#christian nationalism is a heresy and one i only recently came out of so i get it friends. i get it.

[theragamuffininitiative]

Tfw you get recommended a particular pastor-teacher by a peer and you have gotten just wise enough at this point to go look the person up before just ingesting their teaching, and the top two things they have recently said are "Christian Nationalism is a good thing and a God-ordained pursuit" and "Israel should by no means pause or cease fire" and you're just like. Aha. Ok then. Glad I checked first. 😅

[xtestament]

The Problem With Catholics telling you not to rely Solely on The Bible

So there’s this thing going around in the Catholic circles of “how dare you rely solely on The Bible for The Bible is not the only rightful source” of course, this is paraphrased but you get the idea, now this comes with the protestant criticism of the Catholic teachings contradicting The Bible and why that is important so let’s look at the first contradiction from the Catholics themselves using their own words.

“Like you, we believe that Scripture is truly the Word of God, authored by God and without error.”

Ok so they’ve admitted that the Scripture is without error which is good, though it begs then the question of why they get annoyed when we say their teachings and wrongful acts contradict something that is without error. If it is without error then that should be the ultimate source of which everything should rely upon, and if anything else comes that goes against it, it should not be believed. Yet for some reason they continue to believe just some of the following things.

Mary never sinned

Mary is the Coredeemer next to Christ

Mary is the redeemer of sins

Mary is the Queen of Heaven

It’s ok to pray to dead people (the apostles)

The Apostles have been set to govern over certain areas of the world and church up in heaven

Graven images in so many churches is ok

The Apostles have been given titles similar to those of the Greek/Roman Pantheon and beyond. 

Only certain people through works can become saints, despite the fact that The Bible mentions that every Christian is a saint.

Priests aren’t allowed to marry

Nuns aren’t allowed to marry

Monks aren’t allowed to marry

The Pope isn’t allowed to Marry (despite previous Popes being married and having kids in history)

That Peter was never married despite The Bible mentioning that he had a wife as well as Church history (see Peter get crusified upside down with his wife)

That the Pope is the Infallible voice of God

The very act of Indulgences (pay us and we’ll give whoever a free ticket to heaven)

That Grace alone is not sufficient to get into Heaven.

These are just some of the few things out of many that contradicts what is in something that the Catholics themselves say... is without error? Like how do you not notice such glaring contradictions? I’m sorry but that takes on some serious blinders to ignore the issues here and that’s just from one sentence. Let’s however get into their “link” that speaks against it and see how it can’t be torn asunder.

“Consider why anyone would want to base their faith on an error instigated 500 years ago by Luther and reject 2,000 years of Church tradition.”

Maybe it was because Luther saw the heresy of the Church who believed that one must do certain works, pay indulgences if you want a soul to go into heaven, that Grace alone was not sufficient, that what the priests and Popes said was more important than the very teachings of Jesus? The level of corruption in the church? There were many reasons that Luther saw to split away and why he nailed his thesis on the doors of the church but here’s a video that might help explain just a little bit of it.

And let’s not forget, that when only one person can read The Bible they can simply say “Oh well, this is totally in the Bible (even though it’s not but you fools don’t know that) so you have to listen to me because you’re all uneducated and don’t know any better” Not to mention the fact that until recently and dare I say even recently, most Catholics are shall I say pushed to not read or rely on The Bible... despite the fact that it is without error... now I wonder why that would be? Oh yes, to keep people ignorant.

But let’s look at their argument for “Tradition” that is to follow Tradition and the Scripture, when it comes to the point where something is wrong, I have heard many Catholics say Tradition is more important... Tradition of errors... is more important than Scripture? Right ok, in that case we must ask who has given them the authority to be more powerful and pure than the Scriptures? Especially when they’re more fallible? Of course, this doesn’t get answered by Catholics but we still must ask the question.

Secondly, when the Early Christian Churches and groups were being created, on of the biggest divisions was that Gentiles must become circumcised in order to become a Christian, this was after all Tradition, and it’s not until Paul steps in to handle that debate that they leave that to the Jews and let Gentiles follow a different set of rules but still very vitally important ones. Also if we want to talk about Tradition as the Catholic church is so opt to do as an excuse for gross contradictions of The Bible that enter into the realms of heresy and blasphemy, why not go back to the source? What do I mean by the source? Well if we’re talking Tradition who else is closer than the Messianic Jews? Why don’t the Catholics follow in their footsteps? Also last I checked the Messianic Jews traditions don’t go against the Bible where as the Catholic ones do, thus one would have an easier time following Pauls words in the Messianic Sphere about tradition than one would anywhere else.

“What is very clear historically is that Jesus established a kingdom with a hierarchy and authority to speak for him (see Lk. 20:29-32, Mt. 10:40, 28:18-20).”

Let’s look at this for a moment because it mentions scripture and we can see what it actually says.

Luke 20: 29-32 “Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children, and the second took her as wife, and he died childless, then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children and died. Lastly the woman died also”

Welp... nothing there that talks about a Hierarchy that he establishes to speak for him, in fact they’re asking him a question, this is I believe at the time was done by the Sadducees who were an opposing sect to the Pharisees, asking Jesus about the ressurection, to which Jesus stated that no one in Heaven is given in marriage, and that people are equal to the angels themselves if you read just a little bit further.

Matthew 10:40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

Ok once again, nothing about a Heirarchy that I can really see, about those who he gave Authority to do things and know everything that Jesus meant and should be said and so on and so forth, so that’s 2 for 2 of whatever they just tried to pull and expected people to just believe without reading. Not to mention that this is right after the line that Jesus tells people to pick up their cross and follow him as well as denying the world and so on and so forth, once again, follow Jesus... not the Church.

Matthew 28: 18-20 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Amen.”

Ok so I can see a heirarchy there, but only as much as “Go tell them what I (that is Jesus) have said and commanded of you” not that they were in a higher position necessarily but this was basically the mandate of “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel” which every Christian is to do, also the Heirarchy here seems pretty clear... the things which JESUS taught and commanded, not what some priest 300-1000 years down the line would say that goes against what Jesus taught and commanded (which the Catholics believe is a ok).

Now let’s see what else they have to say for themselves.

“It was members of this Kingdom—the Church—that would write the Scripture, preserve its many texts and eventually canonize it. The Scriptures cannot write or canonize themselves.”

Well first of all they were part of the Kingdom of Christ as every Christian is, they were not yet a Church but would become parts of one later on in life, and yes the Apostles did write majority of the New Testament who all had eye witness accounts of Jesus in one way or another. In fact Luke was instructed to go and see whether the accounts were accurate by Theophilus, and basically went around interviewing every one that he could. But once again these same Apostles did not mention or believe in any of the things I mentioned earlier, and I dare say they would probably count it as false teachings by false teachers and prophets. Also since there were already False teachers and Prophets claiming things, Paul and the others basically stated “don’t listen to them, don’t entertain them, don’t welcome them and highly use discernment to tell whether something is true or false.” There are too many scriptures where this is stated but I will get them all if I must.

“With Protestants I will not debate Purgatory, Mary, Statues, Incense, Bells, Praying to Saints or the bad popes. I will not discuss pedophile priests or celibacy or papal infallibility. I will not discuss transubstantiation, the Immaculate Conception, books we “added” to the Bible, pagan traditions or the Spanish Inquisition.”

Maybe because all those things go against the Bible and the early Church teachings and you bloody well know it, thus can’t properly defend it or accept it I’d imagine.

“The only topic I will discuss is the doctrine of Sola Scripture. If he believes everything must be found in the Bible then we begin by asking where “everything must be in the Bible” is in the Bible. “

If you’re looking for the exact words Sola Scriptura in the Bible of course it’s not going to be there, but if we must here’s another interesting video this time by a Lutheran defending the basis of Sola Scriptura

and here’s another one

In turn I must ask where in the Bible does it state that the Traditions of Man or the Church are infallible? Where does it state that the Traditions taught are of a higher authority than the Bible? Which I will remind you, you youselfs state is without error. So obviously if there is a contradiction who has the higher Authority? Tradition or the Infallible word of God? You all seem to speak as if it is Tradition that holds more Authority, and if so who decided that? 

Oh and just to put the nail in the coffin here, have another video

And finally because I am tired

“Yet Vatican II makes abundantly clear that this Magisterium is not “over the Word of God, but under it. It was instituted by Christ there to serve the revealed Word of God, not to change it or add to it. “

Ok so the Magisterium is not over the Word of God but under it, so then why is it ok to believe in things that are blatant blasphemies, heresies and the like? After all it just states there that it was Instituted by Christ there to serve the revealed Word of God, not to Change or add to it.

Well now fancy that, and yet you guys have both changed and added to it with things that are not right, how do you not see this? Anyways I’m tired I’ve written a lot of thoughts on it, watch the videos because they have good information but this entire post sums up what I wanted to say, even though I could probably write an entire 100 page essay on it, picking it apart piece by piece.

[geopolicraticus]

Whack-a -Mole and Westphalian Sovereignty

Cuius regio, eius religio

The origins of the political institution that we know as the nation-state are to be found in the Treaty of Westphalia, which brought an end of the Thirty Years War. One of the principles enshrined in the Treaty of Westphalia came to be known as Cuius regio, eius religio, which means, “Whose realm, his religion.” In other words, the secular ruler of a state had the power to determine what religious confession would be adopted throughout the geographical extent of that state. This was, in a sense, a fusion of the territorial principle in law with the confessional pluralism that was the de facto outcome of the Reformation in Europe. 

Institutional religion is no longer the central pillar of statecraft that it was in the 17th century (and before that time) and the concept of Westphalian sovereignty that grew out of the Treaty of Westphalia has repeatedly mutated and adapted to changed political circumstances, and thus has remained relevant to the institution of the nation-state despite all of the changes that have transformed the world since the foundation of the nation-state system, including the maturation of the scientific revolution, the political revolutions of 1776 and 1789, and the industrial revolution (what I call the Three Revolutions, which, taken together, define modernity). Westphalian sovereignty has survived these transformations by passing the power of princes to the permanent élite ruling class of liberal democracies, and by substituting ideology for religion. 

The Secularization of Westphalian Sovereignty

The Stalinist expression of Westphalian sovereignty (which I discussed in The Stalin Doctrine) illustrates both the durability and adaptability of the concept:

“This war is not as in the past; whoever occupies a territory also imposes on it his own social system. Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach. It cannot be otherwise. If now there is not a communist government in Paris, the cause of this is Russia has no army that can reach Paris in 1945.”  

Stalin’s command of history is here shown to be wanting, as this does not express a deviation from the past, but rather confirms the model of the past since the convergence on Westphalian sovereignty: those in control of the apparatus of the nation-state get to call the shots within the geographical territory of the nation-state (as well as protectorates that constitute the effective scope of military operations of the nation-state in question).

Arguably, the logic of Westphalian sovereignty achieved near-total dominance in Soviet Russia under Stalin. Even in a totalitarian communist dictatorship, the Soviet police state could not eliminate the appearance of dissidents, but wherever these dissidents appeared, they could and would be swatted down. And in the case of Trotsky’s assassination, the tendrils of the Soviet secret police reached all the way into Mexico—a nation-state in which the rule of law was so lacking that Mexican authorities could not prevent another nation-state from conducting an assassination on its soil (though Mexican authorities did capture and jail the assassin).

The oppressive Soviet regime, and its client regimes throughout the world, had to play political whack-a-mole for as long as they were in existence. The very oppressiveness of the system created resistance where a less totalitarian system would have not generated a similar number of dissidents. Ordinary individuals going about the ordinary business of life, and who had no wish to engage in a political struggle, found themselves engaged in political resistance.

Throughout the Soviet period those who wished to know what censors did not want them to know had to play a continual cat-and-mouse game with the authorities, attempting to read books or watch or listen to broadcasts forbidden within the nation-state. The East German Stasi would walk over the rooftops of buildings in East Berlin and destroy antennae that had been erected to receive Voice of America broadcasts from West Germany. And they would also trace the wires of these antennae to particular apartments, if they could, in order to detain and interrogate anyone bold enough to risk putting up an antenna.

Cold War Dissidents and Samizdat

I have a very clear memory of reading stories about dissidents in the Soviet Bloc when I was a child during the Cold War. I would never have imagined that the time would come in my own lifetime that individuals and groups in western nation-states would engage in the same cat-and-mouse game with censors that those in the Warsaw Pact nation-states had to endure during the Cold War. Nevertheless, that is the world we now live in. Political whack-a-mole has come to Europe and North America, though rather than government censors and secret police, we have private censors at social media companies and outrage mobs that brigade individuals, bullying them into silence and attempting to intimidate them off platforms.  

As the nation-state gradually cedes its power to private industry, NGOs, and mass man made manifest through the mass medium of the internet, those who hold the power in the nation-state, and those whose views dictate the prevailing culture within the geographical region of the nation-state, act as the enforcing authority for the ideology they represent. 

We also have European governments detaining, questioning, and sometimes convicting and jailing individuals for expressing their opinions on social media. Politically motivated prosecutions bring the full weight of the government down upon private citizens who would be protected under libel and slander laws if a private entity were to abuse them to a far lesser degree. 

As in whack-a-mole, each time the censors—public and private—come down on content deemed to be offensive or hateful, it disappears or is deplatformed, but, since we know that the internet never forgets, it likely pops up again somewhere else on the internet. In the world of digital samizdat, one learns first of all to save one’s own copy of any controversial material, because it may well be unavailable tomorrow.

Controversial Youtubers put their content up only long enough for it to be downloaded by others, because if they leave it up, their channels will receive “strikes,” and if you receive three strikes within a given period, your Youtube channel is permanently banned. The technology industry powers-that-be have managed to nearly push Alex Jones off the internet, unpersonning him to the extent they are able. Large banks and credit card processing businesses have played a crucial role in this process of deplatforming and unpersonning by refusing to handle payments for individuals and groups deemed to be too controversial. 

After the recent massacre in New Zealand, NPC “opinion makers” bent every effort to make the shooter’s manifesto unavailable, and while they certainly did make it difficult to find, I did eventually find it, and I didn’t have to go to the dark web to do so. Having read the Unabomber’s manifesto and Abu Bakr Naji’s The Management of Savagery and Anders Behring Breivik’s manifesto and even the Virginia Tech shooter’s manifesto, I was not going to be easily turned aside from also reading the New Zealand shooter’s manifesto.

Success and Failure of the Whack-a-Mole Strategy

Is political whack-a-mole a winning strategy or a failing strategy? This depends upon a great many circumstances surrounding the political regime in question and its dissidents. Sometimes it works, sometimes it works temporarily, and sometimes it fails.

Before Westphalian sovereignty, the Roman Empire played whack-a-mole with the Christians, and the strategy failed so spectacularly that the Roman Empire became Christian in its turn. If the Romans had escalated from persecution to extirpation, and utterly annihilated the Christians throughout the empire, that probably would have been it for western Christianity. However, the Roman authorities lacked the stomach to take such measures, and, even if they had, it might have been another eastern mystery religion (maybe Mithraism) that would have won the hearts and minds of the Roman populace.

Christianity grew rapidly under the “Five Good Emperors,” so that life was good and few saw the Christians as a serious threat. I will bet that fewer still, when times are good, would support the kind of brutally repressive measures that would have been required to successfully suppress Christianity. It took three hundred years for the Christians to come into power in Rome, so that one could argue that the whack-a-mole strategy was a successful effort in delaying the Christian takeover of the Roman state. 

Also before Westphalian sovereignty, Christian authorities played whack-a-mole with heretics, but, unlike the Romans, were largely successful in suppressing heresies (at least, until the Protestant Reformation). When Bishop of Paris Etienne Tempier issued his condemnations of 1277 this action was largely successful in ending the careers of many of the “Latin Averroist” philosophers at the University of Paris. Here it was the institutional church, and not the nation-state, that acted as the authority invested with the right to suppress dissidents, and the church was an “international” institution of sorts. The church was unable to stop the spread of Aristotle’s ideas, but they did largely contain the exposition of these ideas to mostly orthodox philosophers. There was, at the time, both élite and popular support for the policing of orthodoxy, so that a mere proclamation was sufficient to slap down the Aristotelian moles. 

Above I discussed political whack-a-mole in the context of the Soviet bloc. Was this successful? It was successful in so far as it limited the influence of dissidents, and one could argue that it was economic reality that ended the Soviet bloc and not the actions of dissidents. The Soviets made being a dissident risky and potentially disastrous, which didn’t stop the dissidents from popping up, but it may have made the regime more viable than it would have been otherwise.

The governments of Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa played whack-a-mole with their dissidents, and, again, as with the Soviet bloc, it wasn’t the dissidents who brought down these regimes. It was concerted and unified international pressure that resulted in the collapse of Rhodesia and South Africa, not the “armed struggle” that continued at a manageable level. Fifty years of civil war did not topple the government of Colombia, so we know that low level military action can continue for decades with little consequence. 

Lessons Learned

Are there any lessons to be learned from political whack-a-mole as a strategy for policing Westphalian sovereignty? Given the radically different outcomes of different nation-states, contingent circumstances seem to play a decisive role in the success or failure of the dissident whack-a-mole strategy. If authorities come down too hard on dissidents, the populace may sympathize with them as underdogs. If authorities fail to come down on dissidents, the dissidents may come into power and become the new authorities. This fits with whack-a-mole as a strategy of management and containment, not a strategy of outright defeating the opponent.

However, managing dissidents means tolerating dissidents, and if the dissidents represent the authentic feelings of the people, the dissidents will eventually win unless they are utterly eliminated. However, a strategy of annihilation of dissidents risks definitively losing the hearts and minds of the populace as innocents inevitably get caught up in the violence and are destroyed along with the dissidents.

There is almost no liberal democratic government in the world today that has the stomach to extirpate its dissidents, thus their whack-a-mole strategies are betting on effective management of dissidents, which is in turn betting on the idea that the authorities represent the authentic feelings of the populace. While this latter idea ought to be taken for granted in the case of liberal democracies devoted to popular sovereignty, one of the most interesting political developments of our time is that of the governments of liberal democracies experiencing a growing disconnect with their electorates (the permanent élite ruling class of liberal democracies is out of touch with the populace that they presumptively represent). How this came about, and what it portends for the future, is a large and complex discussion for another time, but what it portends for the management of dissidents ought to be clear.

[the-record-columns]

Sept. 25, 2019: Columns

                                                  Angel

The Lucky Dog...

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

In August 14th column I told about having a new dog, Angel.

Angel is a bull terrier and labrador mix, white as snow with a few black freckles--and yes, she could be the sister of my dog Powder. 

Powder died of an aggressive cancer at only 9 years old in February of 2018, and who I have grieved over ever since.

As noted then, in particular, my son, Sam, tried to find me another dog--calling me with strays, rescue dogs, puppies, and abandonments from mutts to pedigrees. He even found three cats that needed a home.

Well, when he saw Angel and her uncanny resemblance to Powder, he told the folks keeping her to please hold on to her a few days until his dad could see her, telling them, "If Pop sees this dog, she will have hit the dog lottery."

That was a great line, but I am the one who hit the lottery.

When I picked her up, I asked Sam if she liked to ride. Before he could say one way or another, she had jumped into my pickup, stuck her head out the window, and in her own way said, "Let's go."  Before I had reached the interstate, Angel was sitting snuggled up next to me like a 16-year-old girl out on a date with her boyfriend.

On the way home, I worried she would cry all night, so later I made her a good bed on the floor at the end of my bed.  I checked on her off and on all night, and she was sleeping like the proverbial baby. At about 5 a.m., I rolled over to go to the bathroom and, before I knew it, this huge dog tongue had slurped into my ear, across my nose, and all over my mouth and face. When I finally got upright, Angel was sitting there, smiling as only a dog can.

At that moment, I ceased to be Angel's owner, because clearly, she now owned me. 

This past weekend, I took Angel to the Carolina in the Fall Music and Food Festival in Wilkesboro a couple of times.  First when I went to pick up my credentials, while we were waiting in the tent next to the ticket booth, several folks stopped to pet Angel as she looked up at them and wagged her tail. One couple in particular made the comment that they were dog people and she literally sat down on the pavement to play with Angel. After a bit they went on into the festival but soon returned--laughing as they told me they had such a good time playing with Angel they forgot to buy their tickets.

But the best part was on Saturday evening. I was signed up to work the night shift for Rotary at the Artists Merchandise Tent. When I went home to check on Angel, I just could not leave her again, and took her with me to the Festival. Since I was the de facto greeter at the entrance to the tent, Angel was the perfect partner. Everybody wanted to pet her and she wanted everyone to pet her, so everyone was happy. After about an hour, Angel stopped even looking and smiling at folks as they walked up, and just flopped down on her back so they could easily scratch under her chin and give her a belly rub. It was just plain fun to watch.

Angel has got to be the most social animal I have ever seen, and there is really no doubt who the big winner is in he story of Ken and his Angel--for I am surely "The Lucky Dog."

 The Gospels: Conventional Wisdom Is Not Heresy

By HEATHER DEAN

Record Reporter

Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit priest, is known for his outspokenness for accepting all of God’s children, especially the outcast.

He wrote a book entitled “Building a Bridge,” in which he urged the Church to create a dialogue and find  common ground with the LGBTQ+ community who feel estranged  because of social and religious stigma.  

The subject always seems to ruffle some feathers of the most pious, but so did the son of God; what with talking back to the priests as a child, chasing the church leaders out of the temple with whips, slinging political insults toward the Herrod. His ministry consisted of taking in the undesirables: the prostitutes, anarchists, embezzlers, politicians, heretics, lepers, immigrants, and tax collectors.  

Yet the backlash of being an inclusive continues to grow, despite us being taught otherwise. “Good Christians” hardening their hearts, slinging insults, hateful rhetoric, judging, labeling, sending death threats, even beating or killing those they think unworthy. That goes against everything I was ever taught raised in a Christian religion. I still believe that compassion and love is the way to live a good life, even though I was betrayed by the hypocrisy and misogyny, including sexual assault, from those I trusted most in the congregation.  

Jesus, and other prophets, said not to be a jerk and that's what I try to live by. Though I do not subscribe to Christian theology these days, being a good human is all encompassing.  Sometimes, however, we have to rely on the Constitution to bring us back to an objective center in deciding what is for the good of “we the people,” not just one color or one religion, “defending against enemies both foreign and domestic.”  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) the number of hate groups in the U.S. is the highest in 20 years.

This week in the news we saw two huge steps in progressing “liberty and justice for all.”  

A federal judge ruled that an anti-LGBTQ Florida-based church can be labeled a hate group by SPLC as a matter of free speech, as the church “maligns the entire LGBT community.”

The Department of Homeland Security, created after the 9/11 attacks, has added white supremacy to its list of domestic terrorism threats.  Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said that recent mass shootings had “galvanized the Department of Homeland Security to expand its counterterrorism mission focus beyond terrorists operating aboard. The continuing menace of racially based violent extremism, particularly white supremacist extremism, is an abhorrent affront to our nation, the struggle and unity of its diverse population, and the core values of both our society and our department.”

Pope Francis received backlash once again because the most conservative of his flock want him to be stricter, less accommodating and stop reaching out and engaging others, especially those that don’t fit into the niche that the Church has worked so hard over the past thousand years to control. He told them no, because that is not what Christ did.

Now, this is sure to ruffle more feathers, especially those claiming they are only protecting their Christian beliefs in some imagined war against them, but let me bring you back to beginning of the conversation and let you decide what the prophet would really do.  

Jesus never said you were going to like what happened in the world. He laid the groundwork of how to deal with it, and he said not to let it get to you, because GOD was the end-all-be-all when it came down to judging and deciding who would make it into the kingdom of heaven. (James 4:12)

The good book also says that the Old Testament Laws (over 600 of them) are now void because Jesus paved the path of faith with love, and to obey the Christ, because LOVE is the new law. (Gal. Chapters 3-6)

The least you do this to others you do it to me. (Matt. 25:40)

“If we can’t even begin a dialogue without being considered a heretic, then we need to take a good look at how we understand the gospel.” –Reverend Martin.

  A piece of the untold story

By AMBASSADOR EARL COX and KATHLEEN COX 

Friday marks the end of the work week in Israel.  It is a time for rest and for extended families to get together to keep the Shabbat.  What does this mean?  According to the Torah (first five books of the Bible), Shabbat commemorates the day God rested from creating the world.  It is a day of peace and holiness offering all those who are observant an opportunity to contemplate the spiritual aspects of life and to spend time with family.   

Let’s take a look at the land of "camels, sand and sandals."  This is what the left-leaning media would have us believe about Israel.  The truth is, Israel is light-years ahead of most of the world in science, medicine, technology, agriculture, research and development, aerospace, military defense and intelligence gathering, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, computer hardware and software, and the list goes on.  Most major companies have their R&D facilities hear in Israel.  Worldwide, Israel is known as "the start-up nation." It is home to major players in the high tech industry. Israeli schools produce some of the best and brightest minds in the world therefore Israel has the most technologically literate population in the world.  Tiny Israel, no bigger than New Jersey which is one of the smallest states in the United States, has more Nobel Prize recipients per capita than the United States, France and Germany.  For a country that was reborn only a little over 70 years ago following thousands of years of exile having been dispersed throughout the world, Israel's contributions to the world have been disproportionate, dramatic, and nothing short of miraculous.  

In the 1800s, a small California newspaper sent a journalist to the Middle East to report back to wealthy American society what he saw on the other side of the world.  The name of this journalist was Samuel Clemens, better known to the world as Mark Twain.  He visited many places to include the land of Israel where he was not at all impressed.  In fact, he called it, "a boiling hell with dry, torn and helpless ground."  He claimed that life could not exist in this place and that it had no potential. Mark Twain even saw Jerusalem as a, "dark, lonely, lifeless and unimpressive ruin."  But Mark Twain was so wrong!    

Now, let's take a look at a place once designated as a "settlement."  This means a place of metal shacks, tents and trailers, right? WRONG! The city of Ma'ale Adumim is located only a few short miles outside of Jerusalem.  It is on the land known as Judea and Samaria - the heartland of Israel.  Mayor Benny Kashriel governs his city with love always thinking about ways to improve life for its citizens and residents. He makes it a point to attend every major function in his city and this includes graduation ceremonies from kindergarten!  Ma'ale Adumim is a beautiful and thriving city where Israelis and Palestinians work side by side in peace. People are attracted to life here because of its parks and playgrounds, outstanding infrastructure, streets lined with brightly colored flowers, neatly kept yards and storefronts, lovely homes and apartments, a municipality that truly cares about the wellbeing of the people who are secure and proud of their city.  This "settlement" is bursting at the seams with a happy, healthy, friendly and peace-filled atmosphere. 

This trip to Israel has been quite different from any other over the past 20 years.  Unlike so many cities in Europe where life and the spirit of joy, as the French say, "la joie de vivre," seems to have evaporated having been replaced with nothing but a sense of fading glory, old structures, and a lack of enthusiasm and vision, whereas Israel is thriving and vibrant. At all hours of the day and night, people, young and old alike, and all colors, faiths and creeds, are enjoying family and friends over a meal or a cup of coffee in the many sidewalk cafes which line about every street.  Pregnant women and their husbands and families are strolling the streets enjoying the evenings.  Music is everywhere.  Throughout Jerusalem are what I have come to call "public pianos."  They are perfectly tuned, weather resistant, grand pianos, placed along major pedestrian walkways waiting for whosoever will open the lid and fill the air with magic. The U.N. World Happiness Report was released on March 21 of this year. Once again, Israelis ranked among the happiest people in the world despite living in a very tough neighborhood surrounded on every side by evil-minded people who want to wipe them off the face of the earth forever.  Israel enjoys an internal and an eternal peace.  God said never again will the Jews be removed from their land and our God reigns supreme!

The American Songster

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

Over the years, we have produced many broadcast segments that celebrate music in the Carolinas and those who bring it to life.

Several years ago, we produced a segment with the Carolina-based group, The Carolina Chocolate Drops on stage at the McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square in Charlotte. It was a good interview and I recall how amazed we all were with the performance. When the onstage energy was combined with the telling of the history of the music, the audience enjoyed an authentic time-travel experience.

Dom Flemons was a founding member of the band. It was his ability to master various historic instruments which left the audience spellbound. Some were common, and others were new to most audience members. I think that was what made the performance so engaging and entertaining. You dared not take your eyes off the stage for fear of missing what he might play next. It really was a special evening.

Some time would pass until one day I received the news that Dom had left The Carolina Chocolate Drops to develop his solo works. The American Songster Dom Flemons now shares his interpretation of American folklore, ballads and storytelling. Among others he plays American old-time music, Piedmont blues and country music that might be new to your ears.

Dom has an American and international audience. So far he has received two Emmy nominations and is a Grammy award winner.

Not so long ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dom for another interview. It was a great visit and Dom was quick to say, “Carl, this time I have a back story.” Almost nine years had passed since our first visit at Spirit Square and he was right; a lot of things have transpired over the years.

Dom was born and raised in Arizona, where his family has had a long and fascinating history. He moved to North Carolina because of his interest in the musical and cultural heritage of the region.

It was a life changing event when he was invited to participate in the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering in the Mountains of North Carolina.

He was inspired by the likes of Joe Thompson and other songsters who had been creating music in the “gray areas” between genres.

Dom began to learn more about the larger African American folk tradition and his passion for telling the historical narrative increased. This drove his involvement with the Carolinas Chocolate Drops and then subsequently, the development of his solo work.

We talked about Dom’s Black Cowboys project that brings attention to the music, culture, and the complex history of the Wild West. I learned about the importance of the role of Black Cowboys.  It was a great conversation and when Dom played a selection from the project, I understood even more than before.

No matter where he plays, his desire is to spark cultural memories for the audience, reminding them of things they didn’t know they had forgotten. He wants others to experience their cultural heritage the same way that he has.

Music has great power. It can change our moods in an instant, It has a unique way of bringing history to life. I think we are fortunate when we encounter people who have the talent and passion to share the history of music and bring it to life.

Dom Flemons, the American Songster is such a person.  

 Carl White is the Executive Producer and Host of the award-winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In The Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its 10th year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturday’s at noon and My 12. The show also streams on Amazon Prime. For more information visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com. You can email Carl at Carl@lifeinthecarolinas.com

[catholiccom-blog]

A Primer on Richard Rohr

Full Question

        I've heard that Fr. Richard Rohr teaches some pretty sketchy stuff. Do you know anyone who has a summary of his teachings?        

Answer

For whatever good he does, Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., is not a reliable teacher of the Catholic Faith. All quotes below by Fr. Rohr are taken from his book Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer.

To Fr. Richard Rohr, Jesus Christ is an ideal guide of sorts, but he’s not truly Lord.

Jesus made clear that he came to save the world (John 3:16), and to this end he founded and commissioned his Church to make disciples off all nations (Matt. 28:18-20). Jesus made clear that he is uniquely the way, truth, and life (John 14:6), that his truth would set us free (John 8:31-32), that those who listened to his apostles and their successors listened to him, and that those who didn’t rejected him and his heavenly Father who sent him (Luke 10:16).

Jesus wasn’t afraid to be a demanding teacher, and many left him when they couldn’t stomach his teaching, e.g., on the Eucharist (John 6:47-71). Jesus also proclaimed that he came to bring a sword and not peace if peace meant a false irenicism in which merely human family members were chosen at the expense of faithful alliance with him, their Savior (Matt. 10:34-39).

Rohr’s Jesus is much more benign. For Rohr, Jesus merely gives “ideal eyes by which to see the real nature of reality” (emphasis added). “Real nature” is important, because Rohr does not present Catholicism as it really is. Rather, it’s a non-demanding, non-threatening, ultimately optional way of life: "The gospel is not a competing idea. It’s that by which see all ideas in proper context. We believe as Christians that Jesus gave us the ideal eyes by which to see the real nature of reality. He does not lead with his judgments"(95, emphasis original).

Some might say Rohr is at least partially right. For example, Jesus did not lead with judgment against the woman at the well (John 4). But after introducing himself as the Messiah and showing the woman her worth, he called her to holiness, noting she had been married five times and was living with someone to whom she wasn’t married. Rohr misses this in assessing the Gospel as he overlooks the hard words Jesus has about various sins in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere: "But note that Jesus’ concept of 'the reign of God' is totally positive—not fear-based or against any individual, group, sin or problem" (107, emphasis original).

Even more fundamentally, Rohr falls into religious indifferentism regarding the basic mission of Christ and his Church:

I think Christianity has created a great problem in the Western world by repeatedly presenting itself, not as a way of seeing all things, but as one competing ideology among others. . . . Simone Weil, the brilliant French resistor [a woman who sadly declined to be baptized and become Catholic], said that 'the tragedy of Christianity is that it came to see itself as replacing other religions instead of adding something to all of them.' I could not agree more (93, emphasis added).

Rohr provides insight into his spiritual outlook when he reveals that he believes in apokatastasis (also spelled apocatastasis), a heresy known more in modern times as “universalism,” which teaches that all the damned, whether men or women or fallen angels, will ultimately be restored and join God in heavenly glory for all eternity. This belief was made somewhat popular by the Church Father Origen, who was misguided on a number of doctrinal matters.

Citing unnamed early Church Fathers, Rohr describes this “universal restoration” as “the real meaning” of Christ’s resurrection, which means that God’s love is “so perfect and so victorious that in fact it would finally win out in every single person’s life” (131). He erroneously says that this view “gave rise to the mythology of purgatory” (131). He adds incorrectly that apocatastasis is not a heresy:

When I read the history of the church and its dogma, I see apokatastasis was never condemned as heretical. We may believe it if we want to. We were never told we had to believe it, but neither was it condemned (132, emphasis original).

It’s true that some people, like St. Gregory of Nyssa, espoused apocatastasis in the early Church when the Church had not pronounced definitively on the matter. But as the belief spread it was condemned by the regional Council of Constantinople in 543, and Pope Vigilius confirmed the council's pronouncements.

Ten years later, the Second Council of Constantinople, an ecumenical or universal council, reaffirmed the condemnation of various heretics and “their sinful works,” including Origen, with no correction on the recent condemnation of apocatastasis (canon 11). If apocatastasis were indeed true, the Church’s infallible teachings on mortal sin and the eternal punishment of hell, for example, would be rendered meaningless.

It is true, as Rohr says, that the Church has never pronounced that any particular person is in hell (132). But the Church has reaffirmed the existence of hell and its eternal punishments, most recently in Pope Paul VI’s Credo of the People of God (12) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1033-37). Lest there be any doubt, the Catechism affirms—citing St. John Damascene, who lived from 676 to 749—“There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death” (393).

In light of his espousal of apocatastasis, Rohr’s book title—Everything Belongs—makes more sense. In the end, there is no condemnation, only reconciliation and eternal communion with God: “For me, the utter powerlessness of God is that God forgives. . . .  God seems to be so ready to surrender divine power” (153). Rohr’s God is all mercy, and a distorted mercy at that, and thus there is no justice.

Consequently, for Rohr there is a tension between truth and love.  Jesus says that his truth will set us free (John 8:32), but Rohr says “the law does not give life; only the Spirit gives life, as Paul teaches in Romans and Galatians” (40). But Paul is speaking of the Old Covenant law, not the liberating New Covenant law of Jesus, and Rohr overlooks St. Paul’s hard pronouncements on mortal sin and damnation. “True religion is always about love. Love is the ultimate reality” (103), Rohr adds, whereas “a lot that’s called orthodoxy, loyalty and obedience is grounded in fear” (102). “The great commandment is not ‘thou shalt be right,’” he says. “The great commandment is to ‘be in love’” (88).

Love trumps truth, because God will win out in every person’s life, Rohr says, since “God will turn all our human crucifixions into resurrection” (132). Here Rohr fails to see that hell is man’s “definitive self-exclusion from communion with God” (CCC 1033, emphasis added), and that true love entails not compelling one to have communion. God will not force us to accept heaven.

In citing Acts 3:21 to defend universal restoration, Rohr fails to see that those who will not listen to the prophet—namely, Jesus—will be destroyed (Acts 3:23). This is not to pronounce eternal judgment on non-Catholics and thus exclude invincible ignorance but rather to affirm further that hell exists and that human beings can choose it. Choices do have consequences, some of them possibly eternal. In that light, the Second Vatican Council Fathers teaches in sober urgency regarding non-Catholics:

But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, 'Preach the Gospel to every creature,' the Church fosters the missions with care and attention" (Lumen Gentium 16, emphasis added, footnotes omitted).

In contrast, even though Jesus founded Catholic Church (Matt. 16:18-19) and gave the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-20), for Rohr the Church and her mission are not so important and urgent:

Institutional religion is a humanly necessary but also immature manifestation of this 'hidden mystery' by which God is saving the world. . . . Institutional religion is never an end in itself, but merely a wondrous and 'uncertain trumpet' of the message (180, emphasis original).

I personally do not believe that Jesus came to found a separate religion as much as he came to present a universal message of vulnerability and foundational unity that is necessary for all religions, the human soul, and history itself to survive. Thus Christians can rightly call him “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42) but no longer in the competitive and imperialistic way that they have usually presented him. By very definition, vulnerability and unity do not compete or dominate.  n fact, they make competition and domination impossible. The cosmic Christ is no threat to anything but separateness, illusion, domination, and any imperial ego. In that sense, Jesus, the Christ, is the ultimate threat, but first of all Christians themselves. Only then will they have any universal and salvific message for the rest of the world" (181-82, emphases added).

Jesus Christ does indeed love all and thus died for all, but the true unity he preaches requires a choice to accept or reject him and his Church, as he preached 2,000 years ago. The Christ whom Rohr preaches is not the authentic Jesus, and his related proclamation of the gospel is not the one that that the Church has proclaimed and safeguarded for 2,000 years with the power of Holy Spirit. As a result, Rohr remains an unreliable and spiritually dangerous guide for Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

[comebeforegod]

Facing Block From Unbelieving Families, How Can We Keep Faith in God?

By Chuanzhen, South Korea

I have believed in the Lord Jesus for over fifty years, and had been longing desperately for His return. However, over several recent years our church grew more and more desolate and I couldn’t feel the work of the Holy Spirit there anymore. 

I visited many other churches and found they were all in the same situation. What’s worse, some congregations broke up because of losing too many believers. Seeing this situation, my faith in the Lord began to diminish, to the point that I only read the Bible at home. However, I still longed to welcome the Lord’s return during my lifetime.

In July 2013, I accidentally broke my leg. After an operation, I couldn’t walk easily, so I nursed my injury in my daughter’s home. When I felt lonely, I especially missed the times when I prayed and read the Scriptures in the church every day. One day, seeing that I was depressed, my husband passed a page of the Korea Daily to me and said that there was an article on Christian belief in it. I was very curious, so I took it and started to read it. Some words in large print immediately leaped out at me: The Return of the Lord Jesus. Beside them were some words in smaller print: “Utterances of Almighty God in the Age of Kingdom (Selections)” and “God’s Sheep Hear God’s Voice.” These words, like a ray of brilliant light flashing before my eyes, instantly took hold in my heart and I couldn’t wait to read the article. When I read the discourse, Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth, I saw that it discussed God doing the work of judgment in the last days. The word “judgment” made my heart beat quickly and brought to my mind 1 Peter 4:17, which says: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” I thought to myself: “These words are not something that an ordinary person would utter. Only God could speak them. Now is the time of the last days. Could it be that the Lord Jesus has returned?” I finished reading it in one breath, and the more I read the more I felt that these words came from the Holy Spirit. Also, when I saw the book title, “From The Scroll Opened by the Lamb” at the end, I wanted to read the book very much. Therefore, I intended to dial the number of the gospel online of The Church of Almighty God, as published in the newspaper, and ask about the book. But to my great surprise, before the call got through my husband snatched the phone from me and hung up. He angrily said to me, “I really regret having allowed you to read it. I was afraid that you would start to believe in Almighty God, so I have been hiding the articles from The Church of Almighty God published in the newspaper these last few months. Almighty God’s words are spread from China and have shocked the whole religious community in South Korea. The pastors and elders all say that Almighty God is not the returned Lord Jesus. Do you still want to believe in it?”

Hearing what my husband said, I thought: “The return of the Lord is a serious matter. Since The Church of Almighty God has had a tremendous impact upon the religious community in South Korea, it’s not to be discounted easily. So I must investigate it much more carefully. If I really miss the return of the Lord, won’t it be too late for me to regret it later?” So, regardless of his hindrance, I dialed the gospel hotline of The Church of Almighty God.

Unexpectedly, the next day, two sisters came in the rain to bring me a copy of The Scroll Opened by the Lamb. After a short chat, they fellowshiped this with me, “The Lord Jesus has indeed returned, coming in the flesh as Almighty God. Almighty God has expressed millions of words, and told us the inside story of God’s six-thousand-year management plan for the salvation of mankind. Only if we pray to the name of Almighty God and follow God’s new work will we have followed the footsteps of the Lamb and receive the work of the Holy Spirit….” Hearing what the sister said, I was surprised and joyful. I asked, “Is Almighty God the Lord Jesus I have desperately been longing for?” One of them said, “Yes, all the words in the book have been expressed by Almighty God. God’s words are given to those who search with sincerity.” When I heard that, I got very excited. I never expected that I would be able to greet the Lord’s return. As a result, I made an appointment with them for the following day so we could fellowship together.

That night, my eldest daughter came back home, and my husband told her about the sisters’ visit to our home. After she learned that the two sisters were Korean, she protested, “Mom, society now is so chaotic. You have just met two Chinese nationals of Korean ethnicity who you are unfamiliar with. How could you allow them to enter our home?” Then my husband lent her his support by saying, “Your mom really doesn’t consider the pros and cons. The pastors and elders in the whole religious world are all condemning and opposing The Church of Almighty God, but your mom still called them in order to investigate further.” Immediately following that, my eldest daughter said to me, “My mother-in-law is an elder in the church and she understands the Bible well. Wouldn’t she know if the Lord has come back? But my mother-in-law doesn’t accept that He has. Mom, how could you ascertain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus? Mom, you really should think carefully about this again.” I said firmly, “Having read the words of Almighty God, I feel confirmation in my heart that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. At the time that the Lord Jesus came to carry out His work, He was also persecuted, rejected, and condemned by the whole religious community. If we weigh whether it is the true way or the false way based on whether the religious community accepts it, we also will condemn the work of the Lord Jesus. Whether it is the true way or the false way doesn’t depend on whether it is condemned by any man or woman but depends on whether it is God’s words and God’s work.” She saw my attitude was unyielding and so could only say, “All right, I don’t mind you believing in Almighty God, but strangers aren’t allowed to come home in the future.” After saying this, she went to her room. Although my family was all against my belief in Almighty God, my heart was no longer subjugated to them.

The following day, the two sisters came as promised. I told them what had happened the day before. They were very understanding and fellowshiped to me in the corridor. They also gave me a book Questions and Answers on the Testimony of the Kingdom Gospel and told me to pray to God more when I was confused and then God would lead me to find the answer in His words. In the following days, I read the books at home and the sisters occasionally called me and fellowshiped with me. Gradually, I came to understand some truths, and had some knowledge of God’s three stages of work, the mystery of God’s incarnation, and the significance of God’s Work of judgment and chastisement. Over one month later, I was certain about the work of Almighty God of the last days, and so accepted it. Two months later, my broken leg had recovered so I went to attend gatherings in the church. By reading the words of Almighty God, I gained some understanding of God’s work and God’s will. The gloomy state of the Age of Grace, in which I couldn’t feel the work of the Holy Spirit, thus completely disappeared. In order to bring before God more people who had desperately been longing for the Lord’s return, I coordinated with the brothers and sisters in the church and actively preached the gospel. Every day I lived a full life. But that’s when the obstruction and opposition from my family started again.

One day, my youngest daughter telephoned me and asked me to go to her home. After I got to her home, I found her eyes were swollen from crying, so I knew there was something seriously wrong. Then I learned that after the mother-in-law of my eldest daughter found out about my believing in Almighty God, she judged that I had been trapped by heresy and incited my son-in-law to stop me. My eldest daughter also felt that my belief in Almighty God made her lose face in the family, so she tearfully told my youngest daughter. So my youngest daughter then urged me, “Mom, my sister is suffering a lot because of your belief in Almighty God. Why must you go to that church so regularly? I know believing in God is the most important thing to you, but couldn’t you go to that church less often? You should consider the feelings of your family.” She carried on venting her emotions by complaining to me and weeping for a while. Seeing her so sad, I was very upset. Thinking how my belief in God made my eldest daughter feel ashamed, I somehow felt I had done her wrong. Thereupon, I prayed silently to God in my heart. After prayer, I suddenly thought of the words of the Lord Jesus: “He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37-38). Immediately, my mind was much clearer. The Lord said that anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Him is not worthy of Him. So if my belief in God was shaken because of my youngest daughter’s sobbing, or for the sake of protecting my eldest daughter from being ashamed before her mother-in-law, I would be revealed to not be a true believer in God. I also recalled what the brothers and sisters often fellowshiped during the meetings: On the path of following God, we are faced with spiritual battles all the time, and where there is God’s work, there is Satan’s disturbance. At that time, I came to realize this: The thing I encountered that day seemed outwardly to be an obstruction from my youngest daughter but actually, it was just Satan using her to disturb me. If I listened to her, or, in other words, compromised, wouldn’t I be falling captive to Satan? No. I had to listen to God’s words. I couldn’t satisfy the desires of my two daughters, much less compromise. And I had to be a created being who could satisfy God. This thought filled me with strength. So I said to my youngest daughter firmly, “You want me to go to the church less often. Perhaps you don’t think this is very serious, but to me, this is connected to bearing testimony to God. For instance, when God requires me to score 100%, if I strive and can’t make it, this is because of my small spiritual stature; but if I intentionally slow my pace and don’t pursue to score 100 %, that is like coming to a complete stop, right? I’m a created being, and I can’t make any requirements of God. I can’t say, ‘O, God! Let me slow my pace. Please show some consideration for me.’ This is making demands of God and trying to make God obey me, and isn’t what believers in God should do.” After saying this, I was very relieved, and felt peaceful and steady in my heart. Hearing me say this, my youngest daughter had nothing to say to refute me.

After I got back home, I prayed to God about the things I had encountered. Later, I read a passage of God’s words: “When you rebel against the flesh, there will inevitably be a battle within you. Satan will try and make you follow it, will try and make you follow the conceptions of the flesh and uphold the interests of the flesh—but God’s words will enlighten and illuminate you within, and at this time it is up to you whether you follow God or follow Satan. God asks people to put the truth into practice primarily to deal with the things inside them, to deal with their thoughts, and their conceptions that aren’t after God’s heart. The Holy Spirit touches people inside, and carries out His work within them, and so behind everything that happens is a battle: Every time people put the truth into practice, or put the love of God into practice, there is a great battle, and though all may seem well with their flesh, in the depths of their hearts a life-and-death battle will, in fact, be going on—and only after this intense battle, after a tremendous amount of reflection, can victory or defeat be decided. One does not know whether to laugh or cry. … It is because of this battle that people endure suffering and refinement; this is true suffering. When the battle comes upon you, if you are able to truly stand on the side of God, you will be able to satisfy God.” Pondering over these words, I came to realize how intense the spiritual battle was. I loved my two daughters very much and as long as they were happy I was willing to do anything for them. And Satan knew exactly where my weakness was—my connection with my daughters—and wanted to use my feelings to lead me away from God and betray God. But under God’s enlightenment and guidance I had discernment toward Satan’s plot, so my daughter’s persuasion and tears failed to shake me. I saw that God’s wisdom is forever exercised based on Satan’s trickery. Satan used my feelings to force me to betray God, while God used Satan’s temptation to test whether I was loyal to Him. This gave me the opportunity to rely on God to experience God’s work, and also perfected my heart so that it could love God. I thanked God very much. I told myself, and in my prayers to God, “From now on, whatever happens to me, I will rely on God and ask God to lead me away from Satan’s temptation.”

Two days later, I was very surprised when my youngest daughter changed her attitude to my belief in God all of a sudden and said to my eldest son-in-law, “We can’t ask mom to stop her gatherings or give up her faith in God, nor should we say that her belief is wrong because of the difference between her belief and your mother’s. This is not right. My mom isn’t a person who has no discernment, nor is she a person too young to know her own mind. Why can’t we believe her? If she feels good and that is what she wants to do, we should let her do it while keeping an eye on her, OK?” After a lot of persuasion, my eldest son-in-law stopped judging and opposing my belief in God. I knew that God had opened up a way out for me. The thoughts and ideas of my youngest daughter were also in God’s hands, and that she could change her mind also came from God.

But this problem had only just passed before another came. Not long after that, Satan probed me again. Sometimes when I went to a meeting or out preaching the gospel I couldn’t help my eldest daughter ferry her kid to and from school, and so I let my husband do it. She was unhappy that I hadn’t much time to look after her kid. In addition, her mother-in-law always criticized my belief in God in front of her. So then she started to hinder me from attending meetings once again. One morning, about ten o’clock, I suddenly received a text from her saying that I was too devoted to my faith in God every day so she didn’t need me to look after her kid, and that in the future I didn’t need to give them consideration. Reading the text, I thought: “Does she mean to drive me away?” Seeing her do this to me, I was somewhat upset, but then I thought of God’s words: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God.” God’s words made it all clear. I was clear that Satan was carrying out a plot through my eldest daughter; it wanted to threaten me like this and force me to give up my belief in God. Thereupon, I resolved that I would never abandon my belief in God because of her obstruction. If worst came to worst, I would move out.

After I returned home in the evening, my family totally ignored me and none of them talked to me. My husband felt the tension at home and asked me, “What has happened?” I came straight to the point and said, “I didn’t mess things up due to believing in God so why are you lot always putting pressure on me like this? I have no other choice. Let’s move out.” Hearing this, my husband was somewhat panicked. The next day, my husband said to me that he didn’t want to move out because the children were so young and they needed us to help take care of them. Then, my youngest daughter asked me outside to discuss with me whether or not I could compromise over my belief in God. But I had resolved to stand witness to God, and I would never make any decision that would satisfy Satan. Finally, she abandoned hope and sighed. I had hardly got home when my eldest daughter came and also asked me to go outside with her. She was aware of my firm determination to follow God, and cruelly said to me, “Mom, since you’ve chosen to believe in God and move out, we will end all ties. Also, from now on you aren’t allowed to see your grandchild, and when your grandchild grows up and gets married, you won’t be invited.” While she was talking, I could feel the pain in her heart. At that moment, I also felt much pain within me. So I repeatedly prayed to God, and asked God to protect me from being ruled by emotion so that I could stand at God’s side from beginning to end. After prayer, I thought of God’s words: “You must have My courage within you and you must have principles when facing relatives who do not believe. But for My sake, you must also not yield to any of the dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow the conspiracies of Satan to take hold. Put all your efforts into placing your heart before Me and I shall comfort you and give you peace and happiness in your heart.” God’s words gave me faith and strength. Now was the time when God was testing my faith so I should rely on God to bear witness to Him, and attack Satan’s trickery with my faith in God.

I then remembered the words of the Lord Jesus: “For from now on there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law” (Luke 12:52-53). “Truly I say to you, There is no man that has left house, or parents, or brothers, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting” (Luke 18:29-30). That’s right! Belief and non-belief are incompatible. If I wanted to follow God, I had to make a choice. My family got deceived by the religious community and had no discernment, and so were against my following God. If I followed my children and abandoned my belief in God, I would fall for Satan’s plot and lose the opportunity to be saved by God. Thereupon, I calmed down and said to my eldest daughter in a firm tone, “I have believed in the Lord for over half my life, and enjoyed so much grace from the Lord. Now I’ve finally welcomed His return, so I must believe in Him earnestly. I can compromise in anything other than the matter of belief in God. No matter what you say, I won’t give up my belief in God.”

After some silence, my eldest daughter said in a sad voice, “Mom, since you’re like this, I don’t want to live. I’ll entrust your grandchild to my husband, and then I will go and kill myself.” Her words felt like a heavy punch to my heart. I thought: “She is taking it hard. What if she really commits suicide? What should I do?” I hastened to pray to God in my heart and asked God to lead me. After my prayer, I thought about how in the word of God it says: “The fate of man is controlled by the hands of God. You are incapable of controlling yourself. … If you could know your own prospects, if you could control your own fate, would you still be a creature?” Yes! All things are in God’s hands. The fate of my eldest daughter is also controlled by God’s hands. So, I said to her, “God supplies everything to us. It is heaven’s law and earth’s principle for us to believe in God and worship Him. Whatever happens, I will follow God and keep going along this path.” Then, she thought for a while and said feebly, “Mom, I never imagined that you’d be so firm in your belief in God. Whatever I say, your faith can’t be shaken. Forget it, do as you will. You don’t need to move out. Starting from today, I won’t stop you from believing in God any longer.” Hearing this, I was relieved and very happy. I seemed to feel that Satan had been ashamed and had fled. Through this, I truly experienced the authority and might of God’s words. Satan actually does service for the believers in God, and it doesn’t possess any ability before God.

Afterward, my husband and daughters allowed the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God to come to our home; furthermore, they saw from their words and actions that they all had good humanity, and thereby admired them very much. After that, they no longer opposed my belief in Almighty God and my husband often drove me to the church. Thank God for His protection. It was God’s words that enabled me to bear witness to God when Satan carried out its trickery. Through these disturbances from Satan, I have learned how to rely on God, and have seen God’s almightiness and wisdom. Satan doesn’t have any ability to stop God’s work of salvation. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to have seen God’s deeds. All the glory be to God.

[tvdas]

Calling Prophet Muhammad a Pedophile Does Not Fall Within Freedom of Speech: European Court

[Mark Steyn wrote this column entitled “Rationalizing Our Surrender” on Nov. 5.] Many readers have asked me to comment on the recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights, summarized in the headline:  

                Calling Prophet Muhammad a Pedophile Does Not                 Fall Within Freedom of Speech: European Cour

And yet, oddly, calling Muhammad a prophet now seems to be binding on non-Muslim headline writers. I don’t really have anything to say about this case that I haven’t said a decade and a half back and at great length in my book America Alone - to whit, absent any reversal of the demographic trends, some of the oldest nations in Christendom would soon begin making their accommodations with an ever more assertive Islam.

But, alas, nobody who matters listened to me, and thus “soon” has now arrived - which is why the most powerful European institutions (courts, media, police, bureaucracy) are increasingly eager to shovel core Western liberties into the landfill.

With regard to this particular case, I wrote about it at the time - seven long years ago:

Consider the case of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a Viennese housewife who has lived in several Muslim countries. She was hauled into an Austrian court for calling Mohammed a pedophile on the grounds that he consummated his marriage when his bride, Aisha, was nine years old. Mrs. Sabbaditsch-Wolff was found guilty and fined 480 euros. The judge’s reasoning was fascinating: ‘Paedophilia is factually incorrect, since paedophilia is a sexual preference which solely or mainly is directed towards children. Nevertheless, it does not apply to Mohammad. He was still married to Aisha when she was 18.’

Ah, gotcha. So, under Austrian law, you’re not a pedophile if you deflower the kid in fourth grade but keep her around till high school. There’s a useful tip if you’re planning a hiking holiday in the Alps this fall. Or is this another of those dispensations that is not of universal application?

We now know the answer to that question. For the record, I have met Mrs Sabaditsch-Wolff just once - at the European Parliament a few years back. She is a most forceful and engaging personality. You get no sense of that from the Court’s decision, of course, where the appellant has degenerated to a mere set of initials – “E S”. One of the revolting aspects of Continental “justice” is the way the police and media preference for the non-identification of “victims” has expanded to a general denial of the specific humanity of those who come before the courts. I had cause the other day to recall the ancient legal principle that the public has the right to every man’s evidence. But, increasingly, not in Europe. So Mrs Sabaditsch-Wolff is now “E S”.

The ruling itself is a sobering read. You’ll recall a few years back that President Obama assured us that “the future will not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam”. De facto, that appears to be true, but de jure it’s a problematic concept in that, in English law and elsewhere, it’s not technically possible to “slander” a bloke who's been six foot under for 1,400 years. You can’t libel the dead. So instead the Euro-jurists have been forced to take refuge in the slippery concept (very familiar to those of us who’ve been ensnared in Canada’s “human rights” machinery” of “balance”:

In today's Chamber judgment 1 in the case of E.S. v. Austria (application no. 38450/12) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

no violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned the applicant's conviction for disparaging religious doctrines; she had made statements suggesting that Muhammad had had paedophilic tendencies.

The Court found in particular that the domestic courts comprehensively assessed the wider context of the applicant’s statements and carefully balanced her right to freedom of expression with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected...

Whoa, hold it right there. There was “no violation” of freedom of expression because the courts “carefully balanced” freedom of expression with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected - and came down on the side of protecting feelings rather than freedom of expression.

The late Jennifer Lynch, QC, then head of the Canadian “Human Rights” Commission, used to talk about “balancing” free speech with other rights - and, then as now, “balancing” is code for nullifying: If your right to free speech has to be balanced with people’s “feelings”, then as a practical matter there is no free speech.

There is also no truth: It is not the defendant who “had made statements suggesting that Muhammad had had paedophilic tendencies” but the Hadith, which after the Koran are the most sacred foundational texts of Islam and in whose literal truth Muslims are enjoined to believe:

[60] What about he, who consummated marriage with a girl of nine

5158- Urwa narrated: The Messenger of Allah ‘Allah's blessing and peace be upon him’ married A’isha when she was six years old, and consummated his marriage with her when she was nine. She remained with him nine years (till he died).

So it’s not that it’s illegal to “suggest” that the Big Mo “had paedophilic tendencies”, it’s just illegal to suggest there’s anything wrong with that. . . . This dispensation is not of universal application. . . . If you spent (like the girls I met two years ago) a decade of your life being passed around dozens, hundreds of “Asian” men in Rotherham, Telford, Rochdale, Oxford, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle and on and on, that’s rather bad luck on your part but it’s not really a “suggestion” of anything prosecutable, is it? Especially if you’re suggesting that there might be any connection between the relaxed attitude to child sexual abuse that one observes in, ahem, certain communities throughout Europe and scriptural authorities that might provide a justification thereof. As the European Court noted:

The national courts found that Mrs S. had subjectively labelled Muhammad with paedophilia as his general sexual preference, and that she failed to neutrally inform her audience of the historical background, which consequently did not allow for a serious debate on that issue.

That is a disturbing basis on which to license speech. The full decision goes even further, and is a revealing glimpse of the state’s willingness to shrivel “free speech” to the point where the term is rendered meaningless:

The Regional Court further stated that anyone who wished to exercise their rights under Article 10 of the Convention was subject to duties and responsibilities, such as refraining from making statements which hurt others without reason and therefore did not contribute to a debate of public interest. A balancing exercise between the rights under Article 9 on the one hand and those under Article 10 on the other needed to be carried out. The court considered that the applicant's statements were not statements of fact, but derogatory value judgments which exceeded the permissible limits. It held that the applicant had not intended to approach the topic in an objective manner, but had directly aimed to degrade Muhammad. The court stated that child marriages were not the same as paedophilia, and were not only a phenomenon of Islam, but also used to be widespread among the European ruling dynasties.

Great. So maybe in Rotherham they should just start marrying the six-year-olds and all will be well. It should hardly be necessary to state that freedom of speech except for “statements which hurt others” and do “not contribute to a debate” or “approach the topic in an objective manner” is not freedom of speech at all, but merely-narrowly construed state-regulated speech. And in Europe the courts are perfectly cool with that:

The interference with the applicant’s freedoms under Article 10 of the Convention had therefore been justified. As to the applicant’s argument that those who participated in the seminar knew of her critical approach and could not be offended, the Court of Appeal found that the public seminar had been offered for free to young voters by the Austrian Freedom Party Education Institute, and at least one participant had been offended, as her complaints had led to the applicant being charged.

That was an anonymous undercover “journalist” - because the media regard “E S” as a greater threat than the Islamization of Austria.

I see that Irish voters have just voted to repeal their ancient and unused (Christian) blasphemy laws following a similar repeal a decade ago in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland retain them, so the advice on either side of the Irish Sea is, if minded to Christian heresy, take a short drive south. But where do you motor if minded to Islamic apostasy? From the Court’s conclusion:

The Court found in conclusion that in the instant case the domestic courts carefully balanced the applicant's right to freedom of expression with the rights of others to have their religious feelings protected, and to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society

The Court held further that even in a lively discussion it was not compatible with Article 10 of the Convention to pack incriminating statements into the wrapping of an otherwise acceptable expression of opinion and claim that this rendered passable those statements exceeding the permissible limits of freedom of expression.

The right “to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society”: Good luck with that. There will be much more of this: In the interests of “religious peace”, the prohibitions of Islam are being extended to infidels, and the linguistic contortions of courts and media and police and bureaucrats confirm that Europe has moved on to the next tragic stage of its civilizational suicide: rationalizing its surrender.

[davidaolson]

There are few situations more frightening than sitting comfortably with your back against a smooth rock on a gloriously hot, dry, and sunny day breathing pristine mountain air without a worry until hearing an agitated buzzing and realizing you are face to face and within striking distance of a rattlesnake. A rattlesnake with a body thicker than your flexed bicep. A rattlesnake in a tight coil, neck cocked in a tense ’S’ where the slightest breeze would release the hair trigger, and the only escape route is through or over the snake. One should be afraid. One should be terrified. But I was not. Perhaps it is because I, a self-avowed Desert Rat, have a strange affinity for snakes. Perhaps the flicking black tongue hypnotized me. I’m not sure. All I remember from the moment at Petroglyph National Monument was feeling mesmerized.

Midday in the summer at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is brutally hot and searingly bright. I found myself constantly squinting because my sunglasses were not dark enough to block the brilliance of the sunlight reflecting off the pure white, gypsum dunes. It was as if the white sands magnified the intensity of the light and we were the insects being fried by a sunbeam focused through a magnifying glass. To escape the hottest parts of the day, we spent afternoons visiting New Mexico sites at higher elevations with thinner, cooler air. One of those was 3 Rivers Petroglyph National Monument where I encountered said snake.

Getting To The Petroglyhs

About 45 minutes north of our hotel in Alamogordo, a bit longer if one stops at Del Sol to buy souvenirs, is the 3 Rivers Petroglyph National Monument. It is renown for the more than 24 thousand petroglyphs etched into the sides of large rocks. They were created sometime between 1300 and 1700 AD.

I love ancient art much which modernity arrogantly classifies as primitive. Primitive artistry is that of a child learning to scribble lines onto paper. The creations are without underlying meaning transmitted between souls. The pictographs and petroglyphs scattered throughout the Southwest United States and the cave paintings in Sochaux France are different. They were either a message between peoples or communications connecting peoples with their Gods. Any art that has meaning for the creators, connects people, or seeks communion with the Gods and has stood the test of time is high art no matter the technique.

I first encountered the ancient glyphs during my first trip to Moab in 1986s when I saw the famed Newspaper rock. It is on the road approaching the Needles section of Canyonlands, National Park. I had no idea Newspaper Rock existed until I came upon it by accident. It is decorated with hundreds of glyphs picked into the very dark desert varnish.

Petroglyph National Park requires a $5 entrance fee paid on the honor system. Grab an envelope, throw in the money, scribble some info, and drop it into the tube. We grabbed a trail guide, found a place to park in the shade recently vacated by a roadrunner and planned our excursion. The guide warns of rattlesnake danger. There is another rattlesnake warning on a yellow sign at the trailhead. My wife and I both became agitated. Her for a deep dread of snakes and her uncanny ability to happen upon them in the wild. Me at the prospect of finally coming face to face with Rattlesnake and losing myself in the depthless black eyes.

The Gentleman with the Forked Tongue

I am a snake aficionado. Possibly because I too regularly shed my skin though mine sheds after the sun burns my epidermal layer which dies and sloughs off where snakes shed as they grow. Rattlesnake is a sun worshipper eagerly absorbing its warm caresses after a cold night like a hungry lover. I enjoy the sun but tend to avoid direct sunlight because the rays pierce my skin like a thousand microscopic snake bites leaving me red and pained. Perhaps it is because snakes carry a stigma of evil as we gingers did in less enlightened times. Of all the venomous snakes, I view Rattlesnake as gentlelady or gentleman. They courteously give warning before protecting themselves with a two-fanged defense.

In the three decades I have visited Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico I have yet to encounter Rattlesnake. Not for want of trying. I have poked sticks in various snake habitats without ever hearing the characteristic buzz and feeling a chill snake up and down my spine. Someday…

It the chief function of the forked Rattlesnake tongue is to sense heat. It has the unparalleled ability to discern variations in temperature down to 0.002 degrees Celsius which is more sensitive than all but the most advanced scientific equipment. The heat sensing being the primary responsibility of the tongue is a postulate of those discarding spiritual mysteries and believing science can explain all phenomena.

I posit another theory, one braiding together physical Rattlesnake, spiritual flow emanating from all that is created, and the interconnectedness of all existential beings past, present, and yet to be. Rattlesnake is a spirit animal, a truth known to many of this continents aboriginal inhabitants, a truth mostly ignored or written off as heresy by the waves of Christianized immigrants flooding the land over the past 500 years. Rattlesnake is feared as a harbinger of violence and revenge. And prized for the magical properties of their rattles. Love-Hate. Yin-Yang.

The flicking, forked tongue is a divining rod reading the liquid soul deep hidden beneath the surface flesh. It can discern the soul of Prey from the soul of Predator and take appropriate action. It can taste the difference between the fearful and the fearless. It can smell the stirrings of the heart and distinguish between friend and foe. When it lapped in my aura, the friend centers were tickled so I did not die. But, I get ahead of myself.

1000 Petroglyph Trail

The trail to the Petroglyphs is a rugged 1/2 mile climbing 100 feet in elevation. In the beginning, my wife stuck to the beaten path while I bounced from rock to wobbly rock photographing glyphs not visible from the crooked trail. They were etched into almost every rock that had a sheen of dark brown desert varnish. Some glyphs were barely visible suffering years of exposure to the elements while others seemed fresh as white milk. I wish I had packed sturdier shoes because seeing many of the glyphs required walking off trail over rocks, many unstable, many sharp. I could feel the stones digging into the soft soles of my sneakers.

There are 11 markers on the path indicating points with either dense glyph activity or a particularly striking image. We started out on our own enjoying the search for traces of ancient minds with the only sounds being our whispers to each other or the wind echoing in our ears. It was peaceful. We were peaceful.

At trail marker 1, a family with young kids caught up to us. The kids were loud, yelling, eagerly shouting to each other when they discovered an image. Our serenity was shattered. Rather than stay immersed in the cacophony, we hung back for a bit until they pushed ahead a few markers and we were separated by enough distance to wrap ourselves in the comfortable semi-silence.

Grandfather

The trails divide providing views from both sides of the etched stones then reunite a bit further on. Think of a double helix squashed two-dimensional and you get the idea.

I used to climb rocks with the agility of a goat. As the year’s progress, I am becoming less sure of my climbing abilities. My balance is suspect. Still, I chose to take a risk and climb a copse of rocks to see what was on the other side. At this point, I did not realize the trail was a double helix. In the jumble of boulders, I found a set of glyphs not visible from the trail.

The meaning behind most glyphs is either unknown or pure speculation. Only one, here, had an obvious interpretation even to my untrained eye. The Rattlesnake glyph with coiled body and head elevated in a defensive position. I needed a closer look at the symbol residing at knee height. I brushed aside small rocks and dead scrub for a place to sit without sticks and stones chewing into my ass cheeks, dropped down and pulled in my feet sitting Buddha style.

Rattlesnake Glyph

I was at eye-level with the glyph, most likely, in the exact spot as the ancients responsible for birthing this art. It was marvelous. It was intriguing. What was the ancient trying to say? Was this to honor Rattlesnake? Was it a totem to warm others away? What did the undecipherable images on the surrounding rocks represent? Were they simply graffiti? My mind popcorned these and many more questions but none were buttered with a definitive answer. Questions. Questions. No answers.

I am a writer. I write daily. In a thousand years, will my writings be as mysterious to future generations as these glyphs are to me? I am sure the yet to be born will have technology capable of translating my scribblings into a future language but my recorded imagery is born of my time, rooted in the deep loamy earth of David. I am misunderstood by my own generation. Is there, then, any hope for future generations? How will future explorers understand images born of events too subtle to make a ripple in anyone’s history except my own? History continues generating ripple waves. Soon, today will be absorbed in the tsunamis of collective history and my messages will be obscured.

I wasn’t able to sit Buddhist style for long. Wear and tear on my knees from years of reckless athletic activity made them less flexible, prone to pain when bent to extremes. I stretched out my legs as best I could and put my hands behind me. The stone was hot. So, I put them in shadow openings beneath the rocks after first making sure there were no creepies in those spaces not baked all day in the solar furnace.

No sooner was I comfortable, I felt a sting in my right hand in the meaty part at the thumb base. Heat rushed from my hand up my arm and spread until my entire body was enveloped. My body felt like it was being stuck with thousands of fiery needles. My thoughts slowed. My sight tunneled until I could only see a circle of light, a circle that kept shrinking until it was a pinpoint outside of my reach. My body elevated, was sucked into the light, spit out on the opposite side.

My mind had been ripped out of my body and seeped into the thin slice of space between the living and the dead, the thread separating yin from yang, the sliver of brachiated light wherein exists the spirit of all beings ever to have blessed or cursed Earth with their presence, the forms held before recycling into other beings. If this is my end or a new beginning? If a new beginning, I hope I am recycled as Condor so I can soar high in the clouds descending to Earth only to feed or carry departed souls into the Heavens.

The sunlight was bifurcated. The light beam entering my left eye contained a faded version of the visible color spectrum, faint as watercolors carrying too much liquid. It was as if a color vampire had sucked out the vibrancy. The other eye filled with light bleached of all color saw only shades of gray. Once they reached an equilibrium, I experienced the world in the sepia. It was like looking at old photographs from the late 1900s faded from exposure to wicked sunlight over many a year. When I was finally able to adapt my focus, I found I was sitting behind the shoulder of an old man, a very old man.

He was thin as a stalk of corn. Yet strong. Had long white hair reaching to his waist, skinned bronzed to the color of red Earth. Leathery skin from living life in the biting sun. Morning hours hunting in the hills, afternoons farming in the valley, and long treks over a land without much in the way of shade. His firm, taught muscles flexed as he chipped a coil into the coffee brown surface of the rock’s skin. A rock tattoo. It was obviously the creation of the snake I had been admiring. It was half complete. Perhaps, I could get some insight into these masterpieces. First I had to figure out who the old man was.

“Who? Who are you?”

“I am your great, grandfather. Call me Grandfather.”

“Grandfather,” I asked, “why are you carving a snake into the rock?”

“I am not carving Snake into Rock.”

“If not a snake, what are you carving?”

“I am not carving.”

“But Grandfather, I see you chipping away at the stone.”

“You are looking but not seeing. The eyes look, the heart sees.”

“Grandfather?”

He turned toward me. Only then did I realize sunlight no longer penetrated his eyes. They were milky with thick cataracts. Grandfather was blind.

“I am freeing clan Brother Rattlesnake. It is his time. He has been trapped in this rock since the creation.”

“How did you know it was there?”

“Because my eyes no longer carry light from the sun to my heart does not mean I cannot still see.”

“I don’t understand, Grandfather.”

He returned to his work. Chipping and scraping with stone tools. Stopping to caress the rock. Chip. Chip. Chip some more. The coil finished and the neck was slowly being revealed. He worked for long minutes without uttering a word. Compact movements with much force. I grew antsy in his silence.

“When will the image be finished, Grandfather?”

“It is not an image, grandson.”

“But I see you are carving a snake. How do you know where to chip?”

“Rattlesnake is cold blooded. He absorbs heat from the surroundings. It concentrates in his body. I can feel His warmth when I rub my hand on the rock. My purpose is to release Him.”

“Purpose?”

“We all have a purpose grandson.”

“We do? Do you know my purpose? Do you know Why I am here?”

The old man paused in his work. A slight smile creased his wizened lips forcing the sun cut lines in his leathery face to scrunch into ravines. Only his eye teeth remained in his mouth.

“I dreamed you to visit this sacred mountain. I dreamed you to sit in front of Rattlesnake in your world. I directed baby Rattlesnake to bite you. Then when you were balanced between life and death, I pulled you through the light tunnel into this sliver world between worlds.”

“What? Why?”

He continued, “As a child, I was bitten in the leg by Rattlesnake when I walked too close to her den. I was deep in thought so did not hear the rattle warning and crushed one of her children. It was the spirit of the crushed snake that bit you in the hand in your world. The heat from the poison crawled up my leg and I fell into a trance where I experienced a vision. In that vision, I had a grandson with hair the color of fire. This fire hair was strange to me because our people have always had hair as black and glossy as Raven feathers. Even when old, our hair colored retained a rich blackness. I always thought of us as belonging to the Raven clan. In my vision, the fire hair was the sign of the one who would continue our family mission and carry the message of Rattlesnake to future generations.”

He stopped talking. Rubbed his hand on the rock. “I can feel the beating heart of Rattlesnake. It is close to time.” He again chipped away. Kept chipping until Rattlesnake was fully revealed.

“I have 23 grandchildren. All but one was born with Raven’s hair. One was born with a white streak in her black hair and our people believed her to be the emissary. But I knew she was not the one. My four daughters have since grown barren so, I thought, I had angered the Gods and they turned their back on our people. This made me sad.”

“My second grandson married a woman who had a white grandfather. His second child, you, were born with the full head of hair like fire. My sight had been fading for a long time and was almost gone and I feared I would return to the spirit world before seeing my vision come true. Seeing your fire hair, I knew there was still powerful magic in my vision. And I knew my life candle was nearing the end.”

He speech was slowing. At times, he spoke haltingly seeming to be short of breath.

“Grandson, we are clan brothers to Rattlesnake. It is your destiny…your purpose is…”

Before he could finish, he turned to dust. Right before my eyes, he turned completely to dust. His form hung in the air momentarily. Then, as if the God’s exhaled, a gentle breeze carried his form high into the sky where it dispersed and floated toward the valley below. I was left alone, wondering…what is my purpose, my destiny? More so. What the hell just happened?

Clan Brothers

“Grandfather!”, I yelled into the sky. “I am 57 years old and still don’t know why I exist. I was so close to finally understanding my purpose. But you abandoned me. Why does everyone abandon me?” My eyes moistened. I rubbed them vigorously. No tears. Not now. Not here.

“He cannot hear you anymore, my brother. Hisss purpossse isss fulfilled. Hisss journey isss finished. But yoursss…yoursss isss jussst beginning. Now, your quessstion…”

“What question?”

“The quessstion of abandonment. Our kind alwaysss end up alone. It isss not abandonment. It’sss dessstiny. It’sss the natural order of life. Wolf people live in community. Our people…well most people fear our people. When we gather together, their fear increasssesss. They kill what they fear ssso we exist alone. It is sssafer that way.”

I knew it was a rattlesnake talking before I saw him because his words were accented by a pronounced hisp and accompanied by a gentle rattling sound. I turned but not too quick so as to betray my heart pounding terror. The rock where grandfather chipped was seared bright white as if blasted by intense heat. Sharp details were burned into the rock including Rattlesnake’s fangs and each rattle segment. The image was carved deep, a reverse sculpture. Coiled in the spot where Grandfather had been sitting moments earlier was a rattlesnake with a body thick as my flexed bicep rattlesnake. The rattle had 20 or more segments. It was deathly still except for the flicking tongue. With each flick, my heart trembled as if the tongue was penetrating into my soul.

“B…B…Brother? Did you call me b…brother?”

“Yesss. We are brothersss as were Grandfather and I. Our peoplesss have alwaysss been brothersss and sssistersss.”

“Always?”

“Ever sssinssse we emerged into thisss fourth world. Before that, there was only the Godsss. It was the Godsss who sssealed me in that rock. They sssaid I broke sssacred lawsss. I asssked which lawsss and to sssee the textsss. But they sssaid the lawsss were too powerful to be written down. I had to trussst their wordsss. They never did explain which lawsss. Truth isss, the Godsss are frightened of me, of usss ssso they locked me away in the rock.”

If I was surprised when I could understand grandfather though we did not speak each other’s language, I was even more astonished realizing I could understand the thoughts slipping off Rattlesnake’s forked tongue.

“Ok. I’ll bite. Why are the Godsss…the Gods…afraid of us?”

The Gods

“We are the guardiansss of thisss boundary universsse between. It isss here we give the gift of visssionsss. Visssionsss allowing other beingsss to glimpssse knowledge the Godsss amasss for themssselvesss. The Godsss are jealousss beingsss. The Godsss are vindictive. The Godsss hoard the knowledge for themssselvesss becaussse the knowledge givesss them power, power over othersss they are unwilling to ssshare. Ssso they persssecute our kind.”

“What kind of power?”

“The power over life and death. The power to manipulate humanity for their pleasssure. They crave absssolute power. They are absssolutely corrupt.”

“They? Gods? There is only one God and he is the Lord Jesus Christ!”

Rattlesnake’s head swayed from side to side in annoyance. For an instant, I expected a final, venomous bite. Instead, he spat in disgust, “Foolisssh boy. Foolisssh, gullible boy. There are many godsss. Layersss of demigodsss, sssub gods, and psssychophant godsss kisssing asss to win favor and move up the god ranksss. At the top, there isss a committee of big G Godsss. Each isss vying for the heartsss of humankind ssso they control everything. The big G Godsss routinely and sssecretly from the other big G Godsss sssend prophets to infiltrate humankind. They are attemptsss to sssway the masssesss to worssship them and them alone. Numbersss equal power. All thossse prayersss ssshift collective consssciousssnesss toward one of the big G Gods. Ebb and flow. Ebb and flow. Think of it asss a human electoral college. You sssilly humansss hear one Godsss twisssted mutteringsss and asssume it represssentsss all truthsss. You fight warsss tipping the balancsse. Ebb and flow. Ebb and flow. Humansss sssuffer. Animalsss sssuffer. Ssspiritsss sssufer. Only the Godsss win.”

The longer he talked the more agitated he became. His entire body spasmed. Drops of venom flew from his fangs, landed on my lips and tongue. I swallowed before I could reflexively gag. My tongue, throat, esophagus, all burned until the pain settled in my stomach and scorched. I felt like I had swallowed liquid fire. It took a while before the pain diminished and my lips only tingled as they do when I’ve eaten a meal sprinkled liberally with chile de árbol or long kissed my gorgeous wife.

“Wife?” I was walking with my wife. It was my turn to be agitated. “Where am I?” She and I were searching for glyphs together. “Where are you?” I called looking around trying to catch a glimpse of her raven hair. As I started to get up, I felt a dual-pronged sting in my neck and a searing heat, the same searing heat when my hand was bitten. The hotness enveloped my brain almost immediately giving way to a massive head rush lasting minutes. Hours? Longer, I realized as I watched the moon arc overhead and the sunrise again.

“You are a ssstrong one Brother, asss ssstrong asss Grandfather. Mossst don’t sssurvive the firssst kisss. But you, you have sssurvived two. You may need even require another to remain with me in thisss between world.”

When the sun was again high in the sky, the headrush subsided. Heat seeped into my body like the runoff from a heavy rain through a narrow crack in an otherwise sturdy foundation. Slow. Steady. Until I was flooded with a tingly calmness from my toes to my hair. My heartbeat slowed to 1/2 time.

“Now that we are refocusssed.”

Rattlesnake kept referring to us as we. I’m a me not a we. I’m a me!

“As there are many Godsss there are many truthsss. And there isss one truth you need to hear to put all in perssspective. It isss about the book you worship as Holy Bible. The Godsss cassst my type as demonsss becaussse we were not afraid to ssspeak the truth about them, are not afraid to expossse their secrets to mankind. Ssso, they convinsssed the prophetsss to write about firssst sssnake as the decsseiver, the tempter faulted for the fall of man. It isss the original fake newsss.”

For the most part, I believe the Bible was a source of truth. But, I would not be being honest if I didn’t admit to harboring doubts about the claims of Biblical inerrancy. There were conflicts. There are conflicts between the stories.

“You are telling me, the account of the fall of man at the tongue of the snake is fake news? That the Bible is built on a foundation of misinformation?”

Rattlesnake rolled his diamond shaped head in exasperation, let out a long hiss, and a few, short rattles from his tail. I imagined he also rolled his eyes but couldn’t really tell if the elliptical pupil rolled in the eye socket or when he rolled his head, the sun glinting off the eye made it appear the eyes rolled. Nor do I know if their eyes can roll. Cross-cultural communication is always difficult. Cross-species nearly impossible. Body language easily misinterpreted. Either way, I definitely felt his disdain.

“It isss not all liesss. There are ssscattered truthsss. The Godsss know the bessst way to disssguissse liesss isss to wrap them in a plausssible veneer of truth. People rarely put in the effort to sssee passst the sssuperficssial making you a creature easssily manipulated. The herssstory of humanity is littered with disssguisssed truthsss…”

Rattlesnake entered into a long, long story, a sing-song story during which he wove all origin tales into a single creation/evolution epic. A long braid combing all myths into a single rope stretching from the origin of the Gods, through the creation of Earth, the rise of all life forms from single cells up to and including the age of man. The entire time he sang, his head moved side to side hypnotically, dancing to a rhythm to which only his Rattlesnake soul was privy. The sun and moon changed places during the monologue song. Is this the 2nd or 3rd day?

“And we come to you, Brother David.”

“How do you know my name?”

He rolled his head in an exaggerated circle and hiss-sighed. “Ssshit. Let me get thisss ssstraight. I, Sssnake, was freed from inssside an ancssient rock by a blind man who vanissshed in a cloud of dussst, have ssspoken to you in a language you underssstand. But you are sssurprisssed I know your name?”

Visions

“Ya. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Okay, on with this. To recap, I am 57 years old, already on borrowed time. I better hear my purpose before the Grim one returns to collect on the debt or your story will also be lost to time.”

Rattlesnake uncoiled. Recoiled clockwise. Uncoiled again. Recoiled anti-clockwise. His scales rubbed against each other sounding like sandpaper abrading rock. He was contemplating his next move. Would he move a Pawn and we would dance longer or go big and choose the Black Knight pinning me with a show of force? He flicked his forked black tongue. It was disconcerting to have him tasting the stress I was trying to hide. Time to try some flattery. Advance a Pawn and put him on shaky ground.

“Brother Rattlesnake, I see you are old, ancient by your story, blessed with the wisdom of the Gods. It seems to me you should also be recognized as a big G God. Yet, you appear to not have a clear vision into future days passed? Are you inferior to the Gods?“

“Never, bother! I am wissse, asss wissse asss the wisssessst God. Thisss offendsss their petty egosss ssso they conssspired when I was resssting and limited my ability to sssee into future daysss. But even together, their combined ssstrength wasss not enough to completely block my ability to know futuresss. My visssion of near future daysss isss cryssstal. It quickly loosssesss focusss when thossse daysss reach beyond a moon cycle. Then I mussst rely on my dreamsss of could be futuresss. In sssome of my dreamsss you are prominent, sssome a ssshadow figure disssappearing in the breath of a god, othersss I tassste no trace of you. In all dreamsss where you appear, there are two consssissstensssiesss. You wear a medisssine bag the color of sssunrissse. It hangsss from a leather cord and ressstsss over your heart.”

“Brother, I don’t own a medicine bag. I did once…”

“Yesss, yesss, yesss, I know. You did oncsse but it isss long sssincsse lossst. You were carelesss. Earth hasss cleaned up and repurposssed your messs. It wasss crafted by an indigenousss, decorated with Porcupinesss quillsss, and held the ssspirit of beingsss important to you. It wasss made from Deer jussst like the one in my dreamsss. The dream bag, though, doesss not have quillsss ssso it isss a different bag. ”

“Thisss dream time bag will find it’sss way into your handsss. When it doesss, the firssst sssacred object you mussst include isss the creamy flowersss from a wissse Yucca. A flower in full bloom with a calming perfume. The plant mussst be old with a ssstalk asss thick asss my body. Wrap your hand around my neck for a sssize comparissson.”

I hesitated. It was one thing to talk with Snake quite another to touch this demigod or demidevil, I’m not sure which. After hearing Rattlesnakes stories, I see little difference between the two.

“Brother, you hesssitate. Not to worry. I won’t bite.” As snake spoke the corners of his lipless mouth turned up in a sort of forced smile, a smile tinged with evil? “If I wanted you dead you would already be. I am the vulnerable one. Your hand around my neck preventsss me from biting. Sssqueeze too hard and I will choke, posssibly to my own death.”

I reached out with my left hand while the right searched the ground for a sharp rock. If I was to be attacked, I would return the favor. But hadn’t Snake foreseen this in his dream time so would know my plan? The girth of his neck was large, my fingertips did not touch. There was a good two-inch gap between my middle finger and thumb. Never had I touched a snake with such thickness. I had seen large pythons but never held one. My experience was limited to garter snakes and once, when a kid, a slender green grass snake no thicker than my pinky. I would have like to keep it as a pet. But mom’s tend to not be enamored with snakes or worms.

Mostly we caught garter snakes in the field near our home. It was a field next to railroad tracks where we jumped our bikes on precariously narrow ramps catching sky. The local trains sometimes lost thin sheets of metal roughly the dimensions of a window fan box. Snakes would hide beneath. Once we found a dozenish intertwined beneath a single sheet. A nest? An orgy? We caught a few and took them home where we tossed them in a wheelbarrow.

These were also a good size for snake pets. But, garter snakes secrete a stinky odor that sticks to the hands so holding them has consequences. I was bit once on the fleshy meat of my left palm. The teeth were much too small to do any damage. They barely broke the skin. To this day, though, there is a slight mass beneath the skin at the point of the bite.

The garter snakes and every other snake I ever touched felt cool. Which makes sense because snakes are cold-blooded and tend toward ambient temperatures. Not so with Rattlesnake. He was warm. The longer I gripped his neck the hotter he became until my hand burned and I had to let go. There were scale mark patterns in my flesh. It soon came to me, while my hand was around Rattlesnakes neck, I did not feel the expansion or contraction of respiration.

“You don’t breathe?”

“No, Brother. I don’t breathe. I don’t need too. I am not mortal.”

“If you don’t breathe then I could not have choked you. You were fucking with me.”

“Hisss, hisss, hisss.” Never had a laugh sounded so evil. I tried to hide my irritation and continued digging for information.

“Your neck is quite thick. I have never seen Yucca with a stalk anywhere near your girth. Where do I find such a being?“

“A few exissst. Fewer each passing year. They are the ancssientssss, ssso old they are often missstaken for immortalsss. They are not immortal in their own right but live longer than the average human ssso ssseem to be immortal. They have an inner ssstrength gained through meditasssion allowing them to sssurvive everything man and Earth throwsss their way. Drought, highwaysss, pessstisssides, pollusssion.”

“Pollution? Here? It’s pristine. The sky is untainted.”

“You, Brother, have never ssseen prissstine Nueva Méxican ssskiesss. Thessse are tainted, have been graying ssslowly for decadesss. There was a time you could sssee hundredsss of milesss. Today, you are lucky to sssee ten. They are laden with poisssonsss emanating from La La Land California. But thisss isss not relevant to our conversssation.”

“Find a venerable Yucca and put a few fully bloomed flowersss in your medicssine bag. Do it before you leave Nueva México. The yucca in Texasss are of a different lineage and will not do. And don’t forget to thank Great Grandmother Yucca before acsssepting her gift or ssshe will caussse you to bleed.”

“And why do I need a Yucca blossom?”

Rattlesnake’s tail vibrated. The shaking worked it’s way up Snake’s body the way a dog shakes from head to tail when ridding itself of water. Snakes entire body vibrated with the same frequency as the rattle. It took a few moments until he calmed leaving only the rattle shaking. That, too, became still.

“You book sssmart people can be ssstupid to the core! Have you not been lissstening? I am the current ssstep, a guide in your journey, a sssegment in the rattle, a cairn ssshowing you the direction your path undertakesss. Asss isss Yucca. Asss isss Tukó.”

“Toku? What’s a toku?”

“It’sss Tukó. Tukó!”

“Toku. That’s what I said.”

“You did not. It isss Tu asss in the number two and Kó. Tukó” He emphasized the last syllable. “Not Toku. When you meet, don’t call her by the wrong name or ssshe will pretend ssshe cannot ssspeak and ssscurry away. Your opportunity will never again return.”

“Ok. What is Tukó?”

“The mossst common form of Tukó isss sssnake with four legsss and a fat tail without a rattle. Tukó alssso appearsss asss a woman sssteeped in poverty. One never knowsss ssso mussst alwaysss be ready for the unecsspected.”

“Snake with four legs? Sounds sorta like a lizard.”

“What is lizssard but a sssnake with legsss.”

“Pay attensssion. You will meet Tukó in the Philippinesss before the next fat moon.”

“Fat moon? Uh…Do you mean full moon?”

“Fat. Full. Sssame thing.”

“I am not going to the Philippines until next year. You are very mistaken. In a couple of months, I will be in Peru visiting Machu Picchu. Not the Philippines.”

“Peru is an ilusssion. You will be in the Philippinesss and meet Tukó BEFORE the next fat…er…full moon. When you sssee Tukó, give him one Yucca flower.”

“Him? Earlier you called Tukó she. Are you forgetting your lies serpent?”

“Tukó isss a ssspirit animal. Like all ssspirit beingsss and many humansss, it isss a nádleehí with the power to transssform into any gender, female, male, llamana with two ssspiritsss, or fourth gender femminielli. Ssspiritsss are gender fluid, gender non-binary. They become whatever isss needed. It isss the natural way of all life.”

“By the time you sssee Tukó, Moth’sss egg will have hatched and Worm hiding in the flower will be a juicssy treat. Tukó will acssept the flower, eat the worm, then and only then will Tukó ssspeak with you. Ssshe will reveal the next phassse of your purpossse journey. Lisssten closely for ssshe is ssshy, not talkative like me. Ssshe will ssspeak her peacsse oncsse and ssskitter away.”

“What if Tukó is in woman form?”

“The delicate ssscent of the Yucca flower…”

I interrupted, “Yucca flowers have no scent. I sniffed some yesterday at White Sands. Nothing. No smell.”

Rattlesnake long sighed, “Jussst becaussse you don’t percsseive doesssn’t mean sssomething does not exissst. We ssspirit beingsss live in a ssstate of hyper sssensssitivity. We sssee the cream of the Yucca petalsss and the ultraviolet to which you are blind. We sssenssse the delicate aroma, not unlike a fresh rossse with a hint of desssert Ssspring, of the flower to which you are nossse blind. Now, ssstop interrupting and pay attensssion. Our time together drawsss to an end and there isss ssstill knowledge you need.”

“The delicate ssscent of the Yucca flower combined with the echoing heartbeat of the young worm will drive her to ssshape shift into her typical four-legged sssnake form.”

“Why are there so many steps to find my purpose? Why don’t you just tell me the entire story?”

“The big G Godsss limited my visssion. Another punissshment for letting the created beingsss know they are pawnsss in the Godsss twisssted gamesss. We learned to sssee futuresss by tasssting with our tonguesss. It hasss evolved to help usss hunt and to know when the big Gsss are trying to sssneak up on usss ssso we can hide.”

“My tassste is limited to a future bounded by one moon cssycle. Beyond that, all blursss and I mussst rely on my dreamsss. Thisss clear tassste isss how I know you will meet Tukó before the nexsst fat moon. In my visssion tassste, there isss your flavor, the flavor of Tukó, and a definite acsssent of balut. The balut tellsss me you will be meeting in the Philippinesss. This is all I have to sssay. I am done.”

It was time to roll my eyes. “Oookayyy…” If I had a rattle tail, I would have shaken it in mockery. “I am NOT going to the Philippines until next year at the earliest. And even that is speculative. So, you can either see further than you claim or are an outright, fork-tongued liar and the Bible is right calling you, serpent, the father of all lies.”

Rattlesnake seemed to be moving slower like his muscles were stiffening.

“Mock me all you want, Brother.” Snake weakly spat. “It won’t change the revealed truth. A Tragedy isss coming that will take you to the Philippinesss. You mussst bring a Yucca flower if you want to learn your purpossse. If you choossse to ignore my entreatiesss, you will go to grave wondering why you were created.”

Rattlesnake stiffness consumed his entire body but for the head. It was stiffening into the exact same shape Grandfather carved into the rock.

“Wait! I have one more question. How will I know which it Tukó? ”

“My time isss done, Brother. I return to the rock prissson. Heed my wordsss or forever be lossst to you purpossse….”

“The Philippines has lots of lizards. How will I know?”

Spell Is Broken

Before Rattlesnake could answer my last question, he turned into solid rock. I tapped it a couple of times to make sure it wasn’t a trick. Nope. Solid rock. I picked him up, he was surprisingly light and put him back into the rock, a perfectly fitted puzzle piece. A blinding light like lightning flashed in the seams between rock and snake welding it into a solid structure leaving nothing of Rattlesnake but the petroglyph. It took a few blinks for the spots in my vision to fade and see clearly again. The sky was again vibrant. The clouds milky white. My vision was back to full color. No more Sepia.

“David, let’s go.” It was my wife’s voice. She must be worried. How many days had she searched for me? I recall at least two moon risings. So three days? I stood up from between the copse of rocks.

“Here I am.”

“I know. I saw you sitting in the rocks. You need to be careful. The signs said there are lot’s of rattlesnakes in the area.”

“I know. I looked for them. How long have you been looking for me? You must have been worried.”

“Looking for you? I wasn’t looking for you. I saw you climb between those rocks. I walked around looking at the petroglyphs. There is a sheep with arrows over here you’ve got to see. When I got to this side, I saw your white hair…”

“My hair is red.”

“It may have been red once. It is white now and I think it’s starting to get thinner on top. Anyway, I walked around the rocks shooting a few pictures of the petroglyphs. I love the pics from this iPhone. They are so clear. Now, let’s keeping moving. I saw another car pull up and I want to keep distance between them and us.”

I could feel the sweat trickling down my face. The high sun was beating down and the wind dropped off to the occasional breeze. “I’ve been sitting here for a few days. I was in some kind of trance.”

“Sure. Whatever. There’s lots more to see and I want to get to the pistachio store back in Alamogordo before it closes. Let’s move.”

“I saw a Rattlesnake. I talked to a Rattlesnake…” She looked at me, her eyebrows in the I am getting annoyed arch.

“Stop with the snakes. You know I don’t like them. I don’t want to hear snake stories. I don’t want to talk about snakes. I don’t want to think about snakes. No Snakes!”

I looked at her. My mouth stuck agape. A story crouched on my tongue ready to spring into being. Because of her growing annoyance, I was torn between sharing my experience and really pissing her off. She said there were only a few minutes between me climbing in the rocks and her walking around the copse and asking me to continue our walk. That was impossible. I watch multiple moons arc overhead. I defended myself.

“It’s not a story! It’s true. I talked to a Rattlesnake. I have proof. Look at the bite marks on my hand and neck.” I showed her my right palm. But there was no evidence of penetration. I rubbed the area of the bite and felt two hard masses beneath the surface almost an inch inches apart. I reached for my neck. Again, no wounds. There I also felt the masses but these were three inches apart. Was Snake’s head really that huge? Could I have healed that fast?

“If you don’t stop talking about snakes, I am going back to the car. Stop now! It’s not funny.” The arched eyebrows morphed into the I’m really pissed face. If I didn’t stop now, for now, the red mist would descend and the rest of the day would be lost.

“What time does your Fitbit say?”, she asked.

I tapped it twice to bring the screen to life. “Umm, 1:20 pm”

“When we pulled into the lot I asked you what time it was right before we saw the roadrunner. You said it was just past 12:30 pm. We have been here for less than an hour. Now let’s hurry along before that group catches up to us.”

There are times in life my dreams feel more real than reality. And I have been known to unconsciously appropriate other’s stories and weave their way into my life narrative believing I was the original actor in the play. Did I just create my own story? Did I acquire a narrative form one of the many books I’ve read on Indian lore? No answers now. For the sake of my peace and our harmony, I opted to keep quiet and return to searching for petroglyphs. There were a great many to see.

Coincidences

After our hike, I stepped into the porta john to pee. The day was hot and very dry with humidity in the single digits. My pee was approaching jello. I, we, needed to get some fluids. The water in the car was much too hot to cool us down but I drank some anyway. Hydration is more important than the temperature of a drink. But, where to get a cold drink? I remembered, on the way in, we passed a trading post. It was the last landmark before we turned off the highway and onto the street leading to the monument. We stopped there for some cold beverages. Irene also had a cup of hot coffee. Hot coffee on a hot day? Why?.

The trading post was an art gallery specializing in Native arts and crafts, many made by the owner’s husband. The paintings and sculptures were nice. The pottery gorgeous. Sadly, we have no place in our home for additional trinkets. The Jewelry was over the top expensive. My favorite piece was the 20 inch Kokopelli kachina. The goods, including $275 kachina, were fairly pricey and too big to squeeze into our already bulging luggage. There were coffee mugs. These were in my price range but we already have a cabinet full.

I continued to wander the store drinking a frigid Dr. Pepper, contemplating a second can, while the coffee was brewing. And what do I find hanging on a carousel tree? Medicine bags. A bunch of them. They were not fancy. No beading. No porcupine quills. No decoration of any sort. Just simple bags in various colors with a matching leather cord so it can be worn around the neck. There were white, shades of brown, cream, and one, just one the color of sunrise. It was buttery soft like so was likely deerskin.

Medicine Bag

I checked the price tag on the bag. $10. I decided to purchase it as much for the simple elegance, for the nostalgia of the bag I lost, for the words of snake still hissing in my ears that I would need a medicine bag in the near future. There was one more test. I threw it over my head. It hung exactly over my heart.

Coincidence? I could go with coincidence.

I don’t believe life is a series of random accidents without meaning. Nor do I ascribe to a belief that life is governed by a panel of gods arranging interactions designed to move us along a predestined path. Sometimes a coincidence is a coincidence and sometimes a coincidence is part of the bigger picture.

I see coincidence as organic. Life, all forms, every rock, tree, animal, human are part of a collective consciousness. Earth is the massive brain. The inhabitants are cells working in concert. As antibodies assemble to ward off disease so, too, there are interactions between individuals to ensure sustainability of the Collective Consciousness.

This, however, I chalked up to mere coincidence.

We spent a good part of the next day at White Sands. A few hours were used for a five mile, early morning hike where we saw bright white dunes but barely any vegetation let alone a fat stalk yucca. As we drove around the monument and hiked the shorter trails, I allowed my eyes to drift over every yucca, made forays toward those looking promising from a distance. No stalk was more than an inch in diameter. We stayed until moon the moon rose large over the horizon. I kept looking, searching. Not one stalk was anywhere close to the size Rattlesnake told me to look for. I failed. One simple task and I failed.

We left the next morning for El Paso. It was another sunny day with wispy clouds overhead. The nearer we came to Texas the fewer the yuccas decorated the landscape. Then about 3 miles from the border, I saw what looked like a massive yucca with a long skirt. I pulled over. A little too fast for the drastic change in momentum woke my wife.

Yucca Flower

I hurried out of the car, ran over, and grabbed the stalk. My fingers did not touch. There was a full 2.5-inch gap between my middle finger and my thumb. I reached high for a flower in full bloom and was struck by a few needles from the spiked leaves. I rubbed my leg. My fingers came back sticky with blood.

Yet another coincidence? Two in such a short time may be too many to be accidental. I would have to do some probability math when I got home and calculate the odds of this being happenstance or an indicator of nonrandom events.

To be safe, I stepped back, placed my palms together and, as Rattlesnake had instructed, made peace with Yucca. “Grandmother, I am here to borrow a couple of flowers as instructed by Rattlesnake. I thank you for this lovely gift.” This time I grabbed the flowers without incident and stuffed both into my medicine bag.

The Phone Call

Two days after we returned home to Chicago, Irene received a late night phone call. There was a family death in the Philippines. We need to flying out in a less than a week to attend the funeral.

This last coincidence convinced me my time with Rattlesnake was true and his spoken words were of future days to be. When I packed for the Philippines trip, I made sure to include the medicine bag with the yucca flowers. And I wondered if the worm had turned.

Talking Rocks in New Mexico There are few situations more frightening than sitting comfortably with your back against a smooth rock on a gloriously hot, dry, and sunny day breathing pristine mountain air without a worry until hearing an agitated buzzing and realizing you are face to face and within striking distance of a rattlesnake.

[blackchristiannation]

Pastor Dwight McKissic On the Southern Baptist Convention's Upcoming 'Party' for Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and destiny will meet, April 3-4, 2018, at the SBC ERLC King Celebration by Wm. Dwight McKissic, Sr. If Dr. King were alive, he would be utterly amazed that The Southern Baptist Convention, this year will be hosting a party in his honor in Memphis, Tennessee. When he penned “The Letter from The Birmingham Jail,” King had his “Christian and Jewish brothers” in mind, including Southern Baptists, when he wrote the following words in April 1963:

“While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities ‘unwise and untimely.’”

“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.’”

The Clergyman in Birmingham also referred to King as an “outside agitator.” In April 1961, Martin Luther King, Jr., was gaining national fame and spoke in Chapel at the flagship theological seminary, among The Southern Baptists’ six seminaries, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. As historian, Taylor Branch, wrote in his biography of King, concerning the response of powerful Southern Baptists who opposed Martin Luther King’s visit and Southern Seminary’s invitation to Martin Luther King:

“Within the church [SBC], this simple invitation was racial and theological heresy, such that churches across the South rescinded their regular donations to the seminary.”

During his lifetime, Dr. King experienced criticism, rejection and at best, “lukewarm acceptance” from the Southern Baptist Convention. Fast forward to today. Over 3500, primarily Southern Baptists have registered in Memphis in 2018 to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King, who was assassinated by an Anglo son of the South on April 4, 1968. What a difference 50 years make! The SBC attitude toward King has gone through a metamorphosis over the past 50 years, as the entire Convention has made substantial and measurable progress on the racial front. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from castigating to celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from denying Blacks seats at the table of leadership, to electing Fred Luter as the first African American President of the SBC in 2012 and H.B. Charles as President of the Pastors Conference in 2017. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from viewing Blacks almost exclusively as a mission’s project, to engaging Blacks as mission partners and co-laborers. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from opposing the Civil Rights movement to passing resolutions overwhelmingly in favor of denouncing the Confederate Flag and the Alt-Right. Within 60 years, the SBC has moved from non-admittance of Blacks in Southern Baptist Seminaries, to appointing Walter Strickland as Vice President of Kingdom Diversity and Professor of Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Within 50 years the SBC has shifted from the highest ranking Black in the SBC Executive Building headquarters being the “head custodian” to, Ken Weathersby, serving as a Vice President of the Executive Committee. The SBC passed a resolution acknowledging the historic election of President Barack Obama in 2009. Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Frank Page, Dr. Danny Akin, Dr. Fred Luter, Dr. Steve Gaines, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, Dr. James Merritt and a host of others, have worked diligently to move the ball down the road in advancing God’s Kingdom Agenda for racial inclusion and empowerment in the SBC. Yet, there is a vocal minority in the SBC that has registered opposition to the 50 Years King Celebration, as did their forbearers, 50 years ago, perhaps for different reasons though. The SBC ERLC has spoken out against police brutality and in favor of comprehensive immigration reform under the prophetic and transformative leadership of Dr. Russell Moore. Never would this kind of prophetic advocacy occur during King’s lifetime. The SBC has by word, deed and repentance, earned the right to legitimately celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. The largest racial hurdle the SBC has yet to overcome is the exclusion of Blacks and other minorities serving as an entity head. Entity Heads also constitute the Great Commission Council of the SBC. How can you have a Great Commission Council that reflects only one ethnicity within the Convention? Currently, with two entity head positions vacant, the all-White Great Commission Council should soon change, in the spirit of Martin Luther King’s dream. Doctrinal and moral concerns are the two most common objections raised regarding reasons to suggest that the SBC ERLC not honor and celebrate the 50th year death of Dr. King. Many have called attention to some writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. recorded in his dissertation for his PH.D. work at Boston University that reflects liberal theological leanings. Admittedly, Martin Luther King casts dubious questions and doubts on orthodox views of the virgin birth, deity of Christ, and the resurrection, reflected in his graduate school writings. I even recall reading that while in Sunday School as a youth at his father’s church, he raised questions concerning the validity of the gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even John the Baptist, while in prison, sent word to Jesus, “Are you the Christ or shall we look for another?” Doubt and questioning usually take place at some point in the pilgrimage of every believer. Many of us simply have not recorded our thoughts or spoken aloud when battling with doubt. John the Baptist experienced days of doubt, but he died devoted to the belief that Christ was King of God’s Kingdom—so did Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Carl Ellis, reports that Martin Luther King applied to two conservative seminaries, and was rejected by both because of his color. He matriculated in the M.Div. and PH.D. programs at liberal theological schools in the ‘40’s. Conservative schools simply were not enrolling Black students at the time. Dr. Ellis testifies that one of the schools that rejected Martin Luther King as a graduate seminary student also rejected him for the same reason. It’s really arrogant to criticize a man for embracing liberal theology, when you refuse to allow him to enroll in theological conservative institutions. SBC seminaries did not enroll Black students until the ‘50’s, when they announced they would only enroll “highly qualified Negroes.” Not allowing Blacks to enroll in SBC seminaries was a practical denial of the faith, equally as problematic as King’s liberal theological leanings during his graduate work. The good news after completing his PH.D. and while pastoring the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. King returned to the faith of his father—Martin Luther King, Sr. Dr. King testified that he was returning to the “God that would make a way, out of no way.” That’s common phraseology in the Black church to refer to The God of the Bible. Furthermore, King announced that he was embracing his father’s God; again, which was also another way of expressing in Black theological circles that he was returning to orthodoxy. He made those statements on the heels of bombs being blasted at his home in Montgomery, potentially endangering the lives of his wife and children. In one of his lesser known sermons, preached at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on Easter Sunday, April 1957, in a message entitled “Questions That Easter Answers,” Dr. King made the following statements that ought to lay to rest his beliefs in orthodoxy:

“Easter is a day above all days. It surpasses the mystery and marvel of Christmas with all of the glory of the incarnation.” (MLK believed in the incarnation, which would include the virgin birth and Christ’s Deity.)

“Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have fit testimony that this earthly life is not the end…” (Martin Luther King’s confession of the resurrection in his own words)

 “…men through the generations have learned when they live close to Jesus Christ, that Easter can emerge, and that all of the darkness of Good Friday can pass away.” (You cannot live close to Jesus, unless He is the living Lord.)

“And this means that life is meaningful, that life is not doomed to frustration and futility but life can end up in fulfillment in the life and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

“We thank you, this morning, for your Son, Jesus, who came by to let us know that love is the most durable power in the world, who came by to let us know that death can’t defeat us, to take the sting out of the grave and death and make it possible for all of us to have eternal life. We thank you, oh God. And God grant that we will be grateful recipients of thy eternal blessings. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we pray. Amen.” (I am baffled as to how anyone can read Martin Luther King’s Easter 1957 sermon and prayer and conclude that he did not believe the gospel.)

Martin Luther King, Jr. shed his liberal views on Christology expressed during his graduate school years and preached the powerful Easter message in 1957 (previously referenced) that affirms the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His Lordship. It would certainly be appropriate for those claiming that Dr. King did not believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ to now acknowledge this misunderstanding. Many are unaware that Al Mohler and Frank Page embraced liberal views on women in ministry while in graduate school studying under more moderate/liberal professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Later, as did Martin Luther King, Jr., they shed their liberal views and embraced a view on women in ministry more akin to the BF&M 2000. The second objection to the King celebration has to do with his “alleged immoral lifestyle.” The reason I say alleged is because I am unfamiliar with any female or male, or their descendants or relatives, who have testified to a personal sexual encounter with Dr. King. That is not to say, one or more did not transpire, it is simply to say, I find it interesting that no one has come forth to claim such a personal encounter. Nevertheless, my response to this objection will be relatively brief. I was recently asked: how can the church reconcile Martin Luther King’s adultery, plagiarism and doctrinal deviancy with a celebration? My answer: Whatever sins Martin Luther King was guilty of were a matter between his God, his wife and children, his congregation and himself. The church does not have to reconcile, King’s sins with any celebration of him. Just as the church does not have to reconcile the racism of W.A. and Betty Criswell, who are both on record unrepentantly claiming Africans were cursed and assigned to servitude. The Criswell’s will have to give an account to God for their racism. My father, knowing Criswell was a racist, loved to hear him preach and had several of his books in our home, during my formative, ministerial years. I would celebrate Criswell today, not because of his sin, but because of his good. And that is why the SBC ought to celebrate Martin Luther King. I hope many others will join the celebration in Memphis as a testimony to the grace, goodness and redemption of God, in all our lives and as another major step in the SBC toward racial healing. May the Spirit of God breathe upon The King Memphis Celebration! May Southern Baptists come from the North, South, East and West! Job well done, SBC ERLC! William Dwight McKissic, Sr., is the founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, where he has served for 35 years. He is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, and has received honorary doctorates from Morris Booker Baptist College and Arkansas Baptist College. He has served as a guest lecturer at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Criswell College, the University of Minnesota, Emory University, Southern Illinois University, Wheaton College, and Harvard University. He has served on the Board of Trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Arkansas Baptist College, Little Rock, AR, an HBCU. He and his wife Vera have four children and twelve grandchildren.

[churchleadergazette]

Pastor Dwight McKissic On the Southern Baptist Convention's Upcoming 'Party' for Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and destiny will meet, April 3-4, 2018, at the SBC ERLC King Celebration by Wm. Dwight McKissic, Sr. If Dr. King were alive, he would be utterly amazed that The Southern Baptist Convention, this year will be hosting a party in his honor in Memphis, Tennessee. When he penned “The Letter from The Birmingham Jail,” King had his “Christian and Jewish brothers” in mind, including Southern Baptists, when he wrote the following words in April 1963:

“While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities ‘unwise and untimely.’”

“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.’”

The Clergyman in Birmingham also referred to King as an “outside agitator.” In April 1961, Martin Luther King, Jr., was gaining national fame and spoke in Chapel at the flagship theological seminary, among The Southern Baptists’ six seminaries, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. As historian, Taylor Branch, wrote in his biography of King, concerning the response of powerful Southern Baptists who opposed Martin Luther King’s visit and Southern Seminary’s invitation to Martin Luther King:

“Within the church [SBC], this simple invitation was racial and theological heresy, such that churches across the South rescinded their regular donations to the seminary.”

During his lifetime, Dr. King experienced criticism, rejection and at best, “lukewarm acceptance” from the Southern Baptist Convention. Fast forward to today. Over 3500, primarily Southern Baptists have registered in Memphis in 2018 to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King, who was assassinated by an Anglo son of the South on April 4, 1968. What a difference 50 years make! The SBC attitude toward King has gone through a metamorphosis over the past 50 years, as the entire Convention has made substantial and measurable progress on the racial front. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from castigating to celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from denying Blacks seats at the table of leadership, to electing Fred Luter as the first African American President of the SBC in 2012 and H.B. Charles as President of the Pastors Conference in 2017. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from viewing Blacks almost exclusively as a mission’s project, to engaging Blacks as mission partners and co-laborers. In 50 years, the SBC has moved from opposing the Civil Rights movement to passing resolutions overwhelmingly in favor of denouncing the Confederate Flag and the Alt-Right. Within 60 years, the SBC has moved from non-admittance of Blacks in Southern Baptist Seminaries, to appointing Walter Strickland as Vice President of Kingdom Diversity and Professor of Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Within 50 years the SBC has shifted from the highest ranking Black in the SBC Executive Building headquarters being the “head custodian” to, Ken Weathersby, serving as a Vice President of the Executive Committee. The SBC passed a resolution acknowledging the historic election of President Barack Obama in 2009. Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Frank Page, Dr. Danny Akin, Dr. Fred Luter, Dr. Steve Gaines, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, Dr. James Merritt and a host of others, have worked diligently to move the ball down the road in advancing God’s Kingdom Agenda for racial inclusion and empowerment in the SBC. Yet, there is a vocal minority in the SBC that has registered opposition to the 50 Years King Celebration, as did their forbearers, 50 years ago, perhaps for different reasons though. The SBC ERLC has spoken out against police brutality and in favor of comprehensive immigration reform under the prophetic and transformative leadership of Dr. Russell Moore. Never would this kind of prophetic advocacy occur during King’s lifetime. The SBC has by word, deed and repentance, earned the right to legitimately celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. The largest racial hurdle the SBC has yet to overcome is the exclusion of Blacks and other minorities serving as an entity head. Entity Heads also constitute the Great Commission Council of the SBC. How can you have a Great Commission Council that reflects only one ethnicity within the Convention? Currently, with two entity head positions vacant, the all-White Great Commission Council should soon change, in the spirit of Martin Luther King’s dream. Doctrinal and moral concerns are the two most common objections raised regarding reasons to suggest that the SBC ERLC not honor and celebrate the 50th year death of Dr. King. Many have called attention to some writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. recorded in his dissertation for his PH.D. work at Boston University that reflects liberal theological leanings. Admittedly, Martin Luther King casts dubious questions and doubts on orthodox views of the virgin birth, deity of Christ, and the resurrection, reflected in his graduate school writings. I even recall reading that while in Sunday School as a youth at his father’s church, he raised questions concerning the validity of the gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even John the Baptist, while in prison, sent word to Jesus, “Are you the Christ or shall we look for another?” Doubt and questioning usually take place at some point in the pilgrimage of every believer. Many of us simply have not recorded our thoughts or spoken aloud when battling with doubt. John the Baptist experienced days of doubt, but he died devoted to the belief that Christ was King of God’s Kingdom—so did Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Carl Ellis, reports that Martin Luther King applied to two conservative seminaries, and was rejected by both because of his color. He matriculated in the M.Div. and PH.D. programs at liberal theological schools in the ‘40’s. Conservative schools simply were not enrolling Black students at the time. Dr. Ellis testifies that one of the schools that rejected Martin Luther King as a graduate seminary student also rejected him for the same reason. It’s really arrogant to criticize a man for embracing liberal theology, when you refuse to allow him to enroll in theological conservative institutions. SBC seminaries did not enroll Black students until the ‘50’s, when they announced they would only enroll “highly qualified Negroes.” Not allowing Blacks to enroll in SBC seminaries was a practical denial of the faith, equally as problematic as King’s liberal theological leanings during his graduate work. The good news after completing his PH.D. and while pastoring the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. King returned to the faith of his father—Martin Luther King, Sr. Dr. King testified that he was returning to the “God that would make a way, out of no way.” That’s common phraseology in the Black church to refer to The God of the Bible. Furthermore, King announced that he was embracing his father’s God; again, which was also another way of expressing in Black theological circles that he was returning to orthodoxy. He made those statements on the heels of bombs being blasted at his home in Montgomery, potentially endangering the lives of his wife and children. In one of his lesser known sermons, preached at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on Easter Sunday, April 1957, in a message entitled “Questions That Easter Answers,” Dr. King made the following statements that ought to lay to rest his beliefs in orthodoxy:

“Easter is a day above all days. It surpasses the mystery and marvel of Christmas with all of the glory of the incarnation.” (MLK believed in the incarnation, which would include the virgin birth and Christ’s Deity.)

“Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have fit testimony that this earthly life is not the end…” (Martin Luther King’s confession of the resurrection in his own words)

 “…men through the generations have learned when they live close to Jesus Christ, that Easter can emerge, and that all of the darkness of Good Friday can pass away.” (You cannot live close to Jesus, unless He is the living Lord.)

“And this means that life is meaningful, that life is not doomed to frustration and futility but life can end up in fulfillment in the life and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

“We thank you, this morning, for your Son, Jesus, who came by to let us know that love is the most durable power in the world, who came by to let us know that death can’t defeat us, to take the sting out of the grave and death and make it possible for all of us to have eternal life. We thank you, oh God. And God grant that we will be grateful recipients of thy eternal blessings. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we pray. Amen.” (I am baffled as to how anyone can read Martin Luther King’s Easter 1957 sermon and prayer and conclude that he did not believe the gospel.)

Martin Luther King, Jr. shed his liberal views on Christology expressed during his graduate school years and preached the powerful Easter message in 1957 (previously referenced) that affirms the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His Lordship. It would certainly be appropriate for those claiming that Dr. King did not believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ to now acknowledge this misunderstanding. Many are unaware that Al Mohler and Frank Page embraced liberal views on women in ministry while in graduate school studying under more moderate/liberal professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Later, as did Martin Luther King, Jr., they shed their liberal views and embraced a view on women in ministry more akin to the BF&M 2000. The second objection to the King celebration has to do with his “alleged immoral lifestyle.” The reason I say alleged is because I am unfamiliar with any female or male, or their descendants or relatives, who have testified to a personal sexual encounter with Dr. King. That is not to say, one or more did not transpire, it is simply to say, I find it interesting that no one has come forth to claim such a personal encounter. Nevertheless, my response to this objection will be relatively brief. I was recently asked: how can the church reconcile Martin Luther King’s adultery, plagiarism and doctrinal deviancy with a celebration? My answer: Whatever sins Martin Luther King was guilty of were a matter between his God, his wife and children, his congregation and himself. The church does not have to reconcile, King’s sins with any celebration of him. Just as the church does not have to reconcile the racism of W.A. and Betty Criswell, who are both on record unrepentantly claiming Africans were cursed and assigned to servitude. The Criswell’s will have to give an account to God for their racism. My father, knowing Criswell was a racist, loved to hear him preach and had several of his books in our home, during my formative, ministerial years. I would celebrate Criswell today, not because of his sin, but because of his good. And that is why the SBC ought to celebrate Martin Luther King. I hope many others will join the celebration in Memphis as a testimony to the grace, goodness and redemption of God, in all our lives and as another major step in the SBC toward racial healing. May the Spirit of God breathe upon The King Memphis Celebration! May Southern Baptists come from the North, South, East and West! Job well done, SBC ERLC! William Dwight McKissic, Sr., is the founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, where he has served for 35 years. He is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, and has received honorary doctorates from Morris Booker Baptist College and Arkansas Baptist College. He has served as a guest lecturer at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Criswell College, the University of Minnesota, Emory University, Southern Illinois University, Wheaton College, and Harvard University. He has served on the Board of Trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Arkansas Baptist College, Little Rock, AR, an HBCU. He and his wife Vera have four children and twelve grandchildren.

[ramrodd]

COMMENTARY:

+Burnt Toast

>>>>"So, are you a combat veteran?" No.  Not that I see any relevance to this.<<<<

Thank you for this response., It took courage to make yourself vulnerable in this manner, knowing that I would use it as a weapon against you in our dialogue.

That wasn't my intent. Christianity is all about vulnerability. That is exactly the feature of the ministry of Jesus a Catholic crucifix illustrates.

Devotion to Duty, in the military sense of the word, is all about vulnerability.  

When you are sworn in for jury duty or to provide testimony, you make yourself vulnerable to sanction by the rule of law for misconduct. Faith is not the absence of logic or rational self-interest.  It is a paradox: it is enlightened self-interest arising from confronting an existential threat with vulnerability.

Voluntarily.

Absent divine coercion, With complete consciousness and deliberate intent. It is. as Christopher Hitchens was wont to rant, it is taking no heed for the morrow purposefully.

In many cases, it requires self-sacrifice in a manner which violates Ayn Rand's organizing prinicle, the Virtue of Selfishness (although she would make the case that, in fact, mindful self-sacrifice actually validates the Virtue of Selfishness).

Now, I agree with you completely: an atheist/anti-theist can embrace this enlightened self-interest. Also, as you point out, I am sure that soldier-atheists do it all the time and receive awards for their valor. The fact that this fulfills Jesus' second great law, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself, and the impulse of John 15:13, I won't construe it as a tacit, albeit existential, embrace of Christian doctrine. It is that Christian doctrine is The One's submission to humanity through the atonement of Jesus and this Second Great Commandment is the most practical application of God's Will.

Jesus was the first Secular Humanist, an irony completely lost on American Evangelical Christians.   The fact the you are or aren't a combat vet is really meaningless to me, generally (obviously, there are elements of that experience available to me which inform my inquiry into the Gospel of Mark and other aspect of my life).

The fact is that admitting your status, one way or another, required an intentional violation of what you regard as rational self-interest. It was not a matter of indifference. It was sufficiently un-important to your personal protocols of dialogue to object to its elevation, however miniscule, to a subject for the public arena. I am willing to endorse your decision as an act of courage, however slight it may seem to you.

Life requires courage. Faith, in the Christian sense, is a continual act of courage beyond the boundaries of what may seem purely rational self-interest and prudent investment. Starting a business is an act of faith based on one's trust in their own abilities and hope for unseen future benefits. Christianity is the hope that one's personal capabilities applied in the present moment within the context of a larger human enterprise will result in both present and future benefits.

The Kingdom of God occurs at the tips of our fingers. As the Shakers say, Heart to God, Hands to Work. I happen to agree with Ayn Rand that altruism is the other side of the coin of Ego from selfishness, but, as a social doctrine (and evolutionary choice) altruism is the better bet, However, Christianity is not a choice for altruism over selfishness, but an expression of the Generosity of Spirit reflected in John 15:13 and the culture of the infantry combat team:

μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει, ἵνα τις τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θῇ ὑπὲρ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ..

Here is my confession to you. I do know The One in the manner I describe, but I came to know Him by accident. I didn't seek Him out and, to be frank, if this encounter had not happened, I'd probably agree with you, chapter and verse, regarding the improbability of the proposition. The current exercise in Christian apologetics are essentially legal arguments emerging from the doctrine of Solo Scriptura that is completely unconvincing to me. Being verbally nimble with formalistic argument has no more veracity in my mind than your arguments for your sentiments.  

The biggest danger to the body of Christ in America is, in my mind, is Solo Scriptura which, like the overwealming Evangelical vote for Trump, part of the Jesus, Inc, business model that is little different, in kind, from the commercial interests which motivated the Temple priests of Jerusalem who engineered the crucifixion of Jesus. In that regards, you and I are joined in a common cause, but by different means. And, except for this encounter with The One in 1954, I wouldn't be a Christian.

But I did have this encounter and I do know God. I don't know Jesus but I believe on good authority He is exactly who He says He is. But my perspective on His life, as recorded in the Gospels isn't informed  as a Christian Pharisee, but from the anthropological perspective of the pagan Cornelius. I was raised in a community of centurions and the spiritual advisors of my youth were all combat veterans and, in reprospect, I intuitively recognized that they had a similar relationship with The One that I have, a relationship I intuitively find missing in virtually the entire Evangelical pastorage.

That's an unfair generalization, perhaps. but in 1966, when my fraternity roommate got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ and put a great deal of pressure on me to accept Jesus as my personal savior, it took a long conversation with The One to finally make this declaration because I sensed the core fraud of the movement (God eventually convinced me to make Bill happy by, first, saying it was OK to declare, and then sort of reverse engineering Mark 9:37: if I know God, I know the Son, to demonstrate that it wouldn't be a false affirmation. It was important to me to avoid a false affirmation).

Rev. Dr. Francis Wade, Interim Dean of the National Cathedral, is virutally the only civilian preacher whose interpretation of the Gospels reflects my experience growing up in the Army Protestant Chapel. It turns out he was educated at The Citadel. Some of his sermons are on YouTube.

I didn't initiate my inquiry into the Gospel of Mark as part of a crusade to reform Solo Scriptura. My personal meditations on scripture probably verge on heresy in some quarters and are not orthodox once you get past NT Wright's proposition that Paul's epistemology represents a new way of knowing (which is completely sound doctrine regardless of the rising criticism from American Evangelicals who recognize the threat to their business model). Those heresies are not important here, but in 1990, I was teaching Sunday School to high school students and I was concerned that I contain my instruction completely within the boundaries of orthodox Episcopal doctrine. A chance remark by the Superintendent of Sunday School education, Rev, Caroline Pyle, made me begin to review the Gospels beyond my cursory survey of the literature of the Bible from college.

I began to work my way through William Barclay's commentaries and, in reading his introduction to the Gospel of Mark, I had an epiphany that Cornelius was the author of Mark.  

And it's been a hobby ever since. It has never been a crusade, but, as I say, Carrier's subordination of the literature of the Bible to his post-Hegelian historical deconstruction offends me and here we are, today. The value to me of this particular forum is that the objections raised have led me, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, to the probable scenario for the creation of Mark.

From the beginning of this inquiry until quite recently, I assumed Mark was a covert publication but, as my understanding of the larger Roman context deepened (thanks in no small measure to the series of lectures by Bruce Gore on the historical context of the Bible, as well as even Carrier's lectures), it has become apparent that Mark is a product of the Roman military establishment in response to the singular nature of the Resurrection and the events leading up to and resulting from its occasion.

In the final analysis, Christianity is a Roman invention, with the Gospel of Matthew the outlier composed specifically to sabotage (through "Judaizers") the wholesale proliferation of the Gospels beyond the boundaries of Jewish "kosher" doctrine. I've never been a fan of Paul's, but, in terms of the selling of Jesus, he recognized the huge marketing opportunity of the generally god-sensitive Roman empire and which the abrogation of all things Kosher in Acts 10 made possible.

But a review of that inquiry is not the purpose of this commentary, but an expression of sincere gratitude for revealing publically your personal resume contrary to your instincts to withhold the information. It was an act of faith and good will,

Thank you.

[catholiccom-blog]

A Primer on Richard Rohr

Full Question

        I've heard that Fr. Richard Rohr teaches some pretty sketchy stuff. Do you know anyone who has a summary of his teachings?        

Answer

For whatever good he does, Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., is not a reliable teacher of the Catholic Faith. All quotes below from Fr. Rohr are taken from his book Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer.

To Fr. Richard Rohr, Jesus Christ is an ideal guide of sorts, but he’s not truly Lord.

Jesus made clear that he came to save the world (John 3:16), and to this end he founded and commissioned his Church to make disciples off all nations (Matt. 28:18-20). Jesus made clear that he is uniquely the way, truth, and life (John 14:6), that his truth would set us free (John 8:31-32), that those who listened to his apostles and their successors listened to him, and that those who didn’t rejected him and his heavenly Father who sent him (Luke 10:16).

Jesus wasn’t afraid to be a demanding teacher, and many left him when they couldn’t stomach his teaching, e.g., on the Eucharist (John 6:47-71). Jesus also proclaimed that he came to bring a sword and not peace if peace meant a false irenicism in which merely human family members were chosen at the expense of faithful alliance with him, their Savior (Matt. 10:34-39).

Rohr’s Jesus is much more benign. For Rohr, Jesus merely gives “ideal eyes by which to see the real nature of reality” (emphasis added). “Real nature” is important, because Rohr does not present Catholicism as it really is. Rather, it’s a non-demanding, non-threatening, ultimately optional way of life: "The gospel is not a competing idea. It’s that by which see all ideas in proper context. We believe as Christians that Jesus gave us the ideal eyes by which to see the real nature of reality. He does not lead with his judgments"(95, emphasis original).

Some might say Rohr is at least partially right. For example, Jesus did not lead with judgment against the woman at the well (John 4). But after introducing himself as the Messiah and showing the woman her worth, he called her to holiness, noting she had been married five times and was living with someone to whom she wasn’t married. Rohr misses this in assessing the Gospel as he overlooks the hard words Jesus has about various sins in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere: "But note that Jesus’ concept of 'the reign of God' is totally positive—not fear-based or against any individual, group, sin or problem" (107, emphasis original).

Even more fundamentally, Rohr falls into religious indifferentism regarding the basic mission of Christ and his Church:

I think Christianity has created a great problem in the Western world by repeatedly presenting itself, not as a way of seeing all things, but as one competing ideology among others. . . . Simone Weil, the brilliant French resistor [a woman who sadly declined to be baptized and become Catholic], said that 'the tragedy of Christianity is that it came to see itself as replacing other religions instead of adding something to all of them.'  I could not agree more" (93, emphasis added).

Rohr provides insight into his spiritual outlook when he reveals that he believes in apokatastasis (also spelled apocatastasis), a heresy known more in modern times as “universalism,” which teaches that all the damned, whether men or women or fallen angels, will ultimately be restored and join God in heavenly glory for all eternity. This belief was made somewhat popular by the Church Father Origen, who was misguided on a number of doctrinal matters.

Citing unnamed early Church Fathers, Rohr describes this “universal restoration” as “the real meaning” of Christ’s resurrection, which means that God’s love is “so perfect and so victorious that in fact it would finally win out in every single person’s life” (131). He erroneously says that this view “gave rise to the mythology of purgatory” (131). He adds incorrectly that apocatastasis is not a heresy:

When I read the history of the church and its dogma, I see apokatastasis was never condemned as heretical. We may believe it if we want to. We were never told we had to believe it, but neither was it condemned (132, emphasis original).

It’s true that some people, like St. Gregory of Nyssa, espoused apocatastasis in the early Church when the Church had not pronounced definitively on the matter. But as the belief spread it was condemned by the regional Council of Constantinople in 543, and Pope Vigilius confirmed the council's pronouncements.

Ten years later, the Second Council of Constantinople, an ecumenical or universal council, reaffirmed the condemnation of various heretics and “their sinful works,” including Origen, with no correction on the recent condemnation of apocatastasis (canon 11). If apocatastasis were indeed true, the Church’s infallible teachings on mortal sin and the eternal punishment of hell, for example, would be rendered meaningless.

It is true, as Rohr says, that the Church has never pronounced that any particular person is in hell (132). But the Church has reaffirmed the existence of hell and its eternal punishments, most recently in Pope Paul VI’s Credo of the People of God (12) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1033-37). Lest there be any doubt, the Catechism affirms—citing St. John Damascene, who lived from 676 to 749—“There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death” (393).

In light of his espousal of apocatastasis, Rohr’s book title—Everything Belongs—makes more sense. In the end, there is no condemnation, only reconciliation and eternal communion with God: “For me, the utter powerlessness of God is that God forgives. . . .  God seems to be so ready to surrender divine power” (153). Rohr’s God is all mercy, and a distorted mercy at that, and thus there is no justice.

Consequently, for Rohr there is a tension between truth and love.  Jesus says that his truth will set us free (John 8:32), but Rohr says “the law does not give life; only the Spirit gives life, as Paul teaches in Romans and Galatians” (40). But Paul is speaking of the Old Covenant law, not the liberating New Covenant law of Jesus, and Rohr overlooks St. Paul’s hard pronouncements on mortal sin and damnation. “True religion is always about love. Love is the ultimate reality” (103), Rohr adds, whereas “a lot that’s called orthodoxy, loyalty and obedience is grounded in fear” (102). “The great commandment is not ‘thou shalt be right,’” he says. “The great commandment is to ‘be in love’” (88).

Love trumps truth, because God will win out in every person’s life, Rohr says, since “God will turn all our human crucifixions into resurrection” (132). Here Rohr fails to see that hell is man’s “definitive self-exclusion from communion with God” (CCC 1033, emphasis added), and that true love entails not compelling one to have communion. God will not force us to accept heaven.

In citing Acts 3:21 to defend universal restoration, Rohr fails to see that those who will not listen to the prophet—namely, Jesus—will be destroyed (Acts 3:23). This is not to pronounce eternal judgment on non-Catholics and thus exclude invincible ignorance but rather to affirm further that hell exists and that human beings can choose it. Choices do have consequences, some of them possibly eternal. In that light, the Second Vatican Council Fathers teaches in sober urgency regarding non-Catholics:

But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, 'Preach the Gospel to every creature,' the Church fosters the missions with care and attention" (Lumen Gentium 16, emphasis added, footnotes omitted).

In contrast, even though Jesus founded Catholic Church (Matt. 16:18-19) and gave the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-20), for Rohr the Church and her mission are not so important and urgent:

Institutional religion is a humanly necessary but also immature manifestation of this 'hidden mystery' by which God is saving the world. . . . Institutional religion is never an end in itself, but merely a wondrous and 'uncertain trumpet' of the messag" (180, emphasis original).

I personally do not believe that Jesus came to found a separate religion as much as he came to present a universal message of vulnerability and foundational unity that is necessary for all religions, the human soul, and history itself to survive. Thus Christians can rightly call him “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42) but no longer in the competitive and imperialistic way that they have usually presented him. By very definition, vulnerability and unity do not compete or dominate.  n fact, they make competition and domination impossible. The cosmic Christ is no threat to anything but separateness, illusion, domination, and any imperial ego. In that sense, Jesus, the Christ, is the ultimate threat, but first of all Christians themselves. Only then will they have any universal and salvific message for the rest of the world" (181-82, emphases added).

Jesus Christ does indeed love all and thus died for all, but the true unity he preaches requires a choice to accept or reject him and his Church, as he preached 2,000 years ago. The Christ whom Rohr preaches is not the authentic Jesus, and his related proclamation of the gospel is not the one that that the Church has proclaimed and safeguarded for 2,000 years with the power of Holy Spirit. As a result, Rohr remains an unreliable and spiritually dangerous guide for Catholic and non-Catholic alike.