Supplication for the Beggars and the History of Protestant Reformation in England (historigraphy)

In this article, I quote from Simon Fish's Supplication for the Beggars.  Then I discuss at great lengths to place the quote within the context of the history of Europe from the 4^th Century to the 16^th Century CE, only to form my analysis of Fish's Supplication and finally conclude with the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, emphasizing its importance with quotes from the Scripture on forgiveness and Christian charity – agapé.

My apologies to all copyright holders that I have quoted.  All the links in the text reference your words. Also my apologies to the Anglicans who might be offended by any irreverence showed in my description of Church of England history.

Any mistakes and omissions are entirely my own.  SHK 2016-10-31

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“Most lamentably complains their woeful misery unto your Highness your poor daily bedemen¹ the wretched hideous monsters (on whom scarcely for horror any ye dare look) the foul unhappy sort of lepers, and other sore people, needy, impotent, blind, lame, and sick that live only by alms, how that their number is daily so sore increased that all the alms of all the well-disposed people of this your realm is not half enough for to sustain them, but that for very contrient² they die for hunger.” – Simon Fish, Supplication for the Beggars

1: bedemen: plural of bedeman – originally beadsman – a resident of an almshouse in Tudor England. In Scotland, it refers to a privileged or licensed beggar who receives public alms.

Originally, the word referred to a pensioner or almsman who prays for the welfare of his benefactor, when hired to do so, counting the beads on a
rosary. In Medieval English, bede means prayer and is derived from the Old English word biddan. Thus, beadsman means a man of prayer.

In England, the word “bedesman” was long associated with “servant”.

Almshouses are sometimes former bede houses like the Lyddinton Bede House, which was converted to shelter poor bedesmen after 1600 CE in post-Reformation England until 1930. Originally alms are money or services donated to support the poor and indigent out of the tradition of Christian charity. While some almshouses are secular, most of them are European Christian institutions. Establish since the 10^th Century in Britain, they provide a place for poor, old and distressed people to live. During the Middle Ages, most hospitals in Europe functioned as almshouses.

2: contrient interdependence: A condition of social situations in which
the actions that benefit some individuals harm others. It tends to
promote competition. [From Latin con- together + terere to rub or
grind + -ent present participle ending + English interdependence]From: contrient interdependence in A Dictionary of Psychology »

In Fish's England and much of Europe was in an economic crisis by 1529, due to taxation of the poor by the Church. Almshouses were created to deal with the problem. Best known for aiding in the distribution of the Tyndale New Testament, he wrote the anti-clerical pamphlet Supplication for the Beggars, which inspired the English Reformation and the Protestant Reformation proper.

After the Roman Catholic Church condemned the pamphlet as heretical in 1530, Fish was arrested in London on charges of heresy but died of the bubonic plague before his trial. At this time in the Church's history, it was a popular pastime for clerics to burn heretics at the stake after horrific tortures throughout Europe.

In Europe, circa 1517, as a monk Martin Luther objected to church corruption (the selling of indulgences to absolve sin) which led to the Reformation.

As a learned young man, Luther aspired to become a monk, though his father Hans Luther,a rich businessman, wanted him to become a lawyer so much that he withdrew him from the proto-Reformation school run by the Brethren of the Common Life in Magdeburg. Founded circa 1380 by a Dutch
Catholic mystic Geert De Groote., the Confraternity of the Common Life is based on his relations with the German Gottesfreunde (Friends of God), a medieval lay group within the Catholic Church, and the writings of the Flemish mystic Ruysbroek (John of Ruusbroe)c.

In 14th Century Germany, the disruptive reign of the Avignon Papacy had led to the struggle for political power between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Papacy. This culminated in Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence Joanna 1 selling the city of Avignon in 1348 CE to Pope Clement VI for 80,000 florins, uniting Comtat Avignon with the Comtat Venaissin, forming a unified papal enclave whilst retaining their separate political identities.

Almost 50 years earlier, the French lawyer Pierre Dubois, a pupil of St. Thomas Aquinas at University of Paris was the propagandist who wrote in 1300 the anonymous trestise “Summaria, brevis et compendiosa doctrina felicis expeditionis et abbreviationis guerrarum et litium regni Francorum”, a work on the means to shorten conflicts and wars of France.

Sympathetic to French King Philip the Fair, he wrote the anti-clerical and thus secularizing propaganda against Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, “Supplication du peuple de France au roy contre le pape Boniface le Ville”, which virulently indicted the temporal power of the pope. His propaganda continued onwards, long after Boniface's death in 1303.

Importantly, in 1305 Dubois wrote his treatise on the necessary conditions of a successful crusade, De recuperatione terrae sanctae.  It would first begin with a state of peace among Christian nations of the West established and enforced by a church council, which the Catholics view as the aim to subdue the papacy, making it easy for the King of France to take advantage of papal influence.

With reform of the monastic (e.g. Dominicans) and importantly the military orders (e.g. Teutonic Knights) and the reduction of their revenues would allow his king to rule over the Papal States and administer them while forcing the Holy See's vassal countries of Tuscany, Sicily, England and Aragon to pay homage to the French king.  In return the king would grant the pope the revenues of the Papal States.

Dubois also advocated the education of young men and women in oriental languages (Arabic, Greek, Slavic, Turkish) and the natural sciences with a view to the government of Eastern peoples.

Meanwhile, despite disputes with the King of Bohemia, the rise of the Cumans in Hungary which led to the excommunication of the Hungarian King
Ladislaus and his growing unpopularity by the Magyar people under his rule, and the fears of hereditary monarchy by the Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire that culminated in the election of Count Adolf of Nassau-Wellburg as Holy Roman Emperor in 1292, King Albert I of Germany was finally elected King of the Romans (Holy Roman Emperor) in 1298. Due to his humility and keen sense of justice, he protected the serfs and especially the
Jews, who would be expelled from France in 1306 by King Philip.

Due to Dubois' influence, King Philip attempted to control the French clergy and came into conflict with Pope Boniface but French aims to become a world power didn't stop there. Over two centuries later, in 1536 CE, French
King Francis 1 would make the strategic and sometimes tactical alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent, the Turkish sultan of the Ottoman Empire, thanks in part to the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmet II and unification of the Middle East between 1516 and 1517 by Selim 1, Suleiman's father. But that's another tale.

In response to the decadence that occurred in reaction to suppression of the French clergy in performing their rites, Ruysbroek's mystical writings were one of many mystical treatises written to encourage Christian charity and love for one's fellow man, which also include the Theologia Germanica, a treatise of German mysticism associated with the Gottesfreunde (Friends of God).

Christian mysticism at this time was inspiring the common people to realize that God and man shall become united by following the path of perfection e.g. the life of Christ.

Martin Luther admired Theologia Germanica so much he published first a partial and later a full edition of it in mid- to late-1510s CE to support his thesis that the German language is as equally suited to express theological ideas as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages.

In fact, this treatise became so popular among the Radical Reformation and later, of Lutheran and Pietism traditions that the Catholic Church banned its reading in 1612 until the second half of the 20th Century. Yet Theologica Germanica was well read by Catholic mystics.

Meanwhile, back in England, the English Reformation begins when King Henry the 8^th wanted to divorce his wife Catherine because Mary was the only child born of her, and the adoption of primogeniture in European royal circles (a consequence of the feudal system in which the ancient Roman custom was adopted from Catholicism and made the law in England) meant
that a legitimate male heir was required to inherit his entire estate (England and Scotland).

With Catherine in her forties, Henry sought a second wife which led to conflict with the Roman Catholic Church when he asked statesman Cardinal
Wolsey to appeal to Pope Clement VII for an annulment, having sought Anne Boleyn as his new wife, a lady-in-waiting to his soon-to-be former wife Catherine of Aragon.

Adverse to angering Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Pope refused.

Intrigue on the part of Charles led to his deception of Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry prior to Clement's election as pope. Later, Clement confirmed Wolsey's legateship for life and also gave him the Bishopric of Durham om 1523. Upon becoming bishop, Wolsey resigned the See of Bath and Wells.

As bishop Wolsey showed no personal ambition to become pope. Indeed, he was “more joyous thereof than if it had fortuned upon my person”, which showed his humility.

Now Charles distrusted Henry, so Wolsey opted for alliance with France when the defeat and capture of Francis at Pavia in 1525 made the Holy
Roman Empire a danger to all Europe.

In the Treaty of Madrid Francis lost Flanders and the Artois to Charles.  Allowed to return to France in exchange for his sons, Francis and Henry, once free, he claimed duress led to his agreement with the King of the Romans, thus making it void since his sons were taken hostage which implied that Charles didn't trust him.

Meanwhile, Henry reluctantly made a new treaty with France with Wolsey's aid.  Yet it was making him unpopular in Henry's court due to the jealousy of the nobility because the people of England were hostile towards the taxes exacted to pay for such political power.

Even so, Wolsey had changed the taxation system in England, working with
the treasurer of the Chamber, John Heron to create the “Subsidy.”  By accurate valuations of the taxpayer's wealth, one shilling per pound of income was now exacted.

Given that 20 shillings make a pound, taxation for the Subsidy was 5%. The old taxation system only meant the poor ended up paying as much taxes as the rich. When the new taxation system was implemented, the poorer members of society paid much less.

Wolsey also reinvented the equity court in which the the judge decided the verdict based on the principle of fairness. Both the Star Chamber and the Court of Chauncery concentrated on simple, inexpensive cases and impartial justice. In the Court of Requests for the poor, no fees were required. No longer were powerful people invincible e.g. the Earl of Northumberland was sent to Fleet Prison in 1516 and Lord Abergavenny was accused of illegal retaining.

It is at this point that King Henry's desire to divorce Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn led to Wolsey's fall. While he didn't wish the king to marry Anne, he saw Catherine's political influence as Charles' aunt led her to dislike Wolsey's French policy.

His reasoning was that if the religious tribunal decided that the king's marriage to her was invalid, the pope would confirm it.

Once Catherine learned of the King's plan, she prepared to defend her rights as queen. Since she could count on Pope Clement and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to sympathize with her, Henry sent Wolsey to convince Francis to pressure the pope by delivering the pope from Charles who had sacked Rome, hoping for Clement's gratefulness would convince him to grant Henry the divorce.

On Wolsey's return to England, he learned that he was no longer favored by the King due to his failure to secure a divorce. Instead, he had learned Bishop Knight of Bath and Wells had been sent to Rome in 1527 to get Catherine of Aragon's marriage annulled and to make trade pacts, which never came to fruition, mainly due to the fact that the English were never considered a part of the Continent of Europe by the Central European kingdoms.

For ambassador to the Papacy and European kingdoms. Wolsey preferred Jerome de Ghinucci, Bishop of Worcester, since he had a better command of Italian than Knight, who complained that he was old and going blind.

Yet the King still considered Wolsey useful, and the cardinal realized Anne Boleyn to be a political rival.

Despite the pope sending Cardinal Campeggio to try the case in England with Wolsey, the English cardinal realized that the matter was outside of his hands. Because of the serious nature of annulment, Campeggio delayed holding the trial until June 1529 when the court sat at Blackfriars.

Due to the delay of the trial, Anne Boleyn blamed Wolsey and decided to bring about his fall. When the trial failed, this made her scheme possible.

Soon Wolsey had fallen into disgrace and by November 1529 he had surrendered the great seal of England and all his vast possessions.  After suffering at Esher, in February of the following year, he received a pardon and had the possessions of his archbishopric restored except York House, which now belonged to the king.

Allowed to retire to York, he spend the last six months of his life performing his duties as bishop. Henry decided not to patronize his two colleges at Ipswitch and Oxford, and only Christ's College at Oxford survived to this day.

In November 1530 he was arrested on charges of high treason.

Meanwhile Thomas Cromwell became King Henry the 8^th's confidant with him handling the break with Rome and creating the laws and administrative procedures that changed post-Reformation England for better or for worse.

Rather than the Pope of Rome taking over ecclesiastical duties over Britain, King Henry the 8^th became the head of the Church of England, which broke away from Papal authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the English Reformation, Fish's Supplication was propaganda against corruption in the English clergy, despite the fact that Wolsey's taxation system was much fairer than the previous 15^th and 10^th taxation which was introduced in the late 14^th Century and led to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, due to their unpopularity.

Lollardy must be considered as the political and religious movement that existed from the time of John Wycliffe to the English Reformation as inspiration for the Supplication and the Revolt of 1381 since Western Christianity was certainly in need of reform due to the worldly aspirations of the Avignon Papacy and the corruption within the Church due to the role of the clergy and parishioners in the legitimacy of royalty.

However, it is not like serfdom was abolished then because Fish was agitating for reformation almost 150 years later.  Yet serfdom was a miserable existence because a feudal lord could work serfs unto death without pay.

But feudalism was dying out due to education of the middle and upper class of British society.

It is amazing what a little education can do to expand the horizons of a people, especially the British people.

Historically, the poor of England and Scotland in the 16^th Century had probably had experienced more than a few generations of privation due to contrient interdependence and disease, and were considered servants worthy of Christian charity.

Protest against social equality in Medieval England came to the fore in 1395 with the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, which was a critique of the English Church in which the Lollards pressed their argument that the Church needed reform.

First, the state of the Church was worldly, due to the Church of Rome's bad
example e.g. the Avignon Papacy warring with the Holy Roman Empire and amassing Papal States to become a power unto itself.

British royalty at the time couldn't help but be involved in this corruption because all the royal houses since Norman times were related to most of Western Europe's royalty through marriage, including the various Norman and later French royalty (the House of Valois and Francis), western German royalty and Hapsburg royalty (Albert and Charles V), and Spanish royalty (Catherine of Aragon). They made treaties with each other to amass more land and collect subsidies from the taxpayers to fund their war-chest.

It was up to the British nobility to organize the peasants to pay the Subsidy to the English government.

Second, the priesthood was criticized because the Bible printed by Wycliffe indicated that ordination of priests and bishops do not have any scriptural precedent. IMHO this point would the Church's clergy because the religious law that justifies ordination of clergy is a man-made law, not a law that Jesus laid down.

Third, clerical celibacy was a farce in medieval times because clerical celibacy encouraged sodomy among the clergy.  On this point, I would state that the Orthodox view was against clerical celibacy with only monks and the Patriarch being celibate. This preserves celibacy because then the clergy would show a better example regarding marriage.

Fourth, the doctrine of transubstantiation leads to idolatry in the worship of communion wafers which represents the flesh of the Christ while the spoiled grape juice (table wine) represents his blood.

This would also lead clergy and parishioners alike being tempted for drink, which goes against the temperance established by the Apostles after the Christ's Ascension (Acts 2) e.g. not drinking in the third hour of the morning but instead allowing the Holy Spirit to pour out through all baptized men and women, so that “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams... And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Fifth, exorcisms and hallowings are a kind of witchcraft carried out by the clergy and thus incompatible with Christian theology.

Sixthly, it is inappropriate in the higher offices in the Church to also hold positions of great temporal power e.g. the rich Italian banking families that followed the Avignon Papacy from Italy (the Medici and the like).

Seventhly, the uncharitableness of saying prayers for specific individual dead since it by implication excludes all the other blessed dead not being prayed for. Also the practice of prayer requests for the dead by donating money to the Church is bribery that leads to corruption.

Eighthly, the practice of pilgrimages and veneration of relics are ineffectual for spiritual merit and thus idolatry in their worship of man-made objects. IMHO is it any wonder that the lower classes still practiced their folk Christianity in private, at least until the oppression of Puritans by the Anglican church led to an exodus of Puritans to America.

Ninthly, the practice of confession for absolution of sins is blasphemous since only God has the power to forgive sins. If priests did have that power, it is cruel and uncharitable of them to withhold that forgiveness from anyone in the world, even if they refused to confess.

To rephrase a quote of Alexander Pope, to commit sin is human, to forgive divine. 

Just as the Lord forgave the Jews and the Romans on the hill called Skull (Luke 23:34), so did he preach forgiveness in prayer (Matthew 6:1-15) as a good example for everyone alike to follow.

When healing the paralytic, the Christ not only forgave his sins because “the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins.” (Matthew 9:6). Like the Christ, the clergy ought to forgive especially those parishioners who do not confess of their sins out of charity.

Likewise, Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" And he answered, "I do not tell you ‘till seven times,’ but till seventy times seven.” Thus, even if your brother sins against you, forgive him always. It matters not if thy brother is related by blood or not. If you are forgiven your spiritual debt then forgive the debt that other people owe you. By being of a forgiving nature, you will realize that nobody owes you a debt at all. (Matthew 18, Mark 2, Luke 5)

Forgiveness ought be on our minds as Christians, for the Lord said “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it shall be yours. And whenever you stand up to pray, forgive, if you have anything against any one, that so your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses". (Mark 10:24-25)

When your heart is full of charity for the Lord like the woman who wet his feet with her tears and poured perfume on them, he shall forgive you too. It matters not if it is five sins or fifty, save the sin of forgetting God. (Luke 7:49)

Jesus also said “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who has offended us; and bring us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:4). By this he meant that when we ask God to forgive our sins, we also forgive everyone lest we be tempted to sin again.

It is clear what Jesus meant when he said, "Be
on you guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and seven times a day turns to you saying ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him." (Luke 17:3-4)

Other instances of the Christ preaching forgiveness include Luke 23:34, and through Peter resisting Simon the Magi attempted to buy the power of healing (Acts 8:22) who said “Repent then this of your wickedness, and beseech the Lord to forgive you this purpose of your heart.”

For the gift of healing through the power of the Holy Ghost cannot be bought or sold. A good Christian does not let the love of money tempt him when shares the blessings of the Holy Ghost.

In the letters of Paul too flow the Holy Ghost as the Comforter that forgives the offender in 2 Corinthians 2:1-10. Given that the Corinthians doubted about the resurrection, Paul asked them to forgive if he was any burden to them (2 Corinthians 12:13).

In Colossians 3, Paul advised the Colossians on how to be good Christians, stating that “as God’s chosen people, consecrated and beloved, clothe yourselves with tenderness of heart, kindness, humility, gentleness, good temper; bearing with one another and forgiving each other, if any one has a grievance against another. Just as Christ the Lord forgave you, so must you forgive. Over them all bind on love, which is the girdle of completeness. Let the peace of Christ, to which also you were called in one body, rule in your hearts, and show yourselves thankful.” (Colossians 3:12-15)

Finally, John says “if we confess our sins, faithful is he and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all wrongdoing” for “we have a partnership with one another” as Christians, for his sacrifice at the cross has cleansed us from every sin. (1 John 1)

It is because the practice of forgiveness is the habit of good Christians that I quote Scripture to emphasize the importance of forgiveness as a Christian.

Tenthly, Christians should refrain from warfare, especially wars justified by religion, such as crusades. They are blasphemous since the Christ taught men to love and forgive their enemies. 

It is not a weakness of character to preach love and forgive enemies.

On this matter, Thomas Paine, one of America's founding fathers wrote:

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thomas_paine_105874

Justice will still demand that their evil acts be punished by law when their acts break the law. As Christians we have no need of hatred towards enemies.

How can a Christian say that what he does is good if he libels his enemy and generalizes against them, misquoting their scripture, using it to shame them, thinking that by doing so they are true Christians? When Jesus purportedly preaches violence, he said “that's enough”, implying that as Christians we follow the Ten Commandments faithfully, knowing that we as the truly righteous are peace loving and forgiving.

It matters not if that enemy is your brother, your sister, your neighbour, a terrorist, a madman, the poor, the diseased. Truly, in the depths of my heart I believe this.

Should my actions betray my hypocrisy, I repent of it to God. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

This URL explains how the Avignon papacy cane to be: an unpopular pope led to the election of Pope Clement. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism

What Do the Israeli Military, Jihadi and the West Have In Common?

In light of a recent opinion editorial in the New York Times about the Syrian refugees, I have reflected on the situation now facing the West. With the growing refugee crisis now at the border crossings in Eastern Europe, it is clear to me that millenarianism empowers the Israeli military, jihadists of all stripes, and Western influence in the Middle East.

For their millenarian sentiments bedevil them, leading them to unwittingly abandon a merciful God for the diabolical Anti-Christ, trading peace for warfare with a growing religious tone.

All parties fighting in the Middle East are confident that their warfare will usher in Armageddon, with millenarian Christians and Jews, both of whom are militant Zionists, pitted against radical Muslim fundamentalists (takfiri), who consider everyone else to be apostate.

Each side, be they Zionists or takfiri, sees themselves as God's chosen people and the other side as the Anti-Christ. On one side we have the Zionist army of God, consisting of pro-Israel Christian militants and their Zionist brethren, and on the other side,are the takfiri of Islamic State, al Nasrah Front, al Qaeda and associated militant groups - including Hezbollah and the radical elements of Hamas and ...

Historically, the Zionist militants and the takfiri have been fighting with each other over Palestine since the 1970s, when Israel launched attacks against the UAR, specifically Egypt and Syria, winning the Golan Height (West Bank) and the Gaza strip. At the time the Israeli military even occupied the Sinai peninsula, but later gave it back to Egypt because, being a desert wasteland, was not considered strategic territory by the Israeli government of the time.

Though the takfiri claim historical precedence that goes back to when Palestine was originally conquered by Muslims from 7th Century to 9th CE. In contrast, in recent years, radical Zionists in Israel have tried to rewrite history by denying Palestine ever existed, yet most Arab nations in the Middle East have referred to Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria as the Levant.

Meanwhile, in eastern Europe, the Ukraine has become a conflict between the West (secularism in the form of NATO representing the anti-Christ) and Russia (the Orthodox Church representing the militant Christ of Armageddon), even though this is a proxy war between American government and her NATO allies, and Russian government and her allies. In contrast, the radical Ukrainian militant nationalists adhering the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Protestant evangelical fundamentalism consider themselves representatives of the same militant Christ fighting against the Anti-Christ (the Russian military). Though most Ukrainian nationalists are nominal Christians, adhering mainly to a neo-Nazi form of Christianity in which white power is associated with Christ.

IMHO the mainstream media is burying this story because they don't want to frighten their consumers to death with pointless end of the world stories of Armageddon, thus proving to me the old adage that few people can handle the truth, especially when religion has mixed with politics in the Middle East from the beginning over 2500 years ago. As for the Ukrainian conflict, the New Left and far right (neo-Nazi) organizations are nationalists first. If the far right in the Ukraine radicalize further, then there might be an internal struggle between the secular left and the far right radicals. However, the Ukrainian left and right are united against their common enemy, Russia.

Meanwhile, in Europe, refugees fleeing Syria are a mix of Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims and Christians while a few of the Sunni men in Syria have coalesced into rebel militant groups. This in part is due to the secondary proxy war between Sunni and Shi'ite participants with Iran supporting the Assad regime in Syria and the Gulf States supporting the Sunni rebels.

Last year, the Sunni jihadists formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and briefly as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, became a de facto nation called Da'esh (Islamic State). Consisting of a Millenarian jihadi force sponsored by the Gulf States (mainly Qatar and Saudi Arabia — due to the strong offensive by Syrian army in western Syria. Then their Western sympathizers came to eastern Syria via Turkey to the border with Iraq to fight on their side, while Western mercenaries went there and allied with the Kurds to fight the Jihadi of Da'esh.

Of course, the Shi'ite refugees from Syria bypassed Iran due to its police state. Their impression that Western Europe is the bastion of freedom fuels their walk to freedom via Turkey into Europe. For the problem with the Syrian refugees is not only the Middle East; it also has to do with European fear of Islam.

How ironic that both the refugees and most of Europe nominally believe in God, be they Christians, Jews or Muslims. Indeed, this is what is common to millenarians regardless of their faith: they worship God.

In response to the refugee crisis, my solution is to propose that the Christian politicians of the West practise two of Christ Jesus' commandments: love your enemy and practice charity towards them.

Any other solution may eventually prove that the West is not yet sympathetic to the plight of the Syrian refugees, especially in Hungary.

YMMV

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References:

Commentary about mainstream media hiding the Millenarian ideology common in the Israeli military: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/mainstream-Israeli-colonel

NY Times article mentioning the Israeli colonel's millenarian comment: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/opinion/thomas-friedman-revelations-in-the-gaza-war.html?referrer

The Catholic definition of millenarianism: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10307a.htm

Timeline of the name Palestine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_name_%22Palestine%22

Islam and Millenarianism: http://science.jrank.org/pages/7870/Islamic-Millenarianism.html

Russia-US talks on Syria do little to stem flow of refugees: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-u-s-talks-on-syria-do-little-to-stem-flow-of-refugees-1.3236891

Quick facts: what you need to know about Syria crisis: http://www.mercycorps.org/articles/turkey-iraq-jordan-lebanon-syria/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-syria-crisis

UNHCR factson the crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic: http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486a76.html

Robust, coherent Europe response to Refugee crisis still urgently needed: http://www.unhcr.org/55f817399.html

The Light Outside of the Bushel

In Christianity Jesus is sometimes called the Light of Christendom. Similarly Amida Buddha is the Light of Buddhism wisdom.

Just as Jesus is the Light of the West, so too is Amida Buddha the light of the East. Though it is said that east is east, and west is west, but never in between do they meet, solely in the name of religious pluralism do I find that both Amida and the Christ symbolize the divine in the East and in the West, respectively.

Figuratively speaking, the Light of the West shines brightly in my heart while the Light of the East shines within the bushel of my life before being born again as a Mormon.

And in my heart, I am made whole as a spiritual being due to my faith in Jesus, and my subtle reverence for Amida. This is not a case of serving two masters but the affirmation of the spirit of religious pluralism.

For I serve only the Light, and have a deep spiritual connexion both with the East and the West, due to being born Japanese in Canada.

Make War No More in the Middle East (satire)

This article is not an anti-religion rant; it is an anti-war message. For my purpose for hurting the feelings of religionists, especially the post-Christians, is to spill my figurative guts about the forever war started by Christendom against the Muslims with the First Crusades.

All the Western powers that be are doing are perpetuating this war, rather than peace because they are forcing Western democracy on the Muslim nations and the Jihadis are also complicit in all of this too.

When the West admits that the War on Terrorism is a religious war against secularist globalism by the jihadis such as ISIS, that will mark their willingness to confront the truth.

Indeed, the Catholic Church has to make amends to the Muslim nations, and put their support behind the West and their UN and NATO forces.

As seen through jihadi eyes, the UN and NATO peace-keeping forces are viewed as a secular Crusade that threatens the integrity of world's only believers of God Almighty, ISIS and their al Qaeda and Taliban allies.

I condemn the Catholic Church for the trouble in the Middle East since the First Crusades, which was a mad grab for land, fame and power as well as removing unwanted lesser nobility so that the regal elite of Europe could vie for the honor of being offered kingdoms for forcibly converting the Teutonic, Gothic, and savage barbarians such as the Huns and Mongols.

As well, the Church failed to stop its petty wars in the Holy Land where it implemented proxy wars which still play out today. Indeed, the Crusades is the reason of why the Muslims are divided between jihadis and its Salafi origins within Saudi Arabia and the rest of Islam, both Shi'ite and Sunni.

Why do you think Christians are being persecuted today? Because of the delusion called "a healthy ego" and the rise of narcissism that gives rise to the arrogance of individualism. Even the public education system in the West promotes the ideals that is seen by the jihadis as "decadent hedonism" e.g. abandoning overdressed tradition for nearly-naked modernism.

Back over a thousand years ago, the First Crusade was when the current war against jihadis began &madash; back when the Saracens were growing more civilized in their conquered lands, two hundred years after Mohammed's death circa mid -7th century and continuing until the modern era.

It is indeed the epitome of a forever war; not in 1947, though.

For the rise of the state of Israel is actually a continuation of the rivalry between the French and the English, which was started when the Normans conquered England so long ago that only legends of that time remain.

Thus the proxy war that Bashir Al-Assad of Syria mentioned in an interview recently originally began with the Frankish and the English nobles founding a handful of kingdoms in the Holy Land.

Today, both France and England continue their rivalry in the Middle East to this day through their dealings with the US, Russia and China.

As well, the jihadism, the Salafism and the Islamism are also not new: they began right after Mohammed's death and continue on to this day.

It is time for the Church to continue to make amends with the Muslim nations, and to admit its part in this abuse of power starting with Charlemagne circa 768 CE.

For it is the backing of the State by Religion that is truly an evil: for example, the current case of the Orthodox Church in Russia. In their arrogance, the Russian Orthodox Church shows signs of corruption. Putin's pogrom against homosexuality is no different from the anti-gay rhetoric from the pulpits of Christendom in the Byzantine Empire. By scapegoating the LGBT community, the world's religions are distracting us from the fact that nobody really cares if a person is gay except to exercise control over their private affairs.

Likewise, the Muslim nations exercise control over the lives of its community with a big obsession with cleanliness, as though washing the hands and feet is enough to truly be clean.

No religion's hands are truly clean when it comes to war if they cannot turn their swords into ploughshares.

---

Originally posted August 31, 2014 at 4:52 PM PDT

References:

Background for First Crusade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade

Background for Charlemagne: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne

Background for Jihadism, Islamism, Salafism, and Wahhabism:

Jihadism started circa early 19th century in the Fula Jihads: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fula_jihads

Islamism begin in early 18th century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism

Salafism developed in the latter part of the 10th century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_movement

Wahhabism arose in the 18th Century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Abd_al-Wahhab

The Restorational Faith of Leo N Tolstoy

Russia's most greatest of authors, Leon Tolstoy’s story is that of a bourgeoisie who has amassed riches but felt worthless to the point of melancholia.

Rather than ending it, all he restored a Christianity that was similar to the practices of the Doukhabors, who were Russian peasants who rejected the Orthodox Church priests, icons, and associated church ritual. As well, they rejected the tyranny and oppression of the Russian Czarist government.

Both Tolstoy and the Quakers helped pay the Doukhobors' passage across the Atlantic Ocean circa 1899. Some of them immigrated to Canada.

Sadly though, the Doukhobors ended up being persecuted by BC Premier W.A.C. Bennett, due to their unwillingness to be assimilated into Canadian culture.

Yet Leon N Tolstoy’s Christianity is also a restored Christianity that is practised without the doctrines and dogma of the Orthodox Church from which he had apostatized.

In 1882, Tolstoy first published his four-part series on his faith under the title of A Confession. Originally titled An Introduction to a Criticism of Dogmatic Theology, this series also consisted of "A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology", "The Four Gospels Harmonized and Translated" — the inspiration for "The Gospel in Brief" — and "What I Believe" which was also published in English as "My Religion" and "My Faith".

Because of the Russian Orthodox Church's censorship, the series was banned from publication, being censored in the Russian journal Russian Thought, No 5. So it was later published in Geneva in 1884, and again in Russia in 1906 in the Russian journal World Bulletin 1.

In 1887 it was translated, published and copyrighted by Thomas Y Crowell & Co.

Tolstoy’s restorational faith is expressed in the Introduction to his book, The Kingdom of God is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion But as a New Theory of Life. Being restorational in nature, this book should be studied by intellectuals of restorational churches such as the LDS.

---

References:

Doukhobor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doukhobor

Leo Tolstoy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy

The Middle Eastern Situation is Both a Religious War and a Political One (satire)

Here in Canada I am still awaiting a terrorist plot in Rio de Janeiro , but it is not going happen since Brazil stayed out of the American game plan to mold the Middle East and Central Asia into democracies.

It is leading to blow-back incidents in the West, most recently in Paris, which adds to the two incidents in Ottawa, and a handful of bombings in London, and the purported bombing during the Boston Marathon a few years ago.

Without the historical precedence of the free-market capitalist system being forced on people there, we forget that the West meddled with the Holy Land from 1099 to 1194 CE, only see the Crusades evolve into petty fiefdoms where mercenaries were led by ruffians pretending to be royalty, who robbed caravans for booty.

How Christian of them!

IMO Saladin was too merciful in 1187 - he should have asked for more booty in exchange for letting the Christians flee Jerusalem. Better yet, he should have been less merciful.

Most likely, the now defunct Templar Knights were merely pawns of the intrigue arising from the Orthodox king and possibly a lot of espionage by clergy sent to the Holy Land from Rome.

IMHO we need the devotion that the Templar Knights showed, rather than the financial dealings that they made which might have led to their demise. Intrigue led to the Templar Knights being wiped out, possibly due to their power that came with the land holdings and their financial dealings.

Out of all of Catholic militarism during this period, only the Templars do I respect. No army today comes close to their devotion to God, due to the slide into secularism that has become popular today.

IMO the socialists wish to erase from history any mention that religion played a large part in the enmity between Christendom and Islam, which is evidenced by the fact that ignorance is bandied about by both sides with the usual propaganda in which the truth is stretched into unbelievable scenarios.

As for the Middle East today, and also Iraq and Afghanistan, the new "Crusaders" began their campaign of revenge upon Islam in 2003, rather than following a more enlightened path.

See what happens when Christendom wants to usher in the New Millenium with a bang? Will this situation in the Islamic State lead to more random terrorist attacks in the West? We shall have to wait and see.

In this 21st-Century Crusade, the West has become more fascist and Islamophobia has replaced anti-Semitism as a result of daily propaganda from the American mainstream media.

The Many Faces of God (satire)

"God is like three-in-one oil." — Eldridge Cleaver

Unlike trinitarianism, modalism is a complex way of saying that the Godhead has three faces (guises?): God, the Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Consider God to be an actor.

As a deity, He is. As the Christ, he is Messiah and all that implies. Yet as the Holy Spirit, we get into the supernatural since he is also known as the Holy Ghost.

After much thought on this topic, I asked myself: "What is God when he's not acting as a deity or as the Christ or as the Holy Spirit, remote from humanity?" To me the answer is obviously: God is the Absolute.

It serves no purpose for God to exist as a physical being in the physical world when the supernatural world is his domain.

Yet God is on the minds of his believers since it is through belief of his existence that he exists. Outside of that context, and for most people who don't believe in him, he does not exist.

As for his pre-existence, that is a wholly monotheistic supposition and may lead to endless debate on his existence.

If God exists as a belief, then the Buddha exists as fact. For the Buddha's existence is verifiable while God's existence is based on faith in the Bible alone. In contrast, the Buddha's existence is not only based on the sutras but also on historical records.

Though, no one can compare a man known as the Buddha, formerly the prince Siddhartha Gotama, to God, a monotheistic deity, since the Buddha is not a deity.

Yet Amida Buddha is almost a deity, though he exists as a metaphor for the boundless life of compassion and the boundless light of wisdom. In this context "boundless" means "transcending human limitations" and especially, "beyond mere sentience."

Because of the limitations that monotheism places on such philosophy, the discussion of God becomes moot in light of Buddhism. In some ways it is like comparing apples to oranges. For the Buddha is not another face of God. Rather, Buddhism is outside the realm of monotheism.

Even so, there are elements of modalism in the many Buddhas and bodhisattvas in Buddhism. In the example of Amida Buddha, it is said there was a prince named Dharmakara who meditated for a long time and envisioned the Pure Land. After making a series of 48 vows, he fulfilled them all and was reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss as Amida Buddha.

In the case of Amida, the Absolute is the refined essence of Buddha Nature. Indeed, the Pure Land is a reflection of the Absolute. As well, Dharmakara might be considered the incarnate form of the Absolute as a human of high standing (a bodhisattva) who was reborn as Amida Buddha.

Such an interpretation regarding Amida Buddha stretches the truth that Buddhism cannot be seen through the filter of Christian philosophy because the divine is viewed differently within Buddhist philosophy. For the deities of the God Realm are limited beings who live long lives but eventually die.

Indeed, the God Realm is one of the Six Realms of Desire. Thus the gods of Buddhism suffer.

Hence the birth of Siddhartha was the birth of the future Buddha who even the Hindu gods and goddesses would adore because he transcended the cycle of rebirth and became the Buddha.

My interpretation of the Christ story is that the Absolute relieves the sufferings of a Hellenized Jewish people subject to the laws of Judaism by having the deity known as God reborn as a mortal named Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. This is revealed to her in a vision in which an angel named Gabriel tells her she shall conceive the Messiah through action of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus is born, he exposes Jewish ritualism as a fraud, makes enemies among the Jewish leaders, and is betrayed by one of the twelve of his beloved disciples. Then he is crucified, only to "die" and awaken as the Christ. Later he show himself to his disciples, and ascends to Heaven.

Thus, the story of the Christ is of God begetting the Christ in human form who is born to an unmarried woman named Mary as Jesus with his mortal father Joseph marrying her to legitimize his birth as "Son of Man". After his Crucifixion he arises as the Christ and eventually rises to Heaven. Thus he fulfills prophecy about himself.

In contrast, the Buddha's story begins with the dream by his mother of an elephant entering her womb. She dies shortly after childbirth, and Siddhartha is raised by his aunt. He is born into royalty. His father the King consults soothsayers, one of whom predicts that Siddhartha will either be a great king or a great wise man. Although his father tries to raise him as a prince, he learns all about suffering, abandons his royal status, and becomes the Buddha.

After his Enlightenment, he teaches not only his fellow seekers about the Four Noble Truths of Suffering, but also forms a religious order that challenges the ritualism of early Hinduism. He helps change Indian life in the process, and lives a long life, only to die due to an unspecified illness. After his death, the blooming of flowers on a tree out of season in the midst of the winter monsoons leads to other stories of miracles. However, the evolution of the Buddhist society that follows helps transform Indian society in a positive way.

Thus the story of the Buddha only vaguely echoes the Christ story. The ritual of law in Hebrew society of Jesus' time contrasts with the ritualism in Hindu society where the priestly caste has become intercessor between the people and the Indian gods.

Additionally the Hindu gods and goddesses may be seen as a complex form of modalism. In the case of Hinduism, each and every god and goddess represents the different faces of God but are aspects of the Godhead so complex making a single deity the only god to worship seem restrictive and thus oppressive to freedom of worship. Thus, the gods and goddesses of Hinduism might be considered as a gem with many facets, each one representing the bright and shining qualities of their worshipers in their perfect form.

In this way are the many faces of God revealed as aspects of human qualities of good called virtues. When I compare this to the qualities often ascribed to God, it becomes apparent to me that it is the good of humanity that is reflected in God. Though, it could also be said that it is the good qualities of a patriarchal society is emphasized by God. This is also true of the Hinduism but Buddhism critiques this truth while acknowledging that for that period of time, speculation about God was moot.

Indeed, the legacy of monotheism is a history of warfare by his chosen ones. Great suffering came at the cost of plagues and other miseries, as depicted in the Bible. in contrast, the story of Hinduism is not all peace and love for one's fellow man either.

It is not until the Indian king Ashoka that we see Hinduism being given sway to Buddhism. Ashoka wins a great battle but sees the truth about suffering revealed to him after being advised by a Buddhist monk about his responsibility regarding the war in which he lost friends. In response, he becomes a Buddhist king who spreads the message of Buddhism far and wide.  As a Buddhist, he spread peace throughout India.

It isn't until the modern era that organized religion caused Buddhism to affect Sri Lanka and Burma, although in different ways. This is due to organized religion not Buddhism and it is not restricted to Buddhism either. It is because of organized religion that warfare has been the legacy of monotheism, be it Christian, Judaism or Islam.

Perhaps few people are patient enough to reflect on the deep spiritual meaning of their faith due to their belief in a higher power than themselves. Such humility has lost the respect of many people in the face of the distractions of every day life in the postmodern world. So many people have no time to consider the many faces of God for many reasons, be it a matter of convenience or an overall disbelief in God.

I as a Buddhist know that the belief in God and the associated faith in his existence should be tempered by knowledge. However, the limited knowledge of Christians is focused on the Bible. Thus the faces of God are limited to God, the Son and the Holy Ghost.  In a way, each part of the Trinity are merely the many faces of God, limited and simplified by Christian dogma.

It's simpler to consider three aspects of God than a handful of gods and goddesses of Hinduism, even though the Godhead of both Christianity and Hinduism are roughly the same.

Though the Christian will dispute this, the Hindu might agree.

As a Buddhist, I lean towards a nondual concept of God as the Absolute, the closest of which is the Pure Land of Bliss. In my eyes, Heaven and the Pure Land are similar in that they are ideals of their respective faiths. However, I prefer Buddhism over Christianity mainly because I prefer not to stay ignorant about other faiths.

For knowledge is only dangerous when the little that you know leads you to ignore the consequences of your ignorance.

YMMV

---

Originally posted on February 28, 2014 at 02:02 AM

References:

Modalism - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modalism

The Absolute - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy)

Meditation of a Buddhist Mormon (satire)

This morning I thought about anjin and shinjin, two terms from Jodo Shinshu Buddhism.

Anjin is a Japanese Buddhist term that means peace of mind due to shinjin, a mind truly assured of rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss.

This is not unlike the peace of mind of a righteous person who truly believes that he will go to a greater glory in the afterlife.

For Amida promised rebirth to those whose peace of mind (anjin) is due to shinjin, the true mind arising from trusting in his promise of rebirth in his Pure Land.

Even though Buddhism and Christianity have sometimes opposing views on life, I truly believe that faith in the Christ is similar yet different from faith in the promise of Amida Buddha. It certainly helps to suspend disbelief when reconciling Buddhism and Christianity in my mind.

Rather than solely relying on his own power, a Buddhist puts his faith in the Buddha, the Christian puts his faith in God.

Additionally, Jesus promised eternal life in the New Heaven and Earth after a Millennium spend under His reign. For the peace of mind gained from belief that the promise of eternal life is true arises from being truly assured of rebirth in the Kingdom of God.

Even though our present life is limited in length, the Christian promise of eternal life appears at odds with the Buddhist concept of no-self, which claims life is impermanent (limited). This is because Buddhism accepts the truth that life is full of suffering, short as it is.

Indeed, Buddhism accepts life has it is.

In contrast, Christianity has the Christ promise eternal life for us in the afterlife. While Buddhism helps me to accept life as it is, I have also allowed for the Christian concept of the afterlife.

From my point of view, there is no conflict between the Buddhist concept of no-self (life is impermanent) and the Christ's promise of eternal life in Afterlife. For this present existence is impermanent, yet the Afterlife is no less impermanent.

Even so, the Buddhist concept of the consciousness stream allows for impermanence to be transcended.

Thus that which eternal in the Afterlife is viewed as existing for an exceedingly long time, and that which is impermanent in this life is viewed as existing for a limited time.

Therefore both Buddhism and Christianity are in some ways compatible because they meet my spiritual needs in this life and they also help settle my mind about the Afterlife. This helps to redefine my concept of eternity and immortality to reconcile the transient nature of life with the apparent permanence of the Afterlife.

Yet life is a place where anything can happen.

Though this life is truly precious, I have faith that the Afterlife will be glorious. Indeed, I treasure my life because of its limitations. When it ends one day, the Afterlife awaits.

For my mind is at peace, and I am truly willing to live each day to the fullest.

---

Reference:

Anjin and shinjin: http://www.trueshinbuddhism.com/content/view/36/61/
Anjin: http://diamondlikeshinjin.blogspot.ca/2010/10/anjin.html
Impermanence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impermanence
Afterlife: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife

posted from Bloggeroid

Make War no More (satire)

Regarding the Middle East, the utter madness of warfare is that the jihadi cult that is the West's enemy (Islamic State) is clandestinely trained by certain Western states (mainly the US, back before Saddam was portrayed in a negative light by the New York Times since 1996).

These jihadi cult members are clandestinely paid by the Qatar / Kuwait / Saudi hegemony in the Middle East and indirectly by US-led interests in the West, especially the Five Eyes through oil money.

Regarding the warfare in the Middle East, the purpose of staged conflicts in this region is to coerce the populace into total submission to the Islamic jihadi cult, which is Muslim in name only.

Yet the scare tactics of the West are no match for Muslim solidarity which too is a tool of coercion. However, most Muslims know the jihadi cult is sham Islam.

In America, the best analog in Christianity is Army of God which is a bigger threat to the US than the Islamic State, the major jihadi cult in eastern Syria and northern Iraq.

However, the two killings near Ottawa were not committed by homegrown terrorists but by mentally ill men who were attracted to the jihadi cult.

IMO the term jihadi cult is a more accurate term than Islamic militant since their violence is anathema to Islam as organized religion.

Indeed, the jihadi cult leaders of the Islamic State, al Qaeda, and Taliban and affiliates consider all organized religion and even secular government the cult of unbelievers because of the perceived willingness to compromise during nationalization.

When a cult believes itself so righteous in its highly esteemed belief in God Almighty, it breaks its covenant with Him.

These are no true saints of Islam, and their martyrdom only serves their devilish notion of worship through warfare.

By their actions, each side errs. It is sad that Judaism and Islam is misused like this, while Christianity too is tainted.

More than ever, it is time for all Muslims, Jews and Christians who believe love is the root of peace to decry the war by proxy being played in the Middle East.

posted from Bloggeroid

A Meditation on the Lord's Prayer

In this article I shall quote the Lord's Prayer and interpret it according to what I have learned about the Bible. If this interpretation differs from any other official interpretation, then it is to glorify God and bear witness to the return of the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

First let me introduce the first part of the prayer:

Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.

In the first five lines of the Lord's Prayer is the promise that the Kingdom of God will come upon us, though it be without warning. This is a distant reference to the Millennial Age when Christ will rule over the Earth before the End of the (Latter) Days is upon us.

These five lines have been written in my heart as the penultimate Millennial Promise of God sung by the angel of song.

In the second part of the Lord's Prayer we have:

Give us this day our daily Bread,
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us
and lead us not to temptation
and deliver us from evil.

Contained in the first line of this part of the Lord's Prayer is the transubstantiation of the body of Christ from the bread of sacrament. Although we as Christians have sacrament on the Sabbath — the day of rest — it represents the renewal of the covenant and reminds us to remain repentant — and thus refrain from sin.

In the third and final part of the Lord's Prayer is the acknowledgement that the Kingdom, the power and the glory is of God, which lasts for a long, long time.

For thine is thy kingdom,
the power and the glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen.

Commentary:

With respect to the history of Christianity — founded by Jesus and written by Luke, it is like the history of ancient Rome — founded by Romulus and written by the Roman historian Dionysus — and the history of the Hebrews — founded by Moses and written by the historian Josephus — with each founder being born from God.

For Romulus was born by the river Tiber, while Moses came floating down the Nile and Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan.

Over the past two thousand years his being born from God has become the literal truth in the Christ's story as an established Truth that frees all of humanity who accepts Jesus as their savior from their past sins in apostasy, now ritually cleansed away by baptism, provided that they "go and sin no more."

That provision — to go and sin no more — is the essence of repentance.

Afterwards, repentance becomes an ongoing process that is sanctified by weekly church meetings on Sunday, and by daily prayers based on scripture. Indeed, the weekly taking of sacrament of bread and water that symbolizes the body and the blood of the Christ renews their covenant with God. That covenant consists of following the commandments of their church and the observance of fasting and taboos of the respective religious denomination.

In the case of LDS theology, their taboo that addresses addiction consists of no coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.

Additionally, the taboo regarding the law of chastity implies no coveting of another person for immoral purposes, such as fornication, be it heterosexual or homosexual. This also includes adultery, including that of the heart e.g. looking upon another person as a sexual object. Finally, there is a taboo against masturbation and pornography.

I can see wisdom in making these things taboo: having no money to buy energy drinks prevents temptation of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.

With respect to chastity, my choice of the term "coveting" means the wanton desire to use another person for sexual purposes. Fornication implies a sexual act. As for masturbation, the avoidance of pornography is the result of the taboo against it.

Indeed, the study of the Scriptures — the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) and the LDS scriptures (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price) — is purported to be an inspiration to keep the law of chastity.

Though I prefer a cold shower now and then.

Returning to the first part of the Lord's Prayer, I still hear it being sung as though by an angel of song who clearly sings the promise of Jesus Christ to return to rule over the Kingdom of God in the Afterlife when End of Days is upon us.

Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.

---

Reference:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_the_Apostles#Genre.2C_sources_and_historicity_of_Acts
  
• Wikipedia article on the Lord's Prayer
  
• The Lord's prayer - The Singing Nun- this is the song I heard on the radio in the 70s.

The Politics of Homegrown Jihadi (satire)

Radicalized Islam is more political than religious, and thus inspires a cult of homegrown jihadis with nothing to lose except their lives.

God Almighty has no mercy for the evil that men are capable of doing. 

This is not Satan's work; the body count suggests that, despite their religious leaning, al Qaeda, Islamic State, Taleban, and other radicalized religious group including Army of God antiabortion radicals only hide behind the holiness of God himself.

For these men and women who radicalize may speak of God but their use of violence shows their materialist political activism to be a clear and present danger to society

As long as the West continues forcing its Crusade of Democracy on the Middle East, so shall we experience more attacks by lone wolf jihadi at home.

Yes, I am suggesting that the US foreign policy of forcing the Middle East to accept democracy is what is causing the Muslims to radicalize against it.

If you think the two reported incidents in recent months of radical Muslims killing Canadian soldiers had nothing to do with the Islamic State, then you are mistaken.

By trying to force democracy on Syria by tacit support of the rebels there, it became obvious that this was all a laughable cover for intrigue against Russia by the US which culminated in the Ukraine crisis.

However, the European Community is rallying around the supposed underdog, the Ukraine — controlled by a far right government — while Russia is only protecting its Russian citizens, many of whom had dual citizenship. The problem started when the new government wanted to enfranchise only Ukrainians.

In response, the far right elements of the Russian-Ukrainians rebelled, but both sides are right-wing. Very few Ukrainians and Russians are left-wing, who they view as criminals who should never hold power, due to the economic devestation that the Soviet government had caused in the Ukraine, including massive starvation.

However, the Ukrainian crisis is also a proxy war with the US government propagandizing to the Europeans and Russia aiming to protect its citizens.

All in all, both the Syrian and the Ukrainian crises are designed to polarize the world's people. The anti-Russian propaganda is almost as bad as the Russian propaganda but the Ukrainian counter-propaganda is just as bad.

As for Syria, its propaganda gets almost everything right but condones the corruption of top Syrian oligarchs. Likewise, Russia's leader Putin also condones the corruption of top Russian oligarchs with their billions being invested in the European Community.

It is only a matter of time before World War 3 flares up, should cool heads not prevail. However, what you see in each area — be it the Islamic State being carved out of northern Iraq this year, the Syrian crisis declares as of October 2011, and the Ukraine-Russia conflict — is merely the US-led West versus Russia with full support from China.

I guess the Cold War still is in its death throes, and the incident on September 11, 2001 was an aftershock with the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts a few tremors. A decade later, Arab Spring majorly affected Libya and Syria.

It is time America stopped caring about the Middle East so much that it thinks forcing democracy on Afghanistan, Iraq and now Syria will lead to peace. The resultant anarchy is a sure sign that democracy at gunpoint is not working.

Returning to the recent two incidents of homegrown terrorism in Canada, that is just karma for Harper sending 16 jets and 300 personnel to Kuwait. Nobody was surprised in Ottawa.

Remember that Kuwait also has a handful of al Qaeda veterans who were released from Gitmo not too long ago. So it is obvious that these former Jihadis are working for Kuwait, and most likely Canada and America are collaborators in a proxy war between the West and the Red axis (China and Russia).

Although it looks good to bomb northern Iraq in the news, the IS may likely be a puppet of the Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi axis, funded by oil money.

Overall, this makes us all complicit in the Middle Eastern problem every time people in the free world drive their SUVs to fill up at the gas pump. That is why I take the bus, because I have already paid for my portion of the gas to run that bus in advance. ;)

NEWS UPDATE: the Ottawa gunman purported by PM Harper and mainstream media to be a possible terrorist are false and defamatory.

M. Zehaf-Bibeau was not a homegrown terrorist — al-Qaeda, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and the Taleban have a tendency to lie to support their cause. I am sure Osama bin Laden did it after 9-11, which is evidenced by his first video denying involvement, but later changing his tune when he saw the effect it had on the stock market.

It looks like Zehaf-Bibeau did not get help for his addictions and mental health issues in 2011 as he demanded, simply because the homeless and poor are rejected by most drug rehabilitation centres due to their profit mentality e.g. drug rehab for profit.

At the street level, very few major cities in Canada are willing to cough up public money to put addicts requesting treatment into a treatment program, mainly because most homeless addicts in rehab will walk away because they lost the ability to await positive changes, which can take up to three or more years.

If M. Zehaf-Bibeau had entered a treatment centre for the homeless, there is a good chance that he would have gotten kicked out within a week. Therefore, this article has me bleeding heart a-going.

Therefore Ottawa's shooting scare is because their hands are not clean of how they treat the homeless addicts daily. Indeed, karma is a bitch - too bad three people had to die. May they all rest in peace.

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Reference:

• http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/martin-couture-rouleau-a-homegrown-madman

• http://globalnews.ca/news/1639555/why-didnt-ottawa-gunman-zehaf-bibeau-get-treatment-3-years-ago/