Tag Archives: God

Bill Lockwood: Student Loan Debt: How Socialism Distorts Sound Reasoning 4 (1)

by Bill Lockwood

One of many reasons to oppose the philosophy of socialism, which has its tentacles wrapped around America, is that it distorts one’s thinking. Being engulfed in it for longer periods, as Americans have been for many decades, makes it doubly-hard to rehabilitate the reasoning process. Consider Student Loan Debt, which Democratic leaders have long pressed for, and Joe Biden is now contemplating.

Outstanding Student Loan Debt in America for 2020 is approximately $1.75 Trillion, which breaks down to about $40k average amount per borrower. Statistics also show that 43% of all college attendees have taken on debt, this includes money loaned through federal and private lenders. Biden’s socialistic plan is to “cancel” this student debt, which really means, shifting the burden of loan debt onto the backs of the American taxpayers.

Reasoning Processes Short-Circuited

To see how any type of socialism, including “forgiveness” of student loan debts, actually short-circuits the reasoning process, think on this. I recently reposted a picture on Facebook that mimicked the fact that the modern generation is “drowning in student loan debt” while at the same time spending their money on “Starbucks, Useless Majors, Cable TV, New I-Phones, Tattoos, Gucci and Cocaine.

That highlighted what are the undeniable facts of a large percentage of collegiate students today while opposing the Biden plan. One person replied that that post is “kind of making assumptions.” In answer, I simply went to the heart of the matter. “It is wrong and sinful to steal from some and give to others.”

Further, many of the degrees now obtained by Generation Z are worthless from the practical standpoint of making an honest living. Assuming the Democrat plan comes to fruition, hardworking blue-collar laborers such as welders, truck drivers, and machinists, who wisely skipped the “collegiate route” for their occupations, are now being forced to pay off those huge loans for the millennials who frittered away their loans with “Anthropology” or “Ethnic and Civilization Studies” degrees.

Now comes the interesting part. My Facebook respondent retorted: “Your posts are not speaking with God’s love! … Not everyone was born with a silver spoon in their mouths. If they can’t afford to pay that loan back, tell me what should they do?”

The answer is simple, I responded. “No doubt people have burdens that they cannot carry alone. However, your solution should be, ‘I (my name), will personally assist you.’ How can you say, ‘No, I am going to empower my government to forcibly take it from my neighbor, Bill Lockwood, and that’s how it will be paid back.” I could not help but add, “And for you to lecture any of us who object to Government theft and redistribution by saying, ‘you need more love of God’—comes with poor grace.”

Just to be clear here. If any of the socialist-liberals today wish to select a college student and voluntarily help them pay off student loans. Go for it. That is God’s love. But to support an unconstitutional move that utilizes dictatorial government power to shift the burden of financial responsibility onto the backs of other people without their consent—that is not Christian.

This is the stuff of which dictators are made. Socialistic force has nothing to do with the love of God.

Apparently, this particular respondent got the point regarding force. “You’re right. No one should be forced to do for others.” But blindness remains, for big government force is still the answer to these types of liberals.

It would be good to remember here the maxim reputed to have come from George Washington: Government is not reason, it is not eloquence,–it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master.”

Alex Newman: Biblical Worldview & Christian Education: Real & Fake 4 (1)

by Alex Newman

A biblical worldview is becoming increasingly rare in America and that is in large part due to the education system, explained Nehemiah Institute founder and chief Dan Smithwick in this interview on Conversations That Matter with The New American magazine’s Alex Newman. Smithwick, who developed the PEERS test to understand worldview, has been studying this subject for decades. And he found that some Christian schools do far better than others in instilling a biblical worldview in students. Smithwick said churches and preachers must address this crisis immediately.

 

NA: https://thenewamerican.com/biblical-worldview-christian-education-real-fake/


Alex Newman is a senior editor of The New American, author of the new book Deep State: The Invisible Government Behind the Scenes, and coauthor (with the late Sam Blumenfeld) of Crimes of the Educators.

Bill Lockwood: Gas-Powered Vehicles & Outlawing Freedom 4 (1)

by Bill Lockwood

One of the greatest current ironies is that our government schools ramp-up “anti-bullying campaigns” to keep our children from intimidating or coercing others to do something to which they are opposed—all the while the government itself systemically bullies both the consumer plus the manufacturer to conform to its Green Agenda.

Make no mistake. Outlawing gas-powered vehicles, as is now being pressed by our own government, and actually planned by states such as California and Washington State, is in reality the curtailing of freedom and liberty.

“Tucked into the state’s new $17 billion transportation plan is a lofty goal: No new gas-powered cars by 2030,” writes David Kroman in The Seattle Times (4-1-22). This “represents the culmination of years of advocacy in the Legislature for what is now the most aggressive timeline in the country.”

“Matthew Metz, executive director of the environmental advocacy organization Coltura, who’s helped lead the push for more zero-emission vehicle sales, said that winning the new language creates a standard by which officials in government and the private sector must now be measured.”

In requiring these electric vehicle goals, “Washington has committed itself to following California’s vehicle emission standards, which are more stringent than the federal government’s … California is in the process of finalizing rules that would mandate that all new car sales be electric by 2035, which Washington would then follow.”

Good-Bye Liberty

In the name of the supposed Global Climate Crisis the Democrats have signed on to the Green Agenda. Democratic Governor Jay Inslee, while signing the bill this week, stated that the measure will “move us away from the transportation system our grandparents imagined and towards the transportation system our grandchildren dream of.”

Yes, the grandchildren who have been indoctrinated from grade school through the university system—they dream of a non-fossil-fuel future. But that is just the point. There never has been any real debate or discussion on the entire issue, just hard core indoctrination filtering from the socialistic United Nations down through our society.

Still others, such as Jeremy Horpedahl, an economist at the University of Arkansas, said the 2030 target is “overly ambitious.” “A better approach would be to gradually encourage consumers to switch to electric vehicles for private enterprise to build the charging infrastructure with incentives.” He told The Center Square that consumers should not be “forced to purchase electric vehicles.”

“But whatever the ideal approach is, using economic incentives to encourage” electric vehicles is “far better than a strict mandate that bans fossil-fuel automobiles.”

What of This?

First, this is good-bye to liberty and freedom for the consumer. The only difference between the above approaches is whether to force people by governmental edict or push them with government-built-in incentives. So far from the freedom formula encoded in our Constitution, which sets up an even-playing-field for all businesses, this is government-sponsored doctrine enforced by the ruling elite.

Citizens do not believe the so-called “environmental crisis” that makes this mandatory—otherwise they would be buying the electric vehicles on their own. This is why the ruling class cannot allow the free market, or freedom under God, to continue. The “environmental crisis” gives the government an excuse to curtail freedom.

As Yakima Republican Sen. Curtis King, the ranking member of the Senate Transportation Committee, stated, “They want to force everybody into an electric vehicle for whatever reason they deem fit. They want to take the choice away from the people because they think government knows more than anybody else.”

Second, this is good-bye to liberty and freedom for the producer. If the electric car was a desirable product in the free market, automobile manufacturers would already be producing them. Not only would consumers prefer them, but the economics of it would incentivize the auto industry. There would be no need for government subsidies to manufacture an electric car, nor a need for tax benefits for purchasing one.

But this is not what is occurring. Freedom for consumer and manufacturer does not terminate the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine. Therefore, government is in essence saying to the auto industry: “come up with an electric vehicle or else we will close your doors.”

So, while government schools add anti-bullying curricula to the classrooms across America, the government itself practices bullying for its own Green agenda.

 

 

John L. Kachelman, Jr.: The Traitors’ Treachery, Treason and Tenacity! 4 (1)

by John L. Kachelman, Jr.

Betrayal is the greatest inhumanity. Betrayal’s wound lingers with a sickening feeling, it fuels insecurity and crushes the spirit of those targeted. Betrayal is prodded by narcissism, nurtured by monetary gain, fueled by power and ruled by selfish ambition. The betrayer never acknowledges his black deed and evil motives. The result of betrayal is never the imagined reward when the dark deed is conceived. The tempting bait, seducing the betrayer, is always for “the greater good.” Too late is the self-centered heart revealed; the exaltation and applause once sought are erased by disgrace. The traitor absurdly attempts to justify the betrayal. These laughable justifications highlight the guilt of those involved in treachery. The traitor’s true motives will be exposed. The selfish ambition prodded by money and power will be uncovered. In the end, nothing is gained and all is lost.

The Lord addressed selfish betrayal by asking, “What good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? What will a person give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Bluntly asked is the piercing query, “How much will it take to buy your soul? What is your integrity and fidelity worth?”

The sale of integrity is a tragic historic constant. This is especially true with political integrity.

Betrayal on a personal level is devastating. Betrayal on a national level is absolute destruction. National betrayal undermines civility and replaces it with an “improved” system imagined by the arrogant mind. This political operation is in the realm of fantasy and not fact.

Treacherous betrayal is as old as human civilization. History’s redundancy reveals that humans never learn; they are always recycling the failed chicanery of the past. There has been and will continue to be arrogant evil politicians attempting to destroy civility. The Psalmist mournfully said, “The wicked bend the bow, they have set their arrow on the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

The intent to punish opposition is designed to subvert the prevailing rule of law and replace it with the elitist arrogance (after all betrayal is predicated upon the betrayer thinking s/he has the better scheme, better politics, better formula for the greater good and those refusing compliance are deserving of punishment).

Incredibly this is the predicament where our nation stands at this moment in civilization’s history. Good is evil; evil is good; up is down and down is up! The absurdity is framed by the fact that truck drivers’ pets are seized because the politicians need to retaliate against those suggesting that each human has basic personal rights. So, the oppressive government seizes the hapless animals! And the population of the world is told to believe this punishing action is for “the greater good”?

Over the past years, the history of our body politic in the USA has exposed the disintegration of our Republic’s foundation. No longer are personal freedoms assured. Our freedoms have been assaulted by a seditious tyranny masking the treasonous treachery of those viewing themselves as the “Rulers” over the “ruled.” Anything less than consent and conformity to the Rulers mandates is instantly punished. The basic rights of justice for all that is meted by a consistent standard has been trashed—the obvious criminals are freed and the peaceable are detained. And the ruling body politic is criminally silent!

These events are the historical recycling of a malicious corruption of the government’s “Rulers.” These have seized a role never designed in our governing statutes.

If this is a historical recycling, where is the precedent of historical traitors betraying the trust given them with tenacious treason? Many examples suffice: Christ had His Judas, Caesar had his Brutus; Alexander the Great had his Eumenes; and George Washington had his Benedict Arnold.

Because of the toxic environment of our current national politics, I have enjoyed rereading the “American Revolution” series by Nathaniel Philbrick. The second volume focuses upon the treachery of Benedict Arnold. Several observations regarding Arnold’s actions illustrate the current crisis in the USA.

Perhaps only Judas epitomizes treacherous treason and devilish intent more than Benedict Arnold. Philbrick’s Volume 2 (Valiant Ambition) highlights a number of flaws in Benedict Arnold’s character exposing his traitorous treachery:

• Never worried about the consequences of his actions—guilt was simply not a part of his makeup. Rules were made to be broken—Arnold did whatever Arnold wanted.

• He presented his national interests as “the nearest in his heart and the first in his wishes” even as he disclosed military secrets to the enemy. It is wanton hypocrisy by a public official.

• What he was doing was first and foremost for money—he priced his soul for 10,000 pounds!

• He was magnificent in his fearless and pugnacious pride—pride and arrogance. (I’m sure that he would give a devilish smirk in tearing up a SOTU speech!)

• He attacked the integrity of his accusers by innuendo and insinuations. He claimed his accusers were not patriots and he was the genuine hero—amazing projection of his evil onto others!

• His faith in his own honesty justified his treason—he was delusional!

• He thought he could serve his country best by being a traitor—delusional fantasy ignoring facts.

• Arnold justified his treason by saying he “loved” his country. “I have ever acted from a principle of love to my country…The same principle of love to my country actuates my present conduct.”

• He promised retaliatory killing of epic proportions unless his ultimatums were followed—he displayed an amazing tenacity to sacrifice country for selfish ambition.

• His decision to sell his loyalty to the highest bidder was rooted in a self-serving opportunism masquerading as patriotism.

NOTE: Take each of the above points and list a current politician’s speech and action with the exact act. Those crying conspiracy are themselves guilty; those projecting crimes and hate-speech are themselves guilty; those crying against “undemocratic” and unpatriotic” are the “insurrectionist in the mirror”; those boasting
of their “love” for our nation prompts them to enforce the mandates, speak with empty platitudes masking their own devilish agenda! Every action today that betrays civility and punishes personal freedoms is found in Benedict Arnold’s biography. Let the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches hear this fact!

Philbrick cites Arnold’s sanctimonious defense before the military court. “I stand stigmatized with indelible disgrace, the disgrace of having abused an appointment of high trust and importance, to accomplish the meanest and most unworthy purposes: the blood I have spent in defense of my country will be insufficient to obliterate the stain” (258). How accurate Arnold was in his assessment—all he had done was “insufficient to obliterate the stain” of his treacherous treason!

Nathaniel Greene aptly summarized Arnold’s treachery, “How black, how despised! Loved by none and hated by all. Once his country’s idol, now her horror.” Let the politicians and bureaucrats on the Local, State and National levels listen to history. For how much are you willing to sell your integrity? Whatever your price,
you will find the amount insufficient to obliterate the “stain.” Regardless of the imagined profits your sellout only impoverishes you here and hereafter.

A failure to demonstrate integrity in upholding the Constitutional Rule of Law is inexcusable. It is irrational. It is a choice to join Benedict Arnold as the historic byword for treachery. A failure to stand up, speak out and fight for the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution exposes your true character as a selfish
opportunist fearful of retaliation.

Common Sense teaches…A wound to the physical body must be immediately field dressed or the reality of a destructive infection threatens life. A wound to the national body must be immediately addressed and corrected or the reality of the nation’s foundations being destroyed is inevitable.

When traitors use treachery, the nation’s foundations may be destroyed. But, those guilty of bringing ruin and those guilty of permitting ruin will not escape. History assures that their diabolical, scheming arrogance will “stain” their reputations. And that “stain” forever taints their souls. The Psalmist’s alarm (cited above) that the
foundations are destroyed is answered later in the passage: “The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and His soul hates one who loves violence. He will rain coals of fire upon the wicked, and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup” (Psalm 11:5-6).

Let the traitors devise their treachery so their treason is accomplished. Let them cling tenaciously to their evil. But they will never find satisfaction in their betrayal. A contented joy will never comfort their hearts neither here nor hereafter! Their eternal eulogy will be “you have given yourself over to do evil in the sight of the Lord.”

GWP: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/kachelman-traitors-treachery-treason-tenacity/


John L. Kachelman, Jr. is a Christian patriot, preacher, and missionary for Jesus Christ to foreign countries. He lives in Montgomery, AL.

by John L. Kachelman, Jr.: January 6, 2021 and Lepa Radić—Memorials to Brutality 5 (1)

by John L. Kachelman, Jr.

When all facts are known, and they will inevitably be known, history will record the facts of January 6, 2021 as racist, political terrorism which traumatized millions, wrongfully incarcerated hundreds, and shredded the populace’s confidence in “liberty and justice for all.”

A number of articles have already published thoughts on this day and have used the term “infamy.” It is suitable. The term “infamy” is recalled in President Roosevelt’s “Day of infamy” speech to Congress. The word refers to that which marks an “extremely bad reputation, public reproach, or strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act; an infamous act or circumstance; loss of rights, incurred by conviction of an infamous offense.”

The treatment of the protesters in DC on January 6, 2021 definitely qualifies as “infamous.”
The response to the protesters marked the inevitable descent into despotic tyranny by a government that is insulated from reality and blindly ignorant to their sworn duty. Their position is to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution so our Republic will stand strong and liberty and justice for all is a hallmark. They failed…MISERABLY failed.

Their failure was prompted by a delusional racist, political terrorism. Their failure was coordinated by carefully planned evil machinations. Their failure was disguised with doublespeak claiming to defend the “Law” (but it was a “law” they themselves follow while ignoring the true Law of our land).
I choose to add to the infamy of this high-handed tyranny the term “brutal.” Look at history and note how this racist, political terrorism behavior is memorialized as “brutal.”

The brutality on February 8, 1943

Lepa Radić, was a 17-year-old Bosnian executed during World War II. In her last minutes of life, her tormenters offered to spare her life in exchange for the names of her accomplices, she refused. She had been captured in February 1943 while organizing the rescue of some 150 women and children seeking refuge from the Axis. She attempted to protect her charges by firing at the attacking Nazi SS forces with a barrage of her remaining ammunition.

After they caught her, the Germans sentenced Radić to death by hanging. The Germans kept her in isolation and tortured her in an attempt to extract information over the course of three days leading up to her execution. She refused to divulge any information about her comrades both then and in the moments just before her execution.

On February 8, 1943, Lepa Radić was brought to the gallows in full view of the public. Moments before her hanging, Radić was offered a pardon if she revealed the names of her Partisan comrades. She passionately responded, “I am not a traitor of my people. Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded in wiping out all you evildoers, to the last man.”

The brutality on January 6, 2021

Do not think the brutality of tyranny is isolated in Fascist Germany. This evil treatment was not removed when Nuremburg’s sentences were announced.

The brutality of racist, political terrorism is on full display with the events following the January 6, 2021 protest in Washington, DC. But this time, it was not an invading enemy but it was Americans brutalizing Americans!

After being arrested without warrants and imprisoned without charges the American citizens were subjected to brutality in numerous forms. And this is in the capitol of their own nation!

One article cited the torture in these words: Jan. 6 Inmates Endure Worse Abuse Than Gitmo — Brutally Beaten, Stripped, Hogtied, Humiliated By Guards, One Prisoner Blinded In One Eye.

The following is a script from an interview discussing the brutal racist, political terrorism wrought by the ruling Elite in Washington, DC. NEWSMAX with Greg Kelly & Joseph McBride: McBride told Kelly, “What I can say about the Jan. 6 protesters who remain incarcerated or detained at this point, is that their constitutional rights and human rights are being violated by the Department of Justice and the Federal Government at this very moment.”

He went on to explain, “The law is clear that no type of punishment is appropriate for a detainee. Despite that numerous detainees are being held in solitary confinement for long periods of time. They’re being denied medical care. They’re taking beatings. They’re being denied sleep. They’re being psychologically, emotionally, and physically tortured on a regular basis.”

Greg Kelly asked, “Who’s beating them up?” McBride told Kelly, “I am alleging that the guards are beating them up. The staff are beating prisoners on a regular basis and have been doing so for a long time. This is no exaggeration.”

The ability of the progressives and ruling POLS to look blindly at the brutality of those imprisoned enrages me. These are the ones who cursed and condemned what they called the brutality of Gitmo for known terrorists.

Listen to their own words:

From World Socialist Web Site an article deploring the inhumane treatment of known terrorists in Gitmo and damning the US government for permitting it to continue remarked on Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) as he attempted to calm the progressive’s criticism for Gitmo.

“Durbin’s tearful apology, Democrats make cowardly retreat on Guantánamo torture” 24 June 2005. Durbin then commented: “If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings.”

Highlight the DEM’s observation about brutality to those imprisoned: “you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings.”

What Sen. Durbin damns in treatment for those crying “Death to America” is applauded in the treatment of those who cry “America is great!”

A Brutal Pretension

The term “pretentious” aptly describes the characters supporting this brutal racist, political terrorism. It refers to those whose actions are “characterized by assumption of dignity or importance, especially when exaggerated or undeserved; making an exaggerated outward show; full of pretense; having no factual basis; false.” Such well describes those who have used this tyranny to further consolidate their evil ambitions.
The circle jerk back character in the WH Pressroom promises January 6, 2022 as an entire day where Joe Biden will attack President Trump for January 6, 2021 “Insurrection”! Really? If there is an insurrection why have NO CHARGES of such been made against those illegally imprisoned for one-year?

On June 26, 2021 Joe Biden “reaffirm[ed] the United States’ unequivocal ban on torture and opposition to all forms of inhumane treatment”; acknowledged that torture “is prohibited universally, and violates U.S. and international law”; and “pledge[d] the full efforts of the United States to eradicate torture in all its forms.”  Really? This was made a full six-months after those arrested were brutalized and denied their Constitutional rights.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said “the president bears responsibility” for the attacks. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. said: “They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed.” Schumer and Pelosi said Trump incited an “insurrection” against the country. Really? These are the Capitol Leaders who ignore the deplorable treatment and brutality of Americans who are the focus of brutal racist, political terrorism!

Look at the reality of January 6, 2021…The DEMS offer tearful apologies and consternation over the treatment of those who seek to destroy our Republic and shout “Death to America.” However, these same DEMS applaud and enable the torturous and illegal imprisonment of Americans who were marching FOR the Constitution and viability of our Republic!

Where are all the progressive protesters crying about human rights violations? Why is this being permitted to happen in America? This is completely unacceptable yet it is embraced by both political parties. It is propagandized by a special committee in the House whose intent is to validate brutal racist, political terrorism.
American citizens have been hunted down, murdered and arrested by the corrupt FBI/CIA for the crime of being present on January 6 and entering into the Capitol building as they followed the invitations of the Capitol Police. American citizens are imprisoned, tortured and abused. And the Rulers in Washington, DC have mouths watering with anticipation that the kangaroo courts and committees will sanction this brutality.
Jim Hoft is to be commended for setting up an informative page on this travesty. It is aptly called AMERICAN GULAG. From this site distressing facts, anecdotes, and insight into the brutal racist, political terrorism of January 6, 2021 can be found. Over 700 were arrested BUT 0 charged with insurrection! And we are told to believe that insurrection was planned and implemented—but one-year later NO charges of such have been made!

Will Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, McCarthy, and McConnell admit…

• There was NO insurrection?
• There is inhumane torture, cajoled confessions, and despicable racism?
• There were FBI/CIA plants that committed illegal acts?
• The video that has been denied will be made available?
• That those illegally imprisoned are victims of political Fascism?
• With tear-filled emotions that those imprisoned for J6 are Patriots?
• These arrested are not insurrectionists and traitors?
• Those being held are subjected to the inhumanity of the “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings.”
Let Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, McCarthy, and McConnell listen carefully to this closing statement and know that history will write the events associated with January 6, 2021 as certainly as it did with the Fascist in February 8, 1943.

January 6, 2021 will be a historic monument to the fact that racist, political terrorism and its brutality will never break the heroic spirit.

The Fascists in 1943 are chronicled as brutally pursuing tyranny…the Fascists of 2021 will be chronicled in the same manner. Both were imprisoned, tortured, and suffered inhumanly at the hands of the State’s Guards. Those accused and arrested on January 6, 2021, and slandered by the politicians as insurrectionists will say: “I am not a traitor of my people.” The actual traitors will be exposed and punished! Justice will be served.
Let the Rulers know there will be Retribution. “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


John L. Kachelman, Jr. is a Christian patriot, preacher, and missionary for Jesus Christ to foreign countries. He lives in Montgomery, AL.

John L. Kachelman, Jr.: Inescapable & Invincible Truth 5 (1)

by John L. Kachelman, Jr.

There are two facts that are woven into the history of civilization. First, the crucible of consistency is always the undoing of error. And, second, truth always becomes evident and triumphs. When mankind is embroiled in civic and cultural chaos the only hope is the absoluteness of truth. This is an inescapable truth in history.

Truth is an imperiled commodity in today’s civilization—it is almost extinct in many public forums, governmental newspeak, school boards, and even in medical diagnosis.

In mythology Aphrodite/Athena developed an invincible force composed of Amazonian women. The Amazonians acted in the Battle of Troy and were later included in mythological tales of Ulysses (Odysseus).

A mystical girdle is given to the Amazonians. This girdle was used to create a “lasso of truth.” This lasso was unbreakable, immutable and indestructible. The most noticeable power was its ability to force people to tell only the truth.

In either fantasy or fact, TRUTH is recognized as the predominant virtue in civility. Even the pagans, with all their moral and civil failings recognized TRUTH as a critical bond in life. When truth is paramount, mankind is secure. The commanding role of truth was stated by Christ, “You will know the truth AND the truth will set you free.” Without truth there is no freedom! Unfortunately, the control of truth in daily life, worldly politics, and religious practice is challenged and replaced with untruths. Such is “false news,” or “false flags.” When there is truth there will instantly be untruths. As truth brings unity, harmony and happiness, untruth seeks to instigate chaos and harm. Untruth utilizes garage door pulls, flawed medical tests, and political posturing.

The commanding control of truth is historically recognized:

  • Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed (Friedrich Nietzsche).
  • When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear (Thomas Sowell).
  • The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it (George Orwell).Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth (William Faulkner).
  • All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them (Galileo Galilei).

    But, remember the bitterness that untruth displays. There is an utter contempt for truth. Those speaking untruth embrace ignorance and folly. These are rancid in their slander and libel. “No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth” (Plato).

    The untruth, the false news, the false flags of untruth’s communication always seeks damage to reputations, institutions, civil governing, religious practices, and individuals who refuse to conform. The practice of untruth from evil elitism is historic:

  • In the 1700s, a woman named Mary Toft in England tricked doctors into thinking she could give birth to rabbits. Sometime later she was forced to admit that she shoved dead rabbits into her vagina before ‘birthing’ them.
  • Between 1932 and 1972, the US government tricked around 600 black citizens from Tuskegee, Alabama into believing that they were receiving free healthcare. Whereas they were actually test subjects to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis.
  • In 1985, In California, a guy claiming to be a doctor successfully tricked a girl into bed (and out of $1000) by claiming that he can give her a vaccine for a ‘fatal disease that she had contracted’ by having sex with her.

    One would hope that the dissemination of known untruths would not exist in our modern “enlightened” era. However, such is hope misplaced. A casual observation reveals that the publishing of untruths and the groundless verbal accusations have accelerated to the point that untruth is more pronounced than truth. The historicity of this damning cycle is found in the prophet Isaiah’s recorded sorrow, “You must not prophesy the truth to us. Speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions.” There were those who feigned a religious devotion were exposed as those “who swear by the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness.” The judgment on the national level was “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.” The prophet’s final sob moaned “Truth is lacking.”

    Amazingly, the publishing of propagandizing untruth is recognized by those in the controlling media. The Stanford Report (2003!), reported the presence of deceptive media reporting. In a description of a course, the following was reported, and do not miss the acerbic report linked from Politico: The truth about lying: Course explores history of deception.

    This idea that the media is made up of unselfconsciously liberal elites who don’t even recognize the biases they have against conservative policies and conservatives in general goes back decades, to when newsrooms were more or less homogenous in nearly every way. At first, conservatives fought back by founding their own magazines; after Watergate and in the midst of the Reagan administration and liberals’ contempt for him, organizations like the Media Research Center began cataloguing the myriad examples of biased coverage, both large and small. And there was a lot to catalogue, from opinion pages heavily weighted in favor of liberals to reportage and analysis that looks a lot more like the opinion of the writers than unbiased coverage.An article from NBC announced: Media bias against conservatives is real, and part of the reason no one trusts the news now it might not be conscious, but the way that reporters treat conservatives in their coverage has always shown their liberal leanings.

    The brouhaha instigated by the DEMS/NEVER TRUMPERS/RINOS led to a media feeding frenzy fueled by untruth. A good example of this is the article Republicans Bludgeoned with the Truth.

    “David Brooks: The evidence against Trump is overwhelming. This Ukraine quid pro quo wasn’t just a single reckless phone call. It was a multiprong several-month campaign to use the levers of American power to destroy a political rival.” Republican legislators are being bludgeoned with this truth in testimony after testimony. They know in their hearts that Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses.

    Pay close attention to the above and note how evil deceptively boasted about using truth as justification for the participants’ criminal actions and treasonous habits. Truth had no presence in this travesty of civility. All charges and insinuations were blatant untruth! It was all LIES!

    And here are a few of the consequences that propagandized untruth has wrought in recent years:

    • Depraved accusations against those viewed as political enemies of the controlling elite. Accusations of flagrant immorality, criminality, and the distortion of facts united as a broadside from the Elite and have received front page above-the-fold position, even though they were lies.
    • Deliberate deceptions by the elite pols, media, and entertainment personalities diverting the public’s focus from the reality of our national, culture and civil disintegration.
    • Villainous untruths upheld by the Medical Professional Community and a fawning refusal to consider published COVID-19 adverse reactions. The Medical Profession has been exposed as supportive of untruth and accomplices of the untruthful Evil.
    • Overt persecution by bureaucrats weaponizing all elements of the Federal Government to oppress, silence and even imprison opposition.
    • A corrupt agenda distorting the principled statutes upon which our Republic was founded.
    • Deceptive untruths are popularized seeking to replace our Constitutional governing with Marxism.
    • A staunch refusal of the Legislative Branch to follow truth in its deliberations; a redefinition of truth by the Judicial Branch rendering its decisions a mockery of justice; and, the buffoonery in the Executive Branch to exercise the truth.
    • We have been brow-beaten, shamed, ostracized, assaulted, wrongfully imprisoned and a myriad of other evil actions as untruths were pressed by local, State and Federal governments.
    • National corporations, businesses, hospitals, school boards and even religious groups have coerced compliance to the inconsistent untruths.

      A failed nation is marked when truth is discarded and replaced with untruth. When the governing authorities, media producers, and judicial officials elevate untruth and discard actual truth then the citizenry will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good. Such behavior is described by the mournful phrase, “Truth is lacking.”

      This sinister maneuver is not novel to our Legislators, Courts and Executives. It is historical. Since it is historical it is assured of the historic inescapability of the real truth. History records a Persian executive that worked to restore the Exiles. His name was Nehemiah. He was confronted by a number of adversaries whose behavior charts the typical attack strategy of evil “untruthers.” There was a feigned compromise offered, lies circulated, slander, and libel. When these actions failed to achieve the evil objectives there arose outright persecution and violence. Nehemiah remained firm. I love his response to those seeking to destroy his influence with slanderous libel, “I sent a message to him saying, ‘Nothing like these things that you are saying has been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind’” (Nehemiah 6:8).Such is the real truth describing the opposition “You are inventing them in your own mind”!

      From Freedom Works (07/05/2010), comes the observation that our nation’s founders believed that individual rights pre-exist the establishment of a government. What assures these individual rights. It is the inescapable truth.

      We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”

      Absolute truth is inescapable and invincible. Let the purveyors of untruth feel secure in their lies. But they trust only in their own imaginations! The inescapable truth—they will be exposed as fools and their folly will be recorded alongside the fools throughout history!

      Let those in governing positions understand the reality of an inescapable truth. Legislate, Adjudicate, and Execute knowing that truth is self-evident and the action taken will condemn you to the historic fools or commend you among the historic heroes/heroines!

      One final quote: “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it—always” (Mahatma Gandhi).


John L. Kachelman, Jr. is a Christian patriot, preacher, and missionary for Jesus Christ to foreign countries. He lives in Montgomery, AL.

John L. Kachelman, Jr.: The Fall of Versailles 4 (1)

by John L. Kachelman, Jr.

The chronicles of civilization’s governments are the ultimate record of failed recycling. Mankind never learns! The greatest fail is the repetitive recycling of tyranny. Mankind complacently accepts subjection to immoral and evil authorities. The historicity is undeniable. Briefly observe how two historical government fails highlight the current conflict in our Republic (obviously there are many more examples but we only have time for two).

First, consider the majesty of Versailles Palace. This is remarkable in history. The Palace of Versailles, was the French royal residence and center of government, but it transformed into an extravagant complex. A telling fact about this grandiose structure, every detail of its construction was intended to glorify the king. The construction’s focus was on the Ruler. The ruled were ignored; they were viewed as inconsequential.

The Versailles Palace is one of the iconic portraits of the French Revolution. The French Revolution did not just happen in one day. The Revolution was a mixture of political, social and economic upheavals in France. The Palace of Versailles found itself in the middle of this conflict.

The public became agitated over the great governmental waste. The Court enjoyed extravagances while the population starved. Liberal principles removed trade barriers. Bad harvests and increasing prices fueled riots and revolt. Public opinion correctly connected the economic crisis with the monarchy. Consequently, a contempt for Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette fueled the national chaos.

The chaos led to degradation in economic, political and civil environments. On 15 July 1789, the storming of the Bastille panicked Versailles. The courtiers started to abandon the Palace. This beginning trickle soon became a flood and the Palace was emptied of its occupants.

The royal family left Versailles on 6 October 1789. The Palace of Versailles ceased to be a royal residence. It fell into disrepair and eventually was restored as a historical landmark of a failed government.

Second, consider Germany’s Third Reich. The history of this fail is well-known. The “rise and fall” of this government focuses directly upon those who served as its major leaders and the Reichstag members who permitted and approved the governing evils. The government failed because of its evil advocates.

In November 1945 the high-ranking surviving officials of the Third Reich were placed on trial before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg, Germany. Among them were Göring, Ribbentrop, Frank, Rosenberg, Kaltenbrunner, and Hess.

The trial exposed the details and scope of the criminal governing. Accounts of inhumanity were listed; evidences of tyranny’s authority were validated; the bankruptcy of a political arena where dissent was punished was highlighted; the evil of a national governing that denied personal freedoms was a common factor.

Nuremberg established the horrors of a government that believes it can mandate what the citizens believe, speak, reside, travel and behave. Such behaviors were decided to be inhuman and worthy of capitol punishment. No excuse was permitted to justify such evil behavior.

The result of this trial should be sobering to all politicians. On October 1, 1946, 12 of the defendants were sentenced to death, three were acquitted, and the remaining defendants received prison sentences. Göring, committed suicide in his cell, and ten defendants were executed on October 16, 1946. Hess was the last imprisoned Nuremberg defendant to die in 1987.

It was a humiliating end to a government ruled by tyrants. What about the Reichstag congress? What about those “elected” to serve the population? Following the Nazi seizure of power and the Enabling Act of 1933, this “governing body” was only a rubber stamp for the actions of Hitler’s dictatorship. It was useless. It was inept. It was culpable in the fascist tyranny. Those serving in the congress, only furthered the State’s dictatorship. The “Party” always gave unanimous consent — no one dared to vote against the controlling personalities.

History reveals that…a government born from lies, maintained by fear and ruled with opinionated mandates was pure evil. The propaganda that fueled the citizens’ compliance was a manipulative ploy of the politically arrogant. The horrible “science” that funded the use human beings as test subjects, was pure evil manipulated by a heinous man. Every aspect of the Reich’s governing was exposed as pure evil. There was absolutely no justification or rationalization for the government’s actions. Yes such was applauded but it was an abomination!
Now here is the undeniable point to ponder on the “Fall of Versailles”—there is ultimately a punitive justice meted to those who arrogate to themselves an evil tyranny! Justice is coming to those who propagandize, “mandate,” coerce with arrogant authority, who market in human trafficking by medical experimentation, and, who occupy an elected position but remain silently compliant. Justice is coming!

Here is another recycled historical fact. Listen to its echoes throughout the centuries:

• “Wheels of justice grind slow but grind fine” ― Sun Tzu
• “So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus” (Solomon, Ecclesiastes 8:10, The Bible).
• Euripides, one of the greatest tragic writers of ancient Greece (480-406 BC), “Slow but sure moves the might of the gods.”
• Plutarch said, “Thus, I do not see what use there is in those mills of the gods said to grind so late as to render punishment hard to be recognized, and to make wickedness fearless.”
• “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Perhaps most tragic is the lesson focusing on our Republic. We are ruled by those who have no regard for personal liberty. Who wield the powers of government in a vindictive manner. Who care little about the economic calamities that fuel starvation while they feast on “gourmet” foods, party-hardy and enjoy mansions. Who feign concern for the poor only to the extent where they can personally profit. Who make scurrilous criminal charges against political enemies. Who propagandize lies as “truth.”

Gone are the politicians who actually “serve” the citizenry. Present are those who “serve” themselves. You can observe the behavior and listen to the bitter words of these politicians. Such are well described as “lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power” (2 Timothy 3:2-5).

The tyranny of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette was answered by the guillotine. Destiny condemned the tyranny of Hitler, the elected members of the Reichstag congress, and the Secretaries of the Third Reich.
All politicians, who view themselves as the “Rulers” over the “Ruled,” will face the inescapable recycling “mill of Justice that grinds slowly, but grinds finely.” These will face a wrath from a righteous populace. That wrath is stoked by the politician’s evil deeds and just punishment will be meted by those who have been wronged!

This fate is recycled history. Politicians can claim “misrepresentation.” They can manipulate the thinking of the people by propaganda’s lies. They can shroud themselves in deniability. They can weaponize government resources to punish their critics. But, they will NOT escape! These will find themselves in the recycled garbage heap of civilization’s failed governing. No matter how important they think they are “they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus”!

To the current Congress of the United States of America…Will you learn and change your course in legislating the affairs of our nation so you will avoid the coming wrath of those you oppressed? Will you continue to view yourselves as the “Rulers” arrogantly tyrannizing those you view as “the Ruled”? Are you aware of the humiliating history that is chronicling your choice?


John L. Kachelman, Jr. is a Christian patriot, preacher, and missionary for Jesus Christ to foreign countries. He lives in Montgomery, AL.

John Kachelman, Jr.: The Reality and Requisite of a National Thanksgiving 4 (1)

by John Kachelman, Jr.

The fourth Thursday in November is my favorite day of the year. It is “Thanksgiving Day.” Ironically my favorite day of the year follows my least favorite day (Halloween). Thanksgiving Day celebrates the heartfelt and happy acknowledgment that the Almighty God has providentially blessed us. Halloween celebrates all that is evil, selfish and ungodly. These two calendar events frame the constant battle in civilization’s history. I prefer the celebration of good rather than the celebration of evil.

One has well asked, “Why is it that mankind chooses to celebrate thanksgiving to the Almighty only on one day, and focus on gripes, grumbles, and complaints the remaining 364 days?” The answer to this query is an indictment of society—mankind is more concerned with Self than with the Almighty God.

A celebration of Thanksgiving is a high-valued target in today’s ungodly society. Any action, celebration, moral compass, lifestyle choices, etc, that places the Judeo-Christian ethos as the governing parameters, is instantly damned in brutal verbiage. To acknowledge Thanksgiving is to acknowledge the Almighty God. In today’s culture God is not acknowledged—He is erased.

The practical consequence of erasing God is an embracing of socialism. Socialism advocates that the communal thought is the source of all power; the State is the ultimate arbitrator in even the most personal choices. One is thankful to the Sate because God is erased. Such an ungodly position ultimately leads to blind submission: “The State knows better how to spend the private citizen’s money than the private citizens.” Or, “The State knows better what your children need to learn.” Or, “The State knows better how to raise your children—it takes a village to raise a child because parents cannot raise their own children!” This is a power struggle—the power of evil seeks to erase the power of good.

However, there is a major problem in the socialistic erasure of the Almighty God. The prophet summarizes this issue as he describes the socio-religious conditions of his day, “There is oath-taking, denial, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore, the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the animals of the field and the birds of the sky, and even the fish of the sea disappear.” And what is the cause of this catastrophic environment. “For there is no faithfulness, nor loyalty, nor knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1-3).

Please do not miss the obvious truth! The failure to be thankful to the Almighty God impacts every aspect of man’s civilization and environment. Even the “ecosystem” is destroyed by the unthankful attitude toward the Almighty God! Do you want to cure the ecosystem’s disintegration (climate change or global warming or whatever it is termed today)? Then foster a thankful attitude toward the Almighty God. Do you want to cure the criminal cancers destroying civility? Then cultivate a knowledge that will cause you to be thankful to the Almighty God. Then cultivate a knowledge that leads to a thankful attitude. It is a simple fix. But this simple fix is fought “tooth-and-nail” by the unthankful heart.

The conscience and strength of our nation is being dismantled brick by brick. The deconstruction of our nation has already removed much of our heritage that made us a world power. The heroes have been painted as the villains and the personalities that have fueled hate and instigated anger are memorialized as “saints” and recently even as the Christ!

Reliance on God’s providence was a hallmark of the early colonists but is a never taught historical fact in our schools. God’s providence is a blasphemous belief according to our politically correct speech. God’s providence is a faded memory in the minds of older Americans. The Judeo-Christian foundation of our morality, governing, and freedoms are being attacked and removed piece by piece. We have lost so much of our national conscience that Hosea’s characterization of his society reads like today’s news briefs.

Our nation has long been in an ideological war. Many dismissed the surrender of freedoms and the encroaching governmental “mandates” as inconsequential. But, ideas have consequences. When ungodly, uncivil ideas are permitted unrestricted advocacy, they become a cancer that metastases and brings ruin to every part of society.

Our national day of “Thanksgiving” brings an uncomfortable focus to this war. Two striking points are considered as illustrative of those intent on dismantling our great Republic who attack Thanksgiving Day.
First there is an effort to rewrite history so the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving becomes a myth. Illustrating this are a number of articles from those claiming to have “discovered the truth” regarding the Thanksgiving Holiday celebrated in the USA.

Our educational centers are teaching the “inventing” of Thanksgiving. The holiday is purported to be founded upon a legend. Here is one of many such propaganda pieces deconstructing our national heritage, revising our history and contorting truth. All is an effort to erase the Almighty God and encourage the State’s surrender to socialism.

“The legend of the American Thanksgiving holiday is said to have been based on a feast of thanksgiving in the early days of the American colonies almost 400 years ago. The tale as it is told in grade schools is a legend, a mythologized version that downplays some of the bleaker history of how Thanksgiving became an American national holiday…The holiday continued…not with a feast and family, but rather with rowdy drunken men who went door to door begging for treats. That’s how many of the original American holidays were celebrated: Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Day, Washington’s birthday, the 4th of July…By the mid-18th century, the rowdy behavior had become a carnivalesque misrule that was closer to what we think of as Halloween or Mardi Gras today. An established mummer’s parade made up of cross-dressing men, known as the Fantasticals, began by the 1780s: it was considered a more acceptable behavior than the drunken rowdiness. It could be said that these two institutions are still part of Thanksgiving Day celebrations: rowdy men (Thanksgiving Day football games, established in 1876), and elaborate mummer parades (Macy’s Parade, established in 1924).”

In stark contrast to the idiocy of the revisionist’s attempts to rewrite facts regarding documented facts, we note this historical account: “In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies…In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers—an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith…Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from a member of the Abenaki tribe who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe…Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years…In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving.”

Much of what we know about what happened at the first Thanksgiving comes from Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow, who wrote: “Our harvest being gotten in…we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors…many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted…And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want.”

The second point focuses upon how the real Thanksgiving Day celebration demolishes the socialistic onslaught of our free entrepreneurial economy. This point is often eclipsed by the feast shared between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, but it should be strongly emphasized today.

The first Thanksgiving exposes socialism as bereft of any value culturally, morally, civically, economically, and religiously! Any way one looks at socialism it is worthless—except to the elite who become richer and more aloof!

Let me suggest that you read several articles published in Forbes Magazine by Jerry Bowyer. Bowyer’s discussion on the real significance of Thanksgiving is rarely heard. His opening sentences read: “It’s wrong to say that American was founded by capitalists. In fact, America was founded by socialists who had the humility to learn from their initial mistakes and embrace freedom.”

Bowyer, in another article, exposes the emptiness of socialism’s promises. Socialism never produces abundance, energy, expansion, and improvements. As Bowyer notes, “I explained that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of abundance after a period of socialism and starvation…Their Thanksgiving celebrated the triumph of the individual, private property, and incentive, over collectivism…For them, God, not Plato, knew best. Accepting the principles of private property and self-interest was God’s way of harnessing self-interest to the greater good. We know all of this because an elder and Governor of the Plymouth plantation, William Bradford, kept a journal and it survives today.”

I appreciate such insight!

Thanksgiving Day is exceptional in many ways but these two points add emphasis to the reality of such a day celebrated in history and its requisite to a national ideology that succeeds by a bold individualism and a contained and controlled central governing!

The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). Perhaps we should add the thought “and whose citizenry remains thankful for the divine blessings.” The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28 that if we honor and obey God, we will enjoy blessings. If a nation dishonors and disobeys Him, it will reap curses (as Hosea observed).

I well remember the truisms once stressed by our political leaders: “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” And, “Once a nation removes God from its conscience, it becomes a god-less nation.”

This is the reality and requisite of our Thanksgiving Day!


John Kachelman, Jr. is a Christian patriot, preacher, and missionary for Jesus Christ to foreign countries. He lives in Montgomery, AL.

Bill Lockwood: New Ways of Hearing the Holy Spirit? 4 (1)

by Bill Lockwood

Fox News ran an article recently by Christen Limbaugh Bloom about being “open to hearing from the Holy Spirit in new ways” (10-4-21). She speaks of “joining a church” that “prioritized being led by the Holy Spirit.” That new church had a woman “pastor” who declared that the Holy Spirit gave her a “vision” as a “message of encouragement to me.”

Bloom marveled that the “pastor” had not only received an “amazing spiritual gift” but had the “discernment to know it was actually an image from God and not just her own imagination.” Eager to learn more, Bloom asked the “pastor” days later how she too, could receive “this type of revelation from the Holy Spirit.”

The answer given was that her “desire to fully understand this type of experience was coming from a good place,” and that these “desires were born of the Holy Spirit.” The “pastor” related that her first instinct also had been to “question the images.” She did not know if they were from God or not. Maybe the “images” and “dreams” were her own creativity? She did not know until an older “pastor” assured her that she was on the right track.

At the end of the day, Bloom writes, faith must play a role in our ability to receive revelation from the Holy Spirit. In other words, there is no certainty here, but one has to believe these visions come from God. This is what “being open to hearing the Holy Spirit” means.

What shall we say to these things?

First, if this is the New Testament method of “receiving the Holy Spirit”, Christianity would never have seen the light of the second century. Everything above speaks purely of subjectivism. No knowledge that God is involved at all. The only thing we are left with is: “God gives good things”; these visions are good things; therefore they must be from God. Upon these grounds every religion, no matter how far-fetched, is valid.

The New Testament teaches us that even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). By what criterion does Bloom and her leaders know that Satan is not the one giving the “visions?”

Second, to underscore the subjective nature of what Bloom describes, note that these individuals had to ask others if this is from the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, the Spirit endorsed His message by “signs, wonder, and manifold powers, and gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Mark 16:17-20; Heb. 2:4). When Philip preached to the Samaritans, they believed because they saw the signs (miracles) that he did (Acts 8:6). What miraculous signs do these give that the Holy Spirit is actually involved? As good-hearted as Bloom and her mentors may be, they have nothing but their own unguided feelings to give them assurance.

Third, if the Holy Spirit is actually inspiring persons like this today, why the need to ask someone else about it? Is this the nature of inspiration that was given to the apostles? Is this how the New Testament was written? Did Paul need ask Peter if his own epistle was God-given or his “own imagination?” If so, how would Peter have answered? “I’m not sure Paul, but if you write good things they must be of the Holy Spirit.” Does this sound like an apostolic conversation?

If this is how one is to establish the truthfulness of Christianity, we are totally lost and Jesus Christ is ridiculed in the streets. But this is where “pop-Christianity” is today. Blind leading the blind. Little wonder we have need of real Bible teaching on the Holy Spirit.

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