“ … The most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression, supported and urged on and upheld by the influence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the children, and filled the world with confusion, and has been growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity…. which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy” (DC 123.7, 10). Willfully ignoring Caligula’s clearly articulated intents, motives, and hatreds for all things Muslim, this week’s SCOTUS decision concerning Caligula’s Muslim ban is yet another abomination in a long list of recent SCOTUS abominations. Of course, the decision is consistent with a familiar, oft-repeated American abomination. Notwithstanding Lady Liberty’s call for all the “huddled masses,” “wretched refuse,” and “homeless, tempest tossed,” we are an unwelcoming nation: Irish, Italian, Greek, Jew, Catholic. Latino, and Muslims; racist white America has decried the entrance and presence of them all—white Americans would have decried the entrance of Africans if they hadn’t brought them here and, like Egypt of old, enslaved them for their own personal and ethnic profit (It worked, too. America became great through its vile use of slave labor. Perhaps this is what Caligula means by “Make America Great Again.”) It is no accident that one of the most virulent periods of American hateful bigotry came during our last Gilded Age of the late 19th, early 20th century. Such hate is not only about ethnic hatred and racist bigotry. It is equally the bastard child of avarice and greed. Americans are always as concerned to protect their personal idolatrous materialism as to protect their “religion”—oh, wait, their materialism is their religion. Speaking of religion… God must certainly be a big fan of irony, for they abound. How can it be that so many traditional “Christians,” and non-tradition “Christians,” such as Mormons, insensate to their own past experiences with religious bigotry—whether being used as lion meat in the circus or being driven out of Zion and into the deserts of Utah—continue to be Caligula’s most loyal crowd? Too many of these “Christians” stand at the forefront of America’s structural and systemic religious oppression of Muslims. Like ancient Israelites before them, they have not remembered that they too were once hated, oppressed, and enslaved. They have forgotten that they are called to resist oppression and to never, never do to others what others have done to them. How can it be that so many Mormons stand, politically speaking, shoulder to shoulder with an American “Christianity” that was, in Mormonism’s very first revelation, already condemned as an abomination? They will, no doubt, rejoice with the emperor and their “Christian” brethren from the “Christian Wrong Wing” when yet another supreme court jurist is ensconced to further carry out the mad and violent oppression that flows through the American legal system. What makes such Mormons think that American “Christianity,” whose doctrines are an abomination before God, are any better in their views of social policy and politics today than they were in their theological and ethical principles then? No, this is a most unfortunate and dangerous alliance. It is something beyond irony to understand that those same Mormons who throw their lot in with the abomination called “American Christianity,” and with Caligula’s unholy medieval-style crusade against Islam (and every other “Other), will almost certainly be the next victim of the “Christian Wrong Wing.” For even though so many Mormons seek so desperately to be “Christian” like unto all the other “Christians,” their “Christian” allies will announce them heretics, just as they did the first generations of Mormons. Insensate to their past, too many Mormons are blind to their future. Finally, how ironic that SCOTUS should uphold Caligula’s crusade against Muslims, and that the Emperor should continue his blasphemous war on immigrant families just as the nation hypocritically celebrates its “Independence Day.” It is all almost too much to take in. How can it all be? It is all, sadly, too ironic. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And upon my house shall it begin [is the “it,” “darkness” or “desolation”?], and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; first among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord” (DC 112.23-26).
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And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, It’s been nearly two years. It is high time that Therump’s people stop using Hillary to excuse their continued support of the current scoundrel-in-chief. Hillary isn’t president. She’s history. He is the present. He is the Emperor President. Today, I simply provide a healthy dose of reality and truth. There is simply no mistaking Caligula for what he is. He is, as I have written recently, an infidel. Of course, by naming the man, “Caligula,” I have been saying just this since his shameful election in 2016. If “infidel” seems too strong, please consider the following. In teaching his people, King Benjamin warned, “And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them” (Mosiah 4.29). Be honest now. How many sins can you name that he has not committed? I am not joking when I say that, however many varieties of sin there are, Caligula has, as far as I can tell, sampled nearly every one of them. Many of them are part of his regular, everyday diet of sin. Identifying them isn’t even sport. They are obvious for all to see. It is simply impossible for any honest, thinking person—to say nothing of “Christian”— to think and conclude otherwise. However obvious it is, still his people remain loyal. I have opined before that this has more to do with his people than him. Their loyalty is not really to him but to themselves. The insecurity of his people, though perhaps miniscule compared to the legion of insecurities of the man, nevertheless make it impossible for them to confess their damnable blunder in electing him. To turn away from him is to condemn themselves and call into question their “inspiration and discernment.” Anyway, while the ways to sin are, as Benjamin declares, innumerably divers, we are provided with a kind of “short list” of sins. Perhaps his people have heard of it. It’s called the Ten Commandments. I thought it might be instructive to place Caligula’s attitudes and actions up against the “Ten Commandment Standard” and see how he fairs. You will excuse me if, while examining this unexamined life, I have a little fun with the examination along the way. Otherwise, I might just be brought to tears and dragged into deep depression and despair, for it is difficult to see any light at the end of this dark tunnel our society has willingly and willfully entered. So, in Biblical order: 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. You tell me. Is God numero uno in Caligula’s life? Nothing could be clearer than that Caligula comes first in Caligula’s mind. Like his namesake, Emperor Caligula is, in his mind, God. Consistent with the narcissism that possesses him—I was going to say, “the narcissism from which he suffers,” but, whatever his sickness costs the rest of us, his narcissism causes him no personal discomfort—it is clear that Therump, loving and putting himself above all others, thinks of nothing and no one but himself, thus evincing a breach of this first commandment. 2. 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…. It the gold and silver and marble palaces—known in Caligula’s world as towers, hotels, casinos, and resorts—do not have the substance of an idol, then no idol has ever made an appearance on planet earth. He clearly worships at the false idol of wealth, power, prestige—the lusts of the flesh. 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain…. To be honest, this saying probably has little to do with vulgar language. Good thing too. Otherwise, Therump would have to be called the master of taking the name of the Lord in vain. Really, now, has any American politician, let alone one who has inhabited 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, ever publicly exhibited a fouler mouth than this man? But, more to the point of the command, has any president ever surrounded himself with and encouraged more sycophant propaganda from “Christian” clergymen; clergymen who blasphemously proclaim him to be one of God’s chosen vessels? Now THAT’S taking the name of the Lord in vain. With GUSTO! 4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Well, what do you think? Seen him at church lately? Ever? Seen him living the spirit of the command by acting in ways that demolish oppression (see Deuteronomy 5.12-15)? But, I have been assured many times by many a golf enthusiast that spending a relaxing Sunday morning out in nature following a little white ball is a form of rest, relaxation, and spiritual renewal. So, if the man even knows a thing called “the Sabbath” exists, I guess he observes a kind of sabbath, though not one that can be called “the Lord’s.” 5. Honour thy father and thy mother… Well, by golly, look at that! It seems that Caligula actually does this one very well. He faithfully imitates his father’s racist bigotry and contempt for the vulnerable. 6. Thou shalt not kill. This one is a bit tricky. He is no more or less guilty in using the nation’s vaunted and over-hyped military to kill many, many innocents than his Democratic predecessor. But people are dying as the result of his policies. Thus, his ill-begotten policies are killing people. They will, no doubt, continue to do so at an accelerating rate. That said, I am not aware of his having used his own bare hands to kill anyone or use his own money to buy a hitman. But, just to be safe… we should probably take his boast seriously and so keep him off 5th Ave street corners. 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Oh come on! Anyone can make a mistake… a couple of dozen times by his own count and “confession” on several broadcasts of Bro. Stern’s radio show. Sometimes he’s paid for the pleasure beforehand, sometimes he’s purchased his partner’s silence afterwards. And he will not have us under any delusion that he regrets or repents of his multitudinous whoremongering. Oh no. It is to be boasted of. Why, Caligula can’t even think of anything he has done wrong for which he has need to repent! What name do we give to that sin of blind ignorance, I wonder? 8. Thou shalt not steal How many lawsuits has this notoriously dishonest and unethical man settled with business associates—at least those who resisted his godfather like threats—whom he swindled? Oh, and the jury is still out on whether his Russian mobster buddies helped him steal the election. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour Oh my. Where do we even begin? But to be fair, those against whom he has falsely spoken can hardly be called neighbors. I mean Barack Obama was from Kenia, for crying out loud… more jihadist than neighbor, that. Seriously, though, who has ever unleashed more falsehoods about others than this liar-in-chief? 10. 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. Well, he reminded us on his wild ride with Billy Bush that he covets more than asses. In fact, Caligula covets just about anything that is his neighbor’s. If you don’t believe me, just read his book—actually, don’t read it. The avarice that is evident on every page will have you wanting to take a shower. So, there you have it. He is, as he would have us think of him, nearly perfect. He is a near perfect 9 for 10. He is almost perfect at breaking the Lord’s most basic standard of thought, word, and action. Just saying. Of course, the man hasn’t tried to get an abortion or marry another man, so I guess he must be ok… not!. And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man? And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has lied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain” (Mosiah 12.13-14). “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” (2 Corinthians 6.15) There was a time when I looked for and took advantage of every opportunity to teach and preach. Now I look for excuses not to, passing up one invitation after another with the flimsiest of excuses. I really don’t know what to say to them anymore. What do I say to Mormons who voted for Caligula at a 60% clip? What do I say to Mormons whose support of the emperor tops any polled “Christian” group? (They seem determined to grant Caligula’s hope that “his people” will be as loyal to him as Kim’s people.) How do I think of such a population as “righteous” or “godly”? How do I preach at-one-ment with God and assure them of Father’s acceptance and approval as borne witness to by Christ? I find that I can’t. I am just not limber enough for it. They can’t be one with Caligula and one with God. It is simply impossible. “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” Do I cry out against them, then? Call them to repentance? Do from the lectern or the pulpit what I do on this site? Nope. They won’t hear of being wrong in their support of the anti-Christ, Caligula. As I have said elsewhere, in their delusion that their decisions are directed by the Spirit, to admit that they were and are wrong to support this evil little man, is to question their being led by the spirit. This is unthinkable. They are stuck. They will have to support him, as they supported Nixon before him, the Vietnam War, the anti-civil rights movement, the anti-gay rights movement (have they ever been on the right side of a social issue?) to the bitter end. They will, no doubt, find some justification for supporting him after he has shot someone on 5th Ave. I sat in a Sunday School class recently in which I was informed how important it was to teach youth “how to act” upon the principles we teach so that they can be truly obedient. Such instruction needs to be very precise and detailed we were informed. Apparently, being godly is a very, very tricky business, only available to those who have painstaking knowledge of the most minute kind. “Righteousness” and “obedience” requires, it turns out, a good deal of knowledge. Simple, common sense decency counts for little. What I really learned, or re-learned is that Mormonism is inclined to drift into Gnosticism. Righteousness is about knowing minutia and acting legalistically in response to the minutia. This goes some way in explaining Mormons’ support of the patently evil Caligula. While they support Therump as he harms tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of people the globe over, they can call themselves righteous because they know how to submit a tithing payment, or know how to use all the proper archaic pronouns in prayer, or endure sitting on their butts for three hours of meetings on Sunday, etc., etc., etc. Righteous becomes divorced from real—and simple—matters involving how others are treated. It just doesn’t matter how enthusiastically the speak about or how skillfully they practice their meaningless Gnosticism, I can’t call them godly. Of course, they will yell bloody murder: abortion… gay marriage. I really will need to tackle these phony boogey men at some point. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23.23-24). “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies…. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them…” (Revelations 13.5-7). Apparently, it is not enough for America to continue its crazed and violent aggression across the entire globe. Having popped into his frenzied little mind, another vain and vile vision has burst from the twisted lips of the Emperor Caligula. Arrogantly asserting with the typical American psychosis of entitlement that “we must dominate space,” the Perversion, TheRump, wishes to carry our insane warmongering into space. Like Nimrod of old, this disciple-in-chief of the Great Red Dragon wishes to make a name for himself by defiling the heavens themselves with yet more human violence. Watch out universe, here comes the planet of apes, with its orange haired orangutan leading the tribe’s self-destructive charge, “Christian” soldiers, no doubt, filling out the front ranks. …Behold, a continual scene of wickedness and abominations has been before mine eyes ever since I have been sufficient to behold the ways of man” (Mormon 2.18). Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18.10). Millstones. We need millstones. Thousands of them. Tens and tens of thousands of them. Hang them around the neck of The rump, Caligula, child-molester-in-chief. Hang them around the necks of those who support him, including his apostate “Christian” supporters.” Hang them around the necks of those in his administration who advise and act upon the current Satanic immigration policies. Hang them around the necks of every single one of his brown-shirted, jack-booted thugs working on the borders. Hang a millstone around every one of these kidnapping child-abusers. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18.6). “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6.11-12). During his administration, President Obama, uncharacteristically for the world’s greatest individual arms dealer of all time, suspended the sale of over $500m worth of military munitions to Saudi Arabia because of their immoral and inhumane attacks on Yemen—often attacking civilians. Caligula’s administration requested that the Senate reverse the suspension. “The US Senate,” writes a guardian journalist, “narrowly approved that sale, in a vote of 53 to 47, almost handing [Caligula] an embarrassing defeat”[i] So, just to be clear, in the world that America has created, whenever it is unable to further weaponize a planet already flooded with weapons of mass destruction (and thus further enrich a murderous military industrial complex), it is to be seen as an “embarrassing defeat.” What devilish perversion this is! The real embarrassment is that the pathetic nation that calls itself the world’s only superpower is unembarrassed by their murderous and gross profit-making scheme through arms sales of any kind. But in the topsy-turvy ass-backward world America has created with Satanic precision, there is boasting rather than lamentation when God’s creation is further defiled with her damnable weapons of mass destruction. “[Caligula], along with Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, who played a major role in negotiating parts of the agreement [$110 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia over 10 year], were quick to claim credit for a massive arms deal that would boost the US economy.”[ii] What a devilish way to “boost economies”! How, in God’s name, can there be any doubt in anyone’s mind about how the God of Heaven feels about this perverted and twisted logic? As always, we proclaim particularly against America’s so-called Christians who stand as champions of such perverse rebellion against the Holy One! They of all people should know better than any what this is: BLASPHEMY. [i] Mohamad Bazzi, “The War in Yemen is Disastrous. America is Only Making Things Worse,” theguardian.com. [ii] Ibid. Come! Let’s go up to Yahweh’s mountain; “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18.4-5). Having learned all the wrong lessons from the Second World War, America has since then conducted itself on the foreign stage in the most arrogant and bellicose manner. We have acted the violent bully—with all the insecurity, small-mindedness, and lack of imagination bullying evinces. We have by nearly any measure become the modern version of the ancient unholy Roman Empire. Now, we have a small minded little ass of a man in the presidency to match the character of the country. Since his election, I have called him by the name, Caligula—a small concession on my part, for calling him by this name is far, far too kind. Whereas the general populace might have at one time feigned ignorance about America’s rapacious tyranny abroad, it can no longer do so. The hubris of our capricious little Caligula is daily on full display for all to see. Still, and as always, he is supported most forcefully by those who falsely call themselves Christians. As just one of many examples, “A January Gallup poll found that Trump’s approval among Mormons had risen [risen!!!!] to 61%, higher than any other religious group surveyed, and 13 points higher than among the next group, comprising Protestants and others” (Jeremy Miller, “Why do so many Mormons back Trump? Some say it's about the land,” the guardian) No longer content with being fed to the lions to inherit the kingdom of God, “Christians,” including, sadly and ominously, those of the Mormon variety, happily sacrifice all “others” to Bel in order to inherit a world crafted by the prince of darkness. They have, like the world’s first murderous tyrant, concluded that they are not their brothers keeper; that one only has to murder to get gain; and that no world inherited by the meek is worth having. Some wonder about the tenaciousness of “Christian” support for such a defiled man as Caligula. But no one who has lived in the box should be surprised. Having been “moved upon by the Spirit,” to vote for the foul man in the first place, to reject him now is to do more than reject him. It is to call into question and expose as a lie their own “spirit-directed” lives. This, they cannot do. They cannot acknowledge their error and have no stomach for repentance. The “righteous,” after all, need no repentance. “No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’” (Jeremiah 8.6) I remember sitting in front of the TV and watching the twin towers, for many a symbol of American’s hubristic oppression, crash and burn. I distinctly remember the feeling that came over me: “The world will never be the same.” I realized in those moments that the world would never be good again. The spiraling badness would be the result of the gross evil of that act on that single day, and the longer, equally gross evil of America’s presumptuous response. I felt on election eve, and feel now, something similar. This nation and the presidency will never be same. There is no going back. The American addict is hooked on the gross and course vulgarity that is the Caligulan world view. They cannot acknowledge their error and have no stomach for repentance. The “righteous,” after all, need no repentance. It is, as Jeremiah laments, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, Neither could they blush” (Jer. 8.6). “Come, Lord Jesus, before it is too late. “Behold, thou knowest the wickedness of this people; thou knowest that they are without principle, and past feeling….” (Moroni 9.20). |
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