And the bishop, Newel K. Whitney, also should travel round about and among all the churches, searching after the poor to administer to their wants by humbling the rich and the proud.
 
 
  introduction

This passage is one that I include in my list of scriptures that describe a just society. Some might question my inclusion of this passage in such a list. They may reason that this passage addresses behavior and intentions that relate only to those of the LDS faith and that it has no bearing or application to the world at large and how it manages its financial resources. I reject this reasoning. It is too puny a vision. God thinks big, as the prophet Isaiah reminded us over two millennia ago.
 
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,
      saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways,
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.”[1]
 
In this homily I hope to expand our vision of the counsel given to Bishop Newell K. Witney in 1832.
 

god’s call to serve

As I have suggested in numerous scripture-based homilies, meditations, and questionaries, God gave the small and insignificant nation of ancient Israel laws, imbedded with principles, by which a secure, just, and enduring society could be established. In doing so, God did more than provide laws and principles for the insular nation. God called Israel to be His servant to be an example to the world by keeping His just laws and forming a “more perfect union.”
 
 Through Israel’s “evangelical” example, God hoped to transform and improve the entire world. Unfortunately, Israel did not live up to its calling. It did not keep God’s laws for a just society and so the world was left without an example. This is not my own estimation of Israel’s failed response to God and His call, but that of the Hebrew prophets.
 
I have also suggested in numerous scripture-based homilies, meditations, and questionaries that I believe that Jesus of Nazareth, through his words and actions during his ministry and through his disciples, intended to transform and improve the world—remake it into the image of the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, through the apostacy of “Christianity”—to be seen not so much in the corruption of doctrine as in the corruption of behavior in yielding to the twisted and unjust values of this world—this hope was shattered. Once more, the world was left without a servant and without an example of a just society. The salt lost its savor, and Christianity found itself trodden under the feet of violent marching armies for centuries.[2]
 
Finally, as I have suggested in numerous scripture-based homilies, meditations, and questionaries, I believe that God intended to transform and improve the world through an insignificant Joseph Smith, the principles that He taught him, and the small institutions that He established through him. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of this latter movement. The signs are not particularly encouraging as this movement seems to have succumbed to the same worldly temptations and twisted values as the earlier evangelists—ancient Israel and emergent Christianity. If so, they are liable to suffer the same tragic ends.
 
It is a sad reality that all these efforts to transform and improve the world have seemingly been for naught—not for the lack of divine inspiration, but for the failure of the called servants and the lack of human response. The world does not seem much changed from what it has been from the dawn of history. Still, that does not mean that we give up the hope of transforming and improving the world that we have inherited.
 
The instruction found in DC 84.112 is an example of God’s efforts to transform and improve the entire world through the example of an insignificant and small portion of the world’s population. This instruction contains principles that are to be applied to the entire world, not only to a small enclave of humanity formerly known as Mormon. Neither Joseph Smith nor God were so myopic as to have anything in mind other than worldwide transformation and improvement.
 
So, what divine principles are found in this passage that might bring about the transformation and improvement of the world and form a cornerstone of a just and enduring society? Here are the principal ones that I identify in this passage.
 


  searching after the poor

Newel K. Whitney was to “travel round about and among all the churches, searching after the poor to administer to their wants.” At that time, the churches were scattered several miles apart. Roads were not great. During parts of the year, they were nearly impassable. The horse was the best and most swift means of travel, the horse-drawn wagon the principal means of transporting goods.
 
This is all preamble to our first point: fulfilling this divine direction required much time and energy. The Lord required leaders of the church to make whatever efforts were necessary to 1) identify the poor, and 2) supply the economic deficiencies of the poor. In fulfilling this divine mandate, the church not only cared for the poor, but served as example to the world. This is what just societies that are consistent with the character of God look like. Just societies actively and energetically and untiringly 1) identify the poor, and 2) supply their economic deficiencies, whatever difficulties that effort might entail. Looking after the poor is not to be a passive activity. Nor is it an afterthought.  Identifying the poor and supplying their economic deficiencies is a high priority for God and is to be a high priority for those in governance and leadership.
 
The goal is not merely to meet temporary needs. The goal is to eliminate poverty entirely.
 
“And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.”[3]
 
“… The people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.” [4]
 
So, God, I contend, called a little group that would come to be known as Mormons to obey God in actively eliminating poverty among them through consecration. In engaging in this righteous work inside their group, they were to serve as examples to the outside world. Outside this movement, these called evangelists were to advocate for laws and policies that were consistent with the divine revelation and that would eliminate poverty in the broader society. These servants to the world were not called for their own glory. Yes, they were, by God’s own testimony, granted the “privilege of organizing themselves according to my laws.”[5] But in being so granted, they were under obligation to stand as an example, a city on a hill, to the rest of the world in hopes that the world would be transformed and improved until there were no poor anywhere on the globe.
 
So, that’s principle number one. Just societies actively and diligently identify those who are economically deficient and help supply the deficiencies of the poor. In today’s world, these deficiencies would include such things as food, housing, healthcare, education, and, where practical and realistic, jobs. Societies broaden these efforts, whatever the cost and effort, with the goal of eliminating the scourge of poverty from the planet.
 
 

  humbling the rich

The question now arises: By what means are the deficiencies of the poor to be supplied? Here is the Lord’s plan for supplying the deficiencies of the poor. The Lord directed Newel K. Whitney to “administer to their wants by humbling the rich and the proud.”
 
Now, as we have so often remarked, modern religious thought too often domesticates the idea of humility, turning it into a pleasant, almost cute and cuddly little character trait. But, in calling for the “humbling” of the rich and proud, God isn’t simply talking about shaping an inner trait in the rich. In this passage the Lord uses the verb, “to humble,” in its participial form. The verb means “to lower in power, dominance, independence, importance, status, or prestige.” The Lord intends to utilize the wealth of the rich to change both the life of the poor and the life of the rich. He intends to raise the poor and lower the rich.
 
Lest I be accused of making stuff up, I would have the reader consider counsel given to Joseph Smith a little more than a year after the counsel given to Newell K. Whitney. In DC 104, The Lord informed Joseph that the community’s economic resources must be utilized and distributed in “mine own way.” That way was consecration and redistribution. Then, he says,
 
“…this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.”[6]
The “humbling” of the rich involved something far more than emotional and psychological alteration of the rich. I was about lowering them, lowering their wealth, lowering their power and influence purchased through their wealth. And it was about exalting the poor. Raising their wealth, raising their power and influence restricted by their poverty. All this is entirely in keeping with the intuition Mary had about the work that God intended to do through her son, Jesus.
 
“He hath shewed strength with his arm;
   he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
   and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
   and the rich he hath sent empty away.”[7]
 
The counsel given to Newell K Whitney evidences the Lord’s assumption that the rich need humbling and that they must be economically lowered. There is an assumption that the status, influence, and dominance of the rich must be diminished if not broken—indeed, one senses in these passages an intensity, almost aggression about humbling and making low the rich.” There is an assumption that the inordinate status, influence, and dominance of the rich is a threat to a well-functioning and enduring society. To be sure, American is currently passing through an era when the danger that the wealthy and the influence that their wealth buys is clear and self-evident. Many a societal ill found in America could be solved by following the direction given in the Doctrine and Covenants to “humble the rich” and “making them low.”
                                                   
As we have said, there is an assumption in this passage and on the part of the Lord that the rich need humbling. I have said this before. I will repeat myself here. With the possible exception of maybe two passages, often misinterpreted, scripture does not record any instance of God leveling criticism against the poor. Rather, God and those who represent Him advocate for the poor hundreds of times in scripture. The poor are never portrayed as violators but as violated. They are not spoken of as those who victimize. They are always the victimized. They are never told to work harder or longer or smarter. The wealthy are told to work harder, longer, and smarter in caring for and lifting the poor There is simply no way around these scripture realities—however inconvenient it may be to those taken in by our twisted economic system and its justifying propaganda.
 
At the same time, scripture does not record any instance of God advocating for the wealthy. Indeed, 99.9% of the time when scripture mentions the wealthy it is with an explicit or implied “woe” somewhere nearby. We could fill a book with examples of God “woeing” the wealthy, while we can hardly find 25 words in which he “woes” the poor.[8]
 
These scriptural attitudes and habits are the exact opposite of current attitudes and habits toward the poor found in American society, where the poor are blamed and “woed,” while the rich are exalted and wooed. This is but one of many evidences of how utterly unbiblical and ungodly—ungod-like—American society is. It is indeed tragic that so many who join in the “woeing” of the poor claim to follow God’s word, whether it comes from the Bible or the Doctrine and Covenants.
 
Separating lying propaganda from divine law and principle, we find that administering to (not simply caring for) the poor by “humbling the rich and proud”—“proud” being, in scripture a near synonym of “rich,” the rich being thought of as proud almost by definition[9]—is not only a benefit to the poor. It also benefits the rich who “fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”[10]
 
So, that’s number two. Just as the Lord sees that the poor need help out of their economic deficiencies, He sees that the wealthy need help out of the spiritual deficiency: the pride, that their wealth almost universally creates. Therefore, he humbles the wealthy by requiring that their wealth be dedicated to lifting up the poor. In addition, the Lord’s counsel is good for society at large. As the wealth of the rich is deduced, so too is the power and influence they buy with their wealth. Few things offer better proof of the Lord’s wisdom, justness, and interest in all His children than this inspired counsel found in DC 84.112.
 


  Conclusion

In the winter of 1830-31, after reading of and being inspired by Enoch’s establishment of Zion, and being moved upon by the Holy Spirit, Joseph Smith’s understanding of his calling underwent a huge and radical transformation.[11] No longer did he simply think in terms of establishing another religion, church, or institution. He began to think of his calling in terms of establishing a whole new type of society. This society was not to be a small, insular, and exclusive society. It was, like the stone cut out of the mountain,[12] to fill the entire world. Joseph and the movement he led were called to transform and improve the human condition the world over.
 
Under the Lord’s tutelage, Joseph began to understand that the world’s economic systems were a principal impediment to improving the human condition. Indeed, much of the blame for the sorry state of this world rested on the world’s economic systems. They were twisted and perverted, permeated with false values and destructive behaviors. A new economic system was needed in the world if it was to be transformed and improved as God intended and demanded it be—as it must be to abide His presence. At the heart of the Lord’s economic system was an awareness of the economic deficiencies under which the poor suffered and the spiritual deficiencies under with the rich suffered. These deficiencies were, in fact, interrelated and codependent. The economic instruction found in DC 84.112 along with much other economic counsel given in the middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants was intended to address and heal these deficiencies.
 
In a moment of inspiration soon after Joseph’s economic/ Zionist epiphany, the Lord informed—or is it “warned”?— “the poor have complained before me, and the rich have I made, and all flesh is mine, and I am no respecter of persons.”[13] With this warning ringing in his ears, Joseph immediately began to newly conceive the rich and poor. Much of the middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants is taken up with instruction concerning a new economic system that would benefit both rich and poor and so transform and improve the world.
 
DC 84.112 is part of that extended instruction on economy that makes up the approximate middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants. Here, the Lord directs that society make a more concerted effort of caring for the poor. Society’s leaders are to actively identify the poor, inventory their financial deficiencies, and provide means to eliminate these deficiencies. The principal means for eliminating the deficiencies under which the poor suffer is the redistribution of wealth.
 
True to the Lord’s early warning, there was no “respect of persons” (the poor over the rich) in this redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. Both groups benefited. The Lord’s desired economic system could eliminate deficiencies found in both groups—economic deficiencies found among the poor, and spiritual deficiencies found among the rich. As is the case throughout scripture, there was an assumption that the financially rich were rich in pride and required humbling as much as the poor were humiliated and required help to be lifted out of poverty. However, in addition to altering the inner character of the rich, the Lord wanted and intended to reduce their unequal wealth, alter they social status, and reduce the excessive power and influence that purchased their wealth.
 
It is, in my view, a gross misreading of the text to understand the economic principles found in the middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants as applying only to “the Church,” or as containing principles exclusively intended for an exclusive “Zion.” The economic principles would, of necessity, initially be adopted and applied among a small group. But the Lord intended that, increasingly, larger and larger populations adopt and apply those principles because of the example of the first adopters and appliers and the superior society that those principles created. It was the Lord’s hopes and intentions that the economic principles would expand the world over.
 
As ancient Israel and Christianity, the initial latter-day group failed miserably in adopting and applying the Lord’s eternal economic principles. There is no telling how negative an impact this failure has had on the world. Those of us who lay claim to the heritage of this initial latter-day group have done no better. Indeed, we, as a group, actively resist such principles as we succumb to the false values and principles of the world’s economic systems—values and principles that are incessantly justified and propagated by an immense, sophisticated, and uncompromising propaganda machine.  
 
Just like all those that have proceeded (Egypt, Babylon, Rome, et al.), the world’s current twisted economic systems are on life-support, gasping for their last breath of air. It is high time that we who claim to believe that the Doctrine and Covenants contains the word of God—a warning to a dying world—put our money where our mouth is. It is time for us to individually live by the Lord’s economic principles. But this is not enough. We must advocate within our larger society for the Lord’s economic system; one in which the lifting up of the poor and the making low of the rich are given the highest priority and engage our most diligent efforts. This is true discipleship. Such values and practices are foundational to the endurance of human society in this world. Such values are necessary if we hope to abide in a more eternal and enduring society beyond those of this world.
 
“For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and behold, and lo, it must needs be that there be an organization of my people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse for the poor of my people, both in this place and in the land of Zion—for a permanent and everlasting establishment and order unto my church, to advance the cause, which ye have espoused, to the salvation of man, and to the glory of your Father who is in heaven; that you may be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things. For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things; for if you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you.”[14]
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] Isaiah 55.8-9
[2] See Matthew 5.13
[3] Moses 7.18
[4] 4 Nephi 1.2-3
[5] DC 51.15
[6] DC 104.16
[7] Luke 1.51-53
[8] Scripture is as clear as clear can be. Wealth breeds pride. This reality is widespread enough to be called universally true. It makes no difference that there might be the occasional exception—these exceptions being more exceptional than is often claimed. The Lord’s solution to the damning pride of the wealthy is to reduce the wealthy’s riches. This is not socialism or communism or any other ism. Rather, it is a ness. It is righteousness, holiness, godliness.
[9] The exceptions to this are just that, exceptions. Historically and globally speaking, they are so rare as to warrant little consideration.
[10] 1 Timothy 6.9
[11] See my meditation on DC 37.
[12] See Daniel 2.35, 44-45
[13] DC 38.16
[14] DC 78.3-7

There are ten of them. They are most often referred to as “The Ten Commandments,” but sometimes as “The Decalogue” (The Ten Words). We all know what they are. American “Christians,” so-called, and especially “Christian Nationalists” want them displayed in courtrooms, schools, etc. Here and there, in Louisiana, for example, some have even convinced gullible and hypocritical lawmakers to mandate their display—I call them hypocritical, in part, due to their professed contempt for mandates.
 
At the same time, this same group of people enthusiastically, zealously, and hypocritically supported an American presidential candidate who repeatedly and unrepentantly has violated most of if all of the Ten Commandments to which they so ardently claim allegiance and wish displayed wherever they can find blank wall space.
 
I have said it before, and I say it again now. I will not stop saying it.
 
The man, whose name I refuse to write or utter and who is shamefully to be the next president of the U.S. with huge “Christian” support, is guilty of breaking at least six of the ten commandments—not once, not twice, not in error, but openly and blatantly over and over again over many, many years.
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
 
He has broken the command, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not steal.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”
 
Those are the ones we know of; the ones we are absolutely 100% sure of. Who knows if he is guilty of having broken the command, “Thou shalt not kill.” It is highly likely that people have died because of his practiced wickedness. But, as he himself as confessed on more than one occasion, he could kill someone publicly and in broad daylight and his supports wouldn’t give a damn.
 
The rationalization of these so-called Christians for supporting such a fatally and irredeemably flawed man is that, well, you know, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”[1] They like to remind those that criticize them and their idolatrous politician that it is only he or she who is without sin that can throw rocks—counsel that they, themselves are as far from keeping as the east is from the west.
 
But I am here to tell you, dear reader, that there have been few sinners more skilled in the dark arts of wickedness than this vile man. His wickedness is bottomless. Paranormal. Devilish. He is by a wide, wide margin the most wicked individual to run for public office in U.S. history. He is by a wide, wide margin the most openly and obviously wicked individual to be elected to public office in U.S. history.
 
We who are sinners cannot compare, compete, or keep up with his wickedness. He is out of our league when it comes to wickedness. Furthermore, he is deserving of every rock thrown at him and no one can be censored for joining in the fray of rock throwing.
 
And while we are throwing rocks, we ought to heave a few American “Christianity’s” way. To be sure, many non-confessing Christians joined in their wicked support of a fatally and irredeemably flawed man. Perhaps we cannot expect our secular society to care about things so archaic as morality. But, in supporting a demon, American “Christianity” has shown itself more than worthy of the divine criticism that God, Himself, threw at it two hundred and twenty years ago in a Colonial era spring forest. Its behavior is not merely hypocritical. Not merely blasphemous. Not merely a stain on its collective character. It is corrupt and an abomination before God.[2]
 
With its support of this vile, lurid, vulgar, profane, cruel, dishonest, wicked, evil, and demonic sociopath, American “Christianity” has shown itself to be in violation of the very first command to have no other gods before the Only, the One, and True God. If it has not already done so, how long can it be before it makes of this man, who utters great and blasphemous things, an idolatrous image and thus breaks the second commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them…”
 
I, for one, will not bow the knee to such a beast.
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] Romans 3.23
[2] See JSH 1.19

  from bad to worse

In the beginning, America’s political right was free. It could freely choose. It had a choice in 2016. In 2016, tRUMP was anything but inevitable. 
 
Consider Ohio, for example. Ohio has a population of 12,000,000 of which 42% or 5,000,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Ohio republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 725,000 or 35% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 15% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Or, consider Virginia with its population of 8,700,000 of which 38% or 3,300,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Virginia republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 350,000 or 35% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 11% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Then there is Vermont with its population of 650,000 of which 30% or 195,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Vermont republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 20,000 or 35% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 10% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Ruby red Texas has a population of 30,000,000 of which 39% or 11,500,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Texas republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 758,000 or 27% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 6% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Blood red Idaho has a population of 1,9000,000 of which 40% or 760,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Idaho republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 62,500 or 28% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 8% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
The evidence is clear. Republican and republican leaning primary voters were anything but enthralled by tRUMP or thoughts of a tRUMP presidency. His election was anything but inevitable. The party could easily have gone another way. 
 
However, by the 2016 general election, the die was cast. Nationwide, roughly 88% of republican and republican leaning voters voted for the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster. This reflects the well-known aspect of American politics: partisanship. Partisanship rules. Controls. Reduces choice. Stifles freedom. 
 
This is sad and dangerous enough. But, then, something even more troubling surfaced. Notwithstanding his grift, his ineptitude, his corruption, his wickedness, and the danger he posed to American democracy, by the end of the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster’s term as 45th president, he had moved from instilling little enthusiasm to being a partisan puppet, to becoming a cult leader. His widened base was adamant. He was its savior. There is no other way to understand the unreasoned and self-destructive support his followers offer him. They lost their minds.
 
We all watched him commit treason and inspire an insurrection. Many who had uncomfortably supported him had had enough and condemned him. He was impeached for a second time. He left the White House on the wave of a crime spree. Many of those who worked closely with him in his administration announced their belief that he was morally, temperamentally, and intellectually unfit to hold office again, let along be president.
 
“Unfit.” “Unfit.” “Unfit.” They said it over and over again. Still, even since becoming a 37 times indicted criminal—surely only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his unbounded criminality—these same witnesses proclaim without apparent shame that they will vote for him again. !!!!!!!!!!! Within days of being convicted of his peers of being a criminal 37 times over, his grift brought in tens of millions of dollars, donors, essentially, paying him a million dollars per crime. !!!!!!!!!! The party has lined up behind him to have the sociopathic criminal’s back. The rabble glories in his transgressions. And his voter base widens.
 
This has convinced me that we have arrived at a state that is something far worse than partisanship. Something far more wicked and powerful than cult. Trump is something more, something far worse and more powerful than a cult leader. His followers are something more, something far worse than duped cult members. 



  from worse to worst

At one point in his Galilean mission, Jesus crossed to the southeastern shores of Galilee’s sea and entered the region of the gentile Gadarenes. Here, he encountered a man who “had devils long time.”[1] Indeed, the man was possessed by a legion of demons, some 6,000 of them. The man’s behavior was wild, violent, and self-destructive. After coming to understand the man’s plight, Jesus casted the demons out. Six thousand of them rushed over a cliff and drowned in the sea.[2]
 
I think of this possessed man and the legions of demons when I think of tRUMP and witness the wild, violent, and self-destructive discipleship of his followers. In him and them, we are dealing with something more than politics. More than partisanship. More than cultism. We are dealing possession.
 
Now, however, we are not dealing with legions of devils. Now we are dealing with only one demon. tRUMP. tRUMP is the demon. One, sole demon, however many minions he has. Yet this one demon is powerful enough to possess and enslave millions. Now we have not one possessed man, but millions of possessed Americans. They are wild, violent, and self-destructive. They have lost all freedom and agency. They and the demon that possesses them are a danger to all that is good and right and holy. The captivity in which they are enslaved can only grow unless there is a thorough exorcism.
 


  conclusion and benediction

tRUMP is a demon. His followers are possessed. America is in as dire a need for divine intervention as it has ever been. It needs Jesus to come and exorcise the demon, shut the mouth that spews blasphemy, and cast him back into the bottomless pit from whence he slithered and from whence he draws his power.
 
In this, we are not asking so much, I think. If Jesus really could and did handle something as serious and difficult as 6,000 demons, surely he can handle this one demon named, not legion, but tRUMP. If Jesus was willing to help just one possessed man, whose influence upon his world was paltry, surely, he must help millions of possessed, whose influence has the potential of being world shattering.
 
I do not understand Jesus’ inaction. I, for one, have been screaming at him for nearly a decade now. It is past time for him to act.
 
 
“O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth;
   O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth:
   render a reward to the proud.
LORD, how long shall the wicked,
   how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? 
   and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
They break in pieces thy people, O LORD,
   and afflict thine heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger,
   and murder the fatherless.
Yet they say, “The LORD shall not see,
   neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.”
Understand, ye brutish among the people:
   and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? 
   he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? 
   he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] See Matthew 8.28-33; Mark 5.1-20; Luke 8.26-39
[2] The reader can review my handling and understanding of this narrative elsewhere on this site. ​

  introduction

Judicial inequality and injustice. Economic inequality and injustice. Rampant greed and fraud on the part of wealthy individuals and essential institutions. Bribery and corruption of government officials. Inordinate influence of the wealthy on laws and public policy. Unjust laws and policies favoring the powerful and influential while disadvantaging the less powerful and influential. The infliction of the vulnerable with hunger, homelessness, sickness, and anxiety. Out of control materialism. Self-righteous justification of the mad state of rebellion. Stubborn refusal to acknowledge these and a host of other societal ills.
 
No, I am not talking about America of 2024. However, if the shoe fits…
 
I am talking about the ancient nations of Israel and Judah. These, and many other evils came to undermine the temporal, moral, and spiritual health of the nations. All the signs were there. The nations were on the verge of collapse. They were in desperate need of truth, however sour it might be to the national palate. But the nations’ shepherds fed the populace an empty diet of propagandistic myths of state. Many of Israel’s and Judah’s prophets joined the fray. Judah’s watchmen, Jeremiah charged,
 
“Heal my people’s brokenness inadequately, asserting:
   ‘It’s OK! It’s OK!’”
 
“But nothing,” Jeremiah replies, “is OK!”
 
Does this, too, sound familiar? Strike close to home? It should. Too often, today’s religious leaders—whether they go by the name, “prophet,” “priest,” or “pastor”— seem to lack both discernment and courage. They seem utterly blind to and mute about sin and evil, unless, of course, it involves some form of real or imagined sexual deviance. If they do speak out on matters of real social ills, it is often with muted, vague, delicate, and generalized voices and statements. These shepherds seem not up to the challenging task of bold and clear truth telling of the sort that our society so desperately needs. Now is not the time for delicacy and caution.
 
This homily is the eighth in an ongoing series entitled, “Healing Our Brokenness Inadequately,” based on Jeremiah 6.14. In this series, we explore specific examples of destructive individual and societal sins about which political and religious leaders all too often remain willfully blind or, if sighted, stubbornly mute… and therefore complicit. Tragically, sometimes their complicity is even active and enthusiastic.
 
With specific societal evils in mind, we call upon the Hebrew prophets to speak as if from the dust. We read these discerning writings in light of the societal ills and injustices that abound in our modern world. Sometimes we even imagine and take a stab at replicating what a Hebrew prophet might have to say if he were to come to us from the past.
 
In today’s homily, we offer another example of our national brokenness about which too many remain silent and worse, in which too many engage themselves. Such moments as ours desperately cry out for the type of discernment, boldness, and truth-telling so characteristic of the Hebrew prophets.
 

  how many strikes is that?

The Washington Post recently reported that “Allen Weisselberg, the former longtime top financial officer of Donald Trump’s company, pleaded guilty Monday to perjury, admitting that he lied under oath to the New York attorney general’s office while it was investigating the former president.” The piece reminded us that this is not the first time Weisselberg has been found lying to authorities. Indeed, he has in the past  pled “guilty to multiple felonies in a different case.” As a result, he served “months behind bars” and faced “stiff sanctions, including a $1 million penalty, following a separate civil fraud trial.”[1]
 
So, here we have a man who has been found guilty of multiple—that’s multiple as in a whole bunch—felonies—that’s felonies as in way worse than misdemeanors. In fact, in this latest case, Weisselberg was charged with five—that’s five in just sort of half-a-dozen—counts of perjury in the first degree—that’s perjury of the worse kind, committed with “intent and premeditation.” “He is,” according to the Post, “expected to receive a five-month sentence—that’s (presumably) several months short of the rest of his life.
 
Sounds like justice was served. No?
 
Well… maybe. I mention a sentence that is “several months short of the rest of his life” because his sentence is so short compared to many poorer and less well represented repeat offenders. Indeed, one recalls the now discredited “three-strikes-and-your-out” laws that many of the so-called “law and order” folks on the right want to resurrect. Perhaps you remember, as I do, the petty thief who ended up with life in prison because of a “third strike” in which the thief was guilty of the heinous crime of stealing a few videos from a video rental store. Or maybe, as a more contemporary example, you will consider the many repeat drug addicts who are currently serving long—sometimes life—prison sentences because they were caught in possession of a few measly ounces of some illegal drug one time too many.
 
But how many strikes has Weisselberg against him? So, let’s hear it, America. Let’s hear it, you true blue law-and-order cranks! Let’s hear you get fired up and demand that the repeat offender, the repetitious violator of just law, the habitual criminal, Alan Weisselberg, who has, in fact, struck out with three strikes against him more than once—Let’s hear you call him out on strikes. Let’s hear you call for a longer, maybe even life sentence.
 
But, I won’t hold my breath. No, neither these law-and-order pretenders nor the legal system that they have helped to craft and corrupt over the past several decades will call for such “extreme” treatment of rich white men. This would be fine, I guess, if America had an equal judicial system for rich and poor criminals alike. But it doesn’t. America has two legal systems: one for the haves and one for the have nots. One for the wealthy and influential and one for the poor, whose poverty denies them influence. One for those who buy the best and most unscrupulous attorneys money can buy and those who cannot afford counsel—indeed, those who are often not provided any legal counsel at all, contrary to constitutional principles.
 

  the return of hebrew prophets

How fortunate for the many repeat “white-collar” criminals that there are no Hebrew prophets around today. How very fortunate for them, too, that those who call themselves prophets, priests, and pastors stubbornly and cowardly remain mute about the white-collar criminal class. How fortunate for them that too many prophets, priests, and pastors are, themselves, engaged in the same greedy and unscrupulous business and legal practices, making them a peculiar kind of “white-collar” criminal.
 
Just as justice and equity before the law is fundamental to the American judicial system, justice and equity was one of the foundational principles and expectations of Israel’s covenant relationship with God. Deuteronomy stipulated,
 
“And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. He shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man…”[2]
 
Similarly, Leviticus says,
 
“Do not act with inequity in any legal procedure. You are not to give advantage to the vulnerable, or show favoritism toward the influential. You are to adjudicate each citizen’s case with justice.”[3]
 
Unfortunately, these expectations were not met in Israel any better than they are in 21st century America. Isaiah made the following complaint.
 
“Warning! To those who issue oppressive statutes
   and continuously write laws that afflict;
that put redress out of the reach of the underprivileged
   and rob the poor among my people of justice,
making prey of widows
   and plundering orphans”[4]
 
More than a century later, Jeremiah complained,
 
“For there can be found among my people ungodly individuals.
   They keep watch, like bird catchers watching a trap.
      They place traps, they capture human beings.
Just as a bird cage is full of birds,
   their houses are filled with deceit.
      This is how they have become powerful and wealthy.
They have grown fat and plump,
   having gone beyond, even, the wicked words they speak.
They will not hear a legal case—
   such as that of an orphan—and yet they enjoy success.
      Nor will they bring the cases of the impoverished to trial.
Should I not level a charge against these?—
   an oracle of YHWH—
      Should I not take vengeance on a nation such as this?”[5]
 
The little-known prophet with the funny name, Habakkuk, lamented,
 
How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.”[6]
 
Such lamentation is heartbreaking. And all too familiar.
 

  conclusion

There are far, far too many examples of injustice in America’s judicial system and in society at large. Our example of Alan Weisselberg and the preferential treatment he has received at the bar of our courts is but one. There is simply no doubting that he, like so many wealthy and influential citizens, has been treated differently than so many less affluent and poorer represented defendants.  
 
The Hebrew prophets did not brook any type of injustice in ancient Israel. Nor should we or our contemporary prophets, priests, or pastors. We need bold and clear renunciation of injustice, both private and institutional. We need our prophets, priests, and pastors to take their head out of the sand and see the injustices that inhabit every facet of our society. We need our prophets, priests, and pastors to unbind their tongue and speak truth to power.
 
Without justice and equity, America cannot stand. Without justice, America is guilty, its sin as scarlet as blood and as black as night. Only through justice can the stain of sin be removed from the belligerent nation. This, anyway, is Isaiah’s view.
 
“Wash yourselves! 
   Clear yourselves!
Remove your evil deeds from my sight.
   Stop doing evil.
Learn to do good.
   Seek after justice.
      Set things right for those treated unjustly.
Take the side of the orphan.
   Plead for the widow.
 
‘Come! Let us reason together,’ says Yahweh.
   ‘Though your sins be as scarlet,
      they shall be as white as snow.
Though they are as red as scarlet died fabric,
   they shall be as wool.
If you are willing and listen,
   you can eat the good of the land.
If your refuse and rebel,
   you will be consumed by sword.’
This comes from Yahweh’s own mouth.”[7]
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] “Longtime Trump Executive Pleads guilty again, this time to perjury charges,” El M. Calabrese and Mark Berman.
[2] 1.16-17
[3] 19.15, author’s translation.
[4] Isaiah 10.1-2, author’s translation.
[5] Jeremiah 5.26-29, author’s translation
[6] Habakkuk 1.2-4, NIV.
[7] Isaiah 1.16-20

introduction

In his famous soliloquy and song, “If I Were a Rich Man,” Tevye dreams of a “big, tall house with rooms by the dozen,” with a “fine tin roof with real wooden floors.” Outside the house, he dreams of a “yard with chicks and turkeys and geese and ducks.” He dreams of a wife with plenty to eat and “a proper double-chin.” As for himself, Tevye dreams of having “the time that I lack to sit in the synagogue and pray… discuss the holy books with the learned men, several hours every day” To him, “that would be the sweetest thing of all.”
 
We all have dreams. Even at nearly 70, I still do. One of my dreams involves Hebrew prophets. I wish they would come back; return in a renaissance of prophetic discernment and courage. Prophets like Jeremiah, Amos, Micah, and Isaiah. Today’s religious leaders—whether the go by prophet, priest, or pastor—seem not up to the task, lacking both discernment and courage. They seem utterly blind and mute to sin, unless it involves human genitals.
 
This Mad State post is the sixth in an ongoing series entitled, “Healing Our Brokenness Inadequately” The title takes its cue from Jeremiah 6.14 in which the prophet laments the ineffectual and specious ministry of Judah’s prophets. In this series, we explore specific examples of individual and societal sins about which religious leaders remain willfully blind or, if sighted, stubbornly mute… and therefore complicit. Tragically, sometimes their complicity is active and enthusiastic. With these examples in mind, we will imagine what a Hebrew prophet might have to say if he were to come to us from the past. Here, then, is our next example.
 


  the character of this world

In homily and meditation, we have discussed scripture’s characterization of this planet as a place of violence; of “wars and rumors of wars.”[1] If possible, this characterization is even more true of the “latter days” than former days. Observing the rebelliousness of America’s southern states in his lifetime, Joseph Smith could see that, sooner or later, “the rebellion of South Carolina [would] eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls.”[2] But this was but the tip of the iceberg. Joseph’s discernment went far beyond the tragedy of the American civil war. “The time will come,” Josephj saw, “that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place.”[3] Joseph discerned that the latter-days were to be an era of war and rumor of war. Time has vindicated this ugly and unwelcome insight.
 
So common is war and rumor of war that we have become immune to their horrors. Many, not immune, are infected with the supposed heroism of war and rumors of wars. Many simply stick their head in the sand and pretend that things are normal and inevitable. I thought of this world’s characterization and the many responses to it when I read this recent headline, “Congress Is Poised to Cede Even More of Its Oversight of Foreign Weapons Sales.”[4]
 
According to U.S. law, the executive branch of the U.S. government must clear all arms sales above a certain amount with congress—we have to ask why all sales, whatever their dollar amount, do not come under this law. A new proposed law—written and backed, surprise, surprise, by the arms industry—raises by 66 percent the dollar amount of an arms sale before the executive branch must inform congress of the sale. “In short,” the authors of the article observe, “this proposed legislation would speed up the delivery of deadly weapons while scaling back the ability of our elected representatives to assess the security implications of such transfers”—and it isn’t as though those elected representatives have acted responsibly in the past.
 
Not only, then, would this proposed law keep congress ignorant of much of the mayhem that the American executive branch, in collusion with profiteering American arms dealers,  unleashes the world over, but the American people would remain ignorant of the diabolical and murderous mayhem of their own government.
 
As bad as this is for governance, accountability, the equal separation of powers, and the health of American democracy, it is even worse for the planet. There can be no doubt that the planet, already flooded with violence and murderous weaponry, would be further deluged if such a law was enacted. Neither can there be any doubt that more weapons means more use of those weapons—just as Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, a supposed “progressive,” once asked in all seriousness, “What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about, if we can’t use it?”
 
More weapons means more use of weapons, more violence, more war, and more death. This bill is most certainly not pro-life. It is anti-life. It is pro-death. It is satanic. It is utterly consistent with the satanic spirit and intent to “buy up armies and navies and reign with blood and horror on earth,” as Satan promised to do according to the LDS temple endowment.
 
 

  renouncing war and proclaiming peace

Discerning religious leaders—whether the go by the name, “prophet,” “priest,” “pope,” or “pastor”—would speak out against such satanic deviancy. To be sure, those who have sat in the LDS temple and been forewarned would, you would think, have something to say about such satanic deviancy being conducted in a nation that claims to be Christian.
 
Indeed, speaking out against this satanic deviancy is not simply wise and prudent. It is a commandment.
 
“Therefore, be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy. For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me.
Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children; and again, the hearts of the Jews unto the prophets, and the prophets unto the Jews; lest I come and smite the whole earth with a curse, and all flesh be consumed before me.”[5]
 
One must ask if those who refuse to “renounce war and proclaim peace”—which must certainly extend to the grotesquely massive arms sales in which the U.S., the world’s largest weapons dealer, is engaged—are, in fact, guilty of being afraid of their enemies, may not be abiding in the Lord’s covenant, and may not be worthy of him. Neither do they seem true to the central aspect of the “spirit of Elijah,” about which the LDS church likes so much to speak. For, as the preceding passage makes clear, the linkage that the spirit of Elijah seeks to form goes far beyond moms and dads, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, etc. The spirit of Elijah seeks to form linkages between all human beings of whatever nation or era. The spirit of Elijah is intended to end war and bring peace between nations.[6] This world-wide peace inspired by the spirit of Elijah is at the very heart of the temple’s message. Speaking of the temple, Isaiah discerned,
 
“All nations will come streaming to it;
   many peoples will come, saying:
‘Come! Let’s go up to Yahweh’s mountain;
   to the temple of the God of Ya‘qōb.
He will teach us his ways,
   and we shall walk in his paths.
For Torah will come out of Ṣîyôn,
   and the word of Yahweh from Yerûšālāyim.’
Then will He mediate between nations;
   He will reconcile many peoples,
so that they will retool their swords into plow blades
   and their spears into pruning instruments.
One nation will no longer lift the sword against another,
   nor will they any longer train for warfare” (Is. 2.2-4).
 


  conclusion and imprecation

While the proposed law discussed here is utterly consistent with this world’s characterization as a place of wars and rumors of wars as well as the satanic spirit foreshadowed in the LDS temple, it most certainly stands in stark and belligerent opposition to all that is godly—to the spirit of Elijah, to the message of the temple, and to God, Himself, and His wishes for humankind. It is yet one more step in a long line of steps toward the fulfillment of Malachi’s warning.
 
“Understand: I am going to send ’ēlîyâ, the prophet, to you before the coming, totally awe-inspiring day of YHWH. He is to restore the love of parents for children and the love of children for parents so that when I arrive, I need not strike the earth with annihilation.”[7]
 
Of course, at the rate we’re going, God will have no need to strike the earth with annihilation. We are on our way to doing it just fine all by ourselves.
 
Let us make new and better laws
say the invisible mammon loving puppeteers
of murderous weapons and mayhem
to their well-paid puppets in corrupted Washington.
Laws that hide, conceal, shroud, bury
our murderous mayhem
from politician, from patrician, from plebe.
Let us deliver death faster,
more efficiently,
and more profitable,
in selling our instruments of death and murderous mayhem.
More violent death
means more hatred,
More hatred
means more calls for “justice” and retribution.
More calls for “justice” and retribution
means more arms sales.
More deaths, yes,
but shush,
keep your eyes on the ball:
more Mammon, the world’s adored god.
 
But hear this tragic warning,
you masters of death and mayhem.
You cannot hide, conceal, shroud, or bury
your murderous mayhem
from the One, True God.
He sees all—all the more, more, more
You crave;
the death you create
in your boardrooms, your factories, your hangers,
your congressional offices, your senate chambers,
and your oval offices.
You will come to know,
Fear, and loath
the true meaning of justice and retribution.
Though you make your home with dirt-dwelling rodents
and plead for mountains to cover and hide
you from the all-seeing God,
you will be seen and named, as was your father,
“Master Mahan,” the master of this great secret:
“I may murder and get gain;”
with your end being to dwell in a deeper hole,
a bottomless pit,
with something far worse and more devouring
than the dirt-dwelling rodents to whom you are kin.
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
 


[1] See, for example, my meditation on 1 Nephi 12.1-3, my five meditations on Psalm 46, my five homilies on Revelation 6.1-8, entitled, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”
[2] DC 87.1
[3] DC 87.2
[4]  Lora Lumpe and William D. Hartung, Responsible Statecraft, Feb. 3, 2024.
[5] DC 98.14-17
[6] I have spoken at length of an expanded view of the spirit of Elijah. See my homily based on Malachi 4.5-6, entitled, “The spirit of Elijah: An Expanded View.”
[7] Malachi 4.5-6

  rehoboam’s thigh in circa 900 b.c.

1 Kings 12 reports a fascinating bit of ancient Israelite history. Unfortunately, it is more than history. It has been repeated over and over and over again in human history—both in private histories and in national histories. It is being reenacted even as we speak.
 
After a long reign, king Solomon is dead. The text found in 1 Kings 1-11 portrays his reign as one of deterioration, starting out good and ending badly. Probably, this is too kind by far. There are indications a plenty in these chapters that Solomon’s reign more likely went from not great to greatly worse.[1] There is much to indicate that his reign was particularly bad for those who lived in the north—the people who would become the independent nation of Israel north of the independent nation of Judah.
 
Upon Solomon’s death, northern Israelites sent ambassadors to Judah. They agreed to pledge allegiance to the new king, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. They had only one very reasonable request.
 
“Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee” (1 Kg. 12.4).
 
They did not demand immediate concessions. They gave Rehoboam and his advisors time to consider their response. Solomon began by consulting with the experienced advisors who had advised his father, Solomon. They advised him to act more the part of a servant king than his father had done. By seeking to serve better the interest of his norther subjects, Rehoboam would win over those skeptical of the David/Solomon dynasty and find peace and unity in his kingdom (12.6-7).
 
Apparently unhappy with this counsel, Rehoboam then consulted some of the entitled young men with whom he had grown up. They advised a response to the north’s reasonable request that could not be more diametrically opposed to that of the more experienced advisors.
 
“Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, ‘Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us;’ thus shalt thou say unto them, ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins. And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke [note there is no denial of Solomon’s oppression of the north, but only justification], I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions” (12.10-11).
 
The rest, as they say, is history. Rehoboam went with option two. The Kingdom of Israel split into two: the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. If Solomon ever was a wise king—an assertion that was almost certainly more political propaganda than spiritual discernment—he produced a son who turned out to be one the more stupid nation leaders among the many stupid national leaders the world has witnessed… and with which it has suffered.
 
 
 
  israel’s thigh in circa 2023 a.d.

For years, I have bit my tongue, aware that in today’s twisted environment, one cannot be critical of the modern state of Israel without being labeled an antisemite. Modern Israel has long been an apartheid state. It is surely one of the great ironies and tragedies of history that a people who were wickedly forced to live in ghettos for a thousand years of European history have forced Palestinians into ghetto living for many years. This is a complete breach of their Mosaic covenant which, above all else, demands that they remember their captivity at the hands of oppressors and never act the part of oppressor toward others. This, as much as any dietary law, sabbath day observance, or national boundaries is what was to make them a peculiar people to the Lord—a nation apart from the rest of the nations and kingdoms of this world.
 
As we cross the 20,000 mark—that’s 20,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed over the past two months—I cannot remain silent. To do so would be wickedness. To remain silent would mean standing before God with blood on my hands. I have enough of my own sins to worry about. I don’t need to add others’ sins to my load.
 
Now, to be clear. The murderous actions taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023 were barbaric beyond words. What that perverted terror organization perpetrated against innocent civilians, men, women, children, and infants was wickedness of the darkest black. The actions taken on that day were far more than simply barbaric, or inhumane, or animalistic. They were as anti-Christ an action as can be conceived—and, in my book, that charge of “Anti-Christ,” is as bad as it gets and the worse I can say about anyone or anything. I cannot hope for anything but the deepest pit in hell for planners and attackers alike. Before that day, I am of a mind that the planners and attackers of that day should be hunted down and punished. If punishment means death, so be it.
 
But not like this. Not like it is being done at the present.
 
Israel’s October 7 is, as many have rightly stated, much like America’s 9/11. But the nation of Israel’s response to their 10/7 has gone too far—just as America’s response to 9/11 went too far. (Yes, in the aftermath of 9/11, I warned immediately against an ungodly and bloodthirsty response to it that would turn us into international law-breakers and, worse, make us indistinguishable from our attackers. With blood-lust, a generation of Americans did not heed such warnings, but engaged in crimes against humanity and the breach of many an international law so that we became little better than those we hated.)
 
Israel is making the same mistake. Like America, they have wasted an opportunity to unite the world against a vile enemy.
 
The barbarity of Hamas’ attacks on October 7, 2023 cannot be compared to the reasoned requests that ancient Israel made to Rehoboam in circa 900 B.C. Nevertheless, Israel’s response to those barbarous attacks has, itself, turned barbaric. They have put down a thigh when something less was needed. Israel’s leadership—often looking, like America’s, as much like a criminal enterprise as anything else—headstrong, arrogant, and blinded by rage and pride looks as stupid as their ancestral king, Rehoboam. One can’t help but wonder what the world, their world, might look like if they had chosen and would choose to take their thigh off the necks of Palestinians and look to the basic humanitarian needs of Palestinians. To be servants rather than tyrants, as their greatest of prophets, Moses, taught them. 
 
O.K. Fine. Israel has a law that calls for an eye for an eye—we hasten to say that Christians do not have such a law since Jesus rejected and reversed it. The international community would probably not bat an eye over Israel’s seeking an eye for every eye they lost on October 7. But really now. Even the least skilled or most cynical reader of the Bible surely would not seek to justify taking 20 eyes for every eye lost—and its likely to be 30 or 40 Palestinian eyes for every single Israeli eye before the tragedy is over.
 
Tragically and shamefully, America was not called to account for the twenty years of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and breach of international law that it committed in the aftermath of 9/11. Little wonder, then, that Israel follows America’s bad example in the aftermath of its 10/7. America has no authority by which it can call on Israel to repent, to abide by international law, to remove their thigh from the neck of Palestinians; to say nothing of being true to its higher ideals as found in Tora. It is left to the rest of the world, weak and ineffectual as it is, to try and talk sense to a nation driven mad through pain and grief.
 
​
 
  conclusion: the human thigh

There is a very old Scottish proverb that goes,
 
“No man harms me unharmed.”
 
Such shameful sentiments are spoke with pride and braggadocio. As if, such wickedness was heroic. Unfortunately, this is the human way. This is the way of fallen man. Even those individuals who manage to rise above such sentiments in their individual lives, nearly all fall prey in their corporate/group/national lives to the satanic spirit that inspires such thought and behavior.
 
The pragmatist among us might have to shrug and yield to a certain level of satanism such as this. Israel is allowed, justified by human law, to return harm for harm. But, like America and like Hamas, Israel now goes too far. It must reign in its hurt. The present hurt they inflict on those who hurt them can only bring more hurt. Hurt to its enemies and more hurt to itself. More hurt in the present and more hurt in the future. More hurt over the entire globe. This is directly contrary to the call God gave Israel and the hope he had for it.
 
“In days to come
      the Mountain on which stands Yahweh’s temple
will be fixed above any other Mountain;
      lifted above any other height.
All nations will come streaming to it;
      many peoples will come, saying:
‘Come! Let’s go up to Yahweh’s mountain;
      to the temple of the God of Ya‘qōb.
He will teach us his ways,
      and we shall walk in his paths.
For Torah will come out of Ṣîyôn,
      and the word of Yahweh from Yerûšālāyim.’
Then will He mediate between nations;
      He will reconcile many peoples,
so that they will retool their swords into plow blades
      and their spears into pruning instruments.
One nation will no longer lift the sword against another,
      nor will they any longer train for warfare.
 
Come, Oh House of Ya‘qōb, and let us walk in Yahweh’s light” (Is. 2.2-5).
 
Call me a dreamer. Call me an idealist. Call me utopian. But I refuse to give up on the word of God. I refuse to yield to arguments that enmity and barbarity are inevitable. The reader can think of this post as my attempt to be true to the Lord’s latter-day charge and to the expressed hopes of the angelic choir that so surprisingly appeared during that very first Christmas Season.
 
“Therefore, be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy. For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me.
Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children; and again, the hearts of the Jews unto the prophets, and the prophets unto the Jews; lest I come and smite the whole earth with a curse, and all flesh be consumed before me” (DC 98.14-17).
 
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Lk. 2.14).
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] See, for example, our homily, entitled, “King Solomon and King Noah, two peas in a pod: ‘neoliberalism’ and the redistribution of wealth.”

  introduction

In his famous soliloquy and song, “If I Were a Rich Man,” Tevye dreams of a “big, tall house with rooms by the dozen,” with a “fine tin roof with real wooden floors.” Outside the house, he dreams of a “yard with chicks and turkeys and geese and ducks.” He dreams of a wife with plenty to eat and “a proper double-chin.” As for himself, Tevye dreams of having “the time that I lack to sit in the synagogue and pray… discuss the holy books with the learned men, several hours every day” To him, “that would be the sweetest thing of all.”
 
We all have dreams. Even at nearly 70, I still do. One of my dreams involves Hebrew prophets. I wish they would come back; return in a renaissance of prophetic discernment and courage. Prophets like Jeremiah, Amos, Micah, and Isaiah. Today’s religious leaders—whether the go by prophet, priest, or pastor—seem not up to the task, lacking both discernment and courage. They seem utterly blind and mute to sin, unless it involves human genitalia.
 
This Mad State post is the third in an ongoing series entitled, “Healing Our Brokenness Inadequately” The title takes its cue from Jeremiah 6.14 in which the prophet laments the ineffectual and specious ministry of Judah’s prophets. In this series, we explore specific examples of individual and societal sins about which religious leaders remain willfully blind or, if sighted, stubbornly mute… and therefore complicit. With these examples in mind, we will imagine what a Hebrew prophet might have to say if he were to come to us from the past. Here, then, is our third example.
 


  pessimistic consumption

Recent weeks have seen a number of headlines such as the following.
 
“Us Consumer Confidence Fell Again in October”[1]
 
“Consumers Remain Pessimistic About the Future—Even as They Continued to Spend”[2]
 
“Us consumers keep spending despite high prices and their own gloomy outlook. Can it last?”[3]
 
“Why Americans feel gloomy about the economy despite falling inflation and low unemployment”[4]
 
“Black Friday shoppers spent a record $9.8 billion in U.S. online sales, up 7.5% from last year”[5]
 
“Cyber Monday rings in 12.4 billion in sales as consumers hunt for bargains”[6]
 
The American public—they are called “consumers,” for good reason, rather than, say, “citizens,” by those who prey on their insatiable appetite for more, more, more—are “pessimistic,” have low “confidence” in the economy and the future, “feel gloomy,” and possess a “gloomy outlook.” The Consumer Confidence Index is down. The Present Situation Index is in decline, still.
 
But, spending is up! UP. UP. In two 24-hour periods, Friday, November 24 and Monday, November 27, 2023, Americans, or consumers, spent $22.2 billion. Purportedly, spending during these two days was in no small part credited to consumers looking for bargains. But, of course, the percentage of those purchasing on credit is way up—higher interest rates wiping out the meager savings from sale prices. As the Christmas Season continues and the year ebbs away, spending trends show no signs of letting up even as pessimism persists.
 
With the inflation rate at the lowest point in two and one-half years, unemployment below 4% for the longest stretch since the 1960s, new hiring up, many wages up, and consumers spending like there’s no tomorrow, economist are befuddled by the pessimistic surveys and the rabid spending habits of American consumers. The two seem irrationally contradictory.
 
The befuddlement is somewhat comical. For, as the name implies, Americans have become by nature “consumers.” Probably, their consumption is to be credited as much to habit as to any other factor, such as sale prices. Indeed, their habit of consumption looks very much like an addiction—out of control and irrational.
 
 

  consuming addiction

We have all heard, by now, that the brain has a “pleasure center”—the “nucleus accumbens” it is called. This “reward circuit” lets us know when something is enjoyable and reinforces the desire for us to perform the same pleasurable action again, and again, and again. We all also know, by now, that a brain stimulated by pornography releases pleasure-giving endorphins and dopamine. Individuals often become addicted to the euphoria that this chemical cocktail produces, irresistibly coming back to pornographic over, and over, and over again. We know, too, that similar processes are at work with the use of drugs—street or prescription—and drug addiction.
 
Modern research suggests that the brain releases the same euphoric chemical cocktail in our brain’s “pleasure center” during shopping, purchasing, acquiring, accumulating, and consuming that it does in drinking,  gambling, taking drugs, and viewing pornography for pornography or substance abuse. The neurotransmitter, dopamine, surges when we even consider buying something new.
 
Our American society, with its consumer economy, is, increasingly, built upon consumerism—as even those who see no harm, but only virtue in such an economy, admit. The economy, which has become, essentially, an idolatrous god, goes up and down, depending upon how diligently we obey materialistic laws and impulses to acquire. Watching our society’s enthusiastic struggle to acquire, we might be forgiven for wondering whether our entire society and many of us, its citizenry, are, in fact, addicted to the principle of acquiring, victims of euphoria producing and addictive endorphins and dopamine. We see nothing in it unhealthy, don’t recognize it as an addiction, because we are all in the same doped up state, addicted to the same drug. If we are all addicted, then it must not be addiction.
 
Such unwillingness to admit that we have a problem is, of course, typical. The addict always thinks they have things under control. But, once in a while, there is a moment of unusual honesty.
 
“How can you say,
   ‘I am not defiled;
       I have not run after the Baals’?
See how you behaved in the valley;
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running here and there,
a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
    sniffing the wind in her craving—
       in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
    at mating time they will find her.
Do not run until your feet are bare
    and your throat is dry.
But you said,
   ‘It’s no use!
 I love foreign gods,
    and I must go after them’” (Jer. 2.23-25, NIV).
 
Yes, the inconsistent and befuddling behavior of the American consumer can reasonably be chalked up to addiction. We are a culture of shopping addicts. And just as with any addiction, it takes more and more of the stimulant to maintain the desired highs. Dissatisfaction with the current fix and the need and demand for even more stimulation are inevitable. Hence, one reason the American consumer’s gloomy outlook and pessimistic perspective in the face of bounty that surpasses anything human society has ever seen.
 
 

  all things are become slippery

As I hear and read of consumers’ pessimistic grumblings about the economy, my mind naturally turns to the Book of Mormon and the consumers of Helaman 13. I have discussed these consumers and their consumption in detail elsewhere.[7] But, here, I liken their experiences and feelings to those of the American consumer.
 
Samuel the Lamanite foresees, or “forehears” the consumers of his day. He hears them “weep and howl.” He hears them “lament” that their “riches… have become slippery” and “are gone from us.”  “Behold,” they lament, “we lay a tool here and on the morrow it is gone; and behold, our swords are taken from us in the day we have sought them for battle. Yea, we have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land.”
 
One hears in the American consumer’s pessimism an echo of this ancient and sad refrain,
 
“All things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.”[8]
 
Samuel informs them of the real reason for the unhappiness and pessimism.
 
“Ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head” (Hel. 13.38).
 
 

  conclusion

So it is with the American consumer. The consumption, having become in many cases a sinful addiction, cannot produce happiness—indeed, the consumption itself, with its deleterious impacts on the environment and the world’s poor, is sinful and bound to bring unhappiness through natural disasters, the devaluing and dehumanization of others, and human conflict. Anytime the consumer’s consumptive and consuming addiction is in anyway hampered, slowed, or reduced pessimism quite naturally ensues. It feels like things are slipping away from us.
 
Prophets, priests, and pastors have been asleep at the switch when it comes to addressing this most pervasive addiction in human history. They have no hesitation in screaming bloody murder about a few hundreds of thousands that might be addicted to pornography or a handful of substances, but they remain strangely silent about an addiction that afflicts billions of the globes’ inhabitants—an addiction that creates far, far more suffering than all the other addictions combined. Do they not see the addiction and its harmful effects on society? Or are they, perhaps, themselves caught up in the addiction to one degree or another?
 
“His watchmen are blind:   
   they are all ignorant,  
they are all dumb dogs,   
   they cannot bark;  
sleeping, lying down,   
   loving to slumber.
Yea, they are greedy dogs   
   which can never have enough,  
and they are shepherds that cannot understand:   
   they all look to their own way,    
      every one for his gain, from his quarter” (Is. 56.10-11).
 
 These recalcitrant and silent modern prophets, priests, and pastors could learn a thing or two from the Hebrew prophets about the evils of idolatrous consumption and how to address it. Here, is a sampling.
 
“You are they who lie upon ivory divans,
   sprawl out on your settees,
eat lambs from flocks,
   and specially fed calves,
pluck on the harp
   as Dāwid, invent for themselves musical instruments,
drink wine by the bowl full,
   apply the best of perfumes,
      while remaining unaffected by the nation’s collapse” (Amos 6.4-6, author’s translation).   
 
“That saith,
   ‘I will build me a wide house
      and large chambers,’
 
And cutteth him out windows;
   and it is cieled with cedar,
      and painted with vermilion” (Jer. 22.14).
 
“I will tear down the winter house
    along with the summer house;
the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed
    and the mansions will be demolished,”
      declares the Lord.” (Amos 3.15)
 
We could use such voices. No, they would not be welcome any more than Samuel the Lamanite was. But the call is clear, and the need is great. Warnings about the addictive nature of consumerism could squelch a host of accompanying evils. Warnings about the addictive nature of consumerism could bring happiness, true happiness that far surpasses all the transitory dopamine highs that money and its purchasing power can buy.
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] The Conference Board
[2] The Conference Board
[3] Christopher Rugaber and Anne D’Innocenzio, Associated Press
[4] Christopher Rugaber, Associated Press
[5] Rebecca Picciotto, CNBC
[6] Brooke DiPalma, Yahoo
[7] See my homily on Helaman 13, entitled, “Society’s Slippery Slope” in the archive found on our Homilies and Just Society pages of this site.
[8] See Helaman 13.32-37.