Submission can be good, or it can be bad. It all depends upon who, or what, you are submitting to.
The Bible says we are to submit to Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ). He is the King of Israel. All authority has been given to him, and he will be our Judge. He is our Master and we are his slaves,1 or his apprentices, if that is more palatable to you.
There are those who try to usurp that authority. They don't actually have any authority, but they want people to think they do in order to influence their behavior. They often use fear as a tactic, as well as other means. Sometimes they use "color of law."
People are familiar with how the German government persecuted different identity groups during the World War II period. They started by coercing people to self-identify themselves. That made it easy for the rest of society to recognize them, isolate them, and ultimately condone their transportation to gas chambers and crematoriums.
Is this happening again? You be the judge.
I am an apprentice of Jesus, so I try to do what he did. I try to let the Holy Spirit guide my thoughts and behaviors, just as Jesus did when the same Spirit descended on him like a dove after he was baptized by John.
Yeshua walked the earth during a time when the Roman Empire ruled the land. In some ways, our present times are similar, perhaps more so than many people realize.
Did Yeshua submit to Rome? I think he considered them to be like scenery in a stage play. The Roman Government was simply a backdrop to what he was doing. He did not antagonize Rome, although the common Jews expected him to free them from it. Rome did not really care about his presence because he was just one man and not a threat in their eyes.
Yeshua was, however, a threat to the Herods and the Jewish religious leaders. The Romans allowed Herod the Great and Herod the tetrarch to notionally rule over the Jews. The advent of a Messiah certainly made them nervous. The Jewish religious leaders were particularly hostile to Yeshua because he directly challenged their job performances. They did not recognize him, perhaps because their hearts were hard and perhaps they thought he was an apostate, as described in Deuteronomy 13. Ultimately, they killed Yeshua, and used the power of Rome to do it.
Yeshua's challengers tried to trap him by getting him into trouble with Rome...
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. (Matthew 22:15-22 NIV)
Yeshua was not sent to challenge Rome. He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Since I am his apprentice, that is my job, too.
Masks and "face coverings" are the self-identification devices du jour. They do very little, if anything, to protect people from a virus (research it for yourself), but they do influence people's behaviors and affect their minds. They are evil. They are unhealthy because they interfere with the operation of our God-designed and created bodies. Face coverings isolate us from one another and greatly inhibit communication through facial expressions. Most importantly, they symbolize our submission to those who are pushing them, and it is easy for everyone to see who is in compliance -- and who is not.
Masks also create division by sparking arguments and separating people into: mask zealots, multiple-mask neurotics, cowering sheep, nose-breathing rebels, and sans-diaper patriots. Which am I? It depends. I try to let the Holy Spirit guide what I do. It has been a learning process.
Generally, I want nothing to do with wearing a mask, but there are times I need to comply. My mother lives in a senior living facility and I try to follow their rules for her sake. I don't want her to be discriminated against because of my behavior. I have also worn a mask in other situations, so as to not cause division. "Blessed are the peacemakers..." You know the drill.
Saying that, I refuse to submit to those who are driving the masquerade. I understand what they are doing, and I am not going to play their game. However, I don't want to upset others and create more division than there already is.
So, this has been my strategy. Except for my mother's situation, I do not wear a mask, but I keep one in my pocket. If someone challenges me, I pull it out, put it on, and wait for them to leave, or for the situation to change. For the most part, I have been able to be free and go about my business unmolested. I was able to have a joyous conversation with a mask-wearing friend yesterday in a public place, setting a good example for folks of living in freedom and without fear.
Most businesses have submitted to "color of law" decrees just to stay afloat. I sympathize with that, but have made a conscious decision to refrain from being their customer unless absolutely necessary. I learned during the years I was not working that I can get by without buying very much at all. Currently, local restaurants are recording names and phone numbers of customers, supposedly for 'contact tracing' reasons. They are doing that under "color of law," and I will not submit to it. I won't sin by lying about my identity either. When they eventually wake up and stop the nonsense, I will be happy to give them my business.
We are living in interesting times. I want to be a peacemaker, but Yeshua is my King.
All glory to God.
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UPDATE, August 23, 2022...
1 Some people are happy to be slaves. This woman and man participate in Gorean subculture and in this video they explain what that is about. She tells how she likes her situation and what the lifestyle does for her.
Most people in America think they are free.
Comedian George Carlin thought differently. (CAUTION: Coarse language!)
This is reality...
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| Click to enlarge |
See the frustum? This is where they feed the slaves.
This is how they train the slaves.
This is how they control the slaves.
This is how they distract the slaves.
This is how they neuter the slaves.
This is how they monitor the slaves.
This is how they use the slaves.
This is how they fleece the slaves.
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| (Click) Born: 18 Nov 1928, Probated: 11 Feb 1929 |
This is how they euthanize the slaves.
And, this is how they mislead the slaves.
The kajrah slave woman in the first video says her master saved her from a bad situation and that he treats her well. He provides for her, but her job is to serve her master.
She is willingly living under his authority as a devoted follower.
Jesus told his guys...
"...whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[d] and whoever would be first among you must be slave[e] of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45 ESV)
- [d] The Greek word translated as "servant" is diákonos.
- [e] Or bondservant, or servant. The Greek word translated as "slave" is doúlos, which is described as: "(a masculine noun of uncertain derivation) – properly, someone who belongs to another; a bond-slave, without any ownership rights of their own. Ironically, doúlos ("bond-slave") is used with the highest dignity in the NT – namely, of believers who willingly live under Christ's authority as His devoted followers. [Bible Hub#1401]
So, we are to be bondservants of Jesus, like this woman is a bondservant of her Gorian master. The 'bond' part of 'bondservant' refers to bondage, as in being tied up or in chains. That is what this woman allows her master to do. She trusts him. We need to trust Jesus in the same way. We need to be devoted to him like this kajrah is devoted to her Master.
Paul said...
Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. (1 Corinthians 7:21-23 ESV)
I always thought I was free because I was born in and live in America. Therefore, when Jesus called me and I started to follow him I considered myself his bondservant, and still do. However, I have recently learned I am actually a slave of "the machine," but I am free in Christ. The Darkness cannot touch me because Jesus protects me. I feel like the kajrah woman, overjoyed at being saved and provided for by my Master.
I am aware I can gain my temporal freedom by reclaiming my political status as an American State2 National (ASN), and I believe that is what the Father wants me to do. I am observing what is going on, learning, and following Jesus daily and minute-by-minute through the Holy Spirit to achieve His Plan for me.
NOTE: I have not read the Gor books, nor do I intend to do so. They are far from biblical and I am just not interested.
UPDATE, December 5, 2022...
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| (Source URL) |
Since when is marriage illegal? And for whom?
Answer: Since the so-called American Civil War; for slaves and former slaves.
What???
Anna von Reitz discusses this in a short article here: #3649 It All Begins in Your Mind -- Plus, The Meaning and Destruction of Marriage.
Here are some excerpts...
Slavery begins in the mind.
It begins with the subtle and sometimes not so subtle demands that other people, "Authority Figures", make on you as a child, and this process only continues as an adult.
You have to do things thus-and-so because Mommy says so, and when we are very young and learning the ropes, such discipline is necessary for your own safety and to teach you how to get along in the world.
By age five, teachers take over that role, and after High School, Trade School or College, or the Military, the Boss or Drill Sergeant takes over that role. All your life, you have someone telling you how to think and what to do.
If you conform to this model, you might as well be an automaton, taking orders, fulfilling orders, getting your little allotment of "corn" and then doing the same thing the next day.
This is not natural. It's not what we need to build fulfilling lives, but of all the damage that this "model" of existence does, the very worst impact is that it cripples our minds. It reduces us to being dependent on other people's decisions and other people's authority, so that we never find our own will and our own authority.
We can never live as free men and women under conditions like these. We are not free, because our minds are not free.
When I was growing up, everyone had a calendar you could set your watch by. There was, in effect, a list of milestones that everyone had to meet. At sixteen you got a Driver's License, at eighteen you graduated from High School, at twenty-two you graduated from college, and God Forbid if you didn't then find a job, get married, and start having children immediately after that.
The Clock was always ticking and someone else set all the alarms.
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According to the State-of-State organizations that "license" marriages among their slaves, a marriage is a Joint Venture, in which the State-of-State shares a controlling interest and ownership of all the "products".
This is how they claim the right to distribute your property in a divorce, and decide who gets custody of the children---- by redefining "marriage" as a business Joint Venture.
It should be apparent that licensing of marriages is an outrageous concept, bearing in mind that a license is a permission to do something that would otherwise be illegal.
Since when did marriage become illegal? And for whom?
For slaves and former slaves in the wake of the Civil War.
Are you a slave? Do you define your marital relationship as a business venture? Are your children "products" and "inventory"?
All the State-of-State organizations and Courts in this country deserve to have the stuffing kicked out of them, for this sin if nothing else.
Not only is this outrageous, it causes people to make wrong and sinful choices. It cheapens marriage to a business contract that can be severed if one party fails to perform.
In God's view, marriage is a covenant, not a contract. God made a covenant with Abraham, and he made a covenant with Israel through Moses. He gave Moses both copies of the tablets.
When our ideas about marriage are wrong, we risk getting our ideas about God wrong. The LORD is a promise-keeper. Many people in Israel may have broken covenant with the LORD, but He has upheld His end of the bargain. He has always maintained a remnant in Israel.
Thankfully, there are ways to get out of the State-of-State notions of marriage and its cobwebs. As Anna says in the same article...
You can now record, not register, your marriage ---and have a public record of the event, without getting a license and without entering into a privileged undisclosed Joint Venture with the Devil.
You won't be able to get insurance for your marriage and incorporated employers won't recognize it, but if you don't intend to give a "share" of your estate including a share of your children away to these Monsters, it is what it is.
Their stamp of approval on your "business plan" isn't required by your Creator, and it certainly shouldn't be required by your fellow man, either. It is long overdue for the people of this country and this world to rise up and tell our Public Servants where to stuff their licensing requirements --- especially any "licenses" related to the most sacred relationship we have.
We must get out of their jurisdictions in order to be free.
UPDATE, September 24, 2023...
As I explored Paul's Mystery and Biblical submission in marriage, I studied The Song of Songs and various websites about married, Christian intimacy. Some of those websites were frequented by Christian women who had their own blogs, and some of those blogs were rather edgy. As I overcame my previous programming about "maintaining purity," which was gone after I was set free, I began to see freedom in sexuality as God created it. My Shulamite post covers this in much detail.A number of the blogs I encountered are now unavailable, but there is one I like where the blogger continues to make new posts almost daily. It is by a woman who is not a Christian and is very worldly, but she is very real and I enjoy her blog. I am not going to link to it because some people may find parts of it offensive. You can search for it if you like, but please do so at your own risk.
She lives in New York City and she has a relationship with a man, but they are not married. She started blogging as part of their so-called "D/s" (Dominant/submissive) relationship, which seems to be a thing the "submissives" do in a so-called "BDSM" situation. She brings a lot of her love of fashion into her presentations. It's all very visual, and I find it a lot of fun. Some of the pictures from her blog have ended up in my blog, and she has been one of my blogging mentors.
As Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthians:
The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things...
and
...we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:15,16, in part, NIV)
... and to the Thessalonians:
...hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 NIV)
That is what I do. If I see things I do not like, I move on, but I look for what is good. Submission is good; cruelty is bad, even if it is consensual. The former is biblical; the latter is not.
The marriage bed is a playground for a couple to learn and practice leadership and submission. My wife was naturally submissive in many ways, but she also had her stubborn streaks, and she was not naturally interested in exploring new things and new ideas. She was inclined to just be "vanilla," as they say, whereas I like to consider lots of possibilities. I used ideas from my "New York friend's" blog to push the envelope with my wife. She was not particularly happy about it at times, but we did move the Overton Window and found amicable common ground that we both ended up enjoying.
One of the things that helped my case was this photograph of my wife before I knew her, when she was about twenty years old. She is wearing a mini dress, go-go boots and a choker necklace. It was taken with a Polaroid "instant camera," so the quality is not very good. We took a digital copy of it, and she gave me a framed version along with a picture of me when I was seventeen and had a headful of curly hair. (Yes, I had a pick.) I have to say, we were both pretty cute when we were young!
I thought about asking my wife to read my New York friend's blog, but decided against it. Just like I have not linked to it here, I did not think she would even do it, let alone enjoy it. I did share some things from it, however, with mixed results. Looking back, I did not realize our personalities were enigmas to each other and I made her uncomfortable, although I do not believe I was doing anything wrong. We were just in different places and I was reveling in my newfound freedom.
My point in bringing this up is I believe there are Gentile Teachings in the institutional church that stifle marriages and rob couples from the breadth and beauty of married sex, as God designed it. Some worldly people, like my New York friend, have better attitudes about some of these things than many Christians do, although they are completely lost in other ways.
I still follow that woman's blog on a daily basis. She is less into the sex stuff and has shared a lot about her dealings with her mother's death, her own health issues, her work, living in Manhattan, and what life was like there during "COVID" hysteria. She is about ten years older now than she was when she started her blog and I began following her, and that transition has been interesting. I like her, and would love to befriend her, although I think she would probably be afraid of my faith and run away from me, like many people do. I wish her well and pray God will bless her with much grace.
UPDATE, September 25, 2023...
2 Changed this from "American National" to "American State National (ASN)." There is a difference and it is important. I meant the latter when I originally wrote it.