Blog Archives
THE DESCENT OF THE ASCENDANT: THOSE WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS (NIMROD IS HERE)
They have crossed over into full-fledged iniquity. They break the law routinely and no longer care. They are determined to have their way. They will not be restrained by anything including the Constitution.
.
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” [John 3:19-21]
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’” [Matthew 7:23]
In reading the preceding verses, remember who the Lord’s ministry was directed to. At that time He was obviously not referring to the world at large but only the land associated with His direct ministry. Much of the context of the Gospel message is lost without this proper frame of reference.
HIDDEN EVIL (IN OTHERWISE PLAIN SIGHT)
Going back to ancient times, there have always been people in the world who gained enough power and money to do absolutely anything they desired. They reached a point of no restrictions. Though the possibility existed that some of these people possessed enough self discipline to restrict their behavior, and though outward observers, including those researching history, may have thought the best of such powerful people, the reality is that the vast majority, in essence, all of them save a possible one or two here and there, crossed over into absolute hedonism.
Consider this hypothetical question: If a person has gained so much power and money he can do anything he wants and no one can stop him, do you think he will limit himself? The Word of God is clear on the depravity of unregenerate humanity bound by sin and out of relationship with the Lord. Those who sow to the flesh will reap the sinful fruit of the flesh. Those who do so with powerful means and no restrictions will reap the greatest of sinful fruit. The Lord Jesus expounded upon this issue in the following:
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” [Mark 8:34-38]
Reflect on the Biblical illustration of Solomon, a person many Christians highly honor, as one who fits the preceding passage perfectly. He reached a point in which he gained zero accountability and did whatever he wanted (because he quit on God and eliminated God’s prophets). Rather than one wife, for example, he appropriated several and many more “concubines.” As time proceeded there were never enough women to satisfy his lust. He eventually possessed over a thousand:
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. [1Kings 11:1-3] [1]
Can you then see the distinct likelihood that other powerful people like Solomon with zero accountability might have grown tired of attempting to satisfy their lust with grown women and branched out? The Old Testament spells this out exactly. The Law of Moses describes specifically the sins which one should never engage in. It involves the most disgusting practices you can imagine. It’s all right there in black and white. Great tyrants who could do whatever they wanted were doing such things. No one could stop them. Then their disgusting sins permeated the entire nations over which they ruled and those nations became as corrupt as the disgusting leaders. Then the nation of Israel engaged in the exact behavior. Repeatedly. Over and over. The rumors that abound in our day of powerful people engaging in such lawless behavior are rampant. Remember, they can do anything they want and no one can do anything about it. They have embraced absolute lawlessness. They possess the means, the motive, and the opportunity.
It is strange that people don’t see this. The evil of the powerful mostly remains behind a curtain. The likely reason is centuries-old psychological conditioning in that the subjects of such people are forced to fear their leaders and what will happen to them if they attempt to call them out. There have always been stiff penalties. Offending those in power has traditionally resulted in societal rejection and prison. Revolting against them has resulted in death. This is how the world has always been run. The ones who gain power and their sycophants step on everybody else to get there and keep a boot on their face after they do. Whoever objects to the sin and lawlessness of those who gain power are made to pay and some are made to pay exceedingly as examples to check whoever else may have such tendencies. This is likely why most people refuse to consider the subject. The Lord Jesus, however, has forever remained undaunted regarding such. He strives to root out and expose the evil. He knows the great harm it causes. In the nation of Israel’s case the Lord sent prophets. Even so, what happened to the prophets?
We could get into a long list of such powerful unaccountable people from ancient times to the present in both the secular and religious fields, including “Christianity” of course, even if we restrict it to the world’s most powerful at the top of various hierarchies and pyramids. But for the purposes of this short paper I will limit the scope to just one guy to illustrate what is possible and to honor the Lord for using this person as an early example in His Word:
ANCIENT SUMER
The first great empire on the planet was created by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, the “land between two rivers,” in about 3000BC, roughly occupied at present by the country of Iraq. The Bible refers to this land as Shinar. A man by the name of Nimrod created and ruled over this first of all empires and did so with an iron fist. It was not an easy task to run roughshod over the entire population of the vast region and cobble together a union of city states. To streamline the process Nimrod gave very little or no heed to “human rights” or what any of his potential subjects may have thought of the process. He was determined to rule the world and he achieved his goal. In the process everyone under his rule became slaves to various degrees. Those who bucked the process were simply eliminated.
How do we know some revolted? The bigger question, in my estimation, is why did not everyone revolt? Why was there not a wholesale revolution? Why did they not stop him from coming to power? What Nimrod engaged in was a total mockery of humanity and rejection of the inherent liberty of each person. He had no respect for the mass of people. He would only use them for his own ends. Once he gained enough toadies bound to his will, those who had the same evil outlook in life who wanted only to satisfy their flesh with the usual sinful practices, and paid them off with such, he had enough of an army to fight the few who were bold enough to oppose him. Though the great majority were likely greatly offended at what was happening, likely only a relative few, as always, had the boldness to put their lives on the line to prevent it. In the case of ancient Sumer it obviously did no good. It was the end of an egalitarian social structure and the beginning of a collectivist one-man-rule dictatorship model later emulated by others, notably ancient Egypt and eventually Rome. Ironically, those early Sumerian tyrants are credited with creating “civilization.”
NIMROD IS HERE
To better explain the following verses of Scripture regarding Nimrod, I wrote the following passage about twenty five years ago. It is an excerpt from my book Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church. What I wrote then has turned out to be prophetic. What I wrote then has now essentially come to pass. The warning I gave then was largely rejected by the very people (Christians, especially those in “leadership”) who should have taken it to heart. See if any of the following sounds familiar. Remember, I wrote the following in approximately 1995:
Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. [Genesis 10:8-12]
Nimrod was the great-grandson of Noah, the grandson of Ham and the nephew of Canaan. In this verse he is called a “. . . mighty hunter before the Lord,” but this phrase is not very clear. Its surface meaning is a tad ambiguous, and its deeper meaning is hard to judge on the basis of its simple translation. Therefore, an in-depth explanation is called for. This will get somewhat confusing, but the end result in greater understanding is worth the effort.
-
- To begin with, the English word “mighty” in the above verse is translated from the Hebrew word gibbor which means “powerful,” but by implication, a “warrior,” or “tyrant.”
- Tsayid is the Hebrew word which was translated as “hunter,” yet tsayad is the proper word for hunter or “huntsman.” Tsayid actually means “the chase” or “hunting.”
- “Before” is taken from the word paneh which means “the face (as the part that turns),” or as the preposition “before” in the sense of being “against.”
- “The Lord” in this case is, of course, YHWH, the “Self-Existent or Eternal.”
When translated closer to the original intent, the following sense emerges: “Nimrod was a powerful warrior-tyrant hunting the face of YHWH.” Now, what exactly does it mean to hunt the face of YHWH?
First of all, it helps to be aware of the terminology of early Genesis. In the first fifteen chapters, the word paneh (face) is mentioned eighteen times. On seventeen of these occasions, “face” is a reference to the face of the deep, the waters, the earth, and the ground. On one occasion, there is a reference to the face of YHWH. [2]
Of course, even though God appeared in theophanic form on occasion, Nimrod wasn’t hunting God’s human face but the façade which marked the boundary, or surface (presence) of the Lord, or in other words—the Lord’s dominion. He was against the Lord in this sense. Nimrod’s name means “rebellion.”
In essence, Nimrod’s objective was to hunt, or chase after, the kingdom of God. He either did this in direct competition against God, as one who would build his own kingdom, or he labored under great deception, thinking he was seeking the kingdom according to God’s will and by God’s plan. In either case he was wrong, and the effect was the same.
.
Throughout the ages and continuing into the present, countless Nimrods have established control over the unsuspecting by wresting away their freedom. They create governments which place themselves in supreme authority over the masses. They swell up like Thanksgiving Day parade balloons with the life they steal from their subjects—those who innocently trust them—those defenseless ones who eventually become nothing but inert husks, mere shells of destitute humanity. As fish out of water, a people lose their energizing spark and eventually breathe their last breath, while those who destroyed them build monuments to themselves.
It is for this very reason that the founding fathers of the United States of America sought to place ruling authority in the hands of “We the People.” This would prevent another Nimrod from taking over. History clearly shows us that this experiment in government known as the USA has been the most successful of all that have ever existed, hands down. Why? It is due simply to the fact that when people have authority, they have freedom, and when they have freedom, they have the chance at life. That is why the Declaration of Independence refers to the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. No other government in the history of the world had ever stood on such a principle, with one exception.
Many centuries earlier, an extremely limited form of government was created which depended on one thing to make it work—obedience to God. The nation was ancient Israel. This form of government failed because its people did not “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might,” [3] nor did they “love your neighbor as yourself.” [4] The government that God gave to Israel was also formed to keep a Nimrod from taking over, but that objective failed and we have documented proof to verify it.
In ancient Israel, the spirit of Nimrod rose from within. The Old Testament gives us a Hebrew king list which is largely composed of one despot after another who ruled the descendants of Jacob with complete disregard for God’s first intention—His children’s life and liberty. When the people of Israel turned their back on God, they turned their back on everything, and thus received the leadership they deserved.
The USA will also fail to stop the current Nimrod insurgency if we don’t get our priorities straight. Each citizen of this country is guaranteed by the Constitution the right to life. This right has been greatly curtailed, paradoxically by the government itself, that is, the government of “We the People.” We have surrendered much of the substance of our original right to life. We have created a hierarchical, bureaucratic machine which has no feeling or regard for our true welfare. We now largely look to the government instead of to God for answers to our problems. Even though our government was built in such a way to keep Nimrod from taking over, Nimrod is about to come to power anyway—we created him, and the exact creation has transpired within American Christianity.
In the early church, God spread out power and authority evenly among His people, but in the majority of today’s churches, the religious upper class rules with a velvet-gloved iron hand. If one doesn’t think this is true, then one has never challenged the ruling class as Jesus did. Those who do find out post haste that it has a dark side, that it often regards its dependents with contempt, and that its holy exterior remains that way only as long as one remains its fool:
And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.[Luke 4:28–29] [5]
© 2022 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
[2] Genesis 4:14
[3] Deuteronomy 6:5
[4] Leviticus 19:18
[5] © 2001 Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [4]: THE MISSING TRILLIONS
In the spring of 2017, a research study was initiated to determine the facts regarding the possibility that untold multiple trillions of dollars had gone missing from government accounts.
.
THE DAY BEFORE 9/11
You might recall video of an event that took place at the Pentagon on September 10, 2001 when Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense in the new Bush Administration, stunned the buttoned-down sensibilities of honest accountants and bookkeepers everywhere with the following matter-of-fact statement:
“According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion dollars in transactions.” [1]
After a Pentagon audit, this massive amount of Department of Defense spending was unaccounted for. It had somehow gone missing. For perspective, the DOD budget for the year 2001 was $313 billion.[2] The equivalent of roughly seven years of Pentagon budgets had vanished. On that day, Rumsfeld was declaring war on financial waste and possibly fraud as he announced a new plan to “save” the Pentagon. The next day, those plans, whether legitimate or not, were forgotten.
THE 2017 MISSING MONEY REPORT
As the years went by more huge sums appeared to vanish. In the Inspector General Report for the Department of Defense for 2015 the amount was $6.5 trillion.[3] Keep in mind that these two reports from 2001 and 2015, which served as the catalyst for the missing money research study, only involve the DOD and not any other government departments.
It was Catherine Austin Fitts, former assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the first Bush administration, who brought the $6.5 missing trillion to the attention of Dr. Mark Skidmore, a Michigan State University economist, in early 2017. Because the figure was so ridiculously huge he initially thought she was mistaken. Over that summer they continued the project with the assistance of two graduate students to help with a larger study and by September of 2017 had accounted for many more missing funds, officially termed “unsupported adjustments.” The total monetary amount in their report, in researching and compiling documents for only the Department of Defense between the years of 1998-2015, was a whopping $21 trillion. They found an additional $350 billion missing at HUD.
To put these numbers in proper perspective, the entire Gross National Product of the USA in the year 2019 was 21.429 trillion.[4] Where does such money go? How is it possible that the DOD cannot account for a number effectively matching the entire 2019 GDP of the nation? It is impossible that these numbers are mere government accounting errors. How would such errors originate? How would such errors continue to progenerate?
ACCESSING THE 2017 MISSING MONEY REPORT
The report is entitled: Summary Report on “Unsupported Journal Voucher Adjustments” in the Financial Statements of the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Defense and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
You can access the history and documentation page of the report at The Solari Report website, published by Catherine Austin Fitts, containing an embedded link of the five page report, here.
ADDITIONAL SOURCE MATERIAL
For further reading and to get better acquainted with the facts and history of this monumental work, I suggest the following:
MSU Scholars Find $21 Trillion in Unauthorized Government Spending; Defense Department to Conduct First-Ever Audit (© Michigan State University, December 11, 2017)
Is Our Government Intentionally Hiding $21 Trillion In Spending? (© Forbes Magazine, July 21, 2018)
EPILOGUE
After Catherine and Mark authored their report and posted it, including the many links and documentation, it was soon discovered that government report and document links had been disabled, which suggested a purposeful response by parties who may wish to keep the information concealed. In Part 3 of this series I informed you that as of October 1, 2018, there was no longer any guarantee that government accounting and budget figures could be verified. One wonders if that FASAB change was also made in response to the missing $21 trillion. These actions are largely unprecedented and all Americans should be rightfully concerned. Why did elected officials sign off on this? Why are next to no elected officials shining any light on this? The President and leaders of the Senate and House have approved of the processes resulting in multiple trillions of dollars gone missing. Where did it go? What are they using it for? Someone must be held accountable.
I hope you have enjoyed this series and that it added to your knowledge on the subject. I would appreciate it if you would share my site, continue your own research, and spread the news.
All of us must continue to be better informed.
© 2020 by R.J. Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 4]
[1] https://youtu.be/NkgQ4GpIalI (Quote located at 7:54)
[2] https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/military-spending-defense-budget
[3] DODIG-2016-113-1.pdf
[4] https://www.statista.com/topics/772/gdp/
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [1]: YOUR FUTURE IS BEING STOLEN
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [2]: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING (AND REFORM?)
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [3]: “FEDERAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 56, CLASSIFIED ACTIVITIES”
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [3]: “FEDERAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 56, CLASSIFIED ACTIVITIES”
Two years ago, while America was captivated by the contentious Kavanaugh hearings, a new government accounting statement, much more significant in scope was issued, essentially in secret.
.
Dear readers: If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend reading Part 1 and Part 2 of this series before proceeding with this article. Part 2 is especially necessary as a prerequisite to set the tone for understanding and receiving the full scope of the information contained here.
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING GONE DARK?
Many Americans were closely following the Congressional hearings regarding the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh two years ago in September and October of 2018. In what became a showboating ridiculous political circus charged with posturing and innuendo at the expense of one man’s reputation and the nation’s as a whole, another event took place behind the scenes out of the public eye. Whether or not it was planned that way, the reality show-esque hearings certainly gave great cover to the announcement of a new government accounting statement of great import and vast ramifications. FASAB [1] released the statement on October 4, 2018 and made it retroactively effective after Sunday, September 30, 2018.
Entitled Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards 56, Classified Activities,[2] it has apparently transformed what was previously and ostensibly the normative practice of transparent government-wide accounting procedures into one in which exact details and amounts of publicly available financial reports are potentially in whole or part subjected to classified status for the sake of national security.
Of course, it is not stated exactly that way but such is the apparent effect. It thus appears that Americans can thus no longer know the exact truth about any department or agency budget or expenditures. For the sake of national security the numbers we are given may be correct or may be adjusted. There is now, seemingly, no way to know. The likelihood is that most Americans are still not aware of this and never will be.
I found out about it not long after it happened through simple research and following the work of a few key people online who keep an eye out for such open source information available to everyone. Perhaps you may be discovering this for the first time.
POLITICAL THEATER?
It will also interest you to know that two years ago, while the Republicans and Democrats were at each other’s throats and presenting to the world a picture of absolute hatred for the other during the wacked-out Congressional hearings, the top Republican and Democrat leaders, including the President, were cheerily signing off on the new FASAB accounting statement. You may wonder why there was no Rose Garden ceremony or large press conference before the Capitol building to announce this far-reaching and all-encompassing change. Could it be due to the nature of the statement?
In Part 2 we learned that a better overall government accounting method was initiated back in 1990 due to admitted problems in prior times, intended or not. Whatever became of the full extent of that effort regarding actual positive change will probably never be known, and now, with the onset of Federal Financial Accounting Standards 56 a mere twenty-eight years later, it likely no longer matters. Any accounting errors that may exist may be unknowable. Any need for internal reform would seem to be pointless. Do Americans still have access to where their tax money goes and what it is used for? I’m sure financial statements of such will continue to be produced but due to the nature of the new statement, how will anyone know if such are actually accurate?
Is government accounting now unaccountable?
© 2020 by R.J. Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 3]
.
For more information on this subject, I would like to first introduce you to a brilliant person of sterling reputation and prolific work from which I first received this news two years ago—Catherine Austin Fitts. I am sure some of you are already familiar with her writings and interviews. Her website, which I highly recommend, is The Solari Report available here.
An excellent in-depth Solari Report article on this subject is available here.
[1] The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. See Part 2 of this series for introductory information.
[2] files.fasab.gov/pdffiles/original_sffas_56.pdf
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [1]: YOUR FUTURE IS BEING STOLEN
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [2]: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING (AND REFORM?)
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [2]: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING (AND REFORM?)
Americans assume the government has always kept good books. We assume that since the very beginning of the Republic, government accountants have kept strict written financial records of all transactions accessible to all.
.
“And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him?” [Job 31:14]
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING
I confess this is an area I have never delved into or have any interest in and therefore have no idea what the facts actually are regarding historical government accounting practices. And, due to the nature of such an all-encompassing subject that would appear to take several lifetimes to get a handle on, I will leave it to others to research the subject as I’m sure many already have.
All of us have a need for accounting. We all must keep financial records. I would think the record keeping of most people is likely not so complicated but can always present a challenge. Small businesses must have extensive accounting departments to keep track of everything. Two hundred years ago it was obviously much simpler. Over the course of the prior century keeping proper financial records grew much more burdensome due to an exponential increase in mandatory compliance toward new government agencies on every level including massive new infrastructures to support, but also as the monetary byproduct of a higher standard of living. In other words, simpler times when much less was required to live were also simpler to account for and document.
I’m sure there’s a graph out there illustrating government growth over the last 245 years, and I would think it shows a low steady climb from the bottom of the left side (1776) to maybe the mid-1800s as we move toward the right when it probably has a small upward jolt (The Civil War) and continues on a slightly higher steady climb until about the magical year of 1913 at roughly the middle of the graph. At this point there would be a higher climb until a huge jump during the 1930s and into WWII. After this one would hope the paper on which the graph was printed was tall enough because government spending likely grew beyond a 45-degree ascent and continued unabated exponentially toward dizzying heights until the present. As of now we are precariously balanced on a sharp nearly vertical pinnacle shooting majestically off the graph on the far right side into government accounting oblivion.
Did federal accounting manage to keep up in its transition from millions to billions to untold trillions? Is there an actual honest record of all expenditures? Is such a record available to every American taxpayer/investor? Could someone choose a particular year of our history and access all accounting records? The answer, of course, is a resounding no. And even if one could, one could never know about any money spent that was officially “off the books.” Known in some circles as dark money, there is certainly a need for utilizing such for various reasons, especially national defense, primarily regarding the comprehensive though indeterminate reason of national security. Therefore, one must assume that there must be at least two sets of books and also the possibility in some cases of no books at all. And in this we must conclude that no, there can likely never be any actual accounting for of all monies appropriated and spent by government agencies.
Again, being pretty much the opposite of an expert in this field with no desire to research it out, I cannot say when or if attempts first began to possibly rectify poor accounting procedures so I will simply start with fairly recent developments.
THE FEDERAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ADVISORY BOARD
Mission Statement:
The FASAB serves the public interest by improving federal financial reporting through issuing federal financial accounting standards and providing guidance after considering the needs of external and internal users of federal financial information.[1]
According to its website, FASAB had its initial origins in 1990 when Congress passed the Chief Financial Officer’s Act (CFO Act), requiring audited financial statements, in accordance with applicable standards, for selected federal reporting entities. It was a step toward the comprehensive requirement for audited financial statements established in 1994 by the Government Management Reform Act. Congress passed the CFO Act in part due to concerns about highly publicized financial management problems at various federal agencies.[2]
One must assume this meant there was a serious systemic accounting problem prior to that time. Low level problems and basic accounting fraud in general would not have registered as a great enough offense to require the new law. The CFO Act must have therefore had not mere elementary reform in mind but something much more substantial. And how does that happen? How do the heads of the aforementioned federal agencies allow for such highly publicized management problems? A great many accountants, auditors, and congressional staff [3] were aware of major problems. It must have been exceptionally bad with so many government workers from various agencies blowing the whistle.
By this time you may be getting the big idea that government accounting in general has historically not been so accountable. An effort was made for reform in 1950 with The Budget and Accounting Procedures Act but this was apparently not deemed mandatory and did not involve anything close to full participation. Indeed, some questioned whether it was constitutional for a legislative agency to define accounting standards for an executive agency.[4]
One can only imagine the depth of government accounting incompetence and a total lack of proper oversight and standards that took place over the next forty years (1950-1990). Again, you are getting this information not from government critics but from the government itself. All the information in italics is from the FASAB website. The very creation of FASAB was due to the government itself answering the call to implement system-wide reforms. How much this was driven by concerned American taxpayers in general is not specified but I would think it was not much of a factor, especially during that time period. It was an era when Americans so fully trusted its government most people were completely unaware of any number of scandals and secrets which have since been revealed. Remember, the majority of the country fully supported the Vietnam War (1965-1973) and that tells us pretty much everything.
It was not until 1990 that the government finally decided to get a handle on the accounting “problem” by instituting corrective reform of general accounting procedures with the specific provision of utilizing both the executive and legislative branches working together. Imagine that.
On October 10, 1990, then Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady, Director of OMB Richard Darman, and Comptroller General Charles Bowsher jointly agreed to create and sponsor the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) by signing a “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Among the General Accounting Office, the Department of the Treasury, and the Office of Management and Budget on Federal Government Accounting Standards and a Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board.” FASAB would consider and recommend the appropriate accounting standards for the federal government. For the first time, the legislative and executive branches agreed to work together in an agreed framework, with an open, public process, to determine the accounting standards that federal agencies should follow.[5]
In our next segment we will discuss a recent relatively unknown but extremely serious development within FASAB that takes government accounting on an unaccountable magical mystery tour.
© 2020 by R.J. Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 2]
[1] https://fasab.gov/about-fasab/mission-objectives/
[2] https://fasab.gov/about-fasab/fasab-history/the-history-of-fasab/
[3] https://fasab.gov/about-fasab/fasab-history/the-history-of-fasab/
[4] https://fasab.gov/about-fasab/fasab-history/the-history-of-fasab/
[5] https://fasab.gov/about-fasab/fasab-history/the-history-of-fasab/
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [1]: YOUR FUTURE IS BEING STOLEN
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [3]: “FEDERAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 56, CLASSIFIED ACTIVITIES”
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [1]: YOUR FUTURE IS BEING STOLEN
Once a person declares absolute support for the Lord Jesus and a total commitment to Him, it forever transforms every aspect of his life. It is a 100% proposition. The Lord becomes one’s ultimate authority.
.
MANY CHRISTIANS REMAIN ASLEEP AND UNAWARE
A probable majority of people simply do not believe in the idea of hidden overlords ruling the world. Most dismiss any idea of a few great ones, swelled by stolen wealth and power, orchestrating world events for their own benefit and in the process using human beings as mere chattel to meet their nefarious goals. And what are their goals? Very simply, it is obtaining possession of enough power and wealth to direct world events according to personal desires. Wealth grants power. Power allows for the obtaining of wealth. Each allows for more of the other. Great wealth and power allows for greater freedom to do whatever they want. Ultimately, they want to control the entire world and thereby profess themselves as effective deities.
GONNA HAVE TO SERVE SOMEBODY
Honest people realize early on that if they choose to attempt to acquire wealth it will be much more difficult to do so honestly than to do so dishonestly. They value honesty more than wealth. They decide they would rather be honest than wealthy if the only way to be wealthy is to be dishonest. This forces them to appropriate a much more difficult task and a longer road with no guarantee they will ever succeed, especially since they must compete with cheaters. By putting morality above wealth, wealth, if gained, will never control them. Thus, wealth is not necessarily evil in and of itself as long as one never falls under its spell.
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Luke 16:13]
On the other hand, once a person decides that honesty will have no deciding role in his attempt to acquire wealth, it makes wealth accumulation much easier. This should be obvious to all. If one decides to lie and cheat one’s way to the top, so to speak, there is no end to the grease one can appropriate for proverbial wheels and palms. Dishonest people, when very young, are somewhat dumbfounded at how easy it is to deceive people. If a person with great drive and determination decides to deceive to get ahead there is a wide open door for success. If such a person also happens to have a certain charisma and charm all the better. And better yet, if a person learns how to lie and cheat while appearing for all intents and purposes to be forthright and honest, his or her dishonesty will remain hidden to most. Once such a person gains enough wealth to afford the services of such people who are masters at eliminating his dirty footprints that would otherwise be easily traceable, making it virtually impossible for most people to follow his trail, the majority are none the wiser that any evil is associated with such a person or that any nefarious activity has ever taken place. This has allowed the true character of the most wicked human beings on the planet to become effectively invisible. Not only to they hire valued dirt scrubbers but also disinformation agents to create a false public persona as well as false fronts hiding their evil power and wealth accumulation practices.
THE DEVIL WAS ONCE A GOOD GUY
He was perhaps the most bright and shining of all the angels in heaven. We can trace his origins in the Book of Revelation and his subsequent great fall when he allowed his own pride and arrogance to overtake his good sense and reason. He convinced a third of the angels of heaven to join him in rebellion against their Creator and revolt in a thoroughly ridiculous and misguided attempt to overthrow God. It was no doubt a great war but a lost cause from the start. Their initial penalty was being cast out of heaven and to Planet Earth where they have been ever since. Satan’s ultimate penalty will be the Lake of Fire and total destruction.
His human counterparts will eventually suffer the same fate. Remember, the angels who joined with Satan had no natural antipathy toward their Creator but were deceived into believing He was deficient in some way and not actually concerned about their lives and welfare, but existed only as a tyrant keeping them down and unable to fulfill their true fate. It was all a lie and came forth from the father of lies who, once leaving the spiritual Light and taking on darkness, acquired the great ability, as transformed from his former ability to shed light, into a dark being with a pronounced power of darkness. This included great deception which he utilized on his captured fellow angels, having bewitched them into doing the unthinkable.
He does the same to human beings. Those who would naturally never even think of betraying God or those they may be in covenant with will turn on a dime once convinced through the powers of deception to betray former friends and join what is essentially a mind cult in subservience to lies and misinformation. It is the only way the devil could create an army and is the same way wicked human beings in positions of great power create armies to serve them and do their dirty work. And anything in opposition to God and His goodness is dirty work.
MASTER SELLOUTS
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” [Matthew 16:26][1]
It has always intrigued me the way otherwise intelligent people can be overcome by greed and the quest for supreme power. How can they not understand that their time in a human body is limited? Why do they think it a prudent thing to cast all reason to the wind for whatever they may gain in a temporary world? Even if they live to the century mark and acquire the equivalent of billions or in a few cases even trillions of dollars they must leave it all behind at death. Maybe their lack of belief in an afterlife is their most compelling of reasons to grab all they can while they can, in their belief that only a fool would forego present pleasure for an unproven future hope. However, their greatest reason for living a life of wickedness (though couched in respectability) in pursuit of power and wealth is due to the spiritual blindness they have brought upon themselves through a rejection of spiritual light. Since one cannot sin without conviction while in the light and in possession of a healthy working conscience, the desire to seek great wealth and power through evil means forces the leaving behind of light and the embracing of evil forces toward evil gains, as well as killing one’s conscience—a blessed built-in arbiter of right and wrong.
Again, Satan is the prototype for such behavior, as one so strong he would challenge God. Every human being who implements this sordid behavior is essentially engaging in the same rebellion in that God is seen as an opposing force keeping one down and from achieving his rightful destiny. Eve fell for this lie like a rock. She had no capacity, understanding, or experience to know she was being played. Her salvation was in her deference to Adam who was certainly aware of the devil and his tricks and as long as she stayed loyal to him all would have remained well.
It is the same with real Christians and the Lord. We don’t often know the whys and wherefores but we do know our close relationship with the Lord must be gained and maintained at all costs, no matter what they may be, because without His guidance, direction, providence, spiritual strength, and love we will have no more than a snowball’s chance in hell. Refusing one’s relationship with Him for temporary pleasure, even if it means being one of the richest and powerful few on the planet, works only as long as one draws breath. This is not a good bargain. Intelligent people with a working conscience in good order know this. Hence, the powerful people running the world have obviously been willingly overtaken by evil and are deceived regarding the actions and chosen purpose of their lives. They must believe something contrary to the truth regarding what happens after death and that it somehow will be personally beneficial, and thus have no fear of future justice.
To sum up, dishonesty breeds dishonesty. Sin creates spiritual blindness. Those who choose evil against humanity for the sake of personal gain, especially on a massive scale, must be exposed and held to account.
© 2020 by R.J. Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 1]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [2]: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING (AND REFORM?)
HIDDEN WEALTH TRANSFER [3]: FEDERAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 56, CLASSIFIED ACTIVITIES
PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (4-Part Series)
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. [2 Timothy 1:7 KJV]
March 12, 2020: PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Part 1)
The Lord Jesus came to save His people. But many of His people had already sold out to their religious leaders. They did this in part because they were deathly afraid of them…
March 12, 2020: PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Part 2)
Regarding the sinning priest problem, some argue that the Catholic Church is not actually as guilty as claimed, in that such episodes are only rare sporadic events. This is simply more window-washing to minimize the charges…
March 13, 2020: PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Part 3)
It all started in Babylon during the Captivity in roughly 600 BC. It continued to develop over the next four centuries. It came to its full fruition with the emerging Pharisee Party two centuries before the Lord…
March 14, 2020: PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Part 4)
What I have presented with this four-part series goes beyond surface truth. There is a parable at work here revealing destructive forces. For the few who have ventured thus far, you are ahead of the curve…
© 2020 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Part 3)
.
It all started in Babylon during the Captivity in roughly 600 BC. It continued to develop over the next four centuries. It came to its full fruition with the emerging Pharisee Party two centuries before the Lord.
.
JUDAIC ROOTS OF UNREAL CHRISTIANITY
In the first century AD, the Lord Jesus called that last generation of Israelites the most wicked of all. Much of the wickedness, though, was being performed by, you guessed it, a few, those few not in the pew. Whether it was the vaunted Sadducees who controlled the temple and worked hand in glove politically with the otherwise hated Romans, or the ultra-casuistic Pharisees who created an entirely new “word of God,” the Oral Torah in which they themselves were the god and which was designed to suit themselves and gain and maintain power, the Jewish religious leaders lived to lord it over the people. The millions of Israelites at that time, whether at home in Judea or abroad, were under the absolute authority of such leaders, most especially the Pharisees, the Separated Ones. This was largely the genesis of rabbinical Judaism.
The people had no say so. They were told what to believe. They were held to extremely strict standards. Those who refused the authority of the Pharisees were utterly despised by them as mongrels and traitors to the commonwealth. What does that tell us? This is why the Pharisees had such disdain for Galileans and utter disgust for Samaritans.
They saw themselves as God’s highest and best. They were so “aware” and “in-tune” they legitimized an unwritten minutia-ridden oral law code that overstepped the Law of Moses and no one knew the finer abstract workings of this code than them.
They created it, taking upon themselves the guise of God, though God had nothing to do with it. And they then browbeat their constituents into compulsory acceptance under threat. This put everyone else on the defensive, both due to ignorance of the law and because one could never know for sure if they had violated it until confronted with the violation. It should be clear then, that Israelites lived on the edge and were often in a state of worry.
Yet the Lord indicated that the scribes and Pharisees inherited the seat of Moses, and He said one must do as they teach. The inference is that one must obey them as it regards the Mosaic Law. He also said, however, that one must not follow their example because they only talk the talk and do not walk the walk.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” [Matthew 23:13][1]
Who else other than the Lord Jesus had the boldness to instruct disciples in this way? Who else dared to use his position of authority to tell Israelites that the Pharisees set a rotten example? We know that answer is next to no one because if one did he would have an ugly fight on his hands in seconds.
It is why the nation was so afraid of the religious leaders. Their entire lives were subjected to whether or not a person was in good standing in the synagogue and only the few at the top had absolute control of their fate. The people thus must make sure they crossed every yod and dotted every tittle or the man would come down on their head. The most successful obeyers developed the worst attitude and became sideways browbeaters in league with the top-down browbeaters. If you kept trying to succeed at this idiocy but couldn’t pull it off (because you were normal), you got it from everywhere. Those who hated the entire insufferable enterprise, however, knew they best keep their opinions and facial expressions to themselves or word would get out. You couldn’t trust anybody. They would out you. You could get ratted out by any number of Judases in a heartbeat.
Here we have another of those amazing traits regarding humanity. Why not rise up? Why not make the attempt to throw off the yoke? There were only a few who fit this category, for one thing. But those who actually did it and meant to make something of it eventually began banding together. Their effort was not necessarily against the religious leaders but for national Israel. They couldn’t see how playing church would oust the Romans. But they were not about to do it God’s way. These were the Zealots. They were otherwise known in the New Testament as robbers. A faction of these, known for hidden daggers in their cloaks to be used on a moment’s notice, was the Sicarii.
The Zealots grew more ruthless over time. They developed a few key leaders who held sway over thousands of Israelites. In the end they would bring forth the Great Revolt that brought down the nation.
Another major sect was the Essenes. These were for the most part monastics that had long before rejected the authority of the corrupt temple priests and created their own highly-controlled aesthetic order. This too, of course, was run by an elevated religious caste.
What was a first century Jew to do? There was little escape from the suffocating lack of personal liberty and freedom in the Lord. Much of everything God did in the very beginning in the times of Abraham and Moses to create a people for His Name eventually got twisted and subverted. It developed into heavy-handed domination by a ruling cabal of autocratic religious despots and political subversives given over to money and power.
Sound familiar?
© 2020 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (PART 1)
PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Part 2)
Regarding the sinning priest problem, some argue that the Catholic Church is not actually as guilty as claimed, in that such episodes are only rare sporadic events. This is simply more window-washing to minimize the charges.
.
It appears that way because it was hidden and much of it remained hidden. Much of it is still hidden. But it’s been going on forever. And for forever they were never caught. They were never caught because it was part of an inner culture. It was part of the deep inner workings separated from public view and oversight. Those who knew were afraid to say anything. Catholics and the general public were never the wiser until victims of abuse began talking. Other victims of abuse had undoubtedly talked in the past but their voices were suppressed. It was not until enough victims of abuse began coming forth that the issue was finally addressed officially. Many Catholics were absolutely shocked. Some spoke out quite forcibly. Most Catholics said very little and would rather the entire issue went away. It was embarrassing.
THE LORD JESUS IS ON RECORD OF KNOWING HOW TO CLEAN HOUSE
But the fact remains that some insiders always knew about it but did nothing about it. They simply covered it up. The cause was never addressed. The house was never cleaned. The corruption was too widespread. It would cause a disruption. They were afraid. When the news was revealed the process began to deal with it and corrective measures were applied. Whether they have worked or are working is a different issue, but the Catholic Church should be commended for the attempt to right a wrong.
Yet, Catholics were taken advantage of and their absolute support with no questions asked was taken for granted. The Catholic clergy knows full well that most Catholics will always remain Catholics no matter what happens. They know this in part because they are well aware of the excellent success rate of their Catholic indoctrination program, which they have been masters at for centuries, and which starts upon the impressionable minds of very young children. So making quick priest transfers to new venues where the people are none the wiser solved two problems at once: The bad guy is gone but still works for us elsewhere.
It is interesting that by comparison, however, you don’t hear as much about the same problem in mainline Protestantism. Could this be due to a possible lowering of standards?
Whatever the case, there is no doubt that everyone knows who wields the power. A minister’s job (and for many that is all it is) and his very life is dependent upon upper management, unless he or she is part of an organization in which church members vote for prospective preachers, in which case he or she is controlled by them instead, because if they can vote you in they can also vote you out. Either way, including in Catholicism, the minister’s salary comes from above and he or she had better play by the rules, which, in essence, means to do what they say. This upper handedness and subtle fear mongering is even extended to the congregation, but rather than career and salary being used to keep one in line, it is the church member’s credibility and reputation. No one wants to be perceived as a deviant or become a social pariah. This is in part why all church and ministry organizations have bylaws. Again, they must protect the enterprise and the enterprise depends on everyone fulfilling their duty.
They create the doctrinal statement they live by, which may extend to book length, and then force all members to toe the mark. If changes to the doctrinal statement happen along the way, including radical changes, it is up to the membership to get in line with the new rules. Some may not like the new rules, however, but are powerless to stop their acceptance. Their only choice is to vote with their feet, though most don’t. The rules and rule changes often descend from on high though some Christian organizations involve a limited vote.
Regarding the selection of church leaders, most churches remain in the dark ages and grant their congregations no voice. These are not democracies. For example, when it comes to selecting a new Catholic pope, the highest ecclesiastical office on the planet, the voting is extremely limited to a small group within the College of Cardinals, which, as of December 2019, consisted of only 223 members. The inner group allowed to vote comprises an even smaller number of cardinals and its members are called the cardinal electors. As of last October there were 128 cardinal electors though there have never been more than 120 during any previous conclave that selected a pope.
These electors are appointed by the pope.
The new pope is almost always a cardinal.
This means that as of October 2019 there are only 129 men in absolute rule over an organization of a billion members worldwide.
The Pope appoints the voters.
The voters choose the Pope.
This is the definition of a top-of-the-pyramid controlling clique.
So again, the hierarchies of Christian organizations, whether Catholic or Protestant or Pentecostal or whatever, know that most of their powerless members will always go along with whatever they pronounce. How is this different from a cult?
It is the very antithesis of the Lord’s real Community in which every single member is an equal, the only difference being spiritual maturity level.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. [Galatians 3:26-29][1]
© 2020 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (PART 1)
PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (Part 1)
The Lord Jesus came to save His people. But many of His people had already sold out to their religious leaders. They did this in part because they were deathly afraid of them.
.
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 12:42-43]
Christians more concerned about their church social credibility than serving the Lord Jesus express a faithless fearfulness. At the heart of their infidelity is a refusal to fully submit to the Lord and real discipleship. The origin of their fear is usually traced back to the people in charge. They are the ones who make the rules, one of which is submission to their authority. Yet they subject themselves to no effective accountability. The laity, on the other hand, has little or no authority in most churches and thus represents a lower class. The members thereof must submit to the leadership to be in good standing.
This is similar to a two-tiered justice system in which the elite are shielded from liability. If one is a member in good standing of the higher-ups club, one gets away with anything. If not, one is on one’s own and is vulnerable. And if such a one refuses to obey the Lord, one had better suck up to a substitute leadership group for his own protection and livelihood.
NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATIONS
In this regard, we often see the professional clergy, the upper class ruling over the lower class, projecting the same status. They create a ruling clique and defend it. They institute complex initiation inclusion protocols. They authorize unifying doctrinal statements. They stick together. They never deviate from the script. They go to bat for one another, which is one of the highly desired perks of the profession. This results in career advancement and security. They also protect one another from justice when that need is required. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Roman Catholic hierarchy protecting sinful priests, Protestant officials of most stripes doing the same for their respective ministers who stray into the same sins or others, or the bigwigs in Christian television who never reveal the underhanded goings on in that field of ministry. It’s a shame too, because many Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, and Christian television personalities do not engage in such secret sins.
But the sin just as big is refusing to reveal what would otherwise be the bigger sins. And those who engage in this practice do it for one reason only: Fear. They must protect themselves. They must protect the brand. They must protect the reputation of the enterprise. They must also protect the cash flow. I remember watching Christian television probably a couple decades back and there it was, once again, like so many times before. A Christian television personality caught in serious sin was right back on the air doing his thing. He had repented of his sin, you see. And he was way too valuable to leave off the air.
Remember, it is often the case that the most successful ministers are the greater money magnets. Rather than serve the living God and operate through the power of His Holy Spirit, they operate through the power of worldly wealth and unregenerate flesh, both of which attract demonic influence.
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” [Luke 16:13-15][1]
© 2020 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
PHARISEE CONTROL TACTICS: THE SPIRIT OF FEAR (PART 2)
THE TRUTH DIALOGUES (COMPILATION)
In early to mid-December of 2017 I posted a three-part series called The Truth Dialogues. These posts are parabolic in nature revealing hidden truths for those with eyes to see.
.
In these posts one will discover figurative indicators of hidden subterfuge currently being revealed in the real world in real time. There is an exposing process taking place on the national scene as preparatory to a national cleansing process. The corruption had reached massive levels with next to zero accountability. The bold hubris of the people involved reached astronomical proportions, both for what was never before attempted and also for the complete disregard for the law, individual rights, common decency, and basic morality.
The Lord told anyone who was listening during His ministry that the massive corruption of His time was about to be exposed and dealt with, and He was the first one on the scene after John the Immerser to begin the process. His ministry not only featured the presentation of truth and the hope of salvation being made readily available for those who were willing, it was also greatly reformative. He would shine His pure Light on all the hidden vermin, rats, and roaches that had wrested control for monetary controlling purposes and selfish, immoral personal agendas, and expose them for all to see. He would also, in the end, bring everlasting judgment on the cabal in question.
Here is your opportunity to revisit these posts and discover light for our present times as new information of relatively recent misdeeds keeps rolling in:
December 01, 2017: THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: EPISODE 1
December 05, 2017: THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: EPISODE 2
December 19, 2017: THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: EPISODE 3
© 2018 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: Episode 1
`
“Sir, you are on record of saying that one cannot be a good American and a good Christian, and that one must choose one or the other. Is that true?”
.
“Well, I never said that. I said something some may think is related to your incorrect characterization, but not according to those terms.”
“What did you say?”
“I said there are times when a Christian must choose their Christianity over the desires of their ruling authorities.”
“But what does that mean exactly?”
“It means the same thing that Peter and John meant when they said real believers must choose the Lord’s will and preach the real Gospel instead of obeying opposing authorities.”
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.”
When they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened… [Acts 4:15-21] [1]
“Why would you use that passage? I don’t understand your reasoning or the application of that case in this discussion. We have complete freedom of religion in this country. How does Peter and John’s quote apply here?”
“Do we really have complete freedom of religion in this country?”
“According to the Constitution of the United States we do.”
“But is the Constitution actually being applied to uphold the beliefs and values of Christians? And for that matter, is the Bill of Rights actually allowed expression in churches? If Constitutional rights are not allowed in churches and if governments can bypass the Constitution as well, then where is legally-granted spiritual liberty actually allowed? Don’t we have reams of recent data in the political realm over the last few decades in which it is obvious that Christian beliefs are being attacked or at least not being supported as they should be, and that Constitutional support for freedom of religion is only being applied selectively, usually against Christianity but in favor of other religions and beliefs?”
“I am not sure what you are referring to unless you mean segments of far right Christianity or even forms of Christianity which the majority of Christians are against.”
“So, by characterizing those forms of Christianity under attack in America you agree that it is okay to violate the Constitutional rights of those particular Christians?”
“No, I do not mean that. I mean that some forms of Christianity are not supported by Scripture.”
“But who makes that decision? Where is the grand tribunal that decides such things? Who is the final arbiter of what constitutes the actual correct interpretation of Christianity? And who gets to decide which Christians have no rights and which Christians do? Should not all Christian individuals and groups have the same exact right to freely believe in and practice what the members thereof believe to be correct? Isn’t that what freedom of religion actually entails?”
“Although there is no great Christian Law Court which decides which form of Christianity is correct, I think that Christians themselves usually decide who is right by the sheer numbers believing in particular interpretations.”
“You mean the bigger the denomination or church the more likely it is right?”
“Not exactly, but it would appear that, if all Christians read the same Bible, that majority groups would appear to have the best grasp of what the Bible actually states.”
“So you are saying that one of the true tests of correct interpretation is that a majority must prevail and that Christian minority opinions and interpretations do not hold as much weight regarding their beliefs and should therefore not be granted the same degree of rights to protect their beliefs and practices?”
“Technically, the Constitution protects all Christian individuals and groups, even minorities. But when the large majority Christian bodies reject such minorities, it must mean something significant.”
“Is the something significant fair? Is it just? Is it legal? Is it supported by the Lord? Is the coming together of large bodies against the smaller bodies proof that the larger bodies are more correct in their beliefs? Or is it simply the case that the larger bodies are more powerful, influential, and therefore prejudicial?”
“How is it even possible that the larger bodies could be more prejudicial? Isn’t it obvious that the larger the Christian body the more likely such a body is scripturally correct? And doesn’t this then justify any partiality or bias it may possess against smaller Christian offshoots?”
“Do you hear what you are saying? You are stating that might makes right. I am not here defending non-Scriptural Christian beliefs though I will always side with the truth regardless of church or denomination size. Not only that, but freedom of religion is most directly applied to individuals, and must be. Your original query involved the question of whether or not a Christian must sometimes make a choice between his or her beliefs and authority figures who oppose his or her beliefs, and whether such authority figures, either religious or secular, including one’s prevailing government, can be allowed to censor and hinder the beliefs and practices of Christians. I never said a Christian must choose between his beliefs and his country, as you have implied.”
“But are not those two the same? Is not the government of a country essentially and effectively the same as one’s country?”
“Okay. I know you’re playing dumb here for the sake of argument or whatever, and you are trying to get me to say something in such a way that you can twist for your own purposes.”
“I’m not saying that at all. I understand perfectly well the difference between one’s country and one’s current government, but one’s current government in free countries who vote for their leaders is placed in power by the people who vote which means the government reflects the will of the people, which means one’s current government is essentially the same as one’s country at any given time, right?”
“No. Wrong. You could not be more wrong and I don’t believe you are shooting straight with me at all because that’s an asinine argument. One’s country is one’s country. It has in many cases existed a long time, often centuries, and is an entity completely separate from any government of that country which exists at any given time in its history. Also, people change. People become corrupt. Sometimes, if not most times, the corruption begins very small and escapes detection. The corrupt, through inside influence based on money and power, get away with things and continue in their corruption. When no one notices the corruption or no one successfully rises up to stop the corruption in its early stages it metastasizes and eventually grows to a place in which it cannot be stopped. But the corruption does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in the hearts of people. If the corruption, the evil, is not dealt with by the good, then the corruption prevails. We have seen this happen in many countries, in that a small cabal of corrupt ones masquerading as good guys deceives the people into believing in them and supporting them. Entire countries have thus become corrupted merely by deceiving the majority. The same thing happens in churches and denominations. So no, majority opinion means absolutely nothing as an arbiter of truth.”
“Though I don’t necessarily agree with all you are saying, you have brought up some very interesting points about how Christians must live out their faith in this changing world. Would you care to continue this dialogue in another segment soon?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
© 2017 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
CHRISTIANITY HELD HOSTAGE
Unreal Christianity is a deceptive reflection of the authoritative, controlling, mammon-serving world of sinful man in opposition to the Lord Jesus.
.
THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST
The facts are what they are. The real teachings of the Lord Jesus as recorded in the New Covenant writings expose a wicked system of human management by sinful leaders located in every society, country, and empire outside the Kingdom of God and that the devil rules over all. This wicked system had even invaded and taken control among the Lord’s own people.
Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” [Matthew 4:8-9]
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. [Romans 12:2]
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [2Corinthians 4:3-4]
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. [1Timothy 6:17]
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. [1John 4:2-3]
It is still somewhat amazing that many Christians can read the gospels and not see this. Why can they not see the clear fact that God Himself showed up as one of us in part to reveal and expose the devil and his evil machinations in ruling over and abusing humanity and that the devil still rules over and abuses unregenerate humanity to this day?
.
UNSALTY UNSEEING MAMMON-BASED CHRISTIANITY
“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” [Luke 14:34-35]
And He also spoke a parable to them: A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.” [Luke 6:39-40]
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Matthew 6:24] [1]
There was a time when the evil one was exposed and preached against in Christian circles but I challenge anyone to find this today. It is rare. Especially on TV. The vast majority of Christian enterprises refuse to mention him or speak of all the things the Lord did regarding him. It is readily apparent therefore, that what the Lord said regarding money and the pursuit of wealth must be in large part the reason why.
Money-first ministries in general never mention the truth in this regard. Could it be because just as the devil controls the world outside the Lord’s Kingdom he also controls most financial resources?
It is clear, then, that money-first Christian ministries do not dare bite the hand that feeds or do anything which might disrupt or jeopardize their money supply. They have also been conditioned over many years to arrange for and base success on the ability to gain and maintain monetary resources.
The bigger the ministry the more dependent it is on money. The more it is dependent on money the more likely it will be compromised. The more it is compromised the less likely it will ever preach and teach the truth as the Lord did. Such ministries are not Kingdom-oriented because they are not in the Kingdom. They have created their own kingdoms in which the Lord Jesus is not in charge—they are. And as such they deceive their people and hold them hostage against the truth.
© 2017 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 2)
There are several reasons people lie. The greatest overall reason is to serve oneself. The two predominant purposes are for the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. The devil wants to rule the entire planet through these very pursuits. There have always been certain people throughout history who desired and attempted the same, and some have actually ruled great portions of the globe, but no one has ever ruled the entire planet.
The devil uses these people very easily. He uses them because he owns them. He owns them because they fail (miserably) the three principal temptations that the Lord Jesus passed when He triumphed over Satan prior to the start of His ministry. These may be termed the three core temptations of mankind, since they strike directly at the human heart and at the heart of one’s prospective walk with and obedience toward God. The way a person responds to this three-pronged attack from the pitchfork guy gives an excellent indication of his or her future viability as a solid disciple of the Lord, otherwise known as a Real Christian. What follows is the scorecard of the losers:
Failed Temptation #1:
Using one’s God-given talents to serve God and help people for one’s own personal enrichment. Living for self. Loving the world. Refusing to live for God: “MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD” [Matthew 4:4]. In this passage, the Lord is quoting from Deuteronomy:
“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” [Deuteronomy 8:2-3]
Failed Temptation #2:
Refusing to live by faith. Not trusting God. Having a hardened heart of unbelief: “YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST” [Matthew 4:7]. Again, the Lord quotes from Deuteronomy: “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah” [Deuteronomy 6:16]. It was at Massah when the following occurred:
Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” [Exodus 17:1-4]
Failed Temptation #3:
Giving oneself over to the devil for personal glory and gain. The classic “selling of one’s soul.” Serving the devil instead of serving God. Lusting for power and wealth to the point of worshipping Satan: Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY’” [Matthew 4:10]. The Lord quoted from Deuteronomy for a third time:
“You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.” [Deuteronomy 6:13]
Eve was the first to be subjected to this exact line of temptation. She believed the lies of Satan. She then deceived Adam and he also believed the lies:
When the woman saw that the tree was (1) good for food, and that it was (2) a delight to the eyes, and that (3) the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. [Genesis 3:6]
Do not love the world (Kosmos) nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, (1) the lust of the flesh and (2) the lust of the eyes and (3) the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [1 John 2:15-16]
The devil promises people power and wealth. He promises to allow them to fulfill their lusts. Unrepentant people desire these things. They want the same thing the devil wants. Therefore, the devil works in tandem with humanity to build and rule his illicit kingdom which opposes God in every way. He arranges venues whereby people can have their fill of power, wealth, and lust of all kinds. He and his demons also partake by entering into human bodies and fulfilling their lusts as well. Unrepentant people and demons make a covenant to work with one another to get what each craves. This is exactly what Adam and Eve did. They joined up with the devil against God in order to fulfill their sinful lusts. They ate of the forbidden tree.
We are currently in a time when the greatest empire the world has ever seen is being built right before our eyes. This Kosmos is a worldwide economic empire that spans the globe. The devil has successfully convinced the majority of the world to go along with him in his efforts toward total rule. It is one thing to rule through certain very powerful and wealthy people and set them up as rulers under his authority. It is another thing, though, to deceive the vast majority of humanity to follow his lead by essentially promising them the same thing. All of the deceived want power and wealth and will give their lives for it, but most will only have a small portion or little at all. Yet, the dream is ever alive in their minds that they can have more, and get more, and be more.
People are thus blinded through their pursuit of wealth and power. And because they are blind, they are deceived. As the deceived, the devil does whatever he wants with them. They are his puppets.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Matthew 6:24]
What the devil’s people never seem to realize, because they are so power-hungry and have such a love of money and are blinded by it, is that they will only live on this planet for a very short time. Their bodies will die. Even if they come into their fortune at a young age, they will eventually lose everything they’ve ever gained, which is strikingly temporal.
Unrepentant people are easily deceived.
Rulers and politicians have therefore learned that in order to be successful, all they have to do is fool the majority.
This process is going on right now with reference to the presidential election. Every candidate except one is either lying about his past record, is downplaying it or trying to cover it up, or both. These men know all they must do is fool the majority. They also know that the majority do not take the time to educate themselves about the candidates. They know the majority will believe lies rather than the truth. They know the majority can be deceived by shiny packages and sleight of hand. They know they can be diverted and made to believe their spin. They are polished. They are excellent liars and posers. They are not what they seem to be. And they are supported by powerful and wealthy people behind the scenes.
The truth can be out there. It can be put forth. It can be in the open light of day. It can be that it cannot be denied. But as long as the bad guys can fool the majority it doesn’t matter. If one wants to get elected, all he or she needs is an electoral majority. That’s all. The truth-tellers and truth-believers might make up a sizable segment of the electorate, but it never matters regarding getting elected as long as they remain a minority. Convincing the majority that the truth-tellers are idiots is all the deceivers must do.
Of course, truth-tellers are always a distinct minority. They have eyes to see. They have ears to hear. They tell the truth. But the majority won’t buy it. They seem weird or different. From the perspective of the deceived majority, the Lord Jesus was the weirdest, kookiest, strangest, and most “different” Person who ever lived. He was soundly rejected by them.
The duped majority would rather be lied to and deceived, and made to feel secure than deal with the truth. If a messenger happens to have bad news they would rather kill him and believe the lie that all is well. And though they possess a false security and a modicum of success for possibly several decades of life in this world, they will discover the opposite in the next. They will have lived their life for nothing. They will have lost their souls. This is not only dumb and dumber, it’s asinine.
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” [Luke 12:20] [1]
And worst of all? They will have to do the one thing they never wanted to do while alive:
They will have to deal with The Truth.
They will have to face God.
© 2012 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 2 of 3]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 1)
The truth has no other agenda than to shine forth and light the way. The truth reveals darkness. The truth uncovers deception. The truth fights an ongoing and unceasing war against falsehood, lies, treachery, and betrayal.
The truth exposes the hidden kingdom of the devil.
The whole world (Kosmos) lies in the power of the evil one. [1 John 5:19]
The majority of the people on this planet have always been under a thick cloud of deception. The people who want to rule over and enslave humanity must deceive them. They must lie and cheat. They must hoodwink, trick, and fool.
If they don’t, they’re out of business. The truth is the one thing they are most afraid of, because it is the one thing that will reveal them for what they are. These evil, secretive people have always, whether they know it or not, taken their cue from the devil himself.
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” [John 8:44-45]
The devil is the one who invented lying. He has always used lying as his principle tool for gaining power. Every single person who has joined his side or obeyed his suggestions has been deceived by his lies. These then end up using the devil’s very methods to deceive others.
He shades the truth. He is always involved in a cover up. He uses ultra-brilliant slight-of-hand tactics to make people believe something false in order to keep them from knowing reality, to control them, and to make them subjects of his illicit kingdom. He establishes sin as the status-quo.
Why in the world do so many people adamantly insist on engaging in behavior that will take them to hell? They are obviously deceived and have no clue regarding their eventual destination. Nobody in their right mind would want to lose their soul. If someone knew they were going to hell, wouldn’t they want to do something about it?
Liars are in league with the devil. There are no exceptions. There are no “little white lies” that are innocent or good. Such lies are as harmful as all other lies. A lie is a lie. Liars learn their craft from the devil. It might be through an intermediary, of course, or through someone who has learned to lie and teaches others to do so.
Some people teach lies they know are lies. The majority teach lies they believe are not lies. They think they are teaching truth. They have been deceived. They have been lied to unknowingly. They are enchanted by a spell and are completely unaware of it. This is the nature of deception. Some people are excellent liars. They have the ability to lie in such a way that the majority will always believe them.
The majority, it appears, actually appreciate being lied to. They would much rather live in a fantasy world than face the truth. As long as the people they put their faith in keep telling them the kind of untruths that make them feel better about themselves and that the status-quo is correct, they rally around it. It gives them security. But it is a false security.
Beware the ones you put your faith in. There is only One who will tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He is not on television.
Yet, it apparently doesn’t matter. Most people would much rather have a false sense of security than face the truth, which removes a false foundation. Facing the truth means facing reality. But facing reality is scary. It’s upsetting. It involves dealing with personal sin.
It means facing God.
Most people don’t want anything to do with facing God. That’s why the majority of people will go to hell. It is not only because they are deceived, it is because they are willingly deceived. God has sent truth-tellers into the world from the very beginning in an effort to counterattack the lies of the devil and set people free.
“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [John 8:31-32]
It follows, then, that whoever does not continue in God’s Word and are not disciples of the Lord Jesus will not know the truth and will not be free.
Truth-tellers are always misunderstood, lied about, gossiped about, smeared, cheated, libeled, slandered, and betrayed. This happens to all truth-tellers. Some have greater protection than others and are able to stay alive long enough to make an impact. Some actually have good success. But other truth-tellers are killed off early.
Abel was a truth-teller and was killed at a relatively young age by his own brother. Cain was a liar and took his orders from the devil. The devil knew the Messiah would arrive through the righteous generational line of Abel. Cain killed his only chance at salvation! This was a perfect type of what happened when the Messiah came to His people.
The ancient Hebrew prophets were truth-tellers. They were pretty much all killed by the lying jerks in power, one despicable Hebrew king after another, often after manipulating the majority of the people to do their bidding. In other words, the majority of the Hebrew people were actually in favor of killing the prophets. And the more prophets they killed, the more their country went down the drain.
“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’” [Luke 11:47-51] [1]
The greatest truth-teller of all time is the Lord Jesus Himself. His own people crucified their Messiah after deceiving the Roman government about Him. Imagine that. Those evil people were such world-class lying manipulators they deceived even Rome! Pontius Pilate found no fault in the Lord according to Roman law. But Pilate relented because they threatened to lie to the Roman emperor about his loyalty. Pilate knew they would have been successful. He thus saved his own skin and condemned an innocent Man to death having no idea who He really was.
© 2012 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 1 of 3]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
