Are You A Gang Member? Part 2

One danger of gang membership is that as a member of the group the way you think, your template as I call it, will change. This is often called group think. This is how Wikipedia describes it: 

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.

This may be the reason for the similarity between the two major political parties. Barack Obama was nominated as the anti-war candidate. Yet the war in Afghanistan continues and the only reason the US is no longer in Iraq is that it was kicked out. Our culture masters all tend to have the same view on things, they too suffer from group think. 

GroupThink in ActionLooking back at my national gang, the US, over the centuries is rather disgusting. My natural tendency is be loyal to my gang, but looking at the lynchings, in particular one in a town in Missouri where i lived for many years that explains why there aren't many blacks there, the various wars, and the economic domination by our masters, I am loosed from that loyalty. 

Note that I call the US my gang. I really have no choice in the matter, once a Blood or a Crip, always a Blood or a Crip. It is not practical to be independent in a gang-held area in our cities' slums. It is not practical to be independent in the gang held area called America. 

But you can avoid group think. You can, to paraphrase Jesus' advice to his disciples, be in America but not of America. It is not always easy. Things as simple as commercials put you under tremendous pressure to conform and buy, buy, buy. News channels are particularly pernicious in group think. The political orientation of the station will over time gradually become your orientation. You are being programmed. 

While remaining in gang-held territory, you can leave the gang in all the areas that really matter, you can leave Babylon. I am leaving my gang membership in the US behind, join me. 

Are You A Gang Member? Part 1

I was reading an article that asked this question. One paragraph in particular jumped out. 

Ishmael Cisneros, a member of the notorious global crime syndicate, the Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, says that once you join a gang, “your mind closes off to the rest of the world and you’re capable of doing anything for the gang…don’t get caught up in the world of gangs, especially for those that think there’s something good in it. It’s all lies.”

I think the reason it jumped out at me was that I was embarrassed. I have been a gang member--many times. Oops. So I will give three rather embarrassing personal examples over the next week. The first of these is that I used to be a member of the gang called Republicans. 

There is great comfort in not having to think. Seriously. Thinking is hard. You know what the correct answer is already, no need for pesky things like facts to get in the way. You watch the correct news network, and condemn the incorrect news network. This reinforces what you already think. Charles Krauthammer is always right. 

When you see a news report, and the speaker has an (R) after their name, we already know almost everything we need to know, we will hear the truth. Our template, as I call it, is set. If someone from your gang is up for election, you will vote for them, even if you have to hold your nose to do so. 

Don't misunderstand. I have not joined the rival gang called Democrats. I see no reason to leave the Bloods to join the Crips. I find the competing gang just as amusing. Well, maybe a little more so as I used to be a Republican. Old templates die hard. 

The whole process is almost useless. Remember what Ishmael said in my quote, "It's all lies." 

Do what you think best, but as for me, I will no longer be a gang member. 

A Disquieting Thought

I have been thinking about the death of Jesus and thinking about watching The Passion. It has been in my Netflix queue for years, yet I never have seen it. His death is difficult to think about. 

Here is how the message describes His Death in Matthew 27

27-31 The soldiers assigned to the governor took Jesus into the governor’s palace and got the entire brigade together for some fun. They stripped him and dressed him in a red toga. They plaited a crown from branches of a thornbush and set it on his head. They put a stick in his right hand for a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mocking reverence: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” they said. “Bravo!” Then they spit on him and hit him on the head with the stick. When they had had their fun, they took off the toga and put his own clothes back on him. Then they proceeded out to the crucifixion. 

32-34 Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross. Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it.

35-40 After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they whiled away the time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”

41-44 The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery.

The disquieting thoughts of the crucifixion led me to other disquieting thoughts. The soldiers were just being soldiers. They were just following orders. Sure they killed people, but they were enemies of their country, they deserved to die. Didn't they? Can we really condemn them for doing their job, a necessary job, and enjoying it? Rome needed soldiers to protect the people in the empire, and such service in defense of one's country is honorable. 

These thoughts led to my final disquieting thought. When these heroes of the state returned home, did the people back home thank them for their service? 

Leave While You Can

I have been contemplating the mess the US is in--culturally, religiously, economically. "Leaving" the mess behind is certainly good advice from the prophet John in Revelation 18, here from The Message version of the Bible:

Get out, my people, as fast as you can,
    so you don’t get mixed up in her sins,
    so you don’t get caught in her doom.
Her sins stink to high Heaven;
    God has remembered every evil she’s done.
Give her back what she’s given,
    double what she’s doubled in her works,
    double the recipe in the cup she mixed;
Bring her flaunting and wild ways
    to torment and tears.
Because she gloated, “I’m queen over all,
    and no widow, never a tear on my face,”
In one day, disasters will crush her—
    death, heartbreak, and famine—
Then she’ll be burned by fire, because God,
    the Strong God who judges her,
    has had enough.

Maybe at the Olympics the crowd of Americans will chant, "USA ...USA." Such arrogance certainly fits the profile that prophet John gives us. For me even to write about such things risks the loss of valued friendships. But as Jesus said to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3:

29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”

Are you awake? The most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves. 

Although there may come a time where leaving your own country is a good move, the leaving I am talking about is different. Can you "leave" Babylon if you eat its Twinkies, watch its football games, vote for its leaders, or live the life it has set up for you? I think not. 

I am not saying you should never watch a football game. You can occasionally eat a Twinkie. Sorry, bad example. Do not eat Twinkies! But you get what I mean, I hope. As Jesus advised his Apostles, "Be in the world, not of the world." 

29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”

Strawberry Fields Forever

As I mentioned last Monday, I plan to blog less about politics and economics, and more about things that might be helpful. Why did I decide this? Reading a blog post by Charles Smith called "What's Real? What's Fake?" solidified it for me. 

What is real in the political sphere? Not much. There were two kinds of prophets in ancient Israel just as there are two kinds of politicians today. If you don't say what the people want, you do not get reelected, or no one pays attention to your "prophecy." It is the same in economics. If you don't say what you are supposed to say, you do not get tenure. 

Hear is what God said to Israel about such people: 

The Lord told me to write down his message for his people, so that it would be there for ever. They have turned against the Lord and can't be trusted. They have refused his teaching and have said to his messengers and prophets: Don't tell us what God has shown you and don't preach the truth. Just say what we want to hear, even if it's false. Stop telling us what God has said! We don't want to hear any more about the holy God of Israel. (Isaiah 30:8-11 CEVUK00)

It is the same mindset today. The politician who knows better, yet says what will get himself elected. The economist that thinks the answer to everything is to print more money. The preacher knows that if he says what the congregation needs, they will find someone else. It's just a job, not a calling. 

Yes, the economic numbers (the point of Smith's blog post) are not real. The political speeches you hear are not real either. They are lies. Am I telling you anything you don't already know? What happens if you live in that world of liars?  The apostle Paul, talking about those that think there is no resurrection from the dead, reminds us that “Bad company ruins good manners.” (1 Corinthians 15:30-33 MSG). Politics will ruin you. As my mentor, Ron Dart, was told by his mentor, Charles Dorothy, "If Satan can't get at you any other way, he will waste your time." That is the best you can expect from politics. Economics is not much better. Are you willing to be corrupted by these things? Are you willing to waste your time? 

In the words of John Lennon:

Let me take you down
Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone
But it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me

The political/economic world you are living in is not real. Open your eyes.