The New Doctrine.6 "Build Back Better"

"Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

No, true believers will worship God in spirit and truth, and God the Father will seek out those who approach him offering the sacrifice of worship and praise." ---Jesus

In a scene from the movie, Enola Holmes, Dowager Tewksbury is having a conversation with the title character, Enola, while strolling through a portion of her picturesque woodland property in 1884 England.

Tewksbury: "Beautiful, isn't it? It always felt an honor to me that my family was given this part of England to protect."

Holmes: "To protect?"

Tewksbury: "That is what it is to be an ancestral landowner. As the world becomes increasingly unstable, it feels important that these ideas of England are preserved, for the safety and security of the future of our country."

Holmes: "It is lovely here."

Tewksbury: "But you're probably one of those new thinkers?  My son was a new thinker too. Never could focus on what was, it was always what could be. I suspect my grandson is the same. England's true glory...is what is. Do you see?

Holmes: "I can see much beauty."

Tewksbury: "Very sensible answer."

------------------------------------------

Its a good visual illustration of the age old struggle between those who hold a blissful view of the past and those who have, as G.K Chesterton describes: "a special romance with the future." 

"The last few decades have been marked by a special cultivation of the romance of the future. We seem to have made up our minds to misunderstand what has happened; and we turn, with a sort of relief, to stating what will happen—which is (apparently) much easier. 

--G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong With The World.

• It's easier to imagine playing with our great grandchildren than being judged by our great grandfathers' character and courage.
• It's easier to paint on a blank canvas then to reproduce a masterpiece.
• It's easier to trust technology's promises then live by timeless principles.

For decades here in the USA and around the globe, national politicians have been seduced by the idea of a "New World Order" led by technology and economics. The latest iteration of NWO is the United Nation's "Building Back Better" (which presidential candidate Joe Biden, "Build Back Better", adopted as his campaign slogan.  

"Building Back Better (BBB) is an approach to post-disaster recovery [including pandemics] that reduces vulnerability to future disasters and builds community resilience to address physical, social, environmental, and economic vulnerabilities and shocks. ... BBB also applies to cross-cutting issues such as environment, gender, and governance." (emphasis added) 

This was adopted by the United Nations in 2015 and is being promoted by countries and corporations around the world. It is based on 17 goals as listed on the UN's website:

1. No poverty
2. Zero hunger
3. Vaccinate your family
4. Quality education
5. Gender equality
6. Clean water and sanitation
7. Affordable and clean energy
8. Decent work and economic growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced inequalities
11. Sustainable cities and communities
12. Responsible consumption and production
13. Climate action
14. Life below water
15. Life on land
16. Peace, justice and strong institutions
17. Partnerships

As "plausible" sounding as these goals seem, it is vital to understand that the key to these goals is defining what is called "sustainable", which, by definition, pits itself against "unsustainable" actions. We, in the USA are already feeling the effect of those in positions of power determining what is "essential" for our own well-being. The obvious problem with this is that it depends on some One or some group of humans determining for other human beings what is "sustainable", "essential" or necessary for each individual's well being.

The argument always used to persuade people to accept and adopt the view of a small group of "experts" for determining the fate of societies is "oppressors oppress the oppressed". Convincing people that they are "victims" of some thing or another is not that difficult. Why? Because life is hard, whether the result of Natural laws, rejecting Nature's God, our own choice consequences or the impact of other's choices. 

 Chesterton points out:

"To all this plausible modern argument for oppression, the only adequate answer is, that there is a permanent human ideal that must not be either confused or destroyed. 

The most important man on earth is the perfect man who is not there. The Christian religion has specially uttered the ultimate sanity of Man, says Scripture, who shall judge the incarnate and human truth. 

Our lives and laws are not judged by divine superiority, but simply by human perfection. It is man, says Aristotle, who is the measure. It is the Son of Man, says Scripture, who shall judge the quick and the dead."

If I am to discuss what is wrong, one of the first things that are wrong is this: the deep and silent modern assumption that past things have become impossible. There is one metaphor of which the moderns are very fond; they are always saying, “You can’t put the clock back.” The simple and obvious answer is “You can." A clock, being a piece of human construction, can be restored by the human finger to any figure or hour. In the same way society, being a piece of human construction, can be reconstructed upon any plan that has ever existed." [Note; consider the Amish's ability to maintain a balance between the demands of a modern world for which they depend on income and roads verses the demands of their traditions and principles.] 

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."

The only true free–thinker is he whose intellect is as much free from the future as from the past. He cares as little for what will be as for what has been; he cares only for what ought to be.

As Jesus points out to the Samaritan woman he encountered at a watering well, novel ideas of what can make life easier for the human race continually pop up and run their course. At times, as history has shown, the fanaticism with which these ideas are embraced border on worship; and certainly those who reject the current popular fads/ideologies, based especially on Scriptural historical accounts of what has worked and what hasn't worked, are either marginalized, at best, or eradicated, at worst.

If we are to worship and give ourselves to what works for mankind's ultimate salvation (sorry UN its not Building Back Better), let us worship and give ourselves In Spirit, to The Truth; for that is where all True Worshipers of the Father will find themselves, worshiping what we know, at the feet of the Ultimate Man!

 

The Promise Forty Four Years In The Keeping.5

"My doctrine is not my own, but his who has sent me. If you choose to do my Father's will, you will quickly discover whether or not my teaching comes from God."

-Jesus

To Do God's Will

It was a wintry January night sitting together in my car discussing the most important decision of our young lives. I'd been contemplating the future and come to an important place in my life: the only thing I really wanted to do in this life was whatever God wanted me to do. As I sat with the beautiful woman at my side I explained the promise I'd made to God to do whatever or go wherever He said. I told her that I really wanted her to go with me but warned her that God's will may take us to unusual and perhaps difficult places. I didn't tell her that:

• we'd move far away from her family
• she'd leave her beloved horses on the family farm for fifteen years
• we'd raise eight sons
• our adventures would allow us to meet many wonderful people...and some not so wonderful.
• we'd be challenged financially at times
• we'd home school those boys for many years
• we'd move into and out of many houses over those many years
• we'd be challenged by our parents on decisions we'd make
• there would be heartache and headache in abundance
• and joy

Honestly, I think she would have stopped me at the "eight sons" part!

But, of course, I didn't know all those things as a young man. But I knew the One who did...and, apparently, that was enough for her!

She said yes!

This October we will be celebrating our 44th anniversary of promising to be true and faithful to each other! 

Early on in our marriage she actually lost her wedding ring. I've never replaced it until now; I recently purchased a ring like the one pictured with eight diamonds representing the "fruit" of our love. 

Most wedding ceremonies describe the ring as a "token" of a love that is perfect and eternal.

But it isn't a "token" that makes a marriage successful. It is the promise.

• We, together, promised to love and serve God. 
• We promised each other our love and respect. 
• We promised to provide for, protect, direct and discipline the children God gave us. 
• We promised to be salt and light to a love-starved world. 
• We promised to go where He led us, serve who needed us, share what we had, teach what we learned, and be His hands, feet, ears, eyes and mouth.

The promise, the commitment of our wills, is what has shaped our lives these 44 years. You cannot think of Denise Lyon (affectionately known to us as the "Fun Grandma") without marveling at the wonder of her energy, the intensity of her work, her devotion to her kids, love of friends and family, horses of course, and her excellent spirit. 

All things that her promise opened up and developed in her!

For George MacDonald God's will is the essence of eternal life:

"For the will is the deepest, the strongest, the divinest thing in man; so, I presume, is it in God, for such we find it in Jesus Christ. ...by the obedience of a son, he receives into himself the very life of the Father. Obedience is the joining of the links of the eternal round. Obedience is but the other side of the creative will.  

Will is God's will,   

obedience is man's will;  

the two make one!

If we do the will of God, eternal life is ours...within His reach to fill with the abundant and endless out-goings of His love. Our souls shall be vessels ever growing and ever, as they grow, filled with the more and more life proceeding from the Father and the Son.

What the delight of the being, what the abundance of the life he came that we might have, we can never know until we have it!"

The promises that have shaped us over forty four years are just a taste of the glory waiting to be revealed when our eternal Promise Keeper makes all things new!

 

The Good Shepherd.1

"Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

-- Jesus

Much has been made lately about immigration. At the heart of the issue, whether immigration in the USA or in Europe or anywhere in the world where any people group is moving away from economic or political or religious

turmoil in their own country and seeking refuge in another, is this: are the immigrants willing to change their lifestyles -their language, values and habits- in order to assimilate into their new culture?

At the dairy farm where I formerly worked, I often engaged the Mexican workers in conversations about culture. On one occasion I tried to explain why it was important to Americans that people who come here should come through the legal process. The simple answer is because of a fundamental appreciation that we trust one another in our country. We believe in the ideals and principles of our founding; and that our laws, for the most part, are fair and that if we all try our best to live by the ideals and follow the rules we can trust each other. But if the very first thing you do in getting into our country is disregard the rules, it makes it very difficult to trust you. We don't want to live in a place where you can't trust your neighbor.

For those of us who live in the relative peace and comfort of the USA it is difficult to understand the fear associated with the uncertainty, hardship, instability and danger that so many live with everywhere else in the world today.

Fear may elicit compassion from the countrymen of the land you seek to enter, but it doesn't necessarily make you fit to become a productive member of that society. Fear can, however, drive you to desire the qualities that would help you assimilate and contribute to your new homeland.

The current administration in the USA is proposing new standards for those who want to come live here. They include:

"...a proposal that would grant green cards to immigrants who meet requirements related to education, age and English-speaking ability. The administration has previously proposed regulation that would deny immigrants entry to the U.S. or lawful permanent residence if they are likely to use Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) and other forms of public assistance."

This is in fact nothing new, for it has always been the intent of the people of this country that those people who want to come enjoy the fruit of the sacrifice of those who defend and protect this enterprise in freedom should understand and love the ideals upon which this nation exists. They should be willing to do their duty to live out and promote these ideals.

For Trust is very much related to Truth and Truth is tied to our behavior more than it is tied to our intentions.

We talk much about our "rights" here in the USA, for example, the "rights" every human being has been endowed with from the Creator:

• The right of self-government.
• The right to bear arms for self-defense.
• The right to own, develop, and dispose of property.
• The right to make personal choices.
• The right of free conscience.
• The right to choose a profession.
• The right to choose a mate.
• The right to beget one's kind.
• The right to assemble.
• The right to petition.
• The right to free speech.
• The right to enjoy the fruits of one's labors.
• The right to improve one's position through barter and sale.
• The right to contrive and invent.
• The right to explore the natural resources of the earth.
• The right to privacy.
• The right to provide personal security.
• The right to provide nature's necessities: air, food, water, clothing, and shelter.
• The right to a fair trial.
• The right free association.
• The right to contract.

(from The 5,000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen)

Clearly these are rights we enjoy (and too often take for granted) as US citizens but we do not spend nearly enough time considering and teaching our "duties" as citizens to keep our Republic viable and attractive.

"These are some of the more important responsibilities which the Creator has imposed on every human being of normal mental capacity:

1. The Duty to honor the supremacy of the Creator and His laws.
2. The duty not to take the life of another except in self-defense.
3. The duty not to steal or destroy the property of another.
4. The duty to be honest in all transactions with others.
5. The duty of children to honor and obey their parents and elders.
6. The duty of parents and elders to protect, teach, feed, clothe, and provide shelter for children.
7. The duty to support law and order and keep the peace.
8. The duty not to contrive through a covetous heart to despoil another.
9. The duty to provide insofar as possible for the needs of the helpless -- the sick, the crippled, the injured, the poverty-stricken.
10. The duty to honor and perform contracts and covenants both with God and man.
11. The duty to be temperate.
12. The duty to become economically self-sufficient.
13. The duty not to trespass on the property or privacy of another.
14. The duty to maintain the integrity of the family structure.
15. The duty to perpetuate the race.
16. The duty not to promote or participate in the vices which destroy personal and community life.
17. The duty to perform civic responsibilities -- vote, assist public officials, serve in official capacities when called upon, stay informed on public issues, volunteer where needed.
18. The duty not to aid or abet those involved in criminal or anti-social activities.
19. The duty to support personal and public standards of common decency.
20. The duty to follow rules of moral rectitude.

(from The 5,000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen)

There is much "fear" on the issue of immigration on both sides of the USA's southern border. 

• Political parties, fearing the fallout of voter's embracing the opposition, are waging a raging debate on whether or not there is a "crisis" of mass migration into the US. 
• Landowners along the border states are fearful of trespassers on their property, often armed and dangerous. 
• Taxpayers are fearful that reports of advertisements in central American countries inviting people to the USA for its "free social programs and work" are creating the stampede to our borders further burdening our strained social safety net, bringing low-skilled people and new diseases. 
• Central American citizens, fearing that stricter immigration policies and the "Wall" will make it even more difficult to flee their squalor, rush the border, endangering themselves and their children.

In the land of the free, the USA, in a shadowy way, illustrates important eternal truths:

• It is worth sacrificing all to be free
• There is a legitimate requirement to become fit for citizenship

Since none of us have internet access to Google the heavenly landscape, most likely Jesus was addressing the most common fear to man: fear of the unknown.

Old Testament prophets alluded to it; Jesus said He came from there; John the beloved had visions of the Kingdom's grandeur and Lazurus stayed mum about his brief encounter. So, really, the only first person account we have of God's dwelling place in the heavenlies is from Paul the Apostle and even he couldn't find the words to describe it!

Just as He has always done from the very beginning, God asks us to trust Him and understand that what makes Heaven Heaven is Him! Fearlessly we can choose and anticipate His divine good pleasure as our eternal home!

Eventually every human being will "migrate" from this war ravaged planet through the doorway of death into our eternal destiny.

Having established that our Creator, albeit at a painful cost, takes pleasure in giving us His kingdom, what is our part in preparing to participate in Kingdom life?

Is it too difficult an idea that God would want the people he invites to populate His eternal kingdom to be trustworthy and true? Of course not, but how do we become trustworthy and true?

Unlike desperate people eagerly entrusting themselves to "coyotes" to lead them into the US, God provided the Good Shepherd who not only leads

us into His Kingdom but prepares and fits us along the journey:

• teaching us the language of the Kingdom
• improving our perception of His ways
• using the consequences of our feeble attempts at obedience to His words to correct or confirm our character development
• delivering us from evil within and without
• Perfecting the currency of the Kingdom: Love!

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 24, 25

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

The New Doctrine.4

"Let the little children

come to me,

and do not refuse them.

For the kingdom of God belongs

to hearts so trusting;

for without a childlike faith

you will never enter the kingdom."

-Jesus

Childlikeness: the essential character quality to living in a good place!

The difference between childlike and childish is not one of degree but of devotion. The childish are devoted to their own selfish ways and desires. The childlike are devoted to love.

The selfish child is miserable to be around. The childlike

melt your heart.

When my oldest granddaughter was age three I remember laying her down for a nap. She tenderly took my face in her two hands and asked, "Grandpa may I have some milk?" In that moment I would have given her anything!

A core value of faith as a follower of Jesus (a list compiled by George MacDonald) is to believe that He died to make us merry children of our Father in heaven,

• loving what is lovely,
• delivered from all:
• meanness,
• pretense,
• falseness,
• unfairness,
• cowardice,
• fear,
• anxiety,
• self-worship,
• trust or hope in material possessions.

Jesus used a variety of ways to express His Father's desire to be surrounded by people with transformed "supernatural" hearts: born again, childlike, perfect, obedient, fearless, following, listening, trusting, and loving.

Contrast that with the "natural" state of the soul demonstrated by today's "protester": childish, foot-stomping, screaming, insolent, arrogant, ignorant, undisciplined, disobedient, lawless and unruly.

A question posed by a famous politician years ago sums up nicely our eternal choice: "What kind of country do we want to live in?"

While we journey in this world, we certainly don't want to live in a country besieged by screaming foot-stompers and heavy handed governance.

Interesting that, according to Isaiah 3, one indication of a nation that God has entered into judgment against in rejecting his influence on the character of the country is that "...I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable." Isa 3:4-5

Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus to transform their heart, are of the company of those looking for a better country -both now and beyond! While we journey here, the hope in our hearts for "the better place" urges us to improve the place we currently occupy. The self-governing structure of the USA, dependent on people who are committed to goodness and self-improvement, is toward ever improving the conditions under which we all live. To leave the place better than we found it! The call of the childish to raze the USA to the ground, to fundamentally transform it, is like a person who acquires a home and rather than remodel and improve a solid structure with a sound history, completely destroy it and build something new. (A caveat: If the vision and plans for a new home excite the senses and prove inviting, then by all means rebuild! Think Declaration of Independence, a strong vision of a new country complete with listed grievances, solution for resolution and an appeal to the Supreme Judge for the "rectitude of their intentions".)

Except that the people wanting to destroy and rebuild the USA are of such dubious character it makes one wonder who really wants to live there when they are done? Which also makes you realize that history matters, especially the USA's history which has as its focus the character of the founding fathers and the people who helped instill a vision of a "city on a shining hill." By pledging their "lives, fortunes and sacred honor", the founders of the Republic wove into the fabric of the USA the one essential character quality -sacrificial love- that ensured continual commitment to "a more perfect union", i.e., a steady improvement in the conditions for every American citizen.

Which brings us back to the Kingdom of God. The character of its inhabitants is the primary concern of Jesus' work on earth. For no country is worth living in if the people who make it up are self-centered and have no interest in making it a better place by their mutual effort to improve.

The best manifestation of a childlike heart is the loving, trusting effort to put into practice Jesus' words; to obey everything He says to do or not do. The only true way to improve one's character and one's family, community and country!

The hope we have, childlike in its simplicity, is that however far short we are in living Kingdom values here on earth, our efforts to obey and live them will pay off in God's Eternal Kingdom!

The New Doctrine.3

Once there were two men who went into the temple to pray.

One was a proud,

self-righteous man,

while the other was a miserable tax collector well known for his dishonesty.

The proud man prayed:

"Thank God I am not a sinner like other people,

especially that cheating tax collector

I see here today.

I never cheat,

nor do I commit adultery.

I fast twice a week,

and I give the temple a tenth of all that I earn."

The tax collector remained in the

back of the temple,

and dared not lift his eyes toward heaven.

He prayed sorrowfully:

"God, please be merciful to me. I am unworthy

and have fallen short of what you ask."

I tell you now, that the tax collector

who recognized his need

for God's mercy,

returned to his house

lighthearted,

free from anxiety, and

forgiven.

Those who,

in their pride,

exalt themselves

will be humbled,

while those who humble themselves

will rise above the cares of this world

to a place of blessing and honor."

--Jesus

As far back as Cain and Abel mankind has been divided into two camps:

Those who reject God's judgment

-vs-

Those who seek God's approval & blessing

The Self Righteous get humbled.

The humble find freedom.

Or as Jesus put it: justified - the legal and formal acquittal of guilt.

Hubris (excessive pride or self-confidence) is never justified.

The Self Righteous Man can never be justified because he:

• can't properly assess his own actions
• sets himself above the moral assessment of others, including God
• takes the place of God in judging and condemning others
• is not merciful 
• is inured to the conviction of sin by God's Spirit
• can never be truly reconciled to God or man

The first step in properly aligning ourselves with the

True Righteousness is to admit how far we fall short in being like our Creator.

The Tax Collector, as Jesus points out, was well known for cheating others.

Worse yet, he had a governmental position that may even have sanctioned this kind of cheat. He may very well have been insulated from the seething hatred of people, his own countrymen, by the fact that most every tax collector skimmed or inflated the tax owed.

I remember meeting a burly business man who owned a cement company. He told me he worked for the IRS for over twenty five years before starting his own company. He said he never understood why people hated him so much until he left the premier tax collecting agency in the world and started his own company!

It was an "Aha" moment when he could see what he'd been blind to for many years! The tax collector in Jesus' parable had that "aha" moment in coming to a point when he realized the terrible wrong -cheating people, and therefore God, out of what rightfully belonged to them- he'd been committing. So profound was his sense of loathing that he couldn't even lift his eyes upward. 

"When a man acknowledges the right he denied before; when he says to the wrong, 'I abjure, I loathe you; I see now what you are; I could not see it before because I would not; God forgive me; make me clean, or let me die!' then justice, that is God, has conquered--and not till then." George MacDonald, Justice.

By saying the man was "justified" Jesus is pointing out that justice had begun in his heart and would open the door to true atonement -- the righting of the wrongs he'd done to his neighbors. Perhaps Jesus had in mind the tax collector Zacchaeus who upon meeting Jesus while sitting in a tree trying to catch a glimpse of the Man, immediately repented and declared his commitment to making things right with those he'd wronged!

The only vengeance worth having on sin is to make the sinner himself its executioner! A man may be saved from sin by learning to loathe it, to hate it, to shrink from it with an eternal avoidance. Punishment is not the thing required of God, but the absolute destruction of sin. -MacDonald, ibid

Notice the attempt by the Self Righteous man to guilt shame the tax collector. Hubris does that. In fact, the more it is gotten away with the more widespread the disease becomes.

Consider today's "Cancel Culture" lead, primarily, by the "Credentialed", those with self important pedigrees from highly esteemed institutions or wealthy actors, athletes and business owners as well as governmental authorities and academics. Using the insulation of social media they are able to cast slurs on others who do not share their moral superiority and politically correct views. Or worse, destroy lives and careers by their hypocritical hubris.

Their attempts to do the work of God's spirit will never bring people closer together for there is no appeal to the "divinest" in one another, to the eternal brotherhood under one Father; an appeal based on grace, repentance, humility, a common understanding of our own fallen-ness and desire for true friendship and godly Oneness.

So follower of Jesus, remember that the great divide in the USA today is not between races or political parties, CNN and FOX, Trump haters and Trump supporters, men and women or urban and rural America, but the real divide is between humility and hubris. 

The New Doctrine.2

"But whoever hears my life-giving words,

and rejects them,

chooses to build on a foundation of sand.

The rains descend, and the floods rise.

Hurricane winds beat against the house,

and the foundation crumbles.

The house collapses,

and great is its fall."

-Jesus

After leaving the company of my friend and mentor, Paul Maxim, I took my newly developing carpentry skills* as well as a hearty supply of Maxim's Maxims! --"measure twice, cut once!"-- and used them to make money!

However, I found out that even though I wasn't "accountable" to my old boss for my work now, I was accountable to a new boss: building codes! More specifically, the people who enforce those codes! (I once had an over zealous electrical inspector threaten to "write me up" for unlicensed electrical work because he found me holding a wiring box I'd picked up off the floor and a pair of wire strippers in my tool belt!)

Most of the time Codes represent the processes, protocols and procedures for ensuring a safe, secure and enduring structure. But occasionally they are nothing more than attempts to generate revenue for government or the influence of business interests to protect their industry. Most of the time codes represent good science and good sense. Sometimes, not.

I've done enough remodeling work now to really come to appreciate best practices "codes" (and annoyed by questionable regulations.) Believe it or not, people try to do a lot of work on their own homes who really don't know how to properly safeguard their work or understand the potential danger they are "building" into their project.

Building codes recognize that there are always forces at work that have the potential to erode and/or destroy a structure whether instantaneously (like a fire) or over time (like water erosion of soil under a foundation.) They take into account a variety of conditions like geography - (structures in Florida are different than in Michigan to account for the possibility of hurricane force winds!); lifestyles - (the frenzied activity in urban areas vs quiet country living); property issues - (renting vs owning).

Jesus' words are the "best practices" for ensuring a solid, enduring life in a world filled with dangerous forces working to erode or destroy you! If you want a life in harmony with the Created Order, one free of dubious regulations or capricious influences, who better to know and teach these best practices then the One through Whom Life came into existence?!

There are hurricane force winds and flood waters of fear, technology and sexual deviancy that are working to destroy the foundation of our lives as individuals, families and communities today!

The current worldwide panic over the Coronavirus is a perfect example. Without internet technology, government officials would not have the ability to communicate directives for people to "shelter in place" on such a coordinated global scale (as a matter of fact, our governor here in Michigan issued a smartphone emergency alert when she ordered her "stay home, save lives" directive.)

But the truth of the matter is that since the introduction of graphic media in the early 1900's up until the inception of the smartphone at the turn of the century, our senses have been trained to accept emotion based appeal over reason. (Actually you could go back many centuries to document mankind's attempt to disconnect the truth of God revealed in nature from man's attempt to control nature.)

Case in point, most every state (in order to qualify for Federal Disaster money) took strict measures to "flatten the curve" of the spread of Covid19 to ensure hospitals would not be overwhelmed. These measures included shutting down schools and businesses, ordering healthy people to quarantine in their own homes to avoid social contact and possibly spread the virus. Some states, including my own Michigan, took what has come to be considered "draconian" steps by determining what is "essential" to any individual's well being, ordering big box stores to cordon off areas like paint and garden supplies to keep the public safe and save lives, encourage neighbors to turn violators in and issue fines for those who disobeyed. Rather than deal with the naturally occurring development and course of a virus (including the fact that a certain percentage of people will die from a viral outbreak), governments turned to technology: computer models, expert opinions and social science theory to determine public policy. Since it has been difficult to get consistent and reliable information which, historically, enables people to make good decisions for themselves, the general economic and cultural uncertainty enhanced by technology (social media is rife with "experts" contradicting one another) is in many ways more destructive to the social fabric than any virus could ever be.

To Jesus' warning. Rejecting the Nature of God's dealings with mankind; rejecting His attempts to bring all people into a love relationship with Him using whatever resources He can; rejecting His words which bring order to the chaos and destruction people are capable of generating; rejecting obedience as the outworking of our love and trust in Him can have catastrophic consequences! Think of it this way: Have you ever built a sand castle, then channeled water towards it? If you look closely, it is individual grains of sand that move with the current. Eventually, as enough grains are washed away, the entire structure collapses! In the same way, individuals are pulled away from faith, trust and obedience to the Lord of Truth and Life in today's world by addictively looking at smartphones hundreds of times a day and allowing, as Rod Dreher points out in The Benedict Option, "online technology by its very nature to scatter our attention like nothing else, radically compromising our ability to make sense of the world, physiologically rewiring our brains and rendering us increasingly helpless against our impulses." (page 219) Fear is the one great impulse being fostered by this unprecedented use of technology to control people's behavior!

Consider the great irony: as people put more of their trust into technology to provide relief and security from the chaos and uncertainty technology helped create, they will find themselves more isolated and fearful. As more individuals get swept away by fear, the more likely families, communities and nations will crash!

How can putting Jesus' words into practice provide protection and stability during difficult times?

Refuse to let fear dominate your thinking. Try unplugging from technology on a regular basis and just discipline your mind to focus on His commands and words, which are essentially His promises to help you achieve His right action in every situation. Trust in Him with all your heart. Don't lean on your own attempts to understand (believe it or not, you can't Google God's will!) before you put your heart into seeing what He is doing and join Him to be a blessing to a fear fractured world. When evil/fear increases, Jesus warned, the love of many grows cold. What a powerful opportunity to demonstrate the life of Christ by being kind, loving and carefree in world gripped by fear. By staying steadfast and true to the Word of Life you strengthen other's faith and help ensure your family, church, and community stays strong!

That's how you build an enduring life!

*(see previous post at https://8-greatmen.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-new-doctrine1.html)