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Dark Freedom
The Rise of Western Lawlessness
by C.W. Steinle
Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle
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Showing posts with label dualism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dualism. Show all posts

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Nine

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Nine

by C.W. Steinle
Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle

Copyrighted material.  All rights reserved.  No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without written permission from the publisher.  This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to purchase this book or share with another person, please purchase a copy for each reader from any online bookseller.  Visit Dark-Freedom.com for purchase details or: http://darkfreedombook.com/

Part III - The Everlasting Kingdom
By My Name - "The Lord"

Lawlessness not only disregards the law, it also opposes the Lawgiver.  Christians confess that Jesus is Lord.  But the practice of lordship is far removed from the life-experience of most western believers.  One reason for the waywardness of the Western Church is this obscure understanding of the meaning of "Lord."  People can't be expected to obey the Lord's laws without the fear of the Lord.  They must understand whom they are fearing, or else they will meet the same failure as the Gnostics - who knew nothing but a theoretical god.  "And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" – Rom. 10:14
The God of the Bible is more than the Neo-Platonists' First Cause.  God not only created all things through His Son, He also controls all things through His Son.  The incarnation of God in Christ bore the image of the invisible God.  All authority in the heaven and on the earth has been given to the Son.  But sadly, we must even define what is meant by "authority," because authority brings to mind that politically incorrect word, "submission."  Therefore we must proceed with caution to consider that God is both; good, and Lord.
We are told in Genesis that once the fellowship between God and Adam was broken, several generations went by before men even began to call on the Lord.  Man's estrangement from his Maker made fellowship with Him impossible.  Were it not for the love of God which compelled Him to reach out to man, the relationship would be broken forever.  God revealed Himself to man only partially at first.  Hebrews One states that God, "at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets."  God revealed Himself in creation as "The Almighty."  In the flood God showed that He was the Judge of the earth; and also that He was the God who made a way of salvation for Noah.  God made Himself known to Abraham as the God of blessing, and as the God of the promised inheritance.  But God revealed Himself to Moses in a different way.
"And God spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the Lord.  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them.  I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers.  And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.  Therefore say to the children of Israel: 'I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  I will take you as My people, and I will be your God.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.  And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.'" – Exodus 6:2-8
"I am the Lord."  Because Moses wrote the Pentateuch after the time of this revelation, he often referred to God as the "Lord God".  In His address to Moses above, God proclaimed that He was more than a Deliverer-God who was able to free His people from their bondage to Egypt.  God was also the Governor-God; the Lord God.  After God delivered the Israelites from bondage, Moses presented God's laws to the people and asked them to make a commitment to honor the Lord's terms of government.  Mt. Sinai was the place where God enrolled Moses in His campaign of deliverance, and Sinai was also the place where God unveiled His government to the Children of Israel.
"So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said we will do.’  And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.  Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.  And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.  Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’  And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.’" - Exodus 24:3-8
Jesus is Lord.  The Christians in Jesus' day (especially the Hellenic Jews and the Gentiles) used the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament.  The Greek word for Lord, "Kurie", in the Old Testament is the same word used in the New Testament when stating that Jesus is "Lord", or in calling Him "Lord" Jesus.  When first century Christians made their confession that Jesus is Lord, they were acknowledging their confidence that Jesus was both; the Christ, and that same Lord (Kurie) of the Old Testament.  Thus Peter's words, "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." - Acts 2:34-36
Those heretics who believe that the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the God of the New Testament have not known God at all.  There is only one Lord.  "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." - Eph. 4:4-6 
David was a man after God's own heart.  David's psalms abound with praises for God's law.  The Psalms of David are also filled with prophecies about Christ.  David's God, and Christ's Father, are one and the same Deity.  It is an error to believe that Christians should have a different heart for the law than King David had.  The law was begotten of God, and should be cherished by His children.  "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.  And His commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world." -  I John 5:3-4 When David wrote in his First Psalm that a man would be blessed by meditating on the law, he didn't intend that only men of the Old Testament should be blessed.
"Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Jesus, the son of David, was also a man who loved the law.  Hebrews 1:8-9 reads, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness . . ."
Jesus was not only a lover of the law, He was also the Lawgiver - the Governor God; the Lord.  The same prophetic verse which announced His incarnation also declared His endless government.
"For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." - Isaiah 9:6-7
This brings us to our next observation about God's government - it is a kingdom.  A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.  Jesus is the Lord of a kingdom.  The kingdom form of government has been summarily rejected as inherently evil by today's westerners.  The behavior of the United Nations and the United States implies that all kingdoms need to be abolished, and all kings deposed.  Telling American Christians that Jesus is the king of a kingdom is like telling Luke Skywalker that Darth Vader is his father.  "That's Impossible!"  It just doesn't fit in with everything else they've been taught about the evils of monarchy.  The Church Deceived says, "Yes Lord, yes," to God's great salvation; but, "Surely not," and "May it never be," to "Thy kingdom come."
In fact, the western concept of heaven is an ethereal free-for-all where souls are set free to do whatever they want, whenever they want; very much like Plato's dreaded democracy.  Westerners imagine a "Have it your way" heaven.  They are prepared for the reign of the Burger King, but ill prepared for Christ the King.  Because of this perverted and egocentric impression of heaven, the pervasion of lawlessness might easily be seen as the fulfillment of the prayer, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."  How can the new generation possibly embrace the vision of a model kingdom in heaven when the last thing they want is a kingdom on earth?
Faith in God's Lordship is also undermined in proportion to man's faith in the soundness of human reasoning.  The God of the Bible has been painted by western philosophy into a corner of the mind, where He is limited to the confines of predetermined parameters.  Who God is and what He can do is evermore distorted because of the incessant presence of Platonism and Gnosticism unwittingly absorbed by the Church.  The Lord God of the Bible is the Jehovah God; the God of love, grace, mercy, compassion - who cares, who heals, who rescues, who helps, who even understands our weaknesses - and yes, the God who also chastens and judges.  But the Platonic altruistic god of goodness is too good to judge and too idyllic to care; thus eliminating the need for redemption.  And the greater part of western culture has put their faith in this imaginary god.  The growing lawless majority assumes the living God is like their lifeless god.
Sufficient knowledge of man's philosophies concerning theology and politics has been introduced in previous chapters so that we may proceed to explore the heartthrob of lawlessness.  Immorality.  Immorality is the violation of God's moral code.  The basis of the American moral code shifted abruptly in the mid-twentieth century from the Bible to common law; which now has become little more than case law established by human tradition.  Most conservative Christians were not aware that the very foundation of Biblical morality had been removed from the courtroom long before the Ten Commandments were removed from the courthouse.  In 2010 the United States Department of Justice came out of the closet and shocked the Judeo-Christian community with the official banner below.  Almost as profound as the statement itself is the spiritual reverence assigned to the words Mankind, Life, and People; which were enlarged and ornamented to elevate these principalities of the earthly sphere to their presumed deific status.
Figure 10 - Dept. of Justice website banner from 2010 – 2014104
"The common law is the will of Mankind issuing from the Life of the People."  WND.com posted the following research regarding the source of this slogan.
According to U.S. House documentation, the quote is one of the multitude of statements engraved outside the Justice building in Washington. The full phrase is, "The common law is the will of mankind issuing from the life of the people, framed through mutual confidence, sanctioned by the light of reason."  According to The American Spectator, which has documented the controversy, some attorneys believed the quote was pulled or adapted from the writing of the 18th–century British jurist Sir William Blackstone, who "influenced not only British law, but also the American constitutional and legal system."
However, the report cites "other Department of Justice employees" who say the quote comes from British lawyer D. Wilfred Jenks, author of "The Common Law of Mankind" essays in the 1950s.105
These laws "sanctioned by the light of reason" have displaced the laws of God which were sanctified among men by the sprinkling of blood.  But replacing God's laws with the rules of men is not a recent problem.  And neither is man's inclination to raise up the god of human reason; and to set it up as an idol in the courts of the Lord.  It is time for us to look into the sanctuary and expose a sacred cow which was exalted by the Eastern and Western Churches.  Religious patriotism and individualism were the stepchildren of the Reformation.  But a far stranger fowl flew into the Church during her formative years.  It is a destructive principality; a shifty bird, which has been nesting in the tree of the Church since the second century.
The Reformers sought to expel it but were only partially successful.  It masqueraded as an angel of light resting innocently among the true teachings of Christ and His Apostles.  By God's grace, let the eyes of the reader be opened by Him to judge whether this bird is of God or of man.  And may those who have been injured by its talons find healing in Christ and His Word which is, "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." -  Heb. 4:12
The seeming self-denial of the ascetic dualists appeared to Early Church Christians as a way to achieve the spiritual life they were striving for.  Rather than depending solely on prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, they turned to the aid of Neo-Platonism.   But even though dualism attempts to overcome materialism, its assumptions oppose God's Word and twist the attitudes of the heart in destructive ways.  Our previous discussion of dualism pointed out that both the Platonic and Gnostic philosophies condemn matter.  They both condemn the Creator Himself, or else distance Him from creation by enough intermediaries to allow Him to retain His goodness.  The wickedness invoked by deeming matter to be evil has proven to be one of the foremost forces of wickedness.
Once man had transgressed his proper domain by forcing God to conform to human reasoning, the next step was to override God's directive of multiplying through sexual reproduction.  According to dualistic thinking, because matter is evil, man's strongest desire in the material realm must be the most despicable.  This demented reasoning makes the sexual urge the most wicked desire, and the sexual act the most heinous sin.  Not a few Church leaders spoke out-rightly (or strongly insinuated) that sexual intercourse between Adam and Eve was man's original sin.  So the Early Church fell to dualistic asceticism, teaching that righteousness could be attained by suppressing sexual desire and practicing celibacy.  This dualistic thinking segregated the supposedly righteous Christians from the moderate Christians on the basis of ascetic living.  The good Christians were celibate, and qualified for upper ministry.  But the inferior Christians, who were too materialistic, were expected to fulfill God's commission to be fruitful and multiply.  We have already alluded to the first tragedy of dualism - the fact that such vows of celibacy were seldom kept without some secret sexual outlet.
Many who have tried to live the ascetic life have ended up asking their Maker, "Why have you made me this way?" when, in fact, He didn't design man for abstinence.  Paul recommended celibacy to those who had been given this gift because of the turmoil faced by the first century Church.  But Christian dualism has kept countless men from the ministry over the last two thousand years; impeding the work of the kingdom, and putting the ministry into the hands of men who have actually unwittingly been compromised by worldly wisdom.  The secondary consequence of dualism which was demonstrated by the Libertarians of the previous chapter is one of the leading contributors to lawlessness today.
Dualistic logic which condemns matter and material pleasures cannot make a distinction between wedded and unwedded intercourse, since both acts involve the same flesh and the same desire.  This is why keeping the biblical laws against fornication and adultery has no philosophical benefit.  Only complete separation from the supposedly evil act of sexual intercourse can satisfy the technical requirements of "spirituality" according to the logic of the dualistic system.  Under this perverted doctrine of purity the very act of marriage becomes prima facie evidence that both partners have fallen short of the mark established by the sterile and heartless god of First Principles.  Therefore, even Church-ordained wedlock cannot remove the stigma that sexual intercourse has disqualified both husband and wife from meeting the dualistic standard of spiritual perfection.
The self-righteous and power hungry Roman church was happy to canonize the ascetic standard because it elevated the spirituality of the clergy and demoralized the laity.  Thus the common people, once reduced to this Nicolaitan status, could not help but see themselves as second class citizens of the kingdom of God.  Furthermore, both the drive and the act of intercourse carried the connotation of "dirtiness", in keeping with the Platonic notion that all material realities are flawed and only dim expressions of the perfect spiritual Forms.  As a result, even marriage could not alleviate a subconscious sense of guilt for not being able to overcome the sexual urge; even though it is perfectly natural and God ordained.  This twisted dualistic philosophy is retained even by many Protestant leaders.  Only by adhering steadfastly to God's government and rejecting the wisdom of man can the Church be delivered from this schizophrenic disorder. 
The heresy of the dualistic doctrine has struck to the heart of the Christian life and has never been banished.  Meanwhile, the Church has haggled over every other philosophical issue and never resolved what is surely one of the most significant doctrines in the everyday life of believers.  Disillusioned and demoralized, Christians inevitably come to question the abundance of life in this world promised by Christ.  But what does the Bible say?  "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." – Heb. 13:4 "Undefiled" means undefiled!  Marriage is in no wise dishonorable.  Few dualistic Christians other than Origen have actually comprehended what Jesus said in his response to the question of divorce.
"The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’
And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?  So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.’
They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’
He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.’
His disciples said to Him, ‘If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.’
But He said to them, ‘All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:  For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.’" – Matt. 19:3-12
Why did Jesus answer this question by offering the drastic alternative of castration?  Because man has been wired by his Creator for marriage.  Jesus was telling His disciples that if they wanted to live a life of celibacy they would need to disconnect the wiring in order to stop the sexual urges.  After all, to look at woman lustfully is a sin in itself.  Jesus was saying that if a man wanted to annul God's plan to be fruitful and multiply then that man would need to undo part of God's physical creation in order to live a life free from his God-given sexual instinct.  Granted, God is able to impart a special gift of celibacy to a few individuals – "All things shall be possible with God." – Mark 10:27 But celibacy without castration was not the practical alternative offered by Christ.  We need not go back to the behavior of the popes during the Middle Ages or the Libertines of the sixteenth century to understand why Jesus gave castration as the practical alternative to marriage.  The pedophilia of contemporary "celibate" clergymen speaks for itself. 
And still the bishops have been unwilling to relinquish their claims of super-spirituality and release the laity from marital condemnation; simply because it would dissolve their Pharisaical apartheid system.  When will the Church wake up and return to God's Word?  While the Church perpetuates this philosophical crime against humanity, the world has gained the upper hand by offering a lawless, but more rational, solution.  As the "light of reason" has been "sanctioned" over the last 60 years, and the laws of God have been abandoned, the Platonic thinking of the Church is being answered by its historical antithesis, Epicureanism.  "If it feels good, do it."  But we must make one more observation about the hidden dangers of Platonism.
When the dualistic system is carried one step further, the gates of Hell are opened.  If the natural and sanctified intercourse of Adam and Eve brought condemnation on all men for all ages, then all other sexual acts could not bear any greater condemnation.  If the desire for natural intercourse firmly grounds man to the material realm, why would any other sexual perversion lower him further?  In fact, perhaps all other perversions are actually more spiritual than intercourse; so that they might present more preferable alternatives then the natural intercourse which is expressly condemned by the dualistic Church.  Once again the deviant behavior of the so-called celibate Catholic priests attests to the wickedness unleashed by ascetic dualism.  The Catholic Church has done little to curtail its perversion because the priests have learned to prefer strange flesh over natural intercourse.
When marital intercourse is treated as a disqualifying weakness by the ascetic dualists, the command to be fruitful also becomes an enigma.  How could God's purposes be fulfilled through an act which is tainted by materiality?  This is the same predicament that the Docetists attempted to solve by their assertion that a spiritual Christ could not be incarnate in a material body.  By this same reasoning, God's command to be fruitful and multiply would seem to contradict His desire for man's spirituality.  Thus, in the mind of the dualist the fruit of the womb is spoiled before it is ever conceived.
The Bible says that man was conceived in sin because both parents are carriers of the disease of sin passed down from the time of Adam's fall.  It DOES NOT mean that the act which males and females were designed to do, and commissioned to perform, is an evil responsible for the generational dissemination of the fallen nature.  Dualism's tainting of the reproduction process also taints the unborn child who is the product of what is presumably a tainted act.  Even before Adam's commission to tend the garden, even before God began to fellowship with Adam in the cool of the day,  the very first word ever to spoken by God to the male and female of His creation was the command to, "Be fruitful and multiply."- Gen. 1:28
Christian youths should grow up looking forward to the day of their marriage when they can bless the heart of God through sexual reproduction and the fulfillment of God's plan for fruitfulness.  But because the Church Deceived has defiled the bed and made a disgrace of man's first commission, the youth are left to anticipate only the pleasure of the sexual act, and are for the most part oblivious to the sacred honor of bearing children unto their God.  Through this evil diversion, dualism's devaluation of what God hath joined together has also devalued the unborn child.  Sex has become the obsession; and the children are only an undesirable byproduct.  The abortion which the Roman Church officially opposes is actually further perpetuated by its stubborn refusal to recognize the heresy of dualistic asceticism.
A murderous spirit has already overtaken the United States, and much of the world.  As I present the proof for what I have just stated, please be assured that if you have sinned in this area and believed in the Lamb of God for forgiveness, you are indeed forgiven.  And if you have sinned in this area in ignorance, the Lord Jesus stands ready to forgive and to heal.  The sin that I am referring to is the abortion of the unborn.
A major contributing factor to the abortion rate has been the effect of humanism and Darwinism that is taught in the schools.  Students are not taught about the varying stages of a baby as it grows in the womb; when the color of the child’s eyes are determined, when the child’s nerves are developed enough to feel pain, etc.  Instead they are taught that a "developing embryo," not an "unborn baby," looks like a tadpole.  Teachers explain this is perfectly natural since we are all just complicated "accidents" from evolutionary processes.  So it's only expected that all life forms would look similar to tadpoles.  This line of reasoning leads a woman to believe that aborting a baby in the womb is essentially no different than destroying a laboratory experiment in a Petri dish.
The Humanists do not classify this choice as "the taking of a life."  In which case, please consider the maternal affection described by the ancient Hebrew word for compassion.  "Rachum" is the word commonly used in the Old Testament to mean compassion.  This word's origin stems from a similar Hebrew word - "Rechem", which means "womb."  During the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the people reached the point of starvation.  Jeremiah used this word for compassion to magnify the people’s desperation.  "The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; They became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people." – Lamentations 4:10
This Hebrew word for compassion was based upon the natural affection that a mother would feel as she caressed her stomach during pregnancy.  The point that Jeremiah is making is that the very same women, who had once cherished the children within their wombs, were now forced by the madness of starvation to kill and eat them.  This example is given by Jeremiah as the most grievous violation of conscience conceivable in order to point out the severity of Jerusalem's punishment.  Where is this compassion in the twenty-first century?
America's conscience has been slowly seared to the point where many of her women have switched off this natural compassion.  Today, situations of desperation are seldom the reason for aborting one's baby.  Pregnancy is merely seen as untimely, unplanned, or inconvenient.  Why is there no love lost, no compassion, as babies are removed and discarded?  Can you imagine what Jeremiah's reaction would be today?  The biblical standards of family, sexual purity, and the worship of our Creator have all been rejected.  The fear of the Lord, which is the gatekeeper of the Christian conscience, has been trampled under the feet of today's heartless society.
The Christian Church now walks among a people who cannot distinguish good from evil.  There is nothing holding them back from expressing their hostility toward Christians.  Anger toward Christ's Church already fills their hearts, but the notion of tolerance has kept them at bay.  Until now.  Now their anger is beginning to spill through the cracks in the dike.  Their violence has overcome their own ability to resist it.  Once the persecution of Christians has been set in motion, there is nothing to stop it.  The same society who freely terminates the lives of their own children will have no qualms about exterminating the Church.106
The Bible clearly links the sins of Manasseh to the desolation of Judah"And the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon."-2nd Kings 24:1-4 (emphasis added)
Not only did Manasseh kill his own newborn son, he also encouraged his countrymen to engage in this practice.  This was the "innocent blood" that brought desolation to Judah.  The Hinnom Valley, on the south side of Jerusalem, was the central location in Judah where parents would put their children to death.  The Hebrew words for "Valley of Hinnom" are "Ge Hinnom".  We are familiar with the Greek translation of this place as "Gehenna."  Gehenna was the city dump.  Because this place was so vile from the continuous burning of foul rubbish, and from the wickedness perpetrated there, Gehenna became synonymous with Hell itself.  And it was certainly Hell for the babies who were burned to death there in the arms of red-hot iron cradles.
The practice of infanticide was never approved by God.  Jeremiah 19 speaks of God’s distain for this sin: ". . . and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind." (emphasis added)   Infanticide was brought into Israel primarily by the worshipers of Baal and Molech.  It was the blood of innocent children which caused God to drive the Jews out from their land.  God Himself determined to make Judah desolate.107
The Church condemned that which God said was good, and it has led to the infanticide which never entered His mind.  The Church Fathers heeded the wisdom of men instead of obeying the Lord their God.  The dualistic god demands that men behave contrary to their God-created nature.  Here is the true perversion which has ultimately twisted the morality of western man.  The dualists have used the simplistic logic of a child to decide the will of God.  Just because God's Word gives guidelines for man's sexuality does not mean that God is against the sexuality of His own design.  For God to condemn that which He has sanctified would make Him either fickle or evil.  But God is good all the time.  He did not intend for people to spend their lives robbed of peace by a battle against that very thing which they were designed to do.
The Church has twisted the Scriptures to support asceticism; even creating fictions about Mary's eternal virginity so that she might stand as a superhuman cheerleader for the cause of celibacy.  God is a God of truth.  How tragic that the Church would fear God so little that it would add to the Scriptures in order to support this heinous dualistic position.  If the glorified Mary could look upon the earth from above, she would not want to be associated with the slaughter of millions of unborn babies which has resulted indirectly from these myths about the blessedness of celibacy.  But as long as the Church clings to its policies on asceticism, celibacy, and the exaltation of the Virgin Mary, all of the failures of dualism covered above will not be resolved.  Judgment must begin in the House of the Lord.
The dualistic system that was so hastily embraced by the Church Fathers, hermits, and monks has in all actuality become the Pied Piper which is leading the whole human race to edge of the lawless abyss.  And the progressive Church has made no improvement upon the traditional Church.  It has merely turned sliding down the slippery slope of human philosophy into an art form.  Isaiah pleaded with Israel to return to the Lord because that nation was no longer responsive to the Lord's chastening.
The Church sings of the Lord's return.  Let us pray she will learn to honor the sacred earthly union so that she might be dressed and ready to honor her union with her beloved Bridegroom.  Paul stated in Ephesians Five that the human union is a picture of the divine union.  "For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.  ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’  This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." - Eph. 5:30-31 When dualism taints marriage on earth, it also tarnishes our anticipation of our union with Christ.  The Church must be purged of its adulterous worship of the spiritual idol of dualism so that she might obey her true Husband, Christ.  Likewise, let her consider God's dealings with Israel in the days of the judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes.  Because of Israel's unfaithfulness God took away His hedge of protection and left Israel's borders open to enemy invasions.  By the time of Isaiah, Israel's unfaithfulness prompted God to the call for distant armies to remove her from the Land.
"Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity,
And sin as if with a cart rope;
That say, "Let Him make speed and hasten His work,
That we may see it;
And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,
That we may know it."
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,
Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,
Who justify the wicked for a bribe,
And take away justice from the righteous man!
Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble,
And the flame consumes the chaff,
So their root will be as rottenness,
And their blossom will ascend like dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people;
He has stretched out His hand against them
And stricken them,
And the hills trembled.
Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar,
And will whistle to them from the end of the earth;
Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly.
No one will be weary or stumble among them,
No one will slumber or sleep;
Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed,
Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;
Whose arrows are sharp,
And all their bows bent;
Their horses' hooves will seem like flint,
And their wheels like a whirlwind.
Their roaring will be like a lion,
They will roar like young lions;
Yes, they will roar
And lay hold of the prey;
They will carry it away safely,
And no one will deliver.
In that day they will roar against them
Like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
Behold, darkness and sorrow;
And the light is darkened by the clouds." - Isaiah 5:18-30 (Emphasis added)

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Saturday, January 23, 2016

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Four

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Four

by C.W. Steinle
Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle


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Part I - Pulling Down Strongholds
Wrestling with Worldly Wisdom

As we consider worldly wisdom, we cannot and should not automatically condemn the wisdom of man.  Making the world a better place during man's sojourn on earth is certainly a noble cause.  In truth, man was placed on the earth and given the task of tending it and making it fruitful.  Christians should expect that unbelievers would spend their efforts on the earthly kingdom because they have chosen mortality over the eternal life which is in Christ.  "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."  But the Son did not come into the world to condemn it.  Therefore let us maintain the same compassion for humanity as our Father in heaven who, in His forbearance, "had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Rom. 3:25-26
It is, however, imperative for Christians to make a distinction between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom.  Man's wisdom often conflicts with God's truth.  As Paul pointed out to the Corinthian Church, the wisdom of fallen man tends to exalt itself and is innately resistant to the message of the cross.
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."  Where is the wise?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the disputer of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.  For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greek foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." -  I Cor. 1:18-25
The wisdom that we will examine in this chapter is the same Greek wisdom that the Apostles Paul and John addressed in their letters.  These philosophies originated with the ancient Greeks but they were further developed by western philosophers during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.  We will discuss those developments in subsequent chapters.  Over the centuries these philosophies have been an ever-present threat to the wayward and uninformed body of Christ.  Their idealisms are wolves in sheep's clothing which have crept into the flock by degrees.  The main thrusts of their intrusion took place in five waves: before the time of Christ in the Grecian part of Roman Empire, during the Apologetic Age, through the writings of the Church Fathers, during the Renaissance, and through the Enlightenment.  Although they have changed their disguises, these philosophies continue to threaten the Church today.  The wisdom of man is the handmaiden of lawlessness.
Classical Greek philosophy intersects Biblical wisdom at several levels.  These intersecting subjects are: the concept of God, the presence of evil, the substance of reality, and the formation of the state.  The problem with these philosophical systems is that many of their conclusions are contrary to God's wisdom and God's ways.  The subtlety of these philosophies is that they are, for the most part, logical.  They sound reasonable to people who are not grounded in the God's truth.  Only a strong love of the truth can overcome these strong delusions.
The nineteenth Psalm and the first chapter of Romans assure us that God has broadcast the knowledge of His existence throughout the earth.  With good and noble hearts, the citizens of Greece have received the gospel of Christ with the greatest steadfastness of any nation.  As of June 22, 2014, CIA.gov has tabulated that 98% of Greece's current population identify themselves as Orthodox Christians.29 The Church of Greece has rejected both the ancient gods and the abstract gods created by their own classical philosophers.  But the Platonic influence has not been so successfully repelled by the West.  The gods of philosophy have proven to be the most powerful and dangerous of all of man's mythological gods.
John ended his first epistle with the words; "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." – I John 5:21  Modern Bible teachers often associate this reference to the worldly worship of wealth, sports, or other distractions.  John's letter was a rebuttal to the Gnostic notion of "special knowledge" that caused people to place their understanding above their love for others.  Thus, the idols of John's warning were more likely the theoretical gods created in the minds of the philosophers.  These convincing ideals have become so intertwined with today's Biblical concept of God that they seem invisible, or perhaps even inseparable, from the contemporary understanding of who God is.
The propensity of human nature to receive the Platonic ideals stems directly from the fact that the classical philosophers created their gods and governments in accordance with the desires of men.  Often these philosophies valued good qualities such as virtue and perfection, but always within a system that would give mankind the greatest advantage.  Many readers are acquainted with these philosophies.  But for the sake of those who are not, and also for the purpose of contrasting their assumptions with Biblical wisdom, a general review is provided below.  These contrasts are easily summarized by comparing their premises, as follows:
The God of the Bible chose for Himself His own special people, whereas the Greek philosophers chose for themselves their own special god.  God gave instructions in how the people were to serve Him, whereas the Platonic god is the servant of man.  The justice of God divides good and evil, whereas the justice of Plato moderates human behavior.  The Bible claims earthly authority is established by God, whereas Plato believed civil authority should be engineered by man.  The God of the Bible created man and then revealed Himself, and His salvation, through the Jews - to be a blessing to all mankind.  Plato created an intellectual god which is by the people and for the people; an imaginary god of lifeless ideals, approachable only through asceticism and knowledge.
As a preface to the Greek philosophers and their influence on Judaism and Christianity, it should be noted that the Greeks were first influenced by the Jews.  The books of Moses had been translated into Greek long before the composition of the Septuagint.  Homer's Odyssey30 was composed in the eighth century B.C.; roughly five hundred years after Moses.  Critical studies of Homer's poems reveal dozens of parallels to Moses' account of the history of the Jews.  Aristobulus of Paneas, who lived in the second century B.C., also believed that the poems of Homer and Hesiod contained content from Moses' writings.  Socrates' own disenchantment with the mythical Greek gods may have stemmed from his contemplation of the universal God of the Jews.  In his book, The Republic,31 Plato said that poems and stories by such authors as Homer and Hesiod should be censored because they depicted the gods as foolish, deceitful, and warmongering.  Plato believed that all deities should be good and virtuous.  Plato's teacher, Socrates, was charged with Atheism because he proposed a universal creator.
Socrates, as documented by the writings of Plato, had the greatest impact on religion because of his inversion of what is called "real," which resulted in dualism and Gnosticism.  Plato's observations and theories laid the groundwork for the political sciences.  Nevertheless, because Socrates' ideas have been imparted through Plato's dialogues, and because it is impossible to know which of the two were the originators of their common philosophies, their contributions to theology and metaphysics are historically referred to as Platonism.  In our introduction to Classical philosophy we will begin to see how Platonism has influenced religion.  Plato's views on government and state will be taken up in later chapters.  We will only remark on Aristotle as his views are noted in particular by the Church Fathers, Schoolmen, and philosophers of more recent periods.
Plato was born in the 420's B.C. into an aristocratic family.  He lived in Athens during the time of the Peloponnesian Wars.  It was a chaotic time in which he saw the democracy of Athens toppled by Sparta, followed briefly by the reign of a tyrannical council appointed by the Spartans.  Democracy was once again restored, but these changing forms of government became the subject of much of Plato's philosophical contemplations.  Plato's The Republic expresses his analysis of various forms of government and the traits of the ideal candidates for leadership, citizenship, and the militia.  The Republic also encapsulates many of the idealistic philosophies of Socrates.
The Greek philosophers did not base their cosmology on the existence of a singular creative agent.  The dialogue with Timaeus32 provides the most important features of Plato's account of creation.  To understand his terminology, we must first be familiar with Socrates' idea of "Forms" and "Goodness."  The realm of Forms is presented in The Republic by the analogies of "The Cave."  The "Dividing Line" is used to show the distinction between the seen and the unseen, and the levels of "realness" in the mind of the philosopher.
The "Allegory of the Cave" supports the philosophical assumption termed "Realism," which is an inversion of what one would normally consider reality to be.  The allegory depicts men in a cave who have spent their lives chained facing the back wall.  They see the shadows of people walking by, but have never actually seen these pedestrians.  Through their intellect the men in the cave began to understand that they are only seeing shadows instead of the real people casting the shadows.  Socrates compares this enlightened state to the wisdom of the philosopher who understands that the objects of the material world are only poor representations, or shadows, of the "real" spiritual objects.  These realities exist as perfect Forms in a higher dimension - the "Realm of Forms".  The ideals of Wisdom, Justice, Beauty, Courage, and Moderation are examples of these Forms.  Their material manifestations are always flawed and considered to be only half-real.
The "Dividing Line" illustrates a more structured and graduated representation of the difference between the perfect Forms and the visible world.  The line is divided into two main sections to distinguish between what is visibly seen and what is mentally perceived.  The visible world only supports conjectures and beliefs, which are represented by the lower parts of the line.  The unseen realm is also divided into a lower segment of the knowledge of available data, and an upper segment of full understanding of what is real and true.  The philosopher is gifted with the ability to attain this higher understanding and thus approach the Realm of the Forms themselves.  (This presumption is the root of several devious notions.  It is the source of the Gnostic's "special knowledge." It holds out the promise that man can gradually approach God; and it gives the impression that man can achieve some higher state - the seed of the theory of evolution.)
The "Sun Analogy" is used to establish the quality of goodness.  The light from the sun is shown to be necessary in order to make use of the eye and to distinguish colors.  Socrates believed it was important to prove in some logical way that some divine agency enables the mind to make judgments from available knowledge.  In effect, knowledge without the basis of goodness would be as useless as the eye without light.  It seems that Socrates needed to establish the existence of goodness in order to contemplate the perfection of the Forms.  Plato makes a similar assumption in his dialogue with Meno33 when he asserts that virtue is necessary in order to apply knowledge wisely.
Now we can proceed to Plato's version of creation and his need to formulate his god. In his work Timaeus, Plato describes a pre-existing state of chaotic motion.  But because order is good, there must have existed a being capable of organizing what was formless and cause it to become orderly.  Plato calls this being the "demiurge," which in Greek means a public worker, or craftsman.  Some of the Gnostics who followed Plato used his name "demiurge" as a mutilated deific being, and often ascribed to him a corrupted nature.  Plato, however, saw his demiurge only as a benevolent craftsman.
Plato's demiurge took "Same-nesses" and "Differences" and created geometric shapes.  Then using these shapes he created the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.  The demiurge judged that intelligent beings were better than inanimate objects, so he determined to accomplish this end by imparting intelligence to the soul, and then placing the soul into a body.  The result was good because the combination resulted in a whole intelligent being, and wholeness is good.  The demiurge made the earth round because the circle is an ideal shape.  In fact, all of creation was ordered according to the Forms of Wholeness and Goodness.  So, to complete the formation of the world, the demiurge gave it a soul of its own – "The World Soul."
This chapter merely presents an overview of the Platonic concepts so that we might understand their effects on the Christian faith.  Besides exalting the god of this world, these philosophers created two other theological problems.  First, Socrates and Plato supported the case for dualism by their classification of the visible (material) realm as defective and inferior to the perfect Realm of Forms (the spiritual realm).  Secondly, they threw the baby out with bathwater by rejecting the mythical and anthropomorphic Greek gods, only to replace them with their own stone-cold god; an inanimate god of First Principles - without life and devoid of personality.  Dualism (the belief that spirit is good and matter is evil) defies God's opinion that the material world of His creation was "very good." – Gen. 1:31 And, the sterility of the Form-god denies the Father and the Son of the Godhead.  The last issue we will review at this juncture is Plato's Form of Justice as it applies to human virtue.
Plato believed that the human soul has three distinct parts.  The rational part of the soul is the philosophical element and is concerned about truth.  The spiritual part of the soul discerns what is honorable and stirs the emotions of injustice and righteous indignation.  The sensual part of the soul desires physical satisfaction and is responsible for causing the soul to lust after base desires.  Plato taught that the "Just Life" is accomplished when the soul maintains a healthy balance which fulfills the needs of the soul's three aspects.  These parts of the soul can only become equitable when it is ruled by the rational part.  Plato said that the philosopher is best suited to train his soul properly by directing it toward the higher aspects of truth found in the Forms.
Finally, it should be noted that Plato thought the reward during a thousand-year afterlife would be based on how justly a person lived; thus, somehow satisfying the Forms, or perhaps Goodness, by having inclined the soul toward the perfection of the various Forms.  It is fascinating that Plato doesn't ascribe deity to either the Forms or the demiurge, yet he suggests that there is a living judge of souls.  This is actually just another proof that no matter what system of theo-engineering mankind might create and espouse, what may be known of the real and living God has been revealed to man so that he is without excuse.
Whether Socrates and Plato rejected the ancient Greek gods because they were stirred by an awareness of the monotheistic God of the Jews is uncertain.  But they did not embrace the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and chose instead to imagine a god of their own.  Perhaps with the naïveté of Mary Shelley's Doctor Frankenstein,34 Plato inadvertently provided a body for the god of this world: the World Soul.  Frankenstein's monster was created by planting a living brain into a dead body.  Plato placed a dead, but rational, god into the minds of men and has created a religious monster - a god who is nothing more than a systematic assembly of reasonable ideas.  In spite of his patched-together and lifeless appearance, this imposter has been received and worshipped by the world and by many Church Fathers for more than two thousand years.
After Plato's death, the Athens Academy continued but soon drifted from the philosophy of the Old-Academy.  By the third century B.C., many philosophers of the New-Academy were skeptics or had embraced Pythagorean philosophies.  Over this same span of time, Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great, had expanded the Grecian Empire from the Eastern Mediterranean to India.  Alexander was tutored during his teenage years by Aristotle.  The Greek language and the classical Greek philosophies spread throughout the conquered nations.  But the assimilation of the far-eastern cultures into the Grecian world also facilitated the flow of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs into Eastern Europe.
Figure 3 - Alexander's Empire35

Alexander sought to unify his empire by mandating the use of the Greek language throughout.  This campaign was so successful that even the Latin Church Fathers wrote in Greek rather than Latin well into the third century.  The Holy Land was also assimilated into the Greek culture.  Jerusalem, Beth Shean, Ammon, and Samaria were all given Greek names.  These and other cities were also Grecianized by the construction of temples and marketplaces.  By the second century A.D., and throughout the Talmudic period, even the Rabbis spoke Greek in public, and Aramaic permeated with Greek words in informal conversation and writing; though they retained the use of Mishnaic Hebrew in their schools.  By the time of Christ, the Greek Septuagint was in common use among the Jews throughout the Roman Empire.  As we noted previously, the Books of Moses had already been translated into Greek prior to the compilation of the Septuagint.
As to the Pentateuch the following view seems plausible, and is now commonly accepted in its broad lines: The Jews in the last two centuries B.C. were so numerous in Egypt, especially at Alexandria, that at a certain time they formed two-fifths of the entire population. Little by little most of them ceased to use and even forgot the Hebrew language in great part, and there was a danger of their forgetting the Law. Consequently it became customary to interpret in Greek the Law which was read in the synagogues, and it was quite natural that, after a time, some men zealous for the Law should have undertaken to compile a Greek Translation of the Pentateuch. This happened about the middle of the third century B.C.
As to the other Hebrew books - the prophetical and historical - it was natural that the Alexandrian Jews, making use of the translated Pentateuch in their liturgical reunions, should desire to read the remaining books also and hence should gradually have translated all of them into Greek, which had become their maternal language; this would be so much the more likely as their knowledge of Hebrew was diminishing daily. It is not possible to determine accurately the precise time or the occasions on which these different translations were made; but it is certain that the Law, the Prophets, and at least part of the other books, that is, the hagiographies, existed in Greek before the year 130 B.C., as appears from the prologue of Ecclesiasticus, which does not date later than that year.36
Just prior to the time of Christ, Philo of Alexandria began to synthesize the Classical Greek philosophies with the Old Testament writings.  His melding of Platonism and Judaism was not embraced by the general Jewish community, but it did leave its impression upon the early Church.  Philo referred to Plato as "the most holy Plato;" although he also incorporated the ideas of the Stoics, Pythagoreans, and other philosophers.  As a result, Philo's writings stressed the Platonic virtues while discouraging human emotions.  Philo's Hellenistic approach to interpreting the Old Testament had an enduring effect on the Christian Church; especially upon Clement and Origin of Alexandria, as well as Justin Martyr and Tertullian.  Philo's impact on Christian theology was so great that Jerome considered Philo to be one of the Church Fathers.
The Platonic ideals, so long as they ran parallel to the gospel, were employed by the North African and Latin Fathers to explain the principles of the Christian faith.  Instead of acknowledging that God had fully revealed Himself through His Word and His Christ, these Fathers were willing to include collaborative insights from the Gentiles.  This extra-biblical revelation was received just as the modern Church might receive the teachings of Joseph Smith or Mohammed, so long as they appear to agree with the Bible.  Paul had pointed out the inferiority of man's wisdom.  And the First Letter of John seems to have addressed Plato's assertion that only the philosopher can grasp the full knowledge of the Forms.  But somehow, only the Gnostic derivations of the Platonic concepts were recognized as extreme and heretical.  Even the pure Platonists rejected the Gnostics - effectively engaging the Church as the defenders of the "good" philosophers. 
By the second century of the Church, the effects of Plato's philosophy had spawned several branches of Gnosticism.  Widely varying schools of Gnosticism have emerged over the centuries.  We will now quickly touch on their common assumptions.  Most Gnostics employed some type of demiurge which was assumed to have overflowed from the overabundance of the greatness of an immortal "First Cause."  The demiurge and the Nous (knowledge) emanated directly from the "One being" (Monad), or indirectly through iterations of intermediate degenerations.  Either the demiurge or its own emanations were responsible for the creation of the material realm.
Most Platonists are dualistic in their condemnation of matter, and of the human body.  Those who incorporated an incarnate Christ in their scheme are called Docetists (from the Gr. dokein - to seem).  The Docetists portrayed Jesus as a phantom figure because they believed a good Savior must be spiritual and therefore could not be contaminated by a body of flesh.  Furthermore, they often concluded that the Creator of the material world, the God of the Old Testament, was an evil demiurge because matter is bad.  The Gnostic Christ of the New Testament came to reveal the good god, and to reconcile man to his Monad.
Even though Gnosticism has always been condemned by the Church, its theology is merely a logical extension of Platonic thought.  Once the Gnostics gave their rather vague and messy explanation of creation, they ended up with a fairly logical explanation for the existence of evil.  The Gnostic's (and the good Platonist's) system also supports the assumption that the ascetic life is better than the materialistic life.  So good, and bad, Platonism would seem to support the same spiritual frame of mind taught by Christianity.  The Gnostics were condemned by the Platonists and the Church, because they portrayed the creator as an evil god.  The Church also declared the Gnostic's docetic Christology to be heretical.
As we have already noted, it would appear from First John that the exaltation of so-called knowledge was already present during the Apostolic Age.  This assumption is also supported by what has been termed "the Gnostic Gospels," which were so designated because of their inclusion of Gnostic concepts.  But it was actually the good Platonists whose philosophy was able to penetrate the Christian Church's defenses.  Around 204 A.D., an Alexandrian philosopher named Ammonius Saccas consolidated the views of Plato and Aristotle into a form that was palatable to the young Christian Church.  Ammonius appears to have been familiar with Christianity and some have suggested that he was born in a Christian home.  Most of what is known of Ammonius is contained in the writings of his student, Plotinus.
Plotinus left extensive notes about his philosophy which were compiled by his follower Porphyry.  The philosophy of Plotinus became known as Neo-Platonism, and forms the basis for the system which is usually referred to today as Platonic thought.  After studying under Ammonius for eleven years, Plotinus went to Persia to study Persian philosophy, intending to continue on to India.  His journey was halted by war in Persia, so he remained for a time in Antioch.  From Antioch he traveled to Rome where he spent 24 years writing and teaching.  His philosophy is represented by Porphyry's compilation of the writings of Plotinus, which he titled The Six Enneads.37 Below is list of his Platonic understanding of reality:
  • Plotinus incorporated the Pythagorean concept of the Monad which he called the One.
  • The One is incapable of "doing" anything because activity would negate the One's unchangeableness.
  • The One cannot be any existing thing, but is sheer potentiality.
  • The One cannot even be self-aware because that would require activity.
  • The One is Good, Beauty, etc. (similar to Socrates Forms)
  • The One's first emanation, or First Will, is the Nous (Divine Mind) who Plotinus compares to light from the sun.
  • The Soul is reflected by the Nous as the moon reflects the sun's light.
  • All of creation is a series of lesser emanations, matter being the lowest.
  • The World Soul proceeds from the Nous and has two levels.
  • Human souls emanate from the upper level of the World Soul.
  • Nature emanates from the lower level of World Soul.
  • Eudaimonia is a state of happiness that is independent of mortal circumstances. (The Encyclopedia Britannica defines eudaimonia as "the state of having a good indwelling spirit, a good genius"; and "’happiness’ is not at all an adequate translation of this word."38
  • Man can recognize the One through the Forms of Goodness and Beauty.
  • Oneness is unity with the One.  (Porphyry said that Plotinus achieved oneness four times during his life.)
As would be expected, Plotinus disdained matter - including his own body.  He would not allow a portrait to be painted of his body, nor recognize his childhood, heritage, or the date of his birth.  Plotinus believed the true human soul to be incorporeal, and that eudaimonia could be achieved only through reason.  He calls the man who has attained Happiness the "Proficient" man.  "For man, and especially the Proficient, is not the Couplement of Soul and body: the proof is that man can be disengaged from the body and disdain its nominal goods." (Enneads I.4.14)  "The Proficient’s will is set always and only inward." (Enneads I.4.11)
The Early Church Fathers, Clement of Alexandria and his student, Origin, were both the contemporaries of Ammonius and Plotinus.  Clement's writings were influenced by the Greeks to the extent that they contain more than sixty references to Homer's works.39 He also used the same three divisions of the soul (character, actions, and passions) which Plato had made in his book, The Republic.40  Origin was one of the most prolific writers of the Apologetic Age.  His idealistic and allegorical technique of Bible interpretation was adopted by the Universal Church well into the second millennium, with only intermittent resistance from literalists.  During this dark age, the higher allegorical meaning of God's Word was the only interpretation deemed to be inspired, while the literal reading of the Bible was considered to be worldly and of secondary importance.
Here is an example from Origen’s commentary on Luke 10:30-37.  His philosophical meanings from Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan miss the entire point of Jesus' teaching and reach for the "higher" spiritual meaning.  These are Origins conclusions:
The traveler in the Good Samaritan is Adam.  Jerusalem (where the traveler was going) is ParadiseJericho is the world.  The robbers are hostile demons.  The priest is the law.  The Levite is the prophets.  The Good Samaritan is Christ.  The traveler’s wounds are disobedience.  The donkey is the Lord’s body.  The inn is the church.  And the two denarius that he paid to the innkeeper were the Father and the Son.  The innkeeper is the bishop.
The Platonists felt like the obvious meaning was too earthly.  The higher spiritual meaning became the focus of the Church.  The obvious meanings where considered mundane and of little value compared to the higher spiritual "mysteries" of God.  Soon the church developed the rule that only the bishops were qualified to derive the correct meanings to these mysteries.  This concentration of knowledge within the upper clergy was necessary because the lower clergy and laymen might come to different conclusions  in interpreting these allegories.  Obviously, if every Christian had been given the opportunity to read and interpret the Bible, they would never have come up with the same meanings.  What if some people thought the innkeeper was a priest?  Or that the two denarius were just a couple coins?  All of Christendom would fall into confusion.  So for hundreds of years the Bible was kept out of the hands of the people.
Origin's precedent of obscuring the practical meaning of the Scriptures affected the next 1,200 years of the Church, and is still applied by Roman Catholics to the Book of Revelation.  A proper fear of the Lord God would have discouraged Origen from taking such liberties in his interpretation of God's Word.  Surely, if Origin had a personal understanding of the gospel of salvation, he would not have diminished its power and simplicity by burying it under his presumptuous fables.  He was, nevertheless, devoted, industrious, and brilliant.  His study of the ancient manuscripts and endless hours of scholarship made his work all the more popular.
Origin's asceticism was so extreme that (according to many Church Historians) he went beyond celibacy and emasculated himself; thus doing everything humanly possible to please the dualistic god of First Principals.  The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy applauds Clements efforts to infuse Platonism into Christian doctrine.
Origen of Alexandria, one of the greatest Christian theologians, is famous for composing the seminal work of Christian Neo-Platonism, his treatise On First Principles. . . Origen lived through a turbulent period of the Christian Church, when persecution was wide-spread and little or no doctrinal consensus existed among the various regional churches.  In this environment, Gnosticism flourished, and Origen was the first truly philosophical thinker to turn his hand not only to a refutation of Gnosticism, but to offer an alternative Christian system that was more rigorous and philosophically respectable than the mythological speculations of the various Gnostic sects.  Origen was also an astute critic of the pagan philosophy of his era, yet he also learned much from it, and adapted its most useful and edifying teachings to a grand elucidation of the Christian faith.  Porphyry (the illustrious student of Plotinus), though a tenacious adversary of Christianity, nevertheless grudgingly admitted Origen's mastery of the Greek philosophical tradition.  In this work [On First Principles] Origen establishes his main doctrines, including that of the Holy Trinity (based upon standard Middle Platonic triadic emanation schemas); the pre-existence and fall of souls; multiple ages and transmigration of souls; and the eventual restoration of all souls to a state of dynamic perfection in proximity to the godhead.41
And so, Platonism became firmly rooted in Christianity and led the Church down several dark paths, two of which are addressed by Paul in his letters.  In Colossians 2:20-23 Paul warns of the apparent wisdom in the doctrines of men.  "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations – ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using - according to the commandments and doctrines of men?  These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."
Platonism holds out the promise that people can become spiritual by depriving themselves of legitimate material needs.  This has the appearance of wisdom to those who believe that all matter, including the body, is evil.  When Paul wrote that the spirit and the flesh war against each other, he used the Greek word "sarx," which refers to the fallen sin-self, not to the material body (Gr. soma).  God is the one who created the body.  The warfare is not between God and his creation.  In fact, Paul states in Ephesians that no man ever hated his own body.  The Platonists' problem stems from their dualistic belief that denying matter somehow moves them toward the realm of the spirit, as if the spirit were nothing more than the opposite of matter.  God created the heavens and the earth.  They are not at odds with one another.  They are simply two different realms.  Platonism assumes that man has somehow fallen from heaven into the material world, so avoiding matter should propel him back into heaven.  What Jesus said to the Pharisees also applies to the Platonists; they didn't know where Jesus came from, and they didn't know where He was going.  The Platonist, likewise, does not know where man came from, or where man is going after this life.
The fact that the ascetic neglect of the body is of no value against the indulgence of the flesh has been proven throughout history.  Those philosophers who have tried to live morally by their own self-imposed virtue have most often failed miserably.  Without the fear of a real God who sees and who has the power to judge, man must rely on the strength of his own willpower.  The gospel does not teach that man can approach God by becoming more spiritual; it teaches that man can receive the Holy Spirit of God as a gift by faith in Christ.  And it teaches that man can be reconciled to God by the forgiveness of sin which was purchased by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.
Furthermore, man was not created to reflect the light of God, but to enjoy the fellowship of the living God; and, through Christ, to be united with God, and to be renewed with the life of God.  Reflection implies separation.  There must be a distance between the source of light and its object.  Christians experience a life-connection with God as Jesus illustrated when He said that He is the vine and His disciples are the branches.  Separated from Christ we can do nothing of eternal consequence.  Plato has offered nothing which can improve the gospel.  Platonic thought is a different gospel altogether, which has only served to lead men away from the true gospel.
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." - I Tim. 4:1-3
The denial of legitimate physical needs has caused much injury to the body of Christ.  The ascetic lifestyle and celibacy of the Eastern religions was made honorable among Christians by Platonic dualism.  But God created male and female so that they might be fruitful and multiply.  Man does not satisfy his Creator by denying God's very purpose for His design as male and female.  As we will see when we study the history of the Church, very few Christian leaders were able to fulfill their vows of celibacy.  Either through concubinage, or even more immoral behavior, the human body of God's design has found an outlet for its God-given purpose.  God gives his grace of chastity so that His people might remain pure until marriage.  But lifelong celibacy is a rare gift.
Fortunately, the Reformers recognized that the requirements for clergymen, as instructed by the Pastoral Epistles, are based upon the success of the family man.  Even Peter and the other Apostles had wives which they did not desert as they spread the gospel.  We should observe that it was the ascetics of the Early Church who insisted on the eternal virginity of Mary because of their need for a role model - a model not set by the Apostles.
Lastly, this Platonic dualism led to the practice of self-mortification among the monasteries of the Middle Ages.  This schizophrenia of pitting the soul against its own body is one of the most repulsive displays of Christianity-gone-awry.  "No one can live without delight, and that is why a man deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasures."  St. Thomas Aquinas42
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  The best philosophies and the highest ideals of man cannot reach into the heavens of God's creation.  The distinguishing factor between the gods of philosophy and the God of the Bible can be summarized in two words:  "Life" and "Love."  The lifeless One cannot give life to his followers.  Neither have the Forms made a home in the heavens for their ascetic worshipers.  Diluting the gospel with worldly wisdom has given mankind the impression that the fruit of the Holy Spirit can be produced by human virtue.  This soul-centric system portrays the benefits of reflecting the Forms as proceeding from man's reason, an inversion of the reality that grace proceeds to man from God because of His mercy and love.  Principles and Forms have no love to offer.  The grand philosophers turned from their marble statues merely to create their own lifeless idols of the mind.  Little children, keep your self from idols.

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