Martin Selbrede (my mentor) posted this cartoon on Facebook. It makes the point that too many people don’t get: “Artificial intelligence is not ‘intelligence’ at all!” It’s just a simulation.
Sort of like thinking hand puppets are alive because they “talk.”
Martin Selbrede
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? —Psalm 94:20
Martin Selbrede has provided us with an in-depth examination of Psalm 94–a psalm that deals head-on with corruption in the government.
https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/architects-of-disorder-framing-mischief-by-statute
Put simply, corrupt governments enact corrupt laws. Their “justice” plays out as injustice. And the psalmist is not looking for justice somewhere in the end times, but rather, says Martin, “is looking for action in the here and now” (emphasis added).
That would be God’s action. Not “someday,” but now. And not “revenge,” which is an activity of fallen man, but “vengeance”–which is God’s prerogative.
Martin explores the Psalm verse by verse from beginning to end–a major project, but well worth reading. What could be more relevant to the state of our world today than sinful, power-hungry government that seeks to replace God’s laws with its own self-serving decrees? Are you listening, World Economic Forum? (Hint: of course not.)
If only we could unite judgment to justice!
Invest half an hour or so in reading Martin’s essay. You’ll find it’s right on target.
Martin’s essay goes deeper than mine.
Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about “Christian Nationalism.” See Martin Selbrede’s essay in Arise and Build.
https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/a-stone-cut-without-hands
I would like to present, for what it’s worth, my opinion.
*When He confounded the builders of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9), God gave us nations to protect us from any global government set up in emulation of, or in outright opposition, to Him.
*God’s laws, as given in Scripture, are binding on all nations.
*All too often we get nationalism without God’s laws.
*I believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ will return, as promised, and give us the only rightful world government that is possible: His.
*Until He does, His Kingdom is among us, spiritually–as He said (Luke 17: 20-21). We are waiting for it, all the while trying to live according to God’s Word.
I’m a little uncomfortable with the concept of “Christian Nationalism.” Christianity, after all, is a universal standard, certainly not particular to any nation. This fallen world has many nations which are not Christian. “One nation, under God” is not an easy thing to find, anywhere on earth.
But that doesn’t mean we should stop looking for it.
Martin Selbrede
I don’t know how I missed posting this for you when it came out last year, but here it is now: some words of wisdom from Martin Selbrede.
https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/moral-intelligence
Our intellectuals, Martin writes, are busy “promoting every form of intelligence other than the most important one.” As “Artificial Intelligence” increases, moral intelligence is decreasing.
Well, it all boils down to idols, doesn’t it? These two idols: “reason” (pardon the LOL!) and the state. Together they erect man-made moral systems which, unlike God’s, change from day to day, depending on who’s in power. “Coercion replaces freedom,” Martin writes.
His essay is a little long, but it is thorough–and offers plenty of food for thought. You’re sure to find some insights that you haven’t yet thought of.
Is history moving inexorably to the full establishment of Christ’s Kingdom over a new heaven and a new earth? And if so, why can’t we see it?
Consummation, by Martin Selbrede, is a long essay that attempts to answer this question.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/consummation
I have to admit that for all my reading, all my study, this text is hard for me to understand. That’s because you and I are here, on the old earth, saturated with sin, and we can’t see as God sees. The smoke of battle blinds us.
But if we keep reading, we come to a final paragraph in which the fog begins to lift:
“[B]ecause providence is well orchestrated to subserve the ultimate ends of consummation. History moves towards, not away from, its appointed goal, and God Himself will push it over the finish line to release the final grip of the curse from Christ’s world (Romans 8: 19-23).”
Let me quote the cited Scripture, in case you don’t have a Bible handy:
“For the earnest expectation of the creature [all created things] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Yes, there’s a whole lot of groaning going on in this fallen world today; but Jesus Christ has paid the fare, and God the Father will get us there.
You won’t believe how on-target this book is.
I’m passing up transgender nooze today because I think we’ve all had enough of that for the time being.
Instead, we have a meaty and insightful review, by Martin Selbrede, of R.J. Rushdoony’s 1977 classic, Revolt Against Maturity. It’s a fairly long read, but well worth your time.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/rushdoonys-revolt-against-maturity
Let me share with you the crowning quote from Rushdoony’s book. Look sharp, don’t miss it–
“Yesterday’s paradise is today’s hell.”
Whooooo! He just covered the whole history of the Soviet Union in just five words!
Think, think, think about what Rushdoony says. Anything going on today that’s sold to us as the express route to Paradise… and will very likely by a one-way ride to hell? Do you think that maybe psychiatry might have the answers? Maybe we can get them from The Party… or from Science.
Amazing, how clearly this man saw the future.
Have you got an hour to expand your understanding of God’s word? If you do, Martin Selbrede has a podcast for you.
https://chalcedon.edu/resources/audio/will-god-heal-the-nations-ep-204-guest-martin-selbrede
We live in “an injured world,” Martin says, which God can and will heal. But a major obstacle to our healing is our disbelief. Although “God will not despise the day of small things” (Zechariah 4: 9-10)… we do! We want big things! The kind of things that cost trillions of dollars, go on year after year, and never solve the problem.
Martin cites the example of Naaman, a Syrian general afflicted with leprosy (in 2 Kings 5: 1-19), who hears that there’s a prophet in Israel, Elisha, who can heal him. Expecting to pay a high price for it, Naaman loads up his valuables and sets out to see the prophet. But he never gets there. Elisha knows he’s coming and sends out a servant to tell him that if he wants to be healed, he should bathe himself seven times in the River Jordan.
Naaman feels insulted! “He wanted to do something massive,” not simple. Something expensive. He’s about to turn back to Syria when one of his aids suggests that if the prophet had counseled him to do something costly and difficult, he would have surely done it: so why not do something simple? What does he have to lose? So Naaman follows Elisha’s instruction, dips himself in this rather unimpressive stream–and is healed of his leprosy. At no cost.
The Bible gives us God’s instructions for healing deep, festering problems… and we don’t believe them. We don’t follow them. We want massive government programs. Not some simple tithe! Not repentance, not spiritual and moral regeneration!
You’ll find much to chew on in this lesson. (It refers back to Martin’s essay, “The Scope of Healing,” which I posted yesterday.)
Why can’t our civilization solve its biggest problems?
Because we’re always “abandoning the world to humanism” and respond with disbelief to Biblical solutions, says Martin Selbrede.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/the-scope-of-healing
Because we’re all hung up on merely personal holiness, and merely physical healing, we “barricade our hearts behind a wall of theological excuses” and fail to seek healing on God’s terms–terms that apply to the healing of nations and even to the healing of the earth itself. If only we could spend enough money! If only we could develop more powerful technology! If only government had more authority!
The money gets spent, technology advances, we grow the government–and the problems remain… often growing worse because our humanist solutions don’t work.
This is a fairly long essay, but stick with it–plenty of food for thought!
Look at the passion poured out–for abortion. Who wants to get into a debate with these wackos?
We are given different spiritual gifts. Life would get kind of boring if we were all the same.
I have not been given the gift of verbally fencing with atheists and enjoying it. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, excelled at it–and he did it without making anybody angry. Now that’s a gift. My friend and mentor at Chalcedon, Martin Selbrede, has it. But I don’t.
So I once confessed that I had no desire to debate, and what that did was provoke a blizzard of angry comments from atheists, most of which had to be deleted.
They would have you believe they’re a mighty multitude: that they are the mainstream and Christians this weird little minority whose only function is to annoy them. Being in tight with teachers’ unions and Hollywood gives them a lot of high cards to play with. I was going to say “trump cards,” but that would only get them mad.
“We’re only passing through… The world is not my home… Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world…”
We’ve all heard the excuses: the bad theology that justifies Christian inaction, impotence, and irrelevance. We know all the cliches. Polishing the brass on the sinking ship, etc. City of God vs. City of Man. The result is a “retreatist theology” and a Christian, most likely a Protestant, “constantly ready to flee.”
Martin Selbrede finds a corrective in the work of Cornelius van der Waal, who died in 1980. In The World, Our Home, van der Waal analyzed all the bad theology–“surrender theology”–that has seeped into Christian churches since the Reformation.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/healing-the-damage-caused-by-bad-theology
We are not called to hand the whole shooting match over to the devil and his servants! We are called to fulfill the Great Commission, to win ground for Christ’s Kingdom–we are called not to mourn, not to cower in the pews, but to work.
Over and over against we are called upon to straighten out the bad theology and put our churches back on course. Our home is the world: that’s why God put us there. The earth is the LORD’s. And we are His servants and His stewards.
Why that should be so hard to remember… well, I don’t know.