Millennials.

After 40 years of economic deregulation and workplace reform Millennials* are faced with a job market which expects them to work for nothing, pay for their own education, work on short-term contracts with no sick leave or annual leave, work overtime without pay, be on call 24/7, and forgo lunch breaks and holidays out of fear.

Millennials have copped the full brunt of the draconian changes brought in by the conservative politicians who do the will of their corporate masters.

This situation was largely brought about by the refusal of Generation X to support unions in the workplace.

Their mass defection has resulted in the loss of wages and conditions experienced by everyone since 1984.

This is why the Millennials are politically active.

They should be encouraged to support their unions if they wish to have any rights at all in the workplace.

Let's hope they are more intelligent than Generation X.

(*Millennials are those born around the Millennium - 1996 - 2010)

Photo Credit: State Farm Flickr via Compfight cc

Change.

The time has come for the sleeping generation to awake.

The Baby-Boomers were betrayed by their rock stars and reconstructed by their enemies.

They have put their idealism and their activism to sleep.

They are diverted and distracted.

Holidays, sports, tickets, shopping, watching, listening, following.....

These things divert them from their purpose.

But since Socialism became a dirty word they have been too scared to assert their political vision.

They have been blamed and shamed.

But the time has come to rise from the ashes and recreate the idealism of the 1960s.

Peace and love and the redistribution  of wealth are dormant objectives that can be resurrected.

With the demise of the Religious Right in America and the rise of the politically aware Millennials the atmosphere is ripe for a resurgence  of left-wing ideals.

The Baby-Boomers can step into the power vacuum and set the world on a different course.

The result of the conservative counter-revolution conspired by Ronald Reagan and Generation X is a world that is brutal, corrupt, dark, unjust, hard, cold, deceitful, and evil.

We have had enough.

And we hope that the new direction will deliver us from war and inequality.

Photo Credit: Julian Meehan Flickr via Compfight cc

God Still Loves You.

God still loves you.

Even if you have failed.

Even if you have done something wrong.

Even if you have been wrong.

Or said the wrong things.

God still loves you.

He will accept your apology.

He will accept your prayers.

Humble yourself and ask for forgiveness.

God will forgive you.

God still loves you.

Photo Credit: Daniel Mennerich Flickr via Compfight cc

(The image has been slightly modified.)

The Olive Tree.

After church one Sunday a choir member (Olive) sang The Olive Tree.

This song is a hope for peace.

A peace that dwells in a land beyond the Earth.

But the song reflects our hope for peace on Earth.

And our longing for a better world.

Some may say that this is a naive  and childish hope.

But hope is an attribute of the Divine.

We are not to abandon it for the sake of expediency.

So we persist.

We hold the hope for peace in our hearts.

Photo Credit: nodeworx Flickr via Compfight cc

(The image has been slightly modified.)

Spring!

Sing a Song of the Morning.

An ode to the beauties of Spring!

The blossoms and flowers adorning

The earth re-awakening!

The sight of your tender mercies

Fills my heart with joy!

The birth of the world around me

Lifts my spirits anew!

Photo Credit: Pexels.

The Law.

Accepting God as your King does not put you above the law.

In fact it makes you more law-abiding than you were before.

Photo Credit: holbrookpolice.com

The Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is not a place but a state in which people accept God as their King.

As opposed to the rulers of this world: the corporate plutocrats and their political allies.

Accepting God as your King entails practising: honesty, non-violence, mercy, forgiveness, charity, and unconditional love.

So the Kingdom of God can be interspersed within the kingdoms of the world and coexist within them.

   

Photo Credit: *_* Flickr via Compfight cc

Sports.

The reason why sports men and women turn to the devil is because they believe that the devil rules the physical.

This is based on the words of St. Paul: 

"Who will rescue me from this body of death."  Romans 7:24 (NRSV)

"the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil"  Hebrews 2:14 (NRSV)

And they believe that the devil can give them what they want:

"for it has been given over to me (the devil), and I give it to anyone I please."  Luke 4:6 (NRSV)

A miraculous goal, a glorious premiership.....

Money and sex.

We shall be as gods.

Following the example of rock legends.

You can see the temptation.

If you believe it.

But there is no devil in reality.

It is an illusion.

Sleight of hand.

The devil speaks with a forked tongue.

Or his worshippers do.

"Nobody's wise 'til you see how it lies."

But the evil they do in his name remains.

Their influence drags us down and turns us away. 

Pray to God:

Protect the innocent.

Deliver us from evil.

   

He will hear you.

Photo Credit: Richmond Football Club.

Devil Worship.

There is devil worship in the AFL.

Photo Credit: Greater Western Sydney Giants.

Who Shot JFK?

Who shot JFK, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jnr., and Mahatma Gandhi?

It is interesting to note that all the assassins had been members of right-wing political organisations.

Photo Credit: Timetoast.

Habakkuk.

"O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?

Or cry to you 'Violence!' and you will not save?

Why do you make me see wrong doing and look at trouble?"

Habakkuk 1:2,3 (NRSV)

"Moreover, wealth is treacherous, the arrogant do not endure.

They open their throats wide as Sheol, like Death they never have enough."  Habakkuk 2:5 (NRSV)

Does this sound familiar?

Habakkuk could be speaking today!

With him we cry: "How long?"

But you won't hear this preached in church too often.

Unless it's to push some End Times agenda.

But it is consistent with the Old Testament prophets whose social justice message is seldom heard.

Fox New would call God a Marxist.

And His prophets Commies.

But money deals with dissent violently.

As many protesters have discovered.

If not with a bullet then with a hate campaign.

"For there is still a vision for the appointed time."  Habakkuk 2:3 (NRSV)

That time is now!

The vision of God is breaking into history.

And we are blessed to be its agents.

Pray for the Light to dawn upon us and dispel our fears and terrors.

For God will not deal with us violently.

His mercy and forgiveness will prevail.

No one will perish.

Give up your fear.

And open your heart!

Photo Credit: George M. Groutas Flickr via Compfight cc

(The image has been slightly modified.)

Before the Aryan Invasion.

It would appear from archaeological evidence that Yoga existed in Indian civilization before the Aryan invasion.

These were the river cities of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.

And their inhabitants were the original Dravidian people of India.

It has been suggested that the Australian Aboriginal people are related to the Dravidians who were driven south by the Aryan invaders.

The dark skin and broad nose of the Dravidians resembles the Australian Aboriginals.

And there are similarities in language and mythology.

So the popularity of Yoga in Australia is not as strange as we may have thought.

The spirituality of the Aboriginal people - the first people of Australia - may be related to ancient Indian spirituality.

Photo Credit: William Ricketts.

Osiris.

The story of the death and resurrection of Jesus has strange parallels with the ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris.

Osiris was murdered by his brother Set (the Egyptian Devil) and miraculously resurrected every year when the wheat began to rise.

This was the natural fertility cycle of the Nile Valley.

Each year the life force would withdraw into the earth and was rejuvenated by the Nile flood.

Although the dates are different this cycle was celebrated at the beginning of Spring in Israel.

And it was during the first month of Nissan (March/April) that the Passover fell.

So the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus at Passover was in line with the myths of death and resurrection of fertility gods in the ancient world.

Osiris was also the god of the afterlife who judged whether the dead entered into eternal life.

Another parallel with Jesus.

Perhaps these similarities were part of the ancient religious psyche and became absorbed into the new religion of Jesus Christ.

But they are also part of the primordial consciousness of humanity and as such have a timeless relevance.

It could be that the dates were chosen to reflect the natural cycle of death and resurrection.

But it is also possible that the events actually took place at those times.

God is often symbolic in His actions.

This does not mean that the death and resurrection of Jesus is a myth.    

All it means is that we celebrate these things on dates that reflect ancient mythology.

Photo Credit: andrevanb Flickr via Compfight cc

Out of Egypt.

"Out of Egypt I called my son."  Hosea 11:1 (NRSV)

The symbol for Aquarius is the Egyptian hieroglyph for water.

And the pictogram is a man carrying a jar of water.

The Egyptian hieroglyph for the jar means the heart.

This is the key to the enigmatic symbols of Aquarius.

The water is the Water of Life which is love.

And it pours from the jar which is our heart.

Giving life to all around us.

But Aquarius is a air sign.

It governs our concepts.

The concept of unconditional love is a doorway to the heart.

For it is our hearts that will save us.

"'Out of Egypt I have called my son.'"  Matthew 2:15 (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.]

Photo Credit: twiga_swala Flickr via Compfight cc

In the Stars.

Capricorn and Aquarius

Marry Saturn and Uranus.

Muscle mass and glamour.

Demand our admiration. 

It's in the stars.

Photo Credit: Pinterest. 

Heaven Awaits!

Heaven awaits

Men who love Men!

Photo Credit: eroids.shop