Ism is a suffix that labels an action as a concrete concern. Other forms of this kind of suffix are –ation, –ment, –ission, which we can observe in reform, reformation, atone, atonement, and remit, remission.  An ism does not have to be a movement with negative, depressing or perverted concepts; isms go way beyond negative doomsday predictions. Most have an endless stream of illusions about “fixing the corrupted Church of Christ”.  This makes the isms siblings of Islam, which labels Judaism and Christianity as corrupted.  Isms also come with predictions of persecution, affirmations of their flawless doctrines, and highlighting a host of institutional  and conventions that no-one ever needed to have a relationship with God.

Their books and their wolves

There may be more than five reform minded groups that arose in the last five hundred years, each one proclaiming that obedience is greater than faith, that the Bible is insufficient, and that the Jewish experience and priorities are paramount.   But make no mistake, wolves and shepherds (elders, bishops and pastors) have been around since Paul was making missionary journeys.  See Acts 20 where he predicted how quickly that the church would be exposed to des.  The wolfish isms of the religious world have their own books; hundreds of books.  Islam claims to have the book of books.  Muslims also propose that their perfect book is a miracle.  They assert that their book is evidence of God’s priorities.  Most books endorsed by the isms are likely to be misleading. These groups are terrified when people ask “Does the Bible say what is in your books?”. They shake in their boots when believers begin to consult lexicons and dictionaries.  The isms are so entrenched in their own propaganda that the pastors (elders and bishops) neglect the study of the apostolic doctrine and consequently the certainty of Christian mysteries is no longer a factor.

Wannabisraelism

The televangelists and the adept proselytizers can do no better than the writer of Psalm 119. They speak out of both sides of their mouths. They say that the law is the only way to know sin, and they say that keeping the law is their best showing of righteousness. They say that when God invited Peter to “Rise kill and eat” the unclean Gentiles were not properly represented by unclean animals. The division of the Church today into ethnic and national groups in the 21st century is a symptom of partiality and xenophobia just as the Church under James and his Pharisee allies was a symptom of resistance to the truth of the Gospel.  They are all angling to be like the sons of Israel.  The religious movements that have shaped Christianity are all trying to be the tip of the spear in a theocratic state.  The more extreme versions of reformation Christianity are actually trying to be Israel not be like Israel. This raises the massive mountain of nonsense about how does the law of Moses become the primary law of Canada United States or Australia or Kenya.  The law of Moses has not even become central to churches much less any state on the planet.  Jewish people (and their American allies) seem to want to be violent fascists more than they want to follow Moses, and we suspect that is because Moses and the prophets have all their fingers pointing to the son of David. Who wants the son of David more than the scribes, Pharisees and elders of the people?  It is quite certain that the more any nation embraces Judaism in any form the more the nations become like the kingdom of Israel, incapable of producing a single good leader.  All of Israel’s kings were rascals and rogues.

Foundations of love need no reform

Nothing but catastrophe, deceit, and elitism have resulted from the efforts of the reformers and the restorers of the Church.  They reject the foundation of the church; the apostolic witnesses.  They swerve out of the way of the Cross of Christ and his Right Hand Seat.  They’re all heretics.  Paul saw them coming.  In his days the problem was graphically impressed on Timothy: people choosing genealogy and ignorant talking points about the law versus love, good conscience, and sincere faith.

As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. (1 Timothy 1:3-7)

The isms of the religious are many

The earliest and most recent isms to arise among people of faith have a striking relationship to Pharisee propositions. Pharisees can say they agree that Gentiles need neither circumcision nor the law to be saved, and then they nonchalantly add that those same Gentiles need to observe ritual purity and prove that they are not involved in sexual improprieties.  Our modern Pharisees and disciples of Moses will go right ahead with the weak and beggarly elementary things (Galatians 4:4-11). Now that  Republicanism is blindly putting itself forward as the western version of Hezbollah, religious isms and political isms are both in the abyss. 

Here come the American Gestapo

Nothing is more abhorrent than criminals and homicidal maniacs like the 45th and 47th president of the United States and the PM of Israel trying to pass themselves as paragons of justice and equity.  The isms of religion are manifesting in politics.  They are all about getting rid of truth, people they disapprove of, and the genuine guardians of civic society.  Here comes the American gestapo, lining up with Jewish and Russian tyranny.  This is the ultimate greatness of America in the image of Hitler, Stalin and every king of the kingdom of Israel.  Criminals will never end crime; not felonious Donald Trump, not genocidal Benjamin Netanyahu, not Chairman Xi of the People’s Republic of China, and not Putin of Russia.  To this wall of shame we must add the walking dead evangelical heavyweights and their extremist siblings.  The isms will have lots of air time, lots of time to declare their support for the authoritarianism that has long twinkled in the eyes of western punk-prophets. The isms of our times will make lots of idolatrous pronouncements and get no help from the God of grace.