139 Dear Martians!

Dear Martians, errr... Aliens... Hail... whatever.

Greetings from us earthlings, yes, the people on planet earth. We've been looking for signs of your existence for decades and are seeking contact with you, and I just wanted to send you this message, in case you're out there, because I want at least someone to be honest with you and let you know that we may not be just as wonderful as we portray ourselves to be.

You see, I find it a bit hypocritical of us to be seeking contact with you, some possibly existing higher intelligence & more developed or "evolved" species, and pretend how nice we are, when communications are pretty lousy here, among ourselves.

Our favorite means of communications, and the one we invest most of our resources in, in fact, what we call the best and most "booming business", is weapons. It all started with clubs and sticks thousands of years ago, then swords and catapults to hurl rocks at each other's castles, but we've become way more sophisticated in our modern means of "communications" since then.

Nowadays, if we don't like someone, or say, a whole country, we don't even have to go there ourselves anymore to eliminate them, but we can send them our greetings and messages via remote controled drones (small airplanes, which are like toy versions of your space ships). The "message" usually consists of some bombs or missiles that are being shot at "suspicious" gatherings of people, such as weddings (a human mating ritual), etc.

The leaders of our nations then pay 2000 Dollars for every child they sent their greetings to, which basically says, "Be removed from this earth" to their relatives, the ones who didn't get a message yet.

Dollars are pieces of paper with numbers on. They are our second favorite means of communication. We give them to each other in exchange for things, like weapons (our favorite means of communication as I explained earlier), food, houses, cars (a primitive means of transportation), but also airplanes, TVs (a one-way communication device our leaders use to keep us happy and tranquilized), along with things that will makes us stay happy and content, like alcohol and drugs, or even physical affection from other humans.

Of course, we also have other means of communication that we use for exchange of words, but usually they're not really used to communicate anything essential or important, just to keep us busy chatting and ignoring certain things, like the decreasing value of our dollars, or the wedding message drones, or the fact that we only sell food to special people.
The others have to die a slow, cruel death of starvation, even though there would be plenty of dollars to feed them.
But the people with all the dollars and wedding message drones think that if we feed them, there won't be enough left for themselves.

So, dear aliens, this is just to let you know that I don't think that our planet earth would be a very safe place for you to come right now.

If we're already being this mean to each other, you can only imagine what we might do to you, unless, of course, you would turn out to be way stronger than us...

If we should have aroused your curiosity, though, maybe you could pay us a visit in secret, and we can tell you some more about our strange race.
I also have a few pretty cool friends who wouldn't turn you in or sell you over to the weapons and dollars people.

There once used to live a Man on our planet Who was quite different from the way most people are today, and instead of messages that said "Be removed from this earth," He gave a message of love, and allowed Himself to be removed for us. His name was Jesus. He said He would come back some day to pick us all up to a better Home, a City in the sky that's quite big.

Anyway, maybe you can come visit us when Jesus is back, in our new heavenly Home, and when the earth will be all cleaned up from weapons and dollars and stuff, and there will be no more wedding drone messages, and all the people will be given enough food.

In the meantime, I wish you all the best in your endeavor of exploring the more primitive species in the universe like us, and hope for all of us that Jesus is going to come back soon so that we're going to be a nicer people to meet, when you'll finally get to know us.

"God bless you," as some people say down here, that means, may the Creator of the universe be good to you, and may He keep you from bad people and wedding message drones, dollars and starvation.

Hope to see you soon.

Sincerely,

yours,

Dave

138 Inflation of Life

A life isn't worth much these days. A Muslim life, that is. I, as a Christian, may - and perhaps must- say that.

While the stabbing to death of a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German courtroom by one of the millions of Stalin's souvenirs that are waiting to let loose their version of "Helter Skelter" on the European population evoked a minuscule fraction of coverage in the German press that a Jewish or "Christian," or simply non-Muslim victim would have eked out, American war heroes make a sport of bombing Afghan weddings and paying relatives of the victims 2000 bucks for each victimized child, the "most moral army" in the world seated in the Promised Land explains to the world why it's totally legitimate to kill Palestinian civilians in order not to risk the life of an Israeli soldier.

Relatives of American victims of war receive a fifty-fold sum of what Afghan (or Pakistani) relatives of victims are paid off with, by the way.

Slavery may have been abolished (although I seriously doubt it when I watch the masses trot to their working places and back every day), but the value system of human life is till intact.

On the slave market of the 21st century, the price tag on an American reads "100.000$ (delivered in oak)."

An Afghan or Pakistani child: "2000$ (plighwood)."

An Egyptian woman and her unborn child: "3 lines on page 5."

A homosexual American pop star and child abuser: Front page coverage and more pages and pages on every Western tabloid, magazine and online news service for weeks in a row.

An Israeli soldier: "1000 Palestinean pairs of eyes and sets of teeth, just to make sure one of ours won't lose his."


Ah, it's great to live in such an enlightened, modern and democratic society, isn't it? It makes my chest swell with pride, the way we proclaim freedom from shore to shore in our own special, little, Western way.

After all, it must be pride, or simply unfathomable arrogance that enables so-called "evolved" human beings with half a brain to come up with such an intricate system of values.

It's true, I have my own issues with Muslims. Since they have become the epitome of "Terror" under the Bush administration (or was any non-Muslim ever attacked during that glorious "War on Terror?") they've had to go on the defensive.
They've started reading the Koran in order to find out what they're being haunted for, and unlike the hundreds of thousands of lukewarm Christians lulling themselves to sleep on their pews, they have some fire and devotion for their religion. That is, of course, very bothersome and aggravating for our society of pew warmers.
I would also prefer to see them all converted to my own Christian faith, (although I'd hate to see another billion of pew warmers, to be honest).
But at the current rate, I'm afraid our method of enlightenment isn't cutting the cake.

In fact, if I were a Muslim, I wouldn't trust a Christian any further than I could throw my 40 year old pick up truck, not to mention members of other Western "enlightened" religions currently on the market.

I guess if you would fall into my country, kill a million of my people, and then hold a gun to my head and say, "Join our wonderful, enlightened Western society that is bringing freedom and democracy to your country and your whole bunch of backward pagans," I would reply, "In the name of Allah, shoot!"

But that's just me. The millions around me in my country couldn't care less about what's going on around them, much less in a far away desert or even in a Berlin courtroom. Maybe that's why I don't really feel at home in this world, nor am able to eke out the remotest resemblance of patriotic feelings for the life of me.

Which is why my own life probably isn't worth a dime, either, according to the current slave market rates.
I've never been a very good slave, I admit. At least not to Mammon.

But thus is the inflation of life...
None of us knows what they'll be worth tomorrow, or how much they'll be willing to pay for us next year.
I suppose what really matters is not to be found wanting when God pulls out the scales to measure what our life was really worth, according to His standard, not ours...

137 Heaven

Probably one of the reasons why not many people take the idea of Heaven as their future Home and destination for the bulk of eternity very seriously is that not an awful lot of information is available abut it, currently.
After John the Revelator's astounding two final chapters in the Bible that give us some daring information about the eternal Home of those pilgrims and strangers on earth that the epistle to the Hebrews tells us every true believer should be, so daring in fact that most of those same believers would not dare to take it literally, almost two millennia of silence on the subject have left most Christians keeping their feet on the ground and their minds on earthly matters, rather than looking for that Better Place to come.

There were a few lone voices throughout time, some describing supernatual experiences they've had, and artists, inspired by the thought of the unfathomable beauty to come, have tried to visualize what expects the believer in the afterlife.
During the 1980s, the founder of the Family International, David Berg, recruited some of the artists within his movement to try to put on paper his ideas of the world to come, which were generally more daring than the contemporary versions of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists and the likes, but still - though far from the actual perfection that expects us, I'm sure - the more accurate illustrations of Heaven that I personally subscribe to.

I cannot imagine the prudish Heaven that so many conservative Christians seem to settle for in their minds, that make our unbelieving friends and acquaintances joke, perhaps not altogether unjustifiably, that "Heaven's okay, but for meeting old friends, there's no place like hell," and similar jokes we've probably all heard...

No wonder so many Christians occupy themselves with overwhelmingly earthly matters, and when aproached about the idea of Heaven, often react a bit scared, as if they had no intention of going there any time soon. After all, down here is where all the action and fun is... isn't it?

Personally, I don't think so. Personally, most of what people consider fun down here, compared to the Real Thing, is probably comparable to the husks that the Prodigal Son stuffed himself with when herding swine for a living, compared with the abundance of food he used to enjoy at his father's table...

I actually have a hard time understanding why most of my fellow-believers seem to be so gaga about this world, and don't seem to want to waste a second thought on Heaven.
Heaven seems to be okay for old people, or for those who know they're soon going to die, but it hardly seems to be the Goal that most of my brethren have set for their journey, unless they're keeping it a big secret.

That's why I'd like to make Heaven a little more palatable and real by whatever humble means available to me for the time being, most of which are restricted to words, for now, since I'm not a gifted artist, nor a wealthy film-producer, rendering my own personal version of "Heaven Can Wait" or "Made In Heaven" or similar previous attempts to give us a glimpse of the bright side of the afterlife.

Of course, there's that other place, too, but others have taken it upon themselves to scare us into Heaven by scaring the hell out of us with their tales of Hell, so, I'd rather keep on the sunny side of things for now. After all, it seems there is more preaching about Hell than Heaven.
If we can't make Heaven sound desirable enough for people to want to go there, I guess all we've got left is the attempt to scare them with stories about the other place that will make them not want to go there.

But I'd like to create a vision of Heaven that varies a little from the vague, conservative and prudish version that seems to fail so utterly to incite anyone's interest and desire to ever want to go there. Let's face it, our generation, and probably even more so the one after us, is probably the biggest bunch of hedonists and fun-junkies to ever have walked this globe, and I can only assume that the Devil is pulling out all his big guns and best "Pleasure Island" features he can in order to make God look like the loser - at least in the minds of those who don't know any better and have never had a taste of Heaven, nor a glimpse of what Heaven is really like.

For starters, let's begin with a statement that most people will probably find shocking. If there's one attribute that Heaven has not been described as to the degree that in my opinion it should have, apart from all the usual ones, such as "wonderful," beautiful," etc, it would be sexy. Not in any nasty, dirty, sinful or pornographic way, much less associated to any sort of the manifold perversions that have attached themselves to the entire theme of sex these days, but nonetheless, undescribably, sincerely, purely and authentically sexy.

If this begins to bust your former concepts of Heaven, then I'm succeeding, although I admit, it must probably be hard for you to fight the fear that I'm trying to lead you up some wicked, sinful path here, because we've all been drilled to the point of insanity that sex and sin are practically one and the same thing, which I have dared to challenge formerly, as did the aforementioned David Berg...

If God's first commandment ever uttered to man was not "Thou shalt be good," or "Pray and be holy," but "Be fruitful and multiply," in other words, "make love," and there was nothing whatsoever wrong with nudity until the serpent made its debut in paradise to introduce his advertisement for his idea of "fun," then we must assume that God is not prudish, but indeed, - and I'm perfectly aware of how many people will hate me for saying this - a sexy God.
And His Habitat will look accordingly, quite different from the usual Jehovah's Witnesses' portrayals of people roaming Heaven clad in 20th century business apparel.

I'm not saying that all people ever do in Heaven is have sex, although I would boldly defend the statement - contrary to some - that what they won't do is never have any, but to say the least, interaction between the sexes in Heaven is infinitely more pleasant than it is currently down here, with all the usual misunderstandings and misconceptions about each other gone for good.
Jesus said that nothing is hid that shall not be revealed, and I believe there is total openness and honesty in Heaven with no need to cover up and nothing to hide. Probably also retrospectively, and in regard to incidents of the past. It's my personal conviction that our current history from Eden to Armageddon will serve as invaluable source of education for future citizens of God's Kingdom, and not only will we be able to explore Napoleon and Mussolini's moments of glory or lack thereof, but perhaps we might even gain a little more insight into some of the more intricate, perhaps even delicate bits of not-so-well-know history, according to each one's personal scope of interest.
Some, for instance, might get a real kick and inspiration out of re-living the scene of Janet Soskice's conversion under the shower as a philosophy student in the 70s in 3D, with the esteemed philosopher's consent, naturally...
Or to view on Heaven-TV what it was like for the first, most perfect (and not ape-like at all) couple in Eden, before Satan convinced them that it certainly would be more appropriate to wear clothes...


But "sexy" isn't the only unusual attribute I'd give Heaven, that would make the future citizens of Hell turn red with envy - especially since the boss in that place doesn't seem to be fond of God's original commandment, at all, and many who are looking forward to a party in hell will probably experience the disappointment of their (after-)lives.

"Adventurous" is another one that probably wouldn't fit many people's current concept of God's Capital. But that's probably because God Himself is only reduced to the few fractions of imagination and knowledge they have about Him based on the meager interest they have shown Him throughout their busy lives.

Maybe some just want to be surprised, as I'm sure they will.

Anything we enjoy on earth is merely a shadow and a poor counterfeit version of the Real Thing waiting for believers There.

"Treckies" will probably finally be able to experience the Real Thing and explore the galaxies that the Creator certainly did not only create to leave us all puzzled...
After all, the first description of a U.F.O. or "space ship" in history is found in the Old Testament's book of Ezekiel...

And, of course, man's oldest dream, that he has finally learned to realize during the last century, of flying, is finally enjoyed without any technical and costly gimmicks nor any risks involved. After all, we have this much solid information from John: "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Rev.21:4), which already sounds like all the reasons in the world I need for wanting to go there, since I was never the masochistic, melancholic nor death-loving type.

Another tidbit about our Future Home from St. John is the promise that we'll be like Jesus - in other words, perfect, and that will be quite a welcome change, indeed, from the "perfection" we've enjoyed so far...

But if God is only twice as merciful as some of the fire and brimstone preachers portray Him - perhaps for fear that there won't be room enough for them in Heaven if they'd let too many people in - we might even meet some old sinners like ourselves who made it there by His grace, and in spite of their earthly imperfections, and among them many of the famous people whose work we appreciated during our life-time, not to mention all the really greats that we never even heard of that will blow our minds.
And there won't just be tons of cool - or rather, hot people - but also angels and other heavenly beings that the Bible describes here and there...

Those who love sports will probably be able to enjoy a large new variety of acrobatics possible with their new immortal bodies...

The philosophically inclined will be able to benefit from a wealth of resources unfathomable by our earthly standards...

Just a few ideas to whet your appetite and make you reconsider if you thought that Heaven was going to be boring. As one of the prettiest women alive once said, "Only idiots get bored," and I'm just about 100% certain that there won't be anymore of those in that wonderful Tomorrow...

136 Come On Down!

I vehemently defend God. Because I've had to learn the hard way myself that He indeed knows better.

Indeed, we deem ourselves extremely sophisticated, highly intellectual and more educated than at any other time before in history.

Our television sets are the well functioning proof of it right before our eyes; our computers, cars, airplanes, the achievements of technology...

We invest millions in the scientific explanations of how we got here all by ourselves and billions in eradicating the less fortunate specimen that weren't evolving quite rapidly enough to make it up to our economic pinnacle.

Oh, yes, we're smart.

So smart.

A lot of knowledge.

But mostly knowledge that leads to our own personal gain and advantage over others, but never to happiness.
Knowledge that may lead to money, but never to happiness.

So, if you're satisfied with that, man, go on and have it your way.

And if you think you've got to explain God away in order to soothe your conscience and lull it back to sleep and keep it in the daydream and illusion that there is no higher power or mind than your own, well... er... good for you... perhaps.

But when it comes to spreading that type of gospel and militantly waging your war in the name of your religion of ego, materialism and greed, then I will vehemently defend my God before anyone to the death.

It may make make perfect sense to all those atheist mini-gods that the mind ought to be the only thing worthy of worshiping (intellectual narcism?), but when it comes to their imposing that religion on me and my children and forcing us to bow down to their ugly fake idols, I must vehemently proclaim "No, thanks!" no matter what rewards they may promise me.

The rewards of success, because you'll finally have joined the mainstream of the way everybody does it. The reward of acceptance. Of the peace and quiet of finally being left alone because they don't have to convert me anymore to their religion of self.

But then, I've been down that road, sort of like the Prodigal Son, and I must honestly say, I'm sick and tired of that pig feed. If you think you must wallow in it, go ahead, but I will refuse, even if I have to crawl all the way Home on my hands and knees.

I congratulate all those self-infatuated ego-junkies and wish them a happy marriage with their own mental images of whatever loveliness they perceive themselves to be, but I'd rather have the ugly reality that Someone Else is the Ruler and Holder of my heart.
Ultimately, that's what all those apparent "independent" "free-thinkers" will also find out, when the come to the end of the road, for the price of playing god in this life is that the originator of the "Let's play god" game will be in charge of them, and again, the road they have walked will turn out to have given them a sense of pride, self-esteem and some sort of satisfaction of that lust for power, but never happiness.

And if you're really honest, all you relentless ego-worshipers, that's what you really hate the most about us who dare to take on a different faith: the fact that we're happy, and you, despite all your feverish efforts and achievements, deep down in your heart know that you're not.

It's not that you couldn't be, if you'd let go of that false, plastic image of yourselves that you worship, and of the pride and arrogance based on all that you may think you know.

The difference between the knowledge of good and evil is the definition of even such simple words as "happiness" and "knowledge." The way you define them, they become a hollow shell, just like all the artifacts that prove to you your "divinity:" your buildings, your vehicles, your multi-media gimmicks.
In God's dictionary, what you consider "knowledge" would rather spell, "something you may think you know," and that which you call "happiness" is truly misery, for what greater misery is there than fake happiness?

But there is such a thing as truth, and the true definition of things, you've just got to come on down and walk on the ground of a Reality that's greater and deeper than what the human mind can concoct and fathom, if you have the guts...

135 Age of Temptation

They used to say that the hardest words to say in any language were "I'm sorry," and that was certainly true during a time when relationships still played a more significant role in our society, and for a lot of people it may still be so.

But from the increasing incapability I'm observing in my fellowmen to hold or conduct a relationship successfully, or, in many cases to even show a glimpse of interest in having one, I'm beginning to suspect that the hardest words in this new age of Temptation, where the acquisition of possessions, position and diversion seem to play a much superior role than other human beings to deal with, perhaps the hardest words to say right now are: "No, thank you!"

We figure that we have to take anything that life offers us.

After all, coincidence has become our god, along with luck, since our whole existence is based on the theory that we're one lucky shot in an innumerable amount of universes where life happened to find all its necessary ingredients, and so, if luck happens to hand us an opportunity, we tend to grab it without giving the consequences much thought.

Maybe it's different in your part of the world, but that's what I'm observing life to be like for much of the younger generation in Germany at the onset of the 21st century.
Of course, there are always those who seem to be a bit more mature and responsible than the majority of their peers, but I even observe it with some of us more mature ones, who ought to know better:

There seems to be that in-built mechanism in us that makes us tend to accept a tempting offer, rather than to decline, even if whatever it is we're getting to enjoy may not all be that good for us in the long run, or the nature of the opportunity may turn out to be questionable.

Prudence has gone down the drain in this, our age, in which a large deal of our supposed enlightenment consists of advertisement. After all, you must be enlightened if you can come up with such sophisticated commercials full of high-tech trickery worth millions of dollars, as we do, just in order to sell other people our goods!

Well, I've already shared my thoughts on the difference between advertisement and genuine enlightenment, I think.

But it always seem to get back around to it.

We're being offered so many things from so many different sides, we just about accept it our god-given duty to accept at least some of them.


That probably shows one difference in strategies between the original advertizer and the Guy he's trying to imitate: the Original Creator. While God's slogan is, "Quality, not quantity" (as in "many are called, but the chosen are few,") His opponent goes by the opposite credo. He figures the more garbage he can dish out, the more of it we're bound to swallow, ruining our taste for quality and rendering whatever discernment we once might have had for what's the real thing and another cheap fake useless once and for all.

That's because he's getting ready to present us with the ultimate temptation of all, the greatest fake of all times, his plastic utopia and wonderful new world order, including its new, cashless economic order that all the bigshots are crying for right now, with himself at the top, and a system definitely too perfect to be real, and from the looks of it, a lot of people are going to fall for it the way Eve did when he pulled his first stunt 6000 years ago...

We may not have evolved, but adverisement and propaganda have, and all for a good reason. We're all being prepared for the hour of temptation, "which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:10), and blessed will be those who have learned to say these hardest of all words, "No, thank you!"