catch me on the tube

channel

i've been putting most of (all) my thoughts on youtube so you all can catch me there. i do plan on writing more so i will post here as well. i'd like to start an apologetic book in response to sargon's "literal bullshit" comment on all religions. i mean, if western society needs Christianity in order to function, how can it be bullshit? get real

you get what you effing deserve

i replied to a guy who is upset that God created hell

anyway, i'll frame this hypothetical for you this way: what makes you think you deserve an eternity in heaven with the Creator of the universe? why do you think you deserve even a day in his presence, the One who created uncountable galaxies? are you greater than Bill Gates or Warren Buffett who give away billions of dollars? they don't even give away 100% of what they have earned and they don't deserve an eternity in heaven. they don't measure up to the perfection of Jesus Christ. how many lives have you died for? how many men have you inspired for even a day to leave their lives of selfishness and pride? how many books have been written about you? how many songs sung? you refuse to even acknowledge God's existence despite the overwhelming complexity of this universe, of even your own existence--you pretend all of it is a preposterous spontaneous accident that created itself!-- and you don't think you deserve to burn forever for this. who even are you? how do you compare to Christ? you are no one. you deserve nothing from God but fire.

history

i found a couple of books by Bishop JC Ryle a while ago and edited them for publication. ryle wrote two books chronicling the lives of pastors from the 17th and 18th century. he wrote about men who became martyrs under queen mary and elizabeth and king james the second. the catholic church murdered many protestant pastors who refused to believe in the church's doctrine of transubstantiation.

transubstantiation teaches that, when the priest conducts mass, the wafer that the priest presents to the parish literally, figuratively, actually, physically becomes the body of Christ. yes. we are talking about a common wafer of common bread. the priest "sacrifices" this body during the ceremony of the mass and the faithful eat this "body of Christ" in order to partake in this sacrament and receive forgiveness of their sins. according to the catholic church, the priest continually sacrifices Christ every time he conducts the mass, and the members of the church literally eat his physical body. no, i am not mistaking "literal" for "figurative." this is common knowledge.

in recounting the deaths of these 17th century protestants, ryle repeats the words of one John Rogers

i was asked whether i believed in the sacrament to be the very body and blood of our saviour Jesus Christ that was born of the virgin mary and hanged on the cross, really and substantially? i answered, i think it to be false. corporally Christ is only in heaven, and so Christ cannot be corporally in your sacrament.

another minister, Rowland Taylor says

the second cause why i was condemned as a heretic was that i denied transubstantiation, and concomitation, two juggling words whereby the papists [catholics, who adhere to the papacy, or the system of popery] believe that Christ's naturaly body is made of bread, and the Godhead by and by to be joined hereto, so that immediately after the words of consecration [by the priest], there is no more bread and wine in the sacrament, but the substance only of the body and blood of Christ. because i denied the aforesaid papistical doctrine--yea rather plain wicked idolatry, blasphemy, and heresy--i am judged a heretic.

the catholics taught a plainly nonsensical, obviously false doctrine, and if you believed it, the church accepted you. if you admit to their insanity, you belong to their church. if you refuse what your eyes and ears and nose and mouth and hands tell you, you are safe. if you deny reality, you live. however, if you do not participate in their obvious deception, their plain madness, you will lose your life.

if you agree with another man's plain lies under pain of death, you are owned. you do not belong to yourself; you belong to him. you belong to whatever system forces you to believe this insanity. you do not belong to the truth. you do not belong to reality. you have given yourself over to everything that this system believes and your mind is no longer your own. this system, this philosophy, this religion now owns you because they own your mind, your beliefs, and every action that proceeds from these. this is the ultimate mind control--not that someone bends your will or coerces you against your will to believe their truth but that they convince you to give yourself over to them willingly.

the catholic church did this centuries ago but today we have another church--the church of leftism. what is the parallel? obviously transgenderism. 

the left seeks to abolish reality because they seek control over your mind. if the left can convince you, not through facts, or reason, but through emotion and social pressure, to admit that men are women and women are men, then they own you. if you will deny these basic biological facts that every human being must admit as soon as he begins to learn the basic foundation of language and the basic relationships of society--mama, papa--then they control you, your mind, your beliefs, your words, everything about you. you will believe everything they say, support every cause they present, give yourself to every sacrifice they demand.

there are two genders.

men and women are distinct in capacity and ability but equal in value.

male and female are fixed states of biology.

a man's character matters, not his race.

God alone is true

Do not be owned unless by Christ.

new book. NEW BOOK. nEw BooK. NeW BoOk.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BDSDSW8

While Puritan Minister Thomas Manton usually preached book to book, verse by verse in Scripture, occasionally he blessed his parish with topical studies. This volume collects sermons intended to "promote peace and holiness," in Manton's words. Manton speaks on Christian unity, obedience from the heart, expecting trouble in this world, the blessing of marriage, the sufficiency of scripture, and the spiritual famine of England, among others. First expositional, always devotional, thick with scripture and the warmth of a preacher in love with Christ and his people, and never infected with the banal, pointless sentimentality of this modern age, Thomas Manton never fails to inspire true devotion. By Ted Cortez Publishing.

cursed

martin luther king jr gave a speech about 57 years ago on the steps of the lincoln memorial in washington dc.

one hundred years [after the emancipation proclamation] the negro is still not free

the negro is not free today either but his slavery does not come from outside himself, from oppressive governments or slave traders or racist systems in the south. today he enslaves himself.

at the time mlk gave his speech, the reverend walked hand in hand with white men and women, with other black men and women, dressed in suits and dresses, the same attire many people of the time wore to attend a sunday service at church. all of these men and women respected each other. they respected those who opposed them, even though they despised the racism and intolerance their enemies supported. they did not resort to violence. they did not destroy property or steal or murder black policemen or destroy black businesses. they marched. they sang Christian hymns. they prayed and they spoke. mlk largely achieved what he set out to achieve. police brutality began to decrease. black men and women received the right to vote and desegregation began.

why is the black not yet free today?

martin luther king jr's speech was not a prayer to God, but an appeal to men. mlk pleaded to men to give him grace. he asked for the favor of men. he did not place his faith in God but in sinful, weak, cowardly men. it was a noble effort but ultimately always destined to fail. 

cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength

black prosperity began to rise after the emancipation proclamation but obviously there remained much injustice. can we compare church attendance in the black community today to church attendance during and after slavery? i doubt anyone even has data on this but i will wager the disparity is enormous. the fact is that difficult situations drive us to God. God takes his time but he redeems the evil deeds of men and causes blessing to come from them. of course we should fight against injustice, but as believers, that is not our priority. God created us to glorify him, to give honor to him, to praise him in the midst of pain and trust him to bring glory to himself and not to trust in men to correct injustice. God commands us to preach the Gospel, not to primarily right the wrongs of inherently unjust systems created by inherently unjust men. the best men can do is punish evil but we fail miserably when it comes to preventing it.

But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for [authority] does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

injustice lies within every one of us. mlk believed he could change the hearts of men and through laws eliminate the hatred that resides inside of us. instead he enabled it. men began to trust in men and not in God and when these authorities inevitably failed them, the blacks returned hatred for hatred. their god of laws and government and authority betrayed them. this was an obvious and foreseeable conclusion.

God alone changes hearts. God alone convicts men of sin, enables them, not superficially, but honestly, to choose righteously and compassionately. any appeal to men and the strength of men will ultimately fail. at the same time, each of us is responsible to him and any blame we place on others will fall on us just as quickly. every single one of us who trust in ourselves or in others have cursed ourselves.

we have no hope in men, in their laws, in their ability to choose justly. our only hope is God. but he allows injustice. he allows sin and death and hatred. he allows these things so we seek him and acknowledge that only in him are hope and truth and righteousness. he does not want us to be satisfied with this world for it is not our home.

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

none of us will ever be satisfied with this earth. we are not meant to be. 

also trust

so society is actively collapsing...we knew this sometime ago. i would trace the decline at the onset of darwinism. the theory reduces the value of life to that of animals, beasts, insects even. we are merely the highest form of a chain of beasts. so what if some conquer, oppress, or destroy others? we're all literally just meat. there is no moral value in meat, in eating it, killing it, enslaving it. in fact, we saw the decline immediately after darwin's theory took hold in the form of adolf hitler. he was basically the first darwinist warmonger. now we have institutionalized his beliefs in academia and the news media, somewhat in the church. it's insane. the only difference now is that our beliefs are less theoretical and more practical.

my point is that i want to buy a gun. well, i don't want to but i should. one way or another, eventually america will collapse. every country does. it's in the nature of all of us to throw off authority. first, we degrade authority both by the actions of authority and the actions of those under authority. we teach our children that authority is inherently unrighteous. we deny the existence of God. we tear down our fathers and replace them with our mothers who do not handle authority well. women do not control their emotions well without the strong influence of men. i think every honest women will agree with me and the dishonest will just scream with rage.

i will buy a gun, not because i want to, but because circumstances necessitate i do. i guess i am not a man if i don't take ownership of my decision. i want a goddamn gun. i'll probably get a sig. those look nice. i try to deny the responsibility of making a decision because i'm afraid. i'm afraid of owning a gun, of shooting one, of having this responsibility of life and death, of having to defend myself and my family, of the whole idea of growing up and being a man. it's time i guess. i'm not a child and i don't want to not buy a gun just because my mother doesn't like guns. grow up, dude.

oh yeah, the title. do i trust God and not buy a gun? do i trust God to defend me? he may not. it's my soul he defends, not my body. 

precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones.

HA. he wants me to die, at some point. the body is not his main concern. so do i trust him and not buy a gun, or do i move forward and trust him in buying one and trust him to give me the maturity to handle this responsibility? do i grow up?

say this if you never want a job

i had to write this as part of an application for an adjunct position at a junior college

Equity Statement

As a minority (Mexican/Filipino/Indian), I have experienced a negligible amount of discrimination because of my ethnic background. I grew up in a predominantly white suburb on the outskirts of Bakersfield, Ca. None of it hampered my opportunities however. I believe that, for the most part, America remains a very free country where any person who works hard, treats people well, and does his best to make honest and moral choices will succeed. I have taught many years and encountered many students of all kinds of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. I have done my best to expect the best of every student, to challenge them all, and to treat them with respect. At the same time, I do not believe any student has the right to treat anyone else with disrespect, regardless of their ethnicity, their socioeconomic background, or any personal difficulty they may face. We all face difficulty in life, and we all bear the responsibility to overcome difficulty and give our best to the people around us, no matter what real or perceived slight, discrimination, prejudice, or injustice we, our family or our ancestors have faced. Difficult situations create character, and character brings success. We do not find character by casting blame on others or by demanding what we did not earn.

Ted Cortez