Part 2 - Tim Spiess Presents The Light of the World: The Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth... VOTE!

 

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life…”, and “All who are of the truth listen to MY voice.” ? 

If this is so, then is it not true that those eternally valuable truths… “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one gets to the Father except through me.” "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 

…have been drowned out … buried … LOST. 

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)

(32)  "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, 

will draw all men to myself." 

"But who do you say that I am?" (16) Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." (17) And Joshua said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (18) "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock (possibly pointing to the earth) I will build my church (my Family of people called out of the world); and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (19) "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."*40 (20) Then he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Messiah. *40 Many religious people and their leaders use this passage to say that Joshua made Peter his sole leader or representative on earth. This view is wrong for the following reasons. First, Joshua says that binding and loosing is available to all his disciples in Matt. 18:18-19.@  Second, Joshua says that only he is to be the leader of his followers (Matt. 23:8-12).@  Third, Peter failed to do what he ought to have done several times – denying Joshua for example. Peter is not the sinless Son of Man, and thus is an inadequate leader for men’s souls as is any man or woman. Only the Good Shepherd is worthy to be the leader of our souls and only He is He represents the owner of the sheep. (21) From that time Joshua began to show his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the leaders of Israel (religious and political), and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. (22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you." (23) But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." (24) Then Joshua said to his disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. (25) "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (26) "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits (loses or gives away) his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? *41 (27) "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and Will Then Repay Every Man According To His Deeds (what he has done). (28) "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man (Joshua’s favorite title for himself) coming in his kingdom (see the following verses)." *41 Sadly, people don’t value their souls because they have been deceived into thinking they don’t have one. All of the wealth and material things on the earth will be of no comfort to a person after a person leaves their body and they see what they threw away (Life Everlasting) in exchange for what they love in the world…a few years of pleasure, material comfort or money etc. (17:1) Six days later (after the saying of Joshua regarding seeing the Son of Man coming in His kingdom) Joshua took with Him Peter and James and John His brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. (2) And He was transfigured (He changed appearance) before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light (perhaps the preview of His coming in his kingdom). (3) And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. (4) Peter said to Joshua, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tabernacles (small shelters) here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." (5) While he (Peter) was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to HIM! *42 (6) When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. (7) And Joshua came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid." (8) And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Joshua Himself alone. (9) As they were coming down from the mountain, Joshua commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead." (10) And his disciples asked him, "Why then do the bible experts say that Elijah must come first?" (11) And He answered and said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things; (12) but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." (13) Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist. *42 The great error of mankind. The Creator Himself spoke and said, “Listen to my Son”. And yet humanity goes on its own way, rejecting that plea of our Designer, and substituting just about anything or anyone – a book, the bible; Moses; Paul, pastor so-and-so, etc. – for the one true Leader appointed by the Creator, the Light of the world. “And this is the condemnation, that humans love the darkness rather than the Light” – see John 3:19.@ (14) When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Joshua, falling on his knees before Him and saying, (15) "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he acts crazy and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. (16) "I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him." (17) And Joshua answered and said, "You unbelieving and corrupted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." (18) And Joshua rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. (19) Then the disciples came to Joshua privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" (20) And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a (small) mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you”. (22) And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Joshua said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; (23) and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were deeply grieved. (24) When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the fifty dollar tax came to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the tax?" (25) He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Joshua spoke to Him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the rulers of the world collect tolls or taxes - from their sons or from strangers?" (26) When Peter said, "From strangers," Joshua said to him, "Then the sons are exempt. (27) "However, so that we do not give them cause to arrest us, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a gold coin. Take that and give it to them for you and me." (18:1)

@Matthew:18: 8-9 Truly I say to you, whatever you [r]bind on earth [s]shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you [t]loose on earth [u]shall have been loosed in heaven.
Matthew 19: “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them [v]by My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 23: 8 But as for you, do not be called [a]Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. 9 And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called [b]leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 But the greatest of you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

John 3:19 And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.

The Light of the World is a book that I have been waiting for, it seems, all of my life! I don't know how many times, as I've been writing book reviews, I have thought about those that spoke about religion--of any kind. There are those who have moved into alternative experiences of a spiritual nature, which included astral projection and more of the supernatural experiences. I have read quite a few about agnosticism. I have read brilliant books by Stanislaw Kapuscinski delving deeper into the various Books of the Bible and/or moving beyond what was found there into new revelatory territories. I have also read dozens if not hundreds of fictional stories that honed in on a religious life... I have purchased a book by Thomas who recorded all of the words said by Jesus... But, as stated, it was nothing but the actual words recorded, so held little value for considering commentary in relation to those words.

The closest I ever got to finding what I wanted was How to Be a Christian without being Religious. That is, until I found a manuscript many years ago that I knew was what I'd been searching for... Quite recently, I was able to remember the name of the author and sought him out and have already read Christianity: A Successful Failure.

A God Incident where I recently woke up to hear the Holy Spirit say "Tim Speiss" was my direction to start seriously reading and sharing about The Light of the World. Given the frustration and worry that I have been going through since I learned that Evangelical Christians had endorsed Donald Trump, as you may have noticed, I've been reading a lot of nonfiction books trying to understand what happened... First, I listened to a video by Frank Schaeffer, author and son of the Evangelist Francis Schaeffer, who is now creating videos speaking out against the past president. In one of his videos I had learned that a "deal" had been struck between Trump and Evangelical leaders. It was at that point that Frank Schaeffer, who was at that meeting, chose to pull away from what had happened. Since then I've been reading many others who have written against that "Deal" and what has happened!

I began to feel better but still felt that something major had changed within the Christian and Republican Party. And I watched as my family was affected. I even told one of them that I loved her, but that I loved God more and we have not spoken since. Soooo, this seemed to be the perfect time for me to speak out about all that I have read and learned about Christianity through many different books... Some have talked about sexuality issues within the church as those individuals were being exposed and condemned. I had also watched how money was being spent within politics that literally blew my mind, especially from a Christian standpoint as Jesus spoke out against those who sought power through riches/money...

In other words, I was ready--anxious to read this book... But there was always another new book that came out that was also important to what is happening in America right now... It took a reminder from My Lord to what He wanted from me at this time...

In Part I, I talked about Tim Weiss' decision to call his movement, The Peaceful Revolution. I can understand why, and I will be joining that site after tomorrow's election when I can, hopefully, breathe a little better. You see, Jesus also conducted a peaceful revolution... Yes, since His mission was to reach all those who were lost, hurt, or estranged for one reason or another, He often told those He helped, to not talk about being healed... Of course that didn't always work, but He would continue moving on to others, never trying to gain credit for His work. Never seeking praise, thanks, or some type of payback... 

I have worked with thousands of writers, authors, editors, and others who have been involved in publishing a book(s). During my early years, I fed on Christian-related books. But then, I started working at West Virginia University, where I met people from all races, religions, and sexual orientation. And, I've never saw any difference in any of them. What I mean is that, I never felt any form of discrimination or bias against anybody that I met. Even when I found a problem with somebody, I was able to move away, just as I learned Jesus did, so that disagreements would not often arise...

And, when I had symptoms of Job Burnout with high levels of stress-related symptoms, I pulled within to heal, rather than strike out in anger--at least as much as I could, which was not every time...

My point is that I and so many of us have seen more hatred and violence spewed since 2015, that we are working hard just to maintain some level of stability in our own lives... I listen to others worry and realize that I don't. It matters to me what has happened, but I must say that within my life, I have always found support from my best friend, Jesus...

Tim has bravely acted as I believe he was told to do by God Himself. What he has done was to take that final step that nobody ever has done before to say that, in toto, Christianity has indeed been a successful failure. There are millions of Christians all over the world. Many have been introduced to God through the many different sects or denominations...

In fact, having so many different sects or denominations should be your first warning, don't you think? Actually, I had not really gotten to the point where Tim had gotten before he started writing this book. So, if you hadn't thought a lot about exactly what has NOT occurred for over 2000 years, I think we all can be forgiven... But, you will find that Spiess has spotlight many of these issues that should have been questioned at this point in time...

For instance, once Jesus was born and died for all of us, shouldn't all of the old writings have gone into historical archives? Instead, all of the Old Testament was retained and a New Testament had been started. Now we do know that there were many who had already had religions so that some retention of their "religions" would have been retained. BUT, since at the point where those who had started following Jesus via his disciplines and teachings, a new testament could have been started and completed... More specifically. The Old Testament, The Life and Teachings of Jesus, and, all other peripheral writers who wrote books at that time... But only Tim Spiess, as far as I know, has taken the important and monumental step to say ONLY THE WORDS OF JESUS ARE ALL THAT WE NEED!

Tim Spiess has done the research--considerably MORE research than many of those who have written on the subject in more than 2000 years. Tim Spiess was free of bias, free of a religion that met his needs, and the drive to start asking questions and acting upon them! Again, very specifically, he pondered the issue and came up with a conclusion that should have been declared about 2000 years ago... The birth and death of Jesus and His life and Teachings should be in ONE Book... And so, he presents The Light of the World: The Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth... as the One and Only book that we need to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ (better translation being Joshua. This book uses Joshua and I found in reading the actual teachings of our Lord, using Joshua actually helps in exploring our new and only book which will be used to guide our lives...

On the Other Hand... think about... Messenger

I have looked at my life and come to somewhat of a different conclusion. If indeed we have come to accept the teachings of Jesus, and since we have moved forward with so many WORLD changes during those two thousands years, would it not be appropriate that many of the parables used in those early days may need to be updated? But that's an idea for another page... The question is: Will a Quiet Revolution move us forward based ONLY upon the words of the Son of Man? I actually think so.

During the interim between 2015, and the present, when I first became involved and interested in politics, I have seen so many issues that were defined and explained in the Bible, but were ignored, questioned, or change in meaning to meet the needs of a few; hence, for instance, the unlimited numbers of Protestant denominations...

After reading this book, I'd like to try. In fact, I have been using many of the words of Jesus in rebuttal of what has been happening in America. And, anybody paying attention, we can all clearly see that the individual running for Office who most closely attempts to respond to the words in The Light of the World, would never incite violence, hate, and division among our citizens... nor insurrection against the government of our country...

It will be my honor to continue to share with you about this book. In the meantime, I highly recommend you get your own copy and start reading. Spiess provides ongoing commentary and references to ensue you, too, begin to see all that He Spoke which was never followed... May we all find our way now, and begin our own quiet revolution...

God Bless

Gabby

Tim Spiess Presents The Light of the World: The Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth - Part 1

 

(This author uses “Joshua” instead of the popular “Jesus” in order to refer to the person who is the subject of the first four books of what is referred to as the “new testament.”  I do this because Joshua is a better translation of His name, and because of all the religious junk associated with the name “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ” or “Christ”.)

Have you ever heard somebody in the crowd around you say, "Jesus Christ!" loudly, as a curse word? I have... And I've cringed inside each time. It bothers me that so much has been lost in the centuries since God Sent His Son to All of Us...

Even His Birthday has been captured by Santa Claus and an entirely different type of holiday that, yes, includes gifts such as what The Three Kings brought at the time of His birth,

But for many, they have no idea that there is a different

 Reason for the Season!

Let's face it--acknowledge it...

We've lost the Holiness of His Coming!

By merging a secular holiday

with the birthday of Our Lord

to me, is just wrong...

but that's me...if you can bring Christ into the Season and not spend much money buying, buying, buying gifts for anybody and everybody, but have not loved as Jesus asked of us...by giving to those in need...

then you have placed money above our Lord...

just my opinion...of course...

Above a month ago, I awoke and heard just two words: Tim Spiess

I knew exactly what I was to do...

I was to start reading diligently and reviewing this book...

Now is the time to rethink your thoughts about...God...

Right now in America, there are those that are using religion as a political tool, even calling themselves Christian Nationalists and claiming that religion (or their religion)

is above government and our constitution...

Comparing religion versus the Constitution is like saying

1 person equals one flea, or worse,

one man's sperm is more important than one female's life

In other words, it is not comparable! 

And should not be compared!

Tim Spiess has, throughout all of this, been speaking about

and conducting a quiet revolution that has nothing to do with America

It has to do with...God... and His Son

https://thepeacefulrevolution.info/the-light-of-the-world.html

I have found the title The Peaceful Revolution quite extraordinary. How many times we learn that Jesus, in performing miracles, would tell those he healed not to tell anybody else. But they would be so excited and, since they were healed, would receive questions about what happened... It was a quiet revolution, then, as well... By word of mouth, each individual who was touched by Jesus/Joshua would spread the word about His Love. They would speak His Truth and share about the man who had been there to touch each of those who were, in some way, in need of help... All they did was ask... And, sometimes, based upon faith of the requesting person, they would be automatically healed by their faith... If trouble was heard about, He and His disciples would leave that area and move on to another. There was no attempt to convince anybody of Who He Was... It was, instead, a Quiet Revolution that has spread further and further across the world over thousands of years... In fact, Christ knew He was to die and when. He was on a Mission which ended at The Cross

I believe that, like me--and you(?), many, who are individuals who had been exposed to religion and found they had many questions, Tim Spiess was selected by God to take on a monumental task... much more of an ongoing movement that would lead people back to 

The Son of God...

What you will be reading is not new...

What you will be reading forces you to recognize...

What you will be reading allows you to immediately recognize...

What you will be reading is exactly why The Son of God was Born...

What you will be reading, at the same time, is very simple to understand...

What you will be reading is that This Book does nothing but Place the Light of the World's Words Exactly Where 

They were always meant to be...

Above All Other Words that were Ever Said

The Words of the Son of God...

Which Said, for instance, that all rules be set aside...

That we were to Follow The Son of Man...

Who Died for Us...

Soon you will realize that the book(s) that have been read for thousands of years, were important, but they were not The Words of Joshua...

Which provided The Truth as to how we should Live...

And we are being told that These Words Were Ours

Because God Loves Each of Us Through His

 Amazing Grace...

The purpose of this presentation of the first four books of the New Testament is to try to assist in recovering something extremely valuable that has been lost. What extremely valuable thing has been lost? Before we investigate what extremely valuable thing has been lost, let us first take a small but important digression.  Most people are familiar with the expression, “you should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.”  It is an effective saying to teach the principle of not dismissing a true or valuable or important thing (the baby) that might be surrounded by, or associated with, false or valueless or unimportant things (the dirty bath water).   I would ask the reader to please apply this principle to the person of Jesus (or Joshua) of Nazareth.  In other words, before you throw the baby (Jesus of Nazareth) away with the bathwater (bible-christian-messianic beliefs and religion in his name), you ought to take a careful look at the Baby.  After all, what do you have to lose by reading Joshua’s words, teaching and life story?  It won’t take you long to read, and you will be one of an increasingly few number of people on the earth who actually read his words and teachings. 

This author would suggest that it is unfair to throw away ‘the whole jesus religious thing’ as irrelevant to your life or as ‘a bunch of silly or hypocritical rubbish’ without first giving his words and teachings a honest and fair read.  It is also irrational to deny that the person known as “jesus christ” has had a very significant impact on both human history as well as countless millions of individuals.  You should be curious as to why, and as a person that might be seeking truth, it would be unreasonable to avoid his own words in order to understand the very important ‘why’ question.  Even if you are a skeptic or critic, if you don’t read Jesus’ own teachings, then at best you are a lazy and poor quality skeptic or critic who doesn’t bother to go to the source of the object of your skepticism or criticism.  

Please, be a diligent skeptic or critic and search Jesus’ teachings YOURSELF for the faults and errors in his person or teachings that you assume account for the mess that covers much of the planet and is known as ‘christianity’ or bible-based religious groups call ‘the church.’ OK, let’s end the first digression.  

So, what extremely valuable thing has been lost?  Please allow me digress again before answering that question in order to briefly address those reading who have not seriously looked into the life and teachings of Jesus (or Joshua) of Nazareth.  (This author will use “Joshua” instead of the popular “Jesus” in order to refer to the person who is the subject of the first four books of what is referred to as the “new testament.”  I do this because Joshua is a better translation of his name, and because of all the religious junk associated with the name “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ” or “Christ”.) 

Every Person’s Basic Need Every living person has hope in something because it has been proven time and time again that a person without any hope (some self-perceived purpose for their life-existence) will seek to destroy themselves through suicide or other destructive behavior in order to try and end the inner emptiness of life-level hopelessness.  The reader should ask why that is.  Why is it that human’s alone (not animals) need a future reason for living (known as hope or purpose) or else they seek to dull or to end their existence? 

What is your hope in dear reader? Some ‘better’ material tomorrow…a better house, car, or vacation…a more ‘successful’ career?  Is your hope in a better education and thus more opportunity to accumulate wealth or influence over other people?  Is your hope in some better form of pleasing yourself or entertainment?  Is it in the next movie or the newest electronic device that you believe is somehow going to make your life more meaningful?  Is it in sporting events, challenges, vacations, hobbies or activities yet to come?  Do you find your purpose in life through the primary work that you do?  Is your hope in a person, like yourself, or a spouse, friend or partner?  Is your hope in your family or children?  Is your hope in religious beliefs or practices? Has having your hope in any of these things ever satisfied your soul in a deeply meaningful and permanent way?  Or does the pleasure of the pursuit or aurora of the lesser-hope fade as it passes, and you find yourself dissatisfied or somewhat empty until the next time?  When you largely accomplish your goals associated with your hope or purpose, what happens then?  Do you just pick up a new temporary one without thought to the fact that it too will end?  Do you ever take the time to just sit back and ask the import questions of life like why am I here?  What is the purpose of my life?  What does my existence mean?  If you don’t, why do you think that is so?  Are those not really important matters that deserve attention? Looking at this important topic from another perspective, have you come to the sad place of believing you are nothing more than a random accumulation of molecules with no soul and little or no meaningful purpose?  Or do you realize something fundamental is missing from your life?  Have you come to the place of acknowledging that your own efforts to run your life are not working well?  Have you come to the place of understanding that what is most important in life is relationships with other people?  That whatever pain or stress or anxiety or conflict or frustration or failure you are experiencing normally has to do with how you are relating to other people or even how you are relating to yourself?  Is there a right way and a wrong way to relate to people, and if so, where can I find that way or standard?  Can I be rightly related to all the people that I know and thus be a nearly perfect person and have a justifiably clear conscience?  Wouldn’t that be wonderful? 

Everyone has beliefs about what the purpose of their life is, including atheists (those who believe there is no God) and agnostics (those who believe one cannot know if God exists).  Many atheists and agnostics are physicalists, meaning they believe a person’s self-expression (or personality) can be accounted for by physics-chemical reactions alone – this author believes that is an unreasonable belief.  By definition, however, a physicalists purpose for their life must end when their life ends, and thus their hope can only be in temporary things listed previously which will undeniably end.  They (and we) will die.  Their body will decay and return to dust.  In their belief, all the events, emotions, friendships, relationships, expressions of love and good in their life, all the special experiences they had and all the good things they accomplished – all will be gone forever, and perish with their death and the death of those who knew them…there will be nothing but the black, dark, void of existential destruction…for to lose something valuable is just like having it destroyed.  This is hopelessness – a meaningless-ness to life that is typically denied and buried under daily busyness, noise, entertainment and a denial of most things important – never peering over the edge of the approaching and undeniable event called death. 

Most physicalists are relativists, meaning they believe there is no absolute truth.  They say each person makes up their own reality.  Is that true?  No, because the relativist’s clearest statement, like, “No absolute truth exists” is a self-defeating statement.  That means that the laws of logic demonstrate that statement to be false.  Can you see it?  For if the relativist makes the statement, “no absolute truth exists,” one only need ask them, ‘is that statement absolutely true’?  If they answer, ‘yes’, then at least one absolute truth exists and thus their statement is false.  And if they answer, ‘no’, then they acknowledge the statement to be false.  It is undeniable that absolute truths exist, and it is reasonable to deduce that someone (a master Programmer?) created reason and logic to be based on absolute truth. The fact that it is undeniable that absolute truth exists - that everything is not relative according to a person’s (or even a collective culture’s) perspective or experiences - has a very significant implication.    That implication is that it is possible (even reasonable) that a Creator of that absolute truth has an absolute standard of truth which human’s will be held accountable to…or from another perspective, will set their after-death destiny by.  For if we do have a metaphysical part (beyond being able to sense with our five senses) to our person (often referred to as a soul, spirit or personality), and that part does survive physical death, then what becomes of us?

Dear reader, if you lost both your arms and legs and had your face badly disfigured, would that change who you really are?  With medical sciences advancing, it is reasonably conceivable that if all that was left of you was your head, you could be kept alive.  Would that change who you are?  The reasonable answer is no, it would not.  This is yet another proof that humans are more than just our physical bodies. 

Is religion the place where I will find answers to these things, or can I find those answers somewhere else?  What is the truth regarding these matters?  To ignore those critical life questions and not seek answers is to live less than a full life…it is to refuse to take life’s most important journey. And this brings us to a person, not a religion, who said, “I am the Truth.”  

No matter what you think about that claim, it is a very important claim that warrants investigation.  While anyone (and many have) can make that claim, the same one who said that also defeated death, at least according to the four accounts of his life, and that makes his claim worthy of sincere investigation. No one else in human history defeated death in as genuine, authentic and validated way. 

Religion in a general sense is humans attempt to understand the purpose of their existence – the whys of life.  More specifically, religion is often people’s attempt to be accepted by their God or god(s) so that when they die, their existence will continue typically in a more favorable manner than their existence has been on the earth. From the student of Joshua’s viewpoint, religion is the things that people believe and do in order to answer the why questions of life or to be accepted by their god(s), by means other than what Joshua has taught.  Please re-read that carefully. There are many religions and many people who hold to their religion’s beliefs and practices.  But there is only one person who--in a genuine, authentic way--defeated death to prove all He said and did is true, and He is not a religion!  While this person has been wrongfully used to create religion, He not only does not support that religion, but he rebukes it and its practices time and time again in His teachings.  No, he doesn’t rebuke bible-based christian religion’s failures, hypocrisies, faults and abuses, but rather He rebukes the very essence, beliefs and practices which the religious leaders of the bible-based religious system build their kingdoms (or denominations or churches) on.  If this is true, this should impact the reader. You have no doubt heard of the person of Jesus of Nazareth (Joshua is a more accurate translation of his name than “Jesus”), the person that the christian religions claim as their figurehead.  But of all the hundreds of millions of people claiming to be some type of ‘christian’ or somehow claiming that ‘Jesus Christ’ is important to them, probably less than two percent have taken seriously the reading of his life and teachings, let alone trying to understand him or do what he says.  If this is true, this should also peak your curiosity, for it certainly doesn’t make sense.  And perhaps this is one of the reasons for the obvious failures and powerlessness of bible or christian or church religion to change people towards the Standard of Perfection that God has given mankind--the person of Joshua of Nazareth?

So, in your hands you have the Words of Joshua of Nazareth, the one who said, “I am the Way (Home to your Father), I am the (absolute) Truth (that eternally matters), and I am Life (Everlasting).”  He not only said that (for anyone can say that), but He performed many miracles, including defeating death, to prove that all He said and did was true, including what was just quoted. No one else in history has done that. Joshua addresses the most important questions of life, directly, head on, and gives clear answers.  Can I have a Hope that will last?  What is the purpose to my life?  If I have a soul and it survives death, what becomes of me?  What is true love, and can I experience that and live that out?  Can I have proper relationships with all the people in my life?  Can I have inner peace and joy in my life on the earth?  Where can I get the power to change myself to be the way I know I ought to be?  Is there a superior form of love, and if so, how can I experience it?  Joshua answers all these questions and point’s people to the source of power to change. 

This author can testify to this truth.  I was once chasing the American dream and all it entails, and to a large measure, I had attained it.  However, that pursuit and it’s ‘success’ only left me more empty, selfish and hopeless.  People viewing my life from the outside would say how successful I was, but I knew the truth.  One beautiful day, however, as my life was spiraling downward (even while people said I was climbing the ladder of success), I met the Person Joshua of Nazareth.  I testify that He has changed my life in a way I could never have done myself, for I had not the wisdom nor the power to fix my broken and hopeless life.  Empty and circular psychological beliefs or legally prescribed emotion controlling drugs are not the answer to your problems.  Alcohol, drugs, busyness, materialism, entertainment-ism or other means to try and dull or hide the hopelessness are not the answer either. So, dear reader, please don’t be afraid to read and seek to understand Joshua of Nazareth…He is NOT a religion, but rather a person like no other.  And the chances are very good that the real Joshua of Nazareth is nothing like you have experienced through most christian or bible religious people…He is not the “Jesus Christ” of the christians/biblians or church people.  He is not someone handing out free passes to ‘heaven’ to those who believe certain facts about him.  Nor is he the God of wrath eager to punish the imperfect.  Rather, he has the solution to your deepest need and is eager to provide it to you…he can clean your soul and bring your spirit alive! 

Does YOUR life need fixing?  What have you got to lose, and perhaps, you’ve got everything to gain?  Do you want true freedom?  You can have it, but it does cost something.  To gain the Life which you really need, you must be willing to forsake the temporary and that which this world (and yourself) considers valuable. "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." May the Words of the Rescuer, the Freedom and Life Giver in the pages to come do their beautiful work in your life!

I believe this is exactly the time to reconsider our relationship to our god... Is it God Almighty? Do you get excited about Our Awesome God? Or do you get more excited by earthly things such as a job, a football game, a song, a Million Dollars? Consider this question... If you had the chance to go to one of two concerts: Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount or Taylor Swift's latest? Which would you consider the highest priority... And if you had $100, would you buy a lottery ticket for a prize of $10M or give the $100 to a homeless man or women? Ponder this overnight...

Watch for Part 2

GABixlerReviews

Love By The Breather: Short Romantic Reads by Nadine C. Keels - Perfect for a Relaxing Hour or Two...

 

Inhaling Hope

You’re special. That’s all her first note from him had said. She’d found it taped to the knob of her apartment’s front door after she arrived back from her jog one morning. Given the difference in their schedules, he’d have time to leave the note and be gone for work before she’d be back from her pre-work cardio jaunt around the community, and he’d known it. She hadn’t recognized the handwriting, and no wonder. Who wrote anything down so much anymore in this increasingly paperless world? A note from an apartment-complex neighbor, jotted inside of a folded little sheet of repurposed tree and stuck to a doorknob, was a definite twenty-first-century anomaly. He hadn’t signed it, but she loved that. Not because he’d never been too wild about his name (he said the sound of it always made him feel like he ought to be tap dancing somewhere in a tux with tails, and he’d never tapped in his life) but because his leaving the unexpected, two-word message unsigned made it more intimate. Unrecognizable handwriting and absence of a signature aside, she knew right away that the note was from him. And he knew she’d know it. “Ah, Tracey,” she’d murmured over the paper as she delayed refolding it, the essence of a smile drifting over her lips. Her eyes embraced the message, or rather surrendered to the message’s embrace, as two of her fingers fiddled with the string from the hood of her hoodie, a garment often tasked with shielding her head from the early mist of the outdoors. The mist, among other things her various workout shields shielded her from. She didn’t usually address her favorite neighbor by the full first name with which he’d only come to resigned terms in adulthood...

I don't know about you, but I enjoy a little mystery with romance... And Nadine Keels who has become a friend plus a favorite author begins her lovely set of short stories with one that is intriguing... It starts with a short unsigned note left on the main character's door--two or three words just to let her know that somebody is thinking about her! Cool, right! As the story goes on, Clarion meets and begins talking to her new admirer, at least until she brings up a question she'd been wondering about: “Tray? Do you ever think you and I must look mismatched?” she’d come out and asked him one weekend afternoon... 

At this time when some are trying to divide America racially, I loved Nadine's approach to this sad issue being "used" in today's politics by one party... Young people don't have those biases unless they are taught by their parents or other influential people in their lives. It certainly does not come from the church as Jesus Christ proclaims that we must love our neighbor--all our neighbors... So,

As two people who were not really acquainted began to send messages to each other, they learn more and more about the other and learning to be friends. That is, until tragedy strikes the life of Clarion and she is lost to a world where she must begin to find her own way. Can her new friend help?

Show Me Silver

It was more than a dance. First of all, she wasn’t the kind of woman for just anybody to take dancing just anywhere. Yvonne’s very essence spoke of high class, and that was more than all right. Sterling wasn’t the kind of man to take just any woman out anyway, and classy entertainment was his dating specialty. Fine dining. Theater. Book readings. Art and history exhibits. Orchestral ensembles and symphonies. Ballroom dancing. Tonight, the music was live jazz, from an excellent band that knew how to create and work an atmosphere.

There wasn’t only one couple out on the dance floor. But as far as Sterling’s consciousness was concerned for this space in time, he and Yvonne could have been the only two people on the floor at this dinner concert. It wasn’t because the band’s number at the moment was a slow one with rich tones. It wasn’t because the refined yet alluring fragrance floating from Yvonne’s skin was such a complement to Sterling’s aromatic cologne. It wasn’t even because on what was now their fifth date, this was the longest the two of them had ever held each other. No, no. The other people around faded away and the dance became more than a dance once Sterling began to realize he hadn’t stopped…looking at Yvonne. Meeting her open stare, and saying nothing. By this point in his life, slow-dancing with a woman wasn’t anything new to him. Oftentimes, maintaining a stream of light banter with a dance partner could keep prolonged staring from becoming uncomfortable. Or if Sterling had sensed any possibility that this close and quiet interlude might become at all awkward, this would be the time when he’d lean in to rest his russet brown cheek against Yvonne’s darker, rounder one. Of course, in favorable scenarios, it’d be romantic of Sterling to make such a move. Conversely, it could serve as a convenient next step for a slow dance that would stagnate or become uneasy if the banter ran out, leaving him and his partner with nothing but music and eye contact. But tonight, two or three songs ago, Sterling had lost any sense of time. Neither he nor Yvonne had spoken a word for however long on this dance floor. Neither pair of their brown eyes, his behind wire-framed glasses, had strayed long or far from the other. And Yvonne’s gaze—as soft as her full, feminine form, gently swaying in Sterling’s arms to velvety jazz—had yet to make him feel in any way that it would be best for him to look elsewhere. This was different. A different level of seeing and being seen. He should’ve known. Should’ve known that dancing with Yvonne wouldn’t be only that. He should’ve known because not one thing between him and Yvonne, from the first day to now, had been “only” anything. Every exchange on the phone and in person, every outing with her had left him sated with light, pleasure, and verve. He should’ve been prepared. Yet, how did one prepare for this? For this level of seeing. Seeing that accordingly called for knowing. Not merely the kind of knowing that Sterling could boast about if he wanted. Here while he was amazingly lost but right at home in Yvonne’s gaze, any manner of boasting couldn’t be further from his mind. He wasn’t imagining himself turning back to face all the eyes that had overlooked or looked down on him in past years. He hadn’t a notion of announcing to all the owners of those eyes, as though it would prove anything, “I know Yvonne Royale now. The Yvonne Royale.” No. That wasn’t the nature of potential knowing, here. Besides, it had never been Sterling’s style to boast about anything that daunted him. The sigh he gave then wasn’t outward but inward. And bewildered. Was it strange that, in an atmosphere saturated with music so marvelous, with a woman whose presence he found both invigorating and soothing, and with her honest gaze for him to get so lost in and to feel he’d been found there, all at once—might it be strange that some part of Sterling’s psyche could even consider something about this experience…to be daunting? 

Moving Points of View between the two who are looking for love, makes this even more interesting because, at first, each would have their own opinions and background which are important to them, while at the same time, not knowing how the other might react! 

Sterling was a man who spent time and money to ensure that his dates were impressed by his interest in the arts of all kinds, choosing jazz for an evening meal or a book reading--anything that would allow him to carry on a conversation to keep his date interested in him... His early life had been unhappy, never being able to satisfy, or even know, what his father expected of him. Now he carried the words he'd said each night as he went to bed: "I'll Show Them!" And even though he was now successful and met many interesting women, he was never quite sure how to ensure a longer relationship--one that would lead to their being interest enough to go on to a deeper level of the relationship.

That is, until he met Yvonne... By the fifth date, he found that they had spent time dancing, dancing, without no concern whether they were talking about this or that. It was enough just to be in each other's arms, gazing at each other... There was talk on earlier dates, about books or music, but when Yvonne would ask personal questions about his family, he tended to evade the question by moving on to another topic quickly. And then, one evening he had brought a folder, containing part of a novel he was writing and presented it to her. But her response was not what he had expected. She thought he had wined and dined her, hoping to have her review his book and help to get it published. He stumbled into an apology that it was in response to her always asking about his personal plans and that it was his way of sharing something important to him with her...

So she did read it and talked to him via video to give him her best feedback... She had to be truthful, yet helpful, complimentary yet point out problems she saw... But, in Sterling's mind, he was already whispering, "I'll Show Her..." 

I'm sure every writer will totally get involved in this short story that goes to the heart of every writer's wishes for their future... For me? It was whether or not Sterling's writing was to be an obstacle for their own relationship... Can a newly developing relationship be destroyed by one misstep by one or the other?

Debbie Duo

Dream Debbie

It’s a bird! A majestic eagle, soaring high and gracefully through the skies. It’s a plane! A jet aircraft, piercing through the clouds so swiftly that not even sound can keep up with it as its onlookers from the earth below hold fast to their hats and scarves, standing in an afterglow of awe. No! It’s Dream Woman! Taking flight through the stratosphere yet again, undoubtedly on another momentous, noble mission that only she can achieve—since she, quite frankly, is the only one perfect enough to do that sort of thing. A stellar career woman, a domestic genius, a renowned icon with the striking form of a goddess beneath her magnificent cape… Groan. “Delete.” Debbie hits the backspace key to eliminate her unrelated ramblings of the past few minutes from her computer screen, and she frowns at the aging remnants of her lunch on the desk, a pasta recipe that needs an upgrade. Having told her editor that she would have her story to him a week ago, she knows that the book’s illustrator cannot resume his work on the project during such a standstill. But here Debbie sits, wasting time with word-doodles that don’t have anything to do with anything. Her tale about a bunch of neighborhood pals on summer vacation has the possibility of becoming Debbie’s best children’s tale yet. She’d seen it so clearly the month before, as the proverbial bulb had burst into light over her head one morning, yanking her out of sleep with its promising incandescence. She’d floated through the next few days, refining her new characters in her head, piecing together a lively plot that would teach developing minds an important lesson on friendship while simultaneously entertaining their young, eager imaginations. Debbie isn’t sure what became of that bulb, but currently, she can’t seem to get the end of the story to pan out in a choice amount of words. She’s been mulling over this issue for days, reworking the plot, and now (taking a look at her cell phone) she hasn’t left herself sufficient time to close up shop, so to speak, and to get ready for her date with Stuart. “Enough. I quit.” In exasperation, Debbie puts her computer down for a nap and shoots up from her desk, but she pauses to tell her unfinished story, in case it happens to be listening, “I mean, until tomorrow.” Once again, Saturday won’t be a day off. An involuntary smile of apology flashes toward her computer before Debbie rushes out of her home office, taking the scraps of her lunch along for disposal. Stuart will be on his way to pick her up soon, and she absolutely must be ready on time. Ahh. Stuart. The brilliant magazine columnist Debbie met some weeks ago in the coffee shop she frequents early on weekday mornings, sometimes just to get out of the house. She hadn’t known at first that Stuart is at the shop almost as much as she is. She’d failed to truly notice him until he’d approached her table by the windows one day, saying, “Pardon me, but I’ve been observing for some time that you never order coffee here.” Debbie had peeked up from her newspaper to see the tall stranger there. He probably wasn’t the handsomest man on the planet, but he did have a pair of kind, soothing eyes. Debbie’s friends might’ve judged that Stuart had natural “bedroom eyes,” but Debbie had immediately informed herself that she had no business thinking of bedrooms. She’d jumped into her favorite old pair of unsexy flannel pajamas that night to remind herself of the fact. Debbie had briefly glanced away from the stranger, down to her apple, bagel, and orange juice breakfast. She’d smiled, somewhat embarrassed. “I don’t drink coffee. But I’ve always revered the aroma of it.” The stranger had laughed. On the mornings since then, he’d been making regular visits to Debbie’s table to chat with her, even sitting down for breakfast with her on occasion, until he’d declared earlier this week, “To be honest, Debbie, I’d really like to see you outside of this shop. I’ve got tickets for a play downtown, this Friday night…” Debbie had nearly choked on her blueberry muffin. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been asked on a date by somebody she actually liked. “And I don’t want him to regret having asked me,” Debbie now says as she rifles through her closet, looking for her knee-length, emerald green dress. She takes the dress out and goes to stand before her long mirror, holding the garment against her delicate frame, knowing that she wants to look as nice as possible. Even as alluring as possible—without looking, well, as alluring as she possibly could. “If that makes sense.” Time is of the essence, but Debbie can’t resist sacrificing a moment for a jubilant, girlish spin in front of the mirror. She remembers the first time she’d ever consciously done that, when her mother had brought home a new, flouncy dress for her to wear to her fifth birthday party. Yes, even now she can see that imaginative little girl who’d wanted her parents to get her a space helmet when she turned five, since she was going to be an astronaut when she grew up. How she was going to fit that in with being a dentist, a Hollywood actress, and the Queen of America, she hadn’t known at the time, but that didn’t matter. Her becoming Dream Woman one day would take care of it, and she’d fit everything in seamlessly as the ultimate life planner. And Dream Woman could fly like a jet, of course, so soaring from one task to another in a timely fashion, or even swooping from one career to another if necessary, wouldn’t be a problem for her. Debbie slips into her green dress after a quick shower, a dashing of makeup, and a whirl with a curling iron through her dark hair. She looks herself over front and back, not without a tiny sigh. This isn’t quite the curvaceous figure she’d once been sure she had a chance of developing, but she’ll strut what she has to work with. She releases a chortle, recalling the first time she’d ever scrutinized herself so closely, having donned an outfit for a high school dance. She’d initially hoped that it would be her first date, but no guy had asked her to go. In the end, it hadn’t made too great a difference because she went with two of her closest friends, people who consistently stuck by her, much like her family; friends she is fortunate enough to still have. They were all there for her while, perhaps prematurely, Debbie’s vast and glittery ideas of the future began to settle around her like fairy dust, leaving her standing there, not on top of the world but atop a living pile of hardbacks, paperbacks, and notebooks. Thoughts about dentistry and Hollywood faded. Writing was what this bibliophile had grown to love, and she couldn’t help being good at it. As a teenager, Debbie started making crude little picture books for the neighbors’ kids next door. Her pictures were horrid, but the stories were delicious, and Debbie’s soul would lift in response to the light in the children’s faces as she read to them aloud. Memories of those faces carried her through college, and she gets that same feeling to this day, when she reads her books to her engrossed listeners during story hours at local libraries. Never an astronaut. Never the queen of her country. Dream Woman yet soars, nonetheless, disappearing far off into the horizon. She must still be out there, somewhere… “Hello. You look lovely,” Stuart says when Debbie opens her front door to greet him at the appointed time. She lets out a relieved breath and warms at the sight of her date standing there in a dark blue overcoat, handing her a bouquet of blossoms that could have been made of silk. Debbie thoroughly enjoys her evening out. Conversation over dinner is great, as is the play downtown. However, while their outing draws toward a close, Stuart appears to have a question in his kind eyes as he walks Debbie back to her front door. “Is there something you’re waiting to say to me?” Debbie ventures to ask Stuart. His eyebrows go up. “On the contrary. I could be wrong, but it’s seemed all evening that there might be something you’re waiting to say to me.” Debbie doesn’t bother to ask him how he knows it. It’s one of the things she likes so much about him. She shakes her head. “I’m rather out of practice with all this. I don’t want you to regret having asked me out.” “Regret asking you?” Stuart’s forehead wrinkles. “Why would I—?” “I’m just me, you know.” Debbie gives a slight shrug. “I’m not exactly what I dreamed I would be. And I haven’t won a medal in literature to make up for it. I think I burn my cuisine a bit more often than a grown woman should, and sometimes I’ll lose a battle with a stubborn stain in my laundry. But, despite all of it, when the dust settles, I’ve got my family, and my friends are still here. I am what I am, I do what I love, and my love helps people, especially little ones.” Is it silly that Debbie’s eyes are growing damp? She blinks, smiling. “I can’t fly, Stuart. But I’m happy. I’m happy, and I’m grateful to be one in probably too small a number of people who can genuinely say that.” Stuart hesitates, his look both warm and quizzical. “You are the woman I met in a coffee shop who doesn’t drink coffee, aren’t you?” Debbie wonders at his question, but before she can answer, Stuart leans in to brush a soft kiss over her lips. He lingers close for a moment, murmuring, “You’re amazing, Deborah.” Debbie blinks a few more times, her eyes now wide. She’s at a loss for any more words.

What draws another person to start paying attention to another? Is it looks, body type--are they taller than you or shorter, are they the right race or religion (if you meet them in church)... Or is it, that the other individual started to pay attention to you first?!? That's what happened to Deborah when Stuart approached her while they were both in a coffee shop... She realized that Stuart seemed to want to get to know her better, but when that happened, she worried whether or not she could manage to keep him interested... Then the question might be, will Stuart continue to be interested after knowing each other for a week or so?

Stuart had already begun to think about how his parents seemingly never were happy with even his breathing! And his defenses would arise, but without anybody to whom he could turn to get positive feedback, he had carried this fear into his adult life. Can this shy couple get past their own fears and begin to share openly and truthfully?

Tea and Cream Debbie

She never would have thought of herself as one of the most popular girls in senior high. She was too busy enjoying this time in her life with all of her upbeat, teenage friends to stop and worry about how popular she might be. She and several of her girlfriends would engage in lively chatter between classes at school, their cute and curly hairstyles bouncing, their modest but trendy and feminine skirts lightly swishing as they’d walk down the hallways in their saddle shoes and bobby socks. They’d hold their mathematics and English textbooks up close to their chests, but books weren’t the biggest thing about their high school careers. Of course, learning and getting good grades was important. She and her friends weren’t dense or daffy, and most of them would be going on to further education after they graduated. But books and homework assignments and such were more in the background somewhere, since high school was, above everything else, an exhilarating social experience.

Well, you'll have to wait and see how this story turns out! LOL

Celebrating Solo?

Wake Up Sheridan!

Dumped. Whose jolly idea was it to ever apply such a thwunk of a word to an experience that has such potential to be, well, delicate? “Dumping” rightly identifies the deeds of, say, county waste management crews at junkyards. And individuals who’ve determined that a nearby ravine or a sloping stretch of grass alongside the Interstate onramp would be the best place to desert the raggedy sofa or the busted TV they no longer have room or use for. Stuff like that. Oh…granted, it was all so romantic, really, when I thought about it. Picture tallish, chocolate-dipped specimen of charisma and a looker-to-end-all-lookers, David Franklin. David once had a high school sweetheart: a gregarious, gorgeous girl he lost to her moving family’s move to the opposite side of the country, on account of the prestigious job promotion the girl’s father had landed. David saw the apple of his teenaged eye off at the airport, vowing to remain true to her and her alone from across the miles. But after the passing of a few months, David’s sobbing sweetheart called to break the news to him. Her mother held firm that her daughter was too young to be going steady with a boy who wasn’t even around. There were plenty of other nice, young gentlemen in the girl’s neck of the woods for her to socialize with, and she had better get to proper socializing, lest her growing fluidity in social graces be stunted before she would come of age, her mother said. That phone call devastated David. He mourned the loss of his love until after high school, when, as a freshman in college, he met the first girl he’d thought to date since his sweetheart had been taken away. This new young woman was a bibliophilic sort, not unladylike but without the deepest concern for cosmetics or fashion. She was a fellow student David was thrown together with for a two-person presentation for their Introduction to World Literature course. After a couple of study sessions with her outside of class, followed by a resounding 105% score on their presentation, David decided that he liked the bibliophile enough to ask her out. Thus began a casual courtship that happened to endure for the rest of David’s four-year college career. However, before he could resign himself to plans of making the courtship something more than casual after graduation, up popped his high school sweetheart. She was local again, free from parental clutches, gorgeous and gregarious as ever, ready to reclaim what she knew to be destiny. David knew it too. Destiny won out, and off Mr. Franklin went to pursue the sun, the moon, and the very Milky Way with the girl he’d once lost but had never been able to forget. Ahh. The romance. [Insert long, breathy sigh, full of dreams.] The incandescence of it all could scarcely be dimmed by a leftover factor: the bibliophile who hadn’t known the college courtship had been but a casual one, despite the fact that it hadn’t included any affairs of a distinctly serious or fancy nature. The bibliophile had even taken the plunge into stylish jeans and trendy tops and appealing perfumes and elegant eye shadows and luscious lip colors after she’d become the (initially stunned) recipient of David Franklin’s attentions. How she’d paid through the nose for some of those lipsticks but hadn’t had the faintest objection whenever David would step in to disrupt their dazzling displays of color, asking for one of the cottony wipes from her purse. He’d take it upon himself to ease her lipstick from her lips as he’d declare, in that mesmeric murmur of his, “There, nice and bare. 

~~~

Hi-ho, the Derry-o

🙀 There's a number of things that I'd say to all of those involved in this threesome... But, if you don't see where this is going, you need to read it for your own oohs and LOLs!  And,  here's a "real" clue...

Joy to the World, Even!

I loved reading these stories, but it's always hard to do a review and give enough to allow potential readers to decide whether they want to read the book. So I've tried to be as fair as possible, but several were too short to not give the storyline away...So I added music instead! And, especially on the last story, bet you'd never guess how The Farmer in the Dell was brought into the storyline... You'll enjoy this one for sure! I can highly recommend this for ages beginning mid-teens... And check out other books by this author by entering her name in the search column on the right!

GABixlerReviews 

Open Memoir - Caught in the Avalanche of Disinformation, Joy and Depression... Thoughts on Selection of a President...

 

Are you as fed up with what is happening in America as I am? Several days ago I tried to finish a book review, but I just could not get into the book itself... My brain is now overloaded with both the good and bad of the political rhetoric that gets worse and worse every day... You know what I mean--such as the two sample videos above and below.

When you move from moments of JOY learning about what could happen in America if we vote for the first woman in the nation to become president; and then move to what is happening with MAGA who continues to show support for one of our last presidents who has become a blight on just how bad it could get under another term, it is hard not to drown in the blizzard of emotions that comes  with all the lies spewed by MAGA. Yes, I feel comfortable enough to say who is doing the lying, given that we see the individuals actually screaming them out to everybody! One of the authors I'm now reading broke from talking about his book, The Christian Case Against Donald Trump, to speak out against Tucker Carlson and others... (above) But I wanted to add a little more about his first book, MAGA Seduction, simply as a reminder of exactly what we went through during his previous stint in the White House...

...it’s only since the election of Donald Trump that I’ve felt compelled to raise my objections to the level of public discourse. Pat and I share a common concern and, dare I say, grief over our white evangelical brothers and sisters in the United States who have opted for the
dehumanizing and debasing politics of the right wing under Donald Trump’s leadership. I’ve been Pat’s mentor in ministry for 15 years. We’re now both retired from leading churches, which gives us a greater freedom to speak than active church pastors enjoy. So rather than becoming demoralized by the way so many evangelicals have followed after Donald Trump, we’ve both chosen to do what we do naturally – speak pastorally into the situation, for the benefit of Christ’s people. Over the past four years, Pat and I have spoken frequently and at length about the eerie resemblance the current white American evangelical church bears to the German Evangelical Church of 1934 Germany, which became complicit with the nationalistic fascist agenda of Hitler. We both yearn for the Confessing Church of Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer to rise out of the evangelical morass that we see today. Having formed an alliance with Trump, the white American evangelical church is poised to relinquish all claim to moral authority; indeed, to authority of any kind. In a painful departure from the father of the Protestant movement, Martin Luther, who abhorred the mixing of political will with church doctrine, white American evangelicals have doubled down on Trump’s political rhetoric, baptizing phrases like “Make America Great Again” and “Build the Wall” into ecclesial vernacular. And while on the one hand what is chaff should be allowed to blow away in the wind, I fear that what is true and wholesome wheat is also about to be trampled into permanent disrepute by our own devices. The words “unprecedented times” have perhaps been overused in 2020, but I do believe that we American evangelicals find ourselves at a critical crossroads as we look toward the 2020 election. The course of our future will be directed by whether or not we continue to collectively align ourselves with the depravity of Donald Trump’s vision for our nation. And most thinking individuals know what happened on January 6th, when Insurrection occurred! 

But when 81% of white American evangelicals vote for Donald Trump, and, four years later, appear poised to vote for him again, something terrible has happened to the church I love and gave 40 years of my life to serve. In my years of friendship with Pat, I have been regularly impressed with the way his Jesus style of spirituality and pastoral heart meshes with an incisive mind and a quick wit. He writes and speaks with wisdom and clarity yet doesn’t talk down to his audience. His disarming affability has a way of bringing complex topics into accessible focus. This is why I’m so thrilled that he has chosen to write this book, on a topic that crucially needs to be brought into clear focus without being alienating. I believe that Pat is up for this task. He wrote this book out of passion for the church of Jesus Christ and its call to stay true to the values of the Kingdom of God, including a commitment to the sanctity of all life, from conception to the grave. Calling forth the American Confessing Church may be too lofty a goal for one book, but I believe it is a prophetic voice during our painful current wilderness.

A Note to Those Who Support Donald Trump When you read this and find yourself disagreeing with me, which you certainly will at some point, let this first thought be the most important thing you hear: I love you and I respect you. May our relationship not be defined by our difference of opinion about President Trump. Christians who disagree ought never to be enemies, nor even to harbor secret disdain for one another. We can be angry. We can (and sometimes should) give voice to that anger. But in our anger let’s not sin against one another,[1] neither by overly harsh words nor by undue silence. When we oppose one another, let’s show each other the honor of a sharp disagreement, speaking with clarity and listening with charity. May our model be Jesus Christ, himself, who somehow managed to exhibit both grace and truth in a world that despised him.

But there's only so much of this stuff that you know is written for somebody else (MAGA members) who may never even have heard about the book(s) I mention... So I went out looking for a different angle. And I have to say that I was actually shocked when I started reading.

First, I want to point out that MAGA Seduction was published in 2020, so we know that the brief excerpt was based upon Trump's first presidency. since then, Kahnke has written another book which I've been talking about earlier--The Christian Case Against Donald Trump. This book is even more comprehensive and, in addition, the author has created videos on YouTube for each of the chapters of the book. If you wish to gain further information on this author, you should subscribe to his site there, Culture, Faith, and Politics

Being dumb’s just about the worst thing there is when it comes to holding high office. —HARRY S. TRUMAN

...but Reagan’s talent as a television performer, in an electoral process increasingly dominated by that medium, papered over his ignorance beyond Spencer’s wildest dreams: he thumped the incumbent governor, Pat Brown, by an astounding million votes. This should have been cause for jubilation, since it meant the definitive end of Reagan’s acting career, but some saw it as ominous. Newsweek’s Emmet Hughes wrote that Reagan’s win “dramatizes the virtual bankruptcy, politically and intellectually, of a national party.” Such scolding couldn’t have mattered less to Spencer. If he could make Reagan look knowledgeable enough to be elected governor, he would be the go-to Svengali for dumb candidates everywhere. According to Spencer, he wound up managing more than four hundred Republican campaigns. The victorious Gipper offered Californians a vision of their state that was as lyrical as it was incoherent: “A wind is blowing across this state of ours. And it is not only wind; it will grow into a tidal wave. And there will be a government with men as tall as mountains.” He didn’t explain how he planned to retrofit government buildings to accommodate such gigantic civil servants. And though he nailed the audition, California’s new governor was unprepared for the role. Lou Cannon wrote, “He did not know how budgets were prepared, how bills were passed, or who it was in state government who checked the backgrounds of prospective appointees… [H]e didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing, or how he was supposed to spend his time.” Cannon recalled an early press conference where a reporter asked Reagan about his legislative program: “The novice governor did not have a clue. Turning plaintively to aides who were attending the news conference, he said, ‘I could take some coaching from the sidelines if anyone can recall my legislative program.’ Aides piped up and told Reagan some of the items in ‘his’ program.” Thanks to those trusty 5 x 8 cards, Reagan convinced voters he was well-informed enough to govern, but not a pointy-headed know-it-all like those intellectually curious hippies at UC Berkeley. The former TV pitchman infantilized the electorate by selling it simplistic solutions. “For many years now, you and I have been shushed like children and told there are no simple answers to the complex problems which are beyond our comprehension,” he said. “Well, the truth is, there are simple answers.” Reagan could deliver this anti-intellectual message with compelling sincerity because he believed it. The man who never cracked a book in college preferred solutions that didn’t require any homework, and so, apparently, did millions of Californians. According to his longtime adviser Ed Meese, “Reagan wanted to be known as a person of the people, not like an Adlai Stevenson.” Ah, Adlai Stevenson. We’ll hear that name a lot as we explore the Age of Ignorance. But before we meet Adlai, let’s consider what his party, the Democrats, were up to during the Ridicule stage. If the Republicans have been conducting a perverse experiment seemingly designed to answer this question—Who’s the most ignorant politician the U.S. is willing to elect?—in the 1950s, the Democrats started asking a perverse question of their own: Who’s the most flagrantly cerebral politician we can nominate? Adlai Stevenson II, the grandson of Grover Cleveland’s vice president, Adlai Stevenson I, was governor of Illinois when, in 1952, Harry Truman urged him to run for president. Unlike the plainspoken Truman, Stevenson was a fire hose of lofty rhetoric. In actuality, he was probably less intellectual than Truman, who read a ton and amassed a large personal library. Stevenson, on the other hand, died with only one book on his nightstand: the Social Register. He wasn’t much of a scholar, either: he had to leave Harvard Law School after failing several courses. But no one appeared more intellectual than Adlai. Throughout his political career, he cultivated the image of an egghead. In fact, the journalist Stewart Alsop coined the term “egghead” to describe him. Although political adversaries such as Richard Nixon soon adopted that word as a term of derision, Stevenson took pride in it. “Eggheads of the world, unite: you have nothing to lose but your yolks!” he declared. His personal motto was “Via ovicapitum dura est”—The way of the egghead is hard. Yes, Adlai was not averse to inventing Latin quotations in his effort to pander to the highest common denominator. All this eggheadedness was catnip for Democrats, as were his dizzying flights of oratory. It was no accident that Stevenson’s speeches were distinctive, since his stable of speechwriters included John Kenneth Galbraith, Archibald MacLeish, John Hersey, and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. They crafted high-minded if overwrought pronouncements such as this: “[T]he victory to be won in the twentieth century, this portal to the Golden Age, mocks the pretensions of individual acumen and ingenuity, for it is a citadel guarded by thick walls of ignorance and of mistrust which do not fall before the trumpets’ blast or the politicians’ imprecations or even a general’s baton.” Such verbal gusts make one suspect that Stevenson paid his speechwriters by the word, but his Democratic audiences ate this stuff up. During one speech, a woman shouted, “Governor Stevenson, you have the vote of all the thinking people.” His response: “That’s not enough, madam. I need a majority.” Stevenson’s rueful comment reflected an awareness of his low electoral ceiling, a concern that delegates at the 1952 Democratic National Convention didn’t share. They nominated him for president, despite his weakness for vocab words like “imprecation.” In the general election, he lost by a landslide—442 electoral votes to 89—to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, in spite of a spell in the groves of academe as president of Columbia University, kept his speeches Latin-free. “The knuckleheads have beaten the eggheads,” the columnist Murray Kempton declared. As president, Ike would be a role model for future anti-intellectuals like Reagan and George W. Bush, with comments like this: “I heard a definition of an intellectual that I thought was very interesting—a man who takes more words than are necessary to tell more than he knows.” He disdained “wise-cracking so called intellectuals going around and showing how wrong was everybody who didn’t happen to agree with them.” But Eisenhower, whom his secretary called “deathly afraid of being considered highbrow,” was more of an egghead than he let on. While he projected the image of a man who preferred golfing to reading, he often stayed up until 11:00 p.m. poring over government reports and other documents. This was just the kind of subterfuge that the John Birch Society expected from a commie spy like Ike. Stevenson’s defeat didn’t cool the Democrats’ ardor. They nominated him again in 1956—and this time, when the general election rolled around, he did even worse. By then, Adlai’s original booster, Truman, had decided that he was too eggheaded to win. “I was trying as gently as I could, to tell this man—so gifted in speech and intellect, and yet apparently so uncertain of himself and remote from people—that he had to learn how to communicate with the man in the street,” Truman wrote. “I had the feeling that I had failed.” Surely, after two electoral thrashings, it was time for Stevenson to abandon his futile effort to connect with voters. Nope: he gave the nomination a third shot, in 1960. This time, however, possibly having looked up the definition of insanity, Democrats put Stevenson out of his misery (miseria, in Latin) and chose John F. Kennedy...

“Politics is just like show business,” he said. “You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.” If his first gubernatorial campaign was a hell of an opening, Reagan’s White House years would provide him with ample opportunity for coasting—before he achieved a hell of a close, with Iran-Contra. It’s commonplace for commanders in chief to age visibly from the burdens of the office, but not the Gipper. As Cannon noted, “Reagan may have been the one president in the history of the republic who saw his election as a chance to get some rest.” He could’ve used all that downtime to acquire the knowledge necessary to fulfill his constitutional duties, but his laziness and incuriosity put the kibosh on that. At press conferences early in his presidency, he sounded like an actor who hadn’t bothered to learn his lines. When asked about the placement of U.S. missiles, the best he could ad-lib was “I don’t know but what maybe you haven’t gotten into the area that I’m going to turn over to the secretary of defense.” As the Sound of Music incident suggests, Reagan’s interest in briefing materials might have peaked when he acquired Jimmy Carter’s debate prep. Frustrated by his aversion to reading, cabinet members resorted to bringing him up to speed—or, more accurately, half speed—by showing him videos and cartoons about the subjects at hand. But even these Oval Office versions of Schoolhouse Rock! bored Reagan, who spent briefings doodling. Though a team of psychologists gave him a semblance of sentience when he ran for governor, by the time he became president his semi-informed veneer was wearing thin. The journalist Elizabeth Drew, who covered him during the 1980 campaign, observed, “Reagan’s mind appears to be a grab bag of clippings and ‘facts’ and anecdotes and scraps of ideas.” Embarrassingly, he often appeared stupidest when talking with or about foreign leaders. In a 1979 interview, Reagan told NBC’s Tom Brokaw, “If I become president, other than perhaps Margaret Thatcher I will probably be younger than almost all the heads of state I will have to do business with.” When Brokaw noted that he’d be considerably older than French president Giscard d’Estaing, Reagan replied, “Who?” (After Reagan was elected, Brokaw, demonstrating a gift for understatement, called him “a gravely under-informed president.”) After a half-hour briefing by the Lebanese foreign minister about his nation’s factional conflicts, Reagan’s only contribution was “You know, your nose looks just like Danny Thomas’s.” (The former star of the sitcom Make Room for Daddy might have been the only other person of Lebanese descent he’d ever met.) In a photo op with the Liberian ruler, Samuel K. Doe, Reagan called him “Chairman Moe.” Welcoming the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, to the White House, he said, “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Mrs. Lee to Singapore.” During a meeting with Pope John Paul II, at least, he didn’t mangle the pontiff’s name; he just fell asleep. Reagan sometimes seemed like Voltaire’s Candide, an innocent in a constant state of wonder about the world around him. He called a 1982 trip to Latin America “real fruitful,” having gleaned this mind-boggling insight: “They’re all individual countries.” Reporting on this tour, Lou Cannon wrote, “Over and over again along the way, he expressed enthusiasm in what he was seeing for the first time, and his aides found it appealing and naive.” A foreign ministry official in Brazil was less enchanted by his wide-eyed ingenuousness. After Reagan suggested that Brazil could be “a bridge” for the U.S. in South America, the official noted, “If you look at a map, you will see that we cannot be detached from the South American continent. We are not a bridge from South America; we are in South America.” It’s possible the Brazilian was still sore after Reagan, raising a glass at a state dinner in Brasília, offered a toast to “the people of Bolivia.” Belatedly recognizing his goof, he tried to explain it away by saying that Bolivia was where he was headed next. His next stop was Colombia; Bolivia wasn’t on his itinerary. But the Brazilians shouldn’t have felt singled out. Reagan’s ignorance spanned the globe. He demonstrated unquestioning devotion to the government of apartheid South Africa, possibly because he rarely asked questions about the place. When he did, the question was rhetorical, as in “Can we abandon this country that has stood beside us in every war we’ve ever fought?” It’s true that South Africa had been steadfast in its support, but not of us: many of its officials had ties to a party that supported the Nazis, and John Vorster, who led the country for thirteen years, had been jailed for cozying up to Hitler. Incredibly, Reagan claimed in a radio address that South Africa was a bastion of racial equality: “[T]hey have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country—the type of thing where hotels and restaurants and places of entertaining and so forth were segregated. That has all been eliminated.” This would have been welcome news to Nelson Mandela, had it reached his prison cell. Turning to a country he presumably knew more about because he despised it so much, Reagan said, “I’m no linguist but I have been told that in the Russian language there isn’t even a word for freedom.” Reagan was half right: he was no linguist. The Russian word for freedom is svoboda. Reagan might be best remembered for saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” but many other quotable nuggets emerged from his piehole: “Nuclear war would be the greatest tragedy, I think, ever experienced by mankind in the history of mankind”; “All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk”; and the admirably candid “We are trying to get unemployment to go up, and I think we’re going to succeed.” As the gaffes piled up like banana peels in Bonzo’s dressing room, it was time to call in the man who had disguised Reagan’s obliviousness before: Stu Spencer. Summoned to the White House, the Gipper’s trusty cornerman revealed his agenda to a reporter: “I’m here to see old foot-in-the-mouth.” Reagan’s mythologizers have worked hard to bury this image of him as an object of ridicule, but early in his presidency that’s what he often was. Their preferred narrative—that his White House tenure went from strength to strength—is false. Two years after he first entered the Oval Office, perhaps checking under the desk for nuclear waste, Reagan was struggling. As the economy proved obstinately resistant to the miracle of Reaganomics, his approval rating sank to a woeful 35 percent, barely higher than what most of his films would have notched on Rotten Tomatoes. Reagan’s refusal to take responsibility for his failures frustrated Pat Schroeder, a Democratic congresswoman from Colorado. In August 1983, she took to the floor of the House and coined a political cliché: “Mr. Speaker, after carefully watching Ronald Reagan, he is attempting a great breakthrough in political technology—he has been perfecting the Teflon-coated Presidency.” Her remark proved tragically prescient. Two months later, 241 U.S. military personnel stationed in Beirut as part of Reagan’s confused Lebanon policy died in the bombings of their marine barracks. He changed the subject. In what should have been called Operation Expedient Distraction, he ordered the invasion of the minuscule Caribbean island nation of Grenada, a mission roughly as challenging as the conquest of a Sandals resort. His approval rating soared. As his popularity grew, the press cowered. In On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency, Mark Hertsgaard documents the Fourth Estate’s wariness about roughing up Reagan. “We have been kinder to President Reagan than any president that I can remember since I’ve been at the Post,” said Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of the Washington Post. His colleague at the paper William Greider theorized that the press, in its obsequiousness to Reagan, was compensating for being blindsided by his election: “It was a sense of ‘My God, they’ve elected this guy who nine months ago we thought was a hopeless clown.’ ” Reagan’s burgeoning status as Teflon Ron owed much to the media’s decision to handle him like a glass unicorn. “I think a lot of the Teflon came because the press was holding back,” his communications director, David Gergen, said. “I don’t think they wanted to go after him that toughly.” “Teflon” became an overused label for politicians, as journalists employed it to describe not only Reagan but every president since. Fearing the damage this practice could inflict on its trademark, in 1985 the manufacturer of Teflon, DuPont, pushed back. “DuPont simply wants users of Teflon to add a little circle with an R inside to denote that Teflon is a registered trademark,” the New York Times reported. “A printed message being sent to reporters all over the capital adds, ‘It is not, alas, a verb or an adjective, not even when applied to the President of the United States!’ ” Despite this stern warning, Teflon® Ron never caught on. Given the press’s reluctance to fact-check Reagan, it’s no surprise that the public gradually stopped caring whether anything he said was, well, factual. In 1983, the New York Times devoted an entire article to this chicken-or-egg mystery, titled, “Reagan Misstatements Getting Less Attention.” “[T]he President continues to make debatable assertions of fact, but news accounts do not deal with them as extensively as they once did,” the Times reported. “In the view of White House officials, the declining news coverage mirrors a decline in interest by the general public.” No one seemed to care when Reagan indulged in one of his favorite vices: attributing fake quotations to Lenin. “Mr. Reagan said at a news conference three weeks ago that ‘just the other day’ he had read an article quoting ‘the Ten Commandments of Nikolai Lenin’ to the effect that Soviet leaders reserved the right to lie and cheat to advance the cause of socialism,” the Times noted. “After the statement, the White House acknowledged that Lenin did not issue ‘Ten Commandments’ as such. Lyndon K. Allin, a deputy White House press secretary, said Mr. Reagan got the reference from a clipping sent by a friend citing 10 different ‘Leninisms.’ ” The Times didn’t point out that Reagan, while arguing that the Soviets reserved the right to lie, was reserving the right to lie about the Soviets. As journalistic oversight shriveled, Reagan’s childlike solutions to the nation’s problems went virtually unchallenged. His decades-old binary oppositions, us versus government and us versus communists, yielded made-for-TV catchphrases. “Government is the problem” and “The Evil Empire” became as ubiquitous as “I pity the fool” and “Watchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”VII He added another rhetorical empty calorie in 1984, when his reelection campaign inanely declared that it was “Morning in America.” Speaking to business leaders in 1985, he’d apparently run out of catchphrases of his own and borrowed one from Clint Eastwood: “Go ahead, make my day.” The quote had an interesting provenance: Clint’s cop character, Dirty Harry, had said it while pointing his gun at a Black man. It earned Reagan a thunderous ovation from his largely white audience. But there were bumps on the road to Reagan’s Hollywood ending. His approval rating plunged twenty points after news of the Iran-Contra scandal broke. Wisely, Reagan didn’t try to brand this illegal arms deal as Morning in Nicaragua. He deployed a potent alibi instead: his ignorance. When he swore that he had no idea what had been going on at the White House, right under his nose, millions found the explanation plausible. His numbers ticked back up. After Iran-Contra, some in the media wondered whether their decision to coat Reagan with Teflon® had done the country a disservice. Newsweek’s Robert Parry groused that the press corps “seemed to be a little fearful that if it wrote stories that were perceived as tough on this president, the public would not like them.” The media’s unilateral disarmament during Reagan’s presidency didn’t mean the Ridicule stage of ignorance was over, however. Just as Ronnie the actor had granted a “blanket waiver” only to his own talent agency, the media issued a free pass only to him. Reagan’s ignorance defense during Iran-Contra was the rare instance when he highlighted his obliviousness instead of trying to hide it. Another of his glaring flaws, however—his laziness—became his favorite topic for self-roasting. He owned his sloth and, with his trademark grin ’n’ nod, let the nation know that he was in on the joke. Reagan managed to be both a bumbling sitcom dad and his own laugh track. “It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take the chance?” he jested. After four years of Carter, that annoying grind who always did his homework, Americans seemed to enjoy having a president who didn’t even bring his homework home. “I am concerned about what is happening in government,” he said, “and it’s caused me many a sleepless afternoon.” Returning to this seemingly bottomless well of hilarity, he cracked, “When I leave the White House, they will put on my chair in the Cabinet Room ‘Ronald Reagan slept here.’ ” What a kidder! Even with the president napping, doodling, and watching Julie Andrews, the White House was in no danger of becoming rudderless: the ship of state was being guided by the stars. His wife Nancy’s belief in astrology—specifically in a San Francisco–based astrologist named Joan Quigley—filled the leadership vacuum. In his memoir, For the Record, Donald Regan, who served as both Reagan’s chief of staff and treasury secretary, made palpable the trauma of working in an administration under Quigley’s cosmological control. In 1985, arrangements for the crucial first summit between Reagan and the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Geneva, couldn’t be solidified until Quigley had done her planetary due diligence. “As usual, Mrs. Reagan insisted on being consulted on the timing of every presidential appearance and action so that she could consult her Friend in San Francisco about the astrological factor,” Regan wrote. “The large number of details involved must have placed a heavy burden on the poor woman, who was called upon not only to choose auspicious moments for meetings between the two most powerful men on our planet, but also to draw up horoscopes that presumably provided clues to the character and probable behavior of Gorbachev.” But Quigley wasn’t the only one pondering the heavens during the Geneva summit. According to Gorbachev, at one point Reagan turned to him and said, in all seriousness, “What would you do if the United States were attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?” This scenario, lifted from the 1951 sci-fi flick The Day the Earth Stood Still, was an obsession of Reagan’s. In an appearance before the National Strategy Forum, in Chicago, he was asked to name “the most important need in international relations.” He replied, “I’ve often wondered, what if all of us in the world discovered that we were threatened by a power from outer space—from another planet. Wouldn’t we all of a sudden find that we didn’t have any differences between us at all—we were all human beings, citizens of the world—and wouldn’t we come together to fight that particular threat?” Got it: The most important need in international relations is an attack from outer space. These extraterrestrial musings were so frequent that, whenever Reagan uncorked one, his national security adviser, Colin Powell, would roll his eyes and say, “Here come the little green men again.”

I want my president to be smarter (and better read) than myself!

I began to think about this after talking with Professor and Chair of Political Science at West Virginia University who, when we were discussing those individuals who were running for office, it was my first thought that they really weren't different than he was as a university faculty and administrator, he quickly pointed out that he personally expected more from those running for a national position--they needed to be better informed than he was! I soon saw that this was a great rule as we look at the federal level candidates...

In fact, there were many issues that I'd come to think was important that were, indeed, NOT happening... My first open-eyed awakening was when I was working in Personnel at WVU. I was privy to the entire budget listing for all employees there. But, the faculty and administrators had been blacked out... Well, it you are like me with an abundance of curiosity, I simply took a page, held it up to the light and read the salaries of some of those individuals who were blacked out. What amazed me was that their salaries were lower than many non-faculty! Now, I could be wrong, but when I realized that, starting, with grade school teachers, there was a major inequity for those who were actually teaching us, I began to question just how "dumb" were those who were responsible for teaching us subjects that we would need in the future... Simply due to their low salary.

Then I started to realize that even a "personnel classification system" could be inequitable...For instance, when I first was promoted into what in essence was the second highest level of secretaries/assistants which was those who responded to the needs of vice-presidents/provosts, there was a difference in what actually was being performed for each of those senior administrators. And it affected me! I had been working for the Provost for a number of years. Then an organizational change occurred and new vice-president positions were created and the title of Provost was eliminated. By that time I had transferred to the vice-president for Instruction. While at the same time, a higher level staff support plus a secretary was added to respond to the needs of another vice-president. Thus I was performing all support staff for my boss while the other vice-president's secretary was only doing secretarial support... When I asked about it, I discovered that a classification system cannot adequately provide for individuals getting assigned higher-level responsibilities, at an institutional level...

In effect, there was always going to be some level of inequality and the only way to advance would be to move into a different higher classification...And, even then, it was only as good as it could get to compare one individual's worth/responsibilities, versus another's...

As I grew older and more involved, I learned that this type of basic inequity could get even more of a problem. Individuals were being asked to actually train a new individual/supervisor, even though they would be making more than that individual. One of the ways that organizational changes were made was my promoting an individual that they wanted to replace, but moving them upward, but into a staff position... It is not my intent to explore all of these variables in which I was personally involved, other than to note that, often, new employees were not even qualified to handle the position. Or, worse, had been hired as a favor to the superior, much like was being done in the federal government. Therefore, the result of this process created extremely difficult situations where an individual, even one that held a degree, could not handle the job in which they were hired... Been through that fiasco!

Therefore, it is quite clear to me that we are indeed becoming or have already become a dumber and dumber nation... Fortunately for me, there are a number of videos that can explain just how one comedian/author chose to explain just how and when millions of Americans have chosen to elect a dumb president(s)!

And, of course, we all know who the last one was...The man who never even read the morning briefing slaved over by his gofers, who were angry or even just use to that particular president not doing much reading or anything else... Why read when you can create a cult of those who are concerned more about their own biases, their own failures, or their own desires to play soldiers who were allowed and praised by that president... And who cares, if he suggested drinking bleach to kill the coronavirus... Hey, he's entertaining, so he must be qualified to be our leader...Right?

Me, I'm going to vote for a woman who is fully qualified to be our president.

Kamala Harris (born October 20, 1964, Oakland, California, U.S.) is the 49th vice president of the United States (2021– ) in the Democratic administration of Pres. Joe Biden. She is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first Asian American to hold the post. She had previously served in the U.S. Senate (2017–21) and as attorney general of California (2011–17). Biden pulled his bid for reelection and endorsed Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee in the presidential election of 2024. In early August, Harris was officially named the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee following her victory in a virtual vote of party delegates.

Vice President Kamala Harris attended Howard University, an HBCU, as an undergraduate student.

She later attended the University of California, Hastings College of Law where she earned her JD degree.

Despite graduating more than 30 years ago, Harris continues to praise her experience at Howard as one of the most important in her life.

As she campaigns as the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election, learn about the role her education plays in her career.

Vice President Kamala Harris takes pride in her educational journey — so much so that she credits her experiences as an undergraduate college student for propelling her career in politics and public service.

Her political career may be taking a new route now that President Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and has chosen to endorse Harris, who has secured the Democratic nomination. So why did the California native choose a college across the country, in Washington, D.C.? The vice president has said she knew she wanted to attend a historically Black college or university (HBCU) and enrolled in Howard University in 1982. Attending Howard was a dream come true, Harris has said, as she grew up hearing stories about the institution from her aunt who is also an alum. While at Howard, Harris represented first-year students on the College of Arts and Sciences Student Council, became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and served on the institution’s debate team. She graduated from Howard in 1986 with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and political science.

Today, she frequently looks back at her time at Howard as one of the most important aspects of her life. “The thing that Howard taught me is that you can do any collection of things, and not one thing to the exclusion of the other,” Harris told Howard Magazine. “You could be homecoming queen and valedictorian. There are no false choices at Howard.”

Following her journey at Howard, Harris returned to California to attend the University of California, Hastings College of Law, which has since been renamed the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. While in law school, Harris served as president of the Black Law Students Association. She graduated in 1989, earning a juris doctor (JD) degree and was admitted to the California Bar in 1990.

How Vice President Harris Continues to Celebrate Her Education

Though it’s been more than 30 years since Vice President Harris graduated from both Howard and law school, she continues to celebrate her education today. She frequently returns to her undergraduate alma mater to support and encourage current students, as well as to host campaign events. Harris visited Howard in April 2023 to criticize lawmakers who are seeking to restrict and ban reproductive rights across the country.

Beyond her many visits to campus, Harris regularly speaks of her experiences in college as ones that were not only formative for herself but also for her peers who looked like her. “That was the beauty of Howard,” she wrote in her 2019 memoir. “Every signal told students that we could be anything—that we were young, gifted and Black, and we shouldn’t let anything get in the way of our success.”

Whoopie Goldberg and the View members have done their research and have made their decision to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz... Now is the time you should have already watched or read as much as you needed to do to make your decision for whom your vote will be made. We already have seen that Trump will be planning to not accept the final voting millions of us have already submitted their votes or will do so next Tuesday... If you, too, are looking for joy, freedom and toward the future, do take time, right now to read and share this basic information!

God Bless,

Gabby