Hotel Babylon

Did you ever wonder what the song Hotel California by the Eagles meant? They have been notoriously closed-mouth on the meaning. But they did say that the song is an “interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles.”

Our modern consumer society is certainly typified by Los Angeles.

You can leave Hotel Babylon if you wish, but it is difficult. As the song says, if you are a prisoner there, it is by your own device.

BTW, according to the Wiki article on the song, “the term “colitas” in the first stanza of the song is a Spanish term for “little tails” and in Mexican slang it is a reference to the buds of the Cannabis [marijuana] plant.” This is another part of the modern Los Angeles culture you can leave if you wish.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Eliza Gilkyson

My new favorite song. 

Would Jesus Eat at Chick-Fil-A?

Would Jesus have gone to eat at Chick-Fil-A to support the restaurant? 

Let’s look at their signature Chicken Sandwich. I must admit to my junk food jaded eyes it looks pretty good. 

440Calories 16gFat

2gFiber 6gSugars

30gProtein 3.5g Saturated Fat

0g Trans Fat 60mg Cholesterol

1400mg Sodium 42g Carbohydrates

15% Iron 15% Calcium

2% Vitamin A 2% Vitamin C

Now compare it to their healthy-looking sandwich, the chicken salad sandwich. 

510Calories 19gFat

5gFiber 12gSugars

29gProtein

3.5g Saturated Fat 0g Trans Fat

80mg Cholesterol 1120mg Sodium

55g Carbohydrates 20% Iron

15% Calcium 35% Vitamin A

6% Vitamin C

More fat, more sugar, more calories—but it looks so healthy! 

Would Jesus Eat At Chick-Fil-A?

Shall we talk about french fries and the obligatory 32 oz Coke? No, let’s not talk about that. It is too depressing.  

To be fair to Chick-Fil-A, they do seem to have more healthy choices than your average cash food, er, fast food restaurant, but are people ordering these healthier choices? 

Do a simple experiment. Go to any fast food franchise and look at the people. Look at the lady with the tattoos that needs to lose 100 lbs. And I bet the chair really groaned when that Big Guy sat in it! Then go to the bathroom and look in the mirror. Do you look much different? Even with the 20 lbs. I lost this last year, I don’t. 

For me it is Jack-in-the-Box. I remember going to the Jack-in-the-Box with my mom. This was before modern cash registers, so we would always add up the total ourselves, and for some reason our total was always less. Then we would drive to the ocean and watch the waves and the sea birds over Bird Rock as we ate. The little community we lived in was named after that rock. Ah, comfort food at its highest. Jesus might have enjoyed the view but ...

Would Jesus Eat At Chick-Fil-A?

I have not even talked about the mass production of chickens. They do not see the sky unless someone leaves a door open by mistake. They cut off their bills so they won’t peck each other in the unnatural crowding.They package the chicken manure into feed for the steer that became the hamburger you ate at McDonalds. We strip mine our soil to grow corn for the chickens. No, I will not talk about that

Would Jesus eat at Chick-Fil-A?

I guess that in a sense I am not talking about the same thing that is being discussed with regard to the Chick-Fil-A crisis. That is a part of my point. We dwell on the trivialities of who supports gay marriage and who doesn’t. I don’t. We then ignore the much more important issues, issues that we should be shouting from the house tops. This is how we are enslaved by what Revelation 17-18 calls Babylon the Great.  

We risk acting like the Pharisees of old that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 23:

²³ You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you’re in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your garden, such as mint, dill, and cumin. Yet you neglect the more important matters of the Law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the important things you should have done, though you should not have left the others undone either. ²⁴ You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel.

Yes, there is a real risk of religious freedom at stake, but how is that camel tasting? Probably better than that chicken sandwich you ate. 

Eat Food that will rot, and eat it before it does! I am not saying that Jesus would never eat at a fast food restaurant. I ate at Jack-in-the-Box yesterday. But after going home and looking up the calories in an ultimate cheeseburger—780, even without the fries—I think that I will be following my own advice even more than I thought when I first wrote this piece over a week ago. 

Would Jesus eat at Chick-Fil-A? I am not saying that every meal we eat needs to be a culinary, environmental, and nutritional masterpiece, but when society heads down the Babylon the Great path, all becomes corrupt. That includes our restaurants. Asking what would Jesus eat is an obvious question that does not get asked.

We all know the answer. We have always known the answer from our youngest days. The question is, what will we do about it? 

Lyapis Trubetskoy - Capital

This is another of my favorite songs. Translations of the lyrics is included. 

Translation by katya

For my dinner, I eat gold bars
Diamond dessert, oil cream
My name is Beelzebub, master of the stratosphere
I'm way too cool, respect for me has no measure

In my left hand a "Snickers", in my right hand a "Mars"
My PR manager is Karl Marx
In my left hand, "Snickers", in my right hand, "Mars"
My PR manager is Karl Marx

Capital! Capital! Capital! Capital!

I eat cities, drinking them down with seas
My beard eclipses the sky
The thunder, wind and rains
Ministers and leaders lick my boots

In my left hand a "Snickers", in my right hand a "Mars"
My PR manager is Karl Marx
My face is Madonna, inside of rotten pears
All on your knees! Orchestra, flourish!

Capital! Capital! Capital! Capital!

Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede

While in Branson, Missouri last month we decided to go to the Dixie Stampede. The Dixie Stampede is a dinner show where the audience is divided into two teams which represent the two sides in the Civil War. My family rooted for the South.

Our team was the best in the various equestrian events, as was only appropriate as our side, the glorious South, was better than the North. Barrel racing, chuck wagon racing, and a relay race were among the events. Our Southern children were much better than the incompetent Northern children in chicken herding—we won the gold medal! Our side’s pigs even won the pig racing contest, twice. “Our pigs were better than your pigs” was our exclamation.

The food was good, but a word of warning—they do not give you silverware, so take your own.

While they did the disappearing fake audience member magic trick, I started to think. Thinking is probably a mistake in such a venue.

As we pounded our feet as we cheered our side on, I was thinking about the obligatory American Indian tribute we had seen earlier. While the North and South had many disagreements, the North and South did agree on one thing. The Indians must be destroyed. We needed the land. I pounded my feet with a little less vigor.

As we cheered our pigs to victory, I began to think. Does it really matter which pig wins? I cheered a little softer.

Was it really appropriate to take a war that killed 600,000 people and turn it into chicken herding or a three- legged race? (Where did they get those uncoordinated Northerners?) I did not participate much in the shouting contest.

Toward the end we had the typical Branson patriotic number sung on video by Dolly Parton. It was the same tape I saw at a previous Stampede 10 years before. This was before Dolly had ruined her looks with botched plastic surgery. I wondered how much longer our national plastic surgery could go on? Our national plastic surgery, the elections, will probably fail and we will end up worse than before.

Yes, the Civil War was bad, but now we can join together as Americans! Hurrah. Instead of killing each other, now we can kill other people.

I stopped cheering.

Does it really matter which pig will win the race? Does it really matter which overlord we elect? Are we, Republicans and Democrats, and yes even Libertarians, cheering meaninglessly for our side? Even if our side naturally won, are we so vain to think it matters?

If you vote for the lesser of two evils, aren’t you being evil?

Even if “our” pig is better than your pig, does it really matter whose pig wins?