What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?
Pure selfishness; interest in me and myself. Maybe I should be talking about shoes, shirts, underwear, rings and necklaces. Ya think? The oldest thing I am wearing first appeared the moment I was born. It made me wail at the top of my voice, “Pay attention to me!” “Hey, momma, give me that breast. I want milk. I’m cold; warm we up”.
There! As old as I am.
What if God’s character is 90% negative outlook?
The constitution that allows political speech to incite armed insurrection also guarantees equal treatment under the law. The repugnance swirling around the Republican party is not an illusion. Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Mike Pence, and all those people lining up to run for president in the 2024 election are children of the poor perception of their revolution which seeks to turn the United States into a Christian nation in plain defiance of the constitution. With ample evidence in the Bible of the utter failure of infusing government with religious cult, we are witnesses to a snowball setting its sight on a cool mansion in hell.
The disease ravaging North America in the 2nd decade of the 21st century was incubated in the idea of a moral majority. Jerry Falwell was so deceived that he could not see that America’s moral seedbed could not be Christian, much less Jewish or Muslim. The genuine moral standard was there in plain sight all along: people who worked honestly, raised their children to be good neighbours and supported learning from the past. While they are railing against immigrants and women, ignoring the plight of African-American people and pretending that the vision of George Washington and his allies that broke into reality in 1776 is a divine order, the American dream deteriorated into asinine slogans about the past, and braggadocio about military power. Who are they daring to call impaired? The encannabinated have way more gravitas than the beer and whiskey drinking patriots. Insanity is when a convicted rapist is the nation’s saviour
If a religious bigot, resident in the United States or Canada, thinks that the pretentious real estate standard is a rallying point then someone had better tell him that the bell stopped ringing a long time ago. Hundreds of “men of God” who cannot muster the courage to call the Nazarene God cannot be expected to keep their congregants out of the clutches of the American beast. When the dictates of justice come down to a vote our expectations are ankle-high and people are floundering as if a tsunami had swamped downtown New York.
One of these days a preacher of the gospel will say of the beautiful, the spacious skies and amber waves of grain what Isaiah said of his people.
Call the earth, summon the sky …“Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.” (Isaiah 1:2a, 4, NASB)
Are you kidding? Sixty-six books and we do not know what God said, do not know what he wants. Books are written even when the weightier matters are undoubtedly fully explored. The biblical narratives fully illustrate justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt 23:23), but since the reformation books spew out of the blackholes of pretentious accountability like rain after thunderclaps. “The Bible is not sufficient” is what we say when our churches fail to witness to the power of the cross. “We do not know” is a lame excuse, and all the commentary, visionary or ecstatic, put into books is the even lamer platitudinous smoking gun of all time.
Do not think we are kidding. All those adults with their treasured achievements and rational explanations do not amount to much. The visions and insights acquired in dreams and trances turn out to be God’s proper gifts to children.
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; Matt 11:25
So we construct more fables and juvenile nonsense than the mind can process with a straight face. We do not have to imagine the effect of Christ saying about working on the Sabbath “I and my father have been working since we paused the creative works”. We are not only American Robins that arrive in the breeding grounds two days before a deadly chill and snowstorm, we are also the parents who register children before they are born. The American frivolity of turning everything into hateful and colonial political is another deadly symptom of ignorance.
Take Gaza, prominent in the news, and famous for the capture and imprisonment by the Philistines of the Israelite hero Samson 30 centuries ago in Gaza. The wool in Israelite and Christian eyes could not be more effective. The modern state of Israel, capitulating to racist and xenophobic ideals, has set a goal of ridding the planet of Hamas, a terrorist group that was the legitimate choice of Gaza’s Palestinian population. I say thank God for the Bible, because it reveals that the first known suicidal terrorist was an Israelite named Samson. The wanton destruction of property and displacing people from their homes is excatly what the Jewish state has been doing for 70 years. Wait! It is what the Bible said Yahweh authorized the Israelite to do to fulfil his promise to Abraham. On top of all that, Israeli politicians want to have the right to override the law (Mosaic and common), in short, make the law irrelevant. Go figure. All the information and exhortations that are not in the bible are irrelevant, and may be shown to be the result of demonic inflence.
We are not so naive as to think that God’s instructions to the Israelites through Moses and the prophets were intended to be implemented by all nations. A notable insult to God’s intelligence is the attempt to co-opt Old Testament and New Testament principles under the banner of “Judeo-Christian”. The crimes of the nations claiming a Judeo-Christian heritage are too obvious to warrant further comment. It is the religious people, carving out Israelite space for their operations, destiny and identity. There is not a second kick at the can for Israel, no people can repeat Israelite history, and no rational imitation of ancient Israel or ancient Judah impresses anyone. God is not asking anyone to imitate Israel or Judah. The rebellion, idolatry and organized crime are sufficient warning. Calling our own inventions statutes, judgments, testimonies or principles our ignorance of what God says only increases. The Passion of Christ – his death and resurrection – declared the full counsel of God. Daring to leave it out of reflection or discussion leaves no conclusion except that we have been bewitched.
List your top 5 favorite fruits.
Mango, apple, blueberry, banana, pear.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 