But that's exactly the point that John Leake is trying to make: that the persuaded ideologue is capable of doing evil without being coerced! He does not need to be coerced because he is persuaded that what he is doing is good!
That provides a dividing line between two views of man. The first, based in Materialism, sees man as a herd animal. Such beasts are to be coerced, prodded, corralled, and kept under control.
The opposing view is that of man as a spiritual being, an immortal soul endowed with Free Will. In this view, coercion is an evil, an anathema.
Unfortunately, our society has tilted strongly toward the materialistic view of things with coercive herding becoming the norm.
Coercion has a wide range of aspects, many of which have nothing to do the morality of an ideology, it could for instance be a chosen an exercise in self discipline.
Does it, though? I have family members who maneuvered themselves into the position of inheriting millions, leaving the rest of the family out. Years later, they continue to enjoy their spoils. Other family members often ponder whether there really is Divine justice; we don't wish revenge, but it is frustrating to see people succeed in their manipulations. Their corruption did not lead to destruction.
Those who enjoy themselves at the expense of fairness, justice and moral character will pay dearly throughout all eternity, unless they sincerely repent and turn from their sinful (selfish) ways, for they fear not the Almighty God but revel in the devil's ill gotten gains.
I take a broad view of karma. I am Roman Catholic and late 70s of age. I firmly believe there is consciousness after death and that one is at peace - finally. I hope those that get cheated can get justice in the afterlife.
Just ultimately comes when each of us stands before our Creator and gives an accounting. Read the words of Jesus and take refuge in His protection, mercy and grace.
I am old and remain Roman Catholic . I know the criticisms of the Vatican but I also found that the Church fathers were good men.
I have studied Robert Monroe's OBE (out of body experiences), have looked at all sides of gnosticism, Have done much reading, research on quantum physics. The bottom line is I firmly believe in consciousness after deasth. Maybe it is there you can confront those who have been selfish.
When I die I will see my parents and others. I believe Jesus is divine.
The Roman Republic lasted 5 centuries before becoming an empire whose accomplishments are admired while horrifying cruelties are forgotten. One telling incident: a mob went to the Senate and threatened to burn the building and the senators if they didn't give them a dictator - to bring order. Then things got worse.
For a long time, most emperors were vile and concerned with their own amusements. The Roman Empire achieved many great things in literature, art, architecture, sanitation, water transport, and roads -- mostly using slaves. General Crassus demanded 120 miles of road lined with crucified slaves after Spartacus' rebellion. Rome flogged Boudicca, queen of Britain's Iceni because she objected to an 80% tax. At least 80K tribesmen were killed in a losing battle led by her for their freedom. Just a few samples of Roman Rule.
We in the West live in perhaps the brightest epoch in history, and for all the faults of our Western governments, not one person living would want to live in 2nd cent. Rome.
What we should want is not to destroy the world with nuclear weapons and their certain aftermath of starvation, disease, crime, and chaos.
Follow Christ first. No questions, no disappointments, no worries. I only follow Christ with my full heart, mind, and soul. Trump, we need to pray for all our elected officials every day. We all need help and prayers. God will always have final judgement on all of us one day. Be ready. W.
Absolutely, that is what the comment is about. I have to look to the Bible and Christ's character and testimony. Always check and compare a system to what the Bible says. Let the Bible be your source to know truth from false. W.
3 of my 4 siblings are "Christians" you describe. They cheerlead for genocide and aggression done by the Zionists. They identify as Zionists. It is disgusting.
I believe that Trump, Witkoff and Kushner will make out like bandits from this war. I believe that Trump has established his cult of personality while they are achieving the true aims.
Yes he happens to be a narcissist and able to use power as needed. We need a strong leader to defeat communist insurrection in America—that is why Donald Trump was elected.
Amen! Me too, regarding God's wisdom and guidance for the leaders! A lasting peace in the Middle East, though: That would be some kind of miracle. But miracles do abound every day.
God, came to the aid of many leaders in the Old Testament.. He wanted to help and voiced disappointment when they did not humble themselves and ask for , HIS help. They were told to Fast and Pray.
Mr. Leak, I so disagree with you that my first impulse is to unsubscribe. However, I’ll lose two other writers that I admire. Please consider sharing your anti-American thoughts elsewhere. I’ll continue to do my best not to read anything with your name displayed as author.
What does this (myopic) tangent have to do with telling Leake that he should not even share his opinion on his own Substack. And if you were really consistent in your thinking, wouldn't you want to shut out Dr. McCullough if he is the one giving a platform to someone as offensive to your sensibilities as Mr. Leake? smh
Sounds like a good plan to me. I have much reading to do without wasting my time reading an article by someone who holds views which are diametrically different to mine.
And, you have just proved Mr. Leake's post. These are not anti-American thoughts, as you have been brainwashed to believe. These are truisms of human nature that never change.
Just another shallow American. Critical thinking involves a deep dive into subjects and the ability to see the world in its complexity. And most importantly, to have the wisdom to change, and even to say, "I was wrong."
I too nearly unsubscribed due to the loquacious rants of Leake. Apparently, he finds no satanic evil in the minds of the jihadist radicals who want nuclear weapons in order to wipe Israel and the USA off the map. I too will be ignoring posts with your byline, Leake
You sound indignant, Bill. The USA really did wipe the democratically-elected Iranian government off the map in 1953. The Iranian people revolted and seized their own country in 1979. Ever since, Israel and the USA have ran crippling economic sanctions (with their Rothschild's banking) against Iran in their efforts to wipe Iran off the map.
What goes around, comes around and karma's a bitch.
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The world would be a much better place if the USA simply followed George Washington's sage wisdom: Befriend all nations, trade with all nations, eschew becoming entangled in foreign alliances and conflicts and do not seek monsters abroad to destroy.
Mind your own bee's wax, Bill. Easy, peazey, lemon-squeezey.
Um, you've been somewhat "mis-informed" as to the TRUE identity of those "Iranian people" in 1979....who supposedly "revolted", and "seized" "their own country"....
When Roosevelt, Stalin, & Churchill met together, how, and by who, was Tehran chosen as the host city for that meeting? My point is that MUCH information has been concealed here about Iran & the "Middle East"....
Under the House of Saud, one of the largest families is the Bin Laden family, who has $Millions of mutual investments, through the Carlyle Group, with the Bush Dynasty.... So what?....
You left out Jagger's verse about 'what's troubling you is the nature of my game'. I think you're a troubled man, John, if you are equating a man who many people believe is ridding the world of an evil regime (15% of the Muslim population tops, NOT an entire Nation of 94 Million people!) to those; who, if they persisted in their nuclear ambitions would create a world situation in very short order exactly as Hitler envisioned it - a single belief system bent on slaughtering all infidels to establish their caliphate, exactly as the Third Reich attempted to exterminate the Jews. That is sick. You are a sick man. Get some help. To help with your confusion, when two-thirds of the population believe that Trump is one of the greatest POTUS ever, and the other third believe that he is the devil himself - something is very wrong in our culture. It's kind of similar to C.S. Lewis' comment about Jesus - He was either a madman or who He says He was - you can't have it both ways. Grow up, John.
This was an extremely unfortunate mis-targeting error caused by someone or group, probably at Palantir, deciding to compress a kill chain produced by outdated data in a possibly outdated AI targeting system. The school building was apparently part of an IRGC compound previously and that data was not updated. At least that is what I gleaned from the article below. There are culpable people at the root of this error, not just a machine, and according to administration announcements, there is an outside officer leading a full investigation of the incident which Trump and Hegseth have said they would accept fully. It was not done on purpose as you imply. You can read all about it below, if you're inclined to accept truth rather than sling innuendos around from your TDS perspective.
A father in Minab, Iran received a phone call from his daughter’s school on the morning of February 28. There had been an explosion. His daughter was alive. “Come get her.” Before he could reach her, the school was hit again. She was killed.
The principal of Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School had moved surviving children into a prayer room after the first strike collapsed the roof. She called parents. “Come now.” The second strike hit the prayer room. According to the mayor of Minab and Iran’s Ministry of Education, a third strike followed.
168 people died. Children. Teachers. Four parents who came to pick up their kids. The school was painted bright blue and pink with sports fields drawn on the asphalt. It was visually, unmistakably, a school.
The U.S. military did this. Not allegedly. Not according to Iranian state media. According to The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, CBC, BBC Verify, Bellingcat, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. According to the Pentagon’s own internal investigation. According to footage showing a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile striking the site. Tomahawks are used exclusively by U.S. forces in this conflict.
The U.S. military did this. Not allegedly. Not according to Iranian state media. According to The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, CBC, BBC Verify, Bellingcat, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. According to the Pentagon’s own internal investigation. According to footage showing a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile striking the site. Tomahawks are used exclusively by U.S. forces in this conflict.
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And here everyone was cowering from “double-tap.” Double-tap shmouble-tap, eh? The USA kicked off this war by bombing an obvious, known girls school in a Hellish, war-criminal TRIPLE-TAP!!! How very IDF of them, eh?
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You are being given a choice right now, people. You can support this war crime or you can oppose it. You may not "sluff" it. That is not an option.**
Be very careful as to what you decide as God is watching you.
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*The first missile kills and damages and leaves an eery silence. Then the war-criminal wait. Then the satellite confirmation of survivors’ congregation and rescuers desperately digging through the rubble in the often grave hope of survivors. Then the pièce de résistance: a double-tap missile doesn’t just explode and damage and kill like the first one, no, it includes the gnarly technology that compresses all unused rocket fuel to cook the gathered little girls.
**15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. - Revelation 3:15-16 [KJV]
You need to read the article all the way through; it says exactly what I said the other article says.
"A system was given coordinates. It followed them perfectly. It did not know and could not know that it was killing children. That is not a flaw in the system. That is the system."
This is a BIG problem with AI that will play out in the future. I am not an AI fan for this reason. It's still "garbage in, garbage out".
BTW, the verse you cite from Revelation describes the church of the present age, Laodicea. It is true.
Have a good life and stay away from AI, and please, read what you post about and report it fully, not selectively (PS: you copied one section twice in your post).
BTW - the verse I sight can be applied to individuals. It can refer to good people supporting war crimes, for example. And yes, of course it is true.
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I get much of my information from Judge Nap. I highly recommend "Judging Freedom" with Judge Andrew Napolitano and his stable of top-notch geopolitical analysts: Mcgregor, Wilkerson, Ritter, Johnson, Sachs, Mearsheimer, Blumenthal, Escobar, Maté, Hoh, Kwiatkowski, Freeman, Crooke, Doctorow, Diesen, Giraldi et al. https://www.youtube.com/@judgingfreedom
As you might imagine, I have these conversations with Trump Adoration Syndrome folks on the regular so I lose track of what I've shared with whom. Plus Substack is a kludgey mess for simply trying to move upthread. Plus you keep ignoring the DOUBLE- and TRIPLE-TAPPING key aspect of this child sacrifice to Moloch.
I do plan on reading the lengthy article but have yet had time.
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"A system was given coordinates. It followed them perfectly. It did not know and could not know that it was killing children. That is not a flaw in the system. That is the system."
"🤷🏻♂️ Oh well. What're ya gonna do? 🤷🏻♂️. Our machines cooked 170 little girls in our middle-of-fruitful-negotiations, snakey, illegal, unconstitutional well-planned surprise bombings."
So flipping what, Bert? You think that your poorly designed killing machines gives you plausible ... wait! What?
The US military handed over decisions to DOUBLE- and then even TRIPLE-TAP a school full of little girls to a machine? A) Bull shit! double- and triple-tapping is decided by men and B) even if your poorly engineered machines did double- and triple-tap those little girls, that is still a war crime! D'uh.
Throw in the fact that this attack on the IRGC's little daughters EXACTLY FITS TO A TEE the standard IDF m.o. of kicking-off wars. This war crime is not an isolated incident, Bert. This war crime was standard operating procedure.
Handing off war-crime decisions and execution to your war-crime machines is hardly a defence.
Actually, I think we could if we were to peacefully process through the maladies & respectfully navigate the areas where we might not fully mesh. I've seen it. I am much more appreciative of your second response. I like Rumi's take: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."
Coercion is sometimes accomplished by the persuasion of reasoned arguments based on a faulty premise, intended to deceive. It seems to be preferred over coercion by force in "civilized" nations like ours, but its success depends on a dulled or stupefied people unable to detect the faulty premise of such arguments -- a nation like we've allowed ours to become by destroying its foundations. If the initial coercion is by this deceptive persuasion, at some point it will morph into coercion by force.
Unfortunately, "modern" man has been conditioned to dismiss even the concept of the devil as aberrant superstition. And yet, all Earthly cultures have known about and named a non-physical, non-human, interdimensional presence on this planet for at least the last 6,000 years.
The ancient Greeks called this influence the Archons—malevolent beings controlling people's thoughts, feelings and actions. The Hebrews called this destructive intelligence Abaddon. In Islam it was Iblis. For the Cree tribes in America the evil whisperer was wetiko. To the Algonquin tribes it was windingo, a hunger-driven cannibal. Hawai'ian kahunas called them the 'e'epa. Tibetan Buddhists referred to them as "hungry ghosts."
The Gnostic text Pistis Sophia called the antimimon pneuma (evil principle) an "illness that has attached itself to humankind. Because it does not have a physical form, this illness uses us as vehicles to manifest its desire, creating a physical reality to its liking." The Apocryphon of John called it a “counterfeiting spirit” that numbs and toughens human hearts, closing us down, making us small and twisted like itself, with the intention of eventually creating a prison-like reality that it can rule over forever.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called this invisible force “antimimos, the imitator and evil principle,” equating it with the Antichrist. Of course, Christians and the well-oiled entertainment industry unwittingly (or otherwise) trivialized this parasitic intelligence in their depictions of Satan or the devil.
Isn't it odd that humanity remains blind to the reality of this parasitic influence and its blatant presence behind current global events? No. It's not odd. It's called programming. And the Globalist Elites apparently running the show are themselves the Archons' overshadowed puppets.
Shallowness of culture is due to feminization of politics: "don't spank/punish; that's too harsh!"
Women are by nature emotional and compassionate. That's a good balance to men's testosterone intensities. Usually, the husband wins out on household discipline.
Once loosed on society, women's suffrage means the curtailment of masculine behaviors in rearing the next generation. Result: order of magnitude increase in delinquency, tolerance of societal crime waves, multigenerational welfare, ultimately open borders.
This society elevates and tolerates the new criminal liberal governance that gave rise to Trump's BRASHNESS.
Trump only elevated when he said the unspeakable, reflexively. So, enough of your observations about a brash egoist running executive government. He won three elections at massive voting turnouts, so your thesis is too short on history. Dig further into why you even voted for the guy.
You did vote for him, no? So, if you did, you can't escape culpability. Defaulting to "politicians lie" is beneath even dumb liberals, and that's pretty low.
Not Trump’s brashness. Trump’s mental illness and war crimes…
“Trump is mentally unstable, suffers from what is called the dark triad personality, of, psychopathy, extreme narcissism, extreme, chronic, and impulsive lying, and, no small amount of paranoia.
There's evidence that this man is, experiencing dementia on top of these lifelong traits.” (Jeffrey Sachs)
Yes, it is entirely possible for intellectually honest and morally competent people to consult and learn from qualified psychiatrists and psychologists. So, let’s see if you are really capable of learning…. Sachs clearly is.
Shallowness of culture is shallowness of culture, regardless of politics. We do collectively value property and possessions 1000 yimes more than the arts and culture. We don't encourage our children to be free lance or travelling artists. The American culture on display consists now of military parades, rockets to the moon and building AI centers, plus making soooo much money (for some people) of the tariffs, rising oil prices, and the military industries. Culture plays no role in this. In fact, it has made us blood thirsty...the end of creating beauty for beauty's sake.
Artists enjoy satisfactions non-artists don't even know exist. I just hope they're paying social security on their earnings, especially in the last few years. Money isn't everything. The AI billionaire bros are stealing from artists constantly and that has to be addressed. But they lack the qualities necessary to make art. I would much rather live with those abilities than live with a lot of money and be soulless.
Nice to be able to travel--for art, no less--while someone else is planting or harvesting or milking the cows or butchering the livestock. Ah, the life of no chores or daily demands by Mother Nature!
And columnists and readers wonder why the American culture can't properly value life, time, or possessions...
Right now the arts are what we need as an antidote to narcissism, too much testosterone, valuing social status over empathy and intuition, incels, and focus on $$$ and killing for more $$$. Every American needs to travel at length to learn that they are not the center of the universe. Also abortion is a good antidote to forced motherhood when it's not wanted or not possible economically. You have no idea how hard the life of an artist is. And unsubsidized by the government to the degree farmers are.
Communities used to gladly support their minister and artists because they valued what joy, refinement and spirit they add to our lives, beyond the ordinary necessities of life. I have friends who are travelling from engagement to engagement all over the country, often living out of their cars and without a permanent address. Our bureaucracy is not equipped to accommodate this, regarding the issuance of plates and licenses, let alone for anything else. What money they have left over from gigs has to last until the next engagement and often it doesn't. Nothing saved for retirement. And God forbid something happens to their singing voice or dancing feet, etc! Anyway, it is a huge sacrifice to follow your calling under such circumstances, which is partly why the arts are suffering. Most people don't milk cows or kill chickens and yet they eat. Artists buy their food just like other people, pay taxes yet live without most comforts.
If the libs are correct that evolution is 100% darwinism from atom to molecule to DNA, then an artist has no more dignity or sense of purpose than space dust.
If the libs are wrong, and life is of divine origin with purpose, then artists are either wholly self supporting or kept by owners.
I do not know how this idea of liberals thinking evolution is 100% Darwinism. What does that even mean. And if life is of divine origin with purpose, then artists are self-supporting or kept by owners? What do you mean by THAT?
What I DO know is that when there is a big tragedy, who do the most powerful and most visible people haul out of the shadows? Poets and musicians. Always. Totally predictable. And what do farmers turn to when the lights are out, the chores are done, the harvest safely tucked away, and the animals they are over-wintering are safe in the barn with several months' hay? Music, poetry, storytelling, painting, quilting, making fishing lures, and tons of other art forms most people today don't even think about.
It has nothing to do with political ideology. Both have to do with being human.
So, the life of an artist is difficult because of the farming reqd to support the evening frivolity? Or, because it relies upon the farmer to produce net income with which to pay the artist for entertainment, and hard times means no spending on artists?
Spacedust? Well, this is all of us. In our world, all of us are subjects, a commodity, a personnel resource with a social security number, easily discarded and replaced. If it weren't for our unique souls or spirits. Dignity has everything to do with one's unique character and soul. You speak like a person without a soul, who never had a song in his/her heart, never had a unique talent or dream or aspiration or conviction. What a terrible predicament! I like John Leake just because he appeals to one's higher dreams and aspirations, character and DIGNITY. Still, you keep reading and must be getting something out of it... . There may be hope for you (smile).
No, but the pinnacle of your ability is ironically the actual Trump Derangement Syndrome, aka Trump Dead-ender Syndrome. Trump has revealed his true identity and has tragically committed political suicide, making it much more likely that clueless Democrats will gain power. He has wasted an historic opportunity. Wash, rinse, repeat, déjà vu all over again. Trump turns out to be an aggressive Zionist war monger, and the Dead-enders clinging to his psychopathic political corpse are complicit in his war crimes.
You don’t know the first thing about the process of forming a differential diagnosis. An M.D. in any speciality can form a differential diagnosis. A clinical psychologist can form a differential diagnosis. A structural engineer can form a differential diagnosis (regarding a bridge problem, for example). A lay person can solicit a differential diagnosis from qualified experts and report that list to others. In the case in question, Sachs consulted qualified psychiatrists and psychologists, who supplied their opinions, and Sachs passed those along. What don’t you understand that it was not Sachs who formed a differential diagnosis de novo?
And there are many, many holistic methods to diagnose! Probably considered quack by MD's but extremely accurate and helpful, especially where conventional medicine fails.
It's why I despise religion and am now an atheist. Just make up an outcome, paint someone as the savior of man or the devil in lambs clothing. You can find a verse or a religion that supports what you already want to believe. Parents of an old girlfriend of mind once had a placard posted on their refrigerator, a cross at the top and a simple statement "We have already decided what we believe, please don't confuse us with the truth."
Noel, I like your name. I despise religion too, but I ran the other direction—toward the love of my life—my Savior Jesus Christ! I pray you’ll find His love as I did. 🙏🏼
The atheist comes right before actual and most personal enlightenment. Thus was my own evolution and is well described by Scott Peck, "Road less traveled" and "Different Drum." Keep your eye on Truth and long for it in your heart.
I note the topic for Inisfad is self-reflection. I found Psalm 139:23-24 and Lamentations 3:40 that we discussed in my course on Exodus last week most heartfelt & inspiring. It was time most well-spent. It was that spirit in which I responded to Inisfad.
No, Anne, I did not choose a “different approach”; you are quite mistaken; as you assume much, and in your mocking accusation of “preening” you miss the heart and soul of what I have written.
As I thought about it last night it occurred to me that you probably took offense at my reference to the doctrine of the reformers and puritans who taught, among other truths, the total depravity of man.
Which doctrine, my dear Anne, is at the very heart of the “self reflection” you so piously refer to in Ps 139, but the crucial distinction is this: only the Spirit of God in His power can unblind the natural mind to the depths of the “any iniquity in me” that the petitioner asks to be revealed in that prayer.
You are quite right Anne, they do reveal much about my nature, my new nature in Christ, for before He came and saved me I gave no real regard to His warnings and neither did the Reformers and Puritans who were also accused of “exceedingly excessive commentaries on minor points” of scripture, once their eyes were opened. Most of the Reformers, and many of the Puritans had been Roman Catholic priests prior to their regeneration, and thought, like the apostle Paul that they knew the scriptures better than others. Many also of the Puritans had been apostate professors of various Protestant religions before they were awakened :
No doubt the foolish virgins in the following parable regretted their similar judgments on the exceedingly excessive opinions of the wise virgins once it was shown to them that they were in error:
1 ¶ Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 ¶ And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 ¶ Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Both had oil: but some had it only in their “lamps”, while others had it also in their “vessels”.
In my exceedingly excessive ways those two expressions seem to be pregnant with eternal meaning, and I make no apologies to you for that, but rather praise God that it is so, because it is not of myself that it is so, but of Him alone, in Grace alone. Amen
You project, Jan. I think it is you who lacks self-awareness.
You suffer from Trump Dead-ender Syndrome and Dunning-Kruger, and this is who you worship:
“Trump is mentally unstable, suffers from what is called the dark triad personality, of, psychopathy, extreme narcissism, extreme, chronic, and impulsive lying, and, no small amount of paranoia.
There's evidence that this man is, experiencing dementia on top of these lifelong traits.” (Jeffrey Sachs)
I was listening to Neil Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand", but Mick is singing as I type this....
We got a few thin-skinned, shallow-brains here, Doc....no nuance, no sense of irony....
When I sold my soul to satan, I told Ole' Scratch I wanted him to pay me by personal check. So he gave me his personal check to pay for my soul. Well, I took that check, turned it over, and wrote on the back: "For Deposit Only", & "Pay to the order of GOD". Then, I deposited the check in God's bank account. Satan can have my soul, but he's gotta pay God first!.... So, I just stay right with GOD, I should be ok....
Well said. Similar to your young experience, at eighteen years old I carried Mao's Red book in my flannel shirt pocket at all times and was meeting with SDS in Madison, WI until '69 or so when SDS morphed into Weatherman, then Weather Underground. I never joined because I couldn't fathom how blowing stuff up and hurting innocent people could make America better. Anyway, after working security with the Chicago Outlaws at Iola, Wisconsin's Earth People's Fair in June 1970, I had seen all the well-intentioned hypocrisy I could take. Threw my Red Book in the garbage and began trying to become an adult. Haven't read The Master and Margarita yet, but The Gulag Archipelago should be required reading for humans every four or five years. If Solzhenitsyn's observations don't jog our spiritual discernment I can't imagine what would. Thanks again.
Simple test for the morality of any ideology: does it require coercion?
But that's exactly the point that John Leake is trying to make: that the persuaded ideologue is capable of doing evil without being coerced! He does not need to be coerced because he is persuaded that what he is doing is good!
AGREED!
And he is persuaded that it is his duty to coerce others.
That provides a dividing line between two views of man. The first, based in Materialism, sees man as a herd animal. Such beasts are to be coerced, prodded, corralled, and kept under control.
The opposing view is that of man as a spiritual being, an immortal soul endowed with Free Will. In this view, coercion is an evil, an anathema.
Unfortunately, our society has tilted strongly toward the materialistic view of things with coercive herding becoming the norm.
Coercion has a wide range of aspects, many of which have nothing to do the morality of an ideology, it could for instance be a chosen an exercise in self discipline.
Ideology: rules of norms applicable to qty of human units > 1.
Takeaway: immoral.
Like the Inquisition.
There is no difference between America and Rome 2,000 years ago. Corruption always leads to destruction.
Include Tel Aviv among the centers of evil.
Include the Vatican state.
Does it, though? I have family members who maneuvered themselves into the position of inheriting millions, leaving the rest of the family out. Years later, they continue to enjoy their spoils. Other family members often ponder whether there really is Divine justice; we don't wish revenge, but it is frustrating to see people succeed in their manipulations. Their corruption did not lead to destruction.
Those who enjoy themselves at the expense of fairness, justice and moral character will pay dearly throughout all eternity, unless they sincerely repent and turn from their sinful (selfish) ways, for they fear not the Almighty God but revel in the devil's ill gotten gains.
If not always justice, only karma?!
Karma stems from a pagan Eastern false religion. God is a personal righteous judge and a shelter for the redeemed.
... as in "you reap what you sow".
I am not sure what to infer from your statement. Do you mind sharing a bit more ... or your viewpoint of that unraveling??
I take a broad view of karma. I am Roman Catholic and late 70s of age. I firmly believe there is consciousness after death and that one is at peace - finally. I hope those that get cheated can get justice in the afterlife.
.... yet
Just ultimately comes when each of us stands before our Creator and gives an accounting. Read the words of Jesus and take refuge in His protection, mercy and grace.
I am old and remain Roman Catholic . I know the criticisms of the Vatican but I also found that the Church fathers were good men.
I have studied Robert Monroe's OBE (out of body experiences), have looked at all sides of gnosticism, Have done much reading, research on quantum physics. The bottom line is I firmly believe in consciousness after deasth. Maybe it is there you can confront those who have been selfish.
When I die I will see my parents and others. I believe Jesus is divine.
The Roman Republic lasted 5 centuries before becoming an empire whose accomplishments are admired while horrifying cruelties are forgotten. One telling incident: a mob went to the Senate and threatened to burn the building and the senators if they didn't give them a dictator - to bring order. Then things got worse.
For a long time, most emperors were vile and concerned with their own amusements. The Roman Empire achieved many great things in literature, art, architecture, sanitation, water transport, and roads -- mostly using slaves. General Crassus demanded 120 miles of road lined with crucified slaves after Spartacus' rebellion. Rome flogged Boudicca, queen of Britain's Iceni because she objected to an 80% tax. At least 80K tribesmen were killed in a losing battle led by her for their freedom. Just a few samples of Roman Rule.
We in the West live in perhaps the brightest epoch in history, and for all the faults of our Western governments, not one person living would want to live in 2nd cent. Rome.
What we should want is not to destroy the world with nuclear weapons and their certain aftermath of starvation, disease, crime, and chaos.
Gavin Newsom is the closest match today in the U.S. to the corrupt Roman emperors, such as Caligula.
I'm trying to come up with a good pun. Caesar New-vigula isn't very good. Can you invent one? 🤪
I used to support Trump, but no more. This is what happens when narcissism combines with power & coercion
Follow Christ first. No questions, no disappointments, no worries. I only follow Christ with my full heart, mind, and soul. Trump, we need to pray for all our elected officials every day. We all need help and prayers. God will always have final judgement on all of us one day. Be ready. W.
There are many who claim to be followers of Christ whose ideology and behavior identifies them as enemies of Christ…
Absolutely, that is what the comment is about. I have to look to the Bible and Christ's character and testimony. Always check and compare a system to what the Bible says. Let the Bible be your source to know truth from false. W.
“Wear the shoe if it fits”. Judging from the comments on Leake’s posts, I think it would fit many.
3 of my 4 siblings are "Christians" you describe. They cheerlead for genocide and aggression done by the Zionists. They identify as Zionists. It is disgusting.
Amen
I believe that Trump, Witkoff and Kushner will make out like bandits from this war. I believe that Trump has established his cult of personality while they are achieving the true aims.
Yes he happens to be a narcissist and able to use power as needed. We need a strong leader to defeat communist insurrection in America—that is why Donald Trump was elected.
Praying for wisdom and God's guideance for our leaders and a lasting peace in the Middle East.
Amen! Me too, regarding God's wisdom and guidance for the leaders! A lasting peace in the Middle East, though: That would be some kind of miracle. But miracles do abound every day.
Read Isaiah 19. It will happen one day.
When Jesus comes again.
God, came to the aid of many leaders in the Old Testament.. He wanted to help and voiced disappointment when they did not humble themselves and ask for , HIS help. They were told to Fast and Pray.
Mr. Leak, I so disagree with you that my first impulse is to unsubscribe. However, I’ll lose two other writers that I admire. Please consider sharing your anti-American thoughts elsewhere. I’ll continue to do my best not to read anything with your name displayed as author.
What is more un-American, voicing an opinion that warns of America losing its way or telling that person to shut up?
You’ve got to be kidding me!?! We lost our way and are currently trying to crawl back from the anti-American take over by the Biden Auto-pen regime.
What does this (myopic) tangent have to do with telling Leake that he should not even share his opinion on his own Substack. And if you were really consistent in your thinking, wouldn't you want to shut out Dr. McCullough if he is the one giving a platform to someone as offensive to your sensibilities as Mr. Leake? smh
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 It boggles the mind!
By carpet bombing another country? Really, dude, are you that deaf?
Brilliant choice! Ah, "To read or not to read! That is the question"
Author John Leake in title skip and leave the rest of us to it.
Sounds like a good plan to me. I have much reading to do without wasting my time reading an article by someone who holds views which are diametrically different to mine.
I am mystified -- how then do you come to a sound reasoning conclusion on matters ... seriously??
Who would think! Perhaps subtitle to this substack would provide a preview? "Courageous Discorse"
Any article with Don Lemon by-line I don't open / bother with. My "right to choose"
🤣
That really cracked me up! 🤣
And, you have just proved Mr. Leake's post. These are not anti-American thoughts, as you have been brainwashed to believe. These are truisms of human nature that never change.
Just another shallow American. Critical thinking involves a deep dive into subjects and the ability to see the world in its complexity. And most importantly, to have the wisdom to change, and even to say, "I was wrong."
Mr. Flash, applying the same plan again.
I believe there are few in government that can be trusted.
I too nearly unsubscribed due to the loquacious rants of Leake. Apparently, he finds no satanic evil in the minds of the jihadist radicals who want nuclear weapons in order to wipe Israel and the USA off the map. I too will be ignoring posts with your byline, Leake
You sound indignant, Bill. The USA really did wipe the democratically-elected Iranian government off the map in 1953. The Iranian people revolted and seized their own country in 1979. Ever since, Israel and the USA have ran crippling economic sanctions (with their Rothschild's banking) against Iran in their efforts to wipe Iran off the map.
What goes around, comes around and karma's a bitch.
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The world would be a much better place if the USA simply followed George Washington's sage wisdom: Befriend all nations, trade with all nations, eschew becoming entangled in foreign alliances and conflicts and do not seek monsters abroad to destroy.
Mind your own bee's wax, Bill. Easy, peazey, lemon-squeezey.
Um, you've been somewhat "mis-informed" as to the TRUE identity of those "Iranian people" in 1979....who supposedly "revolted", and "seized" "their own country"....
When Roosevelt, Stalin, & Churchill met together, how, and by who, was Tehran chosen as the host city for that meeting? My point is that MUCH information has been concealed here about Iran & the "Middle East"....
Regardless, the world would be a lot better if we just simply let Iranians run Iran.
We're working on that
Whoosh!
It's not up to you to "work" on it, Noel.
Mind your own bee's wax!
The you must agree, that America would run better without all the Zionist Jews, too, right?....
100%. AIPAC wields WAY too much power in DC, imho.
And...Churchill was furious when Roosevelt met with the Saudi King alone.
Under the House of Saud, one of the largest families is the Bin Laden family, who has $Millions of mutual investments, through the Carlyle Group, with the Bush Dynasty.... So what?....
Right. That doesn't look fishy. An Illuminati family has a son go world-changing rogue after working with the CIA against the Soviets.
Just run-of-the-mill normalcy here in Luciferville.
"BLM" = "Ba'al, Lucifer, Moloch"....right?....Hhmmmm....?
You left out Jagger's verse about 'what's troubling you is the nature of my game'. I think you're a troubled man, John, if you are equating a man who many people believe is ridding the world of an evil regime (15% of the Muslim population tops, NOT an entire Nation of 94 Million people!) to those; who, if they persisted in their nuclear ambitions would create a world situation in very short order exactly as Hitler envisioned it - a single belief system bent on slaughtering all infidels to establish their caliphate, exactly as the Third Reich attempted to exterminate the Jews. That is sick. You are a sick man. Get some help. To help with your confusion, when two-thirds of the population believe that Trump is one of the greatest POTUS ever, and the other third believe that he is the devil himself - something is very wrong in our culture. It's kind of similar to C.S. Lewis' comment about Jesus - He was either a madman or who He says He was - you can't have it both ways. Grow up, John.
Do you think that God blessed the TRIPLE-TAPPING of an elementary school to cook 170 little girls?
Me? I doubt it. It sure goes against my understanding of Jesus' message.
This was an extremely unfortunate mis-targeting error caused by someone or group, probably at Palantir, deciding to compress a kill chain produced by outdated data in a possibly outdated AI targeting system. The school building was apparently part of an IRGC compound previously and that data was not updated. At least that is what I gleaned from the article below. There are culpable people at the root of this error, not just a machine, and according to administration announcements, there is an outside officer leading a full investigation of the incident which Trump and Hegseth have said they would accept fully. It was not done on purpose as you imply. You can read all about it below, if you're inclined to accept truth rather than sling innuendos around from your TDS perspective.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/mar/26/ai-got-the-blame-for-the-iran-school-bombing-the-truth-is-far-more-worrying
You can read all about it below, if you're inclined to accept truth rather than sling innuendos around from your Trump Adoration Syndrome perspective.
-----
The U.S. Triple Tapped The Iranian Elementary School.
The U.S. military hit an elementary school three times in succession. A human would have seen the children after the first strike. The AI didn’t look.
https://volitionmaximus.substack.com/p/the-us-triple-tapped-the-iranian
A father in Minab, Iran received a phone call from his daughter’s school on the morning of February 28. There had been an explosion. His daughter was alive. “Come get her.” Before he could reach her, the school was hit again. She was killed.
The principal of Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School had moved surviving children into a prayer room after the first strike collapsed the roof. She called parents. “Come now.” The second strike hit the prayer room. According to the mayor of Minab and Iran’s Ministry of Education, a third strike followed.
168 people died. Children. Teachers. Four parents who came to pick up their kids. The school was painted bright blue and pink with sports fields drawn on the asphalt. It was visually, unmistakably, a school.
The U.S. military did this. Not allegedly. Not according to Iranian state media. According to The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, CBC, BBC Verify, Bellingcat, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. According to the Pentagon’s own internal investigation. According to footage showing a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile striking the site. Tomahawks are used exclusively by U.S. forces in this conflict.
The U.S. military did this. Not allegedly. Not according to Iranian state media. According to The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, CBC, BBC Verify, Bellingcat, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. According to the Pentagon’s own internal investigation. According to footage showing a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile striking the site. Tomahawks are used exclusively by U.S. forces in this conflict.
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And here everyone was cowering from “double-tap.” Double-tap shmouble-tap, eh? The USA kicked off this war by bombing an obvious, known girls school in a Hellish, war-criminal TRIPLE-TAP!!! How very IDF of them, eh?
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You are being given a choice right now, people. You can support this war crime or you can oppose it. You may not "sluff" it. That is not an option.**
Be very careful as to what you decide as God is watching you.
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*The first missile kills and damages and leaves an eery silence. Then the war-criminal wait. Then the satellite confirmation of survivors’ congregation and rescuers desperately digging through the rubble in the often grave hope of survivors. Then the pièce de résistance: a double-tap missile doesn’t just explode and damage and kill like the first one, no, it includes the gnarly technology that compresses all unused rocket fuel to cook the gathered little girls.
**15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. - Revelation 3:15-16 [KJV]
You need to read the article all the way through; it says exactly what I said the other article says.
"A system was given coordinates. It followed them perfectly. It did not know and could not know that it was killing children. That is not a flaw in the system. That is the system."
This is a BIG problem with AI that will play out in the future. I am not an AI fan for this reason. It's still "garbage in, garbage out".
BTW, the verse you cite from Revelation describes the church of the present age, Laodicea. It is true.
Have a good life and stay away from AI, and please, read what you post about and report it fully, not selectively (PS: you copied one section twice in your post).
Finally, a blessed Good Friday to you and yours, Bert. He gave His life on the cross for you, me and all of mankind.
✝️🙏🏻
BTW - the verse I sight can be applied to individuals. It can refer to good people supporting war crimes, for example. And yes, of course it is true.
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I get much of my information from Judge Nap. I highly recommend "Judging Freedom" with Judge Andrew Napolitano and his stable of top-notch geopolitical analysts: Mcgregor, Wilkerson, Ritter, Johnson, Sachs, Mearsheimer, Blumenthal, Escobar, Maté, Hoh, Kwiatkowski, Freeman, Crooke, Doctorow, Diesen, Giraldi et al. https://www.youtube.com/@judgingfreedom
I consume a minuscule amount of AI but Bibi on bass is hilarious in this spoof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZhKlSCv8e4
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As you might imagine, I have these conversations with Trump Adoration Syndrome folks on the regular so I lose track of what I've shared with whom. Plus Substack is a kludgey mess for simply trying to move upthread. Plus you keep ignoring the DOUBLE- and TRIPLE-TAPPING key aspect of this child sacrifice to Moloch.
So there's that.
I do plan on reading the lengthy article but have yet had time.
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"A system was given coordinates. It followed them perfectly. It did not know and could not know that it was killing children. That is not a flaw in the system. That is the system."
"🤷🏻♂️ Oh well. What're ya gonna do? 🤷🏻♂️. Our machines cooked 170 little girls in our middle-of-fruitful-negotiations, snakey, illegal, unconstitutional well-planned surprise bombings."
So flipping what, Bert? You think that your poorly designed killing machines gives you plausible ... wait! What?
The US military handed over decisions to DOUBLE- and then even TRIPLE-TAP a school full of little girls to a machine? A) Bull shit! double- and triple-tapping is decided by men and B) even if your poorly engineered machines did double- and triple-tap those little girls, that is still a war crime! D'uh.
Throw in the fact that this attack on the IRGC's little daughters EXACTLY FITS TO A TEE the standard IDF m.o. of kicking-off wars. This war crime is not an isolated incident, Bert. This war crime was standard operating procedure.
Handing off war-crime decisions and execution to your war-crime machines is hardly a defence.
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Nuremberg matters.
TRIPLE-TAP
Here is the one nugget in your verbal attack reflecting this comment: "something is very wrong in our culture"
And I'm sure we would never agree on what that something is, Anne, which is a large part of the cultural divide problem.
Actually, I think we could if we were to peacefully process through the maladies & respectfully navigate the areas where we might not fully mesh. I've seen it. I am much more appreciative of your second response. I like Rumi's take: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."
Coercion is sometimes accomplished by the persuasion of reasoned arguments based on a faulty premise, intended to deceive. It seems to be preferred over coercion by force in "civilized" nations like ours, but its success depends on a dulled or stupefied people unable to detect the faulty premise of such arguments -- a nation like we've allowed ours to become by destroying its foundations. If the initial coercion is by this deceptive persuasion, at some point it will morph into coercion by force.
👏🏻👏🏻 A commenter noted earlier: "... something is very wrong in our culture".
Unfortunately, "modern" man has been conditioned to dismiss even the concept of the devil as aberrant superstition. And yet, all Earthly cultures have known about and named a non-physical, non-human, interdimensional presence on this planet for at least the last 6,000 years.
The ancient Greeks called this influence the Archons—malevolent beings controlling people's thoughts, feelings and actions. The Hebrews called this destructive intelligence Abaddon. In Islam it was Iblis. For the Cree tribes in America the evil whisperer was wetiko. To the Algonquin tribes it was windingo, a hunger-driven cannibal. Hawai'ian kahunas called them the 'e'epa. Tibetan Buddhists referred to them as "hungry ghosts."
The Gnostic text Pistis Sophia called the antimimon pneuma (evil principle) an "illness that has attached itself to humankind. Because it does not have a physical form, this illness uses us as vehicles to manifest its desire, creating a physical reality to its liking." The Apocryphon of John called it a “counterfeiting spirit” that numbs and toughens human hearts, closing us down, making us small and twisted like itself, with the intention of eventually creating a prison-like reality that it can rule over forever.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called this invisible force “antimimos, the imitator and evil principle,” equating it with the Antichrist. Of course, Christians and the well-oiled entertainment industry unwittingly (or otherwise) trivialized this parasitic intelligence in their depictions of Satan or the devil.
Isn't it odd that humanity remains blind to the reality of this parasitic influence and its blatant presence behind current global events? No. It's not odd. It's called programming. And the Globalist Elites apparently running the show are themselves the Archons' overshadowed puppets.
👏🏻👏🏻 Great overview -- informative; not preachy!
Shallowness of culture is due to feminization of politics: "don't spank/punish; that's too harsh!"
Women are by nature emotional and compassionate. That's a good balance to men's testosterone intensities. Usually, the husband wins out on household discipline.
Once loosed on society, women's suffrage means the curtailment of masculine behaviors in rearing the next generation. Result: order of magnitude increase in delinquency, tolerance of societal crime waves, multigenerational welfare, ultimately open borders.
This society elevates and tolerates the new criminal liberal governance that gave rise to Trump's BRASHNESS.
Trump only elevated when he said the unspeakable, reflexively. So, enough of your observations about a brash egoist running executive government. He won three elections at massive voting turnouts, so your thesis is too short on history. Dig further into why you even voted for the guy.
You did vote for him, no? So, if you did, you can't escape culpability. Defaulting to "politicians lie" is beneath even dumb liberals, and that's pretty low.
What's done is done. Trump needs to be held accountable for war crimes regardless of who voted for whom.
Not Trump’s brashness. Trump’s mental illness and war crimes…
“Trump is mentally unstable, suffers from what is called the dark triad personality, of, psychopathy, extreme narcissism, extreme, chronic, and impulsive lying, and, no small amount of paranoia.
There's evidence that this man is, experiencing dementia on top of these lifelong traits.” (Jeffrey Sachs)
Hm.
Didn't know the guy was a practicing MD.
Learn new things every day!
Yes, it is entirely possible for intellectually honest and morally competent people to consult and learn from qualified psychiatrists and psychologists. So, let’s see if you are really capable of learning…. Sachs clearly is.
Shallowness of culture is shallowness of culture, regardless of politics. We do collectively value property and possessions 1000 yimes more than the arts and culture. We don't encourage our children to be free lance or travelling artists. The American culture on display consists now of military parades, rockets to the moon and building AI centers, plus making soooo much money (for some people) of the tariffs, rising oil prices, and the military industries. Culture plays no role in this. In fact, it has made us blood thirsty...the end of creating beauty for beauty's sake.
Artists enjoy satisfactions non-artists don't even know exist. I just hope they're paying social security on their earnings, especially in the last few years. Money isn't everything. The AI billionaire bros are stealing from artists constantly and that has to be addressed. But they lack the qualities necessary to make art. I would much rather live with those abilities than live with a lot of money and be soulless.
Nice to be able to travel--for art, no less--while someone else is planting or harvesting or milking the cows or butchering the livestock. Ah, the life of no chores or daily demands by Mother Nature!
And columnists and readers wonder why the American culture can't properly value life, time, or possessions...
That's a tremendous over generalization
Hey, whaddya expect from a shallow citizen and Trump supporter who reads Leake??
Right now the arts are what we need as an antidote to narcissism, too much testosterone, valuing social status over empathy and intuition, incels, and focus on $$$ and killing for more $$$. Every American needs to travel at length to learn that they are not the center of the universe. Also abortion is a good antidote to forced motherhood when it's not wanted or not possible economically. You have no idea how hard the life of an artist is. And unsubsidized by the government to the degree farmers are.
Communities used to gladly support their minister and artists because they valued what joy, refinement and spirit they add to our lives, beyond the ordinary necessities of life. I have friends who are travelling from engagement to engagement all over the country, often living out of their cars and without a permanent address. Our bureaucracy is not equipped to accommodate this, regarding the issuance of plates and licenses, let alone for anything else. What money they have left over from gigs has to last until the next engagement and often it doesn't. Nothing saved for retirement. And God forbid something happens to their singing voice or dancing feet, etc! Anyway, it is a huge sacrifice to follow your calling under such circumstances, which is partly why the arts are suffering. Most people don't milk cows or kill chickens and yet they eat. Artists buy their food just like other people, pay taxes yet live without most comforts.
If the libs are correct that evolution is 100% darwinism from atom to molecule to DNA, then an artist has no more dignity or sense of purpose than space dust.
If the libs are wrong, and life is of divine origin with purpose, then artists are either wholly self supporting or kept by owners.
I do not know how this idea of liberals thinking evolution is 100% Darwinism. What does that even mean. And if life is of divine origin with purpose, then artists are self-supporting or kept by owners? What do you mean by THAT?
What I DO know is that when there is a big tragedy, who do the most powerful and most visible people haul out of the shadows? Poets and musicians. Always. Totally predictable. And what do farmers turn to when the lights are out, the chores are done, the harvest safely tucked away, and the animals they are over-wintering are safe in the barn with several months' hay? Music, poetry, storytelling, painting, quilting, making fishing lures, and tons of other art forms most people today don't even think about.
It has nothing to do with political ideology. Both have to do with being human.
Hear, hear!
So, the life of an artist is difficult because of the farming reqd to support the evening frivolity? Or, because it relies upon the farmer to produce net income with which to pay the artist for entertainment, and hard times means no spending on artists?
Spacedust? Well, this is all of us. In our world, all of us are subjects, a commodity, a personnel resource with a social security number, easily discarded and replaced. If it weren't for our unique souls or spirits. Dignity has everything to do with one's unique character and soul. You speak like a person without a soul, who never had a song in his/her heart, never had a unique talent or dream or aspiration or conviction. What a terrible predicament! I like John Leake just because he appeals to one's higher dreams and aspirations, character and DIGNITY. Still, you keep reading and must be getting something out of it... . There may be hope for you (smile).
Practicing MDs in head medicine are already on thin ice from a validity standpoint. Learning as lay from them is swimming.
You’re the one who brought up MDs as qualified to judge…
Don't recall reading your attribution of diagnosis to anyone other than him. Edit better.
Think better, oh Word Salad Master…
Ad hominem the pinnacle of your abilities?
No, but the pinnacle of your ability is ironically the actual Trump Derangement Syndrome, aka Trump Dead-ender Syndrome. Trump has revealed his true identity and has tragically committed political suicide, making it much more likely that clueless Democrats will gain power. He has wasted an historic opportunity. Wash, rinse, repeat, déjà vu all over again. Trump turns out to be an aggressive Zionist war monger, and the Dead-enders clinging to his psychopathic political corpse are complicit in his war crimes.
MDs diagnose. Lay people do not.
Qualifications presumed valid, the field is suspect. Makes the lay person even more suspect.
You don’t know the first thing about the process of forming a differential diagnosis. An M.D. in any speciality can form a differential diagnosis. A clinical psychologist can form a differential diagnosis. A structural engineer can form a differential diagnosis (regarding a bridge problem, for example). A lay person can solicit a differential diagnosis from qualified experts and report that list to others. In the case in question, Sachs consulted qualified psychiatrists and psychologists, who supplied their opinions, and Sachs passed those along. What don’t you understand that it was not Sachs who formed a differential diagnosis de novo?
And there are many, many holistic methods to diagnose! Probably considered quack by MD's but extremely accurate and helpful, especially where conventional medicine fails.
You give evil too much credit.
It is "I want what I want when I want it"
Very few consider their ways. The remedy:
PROVERBS 1:2Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of the wise.
3Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,
to help them do what is right, just, and fair.
4These proverbs will give insight to the simple,
knowledge and discernment to the young.
5Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.
Let those with understanding receive guidance
6by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
20Wisdom shouts in the streets.
She cries out in the public square.
21She calls to the crowds along the main street,
to those gathered in front of the city gate:
22“How long, you simpletons,
will you insist on being simpleminded?
Fools and simpletons don’t read the Bible or they cut out the parts they don’t like.
... "and I want it NOW." I saw this arising among younger gen. Evil is a choice -- so give it its due!
Look out your window, baby, there’s a scene you’d like to catch
The band is playing “Dixie,” a man got his hand outstretched
Could be the Führer
Could be the local priest
You know sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace
It's why I despise religion and am now an atheist. Just make up an outcome, paint someone as the savior of man or the devil in lambs clothing. You can find a verse or a religion that supports what you already want to believe. Parents of an old girlfriend of mind once had a placard posted on their refrigerator, a cross at the top and a simple statement "We have already decided what we believe, please don't confuse us with the truth."
Noel, I like your name. I despise religion too, but I ran the other direction—toward the love of my life—my Savior Jesus Christ! I pray you’ll find His love as I did. 🙏🏼
The atheist comes right before actual and most personal enlightenment. Thus was my own evolution and is well described by Scott Peck, "Road less traveled" and "Different Drum." Keep your eye on Truth and long for it in your heart.
People have always done the devil's work under the illusion that they are doing good.
Perhaps the author of this column needs to self reflect on that sentence more deeply.
... as would almost every commenter -- time better spent!
Except you, right, Anne?
You are the “almost” commenter right?
No assumptions in your thinking of course.
No preening here🤔
I note the topic for Inisfad is self-reflection. I found Psalm 139:23-24 and Lamentations 3:40 that we discussed in my course on Exodus last week most heartfelt & inspiring. It was time most well-spent. It was that spirit in which I responded to Inisfad.
You chose a different approach.
No, Anne, I did not choose a “different approach”; you are quite mistaken; as you assume much, and in your mocking accusation of “preening” you miss the heart and soul of what I have written.
As I thought about it last night it occurred to me that you probably took offense at my reference to the doctrine of the reformers and puritans who taught, among other truths, the total depravity of man.
Which doctrine, my dear Anne, is at the very heart of the “self reflection” you so piously refer to in Ps 139, but the crucial distinction is this: only the Spirit of God in His power can unblind the natural mind to the depths of the “any iniquity in me” that the petitioner asks to be revealed in that prayer.
You have revealed a lot of your nature in your commentaries which seem exceedingly excessive in view of a minor comment. 👋🏻 ✌🏻
You are quite right Anne, they do reveal much about my nature, my new nature in Christ, for before He came and saved me I gave no real regard to His warnings and neither did the Reformers and Puritans who were also accused of “exceedingly excessive commentaries on minor points” of scripture, once their eyes were opened. Most of the Reformers, and many of the Puritans had been Roman Catholic priests prior to their regeneration, and thought, like the apostle Paul that they knew the scriptures better than others. Many also of the Puritans had been apostate professors of various Protestant religions before they were awakened :
No doubt the foolish virgins in the following parable regretted their similar judgments on the exceedingly excessive opinions of the wise virgins once it was shown to them that they were in error:
1 ¶ Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 ¶ And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 ¶ Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Both had oil: but some had it only in their “lamps”, while others had it also in their “vessels”.
In my exceedingly excessive ways those two expressions seem to be pregnant with eternal meaning, and I make no apologies to you for that, but rather praise God that it is so, because it is not of myself that it is so, but of Him alone, in Grace alone. Amen
You project, Jan. I think it is you who lacks self-awareness.
You suffer from Trump Dead-ender Syndrome and Dunning-Kruger, and this is who you worship:
“Trump is mentally unstable, suffers from what is called the dark triad personality, of, psychopathy, extreme narcissism, extreme, chronic, and impulsive lying, and, no small amount of paranoia.
There's evidence that this man is, experiencing dementia on top of these lifelong traits.” (Jeffrey Sachs)
Ridiculous
You project
Jeffrey Sachs, a spokesperson for globalist interests. At least now you finally reveal where your politics lie.
Jan, you are a spokesperson for idiocy.
You've lost your educated mind.
"Please allow me to introduce myself..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgnClrx8N2k
;-(
"It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord,
But you're gonna have to serve somebody"
https://youtu.be/wC10VWDTzmU?list=RDwC10VWDTzmU
Indeed.
;-)
I was listening to Neil Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand", but Mick is singing as I type this....
We got a few thin-skinned, shallow-brains here, Doc....no nuance, no sense of irony....
When I sold my soul to satan, I told Ole' Scratch I wanted him to pay me by personal check. So he gave me his personal check to pay for my soul. Well, I took that check, turned it over, and wrote on the back: "For Deposit Only", & "Pay to the order of GOD". Then, I deposited the check in God's bank account. Satan can have my soul, but he's gotta pay God first!.... So, I just stay right with GOD, I should be ok....
KEEP UP the GOOD WORK, Doc!....
"Old enough now to change your name, when so many love you, is it the same..."
Brother Neil involuted and got lost in some form of lonely solitude, somewhere along the way, controlled by interlocutors...
He used to seem like one of us in the old days.
;-(
Thanks Bill. ;-)
Well said. Similar to your young experience, at eighteen years old I carried Mao's Red book in my flannel shirt pocket at all times and was meeting with SDS in Madison, WI until '69 or so when SDS morphed into Weatherman, then Weather Underground. I never joined because I couldn't fathom how blowing stuff up and hurting innocent people could make America better. Anyway, after working security with the Chicago Outlaws at Iola, Wisconsin's Earth People's Fair in June 1970, I had seen all the well-intentioned hypocrisy I could take. Threw my Red Book in the garbage and began trying to become an adult. Haven't read The Master and Margarita yet, but The Gulag Archipelago should be required reading for humans every four or five years. If Solzhenitsyn's observations don't jog our spiritual discernment I can't imagine what would. Thanks again.