Hosken-News Blog

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Is Reality Really Real, or Is It All in Your Head?

Is reality really real? Did Einstein really say that, or is it just another manufactured misquotation? As my latest social media posts indicate, we live in an age in which people believe they can create their own reality simply by imagining it, and then everyone else must recognize that this fantasy is real. Human beings have sex - male or female, but inanimate objects have gender in many languages. A car is feminine in Russian, but neuter in German. Light is masculine in Russian, but neuter in German. But in English, according to Newspeak, a boy or girl can be masculine, feminine, or neither! In Iceland, the news media proudly proclaimed that Down syndrome has been eradicated, but in reality, they just "terminated" (killed) the unborn babies with Down syndrome.

Quoting from George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-four, Part One, toward the end of Chapter 7: "In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?"

It continues: "And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s centre." The Main-Stream Media bombard us from every side that biological facts don't matter - only what you self-identify as (that is, whatever you imagine) is really real; that people who believe in divine order and who love their country are the same as club-wielding Nazi nutcases, thus fit only to be beaten into submission by the Antifa storm-troopers, browbeaten by the MSM and legally compelled by the political elite; forced to think that the duly-elected conservative leaders are somehow embroiled in a vast conspiracy with Russia to do something or other - it's never explained what "it" is because that would reveal the absurdity of the whole thing: in reality the whole "conspiracy with Russia" thing is simply guilt projection on the part of the MSM and political elite.

George Orwell goes on to describe the hero Winston's affair with young Julia, another Party member who's a secret rebel like Winston. But here he gets his future prediction totally wrong and completely reversed, portraying the Big Brother government as anti-sex and their rebellion as throwing off state-sponsored sexual inhibitions. Perhaps that was true when Orwell wrote his book in the 1940s but in today's reality the MSM and political elite advocate discarding "old-fashioned" sexual inhibitions that are a remnant of our fading Judeo-Christian culture.

In Rod Dreher's recent blog Cheap Sex = Dying Christianity he explains how the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s in the U.S. has normalized fornication, abortion, illegitimate children, adultery, divorce, and now homosexual and lesbian "marriage." The culture has become so neo-pagan that the pressure on Christians, especially our children and young adults, entices them to indulge in cheap sex. This, in turn, drives them away from traditional Christian morality and from the Church. It's no wonder that 60% or more of young adults raised in traditional Christian families abandon the faith.

"The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don't hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves. ...Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (Isaiah 3:9 & 5:20-21).

Orwell invented the term "Doublespeak" to indicate how authorities can manipulate the language in order to equivocate about morality and cause us to think evil is good and good is evil. A prime example of this is in "The American Medical Association vs. Human Nature," an article describing the AMA's equivocation regarding medical ethics. The AMA’s latest Code of Medical Ethics lacks any explanation of the moral principles that provide a foundation for medical ethics. Nowhere in this Code of Ethics does it define human nature or what constitutes a human being. That is apparently left up to popular culture to decide:

"While it enumerates a short list of 'Principles of Medical Ethics,' these are primarily statements of professional hygiene (e.g., physicians should provide competent care, uphold standards of professionalism, respect the law, etc.). The only telling revelation appears in the document’s preamble, which defines medical ethics as also encompassing 'matters of social policy.' This is our first clue that the AMA’s code of ethics is something other than a search for universal and immutable moral truths."

It states: "The conflict regarding research with embryonic stem cells centers on the moral status of embryos, a question that divides ethical opinion and that cannot be resolved by medical science." So rather than getting involved in messy metaphysical definitions of what exactly human nature is or if and when an embryo is or becomes human, it simply punts. But the scientific fact known to all medical doctors is that an embryo is a separate, full, complete human being. It is not just a "growth of tissue" or a "lump of cells" - but contradicting our sex-crazed popular culture is too difficult for these medical "experts" who are moral midgets.

Then comes the equivocation (high-sounding lie): "Embryonic stem cell research does not violate the ethical standards of the profession." Right after saying that medical science cannot determine the moral status of embyros, it states that it has determined that killing these embryos isn't a violation of ethical standards. Isn't that calling evil good and good evil, saying white is black and black is white? "This bewildering display of ethical doublespeak is offered without explanation." Welcome to Orwell's 1984!

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics goes on to say: "Because of the potential for abuse, genetic manipulation of non-disease traits or the eugenic development of offspring may never be justifiable" [article author's emphasis]. The key word here is "may" - maybe or maybe not? This is what I call a "definite maybe" or a "qualified absolute" statement - is it really never justifiable, or is it only sometimes never justifiable? Again, we see another example of multi-syllable, high-sounding nonsensical doublespeak.

Eugenics is the genetically planned breeding designed to produce superior human beings. It is the same policy as practiced during Hitler's Third Reich, in which "inferior" ethnic groups and medical categories of human beings were systematically exterminated by gas chambers and firing squads. But today it's not so obviously violent: the "inferior" babies are killed in the womb or in the test tube.

Now we come to the other end of human life span: the question arises of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The AMA Code states that these acts are "fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks." But again it doesn't tell us why: what it is about human nature that makes this "fundamentally incompatible" if killing embryos "may" be justified, why not at the other end of life?

The article continues: "The AMA is reportedly reviewing its longstanding opposition to physician-assisted suicide at this time and considering whether to adopt a 'neutral' stance, which, in effect, would be tantamount to tacit consent." In other words, it's a bait-and-switch: "Rest assured, we're going to take good care of you" (until you're too weak or senile to resist, then we'll change our mind, just be sure you've placed your living will in our files).

Christians, it's high time that we all get involved in these political, ethical, moral and medical issues! The high tide is coming, and if we don't take action, we will be swept away in the storm! Don't just "think about it" - what will you DO about it?

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 09 Sep. 2017.)

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Saturday, August 26, 2017

Keep On Asking, Seeking, and Knocking!

ask, seek and knock The Lord Jesus Christ, in His "Sermon on the Mount," said - "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking, receives. Everyone who keeps on seeking, finds. And to everyone who keeps on knocking, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8). The more common English translation of "Ask.. seek... and knock" doesn't fully convey the continuing tense of these verbs, but the original Greek and the Russian versions indicate continual and repeated action.

Today a good friend posted this story on the Internet of how a young monk visited a very old monk to ask how and even why the older man had kept going through all his many years and as many trials.

In reply the older monk told this enigmatic story.

A dog saw a rabbit and began to chase it, and the rabbit ran. At the end of the street another dog joined in the chase and then a couple of strays joined the two. Before long nine or ten dogs were barking, yelping and running as fast as they could. By the time the streets turned into countryside most of the dogs in the town, of all sizes and colours, dozens in fact were in hot pursuit. Yet, after a couple of fields, three hedges and a stream and as the forest grew nearer, only the first dog was still running.

And that was the answer the old monk gave.

Silence followed until the young monk said he didn't understand, so the elder repeated the story word for word for a second and then for a third time. At this point, faced with perplexity on the face of youth he revealed the key to the riddle saying, "Only the first dog actually saw the rabbit." A few moments later both men smiled as light visibly dawned inside the younger man.

Have you "seen the rabbit?" Do you fervently hope and pray and expect to catch it some day? Or are you only "running with the pack?"

How easy it is to say - "I'll pray about it" ...but nothing happens. That's not what Christ told us to do. He said - "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for." You've doubtless watched a little child beg and beg and beg his mom or dad for something over and over again, right? Christ wants us to be persistent like that little child.

It doesn't stop there: "Keep on seeking, and you will find." Children aged zero through five are the most curious... then they go to school where they're taught to conform. The former brightest among them often become bored, lethargic, uninterested. I've noticed how often in our prayers the phrases "deliver us from lethargy" and "waken us from heavy sleep of indolence" appear.

It's so easy as we grow older to fall into the same old ruts, to go about each day on autopilot, almost half-asleep. Where's that childlike curiousity, seeking to understand the world around us and the meaning of life, asking "Why?" and not putting up with the "Just because!" or "It simply happened!" answers? "Seek and keep on seeking!" If you keep seeking, you might just rediscover that lost curiousity of your youth! Keep on looking for answers to the problems facing you. As Churchill said, "Never give up! Never, never, never give up!"

And lastly, "Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." I recently read about a young man who grew up poor, but by age 22 he deposited his first check for $100,000 in the bank. He had started a business repairing electric signs on other businesses by driving around at night looking for burned-out signs. He asked one company owner if he could repair his sign, and the man said that two other well-known repairmen had tried and given up.

But this young upstart gave it a try, checked all the switches, ballasts, and bulbs... nothing wrong. Then he happened to test a piece of wire that looked perfectly good - no kinks or broken insulation - and Presto! There was the bad circuit. The young fellow won a $250,000 contract to upgrade all the signeage for this multi-state business, then he went on to win another $250,000 contract from the same business.

Have you knocked at a few doors asking for a better job, and then given up, settling for that same-old, same-old boring job? As you might know, I'm in my 75th year of life, and I do volunteer work helping inner-city people set goals, write a cover letter, list of references, and a resume, then train them how to apply online for jobs. In the last few weeks I added an 8-hour/day temp job called "Get-A-Job" -- you can see it here on the middle of the page.

It's one sheet of paper printed on both sides. It has 20 blanks on each side showing date of contact, employer and phone, job application (y/n), resume (y/n), follow-up date, and result. I tell them, "Now you have an 8-hour/day temp job called 'Get-A-Job' - your job now is to apply online for 1 job every hour, 8 hours per day, and I can virtually guarantee that if you apply for 40 jobs in 5 days using this sheet of paper, you'll get a real, paying job in no time!"

I know it's scary, knocking on doors and being told "No!" time after time. I've had to do it many times before: I've had various sales jobs and learned that for about every 10 "No's" there will be a "Yes!" And I've been jobless too, with a family to feed: I applied for job after job, then finally got a job to support my family. The system works if you work the system!

Has the Lord Jesus Christ given you a vision to accomplish something seemingly impossible? If so, have you kept on seeking for ways to accomplish it? Have you kept on knocking on doors... openings... opportunities that will let you move ahead with that God-given vision? Or have you tried just a thing or two, then given up? Has your "get up and go" gotten up and went? Keep on knocking! Perhaps, just maybe, that next door will open with a "Yes!"

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking, receives. Everyone who keeps on seeking, finds. And to everyone who keeps on knocking, the door will be opened."

Sunday, August 13, 2017

The Mythical, Imaginary "They"

Like so many other mythical creatures such as unicorns, jackelopes, fairies and gnomes, the mythical, imaginary "They" persistently keeps popping up in popular political mythology: "They" should provide free medical care for the poor; "They" ought to give pensions to the elderly; "They" should provide free college education for everyone; "They" ought to build and staff hospices for the dying... the list could go on and on. I've heard these myths over and over during our 17 years in Russia and now I'm hearing almost identical myths in America.

As I've written in my "Daily News & Views," seven percent of American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, twenty percent of American high school graduates don't know how to make toast, and one-third of British high school graduates don't know how to boil an egg. This is the new "virtual reality."

People today have been raised in an environment so removed from basic physical reality that they think the mythical "Others" or "They" can and should magically provide all their needs, wants and wishes. Certainly, we don't need to know every detail of how an economy functions, but we ought to have a grasp on basic facts such as all cows give white milk and water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) with or without eggs.

As the article Religion and Politics at the Dinner Table: Challenging the Old Maxim explains, "family members bear natural affection toward each other" - or at least they should - and thus they bear responsibility to care for the young, the infirm and the elderly in the family circle.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy - "But if anyone doesn’t provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. ...If any man or woman who believes has widows, let them relieve them, and don’t let the church be burdened; that it might relieve those who are widows indeed" (1 Tim. 5:8 & 16). The context is about how the church should care for widows in their midst, but the primary responsibility lies with the immediate family.

The Church Fathers Chrysostom, Theodore, and Theodoret wrote that "Special care is to be given to the supervision of the work of widows in the church. It is important to distinguish those widows who deserve appropriate support from those who do not and to monitor the widows who are being supported, lest their time turn to idleness and mischief. The true widow is chaste and patient, and if she is without children, she deserves the church’s support" (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture).

Note how St. Paul and these Church Fathers emphasize the need for the local church to monitor the behavior of widows. St. Paul wrote that younger widows should get married and bear children: "So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander" (verse 14).

Instead, what we have is "They," the modern secular welfare state, even giving young women financial incentives to not get married, to bear children out of wedlock. The article Why Are So Many Millennials Having Children Out of Wedlock? states - "57 percent of parents ages 26 to 31 were having kids outside of marriage."

Why has this happened? It's not simply due to income inequality, as the article implies. That's a result, not the cause of the problem. Rather, it's because Christians have not taken a firm stand in the public square on social matters; instead, we've allowed the state to pay unwed mothers to have babies. Children born out of wedlock have a very difficult life ahead of them. Morality in sexual conduct isn't a "private matter," it has a direct effect on society at large, on the economy, and on our taxes.

Not only are babies increasingly being born out of wedlock, fewer and fewer babies are being born. The post-war "baby boomers" born from 1945 to 1960 - seventy million Americans - are now reaching retirement age, and there are not enough young adults paying into the Social Security fund to support them. These 70,000,000 retirees also are no longer investing money in private retirement plans but instead taking their money out, while those same fewer young adults are putting less money into private retirement plans. This means less money for investment in the economy... thus a shrinking economy.

When the socialist notion takes root in our thinking that the mythical, imaginary "They," the state, will take care of us from the cradle to the grave, this begins to weaken the above Christian teaching about the immediate family's responsibility to take care of each other. Adult children begin to think that if they live far away from their parents or if they simply don't want to, they don't need to look after their elderly parents. We've witnessed first-hand in Russia how a divorced adult son beat up and forced his widowed and disabled mother out of her apartment so that he could live there with his girlfriend. Similar things are happening here too.

The answer to these problems isn't to simply continue singing our hymns and listening to warm-fuzzy pablum-sermons in church while we stick our heads in the sand and ignore society as it crumbles around us. The answer is to preach and practice the Scriptural texts on social responsibilities and sexual conduct, as well as to boldly express these teachings in the public square. We not only have the right to freely express our religious beliefs, as the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states, but also a civic duty to do so.

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 13 Aug. 2017.)

Saturday, July 22, 2017

The Incarnation Leads to Ministry

The natural and logical result of the Incarnation leads to ministry to the Christian community of faith, as well as to the larger community of the secular society in which we live. And true Christian ministry to the community is based on the agape-love of God toward us, which we then demonstrate toward one another.

There are many "one anothers" in the Bible: "love one another," "forgive one another," "care for one another," "bear one another's burdens." All these point to the fact that when "the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us," when God took on our broken human nature, He restored the broken relationships, the exploitive ways we manipulate each other.

A serious problem developed in Old Testament Israel: the Lord had commanded them to never charge interest from a fellow Jew but they often broke that command, resulting in deep indebtedness and slavery. This form of exploitation was to be eliminated in the New Community, the Christian Church. And Christians should not borrow money: "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8). How often do today's Christians break this command?

In the New Community, the Church, the Levitical priesthood was eliminated. In the Old Testament and in Christ's time on earth, the priesthood had become a way to exploit and control Jewish society. How often did Jesus excoriate the priests, scribes, and Pharisees! But in the Church we are all "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). When a believer is baptized and chrismated into the Church, that person is also tonsured as a priest.

Of course, there are different gifts: some are called to be bishops, evangelists, pastors, or teachers - "to equip the saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature, perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-13). The goal for all Christians - not just the clergy or a few saints - is to reflect the fullness of Christ's glory.

The Incarnation of Christ led Him to "empty Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8-9). Christ's servant-nature is an example for us: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (verse 5).

We have freedom in Christ, being freed from our selfish sinful nature, but freedom doesn't mean we can do whatever we want: "For you, brothers, were called to freedom. Only don't use your freedom as an excuse to gratify the flesh, but serve one another through love" (Galatians 5:13).

The Greek word for "ministry" in the New Testament is "diakonia" - it also means service or serving. A good expression of this is "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). This doesn't mean, however, that some people should just lean back and let others carry the load: "But let each man test his own work, and then he will take pride in himself and not in his neighbor. For each man will bear his own burden" (verses 4-5).

St. Paul wrote - "But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we charged you; that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing" (1 Thes. 4:10b-12).

Also, "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: 'If anyone will not work, neither let him eat.' For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don't work at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (2 Thes. 3:10-12). Those who refuse to work, St. Paul says, are rebelling against God's established order of things. If they needlessly rely on "charity" they are in effect stealing someone else's bread.

The classic passage some Christians quote against works is - "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). But from the context, it should be clear that St. Paul is referring to the ritual works of the Mosaic Law.

Some Christians, though, conveniently leave out the very next verse - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them" (verse 10). In the same letter, St. Paul goes on to write - "Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need" (Ephesians 4:28).

God is not an arbitrary tyrant, choosing some to be saved no matter what they do, and others to be damned in spite of their being good people. He is a loving God Who rewards good and punishes evil - "For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). If there is no free will to choose good or evil, then there is no moral responsibility for sin and no reward for being good. God Incarnate, Christ the Living Word, calls us to live responsibly, to love our fellow believers, and to serve one another in love.

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 22 Jul. 2017.)

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Faith, Family, and Freedom

in Rod Dreher's recent article "How To Get More People To Church," he deals with the complex issues of faith, family, and freedom: how can we best pass on our faith to our family - our children, while at the same time respecting their increasing freedom as they grow up?

Dreher list eleven points with a paragraph or two on each point, and at the end, he quotes Robert Louis Wilkins as follows:

"If Christian culture is to be renewed, habits are more vital than revivals, rituals more edifying than spiritual highs, the Creed more penetrating than theological insight, and the celebration of saints’ days more uplifting than the observance of Mother’s Day. There is great wisdom in the maligned phrase ex opere operato, the effect is in the doing. Intention is like a reed blowing in the wind. It is the doing that counts, and if we do something for God, in the doing God does something for us."

Below are the 11 points, and if you're interested enough, you can read the whole article!

Accept that there’s no such thing as a foolproof program for this.
Don’t outsource your kids' religious education.
Practice your religion yourself.
The life of faith is 80 percent formation, 20 percent information.
Don’t shy away from the big questions.
Encourage a sense of wonder.
Help them to see the universality and the historic dimension of the Church.
Beauty and Goodness are greatly undervalued as witnesses and teachers.
Practice little rituals of forgiveness.
It's not up to you, ultimately, but to God and to your child.
Be the Church, not the World.

It's hard on parents (and grandparents) to watch their children (and grandchildren) grow up, because by nature we're protective of our offspring. We don't want to see any harm come to them. We pray and pray and pray for their safety and purity. And yet, we know that in order for them to grow up, we need to let them jump out of the nest and fly on their own. It's a dangerous world out there, outside the nest. Hawks and eagles snatch up little critters for a snack.

And back to the human analogy, when we're young we think that we're invincible, that nothing bad is going to happen to us because so far nothing bad has happened (because our parents have been looking out for us). So we tend to do "stupid stuff" thinking nothing bad will happen. I lifted big rocks - actually small boulders - while building a rock wall for our garden. I didn't see any sign saying -

"The Law of Gravity Is
Strictly Enforced Here!"

After a week or so of lifting big rocks, CRACK! I ruptured two disks in my lower spine. What I thought was saving $100 or so by not hiring a guy with a garden tractor or small bulldozer, ended up costing over $55,000 for back surgery. Yes, when we're young, we do "stupid stuff"! Now I do job counseling with young people at an inner-city mission. Several of them have done "stupid stuff" - committed petty crimes - so they have a record that will likely stay with them all their lives, just like I have two steel rods in my back and pain that will hang around for the rest of my life.

The risk of doing "stupid stuff" is part of growing up. It's called freedom. We must allow our children, grandchildren, and dear friends (my "clients" often become dear friends after I spend several counseling sessions with them) to make their own decisions. If they've done "stupid stuff," their options may be somewhat limited, but that doesn't mean they have no future ahead of them.

I once attended a conference where the speaker was a man who was in a car accident on the way to his wedding rehearsal. It left him a quadriplegic: paralyzed from the waist down. As he was sitting in his wheelchair up on the stage, unable to move his arms or legs, he said - "Before my accident, the whole world lay before me. There were probably 15,000 different careers I could choose from. Now there are only 10,000 careers I can choose." The audience cheered and applauded!

So don't ever think that if you've done "stupid stuff" you're all washed up, you'll never amount to anything. Remember the story of Joseph in the Old Testament? His older brothers sold him into slavery. While he was a slave in Egypt, his master's wife falsely accused him of attempted rape because he refused her trying to seduce him, so his master had him thrown into prison. But from prison, he became the top minister of all Egypt!

After his brothers (those jerks who had sold him into slavery) came to Egypt begging for food because back home there was a famine, Joseph said - "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore don't be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." (Genesis 50:20-21)

So his father, his brothers, their families and servants all came down to Egypt where there was plenty of food. They were saved from starvation! But after 400 years in Egypt, a new dynasty of pharaohs arose who enslaved all the Hebrews. They had to break out of this situation. Often in our lives, whether we had a good upbringing or not, we get into harmful habit patterns - overeating, smoking, drinking, doing drugs, sexual addiction, etc. - things that can destroy us, our families, and society around us. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul was recalling the falling back into slavery when he wrote -

The latest snare that the enemy of our souls, Satan, is setting for young people is the LGBTQ form of sexual addiction. Satan's siren song goes something like this: "You were simply born this way!" NOT TRUE! In the vast majority of cases, it's social conditioning (indoctrination in the media, our schools and universities) that causes young people to choose the gay path: only a fraction of one percent of the population are born with indeterminate sex.

Or the Devil whispers: "Whatever goes on between two consenting adults is nobody else's business!" Or: "What matters most is social justice; personal morality is a matter of one's free choice!" But social justice requires a society, so if one chooses the LGBTQ path, there'll be no society left - sex is intended for producing the next generation of society, but same-sex acts simply don't reproduce.

Or Satan's stupidest snare is this: "Come on! Everybody's doing it!" As my father-in-law used to tell his children, "If all your friends were walking off a cliff, would you do it too?" Millions of people have already died of HIV-AIDS: don't be the next one! The Apostle Paul wrote -

"Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. 'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful for me,' but I will not be dominated by anything. 'Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,' but God will destroy both it and them. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power." (1 Corinthians 6:9-14)

As Christians, we are called to be citizens of the Kingdom of God, not deceived into following the crowd. Just because something is lawful doesn't mean it's helpful: Getting drunk and smoking are legal, but everyone should know by now that they're harmful to our bodies. Sexual promiscuity now is legal, but the consequences for our bodies, for our families, and for society can be disastrous: think "Ebola" and "AIDS." People say - "If it tastes or feels good, do it!" But your belly or your bottom isn't where your brain is located - use your brain! God's goal for us is to resurrect and restore us into the glorious likeness of Christ's risen and glorified body. St. Paul continues -

"Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or don't you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)

True freedom is only found in Christ: "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

Also, St. Paul wrote - "What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! Don't you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness." (Romans 6:15-18)

Choose Faith, Family, and Freedom!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 09 Jul. 2017.)

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Mill's Religion of Liberalism

In Samuel Gregg's recent article "John Stuart Mill’s Intolerant Faith and the Religion of Liberalism" published on the Witherspoon Institute's website, we read and begin to understand what really lies behind most of the ideology of what is called "Liberalism" today.

When we think of "Liberalism," we likely most often have in mind the ideas of "liberty and justice for all," the freedom to express and live according to one's beliefs or worldview, and to grant others this same freedom as long as they respect our rights to live according to our beliefs. This may have been what the Founding Fathers of the U.S. had in mind. But the ideas that drive society can change. One hundred years after the founding of the U.S., the idea of "Liberalism" had taken on a new meaning, thanks largely to the writings of John Stuart Mills.

Mills had in mind the reshaping of the Western notions of God and morality. The above article mentions Cambridge historian Maurice Cowling's 1963 book Mill and Liberalism, which calls John Stuart Mills' "Liberalism" a form of "moral totalitarianism." In that book, "Cowling challenged the widespread view of John Stuart Mill as the secular saint of tolerance. According to Cowling, Mill’s liberalism constituted nothing less than an alternative religion: one that turns out to be a rather fideistic faith that demands submission from nonbelievers." So today, as the above article states -

"Mill, I suspect, would be gratified at just how many Christians and Jews have embraced that same liberal faith over the past 150 years. For them, feelings are the measure of morality. That is consistent with liberal religion’s view of God as the indulgent Great Non-Judge: except, of course, with regard to questions such as the environment or supranational bureaucracies. On such subjects, the otherwise soft-spirited Deity and his followers brook little dissent, prudential or otherwise."

The article continues - "It was the French philosopher Auguste Comte who proposed a 'Religion of Humanity' as a full-blown successor to supernatural religion. Mill’s writings mention Comte extensively. In his Autobiography (1873), however, Mill describes Comte’s scheme as 'the completest system of spiritual and temporal despotism which ever yet emanated from a human brain, unless possibly that of Ignatius Loyola'." So here we have the modern Liberals' hero, John Stuart Mills, advocating a "spiritual and temporal despotism" akin to that of Ignatius Loyola!

Under the guise of what one hundred years earlier had been understood as "Liberalism" or "liberty and justice for all," Mills had smuggled in the ideas of a "liberal" pseudo-clergy that would strictly enforce his "Religion of Humanity" that he believed was "a better religion than any of those which are ordinarily called by that title."

So there you have it: modern "Liberalism" according to one of its leading thinkers is actually a "Religion of Humanity" that should be enforced by a "spiritual and temporal despotism" - an earthly, worldly clerisy that brooks no dissent to its belief system. The Liberal worldview is thus closely aligned with Marxism in its approach to promulgating its ideas by "the barrel of a gun," as Chairman Mao said.

Mills viewed Christ as merely "a great man." This is quite similar to the Arian heresy's notion of Jesus Christ as a very good man who was indwelt sometime later in life by a spirit from God. This also explains why modern Liberalism is supportive of Islam and Muslim immigration, because Islam is a form of Arianism, teaching that Jesus was a great prophet and a godly man, but not the Son of God. Modern man, according to Mills, has outgrown such old-fashioned ideas.

As the Apostle John wrote - "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn't have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. Therefore, as for you, let that remain in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father." (1 John 2:22-24) The article continues -

"In other words, thanks to modern science, most smart people no longer believe Christianity’s claims. The insinuation is that only less intelligent or unenlightened beings could cling to an obsolescent belief system. Hence, we need to 'move on.' This amounts to what the philosopher Thomas Pink calls the 'Whig theology of secularization as spiritually progressive.'"

Under the banner of "modern, progressive thinking," the new secular-humanist Liberalism rejects the old idea of the Incarnation, God taking on human nature in Jesus Christ, so that we could "become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) and become united with Christ's divine-human nature. As the Apostle John wrote further -

"Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already." (1 John 4:1-3)

The deeper, hidden ideas behind Liberalism, according to Mills, are the eradication of historical Christian teachings -

"In correspondence with Comte, Mill stated that "The time has not yet come when we in England shall be able to direct open attacks on theology, including Christian theology, without compromising our cause.' But 'indirectly,' he says in another letter to Comte, 'one may strike any blow one wishes at religious beliefs.' That way, he tells Comte, you avoid frightening off 'the young' 'who would eventually become accustomed to all [positivism’s] consequences, including the antireligious ones.'"

God is greater than humanist-secularist Liberalism, science, technology, artificial intelligence - even Google maps, self-driving cars and IBM's Watson. We must not cower in fear of a Liberal onslaught against our faith - "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18a) and "Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5) Let us believe and publicly confess our faith that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 25 Jun. 2017.)

Sunday, June 11, 2017

The Sin of Partiality

True faith does not practice discrimination. Some of the most intractable problems in the Christian Church are in the way rich Christians treat poor Christians and the poor in general. St. John Chrysostom wrote - "To show contempt for the poor is as much an infraction of the law as murder or adultery, and it is even more serious because it is so common. Christians must learn to fight against the temptations of worldly wealth and concentrate instead on the heavenly blessings, which are the only true riches. Both rich and poor are all of one body in Christ. Those who base their lives on greed are the poorest of all."

The Apostle John wrote down Christ's words - "To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: 'The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things: I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.'" (Rev. 2:8-10)

But St. John also recorded these words of Christ - "To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: 'The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;' and don’t know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see."'" (Rev. 3:14-18)

How easy it is for rich people - including some Christians - to think, "I'm rich, I have plenty of money and possessions to meet my needs, now I can relax and enjoy life. But I'd better ignore and stay away from those poor Christians, though, because they're always asking for money, trying to get their hands on my money!" This is the mindset of the Laodicean Christians, of whom Christ said - "because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth."

Practicing discrimination or partiality on the basis of wealth or poverty (or ethnicity or gender) alone is wrong, but we ought rather look for the reasons for wealth and poverty. Some have acquired wealth by hard work and use that wealth for the Lord's work. Others acquired wealth simply by inheritance or good luck and spend that wealth on themselves. The Apostle Paul instructed his disciple Timothy about the proper attitude toward wealth, about people who misuse both religion and wealth -

"...people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these let us be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. ...As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." (1 Tim. 6:5-10 & 17-19)

Some are poor because of a crisis - drought, illness or economic collapse, or because of a birth defect - mental or physical. They deserve help to recover from such a condition if at all possible. But others are poor because of unwillingness to work or desire to get rich quick by deceitful means, to whom St. Paul writes -

"Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. ...Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." (Eph. 4:22-25 & 28)

There are some who become poor due to a temporary illness, but then they become accustomed to not working and continue to live off charity from others. To them the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (probably St. Paul) instructs them to discipline themselves and get the rehabilitation they need to get back to normal life -

"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed." (Heb. 12:11-13)

I write this because there's a great tendency for some people to try to "live off the system" by pretending to be sick or disabled. The problem with this is: if people act like they are disabled or chronically sick in order to gain sympathy or get some benefits, sooner or later they will become the role they are playing. You've probably heard of actors who are called on repeatedly to play the role of a tough guy or a villain. After a few movies in such roles, they're "typecast" - that's the way people begin to relate to such actors, and that's the kind of persons they become. I've witnessed several people who because of a temporary injury apply for permanent disability income. But after they receive the status of "disabled," they grow fat and lazy, physically unable to work. It takes much self-discipline and encouragement from others o break out of this lifestyle.

As I quoted in my most recent essay, St. Paul urged Christians "to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own business, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." (1 Thes. 4:11-12) And later, St. Paul wrote another letter to that same church in Thessalonica -

"For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but are busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good." (2 Thes. 3:7-13)

So in conclusion, it's wrong to practice discrimination or partiality on the basis of wealth or poverty alone, but instead we ought to examine the causes and the motives of such conditions. Only then should we offer loving advice and encouragement.

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 11 Jun. 2017.)