Bottom Up.

We are used to authority systems which operate from the top down.

But God operates from the bottom up.

God is with the lowly, the poor, the disadvantaged.
He dwells with the disabled, the persecuted, and the starving.

He lifts up the humble.

He hears their prayers.

And you, who are the winners of this world, what do you know of God?

What do you know of His ways?

Mercy, forgiveness, justice, compassion, love.....

You would do better to take your lead from the humble poor.

"'So the last will be first, and the first will be last.'"  Matthew 20:16 (NRSV)


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Compassion for the Enemy.

In order to be like God we must have compassion for our enemies.

God does not punish even His own enemies.

He forgives them and offers them redemption.

We must do the same.


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O Father!

O come, O come, O Father come

And open wide our Heavenly home.

Our massive ransom cause to apply

And give us final victory.


Rejoice!  Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to you

O Israel.


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Ode.

I dream of

a great fair man

with

a great red heart,

whose tears

and thoughts

intermingle

com-passion.

And

love

blossoms

in my heart.


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Rejoice!

O come, O come, the dark disperse

And free us from this music's curse.

From earthly hell your children save

And give us victory over the grave.


Rejoice!  Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to you

O Israel.


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The Seventh Horcrux.

In the final book of the Harry Potter series it is revealed that Harry Potter has a fragment of the evil Voldemort's soul within him.

And it is this which gives him his power.

This is a highly disturbing concept for a children's book.

It is as if all magic power comes from evil.

It is Voldemort that gives Harry Potter his power.

In the end Harry rids himself of this fragment by dying and coming back to life.

A drastic solution indeed.

So tell your children that not all power is evil.

There is a power that comes from God.

And that power is Love.


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O Come!

O come, O come, O come and see

The devils' dark conspiracy.

Reject the music of the night

And death's dark shadow put to flight.


Rejoice!  Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to you

O Israel.


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Passion.

A deep red rose

is an icon

of

Passion.


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Sex.

Some people in our world try to claim that all sex is in the power of the devil.

This, of course, is ridiculous.

By pure persistence and force of will they claim all sex and pleasure is sin.

But these are lies.
And lies repeated can seem true.

In reality sex, as the prime creative force, is intimately connected to God, the creator of all.

Sex is not sin
Sex is not dirty.
Sex is not indecent.

Sex is an intrinsic part of God's good creation.

The seeds of sex are everywhere in nature.

They grow and flower in turn.

So do not believe those who tell you sex is sinful.

Sex is Life.

And God is the author of Life.


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Our Hearts.

What is

The Kingdom of God

But

A Constellation

of Hearts.


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Green.

After Summer rain

the green grows

abundantly.


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Intimidation.

How do so many Christians convince people to believe things which clearly contradict what Jesus taught?

The answer is simple - intimidation.

They threaten people with eternal damnation in hell if they contradict what they are teaching them.

Obey me or burn in hell forever.

Whether they actually believe this (having perhaps been subjected to corporal punishment by strict parents) or whether this is an attempt to subjugate people to their political will is uncertain.

Perhaps it is both.

But the damage remains.

Fear begets fear.

"But perfect love casts out fear." 1 John 4:18b (NRSV)


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Musclemen.

God bless

musclemen.

Whose precursors

were hell-raisers.

Whose pride

was tempted.

Whose beauty

was worshipped.

Deliver them

from the mythical beast,

from maniacal monsters,

from deceiving devils.

Bless them.

Lift them up.

Make them

Gentle Giants,

Big Softies,

Beautiful Angels.

May tears melt

their big hearts.

And Love be

their lodestar.


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Peaceful Garden.

Alone

I sit.

Amid

divers birdsong:

Lorikeets, Turtledoves, Blackbirds, Parrots.....

Bees and butterflies

flit from flower to flower:

Azaleas, Camellias, Geraniums, Roses.....

A gentle zephyr

rustles the leaves.

And I catch a glimpse of

Paradise.

In the cool and

peaceful garden.


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Help Will Come.

When we are attacked or oppressed we can call on God.

And help will come.


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To Know God.

The world does not know God.

Our God is a reflection of ourselves:

Of fathers and kings,

Of dictators and tyrants.....

But God revealed His face to me.

And taught me:

Life, Light, and Love.

To know Him

is to Love Him.


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Emerging.

From the darkness

where we listened to

the black death music of

rock.

We replace the

music of the shadows

with

sunny Italian love songs.

And emerge

into the Light.


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Beware.

What we must beware of is forcing our ideas onto other people.

Even if our ideas are right we must avoid merely being right or trying to win.

We must open our hearts and ask, "What does my heart say?"

Even if others reject what we say we can still love them and offer them understanding and forgiveness.

We must let people come to understanding in their own way.

We can pray for that.


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God's Hands.

We are God's hands in the world.

God works in and through us.

So if we listen to the teachings of Jesus but do not do them nothing will happen.

This is why the Kingdom of God has only partially manifested in our world.

People only partially act on the good news.

Jesus taught us how to live.

But most people only partially enact it if they do not ignore it altogether.

So it is no use complaining that God has not put the world right because we have not put the words of His chosen one into action ourselves.


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Acorns.

Acorns are fertility symbols.

They are the seed-pods of the mighty oak.

Whose sturdy trunk is rooted deep in the earth.

And whose branches arch protectively down to the ground.

It is the greatest and most noble of trees.

And its single seed resides in the acorn.


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Love One Another.

What stops us from loving one another?

Fear.

Fear of the other guy.  Fear of  failure.  Fear of losing out.  Fear of poverty.

"'you of little faith'"  Matthew 6:30c (NRSV)

If God is our Father then all people are my brothers and sisters.

"of whom shall I be afraid?"  Psalm 27:1d (NRSV)

Love one another and create The Kingdom of God on earth.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Gay Sexuality.

Many people think that you cannot be gay and in a positive relationship with God.

But my experience is that God does not discriminate.

God thinks no differently about my gay sexuality than He does about heterosexuality.

And that is that He considers sexuality a normal part of life.

So don't listen to those who tell you that gays are not acceptable to God.

I am living proof to the contrary.


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Prayer.

Heavenly Father,

Bless all those

who are caught

in the grip of Satanism.

Which is everyone.

Help them

to see

the evil which

ensnares us all.

And turn to you.

And be healed!

                             Amen.


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The Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God on earth is the community of followers of Jesus Christ who have been baptised and accepted the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus said, "'Who is my mother and brothers?'  And looking at those who sat around him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.'"  Mark 3:33-35 (NRSV)

I believe that Jesus regarded the Kingdom of God to be those people brought into the New Covenant with God which was born of his mission on earth.

But the statement "Whoever does the will of God" is broader than that.  It includes followers of other religions who do God's will.

And what is God's will?

That we love one another.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Punishment.

Most of the references to punishment in the Old Testament refer to the negative experiences of the tribes of Israel.

The prophets of ancient Israel rationalized their experiences by saying that God was punishing them for not obeying the Law.

This referred mainly to religious practices involving foreign gods and idols.

This was cited as the reason that Israel's enemies rose up against them.

This is a version of Prosperity Theology which states that our experiences on earth reflect the favor or the disapproval of God.

But the Book of Job clearly refutes Prosperity Theology.
Although it lays responsibility at the feet of a fictitious devil the Book of Job has Job justified despite his suffering and misfortune.

It is Job's opponents who claim that he must have sinned to deserve his fate.

But God says that what Job said was more true.

So where does that leave us?

It is clear that most of the statements about God in the Old Testament are followed by threats of punishment.

But is this a true picture?

They say that God is merciful and compassionate, steadfast in love, and ready to relent from punishment.

But then say that He will punish any disobedience.

What are we to believe?

The New Testament God of Jesus is a loving Father.

And, although there are still some threats of punishment, the overwhelming impression of God is of forgiveness, compassion, and love.

Perhaps the time has come to purge our image of God of all violence and punishment.

My experience of God is wholly benevolent, helpful, compassionate, forgiving, understanding, and loving.

I have never experienced any punishment from God.

Fear can make us imagine that God is punishing us.
But this is not true.

He is merely waiting for us to see.      


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Rationalizing Jesus.

What Christians have done in the past and still do today is rationalize Jesus.

Because what Jesus taught requires courage and risk people rationalize what he said to suit themselves.

For example a succession of Christian political leaders have rejected Jesus' injunction to turn the other cheek and retaliated against perceived threats with military action.

This is in direct contradiction of Matthew 5.

Jesus said to love your enemies.

But many Christians today choose hate and violence, discrimination and prejudice.

They have rationalized what Jesus said by choosing another passage from the Bible - the Psalms of David or the Book of Revelation with its violent imagery - and ignoring what Jesus actually taught while claiming that their beliefs are Biblical.

"It's too hard, it won't work in the real world."

It has been said that Christianity is in danger of passing without ever being tried.

This is because realistic people rationalize what Jesus taught and cherry-pick the Bible to suit themselves.


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Gay Rights.

When it comes to social justice Church organisations always omit gay rights.

Whether it be in church, from the pulpit, in justice ministries, orders of nuns or religious gay rights seems always to be out of bounds.

And it doesn't help to remind them when they are talking about human rights issues that gays and lesbians are persecuted in our world.

Perhaps this is because it is the Church which is doing the persecuting.

But even so called Liberal Churches omit gay rights from their agenda.

You will hear many pleas for asylum seekers, the homeless, battered wives, drug addicts, gambling addicts, even Muslims but you will seldom hear gays and lesbians mentioned.

We have been relegated to the status of religious non-persons.

We don't even rate a mention.


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Democracy and Capitalism.

Capitalism is not Democracy.

When Ronald Reagan defeated Communism the victory was not claimed by Democracy.  It was claimed by Capitalism.

But Capitalism is not Democracy.

Even Pope John Paul II said that Capitalism was no better for people than Communism.

But Soviet Communism was defeated and the Western Capitalist plutocrats assumed power.

And we are still in the grip of their brutal regime.


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The Fragrance of the Rose.

All virtue

and goodness

issue from

God's Love

like

fragrance from

a rose.


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Breaking the Cycle.

Fear and violence have been handed down from generation to generation.

We see this in the Church.
Violence and intimidation inflicted on one generation is replicated in the next.

It is a vicious cycle.

The Old Testament rule of an eye for an eye merely guaranteed that this cycle continued.

But Jesus said not to retaliate but to return good for evil.

This breaks the cycle of fear and violence.

It is a truly revolutionary philosophy.

So don't return your elders' violence and intimidation in kind but love and forgive them.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."  1 John 4:18 (NRSV)


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Kaivalya.

I am One

with all Life!

The birds and the butterflies.

The ants and the trees.

Beautiful flowers.

The air that we breathe.

The earth beneath us.

The warmth of the sun.

The depth of the seas.

Playful dolphins.

Great whales.

All that God made

is one creation -

interdependent

and One with Him!


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Equals.

Aquarius is all about equality.

So when we say that gay men worship muscle it is not intended to be taken literally.

Satanists operating in the sex industry will try to corrupt bodybuilders by telling them that they will be worshipped like gods.

But we should not bow down to men.

"I am the Lord your God.....
.....you shall have no other gods before me."  Exodus 20:2,3 (NRSV)

"'And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father - the one in heaven.'"  Matthew 23:9 (NRSV)

So be sure when you admire bodybuilders that you are not committing blasphemy.

For we worship one Father - the one in Heaven.

And all men are equal in His sight.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]


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Sex as Life.

Sex and drugs and rock and roll leads to death to God and damnation.

This is what we are being fed.

Scorpio equals sex and death.

This is what they believe.

So we are constantly tempted with sex and drugs through rock and roll.

But these ideas do not correspond to reality.

In reality sex is a vital function which is an expression of life itself.

And as such it is intimately related to God, the author of Life.

So do not fall for their sex equals death songs and videos.

We should cultivate a healthy and sensible attitude towards sex as life.


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Sex Workers.

Those who choose to work in the sex industry - prostitutes, nude models, strippers, and muscle jocks deserve to earn enough money to live on.

No one, however, should be forced to work in the sex industry because of poverty, prejudice, or racism.....

They deserve a good job that pays enough to support them and any dependants they may have.

But if people choose to work in sex jobs they should not be made to feel that they are in any way less human than the rest of us.

Some people look down on such people as dirty, or depraved, even evil.

But they are human beings like everyone else.

Many of them have beautiful bodies and good and generous hearts.

It is not for us to judge them.


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Culture Wars.

In recent times the extremes of social and cultural philosophies have devolved into Culture Wars.

The extremes of liberalism and conservatism between which the pendulum has swung over the last century have become locked in a battle for supremacy.

These two positions are represented in astrology by the planets Uranus (liberalism) and Saturn (conservatism).

Ironically these are the two planets which rule the sign of Aquarius - the Age into which we are now entering.

So what will happen?

My understanding of Aquarius is that it is essentially liberal but contains certain conservative aspects.

Some of these will correspond.

For example the Saturnian concern for unselfishness and consideration for others corresponds to the Uranian attitude of altruism.

The Saturnian practise of charity corresponds to the Uranian attitude of humanitarianism.

The Saturnian concern for family may be met by the Uranian approach of unconditional love for all.

The Saturnian attitudes of gratitude, patience, self-discipline, and respect can be included in Aquarius without challenging the Uranian concern for freedom and individuality.

Perhaps this is the meaning of Aquarius.

So, rather than engaging in Culture Wars, we should be aiming to harmoniously blend aspects of the two planets that govern Aquarius.

Respect for others' rights.

Respect for the environment.

Same-sex marriage.

The right to life after the quickening (when the child becomes a separate being).

The banning of genetic engineering that is without concern for illness or deformity.

Moderation in the expression of sexuality.

Voluntary volunteering.

Compulsory voting.

Obeying the law of the land.

These are some examples of a sensible approach to harmonizing the two aspects of Aquarius.

Perhaps this is the way forward, rather than trying to win the war.


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Bless You.

May the Light of God shine upon you.

May the Breath of Life be breathed into you.

May the Love of God open your heart.


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Blessing.

The Blessing of the Lord be upon you.

The Peace of the Lord be with you.

The Joy of the Lord be within you.

The Love of the Lord be around you.


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True Blessedness.

Blessed is the one who hears the Word of God and understands it.


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Conspiracy.

Despite the dubious reputation of conspiracy theories in our world I believe that there is an international conspiracy.

This is the conspiracy of Satanists which began with the rock bands of the 1960s and has since spread to movies, T.V., literature, and sports.

What can be seen is just the tip of the iceberg:

Flames, skulls, snakes, spiders, death, darkness, magic, vampires, evil.....

These are the visible symbols of a huge negative influence much of which is subliminal and subconscious.

There is no devil in reality but the damage remains.

So unplug your earphones and turn off the T.V..

Pray to God in secret.

And He will deliver you.


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Music.

I read a report on the Internet which suggested that listening to certain types of music boosted athletic performance by up to 10%.

While I would be sceptical about the veracity of these claims I do believe that different types of music affect us in different ways.

Rock music, for example, affects the pleasure centers of the brain and can become addictive like a drug.

Classical music, on the other hand, puts us into a more concentrated state.

Mozart's music in particular is known to put the mind into a heightened alpha state.

This is much more beneficial to us than the disturbing effects of rock music.  And what words are entering our minds while we listen?

It is not true that rock music boosts your energy levels any more than energetic classical music.

So be wary of artists who claim that listening to their music boosts performance.

They're probably just trying to sell C.D.s.


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Michelangelo.

Bodybuilders aspire to emulate the perfect beauty of Michelangelo.

And sometimes they forget that Michelangelo was gay.

Many bathe in the admiration of men but will not admit to any homoerotic component.

Michelangelo interpreted the beauty that he saw in men.
And this beauty has survived to this day.

So when you admire the manly beauty of Michelangelo remember that he was gay.


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Aquarius Corrupted.

What will happen if Aquarius is corrupted?

Will Satanism in the popular culture turn it into a licentious cosmic hedonism?

Or will the rich and powerful put the bottom back in and make it a puppet of the conservative establishment with its rewards and punishments and its heaven and hell?

Either way we must be vigilant.
We must watch constantly for signs of corruption.
We must guard against modifications to the good news.

The good news that God does not punish us; there is no hell, no devil, no judgement.

And that God is love and forgiveness for all.


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Good Deeds.

Many religious people condemn pornography.

But pornography is a manifestation of compassion for those who do not have a partner and cannot get sex.

These people, which includes many gay men and disabled people, suffer rejection and neglect.

Pornography is a relief from that suffering.

Gay men worship muscle.

The muscle worship sites on the Internet act as a safety net for those gay men, and there are many of them, who cannot get sex with musclemen in real life.

The bodybuilders themselves do this out of the goodness of their hearts.

They show pity and compassion for gay men and give of themselves without constraint.

And it is safe.

Surely these are good deeds.


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