He Is Risen...Or Not (Serpent In The Garden, Seven.)

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. ~Matthew 28:1-7

 I saw this early this morning.

Some idiot Republican quoting Mark 10:34 apparently in some kind of transparent effort to gin up outrage and following it up with "Jake Evans for Congress." Now I don't know about you, but I think "They mocked Jesus, vote for me" is probably the kind of thing that would cause Jesus to mock the shit out of this motherfucker. Like, are you kidding me with this shit?

Jesus getting Crucified was not all about you and your shitty politics, my dude.

(And yes, of course this fool is a Putin apologist and a flaming Trumper.)

And the whole point is not that Jesus died, but that He rose again on the Third Day.

Yes, I know, Redemption from Sin, and Salvation are not really things these people want.

Also, since nobody really believes the Ukrainians are Nazis, now apparently the Russians are simply saying they are Satanic and this whole "Z" operation is some kind of "Holy War."

Yeah, like the Crusades were ever really about protecting Christianity and spreading the Word to the Heathen. Fuck no, they were about gaining land and wealth and getting troublesome young noblemen out of Europe so the existing power structure could continue with its orgy of debasement under a thin veneer of Christianity, kind of like modern "Conservatism" except even more barbaric, illiterate and incestuous.

There are no two words that belong in the same sentence less than "Holy" and "War." All war is by definition against the Lord's Word and thus unholy. Either you believe in the Ten Commandments or you don't. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" ain't that hard to understand.

Again, the Truth is simple. Man makes it complicated because he does not want to obey.

It's Easter for fuck's sake. Yes, I know the Orthodox celebrate it on a different date. So what?

Vladimir Putin isn't trying to fight devils and glorify God. He's trying to eradicate Ukrainians and glorify himself. And then if that works, he'll try the same shit with Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Poles. Then he'll probably try going after Finns and Germans next. The whole point of this shit is ultimately that Vladimir Putin thinks everyone should either have to become Russian or die. What do these Republicans think will happen when he gets to us Americans?

And what about the fact that many, if not most, countries in the world have accepted Ukrainian refugees or have people of Ukrainian descent already living there. This shit is a boundary-less template for endless war and one nation forcing itself and its culture and nationality on everybody else. 

I don't know about you...but I don't care for it. I'm an American and I'm just fine with that. I have put my time in to try and make this country better as it is. The idea that some Americans think Vladimir Putin should be their ruler pisses me the fuck off. 

This isn't hard. 

You like Putin so much...move to Russia! 

We have to put a stop to this bullshit.

Putin desires to be known as Vladimir The World-Conqueror and I can't for the life of me understand why anybody else in any other country in the whole damn world supports this shit.

You...what? Think the murderous genocidal dictator is going to give you a cookie if he wins?

And it's probably a very, very good thing that Putin and his Red Army 2.0 ran right smack hard into the ferocity of the Ukrainian people and smacked even harder into the wall of reality the first time.

You cannot believe in Conspiracy Theories and the Truth at the same time. You cannot serve both the Cross of Christ and the Hammer And Sickle. These are things that are opposed to each other, and in people's hearts one or the other will win out.

It really is just that damned simple. You can claim Christ all you want, but if Self is on the Throne and you really believe that you're the center of the Universe...for all of your talk, you ain't serving Jesus.

And either you believe in a Dead Savior On A Stick or you believe in Jesus Christ as a Living Man and the Son of God, and as somebody who can see and knows what ya done. 

It's really that simple. Forgiveness of Sins does not mean you can just do what you damn well please and then keep on doing it. God is not stupid. 

Either you believe or you don't. This stuff don't come in degrees and half-measures are not sufficient. Jesus said of the lukewarm that He would spit them out.

And if you're preaching the glory of yourself or the necessity of ethnic cleansing and genocide, much less the Holiness of a neo-Communist dictator, you're in the wrong damned business.

If you're a Christian: Either you follow Jesus Christ or you don't.

Either you accept the Resurrection this day signifies for all people and the remission of Sins for the same, or you don't.

Either you accept the Prince of Peace or the Serpent In The Garden with its false promises of Power.

Choose.

Either He is Risen...or not.

If you say you're a Believer, the choice is literally Eternity.

Whether one draws one's certainties from religion or science, in order for one to push back against Power one must have one's feet set on a hard floor of Truth, and one must have the freedom to build and to have and to maintain that foundation. This can only exist in the context of a democratic, pluralistic society. Now I don't give a damn if the truth one uses for this is Darwin's theory of Evolution or that God created the Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. People have to have this, and conspiracy theories, false doctrines, junk science, quack medicine and religious extremism are nothing more than shades of the same effort by forces of Greed and Power to undermine Truth on a conceptual level.

"And they shall mock Him..." wasn't just talking about the Romans. Plenty of supposed "Christians" do the same.

Also for the sake of irony, this post...yet another time I've basically written a Christian apologetic...it is my 666th blog post, the 7th post of this series, and it's on Easter. My work here is done, y'all. Have a nice rest of your holiday.

Part Six

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For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ~Matthew 24:27

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