Obsessed.

Satanism in the AFL makes you obsessed with football.

Photo Credit: AFL.

Demonization.

Demonization is the basis of scapegoating.

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A Scapegoat.

 

Since the 1980s and the AIDS crisis the right-wing political machine and its religious allies have made a scapegoat of LGBT+ people.

The fear surrounding AIDS made us an easy target.

But that does not excuse deliberate attempts to gain political mileage from using a scapegoat*.

These attempts resulted in the social persecution of LGBT+ people and even damnation by fundamentalist religious groups.

And this continues today with right-wing governments introducing laws that violate the basic rights of LGBT+ people.

In Africa some states have even introduced the death penalty.

Prison sentences for same-sex acts and even for supporting or identifying as gay are becoming common.

The banning of Pride Marches and LGBT+ activism is spreading.

But this is not the end.

The right-wing governments who push this poison will fall.

And we will be free at last.

(*Scapegoating is a Nazi propaganda technique.  It was used to persecute the Jews in Nazi Germany.)

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Fascism.

"And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost......

For none now live who remember them."

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Violence.

Violence is motivated by fear:

Fear of threats, fear of contradiction, fear of error, fear of rebellion.

These fears are the root of all the murders, wars, and oppression in our world.

And those who believe that you can win by violence and force are mistaken.

Violence begets violence.

And there is no violence in God.

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Lies.

"Nobody's wise until they see how it lies."

If the devil tells you to lie the chances are he is lying to you in the first place!

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Greed.

Money is the root of all evil.

And greed is the yeast that ferments it.

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Materialism.

Materialism is the way of the world.

But Jesus said: "'The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil.'" John 7:7 (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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Living Stones.

"and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house." 1 Peter 2:4 (NRSV)

We are the living stones of God's House.

And so, even if there is no church, no building, God's house will still exist in us.

[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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The Antidote.

Life.

Light.

Love.

Good.

Virtue.

Truth.

Honesty.

Non-Violence.

The Lamb.

Angels.

Heaven.

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Evil.

Death.

Darkness.

Hate.

Sin.

Vice.

Lies.

Corruption.

Violence.

The Beast.

The Devil.

 

Hell.

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Resurrection!

Three days after he was crucified Jesus was resurrected!

And this gives us hope that there is life after death.

Death is not the end.

Our souls are resurrected in spirit.

And we return to our maker.

To be enclosed in the Love of God.

That is Heaven.

Amen.

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Holy Week.

While I was home this Holy Week I looked up the activities of Jesus in that first Holy Week.

I was surprised by how different the Gospels were on the subject.

The three Synoptic Gospels have in common the cleansing of the Temple and the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.

Mark, the first Gospel written, has Jesus questioned by the Pharisees as they attempt to catch him out.  This is followed by some prophesies.

Matthew, written next, has a virulent confrontation with the Pharisees and predictions of dire judgement.

Luke omits the cursing of the fig tree, and concentrates on predictions for the future.

The Gospel of John has Jesus rejected by the people and records Jesus' esoteric teachings to his disciples: the New Commandment, the Way to the Father, and the True Vine.

And so the individual character of each Gospel is revealed.

We are at liberty to make of this what we will.

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(The image has been slightly modified.)

Christ Crucified.

The alliance between fundamentalist religion and multi-national corporations in our world is the equivalent of the alliance between the Romans and the Jewish religious authorities in Jesus' time.

And it was they who crucified Jesus.

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