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Those protesting to “reopen the country” should, by all means, be encouraged to continue their suicidal charge up Mount mammon. While this tenth-of-one-percent of the American population should be encouraged to gather—the more tightly packed together the better—their small protests should not be covered by any actual news services—FOX, of course, will cover them, but, then, they are not actually a news service.
Real news services should, however, most definitely cover the burials-sans-funerals that result from the protests. They could also keep a Vietnam era style body count, keeping a running total of the number of voters Caligula will not be able to count on to vote for him, because dead people can’t vote. Go, Red States, Go! Go back to business. I say that these protesters should not be taken serious. Why? Well, first, they’re idiots. Idiots should not be reported on. They are not news. They are a dime a dozen as can be seen by the number of voters who continue to support Caligula even as he lines them up on America’s avenues and kills them. Second, they are idiots too stupid to know that they are being manipulated by conservative corporate interests. These capitalistic marauders and rapists have been fucking and killing Americas for more than a generation now. Having had their consciences seared with a hot iron, they think nothing of adding a little more raw and rotten human flesh to the heaps of rotting corpses they have already piled high. Third, their numbers simple do not justify the coverage.[1] They are beyond being outliers. They do not even represent a significant percentage of idiots! Covering their protests is akin to reporting on individuals who have a half dozen genitalia. It is just an obscene 19th-century-style freak show without the entrance fee. Having said all of that, they could become dangerous, not only to themselves, but to others. How? Well, first, the obvious. The virus is not very discriminating. It is not picky about who it infects. It likes idiots just fine. And it will jump from an idiot to a non-idiot the first chance it gets. Individuals infected because of their idiocy in anti-intellectually humping each other during protests can infect other people. So, we need cages, not cameras surrounding protest sites. Second, humans are animals. Smarter than your typical animal, true, but still, irrational, oversized monkeys, we are. But with our monkey brain, we are extraordinarily adept at mimicking each other. Human monkeys take their cue from other monkeys. We only learn what to do and why to do it by watching others. We then mimic them. Monkey see, monkey do. So, by reporting on the protests of a statistically insignificant number of idiot monkeys, news services run the risk of infecting the greater pack of monkeys with more idiocy. TV addicted monkeys, seeing other monkeys act like idiots assume that idiocy is normal. They mimic their deadly idiocy. More bodies pile up in the morgues, upon which the corporate elite, safely tucked away in their bunkers/mansions engorge themselves. The left has refused to acknowledge this mimetic reality. The right has not been quite so dense. The right has not only acknowledged this reality, they have masterfully, if cynically, used it to their advantage. Silverbacks are smarter than your average monkey. FOX, being a creature of the right, understands the mimetic impulse. It knows what it is doing when it reports on idiocy—the protest to “open America” being only the latest example. It knows that by reporting the lunacy, it is growing it, spreading it virus like. Mimesis will have its way. The fact that real news agencies report on the idiocy without understanding that in doing so they only serve to spread it, is evidence that they do indeed represent a left-of-center worldview. In being so obtuse, they only make the left-of-center worldview less likely to endure the mimetic power of idiocy’s example. This is, by the way, one of the reasons that I have said the press should stop covering Caligula; whether it is his life, his tweets, his press briefings, etc. By reporting on his idiotic shenanigans, the press is not creating, as it fools itself into thinking it is doing, an informed public likely to act more rationally. Rather, they are showing a bunch of mimetically driven monkeys how monkeys act. They are assuring that more monkeys will act like the big orange one who stands before the camera, puffs out its chest, pounds it with his little hands, flashes his canines, and snarls out incoherent yaps, and snorts, and grunts and barks and babblings. If these real news agencies do not wake up and smell the monkey urine, they will, blinded by stars and stripes, only succeed in turning America into a zoo, not a republic And it will not be the pleasant sort of zoo called, “petting.” It will be one in which actual humans are eaten by wild animals posing as humans. Monkeys see, Monkeys do. [1] Poll after poll demonstrates this. According to the latest ABC/NORC survey, “Only 12% of Americans say the measures where they live go too far. About twice as many people, 26%, believe the limits don’t go far enough. The majority of Americans — 61% — feel the steps taken by government officials to prevent infections of COVID-19 in their area are about right. “About 8 in 10 Americans say they support measures that include requiring Americans to stay in their homes and limiting gatherings to 10 people or fewer — numbers that have largely held steady over the past few weeks.”
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“Behold, [Amalichkiah] did care not for the blood of his people” (Alma 49.10). Not for the first time, we must pronounce Caligula a war criminal. He says we are in a war against the coronavirus. So be it. Make no mistake about it, he intends to sacrifice his soldiers by sending them into a suicide charge up Mount Mammon: “Open America back up to business”… the business of death. This from a man who did everything in his power to avoid going into battle. Bone spurs, my ass. Some even volunteer for the mission. Zombies. Spiritual zombies. But this order to storm Mount Mammon is only the last of his many coronavirus war crimes. His first coronavirus war crime was committed when he refused to admit, nay, when he out and out lied about the fact that an enemy was at the gates. For weeks. A month. A month and a half. “It’s under control.” “One day it will just be gone. A miracle.” During this period of criminal lying and vile fraud, he allowed the enemy to strengthen its positions outside the gate, resupply its forces, sharpen its blades, and perfect its strategies. This coronavirus war crime was compounded by his refusal to arm his soldiers for combat, killing thousands in the first wave, when soldiers were sent charging up Mount Mammon without the necessary weaponry. No ability to detect the enemy’s positions. No shields. No masks to protect against the virus’ poisonous gases. No triage for its innocent victims. And still, he refuses to arm the troops. Just plans this suicide charge into mammon infamy. If he has such disregard for his own troops, one can only imagine how he feels about other troops. Uh, no, one needn’t imagine it. Make no mistake, his attacks on the WHO, his threats to strip funds from their war effort is not about what they have or have not done in the past. It is about the future. He is currently in a bidding war with the WHO over the services of companies that can be enlisted to assist in the war effort. He wants all their efforts devoted to putting back together all the king’s men. Doesn’t want any wasted effort on saving non-Americans. “America First.” “Don’t care how many Germans, or Italians, or Koreans die, so long as I continue to have my own soldiers whom I can send charging up Mount Mammon to die.” If this isn’t yet another act of a true Anti-Christ, I don’t know what is. Jesus suffered and died that others would not have to suffer and so that death would not have the final say. In Caligula’s world, everyone must die so that he and his fellow black hearted capitalists don’t suffer even the mildest of inconveniences. And wonder of wonders, American “Christians,” having been overcome by this Anti-Christ, continue to love and support this man with the most perverted, sick, and twisted of souls. No, a man who is soulless. A ghoul. But, even this soulless man will die. And I will be there, standing humbly to the side as he stands before the judgment bar of God. I will, as I do today and every day, set aside my humility long enough to raise high my voice in condemnation, offer my own curses against him, bear my solemn witness of his crimes, not only crimes against humanity, but against all that is good and holy. Crimes against the God of Heaven. Happily will I utter, “Amen.” “So let it be” when he is cast into the burning flames of a hell that is far, far too good for him. “And then shall the wicked be cast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth…” (Mosiah 16.2) “They sold the righteous for silver, hoax Sadly, and destructively, all indications are that just as they did in 2008 and 2009, America’s ruling class intend to abandon the working people of America. They intend to sell them out by providing welfare to the higher bidding corporate interests—interests that scream bloody murder and holy hell when individual America’s are given a pittance in welfare assistance. Unfortunately, the immoral selling out of American workers is not a strictly GOP affair. Schumer, Pelosi, and their merry band of Democrat pick-pockets, having joined the GOP raiding party, have demonstrated once more that there is no “left” left in America—and certainly no “radical left.” Oh, if only there were a radical left! If there were, the Democratic controlled house would pass a real relief bill. They would write and pass a leftist bill, rather than trying to go to the center. When the house passes centrists bills, Mitch and his GOP highway bandits push it right during the following negotiations in the Senate until it is far, far too conservative. Wake up, Dems. Pass leftists bills. Then, when you are finished negotiating with Mitch and his gangsters, the bill has a shot at ending up somewhere in the center, not right of center. If there were a “left” left in this country, working Americans would have received more than the pittance that they were given in the stimulus bills passed by congress and signed by Caligula. What pretense! What a sham. What a con job. The fact that this president, the almighty and unholy Caligula, so readily signed the bill is all the evidence one needs to confirm it as a hoax, to use a vocabulary item very much in vogue these days. The thousand or so bucks and modest increases to unemployment are mere crumbs; a slap in the face of working Americans from sea to shining sea. Tokenism of the worst sort. These measures are wholly inadequate to the challenges that working Americans will face over the coming weeks and months. The little checks that Congress cut aren’t going to cut it. To add insult to injury, Americans who are attempting to apply for assistance are finding that the government, having been purposefully and meticulously spoiled and pillaged by the GOP over the past 40 years, is too inept to get the promised money out in a timely fashion. People are worried. Bills are coming due. Caligula and his band of robbers have already taken “life” out of the “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” equation as thousands die needlessly due to the butcher’s corruption and ineptitude in the early stages of the pandemic, including a murderous shortage of tests. Now, with its pitifully inadequate aid package, congress has removed “the pursuit of happiness” from the equation. One might wonder when the next shoe, “liberty,” will drop, but Wisconsin’s forced election in the midst of a pandemic—an election ordered by a supreme court safely adjudicating through video conferencing—suggests that that part of the equation is already under attack Much, much more is needed to fulfil the promise of America: “the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This, rather than the level of corporate profit or CEO salaries, should have been in the past and must become in the future the measure by which the health of “the economy” is judged. What should the “left,” radical or not, have done? What would a government with even a sliver of moral authority have done? What would a country that prides itself on being “a Christian nation” do, immediately and happily? It’s a no brainer. The Bible has already provided the principles to lighten the way, we only need apply them through policy. first—moratorium on mortgage/rent Here, then, is the principle. “At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’s release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land…”[1] Furthermore, “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand;” and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.’”[2] Here is one application. The application of the principles found in these passages will certainly look different today than they might have then. nevertheless, our political leaders must follow the injunction that “Thou shalt open thine hand wide.” In order to follow this divine injunction and live up to the hype of being “a Christian nation,” we should immediately pass legislation to put a halt to all rent and mortgage payment collections. This isn’t anything as “radical” as a Biblical “debt cancelation.” But the “leftist” Biblical principle of debt cancelation does serve as the inspiration for the debt/rent moratorium that will be so desperately needed—needed not just for long-term financial security, but for short-term emotional well-being. Does not, should not the definition of “a good economy” include its contribution to the emotional health of its participants’? Or has the definition fallen so low and become so polluted that unholy mammon is the only consideration and concern. What about the promised “pursuit of happiness”? The application of such Biblical practices could go a long way in confirming our nation as a “Christian,” maybe even a “blessed” nation. Postpone all rent and mortgage payments for the next three months. At the end of three months, reassess, extending the moratorium if needed.[3] Mortgages will eventually be paid in full, their completion only extending a few months beyond that initially contracted. Individuals will not lose their homes by the millions after the crisis has passed, putting more money into the hands of investors who come along and swoop them up for pennies on the dollar. At the same time, rents will be paid in full, in this case, through government vouchers. This will serve to protect some of the most vulnerable citizens in our country. Second--wages A principle, again, from Deuteronomy. And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him…. therefore I command thee this thing to day…. It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee…”[4] The principle? Again, generosity. Not so sure that this generosity thing is legit; that it applies to a survival-of-the-fittest capitalistic system? Well, you are by no means the first to question the legitimacy of generosity “A man… went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them; ‘Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.’ And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, ‘Why stand ye here all the day idle?’ “They say unto him, ‘Because no man hath hired us.’ “He saith unto them, ‘Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.’ “So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, ‘Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.’ And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, ‘These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, and said, ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?’” Jesus shows us what it looks like to be “good.” He makes clear what it means to be a disciple of Christ; what it looks like to be a “Christian nation.” The current system of unemployment benefit and small business loan applications is a disaster. It is too complex. There are too many people waiting in the same line at the same time. Even a hotdog vender knows to avoid this marketing blunder. Individuals and small businesses are not receiving the promised assistance due to such inefficiencies. The solution is as simple as it is logical: reduce the length of the lines. How? Provide all furloughed employees a full income check through their employers. Rather than 15, or 250, or 2,500, or 12,000 individual company employees applying for unemployment benefits, provide individual employers the funds necessary to meet payroll obligations and pay their employees their full paycheck. This shortens the length of the line from millions to thousands, number one, thus assuring more efficiency. Second, it provides workers with the resources needed to live financially and emotionally secure over the course of the pandemic.[5] True, companies will not make the huge profits that they have come to expect. But they will not go in the hole either (Oh, did I mention that legislation should be passed that puts a moratorium on debt collection from businesses as well? No need for business bail outs. The government can assist to keep them solvent, but should not be in the business of maintaining corporate profits or perverted CEO salaries as bills passed to this point have done). watchdogs Just as an international arms control deal requires verification, so too would a bill such as this. Verify. Verify. Verify. In all of this, government agencies will almost certainly utilize banks—though I would prefer to leave them out the loop entirely. In the current crisis, banks are already showing themselves, as they did before, after, and have since the 2008 financial crisis, to be unscrupulous and corrupt. They are uninterested in being public servants, and care not one wit about the welfare of their fellow citizens—I know I talk about them as if they were people, but, remember, the Supreme court in all its wisdom pronounced corporations to be people; a kind of Frankenstein, to my way of thinking. So, if banks must be used, watchdogs, regulators must be put in place in sufficient numbers and with sufficient bite to keep the banks from giving in to their evil and greedy impulses. I could even agree to modest bonus for those companies most compliant and effective at getting money into the hands of those for whom it was dedicated. Given Caligula’s corruption, even if government agencies rather than banks were utilized to dispense funds, serious oversight would be necessary with regulators, watchdogs, and whistleblowers protected from this most unscrupulous of men. In addition, to looking over the shoulder of banks and/or government agencies, regulators need to be looking over the shoulder of every employer to be sure they are dispensing the proper amount of funds in a timely and appropriate manner. Regulators should work in pairs, one regulator with auditing expertise and one auditor that is a worker. The auditor can add up the figures, the worker can assure that his fellow workers are receiving their fare wages. Talk about job creation! And all for a good purpose: to protect the American worker. it isn’t ‘the economy,’ stupid? I have already alluded several times to Thomas Jefferson’s famous line from the “Declaration of Independence.” “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” American culture is obsessed with “the economy,” especially that which can be called “good.” We want a “good economy.” But what does a “good economy” look like? It has come to mean that stock market profits are soaring and unemployment is low, with the second being a distant second in importance. But these are false standards. They are not standards that produce “independence” or that gravitate toward either “life,” or “liberty,” or “the pursuit of happiness.” Individuals can be employed but not make enough to meet their financial obligations. This is not independence, or liberty, or happiness. It is captivity and anxious worry. When millions of Americans live under this cloud of captivity and anxiousness, we do not possess a “good economy” no matter how well the stock market is doing or how low the unemployment numbers are. In such circumstances, the right of the “pursuit of happiness” has been stolen from the worker. Such wages are little more than “slave-wages.” That we have imagined otherwise is an indictment against America’s perverted value system. A good economy is one in which financial worries of honest, hard-working workers are rare. A good economy is one in which workers earn enough to live without captivity and the worry of being able to provide the basic necessities of life (I will not start on the true “good”—the redistribution of wealth). How many times have we heard, how many studies have demonstrated that wealthy people are not happier for their wealth. Once one has enough to cover basic life needs, happiness does not go up with each additional dollar earned or spent. The “pursuit of happiness” has nothing to do with stock portfolios or buy backs. If more money does not mean more happiness, then our definition of a “good economy” is and has been for generations, a false definition. We need representatives in government who understand what a “good economy” actually is. First, it is an economy in which every citizen has access to health care for the betterment of life. It is an economy in which every citizen is free of the economic bondage that comes with wondering and worrying whether they will have enough food to eat, shelter over their head, and other necessities of life. It is an economy in which every citizen can pursue true happiness. This is what a “good economy” means. Once this standard has been met, then have at it. Go gamble in the stock market if you must. But don’t expect us to bail you out of trouble when your bets go bad and the money many comes to collect his pound of flesh. And know this, no how much you may win at the blackjack table won’t make you happy. And it won’t make you free. And it won’t assure you of life. conclusion Texans like to say, “Remember the Alamo.” I say, “Remember the French Chateau.” If the ruling class—economic and political—do not repent, then it will be time for the working poor to rise up and burn their houses down. If politicians do not cease and desist from practicing socialism with American business while they withhold the same benefit from working Americans, then the people must start sharpening the guillotine. These American aristocrats can begin by passing bills that benefit all Americans. If this pandemic has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that it is the working class that keep American running… the nurses, the bus drivers, the store clerks, the trash collectors, etc., etc. It is they, in fact, who are dying of the pandemic while their wealthy fellow citizens hide out in their multimillion dollar mansions on America’s sunny beaches. Working Americans do deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They deserve a better government and better representation than the current horde of GOP and Democrat felons are providing. It’s time these felons straighten up. Otherwise, it will be time to hear another famous saying: “Off with their heads.” [1] Deuteronomy 15.1-4 [2] Deuteronomy 15.7-11 [3] By the way, this is not “self-interest.” I do not have a rent or mortgage payment. [4] Deuteronomy 15.12-15 [5] Again, there is nothing in this for me personally as I have no employer and thus no wage. "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, “These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on earth. These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet…” (DC 76.103-106) If the reader is squeamish about, sensitive to, or offended by strong language, I suggest that they stop reading now, leave this site, and go stick their head in the sand…. maybe watch a nice meaningless Disney movie… for the cry of pain and the howl of rage the reader will witness in this post is louder and deeper than any other expression of pain and rage that has previously found its way onto this site. People of my faith are fasting, again, on this Good Friday, because of the virus. I am sorry. I want the virus gone too. I don’t wish to see one more person—health care worker, surviving family member, or patient—suffer or die due to the virus. But this fasting and prayer feels like the meaningless prayers we offer every time some maniac goes on a killing spree with his assault riffle. Too little too late. Where were you yesterday? I want to ask. What the hell have you been doing? It was action not prayerful words that was needed yesterday, before the damned thing attacked! People of faith should have had their heads out of the sand, their minds on something other than mammon, their actions rather than their prayers and fasting focused on the devastation being wrought by the damnable sorcerers—right wing politicians and their supporting right wing media personalities—who were actively and openly raiding and pillaging the federal government for the benefit of the wealthy until that government “instituted by God” could no longer protect its hapless citizens against a silent, predicted enemy. Now that the enemy has entered our windows, killing our fellow citizens, the rightwing media sorcerers intend to add shit to their vomit. They now ask us to question what our eyes can plainly see. “Several media figures who are sympathetic to the president have started to question the official death toll, claiming it is being distorted for political purposes, by including in the statistics people dying of other causes. “Fox News’s Brit Hume, who has previously tweeted that New York’s ‘fatality numbers are inflated’, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s late-night show on Tuesday to claim that any person with the virus is being counted as a Covid-19 death ‘regardless of what else may be wrong’. Carlson responded by saying, ‘There may be reasons people seek an inaccurate death count,’ adding: ‘When journalists work with numbers, there sometimes is an agenda.’ [I think he just told on himself] “The rightwing radio host Rush Limbaugh, who received the presidential medal of freedom from Trump, previously dismissed Covid-19 as similar to the ‘common cold’ [if the thing not come to pass, he is a false prophet] but changed tack recently to claim: ‘It’s admittedly speculation, but … what if we are recording a bunch of deaths to coronavirus which really should not be chalked up to coronavirus?’”[1] These damnable deceiving white men and despicable human beings, along with their fellow witches and warlocks on the right, are saying things that they know full well are false. They know, these false prophets of Beelzebub, that what they say is false. They know that those counted as having died of the coronavirus would be alive today had they not contracted the virus. They know it. They know that, in fact, the number of those who have died as a result of the virus is HIGHER than the count suggests. They Know it. They Know it. They know it. They know, know, know it, these sorcerers of blackened soul who serve Satan and do his bidding. These lying bastards have, however, managed to do one good thing for me. They have stripped away one blind spot. I have always been adamantly opposed to capital punishment. But now I see that my problem with the death penalty is not the penalty itself. Rather, my problem is with our corrupt legal system’s immoral selection of victims. So, count me all in, if these sorcerers are the first to be strapped into the electric chair and jolted with 20,000 volts of white hot electricity. Or, burnt at the stake… I’m all in on that too. Maybe they should be buried alive in coffins like those found in the following drone footage. Coronavirus deaths are being overcounted, my ass. Any honest person can see from this footage that this is not business as usual, as these foal deviants would have us believe. “Nothing out the ordinary here!” they lie. “Leftist propaganda intended to hurt our dear Messiah,” they falsely proclaim. As completely despicable as this is, it gets worse, still. For, they will pay no price for their delusions. Their acolytes who watch and listen and gorge themselves on the putrid excrement that they discharge will continue to gleefully feast on their filth. And so, I say to and of these damned human viruses who have, do, and, unless stopped, always will spew their Satanic lies, as well to their acolytes who prop them up… to them I say, “Damn you to hell”! Understand you sorcerers of the dark arts, and those of you who worship at their unhallowed feet. When I say, “damn them to hell,” I am not being rhetorical. I mean it. This is my curse pronounced upon you. You had better hope there is no God in heaven who hears the righteous plea that the wicked and their evil machinations come to a screeching halt; for this will be my request to God during my Good Friday fast. “Oh, God. Damn them to hell. Today. Let the plague feed on them. Gnaw at them body and soul. Let their faces grimace, let their teeth grind, let them drown, alone, in their own putrid bodily secretions.” I can hear the shocked and offended response now. “Oh, what a terrible thing to feel and say on Good Friday. What a horrible prayer to offer. This is a day when we should focus on Jesus and his love for us—a love he proved through his most horrific pains and suffering and death.” Indeed. I do see Jesus. I see him up there, nailed to that cruel cross. And I see the men at the foot of the cross. The men who put him there. I see the mob that encouraged them with their support. And I see that such vile specimens of human beings are very much alive today, legislating corruption from congress, arrogantly prancing about in the White House, spewing filth from their chairs on FOX, uttering blasphemous lies from behind their high tech microphones… and the mobs, eating it up. Wizards and witches. Sorcerers, all. Set the pyre on fire. Roast them alive. [1] “Fauci dismisses 'conspiracy theory' of overstated US Covid-19 death toll,” Oliver Milman, the guardian.com “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies… and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Peter 2.1-3). introduction
By now, my love and appreciation for the Psalms is well-known to those who visit this site. There is good reason to accept Luther’s judgement concerning the Book of Psalms. He suggested that it might be “called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible. It is really a fine enchiridion or handbook.”[1] In addition to its encompassing doctrinal content, another of the book’s strengths is that no matter how distant the reader may be from the its origin, it remains, almost miraculously, so readily available for personal application. This, it seems, is particularly true of the King James Bible with its lovely style of translation. While the KJV makes personal application of the Psalms easy, it also, at times, obscures original applications and settings of individual psalms. Psalm 101 is a classic example of the strengths and weaknesses of the KJV’s translation of the Psalms. With the KJV’s “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart,” and “I will not know a wicked person,” an individual can apply the psalm to their private life and commit themselves to a life of personal integrity. The world might be a better place for it. However, the Psalm’s original and near certain public sitz-im-leben is largely obscured for the casual, devotional reader. The original speaker in Psalm 101 is certainly a Jewish king. The setting is public and royal. In the psalm, a king commits himself publicly to principles of good governance. Therefore, as useful and beneficial as the psalm is for effecting personal application and private behavior, it is even more applicable to matters of public policy and governance. This Psalm can serve both the political figure who would lead, and the private citizen who must make choice of candidates. Political figures and the modern electorate can be held to account by how closely they adhere to the principles found in this psalm. The specific commitments to good governance that the king makes in this psalm are high and virtuous. Even a cursory reading of the Hebrew Bible reveals that few if any of Israel’s or Judah’s kings lived up to the high ideals found in this psalm. The Hebrew Bible is a testament to the fact that both kings and the nation’s citizenry were measured by such “standards” as are found in this psalm and that they and it paid a high price for their deviancy. Notwithstanding these past failings, the ideals expressed, and commitments made in this psalm are as valid, even mandatory, today as they were then for the maintenance of a well-functioning society. In this homily, then, we will not only examine the ancient king’s commitment to good governance, but how the principles of good governance can be applied to public policy and good governance in today’s world. This Psalm will be used as another of the Bible’s many “standards” against which we can measure and judge current public officials’, their policies, and their actions, along with those of the electorate. We will measure these modern public officials and the electorate that impower them by this standard, not because we expect said officials and societies to “be Biblical,” but because we expect them to be moral. the king’s person We can profitably divide the psalm into two parts. In the first, verses 1-4, we hear the king’s expectations of himself and the commitment he makes to fulfill them. In the second part, verse 5-8, we hear the king’s expectations and commitments for his administration and its necessary officialdom. He will expect all who work in his administration to be guided and judged by the same divine standards as himself. The king shares his expectations with and makes commitments directly to Yahweh. The king knows exactly what Yahweh wants and expects. The king commits himself to complying with Yahweh’s wishes and expectations. “Permit me to laud fidelity and good governance. Let me, YHWH, speak what is music to your ears.” Among the commitments that the king, himself, makes are the following. He will show fidelity to the citizenry—and thus to God, Himself. He will have purity of motivation, soundness and honesty in action. In governing, he will subjugate all personal desires and stifle all self-aggrandizement. The king promises that he will shun and exorcise every thought, intention, or action that might do harm to the nation as a whole or any of its private citizens. The king knows that the famous adage is true: “the buck stops here.” He knows that he sets the tone; that his administration will take on the aspects of his character. Indeed, generations to come can take on the aspects of his character. No one says it any better than the Book of Mormon’s Mosiah II. “For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed…. Yea, remember king Noah, his wickedness and his abominations, and also the wickedness and abominations of his people.”[2] Here, we wish to call to mind a refrain that we hear over and over in the histories of the Hebrew Bible. Notwithstanding its ubiquity, the refrains import is too often lost on us. Rehoboam “did evil”[3] Abijam “walked in all the sins of his father [Rehoboam].”[4] Ahaziah “did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab, for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.”[5] God “shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.”[6] Nadab “did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father [Jeroboam], and in his sin, wherewith he made Israel to sin.”[7] Baasha “did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.”[8] Omri “walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin…”[9] Ahaziah “did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father [Ahab]… and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.”[10] We could keep going, but you get the point. Kings/political leaders set precedents. Those precedents are followed by those in the respective administrations and by populations at large. So, the king who speaks in Psalm 101 commits himself to good governance both for the good of those he governs and those who officiate in his administration. the king’s administration Having committed his royal self to divine principles of good governance, the king turns his attention to his administration and the government officials who surround him. In verses 5-8, he commits himself to assuring that those who serve in his administration abide by the same divine principles of good governance to which he has committed himself personally. The king will demand that civil servants exercise their power in government with humility, honesty, and justice. Arrogance and self-serving will not be tolerated. Official’s counsel in recommending public policy and governmental actions must be based on honest and open reasoning. There must be no deception in their giving of counsel or in their dealings with citizens. Officials must not attempt to advance themselves or their interests through slandering others. The king will constantly be on the lookout for the most honest citizens, whom he will then recruit into his service. Any public official who will not abide by the divine principles of good governance will immediately be removed from office and lose all power to influence policy or harmfully effect the individual citizen. application for today Perhaps the reader has grown weary of my repetitiveness on this point. If so, I apologize. But I must say it once more. There was a time—a pre-2016 time—when I, having arrived at this stage of the homily, would have written a conclusion and been done with it. In my mind, I would have hoped that the reader would make direct personal application to his or her private and public life, but I would have refrained from trying to do so for them. But, that was then, this is now. Everything has changed post-2016. We no longer have the luxury of basking in the wisdom of scripture while avoiding the, at times, painful introspection that scripture demands. We must, both for self and society, boldly hold the mirror of scripture up to our faces and confront head on the reflection we see there. We must, as God has always intended, allow the word of God to read us, rather than settling for our simply reading it. “… the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”[11] So, what does God see when he looks into the heart of our society? How does scripture read us? And what do we see when we look into the mirror of Psalm 101? I will answer these questions with more questions. I only ask that the reader be honest. How does the occupant of the White House—the man I refuse to call by any name other than the appropriate, Caligula—how does he measure up to the standard established by God and expressed by the Jewish King in Psalm 101? Has he “devoted himself to sound policy”? No! How sound were his coronavirus policies in the early stages of the pandemic? How many citizens will physically die because of his self-concerned deceptions? Does he act out of “pure motives”? Does he give a thought to anyone other than himself? Is he motivated by anything other than self-aggrandizement—he who seems most interested in trumpeting the fact that his press briefings have been getting higher Nielsen ratings as of late than the season finale of “the Bachelor,” while being wholly uninterested in comforting those who are anxiety laden over the pandemic and mourn the loss of loved ones? No! Does he “allow harmful counsel” to have a “settled place” in his administration? Yes! Having welcome the counsel of hateful white nationalist racists in his administration, what kind of harm—life-time psychological damage at a minimum—has he perpetrated upon innocent refugee children fleeing murder, rape, and pillage? How many of their parents has he sent back home to be murdered, never to see or be seen again by grieving children? Need I ask about his relationship with the truth? No! There is no question. It is non-existent. With every breath he takes, he “acts out of deception.” However many citizens the virus may sicken and kill as a result of Caligula’s initial deceptions about its dangers, far, far more have already been sickened, some mortally, by his poor example of incessant lying. “How much iniquity doth one wicked [president] cause to be committed”! And what of his administration? How does it measure up to the Lord’s standard of good governance as depicted in Psalm 101? Has Caligula made any attempt to find, recruit, and enlist honest individuals in his government? No! Rather, he has banished one honest public servant after another from his administration. Truth felling is a death sentence for anyone “serving” (“devouring” would be more apt) in this putrid and corrupt administration. Those with whom he does not catch up, leave of their own volition in droves, unwilling to dirty themselves in the filthy mire he scatters and spews everywhere. Has Caligula made any attempt to find and root out dishonest individuals from his government? Have those in his administration put aside their self-interests to serve the public? No! His is an administration, not of the swamp, but of the cesspool. It is, hands down, the most corrupt administration in America’s long history of corruption. It is a veritable cornucopia of secret combinations, sacrificing the good of the whole for the selfish interest of a few. Dishonesty is rewarded, often with commutations of guilty verdicts and the just punishments that the guilty deserve. We could go on for pages and pages—I have done so all over the pages of this site. But the facts are undeniable. There is no way that Caligula, his administration, or, for that matter, the nation he further pollutes measures up to the divine standard of good governance as found in Psalm 101. It is not even close. Not by a long-shot. No! No! And NO! Sadly, the very people who should know it best—“Christians” of Bible thumping fame—have dove into Caligula’s cesspool head first, eyes wide open, mouths drinking and spewing his filth. conclusion The Book of Psalms is a most extraordinary book. Its devotion to God is limitless. Its ability to speak to the hopes and fears of men and women of all ages and eras is immense. Tens of millions, hundreds of millions, perhaps billions—including the greatest of all, the Lord Jesus Christ—have found its words making their way into their own heart-felt prayers as they have sought to know God and invite him to minister in their individual lives. In our wise use of the Book of Psalms for these important, nay essential devotional purposes, we have sometimes overlooked the profound insights it provides into private and public morality. It has much to say about such matters. In this homily, we have looked at one psalm, the one hundred and first. In it, we have witnessed an ancient Jewish king’s bold act of faith in God as he committed himself and his administration to godly principles of good governance. After briefly cataloging and examining these divine principles, we have, all too briefly, held the mirror of scripture up to ourselves, our nation, and our nation’s leaders, and asked, “What do you see?” “Do we, does it, does he measure up to the Lord’s standards of good governance?” To say that the only possible honest answer—a resounding, “No!”—is disheartening is an understatement of epic proportions. Our deviancy from divine standards approaches suicidal. This is all the more so given the nation’s long and storied history of priding itself as a “Christian” nation. The deviancy, then, with scripture looking us directly in the eye, takes on the air of blasphemy; society’s suicidal rush to destruction: apocalyptic. Indeed, “…it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”[12] If such deviancy does not produce in us tears of sorrow and broken hearts yearning for repentance, it certainly brings tears to a heart-broken God. “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”[13] “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Oh that my head were waters, And mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”[14] “O Lord God, how long wilt thou suffer that such wickedness and infidelity shall be among this people? O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul. O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people.”[15] “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”[16]. [1] Luther’s Works, 35:254 [2] Mosiah 29.17-18 [3] 1 Chronicles 12.14 [4] 1 Kings 15.3 [5] 2 Kings 8.27 [6] 1 Kings 14.16 [7] 1 Kings 14.26 [8] 1 Kings 15. [9] 1 Kings 16.26 [10] 1 Kings 22.52 [11] Hebrews 4.12-13 [12] Revelation 13.7 [13] Matthew 23.37-38 [14] Jeremiah 8.21-9.1 [15] Alma 31.30-31 [16] Psalm 94.1-5 |
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