The View from the West Mesa

This election wasn't a victory for White Supremacy, misogynists, or racial bigots. It was a victory for the rule of law and the Constitution, for actual inclusion based on acceptance rather than hate, for valuing of human life, even up to birth, the reduction in federal over-reach into our lives. It was a victory for Liberty for all Americans. This election wasn't a victory for White Supremacy, misogynists, or racial bigots. If you are a White Supremacist, a Gay-hater, a woman-hater, or race bigot, this election result says nothing about you or your quite disgusting self-love. You and your relatively small group of miscreants remain hateful and despicable misfits on the fringe of our great society. This election wasn't a victory for White Supremacy, misogynists, or racial bigots. The people you love to hate are human beings and as such, the image of God enfleshed. You insult all of us by expressing your juvenile hate and you look as stupid as the people who are rioting ...

T he redemption of the world through Jesus of Nazareth is called a new covenant by Jesus, and most believe it is the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31. Even though it is called a new covenant, the text reads more like a renewed covenant, rather than a new one entirely. God will forgive their iniquity and they will be His people; they will all know God and not need others to teach them the word of God because it will be written on their hearts. This, as has been observed by others does not describe a new covenant, but what God has always wanted for humans and those who would be his followers – that they would be His people, living most fully as the images of God they were made to be. God has been so committed to the welfare of people that He has not allowed Man's faithlessness to frustrate the plan He has for a planet populated by those who would live as cosmic lovers, living as Jesus modeled.   In God's pursuit of his desire to bless His images with a world of lover...

Eight years ago – actually for six or eight years before that – I had the same emotional reaction to that election as apparently some of you are experiencing to this one. That was painful, very painful and its affects have lingered, and at times returned over the better part of the past decade or more.  I am pleased with the outcome of this election, but I am not overjoyed. What we have witnessed over the past twenty years or more is a direct assault on liberty in the form of expanded federal power, the extension of federal requirements into our lives, and the complete corruption of the federal government including the court system. It has been made blatant under the current President in almost every way imaginable. ·         He has used the IRS to oppress and intimidate political and religious opponents. ·         He has refused to enforce law and has used the intimidation of the FBI and the Justice Department to silence opposition a...

Jonah. You know the story, Jonah is called by YHWH Jonah flees from that call Jonah is in the depths Jonah calls for mercy Jonah is spit onto dry land Now, the parallel All people are called by YHWH Nineveh abandons YHWH Nineveh is ripe for destruction Nineveh calls for mercy Nineveh is spared Jonah doesn’t get this parallel; he cannot see that the mercy he celebrated for himself is available to all. In fact, he doesn’t want it to be. YHWH explains the parallel using a vine, a worm, and Jonah’s anger. It is another parallel. YHWH creates a vine The vine is destroyed by the worm Jonah is angry and ready to die. The parallel YHWH creates a people The people are destroyed by the Destroyer YHWH is angry and ready to give life. The difference in the story that Jonah again does not understand is that while Jonah will remain angry, YHWH has shown mercy to him and the Ninevites based on their coming to their senses – or repenting and returning t...

Late in Genesis chapter 50, there is an exchange between Joseph and his brothers. Before we can get the impact of this exchange, we need to grasp what has gone before. Joseph was Israel's favorite kid because we're told, he was a child of Israel's old age. Israel it seems dotes on the kid to the apparent exclusion of the older brothers. He even gives him a coat (of many colors, or one with long sleeves, although the many colors version is much more picturesque). It seems Joe can't leave well enough alone - we're told that his brothers can't even speak peaceably to him. Joseph gets a reputation for dreams and he has one about sheafs being gathered. You know the story, all the brothers' sheaves bow down around Joe's upright sheaf. Joseph volunteers the interpretation - his brothers will be subject to him. You can imagine the response this receives from the brothers. Some time later, Joseph is sent out to his brothers and they see "this dreame...

Love can be commanded, or stated as an expectation for continued relationship. In fact, the covenant with Israel established loving YHWH as a condition for continued blessing. The essence of love however, love the thing we call love, cannot be coerced or manipulated. It cannot be produced as a result of a command. Love, to be love, must be freely given. Ultimately, loving someone "because you have to" is nonsensical. The ultimate desire or intent of God is what it always has been. That is, a community of voluntary, self-denying lovers, with God in their midst as the chief lover, the life giver, the sustainer. YHWH has demonstrated a desire that the people he blesses (but more importantly and by extension the people he has created) should both acknowledge his graciousness toward them, and use that divine grace as a model for their own lives. The location of this community (earth or Heaven) is irrelevant because the expectation is the same - an expression of the economy of God....

If YHWH picks you to be one of His spokesmen, you can be pretty sure of two things. One, this is a great honor if you can pull it off; and two, your life is going to get pretty problematic really soon. A cursory review of the people who have been tapped by God (not the modern, "I'm a prophet" sort of people; the real ones in Scripture) will easily bear this out.  Hosea is a wonderful example of this. Perhaps best known for the story of he and his wife, Hosea is directed to take a wife of whoredom. As the story progresses there are a number of infidelities and reunions between the couple. Eventually, Hosea's wife Gomer, gives birth to three kids. Now if you're a prophet, not only does your life become problematic, but various aspects of it will be used to help spread the message YHWH wants communicated. Such is the case for Hosea. Those three kids are named by YHWH Himself and they aren't flattering names. They mean, in order, Jezreel, No-Mercy (or Not-Pit...