#yes another israel hands dissection

[tsundere-isopods]

Sorry not sorry. Here's another Izzy Hands post because I literally cannot stop thinking about Izzy and Ed and how their relationship functions.

So, we have the greatest pirate in History, Blackbeard, right? This absolutely larger than life, terrifying, powerful, bloodthirsty monster of hate and rage. His legend has made it where literally ships will surrender the moment they see his flag. Everyone is so scared of being so thoroughly devastated by him that they would give up and pray for a quick death. But, under all of that, we see Ed. Just Ed. This broken, deeply lost man who is so far gone in self-loathing and depression that he can't find it in him to just... be Ed. He's so "bored" (Don't get me started on that word choice in the script. I can spend days on that.) that dying seems like an adventure. He isn't sure who he is or where he stands. He talks about Blackbeard as if he isn't him, as if it is another person. But, ultimately, he can't separate the man from the legend internally either. (See the "You'd always see me for what I am." line in Ep.8)

Then, you have Israel Hands. Blood, violence, and rage seem to be all he lives for. He's ready to kill for Blackbeard at a moment's notice and would not blink twice. He'd probably die for Blackbeard just as quickly. He is the most devoted worshiper of the god and legend that is Blackbeard. Beneath that? You see an increasingly frustrated and angry person who just wants to protect his friend and doesn't know how to communicate that without lashing out. He tries to support Edward has because that's the only support he is going to get in a world where someone would slit your throat for glory and a few pieces of gold. He's seen all the ugly, squishy underbelly and knows that he needs to be armor to stop someone from killing what is possibly his only real friend.

There is a symbiotic yet parasitic relationship between the two. And it's all about Survival. They need each other and they are also going to kill each other.

We don't know how long they've been together. But, we know they have been together for a while. Izzy talks about the things he's done in Blackbeard's name "for years". I may be assuming here, but I'm sure that the legend reached Izzy before Blackbeard ever did. He has this idea in his head of the man he's sworn to follow and kill and bleed and die for. But, that's Blackbeard, not Ed. He's grown to understand what is beneath the smoke and mirrors. And he still stays and prays to the God he's chosen willingly to follow.

No one talks about why he stays. No one talks about how we have seen Blackbeard -and even "Edward", honestly- manipulate Izzy into staying time and time again, how a few pretty words and side looks is all it takes to make Izzy not climb in the dinghy, how he uses frankly abusive tactics just to keep him from leaving. Whether Edward does this knowing it's actually toxic and abusive or not, we don't know. But, that's what it is. No one talks about how Izzy needs Blackbeard just as much as Edward needs him. This man made a promise to serve Blackbeard to the best of his abilities, no matter what that is or who he has to cut down to protect him. Because he needs him. Whether that's as a purpose for living or self-preservation, I don't know.

And honestly, I think that is why Izzy stays. He cares about Edward, in some sort of messed up way. But that's not who his loyalty is to. He just wants to protect him, even if that means saving him from himself. And what Stede brings out is something soft, something weak, something that will get Edward killed if it shatters the Blackbeard persona entirely. Yes, he does some really manipulative and fucked up things to do that, but so does Blackbeard. He strings Izzy along with just enough hope and attention, just enough to keep him sated and close at hand. Because he realizes how much he does need Izzy. He needs someone to keep him afloat. And Izzy has been that someone for years. Izzy even says that he has put up with all of the shit because he swore to protect his Captain. Fuck, he sells out Stede with the promise that Edward is free to go, to protect him, when Edward chose Stede over him.

Now, suddenly, Izzy is no longer the tether Edward is clinging to. And Izzy is just lost. He's been loyal. Devoted. He's watching his God die. He's watching Edward die. And he doesn't know how to save him from this. A bullet? A stab wound? Physical trauma that can kill? Yeah. He knows how to deal with that. But all that armor, smoke, and mirrors that is Blackbeard being removed for one man Edward has known for a month? He can't get the attention back on him so he can save this stupid, reckless man from himself.

Yeah, you can take it as jealousy. And you wouldn't be wrong. However, you wouldn't be right either.

Neither of these broken men would know how to survive without each other. They don't have the skills to save themselves or each other from this deeply toxic spiral made out of a need to survive. They are horrible to each other, but Izzy does try to be patient and good to Edward. And it deeply saddens me that people make Izzy out to be this horrible person who gets off on manipulating Edward.

[avanneman]

Ilhan Omar: The strange case of the little girl in the headscarf who noticed that the emperor has no clothes

Oh, Ilhan Omar, what have you done? Yes, speaking the truth in the halls of Congress has always been hazardous to your health, but when little Ilhan, newly elected representative for the fifth district of Minnesota (basically Minneapolis and environs), remarked that “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country” (meaning, of course, Israel), the walls of hypocrisy in DC really began to shake and sway.

From my perspective, it’s perfectly okay to “to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” as long as you’re willing to admit that that’s what you’re doing.1 But U.S. Likudists like Bill Kristol and Jennifer Rubin—both of whom I vehemently agree with on some issues—insist that, when it comes to Israel, simply making the charge of “dual loyalty”, as it’s usually framed, is in itself anti-Semitism in its purest and most vicious form. Old-fashioned liberal Jonathan Chait, whom I very often praise, writes furiously that “Ilhan Omar’s smearing of pro-Israel activism as a form of dual loyalty” is evidence that anti-Semitism may rip the Democratic Party apart as it has done to the Labour Party in Great Britain.

But nothing is more obvious that many champions of Israel, both Jewish and non-Jewish (e.g., evangelical Christians), insist that the U.S. has a moral duty to support Israel’s interests as defined by Israel, regardless of this policy’s effects on U.S. interests. On the death of Charles Krauthammer, I wrote a piece remarking on his endless efforts to sabotage and wreck the Democratic Party, for the single sin of less than absolute fealty to Israel—for Charlie, like so many Jewish neocons, was quite “liberal” on most social issues and “really” belonged in the Democratic Party.

Chait’s attempt to make the mere charge of dual loyalty a thoughtcrime, and to argue that any criticism of “pro-Israel activism” equates to a charge of dual loyalty, thus making any criticism of U.S. policy towards Israel a thoughtcrime. reflects the larger agenda of the Israeli lobby to take any rational consideration of the relationship between U.S. and Israeli interests off the table. President Eisenhower’s first secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, that great Presbyterian, intoned that “Israel is a millstone around our necks,” a piece of realpolitik that no politician would dare utter today, but much closer to the truth than the usual proclamations regarding the indissoluble ties that bind our two nations together. We kowtow to the Saudis, who are certainly more obnoxious than the Israelis, but who still hold the power to set the world price for oil. Israel, on the other hand, can do us no such favors, “defending” us against countries who hate us solely because we are allied with Israel. Every recent secretary of state, upon retiring, writes a memoir in which she complains about what a pain in the ass the Israelis were, how they never give and always take. But such statements are never made in office—not, at least, since Secretary of State James Baker, serving under George H. W. Bush, uttered the immortal line “Fuck the Jews. They never vote for us anyway.”

The furor over Omar’s comments, nicely dissected/discussed by the Washington Post’s Paul Waldman, “The dishonest smearing of Ilhan Omar” and New York’s Eric Levitz, “Ilhan Omar Has a Less Bigoted Position on Israel Than Almost All of Her Colleagues”, coincides with another Israeli-related furor, the “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” movement, directed against Israel, and the anti-B.D.S. movement, pursued by pro-Israeli groups through state and federal legislation, as well as pressure on universities and colleges. I understand that Omar supports B.D.S., which is not an encouraging sign.

I don’t see the point of singling out Israel for punishment when the U.S. (for example) is surely just as wicked, if not more so. The B.D.S. movement, though not entirely anti-Semitic (it seems), is largely so, and appeals to (some) academic types, particularly in the, uh, “liberal” arts,2 who are discovering that, well, nobody gives a damn about what they have to say any more, so they want to start making a racket about something. What (I suspect) mostly worries pro-Israeli groups is that B.D.S. appeals to frustrated academics desperate to prove that they “care”, particularly if they can do so in a way that offends conventional opinion, but, more importantly, in the arguments that will be/are ensuing over B.D.S., publicity will be given to the many less than savory activities that Israel engages in. Under Benjamin Netanyahu and his merry band of Likudists, Israel has slid steadily towards a deeply conservative, anti-secular culture that is bound to offend any woke folk and could significantly tarnish the Israel brand. And so we see a collision between two groups who both want to significantly stifle free speech. Charming!

Afterwords For decades, Israel’s most fervent supporters—The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in particular—took it for granted that no one in Washington would dare defy them. Now they are attempting to claw back by force what they lost through vanity. The Washington Post’s David Von Drehle gives a rundown on the many constitutional issues raised by anti-B.D.S. legislation. The New York Times Catie Edmondson explains Republican strategy in crafting pro anti-B.D.S. legislation in Congress as a device to damage Democrats. The American Conservative’s Kelley Beaucar Vlahos provides more background. I have, on numerous occasions, accused right-wing supporters of Israel (basically, the entire Republican Party3) of trying to promote international tensions around the globe in order to convince the American people that we are in a permanent state of international crisis and need every ally we can get (i.e., Israel), while striving to suppress awareness of this fact.

UPDATE The New York Times' Thomas Friedman, in his column today, confirms Omar's unfortunate (unfortunate and amusingly nuanced) embrace of "B.D.S." and offers copious detail on AIPAC's sins. I very largely agree with what Friedman has to say, except for his notion (Friedman is, of course, Jewish) that Israel's existence is justified on the basis of “the right of the Jewish people to build a nation-state in their ancient homeland,” a “right” that I suspect Mr. Friedman does not extend to anyone else—the Algonquins, for example.

Israel is the solution to a Western problem (anti-Semitism) imposed on a non-Western people, a very clumsy one, excusable only on the grounds that no other feasible solution was available. It would have been much better if the U.S. had just accepted all the remaining European Jews into the U.S. after World War II, but unfortunately that was politically impossible. The Zionist movement created by Theodore Herzl that led to the creation of Israel was premised on the need for safety, not a return to the “ancient homeland”—Herzl, a thoroughly secular Jew, did not propose a return to Israel and the "reclaiming" of Jerusalem. European Jews, after all, had thousands of years to go back to their “ancient homeland” and never made the trip. It was only the rampant anti-Semitism of 20th century Europe, British control of the Middle East following World War I, Jewish political influence in Great Britain (and, ultimately, the U.S.), and, finally, the early triumphs of the Zionists in creating Israel in the years following World War II that led to the creation of the myth to which Mr. Friedman now subscribes.

For many years, the Irish Republican Army, a blatantly terrorist group, was openly financed and covertly equipped with arms by supporters in the U.S. in order to murder the soldiers and citizens of Great Britain, our most important ally. This was dual loyalty with a vengeance. Disgracefully, Democrats and Republicans alike looked the other way while a brutal terrorist group operated openly in the U.S. This shameful episode in our history has never given the attention it deserves. We seem to do this a lot. ↩︎

Yes, I am generalizing wildly. So sue me! ↩︎

In a recent piece loudly not lamenting the demise of Bill Kristol’s mouthpiece the Weekly Standard, I said the following: This is not to say that the neocons' pièce de résistance, the invasion of Iraq, was a “Jewish plot” as is absurdly alleged in some places. During the Clinton Administration, the entire Republican Party had become obsessed with taking out Saddam, aka “The Great Satan”, largely because they had nothing better to do. “We need a war,” said Lynne Cheyney famously. The Bush Administration had Saddam in their sights from the get-go, and the unholy trio who made it all happen were the seriously un-Jewish George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. Bill Kristol was only the cheerleader—though he did wave his pom-poms with a passion. ↩︎

[dwestfieldblog]

LIE BACK AND THINK OF...ENGLAND

Hello...Back once more from a jolly jaunt to the motherland, various weeks of mental and physical bad health interspersed with bursts of good humour and rabid hypo-mania. So nice to be trapped in my mind when alcohol free. So of course started smoking because I need some kind of pacifier. Back to Prague for blood tests again. Another temporary reprieve today, collapsing into coherence as all good systems should. Augmented chords are mysterious, the diminished are tension...unlike some sequences I could mention. Shame the owners of this site have used an algorithm to delete various pictures on my blog which involve nipples, regardless of whether they are actually from classical paintings. Art is being censored...Anyway...enjoying my middle aged adolescence, planning ahead for obsolescence...greetings to the readers from Canes Ventaci, why so Sirius? Smiling is healthy...

Who is the one who is living me now?   Da Free John

Religious news/olds...The pope says the church must never again hush up any abuse from its priests (in 2019, that's about (count them) one thousand, nine hundred and something days since the Church was founded with the help of a corrupt Emperor Constantine. Seems like a long time for a Christian group to get to show actual kindness, openness and morality huh? )Well Spotlight fans, it's a start eh? Compassion for your enemies and redemption for all. Or not.  

Only found out last month that the word Guru literally means heavy. As in serious. Hmm...or OM AH HUM if you prefer. Well Buddha looks quite hefty eh?

Asshat in Syria appears to have won and sees no shame in having started a war in which hundreds of thousands of his own people have been murdered and/or 'vanished', all for the sake of putting shopkeepers and students who protested for more freedom in their place. Chemical weapons, mass genocide and now a puppet state of Iran and Russia. Well, otherwise it would have been beholden to the USA and that is never a good thing either, ask Britain. Perhaps we can leave America after Europe and become the proud third world prison island to which we have been heading for the last few decades. Oh I am in a good mood this evening.

WOOL..a nice little village in England...received a letter from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) politely suggesting/demanding that they change their name, as the way in which wool is sheared from sheep is aggressive and cruel. Etc. As if being under attack from the Far Left and Right is not enough, the vegans and snowflakes are rising fast to destroy the last vestigial tails of sanity. 1984 meets the Matrix and Kafka and Huxley have a love/hate-child. For the record, I despise tally ho 'good sport' fox hunting as much as I do animal liberation maniacs. (Yes, I do like animals,...wolves, hawks, black panthers, butterflies, intelligent dogs and dolphins. And Krtek.) Wool will keep their name. So far. Amen. Oh Man...

Gender neutral EU parliament...most words with 'man' in them have all been replaced with less 'specific' terms. When I was a boy and I heard the term Mankind, I never thought of men, I thought of people all over the world. Shame so many adults cannot do this too...but wait, the EU...they have substituted mankind with Humanity. (Doesn't that have man in it too?) I would LOVE  to be present at one of these meetings where such semantically diseased people meet to waste life with such pointless new guidelines and turn a psychic death ray on them.  

At some point, one hopes that folk will swing back away from these extremes and find the middle path of balance. But I don't think it is likely. People will always have ideas because they have brains of varying types and according to nature or nurture and their egos, can make the most mind screwingly dumb thoughts into reality...but for this to happen in a widespread way, requires someone at the end of the process, who, when presented with such, has to approve of, validate, wave it on as a new legally accepted norm. These are some of the people with whom I would most like to have 'a word'. Know what I mean?

Meanwhile new buzz phrases abound...'I self identify as a'...fill in the blank. Choose your gender, you don't even have to have an operation or hormone replacement, just announce it to the universe and be free. However, an opinion is not a truth. (of course I include my own writings in this) If you KNOW you are in the wrong body, CHANGE your body. Hands up (in the air) all those who can remember a time when 'Gender fluid' just meant... fill in the blank again.  

Reminds me that Israel is still trying to push the fallacy (into a new globally accepted law) that criticising its government or latest in a line of corrupt leaders equates with racist anti Semitism. It isn't. No more than saying something critical of Angela Merkel for her immigration policy would mean the speaker is a sexist/misogynist. Or a hater of Germans. Same way that mentioning a self identifying sportswoman with a penis who has not yet had the op or hormone therapy is still a man until they commit fully to the sex they feel and know they are and is perhaps not ok to compete with other women while testosterone is in their blood...is not 'transphobic', just stating the obvious. And...

Lesbians who refuse to sleep with a self identifying woman with a penis are also not transphobic, they are making a choice about who and what they will sleep with. If one is not turned on by another human being, then they are not turned on by them. Of course, this is just an opinion and therefore quite possibly not a truth. But it seems reasonable and inoffensive eh? Unless you are a radical transpansexual. In which case my truthful opinion is that all radicals are mentally unstable dangerous lunatics to be avoided. Or try beetroot and carrot juice to eliminate the free radicals....

(That all said, I recall reading some years ago that one of the ultimate forms of humanity/was to be both sexes as one. So who knows? Not me, I never lost control, ha ha. Face to face with the womb man who sold the world. Would bring a whole new meaning to 'go f yourself'. Hermaphrodites come together in the end, alpha/ omega...)

'Nine months to get out, he said, and the rest of our fool lives trying to get back in'.

Perhaps this could be wonderful, with all identities blending into one understanding of life on this planet, were it not for the surplus of those types who will use every opportunity to mislead and manipulate for profit and power. At a school in Brighton (of course) in England, plans have been approved to teach children that all genders can menstruate. Yes, really. Why should 'girls' have all the fun eh? This is where we seem to be heading at greater and greater speed. Absolute bollocks/ovaries being taught as factual lessons. (Hmmm...a brief look with a third eye at history and stories accepted as fact and it can be seen that this is not all that new.)  

Putin's evil genius plan to continue being president after his term runs out (under current constitutional rules) is to absorb Belorusssia. Russia thus becoming a new federation which will need a new constitution and to hold an election which he will win. When that runs out, no doubt he will take over/invade/absorb Ukraine etc totally and go on until he is dead. Or everyone else is. Alpha males, huh?  

Speaking of which...More hours of CNN and their seemingly accurate reportage of all the utter, dreadful bullcrap from the useful idiot (for Moscow) Trump. Gleefully dissecting every nonsense statement from the blonde succubus's poison mouth. January 23rd, America remains in shutdown as he plays chicken with his entire country. Who will blink first? Reptiles can go for a long time without this. 'Waves of inquiries' look set to begin against the madman. 'Impeach the mother......' indeed. But after such a concentrated amount of watching and reading the news and the colossal amount of  negative light, ah do believe I have had enuff again.  

'I am He that was and is and shall be'. Apparently, Beethoven had this written down by his own hand on his desk from Egyptian Book of the Dead. 'Serenity is a problem when you've been this close to Heaven.'

('....thus, while the tangible has advantages, it is the intangible that makes it useful' Tao te Ching. Perhaps I will (or should) leave more blanks in this. Does every void need to be filled? China is now on the dark side of the moon, that just asks for a song to be written. Feel safe? Huawei, ha ha ha to everyone who bought their stuff.)

The Czech Republic (while still Czechoslovakia) had a Velvet Revolution, Russia has Pussy Riot and Britain has...? The old cliché true for the greater part was that in the First World War, the common soldiery were 'lions led by donkeys'. These days the majority of the 'common' folk seem like donkeys being led by the greedy into a knackers yard to be slaughtered for meat and glue. Here comes Brexit on a wave of misplaced expectation of regaining control over our destiny. Seems unlikely when the group mind of my country has sunk so deep into entropy, but that is just an opinion. Arf. 'Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way'.Roger Waters.

The young are still in favour of Corbybn and his highly dubious vision, regardless of the radical Momentum behind him who are very likely being supported financially by the Kremlin. Goddess bless our proud snowflake youth! Not going to be many 'safe spaces' available kids if he wins...Socialism with an inhuman face. Students in the West have yet to learn how evil this stuff is. For decades they have demonstrated against fascists real and imaginary, Conservative Thatcher policy, Republican reactionary hogwash etc. Perhaps they need to experience at first hand just what their student brethren in the East did from the end of the second world war to 1989. And beyond. The far Left sucks as hard as the far Right. Not all revolutionaries are as cool as Che Guevara. Kids, study China, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and other Socialist paradises, (if only for one hot hour) their governments kill a considerable amount more of their own people than do the democratic Western governments. There is a reason for this. All governments seek to control the narrative of what is taught in schools but not all of them kill you for questioning the story.  

Perhaps we deserve it, Britain has been coasting along, running on empty for a very long time now. The two faced 'civilised' Christian moral vacuum is being filled with many other equally unpleasant qualities. Optimism becomes a serious challenge when you are aware that some times various fires must run their course in order to burn out. Like Man. Just hope that the scorched earth policy of most of the global mode of thinking allows a spring to appear in the future. Or get the world leaders to an Alice in Wonderland party for mushroom tea. That might very well speed up the process of illumination before the Rubicon is crossed. Perhaps it has been.  

'Intelligence is the capacity to receive, decode and transmit information efficiently.' So how well are we all doing as a race? Call Pleaides 666 023 093...

True communication only possible between equals....all on different circuits...

Meow she said. Woof, he replied.  

Love from the dog star.  

[pastorcowboy]

The making of a christian

Matthew 11: what we see in Christ

In some ways, I feel that Matthew 11:7 is Christianity in a nutshell. “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind”? I feel it’s ironic and intentional that wilderness is mentioned. Moses found God in the wilderness. Israel was born in the wilderness. John preached in the wilderness, and the crowds came to him in that deserted place. When we read the Bible, what are we looking for: redemption, answers, salvation or something else. Matthew seems to be planned out like a book or movie. Did Matthew have this all organized and laid out before he recorded it? Or, as he wrote, did he see the ministry life of Jesus playing itself out in those three years. Did Moses, the Prophets, and Jesus ministry suddenly come crashing together in a violent revelation: who are we looking for in religion? What are you seeking in religion?

Matthew 11:2 “When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Exodus 3:13 “Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

At the end of verse 19 Jesus says “yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” I find this astounding. I looked up all the wisdom mentions in the Old Testament (there are a ton). It’s not surprising to me that Jesus made a quote like this. Wisdom played a huge role in historical teaching and in the landscape of modern Rome. Greek philosophy was as big as political correctness is big in this era. Some manuscripts have deeds replaced with children. I think children is even more astounding. If God would have a child, would that child vindicate God and his character? Matthew 21 has a parable that says “Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said”. Matthew is written very smartly. The question remains “who are we looking for”? There is another concept in the Bible called the refiners fire. The point was to see perfection when the impurities are smelted out. Does God see Jesus in you?

Matthew 11:11 “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Exodus 3:12 “God answered, “I will be with you, and when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will worship me on this mountain. That will be the proof that I have sent you.”

The question has been for over 2000 years “Is Jesus the son of God.” In a manner of speaking John, the Baptist was asking the same thing. John was expecting a ruler that would crush the Romans, they all were. They heard the teachings and they had witnessed the miracles, but they wanted to get to the good stuff. They wanted the Christ to take over. Jesus reply to John is a reply to us as well. Who are you looking for. Is what you hear and see good enough or do you want more. Maybe Matthew is asking us to reevaluate how we look at the kingdom of God. Verse 12 is the lynch pin “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” The kingdom has received violence but it does not act by violence to achieve its goal. Far too often we expect God to act in ungodly ways to achieve our hearts desires.

Matthew 11:25 “At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children.”

John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”

Read Matthew 11 and John 14 this week.

1.       Matthew 11:1-15 is a stern warning to those who say they believe. Why are you here? I read a book called The Time Machine by H.G Wells. He built the machine to prove a point that humans will eventually find peace. He called it utopia. He traveled far into the future to see humans in their glory. What he found was the same old same old. Are you seeking peace? Is Jesus the answer as long as he provides? There are two things I want to point out. One is that Jesus did amazing things. Miracles don’t grow on trees. Yet, we seem blind because we are looking for something different. Did you know that the kingdom of God should imprint on you and not the other way around? Secondly, Jesus makes a point of saying we might be following soft robes in royal palaces. Are we impressed by glitz and glamour? The fake leaders will give you plenty. The kingdom will give you none of that on earth. The treasure and majesty are in heaven.

 Matthew 11:15 “let anyone with ears listen.”

Job 19:6 “then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.”

 2.       Matthew 11:16-24 is scary stuff. The kiss principle is so prevalent in the kingdom of God. Keep it simple stupid. Jesus says this generation is like “children saying.” I feel that is a shot at people. We hear the simple stuff but never react. We should dance, morn, or laugh, but we always have our intentions and minds on other things. J Vernon McGee says we need the board of education applied to the seat of knowledge. Sometimes we need a swift kick because we are in our own world. I think Jesus uses Sodom and Gomorrah because they were the worst. I also believe he used it because they were consumed with themselves. Has the kingdom been playing a song and a role in your life all along and you have ignored the whole tune?

 Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

Judges 16:20 “Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.”

3.       Matthew 11:25-27 again begins with the use or the word infants. Adults think far too much. I was astounded at university that the more I learned the more I realized how stupid I was. There is always more to know. Jesus says wisdom is hidden from the wise and revealed to the infants. The wise are so because they think they are. Saying you have arrived is a very dangerous thing. A true Christian will always be seeking, learning, and growing. Why is there eternity? I believe it’s because the depths of God would take more than a lifetime to discover. It seems I’m pounding the same drum but this chapter is screaming it. Why are you a here as a Christian?

As a side note, we have verses 26-27. They are so important to Christian theology. Did we create theology? How do we know that Jesus is the son of God? I suppose it could be the miracles or his resurrection. Yet, the word of God tells us plainly. Jesus says he is in the father and the father is in him. Our definition of the trinity is formed through verses like these. In John 14 Jesus repeats much of what he said in Matthew 11. However, Jesus adds that God and Jesus will send the Spirit to be within us. We don’t get the word trilogy in the Bible but Jesus teaches trilogy of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Matthew 11:27 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

John 14:15-17 ““If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.”

4.       The last part of this chapter is really good. To hear about the kingdom is tough listening. The talk of Jesus dying and sin is a heavy topic. To have people persecute you because you say you are Christian is a tough place. Yes, we claim to love God, but down here on earth is hell at times. The world is awful. It’s really hard to live Holy in an unholy world. I find it also really hard to believe that some claim to be pure down here. I’m not so sure it is possible. Yet, Jesus said the best man John was accused of being impure. He shows us that good guys like Peter will fall. Even Jesus was accused of acting unholy several times. What we see in Christ is perfection. Jesus tried to tell the people it was not about showing holiness or perfection. It was about earnestly coming to the Lord as children eager to learn. To living simple lives that are devoted to helping this world rather than hindering it. The expectations of people are far too high. That goes for our expectations too.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

What it all means?

               There are several religions. There are several denominations within these religions. How can different Muslim, Jewish, and Christian denominations be the right one? I feel each one is voices. One says my view is the most important. Another retorts that their way is correct. They all say one God, but all interpret that God differently. It’s a confusing mess. Matthew 11 is asking us to remember why we’re here. Interpretation is best left to God alone. The reason we go down denominational rabbit trails is our pride. We have to be valuable and right.

               Matthew 11 points to the simple answers. The children receive simple instructions and treat them at face value. Adults want to dissect, analyze, and interpret. How can I say this plainly? The kingdom of God is not about us. It is for us but not about us. It’s Gods heaven not our utopia. It’s Gods instructions and word. His meaning not ours. Far too often we say “come to our church.” People boast this version of the Bible is right. This denomination is the true church. We have made Christian living about us.

               What it all means is children. That has always been the key. Children grow. They learn. They are disciplined. Children want to be wowed. They want to be taken care of. Adults think they know and they think they can take care of themselves. Matthew 11 is trying to slowly move us forward. Now you know. Now you have heard. What will we do with what has been given? Will we box it, sell, it, market it? Luke 19 has a parable of the gold coin. What you do with what is given is important. I think most of the time we forget that the most important part is that the coin was given. It’s not about us.

Matthew 11:25 “At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children.”

Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”