Some Thoughts On Hell

  Lately, a kind of three legged philosophy of conduct has been recurring in my noggin. If you have any interest in that, read on!
  Our lives, our conduct, our priorities and other fine things are a source of mystification to ourselves. For instance, "personality tests" are to reveal who we actually are. Uhm, we don't already know? People go to counselors to sort out their mixed up emotion and try to work through the inner conflicts of their lives. We do things, but often don't know why?
  As an unpaid observor of humankind, I have frequently wondered what makes people tick. Often enough also (just as frequently) I have given up on the effort. We are a mystery to ourselves, and I (for one) find that very interesting indeed.
  If you are chronic reader of these C.P.E.s then I believe the basic idea for this one is examined somewhat in "The Big Whoosh". We upon encountering any given decision point, have three access routes to consider it by. Ought, want and shall are the three. Ask yourself, what is the right thing to do, what would I like to do, and what (in fact) will occur? Heaven and hell are much closer than we thought!
  Occasionally a preacher or teacher will talk some about heaven. I do not recall ever hearing a solid sermon on the topic myself, but (surely?) something along these lines must exist. After all, heaven is a pleasant subject to think over. But, as for hell, I cannot even recall the last time it was mentioned in public, church or otherwise. Who wants to think of that horror? So, as a strategy, we just don't mention it. My point here in this essay of the crazy pants kind, is to redirect our thinking somewhat, and along the lines of the aforementioned three.
  So, whatever we might expect from a minister of gospel, it is not lurid details of the hell of fire. If it is even mentioned (highly unlikely) at all, the place is usually linked to "ought". That is to say, the moral failing, the violation of law righteousness is a positive penalty incurred by the soul. Hell in this sense is a kind of prison for spiritual felons, so to speak. Better to let sleeping dogs lie!
  There is then an uneasy truce somewhere around here. As I see it, if hell is a kind of dump (on fire!) for souls, and we view those there as moral failures, those who went wrong at "ought", we get what we have, mainly silence. This is because heaven is also full of moral failures, and to insist upon  the ought as the method into that darkness "accidentally" places the concept of merit at the opposite extreme. But clearly, heaven is not the place where righteous men go, for there are none!
  Well, there is One.
  Instead, if we think along the lines of desire, of the want-to, then a different picture emerges. Hell, based upon desire, or more modernly spoken, built upon addiction, is an entirely different viewpoint. Crucial to a redirected view of hell then, is what was truly wanted. This way of seeing produces the remarkable conclusion that people go to hell because they prefer it!
  And as outlandish as that seems, if desire of the heart is known, then the heart treasures some things above others. We all make estimates of what is worth what, and of the many; which is most valuable. You cannot be a human and not do so. The heart desires . . . because, . . .  because of something we find powerful, something that carries us, something which fascinates.
  For just a moment, join me in a thought experiment, will you? What do you desire? Think of something (or someone I suppose) and then ask; "Why do I want that person or thing?". As an example; I almost immediately thought of fresh fruit in the summertime. I next thought of the muffled world of newly fallen snow at night, deep in winter. I thought of the roaring wind in my face, of solid sleep, and joyful times spent with the family. The things we desire are good. This is basic and central to our grasp of hell.
  Here is an illustration, money can be a good thing, and it can also be a horrible trap. When the man inside begins to treasure treasure above (let's say) people, or decency, or truthfulness, then what was good has become, to him a good in and of itself. If he does not turn away and rethink things prior to death, he is in a very bad position. Simply enough, beyond death you have the desire, but the thing desired has passed away! Being left with a hunger, a lust-for, left with a desire, for a thing which no longer can be fulfilled, is the place of torment. Hunger is a sign of a lack, but if the thing itself disappears, and the hunger remains, what then?
  I recall a hike in the mountains years ago. It was a hot day, and being the "tough guy" that I am, I brought no water. After about five or seven hours I was really really interested in a drink of water! Finally, along the pathway I could hear the distinct tinkle of water running, a little stream, and very nearby! I can still recall the whimpering and panting noises I was making as I descended the scree. So close, and yet so far. Next, it was in sight and I still couldn't reach it! Filled with frustration, anger and a disgust with myself for being weak, I finally got there. And let me tell you, slurping up that cold mountain water was one marvelously good drink; and that's for certain.
  Hell is like that, minus the water.
  Water is a good thing of itself, but insofar as that is true, the wet stuff is a whisper, a mild mannered hint of the Real Drink. It, along with everything else in existence is a pointer, an echo, a line drawing of the real deal. Hell is the place for those who "settle for" a reward way too soon, confusing the sign for the destination.
  Back when I was young and ignorant (I am much older now) I loved a big old motorcycle. Flying down the road, feeling the power and acceleration, wow; what a rush! But, to finally settle for that (as the best thing ever), is aiming far too low. You see? The roar of the wind, the focus ahead of you, the landscape zipping by as you continue to build speed, this too, a whisper of another (and much better!) sprint. If the desire in me for movement toward the loved exists, and also the body is no longer able, then that beloved becomes a torment. But such pain is never the fault of the loved thing. And so, for me to desire what has passed away, yields being left, ever alone; with desire ever unfilled.
  The hellishness of wanting a drink very very badly, and no water existing, the desire to see a vista in the daylight, and there is no seeing for there is no light, hell is the place of unfulfillable want. Those left alone in their desires cannot in that day any longer be rewired, they have ceased (by choice) learning. It is the permanency of having finally chosen (badly). To reject Food in favor of of food, to reject True Drink in favor of mere water, is to finally have no choice but to testify; "I chose badly".
  The hellishness of hell is that it is entirely unnecessary (not to mention foolish) to so choose, and to ever and ever be very aware of this! But recall that I am a Calvinist after all, have we just now endorsed "freewill"? Absolutely not!
  "We are saved by grace through faith, and that (the faith I mean) is the gift of God, so that no man may boast". Faith is the gift. Life is the gift. Grace is the gift. Christ (Himself) is the gift. His truth in scripture is the gift. Hope is the gift. Forgiveness and reconciliation with Him is the gift. It turns out that everything is the gift! But hear me please! This is precisely the problem of hell.
  All of these marvels of kindness and good intent toward our kind are good, no; they are really good!. . . but never and never The One True Good (Himself!).
  When discussing this with teenagers, I usually go this route. Gather all the gold, rubies, diamonds and platinum of earth. Oh heck forget that, gather all the wealth of all the worlds of all the galaxies and make a heap. All known treasure in one pile, which would you rather have, it; or this homeless hillbilly who thinks He's God? Choose one.
  In ourselves, of ourselves; and by ourselves we simply cannot pass up the treasure, and hell is built right here!
  That is hell, for truly; all is passing away! The Homeless Hillbilly is the Inventor of the stuff. By His word power, the platinum shines and exists. Of His authority, the rubies were fashioned and continue to shine. Therefore, He is "logically" of infinitely greater value. He is The Reward (in Person!), He (Himself) is the Treasure, He is our true Goal and Destination. You see? We are not trying "to get to" heaven, we are being drawn to Him, and heaven is thrown in as a door prize!
  Just here, in the prayer we say "lead us not into temptation". The temptation is to make this basic and unnecessary error of choosing the symbol over the Reality which the sign symbolizes; which (unaided) we simply must make! To ever know this, to evermore be certain of having made the final bad choice, this is hell. For those left alone in the dark, only desire remains.
  The folly of preaching is that those stirred by the announced Word, call for assistance. Their most holy of all prayers runs; "HELP!!". He hears. I testify with clear conscience today, He hears.
  What makes heaven so blasted heavenly . . . is that He is there! And furthermore, the promise and oath are that He shall ever tabernacle among us. Heaven has come down to us, and The Lord of heaven (and earth) lifts!
  Our helplessness, and the fact that we hate His guts for no good reason, are to be serious alarm bells ringing within. They signal, that there is something dreadfully wrong in me, and that it cannot be repaired by me. The impetus then is for us to shout to Him across that vast gulf for assistance.
  We call Him by Name; "I Am . . . salvation!". The Bridgebuilder hears, I swear it true.

Everything Is Gonna Be Alright

  You know, like I know that the cultural wheels of western civilization appear to be getting awfully wobbly. Scandals and lies, murder and deceit fill the news. We cannot appear to go a single week without some new ethical or moral low being hit. It doesn't seem to be the ways things ought be. People are angered, there is frustration over the constant slide into shame. They want (very badly!) to know what can be done to arrest this decline. From here, the wind appears to be blowing the wrong direction.
  Over in You Tube land, a guy could get lost attempting to follow out all of the dire and dreadful conspiracies, predictions and doom upon the horizon. Does anyone go fishing anymore? Do families ever take walks by waterways and admire the birds these days? The shape of the narrative is one of bluster, hurry and ever new crisis.
  In my opinion, we keep on forgetting that an "emergency" is the sequence in which something or someone emerges. That which emerges is a "baby", and has a life before it, but if it lives do we? The cyber digital universe of instant access is emerging. World wide rabid Islam is emerging. A possible one world government or at minimum a world currency is busy being born. These (among others) are the babies in question. But when they grow, will we have a life? Will there be room for human exploration? Will there be any smiles looking at old photos together? Will that world allow for square dance? I am well aware that this sounds incoherent, but trust me for a moment that this is being done on purpose.
  Normally if where we live is an ugly house, we run from it as soon as possible. We find a place we like better as soon as we are able. Yet, the new and coming-ugly we are to embrace? Who says so? The hurry and paranoia, the anger and frustration of the new era which we can already taste, is but a small hint of what is coming. Yet we continue to build it? Why construct that particular monstrosity anyhow?
  They say that gamblers simply cannot help themselves and even if he is aware that the past-time is ruining the family, destroying a marriage and building an unpayable debt, still he continues! That gambler is us. We are constructing a very large and quite hideous thing which none of us individually desires, and corporately we cannot cease putting together. What is inside us is manifesting out here in real time history, and from the heart; the issues of life proceed.
  Today, there is still a beauty in rivers running, and this afternoon, the lonely cry of the hawk still thrills the soul. That fierce light down in the eyes of tigers remains a marvel. Not every single thing is futility and chaos, we know this quite well. But the future garbage dump with which we are just now consumed, which nobody individually desires; we cannot-not build!
  We are aware, deep in us; that there simply must be more to life than what we have so far known. The sad tales of addictions to just about anything we could name simply disgusts us, and yet and yet. This firey call down in us must find the home forgotten. Somewhere meaning must fit the key into the lock. Elsewise life is nothing.
  What I assert here is; as the empire of the west falters, the killing of decency, and the murder of innocence is happening precisely because we cannot imagine living without "that missing something". And (politically speaking) anything which gets in the way of finding that "missing thing" is to be overthrown. We cannot help ourselves, let that sink in!
  See, with the disaster back at Eden, we ourselves plus our world have been twisted badly out of shape. We are compelled to do "the right thing" and simultaneously unable to identify it. We love good projects, and cannot define good. The conflicts, arguments and then wars which arise are (truly enough) sinful, but the disease in us is a kind of "excessive righteousness"! We must and we must. We remain both unable and unwilling, and yet we must! We are a race of junkies looking for our next fix of "right", unable to detect the wrong mixed in to the batch.
  Now our standard stratagem for dealing with addiction is to damp down the desire, not to inflame it. We recommend stability and peace inside. Never is it even imagined to increase the roar and the rush, the excitement we crave. That is, directionally speaking, we thereby infer that our basic error regarding desire is that it is a too strong version within us. It ought (morally) be quelled. So strategy-wise, a fire burning too brightly we deprive of oxygen. My observation is that; it never occurs to us to build a fusion engine rather than a coal burner. It doesn't cross our minds to increase desire. And this seems peculiar to me.
  With the constant disappointment of "heroes" who are publicly displayed as deeply flawed, we quell and damp down our expectations of human nature. We simply quit believing in anyone at all (so to avoid further heartbreak). To be let down (again) by those of clay feet, is painful! But just here, why is it not on the plate to find (instead) a furiously reliable, an unshakably true champion? We move out of houses we dislike. But no, we'd rather dismiss the category, and trudge on, congratulating ourselves for "growing up".
  One of the babies just now emerging is a future national (and perhaps global!) bankruptcy. We know this, and are also quite aware that our "leaders" are lying like crazy about this debt bomb. This causes an uncertainty of the future, a dread of further change, and strangest of all a disconnect! We just quit listening to the bad news. Uhm, not to appear hypercritical here, but wouldn't it be better to transfer "funds" to He Who Is Treasure? I mean if the world really is in a death spiral, wouldn't it make sense to head toward the only life boat? Deep within us, is the hope of better days coming, and a trust that everything is going to be alright. Build here! To a dying world surely this seems unrealistic, childish even.
  Are we thereby to join them in a jaded and prematurely dark outlook? Do we align with considering such to be the "adult" option? We remain unable to shed the heart knowledge that there simply must be more than eating, drinking, working, copulating and the rest (which we require) from all of those others. The very human belief that life must, and ought; mean something just will not go away. But we cannot agree on the meaning!
  Please do not misunderstand me, I am not in favor of some pollyanna theorm. The "optimists" around me have never seemed very convincing. Reality bites, is is harsh. Things almost never go according to (our) plan. You can fight me (if you'd like) on that, but you will lose.
  No! The knowledge that things are going to be alright does not arise from our efforts, attitudes or dreams. It is very nearly the reverse of those, but in brief it is crashing in from the outside. Lewis said; "Fish do not feel wet" or to that effect. We (if 'evolved') could not know of a world which makes sense, one which is wholesome and glad, for this one never has been! The evidence in us, did not arise from us.
  Here's an example. Work with me on this okay? The enemy cannot create anything, (much less, give life) but he can build a mockery type of copy. A badly done "duplicate" is the idea. If we begin with the everything will be alright theory, he is forced to try to cobble together some horror show or another, along with demonic energies and our old nature to build it. But such is guaranteed to be yet a lower , darker and far worse version than the present state of things. The evidence that we must, and cannot; this is crucial!
  This being said, we could more or less predict that the coming man of sin will be posing as an "outsider" to our fallen world. Will this be an "intelligent machine"? Hey, how about some clown claiming to have arrived from outer space? Beats me as to the details, but build it they must! Our inner addiction to "do the right thing" demands it. And we could thereby predict that the claim of the anti-man will be along the lines of defending earth from a terrible invasion force! It is a good thing to unite, but for enemies to do so, they only agree to a truce in order to fight a worse and mutual foe. Do you see how it works? Build the good (unity) in a shabby and destructive fashion. Our desires plus the works of our hands are the prima facie evidence against us. Yet in fact, everything really will be alright!
  Unity is achieved through both compulsion (fear) and desire. It is simply not enough for the anti-christ to use fear only. The strong desire for a better world, a safe and sane world, and that there is something that we "must do" to achieve it, is (motivationally) basic here.
  The scriptures foretell that the armies of earth are gathered together to war upon the Lamb. This is certain. But, from a human standpoint, makes zero sense in that said Lamb absolutely controls both our lives and our existent being! Power-wise it is an idiotic stunt, with no hope at all of success, and build it they must!
  Our internecine squabbling, our perpetual feuding plus open warfare is all carried out in the desire for peace! Nobody self orients to build what they formally believe to be wicked. Heck; even Satanists believe that what they are doing is the "right thing"! But it is precisely here, at our "rightness" that the evidence against us is strongest!
  We do right to love the right, and do wrong in imagining we are able to even correctly identify it. But we cannot-not do so. If help does not arrive from the outside, then there is no help to be had.
  Help has arrived.
  Since then, we are pre-wired to "do right" then we must (at present) be positionally wrong. There is none who is right, except One. For us to pursue our desire is to technically attempt to rival Him. There is no rival to Him. No congregation, mob or army of all the powers of creation can even begin to rival Him. He controls their power to be, and to live. He decrees the end from the beginning. Our "competition" against Him never did make a bit of sense. It was an idiot errand from the outset. We, framed in the image do (in fact) love the Law, and wish to do right, and also we find ourselves building the very opposite of that; time and time again. But this in itself can never be an argument to lower or dampen desire, especially for the right. With His assistance, this is redirected.
  No longer an impersonal and abstract "rightness" we hunger for, but He-The-Right-One in Person who has revealed Himself. Thereby, desire is inflamed not reduced. Our philosophies, our political theories, our harsh and impersonal "goods"; we abandon them all, so to wildly embrace He-Good. It is an acceleration, a spiritual after-burner, a blast out of the starting blocks. Addiction itself was bearing testimony all along!
  We knew, we just knew! There simply had to be a "something" which would be that roar and a rush, that "thing" which would satisfy deep down. So, we tried drugs, we tried sex, we tried all kinds of things. But the best and brightest of them, indeed the entire package of them combined; were but a faint wisp. They, the dim echo of "something else" that we knew "had to be there", and we would never, ever would or could have admitted that it was the Nazarene all along which we hunger for. At least we never would have without help.
  Help has arrived, and He replaces optimism with hope. We do look forward to a better (and sane!) world. But not one of our doing. The resurrection of King Jesus has changed everything! That new world is already commenced, and we partaking of His Spirit have passed out of death. We are "already" on the other side of Judgement.  Our revived sense that everything will be alright is factual. It is hard cold reality, and it is the certainty to come! The testimony of Jesus Christ, that is the spirit of prophecy says John the Apostle.
  Everything really will be alright, and we are utterly dependant upon His promise for it. He, upon His own honor has sworn it.
  And He is no liar

With Judgement For All

  My friend Brad asked for an essay? I can count on one finger of one hand the number of times that has happened . . .
  There was a group discussion today, and it was one of those rambling types. One thing kinda leads into another, and pretty soon you are all over the map. I love discussions like that! It would be difficult to summarize the give and take fairly, and who wants to be accused of saying that someone "said something", or to be found implying a view in them which just ain't so? Thus, we will leapfrog right over the drifty wandering aspects of the talk and cut right to the chase. . . sort of.
  Hot air balloons were designed to ascend, and race cars were built to accelerate. Though we were built to sprint; often we trudge. There is something disturbing I think in watching a balloon scuff the ground, and drift sideways with the wind. It is supposed to rise, and ride the currents aloft, not bounce and bump along; dragging the load. There is a disconcerting sense of "waste" in me when I see a car designed for 200 plus m.p.h., stumbling along at barely a tenth of that. Likewise, with us.
  When we watch a world class sprinter pull a hamstring or turn an ankle, the wobbly limping, and the hobbling along is heartbreaking to observe. There is so much more he "could have done" if-only, and if-only. The if-onlies of our lives act as an "explanation" of why we were dragging and bumping along, of why we were stuck in first gear and could not locate the gas pedal.
  As an example of this kind of thing, I didn't much care for the movie "Forrest Gump" plot-wise. But, a scene in it has been on serial playback in my brainstem for years. The Gumpster is walking along in some braces for his legs which he has worn since childhood. Some thugs are about to assault him, and his girl shouts, "Run Forrest, Run!".
  He begins predictably enough, by gimping along a bit quicker than usual; and then he begins to speed up. The best part of the entire movie is that he soon (literally!) runs right out of his braces! He begins picking 'em up, and putting them down at a surprising (even to him!) pace, and simply outdistances the bad eggs. And in my mind we have here a great picture of judgement.
  Back in the discussion, we were talking circularly about the topic (judgement I mean), and our basic human default setting in regard to being judged. In brief, although we are forgiven, it remains quite clear that there is a judgement ahead of us. How to reconcile the two?
  If you are not Christian, most of what I am about to say might well sound like so much baloney, so bear with me. I shall attempt to decode the talk back into human-speak as we go along, okay?
  Believers are all the time talking about "holding in tension" two (seemingly) contradictory ideas. Thematically, this pops up pretty frequently. You might hear a key word in this context; which is "balance". I won't wear you out with a laundry list of all the "balances" we ought (morally?) maintain, but a few of these might include Gods' sovereign control of all which comes to pass, compared to human responsibility to do the right thing. That is, since all which comes to pass includes the topic "things I do", how can He hold me responsible for wrong-doing if it was not decreed in the first place that I would do right? Or, how about the continued role of law, versus the free mercy of gospel? If keeping the moral law does not "go away", then I deserve wrath for my lousy attitude and worse execution of the true and good. So, how can God violate His own standards to grant welcome to an admitted traitor and failure? The biggie among the balancing acts is of course faith versus works. If we are freely justified by belief, then to what purpose is the doing of good deeds? How are we to reconcile what appears to be two trains going opposite directions?
  Christian discussions often orbit somewhere right about here, and believers just cannot seem to get enough of this stuff. And in this plumbers' opinion, what we are discussing is an uneasy truce, a kind of shifty sense within our own hearts and minds. We love talking about these (and others too!) because it might be the closest we can get to verbalizing the unease in us concerning coming judgement.
  Now, nobody likes a wise guy, and know-it-alls usually end up reciting their "expertise" mainly to themselves. So, I would prefer to not go there today, thank you very much just the same. Simply said, I don't really know what the best attitude and answers here are. But, we can gather some things out of the wreckage at least.
  The sad feel in us of watching limping sprinters, the pathos of finding the bird with a broken wing, that impulse we have to shout to the balloonist; "Turn On The Burner!", this (in a sense) "is us".
  We know to some extent at least that we are "capable of so much more" than we ordinarily produce. This uneasy tension within us, of looking forward to the day when all secrets are made public, and all motives are plain to see, and every word spoken is now in print, is not exactly a heart-warming source of encouragement . . . to say the very least!
  If you are at all like me, the standard of judgement is pure truth, and absolutely right. And since that is the case, Then "if I am saved" is a far more accurate statement than "since I have been saved". What judgement (as a topic) generates in me is a queasy avoidance response, never, ever is it the motive to turn on the burner, to accelerate beyond the tachometers' red line!
  All that blather and nonsense about us using only ten percent of our brain power, plus all of that "sky is the limit" type of talk is just more evidence against me. It is but the more complete filling out of the list of things I failed at. Do we really require more of that?
  So, getting back to the Gumpster for a moment, by what type of word, through which set of  truths do we ever find the gas pedal?
  The usual ploy is to simply drop the Judge and wax eloquent about the Father. The brainwave here is to really stress that the compassion (for failures like me) of His, the repetition of His forgiveness assertions, and maximization of the "relationship" angle, somehow cancels the Judge. So, the drift develops as "being careful to not be negative". Basically, just ignore all the grisly guck we bear about in us, how's that for a strategy?
  Well, that is probably unfair, but my objection is not so much, the orthodoxy of such an approach in this C.P.E., as it is to note our failure (just here!) that the balloon is still dragging, and even worse than before the "fix"! That is, if our goal was to "unleash", if the aim was to "free-up" the saints for zealous and fiercely glad service, how come we are unable to admit that the cure is worse than the disease?
  With this type of compassion-only drive, the silk has now collapsed to the ground, and the car has completely stalled. Putting our beloved sprinter on the disabled list and rolling him around in a wheelchair is not "progress". And this in my book, (in a sense) is "who we are".
  For years, I thought of this material as a discourse on hats. I say "hats", because to American ears, "crowns" sounds so very undemocratic. I thought this way:
  "Paul the Apostle, what a champion, what a lion-heart for the faith, eh? Gosh, you gotta love that "get 'er done!" ethos, and who doesn't admire the fearless completion of the course? Me, not so much. So, in the resurrection, this Paul guy has this whopper-doodle, hat-zilla thing going on. Picture a seventeen layer wedding cake, with ornaments, and jewels, and Christmas lights festooning it. Add in buzzers, klaxons and live-streamed video flat screens! What a hat! Custom metal-flake paint job, with lots of chrome! The thing is eighteen feet tall, and he is walking around the streets of the new Jerusalem with this eye-popper on his noggin, like nobody's business; for all to see! Me? I've got this dumb beanie, with maybe a plastic propeller lazily swinging around every so often?".
  So, my "hat theology" was to the effect, that; "Yes. we are both saved, and yes we are both present with the Lamb in His glory, but there is saints, and then there is SAINTS! The hat idea was that the glory of actually doing what he was told rather than merely agreeing with it, (like some we could name) shows up! God takes notice. Hat theology was judgement as viewed by "Yours truly".
  Now, although I have never before admitted to anyone what I just now told you, this rewards concept, this big-payday theory was in the back of my mind for at least a couple of decades. And however comical and bizarre it sounds, I (still) think I was basically on the right page. True, it needed editing, and true it was gruesome even by my standards, but the beauty of Gospel, is that judgement is past-tense for those "in" Christ Jesus!
  The flooring of the pedal, the after-burner of the jet, the soaring of the hawk, and the supremely glad sprint of the bride into her Lovers' arms, this is the flavor of reality baby! And what's real is that He ain't backing down on having paid the bride-price!
  One great comment in todays' discussion was that we were built for good works, not for "perfect" works.
  When a little kid does her first drawing of her daddy with crayon, we ain't expecting a masterpiece over here. But Mom proudly displays the art work on the fridge anyhow. When Mrs. Corey, teaching first grade; put her hand on top of mine to "help form a big A" with this king sized pencil, it was my handwriting which was praised! When a dad trots behind his son as the kid wobbles down the road learning the bicycle, it is the kid who rode "all by himself!". This is the aroma of life, the perfume of sanity, and The Father Almighty is "merely" an infinitely better Dad than any other. Judgement isn't about binding, it is about loosing!
  The unease within us, that foot scraping and dodgey eyes drill, that too has been judged, and our Captain does not expect someone who has been comatose for thirty years to start doing handsprings. A flutter of the eyes, a weak hand squeeze says: "He's alive!". And for today, that is good enough! It is okay to be uneasy, it is fine to be afraid, you have never before been on this rocket-bike. But sho-nuf, you are now, and look; "He is riding all by himself"!
  Judgement is the new beginning, it is creation breaking out all over again, and we have been judged as His wildly beloved kiddos. The busting out of the starting blocks, the stomping on the gas pedal, the light springing up into the air to inaugerate flight, it is all past-tense from where we now stand!
  Sure, we are blockheads, sure we are dreadfully slow on the uptake. So what? Progress is progress, growth is growth, and life is the gift given . . . to "the ages of the ages".
  You are safe now! Your Papa Almighty today defends your life, and He (The Dreaded One!) exacts drastic retribution on those unfairly killing you. It is a new loyalty we see, a fidelity to the death, and beyond. Far, far beyond!
  And the fruit of this? I have ceased to care about my dumb beanie. I will wear it gladly. You see? He made it Himself, just for me!
 Swiftly we sprint into the arms of Him loving us with an Almighty love. We are no longer running away, and we "do it all by ourselves"! That's judgement for ya.
  And hey Brad, thanks for asking!

Holy Man

  Wowsers, some C.P.E.s are definitely more trouble to write than others. I think that at least two rough drafts of this thing, plus a couple of false starts, makes this Holy Man essay one of the most difficult I have ever attempted. I do not ordinarily  pay much attention to "writer's block" as an explanation or excuse for why things do not get written; but it certainly seems valid today! Our hectic lives are missing one crucial element, and I keep finding it nearly impossible to discuss.
  We can all agree (I think) that we live in a wild time. It seems that the amount of data, information, rumors, and mindless trivia with which we are hourly and daily bombarded is making the the real into the unreal. It is like an electric charged caffeine buzz, built upon nervous twitch reflex. It is "real" enough, but we forget due to excessive involvement in the mess, that it is a man-made construct. The floating feel, the never ending rounds of input, always spiraling downward and in, it all looks so dire! And like a slot machine junkie, we get so "into" the turning wheels, and the action that we cannot recall the source of it all as we ourselves!
  Along these lines then, can anyone correctly guess where to begin, so to accurately describe America, circa 2015 A.D.? You know what I am talking about, this sense that something very like the collapse of the Roman Empire is being duplicated before our eyes, but in record time! What once took a couple of centuries as far as rot and moral decay goes, to obviously manifest as dire scandals, lies, and double-dealing treachery in ancient history, is being duplicated in weeks or even days before our eyes? Everything culturally American appears to be falling to pieces, pretty much; all at once. And yet, for all the doubt and chaos in evidence, these collapses barely scrape the surface of the sense of things just now.
  The fears of an unknown future, the redefinitions (galore) of what is past, and all this, as part of an unrecognizable present generates a sense of dislocation. It is a kind of dreamy and floating unreality which we here note. Further, all these changes are linked to an inhuman rate of knowledge intake, a regular Niagara of facts, volcanos of quotes and ideas exploding on every side. We gorge upon perspectives, gallop through viewpoints, and exhaust ideals about as rapidly as they can be hatched.
  Very clearly the times, they have a changed, and nearly unrecognizably so. One of the main points to consider is that as things shift away from old norms, they also do so predictably. Any deviant form, any alien ideology, any inhuman misery, all are considered "normal". The short version is that people are nowadays not afraid to claim to have been born homosexual, or that they are in fact "star children" seeded by aliens; or perhaps that they are in contact with some ancient, unruly and invisible power? In our time, to admit being addicted to some chemical, or to have a destructive vice or a perverse love of the dark side, all this blends right in. People are not at all bothered in the least that satanism or witchcraft might be (in this hour) socially "legitimate". Militant atheism in our world barely generates a yawn any longer. So, the wide deviation from the old norms is clear enough, but it is also followed by a severe impossibility, and Ì believe that would be the holy.
  Our era might believe just about any idiotic thing, but the one thing it cannot and will not abide is the idea that what we humans must have more of is "holiness". Now, as a side note to my reader, I promise not to use quote marks again through the remainder of this essay for the word holy. But I did it just the once, to help illustrate how unthinkable, how truly undesired, and unimagined the holy nowadays really is.
  Just listen to what people say; "We need relevance, or we need power!" And let's not forget the needs for education, dignity, a living wage and fairness too, eh? It turns out that we humans have a regular grocery list of all the things which we "need", and those items are the ones which we believe or imagine might make our lives, our culture, our world "better". That list appears to be endless.
  I can, as a plumber however; certainly affirm that I have never once heard another human assert that what we really (and actually) require during this present upheaval is the sacred, what we need is a big dose of the holy. That answer just does not (and predictably so) arise . . . ever.
  And really, I am not even so very certain what the word holy means, except to say it is related to our verb "to cut". So, think of; "To make a separation, to divide", as the idea here; but how or why such would ever arise to the top of the human wish list, in order to make life livable remains unknown, and remains to my knowledge mainly unthought.
  And in this plumbers' opinion, I think holiness has gotten a bum rap. Listen sometime to those Christian shows on T.V. or radio. The holy guys have a regular way of talking. All of the vowels are kinda softened and rounded. Is that a semi-southern accent we detect? The use of the rising inflection? Turns everything into a question? The "indoor" voice is king (queen actually) and holiness becomes a pose, a predictably unruffled outer smiley face gig.
  Part of the pose is a seemingly boundless vault of good advice, mixed with a prudish sort of stance on things "moral". In brief, if that mess is in fact holiness, nobody in their right mind could ever surmise that this is the junk which is what the race requires, ever!
  This radio type of holiness and sanctity tends to posit a rather odd premise. But, nobody really believes it. It proposes a kind of semi-glow-in-the-dark type of looking down upon others. It is an insider's view, a kind of "helpful" and patient enduring of those; the unenlightened and ignorant. In brief it is just another superiority complex. We already have way way too much of that garbage around here. Trust me, it is not more of that which we need. So, we end up with the one thing on Earth which is in dire shortage (holiness) being so wildly misrepresented, and poorly characterized; that nobody could really ever get around to wanting it!
  I don't do well at describing the holy for the same sort of reasons that I usually fail to well describe the real. Uh, the real as opposed to what? And it seems to me there are only two classes of the unreal to consider. There is the consciously unreal, as in the imaginary. And whether we speak of novels or fables, or any fiction worth its' salt, there can be a "private reality" of the mind or heart. Think of the enjoyment of a well told story, the smiles a good movie brings. But, the other unreal is not conscious, and this is our main problem here. In describing unreality of this sort, we have forgotten something crucial. Incidentally, it is also the very same problem in discussing the topic of the unholy!
  For instance; in a dream, you are often too busy, or too involved in the action or the mystery to halt yourself in mid-dream; and remark; "Hey, it doesn't really matter about any solution, since the entire framework of the drama is a fake!". The busy-ness of business as usual helps us forget that the schema, the entire environ in which we are attempting to solve, is one hatched by, and maintained by we ourselves.
  So, if holy corresponds (in this case) to the really real, then it is nearly impossible for me to discuss that reality, with persons deeply involved in their own daily psycho-drama. Is it a work addiction, or money-security fear which seems "realer" than the real to you? Is it girl troubles, or mysterious aches and pains? Whatever it is, while we are in that loop of our own making, the solving-for trumps all other claims.
  Have I lost you? Here is an illustration, go in sometime to a casino, and observe the gamblers as they interact with their machines. They are deeply focused, they ignore all else around them. We observe them mechanically repeating actions over and over. We can clearly see that their reality is a lessor real one than the actual, but they themselves are far too busy to notice such things! These little realities of ours require constant attention, input, and maintenance. These "worlds" are a bit like those folks who "cannot miss" their favorite T.V. show. There is a pattern established, and it "must be" maintained. The inner and small drama has somehow become equal to the outer and actual reality (or seemingly so). And my guess is that the hook, the reason we find such mini-worlds so compelling, and small realities important is an if-then premise. Managing small drama argues that we could (possibly) master realities in general and so, once we get good at it; perhaps we could make the major and actually real "manageable"!
  In the dinky-real, we can filter out the ugly, we can feel better about our efforts as we order our own tiny domains. And this, as the second type of unreality, I think is far the worse of the two, in that we forget that it is we who have built and maintain the sucker. Being so casino-like focused, we end up confusing what we have built with what actually is!
  Do you grasp the concept here? In my book, the holy is precisely of this sort. Whatever holy is, He Is Holy! He is the Is behind Am. Think of the verb "to be", He is that, In Person! The Holy Name, comes out something like "I Am He Who Is". The angels and elders in the book of the Revelation are shouting something. "Holy, Holy, Holy! LORD God, the Almighty, He Who Was, and Is, and Ever Shall Be!" I say that we have no good way in our language to correctly join the elders.
  In Mike-speak, it sounds something like; "He Is, and because of His speaking power, all else which is, also is. But, nothing exists, unless He made, directs and sustains it. There is (literally) no-thing to contrast being to!". There is no "un-being or anti--is". If something is not God, and if something is not part of His creation, then it is either no-thing at all, or yet another lie. And lies will (one day) end. But I wander from my point!
  I say, the one thing we actually need is the holy, or more accurately; He, The Holy One as Author of Is (and there is no "opposite" to Him); it is He we need! The astounding miracle, the whopper grand-daddy marvel of the ages, is that He spoke, and what is, came to be. By His word authority, that which is, coheres and remains and is directed to its' end. The whopper fact which we are unable to notice is the facty-ness of fact, with Him as the sole guarantor. Things are real, but never "of themselves".
  If we return to the image of the dream for a moment, He is the Dreamer, and we are the dreamt, except not. We are the real, in that He (The Real) so says.
  I hope some of this is making sense? What the world needs now is the strong and unshakable, what it needs is the meaningful and the true. What the world needs is hope of significance, and security from all fears. We the weak, we the wishy-washy, we the confused and sad, we the failures, cannot locate within ourselves, nor within creation; the rock solid joy we must have. And so, we stupidly assume that such joy "cannot be real"?
  Therefore, such is obviously not in, or of us, nor is it "part" of our world. It is "cut and made separate". But that doesn't make it unreal. Rather, we are thirsty for The Real (Himself) who is coming into the world! True, it is "cut". Yes, it is "separate" from things as-is, but that is the same as saying; "Hope lives!".
  A tree "knows" that it needs soil and water and sunshine, but it cannot "make" any of them. A man knows that he requires meaning and truth and gladness, and he is like the tree. Something "separate" from him is shown best by its' lack.
  And so, the King says things holy. "Blessed are you hungry, and blessed are you poor", but why? Is there something grand about skinny broke guys that we don't know? No, but the central Rock, the mountain which is unmovable, He, the Personal underwriter of all fact, He the Owner and Guide of every scrap of history, He the Builder and Maintainer of the real; it is He we require. Both the real, and the holy; shout that we must awaken out of our small money worries, we must leave behind our workaholic fables and ditch our ambitious little soap operas. The grand vista of Is beckons! It, the unshakably real, is; because He Is. We, coming to this knowledge, find rest.
  The canoe of life has an outrigger to steady it, and His Name is Jealous! He Personally "takes an interest" in our lives, our deaths, and so too our living again.
  He is so "cut" that death itself is no boundary at all for Him. He roars His fierce welcome-home at His childrens' return from the grave!
  We have no good way to describe holy for much the same reason that we can barely define the real. But without these, life means nothing, history is just a lot of bad people doing stupid things, and death reigns supreme over the hearts' cry for meaning.
  But the Holy One is saying that, that very cry for meaning was placed in there, on purpose by Him, that one day we would find in His smile, and wildly glad embrace, our true home!

The Way Of Things

  When you get to be an old guy, your opinions on things begin to be more set. You quit fooling around with pointless, dead end idea projects, and begin repeating yourself. Well, maybe not everybody does so, but if you are a guy, I would guess there is a high probability along these lines.
  Presently, I am 56 years "young" (only old people talk that way), and what keeps cropping up in my brainstem of late, sounds like a serial repetition. On old vinyl records, if there was a bit of damage, they would sometimes "skip", and keep playing the same line in the song over and over. My brain appears to be skipping!
  The interior chatter, that self-talk we do, is topically indexed it appears. For some guys, the loop sequence is "sports", for others it is "girls". One occasionally chats with a gun and ammo guy, or perhaps an automotive lover of some flavor. I am normally able to dip into these private universes far enough to comment, or ask a couple of questions maybe, but basically, I just don't care that much about such stuff. Which introduces my first observation along these lines.  Simply said, whether you are ga-ga over soccer or WWII fighters bombers, very few (if any) people can care about it, the way you do. They might act enthusiastic enough, to get by, but frankly; once the discussion is over, you (not they) are the one jazzed by the talk. Now, the brain guck that resides in me, has almost no appeal at all to others, and I have a tough time even getting the fake "tell me more" request. No, the norm is "Do we have to talk about this?", or even less tactfully, a "You're depressing." squeaks out. That topic orbit which keeps rotating around in my skull is "The way of things".
  Gosh, a guy might imagine others would be all agog to discuss the nature of nature, to shoot the breeze concerning factuality itself, don't you agree? But, to be fair to others, my version of facticity itself, is a tad dire.
  What keeps looping in here is a projection of future America, or of future world. I love looking at all that conspiracy theory material available on You Tube, and whether Billy Bob McGee (or somebody) is in fact; THE ANTICHRIST!! You can see the way of things.
  People are scared, the future looks either plainly bleak, or so alien a world, as to be unrecognizable. So, the way involved just here is to find a trail, to set up markers so that others can navigate through here. Theorists of the c-type, believe that they are offering a service, you see? Now, the little matter that it is a service that only a few folks want, is beside the point.
  What then is the way of things in 21st cen America, how are things? You probably know that in the past, certain persons kept diaries, of their lives. As far as I know, only professional historians ever try reading such material, but clues as to the times, the feel of what life-then was, such is perhaps meaningful to somebody.
  This is not a diary, I can't imagine why people bother writing them anyhow, but maybe, just maybe, some of the feel of our era might leak onto the page? Perhaps a history buff 200 hundred years hence could glean an insight or two?
  On we march! The way of things might best be summed up by a crazy man named Phillip Wylie. He was writing about 60 years ago, and he was speaking of our land. The basic concept is "Mom-ism", as coined by Mr. Wylie. Mom-ist thought, was a kind of inverse (or converse?) to the "fatherland" drivel of A. Hitler.
  So, whereas Germany got lost in a masculine power model, and was all about hard, and tough and fearless, Wylie predicted back when; that a kind of soft totalitarianism, a squishy, feminine police state, was the inevitable result of overthrowing a masculine version of same. The push come to ugly feature here, is that he predicted it, not of Germany, but here. The phrase he invented which I so love, describing that way of things, is; "An iron fist, inside a velvet glove". Ain't that a gem?
  The way of things is what pundit Rushbo calls; "The chick-a-fication" of the nation. It is (ostensibly) all about "sensitivity, tolerance, and inclusion", which is plainly hogwash. It is about those up until you disagree just once with one of these wildcats. Then they will tear your lungs out (politely).  In regal terms, we are building a unitary super-state, but ruled by queens, not kings, it's like that. So, is this the part where you say; "Do we have to talk about this?". The iron fist is there, we have rules upon rules, laws out the wazoo, and the result? Chaos. The velvet glove is showing, soft fuzzy and warm!
  The way of things now is to introduce, "The outrage of the week" through electronic media. A shooting here, multiple kidnappings over there, pubic "servants" caught with their pants down (again) , oh; say an earthquake every now and then? The idea, is to keep chatter alive, to fuel buzz. And the point of that would be? Well, naturally, to introduce yet more laws!
  Nowadays, when a child falls off of a swingset, the police are called in to investigate. When perverts want to "marry" each other, or "change their gender", a cry of "hurrah" goes up? Why so? Duh, to make more rules!
  The way of rules, is that they exist in two forms. There is the codified version wherein one may be jailed or fined, and then there is the "pc" garbage. The pc bilge is normally manned by the young, in that as a maternalist schema, "kids are our heritage". So, they are expected to quickly grasp this week's outrage, run with the ball, and invent on the fly the "correct" (politically that is) perspective. This is enforced through group-think, to the point that people claim that they are ashamed for previously thinking otherwise than this week's up-to-date, "inclusive" concept.
  We are building then, a type of police state yes, but the cop on the beat, is to be you! You are to be the one who is to be all about love and good feelings, and if you're not, then you are "a hater". Okay, it's insane; but one does have to admire the efficiency of the chaos, the remarkable energy of the mental lethargy involved!
  So, the way of things is to value supremely "unity", which is to say; a guaranteed divisiveness is the natural product. Idols function this way. One starts out in favor of love, and then blows the girlfriend away. A person sets out to be humble, and then begins lecturing on "my humility", which is a damnably arrogant thing. In brief, we generate, not precisely, but close to the "opposite" of what we (so to speak) "intend". In Mom-ism, intention is all that matters. The small reality that Hillary has blood on her hands for the murder of an ambassador and his staff, is "obviously!" unrelated to her "good intentions".
  From a Christian perspective, I see things this way. We in America, are sectioning off, we are re-dividing up. The feminists over here, the luddites over there. The Buddists this way, the Bible believers that direction. Each group becomes a "community" which is a way of saying either an enclave, or a ghetto. Simply, we are constructing a series of future ghettos. Oddly it would seem, the prime ethic of unity must generate divisions, and tons of them!
  As Schlossberg aptly said; "We build idols. for our own destruction". This is what American "values" are actually about! Is this the part where you begin with: "You're depressing."?
  Nobody I know seems to be interested at all in this. The way of things is plainly an item to avoid. Now, I don't plan to leave off the cycle just yet, there must be hope . . . somewhere! And in brief, it is not intra-cosmic.
  There is nothing at all in the world, or in us as humans which prohibits "the worst in people" from manifesting. As a genuine "hater" (and "bigot" might I add?) the hope for us, is not from us, it is crashing in from "the outside". But not from outer space!
  The way of things is thus. People are stupid. They believe that the covenantal structure of scripture formats something along these lines.
  Once upon a time, God made (or didn't?) all things. Man screwed the pooch bigtime, and so He "made a deal" with mankind. The deal is roughly speaking; "Straighten up, and fly right (or at least occasionally try to); and if you (as a people) do well at that pointless task, then maybe I will reward you with a pointless heaven". Of course, heaven is this weirdo destination, with people sitting on clouds and forever blissfully halleluja-ing while playing crummy little harps. There are these fat-kid angels hanging around, and so you are supposed to be just pleased as punch to be there?
  The result of the blather is that we derive a destination, that nobody wants to go to, built upon a sketchy demand for having good attitude, which nobody could or would develop. This insane mess is rejected out of hand, and then people congratulate themselves for "evolving". What a bunch of boneheads we are!
  The way of things is that, yes; the covenant is basic. But, it is not "cut" between God and some abstract committee called "mankind". That group is covenantally dead! So, why strike a bargain with a gang of stiffs anyhow? No Sir!
  The deal is between the Father and the Son. This, my friend changes everything! Just listen to the looney hijacking of "love" by the pc mob. By golly, they are all in favor! But, to them, love is a static valuation of "feeling loving". It is like a certain brain drug, which is deemed pleasant. NO! The Father loves the Son, and the Son does all the Father's will . . . gladly, and rightly. That is a huge difference. Love is not a feeling, it is an active service unto the death. The way of things is that the Son is set a task. He performs it, and is welcomed back from that love-unto-death.
  He is crowned, all real estate, every ocean, the sum total of worlds and galaxies is deeded to Him, and He gladly returns the present to His Pop! The way of things thus, is that we have a concrete hope surely enough, but not from here.
  The welcome is for lawbreakers, for failures, for liars, frauds and drunks. The embrace is for those who turn from the path of their destructive idols, to cry out to their Maker for assistance, for friendship, and for meaning! He hears.
  The way of things is that the Guy who invented ears, hears. Who woulda thunk? The way of things is that He has determined to bring in a mighty host from earth, an uncountable and awfully glad "tribe". The way is that no power of earth and hell combined, can halt or frustrate Him in it.
  The way of things is that we keep offering editorial comments to Him as to how better to run things, or how best to govern reality; supposing He is actually serious about the job? The way, the real way; is the way of the cross.
  The hopes and dreams of things finally working right, the Messiah is come! The dizzy ambitions of a new and better tomorrow, all that shattered in one bloody, shameful day of misery, betrayal and pain. And just there, right at the absolute bottom of the barrel, He rotates history, He inverts the pyramid of power, He begins a new creation. The gutless heartless failure is mine, and (God Bless HIM!) He took that package upon His own self, right to hell. And then, He trades the Father's lovely coat of many colors for my rags? He covers me (?) with a right-ness which is not mine, and also, now is considered mine!
  Hope lives, because He lives. Ascending on high, we find that even today, He intercedes for us; and perfects our shabby prayers. The way of things is much more like a volcano for warmth, and a lightning bolt for fun! The way of things a complex dance even the worst stumblebum begins to learn the steps to. The way, a man, or truly The Man, pledging Himself now to us . . and again unto the death!
  But death cannot any longer touch Him. A new vista is opening up, a glad and a fierce, a wild and an old. But what oldsters they are, evergreen, vibrant and finally at peace in their own heads!
  The way in brief, is that the the new creature shall be built, and the foe who is no creator, but merely a bad slave, must "try to" duplicate that many-as-one. That way lay destruction, and out of that destruction comes the Almighty loud shout of Our Captain to wake the dead!
  He is coming, sure as shootin', He is coming, and the enemy is (rightly) terrified. The way of things is that the dragon, unable to kill the child born, and unable to snuff his mother, went to make war upon her other children. Pssst, this is where you come in.
  And I saw the enemy war upon the holy ones, and he prevailed against them, and they did valiantly by the word of their testimony, by the blood of the Lamb, and that they loved not their own lives. . . even unto death.
  Now, that is love! Why is nobody interested in this?

The Un-New, Un-Man

  It was only yesterday that I figured out that "SCOTUS" is an acronym for Supreme Court of the United States. I was more familiar with the terms "the court" and "the Supremes". SCOTUS  is like POTUS (President of the United States) but it had not previously occurred to me to call them that. This week, they produced "rulings" on two key issues, and although it might be kinda fun to deride them as traitors and whatnot; I (as usual) am mostly noticing those items not being said. To me, it is more interesting to look over the blueprint, to get an idea of what is being built, rather than to just add my voice to the rants about "development ruining things".
  In the first place then, over in facebook land, I noted, early on; the divisions clearly appearing. Some sort of war between patriots and skittles perhaps? Clearly, we are a land divided, and a house at opposition to itself. The political spectrum of left to right, we might have correctly guessed, but what I found surprising was how consistently the male to female views sharply differed. I will be quoting none of the posts found, neither those agreed upon, nor those I found to be plainly insane. But in large terms; the fem-left skittles group was very glad indeed that the five kings dressed in black had authorized homosexual "marriage" across all state boundaries. They appeared to think that some sort of redux of the 1960s era civil rights struggle was being played out? The patriot, right-guy perspective was more to the effect that the court had begun inventing laws out of thin air, and that the unconstitutional abuses represented by such actions cannot possibly bode well for the future of the republic. So, besides the divisions noted, one is looking backward to a glorious struggle, and the other was looking ahead, to grim consequences. But, when I analyze things this way, I normally search for an unspoken, and third option.
  If you would like to try it sometime, one must "listen for" what is not being said, but what is yet being implied (especially in the assaults launched) by the respective "sides". One must learn to hear the quiet, in order to decode the third view, by words unspoken; in my assumed position.
  So, in the first case which the court heard, do you hear the silence on the status of citizenship? Bad "decision" number one of the week declares it is now "legal" that the government may find "criminal" those who "fail to purchase".
  The topic of the case has to do with health insurance, but that is moot to my point here. Regardless of whether we discuss a product or a service, for any government to be able to force purchase of anything, upon anyone; is the work tyrants love best. The roaring quiet just about here, is centered upon the legal fiat which redefines citizens, so to create "criminals" out of thin air. The "neo-crime" of "failure to purchase" (logically at least) creates the "right" for the ruling class (also out of thin air) to fine, detain, jail (or worse) such "neo-felons" at their leisure. It is a hammer which might someday fall, it is an arbitrary and unjust enforcement of raw power we see. The commerce clause was written to protect citizens from just such federal excess. The feds were never to be entrusted in this fashion, and so the founders chained future political ambition of coming rulers. That safeguard is now history.
  R.I.P. to the Constitution! The silence prevailing here, is that we are (apparently at least) in an unannounced post-constitutional phase? The quiet prevailing here, is the lack of eulogies for the deceased, our beloved document.
  Now, as an aside; in my opinion the logical and obvious fix to the problem of the uninsured, is to make provision for doctors and healthcare institutions to simply refuse to serve those that they deem to be bad financial risks. If no ability to pay is found in the buyer, then the obligation to serve should be a matter of conscience for providers. Thus, the internal motivation for purchasers of said insurance is for their own peace of mind, and financial stability. Duh?
  SCOTUS decided instead; to build an underclass of "neo-criminals", which technically becoming "lawbreakers", can (nowadays) "lawfully" be rounded up whenever Uncle feels the need to apply some political pressure. Such "helps" nobody, but the governing class, as it gathers unnatural powers to itself, so to grant the "legal" privilege to persecute, detain, and (ultimately) to "disappear" those it finds slow to obey. That monstrosity is what we are just now seeing being built.
  Now the silence just here, at the gathering of "powers-unnatural" is what sounds loudest to my ears.
  The other "ruling" which grants nationwide sanction to sodomy as an "equally valid form of married union", is of a different kind than merely creating "criminals" out of nothing. It is a much worse overstep, in that it redefines by statute, the creature "man".
  Many of the Christian comments I have seen posted repeat (correctly) that marriage is the union of one man with one woman. And as far as a definition goes, this works. But what goes unsaid (often) is that "the creature man" is not, and never really was. Or to rephrase, the Biblical view is that "man" was the two as one, not the one as one. The West has come, through a torturous process, to view the creature "man", as an autonomous and "atomic" individual, and any grouping thereof as ancillary, and frankly unrelated. The elevation of the one over the many thus, as a presumptive identity; necessarily reframes "the image".
  The original (and true!) working definition of "the creature" was that the two were joined as one. The union comprised of individuals covenantally bound to each other, proposes something like a "compound entity", or a "many-which-is-one" as the "reflection and depiction" of the True; Many-Who-Is-One. With this sort of view then, union (marriage) is so basic to the identity of "man" as "image", that to distort or forget such is to reject formally creation. Such must finally deploy as a fully blown denial of The Creator.
  Think with me, is it "coincidence" alone that the next gen is "pretending at" atheism, or are they in fact playing their true hand? Homosexual "marriage" can never be "additional to" the genuine article, in that it is formally at war with it! And listen to the quiet just here. Don't you sense also the big silence concerning the congruence of hatred for "religion", with love for "diversity"?
  Gruesomely enough, all of this is bad news indeed, but I have yet barely begun! The flat denial of YAHWEH, behind perverted sex generates a necessary power vacuum. Evict Him, and it not like you get nothing, you get altogether too much! And that; formats as far, far worse. When the Living God is denied, the "empty space" is always, always filled, but not with freedom. Look instead for the miserable, and for the deceitful and murderous.
  Recall that when the faith was new in earth, it in those days displaced and drove out "the gods"; those ancient foes of all that is decent, true and right. Those agents of chaos did not disappear, but instead they were chained in darkness. And as our fem-left, and backwards-focused skittles neighbors make "progress", they rejoice that they are casting off the restraints and narrow mindedness of old? Uhm, newsflash, this just in: Those restraints were in place for good reasons!
  In the bad old days, when those ancient enemies of God and man had fuller sway, life was not "better and free". It was the new blueprint, it was the Biblical Gospel which brought into earth, the fruits of education, progress, emancipation and compassion to a hard, cold and brutal environment. The shape of that new building was that the original "compound entity" (the original couple) now served as template for a much larger, grander and widely inclusive "new creature". The new blueprint includes the many, those drafted in from around the world (and across the age!) joined into one new "man" (well, woman actually). So then, the covenant between the Father and the Son is graciously inclusive of an uncountable host rescued from the wrath which is surely coming. The true image, in which the question: "Which is supreme, the one or the many?" is resoundingly answered with "Yes and Amen!". And this, my friend; is the Real McCoy.
  The enemy though, has his own sad and sick mock-up of what is being built. An anti-god, sending his un-messiah, to coerce through lies and fear, a mob of the confused. This, the un-new, un-man which is presently in the process of being slapped together, is a hopeless and insane project. Built with duct tape, baling wire, and plenty of chewing gum to hold the construct together, it simply must collapse under judgement as its' certain destiny. The thing being constructed partakes of the three elements of all idolatry.
  The flesh is "strange", and purposely attempts to defeat the marriage union. So we look for fornication, adultery, and perverse sexual practice being promoted. The next is a world sweeping kind of power trip (being on the "winning side" of history) so to defy the True King in His Majesty. And the final element is a direct and unmediated linkage into the spirit realm. The idols of old, functioned just this way, and the un-new un-man has no choice but to likewise construct.
  The quiet, just about precisely here; in this neighborhood I find to be deafening. What SCOTUS did this week, was to ratify two of the three legs! It justified arbitrary and despostic powers of the state, and next; did what it could to shatter the marriage union. It voted "Yes and Amen" to the world and to the flesh. The missing element is those ancient foes I keep bringing up, and bondage to them. And here, is the real quiet; the truly silent aspect of the postings.
  These official and legal declarations are spiritually functioning as a "summons", a calling-for to entities long enchained in darkness. Did any of the posts on either "side" mention that part of the deal? These "rulings" function as an attempt to raise from the depths, those vigorous and disgusting ex-persons of old! They, now enraged at the short time that they have to operate within, indeed bodes ill for mankind.
  The Christian testimony defending lawful union ought occasionally mention such things, don't you think? Where is the sound of it? Why the roaring silence?
  Now, as a man, I cannot say for certain whether we are indeed near the end of the age or not. I mean by this, at 56 years of age; I might see the return of Messiah before dying, and I might not. But, I can say with some confidence, that the two major signs which must precede that appearance (the great apostasy and the revealing of the son of perdition) have not (to my knowledge) yet occurred. Therefore, our standing orders have not changed.
  The reason it is "taking so long" for the return  of The Christ of God is simply a matter of His own honor. He has sworn to His own harm, upon His own dignity; to not lose a single one of His children. Each and every one of those boneheaded rascals (of His) shall most certainly be spared! Not a one of them overlooked nor lost, so He guarantees . . . Personally! For this, He makes time. The children of Israel, in their long march, never went faster than the slowest toddler, or the old and weak could go. Leading, He never out-paced the woman great with child.
  So then, we are freed to plead the blood of The Lamb upon our unhistorical, and skittles enhanced neighbors! Who knows how many of them will be turned out of the way of destruction and judgement by His generous hearing of our calls for aid? Who can count how effective our interceding might finally prove to be?
 Being on the wrong side of history, means (plainly) to be found a foe, traitor and fraud in that great and terrible day, by Him-Knowing. We knowing (somewhat) the terror of the Almighty, wish that mind wrecking fear upon no man, no matter how far he is sunk in the mire of that other, and doomed construction project.
  As for the devils, they are hammered toast. We have been sheared off from their destiny, by the good and generous meddling of The True King in our affairs. Bringing light, He Is Light!
  He is going to light up everything and everyone! Our choice then, as humans; is plain. Either we shine in and with Messiah Jesus, or we burn . . . alone. Regardless; everybody gets lit up!

On Ritual (date unknown)

  Have you ever watched people? My friend Ron calls himself a "people watcher", and as a psychologist/counselor he is pretty good at it. He will go to the mall, or perhaps some type of gathering . . . and watch!

  Ron is all the time talking about how repetitive the behaviors of humans are. And whether it is a tantrum or a smile the given person favors, they keep at it; and repeat the action. People do the same kinds of things over and over again, have you noticed? For instance, I am constantly losing or misplacing things. In serial fashion; I execute flawlessly the placing of a tool, or a piece of paper, so to three minutes later; have to "find". The routine manner of our personal rituals can drive a person crazy (why do I keep doing that?), and yet the repetitive is by in large what our lives are made of.

  Now, people will tell you that they personally hate ritual, but that is simply untrue. What we humans hate is "empty" ritual. Our usual goof of equating ritual to pointless actions, and to thereby denounce ritual itself is just lazy thinking. The fact that we are able to detect the fine nuance of ritual itself, so to correctly identify a poorly executed one, or one which has over time become meaningless; points out not a hatred of repetitive structured behavior, but an expertise in it!

  For us to be able to detect the shallow and rote, to grasp the perfunctory and disinterested actions of others is much more along the lines of a wine connoisseur's ability to sniff a slight variance in bouquet. His super sensitive nose and palate do not mean that he hates wine, it means he hates bad wine! And when it comes to ritual, we are like that also.

  Now, some might make the observation that the previous paragraphs are pure rubbish. That person might strongly dislike attending stylized, ceremonial public events. Baptisms, weddings, inaugerations and such like stuff might be a source of crashing boredom. So what? And the what is that they believe (wrongly) that they thereby dislike ritual. Such "official ritual" is but the tip of the iceberg!

   Ron will tell you, our lives are flooded with a repetitive and serial repeat feature. We cannot "hate ritual", for nearly all we do is ritual! Our lives are swamped, soaked and steeped in these patterns of over and over again, for years and then decades. We err, if we come to think that our personal and private rituals (since not public and staged) are not ritual.

  Think of an action, I don't care which, and "behind" it, lay ritual! Just ask people, they will insist that there is a "right way" to brush teeth. One lady I know seriously believes that there is a "proper way" to load toilet paper on the wall mount (it comes over the top). Try sometime eating a banana with a spoon in front of people, and observe their reactions, you are not doing it "the right way"!

  When somebody cuts you off on the interstate, what rises up in you? "What an idiot! Where did this moron learn to drive?!" In his breaking of driving convention, he is violating ritual, and we the experts can tell in a moments' time, he is doing it wrong! The ritual behavior of practicing the rules of the road, are normal, wholesome and sane, to break it is weird, dangerous and stupidly crazy. The ritual and meaning are not the same thing, more like neighbors.

  Our meaning is linked to serial actions. It need not be healthy or wise, it can be ritual alienation, or depression. Ritual violence and ritual sadness (and worse) can lend meaning for us. We keep doing the same kind of things, over and over, we believe in ritual.

  In my opinion, there is no good method to estimate just how much of our daily lives are ritual, but my guess is 90% minimum. You see, there is no "spontaneous" platform to stand upon, outside of ritual, to look backward from, so to examine the thing by.

  So, if meaning is the load, ritual is the wheelbarrow we carry it in. One person brags; "I work out five times a week!". Why? That one believes in strength, it gives her meaning. Another says; "I'm a vegan!". Ritually then, barbells and celery stalks are to make life better. We love to compare and contrast rituals between us, much as I traded marbles or baseball cards when a boy. We are looking to build an ideal set of marbles and ritual. Oh sure, we "correct" those with bad or destructive repetitions, because we are (if you'd like to know) quite knowledgeable about such things. So there is an inside and an outside to ritual.

  Inside the ritual, there is "nothing wrong with it", but viewed from the outside, it clearly needs to come to a halt! As a kind of rule of thumb then, ritual itself makes no distinction, as to whether ritual is desirable. It only "attaches". Exercising five or ten times a week is as valid as shooting up, as viewed from within ritual, and people know this, so they are constantly busy with the meta- ritual of correcting your bad habits.

  I don't much care for Freud, Jung or Adler. The psyche and why it chooses to defeat or frustrate its' own best interests seems normal enough to me. And all this "depth work", and years long counseling sessions are trying to assert that people's real words are not what they really mean, and that we need "to get to the root causes"? What a snoozer. 

  Heck, fights are about important stuff! The dishes were not washed and then dried and stacked properly! Now you're pushing buttons, them is fighting words! It is the "little things" that matter, and not because we are "small minded". It is because ritual is so humanly central, so dreadfully significant! Meaning itself is at stake. Those blockheads in Washington could not balance a girl scout troop budget, and an impending collapse of the economy . . . gets a yawn and the channel changed. But junior (once again!) "forgetting" to take out the trash? It is the stuff of high drama. 

  We ritually demean ourselves for having a poor sense of priorities just about here, but I see it differently. It is precisely the little things that matter most to us. This brings me to my final point.

  If the repetitive, the consistent, the dependable means anything, it means that we ourselves are fairly predictable. We ought to think about this occasionally.

  The 20th cen existentialists wearied their unfortunate pupils with their sad (and stupid) claim that life itself is inherently meaningless, and that actions per se are "absurd". They tried (very diligently!) to find that platform outside of ritual, so to view ritual by. These washed up ikons of cerebral horsepower were by in large ignored, and rightfully so. People know better than that.

  If anything, life is thronged, crowded, and jam-packed with meaning. You can't get away from it! The real challenge would be to correctly identify just one "meaningless" thing. It is a regular stampede of meaning down here. Admiring the daisy waving hello in the wind, watching the ladybug crawl up the stem, the sound of children's laughter, we are swamped in meaning! And from the inside, none of our rituals seem wrong to us. That is our problem here.

  Douglas Hofstater wrote once of a record player. The sound coming from the disc was entitled; "Music to smash record players by". The idea is great! The vibrations and squeaks which would cause screws and glues to come unfastened are being played over the speaker, and just that sound is what wrecks speakers! Well, I like the idea in any case.

  What we require is a ritual to break ritual by, a way to come out of our meaning, so to grasp the truer, better, faster and higher meaning. We need a way to shed ritual in order to grasp the real McCoy. We require a pattern to break patterns by. And to simply "hate ritual" and clamor for spontaneity and newness is itself the dullest of all rituals. Our syllogism; "Ritual gives meaning, and meaning is good, therefore ritual is good" is unbreakable from the inside.

  Perhaps this will help you see more clearly why I am a Calvinist? We are called alive, and things are spoken into being. Creation is the original miracle, and resurrection is like it, but moreso, so to speak. The call is out of death, and into life, and the living respond by trusting the Caller. That real McCoy, the higher faster meaning is along these lines.

  Ritual so completely defines meaning in our lives as humans, it is so overwhelmingly present; that it would require a super-natural ability, a strength from clean outside the world to overcome it. For us alone, there is no intracosmic solution, we are swamped unto death in ritual. But we are not alone. Ritual itself needs to die, but we unaided have not the strength to kill it, for all that we do only builds it. We are not unaided.

  So, if the Gospel preaches an alien righteousness, I am speaking of an alien ritual. The call is out of death, and then those living are called to lay down their lives. The apostle says: "I die daily". God is come to meddle in our ritual!

  Sanctification can never ever mean "getting my act together", or picking up new habits which are (somewhat) more wholesome. It is a glad acceptance of the loss of what we hold dearest, it is the loss of "meaning"!

  Friend, when you are pushing up daisies, nobody (including you) will give a rip about your fixation with toilet paper directionally rolling out. When you become Purina worm chow, not a soul on the planet will care if you dried dishes "correctly".

  The glory of Gospel is that we are being called into that freedom today! The living no longer "believe in" morals or politics or principles. They have entrusted all that meaningful freight to the Only One who could (or would for that matter) carry it safely. These many meanings of our lives we pass into His keeping, and have come to instead believe The One Meaning, He-Himself.

  We sought freedom from ritual, and tried to pretend that we did not care for it. That whining refusal only became our new ritual. There is no way out of this trap, unless we be carried in Another's arms right out of our world.

  Now, let's talk about the cross!