You have heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say unto you: Love your enemies. Do good to those who mistreat you. —Jesus of Nazareth
* * *
Today is a great day for Christians and for children who love jellybeans and magical tales. Once upon a time, overwhelming hatred killed a good man, but overwhelming love brought him back to life. Bunnies hop hither and yon, spreading the joyful news.
Faith, hope, and love abide. But the greatest of these is love.
(Someone needs to tell the US Secretary of Holy Crusades.)
Today is Easter. According to orthodox Christianity, Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried, and on the third day rose from the tomb, bodily.
You can be a Christian without believing that. You just can’t be an evangelical Christian.
And that’s okay.
Many Christians aren’t evangelical, orthodox, or even theist. Many are pantheists, humanists, or agnostics. Many believe that God is being itself, not a being. Most Christians believe God is love and just leave it at that.
St. Francis, St. Clare of Assisi, William Wilberforce, Corrie ten Boom, Florence Nightingale, Mary “Mother” Jones, Rosa Parks, Bishop Tutu, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, James Talarico.
None of those people are Christian nationalists.
Pete Hegseth is.
He’s also a jerk.
He takes God’s name in vain. He takes Christ’s name in vain. He takes America’s name in vain. He’s wicked. He’s blasphemous. He’s dangerous.
He delights in war, violence, and vengeance without mercy. He struts. He gloats. He bloviates.
He and his type deserve to be obliterated from the face of the earth. But that’s not gonna happen. God is too good for that. And that’s a shame.
If I could, I’d redirect Hegseth’s March 22nd Pentagon worship service prayer. My prayer would target him and his ungodly minions. The whole damn lot. All in the powerful name of Jesus, to boot!
Almighty God, who trains our hands for war, behold now the wicked who rise against your justice and the peace of the righteous. Snap the rod of the oppressor, frustrate the wicked plans, and break the teeth of the ungodly. Pour out your wrath upon those who plot vain things. Blow them away like chaff before the wind. We ask these things in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ, King over all kings.
If Jesus overheard Hegseth’s prayer, he’d be sick to his stomach.
But Jesus being Jesus, he still loves Pete. Good for Jesus. I can’t get there.
Come to think of it: I’m not a Christian.
Not yet.
Wow that was well written, Randy. You gave us a message. What is the most frightnening and dangerous aspect of this U.S. regime is the distorted use of religion in its power. Project 2025 is being played out before our eyes and is hard to watch. I just can’t believe how much power it has, when it makes no sense to me, except that it’s been going on a long time. I like the Pope and scholars like you that shine the light on it. It is central to this take over of our government.
Richard joins me in sending Easter love and peace to our beloved Tremba family from Edinburgh! 🏴🙏🏻❤️🌈
You’ve got plenty of company. Count me in. The band of charlatans, who were elected, are everything you say they are and worse. There’s nothing for me to add, other than, “Keep your head down and your powder dry.” Constantly work against this madness and greed everyday. Let’s learn from our mistakes and move on as a nation to a better place.
When I heard Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer, my stomach cringed. The name of Jesus was being weaponized by the government, for “our side.” Pope Leo was right when he said you can’t use Christian language to justify war. He named names and called the Iran war “imperialistic.” He even went so far as to say that “Jesus doesn’t listen to prayers for war.” While Hegseth embodies darkness and idolatry, on this Easter Sunday perhaps we need to remember the words of Desmond Tutu: “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.” Let us work for light and love, not war and hatred. Easter is still about hope, knowing that even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.
“Tyrant in prayer” – Others have endured intentional wickedness & darkness before us. Others will endure after us. God knows, & has seen it all before. So let us breathe, set our sights on love & justice & lite…& carry on together…”I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me…comfort me…dwell in the house of the Lord forever”…
Thank you, Randy. I accept your message today as Easter prayer that more than neutralizes Hegseth’s, which was an abomination. I keep thinking that we humans have an essential mandate in the School of Life: Learn to Love. This purpose is challenging enough for the likes of us, your loyal community, but for tortured souls like Hegseth’s (& his President, Huckabee, Noem, Bondi, Patel, et.al. and their right-hand people, etc.), hatred, revenge, warrior-ship, power, and violence are their only resources, which can’t access genuine Love. And since they don’t “know” Love, cannot transform their own soulless hatred and loss of agency. They are the true “lost lambs” this day. Maybe if we choose to see them back in their swaddling clothes, we can summon an innocent love for the innocent beings they once were. Maybe. We keep trying, don’t we? Wishing everyone a day of rebirth, renewal, and Love. The weather is perfect, a “cleanse” of the disease they name “Christianity.” Peace. ☮️
Truer words were never spoken my friend! thank you for expressing the outrage and sadness that so many of us feel. Christians, Humanists, Pantheists, Atheists, and all Religions. Must our country face a Nurenburg trial in the future, among all the other disgraces that have been thrown upon us?
Thanks for the real Easter message. At this stage of life, I am still Presbyterian in polity (representative, democratic governance), None in religion, and All in faith, hope, and love. But not IN love with the current powers that be.
I don’t even know if Christ the redeemer could save the secretary of the department of war crimes.
Nailed it.
Was this a pun? Whether it was or not, it applies. 🙂
Ha ha, it was completely unintentional as a crucifixion reference. I was just agreeing with Randy.
CHRISTIAN:Origin: The term is first recorded in Acts 11:26, used by inhabitants of Antioch, and appeared three times in the New Testament.
Meaning: Derived from Christos (from chrio, meaning “to anoint”), it indicates “follower of the anointed one”.
Initial Context: While accepted as a badge of honor today, it was initially used by outsiders—likely as a derogatory insult—to describe believers who were not Jewish and did not follow the Roman imperial cult.
Early Terms: Early followers of Jesus often referred to themselves as “saints,” “believers,” or members of “The Way”.
Evolution: The Greek term was Latinized to christianus and adopted into Old English as cristen before becoming modern “Christian.”
It is amazing the range of people who call themselves Christians because they respect the teachings and life of Jesus (Hegseth and Christian Nationalists do not.).
I have been a follower of Christ for about 68 years, but here’s a confession: if I did not believe Jesus was as much God as he was human, if I did not believe he actually rose from the dead, if I did not have a lifetime of God-incidences, I probably would have chosen to be a hedonist. Enjoying life’s simple pleasures, in the face of fleeting mortality,”…for tomorrow we die,” taking vengeance, returning evil for evil, good for good, and ignoring much of Christ’s teachings: repenting, loving, practicing gratitude, self-denial, humility, serving the poor and vulnerable, and forgiving.
“…if I did not believe Jesus was as much God as he was human, if I did not believe he actually rose from the dead, if I did not have a lifetime of God-incidences, I probably would have chosen to be a hedonist.”
I doubt that. Most of us are, as secular humanists say, “good for goodness’ sake.” I don’t think religious faith makes people good or bad. It does provide a familiar rationale for doing things in a certain way, so can be useful socially. I’ve been an atheist for 60 years, since age 14, and have found that mutual trust and good will with those around me is a fulfilling way to live. Add ice cream, and who needs heaven?
Ah, but you don’t know the stories of family members who lived as hedonists, though I did not know what it was called then, from my childhood until they died. My family was a great cultural divide from one extreme to the other, and this included everything from faith in God to living what I now can see was hedonistic in choices and focus. You are right that having a religious faith does not make people good or bad, but it does affect self-concept, purpose, relationships, and choices.
Kegsbreath & trump are pure, ole fashion heretics. They couch their death & destruction as God’s Will. They pray to massacre people. They pray for power. They grub for every loose million dollars or billion to stuff in confusing offshore accounts. Damn the rat bastards. Easter is for Love, which is God.
The other day I was researching the Kingfisher bird- photos, renderings, videos, audios, anatomy. I’m designing a Kingfisher puppet for an upcoming Fish Tales children’s show at the Folly.
It is my custom to research as I make a sculpture; to use the tools of method acting to attempt to reach a core character.
The Kingfisher is a diving bird who hits the water at 40mph, dives to the bottom, and resurfaces in full flight with prey in beak. Well, a person with inquiring mind wants to know how this amazing feat can be.
The path to comprehension begins with the skeleton, so I find a really excellent animated rendering of the skeleton and watch it over and over- how the bones fit together and move, differences in density. – imagining in my mind and body memory how a dive from a cliff feels upon entering the water. I am Godsmacked to see the intricate layering of torsion of such a feat expressed in the bones of these birds, but every manifested material and process in our universe expresses this intelligence. Clear lines of force begin to appear as I dive again and again in my imagination until I become a Kingfisher. In my transcendence I feel the exhilaration of the Divine.
Teach your children well.
Bloviate. Yes Indeed.
Perhaps it’s time to pray to the Roman Goddess Iustitia. Many of you have seen her likeness, I’m sure. She wears a blindfold and carries a sword in one hand, a balance scale in the other.
Maybe she will hear my entreaties, and someday soon, Hegseth, Trump, Bondi, Noem and their ilk will face her wrath, delivered like a hammer via juries of their peers.