Why Jesus Came — and Why It Matters

 

Over the course of this short series, we’ve let Scripture answer a simple question:

Why did Jesus come to earth?

The answer, when taken straight from the text, is both larger and steadier than many of us were taught.

Jesus came:

• Unto His own — not abstractly, but covenantally

• As a minister of the circumcision — to confirm promises already spoken

• Under the law — not above it

• To be rejected — not by accident, but according to Scripture

• So that grace might reach the nations — by mercy, not entitlement

None of this diminishes personal salvation.
It explains why it is secure.

From Me-Centered to God-Centered

When Jesus’ mission is reduced to “He came to save me,” faith can quietly become fragile. It rests on experience, emotion, or modern explanation.

But when Jesus is seen within the full biblical framework — promise, covenant, fulfillment, rejection, mystery, grace — salvation rests on something far sturdier:

The faithfulness of God.

Grace is no longer a floating concept.
It is anchored to promises kept.

A Gospel with a History

The New Testament does not begin a new story — it finishes an old one.

The gospel preached to the Gentiles flows from:

• Abraham’s promise

• David’s throne

• Israel’s Messiah

• and a rejection foretold by the prophets

That means our place in Christ is not accidental, secondary, or insecure. We are brought near because God first proved Himself true.

“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God.”
— 2 Corinthians 1:20

Why This Perspective Matters Today

Seeing why Jesus came:

• guards us from shallow theology

• keeps grace from becoming entitlement

• preserves God’s character as faithful and unchanging

• and helps us read Scripture as one unified story

Most importantly, it moves our focus:
from what Christ does for me
to who God has shown Himself to be.

And that shift doesn’t weaken faith — it deepens it.

A Final Thought

If this series has done anything, let it simply slow us down.

Slow us down enough to let Scripture speak plainly.
Slow us down enough to see the gospel as something inherited, not invented.
Slow us down enough to worship a God who keeps His word — even when doing so costs Him His Son.

Jesus did come to save sinners.

But He came first to keep a promise.

And because He did, grace has reached even us.

Why Jesus Came (Part 3): From Promise to Grace

By the time we reach Paul’s later letters, a question naturally presses in:

If Jesus came to Israel,
if He confirmed the promises to the fathers,
and if much of Israel did not receive Him —
where does that leave the rest of the world?

Paul does not answer this emotionally. He answers it theologically.

Rejection Was Not the End — It Was the Turning Point

In Romans 11, Paul addresses Israel’s unbelief directly and carefully:

“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.”
— Romans 11:1

The rejection of the Messiah by many in Israel was not proof of failure. Nor was it grounds for replacement. Paul presents it as a temporary condition with a redemptive purpose.

“Through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”
— Romans 11:11

This is a staggering claim. Israel’s stumbling becomes the occasion for Gentile salvation — not because God abandoned His promises, but because He used rejection to reveal something previously hidden.

Paul calls this a mystery.

A Mystery, Not a Revision

A mystery in Scripture is not something unknowable — it is something once hidden and later revealed.

Paul explains it this way:

“That blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
— Romans 11:25

The blindness is partial.
The hardening is temporary.
The promises remain intact.

Gentiles are not brought in because Israel failed — they are brought in because God remained faithful even in the face of rejection.

Brought Near — Not Brought Around

Paul explains the Gentile position most clearly in Ephesians:

“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh…
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”
— Ephesians 2:11–12

This is not poetic exaggeration. It is legal language. Gentiles had no covenant standing.

But then comes the turning phrase:

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
— Ephesians 2:13

Gentiles are not given a separate Messiah.
They are not granted a parallel covenant.
They are brought near — to promises already confirmed, through a Messiah already rejected, by grace already prepared.

Why This Matters

When Jesus is reduced to a purely personal Savior disconnected from covenant history, grace becomes fragile — dependent on sentiment rather than promise.

But when Jesus is seen as:

• Israel’s Messiah

• the confirmer of the fathers’ promises

• rejected according to Scripture

• and revealed again through a mystery

then grace stands on something solid.

Gentile salvation is not an interruption in God’s plan.
It is the overflow of promises kept.

And that means our faith does not rest on novelty, emotion, or modern interpretation — it rests on a God who keeps His word even when His people stumble.

The Full Answer

Why did Jesus come?

• To Israel — to fulfill covenant truth

• To confirm the promises — so God would be proven faithful

• To be rejected — so a mystery could be revealed

• To save the nations — by grace, not entitlement

Personal salvation is real.
But it is not isolated.

It is the fruit of a much older tree.

Why Jesus Came (Part 2): “A Minister of the Circumcision”

 If the Gospels tell us who Jesus came to, the apostle Paul tells us why that mattered.

Paul’s explanation is brief, precise, and often overlooked:

“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.”
— Romans 15:8

This is not a passing comment. It is a theological anchor.

Paul does not describe Jesus’ earthly ministry as abstract or symbolic. He defines it as covenantal. Jesus served the circumcision — Israel — for a specific purpose: to confirm the promises God had already made.

That word confirm is crucial. It assumes something already spoken, already sworn, already expected.

God was not starting over.

Born Into Obligation, Not Exemption

Paul reinforces this idea elsewhere:

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
— Galatians 4:4

Jesus did not appear above the law — He was born under it.
He did not sidestep Israel’s covenant — He entered it fully.

Every promise made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and the prophets stood either to be fulfilled or exposed as false. Jesus’ mission was not merely to save individuals, but to vindicate the faithfulness of God Himself.

Paul ties this directly to Israel’s unique calling:

“Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came…”
— Romans 9:4–5

Christ did not float into history — He came from Israel, to Israel, and for the truth of God.

Why This Matters for Everyone Else

This raises an important question:
If Jesus came first as a minister of the circumcision, where do Gentiles fit?

Paul answers that too — carefully and in order.

Immediately after Romans 15:8, Paul continues:

“And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy…”
— Romans 15:9

Notice the sequence:

• Truth confirmed to Israel

• Mercy extended to the nations

Gentile salvation is not presented as a replacement for Israel’s promises, nor as a separate plan running alongside them. It flows from promises kept, not promises abandoned.

This distinction preserves God’s character.

If God had ignored His covenant obligations to Israel in order to save the world, He would have proven Himself unfaithful. Instead, Paul insists that God did the opposite: He kept His Word first, so that mercy could later reach farther than anyone expected.

A Larger Gospel, Not a Smaller One

Seeing Jesus primarily as a covenant-confirming Messiah does not shrink the gospel — it anchors it.

It explains why:

• The gospel is “to the Jew first”

• Rejection precedes revelation

• Grace arrives as mercy, not entitlement, but for the uncircumcised a benefit as implied in  Romans 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. That is the Jews.

• Faith rests on promises already proven trustworthy

Personal salvation remains true — but it is no longer isolated. It is part of a story that began long before us and reaches far beyond us.

In the next post, we’ll look at how this confirmed mission to Israel becomes the very doorway through which Gentiles are brought near — not by bypassing Israel, but through Christ’s rejection and the mystery that followed.

That’s where grace enters the story in its fullest sense.

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"Hearing The Silence: A Critical Look at God's Silence and Claims of Divine Communication"

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Why Jesus Came (Part 1): “He Came Unto His Own”

✍️ Draft — Post #1

Why Jesus Came (Part 1): “He Came Unto His Own”

Most Christians, if asked why Jesus came to earth, would answer without hesitation:
“To be my Savior.”

That statement is true — gloriously true — but it may not be complete.

Before Jesus ever died for the sins of the world, before the gospel went out to the nations, and before Gentiles were brought near by grace, Scripture tells us something very specific about who He came to first.

“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”
— John 1:11

John’s words are simple, but they are often read too quickly. Jesus did not arrive as a generic spiritual figure or a timeless symbol of love. He came to a people, within a covenant, under a law, and according to promises already spoken.

This is not a minor detail.

When Jesus sent out the twelve during His earthly ministry, His instructions were unmistakable:

“Go not into the way of the Gentiles… but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
— Matthew 10:5–6

Later, when approached by a Gentile woman seeking help, Jesus said plainly:

“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
— Matthew 15:24

These statements can feel uncomfortable if we’ve been taught that Jesus’ mission was primarily universal from the start. Yet the discomfort comes not from the text, but from our assumptions.

The Gospels present Jesus as Israel’s Messiah — the promised Son of David, born into the law, walking among His own people, calling them to repentance, and keeping the promises foretold by the prophets.

This does not diminish salvation by grace.
It explains its origin.

If Jesus had not come to Israel as their Messiah, there would be no confirmed promises, no fulfilled covenants, and no foundation upon which the gospel could later go out to the nations.

The tragedy of John 1:11 is not merely rejection — it is missed recognition. Israel’s Messiah stood in their midst, fulfilling Scripture, yet largely unreceived.

But Scripture does not end there.

That rejection becomes the turning point through which God reveals something previously hidden — a mystery that would later be made known through the apostle Paul.

Before we can understand salvation for the world, we must first understand why Jesus came to Israel.

That is where the story begins.

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"Hearing The Silence: A Critical Look at God's Silence and Claims of Divine Communication"

Delusions Of The Last Days by Dr Dave Breese

Seven Men Who Rule the World From the Grave — Episode 6: John Dewey

 

If Nietzsche dismantled truth philosophically, John Dewey operationalized that dismantling culturally.

Dewey did not write manifestos against God or morality. His influence was far more practical — and therefore far more enduring. He reshaped how people are taught to think, learn, and judge truth. And once education changes, culture follows.

Truth Becomes What Works

Dewey was a leading voice in pragmatism. In this framework, truth is not something fixed or revealed, but something tested by results. What matters is not whether something is true, but whether it works.

This sounds modest. It even sounds reasonable.

But once truth is reduced to usefulness, it loses permanence. What works today may be discarded tomorrow. Principle yields to preference. Stability gives way to experimentation.

Education Without Anchors

Dewey believed education should be freed from tradition, authority, and fixed moral frameworks. Schools were no longer to transmit truth, but to facilitate experience. Students would construct meaning rather than receive it.

In this model, teachers become guides instead of authorities, and learning becomes a process of adaptation rather than formation.

The cost of this shift is rarely acknowledged.

When education abandons objective truth, it cannot produce conviction — only opinion. It cannot shape character — only competence.

Religion as Social Tool

Dewey did not deny religion outright. Instead, he redefined it. Faith was no longer about revelation from God, but about social cohesion and shared values.

Religion, in this view, is useful — but only insofar as it serves democratic goals. Once it stops working, it can be revised or removed.

Scripture under this framework is no longer authoritative — it is instructional material, open to continuous revision.

Why Dewey Still Rules

Dewey rules from the grave every time education prioritizes skills over truth, feelings over facts, and adaptability over conviction. He rules wherever belief is treated as provisional and certainty as dangerous.

Most people influenced by Dewey have never read him. His legacy lives in classrooms, curricula, and assumptions about what education is for.

Scripture and Formation

The Bible does not treat truth as experimental. It forms before it informs. It shapes character before it imparts knowledge.

When Scripture is brought into a pragmatic framework, it feels rigid and outdated — not because it has failed, but because it refuses to be tested like a hypothesis.

Where This Leaves Us

When truth is defined by usefulness, Scripture will always lose the argument — because it refuses to justify itself on pragmatic terms.

And when the Bible will not cooperate with a culture trained to ask only “What works?”, it is blamed — rather than the framework that demanded the wrong question.

Stay with me.

In the final installment, we’ll look at the thinker who helped dissolve meaning altogether — leaving modern culture fluent in critique, but unsure how to believe anything at all.

All set.

Episode 6: John Dewey is now written and live in the canvas.

This one is important because it shows how ideas become systems:

• Nietzsche breaks truth philosophically

• Dewey installs the break into education

• What was once debated becomes assumed

• Culture stops asking “Is it true?” and asks “Does it work?”

Why this episode really matters

This is where readers usually recognize their own experience:

• school

• classrooms

• training

• church curriculum pressures

• “practical” Christianity

This series is not intended to critique people — it's intention is to expose the frame they were trained in.

The arc is now very clear

1. Hegel — meaning drifts

2. Marx — society redefined

3. Darwin — origins reframed

4. Freud — guilt internalized

5. Nietzsche — truth collapses

6. Dewey — collapse normalized

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Israel’s Cycles and Our Walk: Why the Prophets Still Matter

 As we read through the prophets, a clear pattern emerges in Israel’s history. Long seasons of prosperity and comfort are followed by pride, disobedience, and injustice. God sends warnings through His prophets, judgment looms, repentance briefly appears, and then the cycle begins again. With only a few short respites, Israel experiences centuries of spiritual indulgence — a prolonged “party” that eventually leads to exile.

This pattern is not recorded merely as national history. The New Testament makes it clear that these cycles were preserved for a reason.

Paul explains that Israel’s experiences serve as examples, written down for instruction. Hebrews takes the wilderness generation and turns it into a warning addressed directly to the reader. Peter and Jude use the same historical failures to caution believers against complacency, false teaching, and rebellion. What was once corporate becomes personal.

The prophets show us what happens when privilege replaces obedience. Israel assumed covenant security while ignoring covenant responsibility. The apostles apply that same warning inward: knowledge without faithfulness leads to spiritual stagnation; familiarity with truth can dull obedience if unchecked.

This is why dismissing the Old Testament distorts New Testament understanding. Without the prophets, the apostles’ warnings sound abstract or severe. With the prophets in view, their words become sober, grounded, and necessary. The same God who patiently warned Israel calls believers to self-examination, perseverance, and humility.

The cycle remains recognizable:

• Blessing can breed neglect

• Comfort can dull watchfulness

• Repetition of warning can lead to resistance

Yet the prophets also show something else: God’s mercy persists. Judgment is never His first word. Intercession delays wrath. Restoration follows repentance. These truths echo through the Gospels and into the letters of Paul, Peter, Jude, and Hebrews.

The takeaway is not fear, but clarity. Scripture reveals patterns so they do not have to be repeated blindly. Israel’s history is not distant — it is diagnostic. When read carefully, it helps believers recognize the warning signs in their own walk before discipline is required.

The prophets tell us what happens to a nation that forgets God; the apostles remind us that the same dynamics apply to the heart.

Understanding this connection keeps Scripture unified, guards against shallow theology, and anchors faith in the full counsel of God — not fragments.

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From Corporate History to Personal Lessons: What the Apostles Teach Us

 When we read the Old Testament, we often see Israel as a nation: a people repeatedly warned, disciplined, and restored. From the Exodus through the kingdoms and into exile, Israel’s story is a long pattern of blessing, rebellion, judgment, and mercy — what could almost be called 400 years of a “party,” broken only by brief revivals under a few faithful leaders.

But the New Testament writers take this corporate history and make it personal. Paul, Peter, Jude, and Hebrews draw on these stories not just to recount Israel’s failures, but to teach, warn, and encourage individual believers.

• Paul shows that Israel’s history warns us about temptation, disobedience, and the need for endurance (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11).

• Peter uses examples of God’s judgment to remind believers to remain faithful, even under persecution (1 Peter 5:10).

• Jude cites historical events, like the rebellion of Korah or the destruction of Sodom, to warn against false teaching and rebellion.

• Hebrews turns the wilderness generation into a mirror for readers, emphasizing faith, obedience, and entering God’s rest.

The lesson is clear: what happened to Israel corporately is written as a guide for the believer personally. The warnings, patterns, and promises in the prophets and histories are not distant tales; they are mirrors reflecting our own spiritual walk.

By seeing these patterns, we can recognize the same dynamics in our lives: the danger of pride, the need for faithfulness, and the hope of God’s mercy and restoration. Just as Israel was called back from their long cycles of indulgence and rebellion, each believer is invited to respond, obey, and endure.

The failures, trials, and judgments of Israel become mirrors for us, highlighting the importance of faith, endurance, and obedience — showing that God’s lessons are as personal as they are historical.

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How we KNOW the dates for the Old Testament!

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Seven Men Who Rule the World From the Grave — Episode 5: Nietzsche

 If Freud moved authority inside the self, Nietzsche removed authority altogether.

With Nietzsche, the modern world crossed a line. God was no longer reinterpreted, psychologicalized, or marginalized — He was declared unnecessary. And once that declaration was made, everything built on Him was suddenly up for renegotiation.

Nietzsche did not merely critique religion. He diagnosed Western culture and concluded that its moral framework could not survive the loss of God. His famous announcement that “God is dead” was not a celebration — it was a warning.

The Death of Objective Truth

Nietzsche understood something many of his followers missed: if God is removed, objective truth cannot remain. Moral claims become expressions of power, preference, or perspective.

Truth, in this framework, is no longer discovered — it is created.

This was a decisive shift. What had once been received is now asserted. What had once judged humanity is now judged by it.

Power Replaces Morality

With no transcendent standard, Nietzsche argued that values are produced by the strong and imposed upon the weak. Morality becomes a strategy. Compassion becomes suspect. Humility becomes a weakness disguised as virtue.

The goal is no longer faithfulness, but dominance — not submission to truth, but the will to power.

This way of thinking did not remain confined to philosophy. It flowed into politics, education, art, and eventually everyday assumptions about right and wrong.

Why Nietzsche Still Rules

Nietzsche rules from the grave whenever truth is treated as personal, morality as flexible, and conviction as oppression. He rules wherever certainty is mocked and clarity is treated as dangerous.

You don’t need to quote Nietzsche to live downstream from him. His influence shows up whenever the question is no longer “Is it true?” but “Who gets to decide?”

Scripture in a World Without God

The Bible cannot be neutralized by Nietzsche’s framework. It either stands as revelation or is dismissed as power language. When Scripture claims authority, it is no longer debated — it is accused.

This explains much of the modern hostility toward the Bible. The issue is not interpretation alone, but authority itself.

The Consequence of Refusal

When God is removed, man kind does not become free — it becomes responsible for inventing meaning it cannot sustain. The burden of authorship is heavier than it first appears.

Nietzsche saw this clearly. The tragedy is that many who followed him embraced the critique without counting the cost.

Where This Leaves Us

Once truth is reduced to power, dialogue collapses. Persuasion gives way to force. And when Scripture refuses to cooperate with this framework, it is blamed — not the assumptions brought against it.

Stay with me.

In the next installment, we’ll look at a thinker who took Nietzsche’s ideas out of philosophy and embedded them into education and culture — shaping not just what people believe, but how they are taught to think.

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Wormwood: When God Lets Us Taste the Bed We Made

 There is a phrase we all recognize: “You made your bed, now sleep in it.”

Scripture uses a stronger word for this principle—wormwood.

When the Bible speaks of wormwood, it is not describing a random punishment or a mysterious symbol dropped out of nowhere in Revelation. It is tracing a consistent pattern: God allowing people—individually and corporately—to experience the bitter consequences of choices made in the presence of truth.

This pattern runs from the Law, through the Prophets, and into the final book of Scripture.

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Wormwood Begins as a Root, Not a Judgment

The first major warning appears in Deuteronomy.

Before Israel even enters the land, Moses warns of a root that can grow among them—one that produces bitterness and poison. The danger is not framed as sudden rebellion, but as something tolerated, hidden, and internal.

The warning is clear:
A nation does not fall because it hates God outright, but because it slowly accommodates what God warned against.

Wormwood begins unseen.

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When the Path Seems Sweet but Ends Bitter

In the wisdom literature, wormwood moves from national warning to personal experience.
Proverbs repeatedly describes a path that appears pleasant at first but ends in bitterness.

The lesson is simple and sobering:
No one chooses bitterness. They choose a road that produces it.

This is where the exhaustion begins—not because God is cruel, but because reality itself becomes heavy when wisdom is ignored.

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When Justice Is Rewritten, Bitterness Follows

The prophets take wormwood from the personal level and apply it to the whole society.

In Amos, wormwood appears alongside a terrifying description: justice turned aside and righteousness cast down. The issue is not open atheism, but moral redefinition—calling something righteous that God has not called so.

Wormwood enters when truth is no longer rejected outright, but reinterpreted.

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God Feeds What Was Chosen

By the time we reach Jeremiah, the language sharpens. God says He will feed His people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

This is not God inventing a new punishment.
It is God confirming a trajectory.

False teaching was welcomed.
Truth was softened.
Warnings were ignored.

Now the bitterness is unavoidable.

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The Faithful Taste It Too

In Lamentations, the prophet himself tastes wormwood. This matters. Judgment is corporate. Even those who remain faithful feel the weight of consequences produced by widespread disobedience.

This explains why Scripture often describes righteous people as weary—not faithless, but burdened by living in the results of others’ choices.

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Revelation Is the Final Echo, Not a New Idea

When Revelation names a star Wormwood, it is not introducing new symbolism. It is drawing a line through history and saying: This pattern has reached its fullest expression.

What once affected individuals, then nations, now touches the whole world.

Revelation does not change the meaning of wormwood.
It completes it.

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Why Wormwood Feels So Exhausting

Wormwood does not merely punish—it drains.

It produces:

• Spiritual fatigue

• Moral confusion

• Weariness that no distraction can cure

People become tired not because God is absent, but because they are living in the long shadow of ignored truth.

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A Closing Reflection

Wormwood is not God delighting in judgment.
It is God allowing reality to speak when instruction was refused.

Scripture’s warning is also its mercy: bitterness is meant to awaken memory—to remind us that what once gave life was abandoned.

The Bible does not hide this pattern.
It traces it patiently, so we might recognize the taste—and choose differently while the choice remains.

Psalm 34:8 Antidote to the bitter.

O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Seven Men Who Rule The World From The Grave — Episode 4: Freud

Seven Men Who Rule the World From the Grave — Episode 4: Freud

If Darwin reshaped how people thought about origins, Freud reshaped how they thought about themselves.

With Freud, the modern world turned inward. Truth, guilt, desire, and even religion were no longer primarily matters of revelation or conscience, but of psychology. The human mind became the new authority — and the unconscious its hidden engine.

From Sin to Symptom

Before Freud, guilt was largely understood in moral terms. One was responsible for choices, accountable to God, and answerable to truth. Freud reframed guilt as something else entirely: a psychological tension produced by repression.

In this framework, wrongdoing is not rebellion but malfunction. Sin becomes sickness. The solution is not repentance, but release.

This was not merely a new theory — it was a new lens.

Desire as the Interpreter

Freud taught that hidden desires shape thought, belief, and behavior. What a person claims to believe may only be a surface explanation for deeper impulses. Religion, in this view, becomes wish-fulfillment — a comforting illusion produced by unmet needs.

Once belief itself is explained away as psychological projection, truth no longer needs to be answered — only analyzed.

This move was decisive.

Authority Moves Inside

With Freud, authority shifted again. No longer anchored in Scripture, tradition, or even reason, meaning now resided within the self. The inner life became the final court of appeal.

But an inward authority is unstable.

If the self interprets everything, then nothing stands above it. Accountability dissolves, not because it is rejected, but because it is redefined.

Why Freud Still Rules

Freud rules from the grave every time moral failure is excused as trauma, every time guilt is treated solely as something to be managed rather than answered, and every time faith is dismissed as emotional dependence.

You don’t have to read Freud to think like him. His categories now feel natural — even compassionate — which is precisely why they endure.

Reading Scripture Responsibly

Scripture does not deny the inner life. It speaks of the heart, the mind, and hidden motives. But it never allows the inner life to become the judge of truth.

The Bible confronts us before it comforts us. It names sin before it offers grace. And it heals not by denial, but by forgiveness and transformation.

Where This Leaves Us

When psychology replaces theology, the Bible begins to feel harsh, outdated, or unkind. And when Scripture refuses to cooperate, it is often blamed — rather than the framework brought to it.

Stay with me.

In the next installment, we’ll look at a man who took the final step — not explaining God away psychologically, but declaring Him unnecessary altogether, and reshaping how modern culture understands truth and morality.

You’re good to go.

Episode 4: Freud is now written and placed in the canvas.

This installment does a few key things for the series:

• It clearly shows the shift from external authority to inner authority

• It explains why psychology didn’t just help people — it reframed guilt

• It connects naturally to your theme of blaming the Bible when it won’t cooperate

• It sets up Nietzsche cleanly as the next step (no leap needed)

Why this one matters in the flow

Hegel → meaning
Marx → society
Darwin → origins
Freud → the self

In the next installment, we’ll examine the thinker who didn’t reinterpret God — he declared Him unnecessary, and reshaped how modern culture understands truth and morality.

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“You Dig a Pit and Fall In: Biblical Consequences, Game Theory, and Moral Law”

Why the Bible Saw Consequences Long Before Modern Strategy

“He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.”
— Psalm 7:15 (KJV)

Long before economists, mathematicians, or philosophers tried to model human behavior, Scripture was already describing a moral universe governed by cause and effect. The Bible does not merely warn against evil—it explains how evil collapses under its own weight.

In modern language, this instinct to anticipate consequences is called game theory. But Scripture had the principle long before it had the math.

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The Biblical Pattern: You Reap What You Set in Motion

Throughout Scripture, a repeated pattern appears:

• dig a pit → fall into it

• set a trap → be caught by it

• sow violence → reap violence

• choose deceit → inherit confusion

This is not always immediate, but it is consistent.

“Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein.”
— Proverbs 26:27

These sayings are not always literal. They are wisdom patterns—descriptions of how God has structured moral reality.

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What Game Theory Tries to Do

Game theory asks a simple question:

“Given what others might do, what action minimizes my loss or maximizes my gain?”

It studies:

• strategic choices

• consequences

• feedback loops

• repeated outcomes

In other words, game theory tries to avoid digging pits by predicting where they are.

A classic example is the Prisoner’s Dilemma:
Selfish behavior seems smart in the short term, but when everyone acts selfishly, everyone loses.

That observation would not surprise Solomon.

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Where Game Theory and Scripture Overlap

Both recognize:

• actions have consequences

• short-term gain can produce long-term loss

• selfish strategies eventually collapse

• trust and cooperation outperform betrayal over time

Paul says it plainly:

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
— Galatians 6:7

Game theory describes this reality. Scripture explains why it exists.

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Where Game Theory Falls Short

Game theory assumes:

• humans act rationally

• success is defined by outcomes

• morality is optional

Scripture assumes:

• We are morally accountable

• God oversees outcomes

• righteousness matters even when it “loses”

Some biblical commands make no sense in game theory:

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

These actions look irrational by calculation—but they make sense in a universe governed by God, not probability.

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The Difference Between Avoiding Consequences and Responding to Truth

Game theory asks:

“How do I win?”

Scripture asks:

“What is right?”

Game theory tries to outsmart consequences.
Biblical wisdom teaches us to walk in the fear of the Lord, trusting Him with the outcome.

David didn’t avoid pits by strategy alone—he trusted God’s justice:

“The LORD shall judge the people.”
— Psalm 7:8

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Why This Matters Today

Modern society often treats morality as negotiable and consequences as manageable. But Scripture insists otherwise.

You cannot:

• rewrite the rules of sowing and reaping

• escape the moral structure God built

• dig wisely enough to avoid every pit

Wisdom is not merely foresight—it is obedience.

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Final Thought

Game theory is man's attempt to map consequences without God.
The Bible reveals a world where consequences exist because God is righteous.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
— Proverbs 9:10

That wisdom was never hidden. It was written plainly—for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Seven Men Who Rule The World From The Grave — Episode 3: Darwin

 

If Hegel supplied the philosophical engine and Marx put it to work in society, then Darwin provided something even more subtle and far‑reaching: a story about origins. And stories about origins shape how people understand meaning, morality, and destiny.

Darwin’s influence is not limited to biology. Long after his death, his ideas have been carried into philosophy, sociology, psychology, and even theology. In many cases, they have been taken far beyond what Darwin himself may have intended. Yet ideas, once released, are no longer governed by their author.

From Design to Process

Before Darwin, the Western world largely assumed that life reflected purpose and design. Complexity pointed upward — to intention. Darwin’s contribution shifted the conversation from who to how. Life could now be explained as a process rather than a plan.

This shift mattered.

Once origins are explained without purpose, meaning itself becomes negotiable. man kind is no longer something made, but something that happened. And if we happened by chance, then value, morality, and responsibility must be reconstructed on new ground.

Survival Becomes a Principle

In Darwin’s model, survival favors what adapts best to its environment. When this biological observation was later applied to society, the consequences were severe. Strength, efficiency, and adaptability began to replace truth, goodness, and moral restraint.

What began as a description of nature became a prescription for culture.

When survival becomes the highest principle, compassion is redefined, weakness is reinterpreted, and accountability is blurred. History shows that this way of thinking does not remain theoretical for long.

Theological Drift

Darwin did not attack Scripture directly, but his framework made it easier for others to do so. If humanity is not uniquely created, then the fall becomes symbolic. Sin becomes social or psychological. Redemption becomes optional.

This is where the drift becomes clear.

Once the foundation shifts, doctrines don’t collapse all at once — they erode. Faith is not denied outright; it is reinterpreted until it no longer says what it once meant.

Why Darwin Still Rules

Darwin rules from the grave not because everyone has read him, but because his assumptions have become air we breathe. Many who reject Marx still think in Darwinian terms. Many who affirm morality still explain humanity as accidental.

Ideas do not need agreement to exercise authority — only acceptance.

A Better Way to Read

The problem is not observation. Scripture does not fear facts. The problem arises when a method of explanation is allowed to replace revelation.

The Bible does not merely tell us how things exist — it tells us why. And without that why, even the best explanations leave us empty.

Stay with me.

In the next installment, we’ll look at a thinker whose ideas moved from biology into psychology — and whose influence reshaped how modern people understand the human mind itself.

If we’re going to read the Bible responsibly, we must learn to recognize when ideas are being smuggled in as science, philosophy, or progress — and when Scripture is being blamed for not cooperating.

In the next installment, we’ll look at a man whose ideas didn’t just challenge faith — they redefined how you understand guilt, desire, and your heart.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting this garden blog.

Get the book HERE

Why Genealogies Convince: A Missions Lesson We Often Miss

 A friend who serves with Wycliffe Bible Translators once shared a story that stopped me in my tracks. A woman from a culture far removed from the United States told a missionary that what convinced her the Bible was true was not miracles, philosophy, or prophecy — but the genealogies.

To many Western readers, that sounds strange. To her, it made perfect sense.

The Problem Is Not the Bible — It’s Our Lens

In modern Western culture, genealogies feel like interruptions. We read Scripture asking, “What does this do for me personally?” But in many cultures, the more important question is, “Where does this come from?”

Genealogies answer that question directly.

They root the biblical message in real families, real history, and real continuity. For cultures that value ancestry and communal identity, that matters far more than abstract ideas.

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Identity Is Communal, Not Individual

In much of the world:

• A person is known by their family

• Honor and responsibility flow through lineage

• History is preserved through names, not dates

When such readers encounter biblical genealogies, they don’t see filler. They see identity preserved across generations. The Bible speaks their language.

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Genealogies Function as Evidence

Ancient cultures used genealogies as:

• Legal proof of land ownership

• Verification of tribal belonging

• Validation of priestly or royal authority

The Bible does the same thing. When Scripture records lineages, it behaves less like myth and more like court testimony. To many cultures, that signals authenticity.

Myths avoid names.
Scripture preserves them — even when they are awkward, broken, or morally complex.

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The Gospel Enters History, Not Legend

The incarnation itself is framed genealogically.

Matthew and Luke do not begin with ideas — they begin with family lines. The message is clear: God did not appear outside history; He entered it.

For readers shaped by ancestral consciousness, this is not incidental. It is convincing.

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A Missional Caution for Teachers and Translators

One of the great dangers in missions is assuming:

“If this doesn’t speak to me, it won’t speak to them.”

But Scripture often speaks more powerfully to other cultures precisely where Western readers struggle.

Genealogies may feel tedious to us, but to many they proclaim:

• Continuity

• Truthfulness

• Accountability

• Memory

They say, “This faith knows where it came from.”

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What This Teaches Us About Reading Scripture

The woman who found genealogies persuasive was not being naïve — she was being culturally attentive. She recognized something many modern readers overlook: truth leaves traces.

Names matter.
Families matter.
History matters.

And the God of Scripture is not embarrassed by any of it.

The Day the Genealogy Paused: Remembering Sherah, a Builder in Israel

Genealogies are meant to move us forward — name after name, generation after generation — yet every so often Scripture pauses, as if to say “Do not rush past this one.”
One such pause appears quietly in 1 Chronicles 7:24.

“And his daughter was Sherah, who built Beth-horon the nether, and the upper, and Uzzen-sherah.”

Just one verse. No explanation. No embellishment. And yet it speaks volumes.

A Woman Named — and Remembered

In the midst of tribal records and ancestral lines, Sherah stands out for two reasons. First, she is a woman named in a genealogy, which is rare in itself. Second, she is remembered not for marriage or motherhood, but for what she built.

The Chronicler interrupts a list of descendants to preserve her work. This is no accident. It is a deliberate act of remembrance.

A Builder of Cities

Sherah built Lower Beth-horon, Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sherah — places that would later become strategically important in Israel’s history. These were not symbolic structures, but real cities that shaped the land and served the people of God for generations.

Her legacy was written not only in ink, but in stone.

Why This Matters in Chronicles

The book of Chronicles was written to a people returning from exile — a people rebuilding identity, worship, and hope. Over and over, the Chronicler connects names to land, faithfulness, and continuity.

By preserving Sherah’s work, Scripture quietly affirms something profound:
God remembers those who build faithfully, even when history moves on.

Faithfulness That Leaves Traces

Sherah’s verse feels almost like a parenthetical note — a marginal comment pulled into the sacred record. Yet that is precisely what gives it power. In a chapter full of lineage, God pauses to remember a life of purpose.

Not everyone is remembered for conquest.
Not everyone is remembered for prophecy.
Some are remembered because they built what others would one day need.

A Quiet Encouragement

Sherah does not speak in Scripture. She leaves no recorded prayer or song. But her work speaks long after her name would otherwise have faded into a list.

For those who labor without applause, who build without recognition, who strengthen what others inherit — Sherah’s verse stands as quiet testimony:

God sees. God remembers. And He writes faithfulness into His story.

The Hidden Line: How God Preserved His Word Through Decline

One of the quiet assumptions many readers make is this:
when a nation falls into spiritual ruin, truth disappears with it.

Scripture never makes that assumption.

Instead, the Bible repeatedly shows a different pattern — public collapse alongside private preservation. Truth is not rebooted after judgment; it is kept alive by a remnant, often unnoticed, until the moment it must speak again.

1. Moses to the Judges: Truth Given, Not Repeated

The Law was given once — clearly, publicly, and with covenant authority.
What follows in Judges is not confusion about what God said, but rebellion against it.

“Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Notice what is not said:

• The Law was lost

• The Law was unknown

• God failed to communicate

Israel knew — and chose otherwise.

Even in Judges, Levites, elders, and judges still function. The problem was not absence of instruction, but absence of submission.

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2. Elijah’s Day: Apostasy with a Remnant

In Elijah’s darkest hour, it appeared that truth had vanished entirely.

Yet God corrects Elijah’s perception:

“I have left me seven thousand in Israel…”

This is a key principle:

Truth may be invisible without being extinct.

The remnant did not lead revivals.
They did not control the culture.
They simply remained faithful.

God did not restore Israel by rediscovering truth —
He restored it by revealing who had preserved it.

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3. The Monarchy: Decline Does Not Mean Ignorance

As Israel and Judah spiral downward, prophets continue to speak with precision. That precision implies continuity — a preserved understanding of God’s covenant.

Even wicked kings are judged according to known standards, not new revelations.

This matters, because judgment assumes prior knowledge.

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4. Josiah and the “Rediscovered” Book (2 Kings 22)

When the Book of the Law is found, it is treated as authoritative immediately.

No debates.
No verification councils.
No uncertainty.

Josiah’s reaction shows recognition, not discovery.

Even more telling: they do not ask what the Law means — they ask what to do about it.

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5. Why Huldah Matters

Huldah does not react as someone encountering forgotten doctrine.

She:

• interprets confidently

• applies covenant language precisely

• confirms judgment already written

This suggests an ongoing line of scholarship, quiet but intact.

Just as Elijah was unaware of the remnant, Josiah may have been unaware of how much truth had been preserved beneath the surface.

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6. Exile: Judgment Without Erasure

The exile did not destroy Scripture — it refined its guardianship.

By the time of Ezra:

• texts are known

• language is preserved

• interpretation is active

The exile didn’t restore truth — it re-centered it.

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7. The New Testament: Same Pattern, Same Problem

By Jesus’ day:

• the Scriptures are meticulously preserved

• but misapplied, overlaid, and obscured

Jesus never accuses Israel of losing Scripture —
He accuses them of voiding it by tradition.

Paul later says:

“They had the oracles of God.”

Possession was not the issue. Faithfulness was.

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8. The Pattern Revealed

Across Scripture, the pattern holds:

• Truth is given once

• Apostasy spreads publicly

• Preservation happens quietly

• Restoration comes suddenly

God does not panic when nations fall.
But God's Word Stands! Psalm 119:89 

For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations:

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Conclusion: The Comfort of the Remnant

The story of Scripture is not the story of forgotten truth, but neglected truth patiently kept alive.

Just as in Elijah’s day, Josiah’s day, and Jesus’ day — decline does not mean defeat.

Truth survives in obedience long before it reappears in reform.