Did You Know That 'Socks Are Super Pagan'?

Yesterday, a friend of mine shared this cringe-worthy image on Facebook in an attempt to call attention to the so-called "Christian" theories masquerading as "Biblical truth" that exist in this day-and-age.

Ready for this?

I wish that was a joke, like the latest creation by Lutheran Satire or The Babylon Bee or something, but it's not!

As he properly stated, "Somehow this captures the essence of Facebook nuttiness. Rather than promote the one King, a lot of people spend their days promoting theories that do nothing."

Here's what I wrote in response...

I'm surprised at you! Do some more digging, Bruce. You obviously haven't seen the 4.5-hour YouTube video presentation on how the popularity of the "Sock Monkey" is Satanic and directly connects to all of this. There's even a chilling tie-in to Peter Gabriel's "Shock The Monkey" that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that we've all been conditioned to receive the "Mark of the (Monkey) Beast" willingly b/c of all of this.

All kidding aside, I gotta say that that's one of the most bizarre theories I've ever seen too.

This is what's so sad about a segment of Christianity today though. There are some people who truly mean well, and who profess a love for the Lord and His Word, but for whatever reason they get so caught up and deceived by the "myths and endless genealogies" (1 Timothy 1:4) that are out there, and then they fixate on just one verse, or one or two passages of Scripture, and then take it out of context to support their twisted view.

It reminds me of a more sure word from St. Paul to his letter to Timothy...

1 Timothy 1:3-4 (ESV) As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

I'll admit, yes, there was a time when I was that type of a believer (though not to this extreme!).

Even so, a lot of the "Christian Conspiracy Theories" that I believed and propagated myself were absolutely insane and ridiculous!I've since repented, of course. Thanks be to God that His grace pulled me from that path.

See, this is what I've come to cherish about what we believe, teach, and confess as Lutherans, which is simply a "same saying" of what the Word of God already tells us.

What does it tell us about such crazy beliefs like always subjectively finding religious symbolism and spiritual truths in things like socks let's say?

Therefore we ought and must constantly maintain this point, that God does not wish to deal with us otherwise than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. It is the devil himself whatsoever is extolled as Spirit without the Word and Sacraments. 

-- The Smalcald Articles, Part III, Article VIII, 10

This is most certainly true.

Things like the above meme and the accompanying theory it espouses is proof of where "enthusiasm" always leads people.

I like how one Christian put it in another article...

Which Part Of "From The Devil" Don't You Understand? 

Lutherans have such a robust, tangible, mystical, and beautiful pneumatology. That any of our preachers would exchange this priceless treasure for the imaginary trinkets of enthusiast snake oil salesmen is a travesty. It robs people of the true joy of genuine Gospel comfort that can be found in the very real voice of God that IS speaking to us, not to give us secret information like some sort of voodoo psychic, but to comfort and assure us that we are genuinely loved, absolutely His, fully forgiven and accepted into His family, for Jesus' sake. The Jesus who is God speaking to us says, "This is my body, which is given for you." "Your sins are forgiven." "Surely I am with you always." This voice is the ONLY one we need to hear, it is the ONLY one that gives hope, and any Lutheran pastor or congregation worth their salt will make THIS voice the heart and soul of their spirituality. To do otherwise is to take Jesus from the people with one hand, and leave them with the traditions of man, certain preparations of our own invention. Damned sinners don't have time for such presumptuous games! Which part of "from the devil" don't you understand? 

-- Miguel Ruiz

Amen!

Remember, we are expected to "take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them" (Ephesians 5:11).

In a Lutheran layman's terms, no, socks are not super pagan.



NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just a regular Christian, Corporate Recruiter, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. As another Christian Blogger once wrote, "Please do not see this blog as me attempting to 'publicly teach' the faith, but view it as an informal Public Journal of sorts about my own experiences and journey, and if any of my notes here help you in any way at all, then I say, 'Praise the Lord!' but please do double check them against the Word of God and with your own Pastor." To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm a relatively new convert to Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism a little more than 3 years ago now. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Also, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier/older pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category (and they don't have a disclaimer like this) since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran basics was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical, because I now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse footnotes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained under-shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!

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