Fri, Nov 23rd - 5:29PM
The Democrats: Party of the Rich
The Democrats: Party of the Rich
William Collier
www.thejesuscommunity.com
The Democrats claim to be the Party of the Poor, but recent data belies the claim as false. The fact is that some of the richest families are backing the Democratic vision of secularism and socialism, seemingly not so much for economic reasons as for reasons related to the social values of the Republicans which they seem to disagree with.
It stands to reason that someone who gets rich on the backs of others and who does whatever it takes to make money is not concerned with mora;l virtue, hence the shift of the wealthy to the Democratic Party.
This article in the Washington Times talks about the trend and how it is impacting the Democrats, making their economic liberalism more of a liability amongst their rich patrons who approve of such things as gay marriage and abortion and other forms of moral laxity but who may not like the "soak the rich" rhetoric of traditional Democrats.
Here is the article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071123/NATION/111230087/1002
You will notice that the article never really does answer why the rich are leaning left, so here's a few ideas:
1. they are moral liberals, which means they like secularism and for them moral virtue in the traditional sense is anathema to the "get rich by any means possible" ethic
2. the idea of the government paying for health care instead of employers paying appeals to them greatly
3. they like cheap labor, hence illegal immigration
4. they profit greatly by selling their smut and pornography and know that religious people don't buy such garbage and Democrats assert that the first amendment protects the rights of pornographers while it prohibits associating religion in any way with public life
5. they like the multinational approach which allows their companies to get around national laws by creating a world economic order based on the interests of corporations rather than individuals and nation states
Of course you may come up with other reasons, but these are a few of mine.
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Mon, Feb 20th - 1:45PM
Christian Community
Greetings to all,
I am working on creating a virtual Christian Community called Upadaria. It is not a club, a simulation, or a church. It is designed to literally be a community with spiritual, politcal, economic, and social services.
I have done a lot of research and have discovered that the community itself is irreducibly complex. It needs people who can fill key roles to create the services and who would be able to invest a litle of themselves for the good of the whole.
I will be offering some free memebrships, a business oportunity, and opportunities for people who would be willing to mentor and help new community members.
The free memebrships come with no obligation, the business opportuity costs $55 per month, and the mentoring opportunity requires only a committment of time.
If anyone here is interested email me at upadaria@yahoo.com with "Upadaria" in the subeject line.
God Bless you all,
Bill Collier
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Sun, Feb 19th - 9:10PM
Scandal Gate In Washington
Peter and The Wolf and who cares
You know the old line, right? If you cry wolf too many times people will stop believing you. Well, perhaps they believe you, but they just don't care about that wolf.
In Washington the newest political weapon is not the scandal, it is the extent to which one makes wild accusations against your foes. This really all started with Clinton when the conservatives felt so utterly disgusted with the choice of the American people that they basically tried to take him down with a scandal a week.
Since then, it has, incredibly enough, only gotten worse. The conservatives have the power, so they are not so prone to want to or need to use scandal mongering and one could get the impression that this writer is just beating up on liberals over the issue of scandal mongering: the fact is that right now it is not so much the conservatives who are doing this as there opposition.
This then brings me to the point of this article. Every day liberals cry wolf, just as ten years ago it was the conservatives who were doing it. Some people say that all that is going to happen here now is that the people in the nation will stop believing there is a wolf.
That sounds nice because it fits that old saying about crying wolf, but what if something else happened? What if it went like this: if you tell a big lie long enough people will believe it and if in believing the big lie they don't see how it affects their lives they just stop thinking it's a big deal about that there wolf?
So the liberals are telling us today like the conservatives did ten years ago that the government is massively corrupt, and we believe it all, after all we hear it all the time, but what do we care?
The danger is not that when the wolf comes we won't see it, we may very clearly see it. The danger is that when it really comes, when the government really does do something awful and unforgivable, we'll just say 'they have been doing that for years and nothing really bad ever happened to me.'
Inventing fake scandals, whether because you are malicious or because you don't check all your facts, doesn't merely undermine public trust in government, it also makes corruption more acceptable and less of a big deal to the masses who BELIEVE that such corruption is already rampant.
It would be refreshing to see political leaders step outside of their own party agendas and ask themselves one simple question before they level some new insult at their opponents, 'is this really true?'
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Sun, Feb 19th - 8:40PM
The West and Islam
Is This Our Fight?
In Ephesians 6:12 we are told '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.' In this emerging conflict between the West, which is a secular and decadent civilization, and Islam, which is simply a false religion that denies Christ as both savior and the son of God, the Christian may at times wonder whose side they should be on.
The fact is, we are not on any side. Recall what Joshua experienced when he was nearing Jericho and he came across an angel from God: Joshua 5: 13-14, 'And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?'
When Joshua asked what the man's intentions were, whose side he was on, the angel did not say he was on any side, but he said 'nay', in other words 'no to both, I am not on any side here', but he had come at the bidding of the Lord, as captain of the hosts.
So then we see this battle between the decadent West which has turned its back on Christ and the apostate Islamists who deny Christ and who preach another gospel, and we must say 'nay! We are not on any side, but we come as the army of the Lord, as His witnesses, to preach the gospel to every creature, to Westerners and Arabs, to those who hate us and those who do not hate us, to them that are near and to them that are far!'
The West is being troubled, and its response is strange indeed. Instead of acting like men and defying an adversary that claims over and over again that it will rule over the West we see the leaders of the West wringing their hands like old women and trying desperately to make their enemies like them.
Fear has taken hold of the hearts of men and Ishmael's seed are troubling the whole planet, even as it was prophesied (Genesis 16:11-12 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.).
How much wilder can you get when mobs of Ishmael's children are killing people over cartoons and when the price you pay for gas for your car is determined largely by this wild seed?
Now, before you start deciding it's OK to beat up on poor Ishmael, remember: God loves Ishmael and He had compassion on Hagar, the mother of Ishmael.
Our enemy is neither Ishmael nor the West, and they are certainly not out friend. Our enemy is the father of lies who has set these two implacable foes on a collision course that is designed to lead millions into a devil's hell.
What then are we as believers to do?
The answer comes to us from Ephesians 5:14-18 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.
We need to wake up both about the West which has turned its back on God and the Islamists who deny Christ, but we need to contend with them with spiritual weapons: walking with holiness and wisdom, being witnesses, and 'redeeming the time' by working all the more energetically to find and fulfill God's plan for us to carry out the Great Commission through our callings.
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Sun, Feb 19th - 9:44AM
A Revelation of Community
Does your life accurately reflect a reality that you might expect for those who follow Christ according to God's word?
Perhaps you have done everything you know to do and yet you still seem to be coming up short. This may have confused you or even at times made you doubt the reality of the Word of God but, I can assure you, the reality depicted in Scripture, a reality of fulfilling God's will and living a life of victory as His servant, is not a dream we hope for but never see, it is a reality that is waiting for each of us right now and is well within our grasp.
When you have lived in holiness, walked in love, and given yourself to the work of God sacrificially and yet still your life is coming up short the reason is plain and simple: you are only applying God's truth to limited areas of your life. In order to fully experience the life of Christ we must walk in His truth in every single area of our lives at least as far as we are able to. If you want to achieve God's dreams and plans for your life then every area of your life must be controlled by Him in terms of using His truth and pursuing His will.
Consider now the people in the bible and the lives they were able to live and then look at your own circumstances.
What is the one, fundamental difference between our lives today and the lives of the Israelites or the early church members?
In a word that difference is community. Their lives were not lived on a purely individualistic basis, in fact their concern as not so much for themselves as for their nation, their family, or their community of believers. Radical individualism leaves no room for anyone but self and this kind of individualism is the number one feature of our current culture. Radical individualism isolates us first from one another and then, because of this, from God Himself.
We show our love for God by showing love for each other
By isolating ourselves from each other we isolate ourselves first from His love, then from His presence, and finally from His blessings. Because we are individuals and not community our lives are not lived as they were in the bible and our results are different from the results they obtained.
When I speak of community and of loving each other I am not talking about church services, social events, or just being friends with other Christians. Those are all good and necessary things, and indeed they are the foundation of community, but they are not in and of themselves community.
Community is shared meaning, shared work, and shared rewards.
By shared meaning we are not just talking about basic theology but deeper things, like philosophy and lifestyle that give glory to Christ. By shared work we are not just talking about church activities or ministries, we are talking about everything from helping people in need to sharing resources to meet our basic needs or helping to promote one another in business. By shared reward we do not mean merely splitting up the fruits of our collective labor, we also mean that as we engage in community according to God's Word it will result in supernatural blessings being poured out on us.
We can create community and if we do we can start to see totally different results for our lives.
By this I mean very concrete physical and spiritual results, almost immediately. We will have more time and resources to pursue God's will for our lives and to work in our local churches, we will have more security for our material needs, we will e better witnesses, and we will be closer to one another and thereby to God.
We are not talking about community in a general sense, as an idea or some new way to organize your church or run your ministry, we are talking literally about new ways to work, spend or earn income, be a voice as citizens of our communities, care for the needy or provide a social safety net for ourselves, and even to entertain ourselves. Our community concept is something tangible, it is as much about our attitudes as it is about what we do on Saturday afternoons or how and where we spend our money.
If we want the same kind of results as the Israelites and early church members who had community then clearly we need to be like them and have community amongst ourselves.
This is a process, we can't just go from having little to no real community to suddenly having a full fledged community with all he various functions, offices, and relationships in place.
The first thing we need to change is our individualistic attitude and our understanding of just what community is. Next we can learn how to start building community amongst ourselves. Finally, we need to start putting our heads and resources together to create a community amongst ourselves that addresses all of our needs in every area of human action according to God's Word.
Whenever God's People are lacking something God sends them apostles, prophets, teachers, or just plain average people with a word, a revelation, or an exhortation
This exhortation amounts to a special vision for that generation and that time that is 100% consistent with God's Word but that may seem new or special or specifically designed for the current reality and current needs. In such situations it is the vision and not the person that matters, after all if we did not praise Him the rocks would and if we refuse to let Him release vision through us He can use a rock if He has to! He used a donkey to speak to Balaam, so He can use you or me to speak to our generation!
My life has been about a revelation of community
This revelation that started behind a bush on a playground and developed and grew as I increased in knowledge and as God revealed more and more of the vision to me until it started to really make sense and fit. Some have called this revelation a new philosophy, some have said that it transcends capitalism and socialism, others have said it is not much more than a novel synthesis of well established principles that have never before been so combined, and still others see it as a new doctrine.
This vision, which God has labeled "Upadarianism", can be anything you want it to be but it is foremost and always just a revelation from God for this generation and this time that primarily addresses our lack of real community and emphasizes community in order to reach the lost and make disciples of the nations.
The word "Upadarianism" is only important in that it allows us to easily identify this vision and distinguish it from anything that might be similar but that is not the same thing. The word is not something we should get caught up in, it is the truth of this vision that must matter most to us. If God chooses, as He has revealed to me plainly, to call this vision something then I will simply do that but for your part what matters most is not that word but, rather, the vision itself. In short, God has given me a vision of community and who I am or what name we give it matters little. What matters here is how this vision will enable you to be more effective as a witness for Jesus Christ while you find and fulfill God's will for your life, your church, your community, your family, and your nation.
To distinguish ourselves from "liberals" or "conservatives", from "capitalists" or "socialists", we use the term "Upadarian".
The word itself comes from the core revelation that gave rise to this vision: the revelation of the four core community building ideals of Unity in diversity, Popular sovereignty, Democratic equality, and the Rule of God's law. You may be familiar with these ideals but when you see them as intended by God through scripture it will revolutionize the way you look at God, yourself, and your relationship with other believers who are your joint-heirs in Christ and without whom you can only achieve limited spiritual success.
If who I am as a man or this word offends you or seems weak or foolish to you, I can only say that God chooses the foolish to confound the wise and the weak to confound the strong. If, on the other hand, you are able to get beyond a word or an unworthy messenger then something great and powerful is waiting for you, a revelation of community that will increase your effectiveness as a witness of Christ tenfold and that will give you the strength of 10,000 men over all the opposition in your life.
Our revelation of community, which we call "Upadarianism", will empower you to serve Christ
It will help you to experience more fully and deeply the power, providence, and presence of God. It is a practical vision that you can learn and start doing very quickly and it has the power to start producing good results right off the bat!
You now know the importance of community in forging a closer relationship with God.
Community is also a powerful evangelical tool that will help us to continue our work on the great commission.
You are ready to begin
Roll up your sleeves, and let's get started. It's time for action!
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Name: William Collier
