Episodes
Friday Jan 31, 2020
#WhistleblowerWednesday:Jesus the Whistleblower?
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Here’s what the Corporatocracy is up to today, January 22, 2020
It’s #WhistleblowerWednesday today, where each Wednesday, we focus on whistleblowers – the brave activists who work to expose the corporate takeover of our democracy.
Some of the most important patriots in US history were Whistleblowers. In fact, the US was practically founded by Whistleblowers. For a brief history, you can check out the first edition of #WhistleblowerWednesday in our October 2nd podcast.
For today, we’d like to reshare our Christmas edition of #WhistleblowerWednesday. We’ve been getting great feedback on that episode and wanted to reshare in case you missed it. In this episode, we explore the secular history and Christian narrative of the historical Jesus and ask, “Was Jesus the original whistleblower?”
Full disclosure– we’re not church-going Christians (and no offense to Christian folk), but this project turned out to be a fascinating journey of discovery for our whole team. We hope you’ll make time to listen to the whole podcast– and please let us know: were you as surprised as we were at the conclusions we reached?
Here’s the original episode:
It’s Christmas Day today, and to all you who celebrate it, we wish you a Merry Christmas.
It’s also #WhistleblowerWednesday today on your Daily WakeUp Call. And in recognition of Christmas, we’re doing a special Christmas Day edition for #WhistleBlowerWednesday.
Christmas of course is the day when Christians the world over celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As with any religious figure, there are diverse perspectives on what the life and teachings of Jesus mean to his believers and non-believers. Is Jesus the supernatural Son of God as his followers believe? Or was he an enemy of the state and a heretic as the Romans and Jewish Priests believed? Or could he be none of the above? Or perhaps all three...?
In our podcast today, we’ll explore those questions from various perspectives. Our main exploration will be informed by the biblical narrative of Jesus as recorded in the Christian bible. And where possible and helpful, we’ll cross-reference biblical narrative with the historical record as interpreted by secular and state historians of the day. So with all due respect to true believers- including Jews, Christians and statists– we’ll offer a trigger warning here in hopes that folks won’t be offended by our efforts of inquiry. It’s all meant in the spirit of Truth and love, as we expect you all– and Jesus– would want it.
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
So, as most folks know, “B.C”. stands for years “Before Christ”. And around the year 4 B.C. – about 2,024 years ago– is when most historians agree that Jesus was born. He was born in a small countryside town called Bethlehem in the land known then as Judea. It was situated in the mountainous region of what is now present-day southern Palestine.
Back then, Judea was a Jewish kingdom. And at the time of Jesus’ birth, “Herod the Great” was their King. Judea was also a “client-state” (or more derogatorily, a “puppet-state”) of the Roman Empire, subordinate to Roman governance and taxation. And Herod was a “puppet-king”, appointed by Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor back then. The Romans had colonized the kingdom of Judea some 60 years before. Herod’s father and then Herod’s son supported the Roman conquerors and were greatly rewarded with state status and power.
By the time of Jesus’ birth, King Herod was nearing the end of his reign and getting paranoid in his old age. He’d assassinated one of his wives and three of his sons believing they were all plotting to kill him. The ruthless violence and uncertainty about his successor created chaos in the kingdom. Blood feuds and conflicts were already escalating when the Jewish king heard rumour that some wise men from the East were traveling to Judea to witness the birth of a new King.
CHAPTER 2 – THE BIRTH OF JESUS
The wise men were called “Magi” – they were Zoroastrian priests, renown for their knowledge of astronomy and astrology. And at the time of their journey, a rare astronomical event was underway in the western horizon. From their vantage point in the East, the event guided their journey to the land of Judea. By the Magi’s interpretation, the event signified that a future “King of the Jews” would soon be born. When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, which was the capital and “Holy City” of Judea, they explained their theory to King Herod. The King’s advisors responded that indeed, according to ancient Jewish prophecy, a “King of the Jews” would one day be born somewhere south of the Holy City. Could this be the newborn king that the Magi were seeking?
King Herod asked the Magi to go south to the town of Bethlehem and report back to him on their findings. The Magi journeyed there and soon found a young couple, Mary and Joseph, who’d just been blessed with the birth of a child. The couple was from Nazareth, a city in the land of Galilee, about 90 miles north of Bethlehem. About a week before, the couple had been forced to leave their home in Nazareth. Mary was nine months pregnant and they were required to register for a Roman census in southern Judea, the land of Joseph’s ancestors. So over the past several days, Mary and Joseph had walked about 10 miles a day through hill country and across desert, enduring harsh winter weather to make it to Bethlehem.
By the time they arrived in Bethlehem, Mary was ready to give birth. They found an Inn in the town, but there were no more rooms available there. The only refuge available was a cave that was used by the Inn as a stable for donkeys, sheep and other animals. It was in this stable that Mary gave birth to her baby, whom she named Yeshua (Yahshua), or Jesus as we pronounce it in english.
CHAPTER 3 – THE MASSACRE OF INNOCENTS
Soon after Jesus’ birth, the couple found a local who was willing to share space in their home for the young family. And it was at this house, where the Magi finally found them. The Magi presented gifts for the baby. And they told Mary and Joseph about their journey... By now, the news had spread that King Herod intended to “seek out the child to destroy him.'' And when the Magi did not report back to Herod, the King commanded a terrible massacre– killing all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two...
To protect their baby from persecution, the family fled south to the land of Egypt which was beyond the rule of King Herod. Soon after his “Massacre of Innocents” in Bethlehem, Herod reportedly died a very painful death. It resulted from complications of kidney disease including gangrene of his genitalia… (That obscure fact has somehow survived over 2000 years of history, so we thought it worth repeating here.)
CHAPTER 4 – THE HIDDEN YEARS OF JESUS
So after King Herod’s death, Mary, Joseph and Jesus journeyed back to Nazareth. And for the next three decades, they apparently lived a quiet, humble life. These are known as the “Hidden Years of Jesus”. In fact, there’s only one other account of Jesus’ childhood in the biblical narrative. It tells the story of when Jesus, at the age of 12, accompanied his family and friends on their annual pilgrimage to the Holy City. After the festival, as they journeyed back home, Mary realized that Jesus was not among them. For three days, Mary and Joseph searched the city looking for Jesus, until finally they found him in the temple courts. The bible says, He was sitting among the temple elders, “listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone was amazed at his understanding.”
When young Jesus was reunited with his parents, he asked them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” And that marks the first spoken words by Jesus presented in the biblical narrative. Theologians say that the rest of what we know about Jesus’ life is an exposition of the meaning of these first recorded words. So let’s see what Jesus meant by being “about [his] Father’s business...”
CHAPTER 5 –JOHN THE BAPTIST AT THE JORDAN RIVER
There are no other biblical accounts or historical records of Jesus’ life until his 30th year. The bible picks up his story there with the introduction of a Jewish holy man named John the Baptist. Most all theologians and secular historians agree– the account of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River is both the most indisputable and most pivotal historical event in the launch of Jesus’ ministry.
It’s because John is widely considered the last of the “Old Covenant” Jewish prophets. The Old Covenant represents their belief that “the People of Israel are God’s Chosen People”. Their Covenant is bound by the Ten Commandments, a set of moral laws which the Jewish People believe was given to them directly by God. And if they obeyed the Commandments, God would eventually deliver them to the “Promised Land”, a “land overflowing with milk and honey”.
Over generations, Jewish leaders would codify the Ten Commandments into various rules and rituals that governed Jewish life. If anyone violated a rule or commandment, their “sin” must be ritually “cleansed” by the blood of an animal sacrifice. Depending on the sin, doves, sheep and cows were most commonly prescribed for sacrifice by the Jewish priests. There were daily communal blood sacrifices conducted as well.
When the priests prescribed a blood sacrifice, the ritual required that the animal’s throat be cut and its blood splattered on the Temple altar. The animal was then skinned and a portion of the animal’s flesh was carved out and retained by the Temple priests. The remaining carcass was then burned on the altar and the sin was considered cleansed.
It’s useful to remember here that the ancient Jewish people were nomadic herders, The health and number of one’s herd or flock reflected their relative wealth. For sinners who had no animals of their own, they would have to purchase an animal for sacrifice from a herd or flock approved by the priests. Animal trading and animal sacrifice was a major source of revenue for the priests.
The Temple Priests were appointed by a High Priest who was ultimately approved– or directly installed– by the Jewish King. So animal sacrifice and the farming of animals was central to the distribution of wealth and political power controlled by the Temple priests. And ultimately all served at the pleasure of the Jewish King. So, you can imagine how this system would become corrupted where “the high priesthood was for sale to the one who offered the king the largest bribe.”
CHAPTER 6 – THE ESSENES
That’s all worth noting because John the Baptist and Jesus both came from communities that were dominated by a Jewish sect called the Essenes. The Essenes were Jewish reformists who believed that the Jewish priesthood had become defiled by “impious and unscrupulous men.” And as we shall see, the ministries of John and Jesus appear to be strongly influenced by the Essene movement.
The Essenes had an apocalyptic point of view. But not in the sense that “the whole world was about to end.” Rather, the Essenes believed that the original “Old Covenant” had been perverted by generations of corrupt Jewish leadership. And that the Jewish people had been misled into an evil age. But the Essenes believed that this evil age was now in its “Last Days”. And the “Good News” was that a “New Covenant” and “glorious new Kingdom” was now “at hand”.
The Essenes were a sectarian (or separatist) community. Their settlements were located far from the Jerusalem Temple which was the central institution of Jewish life. Indeed, the Essene movement defined itself as a “radical questioning of mainstream Temple life.”
For example, the Essenes opposed such Jewish norms as slavery, the stoning to death of people including homosexuals, astrologers, and even children for backtalking their parents. They opposed the so-called Jewish “Holy War” which included smashing to death the babies of their enemies. And by banning the eating of meat and the ritual of blood sacrifice, the Essenes dismantled the profit incentive of peddling animals that had contributed to the corruption of the Temple priests...
In fact, the Essenes pretty much eliminated all private property. Personal wealth and possessions were surrendered to the community. And in turn, the overall wealth of the community was used to ensure individual prosperity, equally. It was an egalitarian community, and it served the Essenes as the surrogate Temple of Jewish life.
The Essenes replaced blood sacrifice with baptism by water for ritual cleansing. And it was the holy man, John the Baptist who began openly preaching a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming New Kingdom. The biblical and historical accounts agree that great masses of Jewish people from all of Judea came to be baptized by John. And it’s important to remember here that the Jewish Kingdom was no longer simply a religious movement of the People of Israel. It had become a corrupt theocratic autocracy ordered by wealth and political power. The Jewish priesthood and King made up it’s political class and financial elite, who John publicly proclaimed as “the offspring of vipers,” and who Jesus would later refer to as the “den of thieves.”
CHAPTER 7 – JESUS IS BAPTIZED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST
So a Jew’s act of repentance through public baptism by John was not just an admission of personal sin. It was a bold political act– a public affirmation of their agreement with John that the Jewish priests and even the Jewish King were unfit to lead. So John was sowing the seeds of both spiritual and political Revolution back then...
According to the biblical narrative, when Jesus learned of John’s mission, he traveled down from Galilee to southern Judea to be baptized by John– and to publicly endorse John’s message and prophecy of the coming new kingdom... As John beheld Jesus and baptized him, John asked, “are you the new Messiah?” But Jesus gave no answer. He accepted John’s blessing of baptism, and soon departed from the camp.
The bible story says that after Jesus was baptized, he “went alone into the wilderness” to reflect on his life and what John the Baptist had asked of him. What did John sense in Jesus that would compel such a question from John? Was Jesus indeed the messiah? And what would that even mean..?
As many have suggested, Jesus was most likely exposed to the wisdom of the Essene tradition. It means Jesus would have studied the great teachers of antiquity like the great Jewish prophets Elijah, Moses and Enoch; as well as Plato, Pythagoras, and the Orphic tradition of Greece; Zarathustra of Persia, Krishna and Buddha in India, and the great sages of ancient Egypt. He would have learned about geometry, astronomy, permaculture, and the healing arts. And spirituality too, of course: he would have learned the interpretation of hidden meaning in the great parables of holy scripture, the ancient science of human consciousness, and the wisdom gained in fasting, prayer and meditation.
CHAPTER 8 – JESUS GOES INTO THE WILDERNESS
The Bible says Jesus fasted in the wilderness for “40 days and 40 nights”. And if you’ve ever fasted before, you know that even after just a day or so, a mighty internal rebellion sets in. The mind conjures up every reason under the sun to end your fast. It gets worse over the first few days, but about a week or so in, the body begins a process of deep cleansing and healing. Your overall energy actually begins to increase. And at times, you’ll notice that you’re normally busy mind has spontaneously gone quiet... After a few weeks into a fast, the mind can get eerily, blissfully quiet... And when combined with prayer or meditative inquiry, many have had profound, life-changing insights… ...
You can’t help but wonder, what insights might Jesus have had during his 40 day fast? He’d just been baptized by a holy man– who many were calling a prophet– and the holy man had asked Jesus, straight up: “Are you the new messiah?” Can you imagine what that must have been like for him...?
And he’d seen scores of his fellow Jews, up close– poor, suffering, and desperate for justice. And looming in the backdrop, the broken Promise– the Kingdom of Israel descending into decadence, corruption, barbarism and chaos.
By all accounts, Jesus had a deep, abiding love for people. Like a familial brotherly love, as an adoring brother would love his own sister or brother. But he embodied such love for all people... Have you ever known such a person? We’re not meaning the plastic approval-seeker who desperately feigns compassion for others in exchange for their validation. But one who can see deeply in such a person; understand their desperation; and see the sadness and even dignity in their yearning. And further– be compelled to help heal their yearning; to help them trust that dignity in themselves.
CHAPTER 9 – WAS JESUS THE MESSIAH?
It’s a beautiful ideal for humanity– the archetype of the loving Messiah– who embodies such perfect compassion for others that they’re inspired to find such Truth in themselves. And all doubts aside: what greater example is there is there in all of human history than the all-loving man of compassion that Jesus would come to mean for us?
In our cynical age, it’s very hard to imagine such perfection of compassion, isn’t it? But just as a mental experiment- suspend your disbelief just for a moment, and imagine that all the requisite qualities had somehow come together in the life of this one man, Jesus. And in the depths of 40 days of fasting, prayer and rigorous self enquiry, Jesus found a core Truth in himself, the genius of perfect compassion.
For some reason, when we call it “genius” it’s easier for us to accept. For example, when we behold the great geniuses who are chronicled in our culture like Bach or Rembrandt, or da Vinci– their genius seems indisputable. And, interestingly, when you examine the works of these great geniuses, you find that their greatest works were actually in homage to Jesus himself: check out Bach’s Passion of Jesus, or Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee, or da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi.
Or see the bare genius of perfected will in the great revolutionaries like Gandhi, "Black Moses" Harriett Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Martin Luther King– all who attribute their deep conviction for Justice to that example in Jesus Christ.
Indeed, would it not have taken a genius of compassion with a perfect sense of Justice to muster the will that must have been needed to accept the impossible challenge of walking the walk of a would-be Messiah? Considering the history that Jesus made over the next few years of his life- which would go on to inspire such genius as those mentioned above, and countless more like them in all walks of life– and over the course of more than 2,000 years of human history– how else can we define what he has come to mean to so many but as “Jesus, the Messiah”?
CHAPTER 10 – JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY
According to the biblical narrative, Jesus ended his fast in the wilderness, journeyed back to Galilee and launched his public ministry. For the next two years, Jesus would travel across Galilee preaching and finetuning his message of Universal Love and Global Justice. Most biblical scholars agree that his message culminates in what the bible refers to as “The Sermon on the Mount”. We expect this sermon includes layered meaning for interpretation by those who receive it. So we’ll offer our perspective here in the spirit that we received it:
This Sermon on the Mount includes the famous “Eight Beatitudes (or ‘blessings’) of Jesus”. You can read about the full context of the sermon in the book of Matthew in the Chrirstain bible. We’ll just quote the Eight Beatitudes here and offer some insights on a few of those after. Jesus said:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted... Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness* for they shall be satisfied... Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy... Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God... Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God... [And] Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness*, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." [Gospel of Matthew 5:3-10]
So those are the “Eight Beatitudes (or ‘blessings’) of Jesus”. And for some context, it’s worth reminding here that Jesus would have given this “Sermon on the Mount” around the year 30 A.D. The Book of Matthew, which quotes that sermon, was originally written in the Hebrew language for a Hebrew audience that would have understood the dynamics of the People of Israel back then. The following is a quick glimpse of those dynamics to help provide context and better inform our brief analysis of the Beatitudes.
So there were four main groups (or sects) of Jews at the time of Jesus: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes and the Zealots. The Pharisees were the Jewish Priests who oversaw the business of the Temple, including that business of ritual blood sacrifice that we previously explained. The Sadducees were those of the priestly
families, who could be considered the Jewish aristocracy. These two groups– the Pharisees and Sadducees– made up what we could call the political class and financial elites of that time. These were the folks who John the Baptist referred to as the “offspring of vipers”...
Then there were the Essenes who we previously explained as the seperatist sect of Jews who banned eating meat and the Temple’s business of blood sacrifice. They also banned other barbarism as well, including stoning to death as a punishment for various sins. The Essenes’ top aims were “to be pious before God,” and “to practice justice before men.” They created a surrogate Temple based on communal wealth to ensure equality and individual prosperity.
The fourth sect of Jews were known as the Zealots. They were a militant Jewish group who regarded political freedom as a religious imperative. The Zealots despised equally, the corrupt Jewish elites and the Roman occupation, and maintained an underground resistance movement against both, centered in Galilee. And like the Essenes, they expected the return of a Messiah to save and rally their cause...
CHAPTER 11 – UNIVERSAL LOVE AND GLOBAL JUSTICE
With that summary of class dynamics and revolutionary spirit that pervaded the Jewish kingdom in the first century, here are a few brief observations about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We believe these points illustrate key aspects of Jesus’ ministry that are persistently left out of mainstream discourse about Jesus. And which result in a gross distortion of mission and ministry.
Recalling the first Beatitude in the biblical narrative, Jesus says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If you’re familiar with this passage, you’ve likely wondered what Jesus meant by “the poor in spirit”. Did he mean sad, suffering people? Actually, leading scholars [1,2] believe it is a distinct reference to the Essenes who referred to themselves as “the Poor” due to their “spirit” of egalitarianism, communal economy, rejection of private property, and their boycott of “the rich” corrupt aristocracy of the Jewish Kingdom. So according to those scholars: in this Beatitude, Jesus is effectively saying that those who are like the Essenes– who reject greed and materialism and prioritize equality for all – are blessed with “the Kingdom of Heaven”.
And by the way, there’s more to that phrase, “the Kingdom of Heaven” as well, which we’ll come back to in a moment… *But first, let’s look at the fourth and eighth Beatitudes which say: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” –AND– “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." He seems to define what he means by righteousness in the other Beatitudes as “meek, merciful, and peaceful.” But it doesn’t it seem odd to state that a person would be “persecuted” for being “meek, merciful, and peaceful”?
Actually the use of the term “righteousness” in these two passages has a long and storied debate. Leading Experts and scholars agree that the term “righteousness” was erroneously or even “suspiciously” substituted there for the correct term which should be “justice”. According to scholars then, the correct translation should be: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for “justice”, for they shall be satisfied.” –AND– “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of “justice”, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." So, the correct translations reveal clearly that the ministry of Jesus was a mission of Global Justice.
In fact there are over 300 occurences of the original greek term for “Justice” in the New Testament, but most are translated as “Righteousness”. So, why the seeming conspiracy against the term “Justice” in the Christian bible?
CHAPTER 12 – THE CONSECRATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
Perhaps one major clue can come from a seminal event in Chritianity that happened about 300 years after Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It was an official meeting in 325 A.D. called the Council of Nicea– a meeting of two opposing Chirstian factions in the early formation of the Church. Their main disagreement was a theological dispute: one group believed Jesus should be portrayed in church doctrine as an eternal being having always co-existed with God. The other side disagreed, claiming Jesus should be portrayed as a creation of God and therefore subordinate to God. Our concern here is not their theological debate; but rather the political context of that debate.
The meeting was organized by the Roman Emperor Constatine. His apparent goal was to host the theological debate and rig the outcome in favor of his preferred majority. According to the historical record, “Constantine invited over 2,000 Christian Bishops to the event, but in the end, he “disqualified over 1,700 Bishops from voting due to what he called their “political views”. He rigged the debate- and the remaining Bishops who wanted Jesus portrayed as “co-eternal with God” won with only two dissenting votes.
It was a shrewd political move by Constinine that gained him favor with the winners of that debate. Those Bishops held important influence in the eastern region of the Roman Empire. In return, they helped Constantine consolidate political power and effectively transform the empire from a Roman Republic into “an absolute monarchy divested of republican forms.” Christianity would soon become the State Church of the new Roman autocracy. And the organization of the early Church would be modeled after the imperial Roman army: Bishops and their deacons would rule districts corresponding with military districts, controlling political appointments, disciplinary actions, and allocation of funding.
Constantine was embraced by the Church as a converted Christian. But it was well known he was a murderous tyrant. Among his many murders, he had “boiled alive” his first wife– and he’d strangled his oldest son to death. Still, the Church Bishops deferred to the Emperor as their “enforcer of religious purity.” With Constantine’s support they led mass persecutions of all perceived enemies of the Church. And with support from the Imperial army, the Church plundered Pagan temples and stole precious treasures that had been amassed for centuries throughout the Empire. By the fourth century, the early Christian Church had become the complete antithesis of “Justice” that Jesus had preached 300 years before.
And by emphasizing a doctrine of “Righteousness” rather than “Justice”, church leaders had a powerful tool of spiritual austerity with which to control the masses: a focus on “Justice” – as Jesus had done – would highlight the sins of the Church and the State. But a focus on “Righteousness” reversed that dynamic. It focused the attention of the Church on the sins of the masses. It sets up the Church as God’s judge and jury over the masses on behalf of the State.
And the greatest conjob of all by those tricksters? The early Christian Church deified the State: the imperialist empire was propped up by the Church as a Holy Empire. Its ruler became God’s chosen Emperor. So any calls for Justice against the State or the Emperor could be interpreted as blasphemy. The early Church then effectively made the pursuit of “Justice” that Jesus had preached, a state heresy– a crime against God and punishable by death...
CHAPTER 13 – WHERE IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?
Was the new Christian Church the new “Body of Christ” as it claimed? Or had it actually become the Antichrist as foretold in its bible in the Book of Revelations? Most certainly it was not seeking the “Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus had preached...
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven...”, Jesus had said, “and all else will be given unto you.” So, what did Jesus mean by this “Kingdom of Heaven” he preached? Was it just a utopian pipe dream? Or is there more to his meaning?
In the sixth Beatitude that he recited at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” Did he mean that if we live a pure life, then upon our death we could finally “see” God in the afterlife, in his celestial “Kingdom of Heaven”? Certainly that’s what the early Christian Church would indoctrinate. But according to other biblical verse, Jesus also said that “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” and the “Kingdom of God is within you.”
So in reference to that sixth Beatitude - did Jesus actually mean - that if someone could be “pure of heart” - then they would “see” that the God they’ve been seeking- is the God that’s been within them - all along...? It would mean the Kingdom of Heaven is already here on Earth, “among us” and “in our midst”, would it not? And that we need only purify our habits of perceiving and being to “see” it? For what is the “heart”, as Jesus puts it, but the habits of thinking, doing and being of its bearer?
And what examples in his life did Jesus give us - for seeking such purity within ourselves? Most certainly he advocated “mercy and love for each other - and all God’s creation” in committing oneself to the great quest for Global Justice. But by his own example, in preparation for that quest, he sought first to ready himself. He went into “the wilderness” of self-enquiry and rigorous introspection. He fasted, meditated and prayed to the God of Heaven within… He rejected the seduction of self-doubt and temptation of self-glory. He uncovered the Messiah within, and embraced its mission: to find the “meek and merciful peacemakers” who could join together and build a new Kingdom of Heaven based on a perpetualrevolution of Universal Love and Global Justice.
CHAPTER 14 – DIVINITY IN CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
His great quest proceeded from the Sermon on the Mount to his “triumphal entry” into the Temple City. According to the biblical narrative, Jesus entered the city through its “Golden Gate”, the traditional entrance of foreign kings and princes who claim to come in peace. The crowd parted as he made his way to the Temple Courtyard. It was the annual festival of Passover, and the crowds would have numbered 300,000 people or more.
In the courtyard, he confronted the animal traders- those selling cows, sheep and doves for repentance by blood sacrifice. And he confronted the moneychangers and loan sharks, who bartered with those needing funds to purchase their repentance. He turned over their tables and cast them out– and he scorned the Temple Priests saying they’d turned God’s holy house into “a den of robbers and thieves.” The crowds were inspired by his activism and praised him. And as Jesus left he asked the crowd to boycott all trade in the Temple, “a sanction that would have disrupted all commerce” in the city.
According to the biblical narrative, the Jewish priests feared his sway with the crowds, and began “scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.” They formed a mob of men to track him down and bring him back to the Priests to be tried for blasphemy. “Are you the Messiah?” they asked him when he was brought before the priests. “I am,” Jesus said, and gave them the answer they needed.
The bible says that the priests then bound Jesus and brought him to the Roman Governor, Pontious Pilate. They told Pilate that he’d claimed to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews. “We have no king but Caesar,” said the
Priests. And “anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.” So, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar,” they said. “Away with him! Crucify him!”
And with that, Pilate commanded his soldiers to prepare Jesus for execution. They twisted together a crown of thorns and set it upon his head. And they led him out through the crowd to the place of his crucifixion. His final hours had come. The defender of the poor and oppressed would be martyred in a place of death reserved for robbers and runaway slaves.
CHAPTER 15 – JESUS IS CRUCIFIED
The Bible says Jesus refused the elixir that pious women traditionally offered the victims of crucifixion. In full consciousness then, Jesus would feel the full pain of this terrible death: the nails being pounded through his hands and feet, the weight of his body upright, tearing at the wounds; his loved ones nearby horrified, heartbroken and sobbing. And all while the priests were mocking them, shouting, “if he is the Saviour why won’t he save himself?”
The Bible says Jesus had prayed early on, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” And for the next six hours he hung there, helpless and suffering for all to see, until a soldier finally stabbed him with a spear. Towards the end, the Bible says Jesus spoke again, saying “My God why have you forsaken me?” Can you imagine what questions would tear through the mind of one who had met such an end to a quest such as his? Or what visions he might have seen over six hours of such excruciating pain?
If the crucible of such intense suffering could induce prophetic vision as some claim, what might Jesus have seen..? The last 2,000 years is a minefield of human history... Might he have seen how his teachings were twisted by early church leaders, as we previously explained? Or how 10 centuries later, murderous raids and campaigns of mass torture would be justified in his name during the Christian Crusades and Inquisitions? Or how 15 centuries later, the Chrstian “Doctrine of Discovery” would sanctify mass genocide, plunder, and slavery by imperialist Christian Explorers? Or how 20 centuries later, the Church would abide in the grotesque consumerism that we now call “Merry Christmas”?
Indeed, in the bitterest of ironies, Church leaders today seem more concerned about keeping the words “Merry Christmas” attached to this hypocrisiy of materialism, than any meaningful fight to proclaim Jesus’ true mission to boycott materialism and promote Universal Love and Global Justice.
We’re not aiming here to shame anyone- just pointing out that if Jesus had gotten a glimpse of the vast horror and hypocrisy made in his name over the past two millennia, what else might he exclaim, but “My God! Why have you forsaken me?!” Was he maybe talking to us?
CHAPTER 16 – REVELATIONS...
As we celebrate Christmas this year, we celebrate in the nation that hosts the vastest, most destructive empire ever on the face of the Earth. We now have greater wealth inequality than any nation, at anytime in human history. The US Criminal Justice System is now a subsidiary of the For-Profit Prison Industry, where the US now imprisons more of its own citizens than any other nation.
Skyrocketing healthcare costs are now greater in the US than any other developed nation. And the leading cause of disease and death is America’s Disease-for-Profit Food System: 18 of the Top 20 BigPharma products sold worldwide are medicines that treat diseases associated with meat- and- dairy-based foods.
The meat and dairy industry is also the #1 driver of the Mass Extinction of Species now underway. We’re now on track to lose 90% of Earth’s wildlife populations by 2025- that’s just five years away. As we record this Christmas podcast, record wildfires driven by global warming have turned southeast Australia into “a charred, apocalyptic nightmare that threatens to wipe out entire species of animals.”
The meat and dairy industry is also a leading driver of global warming as well. And on Christmas Eve 2019, the Earth capped an all-time record for Antarctic Ice-Melt over a single 24 hour period...
Of course, fossil fuel use is also a leading driver of global warming. And even as Climatologists declare Climate Breakdown a ‘Planetary Emergency’ in the wake of the record ice melt Christmas Eve, the US War machine is– right now– trying to start three different foreign wars for oil in Venezuela, Syria and Iran. All three wars are about forcing the sale of global oil in petrodollars to profit the BigBanks. And anyone counting on a decline of fossil fuel sales to help slow down global warming is spectacularly naive about the power of BigBanks and the global petrodollar system…
CHAPTER 17 – A CONCLUSION TO JESUS' REVOLUTION
2,000 years later, the trading of animal flesh by BigMeat&Dairy, and the peddling of debt by the money changers of the BigBanks has pushed our planet to the brink of ecological and social collapse… And the mass corporate media has so perfected state propaganda, that– as the great Noam Chomskey has said– “People not only don't know what's happening to them, they don't even know that they don't know.”
That’s what we believe the Christmas Story must become, beginning today and going forward into this pivotal New Year– a revelation of the Truth of the times that we’re in; a radical re-awakening to our responsibility in the Revolution that began 2,000-years ago: the revelation that now, this Revolution must finally conclude.
According to the science, never before in human history has “the End Times” been so relevant and accurate a warning as now... But, too, never before have we had such access to each other to rally together and do what we must do.. It’s not rocket science either: Jesus gave us the playbook, we just didn’t follow through. We have to boycott the power structure of the elites, starting with its most strategic, most vulnerable and archaic industry: BigMeat&Dairy.
A Mass Organized Boycott of BigMeat&Dairy (BigMAD) is the most accessible and strategic boycott we can undertake. It would deliver huge gains in the fight against climate change. And it would quickly and dramatically improve our health and well being, which would then impact BigPharma. In fact, both BigPharma and BigChemical are highly dependent on the consumption and production of global meat and dairy. And all three industries– BigMAD, BigPharma and BigChem are huge customers of BigOil. Petrochemicals provide the molecular building blocks for BigPharma and BigChemical products.
And if BigOil suffers then the Petrodollar suffers and that’s finally how we can effectively force BigBanks to the bargaining table.
Of course, a Mass Organized Boycott must include a Boycott of BigMedia, combined with a “Buycott” of independent media. It would effectively muzzle the Corporatocracy, and we’d empower the best indie journos out there to hasten our Just Revolt.
And please be clear- we’re under no illusion that organizing such a mass boycott across all sectors of Global Justice would not present unprecedented challenges- we get it. But do understand that this boycott strategy is supported by solid research as we’ve reported over the past year: all the major corporations across all industries of the Corporatocracy are all variously invested in each others success. They buy each others’ stock and appoint their people to each others boards of directors. Their shared ownership and mutual investment is what binds the Corporatocracy. It’s their greatest strength, but it’s also their greatest weakness. When one industry falters, they all suffer and they all know it. And the most vulnerable and strategic industry of the Corporatocracy is BigMeat&Dairy.
As Jesus might call it– that’s the “Good News” in our Christmas Story, and we hope you’ll look into it. And if you’d like to learn more about how all of us in the work of Global Justice can join together in Mass Organized Boycott and force this Corporatocracy to the people’s bargaining table, to end all this injustice, cruelty and corruption, and to help save our planet– please visit our website at wakingjustice.org. You can check out our ABOUT Page and listen to our first podcast. And if you want to get your Daily WakeUp Call delivered each day by email, please fill out the “Contact” form at the top/right of the Home page– or you can email us at info@wakingjustice.org -We’d love to hear from you.
We’re running out of time, y’all... Join us... Peace.
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