More Disassembling of Moore’s CT Article Supporting “Religious Freedom”

“Religious freedom is a restriction on the power of the state to set itself up as a mediator between God and humanity.”

Russel Moore

Christianity Astray Article

Why is it considered a restriction for the state to be in submission to the authority of Jesus Christ?

And consider that Rusell Moore with his precious “religious freedom” has empowered the state to be not merely a mediator between God and mankind but rather to take up the mantle of God Himself as, per Moore’s system, the State is the Institution that monitors how far the gods are allowed to go in the public square. The authority to say what competing religions and gods can and can’t do in the public square has to be located somewhere and for Moore, that location is in the state and as that location is in the state Moore has designated the state to be the god of the gods.

Moore’s position thus is not religious freedom in the least but is a guarantee of religious bondage to the pagan God state.

“Religious freedom does not mean that everyone’s religion is true. All it means is that God judges the heart and that people must really believe in their heart that Jesus is Lord, instead of saying, “Lord, Lord” merely because they are required to do so by law.”

 

Russel Moore
Christianity Astray Article

 

First, keep in mind that Moore does not believe in Religious Freedom. He believes that the state must force upon us a religion that puts the State in the position of being the God over the gods. Because of Moore’s forced and regulated state religion, no religion except Moore’s religion can do what Moore’s religion is now doing, and what it is now doing as God walking on the earth is to close the door against the claims of total sovereignty of the God of the Bible. Moore’s political theology disallows the God of the Bible to be anything but one of the competing gods in the public square. Does that sound like religious freedom?

Secondly, Moore invokes the idea that people must be free to say “Lord Lord,” all the while denying Lordship to Jesus Christ over the State — a state that Moore has regulating religion as God walking on the earth. Indeed, Moore’s political theology does not allow the state the freedom to take Jesus Christ as Lord over the magistrate.

Thirdly, keep in mind that this is the same Russell Moore who invoked this same religious freedom as the rationale of Moore’s vigorously supporting the effort to secure construction of a Muslim Mosque being built when Moore was the head of the Southern Baptist ERLC. Apparently, Religious Freedom also means being agents to spread the glad tidings of Islam.

Russell Moore doubtless is sincere in his convictions. Just as I am sincere in saying that this kind of classical Liberalism dressed up as Christianity is anti-Christ.

Russel Moore on “Religious Freedom” … McAtee on Moore’s Sedition

“The question of religious freedom is who should have regulatory power over religion. If you believe religion shouldn’t be regulated by the state, then you believe in religious freedom.”

Russel Moore
Christianity Astray

I do believe that religion should be regulated by the State as the State is in submission to and so regulated by Jesus Christ. If a State is not in submission to Jesus Christ then the State should not regulate religion.

Moore likewise believes that religion should be regulated by the state. The only difference between Moore and me on this subject is that I desire a Christian state to regulate religion in a Christian direction while Moore desires the pagan state to make sure and regulate religion so that Christianity can not have the ascendency. So, while Moore chirps about “freedom of religion” in reality Moore is a thoroughgoing Erastian and Constantinian just as much as I am. The only difference is that Moore wants to make sure that the State regulates religion so that Christianity is not allowed to be ascendant and I want to make sure the State regulates religion so that paganism of whatever stripe is not allowed to be ascendant.

Moore, by taking this position, demonstrates his hatred for Jesus Christ and His Lordship overall. If Jesus Christ is Lord over all then all Governments as well as all men have the need to bow to the authority of Jesus Christ and so craft laws forbidding the extension of false religions in the land. This is the historic Reformed position as seen in our original Reformed documents

Westminster Confession of Faith

3. The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven:a yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire; that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed; all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed; and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed.b For the better effecting whereof, he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God.c

a. 2 Chron 2:8 • b. Isa 49:23 • c. 2 Chron 19:8

Belgic Confession of faithArticle 36: Of Magistrates

We believe that our gracious God, because of the depravity of mankind, hath appointed kings, princes and magistrates, willing that the world should be governed by certain laws and policies; to the end that the dissoluteness of men might be restrained, and all things carried on among them with good order and decency. For this purpose he hath invested the magistracy with the sword, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the protection of them that do well.

And their office is, not only to have regard unto, and watch for the welfare of the civil state; but also that they protect the sacred ministry; and thus may remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship (see note below); that the kingdom of anti-Christ may be thus destroyed and the kingdom of Christ promoted. They must therefore countenance the preaching of the Word of the gospel everywhere, that God may be honored and worshipped by every one, as He commanded in His Word.

Moreover, it is the bounden duty of everyone, of what state, quality, or condition so ever he may be, to subject himself to the magistrates; to pay tribute, to show due honor and respect to them, and to obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the Word of God; to supplicate for them in their prayers, that God may rule and guide them in all their ways, and that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

 

Wherefore we detest the Anabaptists and other seditious people, and in general all those who reject the higher powers and magistrates, and would subvert justice, introduce community of goods, and confound that decency and good order, which God hath established among men.

Russell Moore reminds us why it is that the Belgic Confession of faith wrote about detesting the Anabaptists and other seditious people. It is the Anabaptist mindset of Moore on this subject wherein the sedition is found. Moore, by his advocacy of pluralism, is advocating insurrection and rebellion (sedition) against the authority of the King of Kings; The Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus and His Mastery of the Seas; Of Chaos and Ontology

Mark 4:35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace,[g] be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How[h] is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Many of the pericopes in the NT are present in order to connect the Old Testament to the New Testament. The Gospel of John especially does this kind of work. The material that John selects is often selected to set forth the divinity of Jesus Christ.

The question in Mark 4:41 is answered in the previous record of God’s Word. The answer to, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey him,” is none other Jehovah as seen from the Psalms.

Psalm 93:3
 
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
4 The Lord on high is mightier
Then the noise of many waters,

Then the mighty waves of the sea.

 

Psalm 104:7-8
 

 

7 At Your rebuke they fled;

At the voice of Your thunder, they hastened away.
8 [a]They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.

Psalm 107:23-32

23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,

Who do business on great waters,
24 They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26 They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And [a]are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
29 He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
31 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,

And praise Him in the company of the elders.

With the insertion of this pericope by Mark, Mark is declaring the divinity of Jesus Christ. Just as the Psalmist understood that God calmed the seas so Mark records that Jesus calms the seas. In the Hebrew mindset, the sea was often associated with chaos having its own internal power and so were places to be feared. In Genesis 1 we read,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Here we see that God is taming the chaos of the waters (The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters) bringing order where formlessness and void had previously existed. When we arrive at Genesis 7:11 we read of “the fountains of the great deep (tehom) bursting forth. The “great deep” in the Genesis 7 flood is the same deep that in Genesis 1:2 the Spirit of God is hovering over in order to bring order from chaos. However, in Genesis 7 we see this great deep under God’s control being used as an agency of God’s judgment against His disobedient creation. It is as if God is saying; “From chaos, I have created. To chaos, I return.”

Another example of the sea being an agent of chaos and judgment is the occasion of the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea. God, as He did in Genesis 1, separates the land from the sea and in doing so tames the sea for Israel’s rescue. However, the Egyptians receive the chaos of the sea as God covers them with chaos (Ex. 15:5 — “covered by the deep.”) Once again God is seen as being master of the chaos.

When we turn to the Psalms above we once again see evidence of how the sea was viewed by the ancient fathers.

Now, enter Jesus who in Mark 4 commands the winds and the waves … commands the chaos. Likewise in Matthew 14, Jesus tames the chaos not only by calming it but also by walking upon the great deep. All of this, for those with eyes to see, is the Scripture screaming that “Jesus is God.” Screaming because here in Matthew 14 as read next to Genesis 1:2 we find the great deep as unruly and chaotic being tamed by God hovering over the chaos bringing order out of chaos.

These passages are communicating the ontological nature of Jesus Christ. In generations, previous writers like Oscar Cullman insisted that the preoccupation of the early creeds to set forth the ontological deity of Jesus Christ were misplaced because the early Church fathers were displaying a Greek mindset in worrying about establishing the deity of Jesus. Cullman insisted that the Hebrew mindset was really only concerned with how Jesus was God in a functional sense. However, this passage in Mark gives the error to Cullman’s musings. When the disciples asked;

“Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

They were asking what we would call an ontological question about the nature of Jesus Christ and in the record of their worshiping of Jesus we find the testimony that they concluded with the Greek early church Fathers that Jesus was very God of very God. Of course, this is underscored by John 1 when under the inspiration of the Spirit he gives quite the ontological passage as to the nature of Jesus Christ.

 

Wrath as an Inescapable Concept

In a world where fallen man makes the sky bronze in order to attempt to lock out the transcendent God of the Bible and His just wrath what happens is that wrath does not go away but rather is transferred to some new immanent God who is reified so as to have a pretend transcendence. Throughout history, this is usually some collective organization of man such as the State. The idol-State takes on a false transcendence and so levies its wrath in service of humanist projects that are injected with an aura of the divine as supported by the idol-state. So, whereas with God’s reality one has God’s covenantal judgments and so wrath for violating His standard, what happens when modern man seeks to lock God out of his reality is that modern man suffers the humanistic state, in God’s place, bringing to pass its own covenantal judgments as wrath against men who refuse to take the idol-state as god. Of course, the idol-state’s standard for bringing covenantal judgments as wrath against disobedience will be a standard completely contrary to God’s law-word.

We see already then that the wrath of some God or god is an inescapable concept. Man cannot live apart from covenantal judgments for disobedience to God or god as communicating his wrath for violating His or his standard.

We see this happening today, as for example, levied against those who refuse to think the idol-states thoughts after in on the matter of LGBTQ-ism. Increasingly the State is bringing covenantal wrath against those who refuse to accept the State’s insistence on the normalcy of perversion. Canada has already criminalized speaking out against perversion promising to visit its wrath against those who disobey the idol-state. The idol-state reasons as follows;

“Conversion therapy is premised on a lie, that being homosexual, lesbian, bisexual or trans is wrong and in need of fixing. Not only is that false, it sends a demeaning and degrading message that undermines the dignity of the individual.”

David Lametti
Minister of justice and attorney general of Canada

Because of this “reasoning,” Canada as the idol-state has crafted law criminalizing speech against LGBTQ-ism. You see, the wrath of a vengeful God has not gone away but has been merely been transferred to the idol-state following its own humanistic law-word.

What we see here is with the locking out of God from His creation the result is that God does not go away but rather is instantiated in the state and the idol-state as God will now exercise its own wrath and its own covenantal judgments against whatever it deigns to call sin per the new idol-state’s revelation.

Like Night Follows Day Side-B Pedophilia Follows Side-B Sodomy

Who knew that side-b sodomy would birth side-b pedophilia?

Today’s USA Today ran an article suggesting that the attitude of pedophilia, sometimes described by supporters as involving those who are “minor-attracted,” is “among the most misunderstood” in America. The supporters of the misunderstood pedophiles insisted that pedophilia is no more than “inappropriate.”

The article, based upon a released report went on to note that pedophilia should be the subject of a “destigmatizing” effort.

Quoting from the USA Today article,

“Pedophilia is viewed as among the most horrifying social ills. But scientists who study the sexual disorder say it is also among the most misunderstood,” reported Alia E. Dastagir. “Researchers who study pedophilia say the term describes an attraction, not an action, and using it interchangeably with ‘abuse’ fuels misperceptions” about pedophiles.

Understand what is going on here. It is the same thing that has been going on with the sodomy debate within the PCA last summer. The pedophiles are saying here that pedophilia can be “minority attracted” (which is a polite way of saying that pedophiles are sexually aroused by children) but one can be a pedophile and want to have sex with children but as long as the pedophile doesn’t follow through with those attractions he can be a contributor to society.

3 – 2 – 1 …. until side-b pedophilia is advocated in the conservative churches.

This is the same exact argument used by Greg Johnson and his fellow Johnson lovers in last year’s PCA General Assembly.  Some of us (like me) even suggested that this kind of thing was sure to be next.

I can see it now. There will be crocodile tears at a future PCA general assembly for the poor side-b pedophile who has a desire to bed children but who has not given into that temptation. “Why,” it will be argued, “side-b pedophiles should be even sainted.” Sure to follow will be… “Who of us can condemn side-b pedophiles? After all, we are all sinners. What makes one sin worse than desiring boinking little children?” We will hear things like … “The Scripture speaks more to the sin of inhospitality than it does to the sin of adults desiring to boink 10-year-olds.” Elders from Redeemer Church in New York City will forcefully advance “as we are all sinners we should look for as much compassion on those who want to back door 8-year-olds as we give to our own besetting sins as long as they don’t follow through with that desire.”