Posted on 06/07/2010 8:28:11 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
A lot has been made of the "community organizing" techniques of the late Saul Alinsky, and his influence on Democrats from Hillary Clinton to The Teleprompter himself (mmm, mmm, mmm). It has only been comparatively recently, with the rise of the Tea-Party movement, the rise of Breitbart.com, and a few other cases, that the political right in the US has attempted to forestall, or even to emulate his tactics, as set forth in Rules for Radicals. And whenever these techniques have been used to date, they have been a roaring success.
Another well-known, but not as well-examined, aspect of Alinsky's seminal work, is found in his dedication:
"Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history... the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer."
Now, there are several different approaches to this: the left either uses it as an opportunity for "Christian-baiting," reveling in the discomfiture and hissy-fit screeching of the devout, or, for the darker among them, pretend to enjoy in Christian-bashing on the basis of naiveé, but secretly hope or believe that they are acting as the agents of the devil and have (at least) his approval, if not aid.
The right either points and shudders, going, "I...*knew* it!" (to the endless amusement of the arts-and-croissant crowd, furnishing further ammunition to their bigoted portrayal of conservatives and incestuous, illiterate peasants; or attempts a "tsk, tsk" towards the left for regression to such a tasteless, ungentlemanly taunt.
But there is another way to regard it, which I would like to point out. And that is to take it literally.
Who is the opposite of Lucifer (who masquerades as an angel of light)? Nobody else than that true Light which has come into the world, Christ, the Son of God. I suggest that we compare and contrast the respective teachings, in order that we find a guide to our enemies, and instructions as to our own behaviour.
What did Jesus say was the Greatest Commandment?
Look at Mark 12:28 ff:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
(Luke puts it even more strongly, "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.")
The easiest way to see what are enemies are doing, as they lay claim to Luciferian inspiration, would be to take the OPPOSITE of the greatest commandment.
This would approximate to:
"Hate the Lord Your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And Hate your Neighbor as Yourself. Doing so will undermine all the Law and the Prophets." (That is, ultimately, all social order and good will in society.)
Looking at just a few examples: the attacks on Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, Bush Derangement Syndrome, the universal foaming-at-the-mouth up to and including wishes for Rape, physical stalking, and hacking of private emails following Governor Palin -- is there any doubt that what we are seeing *is* in fact, genuine hate?
And the "Hate Your Neighbor as Yourself" -- as when self-destructive people seek to tear down and destroy the works of the successful, and to destroy the societal institutions which made greatness possible (similar in approach to the Pharisees rebuked by Jesus in Matthew 23:13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.") Or consider the self-destructive habits such as promiscuity and drug use: these are not signs of self-love, only of self-indulgence.
One could in fact take this a step further -- go to the Ten Commandments, and turn them inside out in a similar fashion:
ONE: 'You shall have *any* other gods before Me.'
TWO: 'You shall make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' (Bonus if it is a Luxury Car).
THREE: 'You shall take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' (Listen to any movie nowadays).
FOUR: 'Forget the Sabbath day, to keep it unholy.' Think of the wheels of commerce turning 24x7, 365.
FIVE: 'Dishonor your father and your mother.' ('Nuff said!)
SIX: 'You shall murder.' (Abortion is just for starters.)
SEVEN: 'You shall commit adultery.' (Go and sin some more! It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is.)
EIGHT: 'You shall steal.' (Paging ALL the porkulus bills etc.)
NINE: 'You shall bear false witness against your neighbor.' (Remember how Reagan was going to get us into a nuclear war?)
TEN: 'You shall covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.' (This is all of Madison avenue.)
In another New Testament Epistle, you could (roughly) summarize these as "The World, The Flesh, and the Devil" or "The Lust of The Flesh, The Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life."
Now, what can we do about it? Forewarned is forearmed.
Look at what Jesus did when confronted with the tempter?
Look at Matthew 4:8 and following:
"Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
Author's Note: I wish to give an anonymous hat tip to some poster at RedState.com, whose comments started this train of thought. I saw the comments today but have not been able to find them whether surfing on the site, or Googling. To whomever wrote those words on RedState, thanks: think of this piece as "springboarding" off of your inspiration, and please accept my acknowledgment and gratitude...
Cheers!
Nicely said.
The majority of Christians believe Satan has ‘horns’, a tail, and wears red underwear. They read over the part of what he offered Christ if Christ would bend His flesh knee unto him.
Most Christians do not associate Lucifer as ‘pretty boy’ that has a ‘god’ complex, and is going to be allowed to do to us what he offered Christ. It will be called peace, peace, peace.
Wonderful Post.
I really, really like this post.
Thank you for enlightening me!
nice. thanks so much g_w. also the reminder too about prayer and fasting.
Cheers!
bttt
Very few people are aware that Marx literally acknowledged his allegiance to Satan.
You may already know that Marx was a poet as well as a philosopher of political economics. The following verse is from "The Fiddler", by Karl Marx.
Till heart’s bewitched, till senses reel:
With Satan I have struck my deal.
He chalks the signs, beats time for me,
I play the death march fast and free.
Google this if you think this is an urban legend.
I really doubt that Marx was trying to rattle Christian conservatives with his verse. Alinsky so hated traditional American values and virtues that it may have been motivation.
People are NOT aware because they have been indoctrinated by these masters in public education. And then of course there are the religions of 'social justice' because they can do things better. Christ said even Christians would become infiltrated with the doctrines of the devil and said let no man deceive you claiming to be Christ(ian).
Thanks for the ping!
Very well illustrated. Enjoyed your comments, as always.
I didn’t know about this—thanks for posting it.
I was Googling through today after Glenn Beck mentioned Alinsky’s book and I came across your post. Needless to say, It was a bit disconcerting to realize how that book had a glaringly positive remark about Satan.
This post is well written. The reference to an angel of light is excellent. Not many people are aware that one third of the angels that followed Lucifer in his fall appear as angels of light purely for deception.
I would like to offer one point. In the same sentence as the angel of light reference, you raise the question “Who is the opposite of Lucifer?” And your answer (and most everyone’s answer) is the Lord Jesus. One of Lucifer’s greatest schemes is having people believe that his opposite is Christ or God.
However, this is not true. God created Lucifer. He is in no way equal or opposite to the Almighty Creator. He is an angel - a fallen angel - and the best choice for an opposite would be the archangel Michael.
In any case, just sharing this concept. Thank you for this post and may God bless you and yours.
But as far as who is functionally the opposite of Lucifer, it is Jesus. The devil wants to screw us up, Jesus wants to redeem us.
That's why the devil tempted Jesus in Matthew 4; that's why Jesus said "the reason the Son of Man appeared, was to destroy the works of the Devil"; that's why Jesus said "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven"; and why Jesus cast out demons.
Michael fights Satan too, but Jesus died for our sins and was raised for our justification.
Cheers!
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