Wednesday, January 31, 2018

This week's Bible study will be part 2 of Acts chapter 1

Replacement For a Traitor
[Acts chapter 1, verses 12-26]
To view this in any browser, click here :-)


 
Last week when we began our in-depth study and analysis of the Book of Acts, we got as far as verse 11, and Jesus had just ascended into the heavens in full view of the Eleven and the other disciples there. This week as we take up where we left off, the remaining apostles find themselves faced with the serious business of replacing the traitor Judas, who had sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. At today's price of roughly $17.50 per ounce, and assuming each of those silver coins weighed more than an ounce each – a safe bet to be sure – when we do the math that works out to a minimum of $525.00 to a maximum of roughly $1,000.00 USD. Considering who Jesus was and what he dedicated his life to – the salvation of humanity – this seems to me to be a paltry sum for the sellout of the Son of God. Judas' act of betrayal was and remains one of the most shortsighted acts in the history of humanity. With that as the framework for this week's study, let's begin at verse 12.


Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1, verses 12-14)


As we all can see, the first thing Judas lost from his betrayal of Christ, besides the chance at eternal life that he threw away, was the fellowship and camaraderie of the remaining apostles! Moreover, the apostle Luke makes a point of naming one more time, just like he did in chapter 5 of the gospel he had previously written, each and every one of the apostles. As if to add punctuation and additional emphasis, he named “Judas son of James”, the other of the original Twelve who was also named Judas, last. And as they all prayed together, with a reverence and a passion that must have been very nearly palpable, they had a communion with the risen Christ in the Spirit that must have been supernatural! Now let's continue starting at verse 15:


In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about 120) and said, 'Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus – he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.' (With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood). 'For', said Peter, 'it is written in the Book of Psalms, 'May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it'; and, 'May another take his place of leadership.'” (Acts 1, verses 15-20)


So one day after Jesus had ascended, but before the Day of Pentecost, Peter did something that happens daily in modern times – he called for a meeting. Not just any meeting, but one whose only participants were those who had witnessed the ministry of Christ, many of them from beginning to end, especially Mary and the apostles. These people had been through quite a bit over the previous 6 or 7 weeks, with Jesus being crucified and given up for dead, only to mysteriously rise from the dead three days later, then they had spent an additional 40 days and nights with our Redeemer only to see him ascend into the heavens. So Jesus had been with them, then was crucified, then came back, and had now left again with a promise of returning, but no date for that return has ever been specified anywhere in the Bible. So the apostles had been in a state of constant prayer, not counting sleeping and eating, since the day of Jesus' departure from the earth.


The first thing Peter did was to address the painful topic of Judas. Please understand, these people had lost a co-worker and Judas was, up until the night of his betrayal, regarded as family by most, if not all, of the rest of the apostles. To address this issue, he quoted twice from the Book of Psalms: “May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it” comes from Psalms 69: 25, and “May another take his place of leadership”, comes from Psalms 100: 8. You can be sure that a lot of those people were really hurt by Judas' betrayal of Christ. Judas had been there since the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, and many of the apostles and other disciples, not to mention the ladies, were still trying to process Judas' treasonous activities – especially considering the relatively small sum Judas settled for. We can all be sure none of these people had seen any of this coming – none except for Jesus. Moreover, they were also figuring out that Jesus must have known in advance what Judas was going to do, and yet our Lord and Savior did nothing to stop him, and said nothing to the rest of them either. I can barely imagine the consternation this must have caused the apostles as they said to each other, “If only we had known it was Judas; if only we had known what he was doing”.


The last thing that bears mentioning here is the part about the “Field of Blood” and the description of Judas' untimely demise. The Gospel of Matthew says that Judas went and hung himself (see chapter 27 of Matthew's gospel). On the surface, this would seen to be a contradiction until we examine the facts more closely. Gruesome as it is, Judas’ dead body hung in the hot sun of Jerusalem, and the bacteria inside his body would have been actively breaking down tissues and cells. A byproduct of bacterial metabolism is often gas. The pressure created by the gas forces fluid out of the cells and tissues and into the body cavities. The body becomes bloated as a result. In addition, tissue decomposition occurs compromising the integrity of the skin. Judas’ body was similar to an overinflated balloon, and as he hit the ground (due to the branch he hung on or the rope itself breaking) the skin easily broke and he burst open with his internal organs spilling out. There is no contradiction surrounding Judas’ death; rather, merely two descriptions given by two different authors of the same event. Also, keep in mind that the apostle Luke was a doctor by trade, which would explain the graphic description of Judas' pathetic demise. And now let's conclude this week's study starting at verse 21.


“”Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.' So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, 'Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.' They cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the 11 apostles.” (Acts 1, verses 21-26)


In verse 21, Peter is speaking directly to the Eleven, plus an undetermined number of other disciples with them. Let's not forget, too, that everyone involved, about 120 altogether, had been in a state of serious prayer for days on end prior to this conversation taking place. We can all be absolutely sure that the top priority was who would replace Judas. I think it is likely that part of their prayers had to do with making sure that whatever had transpired as far as Judas was concerned would never occur again. As I wrote above, when Judas betrayed the Lord Christ Jesus for an absurdly low sum of money, it shocked everyone because no one had expected that to occur – Judas' treasonous act was completely outside their frames of reference. So you can be sure that their prayers were those of the greatest passion and conviction, and with a whole lot of due deference to God Almighty.


Then they prayed, 'Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.'” Judas Iscariot, Peter was saying with his prayer, was burning in hell, and deservedly so. By prying that way he was crystallizing the state of mind and spirit of the entire group, as if to say, “What happened with Judas was what it was – we have to move on now, so let's get to it.” And so Matthias was selected to replace Judas, even though the Bible never says any more about him. Although I can't say for sure, I suspect the reason is that the record of Matthias' service to the early Church has been lost to history. That, however, does not take away from his status as a servant of Christ and the replacement for Judas the traitor. On that note, I'll see everyone back next week as we move on to part 3 of Acts chapter 1.


Sunday, January 28, 2018

Is World War 3 On Our Horizon? Better Hope Not.

Some Foretelling of Our Future, but Not From Me
by Web pastor Paul J. Bern
To view this on my website, click here :-)



This week as I continue to warn people about certain cataclysmic events that will happen in the fairly near future, I'm going to change the focus from one centered on the United States to that of a global focus. We seem to be headed for a combination of events in human history of great importance. Much of these traumatic events will be economic in nature. As you know, the US dollar is on the ropes, being in the process of being replaced by the Chinese Yuan as the World Reserve Currency. A major devaluation of the dollar is sure to follow, likely by 50% or more, and Wall Street will be just another financial center like the FTSE in London and so on. Never mind what the main stream media tells you, they lost all their credibility after the 2016 elections and have yet to regain it.


The Bible also prophesies about natural disasters of all kinds as the End Times come upon us, just as they currently are. For example, in Revelation chapter 8, where the apostle John wrote about the 2nd Trumpet, verses 8-9 read, “The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.” Further down in 'the 7 Trumpets' by just a few verses, John elaborates on a gigantic earthquake of unprecedented proportions, and Jesus corroborated this in Mathew 24 and Luke 21. But for today I'm going to go to a new place in the Bible where we haven't been before, the Book of Joel towards the back of the Old Testament, right between Hosea and Amos. There is a lot of prophetic stuff in this short little book that bears our attention, but for the sake of brevity I'm going to be sticking to the main points. For starters, let's go to Joel chapter 2, verses 1-2, and I quote:


Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come.”


In the above verses, “Zion” is the hill just outside Jerusalem that is sometimes called “Mount Zion”. This is the small mountain – just 2,510 feet at its summit – from which Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, and to which he will return someday soon, just as we studied 3 weeks ago in part 3 of Luke chapter 24. “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy hill.” On the surface this would appear to be a prophecy directed at the nation of Israel, and in fact that would be correct (see Deuteronomy 6: 4; Isaiah 27: 6; Mark 12: 29; Romans 9: 6; and Ephesians 3: 6). However, in order for this to be occurring the United States, Israel's greatest ally by far, would have to be either taken out of the way or would turn against Israel somehow. But I have searched the Scriptures and can find no such instance of that occurring. There are only three ways the United States could be neutralized or otherwise removed from its position as a global superpower – by military defeat, by a natural disaster or an economic collapse of some kind.


Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.” As I wrote just above, this seems to describe a huge calamity of some kind. “.... darkness and gloom” and “clouds and blackness” could be the aftermath of the mountain-sized boulder striking the ocean as described in Revelation chapter 8, or what's left of the planet after a nuclear war. “Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be.....” Currently the largest and most potent military by far is that of the USA. So this is either a reference to American military power in the Last Days, or to a military alliance greater than that of the United States. Well, you probably know that Russia and China signed a sweeping treaty agreement a couple of years ago. This agreement pledged cooperation between the two giant nations both militarily and economically. Only time will tell whose military this is referring to in Joel's prophecy, but a Russia-China alliance is a distinct possibility.


In the closing verses of the Book of Joel he wrote: “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, 'I am strong!' Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O Lord.....The sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” (Joel 3, verses 9-11, 15-16)


As you can clearly see, there in nothing ambiguous at all about this passage of Scripture. This is about as blunt and direct as you can get. Notice, too, all the armies of the world are gathering around the nation of Israel. As I wrote earlier, the only way this could occur would be for Israel's main ally, the USA, to be taken out of the picture completely. This doesn't necessarily mean the US will cease to exist, but it will be unable to respond to Israel's cries for help. This is ominous for America, to say the least. This also means Israel will be effectively isolated strategically, militarily and economically. “Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Israel is strategically situated at the junction between the Middle East, Africa and Europe, facing the Mediterranean sea. Moreover, one of the world's largest deposits of oil and natural gas were found a few miles off Israel's coast back in 2015, making Israel energy independent just like most of the other Arab countries with large oil and gas deposits.


Let the weakling say, 'I am strong!'” Everybody wants to get in on this future war, even some of the smaller countries (like Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, maybe?). Why? Because there is no one to oppose them, since Israel's primary ally, the United States, is evidently no longer in the picture. “Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O Lord...” Hurry up, there's no time to waste! All you various armies, take your positions and prepare for the order to attack! Strike now while the iron's still red hot! But what does the next sentence say? “Bring down your warriors, O Lord.” You want to fight with God, do you? OK, bring on your soldiers and God will bring forth his. That is precisely what the prophet Joel was saying here. This battle between the forces of good and evil, of God and Satan, is likely a reference to the Battle of Armageddon that is prophesied in Daniel chapter 12, Revelation chapter 19 (not Rev. 18, that's another battle), and other places.


The sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people....” What would cause that to occur, not being able to see the sun, moon and stars? What would blot out the sky both day and night? More smoke and soot than any of us could imagine, most likely. I can only think of 3 things that could produce that much smoke and soot to the point of nearly blotting out the sun and moon, while rendering the stars invisible at night. Every night, in such an event, would be like a new moon. Either a massive volcanic eruption, or the earth being struck by a comet or meteor, or the fires of World War Three – those are the three main things I can think of that would cause such a calamity as that. Any of the three possibilities based on today's scripture I have just named would be catastrophic. For any of us to fail to heed these warnings that are in Bible prophecy – and Bible prophecy is right 100% of the time – would be equally catastrophic. Remember, this isn't just my opinion, I'm taking this message right straight from the Bible. Be sure and receive this message the same way. Shalom....

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Fireworks, Smokescreens And The Coming Smart Prison

This week's Bible study will be part 1 of Acts chapter 1

The Writings of the Apostle Luke
part 2: the Book of Acts
by pastor Paul J. Bern
[Acts chapter 1, verses 1-11]
To view this on my website, click here :-)


Last week we concluded Part One of this series of Biblical teachings as written by the apostle Luke, none other than the Gospel according to Luke. This week we will commence Part Two with an exhaustive study on the Book of Acts. This is one of the most important books in the Bible because it chronicles everything that happened once Jesus had ascended into the heavens. The entire history of the early church is contained in these 28 chapters, which were written somewhere around 50-65 A.D, since Luke died for his faith and was martyred in approximately 75 A.D. No one knows the exact year of Luke's martyrdom to the best of my knowledge, but the fact that Luke gave his life for Christ's memory commands my respect; and so let that command the respect of us all. With that in mind, let's begin at verse 1 of chapter 1, and I quote:


In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote all about what Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a total of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'” (Acts 1, verses 1-5)


When we think back to the very first Bible study on the writings of the apostle Luke I published online a little over a year ago, you will recall I pointed out that the gospel of Luke was comprised of a letter to Theophilus, an individual of apparent nobility about whom little else is known. The fact that Luke's gospel and the Book of Acts start out in exactly the same way proves fairly conclusively that the two books have the same author. Notice the very next thing Luke points out is that Christ was alive, and had in point of fact literally risen from the grave after being there for three full days. This has not happened before or since in all of human history, proving even more conclusively that Christ Jesus was in fact the Son of God. Moreover, Jesus stayed behind for a total of 40 days just so there could be no misunderstanding about who this man truly was!


As part of his final instructions, our Lord and Savior told the Eleven, together with all the others, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised”. This gift, as our Risen Savior said in the very next sentence, was that of the Holy Spirit, or simply the Spirit of our departed Lord, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding on behalf of all who believe, so that our souls may all be saved after our bodies wear out and die. Those who refused to believe will not be included in those numbers. Let that sink in for a minute. I mean, this isn't just my opinion, that fact is written all through the Bible (see Psalm 37: 39-40; Isaiah 25: 9; Matthew 1: 21; Acts 16: 31; Ephesians 2: 8; Hebrews 7: 25). I encourage each of you to read those verses in your Bibles, or pull them up on the Internet if you don't own or can't afford to buy a Bible. After doing so, let's conclude this week's Bible study starting at verse 6.


So when they met together, they asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' After he had said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee', they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way in which you have seen him go into heaven.'” (Acts 1, verses 6-11)


As the apostle Luke demonstrates, the apostles were still thinking very much in human terms rather than in the Spirit of Christ. After all, their question was based on what we would call Old Testament theology today. Rather than directly answering their questions about Israel's future at that time – since Christ had already told the apostles all about Israel's fate back in Luke chapter 21 – our Savior pointedly told the apostles that the times and dates they asked about were on a need-to-know basis, and that none of them needed to know. That, by extension, includes ourselves. So if anybody puts a video up on You Tube, or if some TV preacher comes right out and says that they know the day of the return of the Lord, do not listen to those people! Have nothing whatsoever to do with any such self-appointed “prophet” or “apostle”! “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” The phony prophets I just mentioned derive their power from their intellects and their personalities, which are often highly practiced – you know, like a sales pitch. It is derived from the world around us. But the Holy Spirit of the Risen Lord and Savior is derived from the Heaven above us. That's why the nature of the Holy Spirit is so radically different than that of the world.


“....you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is a process that is still going on 2,000 years later. Never in the entire history of humankind has one single man left such a gigantic legacy! I myself, in my humble little way as I try to emulate my Savior, try to reach as many people as I can with the Gospel of Christ via the Internet. Though I am disabled and work primarily from home, particularly since I don't currently own a car, I still try and reach as many as I can with the Good News of Jesus Christ. “After he had said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” Just as Jesus rose from his borrowed grave supernaturally, so he rose up from the earth until he was out of sight. I can barely imagine the perplexity the apostles must have felt as they watched Jesus slowly lifting up and out of sight. There is no way of knowing how Christ did that with no visible means to do so, but the very next sentence ties it all together very nicely, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way in which you have seen him go into heaven.” Unlike today's space program, Jesus needed no count-down nor a launch pad, nor any fanfare. He simply ascended into heaven in a matter-of-fact way, but his return will be accompanied by some pretty dramatic telltale signs.


Those signs are all around us today, all we have to do is look. Earthquake activity is at an all-time high, climate change poses a genuine threat to the long-term viability of humankind in general – including how and where we can grow our food and livestock. Much of the world today is a political and economic powder keg, with economic inequality at an all-time high. Meanwhile, our debt-based, predatory capitalist economic system has pretty much run its course because it is running out of debt it can generate, combined with the encroachment of “crypto-currencies” on to its territory. The world as we have known it at least since we've been alive is in a state of flux, and where it stops to rest is anyone's guess. It is for these reasons and more that it is ever more important to stay grounded in the Word of God. And next week we'll move on to part 2 of Acts chapter 1.


Sunday, January 21, 2018

Which Do You Choose -- Your TV or Your Soul?

Reasons to Stop Watching T.V. 
For Secular and Christian Alike
by pastor Paul J. Bern
For viewing in any browser, click here :-)



I was asked by a reader this past week if I had ever considered posting a piece on the evils of watching television. Actually, in the past I had considered doing exactly that, but every time I got ready to, something of greater importance would come up with respect to current events. For example, I could have wrote about the US government shut-down that just occurred this past Friday, but everybody saw that one coming anyway. Besides, I'm hoping this shut-down will be short-lived! Moreover 0, since so much of this is continuously being disseminated in the Lame Stream Media, I will leave reporting on the US government shut down to them. The larger aspect of this is that the shut-down, along with all the other information you can possibly stand whether you like it or not, is being presented to the public via television.


According to some facts and figures from TV-Free America (1322 18th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036) regarding American television viewing habits, I categorize them as follows:
[1] FAMILY LIFE
  • Percentage of households that possess at least one television: 99
  • Number of TV sets in the average U.S. household: 2.24
  • Percentage of U.S. homes with three or more TV sets: 66
  • Number of hours per day that TV is on in an average U.S. home: 6 hours, 47 minutes
  • Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66
  • Number of hours of TV watched annually by Americans: 270 billion
  • Value of that time assuming an average wage of $10/hour: $2.5 trillion
  • Percentage of Americans who pay for cable TV: 66
  • Number of videos rented daily in the U.S.: 7 million
  • Number of public library items checked out daily: 3 million
  • Percentage of Americans who say they watch too much TV: 49
[2] CHILDREN
  • Approximate number of studies examining TV's effects on children: 5,000
  • Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful
  • conversation with their children: 3.5
  • Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680
  • Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 77
  • Percentage of parents who would like to limit their children's TV watching: 77
  • Percentage of 4-6-year-olds who, when asked to choose between watching TV
    and spending time with their fathers, preferred television: 54
  • Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours
  • Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500
[3] VIOLENCE
  • Number of murders seen on TV by the time an average child finishes elementary school: 8,000
  • Number of violent acts seen on TV by age 18: 200,000
  • Percentage of Americans who believe TV violence helps precipitate real life mayhem: 79
[4] COMMERCIALISM
  • Number of 30-second TV commercials per hour: 40
  • Percentage of local TV news broadcast time devoted to advertising: 30
  • Percentage devoted to stories about crime, disaster and war: 53.8
  • Percentage devoted to public service announcements: 0.7
  • Percentage of Americans who can name The Three Stooges: 59
  • Percentage who can name at least three justices of the U.S. Supreme Court: 17
  • Number of TV commercials seen by the average person by age 65: 2 million
  • Percentage of survey participants (1993) who said that TV commercials
  • aimed at children make them too materialistic: 93
  • Rank of food products/fast-food restaurants among TV advertisements to kids: 1
  • Total spending by 100 leading TV advertisers in 1993: $15 billion



According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. Let me select a quote from the Old Testament about that: “You shall have no other gods before me, You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love for a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20, verses 3-5) Can your television become an idol? In many cases and with many individuals and even whole families, evidently so!


Let's review, shall we? Americans spend an average of 6 ¾ hours daily watching or streaming TV. Half of Americans admit they watch too much TV – the rest just don't realize it yet. School age children watch nearly 1,700 minutes of TV weekly, while half of those kids would rather watch TV than spend time with their fathers. This fact in and of itself is a scathing indictment of American dads because it points to a lack of parenting.



Elementary school kids see 8,000 acts of violence on TV by the time they move on to junior high school. By the time they finish high school that number jumps to a breathtaking 200,000! Is it any wonder there is so much violence and even fatal shootings in our schools? Our children are being bombarded with violence nearly 24/7! At every turn all they see and feel is violence, inappropriate sexuality and a general disconnect from reality via the technology they're using that is very unhealthy. Moreover, one third of TV viewing consists of one commercial after another, while any given person watches 40 commercials for every hour of viewing. So now you know the real, underlying reason the networks advertise their news programs so much! They want to bombard you with a bunch of third world crap that none of us needs or wants. Everybody has had just about enough of these abuses, and that includes myself! And yes, by the way, your TV is your idol! You Christians spend an hour or two each week at church but you watch 6 ¾ hours of TV per day? You are all in idolatry! Repent of your sins, every one of you! Unsubscribe from your cable or satellite TV, and get a set of rabbit ears for the local news if you want. Stream what you want to watch over the Internet, and if you have children at home, block the TV on their phones so they can't watch it. If you really love your kids you will be glad to do this for them.



In closing, I will leave you with a quote from James chapter 1, verses 26-27: “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” OK, so if we want to emulate the apostle James – who was martyred for his apostleship – and keep ourselves pure, we will have to make a choice – devotion to Jesus or devotion to our televisions. The fact that we are spending at least 20 times more time with our TV's than at church, even more if we count our prayer time, speaks volumes about where our hearts are. So do yourselves and your souls a favor – turn off your TV and disconnect your cable or dish and use that time to find someone who needs help. Go volunteer somewhere. All you parents, start spending more time with your kids instead of using your televisions for babysitters. The kids will appreciate you for it, and their grades will get better in school if they know their parents really care. Mass entertainment does more harm than good. The novelty of television wore off decades ago. Nowadays it's just a nuisance. Better still, take your TV out to the back yard and kill it.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Free book excerpt #18 from blogger, Web pastor and author Rev. Paul J. Bern

The Middle and Working Class Manifesto” by Rev. Paul J. Bern.

Watch the video at http://youtu.be/VZguRDJmCqc

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I Dare To Dream
(excerpt from “The Middle and Working Class Manifesto 3rd Edition” by Pastor Paul J. Bern)

The march of economic inequality, from which springs the source of racism, poverty, crime, violence, and lack of access to healthcare and higher education, has become the new civil rights issue of the 21st century. (I like to call it Rev. Dr. MLK, Jr. 2.0.) King's dream of unconditional equality throughout the country can finish becoming a reality when the economic barriers that we all face on a daily basis finally come down for good, like an economic Berlin Wall circa 1989. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the masses during the 1963 civil rights march on Washington and said, “I have a dream...”. By writing and publishing these words it is my intent to help take up where King's Dream left off, and to do anything I can to help finish the job that he started. And so let me slightly change that to, “I dare to dream”.

I dare to dream of a world in which the gap between rich and poor is gone forever. We all deserve to live in a world where wealth has been redistributed in a peaceful and orderly manner and not by the barrel of a gun. I dare to dream of a country where wealth has been redistributed in 4 ways. First, every worker earns a living wage so poverty can be eliminated. Second, free higher education and vocational retraining must be available to every worker for life, including daycare available to all, that would be based on the worker's or student's ability to pay on a sliding scale, because everyone has the right to better themselves at will. Third, I envision an America where quality health care is available to every worker at nominal cost for life. Single-payer healthcare based on the current Medicare model must not be reserved only for those who can afford it, but it must be a fundamental human right for all ages. I dare to dream of an America where there will be no such thing as someone without health insurance, where every citizen will have lifetime healthcare and prescription drug coverage without qualification, and where there will be the fewest sick days for American workers and their children of any country in the developed world. Fourth, “we the people” demand the abolition of the federal tax code, including elimination of the despised federal withholding tax, which would give every American worker or business owner an immediate 18% pay raise.

I dare to dream of a new America with a robust and viable economy. That is why I have been insisting on a $14.00 per hour minimum wage since 2010. I dare to dream of a new America where education will be subsidized from the cradle to the grave so that the US develops the most formidable work force the world has ever seen. I dare to dream of an America where all workers have the right to organize, to a flexible work week and to paid family or maternity leave. Most other developed countries already do this. The US is the only exception and that has got to change. The only remaining question in my mind is whether we can accomplish this peacefully or otherwise, and it looks more and more to me like it will be the latter.

I dare to dream of an America where affordable housing is the law of the land, where home ownership becomes a right and not a privilege so we can wipe out homelessness, and where the price of a house is limited to the sum total of ten years income of any given individual or household purchasers. I insist on a country where home ownership isn't part of an exclusive club with the highest “credit scores”. It is, and must become, a basic human right. Even the cave men lived in caves of their own!

I dare to dream of a country with new public works programs that put an end to unemployment forever so the USA can have full employment all the time. America's infrastructure needs to be rebuilt, and its inner cities are in dire need of an overhaul. What a better way to accomplish this!

I dare to dream of a new America with an all-new public school and university system that has an Internet-based curriculum that can be updated at will, and that is second to none in the developed world, with a new and more intensive school year, and that has viable replacements for standardized testing, and where class size is limited by law. I dare to dream of a country where teachers make what their Congressional representatives make, and vice verse.

I dare to dream of a new nation where unconditional equality is the law of the land for every citizen without exception, and this will include economic equality. I dare to dream of a new America where there is no more income tax, no capital gains tax, no alternative minimum tax, no estate tax, no self-employment tax, and where families and businesses can have a tax free income unless they are very wealthy. In its place would be a national sales tax, such as a Consumption Tax, where everyone pays proportionately the same tax rate on only what they consume, plus an “excess wealth tax” for persons with annual incomes exceeding $3 million, and for businesses with annual proceeds exceeding $300 million, so America's budget can be balanced and fair.

I dare to dream of a better USA where personal privacy is the law of the land, where identity theft is a thing of the past, and where it will be illegal for employers to obtain the credit files or credit scores of any job applicant.

I dare to dream of a more compassionate America where children have the right to a challenging and progressive learning environment, and where kids will be legally guaranteed freedom from hunger, sickness and violence, and where all God's children will have the right to safe adoption, foster care and day care.

I dare to dream of an all-new voting system, including the abolition of the elitist Electoral College, that is Internet-based, paperless, and that can be accessed from any location using any computer or wireless device, instead of wasting our time and fuel and losing work time going to polling stations, and instead of using unreliable and unsecured voting machines.

I dare to dream of an America of integrity where all of the dirty corporate money and all the filthy lucre is abolished from our political process. I dare to dream of an America where the Wall Street shysters who crashed the US economy are brought to justice, and where the keys to all of the fraudulently foreclosed homes are returned to their rightful owners.

I dare to dream of the end to America's sinister war on drugs, where all convicted nonviolent drug offenders can qualify for alternative sentences for their offenses so they may obtain early release, and where all the currently illegal drugs are legalized, regulated and taxed by appropriate legislation.

Finally, I dare to dream of a world in which all this is easily financially achievable because all the money that is being wasted currently on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and to a lesser extent in Pakistan, Libya and elsewhere will be redirected towards all these dreams that I have just mentioned. The money is already there, its just being budgeted in all the wrong places. Let me tell you why.

If the US military took all the money it spends occupying Afghanistan for just one day and put it into an interest-bearing account, there would be enough money available to send every American school kid from the first grade up to senior year in high school through 4 years of college fully paid for, including tuition, dorms, books, food, access to the Internet and to public transportation. Here's another example: If the US government took all that money set aside from one days worth of military expenditures in Afghanistan alone, there would be enough money to build a 2,500 square feet house, fully furnished and stocked with groceries, with all the utilities already turned on, for every homeless person in the US including all the homeless kids. That's how easily we can end homelessness in the richest country in the world.

Just as surely as there was an Arab Spring beginning in 2011 that is still ongoing in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Somalia, to name a few, so I am telling you that there will be an American Spring in her near future. In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't already begun. Beginning in 2011 with the start-up of the “Occupy” and “99%” Movements, of which I am proud to be a part, this uprising of the American people against the top 1% will explode like an atomic mushroom cloud over the American political and economic elite, obliterating them all in a bloodless coup without anyone having fired a single shot – so that the remaining 99% of us can peacefully take back what has been stolen from us over the last 100 years. We can only accomplish this by uniting together as one and acting as one body to break free from the shackles of oppression that have us all enslaved. Who is with me today?

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Watch the video at http://youtu.be/VZguRDJmCqc Thanks so much. Shalom!

Sunday, January 14, 2018

The MLK Holiday and the State of America: What Would Jesus Say?

The Hijacking of a Dream:
Reclaiming Rev. Dr. King’s Legacy
by pastor and published author Paul J. Bern
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As we celebrate another Martin Luther King holiday, America needs to perform a re-assessment of what this memorial holiday truly means to all of us. On August 28, 2011, the dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial took place on the National Mall in Washington DC. Having the dedication of this memorial on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington, was clearly a symbolic gesture — paying homage to one of the many defining moments in the great civil rights leader’s life. However, the corporate contributors of this event, along with many of the politicians that were in attendance, were and are symbolic themselves. They are symbols of everything Dr. King was, and would be, opposed to if he were alive today. These charlatans and hucksters know very well of this fact, which is exactly why they, together with the mainstream media and an ever-shrinking segment of prejudiced Americans of all colors and races, continue to desperately try to reshape the image of Dr. King. If these people have their way, Dr. King and his legacy will stand for nothing more than a superficial image. They fervently wish to recreate him into someone they can feel more comfortable with. This is why most children can only recite one quote in relationship to Dr. King —“I have a dream.” Our kids and many of their parents don't even know the whole message.



Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for much more than what mainstream America has methodically reduced him to. In fact, if he were alive today, many of the corporate war mongering politicians, including President Trump, would be vilifying Dr. King as if he were some crazed angry black man. This is why we will never hear the likes of Barack Obama quote Dr. King when he referred to the US government as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today”. Dr. King said those powerful and honest words on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City, exactly a year before he was assassinated. Nearly five decades later, the US government is still the greatest purveyor of violence on earth. You can bet that the following quote will not be read at all in King's memory:


As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”



After reading Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence” speech, anyone still thinking that he would be in approval of what this current administration is doing in places like Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan, need to rethink their conclusions. Dr. King was much more than simply a man who was anti-war; he was a man who stood for peace and social justice. He was truly a man of principles and convictions, which is why he was unafraid of speaking truth to so-called power. Remaining silent, as so many gutless politicians and celebrities do today, was not an option within Dr. King’s conscience. And because of this, he was routinely targeted by the US government, by way of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and devils minions such as FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover.



The American empire’s military-industrial complex is a vastly profitable behemoth that must be fed a steady diet of wars in order to maintain its existence. Those who threaten the existence of this killing machine become expendable. Dr. King’s outspokenness against not only the Vietnam War, but also the military industrial complex, secured his status as a target. Dr. King’s “crime” was that he dared to challenge the conscience of a nation entangled within the web of an imperialist war throughout Southeast Asia. Among other things he said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Which one of the political frauds, or entertainers, in attendance at the dedication to Dr. King’s memorial took such a courageous stance in solidarity with Martin Luther King, Jr.? None, that's how many. Zero.



Over a trillion dollars have been expended on these foreign wars since 2001 —- while people in the US are all losing their homes to foreclosures, school systems are being de-funded, and 40,000 Americans die each year due to a lack health insurance. That's more people than all who died in auto accidents last year. If Dr. King’s statement is true then America’s spirit must be on life support — needing an end to its profligate defense spending as part of a multi-tiered remedy for rehabilitation. Dr. King knew very well about the US government’s record of going into countries, whose governments refused to be obsequious to their addiction to other nation’s resources, and then destabilizing them by waging war, by assassination of leaders, or both. These are, in fact, the kind of immoral acts of war that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be completely opposed to, along with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq before that. His life should give us ample reason to come to this conclusion, and only this conclusion. However, how many children in America know this? Dr. King’s image has been reshaped by some amoral adults as well as by other adults who have been purposely mis-educated.



In regards to people of color, especially poor people, Dr. King had a knack for placing their living conditions within the context of institutional racism and its impact on their communities. In 1968, not long before his assassination, Dr. King said, “It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.” The great civil rights leader said those words within a speech he gave to his staff at a SCLC meeting in Frogmore, South Carolina as he was preparing them for the Poor People’s Campaign. His commitment to black people – and poor people in general – was the polar opposite of the last several presidents, who seemed at times to excel at marginalizing those demographics while catering to their corporate and military bosses.



In the same “Beyond Vietnam” speech, Dr. King gave a prescient warning when he said, “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” Today in 2018 much of the world is suffering from the impact of America’s insatiable hunger for global domination. The USA’s runaway military industrial complex continues to take lives away from innocent civilians in places like Venezuela, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, to name just a few. The American military industrial complex creates carnage abroad while preventing Americans from having things like a world-class single-payer health care system. In 2018 institutional racism remains a disease that destroys the lives of people of color in America by way of ruthless police brutality, enforced economic inequality and intentionally unequal school systems — to name a few. Also in 2018, runaway capitalism is imposing economic terrorism on countless people and their rapidly disintegrating communities. Dr. King’s words are surely more relevant now than ever before.



The dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was assured to be a most superficial event replete with superficial politicians and luminaries when it was held back in 2013. The organizers of this event and their corporate cronies were promoting and selling everything from expensive hotel rooms, sponsorship opportunities, to high priced exhibitor space. In essence, they were “honoring” Dr. King by not embracing his legacy of social justice, but by financially capitalizing on his name. There were no speeches of ending America’s imperialist wars, like Dr. King did. Anyone with such a message trying to get on that stage would have been swiftly removed by security. There were no speeches about destroying institutional racism in America. Instead, the lie of America being a post racist country was and still is bandied all around. Don’t expect any talk about waging a war on poverty — after all, some of the sponsors of this event are in fact large multinational corporations (such as Wal-Mart, Monsanto and numerous others) that benefit from destroying local businesses while dissuading their workers from unionizing.



Dr. King once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” He also famously said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Ending institutional racism in America, eradicating poverty and homelessness, tearing down the US prison-industrial complex by ending the drug wars, and stopping the US military’s destructive and endless wars – these are the things that really matter. They matter so much that life and death hinge upon each injustice. It is obvious that we cannot expect Democrats or Republicans to vociferously break their collective silence about the cauldron of social injustices that have been brewing in America for quite some time — that job must be ours, starting with the clergy like myself, since Congress and the President refuse to do any such thing. We must raise our collective voices and speak out against them and stand up for justice. As the 2018 King Holiday comes and goes, this is the greatest way we can honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!









Thursday, January 11, 2018

This week's Biblical study will be part 3 of Luke chapter 24

Jesus Appears to All, Then Ascends to the Heavens
[Luke chapter 24, verses 36-53]
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Last week when we concluded part two of Luke chapter 24, the two apostles and those with them had encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus, but had not recognized him until they all sat down hours later and broke bread together. At that point Jesus disappears from their midst, and they all go running back to Jerusalem to tell the Eleven and the other disciples. “It is true!”, the others had excitedly told them all; “Jesus is alive!” At this point things are proceeding fairly quickly by first century A.D. standards, as we will see as we reach the conclusion of our study of the Gospel of Luke. So let's take up where we left off, beginning at verse 36.


While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you'. They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still did not believe this because of joy and amazement, he asked them, 'Do you have anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (Luke 24, verses 36-43)


Just like before when they were breaking bread at the house in Emmaus when Jesus disappeared from among them, Jesus suddenly reappears to everyone all at once! This understandably unnerves everyone at best or terrifies them at worst. “He said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.'” So here we have Jesus trying to reassure the apostles and disciples that he really is who he seems to be, while the apostles and the others are incredulous, disbelieving their own eyes. You know, it just occurred to me that I would give anything to be in that room with the rest of them, viewing the risen Lord and Savior. Someone probably muttered something like, “I can't believe my own eyes”, or something to that effect.


When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still did not believe this because of joy and amazement, he asked them, 'Do you have anything here to eat?'” A jumble of joy, amazement and incredulity, mixed with considerable skepticism and disbelief (“but this is impossible!”), was swirling around inside the heads of everyone present, especially the remaining Eleven, who had stood at a distance and watch our Lord and Messiah die on the cross. In what must have sounded like an afterthought to everyone there except for Jesus, our Redeemer asked for something to eat. I guess any of us would have been hungry too, after spending three days in a grave! So someone – it doesn't say who – cooked up a fish filet from the morning catch and presented it to Jesus. I'm quite certain that Christ the Lord thoroughly enjoyed that freshly cooked piece of fish! I am equally certain whoever cooked up that perfectly prepared delicacy is currently enjoying their mansion in Paradise! And now let's move on to part 2 of today's study.


He said to them, 'This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that was written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.' Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, 'This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.'” (Luke 24, verses 44-48)


“.... he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” Remember when Jesus caught up with the two apostles on the Emmaus road from last week's lesson? After they told what had happened to Jesus while walking along, without realizing that it was Jesus they were speaking to, Jesus explained everything about the Law and the prophets as they walked towards town. Now, here he is doing it again, this time for the benefit of everyone there, probably a couple dozen people or so, maybe more. “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations.” Our Savior and Redeemer wasn't talking about the Bible as we know it today, because it didn't exist yet. He was referring to the prophets of old: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, David, Zachariah, Joel and many more. It is for this reason that I continue to maintain when we read and study God's Word, it is imperative to include the Old Testament with the new, since we really can't have one without the other. The Old and New Testaments are inextricably intertwined with one another!


This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Jesus was telling them in no uncertain terms that our sins could be forgiven, a previously unheard-of concept before Jesus Christ came along and abolished all of it. So not only were the Apostles still trying to wrap their 1st century brains around Christ being raised from the dead, they found themselves equally confounded by the new concept of the forgiveness of sins – not by our own acts of contrition, but by the Supreme Sacrifice of Christ the Lord! It was a very big deal back then, and it still is today. And the apostles, Jesus said, “were witnesses of all these things”. And now let's conclude today's study starting at verse 49.


'I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.' When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the Temple, praising God.” (Luke 24, verses 49-53)


Jesus was instructing the apostles and those with them to remain in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit, which Jesus referred to as being “clothed with power from on high”. Speaking from personal experience, having received my own Holy Spirit baptism in western Texas some 10 years ago, 'power from on high' is a very accurate description. Experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit of Christ flowing through you is similar in some ways to an electrical current, except that the Holy Spirit can't hurt you, with the possible exception of conviction for wrongdoing. “When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.” Blessed them? Jesus was congratulating all those who were with him for a job well done, and to keep up the good work. They had learned their lessons well, they had made the grade, and Jesus' ascension was tantamount to a graduation ceremony for them first, and for the rest of humanity second. First for themselves since they were the appointed apostles of Christ Jesus here on earth, and 2nd for the world because of the new salvation available to all who will embrace it while turning away from their evil ways, destructive habits and wrong thinking.


“.... they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the Temple, praising God.” If there is anyone out there who doesn't feel renewed about the ministry of Jesus and his message of joy and peace, I recommend you find out what is holding you back, or keeping you separate from it. If you're not sure why, or if you know somethings is wrong but don't know how to define or label it, remember there is no shame in asking for help. Moreover, help is close by and in many forms, just search on the internet or phone, or you can find my contact page by clicking here. The main point I wish to make, then, is that the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, after being dead and entombed for 3 days is the chief motivator for Jesus followers everywhere. Our separation from God by the sin of Adam and Eve has been rectified by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, so humanity is no longer under condemnation (see Romans 8: 1-2). So now you know why this Book of Luke is called the “gospel”, or “good news”. And so that concludes our exhaustive study of the Gospel of Luke. Next week, as we continue our Chronological study of the writings of the apostle Luke, we will move on to the Book of Acts, which will hold plenty in store for us all. It is my sincere hope that everyone who reads these studies finds them enjoyable as well as educational. Many thanks to the thousands each week who follow along!

Monday, January 8, 2018

Free book excerpt #17 from blogger and author Rev. Paul J. Bern


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What If We Didn't Need Money?


(excerpt from "Occupying America: We Shall Overcome" by Rev. Paul J. Bern)
Watch the video at http://youtu.be/Z20l9ohORN4


What are these law enforcement folks protecting to begin with? The assets, infrastructure and personal privacy and security of the top 1%, that's what! The problem with that is the top 1% regard everything in sight as theirs, as if all the people in the lower income brackets – the other 99% – didn't deserve one stinking thing. In short, its all a game of acquiring the most stuff, the biggest collection of material goods of one kind or another, the fastest or most luxurious car, the most powerful truck and the biggest house. And for what? If one of us should die tomorrow, he or she can take absolutely none of it with them. As Rev. Billy Graham used to preach, “nobody ever saw a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer behind it”. It's all temporary, left behind when we are dead and gone, as all of us eventually will be, including me. It's what we leave behind that counts.


Maybe we should ask ourselves – if you haven't done so already – what kind of legacy do we want to leave? Not someone who did great things in the sight of others or who made a great fortune, but someone who took care of the needs of the people on a case by case basis. Not someone who is lauded with praise by men and women, but one who seeks the praise and approval of Almighty God as I and others like me do. I love giving some homeless guy a couple of dollars, paying an elderly widow's electric bill to keep it from being turned off, donating a used computer to an inner city school kid who needs one, and never mind their skin color either. Performing volunteer work, giving generously to your church (it doesn't have to be financial aid, there are many ways to help), sponsoring a hungry kid overseas, or adopting one here at home are the things people remember about us after we have passed, and so will God. We are to be leaving behind the things that people remember about us long after we are gone, and they must be positive things that build people up, not negative things that tear us down. We are to be contributors, being sure to give wherever possible and not living just to see how much we can earn, or even take. Takers are losers who leave holes in time.


What if we didn't need money at all? What if we had an alternative way to buy things without using traditional cash, checks or plastic? What if we didn't have to work at all, or maybe not nearly as much? Using profit as a mechanism for the control of liquid assets by and for the top 1% when the overwhelming majority of Americans have no access to those assets is obviously an economic barrier that keeps the remaining 99% of us in a bare subsistence mode. This is clearly unethical – moreover, it is discriminatory and so its constitutionality is questionable at best! Eliminating the need for money instantly wipes out poverty while putting the 99% in a favorable position to have all their basic needs met, such as shelter with a minimum of 500 square feet per resident, clean and safe food and drinking water, electricity and internet access. The 3D printing technology already in use – and still being developed – can be used to manufacture much of what else we will need. The replacement of money, and of the work that is necessary in order to earn it, are already being accomplished by computers and robots.


Technology has eliminated jobs across the board on an alarming scale – from secretarial positions to auto workers. The resulting crisis is compounded by our culture's deep denial of the basic problem. I'm old enough to remember the '60s and '70s when so many pundits described the coming glories of the "cybernetic age." Then computers would at last liberate us, they promised, from the drudgery of 9 - 5 jobs. Back then the worry was, what would we do with all that leisure time? That leisure time has since proven frustratingly elusive. Instead, most of us are working harder than ever as our employing firms "downsize." Alternatively, we're pounding the pavement looking for non-existent jobs to replace those that have been "outsourced" to Asia somewhere. Moreover, so many of the "jobs" available to the more recently laid off labor force are extremely low-paying to a humiliating degree (such as the current and pathetic minimum wage of $7.25 hourly here in Atlanta; in rural Georgia it's a paltry $5.25!). In the end, these “jobs” are nothing more than useless make-work projects that are completely unnecessary, and in some cases even destructive. Things like weapons manufacturing, the military itself, many (but not all) telemarketing companies, most insurance companies and – above all! – Wall Street jobs connected with financial speculation. None of these occupations are truly productive. And naming them as I have represents only the tip of the iceberg.


Still other jobs can easily be eliminated by technology. Think of what happened to Encyclopedia Britannica that didn't see Wikipedia coming. Think of the music industry recently involuntarily "downsized" by file sharing. And what about newspapers, currently in crisis because of alternative media websites like Democracy Now!, The Corbett Report, Alternet, Rick Hunter, Op-ed News and Truthdig, among others? Similarly Web-based education (sometimes called "distance learning") is having its own impact on higher education as brick-and-mortar campuses find themselves headed for financial oblivion. Even the oil industry is sun-setting. Imagine what that means for an entire economy and lifestyle absolutely dependent on oil. New technology will soon turn every building into an energy power plant. Surplus energy will be stored in hydrogen cells. And the energy produced will be shared person-to-person across a "smart grid". Think of the jobs that will be eliminated as a result – including those required by the energy wars that will be rendered superfluous. We are kept from discussing it only because our "drill, baby, drill" politicians have their heads so firmly stuck in the tar sands of Canada and the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. Consequently, the U.S. economy is being left in the dust.


There is an enormous amount of productive work crying out to be done across our country. The U.S. infrastructure is crumbling at an alarming rate. Green technologies in general, particularly the “smart grid”, high speed rail and public transportation are the most obvious needs. The number of potential jobs connected with them is in the millions. But there are not nearly enough green jobs to replace the ones that have been eliminated by technology and those that should be discarded because they are unsustainable, environmentally destructive and morally deficient.


So what should be done about all of this? Share the work! None of us has to work that hard unless we want to. Thanks to new technologies we could work four-hour days or three-day weeks, or for only six months a year, or every other year and still make a living wage. We could retire at 40. And this is possible world-wide. And how to pay for all of this? For starters, cut back the military budget 60%. That alone would make billions of dollars available every day just in the U.S. alone Tax the rich and the corporations – those who make up the "1%" that has ripped off the U.S. working class on an unprecedented scale over the last 30 years and more. (Remember the 91% top-level tax bracket that was in place following World War II? We could reinstate that!) Share the excess wealth or risk losing it. Boldly restructure the economy. Embrace new technology's promise along with the life of leisure and volunteer service that it offers. It is all now within our grasp. Since the government is unwilling or incapable of the restructuring I am calling for, it is up to us, “we the people”, to get the job done ourselves. Worker-owned co-ops and factories, little 1 or 2 person micro-businesses, and non-profits would make up the greater part of the business world of tomorrow.....

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Watch the video at http://youtu.be/Z20l9ohORN4