Tag: love

Lookin’ for War in All the Wrong Places ..

OK, I guess that was off by one word .. right? I would much rather have love and peace, however, this is a very broken world where Jesus promised (Matthew 24 in The Message – a paraphrase):

When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming.

“They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other.

“In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.

“Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.

So while my mission is to let you in on what might really be happening in this world using the ability to enter “a place to entertain a thought without accepting it”. There is no need to panic, but instead consider these events in context and in your own time consider what type of planning is appropriate for yourself, your family and your friends.

Today, I am looking at a very macro picture of where the United States is at this point of an “empire’s life”. With recent ramp-up in the accusations against Iran and North Korea initially as early as Bush II declaring them part of the “Axis of Evil” it is Trump now that is expanding this to include Russia and China.

So what happened? Why is having enemies (totally fabricated, as neither Iran nor North Korea EVER attacked the United States) like tier 2 like Iran and NK not enough? Maybe because they have the military strength below that of Iraq, Libya and Syria and Trump wants to take it up a notch. Actually, maybe yet again (just like FDR in the late 1930s), frustration with domestic programs leads to a desire for war which causes everyone to think like Bush II “you are either for us or against us”. Then we can wave the flag and be happy when we entice either China or Russia to “surprise” attack the US. This is as old as Fort Sumter and Abe Lincoln, ala, let THEM fire the first shot!

So the nitty-gritty comes this time from Moon of Alabama in this article where Trump has now linked a Chinese trade agreement with some treaty with North Korea.  I call b*lls**t on this, since when does a leader have to re-define some potential treaty, except from a point of weakness. I believe that the Chinese were willing to trade more with BRICS:

… than with the US/NATO nations. We have effectively gone back to the 1960s in world affairs probably because the MIC wants a guarantee of much more military spending globally to solidify their stocks in the impending economic storm.

Here is some of what Moon of Alabama is seeing:

Pompeo was in Trump’s office when Trump tweeted the above. Staff in the State Department was briefing foreign ambassadors on Pompeo’s upcoming talks, planned for next week, when Trump stepped in. The decision was clearly a surprise.

Trump is suddenly binding the continuation of Korea talks to a trade deal with China. Such a deal is unlikely to happen anytime soon as China is convinced that it can win a tariff war, while the Trump administration overestimates the economic pressure it can create. That Trump now connects these two issues might mean that he has given up the “denuclearization” game.

In this global chess match, the people “on the ground” suffer. Peace in the Korean Peninsula might cause unification which does not play into the American Empire’s narrative. Washington DC thrives on wars and rumors of wars and has its CIA embedded around the world just to make sure the pot continues to be stirred.

Peter Lee, aka Chinahand, sees a larger plan behind the latest Trumping: to demonstrate to Kim Jong-un that China is hindering Kim’s plans for a peace agreement and for economic development; then, when China will finally be pushed into open adversary status to the U.S., Kim Jong-un will have to chose and will end up in the U.S. camp. If that is really Trump’s plan, which I doubt, then it is clearly bound to fail. North Korea would never end the relations with its long-term strategic partner for the dangerous vagueness of a nuclear treaty relations with the U.S. (see Iran, Libya).

It is true that the US character is known around the world as BOT, the Breaker of Treaties .. something the Native Americans know all too well.

Despite the evident agreement in the Statement to follow a sequence of several steps, the Trump administration has been deceptive about it. After the Singapore Statement it again demanded from North Korea to take step 3 before the U.S. takes step 1 and 2. The administration also continues to falsely claim that North Korea agreed to “denuclearization”. On August 28, when Secretary of State introduced a new special representative for North Korea, he said:

“Steve [Biegun] will direct U.S. policy towards North Korea and lead our efforts to achieve President Trump’s goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, as agreed to by Chairman Kim Jong-un.”

Chairman Kim Jong-un never agreed to such a thing.

The U.S. media, even those outlets which oppose the Trump regime, support the falsehoods the administration is spreading. They fail to point out the obvious sequencing agreed to in the Singapore Statement and they fail to point out the aspirational character of the disarmament point. Instead of holding Trump’s feet to the fire for breaking an agreement he himself signed just a few month ago, the New York Times, Washington Post and others seem to support his stand.

The Trump negotiations with North Korea were in the end probably just an attempt to get some fast success before the big clash with China over global supremacy finally enters a more serious stage.

Moon of Alabama hits the nail on the head with this. In fact, in spite of sanctions and tariffs, both China and Russia are stronger every day economically, and both governments spend MUCH less in military spending and yet have a lot more to show for it. The American Empire is hoping that either China or Russia will react to this bully-prodding for a fight but I do believe they have learned from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria what Washington DC is up to as it is mired in epic debt up to its eyeballs.

In summary, MoA writes:

Who in the White House is making these policies? Trump’s tweets yesterday seem spontaneous, but are carefully formulated and obviously part of some larger plans. Are these Trump’s plans? Or have the hawks -Bolton, Mattis, Pompeo- written these up to push Trump along their lines?

We may never know, but now YOU know, probably more than you wanted to know.

Research it yourself, or as Royal Caribbean might say, “get out there!”

SF1

War’s Value to the Politician, Lifelong Warmonger vs. a Father

Politicians think in terms of election cycles, getting elected the next time is their highest priority. Beyond this, it is either the money the can make along the way from lobbyists, or the power they hold while in office, or the lucrative post-political job they can get to pave their way to retirement.

Warmongers are a different breed. War offers an expediency towards things they value most, an elite status that protects them from the everyday, they dream of empire and destruction of everything in the way of that empire.

“This is the way the kind of king you’re talking about operates. He’ll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry, regimented in battalions and squadrons. He’ll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury. He’ll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks. He’ll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends. He’ll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy. Your prize workers and best animals he’ll take for his own use. He’ll lay a tax on your flocks and you’ll end up no better than slaves. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves…” 1 Samuel 8 – God’s Warning via Samuel

Fathers think and act very differently as their heart is with the next generations. Fathers think on legacy, think of love and selflessness, and would rather deal with war themselves than let their kids deal with it. Fathers would be willing to look like a fool to take the focus off the object of their affection, their son or daughter. Fathers would wage war, as a very last resort, to give their ancestors and their community more freedom and liberty. With freedom their offspring are most likely to thrive in bringing innovative value to others in their community. Sharing the fruits of what they love to do to others who can trade or barter back the fruits of their own talents and gifts. This exchange is called an economy, an environment of cooperation and friendship!

Jeff Deist from the Mises Institute has a short article out today about war, where he states:

Why do seemingly endless military conflicts persist, despite lacking any constituency for their prosecution beyond the DC beltway? And why does US military strategy appear incoherent and counterproductive, when viewed through the lens of peace? Why can’t we do anything about this, no matter whom we elect and no matter how much war fatigue resides in the American public?

The answer is not found in a facile denunciation of the military industrial complex or war profiteers, though both are very serious problems. The answer lies in understanding how the DC War Party operates. Its goals are not ours. It is not democratic; the government is not “us.” It is not political; its architects are permanent fixtures who do not come and go with presidential administrations. It is not accountable; budgeting is nonexistent and gross failures only beget greater funding. It is above all not “economic” — it operates in an artificial “market,” one created and perpetuated by wars and interventions ordinary people don’t want. War socialism, or what former Congressman Barney Frank brilliantly termed “military Keynesianism,” has taken on a life of its own.

War taken to the edges of our world are accomplished by an elite who operate in a cocoon of their own making, insulated from their decisions, while in true sociopathic style, have zero empathy for those caught up in their unleashed hell on earth.

Ludwig von Mises experienced this first hand:

Ludwig von Mises saw peace as the key to any liberal economic program, and argued strenuously against the fallacy of war prosperity. Even early in his career, before his horrific experiences as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, he recognized the critical distinction between economy and war: the former characterized by exchange and cooperation, the latter marked by the worst form of state intervention:

“Only one thing can conquer war — that liberal attitude which can see nothing in war but destruction and annihilation, and which can never wish to bring about a war, because it regards war as injurious even to the victors.”

The victors DO pay a cost even when they do in fact win the war. In the movie ‘The Patriot’ (2000) the fictional main actor Benjamin Martin says at the close of the movie about reflecting on what we have won and what we have lost. There is a cost to war:

.. the loss is not only economic, it is also cultural and moral. War, the ultimate rejection of reason as a means of navigating human society, reduces our capacity for compassion and makes us complacent about atrocities. Worst of all, it emboldens and strengthens the domestic state — encouraging us to accept absurdities like TSA theater and SWAT teams with leftover military vehicles operating in peaceful small towns.

The small town life of the 1950s, the 1910s or the regional societies of the 1840s and 1780s are no more. Culturally and morally the society we have today in the United States is bankrupt. With the government’s effective pacification of the church via 501C3 exemptions, even the Christian religion has next to zero influence in changing or reforming society. Only an underground non-official movement of Jesus followers could positively impact this empire like it did to the Roman Empire in the First Century.

Until then, the atrocities abroad come home to roost.

 While US troops remain mired throughout the Middle East, a subsurface political war heats up in the US. This cold civil war creates the kind of hyper-politicized society progressives once only dreamed of. Social media outlets encourage even the most ill-informed and ill-intentioned voices to spread hatred against those with differing views. Goodwill doesn’t translate, so fake bravado hidden behind anonymity or distance are the order of the day. Epithets like “racist,” fascist,” “Nazi” and worse become cheap currency in the new vocabulary of meaningless words. Dissenting voices lose jobs, reputations, and access to popular platforms. Mobs form to attack political opponents in restaurants and shops, shout down campus events, and threaten online disclosure of their perceived enemies’ personal information.

The estimate length of time the US Military expects to be in Afghanistan is the same as it has been for Germany and Japan .. OVER 50 YEARS!

Jeff Deist ends his article with a dire prediction:

The hawkishness of neoconservatives and the “democratic socialism” of progressives both lead in the same direction, toward economic destruction and war. If you think American society is polarized and prone to lashing out abroad now, what happens with a shrinking economy and 40% unemployment?

The end of the rope experience like present day Venezuela may very well come to the American Empire. Prepare yourself and your family appropriately with self defense training and skills, adjust economically, be strategic psychologically,  and most importantly, get right spiritually toward being a loving father or mother of your kids, your extended family and friends as well as others in society in the future. Be ready to be a light in the darkness.

SF1

 

Christians (Not the Religion, But Jesus Followers) and Government

Now this is a topic that seems to have been misunderstood by generations of Jesus followers since governments started tolerating and later embracing Christianity as a religion especially after Constantine converted to the religion in the year 312AD and re-directed all his pagan priests and temples to transition to the new religion. One of his directives was to replace December 25th which was observed as the birthday of the pagan Unconquered Sun god to become celebrated as Jesus’ birthday.

Many Christians love the “faith-religion-state” relationship that Constantine offered better than that which Jesus had offered (“faith-God”).

The matter of fact is that Jesus had zero influences on the “religion-state-complex” back in His day and was routinely on the run but eventually allowed Himself to be captured and executed as an innocent man that was framed by the religious elite who were in tight with the Roman Empire government officials of the day. Blow-back was real as over the years and decades of oral story telling, thousands of people were personally touched with Jesus’ message that freed them while in the physical state of slavery in an empire. (50% of the Roman Empire were slaves at that time) This “blow-back” actually turned the then known world upside-down in a generation as their lives were touched with love while many of their hearts were touched directly by Love.

I contend that if God is love, and perfect love drives out all fear then – 1 Cor 13 sets the stage for the characteristics of perfect love or a misunderstood God. (Read the next paragraph and then re-read it substituting God for Love)

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails

As with all movements (even spiritually sparked ones) the subsequent generation takes the personal convictions of the previous and turns them into traditions, programs and rules. Even before Constantine converted, there were significant changes in the Jesus follower communities that were based more on safety and fear than the real presence in one’s heart of our loving Creator giving us fatherly advice daily on how to live in a broken world.

Bionic Mosquito’s article I will then use as a springboard for future posts, discussions and dialog. The author refers to a book by Gerard Casey where it becomes essential to refer to scripture (Bible) in addressing society and governments. Here is a sampling:

Freedom’s Progress?: A History of Political Thought, by Gerard Casey

“I know full well how hazardous an enterprise it is to set sail on the controversial and disputed sea of Scriptural interpretation….”

Yes, same here. This is one reason (of many) that I strongly prefer to keep theological discussion off limits. I know this is difficult to do, given the topics at this post, and I appreciate that you all respect this desire. As you know, my intent behind these topics is to examine the ramifications of broad religious issues on the social, governance, and political aspects of society.

I guess today I am going to somewhat cross that line…

Good for you Bionic Mosquito! Having been immersed for a season in what I had hoped was a grassroots informal faith community network, I became disillusioned as I hit full on with the Christian religion that as I said defers to Constantine’s model more than that of Jesus’. Bionic Mosquito goes on to say:

… The reasons are twofold: first, the examination Casey takes on is precisely on the point of freedom; second, the topic is one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and misused regarding the Christian take on government.

The topic? In two words: Romans 13. Casey offers a full examine of both Old and New Testament Scripture regarding kings and government authority, as a few verses should not be taken in isolation.

Bionic Mosquito goes on to expand Casey’s thoughts regarding both Old and New Testament telling of various “faith-state” moments. 1 Samuel 8 is a good “go-to” to see God’s view of earthly kings (verses the wise judge model He attempted with the theocracy Israel) followed by Hosea 8 in which shows God allowing governments while not endorsing them.  On the New Testament moments, this proves to be a “target-rich” environment to see how Jesus as well as His followers dealt with the “State” while living their “faith”:

Regarding the life of Jesus, Casey offers…

“…we can see immediately that his very life was bookended by acts of political significance, from King Herod’s murderous intentions at his birth to the final drama of his politically inspired execution.”

This is the lens through which all Scriptural discussion of kings and earthly authority should be viewed. Casey offers that the New Testament is a target-rich environment when one wants to find passages regarding kings and government; he limits himself to five. I will touch on only a couple of these.

As much as I want to proceed with these, I believe they would be well served to address in a future post. Romans 13, taken in isolation, has formed the bedrock belief most Jesus followers have today about their relationship with the State. This view is enhanced by the Christian Religion which in the US has identified themselves (with a few brave exceptions, please see Chuck Baldwin’s rebellion to this alliance) with financially beneficial 501C3 status as state recognized corporations. Bionic Mosquito also offers this in conclusion:

Keep in mind: virtually every one of Jesus’s disciples died in martyrdom, died in disobedience to the political authorities. Do you really believe they are all damned to hell due to their “disobedience”?

Got that? Now I think you know where I am heading ..

SF1