With the Covid plandemic and the Great Reset, all which will ultimately mean, “you will have nothing,” in one way or another we are seeing the end of materialistic consumerism for the little people. Roosh v, who much like Saint Augustine, was a fornicator, then turned Christian, while not discussing the global politics, does weigh in on the meaning of human life. The meaning should be pursuit of the spiritual over the material anyway, so at the end of the day, loss of the material, even of physical life itself, should not be too great a burden. Think of the Christian saints of old, and of the devout Christians who died in the Ancient Roman era. But, I agree, that this path is a hard one, indeed.
“I speculate that God is reaping the harvest of those who clearly see the fallen state of this world and desire Lord Jesus Christ to lead them to true life through His Church, and this harvest can only be reaped in times of troubles like we are in. He will baptize those who want to be baptized, and he will allow His children to use the internet, a tool that has caused massive carnage to the culture, to create strong online and offline local communities that will offer strength and support when the real persecution begins. Satan has already noticed what I have noticed. He will start to direct his minions against the Orthosphere very soon, and even if we have to go underground, we will never be alone. For a faith that is 2,000 years old, the fight for it will only get more intense, and I’m thankful that for the first time in my life, I’m a part of something that is true, right, and worth dying for.”
https://www.rooshv.com/from-degeneracy-to-decadence
“On the list of decadency, I eat exquisitely, use climate control, shower in steaming hot water for prolonged periods, and pursue optionality. Do these habits completely block my salvation? I hope not, but I know that if I don’t guard against the mild pleasures they bring, I can easily fall back into degeneracy and more serious sins. I must remain watchful about any perceived benefit I receive in this world that causes me to forget about God even for a moment.
What comes upon the person who defeats decadence? A holy Christian life and maybe even sainthood. If you can mortify your body to all the pleasures of this world, no matter how small, and rely upon God alone for all that you need, you will exist in a state that God intended when He created you. May we pray for those participating in degeneracy to ease into decadence with God’s grace and then into their final stage of becoming like the saints.”
https://www.rooshv.com/worshiping-comfort-is-satanic
“When the people of a society don’t have strong faith, they manufacture a false god to replace the one they have forsaken, unaware that they’ve created a new idol. This false god will be so baked into the culture that individuals worship it without conscious thought. In the United States, that false god is comfort. Whether an American is an atheist or a Christian, or somewhere in between, nearly all have put their desire for comfort—and the fear of losing it—above that of God.
Americans have no remembrance of war coming to her shores. They haven’t seen first-hand the two World Wars and the communist revolutions. There is no one alive to tell them how their lands were invaded, their women raped, their houses burned. Only American soldiers abroad have had to bear the brunt of human violence and suffering, while those back at home can sip on coffee, eat cheeseburgers, and drive big cars. No tribulation except the very recent coronavirus lockdowns and still developing riots have introduced to the American psyche the idea that life is not automatically one of high comfort.
Look around and you’ll notice that everything about the way you live was designed to maximize your personal comfort, and as Silicon Valley has amassed more power over our lives, they’ve attacked every little inconvenience for annihilation, before you even thought of them as inconveniences. When life enters such a state of ease, you can then do what you really “love,” which in practical terms is ordering junk food from your phone …
Not everyone worships at the altar of comfort. The Slavic peoples of Russia and Ukraine, for example, have seen darker recesses of humanity. Alongside their Orthodox faith, they have come to see suffering as the same as the early Christians: a cross to bear. And many eagerly bear it. If things in life go a little too smooth for a prolonged period of time, the most devout of them cry out to God—“Why have you forsaken me?” Without tribulation, we do not build virtue. Without a fire, gold cannot be moulded and fashioned into objects of beauty. If we do not face difficulty, we do not get closer to God, for why do you need God if everything in this life is perfect? Ask a 22-year-old man at the peak of his physical energy, hormonal drive, and worldly optimism how much he needs God, and he will respond, “What God?”
The Orthodox ask God to help them bear the cross, to help them endure, but Americans ask for the cross to be removed. “Please God make me rich and alleviate all my health problems!” Americans foremost ask for material blessings, and they worship the prosperity gospel, because their god is not God—it’s comfort. They want to be comfortable in the material sense, and so they donate millions of dollars to a man like Joel Osteen who says that God blesses the congregation if their pastor saves souls through the television box.
Many Americans see Jesus Christ as a man who can help them buy a winning lottery ticket, that we are not called to endure like He did, to suffer humiliation and pain even though he could have chosen otherwise at any time because He is God. We ignore His example and pray for the cross to be removed, but be careful what you wish for, because if Christ in his infinite love grants your request to remove the cross He wants you to bear, He may then give you a bigger cross for your own good, because He knows that our virtue cannot be built through comfort, our purification cannot proceed without trials, our sanctification cannot happen without perseverance. It may seem masochistic to see an Orthodox embrace his cross of suffering, but this is what our Savior did. It’s demonic not to.
Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior? Tomorrow He may come to the conclusion that, for your salvation, you must lose all things in this world as happened to Job in the Old Testament. You must lose your property, your money, all your family members and friends, and even your health, and you must endure this until the end of your earthly life. He has deemed it, because without this loss, you will not be saved. Now, is He still your Lord and Savior? Unless you can immediately and unequivocally say Yes, you have not put Him first. You have become too comfortable in this world, too attached to its rewards. Every day you are making dozens of little decisions to maintain the comfort you desire while ignoring the cross that you have to bear.
It’s hard to bear the cross. After receiving God’s grace, I banned only the oldest of my fornication books, but I couldn’t ban Game, the book that comprised most of my income. I reasoned with myself that it wasn’t that bad, but it was. I was scared that I would be poor, that I would have to live with my mother forever, that I would never earn a decent income again, and that I would surely never create a family of my own. I was scared of losing the basic comforts and freedoms that I have become so used to as an adult. I hesitated to bear the cross that Christ has given to me as a man who went down the wrong road for so long. What decision must I make? Do I choose the world and its comforts, risking my soul in the process, or do I choose God? I chose God. He is first, and He doesn’t want me pushing sexual filth or participating in it. The rest of the books had to be banned, and so they were. I’m in His hands now because I am His. He will provide my daily bread, both materially and spiritually. If I ever get worried or distressed, that means I do not trust in Him. That means He is not in my life.
Comfort is not my god. I was not created to live a comfortable existence. A soul was not breathed into my physical body so that I could have material blessings and excellent health and amusements and fleeting emotional happiness. I was put here on this earth to serve my Creator. Everything else that is thrust before me in this modern environment are mere distractions meant to make me covet all that is not God. The Lord can take all this comfort away from me. He can drain my bank account, He can put me on the streets with all the other homeless, and I will still follow Him until the end of time.”