Citadels of Fear.

From concrete walls in Palestine

to garden walls in the west.

From headless corpses in Iraq

to knives in late-night clubs.

From missing children in Africa

to detention centers off-shore.

We live amongst Citadels of Fear

in a race that's running scared.


Photo Credit: Mario Ortega via Compfight cc

Love Your Neighbor.

"'Do not bear a grudge against anyone, but settle your differences with him, so that you will not commit a sin because of him.  Do not take revenge on anyone or continue to hate him, but love your neighbor as you love yourself.  I am the Lord.'"  Leviticus 19:17,18 (GNB)

I have used the Good News Bible translation for this quote because it better expresses God's universal forgiveness.

If only the Israeli government followed this commandment of God the Middle East might be at peace.

I have heard political leaders in Israel say that their religion does not require them to love their enemies.  But passages such as the one I have quoted above point in that direction.  Certainly the eye for an eye philosophy is contradicted here and elsewhere.

But they don't believe that God will answer them.
So they attack and launch vicious reprisals.

This passage is the second commandment referred to by Jesus when asked which is the greatest commandment.  The first is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

So do not say that you are not required to love your enemies.
Even the Old Testament points in that direction.


[Scriptures (marked GNB) are taken from the Good News Bible published by The Bible Society/Collins copyright American Bible Society.]

Photo Credit: jimforest via Compfight cc

Heaven and Hell.

Do not worry

about heaven and hell.

Trust in God,

He is your friend.


Photo Credit: KairosOfTyre via Compfight cc

My Enemy is Fear.

What is it that stops us loving each other?

It is fear.

Fear of being hurt, fear of ridicule, fear of rejection, fear of humiliation.....

And who is my enemy?

My enemy is afraid.

Afraid of losing, afraid of being wrong, afraid of evil, afraid of hell.....

So my enemy is not my enemy.

My enemy is fear.


Photo Credit: spablab via Compfight cc

Salvation.

Many Churches teach that Jesus Christ is our salvation.

This is backed up by the I am statements in the Gospel of John.

This style of teaching, however, creates a false impression of what was intended by the Gospel writers.

The reason why Jesus is our salvation is because he taught us how to love.

It is love that is our salvation.

So don't listen to those who present you with formulas for salvation based on Jesus Christ as a person, or even as God incarnate.

It is not belief that will bring salvation but Love.


Photo Credit: msmail via Compfight cc

Ripe Fruit.

God is patient.

He waits until the time is right.

The time when things are ripe.

This maximizes the effect.

And bears the most fruit.


Photo Credit: neonzu1 via Compfight cc

What is Good?

It has been said that God is good.

But what is good?

Mercy and compassion, patience, contentment, honesty, truthfulness, faithfulness, charity, faith, and love.

But most of all Love.


Photo Credit: God Creates ~ I just Click :-) via Compfight cc

Your Soul.

Fair and fragrant

are you

in the morning

of your soul.


Photo Credit: Chris Smith/Out of Chicago via Compfight cc

In the Darkness.

Walter Wink describes the powers of this world as fallen.

This suggests that there was an earlier time when they were not fallen.

I would disagree.

The powers and authorities of this world are unevolved.
They live in darkness.
There was no prior time when they were enlightened.

Fear rules them.
They have no faith.
The say, "God has forsaken the earth."

They will not take a risk on charity or compassion.

Theirs is the brutal rule of the plutocrats.
The new Rome.

And they conspire with evil in the darkness.


Photo Credit: аrtofdreaming via Compfight cc

The Book of Life.

The Book of Life

is an epic poem

written by

the Beloved.


Photo Credit: Cotallo-nonocot via Compfight cc

Positivity.

Gratitude, discipline, compassion, generosity, faith, peace, harmony, hope, joy, and love.

These are the things which come from my relationship with God.

Prayer, contemplation, devotion, and love led me to the experience of God.

I experienced positivity for the first time.

My mental and emotional state improved dramatically.

I experience beauty and peace.

But most of all Love.


Photo Credit: mendolus shank via Compfight cc

Negativity.

Depressed, oversexed, suicidal, superficial, irresponsible, criminal, desperate, drunken, escapist, hedonistic, and hopeless.....

These words describe my condition before I discovered what rock music was doing to me.

Satanists in the rock music industry project negativity onto us.

It was only when their malevolence became more obvious in the 1980s that I put 2 and 2 together.

My negative mental and emotional state was coming from the rock music I was listening to.

Since I have returned to the Church and replaced rock music with classical and sacred music my mental and emotional state has improved dramatically.

I have experienced spiritual interventions and protection from God.

And a growing relationship with the Divine.


Photo Credit: Vincent Bozzo via Compfight cc

A Smile.

I pick a flower

for my beloved.

His eyes sparkle

with a smile.


Photo Credit: Peter Ras via Compfight cc

Spreading the News.

While I was travelling to church on the tram I overheard a man talking to a woman about the Bible.

He was saying that some people interpreted the Bible literally as the word of God.
But this was not the only way to interpret the Bible.

He said that the Bible was a collection of different writings from different times and different authors.

He also said that we didn't have to believe the story of Adam and Eve as literally true.  He stopped short of calling it a myth but I got his drift.

It seemed to me that If I was hearing this message on the tram then the news must be spreading fast.


Photo Credit: zoetnet via Compfight cc

Bible.

The white light

that comes from God

rests each day

on my Bible.


Photo Credit: mrbill via Compfight cc

The Third Temple.

Fundamentalist Christians say that Jesus will not return until the building of the third temple in Jerusalem.

But what of the Dome of the Rock?

The mosque that stands on Mount Zion could not be replaced without starting a world war.

So it seems that this will never happen.

But what of the New Age?

What will its temple be?

Where will it stand?

The temple of the Age of Aquarius may not be a building at all.
It may be a mental construct which spans the peoples of the earth.

This is the New Paradigm - a vision of an immanent and holistic God.

Its foundations are in modern scholarship.

And its cornerstone is unconditional love for everyone.


Photo Credit: Lee Bennett via Compfight cc