Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 83
Trump speaks at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Friday, what a sign of the times! Rather than extoll Freedom of the Press, especially when it holds him and his administration to account, Trump defames, negates, lies about, tries to intimidate, sues the press for speaking truth to the public, tries to “lock them up” when they reveal his incompetence and grift, etc. And these IDIOTS invite him to a dinner honoring everything Trump is against, honoring colleagues who speak truth to power while Trump and his autocratic regime try so hard and, at times, succeed in pulling the wool over the eyes of the public? WTF?
In Obadiah 1:3, he declares when speaking about Edom(which I think is a change from the original which has him speaking to Judea) says: “The pride of your heart deceives you”! Yet, for all of their studying of the Bible, for all of their proclaiming of the truth of the Bible, for all of Mike Johnson’s declaring that the Bible is his thinking-sad to think he has no powers of discernment and can’t see the 70 faces of the Bible-, NONE of these ‘fine white non-Christian nationalists nor religious zealots in the Orthodox movement of a Judaism that is not found in the Bible, hear, listen and do what Obadiah is warning against. In fact, they are the very people that Obadiah is speaking to! We the People are being asked about “the pride of our heart” and demanded to be responsible to more than our desires, to more than our seeking of riches and power, to more than our greeds, our lusts and even our safety. While we are not told to put ourselves in harms way unnecessarily, we are told to honor God, to honor the divine image within us and in everyone, to not succumb to the slyness of the “new Pharaoh who did not know” to proclaim freedom throughout the land, “who did not know” to honor and value the dignity and worth of every human being, “who did not know” their “pride of their heart” will lead to death, destruction and being overthrown.
What has gotten lost, it seems to me, is that Freedom of the Press is crucial, it was in 1789 and it is today. The Press, at their finest, are the prophets of today or at least handmaids to the prophets of today. What are prophets, really? They are people who see what is, know where continuing the status quo will lead us to, and speak loudly and with authority to We the People as a warning, as a call to turn away from the glitter of gold, to remember the midrash that Moses’ hand was pushed to the coal in order for him to live. The thought that the President, his/her cabinet, his/her appointees can restrict the Press, can stop the prophets from speaking, can intimidate the Press/media to doing her/his bidding is ANATHEMA to the ways of Christ, the ways of the prophets, the ways of the Bible, the way of Abraham confronting God! Yet, Johnson and his crew of White Christian Nationalists, White Supremacists, along with Ben G’Vir and Bibi’s crew of ‘find Orthodox Jews”, both idol worshipping groups defy the words and deeds of Abraham, Moses, Judah, Joseph, King David, the prophets, Jesus, the Apostles, the Bible, and the New Testament and call themselves the REAL Christians, the REAL Jews! What bullshit and why any of We the People buy into these deceptions is beyond me.
What are We the People who see the truth, who are watching the Press capitulate in subtle and overt ways to do? We must rid our White House, our Congress, our state and local governments of these Anti-Freedom Riders! We must vote them out of power, we must remove them from their appointments over the Press, the Health departments, the Defense departments, the Intelligence departments, etc. HOWEVER, We the People must first rid ourselves of the deceptions of self that seem to rule over us. We are in desperate need of an inner house cleaning, of a true picture of the person in the glass we see staring at us each and every day. We are being called to heed the words of Obadiah, to clean our hearts of oversized pride, of the lies we keep telling ourselves, the deceptions of another(s) that we keep buying into.
The only way to do this is by using the Jewish Calendar and begin our process of looking at our past year, our past years and see when and where we have hit the mark of being decent, human beings and when and where we have missed the mark of being decent human beings. Doing this every year keeps us updated, our operating system is cleaner and more user friendly, and our standard of living becomes elevated and we live into the soul we are created to be a little more each year. Having done this for the past 38 and this being the 39th year, I can attest to the strength, the uplift, the joy, the power, the connection that this process brings. It keeps me from being one of the charlatans, one of the people who profess loyalty and are actually Brutus. It ain’t easy to look at yourself, admit your truth, have it used against you and then watch the liars get the leg up and it is better than being one of those pathetic people who are unable to be grateful and loyal to those who helped them up the ladder.
God Bless and Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mar