Dr. Piper and His Insistence that Christians Should Lie Down and Die

In the next few entries I hope to provide rebuttal to the link below as written by Baptist, Dr. John Piper,

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/should-christians-be-encouraged-to-arm-themselves

In his introduction Dr. Piper writes,

“My main concern in this article is with the appeal to students that stirs them up to have the mindset: Let’s all get guns and teach them a lesson if they come here. The concern is the forging of a disposition in Christians to use lethal force, not as policemen or soldiers, but as ordinary Christians in relation to harmful adversaries.

The issue is not primarily about when and if a Christian may ever use force in self-defense, or the defense of one’s family or friends. There are significant situational ambiguities in the answer to that question. The issue is about the whole tenor and focus and demeanor and heart-attitude of the Christian life. Does it accord with the New Testament to encourage the attitude that says, “I have the power to kill you in my pocket, so don’t mess with me”? My answer is, No.”

Dr. John Piper

___________________

Bret responds,

First, in terms of the quote above, we should note that the Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that the type of pacifism that Dr. Piper is advocating  is forbidden by the 6th commandment. We will see WCF Larger Catechism, Questions 135-136 again as I pick apart Dr. Piper’s Anabaptist convictions.

Q. 135. What are the duties required in the sixth commandment?

A. The duties required in the sixth commandment are all careful studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves[721] and others[722] by resisting all thoughts and purposes,[723] subduing all passions,[724] and avoiding all occasions,[725] temptations,[726] and practices, which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any;[727] by just defence thereof against violence,[728] patient bearing of the hand of God,[729] quietness of mind,[730] cheerfulness of spirit;[731] a sober use of meat,[732] drink,[733] physic,[734] sleep,[735] labour,[736] and recreations;[737] by charitable thoughts,[738] love,[739] compassion,[740] meekness, gentleness, kindness;[741] peaceable,[742] mild and courteous speeches and behaviour;[743] forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil;[744] comforting and succouring the distressed and protecting and defending the innocent.[745]

Q. 136. What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment?

A. The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are, all taking away the life of ourselves,[746] or of others,[747] except in case of public justice,[748] lawful war,[749] or necessary defence;[750] the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life;[751] sinful anger,[752] hatred,[753] envy,[754] desire of revenge;[755] all excessive passions,[756] distracting cares;[757] immoderate use of meat, drink,[758] labor,[759] and recreations;[760] provoking words,[761] oppression,[762] quarreling,[763] striking, wounding,[764] and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any.[765]

Also we note the Heidleberg catechism

105. Q.

What does God require
in the sixth commandment?

A.

I am not to dishonour, hate, injure,
or kill my neighbour
by thoughts, words, or gestures,
and much less by deeds,
whether personally or through another; 1
rather, I am to put away
all desire of revenge. 2
Moreover, I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself. 3
Therefore, also, the government bears the sword
to prevent murder. 4

The great Puritan commentator on the Bible, Thomas Ridgeley (1667-1734), in his commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism quotes the Catechism itself as I have above and then in his commentary on Sixth Commandment duties, Ridgeley says,

“We should use all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others [because]…. man is the subject of the divine image…. We are also to defend those who are in imminent danger of death…. Moreover, in some instances, a person may kill another in his own defence, without being guilty of the breach of this commandment….”

Ridgeley goes on to comment that if we cannot disarm an enemy threatening our life, or flee from him, “we do not incur the least guilt, or break this commandment, if we take away his life to preserve our own; especially if we were not first in the quarrel, nor gave occasion to it by any injurious or unlawful practices.”

The Heidelberg Catechism insists that the keeping of the Sixth commandment means that I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself. It doesn’t take much to argue that we are living in times when not carrying a weapon on us for self defense and the protection of the judicially innocent most definitely constitutes a reckless endangering of ourselves and others.

Dr. Piper is just flat out in error when he offers that the New Testament (and why are we restricting ourselves to only the New Testament Dr. Piper?) does not encourage an attitude that says that, “I will honor God by esteeming the Sixth commandment and so protect my life and the life of the judicially innocent against harmful intent of people who intend to kill and maim with abandon.”

And, to be perfectly honest, we are doing future would be assassins a kindness by teaching present would be assassins a lesson when their intent is to go on Allah exalting killing sprees. Perhaps, it was the case that Dr. Falwell’s phraseology was a bit John Wayne but that doesn’t diminish the fact that it is a loving thing unto future would be assassins for present would be assassins to have Sixth commandment duties enforced against them by private individuals in harm’s way. There is no sin in using lethal force as a private citizen in defense of life. In point of fact, God is magnificently glorified by ordinary Christians using lethal force as consistent with the Sixth commandment and to the contrary when Dr. Piper’s, non Sixth commandment esteeming position is maintained, the reputation of God is sullied and His Glory is tarnished and diminished.

 

Dr. Sean Michael Lucas …. “I am actually happy that the majority is governing (in DC)”

I’m not exactly sure what you’d expect (Speaker) Ryan to do (in terms of the omnibus bill). Governance is about compromise. The GOP doesn’t have a filibuster proof majority; the “freedom caucus” has bolted from him again; and so he had to work with Pelosi to finish the job. (I am) not surprised and (I am) actually happy that the majority is governing and not simply trying to shut things down like Ted Cruz.

Dr. Sean Michael Lucas

 

Dr. Lucas is a minister in the PCA and does some teaching at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He’s also written a biography on Dr. R. L. Dabney. I encourage you to go to Amazon to read the reviews of his book. Now before we get to far into this, let us remind ourselves what was in this omnibus bill that Speaker Ryan “compromised” on and which Dr. Lucas has expressed his happiness concerning a governing majority.

The omnibus bill that Speaker Ryan passed via compromise with Pelosi, included,

1.) The continued funding of Planned Parenthood

2.) Quadruples H-2B Visas … thus bringing more immigrants to take American jobs.

3.) fails to defund other harmful regulations, including the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule that has been fairly described as “ObamaCare for your IRA”.

4.) Major amendments to protect Americans against abuses of government surveillance authority were stripped from the bill for the second consecutive year. These included limitations on the government’s content collection authority under section 702 of FISA, and a prohibition on the NSA working with the National Institute of Standards in Technology to weaken internet encryption standards.

5.) Increases Government spending… again. This time by 80 billion over two years. I know … I know … chump change.

6.) $1.2 billion in new funding for the Department of Education,

7.) What amounts to a bailout of the International Monetary Fund, by increasing the U.S. quota for that fund. This means the IMF will have access to even more of our taxpayer dollars to fund bailouts of irresponsible state actors such as Greece.

8.) The Cybersecurity Act of 2015. To begin with, this nearly 140-page, brand new program should be considered on its own, not tucked into a massive bill no one really has time to fully read. This bill is the final product of mashing together the Senate’s CISA bill and the House’s two bills, and manages to contain most of the worst provisions of each of them.

Now let’s start by asking, in what world can a Doctor the Church (in this case Dr. Sean Michael Lucas) be happy where a governing majority votes to fund an organization that is killing unborn babies in such a way as to preserve certain body parts in order to sell those parts on the market? On this point alone Dr. Lucas’ happiness is mind boggling for a follower of Christ to consider.

Secondly, I’m sure unemployed Mississippians in Dr. Sean Michael Lucas’ Church would like to have some of those jobs that Dr. Sean Michael Lucas finds happiness in via the majority that is governing.

I could go on here to mention how the Department of Education is destroying America and ask how the increase of funding of that Department is reason for anyone to be happy about governing majorities. I could ask how a Doctor of the Church (in this case Dr. Sean Michael Lucas) finds happiness in governing majorities when those governing majorities vote to increase the Stasi like surveillance culture in which we currently live. I could ask many more questions here of Dr. Sean Michael Lucas.

However, what I really want to pursue here is how it is that someone like Dr. Sean Michael Lucas can be reputed to be Theologically conservative while appearing to be politically liberal. (I mean how else should I take this quote above except as coming from someone who sanctions the liberal agenda which the omnibus bill represents?)  It seems to me that a person’s Theology is expressed via everything they weigh in on, including politics. I promise you, that politically speaking, this quote is either very liberal or was written while having some kind of physical episode. Aside from the art of contradiction, how can one be theologically conservative while politically liberal?

Did Dr. Sean Michael Lucas ever consider that there might have been a reason why the “freedom caucus bolted” from Speaker Ryan. Maybe that reason was because the omnibus bill didn’t represent … oh, let’s say …. freedom? One more thing, Dr. Sean Michael Lucas, when it comes to shutting down the Government that is something the President does, not Ted Cruz or the House. The President, by vetoing appropriation bills sent to him at that point chooses to shut down the Government. A little civics 101 on the cheap there Dr. Sean Michael Lucas.

And about the compromise which Dr. Sean Michael Lucas says governance is about, just ask yourself, if you’re a Christian, when is the last time the pagan left ever compromised? Did the pagan left compromise on Obamacare? Did the pagan left compromise on the stimulus package? Did the pagan left compromise on “fast and furious”? Did the pagan left compromise in the IRS Lois Lerner scandal? Did they compromise in being forthright with the Benghazi disaster? When has the pagan left ever compromised Dr. Sean Michael Lucas?

I asked some of these questions to Dr. Sean Michael Lucas but he responded by saying he was not going to engage me and asked me not to take offense. I told him I didn’t take any offense in the slightest, but now you know why Dr. Sean Michael Lucas didn’t want to engage me.

 On a different front to Dr. Sean Michael Lucas’ opinions, and pertaining to the politics of what has happened with the omnibus bill it is important to know that  Republicans have made a political calculation that they need a new base and as such they are repudiating their former conservative base. They are reasoning that the threat of losing their conservative base is less of a threat than shutting down the Government over conservative principle. Now Doctors of the Church like Dr. Sean Michael Lucas may be happy about this majority governance but I think it portends dark times for the ethic called for in biblical Christianity.

 


The Elites and their underclass, Anarcho-Tyranny, and Trump

If one desires to understand the Trump phenomenon one must understand where the antithesis lies in the electorate. Many are those who have insisted that the anti-thesis in the electorate is economic. These political pundits have insisted that the electorate anti-thesis is rich vs. poor or upper class vs. lower class or bourgeois vs. proletariat. This has always been too simplistic as Sam Francis tried to tell us via his MAR thesis.
 
The anti-thesis in the American electorate is instead between the Corporate and bureaucratic elite class and their government created underclass clientele vs. those from the middle who produce and pay the taxes to the end of sustaining the bureaucratic and government created underclass’ existence. Putting it succinctly and in the words of Sam Francis, our political contest is not top vs. bottom, but top-and-bottom-united vs. middle.

Now in this top and bottom united vs. the middle class the tool used to leverage the advantage to the top and bottom united is called anarcho-tyranny. For those who are unfamiliar with the idea of rule by anarcho-tyranny, it is the idea that the FEDS allow and encourage lawless anarchy in the Corporate and bureaucratic structures as well as in their underclass clientele all the while practice lawless tyranny against their enemies in the middle. The FEDS, as part of the Corporate and bureaucratic reality, allow anarchistic lawlessness in themselves and their constituency while practicing tyrannical lawlessness against the middle. A recent happening in Mecosta County Michigan serves as an example of this anarcho-tyranny. A gentleman named Wood was passing out leaflets on the public sidewalk in front of the Mecosta county courthouse. These leaflets Wood was handing out explained the nature of Jury nullification. Wood was expressing his first amendment rights when the “tyranny” end of the anarcho-tyranny model landed on him. Wood was arrested on Thanksgiving and bonded for the outrageous amount of 150K. On the anarcho end of the anarcho-tyranny model, about one week after Mr. Wood was given his bond, the same court gave a habitual offender who was charged with multiple counts of home invasion a $75,000.00 bond. The law abiding like Mr. Wood are tyrannized while the criminal class and the bureaucratic elite class move in anarchy.

By allowing themselves and their clientele anarchy while enforcing tyranny on the middle the elite control the contest. Naturally, the middle class is enraged by this anarcho-tyranny model. Trump is tapping into this rage and is becoming the representative of the middle’s rage.

John’s Gospel Theme of the Lord Christ as God’s New Temple

In the Gospel record Jesus’ overt teaching and his subtle conduct prepare us for the temple’s removal as both liturgically no longer necessary and spiritually corrupted. John’s Gospel is especially interesting in this regard:  In John 1:14  John presents Christ as God’s true ‘tabernacle.”

‘The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

This theme of Jesus replacing  Israel’s religious features recurs repeatedly in his ministry.

1.) John 1:51 —  He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Here it is the Lord Christ, rather than the Jewish temple or High Priest, who is the nexus between heaven and earth as seen in the fact that “the angels of God (are) ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.’

2.) John 2:19-21 —  Jesus answered, and said unto them, Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up again. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this Temple a building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

Here the Lord Christ declares His body to be the true temple.

3.) John 4:21-23 — 21 Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor at Jerusalem worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in [j]Spirit and Truth: for the Father requireth even such to worship him.

Here the Lord Christ tells the Samaritan woman that the physical temple will soon be unnecessary.

4.) John 7:37 Now in the last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth in me, as saith the Scripture, out of his belly shall flow rivers of water of life.

Here the Lord Christ is attending the festival of Tabernacles (cf. John 7:2ff), and he presents himself as the living water. This festival reminds Israel of Moses’ producing  water from the rock (Ex. 17:1-7, Nu. 20:8-13). This event also reflects the promise of the Temple (Zec. 14:8, Eze. 47:1-11).  In John 8:12 the Lord Christ calls Himself the “light of the World,” which reflects the festival ceremony.

5.) In the “I am” debate in John 8:13-59 the Lord Christ appropriates to himself the whole essence of the temple as being the dwelling place of the divine name.  Here we see the Lord Christ, immediately after declaring Himself as the “I am” (8:58) departing from the temple (8:59) which in John’s Gospel serves as his sign that God has departed the temple much as God’s s presences departed the Temple in Ezekiel 10. This departure scene here in John 8 may explain why John does not chronicle the 2nd temple confrontation at the close of Christ’s ministry as is recorded in the Synoptics. For John, when the Lord Christ departs the temple in 8:59 the presence of God has left the Temple.

6.) John 10:22-39

While the Jews are celebrating the Feast of Lights which recalls the re-consecration of the temple under the Macabees, the Lord Christ presents himself as the one who is “sanctified and sent.” Here the Lord Christ comes to the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, which celebrates the Maccabean victory in reclaiming the temple and re-consecrating the altar and temple. The Lord Christ does not enter the temple at this time, but comes only to Solomon’s portico (John 10:23, cp. John 11:56). During this temple celebration the Lord Christ declares Himself to be the one “whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world.”  The Lord Christ shifts the emphasis from the temple to Himself as the one consecrated by God. (John 10:36) The true temple has come. All preoccupations with the old temple are past.

7.) John 12:41 — “These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and spake of him.”

Here the Lord Christ quotes Isaiah 6:5 but now we know that it is the Lord Christ who is the Shekinah glory of the temple that Isaiah witnessed.

Peter Walker argues, in his “Jesus and the Holy City,” that the upper room teaching session in John 13-17 reflects a “temple experience” beginning with foot-washing as an initiation ritual (John 13:33f) and ending with “the high priestly prayer” (John 17). Thus it appears “John’s over-riding message is that the Temple has been replaced by Jesus.”

The necessity of a new temple is seen in the fact that the profanation of the place of Gods’ dwelling. So bad is this profanation that the Lord Christ cleanses the Temple both at the beginning and the ending of His ministry. These temple cleansings are not so much an effort at reform as they are a testimony against the present temple cultus. The true temple is testifying against the corrupt temple.

These thoughts taken from Ken Gentry’s
Navigating the Book of Revelation — pg. 99 – 100

 

Impact of Obamacare & Obamagration On WASC’s

 

Obamacare and Obama-Immigration (Obamagration), which are a reflection of New World Order policy, are WASC (White Anglo Saxon Christian) destruction mechanisms against the WASCS aimed at those generationally ahead of me and those generationally behind me. Obamacare will kill the WASC elderly by depriving them of health. My Mother, my Aunts and Uncles are targeted by Obamacare. Deprivation of needed treatment, needed medicines and needed assistance, culminating in eventual death panels are in their future.

Obamagration is planned so as to eliminate the WASC identity of my Grandchildren and great grandchildren. Obamagration is the attempt to wipe out WASC seed to a thousand generations by the means of forcing assimilation upon WASC’s with those coming from non Western, Non-Christian lands.   If, in two generations, there remains a WASC presence in America that generation will be treated the way South African Boers are treated now. (See Illiana Ilana Mercer‘s book, “Into the Cannibal’s Pot.)

In point of fact, I would argue that both Obamacare and Obamagration, as the cost and impact of each falls negatively, proportionally speaking, on the WASC community, is the attempt to genocide. Obamacare and Obamagration combined are, by the definition of the United Nations, genocide,

“Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.


One ironic aspect of all this is that it is WASP’s who will be paying for their own destruction as the transfer of wealth is going from their pockets to the pockets of those being enriched by Obamacare and Obamagration via taxation.

Obama came saying he was going to “fundamentally transform America.” Well, this is happening via his signature legislation of health-care and his criminal activity on immigration. Obama, as a NWO puppet, is seeking to kill off the Christian White majority in this nation.

People who can not or will not see this are not wise or worse yet, contributors to their own deaths and to the death of a whole people group.

Obama and NWO … thy name is DEATH for the Christian white man