"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."
1 John 3:1
And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?
—Luke 12: 54-57
What is going on in America and the world? It is almost impossible to deny or ignore that things have become increasingly unsettled, polarized and intense on a political and social level, with little indication of this being a trend which is soon to subside. And it is something which is increasingly carrying over and making itself felt in almost all aspects of life and society. It has rarely been more urgent to be able to read and understand in fairly clear terms the times we are in. And, fortunately, it has also rarely been easier to do as much.
As things come to a head in ways that result in issues, situations and individuals presenting themselves in very stark and abrupt terms, it becomes increasingly straightforward to pick up on much that has become very blatant. Or, at least, that will be the case as long as you have both a reasonable conceptual background and a reasonable dose of the requisite discipline and maturity to keep approaching developments objectively and dispassionately. In the absence of either or both of these, it can also prove easier than ever to find yourself swept up in the tide of mass opinion and a conditioning to ridiculous standards, absurd narratives, and seriously skewed ways of looking at things.
Now, a major point that should stand out very prominently if you manage to avoid getting swept up in the madness of the times is that there are spiritual causes and dynamics at play behind what is happening on the outer. The truth is that a lot of what is going on in the nation and the world today can only be at all adequately understood if you take into account spiritual factors, along with the inherently spiritual nature of embodied souls. And if that is not fairly obvious to you by now, then the absurdity and iniquity of so much of what is happening almost certainly does not stand out to you anywhere near as clearly as it ought to.
And so, what I intend to offer in this series of books is an exploration of some of the ways in which spiritual causes and dynamics underlie so much of what is playing itself out in society. Each volume is intended to tackle particular aspects of the spiritual factors underlying outer events and trends, while my hope is that it will go a certain way to contribute to a more thorough understanding of what is going on in the nation and the world. I furthermore hope that it will help to position the reader to take a stronger and more principled stand in some of the many areas where taking such a stand is so very critical these days.
Astray After His Image and Likeness
Did you know that your spiritual nature plays a key role in delineating the particular ways in which you are vulnerable to going astray? That the fact of being designed in such a manner as to naturally stick to God’s paths sets you up to head off in specific directions when you wander away? That so much of what is going on in society these days bears this out very clearly? Most people seem to be more or less ignorant of these facts. They might believe that being made in God’s image and likeness is integral to being positioned to walk as they ought to walk. But the idea that it is integral as well to being positioned to get lost in the peculiar ways in which they do in fact get lost largely escapes them. And yet, this is both a very obvious truth and the sort of truth which once you see it helps you to see all sorts of other things much more clearly. The world and many of the crazy and unfortunate things going on within it is going to make a lot more sense once you wrap your head around this concept. And what’s more, the challenge of charting a straight course through the difficult terrain it presents will be all but guaranteed to come across as a lot less daunting. Therefore, pick up this key point of perspective, so that you can both get with the program and discern what is going on all around you. Dismiss the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees and espouse the righteousness of Christ. Because, while the former may come naturally enough to a creature such as yourself, only the latter is at all suitable for a being such as you are.
Published January, 2022
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The Wickedness of Folly
It’s difficult to be moral when you’re of unsound mind. It’s even more difficult when there’s a convincingly consistent counter-logic to your absurdities. It’s considerably more difficult yet when the roots of your irrationality lie close to your sense of self and what drives you on the inner. And it may be well-nigh impossible when a large proportion of people have gone mad along very similar lines as yourself.
And so, it’s little surprise that wickedness is on a major upswing these days. Not the wickedness of malice or despite—there’s certainly some of that, but the vast majority of people remain well-intentioned. Not the wickedness of weakness or self-centeredness—that’s definitely present, but hardly precipitously more so than it used to be. Not the wickedness of indifference or complacency—people by and large seem more worked up about their ethics than ever. Rather, it’s by all accounts the wickedness of folly that’s seriously breaking out.
Somehow people’s moral compasses are spinning around in circles only to mostly all land on almost exactly the same line. That line’s nowhere near north. It’s not exactly south either. Nor is it straight east or west. It’s a pretty odd bearing, really. Why then the near-identical results? Why the spinning? Why all the frenzy, pretense and affectation?
Could it possibly have something to do with religion? With the fact that people are not just human beings, but also spiritual beings? That they by and large haven’t been living up to their spiritual nature very well? That failing to do so could have predictable results on their thinking and feeling?
Sounds a bit far-fetched, perhaps. But then again, the situation in the world’s pretty darn crazy. Hard to really pin down what lies behind it. Probably better to examine every potential explanation. So, let’s see: God... the soul... relationship between them... relationship breaks down... And then what???
Published January, 2022
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Meeting the Challenge of the Hour
A volume in the Discerning This Present Time series focused on how individuals relate to human progress and how this connects to idolatry, soul psychology, adulterated ideals and societal decline.
An important part of the answer to why we are facing the kind and degree of madness, fakeness, unhingedness, immorality and polarization that we presently find in America and much of the western world is revealed in this book.
Published March, 2023
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