The Mother of the Son's of Zebedee, or the Son's of Thunder . . . Requests that her Son's Sit on the Right & Left Hand of God
At one point in Jesus' ministry, the mother of James and John, the fishermen, that Jesus recruited from their ships, to be come fishers of men, rather than fishers of fish, asked Christ, if her son's, could be placed on either the right and left hand of God. Jesus responded, in Matthew 20:20-27, that it was not his to decided who would sit on the sides of God. But, he did ask them if they were willing to do what he had done . . . to my surprise, they said, that yes, they were. I would venture a guess, that they, not as Christ, did not know what they were saying, having jointly participated in the ministry of Christ, and very casually, thought, well, yes, we have already been doing what you have done. Jesus went on to say that there were many who had served, and that it was God alone who would determine, those seats, in his kingdom, not Christ himself.
He went on to say, that he who is greatest in the kingdom of God, is a servant, the lowest, and not only a servant, but in the Bible I read yesterday, it said, that you had to be willing to be a slave . . . Now the reason I bring this sitting on the sides or hands of God, is that there was an article in the Missoulian Newspaper, about a month ago, or so, that focused on a couple who were married, living in that part of Montana, who had a very happy and successful marriage, and the husband was Muslim, and his wife was Christian. They decided to look at the similarities in their religious beliefs, rather than their differences. Muslims believe in Jesus Christ, but they see Christ, who was around 600 years before the prophet Mohamed, on the left hand of God. Now, I don't know if that is an inferior position, but the scriptures, clearly debunk that point, in a text that predates, the Koran, and says, right around the time of the Passover feast, when Christ new that the appointed time, according to scripture was just two days away, and said that he was one the right hand of power, I would guess referring to God, or possibly, referring to Satan, being the other option, and on the left, or you could say, the wrong hand of power . . . remember in the Book of Genesis, the war in heaven!
Christ fought for free agency and choice, and Satan was going to force all men to be good, and return to their Father in Heaven, or God, Allah, or whatever other name, people want to refer to him/her, for we were created, male and female, in his image, the old two for one, God. The Coptic Pope of Islam, said that ISIS or ISIL, the terrorist organization, that is stealing real estate, in both Syria and Iraq, by forcing people to either, give up their Christianity, which is like giving up portions of Islam, or be beheaded, put in prison, or forced into exile . . . really, this is what the Islamic State of Islam is really about, under what God, and as President Obama would say, NO GOD, regardless of name, Allah, would ever, use killing as a means of forcing people to believe one way or another! PERIOD! As my friend's father said, terrorist groups, like ISIS, Boko Harem, some would say, Hamas, with the leader of Hama's son, listening to people in prison, the murderous tenants of that group, actually walked out of prison, to find a man passing out Bible's and invited him to a meeting . . . they young Hamas member, converted to Christianity, is under asylum in San Francisco, or Oakland area, as of several years ago, and is doing all he can, to convert people to Christianity, which many Palestinians, already are, but these groups operating under the banner of terror, are not religious, and violate everything religion of any kind promotes, they are about, money, power, and land.
All those things, that the prince of darkness, or Satan, offers Christ as he is finishing his 40 day fast, on the mount, I believe of Transfiguration, if Christ, will acquiesce to him, he promises, great riches, power, and property, I think . . . it has been awhile since I have focused on that particular scripture in the New Testament. I am totally, into freedom of religion, or freedom from religion, not only as a constitutional law attorney, who whole heartily believes in the 1st amendment to the Bill of Rights, but because more people have been killed, in the alleged name of religion, that in almost any other way! And, as far as I know, which is limited, but no religion that I have ever heard of under any God, western or eastern, that is really the same God, with the same Christ, professes to murder, violence, theft, imperialism, and all that horrible stuff, like kidnapping school girls, beheading journalists, for it is God who will judge a man or woman, not ISIS! You all have blood on your hands . . . and any God, is not going to dismiss that, or look on you kindly, either in this life or the next!
What Does a Mindful Revolution Look Like?
Yesterday, I attended the Great Falls Christian Center Church, as I have once before, again, not promoting or preferring one church over another, although I really dig this one, but a van picked us up, as they did last time I was in Great Falls, at the Women's Rescue Mission, or Mission of Hope, which I am so grateful for, as I am all shelters, I have frequented in the last 2 years, finding a great staff, a warm bed, great food, and shelter, protection, and comfort in the storms I fight in life, going against the government as I have, do, and will continue to do, until they get it right, constitutionally! And we are not quite there yet, but we are getting closer by the day, making in roads into sanity, reason, critical thinking, realizing that reasonable people agree to disagree, honesty in the political processes, integrity, and a different way of looking at things, possibly from a broader prospective, than we have previously done in our lives. And that is a very good thing . . . but I copied the quote, that was up on the stage in front of my face, and it said it all . . .
. . . if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation . . .
Again, you can believe any way you want, worship any way you want, believe or not believe in Christ, or his atonement, but his teachings, many accept him as a great teacher, and he was, and his teachings are just as relevant to me, today, in my practice, my life, my family, my relationships, in the community, as I am sure they were back then; however, we must remember that, the people in those days, had word of mouth, letters from the apostles, or mostly from Paul, who I loved since my youth, and am relating to more and more, as I venture into uncharted territories, in the law, or in law and disorder, as they would say in Kalispell's, Daily Inter Lake newspaper. But the point being, we are to be new creations, whether that mindful revolution comes at church on Sunday, in debates from political pundits, from our children, I find they are good to force you out of old modes of thinking, from our students, as in the battle in Hong Kong, with the Chinese communist party, over free speech and freedom to peacefully assemble, done in love and peace, which I totally dig, or from our universities and colleges, or the President, Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, the source is not of concern to me, but better thinking is!
If We Are To Survive as a Species, Humans, we Must Think Like New Creations
Someone said, that fascism will come wearing a cross on its neck and a flag draped around its shoulders . . . and we are seeing that, have seen that during the Bush administration--thought he was on a mission for God, the opiate of the people anyone . . . in the Patriot Act, doing whatever it takes, with not exceptions and no limits, taking away the rights of the people, detention camps without rights, charges, warrants, and hearings . . . and this allegedly is from God, you better fucking read your Bible again! And the intolerance for gays, for marriage, making challenges worse rather than better, bringing back the old Jim Crow laws, separate but equal? Really, you fine, upstanding Christian business owners, think that it is freedom of religion that allows you to discriminate in your shops, your apartment buildings and your businesses . . . no, that would be freedom from religion, because that is sure as hell not what Christ taught! The only place, I ever saw Christ deal harshly with people, was dealing with the alleged men or councils of the law, the Pharisees and Sadducee's, or the Sanhedrin, who were like whited ceplicures on the outside, professing religion, and full of dead man's bones on the inside! The other group he hated, were the money changers in the temple, Wall Street!
Other than that, he treated the children, the social outcasts, the lepers, the prostitutes, the beggars, the insane, the possessed, the sick and afflicted, with total kindness . . . so just where are you getting that he was discriminatory at all? He loved everyone, and in the 7 things he hated most, was ingratitude, that people he had blessed, and prospered, were so ungrateful and unkind, that he hated most. Doing that which is unnatural with a man, is also, stated, in connection with a woman, you can't do that which is unnatural with a woman, like oral sex, anal sex, and any kind of perversion . . . what about eating pork, or whatever, are you as harsh on yourselves and you are on your neighbor, and who is your neighbor, check out the Good Samaritan, or I have heard of Christians or Mormons, kicking children out of their homes, for this or that, have you read the Prodigal Son? Come on, what you hear on Sundays, read in the Bible, or other religious books, can't teach what you are doing in your personal, professional, and community lives! I just don't believe it. And the Patriot Act is not an Act of GOD, as Bush would have you think, and him and Cheney are war criminals . . . violated the Geneva Convention on what constitutes inhuman treatment of prisoners, water boarding 183 times!, just like Hitler's boys, who are still being hunted, while we have two of the biggest war criminals walking free in our country!
DREAMS . . . NEW THOUGHTS
When Christ was arrested, and at first, there were no witnesses, to testify against him . . . even Christ gets a trial, way back in the day, Patriot Act idiots, but finally two witnesses came forward and offered false testimony. Then later many did, but the caephus, or the judge i would assume, said that their testimonies didn't match and there were discrepancies, or they lack credibility, veracity, and validity, by today's legal standards, with out legal roots coming from a combination of Judeao-Christian law, and British common law, but the judge found no error in this man, named Jesus. The Jews went ape shit, and due to envy, they brought him again before Pontius Pilot, who gave the Jews a choice between letting Jesus go, or Barrabas, who was being tried, for being a rebel, and someone died, or was murdered . . . ISIS, where the hell do you get off saying you are a religious group, your asses would have been toast in Christ's time, beheading and under what authority? Due to that deadly sin of envy, the Jews were even willing to take on the wrath of God, on themselves and their children, for wanting Jesus crucified.
But while this was going on, Pilot's wife, listen to those wife's, had a dream and said, have nothing to do with this man or his punishment, he is innocent, I saw it in a dream . . . Pontius Pilot, a smart man, who washed his hands of the blood of Jesus, said he found no issue with this man, Jesus Christ, but eventually allowed the Jews to have their way with him, and crucify him, they used, the crime of blasphemy, that he claimed to be the Son of God, and as we all know, he was crucified, and hung on the cross . . . the old ways died, and he brought about a new covenant, getting rid of the eye for an eye, letter of the law of Moses, and he paid the price for our sins, rather than expecting us to abide by the old . . . again, suggesting something new, different, a change, a new man and woman!
Note: NSA, as they usually do when they don't like what I am writing, just turned off my spell check, so bear with me, and I will try to do the best I can, some of these words, as words in my own language are beyond my spelling comprehension; therefore, this puts me at a handicap, but doesn't change the message!
The Dream of the Old Indian Woman, Two Nights Ago
There are 30 or so, women, I would guess and a few families at the shelter right now. And two nights ago, I had listened to President Obama's speech to the Kellogg School of Business, at Northwestern University in the Chicago area, I had actually been to Northwestern, back in my internship, with AUL or Americans United for Life, in the summer of 1992, so a bit of a connection there . . . and I had just written the title, and the quote, you will find in the last blog, then I was going to finish writing the blog, the following day, or on Saturday, like I did, outlining the key elements in the financial recovery plan, and what we need to be doing as a people in this country to make people feel the recovery that is taking place as we speak . . . but that night, I got up to use the restroom and this woman, was up in the middle of the night, writing something down, with a single lamp on over her head, I found it curious.
Real early that next morning, both of us, landed in the bathroom at the same time, and exchanged a conversations, about me seeing her up in the middle of the night. She told me that she had a dream, that she was taking notes on, because she had the dream, three times, with just a few variations, all in a row, and she wondered what they meant. I told her that I had long learned to follow my dreams, interpret them, and have even written up to 6 pages of analysis, using a dream and symbology dictionary, that has long gone the way of all lost books, and have on many occasions taken the ire of my family, chiding me, telling me that I was crazy, to follow my dreams, even when it is a Mormon thing to get a patriarchal blessing and my specifically told me that the Holy Ghost would direct me through dreams as to the paths I should take in life . . . would not have married the man I did, would not have gone to law school, got accepted in two hours, without LSAT and application, and I would not have the great kids I have, and the house I bought in St. George, with it looking exactly the same as the one in my dream . . . I told her she should pay attention to those series of dreams, especially since they are the same dream, it is something God, wants her to know. I said, especially if it is something about a particular child, maybe divine instructions, of what that child needs!
At dinner she dropped a three page typed out paper on her dream and asked me to read it. Now, mind you, I had spent several hours writing up the notes and my comments on President Obama's speech, to the business school, at Northwestern, so I was shocked to find out that she had this dream with President Obama and Michelle Obama in it! WHAT? So, I read it with the up most attention, but we will see if I can tell you the jest of it, after 24 hours lag time, was going to write about it yesterday, but I went to church.
The Obama Connection, Her Attitudes, Her Son, Brandon's Attitudes
In the dream, she said, she was in either the shelter, or an assisted living apartment, that she might be waiting for, and her son, Brandon, came to visit her, she was worried that he was going to be in trouble for coming in the place she was at, to visit her, so there was some element of fear, to start with. But there was a fundraiser, of some sort with lots of dignitaries at the place she was at, and to her surprise, she noticed that President Obama and Michelle were in attendance at the event. The President, came over and took her by the hand to shake it, and she looked into his eyes, and there were no pupils, his eyes were completely white. She got scared and tried to pull away her hand from the President's grip, but she could not, and she kind of thought, that she was in danger, and so was her son, who was somewhere around the facility.
But, the next thing she noticed, is that the facility the fundraiser was about, magically appeared, and she was still holding the President's hand, when this amazing new building just appeared out of no where, but it was instantaneous . . . and the President let go of her hand. Her son was still afraid, and took off running. And she followed him, and there were these, knights or some type of authority figure, star wars stuff, I think, but both she and her son, Brandon were again afraid, and took off. But these agents, of some sort, just the use of the word, in her writing, knights, suggests to me, someone who is there on their side, but again, she is stopped by them, in fear of her life, and for that of her son, who had disappeared into the bushes. But again, totally contrary to what she thought, these entities didn't harm her, and she felt safe after a while. And I believe her son came back . . . that is a very short version of her dream.
But I was awestruck by some of the symbolism, the fear, the unfounded belief that someone was going to hurt her and her son, and that the President had a grip on her, that she couldn't get away from, the eyes, the knights, etc., and the similarities, of some of the symbolic colors, the new engine so to say, that the President is proposing, and the knights, when I refer to Obama as the White Knight, in Shining Armour, that just happens to be Black! White is traditionally considered, pure, good, clean, peaceful, remember the dove with the olive branch, in the story of Moses, the ship that saved the righteous left overs from the days of Soddom and Gamhora! Many black rappers, and others have complained about the symbolism of black, being evil, wicked, satanic, dark, bad, in terms that make people fear the whole race. I think we have seen a ton of this with the President, the mistrust, the lack of giving credit, the misjudging, seeing him as a Muslim, rather than Christian, while ignoring the facts, that he had been attending the same Christian Church with the controversial black minister, who was doing nothing and saying nothing, that I would not say myself!
The President was actually ranked higher by a Christian college, than Mormon Mitt Romney, until the Christians decided they hated President Obama, more than they loved Jesus, making my point totally! That due to the color of his skin, people have assumed the worst of every action he has taken, very program he has proposed, and doubt his motives, even his birth, and trashed him, when in reality, he has saved this country and the mess the previous administration made of America, while Bush's Christianity, for some reason, trumped reason, colored by his white skin! Good God, people, look at what he left us with, what he promoted, and what he took away! Apparently all reason, all American ideals, went to war, where we didn't need to be, sold us a sack of shit, and thank God, not in all things, but in the economy, the President, like it or not, is a knight in shining armor . . . I refer to him as the White Knight, because in Bat Man, there is the DA, who is trying to clean up the streets of Gotham, and then the movie is called the Dark Knight, because the man turns after half of his face is burned off, and his associate DA is murdered, by cops, and others . . . again, associating black with bad, evil, corrupt, enraged.
I think the symbolism in the dream of this older woman is rather telling as is her son's reaction, even a younger person, even of darker skin, but still terrified by President Obama, feeling caught in his grip, and can't get away, then his people, again with good symbolism, they fear, and run . . . and when all is said and done . . . none of their fears were founded, they were never hurt, in fact, they were bless, with the beautiful new facility, way faster than she and others had expected. And is that not symbolic in and of itself, didn't it take the country, about 20 years to recover from the last big recession, and here we are, with tons of troubles, just coming out of two wars, and all this great news, that I wrote about yesterday, and people still doubt this great man, this knight, this American Prince, if you will! COME ON, GIVE HIM SOME CREDIT! For once, look at the facts, do as Dr. Martin Luther King said, look at the content of the character, not the color of his skin! AMAZING! And shocking.
The thing that is funny, is that northern Montana is very conservative, the rural areas, and I am sure the Indians, with the more populated areas, leaning more to the left, again with a bad connotation, maybe tying back to Christ's time, that those on the right are the righteous ones, and those on the left, no so righteous! We need to look at the facts, as President Obama, pleads with the Kellogg Business school, crunch the numbers, and really see what is happening. He knows that it will take some time for the average person, down the economic food chain, to feel much, but feel the change is what he is pushing for, but that is where you and I come in, where investors come in, and stop being doubting Thomases, and just look at the fucking facts! I was looking at some old, MSNBC, Steve Obierman Shows, and he is a fellow political lunatic like me, rants up and storm at the stupidity of the people, and in light of this dream, I had to laugh, that back in the 2008 elections, he said he felt sorry for any poor guy or gal, who actually took over from the Bush administration because they are going to get blamed for all the stuff of the previous president! And President Obama did, and like most Montanans, he took in on the chin, with grace and dignity, as many blacks have taken the injustice that has been thrown at them over the years!
While I Loved Most of the Sermon Yesterday, I Disagreed with One Thing
So, while I loved the music, the sermon, for the most part, the prayers, the energy, especially of the young worship group, I didn't like what the associate pastor said about being just another generation, like the ones who had gone before, he being 63, or somewhere around there, but he was leaving this planet, world, in worse shape than he had gotten it . . . lamenting the condition of the world today. Now, if you are looking at the wars, the Ebola plague, beheadings, possibly what most people still think of the economy, yeah, maybe, but as far as looking at things, according to Christ's measure or the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution, that I just think is God's gospel, or the good news in law . . . hell, we are so far exceeding other generations on love, understanding, acceptances, intelligent thought, tolerance, caring, sharing, and loving, there is absolutely no comparison!
Case in point, in 1978, when the Mormon Church, got an alleged modern day revelation, about blacks getting to hold the priesthood and go to the temple, which they had very discriminatorally been denied, while even the first prophet, Joseph Smith, not only baptized them, but I believe confirmed them to the priesthood, until that prejudice, Brigham Young, got a hold of church doctrine, and again, denied, access to the blessings, of membership and temple, but, anyway, there were literally 200 or more people, enough names of the back of the Salt Lake Tribune or the Deseret News, taking their names off the records of the church, due to the change, letting blacks have the priesthood! I think, desperation, more than inspiration dictated that revelation, kind of like social pressure, much like the days of polygamy, civil rights demonstrations, both within and without the church and the country, were in full bloom, and there may have been some undue influence on state Congressional delegates, to get their shit together, and get with modern times, even implementing their alleged Christian beliefs, that God created all his children! Again, Good GOD!
A great symbol, I read trucks, signs, license plates, . . . a large with truck, just pulled up across the street, white, with large black letters, SET FREE!
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