It occurs to me that one aspect of inherited power as in monarchical systems is that occasionally you get someone whose sole drive was not power, but something else; the reluctant ruler, if you will. The phrase "power corrupts" may have been applicable in older centuries but today, corruption is a prerequisite to power. Quite literally. To name one small example -- Eric Holder covered up the FBI murder of an innocent man mistaken for John Doe #2 from the Oklahoma City Bombing, which was a messy coverup including the murder of a whistleblower police officer, and as a result, Holder ascended. From Deputy Attorney General to Attorney General. Possibly, in the days when people simply ascended to roles by birthright, we occasionally, by accident, got good people in positions of power. An odd and uncomfortable thought.
Precisely. That is what occurs when the entire system is corrupt, when the system will simply cough up the honest man should he somehow emerge into its ranks and dare to challenge it. And what a rare thing that is today. It was rather shocking during Covid how few in the medical world, especially in top positions but also in the rank and file of medicine, were willing to challenge what was happening and risk their careers for something they knew was wrong. The system had already been corrupted, including the most insidious form of corruption there is - Go along to get along.
In a random distribution of power assignment one would expect a balance of decent and despicable--whatever the makeup may be of the population being assigned.
In the instance of power grabs, wherein the ruler must seek and/or fight/compete for the role, nature shows the result: dog eat dog. Not too many poodles can bring it when going up against shepherds.
In other words, it's brutish business, and the smart, Shakespearean types aren't necessarily going into the mud for a gentlemanly street fight.
Thus, when arrives a muscled champion who has the brain power to chess out strategy, charisma to acquire friends, allies, and acolytes, and a moral fiber that oscillates around goodness vice evil, very many people will see the upside despite the fact that he dives first for the deepest mud--strategy, empathy are in play, one must recall. Some people are so revolted by mud diving that they turn away or write off thr champion. Some people forego livestock because they are tender about slaughter. It's a dirty place, Nature. The beauty is that normal and healthy people are designed to thrive in it.
"The campaigns I undertook, some to begin wars, some to make peace,..."
So says Charles.
Trump can say the same.
Why idolize the former and detest the latter? Trump literally dodged a bullet, and his first response was to spring back fiercely. Says it all about the man, right there. You can rip him to shreds for all the political mud he wears on his suits, but he's in the gutter of government doing what he believes to be right and just.
Totally agree. At the risk of being labeled a groupie & acknowledging my historical deficiencies, given what is at stake, the utter complexities involved, the endless & constant intrigue from within & without, the unparalleled levels of corruption, stupidity & second guessers that Trump has to contend with, he is his own set of Shakespearean tragedies.
Not quite sure how a story about someone who willingly withdrew from the battle saying whatever wrongs I may have done I never knowingly did them is supposed to encourage me. I suspect Trump would call him a loser. Do good intentions absolve one from judgement? Tim Walz would like to know.
Nitpick all you want on his failings as a man or leader, in the world of the “man makes the times” Trump stands alone.
However, considering protestants as heretic or as witchcraft even was a huge and cruel error in judgment. The inquisition and countless executions, torture and confiscation of "heretics' property, to the elimination of people of entire towns (like Trier, for example)...all this was entirely conscious, deliberate and intentional! Protestants ARE Christians, too! I doubt that God is looking kindly on these happenings. The inquisition screams of cruelty and grave injustice.
Exactly, John, and this poor man, seem to think that the inquisition was a good thing, and that championing Gods Word over corrupt and sinful man’s teachings was admirable.
I note that most historians count the reformation, and the championing the Bible’s spread and reading widely by the common people, which Romanism fought tooth and nail, as the beginning of the end of “the dark ages” and the ushering in of a time the light of God into this dark world.
I sure would like to think so. Trump has weathered so much that it's hard for me to think that his rise to power is all a PsyOp as some suppose. I pray it's not. I do worry that he could be compromised by threats to his family. He may willingly sacrifice himself, but sacrificing family members is too much for anyone to bear.
"... and when heresy seeps over your boundaries, do not delay in wiping it out, or it will go badly for you."
The EU leaders have invited the heretics in and have welcomed them with open arms. It is already going badly for them. There's not a Charles V in the lot.
My interpretation of the "heresy" referenced was the call to reform the corruption of medieval Roman Catholicism, led by Luther and others. Hundreds of thousands of faithful Christians died over 3 centuries at the hands of Roman Catholics, just because they wanted to read the Bible and not have to pay for huge cathedrals, bone parades, royal debauchery and other ecclesiastical claptrap.
My thoughts exactly. Belgium was empoverished in every way by the persecution, execution, and exodus of its reformed believers. Behind Charles V’s precious conscience I see the spector of Inquisition.
The Netherlands had unified language, flourishing education and prosperity because they had Bibles in their language. Flanders to this day has tiny pockets of local dialects which can’t be understood 10 km away because the people were denied the right to think clearly beyond survival. The people were forbidden to read the Bible, and were denied one translated their own language for centuries.
The Belgian exodus enriched every country where they took refuge. Philip was as blood thirsty and oppresive as his father.
Yes, Charles V’s prioritizing “wiping out heresies” steered and sanctioned Philip II’s future massacres (including by extension those of his later spouse Bloody Mary of England) and the zealous inquisition – – regrettable and revanchist direction from the abdicating father.
Agreed. My point that this part of Charles' appeal to those who would succeed him was that they should guard not just against material and physical threats but to spiritual threats, too. Today's threat to the West is not within the Christian community but from without, from Islam, a threat that is both physical and spiritual.
Truly, though it may SEEM the western Christian church is "safe" within, many are deceived by "progressive" CHURCH LEADERS (Matthew 13- parables of the Sower and weed seeds among the wheat)
When this began in mid-1800's European churches my ancestors migrated to the USA! Sola Scriptura believers WILL experience persecution. "All who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (Paul's second letter to Timothy, chapter 3, v12.)
No need to feel dispirited, John Leake. God is in charge, still, as inferred long ago by Charles V, and we are to be patient, and watch. You do watch faithfully, as I have observed, but it has been with a cost, for you, myself and many others. Ultimately, Jesus is coming to deal with the things we despise. Have faith, my friend. God is nigh.
Some kings weren't too bad, as you have posted, John. The American Revolution was a stake through the heart of absolute monarchies and the beginning of republicanism that swept through the globe. Republics have indeed predated the American Revolution, but not to the extent that they were spawned after our successful revolution.
The problem with a representative constitutional republic is that its representatives are for sale 24/7 to the highest bidder. At least with monarchies, kings were difficult to bribe.
The extent of corruption in a republic like ours is overwhelming, and as more truth is revealed, it's becoming harder not to be enraged. I've always wondered whether a hybrid monarchy would be a better way to govern than using a representative system.
add to your list of man's corruption the current FARM BILL...an appalling abomination of reduced pesticide control, animal welfare, state control..just simply unbleleivable. Glyphosate Trump at it again. Where is RFK, I cannot beleive he will stick around much longer.
Reverberating down through the ages, still quietly awaiting - nay, demanding - hearts that will listen and embrace its message in their core is this advice: “Above all, avoid those new sects that plague our neighboring lands, and when heresy seeps over your boundaries, do not delay in wiping it out, or it will go badly for you.”
They say the only form of government better than a democratic republic is a benevolent dictatorship, which is essentially what you are saying. (I have no idea who "they" is.) The trouble is, your chances of getting a benevolent dictator rather than an Idi Amin-type are very low, plus you have to worry about who comes next. I will now proceed to Google to acquaint myself with how Philip performed as a ruler after his father abdicated... ah, so he was blinded by his devout Catholicism to the point of strengthening the Inquisition into the terror history now remembers it for. And he could have brought peace to Europe if he had only been willing to accept Protestantism in his Dutch and German territories. So there you go, the benevolent dictator had a minor blind spot that was magnified in his son, turning his son into a despot.
Thanks for the history lesson. Charles V was one of the very few (such as Cincinnatus and Washington) with the wisdom and humility to voluntarily relinquish Power.
You wrote "This evening, while seeking evidence that man is not a hopeless case,"
One, understanding the True nature of Reality, would not seek such evidence. One would understand that the realization of God in man is forever The Hope. Yes, at times, Realized.
The Hope of vast arRays in Heaven. The object of intense attack by the evil.
Seeing Life lost is a torment both for The Soul who can See and has some understanding of the Laws of cause and effect / karma, and of reembodiment and also for The Soul who sees Life lost.
It occurs to me that one aspect of inherited power as in monarchical systems is that occasionally you get someone whose sole drive was not power, but something else; the reluctant ruler, if you will. The phrase "power corrupts" may have been applicable in older centuries but today, corruption is a prerequisite to power. Quite literally. To name one small example -- Eric Holder covered up the FBI murder of an innocent man mistaken for John Doe #2 from the Oklahoma City Bombing, which was a messy coverup including the murder of a whistleblower police officer, and as a result, Holder ascended. From Deputy Attorney General to Attorney General. Possibly, in the days when people simply ascended to roles by birthright, we occasionally, by accident, got good people in positions of power. An odd and uncomfortable thought.
Yes, Charles was poignant in precisely that respect, which is why I often think about him
….corruption is a prerequisite to power.
Precisely. That is what occurs when the entire system is corrupt, when the system will simply cough up the honest man should he somehow emerge into its ranks and dare to challenge it. And what a rare thing that is today. It was rather shocking during Covid how few in the medical world, especially in top positions but also in the rank and file of medicine, were willing to challenge what was happening and risk their careers for something they knew was wrong. The system had already been corrupted, including the most insidious form of corruption there is - Go along to get along.
Janet Reno presided over a similar miscarriage of justice at Waco, Tx, and was rewarded also.
Corruption begets power that corrupts.
In a random distribution of power assignment one would expect a balance of decent and despicable--whatever the makeup may be of the population being assigned.
In the instance of power grabs, wherein the ruler must seek and/or fight/compete for the role, nature shows the result: dog eat dog. Not too many poodles can bring it when going up against shepherds.
In other words, it's brutish business, and the smart, Shakespearean types aren't necessarily going into the mud for a gentlemanly street fight.
Thus, when arrives a muscled champion who has the brain power to chess out strategy, charisma to acquire friends, allies, and acolytes, and a moral fiber that oscillates around goodness vice evil, very many people will see the upside despite the fact that he dives first for the deepest mud--strategy, empathy are in play, one must recall. Some people are so revolted by mud diving that they turn away or write off thr champion. Some people forego livestock because they are tender about slaughter. It's a dirty place, Nature. The beauty is that normal and healthy people are designed to thrive in it.
Has Trump thus far knowingly acted unjustly?
"The campaigns I undertook, some to begin wars, some to make peace,..."
So says Charles.
Trump can say the same.
Why idolize the former and detest the latter? Trump literally dodged a bullet, and his first response was to spring back fiercely. Says it all about the man, right there. You can rip him to shreds for all the political mud he wears on his suits, but he's in the gutter of government doing what he believes to be right and just.
Can that be acknowledged?
Totally agree. At the risk of being labeled a groupie & acknowledging my historical deficiencies, given what is at stake, the utter complexities involved, the endless & constant intrigue from within & without, the unparalleled levels of corruption, stupidity & second guessers that Trump has to contend with, he is his own set of Shakespearean tragedies.
Not quite sure how a story about someone who willingly withdrew from the battle saying whatever wrongs I may have done I never knowingly did them is supposed to encourage me. I suspect Trump would call him a loser. Do good intentions absolve one from judgement? Tim Walz would like to know.
Nitpick all you want on his failings as a man or leader, in the world of the “man makes the times” Trump stands alone.
Do good intentions absolve you...? I think this depends entirely on whose judgment you seek or fear. Intentions certainly matter to God.
However, considering protestants as heretic or as witchcraft even was a huge and cruel error in judgment. The inquisition and countless executions, torture and confiscation of "heretics' property, to the elimination of people of entire towns (like Trier, for example)...all this was entirely conscious, deliberate and intentional! Protestants ARE Christians, too! I doubt that God is looking kindly on these happenings. The inquisition screams of cruelty and grave injustice.
Exactly, John, and this poor man, seem to think that the inquisition was a good thing, and that championing Gods Word over corrupt and sinful man’s teachings was admirable.
I note that most historians count the reformation, and the championing the Bible’s spread and reading widely by the common people, which Romanism fought tooth and nail, as the beginning of the end of “the dark ages” and the ushering in of a time the light of God into this dark world.
Yes. Thank you for recognizing Trump’s courage.
I sure would like to think so. Trump has weathered so much that it's hard for me to think that his rise to power is all a PsyOp as some suppose. I pray it's not. I do worry that he could be compromised by threats to his family. He may willingly sacrifice himself, but sacrificing family members is too much for anyone to bear.
"... and when heresy seeps over your boundaries, do not delay in wiping it out, or it will go badly for you."
The EU leaders have invited the heretics in and have welcomed them with open arms. It is already going badly for them. There's not a Charles V in the lot.
My interpretation of the "heresy" referenced was the call to reform the corruption of medieval Roman Catholicism, led by Luther and others. Hundreds of thousands of faithful Christians died over 3 centuries at the hands of Roman Catholics, just because they wanted to read the Bible and not have to pay for huge cathedrals, bone parades, royal debauchery and other ecclesiastical claptrap.
My thoughts exactly. Belgium was empoverished in every way by the persecution, execution, and exodus of its reformed believers. Behind Charles V’s precious conscience I see the spector of Inquisition.
The Netherlands had unified language, flourishing education and prosperity because they had Bibles in their language. Flanders to this day has tiny pockets of local dialects which can’t be understood 10 km away because the people were denied the right to think clearly beyond survival. The people were forbidden to read the Bible, and were denied one translated their own language for centuries.
The Belgian exodus enriched every country where they took refuge. Philip was as blood thirsty and oppresive as his father.
How quickly real history is forgotten.
Yes, Charles V’s prioritizing “wiping out heresies” steered and sanctioned Philip II’s future massacres (including by extension those of his later spouse Bloody Mary of England) and the zealous inquisition – – regrettable and revanchist direction from the abdicating father.
Agreed. My point that this part of Charles' appeal to those who would succeed him was that they should guard not just against material and physical threats but to spiritual threats, too. Today's threat to the West is not within the Christian community but from without, from Islam, a threat that is both physical and spiritual.
Truly, though it may SEEM the western Christian church is "safe" within, many are deceived by "progressive" CHURCH LEADERS (Matthew 13- parables of the Sower and weed seeds among the wheat)
...who gradually change denominational creeds towards antichrist Marxist -globalist goals. (Matthew 24:4-5, 11, 23-24)
When this began in mid-1800's European churches my ancestors migrated to the USA! Sola Scriptura believers WILL experience persecution. "All who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (Paul's second letter to Timothy, chapter 3, v12.)
Dear Mr. Leake,
I am WEARY of this world too....
The Holy Spirit brought this verse to my mind after reading your post. I PRAY it will uplift and strengthen us to remain strong in serving our Lord:
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galations 6:9
An unciphered letter, brought to us by, Paul.
la chevalerie vit - The Apostle Paul...a MAGNIFICENT Hero of the faith.
INDEED
His belief and fear of a Christian God was most likely his great asset.
Agree. This line grabbed me today:
"...success in war lies in the hands of God, Who gives victory or takes it away, as He pleases. We thank Divine Providence..."
Such a great read thank you. What an impressive man @ 17 yrs old.
No need to feel dispirited, John Leake. God is in charge, still, as inferred long ago by Charles V, and we are to be patient, and watch. You do watch faithfully, as I have observed, but it has been with a cost, for you, myself and many others. Ultimately, Jesus is coming to deal with the things we despise. Have faith, my friend. God is nigh.
Amen.
AMEN!
Some kings weren't too bad, as you have posted, John. The American Revolution was a stake through the heart of absolute monarchies and the beginning of republicanism that swept through the globe. Republics have indeed predated the American Revolution, but not to the extent that they were spawned after our successful revolution.
The problem with a representative constitutional republic is that its representatives are for sale 24/7 to the highest bidder. At least with monarchies, kings were difficult to bribe.
The extent of corruption in a republic like ours is overwhelming, and as more truth is revealed, it's becoming harder not to be enraged. I've always wondered whether a hybrid monarchy would be a better way to govern than using a representative system.
Great post JL. I’m thinking this doesn’t get taught in many schools…
A rare ruler.
add to your list of man's corruption the current FARM BILL...an appalling abomination of reduced pesticide control, animal welfare, state control..just simply unbleleivable. Glyphosate Trump at it again. Where is RFK, I cannot beleive he will stick around much longer.
While Glyphosate is bad, an immediate ban is unrealistic given the current system's dependence on it. For your consideration...
https://www.themahareport.com/p/why-kennedy-is-right-about-glyphosate
Reverberating down through the ages, still quietly awaiting - nay, demanding - hearts that will listen and embrace its message in their core is this advice: “Above all, avoid those new sects that plague our neighboring lands, and when heresy seeps over your boundaries, do not delay in wiping it out, or it will go badly for you.”
They say the only form of government better than a democratic republic is a benevolent dictatorship, which is essentially what you are saying. (I have no idea who "they" is.) The trouble is, your chances of getting a benevolent dictator rather than an Idi Amin-type are very low, plus you have to worry about who comes next. I will now proceed to Google to acquaint myself with how Philip performed as a ruler after his father abdicated... ah, so he was blinded by his devout Catholicism to the point of strengthening the Inquisition into the terror history now remembers it for. And he could have brought peace to Europe if he had only been willing to accept Protestantism in his Dutch and German territories. So there you go, the benevolent dictator had a minor blind spot that was magnified in his son, turning his son into a despot.
Thanks for the history lesson. Charles V was one of the very few (such as Cincinnatus and Washington) with the wisdom and humility to voluntarily relinquish Power.
You wrote "This evening, while seeking evidence that man is not a hopeless case,"
One, understanding the True nature of Reality, would not seek such evidence. One would understand that the realization of God in man is forever The Hope. Yes, at times, Realized.
The Hope of vast arRays in Heaven. The object of intense attack by the evil.
Seeing Life lost is a torment both for The Soul who can See and has some understanding of the Laws of cause and effect / karma, and of reembodiment and also for The Soul who sees Life lost.
Arrest Obama