— To The Compliant Amongst Us —

I’m not sure we realize these ramifications yet,

but presently …

Irreversible lines are being drawn in the relational sands of our lives.

But before I get to that ——

Here’s what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples back when He walked this earth. And, He is saying the same thing to us right now: to those of us who claim Him as our Lord and Saviour —

Luke 14

15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18 And they all with one consent began TO MAKE EXCUSE. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his FATHER, and MOTHER, and WIFE, and CHILDREN, and BRETHREN, and SISTERS, yea, and HIS OWN LIFE ALSO, he CANNOT be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross (i.e., live as already dead), and come after me, CANNOT be my disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he CANNOT be my disciple.

34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35 It is neither fit FOR THE LAND, nor yet FOR THE DUNGHILL; but MEN WILL CAST IT OUT. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

(Please don’t miss “men WILL cast it out'“) ——

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Those are not my words and I do not believe it is even necessary to hypothesize as to what Jesus means.

But just in case …

Let me propose my:

Premise:

Either you can choose when to be “cast out” or you can wait for others to cast you out, but one way or the other … YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE CAST OUT (i.e., an outcast)

You will only be value-add to those you’re trying to please, placate or fit in with as long as you serve a purpose to their end. Otherwise, you are their …

“Expendable Crewman.” ——

Just like every generation of God’s people, we have to decide:

Am I willing to:

*Acquiesce to the majority,

*Forfeit my Christ-like distinctness for the sake of temporary expediency,

So as to …

*Be accepted, be SAFE, be a welcomed (and proud) member of the presently approved societal norms …

*All the while selling my soul to the Devil and his cohorts?

That sums it up about right, doesn’t it?

If not, how else are we to define/explain Jesus’ meaning of: Cannot be MY disciple? You are either submissive to Him or you are not.

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To The Compliant Amongst Us …

I get it; I do understand. You (and I) are afraid, scared — that’s OK and that’s normal, natural. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re human, flawed humans at best.

But here’s what’s not OK.

It is not OK to submit to your fears. And do you know why you submit to your fears?

You submit to your fears because you have willfully chosen to remain ill-informed by not availing yourself of viable sources that don’t mimic the approved majority narrative. By choosing to not freely think and conclude for yourself (which subliminally you don’t want to do), you can then excuse yourself for “not knowing” any differently.

Disagree?

Then explain to me why people would allow themselves to be coerced/manipulated into taking action which, otherwise, they would NEVER do at any other time?

And so I postulate that indeed …

You are afraid to dig a little deeper, to actually do the research, because to do so would push you into doing that which has never been historically easy for God’s people to do …

Stand up,

Stand ALONE and

Boldly, defiantly say:

NO! This far and no further. ——

But by way of encouragement:

Don’t forget that the apostle Paul asked people to pray for him to remain boldly strong. (Ephesians 6)

19 And [pray] for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. ——

Even Paul knew fear.

But he did not yield to it and he was brave enough to admit it and ask for prayer.

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We as God’s people seem to be struggling with a basic tenant of our Faith:

Ownership.

That is:

*Who controls us?

**Who owns our body?

****Who alone has the Sovereign Right to MANDATE what we do (or don’t do) with our body and what we allow to be put into our body?

Answer: God does. And He does so on the basis of …

Divine Ownership:

*Through Creation He owns us. To state it so we can understand it through common usage: God is your “original patent holder.” He designed you. You are His and His alone.

**Through Salvation He owns us. At the exact moment you trusted Christ as personal Lord and Saviour, you handed over your right of ownership. And at that same exact moment, you were placed into the minority group of all minority groups. Jesus told us we will be hated of ALL men for His name’s sake. That’s something each one of us needs to come to terms with.

The following verses lay out God’s right of Divine Ownership.

1 Corinthians 6:19

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

And in:

Ephesians 6:20

“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

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As I get “older” it’s becoming more apparent that the decisions we make do in fact …

Draw lines in the sands of our lives.

Meaning ——

The ramifications of our decisions,

Become lines of demarcation altering our interpersonal relationships with each other.

*Lines that will directly impact our interaction with each other.

*Lines that will either bring us closer together or create distance between us.

That’s not meant to be harsh.

That’s reality.

That’s why …

The entirety of Scripture has, from the Garden, encouraged God’s people to pull away from the philosophy of this world’s satanically inspired system which constantly challenges and fights against His Word. [“Yea, hath God said” still plagues us to this very day.]

Because if we don’t pull away,

If we won’t pull away —

Once again Satan will have neutralized and rendered impotent another generation of believers.

**Please remember there are only two Kingdoms**

*The Kingdom of Darkness.

*The Kingdom of Light.

We all have to reaffirm daily, as unto death, where our allegiance lies.

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By way of wrapping this up —

Have you fallen victim to Doublethink as stated by the protagonist Winston Smith in Orwell’s book: 1984?

We all need to honestly ask ourself if we in fact have. I think some have but just can’t admit it to themselves.

By way of example:

Do you believe that you would never acknowledge 2 + 2 = 5?

Really??

OK …

But …

In another time and under different circumstances than now:

Would you have EVER been willing to place a substance into your body that promises to protect you while not protecting you?

if so,

In your world:

2 + 2 DOES = 5

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So what is “Doublethink”

“Doublethink: the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct.”

—— To make relevant application

What if:

Originally you were told: The Science is clear that sunscreen is extremely effective in protecting against skin cancer.

But then later on: The new-Science is clear that sunscreen’s effectiveness is minimally effective in protecting against skin cancer. In fact if you use sunscreen, you will have to reapply the sunscreen every 5 minutes to maintain it’s protective ability.

What if:

Originally you were told: The Science is clear that the substance you are putting into your body will keep you (and others) protected.

Then later on: The new-Science is clear that the substance you put into your body, in fact, doesn’t. ——

Now with that thought process in your mind, let’s see if you have fallen victim to Doublethink.

According to Winston Smith in 1984 Doublethink is:

“To know and not to know,

*to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies,

*to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them,

*to use logic against logic,

*to repudiate morality while laying claim to it,

*to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy,

*to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself —

That was the ultimate subtlety:

Consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed.

Even to understand the word—doublethink—involved the use of doublethink.”

And then the following:

“Four examples of Doublethink used throughout 1984 include the slogans:

*War is Peace,

*Freedom is Slavery,

*Ignorance is Strength, and

* 2 + 2 = 5.”

Or perhaps today’s version of Doublethink …

Effective is Ineffective.

If any of that applies, perhaps you have fallen victim to Doublethink.

Trow so?

Trow no?

Only you really know.

{12/31/21}