Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 57
‘Don’ Trump has watched the Godfather too much, it seems. I believe he keeps believing he is “offering them a deal they can’t refuse”, because of the behavior of some of these so-called “independent” lawmakers on the Republican side of the aisle. Maybe he is threatening them, a guy like Bill Cassidy is, or at least once was, a man with morals and concerns for the people he serves-not no more! After he and Rand Paul stood for the courage of their convictions, they both backed down like sheep, afraid of their shepherd. What a shepherd the ‘don’ Trump is-he has invaded sovereign countries, he has fucked over our allies for over 80 years and kissed the ass of our enemies for over 80 years, he has treated the stranger with cruelty and contempt, he has treated the poor as if they are criminals, has led the wealthy in running after evil, has never been responsible for anything except his lies about his greatness, etc. This is the shepherd that the Republican Party is raving about, following around like a puppy, and worshiping more than they worship Christ!
Watching this reminds me of the words of Amos: “but for the 4th, I will not turn away his punishment; because they have despised the Torah(teachings) of Adonai and not kept the commandments; and their lies, after which their fathers walked have led them astray”(Amos 2:4). Here we the people are, some 2700+ years later, some 2500 after the first reading of the prophets STILL despising the Teachings of God, not keeping God’s commandments, and our lies are still leading us astray! What the Fuck, people? Is humanity this stupid, this arrogant? In the United States, learning about the heroism of the founding fathers, the ‘soldiers’ in the Revolutionary War, soldiers in all of our wars fighting for our freedom of choice is automatic. Yet, here we the people are, denying their heroism, giving up our freedom of choice, going along with the despot because of fear, because believing his/her lies is better than facing the truth of our own? It is inconceivable to me that after all these years, all of the readings of Amos, the prophets, that we the people still act like small frys, like idiots that need to be led, like people who have drank the juice and want to follow ‘der fuhrer’ and yet, here we are!
What makes it all the worse, what makes our current situation all the more confusing and despicable, is that these lies, the despising of the teachings of Adonai, are being fomented, aged, pushed by the very Clergy Amos is speaking to! The very people who claim to have “heard the call of God to serve”, are the ones promoting the lies, the despising of Adonai’s teachings! This is so revolting, I don’t know where to put this. I keep asking myself how does this happen and then I realize this has been happening forever! What is so annoying is the refusal of we the people to learn about the consequences of following our lies, the consequences of not following the teachings of Adoani when it keeps happening over and over again throughout the history of humanity.
The punishment is, as we learn in the Bible, exile and wandering. While we can see this on the macro level, it is as important, if not more so, that we look at our individual experience. “Despising the teachings of Adonai” led Jesus to call out the priests and the wealthy, led Jesus to teach the ways to love your neighbor, to do justly, kindly, follow the ways of God. Yet, the Christians also have had an issue with their clergy “despising the teachings of Adonai” by perverting them, using them to spread hatred and strife, to value themselves and Christians in general over any other peoples, etc. They have been spreading and following the lies of their fathers which has ruined many good people, promoted hatred of Jews, hatred of indigenous people and their religions, ‘worship(ed)’ Christ and not followed the ways in which he lived. The Rabbis in their fear of the prophets have done this also, have gone along with the altering of the Biblical Text by Ezra(I have learned) and keep spreading the lies of their fathers as well as making up new ones of their own!
THIS HAS TO STOP! Haven’t we suffered from the consequences of our behaviors enough to learn? I guess not because electing Trump, voting people who see the both/and when it comes to Israel, to change being incremental, all show that we the people have learned nothing in the past 11 years since Trump announced he was running. I keep thinking about the lies I told myself for so long about myself-never believing I was able to return, that my return was even wanted, that my shame was so great I would never be able to dig out of it, etc. These lies kept me stuck in a life that was not mine, that “despised the teachings of Adonai” for over 20 years. Only when I began to immerse myself in the Bible, in the teachings of the prophets, could I begin to have hope and the rest, as they say, is history. The teaching I want to leave you with today is:
Redemption and Return are “Teachings of Adonai” -are you practicing both
Writing down the Lies you tell yourself helps you separate fact from fiction
GOD BLESS, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark