I often forget the Lord. You do too.

Sometimes after I ask my son why he disobeyed and didn’t do what I asked, he responds with, “I forgot.” I resonate with his response; it turns out I’m more like my son than unlike him.

The Bible compares sin to intentional forgetfulness—ignoring God in the world He has made and casting His law behind our backs. We forget the glories of His gospel. We forget who Christ is and who we are, leading us to partake in what is evil or omit what is good.

The weight of our sinful forgetfulness is a crushing weight. We sometimes wonder if God will return the favor and forget us as well. But there’s good news that assures you of pardon and gives fresh power: Jesus remembers you. We must trace the history of God’s sinful people to see the glory of this reality.

Tracing the Forgetfulness of God’s People

Adam and Eve Forget, God Promises

After God gives Adam and Eve the command to avoid eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent comes to Eve and says,

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (Genesis 3:1-3)

Already, we see that, with Satan’s deceptive questioning, she’s forgotten the Lord. She separated the law from the Lawgiver. To her, God became an austere and malevolent slave master, and thus His law was no longer a delight.

Mankind has been forgetting the Lord ever since. Thankfully, God gave them the promise of the skull-crushing seed of the woman who would come and deliver those who forget His holy law. This promise unfolds throughout the covenants of scripture, showcasing that, though God’s people forgot Him and He kicked them out of His paradise, He still remembered them. There’s only one explanation: The covenant of grace.

Israel Forgets, God Remembers

Amid their forgetfulness and rebellion, God still remembers Israel. Why did God deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt? “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exodus 2:24–3:15).

But Israel’s story is a sad one; it is one of constantly forgetting the goodness of their God, leading to idolatry and greater depths of depravity.

Multiple times throughout the Old Testament we read of God commanding His people to remember Him:

Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery... (Exodus 13:3–20:8).

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today (Deuteronomy 15:15–16:3).

Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, “The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land” (Joshua 1:13).

Unfortunately, the people of God are led into the hands of evil men time and again due to their forgetfulness. In the book of Judges, God’s people forget Him and he delivers them into the hands of their oppressors.

And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side (Judges 8:34–9:2).

Even when He raised judges (like Samson) to rescue them they still forgot the Lord. And many of the judges forget God too. As a result, just like Adam and Eve, God casts them out of their land. Though the exiles returned to the promised land, the temple was not what it once was, idolatry continued, and God's people forgot the law of the Lord (See the end of Nehemiah). After the book of Malachi, there was no revelation, no word from the Lord for four hundred years. Had God forgotten His people?

We Forget, Jesus Remembers

God indeed remembers His covenant. His unbreakable covenant of grace is seen when Christ, the eternal Son of God, established a New Covenant by becoming incarnate for us and our salvation.

Christ alone lives a life of unshakable remembrance of His Father’s commandments and always does what pleases Him; He never forgets. Not only does He not forget His Father’s commands, but He eagerly remembers the forgetters.

As Jesus was hanging on the cross, giving His life for the sins of the world, what do we read from the utter failure who is dying next to Him? “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Thankfully, Jesus remembered him upon drawing His last breath: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

In my last post/letter, I summarized Peter’s sin of denying Jesus. Peter ran off and wept bitterly, knowing He failed His Lord. But Christ, being risen from the dead and having a covenant commitment to His people, relayed this message through His Angel, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee” (Mark 16:7).

Jesus remembers and names Peter after His resurrection. The last thing Jesus hears Peter say before He dies is his denial; the first thing Peter hears when he sees Jesus again is grace.

Our Response

Amid my forgetfulness, Christ remembers me, not because He turns a blind eye to sin, but because He has a covenant commitment to me by grace.

What is our response? “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8). Because Christ remembered you on the cross, you now have the power to repent and remember Him.

Amid your failure, remember Jesus Christ. Remember His glorious person; remember His perfect life; remember His sacrificial death; remember His victorious resurrection; remember His imminent return.

You often forget the Lord. But remember, dear saint who is a failure just like me: Christ remembers you, which means His pardon and power are forever yours, empowering you to remember Him when the world, the flesh, and the devil tell you He should be forgotten.

• Romans 1:25 (an idol is anything for which we exchange the truth of God for a lie, that we worship and serve rather than the Creator)
• Colossians 3:5 (idolatry is the sin behind every other sin)
• Ezekiel 14:3-7 (idolatry originates in the heart)
• 1 Cor. 10:14; 1 John 5:21 (Christians must deal with idolatry in their own lives)

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the aforementioned things.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

22. Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power; might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.

62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully as unto the Lord, and not to man; “knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.”

Click here for a more detailed look at Jonathan Edwards' resolutions.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward, Secretary of State

Ok I’m saying it. Because it’s too important not to. What is happening in Christianity? More and more of our outspoken leaders or influencers who were once “faces” of the faith are falling away. And at the same time they are being very vocal and bold about it. Shockingly they still want to influence others (for what purpose?)as they announce that they are leaving the faith. I’ll state my conclusion, then I’ll state some rebuttals to statements I’ve read by some of them. Firstly, I never judge people outside of my faith. Even if they hate religion or Christianity. That is not my place and I have many friends who disagree with my religion and that is 100% fine with me. However, when it comes to people within my faith, there must be a measure of loyalty and friendship and accountability to each other and the Word of God. 

My conclusion for the church(all of us Christians): We must STOP making worship leaders and thought leaders or influencers or cool people or “relevant” people the most influential people in Christendom. (And yes that includes people like me!) I’ve been saying for 20 years(and seemed probably quite judgmental to some of my peers) that we are in a dangerous place when the church is looking to 20 year old worship singers as our source of truth. We now have a church culture that learns who God is from singing modern praise songs rather than from the teachings of the Word. I’m not being rude to my worship leader friends (many who would agree with me) in saying that singers and musicians are good at communicating emotion and feeling. We create a moment and a vehicle for God to speak. However, singers are not always the best people to write solid bible truth and doctrine. Sometimes we are too young, too ignorant of scripture, too unaware, or too unconcerned about the purity of scripture and the holiness of the God we are singing to. Have you ever considered the disrespect of singing songs to God that are untrue of His character? 

I have a few specific thoughts and rebuttals to statements made by recently disavowed church influencers...first of all, I am stunned that the seemingly most important thing for these leaders who have lost their faith is to make such a bold new stance. Basically saying, “I’ve been living and preaching boldly something for 20 years and led generations of people with my teachings and now I no longer believe it..therefore I’m going to boldly and loudly tell people it was all wrong while I boldly and loudly lead people in to my next truth.” I’m perplexed why they aren’t embarrassed? Humbled? Ashamed, fearful, confused? Why be so eager to continue leading people when you clearly don’t know where you are headed?

My second thought is, why do people act like “being real” covers a multitude of sins? As if someone is courageous simply for sharing virally every thought or dark place. That’s not courageous. It’s cavalier. Have they considered the ramifications? As if they are the harbingers of truth, saying “I used to think one way and practice it and preach it, but now I’ve learned all the new truth and will start practicing and preaching it.” So the influencers become the voice for truth in whatever stage of life and whatever evolution takes place in their thinking. 

Thirdly, there is a common thread running through these leaders/influencers that basically says that “no one else is talking about the REAL stuff.” This is just flatly false. I just read today in a renown worship leader’s statement, “How could a God of love send people to hell? No one talks about it.” As if he is the first person to ask this? Brother, you are not that unique. The church has wrestled with this for 1500 years. Literally. Everybody talks about it. Children talk about it in Sunday school. There’s like a billion books written on the topic. Just because you don’t get the answer you want doesn’t mean that we are unwilling to wrestle with it. We wrestle with scripture until we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

And lastly, and most shocking imo, as these influencers disavow their faith, they always end their statements with their “new insight/new truth” that is basically a regurgitation of Jesus’s words?! It’s truly bizarre and ironic. They’ll say “I’m disavowing my faith but remember, love people, be generous, forgive others”. Ummm, why? That is actually not human nature. No child is ever born and says “I just want to love others before loving myself. I want to turn the other cheek. I want to give my money away to others in need”. Those are bible principles taught by a prophet/Priest/king of kings who wants us to live by a higher standard which is not an earthly standard, but rather the ‘Kingdom of God’ standard. Therefore if Jesus is not the truth and if the Word of God is not absolute, then by preaching Jesus’s teachings you are endorsing the words of a madman. A lunatic who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” He also said that he was alive before Abraham, and to see him was to see God because he was one with God. So why then would a disavowed christian leader promote that “generosity is good”? How would you know “what is good” without Jesus’s teachings? And will your ideas of what is “good” be different from year to year based on your experience, culture trends, poplular opinion etc and furthermore will you continue year by year to lead others into your idea of goodness even though it is not absolute? I’m amazed that so many Christians want the benefits of the kingdom of God, but with the caveat that they themselves will be the King. 

It is time for the church to rediscover the preeminence of the Word. And to value the teaching of the Word. We need to value truth over feeling. Truth over emotion. And what we are seeing now is the result of the church raising up influencers who did not supremely value truth who have led a generation who also do not believe in the supremacy of truth. And now those disavowed leaders are proudly still leading and influencing boldly AWAY from the truth. 

Is it any wonder that some of our disavowed Christian leaders are letting go of the absolute truth of the Bible and subsequently their lives are falling apart? Further and further they are sinking in the sea all the while shouting “now I’ve found the truth! Follow me!!” Brothers and sisters in the faith all around the world, pastors, teachers, worship leaders, influencers...I implore you, please please in your search for relevancy for the gospel, let us NOT find creative ways to shape Gods word into the image of our culture by stifling inconvenient truths. But rather let us hold on even tighter to the anchor of the living Word of God. For He changes NOT. “The grass withers and the flowers fade away, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8)

Posted to Facebook by John L. Cooper on Aug. 13, 2019

1. Freedom from the controlling bondage of sin (Romans 6:6-14)
2. Freedom from the paralyzing fear of death (Hebrews 2:15)
3. Freedom from external rules and regulations (Galatians 5:1)
4. Freedom from self-indulgence (Galatians 5:13)
5. Freedom to believe the truth (John 8:32)

This fourth of July, may the Lord help us to be thankful for the liberty that we enjoy as believers in Jesus Christ!

Mother’s Day can be painful. I often look at my children and feel crushed by the weight of responsibility to raise them with the obstacles we face. Living with Lyme Disease makes motherhood physically painful, and having passed Lyme on to my four children is emotionally painful. Our circumstances often feel overwhelming and impossible to overcome.

I have the desire to bring up godly, well-balanced children, yet I often feel as though I never get beyond simply keeping bellies full, preventing World War III from breaking out in our home, and getting through the day — all while carrying a thousand-pound backpack filled with fears, doubts, grief, and weariness. 

Oh, how different life is from the naive picture that I had formed in my head before the realities of motherhood began. Don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful to be a mother. It is a precious gift and privilege that I do not deserve. However, it is also a journey that has been far from what I imagined. 

Mom’s Internal Struggle

I’m failing to be the mom that my kids need.
Will they always carry the baggage of the pain they have faced?
The burdensome trials in front of me are too much to bear.
If only I had done more.

Each mother carries her own unique fears, anxieties, and struggles, but we all desire to be the mom that our children need, don’t we? These burdens and fears will either consume us and create perpetual anxiety within us or, by God’s grace, they will lead us to the one who is not only in control, but knows exactly what our children need — and loves them more than we ever could.   

What Children Need Most

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. (Psalm 147:3–5)

What do our children need in us as mothers? A mother with no baggage? A mother who guards them from harm and protects their path? A mother who does daily devotions as a family and faithfully brings them to church? A mother who provides opportunities for their growth and development?

Yes, these things are good, but they are not ultimately what our children need most from us. Before all else, our children need these three traits in their mom. 

1. A mom who loves Jesus more than a mom who “does everything right.”

We will fail our children. Whether we overreact, overprotect, waste our time, pass on a bad habit, discipline in anger, or neglect to discipline, we will make mistakes, and sin will be intermingled with even our best efforts. 

Trying to be the perfect mother for our children will always leave us discouraged, guilt-ridden, and weary. Our children need us to stop fixating on our successes and failures and start fixing our gaze on Christ. 

We do this by shaping our lives with his word and making focused time with him a priority. Though this will look different in different seasons, we want to make time to bring our weary and striving selves to the truth of his word and allow the Spirit to fill us with more of Jesus.

As we take our eyes off of ourselves and fix them on him, our kids will be exposed to something far greater and impactful than a mom striving for something unattainable. We will still fail, yes, but as we seek to know Christ in tangible rhythms of life, we will grow to love him more — and that love will naturally overflow into the lives of the precious children who are watching us ever so closely. 

2. A mom who humbles herself under God’s loving plan, even when it’s not her own. 

My experience as a mother has been nothing as I expected it would be. So much of what I envisioned has been shattered by special needs, a family with chronic illness, a life-altering neurological disorder, doctor appointments, physical limitations, and financial loss. 

Honestly, I have resisted humbling myself and accepting this as God’s plan for me on numerous occasions. During those times, I have found myself quicker to anger, irritation, self-pity, and loneliness, because I’m fixated on what I wish life would be, rather than humbling myself under God’s good plan for me and my children. 

However, as I have grown in his grace through these hard years, I have learned that humbling myself under God’s plan does not mean that I will always walk around with a smile on my face despite the heartache deep within me. It does mean, however, that by faith I choose to bring my heartache, disappointment, fear, sorrow, and weariness to Jesus, asking him to help me trust his goodness and purposes in my circumstances. 

3. A mom who trusts that God is bigger than our baggage, failures, and circumstances. 

It’s easy to look at the circumstances that you or your children are facing and feel defeated and overwhelmed. Whether it’s a devastating illness, an inherited sin or habit, a child’s insecurities, a traumatic event, or a rebellious child, we will all be faced with circumstances that are far beyond what we can handle in ourselves.

However, the blessing of facing these circumstances is that they provide an opportunity for us to let go of our need for control and desire to earn God’s acceptance, and instead trust that God is greater than the most hopeless circumstance and rebellious heart. Life’s trials can become turning points that take us from being moms who strive for control and perfection, to moms who confidently and freely trust in God’s control, promises, forgiveness, goodness, faithfulness, and redemption. 

What a powerful witness it is to our children when they see peace and joy flowing from their mom amidst challenging circumstances and their own rebellious hearts. And what greater gift can we give our children than to give them a glimpse of a trustworthy Savior who is greater than our sin and greater than our trials? 

In His Strength

Sister, if you find yourself facing circumstances that are more than you can handle, or you feel inadequate to be the mom you desire to be, remember that the Lord’s “delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:10–11). 

As we learn to trust Christ, rather than our own wisdom and strength, and as we learn to fear God, rather than our own failures or trials, he will guide, equip, and strengthen us to be the mother he desires us to be.

Sarah Walton and her husband live in Chicago with their four young children. Sarah blogs at setapart.net and is co-author of the book Hope When It Hurts.

1 Corinthians 15:14

John Blanchard wrote in “Jesus: Dead or Alive,” “If Jesus is now no more than a handful of dust and bones slowly crumbling away somewhere on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the entire Christian faith lies buried with him; all its martyrs were mistaken, all its reformers were deluded, all its church buildings are monuments to a myth, all its services are senseless and Easter Day is a sick joke.  What is more, the millions of people who claim that he is a living Saviour who is transforming their lives are living in cloud cuckoo land.”

So, why do we believe that Jesus rose from the dead?  There are good reasons to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  John Piper presents eight compelling reasons why the biblical account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ should be received as historical fact.  English Scholar Brooke Foss Wescott summed up the case like this: “Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.”

But the question we’re going to concentrate on in this post is: why?  Why did Jesus die and rise again?  What’s the reason for Easter?

1. The Reason for Christ’s Death

Romans 4:25

“Delivered up” is the language of sacrifice.  Jesus was delivered up in the same way that animals were delivered up to be sacrificed in the OT.  But who delivered up Jesus to die as a sacrifice?

Romans 8:32

Acts 2:23

At the same time, Jesus voluntarily laid down His life:

John 10:11

John 10:17-18

Jesus was delivered up as a sacrifice for what?  “for our trespasses [offences, transgressions, sins],” which means a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness; an arrow missing its mark; a plumb line that’s out of plumb; a standard that is not met."

Here's how the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sin in Question 14: “What is sin?  Sin is any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God.”

J.C. Ryle (“Holiness”): “A sin…consists in doing, saying, thinking, or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.”

Rom. 3:23; 6:23

Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins:

Isaiah 53:5-6

This is was the true horror of the cross for Jesus…

2. The Reason for Christ’s Resurrection

“[Jesus] was raised for our justification.”

“Justification” is a legal term.  It's the opposite of condemnation.  In a legal sense, justification refers to a judicial verdict of righteous, not just not guilty.  Our justification is based on Christ’s resurrection.  Christ’s resurrection is God’s proof that God has accepted Christ’s death as payment in full for our sins:

Hebrews 10:12

But not everyone will be saved.  So, what’s the difference between those who are saved and those who are condemned?  How do you get what Jesus offers?

3. What you must do

Rom 4:24; 5:1-2

In the Bible, the main idea of "believe" or to have "faith" is "trust."  John Paton was a missionary last century to cannibals in the New Hebrides. When translating one of the gospels into a local language, he had a problem finding a word or phrase in their language that was equivalent to the New Testament's concept of trusting in Christ. The islanders trusted nobody and there was no word for "trust" in their language. His native assistant entered the room and Paton had an idea. "What am I doing?" Paton asked. The man replied that he was sitting at his desk. Paton then raised both feet off the floor and sat back on his chair. "What am I doing now?" he asked. In reply, the native used a verb which means "to lean your whole weight upon." This is the expression that Paton used to translate "to believe in" Jesus.

In John Calvin's famous analogy, faith is like an empty, open hand, stretched out towards God, with nothing to offer and everything to receive.  Hymn writer Augustus Toplady put it like this in his famous hymn, “Rock of Ages”: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.”

This is the main reason why Jesus was raised from the dead.  Was Jesus delievered up for your sins?  Was Jesus raised from the dead for your justification?  Are you trusting in Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  Turn from your sinful lifestyle and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today and He will save you from your sins!

On Friday a man in his late 20s was charged with murdering at least 49 people and seriously injuring 20 more in a terror attack targeting two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

During the attack, the man livestreamed a video of his murders on Facebook. He also posted a link to an 87-page white nationalist manifesto online. In the document, under the heading “From where did you receive/research/develop your beliefs?” the murderer responds, “The internet, of course. You will not find the truth anywhere else.”

It is not uncommon for terrorists to release a rambling, barely coherent manifesto. And it is usually wise to ignore them, since they only feed the murderer’s desire for attention. But the document left by the New Zealand shooter (whom I will not name) is worth examining, because it gives us insight into a new type of terrorist—the terrorist as troll.

The New Zealand shooter is an extreme example of an increasingly common disaffected person—mostly young men—whose worldview is shaped largely by an evil online culture. Here are six characteristics of these “trolls.”

1. They are addicted to trolling.

The Oxford Dictionary defines “trolling” as making a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response. Trolling is commonly found in almost every area where people congregate online. But for many lost young men—a group that includes more than just white nationalists—trolling has become almost a way of life.

Just as some children crave attention so much they exhibit inappropriate behaviors to gain attention from their parents, thousands of young men spend their days and nights trying to gain some sort of validation by trolling people online. This is why the internet is flooded with works, such as hate-filled memes, that are used not to persuade but to annoy. As the New Zealand shooter says, “Create memes, post memes, and spread memes. Memes have done more for the ethnonationalist movement than any manifesto.”

2. They are committed to transgressivism.

Since the 1960s, a large segment of American culture has embraced transgressivism, a movement that celebrates the violation of socially accepted norms or morally imposed boundaries. The political and cultural left championed transgressivism when it was tearing down norms established by Christianity. But now that we are shifting to a post-Christian era, we are beginning to see the next phase of transgressivism—and it frightens even progressives.

As Angela Nagle writes in Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right, “The ease with which this broader alt-right and alt-light milieu can use transgressive styles today shows how superficial and historically accidental it was that it ended up being in any way associated with the socialist left.” As with the left, these new trolls are dogmatically opposed to orthodox Christianity. As Nagle adds, “Today, the appeal of [Nietzschean] anti-moralism is strong on the alt-right because their goals necessitate the repudiation of Christian codes that Nietzsche characterized as slave morality.”

3. They are incoherently trans-political.

The New Zealand shooter has been described as being on the “far right” or the “extreme right.” This is primarily because the media tend to lump all white nationalists as being on the right end of the political spectrum. But the right-left dichotomy doesn’t often fit with online-based extremism. It is more accurate to consider them through the lens of the horseshoe theory, a concept in political science that claims the far left and the far right, rather than being at opposite and opposing ends of a linear political continuum, closely resemble one another, much like the ends of a horseshoe.

Trolls like the New Zealand shooter aren’t thinking systematically or attempting to develop a coherent worldview. Instead, they pick-and-choose whatever political elements fit with their personality or their sub-tribe’s ethos—even if the result is incoherent and contradictory.

For example, the New Zealand shooter says he’s left-wing or right-wing depending on the definition. He says the same about the label “socialist,” though he emphatically states he wants no part of conservatism. He admires President Trump as a “symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose” and yet rejects him as a “policy maker and leader.” The shooter also claims he was formerly a communist, an anarchist, and a libertarian. He says he’s no neo-nazi, but rather an “eco-fascist by nature.” His primary label for himself is “Ethno-Nationalist Eco-Fascist.”

“The nation with the closest political and social values to my own,” he adds, “is the People’s Republic of China.”

4. They are disconnected from their true selves.

None of the shooter’s trans-political views fits together or makes sense—which may or may not be the point. The troll may actually believe what he says. Or he may not. He may not even know himself.

The main posture of extreme online culture is ironic detachment, a distancing of one’s “true” self from one’s online persona. If anyone judges their comments, actions, or ideas, they can fall back on the excuse that they don’t really believe it themselves; they are merely trying to get a reaction out of people. Often, when the people behind anonymous white nationalists accounts are revealed, they claim they are not really a racist or antisemite, they were just “trolling.”

At some point, as he New Zealand shooter’s manifesto makes clear, who they are as real humans gets so tangled up in their ironic online pose that they can’t separate what they really believe from what they claim to believe to get attention.

5. They are dangerously and inconsistently tribal.

Tribalism, the exaltation of one’s tribe above other groups, has been the default condition for all of human history. Like has tended to align with like, whether at the level of family, clan, or ethnic community. But tribalism began to break down with the rise of Christianity—a religion that includes all tongues and tribes—and was, with the rise of the nation-state, largely replaced by nationalism. The weakening of family and community ties in the West also removed opportunities to express and benefit from in-group loyalty.

While the traditional forms of tribalism were always dangerous, its absence has created additional problems. Many young men in the West no longer feel connected to any broader community or larger purpose. Having no true kinship with their own neighbors, they create an abstract community (“white people,” “Europeans”) that will admit them simply because of the color of their skin. This also gives them a mission (e.g., defending against ethnic replacement, or white genocide) and an “outgroup” to align against (i.e., foreigners and all non-white people groups).

But because they exist primarily in the virtual world, their allegiance to the abstraction completely replaces any true feeling of responsibility to their self-created tribe. For example, the shooter says, “We must ensure the existence of our people, and a future for white children.” Yet the reason he gives for not starting his own family is that “if we do not destroy the invaders first, our birthrates will mean nothing.”

As with many tribes in the past, the modern white nationalists find that waging warfare on outgroups is far more appealing than working to bring flourishing to one’s own tribe.

6. They are attracted to diverse form of terroristic activity.

Not every young ethno-nationalists will follow in the footsteps of Anders Breivik, Dylan Roof, and the New Zealand shooter in becoming mass murderers. But many thousands of extreme trolls will commit other forms of terroristic activity.

The use of racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist imagery and language intended to intimidate people has become so frequent that it hardly shocks us anymore. But even more sickening examples come from those who might not associate with ethno-nationalism but who engage in evil “for the lulz” (i.e., amusing themselves at another’s expense).

A particularly gruesome example from several years ago was a troll from Minnesota who sought out depressed people online, posing as a suicidal female nurse, pretended to sympathize, and offered instructions on how they could kill themselves. He would enter into fake suicide pacts with people and encourage them to kill themselves for “the thrill of the chase.”

For those who never travel outside the bounds of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the reported behavior of extreme online forums may seem like the stuff of urban legends. But unlike moral panics from previous generations—such as the claims of Satanic ritual abuse of the 1980s—we should be truly frightened by the satanic influence on offer in the darkest reaches of the web.

Like pornography, trolling remains ubiquitous and just out of sight. And like pornography it has the ability to corrupt young, misguided souls who are looking for a sense of belonging and connection.

While we may not be able to put an end to the troll culture that fuels white nationalism, we can and should do more to reach those who may be tempted to come under its sway. We have believers who are willing to go to the ends of the earth to reach the lost tribes with the gospel. But who will go to the tribe of meme-making ethno-nationalists trolls and tell them about Jesus?