The Most Blasphemous Words in the English Language
Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever (The Puritan Westminster Catechism).
If all the doctrines of devils written since the foundation of the world could be summed up in one phrase, it would not rise to this: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” If Antichrist were to summarize his anti-bible, he could not come closer than this. Because the word “Anti” in “Antichrist” does not mean “opposite,” but “substitute” as in “counterfeit.” Satan is not so stupid as to prance around with horns, but as “an angel of light” preaches a substitute or counterfeit version of the Gospel (2 Co. 11).
The Puritans invent a counterfeit here. How so? Because this is precisely the question Jesus answered when he said:
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind….And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:36-40).
Jesus summarizes the entire Bible in these two statements--and, he says: they are the two sides of the same coin. The Puritans deface the first side by replacing wholehearted love with a mystical notion of "glorify" and inward self-indulgence ("enjoy"), and cast away the second ("thy neighbor as thyself") completely. Not only did they end up with half a Bible, but the part they kept is hopelessly deformed. Which is why you have abortions like John Gill who would not preach the Gospel to the unconverted lest he end up falsely giving hope to the non-elect. When John says "God so loved the world," he meant only that part of the world made up of the elect (try witnessing with that on your mind--which is why they leave that to the Methodists and Baptists, and then steal the cream of the crop with the seductions of an elite status). To say that God could love the non-elect would mean that a sovereign God could be denied what He Himself loves. These people left off reading the Bible long ago lest they confuse all over again what their elders un-riddled. But their preachers know their Calvin, and fear nothing more than that they should deny the doctrines of grace by quoting "whosoever" in such a way that the doctrines of the preforedamnations are diminished.
A three year old child would understand this. But look what the Puritans did here: They rewrote “thou shalt love with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all they mind” with the bland sophistry of “chief end, glory, enjoy," a mystical inward-looking fraud in your journey of mindfulness and serendipitousness. Against this muddle, the words of Jesus sound like a whiplash: "Thou shalt love God and your neighbor." This is a sharp command which leaves nothing to the imagination. Compare that to the mystical notions of glory and enjoyment--fit for the court of any king. Cain, when he laid down his offering, would have agreed to this. Herod who loved John Baptist’s preaching and longed to hear Jesus, would have agreed to this. All politicians who are not outright atheists would agree to this. Catholics and High Anglicans rave on and on about how they see God's glory in mile-high cathedrals, ear-piercing music, incense, and costly robes, even while the streets outside are littered with the wreckage of humanity. Bethebel Moore is getting rich selling her self-help message on how depressed people can once again reach inside and "enjoy" God. Or, thou shalt love yourself as--well--yourself. This is why these people cannot escape their morbid introspection, historically. Jesus tells them to look at God through their neighbors--and only then He adds, "yourself." At that point there is little left to introspect, and you will be spared a mountain of baggage. But the Puritans poured this monstrous poison into their children, added all the prefordamnations of all the people who are not like themselves, and told them they were elite children of the covenant. Look around you at the children of the covenant if you want to see confused ingrown wreckage. They have been so shell-shocked from all the prefordamnations of their elders that they wouldn't recognize the Bible from My Kampf. Their elders finally got the Bible all figured out in their books, so why should the children go back and get confused all over again? In reality, what they did is leapfrog over the teachings of Christ, cobbled Paul into a latter day Moses, and ended up with little more than the Conservative ideology of the Pharisees in their bitter struggle against the Sadducees. When Jesus condemns the traditions of the elders, he refers to what will become the Talmud, without which the Jews could not read their Bible. The Talmud is little more than the sorcery of what the priest-craft calls Apologetics in our day. But Paul without the teachings of Christ is a headless monster, and ten Talmuds have been erected on his shoulders to make up the difference. If the trumpet makes a horrible noise, it's because they're trying to blow it through this stack from the lungs.
The Reformers all had a seat at the king’s table, and had to preach accordingly. How do you preach to a king you are about to behead, or Cromwell up to his neck in human blood? The Puritans beheaded their own king even as they wrote this Confession and Catechism. They were preacher-politicians, which means they had their hand on the sword, and wrote with the blood of their king still warm on their hands. Once you take up the sword, you can never lay it down again. They had no choice but to cover their crime by rewriting the Bible, and poisoned their children to this day. Slavery and Apartheid are the wreckage of "glory" and "enjoy." They not only "passed by" their neighbor when they saw him bleeding by the wayside. All too often they put him there. They were not their brother's keeper, and there is nothing in "glorify" or "enjoy" to even arouse their conscience. They refused to accept the notion that the "liabilities," those who impact on their own lives and livelihood, could be their neighbors. Now, as their shells of brick become emptier and emptier, they still cling to the notion that the Reformers and their offspring, the Westminster Standards, are articles of doctrine never to be surpassed. They will soon take their place on the rubble of Confederate statues. Their house will be left desolate. They filled the earth with violence, and "the way of peace have they not known."
Puritans stumbled all over themselves to preach in the presence of their kings. Kings do not have the luxury to love their neighbor. They are called on to kill their neighbor. The President of the United States’ first and primary obligation is as First Soldier. He has to swear to use the nuclear football to annihilate entire civilizations to save his own citizens. He is to honor his office for his own people, not scruple over Samaritans. Nations are never (and never have been) friends, always but one slight or opportunity away from turning foe. Uneasy rests the head that wears the crown. There are not friends up here, and bland language is needed to make up the difference. Glory is safe and enjoy is safe. But you would not profane the words "love they neighbor" here. No one has ever used “love” and “throne” in the same sentence, unless they’re talking about the throne of grace. But “glory” suits the political realm like a glove. Like “honor,” it’s a safe word and could mean just about anything. Cain would have talked of glory and enjoyment. Herod would have talked of glory and enjoyment. But you would have found every reason not to so much as mention “love” in their presence. Their “chief duty” is met sufficiently in "honor" and "glory." "Love" of your neighbor would be a royal embarrassment, especially when honorable gentlemen waltz their highborn ladies. No Jew would consider a Samaritan his neighbor. He would have been considered a traitor if he did.
Since ancient times soldiers refer to themselves as “men of honor,” even when they visit “houses of repute.” The word “glory” is used for battlefield exploits or the majesty of God. Superstitious Herod, as head of the Temple, would like you to think he acted for the glory of God. “Glory” would have landed smoothly on the ears of any politician or ruler since the beginning of time. The throne is established and maintained by honor and glory. No one would ever expect to find “love” anywhere near it.
The Puritans were writing their creeds at Caesar’s table, with the stench of Herod’s bedroom in the air. If you want to know how to kill your neighbor and still go to heaven, read the Westminster Catechism. If you want to know all the different ways to exchange your wife for another, read the Westminster Confession. This is the first fang of the Serpent.
The second is even worse: they left out “thy neighbor as thyself.” Neighbor? What neighbor? Jesus puts the neighbor right next to God-- whom you profess to glorify. “For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen (1 Jn. 4:20). God will have you look at Him in the presence of your neighbor: “Go, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come offer thy gift” (Mt. 5). But the Puritans were gentlemen of honor, and even entertained the notion that Cromwell would usher in the New Jerusalem with fire and sword. John Owen, who became a billionaire after preaching “the beheading sermon,” looked at Cromwell’s war cruelties as legitimate measures after the manner of Joshua.
This is how poison now seeps into the vitals. Cain will not be “his brother’s keeper.” They don’t even try to define “who is my neighbor.” They simply leave him out. And rejecting the second part of Jesus’ answer, they now turn in on themselves and make obedience into a selfish, self-serving act: "selfish enjoyment." Whereas Jesus speaks of heart, soul and mind, they turn inward to their emotions: “enjoy.” This is a Satanic subversion, and the reason their descendants have been the greatest shedders of blood in History. This is what made possible the darkest chapters in church History: the Confederacy and Apartheid, both underwritten by the doctrines of Puritans and Reformed. After presiding over the bloodshed of 600,000 of his countrymen, Lee could think of nothing better than his image in the history books, and surrendered in a brand new uniform reserved for just that occasion. The newspapers never forgave Grant for dishonoring war (and History) when he showed up in clothes he probably slept in. The great Calvinist Stonewall Jackson, his own soldiers would say, “will kill you at the drop of a hat.”
These men are often praised for their strong attachments. But, like the Pharisees, they held to a very narrow definition of the word “neighbor”: “they loved only those who loved them back” (Mt. 5). “To glorify” and “enjoy” was all that was required. They could beat, rape, and sell their “neighbors” (or suffer those who did) and not run afoul of “the chief end of man.” This is what made possible the brutality of slavery and apartheid. These evils were underwritten at the highest level: by the preachers and theologians. Monstrous evil is only possible with the sanction of religion behind it. Pagan superstition is too fickle to rise to this level. Jackson’s favorite phrase was his frequent outburst “kill them all.” And Lee, as he watched the brutality of one of the bloodiest wars on American soil (Fredericksburg), turned to his officers with fire in his eye: “It is well that war is so terrible – otherwise we would grow too fond of it.” But this was as good as it got, and he loved it. This was the Superbowl with Nuclear footballs. The day will come when the people who pull down the statues of Confederates will find their enablers in the writings of Calvin and his followers, just as Luther is frequently reproached with the Holocaust for his violent outbursts against Jews. The Thirty Years War as well as the subsequent Lutheran War I and II may be laid squarely at his feet for his vehement embrace of the Sword, and for driving the peacemakers out of Germany.
Here a German soldier tells what it's like to have killed a French soldier. Luther would tell him he did exactly what God wanted him to do. Reformed preachers would tell him his guilt is false and misplaced. Nothing any soldier has ever seen in the horrors of war comes close to the horror in this man's conscience. I couldn't finish to see if he found solace in repentance and faith. From his expression I have to assume he still thinks the Bible is as Luther told him it was, and he is left to await the awful judgment of God on his own. Better this man had never been born. The horror of his inability to repent (if so) is a million times worse than his act of killing.