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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: My Brother, My Enemy Brothers are supposed to be allies; they are supposed to be friends. This is true for spiritual brothers as well as for biological brothers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes, brothers become enemies. Think about it: in our War for Independence, brother fought against brother. How many Christians sided with the British Crown and raised arm and bayonet against their brothers in Christ who stood for American liberty and independence? How many Christians were among the British troops who participated in the Boston Massacre? How many Christians were among the British troops who participated in the raid on Lexington and Concord? How many Christians were among the British troops who participated in the assault against the colonists on Bunker Hill? Too many to count. The same thing happened in the War for Southern Independence. How many Christian men in the North took up arms against their spiritual brethren in the South for basically the same reason that American Tories took up arms against colonial patriots years before: to forbid them from declaring independence? How many Christians were among the troops who invaded Virginia and assaulted the citizens of that State in the First Battle of Manassas and throughout the War of Northern Aggression? Once more, too many to count. As an aside, I find it more than interesting that great spiritual revivals broke out among the Confederate army during the War for Southern Independence in much the same way that they had erupted among the Colonial army during our War of Independence from Great Britain. One could make the argument (and I do) that it is the thirst and fight for liberty and independence that often coincides with great spiritual awakenings. The Protestant Reformation is a European example. Therefore, I am absolutely convinced that there will be no more spiritual awakenings in this country without a subsequent thirst and fight for liberty and independence, because “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (II Cor. 3:17 KJV) Turn that verse around and it says, “Where liberty is, there is the Spirit of the Lord.” And the antithesis of the verse would read, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is not, there is not liberty.” Think about what happened in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. The vast majority of Christian pastors and churchmen turned against their freedom-loving brethren in the Confessing Church and helped Hitler’s henchmen and Stormtroopers to persecute, imprison, and even murder fellow followers of Christ. The historical record indicates that 95% of the pastors and churches of Germany supported Hitler and openly opposed Christian freedomists such as Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Niemoller was tortured, imprisoned, and sent to concentration camps, while Hitler had Bonhoeffer murdered. I would dare speculate that, FAR more Christians have been killed by fellow professing Christians--including by Christians serving in the U.S. armed forces who have killed at least tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of Arab Christians in the Middle East today--than by Muslims. Author and researcher Nicolas J S Davies writes, “Any impartial judge would reject a claim that this legislation [the AUMF passed by Congress in 2001] authorized 16 years of war in at least eight countries, the overthrow of governments that had nothing to do with 9/11, the killing of about 2 million people [a sizeable percentage of these victims being Christians] and the destabilization of country after country--just as surely as the judges at Nuremberg rejected the German defendants’ claims that they invaded Poland, Norway and the U.S.S.R. to prevent or ‘preempt’ imminent attacks on Germany.” See the report here: The Silent Slaughter Of The US Air War The truth is, Muslims kill FAR more of their fellow Muslims (Sunni Muslims killing Shia Muslims and vice versa) than they do Christians. For all of the current hysteria among today’s Christians regarding the threat of Islam and Sharia Law, history suggests they have much more to fear from their own Christian brethren. I can honestly attest to the fact that during my 40+ years of Gospel ministry, my greatest enemies have been Christians. In truth, those who have directly threatened my life and well-being have been almost exclusively professing Christians. And if I should join the ranks of the martyred, I can almost guarantee that it would be at the hands of a professing Christian. And even without suffering physical martyrdom, I can testify as to how it has been professing Christians--NOT Muslims--who have assaulted and attempted to destroy my livelihood, my family, my reputation, and my church flock. Only God’s grace has saved and sustained me from these “Christian brethren.” How is it that so many professing Christians today can be so blind to the divine principles of liberty? How is it that they can be so quick to turn against their brethren who choose to stand and fight for these principles? I believe the answer is because 1) they are truly ignorant of the divine principles of liberty and/or 2) they are statists at heart. 1) They are ignorant of the divine principles of liberty Without courageous preachers and teachers expounding, explaining, exegeting, extrapolating, and elucidating the Biblical Natural Law principles of liberty, Christians (and non-Christians) quickly become ignorant of and illiterate in liberty principles. The great examples of Abram, Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, Daniel, the three Hebrew children, John the Baptist, Simon Peter, et al. are spiritualized away without the principles behind those acts of faith and resistance being the least bit taught--and without any practical application to the modern day. This kind of preaching leaves men pitifully unprepared to understand and deal with modern acts of tyranny when they occur. And this is exactly what is happening in the pulpits and churches of modern America. But it is even worse than that. Not only are Christian ministers deliberately not teaching the divine principles of liberty, they are aggressively misinforming their congregations with erroneous teachings of Scripture relative to freedom principles. And nowhere is this more evident than in the way the vast majority of ministers are teaching Romans 13. This brings me to the second point. 2) They are statists at heart Let’s face it: the fallacious “always-obey-the-government” interpretation of Romans 13 is one of the biggest allies any would-be tyrant has. This was Adolf Hitler’s favorite passage of Scripture. He instructed his propaganda ministry to prepare sermons and Bible lessons for Germany’s churches emphasizing this misinterpretation of Romans 13. Accordingly, the vast majority of Germany’s Christians compliantly submitted to Hitler’s tyranny, specifically because they had been taught in church that Romans 13 instructed them to do so. They believed that by obeying Hitler, they were obeying God. They believed that Hitler (the state) stood in the place of God per Romans 13. All over America today, pastors and churches share this identical belief. This egregious and ubiquitous misinterpretation of Romans 13 is why I co-authored a book (with my attorney son) to show the true teaching of Romans 13--and all Scripture--regarding submission to government. It is called “Romans 13: The True Meaning of Submission.” For more information, or to order, go here: Romans 13: The True Meaning Of Submission I digress to add: many so-called Christian patriots are merely anarchists at heart who try to mask their rebellion against the authority of God by feigning to engage the freedom fight. But that is a subject for another day. In reality, the vast majority of America’s pastors, TV preachers, radio preachers, ministers, evangelists, etc., are promoting the Hitlerian philosophy that the state stands in the place of God and must be obeyed without question or hesitation. They believe that anyone (Christian or otherwise) who dares to resist an oppressive state is doing a disservice to God and should be punished. And with the clever enticement of the 501c3 non-profit corporation status that most churches submit to today, they have become--either wittingly or unwittingly--the sheepish slaves of the state. In Biblical terms, they have become idolaters. Look at how many Christians believe that whistleblower Edward Snowden is a traitor and enemy of America. Instead of realizing that the federal government’s Orwellian surveillance society is blatantly and overtly unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral and that every preacher in America should be sounding the clarion call repudiating this unlawful activity, most Christians blindly follow America’s pastors who regurgitate the call of compliance and non-resistance to unlawful government--even to the point of calling for the death of the man who simply tried to warn the American citizenry of their government’s evil machinations. I am convinced that many, if not MOST, of these Christian statists today would applaud the imprisonment and execution of the likes of the great Christian theologian and freedomist Dietrich Bonhoeffer all over again--not to mention the great martyrs of church history including Stephen, the apostle James, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, John Wycliffe, John Huss, Savonarola, William Tyndale, et al. Ladies and gentlemen, the chasm between freedomists and statists is widening. It is pitting brother against brother; husband against wife; father against son; mother against daughter; friend against friend; and Christian against Christian. In much the same way that the great struggles for liberty have divided brethren in the past, so, too, it is happening today. And the chasm is only going to widen further in the months and years to come. And mark this down: as the chasm widens, there will be no room for neutrality. Everyone, and I mean everyone, will have to pick a side. We will either believe and understand the divine principles of liberty and be ready and willing to fight for and defend those principles or we will support the tyrant’s position that the state stands in the place of God and must be obeyed at all costs. This is why it is so important for Christians to leave these churches that promote this damnable doctrine of unlimited submission to the state--and I mean right now. Pastors who continue to preach this devilish doctrine are facilitating the destruction of liberty in America. They are helping to put shackles around the necks of our children and grandchildren. I realize that there are many sincere Christians out there who believe that all their pastor and church must do is preach the Gospel, win souls, etc., and America will be healed. They are sincerely mistaken. Over the last 70 years in America, we have seen an explosion of Christian witness--an explosion unparalleled in church history. There are over 300,000 churches in this country. There has been more Gospel preaching, more Gospel literature, more Christian colleges, universities and seminaries, more Christian TV and radio ministries, more youth retreats, couples retreats, marriage retreats, Sunday Schools, missions organizations, evangelism programs, Christian publishing houses, ad infinitum than at any other time in church history. And while many of these institutions and organizations differ on the nuances of secondary doctrine, for the most part, they have shared fidelity to the Gospel. With all of this Christian witness, one would think that we would be in the Millennium by now. So, why is America teetering on the brink of financial collapse? Why does our constitutional republic increasingly look like a despotic oligarchy? Why is evil running rampant? Why are we on the brink of nuclear war? Why is our entertainment industry a moral cesspool? Why is aberrant sexual behavior skyrocketing? Why are our armed forces engaged in perpetual aggressive war? Why are we in the burgeoning throes of a Police State? Why? I’ll tell you why: the “salt” has lost its savor and is “good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Matt. 5:13 KJV) Christian pastors and churches are no longer fighting against the decay and putrification of our country--including against the polluted political bacteria that is eating away at the fundamental principles of liberty upon which this nation was established. Biblical Natural Law principles have been abandoned by pulpit and pew alike. As a result, America’s freedoms are being systematically and rapidly expunged--a Donald Trump presidency notwithstanding. America can never be saved by the White House. It can only be saved by the church house. Yet the vast majority of Christians seem to be looking for national salvation from a president and ignoring the cowardice and complacency of the one to whom God has entrusted with the responsibility of being the nation’s watchman: their own pastor. And as is always the case: when the light of truth is turned off in a nation, the darkness of error quickly envelops the land. Accordingly, the errors of socialism, militarism, corporatism, neoconism, statism, and Zionism have become sacrosanct in America--including in a majority of America’s churches. For all intents and purposes, freedom and liberty are entering a modern-day Dark Ages. And just as in the dark days of European persecutions and inquisitions, those Christians who stand for liberty today are being ostracized, marginalized, vilified, and demonized--by their own brethren. More and more, the same man who is my brother is also my enemy. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: Ada (#0)
Never forget the war from 1861 to 1865, brother murdered brother, fathers murdered sons, sons murdered fathers. The war is over we must move on and learn from the mistake, no matter who or why
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
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