155 Uppercase Truth

There used to be a time when I never thought I could have learned anything from a Catholic.

Perhaps due to the fact that the sample of “Christianity” I had witnessed in my hometown Catholic church drove me into atheism by the age of 10.

But then (quite a few years after having discovered the real Jesus), I came across the writings of the Franciscan Richard Rohr, and found out that God seems to have made exceptions to every rule, and that you can even learn something from a Catholic.

Likewise, I was not expecting any mind-blowing experiences to come out of the atheist camp since my latest experiences with countless comments of the defenders of disbelief on our Youtube channels, or having read what some of their supposedly brightest lights like Richard Dawkins or the Zeitgeist people have to say.

But then again, you never know when God knocks on your door with a surprise, ready to push over all your carefully construed clichés and mental drawers we keep our fellow humans in.

I have found an atheist who is probably a better Christian than I.

And very much unlike most of his fellow unbelievers, he comes forward as a defender of those from the other side or camp of the opposition and writes a book called, “An Atheist Defends Religion: Why Humanity is Better Off with Religion Than Without It.”

If I ever would have had and lost anything like it, I would have said “Bruce Sheiman has restored my faith in humanity.” But since I have long ago decided to place my trust in Someone more trustworthy than my own kind, at least I can say, Bruce, thanks for making my day! – And for reminding me of how a real Christian is supposed to act, seeing the good in the folks on the “other side” and coming forward to put in a good word for them, which is probably a closer version of “loving your enemies” than what the majority of Christendom is coming up with nowadays.

In his book, Bruce Sheiman reminds his readers that while Christianity may not have a snow-white record (as we’re constantly being reminded by those who would love to blast Christianity to hell for its crusades and other crimes of history both past and present), there are nonetheless a lot of decent Christian (or otherwise religious) folks who are doing a lot of good to make this world a better place (and if you ever tried your hand at it, you may know just how tough that attempt can be, especially in the light of the fact that most folks will never give you the credit for it, no matter what you do – just because you’re a believer).

Regardless of those culprits and fakes who have abused religion as a cloak for their less than noble purposes (including in very recent history, such as the previous US administration – without saying the present is any better), as a sum, the impact of (true) religion on the world was a good one, even if many folks may not realize it.

“Historians cannot identify any other cultural force as robust as religion that could have carried civilization along.”

Mostly, though, he points out something that strikes me as purely divine genius, namely that in our drive to discover what he terms “lowercase truth”–facts and knowledge–we have sacrificed “uppercase truth”–meaning and purpose.

In other words, figuring out all the scientific little details about how the universe works may be all fine and good, but not really replace our need for a higher purpose in life than your usual “survival of the fittest” scheme that’s slowly turning our carefully analyzed and dissected planet into living hell for more and more people each day.

He observes that our minds are called to something more than a relative truth…and if moral imperatives do not depend on God then they are not absolute and remain relative. – In other words, we’re not really good at kidding ourselves into accepting any counterfeit, fake “goodness” or standard we’re supposed to live by or strive for. The human souls is desperate to find, and unready to settle for anything less than the Real Thing in the long run.

Pointing out some of the moral advantages of those Christians and believers who actually did get the point of what their religion’s founder had intended, including their quality to respect humans as created in the image of God instead of just another hoard of highly mutated two-legged mammals who must constantly prove to each other who is the strongest, he contends that the world is actually not any worse off because of religion.

One might argue in favor of atheists as civilized and courteous as Mr. Sheiman, that in the light of Jesus’ recommendation to judge a tree by its fruits, the criteria by which He would truly consider a person to be following in His footsteps and worthy of His commendation, regardless of which camp they may profess to belong to (since we live in a world of pretenders, after all), and one way to find out who truly is a “Christian” or a “good person,” we would simply have to look at the way they treat their fellowmen.

And in this aspect, Bruce Sheiman has proven himself worthy of a higher commendation than I would be able to presently grant the majority of my fellow believers, and awakens in me the desire that there were more folks like him around, regardless of whether they share my belief or not.

Atheists who don’t persecute me for my faith make for a truly refreshing change, including from those fellow-believers who persecute me for the differences between my belief system and theirs.

Folks capable of seeing the good in people, even in those from the opposing camp, and even capable of defending them before the world, in my opinion are a greater sample of the kind of love Christ intended for us to live and practice than the attempt to press every- or anyone into our same molds.

I’ve said before that maybe Gandhi, being a Hindu, proved himself a better Christian by His actions than probably most Christians during his life-time. Perhaps Mr. Sheiman, being an atheist (though allegedly considering himself an “aspiring theist”), by his gesture, is putting forth a better Christian example than many of those who claim that label for themselves.

We’ve all heard the line “With friends like that, who needs enemies?” Well, with “enemies” like him, we would all soon have a lot more friends.

I have certainly learned something from him, and have been reminded of the fact that the One I look up to as my personal Guide and Master also stood out by bridging the gap between enemy camps (such as Jews and Romans), and it makes me long for that quality that His early followers stood out for, which ultimately enabled them to conquer the Roman empire with meekness and love.

I’m only afraid that Bruce might encounter the same type of rejection from the hardliners of his own camp that Jesus had to face from the religious hardliners of His day for showing sympathy to the Romans and preaching “Love your enemies.”

Perhaps the statement “Blessed are they who are being persecuted for righteousness’ sake” can also apply to atheists. The truth is the truth, no matter who preaches it. And in this case, the truth award of the day goes to Bruce…

Related articles:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/09/an_atheist_defends_the_value_of_religion.html

http://www.zenit.org/article-27550?l=english

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150 My Perception of Alex Jones (Flesh Or Spirit?)

I must say I do appreciate the work Alex Jones did on his latest two films, “The Obama Deception” and “The Fall of the Republic.” While there are certain elements in those films I would dare to disagree with, the content of valid information in them, in other words, the “truth factor” outweighs the flaws, such as his sometimes slightly overwhelming patriotism that is so common among Americans and seems to indicate that they truly believe that every American is at least ten times better than any citizen of any other country.
It’s hard to credibly condemn presidents and the powers behind the New World Order for sending American soldiers off to war, when you’re a victim of one of the principal mindsets yourself that fuels those wars, namely that sort of patriotism and nationalism.
If your country’s that great, why, it practically gives you a license to barge into any other country on earth with a gun in the effort to make that Hottentot backwards country similar in greatness to yours, and let some of its greatness rub off on it…

Without realizing it, they’re victims of the same media hogwash they rightly say the vast majority has been duped by, although to a lesser extent.

But as I say, the information he does put out is significant, and the truth factor does in my opinion outweigh the patriotic hype factors.
Without those two films, I’d probably still live under the illusion that Obama was actually an improvement since the Bush administration. By now I know without a doubt that it really doesn’t matter whose administration it is, and things, like the Bible says, are only bound to get worse.

As a believer, it felt reassuring to hear Alex give God the credit in his latest film, even if only for the exuberant greatness of his country.
At least he does believe in God, unlike other professional exposers of the NWO like David Icke, who seems to subscribe to the doctrines of his pal Brian Desborough, who claims that all religions and the Almighty Himself are an invention of the Illuminati, designed to enslave mankind through religion, a very popular notion that is also embraced by the Zeitgeist movement I wrote about recently. The infiltration of the truth movement by such people is probably the smartest move the Devil could have made, since they’re automatically robbing themselves of the only way out of the mess into which he’s steering the world.

That’s probably one factor Alex Jones fails to recognize, too, and just because he seems to believe in God, it would probably be an exaggeration to call him a spiritual man.
By failing to see the spiritual background of all these things, though, such as the rise of the NWO, I’m afraid one fails to see a substantial part of the picture.

For one thing, while the planned abolition of borders between countries may in terms of industrial independence and political sovereignty be a nightmare for patriotic Americans like Alex Jones, for believers who are aware that the New World Order is only going to be the last, necessary stop before God’s Kingdom will be established, the abolition of borders and national sovereignty has a less significant impact.

True Christians believe and know that the coming New World Order will ultimately be headed by the Antichrist, a man, who for the last 3 1/2 years of his life and reign will be completely possessed and controlled by Satan himself, and since Satan is only an imitator and counterfeiter of God, his kingdom will only be a sorry counterfeit of God’s Coming Kingdom, in which borders and national boundaries will be history, and a sad part of it, as well.
I’m sorry to disappoint Alex and perhaps millions of others, but I’m fairly convinced that there won’t be anymore red-white-and-blue flag waving folks around in God’s Kingdom, nor patriots of any other kind than those loyal to the Kingdom that has always been not of this present world, of a very different kind, and the difference certainly includes its stance on earthly patriotism (see Hebrews 11).

The same applies to the abolition of cash. While the New World Order’s plans to replace paper money with the cashless system the Bible terms “the mark of the Beast” (“the Beast” being a term for the Antichrist) certainly will be truly diabolical, and we strongly advise anyone to refuse to take that mark, it is on the other hand, only yet another way in which the Devil will try to imitate God’s Kingdom, because you can bet your bottom dollar that there won’t be any folks left chasing paper money, and what the Bible calls “filthy lucre” in the Kingdom of God!

Ignoring the spiritual factors behind the New World Order and only seeing the people involved in it, is very short-sighted, indeed.
The problem is, a lot of the good folks speaking in Alex’ films are of the opinion that if the American people would unite and stand up and rise up against the NWO, then the world could be saved from its fate, but there is unfortunately no way around this darkest chapter of history. That display of blind patriotism will be just as futile as that of the people of Israel during the time of the prophet of Jeremiah, who warned them to submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon (in some ways a proto-type of the Antichrist, since the Bible refers to both as “the king of the north,” although the king of Babylon, Nebucchadnezzar, did in the end turn out to be a good man, which won’t be the case with the AC).
Jeremiah was thrown into a dungeon because of his heretical treason, but it changed nothing about the fact that he turned out to be right, after all.

Some people who don’t trust Alex Jones accuse him of fulfilling a purpose in the plan of the New World Order cronies: that he will be instrumental in evoking an uprising and violent resistence against the NWO that will give the rulers an excuse to clamp down on them with force, and although I doubt that this would be Alex Jones’ intention, the danger that this is going to happen is quite real.

Physical, armed resistance against the NWO will be just as futile as the efforts of Jewish zealots during the Roman occupation of Judea, which was totally crushed.
As I wrote in my last entry, one of the reasons the Jews rejected Jesus was because they had been hoping for a messiah that was going to liberate them from Roman occupation. But Jesus actually extended His compassion to Romans as well, as well as Samaritans, which were despised by the Jews, and it seemed that He was announcing that God was going to extend His pact to any heathen that would accept His sacrifice, which is in effect what happened.

The problem is that if you think that you and your country or people are so good you’re just about perfect, and the only liberation you need is from the physical oppression of those who are making you pay taxes, then you wind up shouting “crucify Him!” at the one who indicates that you have a bigger problem, which you need to get rid off first.
Jesus clearly stated that the yoke of sin that even the seemingly perfect Jewish people were under was something much more serious and warranted greater attention than liberation from the Romans. He would deal with the Roman empire later, just as He will with the upcoming New World Order, be assured, but what you need to be liberated from first of all, is your sins. You need to avail yourself of the only exit and way out of this present matrix by accepting the blood of Jesus Christ as remission from the one thing that will hold you captive in a stronger grip than any physical oppressor could. Why?
Because as good as you may think you are, there is no guarantee on God’s earth that you would do any better if you were in charge, unless you heart has been supernaturally changed by the grace of God, and you have allowed Him to replace your own sinful, selfish and carnal nature by the new creature Christ can and will make out of you, if you let Him.

One of the major issues about this present life, as far as God is concerned, is the issue of flesh versus spirit. What will you place your bet on? Which will you put your money on? Will you put your hopes in your own arm of the flesh (and remember, your brain is just another chunk of that flesh, and your own smartness won’t save you, either)? Or do you recognize that there is something Greater at work, even if invisibly, behind the scenes, that is going to empower you to truly rise above all the evils in this world, just as It- or He – empowered all the martyrs throughout history?

Do you think that the worst that could possibly happen to you is your physical death, and the end of your fleshly existence is going to be The End, period?

Think again!

It all depends on which you’ll choose to put your trust in: God’s Promises of eternal life in a better world than even your oh-so-beloved America, or your own wit and strength to save you.
I guess it’s always harder for those who have got it all going for them in the flesh, to choose the humble and submissive option of yielding to God and letting Him do it through you, rather than the do-it-yourself option. I guess we’ll meet at the finishing line and see who will have made it there first. But let me give you this little piece of advice from Aesop, the citizen of a country and culture which at one time in history deemed itself to be the most glorious and the peek of civilization, just as quite a few others before and since:

“The hare never made it, but the tortoise did.”

Or, as Morpheus put it to Neo in the Matrix scene in which he teaches him to fight properly (relying on spirit, rather than flesh):

“Do you think that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? — You think that’s air you’re breathing now?”

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139 Zeitgeist Refuted

The Zeitgeist Movie: Dangerous Stuff

I’ve already written some things before on the topic of why people like the makers of the “Zeitgeist” movie are off about throwing Jesus into one pot with all the ancient religions
and depicting Christianity or religion per se as one of the great evils the Illuminati are using to enslave mankind.

What they don’t realize is that all the ancient religions and mythologies of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans were largely based on Astrology, and what the stars were telling them since the beginning of time, and that was a message that clearly pointed to a Savior Who was to come.
The difference is, while the ancient religions only picked up on that story told in the stars, it actually happened and was fulfilled in Jesus.

Perhaps that’s what John meant when he said wrote, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God” (1John 4:2).

All the other religions worshiped similar deities, based on the information they had gotten from the stars (see Psalm 19), but Jesus made the difference by putting flesh to that story.

I can only urge believers to overcome their fright of astrology and buy themselves the book “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God,” which explains how the Gospel was truly written in the stars in every perceivable language, long before it was fulfilled in Jesus, which would give them much greater understanding of the origins of the Pagan religions that were only foreshadowing (or badly counterfeiting) the story of Jesus, which again would help them to debunk all the countless Zeitgeist disciples on the Internet claiming they know something because they’ve seen “Zeitgeist.”

The Devil never gives you any truth without getting you to swallow a big lie along with it, and while the information in Zeitgeist about the NWO hierarchy may be accurate, the makers’ stance on religion is totally off because they’re ignorant of this one simple fact.

Of course, it doesn’t exactly help that Christians are so scared stiff of astrology that they don’t even want to hear what their own book has to say about it.
It doesn’t help either, that they’re still killing their enemies by the millions, instead of loving them, as Jesus told them to.

But one wrong doesn’t make another right, and one lie doesn’t make another one right, either. Christians may be off on a lot of things, including who the good guys and the bad guys are in the Mideast (which doesn’t exactly help the onlooking seeker, either, to find out what on earth is the truth), but so are the Zeitgeist makers, and in their case, it seems as if their minds are simply made up with a theory that comes in very handy for all the millions of people who don’t really welcome the idea of having to deal with the Presence of an Almighty Creator in their conscience, either.

They may know that there are culprits who want to enslave them, but at the same time they let the same culprits fool them into believing that the only Guy Who could ever save them out of this mess was a fraud that they cooked up…

People always underestimate the Enemy of their souls, and the extent to which he can lie the blue out of the sky and make up stories just in order to fool and confuse us.

Now, how do I know that the Devil is such a talented liar? From Jesus. See, contrary to the gruesome Zeitgeist fairy-tale of “there is no good whatsoever, except perhaps in ourselves, and nothing and no one is going to come and save us,” there IS a God, and He loves us, and there IS a Way, a Truth and a Life apart from the Matrix the Devil has been cooking up for us.

All you need is to want that Way Out.

P.S.:

Upon closer inspection of Zeitgeist and the ideology behind it, with the aid of the fairly good answer to it, “Zeitgeist Refuted,” it turns out that its makers appear to be less than just innocently erratic, but actually from the camp of the “enlightened ones” themselves, trying to turn up their blinding light a bit more in order to stop anyone from seeing anything, much less the truth, even if they had to admit to a few facts about themselves that are already widely known and available on the web, anyway…

It all goes back to making Christianity the culprit, and Jesus and His follwers the bad guys and conspirators, one of the oldest tricks of the Devil, accusing his enemies of his own crimes… Which is also something Keith Truth says in his video exposing the New Age movement.
One thing about the Christian Zeitgeist debunkers, though: they shoudn’t be too early to dismiss the comparisons between Christ and the sun, since God evidently created certain physical things to illustrate spiritual truths (a point I’m trying to make in my eBook project “The Deeper Meaning of Everything“). There are many Scriptures that would back up that comparison, about the Lord God being a “Sun and shield,” and “Unto you that fear My name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings.”

There is nothing wrong with the sun, or its representing to an extent what God is like to us. Of course, a whole different story is worshiping the creation rather than the Creator…
Why not just enjoy the creation and thank our Creator for it? If we as Christians had done that, allowing our fellow-humans to do the same, a whole lot less people might be upset at us and bent on destroying Christianity altogether…

Besides that, the Antichrist has got to come as predicted and wage his war on the saints, and Christians ought to get ready for it, instead of always being scared of the truth…

Related Links:

http://forum.conspiracycentral.net/lofiversion/index.php/t24047.html

http://www.nicenetruth.com/home/2008/10/my-critique-of.html

http://www.savethemales.ca/zeitgeist_movie_illuminati_exp.html

P.P.S.: I was just thinking about the above cited passage in first John in relation to this subject, and it’s actually interesting that the passage continues to say, “Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come” (1John 4:3).

That’s actually precisely what the minds behind “Zeitgeist” are trying to do: deny the fact that Jesus was an actual person, and make some kind of occult myth out of Him; thus the spirit behind “Zeitgeist” is actually the very spirit of antichrist that John talks about.

It will probably part of the official doctrine of the New World Religion under the “Great Führer” of the coming World Order that Jesus wasn’t actually a real person, but only a myth, which the antichrist will claim to be the physical fulfillment of, and from the looks of it, all too many people will be ready to believe it…

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