Amateurs,

We’re living during a temporal juncture that has a certain ethereal quality to it. It’s almost like when you take a hearing test and the increasing pitch of the sound exceeds your hearing threshold and goes into dog whistle territory. You are simultaneously cognizant that a sound is still being generated and that it is no longer audible. You know that there is something to be heard, but you don’t hear it.

This summer has seen incredible, unbelievable, and shocking events from all quarters, yet it seems as if for all this stimulus there is little to no response. By now it should be obvious to anyone paying attention that our primary institutions of government, finance, and media here in the US are terminally corrupt at best and overtly criminal at worst. For all of the startling revelations it appears that the general populace is content to let events that even a decade ago would have generated national outcry simply roll off their shoulders.

Perhaps the crescendo of change has indeed reached this ‘dog whistle point’. It registers as a distant echo and a tinnitus that we attempt to mask with the louder noise of our choosing.

Whatever is coming, there is no way through it in our own natural strength. As a disciple of Jesus Christ I am finding myself relying more and more on His supernatural protection and the guidance of the Holy Spirit on a day to day and even moment to moment basis. I often wonder how I got by without it in earlier stages of my life before realizing that it was only by His grace – instructive visuals appear below. Long story short: tomorrow isn’t promised.

Jesus is the truth, and the truth has set me free. Freedom in Jesus is paradoxical lunacy to a world of secular humanism, scientism, and paganism that is owned and operated by Luciferians. Everyone serves someone. I’ve screwed up enough times to know that I don’t know what’s best in my own reasoning. But I thank God that He knows me better than I know myself. I praise Him because he has been, is, and always will be perfectly good, true, and faithful.

We live in a society that teaches and preaches self-service. Doing your own thing is exalted as the paragon of freedom. Make no mistake; this value system is an old religious template repackaged to appeal to generations of moral relativists. The internal contradictions of universal subjectivity as the ontological backing for our moral judgments aside: everyone has an ultimate. If you don’t know what your ultimate is, then I urge you to ask yourself where the grounding of your values and beliefs comes from.

My ultimate is the Triune God of the Bible. I wish I could properly explain to you the peace that this has given me as I have grown in my faith, but this is the peace that passes understanding. Knowing that God is in control and that Jesus holds the keys to my life has freed me from all my prisons. If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, then there’s a reason that you’re still reading this. He loves you. He died for you. He will set you free. He will give you a purpose and the ability to fulfill it. He will adopt you into the family of God.

Jesus is the only way through the coming storm.

You know that we’re on the cusp of something. You know that the current system cannot continue. If you’re honest, then you know that no matter how much research you do you can’t know exactly how and when it will play out. You know it’s happening as we speak. Maybe you can even still hear the dog whistle.

I think that the art that adorns this website and all Amateur Society graphics says it better than I ever could. It is the work of Thomas Cole, 19th century American painter and founder of the Hudson River School. I am in no way an art expert, but there’s something special about Cole’s 1842 series ‘The Voyage of Life’ that deserves some quiet reflection. I believe its content echoes acutely through time to speak vividly to this critical moment in our generation.

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Childhood

Youth

Manhood

Old Age

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Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8

I don’t know about you, but these days I feel a lot like the man in the rudderless boat from Manhood. These paintings are alive to me. I encourage you to meditate on them this weekend as you hopefully enjoy the present in the rest and peace that only the Holy Spirit can provide. We look ahead to an uncertain future, and it is only by faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we will endure to the end. We can’t make it through in our own strength. We will walk supernaturally or we will fall. Seek God’s face. Seek God’s will. Seek God’s kingdom. Nothing short of the destiny of billions of people is at stake.

There is a harvest coming brothers and sisters. We’ll be talking about this one for all eternity – literally.

God bless,

Steven

This article was originally posted on The Amateur Society website on September 4, 2016.