Sword of the SPIRIT . . .

American Intellectualism, Tiananmen Square and Why the U.S. will rely on sales, service industries . . .

2009-07-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today as I was ordering a Greek salad at Atlanta Bread Co., a late middle aged woman asked me if I was "still at St. Petersburg College." At first I was perplexed. I do not know this woman. I teach at St. Petersburg College, but something about the tone of her voice made me feel quite skeptical.

Then, upon refusing to answer, she re-stated the question. The truth of her intent then became known. This middle aged woman was asking me not if I taught at the local college, but was wondering if I was still a student at St. Petersburg College!

Upon her line of reasoning being unveiled, I looked at her and said, "Excuse me?" Then I stated somewhat intrepidly, "I have two master's degrees from Duke University and three years of Ph.D. studies."

I am still unsure whether or not this lady's query was an innocent mistake or whether or not she was trying to belittle a man nearing her age. I am, after all, thirty seven years old, not to mention having a full beard.

After sitting down with my Greek salad I was reminded of how in 1989, when I was only 17 years old, Tianamen Square in China pitted Chinese intelligentsia against the forces of communism. Egalite' so said the French Revolutionary! "All resources are to be controlled by the state" so did the Communist Chinese Revolutionary continue such false egalitarianism. But, in the end, "equality" is never quite equal, now is it?

"Equality" is often a thin veneer for toppling aristocracy.

"Equality" is also a "code" for denying "Equal Opportunity based upon merit!"

"Separate, but equal" proved to certainly be 'separate,' yet never quite equal.

And so, in the current trend towards socialist ways of the American populace, a new uprising will now occur. An uprising on behalf of Christianity. Yes, all men and women are created equal. But such equality (so the Jewish and Christian traditions embody) does not equal societal power independent of Virtue. Virtue, not the Chinese communist tank aimed at the solo protester, guides the founding of Republican political theory. Plato's key text on this issue, The Republic, serves as a foundation for all later Western political theory. It is by Virtue that a nation or city-state is to be led. Virtue such as courage guides the military. Virtue such as thrift guides the mercantile class. Virtue, intellectual virtue, such as prudence will guide the aristocratic political leadership class. But, and here is where the U.S. has made its "fatal error," Virtue had for a time vanished from political rule.

The woman who simply assumed that a man would be "barely finishing his associate's degree" at the age of 37 is in error. The scholar (Plato's "Philosopher-King") is to be re-instated, not by force, not by persuasion, but simply by social convention.

Harvard University Law School produced Barack Obama and now the White House is occupied by Plato's "Philosopher-King." Sadly, however, due to openly denying opportunity to persons of superior intellectual ability, the U.S. economy, rather than toppling itself will simply shift! Gone are the days of "good-ole boy G.O.P." networking in which a man like Karl Rove (who truly does not have an undergraduate degree) can ascend the ladder of political influence. In the New America, prosperity will reign. The salesperson, the under-educated man, will be forced to sell, sell, sell and sell, sell, sell she or he shall do. But, and as Plato's tri-partite view of the soul as a microcosm of society dictates, the salesperson shall serve the military and its interests, and the "top of the Pyramid" will no longer be a "bunch of good 'ole boys" who barely made it out of undergrad (if even that!), but instead the political top of the pyramid will be based upon merit. G.R.E. Scores. L.S.A.T.'s. Duke. Harvard. Yale. Princeton.

The "masses" will be the ones to now work at the bottom of the heap, hawking their wares.

The truly courageous will serve valiantly on distant shores as U.S. Military Personnel.

But, and as the 2008 election demonstrated, the "Top of the Pyramid" will be occupied by the scholar-activist. Barack. Harvard. VICTORY. McCain. Palin. Tragic flaw in G.O.P. reasoning. Barely passing the Naval Academy really ended up being no match for a Summa Cum Laude from Harvard Law School.

The West's Decline and Coming Renaissance

2009-05-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

I am somewhat in shock at how poorly the Barack Obama Presidency REALLY IS progressing. From making Federal tax money available to kill babies-in-utero to failing to present a balanced budget (1/2 of which is financed by debt-money) to now even re-instating the human rights abusers to power in our Nation's military, I am not sure how long this "Wave of Liberalism" can truly last.

Genocide is how Christian Historians label those regimes that practice abortion.

Those nation states that are "lenders" (e.g. China, the U.K., Japan) will now RULE OVER the Debt-Machine called the United States of American Federal Government. To be frank, it is SO BAD in the U.S. (from a Christian perspective!) that I just hope that as the U.S. continues its demise that the military does not somehow "fall into the wrong hands." I hope that TRUE Evangelical Protestants, Catholics, Jews and others who support Christendom will somehow maintain control over the domestic-military MIGHT that is what remains of American world hegemony!

After all, our products are "second-rate" (e.g. Chrysler autos!). We have a "bad reputation" of IMPERIALISM. We have "burned bridges" with our National Allies in the E.U. (under the Bush Administration). Finally, we have turned Orthodox Christianity (Protestant, Catholic and Greek/Russian/etc. Orthodoxy) directly against the Executive Branch due to its "Culture of Death" stance--e.g. a Catholic Bishop, John D'Arcy calling for a "boycott" of Barack Obama's speech at the University of Notre Dame.

But, in spite of the decline of American hegemonic control (e.g. failed economy, ill-advised, protracted wars, etc.), in the future generations, the West itself shall survive, and I TRULY believe, the West WILL flourish. Music. Art. Pro-Christian Politics. Much should happen in the coming decade to reverse the trend towards nihilism that the Liberal side of the U.S. political spectrum represents. For example, when on tax day (April 15, 2009), tens of thousands assembled in re-enactments of the Boston Tea Party, then C-H-A-N-G-E is just around the corner! "Obama-mania" is OVER! "Cults of personality" are either the mark of Communism on the Left or of Fascism on the Right. "Cults of personality," however, are ALWAYS a B-A-D IDEA for truly democratic government!

So, what is a Christian to do for the next three and a half years?

Well, as for me, I listen to Classical Music (most of which was Christian!). I teach. I learn from history and its mistakes.

How about YOU?

All the very best in Christ, Robert J. King

My Soul Looks Back . . .

2009-02-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Way back in 1996, during a God-awful course in contemporary United Methodism (depressing subject if anyone knows the plight of mainline U.S. Protestantism! :-) I read a book by Black Liberation Theologian, James Cone. The book, entitled My Soul Looks Back, was Cone's personal memoirs concerning how he left the normal course of theological study and embarked upon a course of reflection for African American empowerment.

When I first read it, I must admit that I too was seeking an alternative to the quasi-Christianity that I had been increasingly experiencing in the new denomination of which I was a member, a seminarian and eventual clergyman serving within. I well remember the feelings of angst I would receive during this particular course, less owing to anything authentically Wesleyan, but more to a type of growing "gnostic" tendency whereby historical research increasingly replaced actual lived discipleship.

Eventually, through good Evangelical United Methodists such as Benji Kelly and humorous voices of dissent-against-boring-professors (e.g. Peter McGuire), I gained a bit of a following. Tear down the establishment! Elect Stanley Hauerwas (Ethics Professor/mentor) as "Pope of United Methodism" or something. Out with the old white guys and in with the "New Bucks!"
Well, now some thirteen years later and since returned to the Roman Catholic Faithful, I now realize how correct I was in my premature evaluations!

Stan Hauerwas was right! Methodism had long since "died on the vine!" Jesus Christ Himself once said, "I am the vine, you are the branches and apart from me you can do nothing." Well, given United Methodism's increasing theological and practical liberalism, anything that was historically orthodox or (God forbid!) charismatic/Pentecostal had long-since been ruled verboten by the Liberals who ran the show!

Well, although I myself am a liberal economically (as was Jesus Christ Himself! ;-) the types of morality associated with the Democratic Party (e.g. everything from endorsing homosexual unions to murdering babies through abortion) had largely infiltrated United Methodism that there was no choice but to pack my bags and return home to the Catholic Church of my boyhood.

Now the road has not been easy. I have lost a "blossoming career" as a United Methodist clergy (M.Div., Th.M., Ph.D. ABD*). I even ended up losing my wife and children in the transition back into Catholicism--less the fault of anything Catholic, and more the pernicious effects of feminism on U.S. Higher Education. But, and an important but, when walks according to Jesus Christ, when one takes up one's cross and follows Christ daily, then one will be blessed! I have been absolutely blessed to teach full-time (On-Line and at St. Petersburg College) since 2005. Now I am seeking to finally finish that "full Ph.D." that had eluded my grasp! Jesus Christ is faithful.

May the LORD Christ guard your own steps!
<>< R. King

Money, sex, pleasure, and why the West was won by Catholicism!

2009-02-05T17:41:00.000-08:00

We live in a "sex-crazed" age!

Whether it's cross-dressers seeking to defy their normal biological gender specificity or whether it is the homosexual agenda seeking to normalize their union by calling it "marriage," the 'politics-of-sex' is something that is recurrent in the West!

Take the ancient Greeks prior to becoming Christians for example.

In ancient Greece, homosexuality (male-male or female-female) was practiced, as was "man-boy" love.

Looking back on those times, one can see how whenever a type of sexual relationship was deemed as "acceptable" by the governing structures, then those very governing structures would somehow become immune from any external moral critique.

Now, in 2009, state-after-state (e.g. California and Florida) are seeking to ban same-sex marriage.

Granted the Christian moral grounding of such a grass-roots movement to preserve monogamous, heterosexual marriage has been on the decline ever since the 1960's "sexual revolution," but nonetheless, the latent natural law reasoning of even liberal states such as California is claiming that homosexuality is simply not a normal practice.

But, and an important point to note, whereas the homosexual movement (e.g. "gay rights") is contrary to both the natural law and the theological view of Christianity, the move towards even viewing sexuality as primarily rooted in "pleasure" is in itself an underlying cause of why homosexuality would ever even begin to claim maritial union for itself! To separate sex from procreation, something that can be supported ironically enough from the philosophical history of sex posed by Michel Foucault, is itself to move in the direction of creating a new view of what "romantic love" even is!

Romantic love is to be contained within the covenant of marriage, yes, marriage between husband and wife, and with the intended goal of family-creation. When this end-goal is removed from the sexual act, then yes, sex becomes only something that "feels good" and the homosexual movement would, of course, see nothing wrong with also claiming their types of behavior as a type of "romance."

In conclusion, although I applaud Protestant attempts to maintain the sanctity of marriage, it is truly only the teaching of the Catholic Church which inextricably links marriage to family-creation that makes any moral sense (systematically!) concerning issues of sex.

Sex, Economy . . .

2008-12-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

I recently received an e-mail from a prominent African-American Church leader who asked me to pray that her Dad's name would not be "pimped" by those who would distort her father's message of love, forgiveness, and non-violent Christian commitment!

When I first read it, I obviously PRAYED!!!

But, then after praying, I thought to myself how much "sex" is a type of 'transaction . . .'

According to the Judeo-Christian (and in a similar Abrahamic vein, the Islamic) monotheistic Tradition, sex is literally the joining together of husband and wife in holy matrimony. Sex is for pleasure to be sure, but more importantly, sex is for child-rearing!

In the Second Vatican Council's Dignitatis Humanae (1965) http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2relfre.htm, the right for Catholic Christians to raise their children in a spirit of religious freedom, and free from state control is intrinsic to human dignity itself.

But, unless one spends tons of money to send a child to private school, the state time and time again has over-stepped the boundaries of true religious freedom. Children are taught to use condoms. Children are required to accept homosexuality as a normative lifestyle. Children are even doped full of ritalin for an entire host of artificially-constructed "mental illnesses," mental illnesses that apparently never even existed until the late twentieth century and when the drug companies of the U.S. foresaw a HUGE financial pay-off!

Truly, as Catholic moral philosopher (at the University of Notre Dame), Alasdair MacIntyre prophetically highlighted at the end of his epic treatise After Virtue, the Dark Ages of post-modernity are well upon us and it will only be through morally coherent, robust Aristotelian centers of Virtue that the Church (or anyone else . . .) can survive the onslaught against human dignity!

Barack Obama's first week following the election was marked by his assault upon life-in-the-womb.

Genocide occurs in the Sudan, yet the Bush-Cheney era was more concerned about Sadaam's oil profits than they were TRUE human rights abuses!!

The only choice for Christians, whether we are Sojourners Liberal Evangelical-Catholics (like myself . . .) or hard-liners like Richard John Neuhaus (Editor of First Things . . .) is to both discover and highlight those communities of Natural Law Aristotelian Virtue that respect the human person, foster an independent spirit (i.e. free of state-totalitarian G.O.P. control!), and also welcome children!

I, thus pledge, along with folks like Jim Wallis, Neuhaus, Stanley Hauerwas, Mike Baxter, et al to embody a different Kingdom than the capitalistic, consumer-profit-at-all-costs of the Republikaaners, and also different from the self-mutilating "suicide/abortion cult" of the Demokraats, a political party that on the one hand saved the U.S.A. from its slide towards "torture-ridden fascist Ideology," but also sought refuge in the worn out cliches of the Political Left that equate true womanhood somehow with the supposed right to murder one's babies!!! No, Barack, Hillary and the rest of you infanticide-fanatics, True Womanhood is centered in Jesus the Messiah, and modelled upon his mother, the Divine Theotokos, the head of the communion of saints, Mary.

In the Name of Jesus the Messiah and through the most blessed intercession of His mother, the Virgin Mary! --Rob

Making the M-O-S-T of LIFE!

2008-11-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

I was recently sent a nice e-mail, encouraging me in my "growth as a Leader" (sent by a fellow Shorecrest High grad, class of '91). This successful businessman (real estate) told me that "in order to climb the ladder of success, that we can't have our hands in our pockets!" (paraphrase)

How true this is!

Often life will send set-backs.

Mortgage foreclosures. Sickness. Job insecurity.

You name it and 2008 is a pretty awful year for the U.S.A.

But, however tempting it might be to blame Bush, blame Cheney (although I like blaming Cheney! :-), it is still the lot in life that we receive by Divine Providence, and as a "test of faith!"

Joseph, the early Hebrew patriarch was betrayed by his very own brothers (thrown in a well; sold into slavery in Egypt!).

Joseph could have cried "woa is me!" Joseph could have "kept his hands in his pockets . . ."

INSTEAD, however, Joseph just kept being faithful to God. God directed his path, and lo and behold, at the end of Joseph's life he became the second most-powerful political leader (next to Pharaoh!) in the Ancient World!!

So, when life throws us lemons, MAKE LEMONADE!

God will test us, but in the end, we shall be refined as silver or gold tested in the flames of Christ's holiness!

Blessings in Jesus' Name,
Rob J. King (What I am doing Academically, by the way . . . :-)http://it.spcollege.edu/course_info/inquiry.cfm?number=1162)

Defending the "Culture of Life . . ."

2008-11-10T07:11:00.001-08:00

AN OPEN-LETTER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT, BARACK OBAMA!

I just read today how you, Barack Obama, want to overturn 200 Executive Orders by George W. Bush! Included in these orders are National Security measures designed to protect the lives of the innocent--i.e. orders designed to limit abortion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_development); orders to keep babies from being harvested for their organs, etc.

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???

As a Father of two children, why would you support the old, old Democratic Party's position of the 1970's - 1990's that promotes "death-on-demand?" Why do some of your fellow Democrats enjoy killing the defenseless?

This is completely INSANE!

Even the pre-Christian grandfather of Western Medical Theory, Hippocrates, outlawed abortion as something that physicians simply should never do! Hippocratic Ethics means that the physician seeks to safeguard LIFE! Now, in 1973 - 2008 in the U.S., even the pre-Christian Greek Pagans were MUCH MORE ETHICAL than the majority of the U.S. that supported you, Barack Obama and your anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-LIFE policies!!

Why not 'fix the economy' rather than neutering men and spading women of their TRUE reproductive rights? Why not focus on ending bloodshed in the Middle East rather than promoting it in the wombs of American women and in the sinister petri-dishes of the "mad scientists" who wrongly insist that babies must be murdered (cattle style!) in order to produce the most succulent stem-cells? (i.e. stem-cells that can be equally obtained from umbilical cord blood!)

Why are you set on death? Death of the innocent, death of the defenseless?

Well, my friend, unless you repent, truly turn your life over to Jesus Christ in a REAL-church (not that excuse for a dying, pro-death denomination called the U.C.C.!), then you my dear friend, Mr. Obama will have the blood of millions of innocent children on your hands!

Sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Rob J. King, PRO-LIFE, NON-VIOLENT, SUPPORTER-OF-HUMANAE VITAE

Money, Stuff, the Apocalypse . . .

2008-10-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

Do you believe that the end of the world is upon us? Well, if your primary source of income is the Stock Market, then 2008 might very well be the Apocalypse!

Just imagine if you had been living off of the return on your investment, and suddenly that investment not only does not produce wealth, but now even the initial investment is rapidly vanishing before your/our collective eyes! Right . . . let's blame Bush, let's blame Cheney, let's blame former Federal Reserve Chair Greenspan.

But, in each case of the economy heading south, can we not blame ourselves?

How many times have we each desired to have tons of cash without actually putting in the sweat, time, resourcefulness, etc. to achieve the status that results in wealth?

Tiger Woods diligently practices his golf swing, and thus earns millions! Michael Jordan relentlessly pursued perfection in the intra-team and individual skill sets to make him the single most successful pro athlete in history! These men and women (e.g. Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice, former Provost at Stanford) deserve their income, status, etc.

But what of the rest of us?

We really do want something for nothing. I like receiving perks, accolades, and to be frank, well, just not putting in quite the effort necessary. But, and this I owe to my staunch Catholic upbringing, from the time I was five and starting kindergarten, I worked hard, and thus through such hard work was a three year starting offensive lineman for Davidson College, boasted G.P.A.'s of 3.6, 3.6, 3.9 and 3.7 at Davidson, Duke, Duke and Notre Dame resp.

Not to boast, and in all that I do, my only boasting is in Christ, but hard work does succeed in the end.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school varsity basketball team as a sophomore. I had to overcome the death of my own mother to cancer, yet in the end, the Grace of God as it empowered me, did, indeed lead to success!

So, perhaps, like chicken little, the Sky really is falling! But in the wake of such financial disaster (and like the Fall of Rome!) the end result could be beautiful. Like the book How the Irish Saved Civilization, perhaps the New Era is to be marked by societal decline for the lazy, the selfish, the corrupt, but societal regeneration for the Just.

Blessings in Christ! Rob J. King

Why the U.S.A. Will Now Collapse!

2008-10-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

The other day I received an invitation to participate in (possibly present a paper at!) an Academic Conference at Oxford.

Sadly, when I read the cost of attending ($2,940 + Air Fare), I was utterly amazed at how 'dirt-poor' the U.S.A. is becoming, at least when compared to the European Union!

I will diligently try to save my own, hard-earned dollars to actually attend this conference (e.g. with degrees from places like Davidson College and Duke University, this is where I should be . . . :-), but sadly, as an Instructor at a publicly-funded college in St. Petersburg, Florida (U.S.A.), the people who 'run the show' are pernicious in excluding the best & brightest (Yale, Duke, etc.) and politically "rewarding" each other for their own lack of academic achievement . . . So, Oxford University comes calling and sadly, the poor, run-down public school system (St. Petersburg College!) is left to wallow in its own misery! After all, as The St. Petersburg Times newspaper has been diligently reporting, when people with only bachelor's degrees (and from agricultural institutes no less!) are "rewarded" for their political loyalty (i.e. by the President of the College!) and paid $60,000+ for their mediocre academic level (and again, over institutions of higher learning such as Duke, Yale, Notre Dame, etc.!), then the end result is a disloyalty, distrust even of the entire publicly-funded higher educational system!

The St. Petersburg Times alerted the public to this malfeasance, but in the wake of a Trustee's audit of its own hiring practices, sadly, the damage is already done. I must now apply outside of my hometown, work every alumni connection that I know, and possibly simply take a job outside of Higher Education.

But, Oxford University is still there!

Notre Dame, Duke and Davidson are all top-tier colleges and universities (i.e. Top 20!), and thus, the WORLD FINANCIAL ELITE will now capitalize on the illegal, discriminatory hiring practices of St. Petersburg College and other institutions built on cronyism, insider status, etc.

So, if anyone wants to help "fund my way" to Oxford, please remit any checks or money orders as follows: Rob J. King, c/o Jesus the Messiah-Christ, 12 Apostolic Drive, New Heavens and New Earth, 219 7th Ave., N. Apt. 2, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. (the second part of the address is my real mailing address!)

Blessings & Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob

Economic Justice!

2008-10-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

While studying in the Ph.D. program at the University of Notre Dame, one of the seminars I was blessed to have taken was a course called "Christianity and the Living Wage." This course outlined the Catholic Church's recent social teaching on economic justice.

Yes, the Catholic Church is firmly Pro-Life. And yes, the "liberal" side of the Political Spectrum is not too fond of Catholic Teaching.

But, the Church is also the primary voice for true and lasting economic reform!

Secular thought usually drifts between socialism (Marxism even!) on the Left and unbridled laissez-faire capitalism on the Right!

But, the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ founded by the Apostles, teaches that both private property is to be affirmed, but also that workers (which are all of us!) deserve fair and just economic compensation for our labor!

In fact, John Ryan was an early 20th century reforming priest who helped the U.S. rise out of its quagmire of economic degradation through petitioning the government for a fair wage (minimum wage legislation), anti-child labor laws, and the 40 hour work week.

But, whether it is the corporate elite who siphon millions, even billions of dollars off of us, while we hard-working Americans struggle living "paycheck to paycheck," or whether it is the socialist governmental dynamics of local, state and federal bureaucracies that shield what little tax revenue that comes in for the hiring of their cronies, the Catholic Church offers an alternative!

So, fellow Catholics (and Protestants!) let us join together and hold Wall Street accountable for its financial malfeasance! Hold them, and not we the tax-paying public, responsible for the debt-machine called capitalism! Also, although laissez-faire capitalism is unethical, let us also hold the Political Left accountable! Welfare really does produce squalor, not urban redevelopment. Communism and Marxism really are idealistic in theory, yet pernicious in practice leading to human rights abuse after human rights abuse.

In the end, Jesus Christ will return, and His People will Reign! Wall Street will be a greased slide to hell itself. The federal government will be no more (replaced by Jesus' bodily REIGN on earth!). Finally, every tear will be wiped away, and no pain will exist. This final "City of God" (to quote St. Augustine) is what we as Christians live for, but as we await Christ Jesus' physical return, let us at least make sure that the billionaire boys club and the nanny-socialist state called the Democratic Party are held accountable to CHRISTIAN LAW!

Amen and amen! Come LORD JESUS, come.

Love in Jesus the Messiah-Christ, Rob

Fidelity, Abortion, and Why the West can now move ahead!

2008-10-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama is starting to get annoying! Here is a man who claims to be a Christian, yet his voting record on the abortion issue has been almost genocidal. That's right, abortion, the intentional killing of a baby in the mother's womb is a barbaric act that had been successfully outlawed in the Western world since Emperor Constantine all of the way through the twentieth century.

1600 years of Pro-Life legislation and judicial enforcement, ALL gone in the twentieth century. That vile era that produced nazi racist paranoia, anti-semitism, euthanasia of the "unfit" and the birth and proliferation of "mental illness" as a category (Carl Jung, noted psychological theorist was also a white, Aryan anti-semitic bigot who postulated that the "Aryan" psyche, whatever that is, was 'superior' to the Jewish!) is now drawing to a close.

So, now we have Barack Obama, supposedly a born-again Christian, and his running mate, Joe Biden, supposedly Catholic, supporting infant-killing!

And so, the Catholic Church, the true Church of Jesus Christ (i.e. that which is loyal to the Bible and the episcopacy established by Christ!) is picketing abortion clinics.

I myself stood bravely in front of one for 40 minutes one Wednesday afternoon. No, contrary to media stereotypes we do not "harass" people. We, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were simply peacefully protesting with signs, rosaries and a picket line!

So, Barack, since you will likely be the next President of the United States, get ready for the picket lines!

We will march, like the black community from which you are siphoning off cheap support, and engage in Civil rights for the unborn! Those who are the most defenseless, the children, have been brutalized by people like you Barack Obama! It will now end. The Catholic Church has declared it so. Bishop Lynch of St. Petersburg, FL is the "villain" who started the PROTEST against all murder! Pope Benedict XVI, friend of George W. Bush, is also the "culprit!"

So, when you see thousands upon thousands of Latino, Anglo, and oh yes, AFRICAN CATHOLICS and PROTESTANTS descend upon Washington, D.C., you will know what happened! You are "Bull Conner" (racist police-chief of the Civil Rights era . . .) and WE are Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

IN CHRIST, PAX CHRISTI, EX CORDE ECCLESIA, Rob J. King, Gandi-M.L. King promoter of a non-violent ethic in support of the defenseless babies murdered by mommies

The War Against Christians . . .

2008-09-29T13:12:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if there is a "secret-war" against Christianity. Take the movies for example. Murder, violence, homosexuality and anything that is gratuitous in sin is what the movies glorify. Yes, yes, there are good movies, but from the blockbuster Titanic which seeks to glorify the 'myth of romantic love' as more important than eternal salvation to the Dark Knight in which complex moral dilemmas allow the Batman character to become more and more "compromised" in his belief structure (only to be lauded!), we are seeing an all-out, subtle and sometimes overt attack on Judeo-Christianity!

Now, rather than homosexual practice being classified a crime (i.e. the crime of sodomy!), homosexuality, a moral vice, is seeking to impose its standards of elicit behavior on all of society!

Abortion, the murder of a newly conceived child, continues unabated.

War, rather than avoided, is increasingly utilized as Foreign Policy!

What ever happened to Jesus' Teaching? Doesn't forgiveness, rather than 'pre-emptive strike' signal the outburst that Christians should side with? BUT, no, the Evangelical Right sided with the Political Right, and like Nazi Germany, a state-enforced terrorist action called the War in Iraq is the result!

Yes, yes, people may say, "VOTE OBAMA!" BUT, in voting against one set of evils, a vote cast for Obama is WORSE! Killing babies is MUCH worse than the injustice of the War in Iraq!

And so, again, the Christian Right will likely side with McCain, Palin and the "New Political Right!" Luckily, for ALL U.S. citizens, a vote for McCain-Palin will not only be a vote for a Pro-Life Political Party, but also through McCain's historic voting record against use-of-torture, a vote for helping to clean up a military machine that is marked by deception, fraud, and cover-up.

VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE! VOTE JESUS the CHRIST!
Rob J. King (Democrat, FULLY-PRO-LIFE, and a sworn servant of YHWH, revealed ONLY through Jesus Christ the SON for Eternal Salvation!)

It's the End of the World as We Know it . . . (but I feel fine!)

2008-09-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

That old, old R.E.M. song, "It's the End of the World as We Know It" is as apropos today as any day!

Barack Obama, a first-term Senator, may be the next-President!

V.P. Candidate, a Pentecostal-turned Lutheran from Alaska, Sarah Palin might just rise from utter anonymity (& mothering several kids!) to become "2nd mommy in charge!"

So, when gas prices are as much as school lunches per gallon, when the Tampa Bay Rays might actually win the World Series, when Libya's President is cooing to the new American Leadership of African-American Sec. of State, Condoleeza Rice, and when the stock market needs to be "bought" at face-value ticket-price by the Federal Government in order to avoid the Next Great Depression, we know that life in 2008 A.D. is quite STRANGE . . .

BUT, as the old, old R.E.M. song goes, "but I feel fine!"

Give me that old, old timey Catholic ecclesiology complete with an authoritarian Pope who bans the heretics, unites with the Greek Orthodox and saves the day!

Give me that nice cold Icehouse beer and a Tampa Bay Rays game (yes, I am a "band-wagon" baseball fan and PROUD of it! I even now own a corporate-sponsored Rays baseball cap! ;-)

Give me Christ and nothing but Christ!

Who know, 400 years from now, Tampa Bay may be the next New York City?!

Blessings in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King, Trinitarian, Catholic, Evangelical and awaiting Christ's bodily Return to Earth!

Stealing

2008-09-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

Today I am a victim of crime!

Unlike "accidental" incidents that might seem like stealing (e.g. someone in the office uses your coffee mug!), I was recently the victim of REAL CRIME!

On 9-18, 7 days after Patriot Day, I woke up, left for teaching (Tarpon Springs/Clearwater campuses of St. Petersburg College) and noticed that someone had actually stolen the celtic cross that sits near my front porch!

How could anyone steal a cross of Christ?

Well, short of feeling a little bit like the Bishop in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (the one who had valuable silver utensils, etc. stolen from him!), I was quite unnerved!

Was this a "hate-crime?"

Was I being "targeted" just for being a Christian?! Will the cross turn up in some dumpster after a satanic ceremony had been performed on it? (the Tampa Bay Times, a free local newspaper had recently reported a series of animal cruelty cases in which dead cats were found, decapitated heads only, in front of newspaper stands!). After all, I even know of one incident in S. Korea in which a satanic cult had been broken up. The perpetrators? Practicing satanists in the U.S. Army! (their battalion commander, a staunch Catholic, had made sure that religious-hate acts would not exist under her reign!)

OR, was this just a petty crime?

Did someone really just want the cross to decorate his/her yard with?

(the price of the actual cross was only $10 or so and bought near the Lawn care section of a St. Petersburg, FL-area Lowe's Home Improvement store--in 2007! I guess the stealing of a cross is something that a fellow U.S. citizen could somehow "justify" to himself/herself, perhaps as a symbolic act, a hate-crime maybe? More than likely, just someone who likes to steal for the pleasure of doing something wrong! St. Augustine, prior to his conversion, apparently delighted in simply stealing fruit!)

Well, whether it was a satanic hate crime, a local drunk bar-hopper returning from a Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox game, or just someone who likes to steal, I am still QUITE unsettled!

First the cross stolen, and then what should I expect next? Hate crimes are anonymous, and yes, I have been a victim before (e.g. receiving racially-motivated graffiti in college on my dorm room marker wipe-board due to my strong racially-progressive and affirmative action viewpoints!).

CHRIST-FOR-ALL! Rob J. King (victim of Christian discrimination or just a Red Sox fan annoyed that the Tampa Bay Rays are in first place? By the way, if you read this, please return the cross and it will likely reduce your time in purgatory! I just prayed a Hail Mary for your eternal salvation . . . :-)

Barack, BIG OIL and newborn life!

2008-09-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

I am really at a loss as how to explain, much less vote, in this Presidential Election. One the one hand, Barack Obama has impressed me with his poise, his intelligence, his generally good read of the economy, etc. BUT, through supporting Roe v. Wade any Christian should not vote for him! Since 1973, when Roe v. Wade overturned state law after state law barring abortions (judicial usurpation of democratic process as noted by Fr. Richard Neuhaus and others!), over 1 million children per year (40 million plus!) have been brutally and grotesquely murdered by their mommies.

Then in steps Presidential candidate John McCain, an "old, old timer" who has been a staunch advocate against military abuse (i.e. opposition to various torture bills!), is not in support of abortion, and sensing how far the Evangelical and Catholic Right had drifted from supporting the Giuliani-G.O.P., selected a staunch "family values" candidate in the Pro-Life governor from Alaska Sarah Palin.

But, an easy vote for the G.O.P. I am still reticent about . . .

The same Sarah Palin who rightly opposes child-murder (e.g. abortion!) is also the same Governor Palin who abused her position as an elected official to settle a family score in trying to get her ex-brother-in-law (a state trooper in Alaska!) fired due to a messy divorce proceedings! Should we not call her "Governor Stalin?" Sarah Stalin the new voice of women's liberation.

Okay, here the concerned Catholic (and Islamic, Jewish and Protestant) voter is left in a moral quandary.

A vote for Obama is a vote for killing babies.

A vote for McCain-Palin is a vote for dictatorial abuse of power.

In my camp lie the religious voter, the secularist who can actually think (i.e. a baby has unique D.N.A. at the moment of conception, brain waves and a heart beat, limbs, etc. in the FIRST TRIMESTER!) and it seems any and all who really care about people, rather than just cheap votes.

So, although a minority voice, once again, my support can be found neither among the Democrats nor the Republicans.

Alan Keyes, a staunch Pro-Life advocate, an African American Leader with a Ph.D. from Harvard and a moral exemplar is who will receive my vote.

Am I wasting a vote?

Well, only time will tell!

VOTE PRO-LIFE.

Love in Jesus the Christ,
Rob J. King

Artificial Reality, the 'Net and David Wilmington! :-)

2008-09-10T10:48:00.001-07:00

The other day I received one of those Facebook application e-mails that "compares and contrasts" my different friends. The category was, of all things, who was the "most influential!"

Some names, such as Howard Dean, Chair of the Democratic National Party made sense! (Actually, he was considered the "most influential" of my "Facebook friends," many of whom are medical doctors, Duke University Professors, et al.).

BUT, the second most influential person was that ALL-time famous independent movie producer (and soccer coach, dad, Ph.D. student at Baylor University!), David Wilmington!

The Pope (also a Facebook friend!) apparently is not quite the "Mover & Shaker" that David Wilmington is (e.g. David, as an independent film producer, is on the Google search and thus MUST BE more influential than the POPE! ;-).

Well, as much as David Wilmington is a lifelong friend (M.T.S. from Duke; Ph.D. student in Theology at Baylor University!), due to the dynamics of Internet "search engines," etc. the "artificial reality" as created by the mass media is exactly THAT--namely, ARTIFICIAL!

BUT, and here is both the potentially interesting and also somewhat frustrating point, due to the ever-pervasive "star-producing" quality of the mass media, LEADERS can literally be FORMED OVER NIGHT (e.g. Sarah Palin, a soccer mom turned Alaska Governor turned V.P. Candidate ALL-IN-LESS-THAN 3 years!).

So, whether it is first-term Senator Barack Obama becoming "Mr. President" (or V.P. "Barracuda Palin" the point guard with a B.A. in Journalism . . .), 2008 A.D. is now the era of "mass production of fame . . . "

So, Mr. Wilmington, now that you are LITERALLY more influential than the POPE (Benedict XVI is losing his touch! :-) will you now become the next Shakespeare?!

FAME, Artificial Reality! :-)

Love in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King (Roman Catholic and still a Vatican-loyal CATHOLIC! :-)

Christian Warfare

2008-08-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

--Ephesians 6:10 - 15 N.I.V.

Many "trials & tribulations" beset the true follower of Christ!

Whether it was Karl Barth, the Swiss-German Protestant (Calvinist) Theologian who resisted Hitler or whether it was the Methodist-trained Nelson Mandela, the first democratically-elected President of S. Africa, when one follows Christ, one will be persecuted, exiled, killed even for the Faith of Christ!

Take for example the recent round of high-profile "trials" in which Christians were (thanks be to God!) vindicated! First, the wife of TV Evangelist Joel Olsteen had been dragged into court on false charges of assault. A stewardess who had been aboard the flight that the Olsteens were travelling on had attempted to "con" Ms. Olsteen out of several hundred thousand dollars due to "emotional distress" because she had claimed that Ms. Olsteen attacked her while on flight.

The verdict?

A unanimous jury decision was on behalf of the TV Evangelist-Olsteen family . . .

Similarly, in a rancorous Tampa Bay-area divorce trial, a trial in which the former Mrs. Hulk Hogan sought to imprison him on "contempt of court" charges for not buying a several million dollar condo in Las Vegas (the Hulkster claimed it was a bad business decision and had that court order amended!), the quietly Christian Hulk Hogan was relieved of any penalty and the couple split all assets more or less "50/50." At the end of The St. Petersburg Times article (p. A2, August 15, 2008), the reporter briefly mentioned how the Hulkster prays nightly with his family, and how the tattoo on his wrist is to help him remember that "The Spirit of Christ is in him." (paraphrase)

So, whether it was Karl Barth resisting the Nazis or the Hulkster resisting his money-hungry former wife the truth is that JUSTICE is done!

The Nazis were (eventually . . .) conquered and tried for War Crimes.

The Hulkster can now live in peace.

The Olsteen family can now return to ministering for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Remember, however, FELLOW CHRISTIAN, the struggle against evil is not just physical (legal), but is always conducted in the heavenly realms . . .

ALL THE BEST IN CHRIST,
Rob J. King

Do Plants 'Hate' Each Other . . .

2008-08-08T06:50:00.000-07:00

In Michel Foucault's The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, the French philosophical genius describes the "birth" of modern scientific disciplines such as botany, biology, etc.

In perhaps the most humorous part of the book (I am about half-way through it), Foucault describes the pre-modern view of botany in which plants were thought to have almost human and/or animal-like dispositions. Although a modern botanist would explain how certain plants do not grow well next to each other due to chemical conditions of the soil, differences in root structure, etc., due to a view of similitude in which all aspects of nature were somehow intertwined, the pre-modern mind would think of plants as actually "hating" each other in the way that human neighbors may have disagreements or in the way that different animals might get into territorial squabbles (e.g. local stray cats fighting each other). Quoting the 1656 work De la subtilite by J. Cardan, Foucault describes this non-sensical scene thusly, "It is fairly widely known that the plants have hatreds between themselves . . . it is said that the olive and the vine hate the cabbage; the cucumber flies from the olive . . ." (p. 24).

What nonsense so it seems to the 'modern era.'

But is this the case?

Plants are indeed living creatures, granted lacking rationality, but in spite of a lack of cognition plants do respond better to conditions that are not simply reducible to chemicals. Granted, plants may lack the anthropomorphicized "emotional" qualities that we humans often ascribe to dogs, cats, etc., but nonetheless as the Jewish teaching on soil conservation shows (e.g. allowing fields to lie fallow in order to "rest"), perhaps the living aspect of creation (i.e. plants, animals, humans, microorganisms) are not simply the network of electro-magnetic energy, chemical interdependencies, etc. Perhaps creation is just that, the living, breathing (plants aspirate!) handiwork of God Himself!

Okay, so do plants "hate" each other? Well this question would be difficult to gauge. Plants do not speak. Thus, like the amoeba all that we can do is to live according to "stimulus-response." Thus, if your flowers seem to "perk up" in direct sunlight, then let them grow there! If they seem to wither in direct sunlight then place your potted plants in a cooler, less sunny place.

In care of God's Green Earth in Christ, Rob

Why the U.S. is in such economic upheaval . . .

2008-07-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

In the former country of Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) the ruling elite (white Europeans) had been brutal in their economic exploitation of the indigenous African people. Once Zimbabwe was liberated, however, the draconian dictator Robert Mugabe espousing Marxism (Mugabe is a lapsed Catholic) then, in "good Stalinist-style," sought to reallocate land away from white Europeans and to the African ruling elite of his country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe).

So how does this apply to the United States of America?

Well, like the colonized nations of Africa and Latin America, like it or not, the U.S.A. has been built up first on the backs of black African slaves, then on the hard-fought sweat labor of Poles, Irish, Mexican and other ethnic Catholic enclaves, and now finally, on the sweaty brow of the white European-descended middle class.

Our C.E.O.'s enslave us, and rather than unifying around the name of Jesus Christ (i.e. the first economic reform movement leading to minimum wage law, anti-child labor law, etc.) now the only options left are meek compliance with the Oil Barons, the C.E.O.'s and the Bankers OR to elect Barack Obama.

Barack Obama, an eloquent orator, Harvard-Law trained, and the son of a Kenyan father and American mother could very well become the next President of the United States of America!

Sadly, due to racist, jingoist rhetoric on the right, whether the new President is named Obama or named McCain, the sad state of the U.S.A. will be an increasingly divided Nation State--divided racially, divided ethnically, divided financially!

Thanks Mitt Romney and fellow racists in the G.O.P.!

Your earlier anti-Hispanic paranoia has led to the impoverishment of the Nation!

As Jesus Christ Himself once said, "a house divided will not stand!"

And so, in seeking an alternative to being further enslaved by Republicans catering to BIG BUSINESS, we will now welcome in an untested president (Barack Obama), a man who had to accept abortion-on-demand and homosexual marriage to get himself elected, and now, sad to see, also a DIVIDED NATION!

But, like St. Augustine wrote in his City of God concerning the collapse of Rome, so also must the true blood-bought believer in Jesus Christ not despair!

Yes, yes, the U.S.A. will be 'dirt poor' for a while, barely able to afford food, gas and electricity, but as St. Augustine wrote concerning our true citizenship, our home and thus our ONLY true political allegiance is in Heaven with Jesus Christ!

A DIVIDED NATION, A UNIFIED HEAVEN

IN JESUS CHRIST'S NAME, Rob J. King

The Matrix

2008-07-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

One of my all-time favorite movie series are the Matrix movies. In the Matrix trilogy, in addition to the standard 'critique of technological sophistication at expense of human personhood,' are also some quite adroit Christian Trinitarian Theological Themes . . .

The main character (played by Keanu Reaves) is this Messiah name Neo whose love relationship with Trinity is a corporeal, flesh-&-blood, and passionate love between the two characters. Yes, yes, the passion borders on an eroticism that is not in keeping with Christian understanding of the filial love between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, yet as I would watch these movies, I could not help but reflect upon St. Augustine's view that the Holy Spirit was somehow, mysteriously, the love between God the Father and God the Son.

Again, filial love is quite different from what the movie portrays, but nonetheless, as Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical showed (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html), it is the LOVE of God that is at the heart of Christian witness, life and discipleship!

Perhaps this is why "love" is so easily misinterpreted in this world.

On one side are those who have exchanged love for the Creator for love of the creature, and as St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans (chp. 1), either male-on-male homosexuality OR female-on-female lesbian homosexuality is the end-result.

Similarly, on the 'far right' socially and religiously are those groups that wish to constrain ALL signs of affection.

No, love is not to be misdirected to "self." No, love is not to even be directed to 'things' such as art, sculptured bodies, music, etc. Each of these "loves" directed toward the creature instead of the Creator result in distorted sexual patternings.

But, in confronting libertinism on one side (i.e. homosexuality as the result of loving the creature), so also is it a mistake to forgo love at all!

In some cultures (e.g. Italian, Romanian, etc.) such love is well-pronounced as a "kiss" on the cheek is the norm, and a hand-shake, well, is rather cold! I was friends with one such European, a Romanian Orthodox priest who would literally "bear hug" me each time we would meet! Nothing other than fraternal love as brothers-in-Christ Jesus!

So, maybe the Matrix is on to something! Maybe, rather than the cold, lifeless love that often is felt in many churches, something passionate is needed to re-invigorate our faith! After all, it is the LOVE that God has for us that transcends ALL!

Love in Jesus Christ!
Rob J. King

Being the Body of Jesus Christ

2008-07-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I spent my morning getting ready for church. This might not sound very abnormal, but in our increasingly secular U.S. society, this truly is.

Christians, that is TRUE Christians, are a minority in the U.S.A. now! A recent Pew Foundation poll had listed that although 75% or so of Americans claim to be Christian, when 'push comes to shove,' only about 25% of Americans actually believe that Jesus is the only source of salvation!

Whether it is the Catholic Church's internal apostasy (i.e. priests and academics who no longer believe the Historic Faith as found in Acts of the Apostles 4:12) or whether it is Southern Baptist Military Chaplains who trade prayer in Jesus' Name for comfy "rank & privilege" to include health insurance and retirement pay, the folks who actually believe that Jesus Christ is the ONLY source of salvation are about 25% or so of Americans!

In the future, however, I wonder if TRUE APOSTOLIC-CATHOLIC Christianity will not flourish! Yes, yes, many deny the name Christ (Jesus said if you deny me before men, so I will deny you before the Father!). Yes, many will seek to "pressure" you through intimidation, demotion even, BUT, in spite of such bullying tactics, TRUTH prevails!

I have seen a student, a Methodist believer, intimidated into a corner by another apostate student, BUT what I was able to do in a secular university setting was simply affirm the Religious Freedom principle of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment! The state is not to impose a religion, including the denial of Christian identity, upon we the people! If one believes that JESUS is the ONLY source of salvation then one should not be bullied into believing otherwise! Likewise one should not be bullied into a 'personalistic' view either--i.e. "Jesus is savior for me."

No, Jesus is SAVIOR for ALL PEOPLE!

Now, whether it was Billy Graham or Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit to the U.S.A., the universal Lordship of Christ Jesus is not to be denied!

KURIOSIESUSCHRISTOS = "Jesus Christ is LORD" in Greek! Martyrs of the Christian Faith have died for this claim! Whether it was Polycarp who dared to say that Jesus Christ is GOD and NOT Caesar or whether it is our brave Evangelical and Catholic Chaplains who will not deny Christ Jesus' Name before men (e.g. former navy Chaplain Gorden Klingenschmidt), one's salvation is at stake concerning whose Name one is willing to live and die for!

For Pope Benedict XVI this meant opposing Hitler during WW II by literally leaving the German army!

For Casey Bernall this meant admitting her Christian allegiance when a gun was placed in her face by fellow students involved in occultic activities--i.e. the Columbine Christian martyr.

As Tertullian (Early Church Father . . .) once wrote, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

This was true in the first three centuries of Christianity and is still true today!

PEACE IN CHRIST JESUS! Rob J. King

The Politics of God

2008-07-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

Just for 'fun' I actually asked the Pope to be my Facebook "friend." After all, I am a staunch Opus Dei-supporting Catholic who believes (Acts 4:12) that ONLY in Jesus Christ are people saved.

I also believe that abortion is murder, that homosexual activity is a sinful sign of a distorted 'creature-worship.' Finally, I do believe that institutionally, although flawed in its historical fidelity, the Catholic Church nonetheless represents the true version of the Gospel. Yes there were the Crusades. Yes, there was the Spanish Inquisition. But, nonetheless the Catholic Church represents what is UNIVERSAL among Christian belief and practice (e.g. even Pentecostalism is an expression of Catholic theological self-identity!).

Well, in being On-Line Friends with the Vicar of Christ here on earth (i.e. Benedict XVI!), I was pleasantly surprised to see the Pope's own unique sense of humor. Although I have a somewhat awkward designation of my political affiliation of 'liberal/moderate economic, yet PRO-LIFE view,' the Pope just simply wrote, "God!"

Huh?

God

Well, I guess that makes sense!

God is the politics of the Pope . . .

Well, what do the politics of God look like? Yes, they would include the fullness of Catholic teaching, to include Catholic prohibition of artificial insemination, opposition to secularism, etc. BUT, the fullness of Catholic teaching also includes safeguarding the poor, the worker, the disadvantaged economically!

Huh?

Well, I guess I will VOTE GOD!

For a new, radical introduction to Jesus Christ, please see me, our supreme Pontiff, oh yeah, and the Dean of Duke University's DIVINITY SCHOOL!!!

PEACEINJESUSCHRIST<><ROBJKINGhttp://it.spcollege.edu/course_info/inquiry.cfm?number=1162

Demons, Angels and Atheists . . . ;-)

2008-07-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

I read the pre-Da Vinci Code book (or rather skimmed) called Angels and Demons by novelist Dan Brown.

You know the story, the so-called Illuminati against the Catholic Church, yada yada yada . . .

Well, how does one evaluate such fancy?

Are these 'myths?' Is any of it factual?

Is there really a cosmic struggle of "good versus evil?" (George W. Bush seems to think so! :-)

What about the Pope? What are his thoughts on such "conspiracy theories?"

Oh yeah, while we're at it, is Barack Obama a secret-closet Muslim who's linked to Al-Quaida???

Okay, well, we all know that Barack is a liberal evangelical Protestant (i.e. Barack believes in "gay rights" and "abortion," but somehow claims to have also "given his life to Christ").

We also know that groups such as the Freemasons have been secretly controlling things for years! George Washington was a Freemason even (i.e. he even would slip out from Holy Communion before the bread and wine were served at the Episcopal church he "attended" . . .).

So, are we to buy into the standard media line!?

Does the Catholic Church represent all that's bad?

Well, apparently so. After all, so-called 'objective secular history' has deemed the Catholic Era in European History as the "Dark Ages" before the advent of capitalism and the so-called renaissance, humanism, etc. Even world religions textbooks show their anti-Catholic bite as all things Catholic are ridiculed! Gay rights, abortion, inclusivism (i.e. Jesus as one way among many) are all celebrated, yet TRUE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT IS ATTACKED AT ALL COSTS!

Well, friends, this is all about to change!

The new western world will look increasingly like the supposedly "Dark Ages." Secular university standards will continue to cheapen. Gas will continue to grow more outside of the middle class's affordability (guess we'll all be riding buses thanks to George W. and Dickie Cheney!), but in the midst of the cultural disintegration initiated by George W. Bush and cronies (i.e. his opposition to Judeo-Christianity!), the "future will be Catholic transnationalism . . ."

No longer will the evil powers of the world control the world's money supply!

We will have U.S. ingenuity out-witting the "capitalists" in Europe who enslave us, Africa and Latin America!

We will have REVIVALISTS! http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaithMatters/story?id=5338963&page=1

We will have a new Christian West!

FOR JESUS CHRIST, FOR AMERICA!
Rob J. King

G-8

2008-07-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

The financial power to create long-term sustainable agriculture and long-term sustainable transportation is at the finger-tips of the G-8 (meeting next week in Hokkaido, Japan http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/07/g-8-faces-setbacks-to-un-development-goals/).

But, will short-term 'cheap profits' of the Big Oil Barons squelch our political voice?

Folks, this is neither a 'liberal,' nor a 'conservative' issue.

This is a common sense issue!

We spend too much money feeding the meat producing farms which require far too much investment of time, effort and grain to produce those scrumptious Outback steaks that fill our first-world bellies!

We spend too much money on oil to fuel our gas-guzzling SUV-fixation.

We spend too much money on gasoline through not car-pooling!

And so, what is the state government's solution?

Off-shore drilling!!! When I can no longer even swim in my beloved Tampa Bay (Florida) due to recent storm water run-off polluting the environment, what does the fickle Gov. Charlie now do?

Well, he advocates off-shore drilling!

Come now, Charlie!

You are from the 'Burg, as I am (St. Petersburg, FL; Shorecrest Prep Class of 1990).

You know full well that an oil spill would pollute our precious waters.

As a resident of the 'Burg (you are a member of First U.M.C. in St. Petersburg, which is right across the street from the homeless refuge called Williams Park!) you know full well how inadequate the State's mass transit system is!

Unlike Chicago where one does not even need a car, Tampa, Orlando, and the rest of the state are largely inaccessible without a mass transit system!

Yet, what do you do?

You advocate the archaic 1960's McCain era oil exploration model.

Well, as a concerned citizen of Florida, I think you should be impeached! (If only our sea creatures such as the dolphins and manatees could vote! :-)

All the very best,
Rob J. King
(St. Petersburg College Instructor of World Religions and Applied Ethics)

Pregnant 'men,' Gay Studies and the Curious Future . . .

2008-07-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

I was first introduced to 'Gender Studies' while studying for the M.Div. at Duke.

Yes, it was Duke University, ever the bastion of Pro-Catholic, Evangelical and 'Post-Liberal' (Lindbeck) Christian Theology that also, curiously enough, had a homosexual Christian Education Professor!

Of course, this fact was not known by me at the time, and so this homosexual professor (who is no longer employed by the Divinity School . . .) proceeded to leave his wife, 'seek other options,' and now has left quite a mess of a family-life!

BUT, secularism does not even want the 'question' mark to be levied at homosexuality! Homosexual as morally acceptable citizen is all that the U.S. will now tolerate! You can speak your mind, but the second you protest a gay pride event with a sign that is deemed to be too large you find yourself sitting in front of a judge! Yes, yes, homosexual practice can now be flaunted openly, 'gay marriage' celebrated, but once any cry of public dissent is given the cops are called!

Sadly, more than anything, such a 'condition' (i.e. the "cultural malaise") is a symptom of something larger. St. Paul in Romans 2:1 does say not to judge the homosexual, but in not judging this is not to blindly accept a practice that is out of harmony with Natural Law family planning! Thus, to have a so-called 'pregnant man' (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4581943&page=1) is a symptom of the times . . .

Yes, this supposed 'pregnant man' is indeed PREGNANT, but as far as being a 'male,' well, this is a fiction! Have a gender-change operation and it is just that, a medical operation, no more no less! To actually become a 'woman' if born a man or a 'man' if born a woman is, to be frank, a miraculous possibility, but short of the Buddha having been actually fathered by a white elephant inseminating his mother such miracles simply do not happen! Religious myths aside, the true question to levy at the homosexual community is simply 'what biological data do you utilize to support your new gender politics?' A 'man' who is in fact a woman (sex change operation already duly noted!) is still biologically female . . . If the Gay Community does not accept this biological FACT, then I challenge these transgendered individuals to actually undergo DNA testing!

No, a DNA of a 'man' who is in fact a woman really will be the XX chromosome still!

Yes, a DNA of a woman who has had a sex-change will, again, still be an XX chromosome.

There you have it! Gender politics may be the stuff of Duke University professors who leave their wives, but when compared to the microscopic analysis of real-life biological data, a man is a man, a woman is a woman and it takes an actual sperm and an actual egg (NOT two eggs . . . :-) to produce a baby.

BIOLOGICAL FACT = heterosexuality is normative.

BIOLOGICAL FICTION = the Gay Rights agenda!

Blessings in Jesus Christ, XY Chromosome-holder for Christ Rob J. King

K-cars, gasoline, SUV's and Indentured Servitude . . .

2008-07-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

I recently watched a U-Tube video (sent to me by the ministry of Bernice King) which predicted (in 2007) how we would be paying $4 - $5 per gallon for gasoline in California.

This 'prediction' was given from someone who worked with the oil barons in Alaska and was given credence recently by, you guessed it, $4 - $5 per gallon gas prices!

Ahh, if only 'common-sense' can be returned to the U.S.

My father, a career military serviceman, in the wake of the 1970's O.P.E.C. oil crisis, and ever the pragmatic military man, decided (wisely . . .) to buy a Plymouth "K-Car" when purchasing a new car in the 1980's. My father saw, perhaps more than most, that if a 'structure' had systemic problems, then one must 'handle it yourself' many times! The end-result was a highly fuel-efficient Plymouth sedan! :-)

Well, as inspired by my father I also seek pragmatic, non-judgmental decisions.

Do I vote for Barack Obama?

Well, the true question has little to do with Party affiliation (I often vote for both Democrats and Republicans), but more his stand on key issues.

Here, this election is tricky . . .

Do I support a candidate who supports abortion-on-demand?

Well, no, this is unethical.

Do I support a candidate who is pro-life, a sensible man, yet does not seem to be an adequate military leader? McCain, although a former P.O.W., nonetheless seems to be a bit too confident in U.S. military power to resolve complex world geo-political realities! Bomb Iran? Well, that may be the only way to keep them from building a nuclear bomb . . .

But, if war is declared on Iran, is such 'preemptive strike' a Just-War?

Well, obviously St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas say NO!

Jus ad bellum is the Just-War principle in which one attacks ONLY if attacked first.

IF, and only if, we enter into yet a third Middle Eastern military conflict will we then become even more cash-strapped as a Nation State?

Well, yes, of course.

BUT, in safe-guarding National Defense are we doing so only because we are addicted to foreign oil supplies? We already live uncontrollably beyond our means, factory-producing gas-guzzling cars, addicted to electric usage, and in short the most consuming nation in the world!

And so, many will likely vote for Barack, sadly, inadvertently supporting the mass killing of babies-in-utero in the process . . .

Maybe we could just vote for one of them and then make sure that they just don't hurt themselves or the rest of us! :-)

Blessings in Christ, Rob (Waiting for a New, Better HOPE in '12 . . . McCain and Obama are not much of a choice! ;-)

Opiate of the Masses . . .

2008-06-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

Karl Marx once termed religion 'the opiate of the masses . . .' Basically, the Marxist argument is that religion is nothing more than a way of placating the population into a herd-like mentality of acceptance of the capitalistic abuses set against them.

What is striking, however, is that wherever the true Christian Gospel is preached (e.g. Pentecostalism, Catholic ministry faithful to the Magisterium, Southern Baptist missions, etc.) the quite opposite normally happens!

Poor people when equipped with the Gospel message of salvation do not normally stay 'poor' for very long!

'White trailer trash' end up as Pentecostal clergy who are suddenly, like Pastor Rod Parsley (a Ohio preacher . . .), playing golf with the nation's elite.

Or take even ole Barack Obama.

Obama lost his mom, was never able to meet his father, raised by his grandparents, and through even a quite dead white Protestant denomination (U.C.C.) nonetheless was exposed to enough of the Gospel in order to give his life to Jesus Christ!

There you have it. The poor, the uneducated, the fatherless, the disenfranchised, et al will now through the power of Christ be in control of all key societal structures to include the Federal Government, local and state government and even the world financial grid!

Yep, Christians when exploited, pressed down, etc. through Christ are elevated to rule as kings and princes! Martin Luther King, Jr. is one such example. Will you now be the next?

All the very best in Christ, R. J. King

Animals, Messiahs and other sundry topics . . .

2008-06-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

The idea that human beings are in need of salvation is something that, in the Post-Modern Euro-West, seems to be anathema.

Whether one is speaking to the French secularist, the German secularist or the American Floridian "beach-bum," salvation itself just seems to be so 'exclusive.' Why can't all people just get into heaven? Truly homosexuals, abortion doctors and the like are 'just like everyone else,' right?

Well, as much as we are not to judge (Romans 2:1), there is nonetheless, a normative Judeo-Christian Ethic.

If a species of animals 'mates' through same gender sex, then, in addition to being completely irrational (i.e. contrary to the Natural Law . . .), these species would soon grow extinct! Homosexuality does not make 'sense' simply on DARWINIST grounds of species selection and promulgation (i.e. the survival of the planet is based upon heterosexual animals, to include the dolphin, the manatee, and yes, even the Florida yard lizard . . .).

But in the increasingly irrational United States of America and as led by 'liberals' who are not truly liberal, just wanting cheap political pay-offs from the homosexual community and its supporters, the Democrats stand for the morally incoherent view that male on male or female on female sexual coupling should not only be celebrated, but somehow declared law in the U.S.

We are truly falling apart as a society . . .

But what about the so-called 'good liberal . . .?' You know, the standard non-homosexual rights-supporting, PRO-WORKING CLASS, PRO-RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Democrat? Well aside from Bernice King (daughter of M.L. King, Jr.), the liberal cause (just like the conservative cause . . .) has been hi-jacked!

Let's protect the animals! Let's reform our poultry industry so that chickens are not pumped full of artificial hormones. Let's also insure their species survival by making heterosexual sex part of the Natural Law again! Not like heterosexuality ever went anywhere, but due to recent political maneuvering, the gay-lesbian-bi-sexual alliance has tried to shove homosexual deviance on the rest of America!

What about Religion?

Well, religion is not a general topic. No, as Karl Barth, Swiss German-speaking Theologian who actively resisted Hitler relentlessly chided German Protestant Liberalism for embodying, "Religion" is NEVER a general topic! No, RELIGION is ONLY the Religion of JESUS CHRIST who is LORD and Savior of ALL humanity.

One must accept Jesus Christ as LORD and SAVIOR and profess Him with your lips, believe in His Resurrection and be incorporated into Jesus Christ (Body & Blood) in order to be saved!

But the topic of exclusive salvation in Jesus Christ just seems so 'old-fashioned . . .'

Not anymore. Now it is CHRISTIANS who represent the minority in the U.S.A.

We Christians are a minority group and as such must FIGHT non-violently and politically to insure that our Christian Rights are not trampled.

Sadly, in ditching each of their respective clergy members, BOTH Barack Obama AND John McCain have shown their true disdain for Christianity's normative claims on their lives. Whatever gets them elected is what they each stand for!

So, if you want oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico, VOTE McCAIN.

So, if you want homosexual marriage, then VOTE BARACK.

If you want Christ to Rule, well, I guess just watch TV and not worry about it. They'll both be gone (hopefully!) in the 2012 election. Maybe a Christian (a true Christian . . .) can be elected at that time.

Blessings and Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King (concerned American, but JESUS-supporter . . .)

BayWalk, Sembler, and other failed laissez-faire financial investments . . .

2008-06-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

I just read the other day where my favorite movie complex, BayWalk in downtown St. Petersburg, is actually looking for a 'buyer' due to the foot traffic of downtown St. Petersburg conveniently bypassing this colossal real estate investment by Sembler.

How can this be?

I thought that 'free-market economic principles' were the supposed panacea for all problems in the U.S.?

Well, Toto, we're not in Kansas!!! :-)

It turns out that Pinellas County residents VOTE WITH THEIR FEET!

If Sembler and other supporters of the failed laissez-faire system perpetuated by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, et al cannot 'turn a profit' on their own investments (without siphoning off of public support!) then why do they think that such bad fiscal policy will somehow fix 'our problems?'

BayWalk charges too much for food, and so we end up eating at Chipotle Mexican!

BayWalk charges too much for clothing, and so we end up going to Old Navy.

Sorry, but when left to the free-market, your laissez-faire economic ideology produces smog-filled suburbs, gas-guzzling SUV's, $4 - $5 per gallon gas prices and inner cities that are becoming intoxicated war-zones complete with drugs, gangs, and even the homeless left to camp out in the normally beautiful public parks.

So if you want your children to side-step the unemployed wino as you vault over broken bottles and as the only movie theater in the downtown area prepares to go under, then VOTE REPUBLICAN!

BUT, if like Pinellas County Commissioner Welch (who works with Faith-Based Groups and tries to safe-guard the urban landscape . . .) you wish to make America beautiful again, then I guess Obama is the FUTURE!

(now, if only we could convince that murdering babies, and homosexual unions are not good moral responsibility, then we'd have a perfect world ushered in through the next election!)

Love in Jesus' Name, Rob J. King CHRIST-CENTERED Democrat

Zeitgeist, German Imperialism . . .

2008-06-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Foucault, the Greatest French Intellectual of the 20th century valiantly fought off several of the worst abusers within modernity. 'Mental illness' as a classificatory scheme propped up by the Prison System. Medicine as a medically verifiable course of study in which the 'disease' suddenly over-rode the patient in terms of importance. Finally, prison itself in which sheer bureaucracy could imprison someone indefinitely, all behind the facade of anonymity.

Well, the Year is 2008 A.D. and although the enemies of the Cross of Jesus wish to adopt 'normative-sounding' prose, the true test of truth will be held within the battlefield of the mind!

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba it turns out really is inside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Constitution, and much to the chagrin of George W. Bush, ever the American King wishing to override the laws of the land! No, by a margin of 5 - 4, the U.S. Supreme Court said that even our enemies are deserving of due process under U.S. Law!

But what of 'mental illness?' The sad fact is that 'mental illness' is an artificial construction whereby those holding the keys to a police state can label anyone with whom they disagree as being 'crazy' or 'delusional' and that seems to be the end of the story! The Soviet Union did so to political dissenters, as does Communist China. In fact, I even know a professor who disagreed with the former Pope, John Paul II, and rather than admit his own less than holy life (pretty arrogant chap!) instead just said, "The Pope's crazy!" Well, friends, 'crazy' is not a theological or epistemological category.

Indeed, when Jesus Christ was ministering, even his own family had claimed that Jesus had "gone out of his mind!"

Huh?

Yep, that's right, whether the enemies of the cross are errant faculty, communists, or simply shrinks, the pull towards dictatorship is as common to human history as eating, drinking and sleeping.

The term "zeitgeist" is a German word meaning "spirit of the times" and is an apt word to utilize when describing the post 2001 shift in U.S. self-identity! No longer are Americans concerned with due process under law. No, now in the wake of 9/11, we are living in a "clean-up" operation! We must now re-gain the very liberties that BOTH Democrats and Republicans have done away with! Whether it is warrant-less wire-taps or refusing to acknowledge our dependence on foreign oil, we Americans will now rebuild.

Sorry about that one . . .

Maybe we can learn from the Post WW II German people! In Germany, the horrors of the Holocaust led to an increasingly socialist and free society opposed to all forms of discrimination. Perhaps in our own society, and in the wake of Roe v. Wade's disavowing of Christian and Natural Law teaching regarding protection of babies in the womb we can now rebuild a 'culture of life.'

FOR CHRIST, FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
Rob J. King

Oil, Barack Obama, and the Future!

2008-06-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

So will Barack Obama win the 2008 Presidential Election?

The 'mood' of the Nation certainly seems to point in this direction. Barack Obama is a 'born again' Christian who dedicated his life to Jesus Christ. Barack Obama represents the hope of the African American community. Barack Obama is a Harvard-trained Juris Doctor (summa cum laude), and someone with whom the 'elite' of the Left would feel quite comfortable.

BUT, what of National Security?

What of Homeland Security?

No, Barack Obama is not secretly Al Qaida or some other nonsense! Barack Obama is simply the son of an American woman and a Kenyan father. Barack Obama, like many of us, is a 'migrant,' at home as much in Chicago as in L.A., Miami or D.C. Part of 'Generation X' actually . . .

Many have called X Generation 'slackers,' yet it is we who bravely answered the call to defend freedom!

9/11 happened, and it was Generation X that signed up for duty, duty in the Army, duty in the Marine Corps, or just duty as scholars, or leaders in our local communities.

In many ways, and not to blame the Baby Boomers that much, but nonetheless it was that large, gas guzzling generation of post WW II 50's and 60's agers that have made a mess of our nation!

On the watch of the 'Baby Boomers' we Americans welcomed in easy sex, easy (& hard-core) drugs, drugs like heroin, crack cocaine, you name it! It was the 'Baby Boomers' who conveniently looked the other way as Roe v. Wade expanded into abortion-on-demand. Don't want a baby? That's okay, since 1973 that baby can be called a 'fetus,' killed by a doctor and then dumped in the trash!

THANKS BABY BOOMERS! (sarcasm intended!)

BUT, whether it is the 40 something year old Obama OR the Ancient candidate McCain, at least, by Divine Providence, we will not have a 'boomer!'

LONG LIVE ALL that is GOOD in America! (OH, YEAH, thanks Supreme Court for over-turning the President's practice of indefinite confinement of our national enemies! We NEED due process under law, NOT living in Cheney-terror state!)

Love in Jesus Christ! Rob J. King

Animals, Food, Etc.

2008-06-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

How are we supposed to treat our animals, both our pets, and also those animals set aside for human consumption?

In many ways, this type of argument is something that 'transcends' normal political boundaries.

Gandhi, neither liberal nor conservative and a Hindu-Jain admirer of Jesus of Nazareth (i.e. teachings on non-violence), stated (paraphrase) that the strength of a nation is determined by how well it treats its animals!

In many ways, our Nation State is especially blessed!

We bless each other at Christmas with gifts.

We have a strong human rights tradition as grounded in Natural Rights political theory.

We have freedom of press, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech!

BUT, with all of our freedoms, has also come license. License means that when faced with an 'unwanted pregnancy' we (as an American people group . . .) 'choose' to terminate 'our' pregnancies . . . Roe v. Wade = genocide and millions of babies have been slaughtered since 1973 as a result!

Maybe this carnage is conceptually linked with our treatment of creation in general!

For the sake of convenience we pump our chickens full of growth hormones, store them in unsanitary living conditions called 'chicken houses,' and then slaughter them. Truly, killing animals for food is permissible in both the Old Covenant of Moses, and in the New Covenant of Christ Jesus, but not through means that are cruel and inhumane.

At one point we were an agriculturally-based society, and 'modern mechanized farming' did not yet exist.

Now, animals once roaming free on the small-scale farms, are now chained up, couped up, all in the interests of capitalistic efficiency!

And the same with Roe v. Wade.

Once babies were protected by LAW! Now, abortion is a means of birth control! Don't want a baby, then just throw it in the trash! ALL legal, and all due to the errant views of rogue justices!

Now, as Gandhi saw, the carnage of agriculture has led to the debasement at a collective level!

We slaughter our own children just as mercilessly as we chain animals to cages and pump them full of steroids!

ALL the very best in Christ Jesus,
Rob J. King,
son of a farming family who loved & respected the animals they ate . . . (ALSO, a survivor of the Abortion Holocaust!)

Religiosity, 'New Religions' and Why the WEST had FAILED

2008-06-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

I am very often appalled.

I am appalled by the War in IRAQ.

I am appalled by missing body parts of U.S. Vets from the aforementioned War in IRAQ.

I am appalled that John Paul II's words were virtually ignored by the Bush-Cheney Administration, words saying that the invasion of IRAQ violated principles of Just-War (jus ad bellum . . .) that specify that a Just-War is only done in self-defense!

I am also appalled by abortion. Babies are murdered, yet since 1973, our 'Supreme Court' (kangaroo court!!!) does nothing to protect babies!

What can I say, I am a CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN!

Roman rule is reestablished in the West. Pre-Christian Roman Rule . . .

Like the Emperor Diocletian who brutally opposed all things Christian, so also has much of the U.S.A. and most of Western Europe opposed the reign of Christ!

We have children ripped from God-fearing homes by 'social service' agencies who call corporal punishment 'child abuse,' but then in lieu of loving, Godly discipline, these self-proclaimed high priests of the new psycho therapeutic nazi regime (counselors!) shove a malicious cocktail of drugs down these misbehaving kids' unsuspecting throats! Throw Jesus out of the schools, but then replace Christ with the new nazi psycho therapeutic "State Religion" called psychiatry!

BUT, there is HOPE!

No, the HOPE does not lie in Barack Obama. No, the hope does not lie in McCain.

No, the ONLY HOPE FOR THE WORLD is in JESUS CHRIST!

There we have it. The 'West' is no longer truly Christian as Military Chaplains spend more time learning Freud and Jung than they do evangelizing the masses! (I should know, I went through "Chaplaincy Training" and all it was to TRUE believing Jews, Catholics and Protestants was that evil hodgepodge of 'tell me how you feel' counseling . . .).

All the best, Rob ("Catholic-to-the-right-of-the-POPE . . . ;-)" Benedict XVI is great, he just needs to reign in the heretics EVEN MORE! I know some Theology Professors at Catholic Universities would might be getting a phone call! ;-)

Bush, Baker Act and Why Scientology is Closer to Vatican Catholicism than most U.S. "Christianity" . . .

2008-05-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

I just taught my morning section of World Religions. Although privacy laws limit what I can fully divulge, suffice it to say, my common academic critique of American Civil Religion reared its head yet again!

I was speaking about Shintoism, and in a "philosophy of religion" set of Class Discussion Questions, I posed the thesis that the hodge-podge known as U.S. Christianity, complete with an increasing patriotism following 9/11, is now this odd hybrid, syncretistic religion known as "Americanism" (or my preferred term, "American Shintoism!")

We have Memorial Day where we worship our fallen dead! We have Patriot Day where we tearfully mourn the loss of innocent lives in the horrific 9/11 attacks. But sadly, we also, still have this curious hybrid of pseudo-pscience meets totalizing world-view called modern Western Psychology.

PSYCHE = "soul" in the original Greek language, but the modern discipline of psychology, a discipline founded by an apostate Jew named Sigmund Freud (someone who renounced his Jewish heritage, and even committed suicide on Yom Kippur!) continues unabated . . .

'Mental illnesses' apparently 'plague' the U.S. Military now . . .

Whereas in the McCain-era (John McCain's grandfather that is! ;-) a soldier, U.S. Marine, sailor, airman, et al would just "shake off" the gruesome fatigue of war by rest, shore duty and just plain old getting drunk (Admiral McCain was still a sailor you know . . .), now suddenly much of our Armed Forces are "mentally ill."

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Guess what? If you 'go to war,' you will have 'flash-backs.' This is NORMAL. Whether it was the 'mythical' King Arthur legends, the medieval Crusades, the Spanish Reconquista, or WW I & WW II, to be in battle means that your soul suffered. Of course, in Catholic Europe, at one time this meant going to say your confession before a priest (for killing that was necessary in combat as part of a Just-War).

But now, thanks to listening to the pseudo-science of "modern psychology," the "great high priest" is no longer Christ Jesus, nor Christ's Church, but instead is the 'shrink!'

SIN as sin no longer exists in the modern West. Pop a pill, go to a 'shrink,' and then claim benefits due to your 'injury' of having a conscience about killing in IRAQ!

But, the strange American State Religion of Psychology-Psychiatry continues unabated, at least until now!

Whether it is the academic voice of someone like Michel Foucault (a darling of the Ivies, such as Harvard University. . .) OR the Scientologists who question the foundations, practical & epistemological of modern psychiatry, the tyrannical regime of modern psychology is coming to an end.

Thank God for the Catholic Church in this regard!

The Vatican supports holiness of life, and not supposed "mental health."

NOW if only U.S. Catholicism will listen to its own Vatican!

EX CORDE ECCLESIA, FIDES et RATIO, DOMINUS IESUS,
Rob, Catholic scholar

McCain, Black America and Why African American CHRISTIANS are 'Conservative . . .'

2008-05-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

As the election year rumbles on, I am at a loss of how to describe what I am seeing.

As a lifelong (economic) liberal, I do have to admit that I am QUITE pleased that the 'far right' of the economic-political spectrum has all but isolated themselves from 'mainstream America.'

The War in Iraq is by now an unpopular war, and so the 'Far Right' instead wishes to also attack Iran!

The Economy is struggling under two terms of George W. Bush 'free-market' principles, yet the Republican Party still caters primarily to the rich, the elite and largely utilizes we Evangelicals and Traditional Catholics as "swing votes," promising votes and judges on issues such as the abortion debate (PRO-LIFE) and the homosexuality debate (TRADITIONAL, NATURAL LAW marriage of men and women).

Yet, 'pro-choice' and 'homosexual' Republicans have left that part of the political spectrum essentially compromised on important moral issues.

BUT, the Far Left is really no alternative either.

Perhaps the African American community, 50% of which was raised Baptist Christian and the majority of which are morally conservative, knows this best!

African American Christians, leaders such as Bernice King (daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr.) bravely uphold historic Christian Teaching (teaching first passed on to the Ethiopian Church LONG before any Germans or English were made into Christians! :-). Yes, it is African American Christianity that must now decide.

Do African American Christians support a Black candidate (actually half-Kenyan, but also half-Anglo . . .)?

OR do African American Christians vote not according to the color of skin, but (to paraphrase Dr. M.L. King, Jr.!) according to the "content of character?"

PRO-LIFE is the ONLY moral response on abortion! This has been the case from the 300's A.D. through the twentieth century in Western Christendom!

No, homosexuality has NEVER been compatible with Christianity (Paul's Letter to the Romans, chapter 1).

BUT, the 'ultra-liberal' Barack Obama, doing anything to get elected, will, of course, compromise and support baby-killing and homosexual coupling, surprisingly views that are much against the moral views of African American Christians!

There we have it.

Political compromise equals more babies left unprotected by law. What's next, communist Chinese government intrusion into parental rights?

Blessings in YHWH,
Rob J. King

Beans, Bullets & Misguided wars . . .

2008-05-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

The 'War against Religion' is a perennial, yet especially modern invention.

Unlike Socrates, Plato & Aristotle who each sought to 'transcend' pagan Greek polytheism with 'Rationality,' the modern era, beginning with the French Revolution, has come to be known as an increasingly anti-Christian era. Sure, there were abuses of power by the Divine Right Monarchs of Europe, but it was not until regicide happened in France that the institution of the Christian Monarch itself had been attacked.

Queen Elizabeth, although somewhat pragmatic in her approach to religion, nonetheless maintained England as a Christian (Anglican) land.

The United States of America, although founded upon Natural Right principles, and reacting against British colonialism (as did India later in the 20th century . . .), nonetheless was founded by New England Puritans, Quakers, Methodists, Episcopalians (Anglican . . .) and, of course, Baptists (non-conformist toward the established State Church of England).

But the French are a different story. Not just "fight for egalitarian principles," but actually slay the King was the end result of this modern nation state's turning away from its explicitly Christian Rule!

And what was the end result of such regal overthrow?

Well, like most Revolutionary Thought, when one supposed dictatorial regime is overthrown (Versailles), the end result (whether French, Communist China, etc.) is usually just a 'new form of tyranny . . .'

And thus, in just two decades after the beginning of the French Revolution, it was Napoleon Bonaparte who was invading Europe! Really, ALL that stopped Napoleon was the Russian Winter! Napoleon invaded Russia hoping to somehow 'conquer' such a vast land, and instead, of the 500,000 troops sent to 'conquer' Russia, only 50,000 ultimately survived (I guess Frenchmen make lousy cold-winter warriors! :-)

But, the assault upon religion (usually spouting some "humanistic" philosophy such as Marxism or Democratic Socialism of the anti-religious sort . . .) is an assault upon truth itself!

The U.S. was founded as a Republic on Natural Right principles given by the Creator! Not "man's natural state" (which is usually quite brutal). Not a "proletariat" that just becomes the next class of dictators. No, we here in the GOOD old U.S. are founded (Providentially . . .) on Divine Principles!

(Now, if only Barack Obama can recognize these Natural Rights, to include PROTECTING CHILDREN who are defenseless in their mother's wombs . . . McCain recognizes such Rights!!!).

Blessings in Christ Jesus Our LORD & Savior,
Rob J. King

The U.S., Our Shared 'Ethic,' and Why We are in so much trouble . . .

2008-05-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

The undergraduate college experience truly marks us for life. For those of us fortunate enough to attend a college or university with a strict honor code, our lives are forever 'etched' with a Higher Standard of Morality. Take for example, my undergraduate institution, Davidson College (located just north of Charlotte, N.C.).

Davidson College, founded by Presbyterians, and a top 10 Nationally-ranked Liberal Arts College (alongside of Williams, Amherst, Carleton, et al) was founded upon moral ideals that, sadly, are in 'short supply' in the U.S. In short, if a Davidson College student (or professor) is caught stealing, cheating or lying and it is proven, then this member of the College community would be asked to leave. In fact, I know of one former basketball player who was caught stealing candy from the student union, and as a result, no longer was enrolled as a student (much less a men's basketball player!).

But, sadly, in spite of our former years as a nation state (and after the Bill Clinton perjury, the lying on the part of the Bush-Cheney Administration . . .), our societal leaders are so far removed from our nation's founding moral ideals, that (dare I say . . .) our Republic is no longer even 'American.'

Army Officers lie through their teeth. Iraqi prisoners are tortured with a military brass turning a blind eye. Whistle-blowing usually results in a ruined career . . .

Our Pentagon is in the midst of turmoil as a culture of deception runs the reigns of our national defense. Pretty sad, actually, that many military personnel I know of would not have been able to attend the College I graduated from. Lying is part of the military culture, and yet no one can stand up to this culture of deceit any longer . . .

But, we as a people of the United States of America, a generation raised after 1973, a generation that has seen 'baby-killing' (abortion!) made legal, a nation in which the Chair of the Democratic Party tries to 'mandate' that homosexuals be given the status of 'married,' a nation that has spurned the name Jesus, is now a nation with little to no moral compass.

My Dad, the lifelong Democrat, was a man of honor. John McCain's father and grandfather were similarly men of honor, albeit Republican.

But now with Democrats still supporting infanticide-on-demand, still lobbying for homosexual practice to be imposed upon the rest of us (a violation of U.C.M.J.), and with Republicans similarly opening wide the borders to gay-rights and abortion-rights candidates, is it any wonder that our nation is suffering?

Kill a generation in the womb, and yes, the wrath of God will be upon you.

Support homosexual coupling, and yes, like Sodom and Gomorrah, we too will be destroyed.

Pretty scary actually. The wrath of God set against us, and no not in the way that Barack Obama's ultra-liberal pastor has portrayed.

We lie as a nation. We steal as a nation. We abort our young ones as a nation. We declare unjust wars (IRAQ!) as a nation. Is it any wonder that we are no longer prosperous?

And so, when you grumble at $4/gallon for gasoline and when you can no longer afford to pay for your rent/mortgage and still put food on the table, only blame ourselves.

WE DID THIS and now the Wrath of God is upon us.

LORD God, I humbly repent of my own war-like spirit that sought answers by donning an A.C.U. uniform. I seek only Thee, O LORD.

Forgive me LORD Christ for ever seeking an 'easy solution' politically. Like Barack Obama, I think unjust wars must cease. Unlike Mr. Obama, I do not see how killing babies can or should promote his political cause (abortion on demand). Like Senator McCain, I seek to live honorably, but not at the expense of TRUTH. FORGIVE me for not taking a STRONGER stand against homosexual practice, an act that is an abomination in your sight!

LORD GOD, forgive us as a People.

This I ask in Jesus Christ's Name! Amen & Amen, Rob J. King

Religion, Psychology and Human Abuse-Potential

2008-05-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have become increasingly fearful about the abuse of power being perpetrated by the so-called modern psychological/psychiatric establishment.

In Communist China, from Falun Gong to political dissenters, anyone deemed a threat by that evil communist regime is rounded up, labelled delusional and placed in psychiatric wards.

Similarly, in the State of Florida, in the so-called "Baker Act," people are often rounded up and involuntarily thrown in psych wards for up to 72 hours of so-called 'evaluation.'

In case after case, modern psychology as a discipline shows its true colors.

BUT, did you know that the birth of modern psychology (Freud, Jung) was founded upon anti-religious, and indeed anti-Semitic principles?

Sigmund Freud, a secular Jew, sought to 'disprove Judaism,' but the end result was his own suicide on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement!

Carl Jung, a quite prominent early modern psychological theorist, was also an Aryan supremacist who thought that "Aryan psychological identity was superior to Jewish," and indeed Carl Jung was even sympathetic of the Nazi take-over of Germany (First Things, April 2008, p. 64).

BUT, in seeking to oppose modern psychology, it is important to notice how modern psychology largely arose as Christian (& Jewish) belief and practice wavered. When Evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Jews, et al begin "losing their religious faith," in the Western world, it is usually that evil amalgam called modern psychology that takes its place.

Friends, this is state-supported religion!

Psychology claims to "re-unite" one's "true self" with the mind, yet how can this be achieved outside of a specifically RELIGIOUS MATRIX? Finally, as a Christian, and indeed normative for ALL HUMAN BEINGS, it is only the TRUE PSYCHE of JESUS of Nazareth, Who through being FULLY GOD and FULLY MAN, can re-unite the human being to his/her 'true self.'

So, sorry Freud, religious belief is not a "human projection of child-like needs."

Sorry Carl Jung, the Universal Metaphors that you so ardently sought could not be found in racial supremacy (Arianism!), but instead are found in that Semitic, Aramaic-speaking GOD-MAN named Jesus Christ, the Jew Who is GOD-in-flesh . . .

Blessings in Yeshua CHRIST, Rob (St. Petersburg College, Religion Instructor . . .)

Use of Reason . . .

2008-04-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Just last night I was blessed to see how inter-religious dialogue can be conducted in a frank, yet gentle manner!

At the Clearwater Campus of St. Petersburg College, a United Methodist Professor of Theology (ordained elder) and a Jewish Rabbi (undergraduate degree from Harvard), and finally a respectable Islamic Leader from Tampa, FL, ALL joined together for accurate, descriptive, yet peaceful dialogue!

The Methodist Theologian stressed the necessity for Christ Jesus to be at the CENTER of all Christian discussions, and even (much to my delight as a "Charismatic Catholic") abided by the Classical Christian doctrines of the Trinity, and the Chalcedonian definition of Christ Jesus as BOTH fully human and fully divine.

The Islamic Leader, similarly stressed how although gender differences do exist within Islam, that ALL Muslims are required to faithfully abide by Islamic teaching, to include true worship of the One God (as opposed to idolatrous polytheism), and also care for those who are less fortunate.

Finally, the Jewish Rabbi stressed how the GOD of ISRAEL (Yahweh) is concerned with concrete moral instructions such as Justice, equity, etc. He cleared up the false view of GOD as being overly judgmental, and said how "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" rather than being vengeful, instead showed how equal crimes deserved equal punishment, and was thus not a sign of vengeance, but rather of justice.

What united these three leaders, ironically enough, was a shared ability to use the intellect.

All three of the 'monotheistic' religions must use RATIONALITY as a means of shared dialogue.

Religious belief CANNOT be readily reduced to some false "lowest common denominator."

Regarding Christ Jesus, EITHER Christ Jesus is a 'prophet' like Islam says, or a 'rabbi' like Judaism says, OR "FULLY GOD and FULLY HUMAN" as Christianity says. Similarly, EITHER God is only "One" as Islam teaches, or only "One" in Covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as Judaism teaches, or "One-and-Three" the Holy Trinity as Christianity teaches.

Fortunately, however, at the end of the night, all three men were in shared agreement that PEACE is what should unite such interaction.

In fact, the three leaders, and different Faculty, Staff and Students of the College (and community members) all shared fruit punch afterwards!

Truly a sign of the 'Messianic Age' to come when Christ Jesus RETURNS, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb and swords shall be turned into plowshares. Come LORD JESUS CHRIST, Come . . .

Blessings & Shalom,
Rob J. King

Wunderkinds, Rationality and the so-called Age of Reason . . .

2008-04-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at Catholic Mass, I heard the Father speak of the so-called "Age of Reason" by which the Roman Rite in Catholicism recognizes the division in so-called childhood development.

Although the focus on 'reason' is a medieval concept (as it is rooted in the Aristotelian-influenced St. Thomas Aquinas of the 13th century A.D.), when coupled with the largely agnostic modern "human stage developmental psychological theories" upon which our entire society has been built, the distinction between 'theory and 'fact' becomes ever the more acute.

For example, although ten years old (or so) is normally considered to be the 'Age of Reason' (not so in Greek Orthodoxy), when one considers child geniuses, this so-called modern stage developmental psychology falls apart. Chopin, the great Polish piano composer actually published his first piece at age 7! Similarly, Mozart, of world-renowned acclaim, wrote his first composition at age 5!

Any scholar of history can testify to childhood genius.

Yet, when Rationality is shorn from its Judeo-Christian roots, the end result is a proliferation of so-called "personality disorders," "mood disorders," etc.

ANYTHING that can be labelled, our society tries to label, analyze, and then come up with some financially lucrative drug remedy to fix!

So, if your child is creative, just get a shrink to label him "A.D.H.D." and get him to start popping pills!

That'll quench ALL childhood creativity!

As for me, I will continue to listen to CLASSICAL MUSICAL GREATS such as Chopin and Mozart who exhibit GENIUS!

As for the shrinks, well I hope that they start getting nailed with malpractice lawsuits for stifling the creativity of our best and brightest minds!

LOVE IN JESUS CHRIST, Rob J. King, Mozart Lover

Being 'Conservative' AND Democrat . . .

2008-04-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

Generally when one thinks of the word 'conservative' one immediately begins to label one a Republican. But is this necessarily the case?

I am pro-life, and against the homosexual agenda infiltrating our school systems and society at large, but when 'tested' on a Facebook political test, I came out as a 'liberal . . .'

Pope Benedict XVI and Nelson Mandela were the two closest world political figures to me on the supposed 'left' side of the spectrum.

But does this mean that it is 'liberal'?

Well, the Pope is Pro-Life and obviously any Catholic is against homosexuality as a violation of the Natural Law (men and men or women and women are not supposed to 'mate' with each other--even the lizards and the dogs know this!). But the Pope was listed as a 'liberal . . .'

BUT, having noted Facebook's propensity to come up with clever tests for anything from Movie Trivia to even putting me in touch with Howard Dean (Democratic Party Chair and a Faecbook 'Friend' . . .), here I am a CONSERVATIVE Democrat who is BOTH LIBERAL (Worker's RIGHTS . . .) while also being CONSERVATIVE (Pro-Life, anti-socialist governments, etc. . . .).

But, people like putting labels on me, and as such, how about just calling me "Mr. Wildcat . . ." Davidson College did, after all, end up as the top Cinderella story in this year's basketball tournament (eventually losing to Kansas, a #1 seed in the Elite Eight, and ONLY by two points . . .). From a Davidson College Offensive Lineman to Methodist Pastor to now a Political Activist and Professor of Applied Ethics and World Religion, I owe it ALL to the LORD GOD's PROVIDENTIAL ORDERING of my life, and a quite formative part of which was at Presbyterian-related Davidson College. Yes, yes, I am a Pope Benedict XVI Catholic through and through, but it was the small, basketball gem of a school called Davidson College that taught me to write, to research, and to pull ALL-NIGHTERS to meet a deadline . . .

FOR CHRIST, FOR TRUTH . . . Rob J. King (Davidson College Class of '94 and HUGE basketball fan . . .)

666, Rome and the 'mark of the beast . . .'

2008-03-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

In Protestant polemics (historic), often the Church at Rome (i.e. Catholicism . . .) was called 'the anti-christ.' Although irenic to the Catholic Christian Faith, Protestant Reformer (Anglican Priest) John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, did term the Church at Rome 'the anti-christ.'

But what is the anti-christ?

Well, anti-christ means anything opposed to Jesus Christ and historically (Book of Revelation . . .) referred likely to Emperor Nero, brutal persecutor of Christians. In fact, Biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger (who edited the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible), point out how '666' equals the numerical values of the letters that correspond to the Emperor Nero.

Scripture, however, also speaks of the 'spirit of the anti-christ.'

This 'spirit' is the unique, diabolical spiritual force that oppresses and criticizes Christians as Christians.

No, it is not the Democrats. No, it is not Catholicism, properly understood!

But, YES, the 'anti-christ' spirit is that spiritual force in the world that directly targets we Christians. Whether it is computer technology, cell-phones, or sheer 'dollar bills' (or European 'euros'), whenever Christians are oppressed, it is the 'mark of the beast.'

Sadly, however, this '666' is alive and well in much of world financial arrangement. Whether it is communist China attacking Christians just for being Christian, or (get this!) even a Catholic University (for example St. Leo University, just north of Tampa Bay, Florida) that actually had the nerve to include 'consumer credit history' as part of its criminal background check!

There you have it, if your poor wife gets sick and goes into the hospital destroying you financially, then good ole St. Leo will become your persecutor equating your debt with criminal behavior!

OR if you have had marital problems, divorce, or a spouse steal money (children, etc.) and you are forced under financially, then again, St. Leo University is there to make sure that you STAY UNDER . . .

666 = St. Leo University

Sorry, friends inside of 'organizational Catholicism,' it is HIGH-TIME that you each personally accept Jesus Christ as your personal LORD and SAVIOR, begin sharing the wealth, and begin caring for (rather than 'excluding' . . .) your brother and sister in need . . . (I just gave a $1 to a young fellow Catholic man needing 'bus-fare' because he was wearing a rosary blessed by his grandma or abuela . . . I ALSO told him that Cracker Barrel was hiring 200 wait-staff, bus-boys, et al because he needed a job to pursue his interest of getting a degree in computers . . .).

But, unlike Opus Dei, the Knights of Columbus, St. Augustine, St. Francis or the University of Notre Dame (under new Leadership in its Theology Department, in the person of Dr. John Cavadini . . .), St. Leo is more interested in your 'credit score . . .'

Jesus Christ, the GOD-MAN and UNIVERSAL KING of kings and LORD of lords said 'blessed are the poor . . .' St. Leo University (Pasco County, Florida . . .) says, "let me check your credit score . . ."

FOR JESUS CHRIST, FOR TRUTH, 'BOUNTY-HUNTER against ALL that is EVIL . . .'

Love in Christ Jesus, Rob

Creativity, the Arts, and the Kingdom

2008-03-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

The recent movie The Kingdom paints a fairly bleak picture for future Arab-Western relations. In the fictitious movie, several F.B.I. agents are sent to Saudi Arabia in order to investigate a mythical bombing of American oil workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both sides do not trust each other and a "clash of cultures" is well documented (everything from profanity and scantily clad Western women versus an austere moral code by Islam to out and out war . . .).

But, in Jesus Christ's Kingdom (whether it is the ultra-orthodox group in the Catholic Church called Opus Dei or Franciscan monks and sisters or Pentecostal televangelists) there is a role for something that actually celebrates the human body! No, this does not mean the MTV style decadence, but instead in the tradition of the best of Catholic and Orthodox (and Protestant) artwork, a view that human physicality, when rightly ordered, is GOOD!

In fact, as the depiction of the Pieta shows, Christ's body (as held in his mother's hands following the crucifixion . . .) is shown in full anatomical splendor! To not be "physical" in the Christian understanding of salvation is to be heretical even! Christ died a real death and rose a real new life through a physical resurrection! Yes, this is a mystery of the faith, but a mystery clothed in the human physique itself!

So, when the naysayers are wanting all human expressions of the body to be drowned out, remember that Christ Jesus died for all of us and died for our bodies! Not only are our "minds" saved (or our hearts!), but yes, even our legs, upper torsoes, and chins, ears, noses, etc.

So, painters and sculptors of the world, be inspired!

The LORD is honored by work that is GOOD!

Love in Jesus Christ, Rob

Davidson College vs. GOLIATH!

2008-03-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

"O Hail oh Davidson, our dear old Alma Mater . . . Our Fathers loved thee, gave their best to thee . . . and still today, their loyal sons and daughters follow them on, and pledge their loyalty . . ."

The Davidson Wildcats, formerly great in the 1960's under former head coach Lefty Dreisel, are now "at it again."

That small (tiny!) liberal arts college founded by Presbyterians (PCUSA) just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina is now in the "Sweet 16" of NCAA men's college basketball super-stardom!

As a former All-Academic Offensive Guard in Football (turned Offensive Center) at Davidson College, and as someone who actually daily played pick-up hoops with the then N.I.T. tournament 'Cats, I am utterly in shock!

Yes, Dell Curry's son plays for us now, but the sweet 16!!!

Rhode's scholars at Davidson . . . YES!

Senator's sons and daughters, well, perhaps (if their S.A.T. scores are high enough! ;-)

But the 'elite' 16 of men's basketball???

GOD MUST be a Presbyterian!!! (and yes, if the Providence of GOD has issued a direct order that the Davidson 'Cats are to be in the 'sweet 16' then so be it!!!).

So, there you have it. The Davidson Wildcats are 'back in action . . .' It took over three decades, but here we go!

Love in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King (Roman Catholic Davidsonian)

Military, MIGHT, Just-War . . .

2008-03-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

The need for external safeguards in shepherding the current 'lame-duck' Administration of Bush-Cheney is of the utmost importance . . .

In the thought of St. Augustine (300's - 400's A.D.) and in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas (1200's A.D.), the classic understandings of "Just War" have been formulated, principles which are through 2008 even, still maintaining the "ethics" of the U.S. Military!

Jus Ad Bellum refers to the moral principles which guide the decision to even "go to war" in the first place. Should a nation simply attack a potential threat? Well, in spite of Bush's historic blunder in making "preemptive strikes" the new American Foreign Policy (regime change), such preemptive use of the military in order to impose order on unstable regions of the world is simply immoral according to current and 1,600 years of Just-War Thought . . .

Similarly, in the actual fighting of a war (Jus In Bello) we have historic Western European and North American safeguards against torture. No, "water-boarding" by the C.I.A. does not constitute a "just" waging of war!

This is torture, and signals a slide towards dictatorship that the "Bush-Cheney" era has unleashed on our collective American psyche.

Things have become so bad in the G.O.P. (Bush and Cheney are supposed "moderates" remember!!!), that in spite of being firmly Pro-Life (I am Catholic . . .), I could no longer in good conscience support a political party that was only unified by greed.

Why did we attack Iraq? Well, we needed their oil!

We did not "attack" other nations.

But, we went where the oil was . . .

Hmmm . . .

Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Professor Rob J. King, M.Div., Th.M., Ph.D. (ABD*)

The Pope, The "New West" and Why the Future of America is CATHOLIC . . .

2008-03-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict XVI is coming to America! Yes, yes, just like Eddie Murphy in that old 1980's movie Coming to America, the Pope will make a historic Apostolic visit to we who live in the U.S.

No, the Pope will not be playing a fictitious African prince ("Prince Akeem of Zamunda" . . . :-), nor will the Pope likely be cracking many jokes!

Pope Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger will likely speak about issues of Justice, issues of 'community,' both secular and Christian, and issues of War, Peace and of course, the Propagation of the Christian Faith!

On the "other side" will be . . . ?

You see, politically, Pope Benedict XVI is an arbiter of TRUTH! He is BOTH 'liberal' denouncing the widening gap between rich and poor, while also being 'conservative' denouncing abuses to the human person through medical malpractices known as abortion and physician-assisted suicide (i.e. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, recently released from prison).

No one can side 'fully with the Pope,' but from ultra-left Democrats to far-right Republicans, ALL respect the Pope's moral authority.

(Unless, of course, you come from Communist China, imperialist Russia, or other non-western, non-African nations!)

No, just as Phil Jenkins, history and religion professor at Penn State points out in his book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, Africa, Latin America and the good 'ole U.S.A. are pretty much UNIFIED!

Yes, we still must overturn Roe v. Wade, but with a 5 - 4 Pro-Life majority that outlawed at least some of the baby killing (i.e. ban on partial-birth abortions . . .), the VICTORY over infanticide should happen soon . . .

Yes, we must also always keep an eye on Oregon, that state in our union that likes to slide a needle into the veins of the dying elderly, but fortunately, even liberal Democrat Senate Judiciary Chair, Patrick Leahy is opposed to this practice of physician-assisted suicide (. . . inside tip).

Yes, we must also fight for religious freedom in the face of psychiatric abusers, in the face of political compromise (against Mormons, scientologists, you name the religious group facing persecution).

But in spite of 'cleaning up America,' the Pope pretty much epitomizes what most Americans believe anyway. A recent poll actually showed how a full 2/3 of American citizens are practicing Christians, and so, although pluralistic religiously (Buddhists, Muslims, et al), we are still, nonetheless a Christian majority nation and that should not end anytime soon!

After all, "In God we trust . . ." is still printed on our currency, and from the New England Puritan settlers to Catholic immigrants in Florida, the desert Southwest, and you name it, we are increasingly Christian as a people. Rosaries dawn the trucks, sub-compacts, and even the doorways of America!

Even former Protestants are converting to Catholicism!

So, this April, when Pope Benedict XVI boldly addresses the United Nations in New York or addresses we U.S. citizens in Washington, D.C., we can stand united.

Viva el Papa . . .

Blessings in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King (friend of Vatican-supporting Catholics and colleague of all who seek political, social, economic and human rights TRUTH!)

Art, the 'doorway' to the soul . . .

2008-03-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

In St. Augustine's Confessions (the first example of what we moderns would term an "autobiography" . . .), there is a section in which the Doctor of the Church warns the would-be Christian disciple to 'guard one's senses.'

Sure, according to modern categories, things like 'blood and gore' seem to be part and parcel of any nice night at the local cinema, but for Augustine and Christian saints and mystics following him, to imbibe blood and gore, violence, etc. (e.g. the gladiator contests OR our own modern media fascination with death, decay, etc.) is to put our very soul in mortal danger (psuche in Greek, from which we get the word "psychology" . . .).

But, in refusing to take in 'blood & gore,' the senses should not be deprived altogether!

Here I am Catholic through and through!

Icons adorn my home (granted from Russia). Catholic art is a fascination for me, even including a poster of the famed Pieta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieta) in which the Virgin Mary is holding the dead body of Jesus Christ.

In looking to Christian Art, my soul is elevated!

That is why it is such an honor for me to attend (tonight!) a viewing of "Splendors of the Vatican," a collection of Roman Catholic art on display here at my local, hometown arts district (The Florida International Museum . . .). I do not know what my 'eyes' will take in (and yes, as my Puerto Rican Catholic mom would say, "the eyes are the gateway to the soul . . ."), but I do know that my soul will be marked forever!

So, tonight and through this Season of Lent, let us turn off the blood and gore (TV or movies . . .) and take in something healthy! Watch the History Channel or EWTN Catholic television if you like watching television. Be proactive and maybe even visit your local art gallery.

Like St. Augustine warned us against the 'blood & gore' of Imperial Roman persecution (i.e. it was CHRISTIANS who were sacrificed to the 'gladiator games'), so also must we not imbibe of such grotesque sites.

Blessings in Christ Jesus,
PAX CHRISTIANA ROB J. KING

RELIGION vs. the 'so-called secular' Western Colonialists . . .

2008-03-04T06:28:00.000-08:00

The "War of the Worlds" is a much discussed topic among sociologists, historians, and other analysts of the new millenium.

"East vs. West" "Christian 'Imperialism' versus Islam . . ."

But are these the correct categories?

In Penn State history professor, Phil Jenkins' much acclaimed book, The Next Christendom, the author argues that whereas the prior categories of "Western Europe" and the Middle East, etc. seemed to do justice to concrete sociological data, the new era of world religious classification points to a Christian identity that is increasingly GLOBAL.

Africa, Asia and Latin America (NOT the United States, Canada and Western Europe . . .) are the new 'center of Christian demographic power.'

A 'standard Anglican' no longer lives in Devonshire nor frequents London's Heathrow Airport. No, as Jenkins correctly points out, the average Anglican is now an African woman in her twenties!

In many ways, this new re-alignment has produced some startling shifts.

Sigmund Freud (similar to Karl Marx, the grandfather of Soviet, Chinese, Cuban and North Korean Marxism) once stated that all religion is 'delusional,' that is a 'fantasy' not connected to so-called 'empirical reality,' and thus a form of 'mental illness.'

After Sigmund Freud, the "War against Religion" continued unabated in the 20th century. In state-supported atheist countries such as the Soviet Union, China, etc., religious persecution (especially of Christians, but also of Buddhists, Taoists, etc.) was flourishing! And in the West (as documented in the late medieval era by philosopher Michel Foucault . . .), the designation of 'mental illness' was used to persecute, imprison and even torture aspiring artists, religious dissenters, and even politicians. Perhaps most noteworthy given the prominence of his writing, author Paulo Coelho, whose novel The Alchemist sold 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, was at one point in his life involuntarily committed by his father and subjected to the cruelty of electro-shock "therapy" by the almost nazi-like psychiatric guild (also supported, I am sure, by the Jesuits, the modern liberal heretical sect of Catholic priests for whom comfortable association with modernity has drawn the ire and even occasional censure by the Vatican!).

Paulo Coelho, a modern day Shakespeare, imprisoned by his own father. Why? Because he dared to believe that he could begin a career in writing . . . (the novel by the way is RICH in both Judaic and Christian symbology . . .).

So, there we have it!

'Modernity' or at least the modern era as interpreted by Freud, Marx, et al VERSUS the artists of the world, the religious adherents of the world. Is it no wonder that 'artists' such as BONO of the rock group U2 (who are also believing Christians . . .) are on the front-lines in calling for sanctions against evil, dictatorial governments (through groups such as Amnesty International)?

Modernity, however, at its best, does produce scientific progress, but note that this is SCIENTIFIC progress! Research on genetic causes of diseases. Research in how to best allocate scarce resources. THIS is SCIENCE! Taking a young man who wishes to be a writer and then 'teaming up on him' with his father, corrupt political leaders, etc. in order to administer electro-shock 'therapy' is, well, a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights!

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact:

Professor Rob J. King
kuriosiesuschristos@abidinglifephoenix.com

FOR TRUTH, FOR JUSTICE, FOR JESUS CHRIST,
Rob J. King

The Battle for Human Rights

2008-03-01T10:45:00.001-08:00

Friends,

The battle for human rights is part and parcel of the "War on Terror." I know a scholar (St. Thomas Aquinas expert) who once said that "when we engage someone in battle we take on their characteristics . . . so, in other words, 'be CAREFUL who you pick as an enemy!").

This Thomas Aquinas scholar was obviously speaking about the genteel battles of academia, far removed from the 'real world' of sweat & blood places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

BUT (and an important but!), what my friend and colleague said is TRUE!

If we 'play dirty' (whether it is basketball, football, or yes, even the War on Terror . . .) then we are literally 'sinking to the level' of our enemies.

Maybe this is why Jesus Christ said to PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES. Do GOOD to those who abuse you . . .

This is a GOOD tactic and something that should be highlighted in the new 2008 and beyond WORLD geo-political system!

Politically, what would it look like if the Religious Right PRAYED for (and with!) the secular left???

OR, what would it look like if the largely Christian African American part of the Democratic Party PRAYED FOR and WITH those members of the political right who are RACIST, xenophobic, etc.

In South Africa, men like Bishop Desmond Tutu (himself, African) PRAYED for RECONCILIATION and the end result is that South Africa peacefully overthrew the evil shackles of apartheid!

In the United States, men like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. PEACEFULLY brought to light the segregationist racist paranoia of the South!

Maybe, as we fight our "War on Terror," and although POLICE ACTION is ALWAYS necessary, maybe we should PRAY for those terror groups who are trying to kill we Americans, the Israelis, etc. PRAY for OUR NATIONAL ENEMIES!!! Jesus Christ, God Incarnate said this, and so let it be done!

ONLY through such Christ-centered praying for our enemies can the battle for human rights produce LASTING FRUIT!

Let's give it a try! It worked for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It worked for Desmond Tutu.

Love in Christ Jesus our LORD and Savior,
Rob

The REALITY of violence . . .

2008-02-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

Friends,

We truly LIVE in violent times!

Kosovo erupted when it declared its "independence" (thereby turning itself into little more than an ancient Greek city-state!).

Iraq is a 'time-bomb' waiting to happen. John McCain, I hope the future President of the U.S.A., is correct in noting the presence of elements of Al Qaida. McCain, a military vet, the son of a military father (and grandfather!), unlike Obama, sees the need to actually FIGHT, if necessary, for the very survival of Western culture . . .

Iran is always a nemesis.

North Korea has ambitions on destroying us (my father actually FOUGHT N. Korea, granted as a Coast Guard service member . . . way back in the 1950's). BUT, the enemies of democracy are still alive and practicing their art of warfare against the West and against their own people, the South Koreans. I even have a close friend deployed there, so this strikes close to home.

Even "closer" to home, I was nearly run over this morning by a redneck driving an old beat up car, just a few yards from my home. I politely pointed to the stop sign, and then he went absolutely bananas, started jumping out of the car and said, "I am going to cut you b- - - h." (I backed up, looked over at a neighbor and then began to call the police on him . . .).

WHAT is happening in our world?

The 20th century was the 'bloodiest century' on record with evil nazis invading Poland and France, Vietnam turning into a blood-letting, genocide in Rwanda and Serbia, you name it!

BUT, now the RIGHTEOUS are back in authority!

West Germany fused with the old communist East Germany to become a new, enlightened Republic!

Iran is somewhat quelled.

North Korea (we hope!) is contained!

Even Prince Harry, son of Prince Charles and heir to the throne of England, is diligently 'mucking it up with the lads' in service to Christendom as he valiantly fights off Al Qaida as a young Lieutenant serving in the British Army in Afghanistan!

We are SAFE due to the self-sacrificial stance of our allies such as Great Britain, Poland, Latin America, South Korea and (of course!) the bravery of our own men and women serving in uniform (whether the local police force OR our military . . .).

So, this 2008, although I am a Democrat (Jimmy Carter fan from WAY back!), my vote will likely go to McCain!

WESTERN CIVILIZATION may depend on who we Americans elect in this next election!

Blessings and Love in Christ,
Rob J. King, Just-War Scholar

FREEDOM of Religion . . .

2008-02-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

Friends,

We live in quite intolerant times . . .

With the exception of good-natured far-left Democrats like my associate (On-Line) Chad Lupkes, by and large, the enemies of Religious Freedom (liberal and moderate . . .) are quite prevalent.

France as a nation state has seen (in vivid display . . .) what a denial of Religious Freedom does! When I was teaching World Religions for Axia College (University of Phoenix umbrella . . .), I was shocked to learn from the textbook how the French passed an 'anti-religion' law a few years ago that denied the religious communities of France (Jewish, Islamic) from outward displays of religious garments. A completely 'secularized' society is what France insisted upon. The end result? Well, when opportunities are denied based upon things like skin color, one's religion, etc., it led to the riots in Paris!

BUT, what about the U.S.?

In SOME cases, religious accommodation is quite prevalent. Whether it is the U.S. Army or U.S. Higher Education, provision is made for attending Religious Holidays, dietary restrictions (kosher laws) and even the wearing of religious clothing. To do otherwise would be un-Constitutional since the First Amendment protects Freedom of Religion (while not establishing a 'State Church' like Anglicanism obviously . . .).

BUT, and this is quite important, whether it is the 'corporate boardroom' or whether it is making hiring decisions, one's right to religious practice (an intrinsic, inalienable Natural Right rooted in the fact that we are all created in God's Image . . .) is increasingly being attacked.

FRIENDS, this is NOT a "Christian issue" even.

Whether one is Christian, Islamic, Jewish, or Buddhist, the right (a Natural Right) to practice religion freely, and without compulsion, is under attack!

Will you not STAND WITH ME?

All the best,
Professor Rob J. King (St. Petersburg College)

POLICE Protection, the New U.S., and Why the New 'Terror' is Ourselves . . .

2008-02-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

I live down the street from two different Islamic-owned grocery stores (plus I often buy hot dogs on sale at another in downtown St. Petersburg!). In each of these situations, the people who work in these stores are only nominally islamicized (they are, after all, selling PORK products in the form of 89 cent hot dogs and Cuban sandwiches of all things!). Yes, due to the War on Terror, I often feel a bit uneasy about entering these stores, but heck, at 89 cents per fully dressed hot dog and at $3.40 for a freshly-made Cuban sandwich (again, made with PORK products!), these Arabic store prices just cannot be beaten!!!

But, in spite of relatively congenial relations with my local Arabic-speaking grocers (who sell PORK, and also even sell alcoholic products . . . I guess they are not "technically" Islamic anymore . . .), I nonetheless am always living 'life on the edge' . . .

I have taken Tae Kwon Do, and I NEVER plan to use it, but nonetheless, I am ALWAYS thinking about various 'what if' situations.

Take the recent shooting in Illinois for example. Disgruntled student = 7 dead and 16 wounded.

The man who did the carnage apparently has a father who lives in LAKELAND, FLORIDA, just 45 minutes away from where I live!

OR, how about THIS example, just this past week, at St. Petersburg College, the campus in Clearwater (where I will be teaching 'World Religions' this May through July . . .) there was a 'gunman' who was arrested for threatening his girlfriend, complete with a campus lock-down!

WHAT IS OUR society coming to???

I have actually thought about going ahead and buying a hunting bow to protect myself at my apartment 'just in case' all pandemonium breaks out . . . (Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans did result in mass looting and the Lousiania Governor being forced to call in the Louisiana National Guard wanting 'boots on the ground' immediately).

Friends, we in the U.S. live in trying times . . . The DARK AGES of U.S.A. HISTORY!!!

Within these 'New Dark Ages' what we need is an INCREASE in POLICE PROTECTION!

EXPAND ALL LOCAL POLICE FORCES by 30% over the next four years!

Yes, we are living in such violent times, almost like the 'Wild West' even . . . In fact, in Texas, a new "Castle Law" is being put on the books permitting residents to use deadly FORCE against would-be intruders . . .

I believe in non-violence as a Christian. I am also a just-warrior in the tradition of Catholic Theologians St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Blessings and LOVE in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King

Taverns, file-sharing and why LOCALISM is 'in' . . .

2008-02-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

I was just catching up the other day with a close friend from high school (a fellow member of the mighty Bay Conference small school champion "Shorecrest Chargers"), and we were both struck by how important 'local communities' are for the future economic sustainability (and indeed vitality!) of the U.S. and also of the entire Western Hempisphere!

Thank you, by the way, to the U.S. Congress and to George W. Bush for working together to pass the much needed economic stimulus package which returns money to the working class!

Taxes are needed, but when gasoline, food, rent, etc. goes up, it is the working class (not the billionaire boys club!) who takes the biggest hit!

Whether one makes $60,000 per year, but has several children OR whether one is a single man working in construction and making only $25,000 per year, the need for such economic stimulus is sorely needed!

Here is where 'localism' is essential.

When money is given to me, do I 'hoard it' or do I spend (modestly) at the local tavern (great Panera bread style sandwiches!) at the local downtown farmer's market (where I 'indulged' in yummy fresh-squeezed orange juice . . .) or wherever my neighbors will similarly benefit?

People need stable jobs and a livable income.

People buy and sell all of the time, but if LOCALISM is not stressed then we will soon become a nation enslaved; enslaved to the capital-hoarders who drive up mortgages while refusing to pay wages high enough to sustain one's mortgage; enslaved to CEO's (the former CEO of Countrywide Mortgage lending who walked away with 100's of millions of dollars while his company floundered around him . . .); enslaved to whomever refuses to pay an adequate living wage for whatever product, skill, or service that one is selling.

So, rather than McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken, I am pleased that my hard-earned money instead went to the waitress who lives and works in the local area. I am pleased that someone had the brilliant idea of bring a 'juicer' to the downtown St. Petersburg Saturday morning market and so they received my money for a change, rather than some billionaire who runs Publix grocery stores.

Now, in stressing localism, obviously, one must be ETHICAL!

If one copies computer software without it being legally sanctioned, then this is not helping, but instead is HINDERING the economy.

So, yes, support your local economy, but no do not engage in unethical activity in doing so!

Blessings & love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King (DEMOCRAT, PRO-LIFE, PRO-WORKING CLASS)

McCain, Hillary and why we need EITHER!

2008-02-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

The politics of Jesus Christ are concerned with feeding the poor.

Part of feeding the poor, sadly, involves protection of resources, to include food, water and infrastructure. The U.S. Military (including even nuclear weapons . . .) is a sad, sad, necessity of life. NO ONE wants to go kill people!

ONLY socio-paths actually look forward to killing their next Iraqi insurgent, their next Iranian, et al.

No, the true warrior (including MANY good airmen, soldiers, seamen, et al) are committed to only utilizing lethal force to protect the innocent.

Other nations destroy not only the will to live, but even contaminate the food, water, etc.

Whether it was nazi Germany or now communist China that squelched all dissent, other nations are brutal compared to us. Yes, we may have our flaws, but generally we are a more just people, a more honor-bound people, a people less likely to commit genocide.

Call it the 'American experiment in democratic rule . . .' Call it 'checks and balances on power . . .' Call it our nation's founding Judeo-Christian heritage!!!

When all is said and done, we do not commit genocide when other nations do.

This is why I am quite happy to see BOTH Senator McCain and Senator Clinton rise to the top.

A Barack Obama presidency would be a disaster waiting to happen.

Obama was only elected in 2004 to the Senate! Obama lacks the experience to lead!

By contrast, McCain was a P.O.W. for 5 & 1/2 years in Vietnam, survived brutal torture methods by the Viet Cong and comes from an honorable lineage--grandfather was an admiral in WW II and his father was a submarine commander in WW II who not only eventually became a prominent admiral himself, but also read his daily Scriptures during his time as a career military leader!

McCain is a throwback. Maybe we need McCain to lead us.

Hillary would be my second choice, but only because she is a strong supporter of the U.S. Military.

Blessings in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, DEMOCRAT for McCain (or Huckabee, but the polls do not look promising . . .)

How BEAUTIFUL is the BODY

2008-02-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Body of CHRIST (when it is functioning properly . . .) is TRULY a wonder to behold . . .

Whether we are persecuted 'house church' Christians in communist China (Protestant or 'underground' Vatican Catholics . . .), or whether we are free-floating evangelicos in Latin America who give generously to the LORD (the full 10% gross of one's income) OR whether we are the African American church in America trying to bring the FULL TITHE into the storehouse of the LORD (with 'greats' such as Bishop Eddie Long, Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Elder Bernice King, et al), the BODY of JESUS CHRIST is truly AWESOME!

BUT, just when we are successful as a 'Body' (e.g. TV preacher and mega-phenom Joel Osteen or charismatic African American preacher T.D. Jakes . . .), the evil of America rears its ugly head!

How can YOU be successful, dear Mr. or Mrs. Christian man or woman?

Shouldn't you be 'dirt poor' as a Christian?

Well, no!

Father Abraham had MUCH money, but he TITHED 10% (his best Abel, NOT Cain offering . . .), and so the LORD God rewarded him.

Similarly, ole Job was afflicted. Job lost his family, his belongings, etc., but since he persevered in the LORD, he was BLESSED and at the END of the day, Job received back MUCH MORE than he had lost!

Then comes JESUS CHRIST.

Jesus Christ called all types.

Jesus Christ called prostitutes. Jesus Christ called 'tax collectors' (Sorry, Mr. Ron Paul!). Jesus Christ called even 'intellectuals' whether it was the Physician Gospel Writer named Luke OR whether it was the Jewish scribe (and former religious persecutor of the Christian sect . . .) named St. Paul.

And THEN, 50 days after Jesus left, along comes the Holy Spirit!

The early Christian community began SPEAKING IN TONGUES!

Today, the psychologists and psychiatrists, butressed as they are by state police force, would call this 'delusional.'

But, NOT so . . .

The HOLY SPIRIT will NOT be mocked! The Holy Spirit FILLED the first Christians. The Holy Spirit CONTINUED to fill later generations of Christians, whether it was the Early Church (apparently early Church Father, Tertullian) or later Christians.

And where the SPIRIT of the LORD is, there is FREEDOM, there is GENEROSITY, there is an ANOINTED flow of resources. 'Money' is used to control people, making us all slaves to the system. BUT the Holy Spirit required the earliest Christian community (Acts of the Apostles) to turn in all of the proceeds, lay them at the apostles feet and the lo and behold ALL members of the Christian community delighted!

So, if you want to 'get ahead,' then your heart is in the wrong place . . . You can go to Harvard and still be miserable.

You can go to Duke and still end up with a fractured home life.

ONLY through Jesus Christ can you have an abundant life . . .

Love in Christ,
Rob J. King

Thomas, the DOCTOR

2008-01-28T06:16:00.000-08:00

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274 A.D.) was a great compiler of Christian Thought, non-original in thought and consequently, the VOICE of CATHOLIC ORTHODOXY (please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas). And, today, January 28, 2008, on the Roman Catholic Calendar, is the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, DEFENDER of CATHOLIC ORTHODOXY.

So, why venerate a scholar?

Usually, the media will seek out the Mother Teresa types who lovingly care for the poor, the orphan, et al.

Usually, nature lovers (LIKE MYSELF!!!) will look to St. Francis of Assissi and contemplate the splendors of creation (apparently, St. Francis even preached the Gospel to a flock of birds who listened attentively to St. Francis' words about how they were to be grateful to their Creator . . .).

BUT, why honor a 'scholar'?

Well, the answer is simple. Jesus Christ called all types of people to be saints.

Some, like the physician St. Luke, set down an orderly account of the Gospel, complete with the radical reversal of so-called 'power structures' in which prostitutes and tax collectors suddenly were 'in' while the scribes and pharisees were 'out' of power.

Others, like St. Peter the Apostle were MIGHTY in FAITH, and did not possess a formal education, but instead were men who worked with their hands!

Finally, others were the very young, such as St. Therese de Lisieux (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThÃ©rÃ¨se_de_Lisieux) who, like St. Thomas was a Doctor of the Church, but only lived to be 24 years old!!!

Miracles, signs and wonders to this day are attributed to this young French woman who lived a short life, but a life of complete love, love for God and love for others . . .

BUT, why honor a 'scholar'?

Most scholars I know (myself at times . . .) are arrogant, haughty and self-preserving (not very Christ-life I know . . . MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA). But, when the LORD Almighty, Yahweh humbles we intellectuals, then yes, even we can be used to the Glory of God!

So, read up on old St. Thomas!

Maybe, for any fellow scholars we too can humbly follow in his footsteps!

Love in Christ, Rob

Resource Allocation, HOMELAND SECURITY and Why the WEST must be the New World Police Force!

2008-01-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

I am a 'Liberal,' economically, environmentally and regarding racial discrimination.

Like my Father, a Jimmy Carter fan through and through, and like the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I favor the RIGHTS of the poor over the 'rights' of "BIG BUSINESS." I favor a slimming down of Military waste, fraud and corruption, but as a military man (my Father was a 20 year Vet, my Uncle fought in WW II, and I was an Army Reserve Chaplain), I see the need for a STRONG U.S. and Coalition Military in order to safeguard our water, our roads, our "Western Way of Life . . ." From Aristotle in the West to the ancient Roman Christians to medieval Divine Right Rulers such as Charles the Great, I see the need to safeguard all finance, goods and services.

This is not a popular view among some on the so-called 'Left.'

Barack Obama (contra Colin Powell) would be a disaster-waiting to happen. His 'suave' style (and links to Louis Farakhan) are as anti-American and as anti-African American as one can find!

Black U.S. soldiers, airmen, and seamen serve with distinction. BUT, an Obama presidency would under-cut all of these good African American 'brothers and sisters' in arms who defend our nation!

As a Christian, I do kind of like Obama especially since he claims to have given his life over to Jesus Christ (something I think that Obama is sincere about!), but Christian fidelity and competence as the National Leader in the White House are not the same thing. GRANTED a "HOLY MAN" (or Holy Woman) would obviously react more justly than other men and women, BUT (an important but!), all that I see out of Obama is a cheap pandering to his own ethnic group to gain votes!

Martin Luther King, Jr., Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice, YES!!! Amen and Amen!

Louis Farakhan and Barack Obama . . . well, no thanks! That would be a disaster waiting to happen.

Love in Christ,
Rob J. King

For Everything There is a Season . . .

2008-01-14T07:10:00.000-08:00

FRIENDS, In the book of Ecclesiastes (Old Testament), the author of these ancient Israelite WISDOM SAYINGS talks about how there is a season for everything. There is a season for love, there is a season to refrain from love. There is a season for literally "everything under heaven."

Well, my friends, today marks a new chapter in history!

January 14, 2008 is a day that is unlike any other.

January 13, 2008 (Sunday) has come and gone.

January 15, 2008 is tomorrow.

BUT TODAY is a NEW DAY!

As we enter the new year of 2008 fully, let us commit our hearts, love and affection to the LORD Almighty ONLY!

I have tried valiantly to bolster support for a PRO-LIFE cause and it seems like the only 'taker' in this year's Presidential election cycle is Mike Huckabee. Huckabee, unlike the left and also unlike the right (Giuliani is an abortionist . . .) has stated directly that abortion is inherently wrong independent of all other considerations and thus should be outlawed.

Therefore, although I support Democrat economic policies, and anti-discrimination of Democrats, I can no longer support ANY candidate, liberal or conservative who secretly allows the babies of the U.S. to be martyred. Therefore, this November 2008, in every race that would include abortion as an issue, I will vote according to my conscience, and for President, assuming Huckabee would get the nomination, my vote will go to Huck.

HUCK in 2008!

Blessings in JESUS CHRIST,
Rob J. King, for a new, clean, safe-for-the-newborn baby America

Homeless People, the Right to Work and Other Good Ideas . . .

2008-01-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

The other day in downtown St. Petersburg, the City Council passed a much needed expansion of protection of personal property that would keep homeless people from amassing piles of trash or sleeping on public walkways.

As a resident of St. Petersburg I am growing quite frustrated with this problem, especially since churches dot most urban landscapes and there will literally be people begging at the front door of a church, but refusing to actually enter in and join the worship . . .

This situation is in stark contrast to my time in South Bend, Indiana in which I was a Ph.D. student in Ethics at the University of Notre Dame and also an associate pastor in an urban church that had a soup kitchen and a live-in drug and alcohol rehab program.

In South Bend, the 'transient' population (one man who even moved from Gary, Indiana to escape the addictive atmosphere there) was INVITED IN and worshipped, some even coming to adult Sunday School.

Whereas in St. Petersburg, Florida some people literally will dig in the trash can, yet refuse SPIRITUAL HELP, in Indiana, the outreach was not just to get them off of the street, but to get them closer to CHRIST!

BUT, where the CHURCH is, so is mercy. The CHURCH and not the state is the solution to this problem. In fact, it is the CHURCH that actually RUNS most of the ministries in the downtown St. Petersburg area.

BUT, in spite of what the CHURCH can and does accomplish, the Government must do a better job at protecting the RIGHTS of the WORKER! If someone is laid off unjustly, there is LITERALLY nothing the disadvantaged worker can do, except of course apply for another job. PROTECTION against discrimination (ESPECIALLY religious discrimination, but also other forms of discrimination as well . . .) MUST BE IN PLACE.

ONLY by the Government doing ITS part will this problem be fixed.

VOTE FOR JESUS CHRIST, not for a cheap slogan or some guy (or woman) who gets all of the media coverage just because he or she 'knows people.'

LOVE IN CHRIST, ROB J. KING

POLITICS, the 'City-Life' and why history REALLY DOES MATTER . . .

2008-01-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

I just read in one of the Saint Petersburg (Florida) "City-Life" magazines about the pre-U.S. History of this great little stretch of sand called Pinellas County Florida.

I read about the aboriginal settlers who from the year 500 B.C. (likely earlier!) would fish on the Gulf of Mexico coast-line for shell-fish and lived a subsistence-level sea-life.

I also read about the next wave of Indian settlers who came down from the Mississippi coast and continued this sea-faring life.

Finally, I read about how in 1528 (36 years after the "Reconquista" in which Spain drove out the Islamic invaders from the Spanish peninsula . . .) a Spanish explorer named Panfilo de Navarez, some 600 Spanish men and women and (sadly . . .) an unknown number of African slaves landed in this sandy peninsula called Pinellas County.

This original conquest by Spain was then followed in 1539 by Hernando de Soto who brought 520 soldiers with him and re-named the Tampa Bay waters as "La Bahia de Espirito Santo" (English translation is "Bay of the Holy Spirit").

Reflecting on this history, I am always struck by how the history of regions play vital importance in their future.

In the popular movie "Gangs of New York" violence and corruption once ruled the New York City area, and now, as a native-born New Yorker who grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, I am struck by how New York City is to this day ruled by violence and mayhem.

Similarly, the Spanish heritage in Tampa Bay (which pre-dates the U.S.A. by some two and a half centuries) has resulted in a strong Catholic presence and even a strong Spanish cultural heritage that boasts the world's largest collection of works by noted surrealist Spanish painter Salvador Dali!

And again, just as there were slaves in the initial conquest of St. Petersburg, so also has this city struggled throughout its history with both racism and de facto segregation.

So, for good (Catholic and Spanish culture . . .) and for the not-good (European enslavement of Africans), this city is marked by its history.

May the LORD bless and keep you in each of your respective cities.

Love always in Christ Jesus, Rob J. King, Spanish and Irish-English CHRISTIAN

Shinto, US Christianity and Why the West must become 'Born Again'

2008-01-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

I am a student and sometimes teacher of Religion. I majored in Religion at #9 ranked Davidson College (a small Presbyterian school in North Carolina that is on par academically with Harvard, Yale, etc.). I studied Christianity as an M.Div., Th.M. and Ph.D. student. Finally, I have taught "World Religion" to scores of On-Line university students (300+).

In my time both studying and teaching World Religion, I have stumbled across that ancient religion native to Japan called "Shinto."

Sadly, in some recent research that I did on Shinto, the comparisons between it and U.S. Christianity are often quite appalling.

With the exception of strong born again Evangelicals, most of what I am seeing in the U.S. is this syncretistic mix of feel good "Dr. Phil" pop psychology passing itself off as Christianity. Whether it is the Franciscan (Catholic) magazine that I receive or whether it is mainline Protestantism (for example, United Methodism, my former denomination . . .), all that I am seeing is an attempt by some falling away Christians to invoke state authority in order to impose their belief systems (usually heretical!) onto other Christians.

Sadly, Shinto is also a state-supported religion that is focused on 'blind patriotism,' has its shrines to national causes, and is really nothing more than old-style pre-WW II Japanese imperialism mixed with polytheistic worship. In fact, Shinto actually believes that the Japanese are somehow 'divine' and therefore better than all other human beings.

And, like Shinto, in America, we have Christians who eagerly wave the flag, yet ignore the actual words and teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ says that whomever divorces his wife (or husband) causes her (or him) to commit adultery, yet here in the U.S., divorce among Christians is skyrocketing!

Like Shinto, American Christianity might 'look religious' but usually is some watered down version of true Biblical Christianity, often only a type of "Dr. Phil" meets Oprah Winfrey "good advice" channel at best and outright persecution of other believers in Christ at worst.

Therefore, whether it is Franciscans becoming nothing more than pop psychologists or mainline Protestants standing up for homosexuality and abortion (both anti-Biblical), we in the U.S. NEED to be re-evangelized. Come Holy Spirit, move in the hearts and in the minds of the American People. Make us all true blood-bought born again believers in Jesus Christ.

Love always in Christ,
Rob J. King

Christian WISDOM . . .

2008-01-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it."

PROVERBS 3:27

The understanding of 'Wisdom' in the West can degenerate quickly into whatever the news media says.

Well if 89% of Americans say it, then it 'must be truth.' This, my friends, is what is called according to Christian doctrine, a factual error. TRUTH is TRUTH and the ONLY source of TRUE TRUTH is JESUS CHRIST who said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the LIFE."

But, so the media 'spins' what they 'think is true' . . .

Homosexual coupling is no longer called SODOMY (what the U.S. Military STILL calls such nasty, distorted, perverted use of genitalia!). No, the media somehow passes this off as 'okay.'

Abortion is no longer called infanticide (that is the killing of a baby, as it was called from the 400's through the 1900's A.D. in the West . . .). No, now killing one's baby is deemed 'okay' (but abortion is the stopping of a beating heart, tearing little baby limbs apart with grotesque medical instruments just like the Nazi doctors did in WW II).

And so, from Rudy Giuliani to ALL Democrat Presidential Candidates that the News media hoists upon us, we are forced by raw finance to swallow this garbage . . .

BUT, alas, Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, and a Republican front-runner, STANDS FOR TRUTH!!!

ARE YOU LISTENING AMERICA?

THE HAND of YHWH, the GOD of ISRAEL is NOW and forever set against thee . . .

May a NEW GENERATION of RIGHTEOUS, economically sensitive, PRO-LIFE CHRISTIAN LEADERS now run the U.S. May JESUS CHRIST run the U.S. Military. May JESUS CHRIST run the finance that controls the world and the heartbeat of America!

ONLY through Jesus Christ and the TRUTH of the Gospel (INCLUDING not butchering babies so that one can 'move on' with one's career!!!) can we as a Nation now survive the Divine Hand set against us.

JESUS CHRIST is LORD.

Love in Christ, Rob J. King, Democrat for Christ, but ONLY PRO-LIFE

Orthodoxy, Greek Food and the New Christian West . . .

2008-01-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Today I just read how Chris Kavouklis, age 18, won the annual Tarpon Springs, Florida Greek Orthodox Epiphany "cross dive." (Tampa Tribune, January 7, 2008, Metro section, p.1). The Greeks, always the athletically-inclined (they did invent the Olympic Games you know! :-) have this annual Florida tradition of young men jumping into the chilly Florida waters and retrieving a cross.

Well, from the ancient Greek Olympic Games, I too will now embark on a journey, this time as a Professor of Applied Ethics. I normally teach a variety of courses, ranging from On-Line to ground campus, but this spring and summer, I will get to bring the 'wisdom of Greek philosophy' (Aristotle, Plato) to the Greek Orthodox!

Yes, I will be 'speaking Greek to a Greek community' in the form of St. Petersburg College, Tarpon Springs campus! From Aristotle to Plato, but then into the Christian Era (i.e. St. Thomas Aquinas, Natural Law Thinker . . .) I will embark on a journey 'back in time' (Tarpon Springs, Florida was largely founded as a Greek Orthodox ethnic and religious enclave due to the nice Florida weather . . .).

But, as we celebrate pagan Greek philosophy and athleticism in the West (secular version of history, which is distorted historiography that the E.U. likes to hoist upon folks . . .), let us NEVER forget that the Greek community (St. Paul as a Hellenized Jew who spoke and wrote Greek, as well as the entire New Testament being written in Greek!!!) was the first Gentile community to embrace the GOSPEL message of Jesus Christ!

Even today, it is the CROSS and not some silly Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet that young Greek Orthodox men dive into frigid Greek waters to retrieve!

Let us, now as a united Continent of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico look to our Greek Orthodox Fathers in the Christian Faith and eat heartily of the food that only Jesus Christ can provide. The future of the West lies not with scientific advancement, nor does it even lie with human rights, but with the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Amen and Amen!

KURIOSIESUSCHRISTOS (Greek transliteration of the English, "Jesus Christ is LORD")

Love in Christ, Rob J. King, Professor, Scholar and Democrat for Christ

From Criticism to Constuctivism: Barack the New Prez???

2008-01-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

I just read a Newsmax headline that was already using the phrase "President elect Obama . . ."

Now to be fair to Barack Obama, I actually agree with him on a couple of key points.

First, Obama and I agree that U.S. troops in Iraq should be brought home!

Second, Obama and I agree that a black man should serve in the White House!

Now that we are agreed on this, and to be frank, if an African American is what the voters desire, then someone like Alan Keyes (http://www.alankeyes.com/) should serve as President. Alan is intelligent, a strong PRO-LIFER who wishes to PROTECT the lives of babies in utero, and simply a better choice (I actually receive Keyes' mailings on a regular basis).

But, rather than supporting a GOOD man like Keyes (G.O.P. side), the Iowa voters were duped by Obama's charm and good looks. Give me a break . . .

Rob J. King, Christ-alone in U.S. Politics

Thompson, Romney, Hillary & the rest . . .

2008-01-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

Well, the results are in.

Iowa, a grass-roots kind of place, a place with row upon row of fields and one of the top states in the U.S. for its focus on Education has decided to go both liberal and conservative.

On the conservative side, Huckabee scored a major blow, owing largely to his consistent Bible-based ethic and the Midwest's propensity towards Biblical conservatism.

On the liberal side, in an interesting show of force, the liberal Barack Obama won out over Hillary.

Strange how the pundits never see the end result until the final outcome.

Hillary raises the most cash, but ends up in third behind someone who is only a first term senator.

Again, life is strange and life is quite unpredictable.

Blessings in Christ,
Rob J. King

War, Republicans and Why the Democrats will win in '08 . . .

2008-01-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

Technology is the key to survival in the New West . . .

If we ever seek to overextend ourselves in the Middle East then we are in grave danger of compromising our National Security because we will soon lag behind technologically.

The Republican answer is that we are to maintain a 'tough stance' in the Middle East (i.e. V.P. Cheney's aggressive stance towards Iran . . .). Yes, there are some more moderate, less hawkish voices (e.g. John McCain), but by and large the Republicans, although largely Pro-Life, are nonetheless the 'Party of War.' Want to go to war, then vote Republican . . .

The Democrat answer can be a better way. The proper stance towards Iraq is one of measured respect for the Iraqi government, empowering their self-rule, and a presence maintained in Iraq, but without further acts of aggression on our parts.

From former airborne soldiers who are now stridently anti-war to Christian Leaders like myself, it is the Left who will now take the lead.

If you would like to see a STRONG MILITARY that does not have its resources depleted, then Vote Rob J. King.

Love in Christ,
Rob J. King, Democrat, Father, Scholar and Activist

U.F.O.'s, Cocaine Users and the New Democrats . . .

2008-01-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

I just read in today's Wall Street Journal (Wednesday, January 1, 2008, p. A1) about minority Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich's unparalled 'close encounter' with a U.F.O. where he felt "a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind" (according to a new book by that wacky New Ager Shirley MacLaine).

Well, from U.F.O. lovers to former cocaine users, the Democrats really are hoisting up some 'winners.'

To be frank, with the exception of Ms. Clinton, I am not sure if the other candidates have the analytical skills to lead the U.S. (of course, Kucinich probably has his thoughts 'telepathically' given to him by some little green man from Mars!).

No, it seems that intelligence is low on the list of Presidential qualifications . . .

But, if you would like to scribble in a quick vote for "Rob J. King" (still officially undeclared), then you will be electing INTELLIGENCE and most of all a STRONG Jesus Christ-centered economic progressive who won't let your hard-earned dollars be wasted in the quagmire of Iraq.

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King

Selling Out America . . .

2007-12-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

I recently read (Academic Questions journal, Summer 2007, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 177 - 210) a fantastic article on the state of college education. The article in question was about Duke University (my master's degree, M.Div. & Th.M. Alma Mater . . .) and how the school is seeking to shift from an entirely 'leftist' post-modern university faculty to a more 'varied political spectrum' of beliefs and course offerings.

From the 1990's debacle with postmodernist literary critic Stanley Fish (who eventually had to leave Duke to take an administrative position at a state university in the Midwest . . ) to the smorgasbord approach of endless 'choice' among course offerings that lack any sort of conceptual core identity, the author, (Princeton Politics Professor) Russell Nieli, well articulates the problems with not only the elite educational institutions of the U.S.A., but also U.S. Higher Education in general.

Whereas the general population in the U.S. is more highly represented by registered Republicans, the university produces professor after professor (and grad students . . .) who are so leftist in thought that many border on Marxism!!!

Similarly, Duke, in seeking to make a name for itself, like the Lacrosse debacle, had been left with 'egg on its collective face' as the post-modern turn in scholarship has largely been refuted on the grounds of secular rationality alone.

From small liberal arts colleges (e.g. Bethel College, denominational school of the missionary church, Indiana) to large 'for-profit' national university systems (i.e. University of Phoenix and its subsidiaries), the focus on a 'core curriculum' for all majors is a commonplace in 2007 - 2008. From Critical Thinking courses as required for all undergraduates to a focus on secular reason as the basis of the university itself (e.g. St. Petersburg College where I currently teach Ethics), the return to good old-fashioned secular reason (complete with emphasizing fallacious thought!) is returning to America.

But, whereas the appeal to secular reason seems like an intrinsic good, sadly, as the Nieli article states (but never analyzes due to a different scope from the author), much of U.S. Higher Education remains conceptually incoherent!

One can simply sign up for classes (at Duke) and never have to grapple with areas of thought that make one feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. Just like one can go to the West Campus dining facilities and order a 'soup in a breadbowl' (Duke's speciality food, or at least it was in 1994 - 1997 when I served as a Resident Advisor and Area Coordinator at Duke), one can also sign up for whatever highly eclectic curricula that suits one's fancy.

University of Phoenix is the paramount 'marketer' of Higher Education, but as Nieli rightly argues so has Duke struggled to overcome the conceptual incoherence that such 'freedom of unlimited choice' produces.

Whereas at Davidson College (B.A., class of 1994) I was 'forced' (how authoritarian!) to take a freshman level composition course, two religion courses, and courses ranging from history to a concentration in the social sciences, at Duke, it is the 'individual' (not the community . . .) who reigns supreme. Similarly (something that is again outside of the scope of Nieli's research), whereas the Davidson College communal emphasis came complete with MORAL FORMATION in the form of a vigorously enforced Honor Code (automatic expulsion from the college for lying, stealing or cheating!) and a strong emphasis on community service, the 'Duke experience' is simply 'capitalism writ large' with an endless variety of 'choice' that ends up, in the end, producing no choice! One can take the easiest courses (great for the frat boy and sorority girl crowd at Duke who start drinking on Thursday nights . . .) OR simply remain comfortably isolated in whatever intellectual enclave that one chooses and thus can never be challenged to re-think one's perspective.

Again, Duke is not alone, but is simply an example of how U.S. Higher Education, in attempting to increase its 'market share' will end up pandering to whatever cultural or political perspective that will gain it acclaim.

So, there you have it. As a lifetime Duke fan (basketball, and EXCELLENCE in education), I therefore agree with Nieli that even the nation's elite universities have not escaped the Pandora's box of 'unlimited choice' that marks the 21st century capitalist era.

Blessings in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, Democrat and Christian Traditionalist
e-mail kuriosiesuschristos@abidinglifephoenix.com

Connections, How we are the BODY of Jesus Christ . . .

2007-12-29T06:26:00.000-08:00

The other day as I was looking at Facebook (political networking to support a Jesus Christ Progressive Cause!), I looked at the Fuller Theological Seminary network (I have a close friend who just received her M.Div. from Fuller).

Anyways, I saw this guy from Fuller named Rhett Smith who I had actually PARTIED WITH down in Guatemala! (well, you know how 'Evangelicos' PARTY, basically shared a beer or two, and then went home to sleep!). Anyways, it turns out that Rhett Smith has his own 'fan club' and is doing the Third Day/Michael W. Smith type of mass Evangelical marketing. Pretty cool, especially since he is a nice guy, and a strong believer in Christ . . .

Then just today, on facebook, as I was trying to get 'linked in' to the world famous Davidson College alumni network (I did after all party a little with Senator Strom Thurmond's son while at Davidson . . . Strom Jr. was an SAE and I was a Kappa Sig, but drank the same type of 'frat boy beer . . .')

But, although political networking does exist (inside and outside of the Church!) and for a variety of reasons (economic support, missionary work, etc.), WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE between political alliances and TRUE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY?

Well, A LOT!

I can and have worked politically with a family from an Islamic background (even joked that my friend Alen run for Senator some day given his panache for maintaining a good, safe community . . . not to mention his NBA type 3 point jump shot :-)

I am also friends with a Progressive named Chad who is similarly a great guy with whom I can profitably work.

I have been hugged (literally!) by Senator Patrick Leahy (due to shared concerns with the illegitimacy of the Military Commissions Act of 2006--aka the 'Torture Bill . . .')

I have almost bumped into Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (6 inches from him at a cocktail party in Portland, OR).

BUT, given such political networking, how is this different?

WELL, the Body of Jesus Christ has as the primary function (not exclusive function, but PRIMARY) of world salvation. I can play basketball and network with someone from an Islamic background, but I also shared Jesus with him! Similarly, I can work with secularists, but always also for their eternal salvation ONLY known in Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles 4:12).

Do I do this duplicitiously?

Well, of course! ;-)

I want to be the 'Jesus-bait' that then reels them in . . .

I do, however, let the politics 'be politics' and let the eternal salvation 'be about Jesus Christ' (interestingly, contra Catholic Liberation Theology that distorts the Gospel message by mixing in elements of Marxism). To talk of a 'just wage' is fine and agreed upon in Progressive political circles. If this is all someone wants to discuss fine. If they want to know Jesus Christ as their Personal LORD and Savior, ALL the better!

So, friends, if you want to know Jesus Christ as your personal LORD and Savior, then just send me an e-mail and we'll chat!

If you only want to worry about food distribution, cost of labor, etc., then you may also send me an e-mail and we will chat.

Who knows, I could send you in the direction of someone with whom you could work in the future. I followed a high school friend to Davidson College, but brought five other classmates with me! Similarly, I followed three friends from Davidson, N.C. to Duke University Divinity School, but then a couple of more since followed (one is Jason Byassee, my former Resident Advisor whom I supervised--he's now assistant editor of the Christian Century!).

Just send me an e-mail and we'll chat.

Love always in Christ Jesus the LORD and SAVIOR of ALL who call on His Name,
Rob J. King

The God I BELIEVE IN . . .

2007-12-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

"Well, the GOD I believe in isn't short of cash . . ."

--Bono, lead singer of U2

I just posted a comment on ABC News. The online article was concerning the 'Prosperity Gospel.'

Normally I defend the Biblical practice of 'seed offerings' and in MANY cases, this is exactly what the Bible asks of us! The Levitical Priesthood was literally SUPPORTED only by the 10% offering of the Hebrew community.

Similarly, the Patriarch Abraham tithed 10% of his income to the LORD when he met the Priest-King Melchizedek (the order of priesthood that Christ Jesus was born into).

To give is to be Christian.

Sadly, however, as Bono rightly reminds us, OUR GOD is NEVER short of cash. NEED a MIRACLE, then LOOK OUT! Food, clothing and yes, even cash when needed IS GIVEN, but by the LORD'S WILL, not by human manipulation.

Well, here's my comment . . .

I am a Professor of Ethics, a former Methodist pastor . . . As someone who is a member of the Charismatic movement, who speaks in tongues, tithes his income, and even gives seed offerings, sadly, I am in agreement with this critique of the Prosperity Gospel. Jesus Christ Himself in the Beatitudes (Luke's Gospel) said that 'Blessed are the poor . . .' Jesus Christ ALSO said, "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God . . .' Therefore, the Prosperity Gospel is directly contradicting the words of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate LOGOS, and therefore in grave doctrinal error. God does not act the way many in the Prosperity Gospel want to coopt God into acting!

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King

Food, Peace-keeping & American Ingenuity . . .

2007-12-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

"Sanctity is made up of heroic acts. Therefore, in our work we are asked for the heroism of finishing properly the tasks committed to us, day after day, even though they are the same tasks."

--Saint Josemaria Escriva, founder of OPUS DEI

I am ever impressed by the humanitarian emphasis of the U.S. Whereas other nations rape and pillage, when we 'go to war' we do not seek to conquer, only to destabilize a region into them not attacking. This is more or less a 'just-war' from Christian standards, but Christian just-war doctrine prohibits the George W. Bush/Dickie Cheney style 'regime change' emphasis of 'first-strike.'

What impresses me more about the American people (something also noted by Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2) is our propensity to give.

When we people are in need, it is the U.S. (along with Great Britain, Australia, etc.) who actually donate time and money. It is NOT India with its unofficial caste system. It is NOT communist China. No, it is the good old United States of America.

Could it have something to do with our nation's Christian heritage?

Well, the answer is of course YES! Whether it was Asuza Street Pentecostal Revival at the turn of the 20th century out in Los Angeles, California, or whether it was the early Revival frontier religion, or whether it is now the Anointed Preaching and outreach to the poor of Rod Parsley a man who commits his life to setting prisoners free in the Sudan while also feeding the working poor in Ohio, we are a Christian People. And ONLY as a Christian People do we serve others. When India becomes our 'economic partner' what we have is evil corporate 'out-sourcing' to corrupt telemarketers in Bombay who lie, steal and cheat and undercut our wage structure. When we buy too many items from China (usually out of necessity since our bankers and CEO's hoard the cash!), then we are sending our hard-earned U.S. dollars to the communist megalith called Chinese imperialism.

Well, friends, if we do not want to see people starving Sudanese-style in the streets of Los Angeles or South Bend, Indiana, THEN we must COLLECTIVELY return to Jesus Christ!

Love always in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, concerned U.S. Citizen for a better future

The poor, how they are 'poor' and what JESUS says

2007-12-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

I recently read about a GREAT academic conference to be held at Baylor University (a friend of mine studies Theology there . . .) focusing on "Global Poverty."

This particular mission is at the heart of God and therefore at the heart of ALL that I do, write, speak on, etc.

I was blessed to speak on this topic a couple of times at Bethel College (for an Evangelical Progressive "Tony-Campolo" type of Sociology Professor . . .), and within this research, the emphases of much multi-national corporate market-based business seems to be grossly out of touch with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ does, in fact, say, "Blessed are the poor . . ." and that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man (or woman) to enter the Kingdom of God!

Friends, I don't know about you, but this scares me!!!

We live in the land of plenty. Our harvests are plentiful. Our food is cheap. We import low-cost items from China and other nations.

We are a prosperous people.

But, sadly, our prosperity many times is propped up by unjust living, sanitation and working conditions throughout the so-called 'Third World . . .'

The age old question of 'poverty' is that it is a curse (Jesus did say that the poor are blessed, which does not contradict this, but instead reframes the equation by showing how the poor in Jesus Christ are truly filled with HOPE, JOY and PEACE!).

The other answer (the marxist answer) is that capitalism itself exploits people and so they are poor.

Although exploitation does in fact occur, why is it that some grow up in horrific conditions, but through becoming Christians are elevated out of poverty?

The answer is of course the Holy Spirit and the PEOPLE who are birthed by the NEW COMMUNITY in Jesus Christ.

This New People in Jesus Christ are there to support and encourage. This New People in Jesus Christ are there to even lend an economic hand when others turn away.

So, friends, if you would like to see a Pro-Life, CHRISTIAN Republic, please support me in whatever ways that the Holy Spirit specifically tells you . . .

Love always in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King

Staying Afloat in the New America

2007-12-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

Friends,

We live in trying economic times!

I have this old, old photo (black & white) of my Grandpa King and my Grandma King. These two genteel southerners were blessed by having ten children.

Sadly, this was also the time of the Great Depression. So, similar to the TV show "The Waltons," the KING FAMILY learned to make ends meet.

The end result was a burgeoning blessed family.

Today, in 2007 - 2008, we do not QUITE live in a Depression Era, BUT, the economic prosperity that ONCE marked the U.S. is now gone.

2003 we invaded Iraq, rather than being content with our current use of Air Power and 'no fly zones.'

The end result is that our collective tax burden sky-rocketed while crooks in the military (to include civilian contractors!) have literally stolen much of our tax money!

Dick Cheney is obviously one of the chief architects behind this fiasco, and thus I stand FIRM with Senate Judiciary Chair, Patrick Leahy in calling for fiscal accountability of the War in Iraq.

But while the crooks prosper, children go without health insurance. But while the crooks prosper, women are left with little choice but to go without health care (pre and post natal . . .). But while the crooks prosper, hard working men (such as myself!) have to scrape together pennies to eat (university teaching usually pays LESS than the High School system . . .). But while the crooks prosper, Army reserve units have to make do with old, Vietnam era equipment to train with.

So, there you have it. Due to negligence (fiscal negligence by Dickie Cheney and crew!) we are now the capitalist equivalent of old, post-perestroika Russia! Roads go unfixed (South Bend, Indiana!). Dillapidated houses sit abandoned (ANY U.S. inner city) and the 'vaccuum' in leadership is filled with corruption, whether it is the corrupt politician OR the inner city drug lords . . .

BUT, there is a chance. Democracy still lives.

For a different voice, try Jesus Christ!

That's who calls all of MY shots, not some banker with a fat wad of cash to give out like lollipops to his puppet politicians . . .

Love in Jesus Christ THE KING of kings and THE LORD of lords,
Rob J. King

The Empirical Verification of Catholic Thought

2007-12-21T09:56:00.000-08:00

Friends,

The 'doubting Thomas' side of me always wants 'proof' . . .

Perhaps this is why many of my closest friends (similar to Henri Nouwen, great Catholic spiritual writer) have always been 'secular.'

I am a Christian and I believe the core tenets of the Catholic Faith (as contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church). I am also a Charismatic.

But, although I believe much of what cannot be seen with the 'eye' I nonetheless am always looking for 'empirical verification' of Christian Doctrine.

For example, one of the Finalists for Time magazine's "Man of the Year" is Professor Randy Jirtle, a microbiological researcher at Duke University. While leading a small group Introduction to Christian Thought, Professor Jirtle and I quickly became close friends (for the 1999 - 2000 year), and I was simply amazed at how his research verified at the microbiological level central tenets of Christian Doctrine.

Another example is the Catholic Teaching concerning 'Just-War.'

Although it seems like the 'Democrat' position to oppose the War in Iraq, my own intellectual sources are Christian that just happen to (nicely!) add up to the de facto Democrat position as well.

Well, here it is:

Just War in Afghanistan = 70% of Afghan citizens actually support (rather than oppose) American military forces in their country!

UN-JUST WAR in IRAQ (first strike is not a 'just war' since it fails in the jus ad bellum principle of 'war for defense only') = 21% of IRAQ citizens support the presence of American military forces in Iraq!!!

70% versus 21% (source for statistics = The Economist, Dec. 15 - 21, 2007, p. 31)

Hmmm . . .

Are you listening "Dubya"?

Are you listening "Dickie"? (Cheney)

The late Pope John Paul II WARNED you NOT to invade Iraq.

Now, only 21% of Iraq citizens want our troops there.

As a "career military family" (The King house produced VETS in WW II, Korea and Vietnam to include my Father, Chief Damage Controlman, Robert Lewis King!), we KINGS ONLY fight if it is the RIGHT and ONLY option.

My father opposed war in principle, and so joined the Coast Guard.

Now my Father would never 'spare the rod and spoil the child' and so he obviously believed in a FIRM hand, BUT, WAR is for DEFENSE only! Whether it was old German U-boats or cleaning up the mess of an ill-conceived Vietnam war, the KING HOUSE rose to the occasion (similar to the John McCain Family . . .), BUT, we do not condone violence, nor do we invade other's sovereignty 'pre-emptively' . . .

By the way, my dear old dad (in heaven now with Jesus Christ!) was a blood-bought believer in Jesus Christ, a missionary Baptist.

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob King 2008 (undeclared)

Holiness of the Every Day

2007-12-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

Today is the only 'today' that I will ever have!

Tomorrow I will literally be one step closer to the grave (if I don't accidentally 'kick the bucket' tonight by stepping in front of an on-coming bus!!!).

Yesterday is already logged into the computer banks of what has now become my new On-Line existence.

Careful what you 'say' in 'cyber-space' . . .

The F.B.I. might track you, find some 'cookie' linking you to Al Qaida, and if you happen to tick off Dick Cheney, you might just have a police file!

After all, such was the case for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Apparently, even King's wife was still tracked by the F.B.I. following her husband's assassination.

But, all of that is 'yesterday,' correct?

Well . . . no.

Today it is the 'same story' but with a 'different cast of characters . . .'

Racism still exists (just look at the I.R.S. Investigations of Wesley Snipes and Creflow Dollar), yet 'racism' does not seem to be the 'issue of the day . . .'

Instead of racism, military corruption seems to make the front-covers!

Debt escalating out of control and so what did the Bush Administration decide to do (probably just ole Dick Cheney at it again!)???

The Bush Administration decides to build a palace in the middle of the desert! Let's build the 'Death Star' of a U.S. Embassy inside of the Green Zone, and then when Christians in Iraq flee to the north to live among the Kurds, let us just support further Islamic persecution of supposed 'Kurdish separtists' at the hands of the Turks . . .

The 'Crusades' are still alive and well, but what does the Bush Administration do? He sides with the Turks rather than with the Catholics!

Well, as for this Catholic, I am joining my good friend Patrick Leahy on the 'Left' side of the Political Spectrum.

Let us question war-time folly, profit-mongering ('blood for oil' . . .) and all of the bad that has happened since 2003 . . .

Let us gain the confidence of the American people. Truck drivers. School teachers. Nurses. Professors.

IN TIMES OF DISTRESS, I WILL CALL ONLY UPON THE NAME JESUS CHRIST. "NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY MY SPIRIT SAYETH THE LORD OF HOSTS . . ."

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, Patriot for a BETTER AMERICA

Debt, the I.R.S., the U.S. Military and why the U.S. is 'up for grabs'

2007-12-18T09:03:00.000-08:00

Currently the U.S. debt stands (apparently) at some $10 trillion.

In steps Ron Paul, who wants to abolish the I.R.S., the only fair and economically-sensitive type of taxation (i.e. 'flat-taxes' favor the wealthy because food, utilities, etc. comprise a much higher % of income for lower wage earners . . .).

If Ron Paul were elected President, we would have a fiscal nightmare just waiting to happen. Already our debt is ballooning out of control, and now someone like Ron Paul wants to shrink, rather than expand the tax base!

If a Republican gets elected, we should also expect more of the same. Wars that are thrown upon the 20 and 30 year olds of the U.S. Debt increasing due to our retirees. I.R.S. not having enough money coming in due to Neoconservative "Bush-style" tax cuts that seem appealing at first (every child wants instant gratification!), but when applied at the macro level prove disastrous for the running of a free society.

But, if the wrong Democrat gets elected (Hillary, Barack or even John Edwards), we should expect a down-sizing of military forces that looks 'good on paper' (base closings, etc.), but would compromise national security.

My own 'Plan for Renewal' (neither liberal nor conservative, but a Tony Campolo-style Jesus Ethic of Progressive Christianity) would be:

* down-sizing of U.S. military force in Iraq to 10% of current troop levels while consolidating the remaining troops safely inside of the Green Zone only. The Iraqi government would self-govern (and be forced to avoid sectarian violence in a 'sink or swim' model . . .).

* maintaining current U.S. Troop levels in Afghanistan in order to counter Radical Islam.

* Peace talks immediately to be held with all Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders inside of the Green Zone with top level security (including screening of all personnel with electronic bomb and metal detection devices).

* Safe-guarding of American interests by down-sizing only what is in physical danger (troops in remote areas), while increasing use of Air Power.

Sadly, however, from the 'crazy' Ron Paul who wants to abolish the I.R.S. to the somewhat gestapo-like Giuliani to Barack, Hillary and Edwards who would 'gut' our military of needed finance, we are left with little option.

I am a Democrat. I am a Just-War Thinker (wars of defense only in accord with historic Christian Teaching as contained in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas). I am fiscally aware.

VOTE Rob King '08 (undeclared, but testing the waters . . .)

Academia, Profit-margins and why America has lost its edge . . .

2007-12-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

Today I was thumbing through an issue of The Economist. I was immediately struck by the number of advertisements in this fine periodical, but especially struck by the number of European-based Academic fellowships offered.

Sadly, due to an increasing 'commericalization' of our society (everything from Hallmark greeting cards dictating which secular 'holiday' we should celebrate to even education becoming nothing but a 'meat market' . . .), higher education in the United States is over as we know it.

Here are some startling true to life snippets:

* One university (for-profit) that I know of actually is run by a C.E.O. (who ever heard of a "C.E.O." of a university???) who literally only has a BACHELOR's degree (and from some school like Illinois State . . .).

* Other "On-Line" universities (usually corporations that are 'for-profit') are literally only in existence to pad the pockets of so-called 'enrollment counselors' who in actuality are nothing other than slightly better paid telemarketers . . .

* With the advent of Internet curricula, one can literally enroll in these 'On-Line' courses, take out your Federal Student Loan and Pell Grant money and then proceed through an A.A., a B.A., an M.A. and even a Ph.D. all without ever even seeing a 'live' instructor, financial aid officer, dean, etc.

* One university (the one with the bachelor's degree C.E.O.) has as their chief academic officer a nurse who only has an Ed.D. Granted an Ed.D. is fine for the public school system (elementary school, middle school and high school), but to be the 'chief academic officer' at a university is utterly ridiculous

So, while the Euro continues to out-pace the dollar, while Latin America and Africa 'play catch-up' economically, our nation will continue to sink. Dumb, credit card debtors, and with phony On-Line degrees . . . WELCOME TO THE FUTURE U.S.A.

For a different voice, someone who wishes to uphold rigorous academic and professional standards, and someone who can LEAD America out of this quagmire, please be in contact (Rob King, M.Div., Th.M., Ph.D. ABD* at kuriosiesuschristos@abidinglifephoenix.com . . .)

I will offer the American people the very best of scholarship, fiscal responsibility, just wages for just work, and a call for economic justice for ALL hard-working Americans (not just slick telemarketers who lie to the American public!!!)

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob King, Democrat

Whistle-blowers, You-Tube and the New American Election

2007-12-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

Friends, I just received in the mail yesterday my "official" change of Party designation (and change of address) Voter's I.D. card for the State of Florida! It reads . . . "DEMOCRAT"

So, why did I go the direction of the Democratic Party?

The answer ranges from concern for the poor, promoting a sustainable living wage, concern about racism in the G.O.P. to, sadly, and most of all, my personal experience with and increasing knowledge of MILITARY CORRUPTION!

I have seen Military Officers who have almost been forced out for a variety of illegal reasons, I have 'wondered' about Government cover-up in everything ranging from the Pat Tillman fratricide case (shot by his own fellow soldiers . . .) to now, today, I have learned of billions of dollars that have been 'lost' somehow in the reconstruction efforts to re-build Iraq. PLEASE READ THIS LINK!!! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20430153 (PLEASE CLICK).

I have even gone so far as to write Senate Judiciary Chair, Patrick Leahy to inform him about the abuse and cover-up that I have personally witnessed.

But, the 'power' of the corrupt is still ever-difficult to 'track.'

For every whistle-blower there are behind the scenes maneuvers, likely shredding of documents and an attempt to eradicate anyone and everyone who stands and FIGHTS for Constitutional LIBERTY! It is for this reason that, although Ron Paul cannot make a good President, really, the only options left at this point politically are the libertarians who stay loyal to the Constitution and the Democratic Party as led by Senator Leahy . . .

Friends, won't you join this new move politically?

All that I ask is that you STAND FIRM for TRUTH.

If you want to support, just send me an e-mail at kuriosiesuschristos@abidinglifephoenix.com.

Evil can only advance when GOOD does nothing. Please do not let this happen!

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob King, Father, Scholar, Friend of ALL and LOVE of Jesus Christ, KING of kings, and LORD of lords

Michael Vick, Abortion, 'Planned Parenthood' and Racist America . . .

2007-12-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

I just read a commentary by some white guy in the Tampa Bay area (Tampa Bay Times, free periodical . . .) who utterly berated Michael Vick calling not only for his imprisonment, but indirectly saying that now he'll never amount to anything!

This is just plain racism!

The judge rightly upheld societal law concerning cruelty to animals. But, in doing so, as a Professor of Applied Ethics, someone who is deeply indebted to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for questioning injustice, I nonetheless am left wondering about the incongruities of the 2007 U.S. Judicial System.

Roe v. Wade created a supposed 'right' (something unfounded in 1600 years of previous Christian Western history!) to kill one's baby in utero.

Granted, the Supreme Court, as led by three Catholic and one Black Christian Justice (Scalia, Roberts, Alito and Thomas) recently over-turned part of 'abortion law' by declaring that partial-birth abortions are now illegal, but as ads for first trimester abortions published by Planned Parenthood demonstrate, the assault upon life in the U.S. is still well felt.

This, my friends, is neither a Democrat nor a Republican issue! Candidate for President Rudy Giuliani (a man who scares me due to his Draconian police focus) is pro-abortion, but a Republican. I, however, have been a Democrat from 1990 - 2004 and now again a Democrat in 2007 and I am firmly Pro-Life as part of Catholic Christian Teaching on Right to Life issues (not to mention the Constitutional protection of life that Roe v. Wade had over-ridden).

So, there you have it.

American hypocrisy yet again shown.

One can be a white mommy and kill one's baby (unique D.N.A., heartbeat, brainwaves of the baby), but for being black skinned, just for engaging in dog fighting (again, this is horrific and cruelty to animals), Michael Vick gets the hammer.

Well, my friends, if elected President, I would give Michael Vick a pardon, but on the condition that he spend 10 hours a week for two years in community service at a local animal shelter!

As for Abortion, I will seek to reinstate historic Christian Teaching as enshrined in LAW (1700's - 1973) in over-turning Roe v. Wade as both anti-Christian and un-Constitutional on both Christian Theological & Ethical grounds and on the grounds of secular rationality!

Blessings in Jesus Christ,
Rob King

Politics, G.O.P. and the New Liberal Christian Era

2007-12-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

Friends, Tony Campolo, renowed Evangelist and Professor of Sociology, has the "true" view of how Christian Theology and U.S. Politics intersect.

Interestingly enough, this perspective is the LIBERAL political perspective! Campolo, unlike Pro-Abortion Giuliani (G.O.P.), is staunchly Pro-Life, does not support homosexual 'special rights' (unlike the G.O.P.'s current leadership), and is quite LIBERAL in views ranging from racism to economic justice!

Also, just as Bernice King (daughter of M.L. King, Jr.) as a committed Christian Leader (similarly not affirming of special interest groups promoting the 'gay lifestyle') is also as staunch of a Liberal politically as you will find!

So, also I, as a Democrat from 1990 - 2004, and now a Democrat again in 2007 - , will always be 'liberal' not 'in spite of being a Christian,' but BECAUSE I am a Christian!

Whether it is the Economic Justice of the Gospel (give to the poor, tithe 10% of your income, etc.) or racial justice (ALL are ONE in Christ Jesus regardless of race, gender or language) so also will the rational embodiment of the Gospel lead to LIBERAL, rather than 'conservative' political views (views such as abortion, gay rights and physician-assisted suicide are simply immoral, not necessarily political, although the evil part of the left side of politics wants it defined that way!).

No, in the King tradition (M.L. King, Jr., and Rob King ;-), TRUE LIBERALISM is rooted in Jesus Christ.

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob King, Democrat for Christ

Why Ron Paul must LOSE!

2007-12-07T07:34:00.000-08:00

Friends,

We live in dire times. Food banks are increasingly common. People in places like L.A. or St. Petersburg are becoming literal nomads in our formerly prosperous land, living under interstate overpasses, sleeping on the sidewalk in front of churches. One man I saw was literally digging through trash cans for items to shove into his shopping cart.

Well, if we ever had a direct biological or nuclear attack on our infrastructure, we would be in grave danger. National guard units deployed to Iraq. Army Reservists called up to Active Duty. Police Officers already strained to the max enforcing supposed 'immigration laws' that are nothing but anti-Hispanic pandemonium (caused by the secular right of Romney, Giuliani, et al . . . NOT the Religious Right, the SECULAR RIGHT!).

But in steps Ron Paul to supposedly "save the day . . ."

Will he now?

I do not think so.

The Libertarian Political Philosophy although to be admired for its staunch protection of Constitutional Freedoms and non-interventionist approaches to use of military dollars, men, women and arms, is nonetheless fatally flawed as an economic approach to government.

Take this one ill-advised Republican proposal of Senator John Sununu (New Hampshire). Senator Sununu, espousing the typical bourgeois, non-assistance approach to financial domination by free-market principles wants to cut Amtrak train subsidies by 10 billion dollars.

In theory, this Right Political move (saving money!) sounds GREAT! But, alas, like many good ideas, when in theory the work seems sound, the practice is horrific.

Does not Senator Sununu remember 9/11?

Everyone, including myself in travelling to a friend's wedding in Washington, D.C. was literally forced to ride the train!

I was even interviewed on television less than two weeks after 9/11 by a Washington, D.C. area news reporter who asked me about my fears, concerns, etc. with travel after 9/11 . . . The sight of the TV interview? You guessed it. An Amtrak train station!

So, if you want to see bankers run the country while they charge usurous interests rates and then have Libertarians and other Republicans stripping our nation of vital resources, especially back-up infrastructure, then jump aboard the Ringling Brothers Circus of a Campaign called Ron Paul for Prez.

If you want someone who is actually SMARTER than Federal reserve chairperson, Ben Bernanke (himself, a former Chair of the Economics Department at Princeton, but notoriously stupid nonetheless!), then please VOTE DUKE!

Duke University (two master's degrees!) is the only coalition of Religious Freedom, Human Rights Protection and Evangelical and Catholic demographics that can save our nation. Liberals do well at Duke as do 'conservatives.' But most of all, Duke produces the finest, most brilliant minds in the world, minds such as Professor Randy Jirtle, a candidate for Time magazine's "Man of the Year," due to his research in micro-biology.

VOTE DUKE. VOTE ROB KING '08

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, concerned Democrat Christian (undeclared still . . .)

Too much to do . . .

2007-12-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

Have you ever 'taken on' more than you should?

During my second year of Divinity School, I literally almost lost my mind . . .

I was dating someone full-time, I was a Master's of Divinity student struggling through Hebrew (with a Semitics Ph.D. student in the class who busted our class 'curve' . . .), I was a Resident Advisor of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, an Area Coordinator over TWO sections of dormitories (a law student freaked out and dropped her section!), a club football player for Duke (post undergrad 1-AA player who teamed up with a Furman University Linebacker . . .), and finally a Youth Minister at Duke University Chapel while also serving as Editor of The Between Times Divinity Student newspaper . . .

Needless to say, I had 'taken on' more than I should . . .

But, somehow, through the Grace of God, I, armed with my brand-new MacIntosh Apple computer word-processed my way through that year, and eventually finished with a 3.6 GPA having taken advanced seminars in Kant, Barth and Systematic Theology (alongside of Ph.D. students from Duke's Department of Religion who utilized academic philosophical words such as eudaimonia which I had to always run to a dictionary to look up! :-)

But then, my life got EVEN BUSIER!

I served as a Methodist Pastor over two churches in the outer Charlotte Interstate beltway area, resisted the urge to EVER become a 'seeker-friendly' watered-down church (instead, I chose, High Church LITURGICAL EVANGELICALISM just like John Wesley, Methodism's founder . . .), played softball 'with the boys' (TWO men's church league teams), wrote article upon article to various Christian newspapers, including some Pro-Life Writing, and then eventually went back to the Academic World of Th.M. studies, then Ph.D. studies, all with some of the top Theologians and Ethicists in the World! This was after all Duke and Notre Dame we are talking about!

But now, as I enter a more mature season of life (complete with grey hair on my sideburns!), I realize that as Thomas Merton put it, "No Man is an Island . . ." I need help!

Please support this grass-roots POLITICAL CAUSE . . .

I am undeclared at this point, but TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Ron Paul would run our country into the ground, making it something out of the 19th century. Giuliani just scares me! Hillary and Obama, well, no comment (other than I am much smarter than him and would want Condoleeza Rice over EITHER of them because she's so darn smart, being the former Provost of Stanford).

VOTE ROB KING. FOR INTELLIGENCE. FOR COMPASSION. FOR JESUS CHRIST . . .

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, committed Christian Father of two

Ron Paul and the WORST possible politics for the U.S. . . .

2007-12-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

I recently learned from an 'inside source' in the Ron Paul campaign (grass-roots) how the Ron Paul campaign actually has the audacity to have its volunteer staff 'self-fund' things like bumper stickers, campaign placards, etc.

When I heard this news, I kept my mouth closed quite shut, but inwardly a rage welled up inside of me . . .

Just like places such as the University of Phoenix-Online (former employer), now the U.S. Post Office (another "inside source") and it seems likely the military even, such "out-sourcing" of expenses seems to be "all the rage" in our POST-REPUBLICAN ERA FINANCIAL MELT-DOWN!

From utility companies to pay phones being ripped out of storefronts it seems like the move towards 'privatization' has left a GAPING HOLE in the U.S. domestic economy!

Whether it is the University of Phoenix-Online expecting its professors to 'front the bill' for their own computer access or the military similarly expecting Reserve soldiers to 'pay for their own mass transit' to show up for drill duty (TRUE STORY and against ARMY REGS apparently!!!), this 'privatized society' is a colossal nightmare and a looming ECONOMIC DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN!!!

Well, friends, whether it is the Public Library system (where my Mom supplemented my Catholic parochial school education with regular trips to check out books in order to learn how to READ!) or whether it is our Parks & Services (now often a place where only the homeless camp out indefinitely due to no Government oversight other than to arrest these poor folks . . .) it seems like the days of the American "Commonwealth" are OVER . . . OR, if the Democrats can have a TEN YEAR REIGN over the polluting, wealth-at-all-costs Republikaaners (left of center Christian democracy is my own affiliation!!!) then MAYBE our nation can be saved fiscally . . .

So, if you want to be shelling out your own hard earned dollars for your own light poles, manhole covers, running water, electricity and food because Armageddon has just arrived and the Ron Paul-ites have taken over with their "back-stabbing don't pay tax to support your fellow man" rogue political philosophy ("good in theory, but without taxes, we don't have public utilities anymore . . ."), then cast a vote for the libertarians . . .

OR, if you want a Pro-life, but corporate slut known as Republicanism, vote Romney.

BUT, if you want a TRUE grass-roots candidate, then get the ball rolling. My rich friends from Duke will actually PAY for the bumper stickers so that you don't have to . . .

Love in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, Christian Radical politician and wanna-be scholar who still needs to finish a dissertation! ;-)

Say, are you a Democrat?

2007-12-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

I just tried to add Democrat Howard Dean to my list of On-Line "Facebook" friends.

Seeing as how the G.O.P. is not responding very well to its Christian constituency, I figured, why not? Let me just find some good Jimmy Carter Evangelical and Catholic Democrats and then see which way the proverbial 'cookie crumbles.'

I already found one such 'friend' in University of Phoenix alumnus Chad Lupkes, a faithful Father and husband, a true "family values" type guy.

I also have a close friend (big fan of Howard Dean) who is this big Southern Baptist guy who went to Harvard for his master's degree (Duke is better obviously!) and who is similarly 'Democrat through and through . . .'

Finally, my Dad, although fairly apolitical (we are a career military family, but I was a 'dependant' of a military retired man obviously) was nonetheless a life-long Democrat (who similarly eventually voted for Bush over the Christian issues that his Pentecostal preacher made him more aware of . . .).

So, although I definitely view abortion as one of the greatest moral evils to ever exist, my hope and prayer in Jesus Christ's Name is that bit by bit that side of the Democrat family tree will eventually utilize good old rational secular thought and see how the biological details of babies in utero compel us as a People to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Let's pray for the future. From abortion to unjust wars to medicaid to homelessness protection, perhaps the Democrats are ready for good Jimmy Carter fans to return to the political fold.

Blessings in Jesus Christ,
Rob J. King, Christian Politician

LAW, unjust 'law' and the Eternal Law

2007-12-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

In Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s now famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (written on scrap paper after being arrested by a Birmingham police officer for having the audacity to 'parade without a permit,' which is a violation of the Constitutional right to free assembly!), Dr. King describes the difference between TRUE law and false law.

True LAW (according to Dr. King) is only the LAW that is in accord with the Divine Law (as cited by Dr. King according to the medieval Catholic scholastic distinction of St. Thomas Aquinas).

False law is that which is not in accord with the DIVINE LAW!

So, what does this mean?

Should we stop paying our taxes just because we feel like it? (or happen to be a Ron Paul supporter!)

Should we ignore societal law?

Which laws should be obeyed? Which laws should be ignored?

Am I free to wander across the street while cars are rushing on, claiming that the yellow caution light is not 'in accord with the eternal law'?

Well, no.

The Eternal Law is the Law of God. The Natural law of creation (for example, males mating with females in each of the animal species) and the Eternal law is that which has been handed down to us from Sinai . . .

Yes, there are Ten Commandments that, at one point, were the basis of Western law itself (not now it seems in the U.S.) as well as the rest of the Torah, that Jewish moral code that similarly prohibited everything from perjury to not allowing interest on loans to accrue past a period of seven years.

Is it not striking that even our beloved 'credit reports' are wiped clean every seven years?

The source of this practice is of course the Jews!

It was the Jews (not the Gentiles, like you & I) who started the practice of debt cancellation.

But, the society founded by the Jews, Christendom is now in decline . . .

Maybe a new President, someone who actually likes the Jewish people and doesn't just pay lip service to Israeli-U.S. relations, will actually take center stage.

As for me and my house, give me that old time Jewish religion, complete with Bankruptcy protection from creditors (not generally a strong suit of the G.O.P.!), complete with prohibitions against perjury and other circumstantial evidence in court.

Blessings in Yeshua the Anointed One of YHWH,
Rob J. King