Prior articles discussed ideas underlying constructs like critical theory, oneness, the great reset, BLM, being woke, and elitism. These all come from the same root—a pagan root. They are not new; just repackaged. What should we do as Christians? How should we respond?
Faith
We cannot prove our faith. We can only defend it. When we choose not to, we lose the benefits from the gifts God has given each one of us. These gifts include the natural rights to;
- Life
- Having a relationship with God
- Making our own choices (freedom)
- To know (education)
- Fulfill our purpose
- Keep the fruits of our labor
- Procreate
- Communicate
- Assemble
- Justice
These are all derived from our faith.[1] They are all connected. Everyone has faith—it is just placed in either man or God. We only benefit from God’s gifts when placing our faith in Him.
But defending faith requires understanding; what we believe, why, and why it matters. We must also understand the ideas of those placing their faith in man. At least well enough to have some understanding of their arguments. The goal is defeating their ideas. It’s not about the person, but the ideas they choose to hold.
Those placing faith in man possess ideas based on our reason alone. We see this expressed in human positive rights, positive law, and various forms of elitism. But their approach is flawed. By denying God, they deny our reason’s source. And the source for all existence, morality, knowledge, and values. Their ideas create contradictions. That is why they create so many rights and laws. But these only increase injustice. All we need do is point out some inconsistencies.
It is a rich field. Consider today’s issues of life, justice, and inequality. The issues are real, but they will never develop a true solution based on man alone. They cannot. That is why they use lies, deceptions, and deflections. They attempt to deny truth, because accepting it leads to undoing their idea’s basis.
It’s All About the Elites
Today’s academic literature is like walking with Alice through Wonderland. It is quite different from what I read while in a doctoral program only thirty years ago. One such area is history—or to be more precise, modern historiography. It expresses ideas about concepts such as ‘Western modernity’. They have to do with enchantment, disenchantment, and re-enchantment.
These don’t deal with facts or original source documents, but rather others ideas. They identify the variety of reasons, and “the master narratives underlying the stories that historians choose to tell.”[2] It’s about how the past can be narrated, about interpreting rather than understanding. It’s about setting limits, reconfiguring the dialog, and separation. Separation between a population of “elites” and the “masses”. Within these ideas elites control the dialog.
Nietzsche’s Influence
These ideas view the time before the enlightenment as an age of enchantment. Enlightenment led to disenchantment. Particularly through the writings of those like Nietzsche. His ideas contributed to eugenics, National Socialism, the sexual revolution, liberal theology, and postmodern philosophy.[3] According to Don Trubshaw, Nietzsche’s work expressed four significant ideas relevant to today’s disenchantment. These are; the Ubermensche (pagan gods of German folklore), transvaluation of values, the death of God, and eternal recurrence.[4]
Nietzsche urged “a transvaluation of all values, particularly those derived from Christianity.”[5] This included virtues such as meekness, humility, love, and forgiveness. Instead man’s power alone matters. The belief in God and an after-life no longer hold power over man’s actions. Man’s existence should be about indulgence without shame. Those exercising such power over others comprise the ‘elite’.
The Problem
There is one huge problem with this whole notion. It denies man’s true nature, because God created man. Much of this modern literature focuses on man’s re-enchantment, because he cannot live with the limits those like Nietzsche place on life.
Our Creator created man to have relationships with both Him and our fellow man. We share a common nature, and therefore all possess the same set of gifts—including our natural rights. Man recognizes something is missing when he denies those truths. Today some are just trying to bring them back without acknowledging their source.[6] But this effort, too, will fail. Living in denial is unfulfilling. There is only one place we will ever find that fulfillment, and that is in God. Man’s separating himself from God is just a return to his earlier paganism—after falling away from God the first time. That is the reason for Christ’s coming to earth.
Today’s Grain of Incense
Rome’s emperor considered himself a god, and godship demanded recognition. The people were to offer him incense. The amount didn’t matter. All one had to do was offer just one tiny grain. That was enough. Many Christians refused to do this, and it cost them their lives. They refused because it was heresy, a denial of who God is and was.
Today’s choices are really no different. Take the covid ‘pandemic’ and decision to close churches as an example. The idea differed. It didn’t involve acknowledging a ruler as God, but instead simply denying one’s need for God’s church. An idea aligned with the previous section. God’s presence, if He exists at all, doesn’t matter. This idea leads to thoughts like those expressed by our idiot governor about church and worship. They provide the rationale for closing churches at a time where they were most needed.
The problem with this idea, too, is it’s wrong. And many church leaders were complicit. They were asleep. Christ is head of His church, and by turning from church we turn from Him. Wherever two or more are gathered in His name. But some are waking up. We have a forgiving God. All we need do is return, acknowledge, repent, and attempt to do better. It is part of our fallen nature.
The Plebians and Patricians
So who are today’s self-proclaimed elite, today’s patricians? Certainly not everyone in the following groups, but many believe themselves to be. They include; the press, academia, globalists, government officials, including the Supreme Court and many in Congress, business leaders, and even church leaders. We must dismantle these ideas and the corrupted institutional machinery to prevent these modern patricians from enslaving others.
Power has only one source, and that is God. When turned toward Him, we realize that power’s benefit. There are two things we can do. We can all pray and stand. That’s all He’s ever asked of us. The rest He’s already accomplished.
One way we can do this is by going to Washington, DC next Wednesday, January 6. All we need to do is be present, pray, and ask for real justice—God’s justice. Corrupt leaders like those in China and the globalists behind the great reset threaten us from without. We are also threatened from within by our own press, academics and those who no longer serve, but rather seek to be served.
Knowledge is a dangerous thing, but only to those who already live in darkness—those who place their faith in man.
Footnotes:
[1] Wolf, Dan, A Handbook of Natural Rights, Living Rightly Publications, 2019.
[2] Saler, Michael, p.1, Modernity and Enchantment: A Historiographic Review, The American Historical Review, Volume 111, Issue 3, June, 2006. https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/111/3/692/13735. Accessed December, 2020.
[3] Trubshaw, Don, ‘The Re-Enchantment of the World’ as Social Theory and Critique, The Axiological Perspective, June, 2017, https://theaxiologicalperspective.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/the-re-enchantment-of-the-world-as-social-theory-and-critique/. Accessed November, 2020.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Some sources here include:
– Jenkins, Richard, Disenchantment and Re-Enchantment: Max Weber at the Millennium
– Landy, Joshua and Saler, Michael, The-Enchantment of the World: Secular Magic in a Rational Age
– Kropf, Richard W., Crying with A Live Grief: The Mysticism of Merton & Teilhard Compared
