Babel: Which Part Didn't You Understand?

Unexamined Privilege Is A Crime

Misusing the Word GOD

Misusing the Word GOD

Religion, War and Bigotry in the Age of Globalization

by Richard Cook article link

May 9, 2011 | Global Research

2011 is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

The most misused word in the English language may be the one spelled G-O-D. It is a word used freely and frequently by hundreds of millions of English-speaking people who belong to the Christian churches, and even as a curse word by many people.

But how many really understand the meaning behind that word? How many have truly attained the state of consciousness known as God-realization? How many instead use the word to justify various forms of bigotry against those they perceive as non-believers? Can it be that misuse of the word has even given the being or reality the word may represent a bad name?

Christians profess belief in the Bible. Yet the word “God” never appears in the original language of the Bible. Instead, such words as Yahweh, Elohim, Ho Theos, or Ho Kurios are used.

According to the Reader’s Digest Family Word Finder, page 351, “Our word ‘god’ goes back via Germanic to Indo-European, in which a corresponding ancestor form meant ‘invoked one.’ The word’s only surviving non-Germanic relative is Sanskrit hu.” This form “appears in the Rig Veda, most ancient of Hindu scriptures [as] puru-hutas, ‘much invoked,’ epithet of the rain-and-thunder god Indra.”

The word “God” found its way into English-language Christianity through such translations as the King James Bible of 1611. But its origins are decidedly both racial and “pagan.” So in the most important word of their lexicon, Christians use a term that may be far-removed from the scriptures they profess to believe and often cite in looking down their noses at others.

What has probably done the most damage to the idea of “God” has been the use of religion by its adherents for the justification of war. Throughout history, more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion or its ideological derivatives than for any other cause. In this way, organized religion has often made itself repulsive to sensitive souls.

The charge has often been led by Christians of the West. Immense damage was done to religion by World War I, when Christian nations murdered each other by the millions. The damage continues in what is obviously a latter-day crusade being carried out today by the U.S. military, and whatever allies it can muster, against the Islamic world. This crusade has been cheered on by many Christians, even to the point of burning the Koran in public.

The churches have also had little to say in criticism of the predatory system of Western-based capitalism that has increasingly polarized the world. The rich live in ever-increasing luxury, while increasing numbers are consigned to low standards of living or a growing hell of unemployment, poverty, and even starvation. While the churches rail against homosexuality and abortion, they say little or nothing about the corporate greed that places profits over people or destroys the natural environment.

The hypocrisy of the Christian churches has led many to flee the usual denominations for alternative types of worship. This has included the formation of independent Christian congregations, reliance on the ethical standards inherent in secular humanism, or conversion to other religions such as Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism.

Striking have been the emergence of movements such as the Nation of Islam among African-Americans, the spread of yoga as both a spiritual practice and way of life, and the widespread adoption of Buddhist forms of practice among the Western intelligentsia. Also notable are the growth of the Sufi movement, the revival of indigenous forms of spirituality, especially among Native Americans of the Western hemisphere, and the search among Christians for their authentic roots by study of the Essenes, the Gnostics, and early Jewish Christian teachings.

One development dating from the 1960s is the Madonna House apostolate within the Roman Catholic Church that brings the Orthodox Russian practices of the prayer of the heart and poustinia into a Western context. Another important source of teachings is the Spiritis movement, deriving, it says, from direct appearances of Jesus Christ himself to its adherents, resulting not only in new and vibrant explanations of Christian scripture but also integration of spirituality with scientific discoveries in unified field theory.

Spiritualism too has played a role through such figures as Edgar Cayce, the appearance of channeled teachings like A Course in Miracles, and even the search among accounts of extraterrestrial contacts for the spiritual messages therein.

Faced with this plethora of new avenues of profound soul-searching, the standard Christian denominations often have little to say, except to retreat more deeply into doctrinaire interpretations of scriptures they do not really seem to understand. No wonder Gandhi said: “I like your Christ. But I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

But what all these movements point to is that in spite of the rejection by many of the forms of religion historically practiced in the West, the search for spiritual meaning and experience has never been stronger. So the likelihood remains that whatever the truth may be that hides behind the word “God,” it is a truth that continually calls to humanity for its exploration, understanding, and expression. For many, this search for truth has become a living fire.

Richard C. Cook is a writer on public policy issues. Sources for this article include the teachings of Edgar Cayce, G.I. Gurdjieff, P.D. Ouspensky, Abdullah Dougan, Jon Peniel, Omna Last, and many others. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Global Research articles by Richard Cook

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The 12 Worst (and Most Powerful) Christian Right Groups

The Religious Right in America is lavishly funded and politically well connected. These groups raise more than three-quarters of a billion dollars annually, mostly tax-exempt.

The 12 Worst (and Most Powerful) Christian Right Groups

By Rob Boston article link

May 2, 2011 | AlterNet | Americans United for Separation of Church and State

The Religious Right in America is lavishly funded and politically well connected. While the men who lead the fundamentalist Christian political movement hold different opinions about theology, they share a deep and abiding hostility to the separation of church and state. They seek to inject religion into public schools, obtain taxpayer funding for religious schools and other ministries, roll back reproductive choice and deny civil rights to gay people. And they enjoy extraordinary influence in Washington, D.C., and in many state legislatures.

What follows is a survey of some of the nation’s leading Religious Right organizations. Collectively, these groups raise more than three-quarters of a billion dollars annually, the bulk of it tax-exempt. Budget figures are from public tax documents and are the most recent available, in most cases from 2009 and 2010.

The Pat Robertson Empire

Christian Broadcasting Network

Budget: $295,140,001

Location: Virginia Beach, Va.

Regent University

Budget: $60,093,298

Location: Virginia Beach, Va.

American Center for Law and Justice

Budget: $13,375,429

Location: Virginia Beach, Va.

Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism

Budget: $43,872,322

Location: Atlanta, Ga.

TV preacher Pat Robertson has for many years overseen a sprawling Religious Right empire that includes a global television network, a university and an influential right-wing legal outfit. Robertson’s flagship operation, “The 700 Club,” is a daily television program that mixes news, faith healing, Christian lifestyle features and Religious Right politics. He calls church-state separation a “myth” and a “lie of the left.” Despite his extreme views, Robertson remains well connected with the GOP power structure in Washington, and congressional leaders and presidential candidates often appear on his show. House Speaker John Boehner, for example, gave an exclusive interview in February.

Religious Right attorney Jay Sekulow runs the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a legal group founded by Robertson in 1991. Sekulow’s Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, the ACLJ under a different name, serves a similar purpose. The combined annual budget for both entities exceeds $55 million.

Regent University was originally founded to offer graduate degrees in areas Robertson most wants to dominate: government, education, law, communications, psychology and ministry. It now offers undergraduate degrees as well (many of them online) and has a satellite campus in Alexandria, Va., a Washington, D.C., suburb.

The Falwell Empire

Liberty University

Budget: $395,898,255

Location: Lynchburg, Va.

Jerry Falwell Ministries

Budget: $4,208,989

Location: Lynchburg, Va.

Liberty Counsel

Budget: $1,371,795

Location: Orlando, Fla., and Lynchburg, Va.

The late Jerry Falwell, a television evangelist and founder of the Moral Majority, was a pivotal figure in the history of the Religious Right. Falwell died in 2007 and left his religio-political empire in the hands of his two sons, Jerry Jr. and Jonathan. Falwell Jr., who serves as chancellor of Liberty University, has followed in his father’s footsteps by advancing a partisan political agenda. In December of 2007, Falwell issued an e-mail on university letterhead endorsing Mike Huckabee for president. In 2009, he used university resources to engineer the defeat of the Democratic member of the House of Delegates who represented the Lynchburg area.

In April of this year, Liberty hosted “The Awakening,” a conference that featured former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), alongside Religious Right activists.

Liberty has experienced huge growth and now has an active online learning component. Despite Falwell’s anti-government rhetoric, Liberty students receive nearly half a billion dollars in federal aid every year.

Jonathan Falwell serves as pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and oversees the remnants of his father’s TV ministry.

Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group originally founded by Mat Staver and based in Orlando, Fla. It is now a part of the Falwell enterprise and operates in conjunction with the Liberty University Law School, where Staver is dean.

Family Research Council / FRC Action / FRC Action PAC

Combined Budget: $14,569,081

Location: Washington, D.C.

The Family Research Council has become the nation’s top Religious Right group in Washington, D.C. Led by former Louisiana state representative Tony Perkins, the FRC seeks to merge fundamentalist Christianity with government. It opposes individual reproductive freedom, engages in gay bashing and lately has sought to join forces with the Tea Party to create a massive, far-right phalanx.

The FRC is so extreme that this year it was designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Perkins has a checkered political past. In 1996, while managing the U.S. Senate campaign of Louisiana state legislator Woody Jenkins, he paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and notorious white supremacist David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list. In 2001, Perkins addressed the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist organization that grew out of the White Citizens Council.

Despite FRC’s unsavory reputation, the group sponsors an annual “Values Voter Summit” that draws leading GOP congressional figures and presidential hopefuls.

FRC maintains an “action” arm with a 501(c)(4) tax status that enables it to be more directly political. It also funnels money to candidates through a political action committee.

American Family Association

Budget: $21,408,342

Location: Tupelo, Miss.

Originally formed to advocate for censorship of racy TV shows, the American Family Association has branched out and now covers a range of Religious Right issues. The group was founded by the Rev. Donald Wildmon, a Methodist minister, and was originally called the National Federation for Decency. It advocated boycotts of companies that advertised on programs it considered salacious.

Wildmon has now turned day-to-day operations of the group over to his son, Tim. An AFA staffer, Bryan Fischer, has become notorious for making outrageous statements. Fischer calls church-state separation a “myth” and an invention of Adolf Hitler. He believes that the First Amendment protects only Christians and members of other faiths receive religious liberty as a courtesy. The AFA is stridently anti-gay and is the leading group promoting the Religious Right’s phony claim of a “war on Christmas.” It continues to boycott companies that refuse to buckle under to its demands.

The AFA has underwritten a series of “pastor policy briefings” in Iowa, California, Texas and other states intended to organize fundamentalist churches into a potent political machine.

The group says it owns and operates nearly 200 radio stations across the country.

Alliance Defense Fund

Budget: $30,127,514

Location: Scottsdale, Ariz.

Formed by a group of TV and radio preachers in 1993, the Alliance Defense Fund was conceived as a funding pool for organizations that worked in the courts to promote theocratic views and undermine church-state separation. After a few years, the organization began engaging in direct litigation and formed a network of sympathetic attorneys nationwide.

ADF President Alan Sears says there is no such thing as church-state separation in the Constitution and that the bricks in the church-state wall are being removed “one by one.” The organization attacks public education and opposes legal abortion and gay rights.

Outside of court, the ADF has worked to lure evangelical churches into a vast right-wing political machine. It sponsors “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” a ploy to openly defy federal tax law by encouraging pastors to endorse or oppose candidates from the pulpit. (While the ADF claims to be nonpartisan, all the project’s participating clergy in 2008 endorsed Republican John McCain or opposed Democrat Barack Obama.)

Focus on the Family

Budget: $130,258,480

Location: Colorado Springs, Colo.

Focus on the Family was founded by child psychologist James Dobson to advocate for “biblical” solutions to family problems. Although it poses as a family-oriented ministry, the group has always been political. Vociferously opposed to church-state separation and secular government, the massive fundamentalist ministry has a worldwide presence.

Dobson, who has since retired from the group, remains an influential radio broadcaster and has authored several books. He still appears on the air daily with his son, Ryan. Dobson frequently attacks church-state separation and once said “The separation of church and state is not in the Constitution.”

FOF’s current president is Jim Daly. Although Daly said he wanted to tone down some of the ministry’s harsh attacks on gays and others, much far-right political content remains. FOF has a network of 35 state “family policy councils” that lobby in the state capitals.

Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Budget: $3,236,000

Location: Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.

The lobbying arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, takes stands virtually identical to the Religious Right. Southern Baptists claim 16 million members. The SBC’s government action office presses for school-sponsored religion, tax aid to religious schools, reductions in gay rights, limits on legal abortion and other far-right social issues. Commission President Richard Land has stated, “When we convince a majority of Americans that we are right, that’s not called a theocracy, that’s called the democratic process.”

Although many Baptists have historically supported church-state separation, the SBC in the early 1980s became the target of a takeover by Religious Right-style fundamentalists. Once in power, this bloc began endorsing various proposals to merge church and state (such as a school prayer amendment to the Constitution). Land works hand in glove with Religious Right organizations to promote a theocratic agenda. Despite the denomination’s tax-exempt status, he openly meddles in Republican Party politics.

Traditional Values Coalition

Budget: $9,888,233

Location: Anaheim, Calif.

Founded originally to work on “culture war” issues in California, the Traditional Values Coalition eventually expanded to become a national organization. Known for its gay bashing and attacks on Islam, TVC claims to work with 43,000 churches nationwide. The group was founded by the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, who once said, “A dangerous Marxist/Leftist/Homosexual/Islamic coalition has formed – and we’d better be willing to fight it with everything in our power.”

In 2000, Sheldon accepted money from gambling interests connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Sheldon, whom one lobbyist referred to as “Lucky Louie,” told Religious Right activists he was blocking the spread of legalized gambling, although the lobbying firm he was working for was actually trying to spread internet-based gambling.

Sheldon’s daughter, Andrea Lafferty, serves as TVC executive director. She is as partisan and as shrill as her father. When Democratic Party officials announced that U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) would become party chair, Lafferty pounced.

“Way to go DNC,” Lafferty snarled in a press release. “You found the candidate who best fit your profile for DNC Chairman: a junkyard dog who is mean, nasty, shrill, able to screech at a moment’s notice, aggressive, and of course able to manipulate the facts and always uncompromising.”

Coral Ridge Ministries

Budget: $17,263,536

Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Coral Ridge Ministries was founded by D. James Kennedy, a TV preacher who died in 2007. Stridently fundamentalist and far-right on the political spectrum, Kennedy insisted that separation of church and state is not in the Constitution and was known for his attacks on evolution.

Coral Ridge also produced a number of books, DVDs and pamphlets attacking church-state separation. It was known for insisting that America was founded to be a “Christian nation.” Since Kennedy’s death, the ministry has continued pumping out right-wing political material. Its website looks more like a far-right political site than a portal to a ministry.

Today the operation is run by Kennedy’s daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy. Jerry Newcombe serves as host of Kennedy’s program, “The Coral Ridge Hour.”

Faith & Freedom Coalition

Budget: Unavailable

Location: Duluth, Ga.

The Faith & Freedom Coalition is a relatively new Religious Right group founded by Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition. The organization already has developed enough clout to sponsor an Iowa forum for would-be Republican presidential candidates in March of 2011.

Reed, who became a political consultant after leaving the Christian Coalition, formed the group after his attempt to launch a political career in Georgia collapsed when his ties to disgraced casino lobbyist Jack Abramoff became an issue and after writing an unsuccessful political thriller called Dark Horse.

Although the Coalition is of modest size now, the group is just getting started. Reed’s proven ability to organize the Religious Right faithful and raise money make this an organization to watch.

During his time with the Christian Coalition, Reed was known for his intemperate, often violent, imagery. (He once bragged about leaving political opponents in “body bags.”) Time has not mellowed him. During the March forum, Reed discussed the possibility of “replacing the government by force.”

The line is apparently part of Reed’s stock speech. He also used it at an earlier gathering of Tea Party activists, telling the crowd, “[W]e have not only the right, but the moral obligation to overthrow that government by force if necessary, and form a new government that will protect our rights.”

WallBuilder Presentations / WallBuilders

Budget: $1,091,531 (plus proceeds from a for-profit arm)

Location: Aledo, Texas

WallBuilders is an organization founded by David Barton, a Texan who makes his living promoting bogus “Christian nation” history to fundamentalist groups. Barton insists that church-state separation is a myth and was never the intention of the founders. He markets books, DVDs and other materials that promote this view and speaks in fundamentalist churches and other venues.

Barton helped rewrite Texas’ social studies standards, which downplay church-state separation and elevate the “Christian nation” view. Barton does not have a degree in history (his degree, from Oral Roberts University, is in Christian Education), but he poses as a historian.

Despite his lack of legitimate academic credentials, Barton’s profile has increased recently due to a number of appearances he made on the Glenn Beck program on Fox News Channel. Time magazine in 2005 named him one of the top 25 most influential evangelicals in America.

Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential aspirant, is a huge Barton fan. Addressing a Religious Right gathering earlier this year, Huckabee opined that all Americans should be forced “at gunpoint…to listen to every David Barton message.”

The budget figures for WallBuilder Presentations are somewhat misleading. This organization is a small non-profit Barton runs – but he makes most of his money through a separate organization called simply WallBuilders. This group, which is a for-profit business, is not required to make its financial statements publicly available.

Concerned Women for America

Budget: $11,772,009

Location: Washington, D.C.

Formed more than 30 years ago to counter the growing women’s rights movement, Concerned Women for America claims to be the largest women’s organization in the country. The organization, founded in 1979 by Tim LaHaye and his wife Beverly, focused originally on opposing passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

When that issue became less prominent, the group began taking on other matters, such as opposing gay rights and legal abortion as well as attacking alleged “secular humanism” in public schools. In 1984, the group sponsored a legal challenge brought by a Tennessee woman who claimed textbooks used in her child’s school promoted humanism. A federal court initially ruled in favor of the woman, but the decision was overturned on appeal.

In the 1980s, CWA even branched into international affairs, launching a special project to attack Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. Today, the group focuses mainly on opposing abortion, gay rights and public education, although it often attacks the United Nations and has increasingly engaged in Muslim bashing.

Like a lot of Religious Right organizations these days, CWA has been adding fiscal issues to its agenda, demanding that government reduce spending. Its current targets include Planned Parenthood, the National Endowment for the Arts, Public Broadcasting and NPR.

Tim LaHaye went on to write a successful series of apocalyptic pot-boilers called “Left Behind” and now lives in semi-retirement with his wife. Although Beverly LaHaye is still listed as CWA’s chair, the group’s president is now Wendy Wright. The organization claims 500,000 members.

It sponsors a legislative action committee that is a 501(c)(4) organization and an allied political action committee that in 2010 spent nearly $300,000 endorsing conservative candidates.

Rob Boston is senior policy analyst at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Rob, who has worked at Americans United since 1987, also serves as assistant editor of AU's "Church & State" magazine. Rob is the author of three books: "Close Encounters with the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics" (Prometheus Books, 2000); "The Most Dangerous Man in America? Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition" (Prometheus Books, 1996) and "Why the Religious Right Is Wrong About Separation of Church and State" (Prometheus Books, 1993; second edition, 2003).

AlterNet home page

Americans United for Separation of Church and State home page

The DeVos Family: Meet the Super-Wealthy Right-Wingers Working With the Religious Right to Kill Public Education

By now you've surely heard of the Kochs. Meanwhile, the powerful, wealthy DeVos family has remained largely under the radar, while leading a stealth assault on America's schools.

by Rachel Tabachnick article link

May 6, 2011 | AlterNet

We Must Give Up Our Religion To Find God

The Way of the World

The Banality of Evil

Seduction of the Illusion

The Godspeed Institute: Global Fundamentalism

Global Fundamentalism

The Godspeed Institute program link (mp3)

March 27, 2011

Carole Hallundbaek speaks with Peter Huff, the author of ‘What Are They Saying About Fundamentalisms?’ and a leading authority on global fundamentalism and the anti-modernist impulse in world religions. Currently the Besl Family Chair in Ethics/Religion and Society at Xavier University, he has also been the T. L. James Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Centenary College, where he taught Introduction to Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, World Religions, and Global Fundamentalism.

Topics in this informative hour include: fundamentalism as a critical topic in matters of religion, politics, war and violence, even the threat of violence; how he defines Fundamentalism; how it has it grown over the years; some core beliefs / understandings of Fundamentalism; how it takes shape among the world religions; the anti-modernist impulse in world religions; how Fundamentalism works in similar fashion for Christians as well as Muslims and other faiths; misconceptions of Fundamentalism; the Fundamentalist concept of God, and the role of human beings; the future of Fundamentalism; and more.

The Godspeed Institute home page

Progressive Radio Network home page

Richard Horsley: The Political Life of Jesus

The Political Life of Jesus

Speaker: Richard Horsley

Date Recorded: 2006-07-19 program link (mp3)

Series: Teaching Radical Alternatives

Summary: The research of Dr. Richard Horsley, author of "Jesus and Empire", strongly suggests Jesus was as much a political as a religious figure, more a promoter and defender of community than a personal savior.

Notes: Check the 10 Commandments. Four of them deal with the exclusivity of God and the other six are clearly political and/or economic in their essential thrust. Richard Horsley's talk, originally titled "Jesus: Buttress or Challenge to Empire?" is based on a life-long study of the Bible "as literature". He dispells the fallacy that church and state have ever been separate. He covers the ambivalent situation faced by the U.S. as it emerged from Europe both as the new Promised Land and the new Rome. He puts a worldly spin on the teaching of Jesus based on original sources and the perspective gained by reading entire chapters of the Bible at once rather than one line at a time.

Some of Dr. Horsley's numerous publications include Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder; Religion and Empire: People, Power and the Life of the Spirit; and Jesus and the Spiral of Violence: Jewish Resistance in Roman Palestine.

Teaching Radical Alternatives web page

God is a Family

Fire and Brimstone

The Bread of Life

Our Very "Being and Doing" Must Be of God(-ing)

Marred and Forgotten

Systemic Erasure

communitarian Church of God 1

communitarian Church of God 2

Passover Letter: Let God's People Go !!

A Passover Letter to the COG "Ministry": LET GOD'S PEOPLE GO !!

Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But *it shall not be so among you*: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister [G1249 diakonos; attendant]; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Mark 10:42 But Jesus called them [to him], and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43 But *so shall it not be among you*: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister [G1249 diakonos; attendant]: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.

Luke 22:25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26 But *ye [shall] not [be] so*: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 27 For whether [is] greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? [is] not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

Matthew 20:25-28, Mark 10:42-44, and Luke 22:25-27 are clear definitions of, and a clear recognition that, an imposed systemic is employed within the COG [Church of God], ** in direct violation of Christ's instructions **. These testimonies clearly show that there is a very serious *error* within the COG which has caused and continues to cause extremely grievous repercussions !! "... For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might *destroy* the works of the devil" [1 John 3:8]. This is the purpose, the commission of the Church, to destroy the works of the devil, not to mimic and employ his systemic !! The nature of the beast is directing the COG, not the nature of God. We must understand that God does NOT desire to exercise lordship over us - it is Satan's desire to exercise dominion over others; God's purpose, desire, is the exact opposite: ** it is to serve His creation ** IN RELATIONSHIP, and this, our relationship, *is* the GOVERNMENT of GOD !!

The COG is not a hierarchy, a one-man rule with a professional ministry, ranking the "gifts of God," nor is it a professional eldership, with many "gifts of the ministry" within the eldership.The COG is a "ministry of gifts" imparted to all those within whom the Spirit of God resides, a common ministry of the brethren, each with a gift, or gifts that God has given them, freely sharing all that God has freely shared with them [in a reciprocal relationship, with each other and with God], for the edification of the body of Christ, for the work of the ministry, their ministry. The work of the ministry [the ministration of gifts] belongs to the entire body of believers, equipped, guided, and encouraged by a mutual sharing of God's gifts, to expound and apply His Word with wisdom and power.

The body of Christ is held together by every part working together. Each Christian has a ministry given to them by God - each has stewardship responsibilities, authority, and full accountability to God. There is no professional ministry, no corporate church [the COG Inc.], no ranking of spiritual gifts, no division into ministry and laity, no copyrighting of God's truth [God owns the copyright; no money, no price]. No man has the right to put his name on any understanding given by God, an understanding to be placed on the common table, in proper humility [with no thought of reward or recognition], for all to eat. We are all brethren, no more, no less !! The COG is not a business, the COG Family is a community !!

The COG community is patterned on local, autonomous, loosely-confederated congregations, with those mature in the spirit [elders] chosen within each, gently leading in servant authority, leading by persuasive example [we love Christ because He first loved us], not bosses over God's church, not imposing, but guiding [as arbiter with Christ] each congregation in their gifted dialogue, their reasoning together, with the spirit of God leading, to an understanding of the truth of God, and abiding in that truth.

Christ's desire is to use the church-community to show the world a wholly new form of authority. But this new form of authority is nullified by the top-down, command-style structure that prevails in the COG today. The Gospel is negated even before it is proclaimed, because we deny its power with the way we conduct our lives and our church business. As a result, God is robbed of His glory and His image is distorted before the watching world. Nothing could be more serious than this !!

The COG must withdraw out of this world's systemic [be ye separate; be not partakers], we must withdraw out of its unholy and unrighteous ways into God's separate and self-sufficient community [Holy and Righteous in *all* our ways; a *living* witness]. 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 is negated !! The COG systemic must be *of God* NOT of man [we are under judgment now]; how can we mete out judgment when we are guilty of complicity in the very sins being judged ?? The COG must be the alternative community, the *full* preaching and witness [our citizenship wholly conformed to the Gospel], the light that the world can see and turn to. We must not participate in this imposed, evil systemic [the false god of business and its monetary system, its instrumentality of oppression], helping to build holocaust, while at the same time planning our escape. God's people must strive to be self-sufficient in *all* their ways, ie., negative-interest community currency(-ies) used within the confederated, communitarian community-congregations.

Our withdrawal into God's community is only possible if we truly go to our scattered brethren [in love, in prayer, trusting in God] to resolve any differences [instead of accusing, marking, calling our judgment "tough love"]; we have more in common than in difference [the carnal wall of division and strife is money, position, and personality]. The COG has a different mind [God's mind], a different attitude [Holy, righteous, spiritual character], and a different purpose in life [to destroy the works of the devil]. The COG walks a different path, guided by God's MAP [mind, attitude, purpose] and spiritual compass [the Holy Spirit showing us the way]. The work of the COG is to believe on Christ [John 6:29], to be committed unto, to be persuaded of, to trust, to follow Christ, in all of His Ways. All things are possible with God !!

The various COG Inc.'s must be disestablished in total. Restitution must be made to *all* brethren [past and present; we must forgive each other]. God's people must be let go, must be set free by the professional ministry, who are opposing God both in mind and in form. They too, must take their proper place within God's ministry of gifts. We must all go to God in deep humility, in weeping and mourning, and ask for His forgiveness. We must ask God to lead us into His righteous community, to establish His community filled with agape love and healing !! We must repair the breach, and restore the paths to *dwell* in. The Ministry of Reconciliation begins within the Church of God.

Holy Days: Family and Community

The Seven Annual Sabbaths

Our inherent value = love and truth; the communitarian way, the environment instituted in the pages of the OT and exemplified in the NT has a built-in reminder to maintain "the continual", the daily worship (the practise of the way): the annual Holy Days, the festivals; the shared symbolic behavior so important to fellowship and cognition.

The seven annual Sabbaths instituted forever not only the Holy Days [God's Plan of Salvation for humanity] but the way of life within, explicit in the harvest feasts: the communitarian way, the *path* [personal achievement of true humanity] - the first day of the sacred year (the annual beginning); the Passover (the sacrifice, the reconciliation, the acceptance; the SAGE attempt to silence); ULB (the putting away of sin, the commitment); Pentecost (the gift of God; a society of the gift); the fall harvest season, Trumpets, Atonement, FOT, LGD: the return Christ, of His message; the putting away of the adversary (Mammon; the alienated, privileged attitudes); the harvest feast (feast of booths, the millennium, the communal reconstruction); the judgement (the Book of Life opened; all of humanity to share in the way).

The Passover observance at even (sunset), in the NT the Last Supper; the wine and unleavened bread taken by the Baptised in acknowledgement of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus for the remission of sins and in rededication as the very flesh and blood of the "body of Christ"; the Night To Be Much Remembered, observed the next sunset, was instituted to remember the Exodus of Israel from Egypt (typifies sin), the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread [ULB] begin; they picture the removal of sin from our lives; no leavened bread or products of any kind (the puffed-up lives, attitudes); the first and last days are annual Sabbaths; next is Pentecost, which pictures God's Gift of the Holy Spirit to the Christian Community, the 3rd annual Sabbath.

The Feast of Trumpets pictures the return of Christ; the Second Coming when Christ directly intervenes in world affairs and establishes the government or Kingdom of God over mankind; the beginning of the Millennium; the next event is pictured by the Day of Atonement; the binding and separation of Satan, the author of all sin (the transgression of God's Ten Commandments) away from mankind until after the Millennium; next is the Feast of Tabernacles [FOT] or Booths, a feast of ingathering, a seven day festival where we leave our homes and gather together if possible; it pictures the Millennium when Jesus Christ is Lord and King over all the earth, when the Holy Spirit is granted to all mankind alive and born during the Millennium and the earth is prepared for the next great event to take place; that event is pictured by the Last Great Day [LGD], the resurrection of every man, woman and child who has ever lived/been conceived (including the stillborn and aborted, placed into their parents arms); the dead stand before God; this is the Great White Throne Judgement, not a condemnation to a hell as traditional Christianity believes, but a time when the "Book of Life" is opened to all of humanity and they are given their first opportunity to receive God's instruction, to learn his way of love based on the 10 Commandments and ultimately to be born into the very Family of God.

The spring (3 Sabbaths) and fall Holy Days (4 Sabbaths) picture the plan of redemption for mankind and are explained thoughout the Bible; by keeping them as commanded by God every year, the Church (the community) is kept in constant remembrance of God's plan for mankind and man's destiny to be born into the Family of God and ultimately to share in the rule and continuing creation of the universe.

MM Book 2 Chapter 10-17

When we come in contact with, or come up against, “character” that *lacks* God [in others or in ourselves], it is an opportunity to express God: INIQUITY PURGED BY MERCY AND TRUTH [mercy/forgiveness] – all of us have been casualties of the prevailing systemic character, the fear “bullet” [arrow] that is shot deep into us; God will heal the “inflicted wound”, and heal us !! — we must pull-back “for” engagement [from the evil; we are in conflict of interest]; WE MUST *OCCUPY* COMMUNITY, WE MUST *PLACE* GOD’S PRESENCE INTO WHEREVER WE ARE [location or situation]; GOD’S CHARACTER AND ABILITIES ARE OURS TO PLACE !! – WE *ARE* GOD FAMILY, WE EMBODY [our being] AND CREATE [our doing] COMMUNITY, THIS *IS* OUR RESPONSE-ABILITY !! — OUR MINISTRY [ministration] IS ** OUR RELATIONSHIP(S) **, OUR COMMUNITY !! – AGAPE LOVE IS THE GIFT, AND THE GIVING !!

“… The three main festivals in the Bible are Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles – in the physical application Passover is the festival of political freedom, Tabernacles of economic freedom, and Pentecost, the central and most important, is a festival of spiritual freedom [see Harris L. Selig, "Links to Eternity", p. 370; Richard C. Nickels, Giving and Sharing, "Pentecost Paper"]:

PASSOVER = POLITICAL FREEDOM – EXODUS (out of bondage), Christ Systemic;

PENTECOST = SPIRITUAL FREEDOM – 10C, Covenant People, Holy Spirit, COG;

TABERNACLES = ECO-NOMIC FREEDOM – Ingathering, Harvest, KINGDOM OF GOD.

Previously Posted September 24, 2010

The Annual Feasts and Holy Days MMmeta article

MM Book 2 Chapter 10 web page (widescreen)

MM Book 2 blog home