When I was a kid, I used to consider myself very lucky indeed that I was born in Pa., in the United States of America, and not ANYWHERE else on earth. Seeing the pictures of the kids in Africa with the flies all over their faces, the kids in war ravaged places on earth, or just French boys who had to wear knickers and berets, filled me with pity for them. Poor buggers they were.
Yeah, we sure are lucky to live here. Land of the free and all.
The other day I was wasting more of my life by reading news and stuff online, and I came across a story of a Christian pastor who was arrested In Iran, "tried", and sentenced to death for apostasy.
He was offered the option to convert back to Islam, in order to gain his freedom and his life, but he refused (what profit is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?", comes to my mind...)
Anywho, the christian community in this country is all kinds of upset, and rightfully so, because its just not right for someone to be put to death because of what faith he professes. Yes, I GET the irony of Christians saying that......but its lost on the new church.
So the other day I heard a very reasonable sounding woman preacher-type on the radio say "that its telling of the whole Iranian regime to have this kind of persecution going on in that country in this day and age". She also said that we americans don't have to deal with ANYTHING like what Christians in Iran and other places Like China and N. Korea do. WE have freedom to live and express our faith.
America and all. We don't do ANYTHING like rounding up citizens and locking them up and charging them (or not charging them) with ridiculous trumped up sillyness and not even allow them legal representation or due process ar ANYTHING like that.
Naaaah. Not in America.
Maybe we did that to some of those muslim extremest enemy combatants we encountered in backwards corners of the earth that our military went to in order to protect US here safe at home. But THOSE people DESERVED to get rounded up and not charged. And sent to Guantanamo. Indefinitely. Why heck, THEY get 3 squares a day and prayer rugs there and they even have air conditioning. What MORE could they want!?!?!
We don't do that to OUR citizens anyways. Even if they DO deserve it.. ......um........
Here's a great little video of a guy thats no longer on television. Probably for doing stories like this one. Judge Andrew Napolitano.
He talks about a little bitsy law recently passed and signed by Obama(and the republicans TOO, for all you yankee doodle dandies out there). A law that gives our government the right to do exactly what we now do to "enemy combatants" when we encounter and capture them on battlefields overseas, except it gives the government of the United States the "right" to do the same thing, to American citizens, here in America the land of the free.
All they need is a good REASON to do so.
You know, like..............well, watch the video because you wouldn't believe me if I said it anyways. At least maybe Judge Napolitano has some weight. In his words I mean.
Getting back to the Pastor sentenced to death in Iran.......
Christians especially, from what I've heard of them speaking on radio news and shows recently, have pointed out "that there are STILL places on earth where people, mainly christians, are persecuted for their Faith".
Horrible to think about, suffering and choices like that.
OUR government is tolerant and is even largely consisting of faith proclaiming members. We don't have ANYTHING like that to face.
Right? Right.
Do you know how Christianity became to be, in Ancient Rome? Well, it "came to be", because the gospel and the faith, just spread like the wildfire it is, way back then. Word of mouth, so to speak. The Roman gov't wasn't too accomodating to the faith, or the faithful. Seems that this new belief called "the Movement" went against everything that was established as a belief system in Rome at the time. So, Rome rounded up anyone claiming to be a Christian, and made a ticket selling spectacle out of their "punishment".
Christians were killed, tortured, slaughtered, fed to animals, murdered with and in front of their families........... all kinds of neat entertaining stuff. To the cheers of large crowds, I might add.
Then something happened. Rome noticed that the more Christians they killed, the more believers they had to torture and kill. That may sound like a win/win to an average bottom line thinking individual, but it didn't work out that way. The reason for killing and torturing was to discourage people from believing in this NEW God, and to keep them in the OLD system of gods and stuff.
What the powers that be were doing, was having the oppposite effect, and even the gods were mad about all this.
So Rome (constantine) did what any reasonable thinking person in charge would have done. He co-opted the faith. He took christianity, Jesus, and merged it with everything that was the faith of ancient Rome at the time. All the ancient gods of Babylon that Rome placed above themselves, became the NEW "christian" religion. Only the names have been changed to confuse the innocent. It was all downhill from there.
And, it worked.
A quiet, unrebellious, pacified, safe-feeling populous, is a managable populous, I always say.
Give em what they want, is a good motto when trying to appease the masses.
Just make sure its YOU who's deciding what THEY want.
At least they didn't have to worry about being fed to hyenas in the arena anymore...........
At least they weren't THAT guy..............
Americans all across the country are going to go to church this morning and thanking GOD that they live in the land of the free and they are all going to pray for the brave servicemen overseas who are protecting our way of life here in the land of the free........
And they will do so with NO fear of persecution whatsoever from our government here.
Just like the way they did in Rome.
Read this. Its called Mark's Twain's prayer for war.
It was DIFFERENT for Twain though. Hard to call one of the sides the good guys, cuz then you had to call the OTHER side.......well, the bad guys. Its SOOO much easier when the BAD guys do things like hang people for being CHRISTIAN and all. Good guys and bad guys make a much neater and easier to support, war.
Just like in ancient Rome, we in America have a religion that we live our lives with and for, and we do it with the blessing and under the guidelines of the U.S. government. That religion isn't christianity nor does it have anything to do with God or gods, per se.
And JUST like in ancient Rome, we believe and follow the procedures and traditions of the religion, because we are told it is true, correct, and good to do so.
And, being officially sanctioned and "accepted" as the religion of the state, its not only smart to believe this way, it'll keep you from becoming "that guy" in the court of public and gov't opinion.
Constantine went "VOILA!" (or whatever fancy shmancy word they used in ancient rome) and invented a whole new religion, with complicated and intertwined procedures and hoop jumpin to be carried out by the believers therein.
The new believers in that church, did and believed what they were told. Some Im sure, to keep from ending up as kittyfood for the lions in the colleseum. Some did, just because thats what people do. They believe what they're told, for the most part, by people in positions of authority.
I talked about this in another previous ranting involving the Jews in the Warsaw ghettos in WW2. Even after being herded into the ghetto with ALL remnants of their previous freedoms and life stripped away, they STILL couldn't believe that the German gov't would KILL them, just because. People just dont want to believe whats not nice to believe.
Our religion, in the United States Of America, is the united states of america.
We believe and do, exactly as we are told to believe and do, because we just do. It doesn't matter how preposterous or insane what we are told, we believe because we are told to.
Contrary facts or opinions interjected into our belief system by others from within or without, are met with cries of "HERESY!"
It used to be that bucking the church of america would get you labeled a kook, a paranoid delusional wacko, and while that wasn't exactly fun, its not as bad as what COULD face ......um......them, now.
The drums of war are beating and hardly a talking head on tv or radio isn't beating them with great fervor. Iran is being made to look as bad if not worse than the monsters in Egypt, Lebanon, and now syria.
We are being told at every turn that Iran is a rouge radical government who is a great threat to america the free, and worse than that, they are primarily responsible for the rising price of gasoline!!!! Syria is just another despot (U.S. placed sancioned and approved) run country whos time has come for a good ole red white and blue drone inspired, cleansing. You know. Like the way we purged Libya. and Egypt.
Iran, we are told, is the worsest of the worst. And the threatingly threatingliest. Or even worse.
Yuh-huh. Just turn on the tv.
And kneel down in front of your tv and say three hail troopers and 4 our soldiers who art in heaven.........
You will see the light.
Let the games begin.......
Amen and amen.
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