Goodbye to Arkansas

This is to be my last posting from Arkansas and I am really not sure what I want to say.

To quote Thumper from Bambi “if you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all”. So that sort of leaves me hearing crickets in the background.

It hasn’t been all bad here. We have learned a lot, but I guess what we learned wasn’t what we had hoped to learn or even do. I came here with the high hopes off helping a friend with a new type of ministry and instead wound up loosing that friend and a host of others, all because I believe differently concerning G-D.

I realize in the Christian world that my difference is huge, not believing that Jesus is G-D, but nothing about my values or morals have changed, yet here in what is supposed to be the Bible belt, home of more variations of Christianity then you can shake a stick at, and I have found a level of intolerance that I never quite expected. Sure I have known that there is a large concentration of KKK and skin heads, but I never imagined intolerance coming from the churches. Actually it isn’t so much intolerance as it is ignorance, ignorance as to what I believe and just how little of a threat I am to any ones ministry especially if their goal is supposed to be helping people. Ah well, I was seen as a threat thus here we are.

In many ways it’s ironic that the NE is actually more tolerant of differing views then here in the south, some in the NE will tell me that I am wrong, but at least they will do it to my face and we then continue on with our friendship, yet I am always seeing the polls that tell us just how ungodly folks are up there and yet I haven’t found that to be true. If by “ungodly” you mean that many people want nothing to do with main stream denominations then I would probably agree with you but just because someone does not conform to the denominational view of things doesn’t mean that they are ungodly.

What is it that makes a person “godly”? Is it following one denominational view over another? Is it dependent on how many times you darken the doorway of a church or synagogue? Is it a question of how many times you go to confession or how much you give in money? Is it carrying picket signs or fancy programming? The list could go on but the answer is no. Then what does make a person “godly”? Interestingly enough both the Jewish bible and the Christian bible agree on this question, though it tends to get lost in the battle for denominational superiority and it’s really simple.

Love G-D. Love your neighbor. Five words, two very short sentences, and you have just summed up the entire Bible. How do you love G-D? Read the Bible and you will find out. How do you love your neighbor? Read that same Bible and you will find the answers to that as well. This is not difficult. It is us humans and our desire to be better then others that make this whole thing difficult.

Just based on those two basic commands there is no reason why we cannot work together but alas it’s our own personal doctrines that seem to get in the way. So we don’t believe the same way about G-D, at least we believe, and that doesn’t excuse us from serving others.

This is the part where I stop. There is more that could be said, but my friends already know what I believe and they are still my friends. To you Shalom.

So as we go into the Passover and Easter holidays, I simply hope that you will remember that which we have in common and may your holidays be blessed.

Shalom, see you soon NE

Ignacio

A Follow Up....

This post is a follow up on my last post where I basically said that throwing out G-D has left a vacuum that is filled with evil and I really didn’t take much time to focus on what that evil might look like or, should I say, in what manner it shows its ugly head, so I thought I’d take just a moment and try to clarify what my humble opinion is on that. Please understand all of what I believe is tied into the idea that we have pushed G-D away and this is the result of that collective decision.

One of the things that I liked about “Star Trek Next Generation” was the idea that they had become a society where financial gain had become obsolete. Everyone had had everything that they needed or wanted simply because they contributed to their society. This is not to be confused with communism. That is nothing more then squashing people into the dirt. Their society (STNG) was simply that by doing away with financial profit, they were able to fix all the problems of the world and that all people were blessed and well off because of it. Their catalyst for this society however was very similar to what’s happening to us, poverty and strife, greed run rampant and endless war ending with a massive war that destroyed all nations and governments. Then the Vulcans showed up…

We are still a very blessed nation, I think that this is quickly passing because of our greed and selfishness, (and I see no signs of Vulcans coming) but no where on Earth is there a nation with so many resources on hand as we have. We could easily not only sustain ourselves but we could sustain most of the world just based on the foods and products that we are capable of producing but we don’t. Why is that? Simple, it’s a combination of greed and arrogance on our part.

We literally have the ability and the means to feed the world and yet our government pays farmers to not grow food. Then what is grown is genetically altered and is priced through the roof, so that poor countries can’t afford it and because it’s genetically altered many countries don’t want it. Yet our government allows it to go on even as billions starve to death or have very little and what is available, right here in our own country has been priced sky high and it is still going up. We have been greatly blessed with the ability to grow a variety of food and we are squandering the chance to do some real good so that a few elites have large bank accounts. I say “we” in very generic terms here. I know many people who grow their own food and they share it or sell it as inexpensively to others as they can but even for them, as more regulations are piled on and the price of farming goes up, it is getting harder to maintain and keep up with the big boys.

This is greed pure and simple, when G-D is tossed aside, greed follows.

We also have the ability to clothe the world and bring the world material comforts that they have never had, but again the powers that be don’t do that because there is no profit in it.

All of this combined with the fact that everything from our food to gas has gone up through the roof has put those of us who would like to help others in a very tight spot.

My wife and I, up until a little while ago, would make donations to various projects and people that needed it. We have always felt that we are blessed and that we should share with others if we could. In the last year or so that has become increasingly difficult as the price of everything has gone up and we watch the end of the month come up short of cash. We are not alone in this. Many others are faced with the dilemma of helping out others or just simply keeping food on the table. So the people who could literally do a world of good do nothing, while those of us who want to help out even in a small way are cut off.

I recently heard the story of a man who would pass out food to the homeless, who was court ordered to desist because his food had not gone through some sort of health inspection. This is insane and all of this, everything mentioned, is one of the reasons that I believe that G-D is removing His blessings from us. We are not willing to share so we don’t deserve what we have.

Our arrogance comes from the idea that we are blessed and always will be and that we are the most powerful nation in the world and we can’t be stopped. Every nation in history that has risen up to great power has all suffered from the same things that we are, greed and selfishness. Wanting nothing more then our constant mindless entertainment, and belief that our military and our nation will always be great.

Rome is a fine example of this, they ruled for hundreds of years and yet, in the end it was all the fore mentioned things that did them in. They cared nothing for anyone who was not Roman, they lived very decadent and lazy lives full of constant amusement and they stretched their military to far in their conquests. Sound familiar?

Their great empire fell and they didn’t see it coming, their military was broken and they didn’t see it coming and in the end they lost everything. An amazing empire was destroyed and they didn’t see it coming. We are no different. Except that we have been warned, we are just choosing to ignore it.

We could turn this around, though I’m not hopeful that this will really happen, by taking the resources that we have been blessed with and blessing the world with it, but in order to do that we would have to return to G-D first so that we would have the ability, again collectively speaking, to understand that loving G-D and loving our neighbors, no matter who they are, is a major part of being blessed by G-D.

So when I say that we are reaping what we have sown what I mean simply is this: If you toss G-D aside evil, in whatever form you care to call it, takes over. When that happens, greed and suffering quickly follow suit and the common people suffer, this is what is happening. We have told G-D to leave and He has. Evil has taken His place and the world suffers for it and there are no Vulcans on the horizon to show us the way.

I believe this passage says it very well. “For the earth was defiled under its inhabitants; because they transgressed teachings, violated laws, broke the ancient covenant. That is why a curse consumes the earth, and its inhabitants pay the penalty….”

Isaiah 24 5:6

Shalom,

Ignacio

Scifi and G-D

I am a fan of mindless Sci-Fi entertainment. I love it. The more far out there it is the better I like it. I own the movie 2012 and I was awed with CGI and all the other major effects that they produced. Even the idea of the world’s government building arks to save the elite was fascinating to me. Of course all of this kind of thing you can find all over the internet and in a lot of Hollywood movies as well and I love all of it. I even liked the movie the “The Day After Tomorrow” where it shows an almost instantaneous freezing of the northern hemisphere, while I disagree with the premise it still asks the question ; what if?

Well over the weekend we got a bit of a taste of “what if “and there is not any cool CGI to look at, it is all very painfully real.

The world is literally staggering with a massive sense of loss over the utter destruction in Japan. The earthquake was so powerful that it moved Japan 8 feet and left a rip in the crust that is 50 miles wide and 150 miles long. Some scientists are saying that the earth tilted in it’s axis by some small an amount.

They are now dealing with possible horror of radiation poisoning as well. Something else that was not reported on much was that 2 Volcanoes erupted at the same time as the earthquake hit, one in Russia and I believe the other was on one of the Japanese islands.

While that has been the center of attention, more fish have washed up in various places and no one seems to know why, that added to birds and other fish earlier in the year. I have read that the worlds Bee populations are dying out as well as Bats, what is going on? And magnetic North is moving at almost 40 miles a year as well.

The internet is filled with many dire predictions as one expert after another tries to explain what’s going on. Some say it’s because the magnetic poles are moving, others say it’s because planet X is getting closer to us and the sun. Still others have the idea that the world’s governments are engaged in a new type of weather war using top secret sophisticated equipment to cause all the massive Hurricanes, snow storms and yes even earthquakes. Some even say it’s all G-D’s fault. Most things suggested are theories. Some may be more possible then others and any and all could be possible, but the one I want to address is the idea that this is G-D’s fault. Is it really?

Someone recently asked “why is G-D doing this to us?” and I have an answer but it’s not probably what you think. I don’t think that it’s G-D doing anything to us. I believe that what is happening is exactly what we have brought upon ourselves. We have told G-D that we don’t want Him in our schools or our government. We have tried to remove Him from every aspect of our lives. Pastors and Rabbi’s have gone the politically correct route and will not speak out against the corruption in our government and in the churches them selves. We would rather be told about the love of G-D, rather then the idea that there is a judgment coming for our collective sin of getting rid of Him and turning to our “idols”. G-D is a gentleman. We have told Him that we don’t need Him any more and He has obliged us. The problem is that when you remove G-D and all the goodness and morality that come from the idea of G-D, it has to be replaced by something and usually that something is evil. Call it Satan or HaSatan, call it what you will, but evil is at its heart and destruction is in its nature.

Here is a rather poor analogy, if I decide I am going to make doughnuts and my children wish to help, one of the first things I am going to tell them is to keep away from the very hot oil, because if they touch it they will get burned badly, but if they don’t we will have some fun making them and eating them. Now I have given the warning and my child then proceeds to do things their own way and puts their hand into the oil and they get badly burned. Is that my fault? Did I cause the burn? Did I not give out a warning? Didn’t it happen just as I said it would? The point is that I gave the warning and I was ignored and it happened just as I said it would. G-D has given us warning after warning and we have pushed Him away and we ignore Him, what then, do you think is going to happen?

Look at the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28. G-D tells the people of all the blessings that they will receive, and become to the nations, if they obey Him and then it goes through a much longer list of what would happen if they disobeyed. Look at all of the prophets. Over and over it’s a call for repentance of the people and the warnings as to what was to come if they didn’t. G-D kept His word true then and His word is still true for us today.

One thing to consider, what the Israelites had in common with us now is that they collectively rejected G-D. Not all individuals did. In fact G-D said at one point, that He had 7,000 that had not bowed the knee to Bale, but as a whole everything from their leadership on down had rejected G-D and had turned to foreign gods. He told them what would happen and everyone, including the innocent, wound up suffering for it.

As a Seventh Day Adventist, growing up, I heard all the dooms day scenarios that you could imagine. We had many books and sermons based on what everyone believed would be the “end times”, and I remember we would have conversations, at least those of us that were of the rebellious type, that were something to the effect that when the end times came we would recognize them and then turn back to G-D and in the end be saved. Obviously my personal beliefs have changed a lot since those days, but scriptural events are being fulfilled even as I write, not in the way that I was taught as a kid, but none the less we are seeing the destruction of the world a bit at a time and I believe that it is no coincidence that this is happening even as we push G-D further and further away.

The bottom line is that G-D isn’t doing this to us. It is simply a result of us, collectively, pushing G-D aside and in doing so loosing His protection. Sadly, that means innocent people suffer as well.

To the western world in general, but to the USA specifically I say, that we all need to put down our stupid petty differences and realize that we need to return to G-D because our day is coming and I think it will be soon. Please note I didn’t say join my religion or someone else’s, but we all do need to return to G-D. How you do so is between you and Him. Enough of the finger pointing it’s time for prayer and a return to loving G-D and our neighbors.

Shalom,

Ignacio

To my few friends in Israel, my heart breaks for all of you and for the family of the people killed. It is both a tragedy and a travesty of justice that the whole world would ignore the murder of innocent Jews and yet have a fit over building houses on your own land. We have collectively become perverted calling (or ignoring) evil good and good evil.