The Plough: Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution

André Trocmé (1901-1971) is famous for his role in saving thousands of Jews from the Nazis, as pastor of the French village of Le Chambon. But his bold deeds did not spring from a void. They were rooted in his understanding of Jesus’ way of nonviolence and the social implications of Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God on earth.

In this book, you’ll encounter a Jesus you may have never met before--a Jesus who not only calls for spiritual transformation, but for practical changes that answer the most perplexing political, economic, and social problems of our time.

Newly revised and expanded, this edition includes a concise biography of André Trocmé, and extensive notes on how contemporary thinkers have grappled with his ideas.

Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution

208 pages download book

There is no easy peace. The earth’s exploding population renders more difficult each day a peaceful solution to the problems of hunger, national security, and social justice. Simultaneously, the threat of nuclear destruction continues to hover over the future of humanity.

Meanwhile, the gap widens between the mentality of our contemporaries, shaped by a technological civilization whereby we control nature, and traditional religion, conceived during a rural epoch when human beings bowed under the weight of nature. Though technology threatens human existence more than it ever did in times past, Christian thought – frightened by the responsibilities it should assume – refuses to see in the gospel anything but a message of individual salvation. It might even be said that today’s Christianity finds suspect any actions performed for the physical salvation of the human race. It spurns any practical efforts of authentic Christian obedience as presumptuous and pharisaical – and that in an age much in need of them. Such a reversal of the teachings of Jesus Christ must be rectified, lest the church disqualify itself as an instrument capable of pointing the way for a humanity bordering on collective suicide. ...

All of us, Christian and non-Christian alike, are responsible for the hunger, injustice, egoism, exploitation, and wars that devastate our time. Christians bear special responsibility: knowing that God can change both people and their situations, the disciple of Jesus can help bring into being God’s future for humanity. ...

Moses had instituted a genuine social revolution aimed at preventing the accumulation of capital in the hands of a few. This was to recur every seven and every forty‑nine years. I use the term “revolution” intentionally because the social readjustments commanded by Moses were far more radical than the efforts of modern revolutionaries. Contemporary revolutions grow primarily out of economic disparities caused by technological developments. Jesus’ revolution, on the contrary, drew its strength from God’s liberating justice. By proclaiming the Jubilee, Jesus wanted to bring about a total social transformation, with an eye to the future, yet based on the vision of justice God had already set forth in the past.

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Systemic Manipulation

MM Book 1 Chapter 5-18

The “Devil” kills no man, men do; we actuate the Devil or we can actuate God — the corporate “structure” of society, roles/professions; the “State” is all about “corporate wealth” and “national debt”, the enforced “privatization of wealth/profit” and the “socialization of debt/cost”; the “public-Nation” pays for and supports the “private-State”; since the “debt” can never be repaid (as Money is Debt), “income tax” is a necessity to repay the Debt as it is essentially “already issued debt” and it is regarded and collected by the corporate-State as a “franchise fee” for “public” State-Citizenship and Benefit; the Public must pay a “fee” to access some of their God-given “rights” usurped and taken by the State — the State is “private-ownership” overriding and/or dismissing the Nation’s “public stewardship” — “religion” is the re-binding to the systemic; Mammon “is” the possession; the State is all about the controlled “structure” and “psychology” of the Nation (our “group think” and “conformity”); our physical “world view” and our spiritual “God-view”; the monetary “de-meaning” of a Human Being (in “violation of God”); defined in Mammon’s terms: “worth” for life; how can one be “Lord and Master” if everyone actually had “equal rights” in all things.

The link between our “real” world and the “artificial” systemic is our consent whether known-or-unknown; every citizen has been “capitalized” monetarily and nominally as Nation-State debt-surety (the State-issued “Strawman”, the “artificial you”); the SAGE Nation-State “owns” you and everything connected to you (your possessions, even children) — the systemic manipulation of the Nation is pure evil: the very “forces” that assassinated ML King in 1968 selected/placed Barack Obama into the Presidency 40 years later – Mammon or Messiah: “sell your soul to the devil” (lust) or “give it unto God(-ing)” (love); no Human “Being” has “right” to wealth when so many are in poverty (anything above need is greed); the present “spiritual war” is about consciousness, against the “faces” and “masks” of death and corruption, the very “imagery”; negate the claim, take back your sovereignty vs. an artificial systemic evoking real and deadly repercussions; violence (in any form) is a betrayal of our God(-ing) and a failure of our humanity.

MM Book 1 Chapter 5-19

God has NOT abandoned you and you most likely have NOT abandoned God – God has never been very far from you, he considers you a member of His church, not a church controlled by a few select men, but a church of equal brethren, guided by Him; and now, He would like to know if you are willing to reconsider Him ?? – He is extending an open invitation to you and your family to take your rightful place within His community; *God desires and needs you* in His Family !! – God is not self-interest, yet, you are in His interest, and in turn, He is in your interest, we *are* God together – God’s Family is a sharing, a relationship of reciprocal interest [a belonging place; an open experience], not a self-interested taking, but an unselfish giving !! — the high ground of truth is now to be made level, as originally; in diversity is truth, not confusion – reason and worship as way of life; pure religion and undefiled, without spot — open dialogue is NOT confusion – we must come together and converse, amongst ourselves, and with God; we must reason and counsel together [a multitude, not just a select few] – dialogue and cointelligence — we have been sermonized near to death [by men of good intentions, but caught in the grasp of the hierarchal error] !! – God’s brethren, the ekklesia, are NOT passive spectators but active participants – let us start with our own households, then the common household of God, and then the fragmented household of man; a reciprocal sharing, a community of the *gift*, the FAMILY !! — the work of God is active, living faith, the preaching and the witness — the love of God in action speaks volumes, and touches hearts and minds in the full power of God; we are to share freely and openly what God has freely shared with us; this is God’s storehouse !!

MM Book 1 Chapter 5-20

We understand, each of us, *together* with Christ all things taught [God provides the understanding; we are not just to accept another's teaching, another's understanding, even if presented in the Spirit; we must *share in*, with Christ, the understanding and application; we must prove all things, search the scriptures daily]; it is our *relationship* with God that enables us to understand and apply His truth – fellow-laborers with us provide insight, teaching, guidance and example, but it is *with* Christ that we understand, all of us, together !! — free Christianity [free and open community] means we are free to accept the responsibility that comes with being a member of God’s Family; it is spiritual liberty, the unencumbered, self-sufficient environment that is necessary for the Kingdom of God.

The application of God’s Word is the *power* of God; the COG is NOT applying God’s Word [worshipping in SPIRIT and TRUTH] – how we stand in *relation* to our fellow man [and his society] as his future judge [1 Cor 6:2, the saints shall judge the world, the angels] is paramount [we cannot partake of another's sin, or be the cause or occasion of the same] or our role as judge [the judgment to LIFE] is negated !! – the COG systemic must be *of God* NOT of man; we are under judgement NOW [under the same terms as those in the future]; how can we mete out judgement when we are *complicit* in the very sins being judged ?? – THIS AWARENESS MUST TRANSCEND ALL ELSE, AT THIS TIME, IN THE COG !! — Rev. 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, *my* people, that *ye be not partakers* of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have *reached unto heaven* [the hierarchal Tower of Babel; the State/COG Inc.], and God hath remembered her iniquities — the “nature of the beast” is directing the COG, NOT the nature of God !! – the *image of the beast*, the hierarchal systemic [business; the corporate as means/instrumentality] has to be ** REJECTED IN TOTAL **, the absolute disestablishment [of the SAGE/Beast construct] *begins* at the House of God !!

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 Chapter 5 web page (widescreen)

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Who is the Author of You?

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-10

Most “personal scripture” is prewritten by others and incorporated without question; who is the author of you ?? – God is the author of our salvation, He will rewrite us, renew us, if only we will invite Him in – our “scripture” has become flawed and only the original author can restore it !! — a community of renewed mind, an altered state of consciousness; the Kingdom of God begins with God’s consciousness — the Holy Spirit of God is God’s own Mind, His very consciousness, His knowledge and understanding from *within* – human spirit overlaid and permeated by God’s Spirit [sub-conscience (subconscious), conscience, *over-conscience*] !! – God’s Mind, His very consciousness, His intelligence(s) residing in us, His abilities, His very “being” a part of our own – He is expressed as our own mind becomes tuned into His mind [our mind truly becomes *our* mind] – the actualization becomes possible as we grow in grace and knowledge, as wisdom expands to fill our being, as we open the doors of our minds [doors, partitions, veils; light enters vs. shadow] to Christ and allow Him entrance to sup with us [to gather together for the common meal of bread, milk and meat; the spiritual manna], our capacity increases, we become nourished – Amos 3:3, can two walk together, except they be agreed? – God’s mind will merge with our mind as we become aware of, recognize, and conform with God’s will, as His will becomes our will, when His objectives become ours – we will exist in a perfect and holy symbiotic, dependent and reciprocal relationship – we will assume the rights and responsibilities of the God Family — we are the active agents in the design and creation of our own intelligence(s), in the service of the Family – the community *is* the congregation [not just the human community but the whole community of life]; we must be the elders at this time, those mature in the spirit, the servant example.

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-11

God’s consciousness awakening in our minds, with the fruits of the Spirit [ nine fruits, nine intelligences ] drawing out and defining our natural abilities, sharpening our intellect [ennead mentation (multiple intelligence)], creating each of us as distinct, unique individuals in the God Family, each uniquely prepared for the responsibilities that await us; God’s nature becomes our nature !! – the Spirit conveys to God an understanding of our thoughts and very being and in return gives us the attributes and nature of God Himself in harmony with our own and/or paired to correct – the Spirit gives to each person the attributes God desires in order to benefit the Body as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; God gives us all different aspects of Himself, and puts us together for the benefit of all – every person in the Family has a particular strength that the others do not necessarily possess; we are all doing a job that we were given by God to do – the Body of Christ has been given people of varied gifts and talents and God does it for the greater glory of us all – the Body benefits by the operation of each one of us, but we can quench the operation of the Spirit; if we don’t pull our weight individually, we can quench the Holy Spirit; we affect each other because we are all one Body, we affect God – the Spirit can be quenched (1 Thess 5:19) by being neglected or grieved (Eph 4:30); our capacity for growth and service is diminished – our understanding becomes darkened as the light fades, as God’s consciousness withdraws from our unrepented sins, our unrepentant attitude; the withdrawal of God’s consciousness, the vacuum of understanding, the absence of light and God’s strength, draws in the adversary’s consciousness which overwhelms our weakened carnal mind, grips our minds tightly in its grasp of error.

Mammon or Messiah supplement summary (widescreen)

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 Chapter 4 web page (widescreen)

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God's One Common Family

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-22

God will serve us if we are willing to do the same; reciprocal responsibility [a reciprocity, a relationship, mutual action, dependence (reliance, trust); if we take, we negate - the 10 Commandments are the template, the conditions of life, an environment, God's environment - we have the right of free entrance, free habitation; the 10 Commandments are the means, the agency, of entrance into God's Family; not blind progress, nor misguided regress, but an ingress, a turning within, an invitation to enter, to claim our inherent rights - God's Law of Liberty is a responsibility to God, to ourselves, and to those around us, the whole Family of God - they are an achievement [by skill, work, courage and the faith of God as gift], an accomplishment [to make complete, perfect, the true sense of success].

Freedom from the constraints of man begins with a NO !! – God’s community is free-standing [resting on its own support, without attachment], and free-spoken [free in expressing ideas and opinions] – God invites study, discussion, reason, with freethinkers [free thought, free willed beings]; a Free Christian Community is one that refuses to consider, or treat, their fellowman and their environment as an adversary – the common embrace of God reveals worth as intrinsic and not dependent on success or power; God’s community is open to *all*, its blessings are self-evident – the past, the present and the future exist as one, they breathe together, and we do not have the option not to care – “no see, no hear, no care” is an affront to God and a crime against ourselves; we have an obligation to care, to be aware, to learn, to be accountable; those who claim the *warrant of scripture* receive and utilize the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment, and equity, with the realization that we are all *one being*, one existence, and that each of us is an integral [necessary for completeness; essential] member of the same !!

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-23

God is NOT “principal” as generally understood and *used* by man [first in rank, authority, importance, degree, etc., a chief, head, governing or presiding officer, a person who employs another to act as his agent, rule over or upon]; God is a FATHER, and His SON is His express image – God is *servant authority* and mankind has ingress as sons and daughters of the Father, brothers and sisters of Christ, the firstfruits [the active Church, the foundational ekklesia, the *preaching and the witness*, the living Gospel of the Kingdom, the preparatory servant community] considered the very Bride of Christ, His helpmeet; the GOD FAMILY – God is the *principium* [a beginning, a principle; first principles, fundamentals] and as such is the ultimate source, the origin, the cause; God is the natural or original tendency, faculty, or endowment; God is fundamental truth, law, doctrine and motivating force, upon which others are based, ie., moral principles; God is rule of conduct, especially righteousness [adherence to God; integrity; uprightness]; God is an essential element, constituent, or quality, one that produces a specific effect [the active ingredient]; God is scientific law [the scripture of creation, the code of life, intelligent design (this term now co-opted by a fundamentalist definition)]; God is creator and upholds His creation – the universe is God’s tabernacle and the promise is man’s – the God Family is guided by the *high knowledge*, God’s own, within.

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-24

God is *ONE*, Man is ONE, of one blood, of one nation, ISRAEL [all peoples will eventually become "spiritual Israel" and receive Salvation: "And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” Gal. 3:29] – all of mankind shall be born into the Family of God, ONE COMMON FAMILY; God is NOT a respecter of persons, all are made in the image and likeness of God – there is one bread, one body, one spirit, one hope, one heart, one way, one soul, one mind, one mouth, one accord, one Lord, one Father, one faith, one baptism, one lawgiver, one law, one manner, one sacrifice, one offering, one mediator, one brethren, one in Jesus Christ, one image and likeness; God is the PRIMARY, the ONE !! – GOD the FATHER is the progenitor of ALL mankind !! – the human consanguinity [blood kinship]: ONENESS !!

Ephesians 3:14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole *family* [G3965] in heaven and earth is named. [Strong's Concordance, patria; lineage - kindred - family 1) lineage running back to some progenitor, ancestry 2) a race or tribe, ie., a group of families, all those who in a given people lay claim to a common origin. The Israelites which distributed into twelve tribes, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob; these were divided into families which were divided into houses 3) family, in a wider sense, nation, people.]

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 Chapter 4 web page (widescreen)

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Don McAlvany: Disaster Preparedness--Principles of Self-Sufficiency

SurvivalBlog Guest Article:

Disaster Preparedness--Principles of Self-Sufficiency

by Don McAlvany article link

September 2, 2009

1. Change the way you look at everything. Rethink your entire lifestyle.

2. Develop discernment about people.

3. When you invest, invest first in the right people.

4. Honesty, look at yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses.

5. Seek the counsel of others you trust.

6. Find like-minded people who can be part of a mutual support group and who you can cooperate with.

7. Find alternate methods for doing everything.

8. Develop an instinct for what doesn't feel right. No matter how good something looks or sounds on the surface, go with your gut feeling, with your instinct, with your intuition.

9. Eliminate non-essentials from your life. Eliminate all time wasters and money wasters, and things you don't need - i.e. clothes, furniture, junk, etc. Eliminate television from your life.

10. Simplify your lifestyle - learn to say 'no' to things or activities which do not make you self-sufficient. Learn to place trust in God and yourself, and not other people.

11. Develop physical, mental and spiritual disciplines.

12. Learn to treat everything as if it were irreplaceable.

13. Buy things that will last, even if they cost more.

14. Acquire tools that do not depend upon electric power.

15. Learn to spend time alone with yourself in total silence - think, reflect, reminisce, and plan [or strategize] in silence.

16. Learn to spend time alone with yourself and your family, apart from superficial entertainment and distractions.

17. Learn something from every situation you are in everything you hear, see, touch, or feel has a lesson in it. Learn a principle from every mistake you make, from everyday life situations.

18. Make sure your trust is in the Lord and not your own preparedness. Pattern your preparedness according to the guidance of the Lord. Listen to what the Lord puts in your heart - don't use only your reasoning power.

19. Learn to enjoy simple pleasures from the smallest things - have measure of joy and happiness that doesn't come from creature comforts or entertainment.

20. Store up memories for times of isolation or separation from your loved ones.

21. Establish priorities for all of life [i.e. relationship, needs, present needs, future needs.] Set goals for areas you'll be proficient or self-sufficient in. Set a schedule or time line based on money and time you can invest in self-sufficiency.

22. Examine the concept of civil disobedience [from the Bible and history.] At what point should the people of Egypt have said 'no' to killing the male babies in Moses' day? At what point should the people of colonial America have said 'no' to King George? At what point should the people of Germany have said 'no' to Hitler? At what point do we say 'no' to despots in our day - when they take over money, our property, our guns, our children, our freedom? Decide what is your choke point - when do you move to civil disobedience? [For many throughout history - it was when evil leaders handed down edicts that were directly contrary to God's Word or commands.] Don't set your choke point too early or too quickly, nor too late, nor never. Think through or calculate a strategy - then never look back.

23. Learn to ask the right questions in every situation. [In 'Operation Waco,' nobody asked the right questions.]

24. Bring orderliness into your life. If you live in disorder it will pull you down, it will break your focus. Think focus versus distraction. Eliminate the distractions from your life.

25. Self-sufficiency [or survival] principles are learned on a day-to-day basis and must be practical.

26. Always have more than one way to escape, more than one way to do something. Have a plan B and a plan C.

27. Everyday life [and especially crisis] requires 'up-front systems' and 'back-up systems' if the first line of defense or 'up-front systems fails.

28. Real education [or learning] only takes place when change occurs in our attitudes, actions, and way of life.

29. Wisdom is making practical applications of what you know. It is not enough to know everything you need to know. It will only serve you and others if practical application is made of that knowledge.

30. Fix in your own mind the truth about your capabilities. In a crisis situation this principle will keep you from cockiness [or overconfidence] and will provide you with confidence.

31. Decide ahead of time before a crisis arrives, how you will react in a given situation so that you are not swayed by the circumstances, the situation, or your emotions.

32. Beware of being spread too thin in your life. Decide on the few things in life that you must do and do them well. Think focus versus distraction. Make sure that unimportant, non-essential distractions don't keep you from achieving your important objectives.

33. Learn to quit wasting things. Be a good steward of all that God provides.

34. Buy an extra one of everything you use regularly and set the extra one aside for the time when such items may be difficult or impossible to obtain.

35. In every situation, train yourself to look for what doesn't fit, for what's out of place, for what doesn't look right.

36. Teach your children [and yourself] that they are not obligated to give information to a stranger. You don't have to answer questions [not even to a government official] that are none of their business.

37. Sell or give away things you do not use or need. Consider giving away or selling 50% of your 'stuff,' [i.e. the non-essentials.] Simplify and streamline your life, lifestyle and possessions.

38. Find someone who lived through the Great Depression and learn from them how they were self-sufficient, how they made do with little, and how they found joy and contentment in the midst of hard times. An excellent book on this subject is We Had Everything But Money: Priceless Memories of the Great Depression.

- Don McAlvany, Editor, The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor

James Wesley Rawles wikipedia

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Michael Lerner: Disaster in the Gulf: A Plague to Warn Us to Change Our Relationship to the Earth

EDITORIAL

Disaster in the Gulf: A Plague to Warn Us to Change Our Relationship to the Earth

by Michael Lerner article link

Tikkun Magazine, July/August 2010

President Obama was offered an amazing opportunity to change our economic system when he came into office at the peak of a global economic meltdown—a crisis brought on in part by the selfishness and materialism fostered by global capitalism. He misused the chance and instead gave priority to the needs of Wall Street and the big banks.

Now Obama has another amazing opportunity—this time to change the course of U.S. environmental policy. To seize it he must help people understand that oil drilling and the resultant destruction of large swaths of land and sea are just one tiny example of the colossal environmental destruction produced by our unrestricted capitalist orientation to the world.

Instead of messing around with partial measures, the president should transform our approach to the environment by orienting it around this key idea: the earth is not a "resource" to be used for private profit. It is our mother, our body, our very selves. We are deeply implicated and dependent upon it, and we must respond to it not by asking how we can use it but how we can protect and restore it. Starting now. What is now universally acknowledged as the greatest environmental disaster in American history could be the moment when people finally understand that our very existence as a species is at risk because of our reckless endangerment of the planet. Unless the human race can abandon the false notion that progress is about acquiring more material goods and instead recognize that the progress we need to make is in living in harmony with the planet and with each other—and in reverence, gratitude, and thanksgiving for this amazing universe—we will simply not survive. This is a moment that calls for both a radically new political approach and a deep, new spiritual orientation for the human race.

Will Obama use this opportunity? Let him know your ideas, and join our campaign for the Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment (ESRA) to the U.S. Constitution. The ESRA would take money out of politics, require corporations to prove that they have a satisfactory history of environmental and social responsibility, and require schools to teach the skills necessary to preserve and protect our environment on both an individual and a global level. Most Americans want to save the environment but don't think it's possible. The ESRA shows how it can be done. There has never been a better moment for you to become involved. Join our campaign to support the ESRA at www.spiritualprogressives.org/ESRA.

The earth is crying out to us: stop destroying the environment that nurtures all life! The people of the planet earth are crying out to us: stop wars, stop squandering your wealth on military spending, and stop imposing economic policies that benefit the rich but ignore the suffering of three billion people who live in extreme poverty! Build a global human community based on love, generosity, true caring, mutual forgiveness, and compassion. Allow yourself time each day, and a Sabbath day each week, to connect with your own inner spiritual being. Allow yourself time to experience awe, wonder, and radical amazement at the grandeur and mystery of the universe, the ongoing miracle of your own consciousness, and the beauty and fragility of life itself!

Awe, wonder, and radical amazement are a place to start.

The Gulf disaster is yet another one of the plagues that the spiritual reality of the universe is sending to wake us up, to let us know that our path is leading to planetary disaster. What more does the earth have to do, what more does God have to do, what more does Gaia have to do, to awaken us to the craziness of the economic and political world that we continue to support? What will it take for us to recognize that we must no longer frame environmental questions in terms of "what is realistic, given the political configurations in Washington, D.C., and the power of the corporations" but rather in terms of "what steps are necessary to save the planet from the environmental destruction that our global capitalist system is inflicting upon it"? The ESRA is only "unrealistic" in a world that finds it unrealistic to demand that British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Monsanto, Halliburton, and all the other corporate gangsters be held responsible for what they are doing, or to demand that they and the other polluters stop now. Yet failing to do this is being complicit with our own self-destruction.

And, yes, there is something you can do! Take the ESRA and get it endorsed by your local city council, your state legislature, your elected representatives to the House and Senate, your local church or synagogue or mosque or ashram, your professional organization, your civic group, your college or university, and your neighbors and friends. We'll help you—but you need to let us know that you want that assistance. Write to me at rabbilerner@tikkun.org or send a letter to 2342 Shattuck Ave, #1200, Berkeley, California, 94704. Donate to Tikkun. Put us in your will and get your friends to join the Network of Spiritual Progressives. It's only when we become a significant moral force that we can get the support we need to pass the Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment—a major step toward environmental sanity (join at www.spiritualprogressives.org).

Lerner, Michael. 2010. Disaster in the Gulf: A Plague to Warn Us to Change Our Relationship to the Earth. Tikkun 25(4): 7

Tikkun Core Vision

Tikkun Magazine home page

Violence Begets Violence Until Someone Says Enough, Stop !!

MM Book 1 Chapter 3-16

Genocide: a problem from hell, a creation of it [the eradication of the other, an absolute negation] – “genocide” word origin 1944, in answer to Churchill’s “we are in the presence of a crime without a name” – the penalty, cost for “bystanding” must be increased: we have a moral obligation to stop genocide, to intervene even in the face of adversity – our selfish interests should not come into consideration, our “national and self-prejudices” must be overcome [the slow death of non-systemic, expendable humanity, and of our humanity defines "genocide" also (between 30-50 million needless deaths per year worldwide: deaths of poverty, preventable disease, pollution, conflict, etc., 20,000 die of chronic malnutrition alone, each-and-every day, that's over seven million deaths every year)]; the genocidal politico-business systemic that enables our selfishness, that enforces and excuses it, even expects and demands it !! – this world must be stopped; war is murder, you cannot legalize it, war is criminal, especially war as excuse; WE HAVE NO RIGHT !! – we are a war society, our whole systemic-being is adversarial, every aspect of “our”-selves !! – MONEY IS THE DEVIL’S WEAPON, OUR FALSE GOD, and we bow down to it every moment of our lives; it is our excuse, selfishness manifested; we are immersed in the evil, we wallow in the filth; we don’t grasp it, it grasps us, holds us; the store is open 24/7 and we are satiated !! — this is all we know, we need a new teacher [Christ]; words of blood and thunder or the Word of God, a still, small voice – our lives are in each other, we *are* each other; WE DO NOT EXIST ALONE !! – WE MUST OVERCOME; IT IS NOT A MATTER OF BRAVERY, WE HAVE NO CHOICE – WE WILL CEASE TO EXIST OTHERWISE !!

MM Book 1 Chapter 3-19

WAR *IS* TERRORISM, a “war on terrorism” is a contradiction, and belies our spiritual illness: fighting terror with terror reduces man-kind to beasts without conscience, lashing out in the/our darkness !! – war is a taking, it cannot “give” peace [as result], especially if sought “as lie” by a weaponizing of excuse or opportunity: THOSE WHO TAKE, WAR !! – the absence of external conflict is NOT evidence of peace; engendered hatred remains, held within: OUR GOD(-ing) IS PEACE, there is NO other definition !! – war in the service of privilege and claim; asking God to guard the troops while conducting war [a crime *against* God] is to ask amiss; GOD WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN, OR SUPPORT, OUR SINS [deicide in the cause of Mammon] !! – those who conduct war [and those complicit] will be taken in war !! — the Word of God is NOT a “Sword of Conquest” to be wielded in the selfish hands of mankind; God’s “conquest” is a conquest of love NOT war and death !! – [Isa 1:4-5 "sinful nation ... the *whole* head is sick ..."] !! — every war, every conflict is about us, no matter where it is, or whom is involved: HUMAN FAMILY !! – the *excuse* of the other “forcing our hand” into striking, violence/war, criminal acts is exactly that, an excuse; THERE IS *NO* EXCUSE FOR EVIL !! – our awareness of complicity demands our repentance; our “false” family is sacrificing its members: ** FRATRICIDE ** [the crime of "murdering" a brother] and DEICIDE [putting Christ to death; His Way of Love] !! — the systemic APOTHEOSIS [n. of God; deification; consecration]: the Bush/Obama Admin., National Interest, etc., demanding sacrifice; AMERICA USED AS IDOL, “GOD BLESS AMERICA” !! – “America” (the people, their hopes and dreams) used as “divine sanction” by the Nation-State (US Inc.) to enslave the very same !! – America ceased in “being” many decades ago, usurped and misrepresented by the “State”.

MM Book 1 Chapter 3-20

WAR IS *NOT* MORALLY JUST; lack of morality “builds” war – traditional Christian “Just War Theory”, “just cause” determinations, sense of “imminent threat”, “social [corporate] obligations”, etc., all *excuse* mass slaughter in the cause of group selfishness – WAR IS BUILT, DEVELOPED – the US/UK seen as the “messianic” nation(s), in God’s service [generally held public view]; WAR IS *NOT* AN AGENCY OF GOD, MAN DOES *NOT* HAVE JUST AUTHORITY TO WAR !! – God is NOT (self)propaganda, GOD IS TRUTH; developed sin, imposed evil must be overcome by good !! – AGAPE TRUTH, PURE MOTIVE vs. self-serving propaganda of any variant; the LIE told, claimed for benefit/deception; even God’s Word taken/used for LIES !! – using Christ [in vain (in self)], and “being and doing” Christ are NOT the same !! — WAR IS BIG BUSINESS [business is war; cause/effect; resultant] !! — OUR COLLECTIVE SINS/EVIL MUST BE LAID BARE, REALIZED AND REPENTED OF, WE MUST (RE)TURN TO GOD !! — State imposed legality is NOT God’s legality !! — war does NOT ennoble a generation, it does NOT give it meaning; violence is NOT a means of communication; WAR IS NOT ENDURING, ONLY LOVE IS ENDURING !! – war “media” is complicit in the myth making, the excuses for dehumanization: human beings turned into objects – the CARNAL LUST OF/FOR WAR vs. the *ugly* truth about ourselves: WAR IS ORGANIZED DEATH !! – WAR DOES NOT UNIFY, IT DOES NOT GIVE US VALUES vs. State exaltation, heroic idolation – WAR *PERVERTS* SOCIETY AND INDIVIDUALS: PATRIOTISM IS SELF-GLORIFICATION, IT IS PREJUDICE vs. THE OTHER – WAR IS *NOT* SELF-PRESERVATION, IT IS SUICIDE !! – VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE UNTIL SOMEONE SAYS ENOUGH, STOP !! – the COURAGE of FORGIVENESS, a GOD-LEVEL AWARENESS is evidenced when the “strongest” surrenders to PEACE !!

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 Chapter 3 web page (widescreen)

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 blog home

Evil Growing Deeper

The threat to an Islamic future perception; humiliation deeply felt by many Arabs; Arab helplessness, vulnerability to western power/force is being exploited to "the extreme" - the "manner" of US/UK Policy was-and-is the determinant, the "promise/reaction" equation vs. an imposed corporate oil-garchy, and its new economy addressing Iraqi nationalism/tribalism; the psychological impact of continued US/UK occupation !! - the Sunni [many still Ba'athist] vs. the majority Shiite [Kurds 20% of population]; Sunni/Shiite violence / retribution [EVIL GROWING DEEPER; ROOTS OF CONTINUED CONFLICT] -- the "corporate" western perception continually voiced by the media [the rhyme and reason], is a shell of deception: the imposed [SAGE] systemic and their imposed compliant regime(s) [FREEDOM | BUSINESS]; LIBERATION BY SYSTEMIC ENSLAVEMENT !! - DEMOCRACY DOES *NOT* ARRIVE IN A TANK !! - WINNING A WAR DOES *NOT* EXCUSE IT, especially when you are cleaning up your own mess [and creating another in the process] !!

"Post-conflict reconstruction" in the image-and-likeness of the US/UK [the imposition of "democratic-fascism", the corporate "blare" (media), the unholy, burning (war systemic) "bush" continues - the secular Thorn Ministry: the SAGE] -- the Arab and Islamic "world" perception of the US/UK "agenda", the (self-)protection of [corporate] interest(s), remains: WAR DOES NOT CHANGE EMBEDDED PERCEPTION(S), IT SHARPENS AND STRENGTHENS THEM !! - the imposition claimed by self-proclaimed friends and liberators [occupation denied] of a compliant government does not give "legitimacy" to the corporate agenda in Iraq / Afghanistan [by-and-through democratic imperialism; a single, sovereign authority] -- deep fundamental change in the culture(s) of the Middle East has been, and will be, sought and achieved by MAMMON [war is the first stage in its imposition], first by the Mammonization of elites [already achieved], then the populace [removing the whip from the elites, and putting the whip in the hands of the slaves] - Islamic Mammon | Christian Mammon [claim; democratic gradualism | Mammonization]: Mammon is Mammon no matter the flavor - THE COMMODIFICATION OF LIFE [GOD] WILL HOLD MOST IN SERVITUDE TO, OR IN MAINTENANCE OF, MAMMON !! - people are *held and (ab)used* by the commodification of life !!

YOU CANNOT MANAGE AND CONTROL PEACE, ONLY CONFLICT; democratic-fascism has-and-will engender much "strife" in Iraq / Afghanistan, ensuring the conflict(s) needed by the corporate; media conditioned [social needs] perception(s) of Mammon will be stressed in the rebuilding process, COSTS WILL BE BORNE BY THE VICTIMIZED !! - the US/UK "military mission" has-and-will pause, and then continue "flush with new promises/claimed successes", even some opponents have-and-will be worn down/overcome by the political "promises" made [though never realized]; public opinion(s) Mammonized, the common emotive !! -- A CHRIST-IAN'S GOVERNMENT IS *OF* GOD NOT MEN, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY OF LIFE BUT BY-AND-THROUGH CHRIST(-systemic) [Christ's Blood (our being) and Flesh (our doing)]; again, our "choice" is MAMMON OR MESSIAH !!

Preemptive [preemption tactic] "war on evil" claim; a "just war" theory not applicable as lie even by the best liars; the consequence of sin [terrorism], as justification - "superficial" evil focus, not the "deep" evil of complicity - economic access [material, secular thought] assured, plus the military generation of its own economy [MIIM, ref: MM Addendum 1] vs. religious/moral [thought] intervention claim(s) !! - an "America First" Foreign Policy ensures contradiction in values/political decision making, all Nation States exude arrogance [disregard, inconsistency towards common obligations]; ** NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE IS EVIL ** - WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A LIFE ?? - many innocent Iraqi / Afghan lives sacrificed / killed [collateral damage]; Coalition Troops lives lost [misused as corporate mercenary forces], together with the initial outright massacre of Iraqi combatants by massive fire-power that could NOT be matched [A MASSIVE FIST USED] - our humanity distanced: SLAUGHTER IS A WAR CRIME, SLAUGHTER IN THE NAME OF GOD IS AN ABSOLUTE EVIL !! - Predestination division into Good [morally superior] and Evil; MORAL ARROGANCE, HUBRIS [wanton insolence or arrogance resulting from excess pride or from passion], WRAPPED IN PATRIOTISM - Christ did NOT pursue the "zealot" option [iniquity purged by MERCY and TRUTH], the "identity" group passions; GOD MAMMONIZED [God Bless "Corporate" America], MAMMON AS SAVIOR !! - THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN ALL FROM US [the commodification of life], WAGE WAR IN OUR NAMES, TO TAKE MORE !!

The Conscious Evil Within The World

MM Addendum 1-7

COMPREHENSION ILLUSTRATION

Tyrean (Tyre) Consciousness (Ezek 26-28): conscious evil (with-)in the world/kosmos (Hosea 9:13); the social subconscious, under the shadow – the Princes of Tyre, the SAGE gods (Bloodlines); “I sit in the seat of gods” (Ezek 28:2) – the “Shadows on the Land”, the “Shadowcasters” – the Progenitor SAGE Lines and their Corporate Beings - the “Giant” shadows are merging, joining into total darkness – Daniel 7 Shinar “Lion with eagles wings” – wings plucked off (Patriarchs; God’s Guidance) – Rampant Lion (SAGE Heraldry), Heart of Man (made mortal) = Babylon (Babylonic Judea), the Shinar succession (origins).

SAGE claimed Divine Right Rulership of land and property, including human beings (Ezek 11:15); hubris institutionalized into law – social engineering madness – deep spiritual illness – a sick social psychology expanding into globalized relationships – foundational and current “wealth” by exploitation (vested interest and claim) – the God of War, the “Broom of Destruction” clearing “the Path”, sweeping aside all opposition (Mammon’s Eraser).

Geo-political/military/business scenarios designed to meet every circumstance, to steer, and to mend, the SAGE Agenda(s) – the “Bilderberg” steering group (advising the SAGE Inc., Board of Directors); 100 core members and associates; all are chained by wealth – the Forbes 500/2000, the “Corporate Beings” (SAGE owned, controlled and/or dependent) – the public face, persona – the MASK (covering Mammon’s twisted and distorted face of greed and avarice) – the Tyrean authorship, the “ghost writers” of the National narrative(s).

MM Addendum 1-8

COMPREHENSION ILLUSTRATION

The Dodekaphulon ((G1429) The Commonwealth of Israel):

* Old Europe (the TEN, led by the Franco-German Alliance) vs. the Anglo-American Brotherhood of Joseph (Manasseh-Ephraim);

* Relationship to God (expression): mainline Catholicism, Protestantism, Rabbinical Judaism, with their variants and sects (God Inc., the Gospel of Mammonism (the adversarial character; the nature of the Beast) – Secular-Christianity-Judaism);

* the Desposynic progeny have accepted the Devil’s offer (the Temptation) (political-party as business clan: Business Party).

* EU pursuing an increasingly Fascist “strength and power” rivalry with the US-UK to ensure continuance as a “partner in strength” (National/State-Corporate strategic conflicts mitigated by mutually agreed partitions (spheres of influence)): Defense/Offense issues – corporate and organizational aims/demands (MIIM, NATO, USMil) (Corporate-State Mercenaries);

* US-UK Corporate control of oil-gas reserves (Iraq War), especially Eurasia (in conflict with (EU/)Russia/China interests);

* Rivalry between competing Financial Conglomerates – Euro vs. FRN-Dollar (the “dollarisation” of national currencies).

The root relationship between nations and the basis of corporate business must be WAR not Peace – history must be viewed and understood as the continuous “progress” of war and that moments of “peace” are merely pauses making possible the next conflict – BUSINESS IS A WAR SYSTEMIC and the SAGE are its Generals; the “covering” over-and-upon the various governments of the world (their particular ideology of no concern) is the SAGE war-systemic – ISRAEL AS WARMONGER NOT PEACEMAKER !!

Mammon or Messiah addendum 1 web page (widescreen)

Mammon or Messiah addendum 1 and 2 blog home

Institutionalized Mammon Is What We Have Become

The corporate creed is greed, greed in the guise of National Interest, National Security [profit warriors]; "refugee" and "immigrant" are economic designations [money classifications; evil prejudice] - Isa 28:9 "Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? [them that are] weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts ..."; we must remove ourselves from our carnal "mother" [COG (Church of God) Inc., harlots, false prophets] and the corporate [COG (Continuity of Government), Beast]; our minds have been pulled down into "media" confusion, the polluted discourse of Mammon - politics is the "business" of government [corporate pimps; private trust] not stewardship government [public trust] - our attempt to fight iniquity while maintaining the excess is a contradiction !! - as long as Mammon's life-blood [its money] keeps us alive, we are part of its body, its being !! - institutionalized Mammon is what we have become: it is "the" dominant force in our world [kosmos]; it is the worship [form; veneration (psychology)], weaponization, and power of evil; corporatized money as primary consideration/arbiter !!

Our Very Being Must Be Called Into Question

The Bible is the "Christ Document", the definitive "Word" [the Christ re-definition: signature of love = God's verification]; the COG Inc.'s semantics of confusion vs. God's Wisdom from Above [the straight and narrow (narrowing the field, the focus; still waters, not a raging sea foaming out its shame); God's love = our Being, God's wisdom = our Doing (application of the love)] -- God is relational, the God Family is relationship(s), and God's Holy Bible is "content relationships" *together* being a "single logical document", the representative Word of God [many parts and writers, working together] !! - God's "signature of love" is His servants "key of trust", His query method is also love and humility - the collective mind of humanity will become as "one" together with God, as His Family: AGAPE MIND, no longer imprisoned by our fears, and our selfish thoughts in response !!

Any evocation is a resultant, is dependent upon our approach !! - while the various NGO's and "resistance" groups express the [physical] immune system [reaction] of the Social Body, we, as radical Christians, must express the conscience [spiritual], God's very consciousness: OUR VERY BEING [and Doing] MUST BE CALLED INTO QUESTION, A DEEP, PENETRATING EXAMINATION, BY MERCY AND TRUTH !! - we must understand who we are and what we have become, and ask repentance of God: we must ask for His forgiveness, and we must forgive each other [we are *all* complicit]; WE MUST *REPAIR* THE BREACH AND *RESTORE* THE PATHS TO DWELL IN, *IN* LOVE !! - every man and every woman has a [sacred] voice that must be heard, his or her story; an independent media vs. the corporate voice, the voice of Mammon; God speaks to every one of us individually, we should follow His example [the signature of God and His truth is agape love] !!

Our Rightful Inheritance

God and His Church is not [imposed] containment; God is openness to others [freedom, communion, relationship], strength, *equitable roles*, a *full sharing* of what God has shared with us, a sharing of God's presence and His [blessings] gifts, including healing -- a fear of intrusion does not, and should not, intrude upon God's welcome [the fear should not exist, overriding the Spirit; the result is actualization of intrusion in the guise of protection (by those who assume power) for/against those called (the Elect), and God's guests (those being led); it leads to self-fulfillment; a barrier even against God; reined in, curbed] -- the WAY, the 10C, the signs of God are *life-signs* [indications of true life; liberty]; if God is withheld, the body will wither and die -- we are warned in the Bible to beware, to give heed, to keep watch against vain deceit, and even to mark and avoid the teachings of certain people who insist on creating division, but there is nowhere a command for total exclusion of any within God's community -- total exclusion applies to the world's systemic; God's warriors seek that from which others flee, there is NO fear of anything [God is with us]; we confront society -- the politics of exclusion within the Christian community is of man NOT God !! - it is CONTENTION against God's community; the truth of God must overwhelm the falsehoods !!

"... by His stripes are ye healed," God has promised to heal us of our iniquities, our spiritual sins, as well as, our physical sins - illness of spirit and body were healed by Christ's sacrifice, the penalty has been borne and paid - Christ was beaten, whipped, His flesh torn away [fig. His pound of flesh] by the system - a right way of life will restore us, *heal* us, a way of righteousness, equity - we must claim our rightful inheritance with *all* its benefits !! -- suffering is pain coupled with despair, hopelessness - pain [physical; psychological] takes on an alter-ego, a separate personality that determines what we do, that impacts our lives; chronic pain is almost a third person, a possession, a being possessed - we must allow God to change the circumstances through faith and the application of knowledge [wisdom; the power of God] in the physical and spiritual - God will get to the cause(s), the root of the problem and will exorcise it !! - the incapacity caused by the pain, the suffering, gives way to a new capacity [the ability to contain, absorb, or receive and hold; ability; power; qualification] from God; the *quality of being*, the capability, the potentiality of God's Family opens to us, as God's *gift* !!

It is God's *presence* that brings the healing, our relationship with Him; the absence of God, by our choice, allows the deterioration [our daily lives, the application of God's word, the social Gospel] !! -- the world, the pride of life, is worshipping Satan [he has the world and its glory to give]; living within the false, the world's ways, is NOT worshipping God in truth !! -- SIN involves man's *relationship* to his Maker -- worship is the acknowledging of God in *all* His ways IN *all* our ways, we become one with God [*one presence*], His will, His way of life, becomes ours [the application of intelligent design] -- God provides the *healing* that is necessary, by OUR presence !!

The Church of God community: a *relationship* with God among men, an example, a *working* witness [a living witness] -- the corporate [by a recognition of their form, influence and effect] has to be rejected, including their products, their money and means - there is no such thing as ethical funds; shareholders [claiming the *divine right* of capital] are opposed to equity, they claim profit for perpetuity as right, they are slave-holders in effect, with a claim on the rights and labor of workers, with no real input whatever; it is ** wealth discrimination ** and opposed to the Kingdom of God -- the choice is either for the hard right or the easy wrong -- the price for freedom was Christ's sacrifice - we must be *stewards* NOT consumers [including the COG, hearers only; the Gospel as product is NOT doing the Gospel (doers of the word); a hierarchical form-structure is NOT a *ministry of the brethren*, good stewards of the Spirit of God] -- the want, the need of belief [most are just trying to heal the hurt; the emotion] must be paired with knowledge, intelligence, and active faith, joined as *wisdom*, the application of God's Word, the *power* of God !!

We Must Choose A New Understanding

The Healing Work

** PROVE THE FACT, DEMONSTRATE THE SOLUTION = CHRISTIAN-ITY ** = Acts 4:32-35, of one heart, of one soul, had all things common [COMMUNITY OF GOD] = GREAT POWER OF WITNESS and GREAT GRACE UPON THEM ALL = ADORNING [to put in order; *prepare*] THE DOCTRINE OF GOD !! - PREPARING AND PREPARED FOR THE RETURN OF CHRIST, worthy [becometh] of the Gospel !! -- the "real" world is NOT the "unreal" existence of this present world, the real world is the reality of Christ in-the-here-and-now, and His Kingdom, soon to be established [physically and spiritually] as was originally intended -- corporate money = destruction, the wasting of all it comes into contact with !! - consumers are agents of "consumption" [a wasting away; a disease].

The concept of the Sabbath, the willingness to observe as "community day" [fellowship], a focus [consciousness of God], a "day of relationship(s)", a "day of healing", it is FAMILY DAY where we experience the UNMIXED Word of God [pure agape love; God-ing] and "re-tool" ourselves, where we re-educate and re-define ourselves, according to God's education and definitions, and Christ is our *only* educator and example [pattern and measure] !! - WE MUST HEAR AND DO THE *HOLY* "CHARACTER OF GOD" [the 10C] !! - WE MUST BE *AS* GOD IN THIS WORLD [G2889 kosmos], in it, yet unspotted, NOT complicit in its instrumentality and its crimes; we must be considered a new creation, a new birth of righteousness [our being and doing], in a systemic of evil: WE SHALL SIT AS *JUDGES* [condemning the evil and overcoming it, purging it with mercy and truth], WE SHALL BE SAVIORS TO HUMANITY, WE SHALL HEAL THEM WITH CHRIST !! - if we are *as* God now, then we shall *be* God-Family when Christ returns with our Salvation, a salvation to be shared; that is the "healing" work that is before Christ and His Bride !!

Freedom From God Is Enslavement To Satan

Most who feel guilt abandon themselves, this is a tragedy; guilt and grief consume us; God has forgiven us, and we must do the same; we must abandon the guilt, not ourselves !! - let go of the guilt, the darkness within, consider God, love yourself [our perception(s) must change] - don't give yourself to another's claim of authority out of "fear" of God and guilt of sin; God wants you to claim yourself [God gives you, you !!] - we connect to and with God only in agape love - we have to give ourselves permission to heal; sorrow, pain is not a connection to a loved one lost, or a loss of oneself [healing is not dishonoring; it is not losing one's connection to the one lost]; love *is* the connection; HEALING is SALVATION, a healing path !! - God's standards, expectations, are NOT unrealistic, man's are !! - living in pain is NOT justified, we have choices; we have the power to be miserable, to carry a heavy burden for the rest of our lives, or not; judgment is liberation, NOT a sentence to confinement [a wounded spirit martyr; a prison of our own minds, of our own making]; the answer to the question posed, do the inner evils of our own mind relinquish our choice, is NO !! - we must do the best we can with what we have; our ** conduct ** is primary, righteousness is our right conduct, in full consciousness with each other, and with God !! - relationship, companionship changes who we are; we cheat ourselves and each other with our selfishness; unrighteousness is resisting God, doing what is right in our own eyes, using our own limited standards, seeking freedom from the will and rule of God [defining God using our own definitions (we fear God because we fear our definition, our application), not realizing freedom from God is enslavement to Satan (the very definition we fear)]; living life fully is the promise *of* God, of His Family - we must *choose* a new relationship, a new understanding [the 10C]; God is waiting for us; living life fully is a reciprocal relationship, our common table !! -- [multiple sources, including therapist Dr. Phil McGraw, on guilt]

Wisdom: The Application Of Knowledge

The only spiritual life is one of service; there is a lack of *meaning* in the world; you cannot find meaning in a world that seeks and glorifies money and power, the wisdom of the world; THE REDUCTION OF HUMANITY [every evil work; the elimination of the public-Nation by the private-Nation-State/TNC's; the elimination of any compassion (the label of living) and charity (corporate profit means "care = burden"; the real burden on humanity is the SAGE-Corporate; the evil invasion of greed against our sanity) and any generosity] - these are MONSTERS in-every sense-of-the-word, barely Human, animalistic purveyors of a systemic that has murdered and continues to murder millions of people; they exist in a spiritual vacuum, sucking the life out of us !! - WE MUST KNOW AND ACT [Wisdom: the application of the knowledge] !! -- Ephesians 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly [exactly, accurately, diligently], not as fools, but as wise; Colossians 4:5 ** Walk in wisdom ** toward them that are without, redeeming [to make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good] the time; James 3:17 But ** the wisdom that is from above ** is:

* first pure:

[pure - chaste - clear] 1) exciting reverence, venerable, sacred 2) pure from carnality, chaste, modest, immaculate, clean; -- [saints - Holy One] 1) most holy thing, a saint; -- [cherish] 1) to warm, keep warm 2) to cherish with tender love, to foster with tender care.

* then peaceable:

[peaceable] 1) relating to peace 2) peaceable, pacific, loving peace 3) bring peace with it, peaceful, salutary; -- [peace - one - rest - quietness] 1) a state of national tranquillity; exemption from the rage and havoc of war 2) peace between individuals, ie., harmony, discord 3) security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous) 4) of the Messiah's peace, the way that leads to peace (salvation) 5) of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God [SATAN'S IMPOSED "FEAR OF GOD"] 6) the blessed state of devout and upright Christians.

* gentle:

[gentle - patient - moderation] 1) seemingly suitable 2) equitable, fair, mild, gentle; -- [be like] 1) to be like.

* [and] easy to be intreated:

[easy to be intreated] 1) easily, obeying, compliant; -- [well - well done - good] 1) to be well off, fare well, prosper, acting well; -- [persuade - trust - obey - have confidence - believe - be confident] 1) persuade 1a) to persuade, ie., to induce one by words to believe 1b) to make friends of, to win one's favour, gain one's good will, or to seek to win one, strive to please one; to tranquillise 1c) to persuade unto ie., move or induce one to persuasion to do something 2) be persuaded 2a) to be persuaded, to suffer one's self to be persuaded; to be induced to believe: to have faith: in a thing; to believe; to be persuaded of a thing concerning a person 2b) to listen to, obey, yield to, comply with 3) to trust, have confidence, be confident.

* full of mercy:

[full] 1) full; in reference to persons, whose minds are as it were filled with thoughts and emotions, either good or bad; -- [mercy] 1) mercy: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them 1a) of men towards men: to exercise the virtue of mercy, show one's self merciful 1b) of God towards men: in general providence; the mercy and clemency of God in providing and offering to men salvation by Christ 1c) the mercy of Christ, whereby at his return to judgement he will bless true Christians with eternal life.

* and good fruits:

[good works; working the Spirit (1 Cor 12:11); MINISTRATION OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS] -- [good - good thing - that which is good - the thing which is good - well - benefit] 1) of good constitution or nature 2) useful, salutary 3) good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy 4) excellent, distinguished 5) upright, honourable; -- [fruit] 1) fruit; the fruit of the trees, vines, of the fields; the fruit of one's loins, ie., his progeny, his posterity 2) that which originates or comes from something; an effect, result 2a) work, act, deed, of Christian character 2b) advantage, profit, utility 2c) praises, which are presented to God as a thank-offering 2d) to gather fruit (ie., a reaped harvest) into life eternal (as into a granary), is used in fig. discourse of those who by their labours have fitted souls to obtain eternal life.

* without partiality:

[without partiality] 1) undistinguished, unintelligible 2) without dubiousness, ambiguity or uncertainty; -- [doubt - judge - discern - contend - waver] 1) to separate, make a distinction, discriminate, to prefer 2) to learn by discrimination, to try, decide, to determine, give judgement, decide a dispute 3) to withdraw from one, desert 4) to separate one's self in a hostile spirit, to oppose, strive with dispute, contend 5) to be at variance with one's self, hesitate, doubt.

* and without hypocrisy:

[unfeigned - without dissimulation - without hypocrisy] 1) unfeigned, undisguised, sincere; -- [feign] 1) to take up another's statements in reference to what one has decided for one's self, ie., to reply, answer 2) to make answer (speak) on the stage, ie., to impersonate anyone, play a part 3) to simulate, feign, pretend.

We Must Come To Know Whom We Represent

We are a "product" of the environment we surround ourselves with; corporate media environment = perception deception !! -- we are here to change the world, not to be changed *again* by it, or did we really attempt to change [conscientious objection; withdrawal] ?? -- Jesus the Christ is King, MAJESTIC in *all* things !! - most Christ-ians [those who hold, carry (take) Christ's Name, the Anointed] are tarnishing the Majesty of Christ; we are spotted, polluted by this world [we have taken God's name in vain; we are worshipping in vain]; we are grieving the Spirit of God, and weakening and destroying the spirit of nature [anima mundi; the planetary soul] - we must strive for, attain and maintain a ** GOD-LEVEL RELATIONSHIP ** [being and doing] in-and-with *all* things !! - we must reject "the claim" of-and-by ourselves and others !! - the "pomp" of society, the "private ownership of the means of production" must become "common-wealth" of the community(-ies) !! - a genuine, organic/natural existence [AT-ONE-MENT] vs. the artificially contrived, corporate existence; GOD IS LIFE !! -- our "denominated" selfishness [monetary and sect] must cease, or we will; OUR SYSTEMIC-MURDER WILL MURDER US [the wicked taken in their own evil; THOU SHALT NOT MURDER] !!

"Reason" has become repressive vs. Isa 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together, saith the LORD" ... domination and vested-interest induce error and sin [ignorance of God] -- vested value-judgements [philosophical system; value/ethic systemic; creed] or value-free(-dom); what is our definition of "value" ?? [WE LIVE OUR VALUES]; TRUE VALUE IS OF GOD, pure "agape" value: selfless activity, experience, knowing and sharing [our God-ing]: ** REACHING BEYOND SELF-VALUE ** - the Arm of God, applying God, His presence !! - the Mind of God enables us to see through and beyond the [SAGE] systemic !! - systemic security is dependent on belief, trust, dependence and/or threat; remove these and undermine/collapse the systemic; the firewall of selfishness, the imposed identity, must be breached - information-war, knowledge conflict: multiple launch points vs. God's Word; corporate media, the template of consciousness; security control: selfishness as right, reward ["to cash in"].

Our Systemic Is Self-Defining

Fundamentalism is God "politicized" - the path is not prepared for the traveller, the traveller is prepared for the path ... -self-satisfaction, casual brutality, senseless violence: our systemic is self-defining -- a Christ "philosophy" [the love of wisdom] of life vs. a business dogma [to think; settled opinion]/creed [systemic belief], advocating the unholy trinity of "me, myself and I", taking for yourself first -- systemic ordination is NOT the ordination of God; God is NOT dogma and/or creed; the Body of Christ is living and fluid: ECCLESIAN LIVING WATERS in the service of God vs. interpretations in service of the systemic -- all men and women represent God, whether they know it or not [made in the image and likeness "of" God]; WE MUST COME TO *KNOW* WHOM WE REPRESENT !! - when we represent ourself(-selves) we sin, we take; representing God is our gifting of agape love !! - sin is a lack of knowledge, an ignorance of God !! - REPRESENTATION OF GOD, no other corporate agency or person.

Mankind's Thin Veneer Of Humanity

God is an influence in the world and is influenced *by* the world ... the God "agency"; how we construct our identity(-ies) [I approve of myself ??] - *prosecution* by war is an illegal act !! - a "War On Terror" by use of a War *of* Terror is criminal; this is not disarmament of Iraq/Afghanistan, this is the dismemberment by the corporate; one tyrant replaced by another: former "benefactors" claiming the OIL PRIZE and geo-political position !! -- WAR INDUCED HUMAN COSTS HAVE TO BE BORNE BY ALL, INCLUDING THE *GUILT* !! -- the "corporate war" has continued long after the initial military fighting ended: MONEY LOVES WAR !! - engendering continued conflict, the taking from the "peace" to pay/reward those who made/make war possible is INSANITY: "WEAPONIZING BRUTALITY" IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, NOT SOMETHING TO PROFIT FROM !! - many victimized people have-and-will-be abandoned to ensure corporate success, maintenance, and reconstruction - THE RECONSTRUCTION OF HUMANITY MUST BE OUR PRIORITY, *OUR* HUMANITY !! -- WE MUST GRIEVE OUR RESORTING TO VIOLENCE !!

God's SWORD [SacredWORD] is NOT the "knife-edge of extinction" !! - mankind's thin veneer of humanity is easily cut/ripped, and many enter and/or are pushed through !! - appreciation/gratitude is necessary for, and an aspect of, a deeper level of awareness, but requires a form of faith in the giver, and identification with the gift: WAR IS NOT THE GIFT OF PEACE [a "peace" to conduct business is NOT the Peace of God] !! - PEACE IS NOT A BUSINESS TERM; PEACE IS A GOD TERM [can only be defined in terms of God (Agape Love)] !! - a peace imposed and then enforced is NOT "peace" !! - the introduction of war [by those complicit] under the guise [pretext] of humanitarian intervention vs. brutality, in support of benefactor claim, is of itself the "same" brutality [as previously supported] -- Business is sedation of God-consciousness [we are asleep to LIFE, to a "true" Life (God *is* Truth)]; MAMMON CONSIDERED AS SAVIOR !! -- WAR IS A TESTAMENT TO OUR *FAILURE* AS HUMAN-"BEINGS", OF OUR HUMANITY !!

The Spirit (Way) Of Life

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 1

(employment, application of Being, the Doing (SONA=PERSONA) - MAMMON Systemic or MESSIAH (Christ Systemic))

Galatians 5:

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things *shall not inherit* the kingdom of God.

Physical and Spiritual application (secular and religious): "IN VIOLATION OF GOD"

works <#2041> ergon - work - deed - doing - labour 1) business, employment, that which any one is occupied, enterprise, undertaking 2) any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind 3) an act, deed, thing done.

flesh <#4561> sarx - flesh - carnal - carnally minded - fleshly 1) flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood) of both man and beasts 2) the body 2a) the body of a man 2b) used of natural or physical origin, generation or relationship; ie., born of natural generation 2c) the sensuous nature of man, "the animal nature": without any suggestion of depravity; the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin; the physical nature of man as subject to suffering 3) a living creature (because possessed of a body of flesh) whether man or beast. 4) the flesh, denotes mere *human nature*, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal <#4561> mind (the secular mind-ing, determinant character) [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God (God's very character, as expressed in the 10C; we are the "living stones" the expressed character of God), neither indeed can be.

manifest <#5318> phaneros - manifest - openly - known - abroad - spread abroad - outwardly - outward - appear 1) apparent, manifest, evident, known; manifest ie., to be *plainly recognised* or known.

adultery <#3430> moicheia - adultery 1) adultery (DOUBLE-MINDED; REJECTION; SELFISHNESS).

fornication <#4202> porneia - fornication 1a) illicit sexual intercourse [BUSINESS=PROFIT, OUR NATURE OF INTERACTION]; (from 1 Cor. 6:12, we learn how leniently converts among the heathen regarded this vice and how lightly they indulged in it) 1b) metaph. the worship of idols; of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols (meat offered to idols, ie., sermons in support of the COG Inc., sanction-blessing of God claimed (CONFORMING CHRIST TO THE WORLD (KOSMOS), etc., NATIONALISM, PATRIOTISM)).

uncleanness <#167> akatharsia - uncleanness 1) uncleanness, physically or morally the impurity of lustful, luxurious, *profligate living* (THE DIVINE RIGHT OF MONEY: MAMMON EXPRESSED, THE ** LEAVEN ** OF MONEY) (EATING OF SINS, BLOOD).

lasciviousness <#766> aselgeia - lasciviousness - wantonness - filthy 1) unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence (the "god complex", SUPERBIA (arrogant pride), FILTHY LUCRE, FILTHY ROBES).

idolatry <#1495> eidololatreia - idolatry 1) the worship of false gods, idolatry; used of the formal sacrificial feats held in honor of false gods, of avarice, as a *worship of Mammon* (the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, BUSINESS); in the plural, the vices springing from idolatry and peculiar to it (the false idol NATION STATE and all the crimes committed in its service, machinations and propagation)(HIERARCHY, HIRED-ARCHY PRIESTHOOD-MINISTRY secular-religious) (OUR SELFISH CITIZENSHIP CLAIM) (THE COMMODIFICATION OF LIFE (the very abrogation, the denial of God)).

witchcraft <#5331> pharmakeia - sorcery - witchcraft 1a) the use or the administering of drugs 1b) poisoning 1c) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it; the *deceptions and seductions of idolatry* (PROPAGANDA, ADVERTISING, etc., THE FAITH OF/IN MONEY).

hatred <#2189> echthra - enmity - hatred 1) enmity, cause of enmity (DEMONIZATION OF THE OTHER; DE-HUMANIZING; SYSTEMIC).

variance <#2054> eris - strife - debate - contention - variance 1) contention, strife, wrangling [VESTED/PRIVATE INTEREST].

emulations <#2205> zelos - zeal - envying - indignation - envy - fervent mind - jealousy - emulation I) excitement of mind, ardour, fervour of spirit 1) zeal, ardour in embracing, pursuing, defending anything; zeal in behalf of, for a person or thing; fierceness of indignation, punitive zeal 2) an envious and contentious rivalry, jealousy (BUSINESS, COMPETITION).

wrath <#2372> thumos - wrath - fierceness - indignation 1) passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again 2) glow, ardour, the wine of passion, inflaming wine (which either drives the drinker mad or kills him with its deadly heat) (REVENGE, WARFARE).

strife <#2052> eritheia - strife - contention - contentious 1) *electioneering or intriguing for office* (PARTY POLITICS); apparently, in the NT a courting distinction, a desire to put one's self forward, a partisan and fractious spirit which does not disdain low arts; partisanship, fractiousness (CLAIM OF SELF, ABILITIES (God's Gifts), SELFISH APPLICATION vs. GIFT-ING, GOD-ING).

seditions <#1370> dichostasia - division - sedition 1) dissension, division.

heresies <#139> hairesis - sect - heresy 1) act of capturing, capture e.g. storming a city 2) choosing, choice 3) that which is chosen 4) a body of men following their own tenets (sect or party) e.g. Sadducees 5) *dissensions arising from diversity of opinions and aims* (VESTED INTEREST, CLAIM; DEMOCRATIC FASCISM).

envyings <#5355> phthonos - envy - envying 1) envy; for envy, ie., prompted by envy.

murders <#5408> phonos - murder - slaughter - be slain 1) murder, slaughter (100 NEEDLESS DEATHS EVERY MINUTE IN SUPPORT OF MAMMON (the value of its fiat-debt-money): 50 MILLION EVERY YEAR (minimum number); the SACRIFICE OF WAR (selfish claim), incl., BUSINESS AS WAR SYSTEMIC (the murder of intellect, achievement, livelihood, community), the CRIME OF PROFIT)).

drunkenness <#3178> methe - drunkness 1) intoxication; drunkenness (STRONG DRINK: THEOLOGY, IDEOLOGY, PROPAGANDA, etc., MYTHOLOGY (the National Mythic); SELF-MEDICATION, DELUSION vs. the DISEASE OF MAMMON).

revellings <#2970> komos - revelling - rioting 1) a revel, carousal; a nocturnal and riotous procession of half drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade through the streets with torches and music in honour of Bacchus or some other deity, and sing and play before houses of male and female friends; hence used generally of feasts and drinking parties that are protracted till late at night and indulge in revelry (HEDONISM; UNEXAMINED PRIVILEGE; REWARD OF MAMMON; NATIONAL(-ISM) CELEBRATION and HONORS; PARLIAMENT / CONGRESS (strong drink)).

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 2

Galatians 5: (1Cor13 LOVE defined)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we *live in the Spirit*, let us also *walk in the Spirit*. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. (THE PHYSICAL REFLECTS THE SPIRITUAL: BEING and DOING) (LIVE and WALK in the SPIRIT)

fruit <#2590> karpos - fruit 1) fruit; *the fruit of the trees*, vines, of the fields; the fruit of one's loins, ie., his progeny, his posterity 2) that which originates or comes from something; an effect, result 2a) *work*, act, deed, of Christian character (the 10C) 2b) advantage, profit (WELLBEING, OF THE OTHER AND SELF), utility 2c) praises, which are presented to God as a thank-offering 2d) to gather fruit (ie., a reaped harvest) into life eternal (as into a granary), is used in fig., discourse of those who by their labours have fitted souls to obtain eternal life.

Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called *trees of righteousness*, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 4. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. ...11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are *sown in it* to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause *righteousness and praise* to spring forth *before all the nations*.

Psalms 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Proverbs 11:30. The *fruit of the righteous* [is] a *tree of life*; and he that winneth souls [is] wise. 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, *should live unto righteousness*: by whose stripes ye were healed. Revelation 22:14 Blessed [are] they that *do his commandments*, that they *may have right* to the *tree of life*, and *may enter in* through the gates into the city. (CHARACTER OF GOD, 10C)

spirit <#4151> pneuma - Spirit - Holy Ghost - Spirit (of God) (THE VERY MIND, THE VERY CONSCIOUSNESS, OF GOD OUR FATHER HIMSELF, HIS VERY AGENCY AND POWER; LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU THAT WAS IN CHRIST JESUS) - Spirit (of the Lord) - (My) Spirit - Spirit (of truth) - Spirit (of Christ) - human (spirit) - (evil) spirit - spirit (general) - spirit - (Jesus' own) spirit (FAITH *OF* CHRIST) - (Jesus' own) ghost - misc 1) a movement of air (a gentle blast 1a) of the wind; hence the wind itself 1b) breath of nostrils or mouth 2) the spirit, ie., the vital principal by which the body is animated; the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides; the soul 3) a spirit, ie., a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting 3a) a life giving spirit 3b) a human soul that has left the body 3c) a spirit higher than man but lower than God, ie., an angel; used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men; the *spiritual nature of Christ*, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ 4) of God, ie., *God's power and agency*, distinguishable in thought from his essence, in itself considered manifest in the course of affairs, and by its influence upon the souls productive in the theocratic body (the church) of all the higher spiritual gifts and blessings 5) the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one; the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.

love <#26> agape - love - charity - dear - charitably - feast of charity 1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence 2) love feasts (GIFT-ING, GOD-ING OF ALL THINGS, INCLUDING SELF).

joy <#5479> chara - joy - gladness - joyful - joyous - joyfulness - joyfully - greatly 1) joy, gladness 1a) the joy received from you 1b) the cause or occasion of joy; of persons who are one's joy.

peace <#1515> eirene - peace - one - rest - quietness 1) a state of national tranquillity; exemption from the rage and havoc of war 2) peace between individuals, ie., harmony, discord 3) security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous) (THE NAZAREAN-JUDAIC ANARCHO-COMMUNITARIAN WAY OF CHRIST) 4) of the Messiah's peace (MAMMON or MESSIAH), the way that leads to peace (salvation (HEALING)) 5) of Christ-ian-ity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is 6) the blessed state of devout and upright men after death.

longsuffering <#3115> makrothumia - longsuffering - patience 1) patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance 2) patience, forbearance, long suffering, slowness in avenging wrongs.

gentleness <#5544> chrestotes - goodness - kindness - good - gentleness 1) *moral* goodness, integrity 2) benignity, kindness.

goodness <#19> agathosune - goodness 1) *uprightness of heart and life*, goodness, kindness.

faith <#4102> pistis - faith - assurance - believe - belief - them that believe - fidelity 1) conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it 1a) relating to God: the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ 1b) relating to Christ: a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God 1c) the religious beliefs of Christians 1d) belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same 2) fidelity, faithfulness, ie., the *character* of one who can be relied on.

meekness <#4236> praotes - meekness 1) gentleness, mildness, meekness.

temperance <#1466> egkrateia - temperance 1) self control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites).

The Cracked Idol, The Crumbling Pedestal

The US/UK Media/Gov claim all the results of war [combatant death, injury, "collateral damage", humanitarian crisis, etc., the use of force] was the result of the [evil] Iraqi and Taliban Regimes and now the result of fundamentalist/radical Islamic dogma/terrorism, its resistance to the "liberation", its continued misuse of its own people - US/UK "managing expectations" [media] of their populations; a long, brutal war made possible with denied responsibility for the chain-of-events set in motion; US/UK PEACE-HUMANITARIAN MASK covering mass murder for corporate claim !! - THE "GOD OF FORCES" HONORED: the corporate "phallick": kneeling down to power/pleasure, the instrumentation, mouthing it/worshipping it, RECEIVING FROM IT, IN LUST, THE SEED OF LIFE ITSELF [COG "woman" sexual adultery, harlotry; spiritual sodomy (the Corporate physically; spiritually, the COG Inc., Ministry)] !! - the media "myth-making" propaganda, the "shallow" politics(-ians), the brutality of corporate war, should be OUR AWAKENING [an entering into consciousness] !! - (re)turning to self [a defiance of God and/or in defiance of God] is a lessening [gratification substitution; self-masturbation; ego; right of claim; empty(-ing) self-lust] - sexual connotation(s) permeate our consumer society(-ies) [recognized and used in the Bible]; systemic psychological imprint/lock, definition(s) [the phallicy (fallibility: leading to error; "deceived" in judgement by *self*)] - GOD *IS* "A REACHING BEYOND THE SELF" *IN* AGAPE LOVE !! [vs. our self-fulfillment; a God-level mate-ing: seeking fulfillment in/with another, a *becoming* with someone else (ONE-FLESH: I AM WHAT I WILL BECOME)]; God will transform our mind [transforming: metamorphosic (changing the form, our form of being)] !!

CLAIM WITHOUT COMPLICITY is a contradiction; the very "claim" makes one complicit !! -- a running, flowing, dialogue with self and God [a reasoning together] is so very important, and must be shared !! - the SAVING GRACE of God, our God-ing, must be kept and shared [God's environment]; AGAPE COMMUNITY: OUR COMPLICITY IN EVIL RECOGNIZED AND REPENTED OF, *ALL* CLAIM REJECTED !! -- our metaphoric comprehension of God, or lack thereof, by our everyday existence/symbolism is so very important to realize: ** GOD IS FAMILY, PURE AGAPE LOVE ** !! - similitude and metaphor (similitude reduced to a single word) is understood by all; the Bible is literal *and* metaphoric, one does NOT negate the other: literal expresses the physical, metaphor expresses the spiritual, though not exclusively - Biblical "literal metaphor" use/misuse [ie., OT conflicts, the Divine Sanction taken/used].

The "appointment" of privilege and its attitudes; the lack of credibility, brain-dead perception; corporate puppeteers clearly seen; shallow, scripted politics(-ians): the CRACKED IDOL, the CRUMBLING PEDESTAL !! - 9-11 horror/tragedy *used* as excuse, yet underlying complicity denied, "innocence" claimed !! - "BLIND" TRUST is no longer prevalent: people are better informed, yet, the emotive identity [nationalism] remains - MOST ARE STILL HALF-SIGHTED AND DEPENDENT !! -- wealth built by greed is actually debt owed by others: WAR INCURES MASSIVE DEBT, GENERATING MASSIVE MONETARY WEALTH [human debt/cost negated] !! - the corporate victimization of the Iraqi/Afghan people *and* the US/UK population and military will continue: ALL OF HUMANITY IS BEING VICTIMIZED !! - the continued use of religious symbolism [as words of war], "we pray that God receives and blesses those killed [US/Mil]" ... White House/Media "spinning" God into a web of deception, a covering of lies !! - GOD RELEASES US FROM ALL CLAIM WHEN WE *REJECT* ALL CLAIM [of-and-by ourselves and others], especially/specifically "monetary" claim: FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS ... !!

Hans Küng: The Testimony of Faith to the Ultimate Origin

The Testimony of Faith to the Ultimate Origin

by Hans Küng article link

Tikkun Magazine, March/April 2010

Science can neither confirm nor refute what the two accounts of Genesis proclaim as their clear message: in the beginning of the world is God. So it is not "in the beginning was the Bang," but "in the beginning was the word, the will, and there was light; there was energy, matter, space, and time."

Creation of Space and Time from Nothing

Here we are speaking only in an inauthentic way of a "before" the creation of the world. What was God doing before he created heaven and earth? Augustine, in chapter 11 of his Confessions, already gave a precise answer to this question, which he regarded as impertinent. He was brief and terse: the question was meaningless; the question about the "before" was superfluous. Why? Because the world was not created in time, but with time; to this degree Einstein agreed with him. So only the creator is "before" the cosmos, only eternity is "before" time; here Augustine goes further than Einstein and addresses God: "Furthermore, although you are before time, it is not in time that you precede it. If this were so, you would not be before all time. It is in eternity, which is supreme over time because it is a never-ending present, that you are at once before all past time and after all future time." Thus from a theological perspective the act of creation is a timeless act; it comes about through time. And time is created time, created time-space, created space-time.

Now what does it mean to talk of creating the world "from nothing"? In the Bible, as I have said, this is only a later notion, the fruit of Hellenistic reflection. It does not mean the nothing becoming independent, as it were an empty black space before or alongside God. Nothingness must not be confused either with the "vacuum" of modern particle physics, whose "fluctuations" perhaps stand at the beginning of our universe, and which is in no way a nothing, but a something. What is meant rather is absolute nothing, which excludes any material cause in the act of creation. Creation "from nothing" is the philosophical and theological expression of the fact that the world and human beings along with space and time owe themselves solely to God and not to another cause.

But God does not owe himself to any cause. One may not even call God causa sui (cause of himself), as Descartes and Spinoza did. He is not caused at all. He is by definition the uncaused reality, because it is eternal and perfect: Id quo maius cogitari nequit -- "that than which nothing greater can be thought" (Anselm of Canterbury, Descartes). The Bible does not philosophize about this. But it does express the conviction that the world is radically dependent on God as the author and sustainer of all being yet also remains independent of God. Christian theology has maintained that creation continues: creatio continua. For our present understanding, only in this way is the coming to being of the world as an ongoing process in time possible as a process that does not exclude the origination of new structures but includes them.

Creation from nothing and ongoing creation must thus be as a unity -- both are the condition of the possibility of physical process generally. As U. Lüke wrote in Kosmologie (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2004): "Creatio continua and creatio ex nihilo would simply be two names for one and the same creative activity of the eternal God, itself timeless and at the same time appointing time. And this one and the same creative activity of God would not lie beyond in a singularity billions of years away, but would be strictly present to us, beyond our control, but nearer to us than we are to ourselves."

What Is the Meaning of Belief in Creation Today?

In images and parables of their time, the biblical accounts of creation answer simple basic questions that also arise for human beings of today and that science cannot answer with its method and language. What are answered in the Bible are not purely theoretical questions but elementary existential questions:

* What was at the beginning? The good God, who is the origin of each and all.

* Is anything else (star, animal, or human being) God alongside God? No, there is no God but God.

* But aren't a good principle and an evil principle obviously fighting one another in world history? No, God is the good God who is not in any competition with any evil or demonic counterprinciple.

* Isn't part of reality of a lesser quality: matter as compared to spirit, sexuality as compared to spirituality? By no means -- the world of the good creator God is fundamentally good, and thus also are matter, the human body, and sexuality. "God saw all that he had made and it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).

* What is the goal of the process of creation? The human being -- not isolated but in the midst of the cosmos -- is the great goal of the process of creation. According to the Bible, it is not first a redemption but already the creation that represents God's gracious concern for the world and human beings. The preservation of the world can be seen as continued creation and evolution.

We can ask ourselves: Is it pure chance that modern science could develop in particular against the background of the Jewish and Christian doctrine of creation? Two basic insights that the Qur'an also stresses were beyond doubt helpful presuppositions here:

* The world is not God; it is created and not holy in itself; it has been at the disposal of human beings.

* The world is not chaos but ordered, cosmos; it may be used, built on, investigated by human beings.

So what sense can it still make today in respect to the beginning of the world not only -- scientifically -- to speak of a Big Bang, of models of the world and theories of the cosmos, but also with full justification -- theologically -- to speak of a God who has created the cosmos, as countless people from the Hebrew Bible on -- Jews, Christians, and Muslims‚ but also many others -- have confessed time and again?

Belief in creation adds nothing to the instrumental knowledge that science has so infinitely enriched; it does not offer any scientific information. But creation faith gives us an orientating knowledge, particularly in a time of rapid scientific, economic, cultural, and political revolutions and therefore of uprooting and loss of orientation. It allows people to discover a meaning in life and in the process of evolution, and may provide them with standards for behavior and an ultimate security in this unimaginably great universe. Even in the age of space travel, when they reflect on the amazing results of astrophysics and as always look out at the starry night sky, people will ask themselves: What does it all mean? Where is it going? Does nothingness explain anything? Is reason satisfied with that?

The only serious alternative -- one that pure reason, like so much else, cannot prove because it transcends its horizon of experience, yet for which there are good reasons, an answer that is thus completely rational -- is that the whole does not come from a Big Bang but from an origin. It comes from that first creative ground of grounds that we call God, the creator God.

Even if I cannot prove it, I can still assert it with good reason, in that enlightened trust in which I have already affirmed the existence of God, which is so rational and so tested for me. For if the God who exists is truly God, then he is not just God now, for me here and today, but God already in the beginning, God from all eternity. Only in this way, it seems to me, does the universe become plausible to us in its existence as cosmos, in its mathematically ordered, highly complex, and tremendously dynamic nature. And in the face of the magnitude of our universe and the complexity of science, many scientists have shown feelings of amazement, of reverence, of joy, and even of terror and thus have also asked whether this universe does not embrace more than the apparent -- a question that cannot be answered by science but only by a rational trust that has its grounds and that we call faith.

So believing in the creator of the world today does not mean believing in some myths, nor does it mean imagining God as creator in the way in which for example the incomparable Michelangelo as an artist painted him in a completely human way on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Here all notions come to an end. Nor does believing in God as the creator of the world mean deciding for this or that one of the changing models of the world that great scientists have worked out. And this is not because here the issue is one of presupposing all models of the world and the world itself. Even an eternal world of the kind assumed, for example, by Aristotle would be compatible with belief in God. This was the view of Thomas Aquinas, though on the basis of the Bible he was convinced that the world had a temporal beginning. That the eternal God is before all time does not mean a temporal but an ontological priority.

Today, to believe in the creator of the world against the horizon of scientific cosmology means to affirm in enlightened truth that the ultimate origin of the world and human beings does not remain inexplicable; that the world and human beings have not been senselessly thrown from nothing into nothing; but that as a whole they are meaningful and valuable, not chaos but cosmos, because they have their primal ground, their author, a creator, a first and last security in God.

Once again it must be emphasized that nothing compels us to this faith. We can decide for it in complete freedom. Once we have decided for it, however, this faith changes our position in the world, our attitude to the world. Anyone who believes in God as the creator can with good reason also fully affirm the world and human beings as God's creation. The person can, above all, respect human beings as our fellow human beings (and not as lesser beings), but also respect and cultivate nonhuman nature, particularly the animals, as our environment and the world with which we live (and not as our born enemies, not as material to be used at random).

It is not although I am God's creature, but because I am God's creature, and because my fellow creatures and my environment are God's creatures, that I, my fellow human beings, and also -- for all the difference -- animals receive a dignity that has to be respected. The "fill the earth and subdue it" of the creation story (Gen. 1:28) cannot be understood as carte blanche for unscrupulous exploitation and destruction of nature and the environment, certainly not in an age when we soberly contemplate the "limits of growth." Believing in the creator God allows me to take my responsibility for fellow human beings and the environment and the tasks imposed on me with greater seriousness, with more realism and hope.

NOTE: This article was adapted from chapter three of The Beginning of All Things, by Hans Küng, translated by John Bowden. Eerdmans, 2007.

Hans Küng is president of the Global Ethic Foundation in Tübingen, Germany, and professor emeritus of ecumenical theology. Among his many books are Global Responsibility; A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics; and, together with Rabbi Homolka, How to Do Good & Avoid Evil.

Tikkun Magazine March/April 2010

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