NOTES ON THE PRICE OF BECOMING A STUMBLING BLOCK: REFLECTIONS ON THE SPIRIT OF THE RABBLE AND CIVIL WAR

SCRIPTURE. “You were running [the race] well; ‘who has interfered and prevented you from obeying the truth?’ This [deceptive] persuasion is not from Him who called you [to freedom in Christ]. ‘A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].’ I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view [contrary to mine on the matter]; but the one who is disturbing you, whoever he is, will have to bear the penalty.” ― GALATIANS 5:7-10, AMP

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

A powerful idea that I cannot seem to get out of my mind as I watch the American Debacle of the last seven years is: ‘How little the Church appears to take God seriously.’ Whether I visit a moderate to large (Mega) assembly around the city, or watch some of the many Sunday services online, I get the same empty discernment, often expressed out loud to God:

“This is play-acting, Lord!”

And for this old Christian soldier, that is precisely what it is. Lots of fancy stories and pretty talk, much laughter, plus clever anecdotes to engage the audience, and endless surface level preaching on Scriptures that I have heard taught for decades before. Familiar passages. Safe ones mostly, you know, to encourage the folks with warm and fuzzy phrases and clichés.

Make ‘em feel good on their way home so that they’ll come back next week.

But never, ever, ever a ‘sobering application’ to the Spiritual Chaos going on just outside the doors and windows of the building. I mean, never, beloved! Much too risky, far too controversial. Stuff that would upset the Fragile Bubble that so many Pastors have built for their congregations to insulate them from the angry world outside, to convince everyone that everything is going to be okay.

‘After all, folks, this is America!’

TAKING GOD SERIOUSLY. Now don’t get me wrong in this next section: Jesus Christ has indeed become my very dearest and priceless Friend. But, beloved, He is not my ‘Pal’ or my ‘Buddy’ or ‘The Big Man in the Sky’ as we too often think of and use those terms in everyday life, who exists to love me and bless me beyond my wildest imagination.

In fact, the Biblical definition of “Friend” is defined every so precisely by Jesus Christ Himself. “You are My friends if you ‘do’ whatever I command you.” – JOHN 15:14, NKJV

Con acento en la palabra, “¡Comando!”

The Greek term for “friend” in that passage is, ‘philos’ [φίλος]: “Someone ‘dearly loved’ (prized) in a personal, intimate way whom you wish to please; a ‘trusted confidant,’ held in a close bond of personal affection.” DK. But here’s the rub, and the point of my comments: ‘Jesus is vastly more than our Friend.’ ‘He is also our King, and our Sovereign, our mighty God and our Dread Champion whom we uniquely fear and adore and worship.’

A favorite teacher of mine from my past days is DEREK PRINCE, who addressed this idea in the following brief commentary.

“Recently, while meditating on various definitions of faith, I came up with my own: ‘Faith is taking God seriously.’ This was the result of encountering so many Christians who claimed to have faith but did not take God seriously. ‘To take God seriously means to take His Word seriously!’ If a person speaks to us, but we ignore – or even reject – much of what he says to us, we certainly are not taking him seriously. In fact, we are guilty of disrespect.

‘The same applies to God.’ If we ignore or reject much of what He says to us through the Scriptures, we are not taking Him seriously. We are, in fact, treating Him with disrespect. Yet this is how many Christians are relating to God. They treat His Word like a smorgasbord, picking out those portions that appeal to their taste and passing the others by.” – “Taking God Seriously,” Derek Prince Ministries, ret. Mar. 19, 2024; edited

MY POINT. I get the strong impression these days that the majority of American Pastors do in fact, not take His Word seriously, and here’s why. If they did, they would be teaching ‘a Balanced Menu’ of loving encouragement alongside the blood and thunder of the Last Days roaring just outside – and how to Biblically prepare for it.

What British theologian and C. S. Lewis-mentored theologian HARRY BLALMIRES once called the ‘Rich Red Meat’ of the Gospel (The Christian Mind, 1963). So, let’s get down to the brass tacks of this Era of Dilution of the Truth of the Scriptures, and where it is rapidly, perilously taking us.

II. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “You were running [the race] well; ‘who has interfered and prevented you from obeying the truth?’ This [deceptive] persuasion is not from Him who called you [to freedom in Christ]. ‘A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].’ I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view [contrary to mine on the matter]; but the one who is disturbing you, whoever he is, will have to bear the penalty.” ― GALATIANS 5:7-10, AMP

KEY TERMS

• “HINDER.” ‘Anakoptó [ἀνακόπτω]: “To beat back or check [as with the direction of a ship to throw it off course, or an obstructed road that prevents one to travel safely or efficiently); to stop; to interrupt; to obstruct; to impede or prevent from moving forward by any means. It is applicable to any subject, physical, moral or intellectual; o retard; to check in progression or motion; to obstruct for a time, or to render slow in motion.”

• “RABBLE.” ‘Ochlos’ [ὄχλος]: (From John 7:49 wherein the crowd of religious elites “who did not know the Law” were maliciously challenging Jesus’ authority). “‘A throng’ (as being borne along by uncontrolled passion); a confused multitude leading to a riot; to excite a crown [into action]; to raise a public disturbance; to vex, to harass; a tumultuous crowd of vulgar, noisy people; the mob; a confused disorderly crowd; a disorganized or disorderly crowd of people: ‘a mob.’”

QUOTATION. The attacks on the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021, will have ripple effects for years to come. We’re no longer in the September 11th era. We’re now in ‘The January 6th Era’ … The MAGA Death Cult is an army of bio-terrorist suicide bombers. Instead of explosive vests, they carried a deadly virus into Congress on January 6th.” ― OLIVER MARKUS MALLOY, American Fascism: A German Writer’s Urgent Warning To America, 2019; edited

COMMENTARY. “All was going well at first. What sudden ‘Intruder’ has stopped your path and led you astray? Certainly it is not God, to whom you owe your calling, that has persuaded you to such a course. You tell me that not many have fallen away. But those few are enough to infect the whole. Not that I wish to implicate all in the sin of some. Most of you I can trust to be true to me. The Author of your troubles, whoever he is, shall not escape. God shall judge him …  

‘Ye did run well.’ — Again, as in Galatians 2:2, a metaphor from foot racing. The Galatians had made a good start, but suddenly changed their course. ‘Who did hinder you?’ — The Metaphor here is not quite the same but is somewhat akin to that just used. The original meaning of the word translated ‘hinder’ is to ‘break up a road,’as an army before the advance of hostile forces. ‘The truth’ — i.e., the Doctrine taught by St. Paul in opposition to the Judaising tenets which had been introduced into the Galatian Church.” ― CHARLES ELLICOTT, An Old and New Testament Commentary, 1878, 1897; edited

DK. Beloved, all this Sustained Error in Church Doctrine is spreading and building an insidious erosion of our theological moorings to the Canon. As a result, it is very much like an Undercurrent moving every so swiftly an entire Church and Nation toward the First of several Catastrophic Events that will destroy us.

III. TOWARD A SECOND CIVIL WAR

In Section III of my new book, The Sixth Seal II: A Pre-Wrath Redux on the Rise of Donald Trump and the Decline of the American Order (2023), I propose FIVE WARS that will characterize the Last Days of America and the World. The First of them I expect to be a Second American Civil War – or the culmination of what was ignited on January 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington, DC.

INTRODUCTION. I write the following from MARK 13:12 (AMP), in The Olivet Discourse: “Brother will betray brother to [be put to] death, and a father [will hand over] his child; and children will rise up and take a stand against parents and have them put to death.”

“Of the five great wars yet to come, the one nearest to the American Door is Civil War. The Line for such a Second American Conflagration was drawn in the bloody pavement at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 … Indisputably called to action by [DONALD] TRUMP, thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington, DC, on January 5 and 6 to support his false claim that the 2020 election has been ‘stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats’ and to demand that Vice President MIKE PENCE and Congress reject [PRESIDENT] BIDEN’S victory.

As further impetus to all this Divisiveness now turned violent, we also have Americans pitted more and more violently against one another over the Covid-19 vaccination and mask requests and increasing mandates. For this writer, this is sheer madness, as  normally thoughtful Americans become radically anti-medical science via the rapid advance of Conspiracy Theories.

The impact of such ‘Mass Irrationalism’ prosecutes common sense to the  point where Americans are now planning further insurrections against both government and privately owned companies and businesses that require compliance. Further fuel for a Civil War over the so-called ‘right’ to refuse protecting oneself and one’s neighbor, this is a clear culture-wide violation of Christ’s Greatest Commandments: ‘To Love God with all your ability, and one’s neighbor as yourself’ (Matt. 22:37-39) …

Sadly, by the time this is in print by mid-2023, I expect these domestic, internecine conflicts to have rapidly increased, as the hyper-patriotic Christian Nationalists dig in their heels to ‘Save America’ at virtually any price. The ultimate probability is, again, widespread civil disobedience, followed by intermittent guerilla-like acts of violence, leading to full-on Civil War with possibly simultaneous attempts by some states to secede from the Union” (2023, pp. 147-148; edited

DK. It was ABRAHAM LINCOLN, quoting the Messiah, who spoke these timeless words as a then Republican candidate for the United States Senate on June 16, 1858, in Springfield, Illinois at the state Capitol regarding the Slavery issue.

“‘A house divided against itself, cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do exxpect it will cease to be divided. ‘It will become all one thing or all the other.’”

In today’s Spiritual and Political Vernacular, this means that we shall as a Nation and Church recant and reject the terrible Fracture tearing us apart over an Authoritarian Government and Draconian leadership or succumb to the siren song of Unity at any price and commit what I see as nothing less than National Suicide, bathed in the blood and treasure of brother against brother once again.

IV. LAST REFLECTIONS ON STUMBLING BLOCKS

Beloved, where do even I begin? There is so much to apply from these Doctrinal Truths that I struggle to know just where to dive in first. But I think this would be a good place.

Hear the Words of our Messiah at one of His most sobering moments.

‘Woe (judgment is coming) to the world because of stumbling blocks and temptations to sin!’ It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person on whose account or through whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble and sin, cut it off and throw it away from you [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into everlasting fire. If your eye causes you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; it is better for you to enter life with only one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fiery hell.

– MATTHEW 18:7-9, AMP

“STUMBLING BLOCKS.” Taken from the Greek term, ‘Skandalon’ [σκάνδαλον]: Literally, “‘The trigger in the trap on which the bait is placed, and which, when touched by the animal, springs and causes it to close causing it entrapment.” Further, in the New Testament, it refers to that which “produces certain [sinful] behavior which leads to ruin.” WEBSTER (1828) reduce its definition to this: “Any cause of stumbling [as] that which causes to err.”

Several Staccato Points shall best serve what I must say here. ONE: A foreign spirit and doctrine has entered the American Church, requiring a ‘New Law’ to be followed in order to demonstrate faithfulness to Christ that is not of God!

TWO, that doctrine of demons is called by various names, but “MAGA Christian Nationalism” is its most common moniker. It demands loyalty not to Jesus Christ, but to a seditious system of brutal protocols aimed directly at the seizure of raw political power and the exercise of Draconian Enforcements to ‘Keep the New Law.’ This is blind subservience to an Authoritarian Regime and President invested with unprecedented Illegitimate Authority.

Note on Project 2025 (The Heritage Foundation). “Project 2025 seeks to place the entire Executive Branch of the U.S. federal government under direct presidential control, eliminating the independence of the DOJ, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and other agencies” (Wikipedia, Mar. 18, 2924; edited).

THREE, it consequently turns the orderly body of Christ into a violent, riotous mob as we saw lawlessly demonstrated at the Nation’s Capital on January 6, 2021, led by a dark coalition of ‘Right Wing Extremists’ and seditious (or hopelessly naïve) ‘Christian Conservatives’ who de facto subscribe to forced compliance to their view of the Christian faith.

This of course in destructive ‘Violation’ of both the Biblical Canon and the United States Constitution. And a complete ‘Usurpation’ of the ability for true Christians to witness Christ to the lost.

By any other name: ‘Rebellion!’

FOURTH, and most diabolically and blasphemously, it requires that we submit our obedience and fealty to a man, DONALD JOHN TRUMP, clearly a Lawless Destroyer of all that God represents and requires of us. Indeed, beloved, after eight years of intense, prayerful research and reflection, I propose that the vast majority of ‘Evangelical, primarily White Christians have chosen Antichrist over the True Christ.’

If this is accurate theological and political assessment, then what shall follow in the Decade of the 2020s shall be America’s Final Countdown, and the inevitable Deconstruction of the entire International Order. Which is, rightly or wrongly, the Core Thesis of my book.

CODA. In a powerful special issue of The Atlantic (Jan./Feb. 2024), editor-in-chief JEFFREY GOLDBERG penned a compelling Introduction addressed to the Question of the Decade: ‘What If Trump Wins?’ In his compelling Introduction to the formidable stable of writers, he writes this.

“TOM NICHOLS, who writes The Atlantic’s daily newsletter and is one of our in-house experts on Authoritarianism, argued in mid-November that Trump has finally earned the epithet ‘Fascist.’ For weeks, [DONALD] TRUMP has been ramping up his rhetoric,’ Nichols wrote. ‘Early last month, he echoed the vile and obsessively germophobic language of ADOLF HITLER by describing immigrants as disease-ridden terrorists and psychiatric patients who are ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’  In a separate speech, Trump, Nichols wrote, ‘melded religious and political rhetoric to aim not at foreign nations or immigrants, but at his fellow citizens. This is when he crossed one of the last remaining lines that separated his usual Authoritarian bluster from recognizable Fascism.”

The famous Latin Warning that has unfortunately become a cultural cliché is nonetheless sharply applicable to this Commentary: “CAVEAT EMPTOR” –  A Common Law Doctrine that places the burden on buyers to reasonably examine property before making a purchase. A buyer who fails to meet this burden is unable to recover for defects in the product that would have been discovered had this burden been met. Thus the phrase  “caveat emptor” is Latin for: “Let the buyer beware” (Cornell Law School, ret. Mar. 21, 2024; edited).

Indeed, beloved, Christ’s own Words echo the severity of the Warning: “For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower [for his guards], does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it?” – LUKE 14:28, AMP

Does America realize what House it is about to build – or ‘Rebuild?’ I tremble for us my friends, I tremble. But not so much for myself as for those who call themselves followers of the Messiah who are at the spearhead of engineering this ‘Final Rebellion.’

I wish to close with the epic poem by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, “The Second Coming” (1919) in which he eloquently captures the Gravitas of our present Historic Moment.

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

‘Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   

The Second Coming!’

Hardly are those words out   

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   

The darkness drops again; but now I know   

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

It is very nearly all but upon us, beloved. Please be ready.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/PWekUK5PZEs