I believe in a Triune God comprised of the Father, the Son – Jesus Christ – and the Holy Spirit. The elements of God are omniscient and omnipresent. He is absolute power. Having manifested Himself as a man, our God, who already knows all, walked amongst His creation. He suffered human indignities, ordinary pains, hunger, and thirst. Ultimately, He suffered death – once a finite experience in the human condition. Of course, through His resurrection and ascension, Jesus Christ brought to us the gift of everlasting life and eventual paradise, by embracing the Salvation only He provides. John 3:16 is the foundational statement in this new relationship between God and mankind: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Consequently, those who believe in Christ are immortal. Christians cannot be killed.
That is a big and profound statement. Of course, the physical body of a Christian can be killed. But the true Christian should not fear death. Our European ancestors believed so deeply in an immortal future with God, that they raised the most powerful and fearless armies in the world. Men charged at Hattin, Waterloo, Gettysburg, the Argonne Forest, and Okinawa knowing their fate was in the hands of a power that would either call them home early or return them home to raise future Christians. So great was their faith, that death was never something to be feared. A fear of death is a disease that has spread throughout Christianity. Jesus Christ was killed and rose from the dead, killing any need for such a fear by those who truly believe in Him. Yet, here we are.
To be certain, some men have always feared death – even Christians. But the recent phenomenon of fear is something new. It manifested strongest in the so-called Covid Pandemic, whereby a paralyzing fear gripped significant populations around the world. For those who do not know Christ, that makes sense. If you are the leader of a Muslim, Hindu, or atheistic state, it is probably best for your people to prolong their entry to Hell by means of lockdowns and masks. Staying alive is their best option short of conversion. Christians who were fearful of Covid, however, must have their faith questioned. Whereas no one wanted to be the cause of grandpa’s premature demise due to risky exposure, basic precautions proved sufficient. Yet, they were not sufficient for many. Nowhere was this most pronounced as that which we saw from leftist “Christian” religious leaders.
To begin, leftists lack Jesus Christ. One cannot be a leftist and a Christian. These are antithetical concepts. No leftist will enter the Gates of Heaven. That stated, their irrational fear about Covid, as well as other potentially deadly or harmful actions is proof of their lack of faith. The actions of leftists are a repudiation of Christ’s resurrection and His message.
Most leftists love the false belief that Jesus Christ was a socialist hippy. Leftist so-called “Christian” leaders will advertise their tolerance of sinful behavior – such as rainbow flags outside of their churches – in a misguided attempt to equate the forgiveness of Christ as a tolerance of sin. They will point toward the compassion Jesus showed an adulteress who was nearly stoned to death by a mob maintaining Biblical Law. Compassion, however, is not the same as tolerance, and therein lies the greatest of leftist attempts to co-opt Christianity. In the same chapter by which Jesus says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” (John 8:7) is followed a few short verses later with a message to the adulteress, “go and sin no more.” (John 8:11). The fact is, in their celebration of sin, the Left cedes the Christian faith to Christian conservatives. In their gut, they know this. A simple reading of the Bible confirms their fundamental flaws. Subconsciously or consciously, leftist “Christians” know they are teaching false doctrines that betray God Himself and will consequently result in their eternal damnation.
True Christians, the ones who will not go to Hell, know Jesus Christ was not a socialist hippy. Jesus Christ was the personification of a compassionate God. There is a difference. Our God is capable of beautiful and wonderful things. Our God is also capable of fierce wrath. Embracing Jesus Christ’s Salvation does not protect someone from God’s wrath. In fact, I would say it does the opposite. Having been reborn in the blood of Jesus, God’s expectations of you are greater. He will guide you, the Christian, because in you is both the Spirit and the Word. You are a living example. Act foolishly or in a way that harms the Word, and like any good Father, He will not spare the rod. By His correction, God is exhibiting compassion. Christians should not fear death, because they will enjoy the rewards of the resurrection. However, Christians should have a healthy respect, if not fear, of God and His capacity to correct.
We are bound to disappoint God. He already knows you will fail. What God seeks are remorse and contrition because they are key elements in future behavior. That is why leftist “Christians” are worse than pagans or animists. Their promotion of the continuation of sin is a betrayal of God’s Word. Worse, their misuse of Scripture flaunts perversion toward the Holy Spirit, because Scripture is intended to manifest the Spirit within the Christian or potential convert as a means to expand the body of the Christian Church, not for the justification of ungodly acts. Every leftist “Christian” is essentially blaspheming the Holy Spirit through corrosive actions – manipulation of Scripture to enjoy sin – undermining the influence of the Spirit Himself.
“Who are you to judge?” is their most frequent line when placating the whims of the sinful. It is fallacious on its face and demonic in origin. For those who say such things, my retort is simple: I am not here to judge, the Word of God as written in the Holy Bible is the law upon which your acts are to be measured; I am merely here to be the physical expression of God’s anger when you do wrong – because I am a Christian and my faith compels me to seek out demons and expunge them and their actions. You are obligated as a Christian to be the hand of God’s wrath when He compels you.
In its totality, there is a measure of actions that are required of the Christian by God, because a Christian must not betray the impulses that drive him to eradicate sin wherever he sees it. Will he succeed? No. Sin will remain until the very end. The Christian will sin, as well. That is a fact. The difference between the Christian and the reprobate who sins are twofold: (1) his sincere regret and (2) his desire not to do the sinful act again. Whereas I firmly believe that our Salvation can only be found in Christ Jesus, I also believe works are a manifestation of the truth of one’s faith. If you refuse to correct sinful behavior or stand against it, are you truly a Christian? Unlikely.
The promise of Easter is that Jesus conquered death. Christians cannot be killed. We will live eternally because we embrace God’s Salvation. That was manifested at the point of the Resurrection. However, if you fear death or the temporal consequences of dismantling sinful behavior, can you truly trust that you are Saved? Of course not. Christians cannot be killed, but they can be held accountable – by a loving God who gave Himself at Calvary as the Son. All Christians should act as though our Father is watching us and we do not want to disappoint Him.
This year, commit yourselves to Christian behaviors, actions, and the Word. Do not fear death. Do not fear mortal discomfort. Fear disappointing a Father who loved you so much that He gave His Son to you as the final sacrifice for sin. Fear the correcting hand of God. Do not fear leftists who will eventually burn in Hell for eternity. Unlike you, they are temporary.
The Christian soul is eternal through Christ Jesus. Happy Easter
The son of a recent Irish immigrant and another with roots to Virginia since 1670. I love both my Irish and Southern Nations with a passion. Florida will always be my country. Dissident support here: Padraig Martin is Dixie on the Rocks (buymeacoffee.com)
That last paragraph, a wise summation. Our ancestors knew these things, lived this way, and we will recapture that boldness.
Deo Vindice!
Fear. Using it defames the entire purpose of The Christ.
So, why stop with John 3:16 (one of my favorite verses)? What happens when one also includes John 3:17?
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
For most of Christendom, this verse is ignored or minimized and replaced by what a believer does.
For extra consideration:
Who comes down from heaven and gives Life to the world. (John 6:33)
The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. (Luke 9:56)
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. (John 12:32)
As you have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given Him. (John 17:2)
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. (John 3:35)
God, Who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds. (Hebrews 1:1,2)
His purpose is very clear: to reconcile all things back to His Father. (Col. 1:16-20)
To me, when we relate our ‘destination’ to what we do, we thwart what He did.
Happy Easter!
To BeulahMan – “His purpose is very clear: to reconcile all things back to His Father. (Col. 1:16-20)”
– But only if a man accepts that the Son as, Jesus Christ, died his deserved death. Only if we die in Christ, can we live in Christ. And to die in Christ means that we must fear to carry on living outside of Christ – i.e. to carry on living selfishly, self-centred not God-centred, idolatrously. Any Christian who seriously tries to follow Christ knows how often he fails, how many temptations lie in wait, how weak he is spiritually speaking. One reason we are not immediately translated to heaven upon conversion, is because God uses this life to train us for heaven. As Padraig says above :
“Christians cannot be killed, but they can be held accountable – by a loving God who gave Himself at Calvary as the Son. All Christians should act as though our Father is watching us and we do not want to disappoint Him.”
So yes, we should fear displeasing God. The reason the modern Church is in such a mess, is because this is mostly forgotten by modern preachers.
What about John 3:17? –
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
When the Son of God entered this world at Bethlehem over 2000 years ago, the World had already been condemned. It had been condemned to suffer sin and death when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. At Christ’s Second Coming, that judgement will be confirmed. God sent his Son, not to rescind that judgement, but to provide salvation from it for those who admit their guilt, and accept his death in their stead and his gift of life. Accepting his gift of life means living like him, accepting his holy standards in place of our sinful standards. Which is not to claim that we easily succeed at this. That is what his training is all about – getting us there gradually. But unless we FEAR failing him, we soon fall away from him.
I think Padraig Martin has got it exactly right. Great article.
A good litmus test as to whether someone is an actual Christian is whether they have a daily prayer regiment.
These “Jesus was actually a socialist hippie, maaan!” people, I imagine, do not do as such. Thus, their “theism” or “religiosity” basically just amounts to an a purely intellectual belief in a higher power, most likely one akin to the “watchmaker analogy” for intelligent design.
There is good reason why all esoteric schools of thought and practice (I.E., askesis) that I’m aware of, whether Oriental or Western, even Kabballah, classify intellectual intelligence as the lowest form of intelligence. The bodily intelligence of the acrobat, the social intelligence of the socialite or salesman or PUA (attracting women is really just a non-monetary form of salesmanship), the instinctual intelligence of the barn cat, etc.
All of those are superior to the intellectual intelligence of the dweebazoid or nerd. For an example of the latter, think the Redditor archetype. He may be a chemical engineer during his day job, which certainly requires a lot of a *certain kind* of intelligence, but he is not a whole and complete person in any kind of sense that would be recognized by Tradition