At the beginning of the new year, and particularly when you are on holiday and without distractions (though the motel we are staying in, even in the less desirable bit of town, has Wifi and TV, we are not cut off) is that you can do a bit of lifehacking. You can try things out. So this morning, instead of getting up and caffienating I went for a quiet and slow (oh, so very slow) jog to watch the sun rise. I found myself in prayer: then (caffienated) I approached the word. This is what i did as a kid, but chronic injuries have made me so stiff and sore most mornings that it stopped.

Time to start revising habits. This is not because the improvement in habits lead to salvation, but to make things easier when I get back to work and the pressure is back on me. Besides, at this time of the year, the cool of the morning is actively pleasant.

Lifehacking is useful, but salvation comes only through Christ: and for those postmoderns who query this may I refer you to the gospel for today.

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

(John 10:7-17 ESV)

This is very clear. Christ is the sole door to salvation, and only through him can we find peace with God. Christ is not going to limit this to the tribe, to Jewry: it will be for all people and for all nations. None will be excluded by colour or creed or race. We are, in Christ all equal in dignity as fellow children of God, and all equal in our need, for none of us have fulfilled the Law and can claim justification by our own righteousness.

And the other ideologies out there are destructive. Such as the SJW narcissistic activism, worshipped by so many.

This is the consequence of putting a childish and evil ideology, as well as your egotistical self, ahead and above all other people. Your career is more important than your children. Your PhD is more important than your husband. Your book is more important than your family. And your activism is more important than your friends. Sadly, all of those things cannot replace the most dynamic, intelligent, interesting, engaging and rewarding thing on this planet, and that is other human beings.

However, what is truly the juiciest morsel of revenge is that feminists and marxists do this to themselves. They have the same single shot on this planet as anyone else, which really is EVERYTHING a human has, and they piss it away on a religion that is nothing more than an excuse to be a narcissistic, self-absorbed psychopath.

Mocking them for dying alone with their cats really isn’t a cliche or a lack of genuine criticism. It’s 100% fact. And it’s a fact they should be constantly reminded of as the rest of us enjoy our lives and the loving people therein.

Now, the forces of this world are against us. The instruments of propaganda want to geld Christ, and remove Christianity from society: turn it into a footnote, make it one with the Hittites, Sodom and Gomorrah. And these people are within the church. The best example of this is what happened to the biggest group of US Presbyterians. That church is now broken, and the evangelical congregations are leaving it, with good reason.

In the same way, the PCUSA has long embraced a very liberal abortion policy. Their stated position has been that “the considered decision of a woman to terminate a pregnancy can be a morally acceptable, though certainly not the only or required, decision.” And their sexuality curriculum teaches that abortion “can be an act of faithfulness before God to intervene in the natural process of pregnancy and terminate it.”

Note also that the “PCUSA actively supports and endorses the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (formerly the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, RCAR) and Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options (PARO).” Both organizations have been featured on the PCUSA website.

And despite opposing late-term abortions where the baby could survive outside the womb, the PCUSA’s medical plan “pays for abortion without restriction.”

Is it any wonder that this same denomination has cast off the Word and chosen to redefine marriage?

In their official statement, they wrote that their decision was “the result of deep discernment to hear God’s voice and discern God’s will.” In reality, it was not deep discernment but deep deception.

These are is just some of the reasons the PCUSA is in such decline, with membership now down to 1.8 million from a high of 4.25 million members in 1965.

And now those numbers will likely drop even further, as many PCUSA churches, leaders, and individual members will make the difficult but necessary decision to leave the denomination entirely, either joining together to forge a new group, joining an already existing group, or serving independently.

Already the Presbyterian Lay Committee has stated that it “mourns these actions and calls on all Presbyterians to resist and protest them.” The committee wrote, “You should refuse to fund the General Assembly, your synod, your presbytery and even your local church if those bodies have not explicitly and publicly repudiated these unbiblical actions.”

And they added, “God will not be mocked, and those who substitute their own felt desires for God’s unchangeable Truth will not be found guiltless before a holy God.”

Given the fact, though, that the vote to redefine marriage was three-to-one in favor, it appears that the only viable protest is to make a complete exodus.

The sad truth is that these faithful Presbyterians are not so much leaving their church as their church has left them.

Now, what to do about this? Well, reform our lives, repent (where lifehacking is a useful skill), of course. And refuse to take part in the progressive dance. The NZ Presbyterian Church has not taken these positions, though there is pressure from an incredibly selfish and entitled elite to do so. But these people are foolish, childish, and need to be mocked. Brother Mundabor, who is fighting for the Catholic faith, has advice we can all use.

You would not be led in moral matters by a child, or by a lunatic, or even by an old crank. Nor would anyone you know. Therefore, the best way to counter Pope Francis’ disgraceful papacy is to expose him for the man he is: an old, lewd man completely deprived not only of Catholicism, but of decency.
…
As the Catholic criticism mounts, non-Catholics will run to the protection of the Pope from the attacks of… sound Catholics, and more people will open their eyes.

We can all do our part. We can, again, contribute in the shaping of the perception, which in turn will heavily influence the effectiveness of Francis’ work. You can’t be considered a nincompoop and a great leader at the same time. Not even if you are Pope.

This Pope must be reduced to an embarrassment even the Press wishes it would end soon; a pathetic clown inviting bystanders to a circus show in which only some freaks have any interest; a walking cautionary tale about the dangers of looking for popularity at the cost of truth.

Let the winds of propaganda flow. But let us instead talk about the consequences of all this. If you live for Christ and your neighbour, you are not promised riches and your own personal bubble to make an individual spirituality. Instead you are told you will be opposed in your work, you will suffer, but you will find joy in Christ.

The elite, with their descent into childishness, have confused pleasure with joy, success with godliness, and misunderstood that freedom and maturity require self control and discipline. The Pagans will rise at the end and damn them as effete, foolish, and without any duty, for they knew better, seeing raising families as much the duty of man as serving in the ranks when needed.

Yes, we need to think carefully about what we do. But we also need to subvert the foolishness of this world by our actions: bowing not to their idols but to God alone.