WAR
In the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly...(Jeremiah 23:20).
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehosh'a-phat (2 Chronicles 20:15-20); for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get ye down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of Decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of Decision...(Joel 3:9-14).
Wisdom is justified of Her children...(Matthew 11:16-19).
It is January, 2003. The words of the prophets are being fulfilled before our very eyes. American forces are at this very moment assembling once again in the Middle East. George Bush (he says he is a Christian, doesn't he)? is threatening North Korea, and sneering at others in outright defiance of the words at Romans 13, and the day is upon us. How is it that so few in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic world are awake to these great age-ending matters? Why are not millions more standing up alongside of those that are? Well of course, it is the millions who sustain the present world-order, and who put this American regime in power in the first place. (Well of course they didn't, it was God). Thus the words: And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they shall believe a lie...(2 Thessalonians 2:5-11; 1 Samuel, chapter 8):
The Sun (the true message of Christianity) and the Moon (the true message of Judaism) shall be darkened, and the Stars (the angelic forces in the earth) shall (temporarily) withdraw their shining.
(And then) The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem (not that city over there in the East, but the true Jerusalem, the Higher City that has been on a journey with Her children all of these centuries); and the heavens and earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel...(Joel 3:15-16, Hebrews 12:13-29).
And of the American forces (the forces of modern Babylon, the Kittim of the Dead Sea Scrolls) it is written:
They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the Evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat (think of Screaming Eagles).
They shall come all for violence; their faces shall sup us as the East wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust and take it...
Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgment; and O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction...
(Thou) makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
Therefor they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?...(Habakkuk 1:7-17).
THE WAR OF THE KITTIM..."In a number of Qumran texts the Kittim appear as the last Gentile world power to oppress the people of God. In the Habakkuk Commentary from cave 1 the prophet's Chaldeans are understood to be the Kittim, sent by God to execute His judgments on the godless rulers of Judea (think of the two World Wars) but destined because of their unconscionable rapacity to be the subjects of His judgment in their turn...
The Kittim are a world power, pursuing a career of conquest from the West. In their irresistible advance they overwhelm all who stand in their way and bring them under their own rule. They take possession of many lands and plunder the cities of the earth; they carry on negotiations with other nations in a spirit of cunning and deceit; they lay their subversive plans in advance and tolerate no opposition in carrying them into execution. Their lust for conquest is insatiable; they mock at kings and rulers...and their leaders follow one another in quick succession: They come one after another to destroy the earth. This rapid succession happens by 'the council of the guilty house,'
The prophet's description of the Chaldeans as catching men like fish and then paying divine honors to their nets is said to denote the Kittim's practice of offering sacrifice to their standards (the Flag)...and worshipping their weapons." From a Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye might be found of him IN PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT, AND BLAMELESS...(2 Peter 3:14).
How did this happen? How did the people finally fall into the clutches of these powerful merchant-warriors? When did it happen? Of course! long before the Reformation and the eventual establishment of the American nation, almost immediately after the Gospel of Peace and Non-violence was sown into the hearts of men, and when others came right afterwards and devoured the seed and destroyed the plants (Matthew, chapter 13). How did Paul say it: For the mystery of iniquity doth already work...(2 Thessalonians 2:7).
And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
Wherefore I take you to record this day, THAT I AM PURE FROM THE BLOOD OF ALL MEN...
In other words, those who came after Paul, having found justification for the shedding of blood, the commission of war, or in any other wise the taking of human life, no matter what the reason, did not learn it from Paul, nor can it be found anywhere in his doctrine of Christ. The first-century Church taught a doctrine of absolute pacifism--the precepts of Light and the ways of Abel, in direct contrast to the precepts of Darkness and the doctrines of Cain...(James, chapter 4...KJV. And then open the pages of the Book of 1 John, here in America, in our own times):
For I have not shunned to declare unto you ALL the counsel of God.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood, (which means, with the blood of the righteous in every generation, everywhere throughout the earth).
For I know this, that after my departing shall grevious Wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears...(Acts 20:25-31).
What is it about war, besides the utter and primitive violence of it, and besides the fact that those who wage it IN THE NAME OF CHRIST are criminals against the very doctrine of Christ that they pretend to profess, and who are finally revealing themselves to be criminals against man and nature itself?...
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists, whereby we know it is the last time.
They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us...(1 John 2:18,19).
What is it about war, besides the fact that God instructed Moses (and therefore Christ) to set a barrier between the people and Himself, commanding them to come not up when God Himself descended to the earth in the sight of all men in the time of war (Exodus 19:10-18)?...
Measure thou the time diligently in itself; and when thou seest part of the signs which I told you before (understand Matthew, chapter 24) ...Then thou shalt understand that it is the very time wherein the Most High will begin to visit the world which He made.
Therefore when there shall be earthquakes, and uproars of peoples in the world...then shalt thou well understand that the Most High spake of these things from the beginning.
For as like all that is made in the world hath a beginning and an end, and the end is manifest: even so the times also of the Highest have plain beginnings in wonders and powerful works, and endings in effects and signs...(2 Esdras 9:1-6; Ezekiel 12:22-28...KJV).
What is it about war, beside the fact that God placed a great distance between the children of Zion and Himself (an ocean in fact) to keep them safe, when He himself, the God of War, rose up in the East to shake the earth? It is this:
Six thousand years ago at the time of Adam/Manu, a new awareness appeared in the earth. It came as a revelation to humankind. In fact it is through this revelation that the Creators set about to create the order of Man itself--a new order of humanity in the earth. (We are now at the full-cycle end of that creation process, and are only now coming to the fullest import of the words in Genesis: Let us create man in our image...Genesis 2:26. We are at this moment in time being created, being fired to perfection as it is, in the image of Christ that is)....
Malachi, chapter 4.
FROM THE RISE OF THE WORLD-CHURCH (AND ITS UNHOLY MARRIAGE TO THE EMPERORS AND KINGS OF EUROPE) TO THE RISE OF THE PROTESTANT MERCHANT EMPIRE OF THE WEST:
Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men...
For they sleep not, except they have done mischief: and there sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
BUT THE PATH OF THE JUST IS AS THE SHINING LIGHT, THAT SHINETH MORE AND MORE UNTO THE PERFECT DAY...(Proverbs 4:14-19).
What is it about war? It is this: When God appeared to that human couple we know as Adam (six thousand, or 120 jubilees of years ago), Adam themselves became the world's first monotheists. They were the very first in the earth to receive a glimpse of God's Singular Presence in the universe. They were the very first to realize that all things flow from the ONE. If night and day are from the same source they reasoned, then it followed in their minds that all other things--seemingly in opposition to each other--must also flow from the same singular source. (It was a very simple but profound deduction). They realized that if there is only One Power in the universe, then from that One Power must come ALL things, including good and evil, and life and death. The Mind of the Universe has confirmed these reasoning, many times over the course of history, and is confirming them to the mind of Light again in our time...
See, I have set before you (again), Life and Good, and Death and Evil...choose Life...(Deuteronomy 30:15-19).
For there are no powers but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God...(Romans 13).
With that revelation came a serious obligation. Adam was, first of all, compelled to go to the people (who, in the later allegorical and metaphorical interpretations of the sacred texts, became their church. As Adam was the first christs, and Eve, the woman--all the people to whom they were sent, and into whose consciousness they went to sow the seed of this new understanding--was the first church...Ephesians 5:25-32, KJV. Please see chapter 5). Thus they came to the people and expounded the doctrine of ONE God, ONE Power--of God's Singular Presence in all things--an idea which many of the people, and among them the most powerful, could not fully grasp. The very same held true thousands of years later, in the time of Christ, as Paul wrote: The natural mind receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God....(1 Corinthians 2:13-16). Others, however, did understand, and some of them to perfection. Those who could not (or would not) come to terms with the simple, but sublime implications of these teachings became the progenitors of the spirit of Cain in the earth--the one that God subsequently marked because of his continued violence to others. This violence was in clear violation of the teachings (or the Torah, the Veda) that had now come into the earth (Genesis 4:13-16; Revelation 13:16-18). It is as Paul also wrote: For where no law is, there is no transgression (Romans 4:15). Only the children of Adam--those who heard these teachings then, and those who now profess to be Jews and Christians, and Muslims (and in a very ancient sense Hindus)--are capable of transgressing God's laws against killing and warfare, because it is only to them that the law against such things has come. All of the other families of humankind still belong to the older angelic order or are still in flux between one order and the other. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)...
Of course this must not be confused with the idea of race, but rather must be understood in terms of structure and history, in terms of the great circular direction the story of Adam has taken all these millennia. For it is plain to see that individuals from every race of humankind, and every religious tradition, have come into this circle, and that everywhere else throughout the earth millions of others have put on the garments of non-violence and true peace between themselves and others:
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one another,
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel...(Romans 2:9-16)
Adam at that time reasoned with the people: "Why do you spend so much of your time in apprehension, making implements of war, spears and arrows to protect yourselves...against what? Don't you know that you are arming yourselves against God?" "What are you talking about?" the leaders said. "Which god?" There is only ONE Adam said. "Are you suggesting that we do not have to protect ourseves against those neighboring tribes, as fierce and powerful (and as terror-prone) as they obviously are? Are they not themselves a warrior band?" "Exactly! That's exactly what we are saying, because...well because there is only ONE God, the ONE God who dwells in all things, who dwells as magestically and powerfully, and even moreso among them as He does among us. Only He (and we mean They--The Heavenly Father and the Divine Mother) has revealed something to us that He has not revealed to others yet. He wants us to see that He Himself (and you must try hard to comprehend it), is indeed the God of War (Exodus 15:3), and that He himself is indeed a Consuming Fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29), which is why all of these others tribes are as warlike as they are. God wants us to realize that there is only one way we can defeat, or overcome Him, and thereby becoming in the process exactly what He wants to create in us, and that is through Peace--not talk of peace mind you, but the actual commission of peace itself. We must give up our weapons, lay them aside and promise to never pick them up again (no matter what happens in return) We must then go over to those other peoples and profess our previous ignorance of Divine matters, and our realization that the One God is indeed powerful, and that we know He dwells among them (in ways that they themselves can not even understand) in the most Powerful way. We must go over with the good things that our hands have made (not in fear but with courage). We must go over as the servant-kings and priests the Creator wishes us to become, and overcome both them, and our fear of them, in the only way that is possible, through Love--enduring Love, self-sacrificing Love. When the One God who dwells in them sees the Light that dwells in us, and is certain of the integrity of our witness (when He sees us coming with the very words that He and She have taught us), He will lay down His own arms and become one with us."...
But, alas, the seers were later to understand, this would not happen in its most complete and earth-changing sense until the end of the age, until an entire epic period of Six thousand years were fulfilled, until the elements of both Light and Darkness that God created have worked themselves out to perfection, and therefore until the One God who dwells in all has risen up in the earth in His Most Powerful and Terrible Form (in the form of Earth-shaking War itself), to liberate the Light. It is plain to see that this is the only way that many will believe." And besides, many great and marvellous wonders had still to unfold in the earth, things that were almost beyond the imagination of those who lived in that time, things which we ourselves are witness to in the 20th century. Those who refused to believe in those days, and who could not fully understand what it was that Adam was saying, or what God was beginning to bring to pass in the earth, reasoned to themselves, "Why then should we take such chances now? Why should we risk our own lives, or give up our own possessions, if we can never in our own lifetimes realize the fruits of our efforts? This is the reasoning of the children of Darkness, who went on to become the mighty men of the earth, the Nimrods and Pharaohs, the Caesars and eventually the kings of Europe, the religious leaders who have upheld and supported them, and finally the most powerful antichrists of them all, the Presidents of the United States of America. (The United States of America--a kingdom of nations and empires gathered together)...
Seven empires. America, the Eighth, is the sum, as well as the conclusion of them all...Revelation 17:9-14; Matthew 13:43-45...KJV.
Those who did believe, and who were able to understand, not only the teachings of Adam but their own responsibility to those teachings, became the first truly committed pacifists in the earth. They gave birth to the spirit of Abel (the first living sacrifices in the earth, the first to willingly lay down their own lives for an idea, for truth's sake, so that the process of Creation could unfold). They became not only co-creators with God, but co-conspirators. They became the seers and rishis of those earliest of times, and in time the first of the Hebrew prophets--thus the first to purposely conceal through their own literary methods, the deepest and highest meanings of their teachings and on-going revelations from the mind of Darkness. Besides the art of allegory, similitude and metaphor they devised and mastered a most peculiar discipline of study, and the means of storing and relaying this information from one generation to the next--the discipline and science of Kabbalah. One of its initiates wrote:
But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a Thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child: and they shall not escape.
But ye brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a Thief.
Ye are all the children of Light, and the children of the Day, we are not of the night or of Darkness...(1 Thessalonians 5:1-5).
Who are the thiefs? They are those who come in the name of Christ to kill, to steal, and destroy. (John 10:1-11).
CHRISTIANS AND WAR
by Alan Kreider and John H. Yoder
Throughout Christian history most believers have assumed that warfare is the business of sovereigns. For the ordinary subject, citizen or soldier that left only one choice--obedience. Accountability to God has been by the powers that be. There have been other Christians, however, who have gone beyond automatic obedience to think seriously about the relationship between war and the gospel. They have produced three distinct types of approach. (And only one of them is correct. The other two reflect the doctrines and the teachings of the spirit of antichrist. Please see the subchapter in the Addendum to this work entitled "Give Unto Caesar?").
The most recent of these to develop--the Crusade--is almost a thousand years old. In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed a holy war to rout the infidel Muslims and reclaim the Holy Land for the Christian faith, (continued)...
The holy land? Where is it? It is definetly not in Palestine. Why else can we imagine that God went to all the historic trouble to drive the people out of that place 2,000 years ago, and to destroy that temple made with human hands? The Holy Land, though it is a place on earth, is at the same time, every land--every being. It is a Higher State of Mind that God has promised not land...Romans 10:1-4 (KJV).
Who shall live when God doeth this?...Numbers 24:14-25.
...Underlying the ensuing Crusades (and underlying countless other similar conflicts during the following centuries) were characteristic assumptions. Crusaders go into battle for a religious or supposedly-religious cause. Since their enemy stands for the forces of evil, he must be defeated totally: there can be no compromise between righteousness and wickedness. Ideally the enemy is vanquished by honourable means. But if you hate an enemy who embodies error, and smite him indiscriminately, that is quite excusable in the circumstances.
Over the centuries the crusader's enemy has altered from the Muslims, to the Catholics or Protestants, to the French revolutionaries, to the Germans or Allies, to the communists. But the crusading mentality has remained consistent...
Older than the crusade, though by no means so popular, is the second approach--the "Just" War. (This is the theory of war espoused by Jimmy Carter and the liberal, intellectual elite of the Western religious world). Although the idea was rooted in Roman Stoic philosophy, Ambrose and Augustine (whose doctrines also brought us disdain of women, and the Inquisition several centuries later) formed the just war into a Christian approach to the problem of warfare in the late fourth century. Thomas Aquinas, the Spanish Dominican Francisco de Vitoria and the Dutch Protestant Hugo Grotius developed it further.
The just war theory has come to provide a series of criteria by which the permissibility of war in a particular situation can be weighed. Some of these criteria have to do with the origins of war: is there a just cause (for example, a clear injury which needs to be redressed)? Has every reasonable attempt been made to get redress without bloodshed? Will war be declared by a legitimate authority? (Please understand Isaiah 59). Other criteria concern the way in which the war is fought. Is it to be waged solely by by legitimate and moral means? Is the damage which is likely to be incurred by the war less grievous than the prior injury? Its success likely? (These are the reasonings of devilish, earth-born men).
If the answer to these questions are "yes," one may justly declare war. Unfortunately this will entail killing. But Augustine emphasized that this does not clash with loving the enemy. What really matters are the intentions of the combatants' hearts. Although these criteria for the just war may seem clear, in practice they have often proved difficult to apply. Augustine's assumption that in any conflict justice will lie mainly on one side is clearly wrong...It has rarely been clear who has the insight and objectivity necessary to decide what justice means in a given situation...Decisions about the meaning and application of justice have almost always been made by the interested parties in the dispute. And they in turn have used the criteria of the just war simply simply to justify wars in which they were already engaged...
The third and oldest Christian approach to the war is pacifism. The Christian church of the first three centuries was pacifist. The early Christians combined a simple obedience to the words of Jesus...with a genuine international spirit..They were also repelled by the idolatry which permeated the Roman army life...
By the third centuries some Christians were in the legions...Some Christian converts, however, left the forces upon their conversion. Martin of Tours, following his conversion in 339, exclaimed, "I am Christ's soldier, I am not allowed to fight."
After the triumph of Constantine in the early fourth century, this early Christian pacifism withered rapidly. In 392 the Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity to be the sole legal religion in the empire; and in 416 all of the non-Christian troops were purged from the Roman army. Only a few monks and mendicants remained pacifist, until the Waldensians in thirteenth-century Italy and the Czech Brethren in the fifteenth century revived pacifism. In the Protestant Reformation the Anabaptists were the first to revive pacifism. Many of their emphases echoed the concerns of the early church...but the Anabaptists added two new concerns. They denied that the government may legitimately interfere with the reformation of the church, and argued that the Christian is called to share in Christ's suffering love for his enemies.
The Anabaptists called all believers to participate in a renewed society in which 'repentance was in evidence by newness of life in Christ.' Nations would go on warring, but the regenerated do not go to war."
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
And then many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall arise and deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But those that ENDURE to the end, the same shall be saved...(Matthew 24:6-13)
__________
And in nothing terrified terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and Now hear to be in me...(Philippians 1:28-30).
__________
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh...(Proverbs 3:25).
__________
The Lord shall keep the Feet of His saints; the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces, out of heaven shall He thunder upon them.
The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth...(1 Samuel 2:8-10).
NONVIOLENCE: OUR BAPTISIMAL BIRTHRIGHT
A study guide for use with
"AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY"
By Schuyler Rhode
Edited by Nancy Small
And from the days of John the Baptist unto NOW the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force...(Matthew 11:12).
And thou child shall be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the Face of the Lord to prepare His ways. To give knowledge...to His people...And to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, TO GUIDE OUR FEET IN THE WAYS OF PEACE...(Luke 1:76-79).
Mark the perfect soul, and behold the upright, for the end of that soul is peace ...Psalm 37:37.
The good shepherds always leads their flocks by Still waters...(Psalm 23:2).
Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and INDEED bear with me.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin unto Christ (the true Messiahs).
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve (the church) through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (The message is simple: THOU SHALT NOT KILL...EVER).
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive spirit, which ye have not received (from us), or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him...
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works...(2 Corinthians 11:1-4, 13-15).
Please see chapter 11, and one in the Addendum entitled Six Hundred Sixty and Six.
Beware, therefore, lest that come upon us, which is spoken of in the prophets:
Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you...(Acts 13:40,41; Habakkuk. chapter 1).
My soul is among lions...even the sons of men whose teeth are as spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword...(Psalm 57:4).
Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked...who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot, even bitter words, that they may shoot in secret at the perfect...(Psalm 64:2-4).
Woe is me, that I sojourn in Me'sech, that I dwell in the tents of Ke'dar (A prophetic place here in the West).
My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war...(Psalm 120:5-7).
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, preserve me from the violent man;
Which imagine mischief in their heart; continually they are gathered for war...(Psalm 140:1-4).
UNTO US A CHILD (A NEW NATION, A NEW AND HIGHER STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS) IS BORN.
(Please consider the chapter entitled The Holy Child)
And She being with Child, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered, and the Serpent stood before the Woman, for to devour Her child as soon it was born...(Revelation 12:1-4)
And the Serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood (the judgment wars)...(Revelation 12:15).
And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined...(Daniel 9:26).
When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid...(2 Samuel 22:5).
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me...they compassed me with words of hatred...(Psalm 109:2,3; Romans 3:10-19).
THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION
If any man have an ear, let him hear...He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints...(Revelation 13:9,10).
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth...(Revelation 3:10).
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of Temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished...(2 Peter 2:9).
Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, BY TEMPTATIONS, BY SIGNS AND WONDERS, AND BY WAR, AND BY A MIGHTY HAND AND A STRETCHED OUT ARM, AND BY GREAT TERRORS, according to all that the Lord thy God did for you in Egypt before your eyes.
Unto thee was it shown, that thou mightest know that the Lord is God. There is none else beside Him...(Deuteronomy 4:33-35).
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ...(1 Peter 1:5-7).
A MAN OF THIRTY EIGHT YEARS
For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: THESE FORTY YEARS THE LORD GOD HATH BEEN WITH THEE; thou hast lacked nothing...
And the space in which we came from Ka'desh-bar'ne-a until we were come over the brook Ze'-red, was THIRTY AND EIGHT YEARS, until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them.
For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.
So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people.
That the Lord spake unto me, saying...(Deuteronomy 2:7, 14-17)...
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Be-thes'da, having Five porches.
In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, or half blind, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatever disease he had.
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity THIRTY AND EIGHT YEARS.
And when Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been a long time in this case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but when I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk...
Afterward Jesus find him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee...(John 5:1-25)...
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the Children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, FROM TWO YEARS OLD AND UNDER, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men...(Matthew 2:16).
Beware of the leaven of Herod...(Mark 8:15).
COMING OUT OF EGYPT
(From 1585 and the first landing on the Eastern shores of the land we now call the United States of America, or from 1606 and the first permanent colony at Jamestown):
And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you...(Deuteronomy 28:68).
And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them Four Hundred years;
And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge, and afterwards they shall come out with a great substance...(Genesis 15:13,14).
This Egypt is America, and the 400 years of Genesis 15 are at hand.
Now there rose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. (As Joseph went down to Egypt, so the Word became flesh and dwelt in us, and among us).
And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they mutliply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land...(Exodus 1:8-10).
According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.
The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf...(Micah 7:15,16).
And they sing the Song of Moses the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb (the Song of absolute Non-Violence), saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints...(Revelation 15:3; Exodus 15).
IS NOT MY WORD LIKE FIRE?
And on the day that the Tabernacle was reared up the Cloud covered the Tabernacle, namely the Tent of the Testimony: and at Evening there was upon the Tabernacle as it were the appearance of Fire until the morning.
So it was alway: the Cloud (the Ways of Peace) covered it by day, and the appearance of Fire (the terrible Ways of War) by Night...(Numbers 9:15-23).
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a Cloud with power and great glory...(Luke 21:15-27).
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a Cloud of witnesses...Hebrews, chapter 12.
And the Lord went before them by Day in a pillar of a Cloud, to lead them the way; and by Night in a pillar of Fire, to give them light; to go by Day and Night.
He took not away the pillar of the Cloud by Day, nor the pillar of Fire by Night, from before the people...(Exodus 13:21,22).
Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God,
Who went in the way before you, to search out a place to pitch your tents in, in Fire by Night, to show you the way that you should go (AWAY FROM IT), and in a Cloud by day...(Deuteronomy 1:32,33).
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers (and mothers) were under the Cloud, and all passed through the Sea,
And were baptised unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea...
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come...(1 Corinthians 10:1-13).
For our God is a Consuming Fire...(Deut.4:24; Hebrews 12:29)
A God of War, that is His Name...(Exodus 15:3).
Ye shall kindle no Fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day...(Exodus 35:3).
And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and His anger was kindled: and the Fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp...(Numbers 11:1).
Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage...
Ye shall not go after other gods (the gods of militarism, the gods of capitalism), of the gods of the people which are round about you:
(For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from the face of the earth...(Deuteronomy 6:12-15).
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch as He abhorred His own inheritance...(Psalm 106:40).
They sacrificed unto devils, and not to God...Deuteronomy 32:17.
But I say, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
Ye CANNOT drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye CANNOT be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than He?...(1 Corinthians 10:20-22).
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Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and daughters, whom thou hast born unto me, and thou hast sacrificed them to be devoured. Is this thy whoredoms a small matter? THOU HAST SLAIN MY CHILDREN, AND DELIVERED THEM TO PASS THROUGH THE (CONSUMING) FIRE...(Ezekiel 16:20,21).
THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR IRAQI VENGEANCE
by James P. Pinkerton
The word of the day is ecpyrosis. To the ancient Greeks, it meant DESTRUCTION BY FIRE. The "pyr" root gives us the modern word "pyromaniac." But the Greeks also used ecpyrosis as a word for EXTREME COMBAT, as in to be so consumed with fighting that one disappears, as it were, in a ball of flame. There's some of that now, and there's more coming.
President George W. Bush had a point on Monday when he stated of Iraqi suicide bombers and rocket-attackers, "They don't care who they kill. They just want to kill." At one level, the terrorist resistance has a clear goal of driving out all foreigners, regardless of their nationality or purpose for being there. But at another level the killing has no goal whatsoever, since it is spread far and wide across the whole of lawless Iraq, where street crime and vengeance killings aren't even reported, let alone investigated. That's ecpyrosis, the fire that's consuming Iraq.
Men have been consumed by their violent passions since the beginning of time. This is from Homer's Iliad: "Achilles then sprang upon the Trojans with a terrible cry...as a fire raging in some mountain glen after long draught...even so furiously did Achilles rage, wielding his spear AS THOUGH HE WERE A GOD, and giving chase to those whom he would slay, till the dark earth ran red with blood...and his hands were bedrabbled with gore." Sometimes ecpyrosis has a terrible poetic beauty to it.
And there are other reasons for some to love ecpyrosis, too. Sigmund Freud was no warmonger, but he observed pessimistically that combat "lays bare the primal man" in each of us. And in that raw mental state, "We are, like primitive man, simply a gang of murderers." The military historian Martin Van Creveld put it even more simply: "However unpalatable the fact, the real reason why we have wars is that men like fighting."
It would be nice to believe that Americans are immune to such feelings. But here's an item in Tuesday's San Francisco Chronicle, in which a homeless Vietnam veteran was asked if he enjoyed killing. "Absolutely," came the answer. "Because you have no idea the sense of power that you get from killing someone. YOU ARE GOD. YOU ARE PLAYING GOD TO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THAT'S IN FRONT OF YOU, AND YOUR KILLING WHATEVER IT IS."
OK, so maybe some readers will dismiss the testimony of of a homeless vet speaking to a Bay Area newspaper. Yet, how about The Toledo Blade? That's about as Heartland as one can get. Earlier this month the Ohio paper ran a long series recalling the 1967 operations of the 101st Airborne Division's Tiger Force unit in Vietnam. The paper reported on the killings and massacres of hundreds of civilians, adding goulish details--such as GIs stringing severed ears around their necks as ornamentation. This is ecpyrosis, the sort of thing that was depicted in movies such as "Apocalypse Now"--or that really happened in previously reported Vietnam incidents, such as the 1968 slaughter ordered by Lt. William Calley in a village called My Lai.
But the truly ecpyrotic comment in the Blade's series came from an ex-sergeant, who recalled the death-defying, death-welcoming spirit of those gory days: "We didn't expect to live." That is, if one is going to die, then everything is permitted.
Indeed, after such experiences, ecpyrosis, TO BE CONSUMED BY FIRE, is sometimes welcomed, almost as a cleansing--which was what the Greeks believed. Or the Germans, and their Gotterdammerung legend, IN WHICH EVEN THE GODS PASSED INTO THE INFERNO.
Now back to Iraq. Bush no longer says "bring em on," but he insists that he will "stay the course" in Iraq. But the current posture--which seems to consist of Americans being sitting ducks in compounds and convoys--is not going to stop the attacks. What might stop them is a more aggressive campaign that takes the fight to the terrorists, wherever they are. But, as anti-guerilla wars from Spain to Algeria to Vietnam proved, such fighting degenerates into carnage and chaos...And leads to ecpyrosis, our word for the day--and for a long time to come.
THE LAW
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you. (See Luke 8:15).
Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, and in the multitude of thy mighty men...(Hosea 10:12,13).
Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths (my meanings), and their eyes were after their father's idols.
Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were NOT good, and judgments whereby they SHALL NOT live.
And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the Fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord...(Ezekiel 20:24-26).
Who also made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter but of the spirit, for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life...(2 Corinthians 3:6).
(Therefore be not carnally minded or in bondage) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit...For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace...(Romans 8:4-8).
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Esteemed Bora: I worry that if everything is metaphoric one will be abandoned to one's own interpretations, afloat on a sea of Maya. Is there not an anchor which helps to secure the right interpretation? -Ides
Shalom, Ides.
There are two Torahs (compare Apostle Paul's reference to the two laws observed operating within his own body). They use the same word forms: one speaks to the sons of darkness against sin; the other, to the sons of light in furtherance of life.
So long as killing, stealing, lying and such proceed from within, we are subject to the law of sin unto death. When we have overcome such things, an entirely new Torah opens. This is the book that was sealed, that the wise man could not read. (Isaiah 29:9-16; 1 Corinthians, chapter 1 and 2). The entire literal sense regarding promised lands leads to divisiveness, covetousness, superiorities. In the hands of unspiritual men, it leads to fascism. Once this epic is interiorized by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, however, a new literal sense arises, leading to new interpretations, leading to new literal senses, leading to new interpretations, ad infinitum: Torah is eternal; and if its primary message concerns the laws of sin and the means of atonement, then we face an eternity among those sealed in righteousness. Torah is the Manual of Life, and it shall forever be indespensable.
Behold, saith HaShem! I make all things new. Bora
BOTH, FORSAKING THE LAW, AND THE LETTER OF THE LAW, LEAD TO DEATH
(One can pass over this rabbinic treatise on the Torah and war [George W. Bush's State of the Union speech follows it], but if one should choose to read it, they will find an example of why God is also pouring His judgments out upon the Zionist State of Israel in the Middle East. Not only did Ephraim go backwards again, away from the Westward course of the Sun and the Moon, and away from the Light of this great unfolding Mystery, but in the Jewish insistence on a literal rendering of the Torah [as opposed to a spiritual and allegorical reading when it comes to the subject of human warfare], and in their continuing attempts to justify their own existence as a nation state [in a land that is not their's] through the use of military might, the Zionists have made themselves incapable of observing or hearing).
THE CHIEF RABBI OF ISRAEL SPEAKS
YOU VIOLATED THE NA'ASE--MAKE SURE TO FULFILL THE NISH'MA.
(This treatise is grounded in the literal premise that Palestine is literally the Land of Promise, and that the Jewish people have been literally commanded to literally kill their neighbors in their attempt to establish it. There is, in fact, no piece of geography on earth promised to the children of Israel other than the bodies they wear, the mind they possess, and the world that lies beyond the realm of the one we inhabit...Nevertheless, there is a geographical location to the City of David. It is not in the Middle east...Psalm 48:1-3; Ps.74:12-23):
"Every time I hear of terrorist attacks or warnings about them, I think of Jesus' words, "My kingdom is not of this world." I believe that Jesus is speaking here about the kingdom of God, which Mary Baker eddy has described not as a location but as spiritual consciousness. To me, this Godlike consciousness is everyone's true home, spiritually speaking. And that means that the peace, safety, and security this home affords cannot be taken from me or from any of God's sons or daughters--no matter where they go. God's, that is, divine Love's, ever-presence ensures this. This is affirmed by King David when he writes, "He that dwelleth in the Secret Place of the Most High shall abide under the Shadow of the Almighty." Calvin DeLano, The Christian Science Journal, August, 2003. p.6.
Parashat Shoftim prepares the nation of Israel for its entry into the land and for the establishment of a life in a Jewish realm as delineated in the Torah. The parasha also includes the appointment of judges and police, the appointment of a Sanhedrin on the Temple Mount (as it is written) That place which shall be chosen by the Almighty, where one has to go when there is a difference of opinion on judicial matters. It deals with the appointment of a king, You may set a king over you whom the Eternal G-d shall choose; one from among your brethren shall you set king over you. The parasha also enumerates the function of the Kohanim and Levi'im, as well as their status and their rights. All these topics, that are related to the administration of a nation which is about to enter its land, are emphasized in Parashat Shoftim. (Please see Chapter 10, and the chapter in the Addendum entitled Zionism, and the Zionist State of Mind).
In the second part of the parasha we read, When you will go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, a people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for the Eternal your G-d is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. After outlining how the kingdom of Israel should be set up, the Torah emphasizes the liberation of the land of Canaan and the laws pertaining to war. We find here laws pertaining to milche-met mitzva (an obligatory war) and laws pertaining to milchemet reshut (an optional war), and instructions how to act in a time of war.
The Torah opens with an expression that is repeated many times, When you go out to war against your enemies. Several points should be made here. 1) The words When you go out to war are in the singular form. 2) Note: It does not say When you will wage war, but it says--several times--When you will go out to war. 3) It says, oyvecha (your enemies) without a second yud, and this too refers to the singular.
There are obvious several implications here. First of all, When you will go out (singular). There is a chance that you will emerge victorious in this war if you are united and go AS ONE, when it is not a tribal war, not a splintered war, but when you (in the singular form) will go out to war (teitzei), and not teitzu (you in the plural). All of you go out as one entity. This is the first rule.
A second rule, perhaps, is, When you go out to war against your enemies. You should not wait until you are attacked, turning it into a war of defense, but you should initiate it, you should be on the offensive and not on the defensive...
(Is there a familiar reasoning here? a familiar sounding twist and perversion of the Torah? Preemptive strikes against the enemy! The Most High has indeed given them statutes, and a literal mind to go with them, wherein if they follow them literally they will die. And, of course, this treatise is rooted in the belief that Israel is comprised of Jewish people alone, and that the Jews alone are literally the chosen race among men. The spiritual Nation of Israel is comprised of every soul on earth who resides in the light of God's Law, and in its correct interpretations):
...You should also be cognizant of the fact that your enemy (written in the singular form) implies that he is united. There can be discord between the enemies. They may be divided among themselves and torn apart, but in one thing they are united. When it comes to a stand against you, or to put obstacles in your way,all your enemies are as one. On this point they are all united, as it is written in Psalms: The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against the L-rd and against His anointed. The previous verse begins with, Why are the nations in an uproar, and why do the people mutter in vain? (in the plural form) but when it comes to the Jews, it is your enemy (in the singular)...These are the first lessons the Torah imparts to us, warning us to beware of the dangers in store for us.
Then comes the third pasuk in Chapter 20 and says: And he shall say to them--THE PRIEST WHO COMES FORTH TO SPEAK TO THE NATION says--Shema Yisrael (Hear O Israel), you draw near today to battle your enemies, let not your heart faint, fear not and do not tremble, nor be terrified because of them, for the L-rd your God is He that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you...Rashi detected this unique expression and comments that Shema Yisrael implies that even if they have no merit other than reciting the Shema, this alone makes them worthy of being saved. (continued)...
Shema Yisrael implies that there is no God but God. And for the literalists and warriors of Islam, there is no God but AllaH. There is only One. He revealed Himself to Isaac, and therefore to Jacob, in one name (for certain historical reasons), and to Ishmael in another. How else can God separate the children of Darkness from the children of Light in the last days? He who is One, however, is not divided among Himself, and is not waging a battle against Himself in the streets and villages of the Middle East, on behalf of one son against the other. But rather, He who is One is waging war against both--against every soul, Jew, Christian and Muslim alike, who would literally lift up a sword against his brother. Each is a judgment against the other. There is no commandment in the higher Torah to literally slay one's enemy. The Torah is allegory, and must be read as such. And how pathetic and sorrowful it is to hear someone, particularly on the Jewish side of this equation, exclaim that God just worked a miracle because one person out of 20 survived, and was not blown to bits in the night club or in the shopping mall with all the rest. And though the Jews are the aggressors in a land that is not their's, and are now being judged for it, every one on both sides is in bondage, to the literal word, and to their own natural passions...
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the (literal) law, do you not hear the law?
For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by the bondmaid, the other by a freewoman...
Which things are an allegory: for these are two covenants: the one from mount Sinai (the fictitious mountain in the East), which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar.
For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the Mother of us all...(Galatians 4:19-26).
The priest who shall recite the Shema Yisrael to the people is the spirit of Elijah that shall appear in the last day, and he shall say to the people, Do not let your heart faint, fear not, nor be terrified of (those who are making war in the earth and compelling others to follow them. For your enemy is war itself. Your enemy is your own self when your-own-self allows you to participate in the sacrilege of war, and when it allows or persuades you to send your children off to war. He will say:
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so is it now. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman (whether they be Jew, Christian or Muslim) shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman...Galatians 4:21-31.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be ye not entangled again in the yoke of bondage...(Galatians 5:1).
(Our author continues)...Shema Yisrael appears here as an encouragement to the nation on the eve of battle. The merit of reciting Shema Yisrael will be at your side to protect you and save you even if you have no other merit. This is the way Rashi explains--in the name of our Sages--the anointed priest's appeal to the nation.
But why is the reciting of Shema taken as an illustration? Is Kri'at Shema an unimportant prayer? On the contrary, one can find 10 mitzvot in Kri'at Shema: 1) The existence of G-d. 2) The unity of G-d. 3) The love of G-d. 4) Tefillin shel yad. (Hand phylactery). 5) Tefilin shel rosh (head phylactery). 6) Talmud Torah (learning Torah). 7) The education of children. 8) The reciting of Shema in the morning. 9) The reciting if Shema in the evening. 10) Mezuza. Ten mitzvot! Why does Rashi say,in the name of our Sages, "Even if you only have the mitzva of reciting the Shema, you are worthy of being saved," as if the mitzva of Kri'at Shema is something trivial?
The Sefet Emet explains that this is an allusion to that which our Sages say in Midrash Tanchuma: "You violated Na'ase, be careful with Nishma. "When we stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai and received the Torah, we declared: Na'ase Ve'Nishma (We will do and we will listen). We even said "we will do" before "we will listen." Our Sages tell us that G-d addressed us after the destruction of the Temple when we were driven into exile--"Because of our sins we were exiled from our land"--and told us, "You broke the Na'ase, you violated your commitment to observe mitzvot, at least be careful with Nishma.
You promised to listen, make sure you listen. Be careful to study Torah, to listen, to understand, to know, "to listen, to learn, and to teach," because this will lead you "to observe, to do, and to fulfill." The Jewish Press.
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See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him who spake on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.
Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
For our God is a Consuming Fire...(Hebrews 12:25-29; Isaiah 40:1-5; 66:6-24).
You must be born again...(John 3:1-21).
Choose: between the path of Abel and Seth which leads to Life (Matthew 5:1-19) or the path of Cain, and those of the old Atlantean and Roman order, which leads to Death. Choose: the path of Christ or the path of Antichrist...(Joel 3:9-14...KJV).
That upon them may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel (the first Pacifist) unto the blood of Zacharias son of Berachias (understand Isaiah, chapter 8), whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon THIS generation...(Matthew 23:34-39).
THE STATE OF THE UNION
January 28, 2003
(Before considering these excerpts from George Bush's State of the Union speech, think of all the atrocities that America is guilty of--of which it must give an account--and all the terrors it has visited upon the other peoples of the earth in its rise to power. Think of colonial Virginia and New England. Think of slavery and the South. Think of the crossing over into the Northwest territories. Think of the rise of Industrialism and of America's unceasing exploitation of the continent and its resources, and its massive consolidation of power over the lives of others. Think of the Trail of Tears. Think of Manifest Destiny and the transcontinental railroad. Think of lies and broken treaties. Think of Sand Creek and Wounded Knee. Think of Hawaii. Think of Panama, the School of the Americas, and then Central America. Think of the American Corporate State, the CIA, human experiments, insurrections, revolutions, the downfall of governments, the Shah, the Contras, the rise of the Muhajadeen. Think of every single death that America is directly responsible for, of every man, woman and child who has ever stood in the way of America's commercial interests and Corporate America's rise to power in the earth. And do not be beguiled by notions of America's Christian heritage. If it were so then none of these things would have happened, and not one person anywhere would have suffered injustices or perished in the name of Christ. On the contrary, think of all the reasons the judgment wars of the 20th century have been visited upon the world, and all of the reasons why they are soon to be visited upon America itself):
George W. Bush: "Every year, by law and by custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year we gather in this chamber DEEPLY AWARE of decisive days that lie ahead. You and I serve our country in a time of great consequence...In all these days of promise AND DAYS OF RECKONING, we can be confident. In A WHIRLWIND of change, and hope, and peril, our faith is sure, our resolve is firm, and our union is strong...
During the last two years, we have seen what can be accomplished when we work together...To protect our country (from who? from God), we reorganized our government and created the Department of Homeland Security which is mobilizing against the threats of a new era. (Isaiah 66:4). To bring our economy out of recession, we delivered the largest tax relief in a generation (Ecclesiastes 5:8--13). To insist on integrity in American business, we passed tough reforms, and we are holding corporate criminals to account. (Matthew 24:43-51; James 4:1 to 5:8)...
Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, WHILE DRAMATICALLY IMPROVONG THE ENVIRONMENT. I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to develop cleaner technology, and to produce MORE energy at home. I have sent you CLEAR SKIES legislation that mandates a 70 percent cut in air pollution from power plants OVER THE NEXT 15 YEARS. (These words and phrases and the intents of this legislation, of course, are meaningless. They speak directly to those who are presently fouling the air and destroying the environment [and that's all of us], letting on that it's business as usual and full steam ahead). I have sent a HEALTHY FOREST INITIATIVE (now get this one), to help prevent the catastrophic fires that devastate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of acres of TREASURED FOREST. (This means "Let us at them. We'll clean em up")...
This nation can lead the world in sparing innocent people FROM A PLAGUE OF NATURE. And this nation is leading the world in confronting and defeating the man-made evil of international terrorism...There are days when the American people do not hear news about THE WAR ON TERROR (2 Corinthians 5:11). There is never a day when I do not learn of another threat, or receive reports of operations in progress, OR GIVE AN ORDER IN THIS GLOBAL WAR AGAINST A SCATTERED NETWORK OF KILLERS. THE WAR GOES ON AND WE ARE WINNING...All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. AND MANY OTHERS HAVE MET A DIFFERENT FATE. They are no longer a problem for the United States and our friends and allies...We have the terrorists on the run, and we are keeping them on the run. ONE BY ONE THE TERRORISTS ARE LEARNING THE MEANING OF AMERICAN JUSTICE. (And of God's JUSTICE)?
As we fight this war, we will remember where it all began, HERE IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. This government is taking unprecedented measures to protect our people and defend our homeland...AND THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE ARE BEGINNING TO FIELD A DEFENSE TO PROTECT THIS NATION AGAINST BALLISTIC MISSILES. (Oh oh)...
Leviticus 26; Proverbs 9:13-18; Isaiah 30:25; Isa.66:15-18; 2 Peter 2.
Since September 11th, OUR INTELLIGENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES have worked more closely than ever to track and disrupt the terrorists. The FBI is improving its ability to analyze intelligence, and transforming itself to meet new threats. And tonight I am instructing the leaders of the FBI, Central Intelligence, Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to develop a TERRORIST THREAT INTEGRATION CENTER to merge and analyze all threat information in a single location. Our government must have the very best information possible, AND WE WILL USE IT to make sure the right people are in the right places TO PROTECT OUR CITIZENS. (John 15:15 to 16:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:4-10)...
In all of these efforts...Amerika's purpose is more than to follow a process, IT IS TO ACHIEVE A RESULT: THE END OF TERRIBLE THREATS TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD. (If this is so, just imagine what God's purpose could be). All free nations have a stake in preventing sudden and catastrophic attack. We are asking them to join us, and many are doing so. (Isaiah 34:1-8). Yet the course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of others. Whatever action is required, whatever action is necessary, I WILL DEFEND THE FREEDOM AND SECURITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE...
Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, WE CONTINUE TO SEE A GOVERNMENT THAT REPRESSES ITS PEOPLE, PURSUES WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, AND SUPPORTS TERROR. WE ALSO SEE IRANIAN CITIZENS RISKING INTIMIDATION AND DEATH AS THEY SPEAK OUT FOR LIBERTY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY. Iranians, LIKE ALL PEOPLE. HAVE A RIGHT TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT, AND DETERMINE THEIR OWN DESTINY AND THE UNITED STATES SUPPORTS THEIR ASPIRATIONS TO LIVE IN FREEDOM. (Very well then..COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE...Revelation, chapter 18).
THE MILITARY...Tonight I also have a message for the men and women who will keep the peace, members of the American ARMED forces: Many of you are assembling in and near the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. (You may die). In those hours, the success of our course will depend on you. YOUR TRAINING HAS PREPARED YOU. (Deuteronomy 6:1-15; Revelation 13:16,17). YOUR HONOR WILL GUIDE YOU. YOU BELIEVE IN AMERICA, AND AMERICA BELIEVES IN YOU.
Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a president can make. (But I will do it). The technologies of war have changed. The risks and sufferings of war have not. FOR THE BRAVE AMERICANS WHO BEAR THE RISK (Me and Cheney, of course, stayed the heck out of Vietnam...but this is different), no victory is free from sorrow (so get on in there and do your duty). This nation fights, RELUCTANTLY, because we know the cost (of course, we aint gonna pay it, you are), and WE DREAD THE DAYS OF MOURNING THAT ALWAYS COME.
WE SEEK PEACE. WE STRIVE FOR PEACE. AND SOMETIMES PEACE MUST BE DEFENDED. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats (to our capitalist system of things..you know, to me and Daddy's system of things) is no peace at all. IF WAR IS FORCED UPON US (?) WE WILL FIGHT in a just cause and by just means sparing IN EVERY WAY WE CAN the innocent. AND IF WAR IS FORCED UPON US, WE WILL FIGHT WITH THE FULL FORCE AND MIGHT OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY AND WE WILL PREVAIL...AND WE GO FORWARD WITH CONFIDENCE, BECAUSE THIS CALL OF HISTORY HAS COME TO THE RIGHT COUNTRY.
AMERICANS ARE A RESOLUTE PEOPLE, WHO HAVE RISEN TO EVERY TEST OF OUR TIME. ADVERSITY HAS REVEALED THE CHARACTER OF OUR COUNTRY, TO THE WORLD, AND TO OURSELVES...AMERICANS ARE A FREE PEOPLE, WHO KNOW THAT FREEDOM IS THE RIGHT OF EVERY PERSON AND THE FUTURE OF EVERY NATION. THE LIBERTY WE PRIZE IS NOT AMERICA'S GIFT TO THE WORLD, IT IS GOD'S GIFT TO HUMANITY.
WE AMERICANS HAVE FAITH IN OURSELVES BUT NOT IN OURSELVES ALONE. WE DO NOT CLAIM TO KNOW ALL THE WAYS OF PROVIDENCE (he means God--his god), YET WE CAN TRUST IN THEM, PLACING OUR CONFIDENCE IN THE LOVING GOD BEHIND ALL OF LIFE, AND ALL OF HISTORY.
MAY HE GUIDE US NOW, AND MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Revelation, chapter 18 (KJV).
FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR TO THE PRESENT
And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a Thick Cloud (HEBREWS 12), that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them Today and Tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes (see Revelation 7:13-17).
AND BE READY AGAINST THE THIRD DAY: FOR THE THIRD DAY THE LORD WILL COME DOWN IN THE SIGHT OF ALL THE PEOPLE ON MOUNT SINAI (the Higher Mount Sinia).
AND THOU SHALT SET BOUNDS UNTO THE PEOPLE ROUND ABOUT, saying, Take heed to yourself, THAT YE GO NOT UP INTO THE MOUNT, OR TOUCH THE BORDER OF IT: whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to death...
AND MOUNT SINAI WAS ALTOGETHER ON A SMOKE, BECAUSE THE LORD DESCENDED UPON IT IN FIRE: AND THE SMOKE THEREOF ASCENDED AS THE SMOKE OF A FURNACE, AND THE WHOLE MOUNTAIN (THE ENTIRE 2OTH CENTURY) QUAKED GREATLY...(Exodus 19:9-18)
THE TRUE WARRIOR
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the Feet of them that preach the gospel of Peace, and bring glad tidings of good things...(Romans 10).
For though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh:
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
And (only after that) having in readiness to revenge all disobedience, when our own obedience is fulfilled...(2 Corinthians 10:3-6).
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Now unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only Wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This charge I commit unto thee...that thou might war a good warfare...(1 Timothy 1:17,18).
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man who warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
And if a man also strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned, except he strive lawfully...(2 Timothy 2:2-5).
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high (governmental and religious) places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God (see Isaiah 59:17), that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of Peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And the helmet of salvation, AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD...(Ephesians 6:10-17).
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But whereunto shall I liken THIS generation? It is like children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you (about the state of the world, about the environment, about global injustice, about war), but ye have not lamented.
For John came neither eating and drinking, and they say he hath a devil.
The son of man came eating and drinking, and they , Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.
But Wisdom is justified of Her children...(Matthew 11:16-19).
Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets...(Luke 6:22,23).
These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
They shall put you out of the synagogues (and the churches): yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me...(John 16:1-3).
Please consider:
The End Game, The Grand Chessboard
The Church and the American Military Establishment
Give Unto Caesar? (Of Course Not)
THE ONLY MORAL THAT MATTERS
By Michael Goodspeed
goodspeed743@aol.com
4-19-04In the opening scene of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, we see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane engaged in a battle of wills versus Satan. As Satan attempts to plant a seed of doubt in Jesus's heart, the serpent enters the Garden and slowly slithers towards Jesus. Suddenly, an expression of resolute calm comes over Jesus's face. He stands...and shockingly crushes the serpent's skull with a stomp of his foot...
Look South...(Ezekiel 20:46-49; Genesis 3:13-15...KJV).
Upon witnessing this sudden act of violence on the part of Christ, many members of the audience let out startled cries of surprise and disbelief. I remember that this particular scene bothered me more than anything else in the movie, including Jesus's prolonged torture and murder. I must forthrightly say that I am not a religious person; in fact, I have never set foot in a place of worship or religious observance (at least not voluntarily). With that said, if I were a betting man, I'd stake every penny in my pocket that Jesus would not have taken the life of even the "lowest" creature in God's Creation. Not a worm, not a bug...not even a slimy serpent. JESUS WAS A PACIFIST CONTINUOUSLY AND UNCONDITIONALLY. Ironically, just a moment later in the film, we see my theory put to the test. The Romans locate Jesus and attempt to take him captive, upon which Jesus's disciples offer violent resistance. Jesus, however, remains passive, even if his non-resistance means the death of his good friends. Even when they've gained the upper hand, Jesus tells his followers, "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword."
I found Jesus's passivity more moving than anything I'd previously witnessed in film. He begs forgiveness for his torturers, exclaiming to God, "Oh, forgive them, Father! They don't know what they do!" I cannot quote from the Bible with anything approaching literacy, but as the product of a Christian nation, a few choice lines do stand out in my memory. I feel a deep resonance with the words, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," AND, "Judge not lest ye be judge," and most notably, my favorite of the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not kill." These words are so elementary and uncompromising that one would think they could never be a source of confusion. But surprisingly few people, including the most allegedly devout of Christians, seem capable of understanding the most basic of God's instructions.
The words, "Thou shalt not kill," could not have been more plainly written. Notice God did not add any conditions or caveats to this COMMAND. He did not say, "Thou shalt not kill...Christians, Americans, the law-abiding, the righteous, the good, the innocent, the attractive, the educated, the wealthy, the able-bodied, the smart, the charismatic, the well-clothed, the height-weight proportional, the hygienic..." Nor did He even say, "Thou shalt not kill HUMANS." God's Commandment - absolute and unambiguous - is that ALL Life is touched by the Divine spark. As the children of God, we did not CREATE Life, so it is not within our moral authority to take it away.
Like everything else in life, God's words are made "confusing" by the MORAL RELATIVISM of our "great thinkers." Through all of history, mankind has found legal and "moral" justification for the selective extinguishing of Life -constant warfare stands out as the defining characteristic of the human condition. I will KILL this person because he has wronged me and my family, my community, my country, my religion.
In 21st century America, we see moral relativism as the underlying cause of a culture of DEATH. The rule of "law" says that Life can be taken when: 1) the Life is not "worth living," because the life is "contemptible" (euthanasia, the Terry Schiavo case); 2) the Life is "inferior" and poses an inconvenience to a "superior" Life (abortion); 3) the Life is "evil" and/or poses a threat to innocent life (capital punishment, the war on terror); 4) the Life is not HUMAN (the perpetual slaughter of all animal life, including the food industry.) But I have been told by Bill O' Reilly that America is a fundamentally CHRISTIAN nation. Are these instances of legalized murder consistent with the most FUNDAMENTAL principle of Christianity? Jesus stood as a passive observer even though by doing so he ENDANGERED THE LIVES OF HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS. His words, "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword," implied that even those who kill to PROTECT THE INNOCENT are only contributing to the endless perpetuation of violence and death. This lesson is apparently lost on many self-described Christians who view justifiable homicide (including warfare) as their happiest duty.
Christ's teachings are clearly predicated on one simple fact: as human beings we are NOT CAPABLE of delineating between a "worthy" Life and an "unworthy" Life. Look at the things we view as "admirable" in other people: namely fame, fortune, and physical attractiveness. Are these things of any import to God? Does God view the invalid as less than the able-bodied, the poor as less than the wealthy, the "ugly" as less than the attractive? The transparentness of our own insanity is the greatest evidence that the taking of ANY Life is the domain of God, and God alone. If American policy makers - the senators, the governors, the congressmen, the Supreme Court justices, and the President -lived in CONTINUOUS and UNCOMPROMISING observance of the Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," would evil in the world be more or less prevalent?
