Good And Faithful Servant (The Rosalynn Carter Post.)

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

For I hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

~Matthew 25:31-46

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A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

~Rosalynn Carter.

I got woke up just about an hour ago by assorted ferret shenanigans. I was having trouble getting back to sleep, so I pulled up Blue Sky on my tablet. I'd already managed a decent 8 hours sleep so, Okay, what could it hurt.

I should know not to ask that question.

First thing I saw was that Rosalynn Carter had passed away.

Well, shit.

I always liked the Carters, despite having spent much of my adult life as a Republican.

I was a Christian, I've read all of Jimmy Carter's books on that subject.

And I have to admit, I never thought of Carter as a particularly "Great" President until, thanks to his negotiating skills and those of Colin Powell and Sam Nunn...we didn't have to invade Haiti in 1994, but went in as Peacekeepers. I was an active duty Airman at the time and ya know, I kind of liked the idea of our guys not going into harm's way and still getting the job done.

Also because I was a Christian, I've never understood the almost feral hatred some Evangelicals and Fundamentalists had for Jimmy Carter.

Or at least, I didn't until Donald Trump got elected and these fucking people fell into cultish adoration and worship of Donald Trump. In other words, Christ and Christianity...let alone the teachings of either one nor the conduct expected of a believer...never had one damned thing to do with any of it.

At best, actual righteousness is for other people...and that mostly only because in the minds of certain political Evangelicals it makes them easier to take advantage of.

It's all about Power and tribalism to those assholes, that and the kind of hard religiosity that's just as likely to have been held by Carthaginian worshipers of Moloch before the Roman conquest of ancient Carthage or by blood-soaked Aztec priests in 1521...or radical Islamists fighting against Israel right now...as it is by a screaming Calvinist or Prosperity Gospel Pentecostal preacher over here in the modern Deep South...or a Russian Orthodox Bishop in Moscow railing against homosexuality to justify the war in Ukraine. 

In other words, the type of shit that's exactly what Jesus himself railed against.

And it's increasingly obvious that these fucking people are not sorry, and that their entire goal is, in point of fact, the creation of a Christ-less Christianity that lets them hurt even more people. I'm warning you: If they have to worship literal devils to do that...they'll do it. 

That's the next step.

It will absolutely come to that.

They're close enough already.

Fucking Trump bragged recently that the leader of the Taliban was nice to him.

Motherfucker, those assholes shot two of my friends.

Both survived, but one ended up with severe PTSD and various other mental issues, and would ultimately commit suicide in 2011.His wedding in 2003 was the last time most of my Air Force bros all got together, the situation ended up being a soup sandwich, made worse by his issues. But the point is that religious extremism and war wreck people.

And all Trump can think about is that these radical Islamists who are the opposite of everything America stands for...including, mind you, things that most American Muslims stand for...called him "Your excellency."

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have dedicated their lives to the American experiment and the Cross of Christ and made the world a measurably better place in the process. There's a house a couple blocks down from where I live that was built by Habitat For Humanity...which Jimmy Carter started, and did the literal physical labor of building homes for...for one.

What's Donald Trump ever done for anybody but Donald Trump??

One of these things is not like the other one.

Remember that.

Because there's going to be a test later.

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Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Watch ye therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

~Matthew 25:1-13

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There is clearly much left to be done, and whatever else we're going to do, we had better get on with it. ~Rosalynn Carter