This week's ongoing Biblical study will be part 2 of Luke chapter 22

Who Is the Greatest? There Is No Such Thing

As Far As Christ Is Concerned

[Luke chapter 22, verses 20-38]

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Last week when we left off at verse 19, Jesus and the Twelve were seated at the Last Supper as they celebrated Passover together. Today as we take up where we left off, Christ celebrates the occasion with the breaking of bread and the consumption of a single cup of wine that was symbolically passed around between them. This little ceremony Jesus performed with the Twelve has enormous significance, as we will soon see. So let me skip over any further commentary for now so we can get right into this, beginning at verse 20.

“In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.' They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest. Jesus said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at any table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'” (Luke 22, verses 20-30)

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” There is an entire Sunday morning sermon in that one solitary sentence! Those who have studied the Old Testament understand the meaning of these words. Those who have not yet done so should refer to Leviticus chapters 1-7. This passage of the Law, as it was called in those days, specifies the various kinds of offerings and sacrifices that were to be made for their respective categories of sin. You will notice right away that the shedding of blood through the sacrifice of various kinds of animals was specified as payment for our sins. So if you're an animal rights activist, and I see nothing wrong with that, you may get offended by some of what you read there. But try to understand that these things took place well over 3,000 years ago, when the world was a completely different place than it is today. But in the above sentence, Jesus puts an end to all that shedding of blood. He raised a toast to “the new covenant in my blood.” No more would there be the shedding of any blood as an atonement for sin. From then on, Jesus would soon shed his blood only once for the forgiveness of the numerous sins of humankind. His blood would indeed be “poured out” on the cross of his crucifixion, as we will soon see.

“The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.' They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest. Jesus said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.” So we can clearly see here that the Last Supper at one point descended into a petty argument among the Twelve as to which of them would betray Christ. From there the conversation among them evidently sunk to an even lower level when the apostles began arguing about who would be the greatest among them for posterity's sake. I can imagine Jesus patiently waiting for the apostles to finish their petty bickering, until he sinks their ship with this verbal torpedo: “The kings of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” There it is in black and white, my dear readers, in the words of Christ himself. Hierarchy is man's way of running things, but with Jesus we all become peers. Granted, Jesus is still the Son of God, and no one can change my view about this – it's non-negotiable when it comes to my faith. Under Christ and with Christ, we all become peers and equals. Human equality is scriptural!

Jesus then goes on: “For who is greater, the one at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” So Jesus queries the Twelve, saying, 'Under your system, the one who is served is the greatest. But from now on, follow my example and be a people of service to one another.' See how differently Jesus does things? Notice the stark contrast between our hierarchical authority and the kingdom of God, where all serve eagerly and equally? You know, as I was reading this again, it occurred to me that we would all save a whole lot of time and trouble if we stopped bickering about who's going to run things and just get the job done as a dedicated group of peers. 'Follow my example' is precisely what Jesus was saying to them. “You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at any table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” This was the equivalent of Jesus' last will and testament before his impending execution. This is going to be the payoff for the Twelve, as well as for all who follow Jesus and obey his commandments to the best of their abilities. All of us will be bestowed positions of royalty, yet we will be on equal footing. And now let's tackle part 2 of this week's study, beginning at verse 31.

“'Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.' But he replied, 'Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.' Then Jesus asked them, 'When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?' 'Nothing', they answered. He said to them, 'But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written, 'He was numbered with the transgressors', and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me must reach its fulfillment.' The disciples said, 'See Lord, here are two swords.' 'That is enough', he replied.” (Luke 22, verses 30-38)

Simon, whose nickname was 'Peter', was a target of Satan because he was a kind of leader over the apostles, though he had no such official function as such. We find similar circumstances in the Book of Job, chapter 1, verses 6-12 where Satan asks the Lord if he may torment Job. God said to the Devil, 'You may harm him but do not kill him.' Something very similar was happening with the apostle Peter as the Lord was making him aware of what had transpired. He was also telling Peter that God was already with him, but that Peter would disown Jesus 3 times before the following sunrise. “And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers,” Jesus said. That was a command given directly to Peter in the presence of all the remaining apostles. It was a command that Peter would carry out from the time of Christ's resurrection going forward. We would all do well to emulate Peter in this regard in our own special, unique ways as the Lord enables us.

“When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?' 'Nothing', they answered. He said to them, 'But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'” Jesus was telling them – but not in so many words – to 'armor up' and to 'man their battle stations', because confrontation was coming in two ways. The first would be in just a few hours on the Mount of Olives when the authorities would come and arrest Jesus. The second would be in the form of persecution of the early Church starting in the near future. It was also a prophecy about the End Times in which we live. Extremely hard times are coming over the horizon, and they will arrive quickly, so we should all be preparing ourselves accordingly. Buy extra food, extra clothes, a couple or maybe 3 weapons at the most, and don't forget ammo while you're at it. This is to protect yourselves against predators of the 2-legged variety, some of whom may be in uniforms of one kind or another. Remember, these people will be the abusive authoritarians Jesus warned us about.

“It is written, 'He was numbered with the transgressors', and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me must reach its fulfillment.” Jesus was quoting Isaiah 53 verse 12 when he made that statement, and it had to be fulfilled because it was written in Scripture, and the scriptures and the Word of God comprise the very meaning of Truth. But more than that, this was Jesus' destiny, to be the Lord and Savior of humankind and the Kinsman Redeemer of us all! Moreover, had Christ not voluntarily gone through with this very thing – suffering and dying on a cross before being raised up on the morning of the third day – not a single one of us could have been saved, and the “new covenant” Christ spoke of at the Last Supper would never have happened. But instead we have the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ so we can return home to him when our bodies wear out and die. This good news, this most excellent news flash from Jesus himself, is why people like me choose to dedicate our lives to His Majesty Jesus Christ, and I will never stop serving him until I draw my last breath. You would all be wise to do the same. And next week we'll move on to part 3 of 4 as we continue this ongoing Bible study series. Shalom!

Why God is so upset with us over racism and inequality

Why God Hates Inequality

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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In a continuation of my ongoing efforts to bring authentic Christianity into the 21^st century, which includes a personal relationship with Jesus Christ combined with an opposition to injustice and inequality, I wish to bring to your attention a newspaper headline posted a couple of months ago on TheRoot.com by Monique Judge, an on-line acquaintance of mine. The headline reads, “#Flint: An Update and a Reminder That It Has Been 1,196 Days Since the Mich. City Had Clean Drinking Water”. Some selected highlights are as follows:

“....Many government officials have been charged with crimes in the subsequent fallout, but the city is still without a permanent solution that provides an ongoing source of clean water for the people who live there. When the parties were unable to come to an agreement in June, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality filed a lawsuit against the city after the City Council refused to approve a long-term water contract with the Great Lakes Water Authority, out of Detroit. The suit alleges that the city is endangering public health....“There are some helpful things happening in the meantime. Mayor Karen Weaver’s office told the Daily Progress that since March 2016, about 2,700 homes have had old water lines replaced through the FAST Start Initiative, a program with a goal of replacing nearly 20,000 lead-tainted water lines in the city by the year 2020....According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Michigan State University, which received a four-year, $14.4 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced Tuesday that it will be using the first installment of that grant to establish a registry of Flint residents who have been exposed to lead since the crisis began in 2014. It will use the $3.2 million to connect people to programs that can help minimize the health problems associated with lead exposure, which include effects on brain development in children. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it will forgive $20.7 million in water debt that the city of Flint incurred through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund....Flint has come a long way, but there is still much more work that needs to be done. With help and support like this from federal, state as well as local entities, Flint will indeed bounce back. Too bad that help hasn’t come in the form of potable water dripping from the faucets.”

Formerly middle class people, plus a whole lot of poor folks including people of color, are having their most basic rights taken away by a runaway government and their out-of-control police departments. Access to running water is a fundamental human right. Period. End of story. To forcibly remove – by turning off or forcibly cutting off – anyone's access to running water is a crime as far as I am concerned. The Bible says in the Book of Proverbs chapter 29, verse 7, “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern”. That's God's take on poverty in a nutshell. “The poor you will always have”, Jesus said not long before His crucifixion, “but you will not always have me”. The poor are humankind's responsibility, starting with the churches and its volunteers. Shelter falls into the same category as water – it too is a basic human right. Even the earliest humans from 100,000+ years ago slept in caves, long before the invention of written language, and before the discovery of fire and the wheel. Moreover, I wrote in my 2011 book, “The Middle and Working Class Manifesto”, which is still available in paperback from this website (or as an e-book on Kindle from here), that people everywhere have “The right to affordable housing and the fundamental right to shelter regardless of economic status. We have a responsibility as a civilized society to end homelessness.” 

 

Here in the city of Atlanta where I live, there are lots of boarded up and abandoned houses (there's plenty out in the suburbs, too, but most of those aren't on the bus line). There are also a lot of homeless people, mainly because Georgia is one of those states whose minimum wage is still stuck at a paltry $7.25 an hour. Any way you slice and dice it, a single person who makes minimum wage and works 40 hours per week can't afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in Atlanta, even though the most basic 1-bedroom rents for 'only' about $450-500.00 monthly. So there are a slowly growing number of squatters who are living in these abandoned houses, nearly all without the benefit of water or electric hook-up. Others live in their vehicles, if they're lucky enough to still have one. When the police catch them, and they do so routinely, they are taken directly to jail. OK, now let's review this. The cops catch some luckless squatter who is camped out in a house that nobody wants. Since that person is considered to be a trespasser under Georgia law, and since the majority of the squatters are also usually black, they are taken immediately to a city or county jail where it will cost the taxpayers upwards of $60.00 a day to detain them.

So, evidently there are some who think it's better to spend $60.00 a day to house otherwise harmless petty criminals than it is to let them sleep in abandoned structures at night where they are bothering no one. No one seems to care about the fact that incarcerating these people is an unnecessary burden on the taxpayers. I understand that they're trespassing on someone's property, but if that is something that must be enforced then why is the structure abandoned and in disrepair? The answer, brothers and sisters, is greed. The property owners, many of whom live out of state or overseas – and who want nothing to do with these properties because they owe back property taxes on them – will not hesitate to press charges against some poor homeless man, or a homeless single parent with small children, for sleeping on a front porch on a rainy night. They can't be there themselves, so they make donations to the local Fraternal Order of Police, or “lobby” the local Congressional representative, and the trespassing laws are rigidly enforced as a result.

The Bible has plenty to say about this. For example, in Exodus chapter 23, verses 6-9 it says, “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know what it is like to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.” In Psalm 9 verse 8 it reads: “He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the people with justice.” Psalm 106 verse 3 says, “Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.” There are lots and lots of examples like these that make abundantly clear that God stands for justice, fairness and equality, such as Zechariah chapter 7 verses 8-10, and I quote: “And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah; 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts, do not think evil of each other.'”

Does America deny justice to poor people? Given the fact that many nonviolent offenders who get caught up in the “criminal justice” system wind up languishing in jail for months or even years waiting for a court date because they can't post their bail bonds, I would say absolutely America denies justice to poor people. “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.” For those who didn't realize this, these are the very words of God as dictated to Moses during the ancient Israelite's 40 years in the desert. Today in our government at the state and federal levels, we have exactly the opposite. Only today, we give them the innocuous-sounding name “lobbyists”, which excuses nothing! It's all still a bunch of bribery! “Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know what it is like to be aliens....” All Americans are descended from first-generation immigrants at some point in their past, however distant that may be. You can already see where I'm going with this, and I've brought it up before – the extremely harsh treatment of undocumented foreign nationals, the majority of whom are people of color, by the majority of American citizens. It's all race-based and everyone knows it deep down in their hearts. It's time to call a spade what it is – racial prejudice – and get it over with. There I just wrote it, or said it if you're watching this on You Tube, for all to see and hear. It's way past time for America to confront its issues with racial prejudice and get over all this nasty racist stuff. There will be no racists in heaven, all you Christians with your stinking Klan robes! You cannot love God while despising his creations! So forget about it!

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.” As before, this is exactly what the USA, an allegedly “Christian nation”, is doing as I write this. Does the US show “mercy and compassion”? On the contrary, we have the largest percentage of people in jails and prisons-for-profit of any nation in the world. America is first in incarceration, but when it come to education America truly sucks, and people are just getting things off the ground with ways to change that. But until this occurs, it is time for the US middle and working classes to put our collective feet down and say ”no more”. Let there be no mistake, America is ripe for mass civil disobedience, even for outright revolution. Moreover, as I just proved, this is all based on the Bible, not some ideology. The conditions and circumstances in which the middle and working classes find themselves has become truly intolerable!

Personally, I am a very patient and thoughtful man. I work hard each day to be slow to speak and quick to listen because I know from experience that there is much wisdom to be derived from living my life this way. But by the same token, I am a Christian man and Web evangelist who stands against social injustice and economic inequality, and whose patience is at its end. Just as surely as Jesus preached against the political and religious establishment of His day, in like manner I will do the same in the present day in order to emulate the man I regard as my personal Lord and Savior. So, if you truly care about the deteriorating state of our nation, if you are really concerned about the issues that we are faced with collectively as a people, and if you want to make a stand against social and economic injustice – and since it's in all our best interests to do so – you owe it to yourself to stand up in the face of power and say, “That's it! You're done!!” You know why? Because if Jesus Christ were to return this very day, that's what He'd say. And the ones who are having the homeless thrown in jail for trespassing on their dilapidated properties would be the first ones Christ would send straight to hell.

The Secret Life of Timothy McVeigh

This week's Biblical teaching will be part one of Luke chapter 22

Judas and the Last Supper

[Luke chapter 22, verses 1-19]

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Last week when we concluded chapter 21 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus had said all he was going to say to the Twelve – and to ourselves, the readers and students of Christ – regarding the signs of Christ's 2nd coming and of the “end of the age”. Let's not forget that we are living at or near the “end of the age” as Jesus described it, and we all have a responsibility to remain faithful to Jesus as we await his arrival to take us home. Chapter 21 ends with that discussion being over and done with, as Jesus had since returned to the Temple at Jerusalem where he taught daily. Notice that our Lord and Savior had de-emphasized the “end of the age” and had gone back to teaching and preaching, which was his main focus. Certain modern era churches would be wise to emulate our Lord's example. Some are placing more emphasis on Jesus' impending return than they are on saving souls and bringing them back to Christ where we all belong. In this week's lesson, we will begin an analysis of the Last Supper and the betrayal of our soon-to-be-risen Savior and Kinsman Redeemer. So let's get going here, starting at verse one.

“Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the Temple Guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted, and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.” (Luke 22, verses 1-6)

It was the week leading up to the Passover feast, a major Jewish holiday, and those who opposed Jesus who were in positions of leadership had hatched a plot to make Jesus the Passover sacrifice in order to make an example out of him. All they needed was a way to carry it out. Judas, whose intentions were never pure to begin with, undoubtedly sensed this perverse need and saw it as a way to turn a quick profit for himself. For the entire history of humanity, ever since Cain killed Abel, there have been people like Judas, lurking in the shadows for a chance to strike on behalf of the highest bidder. And, there have always been governments, powerful corporations and covert military forces willing to hire these opportunistic mercenaries. Judas never took a shot at Jesus, or even raised his fist to his face, but he was still Satan's mercenary by necessity and a traitor by nature. People who play both sides of any given situation or set of circumstances can never be trusted. Period, end of story. Moreover, this is what happens when governments and ruling bodies get too much power. They will resort to any extreme, including all kinds of murder and mayhem, to get what they want. May God have mercy on anyone who gets in their way, because they will act unmercifully towards any perceived threat, up to and including the Son of God. Let's continue at verse 7.

“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.' 'Where do you want us to prepare for it?', they asked. He replied, 'As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks, 'Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'. He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there'. They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.” (Luke 22, verses 7-13)

It is evident to all right here that this is still another confirmation to us all from the apostle Luke that Jesus was really the Son of God. There is simply no other way Christ could have known all those little details that far in advance. Those who claim clairvoyance or say they have 'extra-sensory perception' could not possibly imitate what Jesus did. Another thing that has been evident all along is that Jesus and the apostles were all Jewish men – all except for Luke, who was a Gentile doctor. This comprises the uniqueness of Luke's gospel, in that it was the only one written by a Gentile. The apostle Paul mentions Luke briefly a few times in his epistles, and in the Book of Colossians refers to him as a physician (from Greek for 'one who heals'); thus he is known to have been both a physician and a disciple of Jesus Christ, and later of Paul. So that's how the Passover feast preparations occurred – effortlessly. Notice that had Peter and John tried to do things any other way than what the Lord had told them, they would have failed miserably in their mission! So we can all take a lesson from this. We are to trust God even when it doesn't seem right. Let's not try and second-guess Christ or we'll make ourselves look foolish. God has a habit of making things come out right, even when we least expect it. Now let's move on to the third and final part of today's teaching, starting at verse 14.

“When the hour came, Jesus and his disciples reclined at the table. And he said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.' After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, 'Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.' And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'” (Luke 22, verses 14-19)

“'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.'” Jesus made no secret of the fact that our Redeemer had been really looking forward to this final act of celebration with his apostles. Although the apostles – excluding Judas even though he was still there at this point – could not have known that this was their final Passover with the Lord, Jesus surely must have known that it was. But there will be another Passover for the remaining eleven, plus the apostle Paul, along with Steven from Acts chapters 6 and 7, Barnabas, Timothy and all the rest, with Christ the Lord in heaven! We can all be absolutely sure about that! And not only that, but all the rest of us as well – all who contributed to the expansion of God's kingdom with their works and contributions, and especially for those who are winners of souls for the Lord.

So, Christ stated to his apostles that he would not eat, nor would he drink any man-made wine or other fermented beverage, while still on earth. We can all be sure he has kept and is still keeping that vow to this day. “And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'” This single line of scripture is the basis for Holy Communion in both the Protestant and Catholic churches, as well as the Passover celebration in synagogues and multitudes of Jewish households all over the world, but particularly in the United States and Israel. Next week, we'll move on to part 2 of Luke 22 as we 'finish eating' the Last Supper with Jesus and the Twelve, whose number was about to be reduced to eleven. Until then, keep Jesus in your hearts and minds, because there will be times when you'll be glad He's there.

50 Informative and Motivational Bible Scriptures on Work and Labor

50 Informative and Motivational Bible Scriptures on Work and Labor

Free book excerpt #14 from author, blogger and on-line pastor Rev. Paul J. Bern

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

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

Chapter Eight; Apocalypse Soon?

This chapter will be the conclusion of the first half of this book, “Explaining the Manifesto Part One: Stating the Problems”. In the first half of this book, I have explained and documented certain basic facts regarding the fate that awaits the entire US middle class if we don't stand up as a united people and do something about our situation. I have shown my dear readers that the US middle and working classes are gradually being liquidated by the ultra-rich through a systematic confiscation of wealth. It is the top 1% of those who hold somewhere between 95% and 99% of all the wealth in this formerly great country, and much of this wealth used to be squarely in the hip pocket of the middle class. It is they who have out-sourced a large portion of middle class jobs to the third world while leaving good hard-working Americans out in the cold. It is the wealthy who are foreclosing on our homes and throwing everything America owns into a pile sitting at the curb. It is the wealthy who have looted our pension funds, who are driving our health insurance costs through the roof, who have been pillaging the Social Security coffers in Washington, and who are the paymasters for all the lobbyists in Washington. It is the wealthy who have turned war into a stalemate for profit as the infrastructure back home in America crumbles to dust while our schools deteriorate. It is the wealthy who have turned America into the world's largest arms merchant and flooded the global market with every imaginable kind of gun that one could ever hope to have, and often with no questions asked. It is the wealthy elite who have more people behind bars than any other country in the world, due in large part to the fiasco known as the “war on drugs” that has been ongoing since the 1970's. 

There can be no doubt that American society is coming apart at the seams as a direct result of all the financial shenanigans that is going on in Washington or on Wall Street. Here is a list of those signs as posted on the Internet a couple of years ago. Since then, things have only gotten worse. How much longer are we going to put up with this?

15 Signs American Society Is Coming Apart at the Seams

1) The inequality of wealth in the United States is soaring to an unprecedented level. The U.S. already had the highest inequality of wealth in the industrialized world prior to the financial crisis. Since the crisis, which has hit the middle class and poor much harder than the top 1 percent, the gap between the top 1 percent and the remaining 99 percent of the U.S. population has grown to a record high.

2) As the stock market recently went over the 23,000 mark, surging to an all-time high, the three big banks that took taxpayer money and benefited the most from the government bailout have just set a new global economic record by issuing $70 billion in annual bonuses last year. Bloomberg reported: “Goldman Sachs, the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, had a record profit in the first nine months of this year and set aside $16.7 billion for compensation expenses.” Goldman Sachs is on pace for the best year in the firm’s history, and it is also benefiting by only paying 1 percent in taxes.

3) The profits of the economic elite are “now underwritten by taxpayers with $23.7 trillion worth of national wealth." As the looting is occurring at the top, the U.S. middle class is just beginning to collapse.

4) Workers between the ages of 55 to 60, who have worked for 20 to 29 years, have lost an average of 25 percent off their 401k. During the same time period, the wealth of the 400 richest Americans went up by $30 billion, bringing their total combined wealth to $1.57 trillion.

5) Home foreclosure filings "hit a record high in the third quarter (of 2012)… They were the worst three months of all time… 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter" in this three-month period; “3.4 million homes are expected to enter foreclosure by year’s end, with some experts estimating that next year will be even worse.” President Obama has enacted a $75 billion taxpayer funded program that has been a spectacular failure in stemming the foreclosure crisis and has proven to be another massive waste of billions of taxpayer dollars.

6) 25 million people are unemployed or underemployed. This means we have 25 million people who urgently need to increase their income, and they’re quickly running out of options. The unemployment rate is expected to rise further and remain high for several years. “The president’s chief economic adviser warned that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay ‘unacceptably high’ for years to come."

The New York Times reports: "Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse. Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking….” As this ratio continues to grow, it will lead to a further reduction in wages -- average worker wages have seen a sharp decline over the past year.

Economist Nouriel Roubini, a man who accurately predicted our current crisis, just reported on unemployment stating: “Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening…. So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while. The jobs just are not coming back.”

7) As the few elite banks thrive, there have been 123 U.S. bank failures thus far this year. Recently, three banks that the government declared “healthy” and gave taxpayer money, have folded. The Wall Street Journal reports: “U.S. regulators have seized or threatened at least 27 banks that got capital infusions from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including some lenders government officials knew were troubled when they awarded the money. The troubles put taxpayers at risk of losing as much as $5.1 billion invested in the banks since TARP was launched in October 2008.”

8) As bankruptcies surge across the board, 10 U.S. states are on the verge of bankruptcy, with several ready to declare a financial state of emergency. California, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are all “barreling toward economic disaster, raising the likelihood of higher taxes, more government layoffs and deep cuts in services."

9) This is occurring at a time when the “federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before." In total, "U.S. public debt topped $12 trillion for the first time in history… The public debt topped $10 trillion back in September 2008. The debt is quickly approaching the statutory limit of $21 trillion, meaning Congress would have to raise the ceiling to prevent a shutdown of government operations."

Economist Dean Baker explains the risk of running such a large deficit: "The debt limit must be increased at regular intervals in order to allow the government to function normally because the government is currently operating at a deficit. If the debt limit is not passed, then at some point the government will not be able to pay workers and contractors. It won’t be able to send out Social Security checks or make payments for Medicaid and unemployment insurance to state governments. And, it will not be able to make interest payments on government bonds, effectively defaulting on the national debt." Needless to say, all of this will make life drastically more difficult for American citizens. As the middle class continues on the path of economic decline, the number of citizens living in poverty has already hit an all-time high.

10) Although the government’s official figure tries to low-ball the number, 47.4 million U.S. citizens live in poverty, and the U.S. poverty rate is the highest in the industrialized world. Predictably, homelessness is rising at an increased rate as well. The U.S. government does not tally the numbers but interested organizations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children. Children have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis.

11) 50 percent of U.S. children, one out of every two children, will need to use food stamps to eat. One out of every two children in the United States of America will need to use food stamps… to EAT!

If you didn’t think starvation was a serious threat in the U.S., just read this new Washington Post report: “The nation’s economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people — including almost one child in four — struggled last year to get enough to eat…” Several independent advocates and policy experts on hunger said that they had been bracing for the latest report to show deepening shortages, but that they were nevertheless astonished by how much the problem has worsened. 'This is unthinkable. It’s like we are living in a Third World country,' said Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America."

The United States Department of Agriculture released these findings in a study that was completed back in December 2008, which means these numbers don’t take into account the millions more unemployed throughout 2009-2012. The numbers of people living in poverty and struggling to eat has seen a significant increase since then. This a national tragedy. But it gets much worse.

12) In 2008, according to the Census Bureau, the number of U.S. citizens without health care grew to a record 46.3 million. “The new figures, however, understate the severity of the economic downturn because a large portion of the nation’s job losses and unemployment rate increases occurred after the Census survey data was collected in March as part of the annual Current Population Survey." And now President Trump and his conservative friends want to end Obama-care too? This is completely nuts!

13) Lack of health insurance has caused 45,000 preventable U.S. citizen deaths in the past year. The American Journal of Medicine recently released a study that stated, “Nearly two out of three bankruptcies stem from medical bills, and even people with health insurance face financial disaster if they experience a serious illness.”

A 3-year-old Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study reported that 17,000 children have died due to lack of health care. You can also add in a recent report that revealed that 2,266 U.S. veterans have died in 2008 due to lack of insurance. The 30 million now uninsured and the 45,000 preventable deaths per year statistics are expected to drastically rise over the next few years. As the Senate continues to strip meaningful amendments from a health care bill that wouldn’t even take effect until 2018, it has become clear that, despite the media hype, the health care bill is going to fall far short of meaningful reform and continue to rig the game in favor of large insurance company profits at the expense of the U.S. population. With the highest cost healthcare in the world, current trends will continue and much needed change is not on the horizon.

Never before has the United States had so many citizens with so little means, little to no income and heavy debt. Debt and costs of living have now shackled U.S. citizens just as they have shackled people throughout the world. The economic hit men have now hit the United States as well and millions of American citizens are now effectively sentenced to a slow death. Economic Imperial blow-back has hit the mainland. And the clock is ticking louder by the day…

And here’s two more facts for you:

14) The gun and ammunition manufacturing industry in the United States has over 200 companies producing billions of dollars in annual revenues. This huge manufacturing base cannot fulfill demand quickly enough. The demand for guns and ammunition has hit a record high and the gun industry cannot produce enough bullets to keep up with orders. Americans are arming themselves to the teeth!

15) In the past year, 100 new armed militia groups have been formed, as militia members have doubled in numbers. Federal authorities are gravely concerned about the “uptick in militia activities." One federal authority recently said, “All it’s lacking is a spark. I think it’s only a matter of time before you see threats and violence." So let’s break down these numbers.

You have a population of 50 million people who are in desperate need of money, they most likely have no health insurance and can’t afford to get health care or help of any kind. Part of this population probably also has loved ones who can’t get life sustaining medical treatments, or loved ones who have already died due to lack of costly medical treatment. The clock is ticking loud for these people and they are running out of options fast, and time delayed is time closer to death. While the richest 1 percent have never had it so good, a significant percentage of the U.S. population now has firsthand experience in this. Millions upon millions of Americans are poor, broke, struggling, starving, desperate… and armed. We are sitting on a powder keg! We are now witnessing the critical unraveling of U.S. society.

The unraveling of American society is not the only thing that's going on. The US dollar has been the standard world currency since the end of World War Two. However, there are increasing signs that the dollar's status as the world's chief form of currency is being challenged....

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America's Debt Issues and Progressive Christianity

The USA Crosses the Forbidden 666 Barrier

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

To view this from my website, click here :-)

The 2017 fiscal year for the budget of the US government just ended late this past summer, and the results are in. The Lame Stream (sorry, I meant 'main stream') media and various other “presstitutes” are dutifully reporting what they're told to report, while not having the slightest inkling as to the Biblical meaning and spiritual significance of what they publish and report on. And yet despite all that, the headline on Saturday morning's CNN's website reads, “Deficit for 2017 hits $666 billion”! Now just to be clear about this, CNN is not exactly my favorite news source, but Fox and all the other old mainstay networks are even worse IMHO. But the fact that the federal budget deficit (not to be confused with the 'national debt') is the same number as the “mark of the beast” from Revelation 13, verses 11-18 has gone unnoticed – THAT is what surprises me a great deal. But in another way, this occurrence doesn't surprise me at all. My reason here is simply that it seems like the whole world is going in that direction.

The similarities between the economic monstrosity known as 'debt' and the moral monstrosity of the Antichrist and the number 666 are striking. Both fly in the face of God because they are devoid of any love or compassion, and because they challenge the Supreme authority of God. There is plenty of scripture to back this up. Let me start in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament and work my way forward from there, and I quote: “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else would he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear him, for I am compassionate.” (Exodus 22: 25-27) As you can see, it is not a sin to borrow money or lend it at interest provided the terms are affordable and reasonable enough. I can remember being taught as a child that it was a sin to borrow money. All the adults in my life at that time were proud of the fact that everything they owned – excluding the lots their hand built houses were built on – was bought and paid for. They built the houses themselves, and even their cars were paid for. It was a world that simply no longer exists.

The CNN article goes on to say, “The deficit reached 3.5% of the size of the economy, or GDP. In 2016, the deficit was 3.2% of GDP. The deficit reflects the gap between how much the government brings in and what it spends. Accrued deficits over the years contribute to the country's debt held by the public, which in 2017 rose to $14.667 trillion. But as a share of the economy, it actually fell slightly to 76.3%, down from 76.7% in the year-ago period. (Those figures don't include the money owed to government trust funds like Social Security.)“ At this rate, and if nothing is done – a frightening possibility considering the current state of the US Congress – the interest on America's 'national debt' would exceed 20% of GDP by 2030 if the CNN figures are accurate, and I should hope they are! But if we set that aside and look beyond all these things, we can find the real underlying causes of America's indebtedness problems.

For this, we'll stay in the Old Testament and skip over to Deuteronomy chapter 15, verses 1-11, and it reads as follows from the NLT Bible: “At the end of every seventh year you must cancel your debts. This is how it must be done. Creditors must cancel the loans they have made to their fellow Israelites. They must not demand payment from their neighbors or relatives, for the Lord's time of release has arrived. This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites – not to the foreigners living among you. There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. You will receive this blessing if you carefully obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow! You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you! But if there are any poor people in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year of release is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin. Give freely without begrudging it, and the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. There will always be some among you who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.”

OK, let's take this from the top since there's so much in this one paragraph. “At the end of every seventh year you must cancel your debts. This is how it must be done. Creditors must cancel the loans they have made to their fellow Israelites.” So right off the bat we see the entire US mortgage industry has compelled an entire country into sin. After all, this certainly applies to all nations, not just Israel. In America, we either pay interest for 30 years or we rent, that's how dwellings and commercial buildings of various types are bought and sold. So, we are faced with the choice of paying, say, $200,000.00 or more for a new basic model 3 or 4 bedroom house here in Atlanta where I reside, or renting. With interest figured in, the total price for that house over 30 years would be approximately $333,000.00 dollars. So, the Bible is telling us that a good-sized portion of that excess $133,000.00 in interest on our hypothetical $200,0000.00 mortgage is sinful, meaning it's sinful to charge people that much interest or to make that much profit on one stinking' house! This, my dear readers, is why capitalism as we have known it is unsustainable. Capitalism is unsustainable because it's sinful! This is the Scriptural 'proof of the pudding' right here in Deuteronomy.

“They must not demand payment from their neighbors or relatives, for the Lord's time of release has arrived. This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites – not to the foreigners living among you.” So this time of forgiving of debts is called the “time of release” in my NLT Bible, and my NIV calls it “the Lord's time for canceling debts”. At the time this was written, the ancient Hebrew nation was at the latter stages of their 40 years of wandering in the desert, but prior to the time of taking possession of the land the Lord was going to give them, since Moses was still alive at this time. As this was applied to the Hebrew nation from the time of Moses, so it remains with modern America. If it were against the law for any loan to be of more than 7 years duration, there wouldn't be any poor or homeless people. But the rich would lose most of their ill-gotten gains, and the entire mortgage industry would have to be extensively restructured. Now you know why nothing ever changes.

The only way to stop this gross injustice – which amounts to legalized loan sharking – is to refuse to go along with the system. Passive resistance can be a very effective tool in forcing change to come about at the societal level – that is, nonviolent resistance. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a master of this very thing, which freaked out the FBI and the “Department of Justice” to such an extreme they enlisted the aid of the CIA to have King killed. So how do we take an cue from Rev. Dr. King's playbook? One of the most effective things we could do today about our rigged economic system would be for everyone to boycott their student loans. If we stop paying on our homes and our cars, the bankers and finance people foreclose and repossess. But with the student loans – and other unsecured loans like your credit cards – if we walk away as a united people, there's nothing for them to take back. It would be tantamount to a national strike, and we wouldn't even have to leave our homes!Wow, wouldn't THAT be something!! Moving right along....

“There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. You will receive this blessing if you carefully obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.” Just as God Almighty gave what was then known as the “Land of Canaan” to the Hebrew nation – or Israelites, they mean the same thing – during the time of Moses, I am certain that God gave what become North America to the early settlers “as a special possession” too. The Bible even spells out the payoff for following the commands and tenets of the Lord Almighty in this regard: “The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow! You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you!” Isn't that the position America was in up until the 1980's or so? Weren't we the largest money lending nation in the world? Look at us now! We're the largest debtor nation. We've gone from one extreme to the other! And it's all because of America's sins! What sins, some may ask? We're the world's largest arms maker and exporter. We're the largest producer of pornography, the largest consumer of illegal drugs, and we have the most people in prison of any other country in the world – by more than triple the #2 nation, which is Communist China. Until America repents of these things by getting to the root cause, her problems will continue to get progressively worse!

“But if there are any poor people in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year of release is close at hand.” God despises anyone who despises the poor! Sometimes when I'm in downtown Atlanta at the main train station waiting on a bus to take me out to my neighborhood, I sit and watch the homeless people – and Atlanta has plenty of them because wages are extremely low – beg for money. I give them all my spare change if they ask for it, and I have been known to buy people sandwiches who are in need. But the vast majority of the passers-by won't even acknowledge them if approached, and will even step up their pace to get by the beggars faster. This is one reason I have never cared for the meme “conservative Christian”. It's because they seem to be consistently too conservative to give. They all seem to be too busy 'conserving' to have a single ounce of human compassion. Such individuals risk being judged harshly by the Lord, and some will be condemned.

“If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin....That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.” This means if someone who is in a position to help people fails to do so, even if it's nothing but loose change, and the homeless man or woman cries out to God against that individual, they will have committed sin against God. Sin is defined as breaking God's commandments. Therefore, all sinners are essentially lawbreakers. I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't want to spend my life as an outlaw. I want to follow God's precepts in order to obtain my eternal reward that awaits me. Since America is collectively in sin, as I already explained, the repentance will have to start with each individual. Those at the top – America's top 1% when measured in wealth – are certainly not going to repent of their sins. They're making too much money to want to repent, and their end will be eternal judgment. But the rest of us can collectively stop these practices of financial corruption, one person at a time. We can make up our minds to live debt-free. And yes, it can be done. Like former president Obama said, “Yes we can!”