“You cannot discover lands already inhabited.” This is the opening line in Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah’s excellent work, Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery. NB: I interviewed Mark Charles for the determinetruth podcast last year. You can find the episode here. In the last several posts, I have argued that the US is the Beast of the book of Revelation. This shouldn’t be a hard premise to defend. After all, as I noted, all... Read more
Violence begets violence. As Jesus said, “For all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword” (Matt 26:52). The fact is that war affects the poor, the marginalized, and the average citizen far more than it affects those in power. In fact, it is often politically expedient for those in power to wage war. Therefore, I join the Church (oh how I wish it were all of the Church) and the international community in condemning the recent... Read more
In my last 2 posts, I suggested that the Western (American) church is in bed with the Beast. Of course, I wish to reiterate that I am not saying that all Christians in America are bad, corrupt, or unbelievers. What I am saying is that the American church has largely (and “largely” is a relative term) fallen prey to the Beast. In my first post, I gave 4 reasons why I believe that we are in bed with the Beast:... Read more
What if I were to say, “The wealth we (generic plural again) in the West have attained is largely immoral (unbiblical) and is closely tied to the work of the Beast!?” NB: Before I proceed, I want to acknowledge that I too am guilty of being in bed with the Beast. What I intend to write in this and upcoming posts includes my journey of realizing my own complicity in allying with the Beast. In my last post,... Read more
Not sure about you, but I am always curious as to how the letters of Paul were received by the people to whom they were written. Consider Paul’s letter to the Galatians. He calls them out, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you” (Gal 3:1). I wonder what did they do with this? I suspect that many may have had a visceral reaction. After all, isn’t it human nature to react defensively when someone comes on this strong against us?... Read more
In a previous post, I briefly commented on the banking industry’s practices of charging excessive interest rates. I suspect that very few of you were overly irritated by what I noted. However, I wish that you were infuriated. The story of Robin Hood exposes the abusive practices of those in power and how their wealth is at the expense of the poor. Unfortunately, our society today does exactly the same thing. So much for the notion that we have evolved... Read more
In a previous post, I asked if Robin Hood was a hero or a criminal. The fact is that we all believe he is a hero—even if we don’t approve of his methods. At the same time, I do not doubt that some Christians might argue that Robin Hood was a criminal. After all, he was a thief. Therefore, one may argue that Robin Hood and Jesus (he worked on the Sabbath) were lawbreakers. It is my conviction, however, that... Read more
The Gospel of John ends with the statement, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). The statement is an admission there were many more things that Jesus did but John doesn’t have the space or time to tell us about them. This raises the question as to why John included the stories... Read more
I got an offer from a credit card company the other day. For some reason I looked at it—I usually tear them in half and round file them—and what I noticed was appalling: once the initial offer of 0% interest expires the annual APR was 29%. WHAT? That is criminal! Not only that but, this ridiculously excessive interest rate flagrantly violates the biblical injunction against charging interest: “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you... Read more
Was Robin Hood a good guy or a criminal? Why is it that we cheer for Robin Hood and his band of merry men and against the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham? After all, was not Robin Hood a thief? Did he not break the commandment—“Thou shall not steal”? Les Miserable: Was Jean Valjean and the priest’s actions worthy of criminal prosecution? You likely know the story of Jean Valjean in the acclaimed Les Miserable. He was a crook—well he stole... Read more
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