I didn’t begin writing until I was almost 40 years old, which was about the time I began to discern the Lord’s voice more clearly. As such, my motivation to continue has been centered on sharing what I believe He is saying at any particular time. Within a few years I began to get regular downloads on subjects like relative truth, humanism, cultural revolution, and moral relativism. Though I felt sure these insights were from the Lord, they seemed strange and rather worldly. At the time, I didn’t see or hear anyone else talking about such things, and I wondered if I wasn’t just being pulled off track. These topics seemed more rooted in sociology than spirituality, and generally garnered little or no response within my sphere. Even so, the downloads continued to come.
Over time, I began to understand that God was giving me discernment of the emerging transformation. To the naked eye, America didn’t look or sound much different, but beneath the surface there were monumental shifts taking place. Our collective view of truth was being radically altered, and for the most part, we didn’t even notice. Even those who did recognize the change didn’t necessarily understand the long term implications of it. After all, humanism’s promotion of concepts like the intrinsic value of a human being, community, and social justice, seem to be very compatible with a standard Judeo-Christian value system. Indeed, many mainstream denominations appear to be predisposed to a sort of religious-humanist perspective, where tepid religious tradition is tolerated like a neutered dog, who sleeps in the breezeway, but never actually comes in the house.
With all the supernatural elements stripped away, God becomes more mythological than real (like Mother Nature); Jesus becomes little more than a revered historical figure (like Gandhi or Mother Theresa), and the Holy Spirit remains a ghost in the relentlessly pragmatic religious machine. Effectively, such religion becomes two-dimensional and paper thin, but it is kept around to retain the sense and appearance of being good and moral. The upside to such an arrangement is that it doesn’t interfere with a burgeoning friendship with the world.
With the benefit of almost two decades of hindsight, I can see that the repercussions of this shift have been far more profound than I first understood. This change in course was not circumstantial or incidental, it was birthed in the spiritual realm, and the spirit behind the philosophical construct of humanism is not a passive or mild entity, it is an Anti-Christ spirit. In its purist form, humanism is secular, with no allowance for anything supernatural, spiritual or transcendent. It seeks to exalt man to the position of creator, ruler, and judge; which is as appealing to our human nature as it was to the first man (in the garden). But these are all roles the Lord has reserved for Himself.
Compassionate, and well-meaning believers can easily be pulled into the idea that humanism’s emphasis on human rights might simply be viewed as an extension of God’s love and concern for people, but that is problematic. Within this doctrine there can be no accommodation for the eternal, and no assent to a higher power. It seeks to explain our origin as anything other than coming from a Creator, to promote the idea that we evolve as opposed to being transformed, and to replace the power of the Holy Spirit, with the power of the human spirit. As John Lennon mused in his masterful ballad, “Imagine” we must rid ourselves of notions like heaven, hell and religion, so that we can all live together as one. Indeed, humanism has so much faith in the virtue of mankind, that it presumes that left to its own devices, and separated from its ancient religious ideas, it will quite naturally arrive at a utopian society. Of course, this is diametrically opposed to scripture’s assertions that apart from God, we can do “nothing”.
While some might argue the Christian heritage of the United States, there is no doubt about where our society stands in this current age. It is a culture steeped in humanist thinking, where the emerging generations are taught that evolution and technology have exempted them from the lessons of history, and where young children are taught that they can determine their own gender. Like ancient Greece, we’ve become a nation filled with false gods, and altars to worship them at.
Perhaps no scripture makes the contradiction more plain than proverbs declaration that there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ultimately leads to death, while humanism purports that there is a way that seems right to a man, and it ultimately leads to paradise.
After a disheartening season of watching brothers and sisters on the right exalt a man as though he were a priest, a prophet or a king, and make it seem as though God desperately needed him (instead of the other way around), we now see brothers and sisters on the left being taken captive by a hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. Indeed, many who are called by His name are likely to perish from this lack of understanding, and many is the teacher leading His little ones astray.
There is no man-made system that can produce or orchestrate real unity, true peace, authentic justice or genuine freedom. If we continue to look to the world for such things, we will continue to be disappointed. We need to quit fighting amongst ourselves, and begin to engage in the battle against the spirit of this age, which is devouring the world around us.
The Spirit of This Age
January 25, 2021 by bjcorbin
I didn’t begin writing until I was almost 40 years old, which was about the time I began to discern the Lord’s voice more clearly. As such, my motivation to continue has been centered on sharing what I believe He is saying at any particular time. Within a few years I began to get regular downloads on subjects like relative truth, humanism, cultural revolution, and moral relativism. Though I felt sure these insights were from the Lord, they seemed strange and rather worldly. At the time, I didn’t see or hear anyone else talking about such things, and I wondered if I wasn’t just being pulled off track. These topics seemed more rooted in sociology than spirituality, and generally garnered little or no response within my sphere. Even so, the downloads continued to come.
Over time, I began to understand that God was giving me discernment of the emerging transformation. To the naked eye, America didn’t look or sound much different, but beneath the surface there were monumental shifts taking place. Our collective view of truth was being radically altered, and for the most part, we didn’t even notice. Even those who did recognize the change didn’t necessarily understand the long term implications of it. After all, humanism’s promotion of concepts like the intrinsic value of a human being, community, and social justice, seem to be very compatible with a standard Judeo-Christian value system. Indeed, many mainstream denominations appear to be predisposed to a sort of religious-humanist perspective, where tepid religious tradition is tolerated like a neutered dog, who sleeps in the breezeway, but never actually comes in the house.
With all the supernatural elements stripped away, God becomes more mythological than real (like Mother Nature); Jesus becomes little more than a revered historical figure (like Gandhi or Mother Theresa), and the Holy Spirit remains a ghost in the relentlessly pragmatic religious machine. Effectively, such religion becomes two-dimensional and paper thin, but it is kept around to retain the sense and appearance of being good and moral. The upside to such an arrangement is that it doesn’t interfere with a burgeoning friendship with the world.
With the benefit of almost two decades of hindsight, I can see that the repercussions of this shift have been far more profound than I first understood. This change in course was not circumstantial or incidental, it was birthed in the spiritual realm, and the spirit behind the philosophical construct of humanism is not a passive or mild entity, it is an Anti-Christ spirit. In its purist form, humanism is secular, with no allowance for anything supernatural, spiritual or transcendent. It seeks to exalt man to the position of creator, ruler, and judge; which is as appealing to our human nature as it was to the first man (in the garden). But these are all roles the Lord has reserved for Himself.
Compassionate, and well-meaning believers can easily be pulled into the idea that humanism’s emphasis on human rights might simply be viewed as an extension of God’s love and concern for people, but that is problematic. Within this doctrine there can be no accommodation for the eternal, and no assent to a higher power. It seeks to explain our origin as anything other than coming from a Creator, to promote the idea that we evolve as opposed to being transformed, and to replace the power of the Holy Spirit, with the power of the human spirit. As John Lennon mused in his masterful ballad, “Imagine” we must rid ourselves of notions like heaven, hell and religion, so that we can all live together as one. Indeed, humanism has so much faith in the virtue of mankind, that it presumes that left to its own devices, and separated from its ancient religious ideas, it will quite naturally arrive at a utopian society. Of course, this is diametrically opposed to scripture’s assertions that apart from God, we can do “nothing”.
While some might argue the Christian heritage of the United States, there is no doubt about where our society stands in this current age. It is a culture steeped in humanist thinking, where the emerging generations are taught that evolution and technology have exempted them from the lessons of history, and where young children are taught that they can determine their own gender. Like ancient Greece, we’ve become a nation filled with false gods, and altars to worship them at.
Perhaps no scripture makes the contradiction more plain than proverbs declaration that there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ultimately leads to death, while humanism purports that there is a way that seems right to a man, and it ultimately leads to paradise.
After a disheartening season of watching brothers and sisters on the right exalt a man as though he were a priest, a prophet or a king, and make it seem as though God desperately needed him (instead of the other way around), we now see brothers and sisters on the left being taken captive by a hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. Indeed, many who are called by His name are likely to perish from this lack of understanding, and many is the teacher leading His little ones astray.
There is no man-made system that can produce or orchestrate real unity, true peace, authentic justice or genuine freedom. If we continue to look to the world for such things, we will continue to be disappointed. We need to quit fighting amongst ourselves, and begin to engage in the battle against the spirit of this age, which is devouring the world around us.
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Posted in Commentaries, Social / Political | Tagged humanism, humanistic, secular, secular humanism, social justice | Leave a Comment »