The man of sin appears as an angel of light

The pope has been championing justice and charity as his rallying call to unite the people of the world under one banner, arguing that doctrinal differences are birthing fundamentalist extremism. On the face of it the argument sounds logical and the cause looks noble; so what's the problem?

What's wrong with justice? Justice is good. What's the problem with charity? Charity is excellent! Unity is ideal! But the question is, where do justice and charity come from?

Or rather, do we human beings have our own internal reserves of justice and charity from which to draw? Or, contrary to this idea, is there a greater Source outside of ourselves, which is really the highest Standard of justice and charity?

I'm not splitting hairs here but dividing between truth and error.

Now the Scripture says no good thing comes out of man, but the pope says every man has intrinsic goodness.

According to the pope if everyone unites on the basis of human nature (intrinsically good) they will form a kingdom of GOD (deputized by the pope) and the thing will be blessed by GOD.

According to the Scripture if everyone unites on the basis of human nature (sinful by default) it will be to rebel against GOD (worship the beast and receive his mark) and this will earn GOD's wrath (seven last plagues).

We also have the testimony of history, to test these contesting propositions with. Will you believe the Bible or the pope? One certainly speaks askew. Many of the popular spiritual leaders (and pop stars and politicians and scholars) are choosing the pope's side of the controversy, in many not-so-obvious ways, every passing day.

There is no justice and charity (or virtue, generally) but that which comes from GOD. He is revealed in his Word (both Christ and the Bible.) Therefore correct doctrine is not the fly in the ointment of world peace; rather, it is the knowledge which is a savor unto life for those who look for it as for water of life, avoiding the dry broken cisterns of false teachings. Separation naturally arises, the division is a present precursor of the chasm that will separate the sheep from the goats in the great Day of the Lord. What a day that will be! Are you preparing to stand in that day?

But the "charity" and "justice" peddled by the pope are counterfeits which would turn our eyes away from the character of GOD. It is much like the secular world "legalizing love" by opening the door to LGBT marriage. It is a redefinition of love, a turning upside down of GOD's blessed order, indeed, a rejection of GOD's love by defiling the gift. "License they mean, when Liberty they cry." Sodom and Gomorra also "legalized love" (at least de facto) without scrupling over what GOD declared abomination as opposed to what he blessed and sanctified. While they looked forward to endless days of unbridled pleasure, a hail of fire and brimstone awaited the day their iniquity was full.

What is the basis of unity? The putting away by churches of doctrinal differences for unity constitutes a sacrifice of truth for whatever ends envisioned (at least for some of the consenting parties), so that any union that arises thence is founded on commonly held lies. If unity was the glorious end that justifies such a means, then why hasn't anyone thought of this before, to round up all the fish in the religious seas into one orderly ocean where no troublous extremist fundamentalist species may disturb the peace? Indeed just that has been tried in the past. History calls that period the Dark Ages, when the Papacy claimed authority over all living souls in the known world as far as her hand could extend, persecuting "heretics" who did not embrace her doctrines, unseating self-willed rulers, martyring many, rich or poor, who obeyed their own consciences according to the Word of GOD, conducting lucrative traffic in the very souls of men by her monopoly of the keys of heaven and hell. Truth being set aside for unity, it became a time of great superstition and ignorance on a grand scale; misery and disease were rampant, but the Church remained a wealthy, hard and cruel steward over the masses in bondage to her false doctrines, by which she extorted their very lives and livelihoods. Only with the Protestant Reformation did an enlivening essence animate the societies previously fastened in her iron grip. And what was the Protestant Reformation all about? The inerrancy of Scripture, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, separation of church and state. Then, with the much vaunted yet cannibalistic unity collapsing, real progress resumed her onward march in history after a hiatus spanning centuries.

Today we see the pope arising in the public esteem to popular status fuelled by his image of a humble man, a pope of the people who champions wide-ranging reforms in church and world with conviction. Amidst all the brouhaha let not sight be lost of the danger. He downplays the role of Scripture and magnifies the role of the Church over which he is the head. And the world has been bullied into the position where she is again ready to sacrifice freedom of conscience for "peace" and "unity" under pretexts like "justice" and "charity". Such a step will represent a massive backward leap for mankind, whose results will baffle belief to see, because GOD Himself will signally disapprove of it.

Contrary to public declarations on the part of deceived and deceiving apostate church leaders, the Protestant Protest is not over. "Great numbers of influential preachers abandoning the Protest for worldly acclaim wholesale doth not a Protest over make!" It only means they are not Christ's, for if they had been His, they would not have gone away from Him. Expect to see much more of the same as the issue gathers steam.

As for the Protest, it will continue as long as there is deception, for GOD's Word stands eternally against the devil's lies. The only thing that will end the Protest is when its opponents are finally silenced forever and truth alone remains supreme. Then there will be nothing in all GOD's creation for us to protest against.

Kenya could Learn from Libya

Elsewhere I posted about my severe disillusionment with the international system and its diplomatic framework. Recent events in Kenyan politics have brought these things to the fore of my mind once again.

It is said the Cold War ended when the USSR disintegrated and the Berlin Wall collapsed. Of course by now we have moved past the subsequent rhetoric of multilateral international order in the 90s. And everybody knows how the War on Terror has shaped subsequent power dynamics - you are either with them or against them. 

Despite this illusion of progress, the eternally primary "national interest" motive for diplomats representing international powers has never changed at all. Whereas the war between ideologies is presumably over, dominance is an ideology all on its own. And we can see nations striving for dominance in traditional military and economic spheres and in areas that were never before considered, like electronic spying.

Here we are in Kenya, proud of our geostrategic importance and keen to fully exploit it for Kenya's best advantage. If only it were that simple. The prestigious Western suitor and the practical Eastern suitor are interested as well, they have wooed and wooed and could very well come to blows by proxy. "All's fair in love and war" they say. From the look of things we have officially taken sides and the jilted lover is bristling with jealousy/revenge. Combining this diplomatic minefield with the various tribalistic tripwires that pollute our politics, we have a potential bloodbath in the works.

Am I being alarmist? No. I have simply seen what happened to Libya, following what was declared to be a popular revolution of citizens against a tyrant. The only winner of that war has turned out to be the foreign power. Granted, there were probably a few valid democracy-minded activists involved in the Libyan resistance. The existence of that singular squabble provided enough leverage for globalist sharks to put a foot in, fund and arm mercenaries to bring down the government, destroy Libya's society. Then they donned the executive suits and corporate colors of investors and arrived to reconstruct the oil industry. 

Kenya! We have collectively refused to repair our tribalist rifts, we have disguised them as party politics to avoid addressing the quagmire. How much easier would it be for a like minded rapacious looter to prise open Kenya's cracked national edifice and reach for the resources beneath? On the basis of our tribal politics alone there will always be discontents lugubriously milling around, ready to mingle these intractable squabbles with actual governance grievances. Let such remember: should foreign powers decide to get involved and champion their cause, the outsider's primary interest will be their own - to the exclusion and detriment of all but the most brazen sellouts.

Academic Introspection

This blog may give readers the impression that the author is a full-of-it guy with too much time to mouth off arrogant opinions on the internet. Perhaps it’s true. Today I inflict my campus academic pursuits from three years ago upon readers.

Joseph, my high school best friend, spent lots of our time together telling me that I was “blunt”. In hindsight, it is strange that afterwards I successfully completed a degree in International Relations. The course involved a significant chunk of diplomacy and much training in how to navigate convoluted red tape, neither of which I am inclined towards. My term papers and exam scripts were tirades against glaring injustices in the international system. I strove to be that voice that challenged mainstream establishment propaganda on every issue from globalization to terrorism. I especially tried to give my International Political Economy lecturer a series of headaches by refusing to tread the beaten path, only making sure I had facts every time.

Somehow I tolerated the parts of the degree where they taught us about “diplomacy” and”national interests.” My naked eyes could plainly see: diplomats do not burden themselves with truly national interests as they fly halfway around the world in a million different directions to go and bootlick, posture, self-aggrandize, grovel, speechify. It struck me as fake and pretentious, a great circus that painted elite interests in patriotic livery. But I played along, role-played in enough model UN conferences to get disillusioned with the prospect of doing that stuff for a living day in day out. Faking niceness with people who are faking niceness for the sake of artificial national interests? Too remote.

During one of those particular model conferences, for which we dressed to kill, I and two comely young ladies – my aides – represented Eritrea. The wannabe US envoy struck me as a brazen Machiavellian with shark instincts, yet he was eventually voted the best delegate. The injustice of it gutted me; what happened to justice and equality and suchlike? That was the day I gave up on becoming a diplomat, even if I failed to immediately change my major.

But the course was not entirely pointless, no. Besides emerging with a bachelor’s degree, I learnt a bunch of stuff on the fringes of required course content. My eyes were opened, my horizons expanded as I searched for truth within the confines of the library. This is the saving grace that keeps me from looking back at those years with regret.