The Jews, particularly, had a second and third and tenth chance. For after seeing the ministry of Christ, they killed him. But the first people preached to by Peter were the people of the city when he had died: as Christ died in one great religious festival (Pesach) he was preached first at the festival of weeks, which we now call Pentecost.

The men of Israel had now one simple choice. To accept or reject Jesus as their Lord and Messiah. Many accepted him. Many rejected him. And this is the choice we all face.

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

(Acts 2:22-36 ESV)

God does not give up on us. He continues to call us to declare that Christ is our Messiah and our Lord. But he leaves us with an ability to harden our heart, and if we continue to do that we fall into error.

The modern work of Satan is to get Christians to throw away the tools that God gave us by perverting them, keeping people too stupid to know how to use them correctly, and then convincing them to dispose of the tool entirely. In this fashion, Christians are trying to survive and struggle in the world while constantly disarming and handicapping themselves.

Feminism is one movement which seeks to end the distinction between men and women by using social methods to shift the locus of Earthly power from men to women. The traditional masculine traits, and even pragmatic realities like sexual dimorphism, are recast as being shameful or regrettable as opposed to laudable and true. Ego is conflated with arrogance. Strength is conflated with abuse. Passion conflated with instability.

Globalism is another tool which seeks to undermine traditional and practical realities by making various forms of “I can imagine a more interesting world than you” type arguments, as if imagination divorced from reality is an actual measure of progress. Things like Nationalism are put down, despite the OT being riddled with it, with many of God’s commands reinforcing it for Israel. God hates Globalism, as seen from the Tower of Babel. Whenever humanity is united under our own banners and to our own glorification, God destroys that unity, and history is replete with godless empires rising and falling. Much like how God used the enemies of Israel to refine, judge, and give Israel opportunity to walk in obedience, God currently uses the enemies of his followers to shit-test them in the modern parlance.

SJWs exist because God needs Christian men to man-up and embrace their roles boldly. Young Earthers exist because Christians were retreating from scientific and philosophic endeavors, and God needs Christians who are intellectually engaged. Mormons exist because Christians are too often allured by vain moralism, as a works-based religion trying to claim itself as the “new standard for Christian purity” is catnip to those who do not know doctrine or theology.

God will not let “evils” be fully removed from this Earth until Judgment Day, because humanity keeps becoming recalcitrant and self-congratulatory every time an evil is defeated, as the OT showed with Israel over and over again. Each generation explores new avenues of rebellion against God, and the only way to correct this behavior is either to override Free Will, or to allow the evil to rise up until people return to God, and then people walking in obedience with God will be able to put down whatever current manifestation evil is taking for a time.

Jesus showed that having all the tools, and then choosing how to use them as circumstances merited, is the truest demonstration of power. Merely having the capacity to do great things is irrelevant if you don’t know when and how to use that power, or even just when to withhold using it.

If you know your church history, your philosophy, and your history, you can see patterns, and have some warning about avoiding errors. But if you don’t accept Christ, you will fail. For we all have blind spots. It is the Holy Spirit who saves us from our own errors and blindness. FOr those who are of the faith, the acceptance of the plain facts of the resurrection flows into one’s life. You know that you were saved not by your work. You know you are preserved not by your will. YOu know that no work can undo the damage you have done.

But for those who reject Christ, the vulnerability to other ideologies leads to a rigidity within them. A sense of spiritual pride develops, and as they damage themselves and those around them, their ability to accept that they have erred goes. The idea that they may be wrong is seen as insensitive, and any attempt at correction there is rage.

The are akin to the false physicians who called the wish of slaves to be free an anxiety disorder.

Choose today Christ. Make him Lord. It will make your life more difficult. But you will know truth, love, and life. Let not your fears enslave you errors. In that path lies hatred, lies and death.