Popularity

The following quote is shared by Professor William Barclay, probably the most quoted bible scholar within the American evangelical community of Protestantism.  His work was wrongly pointed to by others as giving the "heaven and hell" theology biblical credentials.  Shortly before his death in his "Spiritual Autobiography", he says the following.   

“But in one thing I would go beyond strict orthodoxy-I am a convinced universalist.  I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God.”  p. 58

One might ask, why does the Professor wait to the hour of his death to clarify such a heart felt opinion?  Was the delay because his reasons for this break with orthodoxy are best addressed in a philosophical argument?  Could it be that the Bible does not demand an eternal punishment theology?  Could it be that to say so would complicate the heaven and hell preaching of Billy Graham?  Such an outing would have affected book sales, would it not?  

Being popular does not make it right, in fact, popularity is a red flag.  Jesus said something similar.  

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA  

 

Wisdom

“Being right is not the main issue, getting the conversation going is what matters most.”  gg            (wisdom taken from somewhere?)

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA 

 

 

Trees

Trees have been at the center of my history at 1990 Gibralter Road, Landers, California.  The trees and I have celebrated 12 years, 13 summers and 13 birthdays in the high desert since buying in February 20012.  I was retiring broke, alone and with medical issues but for some unknown reason, I was still looking to buy a house.  How and why such craziness entered my thinking, I do not know.  Anyway, a very helpful real estate agent was kind enough to show me around, he probably did not share my optimism yet he never let on.

After looking at four fixer uppers, we stumbled upon the newly renovated house on Gibralter.  At least I stumbled, Herb may have had a plan.  An investor was rehabbing this 55-year-old one-bedroom shack that looked eastward toward Goat Mountain.  They had added another bedroom, a toilet room and a front porch, for a grand total of 1000 square feet of living space.  The house had not yet been painted but the owner was, as they say, motivated.  The sale was for $75,000 and the owner paid all my closing costs. With a no down government loan, I was a new and proud home owner with nothing out of pocket.  Miracle is a word casually thrown around but I have come to appreciate this one miracle.

The 2 ½ acre property is mostly sandy soil with local desert fauna. What attracted me most was not the house, the 1000 square foot garage, the sandy soil or the desert fauna.  The trees were the attraction.  There were three majestic Joshua trees surrounding the house, the largest one behind the house is a huge unique specimen.  Twenty yards behind the garage are the two trees that for me sealed the deal.  One is a sprawling California Pepper tree that I have come to name “the wild thing”. The other is a huge Eucalyptus, over 100 feet tall. Both of these trees, and the Sycamore in the front yard were probably planted by the original owners.  

Together we are all becoming old fogies. 

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA

At Issue

 There truly is a battle brewing for the soul of America.  Who are we to be as Americans?  We all shall decide in the next few years our own destiny.  We shall decide whether our country shall go on into the future as a Constitutional Republic with the welfare of all the people the priority or a new autocratic tyranny ruled by the elites and bureaucrats who have their own top-down priorities.  The issue is who shall rule the day?   

This is serious business folks; this was the choice that our forefathers had to make when they revolted from the top-down tyranny of the ruling class in the colonies prior to the American Revolution.  The British empowered the American ruling class only because they were good little boys and girls.  When the fireworks started, they tried to come to the rescue of the ruling class of the colonies but the real threat was always from our own. Over two centuries ago, the people decided they wanted independence, with all the risk that involved, rather than to be taken care of by their own self-appointed overlords.

Just maybe, we should look into the mirror, why do we vote as we do?

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA  

 

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MAGA PROUD!

Lizzy

Lizzy Chaney has a daddy problem.  She should not feel isolated by this fact because we all have a daddy problem in one form or another. After all, we all had a daddy.  In every case a sperm cell comingled with an egg cell to form the embryo of another unique human being, who never existed prior to this moment nor will ever exist again in this life.  We all got here in the same way.  Some of us spend a lifetime immolating our fathers and some of us spend a life time running as fast as we can away from our fathers.  Both reactions to our fathers are a problem because they are an oversimplification that hides our own best path in this life. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to recognize the error of our ways, hopefully there is a happy medium but all of us seem to function best and most frequently on the extremes.  

Lizzy has staked her life motive on defending her father, Dick Chaney, the former vice president who served with President George Bush in a Republican administration.  Following the tragic towers bombing in New York, 2001, the Bush administration went to war with the Islam extremists who preached the killing of all Americans, Americans who just happened to be mostly Christians. This Bush-Chaney administration, as opposed to the first Bush administration, was all about perpetuating the power of the new Republican bureaucrats, who were and are hawkish, desiring to feed the military industrial lobby in Washington. As a result, the Bush-Chaney administration not only defeated Saddam Hussain but then invaded the entire country and began the expensive perceived goal of building a democratic state in Iraq.

The pretext for this invasion, the nation building and the four trillion-dollar expense to the American taxpayer was the accusation that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Our so-called intelligence leadership in Washington confirmed the accusation, promoted the lie and we the people were sucked.  The well-meaning patriotic Americans who fought, died or lost their legs in this conflict, were suckered but the sanctity of their grave sacrifice will only be honored by the truth.  After the war, no one could find the weapons of mass destruction.

Twenty years later, Lizzy is warring with Donald Trump because of what she calls, “the big lie”.  She means the Trump lie that is the truth, the truth that the entire Iraq debacle was a gigantic mistake or a willful misjudgment that only happened because some political interests wanted to make a dime.  This dime bought heartache for millions of Americans.  

The Washington bureaucrats, the greedy lobbyists as well as the Bush Chaney administration, were all complicit and guilty of suckering and selling out the people.  The truth sometimes is hard to accept, but accepted or not, the truth is still the truth. 

Maybe when her father passes from this life, Lizzy will let go of the angst and accept the truth.  Until then, we can better understand our own journey by attempting to understand Lizzy.  The really sad and scary part of this sorted story is that all the guilty profiteers' of war remain entrenched in Washington, whether under Republican or Democrat control.      

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA

       

Great Gathering

Eternity is the circle of completion in all that is spiritual yet temporary on this earth.  In eternity all life relationships are spiritually connected, to include God, nature, nations, family and country, thus the ultimate melting pot.  Because this world has been corrupted or isolated, most, if not all relationships cannot be considered positive or fully realized until “the great gathering” of eternity. 

Jesus spoke words of condemnation and hope to the people of Jerusalem in the midst of chaos.  Chaos they, themselves had instigated and perpetuated as spirituality had long ago ceased to influence their lives. Of this, all humanity is guilty.  Jesus spoke these words not only to the people of Jerusalem but to every nation or religious identity, and to us.

Matthew 23: 37, 38, 39.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were not willing.  Look your house has left you desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

The enemy of spirituality is not the supposed devil but simply our own human arrogance, our selfish myopic vision for the world around us.  That “me house” we all build will only leave you and I desolate, as it did for the people of Jerusalem.  After the invasion and captivity by the Romans, they were crying poor me or shouting violence toward their Roman enemy.  In both responses to misfortune, they were blaming God.  Why?  Because, in their own heart of hearts, there is no God if their life is not going well.  Rather, it is only worth believing when that belief has a desired result, if one is the target of misfortune, the blame for poor results must belong to God.       

Blessed means “to speak well of” in the Greek language.  It does not mean a level of ethical purity or acceptable religious group think.  The people of Jerusalem were not speaking well of God and his messengers.  In fact, in the 1000-year history of the Jewish nation, the disappointed and angry people would kill repeatedly those who spoke up for God in the midst of misfortune.  Maybe, this temporary life is a test, a test without a final exam.  Do we speak well of God and his eternity in the midst of all manner of disappointment?  For those who insist on blaming God, your opportunity to grow up will occur after death when it will not require faith “to bless he who comes in the name of the Lord”.  God will be in our faces.

There is only one way to avoid this embarrassment, we must give up the childish blame game, trust God regardless and be counted among the willing.  When we accept the gift of faith from God we shall reap a belonging that cannot be matched by anything in this world.  The great gathering awaits us all but it can start now, the wings of God are outstretched into this world.  

Let’s move into the shade.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA