The world’s demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.

Increasing water availability for agriculture holds great promise for improving nutrition through increasing food production, generating income, enhancing water access, promoting hygiene, and empowering women.

Tooling Up for Hydroponics

One of the greatest embarrassments to the faith is the masquerade. Those feigning reverence for all that Jesus taught and exemplified, while harboring attitudes and engaging in behaviors that make a mockery of those same ideals, are doing far more damage than good. This is Lucifer’s legacy. For the self-proclaimed God of Liberty has advanced an unbridled and fraudulent form of liberty that is, first and foremost, characterized by contempt for all things true, beautiful, and good.

The first casualty as a result of the Luciferian sophistries occurred within the minds of those with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Narcissism is clearly incompatible with Divine Truth. This was brought home in our recent history as Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, advanced the deception of his day. He said; “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.” 

Once a person is fully vested in the lie, they are not likely to depart from it. And Goebbels addressed this with his description of just how the lie runs deep within the mind of the psychopath. On this he said; “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.”

Goebbelian tactics are focused on the more animalistic among us. The emotionally charged and intellectually stunted are ripe for exploitation. Goebbels put it this way; “There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be “the man in the street.” Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology.”

As to the target demographic, likely to embrace his message, Goebbels zeroed in even further saying; “…the rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious.” He elaborated further on the nature of the message with a warning; “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly – it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.”

Goebbels revealed much about how the church and the state, together with the religious and political discourse of our time can be turned to resemble the arrogant effrontery displayed by Lucifer in the Court of Heaven. For Goebbels said: “We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons. If democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and salaries for this bear’s work, that is its affair. We do not come as friends, nor even as neutrals. We come as enemies. As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come.”

Today’s insurrectionists are Goebbelian fundamentalists. They turn a deaf ear to the Jesusonian warning that “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” Instead they embrace the prescription offered by Goebbels when he said: “The masses need something that will give them a thrill of horror.” He also observed that “propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.” 

The FIBS tactic of leveraging Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear is a huge part of the Luciferian legacy and nowhere was it better articulated than within the Nazi propaganda machine. Goebbels focused on the street saying “Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street.”

Consider the politics of today in light of Goebbels proclamation that “We shall reach our goal, when we have the power to laugh as we destroy, as we smash, whatever was sacred to us as tradition, as education, and as human affection.”

Jesus famously said “By their fruits you shall know them.” We know the animalistic hoards that stormed the United States Capitol on January the 6^th in 2021 produce the kind of strange fruit that Billie Holliday recorded a song about in 1939. She sang of a “pastoral scene of the gallant South – The bulgin’ eyes and the twisted mouth – Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh – Then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh.”

John Wycliffe, for his translation of the Bible into Middle English, prefaced his work by writing “The Bible is about government of, by, and for the people.” Since that time counterfeit Christians have paid lip service to this essential biblical principle. They feign an affinity for democracy. And yet, the idea of a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-racial democracy terrifies them. This is why the first casualty resulting from the Lucifer Rebellion was truth.

Jesus said: “This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Authentic Christians should take note. When we have such clear instructions from our Mission Commander, we need look no further for a clear and concise Mission Statement.

One cautionary definition of democracy is that of three wolves and a sheep deciding on dinner. And that’s precisely why the framers of our constitution provided for two Senators to represent each state, no matter how sizable or populous. Then, the gamesmanship began when the so-called Great Compromise ensued, resulting in each non-white man or woman counting as only three-fifths of a person.

Less than three weeks after the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as the 16^th President of the United States in 1861, Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America gave what has become known as his Cornerstone Address. On March the 21^st in Savannah, Georgia, Stephens declared that disagreements over the enslavement of African Americans were the “immediate cause” of secession and that the Confederate constitution had resolved such issues.

Stephens, in referring to the Constitution of the United States said “The Constitution… rested upon the equality of races. This was an error. Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea. . .” Stephens invoked biblical imagery and used the word “cornerstone” to describe what he called the “great truth” of white supremacy and black subordination upon which secession and the Confederacy were based. He said “Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”

While certain Supreme Court justices characterizing themselves as “originalists” and “textualists” are longing for the good old days; others have come to realize that the court, as presently constituted, will never willingly allow a black man or woman to become more than three fifths of a person in the eyes of the law. The so-called blind justice that declares “Equal Justice Under Law” has promoted an ideological fantasy and, to integrity challenged justices, it’s not even an aspirational statement.

They have enabled the same dark money malignancy that supports their nominations, confirmations and accommodations to metastasize throughout the body politic. They have allowed race based gerrymandering, the purging of voter rolls without evidence of death or a change in residence. They have facilitated political bribery. They have advanced the sociopathic fantasy of personhood for shell corporations that have been empowered with free speech rights. The Supreme Court, more than any other branch, has converted what Marshall McLuhan once described as a whirlpool of information in to a cesspool of disinformation.

Despite the assertions that the Court is not a cabal or packed with partisan hacks, there is no denying that the Supreme Court of the United States is a product of political process. That process is replete with deceptive practices. And all of it emanates from the entitlement mentality so carefully articulated in the cornerstone address of Alexander Stephens. The confederacy may have lost certain physical skirmishes, but it is alive and well in the Judiciary as well as the Legislature where the so-called will of the minority is in vogue.

While the judicial buffoonery of the court has come to light in spite of its increasingly esoteric sophistries, the legislative bodies have become populated with a cast of characters that could be described as the court jesters. Most are similarly owned and operated by the inheritors, hoarders, and skimmers of wealth. Their reverence for “the will of the minority,” as expressed through their affinity for and use of the filibuster, only serves the billionaires and faux corporations that take advantage of the nation’s resources without making any meaningful contribution to the public treasury.

Some minority rights are constitutionally protected by the formula where each state has two senators. However, the diddling with the districts, the slight of hand with respect to voter rolls, the Electoral College gamesmanship, the lack of any consequence for lying to the electorate, the voter intimidation, the poll worker intimidation, and the election supervisor intimidation all have the effect of corroding the democracy underpinnings of our constitutional republic.

Why administer an oath, whereby elected and appointed representatives are sworn to protect the constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic, when the person taking the oath has proven him or her self to be a domestic enemy of constitutional principle? Why does putting the interests of voters over those of donors seem like such an arcane, banished idea? How deep does it have to get? Are we so immersed in the cesspool of disinformation that we are no longer able detect BS?

Edmond Burke once described the colonists as “able to sniff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.” Somewhere, between the three wolves and a sheep deciding on dinner and an unprincipled Senator wielding the filibuster, is a democratic republic. We now have two senators for each state, the Electoral College, and the filibuster. This constitutes, not just a doubling down on the will of an entitled minority, but triple redundancy. At what point will we come to realize such a scheme is an anti-democracy trifecta?

One of the first known practitioners of the filibuster was the Roman senator Cato the Younger. He could obstruct passage of any legislation he opposed by speaking continuously until such time as the Senate would adjourn for the night. In the United States, the filibuster came into existence as the result of an interpretation of Senate rules that did not provide for any process to end debate. The first Senate filibuster occurred in 1837 to prevent allies of President Andrew Jackson from expunging a resolution of censure against him. Jackson had decided to dismantle the Bank of the United States. He claimed that the bank had too many foreign investors, favored the rich over the poor and resisted lending funds for development of America’s Western territories.

The filibuster was used in 1843 when two senators opposed a bill to deregulate the natural gas sector and tried, unsuccessfully, to kill it. It was used in 1917 as twelve anti-war senators drafted a law against armed merchant ships after Germany declared a full submarine war. And, it was invoked again in 1919 by senators trying to stop the Treaty of Versailles, thus ending World War I.

Today, the filibuster is best remembered for the way it has been used to obstruct any meaningful progress towards building a more perfect union. The 1964 civil rights Act filibuster lasted 57 days and it was just one of many ways the rule has been used to sustain a truly abhorrent set of values based upon race. In the past, one would have to stand up and talk thereby casting light on their soul. But recently, the most cowardly specimens within the Senate can simply send an email to filibuster.

The reason that legislation wanted by a majority of the people in the United States does not come about is due to the sophistries of a bigoted minority. Their clear contempt for any multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-racial democracy is now on full display with no plausible deniability. I recently had one person write to me saying “The word democracy does not appear in the Constitution.” I responded by pointing out that, lest there be any ambiguity, the framers instead chose to advance a definition of democracy in the first three words of that document.

The term democracy stems from the word demos which is defined, in most English dictionaries, as the common people; the populace. The words “We the People” map precisely and with fidelity to that concept. Of course certain members of the Senate still cling to the most racist compromise, the constitutional formula that treats every non-white man or woman as three-fifths of a person. And, those Supreme Court justices masquerading as constitutional originalists and textualists, while setting aside the Preamble, have also defined themselves as, to put it charitably, well afoul of their constitutional oath as jurists.

As for the legislation of our day, any rookie salesperson can tell you that the best way to minimize sticker shock is to list a product’s benefits before revealing the price. The reason this country’s social infrastructure initiatives got labeled up front as seven trillion, three point five trillion, and one point seven-five trillion dollar packages is a direct result of the morphing filibuster. This is because when the filibuster is used to quash open debate, and legislation must take the reconciliation route, the price tag can then be used by the wined, dined, and pocket lined to eclipse the benefits. And, at this juncture we must ask, just who benefits from such sophistries?

The United States legislative, executive, and judicial branches are clearly operating in a cash for trash modality. The dark money that secures judicial nominations, confirmations, and accommodations has elevated the most sociopathic members of the Supreme Court. It has produced a fictitious corporate personhood where foreign potentates enjoy superior free speech rights. It has resulted in the idiotic findings that money is speech that can be used routinely to drown out the voices of We the People.

Were it not for the filibuster, the case could be made in full throated support for the welfare of children. Support that extends beyond the conception to birth fetishism that counterfeit conservatives feed to those who are likely to parrot such oversimplified talking points. Were it not for the filibuster, our common definition of socialism would include the three dollars that Kentucky gets back for every one dollar that state contributes to the public treasury. Were it not for the filibuster, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and fossil fuel companies would be exposed as the animating force behind prevaricating senators.

The Electoral College made perfect sense while the country depended on the Pony Express for communications. The filibuster is also sustained in the interest of so-called minority rights. However, the framers had already provided for each state to be represented by two senators, regardless of its geographic size or population. This triple redundancy, in the interest of minority rights, only obscures the gamesmanship that has resulted in our democracy being seen, throughout the world, as something less than authentic.

We’ve all seen the bumper sticker that exclaims “It’s All Good.” I once worked with a woman of authority in a small Baptist church whose car had one of those stickers. She took some heat for it but, as far as I know, it is still prominently displayed on her car. The “heat” would come in the form of gentle corrections, nudges, or reminders. Some would say “All things work together for good.” Someone else would add “for those who love God.” And finally, one in ten would cap off this important principle adding “and are called in accordance with his purpose.”

We’ve most likely known people for whom it seems everything that can go wrong does go wrong. I have lived a significant portion of my own life on what some might call a shoe-string budget or at a subsistence level. And I know, from personal experience, why the Gospel of Jesus resonated with the poorest of the poor. I look back upon such challenging times as a series of blessings in disguise.

For some, the idea of independence is aspirational. But for others, there is no such thing as independence. Pontificating politicians drone on endlessly about energy independence, even though they are themselves trapped in patterns of fossilized thought. Even those worshiping at the alter and feeding at the trough of fossil fuels fail to recognize that, without solar energy, there would have been no photosynthesis and therefore no leaves with which to feed their pet brontosaurus. There is no way to avoid the fact that everything on this side of the sun depends on solar energy, and its byproduct, biofuel.

Sometimes we need paradigm shifts in our patterns of thought. Jesus focused primarily on the desperately poor, the marginalized, the least connected to, or vested in, the economy of the rich and powerful. And he did this because there is something beautiful and serviceable about an attitude of appreciation. While this simple truth is entirely lost on the self-satisfied, Jesus warned that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” For those who are religiously atheistic, none of this makes sense. But to those for whom the true Gospel resonates, it is everything, In part this is because those who value a relationship, with the only real powers that be, are constantly refreshed and renewed in a way that removes all doubt. 

When Jesus said “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you,” he gave us the keys to the Kingdom. Those keys are sincerity, sincerity, and more sincerity. For as the master locksmith made abundantly clear, only those wiling to engage in honest introspection are qualified to enter. The spiritually blind Pharisee was told to first clean the inside of the cup so that the outside may also be clean. In other words we are each admonished to examine and change our inner selves. And, as we better conform to God’s precepts, our public lives and deeds will reflect essential truths and become shining examples for the ultimate benefit of all.

An onward and upward trajectory is dependent upon our innermost understanding of Divinity. This is the unifying and coordinating quality that draws us near and into the heart of God. Arrayed along this drawstring, like glimmering pearls, are God’s Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. When Jesus asked “Why do you call me good,” he then made it clear that there is only one First Source and Center of all that is Divine.

God’s goodness can only be understood in the light of his personality, for only a person can love and be loved. His desire to elevate all of us so that we may share in his Divine perfection, insures our high destiny, should we choose to accept it. When we understand that we have an all-powerful benefactor, who is so affectionate and so dedicated to perfecting us through his uplifting ministry, our most appropriate response is one of appreciation. It is through the expression of such appreciation that we begin to reflect the inner beauty that also originates with our loving God.

Erroneous ideas about a self-contained or self-centered God simply recede as the truth of his generosity takes hold. We develop further appreciation, of the way God has bestowed upon us a spirit complement, to indwell and envelop us, as we become ever more responsive to Divine leading. The Promised Helper, that Jesus called the Spirit of Truth, is fully capable of leading us into all truth. For this to happen, as intended, we must let go of any security blanket that might hold us back. We must “put away childish things.” 

Our world’s advancement depends upon our individual advancement. At some point our standing as a planet will rise. We will become worthy of a place in the cosmos where echos shine and reflections ring. Our posterity will someday enjoy an Era of Light and Life. Only there and then will the statement “It’s All Good” ring true.

Some regard Paradise as the garden from which Adam and Eve were evicted. To others, paradise refers to Maui. And then there are those who see Paradise as the origin and destiny for all spiritual and physical energy, the gravity center for a universe of universes, the geographic center of infinity, and the eternal dwelling place of God.

I once had a friend that, upon encountering the concept of infinity’s geographic center, mused “How does that work?” I suppose the idea of God’s eternal dwelling place would prompt similar questions. Of course, trying to wrap our finite minds around infinity and eternity has always been, more than a little, problematic. Even so, when Jesus said “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you,” he was expressing more than a nice sentiment. That seemingly simple statement speaks volumes that will likely take a mortal lifetime to unpack.

Most 101 level theology courses describe God as all knowing, all powerful, and all pervasive. This omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and personality bequeathing Deity, knows power in all its forms together with how and when to use it. The parables of Jesus were replete with the power of parabolic analogy. The master had a lot to share and much of it would have to wait for future generations that could even begin to comprehend it. Fortunately the Parables of Jesus gracefully transcend time.

For some, taking a ride through the countryside brings to mind the Parable of the Sower. Those lessons about seed scattering and the soils that support growth are every bit as true today as they were when Jesus shared them. Of course, the directing arc for each of his teachings and, for that matter, the entire universe has the same focal point. That is Paradise. We often think of God and Paradise as existential and this is because they have always existed. However, as the original Personality, God is also experiential.

I have a friend that once told me; “Bob, God doesn’t just want to be your upstairs advisor. He wants to be your Partner.” I thought, if that’s true, God would certainly have to be the senior partner. As time went on I started to see my friend’s comment in the context of what Jesus meant when he said; “I stand at the door and knock.” I also thought about his personal Gospel message which emphasized; “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.”

In Truth and fact, when we invite Jesus into our lives, he, as a Paradise Son, reveals Paradise and its original Resident. Jesus was very fond of saying “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Clearly our world is populated with many who are looking without seeing. Although, once we’ve seen Jesus, nothing is more important than seeing more. This includes the attributes of Jesus, those of the Spirit he promised, and those of a loving Father who so loved the world that he sent his Son.

When Jesus said; “I am the Light of the World,” he was referring to the highest quality of light. It is a triune, very real form of illumination composed of physical light, intellectual insight, and Spirit luminosity. Like the primary colors within physical light, the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Jesus revealed are the primary components of Divinity. This essential attribute is the unifying and coordinating quality that, like a drawstring, gently pulls us further into the Heart of God. Authentic Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are like glimmering pearls arrayed along that scintillating string.

As we begin to see Paradise as the origin and destiny for all that is real, we appreciate the highest reality of all. Any given set of facts, their meanings, and the implicit values all take origin within this nucleus from which all personality finds its First Source. We’ve all known individuals we would describe as enthusiastic personalities. And, when we think about it, the enthusiastic part has a transcendent quality of its own.

The term enthusiasm stems from the Ancient Greek word enthousiasmós. It literally means “God within” and also “within God.” Implicit to the Jesusonian teaching that “God’s Kingdom is within you” is the concept of God dwelling within you. When we combine this with the later Pauline teaching that “In Him we live, and move, and have our being” we begin to get a pretty good idea of what is meant by those who teach that God is omnipresent. 

As for the omniscience part, many people believe that the concepts of fore-ordination and pre-destination somehow mean that everything is decided in advance and that we don’t have free will. I would ask you to consider the fact that, just because God knows our highest and best destiny, it doesn’t mean that we are not free to accept or reject any part or all of it. Just as Jesus stood at the door and knocked, waiting for an invitation to enter, the Father respects our choices. Even when we make poor ones, God does not use his omnipotence to impose his will.

Full Transcript:

I don’t mean to burst your filter bubble, but we’re now more vulnerable than ever. In the spring of 2017, the virulent WannaCry outbreak afflicted over 200,000 computers in over 150 countries. Since then, high profile ransomware attacks have caused extensive damage to a wide variety of tech-savvy organizations including motion picture companies, police departments, municipalities, automobile manufacturers, oil and gas distribution systems, logistics enterprises, the financial services industry, and healthcare providers throughout our world.

When government organizations and some of the most affluent companies on the planet are unable to protect themselves, what are weto do? Recently, I got a new phone. And, after transferring all the apps, photos, and information from my old one, I got a rather disturbing message. I was enabling facial recognition arguably a highly convenient feature unique to the most recent devices. Once your face is recognized, your login and password are then automatically provided for access to your wi-fi; together with your social media, email, and banking apps. To do this your phone, tablet, or other computer must have access to your password list. During this particular setup, I received notice on my phone that I had one hundred and forty-four compromised passwords.

Now many of these are in the category of who cares. I mean, am I really all that concerned if someone else get access to my news feed? But then I remembered that I recently got an email from my sister that said she needed help. When I reached out to her, she said she was ok but that her email had been hacked. Now in my case, if someone gets into my bank account, they may be able to buy enough gas to roll ten miles down the road or a bucket of fried chicken, but probably not both.

I built my first desktop computer, from a kit, two years before the IBM PC was introduced to the market in 1981. My computer smoked when I first turned it on, and not in a good way. I had learned, the hard way, that you really need to put the right little resistor in the right place before soldering it to the circuit board. A few years later I learned about the value of backing up your work. I had spent several hours word-crafting an important letter. And, when I got up from my desk I tripped over an extension cord, the screen went dark, and I had to rewrite the letter from scratch.

The point is, ignoring little things can cause really big problems. The first time I had a friend named Debbie was in elementary school. From that time as I was immersed in various schools and businesses, I’ve probably known a half dozen people named Debbie. So, the first time I ever received an email with “Hey! It’s Debbie” in the subject line, I opened it only to find out this particular Debbie did Dallas.

I can’t count the number of times my personal computer has been infected with various forms of malware. When you type a word and it seems to take an eternity to appear on the screen. – When you come back to your desk after making a sandwich and your computer is doing stuff as though there’s a ghost sitting in your chair, using your mouse and keyboard. – When you weren’t given the option of choosing where to save a downloaded file and then you look in your downloads folder only to find it’s not there. – When you think you’re downloading a zip file only to find out later, you really downloaded two.

The adware, spyware, trojans, worms, and viruses that are collectively known as malware can have their way with you. Made any enemies lately? What’s to prevent them from parking incriminating material on your network attached storage? How’s that patent application coming? Did you really mean to share it with a complete stranger? – And, just how did someone else beat you to the punch with a business plan that seems way too similar to be mere coincidence?

Anyone that can hijack your computer can exploit the information you have on it, add whatever they want to it, and either blackmail you or hold your professional life for ransom. If you’re living on or just adjacent to the web, you’re not in the kind of neighborhood where it’s ok to leave your doors unlocked.

In June of 1941, John Mauchly visited John Atanasoff in Ames, Iowa. During that time Atanasoff and Mauchly discussed the prototype Atanasoff Berry Computer also known as the ABC. Mauchly enjoyed unfettered access to it and also reviewed Atanasoff’s design manuscript. Just a few years later J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly were awarded electronic computing patents for the ENIAC that included elements from Atanasoff’s prior art.

If you want your career to smoke, in a good way, then you need to put all the little resistors in the right places. It’s one thing to share your ideas. It’s quite another to have them taken from you. Perhaps it’s time to think about using your personal untapped potential for your own purposes.

The French television series Varsailles was set during the civil wars in France that occurred in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War. At that time Louis the 14^th  was confronted with the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the courts, and most of the French people. In the show, during one fictional encounter, Louis meets the central hero in a series of fanciful poems. The King said: “Will you not share a glass of wine with me?” Our hero responded “I prefer to see the world as it is.”

It was clearly an attempt at seduction within the broader context of the same power dynamics we’ve often witnessed in our own day. So much of our commerce, our religion, our politics, and our social media experience is tainted with a certain coercive quality. Name calling is a form of coercive labeling. Leading questions are often misleading at best. And, certain algorithms affecting our social media experience specifically target the Primal Brain or the Paleomammalian / Emotional Brain.

Efforts to severely blunt the Neomammalian or Rational Brain, also known as the Neocortex, were clearly the theme in the oft ignored Moody Blue’s song Send Me No Wine. The lyricist went on to warn “They’re gonna make you leave your, leave your heart behind.” The emphasis on higher things was clearly evident in the lyric “If only everybody found the answer in love.”

As we become centered in this particular “answer,” we can better enjoy our lives and become more discriminating, even when it comes to the finest of wines. However, when anything is taken to excess, and in the face of the ongoing warfare that was early on described as “War in Heaven,” the enemy gains tactical advantage by means of the sophistries designed to make us leave our love behind. Our Mission Commander clearly exhibited a unique situational awareness when he said: “This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Our strife torn world is what it is. And we need to be clear eyed if we are to recognize and address its many persistent problems. Our earliest written records state that God gave us dominion over many of these things. He has delegated responsibility for mitigating the effects of war, famine, and pestilence that are unwelcome characteristics of the natural world. And we are clearly admonished to aspire to something higher than nature.

We have entered an age and are at a stage where we faced with global pandemics, regional skirmishes, and rampant criminality. Some of our fellow human beings are even fighting alongside our microscopic foes. They sabotage any effort to combat not only deadly viruses but other forms of disease as well. While paying lip service to the top forty Christian talking points, some show disdain for much of what Jesus actually taught and exemplified. 

The Book of Revelation occupies a central place in Christian eschatology. While it is widely recognized as the final book of the Christian Bible, its title is derived from the first word of the Greek text: apokalypsis. The precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate although no one is pushing back on the descriptive title advanced when American gospel-blues musician Blind Willie Johnson recorded the song “John the Revelator” in 1930. The chorus line “Who’s that a writin” is widely regarded as asking if it was John of Patmos who was exiled as a result of anti-Christian persecution.

Whoever it was is not quite so important as other questions arising from the challenges put forth within the book itself. For example, the writer makes many interesting statements including this one : “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he took the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and he bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit. And he bound him and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the people no more till the thousand years were fulfilled. And after that, he must be loosed for a little season.”

Why, one might ask, would the deceiver be “loosed for a little season?” Now the book is commonly dated to about AD 95 so, depending on the length of the “little season,” we could well be smack dab in the middle of it. And, just what is it? Could it be a time of testing? Maybe it is intended to provide for a period of sorting and sifting. We do, after all, live on a rebellion torn, confused, and disordered planet.

Maybe, just maybe, this is how Jesus always intended to separate the sheep from the goats. Really, do we think he would want to be surrounded by those feigning allegiance? Highly unlikely. Instead, Our Sovereign Lord would undoubtedly want to build his true church with those who are sincere; those with a loyalty and devotion that is voluntary, wholehearted, and sophistry-proof.

Full Transcript:

Joe Manchin is not fooling anyone. There was no reason to wait for him to get specific about his objections to the Build Back Better initiatives because the motivations of his donor / owners have always been clear. We knew the truth would eventually come to light.

1 Big Finance doesn’t want dental, hearing, and vision benefits built into basic Medicare because insurance companies would no longer be able to profit from those services through Medicare Advantage, a program specifically designed to support hollowing out and privatizing Medicare.

2 Big Oil wants to sustain the last gasp of an outmoded economy. They don’t want a nationwide deployment of climate friendly charging stations subsidized by the federal government precisely because it would serve to decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. Manchin likes to say that it makes no sense to incentivize companies to use cleaner sources of energy because they are moving in that direction anyway.

What he doesn’t say is how reasonable incentives tend to accelerate any transition. And since 2017, Manchin received $138,500 from electric utilities, $107,500 from Oil and Gas, plus $78,500 from the Railroads that haul coal. To suggest there is no self-interest behind Manchin’s assertions defies credibility.

No one is suggesting that fossil fuels won’t be a part of the mix for topping off vehicle batteries. However, any nudge that helps us to shear away from continued dependence on environmentally destructive feedstocks will help us to deliver a healthier planet for our grandchildren.

3 Big Pharma wants to continue price gouging for prescription drugs that were, in many cases, originally developed at taxpayer expense. Pharma doesn’t want the government negotiating prescription drug prices for Medicare because they are intent on fleecing the public in perpetuity. Need an example? Heather Bresch, Manchin’s daughter, worked with Pfizer Inc. in 2016 to monopolize and raise the price of the EpiPen.

As President and CEO for Mylan Inc. The company, specializing in generic drugs. raised the price of a two-pack of EpiPen from about $124 dollars in 2009 to $609 in 2016. Mylan was one of the largest campaign contributors to Manchin’s campaigns in five election cycles, donating around $211,000 to his campaigns since 2009 through PACs and employees. In 2010, the company’s PAC and its employees were the largest donors to Manchin’s first Senate run. Mylan, now operating as Viatris is the number one career donor to Manchin. 

Any politician that prostitutes his or her office, thus defiling positions of honor and trust, is not serving the highest and best interests of our nation. When all is said and done, their exaggerated sense of self importance does not mean that they must win re-election for, as James Freeman Clarke said in 1870, “A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation.” The focus of elder statesmen must be on the next generation for, after all, their future and this world are their rightful inheritance. 

n May of 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken ordered attorneys for both the 21 Juliana plaintiffs and for the federal government to convene for a settlement conference. On the 29^th day of October the talks ended without resolution. In 2015, twenty-one children filed Juliana versus The United States. The plaintiffs asserted a right to life and a planet capable of supporting it. The lawsuit alleged the government violated their constitutional right to life, liberty, and property through “affirmative action” that allowed climate change.

The Manchin intransigence is just the latest evidence of a venal conspiracy of men against humanity. The disloyal opposition, to any effort putting evolution back on track, is centered in the United States Senate. We must ask ourselves, is Manchin’s bipartisan fetish sincere or is he just aligned with those retardant forces that seek to kill any effort that would put the ship of state on an even keel?

His feigned reverence for the best interests of West Virginians would be somewhat believable if it was simply centered on the troubled coal industry within that state. But his gamesmanship with respect to early childhood education, and the care of seniors betrays his “if I can’t explain it” schtick. To be fair, Joe Manchin is clearly not the only self-interested politician. But his obsession, to always be at the center of attention, makes him an enduring symbol for dark money politics.

As Manchin rails against socialism in clever code, his state is one most dependent on federal funding. Of those states getting back more than they contribute to the federal treasury, West Virginia finished fifth behind Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico and Alabama. Even so, the rest of the country is sympathetic to the people of West Virginia precisely because they are so poorly represented by Manchin. The people of that state deserve more.

They are industrious, intelligent, and poised to embrace the challenges of a new economy. They have a growing interest in entrepreneurship. They are building incubators, and strategically located tech parks. Campus activity has yielded major innovations in manufacturing with the new high-tech tools needed to usher in the “Third Industrial Revolution.

You’ve heard the old story where three blind men come across an elephant. The first man happens upon its leg, and concludes it’s a tree. The second man bumps into its trunk, and concludes it’s a snake. The last blind man feels its tail, and concludes it’s a broom. Nowhere have I seen this scenario play out more vividly than in the Christian Church. I remember sitting in an adult Sunday School class in the late 1990s. Someone shared something that reminded me of something a Hindu friend of mine had once said.

I shared that I had heard God described as the splendor of the splendid and the goodness of the good. Everyone in the room liked that description until I revealed that it was a quote from an ancient Hindu text. As if by some sort of conditioned reflex, I was told that they were talking about a different god. I have always been puzzled by this mode of thinking. Why can’t one tradition’s partial understanding serve to inform a more comprehensive one?

It’s as if some marketeer somewhere has decided that, to differentiate the faith in a competitive marketplace of ideas, the church can’t build a unique value proposition unless it somehow disses everyone else’s beliefs. Nowhere in the recorded history concerning the exemplary life and teachings of Jesus is there evidence of him attacking the underpinnings of someone else’s faith. There are, however, many instances where Jesus listened and worked to build on even the faintest flicker of faith within those individuals who came close to him.

It is not within the scope of our mission to try and play Theo-surgeon and attempt to excise every erroneous idea within someone else’s evolving understanding of what God has in store for them. The Promised Helper Jesus sent to help all of us is the Spirit of Truth. Just as this Helper will faithfully and competently lead us into all Truth, the Spirit can be trusted to drive out all serious error. 

God has given us an endowment of mind and spirit that give rise to an ascendant philosophy. It’s entirely up to us if we are to become responsive to Divine leading as we move forward in thought, word, and deed. The Truth consists of more than facts. It prompts us to consider meanings. It leads us to recognize and embrace supreme values. It augments our view of total reality just as two eyes enhance our depth perception. The materialist tends to see the world and the universe as relatively flat.

Our Spirit complement superimposes the enhanced perceptions, that are exclusive to the spiritually endowed mind, upon the circumscribed world view of those who would otherwise limit their understanding to that of the physical life. In Exodus we were told that God has filled the believer “with his Spirit, gifted him with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, . . .” Later on, in a letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote: And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One. There will come a day when he enables us to bring these cosmic views into true focus for, as Jesus said: “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” 

On that day we will understand the meaning and value of Enlightened Honesty as characterized by Clear Thinking, Warmhearted Luminosity, and Spiritual Transformation. – The meaning and value of Courageous Loyalty as characterized by Cohesive Integrity, Mutual Confidence, and Responsive Friendship. – The meaning and value of Enduring Peace as characterized by Common Concerns, Sensitive Communications, and Impartial Judgment. – The meaning and value of Enthusiastic Appreciation as characterized by Augmented Values, Infectious Joy, and Harmonious Progress.

We will know the meaning and value of Unfailing Goodness as characterized by Thoughtful Preparedness, Resourceful Adaptability, and Industrious Tenacity. – The meaning and value of Unselfish Devotion as characterized by Divine Guidance, Patient Foresight, and Supportive Encouragement. – The meaning and value of Merciful Ministry as characterized by Sympathetic Understanding, Enveloping Tenderness, and Inspiring Beauty. – The meaning and value of Loving Service as characterized by Shared Vision, Unified Motivation, and Constructive Engagement.

We will begin to appreciate the meaning and value of Undying Hope as characterized by Focused Purpose, Healthy Dedication, and Insightful Leadership. – The meaning and value of Confiding Trust as characterized by Moral Affinity, Informed Fidelity, and Principled Adaptability. – The meaning and value of Sincere Fairness as characterized by Seasoned Acuity, Centered Clarity, and Ethical Inquiry. – The meaning and value of Forgiving Tolerance as characterized by Balanced Perspective. Resourceful Accuracy, and Resilient Structuring

We will undoubtedly learn to embrace God’s Truth, Beauty, and Goodness because, as Jesus said, the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.” The authenticity of our relationship with Jesus and the Father is revealed in the nature and to the extent these fruits of the spirit are manifest in our life experiences.