Why the Pilgrim Underground?

For those familiar with my other website, I explained there that I wanted to separate my writings. The other website will continue to consist of longer pieces, essays and articles. It's already quite cluttered and I don't want to make it worse.

Every day I encounter articles that I want to share with readers and shorter commentaries that will be pegged to current events. In a few months they may be of less value. So I've decided to put all these pieces here as well as links and recommendations. This will give readers a window into some news and exposure to various resources, news sources and hopefully issues that will challenge them.

Everything here is related to the things I write about on the other site. These posts are shorter and a bit more dated.

Why am I asking for support? If you're interested there are some longer pieces on the other site explaining a bit more about who I am and what I'm trying to do. 

I'm self-employed and have to support my family, but I would rather live on far less money and spend my time writing and putting together resources to help God's people wade through the deceptions of our day and grow in their knowledge of the Kingdom. If God blesses my endeavours I will continue to expand what I'm doing and hopefully extend into more basic Bible and theological teaching. Right now I'm mostly combating the overarching errors which reign in the Church. As I've written before the diet here is insufficient for a healthy Christian life and walk. This is battle and solely feeding on what I'm writing about won't make you spiritually healthy. Sometimes we need to get off the battlefield and spend time in the courts of the Lord. There are many excellent books and resources out there apart from the obvious best way of knowing God...His Word. At this point these resources are better than anything I'm going to be able to put together. I will stick with what I can do that helps the present situation. If anyone is ever looking for a book or commentary recommendation, just ask.

If the support comes in, I can take time off work and spend more time here. I live simply and am devoted to this work. If you believe these resources and my overall analysis are helpful to the body of Christ, then by all means give. If you're unsure, then don't. Ultimately I do not believe the Truth is ever going to 'win' as the world defines that. Our victory only comes with the return of Christ. Until then we will be castigated and hated by the false Church. We will always be in the minority because we are rejecting the sanctification of power which is what the Church has embraced since the time of Constantine. The Reformation did not change that.

They will call us Gnostics, Retreatists, fools, cowards and many other names. Little do they realize the embrace of power is easy. Our sinful nature craves it. It doesn't take courage to strike back. It takes courage, determination and real humility to turn the other cheek, to reject power when it is offered or to put others before yourself.

The other issues I write about are to try and peel back the layers of philosophical and theological baggage. I'm not trying to return to a 'pure' 1st century Christianity. We can't do that, but we do need to acknowledge a fundamental shift in the nature of the Church in the 4th century. This Constantinian Shift has affected not only how the Church relates to the world but also has profoundly shaped theological and ethical questions. In many cases the New Testament has been flipped on its head and the Old Testament is read through the wrong lenses as it were.

If I am provoking you to think, if I am awaking you from a stupour, if I'm driving you to re-think and/or look into these issues for the first time then I am more than content. For me this isn't a career, this isn't about building some 'ministry'; this is far more profound than that. If things I say are offensive, then I pray that you simply take into account the spirit in which I'm saying these things and consider my motivations. I'm not a crank or a revolutionary. I am intensely concerned with Christian history and historical theology. I fear novelty and yet just because something is old doesn't mean that at one time it wasn't novel. Assumptions need to be questioned. And yet I do believe that the truth can be known and that the truth has often been present even within a largely apostate Church. We cannot ignore the history of Christian doctrine. There are many who have done so to their peril. I am not one of those who are ignorant of what has gone before and now it's just 'me and my Bible.' Because I largely reject Confessionalism I have been accused of it, but anyone who reads what I'm writing will see that I'm not ignoring history, but I am rejecting much of the mainstream's many traditions and assumptions.

I'm devoted to Christ's Kingdom and want His Word to permeate my life and thought. Once you grasp the nature of Sacralism and what it has done to the Church, whether or not you agree with me on the minutiae you will not be able to look at the contemporary Church in the same way. Suddenly all the talk about following the Bible, Christian Worldview, and Biblical application will ring hollow because you will see there are massive unfounded and unbiblical assumptions behind what they're saying and doing. And in the end most of these folks don't have a Christian Worldview at all and they've misread and misunderstand large portions of the Bible. In terms of the Kingdom message and motif presented by Christ in the Gospels and expanded on in the Epistles...they've not grasped it and are in fact quite hostile to it.

If you're overwhelmed by all this, then feel free to ask questions. You can email me directly at protoprotestant@gmail.com

 

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