New Post, New Titles to Read.

It has been roughly two years since I last blogged here. Since I am taking the fall off from school, I decided to pick up where I left off. My reading material for the rest of the summer, and into the fall, will be three books primarily, plus the bible in various versions and the Septuagint. This first book is "The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died", the second one is "The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and The Epic rise of the West", and the third one is in my wife's van and I can't remember the name of it, but I'll catch that up soon. It is about the year 381AD and what took place in the church. These three choices I got from the History Book Club. I also have a membership to the Science Fiction Book Club. I love these book clubs. You get a dynamite price and selection, and it helps me focus on certain topics that I want to address. I was buying all kinds of books at www.seedsowers.com and considered myself under the tutelage of Gene Edwards. This man has much to say and I dig where he is coming from. Some of his understandings of scripture are different than mine, but that is not an uncommon thing in Christendom. But am moving on to other things...thus these new books. Under Gene Edwards, I discoverd that I don't know church history at all like I thought. There is so much out there that I haven't seen. I have studied some early Christian writings, and thought I knew something, but I was humbled out. Mister Know-It-All me has highly underestimated my self induced education. So, now I read. By the way, Gene Edwards newest book, "Revelotionary Bible Study" is excellent and I highly recommend it...big time. It will change your whole understanding of Paul's letters, and see that his letters aren't stand alone trestices on Christian theology...no no no...when you read Paul's letters in the order in which he wrote them, it is clear that they are narratives of the mission field he bravely forged. Edwards has written several books on early church life. He talks freely about the ignorance involved in the general population, and the illiteracy rate. He talks about how a Christian gathering would include some filthy dirty stinking brothers and sisters, who were completely unfamiliar with the stories of the Old Testament and most of the Gospel themselves. He writes how Galatians was the first written piece of Christian literature that was cannonized. In fact, Galatians was written and circulated before the first Gospel (the one Mark wrote). He talks of how some of what Paul was talking about wasn't always church life, but local laws and edicts. BUT, mostly, in his books, he talks of house churches and the importance of Spirit inspired worship and not dictated worship leaving no room for the Spirit to work. All of this rang true to me. Reading his works have been refreshing and fun. I have grown some, but mostly, I was validated in my own conclusions and reinforced in what I have come to know as the truth. Truly I owe it to my friends and family to record all of these changes in me and my thinking. So, in the next year, look for my new book, probably on the POD lulu.com. Who knows, maybe we'll find a real publisher.

Ron Paul and Conspiracy Theory

I saw something on Youtube last night that made you guess if the next statement was from Bush 43 or Hitler, I didn’t get it write needless to say (meaning that I gave Bush the benefit of the doubt). Anyway, then they had some comparisons to political agendas and the similarities. Youtube is an interesting thing. There is a lot of Youtube that is completely fictional, and in fact, there are individuals and groups that are intentionally trying to create good, passable fiction, just like a writer, movie maker, or artist does. I call them “Tubers”. These tubers are masters of their craft. Some of them are film students who are trying to pull an Orson Wells and create a national hysteria from their work, some are so obvious that it is just bad, or worse than bad, “B” movie want-to-be’s. There are also many good things about Youtube. One of which is the attention that presidential candidate Ron Paul is getting. Yeay Ron Paul! I think if you search him and listen to what he has to say, and already have a sober judgment as to the damage that Bush 43 has done to this country, then you will see that Republican Candidate Ron Paul could actually save this country from itself. Only if we could have a fair election process that wasn’t totally corrupt. Anyway, you tube is also a great source of information that is not tainted by commercial agendas from corporate masters. You literally can’t trust cable and network news to bring you the truth as to what this country's government is doing to the world, and how we are in truth, really the bad guys of the world. We are working to take over the world under the Neo-cons, who in fact only are a front for the New World Order and so forth. Now people look at our country and think that we are sheltered from less civilized country. Hey, we may have better plumbing than most of the world, but our sheltering is really our own naïveté brought on by our endless hours of watching television. Television is our master. We spend hours bowing down to it and worship what ever it tells us as truth. If you believe what you believe politically from what you know from Television, chances are you are deceived. There are news sources that are trying to tell Americans the truth; they are trying to get our attention and break through the barrier. There are organizations trying to reach out to the citizens of this country to let us know that if we don’t act, then we are just as guilty of the war crimes being committed by Gb43 as he is. Truly there is a different dynamic in our current situation that I haven’t seen before. I have a brother who is a historian, and he could most likely recall some time in history that is similar to now, but I can’t. I can’t remember a government who wanted to conquer or have military and political influence over the whole planet. They plan, they say is to have everybody chipped by the time my daughter is my age, and no chip, no nothing: job, money (a paperless society), health care, education, food, water, air, utilities, trade of any kind. Of course there will be reactionary people who will band together and create mini-cultures that will live off the planet with self sufficiency, and so forth. Gosh, this sounds like a science fiction movie. Well, with youtube, that is your gamble; what to, and not to believe. Just because our current media news broadcast agencies have massive agendas, doesn’t mean resources like youtube are any more reliable. I also know that if something like this supposed one world order comes about, it will happen gradually and we will barely know any better. That is how Satan works on our relationship with God: slowly and with patience. But, the devils know that their time is almost up. That is something that the Illuminati don’t know. They think they have time, as they always have, and have no reason to think otherwise. But we have nothing to fear other than the Wrath of God. I remember bringing this up to my mentor type person called my discipler (ICOC) when becoming a Christian in bible study. He looked with a curious look on his face and said, “I guess we’ll just have to study the bible with them too!” I laughed. It was so basic and true. Regardless of what is going on in the world, we will always have our divine responsibilities and obligations, even if it brings us great harm or death. The simplistic nature of God’s will is brilliant, as to the fact that we don’t have to panic as to what may come or go, because we are not of this world! This world is not our home, and all is only temporary. They (insinuating the world) may come and take our homes and possessions, or even separate us from our family, but the truth is that they will never take our hearts and souls. The love we have for God and our families will undoubtedly be challenged again and again, good or bad, but by holding out, we, the Christians, win, as the Father through Christ our Victors! So, whether you hold on to SIMPLEX SENTENTIA COMPLECTUS or not, we still MUST hold on to the reasonable understanding (if the cross makes sense to you) that this world is not our home, and we will always be threatened by it. This is a basic biblical promise of Christ, undeniably! If you hold on to every conspiracy theory there is, the basic truth remains, “This world is not my home and I’m just a passin’ through. My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. The Angels beckon me from Heavens open door and I don’t feel at home in this world anymore!”

Think critically, live simply, and love always...

As I sit here at my key board, as I have more times than I can count, it is 5:45AM. The sun still is threatening to rise and the moon can still be seen. This time of day has its own blissfulness about, in a way that seems as though one is still dreaming, and the world is about to begin again, for the first time again. It is quiet outside, except for the two dogs in the neighbors yard that bark for me to come over. Sometime when the neighbors are gone, I’ll throw cold hot dogs over the fence. They don’t feed those dogs very well, and have almost no contact with them. It saddens me. They are beautiful animals, but are slowly learning to not trust humans. I thought that right was only reserved for us. I suppose that thought is a lot like us humans, totally self centered.

But this time of the day is where I do most of my soul thoughtfulness thinking, and where life seems complicated the most, but the solutions seem easier. The simplicity of a life lived where one works and learns and raises their children to love, and to know that love is the core value in life, not gain of any kind, is the true value and gain. Gain is what makes life complicated. Striving for gain is when the world goes to war. Not just the kind of wars like what is going on in Iraq, those poor souls, but it is the gain that is fought over in our neighborhoods, work places, schools, clubs, and churches. We are searching for gain in property, and seeking gain in stature, in pride, in financial security (ignoring the teachings of Jesus), and in prestige. We want to be financially secure, spiritually secure, and socially secure. And, in searching for those gains, we turn to outer, or peripheral, judgment and measures to build a foundation of the pursuit of this gain; through politics, church, family, money, or status.

By involving ones self in these external dependences we fall into the trap of thinking our problems in life are external in the first place. Truthfully, our reliance on our own ability to fulfill our divine potential is far greater than having a retirement plan, or a great deal of property. Retirement plans can go out of operation at anytime. Money can go as easily as it came, or even more so. Property, when it comes down to it, can be claimed by our federal government at anytime for any untold reason. Status, reputation, and class are always a few days away from each other. If a man looses his fortune, his friends forget him. If a man gains a fortune, he forgets his friends. It is a never ending battle of backwards and forwards. Living simply doesn’t mean thinking simply, or being simple in ones religion or ethics. The relationship that a person has with themselves pertaining to an external divine intervention, which translates internally through the transcendence of conversion must come not simply. This is a lesson that I have learned the hard way. Although I do not contend my conversion, it was done simply. Issues of righteousness were cut and dry, black and white, light and dark. Although the base of Christianity is to be the dichotomy of living in the light and escaping the dark, issues of righteousness can deem to be complicated. Some say simply, I read, I obey, I die, I live. While others might say; read what? Obey what? Die how? Live when? Being holy isn’t just abstaining from sin, but in fact requires acts of righteousness. “Isn’t that the same?” No it is not. According to the teachings of the Great Master, our best obedience is to offer mercy to those who don’t seem to deserve it. That is the second actually, the first, according to the scripture is to love your fellow Christian with all you life, living and in death. This is what the whole scripture is about.

The simplicity is that God wants us to do only two things, Love Him, and Love your neighbor. Both of these are defined by the entire bible. That is where the critical thought comes from. One MUST educate your self as much as possible, and rely on your faith as it is at the time in which it manifest itself. My faith today is totally different than what it was 20, 15, 10, and 5 years ago. 26 years ago, I was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. 26 years ago, I didn’t know what sin was. In fact, I was quite naive for many years after that in many ways. I have always wanted a simple life, craved it in fact, but, I have never allowed that to happen. Then, 18 years ago, I was baptized again, for the first time, again. This time it was a true conversion. But still, even to this day it is hard to relax. For some reason, I carry the weight of the world around my neck, as if to yoke myself into slavery of concern. The beauty that is Earth, and all things created are rarely enjoyed, in my case, because I am deeply concerned for the well being of my fellow man. This complicates my thinking and heart tremendously. I rage at the injustices that transacts in this world. I loath with passion the abuse of religion that transpires day to day; using God as the reason to have your holy war, when in truth, no war is holy. No cause for war is holy, and reasons for death in masse are not holy nor justified. Yet, we have our titles and our ideals, and idols, in which we justify war (as an example). To many, this issue of war is simple, and the reasons are sound, this is what I call simplex sentential complectus.

We want our wars to be simple; to be issues of light and dark, black or white, but they are not. At the end of the last century (starting with the Spanish American War), life and reason became play things to the extremely wealthy, and joining financial bodies began to pull the harp strings of the western world. This is what has lead us to so many of our conflicts, including WWII. These issues are so complex, and have so many avenues of venture, that it is almost impossible to get the “BIG” picture. But the example of WWII is a good one. The case was that Hitler wanted to rule the world, and we had to stop him. That is a very simplistic outlook on that particular war, but yet, when asked, so many people will generate that particular opinion. The truth of the matter is that it was in every participants best financial interest to go to war. There is far too much detail to try to explain this any further, but the point is, it is not so simple as to putting a stop to Hitler.

Today there are many of the same types of thought processes. I have met people who take our current president at face value. 5 minutes of internet research can tell you that this is ignorance and a desire to live and think simplistically at its finest. Oh how easy life would be if all of our politicians were so righteous as George Walker Bush. How cut and dry life would be. It is easy to pick a side in life when issues are simple, black and white, light and dark as it were. The problem is that type of thinking leads to a malignant apathy towards all people Iraqi. Should we continue our war in Iraq? Yes! Those people need us and democracy to lead them into a better life! Right? Oh, if only things were that simple. The US Military has killed over 700,000 Iraqi soldiers and citizens since 2003. That isn’t mercy, that’s annihilation; murder in masse. We are commanded to obey the demands of Christ, which is to LOVE our enemies. Regardless of the outcome, we should have been giving the Iraqis all that it needs in order to live life in a Christian way. “What about Suddam?” Again, the issue is not so simplistic. However, true change comes by conversion, and if you want to change the world, then convert it. That extremely complicated task, is really the simple answer to the problem. The Christian life is simple, and yet complicated. The concepts of pleasing God are simple, but getting to that position can be a complicated path.

No longer should we try to be simple in our thinking…trying to live life in embracing simple thoughtfulness. It is not until we can use all of our brains, and think critically, can life and its decisions become quite simple. And that will always lead you to love. So, in the interim, “Think Critically, live simply, and love always…”

A few things on my mind...

Working on my self imposed assignments and projects this summer (I think that if I had known my wife would’ve had the summer off, then I would have taken summer classes) I find that I am drained and dry. I still wish to finish J&M16 before September classes start, but my mind is dry. My spirit is a little drained. I burned hard and fast thus far this summer, and now I am almost ash. One reason is that I haven’t been reading much. I’ve been Youtube-ing Flight 93, 9/11 exposed, and stuff like that. It is amazing what you can find. Did you know that the Bush oil dynasty supplied oil for the Nazi’s during WW2, and were almost brought up on War Crimes, but the issue got mysteriously put aside, to never be brought up again. Did you also know that on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, a flight 93 out of Boston landed in Cleveland, and there was no wreckage at the wreckage sight in PA? Al of this is documented accurately, but given no public attention by the cable or network news channels, just local news. There is so much to be found when exploring YouTube . It is truly amazing how easily we are manipulated by what we see on TV. I mean, if you think that what I just said is a bunch of lies, then you are easily manipulated, but if you believe otherwise, then you are probably a little easily fooled also. But we tend to believe majority thought. I think that it is just a natural to believe majority thought as water is to find the least path of resistance. I call it simplex sentential complectus; meaning Embracing simple thought, or a simple way of thinking. I think that not wanting a complicated world can be desirable. I think especially here in this country when we are being fed fast McFood and Everybody Loves Raymond reruns, with a hundred channels on cable or satellite, politicians who talk about simple front issues of war and environment, education and immigration, meanwhile all the free illuminati style world banks, including the Federal Reserve have their own agendas as to what we should be doing in this country. Putting Band-Aids on simple political issues, like combat withdraw should be deferred to the true issue of the need to revamp our entire foreign policies and public opinions on how we treat others internationally. The illuminati’s want us to talk about emigration, and have GWB be forgiving in policy, so as to one day, merge North America to one big country. Instead of watching CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, we should be boycotting them until they start neglecting their corporate mandating and manipulations of the press, and have an honest press that is really doing investigations and reporting. Hurrah for the free press, of which there is very little in this country. Did you know that over 700,000 Iraqi’s have died as a result from the war since 2003? And only less than 5,000 Americans. Not to belittle any bodies death, but don’t we do that? Don’t we belittle the value of Iraqi life. Aren’t most of this nation truly bigots when we want to support the war, which is illegal according the Nuremburg trials and UN policy. We as a nation are committing war crimes everyday in Iraq, and there are thousands of Iraq war veterans who are willing to testify in congress right now, even to international courts if necessary. Why don’t we mourn the loss of ¾ of a million people who all have dreams, hopes, desires, to be wed, parents, grand parents, homes, cable tv, electricity, running water and plumbing, a roof over their head, the feeling of safety that only comes with peace. What our current administration is doing should be tied in an international court. Our new Democratic Congress was the great hope to put an end to all this madness, and they have failed miserably. Someone must stop the insanity. As Christians, we must pray fervently that there is peace. We must not support the war in any fashion; even if that means depleting funds to the soldiers. That is how the Vietnam conflict eventually came to an end; Congress just stopped paying for the war. The biggest way to change things is to rally, to form organized, non violent protesting.

Anyway, I started reading a book about Zionist called, “Zionism in the age of Dictators”, by Lenni Brenner. IT is an extremely dry read; but basically he blames the holocaust on the Zionist, much like many of us Blame the terrorist attack on this country in 2001 on the Neo-Cons and NWO supporters. The book says that the pro-Semite organization in fact had been feeding anti-Semitism in Europe and America for a century before the Holocaust, just so they could get a separate Jewish state in Palestine. In fact, he has evidence that there are certain Zionist parties that collaborated with the Nazi’s and local Fascist political organizations, in order to incur the holocaust, showing that there is almost no price that will not be paid in order to gain power. Well, I don’t think that that is too far out as to what happened in 9/11. Before you start attacking me for having this position, you better first do your homework.

One thing is also for sure, as Christians, we are not to get too wrapped up in the affairs of the world. I think that we have an obligation to vote, but not necessarily should ally ourselves with a political party. IT is a tough call as to what that balance is, but we must find it. I find that if I get too wrapped up in these matters, I lose my zeal for personal righteousness, and want to get totally socially progressive, and political. But I am commanded that if it is up to me, live in peace with everybody, and that starts here at home. Even in church there are opportunities to find divisions due to political alliances, and that to me is sad. Perhaps if political affiliations causes divisions, then it should be denied all together. In fact, I don’t see why we shouldn’t all be politically aligned, other than sin and simplex sententia complectus.

But I digress, watching you tube is different than reading. It is faster, and brings more information quicker. As to where a semi-adequate writer will tell what he has to say, several times over, and over, before moving on is quite boring to me. I know personally that they are taught in College to write to a certain format. Intro, body, conclusion. So, you say what you are going to say, you say what you want to say, then say what you just said, and thus you have a book. Each chapter of the book has the same set up. It is dreadfully boring, but that is the nature of Non-fiction. In truth, I have more books to read than ever. But, if I read fiction for fun, during the day, I feel guilty for wasting time. If a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat, and idle time is opportunity to sin; so, I watch what I read and when. I know that the spirit of those scriptures apply even to a guy like me, who only has two or three really good hours a day to do stuff. I am blogging today, and I’ve been writing for this blog and the other one since ten, it is now almost two, and I am wiped out. I will need to rest before Vacation Bible School tonight. I tell you, I know that it is completely traditional and mocking the world to do it, but it is an evangelism home run. There are people in this town who do almost every church’s VBS all summer, so they can keep their kids occupied. We thought about sending Emily to some of the other VBS’s, but due to the veracity of our faith we decided not to. But the membership of our church is around two hundred, and we’ll get almost that many kids alone during this process. All their adult parents show up to drop off and pick up, and usually need very little encouragement to stay on for the day, even to volunteer for setting up snacks and stuff like that; plenty of time to have conversations about church and faith and all kinds of stuff. IT is an evangelism bonanza! I know, I know, at first I was like, “Everybody else does this, and we look like just another denomination…”, but then, over the past four years, I’ve seen some great things happen out of VBS, and think that it is very cool! I remember VBS as a kid, and those memories are fond ones, and inevitably lead me to where I am today, so I say, do VBS!

So, I am going to put down the book on the history of Zionist in the 19^th and 20^th century, and their disastrous plot to gain their own land of Government in Palestine, because I have enough things in today’s world to worry about. Moreover, my Master says that we should not worry about tomorrow, because each day has its own worries, and we need only know that God is going to take care of us if we continue to seek Him out; ‘nuff said.

I just got tagged by Salguod. He is probably my best e-friend, and one of my closest most trusted friends in life. I trust him more than…say…95% of all Christians I know. His judgement and reasoning skills are superior to mine, and his level head has often kept me from going into parallel universes (figuratively speaking).

Okay, so the challenge is to list 8 things that you, a reader, probably don’t know about me. That’s tough because I’m pretty straight forward, but let’s try…


1.) Well, my freshman year in high school, I was promised a 4 year, full scholarship (in word only) to Arizona State University for band. I had become, as a freshman, one of the top tubists in my region, and I was told nationally, but I think that was just to boost me up. Well, to one of my biggest regrets in my life, I quit band shortly there after. I just wasn’t equipped to be doted on like that, and the pressure got to me…
2.) Also, at that same time, one of my classmates was sneaking blackberry brandy out of his folks house, and coming over in the late afternoons, and we’d walk the back allies of our neighborhood getting mildly drunk. The combination of the two is what really got to me
3.) My senior year in high school, I was turned down by the Denver Institute of Art for admittance. My Portfolio was accepted, but my grades were too low
4.) Also, by this time, I was drinking vodka in big gulps in school, and frequently taking LSD in class. Sadly, it got worse before it got better.
5.) In ’95 or ’96 I met a contact for Disney studios animation dept, and had an opportunity to showcase my portfolio for work. This would have involved moving to Orange County Calif., but at the time we were living in San Diego County (just one county over), but (here is the hard to understand thing unless you were there) I was advised that if I moved up there, I would not be supported by the ministry to “transfer” membership because I wasn’t “spiritual” enough (saying it sounds a bit cultish, I know, and it felt like it too, but if you were in that environment, it made sense). Anyway, that really broke the barrier in my pride, and led me to humbling out enough to get right with my girlfriend at the time, and later that year we got engaged; so it all worked out.
6.) Shortly after my wife gave birth, she fell asleep (in the delivery room) and the nurses were giving us a minute alone. Out of the window you could oversee the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay. It was morning so the sun was reflecting silver off of the water. I held my child up in the air towards the sight, and prayed to God, devoting my child to Him, and pledging her raising to His desire and Will.
7.) It has been a secret desire to move to London someday, and live there at least ten years—the thing is though, I’ve never been to London.
8.) Lastly, if every project I have ever started were finished right now, I’d have five or six novels, three or four graphic novels, four TV pilots, four TV reality show proposals, seven or eight comic book scripts, and three or four more books of poetry, all finished. I loose enthusiasm, then gain it back again later, only to loose it again later, and back and forth endlessly.

That’s it. I don’t know if you all know any of those things or not, but to the best of my ability those are the ones I listed. There were five or six more, but they couldn’t be listed without harming others, so, ‘ter ‘tis.

I don’t really know who else to tag, that Salguod didn’t, so I’ll have to get back to you on that…

This week...

It is Monday morning and I am facing a week of relatively unknown events. I know what it is that I want to do, but I face what I want to do right now—I am overwhelmingly in love with God, so my options, due to that irreversible force of both devine and fleshly will and desire, is simply to spend time with God. I do this several ways. The first is to read the bible. But that is a dilemma for me. You see, what God has to say is in many ways demanding. His will for our lives is to obey Him, love Him, and never forsake Him. There are times when I fear what He will ask of me. I know the price—and sometimes I think that I am far too in love with my life, than to give it over. This is a basic struggle of wills and won’t. The price of freedom has always come at a high cost. I think of all the lives that have been lost for political and religious freedoms, and it is a death toll immeasurable. But my fight today is the fight of spiritual freedom. I want to be lethargic, to give in to my flesh, and cheat God out of the opportunities that could be provided today through me. Today, not only can I have a morning devotional, I can also invite someone to church, share my faith with anybody, influence my daughter for the better, and more so, be ready to surrender my life to the point of death. The goal is to resist sin, even if it means costing my life to do so, hence Christ Jesus. Someday’s, like today, I’m just not feelin’ it. BUT, then I remember that late night in November, it was one in the morning, and I confessed, not only that Jesus is the Son of God, and died on the cross for me, and moreover, I confessed that Jesus is the Lord of my life. That late night/early morning, I pledged myself to God, and the ultimate ruler of my life. I pledged myself to surrender my will to Christ, and not just because it was the right thing to do; not just because I wanted my sins forgiven (an overwhelming sensation at the time), but because I fell in love with God through out the previous three or four months, and I fell hard. I had just sacrificed every friend I had, and was literally starting my life all over again. I committed to making the Christians my friends, and my discipler my mentor. I was ready to learn, grow, and make God proud. I was fired up! I was eager and prayerful! I was happy—happy to love unconditionally and not be hurt. I was healing. I had fallen in love with two different women, both amazing, both rejecting me. My best bud and I were heading in two different directions, and frankly, had spent so much time together, we couldn’t stand each other. Then there I was, standing in a lighted pool, of which I had to jump the gate just to get in. The man who had befriended me, and taken me through the bible passages need in order to learn what God wanted from me, and he, a foot shorter than me, after my confession, baptized me. After which, all the brothers went to bed—“congratulations brother, I’m going to bed now”—although discouraging at the time, within two weeks later I understood why they wanted to go to bed and not go to Denny’s and get coffee and celebrate, which I did on my own. The life of a college student, and Christian, is chaotic and exhausting. But, I loved every minute of it. Not college, but being a Christian on the campus of ASU. Although I was completely blinded to the truth, that time of my life was desperately needed in order to gain the discipline that I was so desperately needed. Now, almost twenty years later, I am a college student again (summer break), and still a Christian, living more to the truth than ever before. And that takes me back to this morning. It is that discipline that I need now in order to get off my duff at this computer, and go have my quiet time with God.

Saturday!

Today is going to be quite a Saturday. I have been spending much time this week watching Free Speech TV, BBC, and other truthful, non commercial news sources that show the horrors of what is going on in IRAQ. Did you know that the Iraqi death toll is now over 700,000 people? That’s genocide. Well, there is much more to be said, but I’m saving all of that for my Next book, which has now become the complete focus for my summer projects. I know, I said I had all of those other projects to do, and I still do, but this has to come first. It has become quite obvious that the social justice that only Christianity can bring about must be exposed for the truth that it is. Jesus wasn’t just the savior of the world, but also a bringer of great social change. The early Christians had a phrase called PAX ROMANA (it wasn’t theirs exclusively). This literally means Roman Peace. There was a period in history, from about 27BC to 180AD in which there was minimal expansion of the Roman Empire, and relative peace in the area. The Christians believed that this was due to the Birth of Christ, and the prayers of the saints. That is roughly 200 years of peace. There is much more to be said in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Romana about it, although, after reading it, I think that it is a little skewed. I’m sure that Caesar Augustus would say that he started a political trend that brought the peace. It is always a matter of perspective. I happen to believe in the whole Pax Romana thing myself. I think that the most powerful force on this earth is the will of Christ, who, in the Glory of God has the ultimate authority in all things. IF we, as Christians set ourselves against the dark forces of this world, we would surely make an impact. I do think that the fear of persecution is so strong that there are few who are willing to make radical changes. This must change. This must pass before us and never come back again. I think, speaking from my own corruptible heart that we are too much in love with this world. Our love for our lives, and the lives of those of us we love, is so strong, that we are not willing to sacrifice them for the sake of the Cross of Christ. We are not raising our children to understand that they may very well be in a world that will kill them for their faith. As this Autocracy that we live in continues to grow, and the police state that we live in now becomes more and more evident to the public, the stronger stance we as Christians will have to take against it. We cannot let our freedom of expression to preach God’s truth, to live God’s will, and to share God’s faith with others, to be taken away. I read an article, that there is a bill in congress that either is coming up, or currently being debated, that says preaching from the pulpit that homosexuality is sin, will be considered a hate crime, and thus against the law. Regardless of how you feel about homosexuality, preaching that sodomy is sin is a matter of faith. I understand the stand point. If Christians get to say that sodomy is sin, the KKK will be able to say the bible indorses slavery, because Paul taught how to be a better slave--But our ability to express our relgion, based on the bible, in this country should not be taken away, especially since our Christian solution to the issue is to pray and love all people, no matter what sin they have in their lives--Although this is a total leap for biblical purest, it still could be made a case. So, it seems, that someday, one of my books, or essays, or articles, may put me in jail. So be it; but am I raising the my daughter to understand these things? I hope so. She does understand what happened to other Christians in other parts of the world in other times throughout history. Right now I am not forcing it upon her that she will grow up and be killed for her faith, but this is not far from where we are at now. You say that isn’t the case? Well, not more than 60 years from now, several types of Christians were being stuffed in ovens, along with others of ancestral faiths for not denouncing their God. In fact, JW’s were the forerunners for persecution in Germany, and this country at the same time. JW’s were being lynched, castrated, and physically abused by people in this country, just for their faith and their lack of willingness to go to war. IN THIS COUNTRY! Don’t think that as fascism grows our rights as Christians will not disappear. Oh, don’t be deceived. There are Church of Christ preachers that think that George Bush is an honest man. It is this kind of simplistic, inexcusable naiveté that will bring about our heaviest persecution. The lack of spiritual discernment of some, will indeed bring about persecution for those who maintain their divine obligations. It is simply whether or not we conform. I ask myself, what have I already conformed to that I don’t have the right perspective about that is leading me down a wrong path. Several months ago, I had started asking my spirits Father to show me “Truth”, and not perception, in not so many words. I started asking that HE open my eyes to what is really going on this world, and what it is that I need to be praying for (paraphrasing, I do not remember the exact words it was that I prayed on that day I started). I have become overwhelmed by what I have been shown. It has all come so quick and straight up, that sometimes I need to dumb down and watch Disney channel with my daughter so as to give my mind and heart a break. I can’t imagine what is going to happen when all those orphans in Iraq, who had to watch their parent being blown to bits in front of their faces, are going to do when they grow up. They will be haters of this country. They will experience, and are now experiencing, vast amounts of PTSD, ADHD, Depression, and out right psychotic rage. I feel heart broken for all those people.

Don’t get me wrong, yes, I feel heart broken for all the children who have lost parents in this country too. In fact, I feel the same for all children around the world. I think that we forget to love the people of the world, especially when we are at “war” with them, regardless of the wars legality.

I digress: I am spending this day fully focused on my new book. I am just editing and revising J&M16. There is stuff in there that I want to get rid of, and there is stuff in there that needs some tweaking. Since I started asking God for truth, my focus has changed. I realize that Christians can make significant changes in this world. Not just in prayer, our most powerful weapon, but also in passive non-resistance to the workings of this world. Our only resistance to the evils of this world is merely to draw closer to Christ. For so many years, I have worked hard inside my heart and mind to say that there is a gap between the “world” and the “kingdom of God” (aka the church), but now I see that we as Christians must be in the world, but not of the world. This earth must be a foreign land to us. This world must be a place that we don’t fit in, in order to gain our greatest hope of joining God eternal. We must learn not to love this world. We must learn not to love this life more than we love Christ (John 17!)