NOTES ON PREPARING FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD: A THEOLOGICAL PRAXIS FOR MAKING ALL THINGS READY – II: VISION

SCRIPTURE. “Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.” – PROVERBS 29:18, AMPC

QUOTATIONS

LUTHER. “I have covenanted with my Lord that He should not send visions, or dreams or even angels! I am content with this gift of the Scriptures, which teaches and supplies all that is necessary both for this life and that which is to come.” ― Martin Luther, “Selected Works of Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546,” ‘Project Guttenberg,’ 1943

BONHOEFFER. “Those who love ‘their dream’ of a Christian Community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community, even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial. God hates this wishful dreaming because it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious … It is not we who build. Christ builds the Church.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible,’ 1938; edited

WILKERSON. “The Word says, ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world’ (1 John 2:15). Jesus warned, ‘Beware of covetousness: for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses’ (Luke 12:15). Things—our possessions—can tie us down to this world. While Heaven and Hell prepare for War, we go shopping. Eternal Values are at stake! The End of all we know is near—and we are busy playing with our toys!” – David Wilkerson, Author of ‘Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth,’ 1985; edited

I. FIRST THOUGHTS

During the time I served as professor at several Religious institutions from the 1980s through the 2000s, both Christian and Jewish, I would often propose a Maxim of sorts to my students that went something like this:

“Worldview is everything!”

My theological foundations for teaching this Principle are several, not the least of which is an obscure little Hebrew saying nested in the Book of Proverbs, that I discovered in a most unusual place before I even came to know Christ.

It appeared one day in the early 1970s while doing my doctoral research at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. I was in my 7th floor Library study carrell, when I happened upon an ingenious book by research psychologist GEORGE KELLY in his two-volume work, ‘The Psychology of Personal Constructs’ published in 1955.

As I read the Preface to his book where he described the philosophical platform on which he would build his Theory of Psychology, he cited PROVERBS 23:7a:

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

THE POWER OF THOUGHT. When God created Mankind, He did so by fashioning our ability for language-based, high-order abstract thinking. This gave us the capacity for observing, understanding and drawing conclusions about our world.

But there was just one problem:

God gave Man the Free Will to ‘Construe’ his personal worldview in any way he desired. Those who came to know and imitate God’s View of life constructed one way of looking at the world. But those who chose not to know God assembled a drastically different way of understanding Reality.

And voilà! You have over 6,000 years of human conflict about whose Worldview, which Vision (or set of fundamental constructs about Reality), is going to prevail.

II. THE WORLD AT WAR

In my first edition of ‘The Sixth Seal’ (2017), I reviewed and summarized FOUR WORLDVIEW SYSTEMS around which the cultures of the world organize their historic, ongoing, and at times quite violent’ ‘Battle of Worldviews.’ This boils down to a fierce Struggle of Ideas over which ones shall dominate a nation, a culture, or an entire Era.

And by which Method: Civil Persuasion or Forced Imposition.

As RICHARD WEAVER brilliantly argued: ‘Ideas Have Consequences’ (1948). And as I always add: Big Ideas have huge Consequences. So now we explore the Biggest Ideas known to Man:

WORLDVIEW. “It is simply the sum total of our beliefs about the world, the ‘Big Picture’ that directs our daily decisions and actions.” – CHARLES COLSON, ‘How Now Shall We Live?’ 2017, p. 14; cf. James Sire, The Universe Next Door,’ 2009; Clifford Kelly, 2017, pp. 45-49

1. JUDEO-CHRISTIAN THEISM. This View starts with a basic Core Belief in the eternal existence of the Biblical God as the infinite and personal (Triune), transcendent and immanent, omniscient, sovereign, Ultimate Good, the ‘Summum Bonum,’ unmatched in His perfect Holiness as the Way, the Truth and the Life, Creator, and Sustainer of all things.
2. CLASSICAL DEISM. Here we have one stepwise departure away from Orthodoxy consisting of regarding God as a ‘First Cause’ more than a personal Deity. Thus, there is intellectual, reasoned consent to the existence of a God who created everything, but who then left it to run according to immutable Laws and Principles inside a Uniformity of cause and effect in a closed system, therefore denying the existence of any miracles that transcend this Material Reality.
3. ATHEISTIC NATURALISM. One more, very large step away from Orthodoxy next occurs when there is an absolute ‘Denial’ of the existence of any God, anytime, anywhere, ever, regarded as a fiction from unsophisticated or childhood stories. Noting that Deism serves as “an Isthmus” to Atheism, the belief is that there is only Material Reality in which matter exists eternally, is all there is as an explanatory substance and associate framework that defines itself as to the nature of a non-spiritual and spontaneous creation, sustaining and termination of the Universe.
4. PAGAN MYSTICISM. This final system of beliefs is the hardest to explain, is the least ordered of all four frameworks, and is loosely assembled as a potpourri of largely Eastern Mystical Religious conceptions, frequently referred to as the “New Age Worldview.” In it, the Self is the central focus and consideration, the “prime reality” of all existence (with presumption of reincarnated lower self’s evolving ever upward). There is further assumption that all Self’s will someday Conjoin with one another, creating a heightened state of unified existence and consciousness as the Self becomes a god, or part of God itself. Um, or something like that.

DK’S TAKE. In 1992, RONALD NASH published a wonderful little book entitled, ‘Worldviews in Conflict: Choosing Christianity in a World of Ideas.’ The Promo of his book states: “This world is a Battlefield in the Arena of Ideas. The prize is the heart and mind of Humankind.” He concludes that the only sound and truthful Worldview is the Christian one, and therefore “urges Christians to ‘equip themselves’ intellectually to defend the faith on that battlefield” (edited).

To fail to fully and daily arm ourselves with God’s unbridled, uncompromised Truth is to leave ourselves completely susceptible to the myriad false ideas and worldviews and countless philosophies that would seduce us into Existential error.

The very thing that is taking place today among horrendously uninformed, ‘doctrinally illiterate’ American Christians

III. THE CHURCH AT WAR

Thus, for the American Church what we are dealing with are increasingly differing Theological Frameworks which lead to intensified, visceral Conflicts. With the Rise of Trump’s White Nationalism in just the last five years, the Church has been reduced to FOUR WARRING CAMPS.

I shall illustrate each Camp as it takes contemporary form in America’s Current War of Ideas.

• NEVER TRUMP ORTHODOXY (WV I). The Never Trump Movement, also called the #nevertrump, Stop Trump, anti-Trump, or Dump Trump Movement, began as an effort on the part of a group of Republicans and other prominent conservatives (known as Never Trump Republicans) to prevent Republican front-runner Donald Trump from obtaining the Republican Party presidential nomination for the presidential election of 2016. Trump remained unsupported by 20 percent of Republican members of Congress in the General Election. This group takes the view that American Christians who follow the advice of self-appointed false prophets ‘betray’ what God originally intended of America – a Democratic Republic designed to stand for Biblical Morality, and against Despotism and Authoritarianism. They further believe that support for Trump does not advance Christianity. It discredits it. That support for Trump does not advance Democracy. It threatens to destroy it, threatening to make it into little more than a Dictatorship. They conclude that Christians in America who support Trump is to distrust God, turn away from Jesus, abandon love and truth, to effectively sabotage the blood-bought American Order. They strongly counsel Repentance, lest Consequential Judgment follows. They name that Judgment to literally be ‘Donald Trump,’ and the complete loss of Church credibility to communicate Jesus’ message or to serve His Mission. – cf. EDITORS, ‘Wikipedia,’ November 14, 2021; PHIL TIERNEY, “For God and Country: The Christian Case Against Donald Trump,” July 28, 2020; edited

• THE LINCOLN PROJECT (WV II). The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee (PAC) formed in late 2019 by former and incumbent Republicans. During the 2020 presidential election, it aimed to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump and defeat all Republicans in close races running for re-election in the United States Senate. In April 2020, the committee announced its endorsement of Joe Biden. The Lincoln Project launched with two stated objectives. The first was to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. The second was to ensure Trumpism failed alongside him. As we have seen, our fight against Trumpism is only beginning. Their View is that America must combat these forces everywhere, and at all times. Our Democracy depends on it. They observe that we find ourselves divided again – Tribalism in the country and Hyper-partisanship in government has led to ever uglier examples of how our political system is failing. The fervently conclude that President Donald Trump and those who ascribe to Trumpism are a clear and present danger to the Constitution and to our Republic. – cf. EDITORS, ‘Wikipedia,’ November 6, 2021; EDITORS, “Lincoln Project Mission,” 2021; edited

• TRUMP CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM (WV III). Christian Nationalism is Christianity affiliated religious nationalism. Christian Nationalists primarily focus on internal politics, such as passing laws that reflect their view of Christianity and its role in political and social life. In countries with a State Church, Christian Nationalists seek to preserve the status of a Christian State and uphold an Antidisestablishmentarian position. Christian Nationalists have emphasized a recovery of territory in which Christianity formerly flourished historically to establish a Pan-Christian State out of the countries within Christendom. Clemson University sociologist ANDREW WHITEHEAD and his colleagues SAMUEL PERRY of the University of Oklahoma and JOSEPH BAKER of East Tennessee State University say that religious support for Trump is driven by Christian Nationalism, which is not so much about Moral Purity as it is about ‘Political Power’ –– the kind of power to defend and to deliver the Christian Nation. Ipso facto: If you are a Christian, you must support and vote for Trump and Trumpism. It is the will of God. – cf. EDITORS, ‘Wikipedia,’ October 17, 2021; FREDERICK CLARKSON, “Christian Nationalism and Donald Trump,” ‘Political Research Associates,’ April 6, 2018; edited

• THE QANON CULT (WV IV). QAnon is a Far-Right Conspiracy Theory and Movement centered on false claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals, known by the name ‘Q’, that a Cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles operate a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against former president Donald Trump during his term in office. QAnon has been described as a Cult with roots in Antisemitism and Nazism. CAROLYN MIMBS NYCE, writing for ‘The Atlantic’ on May 14 2020, moves even further down this line of thinking to argue that QAnon is becoming a ‘New Religion’: “Among the people of QAnon, Faith remains absolute. True believers describe a feeling of rebirth, an irreversible arousal to existential knowledge. They are certain that a Great Awakening is coming. They’ll wait as long as they must for deliverance.” – cf. EDITORS, ‘Wikipedia,’ November 6, 2021; edited

DK’S TAKE. I will state it as bluntly as I possibly can: Those Christians and Pastors especially who actively Support (or passively Approve) of Trump’s Nationalist Movement place themselves in eternal peril, risking the loss of all things, including the salvation they claim to own, despite their entire life commitments to the extreme contrary.

Jesus made this chillingly clear in one of the most terrifying passages in all of Scripture.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day [when I judge them], ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many miracles in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME [you are banished from My presence], YOU WHO ACT WICKEDLY [disregarding My commands].’” – MATTHEW 7:21-24, AMP

Of this Epic Pronouncement, theologian CHARLES ELLICOTT wrote: “The Words form a remarkable complement to the Promise, ‘Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 10:32). The Confession there recognised is more than lip-homage, and implies the loyal service of ‘Obedience.’ And the Condemnation is pronounced not on those who have wandered from the Truth, but on those who have been ‘workers of iniquity,’ or, as the word more strictly means, of Lawlessness.” – ‘An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers,’ 1878, 1897; edited

IN SUM. A Christian cannot, cannot do whatever he pleases following his confession of Christ, such as forming alliances with wickedness. Paul the Apostle made this indelibly clear in the following passage.

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?” – 2 CORINTHIANS 6:14, AMP

I trust, beloved, there are no serious questions beyond this point concerning one’s reckless alliances with a foreign spirit, even the very ‘Spirit of Antichrist.’ Yes, beloved, that is precisely the Spirit from which Donald Trump operates and has his being. And as a consequence, virtually all of his ardent supporters.

IV. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.” – PROVERBS 29:18, AMPC

For today’s teaching we consider the TWO KEY TERMS that largely and concisely Define the core of our calling as Christ Followers: To ascertain the ‘Mind of God,’ and then to ‘do’ accordingly.

• VISION. This term of vast importance is derived from the Hebrew, ‘Chazon’ [חָזוֹן], meaning: “A revelation, oracle, dream, sight or prophecy [from God]; Divine communication [reflecting the Mind of God and His purpose for the recipient]; from a root word referring to a glimpse of ‘a real sight of the Divine presence;’ in Scripture, a revelation from God; an appearance or exhibition of something supernaturally presented to the minds of the prophets, by which they were informed of future events. Such were the visions of Isaiah, of Amos, of Ezekiel, etc.” DK: The Keepers of which are Promised: ‘Esher’ [אֶשֶׁר] – “Blessedness, true happiness, favor; led to walk straight and thereby prosper.”

• PERISH. Those, however, who either Reject God’s Vision in preference for another, or who by ignorance, sloth or seduction do not perceive it, suffer the staggering Consequence. In the Hebrew, ‘Para’’ [פָרַע], means: “To loosen, dismiss, ignore, or expose; ‘perish, or, is made naked;’ to become lawless, unruly or unbridled; as when God’s people get out of hand and run wild; undisciplined; empty, vacant, unoccupied [of order and obedience]; completely unrestrained; refuse to honor God and Law, and consequently waste or wither away, as in a death.”

COMMENTARY. “‘Where there is no vision’ — That is, no prophecy, the prophets being anciently called seers; no public preaching of God’s Word, called Prophecy, Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 14:4, &c. Where the people are destitute of the means of instruction; ‘the people perish’ — Because they want the chief means of salvation; ‘but he that keepeth the law’ — He does not say, ‘he that hath the law,’ or ‘he that hath vision,’ which the rules of opposition to the preceding clause might have given us reason to expect he would have said; but he that ‘keepeth it;’ to teach us, that although the want of God’s Word may be sufficient for men’s destruction, yet the mere having and hearing, or reading of it, is not sufficient for their salvation, unless they also ‘keep,’ or ‘obey it.’” – JOSEPH BENSON, ‘Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments,’ 5 vols., 1811-1815; edited

It is noteworthy that whatever theme we may be teaching on in this long series of Commentaries, we invariably end up right back at OBEDIENCE:

“And Samuel said, ‘Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king.” – 1 SAMUEL 15:22-23, KJV

DK’S TAKE. My argument has been for some time now that the American Church Leaders and Pastors have seditiously abandoned this Life Lesson for New Testament Christians. As I have written repeatedly, all is Grace, Grace, Grace, with so little attention to the Command toward Obedience, or ‘Keeping the Law’ as best one can, with God’s help.

This is the Major Cause of the current American Decline, in the opinion of this writer and precious few others. Jesus defined the fearsome Consequence of such stunning ‘Loss of Vision’ among our Religious Elites:

“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots. Let them alone and disregard them; they are blind guides and teachers. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch.” – MATTHEW 15;13-14, AMPC

THE EVIDENCE. Normally I would post a critique or two of the Trump Vision for America, but this time I will reverse that pattern. What follows is a jarring Commentary from the EDITORS at the heartbeat of much of his base, the ‘Tea Party Daily Report,’ published on October 26, 2020, a few days before the Election.

It is detailed, but necessary to the point being made here.

“President Trump has widened the gap that he has over Joe Biden. Record numbers of people are flocking to his camp and casting their votes for the president. The Democrats are running scared, so they invent their polls and try to get the media to pass off numbers showing Biden is going to win. But if there is one that the Nation knows for sure is that ‘President Trump’s Vision’ for America is exactly what America was founded on centuries ago.

Joe Biden seeks to change America into a lower form of liberal Nazism. His personal background, mixed with corruption, will only define his evil reign in the White House if elected. The criminal mischief he did as vice president with his son Hunter is only the tip of the iceberg. He is guilty of so many atrocities that he would spend hundreds of years in jail if they were all exposed.

President Trump’s America is based on honesty and openness (sic). The nation was founded on morals that had to be upheld by all politicians, or they could not serve their country. Biden and the rest of the nasty Democrats would be illegible to serve in politics during its early years. Biden would be branded a traitor for the secret work he did for his son with Ukraine. Ilhan Omar would have been placed in front of a firing squad for her remarks about terrorism and her support of the enemy.”

You see up close and personal what America faces, should Trumpism continue to poison all the Political and Religious wells available to it – as it is doing, unabated, as I write these words in late 2021.

V. LAST THOUGHTS

One of the most difficult things about what I do these days – commenting on Spiritual and Political affairs in America – is the growing sense that I am presiding over an ‘Historic Funeral.’ That is painful on a personal level, since I have loved being an American for most of my life.

But tragically, that sense of affection is rapidly being dismantled, as I watch this once noble Republic thrash about in the midst of redefining herself into ‘the Image of the Beast.’

I have used literary phrases like “The Dying of the Light” (Dylan Thomas), the “Loss of a Sense of Place” (Robert Bellah), “The Disintegration of the American Order” (Russell Kirk), and my conviction that America is “Dying by Suicide” (Alfred Toynbee), to describe our ongoing Epitaph.

AMERICA’S FOUNDING VISION. By vivid contrast, the earliest and most cogent Statement of Vision for the nascent Republic was to be found in ‘The Mayflower Compact’ of New Plymouth, Massachusetts on November 11, 1620. Anchored off Provincetown Harbor, the 102 travel-weary Pilgrims formed this Covenant with God and each other.

“IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.”

There was and is in this powerful Consequence of a thousand years of the English Common Law Tradition being hammered out in blood and battle toward a truly Biblical Political System, a THEOLOGICAL PLATFORM for the subsequent wonder of The American Order.

But tragically, even brutally, this First Vision bears virtually no resemblance to what is now afoot in the America of 2021, under the dark shadow of Trump Christian Nationalism. Indeed, they are become Ideological Enemies, with America’s First Vision unabashedly, ‘Pro-Christ,’ against the Last Vision of America, viciously ‘Anti-Christ.’ That very Spirit that the Law and the Prophets and the Messiah and the Apostles foretold would prevail in The Last Days. – cf. Daniel 9:26; Matthew 24:5; 1 John 2:22; 2 John 2:17; Revelation 13:16-17

AMERICA’S CURRENT VISION. In the very words of the America’s New Caesar, Donald Trump (who many in the Church and Israel regard as the New Messiah), this is now the Final Call to Christian Americans everywhere to rally. Whether in order to save Christianity or America or individual souls, we can debate later.

For now, this is distillation of Trump’s Original American Vision presented at his announcement of candidacy in New York, on June 17, 2016. I give you TRUMP’S 19 POINT PLAN to restore American Greatness. – Adapted from SAM STEIN, ‘Huffington Post,’ June 16, 2017; edited

• Sell junk to Saudi Arabia, since the goods we send them are blown up anyway;

• Repeal Obamacare “and replace it with something that benefits everybody.”

• “Turn off that spigot” of sending money to China (in the form of debt payments) by taxing them “until they behave properly”;

• Renegotiate our foreign trade deals;

• Call up the head of the Ford Motor Company and tell them they are going to be taxed at 35 percent for every car coming from Mexico until they decide to nix their plant in Mexico City;

• End President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration;

• End border crossings from Mexico because some of those border-crossers are “rapists”;

• To do that, build a “great, great wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border;

• Have Mexico pay for that wall;

• Don’t appoint a secretary of state who rides bikes and breaks his leg;

• Avoid riding bikes himself;

• Work hard on the Islamic State problem;

• Stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons;

• Find the General Patton or General MacArthur from within the U.S. armed forces to “make it really work” in the Middle East;

• Rebuild the country’s infrastructure — “nobody can do that like me”;

• Create jobs — “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created”;

• Save Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security “without cuts”;

• Protect the Second Amendment;

• Take the brand of the United States “and make it great again.”

LAST THROES OR REBIRTH? There are those who believe that despite Donald Trump’s loss of the presidency in 2020, that he shall ‘miraculously’ engineer his way back to the Oval Office in 2024 to purse this Agenda. And I am one of them, though if wrong, shall like eat a great deal of crow in the months and years that follow.

To this Final Assessment of The Donald, should he accede to power one last time, to the horror of some, but to the breathtaking rejoicing of many others. It is adapted from an excellent overview by TOM MCTAGUE, writing for the equally excellent magazine, ‘The Atlantic,’ on June 23, 2020 (edited), in an incisive piece, “The Decline of the American World.”

THE CONTEXT. A Lament, really, of what the Trump Years had driven America toward, as he aggressively, brutally at times, pursued his deception-riddled policies, and the impact it has had on the rest of the world.

“It is hard to escape the feeling that this is a uniquely humiliating ‘Moment’ for America. As citizens of the world the United States created, we are accustomed to listening to those who loathe America, admire America, and fear America (sometimes all at the same time). But feeling pity for America? That one is new, even if the schadenfreude is painfully myopic. If it’s the aesthetic that matters, the U.S. today simply doesn’t look like the country that the rest of us should aspire to, envy, or replicate.

Even in previous moments of American vulnerability, Washington reigned supreme. Whatever moral or strategic challenge it faced, there was a sense that its political vibrancy matched its economic and military might, that its system and its democratic culture were so deeply rooted that it could always regenerate itself. It was as if the very ‘Idea’ of America mattered, an Engine driving it on, whatever other glitches existed under the hood. Now something appears to be changing. America seems mired, its very ability to rebound in question. A new power has emerged on the world stage to challenge American supremacy—China—with a weapon the Soviet Union never possessed: Mutually assured economic destruction.”

There are many who are still lobbying, laboring and praying for the Restoration of the American Order. I am no longer one of them. Please don’t mistake me for a quitter, I am far from it. But when those well-worn Moral Engines of a Nation ‘intentionally’ shut down, then that Nation is self-appointed for Decline and Destruction.

It is inexorable by both sound Political algorithms and Theological certainty. America is dying, beloved, by her own hand. She has Rejected the one element that could both save and regenerate her for at least a generation:

TRUTH.

When Paul’s disciple, Titus, wrote these words, he strongly emphasized the absolute necessity of protecting ‘The Teaching,’ as did Christ and the Apostles. I quote the key Passage, followed by a brief Commentary, as we close our conversation about the Power of Vision.

• TITUS 2:7-8 (AMP). “And in all things show yourself to be an example of good works, with purity in doctrine [having the strictest regard for integrity and truth], dignified, sound and beyond reproach in instruction, so that the opponent [of the faith] will be shamed, having nothing bad to say about us.”

• ALBERT BARNES. “‘In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works’ – Not merely teaching others, but showing them by example how they ought to live. On the word rendered ‘pattern’ (τύπον tupon, type), see the Hebrews 9:5 note; 1 Corinthians 10:6 note; Philippians 3:17 note. ‘In doctrine’ – In your manner of teaching; notes, 1 Timothy 4:16. Showing ‘uncorruptness’ – The word here used does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It means, here, the same as ‘purity’ – that which is not erroneous, and which does not tend to corrupt or vitiate the morals of others, or to endanger their salvation. Everything in his teaching was to be such as to make men purer and better.” – ‘Notes on the Old and New Testaments,’ 1884; edited

CODA. There it is, beloved: The Way Back via God’s Truth, called by God to ‘Sound Doctrine,’ our very Cornerstone, absent of significant error or any corruption of its meaning. Demanding of us an Answer to a singular Question:

Is American Christianity preaching the Truth of the Canon, or ‘Another Gospel?’ Let me answer you in the words of the great Reformer, MARTIN LUTHER

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every proportion of the Truth of God except precisely that little point which the World and the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. ‘Where the battle rages,’ there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” – c. 1530 A.D.; edited

What say you, Church? What say you, Pastor? Are you honoring this sacred charge, echoed by DR. FRANCIS SCHAEFFER 400 years later: “Truth carries with it Confrontation. Truth demands Confrontation; Loving Confrontation, but Confrontation nevertheless.”

Or are you become part of what he was describing as ‘The Great Evangelical Disaster’ as he argued passionately to protect the Purity of Doctrine and Practice in 1984? If not, you have but moments to Reverse Course, to bring back The Canon to our houses of worship, and lay a path to Righteousness once again, snatching the souls of many from The Fire.

Choose well you Leaders, choose well. Many lives depend on it – including your own.

Ever your servant, DK

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