John.

There are three Johns in the New Testament:

John the Baptist, John the Disciple, and John the Divine.

Many traditional Christians claim that John the Divine, who wrote the Book of Revelation, is one and the same as the disciple John,

But I disagree.

It is hard to imagine two pieces of writing more different than the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation.

The Gospel of John is all about Light, Life, and Love.

The Book of Revelation is violent, vengeful and vindictive.

It includes a curse at the end upon anyone who changes the words of his book.

This was a common practice in the ancient world.

But I find it hard to reconcile with the beautiful words of John in his Gospel and letters.

And John the Divine says of himself that he shared with them the persecution of the early church.

This is significant because if he was the disciple John he would surely have said that he shared with Jesus his ministry on earth.

But he does not.

And so the violent and disturbing passages in the Book of Revelation must be questioned.

It seems to me that the Book of Revelation is a number of apocalyptic writings cobbled together and exaggerated.

It repeats itself and digresses constantly.

And its essential nature is not consistent with my experience of God.

My experience of God is that He is merciful, forgiving, and gracious.

He does not use fear.

And He does not punish or judge.

God is Love.

And His way is non-violent.

So do not get hung up on the vivid visions in the Book of Revelation.

They are not in keeping with the nature of God.

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Youth Politics.

Idealistic youth demonstrations in Bangladesh and Thailand are transforming the political landscape of Asia.

In Bangladesh they toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina who fled the country.

In Thailand they are poised to challenge the unelected Senate and the conservative Constitutional Court and rewrite the military-drafted Constitution.

There have been huge demonstrations in Hungary against the arch-conservative government of Viktor Orban.

And in America we have seen the largest demonstrations in history.

There is little doubt that this new generation is politically aware and active.

They are peaceful and law-abiding and they respect the democratic system.

Youth culture will sweep away the last vestiges of autocratic conservatism and the rule of unelected plutocrats.

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Trump.

".....and he opened his mouth to boast and utter blasphemies....."

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Left of Center.

What Satanists do on the left is push decadence and hedonism.

Sex and drugs and rock and roll is designed to corrupt you to such an extent that your soul is damned to hell.

But it is no use merely switching to the right because on the right Satanists trigger punishment and judgement, severity and death.

Both these positions are extreme.

And both these positions are wrong!

God looks on the heart.

And the heart is located slightly left of center in the body.

This is the case for all living creatures.

For God is Love.

And the heart makes concessions according to understanding.

So do not overindulge in pleasures.

And do not be too rigid in your moral code.

But center yourself in the heart.

And give love to all God's creatures.

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Violence.

God does not use violence.

Violence and severity are attributes of the Beast.

Violent and vengeful passages in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation misrepresent the nature of God.

God is Merciful, Forgiving, and Gracious.

He does not prosecute our errors.

His Love is steadfast and reliable.

His image is the Lamb - tender, innocent, and vulnerable.

And His Salvation is everlasting.

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Fear.

Fear is at the root of all the lies, violence, war, corruption, hate, abuse, treachery, and evil in our world.

And so, rather than trying to win out against our enemies, we should be addressing the fears that divide us.

Ultimately this can only be done by trusting the Love of God.

God loves us like our mother only more so.

And our mother will not abandon us.

And if she does God will take us up.

"If my father and mother forsake me,

the Lord will take me up." 

Psalm 27:10 (NRSV)

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Crisis.

One of the things that the election of Donald Trump has done is embolden conservative, anti-gay governments around the world to defund and criminalize same-sex relations to such an extent that activist groups and shelter organizations are facing an ongoing crisis.

Corporate and business sponsors are deserting in droves as Trump's ideological war takes hold.  

Many centers will have to close and other services will have to be scaled back.

And all this while facing an increase in violence and hate crimes.

Trump is using the Bible to justify hate.

And those Christians who support him must be held responsible for his crimes.

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Staighteners.

Those who harass gay people and try to straighten them are wasting their time.

Homosexuality can not be changed by subtle sabotage or force.

The best they can hope for is a hypocritical pretense that will not last.

Homosexuality is love.

And love is from God.

God loves his gay sons and daughters.

He does not discriminate.

So leave us alone.

And let our love flourish. 

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The Heart.

It is no use justifying yourself by the intensity of your feelings.

Passion is not Love.

And lawlessness is not freedom.

We are called to practise some principles and ideals.

Honesty and compassion are allies of the love in our hearts.

But if you have a black heart that is full of darkness and hate.

A heart that is merciless, sadistic, and vicious.

A heart that is blind and will not love.

This is spiritual death.

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Punishment.

The Old Testament teaching that God brings misfortune upon people as punishment for sin and disobedience is obsolete.

It is refuted in the Book of Job and in the New Testament.

But this mentality survives to this day as Prosperity Theology.

And it infects many Christian Churches.

The reaction of Fundamentalist and Evangelical Churches, particularly in the United States, to the AIDS crisis is a classic example.

They said that AIDS was punishment from God for the sin of homosexuality.

And that homosexuals would go to hell.

But these claims have long been disputed, even within the Christian Churches.

AIDS is cured.

There is no longer any pretext for their prejudice.

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Passion.

Generation X have Neptune in Scorpio.

They are all passion and no principles.

They justify corruption and violence by the intensity of their feelings.

And they normalize hate and evil.

But this is no high road.

It is the low road of pragmatism and base passions.

But it has been endorsed by the religious right and backed up by corporate-owned media.

It is the way of the world.

Not the way of God.

And it should be recognized as such.

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Thou Shall Not Kill.

In the Old Testament God tells the Prophets to kill sinners and idolaters.

And they killed the disobedient of their own free will.

But this is to disobey the Commandment not to kill.

Some of the Prophets put words into God's mouth.

These are assumptions or hallucinations inspired by unconscious fears.

But if they kill in God's name they have not reached full enlightenment.

Because God is non-violent.

God is beyond our human assumptions.

God is not a projection of worldly authorities.

He does not punish and judge.

God is transcendent - beyond sin and evil.

So do not take everything in the Bible at face value.

Any instruction to kill or use violence or force is mistaken.

And it should be overridden by the Commandments not to kill, or hold a grudge, or take revenge.

In the East God is non-violent - Ahimsa.

And we should be non-violent as well.

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Non-Violence.

Many people wonder why God does not make the world a better place.

The world is full of lies, violence, war, corruption, hate, abuse, treachery, and evil.....

God does not intervene to stop these things.

But that does not mean that He condones them.

When the world becomes dark and violent He sends a messenger to announce the Light.

God does not use violence to enforce His message.

But the powers of this world will not listen to His messengers.

They stiffen their necks and cling to the power they have won.

And this includes the religious authorities our world.

"'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!'"  Matthew 23:37 (NRSV)

"From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them day after day; yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks.  They did worse than their ancestors did."  Jeremiah 7:25,26 (NRSV)

They adhere to the theology of punishment and judgement, the carrot and stick of heaven and hell.

And they attack and persecute any dissent.

God's message is non-violent.

It is a message of mercy, forgiveness, and love.

But few will hear this message and act on it.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Politics.

If you reject the political left it is no use merely turning to the political right.

The political right sells the idea that strength and economic pragmatism are the answers to all the world's problems.

They claim spiritual rectitude and enforce social conservatism.

But the political right does not reflect the ways of God.

They are mean-spirited and stiff-necked.

They oppose social welfare and use force and coercion.

And they have succumbed to the temptation to use Nazi propaganda techniques: demonization, scapegoating, and lies.

These are not the ways of God.

God is merciful, forgiving, and compassionate.

And His inmost nature is Love.

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Unconscious Agents.

The Hippies and Baby-Boomers stood for peace, love, justice, and equality.

And as such they were unconscious agents of Jesus Christ*.

But the unholy alliance of the religious right, Generation X, and the corporations destroyed these ideals and principles.

And so the right wing killed Jesus.

And evil prevailed.

(*The philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King was based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.)

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The D-Generation.

Beginning in 1984 Generation X launched a generational war against the Baby-Boomers.

This was fed by Ronald Reagan's rhetoric and endorsed by the religious right and corporate plutocrats.

But rather than the judgement of God they claimed to be this right-wing violence destroyed the Baby-Boomers' ideals and principles.

We were reconstructed into mere consumers and pleasure seekers.

All that remained was holidays, tickets, and must-watch T.V..

Any political activism was labelled Marxism and dismissed.

We were blamed, shamed, and bashed.

And so the world became a darker, more ignorant place.

And it has continued on this path to this day.

So the time has come to return to the ideals of our youth and reassert our spiritual principles.

Peace and love, justice and equality, freedom and integrity - these things can save us.

But the greatest of these is Love.

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The Heart.

God looks on the heart.

And the heart is located slightly left of center in the body.

The strong right arm of God can too easily become a Nazi salute.

But the softer approach of the center-left reflects the position of the heart in the body.

And this is where we should anchor our politics.

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The Believer's Heart.

"'"Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water."'"  

John 7:38 (NRSV)

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Stiff-Hearted.

Materialism makes the heart stiff.

It is unsympathetic and stingy.

It allows but a trickle of love to emerge.

And they must live on this pittance.

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The Desert.

If you live your life chasing worldly prizes:

Money, possessions, fame, status, power, authority, victory.....

These things do not satisfy.

They are empty boxes.

And your life will be a desert.

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The World We Cannot See.

When Bob Dylan referred to "the world we cannot see" he was referring to the collective unconscious.

And the "Commander in Chief" of this world as the devil.

You may not believe in the devil but Bob Dylan obviously does.

His deliberately ambiguous comment about a deal he made with this "Commander" casts a shadow over his role as an Evangelical Preacher.

He may claim to be Born Again.

But he may just be the biggest liar.

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Satanism.

Rock bands from the 1960s onwards have followed Aleister Crowley and taken drugs.

This is a result of Satanism hidden in their music.

(Aleister Crowley was a Satanist and black magician who instructed people how to make pacts with the devil.)

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Drugs.

Aleister Crowley told his followers to take drugs and practise Yoga.

This combination is condemned by the Yogis.

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The Reality.

When you replace Soma (drugs) with Brihaspati (devotion) the search for God becomes real.

(The Council of the Gods decided that Soma fought on the side of the demons and his place was taken by Brihaspati.)

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Reagan's Apple.

What Ronald Reagan actually did was adopt Nazi propaganda techniques to create political power.

Demonization of scapegoats was what Hitler did to the Jews.

It is a political technique that creates "moral ease" for the majority.

By demonizing the political left in general and liberals and gays in particular the right-wing political machine mobilized fear and hate in Generation X in order to win power.

Generation X stood over the left-leaning Hippies and blamed and shamed them for all the evils of the world.

This was fueled by economic fears and generational jealousy.

They told us to "get real" and "grow up".

Meaning abandon our ideals and normalize corruption.

But this was not bringing us down to earth as they claimed it was corrupting our ideals.

They were not agents of God's judgement they were dirty, rotten scoundrels mobilized by evil.

Because God's way is not down to earth and corrupt, it is not the way of the world, it is a High Way.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so my ways are higher than your ways,

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:9 (NRSV)

So the judgement instigated by Ronald Reagan was a fraud from the beginning.

It was the temptation to use Hitler's political techniques.

They said "never again" then they used it themselves.

If you try to use the devil to win it will be the devil using you.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Transsexual

If you think that transsexual people are unnatural and opposed to God's Will try reading The Song of Solomon in the Bible.

Throughout this epic love poem the gender of the Beloved changes between male and female.

The Beloved is likened to many things including both sexes.

So if your authority is the Bible there is evidence that transsexual people are beloved of God.

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Evil Words.

Bad, rogue, scoundrel, despicable, abominable, beast, darkness, night, shadow, malificent, wicked, hate, evil.....

These words have been deliberately planted in our popular culture by those who follow Satan* in order to corrupt your mind and turn you to sin.

The purpose is to turn you to such an extent that your soul will be damned to hell.

(Or so they think.)

So be aware.

And beware.

We are being betrayed!

(*You may not believe in Satan but others do!)

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Satisfaction.

"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, 

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?'  Isaiah 55:2 (NRSV)

The world chases after money, possessions, pleasure, status, fame, power, success.....

These things do not satisfy.

"Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, 

and you that have no money, come buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk, 

without money and without price."  Isaiah 55:1 (NRSV)

What is this mysterious water?

What is this intoxicating wine?

What is this nourishing milk?

What is this life-giving bread?

It is Love.

Only love will satisfy the soul.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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