Monday, March 30, 2020

Humility and Submission or Pride and Rebellion


Humility and Submission or Pride and Rebellion

I have read two books by Andrew Murray, Humility and Submission; the counter point of humility is pride and the counter point of submission is rebellion; both of which Andrew Murray called the root of all sin.

I see pride and rebellion as synonymous, if you are living one you will live the other. In today’s society pride is not necessarily wrong. We are told to be our own person, achieve our own dreams as long as they conform to today’s political correctness. Rebellion against moral standards is not wrong, it is encouraged as long as it conforms to today’s political correctness.

Lack of humility always leads to rebellion because pride tells us that we are right and everyone who does not agree is wrong; therefore we rebel against their standards and expectations. We can be led into rebellion without being prideful but if we come to believe in our rebellion we will become prideful against those who do not agree with our lack of moral standards and expectations.

Most people do not want to rebel against the moral standards that humanity has lived by for thousands of years; the moral standard GOD has given us in our heart and in The Bible. But, most people also want to be socially acceptable or politically correct; so they are led into rebellion. “Wide is the way that leads to destruction and many find it. Narrow is the way that leads to Eternal Life and few find it.”

Now they become confused about what is right and wrong and they tend to listen to the loudest yellers rather than the still small voice of GOD. They seek appeasement rather than GOD’s Righteousness.

JESUS said that even those who do the works of His Kingdom in the earth but have rebellion (He calls them lawless) in their heart will not enter into His Kingdom! JESUS said that no murderer, sexually immoral, liar, or hater will enter into His Eternal Kingdom.

Repent means to stop sinning (living according to our own standard) and live according to GOD’s. JESUS said that we are to “take up our cross daily and follow Him.”, that we are to “seek first the Kingdom of GOD and His Righteousness.” There is no place in GOD’s Eternal Kingdom for pride and rebellion only humility and submission.

Study Matthew chapters 5 – 7.


Sunday, March 29, 2020

Just As You Are!


Just As You Are!

I have heard and said, “GOD Loves you just as you are!” I understand the truth behind that but; I think it would be better to say to sinners, “GOD Loves you so much that He died for you!”

GOD Loves every person just as we are, He died for us knowing who we are; but who we are at the moment when we hear that is not who we are called to be. JESUS ministered to several with Love and Mercy but He told them to stop sinning which means to stop being a sinner. JESUS came as the Son of Man to overcome temptation and sin and then give His life as a sacrifice to take away our sin so that GOD will forgive us. Forgiveness is the beginning of no longer sinning. We are called to stop sinning so that we can start serving GOD’s Will.

Matthew 1:18-25, 3:4-12, 9:1-8, 28:16-20; Mark 1:1-8, 2:1-12, 3:22-30, 4:10-13, 16:14-18; Luke 1:67-79, 3:1-18, 5:17-26, 7:44-50, 24:44-49; John 1:1-37, 3:1-51, 5:1-16, 8:1-11; Acts 1:6-8, 2:37-39, 3:12-20, 5:29-32, 10:42-43, 13:32-41, 22:12-16, 26:12-18 and many more.

Remission = aphesis (af’-es-is) freedom; (figuratively) pardon:-deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, remission. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Repentance = metanoia met-an’-oy-ah (subject) compunction (for guilt, including reformation); by implication reversal (of [another’s] decision):-repentance. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Who You Are!


Who You Are!

“You don’t become what you want to be, you become what you are.” Matt Crouch 2020

From the movie ‘Along Came a Spider’ detective 1 to detective 2, “You do what you are.” Det. 2, “You mean you are what you do?” Det. 1, “No, I mean you do what you are, you’ve been given a gift. Without that you get good at something along the way and what you’re good at don’t take for granted, don’t betray it.” Det. 2, “What if you do, betray it?” Det. 1, “You betray yourself, it’s a sad thing.”

Who we are is determined by GOD in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139) and if we will yield our life to GOD we will be happy and fulfilled with who we are and what we do (Ecclesiastes 12:13). When we pursue what we want rather than what are we may be successful but we will not have pure joy because we are not doing GOD’s Will for us.

Friday, March 27, 2020

Can Pleasure and Pornography Improve Public Health by Edwin Benson


Can Pleasure and Pornography Improve Public Health?

“Public health” brings to mind preventing the flu or better dental hygiene. It often incorporates current events like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan or the ongoing controversy over “vaping.” That is not what you will find in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH).

The articles in this issue provide a glimpse of what AJPH’s healthcare professionals have in mind for the future of America’s children. It is a repulsive picture that does not promote healthy but that which is harmful to well-being of countless young people who will be influenced by public health decisions.
“Public health” brings to mind preventing the flu or better dental hygiene. It often incorporates current events like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan or the ongoing controversy over “vaping.” That is not what you will find in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH).

The articles in this issue provide a glimpse of what AJPH’s healthcare professionals have in mind for the future of America’s children. It is a repulsive picture that does not promote healthy but that which is harmful to well-being of countless young people who will be influenced by public health decisions.
The AJPH is discussing only one form of pleasure, as can be seen in the titles of the articles in this issue.
·         Pleasure and Sex Education: The Need for Broadening Both Content and Measurement
·         Should Public Health Professionals Consider Pornography a Public Health Crisis?
·         A Pornography Literacy Program for Adolescents
·         A Call for (Renewed) Commitment to Sexual Health, Sexual Rights, and Sexual Pleasure
How can the AJPH discuss ideas that are antithetic to public health in such a positive light?
Spirit of the Sixties
The roots of the AJPH’s position goes back to the “do your own thing” attitude of the late sixties and early seventies. Cohabitation gained social approval. Many people saw “trial marriages” as a way to test compatibility. Soon activity once been reserved for marriage became a recreational activity like any other.
During the sixties, pseudo-intellectuals argued that all morality was “personal,” and that standards of behavior were up to the individual. They repeated the phrases “You can’t legislate morality” and “I don’t care what you do in your bedroom” until the general public accepted them. That, in turn, gave rise to the superficial “Who am I to judge?” attitude that is so common today.
Underlying this attitude was an even more profound shift was at work. The worship of youth replaced respect for the experience of elders. A permissive culture sough to convince people to discard the Church’s moral system. In the process, moral protection for the young disappeared. Indeed, too many people old enough to know better looked enviously on their children’s immoral lives and imitated them. Divorce, adultery, abortion, and child abandonment proliferated.
The AJPH’s remedy for these ills is “Pornography Literacy.” They assert that such a program will “improve knowledge about sexually explicit media and sexual behavior, to increase attitudes consistent with valuing sexual consent and nonaggression in dating relationships… some adolescent knowledge, beliefs, and behavioral intentions will change.”

A Public Health Crisis
Pushing back against this attitude is the laudable stand taken by seventeen states since 2016 that pornography is a public health crisis. For the AJPH, a public health crisis requires three conditions. First, it must require immediate action. Second, it must cause serious harm like death, disease, and the displacement or destruction of property. Third, the capacity of “local systems” to meet the situation must be overwhelmed.
AJPH argues that pornography does not meet these criteria. “Should Public Health Professionals Consider Pornography a Public Health Crisis?” concludes, “Although research suggests that pornography use likely influences some people negatively, and it merits further research, pornography itself is not a crisis. The movement to declare pornography a public health crisis is rooted in an ideology that is antithetical to many core values of public health promotion and is a political stunt, not reflective of best available evidence.”

This statement reflects willful ignorance. Public health “professionals” won’t gather the data, but it is hard to refute that pornography is the introduction to sexual immorality. By turning women into objects, it kills the respect that God implants in men for women. Evidence of the damage to relationships is everywhere.
Egalitarianism
According to the AJPH, all forms of sexual activity are equal and desirable.
“A Call for (Renewed) Commitment to Sexual Health…” states their view explicitly. “We need to ensure in our own research, programming, service delivery, and activism in sexual health that we pay attention to pleasure and sexual rights for all people, including adolescents; sex workers; those living with HIV; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals; refugees or internally displaced persons; persons with disabilities; religious or ethnic minorities; or any combination thereof.”

This egalitarian attitude not only violates the tenets of the Church, but also the standards of every civilized society. Such cultures have followed natural law by preferring monogamous and fertile unions. Different tribes and nations tolerated other practices while forbidding others. However, no culture has ever accorded equality to the variety of acts suggested by the AJPH. Not only do the public health “experts” want to make them equal – they wish to accord “rights” to any sexual practice.
What is the AJPH Commitment?
The AJPH’s primary commitment is not to public health. Many of the acts promoted in these articles are intensely harmful, both mentally and physically. Even the most basic standard of public health would exclude prostitution (“sex workers’) and the potential of spreading HIV.
To these people, sexual pleasure comes before health. Their vocabulary may be scholarly, but the ideas promulgated by these so-called experts are radical and detrimental.
However, the harm is real. Both the organization and the journal present themselves as authoritative. As such, they can be cited by those in a position to do great harm to young people. Health teachers in Anytown, U.S.A. could institute their own “Pornography Literacy Programs.” After all, the public health intelligentsia has provided their stamp of approval.
This attitude infected your local schools years ago. It must be turned back. Children’s lives and morals are at stake.



This Is What Will Come After The Transgender Revolution By John Horvat II


This Is What Will Come After The Transgender Revolution

The Sexual Revolution must be understood as a process, or else it becomes incomprehensible. Those who promote it will never be satisfied with its present phase. They will always be pushing the envelope to the next new aberration. Few people ask, however, what the next new sexual frontier will be.
No one should be shocked at what will come next. Nothing should be ruled out. The only exception to this rule is a return to chastity and modesty. Such moral practices are deemed impossible to practice—even though they were observed for centuries during the times of Christian civilization.
How the Sexual Revolution Progresses
Two things are certain. There will be new behavior, and its introduction will be gradual. This revolution always progresses only to the extent that it finds acceptance by society. It thrives by wearing down the resistance of moral structures, habits and practices. It finally seeks to give each new phase the protection of the law.
When one aberration is accepted, everyone thinks there will be no further developments. However, this lie is soon unmasked when the next phase is proposed.
The Transgender Agenda—the Present Phase
Thus, the present phase of the Sexual Revolution is the transgender agenda—a step that was proposed immediately after the imposition of same-sex “marriage.”
The transgender agenda allows people of one sex to mutilate themselves surgically and chemically to appear like the other sex. It also permits people to self-identify as any number of imaginary “genders” that express their psychological state. Finally, transgender activists seek to get the government to recognize, finance and legally protect their declared state. It even threatens those who refuse to accept the charade with penalties.
As this transgender process advances, the natural question is: What comes after the transgender phase? One new practice on the horizon (not the only one), is legally protected sexual groupings.
Consensual Non-Monogamous Relationships 
Indeed, the American Psychological Association (APA) has just formed a task force to promote what it calls “consensual non-monogamy relationships” (CNM). The APA is also circulating a petition seeking to secure legally protected class status for individuals with multiple sex partners.

In its newly created Facebook page, the task force does not hide its agenda. It openly seeks to promote “awareness and inclusivity about consensual non-monogamy and diverse expressions of intimate relationships.” The post defines this to include “people who practice polyamory, open relationships, swinging, relationship anarchy and other types of ethical non-monogamous relationships.” The meaning is clear.
This next sexual frontier is not independent of the present LGBTQ+ efforts to gain acceptance. It is part of the same process. Thus, the APA’s division on sexual orientation and “gender diversity” directs the project. A team of more than 85 professionals is working on 12 initiatives. It will build upon it’s past “gender diversity” activism and extend its concepts to multi-personal sexual relationships that they hope will be legally validated.

Changing the Parameters of “Love”
“Finding love and/or sexual intimacy is a central part of most people’s life experience,” states the task force Facebook page. “However, the ability to engage in desired intimacy without social and medical stigmatization is not a liberty for all. This Task Force seeks to address the needs of people who practice consensual non-monogamy, including their intersecting marginalized identities.”
The nation’s premier association of psychologists is clearly setting policy, not treating illnesses.  Its goal of making any consensually non-monogamous relationships acceptable follows the same template as that used for the free love, homosexual and transgender phases of the Sexual Revolution.
In this case, the old binary way of looking at relationships in terms of couples is now outdated. Legal recognition is no longer sought between a man or woman or even a man and a man. Now it is between a man, a woman, another man and any number of others who want to be included.
Making Sexual Groupings Mainstream
The goal is clearly to make any sexual grouping mainstream. The task force will develop fact sheets, brochures, reading lists and therapy recommendations. It will treat what was once considered seriously disordered and sinful as a means of “finding love.”
The onus of wrong is shifted from those who participate in these relationships to those who are not inclusive enough to accept them.  The social stigma once attached to this sexual anarchy is now shifted to those who refuse to accept it as normal.
With consensual non-monogamous relationships being the next major step in the process, they pave the way for worse things.
The Road to Nihilism
This is sexual anarchy.
To understand the Sexual Revolution, one must see it as a process leading to anarchy and nihilism. Its revolutionaries will always be searching for ever more anarchical manifestations of sexuality. They will always give free rein to unbridled passions on the path to self-annihilation.  All taboos must be overturned. Everyone must accept all behaviors, which must be given protection of the law.
Thus, transgenderism and consensual non-monogamous relationships are only transitional phases. After them, there will be other moral aberrations to follow—incest, masochism, pedophilia perhaps or other practices that already exist in macabre subcultures on the dark side of sexuality.
The only effective way to fight against the Sexual Revolution is with Christian morality. Only the Church has the moral principles, practices and grace to overcome the depravity that can come from fallen nature. That is why the Culture War is so important and must never be abandoned.
As seen on CNS News.


Sunday, March 22, 2020

Trust In GOD! Catch Phrase or Life Style?


Trust In GOD! Catch Phrase or Life Style?

The Apostle Paul reminds us to, “Give thanks to GOD, who has given us the victory in CHRIST JESUS our LORD!” He also reminds us that, “GOD did not give us a spirit of fear, but of Power and of Love and of a sound mind!” 1 Corinthians 15:57 & 2 Timothy 1:7

So why are Christians and Church leaders giving into the fears of the world when it comes to the Corvid-19 or Coronavirus?

Those who want to destroy the world’s economy and individual national sovereignty so that they can set up their one world government are pushing the fear about this virus, they who created it and released it want us to believe that only they can save us if we just surrender all of our rights and let them decide everything for us.

If we believe in the One True GOD and JESUS CHRIST whom He sent to take away the sins of the world and Their SPIRIT who now lives in every person who believes in JESUS; then we have nothing to fear from the world, even death. There is nothing the world can do to take away our eternal life with JESUS and The Father! JESUS told us, “do not fear what men can do to you, rather fear Him who has the Power to destroy both body and soul in hell.” Peter said, “We must obey GOD rather than men.” Paul told us, “Therefore, my beloved, As you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is GOD who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Matthew 10:27-31; Luke 12:4-7; Acts 5:29; Philippians 2:12-13

There are many who do not believe in GOD and JESUS CHRIST who want the same things politically that Christians want in this natural life; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Wrong! What Christians should want is the life and liberty of doing the Father’s Will in the earth as it is in Heaven! We should be witnessing and ministering to both those who are like minded and those who oppose us, for this is the will of GOD. Matthew 6:9-10, 26:36-46; John 6:38-40, 10:17-18, 12:44-50

To do this requires more than believing in and loving GOD; it requires that we yield our life to JESUS, His SPIRIT and His Word, or as JESUS told us, “Take up your cross daily and follow Me!” “If you love Me you will keep My Commands.” Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:23, 14:27; John 14:15-24, 15:9-17

To do this requires us to know GOD, His Will, His Word, His Works as JESUS revealed and preformed them. King Solomon concluded that, “Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear GOD, and keep His Mitzvot (Commandment); this is what being human is all about. For GOD will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 CJB

The HOLY SPIRIT does this for us, JESUS said He would remind us of everything JESUS said and taught (John 16:5-15). JESUS also quoted David and the Prophets when He said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” 1 Samuel 15:22; Psalm 40:6-8, 51:17; Proverbs 15:8-9, 21:3; Isaiah 1:10-20; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 9:13, 12:7; Acts 5:29

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Is There A Conspiracy? By John Horvat II


From the Mail: Is There a Conspiracy?

I received an email with a very interesting question from a reader of Return to Order. It occurred to me that others might have similar questions. The question can be summed up like this: Have you seriously considered the possibility of a web of conspiracy behind our visible government that directs many of the financial dealings that give rise to big government and our economic crisis?

To answer the question, I would point out that the Return to Order does indeed speak briefly of this conspiracy by referring to the thesis of Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira who affirms that there is a Revolution that has long been active in all fields in Western civilization and which I apply to economy. I point out in the book that this thesis of a Revolution finds support from many historians and Leo XIII.

While the existence of such a conspiracy is acknowledged, I suppose the real question is not about this brief reference but why Return to Order does not spend a lot of time exposing those involved and denouncing their financial dealings? Why was this not a central focus?

As one who has studied modern economy since 1986, I started researching and could not help but find a vast amount of material on all the wheelings-and-dealings of prominent figures that have done much to destroy free markets and lead us to our economic crisis. The temptation was to denounce all these figures and the whole economic system in one fell swoop.

However, as I studied I saw that this would not work. The whole system was not at fault. I saw a huge sector governed by free market principles, which consists of the normal operation of millions of vibrant companies—small, large, and huge—that engage in healthy competition and amply supply goods and services to the nation. There was really nothing here to criticize since this led to normal business activities that promoted prosperity.

But as I studied, I started to see a second more unrestrained current that had a constant destabilizing effect on an economy. This current represented not so much a group of people but a psychological, cultural and moral phenomenon inside economy varying in intensity and scope. And what’s more, I started to find all sorts of economists and other authors that saw and commented on this current. And I thought to myself: This is where the problem is. Understand this phenomenon and you will understand the economic crisis.

Everyone talked about this problem but no one would give it a name. And so, there is a term coined in the book that describes this problem; it is called frenetic intemperance.

Frenetic intemperance is a reckless and restless spirit inside certain sectors of modern economy that leads us to throw off legitimate restraints, and gratify all desires. It creates an economy that is frenzied and out of balance. It creates a culture of instant gratification.

It was then that I perceived that denouncing a complex web of persons, institutions and events over a long period of time would involve volumes and would only tell us how the system went wrong. Denouncing frenetic intemperance tells why it went wrong.

And so I decided to focus on why our economic crisis happened rather than how it happened. That is the strategy found in Return to Order. I try to go straight to the cause since we then have the elements to understand the crisis and do something about it.

In other words, it is much more important to find out what enables these financial machinations to happen than to detail the actual dealings themselves. The fact is that conspiracies don’t just happen. They usually channel some kind of bad tendency or trend inside society and guide it to their goals. If this bad tendency does not exist, they cannot carry out their designs. By denouncing frenetic intemperance, we could so to speak deprive the car of its gasoline.

I do not deny the need or importance of those authors that do show how the economy went wrong and name those responsible. These studies definitely have their role. However, if we denounce the figures that orchestrated our economic crisis without ridding ourselves of the frenetic intemperance that generated it, we cannot prevent another crisis and similar figures from reoccurring. We must address the central issue.

Thus, Return to Order goes straight to the source. In face of frenetic intemperance, it proposes an organic Christian society with a corresponding temperance. It describes those institutions of family, community and faith that normally serve to temper the disordered passions that fuel frenetic intemperance and destroy free markets.