Prosperity Theology

One of the issues I have with PROSPERITY THEOLOGY...

  is that it gets folk focused on SELF, apart from the well being of the community. It is mostly about ME being blessed and highly favored, especially with an abundance - prosperity, about ME reaping the bountiful blessings... about ME getting more... the good of the community is often left out... it is not about US getting what WE need, but about ME getting more... given that some have very little, and the systematic efforts to keep them down in our society's economic and political systems, it is understandable... but preachers who constantly hit us over the head with SELF focus, and who portray God as an automatic formulaic equation of blessings by OUR actions, rather than about our dynamic relationship with God, can be a part of the predatory system themselves, especially because they demand folk give of their meager resources, promising a "return" by our supernatural God.

This leads me to another problem I have with it...

In our reliance for SELF on a SUPERNATURAL blessing that transcends the world, as a formulaic equation around our giving, folk do not so much gather with others to address the systemic holding down of our sisters and brothers who are in the same plight... we do not gather to CHANGE the unjust systems that hold people down, but rather look to the supernatural to fix our own situations... Those in the Civil Rights movement, many of them preachers, understood that God gives us minds and hearts - minds to understand the injustice and find ways to end it, and hearts to care, not only for our SELVES, but for the REST OF OUR COMMUNITIES, demanding justice, equity and equality... In embracing a focus on "ME", we lose our focus on "US", and we fail to address the injustices and inequities that hold MANY down among us... partly because the preachers who espouse this theology, out of fear of losing their 501c3 status, or in compliance with the system, hoping to be rewarded for it, or in order to personally profit from it, remain SILENT regarding the injustices and inequities of the system...

  In our faith history, God is NOT just the deliverer of individuals by supernatural means, but also the deliverer of whole peoples from their plight... whole communities...
When we understand that when EVERYONE has enough we ALL prosper, then we will stand together to demand enough for EVERYONE.

Until then, we will continue to hurt ourselves.  Silence implies compliance with or agreement with something.  It is wrong to remain silent, if we hope to follow Jesus, the one of Agape Love for Neighbor.

Pastor Jamie

kickin' them when they are down

The AJC is running an article that reports that 400,000 are being denied Medicaid because they make too much money, though they live UNDER THE POVERTY LINE...
In the mean time, large corporations are given tax breaks, as well as wealthy Georgia citizens, and corporations also receive "incentives" - aka - corporate welfare for keeping their businesses here, in order that they may hire more citizens, which they do at the very least, minimum level possible...

It is simply unconscionable and IMMORAL to hurt these families like this.  The governor, state legislators and parties to which they belong should lose their jobs for not representing their citizenry, and especially the most vulnerable among them. 

Yet, people VOTE for these soulless predators, believing them to be upright leaders who look out for their interests.  Why are people so easily duped?  Why do "Christians" not believe they have a moral, spiritual obligation to "the least of these", whom Jesus calls His sisters and brothers?  Why do "Christians" vote for them, knowing their history of unjustly siding with the wealthy and powerful?

The same goes for the extreme "right" politicians in Congress.  Their work to benefit the wealthy and powerful, while taking away what little the most vulnerable have, is CLEARLY, according to the Gospels, ANTI-CHRIST.  Yet, these politicians run for office on platforms of faith, and claim to represent all the people in their districts.  And people who claim to follow Jesus VOTE for them, knowing that they actively try to suppress the votes of minorities and others, actively take away what little the most vulnerable have and actively work to benefit the wealthy and powerful on the backs of the most poor and least powerful... intentionally, consistently, systematically...

The goats think that they can be the sheep and do this.
They think they can claim Jesus' name and ignore what Jesus commanded, taught and exemplified
          for His followers, and still be His followers.
They think they should be considered fully human, while clearly having huge areas of arrested
    development.
They believe they can serve both God and wealth and/or God and power.

What may be more sad than the vulnerable who are hurt by all these goats, is the level of delusion these folks live in, believing they could be not only be not doing the wrong thing, but actually that they are doing the right thing somehow... easily duped and gullible... unconscionable, immoral...

Compliance with evil is evil.
Silence in the face of evil is evil.
Actively hurting the vulnerable in order to benefit those with plenty is EVIL.

Pastor Jamie

sheep and goats

... and the GOATS said... "Lord, when was it that we saw YOU

hungry or thirsty (POOR AND MOST VULNERABLE) or

a stranger (RESIDENT ALIEN) or

naked or sick (UNINSURED WITH HEALTH PROBLEMS) or

in prison (UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED FOR PROFIT or OUT OF HATRED and FEAR),

and did not take care of YOU?

Then Jesus will answer them, 'Truly, I tell you, just as you did not do it for ONE of the least of these, you did NOT do it for ME.'"

... and you know the rest...Matthew 25:31-46...

 

Be careful, you who claim Jesus' name but ignore what He COMMANDED in Agape Love... according to Jesus, your salvation is at stake... because Jesus identifies with "those people" and LOVES THEM...

Jesus calls them members of His Family... LOVED ONES... this is PERSONAL to Jesus,

     so Jesus IDENTIFIES with them... if you hurt them, you hurt Jesus...

Your ugliness toward the poor, sick, imprisoned, resident aliens, gay and lesbian folk and ANYONE ELSE you don't like... is UNGODLY... ANTI-CHRIST... the posts that call for deportation, exclusion from healthcare, exclusion from equal rights, keeping people poor so others can get more rich... etc., etc., etc....

 

So your support of those in government who hurt the poor, vulnerable, minorities who have already been held down and back, undocumented aliens, those who NEED food and clothing and shelter, those who NEED healthcare, those who have been unjustly put in prison... your VOTE for them is unconscionable and IMMORAL, at least, if you believe, um... JESUS...

 

just sayin' ...

 

Pastor Jamie

MIDTERM ELECTION... VOTE!

• PLEASE... it's ONCE A YEAR, like getting your tags or paying your TAXES...
  consider it your CIVIC DUTY... especially THIS YEAR 
  

  Remember 2010, when complacent reasonable voters did not turn out, and the American Taliban, calling themselves Tea Party patriots, got into office and wrecked havoc on our economic recovery, brought in a climate of newly normalized hatred and set a new bar on buying government efforts? NOT THIS TIME... VOTE!!!!!! If "they" take the Senate and remain in control of the House, NO PROGRESS will happen... we will REGRESS to hatreds normal before the Civil Rights Movement, Economics and politics popular in the "gilded age" (only for SOME), and eventually Dodge City with guns all over the streets... no business will be regulated so greed will go unchecked... but your PERSONAL LIFE will be scrutinized, rights taken away and liberties trampled... and LOOK OUT WORLD... we will (again) march in and take whatever we want from YOU, and keep you out of any possibilities for your own well-being... VOTE... and especially for those already marginalized... VOTE AS IF YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE IS AT STAKE... clearly, with them, IT IS!!!!!!

the social climate

We watch to see the changes in weather.  We prepare for the harsh conditions.  We weather the storm, because there is nothing we can do to quell it ourselves.

But we have been watching the climate change in our nation for years (since 1981), regarding unchecked greed, and have seen as those in power have created a climate in which greed is not only normal, but good and one of our nation's defining values.  We have seen how systematically that normalization has led to corruption and economic injustice.  We have seen the tolerance for ruthlessness, predatory practices and an arrogant disregard for others' needs grow, while the intolerance for limits, regulation and civic responsibility have also grown.  The climate changed, and the storm came.  It seemed there was nothing that could be done to quell it, and millions were hurt by it.  Even the voices that once organized together to in one voice say, "NO!" to the storm, were silenced by the howling wind of voices that supported the high pressure movement.  The storm blew through us, and it was devastating.  And the conditions for that climate have not been addressed, so we watch for the next storm...

The climate was slowly and steadily changing in one direction for quite some time, but we had a climate anomaly in 2008, that switched the flow of political and social winds and created tempest-rich conditions.  We elected a black President, which marked the culmination of years of the climate of normalized bigotry nearing an end.  We celebrated as the clear, bright conditions seemed perfect and the air was light and breathable.  But the ill winds of former storms, held in check by the normalized higher level of tolerance for one another, started to blow again, seemingly from every direction at once, and the climate changed to dark, heavy and foreboding once again.  We have seen the tolerance for one another evaporate in the heat of the impending storms, while the intolerance for anyone not straight, white, male, middle class or higher, "Christian" and politically "right" has swollen to show signs of a fresh front of bad weather.  The storm of dark intolerance is blowing in and getting stronger.  And while it may seem that there is nothing we can do to quell the storm, there is.  Before millions more are hurt by laws being written to appease the hateful and fearful, we can stand and say, "NO!" to the winds of intolerance.  Before people are economically, socially, unjustly torn apart by the storm of hatreds, we can stand up to them and say, "NO!" to their hatred.  Before others, out of fear created by those whose small squalls of hatred have grown into storm banks, get swept up into that weather front blowing across the land, we can educate and exemplify tolerance and the justice and peace that come with it.  This storm must end.  Now.

Pastor Jamie

America the Dupable

From what I see on the news, read on social media and in the papers, and from what I hear on the radio...

America is becoming everything we fought until the mid 1930's.

Fascists who bullied, built up their military might to force their will, silenced critics, took away votes, scapegoated segments of their population, duped the population into blaming and hating "those people", labeled them as a "drain" on our society, put people into camps and worked them to death for nothing, and denied people their rights, armed everyone within the nation to do acts of hatred, and invaded other nations... all a reaction to heightened and manufactured FEAR by the diabolical few who were the architects of their house of power and wealth built on hatred... and we fought them.

The robber barons of industry who worked people to death for less than subsistence-level wages, put children to work in factories, controlled assets, made people dependent upon them for their unsustainable wages AND goods through their company stores, fired people who were sick, refused to treat people who were sick, kept segments of the population down for their own gain, and controlled the government that was put in place to safeguard the rights of ALL, had laws written that gave them unchecked advantage, took un-regulated natural resources and fought limits on them, polluted the air, the water and the land at will, hired private security thugs to intimidate and sometimes kill people who stood up to them, claimed divine right to unlimited wealth and divine judgment on those who would have justice, equity and equality... and we fought them, too.

And we were the "good guys" for doing so.  And the prosperity of the nation grew because people had a voice and voted, made a living wage and thrived, and more and more folks stood for justice, equity and equality.  Even the most evil wrongs of past generations were being challenged and fought, and we moved to write laws to protect the most vulnerable and those who had been most exploited... and then came 1981... and those with the most power and wealth wanted a return to "the good old days"... and the new era of unchecked greed and unchallenged power began...

Now, led by those who stand to gain more, though they already control 85% of the nation's and world's wealth... those who have MANUFACTURED financial crises and MILITARY ones, and who fuel the flames of fear in the hearts of folk to manipulate them into giving THEM more power and control (which they will use to hurt the population), over the whole nation, which they will abuse to get still more power and wealth... mean-spirited, ruthless, bigoted, manipulative, exploitative, greedy, immoral and unconscionable... the nation is becoming more like them... gullibly duped into believing the fearful rhetoric, the scapegoating tactics, the blaming of the victims and the false justification of doing WHATEVER they can and want to do, to whomever they want to do it, tearing down the DEMOCRACY in the process, because the easily duped believe they will be admitted into this very exclusive club... and they will not... they will be grist for the mill, lubrication for the wheels of injustice, inequity and inequality... trampled and then pulverized under the feet of those who already have most of the power and wealth... but they cannot see that, because they have "bought" what they have been sold, and have BECOME the ruthless, mean-spirited, greedy, hateful minions of the fascist robber barons of today...

the cycle continues...

What will be the price to the world THIS TIME?   ... another world depression and world war?

WHEN will we learn to FIGHT THIS at its beginning?  FIGHT IT with critical thinking and teaching and writing and speaking?  FIGHT IT with rallying and demonstrating and demanding and voting?
ENOUGH blood has been shed to feed their gods at the altar of WAR!  ENOUGH starvation, famine, disease has been waged on some so that they may have MORE!

ENOUGH!   NO MORE!

Pastor Jamie 

guns in church

So, I live in a state still seeking to write laws that allow guns in church, bars, schools, malls and other public places... encouraging people to carry weapons in those places... we are devolving as a society, thanks to the purveyors of chosen and glorified ignorance, bravado and aggressiveness.  There is a reason that we left the days of DODGE CITY, where everyone carried a gun, and adopted a system of laws to protect us.  Too many people, even innocent people, were being shot down.  Some want to go back to those days, because they are either greedy for the profits of gun and ammunition sales (and funerals), or because they are hate-mongers or are irrationally fearful.  I want none of those folks carrying a weapon.  It makes ALL of us less safe.

Criminal investigators still consider the same old formula - MEANS, MOTIVE and OPPORTUNITY.  Putting the MEANS in someone's hands on the street gives them the OPPORTUNITY, so that often people are just itchin' for the MOTIVE, and will turn any conflict into that, BECAUSE they have the MEANS at hand... defensive posturing becomes offensive, ultimately, and creates such conflicts.

I heard on the radio that a church or church body in a town in Kentucky is having an evangelism event at which they are giving away to each participant either a long rifle, shotgun or handgun.
These are the folks who claim Jesus as Savior... claim Jesus' name... worship Jesus... you know, the Jesus who, even when he was being protected by a follower who cut off a potential attacker's ear, rebuked the follower for doing so and  said, "... all who take the sword will perish by the sword." (Matthew 26:51-52)  Jesus, fulfiller of the Law and Prophets, who taught at the beginning of His public ministry, "You have heard it said, 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'.  But I SAY to you, do not resist an evildoer.  But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also..." (Matthew 5:38-42).  Yes, Jesus did tell His disciples to get one (Luke 22:35-38), and that later two swords were enough, and THEN rebuked the lynch mob for carrying swords to arrest Him (22:47-53).  And Paul, in obedience to Jesus' teachings, picked up on the Kingdom Value regarding retaliation and violence, and urged followers of Jesus in Rome not to repay evil for evil (Romans 12:14-21), or be overcome by evil, but overcome it with good.

Jesus did NOT urge the carrying of bows, catapults or spears, (offensive weapons of war in His time) but defensive weapons to protect one's person, that can only be used within arm's length.  Bullets travel a great distance, even when there is no IMMANENT threat, as we have seen now time and time again in Florida, and there is much less control on what they strike.  We do not allow people to carry bazookas or hand grenades, but we allow the sale of weapons that can kill a person a second, and with an extended magazine, up to 30 or more of them without re-loading.  Out of fear or hatred, many people are flocking to the gun shows, pawn shops and other outlets of death, often with LITTLE if ANY background check required.  The irrationally fearful and hateful then make it very tempting for those who are neither to feel like we must also buy weapons with which to protect ourselves from THEM.

Aggressive and offensive threats and attacks are not Kingdom Values.
Vengeance and retaliation out of hatred are NOT Kingdom Values.
Irrational fear is not a Kingdom Value.

Repaying evil for evil, makes us "evildoers", even if done in response to evil, according to the Kingdom Values of Jesus. 

I urge you to RECONSIDER what is in your heart that would motivate you to get a gun.  The alarm system on your home, your large dog, attentive neighbors and a ball bat or knife (yes, even a large one), are MOST OFTEN adequate deterrents in your home.  Wisdom, witnesses and awareness with common sense are MOST OFTEN adequate safety measures on the street.

I refuse to live in fear, refuse to hate anyone and refuse to buy a firearm.  That does not make me more brave, un-American, a coward or a vulnerable target.  I do it BECAUSE I follow Jesus and Jesus' Way for my being in THIS PART of God's Kingdom.

Pastor Jamie