Distractions from a Spiritual Lifestyle

 Trying to live a life starting from the foundation that we are all "children" of God is difficult.  The verbal, human communication with our Creator is not a direct verbal ask and response method.  We communicate via praying in reverence.  We "talk" to God, but we don't receive a verbal response.  We are then left to our human means to determine what is the path we are to take in response to our prayer request to God.  Then we await an outcome.  Yes, we do have a part in deciding the answer.  Sometimes the outcome will depend on the effort we put into the issue at stake.  Whether it involves economics, relationships, or other decision making, how we prepare for the result can be a deciding factor.  We just can't ask God for a result and then go watch TV or play video games while we let God do all the work.  We have to put in the work too.

Unfortunately, the supporting systems in this world that impact us do not have a Godly spiritual foundation.  Public schools that we are educated in rarely connect us to our spiritual Creator and Father.  In pubic schools, we are not taught the rules, principles and laws that God created for us to follow.  We start off our lives in an educational system that distracts us from the purpose that God created us for.  Fellowship with God is what we were created for.  Having a successful materialistic life is not what God created us for.  In God's eyes, the person who achieves materialistic riches is no better than the head of a family whose lifestyle is grounded in having God at the center of their life.

We have gotten so far off track, that we do not realize how off track we are.  We now talk about people being the G.O.A.T., "greatest of all time" in various occupations, primarily sports.  We are infatuated with idolizing other humans because of their entertainment star status.  A skill with a basketball or football is more admired than having a lifestyle that is in alignment with being in Fellowship with God/Jesus Christ/Holy Spirit.

To obtain that spiritual lifestyle one has to reject many of the human rituals and lifestyle that we have created.  We have to change the definition of having a successful life.  This begins in the family.  If we can't practice being in fellowship with God at home, we certainly can't expect to do so once we leave the home.  The distractions outside the home are many.  We often bring those distractions into the home and into our family environments.  Today start screening what you allow inside your home.  Screen out the lifestyle factors that are not in fellowship with God.

The Virus Chronicles - Day 28. Putting the Impact of Corona into Perspective Historically

I have taught myself  to only watch 5 minutes of news programs in general and less than that during this virus "crisis".  After that the worthiness and value of the information becomes doubtful.  Then the "news"  becomes repetitive and turns into an entertainment/drama/reality show  mini-series.

To get an idea of how serious this corona virus is compared to past historical outbreaks, I started doing some research.  As of this writing there have been over 7,000 cases of Corona reported in the United States with approximately 114 deaths.

Their have been greater epidemics in the United States.  The statistics below provide examples.

The first recorded, and the one most people of European American ancestry do not want to remember, is the small pox outbreak in this land in the 1600s.  The disease was brought to the yet to be established United States by European Americans.  It impacted the Native American population which ranged from 7 to 10 million in numbers.  It is estimated that over 70% of the Native American population in this country died from small pox.  In some cases tribes of Native Americans were purposely infected by European Americans through gifts of infected blankets.  It was a campaign of genocide.

In 1793, over 5,000 people in the United States died from yellow fever.

From 1832-1866 in the United States, two out of six people died per day from cholera.

In the early 1900's, over 10,000 people per year died from typhoid fever.  One of those was my paternal great grandmother in the state of Arkansas.  Poor living conditions for black people in Arkansas contributed to the spread of typhoid.

In 1918 over 675,000 Americans, including my paternal great grandfather, died from the Spanish flu.

Between 1921-1925 over 15,000 people died in the United States from Diptheria.

Over 3,000 people died from polio in 1952.

There have been other outbreaks including various strains of the flu each year.

A man made cause of death we also seem to forget is that during World War II, the Holocaust atrocities committed against those labeled Jews, resulted in the deaths of some 6 million people.

Lastly, the impact of the slave trade is estimated to have killed 10 million to 60 million Africans.

Yes, any death from the Corona virus is unfortunate and regrettable.  But, let us not forget the facts of the past.  If you had your choice would you rather get Corona or typhoid fever?  Would you trade Corona for the opportunity to be assigned to a  Jewish death camp in World War II?  Would you trade Corona for the opportunity to be enslaved in the United States prior to 1865?

Step back, look at the facts, and reassess your fears.  God is in control.

Matthew 6: 25-34 "Do not worry about everyday life. Whether you have enough food and drink.  Life is more than food and clothes.  Do birds store food in barns?  God feeds them!  Can worrying add a single moment to your life?  Have faith!  God has always provided.  Seek the kingdom of God above all else. Live righteously. God will give you everything you need."

ICE immigration raids versus LAECE education raids

The United States government is sponsoring raids of households.  Not raids in foreign countries.  These are raids of homes and businesses within the United States.  The goal is to find and detain “immigrants” who will then be sent back to their country of origin.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the Department of Homeland Security is the government organization tasked with the purging of these United States of  immigrants deemed as not having the right to be in this country.

If we have ICE, I think we also need to have LAECE (Locating Ancestors of Ethnic Cleansing and Enslavement).  The mission of LAECE would be to locate the descendants of people who committed atrocities against Native Americans and/or who enslaved people from Africa.  Once located those descendants would be informed of the actions of their ancestors.  Then they would have to appear at a public press conference and make comments regarding the actions of their ancestors. Lastly the descendants would be asked that knowing the truth what do they propose to do in the present to remove the stain of their ancestors?  As part of the process, the informing of the family would be video taped and shown as “news”.

There are many white, European American households in the United States.  Some of these households may be economically well off based on actions taken many years ago by their ancestors during the early years of the United States.  Do white, European American, families know that their ancestors may be responsible for stealing land formerly inhabited by Native Americans?  Some of their ancestors may have participated in the mistreatment, cheating, or slaughtering of Native Americans.  Do white, European American, families discuss at family reunions that they have ancestors who enslaved African American people?  Do these same families discuss how the lighter complexioned black people in the United States are based on the sexual assault/rape of African American women by possibly one or more of their ancestors?  Several of the white, European American, candidates for President have acknowledged that enslavement of African people was done by one or more of their ancestors.  Do these discussions regarding the truth happen at the family reunions of white/European American people?  If not why not?

Imagine agents of LAECE coming to the homes of white people in exclusive gated neighborhoods, the board rooms of corporations, construction sites populated by well paid white construction workers, at concerts with 20,000 plus people watching their favorite rock star, and the halls of the Congress and Senate of these United States of America.  Their purpose as agents of LAECE simply being to reveal and expose the past actions of your ancestors who enslaved people or participated in actions that forcefully removed Native Americans from their land.  The LAECE agents would provide the clear and brutal details on the actions of your ancestors.  The facts that you need to hear.  The facts you never wanted to know about.  The facts your ancestors never wanted discussed in the history lessons you were taught in school.

Just as today’s immigrants may be living in fear of a visit from agents of ICE, you also should be living in fear of a visit from agents of LAECE.  How would you feel once the story of your ancestors’ mistreatment of people is publicized and you become the target of jokes and your children bullied for being slave owners or ethnic cleansers?  Maybe that is just what this country needs.  More of the truth about the past so the racist mistakes of the present are no longer continued.  Maybe some of you already know the truth about your families past and just want the truth to remain buried?

How many millionaires have come forward and “confessed” that their ancestors enslaved people? How many owners of those downtown condominiums and million dollar homes in the suburbs have confessed that their wealth is partly due to an inheritance based on the enslavement of black people or theft of Native American lands?

Next time a white person starts a conversation with you, ask them if any of their ancestors enslaved people?  Ask them if any of their ancestors took land that was formerly possessed by Native Americans?  You are now an agent of LAECE.  Watch their facial reaction.  It’s likely the same reaction on the face of an immigrant being confronted by agents of ICE.

The Man Made "Immigration Crisis"

The United States of America.  The self proclaimed bastion of Freedom and Opportunity.  The same country where European Americans massively immigrated to a land hundreds of years ago then inhabited by Native Americans.  Native Americans did not have a formal "immigration policy" designed to keep European Americans from becoming settlers.  No wall was built on the East coast to ward off the European newcomers.  There may have been forced attempts to keep European Americans from becoming "citizens" in the "new" land.  But for the most part European Americans were free to enter what was to become the United States of America.

That entry soon turned into a massive takeover of lands previously claimed by Native Americans.  Native Americans were uprooted, forced off their property, and diseases spread by European Americans that resulted in numerous deaths to the Native American population.  The triple threat of disease, political trickery, and forced removal effectively cleared the way for European Americans to take over what had been Native American territory.

European Americans then found themselves with a massive country to build from the ground up.  Cities and transportation systems were developed along with all that was needed to support the European American ideas of civilization.  Unable or unwilling to do the hard work needed to build the country into their image, European Americans turned to enslaving free people from the continent of Africa.  Forced immigration under the name "slavery" was the European American solution.

During those years of forced slavery, fellow free European Americans continued to flow into the United States.  Opportunity for European Americans existed and there was no immigration crisis.

Now we move forward some 500 plus years.  As the percentage of people with Hispanic heritage grows in the United States comes the news that we have an "immigration crisis".  Our safety is now in danger!  A wall on the southern border of the United States needs to be built!  The purpose of the wall?  To keep "those people" out.  Even the President of the United States has declared that we have enough immigrants. Time to close the door.

We all know where the decision came from.  It is based in an economic/racially charged emotional decision.  People who do not look like European Americans are not wanted by a large segment of the population.  Forgotten are the open door policies of the past where people looking for opportunity to prosper and lead a "good" life were welcomed with open arms and few restrictions.

We all know that we are in more danger from the people already in the United States.  Few of the mass killings that have occurred in the past years are due to a failed immigration policy.  Many of the mass killings were done by European American males who suffered from mental instability or who were just filled with hate.  Changing the immigration policy will not stem the number of deaths occurring from domestic terrorist acts, no matter what you are told to the contrary.

Politicians and culture haters have created the immigration crisis.  Yes, there may be a need to refine the rules of how and when immigrants can enter the United States.  This has been done in the past. But, many politicians have turned the faults in the system into an emotional campaign of fear and hate.  Playing to the emotions of people continues to be an effective way to garner and develop emotional hate towards an issue.

Maybe in this coming round of Presidential campaign politics, common sense and respect will rise to the top of the pile of human emotions.  There is no immigration crisis.  There is a need to refine and reconstruct the administrative system of managing entry into the United States.

European Americans know that they gained all of the wealth they have today based on Native Americans not having the same views that European Americans have today towards "immigrants".  Is that why immigration raises such a fear in some circles?  Do you fear that what happened to the Native Americans may one day happen to you? Is that why the notion of gun control will never happen?  People who fear the unthinkable will always want a means to protect themselves having learned from the policies of the past.

Discussion and action on the issue of immigration must occur now.

Dialogue on Genesis 3 and 4

Genesis 3.  One would hope that Adam and Eve spent many years in the Garden of Eden before Eve fell for the temptation to eat the fruit which was on the tree in the middle of the Garden.  Like a good wife she shared the fruit with Adam, damning mankind to the life we have today on Earth.  Whatever this fruit was (maybe some is still on Earth) it appears to have taken away immediately the innocence that Adam and Eve had.  God quickly moved Adam and Eve out of the rent free caretaker role to the role of workers who had to work the land outside the Garden of Eden to sustain them.  The fun times of life were gone.  Banished from the Garden, Adam and Eve also became the first de facto Immigrants.  Genesis 3 references the Garden being guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth that guards the way to the tree of life.  Are the cherubim and flaming sword still there today awaiting some curious explorer?

It is clear that God did not want His creation to live forever which the tree of life apparently would do for Adam.  It seems that one bite of the fruit wasn’t enough to place man in the “living forever” category.

Genesis 4.  The first parents!  Another role for Adam and Eve.  Again, it is not clear if the fall from Grace gave Adam the desire to procreate with Eve.  If they were not sexually active before the Fall Genesis 4 shows they were now and the result was Eve becoming pregnant.  Adam and Eve as the first parents must have been trial by error.  They were not prepared to become parents.  Outside of God, who was there to instruct them on how to be good parents?  If God left them on their own to figure it out that established the cycle of parents being unprepared for fatherhood and mother hood. 

How did Adam and Eve teach Abel and Cain to be good children and brothers?  What was the relationship between Abel and Cain as they grew up?  How did Adam and Eve create good family dynamics?  The results tend to speak for themselves.  Adam winds up being killed by his brother Cain.  Did God expect people to behave based on the fact that He created them and thus they would be perfect?  The first parents, the first children, and then the first murder.  The creation of human beings was not going well.

Adam and Eve are said to have had other children.  The sequence of all those births is not covered in Genesis.  Those children apparently married one another to help populate the Earth.  Genesis infers that Cain married one of those descendants of Adam and Eve’s other children.  From there other generations of people developed.  Genesis 4 does not address how Adam and Eve’s descendants were taught about God.  After making the biggest mistake in Earthly history one would think that Adam and Eve would have made sure to pass on the tale of how they ruined their lives via one act of disobedience.  If not, why didn’t they share the story with their children?

Genesis 4 closes with the statement that Adam made love to Eve again and she gave birth to a son they named Seth.  It is stated that Seth was granted to Adam in place of the murdered/deceased Abel.  The close of Genesis 4 recounts that Seth had a son named Enosh.  Then all of a sudden people began to call on the name of the Lord?  Why not before then?  What role did the punished Adam and Eve have in people not calling on the Lord before then?  What were Adam and Eve’s descendants taught about God and the creation of mankind?

A dialogue on Genesis in the Bible

I am a 61 year old man.  From DNA results my ancestors are related to the Eviya and Eshira people of Gabon, Africa.  The truth as I know it is that hundreds of years ago, one or more of my ancestors was kidnapped from a life of freedom in Gabon.  They were enslaved by European Americans who had invaded the North American continent and systematically wiped out a Native American culture that already existed there.  European Americans through a combination of diseases they brought with them and aggressive land grabbing annihilated a culture in North America to the point that today it barely exists.  Before these events, life was created on Earth thousands of years ago.  We tend to not focus on our historical past to find understanding to our present.  I believe that is a major mistake. That is my truth.

Seeking some understanding to life in the United States and the events of today and the past, I have turned to the Bible.  A religious historical document that stands at the foundation of many of our lives and beliefs.  This series of blogs takes into account my understanding, questions, and reactions to the words in the Bible.  Let us first start with Genesis, the beginning.

I recall as a teenager writing to the company that published a dictionary.  I was questioning the accuracy of the definition of the word “beginning”.  I had spent 8 years in a Catholic school environment.  I recall reading catechisms and being taught in a classroom setting the beliefs of the Catholic church.  As a teenager it occurred to me that based on what I had been taught, somehow a God, Gods or some form of life always existed.  There was no beginning.  There just was life that existed beyond the understanding of human thought.  I’ve always remembered that moment.  Although there was no answer, it was a moment of clarity for me.

In the bible, Moses is stated to be the author of Genesis.  Somehow he passed on the content of Genesis to future generations.  The story/events were finally put into writing in biblical form.  Genesis 1, starts off with “The Beginning”.  I always assumed that Genesis was talking about the beginning of life on the planet Earth.  We as people seemed focused on believing that all life began with the creation of human beings on Earth.  I see no reason to not believe that our Creator, God, or whatever you want to call “Him” has created other life forms beyond human beings.  So why do we think the beginning of life revolves around us here on Earth?  It seems somewhat of a self centered approach to life.  Human beings self promoting ourselves into the number one spot on the life cycle!

Are there other inhabited planets and life forms out there?   I really don’t believe that human beings are the best life form that God, our Creator, could have made.  How and to what extent do such other life forms worship our Creator?

The “beginning” referenced in Genesis, may be the story applicable to life on Earth only.  It is possible there are other stories of “beginnings” for life forms different from ours on other planets and other solar systems.  As I read Genesis 1, it covers the creations of God, such as water, living creatures and the natural resources of the Earth.  The thought struck me, “if God created all these things and humans in the role of caretakers, don’t we have an obligation to protect the environment that He created?”  Why should we destroy what God created?  Genesis does appear to give people the role of ruling over animals.  We were given every seed bearing plant to use as food to include every tree with fruit.  As Genesis 1 ends, it is apparent that what God was doing was “working” at creating human kind and the supporting systems for human kind.  It would not be a smooth creation.  Drama and humanistic problems were coming quickly.