do not blog this
'least not today
you're outofsorts
not a good time
don't ..
.. my other me telling me this on the way here
you've already been told you're too damned negative
and most of what you write is negative (though that ain't true)
and who says you have the right to criticize and critique and callout anyway
..
well .. seems i just can't he'p muhsef today
just can't
sorry
so if you're looking for encouragement and compliments and 10waysonhowtoimpresspeople then let me save you the trouble .. isn't here
..
so .. here's my issue on this fine Lord's Day ..
i was betwixtandbetween 'going to church' today
as i have been for some years now
.. but being the self-flaggelating person i be, i sometimes relent and go .. somewhere ..
maybe it's me ..
actually it is me
maybe i'm being an ass and i need to stop being an ass and face the fact that i could well be wrong in my think on the current state of the church in the ol' western hemisphere and leave my teeth in the cup ('cause yuh can't grit yer teeth if they ain't there) and join in communion with this or that group of believers and praise the Lord and be refreshed and encouraged and do my part in the Body ..
well.. so much for that
..
i did hang my head in disbelief from the time i walked in and saw a 'TRUMP' cap on the snack table, and then, lo and behold!, ye good ol' wordofthelord today was about politrics and that you should do yer darn duty and vote
and by the way, if you don't vote you're still voting, cause if you don't vote you're leaving room for the other candidate to get in
and God said "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
and God is in control anyway .. so ..
and as christians we're supposed to support the 'right' issues, like righttolife/antiabortion, and there's this empty chair in the supreme court ..
and btw, trump don't really hate blacks, and we need to set the record straight first chance we get ..
..
and all the while i sat there in absolute astounded unbelief, choking myself on my tongue, and thinking this cannot be real .. we're past this ..
this is like the way we used to believe
these are the things that we were taught back before doctors knew they had to wash their hands between dealing with patients so they weren't the unintentional passers-on of germs ..
.. but noooooooo .. we're still in the germ business
the doctors are still attempting to heal with germy hands, and infecting unsuspecting patients to boot
so i sat there and chewed the fat with muhsef fer pert'near an hour
kicking myself in the proverbial arse over and over and over for kicking myself in the ass when i should have listened to the other me when i was telling myself "go to the coffee shop today .. go. just go .. "
..
well here i be
and i'm pretty much pissed
i hope the good folk that lead this church whom i like a lot don't read this
i really do
they're good people
..
i'm just lost
that's why i continue to berate myself
am i the only one who sees this as a travesty of Jesus' teachings and attitudes and intentions?
is there anybody else out theeeeeeeerrrre .... ?
i must be lost .. no other explanation
i'm frekin' lost
..
well, the first thing that comes to mind is Jesus absolute refusal to take political positions ..
i know i know .. israel was a nation under roman rule, etc etc, so like how could he ? .. he had no say
actually Jesus said to give Caesar what was due him and give God was due
and he even had Peter scrounge around in a fish's mouth for the tax they owed
although the taxes are really to be taken from foreigners, not from citizens (i forget where it says that in the good o' book ..)
Paul - pay taxes to whom they're due, honour to whom honour is due ..
etc
and then, Paul, pray for those in authority
ahmm .. regardless of who they are, or their party, or if they believe in abortion or gay rights or ..
and, pardon me, the point isn't to put your candidate in office; the point is that regardless of who is there, we need to be praying for them that we would be able to live peaceable lives ..
but i think the thing that hits me most is our repeated resort to the older testament to find support for our positions ..
that one really gets me, particularly when it concerns things like politics
a mentor of mine (unbeknownst to him) wrote a very cool book
and him being a theologian and me not, you should probably check out what he has to say on the matter
his name is gregory boyd and the book is the myth of a christian nation (click on the link)
..
anyway, be it hereby known that God was speaking to the nation of israel in the older covenant
to israel
that's the nation God built and ruled
or ruled until he was kicked out and saul was kinged
there is no theocracy on this planet
never will be till Jesus shows himself again ..
there is no biblical nation of israel today
that nation was sidelined by God, at least for a period, which period continues to this day, and will continue to continue until such time as the kingdom is present in its fullness
and please do not point to the nation that goes by that name today .. please don't ..
they're anything but God's nation, and the things they do are quite unlike anything Jesus taught or evidenced by his exemplary life
and yes, someone in church today did raise support for israel as one of the major issue on their voting card .. . . ...
God operated in a distinctly different manner in those days
first of all, there was Law
and there was threat of punishment and reward
and we do not currently live under Law or threat of God
in fact, Jesus pointedly superceded Law, and nailed it to that tree
and Paul kept asking .. "you going back to Law?? Why?!" You're freed from Law."
i suppose i could be wrong here, but not one time did anyone turn to Jesus in the discussion ..
just sayin' ..
..
earlier in the frantic race for president i supported a candidate
that was the first time in my history
and the only reason i did was that person's inclination towards what-seemed-to-me-to-be a more just society where the ultrapowerful monied Controllers don't buy government (including the presidency), where people have the right to health care regardless of whether or not they can afford it (because, like, should my right to life really depend on whether i can pay for it?), where war is a determinedly last resort, where concern for the exponential rate of debilitation of our planet should be a primary concern, where everyone has the right to a public education through college level regardless of affordability, where vets don't get shoved aside, where the homeless and mentally-needy get the care they need ..
like that ..
i thought it astounding that anyone in this day would be bold enough, real enough, and would care enough to take those positions
and since those positions reminded me a lot of Jesus, i FB'ed my support for them ..
but i'm out now, because they're out
..
so while i had to sit through that today
because i'd rather not cause dissention, and i just couldn't bring
myself to get up and walk out because i love these people
and think they have a good heart
i've decided not to return
..
i kept looking for that passage where Jesus told the authority in the Earth what was what ..
Pilate, the representative for Caesar in Jerusalem, as in the Roman authority on the spot, had asked Jesus some stuff, and Jesus wasn't really taking him on, so Pilate pulled the ace of spades ..
like " listen here. do you know who it is you're talking to?? don't you know i have the power to crucify you?"
" are you a king or are you not " ..
Jesus' response is remark-able .. " my kingdom is not of this world "
..
we have to get that
we need to fast on that
we need to mantra that, meditate ..
the kingdom of God is not of/from/does-not-belong-to/doesn't-look-like this world
ipso facto
the kingdom Jesus preached, and that's what he preached about a lot (see Acts 1), is a different kingdom, one that looks and smells and sounds different from what we see and sniff and listen-to on a daily basis ..
it's a contrary kingdom
it's quite upside-down to what we know .. and think
and are taught, apparently
in fact, it's virtually unthinkable
because some of Jesus' teachings are way way off the chart
like, justforanexample, love your enemy ..
as in enemy
tick that box on your ballot
it's a kingdom that exudes love at all costs
it's a kingdom in the shape of a cross ..
a kingdom that looks like a man hanging naked from a tree by his wrists ..
someone that looks a whole lot like God hanging naked from a tree
and whenever we want to know what to do in a situation
we need to start there
right there
don't go to the old testament
don't go to the church official or the 'altar'
don't look it up on some christian internet site
run run run to Jesus
as the perfect Expression of God in a human form, Jesus has to be the authority for me and my decisions
read the sermon on the mount
read about the life of Jesus, the way he lived, the code he lived-by, the attitude and approach he took
read it over and over and over
and read as many books and articles as you can about Jesus specifically ..
and that's my takeonit
that's my intention for life
that's why and why not
..
there is no candidate that could ever reflect God
and there's no nation that could either
be it israel or these 'ere united states ..
forget the founding fathers and the Mayflower and the sad sad histoies told in the language of the authorities with lots and lots of stuff left out and turned on it's side
many many many people died mercilessly
many were slaughtered
and many times God's name was invoked
forget it ..
it's all a damned lie
.. and that crap still continues to this very day in one form or another in one place or another in the name of democracy and sometimes after saying mass ..
all we have to go by is Jesus
ahmmm .. let me repeat that
all we have to trust-in is Jesus
so that Jentezen Franklin and Franklin Graham and Billy Graham and John Haggee and TD Jakes and whothehellever don't mean a hill o' beens whenever their teaching does not line-up with Jesus ..
all you got is Jesus
find Jesus' mind and attitude on the matter
at all costs
and bear in mind it could be a very costly cost
'cause people, church people, will cut you off and feed you to the heretics faster than you can say "Jesus"
..
" It used to be God would occasionally communicate in one way or another with our Jewish Fathers through prophets. But now God speaks to us through a Son, the very person that set the universe in place, and sustains it by the sheer power of his word.
God has appointed him to be heir of everything.
This Son is the effulgence of God, the outshining of God's glory. He is the perfect expression of God's being. " (Hebrews 1)
.. the perfect Expression of who God is
if you have 'perfect' you have perfect
there's no bettering or improving or advancing perfect
..
one other thing ..
followers of Jesus follow Jesus ..
they don't follow church
they don't bow to denomination
they don't worship the bible .. oops .. .
they follow a person
not a book
not a religion
not a preacher
.. a person
" The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you because you do not believe him whom he has sent.
You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify on my behalf, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. (John 5.36ff)
interesting to check out who it was Jesus was speaking to ..
..
there are 2 prominent trees in scripture
one appears at the beginning
the other appears at the other beginning
"in the beginning God"
"in the beginning was the Word"
the one bore fruit of knowledge, knowing good from evil, and led to death
the other bore fruit of death, and led to life
the first man chose the tree of 'knowing'
and we bear the awful taste of that decision in this world
the second man, the last Adam (1Corinthians 15:45-47), took the tree of sacrifice and death, and the whole world bears the beautiful promise of life
if you want to see God as God is in the face of all the evil this world and the powers of darkness have, then look to the cross
look to the cross
not the Lawnot 'the Church'
not 'Christianity'
there you will find the heart of God bleeding-out
in love
in love for the only begotten son
in love for us the adopted
in love for the world
the whole world
..
so when you want to talk politics, remember to look to the cross
when we talk religion, look there
and theology
and righteousness
and goodness
and the way of Jesus
.. who said, " you want to follow me? deny who you are, take up your cross .. then come, follow me "
there is no other way to see this world and all this world involves than through the lens of Jesus
really
follow him, the Man
that's my life-telos anyway
my intention
and i'll die doing it
so help me God
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