Forgive us our Debts 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I'm republishing this old essay because of our current national emergency.  I dressed up the type styles for you and reedited it.  What Moses and Jesus command is not optional.  This is a Christian problem.  I pray that we take it to heart.

Yours in Christ,

Herb Swanson aka Augie

Originally written around Wednesday, March 14, 2012

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Forgive us our Debts

Dear family and friends in the Lord Jesus Christ,

The following letter is a response to two e-mails I got this week.  Here is a snapshot from those e-mails:

·                     U.S.A. Bridges and Roads Being Built by Chinese Firms — Diane Sawyer

Shocking to say the least!  This video is a jaw-dropper that will make you sick.  (It was also shocking that ABC was actually reporting this story.)

The lead-in with Obama promising jobs in the U.S. by improving our infrastructure is so typical of all his promises!  Our tax dollars are at work - for CHINA!!!

I pray all the unemployed see this and cast their votes accordingly in 2012!

Click here: U.S. Bridges, Roads Being Built by Chinese Firms | Video - ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/us-bridges-roads-built-chinese-firms-14594513?tab=9482930?ion=1206853&playlist=14594944

 

·                     Last week police were called to investigate an attempted armed robbery: The 71-year-old retired Marine who opened fire on two robbers at a Plantation, Florida, Subway shop late Wednesday, killing one and critically wounding the other, is described as John Lovell, a former helicopter pilot for two presidents.  He doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, and he works out every day.  Mr. Lovell was a man of action Wednesday night.

According to Plantation police, two masked gunmen came into the Subway at1949 N. Pine Rd. just after 11 p.m.  There was a lone diner, Mr. Lovell, who was finishing his meal.  After robbing the cashier, the two men attempted to shove Mr. Lovell into a bathroom and rob him as well.  They got his money, but then Mr. Lovell pulled his handgun and opened fire.  He shot one of the thieves in the head and chest and the other in the head....

Mr. Lovell was a pilot in the Marine Corps, flying former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.  He later worked as a pilot for Pan Am and Delta Airlines.  He is not expected to be charged authorities said.  ''He was in fear for his life....''

Don't you just love a story with a happy ending?

 

Well, my beloved, that’s quite a mix.

·                     One e-mail reminds me, oh yeah, that’s why we fought in Viet Nam.

·                     The other e-mail reminds me, why exactly did we fight in Viet Nam?

However, there is more than simple irony here.  If we are lawfully, when in fear for our lives, lawfully allowed to defend ourselves, even shooting and killing our attackers; then I’m really puzzled.

·                     Why is an Oklahoma pharmacist in jail for doing exactly that?

·                     Why are so many government officials alive and unwounded?

I jest, but I’m sure you get the irony.  They enter our houses, against our will, terrify our wives and children, take our jobs, our money, our dignity, and our honor; yet, they remain unpunished for their sins and crimes.  I really don’t understand.  They invade our nation from within, betray its dearest confidences, despise its laws and institutions, take over our government, and make sport of the outcome.  All this they do in the name of a “government by the people.”

But, there is no “government by the people.”  Vast corporations, more powerful than the people, rule us in an enslaved feudal state.  Political tricksters continue to spin the truth into a lie, telling us what we’re supposed to believe.  This is hardly news.  The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum, 1900) told us that this is what is going on.  The Wizard fills our heads with pins and needles and deceives us into believing that we have brains, when the embarrassing facts are, that we’re quite stupid.  He gives us a clock for a heart to dupe us into believing that we have courage, when in fact, we’re quite cowardly.  If we didn’t get Baum’s point (because we’re so dull witted), perhaps we should have got Kesey’s point (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1962): we are an emasculated nation.  But that’s way too blunt and offensive, and we haven’t got the brains to realize it, or the guts to admit it.  Finally, the Wizard oils our joints so that we can be active, and be deluded into thinking that we’re getting something done, when in fact we are not doing anything but sinking deeper and deeper into slavery.

How did this unfortunate estate come about?  Answer, by being sold into the slavery of debt.  Yes, we were stupid enough to believe it, and we bought into the whole program.  We’ve got ourselves to blame that we’re in this mess.

But, someone was selling.  In the early twentieth century, farmers were sold the bill-of-goods, through the A&M colleges and other instruments, that progressive farming could be advanced by new chemicals, machinery, and seeds which would be purchased through low interest loans and other instruments.  These instruments were to be paid for by the increased productivity, which never materialized.  Now our farms are so immersed in debt that they can’t recover.

Yes, someone was selling.  In the late twentieth century, students were sold the bill-of-goods, again by the government, that advanced education would result in increased productivity and wages, leveraged through low interest loans and other instruments.  These instruments were to be paid for by the increased productivity, which never materialized.  Now our children are so immersed in debt that they can’t recover.

Oh, someone is still selling.  The government is now foisting the new electronics utopia, which will bring in new ages of productivity and welfare.  But none of us have jobs, and the productivity (like Waiting for Godot) never comes.  Yes, I have the new electronics and I didn’t have to buy the adapter to make my TV work, I got lucky.  Yes, I’m hopelessly addicted to my computer, but I’m the first to admit that my productivity did not increase sufficiently to pay for this Brave New World of electronics.  Nor did my productivity increase sufficiently to pay for this Brave New World of medicine.  Etcetera.  Etcetera.  Etcetera.  I cannot even afford death and burial.  It was all a bill-of-goods, blue sky, vaporware, mythology.  And, now, I don’t even have a job.  Now our doctors, our factories, and our households are so immersed in debt that they can’t recover.

I have always been an enemy of global economy.  It’s ironic that in Diane Sawyer’s ABC News exposé that the shortage is not one of American engineers, but of American welders.  Every American does not deserve or need a college education.  College graduates do not deserve better pay than skilled workers do.  College graduates deserve a higher wage to level the field after years of lost income and college debt, not because they are better, more productive people.  If it is really in any nation’s interest to support higher education (judging from recent results, this is a very dubious opinion); let it be funded 100% by scholarships including an equivalent fair wage; then let the ensuing wages be equitable, and based on real merit and productivity.  We have belittled and shamed our skilled workers out of existence.  Shame on us.  Skilled workers are the fabric of society, not the intelligentsia.

Now, I’m an enemy of institutionalized debt slavery as well.  We’ve got to kill them both.

Well, duh....  Godot is not the answer, Godot is not God; Godot is a powerless senseless idol, the futile imagination of an impossible utopia that cannot come: it’s a lifeless idol just like Baal, Ashtarte, or any other.  All fueled by the economy of envy and the politics of greed.

Well, duh....  God is the answer.  Not some limp wristed, curses every other driver off the highway, self-contradicted god.  But, the living God, Who sensibly tells us to stay away from slavery at all costs (it’s called the Ten Commandments, and it’s all about making slavery against the Law of God, Exodus 20).  And, Who sensibly requires that we forgive debt on a regular basis, especially when we get into trouble, which we inevitably do.  God’s way is not just one way for the Jews, out of many ways for other people (like gentile dogs and pigs).  God’s way is the only way for all people.  It’s way past time for us Christians to start taking it seriously.  Yes, Jesus is the only way.  But, He institutes the Year of Jubilee, and demands obedience to it.  “Forgive us our debts....”  Now, don’t tell me, “go away, be warmed and filled.”  Jesus Christ died and raised to institute the Year of Jubilee.  What are we going to do about it?

Take the sports analogy.  Could you take as credible, a sports report that said, “The Cleveland Browns begin today’s game with a lifetime accrual of 17,640 points in their favor; but their lifetime opponents have an accumulated score of 26,460 points.  This is a net deficit of 8,820 points.  So, sports fans, even if the beloved Browns win all their games this season with a 49 point advantage, they will still finish the season over 8,000 points in the hole.  No team in history has ever recovered from being this far in the red.”  Or how about this one, “After today’s loss to the Steelers, the Browns will have to forfeit 3% of their ownership to Pittsburgh.”  At least, in sports, at the end of the game we have the good sense to set the clock and scoreboard back to zero.  Next season’s competitions will be leveled somewhat by the draft, which makes the game more challenging and interesting for all concerned.

If we don’t get this right, our nation will be destroyed.  It’s just algebra or accounting.

Yours in Christ,

Herb Swanson

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