New Testament Commentary: Matthew

Matthew, Chapter 1
1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
3And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
4And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
6And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
7And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
8And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
9And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
10And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
11And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
12And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
13And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
14And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
15And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

It has been supposed by previous commentators that Matthew included this abridged genealogy of our Lord to convince a Jewish audience that Jesus was the legitimate legal heir to the throne of David. . .one cannot imagine many Jews, either in the first century AD or in our own time, bowing their knees to the Lordship of Christ based upon the pedigree. At best, the Jew’s skeptical response will remain: “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55). . .and at worst, they will identify Christ with the Talmud’s heretic *Yeshu,* who is condemned to boil in excrement in Hell (Gittin 57a).

If one accepts the New Testament as the inspired word of God (II Timothy 3:16), one might ask why the Almighty would have this genealogy included? The most astounding miracles ever seen on earth, the raising of the dead (Mark 5:35 – 43), healing of the blind (Matthew 9:27 – 29), etc. are covered in a handful of verses, yet here 17 verses are spent on a genealogy that will convince no one of the Christ.

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness (Matthew 3:13 – 15).

So it may be also that this genealogy is included: to fulfill all righteousness. . .the genealogy as the meticulous work of God, dotting all His cosmic i’s and crossing all His cosmic t’s. . .

Unusual for a Bible genealogy, five women are named, of which at least two were Gentiles (Rahab and Ruth). . .

Of these women’s stories, one in particular has always been a favorite:

Tamar (Genesis Chapter 38): Judah picked Tamar to be the wife of his first-born son, Er. Er must have been an unsalvageable miscreant, however, for we are told he “was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.” After the Lord dispatched this reprobate, Judah gave Tamar to his second son, Onan, who, by the law of the levirate marriage, was supposed to *lay* with Tamar, that she might have a child to continue Er’s name and receive Er’s inheritance. Onan did, indeed, frequently *lay* with Tamar, but not wanting his dead brother to have an heir, he refused to ejaculate inside her. . .he would dismount the poor girl before climax and *spill his seed on the ground* (at least the ill-treated Tamar was spared the additional indignity of the modern practice of a *facial*). The LORD took note of Onan’s selfish disobedience, and removed him, also, from the Land of the Living.

Judah was therefore left with just one remaining son, Shelah. . .knowing only all-too-well Shelah was cut from the same cloth (the Canaanitish Shuah) as his brothers, and thus hoping to hide his probable moral and sexual dereliction from the LORD, Judah sent Tamar back to her father’s house. He told her he would bring her back when Shelah was ready to marry. . .but, of course, he never did.

The years passed. . .Egg after egg from Tamar went unfertilized. In our sophisticated age, women can remain single and childless, and it’s of no consequence. . .women can work and earn their own keep. . .they are *liberated* to live just as futile of an existence as men. Not so for Tamar. . .she lived back in the day when women were *oppressed.* She needed a son to secure her livelihood. With her biological clock winding down, Tamar dressed herself up as a whore, and seduced Judah:

When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. . .(Genesis 38:15 – 17).

Ha ha ha. . .you have to chuckle. . .imagine a similar exchange in our day. . .imagine having a goat on a leash, and bringing it up to some poor negress crack whore on a Highland Park, MI street corner. . .“Git dat crazy-ass dog out my face!”

Well. . .but anyway. . .old Judah didn’t spill his seed on the ground. . .no, indeed. . .he planted it right in Tamar, and she got her heir. . .in fact, she got two sons, the twins Pharez and Zarah.

A few things about this story:

One) There has been, down through the centuries, a tradition equating *Onanism* with masturbation, which suggests Onan was killed by God for being a wanker. . .but this is just an example of “making the word of God of none effect through your tradition” (Mark 7:13). Onan’s sin was greed. He *spilled his seed* so his dead brother wouldn’t have an heir, thus increasing his own inheritance.


Two) Though at least two Gentile women are included, it would seem God was determined to have Tamar, and not the Canaanitish Shuah, in the Messianic line, no matter how hard Onan and, later, Judah tried to keep her out. One might wonder what was so special about Tamar. Probably nothing. God would reach out from the other side and pick a good-looking chick every now and then (Sarah, Rachel), but the *heroes* of the Bible are mainly human mediocrities. . .cowards with trophy wives (Abraham), stuttering fugitives (Moses), bipolar adulterers (David), etc. God is the star, not man (despite the efforts of organized religion’s PR hacks to repackage these oddballs as spiritual Supermen, for the purpose of promoting today’s religious hucksters as being the latest in a line of *Great Men of God*).

Being picked by God for a part in His master plan does not guarantee a life of limousines and red carpets. . .in this, Tamar is typical. She was, essentially, a human bowling ball: picked up, fingered and thrown in the gutter by a series of low-lifes. One can easily imagine the horny Onan jack-hammering poor dry Tamar for two minutes and thirty seconds, then violently pulling out, grunting and spilling his seed all over the place as he fantasized about his increased inheritance, never even looking at Tamar, and leaving her sore on her bed to rub the oil of myrrh on her chafed genitalia. And then the indignity of Tamar having to play the whore and seduce her father-in-law, what a chore that had to be, teasing a the seed out of the old geezer Judah. . .all just to secure her *social security.* And when she got it, when she birthed the twins Pharez and Zarah, she was left alone to raise them.

Tamar, the single mother, abused by a string of irresponsible men. The more things change, the more they stay the same. How many millions of Tamars in our Amerika? Forced to whore themselves, in one form or the other, because some deadbeat is too immature, too selfish to fulfill his obligations.

Of course, the difference between Tamar and the average Amerikan single mother is that Amerikan women make their own bad choices about for whom they spread their legs. . .still, considering the grossly sexualized culture they are born into, one can retain a degree of sympathy for the Amerikan demi-Tamars.

Three) Because of man’s depravity, God’s plan is often continued in untidy fashions, as was the case with Tamar. Christ was the only one able to navigate squeaky-clean through this ugly world man has created. . .the rest of us get sullied from time-to-time. . .contemporary Amerikan Christians seem scandalized by this. . .perhaps they imagine they are already clothed in fine, clean white linen (Revelation 19:8), and that is why they rail against faggots, abortionists and other assorted sinners. . .but in doing so they risk judging another man’s servant (Romans 14:4), for who knows that God cannot reach into the darkest sewer, pluck out a human turd and use him or her to further the Divine Plan?

Our Lord once observed:

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (John 12:25).

One can easily imagine poor Tamar when reading these words. . .and in her life of misery in this ugly world, she doubtless never imagined she had been picked by God to continue the Messianic line. . .she lived a lowdown life but was given a special place in the Eternal Line of the Kingdom of God.

Matthew, Chapter 1
18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

The Virgin Birth of Christ. . .the Parthenogenesis of Christ. . .

There has been some recent bluster concerning evolution and intelligent design. Not surprisingly, the blowhards on both sides of the *debate* miss the mark.

The apostle Paul advised:

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. . .(I Timothy 6:20 – 21).

There you have the evolution/intelligent design debate: vain babbling.

What is most amusing is these babblers, clouded in the steam of their own over-heated blubberings, have lost sight that the foundation of each of their belief systems is based on the same principle: virgin birth, or parthenogenesis (for the Christian, this would also include Adam and Eve).

What is most sad are these Christian hicks, who would have a hard time spelling DNA, let alone explaining it, trying to use it to prove God.

“Ya see, fellers, this here DNA stuff is so gosh-dang complicated and all, why, it weren’t possible fer it ta jes pop out o’ thin air. No, sir, some real smart being had to a been there ta mix the D with the N and the A.”

What a sorry spectacle, what a sorry testimony for the faith. . .all these Christians running around, trying to cast out science with science. It’s a losing proposition.

If they are that insecure, that they need everybody to believe what they believe, if they need *science* to validate their beliefs, then they need to examine their faith. What God has chosen to reveal about creation should be enough for them:

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:19 – 20).

The truth is, most Christians in Amerika have been seduced by science. . .they rely more on science than on God. . .they take the same anti-depressants as the infidels. . .they are just as afraid to depart this earth as the infidels (look how maniacally they tried to keep poor Terri Schiavo from Christ. . .they wanted her to be kept on earth as long as possible, because they themselves want to stay here for as long as possible, no matter in how degraded of a condition. . .what lack of faith that Christ awaits them!).

So now they want their second god, science, to reassure them of their first God, the Creator. . .pathetic. . .they love their life in this world so much, they make fools of themselves to get the world to love them back.

Of course, the infidels have their fools, also. . .the haughty High Priests of Scientism:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:21 – 23).

The High Priests of Scientism sneer at their Creator. . .imagine Tesla turning on his radio and hearing it insult him. . .the nerve!

The great geniuses of the day dismiss the virgin birth of our Lord (and Adam and Eve) as an old wives’ tale. . .they dismiss their own birth, then. . .for what is abiogenesis except for a virgin birth? They applaud their own spontaneous generation, while they hiss at the incarnation.

One can only marvel at these blind Pharisees of Scientism. . .they scoff at the virgin birth of our Lord, then, lacking an answer to explain the transition from asexual to sexual reproduction, they must insist upon billions of virgin births to bridge binary fission to meiosis and fertilization. Truly the Priests of Parthenogenesis strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

One might register the argument the Priests of Scientism reject any creator behind their virgin births, yet when these proud little men tried to invent themselves in a chamber of glass tubes and flasks filled with water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen, they summoned the god of lightning to breathe the spark of life. Here they unconsciously embraced Christ’s metaphor:

I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Luke 10:18).

For their god is the father of all proud little men who seek to exalt their thrones above the stars of God.

Matthew, Chapter 1
19Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
20But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.
22Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called His name JESUS.

Joseph. . .Mr. Mary. . .the Blessed Virgin’s caddy. Here is the blandest of Bible *heroes.* His job was to keep Mary’s womb from being polluted and to drive her to Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth. After that, he was to chauffeur Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Upon the return to Nazareth, he becomes the very definition of superfluous. “Just stand over there in the corner, buddy, and don’t mess things up”. . .but even this simple task may have proven difficult.

Since Matthew labels him a *just man,* Joseph must have been a decent Jew, and doubtless followed all their arcane laws, etc. . .he probably didn’t even masturbate, just waited for wet dreams (this is, in all probability, how narcolepsy started. . .a bunch of ultra-orthodox Jews, standing around horny, wishing real hard they could fall asleep and dream they were Solomon, rolling around with 700 wives and 300 concubines). Thus, already accustomed to celibacy, and with the religious fervor that must have followed the angel of the Lord’s news that Mary was carrying the Redeemer, it could not have been too difficult for Joseph to refrain from *knowing* Mary.

One might ask: “Could a religious Jew, convinced his virgin bride had given birth to his people’s Redeemer, ever in good conscience defile with his own impure penis the birth canal through which the Savior enters the world? Wouldn’t some kind of Christo-Genital phobia be expected, which would leave Joseph permanently impotent in the presence of Mary?” A good Jew wouldn’t even fart in Yad Vashem, so how could Joseph ever have wanted to have sex with Mary?

Though none of us have ever experienced the religious ardor that must have gripped Joseph after his dream visit from the angel of the Lord, and which must have been refreshed by the Deicidal intrigues which prompted the flight to Egypt, we know from our own meager examples, and the life histories of Bible figures, that religious mania, even the most genuinely inspired, wears off, evaporates, and we descend again from the heights of spiritual ennoblement to the depths of human carnality. Even so for Joseph. . .

So he *knew* Mary. From the Biblical record, it is clear Joseph and Mary had four sons and at least two daughters (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3).

Let us for a moment wonder at Mary’s attitude toward Joseph’s sexual demands. . .

One can suppose Mary’s religious dedication to be more durable. . .after all, she had a maternal bond to the infant Christ. . .it would not be unusual, therefore, for her to have preferred to remain a virgin, and devote her life to the Christ. If one believed oneself to be the Handmaiden of the Lord, would one really want to be troubled with the burden of the commonplace human spawn? The ordinary marriages of the mass of human nonentities are chock full of sexual tension. . .so what type of sexual tension must have existed between Mary and Joseph?

Considering Joseph again, it would only be natural he expected a little gold dust to be sprinkled down upon him from the heavens. The Jews have a blind spot in regard to their prophets: they cannot see the predicted Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53, etc.). They expect only the Redeemer King, who would restore the glory of the Kingdom of David. Therefore, wouldn’t the Messiah be raised in glory? And so wouldn’t His caretakers achieve a lofty station in life? But for Joseph, after returning from Egypt, it was back to the sticks of Nazareth, of which Nathanael would ask *can anything good come from it?* (John 1:46).

Joseph had to wonder about this, as he returned to the drudgery of his previous life. And over the years, though Jesus would display His astonishing superiority, there would be nothing of the glory of David.

One might well ask if, over those years, Joseph came to doubt the dream of the angel of the Lord? So it may be that, at first, Joseph wanted to *know* Mary as a kind of consolation prize, as it had to be evident very early on he would not be leaving his humble station in Nazareth for a seat near a throne in Jerusalem.

Joseph would have more in common, of course, with his natural born sons. . .and it may be that he began to use Mary as a breeder in order to create more and more distance between himself and this enigmatic child called Jesus. . .

What happened in that household, as Joseph’s children were added? Mary could never favor them the way she favored Jesus. And what would Joseph’s attitude be, observing his own flesh-and-blood taking their mother’s backseat? One could insist Jesus had a fairy tale upbringing, and that Joseph, never doubting, was always the good sport, even though he had no earthly material gain as Jesus’ caretaker.

But we know Joseph’s sons did not believe in Jesus (John 7:5). Where did this doubt originate? From Mary? Unlikely, for there is no evidence Mary ever doubted. From amongst themselves? Possibly. But we must also consider there is no evidence Joseph’s daughters doubted. Would it be unreasonable to picture a household with Mary and the daughters on one side, and Joseph and the sons on the other side?

For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:35 - 37).

If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26).

The greater cosmic spiritual truth of these sayings would not be invalidated if Christ Himself had analogous local experiences.

Sometime in Jesus’ life between age 12 and age 30, Joseph died. Unlike the other famous *patriarchs,* his passing goes unnoted in the Biblical record. After Christ’s birth, there is no mention of him in the gospels, save for as a sidebar in the famous *missing Jesus* anecdote of Luke 2:41 - 49. There is not a single word of Christ’s recorded in the New Testament concerning Joseph. As He was dying on the cross, our Lord entrusted the care of Mary not to any of Joseph’s sons, as would be the custom, but to His disciple John (John 19:25 - 27).

Is it unreasonable, at the very least, to infer a distant relationship between Jesus and Joseph?

We often think of the only pain in Christ’s life at His betrayal, trial, scourging and crucifixion. . .the last few hours of His life. But what must His childhood have been like?

What would He have in common with anyone around Him? There is very little of Jesus’ life prior to age 30 revealed in the Bible, but after He begins His ministry, there is frequent mention of Jesus’ going off alone to the desert or the mountains. . .this may have been a lifelong trait. . .Jesus the Loner. . .Jesus the Outsider.

He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not (John 1:10 – 11).

Why should His childhood have been any different? In fact, He would have been less well received as a child than as an adult. . .adults would have been intimidated by His supernatural intellect. . .and what would He have in common with children of His own age? It is not that He would have been a stereotypical *goody-two-shoes* that normally rambunctious children ostracize, but it would be His alien nature. Here was a being who at age 12 was already fixed upon doing His Heavenly Father’s business (Luke 2:49). . .thus what childhood *peer* could Christ have had? Who could draw near to the Word made Flesh? It would not necessarily be that other children were antagonistic, but perplexed and at a loss as to how to *socialize* with the only begotten Son of God. . . Jesus would thus remain outside their circle.

In the well-known *missing Jesus* anecdote, we are told when Jesus was 12 years old, the family makes a Passover pilgrimage to the Temple:

And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance (Luke 2:43 - 44).

A whole day passes before they even realize Jesus is missing. Even in His own *family,* He was always on the outside. . .so much so that His absence is not immediately apparent.

His disappearances must have become more and more frequent, for as an adult, He seems not to have been recognized by those who should have known Him (for example, His *cousin* John the Baptist cannot identify Him at the baptism—John 1:33).

As an adult, Jesus placed Himself in league with the homeless:

And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head (Luke 9:58).

These musings on the relationship between Jesus and Joseph are not meant to suggest Joseph died in unbelief, or that he was hostile to Jesus. . .only that one can reasonably infer a distance between the two. Joseph, plagued by doubt and broken dreams, can be viewed as a sort of Ultimate Spiritual Everyman, struggling against his own corrupt nature to remain faithful to the promise of the Redeemer.

As for Jesus, He may well have been the loneliest man who ever lived. . .


Matthew, Chapter 2
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.
3When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
7Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also.
9When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
12And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

The Wise Men. . .they were probably Zoroastrian astrologers from Persia (one of them perhaps in the genealogical line of that modern Persian, Ahmadinejad, who likewise *troubles all Jerusalem?*).

What *star* did the Magi see? It’s doubtful it was the arcing fireball of Giotto’s *Adoration of the Magi* or some spectacular supernova as commonly depicted in other works of art. After all, the pseudo-Jew King Herod and all of Jerusalem seem to have been unaware of any signs and wonders in the sky.

These travelers to Judaea were *magi*. . .highly skilled in whatever esoteric astronomical art they practiced. . .these weren’t some ignorant touristy boobs gaping in awe as they stumbled from one Las Vegas neon light show to the next.

No, whatever the magi saw, it was doubtless unobserved by the uninitiated. This was as it should have been. . .the celestial object as humble as the birth of the being it marked.

It is not surprising when notified the *King of the Jews* had been born, Herod was *troubled.* Not being a *religous* man, he would logically view this new-born *King* as a threat to his little Jewish satrapy.

What may be surprising is the reaction of the Jews’ chief priests and scribes. Made aware their long-awaited *King* may have been born, not a one of them bother to go to Bethlehem to investigate. The magi must have traveled for months to cover a distance of more than one thousand miles, but the *chief priests* couldn’t be bothered to journey six miles to Bethlehem.

But then, like their pseudo-Jew King Herod, these were probably not *religious* men, either. Even though had they been familiar with their own prophets (notably Daniel), they would have been aware the timing for the birth of the Messiah was at hand, they seem not to have believed. These were arrogant people, who trusted in their race to save them (Matthew 3:9) and therefore they probably discounted any news of their *King* which came from *gentiles.* And these were people ignorant of their own scriptures (Matthew 22:29) and would continually miss during Jesus’ life the *signs of the times* (Matthew 16:3). Additionally, these were political people, more interested in maintaining their own miniscule sphere of influence within the Roman Empire than with seeking the Kingdom of God (John 11:47 – 50).

Arrogant, ignorant, political. . .those were the Jews of Christ’s day. Arrogant, ignorant, political. . .these are the Christians in Amerika of our day. . .just picture Billy Graham limping to the White House to bless the wickedness du jour. . .or Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez. . .or the scholarly Bob Jones III, who baptized the war in Iraq with this unique twist on the blessedness of peacemakers: “I don't see how anybody who loves peace could really be against this war.”

Well, we will have ample opportunity, as the commentary is continued, to further beat the dead horse that is Amerikan Christianity. Let us return our attention to the Wise Men. It would seem from the Biblical record they were members of a very exclusive club: givers to the Savior. Though our Lord was undoubtedly the most generous individual to ever walk the earth, doling out healings, exorcisms and free meals to thousands and thousands, and, His most unselfish and valuable gift of all, His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28), He was answered with a surprising degree of ingratitude. He Himself remarked at least once upon this lack of appreciation:

And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole (Luke 17:12 – 19).

From this telling episode, we can extract a small parable of the Jews: they took what they could from the Lord, then turned their back on Him.

As for the Wise Men, I have often wondered whether the Lord, in later years, personally thanked them for their pilgrimage and gifts? Or, like the woman who gave Jesus an alabaster box of spikenard, was their mention in the gospel record their thanks (certainly sufficient), an eternal memorial to their kindness and generosity (Mark 14:3 – 9)?

The Bible is mysteriously silent concerning Christ’s years from age twelve to thirty. Where fact is absent, legend appears. Among the *missing years of Jesus* fables, we are told Christ returned to Egypt to learn the magic of the hekau, or that He traveled to India and Tibet to study the mysteries of the eastern charlatans, or He sailed with His Uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, to Great Britain:

And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the Holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark Satanic mills?—William Blake, 1804

Of course, there is nothing Jesus could have learned in Egypt, India or Tibet. . .so what would be the point of our Lord traveling to any of these lands, or to Britain? Vacation from His alleged work as a carpenter? No.

No, if Jesus did any traveling during His *missing years,* I find it would be more befitting His character to imagine Him making a long solitary trek to Persia. . .the lone Christ, traveling a thousand miles on foot, to thank the magi and to personally bring them the gospel, the full meaning of the good news of the sign in the stars they observed so many years prior.

And one could well then imagine, years later, our Lord remembering this great mission, as He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves (Matthew 23:15).


Matthew, Chapter 2
13And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.
14When he arose, he took the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
15And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My son.
16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
17Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
21And he arose, and took the young child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
23And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

It must be supposed Satan imagined he had defeated the Almighty when he successfully tempted Eve.

I can picture the Adversary chuckling contentedly to himself as he watches the bewildered Adam and Eve sewing fig leaves together to cover their nakedness, and then trying to hide themselves from the LORD God in Eden (Genesis 3:7 – 8). . .

[The Leader reveals his spiritual ignorance when he makes statements such as *we are good, they are evil*. . .*they* are subject to the same supernatural forces *we* are. . .*they* are not the enemy. . .to believe that *evil* can be removed from the world with Helter-Skelter bombing attacks is childish. *We* may think we are removing evil when we bomb a *terrorist,* just as *they* think likewise when they bomb *civilians*. . .nothing is destroyed except corrupt flesh. . .evil moves on to a new host.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).

Man’s weapons are useless against these principalities, powers and rulers. . .and when he stupidly uses them, thinking he is *fighting evil,* he is really only serving evil. . .]

[Re: Genesis 3:7. . . And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. . .it would therefore appear the fist manifest consequence of sin was *nudity.* As a response, the *fashion industry* was born. The oldest profession is not prostitution, but *fashion design.*

We should not call Kate Moss, Carmen Kass, Karolina Kurkova, etc., *supermodels*. . .we should call them *Eves,* for when they slink down the catwalks, covered in the latest fig leaves, they minister the Sacrament of the Apron, in remembrance of their mother, Eve, the First Model, the First Sex Object. . .

The Sacrament of the Apron

*Fashion,* at its heart, may be nothing more than a Satanic art, meant to celebrate the Fallen Woman. . .

Satan, for those brief hours in Eden, must have thought he had captured all humanity for eternity. . .

Then the LORD God issued the first prophecy of the future Redeemer. . .it is interesting to note this prophecy is addressed by the LORD God directly to Satan:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15).

Satan did not pout, but set to work again, with the aim of sabotaging the Messianic line. . .

It began with Cain’s murder of righteous Abel (Genesis 4:8), and continued through the near-entire genetic corruption of mankind, which provoked the flood (Genesis 6:11 – 13). . .and then the corruption of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 16:1 – 4). . .and then the corruption all of Israel (Matthew 21:43).

Down through the ages, working through human surrogates tempted with sex, power and violence, Satan sought to block the Redeemer’s entry into the world. After thousands of years of failure, and after seeing the first humans, the Wise Men, worship the Christ child, it is the supreme arrogance of Satan that he still *believes in himself.*

His faith in himself unshaken after centuries of defeat, he vainly plots the murder of Christ in Bethlehem. As always, God is several steps ahead. Jesus is already in Egypt, as Satan works through Herod.

Herod is just another in a long line of patsies, bewitched by the Adversary into confusing Satan’s ambitions with his own. In a rage because the Wise Men did not betray Christ, this pseudo-Jew and dupe of the Devil orders the deaths of all the children in the area of Bethlehem who fit the Christ child profile. . .kill them all, that it may be certain Christ is killed. . .the others are mere *collateral damage.*

If we jump ahead of the story to our own day, we see Satan remains just as arrogant, and just as faithful to himself. He continues to be the world’s King-maker, bringing into position those whose interests can be made to serve his own. The pseudo-Christian Bush is his latest patsy. . .convinced he is the Right Hand of God, Bush’s disastrous military adventures only lay the groundwork for the chaos in the Middle East from which the Beast will create the New Satanic Order of the Age (Revelation 13:1 – 7). . .

Satan will believe in himself to the bitter end. . .and even beyond. Even the defeat of Armageddon, which leaves him in chains in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1 – 3), will not shake his faith in himself. He will scheme in his prison, and then try again (Revelation 20:7 – 8). And one must imagine, even as Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire, to be tormented day and night for ever and ever, he will remain confident of final victory. . .

Well, and what is the average man on the street, but a little Satan in a wrinkled suit? The average man, the human mediocrity, lives a life of continual defeat, and yet never loses faith in himself. . .Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, says the Proverb, even as the way leads him straight to Hell.

But anyway, one must marvel at the unshakeable faith Satan has in himself. . .if a man could have such faith in Christ, the world could be turned upside down. . .


Matthew, Chapter 3
1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.
4And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
5Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
6And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
9And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
12Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.


Look around. The world of *homo roboticus.* And each one fancies himself/herself *special.* They imagine their frame of reference is unique, and their observations to be *illuminating.* Somebody winds the little metal key in their back, their mouth opens, and they think they have *spoken.*

Since Christ ascended, how many genuine individuals have appeared in the Western World? Five? Ten? King Arthur, Francis of Assisi, Jeanne d’Arc, Sir Isaac Newton, Arthur Rimbaud, Bobby Fischer, Klaus Kinski, maybe a couple more. Otherwise, 2000 years of battlebots fighting the Great Toy Wars. . .

For most of the 2000 years, the great lump of humanity lived without pretense. The cobbler did not mark a few X’s on a scrap of paper, tack it to his door, and proclaim himself the next Voltaire. The cobbler mended shoes, ate a hot meal, and then fell asleep, perhaps hoping a succubus would visit.

Satan’s greatest practical joke must surely be the internet. The perfect *joy buzzer* to jolt the vanity of *homo oves.* Every human zero is now a star.

MySpace!! The zero’s cyberspace Walk of Fame!

They don’t have to have any native opinions, ideas or fictions. In fact, knowing the average *homo consumens* is nothing but a scarecrow, the format discourages them. Instead, it encourages trivia, the strawman’s loose hay. Lists, surveys, crypto personality analyses. “I am 82% Nymphomaniac!” *homo roboticus* proudly calculates.

Humanity reduced to junk data.

It cannot be *My*Space when nothing is their own. It is MimeticSpace.

The greatness of John the Baptist: Inspired by God, he turned away from the world.

Our Lord said:

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

If there are any Christians left, they are compromisers, at best. They compromise with the world. They live much as the rest of the world lives--minus some sloganeering about abortion, faggot marriage, etc.

John the Baptist made no compromise. This is why Jesus said of him:

“Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).

He never set any captives free, like Moses, never slew a Goliath, like David, never performed any miracles, like Elijah or Elisha. He did something far greater: he never compromised with the world.

It would have been impossible for him to say *Repent ye* had he remained in the world. One man standing on the outside. His criticism therefore remains pure:

And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

What did this man mean when he said *repent?* Did he mean cry, feel sorry, lose some sleep for an uneasy conscience, then make a half-hearted vow to *try and do better?* That’s what Christians have dumbed the word down to. . .but that’s not what it means.

Repent means: be a completely different person. It would be like telling a redneck to be a nigger, or vice versa. How can a person truly repent? Impossible for a person of their own will to genuinely repent. That is the symbol of John’s baptism. . .you must be washed, purified, born again, by an external source.

John’s mission was to stand outside the circle of humanity, and to tell humanity it had gotten it all wrong, all wrong. Get ready for the One to come, or be burned, he said.

The Jews listened, received John’s lesser baptism, then rejected Christ for the world (John 5:35). Still, it’s better than the response of today’s human zeroes. Today, most merely yawn and move on by.

But there is in that great lump of human chaff the odd mocker and scoffer. . .they live exactly like the yawners. . .they live exactly like the rest of the world lives. . .unremarkable lives devoted to trivial pursuits. . .like the yawners in the modern world, the *My*Space Age, they imagine themselves special. . .like the yawners, they chase their own tails, thinking they have discovered the mystery of the universe. . .it’s just their own unwiped ass.

Like the yawners, these mockers and scoffers are parasites, growing fat on the mercy of God. The mockers and scoffers are just as useless as the average human zero. . .but with a Jesus tic. Say “Jesus” and they start blinking and twitching and grimacing. . .and then the Tourette’s-like epithets.

Out of courtesy, you try not to stare. . .

They can’t help themselves. . .like their fellow zeroes, it is impossible for them to repent. . .

Just like 2000 years ago, stones laying in the wilderness are closer to the Kingdom of God. . .


Matthew, Chapter 3
13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest thou to me?
15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered Him.
16And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him:
17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

And thus begins Christ’s Ministry of Reconciliation. . .

I wonder what Jesus thought as He took these steps toward John and the baptism. . .these first steps toward Calvary’s cross?

Before this world was formed, His ministry was prepared. The perfection of Eden would not last, and the Son would have to humble Himself, clothe Himself with flesh, and sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world. . .

I wonder what Jesus thought, then, as He began His first steps toward the crucifixion. . .

The God without beginning or end leaves eternity to enter the time and space of His own creation. . .

He had spent 30 years living amongst His creation. Thirty relatively quiet years. Thirty years in the garbage heap they had made of His perfect world. Thirty years observing the pettiness and cruelty of humanity.

I know what my thought would have been, after 30 years. . .it would have been the same thought I would have had after 10:

“Why bother?”

I wonder why Christ didn’t say:

“Ah, I changed My mind. Let me go back to My Father in Heaven. I’ll play cards with the angels, instead.”

Of course, I’m projecting my ill will, the product of my corruption, onto Christ.

But really, why did He bother? Not for anything of our merit (Ephesians 2:8), that much is clear.

Probably the most well-known verse in the New Testament is John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This tells us the Father’s motivation. Love. But what about Christ? Did He share the same love for the world? And if so, could it really be that simple? Maybe it was. But the problem is, who the Hell knows what love is?

Everybody loves his/her own self. Most people don’t love anybody else. A few maybe love a few, on and off. Nobody loves everybody. There’s good reason for this. Just look around. Just open a window. I can’t stand to open the windows in my house in the summer. . .can’t stand to hear the screaming and the crying from the *neighbor’s*. . .and I’m sure they feel likewise

Sometimes, when one of my kids cracks especially wise, I think maybe I know what love is. But if one of them gets on my nerves. . .

You hear about some mother or father who kills their child: “How could they do that?” Nobody who has kids should ask that question. You know damn well how they could do that. You know damn well what Genesis 6:5 – 6 means:

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.

You think, did I ever really want this? You want to go back in time, when it was just yourself.

I say these things to Christians, and they look sorrowfully upon me, and tell me I must not really be a Christian, I haven’t really *given my heart to the Lord* (they can no more tell you how to do this than I can tell you what love means). . .well, maybe they are right. . .it’s not for me to decide (I Corinthians 4:1 – 4). But I see no profit in being too comfortable in the faith. The apostle Paul advised: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”(Philippians 2:12). You don’t see much trembling in Amerikan Christianity. . .it’s a pretty cocky bunch.

I say these things to infidels, and they look at me like I’m a maniac. “Well, I love my family!” they say. “Every second of every day?” I ask. “Yes!” You can’t shake these infidels. They live in complete denial. What they will tell you is that even if they are *angry* with someone they *love*, or even if they *make a mistake* and do something to hurt someone they *love,* why, even while they are angry or being hurtful, they *still love them!* Their hate, it seems, always takes place under a rainbow of love. . .

How many parents in Amerika who have *molested* their own children have tearfully told a judge they *loved* their little ones?

Only one walked this earth who was *internally consistent*:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father—Philippians 2:10 – 11.

The rest of us, to varying degrees, are schizophrenics.

They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

But anyway, here is Jesus, standing before John, the opening act of the Ministry of Reconciliation. And what does John do? What does the greatest of them born of women do? He corrects the Lord. “No, no, Jesus. I shouldn’t baptize you, You should baptize me!” God’s got it all wrong. On the very first pitch, Jesus swings and misses!! Ha ha ha. There’s man’s problem, right there. He always thinks he knows better than God. He’s always giving advice to God, correcting God’s mistakes. Man just can’t shut up and do as he is told.

That was Satan’s problem, and he convinced Eve of the same thing: God is wrong.

Some office buildings fall down in New York?

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

You don’t know what the fuck you are talking about, God! You’re an idiot if you believe that shit! Save that crap for the Sunday Schoolers, God. We’re talking about the *real world,* here, and we’re gonna kill and destroy!! So get with the program or get the fuck out of the way!

Ha ha ha. . .God is wrong, man knows better. In the real world, sometimes you have to do some unpleasant things to make the world all nicey-nice again.

But anyway, Jesus gently corrected John, and His Ministry of Reconciliation began with the following commentary from the Father:

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. . .

Maybe this is why Christ bothered. . .more than out of any love He had for the world, He did it for the praise of the Father. . .

Matthew, Chapter 4
1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred.
3And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6And saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9And saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
11Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.

One can read here an article claiming a cure for blindness is only five years away. Indeed, one can easily imagine, if science and technology continue uninterrupted for the next forty years, the great miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ will all be duplicated. The electronic and chemical and nano gadgets of the High Priests of Scientism will cause the blind to see, the paralyzed to walk, the deaf to hear, the lunatick to be healed, and, in some cases, the dead to be raised.

Jesus Christ, if even taken seriously in forty years, will be regarded as a kind of Leonardo da Vinci, a freakish genius born two millennia in advance of the contemporaneous medical/philosophical curve.

If the Bible is even read in forty years, that generation may find the only truly miraculous achievements of Christ to be the wilderness experiences recounted above.

We consider our own present generation *plugged in*--with all of the electronic gizmos mainlining Media. Imagine the next generation, which will be completely fused to Media. They will find it incomprehensible that Christ could have spent forty days in the wilderness. . .forty days of utter solitude. . .Christ alone with His thoughts for forty days. . .His only communication: prayer to the Father.

Contemporary man is not comfortable with himself, not comfortable with his thoughts. He is estranged from his own psyche. The proof is evident in his constant search for distraction and escape.

The apostle Paul advised us to work out our salvation with phobias and traumas. . .but these are considered disorders in our own age. Yes, the natural result of introspection, of investigation of our place in the universe, is considered *illness*. . .treatments are offered to cure us of self-examination. . .the *patient,* the naturally curious human being misdiagnosed as *ill,* is prescribed chemical modifications. Depression is only the natural result of the discovery of our cut-off condition (cut-off from God, though, of course, most do not realize they are cut-off from God. . .the infidels feel isolated, alone. . .but they do not know what they are alienated from). We are the Paxil People. We take communion at Walgreens.

And even those outside the cult of pharmakeia still seek to dissociate themselves from themselves with alcohol or iPods or internets or video games or text messages and unceasing chatter on cell phones, etc. We are *connected*. . .not connected to ourselves, but connected to Media distractions.

Just picture the Future Wired Man, after forty more years of Media fusion. . .Homo Medius. . .he will not understand how anyone could bear to be alone with themselves for forty days and forty nights. This walking tangle of nanowire, whose eyelids will probably be coated on the inside with an organic electroluminescent video display (just close your eyes and play Solitaire), could not fathom being stripped back down to Homo Sapiens and set out in the wilderness with nothing to do but think.

After two hours without any Mega-Gulps to drink nor any simulacrums to frolick in, Homo Futurus would be confronted with the reality of himself. . .separated from his lifelong Siamese twin, Media, he would have to fight off the terror of his electronic nakedness. Alone in his own flesh, without any programmed prompts from his personalized *Smart Network,* his brain a mush of atrophied neurons, he wouldn’t know where to begin to think. Alone and mentally retarded, without Media to guide him, he wouldn’t even know to come in out of the rain (do not scoff—I know people even in our generation who do not know whether to dress for the hot or the cold without first checking weather.com. It does not occur to them to simply poke their head out their front door).

Man has always sought external wisdom. . .from the prophets and the gods, the stars, the flight of birds, etc., etc. But in the past, man sought external guidance for the aim of becoming a better man. 2000 years ago seekers went to the river Jordan where John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

Today man seeks to fuse with Media to free himself from the burden of his own being. He wants only to become a character in a simulation of life, directed by Media. Today the seekers line-up outside the electronics Temples for the baptism of iPhone for the remission of sapiens.

It can be summarized, at its most elemental: Man used to seek God. . .now he builds a wall of electronic noise to keep God from his thoughts.

For Homo Futurus, the second great miracle of Christ will be His refusal to enter into temptation. The next generation, after being astonished at Christ’s 40 days of solitude, will be further amazed by His 40 day fast and subsequent refusal of Satan’s temptation of bread.

In our own Age of Instant Gratification, temptation is hardly refused. Indeed, the behemoths of the day cannot even get past the Gas-Mart check-out counter rack of *impulse* candy items without grabbing a chocolate treat. . .

Well, in truth, everything in the Consumer States of Amerika is now an *impulse item*--even housing. . .we see our 3500 sq ft dream house, but we don’t have money for a down payment? No problem. It’s ours. Because we want it. We give in to the temptation to turn air into money . . .we give in to the temptation of a no-money-down, interest-only mortgage. We want a 72 inch Plasma Screen HDTV? A Jet Ski? Our 10th pair of Crocs? We can’t pay for any of the earthly treasures our hearts are set on? No problem. They’re ours. Because we want them. We give in to the temptation to turn plastic into money—we whip out the VISA and just go a little further into debt. The consequence, either to our future or present Asian laborers, is barely considered.

We now live by *impulse.* All rigorous thought, planning, budgeting, and the discipline to adhere, are now beyond our capabilities.

Jesus went forty days without pizza or potato chips, and then refused Satan’s temptation to turn the wilderness stones into an insta-order of cheesy bread? Imagine the Future Impulse Consumer trying to make sense of this!

The Future Impulse Consumer, who science and technology will free from all medical concern in regard to his own gluttony (though we must concede, when scanning the obese masses, our generation doesn’t exhibit much interest in the health effects from record-setting over-eating), will merrily stuff himself with nachos and candies, pizzas and beers, red meats and white breads. . .and won’t even have to bother with the pretense of *Diet* Coke. . .for a navy of little nano-mowers will sail through his blood stream, continually trimming fat cells to levels consistent with a 20 BMI. . .

Of course, the same biotechnologies will be able to save Homo Impetus from all lusts. For example, those of the next generation will be able to fornicate with anyone and no longer have HIV or STD worries. Sin-thetic life forms, super intelligent virus and bacteria hunters, will flood our circulatory system, tracking and killing any herpes, HIV, etc. viruses, or devouring syphilis, gonorrhea, etc. bacterium. Condoms will be a relic from a by-gone age, as quaint as the chastity belt. . .

Our generation has seen the rise of the *Transgender*. . .because of the übersexualization of the culture, in which every form of fornication is promoted and celebrated, and people live in a constant state of arousal, increasing numbers of *human beings* no longer know whether they are male or female. . .all they know is they are burning with fleshly desires. . .and they’ll lay with anyone, any sex, who can help them lose themselves in sex.

But there will be no gender confusion in the future. . .for there will be no such thing as gender. . .in forty years or less we will all be living in the New Age of the Hermaphrodite. Each individual will be injected at birth with nanobot sexgineers. Feel like being a man at work, but flitting around the clubs at night like a low-rent Lindsay Lohan? No problem, just a push a button on our gender remote, and our nano-gynes will convert our genitals to suit whatever lust fits our mood.

Picture the next generation: fused to Media and with every lust completely risk-free. The Lord Jesus Christ in forty days of solitude? The Lord Jesus Christ refusing Satan’s temptations? Both impossible for Homo Futurus to imagine.

The Bible teaches the wages of sin is death, and though most consciously reject the Bible as the Word of God, there is a subconscious awareness of this simple truth. Man expects the worst to happen. Man is surprised when good happens. Deep in the subconscious is the awareness our world is wrong, and that we have a part in that wrong, and that a price must be paid for that wrong. When man must pay a price, after seeming to live a charmed existence, he confesses:

I knew it was too good to be true!

Man lives with unacknowledged dread.

However, in the next generation, all the effects of sin (aging, disease, etc.) will be wiped away. Even now, some High Priests of Scientism prophesy a future of immortality.

The hope of immortality will break down the last barrier of man’s religion: superstition. Then man will do as he truly has wanted to do all along. . .he will cease paying superstitious lip service to God, he will kick God off His throne and proclaim himself god. . .and then do whatever his/her heart desires. . .without fear.

Would God allow this to happen? Let us suggest:

If there is no supernatural intervention (such as occurred at Babel 5000? years ago) which interrupts the progress of science and technology, then we are perhaps only one generation from the End. . .and let the final harvest of souls begin.

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.