tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-306482572024-03-07T15:33:34.697-08:00Shuck and JiveJohn Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comBlogger3384125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-86158392358533475002020-11-24T08:34:00.001-08:002020-11-24T08:34:09.648-08:00Gratitude: A Choice<p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(68, 75, 77); color: #444b4d; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 14px;">I wrote this for the November </span><a href="https://beavertonresourceguide.com/gratitude-is-a-choice-and-key-to-surviving-during-hard-times/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #594027; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Beaverton Resource Guide</a><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(68, 75, 77); color: #444b4d; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 14px;">.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">This quote comes from thirteenth century mystic, Meister Eckhart: “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-break: break-word;">I admit, I do not always feel grateful. If I were forced to keep track, I may find that I pray the “help me” prayer more than the “thank you” prayer (that is when I pray at all). That is a lot to admit but why not be honest? These are interesting times. The last thing any of us might feel is gratitude when our lives have been turned upside-down and our future is uncertain.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-break: break-word;">Here is the catch. Gratitude is not an emotion. Gratitude is a choice. Gratitude is a discipline. Gratitude is a habit. That is why parents instruct their children in the art of “please and thank you.” Get in the practice and one day it will become second nature.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-break: break-word;">The cynic in us might respond: What about the injustices and the suffering, mine and others? Do we just be grateful and ignore that? What is the benefit?</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-break: break-word;">Here is the bottom line. Gratitude is about survival. We won’t be able to do anything about injustice and suffering if we do not take a daily inventory of what is positive in our lives. As we make the choice to practice gratitude we will discover that we have many items in our personal inventory to help us face our challenges.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-break: break-word;">Meister Eckhart knew what he was talking about. Make the choice to be grateful every day and list the specifics. You will discover that it is enough. You have everything you need.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-break: break-word;">~ John Shuck</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-break: break-word;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">John Shuck is an ordained Presbyterian minister having served four congregations since 1992. Learn more at <a href="http://www.johnshuck.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;" target="_blank">www.johnshuck.com</a></span></p>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-75600367633352576292020-03-22T14:41:00.003-07:002020-03-22T15:10:50.571-07:00Night Is Coming--Sermon<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2020-03-22T14_21_39-07_00">Listen to sermon here</a></div>
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I am John Shuck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My website is john shuck dot com. J-o-h-n-s-h-u-c-k dot com.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister and I have been for 27 years. I am a minister at large in Cascades Presbytery which covers Western Oregon. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Today is Sunday, March 22, 2020. It is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Places of worship have been closed down. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We have lost our freedom of assembly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We have lost our freedom to worship.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Gospel reading for this Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, is John chapter 9:1-41. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is the text. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>9As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. <sup>2</sup>His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ <sup>3</sup>Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. <sup>4</sup>We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. <sup>5</sup>As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ <sup>6</sup>When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, <sup>7</sup>saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. <sup>8</sup>The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ <sup>9</sup>Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ <sup>10</sup>But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ <sup>11</sup>He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’<sup>12</sup>They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.<sup>14</sup>Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. <sup>15</sup>Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ <sup>16</sup>Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. <sup>17</sup>So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight<sup>19</sup>and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ <sup>20</sup>His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; <sup>21</sup>but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ <sup>22</sup>His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. <sup>23</sup>Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’<sup>25</sup>He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ <sup>26</sup>They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ <sup>27</sup>He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ <sup>28</sup>Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. <sup>29</sup>We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ <sup>30</sup>The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. <sup>31</sup>We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. <sup>32</sup>Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.<sup>33</sup>If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ <sup>34</sup>They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ <sup>36</sup>He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ <sup>37</sup>Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ <sup>38</sup>He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. <sup>39</sup>Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ <sup>40</sup>Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ <sup>41</sup>Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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There is a lot in this passage. One verse that immediately caught my eye and ear is verse four. Jesus said:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><sup>4</sup>We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Businesses have shut down. Schools have shut down. Churches, mosques, synagogues, and all places of worship have shut down. People are told to stay home. Protests around the world have stopped. It appears in the United States that we are headed for Medical Martial Law. This could be the same for the entire world. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Over what? A virus in which the vast majority of people who receive it, have no symptoms or if they do have symptoms, they are symptoms of a cold or mild flu. If we didn’t watch the news, we wouldn’t know anything was wrong. People are so afraid of getting sick, that they willingly give up their freedoms, and even beg the authorities to take their freedoms and rights away from them, to alleviate their fears. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><sup>4</sup>We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Night is coming. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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There are many people who are challenging the official narrative. It is likely they will not be able to do this important work for long as the platforms are silencing dissenting voices and call anything that departs from the official story line as misinformation or false news. If we wish to hear these voices that are challenging the narratives, we may need to go to websites that are not hosted by the huge corporate platforms. You will have to search. Free speech will be the next casualty. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Night is coming. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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I am a member of <i>Religious Leaders for 9/11 Truth</i> and have been since 2010. The media continues to lie about 9/11 and so of course it cannot be trusted to tell the truth about this Coronavirus event. I am more and more convinced that this Coronavirus event is a psychological operation by world elites who operate beyond national boundaries. The goal is ultimate social control. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Night is coming.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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President Trump and leaders of other governments are actors reading their scripts. The media reads a script. This has been planned. The starting date for this coronavirus event was October 18<sup>th</sup>, 2019. That is the date that something called Event 201 was held in New York City. It was a rehearsal for a pandemic. This is the script that is being played out now. For details I refer you to James Corbett of the Corbett Report for important analysis. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus said, <i>We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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What are the works of Jesus? Telling the truth is a work of Jesus. Researching for yourself what is happening is a work of Jesus. Connecting dots is a work of Jesus. Admitting to yourself that the world we thought we knew is not real is a work of Jesus. Reminding people who we really are is a work of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am not here to convince you. I cannot. All I am doing is to say what I see and hear and I am inviting you to do the same. Research for yourself. Trust yourself. Don’t seek the approval of others for what you see, hear, and know. Check everything. But you decide for yourself what is real.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is very difficult and disconcerting to know who and what to trust and to stand alone when others in their panic try to shut you down with shame. Know that they did the same to the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) and they did the same to Imam Hussain (alaayhi salaam) and they did the same to Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and the same can be said for all the prophets whose stories we read in the Qur’an and in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Gospels. If you are shut down by telling what is real, you are in good company.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are evil forces in control of this world. Evil forces that operate in the darkness. Evil forces disguised as angels. We need to know what is real. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In today’s reading, Jesus heals a man who was born blind from birth. The authorities, the Pharisees, do not want this kind of healing power available in their world. They want to control all healing even though they are incompetent to actually heal. They want to say what is true for everyone even as they are blind to truth. They make people live in fear, casting out of the synagogues anyone who says that Jesus is the Messiah. It isn’t about whether it is true or not, it is about control. Jesus proves he is sent from Allah. That is why they end up crucifying him. That is the only answer they have. Might makes right. Silence truth-tellers. The passage concludes from verse 39 to 41:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><sup>39</sup>Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ <sup>40</sup>Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ <sup>41</sup>Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Night is coming.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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I cannot predict how this script will play out. It appears that martial law could happen in America by the end of the week. I don’t know. Signs of this are happening now. Do know this: Martial law will not being enacted to protect from a pandemic. That is a ruse. This is a manufactured pandemic, just as 9/11 was a manufactured event. This is far worse. This is a shut-down of the world in preparation for total control and enslavement of humanity which will likely be fully in place by the end of this decade. I recommend you read the work of David Icke. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The tragedy is that people won’t resist it, but actually beg for it. They will beg and are begging for everything to be shut down and for the military to come and protect them because they are afraid. They are so afraid of dying, of getting sick, that they give up their rights thinking that the modern-day Pharisees are worthy of trust. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is possible that in certain areas of the world, various biological agents will be released killing many people. They can kill who they want. The point is that all of this is not the result of a disease naturally taking its course and that the authorities are protecting us. That is a false story. Think it through. Think it through for yourself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is possible that some sort of vaccine will be promoted in the coming weeks or months and it will be mandatory. If you refuse it, you won’t get access to food or whatever. This vaccine is not a cure for coronavirus. This vaccine is something else. The same people who create these bioweapons also create their supposed cures. Problem. Reaction. Solution. They create a problem. The people react with fear. They create a solution which the people accept and even beg for which is more control, more surveillance, mandatory vaccinations, a cashless society, all to benefit the elite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Night is coming. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The World Health Organization, WHO, is now promoting the idea that cash spreads the virus and we need to be completely digital in regards to currency. This is a severe form of control. Now when your card doesn’t work you can pay with cash. When there is no cash, those who control your card (guess who) can prevent you from getting what you need. This has nothing to do with slowing the spread of viruses. It is part of a long-planned agenda.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Night is coming.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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While we are all freaking out over this, laws are being passed to restrict more freedoms. I read this yesterday, March 21<sup>st</sup> 2020 on Reason Magazine:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“The Justice Department is using the COVID-19 outbreak to press for sweeping new powers that include being able to detain Americans indefinitely without a trial, Politico reports.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>The department is asking Congress to allow the U.S. attorney general to ask courts to suspend court proceedings. These include "any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil process and proceedings," reports Betsy Woodruff Swan, citing DOJ documents presented to Congress.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>In other words, the Justice Department would be able to postpone trials, hearings, and other procedural steps that follow arrest. That represents a potentially huge violation of the constitutional right to a speedy trial.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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That was from Reason magazine. How many rights guaranteed by the constitution are now gone? Right to assembly, right to worship, right to commerce, right to a speedy trial. Restrictions to free speech and privacy are on the way. Jesus said, <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><sup>4</sup>We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Night is coming. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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What do we do?<o:p></o:p></div>
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One thing. This is the most important. You must control your fear and not let fear dictate your response. Yes, this is happening. Night is coming. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But you are not your body. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You are not your emotions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You are not your thoughts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You have a body. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You have emotions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You have thoughts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But you are not them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You are having an experience that is temporary. As the old hymn says, “The Earth is not my home. I am just passing through.” You will die someday. That is not the end of the real you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You can step back and say to yourself when you are feeling afraid, “That is interesting. That is what is happening.” But you do not have to be enslaved by whatever it is you are feeling or thinking. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That is why the scriptures are full of wisdom and practices including prayer and meditation, that help us to remember who we really are. David Icke says and I think he is correct that “We are infinite consciousness having an earthly experience.” When this experience is over, we go back to who we really are. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Take this seriously. We are limited now by our five senses. But that is not who we are. The incarnation of Jesus shows this reality. He was one with God and then willingly gave it up to have a human experience. Then he goes back to God. The point is that his story is all of our stories. We, as we exist in this world, are all incarnations of infinite consciousness. We are infinite consciousness having a finite experience. The example of this in the Christian faith is Jesus. It wasn’t just him. He is a teacher and prophet for all of us.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is why Jesus told the truth. This is why Jesus allowed himself to be crucified. Even as he knew that was coming, he still told the truth. His mission and his message served to awaken us. We are here to continue this work of awakening even as “Night is Coming.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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They may kill the body. <o:p></o:p></div>
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They will not and cannot kill my soul. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I am a child of God. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I will not fear.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Repeat that again and again. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We have one but one task. We are here to bear witness to what is real. Your courageous bearing of witness can help awaken others. This is how God will defeat evil by awakening us all to Truth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Regardless of what others think. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Regardless of what others do. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Regardless of the powers of darkness.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Seek what is real for yourself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bear witness to what is real. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Do not be afraid.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Center yourself. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Remember who you are. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You are love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You are strength. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You are a child of God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Amen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Please share this if you think it is helpful. You can find the text for this sermon with links at <a href="http://www.johnshuck.com/" style="color: #954f72;">www.johnshuck.com</a> I will post what I can as long as I can on my website and on my Facebook page, Twitter account and VK account. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I am John Shuck. Be well. <o:p></o:p></div>
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--- <o:p></o:p></div>
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Photo credit: <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus cures the man born blind<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Notes:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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JESUS MAFA is a response to the New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings were selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Date:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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1973<o:p></o:p></div>
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JESUS MAFA<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-processquery.pl?SID=20200322885810385&code=ACT&code=act&LocationCountry=Cameroon&SortOrder=Title&=phrase" style="color: #954f72;" title="Find other items with the LocationCountry of Cameroon">Cameroon</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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JESUS MAFA. Jesus cures the man born blind, from <b>Art in the Christian Tradition</b>, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. <a href="http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48383" style="color: #954f72;">http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48383</a> [retrieved March 22, 2020]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: <a href="https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact" style="color: #954f72;">https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact</a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-69829171985818238672020-03-17T10:31:00.000-07:002020-03-17T10:31:29.964-07:00A Sermon for Conspiracy TheoristsI haven't prepared a sermon since I left my church in November. Now that the country is doing "virtual church" and since I am a "virtual pastor" I thought I would create a "virtual sermon" for you to "virtually read."<br />
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<i>Ephesians 6:12<br />For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.</i></blockquote>
Today is March 15th, 2020. It is Sunday. It is the Third Sunday of Lent. Many churches are closed. Many are offering instead “virtual worship.” The goal is of course not to gather in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has now been called a global pandemic.<br />
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It is this pandemic that made me think about my vocation. I am no longer the pastor of a congregation. Yet I still feel like a pastor. I feel the need to be pastoral to someone. A pastor should say something about our situation from the perspective of the Gospel. I wrote this on my Facebook page this past week:<br />
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<i>“I am no longer the pastor of a congregation. It would be interesting to be one at this time. But still I am a pastor at heart. However this pandemic shakes out, either with massive death or sickness, or if it fades away, pastoral care is needed especially as we enter, in the US at least, unprecedented isolation and grave economic hardship as our economies (especially our individual household economies) are threatened by all of the shut downs. Perhaps we need more than anything a Gospel perspective as opposed to the partisan political perspectives that dominate so much of our discourse. Namely, I think we need to come to terms with fear in relation to survival and accepting anything authorities may do, whether illusory or real, that momentarily alleviates that fear. The reality is that we all will die someday. That fear of death must be faced. Life in the gospel is living as if one is ready to die. That of course is the gospel’s freedom. We live for this moment. For truth, for justice, for love with courage. When we die, we die as those who go forth to live. </i><br />
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<i>I am not sure what I can offer as a pastor in this unique time for me as a pastor without a church. Perhaps I am at this point an internet pastor. I have been spending my time since leaving my last church reading, researching, and sharing what I learn from others on this FB page. It doesn’t seem like much. But it is what I do now in this time of my “sabbatical.” But more I feel is coming. There is a lot inside me that needs to come out. </i><br />
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<i>Do know, whether you consider yourself spiritual or not from whatever philosophy or faith tradition or none, that I will do my best to communicate what I see to be real as uncomfortable and controversial as that can be. I will be wrong. I will not see everything. I will get stuck in a deceitful rabbit hole on occasion. But I will seek to explore what is real. </i><br />
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<i>From whatever your perspective on philosophy/faith etc., you are welcome here. </i><br />
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<i>I will do my best to be empathetic and hopefully kind as I do that. For those who find what I write and share too objectionable, then peace be with you in your journey. What will not work are attempts to silence me for following my path. </i><br />
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<i>I do this, and I still do it as a pastor, because I feel called to it, summoned you might say. I have no idea what is to come for us as a country and a world. But I know that those guides who are real for me (Jesus and Hussain peace be upon them) are worthy of my trust. </i><br />
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<i>Their example (and their presence that I feel) is stronger, more true, and more real than the enemies of humanity who I name here often and who I feel we are summoned to unmask, name, and engage.</i><br />
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<i>I guess this is all to say that I am a pastor even at this moment—a brother in faith to some—a brother in humanity to others, and I am not afraid of what is to come for us, the human species, but I am ready and open to do what is to be done this day as a pastor.”</i><br />
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That is what I wrote a few days ago. Since today is Sunday, I wondered if it might be time to write a sermon. I started with the lectionary text for today, Romans 5:1-11, but my sermon didn’t seem to go anywhere. Although this line again sticks out as it always does. Paul writes that we<br />
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<i>boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint…</i></blockquote>
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I decided not to write a sermon. But I want to write something. There is much in me that needs to come out about so many things. So much suffering is now and is on the way for so many people, for the whole of humanity. The most vulnerable, the elderly, the sick, will be on the front lines of this virus. If exponential infection proceeds as it seems to be doing, perhaps millions could die around the world, including in the United States. My prayers and my gratitude are with nurses and doctors and first responders who are caring for the sick. As Presbyterian pastor, Fred Rogers, who we know as Mister Rogers, said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”<br />
<br />
I am taking precautions, not so much for myself, but so I don’t spread the virus if I am infected. We have been told that we can be contagious for weeks before we develop any symptoms. I am self-isolating with my wife and puppies. I don’t know what this is. I have no predictions regarding this virus. In this regard I am going along with the herd, but with a suspicious mind.<br />
<br />
I could repeat the information we get from the mainstream media on our screens. But you know that as well as I do, possibly better, because I rarely watch it. My intuition tells me as well as what I have read and seen from people I trust, and from my understanding of recent history, is that something sinister is afoot.<br />
<br />
I was asked if this is from God as a test. That is a question for which one can never be certain as are all questions about the workings of God. But I answered that I didn’t think it was from God. Yet in many respects, this is, as is all of life itself, a test.<br />
<br />
Is this some random freak of nature such as the mainstream media tell us? Is this from eating a wild bat in a market in a China? My answer is again, I think not.<br />
<br />
That answer puts me in the category of conspiracy theorist. A conspiracy theorist in the pejorative meaning of the phrase is someone who doesn’t believe what she or he is supposed to believe.<br />
<br />
Aristotle is said to have said that “the mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” So yes, I entertain many thoughts of conspiracy but I accept only those that are true. Aristotle might have been a conspiracy theorist.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqoymuHH8Q3BsremDnbaroM86NTAc6NWwISv0S8X_Zy8rGGWUEKiTwje3dwKI-Mb-VJv1-sD68LPKJcbwL4vGkeAWXoc-_1p_VghS4051UXvBKqJZ135c8XlVK6T4gg-rlYGpkuA/s1600/IMG_2253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqoymuHH8Q3BsremDnbaroM86NTAc6NWwISv0S8X_Zy8rGGWUEKiTwje3dwKI-Mb-VJv1-sD68LPKJcbwL4vGkeAWXoc-_1p_VghS4051UXvBKqJZ135c8XlVK6T4gg-rlYGpkuA/s400/IMG_2253.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
The quote unquote “conspiracy theory” that I entertain in this regard is that this pandemic is a combination of bioweapon/PSYOP to push through a variety of agendas. Whether it was unleashed in a calculated way or by an accidental escape from the laboratory is a larger unknown. People I trust entertain this theory as well and given that <a href="https://armswatch.com/the-pentagon-bio-weapons/?fbclid=IwAR37bbPSkqRvtJP8kikA656Ilud5GNARjro9meK0I-BuNjjNiBBszQp-7Ik&__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=67417728e5edd16b4f9d1523e4c894c49098ee23-1584463420-0-ASQaX6xsPfIX05BmCc-hzdb8lmdExU41fTGGWBt-pHXTWN8SIoBN--7o0pWboFE3rWTJfzkPJkhViPw-KXFYt6CROTcKQPNp_24MtrVd9i3hzR1o0ff5y2Nymd9NHOx5Fj6RjtaCyw8kC1TrIGQIKztmLjhK2tdVzBbHhfsa75wmAHbqLmt8PI34FaaKpKDDlygBtftKsqzL3PBEOV6VH3vcdz3jW1zhnzhTwPaPT2jjEYtC06a-zjRJr-DApXg-8Q6vmelLjOCcJnn1YvbMwX0n95GE-zplafKRe5az-Fxiv-pep9tw2q1HlFTjcB0L4utmF1frZZepZE32tlgewfNpDHYGzglyrT6FGYt9J2SakVp5CI9BiyQFSlHt60ouE5XgV2JvfqVUPMtrec9_56o">biological weapons are being manufactured all over the world</a> under the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYZ0yyKaYHU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3-EQPyRoM1SbXeozkTFqr4VhbING2jV5Eav7PtGVOGZp8OkzdPuisgoGY">auspices of governments and their militaries</a>, it seems logical that would be the first theory any thinking person would explore. But the mainstream media, a megaphone for the powerful, will not entertain this logical theory and instead it promotes the theory that this virus is a product of nature and was transferred to humans by wild bats. This is most likely a cover story. The Hollywood film, <a href="https://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/contagion-or-how-disaster-movies-educate-the-masses/?fbclid=IwAR365QGIKLj_2B8y8JukSl3SWaMObu9H65ZkeROIZsMb6YAJ_Yl3cE8VYHk"><i>Contagian</i>, is a blueprint for this story</a>. <br />
<br />
<b><i><u>The media cannot be trusted for the truth of what is really happening. </u></i></b><br />
<br />
I say this with confidence. One piece of evidence will suffice for my view of the media. At 5:20 in the afternoon on September 11th, 2001, World Trade Center Tower Building 7 was imploded by controlled demolition into its own footprint in less than seven seconds. Mainstream media has covered up this story to this day on behalf of powerful agencies that are supposed to supply truth but do the opposite, at least on this matter, such as NIST, the National Institute for Science and Technology. The mainstream media by this continued cover-up shows that it has lost all credibility regarding anything of importance. Obviously, what happened on September 11th, 2001 and especially <i><b>who</b></i> is responsible is of utmost importance to the human race. Those who really did it are still in control of the world today and are protected by their propaganda arm, their own media outlets. <br />
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My working theory is that COVID-19 was created in a laboratory for the purposes of mayhem by the usual suspects and unleashed at this particular time and manner for a variety of reasons. Those reasons I do not know but I suspect these reasons have to do with population manipulation and control for the benefit of the world’s elite. Many people I trust and those I don’t have a number of views regarding what these agendas might be and I find it healthy to entertain them per Aristotle. As these new agendas are rolled out in the coming months and years, we will know, or at least those who follow Aristotle’s dictum will know.<br />
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The big question is whether or not the populace will know and with knowing will free themselves from slavery to the elites. I have decided that question is not mine to answer. I can only leave that to God. My calling or summons is to tell what I think is real to the best of my ability. That said I do believe that there are people who have a hunch that something isn’t what the mainstream media says it is in regards to all of this. Many are drawn to what conspiracy theorists entertain without admitting it to others or perhaps even themselves that these people may be right to question what we are told by official outlets. These curious people contain a spark in their consciousness that is waiting for ignition. That is my hope. But again, it is not my business. I just do my job. My job these days is assisted by an increasing freedom from concern about what others think.<br />
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Conspiracy theorists do suffer. They suffer from ridicule and censorship. They suffer from loneliness and from marginalization. Some suffer actual harm from what the author of Ephesians calls<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“the rulers…the authorities…the cosmic powers of this present darkness…the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”</i></blockquote>
Conspiracy theorists are like Old Testament prophets.<br />
No one liked them then and no one likes them now. <br />
<br />
But as Paul says in today’s lectionary text,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint…</i></blockquote>
Maybe I did write a sermon after all. A sermon for conspiracy theorists and for conspiracy theorists in the making. The world needs you. You are blessed and you are a blessing.<br />
<br />
Those who believe what they are supposed to believe and who follow what the mainstream media says to believe will not be happy with me. I am at peace with that. There are plenty of pastors for them. But there are not many pastors for those who are not in the mainstream.<br />
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Really I am not a pastor in my understanding of the word, because I have not been called to a congregation. But as a fellow seeker of what is true, I will hopefully be a fellow traveler to you should you decide this lonely path is yours as well.<br />
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At that I will heartily say, Amen. <br />
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For further research I recommend exploring <a href="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/2020/03/ffwn-top-secret-9-11-like-coronavirus-response/">Kevin Barrett</a>, <a href="https://ahtribune.com/world/3930-who-or-what-started-the-wuhan-coronavirus.html?fbclid=IwAR0f_TSOHnuG6q7rkB6vLC3Prr2kEe10vpAektLyjhxwqzedCsuy8URf3hc#.XmaPqAUI3gs.facebook">Anthony Hall,</a> <a href="https://www.veteranstoday.com/2020/03/17/china-us-brought-covid19-to-china-during-army-games-hid-disease-in-us-as-influenza/">Veterans Today</a>, <a href="https://www.corbettreport.com/your-guide-to-surviving-a-crisis/">The Corbett Report</a>, <a href="https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/03/05/who-made-coronavirus-was-it-us-israel-or-china-itself/?fbclid=IwAR0DZX0pKfaPg8IZita_YmgSJBDW1ZhGRC3_mAZ6X7qdcB5TJWXEQn_o2Y0">Philip Giraldi</a>, <a href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620203/%E2%80%98Coronavirus-is-US-psychological-warfare-operation%E2%80%99?fbclid=IwAR0JcrjhZa1iTHDgnkc0ThBqf65VwmwJB7Oh6cLvrY5v1k0QFA_rsBbKBmQ">Scott Bennett, </a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZC0NOljRWQ&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2Xmkig_qOHEY32lWvhCtF4a8s-yabojQX11y8fYdA18AzsIdpxOnWZAMw">Helen Buyniski,</a> <a href="https://www.brighteon.com/0a618138-5881-4805-83a1-24cc35fad34c">Francis Boyle</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_TPjbu4FAE&feature=emb_logo">(and here with Spiro Skouras),</a> <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/03/08/dr-francis-boyle-bioterrorism.aspx?cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1ReadMore&cid=20200308Z2&et_cid=DM478079&et_rid=825129790&fbclid=IwAR1RMj4OM4gSP1ZfxmhRNK06e0VI6XyScMIiCks6iSXCx5cD4e2goFrbmlI">Joseph Mercola,</a> <a href="https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/top-news/bats-gene-editing-bioweapons-recent-darpa-experiments-raise-concerns-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/">Whitney Webb</a>, <a href="https://www.globalresearch.ca/russian-appraisal-china-coronavirus/5703761">Larry Romanov</a>, <a href="https://southfront.org/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-the-real-danger-is-agenda-id2020/?fbclid=IwAR2DFDcDhulJnwoQpdZ7gZEr_JNstUZDdBHLm74RjTTnBtgVJBGd2M87rls">Peter Koenig</a>, <a href="http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/march/11/this-is-a-test-how-will-the-constitution-fare-during-a-nationwide-lockdown/?fbclid=IwAR2IlmWvuUPhwVQ_29FdzhG259DRw66XInkEBbAaI4FKZuOMnm1esU-_Dpg">Ron Paul</a>, <a href="https://www.davidicke.com/article/565975/youtube-coronavirus-purge-begins">David Icke.</a><br />
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<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-16068579388195144222020-03-17T05:57:00.000-07:002020-03-17T06:12:09.097-07:00Bethlehem in Jeopardy!I was on the <a href="https://www.presstv.com/">Press TV</a> program, <a href="https://www.presstv.com/Section/15098">"Palestine Files."</a> This episode entitled, <a href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/13/620747/Bethlehem--in--Jeopardy!">"Bethlehem in Jeopardy!"</a>, analyzed why the television game show, "Jeopardy" incorrectly ruled that the Church of the Nativity was in Israel as opposed to Palestine. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/jeopardy-contestant-asked-palestine-game-show-gave-wrong-answer/">Here is the story in The Intercept</a>. <br />
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The Press TV program, now available on-line, wanted to explore why Jeopardy got this wrong, what is the reality for Palestinian Christians regarding Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity, and was this Jeopardy error another sign of the calculated erasure of Palestinian identity.<br />
<br />
I recommend watching the entire 25 minute program and sharing it widely. I was asked all the questions beforehand so I had prepared answers. The producers used two of my responses. I am on at 16:55. <a href="https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/13/620747/Bethlehem--in--Jeopardy!?jwsource=cl">Here is the entire show</a>.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" scrolling="auto" src="https://www.presstv.com/default/Embeded/620747" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<br />
Here is my response to the question:<br />
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<i><b><a href="https://twitter.com/PressTVIntvws/status/1239108641761964033?s=20">According to several sources: Today, there are 23 settlements, which take up 8.1 square miles (21 square kilometers) of the Bethlehem area. </a></b></i><br />
<i><b><a href="https://twitter.com/PressTVIntvws/status/1239108641761964033?s=20">Some 165,000 Israeli settlers — comprising about one-third of the total settler population in the West Bank— live here on hilltops, in houses marked by their red tile roofs what is Israel trying to do here?</a></b></i><br />
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<i><br />
</i> <i><br />
</i> <i>These settlements are, of course, illegal, and immoral. Israel wants to take over all of Palestine and perhaps more, piece by piece by piece. Why Bethlehem? In part, this is my speculation, I think the immediate goal is to hassle relentlessly the Christian presence in Bethlehem. Wear the Palestinian Christians down. Drive them out. Bethlehem is a very important cultural and religious site for Christianity. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>Palestinian Christians are a problem for Israel. For one, it goes against the so-called Muslim terrorist trope. For another, the Zionists don’t want Christians in Palestine to connect with Christians in the United States. Israel is working very hard to get rid of Christians in Palestine. Palestinian Christians are the bad Christians. Christian Zionists are the good Christians, from Israel’s point of view. For another, Bethlehem is a site of resistance. The Christmas story is a powerful story of resistance to oppression. The Zionists don’t want that story. Finally, of course, Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem show that they have been there centuries before these new Zionists appeared. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>I think the endgame is to take over Bethlehem itself and make it part of Israel. Then they will include the Church of the Nativity as a tourist destination for American Christian Zionists. A Disneyland kind of thing. Israel will be caretakers of this Holy Christian site. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> And the other question:<br />
<br />
<b><i><a href="https://twitter.com/PressTVIntvws/status/1239110005263130624?s=20">Who is trying to delete the Palestinian identity here? Is it just Israel?</a></i></b><br />
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<i><br />
</i> <i><br />
</i> <i>This is the big question, isn’t it? Israel is more than just a country. Israel has more influence in the United States and throughout Europe and elsewhere than most people realize. When you talk about the United States and its military-industrial complex, that which President Eisenhower warned Americans about in 1961, you have to see that Zionism is active in every part of it. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>We should call it the Military-industrial-intelligence-finance-education-media-government complex. At the top of every node in this structure are ultra-Zionists. They control the media, finance, congress, and the presidency. These wars in the Middle East against Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and now Iran? They don’t benefit Americans. They benefit the elite who make money from it. And they benefit Israel. Netanyahu said 9/11 was very good for Israel. To point out this truth is to be labelled anti-semitic. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>This is a global takeover. It is not by Jews. Jews are victims. American Jews more than any, need to separate Judaism from Zionism. They have been co-opted by these ultra-Zionists. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>In a very real sense, we are all Palestinians. The Palestinians and Gazans are on the front lines. May they continue to resist and may people of conscience around the world support their resistance. Our struggle for freedom is tied up with theirs.</i><br />
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<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-3017862705853519462020-02-06T12:49:00.001-08:002020-02-06T13:02:24.897-08:00In BetweenHere is the latest piece I wrote for the <a href="http://beavertonresourceguide.com/lyrics-that-fit-our-time-mercy-now-by-mary-gauthier/">Beaverton Resource Guide</a>.<br />
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In Between<br />
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There is a hauntingly beautiful song by Mary Gauthier called “Mercy Now” with lyrics that I think fit our time, the time of in-between.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Every living thing could use a little mercy now<br />
Only the hand of grace can end the race towards another mushroom cloud<br />
People in power, they'll do anything to keep their crown<br />
I love life and life itself could use some mercy now </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Yeah, we all could use a little mercy now<br />
I know we don't deserve it but we need it anyhow<br />
We hang in the balance dangled 'tween hell and hallowed ground<br />
And every single one of us could use some mercy now</i></blockquote>
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Life is “hanging in the balance” and we dangle in-between. My personal life has changed and I am in between jobs, perhaps in between careers, even in between spiritual identities. One foot in a past existence and one in the next. Maybe you have been in a similar place or are there now. Collectively, as a nation, as a world community, we are in-between as well.<br />
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As scary as it seems, the in-between is the place of mercy and grace. If we can accept this liminal place, this in-between that and the other and not attempt to force what is to come or hurriedly retreat to what was, we can find our truth. We can find ourselves and discover what is real and valuable and worthy of us.<br />
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The in-between is the space of our test. This is a place where we are given the opportunity to reveal who we really are. This is a place that invites the best in us to rise up and be beautiful, brave, generous, intelligent, creative and joyful. This is the place where we show the universe what it means to be human beings. This is where we prove that our appearance on this blue ball was not a mistake or a fluke but a planned gift.<br />
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This is where we put our opposable thumbs to good use and create homes and communities of justice and be a blessing to all living things. This is the in-between, the place of both meditation and action, where we discover that we are beloved, that we matter, and that come what may, we will be true to the better angels of our nature.<br />
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Let us not be afraid of the in-between nor fret over the “people in power.” They got nothing. For the “hand of grace” is indeed with us, now in the uncertainty, in the liminality, in the in-between. Let us trust that together, in time, we will reach that “hallowed ground.”<br />
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I have played this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=IT7NiFpJmvI&feature=emb_logo">youtube of her song</a> in church. Enjoy.<br />
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<blockquote>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="215" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IT7NiFpJmvI" width="360"></iframe></blockquote>
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John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-33818275633977310142020-01-26T08:44:00.001-08:002020-01-26T08:46:05.508-08:00How About We End it HereHow about we end it here. <br />
Do something unexpected, <br />
courageous and wise. <br />
<br />
Let the US leave Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Saud, Israel <br />
and every other country to themselves, <br />
and let’s make for ourselves a nice home, <br />
spending our money on health and education <br />
and sustainable, just living with Earth and our neighbors. <br />
<br />
Let us bring our troops and equipment from all over the world home. <br />
Let us melt down the useless bombs. <br />
We need no more than the poorest anywhere and then everyone, <br />
everywhere will live rich in spirit, <br />
each with one’s daily bread, <br />
<br />
like the beloved of God.<br />
<br />
<br />
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</span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-5278821849665948712020-01-26T08:16:00.000-08:002020-01-26T08:16:36.240-08:00My Country's Skies Are Bluer than the Ocean<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A song of peace for their land and for mine.</i></div>
<br />
I thought of one of my favorite peace hymns, "This Is My Song" (tune: Finlandia) when I saw a photograph of Tehran, Iran on Twitter yesterday. Press TV, an Iranian English-speaking news outlet <a href="https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/1221288577537060864">posted the photo</a> and caption, "Tehran's blue sky right now!"<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4gwkTdW8Dsj11d24wDU34WE6F1bGxH4YYy-XOms82H3XffqzGsNgQfjaWpp-CwtF0ME4jnWIzkgYPw_xBTZErQu1LTwAUuSf02x_iPtaO22P4Q7_XIaSKKAT5COdx1GHxGIZeag/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-01-26+at+7.59.21+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="591" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4gwkTdW8Dsj11d24wDU34WE6F1bGxH4YYy-XOms82H3XffqzGsNgQfjaWpp-CwtF0ME4jnWIzkgYPw_xBTZErQu1LTwAUuSf02x_iPtaO22P4Q7_XIaSKKAT5COdx1GHxGIZeag/s400/Screen+Shot+2020-01-26+at+7.59.21+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I have no quarrel with anyone from Iran. Who does really? Only the elite who profit from war. It is time for human beings to take back our lands and sing with confidence a song of peace so the God of all the nations will believe that we really want it.<br />
<br />
Here are the rest of the lyrics and a <a href="https://youtu.be/c0OcZdzfOV8">nice harmony on it from the Indigo Girls.</a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>This is my song, O God of all the nations,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A song of peace for lands afar and mine.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>This is my home, the country where my heart is,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>But other hearts in other lands are beating,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A song of peace for their land and for mine.</i></div>
<br />
<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-38030816379307836342020-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:002020-01-12T21:10:07.283-08:00Truth Jihad: A Conversation with Kevin Barrett<br />
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<a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2020-01-10T08_31_24-08_00" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">Listen Here.</a></div>
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In March 2018 I had a live <a href="https://kboo.fm/media/64113-us-saudi-war-crimes-against-yemen" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">interview scheduled </a>with <a href="https://kboo.fm/blog/64133" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">Dr. Kevin Barrett</a> on my monthly show, "The Beloved Community" on KBOO. <a href="https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/03/09/kboo/" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">Through a smear campaign led by Rose City Antifa</a> complete with <a href="https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/03/13/is-antifa-fascist-a-debate-challenge-for-ar-ross/" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">name-calling, character assassination, and a deluge of tweets and phone calls</a>, the station staff and management were pressured to stop the interview and actually ban Kevin Barrett from being on the air. (Staff and management claim they were not pressured.) I appealed the decision but my appeal was never addressed. Dr. Barrett never had an opportunity to defend himself. Volunteers or the membership never had an opportunity to review this process. </div>
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On December 13th, 2019 <a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2019/12/13/holding-to-your-truth/" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">I broadcast a pre-recorded show</a> that included audio from the last sermon I gave to my church, an interview with Dr. David Ray Griffin and a speech Dr. Kevin Barrett delivered at a <a href="http://rootsofconflict1.blogspot.com/2018/02/report-on-february-3rd-2018-conference-u.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">KBOO-sponsored event at Portland State in February 2018 about US-Saudi relations.</a> Staff, in response to phone calls, stopped the broadcast in the midst of Dr. Barrett's speech and played Christmas music! In protest to this personal disrespect and censorship, I decided to take a sabbatical from my volunteer duties and support of KBOO and move my show to a platform that respects the spirit of the First Amendment. <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2019/12/sabbatical-from-kboo.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">You can read my story here.</a></div>
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Over Christmas, Dr. Barrett <a href="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/2019/12/shuck2/" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">interviewed me for his radio show, Truth Jihad</a>, and gave me permission and encouragement to rebroadcast that interview on my program. </div>
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<a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2020-01-10T08_31_24-08_00" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #007fac; outline: 0px; transition-duration: 0.05s; transition-property: border, background, color; transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;">PODCAST</a></div>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-12973963244880767782019-12-25T11:43:00.000-08:002019-12-25T11:43:09.263-08:00John Shuck on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad RadioDr. Kevin Barrett interviewed me for his radio show, Truth Jihad. <a href="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/2019/12/shuck2/?fbclid=IwAR0mkJqMzIAEho8BHj9xIsUNBPTlkXY_59gMaGc8MDIMFxUJebjlmF7iPzw">Check it out:</a><br />
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<h1 class="entry-title" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(77, 178, 236); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 12px 0px; position: relative;">
Censored Presbyterian Minister and Radio Host John Shuck on Why He’s Leaving KBOO-Portland and His Church</h1>
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<span class="posted-on" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 15px;"><span class="fa fa-calendar" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: "fontawesome"; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1; margin-right: 5px;"></span><a href="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/2019/12/shuck2/" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #7a7a7a; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2019-12-25T02:40:12+00:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;">December 25, 2019</time><span class="byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"> <span class="fa fa-user" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: "fontawesome"; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1; margin-right: 5px;"></span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span></a><a class="url fn n" href="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/author/kevin/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #7a7a7a; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Kevin Barrett</a></span></div>
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<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_15434" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; max-width: 100%; width: 780px;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-15434" height="436" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" src="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/John-Shuck.jpg" srcset="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/John-Shuck.jpg 780w, https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/John-Shuck-768x429.jpg 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="780" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.8075em 0px; text-align: center;">John Shuck: When they won’t let you tell the truth, it’s time to leave</figcaption></figure><br />
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Listen <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/32603502" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">HERE</a></h2>
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Presbyterian minister <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">John Shuck</a> is leaving his KBOO-Portland radio show “<a href="https://kboo.fm/program/beloved-community" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Beloved Community</a>” and his church position. Apparently neither the radio station nor the church can handle the truth about 9/11 and related topics. John recently wrote me:</div>
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Dear Dr. Barrett,</div>
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A number of changes have happened to me. I am no longer pastor at my church. I was judged too radical opposing wars and their lies and saying too many good things about Islam. Now I am done with KBOO too. Here is my last show that includes audio from you.</div>
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<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2019/12/13/holding-to-your-truth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">https://progressivespirit.net/2019/12/13/holding-to-your-truth/</a></div>
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I dedicated the show to you and to Dr. Griffin, two people who have for me modeled the spirit of sacrifice for truth that I saw in Jesus and Hussain. The audio I included of you was the speech you gave at the conference in Feb 2018 about the US and Saudi empires. I never broadcast it before.</div>
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Anyway in the middle of the broadcast this past Friday morning, while you were speaking, the station staff stopped it and played Christmas music! Naughty of me to play anything by the banned Kevin Barrett. So after 20 months of the station’s inability to treat either of us like human beings, I decided it was a good time to go.</div>
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I want you to know how important you have been to me on a personal level. You model human decency in the time when the inhumane are in power. Thank you.</div>
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<a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2019/12/sabbatical-from-kboo.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2019/12/sabbatical-from-kboo.html</a></div>
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All the Best,</div>
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John Shuck</div>
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<a href="http://progressivespirit.podomatic.net/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">Progressive Spirit/Beloved Community Podcast</a></div>
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<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">Progressive Spirit Website</a></div>
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<a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">Shuck and Jive Blog</a></div>
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<a href="mailto:shuckjohna@gmail.com" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #233edb; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">shuckjohna@gmail.com</a></div>
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<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_15436" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; max-width: 100%; width: 1000px;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-15436" height="750" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" src="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/shuck-church.jpg" srcset="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/shuck-church.jpg 1000w, https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/shuck-church-768x576.jpg 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1000" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.8075em 0px; text-align: center;">John Shuck’s church was vandalized with Antifa-style graffiti. Earlier, Portland Antifa had pressured KBOO radio to prevent John from interviewing me.</figcaption></figure></div>
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<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-55324247244469209972019-12-16T12:08:00.000-08:002019-12-16T13:09:32.624-08:00Sabbatical from KBOOAfter 20 months and no resolution or clarity regarding the <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2018/03/analysis-of-smear-campaign.html">censoring</a> <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2018/04/why-portland-should-be-given-chance-to.html">of</a> <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2018/05/we-are-all-palestinians-now.html">my</a> <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2018/05/another-smear-campaign.html">show</a> <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2018/07/kevin-barrett-update-may-8th-pac-meeting.html">and</a> the smearing, name-calling and character assassination of Dr. Kevin Barrett, I decided to take a sabbatical from KBOO. I wrote a letter to the appropriate staff yesterday:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"To Whom It May Concern: </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>My life is taking a different path. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I am taking a sabbatical from my volunteer duties at KBOO and will cease my contribution at this time. I am also going to be moving my show “Beloved Community” to another platform. This is effective immediately. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I have appreciated much of my experience at KBOO. I have learned a lot and have met many marvelous people. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I wish you all the best. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Sincerely, </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Rev. John A. Shuck</i></blockquote>
<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2019/12/13/holding-to-your-truth/">It turned out to be my final show at KBOO</a>. In the first 19 minutes you will hear the last sermon I preached at my congregation a few weeks ago. It was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL228lSjFSo&feature=emb_logo">nicely edited with video accompaniment</a> by <a href="https://aliportland.com/">ALIPortland</a>. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqXj19NEkZwtzTpIYjRcQOCbQgytmWq6VXwraylBfc7kc5CztfSDELO5g8ysaTmyridkEFMhSe5IR21SorMJrT6CI3ZFUAzSsrdMsQ18CajhmjCYl9V-8kR2icxD5_o9AC3mmhg/s1600/image001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqXj19NEkZwtzTpIYjRcQOCbQgytmWq6VXwraylBfc7kc5CztfSDELO5g8ysaTmyridkEFMhSe5IR21SorMJrT6CI3ZFUAzSsrdMsQ18CajhmjCYl9V-8kR2icxD5_o9AC3mmhg/s320/image001.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My final sermon at Southminster, November 24, 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
You can read the text <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2019/11/final-sermon-at-southminster-reign-of.html">here</a>. In the sermon, I talk about my experience attending Arba'een and what that has meant to me. I highlighted two contemporary figures who represent to me people who follow in the spirit of both Jesus and Hussain in terms of holding to one's truth even as doing so requires sacrifice. They are <a href="https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/david-ray-griffin">Dr. David Ray Griffin</a> and <a href="http://www.twf.org/bio/Barrett.html">Dr. Kevin Barrett</a>.<br />
<br />
From 19:15-38:34 I included an interview I had with Dr. David Ray Griffin from <a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2017-08-25T15_22_42-07_00">a couple of years ago.</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. David Ray Griffin</td></tr>
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From 38:35 to the end is an address (audio never before broadcast) that Dr. Kevin Barrett delivered at the conference, <a href="https://rootsofconflict1.blogspot.com/2018/02/report-on-february-3rd-2018-conference-u.html">"The US-Saudi Coaltion: Bringing Peace or War?"</a> at Portland State in February 2018. <b><i><u>This event was sponsored by KBOO.</u></i></b> <br />
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On Friday, December 13th, when the show aired, staff actually stopped the on-air broadcast during Dr. Barrett's address and played Christmas music. When I inquired, I was told that I was apparently a very bad boy for including any audio from banned Kevin Barrett. Dr. Barrett is the only person I know who has been banned from KBOO after never having been on the radio station!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Kevin Barrett and Dr. Scott Bennett at the PSU conference, <br />
"The US-Saudi Coalition: Bringing Peace or War?" February 2018</td></tr>
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Now you can <a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2019-12-13T11_01_26-08_00">hear on podcast</a> what you could not hear on KBOO.<br />
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Bottom line? It is my show. I am moving it to a different platform, one that is not controlled by the same forces that control all of our media, including much of the supposed alternative media. Under the false pretensions of protecting us from so-called "hate speech," these forces use smear tactics, name-calling and character assassination to silence voices that are critical of wars that benefit the military-industrial complex and Israel. On that topic, here is an excellent article by David Spero Rn, <a href="https://medium.com/@davidsperorn/a-match-made-in-hell-israel-and-the-military-industrial-complex-34c9d76b789c">"A Match Made in Hell: Israel and the Military Industrial Complex."</a><br />
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<i>Why exactly does the US government go to war with so many of Israel’s enemies? Why has the US destroyed Iraq and half of Syria? The costs were enormous, the results horrible, the rewards imperceptible. The Iraq war not an outlier; it was the second in a long series of US invasions, bombings and destructions of majority-Muslim states. It’s still going on now, with Israel the only obvious beneficiary. How does this happen? Is the Israel lobby that powerful, and even if it is, why has the rest of the US establishment gone along? </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The explanation lies in the MIC and a deeply sinister marriage that has grown between them and Israel. Israel’s wars have become major parts of the MIC’s business plan. Every bomb Israel drops; every missile the US fires, every Muslim country the US invades makes money for the MIC. Israel receives over $3 billion in military aid from Washington every year. Most of this money immediately returns to US military corporations to buy weapons. They’re partners. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Where most Americans heard Eisenhower’s speech as a warning, Israeli leaders and their militant American supporters saw an opportunity. By allying with the MIC, this group which became known as the Neoconservatives set out to reshape the world. The Pentagon and military corporations already had powerful lobbying programs in place. But industry lobbying typically takes the form of ‘Buy our product;’ ‘Try this weapon system.’ They didn’t lobby for new wars. Some Israel loyalists realized that if they could provide the wars, the MIC would reap the profits, strengthening Israel in the process.</i></blockquote>
The issue that is most important to me? Human decency. It is not right to smear people and assassinate their characters and not give them an opportunity to defend themselves. This is what saddens me most about my experience at KBOO. For <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2018/07/kevin-barrett-update-may-8th-pac-meeting.html">20 months</a> I tried to work through the system to allow Dr. Barrett to defend himself. I finally realized it would never happen.<br />
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It is also important to hold on to one's truth and to be true to yourself.<br />
<br />
At the end of this broadcast, I left folks at KBOO the same thing I left with folks at my church:<br />
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<i>Hold to your truth.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Hold fast to your truth.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Whatever that truth is, don’t let it go for the sake of acceptance by others.</i><br />
<i>No relationship that requires you to deny your truth is worth keeping.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Do know that if you do hold fast to what you know is true,</i><br />
<i>and this truth is in order to goodness,</i><br />
<i>it will at some point require sacrifice.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>But if it is true and good, it will last.</i><br />
<i>It will resurrect beyond death.</i><br />
<i>It will live and save.</i><br />
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John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-37206284355519281292019-11-25T13:43:00.005-08:002019-11-25T13:43:38.508-08:00Final Sermon at Southminster: The Reign of Divine Values<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-top: 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
My final sermon at Southminster.</div>
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The audio includes a wonderful tribute by my colleague and friend, Rev. Don Ludwig.</div>
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And a beautiful blessing from the children.</div>
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The choir sang “A New Day” perfect for “Christ the King” or “Reign of Divine Values” Sunday.</div>
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November 24, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2019-11-25T13_37_46-08_00">Audio: The Reign of Divine Values</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.southmin.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2019-November-24.pdf" style="color: #2db1e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Order of Worship 2019 November 24</a></div>
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—</div>
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David Ray Griffin, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Gospel-Americans-Systematic-Theology/dp/1940447429" style="color: #2db1e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Christian Gospel for Americans</em></a></div>
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The divine purpose, thus revealed, is to overcome evil by bringing about a Reign of Divine Values (traditionally called the Kingdom of God) on Earth, in which the present subjugation of life to demonic values—lies, ugliness, greed, destructiveness, injustice, hate, and indifference—will be replaced by a mode of life based on divine values—truth, love, beauty, goodness, justice, and compassion….</div>
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The Christian Community should base itself, all of its activities, on the Christian Community’s mission. Its basic mission is to lead the way in God’s battle against demonic power on Earth. The church is meant to serve as a counterforce to the demonic dimension of the symbolic structure in which human beings live. God’s incarnational activity in Jesus should be understood as a divine offensive against the power of the demonic.</div>
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The Christian Community should, of course, engage in ethical and political activity as usually understood. But this activity should be carried out in the context of a spiritual offensive, in which the power of prayer is used to reinforce the divine influence upon the individuals and institutions involved. Praying for those who are especially enslaved to demonic power, and who are incarnating it in especially destructive ways, will not only serve to remind us that they are essentially good creatures who are loved by God, but also that our battle is not with them but with the demonic power to which they are enslaved….</div>
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Central to worship is Communion (the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist), in which we remember that Jesus remained faithful in his opposition to the empire, which led to his death on a Roman cross.</div>
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—</div>
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Jeremiah 23:1-6<br />Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.</div>
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The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’</div>
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—</div>
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Luke 23:33-43</div>
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When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’</div>
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One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’</div>
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—<br />The Reign of Divine Values</div>
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On Friday I prayed at the <a href="https://icop.org/" style="color: #2db1e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Islamic Center of Portland</a> as I do on occasion. It is where I go to “church” so to speak. Where do ministers who lead worship go to worship for themselves? That is where I go. I appreciate the sermons of Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy. I always learn new things. I am learning slowly how to pray. They are patient with me and welcoming. Happy that I am with them.</div>
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This past Friday, a boy, a middle schooler, I would guess, led the call to prayer. Afterward, when prayer was finished, in the hallway he told me how much he liked the film Josh Townsley and I made about our walk to Karbala. He spontaneously gave me a hug and asked me if I was a Muslim.</div>
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I have been asked that before as I have been invited to speak at Islamic Centers around the country this past year. I never know exactly how to answer that. On Friday, I said,</div>
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“I am a Muslim in my heart.”</div>
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I don’t think we can really engage in interfaith work and not have our hearts transformed and expanded. In interfaith encounters, at least as I see it, we must risk transformation. It isn’t just about telling others what we think or what we believe. Then it is nothing more than a sales pitch. For me, I want to know what God is saying to me through you. That approach, by its very nature, risks transformation. You can’t control what will become of you.</div>
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In this my last sermon with you, I do want to leave you with a few things including my appreciation for you, my gratitude to you and for you, and my blessing to you. It has been a good five years. We have done good things together. I am glad I came here and served among you. Despite the discomfort of how things are ending, it is time for that ending as well. I fully support what you will be voting on today in terms of dissolving the call. Your session and I have worked together and all of us have come up with an agreement that meets all of our needs.</div>
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As John O’Donohue writes in his book, To Bless the Space Between Us, one of his blessings is entitled “For the Time of Necessary Decision.” It says in part:</div>
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“Often we only know it is time to change<br />When a force has built inside the heart<br />That leaves us uneasy as we are.”</div>
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Southminster’s phrase is “companions on a spiritual journey” and you have been my companion. I cannot say what I have given you. I hope I have been a companion to you on your spiritual journey as well. But do know, that you have been a companion on mine. All of you, even those who have been uncomfortable with me. You all have been my teachers, my companions. You have shown me the Divine presence and have lived the Divine values in many different ways. I have laughed a lot with you. We have shared tears. We have shared a great deal and none of that is lost and I thank you.</div>
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I also feel it is fitting that today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year. The phrase “Christ the King” sounds archaic. After all, kings rule by force. That is not how Christ empowers. Christ leads through love. So we might call this Sunday “Reign of Christ” Sunday or “Reign of Divine Values” Sunday.</div>
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That is really what it is about. It is about the hope of a renewed creation in which we relate to one another and to Earth with the values Jesus taught and lived: Beauty, Truth, Justice, Love, Peace, Courage, and Compassion.</div>
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As the text from Luke’s Gospel illustrates, Jesus demonstrated the Reign of Divine Values as he went to the cross. His sacrifice showed the world the true realm of God. It is this concept of sacrifice that is really at the core of this transformation that happened to me and I think is happening in the world. I feel the need to share this journey with you as I close my time with you.</div>
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In February 2018, I moderated a panel discussion regarding the war against Yemen at Portland State University. It was entitled “The US – Saudi Coalition: Bringing Peace or War?”</div>
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It was in the follow-up of that conference during an email exchange that I first heard of Hussain. He was referenced in regards to the panelists, all of whom had taken risks and had sacrificed in varying ways for their work in bringing truth to light. All of the panelists, including Kevin Barrett and Mohammad Al-Nimr, were and are truth-tellers. They told inconvenient truths about the powers that be.</div>
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That is how I was introduced to Imam Hussain (Peace Be Upon Him). He was a truth-teller and was martyred for embodying the truth. I knew nothing else about him except that. I wanted to learn more.</div>
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When I went to Karbala, Iraq for Arba’een I did learn more about Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, not only intellectually but also spiritually. I learned that Hussain, through his sacrifice, saved Islam. He defined Islam by his sacrifice as a religion of Beauty, Truth, Justice, Love, Peace, Courage, and Compassion.</div>
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Hussain was and is, as I saw him, a mirror-image of Jesus. They are siblings. They are brothers. They are one. As I said in a sermon a few months ago.</div>
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It is Jesus I follow to Karbala.<br />Jesus showed me Hussain.<br />If I want to follow Jesus,<br />I must follow Hussain.<br />Hussain shows me how to follow Jesus.</div>
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Hussain and Jesus both sacrificed in the same way. They sacrificed all they had, their very lives for the Reign of God, for the Reign of Divine Values, and they both summoned the world to follow in their steps if we wish to participate in this transformation of the world.<br />This Arba’een walk of 15 to 20 million or more is a modern miracle of this transformation. It is a sacrament through which the world is being summoned to walk as one against all forms of tyranny.</div>
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My heart for Jesus expanded because of Hussain. I am a better Christian because of my encounter with Islam.</div>
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This is not about religion in the narrow sense of that word (whether one is Christian, Muslim, Jew or whatever), but it is about religion in the broadest sense, the power of love that connects us all at the deepest levels.</div>
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When I went and touched the box above the grave of Imam Hussain (alayhi-salaam) I wasn’t sure if I should. Hussain wasn’t a figure in my religion. But I was told again and again that Hussain is for everyone, regardless of religion or creed. Just like Jesus.</div>
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So I am in the Shrine of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him). It is beautiful. The air conditioning is on. It is filled with the sound of prayer. People are crying. Some are standing. Some are sitting. Some are in various positions of prayer. Poetry is being recited from many places. I don’t understand a word of it, except now and then I hear a name I recognize, Ali, Zainab, Abbas, Hossein.</div>
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This is about a week before Arba’een. I am with the tour group. I decide I want to go and touch the big box in the center of the shrine, the lattice work above the grave of Hussain. I don’t know what it is like on the women’s side, but on the men’s side, even a week before the day of Arba’een the place is packed. it is a push and pull like ocean waves of bodies. Your feet almost leave the ground. There are so many people. You know where you are headed. It is like swimming in the ocean. You don’t need to be aggressive but you need to hold your own. You swim through the bodies, pushed left and right. Finally, I got close enough, almost there.</div>
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I should stop here. I was conscious of being different. Different religion. I only speak English. From America. My reddish hair, now reddish-gray, pale skin. Of the thousands of people inside the shrine that day, I was probably the whitest guy in the room. I reach up and put my hand up to touch the lattice work and I can’t reach it.</div>
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What happened with me is that as I reached up, I couldn’t touch it, and a hand took mine and pushed it up against the grate. It was a brown hand, taking my white hand up against the final resting place of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him). It was a visual imprint in my mind that beyond all color, all race, all religion, all language, the language of love and truth and courage is one. The love of Hussain. Our eyes met. We just looked at each other.</div>
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As I swam away, just a few yards away, I saw this man. He stared at me. Tears were streaming down his face. He asked me as many did on my trip, “Where are you from?” I told him, America. He just started bawling. He hugged me and kissed me. I have joked that I never have been kissed by so many men with scratchy beards.</div>
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But what is this?</div>
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Iraq. A country that felt post-apocalyptic to me. I like many of us Americans, watched from a distance as our leaders lied us into war, destroyed Iraq, and then ignored its suffering. No one goes there. No one that I know, except my brother-in-law. He is a professor at NYU and he goes often to the northern part of Iraq because of his work of peacebuilding with the University of Kirkuk. Besides my brother-in-law and soldiers, I know of no one who had been to Iraq. A country that Americans like me need to visit. A country devastated by the demonic, by lies and wars, by bombs and depleted uranium. By hatred from outside powers, mercenary terrorists and puppet tyrants, the people left to fend for themselves.</div>
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The US state department tells Americans not to go to Iraq. Too dangerous. Bad. Whatever. What did I find? I found love. I found tears. I found joy. I found hope. I found my heart had expanded. A Christian American was embraced and shown the love of Hussain (alayhi s-salam).</div>
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My heart was expanded. Courage is the result of an expanded heart. With courage is insight to tell the truth as best you know it when you need to tell it. That doesn’t mean I know truth more than others. That doesn’t mean I am not ever wrong. I am wrong often. Courage is admitting it and learning from it.</div>
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Courage does not mean me selling you my truth. It doesn’t mean that. Hearts do not expand that way. You tell what is true and live what is true and God does the rest.</div>
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But it does mean that I cannot be afraid of what I know or of what I learn because of the discomfort of truth to me or others or to the powers that deceive.</div>
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I included in today’s order of worship, three different quotes from <a href="https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/david-ray-griffin" style="color: #2db1e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dr. David Ray Griffin</a>. Dr. Griffin, in my opinion, is the most important Christian theologian in the 21st century. The reason I make that very bold statement is because of sacrifice.</div>
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He held on to what he believed to be true, not only true, but important for justice, despite misunderstanding, ridicule, name-calling, and marginalization.</div>
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He communicated what he believed to be true at the very point when and where it matters most.</div>
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I am going to add <a href="http://www.twf.org/bio/Barrett.html" style="color: #2db1e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dr. Kevin Barrett</a> to my list of the most important Muslim scholars of our time as well for the very same reason. Sacrifice.</div>
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He communicated what he believed to be true at the very point when and where it matters most. He did so at great risk to himself and at great loss.</div>
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That is the type of sacrifice that is in the spirit of Jesus and Hussain (peace be upon them both).</div>
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That is what I want to leave with you my dear beloveds at Southminster.</div>
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Hold to your truth.</div>
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Hold fast to your truth.</div>
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Whatever that truth is, don’t let it go for the sake of acceptance by others.<br />No relationship that requires you to deny your truth is worth keeping.</div>
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Do know that if you do hold fast to what you know is true,<br />and this <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/2018/04/my-war-protest-truth-is-in-order-to.html" style="color: #2db1e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">truth is in order to goodness</a>,<br />it will at some point require sacrifice.</div>
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But if it is true and good, it will last.<br />It will resurrect beyond death.<br />It will live and save.<br />In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said:</div>
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If you bring forth what is within you,<br />What you bring forth will save you.<br />If you do not bring forth what is within you,<br />What you do not bring forth will kill you.</div>
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In other words if you bring forth your truth,<br />that truth will save you.<br />If you do not bring forth your truth,<br />that truth will destroy you.</div>
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So in answer to the question of the boy who asked me on Friday if I am a Muslim.<br />I will leave that for God to judge whether or not I am worthy to be called a Muslim.</div>
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For my part, I will trust the brotherhood of Jesus and Hussain as bringers of Divine Values.<br />May we all embrace these values regardless of our religion.</div>
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In terms of a blessing, this is for you, Southminster.</div>
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It is from John O’Donohue’s book, To Bless the Space Between Us.<br />It is called A Blessing of Angels.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angels in their beauty bless you.</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May they turn toward you streams of blessing.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Awakening stir your heart</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to come alive to the eternal within you,</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to all the invitations that quietly surround you.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Healing turn your wounds into</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sources of refreshment.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of the Imagination enable you to stand on the true thresholds,</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">at ease with your ambivalence and drawn in new directions</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">through the glow of your contradictions.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Compassion open your eyes</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to the unseen suffering around you.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Wildness disturb the places</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">where your life is domesticated and safe,</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">take you to the territories of true otherness</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">where all that is awkward in you can fall into its own rhythm.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Eros introduce you to the beauty of your senses</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to celebrate your inheritance as a temple of the holy spirit.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Justice disturb you to take</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the side of the poor and the wronged.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Encouragement confirm you in worth and self-respect,</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">that you may live with the dignity that presides in your soul.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May the Angel of Death arrive only when your life is complete</em><br /><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and you have brought every given gift to the threshold where its infinity can shine.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May all the Angels be your sheltering and joyful guardians.</em></div>
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Amen.</div>
John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-1345746348921607442019-10-13T08:27:00.002-07:002019-10-13T08:30:58.144-07:00Transcript of "For Love of Hussain (a.s.)"I decided to post the transcript of our film, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vovB33NRtw">For Love of Hussain</a> for the public. If any wishes to translate it into Arabic or Persian, that would be awesome. I will leave it to you. This is the full transcript with credits and the words of each speaker as well as those of the narrator, me. <br />
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God bless all who are making the visitation to Imam Hussain (peace be upon him).<br />
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The Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle<o:p></o:p></div>
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Presents<o:p></o:p></div>
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For Love of Hussain (A.S.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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An Independent Film by John Shuck and Josh Townsley<o:p></o:p></div>
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My name is John Shuck and I am a Presbyterian pastor from Portland Oregon. In October 2018, I visited one of the holiest cities on planet Earth, Karbala, Iraq. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Of about 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, 400 million are Shia. About 700 thousand Shia live in the United States. There are about a half dozen <span lang="FR">mosques</span> or masjids in the Portland metro. Only one of them is a Shia masjid. It is the only Shia masjid in Oregon. It is across the street from the congregation I serve on Denney and Hall in Beaverton. It is called the Islamic Center of Portland, the Imam Mahdi Center. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I went to Iraq and learned more about my neighbors across the street.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My way and the way of my cameraman, Josh Townsley, was paid by the Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle. We went for Arbaeen, the largest annual peaceful gathering of humans in the world. Josh and I went with a tour group, Caravan 72, led by Mohammad Baig out of Los Angeles. We went along with about fifty other Shia pilgrims from the United States to visit shrines in Iraq including the shrine of Imam Hussain (alyahi salaam), the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), and the shrine of Imam Hussain’s half-brother, Abbas, in the holy city of Karbala.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I was asked to go because I am a Christian pastor and because I have interest in interfaith work and in particular, justice issues, large justice issues, war and peace issues, such as the so-called “war on terror” or perhaps more accurately, the war of terror that is being in inflicted by the United States, Israel, and the Saudis in the Middle East. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Also for me, this was a spiritual journey. I was moved by the story of Hussain and by those who follow him. I wanted to be inspired by his courage. You can read all about my quest for truth and my radical ideas, and I have them, on my blog, radio show, and social media, but that isn’t what this is about. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is about a movement. Arbaeen is the largest annual peaceful human gathering in the world. Most people in America don’t even know about it. I didn’t until I was invited to attend earlier in 2018. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This tour group is like any spiritual tour group to a holy place. In this case Shia Muslims from all over the United States visit holy sites in Iraq and some went on a continuation of the tour to Iran. We stayed in a hotel in Karbala for most of the time and then in another hotel in Najaf. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Josh and I spent our time with the tour group, participating in their programs, going to the sites, including Karbala, Najaf, Baghdad, and Samarrah.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And of course, going on the walk, a fifty mile walk over 2 and 1/2 days from Najaf to Karbala. We spent two nights on the road, one night at the Iranian Media Center and another at the Bab Husayn Mawkib. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Visiting Iraq is not dangerous even as the state department says that Americans are not supposed to go to Iraq. I never felt safer. Josh and I walked around Karbala by ourselves. We did the 50 mile walk by ourselves. We were embraced. Many people took selfies with us. We were even the object of media attention when it was discovered that a Christian pastor from America was making a film about his trip to Arbaeen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So who is Hussain and what is Arbaeen?<o:p></o:p></div>
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What I heard most often was that Hussain saved Islam. All Muslims know this. Both Sunni and Shia honor Hussain. Shortly after the death of the Prophet, a corrupt politician, Yazid, claimed control of Islam and demanded that the grandson of the Prophet, Hussain, bow to Yazid’s authority. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Hussain refused as a matter of conscience. On the plains of Karbala, Iraq, Yazid and his army of 30,000 surrounded Hussain and his family and his 72 companions, demanding Hussain’s allegiance in exchange for his life. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Hussain refused. A slaughter resulted. It was a battle of truth versus falsehood, good versus evil, right versus might. The incredible cruelty of Yazid and the transcendent bravery of Hussain is recounted every year with deep mourning and conviction. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The women and children were taken prisoner and forced to walk to what is now modern day, Damascus, Syria. There Hussain’s sister, Zaynab, bravely recounted the cruelty of Yazid and the bravery of Hussain and kept the truth alive. There is a saying that the movement ended with Imam Hussain but continued with Zaynab.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yazid ordered the family to leave Damascus. On their way home to Medina, Zaynab asked to return to Karbala to visit the site of the battle. They arrived on the 40<sup>th</sup> day after Ashura, the day of the battle. Arbaeen means 40<sup>th</sup>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It has only been in the last few years, since the fall of Saddam Hussain, that millions of people have come to visit their Imam. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Sheikh Ramadhan Mufakkir<o:p></o:p></div>
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Najaf Seminary, Najaf, Iraq<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sheikh Ramadan:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i>Our gathering that you see of millions actually started after the demise of Saddam. Why? Because the Shias have been oppressed throughout centuries. They have been oppressed. In the time of Saddam if anyone was found walking towards the imam they would be killed. And many scholars were killed through that. So the Shias they saw that opportunity now. Now we are free. Now we are able to go to our imam freely.<b> </b>Because of this, people they take on that burden and that hardship of walking towards the imam because of that love, to show that now we are free. Now we can express that love toward Imam Hussain.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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During the time of Saddam the walk was illegal. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy<o:p></o:p></div>
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Imam Mahdi Center, Portland, Oregon<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy:</i></b><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Actually there was kind of local uprising in Najaf back in 1977 when the government, the Baath government decided not to allow anyone to leave Najaf. But a group of young people they challenged that and they run toward Karbala. And Saddam Hussain brought big brigades and many part of the Iraqi army to block the roads and they arrested thousands of people. Actually myself I was arrested in that event and we spent many days in prison and they killed some people and tried to scare people off. Because they considered that a real challenge to their authority. That is when they started not to allow people to walk. But that did not stop people to go walking but it wasn’t such a public event. People would sneak in the night. Or people would not go on the main road, that is what you witnessed between Karbala and Najaf. They would go through the rural areas so the government would not detect them. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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But now people come from over 60 countries, some walking hundreds of miles.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sheikh Molana Mohammad Baig<o:p></o:p></div>
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Caravan 72, Los Angeles, California<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sheikh Molana Mohammad Baig:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i>This walk that is happening right now is a new phenomenon. It didn’t start by any planning. No one planned it. It’s just that after years of subjugation under Saddam, people were not even allowed to mourn and cry. No one was allowed to come here even to show their love. After years of subjugation, when freedom was found, it just happened that when Arbaeen came around people just felt that you know, I’m just going to go. They left their homes and started walking. They didn’t want to take the bus or anything. They just started walking. How would one understand it? For example, a crass example, Forrest Gump just starts running. There’s no reason. He just felt like it. You feel like it. I want to do this. The passion came and you just walked. And you just came and then it just grew from there. It grew. So it is something that is new. And it is just naturally there. There is no one who made the plan, you know what this is written in religion that we have to do this. It wasn’t like that. It just came about. And how it came about the wisdom, what’s the divine intervention in that, I don’t know. no one knows yet. We are still trying to figure it out. But all we know is that we are involved in the passion of the moment, that’s it. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The walk to Arbaeen is a time of mourning. The entire walk is constant prayer. Poetry that recounts the sacrifice of Hussain for Islam and for all humanity is recited in Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and many other languages. Often this mourning includes a rhythmic beating the chest called matam.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Mohammad Baig: <o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<i>Right from the start there is truth and there is falsehood. Imam Hussain is the same thing. He stood for truth. There is truth in him. Then there is falsehood out there. This truth and falsehood they come and meet. Falsehood on that day of Ashura, the army there on Ashura, when they killed Imam Hussain and they captured his family, they started beating drums of victory. They proclaimed to the world that they won and Hussain has lost. That was more hurtful for the family of Hussein than even his death. The fact that they proclaimed victory and beat the drums of victory. But divine decree would have it such that after that day until the day of judgment that drums of victory are going to beat. These are the drums of victory of Hussein. We are claiming to the world that truth has won. And we are making noise so that the whole world can listen to that noise and that beat and know that this is Truth that will always win. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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All along the road between Najaf and Karbala are mawkibs. They provide rest, relaxation, food, and my favorite, Iraqi chai, strong and sweet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The people of Iraq are the hosts. They save up for the year to provide comfort and hospitality to those who are visiting Imam Hussain. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On the first night we stayed at the Iranian Media Center. Two people gave up their cots for us. We spoke with Iranian film-maker, Ali Afshar. He told the story of Ali Asghar, the six-month child of Imam Hussain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ali Afshar<o:p></o:p></div>
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Documentary Film-Maker, Iran<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Ali Afshar:<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<i>The six-month boy was the son of Imam Hussain, with the name of Ali Asghar. In the battle on the day of Ashura, Imam Hussain told the enemies and put Ali Asghar like this... And told the enemies, “He is six months. He is thirsty. If you have war with us, he is children. What happened? Someone put an [arrow] to Ali Asghar’s neck and killed him. Simple. In these days, you can see this same killing like this story where? In Israel. In Yemen. In Syria. Some years ago in Iraq. Here. Near in this road. We can find something with this story. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Justice. That is the main takeaway from all of this. The courage to stand with the oppressed against the powerful. Take a stand for truth. Take a stand for justice. That stand requires sacrifice. That is the essence of Imam Hussain (alayhi salaam) and true Islam. And true humanity. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On the walk between Najaf and Karbala are pillars every fifty meters. On each pillar is a poster of a martyr, a young man who lost his life fighting ISIS. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Sheikh Ramadhan Mufakkir</i></b><i> On the poles from pole number one to pole number one thousand four hundred, we see pictures of martyrs, we call (Arabic). These are actually people, regular people not army trained, actually rose up when they heard the verdict to go to defend Islam…. Those pictures are innocent young kids who have left behind wives, left behind kids, and they rose up so they could go and defend the shrines of the imam. They can defend their country. They gave up their lives so that we are able today to come visit the Imam, able to go to Karbala, be able to go to Samarra…. Sheikh Hani is like one of the bravest guys I have met. I met Sheikh Hani from 2013. He actually was one of my Arabic grammar teachers. Very brave. He always had a problem with Wahabbis. He is from an area in Baghdad where a lot of his family members were killed through explosions. So he always had this bravery of always going and fighting these enemies. So when had the opportunity to go and fight he didn’t look back. He told us in class that you know what, I am leaving tomorrow and I will not come back. I remember seeing him three days before he died. I saw him and Sopana Allah, I saw him and we hugged and he said I am going back and he never came back. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This 50 mile walk from Najaf to Karbala is not easy. It is wall to wall people in the desert heat. But walking does offer time for reflection. It was important to me to do the walk, even more so than to make a movie. This was a spiritual visit for me. I am glad I made the choice to do the walk rather than focus on making a movie about the walk. It gave me the opportunity for self-reflection. What is my life about? Where do I stand? For whom do I speak?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I met a man from India. And we walked together for about 90 minutes. I don’t remember his name but we talked about everything from religion to politics to life. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to have conversations about things that matter with someone from the other side of the world. It was one of many gifts I received. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Naveed Hamza <o:p></o:p></div>
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Dallas Texas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Naveed Hamza: </i></b><i> As we have been making this walk, continuously we have been thinking or looking around that everyone is walking in one direction towards Karbala and Imam Hussain. I think it is symbolic and metaphorical that even in our lives, the duration that we are in this world, we all need to be walking in one direction. In our belief it is to be free of this world, to be with Imam Hussain and the Ahlulbayt and all the prophets, to be with God. The way to do that is to have that singular focus in one direction towards the Truth. In the Qur’an it says to be on the right path, be on the righteous path. That is what this feels like we are on. The righteous path. Everyone is moving in the same direction. Everyone has this dedication. Everyone has this intense love for Imam Hussain. Drawing them all—we saw young and old, people who can’t walk. Those who don’t have shoes. It doesn’t matter. There is some kind love that is drawing them in.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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On the second night we stayed at the Bab Husayn Mawkib. Again, two people gave up their mats for us. This is a huge mawkib with sleeping accommodations for 4500 people. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Karbala, Iraq, is not a wealthy city. The electricity goes off and on. The water is bottled. Yet the city receives 15 million people during a two-week period.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Sheikh Ramadhan Mufakkir: </i></b> <i>You know when the companions of Jesus came to him and they wanted to see a sign. And they said, “Show us a sign.” The sign was a table spread, the last supper we call it. From a piece of bread he was able to feed, how many people. We see it here the same thing. The people here throughout the year don’t got nothing. And even myself, I ask myself this question: When it comes to Arbaeen how can these people host 40 million, 30 million? Like you said the sewage is bad, the roads are bad, the infrastructure is bad. But you will see that in this walk, this week or two weeks of people coming here, you will see that everything is free. They give their houses. Everything little thing that they got they give it. How? It is a miracle from God. Something that is unexplainable just like the table spread. This is something that goes in my head every time. How many animals they kill. How much food they give. How much water they give. And you will see after Arbaeen, they go back to suffering. But when it comes to Arbaeen, it’s like, you would think that every body in Iraq is rich.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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You don’t make the visitation, the ziyarat, without an invitation. It is important that the Imam invites you and the Imam grants permission. So all of the visitors, all 15 million plus, are believed to have been invited. No visitor is unwelcome. No visitor is anything less than a blessed beloved of Allah. Of course, you feed them. Of course, you shelter them. Of course, you care for their needs. You love them, because they are on a divine mission, a sacred journey, in which they will be blessed, be a blessing to the world, and you will have a part in that, not because there is anything extra special about you, but because, Insha-Allah. You do it for the love of Hussain (alayhi s-salaam). The people of Iraq know this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Whether you are making the ziyarat or serving those who do, it is a divine interplay, a unchoreographed dance of love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But lest we get caught up in the romance of it, let us remember who is this Imam who invites visitors from all over the entire world. Imam Hussain (alayhi s-salaam) refused to submit to the authority of Yazid, who he believed to be unjust. Hussain refused to allow Islam to be directed by tyrants with small minds and large greed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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His brutal slaughter and the slaughter of his 72 companions on the plains of Karbala 1400 years ago was a tragedy—a tragedy of cosmic significance. But it was something else. It is a victory. It is a tragedy that repeats itself all over the world and it is a victory in the hearts of those who will not allow that tragedy to be the final word on the matter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The invitation to visit Hussain (alayhi s-salaam), is the invitation from his own lips. As the battle ended, and Hussain faced his own end, he called out to the world, to future generations, “Is there anyone who will help me?” The response is from any in the world, regardless of religion, or culture or language, “Labbayk ya Husayn.” “Here I am, Husayn.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Group chants:</i></b> Labbayk Ya Hussain! Labbayk Ya Hussain! Labbayk Ya Hussain!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Three men chant</i></b>: Labbayk Ya Hussain!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Man: <o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<i>“Hussain is the name of justice. Hussain is the name of sacrifice. Hussain is the name of braveness. Hussain is our symbol. Hussain is our passion. Hussain is our love” <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Labbayk Ya Hussain, Here I am Hussain, can mean so many things in a world that is soaked in the blood of injustice. It can mean that I will bear witness to what I think is true, what I think is just, what I think is good, even if it means I will have to give up my own life. I will fight the Yazids of the world on behalf of the poor even if the odds are 30,000 to 72. Insha-Allah.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hanan Al-Zubaidy<o:p></o:p></div>
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Portland, Oregon<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Hanan Al-Zubaidy:</i></b><i> There is a phrase that we hear as we grow up in this that every day is Ashura and every land is Karbala and I think that is a powerful reminder for how timeless this story actually is. It is reminding us that every day is Ashura. Ashura being the day that Imam Hussein was killed. Every single day there are people losing their lives or facing oppression one way or another. And every land is Karbala means every where in the world, even here in Portland and in the United States and in the developed countries there is oppression happening every where and in every single generation. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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I don’t want to leave with a false impression. I was embraced, but that should not be mistaken for “it’s all good.” It is not all good. The United States has rained destruction and death on Iraq. Millions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Palestine have died and are still dying because of the United States and its misguided foreign policy and its support of Saudi Arabia and Israel. War drums continue to beat against Iran, for no good reason. I came as an ambassador. I hope others will come. I hope American media will come. I hope other Christian pastors will come. Come and see. See what is happening, talk with real people, and be advocates of true peace, peace that comes from justice. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The most emotional moment for me was when I was able to swim through the bodies to touch the lattice work that is above the grave of Imam Hussein (alayhi salaam). I couldn’t quite reach it. A hand took mine and pushed it against the lattice work. I looked at the person who helped me and I felt a surge of emotion. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It was as if Imam Hussain (alayhi salaam) was calling me to give myself for truth. I am a Christian. I am a Christian pastor. But because of my encounter with Imam Hussain (alayhi salaam) I have received a renewed faith in the work of Jesus and Hussain (peace be upon them both) for justice and truth. Jesus and Hussein are brothers. They are one. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If the human race is going to survive, we all must be one. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For Love of Hussain (A.S.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Presented by<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle<o:p></o:p></div>
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Directed by<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Shuck and Josh Townsley<o:p></o:p></div>
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Filming and Editing: Josh Townsley<o:p></o:p></div>
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Interviews, Script and Narration: John Shuck<o:p></o:p></div>
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Featuring:<br />
Sheikh Ramadhan Mufakkir<o:p></o:p></div>
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Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sheikh Molana Mohammad Baig<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ali Afshar<o:p></o:p></div>
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Naveed Hamza<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hanan Al-Zubaidy<o:p></o:p></div>
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Special thanks to:<br />
Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle<o:p></o:p></div>
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Caravan 72<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fourteen Panorama Hotel<o:p></o:p></div>
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Imam Hussain Shrine<o:p></o:p></div>
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Iranian Media Center<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bab Husayn Mawkib<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-47767855892520754372019-10-11T14:10:00.000-07:002019-10-11T14:28:40.580-07:00Protests in Iraq: Saving the Iraqi PeopleFor the past week I have been receiving messages and comments with pictures and videos and hashtags “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/save_the_iraqi_people?hc_location=ufi">Save the Iraqi People</a>.”<br />
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I am not sure what to make of this. Some of the comments on my Facebook page have been aggressive and accusatory because according to some I have not done my part to support the demonstrators and their cause.<br />
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It is true. I have been hesitant to support the cause especially as I do not know what the cause is, what the goals are, who the participants are, and how I can best support truth, justice, and peace in this case. All I know is that a lot of people have died and many more have been injured. I am certain that most if not all of those who have died and who have suffered are innocent people and righteous sufferers. I am distressed over that. There is not much I can do from my laptop in America except to express my sorrow, offer my prayers for justice and peace for Iraq, and offer some of my thoughts regarding all of this.<br />
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Let’s break this down.<br />
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I trust absolutely no one. It is nothing personal. It is just that my Facebook page of 5,000 friends and 8,000 followers is teeming, swarming, and infested with agents. These agents represent intelligence agencies from the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other places as well. I have no idea who is or who is not an agent. Not only that, but even those who are not agents are subject to disinformation and deception. This goes for me. It goes for you. I do not trust any picture or any video from anyone. It doesn’t mean I think the images are deceptive. I cannot know. I don’t know the context. I am not there. I can’t speak the language. I do not know what is happening. I know nothing. I don’t know who is doing what to whom. Even if I did, I don’t know what to do about it.<br />
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When I receive these memes with hashtags to “Save the Iraqi People” I have no idea what to do about that. I could blindly pass it on in the hopes that someone somewhere will save the Iraqi people. I know it won’t be me. I cannot save the Iraqi people. As much as I love the Iraqi people and have been embraced by them since I went to Iraq for Arba’een last year, and as much as I sympathize and empathize, I cannot save you. I don’t think anyone with whom I would share the meme will save you either. That is the point.<br />
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It isn’t that the message isn’t out. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/opinion/iraq-protests.html">The New York Times got the message</a>. They know that Iraqis are protesting and dying. Some are salivating over it. It is a great opportunity for the opportunistic to take a bite out of what is left of Iraq and seek to isolate Iran.<br />
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The harsh truth for the United States is that Baghdad is too dependent on Tehran and cannot manage without Iranian natural gas and other products that meet its day-to-day needs. Iraq’s annual trade with Iran is $12 billion while American exports to Iraq are a mere $1.3 billion. </blockquote>
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Washington can help reduce this dependence and reinforce Iraqi sovereignty by enabling Baghdad to build stronger relations with countries that can provide alternatives. This can take the form of a road map to energy independence involving facilitating strategic dialogues on shared energy grids and new pipeline connections with the Gulf states and Jordan.</blockquote>
What is this meme, "Save the Iraqi People" intended to accomplish? Whose help is being sought?<br />
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Is the request for me to tell my congressperson to send more US military to Iraq? Should my president, Donald J. Trump fire some missiles into Baghdad? Will that save the Iraqi people? That is how America saves. That is how we “saved” Libya. That is how we “saved” Syria. That is how we “saved” Iraq already on more than one occasion. If we don’t blow up countries ourselves we arm and train mercenary terrorists (ISIS by whatever name) to do it.<br />
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If you want an outside government to save you, America (or any Western/NATO country) is not a wise choice. You would do better to pray to Satan. We are Shiva, destroyer of worlds. Honestly, if you want an outside government to save you, I would start sending those tweets, hashtags, and memes in Persian. Regardless of the bad blood between Iraq and Iran, Iran is 1,000 times more likely to be a better ally to Iraq than Israel’s pet, the United States. <br />
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Remember America armed and funded both sides in the Iran/Iraq War and America <a href="http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/51/217.html">put Saddam in power</a> before taking him out over the course of several decades, killing two million Iraqis and poisoning the entire country with depleted uranium for good measure. The Israeli/American neocons want to mix it up with Iran next. They are loving this death and destruction and the meme to “save the Iraqi people” and to divide Iraq from Iran at Arba’een. They would love to save Iraq by turning it into <a href="https://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east/5324815">Greater Israel</a>.<br />
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It would not shock me in the least to discover that the current Iraqi government is infiltrated with U.S. and Israeli agents shooting at innocent Iraqis. Not only that but Israel likely employs a lot of sharpshooters who speak Farsi so that Iraqis will blame Iran. Who benefits from violence against Iraq? Not Iran.<br />
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In terms of what to do about your government, I certainly don’t know, and in my opinion, nor does any honest person in America. Our own government is in shambles. How could anyone in America know any more or love the Iraqis any more than <a href="http://imamhussain.org/english/gleamsoffriday/26938">Ayatollah Sistani</a>? <br />
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The office of the Shia Muslim Supreme Religious Authority already suggested — on August 7, 2015 — that the relevant authorities should form a committee comprised of well-known and highly-qualified figures, whom the Iraqis trust, and such figures should be from outside the realm of the government. The committee has to be tasked with initiating the prerequisites to combating corruption and achieving reform, and it should work side by side with the representatives of the demonstrations in order to listen to the demands of the Iraqi people and their perspectives. And after the committee has finished initiating the prerequisites — whether legislative, executive, or judicial — all the prerequisites must come into effect immediately. This was the suggestion the government didn’t act upon, but it could perhaps be an appropriate solution to the current crisis.</blockquote>
I empathize with you. I can’t save you. No one in America can. You will have to save yourselves. Perhaps your inspiration for that will be found in Karbala.<br />
<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-24329844501967606202019-10-06T23:00:00.000-07:002019-10-06T23:00:16.020-07:00Expanding the Heart<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<i>These are the notes from a speech I gave at the Hussain Day Conference in Somerset, New Jersey at the <a href="http://masjid-e-ali.org/">Masjid-E-Ali Mosque</a>. The conference was entitled, "Rise Above Hate."</i></div>
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<i>It was sponsored by <a href="http://payameaman.org/">Payam-e-Aman</a> and <a href="https://standwithdignity.org/">Stand With Dignity</a>. </i></div>
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Last year I had the opportunity of a lifetime. I don’t say that lightly. It is an experience that will stay with me for my lifetime, insha’Allah. I visited the shrine of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him) in Karbala, Iraq during Arba’een, the largest annual peaceful human gathering in the world. Estimates range from a low of 15 million to upwards of 30 million people who make the journey to Karbala every year. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My friend and I made a film about it. You can find it on YouTube, <a href="https://youtu.be/8vovB33NRtw">“For Love of Hussain.”</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
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The trip was sponsored by <a href="https://husayniah.com/">The Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle</a>. Sister Zahra Abidi has a <a href="https://husayniah.com/mission/">vision</a> for a Hussain Revolution in the United States that includes bringing people together to discuss important things, sometimes controversial things, but things that matter not only to Muslims but to all human beings. That is how I met her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In addition to being a pastor <a href="https://kboo.fm/profiles/john-shuck">I host a radio show on KBOO</a>, a community radio station in Portland. I moderated a panel discussion regarding the war against Yemen at Portland State University in February 2018. It was entitled <a href="http://rootsofconflict1.blogspot.com/2018/02/report-on-february-3rd-2018-conference-u.html">“The US – Saudi Coalition: Bringing Peace or War?” </a><o:p></o:p></div>
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It was in the follow-up of that conference during an email exchange that I first heard of Hussain. He was referenced in regards to the panelists, all of whom had taken risks, and had sacrificed in varying ways for their work in bring truth to light. Each of the panelists was a truth-teller. They told inconvenient truths about the powers that be. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That is how I was introduced to Imam Hussain (Peace Be Upon Him). He was a truth-teller and was martyred for embodying the truth. I knew nothing else about him except that. I wanted to learn more. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Sending Christians and Sunni Muslims to Iraq for Arba’een is one of the things Sister Zahra and the Husayniah Society of Seattle does. I am happy to support her good work. <a href="https://husayniah.com/husayniah-property/">They have just purchased property</a> in the north of Seattle, in hopes, insh’Allah, of creating a center. I am sure she would love to talk with you about it and hear your encouragement. You can visit their website. Search Husayniah Seattle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle paid for the trip for my friend, Josh, and me. Josh has done some filming. So we went to make an amateur documentary. It was more than that for me. This was timely in my life. It was a search, you could say. I have been experiencing I guess you could say a spiritual growth spurt. Maybe it is a mid-life crisis. I have discovered the need in my own life to search more deeply about what is really going on in our world and what are the forces at work and to what paths we are being led. I realize I cannot trust our traditional sources of information, especially the mainstream media to do that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am discovering that these forces are dark forces as the title of this conference indicates. Rise Above Hate. What is hate? How do we rise above it? <o:p></o:p></div>
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I didn’t go To Arba’een for healing. I didn’t go for intercession. I didn’t go for forgiveness of sins. I didn’t go for mourning. I didn’t know people went for all those reasons until I went there and started talking with people. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I went because I wanted to see this person and why so many were attracted to him. I wanted to see the person whose life was so pure, that he gave it to save his grandfather’s faith. I wanted to visit the person who didn’t compromise his principles. I wanted to see the person who might inspire me in some way to find courage and character for whatever it is that Allah is calling me to do. I wanted to see the person who in his life and in his death rose above hate and showed us all how to do it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some Muslims I have met are curious as to whether I have converted or reverted to Islam. I don’t know how to answer that exactly. I like to think that my faith has expanded. I have a heart for Jesus (peace be upon him) and I always will, insh’Allah. But I also have a heart for Hussain (peace be upon him) and a heart for Mohammad (peace be upon him and his progeny). Being introduced to Hussain and the Prophet and his family and the Islamic faith in loving ways by loving people has expanded my heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You really cannot have an interfaith interaction and expect not to be changed in important ways. Unless we are vulnerable enough to have our hearts touched by another, it is not really an interaction. It is just us trying to convince others of our position. It is just a sales pitch.<br /><br />I cannot worry about whether or not others are changed by what I say. That is up to God. I want my heart expanded by others—by you. Or to put it more accurately, to have God expand my heart through you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That has happened a great deal in this past year in all my interactions with Muslims through the <a href="https://icop.org/">Islamic Center across the street from my church in Portland</a> and with the Husayniah Society in Seattle as I mentioned, through my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/john.shuck.58">on-line</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/johnandrewshuck">interactions</a>, through the generous opportunity to attend conferences, through the helpful resources in which I am slowly beginning to learn more about Karbala, through reflection, through my ministry in <a href="https://www.southmin.org/">my church</a>, and, of course, through the opportunity I was given to visit the holy sites in Iraq. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That is what I think it means to “rise above hate.” It means to have one’s own heart expanded. Let me explain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Love expands the heart. Hate shrinks the heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You know the book and movie, “The Grinch who Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss? The Grinch’s heart was three sizes too small, remember? He hated the Whos in Whoville. Then, by a miracle, his heart expanded. He met a Who, Cindy Lou Who, who showed him kindness and he saw what the Whos really loved and valued, what the birth of Jesus (peace be upon him) meant, not things, but generosity, and the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometimes the simplest children’s stories tell the most profound truths.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We cannot stop hate by hating the haters. We cannot just expand someone else’s heart. Hate takes a long time to shrink a heart. What does it take to shrink a heart with hate? It takes isolation. It takes hurt. It takes ignorance. It takes fear. It takes prejudice. It takes suspicion. It takes rejection. It takes anger. It takes envy. It takes greed. It takes acceptance of falsehood. It takes abuse. It takes oppression. It takes time to allow hate to shrink our hearts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Hate is out there. <a href="https://www.southmin.org/multimedia-archive/why-we-cant-let-go-of-our-legions/">We can find it in our institutions in our governments</a>. They can be overtaken. In my tradition, we call this force the <a href="https://off-guardian.org/2019/01/06/review-david-ray-griffin-the-american-trajectory-divine-or-demonic/">demonic</a>. It can take over a whole nation. The demonic does not work for the good of the world or the people or its creatures. It works to divide us, to shrink our hearts with hate. The demonic works in secret. It works in the dark. It works with deception. It works with lies. It works with marketing. There are forces at work in the world that want to shrink our individual hearts and our collective heart as a people. So we live in suspicion and fear and become docile to these forces.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Any of us, all of us, are susceptible to having hate shrink our hearts. Hate is like a toxic weed that grows in the soil of ignorance. Hate is the result of so many complex negative emotions. You can’t convince people or prove to people or sell people on your opinion. You can only actually love. You can only do that by allowing your own heart to be expanded by another.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Rising Above Hate. How do we do that? If hate shrinks our heart, how does love expand our heart?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I should add this: The Latin root word for heart is cor. COR. Where we get the word coronary. We also get the word courage. We think of someone with the heart of a lion, like Hussain’s half-brother <a href="https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/personality">Abbas</a>, as having the heart of a lion, a courageous heart. As your heart expands, as your heart grows with love, you become courageous. <o:p></o:p></div>
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How do we become courageous? How do we expand our hearts? <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Buddha in the <i>Dhammapadda</i> is reported to have said: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Do not consider the faults of others<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Or what they have or haven’t done.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Consider rather<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>What you yourself have or haven’t done.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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We cannot do that if we think we want to stop the hatred of others. We want to stop hate. Therefore we want to stop them, those haters. You can’t just tell people, “You are hateful. Stop it.” It won’t work. We can only allow our own hearts to be expanded.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I am in the Shrine of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him). It is beautiful. The air conditioning is on. It is filled with the sound of prayer. People are crying. Some are standing. Some are sitting. Some are in various positions of prayer. Poetry is being recited from many places. I don’t understand a word of it, except now and then I hear a name I recognize, Ali, Zainab, Abbas, Hossein.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is about a week before Arba’een. <a href="http://caravan72.com/">I am with the tour group</a>. I decide I want to go and touch the big box in the center of the shrine, the lattice work above the grave of Hussain. At first I wasn’t sure if I would do it, or should do it. If it was appropriate. Hussain was not a person in <i>my</i> religion. But I kept hearing all week that Hussain is for everyone. So I decided to go and do it. </div>
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I don’t know what it is like on the women’s side, but on the men’s side, even a week before the day of Arba’een the place is packed. it is a push and pull like ocean waves of bodies. Your feet almost leave the ground. There are so many people. You know where you are headed. And you aim for it. But it is like swimming in the ocean. You don’t need to be aggressive but you need to hold your own. You swim through the bodies, pushed left and right. Finally, I got close enough, almost there. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I should stop again. I was conscious of being different. Different religion. I only speak English. From America. My reddish hair, now reddish-gray, pale skin. Of the thousands of people inside the shrine that day, I was probably the whitest guy in the room. I reach up and put my hand up to touch the lattice work and I can’t reach it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A hand took mine and pushed it up against the grate. It was a brown hand, taking my white hand up against the final resting place of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him). It was a visual imprint in my mind that beyond all color, all race, all religion, all language, the language of love and truth and courage is one. The love of Hussain. Our eyes met. We just looked at each other. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As I swam away, just a few yards away, I saw this man. He stared at me. Tears were streaming down his face. He asked me as many did on my trip, “Where are you from?” I told him, America. He just started bawling. He hugged me and kissed me. I have joked that I never have been kissed by so many men with scratchy beards. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But what is this? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Iraq. A country that felt post-apocalyptic to me. I, like many of us Americans, watched from a distance as our leaders lied us into war, destroyed Iraq, and then ignored its suffering. No one goes there. No one that I know, except my brother-in-law. He is a <a href="https://www.sps.nyu.edu/homepage/academics/faculty-directory/12225-thomas-e-hill.html">professor at NYU</a> and he goes often to the northern part of Iraq because of his work of peacebuilding with the University of Duhok. Besides my brother-in-law and soldiers, I know of no one who had been to Iraq. A country that Americans like me need to visit. A country devastated by the demonic, by lies and wars, by bombs and <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/iraq-depleted-uranium-health-394/">depleted uranium</a>. By hatred from outside powers, mercenary terrorists and puppet tyrants, the people left to fend for themselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The US state department tells Americans not to go to Iraq. Too dangerous. Bad. Whatever. What did I find? I found love. I found tears. I found joy. I found hope. I found my heart had expanded. A Christian American was embraced and shown the love of Hussain (alayhi s-salam).<o:p></o:p></div>
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That is how we rise above hate. We allow ourselves to be vulnerable so our hearts can expand. If you cannot go to Arba’een, then bring Arba’een here. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Courage is the result of an expanded heart. With courage is insight to tell the truth as best you know it when you need to tell it. That is what I try to do now in my ministry and on my Facebook page and radio show, where ever I do my thing. That doesn’t mean I know truth more than others. That doesn’t mean I am not ever wrong. I am wrong often. Courage is admitting it and learning from it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Courage does not mean me selling you my truth. It doesn’t mean that. Hearts do not expand that way. You tell what is true and live what is true and Allah does the rest. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But it does mean that we cannot be afraid of what we know or of what we learn because of the discomfort of truth to us or others or to the powers that deceive. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Nor can we be afraid of exploring and researching in taboo areas. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Exposing the demonic and its lies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That is where the hatred infests.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Nor can we be concerned if people will reject or ridicule or whatever they must do to protect their illusions. Hussain’s sacrifice shattered all illusions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In particular, he shattered an illusion that you fight hate with more hate and that you lead with power and coercion. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Hussain showed the world that you lead not with might but with right. You fight hate with love from an expanded and courageous heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That has always been the way that the true heroes rise above hatred in all its forms.<o:p></o:p></div>
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May we all be heroes in that same spirit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-56350942560304429522019-09-30T11:53:00.001-07:002019-09-30T11:53:54.367-07:00While It Is Still Not Too Late<!-- wp:paragraph --><br />
My sermon from Sunday, September 29th, 2019 at <a href="https://www.southmin.org/">Southminster Presbyterian Church</a>. <a href="https://www.southmin.org/multimedia-archive/while-it-is-still-not-too-late/">Listen to audio here</a>.<br />
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How late is it?<br />
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For me personally, at the age of 58, it is likely too late to fulfill that dream of playing second base for the New York Mets. That dream should be put on the shelf. My seven-year-old nephew, Cooper, can dream that dream, but for me, it is too late.<br />
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The journey of life requires that of us. That is to evaluate what there is still time to do and what must be considered realistically, too late. We may harbor old dreams long past their expiration date. It is healthy to let those dreams go with appropriate mourning and ritual so we can look with clear eyes at what is still yet possible and what dreams fit reality.<br />
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It is not easy to let go of dreams. Those dreams can be so much a part of us that we hold on to them even when evidence of their demise is easy to see. We call that denial.<br />
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Poor Zedekiah, the last king of Judah before its capture by the Babylonians in the 6th century before Christ. He has had a long relationship with Jeremiah. Almost friends I wonder? Their dance goes like this: Zedekiah asks Jeremiah for a word from the Lord. Jeremiah gives it to him. Zedekiah refuses to heed it. Again and again they repeat that pattern.<br />
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When it is too late for anything else, Jeremiah tells him, “Surrender. It is over. Spare your life and your family’s life.” Zedekiah won’t believe it.<br />
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And according to the text we heard this morning, even as the Babylonian army is besieging the city, Zedekiah asks Jeremiah why he is prophesying the end for Judah. It would be almost comical if it weren’t so tragic. Denial to the last. Zedekiah is captured. His family is killed before his eyes. Then his eyes are gouged out and he is taken to Babylon in chains. The last king of Judah.<br />
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Jeremiah does give one more prophecy. But if Zedekiah heard it, we can’t know if it ever held meaning for him. Jeremiah tells the story of the field he bought, complete with a lot of detail regarding the purchase. The prophecy is that land will be purchased in Judah again. Yes, it is hopeful. A hopeful prophecy. But it will not be fulfilled in the lifetime of anyone listening, including Jeremiah. This hope will be realized on the other side of the devastation. That is hope in the midst of reality. A real hope. It is not fake hope, the hope to which Zedekiah clung.<br />
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Some have been showing us that the hour is late for America. I won’t tell you that. I am not as clear of vision as they are nor as brave as Jeremiah. I will just point out that there are those people who say things like that. There is hope for us. Real hope, they say. But it is long past the fake hope of endless happy motoring. That era, they say, will end soon, as the hour is late.<br />
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So what do we do?<br />
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Well, there is a parable for that.<br />
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It is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. But Lazarus doesn’t have much of a part. The real story is about the rich man. Many people don’t like this parable as it conjures up images of hellfire which many of us traumatized in our childhood religion are glad to have left behind.<br />
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In my mind the best interpretation of this parable is by Charles Dickens in his story “A Christmas Carol.” One Christmas Eve awhile back, Ebeneezer Scrooge, the old miser, is visited by three spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, respectively. Scrooge is given a gift that he didn’t deserve. He was able to see his life, past, present, and future.<br />
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The Ghost of Christmas Future, unlike the other two spirits, does not speak. He only shows. The death of the crippled boy, Tim. The celebration of the city over what? The death of Scrooge as he realizes seeing his own tombstone.<br />
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“Are these things that will happen or may happen?” Scrooge asks desperately to the Ghost who doesn’t answer.<br />
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Mercifully, Scrooge awakens, scared witless, but transformed. Much is too late for Scrooge. Too late for the love of his life he traded for greed. Too late for Christmas dinners that he missed with his loved ones. Most of his life is water under the bridge. But he has a little time left. It is not too late for everything. It is not too late for one more Christmas Day spent with joy and generosity.<br />
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Through the lens of Charles Dickens is how I see the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.<br />We might ask,<br />“Is this what really happens when we die?”<br />“Is there really a hell?”<br />“Is there really divine judgment?”<br />“Or is it just a story?”<br />
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Jesus, like the ghost of Christmas future does not answer. He just points to it.<br />
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The parable is not for the dead, of course. It is not for Lazarus or the rich man. The parable is for the living.<br />
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We can dismiss it as the rich man fears his brothers will dismiss what is written by Moses and the Prophets.<br />
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“Send Lazarus back to warn my brothers!” he cries.<br />
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“Even a resurrected dead man won’t convince them,” says Abraham. “What you get is what you get.”<br />
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Here we are today, September 29th, 2019, confronted by two Bible stories, one from Jeremiah and one from Luke. Bible stories that have been in Bibles long before any of us were around. Bible stories translated into hundreds of different languages, commented upon, reflected upon, debated, heard, dismissed, and received.<br />
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What do we do?<br />
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Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached a powerful sermon on this text in 1955. The rich man in Latin is Dives (Dahy-vees) and the King James used Dives as proper name for the rich man. King in his sermon, said Dives’ sin, the rich man’s sin, was not that he was rich, but it was that he refused to bridge the gulf between Lazarus and himself, the gulf now permanent in the afterlife. This is from King:<br />
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“Dives is the white man who refuses to cross the gulf of segregation and lift his Negro brother to the position of first class citizenship, because he thinks segregation is a part of the fixed structure of the universe. Dives is the India Brahman who refuses to bridge the gulf between himself and his brother, because he feels that the gulf which is set forth by the caste system is a final principle of the universe. Dives is the American capitalist who never seeks to bridge the economic gulf between himself and the laborer, because he feels that it is the natural for some to live in inordinate luxury while others live in abject poverty. </blockquote>
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Dives sin was not that he was cruel to Lazarus, but that he refused to bridge the gap of misfortune that existed between them. Dives sin was not his wealth; his wealth was his opportunity. His sin was his refusal to use his wealth to bridge the gulf between the extremes of superfluous, inordinate wealth and abject, deadening poverty.<br />
So when Dives cries to Abraham to send him one drop of water at Lazarus’ hands, Abraham replies: “There is a fixed gulf between you now.” There was a time that Dives could have bridged the gulf. He could have used the engineering power of love to build a bridge of compassion between him and Lazarus. But he refused. Now the gulf is fixed. The gulf is now an impassable gulf. Time has run out. The tragic words, too late, must now be, marked across the history of Dives’ life.</blockquote>
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King finished his sermon by saying that all of us are Dives in one way or another.<br />
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“Each of us is a potential Dives, maybe not rich in material goods, but rich in education, rich in social prestige, rich in influence, rich in charm. At our gate stands some poor Lazarus who has been deprived of all of these. There is a gulf. But the gulf can be bridged by a little love and compassion. Bridge the gulf before it becomes too late. It is now passable. But it can become impassable.”</blockquote>
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<a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/impassable-gulf-parable-dives-and-lazarus-sermon-dexter-avenue-baptist-church">Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached that sermon</a> October 2nd, 1955 at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, 64 years ago this week.<br />
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Nearly 12 years later on April 4th, 1967, in Riverside Church in New York, he preached the sermon that defined his last days, “Beyond Vietnam.” Exactly one year later, April 4th, 1968, he was assassinated. You can tell me whether or not his assassination had anything to do with his Vietnam sermon. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Kill-King-Behind-Assassination-ebook/dp/B01GBUWT4C/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">The King family thinks it does</a>.<br />
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The point is that it was a good sermon King preached in 1955 in Montgomery. Everyone liked it. It was scholarly, contemporary, and inspirational. Take a lesson from Dives before it is too late and bridge the gulf between yourself and those less fortunate than you.<br />
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The sermon he preached in 1967 was not well received. There King preached against the Vietnam War, saying at one point what had happened to the Vietnamese people:<br />
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“They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs. </blockquote>
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So they go, primarily women and children and the aged. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.”</blockquote>
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King called for the end of the war and for young men and women to become conscientious objectors. Near the end of his sermon he said:<br />
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“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood—it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”</blockquote>
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King was vilified, of course, by representatives of the war machine and by the many enemies he had already made over the years in his battle for civil rights. More than that. He lost virtually all support from his friends, colleagues, and supporters in the civil rights movement itself. His last year of life was a lonely year. It was also a year that he felt most alive.<br />
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“I have been to the mountaintop and I have seen the promised land,” he said in his last sermon in Memphis before he was shot and killed.<br />
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King knew his Vietnam sermon would change the course of his life. He knew the risk he was taking speaking against the war machine. He knew what people would say, that he would lose all that he had worked for, lose his support, lose virtually everything. Lose his own life.<br />
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King knew something else. He knew that it was late. He knew that America had not much time, (even less today) to save its soul before it destroys the world. He knew that the hour was late for him. Even at the age of 48, he knew his days were not indefinite. He knew that he had to make a choice. He had to decide what his life was, what his life was worth. He knew that he couldn’t retire on the victories of the Civil Rights Act when the elites were leading the country to hell in Vietnam and beyond.<br />
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He made his choice in his time.<br />
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He took a lesson from the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man.<br />
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Bible stories. That is all they are. Ancient history and parables. Jeremiah and Zedekiah, the rich man and Lazarus. Just Bible stories. For some people that is all they are and ever will be. For others, Like Martin Luther King, they are the summons from Spirit.<br />
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Spirit calling those who would hear that the hour is late.<br />There is not much time.<br />But there is time.<br />Time to end denial and to put on the shelf unrealistic dreams.<br />Time to act on a realistic hope.<br />Time to take inventory of your life and what you value.<br />Time to ask yourself what the rest of your life is for.<br />
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Amen.<br />
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-39904080637552933752019-09-27T15:11:00.001-07:002019-09-27T16:08:30.661-07:00No Longer "Happy to Be a Presbyterian"<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
A few weeks ago I was banned from the Facebook group, “Happy to Be a Presbyterian.” I had been a member for some time, close to its beginning, I think. It has about 11,000 members and I think of it as the social media living room for members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), my denomination that I have served as a minster for 27 years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was informed by one of the moderators that I had broken the group’s rules. I don’t doubt that I broke the rules. I often break rules. But in this case, what rule? What rule was broken? The moderator did not say except that I broke the clear rules. Spelling that out from my point of view will be the point of this post. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I should provide a bit of history about my relationship with my denomination. I am probably one of the most obnoxious ministers in the church. Many people do not like me. For good reason. I made a lot of enemies battling for LGBT rights (ordination, marriage). The same for my support of the Jesus Seminar, Evolution Weekend, and atheist ministers. Of course, I wrote and spoke out against the American Empire and its wars and Israel and its genocide of the Palestinians. I wrote about Peak Oil and the coming collapse of the American way of life (which will likely happen in very short order). <o:p></o:p></div>
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My record is public. You can find all the stuff I have done on my blogs, <a href="https://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/">Shuck and Jive</a> and <a href="https://progressivespirit.net/">Progressive Spirit</a>, and now on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/john.shuck.58">Facebook</a> (even as I despise it). You can even read or hear <a href="http://sermonandjive.blogspot.com/">nearly all my sermons</a> including those I have <a href="https://www.southmin.org/multimedia/">preached at my current church</a>. Speaking of my current church, waters are again rough as you can hear by my most <a href="https://www.southmin.org/multimedia-archive/tears-with-friends/">recent sermon</a> and read in <a href="https://mailchi.mp/a0afc6387690/monday-morning-september-22-2019?e=9d2cd18892">my most recent missive</a> to the congregation. My days as a Presbyterian minister in a pulpit are likely numbered. <o:p></o:p></div>
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These days I write, speak and post against Islamophobia and in particular anti-Shiism, and have found renewed faith in God through my exposure to the person of Imam Hussain (a.s.) after having journeyed to Karbala. Let’s be clear. My theology like my politics are independent. I will not be owned by any gatekeeper of any religion, political party or movement. I care about two things—Truth and Goodness. I affirm this old Presbyterian principle:</div>
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<i>“That truth is in order to goodness; and the great touchstone of truth, its tendency to promote holiness, according to our Savior’s rule, ‘By their fruits ye shall know them.’ And that no opinion can either be more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level, and represents it as of no consequence what a person’s opinions are. On the contrary, we are persuaded that there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty. Otherwise it would be of no consequence either to discover truth or to embrace it.” (F-3.0104)</i></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSu51fxcIuRuaH2kZAi4xueCZlte7jdKSL1xlMlor8HqhcVDGxGDpw9Omhm9A_CSx9Fwkuwe-30mL0f4puP4eK9vgVXj78tZXpVdOMO3o3lB8GfaqwkKEgTFicC-udZDD0QFLFpQ/s1600/DaxDpCyUQAEnJeb.jpg-large.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSu51fxcIuRuaH2kZAi4xueCZlte7jdKSL1xlMlor8HqhcVDGxGDpw9Omhm9A_CSx9Fwkuwe-30mL0f4puP4eK9vgVXj78tZXpVdOMO3o3lB8GfaqwkKEgTFicC-udZDD0QFLFpQ/s320/DaxDpCyUQAEnJeb.jpg-large.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>
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With that, let’s go back to what happened at “Happy to Be a Presbyterian”. I posted <a href="https://www.ae911truth.org/wtc7">this link</a>. This was a link to a study completed by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks regarding the collapse of World Trade Center Tower 7 on September 11<sup>th</sup>, 2001. The <a href="http://ine.uaf.edu/wtc7">study concluded</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“…that fire did not cause the collapse of WTC 7 on 9/11, contrary to the conclusions of NIST and private engineering firms that studied the collapse. The secondary conclusion of our study is that the collapse of WTC 7 was a global failure involving the near-simultaneous failure of every column in the building.”</i></blockquote>
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Within 38 minutes my post was removed. I posted it again. It was removed again almost immediately. I messaged the three moderators asking them if they removed it. Each said no. One even suggested that Facebook might have removed it. After messaging the moderators, I posted the link to the study for the third time. It was again removed immediately. I wrote another piece (without the link to the study this time) saying what just happened with my suspicion that Facebook removed the post (they have done that before). A spirited conversation resulted with many people commenting.<br />
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Finally, in the course of the conversation, a fourth moderator emerged and said he removed the post. I told him it would be nice in the future to let me know when that happens. In the course of responding to comments on this post, I once again linked to the study. In short order, the comments were frozen. The fourth moderator messaged me that he froze comments and and that my link to the study was again removed. That was the fourth removal of the link to the study. In my messages with him, he said he closed comments because the conversation was “not productive” and he removed links to the study because it “was not scientific.” He decided that for 11,000 members of the group. I told him he was working for dark forces by his actions. I complained to the other three moderators about him. I was then told I was banned. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What rule did I break? <o:p></o:p></div>
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It wasn’t that I posted something political. Political stuff is posted there often, including previously by me. Maybe my post doesn't concern Presbyterians? It concerns everyone. A Presbyterian touchstone is speaking truth to power. Maybe I am just obnoxious. Maybe they didn't like that I protested the deletion rather than just accept it. I am sure people will say all of those things are rules I have broken. Whatever.<br />
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Here is what I think. I am a member of <a href="http://rl911truth.org/">Religious Leaders for 9/11 Truth</a> and have been for nearly ten years. Exposing the lies of our government regarding the events of September 11<sup>th</sup>, 2001 cannot be tolerated by our media or any of our public institutions including the church even as the church is founded on the truth of Jesus Christ. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That is the rule that I broke. I posted information that shows that our government lied and continues to lie about the defining event of this century. I posted information from an accredited university. I posted a study showing that our government lied. This is no small, insignificant lie. This lie has resulted in massive surveillance, torture, Islamophobia, the stripping of civil liberties, post 9/11 wars costing trillions of dollars, the destruction of nations, and the deaths of millions. It goes on. It matters. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mamvq7LWqRU">This happened</a>. </div>
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A 47-story skyscraper came down in 7 seconds (2.5 of those seconds at the acceleration of gravity). Obviously, it was the result of explosives. <a href="http://www.consensus911.org/about-us/">This is only the beginning of the lies.</a> We have been lied to. And I am squealing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vovB33NRtw">It is Hussain</a> who has given me the spiritual courage to write about it and talk about it come what may. Since going to Karbala, I have been writing and posting more about this (and other crimes of the elites) than I ever have. I don’t care if Muslims or Christians don’t like me talking about this. Muslims don’t own Hussain any more than Christians own Jesus.<br />
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Hussain knew he would be martyred. He and his 72 companions versus 30,000? Seriously? What other outcome is there? But he is victorious. His story lives. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vovB33NRtw">Thus he lives</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As for Jesus. He, too, was martyred in Jerusalem at the hand of Rome and its temple conspirators. He stood for truth. He knew he would be martyred. What did he think he could accomplish turning over tables in the temple? He lived for truth. Like Hussain’s his was a losing cause. But he is victorious. His story lives. Thus he lives. Jesus is also my spiritual inspiration.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is Jesus I follow to Karbala.<br />
Jesus showed me Hussain.<br />
If I want to follow Jesus, I must follow Hussain.<br />
Hussain shows me how to follow Jesus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t care about what the scholars of either religion say I have to believe about Jesus or Hussain. I think Jesus was a human being just like the rest of us (this goes against orthodox Christianity). I think Jesus was martyred (this goes against orthodox Islam). As I said, I am independent. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When Imam Mahdi and Jesus reveal themselves, then I guess we will all know. All of us will likely be wrong about a lot of things. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the meantime, I care about truth and goodness. I will speak it so help me God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am sad I am no longer “Happy to Be a Presbyterian.” It is my family. But, as we know, all families are toxic when they require you to suppress your truth to be a part of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am leading a study of David Ray Griffin’s book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Gospel-Americans-Systematic-Theology/dp/1940447429">The Christian Gospel for Americans: A Systematic Theology</a></i>, for four Tuesday evenings in October (8, 15, 22, 29) from 7-9 pm at Southminster. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Dr. Griffin writes that the <a href="https://www.southmin.org/multimedia-archive/decision/">church is in a time of <i>status confesionis</i> (confessional status)</a> in regards to the American Empire. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>It is now time for Christians in America—actually, long past time—to engage in an extensive examination of the nature of the American Empire to see if it is so “perverted and oppressive” that Christians, individually and as churches, should “publicly and unequivocally” reject it…</i> </blockquote>
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<i>American political, economic, and military leaders have long been engaged, since at least the end of the Cold War, in a “global domination project,” similar to the Nazi project. Like the Germans, America has used its power toward bringing the whole world under its control. How could we fail to regard this American Empire’s domination project—like the Nazi project—as wholly antithetical to Christian faith?</i></blockquote>
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<i>Our Christian faith at its best would lead us, both as individual Christians and as churches, to oppose the American Empire in the name of God. As long as the church does not explicitly oppose this empire, it is, by its silence, a de facto supporter.</i></blockquote>
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All are welcome. <o:p></o:p></div>
John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-65899430486772968962019-01-09T13:22:00.003-08:002019-01-09T13:24:45.624-08:00Apocalypse Now(<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2019/01/09/apocalypse-now/">Reposted from Progressive Spirit</a>)<br />
<br />
I suspect that after this post gets sent, the number of people who follow me via email (currently 2174--see sidebar) will decrease substantially. The Progressive Spirit radio show has ended and I am taking a different turn in regards to the things that I view as important and worthy of my time and hopefully yours. Yet I hope you will be curious enough to stay with me and pass this blog on to others.<br />
<br />
We are in an apocalyptic time. Apocalypse means revelation. This is a time of revealing, of making manifest that which has been shrouded. Apocalypse in the popular sense means massive destruction. This time could be that as well especially if we decide as a human species to ignore the revelatory aspect of apocalypse.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4882" height="400" src="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/screen-shot-2019-01-09-at-8.36.59-am.png" width="345" /></figure>But I am hopeful because I believe in <a href="http://www.unz.com/article/god-exists-the-rest-is-speculation/">God (not Gawd)</a>to use <a href="https://www.amazon.com/God-Exists-But-Gawd-Does/dp/1940447151/?tag=unco037-20">David Ray Griffin's distinction</a>. To believe in God means to believe that morality and purpose are more than human social constructs. Morality and purpose are as real as atoms and supernovas, beetles and Bohemians. The very fabric of the universe is moral and we are a part of it, participating in it, being guided by and, to a degree participating, in its unfolding.<br />
<br />
That belief is important, according to Griffin, because without it, without a belief and hope that the universe in some way "cares" we will not be able to face the task before us that is immense beyond measure. That task has come to us in the form of Global Warming or Climate Catastrophe.<br />
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Monumental in itself, our situation is far worse than a problem to solve. Our destruction (apocalypse in the popular sense of the word) is enabled by the evil in high places that temporarily profits by our impending demise. The work of this evil is to shroud our true situation. Evil works in darkness as our wisdom traditions remind us. None of our institutions is capable of dismantling this evil or even capable of naming it. All of the institutions associated with education, religion, politics, commerce, justice, military, and media are held by the grip of this evil, unable to see in the darkness their own complicity.<br />
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The only thing that can save us is apocalypse in the precise meaning of that word, which is revelation. We need an unveiling, a de-shrouding, an unfolding, and an awakening. This is not simply an intellectual activity. It is a deeply spiritual event. I use the word 'event' because apocalypse is an event in which we participate. This event is happening now. This time is apocalypse now.<br />
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All around us the shroud of evil is tearing. Glimpses of light are piercing it. These glimpses are truth-revealing glimpses into the reality of our imprisonment. What exactly happened on September 11th, 2001 is a question related to this apocalypse. We know that we have been deceived but at the same we are not allowed to know. I am not supposed to be writing about this. You are not supposed to be reading it. It is taboo. Yet here you are. You are still with me. The apocalypse event unfolds as more and more people see what they are not allowed to see, say what they are not allowed to say, and do what they are not allowed to do. Apocalypse <em>now</em>is rendering the taboo powerless. I need not convince you of anything. You already know it. I don't need to show you <a href="http://www.consensus911.org/point-wtc7-1/">Building 7</a>. You know <a href="http://rl911truth.org/index.php/related-911-articles/58-barrett-kevin-interpreting-the-unspeakable-the-myth-of-911">the official myth is a sham</a>. You only need to trust what you know. Find your heart (courage) and act. When you are ready, you will.<br />
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Arbaeen is Apocalypse Now. It is not apocalypse (revelation) in the sense of a religious ritual by a sectarian group of Muslims. Arbaeen as revelation is an unfolding of truth and courage so profound that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXHIgFDoS7c">Christian bishops</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sawt.al7ussain/videos/2290998817636764/?hc_ref=ARSMP29W8mi3kpMC7ANQPoJfnS96De2MgwLt7BCQo1xzA270f9lG_6norKiu_KNGKas&__xts__[0]=68.ARCGcKaTp587788aiPaLFinSWnlh0chEqdCVgDHZy5vdmcYPA6O5JOX9XXCb7SJjoE4TnZpAp1gCFNCsyyQMjGuV1YlmNz-HlH153HSjhdFy-71K9ezvHRsDBHC7EwRpMJQp70spzG1SCGdfbN8METBKZNiw2VNbZ8ljRlbnXQdpeM4Vwg2abBLgy4XmnomkYLbVsfjc9-TW5cR8lB6nQGJGXL-Q1kwOPBWJXT2MnX_D99dsiUEeuRTEfM4F-5ZOEUWj6AJZa7EfjM7ZoeZ6RdIdwMLm2_8vbXSXQo6yyOnd2p0ANXavZHIe9acG-xpZt4O9mcwG-nWQv7xjDD49DfMDm2qAvWk&__tn__=FC-R">prostrate before it</a>and American Christian ministers (yours truly) return home and <a href="http://www.southmin.org/multimedia-archive/inshaallah/">preach sermons</a>about its transformative effects.<br />
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<br />
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4883" height="215" src="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/screen-shot-2019-01-09-at-9.20.19-am.png" width="400" /></figure>At first glance, Global Warming, 9/11, and Arbaeen are not related. But of course they are intimately connected. Global Warming negatively effects the poor first. It results from unbridled fossil fuel extraction that is linked to unsustainable economic growth that results in global resource war which is justified by demonizing the "Muslim enemy" that was created by the false flag of 9/11 who resists via Arbaeen.<br />
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Evil trembles before Arbaeen. American media cannot even report on it. But 15 million bear witness. Arbaeen (Apocalypse Now) is when the oppressed of the world lead the march toward justice.<br />
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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4884" height="300" src="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/47432160_10218085906482751_7320458949268865024_n.jpg" width="400" /></figure>Apocalypse Now (revelation) is a divine, redemptive event that uncovers the evil that is hell-bent on the popular version of apocalypse (destruction). Apocalypse Now is our summons to participate in our collective salvation.John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-57072837417122537312018-12-19T21:17:00.001-08:002018-12-19T21:23:05.440-08:00The Sound of Silence, Longest Night<div style="text-align: center;">
My reflection for the Longest Night. </div>
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(OK so the service was on December 18th. Not the Longest Night. But Long Enough.)</div>
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<a href="http://www.southmin.org/multimedia-archive/silence/?fbclid=IwAR2vBJDExCTJjZWMMWb9dH_vmWbvMUfWNLvyTC-VgQSANHRIC8_fJhX4OzA">The Sound of Silence, Longest Night</a><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Silence like a cancer grows.”</blockquote>
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Paul Simon’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4">“The Sound of Silence”</a> is a powerful and prophetic song.<br />
It speaks to fear that cripples us and causes us to turn away from what is unspoken<br />
but needs to be spoken.<br />
Silence is a weapon by those who would oppress others.<br />
It allows them to work in secret while suffering people are not heard.<br />
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Too often the stories of the victims don’t make the news.<br />
No matter how hard they cry, how hard they try, still…<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“no one dare<br />
Disturb the sound of silence.”</blockquote>
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The Presbyterian Church in its Brief Statement of Faith speaks to this deadly, cancerous silence:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“the Spirit gives us courage<br />
to pray without ceasing,<br />
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,<br />
to unmask idolatries in Church and culture,<br />
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,<br />
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.”</blockquote>
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The faith statement knows the contrast between silence on one hand<br />
and justice, freedom and peace on the other.<br />
It isn’t the oppression that is most deadly; it is the silence.<br />
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The Spirit’s response is the courage to witness,<br />
to bear witness to what we see and hear.<br />
It isn’t anything dramatic or heroic or even difficult on the surface of it.<br />
Speak. Speak what you see and hear,<br />
not what others in their fear tell you what you should see or hear.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Do you hear what I hear? Do you see what I see?”</blockquote>
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How can we break this deadly grip of silence on our culture and in our church?<br />
<br />
It is more than just being loud, like the flashing neon lights.<br />
It is about bearing witness.<br />
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Now there is another silence that is not deadly nor cancerous.<br />
This is the silence that comes to us in our yearnings beyond words.<br />
In our weakness, when we don’t know how to pray.<br />
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St. Paul writes:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“God’s power comes to the aid of our weakness—we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but God’s power intervenes with yearnings beyond words. The One who searches human hearts knows what the divine intention is. God’s power and presence intervenes on behalf of the people of God in accordance with the purposes of God.”</blockquote>
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This is the silence that is the appropriate response to Divine communication.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Let all mortal flesh keep silence.”</blockquote>
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That is not about being silent in the face of injustice, no.<br />
This is the silence that is the response to grace.<br />
This is the silence imposed upon Zechariah<br />
when he couldn’t fathom the miracle<br />
about to be visited upon him and his wife, Elizabeth,<br />
–a son in their old age.<br />
Best keep quiet, Zechariah,<br />
than busy your mind with thoughts too large for your mind.<br />
This is the response to the presence of the Holy.<br />
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This is the response when we are too earthly-minded,<br />
too shallow in our thought,<br />
too stumbling in our faith,<br />
when the Divine One “intervenes with yearnings beyond words.”<br />
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Then we are known as we know.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Silence like a cancer grows.” True.</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Let all mortal flesh keep silence.” True.</blockquote>
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Both are silence.<br />
One deadly.<br />
The other,<br />
life-giving.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Spirit intervenes with yearnings beyond words.” True again.</blockquote>
<br />
Grief is love that has lost its object.<br />
Grief is still searching.<br />
Grief is still yearning.<br />
<br />
It has been six years since we lost our son, Zachary.<br />
I give myself permission to say his name and what I am feeling<br />
during this Longest Night service.<br />
I am grateful that you are here to hear it.<br />
If I don’t say his name on a regular basis,<br />
it is deadly.<br />
<br />
The yearning is sharp at Christmas.<br />
So often I have no idea how to pray,<br />
how to process,<br />
how to think or even<br />
how to feel.<br />
The grace is that I don’t have to know how to do any of it.<br />
The grace is that God intervenes with yearnings beyond words.<br />
God searches my own heart,<br />
bringing out what is Divine within.<br />
My heart is known.<br />
In that I trust.<br />
<br />
Of course, not just me. You, too.<br />
I am just making it personal.<br />
<br />
You may say, “So, God does all that for you, huh?”<br />
<br />
That is rather funny.<br />
I wouldn’t have said that six years ago<br />
when I told my counselor that God was like a dead tree stump.<br />
I guess it is true what the prophet said<br />
that a root will grow out of the stump.<br />
<br />
I bear witness to that.<br />
<br />
No matter what happens, it is good.<br />
<br />
It is possible to be changed for the better.<br />
It is possible for one’s heart to be known by God.<br />
It is possible to have a sense of peace about who one is and what one is to do.<br />
It is possible for the healing power of silence that comes from grace,<br />
to be transformed into words on behalf of those who suffer in deadly silence.<br />
<br />
It truly is possible to be moved through grief and grace to life and purpose.<br />
<br />
For that, on this dark night, I bear witness and I am grateful.<br />
<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-2933653308332432432018-12-12T16:39:00.001-08:002018-12-12T16:59:27.866-08:00Sacred Darkness and Holy Grief<br />
I am preparing services for Christmas. Christmas Eve and our Longest Night Service (December 18th, 7 pm) for those who are, in the words Robert Frost, "acquainted with the night." I ran across what I wrote last year at this time about loss and love.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Reflections on Darkness… </b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I like sitting in the dark. It doesn’t have to be pitch black. It should be mostly dark, though. I find the darkness peaceful, embracing. It doesn’t demand anything of me. It doesn’t even know I am there. I don’t need an agenda. I don’t need to work. I don’t need to play. I don’t need to be busy. I don’t need to do anything. The darkness is healing. It flows through me.<br />
<br />
A member of one of my previous churches shared with me that after she had lost her husband, people would wish her well, that she would be embraced by light and love, and so forth. She, of course, appreciated the caring, but she told me that the wish to be in the light was not something she really wanted. She wanted the dark.<br />
<br />
Grieving may best be done in the dark. Grief is too vulnerable, too personal, too fragile to be left in the light. The darkness allows for thoughts and for feelings to move around a bit more freely, feelings of sadness, or even the less sociable feelings, like anger, annoyance, fear are free in the dark to move around the space with you. When the light goes on those feelings hide. The darkness creatively plays with them, shaping them, teasing them, making something new.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We need the darkness of the womb or the cave to be a place of birthing. I am fond of the dark. In the dark I am free from display. Robert Frost said it so beautifully.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<i>I have been one acquainted with the night.</i><i>I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.</i><i>I have outwalked the furthest city light.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I have looked down the saddest city lane.</i><i>I have passed by the watchman on his beat</i><i>And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet</i><i>When far away an interrupted cry</i><i>Came over houses from another street,</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>But not to call me back or say good-bye;</i><i>And further still at an unearthly height,</i><i>One luminary clock against the sky</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.<br />
</i><i>I have been one acquainted with the night.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>--Robert Frost, Acquainted with the Night</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Part of me is sad to see the night begin to lose its battle with the light at Winter Solstice. Oh yes, the light is coming back, the sun, the longer days are promised. Yes. That is good, too. But, now, I like, I need, I want, I treasure, I embrace…the dark.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Reflections on Loss and Love…</b><br />
<br />
The last time I played chess with my father, I admit I let him win. It wasn’t obvious. I made more risky moves than usual and overlooked opportunities. But, nonetheless, I did and I didn’t particularly feel good about it. We never played that way, that is to let the other win. But with the arrival of Winter Solstice, he is now closer to his 100th birthday than his 99th. He sits out his days in a Veterans home, even though he isn’t a veteran, but sometimes he makes a convincing case that he once was one. <br />
<br />
His mind is mostly jumbled. Several times a day, he remembers that his beloved Olive May, who he married in 1948 is gone. Gone for over two years now. He shakes and he cries, everytime he remembers which is several times a day. Something he rarely would ever do. In fact, never, in my memory. My father didn’t cry, didn’t hug, didn’t say he loved people. But he could laugh. <br />
<br />
Our house was filled with laughter when I was a child. My father loved to joke and tease and my mother was, well, I always thought she was sinless, like Mother Mary. When I think of her not being there for any future visits, phone calls, emails, or letters, it is almost unbearable to go there. Never is a long time. I am missing my parents this Christmas. <br />
<br />
And, of course, my son. Five years since his exit. I can think about my mom, or look at a picture, and be happy without the wince, mostly. You know what I mean, the wince. The wince is overwhelming with my son, Zach. I can’t look at a picture and just enjoy the memory. It has a cost to it. That cost is the feeling of loss and all the myriad feelings that come out and play when I sit in the dark. That is why I have to sit in the dark if I want to go there. You have to plan for these things. <br />
<br />
A good friend, who I trust, told me there will be a time, at least it was for her, that the wince goes away, and the memory of a lost daughter, in her case, a son in mine, will not force its way into the joyful memory. But that time isn’t this Christmas. <br />
<br />
Christmas is what it is. I like it. There is a magic to Christmas Eve that I love. It must be so much humanity poured into one night that it has taken on a life of its own. But sometimes it is that time a few days before Christmas, somewhere around solstice, that some darkness, and some loss, and some articulation of sadness, some Christmas blues from a piano man, is what demands airtime. <br />
<br />
I’ll be back. But for now, some time, some space for sacred darkness and holy grief. In his book, Lament for a Son, Nocholas Wolterstorff wrote about his son Eric and his grief and he was questioned if grief ever lessens. Yes, he wrote. <br />
<br />
<i>“The wound is no longer raw. But it has not disappeared. That is as it should be. If he was worth loving, he is worth grieving over. Grief is existential testimony to the worth of the one loved. That worth abides.” </i></blockquote>
John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-73255980149633297712018-11-05T09:05:00.000-08:002018-11-05T09:05:04.029-08:00The Arctic from 33,000 FeetOn a fourteen-hour flight from Istanbul to Los Angeles we flew over the North Pole. The coolest thing on the entire airplane is the Forward/Down camera. It is like a window seat even when you are sitting in 50E smack in the middle. Movies? I can handle maybe one, but watching the Arctic go by is mesmerizing. <br />
<br />
I don’t know exactly what the Arctic should look like on my mom’s birthday, November 4th, and it isn’t always easy to distinguish clouds from snow, but to this amateur Arctic-watcher it seems quite broken up in spots, sea where I would want snow and ice. <br />
<br />
Things are changing quickly.<br />
<br />
What a rare opportunity to see the “top of the world” from 33,000 feet. Only a small percentage of the human population will see this view. Those who lived 100 years before me never saw this view, and I don’t know what those living 100 years after me will see. <br />
<br />
I am reminded of the (not so) old Arab proverb: <br />
<br />
My grandfather rode on a camel.<br />
My father rode in a Rolls Royce. <br />
I ride in a private jet. <br />
My son will ride on a camel. <br />
<br />
Plenty to worry about. <br />
But for right now, I am mesmerized. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyXS-eWgm0ADuEeCdzyLnftVOHfthXL6jOQT8RVK2TiP3oKCG6FfG7bQMKx_zsgChqMKeQt-ZW8jUY' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-56256728638663489522018-10-22T05:26:00.002-07:002018-10-22T05:41:25.036-07:00In the Spirit of Imam Husayn (as) I am posting pics and thoughts on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/john.shuck.58">my Facebook page</a> while I am participating in Arbaeen. Here are some radio show podcasts on Husayn and Arbaeen that I have broadcast (or re-broadcast) this month while I am in Iraq.<br />
<br />
On April 13th, 2019, Josh Townsley and I will offer reflections and some audio/video on our trip, inshallah, for the <a href="https://husayniah.com/">Husaynia Society of Seattle</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/10/08/husayn-means-beauty-the-attraction-of-the-seventh-century-martyr-encore/">Husayn Means Beauty: The Attraction of the Seventh Century Martyr, Part 1</a><br />
These are excerpts from speeches given at Husayn Day earlier this year in Seattle.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2018-05-21T16_25_19-07_00">Husayn Means Beauty: The Attraction of the Seventh Century Prophet, Part 2</a><br />
This broadcast includes the speech from Maulana Mohammad Baig, who is leading the tour I am taking in Iraq. <a href="http://caravan72.com/">Caravan72.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/10/16/arbaeen-the-walk-a-conversation-with-sheikh-mohammed-al-hilli/">Arbaeen: The Walk, A conversation with Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli</a><br />
I just posted this interview with the author of the first book on Arbaeen in English.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/10/09/husayn-and-the-pilgrimage-to-arbaeen/">Resisting the Beast: Conversations with Dr. Susan (Elli) Elliott and Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy</a><br />
From my monthly live show on KBOO. Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy serves at the Islamic Center of Portland across from my church.<br />
<br />
Also of interest are these broadcasts:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/07/03/the-covenants-of-the-prophet-muhammad-with-the-christians-of-the-world-a-conversation-with-john-andrew-morrow/">The Covenants of the Prophet Mohammad with the Christians of the World: A Conversation with Dr. John Andrew Morrow</a><br />
Dr. Morrow also spoke at Husayn Day in Seattle. Here he talks about his very important work showing, despite propaganda to the contrary, that Christians and Muslims lived peacefully for centuries (and still do).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/03/09/us-saudi-war-crimes-against-yemen/">U.S. - Saudi War Crimes Against Yemen</a><br />
This conference, sponsored by Roots of Conflict, features two powerful speakers, Aisha Jumaan and Mohammad Al-Nimr, who follow in the spirit of Imam Husayn (as).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/01/22/us-saudi-coalition-bringing-peace-or-war/">US - Saudi Coalition: Bringing Peace or War?</a><br />
On my live KBOO show, I spoke with Catherine Shakdam, Scott Bennett, and Aisha Jumaan about the conference.<br />
<br />
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<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-89792193625092080212018-10-19T09:08:00.001-07:002018-10-19T09:12:30.118-07:00Portland to IstanbulThe journey has begun! So far no hitches from the bus stop outside my house to the PDX airport to LAX and then thirteen hours later, Istanbul. We are in the lounge and will stay until our flight leaves for Najaf in about ten hours.<br />
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Josh, the cameraman, and Maulana Mohammad Baig who is the leader of <a href="http://caravan72.com/">Caravan72</a> and caring for us all along the way.<br />
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<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-29631864174725672312018-10-18T01:20:00.000-07:002018-10-18T01:21:17.063-07:00Bound For IraqI begin tomorrow my trip to Iraq. This wasn’t on my agenda. That is how it is with things that matter. Spirit blows them into your life. I read that Isa (Jesus) is the Spirit of Allah. Husayn is the Spirit of Isa. Ali Asghar was the youngest person martyred at Karbala. He was six months old. He was the son of Husayn and Rubab.<br />
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This crib was one of the ways he was remembered at the Islamic Center of Portland on Ashura, the day that commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn and his 72 companions including members of his family, including his son, Ali Asghar. As I write this, I wonder if the spirit of Ali Asghar is in the <a href="https://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/war-on-yemen/2433-media-keeps-americans-in-the-dark.html">children of Yemen</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A somewhat grainy video, presumably shot from a decade old cell phone, shows more than two dozen load Yemeni kids, aged 6 to 15, playing, laughing, and excitedly moving about their school bus, invoking warm childhood memories for anyone who has ever caught a bus to and from a school outing. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Moments later every single one of these kids were killed, vaporized by a Saudi fired missile. This atrocity took place on 9 August, leaving 51 dead, 40 of whom were children, with most victims under the age of 10, while another 77 were seriously injured, according to the International Red Cross.</blockquote>
A Saudi fired missile made by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth Texas:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Remnants of the missile, which were posted on Twitter by <a href="https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1029481883560751105">Hussein Albikaiti</a>, a Sana’a-based journalist, show its CAGE code, serial number, and the wording, “FIN GUIDED BOMB.” </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A search of the CAGE code shows the missile to be issued by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin, while the serial number shows it to be a MK-82 missile manufactured by General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“A US made laser guided bomb did this 2 a bus full of school children,” tweeted Albikaiti. “The bus was directly hit by a Saudi-UAE jet, fueled by USA plane, coordinates by US and UK satellites. One bomb sent these happy children to the graves after burning them alive and cutting them to pieces.”</blockquote>
I do not know what is in store for me or what I should expect as I make my Ziarat to the various shrines in the Holy Land of Iraq. John Andrew Morrow in a beautiful article about <a href="https://en.shafaqna.com/the-call-of-karbala-and-the-awe-of-arbaeen/?fbclid=IwAR1yH8pQ06Sel7xZlWGE1YWKWxpbd-CruN0fuM7KLjaycUcqSRbdRyQBMfo">"The Call of Karbala and the Awe of Arbaeen"</a> also writes this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Iraq is a country that has been bruised, battered, and brutalized. It has suffered under the savagery of the Baath regime. It suffered through a senseless fratricidal war with Iran. It has suffered from American wars of aggression, invasion, and occupation. Millions of civilians lost their lives. Although Iraq has little in terms of infrastructure, and has spent over one hundred billion dollars in the war against ISIS, it hosts, with pride and pleasure, the largest religious gathering in the world, a peace march that receives essentially no attention by the major media outlets in the world since it contradicts the Islamophobic narrative that they advance.</blockquote>
I am going to Karbala and I am not even a Muslim. <a href="https://www.christianexaminer.com/article/atheist.preacher.believes.god.is.an.option/48634.htm">Many don't think I am even a Christian</a>. Why argue? They are right as far as it goes. Johnny Cash said he was a <a href="http://www.outlawmagazine.com/ultimate-gospel-johnny-cash/">C-minus Christian</a>. For the likes of a heretic like me, a C-minus is an aspiration. I am afraid I would be an even worse Muslim. So how is it that I am going on the most spiritual event on the planet to honor some of the most important figures of Islam? I don't know. I know many, many Muslims hope to do this their whole lives. I don't take this lightly. I am humbled to be invited by my friends at the Husayniah Society of Seattle, yet on another plane, the invitation comes from Imam Husayn himself, who in my mind, is the spiritual brother of the historical Jesus. The Spirit of Allah. Truth and Goodness is my shorthand.<br />
<br />
It is a call from both of these brothers. It is a call. It is a cry. <a href="https://www.al-islam.org/tears-karbala-liakat-dewji/majlis-10-hazrat-ali-asghar">It is a summons</a>:<br />
<br />
<i>"Hal man nasirin yansurun?" "Is there anyone to help me?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
And the response from those with ears to hear:<br />
<br />
<i>"Labbayk Ya Husayn!" "Here I am, Husayn."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I am here. We are here <i>to hear</i>.<br />
Hear voices silenced by the oppressors and their media.<br />
Hear the cry of Ali Asghar and the children of Yemen.<br />
Hear the cry of the faithful, <i>"Labbayk Ya Husayn!"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-6823455358344380222018-10-03T16:50:00.000-07:002018-10-05T17:46:37.924-07:00Erased.<i>(Update: October 5. Just learned from an admin at that group that none of them removed the post. It must have been Facebook. Take comfort that Big Brother is keeping you safe from mayhem like me).</i><br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/56387121170/?tn-str=*F">The Happy to Be Presbyterian Facebook Group</a> is not happy with me. I posted a link to my <a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2018-09-25T09_49_36-07_00">interview with Fran Shure</a> and after few exchanges (civil from my end) the post was removed. Erased. Even the notifications in my history were removed. I don't know if it was group admins or Facebook who removed it.<br />
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It was removed right after I posted a link to a <a href="http://www.ppcbooks.com/pdf/study_guides/Griffin%20SG%20Final%20Pages.pdf">study guide</a> that had been created for David Ray Griffin's book, <i>Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11</i>. That book was published by WJK Press of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) over ten years ago. The book was later removed by the PPC in a shameful act of censorship. Dr. Griffin talks about that in his address, <i><a href="http://rl911truth.org/index.php/related-911-articles/51-griffin-david-ray-911-and-nationalist-faith-how-faith-can-be-illuminating-or-blinding">9/11 and Nationalist Faith: How Faith Can Be Illuminating or Blinding. </a> </i>He addresses Presbyterians in Section 3 B.<i> </i><br />
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It was a strange feeling to have my work, just a Facebook post in this case, completely erased without a word, to vanish as if it never existed. I broke no rules. I was not aggressive. I did not use bad language. I wasn't even informed as to why the post was removed. Just gone. Why? What else could it be but that the content of what I posted is a direct threat to Empire and to Empire's church? Empire cannot dispute the evidence. It can only try to mock it and when that fails, to erase it.<br />
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We cannot live this way, citizens. Those who are seeking to unmask the powers of death and falsehood and bear witness to what they think is true, are being erased. As Graeme McQueen said in <a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/10/03/9-11-unmasked-interview-package/">my interview with him</a>:<br />
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And so it’s the job of citizens to stand up and say, “We are whole persons. And our perception, and our sense of smell, sense of hearing and sight and touch, they are valid. And we know how to use our intelligence. And we’re going to insist on that. We’re going to speak out loudly for what we believe is the truth.”</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/56387121170/?multi_permalinks=10156627288736171&notif_id=1538121615548456&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic">I posted the link again</a>. And I wrote this: <br />
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A little about myself for those who do not know me. I am a PCUSA minister in good standing and the pastor of a church. I have posted occasionally on this forum, not often, but when I think a particular topic is of interest and importance. I am the host of a podcast and radio show that has aired weekly for nearly seven years. I have interviewed many Presbyterians including two moderators and a vice-moderator. Throughout my ordained ministry, I have been concerned deeply about issues of censorship and the silencing of unpopular voices. </blockquote>
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As it says in our Brief Statement of Faith: </blockquote>
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"In a broken and fearful world<br />
the Spirit gives us courage<br />
to pray without ceasing,<br />
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,<br />
to unmask idolatries in Church and culture,<br />
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,<br />
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace." </blockquote>
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This book that I featured for the past four episodes on my radio show offers evidence that should lead people of conscience to explore. The voices I lift up in this show are voices who have been long silenced, censored, vilified, and mocked because they seek to unmask idolatries in church and culture. I am not saying that anyone needs to agree to these voices or even to listen to the podcast. I should, however, be able to post a link to it without my post being removed.</blockquote>
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John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-60700689006324857702018-10-03T15:29:00.000-07:002018-10-03T15:31:54.762-07:009/11 Unmasked Interview Package<a href="https://progressivespirit.net/2018/10/03/9-11-unmasked-interview-package/">Reposted from Progressive Spirit</a><br />
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I made transcripts for each of the interviews in my series on the <a href="http://www.consensus911.org/">9/11 Consensus Panel</a>. The panel's book, released on September 11th, 2018 is called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/11-Unmasked-International-Review-Investigation/dp/1623719747"><em>9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation</em></a>.<br />
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This series of interviews with transcripts will be a helpful resource for an individual or a study group with an open mind and a courageous heart. We need open minds and courageous hearts. Graeme McQueen, who I interviewed in the first episode in the series, said:<br />
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...when your police have failed at their duty, and your intelligence agencies have failed you, and the executive branch has failed, and the legislative branch has failed, and this...enormous crime in the 21st century has happened and isn't being investigated, what do you do? Do you let them get away with the lie? Do you let your democracy be hijacked? I hope not.</blockquote>
and he concluded the episode by saying:<br />
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I think it goes to the question, what is a citizen, and ultimately what is a person. I would like to think that at least in a democracy, a citizen is a whole person who is able to perceive the world around them and also to use their intelligence to make sense of it. And that's what people did on 9/11 at the scene. They perceived explosions and clearly called them explosions. They made conclusions with their minds. They said, “Wow, this looks like a building being demolished purposely.” And when a government does what the United States government and frankly almost every government in the world is doing, and dismisses over 100 ordinary citizens standing there perceiving this, they are showing not only disrespect, they're really showing a very degraded notion of what a citizen is. They're treating us like rabble, who are, you know, who can be easily dismissed. So people are supposed to listen to say, U.S. elites, who were not even there that day, when they say there were no explosions? Instead of listening to their fellow human beings who were there and who clearly perceived it. This is a democracy in trouble. This is a democracy that's in danger and unfortunately, it's not just the U.S. My own country, Canada our government, buys all this nonsense as well. And so it's the job of citizens to stand up and say, “We are whole persons. And our perception, and our sense of smell, sense of hearing and sight and touch, they are valid. And we know how to use our intelligence. And we're going to insist on that. We're going to speak out loudly for what we believe is the truth.”</blockquote>
Here are the podcasts and the transcripts for the four episodes:<br />
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1) <a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2018-09-03T17_45_01-07_00">9/11 Unmasked: A Conversation with Elizabeth Woodworth and Graeme McQueen</a><br />
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<a href="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/ps-132-woodworth-mcqueen-transcript.pdf">PS 132 Woodworth McQueen Transcript</a><br />
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2) <a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2018-09-11T08_57_53-07_00">9/11 Unmasked, Part 2: A Conversation with Dwain Deets about Able Danger</a><br />
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<a href="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/ps-133-deets-transcription.pdf">PS 133 Deets Transcript</a><br />
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3) <a href="http://progressivespirit.podomatic.net/episodes.html#/podomatic_page/1/podcast/8896131">9/11 Unmasked, Part 3: David Chandler and the Day of Magical Physics</a><br />
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<a href="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/ps-134-chandler-transcript.pdf">PS 134 Chandler Transcript</a><br />
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4) <a href="https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/progressivespirit/episodes/2018-09-25T09_49_36-07_00">9/11 Unmasked, Part 4: Fran Shure and the Problem of the Media</a><br />
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<a href="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/ps-135-shure-transcript_fs-2.pdf">PS 135 Shure Transcript</a><br />
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<a href="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/unmasked-collage.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4778" height="400" src="https://religionforlife.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/unmasked-collage.jpg?w=700" width="400" /></a>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0