person or event, will inspire resistance against Them!
No, the problem with The System killing someone Good; is that when a Man accepts death rather than abandon Good when he could have saved himself by succumbing to evil: a literal martyr, a 'spiritual martyr', is the result.
In other words; such a Man 'certainly' attains salvation after biological death: A spiritual martyr chooses salvation and rejects damnation as certainly as we can know about such things, this side of death.
Such an outcome constitutes a disaster for the powers of demonic evil.
From Their perspective this is not just a soul lost to Them; but an enhancement of the power of Goodness; and this is a power that is available (by direct, intuitive apprehension; and through prayer) to inspire and sustain mortal Men on this earth in their own resistance to evil and commitment to Good.
Therefore, when an enemy of The System is identified... When any person resists (in any way) plans of the totalitarian global leadership... The objective is that he should be corrupted, not killed.
This is the deep reason why anyone who tells the truth in a situation when lies are mandatory, or who does the right thing when public compliance with the agenda of evil, is always pressurized to 'apologize'.
And, conversely, the reason why he should Never Apologize.
Because when someone apologizes for saying the truth, or for doing the right thing, or for resisting public displays of support for that which is motivated by evil intent... then that person has been corrupted into taking the side of evil.
When anyone lies publicly, in some way that is expedient for him rather than truthful - that person is corrupted.
When a public figure caves-in to pressure (which may, of course, be immense) - but does not admit he has caved-in, and instead dishonestly rationalizes his behaviour as the right thing to do - he is corrupted.
And, in more general terms; anyone who sins and does not repent it - especially if he denies the sin or defends his compliance rather than repenting - then that person has been corrupted.
It is the prevention of repentance that lies at the heart of all these corruptions.
If a public figure caved-in to pressure and behaved without courage, if he also apologized for true things he said and went-along with public displays of support of the Litmus Test agenda items; and if he then lied to cover-up and rationalize all this...
But then repented all of this sequence of sins; for instance stating that this and this was wrong and evil, and that he should not have done them and in doing them had sinned...
Then - by the infinite saving power of repentance - even such a recidivist sinner would be forgiven and washed clean of the stains of sin There-And-Then.
And if such a Man was then killed for having repented: he would become a real martyr, a spiritual martyr.
It seems important for Christians to be clearer about this. There may be heroic martyrs of great personal Goodness and courage; but these are not the only kind of martyr because repentance may also be the cause of martyrdom.
Repentance requires courage, and may lead to martyrdom; and a martyrdom all the more admirable because it is less likely to be recognized publicly - and may be unknown.
A Martyr of Repentance is - nowadays - probably choosing to do the right thing despite very little possibility of recognition or reward on earth; and without any realistic likelihood of inspiring others into resistance to evil.
I suspect that such a martyr of repentance might - for exactly these reasons - be even more spiritually-powerful than a martyr who might reasonably expect to inspire veneration after his death.
Such are the deep spiritual realities behind Vox Day's pragmatically-orientated slogan Never Apologize.
To apologize for thinking, speaking or doing The-Right-Thing, for speaking truth, for offending against the agenda of evil... such is the opposite of repentance.
We are all sinners; and sin over and again all through our lives - because sin is whatever is Not aligned-with God's creation.
Most people in this world are weak in face of social pressure to sin, and are so afraid of the powers of evil that they will not repent - not even in their thoughts (so far as I can tell).
It is this refusal to repent which keeps them in thrall to evil.
Yet if there is one thing that Men may do, which the demonic rulers fear more than anything else in this mortal world; it is surely to accept martyrdom.
"They" will go to vast lengths Not to make martyrs - and will patiently lay siege to virtue with intent to corrupt it to the extent of denying that Good is Good (and instead apologizing for it); to sin while denying the sin and calling it virtue; to induce men to do all this and then not to repent.
We are all sinners; and yet every single one of us possesses the ability to deploy this deadliest anti-evil weapon of repentance; this most feared of outcomes by the demons.
A martyr must be prepared to accept whatever happens, including death, rather than fail to do the right thing.
But, the demons will not willingly create a martyr; will go to great lengths to avoid such an outcome.
Thus faith is indeed a kind of armour - even in this-world; so long as that faith truly is directed at eternal salvation.
It is by our investment in achieving expedient outcomes in this mortal life and world, that the powers of evil corrupt and control us; and lead us to self-chosen damnation through refusal to repent.
Yet, no matter how deep in corruption and no matter the societal pressure towards evil; if a Man can recognize, acknowledge, and repent his sins and accept whatever the consequences - then, at that moment (and for eternity, if martyrdom is his fate), he becomes a light to dazzle The Enemy and push-back the darkness in this world.
11 comments:
Your point about spiritual corruption was my key takeaway on that series of posts about my village's most notable native son, Abbot Endrédy who was arrested and imprisoned by the communists. Endrédy's interrogators specifically informed him that they did not desire to make a martyr of him. What they sought instead was his corruption (for him to lie and inform on others). Though they never alluded to it exactly, it becomes obvious that what they were really after was Endrédy's spiritual corruption. When they couldn't achieve that, they buried him in the prison system as a "secret prisoner", but they did not take his life.
And you see the same dynamic at play time and time again. People only become physically expendable after spiritual corruption, not before. As you note, killing someone who has not been spiritually corrupted counts as a major loss for them (and a major victory for God and Creation).
People like Endrédy are rare, but those with weaker natures can repent any corruption they invited in (yes, evil has to be invited in, as you have repeated many times on your blog). The act of repentance nullifies the corruption immediately, putting evil right back to square one DESPITE the committed sin!
This is why I find the resistance and objection to repentance so perplexing, especially when it comes to things like the peck and other Litmus Test issues! Christians would rather defend or rationalize their sins as non-sins than take a step toward repentance. It's mind-boggling.
The root of this resistance appears to lie in the negative influence of adopted leftist beliefs or in some deeply incoherent metaphysical assumptions about Christianity. Perhaps a bit of both, with many other things thrown in to boot. Whatever the case, resisting repentance is un-Christian/anti-Christian. If anything, we should welcome every opportunity to repent!
@Frank
"This is why I find the resistance and objection to repentance so perplexing, especially when it comes to things like the peck and other Litmus Test issues! Christians would rather defend or rationalize their sins as non-sins than take a step toward repentance. It's mind-boggling."
Absolutely!
You have probably noticed that I have become a hard-liner on this business of repentance, which I why I insist on detaching repentance from supposedly serious intentions of reforming oneself to cease sinning.
This is absolute nonsense; and merely devalues serious intent. It seems to lead to people focusing on a few sins of action - which they insist on organizing life around obliterating; while ignoring the innumerable, far more frequent, and impossible to to prevent sins of motivation and expediency.
Do people really supposes they sin so infrequently, have so few sins, and have such pure and absolute will power; that they can reform themselves of sin after sin; ticking them off?
To achieve overall and significant self-improvement is incredibly rare - much rarer then most Christians apparently think. It constitutes a colossal self-blindness; and falls into the serious error of regarding Christianity as a recipe or system for improving life in this mortal world.
This whole line of reasoning is at best a red herring, but more often a source of lethal confusion.
Some middle class professional Christians are so full of their own goodness at successfully refraining from theft, murder and adultery (and the like) that they are completely unaware that - for example - they are professionally (for money, status, promotion) lying, misleading and distorting the truth every working day; every time they open their mouths or sit down to type.
If they were truthful, they would not keep their jobs for five minutes - and they have zero serious intention of becoming truthful.
What then? Are they necessarily damned for the fact that they sin, continue sinning, and have no serious intention of of ceasing to sin?
No! Obviously not. This is the human condition.
But to be saved they must be willing to repent their untruthfulness, the fact that their untruthfulness materially serves the agenda of evil, and must also repent the fact that they do not intend to cease this sin.
The point is that people *must* repent, and they *can* repent - anything and everything; even if they are very weak and cowardly, or lustful, or habitual liars/ resenters/ spiteful/ despairing, fearful etc.
Jesus made things very easy for us. Easy enough for a child, a slave, or a classically wicked Man to comply with. There is nothing in the world stopping Christians from repenting any sin - except themselves, especially things like a falsely inflated self-image, or the desire to *use* Christianity to make this a more congenial world.
You make the critical point that the goal of evil in our day is not simply to lead people to sin but to get us to see it as good and celebrate it, to rebrand vice as virtue.
@William. Indeed.
One would suppose (and through most of human history - I think this would have been true) that getting people to invert their understanding of good and evil, virtue and vice - would be nigh on impossible - or, at least, only very rarely accomplished.
And yet - here we are!
Which is, probably, the *main* reason for people not repenting; including the chilling implication that value-inversion affects Christians just as much as everyone else (in The Western-dominated nations, anyway).
I live where most are Protestants, and the most vigorous of those believe salvation is an immediate, one-time thing that can never be revoked. They do not contemplate why God created the universe or us particularly. And if they were asked they would say it was some sort of favor to us or for us to worship and obey God.
So they have some very different assumptions than you do, and combined with Luther's observation that remembering and repenting every sin you ever committed is impossible, it really discourages thinking, analyzing, and self-reflection. Frequently my pastor admonishes those who repeatedly repent of the same sin (meaning a literal past action) they already asked forgiveness for, because it shows a lack of faith that forgiveness was granted the first time. Another reason to bury and ignore ongoing sins. But if we are here to learn, then we would return to the same past sin for renewed repentance under several circumstances, especially if we had committed more or different sins related to the past sin than we realized.
But to them, human psychology is replaceable with grace here and now, and there is no higher purpose than obedient surrender. So if for other reasons you don't have monasteries, you get the materialist mishmash you observe in today's fervent Christians.
'The Holy Fathers were making predictions about the last generation. They said, "What have we ourselves done?" One of them, the great Abba Ischyrion replied, "We ourselves have fulfilled the commandments of God." The others replied, "And those who come after us, what will they do?" He said, "They will struggle to achieve half our works." They said, "And those who come after them, what will happen?" He said, "The men of that generation will not accomplish any works at all and temptation will come upon them; and those who will be approved in that day will be greater than either us or our fathers.'
- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
We can no longer "fulfill the commandments" of God in the way that someone with a traditional mode of consciousness could. Each subsequent generation is capable of less and less by the standard of perfect moral behavior. And in the End Times, which we seem to be in, simply holding onto the faith, which I interpret to be equivalent to what you call being a Martyr of Repentance, is nearly the only "work" we are capable of. Yet this "work" is, as you also suggest, of a qualitatively greater kind.
I find the above passage encouraging and often return to it. Those who have experienced only the traditional form of Christianity may become discouraged when comparing themselves to the fantastical and hard-to-understand feats of the great saints of the past. Knowing that the Black Iron Prison which we inhabit today is one of the worst torments in history, "optimized to lure us into self-damnation; that we are members of the most evil generation in history - that a new task is before us that is nearly unparalleled in history; that simply holding fast the faith and following the voice of Christ is a cosmic blow to the demonic powers and a glorious victory; all of this is very encouraging!
This reminded me of the part in That Hideous Strenght when the N.I.C.E. discuss killing Mark but don't do it because their real intention is corruption, after which his death would have as much meaning as his life: none. At the same time Mark is beginning to repent - internally, for he plays along consciously after that - but in his heart he now knows they are evil, and all their purposes and values must be rejected completely. It's this internal conversion, this repentance, that changes everything.
@Mia - I think the events since 2020 have shown up the weakness of faith among even apparently devout (clean living, well behaved, Bible studying and oft-praying) conservative Protestants. In the UK, the problem with this group has long been socialism; which makes for a pro-state hence state-obedient mindset that nowadays means being on the wrong side in the spiritual war.
Although generally solid on the sexual revolution; they also tend to fail Litmus Tests such as the birdemic-peck/ healthism, antiracism, CO2 global warming and (currently) the Fire Nation. In other words, conservative Protestants are (like all the other major Christian denominations of The West, including Mormons) actively promoting most of the core agenda policies of global totalitarian evil: the devil's party.
I emphasize again that there seems to be near-zero awareness of the sin involved in lying, manipulation, and other varieties of untruthfulness; and the way that these are now mandatory elements on most of public discourse and employment - and such evil-motivated dishonesty has now become mandatory in running any large public institution (including churches).
@JG - I find it easiest to compare our spiritual situation to that of subject-populations under alien colonists, or even of chattel slaves. The choice is to sin or to be socially outcast, or even to die. But no matter how oppressed and colonized, repentance is always possible - and sufficient.
@IIo - Yes, that is an excellent example. That book has a great deal of insight and wisdom.
Very nice.
Keep up the good work
There's a great scene in the book Church of Spies where the political advisor to the premier ofBavaria tells him he should arrest and execute Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS. Instead, the premier flees to Switzerland, the Nazis take total control of Germany, and Himmler comes to Munich to interrogate the imprisoned political advisor. He tells Himmler to his face he would have had him arrested and shot... and is released by Himmler. He later goes on to take part in the Catholic plot to assassinate Hitler.
It struck me as a similar situation. Himmler was motivated by almost certain demonic possession and lying to him would have led to death, as the political advisor would have been corrupted. The Nazis went on to try to corrupt him.
As strongly as I can, I recommend reading as much of St. Alphonsus Liguori as possible. For example, his Preparation for Death: Considerations on the Eternal Maxims. I specifically recommend the edition published by Ubi Caritas Press.
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