New members of the Nazareth Baptist Church are baptized close to the church headquarters near KwaMashu, KwaZulu Natal, January 1998. The founder Isaiah Shembe is seen as a spiritual descendent of Moses and Jesus, and th church embraces traditional Zulu values and customs. Photo Greg Marinovich
I understood I was living under tribal rule and conditions after I pissed Gary off – but good! We were studying Mark 4. There were about five of our neighbors gathered in Greg Mel’s home. I asked our minister this question:
“Jesus is speaking in parables and riddles to the crowd who are struggling to get his message. Then he says he told his disciples the answer to his riddles, in secret, when they were alone. I’m wondering, why didn’t one of the disciple write these answers down so we can read them? We’re talking about ‘The Secret of The Kingdom of God!”
There was silence as Gary’s face turned red with anger. His ears were on fire. He said;
“You went over and over this passage just to………..trip me up!”
You could hear a pin drop. I looked at the look of shock from my neighbors that I was friends with – outside Gary’s Colonial Territorial Rule. How did Gary – want me to react? I learnded forward in my chair, looked him dead in the eye, and slowly said;
“No!….I…..did……not!”
It was like a showdown at the ‘I’m O.K. and You’re Not Coral.
“These people came here so they can own a simple faith, and you are preventing that!”
To be stamped a pariah in front of your peers, is serious business. Gary continued to feed his little chicks more pellets of simple faith. I could see some folks wre secretly mulling over my good question, wondering if I was really on to something – real forbidden! And, it would corrupt them if they delved any deeper. Surely, they would meet my fate, and be cast out.
At the end of the meeting, Gary took me aside in my good friends home, and said;
“As a Christian, I am bid to love you. But, it doesn’t mean I have to like you!”
I should have said;
“Where does it say that?”
Gary was referring to the great commandment that he read over and over and over again. He even read it at Bible college. I hadn’t read it yet.
For a second I thought about taking Gary outside – and whomp on his ass! This was the beginning of The Bad Ol Days of Good Ol Gary. I stopped going to Bible study, and kept going to his church. One beautiful Sunday morning, as I looked out the window at the blue jays and butterflies, Gary told us about another of his – inner feelings!
“Sometimes I pray that the Russians would drop an atomic bomb on San Francisco so as to kill all the queers!”
Can I get a witness?
I quickly looked around at the hundred people in the pews. Did they hear what I just heard? It took much strength not to stand up and say what I wanted to say.
“Are you saying you want the Russians to murder a millions of Americans just to wipe out a couple of thousand queers? Gary, some of the world’s greatest churches are in San Francisco. Would you care to retract that – desire?”
Everyone was smiling. I assumed they heard this kind of fantasying before, and, it didn’t hurt the collection plate. I guess they never heard of Jim Jones. Was Gary going to ask for a show of hands, followed by a free batch of coo-aid?
I still own a vision of what would have happened if I had stood up. Gary would have rushed me, taken hold of me to throw me out of his church, and I would have had to knock him out, beat the crap out of him. Simple faith – my ass! You mass-murderer!
We now know Gary was ahead of the times. If he had lived longer, he would have been King Bobo’s personal spiritual advisor.
On the Bad Streets of Blue River was the White River Café, where the Good Ol Boys had breakfast. They wore blue overalls. There grandpas were Confederate officers who fled here after they lost the Civil War. They made a living, logging. They gave Gary hefty checks. It was something to see. They sat at their usual table. There were big plates of hash browns, bacon, eggs, and toast. These were extra big plates ordered from Chicago, and kept in a special cabinet in the back room. The cook always gave them a little bit more. The waitress, was always there to freshen up their cups of coffees. These were King Oinkers right out of Orwell’s Animal Farm. Gary was protecting them from me. He did not want me to get between them and their Checkee-Poohs!
This is why Gary choked when I suggested the Gospel Choir come up river and sing. What Gary and Boys wanted, was to see a Good Ol Celtic River Dance. They wanted to see more white people gathering by – their river!
I would like to see a Colony of Mandaeans take over Blue River, and turn this Ghost Town into a beautiful Oasis of Love. The Neo-Confederate Hogs, are gone. They got Defolked by old age. I don’t think they left any markers behind. Everything got closed down!
At some point, Gary was supposed to ask me if I wanted to be Baptized. Instead, he asked me to play Judas in his Churches Passion Play. My kin and good friend, Michael Dundon, was going to play Jesus. I declined the offer, declared myself a Nazarite, Baptized myself in the McKenzie River, then went to town in search of other Nazarites – on a computer! I found my church – in South Africa. I wrote them a long letter. I told them about Blue River Revelation. I own a vision of a plane landing at the Eugene airport, and my Tribe and Church getting onto a bus to come dance and sing in the place where I talked to Jesus.
“Be not afraid. Spiritual Courage will be met by Spiritual Courage!”
Millions of folks want to get into the water so that they can be healed of their hatred of their neighbor. Most don’t know this yet!
As I look back, I can see God did not give me the preacher-man I wanted, but, he was my go-to man of God. I can honestly say, I liked Gary Johnson, and, even loved him. He was at his best out in his garage. God gave him a great garage. He knew how to fix stuff. It made me sad when I heard the Church board of directors, sent him on a sabbatical. There was a rebellion, and the church split in two. I drove by and saw balloons and banners on the new Church. A great era, had come to an end.
Seer John
Play both videos at the same time.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+4&version=KJV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Commandment
You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. 18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Three Songs of the Great Reversal
Here is the song the father of John the Baptist allegedly sang. It is similar to Hannah’s song who took the vow of the Nazarite, as did her son, Samuel the Nazarite. John was a Nazarite for life. Even while in his mother’s womb, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. John did not prepare the WAY for Jesus, but the “WAYS” of the Lord.“And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:”
Mary’s song is titled a reversal. The Catholic church has juggled with these chidren and the truth – even while these babes were in their mother’s wombs! I have found a lineage of Nazarite women that includes Mary’s mother, Anna, that is the same as Hannah! Both women were Nazarites.
The Great Reversal of the Nazarites has arrived! Drink no wine as blood. Do not get near a dead body, or eat of dead flesh in a symbolic way. Repent!
Jon the Nazarite
nuke 1:46-55
New International Version (NIV)
Mary’s Song
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
Hannah praises Yahweh, reflects on the reversals he accomplishes, and looks forward to his king.
Verses 4-5 contains three reversals. Stanley D. Walters notes that one is a “reversal of macho male prowess”, one a “reversal of female longing” and one is “gender-neutral and universal”.[1]
There is a movement in this song from the particular to the general. It opens with Hannah’s own gratitude for a local reversal, and closes with God’s defeat of his enemies – a cosmic reversal.[2]
Through the theme of reversal, the Song of Hannah functions as an introduction to the whole book. Keil and Delitzsch argue that Hannah’s experience of reversal was a pledge of how God “would also lift up and glorify his whole nation, which was at that time so deeply bowed down and oppressed by its foes.”[3]
The reference to a king in verse 10 has provoked considerable discussion. A. F. Kirkpatrick argues that this does not imply a late date for the song, since “the idea of a king was not altogether novel to the Israelite mind” and “amid the prevalent anarchy and growing disintegration of the nation, amid internal corruption and external attack, the desire for a king was probably taking definite shape in the popular mind.”[4]
Walter Brueggemann suggests that the Song of Hannah paves the way for a major theme of the Book of Samuel, the “power and willingness of Yahweh to intrude, intervene and invert.”[5]
Hannah’s Song – 1 Samuel 2
And Hannah prayed, saying…
Triumphant my heart in Yahweh!
A high place my horn in Yahweh!
Wide is my mouth over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
None holy beside Yahweh!
For there is none except you,
and no Rock like our God!
Stop making much of your speech of pride, pride
goes out loose from your mouth,
for El of knowledge is Yahweh
and it is he who reckons every deed.
The bow of the valiant is shattered,
but the feeble are prepared to be strong.
Those who have feasted, in bread will be paid,
while those who have hungered – no longer!
She who was barren has now borne seven,
while the mother of many dwindles.
Yahweh brings about death and life,
casts to She’ol and lifts up.
Yahweh brings about poverty and wealth,
makes low and lifts high.
He raises from the dust the weak,
from the ash-heap lifts the poor
to seat them with nobles
and a throne of glory grant.
For Yahweh’s are the foundations of the earth,
and he orders upon them the world of men.
The footsteps of his devoted he watches,
but the wicked in darkness are silenced –
for not by power grows mighty a man.
Yahweh shatters his contenders –
against them from the heavens he thunders!
Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth
giving might to his king,
lifting high the horn of his anointed.
The Benedictus (also Song of Zechariah or Canticle of Zachary), given in Gospel of Luke 1:68-79, is one of the three canticles[1] in the opening chapters of this Gospel. The Benedictus was the song of thanksgiving uttered by Zechariah on the occasion of the birth of his son, John the Baptist.
The whole canticle naturally falls into two parts. The first (verses 68-75) is a song of thanksgiving for the realization of the Messianic hopes of the Jewish nation; but to such realization is given a characteristically Christian tone. As of old, in the family of David, there was power to defend the nation against their enemies, now again that of which they had been so long deprived, and for which they had been yearning, was to be restored to them, but in a higher and spiritual sense. The horn is a sign of power, and the “horn of salvation” signified the power of delivering or “a mighty deliverance”. While the Jews had impatiently borne the yoke of the Romans, they had continually sighed for the time when the House of David was to be their deliverer. The deliverance was now at hand, and was pointed to by Zechariah as the fulfilment of God’s oath to Abraham; but the fulfilment is described as a deliverance not for the sake of worldly power, but that “we may serve him without fear, in holiness and justice all our days”.
The second part of the canticle is an address by Zechariah to his own son, who was to take so important a part in the scheme of the Redemption; for he was to be a prophet, and to preach the remission of sins before the coming or the Dawn from on high. The prophecy that he was to “go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways” (v. 76) was of course an allusion to the well-known words of Isaiah 40:3 which John himself afterwards applied to his own mission (John 1:23), and which all three Synoptic Gospels adopt (Matt 3:3; Mark 1:2; Luke 3:4).
he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
So they said to him, c“We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”
So they said, d“Into John’s baptism.”
And it happened, while aApollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through bthe upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
So they said to him, c“We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”
So they said, d“Into John’s baptism.”
4 Then Paul said, e“John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized fin the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had glaid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and hthey spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7 Now the men were about twelve in all.
8 iAnd he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading jconcerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9 But kwhen some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil lof the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And mthis continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
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Reblogged this on Rosamond Press and commented:
Many believe we are in The End Times. Who is going to rebuild the temple?