The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 22. Christ and the Caesar coin.
It is one of those Scripture passages that will eliminate any false notion of Jesus Christ being a nice fella to everyone, or that “He Gets Us” as that ridiculous series of Mockingbird media commercials poses. It is a Gospel truth I explore more in depth in “The Poison of Nice,” that Christ was good, absolutely, in the truest, purest sense of the word, the most good to ever walk the earth in fact.
But he was not always nice.
Especially to vipers who attempted to not just trick him, but trick him in a way that would cast doubt among his beloved followers and lead them down the road to perdition. That may be what he is most angry with here. And it turns out that one of the messages Christ has for us in Matthew 22 is one that may help us understand the politics behind Vladimir Putin, Ukraine, and the globalists’ insidious push for a New World Order.
The message involves the binary trap. The ancient Greeks called it the fallacy of either-or reasoning. Yet two more terminologies are tribalism and mutually exclusive thinking. I present below an example of this type of thought process. I mean no disrespect to the person who wrote it, if s/he happens to be reading this current article now. In fact, I applaud that person for not doubling down on the initial reaction in the final email:
Initial Email
I don’t know why Tucker is interviewing Putin, but if he’s trying to cozy up to Putin, I am disgusted. Putin at his core is a warmed over communist and his communist-like ambitions are just as detrimental to the U S and the Western world as those of his hard core commy mentors and forebears. Putin has said that the worst thing that ever happened to Russia was the fall of communism. I tend to agree with Sebastian Gorka on this. If your writer LeJeune advocates a softening relationship with Putin, he is abysmally wrong. And if this is the path conservatives are being encouraged to go, count me out. It is the stupidest thing conservatives/Republican could do. Republican conservatives from Goldwater through Reagan and others such as Margaret Thatcher fought the Reds and communism was mother’s milk to Putin. It would be a betrayal of Republican/conservative principles to make nice with Putin. Count me out
The Hayride Response
It’s just an interview.
Why pre-judge it?
I’d like to hear what he has to say, and evaluate it for myself. Why would you blindly trust what you’re told by the corrupt liars who run our government?
As for Tucker, he’s a journalist. His job is to seek the truth and report it when he finds it. You don’t have agree with his conclusions, but why would get mad if his truth-seeking takes him places outside the comfortable American media bubble?
My Response
Afternoon, __________.
We appreciate the feedback. I think _____ covered things pretty well in his reply to you, which is along the lines of what Tucker says in the video I posted inside the article. You should watch it when you get a chance. Tucker point blank says he’s not doing this interview because he loves Putin; he’s doing it for reasons you and I would agree on–the corruption of legacy media and the US government.
But besides that and the rest of many of my recent articles’ thesis on calling out the legacy media and why they might be panicking about certain developing stories millions of Americans are finally starting to understand after decades of propaganda, out of respect to you as an American brother, I’d ask you just to consider that, as a self-professed conservative, your enemies are the likes of Obama, Biden, Clinton, not to mention all the “conservative” RINOs we have come to know in recent years. I make the point in much of my work that these individuals are staunch enemies of Putin as well, namely Hillary in the article you reference. I think it’s a valid question to ask–why is a perceived enemy in Putin/Russia enemies with a perceived enemy in the US swamp? Could it be possible that everything you said about Putin is correct AND Putin will have some dirt to share on the corrupt US government you and I both distrust? We don’t have to limit ourselves to mutually exclusive thinking, a theme I hammer with almost everything I write, including the article in question.
Food for thought. Thank you again.
Final Email
Thank you for your kind reply. We probably agree on nearly everything political and moral. I haven’t trusted the media as far back as 1960. It’s worse now. And they like to express nostalgia for the congeniality of days when there were 3 tv options. I didn’t believe Walter Concrete then and in every current newspaper I look at I see the same lies by omission or twisted words, phrases and headlines.
Cheers
—
I don’t think the initial email had to be so judgmental, but I digress and respect the person represented here because the rest of the conversation was exactly what I’ve been talking about in so much of my work–Americans have to re-learn how to talk to each other in a spirit of complexity and nuance instead of falling for the virus of polarized thinking. And please, I ask that you not judge this person either; we’ve all been there.
The passage from Matthew indeed involves Christ’s enemies attempting to trap him into a mutual exclusive thinking scenario. It is a wicked plot, because in their minds, no matter what answer he gives, they will use it against him. What makes this story especially insidious is that the enemies are two polar opposite tribes in themselves–the Herodians and the Pharisees–two groups who hate each other but are joining forces against the Son of God here. Tumultuous times, they were. But as is the case in so many wars of today, including the Russia-Ukraine-NATO-Deep State crisis that Tucker Carlson and Putin discussed Thursday night, sometimes alliances between enemies must be formed if they recognize a greater enemy in their midst. Here is the Gospel passage, from Matthew 22:
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. 16 And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and do not care what anyone thinks; for You are not partial to anyone. 17 Tell us then, what do You think? Is it permissible to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19 Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. 20 And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” 21 They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “Then pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 And hearing this, they were amazed; and they left Him and went away (NASB).
Jesus Christ, the greatest good to ever walk the earth, is that greater enemy for the Herodians and Pharisees. In their minds, they have to, at some point and in some way, make him out to be a liar, a deceiver of disciples. They hate him even more after his response, his poise. It is one of the many times he would sign his own death sentence.
The binary trap, or attempted one in this case, is to force Jesus to answer yes or no. With either answer he gives, one tribe of his enemies will be able to incite trouble among his followers and among the Roman rulers. I leave the details of the politics of this story aside here, for it is dense; however, suffice it to say that Jesus’ response not only speaks to eternal truth, but from a natural, human standpoint, exhibits incredible wisdom and cunning as well.
The Son of God is far smarter than these “learned” men. And in relation to geopolitical dilemmas like what things Putin said to Tucker Thursday–and has been saying for a long time, for that matter–we have to be as cunning as well. We have to recognize our own government-media apparatus, our own fellow Americans, and maybe even that little accusing voice inside, as the Herodians and Pharisees of our day prowling around and cunningly trying to destroy our conception of truth. Faith can’t just remain in the “feels” all the time. We have to be smart, as Jesus was and is. And because this is an election year for the United States and for so many countries all over the world, we have to be smart now.
I believe we are getting there, as I explored in “You Don’t Have to ‘Believe In’ Putin to Recognize the Truth You Already Know.” We all should be encouraged.
Christ recognizes the trap immediately. His enemies have clearly discussed all of this beforehand, a cunning all unto their own. They are so “nice” to him when they offer him flattering words: “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and do not care what anyone thinks; for You are not partial to anyone.”
Ah, so nice. But are these men good? You know the answer, and this is precisely what I was speaking on in “The Poison of Nice.” Their approach to him is as phony and manipulative as it gets–and we experience people like this maybe every single day. To a more forgiving degree, we experience it with people who know not what they do, as the person above in the email exchange.
America good, Russia bad. It is so easy to fall into it. Until you remember that there are two Americas and the one on display since the Russia-Ukraine crisis began two years ago this month is being led by Barack Hussein Obama and the Deep State globalists. Indeed, this encroachment on the Russian border apparently goes back much further than this, which may make you wonder if Putin as the leader of the Russian people has any choice in the matter.
We will continue our examination of Christ and America’s Putin dilemma in Part 2 this week, when we present to you telling information on one Saul Alinsky and the Hegelian Dialectic….
May everyone named directly or referenced indirectly ask forgiveness and do penance for their sins against America and God. I fight this information war in the spirit of justice and love for the innocent, but I have been reminded of the need for mercy and prayers for our enemies. I am a sinner in need of redemption as well after all, for my sins are many. In the words of Jesus Christ himself, Lord forgive us all, for we know not what we do.
Jeff LeJeune is the author of several books, writer for RVIVR, editor, master of English and avid historian, teacher and tutor, aspiring ghostwriter and podcaster, and creator of LeJeune Said. Visit his website at jefflejeune.com, where you can find a conglomerate of content.
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