INTRODUCTION
A Rosetta Stone of Understanding
Common sense is the basis of any successful strategy. – US Marine Corps Tactics
Introduction
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/2011
In the beginning, God wrote a story. Here is mine. Hope it helps Christ-in-You!
As I write this, I appear to be a failed man by all the world’s measures. I am a twice-divorced, 58-year-old man. I claim to be a Christian, but I have been a college binge-drunk (I no longer drink alcohol), I have availed myself of the world’s oldest profession, legally in Nevada (I am now celibate), I have been kicked out of churches (for seeing too much and thereby offending its leadership), I have climbed to the top of Mt. Rose (near my home in Reno), Mt. Whitney (California), Fuji (Japan) and even the Cheops Pyramid (Egypt). Yet I am no stranger to loneliness, depression and heartache. One time some rather odd neighbors accused me of stalking, but a higher court agreed with me that I was innocent. I feel I have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, enough that no common shepherd would accept me… only the uncommon one.
I have three grown sons from my first marriage. I sustain myself from revenue from my beloved father, at this writing age 89, who has me joined with an oil-producing business.
I am a curious man with a curious passion. I am the eccentric author of In That Day Teachings, providing free information about the biblical “In That Day” on my website, www.inthatdayteachings.com.
In pursuit of my goal, I have experienced excesses beyond zeal-of-the-Lord into wackiness. I made strange videos wherein supposed utterances of the Lord included cussing and foul railings against the female gender, televangelists and other innocents. More than a decade ago I was sucked into and later saved out of crazy church operations under different banners like prosperity, rapture or slouch.
Somehow I have fallen into and out of much. Yet still, I have been granted keen insight, perhaps even manna from above, that I hope some can appreciate. I especially hope s one might understand this work to be a comprehensive solution package that fully answers a lot of earnest prayers seeking truth from the fog of spiritual war.
I wish a cleaner gentleman had come up with all this. But I couldn’t find one no matter where I looked. Sorry, I am all you have to explain: this big package of In That Day Teachings.
By the way, I am so bold as to call this package a “Rosetta Stone of Understanding.” Let me explain. The first one had three languages on it. Greek, Coptic and Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Prior to discovery of the stone, modern folk couldn’t figure out what the hieroglyphics were saying. But after discovering the three-part Rosetta stone, knowledge could be restored from the ancient world. Bravo!
In That Day Teachings also have three things: A) Christ-in-y=You-ness (see Col. 1:26-27), B) Western Enlightenment (God’s multi-millennium package of communal procedural uplift) and C) Higher Teachings (Paul’s Way, which has for so long been butchered by well-meaning but shrunken-head church leaders dedicated to spurious doctrines.
Despite the obvious and reprehensible flaws of its loathed author, me, one Robert Winkler Burke of Reno, Nevada, I invite you to be uplifted, increased in stature, brain-muscle strengthened, laugh and learn In That Day Teachings.
Or not.
(Hope not: not!)
Hoping All in Christ,
Robert Winkler Burke
Reno, Nevada
P.S. Aging man-of-war that I am, I must tell you I love to practice Russian Martial Art, as taught by Vlasdimir Vasiliev of Toronto, Canada and Mikhail Ryabko of Moscow, Russia. They are followers of the Russian Orthodox Church, and know nothing of my Christian writings. But Mikhail Ryabko believes Russian Martial Art may be the art of Czar David, which would be King David to us.
Russian Martial Art has taught me flexibility and maturity. Also my students in Reno have learned flexibility and maturity (I am an Instructor-in-Training.) Also, my Christian pastor friends I visited in Bungoma, Western Kenya, in 2008 and 2009 learned flexibility and maturity. They love it! My Christian friends love Russian Martial Art because, besides being immanently practical, it helps understanding higher teachings of the spirit.
I believe In That Day Teachings along with Russian Martial Art both teach great flexibility and maturity. This is quite a trick, actually. I haven’t noticed churches able to do this much, have you? Because here’s the stunner: Great flexibility and maturity are two undeniable attributes of God Almighty Himself!
We would all do well to learn greater flexibility and maturity! Who knows? You might even need to have these two notable character traits deeply embedded and tested in your soul!
So, that’s a warning, sort of. Before you think you can believe, or quickly dismiss for that matter, my teachings ask yourself this question:
Got flexibility and maturity?
If this throws you for a loop, would you want your boss to be rigid-righteous, or holy-flexible? Everyone would want the latter, of course!
So then, would you want people under your discernment to consider you rigid-righteous, or holy-flexible? Everyone under you, would want the latter, of course?
Since this is universally true, for Christ’s sake, why are so many people rigid-righteous?
And the answer, of course, is pride. Truth grows at pride’s expense, and vice versa!
Rigid-righteousness grows at humility’s expense! And that has been the problem all along! God asks us In That Day, to forgo rigid-righteousness and enter into holy-flexibility! And that will take swallowing a lot of pride, and growing a lot of humility!
CHURCH IMMATURITIES:
25 Theses for Christian Church Leaders!
Wherein We Must Either Laugh, Cry or Change
By Robert Winkler Burke, copyright 2005
Reno, Nevada USA
www.inthatdayteachings.com
1) Praying for Uncorrected Revival vs. Repenting of Wrong Doctrine
John the Baptist said to repent. Jesus said to repent. And their sharpest words were directed against the religious leaders of the day. But the religious leaders of today say that they, themselves, have nothing much to repent about. Instead they call for revival for an unrepentant, uncorrected Church. American preachers now find revival chiefly in Third World countries who are hearing the mega ministry spiel for the first time. But in America, faith-movement leaders are finding very little new manna. In the modern nations, who have heard the faith message for many years, revival waits. Like Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn we “got to decide, forever, betwixt two things.” The Church either must massively repent regarding wrong doctrine or pray giddily for heavenly affirmation for an uncorrected Church’s revival. The Church tells us it is righteous, blessed and needing only our money. To believe anything else is, well, to be wrong, damnably so. But perhaps we can help this Church self-enslaved to wrong doctrine escape its shackles of deception. Perhaps we can say, with irony as did Huck when he went against his religious upbringing and helped his friend Jim escape slavery, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.”
2) Teach How to Hear God vs. Teaching Anything Else
The Church teaches many things, but it rarely teaches the disciplines to hear God’s rhema instant-now voice. If platitudes were sufficient for tomorrow’s emergency, Confucius or Lao Tzu or preacher Tom, Dick or Harry would be fine. But some of us have a sneaking suspicion that Father God Almighty just might be able to tell us individually what we really need to do better than, well, the placebo pandering, opinions or promptings of anybody else. This ability to hear God’s rhema voice, by the way, trumps rule-based activity, which is why Jesus so often seemingly violated His own Father’s laws. If the letter of the law (any law, even the law of tithing) kills, it is the Spirit of God (for example, prompting one person to give to another, rather than tithing into the ministry bucket) which gives life!
3) Escape by Rapture vs. Survive Overflowing Scourge
One thing a person can say with certainty about the rapture is that we haven’t seen anybody raptured yet. A less certain observation is that whereas rapture books have sold in the millions, no good answer is available to the question that since rapture authors believe themselves soon gone, what need have they of rapture profits? Nevertheless, rapture makes for delightful mental escape. However rapture theology fails to prepare its believers for the Lord’s fierce and overflowing scourge which the prophets of the Bible so emphatically warned about. This makes believing in fly away fallacies a rather unsafe bet.
4) Irresponsible Eternal Security vs. Free Will Responsibility
Whereas a new citizen of the United States of America renounces his former citizenship and promises to obey the laws of the land, our dear Church of Eternal Security believes we can at once become citizens of God’s kingdom, but not be truly concerned with obeying our King’s laws; since we somehow become “eternally secure.” However, if a naturalized citizen of America would follow that same advice and rob a bank, he most likely would find himself in a federal prison and unhappily “secured” for what may seem like “eternity.” Of course, the Eternally Secure Church believes God’s gift of free will responsibility magically disappears after a salvation prayer. Why, then, doesn’t the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service also cover its new citizens with such wonderful absolution? If they did, perhaps we citizens would become foreigners just for the opportunity to become new citizens of America, free from the recompense of high crime!
5) Tarry in Me Baby vs. One In Whom He May Be
“Should JEEE-ZUS tarry!” so many preachers like to say. But one might ask, how can they be so bold as to imply our Lord is late for their party? Isn’t it the reverse? Doesn’t Jesus want to manifest himself in every man, woman and child? Or is He who they believe will fix everything instantly, late with the instant fix? Yet the last page of the Bible tell us three times: “Behold, I come quickly” (to manifest Myself in all who have prepared themselves by shunning unjustness and filthiness and paying the high price to be righteous and holy.) Are we baby theologians in need of an instant-fix God who will appear independent from us to right all wrongs; or are we mature believers instructed to be prepared, ready and watch for Christ to manifest Himself in ourselves and others and rejoice In That Day? So, we can choose to be either a “Tarry in me baby” or “One in whom He may be!”
6) Worshiping Worldly Profits vs. Honoring Rebuking Prophets
The five-fold ministry includes prophets, but rare is the church with a prophet operating in Biblical fullness. More common is the church with profits to grow buildings, grow staff, grow television ministry and grow sometimes huge convention meetings. If a living prophet is heralded, is it one who rebukes as did Moses? Is it is one who rebukes as did Jeremiah? Is it one who rebukes as did John, Jesus and even Paul? Or do we find prophets who prophesy rainbow stew for me and you? Sadly, we find the latter and not the former. No church serves two masters, and the master of the world is often the master of the church. And the master of the world will not be rebuked by a prophet. Perhaps this is why so few churches want correction, but so many revival; so few a prophet, so many entertainment; so few steak, so many milk.
7) Tithing Rule vs. Jesus’ Three Red-Letter Tithing Denouncements
Many ministers excitedly herald Malachi 3:10 and sing the virtues of rule-based tithing. However, few pastors just as excitedly herald the three red letter denouncements from Jesus of tithers who displeased God. Jesus taught that when you hear from God, there are no rules. He and His disciples didn’t wash before eating corn, He healed on the Sabbath, He wasn’t ordained by man and He taught rule-based tithing was not necessarily pleasing to our Father! Perhaps the reason people cannot hear Jesus’ rhema word on how much to give to whomever is because so many ministers have exalted their teaching above that of God’s Son. Martin Luther said, “To go against conscience is neither right nor safe.” Satan can indeed tempt a person to tithe wrongly. Jesus said so. But modern ministries refuse to line up with Jesus and get tithing right. They are guilty of a kind of subornation of sin, getting others to do something in a way that displeases God. Worse yet, prosperity preachers add self-service to the mix by teaching a seed harvest doxie that goes like this: Give to get! Amplified it is: Give directly to my non-profit organization which channels wealth directly to me, and believe God will nebulously channel wealth directly back to you by some less direct, less selfish, less conniving, more nebulous way.
8) What Would Jesus Do (WWJD) vs. Obeying Jesus’ Rhema Voice
Youth ministries have embraced the “What Would Jesus Do” doctrine and encouraged sales of jewelry, clothes, books and anything marked “WWJD.” However if WWJD where tried by any real organization it would fail. For example, what if every person in the US military acted upon the thought, “What Would President Do?” Chaos would follow! The US military must, in the end, do what our President, as Commander in Chief, says. Jesus said, “Blessed are they who hear my (rhema) word, and obey.” Granted, at first we may not hear from God well, and must settle for doing what we think He wants. The trick is to rapidly advance to hearing directly from God. Jesus is very much alive, contrary to what the WWJD doctrine implies, and He will tell us precisely what to do, if only we believe and pay the price of righteousness to hear!
9) The “About” Factor vs. Enough “About” Already, for Christ’s Sake!
Ministries which forever teach “about” Jesus and never involve themselves with manifesting Jesus (including love, healing, tongues, prophesy, gifts of the spirit, miracles, etc.) are like an F-15 flight school that forever teaches “about” the fighter jet but never expects anyone to be its pilot. Granted, an F-15 Eagle is an extremely complicated machine. Some could choose to blab “about” it for eternity. Likewise, an errant minister may blab on “about” Jesus eternally but never manifest much of His Spirit. God help the ministries trapped in such rotten and despicable doctrine. Such “about” preachers can be detected by the fact that their sermons are almost always boring. And finally, these curious “about” preachers have nothing of the spirit of Chuck Yeager, or an eagle, or our Lord, or anyone you must ever hope to be.
10) Spirits? What Spirits? vs. Understanding God’s Spirit Realm
God is a Spirit. God breathed His Spirit into us. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would teach us all things. But most preachers avoid teaching the dynamics of God’s spirit realm. So the world turns to New Age because the Church cannot explain this age. The world turns to fortune tellers because the Church turns away prophets. Christians are full of evil spirits because the Church says it cannot happen. Television preachers are proud of their ranting spirits, their money-extracting spirits and especially their uncorrectable spirits. God created a kingdom of spirits, but the modern church hides from the knowledge of it. The Church believes it has God’s truth in the form of the word, usually only the logos and seldom the rhema. God believes His Church must have His Spirit, as evidenced by signs which the Church tends to reject. The Church must stop its hide-from-spirits-but-seek-truth game. God says you cannot have His Truth without His Spirit. The Church which settles for one, has neither.
11) Unhappy Heresy Hunters vs. Happy Hear-and-See Campers
Unhappy heresy hunters want to kill the doctrine of those who say that a strictly literal interpretation of God’s word is wrong. Jesus was crucified by unhappy heresy hunters. Jesus did not interpret scripture literally. Woe to any person similarly filled with God’s Spirit, who steps outside their literal word mind-prison, and comes under their gun sights. For unhappy heresy hunters have rejected the Holy Spirit, and are spiritually blind. And it upsets them to discover others who see spiritually and help others to also see spiritually. So heresy hunters live to kill the two witnesses of life on earth: God in man and man in God. But true seekers can find happiness in God.
12) Doing Dispensational Dogma vs. Making the Crooked Paths Straight
If a gay midget who was missing a leg, an ear and half his private parts was elected President of the United States, somewhere a dispensational preacher would say, “This too is in the Bible!” For about a hundred years end-times eschatologists have distorted history, blasphemed His story and encouraged histrionics regarding their know-it-all theories about the appearance of Mr. Antichrist, the mark of the beast, the avoidance of tribulation and the fly away, false salvation promise of rapture. But what can be expected from such misguided teachers who take the Bible literally? They literally interpret it like a psychological ink blot. Instead of the Holy Spirit teaching them all things, God lets them provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces. And so, the mad dispensational teachers ignore John the Baptist’s admonition to do the hard and necessary work of tearing down mountains (of a soul’s lies), filling in the valleys (of a heart’s missing good spirits) and making the crooked paths (of a mind’s wrong doctrine) straight. But if the dispensationalists’ literal interpretation of the Bible is correct, then let us seek first a good, used bulldozer.
13) Weeping in Ramah vs. Laughing in Rehma
The truth that some Christian ministries are guilty of preaching a baby Gospel is proven by how they celebrate Jesus’ birth. The season of Christmas is often simply taught as a pageant of nativity. However, a cursory review of Luke’s telling of the story reveals that Father God arranged for eight members of Jesus’ family and friends who were extraordinarily spirit-filled, prophetically spirit-speaking, spirit-led or spirit-obedient. This spirit-led living enabled them to avoid the kill zone of infanticide. This message is lost on ministries who poorly prepare their sheep to similarly avoid modern kill zones. So, Christmases come and go without families being filled with the Holy Spirit, as this part of the story is ignored. And then for some families who subsequently experience tragedies that could have been avoided by hearing from God’s Spirit, instead of being able to laugh in rhema, they weep in Ramah. For this the Church tells them to tithe? Christmas should be merrier.
14) Beam Me Up, Scotty! vs. Give God-In-You a Chance
The word “rapture” is found in the Bible precisely as often as the phrase “Separation of Church and State” is found in the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights or Declaration of Independence. However, the American Civil Liberties Union has no problem making their anti-god agenda succeed, somehow. Likewise rapture preachers, somehow. We have been sold a pack of lies because neither America’s founding documents nor the Bible respectively bars God from America’s public arena nor promises the world a fly-away escape from tomorrow. Nevertheless, truth will prevail in these matters. And the truth of God’s end-times plan is that He really must dwell in us, or else! Stated roughly (but actually quite accurately), the saints go marching in God while the butt-heads get themselves eliminated. For God so loves the world, that in that day of judgment which now is, He will manifest Himself in us to perform His word. This is both our hope and God’s plan for tomorrow.
15) Getting Abomination of Desolation Dollar$ vs. Building Holy Abodes
The dispensational teachers’ dream is for a Third Temple to be built in Jerusalem which will some day have a Mr. Antichrist appear with a pig which he sacrifices on an altar, thereby causing all dispensational book sales to soar to astronomic levels. However, a spiritual reading of the matter reveals that we are Christ’s third temple, and we choose to be either antichrist-like or Christ-like. And in choosing to put either our own piggish selves on the throne, or Christ; we can cause either our own abomination of desolation to keep God forever banished from our soul, or we can work with repentance and truth to get and keep God dwelling in us and we in Him. God’s dream in these latter days is, well, the latter.
16) Mining for Armageddon Million$ vs. Death to Almighty Self
Ooh, ooh! Is this war or the next one the biggie of the Bible? Should we subscribe to the Jerusalem Post or support the preacher who does? When we buy a book or watch a movie on the Battle of Armageddon, should our fear of the future be small, medium or super-size? Should our attention be diverted away from dethroning self, which is the Armageddon for most every individual and family, or with imagining the mother of all wars? Saddam Hussein was wrong when he prophesied about the First Gulf War being such a mother, but why do we still support teachers who divert attention from the battle of self (which enables Christ-likeness) to some future mother of all wars (which promulgates fear.) Answer: The death-to-self Gospel doesn’t allow much self-promotion, self-exaltation or self-aggrandizement; but fear-mongering does.
17) Betting Bad News Brings Big Buck$ vs. Empowering to Overcome
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! Bad news SELLS dispensational books, tapes, conventions and television shows! What a surprise! There is bad news! Wow!!! And so go the dispensational programs under the banner of Christ. At the end of most breathless presentations of their bad news gospel, is their fear-of-the-future-without-dispensational-insight altar call. “UNHOLY BAD NEWS, Robin!” says Batman, “Where is Superman when you need him?” Comics and bad news aside, real shepherds must teach their sheep to be disciplined and hardened overcomers, who can acutely hear and obey God’s rhema voice, so that they are equal to any emergency.
18) Mining Omega Codes for Million$ vs. Who Is the Christ?
The Bible certainly contains mysterious codes. Maybe it has Adolf Hitler’s name, or Charlton Heston’s. Maybe it has your name, my name and sister Sue’s. Does any of this help us to be more like Jesus? Let us hold ministries accountable for where they put the attention of their followers. Do the shepherds fixate on factoids? Do the shepherds fixate on selling their factoids? How do these factoids help their sheep get in the right fold? Having bought and read yet another Christian book of amazing facts, real and imagined, can you hear, obey and expand God’s kingdom better than before money went from your wallet to the author’s? Is it mere knowledge, or spiritual knowledge; is it mere worshiping in truth, or worshiping in spirit and truth; is it mere logos facts or partnership with a living Holy Spirit that helps Christ in us be? Then let all taught of the Lord with eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to obey, witness to the world who is the Christ. Let all who can, witness who is the Christ. Let all who can, see who is the Christ. Let all who can, be who is the Christ. From the east to the west, let Christ, then, return in a cloud of His sanctified vessels, at His sudden time, in His awesome power, with His conquering love and His perfectly sound mind. And leave off emergent gobbledygook and prophetic jabberwocky!
19) Mining Believers for Billion$ vs. Lessons Freely Received and Given
In better times, Christian television programs had modest appeals for funds. But now programs seem to be mostly commercials. They hawk DVDs, CDs, VCR tapes, cassette tapes, books, Bibles, electronic Bibles, software, clothes, trinkets, candles, anointing oil, seminars, conventions, crusades, cruises, indulgences (oops, Martin Luther stopped that years ago, didn’t he?) and perhaps their own mothers if they could. The Gospels don’t tell us much about what was sold under Christ’s watch. However Christ did admonish his disciples who received freely to, well, give freely. To paraphrase Peter: “Silver and gold have we none, but such as we have we freely encourage you to shop on our website, or use our toll-free order line, and pay by credit card and be fulfilled by our mega-ministry warehouse center! Use VISA or MasterCard to buy my Jesus Wants You Debt Free book! Malachi 3:10, brother. Wave that check! Support me and get your one-hundred fold blessing! No, make that a thousand fold blessing with your next thousand dollar love gift! These incredible offers won’t last forever! Help me pay for my NEXT BIGGER, FASTER… (Watch this! Watch this!) EXECUTIVE JET!!! And, of course, We’ve got to buy aircraft rapture insurance! (WINK! WINK!) Call and pledge today! Sow your NEED to our GREED! (You didn’t hear that!) Act now, and sign up for our LUXURY SEA CRUISE! Attend our Jesus Wants You Skinny Seminar and then enjoy the ship’s all you can eat buffet. Or attend the Don’t Be a Gullible Christian Seminar for an additional $2,000. Or for just $10,000 more, you can attend our Means Justify the End Times Conference. To purchase this life-changing cruise all we ask is that you pay for you and your family, and ME and MINE!!! PAY-RAISE THE LORD!”
20) We Don’t Need Maturity vs. Be Ye Spiritually Mature, and Live
Current popular Church teaching discourages the very mandate God requires in this day, which is to die to self at ever increasing levels, manifest God at ever increasing levels and expand God’s kingdom at ever increasing levels. Why is this so? Because: Common Christian doctrines about the future, which typically includes the rapture, the imminent second coming as a spectacular singularity and eternal security, are delusional. Why die to self, if a “Beam-Me-Up-Scotty-God” is going to get us out of our life’s battle zones? But when a hard thing comes to the unprepared (and, by the way, unraptured) believer, that believer is unable to conquer the situation if he can’t hear and obey God’s rhema voice. Ditto for eternal security believers. Why try the rugged road of righteousness, when a simple sinner’s prayer and the belief that “Jesus did it all” is so much easier? But when a hard thing comes to the (supposed) eternal security believer who doesn’t know God’s voice, he is slaughtered by the enemy. Same goes for believers of the Imminent-Return-of-Mr.-Fix-It-All-Jesus. Why learn the disciplines to hear and obey Jesus’ rhema voice, when He “soon and very soon” will set foot on the Mount of Olives and make everything so blessedly perfect? So when most every opportunity to manifest Christ fails to happen in the unsanctified life of a baby-doctrine-taught Christian, the purposes of heaven are massively frustrated. And it is so sad. Because today’s Church clings tenaciously to its wrong doctrines, which result in multitudes dying in ignorance and failure because they learned little more from the Church than unrighteous love mush. When God’s small quiet voice prompts believers to leave off unjustness and filthiness, and acquire righteousness and holiness; likely as not that believer’s preacher on Sunday will repeat rapture, eternal security and imminent return teachings, which is today’s lazy, hazy, crazy, give-up-gospel message saying: Why try?
21) No Pride of Life Here! vs. Prospering in Circumcised Humility
To walk in God’s abundant, overflowing prosperity without fierce warfare against pride-of-life puts us in danger of becoming world-class hypocrites. Knowledge makes us prideful. Success makes us prideful. Money makes us prideful. Luxury cars make us prideful. Executive jet travel can really make us prideful. Exclusive, isolated-from-the-plebian mega-ministry living absolutely can make us prideful. But it apparently doesn’t affect any mega-ministers of this age, according to their incessant lifestyle boasting. And when confronted, they protesteth too much. The result: Mega-ministry followers don’t fight pride-of-life as they themselves prosper. Just count the jaywalking masses as they leave the next ministry conference event. Watch them walk past the downtown needy. Watch them butt in line at the airport, with no decent concern for others already in line. Pride of life puts leaders and followers above the laws of man and God every time. And it is a shame. It hadn’t ought to be happening, but it is. The cut of our covenant needs be hidden, lest we be prideful and our boasting interfere with God’s work.
22) Give One to Another vs. Give Tithes and Offerings to Ministries
The ministries of Jesus and John are summarized quite compactly in the Gospels. Jesus said His ministry boils down to loving God and loving your neighbor. Then He modeled that by giving His life as a demonstration of that agape love. However, the taught-of-mega-ministry sheep often focus on tithing, prosperity, rapture, end-times dispensation doctrine and anything but giving one to another. John’s ministry was summarized by the question, What should we do? John said give your extra coat to another. Then he said the second thing is as the first, but with food. The emphasis is on giving one to another. This agape love of one giving to another is God’s definition of heaven on earth. But the mega-ministers’ message of tithe-to-ministry-and-prosper-until-rapture too often absolves devotees of their agape duty to give one to another. The ministries whose top-of-mind-awareness message is “tithe-and-reap-blessings,” well… their force is not right. Though their ministry coffers are full, and though ministries themselves often give to each other’s ministries, the message the sheep learn from mega-ministers is to first give to the ministry, then all will be well. These ministry sheep have been absolved from ever giving anything to anybody, person to person. Such sheep make hell, not heaven on earth. Until the mega-ministries emphasize giving (love, gifts, respect, honor, time) one to another trumps giving (love, gifts, respect, honor, time) to ministries, their Gospel remains tragically skewed, and God’s kingdom coming to earth tragically delayed, and those supposedly taught-of-the-Lord will remain tragically unable to manifest their Lord’s Behold-I-Come-Quickly return. This is the latter day abomination of desolation: God unable to indwell in abodes of wrong doctrine and deceived spirits.
23) Madness, Lunacy and Mojo vs. Feeding Sheep
Television Christian ministers sometimes present inane, bellicose banalities pretending to be profundities of the highest order: You’re NOT getting it, they say. Other ministers sometimes give manic, emotional diatribes spewed out with machine-gun furor, along with endless scripture quotes of bounce-back-and-forth-scripture-chasing confusion and misdirection of thought. Other ministers employ a staccato of claptrap clichés, background musical crescendos and witchcraft-controlling rapid fire directives: Turn to your neighbor, say this, do that, turn to a Bible verse, turn to another, go back to the first, consider this verse but don’t turn to it, rub your belly, pat your head, finish my sentence, Simon says don’t think! This allows the Lords of Lunacy to hypnotize their sheep to say B-A-A-A-A-A, and A-A-A-A-A-MEN and T-I-I-I-I-I-I-THE and do everything disconnected from God’s Spirit to convince themselves of their happiness without ever truly being fed Christ or being ever able to manifest Him. The sheep are not being fed Christ, they don’t act Christ-like but they do continue to have a craven desire to get “filled” again at the next expensive show. Deca-millionaire ministers regularly extract from followers, some in poverty, to give their ministry ten percent of their income and buy their next “life-changing” book or other must have products, conventions or cruises! It is beyond scandalous. Christ-fed sheep are wise, not suckers; quickened, not dead-looking; independent, not grotesquely obsequious. Sheep that are fed Christ are healthy. Sheep that are fed ego and deception look like some of the misshapen, beguiled troops who now attend ministry meetings. Such conference shepherds teach how to be obnoxious to the Lord and useless to man. This is the fruit of some modern ministries: Abodes of prideful desolation teaching more abodes to be proudly desolate, unable to please or manifest Christ, but nonetheless manically thrilled with ministry witchcraft mojo deception. Turn to somebody and say He’s in the house. This is Revelation’s last page warning against whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
24) Manifesting Our Devilishly-Deceived Selves vs. Manifesting Christ
Amazingly, the Bible’s main message seems to have been lost in centuries of clutter. The message is that Christ must come and manifest Himself in us now. With the Holy Spirit He can indwell in us, if – and it is a big if – we have our heads screwed on straight, meaning we have Father God’s doctrine (i.e. hard truth) and its discipline, which disallows every form of pride, vanity and self-exaltation. This despite what television preachers blithely witness to the contrary. All would be fine except the horrific fact that conventional Christian religion is seemingly opposed to that singular good thing from ever happening in its body. Many of conventional Christianity’s habits, traditions, beliefs and doctrines are perversely opposed in everlasting enmity to the ultimate realization of Christ actually indwelling in us. All of the Bible’s transcendent truths, of Christ transitioning Himself into our selves, as seen in John’s chapters 14 through 17, or Isaiah’s call-outs to this high way, or the Bible’s first page command to have dominion over the spirit realm, or the Bible’s last page’s triple iteration that Jesus comes quickly have been lost to truth. It is well understood that Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit without limit, but the Church has taught to receive Christ without His Spirit. Even those who opt to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, often stay content at an extremely miniscule portion of spirit-led life. Out of this hellish stupor believers in Christ must rise up and demand to receive full baptism of the Holy Spirit and full baptism of the fire of sin-revealing and sin-overcoming tribulation until we in humility and obedience hear, obey and manifest Christ at levels all creation groans in anticipation to see the revealing thereof. In other words, we must be in whom comes quickly our God. When we read, “Behold, I come quickly,” we must agree with Jesus that in our lives: Yes, He certainly came and was, He certainly comes and is and He certainly will come and be in us. Who we are must be who Christ is. Who Christ is must be who we are. He is the great I am. And He calls to us and says: Now, with Me be. Behold, I come. Are you ready? Behold, I come: I in you, you in Me. Behold, then, the Body of Christ rise and shine!
25) Unrighteous Capitulation vs. the Sword of Truth and Spirit
Country western singer Waylon Jennings wrote, “Lord, it’s the same old tune, fiddle and guitar. Where do we take it from here?...It’s been the same way for years. We need a change.” Many television preachers teach rule-based tithing, rapture, eternal security, dispensational dogma, the imminent return of Just-Fix-Everything-Instantly-Jesus (their own miscreant selves excluded, of course!) and that the only prophet is an entertaining one. Such prophets could not get even a dog that wet the carpet to show remorse. Yet the Church itself is neither housebroken nor repentant enough for God to indwell at sufficient levels. In truth, there is no rapture, no eternal security and Jesus comes quickly in the prepared-for-Him-inside now. Giving must be rhema-based not percentage rule-based. The Church’s end-times dispensational doctrine is a colossally wrong misdirection and poorly prepares the Church, much less the world, for tomorrow’s troubles. Tribulations come with opportunity to be sanctified because hard circumstances penetrate a soul’s stupor. Only when the Church teaches the disciplines required to worship God in spirit and truth and then hear and obey Christ’s rhema voice will the Church be equal to tomorrow’s emergencies, opportunities and potential revivals. TV preachers rake in millions of dollars in sales by pandering fear, greed and giddiness to sheep worldwide. This, despite occasional rebel critics who, to paraphrase Jennings, ask, “Are you sure Christ done it this way?” Truly, the Church has missed it by a mile. Ministries will have to massively repent of wickedly hanging on to wrong doctrines, which make them unable to manifest Christ themselves, and for their brazen audacity in hawking their worldly antichrist opinions like voracious whores. Why should God’s people buy Satan’s doctrines from the Church? Church leaders, wash the inside of the cup. Church leaders, die to self. Church leaders, stop extracting dollars unrighteously. Church leaders, stop flailing at the world with a scabbard of puerile doctrines, and pick up Christ’s two-edged sword of spirit and truth. And use that sword against your wrong beliefs and your wrong spirits. And then publicly repent of your misdeeds of proclaiming truth that was not truth and being of a spirit that was not of God. The world will see you become more and more as God’s very truth and even as God’s very spirit. And then, verily verily the Lord God Almighty says unto you, you will see true revival.
Amen, Amen and Amen.
Chapter 1 – What Are In That Day Teachings?
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/2011
Indwelling, Western Enlightenment and Higher Teachings. These are three things not particularly hard to read. But it turns out to be something very hard to have faith in.
Faith for what? Faith to fix much that’s wrong with modern Christianity, and not insignificantly, the world for that matter.
The world currently suffers from universal hidden enslavement. It’s hard to see, but if you scratch the surface, it’s there. Call it socialism. Call it soft tyranny. Call it too much taxation. Call it lousy church. Call it easily penned sheep!
I call it politic and cleric mystic tyranny, the eternal plague of mankind. Just watch the other hand, and you’ll see lots!
From the pulpit: you’ll see three things. Greed. Fear. And slouch. Pastors call it prosperity give-to-me-get-from-God (wink-wink, I add) preaching, rapture dispensation (so called, I add) “prophecy” and emergent-seeker-friendly “relevance” (is a comment really necessary?) So, I call all this: shenanigans.
From the politicians we seldom hear them thank the pulpit for serving up such gullible, easily penned, ready-to-be-further sheared sheep! They should, because politicians sell mainly socialism, which includes much greed (get others to pay!), fear (what if they don’t?) and slouch (never mind Margaret Thatcher said socialists always run out of other people’s money!)
So church is stuck in shrunken-head land. It wants to stay within the 800 pages of the bible, where pressures to think like an upright non-monkey are kept to an absolute manageable minimum.
Thus, it’s time for Western Enlightenment to come to the rescue for the church, and also by the way, individuals! But what is Western Enlightenment and what will it do for us?
Western Enlightenment is the great treasure trove of proven-by-fire wisdom of the Greek-Roman-Jewish-Gothic-Christian ages. The list is too long to ever really tally, but it mainly consists of continued correction against the dark side of us all. Things like trust but verify, speak truth to power, three-part constitutional republic government, Natural Law, the walk should match the talk, advancement through faults exposed and forgiven. Shorthand, it is LOVE in capitals, love from above, God’s lovely, orderly live-life advice.
Western Enlightenment mandatory membership requirement for correction has been despised and rejected for about as long as hateful and divisive socialism has been worshipped and accepted. That would be for about one-hundred years, as of this writing.
Let us pray it will not take the church, or the world’s individuals, one hundred years to get back God’s brilliant, self-correcting Western Enlightenment! (Which reminds me, don’t confuse what I’m talking about here with “Enlightenment” of the early teen millennium when God was removed from intellect.)
Now, here is the magic. When people get back to Western Enlightenment’s precepts and lines (see Isaiah 28), they will inevitably, inexorably and haply get back to Higher Teachings, sometimes also called Higher Thought. And after their thinking is at least somewhat better organized, they will get back to Christ-in-You indwelling.
Voila! The restoration of all things! Christ-in-You indwelling (Go, God-in-you!), Western Enlightenment (still advancing, through the ages!) and Higher Teachings. All improving. All self-correcting, even if at less than perfect levels. All, at some percentage or the other, God-bearing
Interestingly, the work reintroduces abiding teamwork, verses the Frankfurt Socialist School of endless divisiveness without faith-for remedy.
Un-gullible, intelligent folk who always watch the other hand vs. dupes of Christian greed-fear-slouch mongering, dupes passed onto politicians ready and willing to further fleece the shivering sheep with hidden slavery’s soft or not-so-hidden slavery’s hard socialist tyranny.
And lastly: confirmable salutatory immanently-honorable Christ-in-You-ness understood, explained and celebrated in man, woman and child.
Not bad for a millennium day’s work. Or more correctly: In That Day. What is In That Day? It’s God’s biblical time of uplifting dénouement. It’s His period on the end of His sentence. No, it is not the end-of-days. Nor is it that crazy notion some call rapture. It is simply His day when he can tolerate stupefied Christians no more! He wants a greater mind-meld with us, His creation. And by God, He will get what He wants!
Hence, now is the time when God’s mind gets opportunity to download His apps of light, intelligence and indwelling. It’s been a rare but wonderful thing that’s happened to saints since creation. But now, In That Day perhaps, God’s nature in us can be had for a cost that is at once low but also high.
What does it take to join in God-bearing In That Day? Well, some already are in In That Day. They found the way by themselves or even with church! But the rest need help, and sadly many might discover the price is too high.
What is the cost of Christ-in-You-ness? Pride. You’ve got to lose it. That is often too high a price for many. Hope that’s not you!
Before losing wrong doctrines of greed-fear-slouch (read prosperity-rapture-emergent-sonsnes) you’ve got to lose pride in such hogwash. Because bad doctrine drives bad devils in our souls! Lose the bad doctrines, and you lose the great things bothering oneself inside oneself!
Then, you also have to have faith in tough-as-nails truth! See the last sentence of the above paragraph. Often, church-talk avoids such tough talk. I don’t.
So sadly, many won’t lose pride and gain faith. They’ll walk away, like the rich young ruler did to Christ. (We’ll have faith such a man will grow, and perchance come back?)
But as for you, dear reader, you won’t cling to pride and wrong doctrine, will you? No?
No, you won’t will you?
Good! Very good!
Begin!
Is Christianity Mumbo Jumbo?
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/20/11
Is Christianity mumbo jumbo,
Or men of word and deed?
Mumbo Jumbo men and women,
Have all the Christ they need!
But folk of word and deed,
Work plan A with B in reserve,
Mumbo Jumbos don’t plan,
On blind course, they never swerve!
Folk of word and deed,
Make their part of their world a nice place,
Mumbo Jumbos well,
As Christians think: they win the rat race!
Mumbo Jumbo Christians,
Never stop thinking of themselves most highly,
Word and Deed’ers, they pray,
All right, then, we’ll go to hell most likely!
Who makes heaven?
And who gets left behind?
Well, it depends,
Tell us, what’s on your mind?
Our Insuperable Situation
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/22/10
Big government is big insanity,
We see, but they see not,
They mainstream barbarism,
We see wisdom forgot.
They see we are the problem,
In place they have pogroms,
Quite violent them against us,
We ants against their damns.
Pardon our eyes seeing elbows,
Get ready innocent against their blows,
We plainly see their world is insane,
Snuffing out seers is their game.
Big religion,
Is no help,
They blind sheep,
Without whelp.
The blinders wink,
With their all-seeing Eye,
What they don’t see,
Exists not, don’t ask why.
Low-level Christian broadcast leaders,
Shill inanities from vaunted video pulpits,
Seers see their puerile shenanigans,
Self-absorbed, demigod, narcissist Muppets.
Our insuperable situation,
Leaders: blind as a bat,
Who won’t have the sight of seers,
Whom they smash flat.
Come now, and marinate your mind with these In That Day Teachings. I pray they feed your spirit well.
The goal is to see how often marionette minds are controlled by wrong doctrines of wayward ministries.
And those wayward ministries annually extract (and waste) hundreds of millions of dollars to boost egos.
And those wayward ministries duplicate their duplicitous messages because each leader's ego needs it.
And these In That Day Teachings are designed to help you hear and obey God, and forgo ego and sin.
And these In That Day Teachings cost you your carnal desires, but they can set your spirit free.
And when you hear and obey God, you do not need another rich man's book, or control. Just the Bible.
And when people hear and obey God on this planet, you will have peace among the peaceful.
And the peaceful will be at peace when the deaf-to-God-and-alive-to-self destroy themselves, as they must.
And the wise who understand this and other hard things about the future will weep for a season.
And those who do not understand this and other hard things about the future, will mock the wise.
So let the wise weep and let the fools mock the wise. It is time the two are separated.
Let the wise come into the Master's barn, which is truth, which is heaven come now on earth.
Let the foolish be gathered and thrown on the pile that burns, which is spiritual scourging and self-destruction.
Thus will the false posers among us eliminate themselves while the truly good among us rise and shine in God.
Chapter 2 – Line Upon Line, Precept Upon Precept
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/2011
Okay, I promise to be short. We’ve got some really big concepts to discuss herein, but the last thing the Christian world needs is another dumb, long book of church-speak. Hence the common vernacular used to punch through the spiritual haze of it all.
So, if I’m too abbreviated for you, go to www.inthatdayteachings.com and search through my poetry books or other miscellaneous pages. Use your browser’s search field and type in any word, phrase or subject you desire. Hopefully something useful will pop up.
But, I might be too wordy for you. Sorry. Let me explain. In Isaiah Chapter 28, it says in verse … of the Amplified Bible: (thanks to www.biblegateway.com)
9To whom will He teach knowledge? [Ask the drunkards.] And whom will He make to understand the message? Those who are babies, just weaned from the milk and taken from the breasts? [Is that what He thinks we are?]
10For it is [His prophets repeating over and over]: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, rule upon rule, rule upon rule; here a little, there a little.
11No, but [the Lord will teach the rebels in a more humiliating way] by men with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people [says Isaiah, and teach them His lessons].
12To these [complaining Jews the Lord] had said, This is the true rest [the way to true comfort and happiness] that you shall give to the weary, and, This is the [true] refreshing--yet they would not listen [to His teaching].
13Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them [merely monotonous repeatings of]: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, rule upon rule, rule upon rule; here a little, there a little--that they may go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.
You see, church has been idiotically repeating the same-old-same-old for years. It’s really not much in the way of true lines and precepts building upon lines and precepts. It’s just often brain-fluff repetition of known stories and sayings de-linked with much in the way of profound.
However, these In That Day Teachings are different. They ARE line upon line and precept upon precept of God’s doctrines, way and life of High Teachings… as known by every saint that ever lived, and as kept in the bosom of any prophet ever stoned to death…. And as understood, recognized and taught by Master Jesus Christ Himself.
But therein lies the problem. In That Day Teachings are somewhat ethereal. Sometimes even so high as to be rather inscrutable. Then again, they are plain as a steak. And they produce good fruit. Inspect yourself after exposing yourself to the teachings’ cogency.
You’ll find the teachings go far, far beyond and above normal churchianity. Wow! You’ll think, my pastor would never go for this!
Why? Because they are often stuck in institutions of wrong doctrine. But you are not!
But there still are many objections to overcome. Why is there no discernable order, as in one through ten or something like that. Again, I say sorry. Isaiah simply called them line upon line and precept upon precept. That’s the best description I’ve seen, actually.
The teachings are not God’s Big One-Hundred List of Truths! No, they are not.
If you want to make a list, go ahead. I’ve done it. And the list becomes too much to ponder at once.
It’s actually very similar to creating a list of Western Enlightenment’s (WE) precepts. Here, let’s try:
a) Natural Law
b) Leaders who receive correction from underlings
c) Three-part constitutional democratic republic government
d) Speak truth to power
e) Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
f) Free speech and ridicule used against ossified institutions and leaders
g) The right to self-defense including guns, rifles and shotguns (and knives!)
h) One man one vote
i) Equal protection under the law
j) Opposition to political correctness and all Frankfurt School shenanigans
k) Flexible command
l) Trial by jury of peers
m) Honor unto whom honor is due (esteem WE pioneer/heroes)
n) Self-Sacrifice is Great Love (self-on-altar for sake of group not-on-altar)
o) Settle for best (or least worst), avoid unobtainable “perfect” utopian memes
p) Property rights, intellectual rights, income rights, savings rights
q) Etc.
I don’t know about you, but these concepts stop the brain, engage a lot of tough-as-nails thought to buy into, and only years of teaching or learning about these things enable a mind that can carry so many buckets of buckets of teachings.
So, to produce this particular book about higher teachings of God, I choose not to list how many and what are the myriad of teachings. If you are new to this material, be hungry for much more than a dozen concepts (lines and precepts), yet be content if you understand several score or so (meaning 60 to 100).
Wow, you might be thinking. Where did this man get all this information?
Good question. Ever ask a saintly person you happened to meet where they got it?
Well, if you have… and I have… the answer is not so surprising. A person packing a lot of these precepts and lines usually has received it… (in the beginning, anyway) from somebody else and or “elses.” They received higher teachings from another high-taught one or group of ones.
In my case, a group of about three I was able to meet and learn from back in Southern California from about 1994 through the year 2001. They want to remain anonymous, and I will respect their wishes. I have lost contact with them, and I believe most or all of them are with the Lord in heaven, or will soon be.
This group that met me was like a lot of groups here and there that help people in extraordinary ways of the spirit. They, like all of us, were an unfinished work in process. But believe me, they were a lot further down the road than you meet in churchianity!
Hence, lacking perfection I made mistakes. Most groups do. Most individuals do.
Over the years, I’ve met several people who have been helped by such groups, and also been such groups themselves helping others.
Strangely, these groups are at once comprised of very intelligent minds yet minds that have yet to succeed in creating written work that has publishing success.
I hope to break that track record with this work.
And you can see the progress of my mind if www.inthatdayteachings.com still has a record of my earlier work, recorded in Book Two. Therein you will find excessive words, excessive anger, excessive bitterness, yet amazing insight, amazing cogency, amazing pierce-the-bubble-of-fog in churchianity! So, witness how God works in a sad soul such as myself, and take faith that God can work much more easily in you!
In the 1959 Movie Ben Hur, Pontius Pilate said to Ben Hur, regarding bad-man Messala, “What he did had its way with him. Where there is greatness, great government or power, even great feeling or compassion; error also is great. We progress and mature by fault.”
So it has been for all of us, and our ancestors since the beginning of time. This Western Enlightenment precept is no less true for these In That Day Teachings. They, and I and perhaps even you: are a work in process, unavoidably having fault, then progressing and maturing, if we sufficiently repent, forgive… and thereby expand all love.
Also, I find that this pioneer work is much like all pioneer work. Not only does the pioneer get arrows in the back, but the biggest problem is simply the breakthrough!
In 1954 Roger Bannister became the first person to achieve a sub-four-minute mile, 3:59.4. Since then the ‘four-minute barrier” has become the standard of all professional runners of the mile. Whew!
Let’s hope the same for readers of In That Day Teachings!
As for me, I write things, especially poetry, that changes me. I hope it will change the world, but it first changes me. It begins by the ridiculously humbling demand within that requires napping after great spiritual uplift. So I have napped a lot.
This pioneer work has required that I not disbelieve it. That I not succumb to shear insanity, nor deep depression nor even uncontrollable ecstasy. I have had to simply plow through the work and believe.
Then, later on… surprising miracles happen. It is a strange work. People, on occasion, believe I am at a much higher station in God than I could imagine myself ever obtaining.
Well, it is God’s mysterious way. And believe me, brother and sister, it is mysterious. You can bet on that.
The most surprising thing I think I could ever encounter in life, is a reader who plowed through all available In That Day Teachings material, and wasn’t changed for the better.
Of course, there are always the “uncorrectables” looking for a fight. Let’s not fight them, okay?
For after all, In That Day Teachings are work that will test prayers asking for help to hike spiritual Mount Zion, or Hebron even! The High Country is always there, somewhere in God. The question is, dare we hike it?
Or, dare we not?
Chapter 3 – Oh My God! No Greed, Fear or Slouch?
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/2011
Oh My God! Greed, fear and slouch are not attributes of God?
No way. No how. Not ever. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Uh, uh. No, no, no! Nope. No way, Jose. En Espanol, nunca!
Happily for us, but sadly for some church folk, it turns out that In That Day Teachings continually discover what’s wrong with church: Namely: greed, fear and slouch. And these three things are connected to doctrines.
Ouch! That is the really tough part. Identifying lousy doctrines, jettisoning them and replacing them with God’s attributes! Hurray!
But first we must attend to the ever-present doctrines of greed, fear and slouch that unfortunately are so common in common Christianity.
And before we get into details, be warned. We’re not playing games, here. Yes, the language is casual and loose by way of introduction. But getting rid of greed, fear and slouch doctrines is going to be one of the toughest things you’ll have to do In That Day.
Okay, you might say to yourself, what idiot Christian would want to hang onto greed, fear or slouch? I better not answer that question, so as to not offend. But if you get my drift, these cherished doxies are most likely to be in your typical modern church.
And if you have been going to the typical modern church, this isn’t going to be easy. If you are not ready to receive answers to prayer about “oh-God-I-just-want-to-grow-in-you” and you want to hide out in small religion, be my guest! Go ahead. And sadly, go away.
But if you want to walk up to the bar of truth, order a stiff one and swallow it down no matter how bitter it makes your stomach feel, march on brave soldier!
And one more warning: Don’t argue with me on this chapter. Just swallow it in whole at first, and later dedicate yourself to prayer and ask for confirmation. Because, the confirmation is there. It’s everywhere. But don’t get hung up on your pet doctrine.
Because, it is likely that many readers will have one predilection or the other. So delight in the deconstruction herein of the doctrines you don’t adhere to. And then later see all three doctrines are equally bad.
Okay? Okay.
To begin with, greed is promulgated by the Prosperity Doctrine. It says, more or less, if you give to a Prosperity Preacher then God will give you a blessing. Sometimes the blessing promised by the Preacher, or rather it’s a promise the preacher says God will perform… is a thirty, sixty or ninety or for the sake of rounding hundredfold or thousand-fold (heck, why not!) increase.
Now, an economics professor will tell you if you want an increase, then perform a service or deliver a product or earn a return on an investment. Perhaps even discover a buried treasure. But econ profs usually abbreviate it to the fact that we get money by providing a good or serve. Period.
The above paragraph is from Western Enlightenment. It is reasonable. It makes sense. It is logical. It is industrious, even. You might even say it is godly.
But give-to-get shenanigans as practiced by so many wolf-shepherds… well it is anti-Western Enlightenment, hence: un-correctable. It is unreasonable. It makes no sense. It is illogical. It is greedy, especially. You might even say it is ungodly. I do. You?
Okay, either you see it or you don’t. No use for pages of material here.
Next comes fear as promulgated by the Rapture Doctrine. It says, more or less, if you believe in Christ that’s not enough. You also have to believe that he’s coming to take you away, and that soon! Then you will be blessed, that is IF you believe those two things: In Jesus, and that Jesus takes you out. Sort of an “in” and then “out.” If you don’t believe in the “out” portion enough, well maybe you won’t make it “out.” Hence: fear.
Rapture Doctrine makes fear of being “Left Behind.” Because those left behind get the mother of all tribulations. And we all want to avoid hard work, you know! Never mind some poor chaps or chapesses we know seem to already have lived through nothing but excruciating tribulation. They can’t have it any worse, because that’s all they’ve known. We must forget that, and rather believe in shenanigans. Because that’s what rapture theory is.
Now, you may protest: The bible clearly says on the last page, “Behold, I come quickly.” To which I say, precisely!
Precisely, what? Well, let’s hold that discussion for another chapter. But suffice it to say we need eyes to see and ears to hear spiritually just how quick Jesus comes in Spirit to us continually. Only the fearful can’t see too well spiritually, can they? Trust me, they cannot.
Without getting too upset with me, consider this logical conundrum we might potentially have here: Fearful folk believe in the rapture, and the rapture creates fearful folk.
Jesus, on the other hand, says that with eyes to see and ears to hear spiritually, you shall see He comes quickly! But you must be strong and of a good courage! (Duh!)
Yet the rapture preachers never stop preaching their ink-blot imaginings (Rorschach inkblot test I believe it’s called) regarding dispensational dystopia. Further, rapture is always a utopian belief that like all utopian creations: is insidiously provided to its believers though never quite obtainable in the here and present. It is the definition of a utopia: Something to believe in and occupy oneself with, but has the same chance as a snowflake in hell of ever actually coming into existence.
The great political philosopher Eric Voegelin warned in 1956 to not “immanentize the Eschaton,” meaning don’t try to bring the end-of-days into today. He warned it is the con-man’s trick, easy to trick others with, a con that creates confusion and smallness of mind, a con that amps up fear and breeds illogical hysteria. If you don’t believe me, look at the Muslim parallel with their twelve imam shenanigans. Oh, the horror!
The above paragraph is from Western Enlightenment. It is reasonable. It makes sense. It is logical. It is industrious, even. You might even say it is godly.
But fear-mongering rapture promulgation, as practiced by so many wolf-shepherds… well it is anti-Western Enlightenment, hence: un-correctable. It is unreasonable. It makes no sense. It is illogical. It is fearful, especially. You might even say it is ungodly. I do. You?
Okay, either you see it or you don’t. No use for pages of material here.
And the third-most common demon to be found in church systems is slouch. That would be emergent church. That would be seeker-friendly church. That would be pastor-in-Hawaiian-shirt-and-flip-flops, dude! Oh yah, casual church! Can I hear a, “That’s cool, dude!”
Right. Or, not so right. Emergent gobbledygook is extremely toxic to a good mind. Even to a not-so-good mind, gobbledygook is still quite toxic!
The bible says, “Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” Mathew 5:7. You said it, Jesus!
Slouch church is always saying things like this: “Hey guys, we need to be relevant and seeking. Remember, Christ never forgot you. How many of you know, it’s illogical to ask how-many-of-you-know questions and not count hands? If we just knew our problems are explained by one word, expectations! Don’t think, and don’t be disappointed. Have you voted socialist? You didn’t hear that! Remember, doctrinal discussions are divisive! So, don’t have them! Relationships! That’s the word! Impact! That’s another word. So is blah, blah. No, that’s two words. Disparate fluidity. That’s another two words. Impressed? That’s another word. Stream. Another. Stop. (Can’t!)
Such gobbledygook, whether in church, school or capitol, competes against everything else that is good that occupies your mind. Nonsense can and will replace sense, if allowed. Nonsense is a lie. Lies create death. Truth combats nonsense. Truth creates life. Life is better than death. Choose life. Therefore, void gobbledygook.
The above paragraph is from Western Enlightenment. It is reasonable. It makes sense. It is logical. It is industrious, even. You might even say it is godly.
But slouch-thought promulgation, as practiced by so many wolf-shepherds… well it is anti-Western Enlightenment, hence: un-correctable. It is unreasonable. It makes no sense. It is illogical. It is fearful, especially. You might even say it is ungodly. I do. You?
Okay, either you see it or you don’t. No use for pages of material here.
So there is what I hope you find a merciful short descript of churchianity’s three plagues: Greed, fear and slouch. Caution. Do not try to correct your leaders if they preach any of these three things. Remember, by definition greed, fear and slouch are anti-Western Enlightenment. Therefore, adherents of same are uncorrectable. Sorry. It’s just the way it is.
You might enjoy correction. Your friends and loved ones might. But no leader of greed, fear or slouch will ever stand to be corrected. It is stupid of us to think they might! They won’t! No, not ever!
If you want to keep walking higher with God, you’ll have to become an out-of-churcher, if you are not already. Or you will have to keep your mouth shut around the estupidos.
I find it vastly easier to simply not attend greed-fear-slouch church!
But happy will be the day if any greed-fear-slouch leaders repent! Oh, hallelujah, that would be a miracle! But they won’t, because they can’t, because they believe their doctrines.
Part of the problem is that those doctrines help the leaders to have faith. In effect, they pay their leaders well. Problem is, they are being paid by the duped! So it just beats up the faith of the duped?
Why does greed-fear-slouch help its leaders but hurt its duped followers? Because money is a rather fine guarantee against life’s unpleasantness. Greed-fear-slouch merchants receive good pay! That pay protects them from their own advice!
But the poor sheep, well that’s another matter! They receive terrible benefits from supporting merchants of greed-fear-slouch. Such sheep beat up their faith! They are at the bottom, not the top, of the Ponzi pyramid. They also receive little protection from the idiotic decisions one makes from greed, or fear or slouch! Too bad for them!
One would think this is all obvious, except for one strange thing. How do the deceivers deceive? I call it Nuero-Linguistic-Programming (NLP). Look it up. It is high, high witchcraft. It is the art of mind control. It is the alpha omega for shrunken-brain pastors creating shrunken-brain sheep.
And that, friends, we will wait to discuss in another chapter, as now I see that, just like Jesus said in John 16:12, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”
Maybe even I can’t bear them now.
You? Didn’t think so.
Just remember:
No Greed!
No Fear!
Not any,
Slouch!
Amen.
What’s Wrong with This Coin?
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 10/3/08
What’s wrong with this coin?
This dark copper I have here,
One side has the face mask of greed,
The other, the face mask of fear.
Heads is the face mask of Prosperity:
Give to get anything.
Tails is the face mask of Rapture:
Fear missing the King.
I got this coin from being partners,
With preachers on TV,
They sell me one lie or the other,
I buy fear or greed.
But this coin buys nothing in heaven,
It’s not the coin of that realm,
Instead it’s the coin of lie making,
Where deception rules helm.
Fear and greed are two spirits,
Both not of God.
Funny, I got them from churches,
Few think it odd.
Some love fear but loath greed,
Hating the prosperity creed,
Others love greed but loath fear,
Thinking rapture is bad feed.
Fear and greed are just two faces,
Of Satan’s same wretched coin,
Fear and greed can’t get you to heaven,
They come from Satan’s loin.
I’ve never heard a prosperity preacher,
Who didn’t believe in the rapture,
I’ve never heard a rapture preacher,
Who my money didn’t need capture.
Fear and greed, greed and fear,
Emotional boom and bust,
Blessed are the courageous poor in spirit,
In God of heaven they trust.
Without worshipping fear and greed doctrines,
We can worship God in spirit and truth,
Jesus comes quickly to indwell such clean souls,
In whom devil lies and spirits do forsooth.
So if you want to truly miss the King,
Worship fear or greed,
Support prosperity and rapture ministries,
Your money they need.
They need your hard earned money to broadcast,
Lies all over the place,
They are driven to keep Christ from indwelling,
The whole human race.
But oh, how preachers and people do much love,
Doctrines of rapture and prosperity,
They keep hell busy minting fear and greed coinage,
For their hell on earth machine.
So what’s wrong with this fear and greed coin,
With smiling or frowning mask face?
Nothing, the coin separates truth from lie lovers,
And who will go to what place.
The Church of Emergent Gobbledygook
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/10
I went to church,
I was down on my luck,
I needed a plan,
To make a buck!
The church I went to,
Didn’t make much sense,
They told me it was,
Get this: Emergent!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT! EEH-MEHR-GHENT!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT is the WORD!
Warm fuzzy! Warm fuzzy!
Blah, blah! Blah, blah! ABSURD!
Bein’ from New York,
I picked up their con,
I had a dream!
And I was reborn!
I would write a book,
Explaining: Emergent!
For every weak-brained,
Jabberwocky saint!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT! EEH-MEHR-GHENT!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT is the WORD!
Warm fuzzy! Warm fuzzy!
Blah, blah! Blah, blah! ABSURD!
So I wrote my book,
And it made me rich!
‘Cause it tickled all ears,
With Emergent itch!
I explained the slick words of the,
Emergent Church under cover,
That words in Emergent Church mean,
Always one thing: WHATEVER!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT! EEH-MEHR-GHENT!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT is the WORD!
Warm fuzzy! Warm fuzzy!
Blah, blah! Blah, blah! ABSURD!
Now, God is the Word,
And the Word is God,
To make Him Whatever,
They think: not odd!
You see, they don’t care what God thinks!
Because they say: So what? Who cares ever?
So now, I’m rich, they’re poor: God winks,
His mind: Still ours to discover!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT! EEH-MEHR-GHENT!
EEH-MEHR-GHENT is the WORD!
Warm fuzzy! Warm fuzzy!
Blah, blah! Blah, blah! ABSURD!
Chapter 4 – Light –em Up! Strength, Courage and Humility
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/2011
With the bugaboos of greed, fear and slouch out of the way we are freer to discover some really good things in God. And the main thing now would be Openness to Higher Ground. That is something the political philosopher Eric Voegelin noticed about Western Enlightenment.
Western Enlightenment is always open to Higher Ground. You know, like Moses was. He turned aside to inquire about God’s Burning Bush. Good thing he did. He got rid of the Hebrew’s slavery, freed them up and changed history!
But you know, it’s not easy to be Open to Higher Ground, even though it was God’s original idea in the first place. I mean, let’s be honest! The LAST place you are ever going to find anyone open to Higher Ground is in churchianity! Don’t make me laught!
Okay, so here’s the deal. We are going to need three things to approach Higher Ground. We need strength, courage and humility. Let’s start with humility. If we have invested a lot in prosperity church, or rapture church or slouch church… it is hard to leave.
Again, we know we can’t correct the triple-headed beast of churchianity, but still… it is a hard thing to leave off. So grab a big portion of humble pie, eat it and say, “I regret buying their lies, I won’t anymore, and I’m outta here.”
Good, that didn’t hurt, did it? Sure it hurt! It always hurts to humble oneself.
By the way, I lifted “Strength, Courage and Humility” from Russian Martial Art. They have a saying, “The goal is to do permanent damage to one’s own ego!” Ha!
Next, it takes courage to leave insanity, err churchianity, because group-think is comforting! But you will find those old hymns, the bible’s proverbs, actually some of the sermons you remember… they were pretty good so long as you did what they said, not what the greed-fear-slouch leadership did!
“Though none go with me, I still will follow!” So, though your greed-fear-slouch group thinks you’re crazy, you might have to leave alone. That takes courage.
How do you get courage? Pray for it. Read Joshua’s first chapter, wherein it is mentioned four times! (Along with strength.)
And Joshua knew something about leaving Egypt, i.e. the world! (Even worldly religion!) He said it took strength and courage.
Where do you get these marvelous things? Well, you might try a good exercise program. As your body gains strength and courage, so also your soul and spirit.
Also, do everything in the right time. Not easily done, but great for maturity!
And figure, others have done it. You can too!
One benefit from leaving stupid doctrine, is that it no longer has the effect of shrinking your brain. It keeps shrinking the heads of folks enjoying greed-fear-slouch, but once you leave all that, you will enjoy a much greater mind.
And that’s the point: To improve your mind by getting rid of bad doxie, increasing your strength, courage and humility… so that finally the right doctrines get in (never easy!) and God gets to delight in your much-improved mind and thereby cohabitate it with you!
Oh my God, is that what is going on with In That Day Teachings?
Yes, yes and yes.
The goal is to get you fully invested by Christ-in-You-ness.
Well, why can’t God do that now, you might ask?
Well, God can do anything, of course. And He does, of course.
So nothing prevents God from inhabiting fully the minds of lotsa of folk with plenty of greed-fear-slouch in them. Only God doesn’t. Or I should say, He doesn’t much.
God does NOT occupy the minds of the greedy-fearful-slouchy because it would confuse people when they saw Him doing it. Nothing like God Almighty in a fearful person! You see, it’s too conflicted. Also, it’s too dangerous.
God-indwelling is primarily for the mature. And true maturity usually consists of some noteworthy levels of strength, courage and humility.
Because a God-indwelt person has chosen, and usually chosen for a long time, strength over weakness, courage over fear and humility over pride.
And don’t get me talking about pride! Okay, I will. Pride is the number one killer in churchianity. The only thing that kills pride is humility. Ask Job. Ask Satan, even. (Just kidding.)
God simply does not like pride.
So use humility.
Use courage.
Try even,
Strength.
Amen.
I am a Man of the Cloth
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 9/28/08
I went to the convenience store,
To buy a Diet Envy-Me Coke,
And to get me a smoke,
A Golden Cancer Prosperity Cigar!
Funny thing was, the man said to me clear,
We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
No sir, We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
He says to me, We got a special:
One hundred percent off,
That means to you it’s for free!
Humble pie, cases and cases, piled to the sky,
That means it’s all you can eat!
I says to him, You got anything else?
He says, I got a box of Orthodox Soap.
You got to be kiddin’ man, that’s not for me!
Maybe it’d work on the Pope!
Nah, it ain’t for the Pope,
It’s for you, Man of the Cloth,
Now this guy’s giving me ministry!
He says, The pie and the soap,
It ain’t no joke,
Heaven hopes it’ll set you free.
I gets out of there fast,
I go to my friend,
My Everything’s Cool Christian Saint.
I says, Gimme a little bag,
No make it big, friend,
Of Lung Bustin’, Seeker Friendly Mary Jane!
Funny thing was, the man said to me clear,
We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
No sir, We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
He says to me, We got a special:
One hundred percent off,
That means to you it’s for free!
Humble pie, cases and cases, piled to the sky,
That means it’s all you can eat!
I says to him, You got anything else?
He says, I got a box of Orthodox Soap.
You got to be kiddin’ man, that’s not for me!
Maybe it’d work on the Pope!
Nah, it ain’t for the Pope,
It’s for you, Man of the Cloth,
Now this guy’s giving me ministry!
He says, The pie and the soap,
It ain’t no joke,
Heaven hopes it’ll set you free.
I gets out of there fast,
I go to my liquor store,
I says, Gimme a six pack,
No make it four,
Of Kick Me Rapture Fear Beer!
Funny thing was, the man said to me clear,
We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
No sir, We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
He says to me, We got a special:
One hundred percent off,
That means to you it’s for free!
Humble pie, cases and cases, piled to the sky,
That means it’s all you can eat!
I says to him, You got anything else?
He says, I got a box of Orthodox Soap.
You got to be kiddin’ man, that’s not for me!
Maybe it’d work on the Pope!
Nah, it ain’t for the Pope,
It’s for you, Man of the Cloth,
Now this guy’s giving me ministry!
He says, The pie and the soap,
It ain’t no joke,
Heaven hopes it’ll set you free.
I gets out of there fast,
I go to my natural food store,
I says, Gimme a big pot,
No make it two more,
Of Rainbow Prophecy Rat Stew!
Funny thing was, the man said to me clear,
We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
No sir, We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
He says to me, We got a special:
One hundred percent off,
That means to you it’s for free!
Humble pie, cases and cases, piled to the sky,
That means it’s all you can eat!
I says to him, You got anything else?
He says, I got a box of Orthodox Soap.
You got to be kiddin’ man, that’s not for me!
Maybe it’d work on the Pope!
Nah, it ain’t for the Pope,
It’s for you, Man of the Cloth,
Now this guy’s giving me ministry!
He says, The pie and the soap,
It ain’t no joke,
Heaven hopes it’ll set you free.
I gets out of there fast,
I go to my favorite bar,
I says, Gimme a glass,
No make it a jar,
Of Worship Weakness Praise Whiskey!
Funny thing was, the man said to me clear,
We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
No sir, We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
He says to me, We got a special:
One hundred percent off,
That means to you it’s for free!
Humble pie, cases and cases, piled to the sky,
That means it’s all you can eat!
I says to him, You got anything else?
He says, I got a box of Orthodox Soap.
You got to be kiddin’ man, that’s not for me!
Maybe it’d work on the Pope!
Nah, it ain’t for the Pope,
It’s for you, Man of the Cloth,
Now this guy’s giving me ministry!
He says, The pie and the soap,
It ain’t no joke,
Heaven hopes it’ll set you free.
I gets out of there fast,
I go to my pharmacy friend, Jim,
Jim lets me in,
Sees the shape I’m in,
And he says, I know,
I know what you need!
You need Jabberwocky Tizzy, or Emotional Ecstasy,
Or Mojo-Jive Talking Witchcraft Control LSD,
Or Patronizing Platitude-Laced Bubblegum Drops,
Or Intellectual Glue-Sniff, or Ego Pander Schnapps!
Funny thing was, the man said to me clear,
We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
No sir, We ain’t got none of that old stuff, you hear?
He says to me, We got a special:
One hundred percent off,
That means to you it’s for free!
Humble pie, cases and cases, piled to the sky,
That means it’s all you can eat!
I says to him, You got anything else?
He says, I got a box of Orthodox Soap.
You got to be kiddin’ man, that’s not for me!
Maybe it’d work on the Pope!
Nah, it ain’t for the Pope,
It’s for you, Man of the Cloth,
Now this guy’s giving me ministry!
He says, The pie and the soap,
It ain’t no joke,
Heaven hopes it’ll set you free.
I says,
I know what I’m immersed in,
I can’t let something else in,
No Humble Pie or Orthodox Soap.
That’s for petty dictators,
Mental abusers and sheep-rapers,
Bug off! I’m a Man of the Cloth!
With your pie and your soap,
You give me no hope,
You want me to watch what spirits I am of?
That’s never for me, it’s for you,
And for who I preach to,
Bug off! I’m a Man of the Cloth!
You eat your own Humble Pie,
Certainly not I,
And wash yourself with Orthodox Soap,
Deal with your inner demons, they are my only friends,
I need change like a hangman needs rope.
Bug off! I’m a Man of the Cloth!
Chapter 5 – Stop, Not so Fast? Or, Don’t Stop – KEEP GOING!
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/2011
Hold your horses, Robert Winkler Burke, you might be saying at this time. Whoa! Stop!
Or, like Festus said, with a loud voice no less, “Paul thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.” (Acts 26:24)
Well, I’m not mad. Or at least I don’t think I am.
Here is what you are probably used to. When the typical pastor at the church of go-along gets to his highest possible level in God, he might pull out these three predictable admonitions.
Pastor Shrunken-brain usually has certain well-known memes.
(Ooh, that reminds me. Learn to somewhat distrust the bible expositor who never uses a word outside the bible. Like memes. Like hazard. Like puerility. Like nugatory building programs. Like mesmerizing. Like thousands of words that God gives us, but 800-page-bible-bound-in-rigidity leaders-with-blinders CAN’T!)
You see, since Shrunken-brain pastors can’t understand, much less teach, a) Christ-in-You-ness, b) Western Enlightenment and c) Higher Teachings… they must sadly resort to something worthyof their small faith.
And those three memes usually appear as follows. Oh congregation, please become extremely guilty because of the great a) love existing or b) persecution existing in certain non-Western church environs. Or, if that gets boring, the pastor might revert to c) spewing limitless bible-speak erudition which ISN”T!
In all three cases, the low-goal is to create tons of guilt. Hang down your head, Tom Dooley! It’s all sort of granfalloonish, referring to Kurt Vonnegut’s description of a “false karass,” that is a group of people who outwardly choose or claim to have a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is actually meaningless.
Yes, you might say… but pastors harping on Third World Christian a) love or b) persecution or c) bible-speak un-intelligentsia is what we might be used to. And we might believe it’s all harmless anyway.
Well, I want to challenge the idea that shrunken-head churchianity is harmless because it isn’t.
You see, Western Enlightenment will teach us that we just might have a duty to do what King David did in his time, which was to serve his generation. Well, he did such a good job that his work keeps serving generations of all times!
Wouldn’t that be nice if we could do that as well? After all, lots have! Abraham Lincoln’s wisdom serves us today! Edison’s light bulb and electric transmission still does! Henry Ford’s production line! Steve Jobs’ iPhone and computer devices! Guttenberg’s printing of the bible!
The list of Western Enlightenment accomplishments is endless. But you know something? The list of churchianity’s accomplishments is mighty short. Mighty short indeed.
Because practically everything in society is advancing at breakneck speeds while church isn’t. Hm. What’s up with that? Lots, actually.
It seems God has kept his restraining hand over church power because with the silly doctrines churchianity embraces… increased power would be nothing but harmful and implosive.
And isn’t that exactly what you see with the unreformed Christian Broadcasters? They experience serial implosions, never take correction and handle power and fame extremely poorly. This is all a Mark 16:20 reverse sign that truth is sorely missing in them!
But beside the hypnotically entrancing Christian Broadcasters proving they have not truth in them, why should we bother to trudge through the difficult and demanding thought-growth required to understand In That Day Teachings?
One word: Socialism. It is the plague of mankind. And it takes a mature mind, keen of state and courageous of nature to penetrate socialism’s cloud of darkness and sheer, horrid, wicked almost-immitigable, absolute evil.
With spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear, hidden enslavement seems to be just about everywhere. Why? Because churchianity has been asleep at the wheel. It has botched its job. Heck, it doesn’t even know its job.
Churchianity has allowed, nay rather, encouraged Socialism. If Socialism continues to succeed, it will kill much of Christianity. And how smart is it that we allow that?
So, yes: Church must rise up and figure out what happened that Socialism became the hope of shrunken-brain man, and how to pitch the good fight against shrunken-brain-promulgation in general and Socialism in particular.
I recommend to you modern political philosophers, who have traced the fascinating, if morbid, accomplishments of brave Socialists, from the Frankfurt School, to Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barrack Hussein Obama. A century of insanity. And it keeps multiplying!
Well then, it’s not surprising that a pulpit-puppeteer who shears his sheep has little to no interest in stopping a politician-puppeteer who sheers the same sheep! Wink, wink! They wink at each other! Wink, wink!
My guess is that when the income tax was created in the United States, thinking theologians might have objected. Until, that is, churches were offered a non-profit status. Deal done, and BINGO, churchianiy automatically became non-prophet.
What I’m saying is, why stick with 800-page-narrowly-defined-scripture-exeges when the world is being enslaved by a hundred-year-march into a socialist enslavement trap? God gave us Western Enlightenment as a work-around tool when churchianity fails the bible. It’s God’s genius work-around solution to get his sheep out of an endless loop!
Still not buying? How about this from Western Enlightenment’s economic arena:
“The ideas of economists and political philosophers… both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood… Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence… are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” -- John Maynard Keynes (The unfree, elite-rule proponent loved by Socialists)
Versus the following:
“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” F. A. Hayek (Free individual proponent loved by freedom lovers, from Ronald Reagan to Tea Party members)
Churchianity says sheep are not to detect economic enslavement? If not, why not? Because sheep that could discern between Keynesian tax-and-spend politicians and Austrian Economics-loving politicians who cut tax and spending… could also discern if a churchianity wolf-shepherd was shearing his own!
For too long, churchianity has been involved with unchecked, circular reasoning designed to keep minds small enough that they can’t detect the miniature nature of gray matter between their leader’s ears.
So, what is the solution?
Carry on, carry on, carry on with In That Day Teachings! The Rosetta stone of a) Christ-in-You-ness, b) Western Enlightenment and c) Higher Teachings shall prove out to be a great provider of peace.
With the above triumvirate, we shall have peace and accord with all of humanity of earnest goodwill. We shall easily team up in harmony with all good humans whenever and however.
Then again, we shall have the proper discord and distance with all of humanity that is not of earnest goodwill. These teachings provide an inherent truth detector that, in the great big scheme of things, never fails to indicate who is naughty and who is nice.
What I am trying to say is this. The big problem in America in 1860 was slavery. Man dominated man. Unbelievably, the proponents of that peculiar institution made grand arguments in its defense! Yet man had to war with man to get rid of slavery.
Today we find much the same. Except the slavery is hidden. It is slavery of thought. And it is slavery coming from, unbelievably, clerical and political mystic tyranny!
So, the pulpit cannot seem to help the pulpit. Isaiah put it this way in Chapter 28:
7But even these reel from wine and stagger from strong drink: the priest and the prophet reel from strong drink; they are confused from wine, they stagger and are gone astray through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble when pronouncing judgment.
8For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, so that there is no place that is clean.
Strong words there, Isaiah.
May we be so strong.
And courageous.
And humble.
Amen.
The Ring of Truth
A Poem Shaped like a Bell
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 1/15/06
Good
Friend, did you
Know for whom the bell
Tolls? It tolls for souls so well.
Each lie that is told and told bold
Each lie that is loved and then sold
Diminishes your spirit, if truth be told.
Truly, lies cannot but sound a bad knell
But the sound of truth, it rings a clear bell.
I pray
Can you tell?
If you can tell truth resonates like a heavenly bell,
And lies crack like a twisted, conniving, broken hell.
Then you will
Do well.
To Which We Say, Hear! Hear!
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 10/3/08
Each week I go down to my local dive,
My friends gather near,
We like to celebrate each Friday night,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
We’re all pastors, men of the cloth,
But denominations we fear,
We’re rather independent Christian leaders,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
We shun oversight and correction,
At rebuke we leer,
We’re too mature to be imperfect,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
One says, Hardy-har! My brothers,
I’m buying the beer,
With my widows’ mite donations!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Another says, I’ll top that, maties,
At the red light house near,
We shall all go on credit but not pay!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Another says, Is there anything, friends,
We wouldn’t do insincere?
One said, We ask the poor to make us rich!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Thank God for TV broadcasting, he said,
Where our eye is queer,
Behold, what uncorrected broadcast can do!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
I bought a twenty million dollar personal jet,
Says one, Ooh that’s dear!
Another says, I got a mega-million parsonage!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
I’m a stage show hypnotist! I’m a mind controller!
Our congregation we jeer.
I sired a son, our new pastor, by my brother’s wife!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Nothing stops us from spiritual and literal adultery,
We do it with whatever’s near,
Nothing on earth really stops us from doing anything!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
We all love each other so much,
When we leave we shall shed a tear,
We really can’t brag about each other enough,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Now we’re drunk and stumbling unable to tell,
Just which is front or rear,
Our tables are full of our own vomit,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Before we pass out in heavenly depravity,
Or the police come in riot gear,
We salute all escapology doxie enabling us,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
We love eternal security, we love the rapture,
We love Jesus to appear,
Some day in the sky to reward our good works,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Those escapist doxies let us do anything,
Even abomination is dear,
We’re desolate of God, truth and all honor,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
We believe Trickster-knowledgy Dominion Theology,
With governments second tier,
So our carnal appetites will rule the world with Christ!
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
We whoop and holler when the band plays our song,
A country classic premier:
“We’re All Here ‘Cause Our Doxie’s Not All There!”
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Yes, betcha’ didn’t know that your pastors,
Would from heaven so downward veer,
Come believe with us nothing much matters,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
That’s why we need so much money,
For consciences to sear,
It takes much propaganda to make lies the truth,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Come join us, never mind doctrinal verity,
Look in the filthy bar mirror,
Be in with the in crowd, be loud and proud,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
My God, is it really that bad, you ask,
Can you believe your ear?
We think anything and live with our thoughts,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
An unexamined life is really not worth the living,
But such truth we smear,
We smear all truths and exalt all convenient lies,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
This is too clever, too unseen, to hidden, you say,
For Christian believers mere,
Antichrist leaders parade as being Christ everywhere,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
But no party lasts forever, and one day judgment,
Will come from a peer,
You might ask us, Deep in our souls, did we know?
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
You, as inquisitor, just might ask for explanation,
You’ll ask, Did for many a year,
We go along and get along with all damn things?
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
You’ll say, Then this explains much: Why there,
Often was imploding career,
You never fixed your own doxies or bad spirits,
To which we say, Hear! Hear!
Later, you will look for the likes of us in heaven,
A place that we now cheer,
You’ll ask if we’re not in heaven, are we in hell?
To which we’ll say, Here! Here!
Chapter 6 – Job: Rigid Righteousness vs. Holy Flexibility
By Robert Winkler Burke
Of inthatdayteachings.com
Copyright 4/28/2011
Ah, the story of Job. God has told me some funny things about it. Unique, even!
But first, know what most preachers say about it. Search the internet, even. Most preachers will say that Job is all about suffering, and why we’ll never know. They quote the “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”
But you know what? That is just Job 13:15 a. Want to know what the rest of the verse says? It says, “but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”
Hm… Now that is interesting. The world is taught about Job based upon a partial scripture reference. What’s up with that?
But first, I must admit that regarding all suffering, we may indeed never know all things. Some suffering seems to be completely inexplicable. But not Job’s. No way.
My understanding that Job was a classic archetype of a rigid-righteous fellow. And that has its goods. And it also has its bads.
After all, the last page of the bible admonishes the righteous to be righteous and the holy, holy. Which makes me wonder, what’s up with that?
Well, here is what. From sinner to saint life is like the shape of an hourglass. At the bottom, sinner is free and open and wide to be able to perform any and all sin. Want to rob a bank, you ask the sinner? He says, sure!
Then sinner meets God somewhere along the line and he has to clean up his act. He learns the rules. And therein many get stuck. They become rigid-righteous. They say, What would Jesus do? Instead of, What would Jesus have me do? Big difference.
Rigid-Righteous folk live in the land of platitudes. They have God formulized! God is right there in their pocket, see? You don’t see that? Well, the Rigid-Righteous do! And they protesteth to much! (Another Mark 16:20 reverse sign!)
God loves and allows Rigid-Righteous folk. It is a necessary condition for many saints-in-the-making. Nevertheless, it also sucks.
Who wants a Rigid-Righteous boss? I tell you, no one! Who wants a Rigid-Righteous God? Well, Muslim Extremists seem to enjoy one like that.
But in the history of war, generals who are rigid lose. Who do they lose to? To flexible generals. What about soldiers? What should they prefer? Flexible generals. Why?
In war, great generals often have written great books about military doctrine. Oops. The opposing generals read those books. Clever opposing generals then think, and think and think. Then they think of a wicked box-trap to put the other general’s army into. Then, the general who has read the other fellow’s book, he knows just how that army will react. And then with luck, our happy reader has defeated the other general – using his own book as a weapon against him!
See what I’m up to? Could Satan do this to sheep taught the regime of Rigid-Righteousness? You betcha’. Hence, Rigid-Righteous sheep are easy for the enemy to slaughter.
Now hold on a minute, here Robert, you might say. Where’s God in all of this?
God is right where you might expect Him to be. Which, of course, is on the side of victory. You know, God is a man of war? Yup. Exodus 15:3. And my guess is, He’s a pretty good man of war, maybe even the best there is.
And that would make Him holy-flexible, which would make Him, err, undefeatable.
You see, in the history of war it is the flexible generals who always outwit their opponents. Even their individual soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen can join in the fun.
How, you ask, can individuals in the military enjoy flexibility? Here’s how. They learn the High Teaching of “There are no fixed rules, only guidelines.” US Marine Corps tactics manuals state this. “Leaders must remember that there are no fixed rules and no precise checklists, but there are bounds…” And, “no fixed rules that can be applied automatically, and every situation is different.”
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