During a surprise farewell visit to Iraq over the weekend, President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki stood before a pool of reporters answering questions related to the U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement. It was during the Press Conference that Muntadar al-Zeidi, a television reporter for Al-Baghdadiya News, stood shouting statements at Bush and then hurled both his shoes at him. The President ducked behind the podium as the shoes nearly hit him in the head. The man was restrained and removed from the room. The Press Conference resumed.
Initially, I was amused after watching the news clip. It was hilarious to me that finally someone broke through the static, staged, and sterile press conference to interrupt the propaganda theater of the Empire.
However, further observation impressed upon me the need to look for deeper meaning in this event. It was not just funny. It was actually an indictment. Throwing a shoe at someone is a sign of great contempt and insult in Iraqi culture.
But what was he angry about? According to President Bush he just wanted attention. As idiotic as that sounds, Bush is doing exactly what history teaches Heads of Empires to do. More specifically, Bush’s actions validate Walter Brueggemann’s work on the “Royal Consciousness.” In his book, The Prophetic Imagination, Brueggemann describes in great detail the consciousness that is needed to promulgate an oppressive regime. Brueggemann argues that this consciousness can be seen in biblical writ in the visage of Pharaoh and becomes crystallized during the administration of Solomon.
One of the necessities of the Royal Consciousness is a total disregard for criticism. Brueggemann writes, “Criticism had no viable alternative ground and did not need to be taken seriously.” Thus, President Bush’s immediate response to the act of contempt and indictment is not surprising. As the room is settling down to continue the press conference, Bush says of the shoe-throwing, “It doesn’t bother me. If you want the facts it was a size 10 shoe he was wearing.” (2:24-2:33 of the video above) It is beyond ironic, that as Bush is making light of this serious indictment, you can hear the man’s piercing cries of pain in the background. It is the job of the Royal Consciousness to ignore and quickly remove any criticism that might become for the oppressed a source of prophetic imagination – a thought about what society could become.
Perhaps the world could become a place where Heads of State are held accountable for war crimes. President George Bush should be brought up on charges of war crimes before the International Criminal Court. (Interestingly enough, three nations that are regular abusers of Human Rights: the U.S., Israel, and China are not supporters of the International Criminal Court). There is a laundry list of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions committed under the auspices of the Administration of George Bush. The unlawful holding of prisoners of war at Guantanomo Bay without a fair trial is enough to send Bush to The Hague.
The context of al-Zeidi’s action at the press conference is another. Reportedly, during the exchange, al-Zeidi screamed at Bush, “This is a farewell kiss, you dog!” and then before throwing the second shoe, some sites are saying that he said something to the effect of, “This is for the widows and orphans!”
While American Media tends to report (although much less regularly these days) American deaths from the Iraq Occupation, the general public hears almost nothing about Iraqi deaths – especially civilian ones. Iraq Body Count reports that between 89,000 – 98,000 Iraqi CIVILIANS have been killed since the American Invasion. That’s nearly 100,000 fathers, mothers, sons, aunts, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, friends, pastors, neighbors, husbands, wives, etc. Can you imagine the grief, pain, and anguish of a people who have suffered so greatly?
This was not just Muntadar al-Zeidi’s indictment against Bush. This was an indictment from a nation toward the personification of the American Empire. Only time will tell if a President Barack Obama will legally indict Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, and others for war crimes. To this point, Obama has demurred on the issue. I seriously doubt that Obama will take up this very serious international issue which has positive implications on the so-called “war on terror”. After all, a kingdom divided against itself won’t stand.
However, if that “official” indictment never comes, al-Zeidi’s prophetic indictment on Bush has sent the kind of shockwaves around the world that will hopefully encourage more prophetic action that rises above the static of the Empire’s matrix of control. Reports are already surfacing that many Iraqis have rallied to his support throwing their shoes at U.S. envoys in Baghdad and Najaf.
The minority report of American History (and for that matter World History) is rife with examples of prophetic action and symbolism that has broken through the controlled environment of the Empire. From Tommie Smith & John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics to Kanye West declaring on live television that President Bush “don’t care about Black people” to teachers, students, and Indian groups protesting and taking over radio stations in Oaxaca, Mexico: the perseverance of the human spirit to speak and be heard even in the shadow of the Empire’s suffocating grasp, is most amazing.
May many more of us yield to “The Holy Other” within ourselves to remove the shoes from our feet as well to send a message loud and clear to the Empire. In the words of my Ancestors, “Satan, we’re going to tear your kingdom down” and there is nothing you can do to stop us.
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Reverend Brown could not know that within the past couple of months, I have visited the campus of San Jose State University numerous times, to visit the staturary of Tommie and Carlos, an exact replica, receiving their gold medals in 1968 Olympic games. A decade ago, I met and spoke with Dr. Harry Edwards, the inspiration behind Tommie and Carlos’ actions at the games. This past Saturday, when I stood, for about the 18th time in front of these bigger than and real to life statutes, a white gentleman walked up to me and asked, ‘what did this event mean to you’? Twenty minutes later, I am rather verbose, but he and his elderly dad understood. His dad now in his 80′s apologized for his racist behavior of 5 decades ago. He was born in the racist south, Georgia to be exact, and now he is so embarassed with respect to who he used to be!
Reverend Brown, what you have written and the analysis that you put into this work is so profound, and I believe that Jesus Christ himself would cosign everything that you wrote. How will we ever wake the American people up, particularly those believers who cannot understand the implications of the United States, a colonial power that currently occupies the seat of Babylon!
Some Americans who just celebrated December 7, 1941, have never understood that the USA was attacked at Pearl Harbor, while they were occupying the nation islands of Hawaii!
Great piece!
Our Country is not perfect, no country is, our world is not perfect, it never will and yes President Bush’s (he still deserves that respect) policies towards Iraq were flawed, he still does not deserve to be disrespected by anyone. I am always amazed that Black America continues to seperate themselves while continually wanting to be accepted as equals with the rest of America. Maybe if we would accept the fact that those of us born here in this country, no matter what our ancestry is, are Americans and that’s the way the world views us also, i.e terrorist when they target our citizens they care not if they’re black,white,red,yellow or brown as long as they kill an American. Yes our policies over the years have been oppressive, but those of us that are righteous, redeemed and born again, who do not hide behind religon and insult the country that gives us the right to insult it and our leaders (try it in Iraq and you’ll wish you didn’t), truely understand the God controls everything and nothing happens that God does not want to happen. We realize that we as black people have been oppressed and mistreated, but God has delivered us from the hand of our oppressers and that we control our own destiny. This is evident in the fact that we have elected President Elect Obama as our first black president. The Word of God says the prayers of the righteous availeth much, MLK and others prayed for this day and God has anwered our prayers, but we didn’t do it alone, the black vote wouldn’t do it so God changed a lot of white peoples heart for this to happen. We need to praise God for giving us President Bush, its because of his narrow vision policies that Preident Elect Obama was able to win and if Al Gore had won like most blacks wanted, there would still be a white person in the white house, maybe a woman but definitely a white person, Obama would not have even been close.
Rev. Solomon you said that what Rev. Brown wrote was profound and that Jesus Christ himself would have cosigned everything he wrote, I disagree. The Christ that know came unto his own (the Israel that Rev. Brown insulted) and his own recieved him not, but he did’nt talk about them or insult them, as you do our country, he went to the cross and died for them, are’nt we as Christians suppose to be Christ like. Should God be tried for war crimes he had thousands of Iraqis (babylonians) killed, he allowed them to occupy his people Israel, while that was happening tried to change them, even revealed his son to them, then brought Israel out of Babylon. Oh how we God fearing people seem to forget the Bible and the things that God has done, I for one will always remember this one thing that God is always in control!!!!
I read today that the shoe throwing journalist was severely beaten in custody. I’m laying odds he’ll be beaten again before this over.
I’ve heard it all now. Thank God for President Bush?? A clear and sober mind cannot possibly utter those words. God and Country are an unbeatable team when used to justify mayhem and murder of innocents!! Thank God for President Bush 70 years ago may as well have been “Heil Hitler”. And speaking of Hitler, one of his most telling quotes was “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think”. Some of us have kidded ourselves into thinking that we have unlimited equality in America because at the present time we have an extra car or a flat screen TV, and are able to move about freely. In reality we are only out on a pass until you mess up. Don’t mess up or else reality will shine its bright light upon you.
Common Sense I dont’ have an extra car or a flat screen TV, but I do have faith in God, you know the ability to believe in things that are not seen. I move about freely and I have messed up many times, but God has always brought me through. I’ve been down and praised God in the midst of my troubles and he’s always made away for me. I try to live the Word of God, I slip and fall sometimes, but God is just and forgives me. May sound crazy and most with common sense might not understand, especially if you don’t have a personal relation with God. It’s just a deep Faith, Radical Praise I’m on, and yes I praised God when President Bush was elected, not that I liked him, but I knew that God had a blessing coming our way. I didn’t know what it was, but I had a Blessed Assurance that God was in control. And that’s my REALITY!!!
I’m glad that you are the only one that has a personal relationship with God pastor. Good for you. I hope many blessings come your way. But God has blessed many of us “lost” people to use our minds and not support the oppressor or overlook what they are doing to the high and the so-called low by just closing our eyes and just saying the type of religious propaganda or standard jibberish that may elicit a few claps from the pulpit. Isn’t Blessed Assurance a standard hymm?? I could be wrong since you are the one with a personal relationship with God. We just can’t close our eyes, turn our heads or act like atrocities by George Bush did not occur. Why would you thank God for a murderer? Why would you thank God for the person who implemented the “No Child Left Behind” act that is basically pushing children of color through school without having learned on their proper level, leaving them unarmed to compete in the world? Why would you thank God for someone who is in the hip pocket of big business and has bankrupted the government on the eve of the baby boomers retirement? Why would you thank God for someone who has brought this country to its lowest standing in the eyes of the world, ever, in history?
I am not questioning your faith. I am questioning your thanks for a man that has harmed a lot of people and destroyed a lot of things such as countries and the environment right here where we live. If your only response will be God is in control(what else is new, we all know that), its not for us to understand, or the prize is behind door number three, then please don’t respond to this post. Once again, I can’t question your faith, because that is between you and God. That is not the purpose of my response of your thanks to the most high, for George Walker Bush.
Again Common Sense, I told you that most people with common sense would not understand where I my point of view, its based on my Faith in God not propaganda, I’m sure you don’t understand that since you keep mistaking my praising God for President Bush as support for him. I have never supported anything he’s done. Again something else you might not understand( you’ll probably think it’s more propaganda) I praise God for the good times and blessings he has given me, but I also praise him for the hard times and troubles that I go through and have gone through, because those are the times in my life that have caused my Faith to increase, that’s where I learned life lessons that made me work hard to recieve the blessings God had in store for me. By praising The Most High Everlasting God for President Bush, I found the words I needed to speakout against his oppressive social and economic policies, I found the time in my busy life to become a vice president in my local PTA to make sure that none of our children in our failing school district were left behind, because of the ‘No Child Left Behind Act”. I also found the words to encourage young black males that they could put their hats on straight, pull up their pants and be the good upstanding gentlemen our fore fathers intended us to be. Yes God is in control, I’m sure you know that Common Sense the question is do you actually believe it?. God teaches us to lean not to our own understanding and that is the problem with Black Americans we are to busy trying to figure out why or place blame for our situations rather than working hard to change our circunstances and enlighten our situations so that we can be the people that God wants us to be. So I thank God for my adverse situations (President Bush) because they only make me stronger and cause me to be the best that I can be. Oh yeah Blessed Assurance is only a standard hymm and idol words to those with common sense, to our fore fathers it was a reality, to the God fearing people I know it is the Blessings we recieve each and every day!!!
To point out wrongdoing, not close you eyes to evil is not blaming anyone. To put your head in the sand and ignore what is happening around you is crazy. Since you are the only one who is telling young males how to exibit correct behavior, since you are the only one who has benefitted from No Child Left Behind while thousands of our children are being passed by in schools because of this social engineering program,and by the way, aren’t you an adult, so I still don’t see the logic in praising this failed policy but by your standards, I guess in your mind praise is due. Keep on keeping on in your singular, pious universe where only you exist. Boom Shakalaka Boom.
Pastor Murphy, you must not have read the same article that I did? I can only wonder what will happen with our people, as long as leaders don’t understand what is transpiring?
The Apostle Paul, a Jew, in his time was far more honest when it came down to his assessment of Israel. If you will recall what he wrote to the Romans no less about Israel, he said that his prayer and desire for Israel was that Israel might be saved…! He noted that Israel had left the righteousness of God, and had gone about to establish their own righteousness, just as the USA did from the onset. If he were here today, Paul, a Jew himself would have been accused of being anti-Semitic.
The USA needs a revival, however, the ones who should be preaching revival are still in the dark themselves about what the USA is really all about.
It sounds to me as if you simply need to get up to speed. Jesus was a revolutionary!!!
Jesus shared the same fate, when he was crucified on the cross, as too many Iraqi citizens have experienced at the hands of the United States of America and the Bushtanista Party.
I often think back to the number of American citizens who cried foul when 19 mostly Saudi attackers hit the USA on 9/11. I was sitting in the 3rd floor of a townhouse in Fair Lakes, Virginia, when the incident(s) occurred. And after the American people cried foul, the USA turned around and did far worse to a nation that had not bothered the USA. Later that day, after watching American fighter planes circling in the sky, and a day or two before driving over to the Pentagon, I stopped in a local grocery store.
The question being asked was, where was the Commander-in-Chief? Now that is when someone should have thrown a shoe at the man, that is if they could have found him. Even watching the shoe throwing incident on tape proves that the man is adept at one thing, it’s called ducking!!!! Pastor Murphy, a lot of people around the world still believe that Adolf Hitler was a great leader, and that his motives were in the right place. In somehow that a lot of people will be naming their sons after George Bush.
I wonder, in consideration of Pastor Murphy’s elitist and rather mean-spirited comments, what would he be writing about and how much respect would he show to the leader of another nation that would peradventure send in his or her nation’s forces to attack and to occupy the United States of America, and in so doing murder his family members? I will never forget the sight of the Muslim father, a husband and parent for that matter who prayed fervently to Allah to save his nation and family from rapacious and crusading America, and its killing machine!
When you consider the death-toll alone in a nation like Iraq whose population is far less than that of the State of California, the barbarous act committed by the USA, I’m certain, stinks in the nostrils of God, and there will be comeuppance.
God’s judgment won’t be based upon the kind of moral equivalency argument that pastor Murphy espouses, that he apparently sanctions among the nations of the world. God’s judgment will be based upon the standard that he created for every nation, and each nation will be held accountable for whether or not it adhered to God’s standard, which is love.
It is the same standard that forever O Lord, has been settled in heaven. Righteousness exalts a nation, and sin is still a reproach to any people, I read. I do not believe that God is behind the ‘kill Arabs for Jesus movement’. It is sad when you witness the number of priests (clerics), who are in bed with America’s venal politicians!
Common Sense once again you have mischaracterized what I said, I guess common sense isn’t always common, I never said I or anyone one in my community or our school district benefited from “The No Child Left Behind”. What I said was that I along with others working through my local PTA with other groups to make sure none of our children were left behind, left out or were forgotten about. I never praised no child left behind, nor will I ever, I only praise God not people or things. Also I never said you were wrong, I agree with most of what you say about President Bush, but I still praise for him, because I can see the blessings from God through the eight years of mess that he has made. If I never had a problem, I wouldn’t God could solve them, If we never had Bush for eight years then we probably wouldn’t have Obama right now. the bible teaches us in EVERYTHING give thanks, that means good, bad,up,down,right or wrong, no matter what the situation is give thanks, which is praising God. A concept even a child can understand, my ten year old understands this perfactly well.
I will never, ever give thanks for murder, hatred, greed, torture, racism, discrimination or corruption. In my humble eyes, to thank God for President Bush is tantamount endorsing those things. In that we will always disagree. No so-called Pastor, Reverend, Shaman, Bishop, Iman, Father or whatever natural or “supernatural” spin or sales pitch the you and your kind could ever conjure up will ever, ever make me give praise for evil. No “sow a seed” mumbo-jumbo or whatever trickery, sleight of hand, mind control or tools of your trade will make me close my eyes to what has been done by the current President. And I thank God for blessing me with common sense to not give thanks for the worst President in modern times.
Again common sense is not common for everyone, you may have sense but its not common. Anyone who reads what I wrote knows that I never gave thanks for thanks for murder, hatred, greed, torture, racism, discrimination or corruption. George Bush is a bad thing and by praising God for him, I’m simply telling God thanks for showing me this tyrant and giving me the knowledge and vision to work against all the bad he has done, that I and the people I come in contact with will walk in the paths of righteousness and follow your word to the letter, In everything give thanks for this is the will of God (1thess). Maybe you’ve never read the bible, but thats what it says not my words but God’s words, if its spin then blame God.
And you may be a “Pastor” but it is very evident that it is “so called”, as many zealots, deniers of truth, sociopaths, and charlatans usually are. You have no opinion one way or another but you seem to be incapable of any type of discourse without judgement or referring(more like babbling) about the bible. And those are my words you sad example of Christian leadership.
Pastor Murphy, You are aware that at the time that Saddam gassed the Kurds, that he did so with the full blessing of the USA. Were you aware that when Iran went to the United Nations to report that Saddam was using chemical weapons, that Ronald Reagan ran interference for Saddam. Were you aware that the USA was providing foreign aid to Iraq, to the tune of 1B when he was a so-called tyrant.
The United States has a lot of blood on its hands, not only in the Middle-East, but on practically every continent of the world. God’s people cannot support this kind of mischief. Instead, we must put pressure on America’s leadership to conform to God’s commands, otherwise, we are no better than those that we criticize!
You said, “… finally someone broke through the static, staged, and sterile press conference to interrupt the propaganda theater of the Empire.”
Well said. They beat and tortured that journalist precisely because they collectively don’t want to wear the shoes that fit.
In everything gives thanks…?
That scripture has certainly been abused and misappropriated time after time by a number of clerics. One pastor that I know of used to teach his congregation that if any of them were to fall down and break one or both of their legs, that they should afterward thank God for the broken leg(s). The fact of the matter is that God wants his people to remain in a state of thankfulness no matter what negative circumstances might befall them, as opposed to spiraling down into a state of despair, unthankfulness or against him.
He never taught us, however, to be thankful for evil or depravity. If we follow Murphy’s logic, all of us would make it our practice to thank God for evil as well as Satan. And that being the case, all of us might as well cast our membership into the Church of Satan, and some have unknowingly done so already –see the book of Revelations!
How can anyone thank God for a man who is responsible for ordering others to engage in senseless acts of genocide and mass destruction against innocent people. Ironically, the latter is what he accused his former partner-in-crime of doing, and planning to do against the United States of America. There was another way to deal with the Iraqi situation, it was called God’s way. I cannot understand why Christians cannot understand that. My people do not know, neither do they understand…, I recall reading!
The question that any sagacious Christian should be asking is this, what spirit was and is driving an individual like George Bush? Jesus, rebuked Peter on one occasion pointing out to the Chief Apostle, that he did not recognize the spirit that spirit was operating on the inside of him (when he attempted to dissuade Jesus from his destiny). Cursing Peter-the-Knife, who didn’t eat unclean things (like Persians) walked with Jesus for years, only to learn that he still had not been converted. Nicodemus learned that he had not done much better than Peter!
Finally, Jesus did not give thanks for ‘that fox’ Herod. God’s people must understand that Satan’s number one device is deception; clearly George Bush is a deceiver. In fact he jokingly confessed that he may have misled the American people on one occasion. However, as Jesus explained to a group of Jews who claimed to be descendants of Abraham, he told them that they were of their Father the Devil, George Bush shares a similar fate.
How is it that George Bush said to his inner circle, prior to attacking Iraq that ‘Iraq is f’cked’. That is not the Spirit of God talking. Most Americans realize today that they were deceived by Mr. Bush. The next thing you know, some preachers will be giving thanks for Hitler. In the nation of Iraq, there are Sunni, Shia, Kurds et al. That some Iraqis have played into the hands of injustice in order to further their personal aims does not bode well. Of course America has had its traitors too. Anyone ever here of Benedict Arnold, or house slaves who turned on the brothers?
Common Sense my friend you are showing yourself to be full of hatred, obviously you have only read what you wanted to read of what I wrote otherwise you would realize that I agree with everything you’ve said about President Bush. We just have different ways of dealing with the issues, you spew hatred and think that everyone should hate like you do and I choose to love my eniemies as the bible teaches. This does’nt mean I don’t recognize their wrong doings, or that I don’t like discourse. My opinion is that instead of complaining and hating my time is better spent working and educating others that you don’t have to be effected by the Bush policies, you can overcome them. So like most people who can’t understand something or can’t get someone to agree with their thinking, you are reduced to calling me names. That’s okay call me names that does’nt bother me because I know who I am whose I am and to be a sad example of Christian leadership, well that might only bother me if I knew it was coming form a real Christian. So my friend i have no names to call you, I only wish you peace and happiness, and hope one day you can spot hating on people who don’t agree with you. Maybe one day you can overcome hatred and be leader you sound like you can be.
“Pastor” Murphy, you are full of something. From the door you have gotten subtle jabs in because I questioned your judgement, not your faith. Go back and read what you have posted, “Pastor”. Hate is a strong word for someone you have not ever met. I don’t gauge anyone’s relationship will God as you seem to be an expert in doing. Nor do I defer to anyone with any kind of title if we are both expressing our views. In Baltimore we have just as many “Pastors”, as drug dealers and liquor stores, and in a lot of cases, they all lead to nowhere. Maybe one day you can come off your pious perch and live up to your so-called title.
Okay so here I come waving the olive branch of peace asking if we can call a truce. The dialogue has been engaging, but as happens sometimes (and certainly I’ve been a part of my fair share on this site and others) when all sides of an argument are stated and ideological differences remain the possibility of the exchange devolving into something less substantive arises.
First, let me say Pastor Murphy, welcome to the Faith in Action site. I’ve appreciated the thoughtful presentations of your positions on this issue. While I have disagreed with some of your socio-theological stances, on this site all well communicated perspectives are welcome.
I think that the ideological fissure between you and Common Sense (a longtime Faith in Action commentator whose social lens I am pretty familiar with) has to do with your seeming embrace of Divine Right – the political and religious doctrine of royal absolutism, your unwavering stance on the Providence of God – an always controversial doctrine, and the hint of your fundamentalist/literal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures evidenced by your response to my comments on Israel and “God killing the Babylonians.”
The flavor of Faith in Action over the years has tended to swing the pendulum toward an ethic of Liberation Theology, an engagement of the Holy Scriptures from a hermeneutic of suspicion, a critical examination of pop culture Christianity, and a support of progressive political policies based on an interpretation of the prophetic. Hence, this blog has most times attracted those who share some elements of that description. That is not to say that we don’t have distinct differences of opinion – which we share without hesitancy, but it does give one an idea of how you are going to read about an issue on this site.
That said, I’m sure given my feelings about your theological stance that you would find much to disagree with on this site…we’ve been cuttin’ up for years! LOL. And I’ve noticed that sometimes new commentators go through an informal Initiation of sorts before being accepted as a Line Brother or Sister. Common Sense as of late seems to be the Big Brother with the paddle taking folks through Hell Week. (You should’ve seen him and Rev. Solomon go at it – LOL) But after the sparks fly, most times a deep mutual respect is born and though the differences remain, the debate adopts a more genteel character. There are very rare cases where persons don’t survive the informal initiation and drift off into other corners of the world wide web vowing never to return…but I think that even they lurk around the edges of our conversation biting their tongue as hard as they can deciding to never give us the satisfaction that they really didn’t leave.
With that said, and much of it in jest, I pray that you remain and keep speaking your truth. None of us will always agree – and thank God we don’t – but most times the dialogue on this site will help us to better understand the position of another which just might impact where we stand. They say that iron sharpens iron and in my experience as this blog will be 4 years old in 2009, I am a much better preacher, thinker, communicator, and writer because of the “iron” that has passed this way.
Happy Holydays and New Year to you and your family.
Ditto to everything that Pastor Brown wrote, Pastor Murphy. Pastor Murphy, do you recall studying about dialetical materialism when you were in school, i.e., thesis, antithesis and synthesis? Common Sense and I went at it first just as Pastor Brown indicated. He has been tough on you, and probably could be a bit nicer to you since you are a pastor, but having said that you have been so elitist, condescending and arrogant as a pastor, one could understand why he like Paul did with Peter, withstood you to your ‘email face’. He is a critical thinker, and to imply that he does not know Christ, because he does not share your opinion is a mistake on your part. Hopefully, you will rethink that comment!
This is one of the finest blogs that I have ever read, it is cutting edge even though some of the discussions are controversial. However, if you stick with it you will learn a lot, and it will move you beyond 2-5000 year old outdated paradigms and blind patriotism. My theme a year ago was as I was instructed to do, ‘to pursue different passions for different people’. This year God instructed me to as I do each day spiritually, what I do in the natural when each morning I put in my contact lenses before going outside. God instructed me to put on my spiritual lenses, and to see things through God’s eyes by using my spiritual lenses. And as a citizen of the ‘kingdom[s ]of Heaven’, I believe that I am seeing earth even as God does, even when it pertains to my own country.
Righteousness exalts a nation, the scriptures read, but sin is a reproach to any people (even America and especially Americans). We know to do good, however, the facts will prove that oftentimes we aren’t doing what’s right in God’s sight either. Arguments for moral relativism will not hold water with a God who would say to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not , it is still a sin. I spent 7 years in DC working with groups like DC Vote, Statehood for the District …, and during that time I spent a lot of time on the Hill, working with the CBC …!
In short, America is not above the Law, but there are many individuals in this nation who believe that we are above the Rule-of- Law. We cannot misbehave and believe that we are not going to be held accountable. Too many of our churches have become like the church at Pergamos (Pergamum), settled into the world of the United States. Too many of our kings and priests are in bed together!
We must hold our nation and our leaders accountable, just as we do with other leaders and nations of the world. I challenged a group of pastor sin Northern Virginia, who are in close proxmity to Washington DC to do the same thing. Ask yourself, as I close, how can a so-called religious USA, support a mostly securalist Israel, against religious individuals who happen to be Christian and Muslim Arabs? And ask yourself, how come the USA is the current occupant of Babylon? The truth will make us free!
Hi,what a nice pants,thanks for sharing.I will get one like that.bill
I was scanning something else about this on another blog. Interesting. Your linear perspective on it is diametrically contradicted to what I read originally. I am still mulling over the different points of view, but I’m inclined heavily toward yours. And irrespective, that’s what is so super about modern-day democracy and the marketplace of thoughts on-line.