Something for Nothing and HOP Versus the Avantgarde.

And have you helped to enable a homeless person today?
Why or why not?  

HOP's greatest challenge, 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.  

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, "HOP, doesn't give you anything", 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?  

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 ... 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!

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.   

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?

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?

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!

Peace & Grace

Solomon

Religious-Fundatmentalist Politics and Hegemony, America's and the World's Problem

Subject:  Taking Charge of American Political, Military and Economic Might - The American Political and Evangelical Right!Evangelicalism on the Right, is as much political as it is religious.  To wit, there 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".  


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.  


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. 


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.  

Stridency, an unwillingness by individuals on the religious and political Right to 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

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 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.


It is an American form of fanaticism, fascism and western determinism.  

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!

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 Righteousness and their vehicle of choice is the political process, not God or prayer!.  


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.  


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?  Republicans on God's right, and the Liberal goats on God's left, get it!  


Both their frustrations and fear and fears are being driven by the fact that they, like most empires before, are loosing control of their grip on power to rule the world, if not their real American idol, America itself.  Truthfully, they 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. 


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?


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.   Somehow, 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. 


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.  

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. 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.  


Man, I can hear them now, my former friends who are likely saying:  I didn't know that he, Solomon was like that.  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"! 


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. 


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. And just to keep the record straight, the rest of us are not the minorities.  


Now to 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 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?


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.  .  


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?
Should we think of Nimrod, or any other hierarchaly- structured society, ants perhaps?  Er herm.  


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.


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..  


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?  


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.    


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.  


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? 


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). 


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!    


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 


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?  


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.


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.  


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.


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. 


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.. 


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.  


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:  "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 ...".


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.


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!  For 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, 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.  


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.  

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.   


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?  


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.    


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!

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. 


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 


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.


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.  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. 


Pat may not always know what's 'right' either, however, in this scenario, he knows what's wrong with the religious-political Right.


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.

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 America's shores.

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!


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. 

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. 


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.  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.  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!








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.   


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. 

And I keep thinking, if 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.


Solomon
Part I
world, correct?

When and Why God Left the Institutional Church, Mosque and Synagogue Behind

I suspect that if what we refer to as God, ever had anything to do with religion, it was  during infrequent and very brief intervals - the Pleistocene Era perhaps?  

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.     

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.

Theme:  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.

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. 


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. 


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. 


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.. 


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. 


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. 


That should have been the first hint, in their minds very likely, that Jewish, that son-of-a-carpenter was a certified fraud.    


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.  


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!  


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.  


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'.







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?


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!  


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.  .  


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.   


Along my personal journey and quest for the truth, 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.


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.  


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.  


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!


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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What house will you build for God? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is God a part of religion(s), it depends, I imagine, with whom you are speaking.

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?

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.  

\
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.  


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?


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.  

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. 


 However, the truth is, 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.


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. 


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!

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.  


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!


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.


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!


And if nothing else, so far I have explained why the dyslexic agnostic, has never believed in dog - he also sees things in reverse!


Solomon

To be continued. draft 2

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.

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.  


Perhaps, if we could 'get the hell out of religion', it could be a useful place for God to take up its abode!

The American Christian Conservatives-Worldwide Political Reform Movement

Perhaps the 666 Beast (Bull and Bear Market System)?  You've heard of Star Wars before? Today, I will comment on the political infighting that is quietly taking place between factions within the American Christian religious community. 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!  

_________________________________________

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. 


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?  


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".  


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. 


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. 


 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. 

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.

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.  


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.

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. 

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!  To wit, they believe that, even when breaking the law, or distorting the meaning of the Bible, that they are RIGHT then too!

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!

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.

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.  

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'. 


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.

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.

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. 


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.  


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.  

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.


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.  

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.

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. 


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

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.

And I believe that we are beginning to see the beginning of the end of the dangerous Mega-rich, religious political church phenomenon. Interestingly 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.  


Already, some of these mega-moolah 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 religio-political organizational stream, and their politics are both local, national and international.


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.

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.  

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.

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. 


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?

Never forget, no matter how they use the Canon, to make their points that Pat Robertson, Late Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, Dr. Dobson, 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.

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.

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).  


And his death sentence was carried out as a result of pressure on a government official, Pilate, given theirrightest politcal-religious agendas.  

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.

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!

Peace 


Read the T-Leaves Mormon Mitt, you're not getting it either!