A Simple Smiting Will Suffice, Please! -- a prayer

Dear God,

Here we are in 21st Century America, and there is a huge group of people that just don't get it about the Word of God, err, your letter to your people. Your children don't seem to want to read your word. The reality is that the reality of the Bible is forgot in all the hype and hoopla surrounding the election, err coronation, of a new leader for the body politic. And one group goes on and on about how wonderful it would be to have Armageddon in our lifetime, all while doing everything in their power to do exactly that. Make the world blow itself to kingdom come.

Now, this wouldn't be Your Armageddon. It would be our very own, self destructive, burn the earth to a toasty crisp, Armageddon. Billions would die, and all the beautiful places in the countries of the currently richest and most powerful nations, would be uninhabitable for Millenia, not just generations, or eons, to come.

Don't they know? Armageddon is Your Plan, not our own? And the fire of Armageddon, done Your Way, might not be a nuclear holocaust?

These people, self anointed with the power to run the country, seem also to forget that You control the timing. And You will determine, You alone, will decide when it is right to send Jesus back to earth.

It is not in our power, nor is it our right, to usurp Your power, to muddle in Your plan. It is our right, as your people, only to have dominion, not domination, over the earth. It is our duty only to love one another as You love us. That would be your kind of loving, not destructive, burn the Earth, or render its inhabitants Krispy Kritters.

Some of these folk even proclaim they know the sequence of events, and that You will "Rapture" them out of here, sending them to Heaven on "clouds of glory". All of this "flying away" will happen before Armageddon gets really dicey down here, and before Jesus comes back. Except, when one reads your Letter to Your People, AKA the Bible, it's not quite like that in those pages. The Rapture clearly comes after Jesus comes back, the false Jesus. And AFTER all the suffering of Armageddon begins in earnest.

Those are the folk who think it fine to use up the Earth, destroy it if necessary, so that they can get all the power and money and glory they are able to accumulate, in Earthly terms, all while allowing, encouraging, and making possible, the greatest possible suffering of the Billions here on Your Earth.

They have been in charge of slipshod levee systems, have allowed drowning of a huge
American city, been negligent in seeking peace, been activists in seeking war, have lied nations into battles, have encouraged the waste and killing, of millions, have declared a War on all who don't believe what they believe, even as what they believe is not even in Your Word, Your Letter to Your People, Your Bible.

Now, I don't have a doctorate in theology. I don't have a degree in ministry. I do have a deep and abiding love of my God, and Your People. All of them. I also love the Bible, and I love the Jesus of love, the one that corrects lovingly, that puts and keeps us on the correct path, by following the Great Commandment -- to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves.

But sometimes God, a simple little smiting is required when things are going so far out of control that there is no way for humans to get a grip any longer.

It's Been Too Long

Nearly eight years ago, we were faced with the choice of a guy you'd like to have a beer with, or the leadership of a person with a real, functioning brain between the ears. We chose, or it was chosen for us, to get the beer drinking buddy.

Now, we are in the position of electing one whose record as resident of a prison camp, a senator who is a follower in the vein of Bush, a cookie cutter leader, with a cookie baking Mom at his side, or a law professor, with some experience in state and national governments.

The fact is, neither candidate is attending to the Constitution, and both have participated in the undoing of the Bill of Rights. The law professor, who was possibly only an adjunct member of the faculty of one of the best law schools in the country, should know better. The former POW should know that the Bill of Rights, if present lawmaking trends continue, will result in tyranny, dictatorship, and the worst nightmares of the founding fathers of this once great nation.

We've been treated to scandal in the Veep Sweeps, won by a Hockey Mom and a vocal supporter of a war based on lies.

Is this really the best this nation can do for its people?

Really?

I think not.

We have, in my hometown, a police state where "preemptive arrests" are taking place to silence dissent, to squelch assembly, and to prevent those messy things like vocalizations of people who simply want their voices heard. We didn't used to have "preemptive" anything in law enforcement.

Is this the result of our two wars of choice? We invaded Afghanistan and Iraq after a gang of thugs run by a dialysis patient from a cave in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border regions allegedly brought down 3 buildings in New York and caused the most protected airspace in the world to be invaded by a supposedly unarmed passenger jet, lo these seven years ago. Since then, we have heard, "noun, verb, 911". It has motivated everything except sense.

"They hate us for our freedoms", so our government has dis-assembled those freedoms. Are we more "liked" by those that "hated us", as a result of this liberty-grab? I think not.

Did we apply good common sense, law enforcement to the gang of invaders?

Did we galvanize anything other than fear in the wake of those attacks?

Did we strengthen our resolve to honor and adhere to the rule of law in the wake of terrorism?

Are we safer now? Will we ever be safe with these policies? Can removal of human rights from humans result in a citizenry of this nation, or the world, being admirers of what was once the "shining beacon on a hill"?

We need our Constitution back. Go out and demand that. It has been too long since the day when peaceable assembly for presentation of demands upon our government for their adherence to law and upholding principles of human rights, has been applauded.

I may not agree with everything a protester may say, but I will sacrifice to my dying breath for their right to their voice. If our leaders do not show that same resolve, then bring in other leaders.

Spare us the ideology, give us the substance of what has been missing far too long in this nation. Give us back our Constitution, and let the chips fall where they may. What worked for Jefferson, just might work even better in a world, now more aware of the value of democratic ideals.

We cannot impose on others what we deny to ourselves. We cannot be an example to others, if our actions belie our words. Forget the spin and palaver. Give me a braniac who knows and loves the Constitution. Count every vote as cast. Register every citizen. And for goodness sake, let us put fear behind us. It is no way to show our real strength as a nation, a nation of laws, not of men.