The Resistance – Repentance – Part 1B

Continued from yesterday…

Acknowledge Corporate Sin

In our churches, we need leaders who will help us see the big corporate sins of our age. We’ve often softened our congregations up on the easy topics that leave us feeling justified. It’s easy to rail against greed – especially when we think it is something that only rich people have. And rich people are people who earn at least $25,000 more than me. It’s easy to turn our applications into calls for more people to give up time in their ‘secular’ callings to spend more time helping out in the church institution. These soft and convenient applications have become staple.

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The Resistance – Repentance Part 1A

In a recent short article, we suggested that in New Zealand, and probably much of the Western world, find ourselves on the ‘edge’ of something. And when I say “something”, I do not mean pink cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles. More the kind of something that Gandalf refers to when sitting with Pippin on the walls of Minas Tirith and says, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge.” The war is about to heat up. It’s been slowly simmering, but the rate of temperature increase is starting to look exponential, and war looks imminent. Let’s hope for better things, but prepare for this eventuality.

What ought we to do in these times? As I continued to consider the ten suggestions for the Christian Resistance which I proposed previously, I realized that many ideas intertwined and overlapped. As you will see, there will be some repetition in our series “The Resistance”, but that is good, because repetition brings ideas to the forefront of our minds, and there are some things that we Christians have allowed to drift to the back of our minds that ought to be front and centre.

So today and tomorrow we look at the first ‘ought’  for the Christian Resistance. We must acknowledge our individual and corporate sin as the reason we find ourselves in this current situation and repent by making changes where Christ in his Word calls for change.

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Theology of Government and COVID – Part 2

Welcome to part two of this series looking at a Biblical theology of government and certain applications to our current cultural moment. For links to the other installments, see the list below.

  1. Principle #1 – Civil Governments have a Legitimate Authority
  2. Principle #2 – Civil Governments have a Limited Authority
  3. Principle #3 – Theocracy is Inescapable
  4. Principles Applied

In today’s episode, we are looking at the second principle regarding the limited authority of civil governments.

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The Looming War and The Resistance

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I received an email from a reader a week or so ago and in one sentence he put his finger on a feeling that has been growing in my mind. He wrote, “In my lifetime there has never been a time where it feels like there are so many dark forces around us; it feels like we are in precursor stages to something much worse.” It certainly feels like we are on the edge of something. And when I say “something”, I do not mean pink cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles. More the kind of something that Gandalf refers to when sitting with Pippin on the walls of Minas Tirith and says, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge.” Ever since the fall of Adam, there has been constant warfare between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Sometimes it’s a Cold War and hostilities are not open, but every now and then open war breaks upon us, whether we would have it or not.

Perhaps those of us thinking like this are of a naturally pessimistic nature and we would think this about any time that we live in. Maybe history will show us to be utterly and completely wrong. Perhaps we are misreading the signs of the times. But I don’t think so. I think that we are like the dreamer who has awoken with relief from a nightmare only to realise that the disaster of his nightmare is real and imminent. If we are right, what are we to do? What is the battle plan? Where ought we to focus our efforts? Here are things I think urgently need addressing by Christians and the church in New Zealand.

1. We must acknowledge our individual and corporate sin as the reason we find ourselves in this current situation and repent by making changes where Christ in his Word calls for change. (Part 1A and 1B).

2. We must commit ourselves to dependence on our king. This means prayer, particularly for wisdom and courage and a renewed appetite for His Word, particularly looking at how God’s people of old have responded to times like these. (Parts 2A, 2B and 2C)

3. We must confront the Church’s unholy dualism and learn once more to apply the lordship of Christ to all things. (Parts 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D)

4. We must develop and practise an evangelism that not only calls for personal salvation, but Christ’s lordship in every sphere of life. In other words we must disciple the nations to obey everything that Christ taught and call unbelievers to recognise Christ’s kingship on earth. (Part 4)

5. We must seek to build a Christian counter-culture. and in that attempt, embrace Christian truths that make the world cringe.

6. We ought to prioritise Christian marriage and family as one of the most powerful methods of resistance

7. We must protect our children while we train them for the day they join us in the battle.

8. We must pray for and seek out leaders who understand the times, encourage (literally make or put in courage) timid leaders and challenge the compromised.

9. We must prioritise obedience to our king over wealth, comfort and respectability. We must be prepared to suffer for holding to the truth.

10. We ought to put our hope in the sovereignty of the reigning Christ who is subduing all his enemies. This is our Christian hope. We know how the story ends. He wins. And since this is so, we should fight like we can actually win, and at the very least, go down swinging

No doubt clearer thinkers will see other essential ingredients in our resistance. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this. In future posts, we will explore each of these in a little more detail.

Theology of Government and COVID – Part 1

Here in New Zealand, we have once again been subjected to a nationwide lockdown. Churches are closed, the nation is on house arrest, and you can only go to work if the government deems your work essential.

I am convinced that one of the premier problems facing the Christian church is a disgraceful complicity with the idolatry of the state and a woefully lacking theology of government.

By the end of this series, I want to make the suggestion that churches and church leaders are morally obliged to disregard our government’s lockdown orders and reopen the church as soon as possible. But before we get there, we must lay some Biblical foundations. Foundations that have been eroded for decades and are about to cause a collapse of the entire house.

What I want to do here is lay a ground-up foundation for Biblical principles regarding our theology of government and then make application to our current cultural moment. My hope is that we might all be able to take a step back and reconsider some of our assumptions about the role of government and our obligations before God in relation to government edicts.

Across this series, we will look at three core principles and then some applications regarding our current cultural moment. here is where we are heading:

  1. Principle #1 – Civil Governments have a Legitimate Authority
  2. Principle #2 – Civil Governments have a Limited Authority
  3. Principle #3 – Theocracy is Inescapable
  4. Principles Applied

This first installment explores principle one. Enjoy.

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The Definition of Woman Is Now Despicable

Many New Zealanders will be aware there is a battle on at the moment over birth certificates. There is a proposed change that will allow people to self identify their sex. One of the groups opposing this is a group called Stand Up For Women (SUFW). They have attempted to have billboards with the definition of woman placed on buildings only to have them removed by a cowardly company. Now, the Free Speech Union has sent its supporters an email highlighting how the New Zealand Herald, that bastion of free speech and diversity of opinion, has refused to publish an advertisement by the group which includes the definition of a woman.

They explained their decision. As you know, we had previously requested that your advertisements have the definition of “woman” removed, as we considered that these were potentially inflammatory, would compromise NZME’s reputation, and draw it into a debate in which it does not take a view from a commercial perspective.

So the definition of woman is potentially inflammatory. My oh my. The truth hurts a few psychologically damaged peoples’ feelings and the NZ Herald runs a mile. Could it be that their journalistic choices might be shaped by the feelings of the Alphabet Cult and their own timidity and distaste for the truth in the face of mild opposition? But of course, as the NZ Herald boasted the other day, it apparently produces truthful, independent and trusted journalism despite its $440,000 handout from the taxpayer government. Do write to the NZ Herald to tell them why you don’t subscribe to their biased publication. And if you have a subscription, drop it. Don’t give money to these destroyers of our society.

And then we have young Twitternazis like the young man below.

Good old Elliot labels the definition of woman (or potentially the publishing of this definition) as despicable. He has been well-brainwashed by his education. This child-man doesn’t know the meaning of despicable. Despicable applies to things like theft, adultery, sexual perversion, rape, murder, and the genocide of innocents (you know like unborn children). It does not apply to the definition of a woman. The fact that he does not know this is a testament to how well our left-wing education system has inculcated its warped sense of ethics in our youth, producing tens of thousands of ignorant lemmings and useful idiots who will rally to their despicable causes.

Misinformation, Disinformation, and The Truth

We are increasingly becoming a society intolerant of dissent. Ironically, this is a result of what some have celebrated as ‘casting off the shackles’ of that apparently intolerant faith of Christianity. People who criticise the exclusivity of Christ’s claim to be the way the truth and the life are quite happy to claim exclusive truth themselves. Instead of Christ being the way the truth and the life and bringing individual freedom, we now have a State controlled by ‘experts’ who dictate from their daily podium of truth the way the truth and the life for us plebs.

Take the COVID-19 vaccine. Before anyone accuses me of being an anti-vaxxer, I am not. I have had vaccines and will continue to do so. However, question the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine as a layperson, or wonder whether that in the unholy rush of getting it to the public it is as safe as other vaccines, and dare to post such a sentiment on Facebook and the unbiased arbiters of truth will post little notes under your post giving everyone the ‘facts’. All impartial and neutral of course.

It’s worse if you are a doctor and you object to the vaccine. Speak out against it because you feel it might not be the best thing for some of your patients and you could lose your job.

Case 1: Dr Matthew Shelton

A recent case is Dr Matthew Shelton who texted his patients about the vaccine. His text read

“Hi —, your GP Dr Matt here. I cannot in conscience support of Covid vaccination of particularly, children, and pregnant and fertile women, from my assessment of current risks and benefits.”

And later on:

“All to make their best own decision. I apologise for any distress. My views are my own, not the consensus. PMC will continue with roll-out invites”

This has landed him in hot water after a few of his patients objected to the text. He has now had his contract terminated and is under investigation by the Medical Council. The media reports on it were barely veiled propaganda. We were informed that one of his patients thought he was a bit odd. We are told that he has no evidence to back up his claims. This is rubbish. He belongs to New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out With Science, a group of New Zealand doctors and dentists who are concerned about the vaccine rollout in New Zealand. This group has clear reasons and evidence to back up their concerns. We have the Health and Disabilities Commissioner claiming there is no place for ‘ inadequate or non-evidence-based information in professional health practice’ and that doctors ought to give ‘full and accurate information.” All a shoddy and pathetic attempt to blacken this doctor’s name. It’s his interpretation of the evidence that has led Shelton to send the text in question.

Case 2: Former Taranaki radiologist Peter Canaday

Next we have Peter Canaday who had the temerity to give public talks on Covid-19 and continued with an online video during the lockdown. Our ever compliant and government whore media helpfully told us what to think about this. Without allowing us to see the claims of the video, (although another media source had a point by point rebuttal of the video here) we are told that the scientists (you know people with white coats who know everything) they spoke to said the “claims were either completely false, not backed up with strong evidence or impossible to verify.“ Isn’t it strange they couldn’t find anyone to express an alternative opinion? Scientists all completely agree though, so nothing to see here, move on.

The Medical Council of New Zealand is reported as saying regarding this case, “There is no place for anti-vaccination messages in professional practice, nor any promotion of anti-vaccination claims including on social media and advertising by health practitioners.” Then we have prominent ‘experts’ warning that those spreading ‘misinformation’ (presumably anything that differs from the mainstream narrative) should be sacked. This seems to effectively mean that no doctor can question this vaccine. How is that scientific? How is that protecting the public? And people complain about the church shutting down Galileo! What if these guys have a point? Shouldn’t it be able to be discussed and debated without the threat of lost livelihoods?

Summary

Now whether Shelton and others at NZDSOS are right or not, I don’t know. I am no doctor. They may be exactly what they are presented as – eccentric kooks. What concerns me is that there can only be one truth and anyone who disagrees with that state-endorsed truth will be threatened with public vilification and losing their job.

Without underplaying the significance of deaths from this virus, what should we be more afraid of? A virus that has killed 0.7% of New Zealanders who have been confirmed to have the virus (and these mainly the very elderly and the very sick), or a virus that requires complete submission and unity of thought and paves the way for totalitarianism. I know which I’d rather risk.

Hypocrisy

Isn’t it interesting that the government which so keen to ‘save lives’ by locking us down in our homes to escape from a virus is also the same government that got behind the decriminalisation of Abortion Legislation Bill of 2020 that allows over a thousand NZ babies to be slaughtered every month.

I guess they don’t care about lives that don’t have a vote.