But Telling Isn't Training

Firefighting skills require not only telling (verbal instruction), but guided practice (training). Telling isn't training. It's only the beginning, and not even half the job. Training is standard fare for good schools. But in church, it's exceedingly rare.

How can people think it's OK for male athletes to impersonate females and compete against women in sports? No word better describes this than "delusional."

Delusional thinking comes from delusional starting points. People with high IQs professing themselves to be wise become fools. God "gives them over" to their self-imposed absurdities (see Romans 1).

Delusional thinking starts here:

• animate life came from inanimate things and inanimate things self-developed out of nothing

• since there is no Creator, we create our own "right" and "wrong"

• God's Word is Truth for some people, but not for all people

• Jesus is not King of everything (just Sunday service, and my personal life)

In 1994, Randy Phillips wrote: 

"When Alexander Solzhenitsyn sought an explanation for the devastating revolution that destroyed his native Russia, he recalled what those who had lived through the Bolshevik takeover had said: 'Men have forgotten God, that's why all these things happened.' Solzhenitsyn admitted that after decades of study he could not offer a better explanation…Solzhenitsyn's conclusion is certainly a lesson to heed: when men forget God, some very terrible things happen. Leadership becomes corrupt. Marriages end. Families suffer... Eventually, an entire nation crumbles." (Men of Action Newsletter)

Can the U.S. continue to "forget" God and not collapse from within?

If we think so, we too are delusional. 

Let’s understand what we’re up against here. We’re dealing with strongholds of the mind that can only be brought down through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, in cooperation with the Acts of Believers. 

We’re not fighting against flesh and blood, but against "principalities and powers of the air." Yes, real demons. 

Nothing else accounts for the uber-irrationality of Critical Theory. 

In 2 Cor. 10:5, Paul declared: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

Paul knew the minefield is the mind-field.

This is where training comes in. "Taking thoughts captive to Christ" is a learned skill requiring guided practice. We desperately need students, parents, teachers, business leaders, film-makers and civil servants who are trained in how to "take thoughts captive to Christ," and practiced in the art of "demolishing arguments and pretensions." 

But telling isn't training.  

What's training?

1. Trainer talks, trainees listen

2. Trainer shows, trainees watch

3. Trainees do, trainer provides feedback

4. Trainees do again--in real situations

Stay tuned.
  

Am I an alarmist?

I hope so.

Our communities are on fire. Our nation is on fire.

Followers of Christ need activist training now. Forget the "seeker sensitive" stuff. Perhaps people seeking meaning for their lives would like to find a group of people committed enough to use their prime time on Sunday morning for activist training. Maybe a lot of young people who are currently leaving the church might decide to stay.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Observant Jews Messaging Sleeping Christians

It's time to wake up.

In the past month, two compelling pieces have come across my screen written by observant Jews messaging sleeping Christians with appeals of urgency. 

The first piece was written by rabbi Daniel Lapin, author of America's Real War. The rabbi urges Followers of Christ to heed the warning signals of anti-Christian sentiment currently on the rise in the US. 

"Without a vibrant and vital Christianity," the rabbi writes, "America is doomed, and without America, the West is doomed. Which is why I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah and Israel am so terrified of American Christianity caving in. Many of us Jews are ready to stand with you. But you must lead. You must replace your timidity with nerve and your diffidence with daring and determination. You are under attack. Now is the time to resist it."

Rabbi Lapin's post is titled, "A rabbi's warning to US Christians." Please read it here:

https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/persecution/a-rabbi-s-warning-to-u-s-christians.html?fbclid=IwAR2t82gH02Kb4HOoJI3V496Xtf8SgdW7Ako5Hkip8cIBNyAdg6Mnj2z70tQ

The second piece was written by Melissa Langsam Braunstein, a senior contributor to The Federalist. Her post is titled, "I'm An Observant Jew. Here's Why I Want More Americans To Come To Jesus." 

She wants the "nones" [claiming no faith] to re-awaken to the Christian faith of their past, and she spells out many compelling reasons why this is needed for the sake of our nation. 

Ms. Braunstein writes: "America, it's time to come to Jesus." 

In fact, she wants to see another Christian "Great Awakening" taking place in this country. 

Read the full post here:

https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/12/im-an-observant-jew-heres-why-i-want-more-americans-to-come-to-jesus/

When Jews send Christians the kind of earnest messages we see here, you know it's time to wake up. 

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

  

The Notre Dame Address

Was William Barr's speech a signal to people of Christian faith, for such a time as this?

Attorney General William Barr, head of the US Department of Justice, recently delivered a speech to the law faculty at the Catholic University of Notre Dame that should be required reading for all US citizens, especially high school students. 

The Notre Dame Address has caught a lot of artillery shelling. That's a good sign these days. Critical Theorists hate any hint of activism coming from the other side, and criticism is their lifeblood. Being critical is what they live for. It's the heart of the Theory itself: tearing down whatever can be torn down. 

Critical Theorists believe social "progress" will only occur when traditional norms of moral behavior are torn down to make way for a new social order to arise from the ashes. This requires relentless criticism of traditional moral structures, with the goal of total collapse from within. It's recycled Marxism. 

Mr. Barr not only explained in plain English what the American “experiment” was all about, but he put his weighty finger on the heart of the present threat of this great experiment failing, making it clear the current DOJ is fighting that threat.

He said: "I will not dwell on all the bitter results of the new secular age. Suffice it to say that the campaign to destroy the traditional moral order has brought with it immense suffering, wreckage, and misery. And, yet, the forces of secularism, ignoring these tragic results, press on with even greater militancy..."

He later declared: "The problem is not that religion is being forced on others. The problem is that irreligion and secular values are being forced on people of faith."

There's where the current DOJ comes in. 

Barr then referred to the schools as "ground zero" in the battle. That's the truth.

Is his speech a signal to people of Christian faith? I suspect it is. I also think this window will not stay open long. 

Let's not waste more time. If the next presidential election goes a certain way, we may have five years to act. If it goes the other way, we may have one year.   

The Notre Dame Address is not a quick read. I suggest you print it out and read it while taking a long bath, allowing it to soak in slowly. 

This speech may turn out to be as timely and significant as Lincoln's at Gettysburg, if people of faith will take Barr's cue: 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-law-school-and-de-nicola-center-ethics

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

History-Turning Pivot Points

There may be no more fitting example for Christ-followers these days than Daniel, who was subject to a powerploy pivot point in Babylon. This is especially true for Christian teachers and administrators in state schools. They need our prayers for courage. It's also true for pastors, as well as parents.

(Painting after Briton Rivière [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.)

A friend e-mailed:

“This is what people say to me: ‘Why is the sin of homosexuality treated as so much more offensive than other sins? Someone is gay. Another is a drunkard. Another flirts with women who aren't his wife…Sin is sin. Why is THIS sin so bad?'" 

Yes, sin is sin. But not all sins have the same consequences, or equal ramifications for society. 

Homosexuality and transgenderism (not by any choice of Christians) have become history-turning pivot points in a power-struggle the likes of which this nation has not seen since the run-up to the civil war.

Christians have not made homosexuality the powerplaygrenade it is. Rather, homosexual activists, and their facilitators, have done so through public shaming, intimidation, and punitive penalties against those who don't capitulate to their demands. 

CNN featured contenders for the Democrat nomination for President where a candidate was asked if he thought "religious colleges, churches, and charities, should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage."

The candidate instantly declared, "yes," and forthwith came resounding audience applause. No candidate took exception.     

Albert Mohler summarized the incident this way: “Beto O’Rourke and virtually every other candidate on CNN’s stage handed down an ultimatum: The time is up for conservative Christianity. Anyone who will not join the sexual revolution is an enemy combatant, not worthy of protection nor a voice in the public process…failure to capitulate will result in the coercive power of government to silence you.”

Read Mohler’s full account here.

What would happen if states no longer approved Christian schools as corporations because of policies on homosexuality or transgenderism? The doors of many Christian schools would close. Churches next. Those staying open will declare Scripture doesn’t really teach that homosexual behavior is sin after all. 

If you think closing doors is bad, consider what will soon be acceptable punishment for citizens of Great Britain who are found guilty of "intolerance" toward homosexuality and transgenderism starting January 1, 2020. Jail time. Check it out here.

Have you heard anyone proposing jail time for people holding biblical positions on adultery or fornication? No. Because these are not the powerploy pivot points of the hour.

Daniel understood powerploy pivot points, and he prayed with his window open.

Think about that. 

As for not re-interpreting Scripture to permit homosexuality, see The Evangelical Covenant Church's, “God, the Bible, and Human Sexuality: A Response to Revisionist Readings,” here.

If this video does not play, click https://youtu.be/C1roM98Dass

Piers Morgan, a television personality in the US and the UK, is an "old-guard" liberal. There is much I disagree with Morgan about, but I agree with him on this point: free speech requires an absence of threat, intimidation, or violence as a means of "shutting up the other side." To see a dramatic illustration of the difference between old-guard liberalism and the outworking of Critical Theory in real time, watch this encounter between Morgan and a young man calling for him to be fired because of his contrarian views regarding "100 gender types." Come January 1, it looks to me like Morgan may be running a risk of jail time. Because he is such a high-profile individual, this seems doubtful. But most people don't have Morgan's platform.

Or guts.

Earlier this month, a physician in the UK, Dr. David Mackereth, lost his job because of his beliefs regarding transgenderism. The tribunal that ruled against him said his "belief in Genesis 1:27, lack of belief in transgenderism, and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflicts with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here transgender individuals." See https://onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2019/10/28/ruling-in-uk-a-bad-omen-for-bible-believers-ethicist

Pause for a moment and thank God we won the Revolutionary War. But can we maintain our religious freedom? 

Not without a lot of Daniels doing hard things very soon.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman 

Is "Christian Activist" An Oxymoron?

If this video does not play, click https://youtu.be/XYhrwkE6Gaw

Last March, a school in the city of Birmingham, England, suspended its LGBT lessons after 80% of the pupils were kept home by their parents in protest. Hundreds of parents kept their kids home. Hundreds. (View the video.)

Most of these parents were Muslim, because the school is in a largely Muslim neighborhood of Britain.

What about schools in largely Christian neighborhoods of the USA? 

Why are parents not protesting the activist policy of allowing boys to use the girls' bathrooms or shower rooms, and vice-versa? What about the activist practice of normalizing same-sex "marriage" by reading Heather Has Two Mommies to the class? 

85% of Christian parents in the US send their children to state schools. That's enough to shut the madness down...but just for a temporary "suspension."

That's because, as in Birmingham, the head will still be attached to the body, and herein lies the problem: head transplants are revolutionary, and today's Christians are no more postured and prepared for revolution than the Jews of 1930 Germany were.

Several states now have mandated "LGBT history" courses in their schools. It's the nose of the proverbial camel under the tent. 

The only effective parental "protest," at this point, is to take the kids out not for a day, not for a week, or for a month, but to take them out for good, en masse.

This will be a challenge for Christian families that cannot afford the tuition of Christian schools, and are unable to homeschool. Church-based, quality-controlled homeschool co-ops might provide an answer (more on this later). 

As for Christian parents having children in state schools, why not organize a "kid-out," like the Muslims did in Great Britain? Would the 1st week of March, 2020, work?

Christ-followers could become majority voting members of school boards, if they got organized and campaigned together, with churches supporting.

Christian teachers in state schools could be activists inside the system, if they got organized. Afraid? Real courage is never the absence of fear, but taking action in spite of it. 

Or, is "Christian activist" an oxymoron in your mind?

Was Jesus the Tableflipper an activist? Did He get crucified for His silence? His disciples were familiar with jails for a reason, and many disciples have shared that familiarity since. 

Would you?

Activism is the only language Critical Theorists understand.

Can we get organized?

Let's learn something from the German Jews.

If you want to know where state schools are headed in regard to Marcuse's goal to disintegrate Christian norms of sexual behavior in the US, watch what is happening in California. For decades, California has been the trend-setter of the nation for social issues. But the "comprehensive sexuality education" push isn't just a "California thing." It's all across the nation.

And it's not just about LGBTQ+. It's about much more.

For one pastor's search to find out what is going on in his community with respect to "comprehensive" sex ed, and the stunning array of things he uncovered, this is must viewing: 
https://www.nordskogpublishing.com/no-opt-out-allowed-the-california-sex-ed-indoctrination/

The video is about 30 minutes long, for good reason. It goes into original sources, shows illustrations from textbooks, and includes actual undercover video of training sessions for teachers and administrators by ACLU lawyers.

It is well worth your time to view.

Take a half hour to get educated, even if you don't have kids in a state school. We all have a big stake in this.

Posted by Dr. Christian Overman