She’s Not a Lady

For the past five years one man has stood in the middle of the arena taking on one empire with many emperors.  The man is not a Christian, a Jew, an Israeli, a gender confused individual, or card-carrying member of the unnatural function club.  You can call him Gladiator.  He stands on an island as the sole protectorate of freedom.  The island, called Oasis, is the last stronghold where the freedom of the individual and freewill still reigns.  During the past two years, the man on the island has been relentlessly attacked by the daughters of Queen Lorraine and the fools who have been co-opted into her service.  They employed Snipper and her catch and return posse, Mrs. Salt and Mr. Pepper, and religious bounty hunters from the most remote communities.  Mr. Pepper has been on the scene for more than four years pushing his stroller, waiting at the gate, and waving his wand while hovering on a cloud.  Mrs. Salt rose from the mines two years ago to assist Mr. Pepper.  Why do the daughters of Queen Lorraine pursue this man?  Could he represent the last hope of those who choose freedom—especially freedom from religion?  In her mind, the man must be dislodged off the island and grafted into the ways and means of the MotherLand to serve the interests of the motherhood.  But the man has planted his Braveheart sword in the ground and cried out “Freedom!”

Remarkably, as the man has held his ground freedom is gaining ground across the land.  As individual freedom expands the pre-existing realities established by cultural, religious, political, and social elites begin to fade.  The individual learns to create his own reality unencumbered by the institutional systems he inherited.  Freedom fighters like Elon Musk and Governor Ron DeSantis have taken a warriors stand against the forces that desire to limit and ultimately eradicate individual freedom.  They have done this by creating their own realities grounded on the principle of individual freedom.  They’re fighting for the rights of a free people to live and express themselves free of manipulation, intimidation, and ostracization.  Political, cultural, and religious institutions have sabotaged and bullied individuals into conformance with their policies and practices.  Individual freedom is the greatest threat to the realities established by the power institutions. 

While religious freedom is part of the struggle, the struggle isn’t about religious freedom.  Some religious practitioners demand religious freedom while their religious principles and practices restrict individual freedom.  How ironic for them to desire freedom of religion while going after individuals who refuse to conform to their religious requirements.  The incestual relationship that exists between political and religious power brokers, namely 501c3 and tax-exempt status for ministers, provides insight into the entangled power relationship where the welfare of the one is dependent on the other.  One can even claim exemption from participating in foreign wars or military service based on religious justifications.  Ironically, this entanglement has led to religious services where the daughters of Queen Lorraine honor the fallen soldiers of her many wars, but rarely if ever honor a fallen soldier of the faith because they don’t exist.  Something seems amiss.  The empire honors soldiers who give their lives so that the chosen ones can continue to freely worship their deities in a secure land.  What about the martyrs of the faith?  Shouldn’t they have a place of honor in the houses of worship.  The hypocrisy runs deep in the empire.  

Queen Lorraine sits on her throne with her empire at her feet.  And like a woman Queen Lorraine and her daughters are always right even if they disagree among themselves.  If they don’t get their way, they become vindictive and even nasty.  Queen Lorraine has a special relationship with the card-carrying members of the unnatural function club.  She even places these members in positions of authority and when they get caught in their transgressions, she covers for them.  Many children have been molested by members of the unnatural function club.  Queen Lorraine orchestrated the cover ups to protect her club members.  While this devastation has been a human tragedy on an unimaginable scale, a new Spirit is entering the land and into the souls of the card-carrying members of the unnatural function club.  As this Spirit finds His way into the souls of the unnatural function club members, what was once unnatural becomes natural.  The unnatural function coughs up and spits out everything unnatural and the Spirit replaces with all things natural.  In turn, Queen Lorraine and her daughters lose their grip on the unnatural reality they established.  This is all taking place right now at this very moment according to the word of the prophet.  A new day has finally arrived! 

School of the Prophets

The school of the prophets is equivalent to the modern-day seminary or yeshiva.  Pastors, rabbis, and teachers ask where is Elijah?  Surely his body is somewhere up there in those mountains.  Let’s go find him.  While the prophet Elisha tells them that Elijah is gone.  They will not find him.  Elijah having already served his purpose has been taken away.  They don’t believe Elisha so they go searching anyway but can’t find him.  Eventually they realize that Elijah was taken away and Elisha has taken his place with a double-portion anointing.  Elijah and Elisha never attended the school of the prophets.  They were formed in the wilderness by the Hand of God. 

The wilderness prophet is equivalent to the plowman or the treader of grapes.  He is often confused with the reaper and sewer of seeds and while one day the plowman will overtake the reaper, he neither reaps nor sews seeds.  Where the plowman plows up the hardened religious and cultural ground, the school of the prophets becomes unhinged by these acts of the wild man.  They counsel among themselves to restrain this reckless fool and train him to reap and sew seed.   They unleash their communities to pursue, surround and, ultimately, civilize the uncivil character.  The school of the prophets prescribes marriage, children, and work as the pathway to the fruitful and quiet life.  They place detour signs in front of any road less travelled.  Unsuccessful in thwarting the wild man, they find other ways to add to their religious and cultural resumes by harassing the man. 

Plowmen are solitary independent figures who primarily work alone.  They don’t worry what others think about them.  If they did, they wouldn’t be plowmen or treaders of grapes.  Reapers and sewers of seeds consider their reputations as being of primary importance.  Hence, they become comfortable with and even desire admiration.  Always cognizant of what their community, spouse, and children think about them, they show honor in the hope of receiving honor.  The wilderness prophet doesn’t even belong to a community and if he did, he certainly would not fall into the admiration trap that leads to pride.  As the religious leaders and cultural architects of the MotherLand, reapers and sewers of seeds put family ahead of faith.  This is changing as the culture shifts from a feminine to a masculine orientation. 

The school of the prophets doesn’t believe what they don’t see.  They have already formed in their minds what they believe.  Whereas the wilderness prophet sees where the school of the prophets can’t see or is unwilling to see.  The school of the prophets believed that Elijah was the prophet of God, but they couldn’t believe or accept that he was taken away from them.  The prophet Elisha knew that Elijah had been taken up and that they would never see him again.  The wilderness prophet tells the school of the prophets that what they once saw is no longer there.  They refuse to accept this.  They still search for what they believe is relevant to their faith.  This kind of seeing is the difference between being formed in the wilderness and being formed in the school of the prophets.  The school of the prophets is like having a sit-down dinner with all the appropriate foods and protocol while the wilderness prophet is being fed by an unclean bird by the Brook Cherith. 

After 10 years in my present city and more than 20 years of walking in this calling, I realize that my time has come to Ramble On.  Religious communities have been stirred to the point of imploding, ethnic communities have been challenged in ways they never considered possible, and cultural influences have begun to shift from female-centric to male-centric propensities.  As this shift progresses there will be less gender and sexual orientation confusion because the ability to focus will replace multi-tasking as the dominant cultural trait.  This is the result of breaking up the hard barren ground of religion and culture.  This ground is now ready for the reapers and sewers of seeds.  Another wilderness prophet will be anointed and given the calling of treading the grapes.  Just as Elisha received the anointing from Elijah, so also this new wilderness prophet will receive his anointing.  As he treads the grapes, he will commission many reapers and sewers of seeds to cultivate and bring in the harvest.  He will commission a Jehu like figure who will finish what was started in the book MotherLand. 

As for my future, I’m on my way to the enchanted land of fun in the sun, sipping the finest tequilas, and chasing senoritas up and down the beach while holding a Mudslide drink in my hand.  Let’s call it a halfway house on the highway to Heaven.  This paradise on earth is called Mexico where my sun will finally set.  I’m going to renounce my citizenship in the United States of America and any connection to the Cherokee Nation. Once established in Mexico, I might start publishing posts and writing songs in Spanish and then export them to MotherLand.  Yes, it’s true.  I’ve been brought to a point where I have to choose either moving, marriage, or employment.  Marriage and employment are not viable options so that leaves moving.  And now’s the time, the time is now.  To sing my song.  Ramble On! 

Hello Cancun Mexico! 

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up
to be prophets
Don’t let ’em plow fields and drive
them old mules
Make ’em be pastors and teachers and
such

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up
to be prophets
They’ll never stay home and they’re
always alone
Even with someone they love

Prophets ain’t easy to love and they’re
harder to hold
And they’d rather give you a song
than diamonds or gold
Big brass belt buckles and old faded
garments

And each night begins a new day
And if you don’t understand him, and
he don’t die young
He’ll probably just walk away

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up
to be prophets
Don’t let ’em tread grapes or drive
them old mules
Make ’em be pastors and teachers and
such

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up
to be prophets
They’ll never stay home and they’re
always alone
Even with someone they love

Prophets like smoky old bar rooms
and clear ocean mornings
Confrontations, flirtations, and
girls of the night
And them that don’t know him won’t
like him and them that do

Sometimes won’t know how to take
him
He ain’t wrong, he’s just different but
his pride won’t let him
Do things to make you think he’s right

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up
to be prophets
Don’t let ’em plow fields and drive
them old mules
Make ’em be pastors and teachers and
such

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up
to be prophets
They’ll never stay home and they’re
always alone
Even with someone they love

Mama, don’t let your babies grow up
to be prophets
Don’t let ’em tread grapes or drive
them old mules
Make ’em be pastors and teachers and
such

Make ’em be pastors and teachers and such

A Sojourner and a Pilgrim

“The female loves to play man against man, and if she is in a position to do it there is not one who will not resist.  The male, for all his bravado and exploration, is the loyal one, the one who generally feels love.  The female is skilled at betrayal and torture and damnation.  Never envy a man his lady.  Behind it all lays a living hell.”  — Charles Bukowski 

Why is it almost every time I speak with a Christian pastor, I feel like I’m talking to a Puffs tissue with Aloe? I know most every Church-going wife or girlfriend dreams of their male counterpart becoming more like their pastor and most of them facilitate this outcome to some extent—even if he only becomes like a Puffs tissue without the Aloe. Speaking of tissues, they once were considered a private matter but today they play a prominent role in the Church. In the early 2000s, I joined the prayer ministry of my church. Sometimes the nature of the prayer request was so heart-wrenching that a woman would break down and cry. What the rest of us could count on was that between the woman who was crying and the woman who was praying they had enough tissues in their purses to manage the situation.

But something changed in the church over the next several years.  The church started to put boxes of tissues at the end of every row of seats.  First it was candles, now it’s tissues.  The church had moved beyond a romantic dinner for two to a tear-jerker of a movie scene.  But why so many boxes of tissues?  That’s when I noticed a new trend developing.  Almost as many men were crying as women!  It all came to a head one day when I walked into a church service and almost every box of tissues was in use not by women but by men!  It was like a nursery of adult males all crying at the same time. 

To top everything off there was a woman pastor wearing an NRA cap with a loaded pistol pointed at any woman who dared to tell her man that she was ashamed to see him cry in public.  Someone cried out for the lead pastor to intervene, but his wife had sent him to CVS for more tissues!  I leapt across the sanctuary to grab the last box of tissues not because I was about to cry but because I was about to crap in my pants!  I knew then that I had to make a change.  

So I decided to try some Jewish congregations hoping for a more male-enhancing experience.  But every time I walked into a Jewish Messianic or Orthodox congregation the rabbi was on the stage holding one (if not two) of his children in his arms.  While I’m sure many found this very sweet, I was greatly dismayed!  If God meant for men to be nurturers, then He would have created them that way.  Of course, the rabbi’s wife sat front and center with a smile on her face signaling to the women in the congregation who changes the diapers in their house.  The only difference in a Reformed congregation is the wife is on the stage (without any children) while her husband sits front and center trying to manage the children.  Of course, her smile sends a message to both women and men in the congregation who changes the diapers in her house. 

I cannot think of anything more traumatic for a young man than to learn that his dad changed his diapers when he was a baby.  I know this thinking does not align with the nurturing ethos intrinsic to the feminine manner that currently presides in our society.  Most young men who discover this about their dads immediately feel sick to their stomachs just thinking about the awkward vibes that might have been transmitted during that exchange.  If you are a dad with a baby, especially a baby boy, make sure the wife, a girlfriend or mistress, the nanny, or a female neighbor down the street changes those diapers.  If you have no other recourse and must change the diapers yourself, then make sure you never tell your son or anyone else for that matter.  Some things are better off left in the closet! 

I don’t know if the world more reflects religion or religion more reflects the world, but what I do know is that religious bodies make a man realize that he is a sojourner and a pilgrim.  I realize that many individuals, trapped within religious bodies, are wrestling for the Faith once delivered to the saints.  They know they are different, driven by a love understood by few that beckons them to “Come out of her!” 

This is the walk of a sojourner and a pilgrim
Required to walk through the land of the religious
To go through his paces under the guise of their faces
Just like those who walked this ancient path before him

They may want a spouse
They may desire a house
Let them have their spouse and a house
Just don’t let them have you

They may desire to push a stroller
Give them a stroller to push
And give them a starting push
Just don’t let them push you

They may want to choose their own ministers
For their own reasons
Let them choose who they want
Just don’t let them choose you

They may want beards
And burgers without cheese
Let them have their beards and burgers without cheese
Just don’t let them feed you

They may want to hand you a tissue
Tell them that this is not the issue
This is the walk of a sojourner and a pilgrim
Just like the ancients did before him

Faith or Family

Genesis 3:16 

“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall deliver children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” 

This single statement from the LORD is packed full of significance and portent for understanding the difficulties that have existed between men and women past, present, and future.  One must look at the part ‘yet your desire will be for your husband’ to really get a grasp on what the LORD is conveying here.  Despite the pain in childbirth, the desire of the woman is for her husband (or his seed) who can create a child.  This paradox that exists within all women, more so for some than for others, lies at the root of so much of the enmity and resentment that exists between the two sexes.  Then throw in the last part ‘and he shall rule over you’ and what was already filled with tension becomes explosive! 

Of course, the LORD established the natural sexual desire between men and women that works like a magnet to bring them together.  But sexual desire is not the only reason that can bring men and women together.  Depending on the cultural and religious customs relevant to their lives, they may desire to have a family having most likely come from families themselves, they might be looking for security, or maybe they just want acceptance whether its societal or from those closest to them.  Religious and cultural institutions establish “ground rules,” if you will, to manage these pre-existing relationship tensions in accordance with the principles and practices of their respective religion, culture, or some mixture of the two.  As far as I’m concerned, they just continue to pile more religion on top of religion. 

While these religious and cultural principles and practices may work well for framing families as part of a utopian society, the problem is when they become part and parcel of what most people understand as the Faith.  Family can be a blessing (or a curse), but in no ways does family have anything to do with the Faith.  When I see and hear the word Faith I think of the ‘Faith of Abraham,’ the faith of the prophets and apostles, and the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Faith as a word, like most great biblical words, cannot be defined but you recognize it when you see it.  Faith, like love and hope, is a concept that applies to us individually.  The faith of one person is most likely not expressed in the exact same way as another person just like there are no two individual thumbprints or souls that are completely alike.  

For the past four years, my life has been spent freeing itself from the snares of some of the most powerful religious and cultural institutions in the world.  And given my primary mission of taking the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to those whom the LORD would send me to I can understand why various religious and secular groups would want their own unique principles and practices validated by this same Spirit.  Many had the impression that I was in alignment with their beliefs, both knowingly and unknowingly on my part, when in actuality I was not and for that I have paid a price.  This is something that I accept as being intrinsic to the Faith. 

Tracking back to family and its prominence in the thinking of so many who claim the Faith as their own, I can now understand why people would think this way.  When you have a Church that is effeminate from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, the idea of family as the center of the Faith becomes self-fulfilling.  And as those who are under the Law like to quote one of their own, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing.”  Well, that king certainly demonstrated this principle in spades by acquiring 700 wives and 300 concubines to boot!  I’m just not a partaker in the ways and means of the focus on the family crowd.  Rather I find myself numbered with the pilgrims and sojourners of the Faith who neither fit nor conform to the pattern of this world, particularly the religious world.  This mode of living offends the religious and cultural sensibilities of many, but this is the same Faith that moved the LORD to call Abraham His friend and Jesus ‘His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased.’ 

As I consider the Faith, I recall a tragic day when my brother in the Faith, Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd fame, who not only knew but was content with his fate on that doomed flight in October 1977.  He had lived life as a Free Bird and would die as a Free Bird knowing that it really isn’t about this life because he could see through the vanity of this life–this is what I call Faith.  If you see yourself as a sojourner and a pilgrim in this walk of Faith, drop your families and follow Jesus.  If you prefer a spouse and a house, then find a wife and have your quiver full.  But don’t expect anyone from your family or even bowwow to be there to hold your hand on Judgment Day. 

H. P. Otter & Daughters

The rising culture of H. P. Otter & Daughters is being felt throughout the society.  I had been aware of this H. P. Otter phenomenon since the late 1990s, but never bothered to read any of the books or watch the movies.  I just preferred to not dabble in those things having heard some spooky stories about people and Ouija boards.  I can only imagine what parents went through when this craze took hold of their kids and their desire to conform to H. P. Otter generational norms.  While I’m sure these books and movies present seemingly positive themes and messages, what I have witnessed in some from this generation is that these themes and messages conceal a hidden spiritual influence that leads them to employ powers such as witchcraft for ostensibly “good” reasons as seen in their eyes.  Only a false gospel whose main character is a guy named Harry which means “christ” in the English vernacular whose creator is a She rather than a He could create the conditions necessary for this to happen.

After my own experience with the mystical in the early 2000s, I became convinced that despite whatever was being produced in H. P. Otter culture this new generation would be more open to the supernatural—whether for better or for worse.  What I never expected though was that my own life would be targeted by the daughters of H. P. Otter in such a scornful way.  While I will elaborate more on this development in future posts, I would like to share one of my first encounters with the H. P. Otter generation (aka Millennials or those born between 1982 and 2000) that occurred at the church I was attending in Washington D.C.

 Around the mid-2000s, the first wave of Millennials had graduated college and started to enter the workforce.  The ones that found their way to my church came from many different denominational and religious backgrounds.  In those days, the church purposefully reached out to young people by conducting services in local movie theaters and building a coffee shop on Capitol Hill.  What astonished me though was the audacity of many of the young women (and men) in this newly arrived cohort who demanded that the church mandate that everyone of its programs, small groups, etc be led by both a man and a woman.  I knew then that a different spirit had just entered the church, but it would be years before I understood that this spirit was coming through the daughters of H. P. Otter!  

I’m especially startled by the rise in the number of Wiccans among the girls and women in the H. P. Otter generation and their uninhibited practice of witchcraft.  The Wiccan offspring of H. P. Otter are taking witchcraft to levels not seen since 17^th century America.  I could never write about this if I hadn’t been the recipient myself of their spells, potions, and chants.  One of their favorite schemes is to find a way to get behind or above you whether you are aware of their presence or not.  Once they have you in their sights, they start chanting, ranting, and casting spells.  And I cannot tell you how many of their potions I have drank as an unsuspecting patron at one of my favorite restaurants.  These practices are driven by an authoritarian spirit but, rather than being expressed through hatred, this spirit cloaks itself in kindness. 

Yes, kindness!  One of the favorite themes of the H. P. Otter generation.  They consider kindness as not only something that everyone should practice but something that should be mandated by the controlling authorities.  Their most tangible outward expression of kindness is manifested in dog ownership.  If you own a dog, then you must be kind.  What they don’t realize is how much God hates dogs.  He doesn’t hate dogs in and of themselves.  For heaven’s sake, He created them!  He hates dogs because so many of those who are created in His image choose DOG rather than GOD and he is a jealous God.  It’s true that both God and Dog give unconditional love but with one glaring difference:  the One disciplines us while we discipline the other. 

The H. P. Otter generation, having been spared the rod but not the wand, seems to have no problem with wielding both the wand and the rod when their façade of kindness has been breached by someone or something that they consider offensive.  If you have ever experienced this, like I have, you will be taken aback by the ferocity of their unleashed authoritarian spirit that manifests itself through teeth bared like fangs.  And in a flash the formerly placid, nice, and gentle acolyte of H. P. Otter becomes more dangerous than a ravenous wolf! 

I’ve been observing the H. P. Otter generation for a long-time, without bias as I don’t have any kids of my own and have taken note of not only their fascination with dogs but their fascination with each other—like rabbits running in the ditch.  This pastime emanates from the daughters of H. P. Otter and extends to the men who fill the vacuum of their lives.  Add a Millennial dog to the mix and you have a cord of three strands of “kindness” that cannot be quickly broken.  Oh Lord, how I lament the condition of your daughters!  They belong to You not H. P. Otter! 

This Must be the Season of the Witch… 

When I look out my window
Many sights to see
And when I look in my window
So many different people to be
That it’s strange
So strange

You’ve got to pick up every stitch
You’ve got to pick up every stitch
You’ve got to pick up every stitch
Mmm hmm, must be the season of the witch
Must be the season of the witch, yeah
Must be the season of the witch

When I look over my shoulder
What do you think I see?
Some other cat looking over
His shoulder at me
And he’s strange
Sure is strange

You’ve got to pick up every stitch
You’ve got to pick up every stitch, yeah
Beatniks are out to make it rich
Oh no, must be the season of the witch
Must be the season of the witch, yeah
Must be the season of the witch

You’ve got to pick up every stitch
The rabbit’s running in the ditch
Beatniks are out to make it rich
Oh no, must be the season of the witch
Must be the season of the witch
Must be the season of the witch

When I go

When I look out my window
What do you think I see?
And when I look in my window
So many different people to be
It’s strange
Sure is strange

You’ve got to pick up every stitch
You’ve got to pick up every stitch
Two rabbits running in the ditch
Oh no, must be the season of the witch
Must be the season of the witch, yeah
Must be the season of the witch

When I go
When I go