Wise Council-Before its to late....

Infrastructure Building programs-Boom or Bust?

Many people believe they are positioned to initiate major building projects as part of either a Private Placement program or some kind of public exchange of foreign currency. There are indeed a lot of great ideas floating around various sources, but most of the people involved have never worked with an architect, selected a contractor or ever been involved in the decision making required with such efforts. This lack of experience all but guarantees difficulties on multiple levels. 

To begin with keep in mind that what ever you build you have to maintain, staff and pay all the operational bills including utility costs. That means that you have to “endow” its operations or be saddled with fund raising efforts for ever. As much as 75% of your money needs to be set aside for investments that yield 5-10% safely. You need to have a handle on this before you ever attempt to build anything. Other wise you find yourself in bankruptcy even if you successfully run the design/construction gauntlet. You have to develop your endowment plans as you design your infrastructure project. Otherwise it simply will not work. 

The Disturbing Truth

 

“And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?"

 

 Let me begin by stating clearly that this article is not a condemnation of the church as it exists today.  After all there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ.  However it is my fear that many confuse convection with condemnation.  God convicts us of sin while he never condemns us.  Convection at times can feel a lot like condemnation.  However with condemnation there is no recourse with convection there is always an open door for both change and forgiveness.  Let's proceed further not out of condemnation but convection. 

By this time most of us have seen Fiddler On The Roof, and will remember how Tevye, the leading character, opens with the song, Tradition! The whole Jewish community was built upon and governed by the long-standing, unbreakable traditions of the past. The unspoken thesis of that play and movie is the way these traditions were being challenged by the unrest and uprootings of the day, and that to have tradition violated causes grief and hardship to many. This is suggestive of the scene we will view today in Mark's Gospel, as Mark brings before us the stark contrast between the ministry of Jesus, who is reaching out in healing love to men and women all over the region, and the hindering work of the scribes and the Pharisees, who attempt, armed with tradition, to halt that ministry of love.

Thomas Dickson, one of the great preachers of the last century, once said, "Tradition was the most constant, the most persistent, the most dogged, the most utterly devilish opposition the Master encountered. It openly attacked him on every hand, and silently repulsed his teaching.

Part 3- Cane Ridge Revival: The Scot-Irish Phenomenon

Following the demise of the Bangor Abby, the Scot-Irish remained passionate about their primary Presbyterian faith. Their continued quest for freedom lead to many conflicts including their support of King William III who offered some measure of independence apart from the Church of England. Keep in mind that the Church of England was formed by King Henry VIII because the Catholic Church refused to grant him an annulment to a marriage that failed to produce a male air to his throne. When the Pope refused, Henry VIII decided to form his own church so that he could find another wife.

Presbyterian history is part of the history of Christianity, but the beginning of Presbyterianism as a distinct movement occurred during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. As the Catholic Church resisted the reformers, the Church split and different theological movements bore different denominations.

Presbyterianism was especially influenced by the French theologian John Calvin, who is credited with the development of Reformed theology, and the work of John Knox, a Scotsman who studied with Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland and brought his teachings back to Scotland. The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to England and Scotland. In August 1560 the Parliament of Scotland adopted the Scots Confession as the creed of the Scottish Kingdom. In December 1560, the First Book of Discipline was published, outlining important doctrinal issues but also establishing regulations for church government, including the creation of ten ecclesiastical districts with appointed superintendents which later became known as presbyteries. In time, the Scots Confession would be supplanted by the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, which were formulated by the Westminster Assembly between 1643 and 1649.

Part 2- The Antiphonary of Bangor: The Scot-Irish Birthright of Peace

Our call to Ireland started in the Spring of 2001. We had no specific direction other than our trip was to begin in the fall. It was not until several months later that we first heard others were headed overseas as well. Over the subsequent months the details of our journey became more evident. There is a huge connection to Tennessee through the Scot-Irish. Our "Hillbilly," roots were enormous history shapers.   As a result, our focus would be in Ireland and Scotland. Many of our team have this heritage in our families. One of the most important stops of our trip was going to be the Abbey at Bangor, Ireland.
  
There is a legend told of St Patrick that he and his companions came one day to a certain valley to rest. Suddenly "they beheld the valley filled with a heavenly light and with a multitude of the host of heaven they heard, as chanted forth from the voice of angels, the psalmody of the celestial choir".They named the place "Vallis Angelorum" – the Valley of the Angels. In the process of time there was built in this valley a holy place – called Bangor.

Prior to leaving on our trip to Ireland a friend, Linda Folmer, had notified us that the only publicly accessible copy of the Antiphonary of Bangor was located at a University some 60 miles from our home. Our first question to Linda was “What is an Antiphonary?” She explained that the Antiphonary is a collection of the liturgical prayers from the Abbey of Bangor. The Abbey at Bangor was founded in 538 A.D. It was from Bangor that the Celtic Church and Christianity as a whole flourished in the dark ages. We knew immediately that these prayers from the Abbey would play a significant part in our journey.

Part 1- Giving Birth to a Nation: The Scot-Irish Flame of Freedom

The issue of slavery in the United States predates its conquest by Europeans as the result of the "Discovery," of America. It is a well documented fact that wars between tribal groups resulted in captives being made slaves of the victors. Slavery is not limited to stereotypical racial boundaries.

English nobility considered the Irish little more than white, good for nothing ignorant slaves. Although not bartered, they were treated as slaves by the landed gentry. Prejudice among people groups has always been founded in dehumanizing those of lower class standing. The English press portrayed the Irish as barefoot, ignorant, monkey like people unworthy of the rights of those of more noble blood.

The term Scotch-Irish is first known to have been used to refer to people living in Northeastern Ireland. In a letter of April 14, 1573, in reference to Ulster, Elizabeth I of England stated, "We are given to understand that a nobleman named 'Sorley Boy' [MacDonnel] and others, who be of the Scotch-Irish race”. This term continued in usage for over a century before the earliest known American reference appeared in a Maryland affidavit in 1689/90.

The Life of Nan-ye-hi

The life of Nan-ye-hi (Nancy Ward) 

Ghighau (Beloved Woman) of the Ani-Yunwiya (Principal People)

A fresh wind is blowing across many cultures. Across racial, religious and political lines the truth is being exposed. This exposure is showing many of us ways in which we have rewritten history out of convenience. Starting down this path of the revelation of our in humanity we encounter many paradigms. Paradigms for whatever reason, we may have chosen to ignore. Comfort in America is being displaced with a kind of holy unrest. It is in this place of holy unrest that we begin to collide with realities which are uncomfortable to look directly in the eye.

Whether or not we like to admit it, the cultures that most dramatically shaped our nation as we know it were those of the Greeks and Romans. Even in this modern era, their societies continue to influence government structures, health care delivery systems, educational institutions and perhaps most importantly, religious structures in America. It is the third century Roman church that is responsible for when we worship, where we worship, how we worship and with whom we worship. It is said that Christian faith conquered Rome and then Rome conquered Christianity. It is out of a conquering mindset that most people view American history. Perhaps a more inclusive way of viewing America is from something beyond the convenient lens of July 4,1776. Could it be that we should view the United States from a minority status as well as seeing the vast accomplishments that we now enjoy?

Over the millennia, European societies developed along the lines of artificially supported living environments. I use the phrase “artificially supported living environments” to describe a community that has to go outside the bounds of its territory for the basics of health and welfare. These societies exploited environmental conditions for the purpose of gaining greater wealth and opulence. Wealth represented power and power, in turn, controls.

During this same time period, Native American societies lived in cooperation with their environment. This contrasts the ideals of exploitation versus stewardship. When Europeans arrived on the North American continent, they found a pristine environment with little impact from thousands of years of human habitation. European societies had a need for industrial revolution where Native Americans did not. Native America would never have found need for such endeavors since their society was empowered by the land in which they dwelled. Having been left to their own devices, Native American culture more than likely, would have continued on its path of environmental harmony. First nations people did not have philosophies or religious basics toward a concept of taking more from the land than they needed. Wealth and status achieved thru exploitation of the land was contrary to the fabric of their society. It is out of thousands of years of stewardship that we examine the life of one Native American we know as Nancy Ward.

The God particle

In the beginning 

Since the dawn of time, mankind has always looked for ways to understand and describe the universe around him. Science and physics have been fields of study through which we have sought language to describe the natural world.

In the early 1900's the scientific community discovered the atom. The atom consisted of three basic elements. These elements were photons, electrons and neutrons.  We understood that this basic building block was foundational to all molecular structures. By the 1960's physicists had discovered dozens of sub atomic particles but lacked the language of a unifying theory.

In the 1970's physicists developed what is called the "Standard Model." It is the Standard Model that has been used to bring order to mathematical explanations of the known universe. Central to the Standard Model is a particle that was theorized to be the key to all mater. First put forward by Peter Higgs, it became known as the Higgs particle. This particle is 1000 times smaller than a photon.  Without this central character in the equation of the Standard model, no matter of any kind stays together. It also became known as the "God Particle."

Equity for all

The value of lasting Infrastructure

Lets assume for a moment there is a real God out there in the cosmos. This entity is not the creation of a needy human mind as Sigmund Freud supposes. If such a force exists then it would necessarily be something of vast wisdom. Should this God of ours be relational based, then the vastness of a empty universe would not be a happy place to exist. Let's suppose that He chose to create something out of nothing to find some greater pleasure and meaning. Yet in so doing decided that true fellowship could only exist with a free will to chose to do so. The creation of mankind could have been two fold. First and foremost was to be a companion to the creator and second to be a steward of His creation.

Granting a choice to be a companion carries with it consequences. For the sake of further discussion lets assume that in mankind's process of making these choices that a breach occurred . This breach of mutual trust resulted in foundational shifts in how God and mankind relate to each other. This complicated their relationship profoundly. Something dramatic had to happen if there was ever going to be restoration of the relationship. Someone or something had to bridge the gap.

Which fork in the road are we going to take

To effectively reform the government of the United States will require a multi-front, multi-generational approach. Electing someone new from any party into the existing system will not have any lasting effect one way or the other. Contrary to what may believe, the real decisions about running the country are not made in the voting booth.

The Self-Righteous Finger | Its always someone else's fault.

Man's view of religion has been the source of wars and the needless slaughter of millions of people.  Humanity scorns Hitlers genocide in the concentration camps of Word War II, while justifying the unconstitutional enforcement of the US Indian removal act of 1830 that cost the lives of thousands of native people.  Genocide is given a blind eye if the end justifies the means.

The Red pill or the Blue....

One of the most "prophetic," films that I have seen come out of Hollywood is The Matrix.  In many ways this film is playing out in real time among us.  We truly are the "battery," to the fractional ponzi schemes of the FIAT world of banking.  Many of us have chosen the red pill in taking a stand for the restoration of freedom apart from the debt driven slavery being imposed on humanity.

Looking the truth squarely in the eye is not often a pleasant process.  Especially if part of that honest look involves a mirror at some point.  My first exposure to what I called "Blog Conspiracy Chatter," ended in disbelief.  Many people now prey on the unaware thru the proliferation of nonsense on the web.

Even though any common sense motivated individual would and should have doubts about some of the nonsense, something inside of me was unsettled.  Often times it is this unsettled feeling that causes enough discomfort to start to investigate what might truly be going on. Mixed among the deception may lie some measure of truth.

Basic Monetary Policy- What you don't know can and often will hurt you.

Wealth is a nations most strategic asset

The quickest way to topple a government today is thru collapse of its financial markets. The collapse of the former Soviet Union was economic not militarily. As a result, some of the most secure facilities in the United States involve financial centers. Those who have access to them are scrutinized as thoroughly as an operator of a strategic missile silo containing nuclear war heads. Many of our security assets in the US are allocated to financial security along with its digital transfer base.

Salvaging America's Infrastructure Pt.3 | Approaches to problems from the vantage point of a clean sheet of paper

Back in the 60's the United States government decided that "urban blight," needed to be cleaned up in our inner cities.  The Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD as we know it was promoting massive funding for cities across the US to "clean up," their infrastructure.  In no small measure the problems stem back to the civil war and its social upheavals.  In reality what most people with wealth wanted to do is get the poor into a more palatable package.  They simply looked bad to everyone else.

Architects and Planners across the US began to explore options for what would "be best," for "those people," from their perspective.  The end result was a architectural Vietnam occurring within the inner cities.  The physical design did not take into account the social structures in place causing a kind of genocide to take place.  The architecture itself was the culprit.  No one bothered to involve the end user in the process.  By taking a "low rise," society and placing them in a "high rise," environment they took the existing mentor ship and security away from the community.

Salvaging America's Infrastructure Pt.2 | Powering down our collective lifestyle while empowering our individual freedom

Before you go screaming off in the night thinking there is no hope, lets look at some things we can all do that are at little cost or in some cases no cost to you as a consumer to have a big impact on the future of humanity!. We as individuals can devise plans now to do what government can not do. We can indeed power down our lifestyles and power up our individual freedoms.

Small steps we can each take today that can have huge collective impact on our individual futures and on society as a whole.

• Have a family meeting and make a conscience decision that enough is enough.  Its time for changes and each of us can make a difference.

• Replace all of your incandescent light bulbs with florescent or LED based luminaries

• Keep the lights turned off and install motion sensing switching in some applications.  Energy management systems can help with commercial applications.

• Connect all electronic devices to a power strip.  When you turn off the device then power down the strip.  Many devices continue to use power while in the "off," position.

• Install a programmable thermostat.  Turn down the system at night, when you are at work or away for business or holidays.

• Wrap your hot water heater in a blanket.  Turn down the thermostat on the tank for normal use and switch it off completely when you are away from home.  Take shorter showers while making sure the dish washer and washing machine are "full," before each use.

Salvaging America's Infrastructure Pt.1 | Are we in America the platform for the next third world environment?

Each of these photographs below could be from just about any community within the United States. It looks innocent enough, but let's take a peak into what lies just under the surface.

Observations about our typical infrastructure

• First we note that this kind of suburban environment is designed around an automobile not the people who live in the community. The form giver for this design is the normal turning radius of a car.

• True freedoms are homogenized into the same vanilla wrapping through zoning restrictions. This is our "legalized" way of enforcing economic segregation. In so doing, we neuter individual initiative in favor of more watered down and dumbed down society.

• We note the complete absence of the ability to produce sustainable volume's of food. This community depends on the availability of a grocery store somewhere within driving distance.

• This also means that the food they eat is most likely produced based on industrial techniques that is dependent on factory farms along with their fossil fuel contrivances.

• There is the absence of any educational facilities not associated with transportation dependent on fossil fuels.

• Health care facilities are not located within the communities boundaries. Local treatment centers are absent.

• Note the architecture is devoid of community activity space. Unless you use the sidewalk you are unlikely to be involved with a neighbor as this interaction has been design out of the community. It is by design an isolationist environment.

• More than likely each of these homes is lacking in the basics of energy conservation or alternative energy production in the context of its use. This factor leads the infrastructure to be dependent on large scale energy producers.

• There is no ability to generate or harvest water. Depending on the climate the waste water associated with rain would meet much of the needs of each household.

• Recreational facilities are absent.

• Jobs are found somewhere apart from the community more than likely dependent on several forms of carbon based transportation.

Is George Washington electable as president of the United States

Most patriotic Americans hold the founding fathers in high esteem. Many of us believe that if they could some how be resurrected back into power, they could help us get the nation back on its feet. Unfortunately for us the founding fathers are not electable within the current political system in the United States. Lets take a few minutes and look at a few of the facts.