Category: Uncategorized

Bill Van Auken Offers a Good Discussion of US Intervention in Venezuela

The Greanville Post has published a good article by Bill Van Auken explaining some of the history that has led up to the current coup attempt in Venezuela.  It’s entitled, “Washington Engineers Right-Wing Coup in Venezuela.”

I have posted an excerpt below.  You can read the entire article here.

“…Washington’s recognition of Guaidó as president constitutes a naked intervention by US imperialism with the aim of achieving its own predatory aims in Venezuela, which boasts the world’s largest proven oil reserves. At the same time, it is aimed at rolling back the influence in the hemisphere of Russia and China, which have both established close economic and political ties with Caracas.

“This regime change operation has been two decades in the making, from the abortive 2002 CIA-orchestrated coup against Maduro’s late predecessor, Hugo Chávez, under George W. Bush, through the imposition of sanctions by the Obama administration and its designation of Venezuela as an ‘extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.’ (emphasis mine)

“By in effect throwing US support to a rival government, the Trump administration is seeking to create the conditions for a military coup or even civil war within Venezuela as well as a US military intervention from without…

“It was revealed last year that US officials repeatedly met between the fall of 2017 and the beginning of last year with a group of Venezuelan military officers seeking US support for the overthrow of Maduro. These contacts failed to reach fruition because Washington believed that the conspiracy was insufficiently prepared…”

Continuing Discoveries in the Caves at Qumran

Believe it or not, archaeologists continue to excavate the network of caves along the western shore of the Dead Sea that produced the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.

Haaretz has an interesting article describing this ongoing work.  Below is an excerpt.  You can read the entire article here.

“The fact that in 2019 explorations to find scrolls are still ongoing may sound

A piece from one of the Dead Sea Scrolls

surprising. Gutfeld thinks otherwise.

“’To many it seems obvious that everything that could be found in the Judean Desert caves has been found, and they are empty. But in the last few seasons we proved that there are findings galore and that these excavations are very important,’ he says.

“’From the first bucket we took out of the cave, we’ve been sifting out pottery fragments. We’ve found vessels and organic material including hundreds of olive pits, dates, seeds and nuts. We’ve found ropes, jars, lids, an intact decorated bronze pot, a candle unique to the Qumran region, linen textiles that were probably used for wrapping scrolls. We found leather straps that were probably used to tie the scrolls…'”

We Have Met the Enemy, And It’s Not Russia. It Is US

The journalist Aaron Mate has recently published a good article in The Nation magazine entitled “New Studies Show Pundits Are Wrong  About Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics.”

I have copied an excerpt from Aaron’s story below.  Click on the headline

Aaron Mate

above to read the entire article.  It is well worth your time.

“On top of straining credulity, fixating on barely detectable and trivial social-media content also downplays myriad serious issues. As the journalist Ari Berman has tirelessly pointed out, the 2016 election was “the first presidential contest in 50 years without the full protections of the [Voting Rights Act],” one that was conducted amid “the greatest rollback of voting rights since the act was passed” in 1965. Rather than ruminating over whether they were duped by Russian clickbait, reporters who have actually spoken to black Midwest voters have found that political disillusionment amid stagnant wages, high inequality, and pervasive police brutality led many to stay home.

“And that leads us to perhaps a key reason why elites in particular are so fixated on the purported threat of Russian meddling: It deflects attention from their own failures, and the failings of the system that grants them status as elites. During the campaign, corporate media outlets handed Donald Trump billions of dollars worth of air timebecause, in the words of the now ousted CBS exec Les Moonves: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS…. The money’s rolling in and this is fun.” Not wanting to interrupt the fun, these outlets have every incentive to breathlessly cover Russiagate and amplify comparisons of stolen Democratic Party e-mails and Russian social-media posts to Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Kristallnacht, and “cruise missiles.”

“Having lost the presidential election to a reality TV host, the Democratic Party leadership is arguably the most incentivized to capitalize on the Russia panic. They continue to oblige.”

A small handful of genuine reporters such as Aaron, Max Blumenthal and a few others have consistently pointed out the absurdity of this manufactured Russia hysteria from its beginning.  It has never made a lick of sense.

The greatest threats to our democracy come from within, from the very power-players who have worked so hard to keep this bogus, anti-Russia story alive.

Our elections are menaced by rampant voter suppression,

Voters may wait for hours in line, especially in poor neighborhoods

disenfranchisement, financial corruption, purging voter rolls, election fraud, outdated, faulty equipment, electronic, paperless voting machine (which are easily hacked by school children), and the Republican party’s growing use of the ridiculous Cross Check program.

Yes, the Democrats are also corrupt, as every Bernie Sanders support knows all too well.  They just seem to be too inept (thankfully???) to reach the depths of black-hearted efficiency to which Republicans so gleefully sink.

Former president Jimmy Carter once said that “we have one of the worst election processes in the world right in the United States of America.  

The Carter Center has monitored hundreds of elections in countries around the world.  Do you know which nation the Carter Center rates as having the best, more democratic, most trustworthy electoral system in the world?

Venezuela.  Yes, Venezuela, folks.

We all need to stop swallowing the rubbish that the establishment voices constantly feed us about Venezuela, too.

Blog Update

You may have noticed that my posting frequency has diminished significantly over the past month or so.  The reason is that Terry and I have been traveling.

First, we spent most of the month of November in the West Bank of Palestine and Israel.  I was continuing my research by contacting and interviewing the staff of 4 different human rights organizations in both Israel and the Occupied Territory.

I was humbled and encouraged to meet numerous men and women, both Palestinians and Israeli Jews, who are working for justice, peace and equality for Palestinians living in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories.

We also had a wonderful visit with our extended, adopted family in the Aida refugee camp.  The bonds of love and friendship grow deeper with each new visit, and we are beginning to feel as though we are coming to know  the city of Bethlehem beyond the typical tourist understanding.

A Palestinian child being arrested by an Israeli soldier.

Second, I have just returned from a conference in Philadelphia sponsored by the Quaker agency, the American Friends Service Committee (the AFSC).  Learn

Palestinian children held in military detention

more about their work here.

The conference was called “What Does Justice Look Like?  Moving towards a just peace in Palestine and Israel.”  You can read a bit about the conference and the speakers here.

It was a gathering of Christians, Muslims, Jews and others with a shared concern to break the chains of Israeli apartheid.

An 8 year old child arrested by an Israeli soldier

A majority of the conference speakers were Palestinian activists, mainly from Gaza.  It was an excellent opportunity to network with others who share a passion for this cause and to devise numerous action plans for continuing the work of pursuing justice for the Palestinian people.

I intend to return to a more frequent rate of posting now that I am back in NW Montana.

Thank you for continuing to subscribe and taking the time to read what I

Would you like your child to be treated like this?

have to say.

I understand that there is no particular reason why anyone should give two hoots about what I have to say about anything.

Nevertheless, I pray that some of my writing will help to move you closer to Jesus Christ, which in itself is always a step nearer to God’s renewed humanity, a true humanity that yearns to see justice done for the oppressed, freedom for the captives, and a place at the table for those left behind.

Noam Chomsky’s 90th Birthday

Noam Chomsky, emeritus professor of  linguistics at MIT, turned 90 last Friday, and he is still going

Noam Chomsky

strong…thankfully.

Professor Chomsky is one of America’s (perhaps, the world’s) leading intellectuals.  Yet, I suspect that most Americans know little if anything about him.

If you don’t know anything about Professor Chomsky, you should.  In 1970 the London Times named him one of the “makers of the 20th century:”  a well-deserved accolade.

Nathan J. Robinson has a very good summary of Chomsky’s influence and legacy at Current Affairs entitled, “Lessons from Chomsky.”  I have posted an excerpt below that mentions one of the features of Chomsky’s work in the field of public policy that I have always found most helpful.

“One of Chomsky’s simplest principles is among the most difficult to apply in practice: You should judge yourself by the same moral standards that you judge others by. This has formed the core of his critique of U.S. foreign policy, and yet it is often insufficiently appreciated even by those that embrace his conclusions. Many people think that Chomsky is uniquely “anti-American.” In fact, his criticisms of the United States are so strong largely because when this elementary moral principle is applied to the facts, the conclusion is inevitably deeply damning. It simply turns out that if you judge the United States by the standard that it uses to judge other people, the United States does not look very good. If you take the facts of, say, the U.S. bombing of Laos(where the United States secretly dropped 2.5 million tons of bombs in the ’60s and ’70s, massacring and maiming thousands of peaceable villagers, 20,000 of whom were killed or injured in the decades after the bombing when unexploded bombs went off), and you imagine how it would appear to us if the roles had been reversed and Laos had been bombing the United States, you begin to see just how inconsistent we are in our evaluations of our own actions versus the actions of others. 500,000 people died in the Iraq War. If Iraq had invaded the United States and 500,000 people died (actually, the proportional population equivalent would be closer to 5,000,000), would there be any way that anybody in the country could conceive of Iraq as a “force for good” in the world in the way that the U.S. believes people should think we are? It’s laughable. If Vietnam had invaded the United States the way the United States had invaded Vietnam, could such an act ever be considered justified?

“This idea of moral consistency, of trying to treat like behaviors alike, is the simplest possible notion in the world. It’s so elementary that it sounds childish to even pose the questions. And yet the power of latent patriotic sentiment is so great that it makes a clear-eyed and fair assessment incredibly difficult. It’s hard to see the world through other people’s eyes, to see what our self-justifications look like to those who are on the receiving end of our actions. And when we do it, it’s deeply discomforting. But this is the foundation of Chomsky’s critique: It’s not enough to have “values” (e.g., “terrorism is bad”), you must apply those values consistently (i.e., if something would constitute terrorism if done against us, it must constitute terrorism if it is done by us). Chomsky is seen as being “anti-American” for pointing out that if the Nuremberg principles were applied consistently, essentially every postwar U.S. president would have to be hanged. But this is just a result of the application of consistency: The crime of “aggressive war” that was so forcefully condemned at Nuremberg has been committed repeatedly by the U.S.”

You can find the entire article, which is well worth your time to read in its entirety, here:

I have read lots of Chomsky over the years.  Naturally, I don’t always agree with him.  Heck, I don’t always agree with myself.  But I have the deepest admiration for him and his life’s work.

If those Christian leaders who style themselves as “public intellectuals” had even half the integrity, humility and consistency of clear-mindedness  demonstrated by the body of Professor Chomsky’s work, the church and, perhaps, the world would be in far better shape than they are today.

Remember, brothers and sisters that “God does not show favoritism” (Acts 10:34).  We are exhorted in James 2:1, “as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.”

Noam Chomsky, a committed atheist, lives this moral principle and displays its significance for politics, public policy and foreign affairs, more clearly than any other leader — including Christians — I know of.

It is also the reason he is never asked to appear on mainstream media outlets.  It’s why you never see him used as a commentator on the network news.

For his standards of morality require the death of American exceptionalism, the tearing down of American empire, and the radical transformation of American Christianity.

I’m Taking a Break

I am travelling out of the country tomorrow and will be away for the month of November.

So, this is a head’s up letting my subscribers know why I won’t be posting for the next few weeks.  I will not have ready access to either the internet or a computer.  But, never fear!  I will return sometime in late November or early December.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Fact: Most Political Violence Comes from the Right. It Must Be Confronted

In April 2009 the Department of Homeland Security issued a 9 page report entitled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.

The report summarized a number of government intelligence assessments and warned that a growing movement of “right wing extremist movements” posed the greatest threat of political violence and domestic terrorism in the United States.

As soon as the report was made public (which was not its original purpose), Republican Congressional leaders, together with a litany of conservative commentators, raised a hue and cry condemning the report, lambasting the DHS, and screaming for the heads of anyone — especially “liberals” or Democrats — who tried to engage in a serious discussion of the report’s findings.

Congressman John Boehner said the report was “offensive and unaccceptable.”  Fox News insisted that the DHS owed the entire country an apology.

Sadly,  none of  this was the least bit surprising coming from the conservative-Republican establishment which remains anti-science, anti-evidence, anti-logic, and anti-anything-that-calls-for critical self-assessment.

Of course, the DHS report was  immediately suppressed.  You probably have never heard of it.  As a result, the nation never had an open public conversation about the rising terrorist threat in this country, and why it was emanating from the right-wing.

It is impossible to have a productive conversation when one side can’t stop denying the facts, as Sarah Huckabee-Sanders continues to do almost every day.

Then in 2017 the Anti-Defamation League published another study, bulging with copious evidence and citations, stating similar conclusions.  A Dark & Constant Rage: 25 Years of Right-Wing Terrorism in the United States  opens by stating:

“Right-wing extremists have been one of the largest and most consistent sources of domestic terror incidents in the United States for many years, a fact that has not gotten the attention it deserves.”

Facts cannot be ignored.  They will eventually have their own way, whether we like it or not.

The rank cowardice displayed by the mainstream and the right-wing media guarantees that the public remains steeped in ignorance on this issue.  Daily we hear the mindless, false equivalencies and bogus comparisons.  Pundits insist that both sides are to blame; everyone needs to compromise; the right and the  left must meet somewhere in the middle.

The Republican party moves in a more and more extremist direction, yet anyone who points this out is accused of polarizing the debate.

What absolute rubbish!  It simply is not true.

The right-wing is to blame.  It is a fact, plain and simple.  No one benefits from a lie.

There is something about conservatism and its social, political rhetoric that, especially when taken to an extreme, becomes fertile soil for unstable people prone to violence.

We all — but especially God’s people — must be more concerned with the truth than we are with partisan defensiveness.  This means being open to correction.  Being willing to learn.  To admit when we have been wrong.

And most of all, we must be willing to change.

Tragically, evangelical Christianity persists in unapologetically identifying itself with a right-wing political movement that has blood on its hands.

Yes, that’s right.

Congressman Boehner, Fox News, and every other conservative spokesperson who helped to muzzled the DHS warning in 2009, who plugged their ears to the ADL report in 2017, who still refuses to admit the self-evident connection between Trump’s violent rhetoric — which has repeatedly embraced and advocated more violence — and the racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant terrorism dragging itself mercilessly across our country, all have blood on their hands.

God’s people cannot be a party to any of this.

Lawrence O’Donnell Talks about the Presumption of Innocence, It’s Distortion and Selective Application

I am no fan of Lawrence O’Donnell, but he provides a good discussion of the proper application of the “innocent until proven guilty” principle, as well as it’s regular distortion as a partisan weapon in political knife-fights, as we have just witnessed in the Senate confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.

Please take a few minutes to watch it here, if you have been curious about the way this issue was used in the recent Judiciary hearings.

I’m sorry folks, but God’s people ought to advocate for fair-play, always, no matter what.

Nothing about this confirmation process was fair.  But the Religious Right has made it very clear that they only care about winning, at any cost.

So what separates “God’s people” from pagan partisans?  Little if anything, these days.

A Prayer Request and More Praise for My Book, I Pledge Allegiance

Like most authors, I always appreciate receiving feedback from my readers.  I am especially grateful whenever I hear a story about how my work has stirred positive transformation and been encouraging to someone, especially when that someone is trying to follow Jesus faithfully.

Below I have copied a very kind note I recently received from a minister who has read my newest book, I Pledge Allegiance: A Believer’s Guide to Kingdom Citizenship in 21st Century America (Eerdmans, 2018).

Thank you, pastor, for taking the time to be an encouragement to me:

“At the recommendation of [a] long-time friend and former parishioner… I just finished reading….for the second time…your book, “I Pledge Allegiance”. All I can say, David, is THANK YOU!!! You’ve helped me find some renewed sense of balance in what it means to live in this country at this time as a follower of Jesus. Having just recently retired from parish ministry… I’m aware of how often I waffled, especially in my preaching. There are times when I experience guilt and wish I could begin again to deal in a better way with the influences of congregants. And then there are those times when I’m grateful that I made it through without getting kicked out. The events of this past week put me into an even deeper depression. However, your insights and reminders have helped me immensely. Again, thank you!! And, please, keep writing. David”

In response to this man’s last sentence, let me say that I am trying to continue my writing.  But I am facing a few obstacles.  I mention this because, if you are a praying person, I could use your prayers about my next (possible) writing project.

I want to write a book about both(1)  the theological problems of Christian Zionism and (2) the human suffering entangled with American evangelicalism’s blind support for the nation of Israel.  The book will be half Biblical theology and half real-life stories.

The theology sections will explain the serious errors of “Christian Zionism” (i.e. those who believe that modern Israel is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in need of the church’s, and America’s, wholehearted support).

The real life stories will describe graphic instances of Palestinian suffering and abuse that I have witnessed first-hand during my visits to the West Bank area (captured by the Israeli army during the 1967 war and kept under military occupation ever since).

My proposal for this book has now passed over a number of publisher’s desks.  One publisher said (I am paraphrasing), “Dave, we think this would be a good book, but your previous books haven’t been great sellers for us.  We don’t think we’d make much money from this one, either.”

Four other well-known publishing houses have all said something similar, “David, we like and agree with your proposal.  We think this would me a good book, but we can’t figure out how we would sell it.  Sorry.  Good luck.”

Needless to say, I am a bit frustrated and disappointed.  So, I would very much appreciate your prayers as I try to figure out where next to send the proposal.  I firmly believe this book needs to be written.

Otherwise, perhaps I am at the end of my writing career.  I hope not, but who knows.

Yes Pastor Floyd, America Needs a Spiritual Breakthrough. But Not the One You Imagine

Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in NW Arkansas, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and president of the National Day of Prayer, has written an editorial for CBNNews (claiming to offer THE Christian Perspective on today’s affairs) under the headline “America Needs a Spiritual Breakthrough.”  Here are a few excerpts from pastor Ronnie’s missive:

“America is broken and in deep need of a spiritual breakthrough. Division and hatefulness are abounding as none of us would ever imagine. Our greatest hope is a spiritual breakthrough in America…

“We are facing one of the most dangerous times across the globe in our lifetime. While encouragement occurs from time to time, we remain in fragile moments globally…

 “The churches in America are in need of a spiritual visitation by the Holy Spirit that will call them out of their lukewarm status and cause them to return to the power of the gospel. Jesus is still the greatest hope in every town, city, and region in America…

 “Politically, America is in trouble. The disappointment of our political leaders not working together for the common good of our nation has Americans filled with all sorts of emotions, many of which are not healthy. This partisan decision making is hurting the progress and future of our nation greatly.”

Alas, what hope is there for American evangelicalism when such poisonous, spiritual gruel passes for prophetic witness and is guzzled like cool-aid by the average church-goer?

How can God’s people hope to see clearly when their leaders are so willfully blind?  How will the people hear truth when their preachers are deaf to any words but their own?  How can the church mature when her teachers think and act (and write) like ignorant children?

When pastors like Ronnie persist in leading their congregations ‘round and ‘round in circles, I am not surprised that so much of the church remains confused, dizzy and socially ineffective.

The pastor of Cross Church is at cross purposes with himself, for he represents the most common theological confusions of American evangelicals, all of which I disentangle in my book,  I Pledge Allegiance: A Believer’s Guide to Kingdom Citizenship in 21st Century America (Eerdmans, 2018).  At the heart of this confusion is his mashing together of church and state which is then sifted through the grotesque assumption that God is a Republican who voted for Donald Trump.

Let’s not be so naïve as to think that Ronnie’s lament over “division and hatefulness” while facing “the most dangerous times across the globe,” dealing with “the disappointment of our political leaders not working together for the common good” is anything other than the predictably partisan judgments of a Trump-loyalist.  For people like Ronnie, healing national divisions for the common good means falling into lock-step behind an obscene, racist, malignantly narcissistic president and then following him anywhere like dumb lemmings running to the cliff.

But these political errors are the easy-to-see, low-hanging fruit.

Let’s move on to grab hold of the more substantial core of Ronnie’s theological errors.  Errors that identify him as only one more false prophet in the American pantheon of wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing defrauding God’s flock.

The tell-tale sign that Ronnie is up to no good appears with his blatantly utilitarian view of the gospel.  Notice that his ultimate objective for preaching the good news of Jesus Christ is not to glorify God or to expand God’s kingdom.  Those are merely penultimate goals.  Excellent goals, certainly, but not the final goal.

No, the final objective for Ronnie and his misguided kinfolk is the unification of America’s body-politic behind the president and his policies.  (Again, we will leave aside how shockingly immoral many of Trump’s policies are.)  What evidence will finally tell us that America’s “spiritual breakthrough” has arrived?  Well, we will see (1) a renewed political scene that is (2) free of partisanship (3) with “political leaders working together for the common good of our nation.”

When these things happen, then we can know that the America church has “received a spiritual visitation by the Holy Spirit” (what other kind of visitation would the Holy Spirit make?) that has “called it out of its lukewarm status.”  So the Holy Spirit will work in America as in ancient Israel.  The Spirit’s task is to unite the nation.  The church and the gospel are tools for achieving that greater end.

But Ronnie’s vision confuses the church with the world and the world with the church.  God’s people are called to become strangers and aliens within American society.  Proclaiming the saving work of Jesus’ death and resurrection recruits new citizens into God’s kingdom who will demonstrate their newfound redemption by their own transformation into strangers and aliens.

Declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ honestly will highlight the stark contrasts between the church and this fallen world.  It will never bring them closer together.  Gospel preaching is nothing if not a heavenly bombardment that destroys our flesh-pot idols of civil religion, nationalism, and salvation by politics.  Genuine followers of Jesus are not deceived by this ancient, beastly triumvirate of bogus, copy-cat Christianity.

Yet, this three-headed monster spewing out recycled false religion like “a dog returning to its vomit” (2 Peter 2:22) is exactly what Pastor Ronnie – and the bulk of evangelical leaders sharing his devotion to American redemption by politics – is offering both the readers of CBNNews and those attending his multi-campus megachurch.

Ironically, the true evidence that American evangelicalism is more than satisfied with its damnably “lukewarm status,” with no intention of confessing its sins or repenting of its many offenses against the Lord Jesus and his kingdom, is its blind, self-satisfied allegiance to such atrociously false teachers as Ronnie Floyd.

Yes, American evangelicalism desperately needs a spiritual breakthrough.  But it’s not the one pastor Ronnie is looking for.  We will know that the real breakthrough has arrived when Ronnie Floyd and others like him publicly renounce their idolatrous Christian nationalism, confess that the kingdom of God has nothing to do with American politics, repent of their adulteration of the gospel with the bile of civil religion, and then call their congregations to sell their excessive belongings, giving the proceeds to the poor.

Now, that would be a breakthrough.