For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12
This verse seems more relevant now than ever before. However, people have doubtlessly considered this exact thought many times in the past. Obviously, the believers of old were familiar with this verse, but so were the Protestants of 1517, the Jacobites of 1745, the Southerners of 1861, and countless other groups throughout the ages. This verse has always been relevant and always will be. But, there is a different angle to it now.
Something has made this verse more relevant and even more sinister. The direct translation of the phrase “spiritual wickedness” is the word πονηρια. This word literally means cunning, as defined by Kata Biblon. Read the verse again substituting the phrase “spiritual wickedness” for the word “cunning.” The verse seems to change its meaning. And, while the modern Church claims that this verse is speaking about the spirit world and the demons thereof, it neglects the fact that evil and cunning rulers are quickly morphing Christianity into a tool for their favor. It is more obvious now than ever before.
A few weeks ago, JD Greear, current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, took the stage before the Southern Baptist Executive Committee in Nashville, Tennessee, to address concerns among the Baptist community that Greear was too much of a believer in Critical Race Theory. The resulting statements make it clear that the SBC has more than enough πονηρια to alter the face of Christianity in the South. He pronounced the following:
We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color, the reality is that if we in the SBC had shown as much sorrow for the painful legacy that racism and discrimination has left in our country as we have passion to decry [critical race theory], we probably wouldn’t be in this mess.
The “mess” he is talking about is the declining popularity of the SBC among blacks. Greear and the leadership of the SBC care more about PR among blacks than they do about the people defined by the first word in their title, Southerners. But, black favor is not their end goal, not by a longshot. The end goal is the cunning weaponization of the Church, which is to be used against Southerners.
This is part of a long-standing trend of Christianity being the new face of the racial movement in America. From Martin Luther King’s use of Christianity to justify desegregation to Joel Osteen claiming George Floyd’s death “will not be in vain,” there is no shortage of evidence proving that modern Christianity has been used as the single most powerful tool for the destruction of this nation as we know it. But, how have we gotten here?
The answer is both simple and complicated. The Church has forgotten that the God of the New Testament is also the God of the Old Testament, and the Church body has become so impotent that they cannot read the Bible for themselves. As a result, Southerners mosey on into their local church on Sunday morning, having given the Bible little to no thought the week before, and are spoon fed the same softest parts of the New Testament again and again. When compared to the worldview of the Southerners of old, the modern Southern Christian is a spiritual manlet. They see their own religion as a chore and a weekly lesson on how to be a “good person.” Pastors, by and large, no longer bring fire and brimstone to their congregation, but instead provide their church with the never ending cope of, “Jesus loves you, it will all come together for good.”
However, Ephesians 6:13 tells us exactly what to do, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Christians, and quite specifically, the ‘neo-Confederates’ so despised by the SBC, should engage the Bible how it is supposed to be engaged: regularly and entirely.
We should delve into the Word on a daily basis and focus on all parts. We should find churches that delve into the grit of the Bible. And most of all, we should urge the men around us to do the same.
-By Jean Lafitte
O I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am. For this “fair land of freedom” I do not care at all. I’m glad I fit against it, I only wish we’d won, And I don’t want no pardon for anything I done.
You need to understand that this is a uniquely Western Christian problem with its root back to the Protestant reformation. There never should have been a Protestant reformation to begin with. It is the sole cause of the West becoming secularized and de-Christianized. I urge anyone to look to the Christian East for answers and to come home to the Orthodox church as it is the anchor of Christendom and the future.
The one potential problem with your analysis is the fact of the Great Schism. We can’t come home to the East, because of the simple fact that we are of the West. The Roman Catholics and the Eastern churches have been ignoring one another for too long, and both groups are currently having serious problems with progressivism in their ranks, both laity and clerics. One thing is demonstrably true at this late hour: Whoever you are, your group’s denominational distinctives will not protect it from the progressive virus.
I, like you, long for the day when our Lord’s prayer “let them be one” is true again. The first step toward that end is for all the faithful, in every sect, to acknowledge each other’s existence. I will freely acknowledge that it might be the case that the eastern bishops constitute the one true church. But you must also freely acknowledge that that fact alone, even if true, has not kept them spotless from the progressive creep.
And you should acknowledge that they have violated the Canon by permitting parishes under more than one bishop (ie different ethnic churches) in American cities. There should have been an “American orthodox church” expanding and soaking up the protestant masses by now, but due to pride, greed, and sloth, the eastern churches here are just ethnic enclaves. I love the Eastern liturgy and aesthetic. I visit the Eastern church, but I can’t live there. I am Anglo. I’ll never be at home in the East.
Nonsense.You have no idea what you are talking.Or maybe you just like propaganda.Martin Luther upended the corrupt pervert Catholic stranglehold on Christendom.God sent that great man to bring us the truth.I’m so sick of hearing about the Orthodox Church.And how is pointing out the sick,evil heresy of the Catholic Church “secularizing”or”de-Christianizing”the West?The Catholic Church was/is a control mechanism and its adherents drones.What caused the split with Catholics/Orthodox?Was it the big beards,the different taste in dresses the priests wear or maybe how many boyfriends each was allowed.Catholic/Orthodox is perfect for the racial misfits in Latin America,Italy or Slavland but we Nordic peoples don’t need a faggy priest as a go between with God,the Master Jesus died so we have a direct relationship.
That is ridiculous 😂 The Pope is a Marxist who just had a panel on critical race theory headed by Chelsea Clinton. The Orthodox Church is okay for now, but how long before they are just like all of the rest given time, effort and capital in subverting them. Just like decentralized government is the best chance to be free, decentralized Church is the best shot at not becoming systemically subverted.
There would be no SBC or all of the rest if we were not in Yankee chains, that has nothing to do with being a Baptist, in fact Protestant religion is the reason the South is known as the Bible belt and is the last stronghold of Christianity in America, not Orthodox or Catholic or anything else, Protestants made and kept the South Christian end of story.
Pro tip: If your “church” allows girls to attend wearing yoga pants, it’s already too late.
The point I was trying to make is that all denominations have a progressive majority and a faithful remnant, but everyone in the pew in a remnant church defines his own denomination the remnant, and the others by the majority. Thank you for illustrating my point.
Great article.I now call myself a C.S.A. Baptist.I’m done with those Jew worshipping anti-White agents of Hell itself.Christians are the Chosen people and Christ is the Master.As my old hero said”All you need are the Jesus keys and the White race”.I cannot improve on that.Perfect.The Heavenly Father is everything and I pray he will keep safe each and every one of you on this site.
It seems the nature of trials is to expose people for who they really are.
The Church in large part has succumbed to the same spiritual sickness that Paul confronted in the Corinthian church at the beginning.
2 Corinthians 11:19-20 For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
Pastors should be teaching their congregations the Word of God and the congregations should be doing the work of the ministry.
Ephesians 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
The work of the ministry is a lot about whistleblowing.
Ephesians 5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
The government then should come behind that to maybe slice off their little wicked heads.
Romans 13:4 for [governing authority from God] is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
And families should have more babies.
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Let each institution created by God fulfill its sacred duty!
Jesus sent them out two by two to teach such things. Who are you partnered with? Maybe that is why nothing gets done. Start with one to become two and then duplicate yourselves and we will fill the earth with this doctrine and these instructions in no time. Jesus did.
Orthodox Slumlord: The EO church in America behaves exactly like all the others when it comes to race. Your church was merciless towards White advocate Matthew Parrot and excommunicated him for the crime of daring to suggest that Whites have the same rights that blacks and jews have. Meanwhile, the EO leadership has no problem giving communion to her members who openly support abortion, faggotry, and even atheism. Rank-and-file EO laypeople supported antifa against Matt Parrot, a self-proclaimed satanist group. What are we to make of this?
I am not suggesting the claims the EO church makes regarding herself are wrong. I’m merely pointing out that White advocates have no advocacy or safe harbor in any American system. Not even the church will fight against evil.