In this post we will study the First Letter Of Peter in the Bible’s New Testament. This gives us a blueprint to oppose tyranny and corruption in our time. Peter was one of Jesus’ original disciples, and led the early Christian movement after Jesus’ ascension. Christians were persecuted by other religious sects, and eventually the Roman empire, and Peter’s letter gives them advice for enduring that persecution. Christians were not to violently fight back, but resist indirectly, by showing the world an alternative way of living.
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The following YouTube video by BibleProject gives a good summary of 1 Peter. Persecution is an ironic advantage for Christians, because it realigns their priorities to following God. It also exposes the moral failings of their opponents. The letter instructs Christians to obey the oppressor’s laws and enforcers when they can, but to follow God’s laws above that. From the time of Abraham, God intended his people would demonstrate his way of doing things, contrasted with the corrupt ways of earthly regimes.
God’s people are meant to be kind, generous, merciful, empathetic, reasonable, and logical. These traits are not signs of weakness; it actually takes tremendous endurance to practice them. We know from other stories in the Bible that God empowers people who have faith. Violence and intimidation are the ways of evil. In Chapter 5 we read the famous verse, “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Tyrants are motivated by evil spirits and dark psychological disorders, more so than politics. The devil’s intent is to distract people away from God, and rile them up into making mistakes. Faith in God, as well as his grace, are a source of confidence. We all falter and lash out (I confess I’m a savage on social media), but God is willing to set us right again.
Right now, we have a fabulous opportunity to see the modern world’s corruption. The central banks, globalists, and communists had planned to enslave us with debt and extortion, and cover up their moves with either war or a plague. President Trump, through his better than average negotiating skills, made peace deals and fast-tracked the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine. Although the pandemic was a cover for Joe Biden to steal the election in November 2020, the vaccine removes that pandemic as a factor now. The state of Arizona is auditing the election, despite the verbal abuse of the Far Left. The other swing states will have to audit next.
Rather than fight the usurpers through force, Americans are calmly and rationally following the law, and dismantling the usurpers’ lies. We are putting our money in assets like cryptocurrency and gold, rather than trust the central banks’ fiat currency. We’re boycotting corporations that collude with the Deep State, especially Hollywood and the legacy media. Through crowdfunding and social media platforms, we can help each other directly. Humans have access to more knowledge than any other time in history. If we live the way Jesus and Peter instruct us, we can undercut tyranny like never before.
This YouTube video by DoctorRamani discusses narcissists and how they seize power in organizations, families, and other groups. She refers to the old saying, “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” In this sense, normal people are modest and admit to the limits of their knowledge, but the fake confidence of narcissists convinces others to trust their leadership.
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Narcissists are good at convincing us they’re on the ball and are better at their jobs than anyone else. Normal people don’t question this because they’ve been conditioned to doubt themselves. They may have been raised by narcissists, or been abused by teachers or bullies at school.
Dr. Ramani describes how families can be wrecked financially because a narcissistic member took control. Then she moves on to government and politics, how politicians and bureaucrats triangulate their way into positions of power. The way we combat government corruption is learning the ways of narcissism. I have made this point repeatedly on this blog, and I’m gratified to hear a licensed professional like the doctor make the connection as well. Dr. Ramani ends with the warning to never assume that a person with authority deserves that authority. Never passively give up your autonomy.
Speaking personally, I learned to stand up for myself when I simultaneously practiced martial arts and made a relationship with God. In martial arts, one learns to trust their gut during meditation. In the Bible, God often empowers human beings with his spirit, and they accomplish great things through faith. When I realized that Western religion and Eastern philosophy were describing the same phenomenon, my life changed. When you open yourself to God’s spirit, you’ll feel a warm sensation and experience inspiration. This is God giving you guidance you can trust, far better than what narcissists spew out. This is the source of true confidence.
In this post we will look at the Book of Habakkuk in the Bible, to learn what we can do about injustice in our time and all other generations. The prophet Habakkuk lived during the final decades of Israel’s southern kingdom, when its leaders had gone corrupt. The following video by BibleProject analyzes the book and Habakkuk’s conversation with God. We see that God moves certain people to act, on his own schedule, and other people can navigate the troubled times by living by faith.
The book of Habakkuk is only 3 chapters long, and is unique among the books of the prophets because Habakkuk doesn’t deliver any of God’s messages to other people. We know from other books in the Bible that at this time, Israel’s kings enslaved other people, the Israelites worshipped idols rather than the true God, and they even performed human sacrifice to those idols. Habakkuk expresses his frustrations to God, and God answers.
God is aware of Israel’s injustice, and tells Habakkuk he’s stirring up the Babylonian Empire (also called the Chaldeans in some translations.) Babylon will conquer Israel and bring its leaders to justice. Habakkuk is shocked, because Babylon is even more evil, but God assures him that empire will fall as well, as do all oppressive regimes in history.
Next, God lists five “woes,” or tactics used by empires to oppress people. The first two involve charging interest on loans to keep people in debt. The third is slave labor. The fourth is drunkenness and debauchery of the leaders while the people struggle. The fifth is idolatry, which isn’t just worshipping false gods, but placing personal or national interests above following God.
We can see these woes in action today. Some people say the United States government, and most corporations, are beholden to the Federal Reserve and other central banks. The Fed prints limitless money and loans it at interest, and the American people can’t get out of debt. Since the 1970’s, when the dollar stopped being backed by gold, each generation of Americans has been poorer than the one before, because of inflation and the flow of money back to the banks.
Will the free nations of the world be taken over like ancient Israel? We don’t know yet, but it’s worth noting that God has a new policy towards humanity since the death and resurrection of Christ. We can see throughout the Bible that God likes to act through people; he inspires and directs them in just the right way to get things done. In the Old Testament, God selected certain people to be prophets; but in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit became available to all of humanity. People can accomplish great things if they call on Jesus Christ’s name.
If you follow certain blogs and podcasts, you would know state governments in the U.S. are auditing the 2020 election. They are also reforming their voting practices to be more in line with the Constitution, so national elections can never be stolen again. The people are also waking up to institutional corruption everywhere, in Wall Street, professional sports, government-run education, and especially the corporate media. It’s like there’s a new revelation every other week.
Coming back to Habakkuk, in the third chapter we read a prayer that God will bring down evil rulers and save the people again, like when the Hebrews escaped Egypt and the Pharaoh’s army was wiped out. Habakkuk likens faithful people to ibexes, which are a species of antelope known for their nimble steps and leaps along dangerous cliffs. If regular people live by faith, God will guide them through treacherous circumstances. They may even strike their own blows against injustice in the process.
In this post we will study the book of Jonah in the Bible, and apply it to modern political polarization. The truth is, the people we have been conditioned to think are our opponents are probably well-intentioned. The police are not our enemies, and neither are liberals, conservatives, atheists, religious folk, corporate employees, YouTubers, school faculties, or capitalists. The real enemies of the people are false pride, and the systems set up by insidious individuals.
The following YouTube video by BibleProject gives an overview of the Book of Jonah. It’s only 4 chapters long, but there are abundant subtle messages in it. For the purposes of this article, it’s important to see that God ordered the prophet Jonah to preach in the city of Nineveh. Nineveh was one of the capitals of the Assyrian empire, who threatened to conquer Ancient Israel many times. Rather than preach to his hated enemies, Jonah traveled in the opposite direction and took a boat ride to sea.
God caused a storm to throw the ship around, and the pagan crew members appealed to God when they learned Jonah was the reason. Jonah preferred to die rather than go to Nineveh, so he convinced the sailors to throw him overboard. The next chapter tells the famous episode when Jonah was swallowed by a giant fish and brought back to land. Jonah finally went to Nineveh and gave a short message to the public. It’s only five words in the original Hebrew, but miraculously, the Ninevites repented from their wrongdoing. Even the king of the city and the cows repented.
The book doesn’t specify whether Jonah chose the words of his message, or God did. But the Ninevites’ drastic reaction tells us that there was more at work than just those words. A common theme in the Bible is God likes to act through his people. Human beings perform amazing feats in scripture, but it’s noted that God empowers them to do so. The spirit of God likely moved through the people of Nineveh, and was waiting for Jonah’s message as the trigger.
The final chapter tells of Jonah trudging outside the city and waiting for God to destroy it. His presumptions prove wrong. Instead, God causes a tree to grow and give Jonah shade, only to be killed by a worm infection the next day. It’s a puzzling sequence, but God says he cares about human beings much more than plants, including the Ninevites. He’s asking Jonah to let go of his prejudice.
The book of Jonah does a lot to disrupt the conventional wisdom of its day. Nineveh and the larger Assyrian Empire were bloodthirsty regimes, but it’s possible their common people and soldiers were caught up in a false ideology. It’s likely the leaders of that empire were evil individuals, and manipulated others into doing their bidding. Today, and in the last 5 years or so, many Americans have moved away from the “liberal vs conservative” paradigm and identified the corrupt elites in our institutions.
We don’t know what will shake people out of their false assumptions, but we should have faith they’ll see through the world’s illusions. Recently an old acquaintance who used to scoff at Bitcoin told me he understands its value now. I used to support America’s invasion of Iraq because of Saddam Hussein’s ties to terrorism. Today I understand it was conducted under false pretenses, though not the same criticisms the Far Left used against President Bush. Communism and terrorism are real dangers, but so are the central banks and corporations. Manipulative elites use division and lies to weaken the people. We need to drop our misguided assumptions, humble ourselves, and ask questions rather than yell at each other.
