A sad day with a lesson

Many of you having been watching the news about New Orleans and the latest tropical storm disaster to devastate our Southern Crescent. If it makes you sad, however, you're not learning your lesson.

God is speaking to you, and me, and all of us. God is angry with us. God is tired of having his name taken in vain. And so he is punishing us at the core of where all that is unholy has its roots in this country.

Oh yes! He has looked to see where his name has been employed in vain to justify the killings in Iraq. He has looked to see where his name is used to justify prejudice and maintain segregation. He has looked to see where his name is used by false idols to steal in his name and make themselves rich. He has looked to see where these false idols have prayed to have more stolen from the needy to give to the rich. He has looked to see from where has come the absolute corruption that is Washington politics.

God gave us this great land and allowed us to become a great nation. A large measure of what made us great was our efforts, no matter how inadequate, to act has He would. We pioneered the rights of individuals. We lead the way in providing a path for all people to be successful and to rise up to what there talents and perspiration could produce. We drove public education, suffrage, and concern about the common welfare. These are all things that Jesus did. These are all noble tasks. And for all our faults, God has been merciful and good to us because we tried to find a better way to live together as people.

Do you think that heaven has an upper class, a middle class, and a lower class? Of course not. So these false prophets who worship the so-called free market system, these false prophets who worship material success, these false prophets who worship power, and these false prophets who tell you that God can be found through marketing - they are all wrong! Dead wrong.

It was said, leave unto Caesar what is Caeser's and unto God what is God's. Do you understand that? Do you? Some people think that this is a discussion of taxes versus spirituality. Do you think God wants to tax you? Rubbish!!!!! Do you think that God wants to run your Government? If he wanted these things, he would have them. God is all knowing and all powerful. All of us together couldn't stop him, couldn't begin to delay him, if he decided to tax us or to run our government.

No, God was speaking of something else. God was saying that as people, he expects us to find ways, good ways, appropriate ways, to get along and lead Godly lives. This is the problem of mankind. This is the problem of our governments. And, this is the problem of our leaders. God was telling us to have good government, to support good government - and by the way, government isn't about spirituality. But what do we have today?

Today we have country that is squandering its natural resources. Do you think God wants us to do this? Do you think he'll replace them just because we wasted them? What thoughts does God have when we steal, manipulate, or go to war to replace these resources? It can't be pretty thoughts, can it? Oh course not!!!!

Today we have a country that is rolling back civil rights without ever having fully achieved them. We are finding alternative ways to make it "OK" to limit the rights of others. Fancy language and power politics have seen to it that these changes are taking place today, with the help and support of some of our most powerful religious leaders. What must God think, when a people, on whom He has lavished His gifts, now acts in this way? Does He think these people are Godly? Does He think these people are God-fearing? He can't possibly.

What must God think when the leaders of these so-called "Christian Ministries" focus on gaining power and money? What does He think when these leaders insist on influencing politics? Is this rendering on to Caesar? I think not. Why is it that these so-called "religious" leaders need to be in the limelight? Why do they need to get rich? Why do they need to build bigger churches? Why do they need to be involved in politics? Why do they align with and support the rich and powerful elite in this country against the needs and interests of their own congregations? Can it be that they've lost the humility it takes to truly love others? Can it be that they have turned away from the teachings of Jesus Christ, our savior, long ago? Can it be that they have become false prophets, bearing witness to something other than the almighty God? To Satan? Of course!!!! And, those that follow these false prophets find themselves worshipping Satan as well.

God is worried. God wants to save us, but He can't if we worship Satan. And so, God is trying to get our attention. All of those fundamentalists that hate gays, who claim that AIDS is God's punishment of gays, are wrong. AIDS is a test for all of us. AIDS is a test to see if we can behave Godly. We're not doing well on the test, by the way.

But, the Hurricanes that have devastated Florida, Louisiana, and other parts of the Gulf and Southern Atlantic coasts are not a mere test. Where do these "fundamentalist Christians" come from? What is the source of their ideologies of hate? Why, they come from the good old "solid south". The home to racism, segregation, gay baiting, congressional pork, self-righteous religious expression, corporate malfeasance, religious interference with government, and the tele-evangelist. All of these false idols are to be found in the solid south. The fundamentalist christen leadership, their universities, their PR machines, their ties to government and business, it all starts in Dixie.

This lawless, soulless, irreverent part of the country is the home to the evils that manifest our society today. A peaceful women wages a Godly protest against the war in Texas. And, some agitator inspired by these satanic leaders drags a chain over American flags and crosses bearing the names of the soldiers whose lives have been lost in this Godless war. In one move, he has desecrated not only those soldiers, not only the country for which those flags stood, but, he has desecrated the name of God. And, God will have his vengeance.

No I can hear some of you thinking: Shouldn't God strike down George Bush, not some weak-brained good old boy? Well of course He will. George Bush will not be able to enter the gates of heaven. George Bush is an unrepentant sinner who takes the name of our Lord in vain! George will have his reckoning. But, God knows with whom to settle up with on this earth, and for whom he should wait until judgment day.

Those who have made a pact the devil can't be dealt with here on earth - and they will perish in hell. But, for the rest of, God wants to help. He wants us to see the error of our ways before it is too late. For the rest of us, He needs to send warnings. For the rest of us, He needs to mete out punishments. And it is our job to learn from this. God won't learn for us. This is the one expectation that He has of us - that we chose to be Godly by ourselves. He will give us the opportunity. He will give us the warnings. But, we must make the decisions.

The time is now to turn away from the false prophets. God has warned us. God is warning us. And, God will wait for our decisions. But, at some point, He cannot wait anymore. At some point He will make His decisions. And, at this point it will be too late for us.

So, I ask of you, in the name of all that is Holy, turn away from your unholy ways. Cast off your serfdom to the false prophets! Cast off you allegiance to the politics of hate and destruction! Cast off your love of war! Cast off your disregard for this earth that God gave us. And, instead, learn humility and begin to learn how to make yourself more Godly, every day, in everything that you do. Before it's too late

Amen