Sunday, December 28, 2014

Could the Great Tribulation foretold in the Bible begin in 2015?

Why the 7 Year Tribulation Will Most Likely Begin In 2015
by Rev. Paul J. Bern



It is a Shemitah cycle. Which means, next year begins a new seven year cycle. If the tribulation does not start next year it cannot start for seven more years. Because it’s one unit—seven days make up one week and we’re having a seven year tribulation. The first year of the tribulation begins the first year of the seven year Shemitah cycle…. We have one year to prepare before the tribulation!” --- Pastor Mark Biltz


Haven't you noticed, over the past few years, things getting a little hotter, a little heavier? Now, add to that the rate at which events are increasing, just like the pains of a woman in labor. Haven’t we all heard that somewhere before? 1 Thessalonians 5:3; “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape”. Are you among those who believe we have years left before the return of Christ? Or, are you watching the events escalate with anticipation, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the hour for His return is getting really close?


But wait! Before you start quoting scripture to me regarding ‘no man knows the day or the hour…’, let me first say that, for one, there is no day or hour recorded here or even mentioned. Secondly, we’re talking about the year ‘when’ the tribulation could ‘more than likely’ begin according to some very important information that is readily available on the Web. The keys are the number ‘seven’, the Shemitah, and the Four Blood Moons (two of which have already occurred as I write this), all together at once. All we have to do is examine Biblical End Times Prophecy (sometimes called 'eschatology') and you will understand why, with everything that is currently taking place prophetically, it makes sense that the tribulation will most likely start next year! Will it start next year? I don't know, but it certainly looks like a great possibility!


The only way that America could be saved from judgement now would be that all of us repent and God would hear in heaven and heal our land. We have mocked God. It’s time to get ready. God is specific. His numbers are always the same. Numerology will make you know God.” – Pastor Jim Bakker


Here are some examples of God's numerology. As you can see from these first examples, the number seven figures very prominently in God's kingdom all throughout the Bible. Leviticus 25: 8-13 (NCV) says, “Count off seven groups of seven years, or forty-nine years. During that time there will be seven years of rest for the land. On the Day of Cleansing, you must blow the horn of a male sheep; this will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. You must blow the horn through the whole country. Make the fiftieth year a special year, and announce freedom for all the people living in your country. This time will be called Jubilee. You will each go back to your own property, each to your own family and family group. The fiftieth year will be a special time for you to celebrate. Don’t plant seeds, or harvest the crops that grow by themselves, or gather grapes from the vines that are not trimmed. That year is Jubilee; it will be a holy time for you. You may eat only the crops that come from the field. In the year of Jubilee you each must go back to your own property.” Leviticus 25:3-4 KJV says, “Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard”.


As you will now see from the verses below, God always makes allowance and provision for those who obey all His commandments. I offer two quotes as examples: Leviticus 25:20-22 KJV; “And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store”. And, Deuteronomy 15:1-2 KJV says, “At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s release”.


God held his entire nation of Israel accountable to follow these and all other laws and precepts which God has made, all of which is for our benefit. Deuteronomy 31:10-12 says regarding this, “And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law”. (KJV)


The Bible predicts the resettlement of the Holy Land by the Jewish nation of Israel in modern times, which are the direct descendants of the same Israelites who were released from slavery at the hands of the Egyptian pharoahs. Ezekiel 36:24 (NKJV) says, “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land”. This Old Testament prophecy was confirmed in the New Testament in John's gospel (John 10:27 KJV), “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. The arrival of Russian Jews in Israel in the late 20th century, a process that continues unabated to this very day, is also predicted by the Bible in Jeremiah 31:8 (NKJV), “Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall return there”. This is confirmed later in the Old Testament in Amos 9:14 (NKJV), “I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them”.


God has warned us in the past of what could happen to us all if we fail to obey, or if we ignore, God's commandments. There are numerous examples throughout the Bible of this, and many more that predict this evil to continue ever more as we get close to the end of all things as we have known them. But more basic than that, does the Bible give humankind any advance warning about what could actually occur if we ignore God and do only as we please? I can cite several examples that coincide with Biblical prophecy. It is likely, for example, that these verses predict WW3:


Revelation 6:8 NCV; “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth”. Isaiah 24:20 KJV; “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again”. Rev. 9, verses 13-16 NIV; “The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates'. And the four angels who had been kept for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill one third of mankind. The number of their mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.”


The Bible tells us quite plainly what the aftermath of WW3 is going to be, and it will be traumatic to say the least! For example, Ezekiel 38:20 (KJV) says; “So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground”. Acts 2:20-21 (KJV) says; “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord comes: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. But God commanded the prophet Daniel to explain absolutely nothing about the details of these prophecies until the End Times arrive. Daniel 12:4 (KJV) says, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Well people, it looks to me like the End Times have arrived, and with a vengeance. 
 

The prophet Amos says yet again in Amos 8:11 (KJV), “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord”. And what, you are probably asking right about now, is the greatest sin of humankind as the end of days approaches? I can sum it up in one word: Greed. I Timothy 6:10 (KJV) says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”. But, there is a way out of all of this which is spelled out in II Chronicles 7:14 (KJV), “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”.


There is still time to seek God's face, his mind and his will. But we are just about out of time. As I said at the beginning of this week's message, two out of the four blood moons that signal the start of the Great Tribulation forecast to occur in the Bible have already happened. The first was in April of this year, and the second was in October. The Third will be next April and the fourth will be in September of 2015 (exact date unknown, since “no man knows the day or the hour, not even the Son of Man, but only the Father who lives in heaven”). If it doesn't happen in September of this coming year, then that means we have seven more years to go before the beginning of the Tribulation. That, quite frankly, is not likely to occur. So get ready, the end is close. We may only have eight more months to prepare ourselves.



Friday, December 26, 2014

This week's Bible study will be the second half of 1st Corinthians chapter nine

How Paul Preached The Gospel
[1st Corinthians 9, verses 15-27]



In today's study I will take up where I left off last week and finish the ninth chapter of First Corinthians. Paul was writing this particular letter to the early church regarding whether he should be allowed to take any part of the church offering to cover his own expenses. This was in response to at least a few who had a problem with Paul using any portion of the offering for his personal needs. Paul was traveling from church to church at that time, working without a salary as we are accustomed, and he was incurring certain costs as he went. Obviously this money had to come from somewhere. Paul then goes on to describe why he saw nothing wrong with this practice so long as it was not done to gain personal profit. And he points out that he never did so, beginning in verse 15.


But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast. Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this; that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.” (1st Cor 9: 15-18 NIV)


The first time I read through this first paragraph of Scripture, I was struck by the contrast between what St. Paul was writing about and the materialistic version of watered-down Christianity that I have heard preached from many pulpits in the contemporary Church, some of which are on television. There is a stark contrast between what Paul wrote about here and the way many “preachers” today enjoy generous salaries, real estate holdings and other investments, high-end luxury vehicles, even their own airplanes. That is why Paul wrote, “... in preaching the gospel I …. offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it”. Paul didn't care whether he got paid or not, so long as he could eat and have shelter, along with plenty of Christian fellowship since there was no radio, TV or internet. It is for this reason that I think there are too many churches today (and many of the TV evangelists are undoubtedly the worst) that emphasize getting blessed by God over the act of blessing other people. This is an incorrect teaching that has undertones of blasphemy, and I am not comfortable with it at all. There is a scripture in the Bible that promises to reward those who work to spread the gospel up to “30, 60, or 100 times what he has sown”. But that verse refers to our heavenly reward when our physical lives are over, when only our soul will remain. It is written as such because it invokes Spiritual gain. In no way is it intended to glorify material gain over that of the Spirit of Christ. That most certainly qualifies as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which the Bible says “cannot be forgiven in this life, nor in the next.” If you are in a church and you hear that being preached as the true gospel, get out of there immediately. Never mind if leaving causes a stir, it's far better to please God than it is to be concerned about offending men and women.


Does God want us to be happy? Sure He does! Does He want us to have a life of wellness and prosperity, lacking for nothing? Absolutely! But does God want us to be filthy rich? No way; in fact Jesus said, “You cannot worship both God and money. You must either love one or despise the other” (that's paraphrasing what Jesus said, but it's in all 4 gospels). This is a glaring contradiction to what the so-called “prosperity gospel” represents, and that's why I stand against it. So, what is the correct way to preach the gospel of salvation in Christ? Paul describes this eloquently beginning in verse 19.


Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I become like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I become like those under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I become like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I become weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I might share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (I Corinthians 9: verses 19-27 NIV)


In the above passage of Scripture, Paul makes it abundantly clear his motivation for preaching the gospel. It's not about religion and it's not about money and prosperity. It's about souls, the souls of people that God cares about deeply, the souls for whom Jesus Christ was crucified and buried, only to be resurrected on the morning of the third day to live and rule forever! It's about you and me worshiping Jesus in Spirit and in truth, regardless of our nationality, race, religion, gender, marital status, economic status, age, background or sexual orientation. Let me remind you all that God doesn't care about any of the above because He isn't concerned about what's on the outside or what's on the surface regarding any person. God is focused on what's on the inside, the soul of every man, woman and child. This is because the degree to which Christ abides within the individual is directly proportional to the way he or she interacts with and treats others. After all, it is on the inside of us – within our souls and hearts and minds – where Jesus wants to dwell. But it's up to us to invite Him in. That's the secret of salvation through Christ. He never enters the heart unless He is asked. But if He is asked, He will come and abide there 100% of the time. Nobody gets turned down by Jesus. Nobody.


I try to emulate St. Paul in my ministry where I live and work near downtown Atlanta. I am a Caucasian man living in a neighborhood that is mostly black. But this is where my missionary work takes place when I'm not in working in my office at home. In the inner cities of Atlanta, as many as 20% of the local population is homeless as I write this. I was once homeless myself after having a stroke, but eventually I got back on my feet again. But that experience taught me some difficult but very valuable lessons about life and how to bounce back from disastrous setbacks. In so doing I have succeeded in doing what Paul wrote nearly 2,000 years ago. I have run my “race” in such a way as to win the prize – eternal life with Jesus in heaven. But I also recognize that living my life for Jesus was not possible until I first invited Him in. In so doing, I don't try to act more African-American in order to get along with people in my neighborhood. Instead I treat them respectfully as equals, and I make sure they understand that it is my faith in Christ and my desire to serve Him that motivates me to perform this service in His holy name. By emulating Paul, I emulate Christ as well. Remember that it was Jesus who said, “Whatsoever you do for the least of my children, that you do for me”. I challenge each and every one of you to begin doing this in the course of your everyday living. To win as many souls as possible, simply reach out to as many as possible in as many different ways as you can. No drama is required, so don't be concerned about that. I guarantee you will feel good about the result.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

The annual capitalist economic orgy known as the holiday shopping season draws to a close

The Holidays In America: Blind Consumerism
by Rev. Paul J. Bern



The psychopathology of consumerism and the subtle brain washing of mind control: We have become programmed like robots to spend more than we can afford on things we don't really need. Like sheep headed to the trimmers, we dutifully spend our meager incomes at the bidding of a myriad of shop-till-you-drop gimmicks while our highly vaunted capitalist economic system fleeces us all. The worst part is that the useless junk we buy doesn't benefit the US economy, it benefits mainly Red China's. Those who control America's shadow government – the real movers and shakers from behind the scenes, not their puppets in Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court – have sold out our country to the opposing side and have thus committed treason. The reason most people don't care about or won't even consider this glaring reality is because they can “live so much cheaper” buying the very inexpensively made garbage that China has been dumping on America's shores since the 1980's. Cheaper at first, yes, but due to shoddy manufacturing and poor quality, Chinese products are notoriously short-lived and invariably cheap imitations of much better quality merchandise that used to be made here in the US. But that, of course, was before corporate America and Wall Street shipped all those middle class American jobs overseas for pennies on the dollar. And so we fight and claw for the thriftiest deal at the various suburban big box stores, purchasing with our meager earnings from our multiple part time jobs (because there are no other jobs available), shopping at other chain stores who offer pathetically and similarly low wages and zero benefits to their staff. Just like your employer.


So, how much can we save on all these wonderful items (LOL)? That depends on whether one can afford to pay cash while doing their shopping or not. If one uses plastic instead of paper, that person always ends up paying far more in interest, fees and hidden charges than they would have had they bought a similar higher quality item at the finest store in town and paid cash. How much could we save now? Let's ask some more pertinent questions and explore some far more evident realities about this issue. For example, what about the Chinese workers slaving in dangerous non union factories for 1-2 dollars a day? What does the company make off the deal? Who is actually winning? Is it really the mesmerized consumer, all teary-eyed with joy while giggling gleefully at 30, 40, and 50% off deals? Or could it be that the whole stinking thing is rigged from beginning to end? Of course it is! Just look at what is being sold and calculate how much it costs to make it. If I look at a can of pork and beans on the grocery shelf and it's priced at 75 cents, it doesn't take a marketing genius to figure out that 75 cents is an outrageous markup. The cans are made by the millions, so they cost just a couple of pennies each to manufacture. The contents of the can usually cost even less, and ditto for the label. So we're looking at 2 cents for the can, 1-2 cents more for the contents, and maybe an extra penny or two for the label. Add another penny or two as margin for error and we have 7 cents. Seven cents, and the retail price is 75 cents? So the gross profit is more than ten times the cost, or a markup in excess of 1,000%. Or consider a far more expensive item such as the latest I-phone. They sell for about $300-400 dollars and up plus tax, but there was a posting on the Internet just recently to the effect that it only costs Apple, Inc. about $120.00 to manufacture I-phones because they were being made in China, resulting in a 150-300% markup. So much for “God bless America”.


"Oh," the politicians and talking heads say to us on TV, "it's the American workers. They don't want to work menial jobs like canning pork and beans. And we can't assemble I-phones in America because its workers aren't qualified." Never mind that there are many thousands of recent college graduates who are living with their parents because they are unable to support themselves. There simply are no jobs for these poor young adults, and yet they are expected to repay predatory and exorbitant student loans. The careers for which they have been training have already been out-sourced to the third world during the last 4+ years that these hapless individuals have spent earning their degrees. They have all been robbed of their educations, which have been rendered worthless by the multinational corporations and the US military-industrial complex who are running the whole show.


Yet we are expected to perform our patriotic duty as well as appropriately celebrate the “feast of capitalism” as we shop till we drop looking for that most fantastic deal. We are in the process of being programmed to slave at multiple part time jobs working for starvation wages and with no health benefits while being expected to buy $300,000.00 houses, $70,000.00 cars and trucks plus big screen TV's and I-phones. While all this is occurring, certain employees of multiple multinational corporations are being well paid to line the pockets of senators, congressmen and supreme-court justices in Washington D.C., while sitting on presidential cabinets making decisions regarding our planet's future, our future, and our children's future. Is it any wonder that the entire world seems to be coming unglued?


Meanwhile our consumerism is devouring the planet into what might soon become more lifeless than the moon or a Wall Street tycoon's conscience. Yet, mesmerized by commercials with intelligence levels less than a jackass after having a brain amputation, we roll blindly into the gates of the shopping centers turned shopping malls turned humongous big box stores. To share with you what brought out this little speech, consider the following 2011 release from the Associated Press.


"A shopper in Los Angeles pepper-sprayed her competition for an X-box and scuffles broke out elsewhere around the United States as bargain-hunters crowded malls and big-box stores in an earlier-than-usual start to the greed-fueled madness known as Black Friday. For the first time, chains such as Target, Best Buy and Kohl's opened their doors before midnight on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. Toys R Us opened for the second straight year on Thanksgiving itself. And some shoppers arrived with sharp elbows. On Thanksgiving night, a Walmart in Los Angeles brought out a crate of discounted X-boxes, and as a crowd waited for the video game players to be unwrapped, a woman fired pepper spray at the other shoppers 'in order to get an advantage,' police said. Ten people suffered cuts and bruises in the chaos, and 10 others had minor injuries from the spray, authorities said. The woman got away in the confusion, and it was not immediately clear whether she got an X-box. On Friday morning, police said, two women were injured and a man was charged after a fight broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. And a man was arrested in a scuffle at a jewelry counter at a Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla. In the U.S., Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, has taken steps in recent years to control its Black Friday crowds following the 2008 death of one of its workers in a stampede of shoppers. This year, it staggered its door-buster deals instead of offering them all at once."

-- The Associated Press, Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2011


Lennon and McCartney of the Beatles wrote in the song "Revolution", "you say you want a revolution, well you know, we'd all love to change your head." Yes, it is more than changing Wall Street or who resides in the White House. It is, ultimately, about changing ourselves. If we all really want some serious change, then change must start from within. Speak from your heart to your kids about consumerism, greed and how they are affecting the planet as well as our behavior. Help them to understand that it's not about how much we have, but rather how much we contribute. Life is not about how much we own or the value of our possessions, life is all about making a stand for good things like faith, mercy, kindness, and above all, love. Instead of buying your wife a new car and maybe going into debt, take her up on the highest place around where you live, or to some favorite romantic spot, and renew your vows to her. Instead of buying your husband a new bag of golf clubs, give him a night he will never forget. Enjoy each other and be loving to each other. To enjoy is to enjoin, to enjoin is to unite.


Consumerism, capitalism and the vain pursuit of worldly goods keeps us isolated by gimmicks of sensationalist advertising of strikingly beautiful women, absolutely perfect children and gorgeous, flaming hunks of men that are created off the corporate mold. To put it simply, the corporate mold is a load of BS. And who is being molded in all these advertising gimmicks? You are! For what purpose? To make others rich at your expense. The blue chip corporations have a very good reason for doing all this. As long as they can keep us isolated, we can never be united. Don't go there. Keep your money. Find richness in your heart, your spirit and your character and share that this year instead.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

This week's Bible study will be the 1st half of First Corinthians chapter nine

Financial Responsibility Within the Lord's Church
[1st Corinthians Chapter 9, verses 1-14]


In today's installment of this continuing study of the writings of the apostle Paul, we are going to advance to chapter nine of 1st Corinthians, where we will have a look at verses 1 through 14. Here, we find the apostle Paul discussing the topic of exercising our freedom as Christians, provided we never do so in a way that could compromise the faith of another believer. This week Paul shifts his emphasis away from exercising our freedom as individual Christians as he did in chapter eight, and instead expounds on applying it to Christians who are in positions of leadership. He then continues on in that vein beginning at verse one:


Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are my seal of apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don't we have the right to food and drink? Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?” (1st Cor. 9, verses 1-6 NIV)


Here Paul has written about his freedoms as an apostle, presumably because of some long-forgotten split within the body of the Corinthian church from nearly two thousand years ago, possibly over financial matters or internal politics, or maybe even Paul's authority. I find it interesting that it seems to closely parallel and correspond with a certain lack of unity that I percieve within the contemporary body of Christian believers, regardless of denomination. Allow me to explain my frame of reference here. Because I am disabled I use public transportation to get around, and I get most my church from the Internet (excluding Sunday mornings when I am privileged to serve as a musician at the church I attend). After all, even those who tend the flocks must stop for lunch sometime! As a result, I see parallels between modern Christian programming on TV, including the way they are being managed financially – and the apparent controversy about the pay and perks of the televangelist and his/her immediate family. This is reminiscent of the First Century controversy within the early Church about who was the greatest apostle, which was reiterated by the apostle Paul back in chapter one of 1st Corinthians. In Paul's case, that fact that he was not one of the original twelve disciples was the subject of what Paul was writing in the above passage. Was it not good enough for them, Paul wrote, that he had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus? In modern terms, Paul is asking, “What more do you want from me? Stop judging me and focus on your own salvation instead”.


There are TV evangelists today that have generated controversy in recent years with stories of fabulous wealth that was “earned” from offerings and donations to their ministries. There are several famous “televangelists” who actually have their own airplanes. They're not Piper Cubs either. In fact, one even boasts about owning a twin-engined jet that this TV preacher – who I will not name – allegedly paid about $12,000,000.00 cash for. The Secret Service and the Department of the Treasury both could have asserted their authority against such a huge and clearly illegal cash transaction. But those entrusted to guard our land's money just looked the other way while a cool 12 million changed hands. Well, praise the Lord! What would Jesus say to these TV evangelists who are presiding over enterprises that seems to be charities on the surface, but in reality it's a church that's being run like a profitable business? I have seen this firsthand at certain churches from my own past, and they were all churches that I left soon after. Jesus said, “You cannot worship both God and money”.


It is clear to us from Paul's writing that he is trying to nip this sort of thing in the bud within the early church before it gets out of hand. As we can see from all too many modern churches and the way they are being operated, Paul was not successful. Still, we can take a lesson from this and be wary when visiting a church for the first time. The Bible commands us to “test the spirit” of that church. This is not some fancy mumbo- jumbo, it is something we can do quietly from within ourselves because it is real. If you find anything about that church that makes you uncomfortable, and especially if you do not feel welcome, then keep looking for a church until you find the right one. When you find it, Jesus will make it known to you, of that you can be sure! Paul then continues in verse 7 to make his point about how much, and at what level, should church leadership be compensated? Since there are a lot of people who get hung up about money, everyone should read Paul's writing in these next verses with an open mind:


Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the law say the same thing? For it is written in the law of Moses, 'Do not muzzle an oxen while it is treading out the grain'. Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right? On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the Gospel.” (1st Cor 9: verses 7-14 NIV)


Paul is clearly giving an unmistakable message here regarding how ministers of the Gospel were to compensate themselves in the early Church. This explanation is as valid today as it was when it was first written nearly 2,000 years ago. There is nothing wrong with the compensation of church leadership so long as good judgment and common sense are used to calculate the form and amount of compensation. This is emphasized by Paul when he wrote, ….“If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?”....


There are too many “churches” today, particularly in the US, that are very large and therefore they generate eye-popping amounts of cash and checks on Sunday morning during the offering. They are run like businesses, and Jesus will deal with them and their “pastors” as severely as he did when he threw the money-changers out of the temple in Jerusalem. After all, the money changers of Jesus' time are ther equivalent of the prosperity 'preachers' of today. When the time comes for them to collect their reward, Jesus will turn them away instead. “They will be thrown out into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.


For the last shall be first, and the first, last.”--- Jesus Christ

Sunday, December 14, 2014

It turns out ending poverty is much easier than many people think

Ending Poverty: How We Can Make God, and Each Other, Happy
by Rev. Paul J. Bern


With about 99% of the wealth in America in the hands of a little over 1% of the population, the US has a bigger and wider gap between the richest 5% of American money earners and big business owners and the remainder of working Americans than there is in many supposedly “third world” countries. The widespread and systemic unemployment or underemployment that currently exists in the US job market is no longer just an economic problem, it has – here in the early 21st century – become a civil rights issue. The US job market has been turned into a raffle, where one lucky person gets the job while entire groups of others get left out in the cold – sometimes even literally. I am vigorously maintaining that every human being has the basic, God-given right to a livelihood and to a living wage. Anything less becomes a civil rights violation and therefore that jobless person(s) are victims of systemic discrimination. And so I state unreservedly that restarting the civil rights era protests, demonstrations, sit-ins and the occupation of whole buildings or city blocks is the most effective way of addressing the rampant inequality and persistent economic hardship that currently exists in the US.


Fortunately, this has already started here in the US, with the advent of the protests for Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. But these protesters are behind the curve. Because before them there was Occupy Wall St., “we are the 99%” and Anonymous. And before them there was the Arab Spring in Egypt, the summer of 2011 in Great Britain and Greece in Europe, and Libya, Syria and Gaza in the Middle East. So from a political standpoint, the current crop of protesters here in the US had some catching up to do. But that was before the rest of the world got on board protesting globally for the three murdered Americans in Florida, Missouri and New York. So now, like an echo from the fairly recent past, the protests over police violence has echoed across the globe and is still reaching a crescendo. The least common denominator to all this rage in the streets is that of being economically disadvantaged. People everywhere find themselves surrounded by wealth and opulence, luxury and self-indulgence, while they are themselves isolated from it. It is one thing to be rewarded for success and a job well done. But it's an altogether different matter to have obscene riches flaunted in your face on a daily basis just because someone can. I think what we really need to do is find a way to end poverty. I can sum up the answer in one word: Education. Otherwise those who are poor will always remain so.


Who’s responsible for the poor? Back in the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth, English lawmakers said it was the government and taxpayers. They introduced the compulsory “poor tax” of 1572 to provide peasants with cash and a “parish loaf.” The world’s first-ever public relief system did more than feed the poor: It helped fuel economic growth because peasants could risk leaving the land to look for work in town. By the early 19th century, though, a backlash had set in. English spending on the poor was slashed from 2 percent to 1 percent of national income, and indigent families were locked up in parish workhouses. In 1839, the fictional hero of Oliver Twist, a child laborer who became a symbol of the neglect and exploitation of the times, famously raised his bowl of gruel and said, “Please, sir, I want some more.” Today, child benefits, winter fuel payments, housing support and guaranteed minimum pensions for the elderly are common practice in Britain and other industrialized countries. But it’s only recently that the right to an adequate standard of living has begun to be extended to the poor of the developing world.


In an urgent 2010 book, “Just Give Money to the Poor: The Development Revolution from the Global South”, three British scholars show how the developing countries are reducing poverty by making cash payments to the poor from their national budgets. At least 45 developing nations now provide social pensions or grants to 110 million impoverished families — not in the form of charitable donations or emergency handouts or temporary safety nets but as a kind of social security. Often, there are no strings attached. It’s a direct challenge to a foreign aid industry that, in the view of the authors, “thrives on complexity and mystification, with highly paid consultants designing ever more complicated projects for the poor” even as it imposes free-market policies that marginalize the poor. “A quiet revolution is taking place based on the realization that you cannot pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots,” the book says. “And giving ‘boots’ to people with little money does not make them lazy or reluctant to work; rather, just the opposite happens. A small guaranteed income provides a foundation that enables people to transform their own lives.”


There are plenty of skeptics of the cash transfer approach. For more than half a century, the foreign aid industry has been built on the belief that international agencies, and not the citizens of poor countries or the poor among them, are best equipped to eradicate poverty. Critics concede that foreign aid may have failed, but they say it’s because poor countries are misusing the money. In their view, the best prescription for the developing world is a dose of discipline in the form of strict “good governance” conditions on aid. According to The World Bank, nearly half the world’s population lives below the international poverty line of $2 per day. As the authors of Just Give Money point out, that’s despite decades of top-down, neo-liberal, extreme free-trade policies that were supposed to “lift all boats.” In Africa, South Asia and other regions of the developing “South,” the situation remains dire. Every year, according to the United Nations, more than 9 million children die before they reach the age of 5, and malnutrition is the cause of a third of these early deaths.


Just Give Money argues that cash transfers can solve three problems because they enable families to eat better, send their children to school and put a little money into their farms and small businesses. The programs work best, the authors say, if they are offered broadly to the poor and not exclusively to the most destitute. “The key is to trust poor people and directly give them cash — not vouchers or projects or temporary welfare, but money they can invest and use and be sure of,” the authors say. “Cash transfers are a key part of the ladder that equips people to climb out of the poverty trap.” Brazil, a leader of this growing movement, provides pensions and grants to 74 million poor people, or 39 percent of its population. The cost is $31 billion, or about 1.5 percent of Brazil’s gross domestic product. Eligibility for the family grant is linked to the minimum wage, and the poorest receive $31 monthly. As a result, Brazil has seen its poverty rate drop from 28 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2008. In northeastern Brazil, the poorest region of the country, child malnutrition was reduced by nearly half, and school registration increased. South Africa, one of the world’s biggest spenders on the poor, allocates $9 billion, or 3.5 percent of its GDP, to provide a pension to 85 percent of its older people, plus a $27 monthly cash benefit to 55 percent of its children. Studies show that South African children born after the benefits became available are significantly taller, on average, than children who were born before. “None of this is because an NGO worker came to the village and told people how to eat better or that they should go to a clinic when they were ill,” the book says. “People in the community already knew that, but they never had enough money to buy adequate food or pay the clinic fee.”


In Mexico, an average grant of $38 monthly goes to 22 percent of the population. The cost is $4 billion, or 0.3 percent of Mexico’s GDP. Part of the money is for children who stay in school: The longer they stay, the larger the grant. Studies show that the families receiving these benefits eat more fruit, vegetables and meat, and get sick less often. In rural Mexico, high school enrollment has doubled, and more girls are attending. India guarantees 100 days of wages to rural households for unskilled labor, paying at least $1.25 per day. If no work is available, applicants are still guaranteed the minimum. This modified “workfare” program helps small farmers survive during the slack season. Far from being unproductive, the book says, money spent on the poor stimulates the economy “because local people sell more, earn more and buy more from their neighbors, creating the rising spiral.” Pensioner households in South Africa, many of them covering three generations, have more working people than households without a pension. A grandmother with a pension can take care of a grandchild while the mother looks for work. Ethiopia pays $1 per day for five days of work on public works projects per month to people in poor districts between January and June, when farm jobs are scarcer. By 2008, the program was reaching more than 7 million people per year, making it the second largest in sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa. Ethiopian recipients of cash transfers buy more fertilizer and use higher-yielding seeds.


In other words, without any advice from aid agencies, government, or nongovernmental organizations, poor people already know how to make profitable investments. They simply did not have the cash and could not borrow the small amounts of money they needed. A good way for donor countries to help is to give aid as “general budget support,” funneling cash for the poor directly into govenment coffers. Cash transfers are not a magic bullet. Just Give Money notes that 70 percent of the 12 million South Africans who receive social grants are still living below the poverty line. In Brazil, the grants do not increase vaccinations or prenatal care because the poor don’t have access to health care. A scarcity of jobs in Mexico has forced millions of people to emigrate to the U.S. to find work. Just Give Money emphasizes that to truly lift the poor out of poverty, governments also must tackle discrimination and invest in health, education and infrastructure.


The notion that the poor are to blame for their poverty persists in affluent nations today and has been especially strong in the United States. Studies by the World Values Survey between 1995 and 2000 showed that 61 percent of Americans believed the poor were lazy and lacked willpower. Only 13 percent said an unfair society was to blame. But what would Americans say now, in the wake of the housing market collapse and the bailout of the banks? The jobs-creating stimulus bill, the expansion of food stamp programs and unemployment benefits — these are all forms of cash transfers to the needy. I would say that cash helps people see a way out, no matter where they live.



Friday, December 12, 2014

This week's Bible study will be 1st Corinthians chapter eight

Exercising Our Freedom As Christians
[1st Corinthians chapter 8]


Today in my continuing chronological study of the writings of the apostle Paul I will, with God's help, cover chapter 8 in 1st Corinthians. The first part of this chapter has to do with eating food that has been sacrificed to idols, which seems on the surface to be a rather antiquated notion. However, it has modern implications that are applicable to modern times which I will cover further down in today's study. Allow me to begin at verse one:


Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know what he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God. So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called “gods”, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” (First Corinthians 8; verses 1-6 NIV)


In order to get a proper perspective on what the apostle Paul wrote, we must gain a little insight into the times in which Paul lived. The Christian faith as we have come to know it was in its infancy during Paul's lifetime. The young and growing churches of his day were islands surrounded by a sea of pagan idol worship such as the pagan “gods” of ancient Greece and particularly the Roman Empire, which was the superpower of its time comparable to the contemporary United States. The pagans of that time sacrificed live animals and even human beings and (most horrifically) children. After the animal sacrifice, which was performed over an altar of raging fire, it was customary to eat the meat that had been sacrificed. As you know, one of the main reasons this was done was purely practical. There was no refrigeration in those days, so opportunities to supplement one's diet with fresh meat was considered a luxury back then.


But with the advent of the early Christian church (there were no denominations in those days, that didn't happen until much later, but I digress), the teaching that there was but one true God was considered quite controversial – even radical – during the times in which Paul's words were written. So it is understandable that the act of continuing to participate in pagan rituals generated quite a controversy within the early church. The Bible portrays this most vividly in the book of Acts chapter 17 as written by the apostle Luke. Allow me to quote an excerpt from this portion of Scripture that best documents this topic.


While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there..... 'Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with an inscription “to an unknown god”. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else..... Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overcame such ignorance, but He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead'”... (Acts chapter 17, verses 16 - 17 and verses 22-31 NIV)


And so now it is easy to comprehend that frame of reference from which Paul wrote 1st Corinthians chapter 8 that I quoted in the first part of today's study. When Paul wrote “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know what he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God”, he was giving a warning to the Corinthian church. Based on this passage of Scripture, it appears that there were people in the early church who genuinely believed in the saving power of Christ, but they still ate meat sacrificed to idols, presumably because they saw it as an opportunity to score a nice meal for themselves. In light of the fact that there was widespread poverty and destitution in those days, it is not hard to understand why some early Christians were doing this. It was as if to say, “Leave me alone and stop judging me by what I eat. I can worship Jesus and still eat meat sacrificed to idols. I can have it both ways and I see nothing wrong with that”. And so Paul is saying right back to them, “You people think you are clever by wanting to have things both ways, but you are not as smart as you think you are”. Paul was saying that people who loved God through Jesus Christ and through no one or nothing else have the purest hearts. On the other hand, people who ate at pagan temples had a conflict of interest. So Paul is warning them, “I will not judge you for what you are doing when you eat meat sacrificed to idols, but don't be surprised if you find yourselves judged by God when your physical life is over”. Paul then continues in verse 7:


But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block for the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall”. (1st Corinthians 8: verses 7-13 NIV)


Based on what Paul wrote in the above passage of Scripture, apparently there were some new believers joining the Church who saw a contradiction regarding the worship of the one true God as opposed to eating meat sacrificed in the pagan temples during this time. These new Church members viewed this as a spiritual conflict of interest, and it must have been driving some of them away. Or, they would copy those who ate in pagan temples and eat there themselves, only to be gripped by feelings of remorse after doing so since they were being taught that there is but one true God through Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of all mankind. This contradiction was surely causing quite a bit of dissent within the early church, compromising the faith of some of the new members, even to the point of leaving and going back to the pagan traditions that were no doubt taught by their parents, teachers and mentors.


In closing, there is a similar spiritual conflict of interest within the church today that drives away many who would otherwise accept Christ as their Redeemer. Instead of pagan temples, we have the contemporary “prosperity gospel” that confuses the Spiritual blessings of God with material blessings, sometimes even intentionally. Let me be absolutely clear about this. The conspicuous wealth of those who “preach” (I am using that word in the loosest possible terms here) this kind of message speaks for itself. Do ministers, evangelists and teachers need to be associated with some mega-church to be considered 'successful'? Do they really need their own private jets, not to mention cars with six-figure price tags and sprawling mansions? These “churches”, which are supposed to be charities and ministries, are being operated just like the thriving businesses that they truly are. Most people can see right through that sort of thing. The few who don't perceive this are the ones who are giving money to these “churches”, and in the process they are being taken for a ride by these phony preachers and “faith healers”. I don't think it is so much a matter of knowing that there are those who see this spiritual sophistry for what it is, but it has been my observation for many years that these religious masqueraders who disseminate Biblical distortions simply don't care whether anyone sees through it or not. To them, it's all in a day's work, and they pay themselves lavishly. Remember what Jesus said when He drove the moneychangers out of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, “You have taken my Father's house and turned it into a den of robbers”. Those words of Christ are even more applicable today than they were when He first spoke them nearly 2,000 years ago. This is the very thing that bothers the conscience of new believers or potential converts when they see this kind of stuff going on, and so it drives away the very ones that Christ wishes to save. And so we have a very similar conflict of interest with very similar results, and the fact that there is 2,000 years of elapsed time is completely incidental to the cause of Christ. The second coming of Christ is very close, perhaps only months or a few short years away. How, then, should we be living? Let's make sure there are no spiritual conflicts or contradictions within our own lives, and in so doing we can be good examples for everyone. Because that's what Jesus is calling us to do.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Has The Revolution Started Yet? If So, It's About Time!

The Coming Revolution May Not Be Televised
by Pastor Paul J. Bern




Thanks to the injustices against Trayvon Williams in Florida and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri earlier this year, and more recently Eric Garner in New York City, it is abundantly clear to “we the people” that war has been declared on us by our government, with the police looking like poorly paid wannabe mercenaries. I write today about these repeated clashes that have grown into a kind of cultural resistance not seen since the civil rights protests and anti-war demonstrations of the 1950's, '60's and the early '70's. This culture of resistance, which has been building up gradually ever since that time up until now is beginning to have a noticeable effect as it continues to grow slowly but steadily. There are cracks in the pillars of power, and they're starting to get a little bigger. It’s up to us to shine the light on the lies, the spins and the 'black ops' and shadow government that has been operating smoothly behind the scenes ever since they killed President John Kennedy to seize power. It is up to us – 'we the people' – to uncover the systemic open corruption that has been stealing America's future. I look back over the events of the past two years and feel cautiously optimistic, because I have seen this movement that is continuously building momentum.


Here in Atlanta's inner city where I live and work as a freelance writer, Web pastor and itinerant missionary, I have perceived what I would describe as a strong sense of suspense in the air. Some people say that they weren’t feeling enough pain to warrant being angry about the Ferguson and New York decisions, and that we hadn’t reached the tipping point as of yet. They're only interested in taking the safe way out. I have had still others tell me that, as a Christian minister, it's my duty to follow the laws without question and pay my taxes unfailingly. They have told me that it is not right for a Web pastor to take sides in favor of the protesters, much less write and blog about it. But to them I quote the Book of James, where it is written about those in charge who abuse their authority: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay your workman who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.” (James chapter 5, verses 1-6 NIV) There are others, however, who are ready to strike, such as what just happened with the fast food and convenience store workers this past week all over the country. The folks who barricade themselves in their homes and apartments are gradually becoming outnumbered by those who insist on staying out in the streets and making their extreme displeasure known to those who still presume to be in charge. They have staked out a place in the heart of the monster and held it. Excitement and wonder are seemingly everywhere.


Could 'we the people' really take on Wall Street and the lobbyists on Capitol Hill? Obviously Wall Street and the offices on K Street in Washington, DC thought so because they ordered excessive and constant police protection. They must have seen something brewing because Wall Street firms had donated unprecedented millions to the NYPD over the previous year. It was police aggression towards peaceful protesters that grabbed public attention and sympathy. For example, a few weeks after the start of Occupy Wall Street in September of 2011, an amazing 43 percent of Americans supported Occupy, a figure that remains largely undiminished to this day.


Three years later, the physical encampments are gone, but the Occupy Movement remains, along with its cousins, the '99%' and Anonymous Movements, worldwide. Occupying public space was a tactic, not an end in itself. It was a way to make the issues visible, a place for people to gather, a model for a new way of doing things based on respect, mutual aid and democracy and a demand to reclaim what has been ruthlessly taken. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, there was an expectation that the government would respond appropriately to stabilize the economy and that we simply had to weather the storm. What we saw instead were massive bailouts of the industry that caused the crash and greatly inadequate steps to secure jobs, housing and health care. This turned some already catastrophic financial crises caused by runaway private speculation into an immense source of private gain for the same very financiers responsible for the catastrophe to begin with. Even worse, it made those catastrophes so much more catastrophic than they really needed to be in the first place. And all this happened prior to the current epidemic of violence in America's streets and the apparently casual shootings by police officers of unarmed men (in one of the worst cases, a 12-year-old boy was shot to death by the police in Cleveland, Ohio because he held a toy gun).


As a result of all this mess, we’re not heading toward greater income equality. We're not opposing social and economic injustice like 'the 1%' do, but we’re not building up the middle class or supporting unionization either. We’re not eradicating poverty and hunger, they are getting worse. We’re not expanding educational opportunity, fewer and fewer people can afford it. We’re not rebuilding infrastructure, and it's falling apart. We most certainly aren't doing anywhere nearly enough to improve race relations. Nothing we’re doing looks anything like the society we built from the New Deal through the 1970s. We’re not doing any of the things that would lead to a more stable and just economy. In fact, we’re doing just the opposite, which means the billionaire bailout society will become even more firmly entrenched. This means that if left unchecked, the trends towards greater inequality and suffering will not only continue, it will accelerate as well. But the billionaire bailout society may have went too far in their exuberance for still more wealth. According to a Stanford study, “animosity toward the financial sector reached its highest level in 40 years in 2012” which undoubtedly fueled the Occupy and 99% Movements, and anger remains high (or higher, take your pick) to this very day. A majority of Americans believe that not nearly enough was done to prosecute the bankers.


When drowning in so many crises it is sometimes hard to see above the surface of the water, but the anti-globalization movement and its offspring, the Occupy and “the 99%” Movements, are having an effect. Since 2000, the World Trade Organization has been unable to advance its agenda and 14 free trade agreements have been stopped by public pressure. Like low-wage workers in the fast food and retail industries, workers must join together to let Congress know that the WTO is not the right path for the U.S.” Another broad coalition of groups has come together to stop the TPP. If they are successful, this will be a huge victory against transnational corporate power. And JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon admitted that the bank broke the law. Another important win that is inspiring many in the US took place in Colombia, where farmers went on a prolonged strike to win back the right to use their own seeds. The anti-Monsanto and anti-GMO movement is strong here. Thousands of people marched there this week for a law to protect themselves from pesticides. And, despite an outpouring of money, a vote to label GMO products in Washington State is still holding strong. In still another anti-1% effort by 'we the people', stopping the imminent attack on Syria earlier this year was a win for people everywhere and a loss for the military industrial complex. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin in particular were set to make hundreds of millions from it. We must be vigilant, though, because the current diplomatic path could be used to justify an attack in the future in either Syria or Iran.


It is important to recognize these victories and to build from them. It is also important to remember that we never know how close we are to achieving significant change. The Occupy movement spawned the “Idle No More”, “Workers’ Rights" and 'Climate Change' movements. Our eyes are open and we can’t ignore what we now see; we know that it is the plutocratic system, not individual inadequacy, that is causing poverty in America. We know that the $1 trillion given by the Federal Reserve to private banks could have created 20 million desperately-needed jobs. We know that the 400 richest people in the US have more wealth than the GDP of entire countries – like Canada and Mexico, for instance! And we know the names of those who control the wealth and exploit people and the planet for it. We no longer expect “leaders” to create the change we need. We are all leaders and change depends on our actions and ours alone. Since the system is too dysfunctional to attempt to repair it, the most logical and practical thing to do is replace it. Humankind already has a tool available off the shelf as a basis for launching such a project, and it's called 'the Internet'. The government of the future will be small, efficient and nearly paperless.


The culture of resistance necessary to create the kind of world we want to live in is already here. Actions are taking place daily in the US and around the world. You won’t hear about most of them in the mass media. This week alone, more than one hundred women, most of them undocumented, were arrested in Washington, DC to protest the ways that immigration policies harm their families. Dairy workers in New York protested their abusive working conditions. Protesters in Vermont, ages 65 to 94, chained themselves to the entrance of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant to demand its immediate closure and Marylanders protested outside an ‘arms bazaar.’ The Cascadia Forest Defenders scaled the capitol building in Oregon to drop a huge banner to protest clear-cutting.


Resistance is not all protesting, it also includes building alternative systems to meet our basic needs. Many who are active in OWS, 'the 99%' and Anonymous have been hard at work at this since the physical occupation was shut down. This week the Occupy Money Cooperative announced its launch with a fund raising campaign. They will provide low-cost financial services to the millions of Americans who are unbanked and under-banked and who are preyed upon by banks, check cashing services and payday lenders. It will be an opportunity for all to opt-out of big finance. Just as OWS created the infrastructure that was used to organize Occupy Sandy, and continued for months afterward to provide services to those affected by Superstorm Sandy, occupiers in Colorado responded to the needs of people in the Boulder area who were hit by massive flooding.


Hard work is being done every day to take on entrenched corporate power and create a new world based on principles such as mutual aid, community, equity, solidarity and democracy. Although we face an uncertain future, we embrace the chaos that defines our times. There is no alternative but to challenge the status quo of ever-increasing debt, shrinking job opportunities and disappearing civil rights. We can’t say what the outcome will be or whether we will live to see the world we hope to create. Can there even be an endpoint? Perhaps the most important piece of social transformation is not a goal but rather is the process of living in a way that is consistent with our values. We live in the culture of resistance which requires constant nurturing to bend the arc of time towards justice.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

I wonder what Jesus would say about the grand jury decision in Ferguson

What Would Jesus Protest?
By Rev. Paul J. Bern


It started in the Spring of 2011 as most age-defining movements do, with significant unrest and some recognition of what is right and wrong. It started with some people willing to take a stand against rampant injustice. Before long, some more people join. Next time we look it is in another city, then another country. Sweeping across the globe, the civil unrest known by a number of names, such as the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, Anonymous or “we are the 99%” continues to capture the attention of everyone, despite the attempts of the military-industrial complex and their media conglomeration to slander it, discredit it, and lie about it. It is in that same revolutionary spirit that those who are protesting day and night in Ferguson Mo. and simultaneously around the world are on the evening news every night.


By now everyone realizes that there is a “la cosa nostra” of ultra-powerful people (sometimes called the Illuminati) that control the vast majority of wealth in this world, beginning with the US and Europe. They have spoon-fed us American Idol, pro wrestling and other sports, reality TV, idiotic soap operas, and Dancing With the Stars while sneaking around behind our backs tampering with our voting rights, stealing elections, repealing sensible regulations designed to protect us, and enacting laws totally in favor of the rich – and all this occurred as the 1% shipped all our jobs overseas for pennies on the dollar. I know this to be true because it happened to me. There can be no question that their goal is the redistribution of wealth and consolidation of power to the 1% elite while squeezing the once proud middle class into the new working poor caste. You can already hear the screams of "class warfare!" The problem is we didn't start the war, they did. The same ones screaming “class warfare” the loudest are the ones who are waging the war. 
 

Apparently, when the Arab Spring, Occupy, 'the 99%', Anonymous and Ferguson Movements first started, the power elite underestimated the intensity and dogged determination of the protesters to make their voices heard. They couldn't possibly fathom America's outrage. In their arrogance, they simply didn't comprehend that people had caught on to the illegal Ponzi schemes, crooked midnight deals and winner-take-all financial piracy of the money-worshiping top 1%. That's because our children have been going to the same 'dumbed down' public schools for the last generation or two. But since OWS, “the 99%” and Ferguson have gone viral in the social and political fabric of America, the 1% have begun frantically looking for ways to neutralize this latest movement, but they are already too late. So the next thing they did was to criminalize it, orchestrating mass arrests for the entire world to see. They tried to intimidate the protesters and occupiers by sending in their police squads in full military gear, but that backfired on them too as it only served to garner more sympathy for the people's cause. Next up was an attempt to mock the group and pretend they were somehow uneducated and clueless about why they were protesting at all. That has backfired as well, as all these grassroots movements has generated considerable interest, not only from the general public, but also from some very smart people and astute observers.


Turns out that OWS, “the 99%” and the folks in Ferguson know exactly why they are protesting. Not only are the police out of control and therefore a direct threat to our very lives, people everywhere are arriving at the same conclusion – correctly, by the way – that it is financial suicide to go into hock for $100,000 to get a Bachelors Degree only to be offered jobs that require a paper hat or a $19.95 shirt and tie when they graduate. They become furious when they see billionaires with golden parachutes getting bailed out while their parents are getting evicted. They are vehemently opposed to an economic and educational system that is only available to those who have enough money to pay. They have already read the 2011 United Nations Resolution stating that Internet access is a basic human right (search that), and that denying Web access to anyone due to their inability to pay is a human rights violation at best, and a criminal act at worst. They already see capitalism for what it is – an economy based on greed, plunder and conquest at home and abroad. They see all the homeless people on the streets while entire neighborhoods are littered with abandoned, boarded up houses that represent the shattered dreams of countless families, some of whom are now living in shelters or with relatives because there is no where else for them to go. They see all the school teachers, fire fighters and police officers who continue to get laid off so the country can have more for the top 1%, and so they can have more money for pointless foreign wars. They do not think that 1% of the population should control 99% of the wealth in this country -- and they are absolutely right. Plus, they are scared half to death of the police, and justifiably so.


So what would Jesus protest? Would Jesus protest merciless treatment of the neediest people? “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew chapter 5, verse 7). Of course, the flip side of that coin is that unmerciful, arrogant and belligerent people will be shown no mercy by God. Would he oppose the top 1% who have 99% of our country's wealth? He already has: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew chapter 19, verses 23-24). Would He stand against bully authority? He sure did and still does. “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 'So you must obey [authority] and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them'” (Matthew 23, verses 1-4).


The Occupy, Anonymous and 99% Movements, and the ongoing protests in Ferguson, St. Louis and throughout the planet are all about the least fortunate of us, and it is these very people who want their lives back. They have lost jobs, careers, homes (some of which had been paid on monthly for years or even decades), savings, pensions and even their health. Economic and racial inequality reigns supreme across our land, and the misery that it has spawned threatens to grow into revolution in American streets (cue “Revolution” by the Beatles, “For What It's Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, etc.).


Throughout the Bible the number one theme after Christ's salvation is taking care of the least fortunate in society. Jesus said that if we want to be considered religious, then we are to look after the welfare of widows and orphans. “Whatsoever you do for the very least of my brethren, that you do for me”, and this nugget of wisdom holds as much meaning today as when those words were uttered by Jesus 2,000 years ago. The divine truth of human equality that He illustrated with that verse is something that has yet to be fulfilled, and it's our fault. Human equality was a radical notion in the time of Christ, and many churches continue to leave out of the teaching of this revolutionary aspect of His ministry. So long as racial and ethnic hatred persist, equality cannot flourish. It's up to ministers like myself to address this issue, and I encourage all who read this to join me in my efforts.


I am painfully aware that some conservative Christian writers, and a whole lot of 1%'ers, are apparently in love with the Old Testament verse that says, “If a man will not work, then neither shall he eat”, presumably in reference to strikers, protesters and “occupiers”, but they are forgetting the original context of that verse: “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: "Those unwilling to work will not get to eat." Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people's business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good. Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. Don't think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister.” (2Thessalonians 3: 10-15, NLT)


The context reveals that these verses do not apply to the OWS/99% or Ferguson people. On the contrary, the people protesting want some real justice for Mike Brown, but they also want to work and can't find jobs, and that is why they are protesting! You may be of the opinion that the protesters are "lazy" or somehow not trying hard enough but I have actually been through what these protesters are experiencing. I know what it's like to see a 22-year career evaporate, and to not be able to find enough work to sustain oneself. I know what it's like to wind up homeless through no fault of my own, and I have personally experienced how homelessness, even for relatively short periods of time as was in my case, can and will literally ruin one's health. Like these multitudes of others, I too can attest to how brutal it is out there. The true unemployment rate is very likely double or triple what the government is telling us. The jobs being offered have absurdly low wages that are simply not enough to live on, come with no health insurance, and are often temporary or part time.


The other truth revealed from the context of these verses, however, is how we should be acting. The apostle Paul does not say that we should treat these people with contempt, lie about them, or sneer at them. He does not say they should only help those who can afford to pay. Instead, we should be doing for others what we would have them do for us. We must treat others the way we want to be treated. We must love our neighbor as ourselves. He says we should treat them not as enemies but to warn them as if they were a brother or sister. “Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims. Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. -- Isaiah 1: 15-17 (NLT)


What God is saying here is to check your hands before raising them in praise to Him to see whose blood you have on them. Give up your sins. Trust Jesus implicitly. Learn to do good. And then what does the Lord say is doing good? Seeking justice. Helping the oppressed. Defending the cause and fighting for the rights of the needy. If anyone really and truly thinks that there is no injustice in our current judicial system (such as the Ferguson white-wash – oops, I meant to say 'grand jury'), then I would call them heartless and soulless. If you honestly do not believe that there is oppression for the lowest in our society today then I advise you to stop watching Fox News and come on out in the street to join us. There is a real world out here and it is really hurting.


The people at Ferguson, Mo., New York, Chicago, the deep south and the West Coast want social and economic justice. They want the same thing God speaks about throughout the entire Bible. They want the same thing Jesus taught about. Once Christ told a parable about the Good Samaritan. Most of us know the story. A man is mugged and essentially left for dead on the street. He is passed over by a Temple priest and a tax collector. But a Samaritan stopped and helped him, bandaged him, and paid for him to recover at a nearby inn. But the context of this parable is the point. Jesus told it because He was asked the question -- "who is my neighbor?" The Samaritan was chosen as the hero of this story by Jesus because there was much hatred towards them by the Jewish people at that time. Who is my neighbor? I think this is the question we need to ask ourselves every day. We need to ask it when we hear the hate merchants on TV and radio trying to stir up our darker side. We need to ask it when we think that we know the motives of people we never even met. We need to ask it when we start to use God to defend things He obviously would never defend (such as waging war). Jesus finishes the Parable of the Good Samaritan with these words: "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked. The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same." (Luke 10: 36-37, NLT)


As far as the teacher of law that asked the initial question here was concerned, only fellow Jews were his neighbor. Anyone else was looked upon with disdain. We have that same spirit infecting this country too. The other side is presented only for the purpose of blame and hatred. Those who find themselves on the extreme right look upon the OWS crowd negatively because they are not their neighbors to them. It is the Occupy, 99%, and Ferguson protesters who have become the 21st century Samaritans. They also sneer at the protesters in Ferguson as being just a mob of rioters and looters, when in fact only a small percentage of all those engaged in the street protests engaged in such illicit activities, as if they are all somehow unworthy of mercy. They are somehow to blame not only for their own plight, but supposedly for the plight of the country as a whole. God requires something from us and He spelled it out very plainly in the Old Testament: “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6: 8, NLT)


The world sells various shades of gray to hide the truth, spinning it and disguising it as it goes. The truth is that if somehow anyone thinks Jesus would support a system where over 40 million people are homeless while the ultra rich clothe their dogs, then I suggest that maybe they do not understand what "doing what is right" truly means. If anyone thinks that Jesus would support a system where 16,000 children die every day from hunger while the world's top 1% gets richer and fatter, then I am not so sure that they understand the concepts of loving and being merciful. Not just being merciful – really loving mercy and walking humbly with your God. I want you to think the next time someone is trying to sell you on the notion that the Ferguson, OWS and “the 99%” people are 2nd class citizens. It makes me wonder what their motivation is for saying such things. If anyone has the snooty opinion that the Ferguson, OWS and 99% folks are lazy troublemakers, then that becomes their problem. If you have the political opinion that they should go home and find a job, fine, but have any of you tried to find a job lately? Ask someone who has been unable to find work for months or even years! Brothers and sisters, those are nowhere near being Christian arguments. They are most definitely not Biblical arguments – and they are devoid of any compassion, any mercy, or any humility. What will we do to help all these people? What would happen if you lost your job tomorrow, or if a family member were to be killed by the police? What have we done lately to help each other? Because in the end, that's all that really counts.