The Ezra Factor, Part III
Today on my walk I came to a beautiful park I like to frequent, and on the field were a group of boys playing rugby. I sat and enjoyed watching them for a bit, but I noticed something peculiar.
They weren't really trying.
Each team had seven boys, and when one would get the ball to run, the opposing players would make some effort to try to tackle him but if they didn't get any kind of grip to bring him down, the runner easily slithered away and ran for the score. Then they kicked the ball back to the other team, and the same thing ensued: running, followed by half-hearted attempts at tackles. Score. Kick, run, feeble tackle attempt, score. Kick, run, feeble tackle attempt, score.
Also interesting was their attention to the rules. A number of times there was a drop or improper lateral or something of that sort (I am not familiar with the rules of rugby), and everyone was quite keen to point out any infraction or misplay.
What struck me about all this is that it was a kind of metaphor for how I see World inhabitants living their lives as a matter of daily practice. First, go through the motions trying to make sense of everything but in the end, it's all just one good jolly try followed by a good heaving ::sigh:: Second, the law is there to make sure our pathetic lives are kept up to snuff, so at least there's that.
I notice that it seems I'm writing with a bit of a British bent, not because of the new royal's baby about which I could not care any less, but I think it is because I watched Skyfall last night on DVD. Skyfall is the latest James Bond film and to cut right to it: I'd really like my two-and-a-half hours back. What a waste of time. I'd heard from all corners that this was the best Bond of them all, that it had feeling and depth. Pshaw. It was just the same old James Bond dreck as them all.
Now mind you I do like the whole James Bond schtick, but please. The movies themselves are worthless. They are all the same -- same exact formula every time: lots of vehicles being maneuvered and explosives being exploded and women being exploited and firearms being discharged and -- ::yawwwn:: This one was no different, except for one key thing that was worse than any of the others, Daniel Craig in the lead role. I'm thinkin' this is the guy they all think is the latest greatest Bond? You - are - kidding - me. This is an actor with two expressions: Stone emotionless and some goofy attempt to look pleased about every fifth scene. Every other line he said was completely incomprehensible.
Without getting too deep into my scathing review of the film, there was one very interesting part related to The Catholicist Nation premise. This was the speech M gave to a review board of her agency's effectiveness. She pointed out that her relevancy was quite relevant indeed because their enemies are no longer the ones they can go after in the light. The enemies of today are the ones in the shadows. Indeed a very stirring speech about the agency of Cain's legitimacy, and how much more evil the World gets and will be getting.
Naturally the System assembled millennia ago to prosecute such evil must get just as evil.
And this, of course, means utilizing the very best of
Disinformation.
I wanted to mention here that I'd briefly skimmed through that book I'd cited in my latest home page piece, and I wanted to add that while I knew Pacepa was subject to the disinformation himself, I did not know the extent to which he is really an agent of Cain himself using blown cover for cover to augment the disinformation. Ironic, really, but that's how it works. The run-of-the-mill Devout Romanist reads it and thinks, "Good thing Pacepa is now on the side of the good old USA and God and religion and wholesome American truth, justice, and the American way."
This isn't the Kingdom way.
The Kingdom way is the Ezra Factor, something I'd been talking about in my previous two posts. The Ezra Factor, when it is all said and done, is really just Jesus Christ.
I'd recently been thinking about when Jesus faced Pilate. This was essentially the Kingdom facing the World, right there. Pilate asked, "So what's the deal here?" Jesus said very little to anyone during his trials because he knew they were completely outside the presence of God as ordained rulers of evil themselves. They simply would not get any of it. All they know is the World -- as they are supposed to.
But when Jesus spoke during that time, it was definitely meaningful. One thing Jesus declared was that He was the embodiment of truth standing right there in front of him.
Pilate said, "Truth? What's that?" People always think Pilate was making some statement about truth here, and yes, he was, but it wasn't what you think. First Pilate was much more interested in the relevant question to him. It was almost as if he was saying, "'What is truth?' Who cares about that. What I really want to know is, 'Are you a king?'" Pilate could manipulate truth as he pleased, that wasn't an issue. What he was really concerned about was the hard work required to sustain his rule against any usurpers. Jesus' response was a clear statement about the inability of those devoted to the World to see and to hear.
He said, essentially, "The Kingdom has nothing to do with any of this. Those who want Truth, those who truly want to understand and to know me, they will get it."
This is why Jesus is the ultimate end of any question, concern, issue, activity -- anything. If you don't have Jesus, everything is just trying. If you don't have Jesus, everything is kept ordered and balanced by the law, and then we all just chug through life desperate and empty.
We just try.
I'd even say something more, if I may. The truth without meaning presents just as much despair as anything. We could go bananas asking "Is it truthful?" "Is it authoritative?" "Is it rational?" "Is it ascertainable?" "Is it ___?" (Fill in the blank with any of a number of questions people ask to give it their best try to get at meaning.)
What's the real question? Once again, here it is. It is very simple.
"Is it righteous?"
In other words, does it have God in it, and is it about our relationship with Him, and does it get deep into how our relationship with Him is one of worship and furthermore one of knowing how to love my neighbor as He tells me I should?
How much disinformation is there out there telling us how Caesar can do all that for us! No wonder so many are so screwed up, excuse me. Even the best looking Christians, being dutifully Catholicist, working working working it...
Again, just trying. Just trying trying trying, all life is, just one good try.
How hard to homosexualists are trying to get the law on their side, to get everyone to endorse lawful regulation of their desires. By the World all of this may be perfectly fine. The disinformation takes so many different forms to aid Caesar in keeping people's sin from wiping out everyone. Yeah, perfectly legitimate in every way.
But then I think about the Kingdom, and in Ezra the prohibition against marrying women from other nations. This wasn't some draconian bigotry against interracial marriage -- this was a call for people to live purely by the Kingdom. Those marriages firmly girded beliefs and practices which made the Israelites idolaters, and really, that may be perfectly fine for the World -- after all it doesn't really matter: You have your god and I have mine and let's all just get along.
I think about what most World devotees do when looking at that last statement -- indeed when they look at most of what's written here. How intolerant. How narrow-minded. How religiously oppressive.
I understand though.
People who keep trying and trying and trying and trying will never understand. As Jesus said a number of times quoting the Old Testament, as Paul did too in his letters... "They have ears but do not hear. They have eyes but do not see."
They simply will not get to The Meaning.
They weren't really trying.
Each team had seven boys, and when one would get the ball to run, the opposing players would make some effort to try to tackle him but if they didn't get any kind of grip to bring him down, the runner easily slithered away and ran for the score. Then they kicked the ball back to the other team, and the same thing ensued: running, followed by half-hearted attempts at tackles. Score. Kick, run, feeble tackle attempt, score. Kick, run, feeble tackle attempt, score.
Also interesting was their attention to the rules. A number of times there was a drop or improper lateral or something of that sort (I am not familiar with the rules of rugby), and everyone was quite keen to point out any infraction or misplay.
What struck me about all this is that it was a kind of metaphor for how I see World inhabitants living their lives as a matter of daily practice. First, go through the motions trying to make sense of everything but in the end, it's all just one good jolly try followed by a good heaving ::sigh:: Second, the law is there to make sure our pathetic lives are kept up to snuff, so at least there's that.
I notice that it seems I'm writing with a bit of a British bent, not because of the new royal's baby about which I could not care any less, but I think it is because I watched Skyfall last night on DVD. Skyfall is the latest James Bond film and to cut right to it: I'd really like my two-and-a-half hours back. What a waste of time. I'd heard from all corners that this was the best Bond of them all, that it had feeling and depth. Pshaw. It was just the same old James Bond dreck as them all.
Now mind you I do like the whole James Bond schtick, but please. The movies themselves are worthless. They are all the same -- same exact formula every time: lots of vehicles being maneuvered and explosives being exploded and women being exploited and firearms being discharged and -- ::yawwwn:: This one was no different, except for one key thing that was worse than any of the others, Daniel Craig in the lead role. I'm thinkin' this is the guy they all think is the latest greatest Bond? You - are - kidding - me. This is an actor with two expressions: Stone emotionless and some goofy attempt to look pleased about every fifth scene. Every other line he said was completely incomprehensible.
Without getting too deep into my scathing review of the film, there was one very interesting part related to The Catholicist Nation premise. This was the speech M gave to a review board of her agency's effectiveness. She pointed out that her relevancy was quite relevant indeed because their enemies are no longer the ones they can go after in the light. The enemies of today are the ones in the shadows. Indeed a very stirring speech about the agency of Cain's legitimacy, and how much more evil the World gets and will be getting.
Naturally the System assembled millennia ago to prosecute such evil must get just as evil.
And this, of course, means utilizing the very best of
Disinformation.
I wanted to mention here that I'd briefly skimmed through that book I'd cited in my latest home page piece, and I wanted to add that while I knew Pacepa was subject to the disinformation himself, I did not know the extent to which he is really an agent of Cain himself using blown cover for cover to augment the disinformation. Ironic, really, but that's how it works. The run-of-the-mill Devout Romanist reads it and thinks, "Good thing Pacepa is now on the side of the good old USA and God and religion and wholesome American truth, justice, and the American way."
This isn't the Kingdom way.
The Kingdom way is the Ezra Factor, something I'd been talking about in my previous two posts. The Ezra Factor, when it is all said and done, is really just Jesus Christ.
I'd recently been thinking about when Jesus faced Pilate. This was essentially the Kingdom facing the World, right there. Pilate asked, "So what's the deal here?" Jesus said very little to anyone during his trials because he knew they were completely outside the presence of God as ordained rulers of evil themselves. They simply would not get any of it. All they know is the World -- as they are supposed to.
But when Jesus spoke during that time, it was definitely meaningful. One thing Jesus declared was that He was the embodiment of truth standing right there in front of him.
Pilate said, "Truth? What's that?" People always think Pilate was making some statement about truth here, and yes, he was, but it wasn't what you think. First Pilate was much more interested in the relevant question to him. It was almost as if he was saying, "'What is truth?' Who cares about that. What I really want to know is, 'Are you a king?'" Pilate could manipulate truth as he pleased, that wasn't an issue. What he was really concerned about was the hard work required to sustain his rule against any usurpers. Jesus' response was a clear statement about the inability of those devoted to the World to see and to hear.
He said, essentially, "The Kingdom has nothing to do with any of this. Those who want Truth, those who truly want to understand and to know me, they will get it."
This is why Jesus is the ultimate end of any question, concern, issue, activity -- anything. If you don't have Jesus, everything is just trying. If you don't have Jesus, everything is kept ordered and balanced by the law, and then we all just chug through life desperate and empty.
We just try.
I'd even say something more, if I may. The truth without meaning presents just as much despair as anything. We could go bananas asking "Is it truthful?" "Is it authoritative?" "Is it rational?" "Is it ascertainable?" "Is it ___?" (Fill in the blank with any of a number of questions people ask to give it their best try to get at meaning.)
What's the real question? Once again, here it is. It is very simple.
"Is it righteous?"
In other words, does it have God in it, and is it about our relationship with Him, and does it get deep into how our relationship with Him is one of worship and furthermore one of knowing how to love my neighbor as He tells me I should?
How much disinformation is there out there telling us how Caesar can do all that for us! No wonder so many are so screwed up, excuse me. Even the best looking Christians, being dutifully Catholicist, working working working it...
Again, just trying. Just trying trying trying, all life is, just one good try.
How hard to homosexualists are trying to get the law on their side, to get everyone to endorse lawful regulation of their desires. By the World all of this may be perfectly fine. The disinformation takes so many different forms to aid Caesar in keeping people's sin from wiping out everyone. Yeah, perfectly legitimate in every way.
But then I think about the Kingdom, and in Ezra the prohibition against marrying women from other nations. This wasn't some draconian bigotry against interracial marriage -- this was a call for people to live purely by the Kingdom. Those marriages firmly girded beliefs and practices which made the Israelites idolaters, and really, that may be perfectly fine for the World -- after all it doesn't really matter: You have your god and I have mine and let's all just get along.
I think about what most World devotees do when looking at that last statement -- indeed when they look at most of what's written here. How intolerant. How narrow-minded. How religiously oppressive.
I understand though.
People who keep trying and trying and trying and trying will never understand. As Jesus said a number of times quoting the Old Testament, as Paul did too in his letters... "They have ears but do not hear. They have eyes but do not see."
They simply will not get to The Meaning.
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