Love.

The love between Paramhamsaji and Mani was a supreme example of same-sex love.

The 120 year old Yogi and his 18 year old protege formed a bond that was never broken.

This is an example of sublimated homosexuality that took on cosmic proportions.

It rivals the love between Shams e Tabrizi and Rumi in Islam.

And it is proof that homosexual love can reach the heights of Spiritual Enlightenment.

And touch the heart of God Himself.

Photo Credit: Shri Yogendraji. 

Psalm 64.

"Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;

preserve my life from the dread enemy.

Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,

from the scheming of evildoers,

who whet their tongues like swords,

who aim bitter words like arrows,

shooting from ambush at the blameless;

they shoot suddenly and without fear.

They hold fast to their evil purpose,

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking 'Who can see us?

Who can search out our crimes?

We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.'

For the human heart and mind are deep."

Psalm 64 1-6 (NRSV)

But God does not destroy them.

Rather He seeks to touch their hearts.

To inspire a change of heart.

That their fear and evil may be supplanted by love.

[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: thesimplepreacherblog.com.

The Racket.

When an Aboriginal delegation presented evidence of abuse by Christian missionaries in Australia's past to the Assembly of the Uniting Church many of the older Christians present insisted that the missionaries were good people who had good intentions.

They would not admit that they could have harmed the Aboriginal people.

This is an example of what many Christians do.

They insist that they are good people merely because they are Christians.

They may do no more than others or they may even be harming others.

But they still see themselves as good.

This is a racket.

But this self-delusion is widespread throughout the Churches.

And this is the reason that nothing ever changes.

Turn up on Sundays, toe the line and Heaven is yours.

Jesus slammed this hypocrisy and lip-service.

He said that only God is good.

The image of Christians outside of the Church is that they are morally bankrupt, even evil. 

Hate, violence, tyranny, intimidation, and war.

All these things emanate from the Churches.

But they still insist that they are good.

Photo Credit: City Temple SDA Church, Dallas, Texas Flickr via Compfight cc

Retirement.

The default position for retirement is: travel/holidays, looking after the grandchildren, visiting your financial advisor, profiting from investments, voting conservative, supporting the Status Quo, asking no questions, not rocking the boat, just doing what everyone else is doing.....

Sports, must watch T.V., tickets, restaurants, shopping.....

These things are economically approved activities.

But now that we are retired we are no longer subject to the philosophy of the corporations.

We can think and do as we please.

     

We can support Internet activism. 

We can volunteer.

We can support important issues like Climate Change and Gun Control.

We can vote Socialist.

We can challenge corporate greed and corruption.

We can campaign for peace.

We can support the United Nations.

We can investigate religion and spirituality.

We can live again!

Photo Credit: Edsel L Flickr via Compfight cc

Healing.

Rather than blaming and shaming people who have taken drugs we should be praying for their healing.

Drugs were pushed on youth by Satanic rock bands.

Their motives were evil from the beginning.

So it is not entirely the fault of those individuals who took drugs.

Backtracking and subliminal messages told them to take drugs in the first place.

And peer pressure reinforced these messages.

It is my prayer that they see what has been done to them by their rock stars and that they be reconciled and healed.

Photo Credit: Cheris621 Flickr via Compfight cc

Caps.

Why is your cap on backwards?

Do you even know?

It's some sort of statement:

"I think backwards."

"I'm bad"

Or are you just copying?

Copying who?

Why is his cap on backwards?

Or is it to do with sex?

Or anti?

Anti-what?

Anti-everything.

That's Satan.

And the one you are copying is a Satanist.

Photo Credit: Jason Pier in DC Flickr via Compfight cc

Hidden.

What is hidden from us in this world is the activities of Satanists in our popular culture.

These are people who have sold their souls in the traditional fashion and do the devil's work in our world. 

Mostly working on an unconscious level they push dark images and vices upon us.

They encourage us to sin.

And they lure us to the dark side.

Rock musicians, celebrities, movie stars and directors, novelists, sports men and women, commentators etc. distract and disturb us; they temp us and curse us and damn us to hell*.

But all of this is hidden behind a mask of glamour and status which attracts and seduces.

We think that they are like us.

But they are not.

Evil lurks behind the dazzling lights and the make-up.

So don't just take what you see at face value.

Look beneath the surface and analyze their words and images.

The chances are you will find evil there.

(*Hence the flames.)

Photo Credit: Pinterest.

Opinion.

If we put forward ideas that are more humane in this world we are told that it is just our opinion.

This is an excuse to reject them out of hand. 

But right-wing ideas are promoted and enforced.

This is their opinion. 

Not everything is relative.

There is an objective truth.

But the right uses its media to advance their agenda.

This is not objective reporting but propaganda.

So turn off the T.V. and silence the radio.

We are being brainwashed.

Photo Credit: EpicTop10.com Flickr via Compfight cc

The Koran.

What is needed is a new interpretation of the Koran.

New interpretations of the Bible have led to the development of Progressive Christianity.

And this approach can be applied to the Koran.

Just as violent and judgemental passages in the Bible have been challenged so can such passages in the Koran be challenged.

God is non-violent.

He does not judge us or punish us.

These passages in the scriptures are the result of the fears and assumptions of the messengers.

Human beings are not perfect.

We dread punishment, assume dualism, and project our assumptions of Natural Justice onto God.

But God is transcendent.

He does not act in the way that we expect.

God loves us.

And even the most heinous sinners are His children.

"Indeed, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."  John 3:17 (NRSV)

"God is light and in him there is no darkness at all."  1 John 1:5 (NRSV)

And I say: God is Love and in Him there is no violence at all.

So passages in the Koran which seem to justify violence and judgement are not from God at all, they are the result of the fears and assumptions of the Prophet.

So we need not fear God.

God is our loving Father.

And we can look forward to the Day of Benediction.

[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: Alex Brey Flickr via Compfight cc

Gay is Good.

Gay is good.

No matter what others may say - religious or otherwise - homosexuality is O.K. with God.

Those who rely on archaic texts to justify their prejudice are misguided.

The understanding of homosexuality in the Bible is not our modern understanding of same-sex attraction.

Homosexuality is congenital.

It is a matter of mutually consenting adults.

It is not a sign of willful perversion.

So gay people can look forward to Heaven as others do.

Heaven awaits you.

And the everlasting Love of God. 

Photo Credit: torbakhopper Flickr via Compfight cc

David and Jonathan.

"The soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul....." 

"..... Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.  Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt."  1 Samuel 18:1-4 (NRSV)   

"Jonathan lies slain upon your high places, I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me, your love was wonderful to me, passing the love of women."  2 Samuel 1:25,26 (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: vector-clip-art.com

Give.

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."  Psalm 23:1 (NRSV)

"All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need."  Acts 2:44,45 (NRSV)

This is about giving.

But all too often church people are afraid to give.

They hang on to their possessions and their wealth.

Some even preach that God has blessed them with wealth.

But the first converts would have been called Marxists by Conservatives.

And this Spiritual Socialism has seldom been  practised in subsequent generations.

"I shall not want."

So we can let go of our fear and give to those in need.

[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: Pictoscribe - Cyber Distancing Awhile Flickr via Compfight cc

(The image has been slightly modified.)