Are America's Laws & Policies In or Out of Synch With The Laws of The Universe?

How about President Bush and his policies of Pre-emtpion and Obscuration? St. Augustine, where are you now?

Introduction:
The impression that you get from most Americans is that every other political system, or system of governance in the world is either flawed or in some way inferior to the American system. Americans idolize their constitution and its democratic republic which promises freedom, individual rights and justice for all [men].

To most Americans it was if God called James Madison Jr., Benjamin Franklin and the other signers and creators of the American Constitution up on Mt. Sinai, where God with his own finger wrote the articles and amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Then God, if you were to believe some, apparently informed this august and collegial pre-incarnate America body to spread the Gospel of Democracy throughout the world, at least that is what most Americans would have you to believe. It was not sin or manÂ’s inhumanity to man that God was interested in preventing or stopping, God was more interested in stopping socialism, communism, dictatorships, plutocracies, autocracies and any other form that differed from the divinely crafted American system that was inspired and handed down by the Almighty.

But is it true that our political system with all of its beautifully constructed laws and statutes are aligned with the Universal Laws that were put in place thousands if not millions of years before America was ever founded?

Let's consider Isaiah Chapter 1

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
"I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows his master,
the donkey his owner's manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand."

4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people loaded with guilt,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.

5 Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted. `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Laws of Nature...Laws of any State or form of goverance.....vs. ..the Eternal Laws that govern the Universe!

1). Not everyone agrees, but some of us believe that there are universal laws that govern the universe. It is not that farfetched then to believe that the laws and social mores that are adapted in the animal, human or biological kingdoms ought to coincide with the universal laws in order for any and all of the above to derive the optimum benefit and to peacefully co-exist.

2). Can one honestly say that the laws and policies of the United States of America even, are in line with Universal Law? Or, on the other hand could one argue that the United States like too many other nations, groups and organizations have devised laws that were created strictly to inure to their own benefit and to provide them with an advantage in deference to all else in the universe.

3). And given that the laws and policies that we have created go against the grain of Universal Law, then as a result we are witnessing and creating self-induced problems ourselves given that we are also a nation that is out of synch with Universal Law. Other than the United States, someone, some thing, some group of people or nations can operate in defiance of Universal Law and at the same time be in full compliance with the subset of Laws that they have selfishly created for their benefit which they also tried to force upon others.

4). And the end result is what we have now, a planet that is out of whack, resources unevenly distributed, class stratification, war, disproportionality, poverty, excess and an ecology and an atmosphere that is to some extent also out of whack.

5). It is not only America that believes that its own set of Laws or its form of governance is superior to any other Law or form of governance (even to the Law of the Universe) however, America is one of its most egregious offenders!

I don't know how to get some Americans to understand that they need to move into a Universal mindset and away from an Amero-centric self-serving and survivalist mindset. There is more to life than America, the god that is failing! To be guided by such narrowly focused and self-serving principles limits not only Americans but the world, and places America in conflict with other nations and the Universe!

America, atop the current world order (for nearly the last 75 years) had the opportunity to lead and to help to reshape the world and the world's inhabitants in righteous and true justice. But instead, America chose to substitute its own laws and policies in lieu of Universal Law in an effort to force the world to comply with western-style governance, which would assure America its place at the top of the food chain. And what appears to be right in the eyes of most Americans, the spreading of western style Democracy, is in fact a poor substitute and a bastardization of the higher moral law of the Universe.

And as a result, on a daily basis America experiences the hubris from practically every corner of the world. And the anger that is being expressed is not being expressed against God, nor is it against Satan that is unless you consider America to be Satan as many people and nations of the world do. The anger is being expressed towards America and many on the planet are seeking God's help with regard to America. The question is, does America have enough bombs to fend off the whole world for it would appear that America is heading in that direction? America has truly reached nadir!

Finally, We must remember the injunction of the ancient prophet Isaiah, who reminded us that our ways are not God's way, and our thoughts are not God's thought. But as high as the heavens are above the earth, are God's ways above our ways, and God's thought above our thoughts.

And as God spake to me not to long ago, he said:

Our Theme,
Ought to Be,
To Pursue,
Different Passions for Different People!

Patriotism to God's providential and universal laws must supersede blind loyalty or patriotism to any manmade imitation, Super or HyperState!

Addenda!

When one has been shaped or acculturated in a society that has preached (not always practiced) liberty and justice, from day one!

When one has been taught to pledge allegiance to a flag from childhood that is supposed to stand for 'liberty and justice for all', one can easily recognize why so many Americans are aghast at a President and an administration that has violated all of these ingrained, supposedly American principles!

Where is the justice in Iraq given America's ongoing misbehavior? In Iraq, America is as much a terrorist-nation as any other so called terrorist-nation or terrorist-group! President Bush's obscuration, has done incredible and irrepairable damage to the United States and the psyche of America's citizens.

From my point of view Mr. Bush is a traitor and estranged from the principles that we have been taught from childhood(Rising to the level of Attila the Hun or Benedict Arnold)! He seems to feel that misleading the citizens of America in order to destroy other people and nations of the world, is a laughing or trivial matter!

A military General on television last night said it best; forget about all of the reasons that you have been told about why we went into Iraq. He said that we engaged and remain in Iraq for two reasons only, politics and economics, both of which America is vested, in hopes of benefiting the United States of America! Poor Iraqi's have to stand by and watch while an invading behemoth, who accuses Iraqi's freedom-fighters of being terrorists, takes over their homeland, in order to benefit America!

Peace & Grace,
Rev. C. Solomon

Categorical Determinism and American-Prevarications....!

To Archimedes my nemesis:

You and most American prevaricators tend to base your categorically deterministic arguments, conclusions and axioms upon one thing and one thing alone, western centrism! That is where you always start and where you always end up, and why your arguments always fall apart.

Your personal axioms and conclusions have little to do with reason at all, unless reason tells you that the only thing that matters in the world is the well-being and satisfaction of a minority nation (with respect to the world's population), the United States of America. Keep in mind that America represents only about 6% of the world's population, yet America spends much of its time trying to force its will upon a larger majority.

There is a similarity between your and other American's belief systems, the same that was held by those in the now departed South African Apartheid, which is that a self-entitled minority group has the right to rule the larger majority.

On the other hand, there are some of us whose thinking is not limited to or restricted by invented social constructs that are tied to some geographical region of the world or polity that some believe gives them the right or license to kill or force their will upon other nations and people in the world.

And, isn't it ironic that in the majoritarian U.S.A., where most believe that the majority should prevail, the same individuals have total disregard for the will of the greater majority that exists partially inside, and outside of the United States?

The universality and rights of all human beings, transcends the American hegemoniacal system that was created by a bunch of misguided zealots; all humans are equals. My world view is centerr around the development of fair policies at home, and a belief that we should support those policies abroad that take into consideration the inherent, equal and implied rights of all people, not just the rights of the American bully or its sympathetic
allies rights!

America has spent the last 50 years, under the guise of spreading Democracy, trying to force its design upon the world (accordingly filling that void that you referred to as a lack of a centralized government for the world). America has made itself the titular and understood head of the one world government. America controls the United Nations, ignores the United Nations, formulates laws, enacts laws, negates laws and enforces its own self-created policies around the world including the invasion and occupation, without resistance, of other Free nations of the world, and punishes and imprisons other nations leaders.

When Bush says that the fight consists of civilized nations versus the uncivilized of the world, he has concluded that the only social order that has merit or matters in the world is are the ones that have been duly approved by the United States of America.

Like you and too many other Americans, Mr. Bush fails to understand that civilized people do not make a habit of using deadly force (The same that he opposes in the DPRK and Iran and formerly Iraq), in order to make other people adapt the social forms that have been postulated by the United States of America. Another world for it is totalitarianism!

America is not fighting for civilization, Bush is not fighting for civilization and neither are you!

Remember the Crusades?

The fact is that if Christians today, who have obviously abandoned their formerly stated principles, want to enter into moral combat with other religious groups in and around the world, they should organize their own armies and then go and fight. That would be preferable to attenuating the truth and paying for proxy armies like Israel’s to fight their eschatological battles, or by inveigling the United States Government into using its military machine to annihilate their enemies under false (and eschatological) pretenses!

1. Christians should keep in mind an injunction from the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah in the Christian bible that our ways are not God ways. Is it God, if you believe in God, that wants the fight or is it Pat Robertson and his crowd who want the fight? I suspect that it is the latter; I do not believe that there is a divine sentiment to annihilate 1.3B Muslim and other human beings who happen to believe in Islam!

2. Eastern and western fundamentalism/radicalism both have a lot in common; each has an obsessional component that is based upon each group’s belief that they alone have all of the truth, and that they have been singled out to bring the world over to their way of thinking, and unfortunately those who won’t convert must be eliminated. A good scholar can debunk and disprove myths on either side, but neither side would be prone to listen anyway. When you have the combination of a radical fundamentalist polity mixed together with radical fundamentalist religious zealotry, you have a volatile mixture and an explosion that is just waiting to happen. (And as we have all read about in history books, and just as we are witnessing the current eruption or clash between these two behemoths, we can see the same old scenario being played out again).

3. And let me add one other thing, the United States has created another straw man in Iraq for the consumption of Americans and the rest of the world. Bush has Americans thinking that we are fighting a common enemy in Iraq, Al-Qeada. And that is simply not true, just ask the other side. America is fighting mixed opposition groups that are made up disparate forces and individuals who have come together and some are fighting separately. The majority of them have one thing in common, they are fighting back against the American Imperialist Invaders; remember, they did not invade America or attack America on 9/11! Are they wrong to fight back? Are they really terrorists? Of course they are not wrong to fight back, and they are certainly not terrorists, for how can one be a terrorist for fighting to defend what was his or hers in the first place?

4. What Rumsfeld once admitted to was more the truth; these people are not insurgents, they are indigenous people who along with their supporters, in most instances, have come together to fight off a foreign invader and occupier, the United States of America.

5. We must remember and be honest about it, we invaded a once sovereign country under false pretenses and we are still occupying that country. That country’s inhabitants along with their cousins are fighting back just as we would be fighting back if the tables were turned the other way. We are not fighting a war against terrorism in Iraq, if we were really fighting a war against terrorism in Iraq we would be fighting against ourselves given that we are the ones who are doing the terrorizing, not to mention those who we have invited in to fight America on some one else’s soil!

So what will represent a victory for George Bush in Iraq? Is it that the indigenous people of the Middle-East (besides traitor nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and some times Jordan) will have to come to accept that the United States has entered into Middle-Eastern sovereign territory, invaded, occupied and installed the government that it prefers in Iraq, and the whole Middle-East and the world must come to accept U.S. hegemony? So far Bush is not realizing his victory by killing people, and I suspect that he never will!


Folks, in Iraq we are the invaders and the terrorists, when will all of America come to admit the truth?

Thimblerig?

The real reason that America has not prevailed in Iraq is because of America’s convoluted justifications for going into and of late, remaining in Iraq. The fact is that America never should have been in Iraq for any of the reasons that were cited by the President; there never was a just cause or reason for being there!

I. Folks, when countries go to war, one country has either somehow offended the other country, is in an alliance with either country’s enemies, or one country has simply chosen to attack the other either to conquer, exploit or to occupy it. Colin Powell tried to explain what should have been considered, in pre-analysis, before going into Iraq in the first place. And we all know that his sage advice was summarily ignored.

II. The real reason that America has failed and continues to fail in Iraq begins and ends with the President and the flawed and convoluted reasoning that he used to send the military into Iraq in the first place. How does a nation define victory when there have been so many lies put forth as to the reason that it entered into war in the first place? How will that nation know when the mission is accomplished if no one really knows what the mission is?

Here are some of the reasons that we were told that we must go into Iraq and why we are still in Iraq:

1. America is in danger because of an Iraqi threat (given Iraq’s, WMDs).
2. Iraq is in violation of numerous United Nations Resolutions, including the
possession of WMDs.
3. To bring democracy to the Iraqi people
4. To fight the war on terrorism
5. To stabilize the region
6. To prevent Iraq from falling in civil war and having some outside agitator
to come in and take advantage of Iraq

III. If any of you will recall, Bush declared the mission accomplished in Iraq not too long after Mr. Rumsfeld’s quick plan to take down Iraq succeeded. Well think about it, if the mission was accomplished why didn’t we leave?

The answer is that America is stuck in Iraq because of the fantasies put forth by the President of the United States. America’s failures really have and have had nothing to do with the military or even Mr. Rumsfeld. America’s troops are chasing after a ghost! They cannot find it, and even if they could find it they could not do what they were trained to do, kill it. You can’t kill a ghost. The solution to the problem of Iraq is not in Iraq itself, the real problem that must be solved resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC.

The Bush lies and misrepresentations are causing Iraqi and America lives to be sacrificed each and every day. To the extent that the American people, Mr. Gates and others recognize the problem and begin to address the problem at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, we can begin to resolve the American problem in Iraq.

I listened to Senator John McCain this past weekend, in several venues. McCain’s problem is that he wants to become President and insert more troops into Iraq. He doesn’t seem to understand yet that we are chasing a ghost. If he simply wants to go in and conquer the Iraqi people, America can do that, it has the firepower! But the answer is why Mr. McCain, the Iraqi people were never the problem; they are not bothering the United States and never have? Instead Mr. McCain, you must come to realize that America is its own problem in Iraq and the solution to the problem has nothing to do with adding troops.

IV. We made a mess of a once sovereign nation. Again, the Iraqi people have not done anything to America? What we have now is a broken and innocent country that America (not any so-called terrorists) broke. The citizens of Iraq want there country back and for all of the invaders to get out so that they can restore their lives and their country. They are the victims that were simply caught in between American insolence and American arrogance; the United Nations and our allies, mostly, asked us to wait and to give diplomacy and civil discourse a chance to work!

V. The only moral solution for this problem, unless America wants to further oppress or kill the indigenous people of Iraq (using the military to do so), is for America to get out of that country and to begin to pay to have that country restored!

With regard to the war on terrorism, think about this, if we went in and killed every living thing, human and animal in Iraq, would the so-called war on terrorism end? No, because the problem of terrorism does not rest with Iraq, the problem of terrorism rests with the United States, and clearly in Iraq, America is the only terrorist nation there! We are the ones who have invaded, occupied, taken down a President and a government that was in place, destroyed the nation’s infrastructure and invited our enemies to come in to that once sovereign nation and fight us there instead of in our homeland. Over 600,000 lives have been disaffected by the American maneuver.

VI. Here is the Wikipedia's definition of the Shell game or Thimberlig, it sounds just like the game that Mr. Bush has been playing with us, even given the changes that he made in his Administration this past week. The game should not be mistaken for an honest game. It is not possible for a victim to win, even if they know how the trick is worked, or even if they "accidentally" pick the shell that actually has the pea under it.

Through very skilled sleight-of-hand, the operator can easily hide the pea, without the victim seeing. Any player who is suspected of understanding the trick, or does not place a bet and just wants to watch, will be quickly edged away from the table by the shills.

The shell game set-up and lay-out is quick and simple, so that in the event of trouble, or if they are signaled that authorities are approaching, they can remove all traces of the game in seconds. Those traces of the Bush shell game who recognized what has been really going on, have been silenced or removed from the Bush Administration.

I believe that the pea is still hidden, and that it will take awhile to assess just what Mr. Bush is up to, perhaps we should check downstairs in the White House (anybody seen Ollie North lately).

In Summary: I visited Washington DC this morning, Tuesday, November 7, 2006, to attend the Martin Luther King groundbreaking ceremonies; Mr. Bush was present. I can read people fairly well, folks it is not a slam dunk, the removal of Chaney last week; Mr. Bush is still up to something!

Bush admitted in last week’s press conference following the mid-term election that he misled the American people. The follow-up question by the reporter should have been, Mr. Bush just how many times have you led the American people?

Given today's announcement with regard to isolating Iran, it is clear that Israel still has Mr. Bush's other ear. The blood of the innocent Iraqi citizens rests squarely upon the shoulders of America, the confused Religious Right, Israel and President George Bush. And who is the real leader?

My Conclusion: Satan's number one device is deception. Bush, Israel and the church are sadly being willfully deceived and caught up in the 'war of principalities', and sadly innocent lives are being sacrificed as a result. Will God's justice sleep forever or is God mercifully waiting for the American people, particularly the church to remove themselves from the grasp of Satan?

Believers Must Get Out of Bed With Politicians: America Must Still Get Out Of Iraq!

Notwithstanding the replacement of the fallen Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfield or given his replacement Robert M. Gates the new Secretary of Defense, America must still get out Iraq.

Even if Mr. Gates turns out to be a more effective Secretary of Defense let's say than Donald, and he listens to his generals and restores the confidence of those who serve under him, unfortunately that will not change reality in spite of any military successes that he might achieve in Iraq. Why?

We cannot ignore the following:

* America, without provocation illegally invaded the once sovereign nation of Iraq
* America took down its President (now facing the death penalty and vanquished
Iraq's Government
* America invited its enemies to enter the Iraqi theater, rather than fight its own
battles in America or on the enemy's soil
* America is arguably responsible for the death, murder and maiming of about
600,000 Iraqis
* America set up a puppet government during its military occupation of Iraq
* America is still occupying and controlling the once sovereign nation of Iraq.

The questions remain, so what constitutes a victory in Iraq? Should Mr. Gates in a more effective way than his predecessor did, dispose of more Iraqi lives? Should he continue to invite and fight America's perceived enemies in a once sovereign but American occupied land?

I am not sure that I can root for Mr. Gates either under the circumstance, get my drift?
The only real victory in Iraq will occur when Iraqis get their nation back, install their choice of government, vanquish and drive the invaders (especially America) from their nation, and be compensated for the loss of lives and all of the other carnage and destruction that was done in their country as a result of the scurrilous and criminal actions of the United States of America.

The victory that the United States still longs for, is to control the outcome in Iraq and have the government that it wanted installed in Iraq firmly in power; and that my friends is what we refer to as hegemony. Yesterday President Bush stated that the terrorists desire to go into other nations and install their own form of governance in those lands. Hello, Mr. Bush, is there anyone at home; that is what you have done in Iraq and Afghanistan?

If Saddam is to be punished, eventually America, its citizens and its leaders must receive their comeuppance and be punished for America's gross interposition and imposition into the lives of the innocent Iraqi people and the destruction of a once sovereign and proud nation!

The Bush ploy to upstage the Democratic landslide this week by replacing Rumsfeld with former CIA Director, Robert M. Gates, is an unsatisfactory solution to the real problems that persist in Iraq, the hegemony of the United States of America. And the Busy strategy does not alter the fact that America has behaved as a rogue nation under the President Bush. And where has the voice of the church been? Regrettably the church in America has been on the side of the invaders, and too many Christians are still encouraging Mr. Bush to secure victory in Iraq, in spite of America's trangessions in Iraq!

Hopefully late President and slaveowner, Thomas Jefferson's words, God's justice won't sleep forever, will ring true. For God 's justice slept a long time for Mr. Jefferson and his counterparts!

Jesus Was Not Fascistic: Ode To The American Religious Wrong

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.
Behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.
James Russel Lowell, 1819-1891

As a result of the success of the Democratic Party in this week's mid-term elections, Bush and religious fascism are on the gurney and apparently on their way out!

Democrats must take the high ground and work to return American politics and American foreign policy to sensibility and civility, reversing the damage that has been done in and around the world and to eliminate the policies of preemption invasion and occupation that were formulated by the Bush 43 administration in Washington DC.

Democrats must govern from the center and Republicans must join them in the center in order to unite the country and in order to forge a steady future for America and the world!

We also need an open social policy discussion with respect to the new American demographic (not just as it relates to gay marriage but it should be inclusive of the entire changing population). If we are to amend the constitution at all, we need to do so in consideration of the changing family demographic, the rights of all Americans and the current make-up of American households. Some of the latter changes are a direct result of government policies over the past 20 years, if not longer!

Previous arrangements that have been sanctioned and buttressed by American Law, have been based on the constitution of homes and families that, by and large, are no longer in existence; it is an outdated paradigm. Many American homes are no longer comprised of a husband, wife and the kids! Americans must consider legislation that will take into consideration the needs of all American citizens with respect to insurance coverage, medical care, retirement, inheritances and tax-breaks for those other 50% of American households compromised of singles possibly for life, same-sex Americans, and the elderly and long-term platonic and single household compositions.

The church must understand that it is a part of America, and not America itself. The needs of all American citizens and taxpayers must be taken into consideration; Jesus never forced religion on anyone; Jesus was not a religious fascist. Someday, if the church in America is not careful the pendulum might swing in the other direction and the long-time privileges of the church in America could be amended away as well!

America must change course given the current political changes that were just made in Washington DC, and the church must return to it's original mission on earth.

What happened with Ted Haggard, disgraced President of the National Evangelical Association of America is symptomatic of what is wrong in portions of religious America today. The spirit of Pharasism and veering from the direction and methods that God intended for his church have taken approximately 30 million American Christians off course.

This body of Christians is being led by political zealots who are dressed in religious attire. Peter warned the new testament Christians in his epistle to beware of false prophets. On one hand these prophets would speak portions of the truth and lead many off into their direction. But in the final analysis, the false prophets or teachers would lead those who had just overcome into a worse situation than the one that they just escaped.

The disciples who walked with Jesus for almost 3 years of his public ministry were informed just before Jesus departed from the earth, that they must be born anothen (from above). Many individuals are being accepted into church congregations today, but are not being taught that they must experience conversion. Sadly, many of these same carry on good works and they give large sums of money, however, according to scripture they have never been born again.

The religious right or wrong as I refer to them, have grouped together about 30 million individuals who mostly have never experienced a spiritual conversion. Like the disciples of John who Paul encountered at Ephesus, they were dedicated disciples that had been baptized, but they had no idea of what it meant to be born again.

The danger here, is that these individuals like their leaders lean on carnality in order accomplish God's purposes. God's purposes will not be accomplished by using carnal methods. The church cannot exchange politics for prayer and divinely guided methods. It won't work, it has never worked and it did not work this time.

I feel sorry for Rev. Haggard (no one was born perfectly), however, there are many more Ted Haggard's in our churches and pulpits. These individuals spend their time and efforts persecuting others, when they are guilty of the same, being human and imperfect.

All of the ministers who were apart of the NAE and other religious organizations who signed on to condemn Pres. Bill Clinton years ago, the same who never attempted to restore him, and now being hung from their own gallows. Mr. Haggard was one of the signatories!

A Bishop in the Mid-West who I once served under often said, Just remember, none of us have made it yet! If someone is overtaken in a fault, Paul's instructions were to approach that person [or citizen] in the spirit of meekness. What Ted Haggard needs now is not a political solution, what the American chruch should be doing in America and in the world--is not political either!

Peace & Grace
Rev. C. Solomon

Should The So-called Unjust Have To Pray To God In Order To Be Delivered From Those Who Profess To Be Just?

The so-called uncivilized (Iraqi's) of the world are asking God to defend and deliver them from the so-called civilized Americans...
...........the civilized religious Americans are sanctioning the use of civilized American bombs and weaponry to defend themselves from the religious Iraqis, who, ironically haven't done one thing to the mostly so-calledchristian civilized Americans!

Is is possible that Jesus will one day say to many of the professing Christian Americans to depart...saying that I never knew you...?

It seems to me, that with respect to America’s current divide over how this country should be defended; there are at least two broad categories of Americans. There are those Americans who say that in order for America to be properly defended; all Americans must realize that the world is not a very nice place. And, in order to survive in a world with other armed enemy nations and terrorists, their naive American brothers and sisters must realize that America must act-in-kind and be sufficiently armed in order to overcome force with excessive and preemptive force.

The current Administration and many Americans in this broad category have taken the defense of America a step further, borrowing from that old adage that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure’. They believe that pre-emption is a concomitant of American defense, the same that will enable America to defend itself better against attacks by America’s enemies? By beating the opposition to the punch and by keeping America’s enemies disarmed or sufficiently degraded, America’s enemies will be unable to muster an attack against America. Americans in this category, see no problem with striking DPRK or any other nation, just as they did to Iraq first, even though neither nation engaged in a single act of aggression towards the U.S.A, nor does either nation possess a fraction of the killing power that the U.S.A. possesses!

Sadly, this mostly well-intentioned group has zero interest in utilizing problem-solving techniques in order to resolve problems without reverting to violence, and to save lives wherever possible. And ironically, this broad grouping of Americans includes religious people who have either abandoned, or, altered the principles of their faiths altogether. Instead they have bought into secular political escapism in order to resolve their differences with their fellow human beings, having apparently become frustrated with their God’s ability to bring about a peaceful resolution of their problems with their enemies!

The other broad category of Americans on the other hand, the cognitive group I will call them, to the dismay of the other group believes more in the defense of the nation than the former group; in fact this group’s sole motivation is the defense of the nation and to avoid the misuse of America’s power against other nations. This group believes that after every other measured and peaceful solution has been considered or exhausted, then and only then is it right to utilize force. This group also believes that responding to violence with violence only increases and escalates violence, and that the pre-emptive use of violence, and creating and stockpiling weapons only encourages other nations to do the same and is warmongering!

The President insists that by invading a once sovereign nation like Iraq and by taking down its President and its government, followed by the destruction of much of its infrastructure represents the civilized world’s efforts against the uncivilized world as he put it, in order preserve civilization. However, in listening to the testimonies and comments of several Iraqi’s over the past weekend, it saddened me to hear the so-called uncivilized of the world, as the President put it, say one after the other that they are seeking God, their only resource to help them. Why? In order to stop the destruction of their land and their homes which in the final analysis was instigated, and is being promulgated by the mostly Christian and so-called civilized nation that looks down upon the people in their nation and devalues their way of living, the United States of America.

Isn’t it ironic that these people have to seek God to help them, a nation that has been invaded and torn apart by America (a country that is being supported in a preemptive war and occupation by its major religious community, the Christian church), the same nation that also wants to do the same with the DPRK and Iran?

Isn’t it sad when people have to pray to God (and most Americans say that they believe in God), and ask God to get America to stop the violence and carnage in their country, that America alone is responsible for and could stop at any time

Were Christians commissioned to win 'all nations' to Christ, or to kill them in the name of American consumerism and worldwide hegemony?

Osama or Obama: The Bush Parody & Which One Will Prevail?

Bush does not want American citizens to die....

....he prefers that innocent Iraqi citizens die in lieu of American citizens, and for a cause that the Iraqi people had nothing to do with (American injustice and mistreatment of people and other nations of the world)!

• How many innocent Iraqi's have died so far as a result of the Bush doctrine and in lieu of American citizens? Are we cowards?

• What other nation in the world would be so arrogant as to take over another sovereign nation and turn that nation's territory into its own private battlefield, then permit that nattion's citizens to be slaughtered simply because the intruding nation wants to circumvent any damage to its people or its homeland?

Today Bush admitted that the reason for America's mission to Iraq, in its latest permutation, is to secure America. Is anyone listening? Well he finally told the truth, our reason for being there never had anything to do with improving the lives of the Iraqi people, and that is why it is so easy for him to stand by and watch the innocent Iraqi people be slaughtered in what was their own country, and for something that they had nothing to do with.

I don't like this, it reminds me again of when Lee Malvo and the other fellow, Muhammad, were riding around the DC-metro people and shooting people. Based on what I saw on terror-vision, the cowardly American people in DC were cutting and running and hiding behind tarps.

America should have the guts to fight its own battles either on its own turf or on the enemy's turf, but certainly not on the turf of an innocent bystander nation. America has truly lost its moral compass, if it ever had one.

I see only two choices now for Bush, either America must leave or America must quit pussy footing around and simply take over Iraq just as it took over most of North America, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and its other claimed territories. In other words, stop pretending to have created a democracy in Iraq and permanently put in another couple hundred thousand troops and make Iraq a permanent territory of the U.SA. If he did the latter, at least America's fight would take place on American soil.

Is someone or something in the universe sending Bush and the Republican party an ironic and homomorphic message? Which of the two will be responsible for Bush's undoing end ending once and for all the Bush doctrine, will it be Osama or Obama?

The Hijacking of the American Pentecostal/Charismatic/Evangelical Church: It Was An Inside Job

Who Hijacked The American Church?

Introduction:
Portions of the American church have been hijacked, but not by politicians as it would appear but rather by a frustrated faction of the Christian church that is being headed up by a group of religious zealots who have lost faith in the wonder working power of God; the same have instead jumped in bed with venal politicians in hopes of accomplishing God’s agenda for him, through the use of earthly methods. Even some of America's more erudite black ministers and ministries have been inveigled into serving an American Religious/Political idol!

Shall we name names for some prominent names come to mind e.g. the President of the United States of America George W. Bush, and some of his accomplices who head major organizations like the Reverend Pat Robertson, Reverend Jerry Falwell, Dr. Dobsen, Ralph Reed, Tony Perkins and Tim LeHay? These men and others like them are by and large responsible for the hijacking of today's church. Similiar to the false prophets in the new testament who taught that the resurrection had already passed, these men have colluded and melded together a vicious political-religious movement in America. The objective of this movement that is centered around a false sense of religious nationalism and morality, is to change the face of America by a marriage of politics and the church.

And these individuals believe that their efforts (that diverge from scripture), are being done in the name of the Lord and are somehow being directed by the Lord. But are they right? Does God use carnal means to attain his objectives or to fulfill his purposes? Has God suddenly instructed his church to join in with salacious politicians in order to accomplish his objectives? Or am I correct in believing that God's church is not to be confused in any manner with the corrupt, prideful, self-serving, salacious, meritricious and warlike United States of America or those who idolize America. The two are not one and the same, and Christians but must not be inveigled into believing that somehow they are one and the same, or otherwise Christians will wind up being led by those who are blind to the ways of the Lord.

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s epistle to his protégé Timothy where Paul explained to Timothy that, ‘no man that warreth entangles himself in the affairs of this life, see 2 Timothy 2:4. Every Christian should take Paul’s admonition to heart and as a warning to be vigilant and to stay focused no matter whom comes to you, and in what manner they come, even when they purport to be doing God's will. Remember Peter’s admonition ‘to be aware of false prophets’, for some will come to you wearing sheep’s clothing!

There are many false prophets apparently, but for the sake of our discussion let us focus on two particular types. There is a false prophet who teaches or prophesies in the name of a false deity, and that false deity could be anyone or anything. Remember in scripture how deities were fashioned out of wood and stone, yet the people worshipped these idols as if they were living creatures? God customarily sent his prophets to warn Kings and politicians that their ways were in error. It was customarily the false prophets, such as the prophets of Baal who joined themselves with local monarchs. God sent Moses not to join in with Pharoah, but to instruct Pharoah to release his people so that they could worship him.

I. What I Believe That We Are Witnessing Today: And What Some Have Been Unwittingly A Part Of For The Past Decade:

The other category of false prophets includes those teachers and preachers who identify with God, but in actuality they were never ordained or sent by God to do the work that they are attempting to do. How do you know the difference? It is extremely difficult to know at times, particularly when these false prophets preach from the Bible and much of what they say is consistent with scriptures.

The danger of this type of prophet is that along with his teachings he brings a spirit of deception, and the deception is mixed in with those portions of his message that are true. This self-deluded false prophet will ultimately deceive his audience, just as he has been eceived himself into believing that he is serving God (as if our ways and motives are God’s ways or God’s motives).

I became concerned about the direction that the church appeared to be taking just over a decade and a half-ago. I had begun to notice a radical change that was taking place within the the Pentecostal/Evangel church world. Not since the 1906 Azusa Street Revival has such a profound and dramatic change taken place in pentecostal/evangelical circles. Those who have been a part of the Pentecostal/Evangel church, know that Pentecostals and Evangelicals have always been considered 'fringe' by more conservative mainstream Christian churches in America.

During the periods of A.A. Allen, Daddy Grace, Father Divine and I will also include Reverend Ike, all of these men and there ministries were also considered to be fringe, even by the fringe pentecostal/evangelical movement. But when evangelical and pentecostals became just like them and to mimick the behaviors of the Allen, Father Divine and others, no one seemed to protest thedramatic modification in teachings and behavior in the once more fundamentalist Pentecostal/Evangelical Churches.

In place of the Daddy Grace's and AA Allens of the world, names like Jim Baker of PTL and Jimmy Swaggart and Jimmy Swaggart Ministries began to pop up, and I consider both of these ministers and their ministries to be responsible for what I call a post-modern slide in the Pentecostal/evangelical church movement that began in America in at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century.

The average size of an American church is reported to be approximately one-hundred members, and of course there were Pentecostal/evangelical churches that were exponentially larger and some were smaller than one hundred members. However, a new phenomenon came into being, not only was a church measured by the mammoth size of its membership and the number of succesful tent meetings that it held, successful ministires also came to be measured by their successful use of the media, particularly television and more recently the internet. The same ministries brought their mega-ministries right into America’s living rooms, and today they can be witnessed on America’s computers.

The pedant ministries of the Reverend Ike's and daddy Grace’s of the world paled in comparison to the high-stakes ministries of Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggart. There's had become technological, high-fashioned glitz ministries with all of the accoutrement of a modern Las Vegas strip show. And what happened next, traditional evangelicals and Pentecostals gravitated towards these new style ministries, and other ministries sought to emulate them. These were large choirs singing and wealthy ministers who could get the crowd going with there were remarkable facilities and national outreach ministries. Suddenly religion was a force to be reckoned with in America again, for religion had reached the big time, and nowgoing to church, among evangelicals and Pentecostals was cool and fun to do again.

There were massive swaying back and forth choirs that would rival the size and sounds of the formerly infamous Mormon Tabernacle choir, except these choirs accompanied by a variety of musical instruments includied African beats rap and worldly songs converted into church and choir songs. While the choir and church together sang and swayed back and forth, some even engaged in forms of boot and street dances as they all lifted their voices and holy hands unto God. The new exuberance was infectious, for even the minister began to use borrowed slangs from the streets, and incorporated the same into his sermons and cheerleading. Some ministers, instead of commanding his audiences to say ‘amen’, as ministers did in the past, would instruct the audience to turn and give your neighbor a high five. In fact, it caught on so that I recall aa young pastor and his wife who left their home church and relocated to New Jersey (following the leadership of God) to go and plant a new ‘Hip Hop Church’ ministry.

Note: [Kirk Franklin even admitted that he borrowed music ‘The Revolution Album’, directly from the world as he experimented with drugs and frequented porn sights when his wife was not watching].

II. When did the church begin to slide this time?

Following the scandals that took place in these ministries, including Jimmy Swaggart’s now well known televised confession accompanied by tears cascading down his face when he proclaimed that he ‘had sinned’, it appeared that the death knoll had been sounded for both of these mega ministries. But instead of the deaths of the mega-television-ministries, a whole new crop of mega-ministries began to pop up all over the country. Suddenly there were prominent names and huge ministries replacing the former ministries of PTL and Jimmy Swaggart(who has returned to the air).

And with the change, I became concerned when during the 90’s suddenly these new mega-ministries were changing believe it or not from the orthodox teachings of the orthodox Pentecostal/charismatic/evangelical church movement in America. The very meaning of being ‘born again’ appeared to have been co-opted if not compromised. Suddenly, instead of an experience of being born again, one repeated the Apostle’s Creed, or joined one of the mega’s and suddenly they were declared born again.

As opposed to the long drawn out process that was once part and parcel of traditional pentecostal/evangelicals, you know confession, repentance, baptism in water, going under watch care and for some remaining on the mourner’s bench and tarrying/waiting to be endued with power from on high usually accompanied by some physical sign or gift, particularly, the speaking in tongues or glossalalia. Suddenly everything changed and the memberships in this type churches exploded, outpacing traditional orthodox mainstream denominations like Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans and Episcopalians.

Many of the ‘frozen chosen’, and former Catholics and Baptists were being transmogrified as they became members in the formerly disdained charismatic churches. Now they too were ‘singing and swinging’, and hollering out the name of Jesus. But all was not well!

Soon, not only the typology and topology of the church shifted, but the ministry, the preach word itself changed. Ministers had tired of preaching those same old themes, and the modern charismatic minister would make fund of the old charismatic traditions in terms of dress and style and teaching. All of the sudden it was okay for women to wear pants, even tight pants; and on top of that short pants and all of the former were appropriate church wear. Suddenly the old teachings about holiness were modified, and jokes were made about all of us are simply doing the best that we can. Then it became okay for former evangelicals to participate with the world in dancing, attending sports venues, partying, wearing makeup and others; everything was changing.

And the modern charismatic preacher began preaching and introducing new doctrines e.g. The Prayer of Jabazz, Mega-Church Growth, The Prosperity Gospel and Just Wars. These four themes seemed to predominate and permeate our churches of late. What had been no longer suited a more educated class of members, many of whom now were professionals. In the olden days, the old store-front Pentecostal and Evangelical churches would boast about one or tow members who held college degrees, but suddenly all of the churches had members with post and secondary degrees. There were lawyers, businessmen, doctors, scientists, principals and others now members in the new movement and they demanded more than simply coming to church on Sunday and attending two services during the week. .

And all of these themes exploded upon the scene within a period of about 10 -15 years.. All of the sudden what churches, particularly black churches had preached against for a century it would seem, suddenly became chic. Remember Reverend Ike, Daddy Grace and Father who once openly boasted of opulence and personal gain. During the 60’s and 70’s most black ministries dismissed their type as scoundrels and imposters, how dare they. For charismatic’s taught, that ‘godliness with contentment was great gain’. Charismatic’s weren’t concerned about wealth for Jesus cared for the poor and besides, it would be as hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom as it would be for a camel to enter the ‘eye of the needle.’ But suddenly it all changed. God wanted his people to be prosperous if not wealthy.

God wanted his people get more and to have more. God even wanted his people to get more involved in politics. Suddenly at church there were seminars. There were financial seminars, real estate seminars, personal growth seminars, how to start your own business seminars, seminar seminars, any topic under the book. And some pastors admitted that they were now more motivational speakers than anything else began to preach series, and no longer sermons, it would appear, from God.

And the crowds liked and preferred what was happening; church was in vogue again for yuppie and buppie Americans. The post-modern Pentecostal evangelical church was on its way. Now professional athletes, entertainers, actors were known to frequent many churches, not only as members, but many were in the pulpits. I can recall visiting church where Smokey Robinson, Evander Holyfield, Donna Douglas, Randall Cunningham, Ce Ce Winans and all of the celebrity ministers Bishop Jakes, Rod Parsley, Dr. Cho, Oral Roberts, and Carlton Pearson were the marquee speakers or the entertainment of the evening. And the new pastors when they were not watching had suddenly taken on the spirits of those that they once denounced. Many of these speakers had become in a nutshell A.A. Allen’s, Father Divine’s, Daddy Grace’s and Reverend Ikes. And unfortunately the lure of wealth has drawn many away from contentment with God and today many of them remain celebrity preachers and there is a whole new crop in the wings waiting for a chance to ‘take their turns at bat.

III. Where Has It Gotten Us?

Today we have bloated and larger churches, holding services in massive 2, 4, 5 10 and some 30,000 seat opulent auditoriums. However, is the church weaker today or softer today? Now we frequently hear of scandals in the church, e.g. a San Jose Mega church where a case of child molestation broke out. It took the pastor years to admit that he had fallen down and instead of trusting God to ordain leadership for his youth ministry, he appointed people over the youth ministry having never checked their backgrounds. And remember; now people were simply being swept into the church and on to the church roles. At his 15,000 member ministry, it was not uncommon to take in 60 to 150 new members on any given Sunday. All it took was to come to the altar, say the magic words, go in the back room where you were led, sign up and suddenly you were a full-fledged born again member of his and other ministries that wee styled the same way.

The new teachings that the inchoate ministers who guided these large flocks also dwelled on a theme of liberty in Christ, as opposed to the more reserved historical teachings which focused on discipline and self-control. Suddenly grace was being abused, and that liberty of yours that Paul was warned his listeners about became the most important thing, it would seem, in the modern movements. Suddenly, these new members were not under ‘bondage’ as they would put it, they were free in Christ. And free they were, for the new members began attending mega-fests, sea-fairing cruises, musicals and other church activities in the Bahamas and in other venues.

The new Pentecostal/evangelicals attended pool parties and lay on the beach in their undersized and less than modest swimming apparel. Modesty was no longer preacher. Women wore extravagant coiffured hairstyles, extensive make up and jewelry, tight fitting clothes, and men weren’t any different except they focused more, unabashedly, on the women in the church. Churches sat up dating services and nightclubs in the church. One could come to church and pick up a honey, date her at church, party with her at church, worship with her and receive pre-martial counseling and finally a marriage ceremony right at the church. But then more scandals began to break out in the church. The new liberated members wanted more. A church in Maryland was embarrassed recently when it leaked to the press that this evangelical ministry was seeking a liquor license for its large family all purpose accoutrement, another new trend in the former conservative literalist evangelical Pentecostal church.

Swimming pools, video game rooms became the order of the day. Kids came to church to play video games instead of going to Bible classes. And what is the end of all of this, in just a few short years fun church …the highest divorce rate among any other group in the country. Bishops, pastors, church officials and church members would no longer endure the trials and tribulations of marriage; suddenly it was also okay to divorce. And divorce each other they did.

IV. And The Last Straw:

No longer depending on the power of God and the wheels of his ever slow grinding methods to bring about change, the new Christian having tired of the conditions that he was witnessing, not in the church of all places, but outside of the churches decided that it was time to make a move. The new church leaders decided that it was time to take over America and how do you do that, you take over Washington DC.

For years many believers did not vote. Many did not believe that they should be involved with the worldly systems, just as many had been swayed in the olden days to stay away from seminaries many had been dissuaded from participating into a worldly political process.

Groups like the Moral Majority, Focus on the Family, National Association of Evangelicals, Family Research Council were born, and these organizations and their leaders Pat Roberton, Dr. Dobsen, Tony Perkins, Tim LeHay and others led the church in politics. By doing so they created what we now know as the political church. Should Christians vote or no has always been a topic of discussion in the Pentecostal/evangelical churches. Which ever side you come down on, what is more important is not whether you vote or not it would seem, but whether you become entangled or not in the political process. And the new group of leaders such as those mentioned above were unabashed about their claims that Christians must not only vote, but one even said that after we get them baptized and saved, we must make sure that they are registered to vote.

I suppose that at some of these ministries when you are taken in the back to fill you’re your new members card after you come to Christ, you are also given a voter registration card.

The irony is that some are entangled to the extent that the idol of politics has taken place of God. Certainly there is power in both. But listening to the new crop of church leaders, the church has lost its power and must revert to other means in order to accomplish God’s objectives.

So churches have taken advantage of their own power. As we discussed in a national pastor’s meeting held in Hunt Valley MD a few years ago, there are not only millionaire ministries but many millionaire ministers in the church today. Many ministers, it was acknowledged had entered the ministry for the newly acquired wealth that was taking over many black churches. As mega –ministries have popped up all over the country, many churches boast of membership rolls that are in the thousands, some as high as 30 or 40,000 members as high as Dr. Cho’s in South Korea’s 600,000 member plus church, the last figure that I read.

Since many of these ministries have not only one service, but in addition to numerous services (not only to minister but to raise additional funds), many of these ministries have numerous money making activities taking place right in the lobbies of their churches. Churches are selling quickly written books, badges, trinkets, crosses, water, and blessed oil, anything that they can get their hands on. So many wealthy ministries are no forced to wait on God’s move or his direction; many are walking a thing line in terms of their 501C3 Tax Exemption status. Some are in the process of having that tax exemption status reviewed and revoked, given the misuse of funds and their churches and church organizations for political purposes.

Departing from God’s strategy in scripture where God always combined need, strategy and provision. God would give the strategy and their would be a need and God would make provision. Today, because of the wealth of today’s church, one is readily reminded of the Tower of Babel, when heaven proclaimed that unless we go down and stop them, nothing shall be withheld from them.

Today’s churches no longer prayerfully seek God for direction or provision, given the vast amounts of wealth that they have amassed, instead the church board, or some plenary session decides on a projects, someone makes a token prayer and the rest is history, its done. Whether political, a fund raising, a building raising, it is voted upon and done.

Carlton Pearson once confessed on his television program that given the demands of his former mega ministry, that he recently lost, he had come to rely on professionals to assist him with his ministry. And eventually, professionals took the place of God’s leadership and were actually running the church. The hijacked church is on the cusp of a great fall, given its dependence on personal wealth and its self-devised political vision.

Some years ago, I sat in on and listened to numerous Congressional Debates in Washington DC on the Faith Based Initiatives. I remember that some prominent black church officials and leaders were for it like the King Family, the late Rosa Parks and others. While others warned of the danger of the church getting in bed with venal politicians. Some suspected that the church was only being paid off by these politicians in order to secure their votes. Today books have been written by authors like David Kuo, who has recently written the book, Tempting Faith. A former administrator in the office of the Faith Based Initiative in Washington DC, he tells how the Pentecostal/evangelical/ charismatic church is not only not respected in Washington in the current Administration, but that it is a known fact that the trade off for the political support of these churches, was the under funded Faith Based Initiative measure having been passed.

Many of the smaller churches, The Washington Post recently reported, do not even qualify for the meager funds that were allotted form the Federal Government, those churches with membership of less than 100, do not have the manpower to put into place to staff the type of services that communities require. The Washington Post also reported that majority of Pastors in the areas that need the most help are only part-time pastors. In other words, they are not vocational themselves; they have a primary job.

The Embarrassed Hijacked Church
Many leaders in the new Religious Right like Ralph Reed have brought embarrassment to the church world, having gotten to close to venal politicians which has cast a pall over these men themselves. Many of their closest counterparts are now serving time jail for malfeasance and some of these will probably fallow.

The problem as I see it has to do with 21st century styled ministries and ministers who take people into their congregations, substituting membership in their ministry; instead of being born into the Kingdom of God these have not submitted to righteousness of God. Instead, as Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans, they have gone about to establish their own righteousness and not the righteousness of God.

Were their motives correct? Some would argue yes, but the scriptures inform us that our ways are not God’s ways, our thoughts are not God’s thoughts and as high as the heavens are above the earth, are God’s way above our ways and his thoughts above our thoughts. I am and have been skeptical of the new syncretic teachings of our new dispensational come-lately theologists.

I am convinced that many who call themselves Christians today, including the ministers who pastor them and many of the above named ministers were never truly born again. They had zeal for God but not according to knowledge. And just as the leaders joined themselves to God and their well-intended ministry (having never been fully converted), they have swelled the ranks of their churches and religious organizations with people who still have never been converted and adopted into the body of Christ. They have never been born into the church; rather they simply joined themselves unto someone’s often well intended ministries.

Like Peter who walked with Christ for years but had not been converted, many of these ministries are what I would refer to as ministries in an embryonic state, they are in the womb, but they have never truly been born. Pat Robertson encourages the country to fight and to kill, and he has even suggested that other heads of state should be murdered. And Pat is only an example of the type of thinking that is being shared by these ministers and taught to their congregants. Reaching back to the famous Catholic priest, St. Thomas Aquinas, many churches openly teach and boast of what is a just war and they encourage the country to fight battles as if by doing so they can usher in the Kingdom of God.

Pastor Hagee contradicts himself when interpreting the winding up of things. ON one hand he says that there will not be any Army present in the end times to assist Israel, and that God will fight himself. Then he joins with Robertson and others to declare that what is going on in the Middle and Near-East today is the work of God, and that God is actually using the United States who is on a murderous rampage, to usher in the Kingdom Age.

Many Christians need to be refocused and retaught the ways of Christ who for example steered clear of politics and the political establishment. Although he encouraged followers to give the state what belonged to the state and to God what belonged to God, he never encouraged his people to become entangled with politics or the State.

Many believers bought completely into the prayer of Jabazz as well as the prosperity Gospel for selfish reasons. Many Christians want wealth and to blow up never considering the windows that God has already opened, and the blessing s that have been poured out to them already while their brothers and sisters around the world, many of them still go to bed lacking the basic necessities. Christians forget, many of them, that their closets are full, their garages and basements are overrun. In fact many Christians today have had to purchase larger homes in order to have space for all of their blessings and still they don’t have enough space. Many are giving away clothing to the Salvation Army, but still find that their storage units are full.

I explained to a group of ministers and prayer warriors about 6 years ago that the reason I believe that the church was caught off guard when the 9/11 attack took place in America because American Christians were so subsumed and consumed with economic gain and prosperity, many of them were practicing the principles from a guide of the book, The Prayer of Jabazz, that God could not get a message to them that the country was about to be attacked.

Conclusion: And Who Hijacked Who?
Once again Satan used his number one device, the same that he employed in the Garden of Eden in order to hijack a sleeping church, and what is that device, deception? The church was not deceived from without; instead it was deceived by those who have barged in with the acceptance apparently of most of the church body and taken over the leadership of the church. We need to wake up from sleep and run from false teachings. If anything, American Christians ought to be sharing their wealth as well as praying that benefits be given to their brothers and sisters around the world instead of seeking to tear down their own barns and build bigger barns in order to fill them up with more stuff.

Let’s take back the church that has become for too many congregations a greedy, self-absorbed, businesslike and political church; even Bishop Jakes teaches that, ‘the Church is a business’. Let’s place our reliance back in God and prayer to God to heal conditions that can actually be healed in the land. The scriptures let us know that much of the negative stuff that we are witnessing in the land would be and that there would be nothing that we could do to change it. We cannot change what God has already told us will come to pass. But what we can do is seek God’s counsel for how we should conducts ourselves in such a seemingly untoward world, and we should seek him for counseling and to show us how to draw out of the fire those who are actually a part of God’s, not ours, Redemptive plan!

Peace & Grace
Rev. C. Solomon

Addenda: Was the old the best way, consider that the truth lies somewhere in the middle?

The New Imperial Grand Strategy...Is Noam Chomsky Correct?

Noam Chomsky reported the following:

• In November 2002, then Secretary of State Colin Powell informed the other nations of the world about America's new National Security Doctrine aka The National Security Strategy (that was quickly formulated and adopted by the Bush Administration)..
• Other nations, including some American foreign policy experts were angered, and some of the former referred to the strategy as 'The New Imperial Grand Strategy!
• Henry Kissinger told Bush that the NSS undermines the U.N. Charter & International Law, but he would still support it.
• In fact Kissinger went on to say that the illegal strategy must be universalized, and it must be for the U.S.A. only.

Noam Chomsky also reported that:

• According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, outer space was to be used for peaceful purposes.
• A vote was taken in the U.N. regarding Space Disarmament, the vote was 174 to 3 in favor of the disarmament of space; the U.S. along with Israel, of course, opposed the U.N.'s efforts to ban the militarization of space.
• In November 2002, under the Bush Administration, the Air Force Space Command doctrine was shifted by the Bush Administration from the Clinton Doctrine.
• Instead of the 'control of outer space' adopted by the Clinton Administration, the new doctrine stated that the United States owns outer space.
• Any potential competitors in outer space would be destroyed.
• Space would be militarized via the use of space platforms and hypersonic drones.

Other Chomsky remarks:
• The United States considers any nation that harbors terrorists as a terrorist state.
• The U.S. is harboring terrorists itself including Haitian and Cuban terrorists; the latter has infuriated the Cuban and Haitian governments.
• The U.S. plans to use the army, navy and outer space in order to protect its interests.
• The U.S. practically announced that it will attack nations at will

Folks, since the United States government was seized, all branches of Government (The American form of a coup) six years ago by the war hawks on the Right (which was an intentional act of misguided Republicans, the Christian by name only Religious Wrong, voter fraud and Supreme Court intervention), America has gone from being the kinder gentler nation that Bush 41 envisioned before leaving office to a hostile, threatening and warlike nation given the direction of Bush 41's 'that boy will do you good", son, Bush 43. Man, was Bush 41 ever wribg! The world is concerned about the George Bush led United States of America.

Houston, if Mr. Chomsky is correct, we have a bigger problem than we once thought. For in my mind the America government has been under siege and is being held hostage by a group of self-interested kill-acons, the same kill-acons who believe that they not only own America, they also believe that they own the planet in addition to outer space! And these folks will kill anyone who gets in their way, apparently!

WE ARE NOT THE WORLD, and we neither own the world nor outer space!

Solution: We must take our country back, and we should not simply hand it over to the Democrats; instead we must change American thinking, America's former ways of doing things, our foreign policy initiatives, and finally we must place vibrant, erudite, experienced and competent individuals in roles of leadership in all of the branches of the American government and the military. And we must work with all of the other nations who share this planet and outer space, none of the above are America's to command!

American Malfeasance......ignored!

......while other nations are condemned and commanded to comport to the will of the abuser nation, the U.S.A.!

We live in a world where too many, inside and outside the United States, have historically ignored American malfeasance and its many violations of the Rule of domestic and International Law. The same perpetrators who have done so in the past and are doing the same now are demanding that other nations like N. Korea, Iran and the former sovereign nation of Iraq accede to the inviolate policies of the, acting outside of the law itself, United States of America.

It makes me think of a household where powerful parents who are physically abusing a few of the kids are aligned with the other kids who are not being abused, well not yet. The siblings who are not being abused, at this time, will even insist that the siblings who are being abused give in and accept the abuse of their mad parents, and even worse the siblings who are not being abused will join in with the out-of-control parents and help them to abuse their siblings. What a crazy mixed-up household, and what a crazy mixed-up country and world that goes along with this kind of behavior! Some might conclude that parents and the kids who go along with this kind of behavior (smelling sulfur), 'are the Devil or something'(>;)!

Why have other nations of the world stood by and either aligned themselves with, or permitted the paternalistic and hegemonistic United States of America to perpetuate its double-standards on other nations and the world for years, while demanding instead that the abused victim-nations simply give in to American double-standards, demands, abuse and malfeasance?

It seems to me that the citizens of America and the world who look the other way or join in with American malfeasance and its abuse of other nations, or those who join in with the condemnation of other nations, as Americas force its will upon them do so because (a) they do not want to be abused by America or another abuser nation (b) they are aware that the road to commerce, trade, aid, markets and eventually wealth is through the United States of America (c) because the United States offers them the pay-off of protection or 'pro bono type favors' that is if you stick with us, we will do some future favors for you or (d) all of the above and a few other reasons, mostly that they are looking out for numero uno, themselves!

If you are one of many apoplectic Americans, you would answer, and what is your point? If you are a Evangelical Christian, you would answer, 'it is God's will'! If you are a Republican, you would answer, 'we must stay the course! However, if you have any sense and if there is any humanity left in your soul, you will say, this is wrong and there must be something done about America, not Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Venezuela or North Korea!
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Folks we cannot continue to allow this kind of American standard to drive the world and to hold certain people and certain nation's hostage, as they are being abused by the United States of America.

As I close,
Isn't it ironic that one of America's favorite whipping boys in the world (an organization that it seeks to use to its advantage), is the United Nations?
Now just imagine for a minute if you were one of the other 190 member nations of the United Nations!
• And imagine if you have sat by year after year and powerlessly observed one of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council acting rogue itself and in violation International Law itself!
• And imagine if for years you have witnessed this behemoth nation, the same nation that criticizes your organizational worth, a nation that has more WMDs (minus Russia) than all of the members of the U.N. combined.
• And consider that it is the only nation to have used WMDs on any other nation, and this nations demands that every other nations on the planet complies with its thinking, particularly that some nations of the world cannot have WMDs, which in its mind, is the Rule of Law.
• Or, imagine if the same nation that seeks to make every other nation comport with its will, a nation that has invaded without provocation other nations, and at the same time continues to occupy other nations through the force of its military?
• And consider this nation, the USA, who while invading and occupying other nations of the world is currently taunting, threatening and insisting that other nations abide by the Law?
• And imagine if you were aware that the nation that acts out more than all of the other nations in the world combined that actually uses the organization that you are a member of, the United Nations, to pass Resolutions that suits it purposes so that it can turn around and use the same Resolutions as a pretext to attack other nations, or vetoes other resolutions that do not coincide with its imperialistic and hegemonic purposes, what would you be thinking about the United States?

I'm thinking and have been thinking for some time now that it is time to make some changes, and until we do Americans and the world should be condemning the U.S.A., and ordering it out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and at the same time demanding that it immediately cease from threatening sovereign nations like Iran and North Korea, and finally that it lift the Cuban embargo and stop trying to force its will on the rest of the world!

Happy Columbus Day I think: he (looking for trade routes) and got lost, is kind of responsible for starting all of this, isn't he?

North Korea Has Rights: America Has Wrongs!

It would be a dereliction of duty for Kim Yon Il not to prepare to defend North Korea…

… given the ongoing and impending threats by the U.S.A., and America’s incessant interference, in lieu of the United Nations, in the internal affairs of that sovereign nation. If I were the President, Prime Minister or Head of State of any nation on earth right now including N. Korea, I would take President Bush’s advice. President Bush said last year that anytime a nation is being threatened by another nation, that nation has the right to defend itself.

Of course he was speaking about Israel at the time, I am sure that he was not suggesting the same for nations like North Korean, Iran and obviously the advice was too late for Iraq. And keep in mind thatalthough Iraq had not tested any nuclear weapons, President Bush took it upon himself to invade and occupy Iraq while pretending to defend America against a nation that he had not threatened the U.S.A. in any way. An impeachable offense? A High crime by Mr. Bush?

And why would I prepare to defend my nation, even if it meant acquiring nuclear weapons, I would do so for the following reason?

I. There is an aggressor rogue nation in the world that it s guilty of the following

• Without pretext, illegally invading and subsequently occupying the once sovereign nation of Iraq after sitting up a puppet government while the nation was being occupied by America troops.
• Occupying the once sovereign nation of Afghanistan, after sitting up a puppet government during a military occupation.
• Occupying two nations against the will of the majority of their citizens.
• Unilaterally withdrawing from a long-standing weapons treaty with Russia.
• Invading and occupying Iraq, in violation of the United Nations Charter.
• The hypocrisy of America continuing to develop nuclear weapons itself, while sitting atop one of the larger nuclear arsenals in the world, minus Russia's arsenal.
• Being a nation that refuses to sign the non-militarization of Space treaty.
• A nation that has more spy satellites operating in space, minus Russia, than all of the nations of the world combined, and a nation that is daily spying on practically every other nation on the earth.
• A nation that insists on forcing its design upon the world.
• A nation that has embargoed a nation just South of it for over 40 years in hopes of breaking that nation’s will and forcing it comply with the will of the United States
• A nation that harbors terrorists, who have attacked the nation of Cuba and its people on more than one occasion.
• A nation that has been openly threatening two other sovereign nations of the world, N. Korea and Iraq while showing how hostile it can be as it currently occupying two other nations.
• A nation that has sought and is seeking to destabilize states in the Baltics region, and is interfering in elections in states in that region and around the world.
• A nation that simply does not respect different styles of governance other than its own, or when a type of government that it pretends to eschew, serves its its political purposes.

So taking President Bush’s ubiquitous advice, I would recommend that both N. Korea and Iraq prepare to defend themselves, just as Bush told Israel to do; and they should do so by any means necessary! Keep in mind that the nation that is threatening North Korea is the only nation in history that has used nuclear weapons against any other nation on earth.

II. The nation I preside over is a sovereign nation and we have the right to self-determination and a right to defend ourselves and to pursue our interests without outside interference and from any outside aggressor nation.

Besides, the hypocritical American double-standard is wrong and always has been. No other nation on the planet, right now, represents more of a threat to other nations, people and their right to self-determination than the United States of America.

Call the Rev a leftist, or consider that perhaps the Rev is simply telling the truth. Folks, we have got to get control of our leaders and fascist American policies and to remove the double-standards and set America on a course to live peaceably and justly, just as America expects any other nation to do, in this 21st century world! Either right is right for everyone, including the United States, or all other nations are equally justified in living by American style double-standards!

If we are going to pretend to be a civil or Christian nation, does anyone believe that it is time that we started being civil or Christ-like?

Jesus Was Not A Fascist: Where Christians Are Going Wrong

Elegy to Bush and The Christian Right and other Christians who are being misled!

Where Christians are going wrong:

If you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, seemingly you would do things in the manner that Christ did them. And Christ, during his time on earth, steered clear of the politicians and the political establishment of his day. Even the manner of Christ's birth was done in such a way as to steer clear of politicians and the political establishment of his day. Even from Christ's birth to his death a clear and visible separation was always kept between Christ and the political establishment.

Clearly, Christ was intent on keeping the two entities separate. He taught his disciples to render to the government what was the government's, taxes and all; but otherwise they were to stand clear, for the motives of Christ and the government, diverged. Even Christ referred to King Herod, the-head-of-state as, 'that fox'.

And on another occasion Jesus warned his disciples who wanted to call fire from heaven (similar to America's bombing missions today in Iran and Iraq) and burn up people, that the use of such methods that were aapparently available to Jesus were simply not his preferred choice, in order to deal with possible opposition.

Next, even in terms of dealing with the prototype of the Christian church today, The Temple and Order of priests at Jerusalem and elsewhere, Christ upon leaving the earth instructed his disciples to avoid them and to go elsewhere (to an remote upper room), in order to receive what Heaven was to send back to the earth (which was the beginning of Christ's government-on-earth).

Why, their high priests had also fallen completely in bed with the political establishment and were therefore, hopelessly, contaminated? They took on a killing theme, and joined in with the government in order to have Christ put to death.

So forgive the Rev, but how in hell has the Christian church of today, led by icons like Falwell, Dobsen, Robertson, LeHay, Parsley and others fallen so completely in bed with the fascist portion of America's political establishment? Why are they practising a form of fascism that Jesus avoided? Why has the church failed to seek God for answers, as opposed to attempting to solve their problems through by jumping in bed with corrupt and many times salacious politcians, and using politcal force and the politcal machinery to accomplish their purposes.

Have they given up on God? Folks, when Jesus walked the earth, he never forced his will on people, he did not even 'out', 'castigate' or 'torment' the homosexuals of his time, the favorite whipping boys of today's fascist church in deference to all of the evil that many of their leaders and accomplices are actually doing themselves! Have they rebuked or openly chastised Bush and his boys for lies, murder and malfeasance, or are they still cheerily going along and swallowing 'the camel' as they 'strain' at the gnats?

Remembering the words of the prophet Isaiah, who once spoke for God saying, "your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts". In other words, even the manner by which religious people go about doing things, including the pursuit of a preservation of values agenda, many times are suspect given that Christ, their purported leader resisted similar methodologies.

Clearly a segment of the church in America has sold out, and many of the rest are being co-opted by church leaders who are clearly in bed with politicians and the political establishment. Their methods are not consistent with the message of Christ and therefore they are not divinely motivated. Pat Robertson even wants to kill people, like Hugo Chavez, what spirit is Pat of? Certainly, Jesus while on the cross never expressed a desire to kill those of a political establishment who were overseeing his death that was insisted upon by the Jews! Who are these guys, really?

The result of following misguided leadership has resulted in a segment of the American church that is being led by the Pied-Piper Religious Right leadership who are (clearly based on Christian scriptures) not joined to Christ themselves; or perhaps they also have been seduced away from their own biblical teachings and are apostate!

I lament the fact that portions of the church in America have lost their way. Clearly the wheels have come off and instead of a life-saving church, we have a seemingly killing-faction in the church who are just as eager to destroy the so-called infidels on the other side as they are interested in saving only certain parts of the human population on this side of the globe. And worse yet they are teaching their parishioners that it's okay to murder innocent people. Folks, for anyone to do so is inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus and his manner of life. Jesus came to 'give his life not to take lives even misguided lives away!

Therefore churches should not join in with the government to sanction or support the savaging of innocent victims around the world who have been caught up into the cross hairs, or who have simply been written off by the misguided Christian Right in America. Were you aware that many church leaders in America, a short-time ago, rejected the Road Map to Peace in Palestine? Oops, I thought Jesus was, the Prince of Peace.

I would encourage Christians to remember the words of Jesus when he reminded the well-intentioned Peter on one occasion that his well-intentioned conclusions were actually motivated by 'Satan', and that he did not know the spirit that was really motivating him.

Again, Jesus was never in bed with politicians, he even referred to Herod as, 'that fox'; and he never once told or sent his disciples to get in bed with the political establishment to resolve any of the problems of their day. So, who really has the confused American church rank and file members, that are being bulldozed by various 'wedge issues' by a combination of the religious and political Right, been misled by (in order to carry out the 'Right's' nefarious, subtle, deadly and world compromising schemes), I ask you?

For Jesus was not a fascist, he gave people choices, even the right to choose not to go along or to believe in what he said or did!

And if you are in bed with either of the killer religious or political right, you need to consider getting out and helping to get America out of Afghanistan and Iraq!

And by the way, you stop criticizing the so-called Islamo-fascists, the Christian-facists are not any better or much different!

President Bush Should Cut and Run from Lying To The American Public

And Americans you would think would be more concerned about the innocent people who are being slaughtered as a result of America's actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, than their precious Tax-Cuts!

That is my concern given the previous election held in 2004. Many Americans made no bones about the fact that they were concerned more about 'tax cuts' and the increase in their 'stock portfolios' than the toll that was being taken on human lives all around the world. Whether or not human beings were being massacred, imprisoned or maimed was of very little consequence to many Americans; death had become a non-sequitur for many Americans.

In fact, one misguided American, who was among the ones that had assigned a whole new meaning to military killing, stated emphatically that we had to do what we did in Iraq (as an extension of what occurred in America on 9/11), to 'show them that you do not mess with the United State of America'. He was a bit more honest than most Americans by saying that if you kill one Muslim, the rest of them will get the message; he was okay with the military killing any Muslim.

I am afraid that many on the Right have been debauched and corrupted by the confusing self-serving and twisted messages that they have been receiving from both politician and cleric on the Right. Some might even argue that the two professions, politician and cleric, have always been one and the same and that they have never been at odds with each other, and I would agree that in some instances that was true.

I am not sure that being an American in deference to being human or civil matters anymore to Americans, given that Americans are more interested in protecting their possessions and by whatever means necessary! The late Ronald Reagan gave something back to America that made me very skeptical during the Reagan years, and many Americans still celebrate his legacy today. However, in my mind what this patron saint gave America was a false sense of pride. Reagan turned the hearts of many Americans from the politics of the Great Society, which ensued mostly during LBJ's, administration.

Instead, Reagan soothed the consciences of Americans and taught them that they must 'no longer feel any guilt', about America's historical past or the shortcomings. And Reagan also taught them that using and flexing America's military might (in deference to those individual human lives that would be destroyed), was something to be proud of and a source of nationalistic pride. The minds of many Americans on the Right, in my view, are still warped as a result of Reagan's doings and undoings! They will argue that using his methods, similar to Truman dropping bombs on the Japanese savs and saved lives. They always overlook the lives that were destroyed.

The Reagan minded citizens that Bush inherited four and six years ago are 'intractable and unapproachable, they are intent on completing the Reagan, "We Are the World/Don't Tread on Us", mission.

I interpreted Reagan's message as being one and the same with Cain's response to El, when he said, 'I am not my brother's keeper', and in other words his problems, whether I had anything to do with them or not (and perhaps I did or didn't), are his to deal with. Shortly after that, and in order to mollify their critics, we heard about the 'compassionate Conservative', and the sizeable numbers of Reagan Democrats who were in the Democratic Party. And what was the message of the compassionate Republican, and the Republicans in Democratic Party garb? Syndicated Columnist Bob Novak said it best: A man is drowning forty feet off-shore and the compassionate Republicans response would be to toss him a fifteen foot rope. The compassionate Republican mythology assumes that every person should know how to swim, well at least 25 feet!

And what lessons have been learned since the Reagan years leading right up to the Bush fiascos, that are currently taking place around the world? It would appear that many Americans are still convinced that tax-cuts and whether or not their taxes will be raised if those pesky Democrats get back in office, is more important than anything else. Many of the same Americans appear to be too intellectually lazy or just plain old greedy to concern themselves with the estimated one-hundred thousand lives that have been lost, and many more are still many lost, since Bush picked up the Reagan mantle in assuming the office of President of the United States. Many Americans have lost their nobility, and many who claim to be Christians, are probably of the type that Jesus proclaimed that in that day he will say, 'I never knew you and depart from me'. Perhaps the Islamists and Jews will fair better.

'Bush should Cut and Run, from lying to the American People, and murdering innocent men, women, boys and girls around the world!

The Existential Exit Strategy: It's Time To Get Out!

America Cannot Fix The Colossal Messes That George Bush and His Administration Have Made in Both Afghanistan and Iraq: Some other nation, the indigenous people or an international organization will likely have to repair this colossal mess, that is if it will ever be repairable!

We don't have to wonder any longer whether or not the Bush Administration misled the American people with regard to its motives for taking America into the Iraq War, or about the lies and misrepresentations that were given to the American public in order to justify the war...WE KNOW THE TRUTH!

And we do not have to speculate any longer, whether or not both Iraq and Afghanistan are both out-of-control messes, or whether or not the current Administration in Washington has any idea of what to do to resolve either of the messes that were created by the same incumbent Administration.

And last, we know that whether we remain illegally in Iraq or Afghanistan (as America flexes its muscles and attempts to force its will on either nation), either way we will be leaving behind two colossal messes. Again, even if we were to remain in either nation, nothing will change given the 'arguably' irresponsible, shortsighted, incapable, self-serving, self-justifying and rush-to-war leadership that is currently leading this country.

The questions are whether or not beyond America's justification for its actions in both nations, was either mission truly 'justified', and whether by staying any longer, in either nation, will anything ever be resolved? And depending on the answer, what should America do now? My Answer is that we should come up with the 'BATNA', the best alternative; and in my mind the best alternative to our misguided policies that are not working anyway, is as follows:

1. We must change leadership now. Given the outright malfeasance and perjury by the current Administration in terms of lying to the American Public, the Congress and the American people should immediately move to not only remove Mr. Rumsfield from being Secretary of Defense, but Mr. Bush and all of the members of his Administration should also be removed from office.

On what grounds should they be removed, the egregious violations of their oath(s) of office, and misuse of the American military (in violation of American and International Law)? A 'no confidence' vote should be sufficient in order to get the ball rolling. These folks have created one heck of a mess. And whether we subsequently try to punish them or not in the future, or whether or not we elevate them to 'knighthood' status, as we did with Reagan following his contempt of Congress and misleading of the American people during Contragate, it doesn't matter to me? Theessential thing is these people must go, and they must go immediately, and America must move, along with the help of the entire world, to repair and solve the problems that were created by this Administration in two former sovereign nations of the world.

2. America moves to replace the members of the Executive Branch and all of the Cabinet Heads who participated in this scandal with new and qualified leadership who will uphold their oaths while in office, and take America into a completely different direction with respect to both countries and the rest of the world.

We cannot afford to wait until the 2008 elections to take place; too much damage has been and is currently being done already, and imagine how much more damage will have been done by the year 2008!

3. America must immediately change its foreign policy direction in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and review its foreign policy positions that are in place with regard to America toward the rest of the world. And the newly installed Administration must immediately pursue/implement the new policy direction, its objective being to immediately begin working with the International Community to repair the damage that has been and is being done in both countries, Iraq and Afghanistan (given the illegal American presence in both countries), by America.

And America will begin to immediately withdraw its troops from both nations. (With respect to Iraq, I understand that there is a paramilitary force of over 300,000, compared to approximately 140,000 American troops). Do the math 300,000 in a nation with a population that is less than 30,000,000, should be able to do the job? Their numbers are higher than the Americans.

So, allow the Government of Iraq along with its 300,000 Iraqi's, to step up and take over and to determine their own destiny. There is nothing more that America can do in Iraq, but create more mayhem, or destroy more lives? With regard to Afghanistan, allow the International Community to take over and to ameliorate the problems that we contributed to in Afghanistan. Will some other foreign governments attempt to benefit, yes, just as America did!

4. New Legislation must be immediately passed in Congress that will close all of the loopholes in our laws, the latter will assure Americans that mistakes like the ones that were made by this Administration, which resulted in America's destruction of two sovereign nations without cause, (neither nation attacked us), will never be duplicated by 'an administration gone wild' in the future.

Whatever it takes to change course, intervention by the Justice Department, a no-Confidence Vote, or an unprecedented election or seizure of the Government by the Courts to immediately investigate and bring down this current Government and replace it with something better; something must be immediately done!

P.S. And please, toss out America's version of Baghdad Bob, Tony Snow, along with the rest!