Christ's calling: why I remain "outside the camp"

 

Someone on one of the hundreds of social media groups dedicated to freedom from metastasizing government recently posted that they want their country back along with the small business they lost due to it being destroyed by the government's Covidian stupidity. I wonder if it is possible that this person should want those things more than I do? I would happily forfeit what little remains of my sorry life if I could be assured that no one will ever again labour under the misapprehension that the State ought to be given the authority to veto the democratic will of its citizens while crushing their economic freedom! I've been predicting the downfall of limited constitutional government for at least ten years since the writing of creeping authoritarianism has been on the wall for decades. People are so easily duped into believing that the very government which is the source of so many problems can do anything other than cause more problems. After all our political and bureaucratic class claim that they're the only ones able to solve the very issues which would not exist had they not deliberately caused them. Moreover, they have consistently fabricated authoritarian solutions to address artificial crisis after artificial crisis! We are being governed by this type of madness for the express purpose of fulfilling a limitless lust for power and control! Given that the politicians in charge believe themselves to have a carte blanche right to exercise power over us we are fools for believing that there can be a political solution to such a moral catastrophe!

Yet even as the state herds us like so many unthinking sheep to the abattoir the most consistently remarkable feature of its response to external acts of aggression is to cower in the face of them. This reflects two contradictory things. First that the radical left sympathises with their ideological opponents if those opponents are against the same thing the radical left detests, namely liberty under the Rule of Law broadly speaking and Christian values specifically. Second, our radicalized political class consistently refuses to understand others from the perspective of how the other thinks. Rather they insist on ascribing to radically different cultures the essential leftist belief that we are all born “tabula rasa” and therefore falsely assume human nature is infinitely malleable. Due to this the radicalized political class believes that they can mold us into their image by force. And they do so without ever attempting to understand their ideological opponents from their opponents' perspective. Which is why so-called progressives insist on promoting cultural relativism as an essential tenant of their ideology. An example of such is that the Iranians and their proxies fully intend to extend Islamic Caliphates throughout their own sphere of influence while destroying Israel. This makes a diplomatic solution to the present war between Iran, its proxies, and Israel impossible. But is the “progressive” West even capable of admitting that the Mullahs behind this war of attrition cannot accept anything other than an extension of their tyrannical Islamic Caliphates? Israel for its part will defend itself with all the might at its disposal. There can be no diplomatic solution to resolve this equation since from Israel’s standpoint it cannot tolerate a regime religiously dedicated to killing Jews while erasing Israel off the map. And the West is smack dab in the middle of an ideological conflict that cannot be won on the battlefield. People are ultimately what they have come to believe and belief systems so completely religiously and culturally entrenched are not easily changed. Which is why not all cultures are of equal value nor do they operate under the same set of rules and precepts. In fact, they have rules, mores, attitudes, and idiosyncrasies so radically different from our own that we cannot possibly comprehend how they think or even why they think as they do. It is best not to involve ourselves in such unwinnable conflicts since we are already indebted to the point that we cannot even begin to service the interest on our current debts.

Our righteous cause in defence of Western Christian values here in the West:

Ultimately Western governments have completely forgotten their proper role in society namely, to defend sovereign borders, maintain the Rule of Law, while protecting the right of the citizen to live and trade freely with as little intervention from the state as possible. The state is not qualified to predict and control the market least of all to play God. The belief in Big Government here in the West has become a quasi-religion since we have become idolators worshipping the creation of the Great Global Babylon. So, one must ask where does the Church of Christ stand on this issue since it is for freedom that Christ has set us free? The word "justice" occurs over 400 times in the Old Testament alone. Then once you bring the related vocabulary word "righteousness" in the mix, that appears another 130 times just in the Old Testament. What the Bible makes clear is that Justice is rooted in the very nature and character of God. From Deuteronomy 32:4 KJV “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he”, and as his people, we should also display Justice also from Micah 6:8 KJV “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

In the face of the Church’s failures, I have not merely become a political atheist knowing that there cannot be a political solution to a moral, philosophical, and spiritual crisis; I am also forced to declare that I am a Christian denominational agnostic. What do I mean by this? That the atmosphere of what is called a “Christian world” or, “professing Christianity” is more detrimental to the development of faith than is the unbelieving world. That is because the so-called Christian world promotes compromise, and compromise has in it disloyalty to Christ and to His Word. In the Christian world, you are not faced with what is openly hostile to Christ since open hostility would put you on your guard and rouse up in you all your power of resistance. Instead, you find truth owned, but not taken very seriously. You are to follow it, but not be too extreme about it. And then, we naturally grow up to the stature, morally or spiritually, of the company we keep! Which is why the application of “go forth unto him without the camp” is the admonition in 2 Timothy 2:22, “pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those that call on the Lord from a pure heart” instead of remaining in the great house with dishonorable vessels.

Why I remain “outside of the camp”:

Obviously, I do not think that society can avert the onslaught of this prevailing political and cultural insanity we are presently witnessing without the Body of Christ acting as the salt of the world to stave off ruin. Broadly speaking Western culture has now become divided into three loose camps. First, we have the political believers who still hope for a political solution to our moral, philosophical, and spiritual crisis. Second, we have political atheists who are fully convinced that there cannot be a democratic solution to the prevailing Neo-Marxist ideological possession. Finally, there are political agnostics who just don't care either way and therefore will allow themselves to be herded like so many unthinking sheep through the abattoir of this Cultural Marxist Revolution. It's the latter I fear the most! But without the Church shouting out in this wilderness of iniquity for justice, the West will be lost. So seldom do I hear such concerted Christian voices capable of deconstructing the ideological possession which is causing cultural relativism. Few believers are willing to openly denounce the ongoing process of building the Globalist Tower of Babel over taking national sovereignties to place us under unelected bodies such as the UN, the WEF, and the CCP, etc. that are manipulating sovereign governments so as to gain total control over their citizens.

So, I remain outside the camp deliberately. There is a clear parallel between “Christendom” which consists of true believers and mere professing Christians, and the Jews from the time of Christ who consisted of true followers of the Messiah between the Jews who were complicit in crucifying the Lord. In this analogy, “the camp” represents professing Christians which mostly do not follow sound doctrine. It is solemn indeed that the Christian profession, which started out so well has degenerated into what it is today. But, above all, it must be remembered that the admonition is to “go forth to Him (Jesus)”. We are not to follow anyone or any other body of thought other than that of Christ and Him crucified to embrace our union with Him in death and resurrection.

It would be good to start with the general principle of separation from evil. This is a complex topic because there are various forms of evil and corresponding degrees of separation. In addition, because we are in the world there is some evil we cannot separate from. 1 Corinthians 5 is an important chapter because it speaks of separation from evil in the assembly and also points out that we cannot separate from all evil (1 Cor. 5:9-10). A person may even feel free to meet with Christians at work or attend a meeting with folks who hold various beliefs without being identified as one who holds erroneous beliefs himself. We should always use every opportunity to be of help to others so long as we can avoid being identified with their errors.

Separation is not only a New Testament concept. In fact, it goes all the way back to the first day of creation (Gen. 1:3-5). There God separated light from darkness. This is the primal representation of the principle we have in 2 Corinthians 6:14 where the apostle Paul asks: “what fellowship has light with darkness?” Israel was to be separate from the nations around them (Lev. 19:2, 20:7, 26). Their failure to maintain their unique witness for Jehovah eventually led to their captivity. Then, although some of them returned for the advent of their Messiah, they in turn rejected the Lord Jesus. Their unbelief confirmed their position outside God’s blessing (Jehovah had declared His people “not my people”, Hos 1:9). Yet, in the early Church period there were still Jewish Christians who continued to worship at the temple even though the Lord stated, “your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:38). The book of Hebrews was written to these. The apostle called them to “go to Him (Jesus) outside the camp.” The “camp” here clearly means the worship of Judaism since they were being called to join the Christian company.

How does the church correspond to Judaism? First, we need to realize in this context “the church” refers not to the true church or Assembly, but to the professed church, or “Christendom.” This distinction is based on the observation from the Epistles to Timothy. In 1 Timothy we have in view the “church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15) but in 2 Timothy we have in view “the great house” (2 Tim. 2:20). It is in this same chapter that we are enjoined to separate from those in the “great house” and “pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.” (verse 22)

So, the parallel is between “Christendom” which consists of true believers and mere professing Christians, and Judaism which consists of true followers of the Messiah and Jews many of whom were complicit in crucifying the Lord. In this analogy, “the camp” represents professing Christians which mostly do not follow sound doctrine. It is solemn indeed that the Christian profession, which started out so well has degenerated into what it is today. But, above all, it must be remembered that the admonition is to “go forth to Him (Jesus)”. We are not to follow anyone else. Which is why I remain outside the camp while declaring the Truth as loudly as I can to as many as will hear it! My prayer is that you will also join me outside the camp where together we will go unto Christ and Christ alone even if that mean we must meet Him in the wilderness!