Showing posts with label Wink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wink. Show all posts

Sunday, December 5, 2021

In Pursuit of the Omni's ...

Over 2,700 years ago, Isaiah gave us a clue to the adversary's end goal:
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.1
And what did Lucifer mean: to “be like the most High”? We know he didn't mean to be merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth;2 nor in justice, love, invariableness, etc.3 — though, as a liar from the beginning,4 he was prepared to fake whatever was needed. In short, his obsession (to be like the most High) was to achieve the three omni's:
▪ omniscience
▪ omnipotence
▪ omnipresence
But how was Lucifer going to achieve these? Well, it has taken him a long time, though he may have had to restart his servitors' program several times from square one or two, like after the flood,5 or after several close encounters of a planetary kind.6

But if we haven't awoken yet to Lucifer's omni-plan, it is found in the technology of today which he has co-opted and corrupted in part — with:
• internet
• cell phones mates
• surveillance mics, cameras, & nano satellites
• facial recognition & voice-printing
• Amazon, Apple, Google, etc. data banks (including video and audio)
• Facebook / Metaverse, Twitter, Tik Tok, Zoom, Xoom, etc., etc. etc.
• smart stoves, fridges, furnaces, TVs, toilets, meters, etc.
• smart cars, buses, planes, trains, cycles, taxis, etc.
• digital, virtual money systems
• AI, Alexa, & other listening / analyzing cohorts
• surface or implanted track-able ID for every living or inanimate thing, and
• not to mention, SICO7 & FICO scoring.
In recent months, the corruption of technology has been unveiled and unrolled like a global, flooding script under partial cover of COVID and variants. Can we not see how the aspirant-god is almost possessor of technofied, tyrannical omni's? that he has co-opted and corrupted originally beneficial world institutions and powers to his omni agenda? And yes, of course, technology has been a great blessing in numerous ways, for as Walter Wink observes:
The Powers are not intrinsically evil; they are only fallen. What sinks can be made to rise again. We are freed, then, from the temptation to satanize the perpetrators of evil. We can love our nation or church or school, [or corporation] not blindly, but critically, recalling it to its own highest self-professed ideals and identities. We can challenge these institutions to live up to the vocation that is theirs by virtue of their sheer createdness. We can oppose their actions while honoring their necessity.8
And why are the powers not intrinsically evil? Is it because of these words?
16 For by [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.9
Thus, if even institutions and powers have a dual nature — with potential and choice to manifest good or evil — perhaps our work is to try to help redeem them till God makes the judgment that they are beyond redemption?

Side Note: There is a 4th omni... however that envelops the world at this very hour. It is the omnicon,10 perhaps a kissing cousin of the “new” omicron “mutation.” The core of omnicon is to false flag everything, especially Mother Nature for the corruptions and crimes against humanity designed and orchestrated by men and women pursuing and / or protecting power, gain, glory, and domination.

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1. Old Testament | Isaiah 14:12-14 (Bold emphasis added.)
2. Old Testament | Exodus 34:6
    6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
3. See Lectures on Faith. Joseph Smith, Jr. | Lectures 3 and 4
4. New Testament | John 8:44
    44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 93:24-25
   24 And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;
   25 And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning.
5. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2016/11/as-days-of-noah.html
6. Read Velikovsky's works recounting evidence of catastrophic Earth/Mars/Venus/etc. encounters. For brief intro or reference see https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2019/11/remembering-velikovsky.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2020/12/remembering-velikovsky-2020.html
7. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-china-syndrome.html
https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2021/01/when-fico-becomes-sico.html
8. Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 1010-1012 ). Kindle Edition.
9. New Testament | Colossians 1:15-17
10. https://moc-n-dox.blogspot.com/2021/11/variation-omnicon.html

Monday, April 6, 2020

Lullaby*?


Does it help:
● if a father of a teenager asks us to get his child up and ready for early morning seminary and we proceed to sing a lullaby?
● if we are commanded to wake up to an “awful situation”1 and instead, we insist on acting as if the crushing restrictions of the “situation” are justified or that they are only temporary accommodations to Nature's naturally recycling assaults (especially if we ignore that Nature has often become an impressee2 of long-simmering and simulated abominations)?3
● if we are soldiers in the midst of battle and our commander believes (per the expertise of X masquerading as friend of US) that special forces can battle a crisis by directing all focus, energy, and resources toward controlling or expunging Y (a technocratic, endlessly reproducible corruption patented and owned by X)?
So, what are we to fast and pray for this Good Friday? — for the defeat of or protection against [conscripted, corrupted, CRISPR-ed4] “Nature”? ... Perhaps.

But what are the prayers referred to in John's Revelation that might sync us with or call forth God's will?
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints[5] upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.6
Could the prayers that might call God out of His hiding place be our own call — our cry — for justice and judgment, mercy and truth to “sweep away the refuge of lies” and to “overflow the hiding place” of evil? because
Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.7
Could this help?
Those who pray do so not because they believe certain intellectual propositions about the value of prayer, but simply because the struggle to be human in the face of suprahuman Powers requires it. The act of praying is itself one of the indispensable means by which we engage the Powers. It is, in fact, that engagement at its most fundamental level, where their secret spell over us is broken and we are reestablished in a bit more of that freedom which is our birthright and potential.8

Intercession is spiritual defiance of what is, in the name of what God has promised. Intercession visualizes an alternative future to the one apparently fated by the momentum of current contradictory forces. It infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present. Those who have made peace with injustice, who receive their identity from alienated role-definitions, and who benefit economically from social inequities, are not likely to be such intercessors.9

Prayer, in short, is the field-hospital in which the diseased spirituality that we have contracted from the Powers can most directly be diagnosed and treated.10
Has the trumpet11 passed to the seven angels of John's Revelation and been multiplied?12
Heaven itself falls silent. The heavenly hosts and celestial spheres suspend their ceaseless singing so that the prayers of the saints on earth can be heard. The seven angels of destiny cannot blow the signal of the next times to be until an eighth angel gathers these prayers—prayers for justice, vindication, and victory—and mingles them with incense upon the altar. Silently they rise to the nostrils of God. Then from the same altar the angel fills the same censer with fiery coals and hurls them upon the earth. The earth is convulsed. The silence is shattered. The heavenly liturgy is complete. Now the seven angels who have the seven trumpets make ready to blow.13
How fervent can our prayers be if we do not recognize the “awful situation” that we have allowed to get above us?14

Do we even process what praying for justice and judgment, mercy and truth means in prophecy?

My friends, if we are going to pray for justice and judgment, mercy and truth, we had better be prepared because when the smoke of the incense reaches God, this follows:
And the angel took the [same] censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.15
What else could be more vital to plead for in our prayers and fasting than these four — justice and judgment, mercy (i.e., forgiveness / love), and truth — in this world of domination, violence, hypocrisy, corruption, “lying wonders,”16 invisible / unimaginable bio-weapons, and the sufferings of millions because we have ignored, in our prosperity and blindness, what has been done by US17 for well-over 100 years? What else can we expect? What else should we hope for? What else must we do?

-------------------/
All Bold emphasis added)
* lullaby ~ a soothing refrain // specifically a song to quiet children or lull them to sleep
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lullaby )
Are lullabies all we will tolerate?
Old Testament | Isaiah 30:814 ~ Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
Old Testament | Ezekiel 3:17–21 ~ Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
Old Testament | Isaiah 58:1 ~ CRY aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 88:8082 ~ That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you. Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor. Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads.
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 63:58 ~ For this is a day of warning, and not a day of many words. For I, the Lord, am not to be mocked in the last days.
New Testament | Matthew 7:13–14 ~ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

1. Book of Mormon | Ether 8:24 ~ Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things [murderous combinations built up to get power and gain] come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; ...
2. Impressed: to levy or take by force for public service // specially : to force into naval service // to procure or enlist by forcible persuasion (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impress )
3. duckduckgo “bio-weapons research”; follow the witnesses and the many hubristic scientists who have spoken openly of crafting designer, virulent diseases and testing them on unwitting populations.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR
5. (of every nation, kindred, tongue, religion, and people)
6. New Testament | Revelation 8:3-4
7. Old Testament | Psalms 89:14
Old Testament | Genesis 18:19 ~ For I know [Abraham], that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Old Testament | Isaiah 28:17–18 ~ Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
Old Testament | Proverbs 21:3 ~ To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
8. Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 4168–4170). Kindle Edition.
9. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 4181–4183). Kindle Edition.
10. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 4177–4178). Kindle Edition.
11. https://kutv.com/news/local/angel-mormoni-loses-trumpet-in-salt-lake-earthquake
12. New Testament | Revelation 8:57 ~ And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
See also: https://josephsmithfoundation.org/missionaries-will-the-missionaries-be-called-home-prior-to-calamities-in-the-last-days/
13. Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 4193–4196). Kindle Edition.
14. Book of Mormon | Ether 8:23 ~ Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
15. New Testament | Revelation 8:5–7
16. New Testament | 2 Thessalonians 2:9 ~ Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
17. Lost Soul of America at  https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/01/lost-soul-of-america.html
Old Testament | Isaiah 59:1–15 ~ BEHOLD, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Monday, February 10, 2020

Discerning the Powers and Our Complicity?


In this past week, have we not witnessed an inglorious demonstration of the Powers (the Domination System) at work in the SOTU address and the Senate “trial” and acquittal of Donald Trump1? how puppetry has become so entrenched in our Republic that hundreds genuflect to lies and concealments of and by both the Right and the Left? how only one man dared oppose his party-line on a single vote? and though the real motives of that one man are perhaps known only to himself and God, we should all know, by now, that the hidden persuasions of our deeply corrupted system have infected nigh, if not, every politician. Most of them know to the full that they do, indeed, wrestle against flesh and blood, as well as
... against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.2
and that most of them (and many of us) have succumbed in some fashion.

Perhaps the following quotes will open our eyes a little more:
We should be confessing our complicity with the Powers, the ways we benefit from the injustices they structure to our advantage, and the racist and sexual stereotyping that we thoughtlessly perpetuate in our encounters with others. Instead, we tend to confess infractions of the rules the Powers themselves have established. Forgiveness of sins often functions, not as an act of liberation from the delusional system, but as a rite of reinsertion into it. ... what we need is not to be cleaned up and sent right back into a corrupt society, but to be lifted out of it altogether, by a sovereign act of God, who wipes the slate clean and offers us a new reality, the reality intended for us from the foundation of the world.3

Humanity longs for a world where the travail of personal transformation will not be necessary, where the arduous effort to develop a virtuous character can be avoided, where our neighbors will be judged by the standards we idealize but have exempted ourselves from achieving. Behind all such dreams of a perfected social structure lies the nightmare of totalitarianism. At what cost in personal freedoms must the dream of an anarchy-free society be bought? Unless people as well as their systems are changed, the crystal utopias of our fantasies will continue to dawn blood-drenched and inhospitable.4

No arrangement of social cooperation, in which power controls power and anarchy is tamed, will produce human beings free from the lust for power.5

Most functioning democracies are run by oligarchies that maintain power whichever party is elected, and they make common cause with bureaucrats intent on preserving their own fiefdoms. Even at the local level, democratic governance [has become] inefficient, contentious, shortsighted, and miserly.6

We are dead [to Christ] insofar as we have been socialized into patterns of injustice. We died, bit by bit, as expectations foreign to our essence were forced upon us. We died as we began to become complicit in our own alienation and that of others. We died as we grew to love our bondage, to rationalize, justify, and even champion it. And by a kind of heavenly homeopathy, we must swallow what killed us in order to come to life.7

But rebirth is not a private, inward event only. For it also includes the necessity of dying to whatever in our social surroundings has shaped us inauthentically. We must also die to the Domination System in order to live authentically. Those born to privilege and wealth may miss life by having been installed at the center of a universe revolving around their own desires. Others, born to merciless poverty and the contempt of the ruling class, may miss life by never feeling really human at all. If the advantaged must die to their egocentricity, the underprivileged must die to their hopelessness, fatalism, and acquiescence in their own despoiling.8

The church has many functions, not all related to the Powers. With reference to the Powers, however, its task, as we have seen, is to unmask their idolatrous pretensions, to identify their dehumanizing values, to strip from them the mantle of respectability, and to disenthrall their victims. It is uniquely equipped to help people unmask and die to the Powers.9

The Powers once again, acting from concealment, entice courageous and dedicated people to blame their own personal inadequacies for what are in fact systemically induced delusions. Here the traditional religions can come to our aid, Lerner insists, since they, almost alone in our society, are able to mount a consistent counter-cultural critique of domination.10

"You don't need courage to speak out against a regime. You just need not to care anymore—not to care about being punished or beaten."11

[F]ollowing Jesus' liberating way puts us on a collision course with oppressive regimes and institutions, which will resort to any means necessary to crush resistance. By voluntarily and deliberately facing the prospect of death, one is freed from its power as a deterrent. "Just as one must learn the art of killing in the training for violence," taught Gandhi, "so one must learn the art of dying in the training for non-violence.""12
Are our churches helping us learn this: the art of dying to our fears of disapproval, our fears of being punished, of being ostracized or criticized? How are we ever going to be prepared to stand for truth and freedom if we fear dying to the perks, privileges, and praise of the Powers?

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1. Déjà Vu: Pandora*? at https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/02/deja-vu-pandora.html
2. New Testament | Ephesians 6:12
3. Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 2336-2342). Kindle Edition.
4. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 1138-1141). Kindle Edition.
5. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 1137-1138). Kindle Edition.
See also: The Spirit of Power at https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-spirit-of-power.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/Power
6. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 2471-2473). Kindle Edition.
7. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 2293-2295). Kindle Edition.
8. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 2302-2306). Kindle Edition.
9. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 2400-2402). Kindle Edition.
10. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 1070-1072). Kindle Edition.
11. Ibid., (Kindle Location 2289). Kindle Edition.
12. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 2382-2384). Kindle Edition.

Sunday, February 2, 2020

A WORLD of Difference?


In the grip
of the wicked?*
Sometimes, when we read things over and over, like scripture, we become insensitive to the depth and variety of meanings in a single word. Take for example: “WORLD.” We use it for these vastly different meanings (bold emphasis added):

1. The divine creation
» ... for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them. (Old Testament | 1 Samuel 2:8)

» God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; (New Testament | Acts 17:24)
2. The wicked
» And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; (Old Testament | Isaiah 13:11)

» These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (New Testament | John 16:33)
Unfortunately, we seem not to appreciate the systemic nature of use # 2 as it relates to democracies. We individualize the wicked: the murderer, the rapist, the abuser, the thief, the liar and so forth, and leave most of our collective structures / institutions un-discerned — these corporate, military, and other subsystems that sustain and perpetuate a System of domination and oppression managed by force and oft-times violence.*

Perhaps in this year 2020, to help open our eyes fully to the control- and elite-obsessed world we live in (the world prophesied for the end times — the world the old prophets and God Himself lamented and tried to warn about), we could begin to discern and use the descriptor “Domination System” for every “world” we encounter from example 2 above. This substitution was suggested years ago,1 but has been taken up only be a few writers.

Knowing and using the name of something can expose it for what it truly is, and we are at a point in history where the System seeking to control the world must be named and exposed, not as a propagandized, peaceful, World-Order system, but as the conspiratorial WO System it is — as a Domination System where the few oppress and control the many for the benefit of those few.

So let us in our personal and family readings (perhaps even public ones) begin to call out the world system for what it is — the Domination System. Here is a small beginning:
And [Jesus] said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this [Domination System]; I am not of this [Domination System]. ... I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the [System] those things which I have heard of him. (New Testament | John 8:23, 26)

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this [Domination System] shall keep it unto life eternal. ... Now is the judgment of this [Domination System]: now shall the prince of this [System] be cast out. (New Testament | John 12:25, 31)

If the [Domination System] hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the [Domination System], the [System] would love his own: but because ye are not of the [System], but I have chosen you out of the [System], therefore the [Domination System] hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. (New Testament | John 15:18 - 20)

... know ye not that the friendship of the [Domination System] is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the [Domination System] is the enemy of God. (New Testament | James 4:4)

Love not the [Domination System], neither the things that are in the [Domination System]. If any man love the [System], the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the [Domination System], the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the [System]. (New Testament | 1 John 2:15-16)2
When we come to understand the myriad tentacles of the Domination System, will we be more open to asking: “Are my daily labors aiding and abetting the Domination System?” Can we, like Nephi1, commit that “the things which are pleasing unto the [Domination System] I do not write [or do or think or promote], but the things which are pleasing unto God and unto those who are not of the [Domination System]?  (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 6:5)

Every cell in the body of Christ that moves from a disease condition into health makes a difference to the whole. Let us abandon in droves the Domination System and do everything in our power to help redeem those aspects, people, and institutions that have been taken into captivity.

--------------------------------/
* “The Domination System will attempt to crush every vestige of authentic living. ... Ignatius of Antioch, martyred for his faith about 107 C.E., perceptively observed that "the greatness of Christianity lies in its being hated by the world [read `Domination System'], not in its being convincing to it" (Rom. 3:3).” Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination. (Kindle Locations 889, 891-892;  the `Domination System' insert in the quote was placed by Walter Wink.)

1. See entire book: Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination. Kindle Edition.
2. Additional examples:
New Testament | John 18:36-37 ~ Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the [Domination System], that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
New Testament | Romans 12:2 ~ And be not conformed to this [Domination System]: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
New Testament | 1 Corinthians 2:12 ~ Now we have received, not the spirit of the [Domination System], but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
New Testament | 1 Corinthians 5:10 ~ Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this [Domination System], or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the [System].
New Testament | Ephesians 2:2 ~ Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this [Domination System], according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
New Testament | Ephesians 6:12 ~ For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this [Domination System], against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 22:23 ~ For the time speedily shall come that all churches which are built up to get gain, and all those who are built up to get power over the flesh, and those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the [Domination System], and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the [System], and to do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of the devil are they who need fear, and tremble, and quake; they are those who must be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be consumed as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet.
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 1:16 ~ They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the [Domination System], and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 58:39 ~ And let him repent of his sins, for he seeketh the praise of the [Domination System].
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 84:49 ~ And the whole [Domination System] lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin.
Recommended for practice: New Testament | John 17; New Testament | 1 John 4

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

“Subject Unto ... the Powers That Be”?


How, in this new year 2020, shall we deal with the Powers* that seem to have lost their way?1

How are we to reconcile Romans 13:1-72 and Article of Faith #123 with the overwhelming and growing witness of hubris, abuse, and corruption by those in positions of power (whether east or west, north or south; up or down)?​

Do we feel caught in a double bind4 between “honoring, obeying and sustaining” and this most revealing, insightful observation:
We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion5?
Perhaps these insights will help us find a discerning answer between blind obedience to or angry rejection of the Powers (or governing authorities as some have translated Romans 13:1):
Nothing is outside the redemptive care and transforming love of God. The Powers are not intrinsically evil; they are only fallen. What sinks can be made to rise again. We are freed, then, from the temptation to satanize the perpetrators of evil. We can love our nation or church or school, not blindly, but critically, recalling it to its own highest self-professed ideals and identities. We can challenge these institutions to live up to the vocation that is theirs by virtue of their sheer createdness.[6] We can oppose their actions while honoring their necessity. For example, a factory is polluting the air and water of our city, and we want it cleaned up. We can engage in that struggle knowing that its employees need jobs, and that their families also are at risk from the pollution, just as ours are. We can talk without hatred to the hard-nosed representatives of the plant, because we know that they, and we, and this factory, are encompassed by the love of God, and exist to serve the One in and through and for whom we were all created. We do not have to struggle to bring this plant into the orbit of God’s system. It is already there. We have only to remind its managers that it exists to serve values beyond itself (though this “reminding” may require a protracted boycott or strike).
Adam Smith himself acknowledged this when he wrote that the ultimate goal of a business is not to make a profit. Profit is just the means. The goal is the general welfare. It is part of the church’s task to remind corporations and businesses that profit is not the “bottom line,” that as “creatures” of God they have as their divine vocation the achievement of human benefaction (Eph. 3: 10). They do not exist for themselves. They were bought with a price (Col. 1: 20). They belong to the God who ordains sufficiency for all.7
So just as we all have a part in the body of Christ,8 we all have different skills, talents, and thus individual calls to action in challenging fallen powers:
There are no prepackaged answers that tell us how Christians should engage the Powers. One person may be called to try to reorganize the office where she works in a more humane fashion; another may have to walk out to protest sexual harassment. One may run for political office; another may despair of the electoral system and work to overthrow it. But all live in the paradox of “as if not,” as being in but not of the Domination System. “Come out of her, my people” (Rev. 18: 4) may be our marching orders, but so may be the call to assume secular office (as with Joseph and Daniel). Spiritual discernment takes the place of fixed rules. As Jacques Ellul argues, there really is no such thing as a “Christian ethic,” only the ethical inventiveness of Christians.9
Thus, shall we not honor what is honorable; obey what is ethical in the Lord;10 sustain what is sustainable; and thereafter challenge, expose, and oppose all fallen actions according to the discernment and call given to each of us? In the words of Walter Wink:
It is precisely because the Powers have been created in, through, and for the humanizing purposes of God in Christ that they must be honored, criticized, resisted, and redeemed. Let us then engage these Powers, not just to understand them, but to see them changed.11
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* (whether political, economic, religious, secular, administrative, governmental, and so forth)

1. For example: “An institution may place its own good above the general welfare. A corporation may cut corners on costs by producing defective products that endanger lives. Union leadership may become more preoccupied with extending its personal advantages than fighting for better working conditions for the rank and file.” Wink, Walter. Collected Readings (p. 170). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.
2. New Testament | Romans 13:1–7 ~ LET every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. (Bold emphasis added.)
Also, amongst others: New Testament | 1 Peter 2:13-18 ~ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
3. Pearl of Great Price | Articles of Faith 1:12 ~ We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
4. Double Bind: A double bind is a dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more conflicting messages, with one negating the other. In some circumstances (particularly families and relationships) this might be emotionally distressing. This creates a situation in which a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other (and vice versa), so that the person will automatically be wrong regardless of response. The double bind occurs when the person cannot confront the inherent dilemma, and therefore can neither resolve it nor opt out of the situation. //...// Double binds are often utilized as a form of control without open coercion—the use of confusion makes them both difficult to respond to as well as to resist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind
5. Doctrine and Covenants | Section 121:39
6. New Testament | Colossians 1:16-17 ~ For by him [the firstborn of every creature] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
7. Wink, Walter; Collected Readings (p. 171). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)
8. New Testament | 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 ~ For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 84:109–110 ~ Therefore, let every man stand in his own office, and labor in his own calling; and let not the head say unto the feet it hath no need of the feet; for without the feet how shall the body be able to stand? Also the body hath need of every member, that all may be edified together, that the system may be kept perfect.
9. Walter Wink. Collected Readings (p. 187). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.
10. Doctrine and Covenants | Section 98:4–18 ~ And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them. And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil. I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free. Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil. And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God. For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith. And whoso layeth down his life in my cause, for my name's sake, shall find it again, even life eternal. Therefore, be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy. For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me. Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children; And again, the hearts of the Jews unto the prophets, and the prophets unto the Jews; lest I come and smite the whole earth with a curse, and all flesh be consumed before me. Let not your hearts be troubled; for in my Father's house are many mansions, and I have prepared a place for you; and where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also. (Bold emphasis added.)
11. Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 215-217). Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Friday, November 29, 2019

“Conspiracy Against God”?

("Worshiping power* instead of God"?)

Recently I came across two phrases that succinctly describe the déjà vus of world history: 1) “conspiracy against God” being the subtle, mostly unacknowledged what of world systems1; and 2) “worshiping power instead of God” being the how — the modus operandi.

We see the full scenario played out in Old Testament Daniel 3 — in the conspiracy for power orchestrated by visible and invisible forces,2 and in the compulsory worship of Nebuchadnezzar's massive, golden idol.

How many permutations of this story have played out within every nation, kindred, tongue, and people?

Here is Walter Wink's take on the condition of nigh every human in this world of fallen, corrupted systems:
We "[are\]were dead," because the total world-system is a conspiracy against God, a lie perpetuated by people and presided over by Satan. We "were dead" because we were born into such a world and never had [or pursued] any other options. "Dead," because having taken in its deadly vapors, we breathe them out on others; we become its carriers, passing it into our institutions, structures, and systems even as these have reciprocally passed on the same deadly fumes to us.3

It is, in short, what we mean today by such terms as ideologies, the Zeitgeist, customs, public opinion, peer pressure, institutional expectations, mob psychology, jingoistic patriotism, and negative vibes. These constitute "the power of the air," the invisible but palpable environment of opinions, beliefs, propaganda, convictions, prejudices, hatreds, racial and class biases, taboos, and loyalties that condition our perception of the world long before we reach the age of choice, often before we reach the age of speech. It "kills" us precisely because we "breathe" it in before we even realize it is noxious. Like fish in water, we are not even aware that it exists, much less that it determines the way we think, speak, and act. To seem not to appear is part of its essence, as Schlier put it." So invisible are its assaults, in fact, that only a special coat of invisible arms can protect even those who have been made aware of and delivered from it. I refer, of course, to the "panoply of God's armor" spoken of in Eph. 6:10-20.4
Wink asserts that Christ's life, death, and resurrection unmask the truth about world systems — that from divine purpose and vocation,5 systems (both visible and invisible) and their stewards have strayed6 into “worshiping power instead of God.”7

So the question arises for each of us: What good is the unmasking if seeing, we do not see and hearing, we do not hear what "the spirit of power"8 does and has done to people and systems throughout history? Can we see that the pursuit of power (the “conspiracy against God”) is reaching its zenith as competing factions and systems battle for the “throne” with technologies of power never before seen?

What should We The People do? take sides with competing, mortal powers? believe / support some lies while rejecting others? let ourselves be led about by people and powers without conscience? refuse to acknowledge the full spectrum truth of every power-player?

Truly, we are in desperate need of seeing and understanding the truths and déjà vus of powers and power-players, and of

becoming united as one in prayer and action for their exposure, awareness, healing, transformation, and redemption.

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* (which includes the power of wealth / riches / gain)

1. (political, military, economic, social, religious, scientific, philosophic, commercial, cultural, etc.)
2. Old Testament | Isaiah 14:13–14 ~ For thou [O Lucifer] hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
New Testament | Ephesians 6:12 ~ For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high (heavenly?) places.

Note: invisible forces were clearly at work in Daniel's life and times: see Daniel 10:10-14, 20)
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 29:1, 36 ~ “... for he [the devil] rebelled against me [Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, the Great I AM], saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; “ (Bold emphasis added.) | Note: Could honor for Satan mean praise and power; but for Christ, could it mean integrity ("on My honor")?
Pearl of Great Price | Moses 4:1, 3-4 ~ AND I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. ... Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; ... ; And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. (Bold emphasis added.)
3. Walter Wink. Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament (The Powers : Volume One) (Kindle Locations 950-952). Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)
Consider: New Testament | Ephesians 2:1–3 ~ AND you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 960-966). Kindle Edition.

5. New Testament | Colossians 1:16–17 ~ For by him [Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Bold emphasis added.)
6. “[T]he Powers from which Paul would protect his Colossian correspondents are not evil spirits in the sky, but philosophy, tradition, rules and rituals, food laws and ascetic practices, the basic elements of religion, and even the good angels. None of these Powers is evil in itself. All can even be useful aids. The author ]Paul] himself counsels self-mortification (3:5), religious rituals (baptism, 2:12; singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 3:16; acts of prayer and thanksgiving, giving, 1:12; 4:2-3), and makes rules (3:18-4:1). They become dangerous only when they become ends in themselves, or divisive, or egocentric, or divert the believer from union with Christ ...” Ibid., (Kindle Location 926-934). Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)
7. Walter Wink. Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament (The Powers : Volume One) (Kindle Locations 902). Kindle Edition.
8. Doctrine and Covenants | Section 121:39 ~ We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. See also: https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-spirit-of-power.html ; or the Label: Power.

Friday, April 19, 2019

The Test of Power?

We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.1
How fascinating that “the nature and disposition of almost all men ... to exercise unrighteous dominion” has been so thoroughly confirmed.


How to Deprogram a Sociopath: A Proposal (Time 39:37)
[Davi Barker: Authoritarian Sociopathy] at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceyvTFr5vtU&feature=youtu.be 2
Most of us probably think we are immune to the “spirit of power” that seems to overtake those who rise to, or are appointed or elected to positions of power; a spirit that oft envelopes even those who merely simulate power scenarios as was illustrated in this video3 presented several years ago; a spirit also described here:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.4
Two of the great tests in this world, documented déjà vu on déjà vu, are the test of wealth and the test of power, both of which foster and flourish in secret combinations.5

Too bad more of us do not recognize the expressions of power in ourselves and in those we elevate to power, and why most seldom manifest in office what was promised in campaign. If there were more awareness and exposure of the dark "nature and disposition" of power in almost every human heart, maybe more of us would pass the test.

A recommended place to achieve greater awareness: The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium by Walter Wink.

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1. Doctrine and Covenants | Section 121:39 (bold emphasis added)
2. See also at https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1439-davi-barker-on-authoritarian-sociopathy/ or Davi Barker, Authoritarian Sociopathy (Time 52:19 at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=davi+barker
3. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2014/03/truly-afflicted-with-riches.html
4. New Testament | Ephesians 6:12
5. Book of Mormon | Ether 8:22-23 ~ And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; ... Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be. (Bold emphasis added.)
Book of Mormon | Ether 11:15 ~ And it came to pass that there arose a rebellion among the people, because of that secret combination which was built up to get power and gain; (Bold emphasis added.)

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

“To Make the Known Unknown”?


If there is a succinct phrase that could describe the condition of our day, it might be the title to this post.
"To make the known unknown."*
God's promise has always been the reverse: to make the unknown known to those who seek:
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. (Old Testament | Jeremiah 33:3)

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: (New Testament | Matthew 7:7)
BUT in this age we have become inundated with fake news, false flags, propaganda, and psy-ops orchestrated and funded by the very powers that claim to have our best interests and security at heart. We have fallen into an age where that which is known to millions is ignored by millions as though what they know (what witness after witness has revealed at risk to life and limb) were completely unknown. As if we cannot bring ourselves to see, hear, or speak about what is being done in our world. As if we cannot remember:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (New Testament | Ephesians 6:12)
This Déjà Vu blog has tried, over the past decade, to help keep conscious that which is known (has been witnessed time after time) about the forces and fabrications of the adversary; a consciousness of not resisting evil with evil but of resisting the powers with awareness, prayer, exposure, and invitations to redemption.

Here is a brief excerpt detailing our current circumstance from “Engaging the Powers” by Walter Wink:
The world-atmosphere teaches us what we can value. In the Domination System generally, it teaches us to value power. In any particular society, however, power is given specific shape by the peculiar conditions of the time. What characterizes our society is the unique value ascribed to money. People in every age have coveted wealth, but few societies have lionized the entrepreneur as ours does. Aristocratic societies—and most societies have been aristocratic—have tended to look down on acquisitiveness and to despise merchants. Modern capitalism, by contrast, has made wealth the highest value. Our entire social system has become an "economy"; no earlier society would have characterized itself thus. Profit is the highest social good. Consumerism has become the only universally available mode of participation in modern society. The work ethic has been replaced by the consumption ethic, the cathedral by the skyscraper, the hero by the billionaire, the saint by the executive, religion by ideology. The Kingdom of Mammon exercises constraint by invisible chains and drives its slaves with invisible prods. (How rare it is for rich people to say, "I have enough.") But Mammon is wiser in its way than the dictator, for money enslaves not by force but by love.

The world-atmosphere also teaches us what to see. "One can say not only that as individuals we live within a sociocultural organism but also that the sociocultural organism lives within us. Not only are we individual units within an organized society, but organized society is represented and incarnated within our brains." Whatever the System tells our brains is real is what we are allowed to notice; everything else must be ignored. "We give the system the power to make the known unknown."[*] Thus we are taught to mistrust our own experiences.

Every observation is a directed observation, that is, an observation for or against a point of view. Every mind is a "contaminated mind," a mind constructed of a network of suppositions and assumptions. All descriptions are paradigm-conditioned and value-laden. A Skinnerian and a Freudian will not only describe the same behavior in incompatible ways, but their conceptual frameworks actually cause them to see different behaviors. The observed behavior is different in each case. The result of this limitation on what we are allowed to see is a miniaturization of our living world.

These limitations of sight are to a degree merely a consequence of finitude. But to some extent they are also the result of a system that is deliberately blinding us to God's true intent for humanity:

Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 812-829). Kindle Edition. [ All bold emphasis has been added, and 3 footnote references omitted.]
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* Wink's Footnote 12: Anne Wilson Schaef, When Society Becomes an Addict (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987), 108.  at Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 4926-4927). Kindle Edition.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

"Nonviolence for the Violent"?


The great déjà vu of history must be the continuity of domination systems and the violence that sustains them. When we look at our inner and outer selves and at the systems we have established, almost all—whatever the “altruistic” origins—seem to rapidly devolve into domination systems, even within our families.

But perhaps the greatest domination system in history is the deep state fronted by US, our secretive agencies, and coerced allies. When we finally open our eyes and ears to the depth of murder and mayhem that we have resorted to in pursuit of power, gain, and so-called security, the crimes and corruptions of the socialist/communist system will pale in comparison to those of the secretive, hypocritical Babylonian system1 that we have embraced and energized.

The violence that has been perpetrated by this nation that was born in such hope and promise is tragic beyond description. Many have tried to witness what they have seen and experienced, but so few USians want the truth; but for those who do, what do WE do so that we do not mirror the violence?

Perhaps we can learn vital lessons from 2000 years ago—not from the supposed wimp Jesus, but from the radical, outspoken Jesus who used the domination system against itself in nonviolent ways. Perhaps it is time to reassess what Jesus really intended with turn the other cheek; with let him have thy cloak also; with go the second mile.2



Walter Wink (1): Nonviolence for the Violent (Time 8:11) at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC8pffvX1to&list=PL2oZnDZepAhfBN8Zg9pFGzaN_WoPyfvSw
Part 2 (Time 9:24) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUc3lAhJs8c&list=PL2oZnDZepAhfBN8Zg9pFGzaN_WoPyfvSw&index=2
Part 3 (Time 8:40) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UejcCTSwJ6I&list=PL2oZnDZepAhfBN8Zg9pFGzaN_WoPyfvSw&index=3
Part 4 (Time 8:58) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9buysvm0SGE&list=PL2oZnDZepAhfBN8Zg9pFGzaN_WoPyfvSw&index=4
Part 5 (Time 10:01) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_1jpwHsRus&list=PL2oZnDZepAhfBN8Zg9pFGzaN_WoPyfvSw&index=5
For latter-day ideas for nonviolent resistance, check out Gene Sharp and his advocates.3

Oh, that we had a passionate, repentant Jonah4 preaching with power to a seeing, hearing US!

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1. The REAL nemesis of Zion:  https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2017/08/conflation.html ; https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2014/12/deception-inc.html ; https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2015/01/arms-race.html ; https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-sound-of-trump.html ; https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2010/02/economics-of-babylon.html ; https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2009/12/economics-of-jesus.html
2. New Testament | Matthew 5:39–41 ~ 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil [with evil?]: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
3. The secret to effective nonviolent resistance | Jamila Raqib (Time 8:57 TED talk) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIpgrZ8yS-Q ; Gene Sharp - Hardtalk (Time 23:47) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wZESH4D1ik&t=581s
4. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2018/09/why-was-jonah-so-very-angry.html