Not Of This World (Self On The Throne, Four.)

Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover.

Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?

They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:

That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying what death he should die.

Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?

Jesus answered him, Say thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.

Pilate said unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

~John 18:28-40

I first saw this a couple days ago, or some variation of it.

"I'm against the idea of No Kings cuz Jesus Christ is my King!"

Seriously?? 

There's just one tiny little thing wrong with that, Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world.

Like, don't take my word for it, read the half-a-chapter highlighted above.

Like do these fucking people even read the Lord's Word at all??

My vision of what that moment must have been like is, in fact, informed by how it was shown in Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ.

Imagine, Jesus, dark, bearded, long-haired, clad in the simple robes of a Jewish peasant and itinerant Rabbi, but muscular, his hands clearly strong from working stone and wood alike as a carpenter, scruffy and kind of beat-up at that point, but clearly radiating power beyond mere physicality and a deep serenity anyway. Pilate faces him...smaller, lighter-skinned, clean-shaven and short-haired as Romans often were, certainly fit for martial skill or at least training would have been a requirement of his station in Roman society and wearing the robes of his office, perhaps flanked by guards as Jesus was held chained by more of the same.

Jesus says, likely in Greek or Latin "Everyone that is of the Truth hears my voice."

Pilate answers back...in Latin; "Truth? What is Truth??"

The Empire that raised up Emperors and their Catamites alike as debased Gods, suddenly has no answer, is tongue-tied, and it chokes.

He is silent, for he has no one to answer him, and has only realized thusly in that moment.

Pilate hands Jesus back to the mob, because he has no idea what the fuck to even do.

That's where the Empire falls, that's were the Power of the State fails. Political, secular Power and spiritual power are not the same, and by definition they cannot be. 

If you cannot understand that, Christ is NOT your King.

You have to have Faith in the things you cannot see. This is a prerequisite for...well, anything, spiritually. That you have to Believe is literally the goddamned point!

And These Fucking People don't want to do that. They don't want to see it, their Self is on the throne and all they can imagine is themselves in that seat of Power or living vicariously through the one who has it or trying to profit by proximity to or some imagined social contract with that person.

That they would have agency for themselves never occurs to them, because they don't want it to. Self-governance is hard.

And so is the self-awareness and reflection that's actually kind of important to having any sort of faith. What is my place in the world? What is my relationship with God?? Where am I in the divine conversation?

In Oz, sometimes the things you can't touch are more real than the things you can. For instance, fear, hatred, loneliness are more real to me than a shank. And a soul. Everyday can grow into something you can almost hold. How fucked up is that?! In a shit-hole like this, to first and finally see the face of God. ~Augustus Hill, from the HBO series Oz, S1 E3 "God's Chillin.'"

You'd think people for whom literally everything is predicated on a "Personal relationship with Jesus" would understand this in at least some fashion.

I'm only gonna say this one time, so listen up: We're going to find out that These Fucking People are more Atheistic and, indeed, anti-Religion (or at least any religion where beliefs cannot change instantly for the convenience of political elites) than the most fanatical Stalinist Soviet Commissar and more deluded by Black Magic and Occultism than members of Adolf Hitler's inner circle as described by the Indiana Jones movies. I'm fucking serious...and they're all like that.

When Jesus turns out not to be their avenging Big Stick that they can use to knock everyone else into the Outer Darkness or some kind of giant nuke they can use to destroy the World, they will reject Him.

It's not even hard, to imagine Trump replying (if asked) "What is Truth?" is it?? Nor is it difficult to imagine that he genuinely does not know...and cares even less.

And what's worse is that so many "Christians" follow after all this bullshit and seem entirely unaware of those words....let alone why they matter.

Either you believe in freedom or you don't.

Without truth, there can be no such thing as freedom.

Truth is the only thing that gives us a floor to stand upon to push back against power.

Remember that, and don't get it twisted.

And then know that you're going to have to fight for it.

Слава Україна!

[Mon Mothma addresses the Senate chambers again]

Mon Mothma: Fellow Senators, friends, colleagues, allies, adversaries, I stand before you this morning with a heavy heart. I've spent my life in this chamber. I came here as a child, and as I look around me now, I realize I have almost no memories that predate my arrival, and few bonds of affection that cleave so tightly. Through these many years, I believe I have served my constituents honorably and upheld our code of conduct. This chamber is a cauldron of opinions, and we've certainly all had our patience and tempers tested in pursuit of our ideals. Disagree as we might, I am hopeful that those of you who know me will vouch for my credibility in the days to come.

I stand this morning with a difficult message. I believe we are in crisis. The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil! When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest. This Chamber's hold on the truth was finally lost on the Ghorman Plaza! What took place yesterday, what happened yesterday on Ghorman, was unprovoked genocide! Yes, genocide! And that truth has been exiled from this Chamber! And the monster screaming the loudest, the monster we helped create, the monster who will come for us all soon enough, is Emperor Palpatine!

~From the Star Wars series Andor, S2.E9 "Welcome To The Rebellion."

Three

If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. ~Ronald Reagan