Monday, 30 June 2025

NATURALISM vs TRANSCENDANTALISM [Part 1]

Is it 'normal' to be an atheist? 

Many contemporary people argue that since one cannot PROVE God exists, therefore He does not.

Interesting, but is this logical?

Worldviews, i.e. the instincts/motivations/beliefs/unconscious biases from which we operate in this world seem to place greater emphasise on NOT believing than they do too believing. Is this just normal, common sense?

From about AD 1500 until today, a major shift has been occurring in Western society. This shift has increasingly made naturalism the default functioning worldview. Philosopher Charles Taylor insightfully probes the depth of this shift and what it means for us today in his landmark book A Secular Age. [Crain, Natasha. Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture (p. 70). Harvest House Publishers. Kindle Edition.] 

Up until the late 13th Century people lived in what Taylor termed "the enchanted world", that is; a world so saturated with a belief in the transcendental that most people found it incredibly difficult to NOT believe in the 'other-world'. 

I was born in Africa and the belief in an existence that embraces both a natural and a supernatural world seems quite acceptable, even 'normal', evidence that Western conditioning in secular materialism has not yet had its desired affect on Africa. Interestingly, given how completely captured all of the 'organs of meaning'(i.e. institutions that govern the minds and motivations of the masses) in the West are, we still see that a majority percentage of the population continue to believe in a transcendant 'something', even though there is much confusion about what that 'something' is. This 'transcendental confusion' is playing havoc on the psyche of  the Western population, hence the mass usage of illegal drugs, alcohol, anti-depressants, anti-social behaviours, suicides, and general dysfunctionality so evident in Western societies even with all of the material advances made in the West since the Industrial revolution: 

Fast-forward to today. Taylor calls our present age “haunted.” Everyone longs for meaning, but we encounter so many options that we often lack confidence in our own beliefs. We’re haunted by the realization that any belief is contestable today, and it leaves us with a sense of unease. That sense of unease grows when we perceive that more and more people are finding our own beliefs to be implausible—and that’s exactly what’s happening today for Christians. As more and more people abandon Christianity and theism in general, naturalism increasingly becomes the default worldview we encounter in society. And it’s not just atheists who have a naturalistic worldview.3 In a functional sense, the many people who believe in a nonspecific God often live their day-to-day lives as though this world is all there is. The fact that we’re increasingly surrounded by even a functional naturalism creates a certain sense of cognitive pressure: Why are so many other people convinced that God doesn’t exist or that He’s not in any way active if He does? Am I really so sure He’s there? And when those who hold to a strict naturalism are vocal in proactively challenging our beliefs, the pressure can become even greater. Any unease we might already have felt in this “haunted” age is magnified to a level that’s hard to ignore. [Ibid p. 71]

Tuesday, 10 June 2025

IS IT THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND

I like Joni Mitchell’s song ‘Big Yellow Taxi,’especially the line; “don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you've got till its gone”. Half a century later it appears to accurately sum up a major impulse within our 21st Century youth culture, especially regarding those who appear to be hell bent on trashing the Western lifestyle and all of its benefits.

One of the downsides to true freedom is that it allows sinful people to do sinful things, and very soon stupid people and people with egregious agendas begin to exploit these stupid and sinful things and before you know it, it’s all anybody focuses on. 

Too many people (perhaps the majority?) in the West seem to think that their lifestyle of leisure, luxury, ease and plenty is the ‘normal life’. They think that everyone lives like they do, not understanding that vast populations of the world still live under dictators, thugs, fear and deprivation.

Many of these (perhaps)well meaning, naive and historically illiterate Westerners think that some form of socialism will alleviate the suffering and burdens of the ‘underprivileged’, because the problems are caused not by sin, greed, exploitation or the ‘will to power’, but on social conditions and government failures. So if we just change the government and or the social conditions we can create nirvana.

Vladimir Lenin said many things about socialism that I think the more starry-eyed amongst us should at the very least consider. These are a few:
“The goal of socialism is communism”
“We can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion, and scorn towards those who disagree with us.”
“Atheism is a natural and inseparable part of Marxism, of the theory and practice of scientific socialism. Our program necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism.”

 I also believe in what Ronald Reagan stood for(take note of the medical intervention in point 2) when he said:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.– 1961

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project.– 1961

If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. – 1964

During the 20th Century there have been almost perfect social, political, educational, cultural and philosophical, comparative ‘experiments. For example: East vs West Germany, North Vs. South Korea, North vs South America, Venezuela, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Maoist China...etc,etc.

Why have we not learned from these examples?





Thursday, 5 June 2025

DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY!

One of the more misleading, catchy and therefore famous songs ever played over the airwaves is; 'Don't worry, be happy'. Perhaps unintentionally subversive, who knows, however it is nothing but a huge misdirection. 

If happiness was possible through an act of the will who wouldn't choose it? 

The tragic reality that happiness is NOT a choice is evidenced by the unfortunate fact that a huge proportion of the population of the Western world lives on anti-depressants.

The answer is never found within us, nor is it found in the pursuit of materialistic belongings or even the repudiation of said materialistic longings, desires or expectations as some worldviews would have you believe, no matter how many gurus tell you it is. I know, I followed those teachings and nothing changed; if anything a selfish, narcissistic pursuit of things and reputation leads only to dissatisfaction and disappointment. Solomon, who achieved the pinnacle of everything that life has to offer illustrates that very effectively in his book called Ecclesiastes. 

Regarding the title of this song, read what the bible has to say about not worrying: Matthew 6:19>34

Do not seek happiness, surrender yourself to the Truth and happiness will find you!

Wednesday, 4 June 2025

FOR OR AGAINST

It's truly sad when a theologian with the reputation of N T Wright expresses an acceptance of abortion. In my opinion it brings into question all of his previous and subsequent positions, or at the very least I am going to take all of his future proclamations with a pinch of salt. 

Abortion, along with the alphabet issue are two of the most contentious worldview topics through which our common enemy is creating division and turmoil within the church. 

Both of these positions should be examined in the context of scripture and preached about somewhat frequently so that believers can know the position of their particular church family on such divisive issues, thus setting the stage for greater unity in the body.




Thursday, 29 May 2025

GNOSTICISM: THE CHURCH'S 'ALIEN'

A remarkably prescient book, which even as I read it I see more and more clearly what is happening in the world around me and in particular in the Church in the West: 

"The ‘unforeseen cultural shift’ is actually shaking the Church’s foundations. Already in 1980, Carl A Raschke, professor of religious studies at the University of Denver, saw telltale cracks. In his prophetic book, The Interruption of eternity: Modern Gnosticism and the Origins of the New Religious Consciousness, he argued that westerners are becoming Gnostic's. He singled out mainline churches that are regaining spirituality through the revival of Gnosticism without returning to Christian orthodoxy. That’s a deal. Old-time religion without old-time theology and old-time morals."(Jones, P. Pagans in the Pews, Regal 2001, pg.46)

Gnostic 'spirituality' was the heresy most countered by the early church. A parasitical, 'old-age', eastern religious belief that piggy-backed onto Christian orthodoxy until it was defeated by the early church fathers and basically withdrew to lick its wounds but was never fully crushed. We see its emergence evidenced throughout the literature, art and various 'religious' manifestations during most of the historical Church periods, including the transference of its fundamental precepts into Freemasonry during the medieval and on into the renaissance periods. It was carried into 'modern' consciousness through various 'enlightenment' scholars, until it emerged quite robustly amongst the German philosophers of the 19th Century. 

The discovery of the Nag Hammadi 'library' during the 1940's catapulted it into the seminary's, Bible schools, educational establishments, and most significantly into literature(Dan brown) and Hollywood(https://letterboxd.com/lalangue/list/gnosticism-in-cinema/).

Gnosticism is also a virulent strain through much of the Faith and 'hyper-spiritual' church groupings around the West and is considered as a powerful 'spiritual'  alternative to stale, orthodox Christianity by many of the 'post-modern, deconstructionists' who infest the Christian 'scholarship' of this new era. In fact, in far too many instances it is being hailed as 'the true Christianity' which is both confusing many believers and leading the gullible astray.

In my opinion it is the worldview/philosophy/theology that we need to examine carefully within Church circles if we hope to counter the proliferating false views of what it means to be Christian today.

Wednesday, 28 May 2025

LEFTIST TOPSY TURVY WORLD

It is so blatantly upside down (Isaiah 5:20) that it is almost hilarious. Once again, the very things that the left-wing media accuse Trump of doing are the actual things they themselves have been doing for decades, and now that they are being resisted, they are gaslighting the public with extreme prejudice. 

The 'sacred rule of law' that he intones upon has for years been perverted, twisted, abused and used as an instrument of persecution under Biden's 'autopen-oligarchy' and the 'fear of speaking out' was mercilessly applied to conservative and traditional voices in both media and culture. So too was the immortalising of fools and criminals into hero's a hallmark of this same period; one only has to reflect on the absurdity of the drug-addled, criminal George Floyd to see that.

In actual fact Trumps addressing of DEI mandates at universities is PREVENTING injustices and racial profiling. Interesting also that this sad faced media troll...

...is suggesting that under Trump, 'free speech' is threatened, meanwhile his '60 minutes' program has been one lie after another aimed at preventing the free flow of truth. And yes, Trump has attacked the MSM with the appellation 'fake news' because they have been for years observably so: 

"Journalist Scott Pelley accused President Donald Trump of “attacking” free speech and spreading “insidious fear” among the public during a commencement address at Wake Forest University. ..Our sacred rule of law is under attack,” Pelley began his message. “Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack, and insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses and into our private thoughts.” The veteran CBS News reporter continued, “The fear to speak in America ... power can rewrite history with grotesque false narratives.”
Without name-dropping, Pelley went on to say that “they can make criminals heroes, and heroes criminals.” “Power can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality,” he added.
Pelley then said that the “old playbook” the Trump administration is operating from is “nothing new.” “Diversity is now described as illegal. Equity is to be shunned. Inclusion is a dirty word,” he declared."[W Potter, Daily Mail]

It's pure nonsense to say that 'diversity' is now illegal, Bah humbug! 

Equity is NOT an admirable goal, because it is the Marxist's desired outcome of reducing everyone to a state of mindless conformity, whilst EQUALITY is a far more preferable state of allowing everyone the freedom to determine their own outcomes.

Inclusion in this context is the dogmatic assumption that ALL states of being are acceptable and able to live together in perfect harmony, a Utopian dream at best, and a provably chaotic nightmare as illustrated in country after country all around the world.

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Interesting times

More from this very interesting book. The following 'prophecy' from a Hindu mystic in Chicago 1893 sums up much of our Western world today, certainly it encapsulates the worldview of our current ruling elite in Australia. What is truly interesting to note is that there is only one world leader who stands diametrically opposed to the spirit behind this prophetic wish...guess who?: 

“The movement[60’s New Age] has not lost it’s quest for spirituality. It has diversified and gone mainline, just as the Hindu mystic Swami Vivekananda prophesied at the first Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893. His dream was the creation of a “society of Western science and socialism and Indian spiritualism”. One Century later, the 1993 Parliament in Chicago realized Vivekananda’s dream and tasted of the global character and power of the syncretistic movement that had been just a tiny project in 1893.” (Jones, P. Pagans in the Pews. Regal Books 2001, pg 29)

Sunday, 25 May 2025

Gnostics, Pagans and 'spiritual' beasts.

Spirits are at work in the Church, be on your guard:

"The battle for the soul of this nation and of Western civilisation rages unchecked. this is no video game of the mind that returns the player to reality when the quarter runs out. Homes and marriages, like unborn babies, are torn to shreds in a culture heralded as the epitome of enlightened civilization. America, defender of the great values of Western Christian culture, is staggering, critically wounded by an ideology of 'empowering' pro-choice personal autonomy. At the beginning of the third millennium, two radically opposed ways of understanding human nature and the universe vie for our allegiance. One defends the truth, the other a diabolical lie. one follows the god of the bible; the other follows the goddess of paganism.

Like two hockey players poised over a puck, ready to force it in one direction or the other, two religious faiths - the only two (emphasis mine) - battle for the spirit and the mind of the modern world. the game no longer pits the dark forces of atheistic humanism and godless materialism against the spirituality of the 'Christian' West. The present contest is between two powerful spiritualities: Christian theism (God the father) and pagan Monism (the Mother Goddess).

If the teams in this 'face-off of the soul' wore different-coloured uniforms, the game would be easier to follow. Alas, one team seeks to win by making all the uniforms gray and, in the confusion, steals the puck to score the winning goal. Only a closer look shows that the teams differ in style of play and direction. Choose sides, for the puck is our souls and the game is a spiritual battle to the death." [Jones, P. Pagans in the Pews. Regal Books, 2001. pgs. 16>17]

Since the election of Trump things appear to have shifted positively in the culture though nothing is always as it appears, and the church at the moment is complacently satisfied which, historically speaking, is not a favourable position for it to be in, therefore; stay tuned to this 'channel' for further updates. 

Saturday, 24 May 2025

Western 'Apartheid'

The culture that has developed in the West over the past 70+ years is dedicated to destroying families not only through legal attacks on the middle class and on the family unit, but most significantly by ripping the children away from the love and care of their 'elders' whose most biblical mandate is to love, care and direct them. 

Instead, the children are being force fed a diet of victimhood, disdain for tradition, hatred for the church(which as let them down BTW) a love of either materialism or Marxism(they lose both ways), and a rejection of the core values of Western civilisation. In fact they have been taught to hate Western values, the very system that affords them the benefits which most take for granted. 

The church has failed them in oh so many ways, not least in educating them to worldview values that stand the test of time and attack.

Tuesday, 25 March 2025

VIOLENT PHILOSOPHY

In collective ideologies violence is always prevalent, why?

Because violence in their minds is not a flaw, it is the 'spirit' that energizes it.

Tuesday, 11 March 2025

A TRUMPET CALL

I post a short comment from the Spectator because it sums up the weakness of Australian politics. 

Even commentators I respect on the Australian 'right' are whingeing about Trump being too harsh, being a bully, not treating others with the respect they deserve and in particular the Ukraine...which in my opinion shows that they do not do much homework on Putin's reasons for his invasion. And by the way, Putin did not try to force me to take an experimental drug my own government did that by threatening my ability to make a living, to meet with friends and family and a host of other indignities. Putin is not threatening my freedom to speak and to live freely as a Christian my own government is doing that. One look at Europe and we no longer see a culture that is our friend nor who hold to our values.

Watching the Australian news illustrates how weak the justice system, economics, education systems are...everything is tainted by the same weaknesses and ideological corruption we see on display in Europe. 

Trump is a disrupter. He is tearing down decades of corruption and indecision, he is rattling cages and though I run the risk of misdirection, I believe he is an instrument being used to give us all a second chance: 
"On Saturday, Labor won the WA election in a third consecutive landslide. The Liberals ran a bland no-risk campaign and, unsurprisingly, barely troubled the scorers in terms of increased lower house MPs. Worse, the result suggests the federal Liberals are not likely to win enough of the WA seats they’re banking on to get over the line in May. Meanwhile, Newspoll has confirmed what your scribe has worried about for the past year: Peter Dutton’s Coalition is failing to convince voters it is ready to return to government, even though those same voters don’t believe the Albanese government deserves re-election."[Speccie 11.3.25]

We need a powerful and disruptive force in Australia to tear down the strongholds that have been established over decades...until then I fear we will wither and die and maybe our children will have to fight a war of freedom like America in 1776.

REACTIONARY FOOLS

Think about how the various sides of politics act. The left is incensed about DOGE and it's exposing of government graft over decades and trying to defeat rule by an unelected bureaucracy. Fair enough, it is going to be controversial. 

But...we currently see Tesla dealerships bombed, shot at, and set on fire. Where have we seen such reactions before? 

The last time Trump was elected there were months and months of riots, and when a black drug addict was killed by an overdose but in between his collapse and death had a police officer kneel (stupidly) on his neck, the reaction to this was billions of dollars lost in burnings, wrecking whole neighbourhoods, rioting, and murders, plus many of these actions continue today. 

When are people going to wake up to the reality that the left side of politics in the world we live today, are lunatics?

Friday, 28 February 2025

BABIES, BESTIALITY AND THE MORALITY OF BAPHOMET!

I was looking for some information on the Encyclopaedia Britannica network and I spotted this section: "Ethics, philosophy. 
  • Also known as: moral philosophy:
  • Written by Peter Singer
  • Fact-checked by Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • Last Updated: Feb 13, 2025 • Article History"
If you are unfamiliar with who Peter Singer is, I refer you to, in brief: 
"Peter Singer is the atheist utilitarian philosopher who is full on about animal rights,and is a committed vegetarian. He has even written serious articles informing us that there is really nothing wrong with bestiality. For this bioethicist, the golden rule seems to be this: feel free to have sex with animals as long as you don’t eat them afterwards.
And Singer has explicitly stated that the newborn have no inherent right to life, but must earn that right if they pass various tests for personhood which he has laid out. He says it is unreasonable to expect the newborn to be classified as persons, and we should not automatically assume they have some basic right to keep living.
As he notoriously wrote with Helga Kuhse in the 1985 volume, Should the Baby Live?: “We do not think new-born infants have an inherent right to life”. Or as he wrote in a July 1983 edition of Pediatrics: “Species membership in Homo-sapiens is not morally relevant. If we compare a dog or a pig to a severely defective infant, we often find the non-human to have superior capacities.”(B Meuhlenberg)

That this fellow is the Britannica's choice to write on 'Ethics' speaks volumes about how careful we need to be about researching on the internet.

Saturday, 22 February 2025

Solidifying the divide!

The divide is becoming very obvious. There is a clear and focussed division between those who want a 'global community' and those who want to maintain a distinctive culture.

Those who wish to globalise are trying every trick in the book to blur the differences between cultures; ergo the subversive 'diversity is our strength' meme. We who believe in a small government apparatus servicing the needs of an electorate pursuing the same or similar ends are becoming more and more alienated from the intellectual mainstream (unfortunately, often because of apathy regarding the 'ordinary' mainstream).

Therefore when we do manage a breakthrough, and gain a 'power base', we need to capitalise on that foundation and push through laws, rules and systems that support the ideals of small government as quickly as possible and ignore the bleating's and shrieking's of the 'other'. This is what is happening in America and Trump is leading the way.

We can only pray that there are those who have the same gumption hiding in the wings of Australian politics.

Friday, 24 January 2025

Gnostic Utopia

I am becoming more and more convinced that the 'spiritual influence' behind so much of post modern culture today is a form of religious Gnosticism. On one hand it explains the origins of the 'Love is Love' ideology as well as the ready acceptance of violence/war on the other. 

An easy introductory text on Gnostic principles is Derek Morphews book 'The Spiritual Spiderweb'. It provides an erudite and comprehensive understanding behind the 'strands' of thought running through so many 'worldviews' today, and even ominously, particular patterns of thought behind some church movements as well.[Romans 12:2]