The Christmas Gift

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, a time of joy, a time of celebration, a time for gifts, and a time to be with family. In fact, for just these reasons, for many people this is their favourite time of year. But I want to ask a simple question what is the message of Christmas? What does it all mean?

I think in today’s world there are many messages at Christmas. In fact, you could say that Christmas sends a lot of mixed symbols.

Gifts: One of the messages of modern Christmas is that it is all about gifts. People love gifts, nearly everyone loves giving gifts, and nearly everyone loves receiving gifts. It is a simple and personal way that you can bless a person, bring them a moment of joy, and add to their lives.

But let’s be honest, everyone here who has kids, and kids love gifts, how many of your kids are still focused on what they got for Christmas last year? Haven’t they forgotten them already. Indeed, they then had their birthday, and their grandparents came around with gifts, and after a little while the gifts they loved when they opened them and said wow when they saw them are all but forgotten…like clouds in the desert. Already they have completely moved on from most of the gifts, though they will still bring their favourites out every now and then to play with. If your kids are like mine, they have been trawling through the catalogues for a while now, pointing out things they want…indeed they don’t take long after Christmas to start doing this.

Why do they move on so quickly? Because as we all know, even the best gift can only bring a moment of joy. No gift can satisfy forever, no thing can satisfy forever, no matter how awesome, expensive, or novel it was.

Gifts are wonderful, and good to give and receive…but they don’t satisfy. 

Food: Another message of Christmas that we are all familiar with is feast, feast till your heart is content, feast like there is no tomorrow, feast till you can feast no more. There is no such thing as a good party without good food. I mean, when there is no food at a party, you can’t wait to leave and get some. And when the food is bad, it brings the whole thing down, doesn’t it?

Feasting has a long tradition in our culture, indeed in every culture. In fact peace treaties are often signed over food, weddings involved great meals, and many more examples could be given. Indeed, we all know, that most of us are going to eat too much on Christmas, day, and it will be rich food, hams, pork roasts, turkeys, and for the less fortunate: tofurkey… But we will grow hungry again. It might take a few extra hours than normal, because we feasted so liberally. But food, as awesome as it is, doesn’t bring us lasting joy. Indeed, it is more temporary than other gifts, because it is gone in but a few moments. It’s something we all enjoy, but it’s not something that will bring us lasting satisfaction…it’s not possible. 

Family: This is probably one of the most important messages that many of us will be hearing about this Christmas. Indeed, you could say that in this secular day and age, family has become central to Christmas, the crux upon which it all hinges. And this makes sense. Family is one of the most important things that God gives us, one of the greatest gifts we ever get to experience, and it is the natural habitat of the healthy human being: to be and live in a family.

Where as gifts and food don’t satisfy for very long, family can bring us a deeper and more real joy. Seeing your kids play with their toys is often more enjoyable than opening your own gifts. Seeing them fight over their toys five minutes later reminds you of what it was like to be a child and have such simpler priorities. And a meal with a family you love is better than a meal alone.

But family can be a double edged sword at Christmas. For some people Christmas reminds them of how lucky they are to be in the family they are in. For others is brings into sharp relief the pain of broken relationships, the pain of loneliness, the despair of not being with the family they love and cherish.

Family is one of the best and most important gifts we can have this side of Christmas. But even family doesn’t truly satisfy us. There is still a deeper longing we all feel, a longing for a more eternal satisfaction.

C.S. Lewis, the famous writer who wrote the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe says that the reason that we can’t find full satisfaction in this life, is because we are not created to, our quest for eternal satisfaction can only be fulfilled before our eternal creator, and it can only begin to be satisfied by finding it’s true home: in Christ.

There is this fascinating encounter in the gospels that Jesus has with this Samaritan woman. We don’t know her name, but we know this about her, she has had five husbands, and the man she is now with is not her husband. We know this because Jesus mentions it. Why does Jesus bring this up with this woman? Because he sees that like so many of us in this life, she had sought satisfaction in the things this life can offer, but she had not found it.

But here is the key, he offers her something that he knows she wants, and it’s something we all need. He says this: “14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Jesus offers us something lasting, something solid, something that will never fade. Eternal life.

There are many messages we will hear at Christmas, many of them good. But the most important one is the reason Jesus came, and the reason we still celebrate Christmas today. Jesus was born of a virgin, as a small child, he grew to be a man in favour with God. He never sinned, like we do, he never made a mistake, he never rejected God in any way. You see when we lie, or hate, or be selfish, we are sinning before God. But Jesus never did any of that. He lived a perfect life, and he took the punishment we deserve for our sins, dying on the cross and rising again to prove that he is God. And why did he do all this: so that we could have the only thing that will ever satisfy us: salvation in God.

When we sing about peace and goodwill to all mankind at Christmas time this is what we refer to. When we say that “man will live forevermore, because of Christmas day” this is what we are referring to. Don’t say no to this gift. Enjoy the other parts of Chrissy, the gifts, the feasting, and especially your family, but don’t say no to the best gift of all, eternal life. Trust in Jesus, the king the angels sung about, who offers us eternal satisfaction with him.

Don’t Envy The Elites

We live in a world of haves and have nots, of the elites and their glittering lifestyle, and the ordinary and our mundane way of life. Many people envy the elites of this world, because of their beauty, their wealth, the clothes they wear. Indeed this envy is a whole industry. People watch award shows just to see what their favourite actress is wearing, online clothes stores will sell copies of these original clothes, so that women can feel like ladies in the movies. Men will drool over wealthy man’s cars and access to beautiful women.

Envy is an massive industry. But here, in this shot snippet from Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, we get an amazing insight into why we should not envy the elite, indeed, to a large degree we should pit them.

“For, the rooms, though a beautiful scene to look at, and adorned with every device of decoration that the taste and skill of the time could achieve, were, in truth, not a sound business; considered with any reference to the scarecrows in the rags and nightcaps elsewhere (and not so far off, either, but that the watching towers of Notre Dame, almost equidistant from the two extremes, could see them both), they would have been an exceedingly uncomfortable business—if that could have been anybody's business, at the house of Monseigneur. Military officers destitute of military knowledge; naval officers with no idea of a ship; civil officers without a notion of affairs; brazen ecclesiastics, of the worst world worldly, with sensual eyes, loose tongues, and looser lives; all totally unfit for their several callings, all lying horribly in pretending to belong to them, but all nearly or remotely of the order of Monseigneur, and therefore foisted on all public employments from which anything was to be got; these were to be told off by the score and the score. People not immediately connected with Monseigneur or the State, yet equally unconnected with anything that was real, or with lives passed in travelling by any straight road to any true earthly end, were no less abundant. Doctors who made great fortunes out of dainty remedies for imaginary disorders that never existed, smiled upon their courtly patients in the ante-chambers of Monseigneur. Projectors who had discovered every kind of remedy for the little evils with which the State was touched, except the remedy of setting to work in earnest to root out a single sin, poured their distracting babble into any ears they could lay hold of, at the reception of Monseigneur. Unbelieving Philosophers who were remodelling the world with words, and making card-towers of Babel to scale the skies with, talked with Unbelieving Chemists who had an eye on the transmutation of metals, at this wonderful gathering accumulated by Monseigneur. Exquisite gentlemen of the finest breeding, which was at that remarkable time—and has been since—to be known by its fruits of indifference to every natural subject of human interest, were in the most exemplary state of exhaustion, at the hotel of Monseigneur. Such homes had these various notabilities left behind them in the fine world of Paris, that the spies among the assembled devotees of Monseigneur—forming a goodly half of the polite company—would have found it hard to discover among the angels of that sphere one solitary wife, who, in her manners and appearance, owned to being a Mother. Indeed, except for the mere act of bringing a troublesome creature into this world—which does not go far towards the realisation of the name of mother—there was no such thing known to the fashion. Peasant women kept the unfashionable babies close, and brought them up, and charming grandmammas of sixty dressed and supped as at twenty.

“The leprosy of unreality disfigured every human creature in attendance upon Monseigneur. In the outermost room were half a dozen exceptional people who had had, for a few years, some vague misgiving in them that things in general were going rather wrong. As a promising way of setting them right, half of the half-dozen had become members of a fantastic sect of Convulsionists, and were even then considering within themselves whether they should foam, rage, roar, and turn cataleptic on the spot—thereby setting up a highly intelligible finger-post to the Future, for Monseigneur's guidance. Besides these Dervishes, were other three who had rushed into another sect, which mended matters with a jargon about "the Centre of Truth:" holding that Man had got out of the Centre of Truth—which did not need much demonstration—but had not got out of the Circumference, and that he was to be kept from flying out of the Circumference, and was even to be shoved back into the Centre, by fasting and seeing of spirits. Among these, accordingly, much discoursing with spirits went on—and it did a world of good which never became manifest.

“But, the comfort was, that all the company at the grand hotel of Monseigneur were perfectly dressed. If the Day of Judgment had only been ascertained to be a dress day, everybody there would have been eternally correct” (Dickens 1976, pp 73-74).

But we all know that judgement day will not be kind on people just because they were beautiful, well dressed and powerful. Indeed, on those who have been given much, much will be asked.

Don’t be envious of the elite and what they have, because many of them have it because they have sold themselves to get fame, or connections, or money, or power, or all of these things. They have enslaved themselves to a system that offers them everything to entice them in, but gives them nothing they can take with them, when the system is done with them. Think of how men like Epstein were cast away when they were no longer useful, or how famous actors, famous for making us laugh, take their lives because they live in the pit of despair, surrounded by every luxury we can imagine.  

They have believed the lie, that the devil gave to Jesus, ‘submit to him and he will give you the world.’ Only to find out that the devil is cruel with his followers. And the world of the elites is a cruel one. It’s all about glamour, money, fame, and the destruction of that which we all hold dear, our souls, and the beauty of the simple things of life, that God offers us.

This does not mean, that floating around in that high strata world, are some people who have stayed true to themselves, and not sold out, but they are the exception. Because that whole level of social strata is designed to corrupt you, tempt you, and get you to sell their lie and perpetuate their grip on power.

Don’t envy the elites. Like Dicken’s sit back and observe how truly corrupt they are, and how ill fitted they are for the day of judgement. As Mary says in Luke 1:51-53 –

“51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”

Don’t envy the elite, pity them, as you would pity anyone whose eyes are so distracted by glitter they cannot see their end. And trust in the God who promises to clothe you with the garments that count on judgement day, the garment of Jesus’ righteousness.

“3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. 18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!” (Psalm 73:3, 17-19)

List of References

Dickens, Charles 1967, A Tale of Two Cities, Heron Books, London.

Have Babies While The Plague Is Raging

I want to address the black-pillers out there, and not just the black-pillers but those who have friends, or family or people in their lives who are black-pillers. The Western world is assailed on all sides. Not only has Christendom failed to maintain its glory, we have imported all the pagan ideologies which enslaved the peoples of the rest of the world. We converted the Vikings, we made devil worshippers and human sacrificing heathen, who raped and pillaged the coastlines of Europe into the builders of the great northern European churches and castles. We did a lot of great things like this, but for too long now we have failed to defend our borders, and because of this we see the Western civilisation that was made by men who were far greater than us breaking down in every way possible.

In the last 100 years the Western world has fatally wounded itself with three civil wars, World War 1, World War 2 and the Cold War. These were not civil wars within national borders, but civil wars within Christendom. The Western culture which took parliaments, indoor plumbing and Rugby League to primitive lands like Australia, is now teetering on the edge of something really bad.

You can see it, I can see it. There will be war, it will likely be sooner rather than later, and the resultant horrors which will follow that will torment humanity for some time to come. A study of history shows us that when complicated civilisations go through major upheaval and collapse that there will be famines, drought and disease. Cities that were once places of bustling life, become too dangerous, and too expensive to maintain. Populations spread out, as they seek somewhere safer to live and to farm or raise livestock. Technology starts to fail as the complicated systems which enabled it to function lack the man power, or knowledge to maintain them. The result of all this upheaval is increasing migrations of people that fight with previously settled populations, or other moving peoples, and this accelerates the collapse and causes all of the problems of declining civilisation to be exacerbated. 

Maybe it won’t get that bad, maybe it will be much, much worse. Who knows, maybe modern society has another 100 years under its belt. But the signs of decay tell you and me, and others something different.

And the response of some of you is to take the black-pill. For those not familiar with this term, though I am sure most of this readership is, the black-pill is a step removed from the red-pill. Being red-pilled is when you see the world the way it really is, in all it’s confronting reality. But the black-pilled person says there is nothing we can do about it, we may as well accept it and let the inevitable happen.

I couldn’t think of a more non-Christian perspective to have.

Yes, we learn from history that periods of civilizational decline are hard times…SO DAMN WHAT? We also learn that we are the descendants of those who did not give up when things got tough.

You think it is bad now? What about when the black plague struck Europe? When the black plague struck Europe it created devastation like you can only imagine if you picture what happened with the Ebola virus in Liberia a few years ago, and you multiply it across all of Europe and beyond.

The Black Death was devastating. Listen to this description from Schaffs A History of Christianity:

“During Clements Pontificate, 1348-1349, The Black Death swept over Europe from Hungary to Scotland and from Spain to Sweden, one of the most awful and mysterious  scourges that has even visited mankind. It was reported by all the chroniclers of the time, and described by Boccaccio in the introduction to his novels. According to Villani, the disease appeared as carbuncles under the armpits or in the groin, sometimes as big as an egg, and was accompanied with devouring fever and vomiting blood. It also involved a gangrenous inflammation of the lungs and throat and a fetid odor of breath. In describing the virulence of the infection, a contemporary said that one sick person was sufficient to infect the whole world. The patients lingered at most a day or two” (Schaff, 99).

“A large percent of western Europe fell to the pestilence. In Sienna, 80,000 were carried off; in Venice 100,000; in Bologna, two thirds of the population; and Florence, three fifths. In Marseilles the number who died in a single month is reported as 57,000. Nor was the papal city on the Rhone exempt. Nine cardinals, 70 prelates, and 17,000 males succumbed. Another writer, a cannon writing from the city to a friend in Flanders, reports that up to the date of his writing one-half of the population had died. The very cats, dogs, and chickens too the disease…No class was immune except in England, where the higher classes seem to have been exempt. The clergy yielded in great numbers, bishops, priests and monks. At least one archbishop of Canterbury, Bradwardine, was carried away by it. The brothers of the king of Sweden, Hacon and Knut, were among the victims. The unburied dead strewed the streets of Stockholm. Vessels freighted with cargoes were reported floating on the high seas with the last sailor dead. Convents were swept clear off all their inmates. The cemeteries were not large enough to hold the bodies, which were thrown into hastily dug pits. The danger of infection and the odors of the bodies were so great that often there was no one to give sepulture to the dead” (Schaff, 100).

It is estimated that half the population of England died (Schaff, 100-101). Of the rest of the known world, some people said it killed a third of the population, some said a half, others estimated that only 1/10^th of mankind had survived (Schaff, 102).

Can you picture a more devastating thing that could have happened to Western Civilisation? I think the only things which come close are the Muslim Conquests of the 7^th and 8^th centuries, and World Wars 1 and 2. But even those events didn’t so thoroughly devastate Europe. Not that it’s a competition, none of those events would have been a wonderful joy to live through, and at least in the World Wars you could go down fighting in a blaze of glory, rather than just dying painfully in a puddle of your own vomit, blood and puss.

If any generation deserved to black-pill and give up it was the generation of the Black Death. Yet not only did European civilisation continue, it flourished in the wake of the plague. People kept having babies, old structures which had grown stagnant and stale were overthrown by the sheer loss of people to maintain them, and Europe moved into a real golden age of inventions and cultural development. But none of that would have happened if people had have just given up, packed it in and waited for the end.

Many Christians today think the end is nigh, and therefore they don’t want to invest into society. There are reasonably strong, solid Christian couples, who don’t want to have children because they know things are getting bad. Why would we bring children into a world where drag queens do story hour at the local library Matt, a world we know is going to get worse? Why? Because those who have the most kids always win the next generation, or the one after that. And those who don’t are utterly forgotten to history, unless they are the Pauls, or Isaac Newtons of the world.

Have you heard of the Shakers? Probably most of you haven’t, and why should you have heard of them? They were a break off sect from the Quakers in the Mid-18^th century, they moved to America and founded a society that was thoroughly egalitarian, giving equal leadership to men and women, oh, and they required all members, married or not, to be celibate. They had some success in the revivalist atmosphere of the 18^th century America. They peaked at about 4000 members, and over 200 years about 20,000 Americans have been in their ranks at one time, spread between 18 different communities. A website dedicated to them says they are a great success, because they still exist today. How many of them are there? 10, 10 living members. Wikipedia, quite unironically points out that there are more descendants of those who abandoned the sect, than those who founded it. For obvious reasons. I am amazed that they even got that many followers. But you can never under estimate the ability for stupid to be catching.

Compare the Shakers to the Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, or Puritan Presbyterians churches whose members literally gave birth to the American nation, among others, and who sustain many societies to this day. It’s not even a comparison really, having babies is the best way to win the future, at least, it is the best way that the average person has.

If you want to win history, the least you can do, is make sure your name shows up for the generation after yours. The Church has always believed, throughout history, that this is the first and foremost way of growing the Church. Even the Catholic Church recognizes this, which is why birth control it against Catholic policy. 

If you don’t like the way the world is going, that’s good, we shouldn’t. The devil who rules this world seems to be having a field day with Western civilisation right now. But to quote Jerry Seinfeld, “Fathers just say, to hell with the world, I’ll make my own people.” That is the attitude we need to have, not the attitude of Seinfeld, but of the fathers who say to hell with what’s happening in the world, we will make our own people.

Men of the West rise, fight for your civilisation, fight for the future, have babies while the plague is raging. Because those who win the future are those who show up for it. Let me finish with the words of Aragorn at the final battle, in the Return of the King:

“Hold your ground! Hold your ground! Sons of Gondor! Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails. When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down. But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on the good earth I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

References

Schaff, Philip 1989, A History of the Christian Church Volume 6: The Middle Ages, William B Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King

Our Cultural Heritage Is More Christian Than You Think

Grimms' Fairytales.

One thing I am finding from reading the original Grimms fairy-tales is how thoroughly Christian many, if not most of them are. The scattering few we get of them from pop culture through Disney and other re-tellings gives the impression that our cultural heritage is pagan. But it's not, the West is by definition Christian.

These Grimms stories all have a deep Christian influence and many of them have a strong and explicit Christian message.

Take this short one for example. This is a great message all should hear, and also a fun story:

"Once on a time a poor pious peasant died, and arrived before the gate of heaven. At the same time a very rich, rich lord came there who also wanted to get into heaven. Then Saint Peter came with the key, and opened the door, and let the great man in, but apparently did not see the peasant, and shut the door again. And now the peasant outside, heard how the great man was received in heaven with all kinds of rejoicing, and how they were making music, and singing within. At length all became quiet again, and Saint Peter came and opened the gate of heaven, and let the peasant in. The peasant, however, expected that they would make music and sing when he went in also, but all remained quite quiet; he was received with great affection, it is true, and the angels came to meet him, but no one sang. Then the peasant asked Saint Peter how it was that they did not sing for him as they had done when the rich man went in, and said that it seemed to him that there in heaven things were done with just as much partiality as on earth.

Then said Saint Peter, "By no means, thou art just as dear to us as any one else, and wilt enjoy every heavenly delight that the rich man enjoys, but poor fellows like thee come to heaven every day, but a rich man like this does not come more than once in a hundred years!"

We have been taught to forget who we are, where we came from, and what made our civilisation great: the ideas and concepts of the Christian faith. We need to remember who we are. Pick up an old book and look inside and you will see: our entire cultural heritage is filled with Christianity. 

The West Did Not Invent The African Slave Trade

You will often, particularly online, hear people say something like this; the African slave trade was a ‘racist, white, patriarchal colonialist institution’, it was the white man’s hatred of the black man that fuelled the slave trade. Now, putting aside the fact that the word ‘slave’ developed from ‘Slav’, the white eastern Europeans who were taken as slaves so often their names became synonymous with the institution of slavery in Europe, this idea that the African slave trade was a ‘white, patriarchal, colonial institution’ is both ahistorical and ridiculous.

Did Colonialists engage in it? Yes. Did racists engage in it? Yes. Did white Europeans start the African slave trade? No. Long before white Europeans engaged in the African slave trade, Muslims, and prior to that Arab slave traders were heavily involved in running Slaves to and from Africa. How far does this go back. Well at least a few thousand years actually. Genesis 37:25-28 says this:

“25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.”

Who are the Midianites/Ishmaelites in this passage? The ancestors of the Arabs, from whence Islam developed in the 7^th century AD. What are they doing? They are engaging in the African (Egyptian at this time) slave trade. And Joseph’s wicked brothers participate in it with them, selling their own brother as a slave. The African slave trade, in all its various forms existed long before England even existed as a nation, let alone set their sights on the evil trade. How long were these proto-Arabs involved in this trade before this passage? We cannot know, but here we have a clear indication that it has a long history in their culture. 

As the image above shows, the African slave trade dates back far into ancient times. This picture represents Nubians, a north African people and an ancient and at times powerful kingdom, being transported as slaves by Egyptian slave traders. Indeed, sadly this African slave trade still exists today, long after Colonial rule has been removed from the continent. With open slave markets in Libya and other parts of Africa. And we can safely predict, that sadly, it will probably go on for some time yet. 

For most of early European history, various European people's made slaves of each other. Greeks made slaves of other Greeks and non-Greeks, Romans of Thracians, Germans of Slavs, Romans of Celts and Gauls, etc, etc. But regarding our specific topic here, yes, Europeans, got involved in the evils of the African slave trade, and yes it corrupted us for a time. But we also put an end to it in the West. To blame the West for the institution of the African slave trade is ahistorical, and blaming it on the idea of "white patriarchy" is just plain ridiculous. History always makes a mockery of bad arguments. If you don’t know where to start, begin with the most well-read history ever written, the Bible.

Doomsday Preppers Ain’t Always Crazy

Preppers ain’t always crazy. Sure, they can be crazy in an awesome way. I remember one of my favourite examples was on a show called Doomsday Bunkers or something like that, I can’t even remember the actual name of the show. One of the guys built this awesome bunker underground that had several rooms. It was bigger than a decent size caravan. But the most awesome bit was the entrance. He had pop up sentry guns set up outside, and if you got past those you then had to go down a booby trapped flight of stairs. In the flight of stairs, the guy who had designed the bunker, built in actual flame throwers into the rails on each side, that could be activated behind a solid blast door at the end of the hallway. It would roast to death anyone in the stairway. Brutal, awesome and crazy all at the same time.

The reason prepper shows are fun is because many of the characters on them are a little crazy, but the truth is they aren’t completely crazy. Even the guy who had a box of weapons, ammunition, food, and other rations buried all around his house, so that he is never more than 1 minute from a weapons defence cache…ok that guy is a more than a little crazy. But even though some of these guys are probably not playing with a full deck, many of them are, and many of them know that just because our civilisation is reasonably stable now, that does not mean it will always be, and the way things are looking, society could turn for the worse sooner, rather than later.

The reason so many people make fun of these doomsday preppers is because they are often presented as preparing for Armageddon. Much of the secular world mocks the idea of preparing for Armageddon, because they don’t believe it is going to happen. So often they will just look at preppers as weirdos because of this fact. Even many Christians feel a similar way, because some believe they will be zapped out before things get really bad, other’s just think it is unwise to focus on Armageddon and prepping for it. But I want to give a completely different take on why preppers ain’t always crazy.

Because, while we have no idea, whatsoever, when the world will end, that is up to God, and he alone knows the day and the hour, we do know this: before he returns many civilizations will rise and fall. We know that because we read that in history. Being prepared for such a cataclysm to happen in our time is wise. A black-piller sees the trends in the West today and says, “There is nothing we can do about this.” A man of the West, who wants to leave a legacy for the next generation, and then ten generations after that, says, “Come what may, we will be prepared, and if that fails, at least we went down fighting.”

Many people think our civilization will last forever, and that the world is on a constant progression to better and better technology, and more and more civilization spreading across this world. But the truth is that many other civilizations thought the exact same thing, and they were wrong. Sometimes civilizations progress takes a big leap backwards.

    

The Romans thought their civilization would last forever, that they were the pinnacle of human achievement, and that the sun would never set on their empire. Listen to this from Edward Gibbon (1845, Chapter 1, Kindle Edition);

“It was an ancient tradition, that when the Capitol was founded by one of the Roman kings, the god Terminus (who presided over boundaries, and was represented, according to the fashion of that age, by a large stone) alone, among all the inferior deities, refused to yield his place to Jupiter himself. A favorable inference was drawn from his obstinacy, which was interpreted by the augurs as a sure presage that the boundaries of the Roman power would never recede. During many ages, the prediction, as it is usual, contributed to its own accomplishment.”

In other words, it was official Roman mythology, that their vast Empire would stand the test of all future generations and never fade away. They believed they were destined by the gods to rule over a vast empire that roughly equated to the territory they controlled by the reign of the first emperor, Augustus. It was their god given destiny. Rome would not extend beyond it’s god given borders, but neither would it recede. And for many generations, and many travails, this prophecy appeared to be solid.

Again we read (Gibbon 1985, Chapter 1, Kindle Edition)

“The only accession which the Roman empire received, during the first century of the Christian Era, was the province of Britain. In this single instance, the successors of Cæsar and Augustus were persuaded to follow the example of the former, rather than the precept of the latter. The proximity of its situation to the coast of Gaul seemed to invite their arms; the pleasing though doubtful intelligence of a pearl fishery, attracted their avarice; and as Britain was viewed in the light of a distinct and insulated world, the conquest scarcely formed any exception to the general system of continental measures.”

The Isles of Britannia were too close and too tempting for Claudius, so Briton was added to the Roman Empire in the mid 1^st century, and by the later part of the 1^st century the Britons had been thoroughly conquered and subdued. The Scottish Highlands remained wild, but what we would call England and Wales was made Roman.

The Roman empire was a vast and powerful beast, that subdued nations before it. Anyone who lived in the Roman provinces in the 2^nd Century AD was certain their civilization was secure, and anyone who lived on the other side of those boundaries, was reminded again and again, by the Roman Legions just how secure it was. The Prophet Daniel described Rome thus,

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns” (Daniel 7:7).

How is such a beast ever subdued? How can such a mighty civilisation such as Rome not last forever? The answer is simple: no human civilisation, no matter how fierce, is invincible to decay. Hence Gibbon (1985, Chapter 1, Kindle Edition) writes this: 

      

“In the second century of the Christian Era, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valor. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government. During a happy period of more than fourscore years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the design of this, and of the two succeeding chapters, to describe the prosperous condition of their empire; and after wards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the most important circumstances of its decline and fall; a revolution which will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the nations of the earth.”

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. If great Rome, and Rome truly was a great, fell, how foolish are we to think that our civilization is invincible? Civilization is like a garden, and gardens need to be tended to flourish, if they are not tended they revert to their wild state. Indeed, not only is it a possibility that our civilisation will face a period of decline, it’s a certainty to happen to one degree or another. But the degree to which is happens will be largely dependent on how ready the men who are a part of it are prepared for the hard times ahead.

You see, in many ways Australia is like Britannia at the later stages of the Roman Empire. Picture yourself in Roman Briton in the 3^rd or 4^th centuries AD. You live in Roman cities, enjoy Roman baths, enjoy Roman luxuries, speak in the Roman language. How is this made possible? Britannia is on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, far away from the centre of Roman power and influence. It is made possible, because Roman Legions patrol the wall, guard the cities of Britannia, and keep the peace. And they don’t just do that in Briton, they guard Rome along the Rhine, in the Balkans, in Syria and Palestine and many more places. Roman legions maintain the frontiers, so that Roman’s within them can live like Romans. But when the legions can no longer do their job, because of internal decline and decadence, and overwhelming numbers of invading barbarians, then everything starts to fall apart.

If you can’t see the similarities between Australia’s situation now, and Britannia’s in the 4^th and early 5^th centuries, then let me spell it out for you. While we are our own nation, Australia is accurately viewed as an outpost of the Anglo-American Empire. Started as a British penal colony, part of the English Empire, British red shirts made our nation possible from the start. Because we were founded in the height of European power, and the peak of British Colonialism, we have been able to live in relative peace. The barbarians never much troubled these lands. In our most vulnerable moment, during World War 2 many of our men fought bravely to defend this nation. But let’s be honest, it was the British and American Navies who took the brunt of the Japanese onslaught that allowed Australia to fend off the Japanese attacks. This does not diminish the efforts of our brave national heroes, but it should remind us Australians of our place in the world. The Anglo-American empire defended its province, and while first British, and now American, navies patrol the oceans, we can continue to live like Aussies; aka Anglo-Saxons of the southern land. But as India, China, Indonesia, and other non-Western nations rise, the Empires legions will be pushed to the brink, over-extended, and eventually they will be recalled. The question for us is: are we ready?

I refuse to black-pill. Black pilling to me is just another form of cucking. It’s handing the future to other men; don’t do it, don’t ever do it.

So then, how do we prepare? Well there is simple stuff everyone can do.

First, build localized community in your life. Networks of people who you can get along with, who have different skill sets and abilities, that you can pool together to make a community as self-sustaining as possible. Churches are a great place to build community, the Apostle Paul knew what he was talking about when he said we should gather in like-minded communities. While most westerners are building their networks over great distances, which inherently makes them more fragile, we should be putting most of our efforts into localized communities. That doesn’t mean we can’t have larger, even international networks, they are necessary and good, but as civilisation begins to recede, they will become more and more fragile, and the local becomes more vital. 

  

You also need to store important civilisational knowledge and skills. Whether it is in books, personal skills, or skills in your family, the more you can build up in this regard the better off you will be. Many families in my church are learning to prepare their own food, and grow their own produce. One family just learnt recently how to butcher a cow without cutting the stomach open and getting piss and half-digested food all over the meat. Others are skilled hunters, and I have learned a lot going hunting with them. Many have building skills and many more talents. No one can do everything, surround yourself with skilled people and learn from them.

Very importantly we should be teaching ourselves how to live with less, rather than more. A decadent lifestyle inherently makes us soft and vulnerable, and less prepared for hard times. We live in a culture of plenty, but there has never been any place in history where prosperity has continued unabridged forever. Maybe it will continue in our lifetime, but trends say otherwise. Living with less includes shedding ourselves of as much debt as possible, as times get harder, it becomes harder to earn an income. Use good times to prepare for hard times, use times of plenty to prepare for times of lack. Everyone used to know this, but we have forgotten this important life principle.

At the end of the day, we should be ready to fight for our culture, family, extended family and nation.

Men of the West hard times may be upon us soon, are you preparing yourself? Or are you ignoring global trends and pretending that the good times will continue to roll on. Maybe they will, but better to have done some preparation, and not need it, than to have done none and be caught unawares. 

We can’t control the future, but we can make sure we do our best to show up for whatever it throws at us.

Middle Class Christianity vs Christianity

A lot of what is called Christian morality today is not necessarily Christian, but more accurately described as Middle Class Christianity. It is the Christianity influenced by the Victorian era politeness and the rather quiet in door working spaces of many Christians, who tend heavily towards the middle class.

Here are examples of the difference:

Middle Class Christianity: Don't be harsh and use mean words to those who come to you, especially if they are in need.

Christianity: Jesus said to the Syrophoenician woman: You don't give the children’s food to the dogs (Matt 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30).

Middle Class Christianity: It is wrong to even insult those who reject the message of Jesus.

Christianity: Jesus said to the disciples to shake the dust of their feet when leaving an unbelieving town or even home (Matt 10:14). A visible and very offensive gesture in his day. Use your imagination to think of similar offensive gestures 

Middle Class Christianity: Quiet kindness and addressing your audience in calm smooth tones is the way to address people. Don’t use ad-hominins, stereotypes, or harsh language.  

Christianity: Jesus in the gospel of Matthew: Woe to you Pharisees, you brood of vipers, you snakes, you white-washed tombs, you rotten corpses twice dead, you sons of hell (Matt 23).

Middle Class Christianity: Always use reason, dialectic and let your passion be bridled.

Christianity: Paul to the Judaizers: why don't you go and cut of your manhood’s (Gal. 5:12) you dogs (Phil. 3:2). Now that is powerful rhetoric. Indeed Paul was very good with rhetoric. Though yes, like all rational thinkers, he preferred dialectic, he still used rhetoric when it was useful. 

Middle Class Christianity: Never, ever use bad words. Bad words are sin, bad words are never to pass your lips.

Christianity: Use bad words for bad things. For example: Paul refers to anything we would trust in for salvation other than Jesus as ‘skubala’ (Phil. 3:8). The Greek word 'skubala' is translated often as 'refuse' or 'rubbish' in English, but the KJV translated it 'dung', which is closer to its actual meaning. The word was actually the 1st century version of the word crap/B.S.. I am not making that up, everyone who has studied Greek knows this. Then there is Jesus using the word "Raca", a harsh and brutal insult (Matt. 5:22-23). Key point: they did not use these words to curse people. But the words themselves are just words, with a proper use in context.

Middle Class Christianity: Don't insult people.

Christianity: "The devil rides you", my favourite Martin Luther quote. Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul and John the apostle all insulted people. John the Baptist seemed to have a favourite: “You brood of vipers” (Matt. 3:7).

Middle Class Christianity: Is over-weighted with quiet middle class people who work in quiet controlled environments, where politeness and other such manners are part of the culture of the home and work environment.

Christianity: Is vibrant and open to many different people from various cultures, and is not just confined to the quiet submissive types who frequent office buildings, and knitting circles. Christianity is a religion that is for all people. Not just people who tend towards quiet and calm and polite conversation.

Now this post is not arguing that we should always use these harsher tones and harsher words, just that they are not always sin, if used properly, as Paul, Jesus and other Biblical people used them. This is not a summary of all of Christianity, there is much more to Christianity. But don't confuse actual Christianity, with Victorian niceties, and white, middle class culture.

Dangerous Children

Social media and the news media have been awash over the last couple of weeks with Greta Thunberg, the young, self-proclaimed mentally ill, Swedish teenager who has been given a platform to stare down, berate, challenge, and otherwise scold the leaders of the world.

A lot has been said about this girl, about her handlers, about how she is being used to try and guilt so called “climate-deniers” into refusing to challenge her. Though from everything I have seen, she has had the exact opposite effect than what was intended. Most of what I have seen online has this girl memefied to the hilt like no one else in modern political discourse, other than perhaps President Trump himself. She has been mocked profusely, and in my opinion rightly so. Her proposals are dangerous, and doubly so considering most of her attacks on world leaders are correct: they are largely cowards who can be bullied into foolish action. If they were to implement her proposals it would lead to the destruction of every developed nation’s economy, mass poverty, starvation, and more.

Not only are most people not falling for her clear and utterly obvious stage acting performance, she has seemed to create more of an uproar against those who would seek to use a young girl for a cause like this, rather than win anybody over to the climate cult’s religion. Which is good, it shows more people are waking up to the strategies used by the globalists to push their agenda. 

  

But there is a more sinister undertone to this whole event that I think many people are missing, and to illustrate that event I want to talk about the Crusades you may not have heard of: the Children’s Crusades.

The Crusades are a favourite club that skeptics have long liked to use against Christians when seeking to denigrate our faith. Blaming Christians for the crusades can be likened to a punk kid punching the big kid at school over and over again, and then complaining to the teacher when the big kid hits him back. Every unbiased witness can see it was self-defence, the big kid was provoked, indeed he used a lot of restraint in not hitting the other kid back straight away. This is precisely the situation with the medieval crusades from 1095 A.D. to 1270 A.D..

They were, overall, a response to several centuries of Islamic incursions into the Western lands. “The immediate causes of the Crusades were the ill treatment of pilgrims visiting Jerusalem and the appeal of the Greek emperor, who was hard pressed by the Turks” (Schaff 1988, 221). Islam struck Christendom first, and continued to, long before a concerted effort was enacted by the West to strike back. “The aim of the crusades was the conquest of the Holy Land and the defeat of Islam” but it was inspired by countless Europeans who were incensed at the abuse which was perpetrated on Christians during their pilgrimages to the Promised Land (Schaff 1988, 220). Islam had struck Christendom, repeatedly, and viscously, and the Crusades were an inevitable and necessary response.

But that doesn’t mean all of the Crusades were all morally good, all effective, or even all sensible. Hitting the trifecta of being neither morally good, effective or sensible were the Children’s Crusades. But a little context is needed to help us understand how a Children’s Crusade could even happen.

The historical event of the Crusades is a fascinating one. A truly “Holy War” phenomenon like this had not been seen before, and has not truly been seen since (unless you include the Jihad war we are in right now, that the Western nations pretend isn’t exactly that). They created in the Western mind somewhat of a unique situation, where a strong and zealous “holy war” climate overcame much of Europe and forged in the Christian identity of many a desire for a righteous confrontation in the lands of the Middle East.

Though always holding a special, and unique place in Christianity, the mystical reframing of Jerusalem became a growing trend in European Christianity. Even though figures like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and Jerome himself, advised people that Christ was with them wherever they may be, the desire to travel to the Holy Land grew amongst Christians,  

“The Holy Land became to the imagination a land of wonders, filled with the divine presence of Christ. To have visited it, to have seen Jerusalem, to have bathed in the Jordan, was for a man to have about him a halo of sanctity. The accounts of returning pilgrims were listened to in convent and on the street with open mouthed curiosity. To surmount the dangers of such a journey in a pious frame of mind was a means of expiation for sin” (Schaff 1988, 222).  

It became a spiritual height to aspire to, to be a person who journeyed to Jerusalem, simply because our Lord walked that very city (Schaff 1988, 222). It’s hard for the modern western mind to understand this desire for pilgrimage, but the medieval mind saw it as mark of true righteousness.

A religious fervour overtook many Western Christians in these two crusading centuries from 1095-1270. Yes, there were solid reasons to respond to the violence of Islam, yes there were practical reasons for wanting to defend Christian pilgrims from barbaric attacks. But it became more than that. It became a religious quest that many Europeans aspired to, to be a crusader, was to be something special, something set apart, something other worldly.

This religious fervour spread throughout all the classes of Europe’s people, and all the age groups; including the children. “The crusading epidemic broke out among the children of France and Germany in 1212. Begotten in enthusiasm, which was fanned by priestly zeal, the movement ended in pitiful disaster” (Schaff 1988, 266).  

Any movement which encourages children to become sacrificial lambs and lay down their lives for its cause has gone to far. These highly religious climates can have side effects that causes everyone to recoil in horror, but too often this comes after the fact. During the height of the religious fervour adults egged the children on, used them as examples of innocent virtue, and even used them to shame other adults who are not as zealous for the cause,

“The French expedition was led by Stephen, a shepherd lad of twelve, living at the Cloyes near Chartes. He had a vision, so the rumour went, in which Christ appeared to him as a pilgrim and made an appeal for the rescue of the holy places. Journeying to St. Denis, the boy retailed the account of what he had seen. Other children gathered around him. The enthusiasm spread from Brittany to the Pyrenese. In vain did the king of attempt to check the movement. The army increased to thirty thousand, girls as well as boys, adults as well as children…They reached Marseilles, but the waves did not part and let them go through dryshod as they expected” (Schaff 1988, 266-7).

“The centres of the movement in Germany were Nicholas, a child of ten, and a second leader whose name has been lost. Cologne was the rallying point. Children of noble families enlisted. Along with the boys and girls went men and women, good and bad” (Schaff 1988, 267). (Emphasis mine).

Those in the German retinue reached Genoa in August 1212, their “numbers had been reduced by hardship, death, and moral shipwreck from twenty to seven thousand.” A report from the time says that Innocent the 3^rd refused to let them free of their oath to defeat the Saracens (Schaff 1988, 268). They made their way to Brindisi, where some of the children sailed, and were never heard from again (Schaff 1988, 267).

“The fate of the French children was, if possible, still more pitiable. At Marseilles they fell prey to two slave dealers, who for “the sake of God and without price” offered to convey them across the Mediterranean. Their names are preserved, - Hugo Ferrus and William Porcus. Seven vessels set sail. Two were shipwrecked on the little island of San Pietro off the northwestern coast of Sardinia. The rest reached the African shore, where the children were sold into slavery” (Schaff 1988, 268).

These children were literally fed into the hands of these despicable, opportunistic adults. Their fate? Well, the same horrible fate of all of the other small children sold in Islamic slavery in the Medieval age. Pope Innocent the third summarized their pilgrimage thus, “They put us to shame. While they rush to the recovery of the Holy Land, we sleep” (In Schaff 1988, 268).

Yes Pope, they put you to shame, but not by their relentless zealotry, but because of the inability of the adults of Europe to protect these children from their small minds, and lack of wisdom. Children are not to be leaders of mass movements, they are the next generation which we adults must dedicate our whole lives to guarding, until they are adults themselves.

Scaff (1988,266) rightly describes the Children’s Crusade as “the slaughter of innocents on a large scale.” Because that is precisely what they were. But bad adults, for their own purposes, both accompanied and egged on these child Crusaders because of the heightened air of the moment. It’s one thing to send a well trained and equipped, and battle ready force of soldiers to Palestine to liberate Christian pilgrims, it’s another thing entirely to allow children to be caught up in the atmosphere to march themselves.

But Pope Innocent’s words could almost be read on the cover of a modern newspaper or online news site. A modern Pope Innocent the Third analogue might say, “They put us to shame. While they skip school and rush to the steps of parliament to protest climate change, we adults sleep.” Or as one actual headline in the Guardian reads: “My generation trashed the planet. So I salute the children striking back” (Monbiot, 2019). We live in ever increasing radical times.

There is a hint of the Child Crusade leaders Nicholas and Stephen in Greta Thunberg. Children like her are dangerous, precisely because there are so many adults around her who will delight to use her to inspire other children to dangerous action. And like the climate of the Crusading era, we live in a similarly zealous religious climate where people will seek any and all means to achieve their radical ends.

The climate cult appears to be the fastest growing religion of our age. They have their core doctrine, anthropogenic climate change, which cannot be challenged by any evidence to the contrary. They have false prophets, Al Gore and most of the media. They now have child saints, Greta Thunberg. They even have a means of propitiating sin: carbon offsets, which coincidentally make the false climate prophets rich, just as indulgences once made corrupt Popes rich. They have their crusade: to lower the western nations emissions, drastically by 2030. And they even have their end time prophecies: global destruction in 12 years…or whatever the new number is. It changes more regularly than an American charismatic predicting the return of Christ.  

But worst of all, they have their fingers tips in schools where countless young children, disenfranchised by the modern godless society we live in, and with increasing amounts of depressive and other mental disorders, are at the mercy of their teachings, and their radical agenda. And it just so happens that these children have been trained by the modern school system and media, to look to their peers for inspiration, rather than to wise, and stable adults (which are becoming a rare breed). They have been trained to be inspired by the Greta Thunbergs of this world. This makes her dangerous, and the people behind her even more so. Our children are just a means to their wicked ends.  

This all looks like a recipe for disaster, a modern version of the disaster of the Children’s Crusade. Unless we do what adults are supposed to do, and challenge the whole global cult narrative, and make sure our children, and the parents we can influence are protecting their children from the growing calls to climate radicalism.

We should no longer laugh at the Climate Cult, it is coming for our children, and this makes it dangerous, and a force to be opposed. The Greta’s of this world are dangerous, precisely because many of our world leaders are foolish enough to be led by children.

Isaiah 3:12 “12 My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.”

Men of the West rise, you are needed.  

References

Schaff, Phillip, 1988, A History of the Christian Church.

George Monbiot, 2019, My generation trashed the planet. So I salute the children striking back https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/15/planet-children-protest-climate-change-speech

The Golden Age of Women in the Home

Supporting and encouraging mothers in the home is vital for the survival of our civilization.
From the introduction to Grimm's Fairy Tales:
"So why did the Grimm's call their book "Children's and House-Tales"? The answer is part of their liberal [read democratic] belief system. A lot of related tendencies - love of country, individual rights, and representative government - were tied up with the liberal cause. The people who championed theses ideas, and who benefited most from them, were middle class men like the Grimms - who had a good education, but didn't belong to the circles of aristocratic power, and who made their living in business or through their knowledge. Another belief that was common among the middle class had to do with the place of women and men in the world: it was a man's job to go out and earn a living, whereas a woman's place was in the home and with the family, having children and bringing them up as virtuous citizens. This is why, when the Grimm's father died, their mother did not find a job, as she might have today, but instead took care of their younger siblings at home. For her to work in the fields or do laundry or become a servant would have been seen as shameful, only something a lower-class woman would do. These scruples may seem silly to us today, but it was one way people like the Grimms showed that they were different from, and better than, those beneath them on the social scale and those of the upper classes. (Aristocratic women certainly didn't have to work, but they could still participate in public life and be influential through their wealth and connections.) To the Grimms, men were the producers of culture, whole women were the reproducers. Thus, "Children's and House-tales" to the Grimms, the tales mothers told their children were the storehouse of "real" German heritage, culture, and beliefs."
To summarize men went to work to provide for their families and build the societal structures to help the culture flourish, and the mothers passed this culture on to their children through education in the home and this ensured that the next generation were saturated in the traditions which ensured their culture would flourish.
If you are wondering why our culture has been so thoroughly inverted, twisted, broken down and decayed (to put it mildly), look not further than this one fact: the vanguard of our culture, ennobled women equipped and supported to educate the vast majority of our future leaders in the home, have been almost completely done away with, and now most men and most women both slave for the man in the workforce, and the raising of children is given over to complete strangers, who rarely share the values we hold dear. And often have values which are completely the opposite of what we hold dear.
Make no mistake, the idea of women being able to stay at home, and encouraged to do so, was not a state of oppression, but a short window of a golden age which we are fast losing. For most of history everyone worked for the man, and the middle class did not exist. We are fast seeing that golden age fade away, and the forcing of men and women to both work is part of the reason it is.
Note above: the idea of women being able to stay at home was once seen as a liberal (freedom encouraging) innovation of a highly successful society. Wicked people turned it into an insult, and an idea that many today believe, but are afraid to say publicly. Let's not let our society return completely to the age of everyone, man and woman, serving the rich, but instead create homes where passing our culture to our children is again a priority.

References:

The Brothers Grimm 2011, Grimms Complete Fairy Tales, Canterbury Classics, San Diego