Damnation.

We are surrounded by Satanists in our popular culture.

What they do is take over the driver's seat, steer you left until you are breaking the rules, then move the right hand of God against you.
Resulting, they hope, in hell forever.

But this will not happen.
There is no hell to go to.

The religious right, however, ia all too willing to damn people who have been led astray in this way, especially if they are their political opponents.

And the damage done by negative suggestion and temptation remains.

So don't follow the lead of your rock stars and sporting heroes, they may be trying to damn you!

Looking for Jesus.

"'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.'"  John 14:6 (NRSV)

My generation - the baby boomers - rejected the moralistic teachings of the Church in favor of a more liberal philosophy.

The result, however, has been that we are imprisoned in the world, held captive by darkness and fear.

In fact my generation is looking for Jesus.

Which Jesus?

The Jesus that inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jnr..


[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.]

The Book of Lies.

The Satanic Bible was written as a negation of the Holy Bible.

And as its author is "'the father of lies'" John 8:44 (NRSV) its readers are mired in darkness.

Those who follow its teachings are therefore the farthest from the light of the truth.
Their beliefs and practices are not to be followed no matter how cleverly disguised they may be.

Darkness hides them.

I would not recommend that anyone read the Satanic Bible.

Satan does not exist in reality.
So the very basis of this book is a falsehood.

Reading such things can only lead you to dark places, places with no truth in them.

It is a book of lies.


[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.]

Don't Believe Everything.

Our media is owned by big business.

They manipulate what we see and read for their own purposes.

So don't believe everything they tell you.

They lie, exaggerate, manipulate figures, and use religious language to demonize their political opponents.

This has been happening for over decade and it's getting worse.

We are being fed blatant lies.

This is to demonize the opposition and prepare the public for their business agenda.

This will make the rich richer and subjugate the poor.

It is time we woke up and challenged their propaganda.

It is time we saw the motives behind the headlines.

And turned the television off.

Fear and Faith.

If we accept that fear is the motivation for people who accumulate wealth then it is by addressing these fears that we can bring about a more just world.

And if we accept that God will provide then it is by increasing people's faith that we can make a difference.

These two things - fear and faith - are at the heart of all human problems.

Our Image of God.

An important factor in our worship is our image of God.

This is a significant part of the New Paradigm.

Progressive Christians are rejecting the punitive, angry God of the Old Testament in favor of the loving, benevolent God which we believe Jesus showed us.

In order to make this transition we must look at how we interpret the Bible.

If we view the Bible as a series of revelations written down by men years after the event we can see how their image of God evolves from the tribal god Yahweh to the universal God of Christianity.

God gradually loses His primitive violence and becomes less punitive as the Bible progresses.

The loving, forgiving, compassionate God of Jesus is the last Biblical evolution of God.

But it is 2000 years since Jesus walked the earth.

What has changed in that 2000 years?

What progress have we made?

The time has come to discard all notions of violence and anger from our image of God.

No longer will He be seen as an enforcer of rules.

No longer will He be the dispenser of punishments.

God is our loving Father, and He wishes to be close to us.

Betrayed.

Like every generation we have been betrayed.

The idealism and altruism of the 1960s and 1970s was betrayed by the rock bands and superstars who appropriated it.

These stars and celebrities took over the peace and civil rights movement and steered it away from its objective, i.e. to change the world.

They did this by accentuating the negatives of our generation - self-centeredness, pleasure, and escapism.

By selling us drugs and hedonism they ensured that our generation failed.

And when things turned against us in the 1980s they were nowhere to be found.  We had been stabbed in the back.

Unfortunately most people of my generation refuse to believe that their rock legends are evil.

Their true identity is cleverly disguised.
Darkness hides them.

But the fact remains - they have sold their souls to the devil and do the devil's work in the world.

(P.S.  There is no devil in reality but those who believe in him do evil in his name.)

Photo Credit: SiriusXM Radio.

The Right Teaching.

One of the reasons why the world is not saved is because the Churches do not teach the right teaching.

Since Nicea Christianity has been hijacked by the establishment and modified to reinforce their power.

Thus we see absolutes like the Christ, Original Sin, Universal Condemnation, and Eternal Damnation.

These things are tools to subjugate the masses to the power of the establishment.

They have nothing to do with Jesus.

Jesus' teaching of unconditional love and forgiveness from the Father did not suit the needs of the powerful elites.  So it was modifies to become a religion of salvation.  Any challenge to the power of the establishment was removed from their teaching and worldly authority took the place of heavenly authority.

So what is the right teaching?

The true teaching of Jesus is unconditional love and forgiveness from the Father.
And the values of the kingdom of God - equality, justice, peace, compassion, and humility - on earth.

Kali Yuga.

We think that we live in enlightened times.

But according to Hindu scripture we are in the Kali Yuga or Dark Age.

This began in 3102 BCE when Krishna left the earth and returned to his spiritual home.  It lasts 432.000 years.

A daunting prospect.

If we look at our present age we can see evidence of the distance from God which is predicted for this age.

Economic materialism rules the world.
Covert Satanism rules our popular culture.
Religion is in decline.
Belief in God is diminishing.

There is predicted, however, a ten thousand year golden period in which devotees of Krishna live upon the earth.
This is said to have begun after 5000 years of the Kali Yuga had elapsed.
So the golden period began in 1898 CE.

A mixed message?

A mixture of light an darkness?

It is said that the devotees of Krishna will purify their hearts by the practice of bhakti or devotion.

So there is some hope.

We can save ourselves by practicing Love in a dark time.

The Divine Spark.

Every human being has within them a divine spark.

Some call it the soul, some call it atman, some call it Buddha.....

It is pristine, pure, and unsullied.

Around this spark is the human personality.

This is made up of factors resulting from birth, environment, education, and experience.

Every person, seen from this perspective, is the same.

Our personalities are the result of our decisions.

And our decisions are the result of our make-up and experiences.

But each person has within them the divine spark.

This spark, however, is not in the mind, it is in the heart.

Don't Be Fooled.

Some Satanic rock bands will feign a conversion experience in order to gain trust and continued sales.

There are a number of artists who have done this.

Don't be fooled!

Look closely at the titles and lyrics of their songs.
I guarantee you will find left-handed (i.e. evil) words and images.

Their so called conversions are a blind.

They continue on their left-hand path.
Their music is poison.
And their words are sabotage.

Don't be fooled!

The Unexpected.

When we draw close to God we encounter the unexpected.

God does not conform to our ideas of natural justice.

God is like the best friend of everyone who has ever existed.
He is understanding even of the most wicked.

God is the Father of everyone who ever lived.
He punishes no one.

But God cannot be manipulated.
He is unpredictable.

He sees things that we cannot see.

And so we should treat everyone as part of God's family.
Even to the very last one.

The Driver's Seat.

Of course we must be constantly on our guard to ensure that the New Paradigm is not hijacked by those who would sabotage it - rock stars and celebrities who have sold their souls to the devil.

This is what happened to the revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.

Rock stars captured the driver's seat of the movement and steered it away from its idealistic purpose.
Peace and love became pleasure and sex.
Selfishness replaced altruism.
Drugs replaced spiritual experience.

This is the disaster of the hippies.
Sex and drugs and rock and roll replaced world peace and equality.

And it only got worse.

In the 1980s hatred and violence turned on them and the devil worshipers sent them to hell.
Rock music revealed its true origins in Satanism.

But young people refused to believe that their rock legends were evil.
They resurrected them and now they rule alone.

We must make sure that they don't take the driver's seat of Progressive Christianity as they did the idealism of 1960s and 1970s.

It is my job to expose them.

And return the Age of Aquarius to the hands of God.


Photo Credit: frankieleon Flickr via Compfight cc

Power.

Why do the Churches continue to teach the old image of God as the dispenser of rewards and punishments?

The answer is simple - Power!

The conservative establishment (the rich) usurped the authority of God long ago and they use it to subjugate the masses.

They convince themselves that without rewards and punishments sinful humanity will be uncontrollable.

But the real reason is to support their own position and privilege.

Fear of losing their position and privilege drives them to more and more Machiavellian mass control techniques.

But this is now reactionary conservatism.

Humankind has outgrown the old image of God.

It is yet to be seen whether the rich will accept the New Paradigm and embrace equality.

They have nothing to fear.

They will lose nothing but their fear and guilt.

Prevailing Winds.

In the Bible and other works we find the standard wisdom of each particular time and place.

This is why the image of God seems to change and evolve.

Early in the Bible we find the philosophy of success - i.e. God rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior on earth.

This can be seen in the Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
The misfortunes of Israel are ascribed to punishments from God for turning away from Him.

By the time that the Book of Job was written humankind had realized that this simply did not happen.  The Book of Job is an attempt to explain why.

When we come to the time of the New Testament we are presented with an entirely new image of God as a loving Father who wishes the best for His children.

This is interspersed with the old images of punishment which humankind had not entirely shaken off.  Some of these are projected into the afterlife.

The time has come to discard the false image of God as the dispenser of rewards and punishments.

God punishes no one.

He is our loving Father and we are His children.

The Old and the New.

Just as the orthodox religious authorities of the time murdered Jesus, so the orthodox religious authorities of our time oppose the New Paradigm.

It would be a great surprise to them that the very thing they desire - divine revelation - is the very thing that they are opposing.

The old, established authorities always resist any challenge to their orthodox position.  This gives them power.  And they do not share power.

So when the new revelation comes the old authorities resist.

They seem not to be able to see the new insights.
They don't believe that they come from God.

The Pharisees called Jesus Beelzebub (Mark 3:22), the Fundamentalists call Progressives Satan.

They demonize their own God.

So don't be too eager to demonize the new, you might just be demonizing God!

The Big Picture.

When we are in the world we justify ourselves and condemn others.

But when we draw close to God we see the big picture.

God is the Father of all.
And He treats everyone with the same mercy and forgiveness.

God does not punish any of us.
He forgives and sets us free.
Free to love and free to help.

There may be any number of reasons why people act the way they do.
The chief among these being fear.

God does not condemn us for our fears.

"'"Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."'"  Matthew 25:40 (NRSV)

And God's family includes everyone.


[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.]

Violence.

The bane of our world is violence.

Violence comes from fear.

When we get a fright we respond with fight or flight.

So our aggressive actions are triggered by fears.

In the darkness we imagine that violence can win.

But the end does not justify the means.

The end is the means.

Violence begets violence.

Fear begets fear.

So, rather than perpetuating violence on earth, we should address the fear that causes violence.

Beginning and ending with the fear of God.

Fear in the Darkness.

We are born into darkness.

When we are in darkness we are plagued by fears.

Primitive humans were in darkness.
They imagined all manor of evil spirits and gods around them.

Scientific knowledge has dispelled much of this fear.
It has also challenged faith in one God.

As we approach God through prayer, contemplation, and love we begin to see.
And as we begin to see our fear leaves us.

There is nothing to fear from God.
He wishes our benefit and progress.

This comes through Love.

And "perfect love casts out fear."  1 John 4:18 (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.]

Respect.

Love brings with it both desire and respect.

Desire for the loved one and respect for his or her wishes.

All too often desire dominates and we neglect respect.

But if we truly love the beloved we will respect their wishes.

Sometimes our desire for the beloved is so strong that we overlook the fact that the object of our desire is a human being with a will and rights of their own.

This is where respect can save us from violating the rights of the loved one, either physically or emotionally.

We must respect the wishes of the loved one no matter whether they fall in with our desire or not.

Sometimes we must sacrifice our desire in order to respect the wishes of the loved one.

There will hopefully be other opportunities to express our desire with others.

To men who are unable to reciprocate the desire of another man I would say:

Do not reject us violently.

Let us down gently.

Capricorn.

I was somewhat surprised when an astrologer said to me that Jesus is governed by the sign of Pisces but the Church is governed by Capricorn.

This is because the Church and the State are part of the social authority structure - the establishment.

This is how it was before the fall of Christendom.
The Church was an authority.

When we think now of spirituality we no longer think of an institution invested with social authority.  We think of green trees and political ideals.
God is no longer confined to stone buildings.
He roams freely through nature and acts for social justice.

So perhaps now Christianity can return to the sign of Pisces - the sign of the spirit - and follow Jesus - the teacher of love and forgiveness.

Hypocrites.

What is it that makes people say one thing (in church) and do another (during the week).

Quite contrary to the popular belief that these people are wicked or sinful, I believe that the reason is fear.

The fear that what they espouse on Sundays will not work in the world drives them to behave differently in their work environment and even in their family life.

And the fear of ostracism causes them to mouth agreement with Jesus on Sundays.

The fear of hell makes them say one thing and do another.

So, rather than thinking of these people as the enemy, we should have compassion for them, so ruled are they by fear.

Their fear makes them do what everybody else does - at work and in church.

How can we reduce their fear?

By removing the threat of hell to begin with.

And increasing their faith.

That God will deliver us; and God will provide.

Pray for this.

Whited Sepulchers.

Rock stars cover up their music of death by whitewashing their image.

This serves two purposes:
1.  To hide the dark nature of their mission.
2.  To draw people in.

Have you ever noticed the sweet innocent music of one album becomes the dark, suicidal music of the next.

Look more closely.
You will see a pattern.

Lure > Darkness > Cover up.

Many use nudity and sex to lure people into their web of evil.
Then they poison and curse them to death.
In the hope that they will go to hell.

It is  a subtle game of temptation and damnation.

The inverse of orthodox religion.

It is dark.
It is negative.
It is superficial.
It is sabotage.
It is anti-Christian.

But they are whited sepulchers.

Religious Authorities.

Were I to speak with those in authority in the Church I would argue that the absolutes inherent in their versions of Christology are at odds with my experience of God.

God is not angry or judgmental.
He does not condemn or punish us.

These are explanations for what happens to us in life - which is merely the actions of human beings with free will.  It is not the will of God.

Jesus is not some magical savior who died for our sins but a teacher of radical love who died because he threatened the powers of the world.  It was not a act of God.

The angry, judgmental, punishing God of the Old Testament is a projection of our experience of earthly authority figures - fathers, kings - who reward and punish us.  This is not a part of God.

God's nature is wholly good.
He is not subject to the dualities of our world.

We project our human traits onto God.

Hear the good news:
God is Love.
All are forgiven.

Projections.

What we are and what we think are to some extent created by the projections of others.

This is why stereotypes and prejudices should be addressed.
They will tend to create the kind of behavior projected.

"'The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.'"  John 3:8a (NRSV)

Projections from others in the collective unconscious will create thoughts that are in line with those projections.

So we should always be aware of what others think of us.
Albeit without manipulation.

We can counteract negative projections with positive thoughts.
But we must be constantly vigilant.

This is particularly true for gays and lesbians, who are despised and demonized by the religious right and others.

Gays and lesbians should be constantly reminded of their innate goodness and their acceptance in heaven.


[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.]

Suffering.

The cause of suffering is sin.

The cause of sin is fear.

Faith helps us overcome our fear.

But it is Love which leads us to God.

The Golden Rule of Chiron.

The Wounded Healer.

Make sure you don't do to others what others have done to you.

Satan.

When I say that rock music and popular entertainment, including sports, are rife with Satanism and black magic I can hear you say, "But there is no Satan."

Modern secular thinking rightly rejects the idea of a supernatural devil.

But because there is no Satan does not mean that there are no Satanists.

There are people who believe in Satan and sell their souls with the objective of achieving fame and fortune.  Mostly rock stars.  But there are others in the entertainment industries and sports.

What they do is tempt us, lead us astray, and damn us.

Have you noticed that everything is going up in flames?

Their songs have double meanings.
Their music is the music of death.

Death, in theological terms, means separation from God and leads to damnation.

This is their objective.

They deceive us and betray us.

But in the end there is no Satan and no hell, only God's Love.
 

Virtues.

Honesty.

Truthfulness.

Compassion.

Tolerance.

Charity.

Patience.

Love.

These are the virtues we show when our fear is gone.

They lead us to the goodness of God.

Holy Communion.

What we celebrate in the Church today as Holy Communion is based on a real event - the Last Supper - but it is unlikely that it took the form which we use today.

In the ancient world the meal was a symbol of communion with the god.
It was the culmination of the initiation ceremonies of the Mystery Cults.

The cult of Dionysus for example used the meal as a reminder of the death of Dionysus who was eaten by the giants.  Some think that this myth is the basis of the Eucharist.
Dionysus' heart was taken to Olympus where he was given a new body.

That being said, the event which we call the Last Supper was a Passover meal. And as such it was a celebration of the covenant between God and the people of Israel in Egypt.
The blood of the sacrificial lamb was painted above the door of each Israelite's house and the plague of death passed over them, sparing them.

It was the commemoration of this meal which Jesus and the disciples engaged in that night.

As a reminder of the covenant between God and Israel Jesus may have used this meal as a symbol of the new covenant centered in him.

It is unlikely that he would have used the words my body and my blood.
This is much more likely to be an overlay which was added later, after his crucifixion.

But this Passover meal remains a covenant with God and we are right to commemorate it as Holy Communion.

Nude.

Have you noticed how rock stars, models, and sportsmen and women seem to be appearing nude all the time.

This is being done by stars who have sold their souls to the devil, in order to get you in.

It serves two functions:
1.  To get you to buy their product.
2.  To get you into hell.

They hope that you will become obsessed with them and this will generate income for them.

They will then tempt and curse you in the hope that you will go to hell.

It is at once cynical and diabolical.

There is nothing wrong with nudity itself.
It is the way in which it is being used that is sinful.

So be wary of stars who display themselves nude.
They may just be after your soul.

(N.B.  There is no hell in reality only God's Love.)

A Dream.

When we are in darkness we are full of fear.

When we are in darkness we make mistakes.

When we are in darkness we dream.

But when the light comes it dispels the darkness, takes away our fear, and we awaken.

And all our fear is like a dream.

Hidden.

The covert Satanism which was pioneered by the rock stars of the 1960s has spread to movie and T.V. stars, sportsmen and women, and writers and commentators.

It permeates all rock music.

It forms a web of evil which spans our popular culture.

This is hidden by conscious efforts to manipulate their public image.
White covers up their evil activities like whited sepulchers.

They use astrology backwards - pushing the negatives of each generational sign: selfishness for Leo; holier than thou for Virgo; hedonism for Libra; hate, and violence for Scorpio; laziness for Sagittarius; bigotry, prejudice, and judgment for Capricorn; promiscuity, madness, and drugs for Aquarius etc...

This is subconscious sabotage.

The surface of the music may be all sweetness and light but beneath is hatred and violence, madness and evil.

They are waging a war against God.
A war in which music and movies, T.V. and sports are the arenas and propaganda and lies are the weapons.

There may be no Satan in reality but the damage done remains.

It has been said that Satan deceives the whole world.
Modern Satanism in our popular culture deceives everyone.

The Book of Revelation.

Far from representing the imminent end of the world I believe that the Book of Revelation which ends the Bible represents the fall of Rome, the end of the ancient world, and the establishment of Christendom.

It is stated that the seven heads of the beast are seven hills - this is the seven hills of Rome.
The ten horns are Roman emperors.
The three little horns are the triumvirate.
The blasphemy is that Caesar is a god.

The cavalry are the barbarian hoards - the Vandals, the Visigoths etc. - who destroyed Rome.

The Christians are then given thrones - the thrones of Europe - following Constantine: Charlemaine, and the Christian kings of England and Germany....

So there is no need to fear the end - it has already happened.

It was imminent at the time of Jesus.

And it established the Age of Pisces.

We are now leaving the Age of Pisces and entering the Age of Aquarius.

But there is no need to fear war, although there is always conflict between the old and the new.

Pray that we can achieve the transition without violence.

Bad Behavior.

Because God does not punish bad behavior does not mean that He condones it.

He withdraws.

Murder, violence, stealing, lies, adultery, blasphemy, greed, oppression.....
God does not condone these things.

But most of them have causes and these causes are fears.

So God does not judge them.

Non-violence, forgiveness, honesty, respect, charity, generosity,.....
God delights in these things.

But most of all God delights in Love.

Tolerance.

Right -wing Christians seem to think that they have a God given right to stop gay people having sex.

They constantly oppose any expression of sexuality between people of the same sex.  And seek to straighten any gay people they make contact with.

They tell us God does not accept us.
And we will all go to hell.

Far from endorsing these ideas God teaches us tolerance.
We are to love our neighbors, not judge them.

God does not punish us.
So there can be no hell.

But rather than embracing these liberal ideas many right-wing Christians feel obliged to interfere with others.  They bully and threaten them.

It is their fear that drives them.
Beginning and ending with the fear of God.

If only they could learn to love God and not fear Him perhaps they would treat others with more tolerance.

Evil.

Some Philosophers call natural disasters and bad experiences evil.

I, however, would suggest that the only evil in the world is deliberate, conscious evil done by people who have rejected the good (God).

The rest is done in ignorance by humans of their own free will.

Natural disasters are accidents caused by the actions of natural forces in the earth.  These natural forces act autonomously - i.e. without the conscious intervention of God.

As for bad experiences; the chances are that if you treat people badly they will treat you badly in return, and if you treat people well they will treat you well in return.

This is not, however, a Law.
People have free will and act according to their will.

People are free to return ill for your good or good for your ill.

God is not responsible for what happens to you in the world.
Other members of the human family are responsible for their own actions towards you.

Our task is to be grateful or forgive.

Well-Adjusted.

One expression I dislike is well-adjusted.

Adjusted to what?
The cruelty and injustice of the world?

Is that something we should be adjusted to?

I would suggest not.

The expression well-adjusted merely means we are like everyone else - insular, employed, law-abiding, and materialistic.

We don't rock the boat.
We endorse traditional social structures and do not challenge the powers of the world.

Was Jesus well-adjusted?
If he had been he would never have challenged the Pharisees, nor would he have preached a radical philosophy of Love.

Rather than being well-adjusted citizens, we should seek to be self-actualized agents of Love, attuned to God's goodness and mercy, not the values of the world.

The Time.

We think that we live in a time of light.
But our world is full of darkness disguised as light.

Our culture is materialistic and superficial.
Our entertainment is dark and violent.

Rock musicians practice black magic and Satanism.
They white their sepulchers with charity and altruism.
But this is a pose.
In reality they are servants of the darkness.

So unplug your earphones and exit the cinema.
They only want your money.

And their works are the works of darkness.

Re- Enchantment.

At a meeting of the PCNV* one of the speakers said that our faith goes through three stages:

When we are children we live in an enchanted world.

Later, from adolescence, we experience disenchantment.

But there is a third stage - re-enchantment.

This recalls Jesus' saying that to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become again like a little child (Mark 10:15).

We do not return to the ignorant, childish ways of our childhood but we regain the innocence and openness of  childhood with the knowledge and experience we have gained.

This is true enlightenment and it is achieved when we open our hearts and practice unconditional love.

*Progressive Christian Network of Victoria.

No Winner.

Anything that helps us to get along together as a whole is helpful.

God will not adjudicate.

There will be no winner.

So we had better learn how to get along with each other.

Everyone.

God loves everyone.

He condemns no one.

We are all forgiven.

We are enjoined to pray for our enemies as well as our friends.

So we can pray:
for the sick to be healed.
for the troubled to be comforted.
for the blind to see.
for violence to cease.
for the oppressed to be delivered.
for the fearful to be released.
for the darkness to be dispelled.
for apostates to be reconciled.
for the guilty to be forgiven.

Then all will know God and the reality that all are loved.

A Red Rose.

The rose is the flower of love.

Passionate love is a red rose.

Sex is the consummation of love.
And homosexual sex is no different from any other.

So, rather than thinking of gay sex as forbidden or dirty, we should think of gay sex as the consummation of love between two people of the same sex - like David and Jonathan in the Bible.

The rose is the flower of love.

And passionate love is a red rose.

A Confidence Trick.

Satanism is a confidence trick.

Because famous rock stars from the 1960s and 1970s experienced great fame and fortune modern wannabes expect the same thing to happen to them if they sell their souls to the devil.

This gives them confidence.
And that confidence brings success.

They have confidence in Satan - that he can bring them the fame and fortune they crave.

But there is no Satan in reality.
So their house is built on sand.

The success experienced by the rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s was the result of talent and work, not some illusory contract with the devil.

And modern rock bands can experience the same thing.
But it is not the work of the devil.

Entertainers who are popular experience fame and wealth and have devoted fans whether they sell their souls or not.

So Satanism is a confidence trick.

In the end there is only God's Love.

No Punishment.

Perhaps in the end God punishes no one.

Even the most wicked apostates are His children.
And He will not reject them.

This, of course, makes hell impossible.

As many have said, hell is out of character for a loving God.

So our image of God must change.
No longer will we see God as an enforcer of rules.
No longer will God be the dispenser of punishments.

God is our loving Father.
And He will not reject us.

There is Biblical support for this view in Luke 15:
The parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost (Prodigal) Son.

These are the parables of reconciliation, even to the very last one.

Jesus says that our sins are forgiven.

As he says in the parable of the two debtors - he who is forgiven more will love Him more (Luke 7).

The Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The story of Adam and Eve is a myth.
But like so many myths it contains a seed of truth.

This seed is that the problems of humanity are cause by the knowledge of good and evil.

This is the old problem of dualistic thinking.

Life is not in black and white - there are seven colors in the spectrum.
And while some things in life are dual, others are singular, or even multiple.
There is diversity in nature.

The knowledge of good and evil causes us to divide everyone and everything into good and evil.
This is a false dichotomy.
This black and white thinking is the cause of persecutions and wars.

The only evil in the world is deliberate, conscious evil which is chosen by some as an alternative to good, usually because they have been misled about the nature of God.

Other things which we call evil have reasons which ultimately derive to some kind of fear.

The King James Bible translates Deuteronomy 6:4 as, " Hear O Israel:'The Lord our God is one Lord.'"
This means not only that there is only one God but that God is one (i.e. not dual).

So we have been looking at things the wrong way.

One definition of holistic is - emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts.

God is holistic, not dualistic.

There is no Satan, no dark forces.

God is one.

So, instead of dividing everything into good and evil, we should look at life as a whole.

No good man is entirely good and no bad man is entirely bad.
Everyone is a mixture of good and bad qualities.

So, in effect, everyone is the same.
It is a matter of degree.

And perhaps those we call evil are those who most deserve our sympathy.
Because what was done to them caused them to become what they are.

Who are we to judge them.

They should be forgiven as we have been forgiven.

Sleight of Hand.

Satanism in the media is disguised in order to maintain popularity.

Shows promoting rock music covertly sell Satanism to young wannabes who will believe their stories of instant success.

Their songs have double meanings and they are always ready with a lie to tell an unsuspecting public.

The main reason why they have not been exposed is that modern people don't believe in the devil.
So they presume that others don't either.
How can there be Satanists if there is no Satan?

There may not be a supernatural being called Satan, but there certainly are Satanists in the music industry.

And they are not just openly Satanic bands.
Others disguise their true nature by sleight of hand.
They pretend to be good, or even saviors, in order to get people in.
Once they have taken you in they will turn your mind to the dark side and lead you astray with the intention of getting you into hell.

There is no hell in  reality, but the damage they do remains.

So beware!

Heart of Flesh 2.

"I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."  Ezekiel 36:26b (NRSV)

This is far removed from the attitude to flesh expounded by St. Paul.

In his writings St. Paul sets up a conflict between spirit, which is pure and good, and flesh, which is dirty and bad.

This has created a theology which denies the flesh in favor of spirit.

Heaven is the reward for sacrificing pleasure on earth.

This is the attitude of many Christians to gay sex.

Heterosexual sex seems not to matter to them, but gay sex is banned.

We are expected to sacrifice the consummation of our love in order to achieve heaven.

They, of course, don't do this themselves, but it is expected of gay people.

This theory is contradicted by God.

"I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."  Ezekiel 36:26b (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.]

Mary and Martha.

Today we had the story of Mary and Martha.

Martha complains about being left to do all the work while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus while he is teaching.
Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better path.

So what would Jesus have said to Mary?

You can forget about moral judgments and purity codes.
You can even forget about hell.

Do not concern yourself with works done out of fear or obligation.

Open your heart.

Know that all men and women are your brothers and sisters.

Forgive everyone.

And you will be a child of your Father in Heaven.

Categories.

Consciously or unconsciously we divide the people around us into categories.

Firstly there are the real people - people like us who don't have any special needs or problems and think and live like us.

Secondly there are the poor and the needy - second class citizens who make demands on our finances and time.  They may not think and live like us.

Thirdly there are people who are different - people who have special problems or do not think and live like us.

Fourthly there are foreigners - people who are not like us.  We fear and doubt them.

Fifthly there are people who have done something wrong - bad people and criminals of whom we are afraid and of whom we feel superior.

Sixthly there are evil people - these are barely people at all and are not deserving of our attention or compassion.

We rationalize these categories in order to make ourselves good and others bad or inferior.

But God does not see them thus.
To God all people are equal.
Each is a child in their own right.

Jesus constantly challenged our categories.
He broke down the walls we construct around ourselves.

In the end everyone is equal.
All are perpetrators and victims, elitists and underdogs.

Our sins are forgiven.

So rather than dividing people into categories we should see that everyone is the same - a product of birth and experience.

And perhaps those who are the recipients of our greatest disdain are the ones most deserving of our compassion.

Brokenness.

The concept of brokenness means that life is imperfect and nothing works.

It is a little bit like the Buddhist concept that all life is dukha or unsatisfactory.

But rather than this being a spiritual state or some kind of cosmic condition, this is caused by human frailty.

Human beings act in ignorance and fear.
We do the wrong thing.
This is the cause of human suffering.

It is only when we discover Love that things begin to change.

Love is the cause and the purpose of life.

It is Love which mends our broken hearts and heals our broken world.

We Don't Want to Know.

When the light rises it illuminates both good and evil.

So when it becomes apparent that God is love we rejoice.

But when we see that our favorite stars and sportsmen have sold their souls to the devil we don't want to know.

Then when we are told that there is no devil we are glad.

But there are still devil worshipers poisoning our minds through the poplar culture.
We are constantly cursed.

When we realize that God does not punish us, now or ever, we rejoice.

When we realize that God does not punish even those who have sold their souls to the devil we don't want to know.
We need bad people to blame and deride.

So God is universally loving.

We must accept that there is evil around us.

And we must try to forgive.

No One Wins.

If you are waiting for God to intervene and adjudicate between your group and your opponents (with your group winning of course) then you will be waiting a long time.

You've already been waiting a long time haven't you.

This is because God does not take sides.

God fosters a live and let live approach.

This is why there is no solution in the Middle East.
Because each side is trying to win over the other.
Both claiming God is on their side.

The point is not who has the right to the land.
The point is can they live harmoniously side by side.

There is no Last Day.
There is no Judgment.

Once we realize this we can get on with the business of peace.

Making Peace.

Anything that fosters understanding between conflicting groups in our world is helping to create a more harmonious and better place for us to live.

This includes understanding between Christianity and Islam, right and left, gay and straight etc..

Getting to the root of the problem is the key.

And there you will find fear.

Violence and anger are most common where we find the most fear.

Fear makes us use force and coercion.

Often this fear comes from the pulpit.

You will find that the most violent religious people are those whose leaders preach fear from the pulpit.

Terrorists are people who are terrified (usually of God).

So anything that we can do to reduce the level of fear in our society will help to curb violence and hatred.

Faith.
Understanding,
Love.

Theses three reduce fear.

And these come from God.

Heart of Flesh.

On earth there is another way.

This is the way of the heart.
And it works through people.

God says, "I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."  Ezekiel 36:26b (NRSV)

God removes our heart of stone - a heart that is hard and cold, a heart that cannot love.

And what is a heart of flesh?
It is a heart that loves people not things.

In the end it is not things which make us happy but the people in our lives.

"'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are my family, you did it to me.'"  Matthew 25:40 (NRSV)

All people are members of God's family and are worthy of our love.

If you remember this you are heading home.


[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.]

What God Wants.

It Is simple.
What God wants is a warmer, more caring, more loving society; a more equal, more tolerant, more just world.

You can forget about battles against evil, moral end-games, magical salvation, guilt games, and threats of hell.
God is none of these things.

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

"Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another."  Zechariah 7:9,10 (NRSV)

"'Go and learn what this means, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."'"  Matthew 9:13a (NRSV)

As in many of the psalms God is rejecting the ritual of the priests in favor of a change of heart, a modification in the way we live and relate to each other.

The main reason why this doesn't happen is fear.
People are afraid of each other.
They are afraid to open their hearts to others in case they get hurt or look stupid.

All too often the Church has been an agent of fear, effectively stopping the development that God wants.

The time has come to put aside all those things which inspire fear in people and allow the love which is waiting to flow freely between us.


[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.]

Universal Vision.

Whatever is not love in the world is motivated by fear.

It is all too easy to take sides and back us versus them - liberals versus conservatives, Christians versus Muslims, west versus east.....

But there is truth on both sides and whatever is not love is motivated by fear.

There is fear in the darkness.

When the light comes our fears are dispelled.

It is true spiritual experience that lessens our fears.

Faith that God will provide and there will always be enough is true spiritual experience.

So, rather than taking sides and trying to beat the others, we should be looking to our fears and what triggers them.

And we should allay the fears of our opponents.

Then we could have a truly universal vision.

Do It.

It is one thing to speak of unconditional love and forgiveness, it is another to do it.

Were the people in the churches to give unconditional love to those who entered their halls would be full to overflowing.

Instead the churches are full of fear.

Fear is cold, hard, and distant.

Were we able to unravel the doctrines of fear and institute doctrines of love and forgiveness it would still remain for people to actually do it.

If you are surrounded by love you can feel it.

But all too often we feel the cold, hard shoulder of fear.

It is one thing to speak of unconditional love and forgiveness, it is another to do it.

The Holy Heart.

The Holy Heart blossoms like a flower.

The difference between the Holy Heart and the Sacred Heart of Jesus is that the Holy Heart is not surrounded by thorns and pierced by daggers.

And while it may be that love is crucified in this world it is not because of Love that this happens.

Jesus was crucified for challenging the Pharisees and threatening the Romans by his popularity.

This is not because of Love.

Were Jesus able to allay the fears of the Pharisees and Romans the result may have been different.

But claiming the be the Son of God was too much for the Pharisees and King of the Jews was too much for the Romans.

I do not believe that God intended Jesus to be crucified.
I believe that God hoped the good news of unconditional love and forgiveness would spread throughout the world.

Instead He used the catastrophe of the crucifixion to show us that death is not the end.

The Holy Heart blossoms like a flower.

Money.

I have an aunt who grew up during the Depression.

She has spent her whole life working and accumulating wealth.

When asked why she felt she had to continue making more and more money she replied that she never felt that she had enough.

This is fear,
Fear of poverty.

She never had enough to feel secure.

Perhaps this is the motivation for all people who accumulate wealth.
Perhaps they are so afraid of poverty or not having enough that they work harder and harder to make more money.

Certainly this is a pattern in business.
There is never enough profit.

Their fear makes them aggressive, even violent.
Their fear makes them cheat, even criminal.

So how can we reduce their fear?

Faith that God will provide is one answer.
With God there will always be enough.

But how to get this message to hard-nosed businessmen and corporate executives?

Challenging them too aggressively will make them attack.
(As Jesus discovered.)
This triggers their fears.
Fear of losing power and money.

They must be shown that they will not starve if they pay their fair share of taxes.

No one objects to people being rich.
What people object to is people being poor.

So how can the rich be convinced to share their wealth?

We must find ways to reduce their fear.

And pray to God that they will change.

Perfect Love.

As Tolstoy said - all great ideas are simple.

My idea is this:
Fear is the problem.
Love is the answer.

Rather than creating sides by setting up a value judgment on virtue and goodness, which automatically makes someone else wicked or bad, we should look at the causes of bad behavior.

This will be fear.

And because God forgives actions taken out of fear no one is condemned no matter how wicked they may have been.

And because we seek to act in harmony with God we should not judge people for their bad behavior but look for the causes of that behavior.

This will be fear.

What is the antidote to fear?

Love.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."  1 John 4:18 (NRSV)

God is good.

But God does not condemn bad behavior because He knows it is caused by fear.

Neither does He condone it.

Much bad behavior is caused by people reacting to Phariseeism in the Church.

And Phariseeism in the Church is caused by fear.
Fear of God, fear of evil, fear of punishment, fear of hell.

But there is no hell.
Hell is totally out of character for a loving God.

Rather God blesses us and leads us to Love.

Love is the cause and the purpose of life.

He who loves is on the right track.

That track may cause us to challenge injustice in our world.

If we can see the fear which causes injustice we will forgive those who cause it and help them to overcome their fears.

There are only two things in the world - Love and Fear.

But there are not two sides.

No good man is entirely good and no bad man is entirely bad.

Fear affects everyone.

And we should see that this applies to everyone no matter how bad or good they might be.

"....perfect love casts out fear...." 1 John 4:18 (NRSV)

And perfect love comes from God.


[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.]

Others.

When we are young and inexperienced we think that others are like us - more or less good, mostly honest, rational, law-abiding, and humane.

But as we grow older we begin to realize that people can be quite different.
Some people are corrupt, deceitful, irrational, malicious, criminal, even deliberately evil.

People can believe the most astonishing things.
Even reversing what we might think self-evident.

The world contains a full spectrum of views and  attitudes.
Much like a Shakespearean drama.

Unfortunately the negative attitudes tend to dominate the positive attitudes.
This is mainly because their fear is greater.
Fear is their motivation.
It makes them aggressive, domineering, even violent.

Despite the fact that they might be religious they have little faith in the benevolence of God.

So, rather than battling against them, we should pray for them to overcome their fears and have more faith in God.

Our first reaction is to judge them - to label them bad, corrupt, or evil.

But no good man is entirely good and no bad man is entirely bad.

People are  the product of their experiences.
Even genetic factors can affect their make-up.

So we are wrong to judge them.

They are human beings like us.
And, as we need forgiveness, so we should forgive others.

God judges no one.
He forgives to the very last.
All are His children.

So we should not judge either.
And be children of our Father.

Fathers.

The image of God as the dispenser of rewards and punishments comes from our experience of our own earthly fathers.

So the modern prohibition on smacking your children will break the cycle of violence and fear which feeds the image of God a an abusive parent.

We owe much of this to feminism which reversed the roles and opposed the patriarchy.

In the future children will not grow up with the fear of God which past generations have suffered.

It will be interesting to see what effect this has on religion.

Gentle hippy fathers and sensitive new age guys will change the image of fathers for ever.

Our image of God will change with it.

No longer will God be feared and we may be able to love God as we have been taught.

Sodom.

For the sake of those who assert that every word of the Bible is the literal word of God:

"I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your fortunes along with theirs."  Ezekiel 16:56 (NRSV)

"Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered?"  Ezekiel 16:56 (NRSV)

These passages come well after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and indicate that God will restore their fortunes.

You don't hear fundamentalist Christians who are anti-gay quoting these passages of the Bible.

Gay is for them a byword as Sodom was for Israel.

So don't take the literal passages that fundamentalists quote too seriously - they are selective - this passage and the passages about David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel indicate that God's attitude towards homosexuality is not as severe as they suggest.

And these are passages from the Bible.


[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.]

No Enemy.

There is no enemy.

There are no sides.

Evil is a reaction to false doctrines.

False doctrines are made out of fear.

Mistakes made out of fear are forgiven.

God forgives everyone.

There are no sides.

There is no enemy.

Sexual Abuse.

Of all places for sexual abuse to take place why does it happen in the Church?

You would think that the high moral standards of the Church would protect it from such crimes.

But perhaps it is this very thing which is causing the problem.

In the past sex was never mentioned in church.
Such things were left at home.

Consequently any sexual impulses were forced down into a little box which was never opened.

This was very unhealthy and resulted in perversions of the sexual impulse.

This is why we see child sex abuse in the Church and its institutions.

The reason for this comes from the writings of St. Paul and his doctrinal descendants.

Paul set up a conflict between body/sexuality and spirit.
The spirit was pure and good, the body was carnal and corrupt.

Later St. Augustine linked sex to original sin to complete the complex.

Fear of losing contact with God caused Christians to repress their strong natural urges.

This has resulted in the current sex abuse scandals.

And this is not new.
John Chrysostom reported widespread abuse among the bishops of Antioch in the 6th century.

There is a lot of fear surrounding sex in the Church.
Even more now that the abuse scandals have broken.

Fear is not the answer.
Fear is the problem.

The Church will never outgrow sexual abuse until it develops a healthy attitude towards sex.

Sex is a natural part of God's good creation.

That is why I am calling for a new Bar Mitzvah - a coming of age celebration which would normalize sexual development in teenagers - both heterosexual and homosexual.

This would go a long way to reducing the fear surrounding sex in the Church.

And it can not come too soon.

Your Vote.

Have you noticed how the media plays up any threat to the community by feeding fear and panic?

This is done deliberately in order to create alarm in the community.

It is done nationally in relation to crime and internationally in relation to terrorism or nuclear threats.

The reason for this is that they can then present their election candidate (the conservative candidate) as the only one who is strong enough to defeat the threat.

This will be someone with a national policy of law and order and an international policy of military intervention.

This is why the right wing media romanticizes the military.
Quite apart from the fact that they believe that the military is there to protect their wealth like the police.

So be wary of any attempt to overplay the threat of crime or terrorism or nuclear attack.
It is an attempt to control you and win your vote.

The Afterlife.

If we accept that life is a process of learning.
That we progress from darkness to light.

Then perhaps the afterlife; rather than being a place of reward or punishment for what we have done in life, or a place where punishment is paid off; is a place where we continue to learn and progress towards enlightenment.

Mediums who contact the dead would suggest that this is the case.
People that have passed over are with their loved ones who are helping them.

I would suggest that this indicates a continued process of learning.

So, rather than fearing judgment or punishment after death, we should anticipate a continuation of the learning process that we experience in life.

Spiritual Development.

Spirituality does not mean that everything works out perfectly.

New Age Gurus make the mistake of substituting happiness and success for spiritual development.

Spiritual development consists of the opening of the heart and the nurturing of the caring and compassionate feelings which lead to actions on behalf of others.

This does not always mean that things work out for us.
It quite often means trouble and inconvenience.
It may make us feel uncomfortable.
Certainly it will challenge our comfort zone.

For Jesus it led to the cross.

So, rather than judging people by how well their lives are going, we should look to the development of the heart and its attendant compassionate actions.

There may be frustrations, even pain, but opening your heart to others is the key to spiritual development.

This is enlightenment.

Prayer of the Sacred Heart.

Heavenly Father,

Open our eyes to the suffering and injustice in our world.

Open our ears to hear their cries.

Open our hearts to feel compassion and love for those who are suffering.

Help us to love you, our Father, with our whole heart as we have been instructed.

Help us to love each other as Jesus taught us.

Open our hands to help those around us who are in need.

Send us out into the world as agents of Love.

Amen.

Photo Credit: pikist.com

Rejection.

When a family member was causing trouble every time she came to visit I asked my mother why she didn't tell her not to come.

Her answer was that she would take that as a rejection - that she had been rejected by her own mother - and she would not do that to her.

So the visits continued.

God is our divine Father.
He will not reject His children.
Even those who have turned against Him will get another chance.

God punishes no one.
He waits for us to realize.
He delivers us when called upon.

God will not reject anyone.
Even the most hardened criminals are His children and He will not reject them.
If called upon He will help them.

That is why criminals should be reconciled with the community.

But society is slow to forgive.

Unlike God who is the first to forgive.

Answers.

Modernism is the period in which hope was inspired by scientific progress.

Universal education and universal faith in science led to the idea that science had all the answers to the problems of humanity.

This, combined with economics, made us feel that inevitable progress was leading us to a kind of Utopia.

Post-modernism is the period when this went sour.
The feeling that everything was controlled by impersonal laws and an indifferent nature led to alienation and psychological problems associated with meaninglessness.
Depression and psychosis became widespread and lead to escapism through drugs and alcohol.
Life had become so impersonal that it was unbearable.

We have now entered a dark night of materialism.
We worship success, fame, celebrity, and wealth.
Economics rules.
Men and women are expendable units in profit making machines.
Life has been reduced to working and shopping.

But the answer is not to be found in these things.
Happiness will only be found in people.
And then only in Love.

Love is the answer to our human problems.
Not science, not economics, not success or personal achievement.....

How long will it take humanity to learn this truth.
Or will we go off on another tangent?

All roads lead home.
And home is in the human heart.

Violence.

The bane of our world is violence.
From the violence of wild beasts to the torture chambers of the Middle East violence rules.

But what is violence but fear?
The fight or flight adrenalin rush of fear.

Why do superpowers build nuclear missiles that can destroy our whole planet?
Because they are afraid of being attacked by their enemies.
So they deploy a deterrent.

What is war but fear of attack?

Empires are monuments to fear.
Fear of being displaced as the dominant power.
So they oppress foreign powers and threaten them with violence.

The fear that rules our planet shows a lack of faith.
"God has forsaken the earth" they cry!
"We must defend ourselves."

If we truly believed in God we would know that there will always be enough.

God provides.

If we loved God we would lose our fear.
And we would love our enemies.

Gentle Light.

The darkness is not dispelled by violent explosions of light.

There is no battle between light and darkness.

The darkness is penetrated and dispersed by a gentle light.

Violent, spectacular displays can inspire fear.
And fear can inspire violence.

So God is gentle with us that we may not be afraid of the light.

Many passages in the Bible say that prophets and disciples were terrified of God.
This is not helpful.
Fear begets fear.
And fear begets violence, aggression, and force.

It is not God's wish that we be afraid.

It is God's wish that we show respect out of Love.

Patience.

When we begin to see we are impatient that others don't enforce a false position (usually by the book).

This can be a faith scripture which is not according to understanding.

But life is a process of learning.
We make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.

So people will come to see in time.

We must be patient with them.
Even as we are patient with ourselves.

We cannot know everything at once.
But if we pray we will come to see in time.

And then we will understand.

Margaret Thatcher.

The Philosophy of neo-conservatives like Margaret Thatcher which saw the deregulation of business and privatization of public utilities is nothing more than a return to the law of the jungle.

The policy of reducing state controls in favor of individual responsibility is not the flag of freedom it is made out to be.

The law of the markets is sink or swim.

These are not the ways of God.

God's law was instituted to mitigate the law of the jungle.

"'Do to others as you would have them do to you.'"  Matthew 7:12a (NRSV) is a direct challenge to an eye for en eye.

Care for "the orphan", "the widow", and "the stranger" is a direct endorsement of social welfare.

Margaret Thatcher may have mouthed words like generosity and compassion but they were certainly not reflected in her policies.

To pretend that they are following some sort of Christianity is ludicrous.

Under their policy of the trickle down economy the gap between rich and poor has widened dramatically.

So when neo-conservative politicians tell you that deregulation and privatization are policies of  freedom and equality don't believe them.

It is merely a return to dog eat dog.


(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.)

Another Way.

When we are in darkness we believe that we have to be stronger than evil and ignorance.  We believe that superior violence wins out.

When we are in darkness we believe that Satan is real.

When we are in darkness we believe lies.

When we are in darkness we are afraid.
And our fear makes us violent.

But if we can pray in faith to God He will show us another way.
A non-violent way of light and love.

We can pray for our oppressors to see the light.
The light of freedom from fear.
The light of love.

We are born into darkness.
Life is a process of learning.
We make mistakes.
We learn from our experience.

When we draw close to God through love we begin to see another way.

We do not have to beat our opponents.
We can help them (non-violently) to see through love.
We can pray for them.

And they will be opponents no more.

Fooled.

He who deceives the whole world.

Rather than being wowed by some supernatural power, we are merely deceived by Satanists in our popular culture.

Their so called spells act more like propaganda than magic.

We are hooked, led astray, perverted, cursed, and corrupted by our rock stars, movie stars, and sporting heroes.

They distract us from any idealistic endeavor with dark entertainment and violence.

They subtly divert our philosophy to winner takes all and the idols of the world: fame, status, money, power, possessions, privilege, and pleasure.

In the end we have been fooled.

Three Aspects.

The message has three aspects:

1.  The World :  The conservative establishment which usurped Jesus' message of unconditional love and forgiveness and turned it into an absolute payment for our sins (Pharisees).
And the corporate plutocrats who rule the world through brutality, fear, and violence (Romans).

2.  Satanists :  Rock musicians, movie stars, and sporting heroes who have sold their souls to the devil and practice Satanism and black magic disguised in their art (Darkness).

3.  God :  The author and creator of the universe is not some violent, vengeful accountant waiting to punish us.
God is all good, benevolent, understanding, compassionate, and merciful.
Above all God is Love (Light).

Dominus Sanctus.

The characteristics of a nation's language are reflected in its actions.

Since the Latin language has been used for Christianity it has shown the characteristics of Rome.

One of these characteristics is domination which comes from the Latin Dominus which meas Lord.

Had Christianity stayed a Hebrew or Greek concern the characteristics of those languages would have created a quite different Church.

The English God of power and might reflected the attitudes of the British Empire, which conquered and exploited other nations.  This was translated from the Latin.

The German language of Martin Luther was abstract and philosophical. Consequently Protestantism is more intellectual and arid.

So what characteristics does modern English lend to Christianity.

Progressive Christianity is democratic, liberal, and altruistic.  It is concerned with social justice, environmentalism, and unconditional love.

These aspects of Christianity come largely from modern English usage.

Improvement.

God is looking for improvement.

It is not enough to just sit back and stay within our comfort zone.

"'And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?'"  Matthew 5:47 (NRSV)
Do you deserve a blessing?

In many cases people who are outside of the Churches are doing better than those within the Church.

Church people seem to think that greeting you on a Sunday is enough, perhaps 30 minutes if fellowship.
They ignore you during the week.
And they pressure you to be like them and do good works out of fear.
Mostly to do things for them.

It is not good enough.

Jesus exhorted us to love one another.
To be brothers and sisters in Christ.
Not acquaintances in Christ.

If it was good enough people would come.
If they experienced love.

But they experience pressure and disapproval and manipulation.

And they stay away.


(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.)

Bad Friday.

Jesus was the light of the world.

When he was crucified and died the light went out of the world.

As with modern assassinations - Gandhi, J.F.K., Martin Luther King Jnr., Bobby Kennedy, Anwar Sadat - the light is not replaced.
We return to darkness, limited vision, and interpretation.

What is left is the records of what they said when they were alive.
And this is open to interpretation and manipulation.

So instead of calling this Friday Good because of some fanciful ransom paid by Jesus, we should call it Bad Friday because this is the day that the light went out.

And while the resurrection is a reality, it has no implications for the world or creation, other than that we follow Jesus.


Photo Credit: lluisribesmateu1969 Flickr via Compfight cc

Surrounded.

God is surrounded by people who don't understand Him.

As Jesus found with the Pharisees, places of worship are full of people who are ruled by fear.

When we attempt to make contact with God independently we are overpowered by the evil influences that surround us.

When we join a religious community we are surrounded by fear.

So the struggle continues with devils and bullies on one side and fear-driven bigots on the other.

Both are violent.

That is not to say that there are nor good people in the Churches.  There are many who follow the Gospel of Love but they find it difficult to escape the fear that surrounds them.

Why is it like this?

Perhaps Jesus holds the key when he says, "'Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.'"  Matthew 24:28 (NRSV)

Where the Christ is, i.e. the absolute power, those who seek power will gather.          


(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.)

Labels.

It is easy to categorize people as good or bad.
Usually, of course, we are good and they are bad.

We write people off.
We label them bad and abrogate any responsibility to care for them or help them.

But God's way is different.
God does not reject people as bad.
He loves them also and helps them if they call on Him.

There is no class of human being who is lost or damned.
God loves us all.

That is why we are to love our enemies and pray for our abusers.
Because no one is condemned.

So, instead of writing people off as bad, we should be helping those who do not conform to our idea of goodness.
We should give them aid and pray for them.

Who is to say that we know what is good in any case.
Quite often our ideas of moral superiority are misguided.
We are no better than sinners.

Each human being is worthy in his or her own right.

"'There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.'"  Luke 15:7 (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.)

Sons and Daughters.

We do not seek to replace C.E.O.s but merely to change the way they operate.

In keeping with the principle of Love, C.E.O.s can open their hearts to their workers and employees as a father does with his sons and daughters.

If God is our Father then everyone is family.

What a difference this would make.

No longer would there be this conflict between employers and employees.
No longer would trade unions need to force employers to negotiate.
No longer need workers live in fear of losing their jobs.

The purpose of business would change from relentless pursuit of profit to provision of work for the community.

This would change the whole of our society.

I pray for that.

Sexual Orientation.

When Christians talk about social justice their words go as far as gender issues but never include sexual orientation.

They seem to think that gay rights are somehow too risky, too political. and beyond the scope of Christian compassion.

Although many may privately support equality for gay and lesbian people their support seems never to extend to the public arena.

This is noticeable whenever gay issues arise in public.  Christians seem always to take the anti-position and condemn us outright.  You never see Christians supporting gays and lesbians in the media.

The liberal Churches seem to think that accepting gays is enough.  They never seem to extend their hand to active support.

Considering Jesus Church is exhorted to speak for the voiceless in society it is disappointing that they seem unable to speak up for gays and lesbians today.

Apart from the issue of same sex marriage, there are many gay rights issues today that could be supported by liberal Christians.  It is not enough to just sit on your hands and be silent.

I call on all Christians to overcome their fear and actively support sexual orientation as a human rights issue.

White Out.

How can we counteract the Satanic curses and spells that are in our rock music and videos?

Listen to sacred choral music: Gregorian chants, plainchant, Baroque music etc..

Pray.

Worship God.

Sing hymns with positive imagery.

Eliminate all negative input: rock music, horror movies, violent sports etc..

Substitute positive imagery: white, light, angels, love, life, doves, flowers, spring, heaven......

Talk about it.

Spread the word.

Raising the Dead.

When confronted with the knowledge that rock stars sell their souls to the devil and practice black magic and Satanism in their music most people's initial reaction is disbelief.

This is because people no longer believe in the devil as a supernatural being.  And if there is no devil how can there be any devil worshipers?

The fact that their rock stars and sporting heroes do exactly that is beyond belief.

Most of this is done covertly.
Negative messages and curses are hidden in the music, often recorded backwards.  This works on the unconscious level.

Our task is to bring these things to the surface, up into the conscious mind, where they can be confronted and recognized.

Mostly we are talking about Death.
Death is the basis of black magic and Satanism.
It is a spiritual state in which the person is separated from God.
St. Paul says that the power of Death is in the hands of the devil.

Any reference to death, funerals, decay, black, corpses, skulls, graves, tombs etc. are black magic spells designed to kill you spiritually.
This is often associated with sex or erotica.  As if it was sex that separates you from God as Augustine thought.

You will find many references to such things in your rock music and videos.

Any references to the devil, hell, flames, horns, demons, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, are all Satanic spells.

Other symbols they use are spiders, spider webs, insects, worms, apples, temptation, hate, violence, darkness, madness (crazy), drugs, tattoos, and dogs (gods backwards).

They will not always use these symbols openly.
Often they will produce a song or a video using positive symbols.  This is done deliberately to disguise what they are doing.  Often these things will be hooks to lure you into their web of evil and torture and madness.

So when these things are brought up to the surface we can see them for what they are - Satanic curses.

And we can leave rock music behind.


Photo Credit: Peter Hutchins Flickr via Compfight cc

AIDS.

When the facilitator at a recent conference of Progressive Christians asked the group to vote on the issue of gay marriage there was 100% approval.

This was extremely significant.

It seems to me that the development of Progressive Christianity was triggered by the AIDS crisis.

When AIDS struck the gay community in the 1980s the overt reaction of the Churches was to say that God was punishing us for the abominable sin of homosexuality.
They quoted the Bible and threatened us with hell.

But.....

Within the western Churches there was an undercurrent.
And this undercurrent was uncomfortable with the official response of the Churches.

Thus group of Christians were moved to reconsider much of what they had been taught in the light of the treatment of sick homosexuals by the churches.

It stemmed from this basic conflict - how could a loving and compassionate God punish one group of men for something that was not within their control, i.e. their homosexuality.

Once this process was begun it progressed to other issues and has resulted in what is now a call for a New Reformation of Christianity.      

Celebrity Satanists.

It has been said that there are only two things in the world - Love and Fear.

So could it be said that those rock stars, movie stars, and sportsmen and women who have sold their souls to the devil were motivated by fear?

(a)  There is a fear of failure which motivates this kind of cheating.

The idea of a contract with Satan lends certainty to the transaction.
They seem to prefer this to the uncertainty of faith in God.
The uncertainty of the devil's existence they ignore.
They credulously accept reports of what has gone before.

But if they tell you to lie the chances are that they are lying to you in the first place.

(b)  The major fear that motivates them, however, is the fear of God which caused them to turn away in the first place.

Believing the negative theology of the Churches (and internalizing it) they feel that they have been rejected by God and thus go to the opposition - the devil.

The fear of God, which is everywhere in the Churches, kick-starts Satanism and causes some people to prefer the devil.

So fear is intimately involved in the process and effects their decision to sell their souls both directly and indirectly.

Strong.

What is it that makes a person say I will make myself strong (invulnerable).

Once again it is fear.
Fear of being overpowered, fear of being bullied, fear of going under, fear of humiliation.....

During the 1980s it was notable that many men in the gay community practiced bodybuilding.
This was to make themselves strong.
They felt so threatened by AIDS and society's reaction to AIDS that they felt they had to be stronger mentally and physically.

This at first seems a kind of answer to life.
But this leads to power struggles and tests of strength which are counter-productive to our development.

The better response is to open our heart to those around us.

To do this we must overcome our fears.
Fear of strangers, fear of sickness, fear of commitment.....

And in doing this we develop our hearts and increase our capacity to love.
Even to love our enemies.

It is this Love which is the cause and the purpose of life.

The News.

Where does our fear come from?

Mostly it comes from the television news.

Television creates a distance between us and the people we see on the screen, who are strangers.

Objective reporting does not humanize people.

We hear of people being raped and murdered and our reaction is to be sensible about it and steer clear, not to take any risks, and stay safe.

This combines with our instinctive fear of strangers to create the society that we now live in.

Many people in Church will act according to the news rather than the Gospel.
That is why it does not go past the church's door.

Unless, of course, our fear of God is greater than our fear of others.
This is hypocrisy.
Greater fear is not the answer.

It is the absence of fear in the presence of God that will open our hearts to others.

Then we can love God and our neighbor.

The Good Samaritan.

In the story of the Good Samaritan the priest and the Levite pass the bashed and bleeding man on the other side of the road.

What is it that makes them behave in this way?

It is Fear:
Fear of being attacked or robbed.
Fear of being ambushed.
Fear of blood.

It is the despised Samaritan who has the courage, or perhaps the lack of fear, to help the injured man.

We see this in our society today.
People who have been attacked in the street are ignored by passers-by.
And good Samaritans are often attacked.

So instead of making moral judgments about who is charitable and who is not, we should be addressing our fears.

What is it that makes us overcome our fears and act in a loving and charitable manner?

Tears melt the heart.
Compassion for others suffering can help us to overcome our fears.
Then we can feel love for our neighbor.

Who is my neighbor?

If God is our Father then all men and women are our neighbors.

Back to the 50s.

Many people in the Church are nostalgic about the 1950s - the time when the churches were full.

But my recollection of Church in the 1950s is that it was dead.

The Anglican Church used a set service in which they repeated the same words week in and week out.
It seemed to me that people were just reciting the words by rote and not thinking about what they meant at all.

Apart from that the Churches were teaching Fall/Redemption Christology.
And it was made perfectly clear that obedience to God meant obedience to those in positions of worldly authority, namely the rich conservative establishment.

There may have been bums on seats and money in the coffers but, in my experience, no one was practicing Christianity, even as it was presented.

So there is no point going back to the 50s.
It wasn't any good then.

What is required is a New Reformation - a total overhaul of the Churches' teachings.
Church theology should be purged of the negative ideas that have grown up like weeds around the figure of Jesus and they should be replaced by positive ideas like Original Blessing and Unconditional Love.

The First World.

Why is it that we in the First World allow the inequalities and injustices that plague our world?

We work long hours and are on call 24/7.  This occupies a lot of our mental panorama.

We are obsessed with sports and celebrities.
This distracts us from any idealistic endeavor.

We rely on shopping and expensive holidays to compensate for overwork.
This is very good for the economy, and ensures that we have to work hard to pay for it all.

The media is controlled to such an extent that we seldom see what is happening in the Third World.  There is no news of exploitation or land grabs because the media is owned by those who exploit and grab.

All financial information is private.
This ensures that no one finds out who is perpetrating injustices in the world.

We sit back and take our dividends and never ask any questions.
Our questions will not be answered if we do ask them.

The occasional begging letter registers as a minor irritation.

So everything is geared towards the status-quo.

In fact the gap between the world's rich and poor has increased since the free-market economy became our god.

We are just now beginning to see that we have been deceived.
But we were willing participants in this deception.
We deceived ourselves.

We readily accept our First World moral ease.
We are so good.

But this is a veneer which hides what our companies and governments do.

No one wants to question the status-quo.

We blame refugees and immigrants and ignore the poor and the hungry.

Is it any wonder that Third World people resort to violence and war to escape poverty?

We oppress them indirectly through our companies and corporations.

And no one asks any questions.

Up To Date.

I am now up to date.
So I will not be posting every day from now on.
Check this site every 2 or 3 days for new posts.

If you wish to follow the retrospective you can do so daily at:
www.michaeledwineast.blogspot.com.au

Unconditional Love.

It may be said that unconditional love is not an immediately apparent aspect of Aquarius, which is ruled by Uranus and Saturn.

But, apart from the fact that the spiritual knowledge which the water in the jar is said to represent is all about love, there are several astrological aspects which relate to the planet Venus which represents love.

In the myth of Uranus (the sky god) he is married to Gaia (the earth) and is castrated by his son Saturn who conspires with his mother Gaia as revenge for burying her children deep in the underworld.

Gaia is represented by the Zodiac sign of Taurus which is ruled by Venus.

Aphrodite was said to be born, like the foam of the sea, from the severed genitals of Uranus.

Aphrodite (Venus) rules the zodiac sign of Libra.

So both Taurus and Libra - the two signs that are ruled by Venus - feature prominently in the myth of Uranus.

It may be said that Uranus regains his power (his severed genitals) through love (Libra/Venus) and is thus reunited with his wife Gaia (Taurus/Venus).

Traditionally Aquarius is associated with brotherly love or universal love but the unconditional love of Taurus/Libra gives power to Aquarius and harmonizes with the other aspects which relate to love in the symbolism of Aquarius.