Ooh kayyy

We all know the devil is able to have his way in a big way in these end times, and we've seen that. Those of us who know history. Even just recent history. It's hard to miss. Illusion can make people miss anything, but, you know, Soviet Communism, Nazi Socialism, Maoist Communism, Pot Potist Marxism. Professors and book writers talk about them (except for Hitler who they had to fool the world into thinking was not a leftwing fascist, otherwise, they'd be too exposed; actually, it was a pact between the nazis and the communists where they knowingly attempted to make the world think they represented the full spectrum of what is possible; just satan doing his thing), again professors and book writers and media talk about them as if they were kind of good guys! During the Olympics in China they invoked the name Mao like one might say George Washington. What insanity. What idiocy. What evil.

Immersed in this ocean of evil brown comes to represent white.

Stick to the Word of God. As a person who is fully locked-in in pure quickened by the Holy Spirit understanding I say that knowing that most people fall away or are wobbly or just willfully or lazily ignorant. They don't know enough to value it. They don't know the devil when he's got them by the throat. That's the way it is. [Mat 7:14] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

New Gail Riplinger book

Here's a new 1,200 page book by Gail Riplinger. To the devil and his followers: you can run, but you can't hide. You can annoy, but you can't win. You can mock, but you can't dissuade, dispirit, or deceive God's elect.

Atheists exposed Pt. 2

Notice that atheists know the truth that they are rebelling from? See how they give themselves away. Here is another clear example:

Famous atheist X announces he now believes in God.

Generic atheists, scrambling, give their first reaction: "He's had a stroke!" "He's being misquoted!" "He's old and senile now and being used!!!"

Then the famous (now ex-)atheist gives an interview showing he hasn't had a stroke, he can speak in clear sentences, and speak for himself.

So generic atheists give their second reaction: "But I heard he's only gone so far as to become a Deist! Ah ha ha ha hahahahahahaha!!! He doesn't believe in Jesus!!! Sorry, Christians!!! Ha ha ha!!!!"

Hence showing they know the truth. I.e., they expose themselves by saying: "He didn't become a real Christian."

They know what real Christianity is. They know truth exists, and they know enough to know which Christians hold to that truth and which don't.

Atheists exposed.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Remember that prayer for understanding is something we can do before reading the Bible, and I have found it often noticeably effective (not that we need to or even can see the effect in real time). In fact, it seems to me that though it often seems strange to pray to the Person of the Holy Spirit, and it is rare for Christians to do so, to pray to the Holy Spirit for understanding of the Word of God seems very natural and right.

Unrelated: A good Scripture verse to keep the dogs of the world (including self-styled Christian leaders) at bay:

Isa 51:7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

Tim

If you want to see what I mean by lack of self-awareness in a Christian go here (perhaps you need to know this person's history, I don't know). This earnest and very humorless young man has a sub-zero level of self-awareness. He's also discovered his public library which is OK if only he didn't now think he's the only Christian who owns a library card. By the way: he reads, uniquely, narrowly and shallowly (though he does seem to be learning to at least reference the full canon more) and he believes books exist to make people elitists and to give elitists the right to think of others as illiterate morons. This last is actually a very common trait among shallow academics, it's just that most of them learn to only think it. This guy hasn't risen to that level of inane sophistication yet. Naive though he be I'm sure he'll catch on to that at some point and resort to mere heavy sighs and rolling of the eyes and such.

My advice to this young man: don't go back to calling yourself Reformed. You aren't a Reformed Christian. (You're still mocking Reformed Christians...hint?) You are a young, liberal, intellectual wannabee. And a bit of a nightmare of one at that. My advice: finish your self-education. You need to get a lot of things in and through your system before you even come close to discoursing on the Christian faith, let alone Reformed Theology. You don't see the power of Reformed Theology, you don't value it, you don't understand it. You don't even know the difference between being puffed up with knowledge and intellectually vain (and similar states) vs. being broken in spirit.

Response to a Swedish atheist 3

The freedom you espouse is slavery to the bondage and death of the devil's kingdom. It is illusion. It's like what 'enlightenment' is to drugs.

Response to a Swedish atheist 2

In all your writing the basic fact is you assume you understand faith when you simply don't, and you can't - without the grace of God. You're faced with a mystery, a rather great historical and time-vetted mystery, a mystery many very inspired and intelligent human beings, men and women, have been a part of for thousands of years, and you react to it like a sixteen year old, arrogantly waving it off like it is nothing. Rather than accepting its presence and existence and just accepting that it is something you don't currently understand you react in juvenile defense pronouncing it to be nothing. It's like a very ridiculous and arrogant and immature man who hears music he doesn't understand and pronounces the music to be worthless. The music is a Bach fugue. It doesn't matter. It is worthless nonsense, he pronounces.

Response to a Swedish atheist

Tyrfingr, is there anybody in your part of the world who actually goes against the prevailing conformity? Do they lobotomize you Euros when you're school children? I realize public opinion is very powerful in homogeneous countries, but Scandinavia is taking it to extremes that suggests thought-control.

By the way, Tyrfingr, it was ancient Greek literature that partly led me to Christianity. As it often does for many. The Homeric epics are more 'biblical' than you can currently know. Same with Plato, same with the classical historians.

If, as you claim, you have some valuation for ancient literature then you would be less likely to mock the Old and New Testaments.

I like to point out to atheists that they are shallow. Not only can't they see anything in the higher influences that are the Old and New Testaments, but they similarly can't see anything of worth in Homer or Plutarch or Plato. Shallow. You have to be shallow to be an atheist.

Tyrfingr, when you atheists make, for instance, metaphysical incuriosity a mark of intelligence you are shallow. Deathly so.

Atheists exposed

Notice that atheists know the truth that they are rebelling from? See how they give themselves away. Here is a clear example:

A scientist makes a discovery. It splashes across headlines. The *first* thing the generic atheist thinks is: "Oh, I hope he's not a Christian."

Well, it turns out the scientist *is* a Christian.

So what does the generic atheist think and hope then? "OK, I hope he's a Mormon (or a Unitarian, or a Deist, or a...) Anything but a Christian who holds to the truth, which the generic atheist in his heart *knows* exists, and knows enough to know which Christians hold to it and which don't.

Atheists exposed.

Few real Christians

A lot of confused voices out there that demand to teach, teach, teach! "Must teach." Don't really have a clue, but I must teach.

People will say I am one who feels the need to teach. The difference is: I say read the Bible. Think about that. How many voices do you come across in any Christian environment where you are being told to, reminded to, persuaded to *read the Bible.* I.e., *actually read it.* Put a number on the effort ("Occult!" it's been shouted at me). The only thing that comes close is the announcements of executing Bible reading plans and the forming of groups to execute such plans together and so forth (and, of course, the great silence that follows due to the fizzle of the efforts). But the actual value of reading the Word of God is a subject that is off limits. All Christian environments are Romanist at heart when it comes to the Word of God.

I also talk about the practice of the faith. Practical level effort. This too is off limits in pretty much all Christian environments. All Christian environments have developed their justifications to avoid actual practice of the faith. Piety! Gnosticism! And, the classic projection: Moralism!

The good citizen of the Village of Morality says: "You're a moralist." Just as the mass producing human candle factory Roman Catholicism says to the Calvinist: "You burned Servetus at the stake, therefore you are disqualified to speak of doctrine."

What is common to all these Christian environments is lack of self-awareness. Not knowing your own smell. Not being awake. To any degree.

And shallowness.

Not being awake, and being shallow, are not marks of the Holy Spirit.

Grimms' Tales for Young and Old

Update: read the comments to this post.

I've decided to read the complete Grimms' Tales cover-to-cover (eventually, but not record it publically I've decided, too much burden, too much burden!).

Folk tales contain unique and deep visual language, especially when they are presented raw. The better known Grimms' ones are legitimate classics. Most are unique gems of one kind or another. Some of the longer ones - the lesser known ones - are little hallucinogenic epics.

The only translation worth reading is the Ralph Manheim one. It is literal and keeps in all the quirks that contain meaning even though academics can't figure them out and think they need to be smoothed over.

Full title: Grimms' Tales for Young and Old, translated by Ralph Manheim; ISBN: 0-385-18950-8. It is complete, with 200 tales and 10 legends. 627 pages.

I saw something that made me think (what happens where my brain is)

Reading some literary criticism recently I came across a statement that dogma in literature (examples given: communism, Christianity) dates a book and the book never is long lasting. An obvious statement.

It stopped me and made me think though. Why is that true for Christianity (which is universal truth whereas communism is man-thought-up garbage). Because the fact is it *is* true for Christianity as much for communism. And we're talking about fiction here. Great novels, etc.

An example in music is Christian pop music. Hymns don't count because they are a Christian genre, but rock for instance is not. Christian rock is weak as music. Why? It's because it mixes languages. It mixes general revelation with special revelation.

When you sing: "Jesus saved me, He took my sins upon Him..." to a Bo Diddly beat you are singing ideas and facts from special revelation, what can only be known from the written Word of God, the Old and New Testament.

But rock music as a genre is in the category of general revelation -- and I know that sounds bizarre, but I mean art in general is part of general revelation, potentially. It can be used by people without the Holy Spirit and for Satanic purposes, but when it *is* used by inspired artists it is general revelation. There are innumerable 'Messianic' song lyrics, for instance, but they aren't explicit like special revelation. They are often not even known to their composers themselves. (So maybe common grace can even sneak in to the work of artists and composers and writers unconscious of the fact.)

So, a Dostoevsky novel, a novel written by a Christian, is in the category of general revelation. If Dostoevsky had written it using the language of special revelation it would not be great literature.

Literary critics don't understand this. Harold Bloom is particularly comical in his many ways of explaining away Dostoevsky's Christian belief. Bloom can't understand how such a great novelist could possibly be a real Christian. Or how any great novelist could be or have been a believer.

The universal truth of God's plan as we know it explicitly from the Old and New Testaments is found in general revelation as well. Nature, human nature, etc., but also including great works of art and music and literature and so on. But it is found in general revelation implicitly. (And even depictions of evil and of the illusions and so forth of the devil's kingdom give light, by contrast, on the truth and the revelation of God's Kingdom.)

So this is why explicit Christianity, or, the actual language of salvation (just like dogmatic communism) mar a work of literature. It's mixing languages that can't be mixed. Special and General Revelation.

[A point I left out which is what started me thinking about this subject is: this is another example where Reformed Theology is impressive in explaining something that leaves the intelligentsia of the world scratching their heads. I.e. the basic subject of general vs. special revelation.]