Work, labor and the Work of God!

Today I was reflecting on the nature of 'work,' what is it, what do we mean by it, and what its importance is in the Kingdom of God.

At many times in my life, I have had a distorted view of 'work.'

For example, during 1997 - 1999, perhaps the most financially stable time in my life (two incomes, married, housing provided by the United Methodist Church, nice annuities growing towards retirement, no kids yet, etc.), my view of work was directly related to finance. I was prosperous, but to be frank miserable. I loved my congregation, I loved preaching the Word of God, but like St. Augustine, my heart was restless until it found its rest in the LORD Jesus Christ. I would read feverishly from the great Spiritual Masters, names such as Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen, yet still I felt a strange longing inside of me.

Then, whether it was a good decision or not, I decided to pursue Ph.D. studies in order to become a "Professor of Theology." I enrolled in the Th.M. program at Duke (following my M.Div. from 1994 - 1997), applied to several Ph.D. programs and lo and behold I became a Notre Dame Ph.D. student for three years of my life (followed by continued teaching at the undergraduate level since 2004).

Yet, still throughout this life of the Mind, my heart and my soul were restless.

Work, however, soon became a form of Spiritual Discipline. While a Ph.D. student, I would daily enter my library closet (little rooms with doors and book shelves in the Notre Dame Hesburgh Library), and then contemplate my Greek Orthodox icon, pray fanatically, and then read French, Greek, the early Church Fathers, contemporary social ethics and then close each day by returning home to my humble graduate student apartment.

Work became less about "payment" and more about growth in holiness.

Eventually, I began my journey back to the Catholic Church, have been somewhat frustrated at its institutional apostasy (e.g. professors who are religious pluralists, not fully pro-life, etc.), but nonetheless, back towards the rosary-praying, Virgin Mary-venerating Catholicism of my youth.

Along the journey (my own 'journey home') I have been engrafted into the Vatican-supporting apostolate known as The Coming Home Network, attended their conferences in 2003 and 2006 (and soon will attend 2007's conference!), and am striving to take my 'work' and make it all part of 'The Work of God' (Opus Dei). I even met with a numerary of Opus Dei in 2004, but the Holy Spirit has not yet moved me to 'officially' join.

Nonetheless, although not an 'official' part of Opus Dei, from support for the poor in Africa to helping to weed out heresy in the Catholic communion, I am finding that I rather like the vision of St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. To be frank, the whole notion that my own paltry work, whether it is grading 30 student essays or doing my dishes or cleaning the toilet or praying for someone's healing, can all be a means of sanctification is TRULY OUTSTANDING.

To work as God works, not that I am "god" in any sense, but that the Holy Spirit is working through me to do "The Work of God" is truly revolutionary. As Brother Lawrence, a monk who lived prior to St. Josemaria Escriva, one time penned, "Lord of the pots and pans and things, make me a saint by cleaning up the dishes!" (paraphrase).

To become holy by cleaning one's dishes (or by grading student essays or even cleaning the toilet!), such a Theology of Holiness is much needed in the United States and throughout the world.

May God bless MIGHTILY each of your respective 'works' and I pray in JESUS' Name that your work be part of 'The Work of God' for the salvation of all souls, here on earth and in purgatory.

Sincerely in Jesus Christ, the Anointed Messiah of Jew & Gentile alike,
Rob J. King

Islam, the future of 1/3 of America OR New Christendom?

While in attendance at the University of Portland's American Experiment Religious Freedom Conference, I befriended a fellow "Dr. King" (granted he actually completed his Ph.D.!), who, ironically enough, teaches at a small Roman Catholic Seminary.

This "other King" is married, again ironically enough, to an Islamic woman who is quickly becoming interested in converting to Christianity through watching Joel Osteen on Television.

In charting demographic trends, given the consistent Pro-Life Ethic of Islam, and also increased immigration of Muslims since the War in Bosnia, and now the War in Iraq, there are simply increasingly more Muslims living in the United States.

The demographic trends are so startling, that when one compares larger, healthy, non-abortion practicing Islamic families to smaller American families that may have "offed" one or more of their children, America can very likely become more Islamic in the coming century (yes, killing babies in America is legal, ever since the judicial usurpation of the legislative process in Roe v. Wade in 1973).

So, America, which will it be? Christianity is utterly reviled in some parts of secular America (for example laws outlawing the display of the baby Jesus on public property around Christmas-time, yet pagan Halloween displays are just dandy!). Will you now, United States of America choose Islam instead?

Just for fun, since I teach Ethics at a state-funded school, and any mention of the normativity of Judeo-Christian Teaching would result in a lawsuit filed by the A.C.L.U., I will instead focus the entire class on the "religious ethics" chapter on the moral superiority of Islam. No, of course I am not Islamic, and to be quite frank, I am as Jesus-centered and Holy Ghost-Filled a Christian Warrior as you will find, but stated very objectively, societies such as Islam that do not kill off their babies and old people (suicide bombers excluded obviously! sorry Bin Laden, you are a nut-case!) are simply morally superior to the artsy liberal American crowd that just runs off to Planned Parenthood every time they get pregnant. Shattered infant skulls, dismembered baby limbs, all for the sake of liberal freedom of choice. No, when confronted with death itself, Islamic society is much superior to evil American liberalism.

As for me and my house, however, like Joshua, son of Nun, we will serve the LORD.

Love in Jesus, King of kings and LORD of lords,
Rob J. King, scheduled for an abortion in 1971, but my mommy trusted Jesus Christ instead

Art, What is it, Why do we 'Need it'?

Yesterday I was drawing a pen & ink drawing out by the Bay. As I sat there, surprisingly an older wealthy woman (mid 60's at least!) came up to me, and standing quite close wanted to see my artwork. Granted, I did take four studio art courses at Davidson College, and even had the wife of the founder of Wal-Mart one time gaze on a latex painting of Christ (approximately 5 feet by 2 feet in blazing red, orange and yellow!) that I had been painting. So, "money" seems to follow me whenever I paint :-)

But, here was the woman, likely fairly wealthy by her demeanor, who insisted on spying on my artwork!

After reluctantly showing her the primordial drawing of the St. Petersburg Pier, and some palm trees, her reaction was somewhat astonishing since the artwork was actually good. (I did, after all, receive A's in my studio art classes, and at a place like Davidson no less!)

After finishing my drawing (not bad if one likes the Picasso-style of strong lines and efficient composition), I have come to reflect on what 'art' in deed is, and why it is necessary.

For example, recently, I have been trying to craft brand new Tae Kwon Do martial arts forms based upon my observations of the movements of the Florida yard lizard. The Florida lizard, unlike the iguana, hops and bobs, rather than scurries. Also, unlike the rather immobile, yet lethal alligator, the yard lizard moves quickly in spurts, but then stands motionless in order to preserve energy, focus on its prey, mate when necessary, etc.

As I was seeking to incorporate some of these Natural Law movements into traditional crescent kicks, low side-kicks and back-kicks, the sounds of my Bob Marley CD were also ringing in my ears. Soon, the yard lizard Tae Kwon Do forms started developing a slightly Jamaican rhythm, and dance, rather than martial arts was born!

So, how does one classify what I did? Was I doing 'martial arts'? Was I doing 'dance'? Was I doing both?

Perhaps this is why we need art. Art expands our vision. Art transcends nature, and according to the Holy Spirit working in creation, can assume even the quality of supernature.

Michelangelo perhaps caught a glimmer of this supernature when he painted the Sistine chapel. I think that my old lady friend who spied my art similarly caught such a glimpse, not by my own hand (I can do nothing on my own), but instead by the Holy Spirit.

This is why we need art. Through art, we catch a glimpse of God Himself, provided we are seeking after Him . . .

Love in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Artist for Jesus' Name Only

As Catholic as you wanna be

I just read in the journal First Things, that a local Florida university of the Roman Catholic Church, Ave Maria University will be having an entire conference devoted to the key moral encyclical Humanae Vitae. This key moral encyclical is, in many ways, a litmus test for TRUE Catholic cultural identity (sadly, quite different from Post-Vatican II institutional identity as mired as it is in Jesuit homosexual priests, pluralist Religious Studies faculty at places like Marquette, etc.). So, although $50 for the registration fee, and myself as an "annulled" Catholic (liberal Catholic annulment granted, not by my decision), I will try to make it down there to Naples, Florida in order to help 're-build' Catholic culture.

So, what does it TRULY mean to be Catholic?

Like I just wrote, supposedly "Catholic" professors favor everything from abortion, physician-assisted suicide to even occasionally practicing Buddhism if it strikes their fancy.

Similarly, since parts of Catholic Higher Education essentially adopt a gnostic position regarding salvation (especially the Jesuits for some reason . . .), we can no longer go the direction of Thomas Aquinas and equate faithful ecclesial leadership with how many degrees that are loaded behind one's name (I have three and half by the way . . . two masters degrees from Duke, a bachelor's in religion from #9 Davidson College and 3 years of PhD studies including a semester of dissertation research from Notre Dame). Instead, prior to Thomas Aquinas, and still much the case in Eastern Rite Catholicism (Melkites), perhaps ecclesial leadership should be based in a "mentorship" model. Yes, a baseline M.Div. should be necessary, but after that, as our Jesuit lavender mafia demonstrates (to borrow Richard John Neuhaus's useful caricature of contemporary Jesuit institutional identity), "more academic degrees" is actually proving harmful more than helpful to the life of the Church. I guess that St. Augustine was correct in arguing that pride is the root of all vice. Ph.D. studies generally promote pride, and the full Ph.D. generally destines many a Catholic (and Protestant) soul to equal numbers of years in purgatory as years spent in one's "flourishing academic career."

So, in conclusion, in standing up for our rights as Catholics, let us not only confront the secularist without, but let us also begin house-cleaning within. For me, this meant leaving the Ph.D. program at Notre Dame (and subsequently shaving at least 40 years of time in purgatory, I'm sure :-).

Love in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Heretic-Hunter Extraordinaire

Get up, Stand up, Stand up for your rights!

I just received an e-mail from an African American Activist network about racism being subtly overlooked at a school in the South. A mock "lynching" symbol was placed on school property and little is being done about it.

Bob Marley, the great reggae musician (the Father of reggae actually) has this great song that says, "Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights . . ."

I don't know about you, but I am plain sick and tired of my rights being trampled!

I am sick and tired of children being stolen from their God-fearing homes by secular humanist America with its psycho-therapeutic witch-doctors (Freud, the grandpa of modern psychology labelled religious belief itself as "delusional" which would make 90%+ of the world's population "mentally ill.").

I am sick and tired of the Federal Government snooping on we ordinary American citizens. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had wire-taps on his telephone. Now, I have even had a freemason grandmaster one time "threaten to call Dick Cheney" on me because as a Spirit-Filled Catholic Christian I am opposed to masonry.

I am sick and tired of lack of due process under law in the United States of America. The rich can afford lawyers and so they are "above the law." The poor, whether African American, Anglo, Hispanic, Asian, et al cannot afford such legal representation and so the legal system literally rapes us.

I am sick and tired of a Democrat Party that makes high-sounding promises, but then once elected looks little different from the conservatives in the Republican Party. It's all about the money on both sides of the political spectrum.

I am sick and tired of a Republican Party that stands for absolutely nothing other than who will line their pockets.

FOR JESUS, FOR THE PEOPLE, FOR NATURAL LAW RIGHTS UPON WHICH OUR U.S. CONSTITUTION IS BASED
Rob J. King, Democrat from 1990 - 2004

Why the Country Will Go 'Democrat' In Order to Move Forward . . .

King Edward, 11th century A.D. King of England, is one of the great rulers in Christian History. Under St. Edward, cathedrals were built, England was unified, and although conquered shortly after his reign in 1066 A.D. to William the Conqueror, nonetheless preserved England's distinctive heritage as a people and as a Christian land (they just probably spoke a little bit more French at the royal court! :-)

Similarly, although the Republican Party has many merits, for example, a general trend of Pro-Life voting (not uniform), a greater emphasis on economic prosperity and usually a strong Voice of the Evangelical Right and the Conservative Catholic wing of the Republican Party, sadly, due to its stand on several issues, it is time that a Democrat was back in the White House.

First, sadly, rather than focusing on Pro-Life issues, Religious Freedom, or even economic prosperity, through the vocal stands of front-runner Mitt Romney, the emphasis has shifted to barring illegal immigration to the point that it is now a "witch-hunt" against Mexican culture itself.

Second, although a strong military is needed by the U.S. in order to safeguard a high standard of living, the gradual erosion of our military through an under-funded, un-supported War in Iraq has led to a weakening, rather than a strengthening of our National Defense. While our American soldiers dodge pipe-bombs in Baghdad, sadly, China, N. Korea and other nations opposed to the U.S. grow more powerful militarily.

Third, the American Family is utterly decimated. The response of a Family Values candidate would be wonderful, but sadly, anti-Hispanic sentiment and proliferating an ill-conceived war in Iraq dominates Republican thinking at the moment. A Democrat, although needing to be corrected on the Pro-Life issue, would likely return the focus to helping women and children devastated by divorce, while also being a Father's Rights advocate in Divorce and Custody issues. Equal time for each parent. Equal custody legally for each parent. Republicans seem little interested in such issues, and so, Democrats will win the war for rebuilding the American Family.

There you have it. A Democrat is due in the White House.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Pro-Family, Pro-Life, Pro-Military

Winning the War in Iraq, now that is has been dragging on for 4 years . . .

Has anyone noticed photos of some of our young Marines and other servicemen returning home from Iraq? No I am not talking about the several thousand men & women who have died. I am speaking of the 'survivors.'

Missing arms. Missing legs. One hometown Tampa Bay Marine was even married recently but with a face that was so disfigured it looked like something out of a Mad Max movie. The cause, an I.E.D. or otherwise known as a "road-side bomb."

But here we are, 4 years later, still "fighting" the "War" in Iraq.

Why have we not won this war?

We have nuclear missiles. We have the finest, most technologically-sophisticated fighting force in the world, and yet, we are still at war.

Why is this so?

We call for a "troop surge" and then rather than FULLY EQUIPPING our men and women in uniform (say with about 400,000 troops), we instead send proverbial "chump change" and throw in a few more thousand troops.

Missing arms. Missing legs. Disfigured faces that young Marines will now have. All of this due to political ineptitude on the part of the Bush administration.

I like George W. Bush. Bush is a strong Pro-Life President. Bush is a strong Christian believer. Bush, however, contrary to the words of warning by Pope John Paul II, nevertheless rushed our nation headlong into war. War that was "pre-emptive." War that was ill-advised. War that is only being fought with 1/3 of our national effort.

So, Mr. President, in all due respect, and yes, I do admire you, please either fully support these fine men and women in the military (400,000 boots on the ground MINIMUM) or withdraw the troops immediately. Otherwise, you are perpetuating a slow national bleed of some of our nation's finest men and women. These men and women who serve valiantly, will now likely all become Democrats and war opponents due to your administration not fully supporting them.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Just War Proponent

Be careful who you offend . . .

Growing up, I always adored those King Arthur type movies. One of my favorite parts in these movie classics is when the King is disguised as an ordinary person, and then some dispute or battle ensues, only to have the King suddenly reveal himself for who he truly is.

Along these lines, I want to "lift up" a few of these exemplars, who, like King Arthur would NEVER have been recognized until MUCH LATER.

* As a young man, this Catholic literally worked as a garbage man. Today he is the Chair of the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame

* As a young soldier, this other Catholic was "AWOL" from the German (Nazi) Army, only to be captured by American Forces and held as a POW for 6 months. Today, this man is known as Pope Benedict XVI

* As a young naval aviator, this man was downed by Vietnamese anti-aircraft fire and spent 5 and 1/2 years in prison as a POW in Hanoi, Vietnam. Today, this man is Senator John McCain who is currently running for President and a long-time voice of reason and judicial restraint in the Senate

* As a young clergy, this man was an unknown. Rather than just serving a parish, he instead went on to study theology, eventually earning his doctorate. This young, unknown clergyman we now know as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Who knows who you will 'run into.' This past April, I attended a high-profile academic conference, and when at a cocktail party I almost bumped into this short Italian-looking man. His name is Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and he was the key-note speaker of the conference!

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King

The Constitution and why the U.S. is verging on tyranny

I do not wish to be alarmist. I seek to always offer a quite balanced perspective. But, in reading the U.S. Constitution, and especially our Bill of Rights, I am increasingly alarmed at trends in our government that run directly counter to what the plain text of our Constitution reads.

One example, is that our Constitution protects American citizens from illegal searches of our property, effects, etc., yet if we make a phone call or even send an e-mail to anyone living outside of the United States, we the People of the United States of America can now have our phones (cell-phone and land-lines) monitored by N.S.A.

Or another example, in another part of our Constitutional protection against governmental tyranny is that excessive fines may not be imposed upon an American citizen (or excessive bails), yet judges routinely impose fines and bails in the range of tens of thousands of dollars. Even a fine of $500 is excessive, yet this is often a minimum fine/bail set by a judge. $500 for any hard-working middle class American is excessive.

Finally, regarding issues of Religious Freedom, although the Catholic group the Knights of Columbus lobbied Congress to adopt the "under God" clause to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, if one were ever to pray in an official governmental capacity in a non-Deist unitarian format (for example, a prayer to allah, a Hindu prayer to Vishnu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu), or a Christian prayer "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ Our LORD," then one could be censured.

So, there you have it. Government surveillance, excessive fines imposed by our judicial branch and finally a state-enforced restriction on freedom of religious speech while praying in an official capacity (e.g. a chaplain opening Congress with a prayer for example).

Tyranny. Read the Constitution. I did today at Starbuck's.

Blessings in Jesus (not Vishnu! :-)
Rob J. King, Protector of Constitutional Government in the United States of America (of course, I might have to end up becoming a Democrat to do this it seems . . .)

The End of the Modern Nation State?

In an interesting sociological study called The McDonaldization of Society (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonaldization), the writer asserts that American society has become reconceptualized around the four key criteria of efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. In short, the standards that have worked for McDonald's fast-food restaurants are increasingly how American society itself is being reconceptualized.

There is much truth in this analysis. Corporate America, both positively and negatively, increasingly shapes entire segments of our society. From NFL sports teams sponsored by Coca-Cola to the U.S. Military being outfitted in snazzy new Army Combat Uniforms exclusively produced by one manufacturer to even public university systems being funded by corporations such as CVS pharmacies, our society is truly controlled by "Big Business." Whether Democrat or Republican, the question is not "whether or not" Big Business controls the votes, but rather which set of Corporations are in control. Big Tobacco is supported by the Republican side and Hollywood is controlled by the Democrat side. Starbuck's coffee is controlled by the liberals and gold investing is controlled by the conservatives.

What does this mean for the future of world history?

At one point, empires were ruled by sheer military force. Whether it was the Greeks (Alexander the Great), the Romans, or eventually the Islamic Turks, empires rose and fell based on sheer military might.

Fast forward several hundred years to the time of 1492. Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World, interested less in military conquest, and more in economic gain. The New World was conquered less through military force, but more through economic domination. The same, sadly, can also be said about Africa and its European colonizers.

But now, in 2007, the shift that began in the pre-Renaissance is now coming to its logical conclusion. We North Americans, Europeans, Chinese and Japanese conquer not through military power (just look at the mess in Iraq!), but instead through names such as Fuji film, BMW, Coca-Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken (and yes, they actually eat KFC down in Capetown, South Africa, surprisingly enough!).

Will this McDonaldization of society eventually replace the Nation State?

Say, 300 years from now, will someone living in St. Petersburg, Florida no longer consider themselves to be "American" in the proper sense, but say, instead consider themselves to be "Starbuckian"??? Or perhaps, CVS-ian???

Only time will tell, but perhaps "Corporate America" will increasingly be less a question of whether or not to have it, but instead "Good" versus "bad" corporate America.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Starbuck's coffee drinker, Bob Marley-listener ;-) for Jesus of course . . .

Scalia, Judicial Tyrants and the future of State-enforced psychiatric abuse

Back in 1994 - 1995, I worked as a Youth Minister for a Methodist congregation just outside of Greensboro, N. Carolina. The pastor I worked with really was like a father to me, the congregation was absolutely wonderful, and the youth group was truly an amazing group of kids.

What utterly shocked me at the time, however, was that a large number of the youth group apparently had been "diagnosed" with "behavior problems" and therefore were always drugged up on Ritalin.

These "problem kids" were about as normal as you could ever find. None of them used drugs (at least to my knowledge), none of them were sleeping around (again, not to my knowledge), and to be frank, their greatest concerns were "who was flirting with who" in the youth group.

GOOD, SOLID AMERICAN KIDS.

But, for some set of reasons (pharmaceutical companies "profit margins," hmmm?), these "problem kids" had been doped up by a bunch of psychotherapeutic nazis . . .

Lo and behold, fast forward to 2007, and this problem is still rampant in the U.S. In a recent article written by Gregory Hession, J.D., apparently in places like Massachusetts (heart of psycho-therapeutic, child custody nazi america!), judges are again overstepping their rightful, Constitutional role as mere interpreters of the law, and have instead begun to replace family, religion and even bona fide medical opinion in ordering such administration of "mental illness" pharmaceuticals. (please see Sept. 17, 2007 The New American, p. 12 - 17)

Fortunately, although ultra-liberal Massachusetts is an anti-christ government through and through (thanks Governor Mitt Romney, as former Mass. Governor, this mess was created by you, or at least under your watch . . .), the U.S. is governed by a higher federal authority as rooted in the U.S. Constitution.

Fortunately, also for the rest of us God-fearing, law-abiding Americans who want government to keep their hands off of our children, we have had a text-abiding Supreme Court Justice by the name of Antonin Scalia who actively resists such judicial activism.

Scalia rightly argues that the role of the Judge is never to legislate from the bench, but instead, whether a law is good or whether a law is bad, the judge's role is to abide by the actual text of the law as passed by either the U.S. Congress or state legislatures.

NO JUDICIAL TYRANNY!

Please join me in PRAYER for the FUTURE of the U.S. and our children. Judicial tyranny gave us Roe v. Wade and the supposed, invented "right" to kill babies, and in places like Massachusetts, not only kill babies, but if they survive their mother's womb, to go ahead and seize them and make them doped up slaves of the state.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, PRO-LIFE, PRO-FAMILY, PRO-MILITARY for JESUS

Comfort, Safety and The Role of the Military

Lately, I have been increasingly grateful for the role that our military has historically played. I recently finished a book written by Senator John McCain called Faith of My Fathers in which Senator McCain recalls the many daring maneuvers that his grandfather and father made during WW II in order to protect FREEDOM from Nazi aggression and Japanese Imperialism. From staying submerged on a U.S. submarine for as absolutely long as back-up electrical power would hold (in order to avoid detection by enemy Japanese ships) to bravely equipping the Marines in the Pacific with much needed supplies in order to hold on to key strategic positions, the McCain Family was quite adept at out-maneuvering the Japanese.

Fast forward to 2007. Whereas the enemy of the U.S. in 1945 was pretty straight forward (Germans who butchered 10 million people in gas chambers and concentration camps), today the "enemy" is less noticeable.

Sadly, not only do we have Islamic infiltration in the domestic U.S. (some of the 9/11 hi-jackers actually trained at flight schools right here in the state of Florida . . .), but we also have many hidden dangers within our very own Federal Government. Abuses of due process under law. Military leaders who can be corrupt. War profiteering by the Vice President.

Our enemies to the U.S. Constitution truly are foreign and now domestic.

In spite of this murky situation as a super-power crumbling (i.e. out-of-wedlock pregnancies, rampant drug use, sky-rocketing divorce rates, etc.), we nevertheless are being shown mercy by the LORD Almighty. I can comfortably go to the public library and check out a book written by a Supreme Court Justice and read it without fear, unlike places like communist China. I can similarly walk to Starbuck's coffee shop, bring my Bible and openly read the Full Gospel of Jesus Christ and even share the Gospel with other people openly, seeking their conversion, unlike places such as Tehran, Iran.

We live in a free country, but more importantly a country with a strong heritage of Jewish and Christian teaching, law and culture.

Thank you Senator McCain for faithfully upholding and defending this Nation's Judeo-Christian identity.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Patriot of the U.S.A., Evangelist for Jesus

Doing the RIGHT THING

Tonight I will be teaching Applied Ethics to a group of Floridians. I have to say Floridians, well, because I live in Florida. To be up front, Florida is a special place. Jews, Christians and secularists all make their home here.

Pretty much the only thing that unifies us as a State is our prosperity. Each weekend, I will travel to the Sembler-financed BayWalk restaurant and movie complex to listen to free rock & roll, jazz & Jimmy Buffet-style concerts. Sometimes I even eat Italian where the financial "big wigs" eat (for example movers & shakers politically). We are a prosperous city and state here in St. Petersburg, Florida.

But is "prosperity" enough? Does it matter for instance if someone is engaged in homosexual acts, especially in public bathrooms as is a recent problem in Ft. Lauderdale? Does it matter if we are at War and people want to kill us as Americans because we refuse to submit to Islam? (Osama bin Laden's recent tape essentially told the U.S. to convert to Islam thereby showing how global domination in the name of Islam is his true intent).

Well, although the United States of America will continue on in our prosperity, there is now a new season upon us. We must set aside the sinful practices that have crept into our national psyche. We must once again say unequivocally that homosexual acts are wrong. We must once again not submit to Islam as a Nation State. We must once again reclaim our Judeo-Christian morality.

Only this way, will we as a nation "do the RIGHT THING."

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Applied Ethics Professor for Jesus

Petreaus, Power, and Foucault

Knowledge is power. According to Michel Foucault, post-modern French philosopher, whomever controls the "categories" of knowledge can essentially control the world.

Economically, whomever can know when to buy low and sell high can quickly out-position others in the market so that the wealth literally flows toward them, rather than away from them. Bill Gates of Microsoft was able to "out-think" the competition by coming up with the brilliant idea of including "bundles" of software in one package so that he could produce his "set of products" at a lower overall price than buying operating systems that were separate from Internet explorers, etc.

Militarily, whomever can out-think their opponents has also won. Iraq is a dead-end for the United States now, and so General Petreaus' idea of doing more with less is actually a BRILLIANT idea. My own suggestion is in the projected troop draw-down to maintain special forces presence and numbers and then consolidate the major bases into more easily defensible zones thereby easing the burden placed on the troops who will be deployed there to replace the troops who are coming home.

Politically, whomever can out-think their opponents has also won. Barack Obama, although a dashing young African American leader would have been a horrible President because he is not able to out-think Hillary Clinton. Every move Obama makes, Hillary quietly has Obama's number and already has functionally eliminated him from the race. Check-mate Obama, Hillary is a better chess-player than you are.

So, if you wish to win at the game of life, NEVER allow yourself to be defined by your adversaries. Sure, they may label you something that you are not, but never allow such a label to stick. In College Football I quickly learned that the enemy could easily look at his depth chart and see "Rob King, Offensive Center, 6'O" 212 pounds" and then he would label me a lightweight. Of course, after having shattered the knee of one 300 pound nose-guard, such statistics soon came to be regarded as much more irrelevant than "Rob King, 340 pound bench press, 605 pound squat and 275 pound power clean" (in other words, although only 212 pounds, I had an "Arnold Swartzeneggar-type physical body" and could even hang with our own Davidson College nose guard, a 300 pound Behemoth who was even looked at by the NFL (at 300 pounds, we would always "battle to a draw . . .").

So, if you want a Candidate who will not crumble under pressure, if you want a Candidate who can actually outsmart Hillary, go for Davidson College, Duke University and University of Notre Dame, not just some guy who may look nice in a suit and tie. Otherwise, there will be a whole new Clinton enterprise in 2008. Even Karl Rove seems to think that it is Hillary vs. the G.O.P. Candidate . . .

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Jock for Jesus :-)

The New Christian Empire, Opus Dei and the Latinization of the West

The Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle, Roman Catholic Church just recently began having the mass in the official, pre-Vatican II, Tridentine Latin Mass. In this congregation (ironically where I received my First Holy Communion some 18 odd years ago), now the Traditionalists within Catholicism finally will have their rightful place.

In many ways, this whole debate over the Latin mass is somewhat pointless. I am a product of Evangelical Protestantism as much as I am my initial Catholic upbringing. Sola scriptura, sola fides is as much of a part of my belief system (because it is Christian Orthodoxy from St. Paul through St. Augustine!) as is the vast array of Tradition known as Catholicism.

For every sinner in the Catholic Church (including pedophile priests, apostate professors of theology, et al) there are also millions upon millions of ordinary Catholics who daily pray the rosary, venerate icons, and simply believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins and that accepting Jesus as their personal LORD and SAVIOR is essential for salvation.

It was thus with a somewhat curious response that my inner soul yearned for a united Christian Empire as I learned of the president of Mexico's recent exhortation to Mexicans in the United States to always stay loyal to Mexico their homeland. I could care less about Mexico's national sovereignty, nor the Mexican arrogance over their Latin American superiority in the sport of soccer, but the fact that the president of Mexico had a vision of a more unified Western hemisphere transcending borders of nation states was nonetheless striking.

To be frank, I have close friends (one of them highly influenced by the conservative Catholic Group, Opus Dei) who are Mexican nationals. In fact, when I taught philosophy in Indiana, although I was teaching at a staunch Evangelical Protestant liberal arts college, it was the Catholic students from Mexico whom I most closely connected with. These young men had a closer-knit fraternal community than their Anglo-Protestant peers, a greater love of children (including my son Manny who now wants to play soccer just like those Mexican soccer players he saw as a 1 year old!), and to be frank, these Mexican men are probably closer to me in Jesus Christ than many fellow Americans I know who wear either a thin veneer of artificial christianity at best or are just plain old secular humanists at worst.

Perhaps, the future of the United States of America really will look increasingly Latin. No, we won't go back in time to the 13th century and start writing all of our academic papers in Latin, nor will most Catholics even start attending the Latin mass. No, by Latin, I mean the Christian Empire of the West, first the Empire of Rome, then the Empire of the Germanic lands under Charlemagne (A.D. 800) is what the "new America" will look like.

So, no President Calderon, we won't unite 'officially' with Mexico, but yes, we will continue to eat tacos, drink cervezas de Mexico, and pray the rosary along with you, our dear neighboring country . . .

Viva las tierras christianas . . .

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Latin Presidential Candidate ("testing the waters" and waiting for the G.O.P. to figure me out . . . :-)

War, physical, spiritual, cultural . . .

I just received an e-mail from a military web-site (private, not public) that had the headline "China hacks Pentagon's computers" . . .

Sadly, as any Christian would know, the Christian life is one of continual spiritual war. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities in the heavenly realm. As a Christian, we are also told to put on the whole armor of God. The belt of truth. The breastplate of righteousness. Most, importantly, the Sword of the Spirit which is the WORD of God.

When we Christians wield these weapons and armaments, we can and do conquer in the MIGHTY name of Jesus Christ!

For example, ironically, China is not only an enemy of the United States of America, but also one of the greatest persecutors of Evangelical and Roman Catholic Christians who refuse to submit their Christian beliefs to being polluted with marxist ideology.

Therefore, Christians in China are conquering that nation from within. Communism may control key resources such as money, political power, but it is through the Sword of the Spirit, that is the WORD of God that China is falling bit by bit to the Name Jesus Christ.

And so, also in the United States of America, although the Name Jesus Christ is increasingly censored within the public realm, be it a Republican Party that looks more and more paranoid each day, be it the public school system, or even military chaplains who forbid Jesus' name being spoken during command ceremonies, or whomever else is the enemy of Jesus Christ, so also are we Christians, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox conquering by the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God!

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Defender of Pro-Nicene Christian Orthodoxy, circa 325 A.D.

Friendship

Back when I was a Resident Advisor for the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at Duke University, in addition to getting the free basketball tickets to see Duke play :-) I also learned a lot about friendship and its importance.

To this day I am good friends with someone who now works next to the Pentagon, is a strong Christian man, and all because we have made time for our friendship over the years.

Similarly, although the communication can be somewhat stilted, I am still friends with professors from Duke.

Stanley Hauerwas (one of my old profs . . .) in some of his work in Christian Ethics has pointed out that in the field of moral philosophy, friendship is a prominent, yet often overlooked theme. Aristotle, the ancient Greek Virtue Ethicist (and Natural Law philosopher who gave taxonomies of the various animal species) especially noted the importance of friendship.

From a Christian perspective, friendship is also vital. Jesus Himself one time said that "what greater love is this then for a man to lay down his life for his friends . . ."

So, how are you being influenced by your friends?

Is this influence positive or negative?

Also, how good of a friend are you being?

If a friend has just been laid off from work or suffered a horrific divorce, are you willing as a friend to stop and talk or even potentially pray with them?

These types of friends are the one who have "kept me going" over the long-haul and it is this type of friend that I always seek to be.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Friend of All, Love of Jesus my LORD and Savior

The New Natural Law

Today as I was grading my Applied Ethics essays in Starbuck's I was sitting next to a third year law student from the top-ranked Florida Law School, Stetson.

As he was tending to presumably studying case after case in preparation for an exam, I was diligently reading how Ethics is conceived of by college students in 2007 U.S. higher education.

What was especially striking about my conversations with this law student was how we were both on the same side of the "political fence" arguing for a Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia "textual" interpretation of American jurisprudence. We both agreed that the only way that the United States of America can be governed is NOT by continuing the practice of judicial constructivism (both liberal a la Roe v. Wade AND conservative a la Chief Justice Roberts who does not adhere closely enough to the text of the Constitution apparently!). Rather, instead of constructing judicial law out of thin air (always a bad idea, and the sign of a tyrannical regime!), whatever the Constitution and whatever laws that Congress passes and the President signs into law, whether we like it or not, IS THE LAW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

We ended the conversation with me wrapping up my essay grading, the law student bidding farewell and each of us returning to the battle that looms ahead for the United States of America.

* Will we as the United States of America continue to pass laws in direct opposition to the Natural Rights documents of the founding of our Republic such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

* Will our federal judges, liberal and conservative, continue to exercise judicial tyranny by inventing law "out of thin air" through false legal constructs that again have no actual textual support nor foundation?

* Will our nation continue to perpetrate war crimes such as torturing our enemies to extract information and holding them indefinitely in prison without due process under American law?

Please support this grass-roots effort to make America safe again for democratic rule.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Christian Natural Law Thinker

Psychological Perspectives on Evil

In M. Scott Peck's interesting, yet dated read, People of the Lie, a psychological evaluation of human evil is attempted.

In Peck's outstanding sampling of case studies (clinical psych) and interviews & observations of Catholic priests performing exoricisms, Peck comes to the conclusion that there is in fact something "evil" that is foreign to humanity, and outside of the realm of normal "empirical reality."

In Catholic and Protestant theology, such "evil" has always been designated as the figure of the devil, also known as "the Satan" ("accuser") and sometimes also known as "lucifer" the fallen angel. Evil is given concrete names in Christian theology.

Outside of Christianity (and to a lesser extent Islam and Judaism), much of the so-called secular world is left scratching their heads concerning evil.

One example of this is Stanley Milgram's famous experiment in which the professor of psychology admistered a startling test that proved that at least 2/3 of "normal Americans" would obey orders unquestioningly and even to the point of murdering innocent life! These normal Americans were very often college-educated, some even with master's degrees, and all were subservient to what they perceived as "authority" that must be blindly and unquestioningly followed. This experiment, according to Milgram, helped to explain how and why mass evil such as the Nazi genocide of 10 million people could be perpetuated by seemingly ordinary, and indeed even "rational" individuals.

So, what the secular world is left scratching their heads over, we Christians (and Jews & Muslims) know is evil personfied. Call him the devil, satan or lucifer. Whatever the name, we people descended from Father Abraham know that an evil force outside of nature does in fact exist. This is who we TRULY battle, not "Democrats" or "Republicans" but the devil.

For a fuller analysis, please see ABC News with a follow-up blog posting by me at:

STORY: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2765416&page=1

BLOG: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/comments?type=story&id=2765416

Blessings in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, Defender of Abraham's People