To the new year resoluters Pt 2

Part one is already a year old 😧 Please have a gander at it before continuing reader, its a good yearly-upkeep-booster.

I just re-read what I had written in it:

I might make a part 2 shortly with copy-and-pasting a couple of notes from my latest book(s) as topically to this blogpost, theres a note a piece about bodybuilding/fitness and taking motivational lessons from pagans for applying to your Christian walk.

So I prayed about it, and got to it. So here goes;

Dan1.8 - When asked, The Lord will supply the fortitude needed to stand alone against the tide in order to fulfil 2 Tim 2.3-4. My notes about the ever-present envy from others as a result of staying In God's perfect will are in Judges 3.2 & 18.19-20 in that commentary, and  Psalm 119.27, Prov 20.19, & Ecc 4.4 in the wisdom book commentary.

The bodybuilders diet is what the Lords had me on since I got saved. I was an obese glutton beforehand, and as I used the term ‘fattie’ way way way back in the 2019 Gospels commentary, which offended many, (I assume those with bad diets in particular) however the motivation for doing so was based on the wish that if someone would have sat me down and said the same to myself, it may have made me think of changing my lifestyle a lot earlier. (Rather than plain nagging, which does not motivate a boy to do anything!) I became fat at 11 years of age, as I got a Playstation 1 for Christmas, and out went the football, bike, running and playing outside etc. (Let this be a warning for Christian parents reading this as they approach the 25th) What the Lord put me on 15 years later, within a week of getting saved, was 90 days of super strict keto. Simply plain white chicken and two eggs 3 times a day for 90 days. Lost just over 25 KG, for Americans that's 56 lb. Then I got led to start pumping iron in a local gym, via american bodybuilding youtubers that the Lord led me to. (Prov 20.29)

My diet since has been;

• Cow - beef and milk

• Chicken - um, literally chicken, and eggs

• Rice, pasta, oats, veg, sauce & pure nut butters (not the processed sugar filled kind)

There's so many dishes that you can create from just those cheap items. I'm on 2-3 litres of water a day.  And the vast majority of those items are all literally staples directly from the Lord's creation. Also I use ‘bodybuilding’ as a catch all term, what im actually into is Strongman workouts. Its about the strength and power, not a chilsed (but actually weaker) look. For anyone that cares according to Google; Training Differences between

• Bodybuilding:

  • Goal: Muscle size and symmetry (aesthetics). 

  • Method: Higher reps (8-12+), moderate weights, shorter rests, focus on isolating muscles (e.g., machine presses, curls). 

  • Diet: Strict, often leading to low body fat. 

• Strongman:

  • Goal: Absolute strength and power. 

  • Method: Lower reps (1-5), extremely heavy weights, long rests, full-body compound movements (squats, deadlifts), awkward objects (yoke, atlas stones). 

  • Diet: High-calorie to fuel immense efforts, often resulting in larger body mass and surplus of some fat. 

Let that be said for the 2 Christians that went nuts (both extremes - Prov 11.1) about me writing about this topic. One was vain and mirror addicted before salvation, which the Lord took him away from, (good) so he thinks im pushing that foolishness. Nope. Thats certainly not whats happening. The other unbalanced individual actually became ultra vain, chiselled and has made a social media career showing his body (especially his puba for a reason only the powers of darkness of Eph 6.12 know why) after reading and denying the doctrines found within my work (Ezek 14.1-11) and thinks if the ‘’King james guy’ can push this then im sin free for being as vain as any mirror addicted roidhead.’ He goes further to claim he gets ‘persecution from other believers’ when they leave comments letting him know that he's been wholly given over to ‘pride of appearance’ (Isa 14.14. 1 Cor 5.2) to the point of extreme effeminacy. (1 Cor 6.9) In this instance, my local Christians are right.

What the whole point of it all is the basic fact that no man ever said in any given situation ever ‘Boy! I sure do wish I was weaker in this scenario’, and thats that.

Sidenote on diet - I'm also a complete pretentious coffee snob, I get on like a chemist in a lab in my kitchen in the mornings. Anyhow…

Cheats are anything bread and cheese based, twice a week on average. (So thats burgers, pizzas, bagels, filled sodas etc)

American reader, you can google the term ‘filled soda’, but if I ruin your life as a result of your curiosity, please don't blame me. :)

Late edit: I just did google it and the funniest result was the second, coming from Reddits ‘Northern ireland’ board, which I quote;

“Eating a filled soda with bare hands and without any one filling dropping out, is a rite of passage to manhood.”

So Yeah, basically. Although I’d consider that a small one.

Also since covid time, which ‘just-so-happened’ to kick off 6 months after the Lord telling me I was to leave the gym, having had me and Mrs Dodgy spiritually smash it to pieces witnessing to the vast majority of regulars for 4 years odd. (2 of which have died since taking the jab, and there was even two guys that were Christians that stopped coming during our tenure as well, one of which I gave a Ruckman reference bible to, the other belonged to one of the legalistic denominations who have made little old me a ‘central point’ of contention for half a decade now) After leaving, The Lord told me what to do (1 Cor 6.20) and what I ended up doing I didnt realise until months after, was actually known as the ‘Mike Metzger plan’ which is one big massive workout once a week. I've now grown more in 3 years at home than I did in 4 years of working out at a gym four times a week.  

Anyhow, ‘Big Mike’ was also the coolest intellectual ever, I certainly recommend his books and his youtube seminars, (he's dead now) he had a voice on him as he taught objectivism, philosophy and ethics at ‘bodybuilding and nutrition’ seminars, like a mix between the professor gremlin in the film Gremlins 2, wee round glasses and all, and Ned Flanders from the Simpsons, but from ears down was bigger (and a lot more decent in character) than Schwarzenegger.

Judges 16.3 - On my channels ‘man up’ videos you can see clips of strongman competitions. This feat, in this verse, as well as the pillars in verse 29 and the beam of vs 14 are all replicated in these competitions. Bodybuilders look good, but comparatively, Strongmen make them look weak. Also all these ‘strongman feats’ in this passage all started after being near a woman. Testosterone can boost up to 40% when near an attractive female, and risk taking, confidence and temper can blow up massively as a result of this burst. (The famous ‘Roid rage’ is the cheater's famous chemical counterfeit) I can see all 3 aspects pretty clearly in this chapter. There's a woman present (I'm assuming fairly attractive) right before verses 3, 9 and 14 happen. And no I'm not taking any power away from the Holy Ghost, it was obviously supernatural, but his host (Samson) had to have an actual physical side to it too.

In our local gym, back before covid was used to judge the world's business interests and ruin the money supply until the mark is introduced (The type of Rev 18.3-23) Mrs Dodgy used to come downstairs when I was ready to start doing a deadlift set (I'd time it so she'd be done with her exercises or taking a break) and stand there, touch my shoulder or back, wiggle, giggle and boom! It was like taking a shot of amphetamine. (Not something I’d advise, it's just a melodramatic example.)

Now, reader, take note! She appreciated the effect it had on me too. (Prov 20.29)

1 Peter 3.7a Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel

Rev 1.14 - The stress of seeing sin for 2000 years did this. As he cant age. My own walk has cost me my eyes, back, employment opportunities,and all my former friends, and family. (Phili 3.8) Although called to be a soldier (and was once told by a preacher regularly that I'm more like a ‘marine’ than a soldier!) the actual worldly (and pagan) equivalent that I find most familiar to my walk with the Lord is the Samurai, as cheesy as that sounds, believe it or not. Alone, on his own mission for his master, isolated, (Prov 9.10-12) having given up everything for a ‘higher cause’ etc. I have a picture beside my desk as I write, that has a samurai standing looking stoic at a sideways angle, as the ‘whole world’ burns down around him, and it says in Japanese writing above him ‘kirawareru yuki’ which means ‘have the courage to be disliked.’

I thank the Lord for Barry Galvin from England, who used to post videos on his knowthetruth.uk youtube channel, who introduced me to aspects of Japanese minimalism, via the book ‘goodbye things’ by Fumio Sasaki, and that ‘kirawareru yuki’ quote came from it. The idea about pagan comparisons came from Peter Ruckman, with Nazi pilot Pip Mueller’s picture he carried around. The idea being that if pagans could suffer the things I'm put through, then with the Lord I certainly can too. Remember, If the world can, you can, Christian!

I could be very biassed (and I'd hate to be like one of those ‘Christian pragmatists’ that I've wrote about in the Judges commentary that try to ruin your walk by casting doubt on what you're doing for the Lord if its something they aren't doing or just plain envious at what you are doing for the Lord) but I see the ‘lone wolf’ mentality  as the best personality trait to serve the Lord in laodicea. (Prov 9.12, Rom 14.12, 1 Cor 4.1, 1 Peter 4.10-19 - there's an individualist situation going on in those verses there) As Philidephians, especially outside of America, are very very few and far between. Some common traits of the ‘lone wolf samurai’ (who the internets ‘red pill masculinity’ scene tries to promote in order to revive ‘true masculinity’ in the age of the feminist primary order of the modern west - and no, the likes of the egotistal and emotional Andrew Tate doesnt count - a CIA psy-op if ever there was one) identifies psychologically as the ‘sigma male personality’

• Detached from social norms and expectations.

• Minimal need for approval

• Values meaningful connections

• Communicates clearly and stays adaptable

• Courage due to convictions to take risks

• Deep thinker/introspective

• Outside society/public opinion, against the grain of society around him.

Now alongside the traits particular to the samurai:

• Master two swords (Old and New testaments, in type)

• Fights using the two-edged blade that he studies daily to become a master of

• Growth based on yielding to his master's will and suffering is his training

Does this sound at all familiar, Christian?

7 virtues of the bushido are;

• Righteousness / justice (義 gi)

• Loyalty (忠義 chūgi)

• Honour (名誉 meiyo)

• Respect (礼 rei)

• Honesty ( 誠 sei)

• Courage (勇 yū)

• Consistency (誠 makoto)

The Bushido is their ‘doctrine’, (John 7.16, 2 Tim .16) known as their ‘way’ (John 14.6a) which is also known as their Seven pillars, again I ask, does all this sound familiar Christian??? (Prov 9.1) So remember, if these pagans could suffer and obey their ‘masters will’ for a counterfeit, what's your excuse Christian for failing to do the same, despite having the authentic and pure sword, shield and living God himself?

 Let's have a quick biblical gander at this ‘bushido’…

• Righteousness / “Justice” - Two very different things to the Lord, as I suppose the humanist pagan equivalent to their ‘self righteousness’ must be executing that which is ‘just’ in their own eyes (Judges 17.6)

Righteousness (I'll stick with the New testament references that are apt) - Matt 5.6, Rom 5.17, 6.13, & 14.17, 2 Cor 5.21, Eph 5.9, Phili 3.9, 1 Tim 6.11, 2 Tim 2.22

Justice - Gen 18.19, Job 8.3 & 37.23, Psalm 89.14, Prov 21.3

• Loyalty - John 6.66-68, Josh 24.15, Psalm 119.38 - I thought the quote from merriam-webster dictionary's definition was a good one to write here - “loyalty implies a faithfulness that is steadfast in the face of any temptation to renounce, desert, or betray.”

• Honour - Ex 14.18, 1 Sam 2.30, Psalm 21.5, 66.2, & 111.3, Prov 3.9, John 5.23, Rev 4.11

• Respect - Psalm 40.4, 119.6+15+117, Isa 17.7

• Honesty - Rom 12.17 & 13.13, 2 Cor 8.21, 1 Thess 4.12, 1 Tim 2.2, Heb 13.18

• Courage - 1 Sam 17, Acts 21.13, Matt 26.51, 1 Cor 16.13

• Consistency - Isa 28.10-13, Ecc 10.18, 1 Cor 3.9, Jude 1.20

And as a country boy there's nothing more I like than being alone with my God in the countryside, and on that topic those samurai paintings/portraits that I’ve collected lately usually have them standing in isolated rural settings also, normally surrounded by a tree or the famous Japanese red sun in a rural setting. Well, I'm under the sun of righteousness and the holy tree myself!

These notes have been edited, to see them in their fullness, find them here.