There are nearly as many definitions of Liberalism and Modernism as there are forms of propaganda in the wide world. As the Church uses these terms, however, they may be roughly defined as follows:

Liberalism: The belief that the human person is the ultimate source of freedom and goodness, and so must be emancipated not only from restrictive political and social systems but from the Church, religion and even God Himself. Thus liberalism is above all a spiritual rebellion that is almost inevitably combined with Modernism.

Modernism: The belief that human culture, as the lens through which reality is generally perceived, is actually determinative of truth, such that all convictions must be adapted to satisfy the values of contemporary culture. In practice, this will always be the dominant culture, that is, the fashionable culture of the elites who have the greatest power to form public opinion.

Perhaps the most obvious thing about the combination of these two terms is the following paradox: Once liberals begin to regard human emancipation in terms of Modernism, they necessarily embrace regulatory and even totalitarian political mechanisms to ensure that everyone is properly “liberated”. The State becomes the surrogate for God, but unlike God, the State does not respect human freedom. ~ Dr. Jeff Mirus, In a nutshell: Liberalism and Modernism

The mistake of Liberalism is the idea that we have individual rights. We do not. We have human rights based on God’s Creation ordinances (Genesis 1-3) and the positive affirmations of the Ten Commandments.

Commandments #1-3. The right to worship the one true God and revere His name as holy

Commandment #4. The right to rest on the Sabbath and freedom from perpetual bondage and slavery

Commandment #5. The right to bear and raise children to respect God and parents

Commandment #6. The right to life

Commandment #7. The right to be married to one spouse of the opposite sex and preserve the sanctity of marriage

Commandment #8. The right to get wealth and property, the right to work

Commandment #9. All rights pertaining to a fair trial when accused of sin (church) or a crime (civil).

Commandment #10. The right to work in the pursuit of property lawfully without being subject to guile or conspiracy (not just the pursuit of happiness, but the pursuit of property).

Thus all human rights are Law related. In turn, all biblical laws are based on one of the Creation ordinances — the first principles.

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Why the US Does Not Want the Ukraine War to End is a fair treatment of the complex history of the Russia-Ukraine saga over the past 30 years. I recommend this video highly. I don’t agree with every point this YouTuber makes, but it is well-produced and more cogent and succinct than anything I have seen for its length. It is either a good primer or a refresher depending on your knowledge level of the Ukraine conflict. The thesis of the video is that this is a war the West wanted. NATO wanted a pro-western government in Ukraine, not to help Ukrainians, but to weaken and break up Russia. Therefore, the Western alliance does not want the war to end until this is accomplished. At the same time, the video does not whitewash the motivations and actions of Russia, but suggests that Putin’s actions are not those of a madman, but those of a reasonable president trying to protect Russia’s interests. The video rightly points out that America used our own military force to prevent Soviet influence near our borders many times in the past.

I have been to Russia and Ukraine 12 times since 1991. I learned about each of the Ukrainian presidential elections both through the news and firsthand conversations with Ukrainians. I was initially supportive of the Orange Revolution in 2004, which eventually brought Viktor Yushchenko to power. It seemed to be a people’s movement, but in truth both presidents on either side of that conflict, Yushchenko and Yanukovych, ended up being incredibly corrupt. I also followed the changes after 2014 to the current Euro-Maidan presidents, Poroshenko and Zelenskyy, and the beginning of the war in the Donbas regions. The common denominator is that each president promised to end corruption in Ukraine and better the economic situation. Each invariably ended up being at least as corrupt as his predecessor.

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