Why Hauge is more important than ever

 

In Norway a full one third of the population works for the State, and if you were to take into consideration those whose businesses support the State’s bureaucracy that percentage would be much higher. While In Canada employment in the public sector accounts for 20% of employed Canadians. When an entire nation is built on Dialectical Materialism a State controlled economy isn’t merely a policy, it has become a religion. It is the fulfillment of the Biblical metaphor for the Tower of Babel. It will collapse in on itself in confusion. So let us dive into how this came to be.

I believe there are certain unbreakable spiritual principles which result in ruin if contradicted. 

From an advertisement entitled “Career opportunities await with Canada’s largest employer: The Government of Canada”

https://blog.windmillmicrolending.org/en/blog/career-opportunities-await-with-canadas-largest-employer-the-government-of-canada#:~:text=Career%20opportunities%20await%20with%20Canada's%20largest%20employer%3A%20The%20Government%20of%20Canada

Since the private sector is the only sector which generates revenue rather than merely spending it, how is this sustainable? Well, the simple answer is that it isn’t. Which is why we are in such dire circumstances especially given the fact that unlike the private sector the public sector has no reason to return value for the money it spends since it isn’t held accountable to the public for operating efficiently. I have witnessed firsthand what happened when a senior bureaucrat attempted to address this issue and it was not pretty. How bureaucracy operates is living proof that no good deed will go unpunished.

But what is dialectical materialism and where did it originate? Dialectical materialism is the foundational principle of socialist doctrine formulated by Marx and Engels. In short it posits the belief that life is merely a material struggle for limited resources, a zero-sum game. The State which has adopted this as a national economic policy invariably will seek to dominate its citizens. There is no better way to dominate the citizen than to employ them. This ensures obedience and compliance if public sector workers hope to keep their jobs. 

The Enemy of our soul is the great counterfeiter. “Hath God said?”, is his default position. He is the first, the foremost, and the leading critic of Godly order. Critical Theory is proof that he is at work among men and with his lies is leading men to deny God. Critical Theory is an utterly materialistic view of life which intersectionally categorizes mankind in a godless manner. It refuses to recognize that we are all created in God’s image through its use of identity politics. Critical Theory is a means of socially engineering mankind into Satan’s image. And as perverse as this sounds, the rejection of the need for a spiritual connection with God does not result in atheism, it results in Satan worship. Which is why Satanic ritual being on full display in this year’s Grammy Awards.

But what do the Scriptures reveal about the material realm in its relationship with Godliness? 

From Matthew 6: (NASB) 

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? 

26 Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? 

27 And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his life’s span? 

28 And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth, 

29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 

31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ 

32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 

33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.

So on to today’s theme, why Hauge is more important then ever to remember as an example of someone who sought first God’s Kingdom, created a national spiritual revival, and saw many material things added unto a nation which was suffering greatly under material want. 

From: https://ifphc.wordpress.com/2015/06/11/hans-nielsen-hauge-the-persecuted-lay-preacher-who-saved-christianity-in-norway/

“Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824), a lay preacher who spent decades promoting revival in Norway, helped to transform the religious and social landscape of his homeland. Hauge’s story was featured in the June 14, 1947, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel. Hauge’s testimony demonstrated that Pentecostals’ emphasis on reform and spiritual renewal had firm roots in the broader Christian tradition.

In 1796, Hauge experienced a spiritual awakening (which he termed “spirit baptism”) while he was ploughing his father’s farm. This experience with God transformed Hauge’s life. He began studying the Bible and shared the gospel and his testimony wherever he found an audience. He preached with great power and insisted that each person should have “living faith.”

According to Hauge, church membership alone did not make a person a Christian. At the time, exceedingly few people attended State churches. In the capital city of Christiania, which had a population of about 10,000, evidence shows that only about 20 people attended regular services in the State church.

Hauge inspired a large movement which revived Christianity in Norway. It is estimated that half of Norwegians experienced salvation under the ministry of Hauge and his fellow evangelists. Hauge not only promoted lay ministry, he also encouraged women to share the gospel. The first female preacher in the Haugean movement, Sara Oust, began preaching in 1799. For the next 100 years, Norway became known as “a land of revivals.”

Hauge not only brought a spiritual rebirth to Norway, but also an economic revival. He established numerous factories and mills and is credited with bringing the industrial revolution to his nation.

The informal network of Christians developed by Hauge challenged the authority of the Lutheran State church. Norway did not have freedom of religious assembly, and it was illegal to hold a religious meeting without a licensed minister present. Although he never departed from Lutheran theology, Hauge was arrested at least fourteen times and endured great suffering in jail. His health failed in prison, resulting in Hauge’s premature death.”

His converts were responsible for the drafting of the Norwegian Constitution on May 17th, 1814, when Norway elected a Danish prince as King. This constitution brought responsible government to Norway with limited suffrage. May the 17th, known as Syttende Mai, is celebrated yearly as Norway’s national day. Oddly, Hauge created the spiritual landscape which gave birth to modern Norway, yet spirituality his legacy has been rejected in favour of the dialectical materialism of Marx and Engels.

Hauge demonstrated two things, that no revival has ever successfully been contained within an established religious institution. From the time of Christ until now every single spiritual awakening forced the revivalists to leave their religious institutions to establish something new. And in every instance the old order persecuted the revivalists because the old order failed to recognize a work of God.

Luke 5 (NASB):

33 And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” 

34 And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? 

35 But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 

36 And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old. 

37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. 

38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 

39 And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”

It is the remarkable frailty of man that as soon as he refuses to place the Kingdom of God first that he will return to his old ways of viewing life as a zero-sum game over which he will seek to garner absolute control since trust in God will be absent from his life. And that need for domination now infects the leaders all throughout the Western World putting into question whether the experiment in responsible constitutional government of the people and by the people can exist in a materialistic world that rejects the need to seek God and place His Kingdom first and foremost. Here is a sober warning from the Scriptures with a word of admonition from renowned psychologist and academic, Dr. Jordan B Peterson.

Exodus 9: 

34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 

35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

“Here you see the narcissism and psychopathy of tyranny. One of the hallmarks of psychopathy as well as the narcissism that accompanies it is an absolute failure to learn from experience. And so, it is quite interesting because you think of the psychopath as someone who takes advantage of others for his own benefit, but the psychopath also takes advantage of himself for his own benefit. And so, psychopaths always betray their future selves.

And so, it is a very counterproductive mode of existence. And they do that by getting into the same trouble over and over again.

Join me and a whole host of renowned scholars as we debate, discuss, and explore the Book of Exodus: https://bit.ly/3OJKQx2”

We must remember the sacrifices made by Godly men and women who sought first the Kingdom of God and not wonder why Godly order and responsible government dies in the absence of that spiritual quest.