The Surrender-by-Death of Ethno-Nationalism

Donal Graeme commented:

While I cannot prove it, I can quite imagine that if John were writing that text today, it might be the harlot of Rome he would be warning us against. And by Rome, he would mean America.

Oscar commented that the sexual immorality attributed to the Whore of Babylon is actually a reference to idolatry. Several others echoed both with similar comments. I agree. America is tracking with Rome, and it is accelerating. These are, I believe, very bad things for us to have done or allowed. Some examples of that shortly, but now I want to get back to my disagreement with the Vox and the Alt-Right emphasis on ethno-nationalism, and also my disagreement with the NRx diagnoses and prescriptions.

The supposed antidote ethno-nationalism is proposed to combat empire; which they deem an intrinsic evil. Vox calls it (empire) Babel, or Neo-Babelism. But I think it is demonstrably false (according to the scriptures) to think empire intrinsically evil…at least in a way that nations aren’t evil. Are there ethnic nations so good that we should subject our faith to ethno-nationalism? If a nation is good, then does that mean all its clans are good? All its families? Is each individual given atonement by his ethno-national blood?

Nebuchadnezzar, an emperor, is praised and blessed by God. His reign and empire is described by God in a vision to Daniel as a “golden head”. Better: What does “King of kings and Lord or lords” mean, if not empire?

However, we are not there yet and here is a trouble which can come with every human endeavor (including empire) and that is idolatry. Since empire is a thing on a grand scale, the soiling by idolatry can be immense. But idolatry is a problem of the spirit–not the flesh–because the spirit is greater than the flesh. The flesh will be conformed to the spirit. This is what the law of sin and death teaches. When Adam rebelled, his spirit–our spirit–died in the Garden. Our bodies took on the shape of sin and so grow into death. The Necropolis came. It also points us to Christ, in whom those who die in the flesh will be reborn–even in the flesh–according to the Spirit of Christ, who was the firstborn of the dead.

And we had better believe that the spirit really is stronger than the flesh. If you attack a spiritual problem with the worldly weapon of ethno-nationalism you will lose; you will lose not only to good spirits but evil spirits as well. We cannot defeat the dead by making a priority of separation according to various forms of unlife.

…And Also the Elephant in the Rome

Wherein I follow the truth and make some of you uncomfortable, and others angry. I am aware that among those are some of my friends. All I ask is that you find my mistakes.

It is undeniable that when one of the angels speaks to John

17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated

that this is a reference to Rome. Rome is the city founded on seven hills. Likewise, when Constantine built up Byzantium into Constantinople as the “New Rome”, it was consciously built upon seven hills. Babylon, the Harlot, the Necropolis, is spread across the seas, and there are two beasts and one beast has a false prophet. I do not claim to have a mind with wisdom as in full, but I have enough wisdom to know I need more.

Revelation is a puzzle and I don’t mean to set out what it all means here and now. And there is a lot about Babylon in Revelation which I have not quoted. What is Rome? I mean: What is meant by Rome as Babylon? Is it significant that Rome and Istanbul both are set on seven hills? Are they references to the two Roman Empires…or the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church…or the Roman Catholic Church and Islam? When Babylon falls and breaks into three pieces, is that a reference to the two great splits of the Church–and so including Protestants? I don’t know.

I do know that it has to do with Rome, and things that look like Rome, or are symbolized by Rome. I know the end has not yet come. I know that there is a lot of strife described in the text and that there has been a lot of strife in the world around Rome (both physically and spiritually) and there are many things I cannot square with the Roman Church and what is said in the Bible. Let us all submit to the tradition of the Church, but let us never exclude the Bible from Tradition! It seems to me Rome has done that…does that. Protestants and Orthodox have and do too, but at least you can suggest that with them without being dragged down a rabbit-hole of nonsense and–ultimately–gnosticism. The teaching of the Church of Rome is that Gnosticism is a heresy, but the practice of it is Knowledge for me, but ignorance for thee. There is no going back from the Council of Trent except to either eat their way through seven mountains of crow…or destruction.

I am also quick to consider that I am not free from influence. I have been listening to those podcasts and audiobooks; several of which have Roman Catholic thought at their centers. Tolkien was RC. The NRx leaders (and therefore flagship podcast) are are RC. The Reformation series was RC-centric. It did not praise Protestants in any way. But one of the several aspects that stuck out as a back-handed compliment that Madden noted about Martin Luther was that Luther was supremely lucky. Every time Charles V (The “Holy Roman Emporer” was about to put Luther to the torch with the blessing of the various Popes, something got in the way: The Turks, the French (The French are notorious as villains with cause.),…foreign kings in general. Some catastrophe happens which meant parole or pardon for Luther. Someone was looking out for him.

…Things I Didn’t Ask to Think About…

That’s a lot to think about. And I have been. In addition to listening to podcasts I’ve spent a lot of time with screens and speakers and voices off; just thinking. All the while praying for wisdom and discernment. What I want to find is big-picture understanding, but what I have found is a lot of conviction, and only a little bit of the larger scene.

A while back I wrote that I had come to the unavoidable and humiliatingly simple conclusion that the Sabbath ought to be kept.[1] Well–as I was listening to the History of English Podcast and thinking about Nationalism, the Alt-Right, and NRx–I came to similarly simple conclusion of the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. That was on a Wednesday. The following Sunday, our priest (I am Anglican) stopped me at the door and said “We need to train you to be a Lay Eucharistic Visitor so you can take Eucharist to Bob.” (Bob is homebound with sickness and injury.) We have never before spoken on the subject of LEV, or training me for anything. Of course I agreed. It was not a question.

Which naturally brings one to head-coverings for women. It did me, anyways. It’s been my habit to read 1 Corinthians 11 and then quickly cloud it–that men should never pray or prophesy with their heads covered, but women should only pray or prophesy with their heads covered–with what I have been taught all these years.. Though, it would be more true to say what I have been untaught all these years. Part of the trouble we Christian husbands and fathers have is underestimating how eroded are our churches and their habits.

Today I had the family together and I read to them I Corinthians 11:1-16; stopping ten or twelve times to ask them questions to see if they agreed with me–though I had not told them my interpretation. Then I asked “So, if St. Paul is an imitator of Christ, and he commends the Church in Corinth’s imitation of him, and if we are supposed to also imitate St. Paul and therefore Christ according to the traditions St. Paul delivered to them: Should women wear head coverings when they pray or prophesy?” They all answered in the affirmative and I told them, happily, that I agreed. Mrs. Caldo agreed, but then momentarily balked, and then agreed. I could in no way hold it against her: The balk was my words out of her mouth. I cannot hold it against her, and neither do I blame myself for listening to my elders on the matter. Though, we both would have to admit that no one forbid us head coverings.

Also: Thanks to Moose Norseman and Blake Law

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[1] My habit is to look up links after I write the post. I see now I posted about my change of mind on the Sabbath just a few days from a year ago. I am slow.

Suppose We Change the Subject to…

It has become my habit to listen to audiobooks and podcasts as I work. The last two audiobooks were:

The Modern Scholar: Rings, Swords, and Monsters, by Michael Drout. I thought the subject would be broader, but more than half concerns Tolkien and LotR. It turns out that Drout is a Tolkien scholar. Still, I enjoyed it.

The Modern Scholar: Christianity at the Crossroads, by Thomas F. Madden This one I enjoyed less, but learned more. Why? When I began the series I didn’t know (or care) Madden’s religion. It became evident that Madden is Roman Catholic when every motive of every Protestant is chalked-up to confusion followed by vanity, love of money, or power-seeking–but every RC motive is innocent mistake which is pursued by restoration, conciliation, and protection of the people. Yet Madden faithfully reports the facts, and this is what makes it valuable: It’s like listening to a 250 lbs. fighter congratulate himself for fighting a 150 lbs. opponent to a draw.

As for the podcasts…there have been several.

The History of English Podcast, which I wrote about before. I’m up to episode 30. So many things learned. Much of the podcast is history of people since language is a people thing.

Fighting for the Faith. It’s a Lutheran podcast. I’ve only listened to one episode about the “Code Orange Revival”. The host refers to it as the “2016 Heresy Olympics”. Featured were extended clips from the so-called revival along with the host’s scathing commentary. Honestly, I agreed fully with the host on every point, but I found his pattern of speech irritating; too much sarcastic inflection, and not virile enough; like a hipster with a beard. Beards are manly, but so is muscle and action and passion.

Jesus Changes Everything, by R.C. Sproul Jr. I wanted to like this. Instead it is lame; a limp, passive Christianity which doesn’t remind me of his father. I wrote favorably of Sproul Sr.’s work here. By the way: Sproul’s “Catholicism” was a great companion to the audiobook “Christianity at the Crossroads”.

Ascending the Tower. I’ve listened to five episodes, I think. Each is fairly long and often in two parts. I’d guess 10-12 hours total listening time. These guys are the core group of NRx–which is explicitly exclusive and, I believe, hierarchic. (For example: Nick B. Steves is a leader.) My impression is that I would like these guys in real life. However, I find little agreement with either their diagnoses or their cures. They rightly see that the various Puritan groups who fell to become the congregationalist and universalist heretics of the northeastern United States opened up a Pandora’s Box of problems; but they wrongly conclude that the spirits released were Puritan-Judaic. Pandora did not come out of the box she opened; yet every problem is to them systemic, and every system from a Puritan or a Jew. The prominence of Roman Catholics among the NRx plays a role in their monomaniacal myopia.

What tower, exactly, is to be ascended? Babel comes to mind. And for what purpose? There is a definite emphasis on grasping power, but the methods and ends are elided in their conversations. Perhaps these are covered in podcasts I have not heard.

Christian Hangouts, by Reactionary Ian. I found this when I was mentioned in a Tweet about this YouTube series. I’ve only listened to one, and haven’t formed any real thoughts about it except that I wish I had some suggestion to help them structure the format a bit. There’s 20 minutes of on-topic talk and 100 minutes of digression. Ascending the Tower is pretty good about this without being unbendable. Then again, I could be missing the point of CHs. My impression was that I would like a good deal of the contributors, but that the converse is far from sure.

The other thing I have listened to recently (though not at work) is The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John. I say listened to because it opens:

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

So I read it aloud in a couple hours. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it; with the exception of the letters to the churches. As better Christians than me will note there is A LOT said about Babylon in there, and it was during my reading in which I decided to pursue on this blog the theme of Babylon, the Necropolis.

…But It’s a Good-Looking Necropolis

Deep Strength commented:

I assumed/thought ‘churchianity’ was the word because the ‘church’ was the idol as opposed to Christ. Or in other words, pastors generally teach what they teach (feminized bunk) to keep people — women and wives — in the pews, ostensibly for money.

Churches[1] that have become idols are haunted places of the undead. They move and moan and collect other undead through imitation of life. Some mausoleums look like churches. These churches are mausoleums.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.

Most pastors I’ve known want butts in the pews because they take it as proof that the harvest is plentiful. Wondering for too long how many tares are in his wheat field (In the terms of Babylon the Necropolis: How many undead are among the living.) saps enthusiasm which no one is going to help him rouse. Many of these pastors are running their churches essentially alone. Sometimes that is their fault, and sometimes it is despite their best efforts.

Pastors usually have been separated from the rest of the congregation because they are weird. Because of that weirdness, or separation, or both, they are largely mystified by the dearth of men. A pastor starts out his career thinking that all men are like him even though he was probably scapegoated. Then he notices that many men aren’t in church as he is. He comes to believe that they simply lack his commitment. It never crosses his mind that it is more difficult for more manly men to tolerate modern church, than it is for him. He won’t allow himself to think it, and if he does he will quickly explain it away that they are “too macho” and “caricatures of manliness”.

And perhaps some are and that will soothe him so that he doesn’t have worry about the absence of men anymore; except to think to himself, What a pity that more men aren’t like me. What great things I could accomplish with an army of men like myself. These ladies are really something, though. And with his thoughts now turned inward towards himself instead of outward to Christ and His commands, he heads down to Sheol, and the church with him; even as he, and the comfortable women, and the men under the sway of women gather to whitewash it every Sunday.

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[1] Here I mean “congregations of the Church” as it is used in the Bible; such as in “Letter to the Church in Smyrna, etc.

Babylon, the Necropolis

If we are Christians then our identity is found in Christ. This should be understood literally and fundamentally, and not as a tag-along relic of sentiment among so many other worthless devices in our diviner’s bags. Christians of some race are as separate and different from the non-Christians of that same race as the living are from the dead.

Acknowledging this truth does not destroy the differences between the various dead (Zombies can be distinguished from vampires.) yet it remains that the undead are only imitators–and predators–of life.

I have in mind a list a bullet-points drawn from my posts on Christian Nationalism. I’m still thinking about it, and I welcome any suggestions in the comments. It shouldn’t take long, but I want it to be both clear and succinct. That’s difficult when everyone has their pet systems. Case in point: I prefer not to include the second paragraph, but I did because of the weakness of others.

As well, I am forming plans of action either taken directly from, or inspired by the Bible. As SFC Ton noted: Young men need actual advice.

In the meantime: Like most people I like creative and evocative terms, and they are handy. The NRx crowd likes to refer to their enemies, collectively, as The Cathedral. Well I like cathedrals and so I think that is a bad choice. (For the same reason I hate the term churchian which is popular among many Men’s Sphere writers.) Alt-Righters have no one term for the enemy, which suits their theme of de-centralization. But I’m neither of those. I am not in reaction to the movements and schemes of world and I do favor centralization, for real and right now, under Jesus Christ and according to His word.

My term for the wicked centers of power and wicked structures on Earth is Babylon, the Necropolis.

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
    She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

Sometimes I will shrink it to Babylon, or The Necropolis. I suppose a glossary will be in order soon.

More Scripture on the Nation of Christ

St. Peter, to the Christians throughout the ancient world:

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

…and to us today. Any who hear St. Peter’s instruction for wives in this same letter (chapter 3) likewise should hear this, which preceded it.

Jesus, to the religious leaders of the Jews, who falsely thought they were the Children of Abraham because of the flesh:

37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

In Revelation, St. John writes

8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.”

Of all the texts I have quoted, Revelations contains the most scorn for worldly nationalism. I leave it as an exercise for others to read it. “The nations” are spoken of frequently and always in error and evil. There is no mention of the redemption of nations, but rather individuals redeemed from–removed from–nations, and placed into Christ’s nation.

An Aside on Aryans: The History of English Podcast

On the recommendation of a friend from my old job, I have been listening to a series of podcasts called The History of English. It is amazing. Here is but a small taste of the things I didn’t know before:

• We used to call the European ancestors Aryans, but because of Nazi propaganda historians adopted the eunuchized term Indo-European. Aryan kicks the crap out of Indo-european, and is only bested by Robert E. Howard’s nomenclature: Sons of Arius. Unfortunately, the podcast prefers the modern term.
• The titles czar and kaiser are both descended directly from caesar; which would have been pronounced ki-zar
• I knew the English Alphabet came from the Greek through the Romans, and I knew that the Greeks got it from the Phoenicians, but the Phoenicians were the Canaanites, and the Hebrews also took their alphabet from the Canaanites/Phoenicians to write the OT??? Basically, there is only one alphabet in the entire world, and it came from the Canaanites. Mind. Blown. Do you know who else was a Phoenician/Canaanite? Hannibal.
• Necessary civilizations–at a minimum–for the Bible to exist: Chaldeans, Hebrews, Egyptians, Canaanites, Greeks, and Romans. Three Semitic tribes and three Aryan tribes.
• No one knows from where the Etruscans came, and the Philistines are a mystery, too. They weren’t Aryan or Semitic. The author says some historians speculate the Philistines are the remnants of a group called The Sea People who invaded and plagued the Mediterranean world; causing the collapse of the Egyptian empire among other things. The author doesn’t say this, but I like to wonder if they are the remnant of Atlantis.
• The author doesn’t get into racial traits, but considering the breadth of people who came from the Aryans, I have to think my perception of the people of the ancient world is very wrong. There would probably have been a lot of blond- and red-haired Greek, Italians, Persians, Philistines, Canaanites, Hittites… all Aryan tribes. Their cousins were those who would become Celts, Germans, Scandinavians, etc.

I’m only 20 episodes in, but it’s fascinating. Check it out.

The Government of Christ’s Nation

Chokingonredpills asks:

I may be digressing but I am curious about your views on the separation of church and state.

They’re certainly changing, and I’m unsure of the role of civil government in general. St. Peter wrote:

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

I accept that just as plainly as it is written.

However, that is not to say that kings and so forth ought to be part of life; only how to respond to them if we find ourselves under them. I was taught–and grew up thinking–that a secular government is the only way to preserve a Christian society. Now that seems to me a very stupid idea on its face: Of course a secular government will work to establish and secure a secular society. In America, we tell a legend of about a Bill of Goods Rights which promised to protect freedom of religion (to practice as each sees fit). As many other have noted this has proven to be freedom from religion. The government too was founded as such. Chicken, meet Egg.

Considering the matter now it seems to me that Christians were given a government to which we are beholden more than the kings and governors of this world.

Jesus is the king. Under Him we are to be organized into churches which correspond, at least loosely, with a geography; probably for the sake of convenience and custom. Those churches are to be governed by priests and overseen by bishops. That’s it.

To go back to St. Peter: I believe he wrote the word of God and both should be obeyed, but I wonder what we are to make of the powers of civil, secular, government. In the OT God sends evil spirits to punish those who do evil. St. Paul advises the congregation in Corinth to cast out the man sleeping with his father’s mother so that Satan can destroy his flesh. It doesn’t sound unreasonable to me to wonder if civil authorities and demons–both of whom are of the world–are in league. But I’m not convinced of it yet.