Nothing To Do With Christianity

I'm on the job, Frankie.
Hey, YOUTH!
What you see pictured above is not Christianity.
It is a Human facsimile of Christ and His Church but, being a wholly human enterprise,
it offers NOTHING but false faith and empty 'purpose'.
Run from it as quickly as you can.
Seek Christ not in a church, but where you are...right now.
When He died on the cross He made it possible for ALL to seek and find
God without going through any Human intermediary.
If you want purpose in your life,
If you hope for a better future,
If you want to LIVE,
Seek Christ.

The Yet Is Best To Kingdom Come

You will see and maybe send Christmas cards which proclaim:
"Peace on earth, goodwill towards men."
You may say to yourself, "Yeah, we all want peace and goodwill. Those are our goals."
Hold on, Peanut.
What does the verse say?
 ¹⁴    “Glory to God in the highest,     And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Luke 2:14
First and foremost, God receives the Glory.
'peace among men with whom He is pleased'.
What started with a few shepherds, has spread through out the entire earth, through Christ and the men with whom He is pleased-those who believe, who are called by His title, Christians.
You may not be able to tell from the outside,  and there may be rancor and divisions amongst us imperfect Christians, but we are at peace with God and pretty much at peace with each other.

When will it end? It won't.
¹⁸“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:18
When Christ returns and  rules from His city Jerusalem...all the nations of the world will be blessed.
"⁹And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one." Zechariah 14:9
Here comes the good part showing that all the world will be blessed:

"²⁰“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 
²¹‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” 
²²‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ 
²³“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” Zechariah 8:20-23
 
We may have to wait awhile, but give Glory to God, for He will accomplish what He has promised, and there will be Peace.

For Your Enrichment

Something a bit different. Here are a few of the podcasts which I have been listening to lately which I think may prove interesting to y'all:


99% Invisible

Criminal Podcast

And finally, without a single molecule of explanation...
Welcome To Night Vale

I listen through iTunes with my fancy shmantzy iPod, but look for the links and listen however you do.
Peace and Love and all of that.

Christians On High Horses:Nyet Yet

"¹¹Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 
¹²Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of ^£visitation." 1 Peter 2:11-12

Knightstown, Indiana-town had a cross atop a Christmas tree, and some ACLUddite said that the cross 'challenged his civil liberties'.
So now the cross is gone, and some of the Knightstownians are riled.
Hold on, Christians soldiers! Don't go marching as to War until you cogitate some.
This Knightstown massacree is a perfect opportunity to keep our behavior excellent amongst 'em.
Remember: WE are the aliens and strangers here in this present cosmos; if someone puts up a cross and you like it, great. Merry Christmas.
BUT if someone objects, this is their world. We are to obey all civil authorities PERIOD. If a town allows a cross, good. If a town rejects a cross...that is the right of that town.
¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 
¹⁴or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 
¹⁵For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men."
1 Peter 2:13-15 
Christians are to be humble, not getting on some high horses, demanding this, that, and most especially the other.
Right now today some of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world are facing persecution, being murdered for carrying the name of Christ.
So, if you are offended by someone else who is being offended by something else that offends some other neighbor...you can handle it. The 'fleshly lusts' in verse 11 above would include the fleshly demand that things be done your way. To be right.
We're the aliens now...but one day we will all be righteously riding on high horses:
"¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 
¹²His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 
¹³He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 
¹⁴And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses." Revelation 19:11-14
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Hooves Two

Part one talked about the 'little hammer theory'-that someone with low self esteem will "
carry around reasons "WHY" they deserve misery. I use the metaphor of 'little hammers'. They have a collection of little hammers with which to hit, to knock themselves down."
That is internal.
External?
If there is someone whom you dislike, do not respect...you will jump on any decision
of that person, becoming hyper-hypercritical.
Every single move of that person you will see in absolutely the worst light. 
Ask anyone about their EX. You know what I mean.
You will convince yourself that they deserve every punishment which happens, and also believe that they do not deserve to be credited with any accomplishment.
Why?
Simply because you don't like them.
A person with low self esteem punishes himself,
OR
projects that displeasure onto others that they can safely find fault with.
It's all  defense mechs. Rather than beating themselves up, they find a target they can unload on to make themselves feel better.
They will grab any hammer to toss at that person-he's too smug, he's a liar, she's a fake, whatever.
What you see above are Dulcimer hammers. What kind of music you make with them is up to you.
Not everyone suffers from low self esteem.
Some with rhinoceros skin have a greater self esteem than they ought. Just another defense mech to make it through life.
Is there a happiness medium? Well?
Yes. don't beat yourself up, and don't believe your own press.
Forgive the hammer target, whether it's yourself or another. Forgive-we're all just living, sharing the earth's crust. Seek peace.

Hoofprints And Hooves

Here we go.
Those who suffers from low self esteem, a poor self image carry around reasons "WHY" they deserve misery. I use the metaphor of 'little hammers'. They have a collection of little hammers with which to hit, to knock themselves down.
They will grasp on to any hammer within reach. And they keep them inside, close at hand.
Examples-"I'm fat!" (hammer 1) "I'm ugly!" (hammer 2) "No one likes me!" (three).
The person might actually be thin, beautiful and popular, but those are the hammers that he or she will pound themselves with because they will never be thin enough, pretty enough or popular enough.
If, by some miracle, they do toss away one of their little hammers...they still have the others, and may pick up the dropped one at any time.
The heart of it is finding justification for feeling so critical about themselves. 
A well integrated personality does not suffer from low self esteem-they assess themselves clearly, accepting that they have good and bad qualities, just as we all do.
A well integrated personality can handle criticism, accept responsibility for their actions because their egos are not threatened. I call it rhinoceros skin.
A person with low self esteem will see any criticism from others as a nearly mortal blow to their ego-so they have created a defense mechanism: nothing is their fault, everything that happens is because someone else did something bad. They can't handle an ounce of criticism.
Are those with low self esteem doomed to a lifetime of little hammers?
No.
Everyone goes through those phases, and the first step towards earning your rhinoceros skin is to toss away your hammers. Don't treat yourself so poorly. Accept that you are a person of value, someone who will, yes, make mistakes, but also someone who will achieve goals and do good.
If you do screw up...resist the temptation to pick up that hammer. Instead:
"Yup-I blew that. Not the end of the world." And then move on.

3rd MAN OR WOMAN INTERROGATIVE POINT

Noticed something a bit ago that seems a trend.
Look at our buddies in the picture above.
Each on the left is dialoguing with the right.
The man in the DQ interacts with the construction worker.
Mom left remotely speaks with Mom right.
The guy loving his Italian DQ tries to share his enthusiasm with a few "Italian" stereotypes.
Separated by location, not looking/speaking through a phone or laptop...
and WE are the third persons (Godview) watching their interact.
See? We've been conditioned by decades of commercials to accept viewing interactions in the 3rd P.
Back in the old days we would see through a split screen a father talking on the phone with a daughter about the merits of Old Spice coffee or whatever is being marketed at us.
Now?
We have distant communicators interacting WITHOUT DEVICE.
We don't hardly notice. Weird.

Evry Silver Has Dark Within

It's a trick-admittedly not a very clever one. Misspell the first word of a post title to catch the attention of the reader, who assumes a mistake. 
At least you may pause to read rather than passing by in a split second to go look at dog pictures.
Still here? Good. 
I may as well start with the beer commercials.
Happy beautiful people (racially-coded, carefully gender-coded...but all HAPPY!) drinking at parties/events, promoted at us by whichever beer company.
Huopo zeitgeist. 
These beer adverts show ALL silver lining, but the dark within oblits any good light.
This isn't an alcohol screed. Read on, please.
"How did people maintain their facade of 'Everything is warm and fuzzy, bright and good in my life' before Facebook?"
Facade. Facebook. You DO realize that the first syllable is: Fac  (Fake)?  I know-'C' with an 'S' sound.
But 'fake' is right there in the meaning: synonyms are: show, front, appearance, pretense, simulation, affectation, semblance, illusion, act, masquerade, charade, mask, cloak, veil, veneer.
If everyone were living great happy good shining light lives everyday, Facebook would mirror reality. It is at best a glass darkly.
You might, if you know me (or don't), assume from this post that I am despondent or morbid.
Nyet, comrades. 
Like everyone else, I am light and darkness.  I'm just being honest about it. 
I enjoy Life, but will enjoy it more when, having passed from this mortal mud hut, I will be light in the presence of God, all dark left behind. 
But until that day...here we are. 
Don't sabotage your life with darknessess hidden by silver linings. If drinking is killing you, quit.
If your life isn't as cheery as your Facebook posts...do what you can to confront and defeat the dragons holding you in darkness.  Asking for help is not weak, but an admission that none of us is strong on our own. You are made for better things. Life IS humbling. God gives Grace to the humble, and He always will.