tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32196611360032020742024-03-13T03:39:31.535-07:00Solomon's BlogSolomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-84390044711565717812012-02-29T21:43:00.006-08:002012-02-29T22:30:20.779-08:00Something for Nothing and HOP Versus the Avantgarde.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5kirQUHVii0/T08NFTimdDI/AAAAAAAABOI/YjddX2kIqIM/s1600/1114101305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5kirQUHVii0/T08NFTimdDI/AAAAAAAABOI/YjddX2kIqIM/s400/1114101305.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And have you helped to enable a homeless person today? <br />
Why or why not? </span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>HOP's greatest challenge</b>, since coming into existence, officially 19 months ago, has been that of changing the minds of a stubborn and entrenched group of individuals and organizations, that refuse to adapt to a self-help partnering-paradigm, with the outdoor-citizen's community. The former should have been in place long before I returned to California, from the nation's capitol just 3 year ago. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Is it any wonder then, that there are an estimated 7 to 14,000 outdoor-citizens in the region, an ever expanding number? Several members of the outdoor citizen's community and their enablers, view HOP, an outdoor citizen's organization, in the manner that their benefactors do, as a threat or misinformed! Some have been known to say the following, <u>"HOP, doesn't give you anything",</u> in other words freebies for doing nothing to help oneself. And they are right, we don't and we won't. Doesn't that sound strange coming from an outdoor citizen's organization and think tank? </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Don't just send money to HOP, and mind you we will use your donation to help turn lives around if we receive it, but turn on your headlights and begin to hold the organizations accountable, that you have been providing your benefactor dollars to. For all of the donors out there who give dollars to churches .<span style="background-color: #f1c232;">.. HOP, an outdoor citizen's organization, has not received one dime from any of them; and ironically, we are the ones who are trying, peer-to-peer, to get our people motivated and in the recovery lane!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Even some of my fellow clerics, unwisely and unabashedly, encourage their members to give money to individuals on the streets, sadly, individuals that refuse to do anything for themselves, as opposed to assisting organizations that help to jumpstart the lives of individuals who want, can and are willing to help themselves! That poverty pays, in this region of the nation, is a known fact. The problem is that the wrong individuals benefit the most, as opposed to the end user that is truly in need of more than financial aid. I really don't believe that some of our churches ... ever consider the possibility of solving the problem, instead of underwriting it. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are organizations in this region, like many other regions of the country, that solicit, receive and retain 84 to 97% of donated funds. When I volunteered to help raise funds for the United Way of Santa Clara County, years ago, we used this information to help motivate would be donors to give instead to the United Way instead. Is what you are saying true, you might ak? Jesus, recognized that crowds, about the size of the outdoor-citizen's demographic in our region followed him, only for signs, miracle and to acquire food. Wake up Santa Clara County, and let's solve this problem, not perpetuate it. After all, we are Californians, the smartest people in the world, correct?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Use your gifts, to help turn lives around, not to underwrite dependency, even if you don't share your gift with HOP. Have you ever witnessed parents who enable and spoil their children? That is the kind of behavior that I have observed in the Valley, for several years now. And BTW, local police departments (just doing your job I know), chasing people from one camp to the other is not a solution either. HOP, is looking for more problem-solvers to participate and join with us to help solve this problem. We can work together to solve this problem. What will it hurt to try doing something in a different manner? One thing for sure, we can't keep doing what we've been doing for much longer, can we?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Please join us, and join in on our weekly Public Policy Think Tank Meetings, which take place each Friday at 10:00am. Come on down, and bring your ideas with you!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ysubJftMOHU/T08J6ZhHtpI/AAAAAAAABN4/R37pQRjoIHg/s1600/New+Camera+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ysubJftMOHU/T08J6ZhHtpI/AAAAAAAABN4/R37pQRjoIHg/s1600/New+Camera+001.jpg" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Peace & Grace</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Solomon</div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-62242130883130451842011-08-24T18:17:00.002-07:002012-02-29T21:55:36.099-08:00Religious-Fundatmentalist Politics and Hegemony, America's and the World's Problem<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zwB0RFROvLQ/T08O7bf3cdI/AAAAAAAABOQ/sKZyU37sMzM/s1600/New+Camera+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zwB0RFROvLQ/T08O7bf3cdI/AAAAAAAABOQ/sKZyU37sMzM/s640/New+Camera+004.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b>Subject: </b></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"> Taking Charge of American Political, Military and Economic Might - The American Political and Evangelical Right!</span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Evangelicalism on the Right, is as much political as it is religious. To wit, t</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">here is a phrase that you will never hear a fundamentalist utter, be they religious, political or a combination of the two, and it is: "I BELIEVE that I am right". </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Instead, you will often hear them say, with regard to most any topic, that 'I Am, or We are Right". It is a canard, the very use of the term Right in whatever context it is used, politically or religiously because it relates to an often used term, righteousness. And righteousness my friends, relates to God. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And that is when you should know that something is wrong on the Right, no matter how sincere they are or appear to be. We call that categorical determinism, and it is a clear sign, that you are speaking with a group of individuals, or dealing with an individual that will never be convinced by facts. Why? Because he or she is self-righteousness, and whatever comes out of their mouths, as far as they are concerned is righteous, if not a part of the divine. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Therefore, one has to wonder whether or not there is a difference then between a religious fanatic and a political one, I don't believe that there is a difference. A fanatic is a fanatic, no matter how you slice it. Moderate and other non-fanatical Republicans, are referred to by their counterparts as RINOs, a Republican in name only. </span><br />
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</span></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">Stridency, an <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="background-color: black;">unwillingness</span></span></span></span></span> by individuals on the religious and political Right to </span></i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">compromise in government, their communities, at church or anywhere else in the world, has led to America's current social and political divide, as well as the political stalemate that persists in all 3 branches of America's federal government. and beyond</span></span></i></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Their behind-the-scenes control of politicians in Washington and beyond, has impacted the manner in which America is perceived in the rest of the world and ignited resentment within the rest of the American electorate.. I predict that the majority of </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span">America's current problems will disappear, foreign and domestic, when the Religious Right and its sympathizers are put back into 'the right place'. Together, with the devil, they are responsible for the gridlock in Washington, America and other regions of the world.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is an American form of fanaticism, fascism and western determinism. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">How do I know? A long time ago, I learned by experience, to beware of individuals who believed that whatever they believed, read or came forward from their minds, or lips was and is the only 'right', in deference to all evidence to the contrary, or their of scholarship!</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Both, our antagonists and protagonists on the right, have abandoned the righteousness of the God that they claim to believe in, and instead they have been and are pursuing political means, tactics and measures in order to establish their own form of righteous aims. In other words, they are going about to establish their own <u>Righteousness</u> and their vehicle of choice is the political process, not God or prayer!. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Why? God clearly is, and has failed them, and they have taken matters into their own hands. Therefore, and in order to regain control of America, the American narrative; America's economic and military might, and their self-conceived rightful place atop the world order, they have taken matters into their own hands. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Also, by engaging in a political, economic and military strategy or strangulation might be a better term, they plan to accomplish their real objective, that is to secure their shaky, by the day, place atop the world order. And as a result, their followers are taught to march, you know left, left, left right left - get it? R</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">epublicans on God's right, and the Liberal goats on God's left, get it! </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Both their frustrations and fear and fears are being driven by the fact that they, like most empires before, are </i></span></span></span></span></span><i>loosing control of their grip on power to rule the world, if not their real American idol, America itself. Truthfully, t</i><i>hey cannot conceive of any other power on earth (or race of people on earth) doing to America, or more appropriately the United States, what the United States has been actively doing to other nations of the world for the past 75 years - dominating them. </i></span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">How did they do it? With economic strangulation, the threat of nuclear annihilation, the venal use of the United Nations ... , militarism ... control of the world-wide macroeconomic system ...aid .... trade ... credits ... destablizing nations and other regimes, shall I go on?</span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>And sadly the deployment of such a vile and pecuniary strategy and tactic, has been done with the full backing and consent of the majority of America's Christian, mostly conservative, citizenry - the worshipers of the American beast and idol. S</i><i>omehow, they have convinced themselves that God has a similar aim in mind,and is with them and their faustian, diabolical plan to preserve sinful America in its lofty place atop the current world order. </i></span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">In other words God is saying, America, I give you power over all of the power of the enemy, non-Americans, and the rest of the world, and nothing, no person or any other nation shall by any means harm, tread or encroach upon you -therefore, do what you will to every other nation and people of the world, even Americans. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Both the leadership, and sycophants in the Relight Right, have been operating under false pretenses, by covering themselves and their venal, and e-reprehensible deeds with the veil of Christianity, the church, pulpit, rightist duplicity and propaganda, in order to pursue their unilaterally synergistic political objective of world domination.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"> The sons and daughters of mostly former white racists, intend to preserve America and its place atop the world order in order to perpetuate, expand and prolong a white separatist cultural ethos and agenda in America and the rest of the world. </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Man, I can hear them now, my former friends who are likely saying: I didn't know that he, Solomon was like that. </i></span></span></span></span></span><i>And my enemies, what are they saying in private, "he's right on all points, that the Right is using its latest political arm, the church, along with the economy, politics, the very naive America electorate ... in order to secure our place in America and the world"! </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>And how did they accomplish their objective of using clerics turn politicians to accomplish their aims. Its simple: Many of the leaders on the Right, especially in the church, have always had an American state first, God second agenda. </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><i>Their greatest fear is that minorities in America and the rest of the world, from their perspective (, including 1.2 B Chinese of late, the USSR before), will someday rule the world and do to America 's forbearers, what America has been doing to them for nearly a century now. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><i>And just to keep the record straight, the rest of us are not the minorities. </i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><i>Now t</i><i>o the dismay of some of my critics, I really don't have a dog in the fight, in fact, I find it someone comical, that the members of their Think Tanks, believe that the rest of us are so stupid. I figured out what these goons were up to, when I was still in my teens. The </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><i>individuals on the so called conservative Right, who have been in the church as long or longer than I have been, have always made it their practice to pursue a 'Lord of the Flies'. Baalzebub?</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Some of the aforementioned, particularly the ones who are so vested in world domination, wealth and power, to the extent that they are spending all of their time trying to hold on to power, leads me to believe that there is a significant amount of cognitive dissonance in terms of what they preach, and what they truly believe and want. . </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Now, where have we heard this before, that is the need to dominate a region or people, and to amass sufficient force and forces to conquer and to rule then the world and to claim that God is in the mix?</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Should we think of Nimrod, or any other hierarchaly- structured society, ants perhaps? Er herm. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Is America, being ruled by principalities and rulers of the darkness of this or some other dominion? Oh come on Reverend Solomon, you are thinking, you know that we are God's chosen people, put here to rule the world? Au contraire mon frehr, I do not believe western-style Christianity, and its leaders, political or religious are God's chosen people. Even if they were at one time, clearly, they have veered off course.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I believe that what we refer to as God, has far more in mind, in terms of destiny, than catering to certain American's, nationalistic wunderlust and their incessant thirst for power, wealth and the spiritual and physical domination of the cosmos. In other words, if all of the years that we have spent in the church, and their singular aim has been to rule the Earth, which is exactly what some want, then something is evidently wrong in the force Luke, even more than we know or can bring ourselves to confess.. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Is it even conceivable that America has been and is till being deceived? Or to put it another way, is it even conceivable that the group of Americans, mostly on the Right, who believe that it is their manifest destiny to rule the world, believe that all Americans were chosen by God (them actually) to be a part of their sinister plan? No, that cannot be. Why? The majority of the American chosen, would utter, we are God's chosen people, which will explain why we as a nation have trumped all of the other nations of the world for the past 75 years, correct? </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">However, I believe that our nation has been and is being deceived, and, that the agency and agents that are being used in this deceptive ploy are some of America's most highly-visible rightist Christian political and religious leaders, individuals who have made a pact with the devil. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">What is their motivation again, it is a desire and a sense of entitlement, that somehow it is their right to rule the world in accordance with their design for the world. So, have they really died to the flesh, while preaching and teaching others, that is what God wants them to do? From my perspective, it does not appear to be so. Instead, it would appear that they are being motivated by the lusts of the flesh and the eye, along with the pride of life. Those are still the most dominant forces that exist in their religious and political lives. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Could you imagine what some of the American Idol worshipers would do, or how they would react if God showed up and told them, if you want America so badly, and to control the world so badly, that it is yours then to keep? </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">If Jesus were to show up today in America, and taught the liberal ideas that he taught during the common era, I suspect that he would experience a reprise of what occurred before as a result of misguided religious and political zealotry. He would find himself living again among the foxes or in a hole, and alongside America's great unwashed (it's seemingly permanent underclass). </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>And it would be fortunate for him I suspect, that we don't hang people on crosses anymore, well not since roughly 25 or 30 years ago. America's believers in God, of just a couple of decades ago, didn't have a problem with lynching people, which was their form of crucifixion or hanging on a cross. Jesus the liberal crusader of our time, would have been martyred by individuals who claimed to know who he was!</i></span></span></span></span></span><i> </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>The problem with modern-day religious and political conservatives, is the same problem that their forefathers, the harbingers of what I refer to as "a chosen people complex", had, and it lives on in them In their minds, God chose them to rule, and God is in agreement with their need to control, to rule and to eliminate anything and anyone, who gets in their and God's way </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>So yes, I have shocked some of my friends by writing what I have written, however, if you have read the Canon, you will realize that Jesus shocked more than a few friends, families and neighbors in his day as well, journeyman carpenter that they perceived him to be. Who does he think that he was, they thought? </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Our modern-day religious/political Pharisees on the Right, are not much different than the political-religious Pharisees of the common period in spirit and in practice. The former group of Pharisees, also created political alliances with the political power elites of their day, even though spiritually, they had nothing in common with them, other than a carnal need to acquire and to hold onto power by any means necessary.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Too many Americans believe that they are in the place of nations like Israel for example, and today they are God's chosen people. Or, why else has America prospered in the manner that it has. In other words, it was because of God's love for former Europeans, that he chose them alone to come in and confiscate the land,murder, pillage, rape, molest, enslave, and get rich or die trying. </span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Er herm, I don't believe that the Canon should be taken literally, not in every respect, but clearly there is some major disonance between what is written in the Canon, and the manner in which Rightist Christians and politician have conducted themselves in the world today.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Yes, I can see it now, God watched from his Heavenly Throne, just right of Jupiter, and decided, un huh, nukes for the righteous people of America, the apple of his eye. You know it is kind of like the Great Flood, God decided that it was time for more genocide, and God overlooked all of the debauchery, theft, threats, rape, murder, pillage, destabiliation ... that was coming from the people of the Earth that he truly loved, citizens of the United States of America. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The south promised a comeback, and they found that the best route to take was through conservative religion to be exact. What I have been observing in churches today, reminds me a lot of what took place in the antebellum south. Just as it was back then, not so long ago, the majority of Americans either jumped on board or looked the other way given the venal racists policies of the South that had clearly gone amok.. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Why? It's what God wanted, that a certain racial group that was full of hatred, and at the same time very religious, would be endued with superior power and abilities from on high in order to rule the masses, and eventually the whole earth. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Here is a quotation from conservative and former Presidential candidate, Pat Buchanan, taken from his book 'Where The Right Went Wrong', he also recognized the religious-political conundrum, just as I am have done: "</i></span></span></span></span></span>the worship of democracy as a form of governance and the concomitant ambition to see all mankind embrace it, or explain why not. Like all idolatries, democratism substitutes a false god for the real, a love of process[political pragmatism] for a love of country. The true national interests of the United States are not to be found in some hegemonic and Utopian world order. Bush holds global democracy as a goal. This is a formula for endless ...". </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>Not only Bush, but so do his friends on the religious and the political right, who oftentimes appear as a 2-headed beast, walking hand in hand towards triumpht! Whoever dreamed that citizens of any nation or culture would have to fear their religious leaders, and the institutions that they preside over. Decades ago, up and until Ron Reagan put an end to the great society, liberalism and the liberal church were at their zenith. During and following the Raegan years, conservatives and conservative religious groups are having their turn.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>And that I believe is the spirit of error that has been masquerading in the name of the Lord in America, at least for the past 3 decades! F</i></span></span></span></span></span><i><b>or having left the righteousness of God, and having become frustrated with the slow progress of change, they have gone about to establish their own righteousness,</b> through the venal use of politics and inveigling and controlling the American public. The American Church, to include evangelicals and capitalist Pentecostalism of late, are also unwittingly worshiping and supporting an American Idol. </i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And in effect, that is essentially what Pat Robertson and his crowd are doing, ushering in their own reified version of A New American led World Order and Kingdom Age. Even Governor Perry, recent Republican presidential candidate, made no bones about his feelings of ceding from the Union, if things don't change in the direction that he and Southerners prefer. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Article 1 This deceptive group that goes around posing as being righteous and religious, I believe, is responsible for sanctioning, if not engineering America's blue and red state divide; its burgeoning and seemingly permanent underclass; American hegemony; the high rate of unemployment; a world-wide economic crisis; gender and racial discrimination; a willingness and a desire to break the economy; America's housing problem and an unwillingness to compromise. </span></i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="background-color: black; color: orange; font-size: large;">Article 2: The vituperation and anti-American rhetoric that is being expressed on America's airways, is coming from the mouths of the beast that has risen up from the Right Wing conservative's sea, that is those individuals, who openly identify with Right-wing religion not God. Whoever thought, that the beast that was to rise up from out of the sea of people, would rise up from a mainstream religious group that claims to know and represent God? </span></i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">All of America's problems, I believe would have been dealt with long ago, and they will be done away with, if and whenever the power-brokers on the Right were to say so. At present, these folks are still willing to create chaos and to stand by and watch their counterparts, the majority of Americans sink to nadir, in order to get what they want, power and control. </span></i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Simply consider the uneven and unequal distribution of power, goods and wealth in this nation, that in its most recent iteration was done as a result of policies by the Reagan Administration!</span></i></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">A long time ago, the wrong, a group of Republicans, even in the ante-bellum South, who considered themselves to be right, in deference to their abysmal record of mistreating other non-white Americans (while they went to church mind you), have of late simply had enough with the way that America had and has been slipping away from their grip. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">For even though Republicans controlled the Presidency over the past 30 or so years, they have deflected blame, refused to take any responsibility for America's current condtion (despite the fact that they have controled the office of the President for the majority of time during the past 30 years. Instead they have blamed the left (the goats), for all that is wrong with America, multi-culturalism, big government, the social welfare state, its faltering economy and America's other failings in America and abroad </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The fact of the matter is that America's crisis, going all of the way back to the late Ronald Reagan right down through George H. Bush Jr., in its latest iteration, is responsible for the shape that America is in today, its economy, the manner in which America is perceived in the world today.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And that is a misnomer, it is the rightists who are in control the majority of America's wealth, the government, its military and its activist, political church bloc. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">However, they will never admit that they are the ones who screwed America. Remove the Sword of Damocles I say, and the way to do that is to neutralize the power of the Right, who as one author, Pat Buchanan put it, "went wrong", and the did so a long time ago. </span></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Pat may not always know what's 'right' either, however, in this scenario, he knows what's wrong with the religious-political Right.</span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">A decision made several decades ago, on the Right, was to take control of America, by wresting power away from the majority of the American people and the government, and to place hand-picked people into positions of power. They wanted other individuals who would obey their every beck and call, not that of the American majority.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>And since that time, they have been controlling the American narrative, similar to the manner in which America was being controlled at its inception, right up and until the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and eventually Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the America civil rights movement, It was also a shooting war, with leaders like Dr. King, Medgar Evers being shot, and others arrested and still others having to flee </i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">America's shores.</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">For while Americans were sleeping, not me, they were busily sowing tares among the American wheat. But they have forgotten this, "that God in the shadows has been keeping watch above his own", also that God God has strategically placed watchmen in the mix who have been keeping an eye on the pretenders and misguided, who are not his own. And I am one of those!</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Don Pardo, these people are not servants of God, they are servants of a right-winged conservancy and rightist-fundamentalist, conspiracy, one that is going about to establish their own form of right-wing righteousness. Isn't that what the Klan has always attempted to do, in the name of the Lord too? And today the Klan, is getting far more help than it did before from mainstream religion. </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>Given the kind of power that both them and their leaders wield in church, their pulpits, and in the American media; coupled with the billions of dollars that they collect each year from their parishioners (that have been conditioned to believe that their church leaders are doing the work of the Lord), they have become a one-world force. </i></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><i>Both their framework and financial support is firmly set in place. Their institution's aggregate income streams, trump the GDP of many nations in the world, even nations the size of Portugal. </i></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">Today, they are running the nation. by using the power of the power of filibustering ... And as a result, President Obama (a man that I did not vote for, so I don't have a dog in the fight) is as a result, practically a caricature, and already a lame-duck President. </span></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>They have that kind of power, and President Obama was not skilled and experienced enough to face this kind of militaristic, religious and political juggernaut, when he threw his towel in the ring, roughly 3 years ago, I believe!</b></span></i></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>It kind of reminds me of the time when a potentially great fighter known as Big John Tate, went up against Cuban sensation, Teoflio Stevenson, before he was prepared. That fight, similar to where the Obama candidacy appears to be headed, didn't last one round - get it. It would appear that President Obama is headed for a first round knockout. </i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><i>He was unaware, given the lack of knowledge of the inexperienced team of neophytes who got him elected, of the invisible fighter in the ring, that he was going up against. </i></span></span><br />
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">And I keep thinking, if</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"> this powerful group of self-righteous and self-directed Right-Wing Evangelicals ... wanted to make it happen, all of the suffering among America's struggling majority, would come to a sudden end.</span></i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Solomon</span></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Part I</span></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">world, correct?</span></div></div></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-79281527233330745722011-08-17T21:44:00.000-07:002011-08-18T23:29:35.965-07:00When and Why God Left the Institutional Church, Mosque and Synagogue Behind<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w8BqQb-mRfo/TkyWw3GkaMI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/tCRLX-3emnY/s1600/0814111554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w8BqQb-mRfo/TkyWw3GkaMI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/tCRLX-3emnY/s320/0814111554.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;"><b>I suspect that if what we refer to as God,</b> ever had anything to do with religion, it was during infrequent and very brief intervals - the Pleistocene Era perhaps? </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;">On the other hand, it would appear that God, along with Elvis, has with good reason left the building, and could you blame God? Perhaps that would explain why no one has KNOWINGLY seen God, at least to knowingly recognize it, except those individuals who experience auditory and visual hallucinations. They are the exceptions - and there are a lot of individuals who fit into that category, hanging around religious centers to this day. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;">Just as it is today, historically, religion before has always been in a sad state of affairs, to wit a harbinger of spirits, cultism, politics, cubism fanatics and a pantheon of beings, that only a select few could purportedly detect.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Theme:</b> Separating God from Religion, and, would what we refer to as God, have selected the Institution of Religion to be either its marketing firm or its abode? I don't think so, again just look at the sad state of the institution today.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Earlier this evening a friend of twenty-plus years, called and explained, among other things, his own frustration, given his inability to get a person with whom he has been witnessing, to come to his church. His proselytee, will accept religious tapes, tracks and personal outreach, however, when it comes down to going to my friend's church, he simply will not budge. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I suggested that my friend take a step back, and to look at things from a different perspective. That his friend's listening and receiving his outreach was good enough for, I explained. On the other hand, I pointed out that perhaps he was the one that was asking for too much. You see, my friend's formula was and has been to meet a person, talk about God, provide him or her with religious teachings, and to eventually get them to come to church. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">What's wrong with that? I explained that his emphasis ought to remain on helping his friend to come to God, as opposed to putting so much emphasis on his friend coming to a physical building where people gathered. A moment of silence ensued, and I waited, for that moment was pregnant with hope for both of them, my friend and the gentleman that he reached out to. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I knew that my friend was following religion tradition whether it be Christianity, Islam, Judaism ... On the other hand I reminded him what Jesus taught his disciples, one of the most critical things being to go into the world, teaching ... but nowhere did Jesus say anything about bringing them to church, or to a building if you prefer - he told them to go to the building.. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I pointed out something that has often been overlooked in terms of Jesus' instructions to his disciples, prior to being judged and crucified. Jesus, told them to go to Jerusalem and to wait there until they be endued from Heaven on High. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">What he did not say, but was inferred was, "do not go to organized or established religion, its teachers the Temple or the Synagogue! Well come on folks, can you understand how shocking this must have been when this information reached the ears of the Priests, Levites, Rabbi's ... They would likely have wondered, what kind of cult and cultist is this, or how dare he tell men, not women mind you, who were seeking God to ignore the buildings and tented structures where they taught, preached and offered sacrifices not to go there, again a place where god abode or made frequent appearances. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">That should have been the first hint, in their minds very likely, that Jewish, that son-of-a-carpenter was a certified fraud. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In other words, these were the places where the Spirit, or if you prefer, God abode anywhere on earth, not down at some obscure upstairs room. I was invited to a church like this, where Christians held their services in an upstairs room. And it was kind of comical at first. Why? Someone forgot to leave the door unlocked, down on the first floor. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Cellular phones hadn't been invented yet, so we had to revert to the next best things. I suggested, holler and look for some rocks on the ground, the kind that we could toss, and gently hit the glass windows on the second floor, thinking that perhaps, someone up there would stop speaking in tongues long enough, to hear the rocks hitting the windows, and come down stairs and let us in. Otherwise, I was going to exit state right! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Too late, someone heard a small stone hit the windows, peered down at us, came down, opened the door and led my companions and I upstairs. This is a true story, and as bizarre as it might sound, I suspect that on the Day of Pentecost, when the 120 were upstairs speaking in tongues, that someone downstairs might have had to toss a rock or a camel upstairs, in order to be heard and to subsequently gain entrance. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">There was a brief silence by my friend, and afterward understanding followed. I went on to remind him that most of the work that Jesus and his Apostles did, remained outside of any religious structures, and I added that it was likely done that way for a reason. And I believe that the reason would have to do with something that I refer to as 'religious structuralism'.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Remember the Lord's Prayer: Thy will be done in earth (before they changed the phrase to "on earth')? The question being what is 'the Earth', the planet, or the earthen being?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If the anthropomorphic God were to attend a religious service, among most any religious group, I suspect that it would extricate itself prior to the offering being raised, or, before the preacher (and I am one of them) rose to the pulpit in order to orate and to postulate, too! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In my late teens, I explained, to my late Apostolic Pentecostal mother's chagrin, that if there was any other way to go to heaven, other than through the church, that I would prefer to go that way. Of course, she was shocked and disappointed to hear those words emanate from the lips of a son that she has raised in the church. . </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">However, I quickly explained as not to offend her, that I had long since separated God from institutional religion. Whether she ever fully understood what I meant, or my quest for the truth, wherever I might find it, even outside of religion, I don't really know? On the other hand, I would rate my desire or need to seek after what is real, and to discard anything that is not real, right up there with the best of them. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Along my personal journey and quest for the truth</b>, I learned something. And what I learned was, that it was not God that most skeptics and pragmatists had a problem with; for what most skeptics truly had a problem with was religion itself, the building and cloth temples, and the individuals who purported to know God.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">And their skepticism's, were not as far fetched as they may seem at first, especially when you consider the number of religious groups, denominations, sects ... in the world, who claim to have a monopoly, as well as an intrinsic understanding of God that differs by and large from their, I know God too, counterparts. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Speaking of unified field theory in science, the unified field of religion is just as far afield as its counterpart. Monotheist religious groups believe that there is one God. However, none of them have a suitable explanation for why there is one God, and so many religions, sects, denominations roughly 50,000 christian denominations alone. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It seems to me, that alone would be enough to make a reasonable or thinking person. to take a step back and reconsider one's entrenched or inherited point or points of view. Clearly reason, is neither a requirement nor a prerequisite, in order to become a member or a teacher. And what is the reason for that, tee hee!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In other words, the lack of reason, thought, logic or proof is applauded among most religious groups, and reason, logic or making sense is anathema</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Is God a part of religion(s), it depends, I imagine, with whom you are speaking.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">What if God left the church, mosque, synagogue or other, a long time ago, and the followers in each of the groups simply does not know it?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I imagine that God would prefer another setting, one other than religion, for being defined by or represented by religion, must give God headaches. Who would want to be defined by, or represented in a disciplines that is so messy. Oh come on, we have as many scandals as there are in Hollywood, or among government officials as an example. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">\</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Evangelist Tim Story explained, when I travel, "I tell people that I am a motivational speaker, not a preacher'. Could it be that preachers rank right up there with used car salesmen? Let's face it, Jesus spent a significant period of time shaping his brood. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">For example he had the following: Judas the traitor; Peter the Knife and I don't eat unclean things; Thomas the skeptic; The two sons of Zebedee opportunists, Call hell fire missiles down to destroy people who didn't see things their way ... do you get my drift?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I cannot tell you what God is, but I can tell you that what is being represented in most any religion that I have studied, the manner in which they found, explained and codified their Sovereign ... is limited. </span><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If God were to be emancipated in the people's minds from religion, the average religious person would not be pleased. on the other hand, I suspect that a lot more people would believe, accept or pursue it, once separated from any religious group or religious explanation. Why? Some will say, because they hate religion and the truth. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> However, <b>the truth is,</b> that some individuals thirst and hunger after the truth, to wit truth beyond what some group of individuals have agreed upon among themselves, based on their knowledge, often limited, and experiences happen to be.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In other words, if you could get religion out of the church, synagogue or mosque, you would likely get more kind, non-sectarian ... people to come in. In fact, what we refer to as religion would become even bigger, its numbers would increase. However, there would be one major difference: The new hungering and thirsty group, would not limit themselves by any means to the mere acceptance or ingestion of a groups ideas, that emanates from the past. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">They would likely do, what their predecessors failed to do, that is to prove God, not to simply invest in the practice of substituting an individual form of faith for the lack of substance, reality or fact!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Religion, does a great disservice to the credibility of what we refer to as God. Why? Most people I believe want God, however, most people could do without religion. And who knows, if we were to replace religion with something more practical, perhaps, what religion refers to as God, might return. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The one thing that rarely appears to be present at most political, cultural, mystical, pious religious groups, is the very thing that most religious groups say that they are harbingers of, what is real!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">And to those of you who believe that I no longer believe correctly, based upon what you understand to be real - the fact is that I believe that, what we refer to as God, is much bigger than what RELIGION ALONE HAS TAUGHT ONE TO BELIEVE. In other words, start there if you must, but your quest for what is real, should not end there.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Can you imagine what must have gone through their minds, when the individuals that were present, recognized that God had left their building? Perhaps some of us today need to step back and inquire, IS GOD STILL THERE at My Place of Being!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">And if nothing else, so far I have explained why the dyslexic agnostic, has never believed in dog - he also sees things in reverse!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Solomon</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>To be continued. draft 2</i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Outside of religion, and within another discipline,what we refer to as God, would likely have been understood and appreciated today and a long time ago. Within religion alone, God will likely never be understood or truly appreciated, I suspect. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Most humans, would likely have nothing to do with religion, superstition or mysticism, anyway, If anything, most people would simply want to know what is real and to possess it. Branded religion, often keeps individuals from finding, knowing and understanding anything that is beyond their dogma. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Perhaps, if we could 'get the hell out of religion', it could be a useful place for God to take up its abode!</span></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-22844167262546205092011-08-13T15:40:00.000-07:002011-08-22T11:15:14.705-07:00The American Christian Conservatives-Worldwide Political Reform Movement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKg4AA8-58E/Tkb8ZWgO_aI/AAAAAAAAAJc/cdybD7AH7H0/s1600/Christ_stilling_the_tempest+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKg4AA8-58E/Tkb8ZWgO_aI/AAAAAAAAAJc/cdybD7AH7H0/s320/Christ_stilling_the_tempest+%25281%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: left; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Perhaps the 666 Beast (Bull and Bear Market System)? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange;">You've heard of Star Wars before</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange;">? Today, I will comment on the political infighting that is quietly taking place between factions within the American Christian religious community</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange;">. The opponents are the true conservatives, that follow the principles of Jesus Christ, and the modern-day pseudo-Christian conservatives, often referred to as evangelicals. Another name for them, in this context, could be 'The Rightist Evangelical T-Party. For in addition to all of their other political tactics, similar to what Hitler did, they have taken nearly complete control of the American system of governance which they are re-adapting (to include the military), the political and economic narrative, the religious narrative, the church, the media, the economic system ... among other things. America, and the world for that matter are under siege, and are in the throes of an American capitalist, religio-politcal domestic and foreign coup de tat and take back scheme, that is being waged in the name of the Lord. Another name for it is White American Supremacy! </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange;">_________________________________________</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange; font-size: x-large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange; font-size: x-large;">Are the rank and file members a part of the plot? The majority of them, in my opinion, don't have a clue to what is going on, and are not a part of the sinister plot. Most are simply following after the allure of 'Big Church' religious wealth, power, pageantry, conventions, misinformation, travel and Jesus camp's indoctrination. Many of the naive (including some cross-over pentecostals who know better but are tired of being broke and attending small churches), believe that they are following a mandate given by God, or want to partake of the largess, and the pageantry that these churches have to offer. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange; font-size: x-large;">However, who or what is really the driving force behind this movement that has co-opted the growing world-wide, "we are right, it is okay to be rich, political evangelical pseudo-church movement. Even big named, old time Pentecostals like Bishop [Takes] have drunk the kool-aid, and gone over to the dark side of the force. Besides, who wants to preach to 4 or 5 people at the storefront, or upper room pentecostal church, when you can have 20,000 members, fabulous homes, cars, clothing, jewelry, airplanes and the media at your disposal? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: orange; font-size: x-large;">A Chinese convert, responded to Ted Koppel's query, "why did you become a Christian?" He replied instantly, with a smile on his face: Because Christians have all the money". </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-large;">At times, it is difficult to tell the two groups apart, both groups teach from the same Bible, declaring that the Bible is the undisputed 'word of God', however, do not be deceived. One group, with all of their foibles and seeming impotence (similar to Jesus and his group of broke outsider followers, appear to be the real deal from where I am standing). On the other hand, the other group, their counterparts, appear to be a modern day pseudo-Christian, high-flying, jet set, American political capitalist extremist entertainment organization, that has 'settled into a world', that they are busily shaping. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-large;">Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Dr. Dobsen (not a preacher), Tony Perkins, Rod Parsley, shall I go, are the leaders of this new Christian world order. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-large;"> The latter are seeking to establish a economic heaven on earth, one that is to their liking, and according to them, is the world that God wants too. They carry under on their rightist political agendas underneath the rubric or guise of following Jesus Christ. Never mind that some of their leaders have even encouraged the murder, invasion, occupation, fly-overs of other nations or individuals who fail to comport with their ideals. To be sure, Pat attempted to run for the office of the President of the United States himself, and is known to frequently to influence America's foreign and domestic policy. </span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Even though churches are restricted by Law from endorsing political candidates, many 501(c) churches, especially the evangelical ones, permit politicians to stump in their pulpits, organize political rallies and endorse politicians as much or more than any other political or special interest groups does.</span></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">However, keep in mind that there are other churches who ignore the statutes on the books that pertain to churches. How do they do it? They do so by invoking their first Amendment rights, which states that "the government shall not make any laws pertaining to religion". The evangelical Tom Delays of the world (who have spent time at the Graybar Hotel) and his counterparts, have exploited this law, along with other Christian leaders, more than anyone else that I have witnessed in my lifetime. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The only other known organization that frequently exempts itself from the laws (that it creates for other Americans), is the Congress of the United States of America.</span></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Tom and his ilk, remind me of Judas the betrayer of Jesus, have been allowed to use the church as their bully pulpits, in the manner that many other famous protestant clerics, use their pulpits, media time, Radio, TV and the Internet, to get their conservative message across to their followers. </span></span></div><div style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">It is understood that the politicians that they helped to elect, will remember and pay their political debts to these radicalized political churches and their congregations, once they get elected. Again, keep in mind that the Tom Delays of the world, and other Christian conservatives on the American political right not only believe that they are above the law, they believe that they are RIGHT! <i>To wit, they believe that, even when breaking the law, or distorting the meaning of the Bible, that they are RIGHT then too!</i></span></span></div><div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">There used to be a time when the church taught probity, encouraged religious values among its followers and insisted upon its followers remaining seperate from the world. However, more and more the church, that has become settled in the world, is more and more and more and more, an American Capitalist political indoctrination, pseudo-religious church formation. It uses its worship services, its media ministries, its off-site meetings, it church organs, if not house-to-house meetings, to inculcate its political , similar to the steps that the Klan used before, and in some instances still does today!</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">For having left the righteousness of God, they have gone about to establish their own righteousness, having been influenced with Dominionism and white-supremacist cultural values and the dream of American-Christian conservative superiority. To them the former is synonymous with the vision of Jesus Christ; I don't think so.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">I am convinced that Jesus Christ might repeat to them what was written before,"to depart from me [you had an agenda of your own], I never knew you., and you never knew me". For having tired of waiting on Jesus to set up a new Kingdom on Earth, these organizations have are attempted to set up a Kingdom, in the name of God, that is of their own liking. </span></span><br />
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</span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Again, the church world, once considered to be the unified body of Christ, has of late been divided into 2 camps with many members, the true conservatives, individuals who adhere to biblical principles, and the pseudo-conservative church, that more and more is a growing Evangelical real time monetary-political group, that has its own theology and is building its own theocracy. In fact, one of its stars, Bishop Jakes said, and I quote, explained at a gathering that I attended in Washington DC: 'the church is a business'. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The new conservative America church, more and more, looks just like that, a business. Before, he like most taught that the church was a spiritual organism, a body of baptized believers. However, the spiritual organism for he and many other 100 or less churches, weren't growing. Today, the networking (busy-ness) churches, which are indeed very carnal I might add, have exploded in terms of growth.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The sheer size, accumulated financial resources and media exposure of churches on the conservative Right, has been and still is responsible for drawing millions of church members away from smaller, less than 100 member conservative church congregations. Many of their former members, could not resist the allure of becoming members of larger, more prosperous looking, wealth carrying, entertaining, camping trip going …. and in many ways, everything that is offered in the world church centers.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The strength of these organizations, lies not only in their crazy numbers, however, but in their ability to construct one large political bloc in order to pursue their political agenda. And they are a force to be reckoned with, just ask any conservative politician. By teaching, preaching and translating scriptures in a fashion that bolsters their political positions, again their numbers have exploded and their influence in America, in the Oval Office, at the Supreme Court and on Capitol Hill, is something to be reckoned with. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Now, even though people of color are being attracted and added to their membership numbers in large numbers, make no mistake about the political agenda of these churches which their new minority members will be expected to embrace and follow. it it a white supremacist, we are right agenda. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">And if they don't, they won't be considered to be 'good evangelical Christians'. Now, before you call me a racist, don't forget about the Apostle Peter, who did not touch unclean things, or Jeremiah, who had an issue with the skin of Ethiopians, even though the Ethiopian who rescued him from the mire, had that bad skin color too. </span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Typically, minority pastors that join these alliances will fare better for a time, and many of them will even be asked to come and to teach or preach to these more conservative congregations, although they will be summarily ignored, corrected or chastised if they were to veer from the proscribed script.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Call Bishop Carlton Pearson, and ask him about that. He changed and went back to the dark side. Once upon a time, he thanked the whites at the Cathedral of Faith in San Jose California, for enslaving and bringing blacks to America. He said: "if you had not brought us to America, we would still be in Africa". Oops! The white audience ripped with applause. However, 20 years later, when he had his epiphany after visiting Africa and looking at his black brothers and sisters, he had a change of heart. At that universalist change of heart, got him tossed out of the evangelical movement - he became persona non gratis. </span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">And even though members of minority churches, join in with these larger mostly white conservative conventions, other than the pastor and a few members of the inner core, will continue to languish in poverty.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The conservative faction of the church (the ones who do not believe in the American Christian Political Church) v. the pseudo-conservative faction, is comparable in many respects to what Jesus encountered, when faced he was confronted by the Pharisee/Sadducees, and the conflicts that he endured with them that are found in scripture. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The Pharisees, a powerful religio-political group, similar to our modern-day seperatist religio-politco evangelical were rebuked by Jesus, and told that not only would they not enter the Kingdom, they were keeping others from entering the Kingdom. The question today, is the same as it was then, which group is really following God, or the Canon if you prefer, not necessarily mutally exclusive. And, which Kingdom have they become a part of, God's thy Kingdom come, or the American Capitalist Christian worldwide-Conservative Christian Reform Church system</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">It is easy for a church and its leaders to go astray. In fact the scriptures warn believers to beware of false prophets ... to test spirits, and to know them who labor among you in the world. Why? Because according to scripture, our wrestling is against the spirit, that is behind a movement or leader who may not be aware of what motivates him or her. And Solomon explained in the book of Ecclesiastes, that the end of a thing is better than the beginning.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=2284416726254620509" name="SPELLING_ERROR_1"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=2284416726254620509" name="SPELLING_ERROR_2"></a>And I believe that we are beginning to see the beginning of the end of the dangerous Mega-rich, religious political church phenomenon. Interestingly <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">enough, Bill O'Reilly and other TV commentators on the Right, were instrumental in having the Federal government to go after the N.A.A.C.P., Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton , NAACP … and other non-conservatives for 501(c) infractions when campaigning. And at the same time, other political candidates on the Right, who used 501(c) organizations to stomp, they summarily ignored.</span></span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Too boot, the whole crop of 360,000 or so conservative ministers who signed on to a petition to stop the so called liberal agenda ... and to have it and them condemned, spend every day, engaging in mixing in conservative politics and politicos.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington DC, sound legitimate , has been instrumental in disseminating fascist religious materials and positions, from Washington DC, that favors the right, to the rest of the American Religious Capitalist Church System.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Let's be honest, right now the Conservatives, have the power , religious, military, political and economic power, and they also have the wealth, however, when you consider the condition that they country is in today, given the candidates that they are responsible for having placed into office and on the Supreme Court, in Judgeship …, I believe that the Beast, that has risen up from among the Sea of the people, is about to have its legs cut off. Why? The people of the sea, have become restless, and even though for a time, many of them drank the conservative Kool-Aid, more and more thinking Americans, are beginning to recognize how poison it is, and that it is flavored to represent only a few on the Right.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Investigative and inquiring minds recognize that the political Rightest-Church is as responsible for America's political problems , as is the T-Party along with other conservative Republicans politicians.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The incredible transference of wealth from the people, since the Right, with the aid of the Rightist Church, disposed of Bill Clinton, recovered it and placed that wealth solely into the control of a minority group of conservatives on the right, has begun to awaken a sleeping giant. Four hundred Americans, currently have the equivalent wealth of 60% of Americans on the bottom rung. In other words, 400 Americans have the equivalent wealth of 180M other Americans, who are mostly laid-off, underpaid, living outside, on public assistance … So what God was the conservative church on the Right praying to, given their participation, direction and support in such a debacle?</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Now, do I have a personal dog in the fight? Factually, I like some of these fellows personally, and others I find to be amusing. And before you say, “you are being disrespectful”, I am a minister, pastor on hiatus too – so I can talk about my fellow members of the cloth. Some of them are political, others greedy and extravagant, and a few I believe are genuinely confused. In my opinion, too many of them gave up on Jesus Christ a long time ago, and are following after the spirit of this world.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Why the comparison. Because there are many ministers who, similar to Jesus, languished in poverty, while preaching to their small followings (while they went about doing the work of the Lord), having watched their brothers in Christ, amass large land-holdings, wealth, huge followings and bloated salaries (not to mention that they stole away the few members that they had), decided, well, if you can't lick 'em, you might as well join them.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Suddenly, the liturgies in these once traditional churches changed, to a rocking, finger-popping, hand-slapping, joke telling, rapping, preacher driving Benzes, Airplane flying, and other luxury car, living in near mansions … while other people suffer, has became their new reality. Go and sell what you have today, give it to the poor, and your income stream will be replenished tomorrow - oh come on!</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=2284416726254620509" name="SPELLING_ERROR_3"></a>And their new sermons became, money-oriented, God wants you to have money, and show me the money sermons. And guess what, for a while, it worked. What brought people into these churches, is what I believe in the end, will lead them back out of the door, money or their failures to get any of the money. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Already, some of these mega-<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">moolah</span> land churches that succeeded for awhile, are being fore-closed upon, and I suspect that might be a good thing. The teaching, training and personal attention that these parishioners once received, was forfeited, for fast-singing, hand-slapping performance oriented Sunday morning weekly presentations. The better you are at telling jokes these days, the better you happen to be as a preacher. David Letterman, could make more money if he were to crossover and become a preacher, than the paltry 20M or so that he makes a year, working on the television.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Based upon what I have observed, the people are not being taught to follow God, they are being conditioned to pursue wealth through religious-politicals means, and to support a white American political agenda. Okay, I said it!</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Now here is what is so ironic, on the way up, the wealthy politicians who required the help of the church to make their ascent, are beginning, of late, to abandon the mega churches, the ones who do not need them any more. Good I say, that is what you get for getting in bed with the devil in the first place. Besides, conservative churches were paid back given President Bush's Faith-based pay-off initiative program.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">I can recall several years ago, when Senator John McCain, switched sides. At first he stood for principle, and recognized that when it came to political and religious issues, that the two should remain separate. It is a part of the American implied social contract, that that the two would remain apart. Senator McCain, explained, that he would not pander, be dominated or bridled by the Religious or Christian Right, Bob Jones University … but later, when he needed the support of the Religious Right, off to Bob Jones … he went.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">He is making similar comments about the T—Party today, but trust me, that craving to be re-elected will eventually lead him to give in again, but this time to the rightist Chrisitan T-Party faction of the Rightist Christian Church. lan members, would be wise to abandon their robes, and to join mainstream evangelical churches and preach Jesus, while carrying on a nefarious political agenda on the side.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">They might not get to burn the cross anymore, or hate Jews, while invoking the name of Jesus, however, they would have a larger following and their work would be legitimized.</span></span><br />
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</span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=2284416726254620509" name="SPELLING_ERROR_4"></a>People who believe in what is real ought to pursue what is real, I believe, And much of the American church world, especially political evangelicals, are a part of one massive money-making <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">religio</span>-political organizational stream, and their politics are both local, national and international.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">I don't believe that Christ is at the center of their movement. Remember, conservative Christians in Germany, individuals who had similar views as conservative churche Christians in America have, supported Adolf Hitler.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Be careful folks, and trust me, I don't believe that a lot of these guys and gals are intentionally bad people, I believe that the majority of them have simply been seduced, or are sincerely misdirected, in terms of trying to do the right thing! Show me the money Christianity or politics is not the power practice that Jesus or his followers pursued while on earth. </span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">The rest of us must continue to pursue what is real, and to beware of false prophets, even the ones who are simply misguided it would appear seem. What they say, and do in practice are often 2 different animals.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">What is my motive: It's simple, as a minister, I have a responsibility to warn the innocent and misguided to be careful of trends and what appears to be God, when it may not be at all. Remember Jonestown? What is taking place in America today, giving the mixing between evangelicals especially, what appears to be the true church and nationalist and internationalist politics, in the name of the Lord, is a dangerous phenomenon I believe. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Isn't it amazing that Christian churches criticize the theocratic forms of governments that exist in other parts of the world, while sanctifying the spirit of a conservative theocracy in the West, that is driven by monetary, power and greed values in the West, with an eye on dominating the world?</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=2284416726254620509" name="SPELLING_ERROR_5"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=2284416726254620509" name="SPELLING_ERROR_6"></a>Never forget, no matter how they use the Canon, to make their points that Pat Robertson, Late Jerry Falwell, John <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Hagee</span>, Dr. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Dobson</span>, Parsley, Perkins, Delay … shall I go on ... all of these folks are, or were in bed with the politicians on the Right. And look where they has got America, following 8 years of George Bush Jr., and obstructionist religious-conservative propaganda. The religious leaders, might as well have seats reserved for them in the House, the Senate, on the Supreme Court and the White House.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Pat Robertson, actually tried to run for President, a couple of decades ago? Of course, God, told him not to, but he attempted a reprise a few years afterward. Pat wanted someone to knock President Hugo Chavez. Folks beware of wolves who come to you in sheep’s clothin and with sardonic grins.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">I expect that you will be told, or are thinking that I am the wolf in sheep's clothing – but I am not one. Having said that, Christians, ought to remember what happened to Jesus and his followers in the Canon, when he and they spoke truth to conservative religious power in his day. In Jesus's case, he became a picture hangar with nails in his hands in feet (a sentence that was insisted upon by the Religious Right of his time). </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">And his death sentence was carried out as a result of pressure on a government official, Pilate, given theirrightest politcal-religious agendas. </span></span><br />
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</span></div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">Much like the Klan did, these churches are white supremacists organizations (that includes minority members), and they are still following and supporting a white supremacist-capitalist agenda) . “The end of a thing, is better than the beginning”, Solomon wrote. And in time, the truth will be revealed, or better yet understood I believe. In the meantime, and I repeat, the rest of us, let's pursue what is real and at the same time do all that we can to repeal, repel and stand up against the spirit of error that operates in a church world that supports an agenda that favors the few and the privileged.</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: x-large;">And before you think it, I do not believe that all whites are white supremacists, on the other hand, I believe that there are whites who are, but do not know that they are - they simply believe that they are right. And do you recall the instructions that Jesus gave to his inner-circle, prior to departing. He did not send them to the Temple or to the Synagogues, he sent them to a place where the holy spirit would be sent, hmm!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-large;">Read the T-Leaves Mormon Mitt, you're not getting it either!</span></div></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-20848657517672368112011-08-10T07:23:00.000-07:002011-08-10T09:39:13.981-07:00The Historical Successes & Failures Of White & Other Male Leadership<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zt1kwhRrg3A/TkKR9R70dnI/AAAAAAAAAJY/aOKu4NWdBLo/s1600/Martin_Luther_King.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zt1kwhRrg3A/TkKR9R70dnI/AAAAAAAAAJY/aOKu4NWdBLo/s320/Martin_Luther_King.png" width="218" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;">Part 3. Next year's election, will be one of the most significant, if not telling in America's modern and post-modern history.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Just as it happened in 2008, the whole world will be watching, given their vested interest in what happens in a diminishing empire that has, for over half a century, set atop of what was a new world order. It would appear that is about to change, and perhaps for the good of all humans in America and the rest of the world. What typically happens to most empires, when too much power is wrested in the hands of a few, is happening to the American Empire and its satraps!</div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Question: So what is there left to think about a male-dominant power group in the West; that currently sets atop the world; that wields America's military and economic might to its advantage, in order to acquire more power and wealth, to benefit its closed-in minority power group; that nearly brought the rest of the world near to economic class and causes the majority, not just most Americans, to needlessly suffer?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Hopefully, whoever takes over, if the USA doesn't blow up the world, will do a better job. There is enough wealth in the world for everybody. We miss leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King.</span><br />
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More Sagacious Americans, recognize that the American empire is imploding, given the ongoing failure of male leadership in the West. The current crop, politicians, ministers, corporate executives, who by and large control the American macro-economic system, the federal and most state governments (along with the nuclear threat), are using their political, religious and economic power to procure their interests.<br />
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</b></div>By contrast, the nations that have typically been demonized by male leaders in the West, are surging, and there is unrest among the United States, Great Britain and elsewhere. Why? The answer is simple, a change of leadership is needed and these boys and Anne, have overplayed their hand. <br />
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Let's consider the emerging Republican of China in contrast, for example. In the past, the ROC was dominated by a small group of leaders at the top, that control the masses. By contrast, western nations, particularly the United States and Great Britain, were also under the control of a smaller, but less apparent group of male leaders that defined the narrative, controlled the masses, the military, the church and the people of the nation.<br />
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And look where it has gotten us. I can recall when I was a lad, perhaps a teenager I don't know, and someone gave me a small hand-held size pamphlet. At the time, it was called The Red Book. The book, as I recall was being distributed by Communist, or as we often say in the West, Red China. Its thrust was 'the proletariat or working class movement'. <br />
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Of course if you were caught with one of these pamphlets you r name would have likely ended up on a subversive list, however, the fact of the matter, most Americans had jobs, sufficient incomes to provide for either themselves or their families with one jobs, and as a result I am certain that most Americans, as I was, for different reasons, were dismissive.<br />
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The term communism was a bad word, even though none of us really knew what it meant. I was too young at the time to know what all of this meant either since I was in junior or high school at the time. All I knew at the time was what my government told us, that Communism, and therefore nations or empires like the Chinese, Soviet and other empires were very bad.<br />
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In time I learned about something called spin. I then recognized that all nations, even our own, had propaganda machines, and these machines were in place to protect the nation, or was it? Thirty years later, and now I am much wiser. I recognize that my own nation was spinning, just as much as an other nation, and that the ones who were doing the spinning, had their own interests in mind, not the needs of the people, minority, females and other non-white Americans.<br />
<br />
It is amazing, that in less than 75 years, since the end of WWII, Americans are being forced to take a look at our style of governance, and the current outward trend in our nation in government, the church and with American corporations.<br />
<br />
All of the sudden, the communist leaders don't appear to be nearly as bad as our own our own leaders are, who wield the power of this nation in order to further their own interest. Clearly, our political, clerical and corporate leaders, have willingly conspired to place the military power, might and economic wealth under their control.<br />
<br />
Lately, a more conservative church, are being influenced more and more by right-winged government controlled voices like Dr. Dobsen, Tony Perkins, oh and did I forget the government' power brokers and their skillful control of the American media, where we are inundated with the voices of conservative Right-Wing talkshow hosts who issue a daily dosage of Right-Winged propaganda, and some of these are religious leaders.<br />
<br />
I was amused by a white minister, don't know his name, was preaching with bible in his hand and he launched in a tirade about those, "commi", and caught himself before saying bastard; keep an eye on the conservative church in America, they have an objective other than Jesus Christ! That the world has suffered, on every Continent, and in many nations as a result of dominant male leadership has never been more evident than it is today. And all of these nations, that are under the leadership of males, have at least one thing in common, their leaders use their positions to acquire power and wealth, while the masses suffer.<br />
<br />
<br />
Well, that is until Betty Friedan, the Woman's Liberation came along. Many Americans', especially males, believe that the emergence of these new female power groups, signaled the end of America, and what they meant was the diminishment or end of exclusive male control of the power, wealth and at home chattel, their wives and children.<br />
<br />
Betty Friedan, was a blessing to females, and any free people for that matter. Not only have women been liberated, to a substantial degree, males were liberated also. What it signaled for us was that we were not longer required to keep our knees, on the backs of other human beings all of their and all of our lives. And trust me, WE, still have a long way to go, for you understand something intuitively, however, in practice, still be operating under an old paradigm. In other words, some of the 'old you', is still present even when you are trying to undue programmed and psychic damage.<br />
<br />
Every once and while you still feel that little twinge, when a female gets up in your face, or when you fail to do what you were taught in some circles to do during a time past, "To keep them in check'. Men's liberation is the freeing of males to get on with their lives in cooperation with females, as opposed to spending your lifetime trying to hold another individual in subjection.<br />
<br />
And essentially, that moder of operation is what is destroying America today, from top to bottom. We have still have a male-dominated nation, with leaders mostly male, that control the political, military and social power and might of this nation, from the purview of male perception. And that perception means that we should control the power of this nation, at our institutions, no matter how poor we are at leading. And where has it gotten us.<br />
<br />
I suspect that in a new world order, that things will change somewhat, hopefully, it will. However, I doubt that it will change for all human beings, as long as testosterone is the determinant. Frankly, American male-dominated leadership sucks. The Republicans on the Right, influenced mostly by males, and a few visible females, who are behaving like old-time males, have just about driven this nation into the ground. But yet, I hold out hope, that if nations like ROC, and Russia for example, that have thrown off the weight, of their oppressors and oppressive ideologies emerge as power-brokers in the world, that their influences will force change even in the United States.<br />
<br />
Or perhaps some nation will come from out of nowhere like Mark Zucherburg, or with the power of Google, to become a tool, that will help to correct the problem of male leadership not only in the rest of the world, but in the United States too! All of America, having witnessed the recent debacle in Washington, under the control of white males, ought to recognize that something is wrong, even if they don't necessarily know what the solution is, but one thing for sure the face in Washington, that is destroying a nation, is the face of male-dominated (and Anne-Coulter), leadership.<br />
<br />
I'm not finished... Will I appear on the subversive list, having written some of what I have written? I don't see myself as being quite that important, however, I am firmly on the record of saying that I have to agree with individuals who I believed before were, in part the nut jobs. Why? They often sounded like conspiracy theorists who were spreading propaganda. Guess what, these folks were ahead of the rest of us. America is in the grips of fools, and many nations of the rest of the world are doing what they can to get up and from under jaundiced male-dominated leadership in America. We have to learn to live with other nations of the world, without trying to force America's will upon them too!<br />
<br />
Solomon<br />
<br />
And btw, I recently spent the last 9 months, living with a Chinese family. The parents spoke very little English, their Junior High school aged son was the interpreter. Frankly, I have never known kinder people. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!</div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-88059585960840373042011-08-08T06:39:00.000-07:002011-08-10T09:40:35.938-07:00The Historical Successes & Failures of White & Other Male Leadership<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dqgd8xw24z4/Tj_mVY2_V0I/AAAAAAAAAJI/wWkk1VeOAWE/s1600/Martin_Luther_King.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dqgd8xw24z4/Tj_mVY2_V0I/AAAAAAAAAJI/wWkk1VeOAWE/s320/Martin_Luther_King.png" width="216" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Part 2: Simply consider what is and has been transpiring in male-dominated Washington DC, the House and the Senate of late:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u>There have been Abraham Lincolns and Dr. Martin Luther King</u>s</span>,</span> </span>on the other hand there have been Adolf Hitler's, Tito's, Mussolini's, Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan, Bull Connor's and other white Aryan hate leaders in the West. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">All of this being done in a majoritarian female society, males insist on dominating. Male instructions when it comes to females: "KEEP HER IN CHECK". When it comes to non-white males, keep them in their places</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> ___________________________</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And clearly, many of America's celebrated founders, were poor examples of what a leader ought to be, unless enslaving people, dominating their wives, sleeping with under age children, amassing the majority of the wealth, genocide or refusing to fairly compensate laborers for their work is something to be proud of, and many of them were, and some are guilty of doing just that, today. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So, have white, and other male leaders done any better or worse than black male leaders in America or around the world? Answer: It depends on who you ask? However, and having said this, the point of my paper is not to say which group has done a better job than the other. If anything, it is to point out how male leadership, regardless of race, natural origin or creed, has had its share of successes, along with an enormity of egregious failures across the board, probably due to one common denominator.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What has been the missing link from my point of view, when it comes to male leadership? It is simply, the historical oppression of the other voice, the feminine voice. , which brings balance. One thing that all male groups agree on, regardless of racial distinction, it is that males were and are supposed to lead, it was and is a divine right from the male point of view. However, when it come to the historical failures of male leadership, all of the sudden, the male voice is muted, when it comes to who is responsible for our failures - if nothing else, we will blame our moms, a female!. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Let's consider the American experiment for example. From a male perspective, white males have created the greatest system that the world has ever known. However, is that true?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Well, let's examine the formula that was employed to get America, a nation that is presently struggling, as a result of questionable male leadership in Washington DC, Corporate America in the pulpits and elsewhere. We males cannot blame the current gridlock in Washington DC, corporate America or elsewhere on females, can we?. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What was the American white male's success formula, if the acquisition of wealth, accumulating property or subjugating women is a success story? It was essentially what Hegel said: "acquire property, and pursue power through class struggle. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And white males when they entered into this hemisphere, essentially did just that, acquired property and formed a powerful closed class group, in to pursue power and to dominate, everything, including females, in the new world. The formula included taking the property from its current inhabitants, some have estimated that the number of individuals in the northern and southern hemisphere, may have been nearly 70 million people.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">After taking the property, to exterminate its detractors, Hitleresque style; claiming the property, bringing in more individuals from overseas to broaden their class group, and to acquire an unpaid involuntary work-force, mostly from overseas which they brought to new found land, which they claimed to be divinely their own. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And, from the free capital that was derived from slave laborers, indentured and bondservants, a coterie of white males, enriched themselves, a legacy that continues to this day, a consequence of inherited wealth, investments and by controlling the wealth of the nation by controlling the government and conscription. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mercantilism, sugar, tobacco, cotton ... eventually led to inventions like the Cotton Gin, Nuclear Weapons, Android phones, but always with a profit and power in mind, in other words, a who will be "Lord of the Flies", mentality. Lord of the flies syndrome, seems to be inherent in most every powerful male</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>to be continued and corrected ..... </b> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I was seventeen years old when I decided to try out my inherent power to tell a female what to do. She was short of stature, I was tall, so I instructed her to stand on the sofa in her mom's basement, so that I could get me a smoocheroo. She refused to follow my male instructions, both times. Now what do you do, I thought, when they refuse to follow instructions? Back to the drawing board I thought, and so much for keeping them (females) in check, I thought. And in the event that you were wondering, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">no, I did not get a smoocheroo that evening!</span></span></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-82415615421065701362011-07-25T22:04:00.000-07:002011-08-10T09:41:10.581-07:00The Historical Successes & Failures of White & Other Male Leadership<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlu4onK9s2A/Ti5XaH4RM_I/AAAAAAAAAJE/aji_Bs4THXQ/s1600/Martin_Luther_King.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlu4onK9s2A/Ti5XaH4RM_I/AAAAAAAAAJE/aji_Bs4THXQ/s320/Martin_Luther_King.png" width="216" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I introduced a paper, that I was in the middle of writing, several years ago, to a group of international scholars at the University of California at Berkeley.</span><b> </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>The weekend conference was primarily attended by black scholars from several continents, to include </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Asia">Asia</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Africa">Africa</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="North America">North America</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="South America">South America</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Europe">Europe</a> and t</span><b>he Land Down Under. The full title of my paper was and is: The Historical Successes and Failures of Black Male Leadership: On the Contents of Africa, in the Americas and in the Land Down under. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Having said that, the thrust of my message today is not in any way being directed, exclusively, at black males. And the latter should not be interpreted as if I have suddenly had an epiphany with regard to the historical success and failures of male leadership by and in other racial and cultural groups.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>However, given all of what is going on in and around the world today, the good, bad and the ugly, all too often males dominate, and are given too much credit when it comes to the associated successes, and not enough pointed blame when it comes to the failures. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>My subject matter at the time, just as it is today, has to do today with a broader group of males, who need to take responsibility for their failures in leadership, independent of any other sub-groups. And this is important given that it is practically a world-wide phenomenon, good or bad, that male-dominance is the accepted and irreversible norm.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>The scholars at the UC Berkeley Conference, all writers or professors, were somewhat taken back, initially, by the audacity of the title, the thought behind and the scope of my paper, that is until I began to expand upon its meaning, successes and failures. </b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">_______________________________________________</span></b><br />
<b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>When something works, all of us like to take credit, however, when something fails, it tends to be the nature of the human beast to run away from any responsibility that is associated with the attendant or associated failure. Oftentimes, in those instances of failure, the fault or reason for the failure lies elsewhere. It is not uncommon to hear excuses, rationalizations or expressions like, "if only they had listened to me"! </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><b>Being bombastic, has become an unintentional trait of mine, it would seem. Members of a panel from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and several audience members, screamed at me, several years before, at Koret Auditorium located just up the way in the City of San Francisco, during a Saturday morning panel discussion. Insults such as, "you hate yourself black man ..." were hurled from the stage by Congolese panelists. Several audience members, who flanked me, expressed their genuine concern for my apparent self-hatred and genuine ignorance - as they interpreted it, as I spoke.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>I stood my ground, with both groups, being flanked in the front and from the rear by some fairly angry all black Africans at Koret. However, by the end of each conference, I was able to convince both the speakers and members of both august bodies, to sit their pride aside for a minute, and to listen to what I was saying. Perhaps someday, each one of us who hasn't learned yet that suppression, and saying what we believe out loud, neither makes the context nor the content correct. The latter should also apply to other disciplines like science and religion. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Afterward, I received invitations to come to Nigeria, Portugal, the Fiji's in order to participate in other international conferences and goodwill visits, however, when it comes to inter-continental travel, I am kind of a homeboy. In other words, if I can't fly there in 5 hours or less, it is very likely that you will ever see me there, just call me Mr. T!</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Saying it loud, should not make one proud, neither should idea suppression. Are the 2 mutually exclusive? It would seem so at times. All of us have likely been audience members at some pogrom, where either one side, or the other is determined not to let up until their opposition has been obliterated. And it is a known fact that just because one silences the speaker, the message still lives on. Jesus Christ, Dr. Martin Luther King, Bobby King, John F. Kennedy, Nat Turner ... come to mind.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>What we are witnessing in our nation's capitol today, with respect to the debt crisis and the raising of the debt ceiling, showcases individuals who are engaged in the business of ideas suppression, nullification and obliteration of their opponents, if they were foreigners, one side would likely nuke 'the Democrats'. And sadly, some of our Representatives seem to believe, and perhaps they are correct, that the best way to destroy an idea, is to destroy the person right along with the idea, whether by rote, scandal, humiliation or denigration. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><u>The only difference between what the American military's hired assassin's and paid mercenaries do and have done to America's foreign enemies and occasionally to their domestic enemies, is that they don't kill each other outright with a weapon of mass physical destruction</u>. And what is sad but telling is, that there is another often muted voice in the world, that has unjustifiably been the target of suppression and male dominant nullification Sadly, if the majoritarian female voice would have been added to the to the narrative, the Earth would likely have returned to balance, thousands of years before. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>I can recall a client who kept having repetitive nightmares. During each nightmare, she was just about to deliver, when this evil dark dark force would stand by and snatch the fetus away once it was delivered. And isn't that all too often what happens when the baby's are delivered, a male dominated society steps in, snatches away and destroys the fetus?</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And it not just the Charles Taylors of the world that I am referring to, the same problem has persisted in the United States, for over 235 years now. BTW, someone once asked, "you hate America don't you"? And on another occasion someone said, "you will tell the truth even if it hurts you, won't? Only one of these speakers was correct!</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Now, on the other hand, there is more than anecdotal proof to show that many of the same individuals who have distanced themselves, or refuse to take responsibility for America's current mess, which has impacted other economies of the world were and are responsible for the mess that the nation and much of the world finds itself in today. </b><br />
<b>Americas problem didn't just suddenly occur, that is without the direct involvement of its male-dominant policy-makers. Don't be surprised for example, if Representative John Bonehead (pardon me), doesn't suddenly announce that he is running for President of the USA. Remember, you heard it here first.</b><b> Representative Bonehead, is only one of example of failed male leadership in America. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Now given the examples that each of us have witnessed coming out of Washington DC, from Mr. Bonehead and others like him, it does not in any way diminish the contributions that of dominate males from outside of Washington DC. Reverend Solomon, shouldn't you show a United States Representative more respect. Answer: He said it, I didn't, that he is not, in other words, a United States Representative, he is there, and Speaker of the House, to represent a faction of the American people, therefore, <u>in my opinion, he is Mr. Bonehead!</u></b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Does Mr. Bonehead from Ohio, 'that fox', know a thing about leadership? In my opinion, he mistakes suppression for leadership. Who created this notion, that representatives are in place to represent only a certain faction of the American people? Answers, males invented it! Presidents, Representatives, Governors ... should never say "I am here to represent the people who placed me here". What if Mr. Bonehead's people resurrected the idea of enslaving certain Americans, what would he do? I can only imagine ...</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>So, similar to what I explained before at the UC Berkeley conference, when discussing my polemic, males have a lot that they can be proud of, even though truthfully, what has been done in the past ignores the contributions of females. Females certainly have been responsible for the successes of male leaders, even though their contributions have often been overlooked. Let's give the Catholics credit for the practice of Maryology, the honor of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, a tradition that can be traced back to Africa, that actually preceded the establishment of the Catholic Church and the practice. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Females are inseminated and afterward, carry, deliver, nurse and raise the babies and are soon after are forced into the background. A</b><b>ll too often the feminine voice has been completely ignored, or met with disdain. When it came down to some of the ridiculous choices and policies that have been put into place by objectionable males, I have to wonder how the world would have progressed if that had not been the case. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>How advanced we would be as a people, all humans that is, had it not been for the historical and ongoing suppression of the feminine voice. Perhaps, there would have been a Pelopennesian, American or Great War for that matter. And perhaps there would not be any weapons of mass destruction .... or no one, who knows, would have ever received a black eye.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Speaking of discovering hidden treasures, I suspect that someday, someone will discover a treasure has been with us for centuries, and at the same time ignored, given that we did not understand its value. It is truly amazing, the amount of money that has been spent by American decision and policy makers to foment war. The last I heard, the amount that American politicians expend to engage in war, equals that of all other nations of the world. Er her! And people are starving? Mr. Boehner and his crowd would ask, and what is your point?. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>On the other hand, it is equally amazing just how small of an investment the same males will invest in bringing in addressing legitimate social issues. Why is that the strong male warrior fears women? I suppose that it has to do with an innate fear of the purported weaker vessels.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Am I unique in this regard? well, to be honest, I am doing a better job today, not perfect, than I did prior to my epiphany. I began, as most males that I knew did, with an intrinsic understanding that I was supposed to dominate my female counterpart, in other words, I was to be, "Da Man", and God planned it that way. So, like most males, my primary objective in life was to be "Da Man". I can still recall when I was in the 5th grade, when my male 5th grade teacher taught our elementary school class about the about the dominance of males, and the recessivness of females. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>The idea of female suppression, not only in this instance, but at church, at home and everywhere else, it would seem, even by women, was either being taught or re-enforced at churches, in schools and everywhere else. Most of us can recall the scene in the blockbuster movie, The Color Purple, when the character Ms. Ciely, a female, instructed her step-son Harpo, that he should beat his wife. At the same time, Ms. Ciely, was experiencing the same kind of brutality and suppression from her husband who was Harpo's father. Harpo came to Ceily, to learn what he needed to do about his wife who refused to submit to him.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>The movie, art imitating life, was both shocking and in some instances reveling. It caused me to think more about the nature vs nurture argument, when it comes to female suppression by both males and even females. And the latter is even more pointed, when it comes to ones religious indoctrination and persuasion (for all of us know that God "a Spirit", was somehow "a male Spirit that elected not to, for some reason, thave a divine Spirit wife". but the rest of us males, were expected to dominate our women)! Er herm! And, the females were supposed to submit. </b><br />
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</b><br />
<b>And again, whether it was nature or nurture, I lived up to expectation, and made sure that in every area of my youthful life, I did all that I could to ensure that I outran, out talked, out achieved ... my female counterparts. I can still recall an incident during prepubescence, when my female cousin, who was the same age as I was, showed up at our house, and it was proudly announced that she could tie her shoes. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>I immediately got down on my knees, and tied my shoes for the first time in my life. Er herm! In other words, no female was going to tie her shoes before I could tie my shoes. What was up with that, I showed her? </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Also, no female was going to outrun me ... I made sure of that. At some point I discovered that I had a real problem, and even to this day, I haven't fully resolved the religious-cultural shaping, that I received and accepted as a child. </b><b>However, I continue to navigate throughout the rich [mindfield] of males and Ms. Ciely females, who still try to tell me what I am supposed to be doing, or how I should behave from their points of view. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><i>There are females who still expect to be dominated by males, and males who feel better, after the have dominated a female. </i>While working through this process, I tend not to date at all now. Frankly, I have not had a girlfriend, been married or dated for years, and frankly, I kind of like it this way. Don't get me wrong, I still look, hmm baby! Sorry Lord. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Move over Jesus, and the Apostle Paul, I'm doing what you two did, and I found out long ago, that what I really like to do is to watch sports or spend time in Lake Tahoe or Hawaii!</b><br />
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<b>Now don't get me wrong, good-looking stud that I am with an ego (and a slight bulge), 'Oh yeah, I can still get a girlfriend anytime that I want one", er herm! But having said that I discovered a long time ago that it is simpler to walk alone, no arguments and zero expectations, or male/female relationship confusion. </b><br />
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<b>However, I have always had friends, enemies ... that were and some still are not comfortable with my decision to walk alone. I often find myself being labeled gay, mostly by females (and the fact that i live in the Gay Area, doesn't help). Why females? Well, from what I can determine, if you don't want one of them, then something must be wrong with you. More of that Ms. Ciely confusion I call it. </b><br />
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<b>On the other hand, I haven't spent a single minute desiring to or being gay. On the other hand, according to several males in the area, who know nothing about my non-existent sex life, I hear that I am some kind of a lover stud, who is hitting it four times a day. Er herm! Now don't misunderstand me, I do have an ego, and would likely hit it more than one time a day, er herm <-:)-</b><br />
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<b>I often wonder, where does this stuff come from, given that I don't waste a minute of my life wondering or caring about someone else's sex life, so why are so many people concerned about mine, other than it being a part of this male-female confusion dynamic. Frankly, I am still flattered by the 3 or 4 females that I once dated, who asked, why haven't you tried anything with me? </b><br />
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<b>Back in the day when I was dating, I cannot tell you how many times I was asked by Christian women, who I dated at the time, why I never tried to do anything with them. And some of them even asked me, "are you gay", as if to say that anyone who wasn't after their pants, had to be gay! What an ego. I reminded them on most every occasion, (well there was that one time) er herm, aren't we supposed to be Christians?</b><br />
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<b>I suppose that it would be humorous, if it wasn't for the fact that what I have been experiencing at the hands of both females and males, points to a deeper historical problem, that has to do with the confusion inherent in the male female dynamic. Have you ever noticed that the more powerful males become politically, that the more sexual scandals are associated with them? Who Da Man? It was just announced earlier today, that another Representative, not Mr. Wiener, has to step down because of sexual impropriety.</b><br />
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to be continued ..<b>. Male leadership? There is more out of control testosterone, in Washington DC, I suspect than anywhere else on the planet ... We had better get more women down there, if we expect to survive dominant male leadership like John Bonehead and others in Washington DC. And if you are offended by my adroitness, you know preachers aren't suppose to say certain things, get over it - someone needs to keep it real!</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Next: More on the historical failure of male-dominant leadership!</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Solomon</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Kathleen Barry, Professor Emerita of Penn State University. Barry's latest book, Unmaking War, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: orange;">Remaking Men, </span></b><br />
<b>Solomon</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Check out Kathleen Barry's Site:</b><br />
<b>Her book: Unmaking War Unmaking Men</b><br />
<b>http://www.kathleenbarry.net</b></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-67219577534769629792011-07-18T15:43:00.000-07:002011-07-24T07:36:49.762-07:00God for Sale in The Modern Day American Capitalist Church System<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HHSazej0IQQ/TiS2Wk1wluI/AAAAAAAAAGE/OWPMYOir3Tg/s1600/0209111705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HHSazej0IQQ/TiS2Wk1wluI/AAAAAAAAAGE/OWPMYOir3Tg/s320/0209111705.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Why is it, that most people are not buying God anymore, with the exception of the poor and the prosperous, or other individuals who enrich themselves by selling God? Is it what they are selling, or the way that they are selling it that matters and motivates individuals to buy, or to pass on the sale? Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:28. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Secularists also have the right to test what is being taught in religious circles. If we were to ever admit it, we have made a lot of mistakes. I wish that more religious people would test things, even when it comes to religion, before trying to sell our belief systems, that vary, to other people. I deeply admire individuals or groups who are simply seeking after what is real!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Seek the truth, I believe, and it will find you, even the ones who believe that already know the truth!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>___________________________</b></span><br />
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</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>I. Pedaling God and Selling Religion: The Name of the God of the West is Money and IT is the Real American Idol.</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Is there something wrong with the sales force, or the techniques that are being employed to sell God to the masses? Today's thinking person is neither buying God, nor the sales force, and with good reason I might add. I seriously doubt whether God is buying it either.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I had the distinct pleasure of addressing an audience, of mostly television ministers, at a weekend stay over gathering, in Hunt Valley Maryland, roughly 4 years ago. The subject of my brief polemic was, American Capitalist Church Syndrome. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">My talking points were taken from a sermon that I preached in Seaside California several years before. Even though I received applause from the minister filled audience, was taken to lunch ... that was not the reason for my brief polemic. Frankly, I believed then, just as I do now, that the wheels have come off in many of capitalist America's, capitalist churches. </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>And apparently, this auditorium full of ministers agreed with me, get it ministers aren't buying it either.</b></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The god of too many American churches today, appears to be 'the unabashed god of the acquisition of wealth by religious means'. After a brief pause, the pastors who voiced their opinions, after I finished stated, "you are right, some of our ministers have gone too far, and there are individuals that have chosen ministry as a profession, because of the wealth that could be accrued from preaching" </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">It was even acknowledged that several men of the cloth confessed ahead of time, explained the reason why they chose to become ministers, in the first place. Some said: "where else can you earn this kind of money, simply for putting on a suit and talking each Sunday". Pimping Jesus? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Now think about the implications of all of this, given what had been disclosed: In other words, while their parishioners were scuffling to make ends meet, these airplane flying, Rolls Royce buying, Cartier jewelry adorning, designer suit and gown wearing, gourmet food eating, seven thousand dollar hairdo adorners ... were living large. And at the same time they were insisting that the flocks that they were fleecing, bring more money to his or her Holiness God (and in this context, God appeared to be any one of them). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">These guys and gals, put Reverend Ike to shame, and are not too far behind the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Reverend Moon, the Late Daddy Grace ... it was, and still is a shameful period for the so called church of God. <u><b>These fellas could motivate God to become an atheist!</b></u></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Reverend Billy Graham, I understand, insisted that his compensation be kept in line with the average income of his parishioners. Kudos to the Reverend Graham, however, his attitude differs far and wide from many of today's CEO preachers, who were far less talented and their reaches were far less spread out. But back to Hunt Valley Maryland.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I also pointed out to this august body, that religious organizations are often influenced by the political and economic systems in which they thrive. For example, I said, a church that exists in a capitalist system, will differ in many respects from a church in a non-capitalist nation. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">For example, in America, where we tend to worship 'the American idol', money, along with its companion political system that has become an idol in its own right, money is king in and outside of the Temple. In the American prosperity system, which is analogous to the Church of American prosperity, <i>God and wealth in both scenarios, go hand in hand.</i> However, which flag will Americans die for first, the American flag or God's?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">For just as it occurred in the past, the spirit of 'God and money together', are still being exchanged in much the same way that the moneychangers, exchanged currency in the Temple at God in Jerusalem. </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>God, and money, have long been a part of America's secular, and religious cultural ethos</b>. </span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Jesus, drove the moneychangers ... out of the Temple Court, reminding them that God's house (and he included the Temple Court in his proclamation), shall be called a House of Prayer". In many American churches today, all too often the parishioners are told that what God really wants is to be worshipped with the their sacrifice of unrighteous mammon! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">However, does money really answer all things? Read the proverbs of King Solomon, and you will find him saying just that. Is it the money, American money in this context, that God really craves? Or, similar to the Temple priests in Jesus' time, or the papacy in Rome during another time, or looking all the way to Eli - politics and wealth appear to be inextricably tied to the American capitalist system and ''show me the money priesthood" of today! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">About the same time that I addressed the ministers in Hunt Valley, the Christian evangelical church had gone through its latest iteration of, "Let me expand my territory, get rich ... prayer of Jabez". Just about a decade before, the Abundant Life ministry was the craze that consumed most American capitalist church leaders. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">These capitalist ministers, maintained that God wanted his people to be rich,, prosperous, fat and happy - what they were really doing was explaining away the fact that they intended to be enriched on the backs of their parishioners. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And as result, church members, unabashedly, began engaging in networking, selling, buying, advertising in the church and often in the vestibules, christian works ministries. And the prosperity preachers, I won't name any names, assured their audiences that God wanted them to prosper financially, so that they could give more to the church (them). Move over Reverend Ike ... One of my favorite preacher business types, are the ministers who promote their sermons on CD, in the pulpit, just before they begin preaching. Eek!</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>JC, during a period, which is beginning to taper off thank God, stood for Jesus Capitalist, instead of Jesus Christ or Jesus anointed!</b></span> </blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And just how were these ministers of the 'sell me that power 'Annanias Sect', getting away with it? To be frank, the wave of individuals who became members of churches, during the Mega Movement (sounds like something that one does in private), didn't actually join for God's sake, they joined for money/businesses sake.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">One thing that was accomplished was also this, church became cool during that period, you could dress down, play funky music, become a part of religious sanctioned dating services, pursue wealth, sell in the church ... </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">During a discussion that I was engaged in with a men's prayer group early one morning in Centerville Virginia, the pastor admitted that none of what was written in the books or recorded on the tapes, with regard to the indulgent, Prayer of Jabez craze, came true for him, even though he followed the accompanying instructions. Who made the most money, the authors of the modern day book with film rights, Raptured, The Davinci Code or the Prayer of Jabez merchandising.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The fact of the matter is that too many Americans joined the church during the networking, Prayer of Jabez, get rich, capitalism gone amok in religion period. And those who imbibed, did so, in order to acquire wealth, networking capital and 'to think and grow rich'. The latter is the God that they have been waiting for. Help ME, to enlarge MY Territory! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I was working in Washington DC at the time, when Bishop T.D. Jakes was quoted in the Washington Post as saying, "The church is a business". And most people believed that a business, was exactly what he meant. Now, I believe that what the Bishop was doing, was a playful attempt at engaging in a play on words, which when interpreted meant, that the church was a 'busy-ness'. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">But still, his comment was offensive to individuals who had been taught that the church was a spiritual organization and God's body</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Whatever he was doing offended Washingtonians, and within a few days his comments appeared in the Washington Post as follows, "Bishop Jakes said, that the church is a business". What happened to the church was 'a spiritual organism', or a body of baptized believers', as many Christians were taught to believe?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The Bishop's comments were untimely, to say the least. Did he really say it: Yes, he did - I was there sitting with a group of ministers when, not only he, but his accomplices said it to. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">During the same time, a slew of new converts were added to church rolls, and dozens of magnificent mega-structures popped up around the nation, (some of them are being foreclosed upon today, following 2 decades of abundant life, expand my territory and church is a business teaching. It would appear that God hasn't been paying his bills, just collecting moolah. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Sadly, the influx of people who came at the time, were motivated by the teachings of the God of wealth ministries, and where are they today. Kweflo Dollar, actually had church parishioners waving currency, that was held in their hands in the air, while shouting, "The Money Is Coming".</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I got into a heated debated with one of his parishioners during a trip to Buckhead Georgia several years ago. While we were in flight, she let me know that she did not appreciate me talking about the Dollar Man. Whatever happened, I thought to, "Jesus is coming", isn't that what believers, especially Christians were taught to expect, Jesus, not money, before. Reverend Dollar is appropriately named Dollar. Along with the American Idol, he is the American dollar preacher!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Sadly, smaller churches began to lose their members to 'the money is coming', networking, expand my territory, bring me some seed money, drive a luxury car, mega ministries. In fact, some of the smaller churches were cleaned out - their people followed 'the money is coming ministers', instead. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Parishioners learned and sought after a new paradigm, and subsequently joined 'the church of the God of the money stream', in the instances where their former ministers would not adapt to the new contemporary God of the money ministries.. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Many other evangelical preachers, teachers and writers caught the wave, and their congregations and followers began to explode, well grow then. All of the sudden, the new CEO minister and his ministry swelled to incalculable numbers. A ministry with one thousand members became a small congregation, having been replaced by ministries with tens of thousands of ministers and sprawling campuses. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Were the transplanted members of new mega churches there because they were sent, or was it because they went where the action was. In the book of St. Matthew, Jesus warned the people about following rumors with respect to where Jesus was, in the desert ...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">A few years ago, Ted Koppel while on location in the Republic of China, asked a native Chinese convert, why he chose to become a Christian? The man didn't hesitate, his answer was short, rapid and sweet, he answered <b>"Because Christians have all the money"!</b> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">One has to wonder, if Jesus were here today, would he overturn the offering tables in most Christian capitalist churches and in their vestibules, or how about in the family life center, particularly the ones that serve alcohol one night, and host Alanon and Alcohol Anonymous the next night? Or would he on the other hand, remind today's church leaders that his house was and is still to be called a 'House of Prayer', not a get rich scheme? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>II. The Danger of Mixing the Two</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I can recall when a mega church in Maryland, was also publicly exposed in the Washington Post newspapers. The public was informed, as a result of a news article, that this unnamed mega church had applied for a liquor license for its Family Life Center. Well, what could the church do under the circumstances? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">In order to rent out the space in the Family Life center for different event, in order to accrue more wealth for the church (the groups who wanted to rent the Family Center, that sat on church property, wanted to serve liquor when they rented the Family Life Center). Well, in order to break even, the church's board decided, well then liquor it is. The embarrassing article in the Washington Post resulted in their having a change of mind. Sadly, they had to be embarrassed by a secular newspapers to change their minds</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Oh, what a slippery slope .. wouldn't you agree? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Besides, what if one of the drunk visitors left the Family Life Center, crossed the street, rode and fell off of a ride at Six Flags? That would have been most embarrassing. Imagine how that article would have read in the Washington post?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Luke, there is a disturbance in the force, or better yet a spirit of error in the church today, I believe, and that could explain, why only the groups that I mentioned above, are still coming to the church or believe that there is a real God. These people are so amused by God's sales force, that tend to stay away!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And it crept into the American church while men and women were sleeping. In too many Christian churches today, "it is all about the Benjamin's, and the size of the Congregation". And, guess what, the new paradigm has been working for several decades now? However, of late, the air is beginning to come out of the American capitalist church's sails. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">IN God We Trust is inscribed on the back of American currency. The real question is this: Is it God or the money that Americans trust in. The American preacher, too many of them, teach their people that the God that they are selling, actually wants more and more of the unrighteousness mammon. After all, God cannot build his house without money, correct? Interestingly enough, God's last instruction to his disciples before departing was, to go to Jerusalem and wait for an infilling of the Holy Spirit. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Get it? Jesus, did not send his people to 'the Temple' or to Synagogues, instead he sent them to a room, without any apparent religious connotations or accoutrement. He ignored the order of Priests, Levites and Rabbis, instead, he chose to start something new. I suspect that we are just about at the point where we are going to have to start something new, or to put it another way, to go back to the future perhaps. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Today's religious system in America, is any many respects identical to the secular system that it is a part of, and just as you have the have and have not citizens, you also have the have and the have not churches, and Christians.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Am I jealous of a church that has thousands of members, who have been brought there given the allure of belonging to a prosperous church, that promises a prosperous return on the investment in it, for its members? Answer, nope! What I am concerned about is this, that too many individuals in America's unabashed American capitalist churches, are where they are in order to worship the God of prosperity, and waiting to see what they will get in return by doing so. In other words, they are looking for a financial return on their investments of time, tithes, offerings, sacrificial offerings, monetary pledges .... </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><u>Jesus informed his disciples, that the crowds that were following him, were only following him, much like the crowds of today, for food and miracles</u>. It any wonder, that thinking individuals who have the ability to see through this ruse, do not accept American Christianity as being viable, neither the institution, its God of mammon nor its sale force. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I don't know Ananias, it would appear that you are not the only one who sought after an ability to perform miracles, for example by laying hands on people, so that you could enrich yourself. I thought we were past that before, but anymore, I know that we are not.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Remember, when Ananias, after seeing the working of the Holy Spirit immediately asked the Apostles to , "sell me some of that power so that on who I lay my hands ..." In other words, ching ching, he immediately, recognized how he could cash in using the name of the Lord! Perhaps he, prophetically, saw, dollar signs!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The Apostles, rebuked him for demeaning the gifts and the power of God, that he desired to use for financial gain. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Today's Apostles don't rebuke anymore, instead they are encouraging individuals, all to often, to use whatever gifts they possess, in order to accrue wealth for themselves and the ministry. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">In other words, preaching, teaching, the laying on of hands, singing ... is there for financial gain. Richard Pryor, and the Church of What's Happening Now, wasn't too far off from many religious churches today. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><u>God wants you to give until it hurts,</u> some pastors teach their congregations. It hurts alright, but not for the reasons that they think!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I have also been a part of religious services, where receiving the offering, outlasts the time allotted for the sermon and prayer. In fact, one minister in our nation's Capitol, explained what he was going to do beforehand, when he was invited to preach to a mega audience one Sunday Morning. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The New York minister said, I am going to speak for only 5 minutes, and afterwards, I am going to pray for the people, however, with this caveat, everyone who desires prayer, must bring me $101, if they wish to be prayed for,Er herm!!</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Let me see, conversion, or pay your way, which is it, I thought? The other side could make a fair argument, by saying, where a person's treasure is, there will his heart be also. And therefore, when he or she gives their money to the church, a seed offering, he or she is also giving their heart to God? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">So what is it that God wants? Does God really need money, or is that simply a man made construct. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And what about the tithe and offering that many of these parishioners gave in the offering earlier, wasn't it worth a healing, and now God wants another one-hundred and ten, aherm. And before you criticize the church, Senator Orrin Hatch, has been one of its guest, ministerial, lecturers.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>III. The Test: Prove All Things</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The secularists that I have listened to, believe it or not, do not seem to have an argument with God, they simply do not believe that there is a God, and there is a difference, if you listen closely to what they are saying. For what they are really saying is, I don't believe in what the sales force is trying to sell me. True secularists believe that God has been made up over a period of time, as a result of fear, myth, misconstructions, religious zealotry, fear .</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And when secularists, observe the religious sales force of today, purportedly, but not always God's sales force in actuality, they feel even more convinced that there is no God. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Well, consider what the religious world has demonstrated over 6,000 years, when it comes to God, and I have already given you several examples. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I find that at times, that in an unusual kind of way, my mind operates more like that of the atheist in this regard: I'm not sure that religious groups and individuals know what God is either. Seeing how too many religious individuals and organizations positions God as an invisible, angry, strident entity that hopes that people will fall, so that he can ultimately burn them up in the end, or raise money. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And isn't that the reason that most individuals surrender to God, either for the benefits, wish fulfillment, or to avoid any negative sanctions. .</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I believe that the entity, for lack of a better term, that we refer to in Christianity as God, is much bigger than the God of bring me some money, drink some juice on Sunday, fulfill my wishes, or I will burn you in an everlasting lake of fire God ... The neat little package that we have put together to sell God, speaks to a God of human wish fulfillment and rewards, or negative sanctions. In other words, humans are taught to believe and to worship God, in order to get what they want, to be healthy and happy, and to avoid punishment.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And where most religious groups have stopped, because they already know God, I am under the impression that the real work has just begun. And, the latter includes moving beyond some of the primitive and primordial ideas, myths and legends that most religious people still wish to associates themselves with, as opposed to pursuing what is real. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">what has been passed down by myth, religious tradition or otherwise, is a good start for a beginner, but for someone who loves the truth, likely dishonors God. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">As I mentioned before in several of my other writings, religious people, particularly in the Christian tradition, are still awed by one's ability to have a spirit leave one mentally ill individual, go into a herd of pigs and to run down the hill ...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And, re</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">ligious people, in the Christian tradition, are excited over the ability to convert water into wine, and there are other examples that I could refer to that excites Christians. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">But how about synchronicity, the ability to merge with and to understand what the will of what we refer to as the divine is ... but for heaven's sake, we don't need a God of the offering plate, or one to help us to expand 'our territories'. I can think of many individuals who have been satisfied with, and able to love a God, who left them in abject poverty or cripple. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Others, I know of, their territories were never enlarged, but on the other hand were satisfied with what they had, even birth defects, congenital blindness, encephalitis ... as opposed to believing only and up to a God that would supply their needs or enrich them. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I am especially concerned about individuals from my own racial group, who oftentimes, know very little about about their own history, and therefore are too quick to embrace the traditions and beliefs of other racial groups, simply because the collective memory of their own traditions have been lost.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Most black churches, from the time that Bishop Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal church, followed the God of the Eurocentric model of Christianity. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">On the other hand, another religious icon, the late Bishop T. W. Phillips, from Mobile Alabama, named the religious organization that he began as, the Ethiopian Overcoming Holiness Church. Frankly, both Bishops are to be commended for what they started.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">However, the Ethiopian model resonates with me, because in the Christian bible, the Holy Spirit specifically dispatched, Deacon Evangelist Philip, to go into the Negev and to connect with this black Ethiopian. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Get it, the spirit sent Phillip, directly to an African, who apparently was responsible for introducing Christianity into various parts of Akeebaland (Africa). The Spirit did not instruct the African to find it, by taking a detour through Europe. Perhaps, twain the two would have met someday, who knows? However, we will never know now, will we? The Eurocentric model and its God, has always been a God of money. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Most African Americans, have come through churches, even with black leaders, that have the Eurocentric imprint on them. Bishop T.W. Phillips, not a racist, once chided black Christians by saying, "Anything that a white man will do, you will do"! The comment was not meant, I believe, to disparage whites. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">However, it was to say that blacks lacked a history of their own, and therefore blacks were simply too accepting of and often simply modeling the behaviors of their counterparts, without applying any critical thinking to what they were doing. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Now if you look around you, particularly in an ethnically diverse nation such as the United States is, you would notice that other cultures assimilate only to a certain extent. And the fact that their assimilation is limited, is not considered to be racist, or a rejection of the dominant culture. On the other hand, the reason that most cultures continues to practice what has been a part of their historical cultural ethos, is to retain, and to strengthen their uniqueness. God apparently liked different flavors, bone structures, patois ...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Black Christians, with the exception of Coptic Christians and a few other minor groups, have appropriated the religion of the God of Capitalism. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Informed blacks, on the other hand, simply want to worship a more balanced God. The Nation of Islam, provided a cultural-religious ethos for blacks, wherein the black man was considered to be a whole man.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And that relationship was near perfect, but not exactly. Why? Blacks, some of them have discovered that even within Islam, that in certain circles they are still viewed as inferiors. Sadly, even in Islam, blacks have once again, accepted someone elses understanding of what God is, and what God wants, instead of making the effort to find that out for themselves!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">So, where is the just God of blacks, females, non-whites in the West or in other cultures? Where is the God that relies less on the unrighteous mammon, instead of love, peace and grace? Some individuals will ask, "well, if there is a God, how come he stands by and watches all of the tragic events take place, and does not intervene, particularly, if he is a God of love and judgment'? I suspect that is a fair question. It certainly is reasonable in light of all that is taught in most religious circles about God. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The answer could be, and I believe that it is, that religious groups today, have been left back. By left back I mean, that similar to what children used to experience, when I was in school, if you underperformed, it was not uncommon for a student to be told that they would have to 'be left back' in order to repeat a certain grade level.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">When I consider religion, not just Christianity, and where religious groups and people are today, it appears to me that religion is comprised of individuals who have been left back. A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">nd because we are so retrograde in terms of behavior and understanding, it is hard for the individuals that we are trying to sell God, to take us seriously. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Until we move beyond judgmental, retrograde teachings, greed, wish fulfillment ... I suspect that we will continue to draw converts from a limited pool of the gullible, the impressionable, the unreasonable and those who wish to get rich!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">To be fair, we have done a lot of great things on earth, however, in some senses, we keep going around the same mountain over and over again, whereas we should have taken our point of departure long ago, and have become far more advanced as a people, or whatever else we should have become by now, transformed perhaps.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">If we ever get to that point, we will be more advanced and better equipped to explain to would be converts, or even cynics, why they should listen to us, instead of relying on superior research, scholarship and positive proof, of the kind on which they can base their beliefs. Look at us, look at our history, who would trust us to provide them with the answers that apply to the universe or to God.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Isn't that a reasonable position? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"> What we refer to as God, is so much bigger than what we are attempting to sell, a God of religion only. I often wonder, will religion or religious people ever get past this stage in order to explore the vastness of whatever this God thing, actually turns out to be.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Does a minister, within God's sales force, know when he has gone too far? Here is one way to tell. When people are starving, living outdoors, broken-hearted (even members of your congregations), and you are driving a Rolls Royce, have your own airplane along with a fat bank account in addition to one of the largest estates in the nation, you might want to look in the rear view mirror, because something is amiss!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And you are God's salesperson? Or are you a salesperson of a Babylonian, Jewish, Pagan, American dollar ...god?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Solomon</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>Now some of you are thinking that Solomon is upset because he didn't get his. But, au contraire mon frere. Frankly, I am writing because I am intrigued by what has been and is still taking place in today's church. Frankly, I am a skeptic of the church, not what we refer to as God. I am also a church historian, one with keen insight and an ability to know when the ship has been or is being steered off course. Why did our Chinese Christian friend become a Christian again, he did so for the love of money god! </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Hopefully, when most of the 'selling God in order to get rich ministers' get to heaven, the ones who are guilty of doing so, hopefully, will be able to afford their mansions in the sky too! </span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Peace & grace,</span></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-50887118919910003952011-07-15T18:34:00.000-07:002011-07-24T13:53:46.155-07:00A Ten Round Knockout: Perhaps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--5TZlvXzWeA/TiDqTRac69I/AAAAAAAAAF0/2ZZY5ykF8O0/s1600/cutcaster-vector-100926483-Easter-bunny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">M<img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--5TZlvXzWeA/TiDqTRac69I/AAAAAAAAAF0/2ZZY5ykF8O0/s320/cutcaster-vector-100926483-Easter-bunny.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It Is Not Too Late To Score A Victory</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">and To Retain Your Crown President</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Obama! </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Four years ago, I disagreed with the majority of my peers about presidential candidate Barack Obama. I explained to all of them, that one speech at a Democratic Convention, “did not a President make”. Now, to about 75% of my challengers, my protest fell on death ears. Why? Roughly 75% of my challengers were black. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And in the manner that white people had historically voted for whites in the past, now finally, it was the black man and woman's turn to pay them back and vote, from what I could tell, for a black man. Actually he was not 100% black, however, half and half qualified him to be classified as black by most whites and blacks.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And of course, if you ask the average black man what color Jesus was, they would tell you that he was black! And if you asked a non-black person what color Jesus was, they would say, 'he wasn't black'! </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I am beginning to sound like a broken record I know, however, as far as I was concerned, I didn't care what color he was – I simply believed that the man needed to acquire more experience, so that he would not end up hurting the rest of us anymore than we had already been hurt by the Republicans and their insouciant leaders. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Come on now, Vice President Dan Quayle, George H. Bush Jr., Sarah Palin on deck …?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Well, my prediction that he needed 4 more years to get ready to become President, and that he should have been an understudy on then Senator Candidate Hillary Clinton's ticket, may have proven to be right. Here we are 3 years later, well close enough, and the President has finally begun to sound presidential. Last night, in his most recent fight with the obstructionist's on the Right, the President told them that they had until midnight, well 24 more hours to either get on board, or to get out of town. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Alright now, I thought, the man finally stood up, and began to sound Presidential. Look, the President needs to leave that suave nice boy sophisticate persona, back at Harvard, and get some swagger. Why? We don't need a Rock Star, we need someone who can and will stand up to the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy in our nation, and to score more knockouts, in behalves of the American people. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And seeing how he stopped the only person that would have done so before, then Senator Hillary Clinton, he needs to do what he stopped her from doing, by putting the members of the minority right-wing-conspiracy, back into their place. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here is my advice to our young President, a man who is beginning to show some life closer to his fourth year in office, just as I predicted: <b>“Fight Mr. President”!</b> For when you think about it, what do you have to lose anyway? It doesn't matter that for 2.5 years, you seemed to have believed that because you were so sweet, and played the conciliatory role, that the Republicans were going to capitulate or cease from their obstructionist's policies and practices, or to do away with their "How to Defeat Democrat's Republican Playbook, that works every time!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">However, time is a great teacher isn't it? The Republicans haven't capitulated, and they never will – do you get it now? You should have learned by now that you will never satisfy the Republican wrong. - these guys and gals are dyed-in-the wool Republican ideologues, and they have a singular focus. They wake up everyday and pray to the Republican Idol, asking it, how can I knock off a Democrat or two today, especially their evil leader, 'a brother from another mother'?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">They are dyed-in-the-wool obstructionists, and they intend to oppose you and any non-Republicans in everything that they do. Okay, you want to be Mr. Nice guy? Well, that is okay for you because you are wealthy and powerful just like they are, and you even have a security team to protect you. However, who will fight for, defend and protect the little gals and guys from the great unwashed. Oh, and by the way, <u>I am not one of the little guys – I will take any of them on any day and at any time.</u></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ironically, I debated one of them during the run up to the election, several years ago. Once, an apologist for the Right, ended his defense of the Republican Right, he could not answer this simple question, “then why sir, if they are so right, and you are one of them, are you living in a homeless shelter"? Silence? You betcha!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Anyone who knows anything about our nation's capitol, knows that it is not a place for nice guys, neither on the streets, nor on The Hill. The way I see it, the President is already in the 10<sup>th</sup> round of his administration, anyway. He has been hurt and there are only 2 more rounds to go. And, even though he has been wobbled since the mid-term election ended, a last minute knock out could end up scoring a huge victory for him and the rest of the people, that he represents.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> And if it helps, the President should order and watch the infamous Mike Weaver/Big John Tate fight; it was a classic. In it you will see how Big John Tate, like the Big Money Republicans have done to the President in the early rounds, cleaned Weaver's clock, nearly every round. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And just as Weaver sent Big John back to Texas, remind you of President George Bush Jr. and the former Republican House and Senate, the President can send his powerless opponents packing to Ohio, Kentucky ... Big John Tate was not only knocked down, he was knocked out, and afterwards, was never the same again.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In fact, he stayed out for nearly half-way through another uncounted round. When he came to, he had no idea what hit him. I know the President would prefer to treat his job like a gentleman who is playing golf or basketball, however, there are rarely any nice guys in politics, that won't do what they have to in, order to get what they want. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The President has got to learn to get down, dirty, jab and to land a punch knockout punch. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Until recently, he hasn't been throwing any punches, much less landing any – he has been lying on the ropes, getting hit and appears to be punch drunk. The President needs to be reminded that he was, and could still be the people's champion. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is not too late to reclaim the Presidential crown, however, the rope-a-dope strategy is not working! There must be a few leftover books on pugilism, lying around in the Oval Office, or at the Presidential Library. Surely, President Clinton, Richard Nixon and or other Republican President's, must have left a few behind!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Rev</span></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-86815689650008739242011-07-14T20:15:00.000-07:002011-07-20T06:24:27.188-07:00Bringing Down the (White) House & America Held Hostage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ADLeExaBPys/Th-hW0GIUyI/AAAAAAAAAFw/S42AEkkfYnQ/s1600/0312111117c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">jl<img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ADLeExaBPys/Th-hW0GIUyI/AAAAAAAAAFw/S42AEkkfYnQ/s320/0312111117c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>They Had Nearly Eight Years to Prepare</b> for this (given the tax breaks that they received over the past 8-years), and before the next Republican imposed disaster could occur - I would call that an ample Republican headstart. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Therefore, it is not of any concern , to the modern-day 'Do nothing but Filibuster Party', to make choices that will have a deleterious impact on all other Americans, who did not receive 8 years of tax cut subsidies!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It occurred to me earlier this evening, that the former Whig turned </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Republican Mafioso Party, America's modern </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">day radical fringe Party, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> are simply repeating history.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Not since former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's Contract With America revolution of 2 decades ago, have we seen so many angry Republican men, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and today women too. And can someone explain to me what do they have to be so angry about? Again, they are secure, and their Party is responsible, more than anyone or any other Party, for what has transpired in America, since Ronald Reagan's diminutive administration was in power? Or, are they simply angry because they are not completely in charge, to do more damage, in Washington? Whatever the cause, America is being held hostage by radical republicans, and less than 300 republicans on Capitol Hill.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We have got to take the nation back and to rid ourselves of the scourge!</span><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The outlandish behavior of Republicans, led by Representatives Mitch McConnell, Boehner, Rush Limbaugh, Grover Norquist, Anne Coulter and all of the rest of the gaggle of venal Republican malcontents, are the reason for the current state of affairs in America as well as in Congress, the White House, and your and my house. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Can someone tell me, what did Benedict Arnold have on the modern day Whig turned Republican Party American traitors? Do you suppose that any of these jokers, ever get on their knees and pray? Here is a question for you: What do you get, when you cross an Republican elephant with a non-Republican donkey? Answer: You don't get anything done!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One thing for sure is, that these folks are not Americans first, they are "Republicans now, and Republicans forever more"! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Their anti-American behavior also begs the question, will these spoiled angry children on the Right, ever grow up and cease their obstructionist practices in deference to what the rest of America wants or desire?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I thought before, that The Angry Men's Party, was decapitated when Newt and subsequently George Bush Jr. and the Republican members of Congress were vanquished from power in the House and Senate, just five years ago. However, however, they're back, having not learned a thing since the last time that we tossed them, along with the rest of the 'Bushtanista Party', from power! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There was a housecleaning alright, however the Republican obstructionists, to my chagrin, were able to return to power when the American people caved in for the third time. And how did they, the tyrannical Republican fringe, manage to regain control of the power in the Senate, after such a terrible display? The answer is in the question, for just </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">as Benedict Arnold and other traitors had sympathizers, the radical Republicans have a reliable group of Republican sympathizers on the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Left. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here is an ironic twist, I suspect that if the economy were to be brought due given the actions of the anti-American radical Republican fringe, that even though the majority of Americans would suffer, they would still blame the Left, for America's failure. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I wonder what would William F. Buckley, or Senator Barry Goldwater have to say, if they were both still alive to witness the current sideshow that is being put on by members of their Grand old Party. I'm certain that if Ronald Reagan were here, he would be ecstatic, given that he is responsible, in a broader sense, for what we are witnessing now with his legacy Party. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Republican tactics, always seem to work to their advantage, particularly when dealing with a politically naive and illiterate American electorate. Imagine if a Republican were to walk up from behind, and stab a Democrat in the back, something that they have been doing every time that they have taken hold of the reigns of power in this nation of ours? And what would the Democrat do? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">He would turnaround and blame the stabbing on a Democrat, even if there weren't any Democrats in sight. And the strategy has essentially worked, for as far back as I can remember. And I became politically aware of the American process, when John F. Kennedy ran against Richard Milhouse Nixon. Kids, probably Republican kids, would punch you, if you weren't against Kennedy and voting for, almost got impeached, but got out of town first, Richard Nixon.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Democrats and Republicans together, after knowing that they were guilty, absolved the Republicans of any wrong-doing since Nixon and Watergate, right down to Ronald Watergate Reagan, George H. Bush Jr. and all Republican led Congresses over the past 40 years. Republicans are adept at employing <b>'The Twinkie Defense',</b> when they are giving of committing murder, or better yet, the OJ defense. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">For even if the gloves fit, they are still acquitted!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The same tactics always seem to work however, because Republicans know how to push non-Republican's buttons, which is typically ' the sky is falling fear button', that customarily results in Americans, who ought to know better, switching sides. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Zel Miller of late, and Twinkle Toes, Senator Joe Lieberman, could tell you something about that. By the way Joe, choose which side you are going to be on - and to think that I voted for that guy before, well actually, my vote was for Al Gore. Joe, happened to be on the ticket.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Yes, the sky is falling, however, who is responsible for its fall? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">How 'bout them, bring the government down, permit the nation to default and allow the rest of America to implode, economically Republcians? Are these Republican guys, gals and Benedict Arnolds, anti American or what?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Will their sophists leaders, John Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Grover Norquist, Annie 'Shoot 'em up Oakley' Coulter, Rush to Judgment Limbaugh, T-Party Republicans … instructing the rest, when will the rest of the Party began behaving like responsible citizens again, as opposed to one large hate group?</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> What we need are some Americans on the other side, to begin behaving like concerned Americans, and they need to begin doing so, sooner than later!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> And once again, why should they learn to behave? The answer is because, they are supposed to be patriotic Americans, and in deference to the majority of America's citizen's, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>they have had a nearly a decade tax-break headstart.</b></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Isn't it amazing that the same group, never cried foul, when Republican President George H. Bush Jr. continued to borrow spend, in deference to the deficit ... in order to continue 2-wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? So, while pushing America to engage in wars that America could not afford before that contributed to the current economic predicament, we are asked to believe that they have all of the sudden experienced a sudden stroke of being fiscally responsible, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I DON'T THINK SO. <b>It sounds more like 'bile', get it, to me!</b></span><b> </b> </span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If only the rest of us had been given, an 8 year head start, perhaps we could better weather the current storm, that Republicans, more than any other person or party are responsible for creating. <i>I am not an apologist for President Obama, however, he is not responsible for the current bleeding in America, in my opinion. He is trying, without their cooperation, to stop what they, a woe-be-gone Party, are responsible for starting. </i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And the President let it be known earlier today, that he might be ready to do what he should have done nearly 3 years ago, to stop pandering to the obstructionist Right, and to stand up to these non-compromising, right-wing nut jobs, unless he is secretly one of them. His endorsement of Ronald Reagan's policies years ago, gave me reason to wonder..</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The wound that America, and most Americans are suffering from now, is as a result of Republican profligacy, historical elitism, a penchant for ware and the mismanagement of the American treasury. These are the reasons that America is in the predicament that it finds itself in today, in particular, the American people. And what is even more remarkable, is that despite the problems that they caused, they are already plotting to recover the 3rd Jewel, control of the White House in 2012. </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>And the filibuster strategy, has resulted in their having gained a certain amount of ground, over the past 2 years alone. </b></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And how does that policy/strategy work with Republicans? They simply say no to everything that the other side proposes, and then they turn around and convince the public that the other side is ineffective. It kind of reminds you of what often takes place in sports, where you only need a good defense to be in place in order to win, if you were team were only to score a few points for themselves.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I cannot think of one thing that the Republicants have done, to benefit the majority, whenever they were in power, or the past 4 decades - well, Nixon did resign, er herm!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Will they succeed this time? I must admit, that it is very possible that they will succeed, given that they, The Republican fringe, knows how to push the buttons of, repeat the same behavior and expect a different result, Americans. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I have never seen a group so adept at inveigling a group of people, even if they are still holding the smoking gun. They will argue, that if it doesn't fit, you must acquit! Have you heard that one before? The problem is that all too often the glove does fit, and they, the Republicans, still get away with murder.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As I close, there remains a scintilla of hope, that the Republicans may have outdone themselves this time, however, it is still too early to tell. I am hoping that the American people will finally see this Party for what it is, <b>a party of anti-American anarchists and malcontents.</b> If the Republican Party was an American state for example, they likely would have ceded from the Union a long time ago, and they would have taken as much of America's wealth and military might along with them. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Republicans don't want the people, that refuse to rubber stamp their un-American activities (remember that department in the federal government)? Republicants, simply want America's wealth and power to remain under their control. To the extent that America is a commonwealth to them, would be if their names were 'Common', or commonwealth! America is the means by which they can retain and acquire wealth, in addition to all other forms of power in America and around the world. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Clearly, these turkeys would prefer to bring down the entire economy in order to satisfy their own whims. Am I the only one that believes that what they are doing now, ought to be considered an impeachable offense? And isn't it </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">amazing, how history repeats itself? The last time that a junior Senator from the Illinois Legislature rose to power, the Whigs, the former Republican Party, opposed him and his rise to the power. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And here we are today, a century and a half later, and the Republican Whig Party of the 21st Century, is trying to bring down another Senator turned President, who originally hailed from the Illinois (Senate) Legislature. </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>What needs to happen this time, is that the Republican Whig Party needs to be done away with, and just one stroke by the American voters will finish them off, once and for all. </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Wouldn't you believe that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a faction of their Party would stand up for the United States Constitution, and in so doing, support the will of the majority of the American people? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One has to wonder, whose buttons will the American people, be pushing during the next 2 elections, McConnell or </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Boehner</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 's … a couple of knuckleheads? If we were to elect either of these two to a higher office, when they take the oath, could someone have them to read and sign the Patriot Act as well - I'm not certain that either one of them has ever read it. And, this is what happens, when you have second-string leadership, at the top!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Solomon</span></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-55432144228109637522011-07-09T22:32:00.000-07:002011-07-13T22:26:27.856-07:00Mostly Second String Leadership At the Top<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79J2G1ZwK_c/Thk4XdYaS-I/AAAAAAAAAEw/8S6naqNyxgQ/s1600/0312111118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79J2G1ZwK_c/Thk4XdYaS-I/AAAAAAAAAEw/8S6naqNyxgQ/s320/0312111118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">In terms of leadership:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"> America is desperately in need of competent, patriotic and qualified individuals that are capable of leading our diversely complex and bifurcated nation, in these unprecedented times. </span>___________</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">_______________________________</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The fact of the matter is, we might have to do what American consumers have typically done in the past, when making a decision to purchase a reliable vehicle - we might have to import some reliable political leaders from overseas. </span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">An American citizen,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"> certainly cannot rely on American-Conservative Republican made models, to take them where they want to go (even if we are their owners). Republican vehicles tend to ignore their owner's (the American people) commands, and proceed in a direction of their own choosing. </span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">You might as well toss the owner's manual, The United State's Constitution, out of the window as far as they are concerned. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-size: large;">And how much will it cost, if you if you were to acquire a Republican one, even at an auction? Hint: They tend to go to the highest corporate bidder!</span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">If the majority will simply stand up again, just as it did during the the runnup to the 2008 Election, against tyranny, we can return the power to the majority of the people, and vanquish self-serving politicians from office. We have got to, at all cost, get rid of the second and third string leadership that currently exists in all 3 branches of government, and to eliminate the new crop that intends to pick up where the others have left off.</div></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Single payer and the public option:</b> I was listening to a speaker on cable TV, a few nights ago. He explained what was wrong with the leadership in Washington. He used the insurance initiative of 2 years ago, to make his point. What he said was this: Seventy nine percent of Americans wanted single payer insurance, and the public option. And instead, approximately 300 plus politicians in Washington DC, decided that what the majority of Americans wanted, over 100 million of us, paled in comparison to what they wanted. And, the majority failed to get, in its entirety, what it wanted. In a representative democracy, that ought to be unthinkable.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">America is in crisis mode, and anyone who cannot see that, must be blind or a Republican. And sadly, there are many Americans who fit into this category. Can you believe it, the majority of Americans still believe in politicians, in deference to high unemployment, rising costs, home foreclosures, war at any cost, college tuition increases, a crumbling infrastructure and favoritism for the wealthy. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I cannot blame naive Americans in this sense, given that they are receiving help from clandestine, self-serving individuals on the right, who would have them to believe that the real problem in America has nothing to do with them or their jaundiced right-winged policies. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Are Americans so naive to believe, after watching the debacle that occurred under the most recent Republican administration, that was buttressed for 6 years by a Republican controlled Congress, that things are going to be any different now that Republicans are in charge of Congress, the Supreme Court and perhaps the White House next year? Have Americans forgotten how America got into the predicament that it is in now as a result of Republican leadership over most of the past 30 years? And their objective today is to consolidate their power again, by reclaiming the 3rd jewel, the White House in 2012.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">My message is simple. Americans need to finish what they started when they worked to change the leadership in Washington DC beginning in 2006, when they rightly swept Republicans from control of the Congress, and in 2008 when they took back the White House. The problem that followed, however, was with the replacement leader that the American people selected, President Barack Obama, a neophyte who lacked the know how, and the requisite skillsets, to lead such a timely revolution. Am I stumping for a candidate to replace our incumbent president too? The answer is yes, President Obama, and the Republican filibusterers in the Senate, have had their shots, and all of them together have miserrably failed the American majority. <br />
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And as a result, the majority of Americans need to come together again, and to carefully select and elect the kind of leadership that is needed to get the job done in Washington DC, and the rest of the nation for that matter. Our lives depend on it, and we cannot wait any longer. What Americans cannot and should not do, conversely, is to stay home and sulk, given all of the miscues, deliberate subterfuge, filibustering by Republicans and the leadership at the top in both the past and the current administrations. <br />
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The Republican controlled House in Washington DC, has worked overtime to retain control of the American narrative, and to thwart any effort by Democrats and Independents, to reach a compromise that will result in America's problems being solved. And they continue to employ their craft, in deference to all of their past and current, failures to lead. And when you consider that they are responsible for America being in the predicament that it is in today, their customary use of obstructionist tactics, borders on being criminal. <br />
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The majority of Americans, will tell you that current President Barack Obama, and former President George H Bush Jr. are both decent fellows, and therefore who am I to say to that they are not? The fact of the matter is that decency alone, should not be the single determinant used to decide who should lead, whether in the Oval Office, Congress, the Supreme Court or other. Given<u> the current set of circumstances in the nation, decency is simply not good enough</u>. There are plenty of decent individuals who simply lack the skillsets to preside, aside from these two. Why? Too many lives are arguably at stake, not only ours, but the lives of other individuals in the world who are impacted by the decisions made in America. What happens in America, has an effect upon the entire world<br />
<blockquote><b>America, arguably, remains the leading nation in the world, at least for the time being. And therefore, it is critical that Americans place exceptional leadership at the helm.</b></blockquote>And all too often, especially of late, too many Americans have done just that, exercised their franchise with a singular aim in mind, one that supports their position, in deference to the needs and desires of everyone else. Among the candidates who have already thrown their towels into the Presidential election ring for 2012, and the one's who are still contemplating doing so, in my opinion, none of them, the most highly visible in the lot, are ready to lead.<br />
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Some of them are simply the best that money can buy, and that is about all. But to be certain, they are not statesmen or stateswomen, and they lack the kind of leadership vision, strength and others abilities that are necessary lead in such a diverse nation and world. <u>None of these individuals are capable of undoing the current predicament that America was guided into</u>, by incompetent leaders, that previously felt that they knew better than the majority of Americans, what was needed. In fact, the current crop, from where I am standing are not any different from the current or former group of failed leaders, individuals, who had their own motives for wanting to lead. And as a result, America and the world are both in an American caused predicament. <br />
<blockquote><b>One thing that is still great about America is this, even if you don't have any money, you still have the power to vote, and that may be more valuable than anything that you possess, or can pay for with money!</b></blockquote>Romney, Cain, Gingrich, Obama, Palin … come on folks. These individuals have had their chances before to make a difference in America, and from what I can tell about any of them, all that America will end up getting is what we have gotten in the past, the kind of political maneuvering that favors a singular class group. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I also predict that if Americans were to elect any of them to lead, Americans will simply keep getting what we have been getting in the past, gridlock, filibustering, partisan politics and political internecine wars in Washington DC … while at the same time, the majority of Americans will suffer on the sidelines. I would implore the American people to seriously reconsider the manner, and the motives that they operated under in the past to select America's failed leaders. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Already, the education of our children is as stake, most Americans can no longer earn a living wage, the great society has become the bumbling society, economic disparities have increased, our political systems are no longer serving us and in fact the nation is at a stalemate. And isn't it ironic that with respect to employment, that Americans were considered to be the most productive in the world. So what happened? More and more Americans are being dumped into the streets, while corporate pay has increased exponentially for executives, which has resulted in a certain wealthy elite having never done better.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
What we need are change agents, of the kind that will implement and enforce the will of the American majority, as opposed to satisfying a self-serving minority political hate group. And not only do we need change agents, the American people need to change, and stop being so naive - the system is at a stalemate. For just as it happened with insurance reform 2 years ago, I suspect that we will experience more of the same in the future, if we don't make the necessary changes to install leaders who will listen to what the majority of the American people want. <br />
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What we really need are fewer of the kind of leaders that are currently in office, and instead and representatives and servants, to include a President, who understands that they both they, or he and she have been placed into office represent and to be responsive to the will of the majority of the American people. Otherwise, the American people and families are in for a an extension of current nightmare.<br />
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Can you imagine what America will be like in 2015, if we don't act in 2012? Cleaning house won't do any good, if we are simply going to replace the old crop, with a new crop of leaders who are essentially the same as the group of previous failed leaders. And how much does it cost Americans to employ and insure failed leadership at the top - frankly, and given the current case- we would have been better off without them, and we would have saved a lot of money!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I would love to receive your feedback?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Solomon</div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-19182245106550861872011-07-05T17:18:00.000-07:002011-07-10T23:06:20.161-07:00The West Coast and Why I Moved Here<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e-YyfxjXd9M/ThOiOsx5hCI/AAAAAAAAAD8/w2CMx5QTyE4/s1600/1211101547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e-YyfxjXd9M/ThOiOsx5hCI/AAAAAAAAAD8/w2CMx5QTyE4/s320/1211101547.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I love California, and the powers that be ought to make me its Ambassador to the rest of the world. Why?</span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Not many people have been as blessed as I have been to relocate to a place on another shore, and as soon as they arrived and stepped off of the plane, knew that that they were at home. And 38 years later, I am still at home and loving every minute of every day!</span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;">________________________________</span> </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><br />
</span></span></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And that is exactly what happened to me when I stepped off of the plane at San Francisco International Airport in October 1973. I immediately experienced something then, that I am still experiencing to this day, even when I arrive from any other location in the world at San Francisco, including Hawaii. When I do arrive, I want to get down and kiss the California ground. And it doesn't matter, which of the 3 Bay Area airports I land at, SFO, Mineta or Oaktown!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Now mind you, I love women, and I suspect that there isn't anything more beautiful on the face of the earth than a woman, that is with the exception of California. Ah come on, California was reportedly named after this beautiful Amazonian woman named Califa. The explorers had never seen anything quite as beautiful as she was apparently, and they compared her beauty to that of California, at least that is the legend.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Can you imagine what might have happened if I landed in California in 1973, and Califa was standing there too? Hmm baby, I would have asked for her phone number! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">California has everything that a woman has, brains, shape, good looks, fragrance, grace ... There is one major difference, however, I can do what I want to do in the state and no one is going to get upset with me when I do. Some females that I know, cannot understand why I prefer doing what I do without them. In other words, are you kidding me they say, "you would prefer to enjoy the topography of the state ... than to be with me", Ah don't get upset with me ladies, the second best thing about Caly is its women - well there is football too ... </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">A group of females that I had the pleasure of working with, years ago at EPRI, asked me one day, "Solomon, what do you do when you leave here on Monday nights, we have to go and pick up the kids from daycare, drive them home, cook, feed, entertain, take care of our husbands, put the kids to bed ..."? I answered, "well, I drive to Colonel Sanders, pick up some chicken, drive home, turn on Monday night football, place my feet up on the table, eat the chicken, call my friends to discuss the game ... and what's your point"? See, they believed that all of what I had to do on Monday night was easy work!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Well moving right along, California is simply a beautiful state, but besides that, what I liked when I first arrived, well shortly after I arrived was this, I loved the state's diversity and pluralism, something that I did not experience in my home state. There was a lot of negativity, among the citizens, in my native born state. California was clearly a progressive state, in comparison to most other states in the Midwest, North and South, that I visited.</span><br />
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When my dad came out to visit, for example, I was living in an apartment building that included blacks, whites and Asians. My white female neighbor, after I introduced my dad to her, spoke freely with him. And my dad, to my white neighbors chagrin, looked at me instead and gestured, "is it okay to speak back"? I assured him that that it was okay, if he were to speak back to my white female neighbor. Dad, also recognized and was somewhat shocked by the progressive nature of this place.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">This was very different from Ohio, in fact I recall when shortly afterward we were able to move to the suburban area of our town, to an area known as West Hill. Ironically, we moved to a street that was about a mile from John Brown, the abolitionist's, previous home. At the time, I was in the 7th or 8th grade, when our neighbor from across the street, walked down the path from her house, and entered the street to get into her car. However, and before doing so, she looked over at us, several members of the family and I were sitting on the porch, and proclaimed: "Why don't you niggers go back to where you came from". </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Initially, we thought, that she was coming over to welcome us to the neighborhood, or at the very least to give us a welcoming cup of sugar. And come to think about it, dad must have been right before, Why?. The day that we were riding down the street, in order to take possession of our new home, dad spontaneously began to play-act while driving. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">He pretended to do and say what he believed that our new white neighbors were likely saying in their homes, as we were approaching the house: He said in a contorted voice, attempting to sound white: "By God, here come the niggers". My mother laughed but gave him a scolding, not in front of the children, look. Speaking of white flight, in no time at all, West Hill was completely gentrified, well, except for a few white homeowners, mostly seniors, who refused to or could not afford to move out to Fairlawn, Copley, Bath Township (along with the Jeffrey Dahmer family, the man who ate a black man, among other people), er herm!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">While still residing in Ohio, Representative John Boehner's State, at the age of 17, I decided that it was time for me to get my own place. I began working at the age of 17, and before that I had a couple of minor jobs. However, since I had a good job, my own wheels, I began calling around to find a room or an apartment to rent. And was I in for a shock!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">One woman was providing me with the details about a room that she had listed in the Beacon Journal newspaper, when suddenly and abruptly, during our amiable conversation - she apparently detected that I was black. She suddenly asked, "are you a nigger"? <u>She then added, "I don't rent to niggers", and proceeded to hang up the phone</u>. Er herm! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Well, a day or two later, being undeterred, I went and looked at another apartment near City Hospital, today it is known by some other name, Summa or something like that. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The friendly owner showed me the apartment, and instructed me to bring the deposit back the next day, once I agreed to take the place. When I returned the next day with cash in hand, however,, he began the conversation by saying, <u>"It's not me, however the tenants don't want any black people here"</u>. This was a huge house where everyone shared the same bathroom.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Some years before, a man was driving down the street in his pickup truck and stopped at the stop sign or light, I don't recall which one. He suddenly, while staring at me with this dirty look on his face, proceeded to spit this huge glob of sputum right down on the street while staring directly at me, as if to say, I hate you! Man I thought even back then, these people here are crazy. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I've never experienced anything like that over the span of 38 years in Caly. In fact, along with the diverse topography, there are a multitude of different ethnic groups in California. I ended up making and having friends with individuals of every hue, and of all nationalities in the West, north, central and south. To be sure, I can even make a decent Chinese chicken salad, cook some great curry dishes, and make my own form of sushi ... </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Here is my problem, and it has always been this way:<u> I simply don't like people who make my life difficult</u> Toxic people is how I refer to them, and these are the kind of people that I experienced all too often in the Midwest. Conversely, Caly and people in Caly made me feel good, just as I always attempted to do with other people, and as a result,- all of us seem to get along just fine. My philosophy has always been essentially this, life is too short to endure nonsense and toxic people, so check please, whenever I am around toxic people. I immediately plan my escape. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Having said that, Caly was a bit fast for me when I arrived. I can still recall the first time, when walking down Market Street in San Francisco, I discovered porn in the sidewalk newspaper vending machines. And then one day near the bus Terminal on Mission Street, I noticed something called an Art Theater. Well, I liked art, so I crossed the street, dropped my quarter in the slot, peeked in and, hello ... I don't know if the woman that I was viewing was Califa or not. Well, anyway, I quickly left the art theater peek a boo machine! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Shortly after that experience, a merchant mariner stopped me near Beale Street and the Embarcadero, a place not too far from the infamous Ferry Building. He wanted to know where the Seaview Hotel on Peagreen Street was located. Initially, I thought that he was about to attempt a scam or a con, but on the other hand he looked sincere, and as if something was really wrong. I responded, "sir, I haven't been here long, however, I don't believe that either a Seaview Hotel or a Peagreen Street exists'!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">As I began to inquire more into why he was looking for the street and the hotel, a sympathetic crowd began to gather around us. He answered, "I met the woman on the boat ... I gave her the money ... and she told me where to meet her in order to "make the love". A gentleman in the crowd after asking me what he wanted, (and I told him that the gentleman was looking for directions ...), answered for me and the rest of the crowd that gathered, this way. He said, "Sir, you don't need directions, you need some advice". Well, hello and speak your mind - eek!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Poor black man, probably from Guinea I suspect, with his merchant marine attire and pea coat, he had a tear in his eye. Well, welcome to California I thought. The woman took his money, and $50.00 was apparently quite a loss for him at the time. I wasn't that aware myself of the ways of the world at the time, but even I would have known, you don't pay for sex in advance!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Another humorous event occurred a week or two, after I arrived. I was walking up Market Street, when a female voice from out of nowhere said, "Praise the Lord". That was the standard greeting in the pentecostal denomination that I came from. Praise the Lord I thought, who knows me here in San Francisco, and it is a good thing that I am behaving? Then I turned around only to discover that a female who happened to be at church the Sunday before, was in San Francisco, walking behind me at the same time, and she decided to have some fun at my expense. We both had a good laugh, because as far as I knew, no one knew me in San Francisco outside of a few new friends who couldn't possibly have been there at the same time that I was there.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">But from that day forward, California, became a place of fun, worship and discovery for me. In fact, it was if I was living in a destination resort all the time, for all of California, it would seem - was surrounded by mountains, water, beautiful topography, Califa's ... I thought again, I am at home, for home is where the heart is!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Well, afterward, there were other eye openers like the first New Year's Eve night celebration that I visited in San Francisco. Well, all I could say was, "hello", and I immediately went back across the Bay Bridge and returned to the east bay. Folks, I saw things that I have never seen before or since, out in the open. Er herm, COYOTE, the Sisters of Perpetual Motion ...! Shortly after that experience, a friend came out for a visit, and I took her to a play at Zellerbach Auditorium which is located on the campus of UC Berkeley. The problem was that the cast came out on the stage in the nude. Hello again, so we left, er herm!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Then there was the man walking down Telegraph Avenue with his wheezer hanging out, and before that I was driving up Market Street to Twin Peaks. Suddenly, as I was driving up the mountain, I noticed in this huge picture window that was facing the street, where a dark black man who was proudly wearing women's underwear and dangling a bra, was gesturing with, bra in his hands, to come on up. Er herm! And now for the bad stuff ... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Look folks, we still have a great state, you have to be prepared for anything in the great state of California. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The Republicans, and the majority of California's citizens, having voted for Proposition 13, just about 3 decades ago, are responsible for placing this state in its current economic tizzy, and the energy crisis of a decade ago also contributed to our current economic woes. The California Property Tax initiative which seemed like the right thing to do at the time, has caught up with us. However, we still live in the best state in America, and the rest of the world as far as I am concerned, and I wouldn't trade it for any other place in the world. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I am here to stay, well I think so anyway- but never say never, right? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Our work is cut out for us in the resilient 'state of Califa'... One out of every 7 or 8 Americans, is reportedly a Californian, and I can see why - there are 40 million of us. I spent a considerable portion of my time yesterday, the Fourth of July, sitting on the dock of the San Francisco Bay, watching the tides, planes landing and taking off, while enjoying good company and food, and I was not wasting time. After more sightseeing in San Francisco and on the peninsula, I drove to the south bay, lay atop a hill on my back, near the Mineta Airport in San Jose California, took pictures of the underbellies of jumbo jets that were landing at Mineta. Now where else on earth, can you have that kind of fun?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Yea, California is a cool and resplendent place, north and south, and I wouldn't trade it for any other place in the world. Do we have our own unique set of problems? Answer, and what state doesn't? Besides, if we are so bad, how come everyone keeps coming here to visit or to live, huh? I wonder what this Califa woman really looked like though, to have such a beautiful place (Camelot perhaps) named after her? She must have been quite a babe!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And if you are looking for a moral to my soliloquy, it is this: Enjoy your life, follow your dreams and never outsource the responsibility for your happiness to another person - who is likely following their dreams, in hopes of making themselves happy too. And that California must be the next best thing to Heaven. Okay, I am off to visit one or both street fairs that are taking place, the Blues Festival or the Black Rodeo where my bull-rider cousin, Billy Thunder, might be riding a bull. I have also learned to appreciate the rodeo, and can you believe that (some Californian's say 'ro-da-o'? er herm!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Solomon</span><br />
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</b></span>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-39385966671205724702011-07-02T22:23:00.000-07:002011-07-02T22:23:18.305-07:00Solomon's Blog: Jesus Was a Homey Too!<a href="http://solomonsblog-c.blogspot.com/2011/06/jesus-was-homey-too.html?spref=bl">Solomon's Blog: Jesus Was a Homey Too!</a>: "The Son of Man was Homeless: The foxes have holes, the birds have nests and the Son of God has no where to lay his head? Jesus was born..."Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-55272845512448907302011-07-02T22:02:00.000-07:002011-07-16T14:23:20.653-07:00Close to Midnight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2qBCBTYHSKU/Tg_vsVje3rI/AAAAAAAAADs/HNLnDf7t_Lo/s1600/1211101521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2qBCBTYHSKU/Tg_vsVje3rI/AAAAAAAAADs/HNLnDf7t_Lo/s320/1211101521.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is close to midnight, and I am feeling inspired. </span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Have you ever experienced a period in your life when so many things in your life were in flux, and yet you felt more inspired than you had ever experienced before? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Well, that is what I am feeling and experiencing right now. Any and all things are possible, for there is no limit to the possibilities that are set before us. If only we could reach out for them. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I have always had this little problem since childhood however, it is that I never want to leave anyone else behind, instead, I have always wanted to take other people with me, in particular, when there is something good in store up ahead and I am still that way to do this day. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Politicians, and our other leaders, are on the other hand, doing what they typically have been doing - bickering back and forth and fighting for what they want for themselves, not their constituents. Religious leaders, teachers and religious groups are doing what they typically do as well, that is to engage in infighting, intolerance and sophist arguments about which group has a exclusive monopoly on the truth - I call it, justification theology. Gangbangers are still gangbanging, dealers are dealing, nations are at war, children are being abducted and people are still doing other dumb stuff often to themselves and to other people.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And the good that is being done by individuals or groups of human beings, is often overshadowed by some knucklehead who rapes, kills, steals, molests, monopolizes wealth, monetizes everything else, lies, has a need to dominate as opposed to cooperate (with other people). So what is there to be inspired about, if not invigorated about? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Answer, there is a whole lot to be inspired about, because there are still so many great people on the earth, who are still doing good deeds in the midst of the chaos. They are making great things happen in spite of all, to include negative people and influences. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At times, we will simply have to tune out all of the rest, and focus on the good stuff that is being done today, and will be done by all of the unheralded heroes in the world, in the future. Too much undeserved attention is being given to the others. On</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"> an almost daily basis, I keep meeting phenomenal people of every color, ilk, gender, nationality ... who are making a positive difference in the world. My view of the world, is essentially this, that the world is still a pretty cool place to live, and it is full of possibilities!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">So, kudos to all of the good people who are working to bring about positive social change, to include pursuing peace in the world. To the other knuckleheads who have made it their lifelong quest, it would seem, to be bitter or to wreak havoc in the world, sadly, we have to tolerate you (when you drive too fast, drink too much, break the rules, hurt or destroy other people and things, steal, lie, rape, molest or think only of yourself and typically engage in the pursuit of ill-gotten gain, but hopefully, not forever!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Peace out!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The Rev </span>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-68399903808157107382011-06-30T08:29:00.000-07:002011-07-01T14:49:24.621-07:00Jesus Was a Homey Too!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p5p-SEzJWFE/TgyXNho420I/AAAAAAAAADo/0NOtjYMd3Ws/s1600/0226111501.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p5p-SEzJWFE/TgyXNho420I/AAAAAAAAADo/0NOtjYMd3Ws/s320/0226111501.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><b>The Son of Man was Homeless: </b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.hoppeople.org/"><br />
</a></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hoppeople.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The foxes have holes, the birds have nests and the Son of God has no where to lay his head?</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hoppeople.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br />
</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hoppeople.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Jesus was born in a manager, and afterward spent significant periods of his life without a customary residence. And ultimately, he was crucified. What a life?</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hoppeople.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br />
</span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hoppeople.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">And how many sons and daughters of God today, live outdoors or in isolation, not only in America but around the rest of the world? And sadly, many of today's current outdoor citizens, after bearing their crosses alone end up dying alone!</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">____________________________________</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Is there anything wrong with living outdoors, in isolation or as a hermit? When is living outdoors or in isolation a problem?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span">_____________________________________</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b>As irreverent as it may sound, it appears to me that Jesus was a homey too. </b>And<b>, </b>as opposed to hanging out with the intelligentsia, the elite, political power brokers, clerics or the wealthy of his day, as a rule he often made his abode among the great unwashed of his time. In other words, Jesus mostly <i>hung out with 'the homeys</i> of his day'. And he was not alone in that regard, remember John the Baptist, Elijah, Ezekiel and other historical outdoor citizen icons, also practiced similar ascetic lifestyles.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">What explanation can there be for giants like these, having to or choosing to spend considerable periods of their lifetimes, living in isolation. Frequently they lived mountains, wildernesses, caves and among the great unwashed of their day? Ezekiel even complained of being all alone. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Any one of these outdoorsmen icons, and individuals similar to them who practiced asceticism, could have used their gifts and talents to garner self-promotion.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Why would these gentlemen ... choose to remain outdoors, only to be teased by children, disdained by members of the upper crust of society, hungry, isolated and rejected? And what about John, who is often referred to as the Baptist, exactly who was his haberdasher? Elijah frequently adorned similar garb.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And even though Daniel eventually spent much of his life in the Royal Palace at Sushan, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, found themselves living under peculiar circumstances, even by today's standards. Remember, Jeremiah remained behind with the remnant when at the same time Ezekiel, another great prophet was forced to resides among the refugees in the Ghettos beside the River Chabar. Seldom did they complain about their living circumstances, even when sinking in the mire.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Given their stations in life, or better yet their reputations, it is inconceivable that they would have lived, moved and hung out with the great unwashed, even though they were called, apparently, to do so. How many of us would have obeyed if we received a similar calling. Why would Dr. Paul, reject all of the significant years of training that he received at the feet of Gamaliel, the nephew of Hillel, an education that could have garnered for him great wealth and the right station in life among the aristocracy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b>And what is the lesson for each one of us?</b> It is, I believe, that all of us ought to understand that the Earth is the Lord, and the fullness thereof - and as a result, all of us ought to understand that we are creatures of the earth (in other words composed of the earth). And what makes us different is that we are apparently earthen vessels that have been infused with the spirit of life.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">According to writer of the book of Genesis, God metaphorically breathed breath into man, and man became a living soul in deference to the flora and the fauna ... Prior to being infused with life, humans were nothing more than mud creatures. For example, have you ever gone out to the beach and taken mud or hydrated sand and created a figure that had all of the features of an animal or person, bit still it lacked one thing, the ability to move, get up, walk, think, fly, run, breath ...?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Well, that is all we were, prior to being jolted with the gift of life. Job explained, in the poetic book that bears his name, that he would return to womb from which he came, the earth. In the original King James version of the bible, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he said, "thy will be done (in) earth, as it is in heaven". Even though most translations today read, "thy will be done (on) earth, as it is done in heaven", for me it changes the entire context. In fact, I suspect that something significant has been lost in the re-interpretation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Consider this, if God's word is 'forever settled (in) heaven,' then I suspect that it is just as significant that both God's word and his will be settled (inside of the earth), and we are 'the earthen creatures that Jesus may have been referring to'. His will being done 'on earth', says something altogether different to me. Get it?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And given that we are earthen vessels infused with spirit, and composed with ingredients from the earth, is it any wonder that not only the historical icons mentioned above, especially Jesus, spent considerable periods of their lives being one with the earth, mountains, trees and the great unwashed of the earth that typically resided outside.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Around the world today, in both developed and undeveloped countries, many of the citizens of the world are still outdoor citizens. By comparison, individuals who typically live in buildings, palaces of stone, straw, clay, wood ... have been and are still being extended respect, while at the same time their deferential brothers and sisters on the outside are often treated with disrespect. In other words, the highlanders receive respect, and the lowlanders receive disrespect.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Whether one happens to be a highlander or a lowlander, there is no shame in living outdoors, that is, with this caveat: It is your desire to remain outdoors, and you have the ability, desire and willingness to take care of yourself and your needs.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Among the outdoor citizen's demographic in modern day America, a significant number of outdoor citizens have chosen outdoor living as a lifestyle. Some outdoor citizens have chosen the highlands, and others have chosen the lowlands, but one thing that each group has in common is that they prefer a native habitat as opposed to living inside of a modern day structure.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Sadly, due to public policy and government regulations, the freedom to live outdoors is considered to be atypical or aberrant behavior, and the individuals who practice outdoor living, are considered to be nuisances, criminals, vagrants, vermin, varmints, varmants or strange.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The right of outdoor people to light a fire, in order to stay warm on a cold night, to dig a well in order to acquire water ... has all but been stripped away. And the earth is the Lord's, did we say?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I wonder, <b>what right does another human being or government institution have to tell a human</b> being who lacks a domicile, or chooses not to have one - that he or she cannot build and light a fire in order to keep themselves warm at night? And the current practice where outdoor citizens are forbidden to do so, is even more disturbing given the exploding homeless epidemic that is taking place in America.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Coupled with greed, unemployment, globalization, corporate down-sizing, outsourcing, jobs being sent overseas ... many Americans are experiencing, not by choice or plan, the need to live outside again, whether they want to live outside or not.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And what that says to me is that the regulations, and the public policy that created these regulations, needs to be modified, in order to adapt to the need of individuals to set up tents, a lean to or to build fires, construct camps ... America is in a state of emergency, in a similar manner as it would be if we were under military attack, or if there was some geologic anomaly. Legislators, policy-makers, local, state and national leaders, should have little to say when individuals have to find creative ways to survive, particularly when the former all return each day to warm domiciles with heat and running water.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Similar to the native or aboriginal people in most countries, native Americans also lived outdoors, and never once did any of them, I suspect, consider themselves to be homeless.<b></b></span><br />
<blockquote style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b>If home is where the heart is, any place can be home, particularly if you feel comfortable.</b></span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The <i>highlanders</i> in the American scenario, appear to be the individuals that still have domiciles, some more than one, two or even three, and having that, the number of individuals who have homes is beginning to shrink as more homeowners are being dispossessed from their homes. So back to my point, what are outdoor citizens to do, particularly when they are no jobs, they cannot afford homes and the policy-makers use the police to keep their boots on their necks? Shouldn't outdoor citizens be permitted to construct habitats for themselves, without returning to find that they have been crushed by police officers who are simply following orders?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I heard someone on the radio say about a decade ago, that if God instructed Noah to erect an Ark in America, that he would very likely be unable to do so as God instructed him to do. Why?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The speaker, in the voice of Noah explained to God why he could not build the ark in the allotted time. "God", he said, "I tried, but I could get the environmental impact study done in time, and the Army Corp of engineers have to be brought in, and that will take time and then there is the regulatory commission to deal with ..."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Folks, America is changing and the laws will have to change as well, in order to meet the needs of the people, or otherwise what good is a commonwealth or a union of states, if it no longer can address the needs of the members of the commonwealth? What I like about Jesus was and is, <b>he seemed to have an affinity for the permanent underclass of his day.</b> And not only would he preach to them or teach them, Jesus, actually got out, hung out with them, drank from the same wells, imbibed on a pouch full of wine, played football (well, I take a bit of license here), but you get my drift.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">As a homey, I suspect that Jesus and his homeys were often dusty and perhaps a bit smelly at times. And on occasion, they would apparently enter into a field of corn, glean and have a bite to eat. Today, you could go to jail for doing such a thing. Why would Jesus behave in such such a manner, was he a thug? Or perhaps, he did it to set an example for the rest of us, and to remind us that what we do to the least of his little ones, that we do the same to them, especially when we look down our noses at people who live on the outside, instead of on the inside of the house!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Born outside (on the road), wrapped in swaddling clothes, lain in a manager ... and lacking what the foxes and birds had, holes and nest, or even a place to lay his head. Isn't it amazing that history is repeating itself today in America. Today, it is Mary, Jane, Johnny ..., who often are without a place to lay their heads .</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">If we don't have a sufficient amount of homes to go around, even though more and more of them are sitting empty today, let's adapt our public and social policy, so that we can accommodate individuals who are sincerely in need of help, even when it means living outside comfortably throughout the years.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">If you have never lived outside among the great unwashed, I suggest that you try it. I was forced to do so myself, to the surprise of former neighbors, relatives, ministers, former parishioners and friends. And the experience taught me what ministry was actually all about, and why Jesus, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist lived, often, in the manner that they did.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">To live among, sit on the ground, dine and share utensils in some cases, with other individuals who were willing to share what little they had, was an eye opening experience for me. And, as a result, my ministry will never be the same. Perhaps all of America, should have a night or two out - someone contact President Obama, and see if he can arrange it. Trust me, if Jesus were here today, and he carried on as he once did, back in the day, most Americans would not be hanging out with Jesus, or the other prophets that I mentioned before, other than the individuals on skid row.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The latter group would likely welcome him into their camps, and offer him some of what they had to eat or drink. I will close with the lyrics of this song in mind: Jesus Christ Superstar ...<i>There are a lot of superstars living outdoors</i>, and if Jesus were to reappear in the manner that many believers expect him to do someday, where do you suppose that he will be hanging out, at the White House or the Church house?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I suspect that Jesus would go and find the lost sheep of the House of America, 'the homeys', rap with and live among them! So do as I did, and go and spend 4 or 5 months living outside with the outdoor people, or wherever you might find a place to lay your head (as opposed to longing for 'a mansion in the sky' as most Christians are doing. Besides, a certain percentage of Americans, who are not aware of it yet, are going to end up living outside too, if things don't change - and it could be you and your family!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Solomon</span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
</span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Also the President of the Outdoor Citizen's Coalition & Think Tank of Santa Clara County California</span></b></div></div></div></div></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-33682862355604641502011-06-20T16:38:00.000-07:002011-06-22T17:19:31.626-07:00The Supply-Side Poverty Paradigm in Santa Clara County and Beyond<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GSfQxcr4xqI/Tf_RuE7weKI/AAAAAAAAADM/4Jb0iDEhGlk/s1600/0209111704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GSfQxcr4xqI/Tf_RuE7weKI/AAAAAAAAADM/4Jb0iDEhGlk/s320/0209111704.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Issue of homelessness: </span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">We refer to ourselves as Outdoor Citizens. We are working to change the existing crippling, supply-side dependency dynamic that persists in this and other regions of the country.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">-------------------------------</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Supporting dependency is neither the solution to the problem of homelessness in the Santa Clara Valley nor elsewhere in America, we believe. And if you disagree, simply consider what has been going on with the burgeoning outdoor citizen problem in your community. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Or in the words of Dr. Phil ask, "how has what you or your community have been doing ... working for you and your community so far"? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Oftentimes, the end result of goodwill, faith-based and institutional supply-side government ... subsidies programs is that too many outdoor citizens remain in the same place, homeless, underemployed, unemployed, begging, living in city parks and ravines or surviving on handouts.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">We believe that it will require massive disruption among outdoor citizens, as well as fundamental changes to the existing institutional structures before we will see any appreciable differences or any lasting changes. At the very least, a more synergistic multi-modal approach, to include direct participation from the outdoor citizen's community to solve the problem of homelessness, will be necessary!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">If not, we do not expect to see any appreciable differences or improvements, with regard to America's expanding homeless and downwardly mobile permanent underclass anytime soon. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Hope for Outdoor People (the Outdoor Citizen's Coalition and Think-Tank of Santa Clara County), recently incorporated in the state of California. In less than 1.5 years in existence our 501(c)3 federally exempt, non-profit corporation is already making an impact, even in terms of defining the narrative.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We believe that our critical policy analysis is second to none, and might just be more realistic than anything else that is out there at present. I also serve on several boards including The Santa Clara County Collaborative, West Valley Community Services and soon several others if confirmed. HOP's opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any of these organizations. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">All of us, HOPPEOPLE,are proud to be citizens of the United States of America, and individuals and families that are entitled to all of the rights and protections of the United States Constitution.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And in deference to our current status, we are committed contributors and problem-solvers. It is our intention to help solve the growing and pernicious problem of homelessness that is growing by leaps and bounds within the American Commonwealth. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We are currently working alongside numerous government and faith-based institutions in the area (the one's who will receive input from the very class group that they purport to serve). And we are doing so without any financial support from any of these institutions, even though we are helping to confront America's current social pandemic - homelessness.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Clearly, the problem, that apparently neither Washington DC, nor most of corporate America is aware of, has reached critical mass. And, what has been done so far, minus the direct input and involvement of the identified patient-homeless-community, is not working. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">More and more displaced Americans have been and are being relegated to streets, parks, shelter-programs and ravines, while houses, condominiums and apartments (some foreclosed upon) sit empty.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Having said that, several institutions in the Valley, however, are being impacted by our message. And more than a few organizations are already modifying their programs, based upon HOP's input and its business model. HOP's model consists of helping to understand that if good intentions are not properly channeled, that it will only exacerbate the problem, and lead to further dependency.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Although not as quickly as we would like to see it happen, outdoor citizens are beginning to understand that they will also have to make changes and work to solve their own problems - as opposed to waiting for someone or some other agency or institution ... to do their work for them. Partnerships are what is needed in the Valley and beyond, we believe. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">To wit, we are teaching our erudite outdoor citizens to be both accountable and responsible, and to come up with creative ways, with our assistance, to make an honest living for themselves and their families - in deference to current conditions in America.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">In other words, a change in both practice and strategy on either side is desperately needed - the helpers and the individuals who are being assisted. The mentally capable outdoor citizens will, themselves, need to take ownership of 'their own problems', if their problems are ever to be resolved. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The solutions that are currently in place, are all to often to appease a portion of society that believes that it can pay to have the menace go away.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Other caring individuals or institutions, faith-based, government and other, should provide strategic, tactical, sincere and meaningful partnering support. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">How have we been so successful in terms of helping outdoor citizens and helping-institutions to revamp their programs and to modify their ways of thinking? We created tension, made our voices heard and began to teach a new and improved paradigm to former supply-side organizations in the region, and to outdoor citizens, the ones who would listen. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The organizations that have helped, consist of government agencies, as well as faith-based groups.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The church that permitted us to use their facility in order to create and organize HOP, free of charge, once served over 1200 meals a week. We helped them to understand, that with the best of intentions, they were merely underwriting the problem, creating more dependency and giving life to a problem that needed to be confronted in a more mature fashion. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The individuals who were being served (3-4-5 times weekly), were consumers only, 99% of them, instead of participants in their own recoveries.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Sadly, some of our people wanted to be paid if they were expected to clean up the feeding areas where they were fed, or to place their own trash in trash containers, sweep, mop the floors or to do anything. Another prominent Catholic Church in the area, after several warnings, finally stopped its extensive feeding program altogether. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Why? Outdoor citizens would trash their bathrooms, panhandle their parishioners and use illegal drugs at the church. Rewarding this kind of permissiveness, as some other faith-based groups ... are still doing will never help to solve the problem.</span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">HOP urged this community and several other faith-based communities in the region to stop providing something for nothing, particularly to long-term chronic outdoor-citizens. After all, these groups were unwittingly conditioning our people to be co-dependent and to operate with a sense of (you owe me) entitlement! The rewards that are being provided for lawless, reckless anti-social behavior, has directly contributed to the ongoing behavior.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Today, in the manner that Jesus, Paul and Peter of scriptures did, the church who helped us has created a new recovery, help, participate and receive style program, that includes employment training ... More organizations need to eat a bit of humble pie in the region and to make similar changes. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Another prominent mega church from Milpitas California, changed its former, come, help, cook, feed, provide gifts ... This church brought in an army of workers to serve people of diverse nationalities, that differed from their own. And how were they rewarded, the outdoor citizens would simply walk away without doing anything to help them - some would eat steal from them, just as they were doing at other churches.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We used scriptures to get them to change their existing modus operandi. They didn't care for my interference initially, and I understand. However, I used scriptures to show them how they were doing just the opposite of what Jesus did, among the outdoor people of his time. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Today, all of us are all friends, and the outdoor citizens are being asked to be participants, and not recipients only in programs that benefit them the most.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">By sharing our experiences, as informed veteran outdoor citizens, and by participating in public policy planning in the area, or offering constructive criticisms, other organizations, along with their personnel and members are not only listening - they are also beginning to sing a different tune. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">It hurts to have to correct individuals, whose only intent was to offer sincere help and support to our people. However, more resources, from hereon, will be used to help individuals who are capable of and will work to overcome destitution and homelessness, as opposed to rewarding slovenly behavior in ingrates.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Actually, I had begun to wonder at one time, just how long would slovenly behavior be rewarded? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And there is and has been a payoff; in the final analysis our people will be, and some have already become contributors as opposed to beggars and dependents that are living in parks, begging on the streets or in the city and county's thoroughfares.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Second, by employing our methods, eventually, we will be able to expose and isolate the malingerers, the ones who will require a different method of intervention. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And certainly, we will have to come up with something else for malingerers to do, and there are more than a few outdoor citizens that fit into this mode. For some, malingering has become a satisfying lifestyle. Many of these individuals sadly have become drug and alcohol dependent!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And still, there are some great people living outdoors, the majority of them happen to be, I might add! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Having said that, there are an estimated 2 million outdoor citizens living in the USA at present, and the number is growing, exponentially. Keep in mind that for every domicile that is being foreclosed upon, one or more outdoor citizens were former residents!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Examine the following article from HOP's blogsite, www.hoppeople.org, entitled: Addicted to Homelessness, using a text from the bible found in Acts 3:9-11</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">9. And all the people saw him [who sat begging before] walking and praising God:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">10. And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">11.And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">A follow-up to last quarter's article, entitled, 'Addicted to Homelessness': After the people saw this man who sat for years, walking again, many of them ran to Solomon's colonnade (or porch). And they wondered, how could this be? Actually, that is what we are attempting to do at HOP,'The Outdoor Citizens Coalition & Think Tank of Santa Clara County California'.We are attempting to do the miraculous, to assist individuals to walk again, and hopefully others will come running.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Our work is cut out for us in that we are attempting to change existing paradigms, methods, social and public policy frameworks, along with questionable practices that often fail to work in the long-term. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And sadly, we have had to begin our work in a region of the country where faith-based groups, government institutions and the working public are arguably the most generous and caring in the nation.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Giving is what our people do in the Santa Clara Valley and beyond. However, we believe that the resources that are currently being expended, are not being used optimally. The same effort, along with the proper distribution of shrinking resources, could be put to work to help motivate outdoor citizens to do the same, and the ones that are already trying. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Resources should not be provided ad hominen, to able bodied individuals, who refuse to do anything to help themselves! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">In other words, I am referring to the carrot and the stick approach - I recommend it, for it is necessary and must be employed with many of our outdoor citizens! By simply giving more, without any accountability or responsible behavior being attached to it, either by the giver or the receiver, means that all of us will keep getting what we have been getting.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And what is that, simply put, more and more hard-core and in some instances lawless beggars, and church groups and government treasuries running out of money, and an increasingly exasperated public that is loosing its patience! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Too many religious individuals, including clerics, have fallen into the same trap that Peter fell into. Or better yet, remember the story of Moses, in it God had to remind him to use the power that was already within his control.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Frankly, many Americans are lost, confused and shocked by what has been and is transpiring in the American economic market place. In fact, other than by going to school, sending out resumes or signing up at employment centers or online to apply for a position that does not exist, too many Americans are lost. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many displaced American workers don't appear to have a clue how to take care of themselves or their loved ones under America's current rubric of high unemployment (the result of greed, globalization, consolidation, automation, ... and a former sense of entitlement!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">For over half-a-century, high-paying jobs were abundant in America, however, that is not the case anymore. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And therefore the second part of our challenge is to do the following: Help to convince the recipients of the area's and the government's ... supply-side largess programs (to include food, clothing, medical help, medicine, shelters, free bus passes, housing ...), that times have changed - and they will have to adapt.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">We have to make an effort to get displaced Americans to understand that if they intend to make it in the new American/World-wide competitive economy, without becoming dependents, that they will have to do things in a different way than they did in the past. Depending on job creation by others, is and has become passe! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">A shrinking middle-class, faith-based groups and government agencies, won't be able to take care of a expanding, formerly employed working class into perpetuity. By teaching the underemployed and unemployed to complete resumes, or to simply practice their interviewing skills (in an economy where the jobs are going away), is not the solution either!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>Today, we live in a mostly every person for himself, income-producing economy!</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">HOP gives kudos to Stanford grad and CEO, Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, current president of Clarium Capital and Executive Board Member at Facebook, for encouraging entrepreneurship. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">He also put his money where his mouth is by investing seed money-resources, in would be entrepreneurs, instead of simply feeding them while leaving them where they are - sleeping on the ground.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Here is a wealthy individual, who is doing something in a realistic and pragmatic fashion in order to help solve America's unemployment problem. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Mind you, he is not rewarding dependency - instead he is giving individuals, who want a real chance to help themselves, and likely others by providing future employment for themselves and other people, the opportunity to try. Imagine if just 10 of the one's who received the right kind of help, came up with an idea that could help to re-employ their comrades?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Give that man a cigar, he could have simply permitted his money to sit like other wealthy individuals are doing! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">There are a lot of outdoor citizens with advanced degrees, that are living in parks. Imagine, if just 10 of them came up with business ideas that could result in them re-employing both them and a few of their counterparts, as opposed to waiting on handouts?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Similar to President Thiel, we believe that by teaching individuals who can't find work, how to work for themselves instead, is the answer - even when it means cleaning gutters, painting numbers on curbs, mowing lawns, shearing hedges, farming or by coming up with the next Facebook or Google perhaps. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">All too often, displaced American workers who have been down-sized out of companies spiral down and become completely dependent on handouts, in a system where the resources are already drying up or ending up in the pockets of a few. The latter I often refer to as an economic watershed.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The same individuals have forgotten what they already possess, many of them: educations, years of proprietary training, experience and skillsets, that they already have underneath their belts. We are teaching outdoor citizens how to use those same skillsets, previous training and past experiences (if nothing else to make a living not only for themselves but for their families and a few others in today's even more specialized economy). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Keep in mind, commodities and services are still needed, even for the aging baby-boomers - and I am one of them, graying hair and all - eek! O</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">r as I heard one of the characters on a sitcom television program show say last night, some of our outdoor people, "might have to attend Rap University]", in order to earn a living. Many individuals, even outdoor citizens, fail to realize that they have something of value to offer, they do not have to work for other organizations, or beg.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At HOP, we are grooming a new crop of entrepreneurs and hopefully several future employers, of the kind who will be able to learn to think outside of the box. Our methods include teaching individuals to take 'baby steps' first, and eventually to stand up on their own 2 feet and and to walk again. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The end result is that individuals who have given up, will be able to stand up and walk on their own 2 feet and become productive achievers in the new world-wide economy.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Clearly, either side is dependent upon the other for survival when operating under the current paradigm, one to receive government aid, grants, donations and other freebies without merit - and the other (typically inside of an agency) to receive a paycheck ... for distributing the free goodies. Something has to give! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The first group, the dependency supply-sider's group typically offers their clients unconditional positive regard or support, however, and on the other hand, they are oftentimes unconditional and unintentional enablers.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The reason being that while maintaining paid positions (under the guise of solving the problem that is oftentimes on the inside of a massive bureaucracy that is rife with fraud and corruption), they only bolster and create more dependency - by rewarding dependency. Why? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">All too often, these organizations fail to hold their or the client's that they make their livings off, feet to the proverbial fire. Often, there is a lack of oversight and accountability in place, to certify that the dollars being spent are achieving the desired results - the kind that the public (especially the taxpayers) would like to see.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Think about it, what would happen to them if their clients were to have resolve their problems, the supply-sider institutions and their personnel, would loose their reason for existing. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And therefore, the supply-sider institutions have an ephemeral need to keep the problem (even the outdoor citizen problem firmly in place). You don't believe me? How many foundations, and other 501(c)3 organizations phone you at your home or business that request, keep 98% of your donations for in-house?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Ergo, no pain no gain, and in the end an enormous sum of resources that could be used to help invest in individuals to help them to get going again, continues to go down into a massive sink hole, to the tune of billions of dollars. Many of our outdoor citizens recognize that it 'pays to be homeless', unfortunately. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And it is truly unfortunate that the indiscriminate amounts of taxpayer ... dollars that are being spent on outdoor citizens, along with free gifts, actually reward dependency, inertia and slovenly behavior -folks, this is not discretionary spending!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">On the other hand, institutionalized begging has become a burgeoning cottage industry locally, if not across the nation. I don't have to tell you that, simply consider all of the non-profit organizations that have popped up lately in your area! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Neither side, the suppliers or the recipients up to this juncture, wants to see the other go away. Both the recipients of government, social services and faith-based largess, all have a stake in the supply-side dynamic.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Waste and fraud in the housing sector, costs American taxpayers, to the tune of, billions of dollars each year. Consider this, a person who is out of work will eventually receive free-housing and in some instances, paid-insurance, free transportation, food, medicine, clothing, sleeping bags ... while doing nothing to merit it! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">So you are thinking, what motivates HOP's outdoor citizens (over 100 of us at last count and still growing), to behave any different from our malingering counterparts? </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Or, you are thinking, haven't your people benefited from some of the very programs that you have benefited from, and now are criticizing? </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Our answer is, yes on both counts. And as result “we" have learned by experience what can happen when subsidies are used as a reward, in deference to stopping the bleeding. We learned quickly! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And the fact of the matter is that we are not attempting to close the door on individuals who are in need of emergency support. </span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b>But at the same time, we are attempting to get all sides to understand that participation by the ones in need, must be a requirement, if there is to be a successful outcome</b></span>.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Otherwise, what should have been a temporary condition, will be replaced with a permanent condition that relies upon the nation's largess to support it. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We are trying to open a new door of opportunity among the dispossessed population of Americans. And, as citizens of the United States of America ourselves, don't forget that - it is our desire to protect the treasury, and goodhearted Americans who try to show their love by giving.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We have a responsibility to use what should be a temporary gift or grant, to help us, or any American citizen to get up and to get going again, as opposed to turning giving and receiving into a lifestyle. Many outdoor citizens who were receiving assistance, and living in shelters, when we fell, are still living off of and enjoying the largess of other Americans. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">By making good use of the resources that we received, we are (outdoor citizens) repaying the public and other charitable and faith-based groups for the temporary assistance, which can be used to help other individuals to get going again - by doing what we are doing today!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Some of us believe that our having ended up where we did before, albeit for a short period of time, may have been a part of our destiny - that is to take what we have learned and share it with both groups (in order to help turn things around in America). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The members of what appears to be a permanent and growing American underclass needs our help, even though it may be painful for them to listen to us, at first. I learned a long time ago, that you can do the right thing, the wrong way, which can and often does lead to disastrous results.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">"We believe that by feeding the problem, no pun intended, or by supporting dependency that neither tactic will help to resolve the problem, they will only help the problem to persist, if not grow even bigger". </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">A substantial portion of the nationwide outdoor citizens demographic, 66% of the homeless in some regions of the country, are veterans of foreign wars. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Thankfully, the Federal government is coming to grips with the problems of homeless Vietnam-era veterans who are returning from both Afghanistan and Iraq. Warehousing able veterans under unsanitary condition, isn't the solution either. Consider the conditions that veterans were living under, when discovered at Walter Reed in the nation's capitol, several years ago.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Exactly, what will happen to America once 2 out of every 4 Americans, perhaps 150m or so, rely on government agencies, subsidies, strapped faith-based organizations ... to supply survival needs? Under the current paradigm, that is where we seem to be headed, if things don't soon change. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">In time, we would have to tear down the houses and buildings in urban centers and replace them with park lands, because the majority of Americans will be living outdoors again - and at the same time domiciles sit unoccupied.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At the OCCTT, we recognize the direction in which the nation is headed. Why? Because we have been there, and many of our members are still experiencing both sides of the divide – even though we are working daily and often alone mostly, to help to change the current dynamic and therefore to stem the tide. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">If something isn't done soon, to alter the nation's current heading, we believe that the nation is heading to an economic abyss, of the kind that will rival, if not surpass what took place during the Great Depression.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">America will have to foreclose, or find itself in the condition of several European nations, take Greece for example, if it doesn't wake up. Apparently, that is what the Republicans in the House seem to believe! We are doing all that we can, as outdoor citizens, to help both sides to alter America's present heading towards an economic collapse. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We are in the process of reversing our losses and helping ourselves and other current outdoor citizens to create income producing opportunities, of the kind that we neither trained nor went to school for. Preaching for dollars is not my thing either, we have enough American Capitalist Church preachers, too many I might add!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And don't forget that if the nation keeps heading in the wrong direction, there will still be hundreds of millions of Americans, hungry and homeless - along with a soaring unpaid national debt, Should </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">the rich share their wealth? The question is moot. The real question is, do they (most of them) look like they are going to share/invest their their wealth?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many of our billionaires talk about sharing the wealth, and giving money to charity, however, besides Bill Gates and a few others, when will that happen, and should it happen? Hopefully, whenever they decide to share the wealth (tee hee), they will share the wealth with organizations that help people to get up and to get going again. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Too much money is simply sitting in hedge funds ... that could be used to help retrain individuals and to get the economy going again. Sadly, the individuals who are sitting on incredible wealth, that they can never spend in hundreds of lifetimes, aren't helping or investing in the American people, not enough of them.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Now, even though some of them are reticent to help in a meaningful fashion, but are giving to charity simply to receive a write-off, there are legitimate causes that many of them could invest in that would result in a return on their investment (ROI), as opposed to sinking more money into supply side sink holes, and simply for tax write off purposes. Perhaps, we should change our names to something catchy like Oil Futures!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And if some of our wealthy tycoons can only think of the profit-motives, remember, someone has to buy your products and services. This could be a way for you to increase your customer base - after all. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">It has been reported that four-hundred Americans have the equivalent wealth of 123 million Americans. Now, how did that happen?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We invite them, uber-rich Americans who are less than one-tenth of a percent of the American population, to simply do the math, and instead help to underwrite the costs of sound recovery plans in organizations that are already in place, and the ones that are to a follow. A cheap plug for HOP did you say, and why not? We are trying to help - we are not asking to be supported the rest of our lives. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At the very least, all of us agree that poverty should not be underwritten, encouraged or buttressed by anyone. Supply-siders, and poverty pimps will have to learn that by doing so, it only helps to keep impoverished individuals in poverty for a longer period of time, if not forever.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Too often, even though we are beginning to witness some improvement in this area, outdoor-citizens are often an afterthought when it comes to developing or shaping social and public policy that will work. Often it would appear that the supply-siders, who are not accustomed to having representatives from our unique demographic at the planning table, would prefer that we stay away. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"> T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">he attitude of some institutions, even faith-based ones, appears to be, “shut up”, or on the other hand, "we will tolerate you as we go about the business of saving your worthless lives". I have also sat at the table with many a do gooder organization, who have their own agendas in place to 'save the whales', without knowing a thing about the whales or outdoor citizens for that matter! Can you say, waste?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Sadly, with these types, not even an outdoor citizen that has input or a plan to help, is going to interfere with their Faustian ideas, given their self-conceived ideals and idealism. Clearly, that kind of attitude, and the policies that follow will not help to resolve the problem, it only prolongs the problem. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">These individuals and groups (similar to a PG&E President,will make a living, whether there is any improvement or not, it might not be the same as a golden parachute - however, it is fairly similar - except they remain on the job - and help to perpetuate the problem!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And as a result, a lot of money, time and energy has been and will continues to be wasted or lost, and conditions pretty much remain the same.Too many supply-siders have not spent one day experiencing homelessness, or in some instances abject poverty for that matter. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Sadly, supply-siders are often do-gooders who are on a personal mission of their own making. They are create their own self-inspired, I know what you need, policies and practices. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">However much speaking at public forums … increasing one's own personal visibility, or rising up the societal ladder matters to them, it is not helping to solve the problem of homelessness, or to come up with any lasting solutions.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Simply consider the current unemployment rate in California,the county, the city or the nation for that matter. No matter which indices you prefer, more and more unhoused and housed Americans (in some instances) are either unemployed, underemployed, furloughed, part-time workers, or going to food banks to acquire staples. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And yet, many of them are not un-housed. Americans seek help, even working Americans, to garner staples and other items that will supplement their shrinking and inadequate incomes.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Disruption is needed on both sides. It is is the answer that we believe will eventually take America into a new heading, one that will yield the desired results. And what are the desired results? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The answer is that not only Californians, but all Americans, to include young-adults, college graduates, seniors … will learn to use their ingenuity and skill sets, as they prepare to earn a living again under the new paradigm as opposed to living from hand to mouth. Yes, the growing senior class is already suffering!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">We believe that in time (real-time hopefully), that the groups that helped to create, sustain and maintain the poverty status quo relationships in our region and elsewhere, along with the beneficiaries of crippling supply-side economic paralysis (who have been lying around, waiting and begging at the temples), will both stop it. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"> The gift </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">of a lame-man being able to get up and to walk again instead of begging, happened, when Peter employed a different method than the one that he had used before, that of helping a man to stand and walk instead of providing him with another handout.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The net result was that decades of co-dependency and begging at the Temple, immediately came to an end, and a man was able to go and take care of himself again and to inspire others to do the same, apparently. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The same thing can happen in the Valley and beyond, however, it will require change on both sides, just as change was required with Peter and the lame man. However, we must change the current paradigm and belief system in the Valley and elsewhere. Service, should not be confused with crippling someone by giving them too much.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Already, we are reaching out to other agencies ... and speaking in front of a variety of audiences, to include other outdoor-citizens in the area in order to teach change. If something isn't done soon, there will be more and more unabashed beggars on the streets of America, in front of Target and Safeway stores or on sidewalks and American thoroughfares. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">There will also be more robberies, burglaries and shakedowns taking place all over America. Keep in mind that many of the individuals that are ending up on the streets, are ex-convicts. And some of these dudes are mean, not all, just some of them, and they are teaching others to be con men and con women!</span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">Section 2</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Author Derrick Bell, in his book, 'Faces At The Bottom of the Well', wrote:"if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting".And most Americans know firsthand, that not only are we getting what we have been getting, there appears not to be an end in sight. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The give and give more again paradigm is solidly in place in America!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">HOP, with a vision, minuscule resources (the work is all being done here by unpaid volunteers, former and current outdoor citizens and with the help of a few donors), is using these resources, our experiences, our wits and a new paradigm in order to help to turn lives around. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Already, we are witnessing lives being transformed, and outdoor citizens taking charge of their lives, their personal destinies or standing upright again - and we just got started.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">What we are doing at HOP, that appears to be working, benefits outdoor citizens, the city, county, state and the entire nation. We provide space, a place, professional training, desks, computers, business and marketing plans ... where research can be done and ideas put into practice. This is opposite the mission of poverty supply-siders. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The winds of change are blowing in the valley, the nation and the world for that matter. Individuals and organizations that learn to shift with the current, will succeed, we believe.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">It is our hope that other outdoor-citizens (who up to this time have preferred the methods that are currently in place, (that have not worked) and rather supports dependency, or receiving something for doing nothing, will be motivated to try something different - at the very least we can help to save the next generation. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">It is also our hope, that organizations in the area that support dependency will soon follow suit and join us (even when it means swallowing pride, and simply admitting that what worked before is not working today, the problem is expanding). </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Apostle Peter, a fisherman who still had plenty of fish to give away, stopped giving alms to a chronic beggar. Instead, he helped lift a man to his feet so that he could walk on his own 2 feet again. But only when the Apostle's paradigm changed, did the lame man's paradigm change.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Readers who are familiar with 'disruption theory', understand that from time to time there has to be a change in the customary manner of doing things, and with the methods that have been used before; that is if an individual or organization plans to keep pace or turn things around. In other words, adaptability is required. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Even a once great idea (the free delivery ice wagon, black and white TV, typewriters … eventually runs its course and needs to be replaced). </span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b>Smart leaders, and managers on the cutting-edge, recognize when it is time to improve, create and to do something differently.</b></span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Several organizations, some of notoriety in Silicon Valley, failed to forecast or re-evaluate their processes - particularly, the ones that worked for a period of time in the past, and they suffered as a result. America, and Americans have also failed to heed the signs of knowing when to change. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">To that end, several once venerable organizations, in the once booming Silicon Valley, have recently been overtaken by upstart organizations that didn't exist a decade ago.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Why? Because the leaders of the organizations failed to keep up, or to recognize that from time to time, even a venerable organization has to recognize when it is time to change its mission, its methods and ways of doing things. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Some institutions, ignored the Law of Accelerating returns, and failed to keep up with the pace. Consider, what has taken place in the the Republic of China and the other emerging global markets today, and the 'huge sucking sound', that we hear coming from the American economy.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The ROC tried something different, and with its new leadership at the top, has come out of the dark ages in just under a few decades. The Republic of China is threatening to alter the existing world order. And the majority of its 1.2 billion people, all used to be poor. China has demonstrated what can happen, when the right forces are put into place</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">America on the other hand, stayed too long with what had been working before, and it is costing all of us. And the net result is that citizens of other nations are prospering, and Americans have 'changed places' with them. Arrogance, over-confidence, elitism at play, perhaps? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Successful businesses that plan to survive or to thrive under existing changing conditions, also recognize the need to be as effective as they are efficient and therefore to modify or change their practices at certain peak and off-peak junctures.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The Valley, in my opinion, with Federal and State help, has effectively underwritten (and you might say written off) what appears to be a increasing, burgeoning and expanding permanent underclass. It cost billions of dollars to support that class group, when you take into consideration the failing infrastructure that is currently in place. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">There are an estimated 7,000 outdoor citizens in the Santa Clara County region alone, who will continue to depend on the system for life-long support, if something realistic isn't done soon.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The composition of the outdoor-citizen's demographic includes women, children and men from a number of different ethnic groups, both American and foreign born. Certain members of this burgeoning permanent underclass, have been on the dole, for 5, 7, 10 and 12 years, periods that have eclipsed either or both of the two major Silicon Valley or national recessions.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The supply-siders will continue to respond to the demand, instead of helping to change the dynamic. Several of these organizations, as HOP has experienced already, operate like a impenetrable syndicate of who's who's, in the valley. We have observed that some of the political figures in our area, are a part of these syndicates. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">HOP, has made numerous attempts to get the councilmen in District 3, and some ministers to respond to the numerous messages that we have left for them. Hmm!!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Since my return from the nation's capitol several years ago, I ended up living in a shelter, a church's rear office, on a park bench and at the Salvation Army for a few nights (and did I mention with dear friends)? I immediately recognized and took ownership of 'my problem', and observed that of my new cohort group, the helping community of agencies and faith-based groups, as a result of living among the outdoor citizens' demographic in Santa Clara Valley.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I took special note of what was taking place with well-intended government, social services and faith-based groups in the area. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I not only made observations, I asked the tough questions, and took notes as I went about my work, on both sides of the Bay (to include the People's Park in Berkeley, and parks, shelters, feeding programs ... in Santa Clara Valley).</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The First Church of Christian Science on Dwight Way in Berkeley was most helpful, Priscilla, a member of the church, was my teacher and guide. Rosie, a long-time resident of the People's Park and Terri (who was affectionately known as 'the Compost Lady', because she planted flowers and vegetables in the park to feed the outdoor-citizens there, were both extremely helpful.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I began to collaborate with outdoor citizens, as well as with service providers and faith-based groups on both sides of the Bay, in hopes of trying to determine what course of action should be taken in order to change the current dynamic (in the most prosperous and progressive state in the world, as far as I was and am concerned).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The first thing that I observed and took note of, was that the outdoor citizens were mostly non-participants in their own recoveries. In other words, the most important component was often missing from the policy and planning table. Second, I noticed that there was a percentage of the outdoor-citizens demographic who were satisfied with the way that things were operating at the time, 'receive, and you shall receive more types I call them'! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And then there was the group that I will refer to as 'the helping-naive, who for personal or political reasons were overly involved, even though they were not helping to bring about change. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Some outdoor citizens required support help true enough, however, others were and still are unabashed moochers. What kind of help was and is still needed, was the question that I attempted to answer. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The latter group, I concluded, needed what the lame beggar at the temple needed, someone to help to lift them from the metaphorical ground where they often begged. These individuals needed to get on with their lives instead of depending on handouts.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I also recognized that there were physically and mentally handicapped individuals that were also in need of a supportive lift, instead of a wheelchair for life. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The Deinstitutionalization Act, sadly, one of late President Ronald's proud accomplishments, has been disastrous for many individuals, who are in need of in-house mental health services. If someone were to conduct a cost-benefit analysis, I'm certain that it would show that the cost to America has been far more egregious, than a time when individuals who required hospitalization were hospitalized</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Helping people is a balancing act, one that requires training, vision, wisdom, an ear to hear, analysis, strength and discernment. Otherwise, good caring people with the best of intentions, often end up being pawns in the hands of a sleighter! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many caregivers ... have unwittingly become pawns in someone elses manipulative (occasionally political) games.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Aside from the fact that some outdoor citizens who lack a conscience, would pull the whole system down with them in deference to the ones who require genuine help - at times it appears as if many of the supply-siders (who are supposed to be change agents), have experienced Stockholm Syndrome.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>In other words, they have become one with the individuals that they are supposed to be serving!</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Retired Stanford professor, from the Department of Psychology, Dr. Zimbardo, could explain this firsthand given his work with the Stanford Prison Experiments and what took place at Abu Ghraib. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">In fact, I was stunned, given the responses and feedback that I received from several service providers in the region who we asked to collaborate. Several of them were were more perturbed with my suggesting that change needed to take place, than they were with the individuals (some malingerers) who were co-dependent with them, their agencies and other faith-based groups.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Again, in too many instances outdoor citizens are still not participating in their own recoveries - and too many service providers, faith-based groups, agencies ... want to rescue, rather than help their clients to get up and walk again. This is what happens when you outsource your responsibility to another, be they person, religious group or agency. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">It was incredible to me, the amount of resources that were being expended, misappropriated or provided (to include dollars and human capital), that was being used to solve a problem for outdoor citizens wherein outdoor citizens had zero input, were not cooperating, or for whatever reason were simply not involved!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">At present, HOP, several other organizations and individuals in the area are ahead of the curve (in terms of recognizing a need for disruption in the systems in this region). I have joined forces with current and former outdoor citizens, and a few organizations and faith-based groups, who want to help to make a difference in the lives of our demographic.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>We will be doing this while too many of the rest are saving us!</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The incredible amount of resources being expended by government, along with direct handouts on the streets by citizens, and dollars being spent by faith-based and other institutions in the region, have reached critical mass. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And as mentioned before, there are approximately 7,000 outdoor citizens, who remain outdoor citizens in this region. In other words, instead of crisis-resolving measures being implemented, most institutions in the area, have accepted homelessness, I believe, as a condition.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Change is being provided (in a monetary sense), but not in a practical sense, that is helping individuals who need to get to work to make the requisite changes, with support, to do so! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">HOP, other individuals, organizations and groups in the area who believe in what we are doing - are working to alter the current dynamic. And we plan to do so, not only among the outdoor citizens' demographic, but also among agencies, faith-based groups and services providers that are co-dependent with chronic outdoor citizens, in time.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Individuals who are capable of helping themselves, and have found that “it is cheaper to keep her', the freebies, require inspiration (to include negative sanctions) in order to motivate them to get up and to get going again. I am </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">speaking about the ones that can help themselves with a minimal amount of supervisorial help, but have given in to supply-side handouts ...</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And that is the reason why HOP had to create its own creative think tank agency and development training center. Now what is truly sad about this is that some individuals and institutions, who make their living off of the homeless, don't seem to want to have much to do with a professional outdoor citizen's organization that has an understanding of the problem. Remember, our organization is staffed with recovering individuals who have been there, some still are living outside, but have something to say, that ought to be listened to by anyone who wants to help. Hmm!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Well, who is this Solomon dude anyway, they are likely thinking, a man who popped up in town from Washington DC several years ago; we're in charge here? To some, to them I am certain, that I appear to be a loud mouth, who has as much as said that the service-providers … in this area ... are co-dependent with the outdoor citizen's demographic in this area, many of them.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And besides that, some are thinking at first, I suppose, "I have been in this fight for some time now and who is he (an outdoor citizen) to come walking in here, Mr. High and Mighty, to tell us or me, what to do with our or my money? "You can never tell another man what to do with his money", someone close to me used to say. On the other hand, I would welcome any individual who could tell me how to get the maximum benefit from my, the government's or my church group's money. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And the final answer to the naysayers query is this, I am your friend. And, I could turn the question around and ask, who are you to turn away an outdoor citizen who wants to help outdoor citizens and you for or your group for that matter, that is if your mission is as altruistic as you claim that it is? Remember, even Jesus had to stop the miracle feeding crusade that he started, at the beginning of his public ministry, he having said that the people were only following him for food and miracles - not to turn their lives around.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">If what any of us are doing, or attempting to do is not helping to change lives, those that can, then we need to ask ourselves whether the strategy that I or my group happens to be employing, is the best one, or is there a better way to accomplish the mission?</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Are our missionaries, both public and private, willing to revise the strategy in an overwhelmed system that is not working?</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Oftentimes, my fellow members of the cloth need to hear this the most. Some of them are 'hell-bent' on rescuing people, or let's put it another way, 'engaging in works alone'. One leading church, located in downtown San Jose, has been blessed with incredible financial resources. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">This church is intent upon rescuing people, by doing good works, the latter also makes them feel good about themselves.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">However, is it good works alone that the outdoor citizens really need? Sadly, these kind of churches often end up being used, and even worse, by employing their methods, the outdoor citizens that they purport to serve remain destitute, dependent and in the same place.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">This prominent church with a dearth of financial resources, (their pastor appears to believe that by simply spending money, that problems are being solved). I recall what happened when Jesus and a boy with a few fishes and a few loaves of bread, helped to feed a group as large as the outdoor citizens group in Silicon Valley, without money. How? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Jesus, got the crowd involved by jump starting the process, and afterward, there was more food left over than was apparent at the time because individuals in the crowd were included in the strategy. Too many outdoor citizens who choose to be left out, and others who are being left out, are not incentivised to help themselves. And that is what faith-based and other organizations are doing with the outdoor citizens in most communities today. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">In other words, 'stop spending pastor(s) and get God, the right vision and the people involved'! How dare I say this? I am a minister on sabbatical dudes, I remind you: Paul withstood Peter to his face, Jesus confronted the Pharisees and Sadducee's of his time and some of our local clerics need to be confronted and challenged from time to time!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At times, I can be very curt, when I want to be, however, it is intended to be useful. To these type of individuals who I make angry by criticizing them, all I can say is: Take your thumb out of your mouths, because there is more at stake here than a damaged ego. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Truthfully, I've only experienced a couple of individuals (including clerics) that I would consider to be 'true jerks, individuals who are on mission of their making, have forgotten that "our ways, are not always God's ways"!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Am I a T-Partier, or an individual on the Right who believes in a redistribution of wealth that will inure to the benefit of a certain class group, the one that needs it the least? Nyat! However, will the rest of us sit on our laurels, and help the rich to get richer and turn around and cry about it. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Each one of us has the same right to compete with anyone else, even to compete for market-share, inside and outside of America. In other words, why criticize either the organizations or individuals that we continue to patronize, and wait for them to employ either you or me, while criticizing them? </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Figure out a way, to start your own business, instead. That is what we are teaching outdoor citizens to do, to get back in the game. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Anyway, don't get upset with me, I am on the side of what I believe is right, and I would like to help if I can to break through the powerful matrix of caregivers ... that exists in this area, whose apparently misdirected hard-work is not yielding the desired result. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Someone pointed out that when President Obama spoke at Facebook, in downtown Palo Alto a month ago, he even failed to stop and speak with the outdoor citizens who were just a block away. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Instead, he raised millions of dollars for his campaign. Just imagine what all of those millions could have done to create opportunities for the outdoor citizens demographic in this region? </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And don't feel bad if you feel turned off at first by me, <u>many of the outdoor citizens who have been enjoying a comfy existence as a result of the area's largess, wish that I would shut up and go away too!</u> Can you blame them? Here I am, Solomon, creating disruption and spoiling the party for some of them, whenever I start shouting from my porch. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">How would you like it if someone was tampering with a way of living that costs you nothing? In fact, when you think about it, some of our outdoor citizens are confirmed whiners. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I know, you can't say that!. And you cannot say it aloud, because you haven't been there, and I understand that. However, I can, and oftentimes do just that, 'I say to some of our malingers, what you cannot say'! This combination of supply-siders and whiners, is another big part of the problem that we will have to deal with, in order to eviscerate the area's homeless issues.</span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">These are actually two polarizing power groups present and accounted for!</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Some years ago, I argued a similar position with a group of do-gooier social workers ... who converged on Washington DC, just over 2 decades back. I was an invited delegate. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Service providers, from all other the nation, converged on Washington DC in1984, to focus on nationwide social and public policy issues. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Approximately 1,000 of us, spent the week in the nation's Capitol at a forum that was put together by The United Neighborhood Centers of America. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Our objective was to, among other things, discuss ways to help solve the problems of America's burgeoning permanent underclass, that was so prevalent in the inner cities at the time, approximately 20 years ago, and not much has changed.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">We caucused every day for one week, listened to speakers, engaged in discussions and debates, met with Representatives, created policy papers ... Eventually, the bleeding hearts among us came around. For example, o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">n one occasion, when we were drafting a policy paper, I explained to my colleagues that <u>they were guilty of being idealistic, but not very realistic</u>. The latter is a problem that often persists and plagues most service providers and service provider agencies.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Why? Services-providers typically are people who have hearts of compassion (I wish everyone did), and desire to help. <i>Our downside is that oftentimes idealism, trumps realism or pragmatism</i> – we don't care what it costs, let's just do it. Not good, I explained! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Our delegates were not being very realistic when it came to addressing the needs of America's permanent underclass back then, much like it is being done today.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At the time, the average per capital income in the inner city was around 9K, and Congress has just voted a 15% raise for themselves. Nearly 3 decades later, the average per capital income in some urban centers still hovers around 15K, one area is adjacent to Capitol Hill just on the other side of the Anacostia River. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Prior to leaving Washington (in 1983), neither my first nor my last time working on social, urban and public-policy issues by the way at the Congressional level, there was a change of heart.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many of the individuals who came to bleed for America's permanent underclass, as opposed to coming up with some realistic proposals and solutions, helped to put together something with teeth in it, before we left, something that we could present to the politicians. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I hope that some of our bleeding hearts in the Valley will eventually recognize that they will have to do something similar in The Valley, engage in introspection. </span></span><br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b>Let me put it another way, 'stop enabling the able-bodied outdoor citizens, would you please, and instead help to plan for and participate in both your and their recoveries"!</b></span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many of our outdoor citizens need to feel the kind of pain that will shock their sensibilities, and hopefully, holt them back into action, in order to jumpstart their lives. Pain, can be a powerful motivator for positive social change, and to reverse lethargy and inaction. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Given the number of individuals that are unhoused in the area and living on someone elses's floor... given all of the manpower and resources that have been expended and distributed, wouldn't you say at some point, that what has successfully worked before, is simply not working today?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The crisis is worsening, and the Republican House has already proposed to role HUD Funding for example, back to 2007 levels, as a starting point. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">It is time for disruption, and a change from the old ways of doing things, to take place. For example, when outdoor citizens come to you and beg for handouts, either on the streets or at your agency: “Tell Them Where To Go", in other words where you send your money to in order to assist them and where they can be held accountable and worked with in recovery programs.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Explain to them that a organization with skilled personnel will help them to get going again. Whatever you do, stop supporting begging and dependency. You are only are reinforcing bad habits, which will only result in re-enforcing long-term chronic dependency. Again, tell them where to go 'in order to meet your money', and to get the type of help that they need! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Jesus believed in, and taught his audience members to be responsible, as poor as they were. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">It seems to me that some of the faith-based groups, agencies, and recipients of all of the public's and their congregation's largess in this area, are intent upon doing just the opposite. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Too many of them are busily maintaining the "we will take care of you status quo”. Let me give you an example: Too often, the outdoor citizens get everything for free in this area, to the extent that other outdoor citizens, that I have personally met and talked to, travelled to this area from other parts of the state and the nation,because they have heard 'just how sweet it is in Santa Clara County'. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Even San Franciscans travel, 40 miles down the peninsula (to the Southbay), in order to get what they cannot get their hands on in San Francisco. Our current Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom, when he was mayor of San Francisco, recommended that Bay Area cities, work together in order to deal with this cross-pollinating phenomenon. Some San Josean's, seem to be in denial about this phenomenon, that more and more is becoming a condition.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Outdoor Citizens from as far away as San Diego... come here to take advantage of the area's largess, which impacts already limited resources. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">From all across the nation they come, is it any wonder that one out of every 7 or 8 Americans is a Californian? </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And even though I admire the spirit of giving in this area, I was even helped when my fortunes turned, however, with this caveat: I immediately engaged in a personal recovery plan, along with the fact that I spent decades paying into a system, despite an 8 year sabbatical in the nation's Capitol, from 2000 to 2007.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">My plan worked for me, and now I am teaching other outdoor citizens how a well thought out recovery plan can work for them. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">However, many of the helping organizations in this area neither understand when they are doing too much without a return on their investment, nor when the able minded and bodied outdoor citizens are not doing enough to help themselves. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many of our outdoor citizens haven’t sat down to consider or to construct a recovery plan for themselves yet, and some of their professional and semi-professional helpers don't seem to mind, that they have not done so!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Outdoor citizens, ought to be required to take action steps themselves before receiving more than very basic help. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">And afterward, when they are helped, benchmarks with verifiable targets ought to be put into place, accompanied by frequent compliance reviews. Otherwise, permit the ones who refuse to do anything to help themselves, experience 'The Pain Station'. Let them know up front that the short-term help that will be provided at the onset, will be cut off in time.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The by-product of all of the, 'we will solve your problems for you', that too many of our chronic outdoor citizens, are experiencing, some for a decade or more, is that many of our outdoor citizens have remained right where they have been long before I, and others like me, got involved in the fight. W</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">hile being supported without condition, there are a number of outdoor citizens who lost jobs, homes, apartments ... did so before the most recent recession, and some before the recession in this region in 2001. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I know of an able body and mind outdoor citizen, who was panhandling in the 1980's, who is still panhandling, over 2 decades later, I was told. At the time, I mistakenly helped him too, not understanding at the time, that this gentleman was a 'careen panhandler'. Sadly, outdoor citizens are cashing in on the give away bounty!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Has there been any accountability? What happened, given all of the resources that have been expended over the past 3 years alone? I cannot see any appreciable results, at least nothing to boast about. We can blame what has transpired on the the economy ... however, that is not the whole story. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Over-dependence on a free handout economy, including a guaranteed job is the problem. It is time for a new way of thinking and reckoning to be put into action - consider HOP's model.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">I can't seem to get some faith-based groups to understand that not even Jesus, continued his 'miracle healing feeding crusade', once he realized that his program enabled individuals (who were merely following him in order to obtain fish food, and other miracles). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At HOP, the Think Tank and Advocacy organization, one that is comprised of current and former outdoor citizens mind you - we are teaching a new paradigm. Hopefully, others will get on board and try something new for a change.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">One HOP member proposed a slogan 2-days ago that will be incorporated, with regard to street and other beggars, and it is: <u>REFUSE TO GIVE CHANGE TO PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO CHANGE</u>. This slogan compliments, the new TELL THEM WHERE TO GO slogan that we came up with!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><b>In other words, don't give any more money to anyone on the streets, or at the expressway exits.</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Again, instead of giving on the streets, send your money to responsible and ethical organizations; and at the same time tell the beggar where to go where he can be helped, supervised, monitored and given a helping hand (if he or she will do what they are told in order to help themselves. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Giving on the streets ... has only buttressed begging, undermined accountability, and encouraged the lack of effort to change in the lives of beggars. Again, w</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">e know some things that some don't know, because we've been there and listened to the comments of some our outdoor people. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many of our team members are already working to turn their lives around - instead of being dependent on a system that doesn't work to help individuals to get up and to get going again, sadly. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">During my last person-to-person meeting with late Congressman Augustus Hawkins of the 21st district in Los Angeles when in Washington DC and before he passed on - he told me something. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">He said, you can actually do more back at home by working with the ones who are in need in the community, than you can get down here in Washington DC …” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Many other Representatives in Washington, for example late Representative John Seiberling of Ohio ... echoed the same sentiment and shared similar advice. Practically every Representative that I spoke with, admitted that Washington was in gridlock.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Representative Conyers from Michigan, once explained to a group of us in DC, that a certain bill that he tried to get on the floor for 25 years, was never permitted to come to the floor ... for a vote. Washington, as most Americans already know has been deadlocked - well that is unless you are an organization that owns one or more of the 300,000 or more registered (mostly corporate) lobbyists in this nation (who will do your bidding for you), then you will likely get you what you want.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Is it any wonder that many of the residents in the District of Columbia refer to it as 'Dodge City', not, because of the killing that goes on there. They are also referring to the crime that is taking place on Capitol Hill. There are hundreds of corporate lobbyists for every congressperson. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">HOP, and several other well-intentioned institutions in America and this area, are not the place to go if one does not intend to alter their plight, and that is in consideration of individuals on both sides of the spectrum.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">At HOP, we are essentially teaching outdoor citizens, the ones who will listen to a new perspective, a new paradigm, and it includes the following:</span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">1. That the world has changed since the Post WWII economic boom that America experienced (which lasted more than a half century).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">2. That Europe was devastated, and broke at the end of the war, while America's blue collar industry, factories, its banking and mercantile system, among other things, was booming.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">3. And as a result, there were jobs aplenty. (Many Americans in the rust belt where I hail from, held more than one job at a time). I can recall when I held 2 jobs and was working 16 hours a day around the age of 18.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">4. However today greed, coupled with globalization, corporate down-sizing, loss of market share to the emerging global economies, corporate down-sizing, the depression and the slow economic recovery (not to overlook the psyche of the entitled to a job Americans), too many Americans have lost that one well paying job - that they used to have. And more more and more of them are sitting in a stupor, while waiting for 'their job' to come back.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">5. That the shrinking manufacturing base, currently at about 27% of what it was decades ago, has resulted in many of blue collar workers having been simply put, eliminated. And as a result, homes, apartments, rooms and families have been broken up and lost...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">6. That even if you were able to garner a job, typically short-term, you would not be able to earn a sufficient amount of money to cover your living expenses, particularly, if you live in northern California. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">7. That the solution is within you coupled with solid supportive help, of the kind that teach and help you to take back charge of your lives, and therefore your destinies with this in mind; you must take the responsibility for your comeback, and create income-producing opportunities for yourself. In other words, you will hone and depend on your current skill-sets, return to school if you must, and use what you have already in your toolbox, to compete in the market place.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">8. We remind our people (outdoor citizens), that each one of them possesses 'not only marketable skills, but income-producing skills'. We also explain that the American citizen will have to learn to compete against both American and global interests in the new paradigm. And finally, with our support and hopefully yours, outdoor citizens will learn to garner a slice of the American and global pie - the former ship has sailed. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">9. Maintenance programs are just that, maintenance; and they will result in many Americans being on the dole for the rest of their lives - we lost over 50 outdoor-citizen lives in the area, last year alone, along with several outdoor citizens in this region just over the past 3 weeks...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">10. Finally, we help outdoor-citizens understand that more and more of the jobs that they were accustomed to having before, have been and are being shipped overseas, automated or outsourced. This phenomenon has occurred with the full consent of lobbied American government officials by American corporations. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Both entities are competing for their own survival and to satisfy campaign-financiers and their stockholders. The dangerous nexus that currently exists between government and corporations, is only hurting the American people. However, we have to fight back!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">John Maynard Keynes, Kenneth Galbraith would be appalled, if they could witness the current economic conditions in America, particularly what is taking place in the American corporate marketplace, on Wall Street and with America's mercantile system (particularly in a nation with a 14T GDP, piled-up debt and Americans living in the streets). Who knows what Mr. Friedman would have to say if he were still with us today, with respect to current market conditions. And we all know that he was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican and supply-side economist.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Thomas Sowell, my soul brother, I don't understand you, but at the same time, we are moving on with our own economic recoveries. I feel that it is safe to say that the contract with America ala Hobbes and Locke is DOA, at this juncture it appears to be, every person for themselves! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Mr. Volcker has had very instructive things to say from time to time. Mr. Greenspan, has to defend himself, since he presided over the Fed, during the downturn and slide, ergo, he has been somewhat muted and more of an apologist. Mr. Geithner and Mr. Bernanke are presiding over the current debacle and economic recovery, at the Treasury and at the Fed.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">All of us know, I believe, what the real problem is and where it originated, in addition to all of the above (to include job losses, corporate down-sizing, repositioning, job furloughs, the stock-market crash), can you say hedge funds though? Where I disagree with many of the outdoor citizens and organizations that we are involved with, too many of them accept the status-quo and fail to understand that it is time to to alter the status quo.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Why? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Because with the best of intentions many of these organizations are doing the wrong thing today, and therefore very little to address the systemic issues of our time. One thing that is needed for sure in the Santa Clara Valley and other regions of the nation is, DISRUPTION!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">In other words the same organizations that have prevented a crises of hunger in and among our demographic, have fallen into a separate rut. Today, however,it is time to get on with the business of rehabilitation, by partnering with outdoor citizens in a way that will help them to get back to creative ways of producing economic returns on their best investments, themselves. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">These institutions did an admirable job before, however, it is time to switch gears, and to kick some butt, given that there has been a massive redistribution of wealth in this nation and this area, to the ones who needed it the least - and they are not going to give it back. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In summary and I repeat that we believe the following:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">1. That organizations in the area need to adapt a new paradigm, one in which individuals working with those who want to help themselves to recover, ought to be helped. The ones who do not, and will not help themselves, ignore them.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">2. That outdoor citizens must be encouraged, taught … those who can be taught, to begin working to create income producing opportunities for themselves, with support (to include cleaning, sweeping, painting curbs, mowing lawns, using their computer-skills, starting their own hi-tech businesses some have advanced degrees you know).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">3. That outdoor citizens must volunteer to work, when one is capable of doing so, instead of receiving the gifts that they have been receiving of late, gratis.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">4. That a certain amount of pain being felt, will inspire some of our able-bodied, but spoiled outdoor citizens to get back to work or to create income-producing opportunities for themselves. We are living in a new day, and certain jobs aren't coming back!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">5. That organizations must channel more dollars into self-help organizations, not only HOP, who are trying to create self-sustaining and independent human beings instead of dependents (and the latter is what is taking place all over the area today.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">In conclusion:I wonder what our critics will have to say when we, HOP, a year and a-half old organization that began without money, a place and not very much of anything else, helps to alter the current paradigm and status quoin this region; or on the other hand, when the ones who are being served by status quo organizations make the turn around? Motivated outdoor-citizens, are turning to us already. The rest are staying in the parks, and relying on government, faith-based groups … to sustain them, to do their work for them - however, they are watching us.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">We plan to help individuals who desire to and are willing to work, to stand and to walk again. The answer is on 'the porch', not on the streets,or under another person or institution's control. And why are we doing what we are doing? We do it because of LOVE!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And if what you or you group has been and is doing works for the good of the people (not just your group...) then by all means keep doing it. On the other hand and in the words of Dr. Phil (see above), ask yourself or your group ... "how is what you have been doing, working for the individuals or groups that you or your group purports to serve at present, or has served in the past?"</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">If nothing else you will be able to determine why you or your group are doing what you are or have been doing, and who really benefits, if anyone! Sadly, and at times, we can do the right thing the wrong way, and this problem is one that Americans, typically are not accustomed to dealing with! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">However, given all of the above, and we didn't even touch on the numbers of individuals in the retirement community, an exploding number, who are having trouble making it! What happened to 'the commonweal', or commonwealth if you prefer?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">And here is one final shameless but hopefully helpful plug: </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">During my years as a psychiatric counselor, I received unsolicited plaudits from my fellow team members, who wondered why I had been more successful than many of them (who had been there long before I arrived, and had previously worked with the same clients). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">My response to them was, "the clients in our Mental Health center told me that the difference between you and the other therapists, is that you care about us,the others are here using us in order to acquire their advanced degrees".</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Sadly, and in too many instances, I knew firsthand that they were correct - several of my peers were using the clients to get what they wanted, their PhDs from a local university. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">To be informed, is to be armed! Do some introspection and self-actualization, those of you who want to help. And ask yourself, why are you doing what you are doing? In other words, are you doing what you are doing for the ones who need help, or are you doing what you are doing for yourself?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Solomon</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">The Proud President of Hope for Outdoor People</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Learn more about the growing supply-side dynamic and the outdoor citizen's demographic in Santa Clara County, by visiting 'The Outdoor Citizens Coalition of Santa Clara County's website at www.hoppeople.org! We have our own think tank, and are working to bring about positive social-change for our demographic in the Santa Clara Valley and beyond. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-size: large;">We need more HOP chapters around the nation. And please read our inspiring articles. Through The Window of Kathy's Eyes, is the featured article the week - please read it.</span>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-53333828739118102982011-06-01T16:59:00.000-07:002011-06-04T16:24:18.935-07:00Outdoor Citizen's Blog: Through the window of Kathy's Eyes<a href="http://outdoorcitizen.blogspot.com/2011/06/all-of-us-at-one-time-had-joba-home-and.html?spref=bl">Outdoor Citizen's Blog: Through the window of Kathy's Eyes</a>: "All of us at one time had a job,a home, and one day we don't have our job anymore,can't pay the rent.<br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 22px/normal Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; position: relative;"><a href="http://outdoorcitizen.blogspot.com/2011/06/all-of-us-at-one-time-had-joba-home-and.html" style="color: #b28520; text-decoration: none;">Through the window of Kathy's Eyes</a> (please let us know your reaction)</h3><div class="post-header" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-1379105873639313271" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; position: relative; width: 680px;"><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;">All of us at one time had a job,a home, and one day we don't have our job anymore,can't pay the rent. Then the landlord comes and tell you that you been evicted from your home. There's nothing you can do about it, but pack all your things and leave. You never think that would ever happen to you until that day comes. Now comes the hard part, you don't have any money, and you don't have any place or any one you could stay with.</div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;"><br />
</div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;">And now you are one of the Outdoor People. And now you need to find a safe place to sleep. And I tell you its not a good thing to be sleeping outside. When night time comes its so hard to go to sleep because you get all that wind blowing on your body. Especially only one blanket and no pillow for your head and laying on the hard ground to sleep. That is very uncomfortable to sleep that way for a women.</div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;"><br />
</div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;">When your going to sleep you heard noise and people walking by you. And you'll afraid to close your eyes, because you don't know if its safe to go to sleep. And you tell your self is it safe to go to sleep, will I wake up in the morning!</div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;"><img alt="Heart" src="http://hoppeople.org/images/stories/hearts.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; float: left; margin-bottom: 50px; margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px; margin-top: 50px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;" width="120" /></div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;">And you don't want to drink any thing at night because there is no bathroom to use. And you can't make a fire to cook any thing or heat up water. Some time at night you get hungy but there's nothing for you to eat. You have to wait till morning to find something to eat. And some time you go with out eating if you can't find any thing.</div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;"><br />
</div><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;">There's no one to take care of you, you have to take care of your self and you got to watch your own back and never trust any one. Every one is on there own out there.</div></div><h1 class="rt-article-title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #cc0000; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: none; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><i style="font-size: 10px;">Article submitted by Kathy in her own words and un-edited</i></span><a href="http://hoppeople.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=309:through-the-window-of-kathys-eyes&catid=45:articles&Itemid=103" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #cc0000; font-size: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; visibility: visible;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span> the window of Kathy's Eyes</a></h1>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-7204104857196721742011-05-30T13:39:00.000-07:002011-06-02T14:13:01.056-07:00Netanyahu: The Tail That is Wagging the American Dog!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6ZwZ0rb0t4/TeP_O_IyH3I/AAAAAAAAACA/N8_s_Ek2ej0/s1600/0209111356.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6ZwZ0rb0t4/TeP_O_IyH3I/AAAAAAAAACA/N8_s_Ek2ej0/s320/0209111356.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Regarding the Jerkweed Prime Minister of Israel: Tear down that wall Mr. Netanyahu!</span></span><br />
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I heard someone say,that dogs will take it out of one place, and stick it in another without washing it off. And that makes me think of Netanyahu, other current and former Israeli-hardliners, Israel's relationship with the former Soviet Union, the United States and vice versa.<br />
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I keep wondering, how does this man, have more power in the United States, and with America's leadership than rank and file Americans do? "Go back to your military base, Netanyahu".<br />
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I was stunned several years ago, when during one of his frequent visits to the United States of America, Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, publicly made condescending remarks about former President Jimmy Carter, and he made his comments before an American audience no less. I wish that I had been an audience member at the time!<br />
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His exact words were: “Jimmy Carter, he wasn't a very good president, was he”? And not just because it was former democratic President Jimmy Carter that he was referring to, I couldn't get over the fact that he was arrogant enough to make such a obstreperous comment about an American president in the United States of America no less. I thought to myself, who was this jerk, and how dare he make such comments, and even worse than that, why wasn't he chastised and told to show respect for our leaders, individuals that the American people elected to office?<br />
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On the other hand, American leaders and Secretaries of State, go out of their way to ensure that they never offend Israel, and the provocative warhawks within Israel's leadership. Hmm!<br />
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Just yesterday, a week after his meeting with President Obama (a man that I did not vote for by the way),Netanyahu, received 27 standing ovations from members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican. And their behavior was in deference to Netanyahu's untoward behavior to yet another American President (a sitting American president no less). How could this be, I wondered?<br />
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What immediately came to mind was, just how hostile and unprincipled this man must be when dealing with his Arab and Palestinian neighbors during negotiations, given that he will openly exhibit such hostile feelings and untoward behaviors towards American Presidents, his friends. Clearly then, this man could not and cannot be an even broker, or to put it another way, a principled negotiator, when dealing with the Arab and Palestinian people. History has proven that to be true time and time again. Simply consider how Israel continues to violate treaties, and to build settlements in the West Bank.<br />
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Let me see, Israel and the Arab/Palestinians or in this hemisphere, the United States v Cuba ... Neither nation is behaving in good faith with their border neighbors are they? In fact, both nations behave in the same manner with their border neighbors, dishonestly and with complete disdain!<br />
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But getting back to Israel and the hawkish and insubordinate behavior of their leaders on American soil, one has to wonder, who is in charge, especially, when our money is being used to underwrite Israel's untoward behavior towards Arabs, Palestinians, American presidents and the American people? Clearly, when it comes right down to it, Israel is the tail that is wagging the American dog, for when the hawks in Israel bark, even American President's back down. What must this say to other powerful nations in the world? Not even America's other allies, receive this kind of attention or leeway.<br />
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One can easily tell, by watching Israel's hawkish leaders and their comfy relationship with the United States of America - Israel's number one sponsor and supporter of terror - that their leaders lack respect for America, America's leaders and all of the American people. Folks, we are being used too, or are we? I will come back to which nation is using the other later, given the apparent and unhealthy quid-pro-quo relationship that exists between those nations.<br />
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Part II<br />
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What does all of this say to the American people and the rest of the world? I know what it says to me. And to think that the Republicans got upset about President Chavez's sulfur comments, that were directed at then sitting President George H. Bush Jr. following his speech the day before at the United Nations, several years ago. On the other hand, Israel's leaders get a bye, when they do the same thing, when their leaders insult certain American leaders. The former incident with President Bush Jr., was also accompanied by an incident, where an Arab lobbed a shoe at President George H.W. Bush Jr. while he was speaking overseas!<br />
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The customary manner in which American President's cower to Israeli hawks and warhawks like Netanyahu, and in the past late terrorist Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - don't forget him, it gives me pause if not downright concern! The arrogance of Netanyahu, he amazes me, not to mention the manner in which a sitting president acquiesces and afterward the Congress praises him, given his insolence. Netanyahu not only disparages America's leaders, he is also sending a message to the American people who voted for them, that he doesn't respect us either. He only wants what he wants from us, to provide Israel with aid, trade, weapons and cover at the United Nations.<br />
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Clearly, Israel's hawkish leaders are more important to our leader/servants in Washington DC, than the will of the people who elected them, happens to be. Israel's leaders tried to make it appear that former and late leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat was a terrorist? Hmm, what about Sharon and Netanyahu – both are the moral equivalent of each other from my point of view. Yasser, he was fighting for freedom from oppression, Israel's oppression!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">The Apostle Paul once wrote: “My earnest desire and prayer for Israel, is that Israel might be saved, for I bear them record that they have a zeal, but it is not according to knowledge. For they have left the righteousness of God and have gone about to establish their own righteousness”. Get it, self righteousness!</span><br />
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I don't always agree with the former Apostle, however, I can see where he was coming from, based upon what I have observed from Israel, 2000 years later. What was it that Paul recognized about Israel in the Common Era, that apparently has not changed until this day? Was it the same kind of stubborn hard-headiness, or exceptionalist behaviors and attitudes, that we are witnessing today, 2000 years later? Some writers have said that Israel, was and is today, the harbinger of 'A Chosen People Complex'! Think about it - they believe that they are better than everyone else in the world, some of them, even Americans.<br />
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Was the Apostle Paul anti-Semitic or a traitor, given his criticisms of his own brethren? Perceptions haven't changed much have they, except among American Christians perhaps? Christians, will rationalize or justify whatever Israel does, behavior that they would condemn, if it was exhibited by any other nation.<br />
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If the Apostle were alive today and would have spoken the same words, he would be considered to be anti-Semitic, in spite of his own Semitic heritage, by Jews Christians, particularly, if they had to choose between American foreign policy and Paul. Am I anti-Semitic too, you're wondering? Answer, not that I know of, I simply believe in truth, justice and speaking truth to power - even America's and Israel's power.<br />
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Can you see the similarities between the Apostle's conclusions, and many of our own perceptions about Israel today? Israel, in collusion with the USA, often seems to be making up its own rules when it comes to its venal policies, and did I say with the full backing and support of America's leadership at Washington. Having America on your side, a permanent member in the U.N. Security Council, helps Israel to get away with murder, with the approval of most American Christians!<br />
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There is another common denominator that seems to exist between conservatives in America, and conservatives in Israel. If you were to criticize conservatives in either group, you would be labeled either an anti-Semitic in the case of Israel, or a non-patriot in the eyes of Republican leaders in America.<br />
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III.<br />
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Isn't it sad that such a beautiful term, conservative, is used to describe such a venal and self-centered group of people, in particular the hard-liners on the Republican Right, which is often wrong? I suspect that the term 'selfish', would be more apropos!<br />
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How does jerkweed Netanyahu, and former Israeli leaders like Ariel Sharon get away with their disrespectful behavior towards America's leadership? Clearly, they have something on the United States and its leaders.They know something about America and its behind-the-scenes covert operations and policies that we don't know about. And no matter, what some Americans are fine with that, while some of us are not.<br />
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Consider when Ronald Reagan was still alive, our late President conspired with Israel,to sell arms to the Contras, whereby circumventing the will of the American people and Congress. Another quasi-conservative, former President George H.W. Bush, was also involved.<br />
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Late Senator Barry Goldwater, who was the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time was furious when he discovered that the President colluded with Israel in defiance of Congress and the people of the United States of America. Had I been head of the Senate Intelligence committee, I would have been furious too, and would have moved to have Reagan impeached.<br />
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I believe that there has been an ongoing secret, innocuous and hidden, quid pro quo relationship between the leadership of these two nations since and before 1947. Could you blame Senator Goldwater for being furious? Israeli's knew more about what America was doing, than Mr. Goldwater did?<br />
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This kind of duplicity at the top, appears to be something that is deeply rooted within the foreign policy agenda of both nations, and, Israel, America's satrap does what it is told to do. Or on the other hand, is it the other way around, given this quid pro quo relationship between the leaders of both nations? Poor President Obama, has been left out of the deal apparently, because of his African and democratic roots. And a name like, OBAMA, doesn't help. I betcha, Sharon can hardly get used to a man who looks like, and carries the surname of his enemies, especially when he is the President of Sharon's United States of America, a nation that he controls.<br />
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He knows that due to President Obama's heritage, that he cannot be trusted by Israel to do what needs to be done from their point of view, that is to kill his close kin in the Middle-East and beyond.<br />
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Here is something else to ponder: Who would our government officials sell out first, if they had to decide between American citizens and members of the Israeli terrorist cabal?<br />
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The answer is obvious - the American citizen would loose to Israel's anti-Palestinian and Arab warhawks, and their Washington DC, counterparts. Get it, Sharon and company were, and are more of a priority to past and present secret interests and Presidents in Washington DC, than are the majority of America's citizens. America is not the fair broker that it pretends to be in the Middle-East or with its own citizens. And America, has a dog in the Middle-East fight, despite its pretense of having dealt with an even-hand in the past and present with the Palestinian People, and in the east-west divide.<br />
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President Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and possibly President Obama, I am certain, knows that. And, the Arab and Palestinian people know it too! Perhaps someone from Wiki Leaks can get to the bottom of this, and afterward inform the American people as to what is really going on behind the scenes between US and Israeli leaders. It would appear that the members of Wiki-Leaks are more likely to provide full disclosure to the American people, than the leaders of either nation will ever do!<br />
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Isn't it sad when the American people have to rely on espionage to get the real truth about our own leadership and their secret-friends in the Israel and America's foreign policy agenda?<br />
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American officials, past and present, are clearly speaking with a forked-tongue, when it comes to Israel and the rest of the Middle-East. And, I suspect that the Palestinian people know it (that Israel is really an American proxy that is performing America's bidding in the Middle-East), just as the American people already suspect. I hear echoes of what the late W.E. B. DuBois said about "the problem problem of the Color Line in the 20th century”. He was apparently right on more than one count, and the problem is alive and well in the 21st century too.<br />
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IV.<br />
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I can still recall, several decades ago, when the majority of civilized nations of the world boycotted the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, given its continued suppression and discrimination of the black majority in the nation of South Africa (to include 3 decades of imprisonment of liberator Nelson Mandela). At the time, Israel stood out among the other nations of the world in this regard. Israel ignored the boycott, and continued to sell weapons to the racist government (weapons that were used against black Africans and paid for with American money).<br />
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In fact, Israel stood with a minority group of whites in order to further imprison the majority of blacks in South Africa. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Israel empathized with the white-racist oppressor-regime in South Africa, because Israel, was doing the same to the majority people-of-color, that surrounded and share the homeland.<br />
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What happened to Israel? Syndicated Journalist Mark Shields, read a quotation from a Iraeli leader with regard to their liberation from ancient Egypt, that went something like this: After being the children of bondage in Egypt, never would the people of Israel hold any other people in bondage. And when you get right down to it, isn't that what Israel has been doing, holding people in bondage?<br />
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In both instances, Israel was and is helping to hold people of color in bondage in South Africa and the Middle-East, since 1947, the costs being underwritten in part with American tax-dollars; to be succinct, your and my tax dollars. It would appear that America's leaders, as they have done in the past are on the side of the insidious oppressors, against the oppressed. And all of us can recall that sad display as it relates to what took place <u>IN THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE SLAVE</u>, America, for 200 years. At the time, Americans , with the full support of government (all 3 branches..),against non-whites in America!<br />
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Many Americans of late, have referred to Israel as “America's 51st State”. From all indications, it is America's most powerful state, and it is to the extent that America's leadership cowers and bows before it, like no other state in the Union, and not even to the American people!<br />
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Black Americans are caught in the middle of this quagmire in this sense: The Jewish community in America, has been indispensable when it came to supporting human rights and freedom for Americans, Cynthia McKinney, Malik El Shabazz, Reverend Jesse Jackson and Minister Farrakhan being notable exceptions. Who can forget or overlook the work done, past and present, by Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center, or the Jewish community for underwriting the cost of the NAACP's work since it began, paying for the March on Washington, Annenberg's 50M dollar donation to the UNCF...<br />
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And even though we appreciate what the Jewish community has done, and is still doing for us today, how can oppressed people, including Jewish people, support the oppression of other people that are friends of individuals who helped to support our liberation? And therefore, Israeli's expectation that black Americans should support AIPAC, even when it is misbehaving, is insulting. Again, our Jewish friends supported us right up to the time that our hawkish freedom and justice fighters leaders, former U.S. Representative and Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney, the Late Malik El Shabazz, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Minister Luis Farrakhan stood up for our rights.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">How come Israel and AIPAC get to stand up for their perceived rights</span>, and we are punished when we do, or better yet, Arabs and Palestinians, who are in the same positions that Israel was in before 1947, can't stand up for there's? Wouldn't you that think that Israel would understand what it is that the people that they are oppressing, are experiencing? I guess not, for who who or what groups of leaders from any nation, are more radical than Israel's leadership happens to be at this time, and on many occasions before?<br />
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For the 3rd time, former Representative and Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney, the late Malik El Shabazz, Reverend Jesse Jack and Minister Farrakhan ... all know that. Once upon a time, our church rented a room from the Jewish Center in Palo Alto California, for overflow purposes. Upon arriving one Sunday, where I taught a special class on Sunday mornings, a caricaturized picture of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, was hung prominently, just above the light switch. It was placed in an obvious place, where we, mostly African-Americans, would see it. The caption under the Reverend's picture was, 'Big Mouth'. My God I thought, we support you with our tax dollars, and you insult us on Sunday no less, at a Christian Bible Study Hmm!<br />
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None of the above possess nukes, blacks, Arabs or Palestinians (their government wouldn't permit it). None of our leaders, have killed anyone (well, Minister Farrakhan, admitted that he may have contributed to the violence inside the FOI, that resulted in El Shabazz's death when speaking to his late widow Betty Shabbaz). When John Brown, attempted to arm us so that we could fight for our freedom, look what happened to him? He was killed for fighting for liberation of an oppressed people, and he was white? I wonder, how come our liberation didn’t matter for so long, on the other hand, our people were sent to fight for freedom in other nations and for other races, only to return to The Land of the Free and The Home of the Slave, to be discriminated against, even by its own government? Tch tch tch!<br />
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Having said that, did or does what our friends in the Jewish community do to justly help free us from our oppressors, preclude us from speaking up and out to Israel and our friends, when they misbehave in the same manner that our oppressors did with us in America.? The answer is, I think not! Israel, benefits from my tax dollars too, and I and my counterparts have something to say about how our tax dollars are spent - get it, something to say! Truthfully, we know that our leaders will spend our taxpayers to liberate other people, and the same tax dollars to punish us.<br />
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Clearly, the leadership in Israel, is behaving much like the Klan and our government did here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Slave when it comes to the Arab and Palestinian people. Similar to the manner in which black Americans have been summarily tossed off of their lands, at the drop of an oppressor's whim, Arabs and Palestinians were evicted in the same manner from the Middle-East in 1947, 48!<br />
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V.<br />
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Christians in and outside of America ought to ask themselves, what would Jesus do? Or what would he tell a powerful and fully armed Israel to do when it comes to Palestinians (Philistines) and Arabs? I don't recall Jesus telling his Jewish brothers and sisters to strike out against the Roman Government? Jesus, even stopped his disciples from calling down "HELLFIRE Missiles", to be used to destroy people who did not receive them, their message or ways of believing and doing things. Jesus, rebuked his followers. Why won't the USA, a nation that sought freed from its perceived oppressors, England at the time, do the same thing, and tell Israel to knock it off, and to TEAR DOWN THAT WALL MR. Netanyahu!<br />
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Now as I understand it, during a briefing that I sat in on at the National Press Club in Washington DC several years ago, it was conservatives in Israel who were the culprits, not the rank and file Jewish citizens, who were the aggressors. I also learned that the majority of Israel's citizens, prefer to and get along just fine with Arabs and Palestinians in Israel, just as blacks and whites once did in this nation, before being dissuaded from doing so by hard-liners inside and outside of government.<br />
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The same is taking place in Israel today, their hawks discourage Israel 'citizens from having anything to do with Arabs and Palestinians, and we are all aware of the Israeli Wall that has been erected to divide the two nations in order to keep the people apart. No folks, I am not talking about the Wailing Wall. Israel, has erected its own form of Berlin Wall, that is being used to separate the East from the West, so that never the twain shall meet, that is if the warhawks can help it. Now what do America's leaders have to do with that, I wonder? Tear Down That Wall Mr. Netanyahu!<br />
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Haven't our leaders, past and present, who are in charge of our foreign policy apparatus, played footsies long enough with the Israeli warhawks? It would appear that they have done so to the extent that now when a sitting President wants Israel to return to the 1947 territorial agreement, that the unprincipled Israeli Prime Minister, offers disdain for the sitting President of the United States. Have the chickens come home to roost?<br />
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Israel's government, current and former descendants of European Jews, going back to and before Sharon - leave much to be desired! Even as far back into antiquity as one might care to explore, Israel has on occasion been smart enough to align itself with powerful empires like the Babylonian empire.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">In recent history, Israel has been allied with the Soviet Union</span>, prior to being aligned with the United States. Most of us know that a significant number of the inhabitants of Israel are secularists, which would explain their cozy relationship with the Soviets ( before getting in bed with the United States). Clearly, Israel's leadership will get in bed with Satan in order to preserve, or have what they want – and I am not saying that the Soviets were Satan.<br />
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Keep in mind that people in other nations believe that we, the do one thing and say something else nation believe that we are the Great Satan. And I believe that our leaders in Washington, some of them past and present, know where Satan sleeps at too!<br />
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Does Netanyahu, similar to late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, have any respect for the United, States and its leadership, or isn't it a fact that the Prime Minister has sold his allegiance to the highest-bidder just as his predecessors did, the USA of late? And isn't it true that he is simply using the people of the United States and America's treasury on a quid pro quo basis, so that the hawks and hardliners in Israel can get what they want. And what does the USA get in return one must ask?<br />
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I believe that the USA receives American management and surveillance of the Middle-East by proxy with the help of Israel's secret intelligence agencies, including the Masoud. And Americans should keep in mind that Israel has also spied on the United States too in the past, just as it is doing in the Middle-East (at the behest of it's friends, now, the United States of Israel)! Oops, whose side are they on, and which nation is using which nation, and which nation is the satrap?<br />
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The democratization of Northern Africa and the Mediterranean, to include Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria … is causing America and its duplicitous foreign policy apparatus to rethink things, I suspect and Israel knows that. Because when it comes to the Middle-East and Israel, certainly the leadership of Israel does not want to see Democracy take hold in the Mediterranean. If that were to occur, it would provide an edge to the majority Arab and Palestinian nations. Israel knows that the USA will appear to be a hypocrite if it continues to stand up for Israel's malfeasance.<br />
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And America is simply waiting to be on the side of whoever emerges as the winner in the Mediterranean, assuming that true democracy takes place within the oil-rich Palestinian and Arab nations.<br />
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Israel is not a majority Christian nation either, even though Israel depends on Christians from all over the world, particularly the United States for direct financial aid, intelligence information and military support. Again, we can see that the tail is wagging the dog, and the dog is willing to be wagged in order to get what it wants in the Middle-East. However, the real dog in the fight is apparently about to be exposed given the changes that are taking place in the world, especially the Mediterranean ...<br />
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VI.<br />
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Who could have ever have imagined the USA abandoning Israel?<br />
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It might happen folks, for once Israel is no longer needed, and America, who has more to gain if it can get Arabs and Palestinians to switch sides. If that were to happen, Israel, would become isolated, and have to go back to the Russian Orbit , another major power to align with it, or China perhaps. And boy oh boy, what all would the Israel's have to share with the Russians, about American intelligence.<br />
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I suspect that what the people of both nations will have to do, is what nationals all over the world are doing, given the failure of leadership by their current and past leaders. The people will have to wrest power back from government officials who clearly have their own set and secret agendas.<br />
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And the latter differs, by and large, from what the people want and need in order to take care of the commonwealth and the people. The people of Israel need to engage in direct talks with the American people, not the jaundiced power-brokers who make deals with Israel's leadership in America. The people of Israel also need to learn what it is that the majority of Americans want, especially if they ever expect to receive support in the future from informed Americans like me.<br />
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And I will say this again, even as a post-modern Christian, Jesus, would likely have spoken truth to Israeli's power, and explained how the 1974 deal, unfairly, came into being. Jesus would also likely explain that a lie would not stand. And most of know that the 1947 deal was a lie, one that did not take into consideration the current inhabitants of the land or their needs.<br />
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Jesus would show Israel's leaders, that in the manner that the Roman government of the common era controlled Israel by military force, threats and economic strangulation, that Israel was doing the same to the Arabs and Palestinians in the region. The people of Israel ought to understand that if the shift of power continues around the world, the result could be a different United Nations, with 15 different members of the Security Council, 5 being permanent. And the United Nations might issue a new resolution, one which could result in a power shift in favor of the Palestinians; anything is possible.<br />
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Would Israel's leaders listen to Jesus this time around? We all know that they did not listen to him before, however, more is at stake now. Can you say financial aid. If Jesus showed up and Netanyahu upstaged Jesus, as he is doing now with America's sitting President, Christians would be furious - or would they prefer American foreign policy over Jesus?<br />
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A change in the balance of power is already in the offing. And in other words, someday, the holy lands might be returned to the Arabs and Palestinian people, despite what biblical eschatologists, who also have a dog in the fight, believe and teach. Israel, and its Godly supporters in the West and some Arab and Palestinian, should ask themselves: whose will is it that they are pursuing? Is it God's will or there own? I suspect that it is the latter. If Jesus' sermon on the mount meant anything, what I take from it is this, give them the land if they want it, especially, if you believe that God has a better place for you.<br />
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Clearly, that war torn land is not holy, even as most Christians believe that it is – it's dirt folks. If the Temple is going to be rebuilt in Jerusalem …, then God will do it right, in spite of Israel, the Palestinians or anyone else!<br />
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It is time to do something different, if nothing more than having the people of the world to stand up together and to stop others from taking advantage of people who are caught in between 2 powerful groups in the world, and an insidious plot that is being held together by walls, weapons, checkpoints and the threat of annihilation.<br />
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As I close, I repeat what I said before, if the USA were to switch sides and become friendly with the emerging democracies in the area, Netanyahu, would blow the whole Middle-East up before he would cede power. So, before and if that would happen, and as flippant as it may sound - we have plenty of open spaces in the United States. We could easily absorb and accommodate 5m Middle-Eastern repatriated Jews and their descendants, in the name of peace. All of us know that there are factions on both sides that have no desire to see peace, not just the Palestinians and Arabs. If Israel wants to behave like a Western nation, well, why not simply join us in the West, say Montana or Wyoming, two beautiful but under-inhabited states!<br />
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American Christians who believe in biblical eschatology have a romantic attachment with Israel, regardless of what it does, or who its soldiers kill, and they use the Bible to justify and rationalize their thirst for Arab and Palestinian blood. They will support Israel, even when Israel is wrong, Christians, particularly in America, expect, believe, crave and look forward to Armageddon (East v West), just ask Pat Robertson. American Christians have their own motives for supporting Israeli malfeasance, the kind that is buttressed by the United States of America. Many of you have already been proven wrong about Gog and Magog. In fact, the Soviet Empire disappeared, but the uber power that occupies Babylon now, is the United States of America with its largest embassy in the world.<br />
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There are some of us who us simply believe that in the same manner that Jesus believed, that is that we should stand up for justice for all people, even if it means giving up a coat, pride or land! Besides, if Netanyahu were to move to America, I'm sure that he would get the Constitution amended, and run for President of the United States of America in a short period of time. And if that won't work, I am certain that an Israeli homeland in Montana, where he would continue to engage in war I'm sure, against American militia groups – another strange breed – he should feel right at home. And Netanyahu should bring his nukes with him, I guarantee that the good old boys in the Militia groups here, have there's already - he should feel right at home<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Wake up Christians, stop being so gullible and remember this passage, when it comes to modern (mostly securalist Israel) Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect.<u> For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel</u></span>. Romans 9:6<br />
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I can recall what an Afghan-American citizen told me, during my recent tenure in the nation's capitol, he said: “There is a saying in my nation that to America, we are just a rubber, and once America finishes with us, they will pull us off and discard us (the Afghan people)"! Israel, should keep that in mind, and the USA should think about the same when it comes down to Israel.<br />
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The Afghan government and people were given a sample of just what 13B in military aid from their quasi-allies and American benefactors think about their territorial borders and national sovereignty - if nothing else, Operation Geronomo, confirms it. Whose next? <br />
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SolomonSolomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-16100358478681951042011-05-24T16:18:00.000-07:002011-05-30T13:49:48.915-07:00Camping: Where Did This Crusty Curmudgeon Come From?<div style="line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JOtDRYWPLFM/TeQBlEjbzbI/AAAAAAAAACE/E5E8ajaL0TA/s1600/0209111645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JOtDRYWPLFM/TeQBlEjbzbI/AAAAAAAAACE/E5E8ajaL0TA/s320/0209111645.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan;">Was it man, woman, plant, hatchery, outer space or is he the missing link?</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: cyan; font-size: large;">Answer: From religion and in his case, more specifically the Christian Church. And what is so frightening is, there are many more like him, including most of us!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: cyan; font-size: large;">A Wikipedia Biography:</span></span></div><table bgcolor="#f9f9f9" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 122px;"><colgroup><col width="118"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr> <td width="118"><div align="CENTER" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=1610035847868195104" name="cite_ref-AP_1-1"></a> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Harold Egbert Camping</span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> (born July 19, 1921), in </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Colorado</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> and moved at an early age to California.[</span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(dates_and_numbers)#Chronological_items"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">when?</span></span></i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">] He earned a </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Science"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">B.S.</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> degree in </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Engineering"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Civil Engineering</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> from the University</span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Berkeley"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> of California, Berkeley</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> (1942).</span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping#cite_note-AP-1"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> He and his family were members of the </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Reformed_Church_in_North_America"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Christian Reformed Church</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> until 1988. During this time he served as an </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_(Christianity)"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">elder</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> and </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_school"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Sunday school</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> teacher at the Alameda Bible Fellowship.[</span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">citation needed</span></span></i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">]</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=1610035847868195104" name="cite_ref-Family_Radio.27s_Biography_8-0"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3219661136003202074&postID=1610035847868195104" name="cite_ref-Multiple_Ownership.3BRadio_Broadcast_Stations_9-0"></a> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">In 1958, Camping joined with other individuals of </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Reformed_Church_in_North_America"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Christian Reformed</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">, Bible </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptists"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Baptist</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">, and conservative-Christian </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterianism"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Presbyterian</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> backgrounds to purchase an </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_broadcasting"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">FM</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> radio station in </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">San Francisco, California</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">, </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEAR_(AM)"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">KEAR</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">, then at 97.3 </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megahertz"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">MHz</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">, to broadcast traditional </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Christian</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Gospel</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> to the conservative </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Protestant</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> community and </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_ministry"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">minister</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> to the general public.</span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping#cite_note-Family_Radio.27s_Biography-8"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">[9]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> Through the 1960s, Family Radio acquired six additional FM stations and seven other </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_broadcasting"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">AM</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> stations under guidelines established by the </span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Communications_Commission"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Federal Communications Commission</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> (FCC).</span></span></span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping#cite_note-Multiple_Ownership.3BRadio_Broadcast_Stations-9"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">[10]</span></span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Almost everyday, I think about my religious brothers and sisters, particularly the ones who believe that I have become apostate, a heretic, simply have lost it or was never truly saved in the first place. Some even believe that I simply backslid and am bitter, when neither of the two is true, I simply moved forward. On the other hand I also consider my religious brothers and sisters of all faiths, sects, denominations and persuasions, with love mind you, while wondering how do I, or others, get them to wake up. Why?</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When I consider all of what has come out of religion from let's say, the Common Era:,to be frank, I can't see where most religious organizations or groups have progressed any further than a second grade reading level. And 2,000 years later, most religious groups that I know of for sure haven't advanced beyond a second grade reading level if that. I believe that if Jesus, Mohammed … were present today, they would agree. Remember, Jesus explained to his disciples, that they would do greater things, and that a spirit of truth (perhaps knowledge) would come to guide them. Well, if everyone has that spirit, what happened, and how do you explain that the religious world is the most divided of them. And speaking of greater things, he must have meant for one to have the ability to call down fire from heaven (hellfire for example), to kill individuals who did not see things as they do! </span></span></span></span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Reformed means, to do over again. Reverend Camping came out of a reformed church. So he came out of a group that reformed from another one, and Reverend Camping left his reformed church. Wait, my head is spinning. Why do religious groups that keep reforming them, always end up in the same place, that of being reformed themselves. Protestant churches are not the only guilty institutions. Western religions, as far as the universal Catholic church is concerned are protestant organizations. And what are they protesting? Well they are protesting the Catholic belief system, one that they did not have the power to reform. So one either reforms the existing institution or they split, pun intended!</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What is my point did you say? The religious world, if you permit me to use this example, has been making an effort to reform itself all along. I am not doing anything new, except to say that religion needs to move beyond incremental reform. Instead, religion needs a forklift upgrade, because the inch-worm approach to reform is not working. </span></span></span></span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The religious world, throughout history, has been resistant to change, and that can be dangerous. Jesus was not killed, merely for political reasons, other than the politics of religion. Jesus was slain, for all intents and purposes given the encouragement of religious zealots, the ones who resisted reform and change. Frankly, the politicians found him guilty of doing nothing wrong. Jesus was a change-agent, that is what he was guilty of, similar to what change agents have experienced all along, and all to often finding themselves in direct confrontation with a religious organization. The latter could end i n sudden death. </span></span></span></span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Abel, of the canon, son of Adam and Eve, was reportedly slain because of a denominational difference, that resulted in his killing his brother. In other words Cain disagreed. with respect to how God was to be worshiped. And not only are the major religious groups doing the same thing today, killing their brothers and sisters who see things a bit differently than they do, individual religious adherents of various religious groups and faiths are still killing each other. Fatwah, Jihad, Crusade, the Klan ...</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Simply consider what happens when individuals meet from vying religious groups, even interdenominational ones. From the onset, judgment is passed upon the other, even when they disagree over one point. The final result is that the other is placed at a distance, which is enough to render their counterpart dead. Often, one or both, will circumscribe and finally distance themselves from the other, which is the death knoll. Not one word will have to be uttered, the right look is enough to render a brother or sister dead, in the eyes of his or her fellow human beings. </span></span></span></span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Reverend Camping, as far as I know ,was not produced inside of a Nazi Death Camp, neither was he member of the Third Reich. He wasn't raised in the Klan, or in some other hate group like the American Republican Party, oops, shouldn't have said that, okay, the Tea Party then! Reverend Camping was raised in the Christian Church. Get it, it was the institutional church that produced this man. And guess what? He is not the only one, there are many like him who were raised in Christianity who behave much as he has done over the past few months. In fact, most religious people are like him in this sense: I and my group are right, and the </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">others are wrong, they believe.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Now here is the conundrum, given that most religious groups, but not all, think and believe this way, especially about their followers of God no less, and that they have a monopoly on the truth, then they are no better than the Good Reverend. Have you ever had to deal with 2 of your bickering siblings, who you believe should get along with each other because they are siblings? Have you finally understood that it is not axiomatic, that they will get along given that they have the same bloodlines. Isn't it amazing that all of the individuals on the planet who believe that they are in touch 'the deity', can't get along with each other, or individuals within their own religious-hate group.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Folks, this is what Karl Marx was talking about. Oh, I know what you're thinking. You are thinking, does he know who Karl Marx is, and, he calls himself a minister? And the next step is that you will dismiss me too. But here is what everyone I believe needs to do, particularly religious people, that is to stop for a minute and just consider how much you are just like Reverend Camping. </span></span></span></span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Am I an apologist for the good Reverend? Well why not, given that he is just like most dyed-in-the wool religious people that I know of and have read about. And having said that, not all religious people are dyed</span></span></span>-in-the wool sycophants, that cannot be reasoned with. Typically, they are accused of not being authentic because they are smart enough to carry a sufficient amount of doubt.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">But what is it that they are in doubt about, is the question? Typically, the latter group knows that wherever humans are involved, that you have to have a sufficient amount of doubt. Why? Or, you can be easily misled by nice men like the Reverend and other religious … pied-pipers. </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Can you trust me? Yes, you can trust me to tell you that I believe, but I really don't know if everything that I was ever taught is true or not. Sacrilege, yes, I know, but let's move on! Frankly, I know that the source of my training and the trainers were human and therefore capable of making mistakes. </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.2in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: cyan; font-size: large;">On the other part, their counterparts are arrogant enough to believe that whatever they believe or have read with their own eyes, or have been taught by someone that they like or agree with must be right. I also know that history and religion, are both tricky!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Doubters, scrutinizers take your pick, recognize that good people are capable of misunderstanding, misinterpreting, misunderstanding, miscalculating ideas and things, even with the best of intentions in mind. If the human race will continue to advance at all, I suspect that what we will eventually have to do is to (don't be shocked), is to move out and beyond religion and simply seek after what is real). In other words, religion will become one tool and the toolbox, and we use all that is available to help us to to search for and to connect with what is real. </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">And I don't doubt that some individuals already have done so, and if we were to approach them, they would likely explain that it took more than religion to help them to get where they are, and that they knew better than to attempt to explain what they knew to a religious person, person or groups. </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Am I saying that we should have doubts? The answer is yes, just as some of the Holy books have said that we should put any confidence in the flesh, or the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful. Why? Too much of what we know today, comes from translated and often mistranslated texts, and people who thought that flying machines were to be worshiped. </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">t what it is, and since we can see that much of our central learning has come from translations by and of imperfect people, derived from imperfect people – then we ought to be able to have a shadow of doubt about what we have learned, and move forward into discovery. </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: cyan;">Folks, if all that we are is a group of people, who like Reverend Camping are waiting for someone to zoom in, beam us up to the Mother Ship and to subsequently destroy our brothers and sisters, because we believe that somehow we are any better than them, it would appear that <b>we are still stuck in old time religion</b>. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">I believe that what we refer to and think of when we refer to God, the Supreme Being …, take your pick is far greater than what we have been permitted to believe or to understand, as a result of old time, and reformed religion. Reverend Camping then is not alone then, in terms of being a fallacious prognosticator.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">What would be the payoff 'that would come about if we permitted ourselves to advance and understand advancements', perhaps it is already nere? I suspect that the following would occur: We would eliminate selfishness, and too much of being self-absorbed. And if we were to do that and along with it eliminate the need to be that we were the only one that was right, all of us might grow and perhaps learn to live in peace and to better the earth. After all, where does hate derive from typically? The answer is from religion!. </span></span> </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: cyan; font-size: large;">Ergo, to answer the question again, where did this crusty octogenarian fossil, Reverend Camping come from? He came from the same place, and still attending the same school that most of us did, from religion and the religious school. The question is: Have we learned anything, for I have heard things that are far more preposterous than what the good Reverend has had to say. And if you are wondering whether I like the man or not, I do. How could I not like him, I am a part of the religious world that created him!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #666666; color: cyan; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: cyan; font-size: large;">Respectfully,</span></span><br />
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</span></span></span></span></div></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-64734184720027991822011-05-21T18:39:00.000-07:002011-05-24T16:15:11.425-07:00Reverend Camping: Was He Raptured?<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><br />
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<div>The Real Question About May 21<sup>st: <i>Calling Earth from Pegasus 51B, we have not seen any signs of unusual intruders attempting to enter Earth's atmosphere. And we have not seen any one being beamed up to the mother ship, or traveling in any 'chariots' of fire'. What year were you expecting this event to take place? Star date 2011!</i></sup></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Reverend Camping predicted that at the very least, "the Bible <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">guaranteed</span> that the Rapture would take place today May 21, 2011 …"</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The real question that Reverend Camping should be prepared to answer is whether or not he is still on earth, missed the Rapture and should simply stick with Civil Engineering.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I don't have time this evening to drive over to the East Bay to ask him, however, I have a strong feeling that the Reverend is still here. He is in good company however, because based on what I read in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Church at Thessaloniki (the modern day pronunciation), he also erred with respect to the timing of the Rapture.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Apostle Paul was under the impression that he would be alive and well at the time of the Rapture. Some of this reminds me of a church group called The Triumphant Church. I don't know whether it still exists today or not. The members of this group were going to escape death altogether. Religion makes people crazy, where truth, makes you free! The truth about religion is going to have to be exposed for the one's who will listen. Religion means, 'to bind'. And too many humans have been and are still being bound by religion.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Hopefully, the latest exercise in predicting the end of the world, by another religious sycophant, will put an end to religious prognostication and prognosticators. However, even and if that were to occur, it wouldn't put a stop to religious obfuscation, or religion's monopoly on truth.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Folks, it really is time to move on and to admit that although the canon is a useful collection of books, Constantine's Canon, has its problems. Many religious teachers and preachers cannot admit that publicly, even the one's who know better. Why? Because in the past they taught their followers that the Canon is inerrant. Now how can these preachers and teachers who know better, go back and say to sycophants, "oops, I may have overstated my claim, now that I have learned a bit more about its origin and construction". Sensible people wouldn't be upset at all - all of make mistakes.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Most of us were handed the book, and were told 'this is the inerrant word of God'. Well, who would question God! Well, later in life, some of us did have some questions, and discovered that the Canon is not inerrant, and I suspect that is true of all holy books! Am I boring or frightening you?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">To the group that cannot admit the truth, that you erred - or the one's who don't know any better, <b>I would simply say this: ask God, admit that you were sincerely wrong (without any intentional malfeasance),</b> so that we can move on and find out what (IT) this great phenomenon really wants from or to give us. And if the terms phenomenon or (IT) offends you; God, not a name anyway, has been referred to by many appellations throughout history. Our nascent predecessors taught us this: that there was something unseen, that it was greater than 'human and non human kind', and human intelligence and knowledge ... and as result we believed!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Truthfully, all of what we have learned so far from the past, should also teach us that members of today's post-enlightenment period are interested in truth, should continue our search in another direction, one that takes us beyond uncorroborated, and unsubstantiated, although I suspect, well-intentioned writings.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I suspect that the God-phenomenon should never have been relegated, circumscibed to or described from a strictly religious point of view. Why? Too much poetry, myth, magic, borrowed texts, imagery hyperbole ... was mixed in with reality. And that is the problem with the book, as well as with religious pundits and proponents of, 'the book only'. Clearly, the real phenomenon that we ought to be making an effort to understand exceeds anything that religion can comprehend or teach. In other words, religion only touches the surface. We cannot ignore the facts of the Universe, that won't fit into a religious paradigm. If I were God, I would be insulted by the religious organizations that attempt to know me.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The best thing that has come out of religion is this statement I suspect: Seek The Truth! Why? According to the Canon, and several of its writers, even God tired of religious exercises, sacrifices, oblations …, and Jesus told the people, mostly religious and descendants of Abraham mind you, to seek the truth.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And just in case you're wondering about me? The answer is, where religion left-off, I pressed on, a lot of good people have. <b>Now having said that, there are some good things about religion, for example, religion is a good starting place for beginners, as long as everything about it is explained in a proper context</b>. However, even biblical writers suggest just that there is a place of understanding that exceeds the principle phase, the place where most religious people get stuck. In other words, the author of the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Philippians</span> discourse wrote, "leave the principles and go on to perfection".</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Most religions, and most religious people, from what I have observed are stuck in the principle phase, I believe. And, and nothing is going to move them past memorizing scriptures, fasting twice a week and paying their tithes, while waiting to be beamed up to the Mother Ship. Don't forget that most of the greats, that were written about in the Canon, never held Constantine's Canon, not even Enoch, Elijah, Elisha, Jesus ... come to mind, and some of them apparently were beamed or carried up in chariots of fire, and appearing and reappearing from other dimensions.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Religious people today are satisfied with the Eucharist ...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And what do I really think about all of these old-school preachers and teachers (of the unadulterated word of God). Well, I know many of them intimately. I have helped to put stocks on their feet, when their backs gave out. I have driven some, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="background-color: yellow;">septu</span>-and octogenarians; and some of them have driven me to and from camp meetings. Many of them have been kind to me, and some cruel (never ask a question that differs from or question their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="background-color: yellow;">pre</span>-held beliefs).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Having said that, when I consider the nature of these individuals by comparison with the current school of religious <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">acolytes</span> ... <b>I have found all of them to be sincere in terms of what they believe. The former believe that they are representatives of the true God, the Bible is inerrant, and that they are teaching the word of God.</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">However, what they are really doing is teaching from a historical perspective that were written by, translated or interpreted by individuals who were not the most reliable, even though many of them were also well-intended writers, storytellers, teachers, historians and preachers who wrote about their experiences or perceptions... It is not for me to fight with them, even the ones who walk among us today.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">On the other hand, it is for I and others like me to do what we believe that we are called upon to do today, that is to help ourselves and other individuals who desire the truth (including secularists), who have been held or stuck in primordial religious mud. Where the Spirit of the Lord is: there is freedom, right? I believe that we have got a lot of work to do yet, that could even lead to extending the life-cycle and much more, perhaps our relocating in space, escaping from these time-censured bodies, watching our loved-ones suffer from disease and going to sleep. I also believe that we have missed out on a lot of great discovery due to misguided, there is only one way, religious sycophants. And the way, is typically there way. In other words, their minds and keen understanding are unparalleled.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">We have trusted too much, in my opinion n outdated, unproven ... materials, and teachers of the same, some of which could be a good starting place for kids, however, we are not children anymore. Didn't the Apostle Paul touch on that theme in his writings. And what did he do for all intent and purposes, with respect to the Jews and the other Apostles, he moved on, even to the extent that he got up in the Chief Apostles face. Let's move on folks!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">BTW, Jesus had to do the same in his day, and it cost him his life! In the long-run, I believe that Reverend Camping is going to help more than he is going to hurt. And thinking human beings, that really do not have an ulterior mind, those of us who are not mad at God or have some other nefarious agenda, should simply try to get along with everybody, but at the same time, we should resume our Search for the Real God (whatever it turns out to be)! If we continue the typical patty!ern, and if we could, 3000 years from now, we will still be waiting on the Rapture and denying the truth that surrounds and is within us!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Solomon, or to some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: yellow;">Suliman</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: yellow;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="background-color: yellow;">Beam em up Scotty!</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sol1VTc6DcE/TdhpIYypv7I/AAAAAAAAABY/NceUnQoAnH8/s1600/1211101547a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sol1VTc6DcE/TdhpIYypv7I/AAAAAAAAABY/NceUnQoAnH8/s320/1211101547a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-9154346957713247322011-05-13T15:44:00.000-07:002011-05-14T16:36:28.928-07:00The End of the World: Again!<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9DraRX8Y5NU/Tc2Qc6AJZ_I/AAAAAAAAAAc/fCWKYK0pea8/s1600/0209111645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9DraRX8Y5NU/Tc2Qc6AJZ_I/AAAAAAAAAAc/fCWKYK0pea8/s320/0209111645.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br />
</b></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><b>The real fire</b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"> that apparently began with the Big Bang, is, and has been burning on the outer edge of the Universe, so it seems to me that the individuals who believe that they want to (a</span></span>nd deserve) to be beamed up yonder, would be better off if they remained in the safe haven of earth, where they belong the first place. Just ask astronauts, astrophysicists and astronomers what happens when you leave Earth's atmosphere.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><b>Folks, I Never Thought I Would Say This bu</b>t: thank thank you Reverend Camping, for I have been looking for someone to prove that what I have been writing, teaching and saying along, over the past few years, is the truth. The truth about what? That it is time to move on, and to put religion in its proper historical context, <i>for truth is bigger than religion! I had to modify my message, many of my peers, need to do the same thing.</i></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Let's consider who this man is first of all? Reverend Camping is a man, a Civil Engineer and a preacher by profession. He graduated from the Engineering Department at the University of California at Berkeley, one of my favorite haunts. I love to conduct research at the library above Scenic Drive, which is a part of the Graduate Theological Union, and to roam around below in the Eucalyptus tree groves.</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Reverend Camping, in my opinion, is a man of no mean spirit. In fact, he is a man, who in his zeal, has studied, embraced and teaches from the bible like no other. He believes that every word in it, is the unadulterated word of God, regardless of all proof to the contrary - and no one is going to tell him any different. All of us have known, worshipped with or worked with someone like this before. T<b>heir minds are made up, therefore you would be wasting your time if you ever attempted to confuse them with facts.</b></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Given his sincerity, a man who is in love with his mental processing power and his purported unique ability to understand what no one else can, he should not be accused of quackery, something that his latest foray into end-time predictions, has caused people to believe. <u>He simply believes in his own unique </u> powers of comprehension. Again, he may appear to be a quacked, but how many religious people do you know, who are just like him?</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">And trust me, they could not conceive of being looked upon as a quack, similar to Reverend Camping, they believe that they are different than Reverend Campingand that their abilities to comprehend the truth and the scriptures are intact.</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">The majority of them are simply misguided too. They are also unreasonable and unteachable, in the manner that the Apostle Paul was for a period of time. Eventually, he had to give up all that he knew too! For example, before God provided him with a drop kick to the ground on the road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul, who studied and graduated from the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hillel</span> School, at the feet of Gamaliel a famous teacher and nephew of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hillel no less, he set out on his personal crusade himself</span>. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">I'm certain that he believed at the time of his first zeal, that he was launching his crusade in the name of God, just as many religious people feel that they are doing today. You know, what happens, once you learn a few scriptures from the Bible, you believe that you have been called to began a crusade among the great unwashed? Paul was no different, and he began his crusade in a misguided manner: Paul sat out to stop people, who didn't see things as he and his counterparts were able to following his religious indoctrination. He also believed that he had, along with his courage, the keen ability to understand what other people could not. Can you recall meeting other religious people who were of that ilk? </span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">He was so zealous, that he went and gained permission to pursue, arrest and persecute the misguided religious souls, who were primarily members of a group called 'The Way'. This man, in other words, acted upon what he believed, in the most strenuous of ways, to be true - just as Reverend Camping is doing today. These people really do believe that they are right, mind you. Members of the Way were martyred and jailed as a result, and similar to what occurred with Stephen, the clothing of the martyred ones were laid at the misguided feet of Paul. All the time, he felt pretty good about himself, for after all he believed that his misplaced zeal was being exercised for and apparently directed by God.</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">If he would have simply sat down, both times, in order to be taught and to experience a true conversion, he would not have to have been stopped by God himself. Why would God have to stop the Apostle, and other people like him, some today? Answer: Because no one else will be able to stop them, that is without knocking them down off of their self-righteous mounts. What a hard-headed man the Apostle was? What is also interesting is, that God, after stopping him on the road to Damascus, had to send him to one of the lowly members of the group that he disdained, the Way, to a man named Ananias, in order to be guided 'the right Way! He subsequently received his sight, after having been blinded, however, their was a price to pay. His chronic ophtalmic condition, was likely a reminder, to see things though eyes, other than his owns. </span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">People like these, you can't teach them anything, because what they have is a psychological problem, to accompany their huge egos - typically, it takes something quite drastic or unusual to stop them in their tracks. Even after Ananias finished with him, Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to continue to be taught by the other more experienced Apostles (some of them unlearned men), he took off again with a theology, that differed from what the Apostles in Jerusalem received. This time, he received a personal revelation, unlike before, a religious teacher was not the culprit. At the time, Paul, was not an Apostle himself. Reverend Camping, reminds me a lot of <span class="Apple-style-span"> <span class="Apple-style-span">Paul, so l</span></span>et's get back to Reverend Camping and his visit to the KGO Radio station in San Francisco.</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><blockquote><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">In the spirit of the cartoon character 'Foghorn Leghorn', "Uh boy, I say boy, who told you that you were a chicken hawk, and that everyone of the rest of us are just chickens"? Elijah made fun of prophets before, therefore, so can I!</span></div></div></blockquote></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">I enjoyed listening to Reverend Camping, this past Sunday, on KGO Radio, a session (not an interview) that was hosted by professor Brent Walters, a born again Christian, who teaches in the Religious Studies Department of San Jose State University, a personal acquaintance of mine. Professor Brent Walters, graciously invited him to speak, uninterrupted by the radio audience, in the 3<sup>rd</sup> segment of his 3-hour long Sunday morning radio show. Reverend was 15 minutes to the show, er herm. Get it, late to the show - he is not very good at keeping time. </span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Reverend Camping’s prediction, that the 'Rapture of the Saints' would occur on May 21, 2011, followed by the end of the world five days afterward, has not been hidden from the public eye. All across the country, the prediction that the world is coming to an end … has been posted on billboards, talked about in the media, and preached over the air and and in rest of the media. Reverend Camping has also appeared as a guest on several News Talk Shows!</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><b></b></span></div></div></div><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Again, to many other preachers and scholars who won't agree with him and his prediction, he appears to be a complete idiot, and they will share the same with their listeners and followers!</span></b></div></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">But what is it that he is really saying. Just look at his website</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://www.familyradio.com/">www.family radio.com</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">, and you will appreciate more what he is predicting. This is important because when he was interviewed by Professor Walters of San Jose State University, he repeated what is written on his website, that:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><b>“The Bible Guarantees It!”</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"> In other words, it's not him doing the predicint, he is simply reporting what he believes is declared in the canon. </span></span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Most of us who were raised in the Church (regardless of which religious group or denomination) we hailed from, are aware of the following scripture, Matthew 24:36. <span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only". That day is, what for sure most Christians but not only Christians only, are waiting for - the day when God comes to get them. God will remove them from the rest of the great unwashed. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Man, these people hate the worl, that they helped to ruin, to the extent that they cannot wait to get out of here.</b></span></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: red; font-style: normal;"><b style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
</b></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: red; font-style: normal;">Well, fine I say, for after the majority of them have been beamed up to the Mother Ship, then you and I can enjoy the San Francisco Bay area easier, and with less traffic congestion. Now if you are acquainted with some of these as I am, you would recognize that God would be doing the rest of us a favor, if he were to beam them up. Why? The rest of us can can get on with pursuing what God intended, if you will, for us in the present reality, in the first place. The rest of know that both the beamers, and the rest of us still need to do some work. The beamers, don't recognize that fact. .</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: red; font-weight: normal;">From what I can see, there is a lot more hear for us to learn, and clearly, we have wasted the last 2,000 years in our quest, because people like Reverend Camping and others wh, only need the bible and a few commentaries to conduct their lives and ours too, continue to hold man and womankind back. Most of these individuals have limited outlooks, and have restricted their viewpoints and aspirations to a false sense of piety. They have used religion as a a front, which makes as a show, so that they would not appear to be like other lowly humans. And as a result, many have gotten 'fat rich', off of religion. The rest of us who believe in and have experienced the God phenomenon, would simply 'smite our breasts', we could never be so arrogant as to believe that we are better or more righteous than anyome else!</span></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Trust me,</span> Reverend Camp<span class="Apple-style-span">ing, a bible </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">literalist</span><span class="Apple-style-span">, is very aware of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Jesus'</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> pronouncement that "...no man knows the day or hour...", just as most believers and non, are aware. Which explains why so many people are disgusted, and equally dismissive of his prediction of the Rapture followed by the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">apokalupsis</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> on 5/21. Too bad, people of his understanding, didn't predict 9/11, roughly 10 years ago. What is this fascination with the end of the world?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Anyway, why would he put himself out on a limb like this, one that could destroy his one hundred-million dollar? Does Hale Bopp, come to mind. It is simple and I repeat: He is only reporting, based upon his years of research, what the Bible guarantees. He is not making a prediction, based upon his own feelings or what God told him – It is what the Bible guarantees! For too many of religious people, Constantine's and other sacred texts, are the word of God, Allah ...</span></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">What do I believe about all of this, and especially biblical and other eschatology? Well, there are historicists, post-millennialists, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">pre</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">millenialists</span>, a<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">millenialists</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">pre</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">tribbers</span>, post<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">tribbers</span></span> within the Christian faith …, and</span> neither camp agrees with the other. So what does that tell you? And don't forget that Apostle Paul, a man who often shot from the hip himself, believed that he would apparently be a part of the rapture, without going to sleep, based on what is written in his letter that was sent to the Thessalonians, or the church at Thessaloniki if you prefer. Apparently, that was not the case or was it - I will come back to that later.</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Remember, there are over 50,000 Christian Christian denominations, and millions of preachers and teachers (and all of the other billions of religious believers and sycophants), who will have an opinion about the end of time, and some about Pastor Camping. What they will have to say is: He, Reverend Camping, is wrong, but each one of them in their respective camps will say, but we or one of them personally is right. Let's see the late Reverend Armonstrong ... comes to mind, how about the JW's?</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Well, somebody's wrong. I can recall many of the prognosticators of the past, who named the day and hour when Jesus would return, the Rapture would occur and the world would come to an end. So why do Christians and non. engage in this kind of eschatological canard? One of the reasons that I will speak to (which will explain why they do so), is because religious people are fascinated, when it comes to this particular theme and the mystical, just as religious people in the common era was. What did the Prophet Ezekiel actually see, in the Chapter 1 of Ezekiel? </span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">And having become bored with being conversion alone, religious people have to find something other to do, like theosyphying, performing or witnessing to a miracle here or there, or figuring out riddles that they can only they can deciphet ... And the final reward will be when they are separated from the great unwashed, beamed up to the Mother Ship, so that they can exclusively, go and live with God. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">In most Christian circles, Constantine's Canon, is the undisputed word of God, so don't waste your time saying other, because they believe that Constantine's Canon is the inerrant, and seeing how the Canon appears to read that they will be beamed up and there is nothing else to talk about!</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">And again, even with proof to the contrary, don't try to convince them otherwise, for you will be wasting your time. It is for the rest of us, who believe that there is something that we refer to in our culture, as the God phenomenon, to continue to pursue what is real. We know that, what believer sycophants refer to as God is bigger, and far beyond where most religious people, even Christians take their point of departure and have st0pped there.</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">We know that it will be for us to sensibly pursue an understanding, contact with or joining with Christians and others refer to as God, or as I refer to as IT and the God phenomenon. I know that there is something, but I believe that it excels the prelude to it, that was written about in the canon. Who was the brother, secularist, who wrote the book: <b>The God of the Brain? </b> I have forgotten his name, but the brother was on to something. Perhaps, the connection exists in the brain of some of us. The rest, I would have to agree, may not have a brain. Okay, that was not nice of me! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">The author believed that God was hard-wired in certain<span class="Apple-style-span"> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">human's</span> </span>brains, and apparently not in the brain of others! My thing is: I don't care. Jesus, was pretty much saying, don't worry about it, and just do your righteous thing while you are on Earth, because otherwise you will be preoccupied with an event that will occur, that you cannot predict anyway. So what do religious people do, they ignore Lord and Savior Jesus, and engage in predicting the end anyway. There time would be better spent stopping religious hatred, bigotry ...</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Let's see, how many human beings have, for many years, hours and days waited for that day to come. Sadly, Jesus did not have either Reverend Camping or Constantine's canon to tell him when the Rapture would occur. He admitted that he didn't know!</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">So why am I writing this piece? It is to thank Reverend Camping for making my point about religion. It is what I have been writing about and saying along, <b>that in a 21</b><sup><b>st</b></sup><b> Century context, we simply need to move on, because much learning from and about Constantine's bible and religion in genral, has simply made too many humans mad.</b></span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">The second reason for writing on this topic is to explain that we cannot possibly understand all of what was being said or written 2000 years, or to decipher what was meant. And this is just one other reason that religious people need to move on, thank you Reverend Camping!</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Now let me add this and I said that I would come back to this point: In a non-linear or 3-D world, perhaps what we refer to as the Rapture occurs everyday. Remember, we believe that God is time independent (eternal), and that the God phenomenon has the ability to view the past, present, future along with other dimensions all at the same time. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Or perhaps what the canon reported or the way that it was translated, was a misinterpretation, misrepresentation or an error. Ouch, what kind of Reverend would say such a thing? I know that I'm not going to receive a ticket to get on the beamus up ship now! Again, I simply believe that what is, happens to be light years beyond what religion teaches!</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">BTW Reverend Camping, if you are still alive on May 22nd, would you bequeath or donate some money to Hope for Outdoor People in San Jose California. The organization that I am president of, is trying to help 'outdoor citizens', in the manner that Jesus did, to get them going again - I can only imagine what $100M could have done to help jumpstart a lot of lives.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">And, seeing how you, and the truly righteous, 200 million did you say on the show, anyway, I will put that money to good use - helping other people, who will be left behind with me.</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Also, may I have the keys to all of your homes, cars, yachts, credit cards, 401Ks … that will be abandoned, so that I can use them to house the individuals who will be left behind. Many of them will likely be here either trying to figure out how they got 'left behind', and whether another ship will be coming by to get them soon. On the other hand, many of them will experienced what they never did, when the truly righteous are gone, incomes, homes, sanity ...</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Perhaps I will get some of them to listen, once the distraction of religious <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">distract0rs, who have skewed the message,</span></span> have been removed to an another plane.</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Earth, is really a wonderful gift, and sadly, after abusing it too many want to be translated to a better place? So far the earth has been underutilized, religious people have been too busy fighting internecine and spiritual combat. And as a result, not everyone has been able to benefit during their time on earth or eat of the good of the land.. Why, because religion, in part, is responsible for teaching individuals to hate, fight, war against and to kill in the name of an invisible potentate.</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">I want to teach a new paradigm, one that will put people in touch with what put them here in the first place – so they can live, afterward, in a non-religious paradise on Earth. And that can only happen when the rigid, I AM RIGHT ANYWAY, teachers and their self righteous followers are gone. Remember, at best, we are all sinners under grace, and as one late Biship often said, 'none of us have made it yet'? Made it where is the question?</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Clearly religion, and most religious teachers are not helping at all. Too many have become a distraction, as well as an embarrassment to what we refer to in general, as God! <u>Reverend Camping will prove that Constantine's canon should not be our only source, I believe</u>. Solomon, not Camping, who said, 'that we should eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die - he apparently did not know about the rapture. At one time, no blacks would have been included in the rapture, given what we know about Christians in forermly racist white America. And sadly, these white Christians expected to be, exclusively, be beamed up too!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"> By the way, does anyone else have any claims on South Lake Tahoe and Emerald Bay? If not, I will take it, after I help the outdoor citizens to get going again! And does any one else wonder what the real message, was, the one that was intended to be?</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Finally, 'we will know them by their love', not as a result of one's ability to memorize and misquote scriptures. Why are there so many homeless and hurting people in America alone, if all of the people who plan to be beamed up to the mother ship, know anything about love? If quoting scriptures and a false sense of piety is a litmus test, many religious people will make it. Beam 'em up Scotty. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">And for those of you who know me across the country that I have preached and taight, and you currently believe that I have lost it and gone over to the wrong side of the force, trust me! I believe that there 'is something wrong in the force', and that it is time for all of us in religious circles to face that fact. We have been faithful to religion, however, religion has not been as good to us - there is more to the story I believe - than religion has done already or can ever tell us. If I am wrong, I will admit it! If you are wrong, will you ever admit that you are or were wrong?</span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">My objective in writing this pieces: Iis to help restore civility to a discipline that has been sereiously degraded, and to encourage others to step outside of the box and let's move ahead! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #444444; color: red;">Solomon </span></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UA4ns_n9mmA/Tc2oxB2oTYI/AAAAAAAAAAg/urDXLCHXnF8/s1600/1211101547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UA4ns_n9mmA/Tc2oxB2oTYI/AAAAAAAAAAg/urDXLCHXnF8/s320/1211101547.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-86651654135211542512011-05-03T16:41:00.001-07:002011-05-09T16:30:14.354-07:00In Search of the Real God: In A Present Reality<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H6cbCJymfzM/TbL1iuK9DuI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/whlaYvEp7d0/s1600/0209111645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H6cbCJymfzM/TbL1iuK9DuI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/whlaYvEp7d0/s320/0209111645.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Lord today: Similar to Lot's wife, we keep looking back, as if to say, that by looking back God does not exist and isn't doing anything in the linear world of our present (dimension)!<br />
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Lot's wife, apparently turned into a pillar of salt, or more likely was covered by the sulfuric emanations that descended from the air as a result of a sulphuric eruption in the Dead Sea Region. And according to the legend, if she had been looking ahead, she would not have been subjected to such a dreadful fate.<br />
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The god of historians is a God of literature, story, and legends that have been passed down from generation to generation and to us today. And as a result, we continue to be stuck between 2 poles, that of looking back, or getting to know what we refer to as God in a current or post-modern context. <br />
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An interesting juxtaposition! <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">The former are typically ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, because they are no</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">t looking for the truth. Why? They believe that they already have all of the truth, and the unraveling of history (similar to Lot's wife looking back) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">appears to be their religion as well as their love. And, translating, discovering, interpreting and examining texts, is also their God. Similar to their counterparts, the ones who love to put a puzzle together, take it apart, flip it on its flat side and then put it together again, it would appear that they are in love with the puzzling-exercise, more than they are with getting to know what the puzzle seeks to portray, in other words, its meaning. </span><br />
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At least in the past, our predecessors apparently knew their God, or did they? One writer put it this way when speaking for God and said: "My People Do Not Know, Neither Have They Considered". Not much has changed from where I am standing. Believers today, remind me a lot of the would-be sorcerers, in Acts Chapter 19. They attempted to exorcise the demons by invoking the name of Paul's God. Why? They didn't know God for themselves. Sadly, too many humans today are repeating similar behavior, when talking about the power of someone elses God, a God that they know of historically.<br />
<blockquote><b>Beam us up Scotty and "boy, I say boy, now what was the name of that God you mentioned", <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Foghorn, Leghorn would ask?</span></b></blockquote>Ah, don't get mad at me, the Prophet Elijah made fun of the religious people of his time too. And today, what some individuals and religious institutions are doing, is as comedic as a Fog Horn Leg Horn cartoon.<br />
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Wake up folks. For example, consider religion teachers like Harold Camping, that appear to know nothing about God in the present, which explains why he keeps looking back to the past.. His latest eschatological predictions are based on his historical research in the canon, and the conclusions that he has drawn are a result of his restricting himself to that singular ancient text. He doesn't hide that, and neither pretends that God told him, nor that some spirit revealed the latest set of eschatological predictions that he has posited, with respect to the Rapture of the saints (approximately 200M, and the end of the world)!<br />
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Harold's predictions are only as good as the conclusions that he has drawn based upon his historical-biblical research. And, his predictions may be correct, based upon the source that he relied upon to draw his conclusions and to make his predictions. He has been wrong before, but that is not enough to cause to him admit that either his research is flawed, the source documents are flawed, or both he and they are flawed.<br />
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Looking back, and, eschatologically forward is dangerous at best. I believe that it satisfies the longings of individuals who refuse to look at what is right in front of them. These individuals refuse to search for the real God and its meaning in the present, instead they accept a historical God as being the real thing, depending on which culture they happen to come from.<br />
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Harold, why don't you look for and connect with what we call, ' God today', and save yourself the trouble of making predictions that are based upon flawed, and often incomprehensible texts from the past. At the very least, it would help you to stop making a fool out of yourself, and a very serious matter?<br />
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Having said this, and you can add this to the list, there have been numerous epochal and catostrophic events that have occurred before, in which people, I believe, thought that it was the end of the world - not just the end of them. For example, consider all of the individuals who died recently as a result of the earthquakes and Tsunami in Japan recently, Indonesia recently, or Haiti. They likely believed, when they saw the inescapable catastrophe coming, that it was the end of the world. Those of us who were not affected, understand that the world as we know it is still here. <br />
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Perhaps Harold, should consider that provisio in terms of his predictions in the future, that is to differentiate the end of the world from the destruction of a group of people, as a result of a geologic anomalies. <br />
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I suspect that readers, can come up with even more historical scenarios, wherein it might have appeared to the individuals who witnessed the coming of a great flood, tsunami, earthquake, the bombing of their nation by nuclear weapons dropped from the sky and were effected ... that it was the end of mankind or the world - take your pick!<br />
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Religious teachers ..., I ask you this question: Will you indeed sacrifice a whole generation of individuals, who refuse to share in the folly of 'looking back worship and romanticism', because you refuse to grow, learn, experience and teach about what is true in the present? And what is that?<br />
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<b>Hint</b>: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"></span> Or, we can stay with the Harold Campings of the world, keep looking back, and forfeit what is here for us in an ever-evolving present, or we can change our focus, and begin accepting our present reality and recognize and understand God in the present, not a static anthropomorphic being that we learned of from history. Sacrilege? I know. And you, just keep looking back, and ignore what is right in front of you in the present!!!<br />
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<b>to be continued in my God Today Series</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IadQuU6oYW0/TbL0IOBg65I/AAAAAAAAAAM/kRpB3dCTiSc/s1600/1211101547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IadQuU6oYW0/TbL0IOBg65I/AAAAAAAAAAM/kRpB3dCTiSc/s320/1211101547.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3219661136003202074.post-31963274631635068282011-04-23T08:52:00.000-07:002011-05-13T12:13:53.550-07:00Bigger Than Religion: Time to Unbind!<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">The Religious Dilemma and What to Do With IT?</span> </div><br />
Religions means <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">'To Bind':</span> I believe that it is time to remove the bindings. Instead, we ought to take the next step towards getting to the truth about GOD, for we have gone around the same mountain, of religion, long enough. Why? What we refer to as God is bigger, I believe, than the majority of religious institutions understand. Most religious institutions are stuck in primordial religious mud! In fact it is recorded in some religious texts, that "God is past finding out". Perhaps, that might have been true in the past when the human race was in its formative stages, however, I suspect that it is no longer true anymore. <br />
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<u>We are not children anymore!</u><br />
Today, we have advanced technologies, a better and broader understanding as well as resources at our disposal that our predecessors neither were aware of, and have never been used before to interface with God. Modern-day advancements and technologies, exceed, and have outstripped the limited understanding of our predecessors. Primitive man and woman (many who still live with us today apparently), would likely be unable, for the most part, to grasp what we know. In other words, we ought to be their teachers, and not the other way around.<br />
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Have not I said that 'ye are gods"? Now if twain, the two could perhaps meet, (primitive and modern-man) we would likely appear to them to be gods ourselves, because we are by comparison, so far advanced some of us. Imagine, if they were to witness cosmonauts and astronauts climbing into a Space Shuttle, and being launched into into outer space, only to return a week or two later to descend upon the earth. Elijah in a chariot of fire perhaps, comes to mind?<br />
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In fact, if one were to take into consideration the whole of human history (religious and non), and all that our ancestors have passed down to us, what they essentially concluded was this: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">That there is an invisible, all powerful, unseen and unknowable quantity, that is responsible for everything in the known and unknown Universe - if not outside of the known Universe's dark matter and dark energy</span>. Now, even though our predecessors concluded that that there was some invisible, hidden and powerful being or force, that they neither saw nor fully comprehended during their time - they insisted that it existed. To the pantheists, God was everything and in everything, to the deists, God split after creating and bringing all things into being ... And to some of them, all God, simply wanted was a blood sacrifice, to include females and children!<br />
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Sadly, today, we have adapted to the way of thinking of our primordial ancestors, and as a result are still teaching our children about a God ..., that is hidden, invisible and unknowable, accept by faith. I believe that we have done ourselves a grave injustice, by continuing to follow these outdated patterns. In other words, starting at the place of primitive religion has hindered, and contributed to most religious groups being stuck in a historical place.<br />
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I also believe that we are missing out on a golden opportunity in advancement, and stopping the flow of human development. Consider this? Imagine if you never had to go to the library again, and instead were connected to the source of all knowledge? How would that change your life? What dividends would it have for you, the world and what God IS!<br />
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When someone says that a phenomenon is unknowable, what I hear them saying is, that <b>they simply cannot explain the phenomenon! </b>Early humans, medieval, modern and post-modern - mostly all have one thing in common:<br />
<b>1)</b>. All of us speak about the mysterious in speculative terms.<br />
<b>2)</b>. All of us are still circling the same wagons.<br />
<b>3)</b>. All of us still believe that IT is unknowable, or does not want to be fully known by us, at this time<br />
(a conclusion that might be a simple rationalization, to justify our inability to comprehend or connect with IT). <br />
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Sadly, in a post-modern context, too many of us are still following simplistic patterns and practices of a less enlightened past,and living our lives according to superstition, flawed epistemology and fear of an unknown quantity, that can apparently be known and understood, if only we tried. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">In other words, we have not advanced much, 2 to 5000 years later, with respect to getting to know what we refer to as GOD, any better, than our earliest predecessors did.</span> The fact of the matter is that just as they were, we have been taught to fear and to believe that we can "never come to the knowledge of the truth", or to be one with what could turn out to 'our best friend', true knowledge and all that comes with having true and full knowledge!<br />
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<b>And that is where I take my point of departure, from my past, modern, religions and historical ancestors and espistemology. I believe that in a post-modern world, we should remove the limitations and the shackles that have been imposed on us, shackles that we have all too often, been willing to wear, bequeathed to us by our predecessors and some contemporary teachers and mystics. Instead of appeasing the memory of our ancestors, we need to close the intellectual/espistemological gap, and distance ourselves from the romanticism of the past.</b><br />
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Our ancestors, believed that the inexplicable unknown quantity of their time, wished to remain anonymous. Their face to face encounters with IT, occurred only in the shadows, or under the cover of clouds, the darkness, and perhaps by a voice of whisper. And given the thousands or more years of human history, no one has ever come into contact with, or had IT over for dinner. Given the appearance of some of our early ancestors, australopithecines<br />
<blockquote><b>Sacrilege?</b> The fact of the matter is that there are some holes in what has been passed down to us by uneducated, fearful, superstitious and conditioned human beings, and is still being served to us today. And as a result, I and others like me have been, and are on the right<b><a href="http://sealofabraham.blogspot.com/"> track, that is to continue our search for the real IT, while some are still stuck in a caveman's mindset</a> or religious romanticism.</b></blockquote>Arguing that IT exists, but never having actualized or come face to face with, lived with, seen or interacted with it, other than by than by faith, belief or death, appears to be a skillful use of rationalization, of the kind to justify one's inability to prove or connect to what is real. Most parents that I know, look forward to the day when their children are reared, those who have children, and they will be able to interface with them, adult to adult, as opposed to from the perspective adult to a child. Who wants their progeny to remain in a retardtive child-like state of being?<br />
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I knew a lady years ago, who shared this story, good or bad: She said, "my son has grown up to be my brother. And now, he wants to tell me what I can and cannot do!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"></span><br />
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<b>My proposition is essentially this</b>: We need to take the baton, thank those who carried it before we arrived, and run the next leg of the race ourselves, having seriously examined and tested what they had to say, or wrote. Our predecessors used primitive knowledge, romantic understanding and primitive methods to arrive at 'their truth'. Both the means and the methods that they employed, prevented them from ever getting past a certain point, that would have likely brought them face-to-face with the actual God phenomenon.<br />
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The latter might have disappointed them anyway, if they were to have been successful and located it. They were taught to be afraid of IT, and out of fear or respect, they complied. Sadly, that trait has been passed down to us today, and left many of us with a 'fear of the unknown complex'. Fear drove them, and fear hindered them. And fear is a crippler, and can cause anyone to miss out on something that can be beneficial. <br />
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For example, and don't tell anybody this, but when I was in my pre-pubescent period, I was afraid of girls. Yes me, the young kool, suave when I walked and talked, handsome, prepubescent macdaddy Solomon. One of my friends who knew me at the time, met my cousin years later in Los Angeles. Upon discovering that the lady that he was talking to was my cousin. He told her, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">"I knew your cousin, when he was afraid of girls"</span>.<br />
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Had I been there, I would have denied it, of course. But the truth is, it took a while for me to get over my fear, even though I was crazy about them, but not bold enough to walk up to them and say, 'what's happening baby'? In the 7th grade, my fear diminished, and I approached a girl the wrong way from behind, and got smacked, er herm!<br />
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Perhaps it was natural before - I don't know, and perhaps it is natural for humans to be afraid of what we refer to as God today, but I don't believe that anyone has anything to fear, anymore - we were simply conditioned to believe that the old man in the sky wants to kill us, if we step out of line. <br />
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Today, I am proud to say, tch tch, that I am neither afraid of girls, nor God anymore! To be honest, I might be less afraid of God, however. Seriously, I don't believe that IT wants us to be afraid, even if it turns out that what we refer to as God, has the anthropomorphic features that we have been taught to believe that it has (emotions like anger, rage ...). <br />
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Having said that, and as I explained before: At some point, we ought to grow up and be able to say, I'm ready to know you, IT, or the truth about whatever IT turns out to be. That IT has not revealed itself, can mean that it is as impersonable as a cloud, the wind or an earthquake can be, but nevertheless either of the 3 remain powerful. And please don't be offended when I use 'IT' to describe, what religious people call God, both are equal in value. And even if IT turns out to be a spirit, according to the rule of language, IT could not be a she, or a he!<br />
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In other words, we do not have to 'just believe', in a God of the shroud, darkness or the mysterious ... I suspect that we should be suspect, or afraid of individuals who attempt to encapsulate, or trap us into never crossing over an imposed imaginary line into the other plane. We need to go out on a real date, as go we <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">IN SEARCH OF THE REAL GOD </span>phenomenon (which might not turn out to be, what we were taught to believe before, what it was in the first place)!<br />
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We, no longer need to live with a speculative or mostly invisible God by faith. Instead, let's thank our predecessors for bringing us the point where they did, however, we can carry the baton further forward and even faster, however, and at costs, we can neither keep living in yesterday, nor continue to see what is in front of us by using yesterday's tunnel vision!<br />
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Jesus was martyred when he attempted to raise the level of awareness of his religious cohorts, the religious leaders of his time, mostly the Jews He, apparently, understood more at the age of 12, than many in the religious establishment of his day, understood over the course of their lifetimes.<br />
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I believe that it is imperative for all of us who care, to do what Jesus did, that is to take off the blinders of our time, and to don a new yoke, that of pursuing what is real using all available speed. And to my secularist friends, and you are: Do not look for the God of religion to prove or to disprove it, simply seek after what is real (as many of you are already doing, and let it find you). <i> For truth does not lie, conclusively or exclusively, within the domain of religion, religious paradigms (short stories) or religious dogma - Jesus proved that during the common era!</i><br />
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Prior to the time of his departure, Jesus informed his disciples that 'the spirit of truth', (paracletos; a guide, comforter ... ) would return "to go alongside them", and that it would "guide them into all of the truth"), which was a direct affront to the religious institutions, clerics and teachers in the common era.<br />
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And this truth would be in deference to what the religious hierarchy of the day (priests, levites, pharisees, prophets, Sadducee's, rabbis... understood and taught the people)! And even though most religions of our time, even Christianity in some instances, have distanced themselves from most of what was taught in the Tanakh, the Talmud ...., Christianity is still dependent on ancient texts, myth and stories borrowed from other cultures, even they would admit that they never came face to face ... with God!<br />
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In the past, too much emphasis was placed upon rudimentary principles, metaphor, myth, superstition... Even though we picked up where they left off, we should be beyond that by now. I<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">nstead we ought to be seeking after what is real, no matter what IT turns out to be, in </span></b>modern baptist, pentecostal, Muslim, philosophical, Mormon, Methodist, catholic circles ... "If my people who are called by my name ..." were to seek the truth as opposed to attempting to turn ancient texts and myth into 'the truth', imagine where we would be today, given the hold that all of these groups have on the minds of modern-day individuals!<br />
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Part II.<br />
In our post-modern world, we find ourselves being challenged by individuals, inside and outside of religion, who forbid anyone from going beyond the limited boundaries of their (religious ... understanding), which is limited at best. For example, the persistent rejection of scientific discovery in some religious circles, is limited at best. Why? They are clearly not at the end of knowledge, all of us are still somewhere in the middle I believe. But having said that, members of the scientific community, and anyone who will listen to them have experienced wrath, vituperation, obfuscation, excoriation, repudiation and rejection ... from limited and obtuse religious zealots (that often possess a political bent), as well as organizations and other individuals who are afraid of having their myths, pre-conceived ideas and errant belief systems examined, debunked and repudiated. <br />
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Religious institutions for example, have their own reasons for not wanting things to change, or for anyone to grow beyond what they teach and have taught. <u>Some have an economic need</u> for things to continue as they have been. Others believe that what they are teaching is true, and others have a fear of having what they have been taught is sacred truth, being debunked. Was the late Bishop Usher, a good man I suspect, corrupt given his flawed estimate, with respect to how long man has been on the Earth? Evidence at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">Olduvai Gorge, </span>carbon dating ..., would seem to say that his computations, that many believed, at the time, were accurate, were in fact inaccurate! He was a good man, I believe, that made an honest mistake, and he is not the only one.<br />
<blockquote><b>A person who makes an honest mistake is not impeached, the mistake that he or she made, is impeached. Bishop Usher, and of late Reverend Camping's findings, both have and are being impeached!</b></blockquote>Sadly, the religious community, (even the one that I am a part of, even though they are not always a part of me the heretic) will not always tolerate the 'spirit of truth (that which leads a person or group to 'hunger and thirst after what is real)', something that even Jesus promised was to come. In other words, truth is not always the number one motivator for a religious institution, or its adherents. Instead, religious people, and religious institutions prefer their own limited understanding(s), dogma and interpretations of ancient texts (looking into a dark looking glass as it were), and screening out all else that does not fit neatly into their speculative paradigms.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">In Summary</span>: What is there to be afraid of, I ask? <br />
!). I used to warn members of my congregation to be responsible for, and to take responsibility for their own destinies. <br />
2). I also reminded them to never outsource the responsibility for their own outcomes, successes or failures in life, to another human being, not even me! <br />
3). I finally reminded them, that one day they would meet, 'what we refer to as God for themselves', and therefore to be responsible for the outcome of such a meeting. <br />
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It is time to move beyond ancient and even modern-day religious paradigms, myth, and in some instances truth for its time, that is no longer relevant or valid! <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">As Karl Marx</span> once explained and I agree with him wholeheartedly, 'religion can be an 'opiate of the masses'. We see the latter being played out even in a 21st Century context.<br />
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I encourage you to remove the religious shackles/bindings from your minds in spite of what you have heard from 'them of old and some from modern times', just as Jesus once taught his disciples to do in the common era. The latter put him at odds with the religious hierarchy, apologists, aristocracy and sycophants of his time, and it will likely cause a similar problem for you.<br />
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I would still encourage you, however, to take a walk on the wild side,"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> for if you seek the truth I believe that, it will find you"</span>, no matter where you begin your search - just be sincere about it. Jesus once explained that, 'truth will make you free". Free from what? Apparently from pride, error, domination, narrow-mindedness, egotism, confusion, intolerance of ideas or scrutiny, political or religious zealotry, bindings, suppression and oppression.<br />
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From hereon, I would suggest that wherever you are today, or might find yourself in the future, seek after what is real, even when it comes to science or anything else that just might even debunk outdated myth or constructs. Instead, pursue what is real. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">Galilei Galileo, and Copernicus</span> (posthumously) proved that religion, with its best intentions, could be wrong, when on the other hand scientific discovery, logic, reason ... could be right. The two can co-exist and one can compliment and even test the other! The members of my profession will never admit it, but they and I have often make some critical errors!<br />
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Using a precise methodology to corroborate what is real, as opposed to merely speculating about what is real or fits into a particular paradigm, is preferable, I believe, particularly when there is so much at stake in the present, and will be in the future. Carrying the baton in a more sensible fashion during our dispensation, is critical, and will have dividends for the individuals (perhaps Kurzweil's Cyborgs who may follow us). And it is critical that their is a method of scrutiny in place not only for the current inhabitants of the earth (even when it negates dispensational truth and theology), but for the ones who are to follow us. <br />
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Our successors, I suspect would build upon current epistemology, and sadly, some of us what we would have to offer them, if we keep going the way that we have been (religious v philosophy, science and any other scrutiny) derived from 2 to 5,000 year old stories, won't help them. In fact, I suspect that they will suspense with it, and begin away from where they are, building upon science instead.<br />
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It is as if some of us, haven't learned anything during out time on earth, but instead, stood, intellectuality or parabolically, in the same place for the generations that we were on earth. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">In fact, I like what Albert Einstein, once said: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">"science without religion is lame, but religion without science is blind"</span>. In other words, the two need each other! Am I making a case for science? In fact I am making a case for seeking after the truth wherever it is posited. Typically truth does not reside in 'a single place'. And with respect to the latter, both disciplines have been mistaken from time to time - but only one discipline will typically admit to it - not religion.<br />
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Now keep in mind however, that similar to what Jesus and others experienced during the common era, the ones who challenged the status quo and the accepted constructs of their day or time, you might be put out of the synagogue, the National Academy of Sciences, or some other religious, non-religious or sophist institution of our day - even by a religious teacher who knows that what he or she is teaching, is not the truth, or at least has holes in it. But having said that, "<b>something is amiss in the force Luke"</b>, and we need to be loosed from whomever or whatever force it is, that binds or hinders us, keeping in mind that we should always pursue what is real in order to be free and to grow! <br />
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Now, wouldn't it be a shame, if one were to discover that Jesus' promise came true long ago, and that the spirit of truth is and has been here for thousands of years, but religion, politics, culture ... has rejected and hindered us from embracing it. I believe that is the case, and that some individuals are being <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">'left behind', the ones who teach and taught religion!</span><br />
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There is more at stake here than what any cult, religious guru, celebrity preacher, philosophical group, teaches and has concluded all that you and everyone else needs to know! Ask yourself this question, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;">if that were the case, how come all of our religious groups ..., disagree or teach something that differs, from group to group?</span> In other words, they don't agree, but each respective group wants you to believe them. Why? typically, each group believes, typically, that they are the exclusive harbingers of truth. I believe that we should continue to seek the truth, until it finds us whether it is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">The Singularity, the God Equivalent, Unifying Principle ..., and not an old man in the sky based on the untested and</span> limited beliefs of individuals who preceded us!<br />
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It is a fact, that after all of our holy men and women of God, examine the same texts, that the majority of them will come away with a different conclusion, even though each one will claim to be in contact with the only true God. Hmm!!!<br />
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Wherever you are, even if you are burned-out on religion, religious people or religious organizations, and I understand that, why not stop where you are, and simply consider pursuing, with an uncluttered mind, what is real; it worked for me. If you are sincere, 'IT' will find you, and get you to where you need to be mentally, spiritually, physically and cognitively! And to the ones who won't like me for writing this, because they believe, just like everyone else that they know what truth is, just remember this: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Jesus was hated</span> for the same reasons that some of you might distrust me (debunking misplaced religious ideas and practices). Because if I had not told you the truth, you would not distrust, hate or doubt me!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">In closing: </span>This is my opinion, and I believe that it is time to move on, as I have already moved on: Also, beware of individuals who love to study for study's sake, but are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, there are a lot of them who like to hang around religious circles, and religious institutions who love religious circumlocution, elocution, theosophying and deciphering religious texts. <br />
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They are the ones, that you should really fear, the researchers and worshipers of history; but you don't have to fear me! For having said that, I am simply not afraid of living in the present and pursuing what is real in the present, and neither should you be afraid of girls or what turns out to be real, either in a modern, post-modern or future context. <u>Just remember this, that religion can and often does bind us</u>. I am not suggesting that you throw it away, rather, simply keep it as a tool in the toolbox, as you set out to discover what is real today. After all , that is what Jesus did after all, and he discouraged his audiences from looking back 'to some of them of old times!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">It is really too bad, that religion has a monopoly on God; most people have accept that God belongs exclusively within the domain of religion, and as a result have no idea I suspect, on what they are missing!</span> I can only imagine what generations before, and individuals in our present reality, have missed and are missing out on, given the misplacement of God, as a God of, heal my leg, give me money, let me speak in tongues enlarge my territory, and it's all about me and going to heaven, religions ... <b> It would have been better, and will be better, whenever God is freed from religion and therefore myth, the mystical, magic and superstition! Thank God for science too ..., where would we be without it, especially, if we relied solely upon religion?</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IadQuU6oYW0/TbL0IOBg65I/AAAAAAAAAAM/kRpB3dCTiSc/s1600/1211101547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IadQuU6oYW0/TbL0IOBg65I/AAAAAAAAAAM/kRpB3dCTiSc/s320/1211101547.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Rev. C. Solomon, a Post-Modern Minister<a href="http://sealofabraham.blogspot.com/">sealofabraham.blogspot.com</a>Solomonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09806565400039542210noreply@blogger.com0