A quick note on a change I am going to try with the lectionary posts. I am taking a screenshot of the web page so you can see the full readings for the day. Today we need to consider something different; If truth will out, and the post modern relativism is an error, then how should we live?

Post modern progressivism has failed. The parties are in defeat. The advocates and activists have no courage. Via gamergate, tactics have been invented that subvert their messages.

One way to think this through is that identity politics is now all politics, But that does not mean that we can leave duty and teaching alone. Your race is not your theology.

The Alt-Right has a not-insignificant element with #GamerGate experience. While there were more left-wingers in #GamerGate than right-wingers, we all learned how to rapidly blunt the effect of even mass media attacks by dozens of journalists operating in collusion. So, once we saw the mainstream media utilizing the same tactics to attempt to disqualify and discredit Donald Trump that we had seen used against us, we knew that our conceptual shock tactics would be effective against them too. I would say most of the memelords set to work after Super Tuesday, when it became apparent that Trump could win, not only the Republican primary, but the election.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I would say that we knew people were responding positively to concepts previously ruled out of bounds by the mainstream media by March 2016.

I don’t think the election was about expression at all. I think it represented a significant portion of the white majority shifting from the ideology politics it has historically practised to the identity politics that the various minorities have been practising for decades.

The election is over. Life goes on. The question then, is how does one live in the light of truth?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.

(Psalm 19:1-3 ESV)

To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

(Psalm 46 ESV)

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

(Philippians 3:13-4:1 ESV)

The facile answer is that you live truthfully. Easy to say, hard to do. We all need to market some things: one of the reasons tat Casa Pukeko is being repainted and tidied is so that it will get a reasonable price and we can move to casa weka.

But living truthfully is about seeking to improve. We will never be perfect. It is seeking a more perfect way.

Not for ourselves, but for our families and cities and tribe.

So that God in all things is glorified.

If the Alt-right becomes a racially based form of societal warfare akin to the class warfare the left abandoned for the warfare of the victims against the providers, then it will fail as surely as the national socialists failed. If it seeks righteousness for all the tribes and nations it may succeed in a manner akin to De Olivera or Franco.

But know this: unless the LORD builds the house it will fall. Put not your trust in the politicians of this time or this age. Put your trust in Christ, and do good, particularly when it gets negative virtue points.