Lust the Christian mouse trap (Intro)
“A person is neurotic when he has repressed something without having really eliminated it. Modern man thinks he has eliminated the world of values, the world of poetry, the world of moral consciousness; but he has only repressed it and is suffering from it . . . or fighting against himself. An inner conflict—this is what neurosis is.
The cause of this epoch’s malady is that our materialistic and amoral civilization no longer answers the deepest needs of the soul. The world tells him that feeling, faith, and philosophical truth are unimportant. His thirst for love, his spiritual loneliness, his fear of death, the riddle of evil, the mystery of God—he no longer speaks of these things; he represses them, but still they haunt him. Modern man suffers from repression of conscience.” (Tournier, Paul. Whole Person in a Broken World New York: Harper & Row, 1964. Pp. 1–35.)
Many believe that understanding the existence of evil is a key part to gaining salvation. In order to follow the straight path to Yahweh’s kingdom, action, obedience, and the rejecting of said evils must be applied with the proper knowledge and understanding. We live in a culture that’s dominated by lust, and this lust has been the glue tying everything together since our Messiahs days. The Apostle John explained this lust and said it was contained in three forms, “the lust of the body, the lust of eyes and the pride of life”(1joh 2:16). Such sentiments motivate the masses to act, think, and do. We as Christians need to quench this evil spirit (or character of dysfunction), and be filled with Yahweh’s Holy character/spirit instead.
Intro
We are all born into a culture containing and ideology and worldview. Our cultures modern foundation is anti-Christ in nature; we’re speaking of the secular, non-Christian, humanistic world system that’s thriving uncontrolled today. Since we are all conditioned from birth to accept these ways as norms; we’re deceived into believing popularity equates to acceptability, and are lead down paths of sinfulness which result in our sorrows. Sin ends in death, and produces daily misfortunes. Such deceptions allow both the average person, and the world itself, to descend into a rotten pool of spiritual decay and confusion. This is what the powers want. The Christian worldview once permeated the predominant culture (and has off and on for many centuries) but is now only exiting as a shadow of what it once was. Carnality along with its multifarious nuances have fought for the top positions of influence and power and gained it. The desire to have dysfunction reigning has also found its fulfillment many times throughout history. One example can be seen through secular men gained astounding wealth then reigned as pope(s) of the Catholic church. These secular men substantiated pagan practices, and made them culturally acceptable to a vast majority (ie, Medici pope, and the Renaissance). This isn’t to say that the pope is truly Christian, or even an authentic pontiff of any scripturally derived Assembly (church), but it is to show that there is a depth persistent in corruptions ways. Christians of the past who followed the path towards Heaven, trusting in, and singing the praises of our Yahshua Messiah (Jesus the Messiah), have always been wiped out one by one, until only a small remnant remained, and this has always been the case. Historically, with the destruction of such true Christians, the Christian ideology had become marginalized, then changed into a sub-culture. True Christianity was completely eclipsed by the number of adherents to the popularized-dysfunctional norm, which usually was a mix of Christianity and paganism, or complete paganism itself. Paganism always took over when true Christians failed to perform (on mass). It also always reigns until Yahweh intervenes.
Social Degeneration
Social degeneration has been the tactic used throughout all generations to subvert and control whole peoples without riotous wars breaking forth. This is a natural truth if we look at it with unbiased eyes. Our modern culture is becoming physically anti-social, technology and current trends have produced people who are now inherently more self-centred. The trend of trumpeting the importance of “ones feelings” over the benefit of the whole, is just one example of such degeneration taking root. The evils in charge of politics to policy, have their hand in the shaping and moulding of what we currently absorb as “futuristic advancements” and they have fully understood what will happen when people no longer care about proper sentiments beneficial towards the whole. These same advancements produce a society that becomes reliant on others, in this case “corporations”, and this is in order for them (the people) to maintain their own personal sense of comfort. One may argue we rely on corporations for food, yes but we can also grow our own, we can’t make our own cellular towers, usually. In other words, people are turning towards anti-social means in order to become more social, and this is ultimately destroying the normal societal functions of personal interrelation, thus the production of unwanted side effects that weaken cultural unity are beginning to immerge. I’m not saying technology is wrong, but the thing we must realize is that the new generation of teens, who have not necessarily understood the importance of direct relationships apart from those gained through technological means, will be entirely incapable of performing naturally without their “mechanisms of control”, which allow them to relate in the ways they know typical How easy would it be to brain wash a culture that’s already entirely dependent upon technological to naturally perform? I would say extremely so. The abuse of technology is only one type of encroaching social degeneracy. The most important of these elements will be discussed herein.
What is Social Degeneracy?
“Social degeneration is the breaking up of the coordination existing between the various social elements, individuals, and the subgroups which cooperate in the social process … [By] the growth of so many antisocial elements … social unity is destroyed. This comes about by the growth of degeneracy among the individuals who make up society. Therefore, individual degeneracy has a direct bearing upon social degeneration, for degenerate individuals are either unsocial, or antisocial and are unable to cooperate in the aims and purposes of society.
Social degeneration, then, arises from the decline of the individual who fails to perform his part in the social activity. This causes a breakdown in the social mechanism and a decline in social activity. So long as each individual may be replaced by another as he fails or declines, society may be perpetuated, if not destroyed by outside influences. Just as a diseased member of the body may eventually destroy the individual, so a diseased part of society may be the cause of the destruction of the whole body. Social degeneration, then, is an evidence of social disease.”
So it’s fare to say that a society will continue to function as long as its new generation is able to replace the dysfunctional elements that have caused its predecessors to fail in the first place. Therefore, when a new generation is brainwashed into believing morality is relative, that truth is subjective, and personal feelings are the pinnacle of virtuosity; this being coupled with degenerate role models, a reliance upon control media, and a need for technology to live, won’t we be left with a setting procreative of failure…Or even better, since people are just chance slime on an evolutionary journey, the dignity of our spiritual heritage must become nothing, and from this men will thus be subject to chosen a-moral rule. Human based righteousness will also reign as King, and dysfunction will blemish the face of countries. Isn’t this our norm?
How did this happen?: A short history lesson
Our modern culture is an eclectic mash-up of nearly every ancient way that has existed before us. And today, when it comes to spirituality, the modern “man” drinks down a mixture of buddhist, chinese, and hindu, yogic, feng shui-ic, meditative life philosophy; which is then combined with a tad of watered down Christianity, with its moral traditions, and then these are placed beside a mother-earth goddess, new age psedu “white” magic: which then creates a spiritually adulterous mulligan stew. With the combination of these elements, its by-product is labelled artsy, trendy, and or for the people who love the world! But this heinous Babylonian concoction has been one of the greatest traumas to ever hit our modern age. People who would call themselves "good", can be caught saying to a "preaching" Christian, “don’t shove your religion down my throat.” But moments later, blind and hypocritical, that same person would actively accept an invitation to hot yoga, buy clandestinely occult Indian incense’s, or drink down green teas “blessed” by shamans, and all this without a single question or complaint – These things and more are all evidences that “our” love for liberty and goodness, is only as strong as “our” relative ability to commit spiritual Adultery. Fornicating with every idol crafted by the imagination of man is what "good" people seem to do best these days. The acceptance of everything apart from the only-Holy-and true Yahweh, and His only begotten son Yahshua Messiah, has found its popularity from the foundations forged through the period called the Florentine Renaissance.
Renaissance, pride, pomp, fashion, vanity and its popularization
1490-1530
"During the Renaissance, a profound transformation occurred in Western culture, fuelled in large part by the rediscovery of the pagan, mythological imagination. While the Greek gods and goddesses had never been entirely eclipsed during the "Dark Ages, " with the Renaissance their presence once again became a powerful force in almost every aspect of life and culture.
the European imagination was seduced by the pagan gods, The people of wealth and leisure — including those associated with the Catholic Church — began to decorate their villas and palaces with images of deities. Stories were written about them, and even music was produce in dramatic pageants about these make believe gods.
Although it eventually spread throughout Italy, the Early Renaissance was centred on Florence and patronized by the Florentine Medici family. Towards the end of the century, the movement reached its high point during the period traditionally known as the High Renaissance (c.1490-1530)
A Return to Pagan idol worship through art
“The philosophy of Humanism was based on the reinterpretation of pagan classical literature and philosophy to comply
with contemporary Catholic beliefs, and the depiction of classical mythology provided a more ambitious vehicle for the artist than purely devotional subjects. Obviously, such an atmosphere of innovation and creation required money, and immensely rich banking families like the Medici were keen to ensure their influence and immortality by patronizing the greatest artists of the day.” (Perceptions of beauty in Renaissance art, Neil Haughton, pg 2)
For reasons unclear, there arose in Florence a new desire to cast off the old ways of thinking – in philosophy, religion and art – and begin anew. The model chosen by Florentine artists and intellectuals for this ‘new approach’ was that of Classical Antiquity. Why? Because they believed that Greek and Roman art constituted an absolute standard of artistic worth. Humanism was a focusing on of men as Centre of the Universe.
Portrait depicting make believe pagan goddess and gods
“Classical Greek philosophy was also consistent with the new mood of ‘Humanism’ which arose in Italy at this time. Humanism was a way of thinking which attached more importance to Man and less importance to God. Although Christianity remained the only [state]religion, Humanism reinterpreted it so as to give it a human face. [Atheism and a return to pagan worship was also popularized at this time.] Thus, for example, religious figures like Evangelists, Saints, Apostles and the Holy Family were portrayed as real-life people, rather than stereotyped and idealized figures. Humanistic philosophy placed Man at the centre of things, and in the visual arts this led to a close study of the human body, a return to the nude and, leading on from this, a preoccupation with nature in all its forms.”