Letters

Fab Sandwich: Homosexuality Hits Crit Mass

Fab Sandwich: Homosexuality Hits Crit Mass

SCOTUS redefined marriage as an indication of homosexuality hitting the critical mass stage. It is now a fad. “Coming out of the closet” is no longer “brave” and has lost all of its counter-culture flair. Now, it’s the way to “be like everyone else”. The “fashionable homosexual” will never seem more attractive than he does now… never before, never after. Once something becomes too popular, it loses steam.

The number of open homosexuals will increase. That part won’t fade. But the flair, the pizzazz, the rapture and excitement of scandal—these will be lost for those who jumped in the game too late. Some of it will continue to go up, for a while. The momentum is still there, but the steam is gone.

Soon, closet homosexuals, formerly “fat slob phobes”, will join the movement. Then, once homosexuality is the new normal, the fat slobs will take over that as well. Understanding this requires an understanding of history: Men weren’t fat slobs because they were straight; they were fat slobs because that was the lazy thing to do.

Once the party is over, the new fashion will be eligible “metro” bachelors—these are straight men who have the fashion and cultural brilliance of the “Fab Five” image, and who don’t bash homosexuals. That will be the trend in the coming years. It hasn’t started yet, of course. But when it starts, it will last a long time because it will never hit critical mass. Staying in shape and having children is nearly impossible, too impossible for the masses to ever accept. That’s why many are called and few are chosen.

None of that is opinion, it’s an attempt at a prediction. As for my opinion…

I don’t hate homosexuals. I put myself in the metro category. I am rather disgusted with the in-yer-face, lazy fat-old-fathers the Boomers gave us. They were always disgusting, even in their 20’s. They didn’t listen to their parents and they didn’t listen to their children—and they certainly don’t listen to their wives. The homosexual fashion movement is giving those failed fathers a run for their money.

Would I love it if fathers changed and started to listen for the first time? Yeah. I’d also love it if China would focus on cleaning up their own country before annexing others. I’d love it if Russia would stop acting like a fool just because it’s angry that Obama can’t make other countries like him. And I’d love it if Churchianity would drop dead and resurrect Jesus. I’d love a lot of things. But, I don’t intend to intervene. I’m grabbing my popcorn because I know how this story ends: the metros on top, the phobes on bottom, and the fabs in the middle.

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Letters

The Battle of Sterling Hill

No weapon formed against me shall prosper“No weapon against me shall prosper.” That’s apparently “undisciplined” in the minds of some. Paintings of naked ladies on WWII fighters and bombers aren’t “undisciplined”. But if you have confidence that weapons won’t stop you, then the US Marines object.

Do the Marines’ brass want weapons to prosper against the US military? If not, then what is going on in the brass against Monifa Sterling?

Ultimately, this problem comes down to two factors, either one being sufficient to legitimize Sterling’s case. Order in the ranks includes a “nation under God”. Respect for the Bible comes atop all of those orders in the ranks. Presidents, Justices, and elected officials are sworn into office with a Bible. As long as “one nation under God” remains in writing and oaths of office use God’s Word, all military commands must respect that Word. It’s a matter of consistent policy. If the Bible and God didn’t have this, the argument would not be as strong.  · · · →

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Letters

Mistrust of Police is Everyone’s Problem

The mistrust of law enforcement appears to be at an all time high. But how did we get here and how do we fix it? My police friends and co-workers clearly do not accept blame and most do not even see it as a problem. Most of these men and woman see themselves as being on the right side of a two sided fight.

On one side, you have the police, the good, the moral, the just. On the other side, you have the bad, the criminal, the law breaker. Unfortunately, for most officers there is no in-between, you are either with us or against us. This brings a very adversarial tone to the job for many officers and that tone is often resented by the public.

For me, the people I serve with aren’t bad people. Often, they make great neighbors, are loving parents who grew up to make their own parents proud. These men and woman want to do a good job. Most live clean cut lives and have high moral codes.

The problem is not the officers. The problem is systematic. In my department of thirty, nearly every officer comes from the same background. We are white males, raised in rural Michigan by middle class parents. The people we serve are mostly white middle class, but not everyone is in the same demographic. We also have a very large class of poverty stricken people, as well as Hispanics, Blacks and some GLBT.

The mistrust is great among minority groups and it’s not unreasonable. Like many people, the officers I work with have preconceived beliefs and even fears of other groups that they are unfamiliar with. As police, unfortunately, we deal with people on their worst days, who struggle more than average. Our cultural bias and societal prejudices are further confirmed with each dealing we have with people who fit the stereotypes we already have.

Like so many in society, most police aren’t aware of their own prejudice or even the fact they have racist tendencies. How would they know? Many officers have little to no life experience with people outside their demographic.

A year or two at the local community college and a sixteen week police academy does not come close to preparing one for dealing with the culturally sensitive situations that we find ourselves in as police officers. When I went through the police academy, we had four hours of diversity training. Despite, the efforts of the presenters, it was quite obvious to me, that many of my fellow classmates found this topic a waste of time and something that the left wing members of society were jamming down our throats.

What should have been beneficial to these young cadets was actually treated as a waste of time. So what should we do as a society? For starters, leaders in law enforcement need to push for yearly diversity and sensitivity training.

Over my tenure as an officer, I have had hundreds of hours on how to shoot a gun and a total of 0 minutes on coming to terms and recognizing my own bias. Education in law enforcement has to redirected, firearms training is good and needed, but so is training in how to treat others and communicate with others outside of our demographic.

Lastly, and most importantly, we need prayer. Pray for your local department. These people desire to do good and want to keep you safe. Many police have the best intentions. A little extra education would make us all proud and help bring respect back to a respectable profession.

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Letters

From a Law Enforcement Officer

In my department, I can honestly say that excessive force is almost never a problem.

I do think I have some interesting perspectives being a follower of Christ and a LEO. Often, I feel that those two things too collide. Christianity’s principles of forgiveness, love and redemption seem to be in stark contrast to what I’m asked to do on a nightly basis.Most often my remedy for a situation is consequence and judgement, that’s what police do, but too often I’m left feeling that I’ve added to the problem instead of helping it.

All the jail and condemnation in the world doesn’t deal with the sin that has caused this person to come to a place where law enforcement intervenes. What I have discovered over the years is that everything boils down to sin that has been nurtured and allowed to flourish.

Feelings of pride, guilt, fear, anger and bitterness is what ultimately has people doing the types of acts that require law enforcement action. What bothers me the most, is the real reasons behind the actions aren’t dealt with. Festering sin has brought these people to me, they need hope and love not jail.

At the end of the night, I tell myself that maybe that trip to jail is exactly what they needed or maybe hitting rock bottom will cause them to seek Jesus. Sometimes that is the case and those are the stories I love to hear.

Sadly, the success stories are rare, way more often I will deal with same person over and over again. There has to be a better way.

The main problem in LE is that were mostly all broken fallible people. Many of us become angry and bitter. We deal with people in their worst moments and its easy to start looking at people as garbage. The majority of my coworkers don’t know Jesus. They live and judge by societies standards.

In my department, I can honestly say that excessive force is almost never a problem. The feeling of superiority over the community we serve is a big problem. Most officers can’t seem to understand that the sin in their lives is no different than the sin in the guy they just arrested. Just because my sin doesn’t land me in jail doesn’t make it better. The majority of the guys are well meaning but they are so very judgmental and the way they communicate with people that they feel below them is sometimes disheartening.

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Letters

Nature vs Rut

Nature vs Rut

Clubs and tests tend to offer “success by permission”. Progress within institutional structure is bestowed, not earned. It isn’t always accurate and invites cronyism.

Getting out into the real world is another thing. Like farming, nothing real comes without real work. There’s no cheating on life’s test.

Hunting is also similar. The strong prey on the weak. And weak lions don’t survive.

Zoos don’t raise strong lions. Institutions can’t raise champions. Common core can’t train tomorrow’s leaders in school or Church. Centralized Christian fellowship has a glass ceiling on knowing Jesus and each other.

Establishments can help, until they interfere.

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Letters

2014 Protests in Asia

Fake Protest in Hong KongI was in Hong Kong a few weeks before the Umbrella Movement broke out. And I made a prediction: The protests would change nothing, China would do nothing, there would be a lot of noise, then it would fizzle out and the 2017 elections would go forward as planned. It looks like I was right.

I don’t agree or disagree with this, it was merely a prediction. Now, what do I think about the “democracy” protests in Taiwan and Hong Kong…

I think countries need to deal with their own problems. America is running dry on money because they prop up democracies all over the world, rather then giving people the freedom to pursue their own dreams. All this so-called “help” that America “gives [with obligation]” cripples nations like an over-protective mother smothering her children from being able to stand on their own.

No one helped America run their own country.  · · · →

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Letters

Congress’ Role in Fergusson: A Relook at Government

Congress’ Role in Fergusson: A Relook at Government

The problem in Ferguson, Missouri didn’t begin with the decision of a grand jury. Nor did it begin the summer Michael Brown was shot by the police. It didn’t begin with left over anger from a neighborhood watch leader killing Trayvon Martin. It didn’t begin with the LA riots after the beating of Rodney King. It didn’t begin with Democrats or Republicans. It didn’t start with President Obama or President Bush.

No, Ferguson’s problems began in the same place that America’s Immigration problem began: Congress.

America’s most recent fascination has been with the Constitution. It’s too bad that the Builder’s generation didn’t have that fascination. Renaissance usually follows crisis, which usually follows prosperity followed by disrespect of the up and coming generation. But being fascinated with the Constitution isn’t enough. We are closer to a national recovery, but still far from it.

Even in our rediscovery of the Constitution, few people have examined “responsibility”. Instead, almost all Constitutional-focused talks have been about “rights”… Second Amendment rights, Executive rights, State governments’ rights, Federal rights… No one talks about responsibility. If Constitutional responsibility had been on America’s mind the last 50 years, the problems in Ferguson and Immigration might not even exist.

Rather than discussing Constitutional responsibility in general, I want to focus on two main issues: Article IV and Amendment II. These two areas obligate Congress, which has utterly failed in its duty.

The Second Amendment is not merely about a right to carry weapons. This “right” is based on the responsibility of the standing militia described in Article I, Sec. 8, Clauses 15 and 16. Congress is supposed to make standards for States to follow to train and regulate a standing militia.

Some have claimed that the militia is the National Guard. It’s not. While States have some influence over the National Guard, a militia is made of all adult men of able body and mind. In our modern day, this means that “militia training” should happen about the same time as driver’s education and should be required before a man can vote. It should be a class in high school that everyone can take and pass. Women and men with learning disabilities should be able to pass the high school “Militia” class, but would not be obligated to serve.

The Second Amendment is not only about a right to carry a weapon, but about Congress’ responsibility to tell the States how to train all people how to use weapons, how to cooperate with local authorities, and how to be the eyes, ears, and hands that keep the local peace.

If the United States had fulfilled the Constitutional mandate to train a militia—made of all able-bodied young men, not just a volunteer service like the National Guard, and not a private militia like the Culpepper Minutemen—then many things would be different in the country. For starters, deporting people who entered  illegally would already have millions of enforcers at almost zero cost. Reducing that cost, alone, could have made sensible Immigration enforcement more feasible and Congress would have had fewer excuses for delay.

In Ferguson, riots might never have happened. Not only would the city be filled with more than enough trained, able-body peace keepers, more importantly, having finished their “Militia” high school class, there might be fewer people who even want to riot in the first place.

Providing the system for training the militia is not the only responsibility that Congress has shirked. Article I, Sec. 8 and Article IV require that the Federal government take action to prevent insurrection and invasion. If Congress can’t meet, it’s up to the President. Congress has been able to meet, they have simply refused. Can we really blame the President? Should we even praise the President if he takes action that Congress refused?

Honest or not, hiding an agenda or being fully open, President Obama’s Executive action concerning Immigration was necessary to prevent the Federal government from defaulting on their Constitutional mandate in Articles I & IV. No one should have praised him. No one should have scolded him. Everyone should have demanded that Congress face the music. But instead, everyone’s excited about the President, one way or another.

Arguably, one reason that Congress did not act comes from the bipolar politics. Whether in business, family, religion, or government, Americans tend to take a “my way or the highway” approach to solving every problem. It hasn’t worked.

Part of the idea of a Constitutional Federation is that different States and Counties can do things differently. Rather than trying to force our policies on the entire nation, and rather than trying to compromise on exactly what policy should be forced on the entire nation, we should follow the flexible approach that I outline in The People’s Party, another free eBook. It’s widely available and I won’t elaborate on that here.

So, what happened in Ferguson? Was there some racial prejudice involved? We wouldn’t be Human if there wasn’t. But that wasn’t the big problem. Accidental police shootings, police corruption, favoritism of the police by juries—these have been a swelling problem all over our nation.

Fortunately, most police in our day are still good. But that majority isn’t as large as it was when the Builders were more fascinated with their accomplishments than they were with their responsibility to teach their children about the Constitution. If something isn’t done soon, honest police officers will soon be in the minority, like many other countries.

Mentioning police abuse is always an explosive topic. Some overreact and attack police in general. Others filibuster the concern for police ethics and only talk about how wonderful the good police are. Few people ever focus on getting the few bad apples out in order to save the bushel. Few people said peep about the “few bad apples” with Ferguson. As a result, silence unscabbed our old racial wounds—Blacks either looted or scolded each other for looting, Whites shot their noses in the air and said, “I just don’t understand [why Blacks would be angry enough to riot, even with our 400 year history of 350 years of legalized racism],” some of the smarter White guys even said, “Understanding doesn’t change anything.” Who talked about saving the bushel from the few bad apples?

While everyone had a point, the “bad apples” police issue took the back seat when it should have been front and center. And if Congress had fulfilled their responsibility to train the militia, the police issue might have been fronted and centered. Then, Michael Brown might even be alive today.

What would have been different if we had a high school Militia class, even fifty years ago? First, there would be fewer police because every man 18 and older would be an armed peace enforcer. The police probably wouldn’t have been where they were at the time Michael was where he was. Whoever robbed that convenience store either would have been too afraid to rob it in the first place or he wouldn’t have been able to get away if he did. Michael would have known how the police operate because he would have been trained to cooperate with them and what to do if they tried to stop him. If the police were as corrupt as some seem to think they were, then the militia might have been able to save Michael’s life.

After the verdict from the grand jury, when riots were more than predictable, where was law enforcement? The police protected their own buildings, why didn’t they protect the buildings of local merchants? Were the police selfish? Were the police stretched too thin? Why didn’t the State send in the National Guard? None of these questions could be asked if there was a standing, State-regulated, all-able-men militia as the Constitution requires of Congress.

So, it wasn’t White ignorance that killed Michael Brown, though with all the White guys reacting with, “I just don’t understand,” White ignorance has certainly been admitted to. While Black stereotypes are difficult to refute with the Ferguson riots, those stereotypes didn’t kill Michael Brown. While we all need to know and understand each other more, understanding the rioters doesn’t mean we should agree with them any more than understanding why police kill people means that those people aren’t dead. While we need to address the small, but growing problem with police being given too much license to shoot and keep their careers, bad police work didn’t kill Michael Brown. No, Michael Brown was killed by the same irresponsible culprit that killed Immigration: Congress killed Michael Brown.

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Letters

Blessed Weeds

The Journal

PlantainJess Smith wrote a great article about Plantain. Though it’s a weed almost everyone has hated, it’s been a gift from God, sitting under our noses—and our houses, lawn mowers, and weed killers—for hundreds of years. It cures, it heals, it draws… Read Jess’ short article.

I’m still amazed how many gifts God gives us that we try to reject. And it takes a lot of work to be a full-time “rejector”.

Dandy lions are also healthy. How many of those have fallen victim to “healthy weed genocide” from Scotts® EcoSense® Weed B Gon®? Not to disrespect weed killers. Just sayin’, maybe we don’t need to kill all of the weeds.

Not everything that grows without the lawn-keeper’s permission is bad.

God surrounds us with countless blessings that we overlook every day. We complain about the inconveniences, the injuries, and the injustices. Bad things happen—and that raises questions that have already been answered and perhaps need to be answered again. But good things also happen, even though we don’t see them all—good things that we rarely recognize. And they are all around us. How many other “miracle weeds” will we discover in the years to come?

PlantainIt reminds me of a short story one of my Theology professors told. He compared God’s many blessings to the grassy fields of his farming days. As a boy, he slaved with his brothers to prepare a healthy pasture for the cows. When his father was pleased, the boys would open the barn and let the cows run out into the field of tall grass for the first time. They did this year after year.

And, year after year, one cow in particular always despised the farmers’ hard work and ran right through the grass, all the way to the fence, and started chewing on some nasty shrub poking through from the other side. It was typical “green grass syndrome”—the belief that the grass on the other side of the fence has more chlorophyll. That cow never appreciated all the work her farming family did for her.

Reading about Plaintain was a huge lesson in gratitude for me. It was a fantastic reminder and an eye-opener about how much work God does for us that we snub on a daily basis.

Or maybe my professor got his story confused…

PlantainMaybe it wasn’t the cow that was ungrateful, but the farmers. Maybe the cow knew something the farmers didn’t. Maybe the cow was trying to tell my professor something: where the healthy food was. Maybe she was chewing on a spot of Plaintain poking through the fence, which was much healthier than any tame grazing grass in that so-called “perfect” field.

Maybe the bigger lesson is that organized, pasteurized, “perfectionized”, institutionalized religion isn’t healthy for us. Maybe it’s best to get spiritual food in Christ without the herbicides and without controlling every blade of grass that springs up in the Body of Christ. And maybe Christians who are branded as “ingrates with green grass syndrome” really have found something that is healthier, even though it sprung up without the “pasture-keeper’s” permission.

Thanks, Jess, for a great article on weeds.

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Letters

‘Chrislam’ and the Real Dilemma of Israel

‘Chrislam’ and the Real Dilemma of Israel

It’s about Israel… It’s not about Christology, which Muslims may have an easy time accepting. It’s not about rhetoric; call God “Allah” if that’s your language; call yourself a “Messianic Muslim” if that’s how you see it.

Preaching the gospel to Muslims is about whether the truth of Christ has penetrated the Muslim heart to the point where they allow Israel to live somewhere—in some form or another, one way or another, in peace and mutual freedom.

Even Sunnis want Israel to have no home, to pack their bags and go back to whatever suitcase they were living out of in 1948. Their idea is comparable to the Americans who wanted to send slaves back to Africa. “Peaceful” Muslims start-out talking about “brothers” and “all the children of Abraham”, but they end by including Ishmael and Esau, while excluding Jacob. Overcoming this heart-issue, to love one’s neighbor, to forgive any offense from the past just as Christ forgave us, and to be thy brother’s keeper—this is the litmus test of whether a Muslim has converted to Christ.

Unfortunately, Western Churchianity critics make no distinction between the two gospel messages to Muslims. There is the “Messianic Muslim” evangelism message, along with the distinct “most Muslims go to heaven” message. These two very different messages get lumped into the same venomous, name-calling category labeled “Chrislam”.

These critics in the Western Church don’t attempt to educate Christians on the difference between the watered-down gospel Muslim message vs the “Messianic Muslim” concept of a former Muslim who finally accepts the deity, incarnation, and sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. Instead, these Church leaders merely slam other opinions, with little or no face-to-face discussion, bringing discord and anger based in ignorance under the guise of “protection”, as is pathetically typical of Western Churchianity’s Denominationalism. The term “Chrislam” only stirs hate and doesn’t instruct or help anyone. Shame on every Christian teacher who has used it as if it means anything else.

But, far worse than this, there is little or no report, neither from any of the evangelists to Muslims—of either of the two Muslim outreach gospels—nor from any of the “Chrislam” critics in the West nor from the “Chrislam” supporters—little or no comment from anyone about the importance of Israel. The question of whether a Muslim can be a Christian is not a theological question. There are Messianic Jews, there can be Messianic Muslims who know that “all truth is God’s truth” as Thomas Aquinas taught us, who keep the good and learn the best from Jesus Christ.

No, the question of whether evangelism to Muslims is effective is whether it can fulfill the promise of the last verse of the Old Testament. The spirit of Elijah turns the hearts of the fathers to the sons and the hearts of the sons to the fathers. The evangelist who can convince the children of Ishmael and Esau to love the children of Jacob, based on the work of Jesus Christ—he is a true messenger of Jesus.

Unfortunately for the world, and to continue the snowballing discredit of Western Churchianity, no one in the “Chrislam” debate has brought up Israel as the defining question. Therein lies the deeper heart issue of the American Church: Of course Denominationalism and slap-back, knee-jerk retorts indicate hatred. But moreover, there is Israel.

American Christians will go to war for peace in Israel, but do they think to go to the gospel of the Prince of Peace? With superstitious terms like “Chrislam” floating around, apparently not. This indicates passive Antisemitism from American Christians. Where’s the true love for Israel in the American Church? It’s hard to forget about those you truly love, especially when it matters most. And with Israel’s blood relatives, it matters most.

It’s difficult to pluck the speck when you haven’t plucked the log first. America’s Church has tolerated the scandal of disunity for centuries, which is centuries too long. Reconciling Ishmael and Esau to Jacob isn’t on the agenda of American Denominationalism.

If we want peace in Israel, we need peace in America first. Christians need to pluck the log, then we can convince Muslims to love their brothers. Peacemakers do a much greater miracle in Christ by bringing parted brothers together than even Moses’ miracle to deliver Israel by parting the Red Sea.

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Israel: The New Power in Southeast Asia

Israel: The New Power in Southeast Asia (mp3)

Few disguised blessings are less disguised than Israel. One article uses a map to explain the strength that one small country has against Statist Islam. Israel is all that stands between the West and the Middle East, the East and the Middle East, the North and the Middle East, and the South and the Middle East—and Israel is right in the middle.

taiwan-israelLooking at modern geography, it’s no wonder God chose Israel and no question what God chose Israel for. I don’t think even the thick-skulled Americans could stand against such opposition with such a small plot of land. Israel was chosen to protect the world, and for good reason.

There is a similar country in the Pacific: Taiwan. It’s about double the size of Israel and has the second-most dense population in the world—including the mountains that occupy 3/4 of its land! China hates this small island almost as much as Statist Islam hates Israel. Beijing has shown the world how afraid Communism is of one, small, free people by aiming 2,000 missiles at the island. Were it not for this island, those missiles might have pointed toward Vietnam and Milan and launched years ago. But they didn’t because of one small island.

The two have lot in common, Israel and Taiwan. But they haven’t known much about each other, at least until recently. Taiwan has been in Western news more and more as of late. This week, the Hamas attack on Israel made headlines in Taiwan.

If Taiwan and Israel learn about each other—if the world learns about their similar and complex relationship to the United States and the West—both the Communists and the Islam Statists will see their problems quadrupled. In battle, one should never let the enemy know what one fears. But that is what Beijing and Islam have done. The worst thing for Beijing and Islam is that their two, small, powerful enemies become friends. And that is also starting to happen. Why?

One week ago, Hamas attacked Israel. Online Gamers might call Israel a “tank”. All the surrounding enemies can blast it as much as they want, yet Israel sustains little to no damage. Hamas didn’t help their cause. They simply woke up Taiwan. Their attack against Israel, this week, is another blessing—a little more disguised, but not by much.

As an artistic, trivial side note, the people of Taiwan and Israel have another thing in common: They don’t like the symbols on their flags. It is also interesting that the sunburst symbol has a history with Israel, with reference to Egypt where they were enslaved 400 years. And, Israel’s converging triangles have thousands of years in history with Eastern religions and appear all over East Asia, including Taiwan. So, that’s another thing the two have in common: they dislike their symbols on their flags and each of them has a history with the other’s symbol. Maybe they’d be happy to swap… Whatever.

Of all the news in East Asia, Israeli news in Taiwan is the most significant. It doesn’t suggest any military alliance, though it’s foreseeable. It doesn’t suggest any change in US or Western policy, though it’s foreseeable. It doesn’t suggest that Beijing or Islam will get any smarter, though that’s quite not foreseeable. But it does tell us that the people are learning about each other. Knowledge has a longer reach than rockets and friendship is stronger than missile defense. The people are learning. That means peace, which is bad news for those powerful nations who have targeted two of the smallest nations in the world.

To follow the trend visit the Facebook Page, Taiwan for Israel or the WordPress blog, TaiwanForIsrael.WordPress.com.

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Why I’m a Churchless Christian

Many Christians are like trees surviving in a greenhouse rather than thriving in the jungle.  They fear the sun and real outdoors, even though plants are healthier and happier in the sun. Transplanting from the greenhouse to the jungle is not easy. It requires two things:

1. Take initiative: one needs heavy doses of self-motivation,assuming personal responsibility, walking with Jesus rather than riding a pastor’s back as he walks with Jesus, and not expecting to be spoon fed every Sunday morning.

2. Learning crisis: time and a transitional season of hardship are normal.

Every improvement has a short period where productivity dips. When you begin to use newer, better software, you get less done while you are learning. Afterward, however, you are much more effective because 1. your tools are better and 2. you know more and have more skill. This transitional period is often called a “learning crisis”.

Leaving the comfort/lazy zone of being spoon-fed every Sunday morning causes a “learning crisis”. A learning crisis is an indication that things are good, but one must continue to take initiative for the learning crisis to lead to success, prosperity, and victory.

There are five lies about this learning crisis that keep Christians weak and dependent on the system of weekly Churchianity:

Lie 1. All hardship indicates bad choices: There is a false teaching floating around Christian circles about this. Christians believe that winter is a. not beneficial and b. can and should be avoided by obeying God. In the Health-Wealth community, this means always being healthy and having money and being happy every day. The Evangelical community does not apply this to money and health, but will tend to apply it to emotions. Almost all Christians who attend Sunday morning “spoon-feeding sessions” apply this anti-winter myth to the lie to the “greenhouse crutch” of Sunday morning. They claim that, if you have hardship, it indicates that you need more Churchianity. But they never mention that almost everyone has hardship, whether they attend Sunday morning or not. The truth is that winter makes tree roots grow deep. Half of a tree’s annual growth takes place during the winter. That growth is not always apparent because the tree has no leaves during the winter. But this growth makes the tree strong so the leaves can withstand the pleasant winds of summer.

Lie 2. We must protect ourselves from Christians who fail: This is the idea that Christians who make bad decisions should be “avoided” and “we should protect our children from them” rather than forgiving and embracing them. If we view ourselves as constantly weak and “always about to be the victim” then we will remain weak victims. The truth is, if we view ourselves as the solution to helping other people through informal Christian fellowship, then we will help others solve their problems.

Lie 3. A crutch does not cause weakness: If a child never tries to stand up and walk without a stroller, then he will never learn to walk. Leaving the spoon-feeding sessions of Sunday morning is like leaving the stroller to learn to walk. While “Churchianity” attendees understand that we can’t learn to ride a bike if we don’t drop the training wheels, they believe that this truth does not apply to Sunday morning. The truth remains, however, that weekly spoon-feeding is a crutch that keeps Christians weak. Then, Christians don’t take personal responsibility for not growing in Christ, but blame their lack of growth on “not getting enough spoon-feeding and entertainment” on Sunday morning. “Excessive help” is crippling. It is possible to “help” someone to death. This is, arguably, the approach of over-sympathetic voices in left-wing American politics.

Lie 4. If someone won’t take personal initiative, it is better to give him a crutch: This is the idea that it is best for mother to “help too much” and smother her children, rather than letting children benefit from the strength of failure. “If my kids won’t learn,” she thinks, “then I will wear myself out, develop a Messiah Complex, pretend to be an ‘Omnipresent Mom’, and bestow success upon my children. Then, when my children fail as ‘momma’s boy adults’, I will deny that my excessive ‘help’ caused this problem and encourage them shift the blame when they always run to me for sympathy.” While some Christians understand the problem of this line of parental thinking, others refuse to accept that they think this way or that it is a problem if they do. The proportions of how many parents do this change from culture to culture and city to city. But nearly all Sunday morning spoon-feeding attendees apply this lie to the expected conduct of “mother church”. These Churchianity attendees believe the lie that, “Since most people don’t take initiative, it is better to have them spoon-fed on Sunday morning and at central-pastor-planned Bible studies during the week. And, we will not view this ‘spoon-feeding’ in our eyes and we will keep making excuses for ourselves and for those who lack personal motivation for why ‘it’s not their fault’ and blame all Christian failures on lack of Sunday morning spoon-feeding participation.”

Lie 5. It is a great crime not to spoon feed someone who refuses to feed himself: The irony of the thinking of Lies 4 and 5 is that most of these Christians vote Republican, based on the idea that personal initiative and failure is good for the economy, but then they can’t apply the same principle to the “smothering mother church” of Sunday morning co-dependency. There are two truths about this. First, the greater crime is people don’t take personal responsibility; the lesser crime is to refuse to spoon feed a blame-shifter—if it is a crime at all. It is not better to allow someone to limp on when it would be better for him to experience the consequences of his greater crime of being a wanderer without personal responsibility. Second, it is more likely that someone will take responsibility if he does not receive too much help from “nannies” like the Sunday morning Christian spoon-fed faith & entertainment.

Personally, I left the Churchianity Sunday morning spoon-feeding dog and pony entertainment show because, in that environment, it was impossible to gain strength in Jesus while leaders were constantly filibustering my fellowship with the Lord. That situation enabled a hostile takeover of my schedule and my time was better spent studying the Bible, praying, sharing the gospel with people who have no exposure to Jesus, and encouraging the laundry list of Christians who are spoon-fed while their greatest challenges remain yet to be overcome. As I have prayed more, studied the Bible more, and engaged people more, my heart has grown bigger and bigger. All of the failures that were said to happen by leaving Sunday morning proved false. I have more informal Christian fellowship, which is much more meaningful for all of us, than the formal meetings offered, concerning both time and quality. Across the board, by every standard of measure, leaving “official, tax-registered, spoon-fed” Churchianity was the best decision I ever made for my growth in Jesus.

So, that brings us to the question: Why am I a “Churchless Christian”?

In one sense, “Churchless Christian” is a passive-aggressive label that power mongers like to slap on success stories like my own. It’s an attempt at character martyrdom. Something more literal happened to Lazarus when the Pharisees had a plot to kill him because they didn’t want proof that Jesus’ resurrection power did not require their religious bondage. Just the same, Jesus resurrected my walk with Him and I didn’t need the religious bondage of brittle, rigid, lifeless systems. So, they’ll call me a “Churchless Christian” in a retaliatory attempt to assassinate my character and reputation. What they don’t realize is that, to those of us who are more concerned with fruit than with useless activities, some are best known by their enemies. Calling me a “Churchless Christian” is a badge of honor in the eyes of the millions of Christians who have also suffered under their useless and heavy chains of weekly attendance. And, martyrs have eternal power from the grave over the establishments that assassinate them. I welcome the label.

In another sense, I am looking for a Christian fellowship that is dedicated to informal pursuit of Jesus. I’m looking for a group of Christians who reject factions and terms like “denominations”. I’m looking for a group of Christians who truly have the truth in their hears, that there is ONLY ONE Body of Christ and that “Church” is not something that can be “left” or “changed” or “attended”—you don’t “attend” your foot, do you? I’m looking for a group of Christians who don’t play power games, who don’t try to fashion leaverage over others. I’m looking for a group of Christians who take personal initiative in their devotional time and Christian service, who encourage the discouraged. I’m looking for a group of Christians whom, to this point, I have not yet found.

Most every Christian I meet can’t talk about Jesus without precious fellowship time parroting the dogma of Sunday morning spoon-feeding co-dependency sessions. They are so busy talking about the need to be dependent on others that they can’t their time with Jesus gains no depth in love, forgiveness, and confidence in Christ.

I love Christians who “attend”. Many of them are my friends. But I’ll never fit in to their organizational structures. One of the many pastor-friends, who battled with me for reasons that remains known only to him, finally made peace: We can smile at each other on the street. We’re less likely to have conflict there. And I’m okay with that. Good things happen in his weekly organization. Does he spoon-feed? Yeah. I’m okay with that too. It’s not that I want to interrupt other Christians who want to be spoon fed. I’d just like permission to eat how I choose.

So, whether in the slanderous or literal sense, I humbly accept the badge of honor and openly acknowledge myself as a “Churchless Christian”. Maybe I am too self-motivated. Maybe the Church isn’t ready to leave the greenhouse. But I am. Maybe my habits could create problems. If it’s all the same, I’m happy standing on the street, smiling as we pass each other. Maybe, one day, there will be no greenhouse. If that day ever comes, I’ll be in the jungle, waiting to help with the painful transition.

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Waiting for My Bride: The 96th Thesis

I’m waiting for a bride. Many people don’t understand because many people don’t understand “waiting”. People divorce almost as fast as they marry—especially in the Church—the same Church for which Martin Luther wrote 95 Theses, as did I.

“So, Jesse, do you have a girlfriend… or something?” …or something? I’d get that question a lot when I was younger, mostly from Christians. I tried my whole life to follow one of Jesus’ teachings from Matthew 19:12… Some are eunuchs by birth, some are made so by men, others choose not to marry for the sake of the Kingdom. Why would one want to become a eunuch, though? Why did Jesus teach about “becoming a eunuch” as if this would somehow help a kingdom? The answer might come from history.

Eunuchs are not as common in our modern world as they were in the days of kings and castles. They served in the presence of many kings. A eunuch advised Esther on how to become queen—and it worked. That eunuch knew how to play “the game” of power in the palace. Not everyone could read in the ancient world, but eunuchs often did. Philip preached the gospel, in Acts 8, to a eunuch who was an important official in Ethiopia and educated enough to be reading Isaiah.

It is not my intention to be crass, but the three topics of Jesus’ teaching, eunuchs, and asking if someone has a girlfriend relates to a very important topic in human history: penises—the reason that humanity survives.

By not having a penis, nobody understands what a eunuch wants. Jesus taught similar ideas, that lacking something can give you strength—to turn the other cheek, to carry something for the second mile, to give your tunic when someone demands your cloak. By not having something, a person gains great power. Power in governing a kingdom is no different.

Which kingdom do you serve? And what does each person want? These questions are addressed by my 96th Thesis: What do the Church, the Antichrist, and Jesus each want? We know what Jesus and the Antichrist want. But, right now, the Church seems to be voting “Undecided”.

It’s all about the power game. Like it or not, Jesus and Solomon were good at playing it and both taught on it. Most Christians don’t understand the power game. Most Christians like to think that they are “above” the power game—which is, itself, a way of playing the power game. Nonetheless, Jesus gave good advice concerning power games—to not only be as innocent as doves, but as cunning as serpents.

Here is the 96th Thesis: The clerical system is the red carpet rolled out, preparing the way for the Antichrist.

It is not my intent to be shocking, but it all makes sense with some basic reflection on the power game and the nature of the Antichrist. Why do you think the Antichrist will be so capable of deceiving so many? Maybe he won’t have a penis. Or maybe he will look like a pastor. Hitler had both the public image of a celibate and the public support of Germany’s Church, in addition to being an A-student. In pre-WWII Germany, Hitler had the perfect public image that America has of a pastor and, at least in Germany, he maintained that image through much of the war.

Jesus said that, in the last days, even the elect would be deceived, if possible, which means that so-called “Christians” who don’t know their Bibles all that well will loudly hail the Antichrist as “Jesus”. Statistically, this will likely many church-goers. But how could that be possible? How could a dominant portion of church-attenders hail the Antichrist as “Jesus”? That is my 96th Thesis: The clerical system is the red carpet rolled out, preparing the way for the Antichrist.

If you’ve read the prerequisite, 95 Theses of the Clerical System, then you already understand that the “job description” of a professional, trained, clerical, “pastor”, in the modern-traditional sense, is found nowhere in the Bible. And you’d also understand that, while there are many problems with the clerical system, the problem is mainly with the system, not the people.

Pastor’s love people and lead them tenderly, teaching with the gentleness of a shepherd. But, anyone can do that without seminary and without being employed by an elder board or congregation or denomination. The word “pastor” rightly appears in English translations of Ephesians 4:11, but that doesn’t give Christians the right to invent our own meaning, that a “true, valid pastor” leads a non-profit corporation with a tax ID number, an address, and a weekly Christian meeting that almost always conflicts with similar meetings of other local Christians and “pastors”.

I won’t rehash the entire 95 Theses of the Clerical System here, to respect those who already read it. It’s sufficient to reflect on the issues presented, that God did give “pastors” to the Church, but He did not mandate an extra-Biblical bureaucracy for Christian fellowship—and such a bureaucracy is exactly what the clerical system can’t not be.

It is neither fair nor Biblical to require that every Christian participate in large-scale meetings with rigid schedules. Taking initiative to have fellowship with a few other self-motivated Christians is far more beneficial. Organizations, no matter how small, may be corrupt. All are to some extent. God may direct some Christians to participate in corrupt organizations while He may not give such grace to other Christians.

Think about the power of “prayer in the wilderness”. Jesus prayed in the wilderness 40 days—did Jesus attend “church” during that time? Moses was in the wilderness 40 years, growing close to the Lord and learning to lead in the small things. Joseph was in am Egyptian dungeon 12 years based on false accusations. Many Christian leaders would condemn Joseph for being alone with Pottifer’s wife in the first place, saying the dungeon was God’s judgement on Joseph rather than the perfect “wilderness training” experience. Actually, time alone prepares us for the Lord’s work later in life. Paul spent 14 years in solitude to pray. Was Paul in error for not “attending somewhere” for this? The answer depends on who you ask.

The unbiblical demand that all Christians participate in organized, monitored, non-wilderness Churchianity every week, without exception, is persecution against preparation. This imperialistic institutionalism discriminates against obedient Christians who follow Jesus into the wilderness for seasons of quiet preparation. Of course, the devil does not want God’s people to have the benefit of growth in Christ that comes from those seasons of solitude. So, the devil orchestrates Churchianity to oppress and cast out the beneficial wilderness to keep the Church unprepared, weak, stumbling, and prevent us from having spiritual victory.

Following in the same footsteps, no one will mandate public participation in religion more than the Antichrist. Let’s consider some of the similarities between clergy and the Antichrist—which make the clerical job of “pastor” different from the “shepherd” that Paul refers to in Ephesians 4.

Both will make church-going and bureaucracy inseparable.

Both will accuse anyone and everyone of so-called “rebellion” if they don’t assign a physical address, such as a “church building”, to their “religious fellowship”.

Both will take meticulous “attendance” records, which the Bible never demands or even suggests for the Church to do.

Both will ordain and define valid participation in the Church.

Both will maintain a public image of perfection, which easily operates as a shroud for the many kinds of abuse in religious systems as have been known for for the past 1,500 years.

Both will demand that Christians engage in fellowship that can be tracked on paper, which, intentionally or not, allows easy access to lists with names of Christians to be collected in databases, and those lists taken years later for rounding-up Christians for the slaughter. The same was done in Germany with forcing Jews to register and identify themselves so, then the time came, they could all be rounded up quickly.

There are many other similarities between the clerical system and the greater work of the Antichrist. Most professional pastors are well-intended, honest, God-fearing, loving, wise, but overworked and under appreciated. Those good leaders are not the cause of problems in the Body of Christ. They aren’t even the cause of their own problems. The system, not the people trapped in it, is the problem.

Unintended by most clergy and most Christians, participation in the weekly “church” culture, signing the attendance book, and listening through the long monologue every Sunday morning is dangerous. It conditions people to do the same for the Antichrist and gives him a list of names and addresses, through which he be able to will kill God’s people more swiftly than Hitler killed 2 million Jews.

This poses a problem: If weekly Churchianity isn’t the Bible’s plan, then how should Christians have fellowship?

And that’s just the thing: The clerical system is “easy”. If you participate in it, you don’t have to think, just “obey the pastor”. The easy road is broad, many find it, just like sheep going to the slaughter. Few ever manage to escape from it and find the narrow path. The narrow path is safer because it’s not easy. Dogma is easy, especially when we don’t call it “dogma”.

Through the clerical system, we’re allowed to think that a sinful man is perfect, let him tell us who our Christian friends should be so no one can question us, blame all our problems on him, and lynch him when we “discover” that he’s a sinner who bleeds like the rest of us—and feeling better in the process. Through this system, we punch the card every week, think that attendance makes “obedient” to God, get mutual admiration from the mutual admiration society every Sunday morning, get spoon fed so-called “Biblical teaching” without having to work to understand the Bible, and any time we have a problem, just ask the pastor. See, that’s easy.

Compare it to cleaning the bathroom shower. I once asked my aunt how she cleans her shower. “Elbow grease,” she said. Some cleaning solution may be helpful to dissolve residue, allowing your sponge, brush, or scouring pad to last longer. But, “elbow grease” is the secret solution to the success of any cleaning product. “Elbow grease” makes for a clean bathroom.

And “elbow grease” is what any Christian needs to grow in Christ, without being dependent on the “clean it all” crutch of the clerical system.

That’s the most harmful thing about the clerical system—dependence causes dystrophy. It’s hard to learn to walk if you never leave the baby walker. Falling down helps us learn. And needing to strive makes us strong enough to not only “walk” with the Lord, but to “run” in the path of His commands—His commands, not someone else’s.

Just like elbow grease cleans the bathroom, personal initiative is the secret to strong growth in Christ. Not being dependent on the same weekly meeting, it takes constant effort to meet with other Christians. As for me, I talk with lots of Christians as often as I can. Not being spoon fed Bible lessons every week, it takes purpose and intent to study the Bible. So, I study the Bible a lot more than I did under the clerical system. Leaving clerical Churchianity created a “crisis” in my life, causing me to whip out the “elbow grease”, take responsibility, and my friendship with Jesus has never been better.

What “church” do I go to? Well, let me tell you about my church…

It’s really big. The architecture is fashionable. The ceiling is blue most days, dark at night. Sometimes it is lit up with billions of small lights for vigil. The chandelier moves from east to west throughout the day and splotches of white typically move across the blue ceiling. Other times the sprinkler system turns on, enough to water the garden and the animals in it. The service never stops. It has about 8 billion daily attenders. Though most of them aren’t Christian, many of them are “seeking”. My “church” has lots of orphans and widows to whom I can show love. There are lots of imperfect people, including the bossy Christians—God love ‘em—which helps us to practice patience. It has many people whom I can forgive and who forgive me all the more. There is no limit to object lessons from which I can learn more about our perfect pastor. And, the coolest thing about my “church” is that Jesus is my pastor—the best shepherd I ever had. In Jesus’ Church, shall not want.

My aunt was great woman. She knew how to clean and how to cook. She taught me about cleaning bathrooms with elbow grease. She loved horses almost as much as she loved children, but she loved no one as much as she loved Jesus.

I don’t want a woman just like my aunt. But I do want a woman who knows the power of “elbow grease”. I want a woman who studies Hebrew every morning, while I study the Bible in Greek. I want a woman who is beautiful because she chooses to be happy—someone to walk with in the cool of the morning, just like my grandmother and grandfather did every day. I want a women who understands that healthy eating agrees with a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. I want a woman who is respectful, not weak.

This is what I want in a woman. And it seems that this is asking for too much in the minds of many.

Mostly, I want a woman who doesn’t take the easy road in her walk with Christ—who doesn’t depend on an extra-Biblical, bureaucratic system for her growth in the Lord. I want a woman who thrives outside the clerical system and loves Jesus more than anything or anyone else, but who loves other people and isn’t trapped in the small world of faction-fear-based denominationalism.

I’m waiting for my bride. And, frankly speaking, Jesus is also waiting for His. I suppose, for now, He and I will just have to wait together. Is that so bad?

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Vengeance: The Elephant in America’s Living Room

I’m not rehashing the entire Trayvon Martin case. But there are common lessons throughout his story that America shares as a whole, in the home, in foreign policy, and in political Churchianity.

Trayvon and George made very similar mistakes. The difference was that George had a .45 and was eleven years wiser. At any point, George Zimmerman or Trayvon Martin could have acted in self-preservation—early on, rather than waiting until the last possible second. The prosecution made the same mistake: seeking a “murder” verdict, only allowing the more feasible charge of “manslaughter”, again, at the last possible second before the jury deliberated.

If you see a suspicious person, for Heaven and Earth’s sake, don’t go near him!!

George could have stayed in his SUV. He could have chosen not to walk into someone else’s gated community. He could have chosen to run away when he saw Trayvon.

Trayvon could have stayed in the bushes.  · · · →

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Pentagon Pentecostal vs Beijing Baptist

Pentagon Pentecostal vs Beijing Baptist (mp3)

Is unity too much to ask for? President Ma of Taiwan may think so. And I’m starting to agree with him. It’s not that I’m on the same page with Ma’s political policy. But when competing businesses hear their leaders talk about “unity”, certain terms start floating around—conflict of interest, rebellion, disloyalty, treason, heresy… just to name a few.

I grew up believing what I heard on Sunday morning: Love all people. We are united in Christ. Church is not the building, it’s the people inside. Don’t gossip, talk to people directly before talking about them with others. Don’t let money corrupt God’s good work…

But, when I talked to those “other” Christians across the street, well… The math didn’t add up anymore.

Why am I “rebellious” for rubbing shoulders with Christians who meet under different roofs? Why is it so important where I give my tithes and weekly donations if “money” isn’t as important as “God’s work”? If Charismatics are so evil, then shouldn’t the Baptists want to talk to them every week to persuade them to change?

Maybe the stuff I heard growing up was just a front that hides the money racket of denominationalism. Consider how much money there is in fighting alleged “heresy”. Most every denomination believes that most every other denomination has some sort of “false teaching”. The problem is, in all the denominations I’ve gotten to know, I have yet to see two opponents represent each other accurately.

Christians debate without actually knowing each other. It’s as if they have been divided on purpose—and, coincidentally, all the ink spilled in these uninformed, endless debates have proven quite profitable for Christian publishing houses… almost as profitable as the “War on Terror” has proven for FOX News. Isn’t it interesting that FOX owns Zondervan?

War is business. Turf wars in the inner city pivot on narcotic sales as much as segregated Sunday morning profits from weekly donations. It’s all made possible by “fear of the other guys [whom you should never talk to, just trust what your leaders say about them]“.

I still believe what I grew up hearing on Sunday morning. The Bible teaches the same thing—there is one Church, the universal Body, with one shepherd, Jesus. Gossip is foolish and usually gossipers are the most misinformed of all. God’s house tends to become a den of thieves and needs purging every so often. And for this, I’ve been accused of rebellion and heresy. And President Ma has made the same mistake.

His father’s dying wish was for a peaceful unification between Taiwan and China. But if President Ma had only grown up in American Churchianity, he would know that “unity” isn’t possible—it’s just something leaders say to make the people feel good as they continue to fight. Every pastor knows that.

War is a territorial business, whether its American Churchianity or Chinese Communism. Taiwan is a loyal customer of the United States military buying club. China, on the other hand, is in the Russian dealers gang. The “pastors” at “Pentagon Pentecostal” won’t be happy if Parishioner Ma makes too many Sunday morning visits to “Beijing Baptist”. They’ll likely denounce him as a “traitor” and a “heretic” as defined by the “canons” in the “Saint Washington Holy Potomac Diocese”.

“Unity” makes everyone feel good when we say it in speeches—but actually making it happen? Hah! What a silly idea. If Baptists and Pentecostals became friends or if Beijing and Taiwan united, it would hurt business.

President Ma shouldn’t take it personally. None of us should. It’s strictly business. Christians should easily understand. The Mafia does—they love to go to church. Drug dealers are some of the most loyal parishioners, the best dressed, well-mannered, and the biggest donors.

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