Power Is Only Gained From God

Quit having conviction in men. Have your conviction in Christ Your Lord.

Intro

I have noticed a distinct lack of conviction in Christian beliefs among some Christians, especially converts or reconverts to the Faith. There seems to be an inability to focus on the tenets of Christianity and commandments of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, a right end isn’t a right end if it takes a wrong means to get there. This is the crux of why so many people are going to be in the wrong, unpopular, and not powerful in coming years - because their intent hyperfocus on achieving power overwhelms their ability to be just. If your faith in a divine morality can be so easily corrupted and taken advantage of by nonChristians who have none of the same religious regulation or spiritual constraints as you, then are you really seriously apart of the faith of Christ? This is a very real discussion we should be having since so many loud voices on the DR want to overpower Christ’s, and unfortunately, the misguided and loud voices are but a resounding gong.

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Matthew 16:26

What I would like to ask, and hopefully teach, some confused souls are three things -

1. What is power?

2. What does Christ promise to us in terms of power?

3. What does it mean to apostatize and put worldly pleasures before divine principles?

What is power?

Thomas Hobbes’ definition can suffice here - the ability to attain, in the real world, a change or “good” for the actor. This is “naturall power” and what it takes to get there normally requires some “instrumentall power” - the necessary tools that make acquiring more status and power possible.

But what does the Lord say about “power”? Well, there are many directions we can take, but for the sake of brevity, we can see that the Lord is more concerned with power than rumination and chatter- (1 Corinthians 4:20) - in His own ability to direct reality in His favor, which is the favor of good, of love, and of the ultimate virtue. God promises to strengthen us (Acts 1:8), to exalt and raise up the poor while bringing down the rich and powerful (1 Samuel 2:6-10). Now why would He do this? Why would He flip the utopia of the Orthodox Austrian School on its head? Because the righteous are not stinkin’ rich, nor those who exalt only themselves and not those lower than them. Therefore those who live in modesty, charity, and love will be lifted up while those who live in pride, selfishness, and hatred will be brought down.

God makes this quite clear - that humility and modesty will be the deciding factor of who is ultimately “powerful.” Ever wonder why He is the ultimate Power? The goodness of God is what makes Him eternally powerful. Whereas what happens to those who are unprincipled, contradictory, and degenerate? Those who put the world before what is right (before what is more real), are going to inherit nothing in the end. If they leave everything behind - a divine inheritance - and instead to manufacture what they see as good, then the church they build is built on sand, and their legacy is nothing more than plain selfishness. They will change everything you see as true if you allow them to have power over you, and more specifically your sense of right and wrong. This is why regardless of the short-term, you must allow Christ’s Word to endure through you, or you will fall into the shifting sands of man’s word.

What does Christ promise to us in terms of power?

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:15-16

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6

It is quite clear in the Bible what we are promised when virtuous in the name of Christ. We are promised to be brought to the ultimate Kingdom, and be given everlasting peace and happiness in Heaven. On Earth, we are brought the solace and clarity that a Christian life brings. That being the case, what is the ends we are brought by being spiteful and degenerate for the sake of short-term power? What can we expect by being reprobate for the sake of defeating an undefined enemy for an undefined good? Well, we can expect to be torn down, to not be trusted, and to have a much more unsure lot in the afterlife.

It is no surprise that some very dastardly, unlikeable people have power over a world that doesn’t respect them, and without the delusions of grandeur hanging on by a thread, the current elites (apparatchiks) would be eagerly retired in the event people were given an alternative that was more genuine, virtuous, and benevolent. Unlike what many want you to believe, and even what common knowledge might lead one to, the kingdoms of earth, though flawed, harbor people who want what is best (most of the time) and providing them with a genuine and benevolent alternative with a very limited amount of Machiavellianism will always be greatly appreciated. It is no surprise that the modern day rulers and governments of modernity are not even thought about other than how much of a thorn-in-the-side they are. Nations used to be ruled by absolute kings donned in gold-laden, royal apparel. Now it is bureaucracies hardly holding on to their own legitimacy - they can hardly manage their lies. It is a race to the bottom, at this point. Now tell me - is this power? Are they really fathers to nations like the absolute kings were? Or just managers? Last time I checked, managers don’t usually want to be working their job.

What does it mean to apostatize and put worldly pleasures before divine principles?

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5

I will not blaspheme and be yet another honest, but mistaken, Christian trying to warn that we are indeed in the end of times. I am not the decider of that - only the father is (Matthew 24:36). However, it is an eerie feeling to see so many people falling back on their own words or outright denouncing the Word of God for ephemeral power, when it is quite evident any power gained will be squandered trying to maintain what they already have in the face of distrust, betrayal, and a complete lack of virtue. If one can not stand righteous in the face of God, then how in the face of man will they promise all kinds of gifts, grace, and love? Surely, in the short-term, they can live on their own word, but without honesty, without love, without the direction of the Word and the Church, they will be sent on a downfall bound for mounting betrayal, distrust, and collapse.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13

And so I ask of you reader, if you have no faith, hope, or love, then what is it in you that is Christian other than some convenient ticket to gain a few trad points? Is it not a way of life? For those of you unconvinced of Christianity, what is your interest in trying to protect it or mislead Christians? Why not leave us to our lot leading the life we wish?

In modernity, the scariest reality is the unfaithful, unhopeful, and Godforbid, the unloving Christian. Well what are you if you do not believe in the divinity of these traits, yet call yourself a follower of Christ!? Are you not a liar!? A blasphemer!?

Betraying the GOOD for your middling opinions and earthly allegiances against allegiance to the eternal Lord is where you can kiss your status in His Church goodbye. It is a simple matter, either you accept the basic tenets of Your Lord, or you do not, and in the case that you do not, you are quite clearly not a follower of His. Want to be a follower? THEN FOLLOW HIM. There is virtue for the sake of virtue, then there is believing it has a real eschaton. If you do not accept this, and instead believe your finality is here on earth seeking an undisclosed, uncertain fate, then what is our mutual interest in interacting with one another?

To me, you are an untrustworthy nonbeliever who could betray me any moment.

To you, I am a delusional gnostic who puts allegiance to his foreign religion before your institution(s).

Our view of power, goodness, and virtue are in direct opposition.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16