Contemplation - Tumblr Posts
Poet Andrew Marvell
Check out this great poet I found at allpoetry.com. https://allpoetry.com/Andrew_Marvell
Poet John Donne
Check out this great poet I found at allpoetry.com. https://allpoetry.com/John_Donne
Poet William Wordsworth
Check out this great poet I found at allpoetry.com. https://allpoetry.com/William_Wordsworth
Narrative
I'd thought about some facebooking or twitter as they have more accessibility to the bumper-sticker thinker of the modern era, but anyone who's got a position on Syria that can be summed up in 250 characters or less is a fucking moron, so get a snack and settle in.
Assumptions
It'd be disingenuous and daft to suggest that I'm going into this without assumptions, so here they are. If you disagree with these points, then you can stop here- I understand that not everyone trusts some of these things to be true as I do and that's understandable, but if you don't subscribe to these points then the discussion isn't going to be fruitful.
Chemical weapons were deployed in Syria repeatedly, most notably in the Demascus incident.
The Assad regime is the responsible party for these attacks.
The Assad regime possesses the means to manufacture such weapons and has a stockpile as implicitly admitted by their foreign minister yesterday.
The US intelligence mechanism is adequately efficient and has compiled a sufficient case that awaiting UN inspection results is now redundant.
Regime change is not a sought after goal, but if it were to happen spontaneously without our handling of it or its costs directly we wouldn't mind.
The Play by Play for The Limited Strike
In the immediate future, the Russian initiative runs to ground and military strikes begin. Assad regime targets involved in the manufacture, storage and deployment of chemical weapons are hit and there is collateral damage to that organization as nearby assets are damaged by bombs and cruise missiles.
The Risks
The chemical weapons are not fully and completely destroyed and a contamination event occurs in which sarin or other deadly substances waft over Syria and her neighbors leading to mass casualties.
Destruction of the weapons are incomplete in this fashion and they are salvaged by "interested parties." Who interested parties are and what their agenda for those weapons are is anyone's guess at that point, but it's bad news as will be discussed in further detail below.
The Benefits
Assad's military is suddenly fighting a multi-front conflict, and one of those fronts is the West led by US military assets. Assad doesn't necessarily fold, but his war machine is thrown into disarray in the wake of the attacks and is significantly hampered in its efforts to restore dominance over the rebels. No predictions from me on how the war ends.
The international community restores credibility in its ability to, in fact, reign in WMD manufacture without a full-on invasion.
Risk to western warfighters and inspectors is reduced compared to the Russian plan.
Development of the facilities needed for Syria to responsibly destroy its weapons is avoided in part as most of the weapons are destroyed in the attacks How to deal with the remainder is a relevant question as no one has as yet addressed- who will foot that bill? The US and Russia have both invested billions since the end of the Cold War to accomplish the same task, and we're not done with disposing of our chemical weapons yet. We started dismantling in '97 here in the states.
The Play by Play for the Russian Initiative
In the next few weeks, a UN resolution comes to pass along the lines of that being put together in France requiring the relinquishing of all chemical weapons by the Assad regime. In the following weeks, inspection teams are put together and preparations are made for them and disposal teams to enter the country and remove the weapons.
That's in the long run. At the moment, a frantic game of cat and mouse is no doubt being played between the western intelligence community and those men who Assad has no doubt ordered to eliminate records of the bulk of his chemical weapons and to liquidate the those assets in the international terrorist black market. The one group is trying very hard to keep track as well as they can for where these weapons are and the other is racing to get them out of sight. More below.
Over the course of the next decade or more, the international community pours billions of dollars into dismantling these weapons, extracting them, tracking them and keeping them out of the wrong hands. The task requires, implicitly, that boots end up on the ground in Syria to ensure that the UN disarmament teams can do their jobs.
The Risks
When the UN resolution passes and those inspectors go to Syria, they face all kinds of challenges. They came under fire and weren't able to complete their missions when they were there for simple humanitarian inspections and the only thing that might suggest that they'd have more luck this time around is that the alternative for Assad is a military solution to his weapons. The short version of all this is that the naive expectation of many is that the Russian initiative is a bloodless, cheap option by comparison that leads to fewer western lives lost and more weapons accounted for is a beautiful but unrealistic pipe-dream.
It's an option, and it has risks just like a military strike does in terms of lives lost, weapons unaccounted for, and money spent in the billions.
It's heavy stuff, thought you could use the joke about now.
There's no guarantee that blue-helmeted UN guards and their inspectors and disposal teams will be able to achieve safe passage in a country now saturated with fighters from groups like Hezbollah and Al Qaeda who aren't going to just capitulate because we threaten to blow up the weapons of Assad. We call them radical extremists for a reason.
Those organizations and the other groups that now fight in that country as well as the untenable security situation there make it all the more imperative that any solution to the chemical weapon issue be swift. As Assad's guys scramble to get rid of those weapons and raise him some revenue to continue a costly, two-year war, there's no telling who they'll get to buy from them.
I guarantee this though: if Assad's government wants to sell chemical weapons at closeout bargain prices in Syria, they won't have much trouble finding a buyer, perhaps in Iran or Iraqi insurgents or perhaps just the first at hand militant organization willing to cough up cash to take the weapons off Assad's hands. Whoever that may be and whatever their targets may be.
The same risks with not destroying the weapons thoroughly in a military strike are present in a protracted diplomatic engagement, all kinds of interested parties can get access to these weapons right now as you read.
The Biggest Risk
The biggest risk on the table is with the diplomatic solution, because while our intel guys scramble to keep track of these weapons, ultimately Assad's guys are the ones with their hands on them, and that means that sooner or later, they're going to disappear to God knows where.
If- and this is not an if that is out of the question- the Russian initiative evaporates in coming days or weeks, Assad's guys will be right where they were the other day and we'll be right where we were the other day looking at cruise missiles and bombs. The only difference is that the weapons we want to explode may very well no longer be there anymore.
If that's the case, then we've wasted precious time with the weapons still in our sights and in Syria and now what was a "Syrian Question" becomes a global WMD proliferation nightmare that I don't care to contemplate further at this time.
In Sum
Neither plan is without its risks. I'm not by any means a war-hawk. However, I believe in the ability of the black market to move illicit goods and I believe in the integrity of the modern US intelligence infrastructure. Indeed, the very strength of that capability has been under fire for months now, you've either got to claim that we don't know what's going on or that we're spying on literally everyone, can't have it both ways.
When I examine the potential risks and the scenarios that grow out of either of these options being mishandled, it looks grim. In the end however, the most immediate response that offers the best risk and prevents Assad from deploying these weapons again is best.
The assumption seems to be that he's going to stop at one outrage and one war crime, that we've put him on notice and that he wouldn't dare to use such weapons again. After all, the US is threatening attack and the international community is actually cooperating. That's the logic in any event, but desperate men are often beyond logic, and it's awfully early to rule out the possibility of another chemical attack.
Conclusion
I appreciate the risks and I understand if you prefer to hope for the best, but I don't intend to be one of those who regretted not calling for action when we still had the chance a la Rwanda or the Rhineland. "Peace in our time" sounds like a great relief for everyone, but I'd urge you to remember that not every military solution is the ill-considered knee jerk of an overgrown, paranoid man-child who wants to land on a carrier with a "mission accomplished" banner, and not every hailed peace agreement is the work of a visionary who has saved the world.
Some threats to our national and international security are credible and do demand action, and when we see that that's the case, we ought to act.
Its a weird feeling and kind of a dilemma bc it’s like. Are people calling things “AI” prematurely due to them tricking people that they have intelligence in a surface level way? And also because it benefits certain groups’ goals to call them AI to make them seem like they have more human qualities and agency? Yes to both of those.
On the other hand it’s. Do we keep just moving the goalposts for what “counts” as AI as our technology progresses? Probably yes? So will we ever truly have AI? Idk. Maybe AI - no matter how complex - will always just be a neural network that uses incredibly complicated algorithms, and is therefore restrained by its own design and nature.
Maybe hoverboards will never really float off the ground. Maybe AI will simply never be sentient in a way that can be completely separated from the data it’s trained on. Maybe we will always be reaching for these futuristic technologies we have imagined, but never quite getting the real deal. It’s always different irl to how we envision.
But then you start to wonder. Don’t we just base what we think. off of all the data we’re trained with our whole lives? Which begs the question: are we any different to AI? And if so… why?
calling chatgpt “AI” feels exactly the same to me as calling those motorized skateboards “hoverboards”
Lotus Goddess 💗 Everything around us is connected, all part of something beautiful. The quiet moments bring peace and harmony. Take a deep breath and notice the small details. Appreciate the beauty that’s always there, just waiting for us to notice.
From “Dominican Spirituality: Principles and Practice” by William A Hibbebusch, OP
How Are We Saved: Is It Simply By Belief Alone, Or Do We Have To Go Out Of Ourselves Ecstatically In Order To Make That Happen?
By Author Eli Kittim
——-
What does the Bible say about salvation?
Romans 8.14 implies that if you’re not “led by the Spirit” you’re NOT a child of God. The phrase “led by the Spirit” implies an actual “existential experience” (cf. Mt. 4.1), not mere belief (i.e. an idea presumed, but not known):
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Rom. 8.14).
Romans 8.9 makes it absolutely clear that without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are not saved: https://biblehub.com/romans/8-9.htm
Jesus also makes it very clear in John 3.3 that you can not even see the kingdom of God, let alone be possessed by it, unless you are born again: https://biblehub.com/john/3-3.htm
That’s precisely why the Epistle to the Ephesians instructs us to put away the “old self” and to put on a new identity, namely, “the new self,” which is made in the image of God:
“You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4.22-24 NRSV).
And, of course, we must “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3.18) and truly believe “that Jesus is Lord” (Rom. 10.9), especially in the midst of this existential crisis!
*****
All these verses seem to indicate that the requirements for salvation involve considerable risk. Therefore, we must undergo some kind of personal existential experience (or a Dark night of the soul) in order for a transformation to take place. It is only in the midst of this mysterium tremendum, or existential dread, that salvation can take place. Thus, Philippians 2.12 poignantly says, “So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved” (CEV): https://biblehub.com/philippians/2-12.htm
Ezekiel 36.26 drives home this spiritual idea of death and resurrection: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (cf. John 12.24)!
——-
We must first die to our ego before we can reach out for God in faith
The language of the New Testament thus implies that we have to go out of ourselves in order to find God, as Thomas Merton used to say. For example, 2 Corinthians 5:13 suggests that Paul (and by implication each and every apostle) had lost his identity to gain Christ’s (cf. Gal. 2.20):
εἴτε γὰρ ἐξέστημεν, θεῷ ·
Translation: “If we are out of our mind, it is for God” (BSB): https://biblehub.com/2_corinthians/5-13.htm
So the question arises: Why is a *Mad-Mind* mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5:13, and what exactly is Paul trying to teach us about the process or the goal of Salvation?
Astoundingly, we find the exact same theme reiterated in Mark 3.21 where Jesus himself is said to be “out of his mind” (which may be an allusion to the biblical narrative known as the “Temptation of Christ” in which after being baptized Jesus was led by the Spirit into the Judaean Desert to be tempted by Satan): https://biblehub.com/mark/3-21.htm
The soteriological point of that existential experience is that Jesus must lose his identity so as to enter into the divine union with God. I’m by no means suggesting “Adoptionism,” the notion that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism. No! Not at all! All I’m saying is that Jesus becomes one of us by taking on human nature (and all the suffering that it entails) so that he, too, like us, is confined to the same spiritual process and requirement of transcending the “self.” As Søren Kierkegaard once wrote, “to have faith is precisely to lose one’s mind so as to win God” (The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening)!
Similarly, John of the Cross, the celebrated 16th century mystic, says that during “the night of sense” a spirit of dizziness overtakes the spiritual faculties of an individual. This energy overwhelms the mind and causes it to lose its identity. That’s probably what Isaiah 19.14 is all about: https://biblehub.com/isaiah/19-14.htm
Do you recall Acts 2.15 in which Peter had to explain to the crowd that “Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, “ but rather filled with the Holy Spirit?
A contemplative exegesis of Psalm 107.27-30 suggests this mystical journey through the Dark night of the soul:
“they reeled and staggered like drunkards, and were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.”
This is reminiscent of the path of the mania of love (or the madness sent from the gods) by which we arrive at divine knowledge, as exemplified in Plato’s works: Phaedrus and Symposium. Evagrios the Solitary (aka Evagrios Pontikos), a mystical monk from Pontus (ca. 345-399 ce), says something similar about the prayer of stillness, “which by virtue of the most intense love transports to the noetic realm the intellect that longs for wisdom” (The Philokalia: The Complete Text; Compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. Trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and Kallistos Ware. Vol. 1. [London: Faber, 1983], p. 62).
*****
The Beatitudes must be understood in the same exact context. They’re not a political manifesto that calls for social reform, nor are they about the materially poor or the physically hungry. Matthew 5.3 reads: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Notice that Matthew doesn’t say that they are poor in the sense that they lack sufficient money, but rather that they’re “poor in spirit,” as are those who enter the dark night of the soul! Similarly, the text unambiguously says: “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Mt. 5.6), not for food and drink! It would appear then that the Beatitudes are a guide to inner transformation or regeneration, what it means to be “born from above” (3.3) in the Johannine gospel. Only those who are poor in spirit (not in money), who have emptied themselves and have become as nothing can be blessed, meek, righteous, merciful, pure in heart, peaceful, and loving! Why? Because only those can be “born from above” and “be called children of God” (Mt. 5.9) and receive “the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5.10). Only those are worthy of salvation! No one else. That’s the point!
——-
How then is the Dark night of the soul (which makes us poor in spirit) depicted in Scripture?
One illustration might come from Isaiah 6.5:
“Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Elsewhere, Isaiah 50.10 reads:
“Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the Lord and relies upon his God?”
*****
It’s quite clear from Exodus 20.21 that we can only approach God in darkness:
“Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”
——-
So if this is in fact the cost of salvation, how do we obtain it?
Well, first we have to “estimate the cost”:
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” (Lk. 14.28).
If you reply to this question in the affirmative, then the next question is a practical one, namely, how do we proceed?
Answer: Not through discursive thinking but rather through meditation. That’s because God can only be found in silence. Thought is a distraction. One form of Western contemplation that goes back to the desert fathers of Egypt is what is known as *Centering Prayer.* This is a popular Christian meditation that places a strong emphasis on interior silence. In a very advanced stage it leads to inner transformation and union with Christ! In other words, it leads to authentic salvation! And the litmus test of that experience is that you fall madly in love with Jesus Christ!
*****
Allegorically speaking, Matthew 6.6 alludes to this prayer of stillness when it says:
“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The Hebrew Bible also says: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46.10; 62.5)!
——-
Conclusion
Salvation is not an act of the will or the intellect. Rather, it’s a transformation of the mind: a rebirth! This, then, is the noblest path to salvation, the symbolic road to Emmaus that leads to resurrection, regeneration, and new life! But regeneration and rebirth from above (Jn 3.3-6) require much suffering (Heb. 12.6), pain (Acts 14.22), fear (Phil. 2.12), as well as deep and profound changes to the personality (Acts 2.1-4, 15; 9.20-22). That’s why in 2 Corinthians 12.9 God doesn’t say “my power is made perfect in weakness,” but rather “my power is accomplished in illness.” Most, if not all, Bible versions translate the Greek word ἀσθενείᾳ as “weakness.” But ἀσθενείᾳ really means “illness.” In other words, God’s power is manifested and accomplished in us when we become ill: that is, mentally ill! This, more accurate, translation should really change our understanding of soteriology & inform us about the process of salvation itself❗️
——-
Know Thyself
By Author Eli Kittim
“Through the study of books one seeks God;
by meditation one finds him.”
(Padre Pio)
According to the Greek writer and geographer, Pausanias, the ancient Greek aphorism “Know Thyself” (γνῶθι σεαυτόν) was a maxim inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Throughout the centuries, people have studied the physical and metaphysical world through science and philosophy. But how can a person study himself or herself? By turning inward! In the Phaedo, one of Plato’s famous dialogues, Socrates explains that the senses are incapable of informing us about the true nature of reality, and thus are not to be trusted. One needs to look beyond the senses in order to find meaning and clarity. Socrates says to Simmias:
“Did you ever reach them [truths] with any
bodily sense? – and I speak not of these
alone, but of absolute greatness, and
health, and strength, and, in short, of the
reality or true nature of everything. Is the
truth of them ever perceived through the
bodily organs? Or rather, is not the nearest
approach to the knowledge of their several
natures made by him who so orders his
intellectual vision as to have the most exact
conception of the essence of each thing he
considers?”
Later in the Phaedo, Socrates begins to expound on what we today would call “silent meditation.” Remember, this is not India. This is 5th to 4th century BCE Greece! Gautama Buddha happens to be Plato’s contemporary. Socrates begins to describe the practice of meditation as follows:
“He who has got rid, as far as he can, of
eyes and ears and, so to speak, of the
whole body, these being in his opinion
distracting elements when they associate
with the soul hinder her from acquiring truth
and knowledge – who, if not he, is likely to
attain to the knowledge of true being?”
Over 500 years later, the Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus would also base his entire philosophy on meditative silence. So, given that Socrates (Plato’s teacher, who coined the phrase “Know Thyself”) lived in the 5th century BCE, it is difficult to say if this contemplative practice originated in the East or the West. Let’s not forget that Plato is deeply indebted to an older mystical philosopher named Pythagoras (6th century BCE), who was probably one of the first great and well-known mystics in the west!
Plotinus follows Socrates’ advice regarding the path to self-knowledge and the philosophy of Being. He insists that the soul must discard all form, image, and thought. It is through concentration, away from the sense world, that we reach the “One” (i.e. God). And the self discovers this when it is annihilated. In other words, a person loses his/her identity during the supreme mystical union with the “One.” it’s as if the person has been “ ‘seized’ by an elemental force and swept into liberation by mystical frenzy” (Thomas Merton). Plotinus says:
“shut your eyes . . . and wake
another way of seeing, which everyone has
but few use.”
The “awakening” in the presence of the “good” is a result that is accomplished by removing multiplicity through the process of negation (which later became known as apophatic theology). That is to say, there is a detachment from the many to the One. The disciple must proceed by way of negation. Rather than positing what the One is, the practitioner gets rid of all knowledge and begins by contemplating what the One is not. This practice has been alternatively called “silence” or “stillness.” It is a way of putting away all otherness and reaching an ineffable union with the One (or God). In the mysticism of Plotinus, the student must not chase after the good but wait quietly til it appears.
Unfortunately, since the time of the Renaissance and the Age of Reason, the contemplative aspect of the Platonic tradition is no longer discussed in modern academia. Plato is often taught as a cold, rational thinker whose insights are solely derived from discursive thought. However, Plotinus thought that he was simply clarifying Plato’s teachings. According to Wikipedia:
“Plotinus was not claiming to innovate with
the Enneads [his book], but to clarify
aspects of the works of Plato that he
considered misrepresented or
misunderstood. Plotinus
does not claim to be an innovator, but
rather a communicator of a tradition.
Plotinus referred to tradition as a way to
interpret Plato's intentions. Because the
teachings of Plato were for members of the
academy rather than the general public, it
was easy for outsiders to misunderstand
Plato's meaning.”
Plotinus lived in Alexandria, Egypt in the 3rd century CE. Over 150 years earlier, another Platonic philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, had done the same:
“Philo of Alexandria had written on some
form of ‘spiritual exercises’ involving
attention (prosoche) and concentration and
by the 3rd century Plotinus had developed
meditative techniques.”
(Wikipedia)
According to Plotinus, the One is not simply an intellectual concept but rather something that can actually be experienced; an existential experience where one goes far beyond all multiplicity. The individual eventually reaches a state of tabula rasa, a blank state where everything is deleted, so to speak, while the person merges with the One. The self is dissolved, completely absorbed into the One. But in order to reach this stage, “the Proficient’s will is set always and only inward” (Enneads I.4.11). This process eventually leads to ecstasy:
“The essentially devotional nature of
Plotinus' philosophy may be further
illustrated by his concept of attaining
ecstatic union with the One (henosis).
Porphyry relates that Plotinus attained such
a union four times during the years he knew
him. This may be related to enlightenment,
liberation, and other concepts of mystical
union common to many Eastern and
Western traditions.”
(Wiki)
In Greek, Henosis is the term for mystical "union.” In Platonism, and particularly in Neoplatonism, the aim of henosis is union with the ground of being or absolute reality: the source or the One (τὸ Ἕν):
“Henosis for Plotinus was defined in his
works as a reversing of the ontological
process of consciousness via meditation
. . . toward no thought . . . and no
division (dyad) within the individual (being).
Plotinus words his teachings to reconcile
not only Plato with Aristotle but also various
World religions that he had personal
contact with during his various travels.”
(Wiki)
Plotinus, and his successor Proclus, influenced many great philosophers and theologians, such as Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Husserl, Heidegger, Barth, Bultmann, and others. Plotinus’ meditation is not unlike that described in Ps. 62.5, which reads: “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” According to Wikipedia, “Plotinus' final words were: ‘Try to raise the divine in yourselves to the divine in the all.’ “ Meditation, therefore, is the method by which we not only grasp the essence of true Being, in the Platonic sense, but also how we find the sure way of salvation, in the Biblical sense:
“Be still, and know that I am God!”
(Psalm 46.10)
Modern Christianity is a Joke
Eli Kittim
On their podcasts and platforms, Christians are constantly talking about God, Christ, and the Bible, explaining the gospel, debating about theology and prophecy, while assuming to know what scripture teaches, right down to the last detail. And yet none of them know what they’re talking about or what’s really going on (Rom. 3:11). Yet they all have millions of followers flocking to their social media platforms to hear them speak, and they’re deceiving all of them (intentionally or unintentionally) with lies and misinformation. But this has already been prophesied. In fact, Matthew 24 and 1 Timothy 4:1 clearly state that the end-times will be characterized by global deception, as many false prophets and teachers will arise and mislead many. Paul himself knew that after his departure Christianity would eventually decline and become a church of heretics (Acts 20:29). All that has happened. Most teachings today are about the Nephilim, aliens, and ancient civilizations.
All the biblical doctrines that are being taught today——whether at the university, the seminary, or in social media platforms——are false. Why? Because they have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. None of these so-called pundits have received any revelations from God in the manner that Paul describes (see Gal. 1:11-12). To preach things based on personal guesswork or mere speculation is not the same as teaching according to the Holy Spirit. John 14:26 says that “the Holy Spirit … will teach you all things.”
It’s gotten so bad that even the Pope is now teaching that it’s a dangerous heresy to have a personal relationship with Jesus outside the church. A Facebook friend of mine——a Christian apologist by the name of Marcia Montenegro——has gone so far as to condemn any attempt to open your mind and spirit to God through the prayer of stillness (which btw is still used in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches), denouncing it as a so-called satanic practice that opens your spirit to demonic influences, even though that is precisely what the Bible requires in order for rebirth and salvation to take place. How else can God transform your carnal nature unless he recreates your identity? (Eph. 4:22-24). How can God live within you and create a new operating system unless the old one is deleted? How else can you receive the Holy Spirit, who changes your personality, turning a sinner to a saint, as it did with Paul? Romans 8:9 says categorically and unequivocally:
“if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
they do not belong to Christ.”
Then there are the nominal Christians. These are Christians in name only. They pretend to be Christ-like but act like demons. I know a few well-known Christian writers and bible prophecy teachers who have privately sent me viruses because I criticized their views. People would be surprised to know that Richard H. Perry did such a thing when i criticized his view that George Bush represents the white horseman of Revelation. I obviously had to block him. Another famous lawyer turned author by the name of Mark L. Hitchcock took me by surprise when he reported me to YouTube, which resulted in google permanently shutting down my platform. And he did this just because I complained that his YouTube channel was deleting all my comments and articles. As a result, I ended up losing all my videos and all my content that had been running on the web for the past 12 years. I was aghast that someone of his stature would resort to this. That was so mean. It completely took me by surprise. I didn’t see that one coming. This type of spitefulness is uncharacteristic of Christian believers. Their fruits bear no love. I seriously doubt whether such a person is in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Needless to say, I have lost all respect for him. I obviously blocked him, too. Good riddance!
Christianity has gotten so bad that Christian pastors are preying on crippled children, promising to heal them if they sow a financial seed to the ministry. People like Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and more recently, Kathryn Krick, all falsely claim to heal people suffering of serious disorders. Then you have YouTubers who are openly deceiving people, claiming that God speaks to them. Troy Black is a case in point. He has half a million victims, I mean subscribers, who are being lied to on a daily basis.
Not to mention the multiple scandals involving priests and pastors who are texting pornographic materials to their congregants and have inappropriate relations with them. Some pastors are even teaching that you don’t even need to believe in Jesus in order to be saved, while others, like Steven Anderson, are claiming that you don’t need to stop sinning, but only to believe in Jesus. Some Christian writers are teaching that you don’t even need God or Jesus, and you certainly don’t need to hear from them or even experience them personally. All you need is to read the Bible. There are some well-known pastors, like Justin Peters, who teach this doctrine. Not to mention those scholars, like David Bentley Hart, who claim that all people will eventually be saved, whether they believe in Jesus or not. But how exactly are we saved? Does anyone know? A well-known pastor, named Ken Raggio, recently posted on Instagram that “God changes us from sinner to saint … by … divine discipline. As we OBEY the Word.” This is totally and completely wrong! We cannot save our selves by ourselves. That’s why we need a savior. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for washing their hands but not cleansing their heart, showing that their legalism and discipline was totally ineffective in changing them from within. That’s why he said to Nicodemus the Pharisee: you must be “born again” (Jn 3:3). Only God can recreate us (2 Cor. 5:17). We are not saved by works or through personal efforts and behaviors.
And the core doctrines of modern Christianity are all wrong. The modern Christian faith centers on certain core beliefs regarding the historical birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But these events haven’t happened yet. According to the Bible, they will take place in the endtimes (see Isa. 2:19; Dan. 12:1-2; Zeph. 1:7; Lk 17:30; Acts 3:19:21; 1 Cor. 15:22-24; Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:9-10; Heb. 1:1-2; 9:26b; 1 Pet. 1:10-11; 1:20; Rev 12:5; 19:10d). My chief objection is that the TIMING of these events is totally wrong. This is all based on a misunderstanding of Greek and a misreading of genre.
The internal evidence supports my view. It’s in both the Old and New Testaments! Zephaniah 1:7 declares that the Lord’s sacrifice will occur during “the day of the Lord” (not in antiquity). Isaiah 2:19 says that people will hide in caves when “the Lord … arises to terrify the earth.” Similarly, Daniel 12:1 puts the resurrection of the anointed prince just prior to the great tribulation. I can prove it with detailed exegesis from the Greek text. The LXX (Dan 12:1) says παρελεύσεται, which means to “pass away,” & the Theodotion has ἀναστήσεται, meaning a bodily resurrection in the end-times. In the following verse (12:2), the plural form of the exact same word (ἀναστήσονται) is used to describe the general resurrection of the dead! In other words, if the exact same word means resurrection in Daniel 12:2, then it must also necessarily mean resurrection in Daniel 12:1! Acts 3:20-21 similarly says that Christ will not be sent to earth until the consummation of the ages. First Corinthians 15:22-24 also tells us that Christ will be the first to be resurrected in the end-times! Revelation 12:5 tells us that the messiah is born in the end times, and the next verse talks about the great tribulation. Galatians 4:4 says that Jesus will be born during the consummation of the ages, expressed by the apocalyptic phrase τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, which is defined in Ephesians 1:10 as the end of the world! First Peter 1:20 says that although Christ was foreknown before the creation of the world, he was initially revealed “at the final point of time.” It’s supported by Hebrews 1:2 which says that Jesus speaks to mankind in the “last days,” not in antiquity. And Hebrews 9:26 says EXPLICITLY that Jesus will die for the sins of mankind “once in the end of the world” (ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων)! Revelation 19:10 also informs us that the TESTIMONY to Jesus is prophetic (not historical). Read Acts 10:40-41 where we are told that Jesus’ resurrection was based on visions because it was only visible “to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God.” Similarly, 1 Peter 1:10-11 says that the New Testament prophets “predicted the sufferings of the Messiah” in advance (cf. Isa 46:10).
This short video will clarify everything I’ve said so far:
A Biblical Greek translation of the New Testament that changes everything we thought we knew about Jesus
This man has reached beyond all desires, into the unknown territory of the human mind. At this point, his mind begins to see donuts as equals, because they are little clumps of matter, just like ourselves. Thus, his meaning in life is complete.
“I saw ath-Thawrī in a dream, so I said to him: ‘Give me sincere advice’.
So he said: ''Minimize your acquaintance with people''
[The Garden of the Sages by Ibn Ḥibbān 1/81]
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