Good News!

It has become very unpopular today to be a good person. Well, that is to say, a good person as defined by a good God. Some of you may know that I have been working with Doc Ryan for many months now to plant an organic church up in his neck-of-the-woods by Lake Geneva. A few weeks ago it became a real thing. In the cold evening hours, at his gun range, over a hundred crazy, remnant people gathered to advance their spiritual life in covenant community. The name of that church is TOV.

Tov is the Hebrew word for good.

Genesis 1: The Creation Story

Verses 3-4: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

Verses 9-10: And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Verses 11-12: Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so. The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Verses 16-18: God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well. God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Verse 21: So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every bird of flight after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Verse 25: God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Verses 26-27: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Verse 31: And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.
And there was evening, and there was morning— the sixth day.

VERY GOOD did now show up in the narrative until God had finished building human community and covenant. Also, please notice, it was something that God ‘saw’… it was real, visible, and tangible. The power of community and covenant is unrivaled, unequaled in the entire universe… our enemy knows this as well, which enrages him with a vile offense against it.

But what does “good,” ‘Tov,’ really mean? We need to always remember that the ancient Hebraic people often relate descriptions to functionality and application. The word Tov could be translated with the word, “functional.” When the Father looked at his creative handiwork, He did not see that it was, “good,” like we would call a peanut butter cookie, “good.” He saw that it was functional, kind of like a well-oiled and tuned machine built (divinely) to operate in a way that was a blessing to mankind and His design concurrently. In contrast to this word is the Hebrew word, “Ra.” These two words, Tov and Ra, are used for the tree of the knowledge of, “good,” and, “evil.” While, “ra,” is often translated as evil, it is able to be translated as, “dysfunctional.”

Dysfunctional communities and covenantal relationships are par for the course today, Beloved. Our world has effectively used community as a way to gather the broken for propagandistic discipling, and ‘covenant’ as a way to have those broken people vow committedly even unto death for ‘ra’ ideology like murder (abortion), chaos (unrestrained immigration from third world prisons), schizophrenia (gender confusion), and racism (DEI force-fed to children in education). Dysfunction is a rotten fruit gestated by the perverse roots of chaos.

When you fill an environment or society with dysfunctionality, what is ‘created’ is a silencing of the functional, rational, good people because they have become the minority, looked upon with great disgust. Good becomes wrong because what is rare is rejected. This is a sociological paradigm that perpetuates what is known as a, “spiral of silence.”

The, “spiral of silence,” is a theory in communication and social psychology, first introduced by German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann in 1974. It describes the phenomenon where individuals who perceive their opinions as being in the minority are less likely to express them publicly, even if they believe their views are valid (good, functional), due to fear of isolation or social consequences.

Elisabeth developed this theory by witnessing and researching the ‘churches’ in Germany during the rise of Nazism. Statistically, only thirty percent of the churches vocally and publicly stood against the wickedness embedded in that sadistic political movement. Thirty percent were bought off by the regime with promises of governmental support and gain. They were the state-run ‘Christians’ who overtly supported Hitler in the name of Christ with their justifying Bible verses… their pews filled with self-righteous and wealthy members. The majority, forty percent,  just ignored the political landscape and hid behind the ideology of, “Not wanting to get involved in social and political issues.” These forty eventually joined the pro-Nazi thirty (pressured by convenience, acceptance, and comfort) becoming the majority of mainstream church-i-anity in 1939 Germany, the birthplace of the protestant revolution. The remnant thirty percent were eventually canceled, persecuted, and their leaders arrested (and executed in modern martyrdom). The ‘good’ Christians were silenced and marginalized by the culture. Many just gave up and joined the masses.

Then, the ovens were built, the Jews were publicly collected without church resistance, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The, “spiral of silence,” theory suggests that people have a natural desire to fit in (community, covenant) with their social groups and avoid being in the minority. This fear of oppressive isolation can lead to a decrease in the public expression of divergent or righteous viewpoints, which in turn can make it difficult for minority opinions to gain traction or even be heard. Remember the ‘cancel culture’ that destroyed free speech during the scam-demic? I do… and they are still hard at work making sure good, functional, and Godly opinions are suppressed making them the ‘minority view.’

As a result, the dominant opinion becomes even more dominant, creating a spiral of silence that suppresses alternative viewpoints. This phenomenon is particularly relevant in today’s social media landscape, where users may self-censor their opinions to avoid being ostracized by their peers or targeted by online mobs. (Have you seen my personal hate groups seething with vitriol?) The spiral of silence can contribute to polarization and the formation of echo chambers, where individuals only consume and share information that aligns with their existing beliefs.

This silence culture pushes people away from authentic community, sincere covenant, and genuine relationship with God. It has successfully challenged authentic Christianity and thereby reduced the ‘believing loyalty’ and ‘allegiant faith’ necessary for one to maintain throughout life to obtain the glorious prize of eternal salvation. Church-i-anity has forgotten their Tov Father. Tyrants today are emboldened by righteous silence to start building ovens again.

If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
Deuteronomy 8:19

Perish: to wander away, to lose oneself

Many people reading a verse like this may religiously conclude the intention was to induce a fearful deterrent, or even something akin to an issued threat like, “You better follow me or I will kill ya!” That is a completely wrong interpretation and contrary to God’s loving, Tov heart.

This was a serious warning from a wise Father trying to protect his children from the destructive forces of society and the world they were meant to occupy and rule over. The enemy is way more excited about killing and destroying people’s lives over a 30 or 40-year torture than a quick murder. That slow, vexing, painful, depressive decline that is a little bit every day, week after week, year after year with no escape… no remedy… no legitimate hope was the warning in the Garden after the very Tov creation: Do not partake because you will die die. The desert wasteland that people get lost in for decades perpetuated by a ’spiral of silence’ has become the landscape of our nation.

Sounds like a society with skyrocketing suicide rates. Any familiar correlation to today?

Here is a short list of a few “other gods” worshipped today:

• Pride (the deviant movement and the character trait)(see my blog on Hubris)
• Glowing Screens
• Addictions
• Popularity
• Depression
• Success
• Comfort
• Entertainment
• Others (spouse, child, friend)

Notice the exhortation was NOT to forget. The target is your thought life, your Divinely inspired memory, the focus of your thinking, and healthy mental direction. The purpose of “other” gods, or even other things, is to win our worship by captivating our thoughts. To draw one into ANOTHER community with a DIFFERENT covenant, a more popular one. To enslave one’s thoughts, first, you must draw their affection. This is why our emotions and feelings are so militantly attacked by ungodly concepts, people, and sources.

The power of choice is greatly underrated. Your, “no,” can mean NO! This is why the tyrants have fought to eliminate choice so effectively and efficiently over the last two years. The spiral of silence stifles human will. Demons (and tyrants) tremble and soil themselves when faced with a person properly armed with a Godly mentality energized by righteous resolve. It only takes one righteous person, fighting with the strong weapon of “choice” to tear down and humiliate an entire army of other gods.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Remnant, minority pastor in Nazi Germany, arrested and murdered for his resistance.)

This world knows that silencing us, removing us from divine community, and tearing down the pillars of covenant is necessary for ‘Ra’ to defeat ‘Tov.’ Our Good Father knows that speaking the truth in love compelled by conviction is Tov. The gates of hell will not be able to withstand the true church, Jesus promised (Matthew 16:18). Living the ‘all-in’ disciple way of life in unadulterated ekklesia is the community way of life He ordained from the Garden and will be recaptured in the New Heavens and New Earth (New Garden). This is also what we are to be committed to presently. Returning our hearts and mentality to covenantal living that God called ‘VERY good’ (super-Tov) will be an uphill fight requiring one to burst through the ‘spiral of silence.’

Romans 10:14-17 BSB (accentuation mine)

How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Tov News makes our way (feet) beautiful, Beloved.

Be bold.

Be courageous.

Embrace discipleship.

Live against the majority way.

Think remnant thoughts.

Commit to community.

Renew covenantal life.

Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good (Tov) News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose (covenant), fighting together for the faith (community), which is the Good (Tov) News. Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies (spiral of silence). This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together.”

Philippians 1:27-30a NLT (additions mine)

It is like the Bible was written for us… today… almost.

Live Tov, Beloved.
Steve