Rules for Radicals

RULES FOR RADICALS

One of the biggest excuses people give for not getting involved in a problem or issue is that they say, "The problem is too big; who can make a dent in it". Jesus Christ on the radio tried to lay this trip on us this morning. Jesus was saying that we shouldn't allow Mexican immigrants here because the whole problem is their own country is poor and Vincente Fox is currupt, and that's where the real problem lies. Jesus also said this morning "Should you give to a beggar? In most instances you definitely should not". He has also previously said "If you know a fellow employee where you work is an illegal alien you should do the right thing and turn him in". This pretty well states "Jesus's" heart on the matter. The question is can you take a "pass" on a problem by just saying "Well, I'm above it all". Ia a negro moved next door to you forty years ago would you set up a committee to have him expelled on account of race. And if anyone asked you why you were doing that would you say, "Well, all of us are racist. It's a problem comon to man and I can't sold that whole problem with this one incident". That would be absurd. Would you refuse to sign a petetion to the constitution saying marriage must be between one man and one woman simply because you believed, "Well there is sin in hetrosexual marriage, too, with adultry and things - so homosexual marriage shouldn't be singled out for blame". The greatest cop-out of the scoundral is to say "The problem is too big". Would you refuse to provide funding for new levys in New Orleans and use as an excuse, "Global warming is the problem. We can't solve that ourselves". It's the simplest thing in the world to finger point away from the issue at hand. (Selah) Other Christians have made allusions to me personally, "Well, I think the problem you really have is too big for me to solve so I won't respond to you at all" The other Jesus, the one in the Bible says "Whoever gives a drink of cold water to a stranger shall be rewarded". Would you refuse someone a drink of water reasoning, "Well, they'll just be thirsty tomorrow and want more". In the fall of 1976 I was taking a political science class and as one of our study books we used "Rules For Radicals" by Saul Allinsky. In it it was stated that "You demand action on a problem that's fairly small and within the range of the other person to solve". When Martin Luther King was standing up for integration he didn't try to intigrate the whole South at once with the wave of his hand. He went to Birmingham and set up shop there to integrate city. And when they saw the light, other cities would follow. Jesus Christ admitted today that sometimes your neighbor's problem can be your problem. If your neighbor has a gas leak in his house it would be wise to see that he gets it gets fixed before a bigger problem develops. If I am in the "body of Christ" that would mean if I have a problem, it's a problem of the whole body and best not be ignored. If you have leprosy on your right hand and ignore it- - the whole body suffers. If you decide to cut off your right hand the body still suffers. That isn't the solution. But with the Christian Church they see any person with a problem as a "Problem" that can be best solved by kicking the person out of the church. In the case of your neighbor's gas leak the solution isn't to say (as Jesus on KFI might) "Well it's bad corporate policy. I think we should start protesting the company head quarters and demand the CEO be fired". The trouble is that won't fix the gas leak. I get so tired of Christians saying they're "above it all". It's like you think they're with you but when the going gets tough they retreat to their own little cloud.

TWO MORE BIBLE CREDIBILITY PROBLEMS

There of course is no way the Creation story in the Bible can be reconsiled with reality. It says the sun wasn't created till the fourth day. How long did God know a day was till then. It also says the firmlement was sort of a plastic done shaped thing- - "made of glass" ad other Bible verses say. It is said over this "glass" firmliment there is water. Not vapor but water. The Hebrew language has a word for vapor if they had wanted to use it. So that the sun and moon and stars are actually under the firmliment in atnosphere! I read this on the internet.

Given the fact of predestination, how dare Jesus Christ say, "If you have to pray forever on an issue, just keep praying and eventually God will hear you". This is in the parable of the widdow and the judge. In the story Jesus implies God responds to persistance. That he is like a human who "has to be reminded to do the right thing", and after a while he will. Except some people are predestined never to have their prayers answered and Jesus knew this when he gave the parable. So wasn't Jesus outright lying when he said to pray constantly?

I'm T N T - I'm Dynomite
T N T - And I'll Win The Fight
T N T - I'm A Power Load
- - - - Watch me Explode!

- - - - BEHOLD I HAVE LOOKED INTO THE HEART OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT AND I NAVE NOT AT ALL LIKED WHAT I SAW

Now we’re back to normal format. This is Saturday night and Cops is on right now. I went to the store for cigarettes and an apple pie. I was just thinking. You know the earliest manifestation of “The Jesus Movement” was actually around Hollywood and they caused themselves “The Jesus People” and they plagiarized Pepsi. The whole movement piggy-backed on the hippy movement with its long hair. Larry Norman even wrote a song lyric, “You wonder about my long hair, I just grew it out to make room for my brain”. Even the whole Rapture doctrine of Chuck Smith was a take-off on Timothy Leary’s statement “Tune in, turn on, and drop out”. Back in the early days of my being a Christian in the late seventies the movement was not political. They were “Above that sort of thing”. They looked on war as “tisk, tisk, a weakness of the greedy flesh”. My how times have changed! Today they wouldn’t be seen with long hair. May I suggest that the “Holy Spirit’ made a strategic mistake in aligning itself with the far right and the South. Remember the Calvary Chapels used to be a California phenomenon. The “Holy Spirit”, which is the heart of the Centaurians used to be more micro in its desires. The Holy Spirit has over reached itself in trying to occupy the President of the United States. Some may wonder why I don’t make peace with Christianity since I know so many Christians around here and have good relations with them. That’s because I’ve been brainwashed into thinking the Christians around here aren’t real Christians. No, no. If Jesus of FKI ever started his opinion of me he’d break his own guiness book of records for the number of misstatements made in the shortest period of time. The Holy Spirit is like a drippy faucet. It “works on you” eroding your self confidence. There are times when I feel like saying “put up or shut up”. That won’t happen. Then there are people like Pastor Don who say “Don’t complain about things, they could get a lot worse”. This is true, hypothetically. It’s all those statements I’ve heard in the past fifteen years or so that bother me. Things like “That was then and this is now”, when they are confronted with a past “inoperative” belief. Statements like “being needy”, or “magical thinking”, or “wishful thinking”. Of course in my final phone call to Pastor you-know-who he accused me of being “obsessed with religion”. The last few times I’ve heard Chuck Smith he has sounded gloomy and negative. Then there’s the axiom about insanity being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. With cliché’s like this who needs to look any further? You can tell when someone is really “filled with the Holy Spirit” because their personality deteriorates and they get at the same time more detached and egotistical but also more touchy about any intrusion on their happiness by the real world. What “role model” do Christians suggest I follow? I’ve never heard a successful answer to that question. I know now that Blogging won’t change the world. I’m either preaching to the choir or else people just aren’t interested. Of course sometimes I think my “trials and temptations” are unique to me. This too is a form of egotism. If the Republicans want to be the “Jesus Party” they will lose and lose bigger than they ever imagined. They only have a fifteen seat lead in the House. If they lose that it’s Katie, bar the door! I don’t understand this stuff on Chris Matthews talking about “all the seats are held by incumbents and it’s hard to dislodge them.” I think Chris Matthews and company are grossly underestimating the exasperation of the American People. In the summer of 1990 and again in early June of last year I predicted Roe vs Wade would never be overturned. Society is changing. It’s un like the Holy Spirit to take a stance on a moral issue. It’s like that scene in All About Eve where Anne Baxter stands by the door and points “Get out!” and Atticin DeWitt says, “You’re too short for that gesture”. I don’t think there’s enough good in the Holy Spirit to actually accomplish anything good. All Christians can do is whine and complain. This new cultural juggernaut is being crammed down our throats whether we like it or not. (Selah)

A REVIEW PARAGRAPH

I don't know if you're having religious doubts. Let me rephrase that- - I am having religious doubts about Christianity. I have now written four letters to "The Jesus Christ Show", one of which was bounced by the "mail delivery failure" notice. I did not resubmit that letter. The fourth and latest letter might be worth reading. I have a new theory about "who Jesus was". There is a guy named Philo of Alexandria, and he came up with this idea of both the "Logos" being the "word of God" (actually the word means "logic" or "Sudy of") And he is about the first to describe this Logos as "The first born son of God". This man lived in Egypt and there is a new book out now saying Christ is documented being in Egypt fifteen years after his supposed death. Of course I have read Philo's theology directly over the internet (translated, of course) and it's perfect "Jehovah's Witness" theology. People are saying that Jesus had one child, a son. If he got married when normal Hebrews do at fifteen or so and he's 33 now, he should have nine or ten kids when he died. The fact they are saying that he only had one might indicate that perhaps he and Mary Magdolane were together only two or three years and then "Jesus" went back to his "old life" in Egypt.

For some reason I've having trouble posting at this time. Try again.