“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s…”
Matthew 22:21
That stumped paraphrase there is the root of late America’s greed and inequality. Sure, Christianity has been and often is a source of Good. In fact, Jesus is credited for garnering the cooperation of the early Christian cult with all-powerful Rome. Memory of the figurehead is said to have preserved His followers through trials and tribulation severe as many faithful having been tossed to mad lions for the pleasure of sadistic pagans. The verse made those sorry folk meek and compliant. But modern readers must know, that particular gospel is a work of embellished fiction. It is no more real than the story of Noah’s deluge or even the quickness of all Creation.
The gospel of Matthew is not more than the original, predictive Jeffersonian version of the gospel of Mark – those two others, John and Luke, are also. Some long-dead Gnostic or band of exponents had added the magical components of a virgin birth and resurrection to the stories they had conveyed word-of-mouth. He, she or they had been forced to include fairytales in hopes of gathering and retaining an attentive audience.
Back in the Iron Age, Christianity had faced competition with hordes of other gods – Mithra, especially. Mithra was the Zoroastrian deity popular with the unparalleled Roman military. Stretching the comparison, he and Jesus Christ share similar origins, lifetimes and fates. Rumor suggests the mistaken sign of this Persian divinity had compelled Constantine to convert his Tuscan civilization wholesale to Christendom. And as had Rome, Western civilization followed his dictated model. Back then, it had been easy to impose upon barbarians whom lacked the advanced technology of the smithed sword. Christianity then kept them inert and at the mercy of a more advanced culture – one of who’s power grew with wealth.
For the curious, Constantine is said to have prayed and witnessed the ankh-like Chi Rho in a sunny sky during a critical episode of stress. His efficient and then-modern armies then prevailed in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, 312 AD. Constantine then spontaneously converted to the blind worship of Christ. And like many signs and holidays, Christians later adopted the symbol of the Chi Rho into its own religion.
Yet the argument does not concern Mithra. Rather, the etymology of the Bible and Roman sentiment is responsible for America’s dire consequence. Another popular phrase corrupts the Biblical verse. That is “A Man’s Home is his Castle.” The perspective also dates back to the Roman era. Alas, colonial and industrial America had been obsessed with all things of the period and that phrase, too, perseveres.
Always the nature of the human male, every man considers himself a king of his household. His household includes everything he owns… his horse, his car, his business, etc. And yet again at risk of promoting Socialism, here is the incorrect perspective – the sin. The phrase promotes selfishness and, worst, righteous ego. The transgression is not so much suffered among the underclass, but the owners of the United States.
The richest Americans own ninety percent of American wealth. These people constitute no more than one percent of all citizens – of everyone living in the USA including those with no where else to go and without assets to take them no place. Expanding the vision of people considered wealthiest, the top twenty percent own forty percent of the assets once belonging to public of the Land of the Free. And each of these billionaires have grander visions.
Many of the uber-wealthy consider themselves greater than kings. Uncontested and unassailable, they believe themselves Roman emperors. This sliver of the one percent think themselves as gods and they demand tithing and the worship from mortal beings. Why? To compete with themselves. They need no more. But as gods do, they play games with each other so that one may claim monetary superiority within their omnipotent modern pantheon.
And as powerful mortals, they become as the Antichrist. They exploit scripture and quote to themselves “Render therefore unto Caesar all.” They say so because there simply isn’t much yet much available in this physical world. Here is the Hell they have humanity suffer at their whim. And theirs is the scripture the rest of us are expected to uphold. Law demands acquiescence. And if the Word is not enough, they have the assets to rain down upon us the impersonal wraith of military science. Here is where the fable of Christianity has brought us. And now we know, there is no God to save the masses of the human race.
As the Founding Fathers of America have given us, there is only Democracy. But unlike Justice, Democracy must not be blind. Knowledgeable application is crucial or our freedom, too, or that will also be corrupted by money. All humanity must see outside personal possessions. Raise up the underprivileged with education, food, shelter and medical care. Uphold the principles that truly make us great and not just guarded and afraid because the fact we ourselves still wield swords.
That short-sighted RNC slogan “We Built This” has certainly met plenty of rational argument. And the unyielding position of Tea Party-pandering Republicans isn’t false. It’s quite possible a single person has built his or her own business and all the infrastructure underneath. Although unlikely, it is possible and let me show you the results. I’m talking about my writing. I can safely say “I Built This.” I am that lone businessman and I suffer for the fact.
Despite my begging and pleas for assistance and support, I’ve been honest and forced to admit “No one’s helped me.” Nobody but readers have touched my writing. And even that number has dwindled. In all my work, there have been no editors, no proofreaders, no professional artists… and what I’ve generated is full of typos, grammar errors, false starts and tangential story lines. My return are poor scores (if any feedback at all) and an absent audience.
Sure, there are people I can pay who can help me reassemble my chimeric Frankenstein monsters – if I had that extra cash. But I don’t. I write because of love and necessity. I hoped I’d find someone who shares my principles (aka situation) but the climate in the United States has polarized everyone. We all want money and are stubborn when we insist opportunity exists. Unfortunately, that translates into a bleak life for everyone below the shrinking Middle Class. And if you’re not there yet, don’t expect a party when you face inevitable foreclosure and bankruptcy. The trodden poor have one honed thing – a memory of faces. Don’t think you’re hidden behind a boot heel. America is decidedly an un-Christian nation. It has always been – especially in the 1950′s and truly godless throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. We all say otherwise and print so much on money, have made our kids utter meaninglessness every school weekday and forced them to go to wholly reprehensible Sunday schools. BTW, this is where schools have failed. Stop making qualified teachers scapegoats.
But enough of my bleeding-heart, Liberal, socialist, Communist, Fascist threats. In truth, I am an intemperate moderate. On the Republican side, my heroes are Wisconsin’s Fighting Bob Lafayette and the ghost of Clint Eastwood. Sadly, Mr. Eastwood is no longer that man I idolize. I suppose it was inevitable. Did you see his speech at the 2012 RNC convention? Now there’s an old man I insist needs regular testing if he’s to carry a valid Driver’s License.
If you’ve just met me, ‘moderate’ and even ‘intemperate’ are not words I expect you’d associate with my hostile personality. And if you’ve known me for any stretched period of time, don’t blame the head injury that nearly killed me on Mother’s Day in 2007. I admit I’m a knee-jerk Reactionary. I’ve always been. It’s likely a mental illness I’m conscious about and seek no help. When I look around, I see my same symptoms in every other person. What I don’t do is own a gun. During my stunted trial in Army Reserves, I did my mental math and foresaw the danger of giving myself a firearm. And like my father, I prevent myself from harming others. (So don’t get any ideas. In the interest of being fair, I’ve warned people and some days I look for excuses.)
Half of America is populated by “balanced men.” That’s how see us and I have the sense to remain polite. So little pushes us either direction. Me again for instance – and this is why writers are accused of always speaking about themselves – I’m pulled to the far left because the uncooperative orneriness of the Tea Party. President Obama has been pulled, too. But let’s be honest. He is a responsible man. He’s remained presidential and in the middle of the road. Examine everything he’s done these past four years. Healthcare is only a Democrat issue because it’s a convenient distinction between political parties. To be fair, President Obama is closer to the dead and buried President Reagan than both subsequent Bushes.
We need centrality in the Presidency of the United States – especially because what it means for the Republicans to win is that someone must lose. They speak of sacrifice and wave flags, but they not talking about themselves. They specifically mean whole classes of people (women, minorities, the poor) must have their throats cuts. And it’s not God they want to appease. They want to satisfy pagan and gladiatorial blood lust. For instance, Karl Rove already kids about killing his own – and Jeebus, VP Cheney shoots his buddies in the face! But those facts are glossed and nearly forgotten. But that sadism is still there – you see Republicans gesture toward their throats and bellies in their speeches. That concealed guns are popular in this unregulating nation is evidence alone. No, it’s not sacrifice the GOP talks about. That is apparently a codeword for “Hunting Season is Open.” And the most dangerous prey is man – a fictional, leftward, liberal man. Christ, that’s me! How am I to react?
Once she started making $90,000, my ex-fiancee got the idea she was too good for me. That was a strain on our relationship. She said she didn’t want to be with a man who made less money than her. Then she met a millionaire. I gave up. The woman became a whore, and a wretched one. Have you seen her? I put my dick into that so I wouldn’t go to Dante’s second plane of Hell for masturbation. Yeah, my definition of self-pleasure is merely technical but that is how Christians operate. Salvation is only a false admission away no matter what one does.
What’s her “side of the story?” I’m simply not interested. Her explanation is a waste of time – waste… she is the one of us two whom is wasteful. She wasted my time and let me stray from producing Art, from re-discovering writing. I imagine she tells herself and others anything to assuage her guilt. This is why I am not the woman’s friend. I will not be her scapegoat.
Of course, I wish misery upon her. But wishes are not reality. She’ll need to construct that suffering and bring it down upon herself. That’s the one thing she’s good at doing. Although, money seems to staunch those self-inflicted wounds. It buys love, so it must be full of special.
Why am I so bitter? I had been out of her life before I knew anything about her new romance. She broke our engagement a couple months after I had proposed marriage. I was fine never to see her dour face again. And she calls me back after half a year and I grew hopeful. Even then she was dishonest. Was she being vindictive? I left again now punished. Why did she call me back – to play some sadistic game of “what’s behind the curtain?” Did she call me back into her life just to make herself feel better?
There is a negative aspect of co-dependence. She’s professionally trained to see that. If I am to trust the woman did not intend malice, then she is blind. That is the nicest conclusion I can make. Yet, what does that reveal about her, about her skills, her qualifications? I don’t think she cares to admit these implications to herself. They are distracting, especially as cash is foremost on her mind. She dreams of money. It is the stuff of romance. I have none of it.
Purchase Pazuzu Trilogy Pocket books and Hardcovers at LULU.
Why should you read my story? I say it’s a fantasy-horror story and the reaction is immediately lukewarm. I’ve said it’s fiction about the 99% and the 1% – it’s about terrorists, the messiah and Armageddon and no one cares. I’ve even stated I’m renewing Dante’s Underworld tours and taking readers straight through the Hellmouth at Saint Erasmus and the reaction has been “Meh.” I just don’t think people understand my epic. You folks don’t “get it.”
Well, you’re breaking me down. I’m gonna run myself into ruin before my story sets fire in minds. Desperate, here’s yet another insight. It’s a woozy, a revelation even.
Here’s the secret – how to open the door into supernatural power. I can’t tell you specifically what power you will gain. That’s something for you to wish for. But all you have to do is listen to this track 58 times. It’s called The Exalted Pazuzu Trilogy. Listen while you read my Pazuzu Trilogy – all 55 chapters including the Preface, Interlude and Epilogue. You can listen to other things simultaneously, but keep this track playing in the background.
You must finish each chapter within the 44 minutes of the track. If you can’t do that, then you need to improve your reading skills. And you’re in luck because this excerise will help, once you find the rhythm and you learn to pace your reading. So, not only do you have a way to open a door into the supernatural, but you’ve got yourself a training regiment. Either way you look at it, my Pazuzu Trilogy will expand your mind. Just keep your hands in the car.
The Exalted Pazuzu Trilogy is a heavily re-sampled, public domain recording of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor. The other sounds are built from samples in public domain or under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Those samples are hosted at Sound Bible.
Purchase Pazuzu Trilogy Pocket books and Hardcovers at LULU.
I’ve continually been obsessed with the traveling motif and my Gaunt Rainbow promotional videos. They were getting tedious, but I think I’ve finally polished the idea and the finished video. At that, I present my refined Gaunt Rainbow promo -
Pamela – the young(?) woman in the story – spends a lot of time riding her motorcycle over the Shur desert. She calls her bike Caballo and has nicknames for her friends back in the encampment. They call her Rainbow because she only wears black. The web of Ithadow looms over our protagonist the whole time she explores the waste looking for her messiah – the heathen’s Living God. I explain that whole mythology in Gaunt Rainbow – or you’ll already know what I’m talking about if you’ve read my Pazuzu Trilogy.
Gaunt Rainbow is a tale told 30 years after heathens pillage and raze the Chosen’s Promised Land. Pamela lived there as a little girl and she had died before the terrorists had attacked. But the messiah had brought her back to life – and bestowed a curse before he had absconded with a traitorous priest. Oh, there is so much more. Read about the world…
