The coming world-ruling Thērion and you, Part I

by
Will Trump have a role in creating the Therion?

In a world increasingly dominated by disinformation, a rising threat of unthinkable thermonuclear war, conflict piled upon conflict, and loss of key societal freedoms, is it even possible to think of thoughts and expectations for peace? As Americans withdraw from a stabilizing global benefactor into self-serving protectionism, anxieties and fears soar across the planet.
(Foreign Affairs)

In central Europe, screeching missiles shatter infrastructure and tranquility and innocents suffer brutally. In the Middle East, destructive military rockets crisscross multiple countries, as cell phones explode in the hands of militants, triggering panic and elevating already-high misery. A very real threat of superpower conflict smolders in the 81-mile-wide strait between mainline China and Taiwan, the latter a hyper-critical global economic linchpin.

As a new Presidential administration appears to foment chaos, upending order in the name of progress, Foreign Affairs magazine leads with coverage detailing “The Strange Triumph of a Broken America.”

What is the hope – at the least the short-term hope – of the world?

Read more

How would you answer?

by
Are you a good judge of character - a view from the Indianapolis Community Justice campus.

The defense attorney unexpectedly looked me straight in the eye.

“Juror Number Eight, are you a good judge of character?”

Are you a good judge of character - a view from the Indianapolis Community Justice campus. https://indycjc.com/
(Seeking the Way photo)

How would you have answered?

I was sitting in the jury box in a courtroom high up in the gleaming new Community Justice Campus in Indianapolis. It was not a place where I would have chosen to be, except that I had received the yellow Summons for Jury Service postcard a few weeks earlier, ordering me to appear as a prospective juror.

Read more

Live Differently – Abide

by

What does “abide” have to do with living successfully in an anxiety-saturated, hope-sapped world?  What’s the pathway – what should be our focus?

Here’s a vital directive that can help us. It was given to us some 2,000 years ago on possibly the darkest night of the physical universe. Just hours before His gruesome death and ultimate sacrifice, our Savior and Elder Brother, Jesus Christ the Messiah, provided this deeply personal and powerful imperative command.

His directive is heightened by the fact that he was in full possession of the facts. He knew full well what was about to happen to Him, and, as the Bible records, it troubled Him. But His focus was elsewhere, like ours needs to be.

While Jesus knew he would soon experience searing pain, humiliation and death, he had been given a remarkably special gift.

What was that gift?

In Hebrews 1, verse nine, we read something that sometimes gets read right over. Quoting Psalm 45:6-7, we read from the New Living Translation, “You [referring to Jesus Christ] love justice and hate evil.
Therefore…your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else”

We may not think of Jesus Christ being a joy-filled person while on earth, but the Bible confirms that He had a special anointing of joy from God Himself.  The spiritually driven positive outlook was part of Jesus’ ministry. What did that gift reflect?

Read more

The Power of Perspective

by

It is not pleasant to consider, but it’s obvious today – the United States of America – and in fact, much of the world – is savagely divided.  Superheated fissures fracture across numerous political viewpoints, personal conduct, and even whether or not anything exists that can be regarded as truth, especially when one adds the word “absolute.”

We all hold a perspective. How can we know we have the most accurate one?

Read more: The Power of Perspective

Here’s a thought: I recently had a conversation with a retired senior FBI agent. He talked considerably about how divided America was – politically, intellectually, even morally. He was agitated, concerned, and thoughtful about the present and the future of America.

He didn’t directly quote the scripture, but he alluded to the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:25 – noting that a nation divided against itself cannot stand.

So what does that mean for us? What can we personally do?

We shape, mold and fashion our lives according to our perceptions and our perspectives. Which perspectives are true? Which are false? Which are misleading?

One could make a case that we live today in a 21st century Rashomon effect.

The famous 1950 Japanese psychodrama movie Rashomon is considered one of the greatest movies ever made.

The movie portrays how people can sharply interpret a critical event in dramatically different ways.

In the movie, a murder takes place. But four eyewitnesses all have their own take on what happened, which all differ dramatically. Each presents subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident. One of the main takeaways is that people see things, process them, and interpret them occurring to their own backgrounds, standards and experiences.

Which one is true? Well, there’s the rub. The movie – which resembles life today – examines how different eyewitness perspectives can be.

A quick look at today’s geopolitical events sadly demonstrates how the Rashomon effect is alive and well today. Whole groups of people hold energizing but completely opposite political and societal perspectives.

Like in the movie Rashomon, people regularly create and vigorously present subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident.

With different eyewitness of big history claiming radically different perspectives, we live in the midst of a giant living Rashomon movie. It affects us deeply, whether we want it to or not.

Read more

A New Beginning – Seeking the Way

by

“Do everything in love.” An unexpected directive at the conclusion of an intense ancient letter. When the apostle Paul wrote his first letter (or rather, the first letter that we know of) to the gentile congregation at Corinth, he covered the whole spectrum. He profoundly emphasized the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to … Read more