#much of this is not new information but churches often vilify it because it makes them look mistaken

[bigskydreaming]

That sounds pretty cool, if you are fine with it, or if you feel like it, would you elaborate one of this scenarios? It doesn't have to be right now, just if you feel like it, i just loooove your opinions on dick grayson as a character, they are just perfect, to me at least, because you know your own version of him and its amazing! So, like i said, would you write a little about mind controlled dick grayson if it doesn't bother you uu

LOL, thanks - I have a few different headcanon type things along those lines, but most of them are about the aftermath of existing instances rather than additional scenarios of Dick being mind controlled.

For instance, my personal view of the BIGGEST (and almost completely untouched) repercussions of the Spyral mission for Dick is all the stuff it might have brought back up from the Brother Blood stuff in the early days of the New Teen Titans. When he was being controlled and manipulated without his knowledge by the Church of Blood.

Because in order to even do the Spyral mission at all, at Bruce’s behest.....going undercover with the organization meant Dick HAD to let them put the Hypnos implants in him. There was literally no way around it, it was a fundamental part of the mission. They were standard issue for all Spyral operatives....

And as Dick only found out later, coming as a complete surprise to him, and thus something that Bruce himself had to be unaware of before sending Dick in - part of the reason the Hypnos implants were standard issue for all Spyral operatives was not JUST the advantages the implants gave their operatives in the field. The implants were ALSO a backdoor for Matron and other higher-ups in the organization like Agent Zero, to basically....shut down the operative with a word, knock them out - a failsafe that essentially made all their operatives unable to pose a threat to them, or powerless against them in case they turned traitor (or like Dick, had other allegiances from the start).

I don’t know if you’ve seen my meta about how and why I view Dick’s greatest fear as being the cause of his loved ones’ deaths or suffering, or being used against them to be the cause of this.....but imagine you’re Dick Grayson, and your hands down greatest fear is being completely hijacked, without agency, a passenger in your own body, as your enemy turns you against your mission, your allies, your family, whatever.

And then you find out that the Hypnos implants that you willingly allowed them to put in you, not knowing they served as any kind of Trojan horse that gave the people you were there to take down a secret kind of control over you, the very kind you fear more than anything given your specific history with this sort of thing....

Like, you find out in the worst possible way, when Matron uses them to basically turn off your brain with just a WORD, that from the moment you let them put these things in you in order to go undercover as one of their operatives....you’ve been totally at their mercy without even knowing it, even as you worked against them. You had no idea that they held the edge over you the whole time, had no way to even be on guard against the possibility....because you went into this only knowing the information Bruce had to give you, and this wasn’t in it.

(And then of course, it gets worse, when the Hypnos implants are revealed to be Luthor Corp tech, and with a FURTHER backdoor feature only HE knows about, that gives him the ability to completely hijack the movements of people with the implants in them. Again - Luthor. The artist formerly known as Dick’s murderer, which led to him being on this mission in the first place).

Anyway, that’s the most damaging fallout from the Spyral mission IMO, that’s rarely if ever touched on - the fact that in the aftermath of Dick’s trauma and death, he went on this mission that he never wanted to go on in the first place, at least trusting that Bruce’s reasons for wanting him to go on it were sound.....and implicitly putting his trust in Bruce (as he had so many times before), to not send him into anything he couldn’t handle, or without crucial information.

Which of course Bruce did, because his reasons for sending Dick on this mission WEREN’T sound. They were as much emotional as they were practical, born of his own issues and his own inability to handle Dick dying in front of him while he was powerless to do anything about it, or to be the one to revive him, and he was IMO almost driven to send Dick far away from the target he saw him as having painted on him due to his unmasking, as long as he was known to be alive and in Gotham....and also far enough away that he was kinda out of sight, out of mind, for Bruce, and as such, Bruce didn’t have to be constantly haunted by the reminder of how powerless he’d been to save or help his son.

IMO there’s no mistaking that Bruce’s behavior in all of this was both extraordinarily shitty writing AND at the same time compliant with previous shitty behavior of his (born both of similarly shitty writing AND just....examination of his worse tendencies). So for me its a fine line between over-vilifying Bruce for what I think was the writers not paying their due diligence to the reality and implications of how they were writing him.....but at the same time, not apologizing for his behavior, especially given that its not THAT far off the mark of tendencies that had been written into him before this point.

So for me, the way I reconcile that and find anything useful to take away from this story, its to distill it down to specific lasting repercussions/implications for Dick, that are paired to something that can kinda be....learned by the characters from this story, something they could take away from these events and use to BETTER themselves and their relationships.

And for me, I come away with two things here:

1) Whether you write about the Spyral mission and aftermath and include the canon exactly as it happened, or you tone down Bruce’s behavior or rewrite that to be not quite as egregious....a useful dynamic to focus on IMO, as an example, is the idea that while Bruce’s basic motivation was most likely an inability to cope in a healthy way with watching his son die and being unable to do anything about it.....that doesn’t mean that out of all of this, that PART, the death, was the worst of it for Dick himself. Yeah, I emphasize the fact that Dick did actually DIE and this was traumatic as hell, because its so often glossed over....but even with that, I tend to think that given his history with being controlled, stripped of his agency, etc....its all of that, that was likely more damaging to him, more lasting. The fact that he HAD been here before, so to speak, and here he was in this exact kind of situation he hated and feared so much, ALL OVER AGAIN....and not because of anything he WANTED to do, or would have done if he’d had any real choice in it at all, but solely because Bruce, his dad, the person who is SUPPOSED to protect and comfort and care for him....pushed him into it, despite and over his protests.

Because by focusing on this, you can address the reality that as they’ve been written for the last...who knows how long....the Batfamily doesn’t really even KNOW each other. They don’t KNOW each other’s greatest fears, strengths and weaknesses, underlying motivations and personal goals. They tend to base everything off of their ASSUMPTIONS about each other, and as I’ve outlined here....that can be incredibly damaging, for instance when you have Bruce literally hurting his son because he’s CONVINCED himself its the best thing for Dick, he’s only doing it to protect him like he couldn’t protect him from being killed....but then, because he doesn’t truly know Dick at this point as well as he thinks he does, and because he isn’t LISTENING to him and what he wants and doesn’t want....Bruce ends up pushing him into a situation that I would argue Dick probably hates and fears even MORE than physical danger or being in danger of being killed.

Also, I’m always going to point out the constant barrage of sexual harassment, inappropriate touches and scrutiny and innuendo Dick was subjected to by Dr. Netz as part of his regular ‘check-ups’ while at Spyral - which given Dick’s history of sexual assault and harassment like, should not be discounted IMO - and again, this is all stuff that Dick was basically forced into by virtue of needing to keep his cover for this assignment, that he’d never asked for or wanted, and had very little control over from the start, let alone freedom to call it off if things got to the point where he no longer felt safe or in control - like, I’m never going to imagine a Bruce who would CONSCIOUSLY put any of his children in a situation where they had to ‘choose’ to be regularly sexually harassed/assaulted for the sake of the mission, and like, EXPECT them to make that choice for the mission, because no. But at the same time, there’s no getting around that whether they addressed it on the page or not, that was EXACTLY the situation Dick was forced into by this mission.

Which brings me to the second thing I come away with from this story:

2) As I said, a big thing to focus on with this story IMO is to use it to highlight how little the Batfamily knows about each other by this point, and thus how often they tend to make choices regarding the others that are completely opposite of what the others would WANT them to choose or do on their behalf...and then like...address that, with fic. Fix that with fic. Use fic to have them realize this, explore this, LEARN from this....

BUT, ALSO....the other crucial takeaway is that all of this only really happened...Dick only ended up in the incredibly compromised and vulnerable position he was in with Spyral, Matron, Dr. Netz, Agent Zero, Luthor, etc....

Because....he went into this with only the intel Bruce had to give him....and Bruce just flat out didn’t have as much intel as he thought he did, clearly. He didn’t have the necessary details to know that he was sending his recently-traumatized-son into the lions’ den with FAR less control of the situation than EITHER of them thought.....and no real way to HELP Dick COMPENSATE for this once this was made clear to him. Dick had to figure out how to handle all of this on his own, and the fact that he was able to is a testament to him, NOT validation of Bruce being sure that he could handle anything unexpected that came up during this mission....because the kind of stuff we’re talking about, Dick shouldn’t HAVE to handle without warning, help, or back-up.

So, the thing I try to emphasize here, that can be applied across SO many stories, across SO many timelines or events, is just....

BRUCE CAN BE WRONG.

And that’s so, so crucial, and yet so rarely referenced outside of like.....Bruce being placed morally opposite various of his children about certain arguments. The idea that Bruce is just....fallible, that he can and does make mistakes, does not have all the information at times, draws the wrong conclusions at times...THAT is something that I think is so much more....in need of scrutiny, than just blasting Bruce for how shitty he was during this story over all. Because the real danger IMO isn’t just any one story, but how across so many stories, both canon and fic, its just taken for granted that Bruce’s information is right, Bruce’s plan is the right one, Bruce’s conclusion is the most empirically accurate. 

When he and Dick or Jason or any of the others are in conflict about how to go about doing something, or what specifically needs doing....there’s a tendency to default to “well he’s Batman,” and ASSUME his position as the correct one due to his age and experience and innate Batman-ness.....and that by contrast, Dick or Jason or whomever is just being difficult, or immature or irresponsible or wrong-headed....reckless or impulsive or being ruled by their emotions, instead of cold hard logic, like Bruce is operating off of.

And I would argue that more than anything else, the largely-unexamined elements of the Spyral mission are case in point for how that’s just flat out not always true, and dangerous to assume is always going to be true given that we have SO many canon instances of Bruce being ruled by emotion rather than logic, and from that drawing conclusions or going with information that flat out...isn’t the right one.

And as shown here....that’s what’s so often at one of his children’s expense. Batman can be wrong. Bruce is just a man, he’s fallible, he can be blinded by his own emotions. Dick and the others are sometimes right, when he’s not. 

And they should ALWAYS be upheld as knowing better than him when it comes to their own personal experiences, especially the adult kids....and flat out, there’s no excuse for Bruce delivering his son into one of his worst nightmare scenarios in order to cope with HIS emotions about Dick’s trauma/death even moreso than to truly help Dick....since IMO, the situation Dick ended up in was nothing but a recipe for MORE trauma, rather than any kind of help with the stuff that had just happened to him.

And the only way to truly address that, push back against that kind of story, is just to examine in story that like.....this time, Bruce was wrong. His motivations were wrong, his intel was wrong, his plan was wrong, and his decision to override what his son WANTED and not listen to his protests....was, bottom line, wrong.

And Dick was the only one to pay any kind of actual price for it. 

Soooooo....lol, its not ultimately about the mind control at all, despite the fact that your ask is what started me down this train of thought, BUT the mind control is still so fundamentally essential to it, because of Dick’s history with it AND his focus on self-autonomy and agency.

Which to me, is always gonna be far angstier than the mind control itself. Because living with the aftermath like....there’s no actual cure or off-switch to that, unlike with the mind control itself.

(Related headcanon: I headcanon that after Dick was truly back from Spyral, he went and got full body scans every couple months from STAR Labs, Cyborg, random other hero affiliates, etc....just to reassure himself that the implants were truly gone, because he didn’t fully trust that they were or that he’d even know if someone lied to him about them being gone....so he’s not satisfied until he’s double, triple, even quadruple checked for himself. 

This IMO goes back to how during the Brother Blood stuff, he was literally brainwashed by the cult on three different occasions, with him still having been brainwashed after the second one, even after everyone told him the conditioning was really gone and he was all good - but they’d missed stuff, a deeper layer, and so....its not even about whether or not Dick trusts whomever is telling him his conditioning/implants/whatever are all gone and safely removed....its that he doesn’t trust that they’re necessarily RIGHT, no matter how confident they are, and since he’s ultimately the one facing the consequences of them being WRONG, if it turns out they are.

IMO, this is an area where Dick is likely almost if not completely obsessive....having regular rituals of checking, double checking, triple checking that he’s alone in his own head, that his body is clear of all foreign agents, that there’s nothing hidden about him or his body or his psyche, just waiting to activate and turn him against his friends and family...because his body is his weapon, but he can only truly trust it, trust himself with it, when he’s reassured it - he - isn’t in danger of becoming someone else’s weapon on a moment’s notice.

[virtual-marmalade]

1 and 17 for both? (DnD asks)

1. What influenced or inspired the creation of this character?

Rala Arunsun, He was the first character I first when I was a kid, remade now that I actually know how to play D&D lmao. He’s a half-elf Rogue/Wizard because his parents are the characters of my parents: an elven rogue named Chastity and the human wizard Alar Arunsun. I conceptualize him as someone who adventures primarily because he likes getting into places he’s not necessarily supposed to be. Like his father he doesn’t respect the authority of lawmakers or nobles, and like his mother he is always getting into trouble. Unlike them, however, he also has a lot of compassion and generally prefers not to fight or kill people if he can avoid it.

Ureto Stileto,  A halfling cleric of Pelor, somewhat inspired by my FFXIV character Kindur Stileto (maybe his canonical cousin?) who is a Lalafell Ninja/Scholar. Like Kindur, Ureto also prefers knives to any other weapon, which is odd for a priest but they are easy to conceal in his vestments if he needs to do that. I also think of both of them as being empathetic and willing to take direct action to improve the world. While Kindur expressed this by joining the Rogues to clean up the criminal underworld of Limsa (and eventually going on to save the world like every other MMO character ever lmao), Ureto does so by offering Pelor’s mercy and forgiveness to the oppressed and vilified and by supporting others with holy blessings. When nonviolence does not pay off, however, Ureto is quite willing to enact divine retribution on any bad actors that threaten him, his allies, or any innocent third parties. 

17. If they were in possession of a trio of wishes, what would their three wishes be?

To answer this I’ll have to get a little specific about the campaign we’re playing, I think? We’re doing a game we’re calling Riverton, which is about a small fantasy trading town at a crossroads on a river and the larger region surrounding it. There are other, bigger cities, but the focus is on this small town that grows as we solve problems around it, make the trade routes safer, and generally bring more money and fame into it. The twist is that we change DMs every session or so depending on who has an adventure prepared to run, so in that way I’m both a DM and a player. So all that being said:

Rala, One of the plotlines that I introduced when I brought Rala into the game is that an excessive amount of summoning and ritual in this world is weakening the boundaries between this reality and others, and as a result he sort of “fell” out of another dimension into this one thanks to the Goddess Istus. Also there’s a certain world-ending dark force that may be on its way to the world of Riverton soon (yes I’m kinda doing an Adventure Zone because sometimes I’m that guy lmao)… That in mind, 

1) Prevent that force from attacking any more worlds. 

I don’t think this wish would work necessarily, but he’d definitely try it anyway… 

2) Take away the power of the mysterious hooded man he met on his last adventure.

On his last adventure, some evil wizard literally annihilated an entire city. It wasn’t even a small town but like a major trading hub, port, its own city-state even. It was terrifying, but luckily the mage decided he had bigger fish to fry than to kill Rala and co. Also he now has a wicked evil artifact that’s gonna make him even worse. That is simply too much power for one person, and I somehow doubt that even a wish could kill him as he is now. I’ll settle for removing his ability to do magic instead.

3) To return to his home world of Faerun, back to Waterdeep where he was born.

Interdimensional travel is really hard. Magnitudes harder even than projecting into other planes in the same planar system. He’s only really in this world through some incredible God-level magic and the convenient fact that this reality happens to be relatively easy to get into. Rala wants to do what good he can here and have lots of adventures in this new land, but ultimately he often feels deeply homesick and really wants to get back someday.

Ureto, I haven’t played Ureto in a little while, so I don’t think he’s really aware of or involved in the same plotlines Rala is. So far most of his adventures have been about stopping cultist groups from achieving their ends, whether those be gathering treasure to appease their god, summoning a warrior spirit that they worship, or desecrating an ancient temple of Pelor. Other than that he’s mostly concerned with keeping the faith and inspiring the people.

1) Restore the jungle.

For about a month or two of in-game time, the jungles to the southwest of Riverton have suddenly died and been filled with undead people and animals. Ureto wasn’t there when it happened, but I feel like it would be a priority for him to undo that particular curse.

2) Control of his own Temple of Pelor in Riverton.

After word Ureto’s heroics began to spread throughout Riverton, the primary church of Pelor in the nearby metropolis of Autumnvale sent a team of clergy and architects to build a new temple in Riverton. Ureto wants to be in charge there because deep down he thinks he knows Pelor’s message and desires better than other clergy of similar status. He thinks that he should be the one to bring Pelor’s hope to the citizens, not some learned, stuck-up priest who spends more time studying scripture than actually seeing what the world is like. This might actually happen for him depending on what the church thinks of his service after the new temple is actually finished.

3) A direct connection to Pelor.

Ureto has never has a real two-way dialogue with his god. This is not unusual, as only those who are very strong in faith can cast the spells that allow that to happen, but sometimes Ureto does have his doubts. He’s lied to protect his friends, acted rashly out of fear, and killed people who maybe could have been spared. He wishes for a direct connection to Pelor so that he can be sure he’s on the right path and that his lord extends his mercy even when those who ought to be his shining light in the mortal world make missteps. 

(X)

Ok, that was way too long, and maybe too much information but I really put a lot of thought into my characters and the world they live in so I hope it’s not too boring to read for someone who doesn’t know anything about them >_>;

Thanks for the excuse to write about them though; it’s good to get this stuff down and flesh them out a bit better. 

[neurotribe]

“Fear not!” - Or “Why there may be a distinct lack of visionary ideas in Australia’s 2019 Federal Election”.

Apparently one of the most common phrases found in the bible is “fear not”. I would often hear preachers say that the phrase appeared 365 times in the Old and New Testaments, one for each day of the year. Um, not quite. More like 80 odd with another 30 odd where the phrase is not quite “fear not” but it conveys a very similar sentiment.

In many of the churches I have visited and indeed been part of over the years, there is a tendency for sermons to emphasis “practical application”. How do you take what is in the bible and “make it work” for you in your mundane, day to day existence? In that kind of climate, I find that  “fear not” still gets a significant amount of airplay.

However, I predict that we won’t be seeing a whole lot of “fear not” sermons and information about how to practically apply such an injunction as we approach the coming Australian Federal Election. As a matter of fact, I predict the opposite.

In the state of Victoria, we have just come off the back of a state election. The Liberal Party (which is to say our conservative party for my non Australian readers) were led to believe that they were trailing in the polls so they adopted a fear based campaign. Their two pronged fear based messages focused upon the Australian Labor Party (the progressive or left side of politics in Australia for my non Australian readers) were not to be trusted as economic managers, and a “tough on crime” law and order message that targeted and vilified certain ethnic minorities that were some of the most recent and therefore most vulnerable of immigrants to our shores. The particular fear based campaign was widely deemed to be a disaster, resulting in a crushing electoral defeat for the conservative party.

There were other factors at play. The conservative party’s acrimonious factional infighting resulting in the unseating of our Prime Minister weeks before the election certainly didn’t help matters, however much of the analysis concluded that if fear is to be your primary means of garnering support, the chances of being able to communicate some kind of vision for the state, and the ability to have a vigorous public contest of ideas will at best take a back seat.

We are only a few months out from a federal election here in Australia. The federal conservatives are in a similar position to their state based counterparts. However rather than the infighting being something occurring in the background, it was this party that engaged in such bitter and acrimonious behaviour.

It is therefore no surprise that, knowing they face such an uphill battle at the polls, the Liberal (conservative) Party are adopting a fear based campaign, and once again, those who will pay the price of such a fear based campaign are those who are most vulnerable.

This article from The Age newspaper based here in Victoria shows that support for the Australian Labor Party fell by three percentage points in a week, as a result of the Liberal Party’s messaging to the general public regarding a piece of legislation involving medical attention for asylum seekers.

Adopting Trumps tactics of:

Lying about the way in which people seeking asylum come to Australia (the vast majority of "illegal” migrants arrive by plane, not by boat),

Using dehumanising language about those seeking asylum (referring to them in the same way that Donald Trump refers to people seeking asylum, ie: paedophiles, rapists and murders, yep, our Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that about people seeking asylum),

By lying to the Australian people about the details of the legislation that the Australian Labor Party and others who oppose the current government voted on (see this article where the Australian Prime Minister refused to acknowledge that the legislation did not apply to new arrivals, and therefore he had intentionally misled the Australian public)

the current conservative government seeks to adopt the strategy of frightening the Australian public to vote for them.

What has any of this got to do with my opening comments regarding the phrase “fear not” found in the Christian-Judeo holy text so many times?

Firstly, much has been made about our Prime Minister’s faith. Secondly the context of his faith tradition is one that constituted part of my own faith formation during my 20′s. It is a tradition that tends to seek an interpretation of scripture that leads to a “practical application”. It is the tradition where I heard preachers discuss the phrase “fear not”, the fact that it appeared many times in the sacred text and what that means in terms of our individual and collective faith practice.

Secondly, a man of faith in the public context seems, from my vantage point, to be at best deliberately distorting facts, and at worst lying to the Australian public in order to induce fear, at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in the world, in order to maintain a hold on power. All whilst ignoring the words and the implication of this repeated refrain from the text that he, I and many of our sisters and brothers hold sacred.

To put it plainly, rather than obeying the commands to “fear not”, our Prime Minister, my brother in Christ is encouraging people to be afraid, and unless someone can spell out in unambiguous terms to the contrary, the reason he is doing it is because an election is on the near horizon which his party looks set to lose.

Australia suffers a media monopoly. It is no secret that the Murdoch press (and I’m not just talking traditional newspapers) holds a powerful beachhead in the Australian public’s imagination. I believe it is also for that same reason that the federal opposition backed off from support for the medical evacuation legislation.

A 3% shift in voting intentions in one week.

Based on a fear campaign about people seeking asylum.

The British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously said “a week is a long time in politics”. I began writing this post last week. For all sorts of reasons it was interrupted and here I am completing the post. This week in Australia, the federal government is facing some serious heat regarding a couple of financial and favour related rorts. These revelations gutted the energy and attention being given to the fear based asylum seeker debate. I am not convinced that this will last for long.

As I lamented the prevalence of fear and the lack of courage in our political debate this last week, I received a gift of grace. It was a letter penned by a courageous visionary.

What follows is an open letter from Australian football pundit and former Australian international, Craig Foster. Before you write him off as a celebrity SJW, you might do well to do some research not only on his recent key role in the release of the detention of Australian refugee Hakeem al-Araibi, but also of much of his other tireless humanitarian work behind the scenes and out of the public spotlight.

With courage (which the last time I checked didn’t mean the absence of fear, but the capacity to continue to act in spite of being gripped by fear), we find ourselves in a place of spacious vision. More power to your elbow Craig Foster as you encourage us to “fear not”.

Dear Scott and Bill,

Thank you for your support for Hakeem al-Araibi during his recent struggle for justice and for the welcome provided to him last week at Parliament House. It was a powerful moment to see a young refugee celebrated in the centre of our democracy, the values of which underpinned our unshakeable conviction in his right to freedom.

In recent years, I have farewelled a loved friend and Hungarian refugee, Laszlo Urge, known as Les Murray AM, who was afforded a NSW state funeral, and seen a young Bahraini refugee become a symbol of hope and of the restoration of our values. Together, they stand as just two examples of what can be achieved by all, including those seeking a new life, free of persecution.

And not for the first time did I reflect that we are all just a different passport away from standing in their place. Had my family been in danger in a 1957 Hungary, I, too, would have fled. And had my own government had me incarcerated and tortured as a young athlete, I, too, would have spoken out and sought a new life elsewhere.

I could have been Les or Hakeem, and so could have you. While we work to ensure a prosperous and safe future for all Australians, we should never forget this.

Hakeem was understandably nervous when entering your offices since, in many countries, there is an unnavigable divide between the entitled and the rest. Don’t be worried, I told him, in Australia everyone is equal and you will have the opportunity one day to hold a position of leadership, should you wish.

Australians do not revere position or title, rather we judge the person by their actions. And so too are nations judged. It is in relation to our actions as a country that I now write.

I have waited until after Hakeem was safely home [from Thailand] to explain that one of the reasons it was so difficult to garner international support was because of our own treatment of refugees. This was a constant theme throughout discussions with international stakeholders.

Nor was it lost on any of us fighting so hard against two governments and monarchies and in urging FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation and the International Olympic Committee to uphold their human rights obligations that we are failing to uphold our own.

It cannot be right that, with Australia having participated as one of just eight nations in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over 70 years ago, we are prepared to put people seeking asylum at risk of physical and psychological harm in order to deter others.

The fact that Parliament faced such a considerable challenge to pass legislation simply to provide medical care to refugees, fellow human beings, shows that we have gone too far, strayed from our basic values of humanity, that we need to step back and consider as a nation who we are and what we stand for.

As with Hakeem’s case, this issue transcends party lines and goes to universal values. The policy of indefinite, offshore detention does not uphold our international obligations and we need to be strong enough to admit this and to find a fair and humane solution to this crisis of our conscience.

Of course, we all accept that protecting Australians is critically important and this is why we need to find a solution in which people are not harmed in return. Our country needs strong leadership from you both to regain more than our international credibility in our treatment of all people, but our very sense of nationhood and pride in how we conduct ourselves both at home, and abroad.

The shared will to save Hakeem demonstrates that Australia is ready to have this discussion and to confront the image staring back at us in the mirror.

We are a part of the broader, global family and should act accordingly, just as you and I demanded that other state and non-state actors do on Hakeem’s behalf.

I am asking that you bring together the relevant people in the same spirit of humanity that saved a young man’s life to find a workable solution that upholds the obligations that we so proudly played a role in creating in 1948. One that gives every Australian an opportunity to say that we are not just a great multicultural and sporting nation, but a caring one.

We all saved Hakeem, together, and it will be up to all of our national leaders, irrespective of who ultimately prevails in the forthcoming election, to ensure that we now save ourselves.

Kind Regards,

Craig Foster, former Australian International (Socceroo), 29 appearances, proud but concerned Australian.

[lucyariablog]

Build a Great Brand: Align What You Think, Do, and Say

“Content marketing is becoming marketing.” That’s the first item John Hall cites in his Forbes article about 2019 content marketing trends to watch.

Once a radical idea (despite its historical roots), the concept of replacing one-sided information pushes with two-way conversations and relationships with audiences is now commonplace with marketing teams.

“Content is one of the best tools you have for earning trust, building your brand, generating site traffic and qualified leads, and everything in between,” writes John, co-founder and president of Calendar.

Content is one of best tools for earning trust, brand building, & generating traffic & leads. @johnhall Click To Tweet

Content marketing’s success prompted LinkedIn’s Jason Miller to say content marketers need to look toward what’s next. “We need to figure out what’s really fundamental to what we do, and what’s just a tactic or technique that’s worked brilliantly in the past but might not necessarily work in the future,” he writes. “We need to build our conversation around a shared understanding of those fundamentals, but not around the same endlessly repeated tactics.”

Church+State founder Ron Tite suggests content marketers need to go further – to elevate every conversation to something greater than tactics.

Doing that, he says, is the only way to win and keep the audience’s attention.

“People used to vote with their wallets, and now they vote with their time,” he says. “We’re battling for time against content providers. We’re competing against the internet, and quite frankly, it’s kicking our ass right now.”

People used to vote with their wallets. Now they vote with their time, says @RonTite. Click To Tweet

The key to winning this battle, he suggests, is to build a great brand by focusing on what your brand and the people behind it think, do, and say. (Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and images come from Ron’s Content Marketing World 2018 presentation, The Death of Content Marketing – The Rise of Content Marketers.)

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Why think, do, and say must align

Too many marketers hear the think, do, say alignment advice and immediately advocate for one social issue or another. Unfortunately, audiences see right through this unthinking approach, often taking to social media to point out a company’s hypocrisy.

Brands also sometimes are pushed by their agencies to jump into whatever hot conversations audiences are having. But if the conversation isn’t aligned with the brand as a whole, this approach rarely resonates.

Ron offers a contrast between outdoor retailer REI and carmaker Audi. When REI launched its #OptOutside initiative, its CEO said, “We believe that a life lived outside is a life worth living.” It showed the brand believes in something greater than selling tents – that initiative is aligned with the brand’s purpose.

On the other hand, Audi aired an ad on gender equality in the workforce during the Super Bowl. While an admirable cause, Audi missed a step because gender equality is not connected to the reason Audi makes cars.

“If you believe in something greater than your product and you align the behaviors and actions that reinforce that, that is worth talking about,” says Ron. “When an organization, and all the people within the organization think, do, and say the same thing, now you’ve got complete organizational alignment. And this is a marketing plan we can talk about.”

To illustrate, Ron shows a simple diagram that shows what it looks like when the thoughts, actions, and communications of an organization and its leaders and representatives are all aligned with the brand’s.

The harmonious image is quickly disrupted when the center circle rotates – and an individual thinks, does, or says things that oppose what the rest of the organization thinks, does, or says – creating an integrity gap.

Integrity gap is created when brand reps think, do, or says things opposite of rest of organization. @RonTite Click To Tweet

These integrity gaps account for every brand failure (explosions, as Ron calls them) over the past decade.

“If, as an organization, all you do is think, then you’re a think tank,” he says. “If, as an organization, all you do is do, do, do, you’re a sweatshop. No one wants to work for you … If, as an organization, all you do is say, say, say, but you never actually deliver on what you promised, then your customer churn goes through the roof.”

It has to be think, do, and say in harmony.

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Start with thinking

The first step toward a congruent, inside-out alignment is to stop and have a good, long think. Microsoft did this in 2014 when Satya Nadella took the reins and reversed a generations-old practice of denying and vilifying the competition.

Ron, who counts Microsoft as a client, remembers Satya’s predecessor, Steve Blamer’s era. “I could never go in with a Mac and present. You’d go in and they’d say, ‘Could you put a yellow sticky note over the logo?’”

During the same period, Microsoft employees consciously corrected non-Microsoft language, saying, “Don’t you mean you ‘Bing-ed’ it?” in response to someone using Google as the search-engine verb.

Satya thought differently about prioritizing Microsoft customers over its products. He realized Microsoft customers use a variety of software and hardware. He acted differently to change Microsoft’s culture. And he spoke differently by talking more about users and less about Microsoft.

Satya’s new way of thinking allowed Microsoft team members to reorient their thinking to put customers first. Without it, no behavioral or verbal strategy would have turned the stagnating ship around.

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What brands do

In the past, marketers’ goals included the task of creating a customer. Today, though, marketers can elevate their thinking to affect what they (and the brand) naturally do and say. You’re not bound to the content marketing tactics of steadfast content marketing brands (think Red Bull, REI, and Nike). Instead, look at how they think and let that inform your brand’s strategy with its unique purposes and values.

Talk of change tends to motivate a few trailblazers on each team to go back and disrupt their hard-fought, well-oiled machine. To clarify, you can’t take what Ron says (or what you read on the CMI blog) and single-handedly innovate the proverbial automobile assembly line.

Most enterprise content marketing teams have spent time and resources honing clear roles, responsibilities, and performance measurements.

Even if your department is on board with the change, you should, in keeping with the assembly line analogy, dedicate one team to crafting a prototype that embodies your new philosophy. Much like a dedicated group creates a concept car.

To apply the method to marketing, Ron gives a real-life example: “I tweeted that I loved the Westin Grand,” he recalls. “They write back, boom, ‘We love you too. If there’s anything we can do to make your stay better, let us know.’”

He responded to let them know there was no shampoo in his room that morning. “A little later, there’s a knock at the door,” he says. “A woman comes in with fresh fruit. She has chocolate. She has ice water. She has this note.”

He was delighted, and, as he is a frequent speaker, many people in his audiences heard about his positive experience. Word got back to the hotel property, which decided to kick things up a notch. The next time he checked in to the same hotel, he found his favorite drink, snack, a framed picture of him with his furry best friend, 20 shampoo bottles, and this note:

Now, the Westin’s novel gesture feels natural. “They’ve done it before, and it feels just as special. They probably have a room full of the frames, and they’ve got a process,” Ron says. But the takeaway is that Westin’s personal outreach wasn’t always an “assembly line” act.

“(Content marketing revolutionaries) set out to make a change for their business through many incremental improvements that would add value to their customers’ lives,” writes CMI chief strategy advisor Robert Rose. “Only in hindsight do we see them as revolutionaries.”

Ron agrees. What you do today should not reflect another thing that weighs down your marketing task list but should represent a byproduct of your (and your corporate culture’s) rational transformation.

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What brands say

How’s this for irony?  All the way to the end, Enron, the U.S. energy-trading and utilities company that perpetuated one of the country’s biggest accounting frauds, displayed in its corporate lobby the words integrity, respect, communications, and excellence.

The travesty seems laughable today, but how much of your brand’s purpose statement is really lived out?

How much of your brand’s purpose is really lived out, asks @RonTite. Click To Tweet

“I shouldn’t read your values,” Ron says. “I should experience your values.”

Nike’s much discussed Colin Kaepernick campaign provides an example of what a brand says being supported by its actions. The copy literally speaks to elevating the conversation, Ron points out. And for a company that says it’s about supporting athletes, stepping into this controversy despite the risks backs up its words with actions.

Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018

Aim higher than content, marketing, or advertising

Platforms and mediums will come and go. The content marketers who stand the test of time are those who build content brands around their values, not their products. And remember, if you only value your company and your products, that’s what you’ll talk about by default.

Adopt this think-do-say attitude, Ron says, and your advertisements and typical content assets can soon be interchangeable — not because they look alike or serve the same goals but because they spring from the same mindset, which drives everything your brand does and says.

Back to Nike’s Kaepernick tweet.

“Is this PR? Is this an ad? Is this content,” Ron asks. “It doesn’t matter. It’s marketing. Let’s own it and tear the labels away.”

When you elevate the conversation and let go of labels, you can choose any tactic to support your brand. It doesn’t matter what you call it.

“Once we believe something that’s greater, once we’ve elevated that conversation, once we’ve backed it up with actions that are based on who we’re doing it for, what they want us to do, and who we do it with, that is worth talking about,” Ron says. “That is worth marketing.”

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Here’s an excerpt from Ron’s talk:

Ron Tite’s Content Marketing World presentation is part of this winter’s CMI University curriculum. Don’t miss out – enrollment opens today.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Build a Great Brand: Align What You Think, Do, and Say appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/11/build-brand-align/

[delwray-blog]

LISTEN AS A JEW SPEAKS OUT!

A JEW SPEAKS OUT! 

                                                  (A brief summary of Dr. Benjamin Freedman's book FACTS ARE FACTS. Must reading for every concerned Christian.) 

By Brig. Gen. Jack Mohr, National Defense Coordinator  Civilian Emergency Defense System

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

Many Christians are utterly confused by what is happening in the world today. Much of this confusion is coming from the pulpits, where many pastors have departed from preaching the "whole counsel of the Word of God," and have been led astray in their seminaries and Bible Schools, to depend on the teachings of men. 

There is probably no area where this is more evident than in modern church teaching regarding a people we today call "Jews" and who have been held up to most Christians, as being the "Chosen People of God, the People of the Book." 

An honest study of the teachings of Judaism, and especially their holy book The Babylonian Talmud will reveal that they are the most deadly enemies of God, His Christ, and the Christian church. They have advanced far in their plan to destroy Christian civilization and the freedom it has brought to the world, because of their aid from the Christian church. 

If Christianity is to survive; if freedom is to be retained, it will only come about when God's true Israel people, the Anglo-Saxon and related people's of the world, the nations we sometimes refer to as Christendom, the true seed of Abraham, wake up to the truth of what is happening and do something to stop it. 

This booklet was not written to make you hate the Jews. It was prayerfully prepared, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to show you the truth. I will not attempt to change your mind about the Jews; that is not my task. I am a "watchman on the walls of Israel-America." My task is to warn you of dangers we face. What you do with this warning will be between you and God. Some day you will be required to answer for what you learn in this booklet. There will be no excuses then! So if you want the truth - READ ON! If you are afraid to know the truth, stop reading right now, for you are going to be tremendously disturbed!

The historical facts revealed in this booklet provide incontestable proofs that their continued suppression will be harmful to the security of America, the peace of the world, the welfare of humanity, the progress of Civilization and the cause of Jesus Christ and His Coming Kingdom. 

Most of the information you read will not come from the author, but from an original source, a Jew, who during his lifetime, spent a personal fortune of over $2-million to bring these frightening facts to the attention of the American people. This man was not a Jewish American, whose loyalty was to the "bastard state of the Israeli" in Palestine. He was an American Jew, who had been converted to Christianity and who loved Jesus Christ and the United States of America. Laboring under almost unbelievable odds, hated by his own people, vilified by Christians who should have known better, Dr. Benjamin Freedman literally "burned himself out", materially and physically, to warn Christians and this nation of the danger posed by his own people, the Jews. 

In October 1954, from his office on Park Avenue, New York City, Dr. Freedman wrote a long letter to Dr. David Goldstein, a Jew who had been converted to Catholicism, but who by his writings and speeches was for all intents and purposes, still a Jew. This letter was printed in a small book titled FACTS ARE FACTS. Very few Christians have ever read it. 

Because of its length, and much repetition, I have picked out the high-points of this unusual book. I ask that as you read, pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten you to the truth it contains. Then armed with these truths, go out in God's strength, to do battle with those who would destroy everything you say you love as a Christian. 

As you read, keep in mind Galatians 4:16 - "Am I to become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"

After a rather lengthy introduction, in which he explains the purpose of his letter to Dr. Goldstein, Dr. Freedman gets into the meat of his message. 

You assuredly subscribe to that sound and sensible sentiment that "it is better to light one candle than to sit in the darkness." There have been many instances where I have failed over the past thirty years. I still live in hope that one day, one of these candles will burst into flame like a long-smoldering spark and start a conflagration that will sweep across this nation like a prairie fire and illuminate vast new horizons for the first time. 

It has been correctly contended for thousands of years, that in the end, truth will always prevail. We realize that truth in action can prove itself a dynamic force of unlimited power. But Truth has no self-starter. Truth cannot get off dead-center unless a worthy apostle of Truth gives it a little push to overcome inertia. Without that start, Truth will stand still or often "die aborting."

On the other hand, Truth has many times been "blacked out" by repeated contradictory and conflicting untruths, repeated over and over again. World's history supplies many sober testimonies to this truth. This form of Treason to Truth is treachery to mankind. 

Many of history's most noted characters have misrepresented Truth to the world. As recently as 1492, the world was misrepresented as being flat, by all the best authorities. When Christopher Columbus demonstrated otherwise, he came in for all sorts of criticism. There have been countless other similar incidents. 

Whether these authorities were guilty of ignorance or indifference is beside the point. A duplication of this exists today with respect to the crisis which confronts Christianity. We are living in the "Zero Hour" for the Christian faith. No institution in modern society can long survive if its structure is not erected on the foundation of Truth. The Christian faith began on the solid foundation of its Founder. To survive, it must remain on that foundation. The deterioration, disintegration, and final destruction of the Christian faith will be accelerated in direct ratio to the distortion and misrepresentation which is allowed to become the substitute for Truth. Truth is absolute! It can never be relative! Truth either exists, or it does not! There can be no degrees of Truth! To be half-true is as incredible as to be half-honest, or half-loyal! 

In their attempts to do an "ounce" of good in one direction, many well-intentioned persons have done a "ton" of harm in the other. (He then goes on to mention how Dr. Goldstein had devoted his life to the conversion of so-called Jews.) He continues: For every ounce of good you accomplish through the conversion of a self-styled Jew' (Rev. 2:9) to the Christian faith, you do a ton of harm in another direction.

Regardless of what anyone, anywhere and anytime may say, events of recent years everywhere have established beyond the question of doubt that the Christian faith stands with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, figuratively speaking. (Consider this! Christian polls place the number of "born again" Christians in America at over 45-million; this number grows every day due to the unceasing efforts of evangelical and fundamental groups. This is good. But where is this Christian influence in America? As the number of "born again" people has increased, Christian influence has decreased. Crime, corruption, and evil of every type have taken a stranglehold on America. Could it be that these Christians have become "the salt which has lost its savor - its ability to act as salt?" The major property of salt is to hold back corruption. Why have Christians failed in their efforts? Why is the Moral Majority making such little headway against all types of evil? Could it be that they have refused to strike at the root of the problem because it is a Jewish root? Could it be that many of these Christians are fulfilling the words of Isaiah 29:13 - "...this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men.") 

The Christian faith stands at the crossroads of its destiny. The Divine and sacred mission of the Christian faith is in jeopardy today to a degree never witnessed before in its 2,000-year history. 

If the day ever arrives that Christians can no longer profess their Christian faith, (This time has already come in Communist countries.) as they profess it in the Free World, then it will see the beginning of its last days. 

It is useless to deny that today the Christian faith is on the defensive throughout the world. This realization staggers the imagination of those of us who understand the situation. 

The history of the world for the past several centuries and current events at home and abroad, confirm the existence of a conspiracy to destroy Christian Civilization. The world-wide plot of these diabolical conspirators has been implemented while most Christians have been asleep. The Christian clergy seem to be more ignorant and indifferent to this plot than other Christians. They seem to bury their heads in the sands of indifference and ignorance like the legendary ostrich. This ignorance and indifference have dealt a severe blow to the Christian faith, from which it may never recover. 

Christians need a spiritual Paul Revere to ride across this land, warning that their enemies are closing in on them. (This is what I have been attempting to do.) 

WHO ARE THESE ENEMIES?

It is important that we pinpoint the enemies who are making war on the Christian faith. The souls of millions of Christians are uneasy about the state of the Christian faith today. The minds of thousands of Christian clergy are troubled about the mysterious pressures from above which often prevent them from exercising sound judgment in this situation. If these forces can be identified and stopped, Christianity will stand on its feet, facing its enemies like the Rock of Gibraltar. But unless something is done soon, the faith of many will begin to crumble. (We already see evidence of this.) 

The Christian clergy is primarily, if not solely responsible for the internal forces within the Christian faith, which are fighting against its best interests. We can no longer pussy-foot with the truth because we find that it hurts someone we know or like.

At this late hour, there is very little time left to mend our fences. "Beating around the bush," will get us nowhere. The courageous alone will endure the present crisis. Both figuratively and literally, there will be live heroes and dead cowards when the dust of this secular conflict settles. The Christian faith is the only anchor to windward, against universal barbarism. The enemies of Christianity have already shown us the savage methods they will adopt if they are victorious. 

The confusion of the average Christian comes from the action of the clergy. Confusion creates doubt! Doubt brings loss of confidence! Loss of confidence brings loss of interest! 

There need be no confusion in the minds of Christians concerning the fundamentals of the faith. It would not exist if the clergy were not "aiding and abetting" their own worst enemies. Many clergymen are their allies, without realizing it, while others have become deliberate "male prostitutes" to their cause. 

Countless Christians are today standing on the sidelines of this struggle, watching as their faith "withers on the levee," and their freedom is about to drop into the laps of their enemies like overripe fruit. Their cup becomes more bitter when they realize that it is the ignorance and indifference of their leaders which is causing the problem. (When I first began to see what is happening, I spent several hundred hours of research on the problem. When I thought I had enough information to speak intelligently about it, I went to my pastor, expecting him to at least read the material I had so painstakingly assembled but as he glanced at it and saw that it was not complementary to the Jews, he threw it into the wastebasket and pronounced me an apostate. When I asked him to look with me in the Bible, his retort was angry: "I already know what the Bible says." How can you do anything constructive with a man like that?) 

When Christians see their leaders in retreat, which can only bring defeat, they are confused and afraid. To stop this surrender, the clergy MUST make an about-face immediately and take a stand against the invisible and intangible ideological war which is subversively being waged against the Christian faith. 

The utterance by the clergy which confuses Christians the most is constantly repeated from the pulpit and on the written page, this is that "Jesus was a Jew!" This is not only a misrepresentation but a distortion of incontestable historical facts. Yet it is uttered by the clergy on the slightest pretext. They utter it without provocation. They appear to be "trigger happy" to utter it! They never miss an opportunity to proclaim it to their congregations. 

But informed, intelligent Christians, who know the facts of Scripture and history, cannot reconcile this misinformation with incontestable facts.  The only way the clergy can get out of this mess they have brought on themselves is to resort to "telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." This is the only formula which will allow them to regain the full confidence of their flocks. 

Without fear of contradiction based on fact, the most competent, and best-qualified authorities today, will have to admit that Jesus was not a self-styled Jew. During His lifetime, He was known as a JUDEAN, by His contemporaries, HE WAS NEVER CALLED A JEW!!! 

When Jesus was crucified, the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate had an inscription placed on the cross. It was written in Latin, IEUS NAZARENOUS REX IUDERUM. Since Latin was Pilate's mother tongue, he was able to express his ideas in this language. Authorities competent to translate from Latin to English agree that this inscription said: JESUS THE NAZARENE RULER OF THE JUDEANS! Then why have our Bible translators, almost to a man, translated this to read: JESUS THE NAZARENE, KING OF THE JEWS? 

There is little doubt that Pilate was being sarcastic when he put this inscription on the cross. He was mocking the Pharisees, whom he hated, knowing that they had denounced Jesus, defamed Him; that He had been denied by the majority of the Judeans and that they had insisted on His crucifixion. 

Except for a few of His followers, all Judeans detested His teachings. The Gospel of Matthew 27:25 says that when Pilate washed his hands of the blood of Jesus - "Then answered ALL the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children." (Let your pastor argue about that verse.) With the exception of the traitor Judas, none of His disciples were JUDEANS they were all from Nazareth, in the Israel nation. Jesus said of Judas, that he was a "devil", (John 6:70 - compare with John 8:44.) 

When Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, there was no racial, religious, or political group, anywhere in the world which was known as "Jews."  (Then follows ten pages of evidence, proving to the most biased mind that Jesus was never called a Jew since the word was not used in the English language until 1775.) Shakespeare, in his MERCHANT OF VENICE, did not use the word "Jew", instead, he said: "what is reason? I am an IEWE; hath not an IEWE eye?" This was the English word for JUDEAN.

In the 4th Century Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament, Jesus was referred to by the Genitive Plural IUDEAEUS. In the Rheims Douai Version, the word "Jew" does not appear. In the original King James 1611 Version, the word JUDEAN was used. (In John 4:22, where Jesus spoke with the woman at the well of Samaria, the words in the present King James Version make little or no sense: "for salvation is of the Jews." What intelligent Christian would believe that salvation came through any nation or religion? We know this is untrue. But in the original 1611 Version of the King James Bible, this verse reads: "But salvation cometh out of Judea." This makes sense, for this is where Jesus came from and it was, foretold in prophecy.)

When the word JEW was first introduced into the English language, it’s only meaning by implication, inference or innuendo was JUDEAN. But during the 19th and 2Oth Centuries, a well-organized, well-financed international pressure group of Jews created a "secondary meaning" for the word, among English speaking peoples. This secondary meaning has no more relationship to the word JEW as used in the 18th century, than the original meaning of the word CAMEL, an animal, has to CAMEL, a cigarette; or IVORY, a tusk of an animal, bears to IVORY a type of soap.

The generally accepted secondary meaning of JEW today is made up of four almost universal theories.

(1) JEW - a person who today believes in a form of religion known as Judaism; 

(2) JEW - a person who claims to belong to a racial group associated with ancient Semites;

(3) JEW - a person who is directly descended from the patriarch Abraham; and, 

(4) JEW - a person blessed by Divine intentional design with certain superior cultural characteristics denied to other racial, religious and national groups.

The acceptance of this "secondary" meaning is what has confused most Christians. More and more of them are beginning to realize that they have been "brainwashed" into believing such phrases that JESUS WAS A JEW! AND JUDEO-CHRISTIAN, to the point where it now approaches psychosis. 

The time has come when our clergy better wake up and tell their people the truth. They may not yet feel the resentment of their people, because of their untruths, but that time will come and it will be a bitter pill for these so-called "men of God" to swallow. 

More and more intelligent, informed Christians, who have been studying the Bible and history for themselves, are challenging the assertion that Jesus was a member of a religious group in Judea who practiced Phariseeism, or Judaism. They also know that the people, who now call themselves JEWS, are not the people of the Book - not the descendants of Abraham. 

The resentment of the people at the "lack of guts" in the clergy, to tell the truth, is deepening. (I predict a day soon when the clergy will be held accountable by their people, for their treason against God, their race and their country.) As this condition expands, the clergy will find to their sorrow, that "ignorance is not bliss," neither is "wisdom folly." 

(As Christians learn how self-styled Jews have spent millions of dollars to manufacture the "Jewish myth" for Christian consumption and that they have done this both for economic and political advantage, you will see a tremendous explosion against the Jews. Right thinking Jewish leaders are worried about this since they see it coming. The unfortunate thing is that many of the "little Jews," the ones you and I rub shoulders with in everyday life, the man who owns the corner delicatessen store, most of who know little about what is happening at International level, these are the ones who are always hurt the worst.) 

(To say that Christianity and Judaism have the same roots is nothing but outright blasphemy.) Jesus abhorred and denounced the form of religion practiced in Judea in His day. His pet peeve was with the Pharisees, who were the exponents of Judaism. Most Christian ministers learn this during their seminary days, but few ever tell this to their people. 

The eminent Jew, Rabbi Louis Finklestein, head of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, often referred to as "THE VATICAN OF JUDAISM", in the foreword to his First Edition of THE PHARISEES, THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF THEIR FAITH, page 21, says: "...Judaism... Phariseeism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism. But throughout these changes in name the spirit of the ancient Pharisees survives, unaltered. From Palestine to Babylonia; from Babylonia to North Africa, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany; from these to Poland, Russia, and Eastern Europe generally, ancient Phariseeism has wandered... this demonstrates the enduring importance which is attached to Phariseeism as a religious movement. 

(These were the same men to whom our Lord said: Matthew 23:15 - "...ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.")

Rabbi Adolph Moses, states in his book YAHUISM, AND OTHER DISCOURSES, page 1 -"The term Judaism coined by Josephus (an eminent Jewish historian of the first century A.D.), remained absolutely unknown to them (Jews). It was only in comparatively recent times, after the Jews became familiar with modern Christian literature, that they began to name their religion Judaism." (It was also during this time, that the heresy of Judeo Christianity was coined.) 

The religion of Phariseeism practiced in Judea during the time of Jesus was a religious practice based exclusively on the Talmud. (It was not based on Mosaic law as most Christians believe. Our Lord told us this when he criticized the Pharisees in John 5:46, saying to them: "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me." The TALMUD today virtually exercises totalitarian control over the lives of every so-called Jew, whether they are aware of it or not. Jewish authorities extend their control far beyond that of spiritual matters. 

The role the TALMUD plays in Judaism is officially stated by Rabbi Morris N. Keitzer, the Director of Interreligious Activities of North American Jewish Commission. In an article in LOOK magazine, June 17, 1952, he states: "The TALMUD consists of 63 books of legal, ethical and historical writings of the ancient rabbis. It was edited five centuries after the birth of Jesus. It is a compendium of law and lore. It is the legal code which forms the basis of Jewish religious law and it is the textbook used in the training of rabbis." 

WHAT IS THE TALMUD?

In his book HISTORY OF THE TALMUD, Michael Redkinson states on page 70 - "Here is the source from whence Jesus of Nazareth drew the teachings which enabled him to revolutionize the world." (This, of course, is an old Jewish trick, to call Jesus a "revolutionary." It leads us to this question - "Do we as Christians know what the TALMUD teaches?" Could this be what Jesus alluded to in Matthew 15:6 when He said - "Thus have ye (the Pharisees) made the commandments of God of none effect by your traditions," and a second witness gave in Mark 7:8 - "Howbeit in vain do they (the Pharisees) worship me (God), teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold to the traditions of men.") 

Stimulated by this statement from an eminent Jewish rabbi, every Christian, especially every pastor, should take time to investigate whether this is true. Ask yourself: "What do I know about the TALMUD?" 

From the birth of Jesus to the present, there has never been recorded a more vicious, vile and libelous blasphemy against Jesus and Christians, than you will find in the pages of these 63 volumes. The Talmud reviles Christ and Christians in unbelievably foul, obscene, indecent, lewd and vile language. (Please excuse their use in this article. They are all direct quotes from the TALMUD.) 

In 1935, the first International hierarchy of so-called Jews, for the first time in history published an official, unabridged English translation of the whole TALMUD. It was probably done because many of the younger Jews could not read Hebrew, the language in which it was written. 

This translation was known as the SONCINO EDITION of the TALMUD and it immediately became a "two-edged sword". For while it taught millions of younger Jews, the teachings of Judaism, it also enabled Christians, for the first time, to learn what the TALMUD actually taught about their Founder and their religion. 

(Here Dr. Freedman makes numerous quotes from the TALMUD. I will only give a few and I ask you to pardon the language used. It is not mine but comes directly from this Jewish book. It is from this veritable "sewer of filth" that so-called Jews are taught and which their leaders have "brainwashed" Christians into believing that the teachings of Christianity come.) 

In the Volume SANHEDRIN, 55b - "A maiden three years and a day may be acquired in marriage by coitus (sexual intercourse) and if her deceased husband's brother cohabits with her, she becomes his. The penalty of adultery may be incurred through her; if she defiles him with whom she has a connection, so that he, in turn, defiles that upon which he lies, as a garment which has been laid upon by a person afflicted with gonorrhea."

SANHEDRIN 69b - "If a woman sported lewdly with her young son (a minor), and he committed the first stage of cohabitation with her, would this render her unfit for the priesthood?" Rabbi Beth Hillel declares in answer: "the connection by a boy of nine years and a day is a real connection; while that of a boy of less than eight years is not." (While the Levitical law states that a woman who becomes a harlot may not marry into the priesthood, Rabbi Hillel says that if the son was eight or under, he is not yet a man and as a result, it does not so disqualify her.) 

YEBAMOUTH, 63a - "What is meant by the Scriptural text: 'This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh?'" (Genesis 2:23) Rabbi Eleazer says: "This teaches that Adam had intercourse with every beast and animal in the Garden of Eden, but found no satisfaction until he cohabited with Eve." (This I believe is enough of this filth, which can be found in thousands of TALMUDIC passages, to give you a general idea of its vileness.)

To the average Christian, the word TALMUD has no meaning, or if it does, it is associated with the Bible of Judaism. (Very few Christians have ever seen the TALMUD, much less read it, because this foul book pronounces a death penalty on any "goyim" (non-Jew) who reads it and any Jew who helps him obtain access to it.) Many Christians seem to think that the TALMUD is some sort of a Jewish spiritual manual. 

How many Christians know the significance of the KOL NIDRE (All Vows) prayer, which is recited by so-called Jews on the Day of Atonement?  In Volume VIII of the Jewish Encyclopedia, found in the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library and other large libraries, will be found the official translation into English of the KOL NIDRE. It is a prologue to the Day of Atonement services in all synagogues. It is recited three times by the standing congregation in concert with the chanting rabbis at the altar. Here is the official translation: "All vows, obligations, oaths, anathemas, whether called 'konan', 'konas', or by any other name, which we may vow, or swear, or pledge, or whereby we may be bound, from this Day of Atonement unto the next, we do repent. May they be deemed absolved, forgiven, annulled, and void, and made of none effect; they shall not bind us nor have power over us. The vows shall not be reckoned vows; the obligations shall not be obligations nor the oaths be oaths." (What is the meaning of all this? It simply means that the word, promises, or oath of any so-called Jew is not to be trusted. The Jew who never attends synagogue during the year, always makes it a point to be at this one service, where he is absolved from all promises he makes during the following year. How then can we trust a Jewish Judge or Legislator, to fulfill his oath of office, when we know he has taken this oath?) 

In some parts of the world the stupid Christian churches actually "peal their church bells," to help celebrate this holy day of their worst enemies. 

The present wording of the KOL NIDRE dates from the 11th Century.  There was an attempt made a few years ago to repeal this nefarious prayer, but it was voted down by Ashkenazi Jews. 

How many Christians know that a large majority of so-called Jews have no connection with lineal descendants from the tribes of Israel or Judah? Not even many ministers know this. At least 90% or more of the people we know as Jews are descendants of a Turco-Mongolian people known as Khazars and are not Semites at all. 

What mysterious power has kept this from the Christian world for centuries? The origin of the Khazars and the Khazar Kingdom are historical facts, yet very few students of history know anything about their connections to modern Jewry. 

The Khazar Kingdom in southern Russia in the 8thCentury A.D. was the largest nation in Europe. It covered an area approximately 1-million miles square and was inhabited for the most part by the Khazar people who were an Asiatic-Mongoloid people. They are classified by modern anthropologists as Turco Finnish. They were a very war-like people who had been driven Westward out of Asia. They were pagans in their religion, which was a combination of phallic and idol worship. The vile forms of sexual excesses indulged in by the Khazars had produced a degree of moral degeneracy which even the Khazar, King, could not stomach. In the 7th Century, King Bulan decided to abolish this immoral religion and make one of the "monotheistic" religions the new State religion. After a historical session with representatives of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, he selected Talmudism as his State religion. 

The King invited large numbers of rabbis to come to the kingdom and teach his people the new religion. After this, no one but a so-called Jew could be king. The ideologies of the TALMUD became the axis of political, Cultural, economic and social attitudes. This change is graphically' described in Volume IV, of the Jewish Encyclopedia. 

When King Bulan converted to Judaism, he decreed that the Hebrew alphabet would become the alphabet of the Khazar language. The adoption of the Hebrew alphabet had no racial, political or religious significance. While most of the nations of Western Europe adopted Latin as their alphabet, the Khazar language became known as YIDDISH. For at least six centuries the Jews of Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Rumania and Hungary' referred to their common language as YIDDISH and it is used extensively today throughout the Jewish world. Yiddish is not a German dialect, as many believe, although it did borrow many German words. 

The descendants of the Khazars, which make up at least 90% of modern day Judaism, are a product of Talmudism and it may come as a surprise to many' Christians, that they have no connection with Abraham. (When I first began to air this information, an irate Christian woman from Dallas wrote to me and said: "Everyone knows that the Jews are blood descendants of Abraham; the Bible says this and that's that." But the Bible does not say this and when I wrote and asked her if Sammy Davis, Jr., the Black singer was a descendant of Abraham, she got very upset.) 

In 1951, when President Truman was presented with a set of the TALMUD, he was quoted by Jewish sources as saying: ''the book I read the most is the TALMUD which contains sound reasoning and good philosophy." Yet these were the teachings condemned by our Lord. 

WHAT DOES THE TALMUD TEACH REGARDING CHRISTIANITY?

The Rev. I. B. Prantis, Professor of Hebrew at the Imperial Ecclesiastical Academy in old St. Petersburg, Russia, and probably the world’s greatest "non-Jewish" authority on the TALMUD, wrote a devastating book titled THE TALMUD UNMASKED - The Secret Rabbinical Teachings Concerning Christians. The Jews used millions of dollars to suppress this book. Here are some of the references Dr. Prantis used, taken directly from the TALMUD:

SANHEDRIN, 67a - "Jesus is referred to as the son of Pandria, a Roman soldier." 

KALLAH, lb (18b) - "Jesus was the illegitimate child of a Jewish prostitute and was conceived during menstruation." 

SCHABBATH, 104b - "Jesus is called a fool." 

SANHEDRIN, 103 - "This passage suggests that Jesus had corrupt morals."

SANHEDRIN, 107b - "This says that Jesus corrupted, deceived and destroyed Israel." 

ZOHAR, 111(282) - "Jesus died like a beast and was buried in a dung heap." 

ABODAH ZARAH (6a) - "Jesus promoted the false teaching of worshiping on the first day of the week."

TALMUD TEACHINGS REGARDING CHRISTIANS:

HILKOTH MAAKHALOTH - "Jews must not associate with Christians since they are idol worshipers. 

ABHODAH ZARAH (22a) - "Do not associate with Christians since they shed blood." 

ORACH CHAIIM (20, a) - "Christians disguise themselves to kill Jews." 

ABHODAH ZARAH (15b, 22a) - "This passage suggests that Christians have sexual relations with animals." 

KERITHUTH (6b, p.78) - "Jews are called men; Christians are not men." 

MAKKOTH (7b) - "A Jew is innocent of murder if he intended to kill a Christian."

MIDRASCH TALPIOTH (225) - "Christians were created to minister to Jews." 

SANHEDRIN (74b) - "The sexual intercourse of a Christian is like that of an animal." 

ZOHAR (II, Mb) - "Christian birthrate must be diminished materially."  (Could this have anything to do with the fact that in America, most of the doctors running the Abortion Clinics are Jews?) 

ROSCH HASCHANACH (I 7a) - "The souls of all non-Jews go to hell."

SCABBATH (I 16a) - "Talmudists agree that Christian books, such as the Bible should be burned." 

SANHEDRIN 58b - "To strike a Jew is like slapping God in the face." 

CHAGIGAH, 15b - "A Jew is to be considered good, no matter what sins he may commit." 

ZOHAR (I, 25b) - "The Jew who does good to a Christian will never rise from the dead." 

IORE DEA (148) - "Always hide your hatred of Christians.''

BABHA BATHRA (54b) - "Christian property belongs to the first Jew claiming it." 

BABHA KAMA (I 13b) - "It is permitted to deceive Christians." 

BABHA KAMA (I 13a) - "A Jew may lie in court to condemn a Christian."

ZOHAR (I, 60a) - "Jews must always try and deceive Christians."

HILKKOTH AKUM (X, I) - "Do not save a Christian in danger of death."

SANHEDRIN (59a) - "Even the best of the goyim should be killed."

ZOHAR (II, 43a) - "Extermination of Christians is a necessary sacrifice."

These are but a few of thousands of like references. 

When you hear the term "Judeo-Christian" used from the pulpit, what does the speaker mean? Is he referring to ancient Phariseeism, to Talmudism or to so-called "Judaism?" In view of the facts which have been presented, how can there be a "Judeo-Christian'' anything? It is as unrealistic as to say something is ''hot-cold,'' ''wet-dry'', "healthy-sick," or "happy-sad." These words are "antonyms," not "synonyms." (A Christian can no more follow Judaism than he can Communism.) 

Yet this idea of ours being a "Judeo-Christian" culture has been carried to such extremes, that there are Institutes for the study of Judeo-Christianity in some of our leading Universities. It would make much better Christians out of congregations if ministers would try and sell "Jesus Christ", rather than a monstrosity called "Judeo-Christianity." 

Along with this term, we also find the horrible ''trigger word," of ''Anti-Semitic''. It is nothing but a smear word which makes little sense since by no stretch of the imagination is the Jews of today, Semites. Yet when any Jew feels that he has been opposed, offended, or exposed for any reason, he immediately trots out the word "anti-Semite." (In some churches, to be an anti-Semite, is worse than being an apostate.) When the Jews in 1946, were unable to disprove Dr. Freedman's allegations regarding their illegal entry into Palestine, they literally spent millions of dollars smearing him as the world's Number One anti-Semite, thereby trying to discredit him in the eyes of the brainwashed public. Until the time when he began to expose Jewry for what it was, he was considered to be a "little saint", but when he disagreed, they did everything within their power to destroy him.) 

Christian clergy, who use the term "anti-Semite" against those who are trying to expose the evils of International Jewry, should know better. They show their ignorance of the English language by using this word. Today, this Jewish phobia against criticism of any kind has become one of the world's most intolerable forms of persecution. 

It should give any Christian in particular, or any decent person for that matter, who sees our nation's morals crumbling, and our standards in the fields of politics, economics, and religion crumble, something to think about. The moral standards of any nation are the crucible in which the nation's character is refined and molded. The end product can never be better than the ingredients used. 

While America has much for which to be proud, she also has many sources of shame. A correct diagnosis of our nation's rapid disintegration in all walks of life will reveal the cause, which is primarily of an economic nature: (1) Make more money; and, (2) Have more fun. When we look at all the evils which have descended on America, they have an economic root and we can understand what the Apostle Paul meant when he said: "The love of MONEY is the root of ALL evil," (Emphasis added) (1 Timothy 6:10). How many Americans do you know who include in their daily duties, service, sacrifice, and prayer in the defense of this nation against its enemies? 

With very few exceptions, this generation seems to regard everything as secondary to their accountability to unborn generations. (Our thinking is wrapped up in the words of the beer ad: "You only go around once in life; so live with gusto.")

The guidance and control of America has gravitated by default into the hands of those least worthy of trusteeship. One of their most notable achievements has been in the making of "male prostitutes" who do their dirty work for them. 

A "male prostitute" is a male who offers the facilities of his anatomy from the neck up, to anyone who is willing to pay the price, exactly as a female prostitute of the same species offers her body from the waist down for an asking price. Thousands of these "pseudo-Christian'' "male prostitutes" are circulating in all walks of life, pandering evil propaganda for monetary profit and political power. (Nowhere are they more prevalent than in Christian work. Look at the electronic evangelists for instance, almost to a man they back the Jewish enemies of Christ and the church, even though many know that the so-called Jews are not the people of the Bible. They know that if they tell the truth, they will be cut off the TV airways, so they prostitute themselves for a few million dollars. It reminds me of the story told of the English Bishop who was attending a dress party of English Lords and Ladies. He was approached by a haughty English beauty and in the course of their conversation he said: "Would you go to bed with a stranger for a million pounds?" When she replied in the affirmative he asked: "Would you go to bed with a man for five pounds?" To which she haughtily replied: "Of course not. Do you think that I'm a prostitute?" The prelate replied: "We've already established that, my dear. Now we are negotiating the price.") 

The corroding effect of this subtle intrigue is slowly but surely disintegrating the moral fiber of America. This danger to our Christian faith cannot be overestimated. This peril to our nation cannot and must not be underestimated. 

The International "crime of all crimes" was committed in Palestine in 1948, almost totally as a result of American interference, at the behest of world Zionists in New York. Today, although we know we have been wrong, we still side with the aggressors. As a result, the Arab world, which once admired us and look to us for guidance, has come to hate us and the foundation has been laid for World War III. Our government has become a "male prostitute" for world Zionism and the blackest page of American history is now in the writing. (This crime has been aided and abetted by the ministers of America, who trumpet the falsehood that since the Jews are God's Chosen People, we must back them in all their endeavors. We have completely forgotten the warning of 2 Chronicles 19:2, which clearly states: "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord; therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord?") 

So we thank Dr. Benjamin Freedman for his courage and wisdom in bringing us this truth. For those of you who have never read his book FACTS ARE FACTS, I would suggest you make every effort to get it.  The thoughts from here on are mine. 

Today, the blood of American boys is being mingled with that of innocent Lebanese women and children, as they are sacrificed on the altar of world Zionism. It was our clergy who urged this slaughter, as they hammered away day after day, sermon after sermon, ad nauseam, the false theme; "The Jews are God's chosen people and we must support them. The return of the Jews is the major sign of Christ's soon return." I hope and pray that He comes back soon. It will be necessary for the preservation of humanity. But the Jews are not the sign of that return since they are not the Chosen People and never have been. Christian minister, if you have the courage to read this little book, you have "sowed the wind, now get ready to reap the whirlwind." The Bible tells us of the Law of Harvest, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap," Galatians 6:7. This law is for you, as well as for all mankind. You have spoken a lie to your flock if you have supported Israel. You may not have realized this since you too have been "brainwashed" at that prestigious seminary you attended. But ignorance of the truth is not an excuse. Someday soon, you will be held accountable for your poor stewardship before God... now is the time to straighten out your life, before God holds you accountable for it. 

Some of you good Christian mothers and fathers will pay too, for although some of you have known better, you would not cause ripples in the pond by telling your pastor that he was wrong. You too will pay, with the blood of that precious son of yours, as you see him sacrificed on the altar of Jewish greed. You will bear the guilt of his death. I hope and pray for your sakes and the sake of America that it never comes, but it is just ahead, we know that for the Word of the ever-living God has predicted this. ''The Lord will cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: ...thy carcass shall be meat unto the fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the field, and no man shall fray (Hebrew "charad", meaning to "shudder, fear, discomfit, quake, tremble") them away." Deuteronomy 28:26. Vs 62 -"And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and bring you to nought..." You may say: "Those words were written for Israel!" You are right! But whether you want to accept it or not, you are Israel, if you belong to the Anglo-Saxon and related peoples and these promises are for you. Pray to God that America does not have to go to war, because if we do, we will be whipped again, just as we were in Korea and Vietnam. We cannot win, as long as we refuse to obey the Lord. 

Soon, very soon, my Christian friends, you are going to see the hate of the anti-Christ's you have supported, as it is unleashed against Christian America. The signs are already there if you look for them. To whom will you flee for refuge then? There is not going to be a rapture as you have been told, which will spirit you out of the midst of this evil time. Where will you go for refuge? 

If Christianity is but the "carbon copy" of Judaism as we have been told, then why would any intelligent person want to change from Judaism to Christianity? You pastors who tell your people that we are a Judeo-Christian culture, why would you have them turn from the Original? 

This falsehood is a Jewish subterfuge and deep down inside you know this is true. Yet you still speak what you know is a lie, because you do not have the courage to "buck the popular tide." Shame on you! What will you tell the Almighty, when you stand before his Judgment throne and answer for what you have done to the American people? Some of you have spread the lie that the Christian Church is nothing but the Jewish Church glorified. What a travesty of the truth. The Jews who convert to Christianity do not regard Jesus as a Jew who converted to Christianity, why should you preach this rot? The Christian church was on earth centuries before there were any people called "Jews." Acts 7:38, speaks of the "church in the wilderness," that my friends, was a Christian church. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians l0:1 speaks about Israel passing out of Egypt, into the wilderness, in vs. 3, 4, he says: "And did ALL eat the same SPIRITUAL meat and did ALL drink the same SPIRITUAL drink, for they drank of that SPIRITUAL ROCK, that followed (was to come) them: and THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST JESUS." (Emphasis added.) 

These people were not Jews. They were not followers of the religion called Judaism. They were Christians. I realize they were not called Christians until almost 1500 years later when they were first called by that name at Antioch Acts 11:26. But they were Christians nevertheless. They looked forward to the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ. We today look back on this sacrifice. But we are all members of the same church and it is and has never been a Jewish church. 

It will only be when we purge our churches from this false teaching and eject the Judaizers from our ranks and tell our people the truth that we will be saved from our enemies. The true Judaizers are not those who teach the everlasting truth that the Law still remains, but those who tell you that since you have become a Christian, the Law no longer applies to you. The Judaizers would have you believe that Jesus did away with the Law when He died on Calvary, but our Lord Himself repudiated this falsehood when He said: "I am not come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am come to fulfill," Matthew 5:17. While the writings of the Apostle Paul, if studied carelessly, may give the impression that the Law was done away, he says: Romans 3:31 "Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea we establish the law." Then in 1 John 3:4, the Apostle of Love tells us that "sin is transgression of the law," and then goes on in 2 John 6 to say: "And this is LOVE, that we WALK after His COMMANDMENTS..."  (Emphasis added.) 

You see, my brainwashed Christian friend, the same man who has fooled you concerning the Jews, has fooled you concerning the Law. The ordinances and sacrifices were done away at Calvary Christ nailed these to His cross, as the Apostle Paul so ably tells us. When He shed His precious blood on that Roman cross, He did away with the necessity of ALL blood sacrifices for all time. But He may not destroy the Law. Our problems in America, EVERYONE OF THEM, have come about because Americans have refused to obey God's Law. No one has been more guilty of disobedience, than those of us who go by the name of Christian. It's no wonder the wrath of God is falling on our country. 

Our problems will end when we discover who we are and accept our responsibilities before God. When we discover that as God's Servant People, we were put on earth to do His will and bring about His Kingdom on this earth, not in some heaven. When we realize that we are not to be some kind of dictator, as the Jew envisions, but a people who will serve. 

If we were to return to God and recognize our responsibilities before Him then we would be restored

(1) To our status as the number one nation; 

(2) We would have the blessings of many children, instead of an ever decreasing birth rate; 

(3) We would have blessings on our food production, which would benefit our people instead of some foreign nation, and, 

(4) We would be victorious in battle (See Deuteronomy 28:9). 

Then in verse 10, God says: "The Lord shall establish thee, and holy people unto Himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, IF THOU SHALT KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee." This promise has never been fulfilled in the Jews. It has been fulfilled in the Anglo-Saxon and related peoples of the earth and will be fulfilled again when we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS AND WALK IN HIS WAYS.

But as we have followed the "Judaizers" to brainwash us into accepting the "false Jew" of the "synagogue of Satan", (Rev. 2:9) as the Chosen People; as we have followed their teachings, while rejecting those of our God, then all the curses of Deuteronomy have fallen on us. They will remain and become worse until we wake up. 

When will we wake up? Will we wait until God Almighty drives us to our knees and rubs our noses in the dirt? Will we have to see our great cities in ruins? Our women raped? Our sons murdered before we wake up? 

To those of you who believe that you will be raptured out of this mess before it gets that bad, let me ask you. Do you believe that teaching strong enough that you will dare tell it to some Christian brother who has been suffering behind the Iron Curtain? I rather doubt it! Do you really somehow or other feel that you are better than those Christians who have suffered down through the ages for our Lord? It seems to me that the Rapture Theory breeds a terrible pride in Christians. In Romans 8:17 we are told: so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together." Philippians 1:29 "For unto you is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him but also TO SUFFER FOR HIS SAKE." (Emphasis added.) Then in Revelation 2:26 "He that OVERCOMETH, and KEEPETH my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." You don't OVERCOME, sitting in some comfortable, air-conditioned spiritual foxhole, waiting for the Lord to come back and rescue you. Overcoming is a frontline battle thing. To "overcome" you must hate evil and yes, evil men. David said in Psalm 97:10 "Ye that love the Lord hate evil..." "Oh", but you say, "We hate sin, but love the sinner. And David shouts right back at you in Psalm 139:21 "Do not I hate them, O Lord that hate thee? Am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I HATE THEM WITH A PERFECT HATRED, I COUNT THEM MINE ENEMIES." (Emphasis added.) 

It will only be when we learn the truth of these verses, that we will be able to make headway against our enemies. I know what some are going to say: "You are trying to encourage hate when we are supposed to love." I am encouraging hate against evil and evil men who would destroy everything you say you believe in as a Christian. Which side are you on? You are either for Jesus Christ ALL THE WAY, or you are on the enemy’s side. You cannot have it both ways. One day you will stand before Him and answer for your choice. What will that answer be? Why not get in on the winning side now! Soon Jesus will come back, not as the "babe of Bethlehem," but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, will you be happy or ashamed to face Him then? It's up to you! 

[anniepaul]

  My Gleaner column of March 29, 2017 which i wrote in sympathy with human rights activist Latoya Nugent, arrested under the controversial new Cyber Crimes Act in Jamaica is presented below the following commentary on her arrest and detention.

For a relatively minor action (naming three alleged sexual predators online)  that could have been tried under civil libel laws, the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch descended on NUte to and fellow activist Nadeen Spence in a massive show of force, arresting Nugent and keeping her in jail for the night. After attempts to set an unreasonably high bail of over a million Jamaican dollars failed, the police reduced the amount to station bail of J$100,000 and released Ms. Nugent the following day. On a point of comparison, the bail for 64-year old Moravian pastor Rupert Clarke who was caught in flagrante delicto with a 15-year old girl, was only J$800,000. 

Ms Nugent’s case has been postponed twice now with the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) taking a personal interest in the matter. The DPP has ruled that the Cyber Crimes Act does not permit criminal prosecution for libel and defamation. With the case now slated to return to court in May we await the outcome of what is looking very much like an attempt by the police to intimidate activists and freedom of speech in cyberspace. Noteworthy is the fact that the new date scheduled for the  case — May 17th — happens to be the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia when Ms Nugent and others were planning to hold a pride march.

The sympathy of the public and the media in Jamaica too often seems to lie with the perpetrators of rape rather than the victims or as Ms. Nugent prefers to call them, the survivors. For instance a Jamaica Observer article covering the statutory rape case of Ruper Clarke headlined the article thus: “Court to hear case of girl in Moravian pastor’s plight tomorrow.”

One radio station kept referring to Ms. Nugent as ‘the controversial Latoya Nugent’ every time they reported on the case. But by that token they should also say ‘the controversial Marcus Garvey’ or ‘the controversial Sam Sharpe’ every time they mention the names of those national heroes because till very recently both had  criminal records. The media of the time vilified them but that hasn’t prevented them from taking their rightful place in the pantheon of Jamaican heroes.

In that sense Latoya is in excellent company…she is a latter-day Nanny, a heroine for our times, a contemporary warner woman. She is exactly the kind of leader Jamaica needs today–independent, uncompromising and fearless. An inspiration. Let the Jamaican state try to arrest or detain that. In fact the powers-that-be should be wary of inadvertently creating a martyr who could easily metamorphose into a new leader. They should learn from history and Mr. Garvey himself.

Below is my column Garvey’s Lesson:

  “Real leaders don’t care whom they offend, if in offending they are serving the cause of humanity and working for the good of their country. Jesus Christ was the greatest offender when he was on earth, and we ought to take a leaf out of his book in this respect.”

Marcus Garvey, arguably Jamaica’s premier national hero, certainly knew what it meant to be considered offensive for when he wasn’t being sued for libel he was being denounced as a villain by powerful interests both at home and abroad. One of the more frivolous lawsuits he faced was in 1930 when a Mrs Barnes-Haylett, a dressmaker who lived at the corner of Church and Beeston Street, sued Marcus Garvey’s newspaper The Blackman for libel, demanding damages of £1000, a small fortune in those days.

At the time Etheline Marjory Barnes-Haylett earned only £3 a week yet was represented by none other than his learned counsel, Norman Manley, while Marcus Garvey, in an effort to save money, as he did in the US, represented himself. The Gleaner carried blow-by-blow accounts of the trial with some of the in-jokes traded by Norman Manley and the judge at Garvey’s expense reminding me of the virtual heckling of the lawyer representing Tivoli victims by lawyers for the state at the recent West Kingston Commission of Enquiry.

The offending article in The Blackman described the formation of a new club at premises occupied by Barnes-Haylett, suggesting it was a place that might offer opportunities for whist drives and games of poker and twenty-one. Appearing under a section called Night Life the article said that the club had enlisted a large number of female members and that this itself should contribute to the club’s success promising ‘crazy’ times ahead. The writer of the article, one Thoywell Henry, who affected an American slang style of writing, said he had acquired this information from Clifford Parker, a customs officer, and a member of the club whom he described as a ‘spree’.

Mrs. Haylett complained that this account had damaged her reputation and that of the Amateur Choral Union which she had founded at her home. The word ‘female’ suggested prostitution, she said, and there had never been any mention of whist drives or poker or ‘sprees’. The organist of the club confessed that the mandate of the Choral Union may have been extended somewhat. “We…may have…sung secular songs but the original intention of the organisation was to sing hymns and songs in church, and not on the stage.”

I was struck by the following exchange between Garvey and Mrs. Barnes-Haylett who argued:

“…that false statement about me should not be in the Blackman making attacks on my character and reputation. My character is priceless.”

“Mr Garvey: We know that and would not take that away from you under any circumstances.”

Another striking thing about the reported exchanges is that it seems in those days witnesses were allowed to answer back and even question the lawyers cross-examining them.

Mr. Garvey: You know that Mr. Mends is a politician, don’t you?

Witness: What is a politician? (Laughter.)

Mr. Garvey: A person who indulges in politics.

Witness: And what is politics? (Laughter.)

Mr. Garvey: The science of Government.

Witness: I don’t know about that: I am only a dressmaker (laughter).

Clifford Parker too tried to claim damages of £100 but didn’t get very far with this. Marcus Garvey suggested that the entire libel suit was concocted by a group of people, including Barnes-Haylett and Parker, who thinking that “Mr. Garvey of Somali Court” was a man of means, had planted the story on one of the Blackman’s reporters.

What is curious is that the lawsuit did not allow time for the Blackman to publish an apology before proceeding to court. When a clarification was published after the fact Barnes-Haylett complained that it had caused her more grief, as the police had come to her premises to investigate. She therefore was claiming aggravated libel. Marcus Garvey challenged her to provide evidence of the visit of the police.

After much court time was taken up deciding whether Garvey was even liable for the damages or not, as he insisted he was not the managing editor of the publication, the judge awarded the plaintiff damages of £30, a considerably smaller sum than the £1000 she had demanded.

How interesting that today no one remembers Mrs. Barnes-Haylett or her “priceless” character while the ‘libellous’ Marcus Garvey is a national hero and widely acknowledged as a global leader whose influence far exceeds the shores of the country he was born in. The fact that we keep repeating history suggests we’ve yet to learn from it. Perhaps as someone once said “The only lesson you can learn from history is that it repeats itself.”

Garvey’s Lesson My Gleaner column of March 29, 2017 which i wrote in sympathy with human rights activist Latoya Nugent, arrested under the controversial new Cyber Crimes Act in Jamaica is presented below the following commentary on her arrest and detention.