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THE REWARD OF HEAVEN [Part 2]

The NT states it is impossible to gain heaven through our own efforts, but the Lord Jesus certainly gained heaven through His efforts—and also for potentially everyone.

He left heaven for our sakes with every intention of going back. However, the only way He could ever return is if He successfully completed His mission. (Keep this in mind regarding your own mission.)

What most Christians do not realize is that the Lord put absolutely everything on the line when He became one of us. He knew the only way to defeat the devil and death itself was to live a perfect human life without ever making a single miscue or misstep. If He committed only one sin He would have failed His mission completely, regardless of everything else He accomplished, and could no longer be the sinless Sacrifice Lamb of God. That would mean no one would be saved. It would mean every human being that had ever lived would be barred from heaven and end up in the dreaded default destination.

It would also mean the Lord Himself would never have a savior since He is the only possible Savior. And that would mean He would never return to heaven.

I know this may sound like sheer speculation of the off the charts variety, but it is actually sound from a New Testament perspective. It dovetails with what the Lord taught. It is not His fault that His authentic teachings have been so watered down and transformed over the centuries that most Christians think the real appears foreign while the gospel they are familiar with, whichever one of the many faux gospels it may be, looks correct and acceptable.

Additionally, some or quite possibly most Christians may believe it was impossible for the Lord Jesus to sin which renders what I’m stating here to be an essentially specious argument. In reality, however, if such a thing was true, how does one explain His extreme suffering, the great strength and determination He put into successfully overcoming temptation, the necessity of His initial forty day fast and who knows how many multitudinous fasts He endured throughout His ministry? How would one explain the exceptional discipline in His life and the same discipline required for every believer in order to be spiritually effective? And how would one explain this:

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. [Hebrews 4:15]

It should be obvious, therefore, that the enemy knew exactly what everything hinged upon regarding God’s plan for salvation and is why the enemy focused so much effort on attempting to get the Lord to succumb to temptation and commit sin. It is true, of course, that the Lord overcame every effort against Him but is also true that it often took everything He had to do so and was very difficult. It was high level spiritual warfare. And in war there is always the possibility of defeat.

Now that we have established the proper perspective we should understand how difficult the Lord’s mission was. Nevertheless, it appears as though most Christians do not understand this and thus take heaven for granted. It is also likely that those Christians with such an attitude also take their own walk with God for granted as if the requirements are not all that demanding. This is likely due in part to the preponderance of fake ministers of the Gospel preaching other gospels containing false doctrines that not only do not tell the Gospel truth but also fail to illustrate the actual supreme difficulty of the Lord’s mission and all it entailed. Those who engage in this dishonorable travesty and all those who follow them have decided on taking another way which, not surprisingly, is relatively simple and easy, instead of the Way. And the people overcome by such a deception likely never realize they failed a temptation test somewhere along the way and as a result will never find their way to heaven. Their only reward is thus in the present.

THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD

This parable is an excellent discourse explaining the truth of how to get to heaven. The Lord Jesus makes all the pertinent points in that regard and answers every question. He also does it using relatively easy to understand language and general terms familiar to his audience which are fundamental components of parabolic teaching. Nevertheless, as in all His parables, understanding them meant one must possess “ears to hear” and “eyes to see.”

The Lord begins by speaking of the evil ones who refuse to acknowledge the only Door and attempt to find another way into His sheepfold. Sound familiar? He then explains how the actual process works:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.

“But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. [John 10:1-6]

Okay, we have a picture of the sheepfold. In the Lord’s time such folds or pens were usually created with stone walls which were just high enough to do the job. They were likely created in relatively crude but sturdy fashion using the ready rocks of the field. For greater protection and also requiring less material they were sometimes (or oftentimes) created when available against natural walls such as the edges of hills or rises or against cliffs. The shepherd would construct such pens to keep his sheep in for the night. If the fold was semi-permanent he would make one opening (a door) using stacked rocks or possibly one fashioned from wood. It was clearly important to make the enclosure safe and secure, primarily from predators.

Regarding the entry, the Lord taught that the shepherd always entered by the door. He stated that anyone trying to enter the fold any other way was a thief and a robber, meaning they had sinister intentions. He thus gives us the first clue at the very beginning regarding those to watch out for and how to identify them.

The sheep were generally penned up into the fold in the evenings. Such sheepfolds were usually created with minimum space requirements which resulted in somewhat cramped conditions. In the morning among the hustle of the sheep longing to get out and into the pastures the doorkeeper would begin taking down the rocks comprising the door. In their hurry to leave the somewhat impatient sheep would assist in this process by pressing against the egress and assist in knocking down the loose rocks on their way out finishing the opening and following their shepherd into the liberty of the free-range grazing fields.

In the next passage the Lord Jesus identifies Himself as the only Door. Additionally, He states His great love for His sheep and defines this love as that in which He is willing to give His life and due to which the sheep feel secure and protected. He also again teaches about the enemy who merely masquerades as the shepherd but is only a hired hand. Sound familiar?

So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” [John 10:7-18] [1]

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Tags: Discipleship, Heaven, Hired Hands, Lord Jesus, Parables, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation in Jesus, Sin, Spiritual Warfare, The Door of the Sheep, The Good Shepherd, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

THE LORD JESUS DEMANDS TOTAL ALLEGIANCE: WHAT THIS MEANS FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN

Nov 17

Posted by RJ Dawson

The original NT definition has been blurred and undermined by centuries of erroneous Christian teachings, easy believism, and errant agendas.

ALL OR NOTHING

This is what He actually taught. This is what He demanded of His disciples. It was the only way His ministry could possibly work. It is in part why so many original followers turned away from Him. He kept speaking of the great demands their discipleship would require. He kept attempting to teach the deeper and greater truths they must learn but they were finding these difficult to comprehend. He also kept coming up with “hard sayings” that some couldn’t handle or understand, and which caused not a few to develop a problem with Him. Such pure teachings also served to weed out the pretenders, the half-hearted, and the rebellious—those which Christianity later became saturated with, which includes these present times, of course, as the clueless faux bros comprise the majority.

Unreal Christianity thus, by refusing to grant Him full fidelity, instead mocks the Lord and makes a mockery of His work. The Christians involved possess no true allegiance to the One they profess to follow. They may talk the talk but refuse to walk the walk and cannot be counted on. Their leaders expose themselves as mere men for hire (hirelings) in that they never or rarely work without a paycheck.

“WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING?” [LUKE 22:46]

“Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.” [Ephesians 5:14]

Though easy Christianity is more comfortable and acceptable it is also spiritually ineffective (understatement alert). That’s the tradeoff. Its lack of salt and light makes it wholly unproductive and largely fruitless in a fallen world growing darker and more sinful every day. In fact, the slow dissolution of American Christianity over the last quarter century into its current backslid, sinful, deceived, and wholly weakened condition is largely the reason the America that once was is now dead and no longer in need of restoration but resurrection. The majority of American Christianity remains locked in a deep sleep and shows no signs whatsoever of waking up. I have been preaching the WAKE UP sermon here on this site for twelve and a half years and the only change I have seen regarding the trending majority is deeper sleep.

Now, the Lord God was certainly successful early on in rousing a few and then later quite a few more though the percentage remains woefully low. This means many Christians have awakened and are doing their best to awaken others. Yet there are likely more awake non-Christians than awake Christians but that is certainly okay. Both are doing great work.

Nevertheless, the effect of the Christian deep sleep has been disastrous for the country. We are now in the exponential rise phase in which the enemy has accelerated his evil and is getting away with massive crimes with no remedy and corruption has run amok. America has suffered a spiritual coup d’état and those who wrested control are purposefully running the place into the ground. It is the end effect of serving mammon and not God. And to add to all of the above, real Christians not only continue being persecuted by the usual suspects but these now include, strangely enough, the deep-sleeping Christians, many of which act like the proverbial small child refusing to rise from slumber and get out of bed in the morning, even turning against those trying to rouse them.

WEIGHTY WITNESS

On the other hand, those Christians who are awake who go all out in service to the Lord make their presence felt. Others feel their weight. There’s something going on with them that causes sinners to feel uncomfortable in their presence. However, sinners searching for truth and trying to escape sin bondage are alerted by their presence in a positive way and see such people as a hopeful answer and seek them out. It is why transformed sinners so love the Lord and His real people. They get it. They know what it’s like to be under sin’s spell and delivered from it and will never go back. It is also why the relatively few dedicated disciples the Lord ended up with in the beginning transformed their world. Even the devil was afraid of them because he knew those people had the power and presence of God! This was their witness, the only real witness. It was all or nothing. It was total dedication or forget it. They were simple people, nothing special, just like you or I, yet their testimony was undeniable—they walked with God.

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.”

And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” [Acts 4:13-20]

This was their profound and powerful effect on a sinful world but also upon a deceptive autocratic bad-natured contrary monetarily-rich religious authority construct that had much to do with the world, the flesh, and the devil but nothing whatsoever to do with God. You will know them by their fruits. It is the same with every manifestation of Unreal Christianity. You see, it was because the world was so far from God that He needed those willing early disciples to push hard and far with all their might in the opposite direction to get as many people in the world back on course, saved, and close to God. In this process false religion would have to be overcome, defeated, and hopefully destroyed so people under its influence could be free and no longer subjected to its evil wiles.

It is why the Lord Jesus, with this in mind, throughout His 3½ year ministry, had to put so much work and wisdom into: Selecting potential disciples, instructing them, guiding them, and developing them with the intention of bringing them to full maturity. The crowning finishing touch was their profound Upper Room experience at Pentecost when they gained the indwelling spiritual power necessary for their walk and work for the Lord. Otherwise such disciples would never have been able to perform His will for the great task at hand. They would never have been able to win spiritual battles. In essence, without such strong dedication they would have been spiritually worthless and would never have been able to operate as the Lord did. The devil would have held them in derision as spiritual sissies instead of shaking in his shoes at their presence. They would have otherwise appeared as the majority of Christians in our era who cannot fight their way out of a wet paper bag and are just fine with such a sorry set-up.

Whether these mile-wide and inch-deep Christians know it or not, their pathetic “Christian” lifestyle has made real Christians appear as something strange and foreign that must be mocked and rejected even by them. They treat allegiance to the Lord (the Man who gave His life for them) in the same manner in that any low level of partial commitment is perfectly okay and acceptable. Hence, they justify their anti-discipleship and deny their potential strength as not only unworkable but something to be shunned. They believe such real discipleship is humanly impossible with far too high a cost.

Those who actually did it then and do it now would beg to differ, however. These decided the great spiritual results were definitely worth the high cost. The originals, against great odds, proved what was possible. They showed every succeeding generation how it was done. This spiritual ability and what they accomplished did not end with that first generation but continued on with each succeeding generation. The road certainly got tougher, however, especially with the great rise of fake Christianity which joined and then surpassed unbelieving Jews as the chief persecutors of real Christians. That most Christians refused to enter and partake of the Lord’s actual kingdom in this world had no bearing on the relative few who did and succeeded.

Again, the Early Church suffered the same egregious treatment as those persecuted by the later fake Christians because their total obedience to the Lord appeared to those without as something strange and untoward even though it brought great spiritual benefits and freed hundreds of thousands from bondage to sin. Those who thought them strange were the actual strange ones in that they put personal comfort and social status above spiritual effectiveness. Their place in the new universal fake Christian religion was much more important in their eyes and the last thing such pretenders wanted was for people to think they were part of a strange minority caste of religious misfits who took God far too seriously.

ALLEGIANCE IN ACTION

The discipleship the Lord instituted, then, demanded that a believer honor their Master exclusively and totally. This is how it was done with itinerant rabbis of that time anyway, in that their students pledged themselves to their leader in order to gain the requisite teaching and wisdom desired for their schooling. Do we not see the same approach in our traditional teacher-student relationship? If a student fails to honor the teacher and believe what he or she is teaching then the construct will fail and knowledge will not be disseminated. This means that any doubt of the process including doubt regarding the teacher’s character, intentions, and material will cause a failure of the process but especially a failure of the student’s development which will not bode well for the student’s future.

This is why the Lord Jesus was so demanding of His disciple’s recognition of His standing—of His place of eminence as their sole Teacher and Shepherd—and of His disciple’s attitude in not only honoring Him but also properly respecting their spiritual vocation in order to excel toward their own proficiency and spiritual effectiveness. In this way, as He did, they could also be effective in making and developing disciples in the future. In other words, great teachers make great students who become great teachers (who make great students who make great teachers…)

So we see why the Lord demanded that one follow Him completely and sincerely or not at all. He would rather have three thoroughly dedicated disciples obeying Him and fully applying His teachings than three hundred or three thousand or three hundred thousand who fall short of this standard. Sadly, the vast majority of Christians in the world over the last two thousand years, especially at present, have always appropriated the latter underachieving class who fail to properly honor the Lord and His clear standard. This intransigence, laziness, compromising attitude, and ignorance of the Lord’s teachings, though primarily their refusal to honor Him as they should, has likely resulted in a much bigger mess in the world than if they had never become Christians to begin with.

For example, what good does it do to obey the Golden Rule only in part? What value is there in treating others the way we want to be treated in only a selective manner? How beneficial can it actually be if we only love the Lord Jesus short of 100% or become believers according to our own terms rather than His? How can one’s relationship with Him be viable if one refuses to give Him all of one’s heart or decline to have one’s heart fully circumcised? Is He not worthy? Is He not the Teacher? He is not the Shepherd? Is He not God?

PROVING A CHRISTIAN’S ALLEGIANCE

The following Scriptural passages reveal the actual truth of the Lord’s teachings and commands regarding our allegiance to Him. Remember, during His time here the Lord Jesus was a man’s Man with a powerful presence and bearing and not the false depiction we so often see of a long-haired hippie spouting fake peace and love with flowers in his hair. One can rest assured that those who initially put forth this false image in the distant past did so in an effort to denigrate Him while exalting themselves.

In reality, the Lord was a Carpenter and Builder engaging in hard manual labor every day until He was thirty years old in a rough environment with no modern conveniences or power tools. He was physically ripped, bronzed by the sun, and weathered by the elements. Many of the disciples He initially chose were also like Him in this regard. They were extremely tough men used to battling the physical world and the Lord then used their strong abilities and character for spiritual ministry purposes which also made great demands upon a man. In this they were perfect for the work they were called to do. They ended up performing admirably and put the devil on the run. None of it was possible, however, without full allegiance toward their ultra-worthy Lord and Master who set the precedent and showed them the way. May we all learn from His example and obey Him as follows:

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” [Matthew 10:37-39]

“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” [Matthew 12:30]

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…” [John 10:27]

“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” [John 12:26]

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” [John 14:15]

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” [John 14:21]

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” [John 15:4-5][1]

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Tags: America, American Christianity, Called Chosen and Faithful, Christian Persecution, Christian Pharisees, Dedication, Discipleship, Early Church, False Doctrine, Hired Hands, Lord Jesus, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Pentecost, Peter and John, Political Corruption, Power To Be Anointed Witnesses, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Maturity, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

CHURCHES ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS THE ONES IN CHARGE

Mar 17

Posted by RJ Dawson

And the vast majority of church leaders refuse to allow the Lord Jesus to be in charge, the only one who should be.

OBEY THEM THAT HAVE THE RULE OVER YOU

I have specified this header as a perfect example of a bad KJV translation pushing the highly authoritative theme within it. It is from Hebrews 13:17. Church leaders in general have traditionally used this verse and others like it as a control mechanism and even a hammer to bash over the heads of their congregants to force them to surrender wholesale to their Rule. And they are not shy in using the term Rule. They want everyone to know they Rule. The only way this could be true, however, is if they stole the rule of the Lord Jesus since they are not operating according to His instructions.

Here is the KJV version:

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. [KJV]

Even the NASB95, however, which is a far better translation, and interestingly does not contain the word “rule,” fails to get the true nuance of the writer’s intention:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. [NASB95]

Here is a slightly better translation with greater explanation from the Classic Amplified:

Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you], for they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare, as men who will have to render an account [of their trust]. [Do your part to] let them do this with gladness and not with sighing and groaning, for that would not be profitable to you [either]. [AMPC]

The word “obey” is from the Greek πείθω peithō. Here is the Strong’s definition: a primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy, to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively, to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty):—agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) confident, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.

From this we clearly gather that the writer of Hebrews was not instructing his readers to obey rulers. Here again is the authoritative bias in the KJV presenting itself, making the religious ecclesiastics which ruled the Church of England 400 years ago essentially the same as the English king. I can assure you that those Christian Pharisees in general were not serving the Lord Jesus, something that should be obvious. Therefore, we must not do as they say, or even their demands as inflected incorrectly by their hand upon Holy Writ, but do what the Lord Jesus says.

WE ARE TO OBEY FIRST AND ALWAYS THE LORD JESUS. This has never been optional. To that end, according to the spirit of what was written in the verse, a disciple willingly submits to spiritually mature Christian elders who obey the Lord Jesus in order to develop as good disciples. There is nothing about rule in this passage. It is instead a picture of the Lord’s people working in concert with Him and one another in love, harmony, and conciliation to be the best disciple in His service one can be and thus create the best and most effective spiritual Community.

Since He never created denominations our effort should be on joining and supporting His Church, the only one that exists and in which He is King and sole authority.

THOSE WHO RULE

Anyone who does even a modicum of research into historical traditional Christian leadership cannot help but notice that it is always top-heavy, largely unresponsive, and rarely in compliance with the Lord’s full teachings. The reason is otherwise obvious in that those who wrest control always apply their own stamp upon whatever they are in charge of whether they may be “good intentioned” or not. This makes it their own enterprise over which they rule. The rule of the Lord is subverted. Most church leaders thus always obey their denomination’s dictates and their congregation’s religious prejudices. To do otherwise is career suicide.

Keep in mind that many if not most non-denominational and independent churches also have their own respective doctrines that parallel those of the denominations their leaders are most familiar with or privy to, or from which they have come or in which they were raised. They do not necessarily advertise this, however, which can be deceptive. Others are aligned with denominations but often keep their fellowship connections under the radar. They have their reasons.

The majority of Christians are apparently unaware of such connections and may not understand that their church leaders are not working for them but for higher powers. These can be placed in only two general categories. One regards doctrine. The other regards money. Church leaders (pastor’s, ministers, priests, etc.) must obey these two. They must obey their doctrinal overlords and make sure they get the doctrine right including all distinctions thereof. Each denomination has their own divergent set of doctrinal bylaws, the “What We Believe” component or their “Statement of Faith.” These always vary. Thus, to be a minister within denomination 1, one better make sure he never preaches the doctrine of denomination 2 and vice versa. Denomination 2 does not pay him. He only gets a paycheck from the overlords of denomination 1. Therefore, such ministers must obey their benefactors.

They must also obey the constituents of the denomination. Of course, some denominations get cute by referring to their distinct denomination not by that term but as some other innocuous term such as “fellowship” or “communion.” But such names do not matter except as a surface feel-good diversionary tactic. The reality is that Christian denominations remain distinct because the big boys in control demand that all its lower prelates preach and teach only what they allow. Those who fully obey those who crack the whip are then compensated financially. This is how it has always worked and the only way it can work. Thus, such “ministers” do not work for the Lord Jesus as they claim. They ultimately only work for their higher-ups and their congregations.

HIRELINGS

This makes the majority of Christian ministers mere hirelings (KJV) or the hired hands of their respective denominations, which are actually religious enterprises that operate akin to businesses. They are hired by the denomination. They are supported by the congregation’s money and must keep the people of their church in line and contented. They are always much more concerned with the congregation as a group instead of with individual members. They serve the denomination and those who control it. They obey all of its laws and bylaws. They preach only what the denomination tells them to preach and allows them to preach. Also, such hirelings always prove their priorities when the going gets rough:

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” [John 10:11-18]

This passage of Scripture tells anyone with ears to hear exactly what the priorities of any Christian or Christian leader should be but rarely is. It’s a sad state of affairs and American Christianity is rife with this hired hand/denominational control by money and social status which routinely thumbs its nose at the Lord Jesus and the great sacrifice He made on our behalf.

Where do these people get off in deciding which of the Lord’s teachings they will support and those they won’t?

Real Christian ministers serve the Lord Jesus FIRST and ALWAYS. They will only work with those who also put the Lord Jesus FIRST and ALWAYS. They refuse to be compromised as are the hired hand sellouts who do a masterful job of covering up their duplicity. Also sadly, those who follow those who don’t follow the Lord Jesus though they think they do and they claim to end up like these unfortunate ones:

Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” [Matthew 15:12-14]

RELIGIOUS BONDAGE

Regarding how and why such a sad state of affairs can exist and has existed for so long, consider the fact that most Christians have been indoctrinated with their denomination’s beliefs and dogmas rather than being taught the fullness and purity of the Lord’s teachings. One of these enslaves and the other sets free. It is why there is so much fear among so many Christians who have been conditioned to believe that any questioning of their Christian authority figures must be and is verboten. It is why any real reform is impossible. Christian ministers fear career/monetary ruin. Congregants fear social ruin. Neither wants to be perceived as a deviant from the norm. Hence, serving the compromised uncircumcised-in-heart institution takes precedence over serving God.

Those who discover and honor the Light act otherwise.

“While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.

This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.

Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.” [John 12:36-43][1]

The bottom line here, again, should be obvious: When the Lord Jesus is allowed to be fully in charge, a relatively rare thing, one will know it. He is not some spiritually powerless ruling clergyite false authoritarian or fearful sycophantic bought-and-sold church pastor never venturing beyond the company line. When Christians submit to His rule and authority everything changes dramatically for the better: His ministry as it was in His time will break out. Pentecost will break out. The Book of Acts will transpire. People will WAKE UP and desire His direct management and control. Great Awakenings will not only happen but go into overdrive. This is His promise.

It is the evidence He is in charge.

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Tags: America, Christian Denominations, Christian Pharisees, Discipleship, False Doctrine, False Religious Authority, False Shepherds, Hired Hands, Jesus Created One Church, Lord Jesus, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Obedience, Prideful Church Leaders, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Good Shepherd, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

Aug 9

Posted by RJ Dawson

The initial history of the Early Church occurred during 32-70AD. Afterwards, until the early 300s, real Christianity grew exponentially. Then the enemy made a masterstroke…

The Christian Tower Builders had been preparing well. During a period of roughly 230 years after the destruction of the nation of Israel (70AD) and the establishment and great fruitfulness of the Lord’s spiritual Kingdom throughout the Roman Empire, the enemy had been stealthily at work. He had developed a plan to strike back at his hated nemesis even though its full effect would be long in coming. His first intention was to undermine the original teachings of the Lord by introducing familiar philosophical reasonings and standard ancient religious concepts which centered on idolatry. He would add Gnostic understandings which initially emerged during the apostle Paul’s time primarily in Asia Minor centered roughly at Ephesus, having likely originated in Alexandria, Egypt. In essence, the enemy would do what he had always done to lead people astray: Obfuscate their thinking, corral them into cults, and draw them into eventual worship of him whether such people knew it or not.

He would also begin the process of recreating and applying the accoutrements of tyrannical rule which would largely mirror the Roman emperor and his court and thus generate the means to rule over as many Christians as possible through as few as possible. This had always been a successful strategy in other cultures in prior times in that it created influential figureheads by which to control and manage the herds of humanity regardless of realm—government/politics, religion, the military, or even economics. Regarding Christians who had already adapted to following one Leader—the Lord Jesus—the enemy would have to make the attempt to introduce sub-leaders, those who stood between God and the follower and who would act as religious mediators. In this way he could cut off a believer’s direct communication with the Lord by making him go through a surrogate and compel him to become dependent on a stand-in—a hireling—and by this muddy the believer’s knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. Sound familiar?

One may wonder how the enemy thought he could be successful at any of this after the great triumphs of the Lord’s Community, the far-reaching application and successful results of its spiritual power and authority (greater than any other), and the prodigious number of born again believers to the tune of multiple millions. Why did he think his subterfuge may work?

To start with, one may consider all that God had done for His ancient people and what He equipped them with, starting from Adam to the nascent nation of Israel escaping Egyptian bondage, and onward to the full burgeoning of the nation, and then see what happened to each. How did Adam fare? How did the promising initial population of the world deteriorate so badly that it required the Flood of Noah to cleanse the land? What happened to that first generation after the Exodus? How did the conquest of Canaan go? What eventually happened to the promising nation of Israel? You see, the Lord was positively involved in all these efforts, had great plans, unlimited resources, and the spiritual power to see them through and grant success but they all botched it. How was any of this failure even possible?

So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. [Hebrews 3:19]

Unbelief: ἀπιστία (ap-is-tee’-ah): faithlessness, disbelief, unfaithfulness (disobedience), want of faith, weakness of faith:—unbelief.

—Adam introduced sin into the world. The world population destroyed in the Flood had grown far from God, willingly distant from His will, exponentially evil, and characterized by the sin of murder. The first generation of Israelites after the astounding miracle of the Red Sea Crossing at the Exodus were wiped out in the desert and never entered the Promised Land due to unbelief, disobedience, rebellion, and obstinate opposition to the divine will. Joshua’s Conquest was great in part but the assignment was never completed fully per his instructions and far too many Canaanites remained which eventually assisted in corrupting God’s people.

So you see, the devil had much to be hopeful for. He felt assured that he could corrupt Christians as he had corrupted so many others in world history. He knew what he had assisted in doing to the nation of Israel, which no longer existed, and was confident he could do the same to the Lord’s new spiritual Community. Though this may have appeared inconceivable early on and certainly a daunting undertaking due to the Lord’s people being a much greater foe than past heroes of the faith, the enemy knew he was still dealing with human beings who had their flesh to contend with. They were imperfect. They may have chinks in their armor. They may be vulnerable to certain sins. Those Christians who failed to stay filled with the Holy Spirit, die daily, and crucify their flesh would be susceptible to a successful attack and such were those who would be targeted.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [1Peter 5:8][1]

He would attack indirectly. He would make a play on the flesh. He would mess with people’s minds. He would conjure up the specter of religious pride. If these sound familiar they are exactly what He tried on the Lord Jesus with obviously no success whatsoever. But they had worked in the past. They worked with Adam and Eve and later Israelite kings, notably Solomon. They certainly worked with the Pharisees et al. It was a known strategy and a very familiar story. If he managed to make steady inroads during the second and third centuries he could eventually reach the plain of Shinar phase of the operation. Would the devil be able to foment a maneuver in which the spiritual reality of living stones could be transformed into a religion of fake rocks? Made of burnt mud brick? Could he gather enough faux believers to overcome the real believers and therefore institute a new Christianity, one based on syncretism and hybrid renderings, on ultra-ceremonialism, and authoritarian rule?

This was certainly his aim. Again, he knew the concept well and knew it worked well. The challenge would be furthering the notion that Christians need not obey the Lord Jesus exclusively or obey His directives of being Spirit-filled as per the Book of Acts model. It was the only model that worked, of course, at establishing a real Christian and equipping him or her to successfully overcome the world, crucify the flesh, remain properly subjected to the Lord, walk in the Spirit, and defeat spiritual enemies.

The devil knew he must thus construct his own oppositional monolith to counteract the real Church, his own vast “community,” and his own hierarchy through which to rule.

When the fourth century dawned, he decided the time was right. He had worked hard over two centuries to blur the lines of what Christianity was and had introduced damnable heresies as it were, an echo of ancient OT times when he raised up false prophets in the land of Israel. Peter wrote:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly… [2Peter 2:1-5 KJV]

The devil had convinced enough Christians to betray the Lord the same way the faithless Israelites had. He must now create an opposing force sufficient to engage in battle on equal terms. He had a means in mind. He had a particular man in mind. He would now foist it upon an unbelieving unaware world and do it quickly so as to deceive enough of the population to render them willing accomplices.

The Christian Tower of Babel was becoming a reality.

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

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Tags: Christian Pharisees, Community of the Called-Out Ones, Discipleship, Early Church History 101, False Christian Movements, False Conformity, False Doctrine, False Forms of Christianity, False Gospels, False Prophecy, False Prophets, False Religious Authority, False Shepherds, False Teachers, Gnosis, Hired Hands, Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Shinar, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Tower of Babel, Unreal Christianity, Wicked Heart of Unbelief

THE GREAT ERROR OF TRUSTING DUPLICITOUS HIRELINGS AND POMPOUS PUPPETS

Oct 25

Posted by RJ Dawson

Sans salvation, such human leaders are hell bound sinners awaiting a surefire inevitable judgment before God. Trusting them blindly is outright foolishness.

Many Christians learned the hard way once again. When he had the power of office, at a time when it was needed most, he failed to use it. He thus revealed himself for what he was—at worst a compromised puppet effectively controlled by higher powers like most of the rest, and at best a well-meaning man without the means or courage to follow through. He did many good things, possibly went farther than anyone else would go, and attracted much vitriol for his efforts, but not only did he lack the ability to close the deal, he left the nation defenseless against an unrelenting enemy. In the end, millions of Christian supporters were left in the lurch. It’s a terrible thing to believe in a leader’s apparent sincerity and ostensible truthful speech only to be left hanging when such speech is proven to be mere dissembling rhetoric and his supposed earnestness a con.

And that’s what these people are, pretty much all of them. They are merely con artists working their trade on the payroll of unseen puppet masters, making fools of the people and laughing behind your back.

DUPLICITOUS HIRELINGS

The Lord Jesus did His best to tell us. For the most part His warnings and wisdom go unappropriated in this area, as in many other areas, as so-called believers only trust Him to a point and no more while they fall at the feet of human pretenders both secular and religious, and essentially worship them. It is, as they say, a spectacle to behold, as if the Lord commands His people to surrender to someone other than Him which makes no sense but remains an extremely successful lie.

Real Christians learn early on in their walk with the Lord Jesus that the devil is real, that he is an excellent liar, and that he lives to steal, kill, and destroy. He loves to corrupt the good, innocent, and wholesome. He is a tempter extraordinaire. The devil always plays fast and loose with the truth and uses segments of truth to do his dirty work which always involves his skillful abilities of deception. The devil is a deceiver of the highest order; there is no one better. And we can tell who his disciples are because they do the same. He teaches them well. The greatest liars and deceivers are the greatest disciples of the evil one. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they kill, they destroy, and they fool a great many into believing in them. Such people could not possibly have their great powers, however, unless the greatest of evil powers granted his power to them. They cannot function without their evil spiritual master. And the people of this world who have no power in the unseen spiritual world are easy marks, very easily taken advantage of, used and abused, and then cast away. They have no chance whatsoever without the Lord. It is not a fair fight. Even those who get wise and figure it out have little ability to do anything about it. All are mere sheep without a shepherd.

One would think, therefore, that the few sheep who become aware of the truth of this fallen world would seek the One they know must exist somehow, someway, somewhere, and many do. But sadly, before establishing a solid relationship with the Lord Jesus many of these get cut off at the pass by the religious chucklehead posse and they end up bowing to a shepherd who is not a shepherd but just another hireling.

Such hirelings are much worse than other false leaders because they pretend to be spiritual leaders. And the very worst of these are false Christian leaders. Even though it may seem highly unlikely at the onset that anyone could ever pull off such a great deception—that one could actually deceive Christians—these have turned out to be the greatest deceivers of all. Though they are nothing more than lying sellouts, they are world class at pretending to be something they are not. In essence, their greatest powers of deception are as masters of disguise. The best are so good at their trade they can fool the best and deceive to the tune of millions. All it takes is the proper window dressing. And it is apparently quite helpful to also wear such window dressing, as their costumes often appear as explosions in a vestment factory.

Also, they understand very well that broken, hurting, needy, shamed, and weakened people need someone to look up to so they play this to the hilt. They become all the more the pompous pretenders they are. They love to dress up and pull rank. They love it when people bow down to them. They love being false idols. They are infatuated with titles, the longer the better. They are among the world’s greatest narcissists. But alas, when it comes to real Christianity they’re spiritually powerless. They’re also insincere cowards. They don’t care in the least that they rarely ever do a damn thing for those who need real spiritual help (you know, the kind the Lord Jesus supplies), and who look to them for assistance, but instead only offer worthless mumbo jumbo, possible temporary fixes, and false hope. They’re great at making excuses. All they really are is the personification of the devil’s trick to keep sincere seekers from the Lord.

Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep.” [John 10:7-13 NASB77]

A hireling, or hired hand, is one who works for money. Rather than serving the Lord and the people in his care, he serves mammon. The Lord said a man cannot serve both God and mammon. He will love one and hate the other. Thus, hirelings don’t really care so much for the people supposedly in their care since their heart is not in the work. If there was no money to be made they wouldn’t be there. If they received no salary they wouldn’t serve. If they had no promise of an income they would find another job. And that’s what ministry is to them. It is nothing more than a job and career. The reason many Christians are not aware of this is because they either don’t know the Word or the Word they know is overcome by the more forceful word of the hireling ministers who never miss a trick at justifying their false standing. Of course, it helps tremendously that the hirelings outnumber real ministers of the Gospel.

Nevertheless, Christians should know better. They should never let themselves become so deceived. The Lord Jesus never looked like the hirelings. He never acted like them. Though He is the most powerful Man who ever lived He is also the most humble. He was so humble he out-humbled Moses who was previously said to hold that title. (Remember, this is God we are talking about. Consider that.) Though humble, He had such a powerful presence in His time that every man knew the Lord was a much bigger and tougher Man than any of them. He exuded manhood. He exuded great strength and courage. Men of wisdom rightly give Him His due. It is only the disgusting and deceived who do not.

The religious leaders of the Lord’s time painted a perfect picture of what a mature follower of the Lord is never supposed to be and yet the majority of Christian leaders have always looked more like effete Pharisees than the Lord Jesus, who only wore simple utilitarian clothing, kept a low profile, and presented Himself as a common Man of the people. He never wore a sleek business suit or a bizarre pope hat. He was never ostentatious or drew attention to His humanity but always directed people to the spiritual. This means the majority of “Christians” tend to also gravitate to the pretender side since they support the hirelings and not the Lord, or they are among the vast ranks of the deceived. Why are so many so fooled? As I said previously: They are merely con artists working their trade, on the payroll of unseen puppet masters, making fools of believers and laughing behind your back.

Regardless, no one has a viable excuse. Though we are all possibly deceived at any given time to a certain extent and certainly unaware of the Lord’s full curriculum to various degrees, the Lord has made a way for us to see the Light and WAKE UP. He has overcome the deceivers and their great powers of deception so we can see the charade for what it is. He told us very plainly that “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” That is, in part, that one will no longer be bound by the powers of deception. It will no longer be possible to be fooled. One can then see behind the curtain, as it were. Though the enemy still works hard at his great masquerade, real Christians will see all the pretenders for what they are. Their elaborate vestments and attire will no longer hide them. Their fake sincerity will suddenly be seen as such. Their speech, which before had seemed so honest will be perceived as mere lies and religious gobbledygook. It’s a great thing. It’s great that they look at you fearfully and realize their cover is blown, that you see them for what they are. The look in their eye is priceless. The Lord Jesus got that look often.

The moral of the story, of course, is that there is only one Person who is 100% trustworthy. You can trust Him absolutely and fully. He will never walk out on you. He will never betray you. He will always be faithful and honor His Covenant. The Lord Jesus is that Person. He is the only One. He knows we need Him. And He never made any provision that a Christian should ever put another before Him.

ONE MAN SHOW CHRISTIANITY

This is also why the Lord never allowed for one man shows. Sadly, Christianity has long since fallen into the deception of single “pastors” leading “churches.” It is just one more thing the fakers and deceived appropriate in order to have their way. This is why there is so little accountability in organized Christianity. The pretenders and deceived always feel they must have a ruling “pastor” that everyone can submit to. It does not matter that there is no New Testament support for it. This is what they have been fooled into believing and they are bound and determined to enforce it. It is as if they are so superior to everyone else they are pretty much like the Lord. Some of these morons even claim to be infallible, but that high country is clearly only reserved for the Lord Jesus. That’s His territory and His alone. Whoever attempts to trespass on His sacred ground is obviously working for the devil. There is no one who is as pure, holy, powerful, humble, and loving than Him. It is extremely dangerous when one attempts to equate himself with God or demand that which only God should receive. This would otherwise be obvious but not in the world of the deluded. As I wrote in my book, Real Christianity, “The most fully evolved form of an idol today is a living human being.”

You see, the Lord refers to His Community as His Bride. No one treats women better than the Lord and He will certainly treat his own Bride the best way possible. And though it may be a hard concept for many Christians to grasp, He expects the members of His Bride to treat each other the same way. We are all in this together and are supposed to work together. He says everyone in His Community is on the same level ground in that we are all equal (See Galatians 3:26-28). There are no separate classes of people. There should never be anyone exalted over another. There are no ridiculous hierarchies. He never created a clergy-laity divide, which is the invention of imposters and only exists as a means to a false power grab. How is it then, that a few within the Bride (likely posers) insist they have authority over the Bride? This is asinine. Is the Lord Jesus going to allow another man to have authority over His own Bride?

This is why the Lord carefully and evenly distributes His authority. When He grants authority, and all believers have a level of spiritual authority, He doesn’t grant it so some Christians can take authority over other Christians. THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS AUTHORITY OVER A REAL CHRISTIAN IS THE LORD JESUS. In the Lord’s real Community, He works through each believer. He will obviously work through mature believers to assist new and developing believers, and mature believers must be respected for what they are called to do. Real ministers are servants. This is another way to distinguish between shepherds and hirelings. But how can the Lord work through those who have never received His Spirit? The Spirit of the Lord is what unites the Bride. It is what every member has in common. Since the majority of “Christianity” has rejected Pentecost or substitutes some fake version thereof, the majority of Christian “leaders” doesn’t have or want the Lord’s Holy Spirit anyway. This is why they are forced to disobey the Lord’s actual teachings in this area in order to procure their supposed authority since they are not granted authority by the Lord. They bypass Him. This, again, makes them pretenders. They refuse the prerequisite of Acts 101 and simply skip from the Gospels to the Epistles thereby circumventing that which would allow them to be actual ministers. And many of these are not content to merely reject Pentecost but are hostile to it.

Those who actually read the New Testament and study it know the Lord never allowed for a one man show. He actually set up groups of elders. He did this not only to look after the various small congregations making up His larger Community but also for the elders to look after each other. The Lord always knew, obviously, that He was dealing with human beings prone to sin and error, and He would never put one man in charge because there would be no accountability. Meaning, of course, that such a one would stray—always. This rule is forever in effect. Put one man in charge, no matter how good he looks or how gifted he is, and he will screw it up. The Lord does not want His people being led by a screw up. And it doesn’t matter what the deceived supporters of such a one may think but only what the Lord thinks. It also doesn’t matter how “successful” such ministers may otherwise outwardly appear. We all need to be told when we are wrong in order to get right or we will end up in hell. And when a Christian group is operating correctly there is no place for error to hide.

Now, it is certainly true that some ministers will give the appearance of having it all together despite extracurricular side trips if you get my drift, but that’s usually because of one of the following or a combination thereof: (1) They hide error and sin very well. (2) They are preaching watered-down nonsense or presenting a spiritually dead liturgical pageant that doesn’t attract the devil’s attention or is anything he would be afraid of. (3) They have mastered the craft of showmanship. (4) They have fulfilled the traditional expectations of the congregation (very important). For others, they simply take authority without any pretense whatsoever, letting everyone know who the boss is, meaning that the Lord Jesus IS NOT the boss. It is always an amazing thing to see some young “on fire” minister take control of a congregation. The next thing you know it becomes “his” church and “his” people and “his” pulpit. The people become beholden to him. He is thus not a servant according to the Lord’s requirements but is there to be served. He even puts his name and his name only on the church sign out in front (and all the church literature and letterheads and legal documents and bank accounts). Again, everyone knows who’s in charge. (We get it, okay? You da man.)

Thankfully, one other man in the congregation might actually do some New Testament research, gain some spiritual maturity, and then have the courage to speak the truth. Now, that man is actually doing what should have been done in the beginning. He is being used of God to show the need for accountability which the “pastor” refuses to have though he may appropriate a yes man or two or even a whole church board of dignified sycophants. Those guys also know who’s in charge and will never buck the man or system that gave them their position of prestige. They all cover for one another. So here we have yet again, for the umpteenth time, The Great Error of Trusting Hirelings and Puppets.

REAL MEN OF GOD

Real men of God, after being properly schooled, sometimes in the most effective but difficult manner, learn to never engage in such blind belief and non-scrutinized unverified trust in so-called leadership because they know the devil is a master deceiver who has master actors working for him. Remember, the Lord called the Pharisees hypocrites precisely because the word means “stage players.” The Pharisees were religious actors engaging in a high form of deception. They certainly fooled much of the nation of Israel. The Lord said the bulk of them were working for the devil. Christian Pharisees in America have done and are doing exactly the same. Few Christians can see through the masquerade or perceive the subterfuge but should certainly be able to understand its effect. We all should be able to put two and two together using the brain the Lord gave us and see that these people have not only not stemmed the tide of evil but have instead embraced it and promoted it. Rather than being part of the solution they’re part of the problem.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” [Matthew 23:25-28]

Real men of God are smart enough to know that embracing spiritual pride is a sin. They know that appropriating God’s authority for themselves and using it for their own power and purposes is a sin. They know that taking advantage of well-meaning church people to insure their own salary and success and feather their own nest is a sin. They know they are supposed to properly teach the Word of God and assist the Lord in developing strong mature Christian disciples instead of keeping the congregation spiritually immature and under control to be used for their own means. Real men of God know the humble road is the right road. They know they will be subjected to endless insults and dishonor but will have to wade through such flak in order to fulfill their callings. It doesn’t mean they are not strong and spiritually powerful. It certainly does not mean they are not real men. In fact, real Christian men who are Holy Spirit-filled and fully dedicated to the Lord Jesus are the most powerful men on the planet. It is because they know who the real power is and they always humble themselves before Him so He can work through them.

Then the Lord blesses them and they go out and win spiritual victories. And duplicitous hirelings are exposed and called to account. And lost people are saved and find a home with the Lord. And miracles take place. And New Testament Truth is taught. And the Book of Acts happens. And people are filled with the Holy Spirit. And dead churches come alive. And Christians actually develop, mature, and become unified and loving and love each other. And whole societies are turned around. And Great Awakenings break forth.

It’s an awesome thing when we do it the Lord’s way.

The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; He who watches his way preserves his life.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.

It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.

He who gives attention to the Word will find good, AND BLESSED IS HE WHO TRUSTS IN THE LORD. [Proverbs 16:17-20] [1]

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Tags: Christian Pharisees, Clergy-Laity Division, Community of the Called-Out Ones, False Forms of Christianity, False Religious Authority, False Shepherds, Hired Hands, Hypocrites, Judas, Judgment, Lord Jesus, Pentecost, Prideful Church Leaders, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Authority, Spiritual Deception, Spiritual Freedom, Spiritual Warfare, The Door of the Sheep, The Good Shepherd, The Great Awakening, The Presence of the devil, Tradition of the Pharisees, Trust Your Heart With God, Unreal Christianity

HIERARCHY HIRELINGS: How Incompetent Posers Gain Authority (Doh!)

Jan 23

Posted by RJ Dawson

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.” [John 10:11-13]

THE PETER PRINCIPLE

According to Laurence J. Peter in his best-selling book, The Peter Principle, “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

This management principle has proven to be absolutely true. It explains everything. It illustrates why we have so many incompetent people in the upper levels of power. It contrasts the real world of cause and effect, risk and reward, and survival of the fittest with the fake world of herds without predators.

Two hunters deep in the woods are suddenly surprised by a very angry bear. They both take off running for their lives, the bear right behind them. One hunter yells to the other, “Do you think we can outrun him?” The other hunter says, “I don’t need to outrun him. I only need to outrun you.”

This is the real world. It is why God created predators. Predators are the eliminators of incompetence in the natural world. Unless you stay sharp and at the top of your game the bear will get you.

This is why incompetent people don’t survive long in real world applications. Many meet a quick end. There is simply no place for ongoing laziness, lack of ability, foolishness, stupidity, and bad decisions. The natural world teaches this. Incompetence is never rewarded or allowed. Natural selection means survival of only the fittest.

In fake world situations, however, the opposite takes place. Rules are written to protect incompetence. Instead of rightfully being killed and eaten by angry bears, incompetent people not only survive, they thrive. Their bad behavior is rewarded. Everybody gets a trophy.

THE BACKYARD WARRIORS PRINCIPLE

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. [1 Corinthians 9:24]

I remember when I was about eleven years old I had a birthday party at my house. We lived in a well-kept suburban working class neighborhood. As part of the birthday fun I set up an intricate obstacle course in the backyard. You had to run around the perimeter of the yard as fast as you could under and through this and over and around that—just a bunch of stuff I found laying around that I transformed into world class athletic equipment. Not bad for a kid. It was pretty cool. I had an old army tarp tied to the chain-link fence at a 45 degree angle that you had to crawl under. There was stuff to jump over, like a strategically located metal trash can. Things like that. You had to run the course while being timed. Whoever completed the course correctly and the fastest was the winner. We probably had some small prize.

The rules were the same for everyone. I invited a bunch of friends over from school and the neighborhood. But someone also invited my young cousin, who was probably about seven or eight. If that wasn’t bad enough I also had an older sister hanging around who was sixteen or so at the time. She had an inordinate desire to lend what amounted to overwhelming assistance to those such as my young cousin who she thought were in great need, as a way to even the playing field. I had a different perspective. I have always been competitive. My concerns about her ruining the competition were soon realized.

Some of us had already run the course. We gave it everything we had. When a kid was out there running around he was completely on his own. It was sink or swim. Figure it out. Don’t miss anything. Show respect for the process. Everybody else was watching making sure he did it right.

Then it was my little cousin’s turn. And what does my older sister do? She starts running the course with him! He appeared to have no clue what to do but probably would have done okay if allowed to run by himself. I still have this mental picture of her leaning over slightly and running off with him with her arm on his shoulder guiding him around. He quickly yielded to her lead. She then decided he only needed to run less than half the layout! And here they come, cutting right through my well constructed obstacle course across the middle of the yard making a total mockery of the game! She’s still right there with her arm on his shoulder, leaning over, telling him what to do while running him back to the start.

We did not appreciate this. Neither I nor my friends said anything. It was an era when kids showed more respect. She meant well. But what a joke. She almost ruined the whole day with that pathetic display.

This is exactly how incompetence thrives.

THE JEREMIAH JOHNSON PRINCIPLE

Again, in the real world only the strongest and wisest survive. America was founded by such people. So was Texas. The few incompetent people out on the frontier were soon dead if they didn’t manage to get back to civilization post haste.

I am reminded of Robert Redford’s character in the movie Jeremiah Johnson, set in the mid 1800s. There was an early scene when he was way up in the frozen Rocky Mountains trying to catch fish by hand in an icy stream. He was soon in the water. There he was in the deep snow and ice splashing around doing his best to catch a fish to stay alive. The scene then switched to an Indian on horseback silently watching. Later in the movie when the same Indian recognized him in a different setting, he told another, “He fishes poorly.”

But Jeremiah Johnson survived and then thrived. He figured out how to stay alive in a killer environment. Though he met friends, nobody held his hand. He overcame all obstacles, including some personal losses that ripped his heart apart. That movie was about the real world and survival.

It is quite the contrast to our present world. Since that time America has largely become a vast, neurotic, socialist nanny state ruled over by bureaucratic incompetents and enablers with selfish agendas in which everybody, regardless of any achievement, gets a little trophy. Many would never be in their positions of authority without some big sister brotherhood opening doors, scripting their work, showing them the way, and refusing to let them stand on their own. It is the complete opposite of survival of the fittest. Because of the ridiculous policy of allowing incompetent idiots to become our “experts” America is going down fast.

Now, before you think I’m stumping for a certain presidential candidate, I’m not. I’ve been saying this for decades. (That dude stole my thunder.) I have watched this contrary agenda develop over several decades. Of course, many people know what’s going on but almost everybody feels powerless to do anything about it. When some charismatic person comes along who says all the right things and claims to have the answers he gains an immediate following.

But it rarely or never works. It’s always just words. Those that actually gain power never follow through. The only thing that does work in such cases is following the lead of someone who actually knows what to do and has a proven track record. Such good guys, however, are currently very few and far between, and are becoming extinct. The bad guys have taken over. The paradigm shift of rewarding evil and eliminating the good is almost complete. It’s why Biblical prophecy says the world would succeed in blowing itself up without the Lord’s end-time intervention. Corrupt doofuses in places of authority are the sole cause.

THE LORD JESUS PRINCIPLE

There is only one Leader who can fix this mess. The reason America is cratering is due only to the rejecting of His leadership. There is no possible way to remove the preserving agent without falling into gross corruption. The more He has been rejected over the last several decades the worse things have become. Though few acknowledge Him, He is the one who holds everything together.

Also, though the Lord Jesus is the best Father, He never spoils His children. Though He is our Shepherd, He is never the enabler of stupidity, laziness, or incompetence. He only rewards those who give it their all. Whoever will do things His way must be absolutely dedicated and must also be in it for the long haul. One will discover that following His lead allows one to grow stronger and wiser, and possess greater ability to overcome and thrive. He prepares us to be the best. His discipleship methods always work. He is a maker of champions.

THE UNREAL CHRISTIANITY PRINCIPLE

The reason the Peter Principle has become a burgeoning reality is because the people in power have rejected the Lord’s proper authority and correct management principles. They have replaced them with bulky, unresponsive, impersonal hierarchies and shallow methodologies that reward morons and punish the strong, independent, honest, and righteous.

GUESS WHAT? THE EXACT THING HAS HAPPENED WITHIN TRADITIONAL AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY.

Pious pinheads and parading shysters have taken over the outward institutional format and are now the tenured cloth men. We know the majority of these guys have no clue how to right our wayward course or have any desire to, largely because they’re the ones who caused it. They’re invested in it. It serves them very well. These sold-out fakers only exist because foolish people keep throwing money in their coffers, which only enables them and their incompetence. Every time the Lord tries to correct them their supporters reward them. These power-tripping Christian “experts” eventually cold shoulder any real Christians in their vicinity, refuse to support them, and badmouth them, in the sinister effort to eliminate those who would rightfully take their job.

But this has always been true. Thus, all real Christians must first learn to survive in this fallen world, then learn to fight, overcome, and thrive within it, AND THEN TAKE OVER. It’s how the Lord does things. It’s exactly how He did it. When He was crucified He looked like the greatest loser that ever lived. Three days later He became the greatest winner of all time. If we would be successful we must follow His lead, trust Him, and do things His way.

This is why the Lord Jesus never coddles His children. He has no use for perpetual babies and whiners. He never hands out participant trophies. He requires us to run the race well without constant enabling. He calls us to follow Him even through the worst spiritual environments that will test us to the nth degree.

THE PAUL PRINCIPLE

For correct spiritual perspective with respect to real discipleship, consider the fact that the apostle Paul once found himself dead under a pile of rocks. He suffered this fate doing exactly what he was called to do. The Lord Jesus did nothing to stop the brutal attack against him—He let Paul get stoned by a bunch of Jewish religious idiots.

But He did bless him with a preview of heaven:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. [2Corinthians 12:2-4]

That’s pretty cool. And He did bring him back to earth. And He did give Paul supportive friends after he was dragged out of Lystra for dead who stood around him when he suddenly got up:

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. [Acts 14:19-20]

Therefore, it is not that we don’t need help and support from time to time. We obviously should help one another. But such help is usually designed to get us on track or back on track. Both of these should be very few and far between events after our initial discipleship training. After that it’s a matter of running the race well without being hindered or enabled, both of which restrict our mission.

If the Lord has given you honest and competent authority figures at present, be thankful. We need the wisdom of those who have gone before us who have gained the Lord’s wisdom. But in order to be the spiritual success the Lord needs you to be, you must work at becoming a spiritual adult.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity… [Hebrews 5:13-6:1] [1]

Live the adventure.

Climb the Rockies.

But watch out for rocks.

Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America, Apostle Paul, Christian Persecution, Discipleship, Hired Hands, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Resurrection, Spiritual Maturity, The Good Shepherd

Graven Images of the Human Kind (Part 3)

Jan 9

Posted by RJ Dawson

Graven Images of the Human Kind (Part 1)

Graven Images of the Human Kind (Part 2)

PHARISAICAL FAKERY

In began in ancient Sumer at the dawn of civilization.

The Egyptians mastered the craft.

It extended through the major cultures and empires of the world, culminating with the Romans in a purely pagan, non-Biblical sense.

The Romans built upon the prior foundations of Greece and Egypt primarily, and confiscated from those and other prior cultures the highly defined pagan image-making art of ancient times.

The nation of Israel had also long since succumbed to the practice of idolatry over a thousand years before, but it was the highly developed religious image-making and pretension of the first-century Pharisees who formed a false syncretic hybrid of Torah-ism and demon worship to the degree that the Lord Jesus called them “of their father the devil.”

This Phariseeism was later used in Christian forms, one principally which still exists today, and formed the basis of the Christian image-making of the present. And rather than only forming idols of wood, metal, or stone, these fakers have followed the devil’s lead by also creating fully evolved human idols worshipped and followed every Sunday morning and on televisions nationwide.

Indeed, television has become the perfect medium for such idolatry, though outside of television there has existed for many centuries an ultra-religious ceremonial and liturgical pageantry within particular denominations that has captured the minds of millions and deceived them away from the full expression and knowledge of the Lord.

The entire effort of these false Christian forms and formats, as related to the Lord’s original, results in nothing more than shallow religious “showtime” using well-compensated religious actors, exactly as did the Pharisees, whom the Lord referred to as hypocrites (devious religious stage players).

The Pharisees were fakes. They were not concerned with growing spiritually closer to God but about gaining earthly power and wealth. So are many “Christian” leaders and celebrities. If anyone actually believes that such “ministers” one sees up front and center are real, and that they are just like their stage (platform, pulpit) persona behind the scenes in regular life, such people are grossly deceived, and it illustrates how easy it is to manipulate and lead around by the nose those who refuse to fully surrender to the Lord Jesus.

“IT IS THE SPIRIT WHO GIVES LIFE; THE FLESH PROFITS NOTHING.” [John 6:63]

Of course, there is nothing whatsoever fake or disingenuous about the Lord. And His rejection and death was in part because He obeyed the Torah commandments against idolatry and that He rejected false image-making. In essence, He appeared to be much less than whom He really was to a people well-conditioned to submit to religious masqueraders. To the majority, the God of the Universe simply did not look the part unlike so many religious fakers who did.

…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… [2Corinthians 11:14-15]

Christian religious image-making of the present has certainly gone mainstream but also mandatory if one is to receive market share, popularity, and reach the primary highly-coveted fundamental goals, which remain the same:

(1) An outlet for one’s vanity, narcissism, and pride,

(2) Greater advantage and influence, and

(3) Wealth.

Therefore, Christians in particular must always remember that—

One’s eyes can certainly be deceived (and often are)

One’s perceived correct Biblical beliefs can certainly be inaccurate (and often are) through the power of a false gospel, and

One can certainly become a dupe. It has happened to millions, and such millions are growing exponentially. Those without spiritual eyes to see who have no love for the truth cannot help but be fooled. [See 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12]

These are victims of higher powers masquerading as something real—false lights of shining fakery and carefully-crafted graven images of the human kind.

One thing such victims all have in common is they don’t know they are deceived, are often willingly deceived, and strangely, stubbornly insist on supporting the unreal rather than the real, even if it costs them their eternal souls. It is pure idolatry, and the antithesis of the purity and reality of the Lord Jesus.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.” [John 10:7-13] [1]

Posted in Teaching

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Tags: Christian Pharisees, Deception, Graven Images, Hired Hands, Idolatry, Image-Making, Kennedy-Nixon Debates, Lord Jesus, Television, Unreal Christianity

Graven Images of the Human Kind (Part 2)

Jan 7

Posted by RJ Dawson

Graven Images of the Human Kind (Part 1)

CULTURAL CONFORMITY

The historical and American culture-changing Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 (see video at end of Part 1) proved that what once was, was no more. A great transformation had taken place. Life got “modern.” The organic became the cosmetic. The country shifted dramatically from the spiritual to the material. Depth gave way to shallowness. Image-making became a priority.

Keep in mind, however, that this was also the beginning of the Holy Spirit outpouring throughout denominational Christianity. Pentecost was pouring into places where it had previously been blocked. Thousands of denominational Christians were being filled with the Spirit like hundreds of thousands of Pentecostals before them. This outpouring also eventually reached the American Catholic Church. Many priests and nuns were becoming Pentecostal. It began the great Catholic Charismatic movement.

But, of course, almost all of this wonderful spiritual history was not being reported by the few major news outlets that had succumbed to the phony dog and pony political show before them. It became obvious to anyone with spiritual eyes and ears that the major media became nothing more than a corporate entity doing the bidding of elites deceiving the country. As the dominance of the television medium increased, so did the power to use it for the sinister purposes of swaying the country toward a hidden agenda for the personal gain of those in power.

Cultural conformity was forced and enforced, even more than in the 1950s. For a typical example, over half a century ago, IBM mandated a black pants, white shirt, black tie image for all workers as a statement of corporate uniformity. Professional dress became the model for emerging corporatism. Any and all forms of dissent were perceived as anti-American though the country was founded upon dissent and revolution.

But suddenly, unbelievably, the perfect created image was destroyed. Naïve, idyllic America became an all too real nightmare. An American president had been savagely murdered under mysterious circumstances. Militarism and the destructive Vietnam War were in full swing. The ridiculous attitude of “my country right or wrong” became a compulsory slogan as an end-all be-all instead of doing the right thing to correct gross wrongs. Race riots were breaking out.

Such coercion toward a regimented “follow-orders” populace created what was then known as the generation gap in that young people, still very much American at heart, rebelled against the fakery, the overbearing political correctness, religious redneckism, and the emerging military/political/corporate glom being forced upon the populace.

Amidst all this, most Americans had no idea what was causing all the change or that they were being played. They did not see the actors behind the curtain. All anyone knew was that it seemed like the country was exploding.

For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. [Hosea 8:7][1]

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES

It had been almost another half century since the dawn of public relations imaging and methods, and American individualism took a hit. It was a time of “Keeping up with the Joneses,” a popular expression of the day, when the middle class expanded and most were concerned with doing whatever they must to appear as solid, successful citizens and within a higher social strata.

Bucking the system was opposed by the majority as something inherently wrong without noticing that “the system” had gone terribly wrong. “Keeping up appearances” was preferable to taking on the persona of the early American patriots to fix the country, and such image-consciousness was no longer only for the wealthy but for everyone who wanted to be well thought of.

One’s presented image took precedence over one’s spiritual stature.

Therefore, much of what happened in the counter-cultural 1960s was an immoral over-reaction against the heavy-handed authoritarianism of the day, in which those in charge were often terribly wrong though they insisted they must be honored, respected, and obeyed anyway. Most Americans did obey only to discover years later they were wrong to do that. Their outer redneckism of the time veiled a yellow, selfish heart. They bought into the lie.

Image-making was so pervasive it became unconscious.

Yet, centuries before the changes of the last one hundred years, there was a group of people who had mastered the craft of image-making and became extremely successful in its use. And it seems that whenever we reach points in history in which false imagery reaches its zenith, all hell breaks loose.

In Part 3 we will look at the greatest manipulators of all and the sinister methods they use so well.

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Tags: Christian Pharisees, Deception, Graven Images, Hired Hands, Idolatry, Image-Making, Kennedy-Nixon Debates, Lord Jesus, Television, Unreal Christianity

Graven Images of the Human Kind (Part 1)

Jan 5

Posted by RJ Dawson

It is fairly easy for the non-deceived to spot faux religious leaders.

Such are the ones with perfect outer images who have mastered the art of staying in character.

They also dress very well for the part.

“‘Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’” [Deuteronomy 27:15] [1]

I remember hearing a message by a man principally involved in marriage ministry who also pastors a large congregation. This man was talking about how God created men to be wired visually regarding their attraction toward a mate.

He then began talking about how enhanced photography and facial makeup allow some women to look much better than they actually do. When such methods create an image, it is simply not real. He said married men often fall into temptation comparing such pretty faces to their wives, who feel they can’t compete.

Regarding even the best looking professional super models he said, “Don’t be concerned about not looking like that. They don’t look like that…”

Now, it is certainly okay to want to look our best, but some strive to vastly improve on the Creator’s handiwork and attempt to look not just their best but better than the rest, even if it means cosmetically transforming in the extreme their actual, God-given appearance. And the ultra use of cosmetics, plastic surgery, and photographic tricks to assist in that process is no longer necessarily an option for many, though it is a relatively recent innovation.

CONTEMPORARY IMAGE-MAKING

The first crude camera photograph was created circa 1826-27, going on two centuries ago, and the vast majority of ladies in developed nations never wore makeup until maybe 50-60 years ago. Now, of course, the percentage of women who wear makeup to some degree or another has advanced dramatically, and photography has advanced to ultra high definition video. By comparing the oldest photographs from the 1800s and portrait paintings centuries older, one can see the great advances made both in mechanical media and also culturally accepted (demanded) cosmetics.

Technology has presently improved to the extent that a person’s image can be dramatically changed, and it can generate quite a shock when such people are seen outside their usual doctored images. This often happens with celebrities who spend a lot of time behind a camera, but this is not always the case.

For instance, there is the true story from a few years ago of a longtime pastor who, during the middle of a big Sunday church service while preaching, suddenly ripped off the hairpiece from atop his head.

The entire congregation was blown away. He had been wearing hairpieces for so long most of the people there had never known he was bald. It probably took a while to get used to the “new guy.”

Because there are currently so many false images in the world, and because people become so used to seeing created images, the actual person underneath is often unrecognizable and by comparison obviously inferior.

This has caused two things: (1) Very high artificial self-esteem based on the use of excellent effects to enhance one’s natural appearance, and (2) Very low self-esteem for those who cannot compete for whatever reason.

It is most likely that such a wide divergence of image did not exist in the days when all women wore no makeup, save for a tiny percentage of royals and the wealthy. This provided for a level playing field though some had greater natural beauty than others.

Today, if people choose to transform their image using whatever means, the outer image thus created is obviously different than what their actual natural image would be otherwise.

If some of these people also dress very well, learn how to present themselves very well, say all the right words and phrases, and effect fake smiles and attitudes that appear real, outside observers will certainly be faked out, especially if they’ve never seen such people sans their carefully crafted image.

What’s going on here? Why do people want to engage in such image-making?

It usually boils down to three things: (1) Vanity, (2) Advantage, and (3) Money.

CREATING A PERSONAL BRAND

It is a matter of social acceptance. It is a matter of dispelling any doubts concerning one’s character and motives. It is a matter of putting forth the look of success and proper reputation.

It is also a matter of competition. The better one looks and the more one is accepted, the more one rises in one’s society (gains in popularity) and the better one feels (an ongoing endorphin rush), both of which results in greater pleasure and high self-esteem, though the danger of creating great pride exists based simply on a less than honest outer image. Also, more doors will open. More open doors mean receiving more opportunities, earning more money, and even attracting a better mate (or multiple mates).

Of course, Hollywood figured this out going on a century ago. The creation of “movie stars” was not possible without stage lighting, makeup, superior costumes, camera tricks, and etc. And once such stars were created, the movie-going public attended theaters all over the country in droves which made for an interesting phenomenon regarding people worshipping people.

As the medium grew more sophisticated and color film was invented, image-making went through the roof. Nice looking people became extremely good-looking people. The eventual fake image of these people became the standard image, since so few were seen in the real world under normal conditions. When they were seen for how they really looked, however, the contrast was obvious and often scandalous.

Many mainline Christian denominations preached against makeup and what they might term “unholy clothing” for decades in a vain attempt to keep Hollywood from invading the church. But after World War I, the advent of moving pictures, and the comparatively decadent “Roaring Twenties” when greater wealth and material goods became available, the cat was out of the bag.

It would take another quarter century, another World War (including the immoral influence of other cultures), and television before America became transformed forever into an amoral image-based society.

The Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates, the first televised debates, proved this transformation in 1960. The visual contrast between these two men was stark in that John Kennedy presented a much greater televised image than Richard Nixon, though many who only listened on radio thought Nixon had won.

It was primarily John Kennedy’s carefully crafted superior image that eventually won him the presidency.