The Devil's Gateway Ch. 02

"What they did is called 'co-opting' which is taking something from it's original use and using it for another purpose—their purpose. The Catholic church did this a lot, but I won't get into that because it's way too voluminous, but if it interests you, think Christmas. This is what is important about it.

"Foundation and Zeitgeist. I've preached those two words.

"Now look at the miter the pope and bishops wear, and look at all of the bishops of the other churches such as the Episcopalian here, and the Anglicans in England. Don't they use the same miters? Don't some others also. Add to Foundation and Zeitgeist the word 'connection' because you will want to look for connections from one thing to another, like this hat to ancient gods, and how it is still in use in so many religions now. Or maybe how the story of Noah was extant before the Jews used it for their own purposes, for their illiterate fellow Jews.

"And more, the bible in just about all ways is the same as the Catholic version. Matthew is still the first gospel, not Mark.

"Just as a point of interest, I know Bart Ehrman said something about present day preachers knowing a lot of these problems, errors, contradictions. He tries to answer the question of why they never speak about what they were taught in class. He knew it, and so do most of the preachers, but they go and do as they know is expected of them, and never mention what is unmentionable—the elephant, or the many elephants—that are walked around as if they don't exist. Corner them as some of you might have on occasion, and you'll get a lot of me-too talk, taken on tangents of what the bible says otherwise, or how we're just to have faith. We're all just not knowledgeable enough to stop their shenanigans, there's so much to the bible, and too much that is accepted by one and all without question. It makes us often feel as if we better not question things too much, or maybe face the wrath of all of the others who do believe without question. Again, is it any wonder that so many of us get confused by the bible?

"Let's take a break now, then when we come back, I'll go into something else that will be of great interest to all of you, I'm sure."

We naturally wondered where Liv would go next. Paula couldn't tell us because she was with Liv. They made a lovely pair; the way they looked at each other told us that they adored each other. Just seeing them together was so romantic.

* * * *

"Ladies, I want to ask each of you if you know of someone who could benefit from learning what I've been telling you about?"

Stopping, and giving us a chance to say something, I had to wonder why she was asking that, but most everyone was nodding, including me.

"Why I asked that was that I want to talk to you about Zeitgeist, and connect it with Proposition 8. I take it you're all against Proposition 8."

Talk about getting a response. Everyone was talking at once, and none of it was because they were for Proposition 8. We hated it.

"The reason I bring this up is to make a connection between all of this and Proposition 8, and then to another connection which I'll get into in just a few minutes.

"First of all, several articles have mentioned three major donors to funding Proposition 8: the first being the Catholic church, the second, the Mormon church which likes to be called Latter Day Saints, those folks out of Utah, and the third, a billionaire who made his money to begin with by being born into it. The latter is Howard Ahmanson who is said to have donated about $900,000 or more to the cause as I mentioned before.

"There are several things interesting about all three. First, the Catholic church recently had a high powered celebrity bishop whose name escapes me, recently being indignant that his church is being picked on for their beliefs. Hmpf! Never mind that they shoved their beliefs down our throats. Talk about hypocrisy.

"The second is just about as bad, though I'll give them their due. The Mormons, after being jumped on for their beliefs that were so radical, though now being looked at in a different light—yeah, like the Catholic church and the rest of them, they changed their ways to make themselves more acceptable, more modern—tried to show how they aren't so bad, at least as far as hypocrites go. They don't remember how they were picked on for being different back in the 1800s. As I said, give the devil his due; they do have such a tight knit community that when there was a natural disaster in Salt Lake City, they took care of things themselves.

"Mr. Ahmanson is said to have believed in a theologian, R. J. Rushdoony, who was said to favor our nation based on the bible's Old Testament mean spirit of stoning sons who were continually disobedient, and such other wild punishments. It seems he would bring back old fashioned Puritan values of go to church, or go be put in the stocks and made fun of in public.

"I may be making fun of it, but believe me, there are many in Congress who'd like nothing better, though surely not applicable to them, for many of them have been proven to be philanderers, not to mention outright crooks, and at the least, taking what are considered legal bribes.

"How do I connect them to what I've been preaching to all of you? I know you've figured it out already. They stand on the foundation of the bible being god's word, and to many, the inerrant word of god. We already know that this so-called god's word isn't inerrant, and now we know that the so-called foundation is a castle of sand that they reinvent each and every day in their own minds.

"I don't mind them believing as they do, nor that they refuse to see what's now being proven to be the real truth, but I do mind them shoving what they believe down everyone's throat as if it were the literal truth, and to the detriment of many of us, including my partner, Paula, and at least a few of you ladies.

"Many reputable scholars are now openly questioning the veracity of the bible, and many are beginning to notice it, but not enough. It hasn't affected their lives yet as it has yours, ours. In time, maybe enough will come to see it all for what it is, and by dint of the many against their dwindling numbers, they'll stop it all in it's tracks. Then again, maybe they won't. Maybe circumstances will favor those church types, and they'll cram it all down our throats until there's another revolution to give us back our freedom.

"One thing has bothered me a little though, and maybe I've just missed it, but so far, in reading these religious scholars, they are definitely pointing out the many errors, and how the Old Testament is not the word of god, inerrant or otherwise, but I haven't seen one yet saying the obvious. If the Old Testament is not what it seems to be, not what it says, then it's false. If it's false, then Jesus, who followed that god, has to be false in the way he's revered now.

"I'm only saying this to you so that you can see if the connection is there, and if you should therefore pay attention to it instead of ignoring a very oversized elephant in our nation, in the world, that everyone keeps walking around and not mentioning. I'm in no way telling you to go forth and preach how wrong all of this is, and how therefore Jesus, as he's presented, isn't to be believed, but if it makes a difference in your life, if you see it's true, then I want you to know that you're not alone in acknowledging it.

"It's obvious, ladies, that is if you ultimately believe as I do, and if you do, what I do suggest to you is that if there's a sister out there who is as affected by church and this false Zeitgeist, I'd love for you to have it clear in your mind, and tell them—show them—why they needn't feel so much of the turmoil that's been put in them. Help them know that they are not unnatural, not depraved in any way, nor sinners, but just people who love as they were made to love.

"Do any of you have any questions on this?"

Liv looked around the room slowly. We all looked at not only her, but in our minds. I was a little uncomfortable with what she said, but damn it, it seemed to be the truth. Then again, I didn't really go to church, and hadn't been that indoctrinated as Caryn had been, or as some of the others had been either. I wondered how they thought about it. As I was thinking, Caryn stood up nervously. Maybe I was about to find out how she felt about what Liv had just said.

"I—uh—have said, or raised my hand to say, that I was severely affected by it, and I can say now that this has all helped me to see, to understand, how it has been wrong, they have been wrong, are wrong, as far as I'm concerned, in saying that me loving another woman is an abomination, and that I'd go to hell for it. Maybe I'm trying to convince myself of the rest of it. Darn it, it is hard to connect the falsity of the Old Testament to Jesus, we've been so told he is our salvation, though I now wonder from what it is that I'm being saved. Connecting it all now, as you suggest, it seems like you're right as you have been so far, but I just want to say that, yes, it will be hard to deny Jesus as you say is obvious. Then again, I want to scream, 'Damn them all for having shit on us for all these years the way they have. Damn them all.' "

Caryn sat down, her brow still furrowed. Everyone was quiet for ever so long, and Liv let us be so, at least for a few minutes.

"I agree with you, Caryn," Liv said sadly. "And yes, damn them all for putting us in this pickle, but as I said, it's what they've done to you and the rest of us, as well as the others who condemn us without real cause. But if we don't look at the obvious fictive of it all, and the obvious conclusion that the fictive leads us to, we're right where we were before, but we'll also have to blame ourselves along with them.

"And yes, it's hard. We get bombarded with all of these television programs preaching Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, though no one looks at the wealth of those preachers. We are bombarded with gospel singing even when it's not on those preachy programs, all the music stars pushing it, and getting richer too as they do. And twice a year, we are inundated with movies and ads, and programs to celebrate Christmas and Easter. Yes, I know it's difficult to break what seems to be a habit we're born into much as some children are born as cocaine addicts from their mothers using it too often.

"And no, there's no way we can undo the injustice of it all by proclaiming the truth of the lies loudly so all can be sure to hear. To do that is to invite death by more crazies than there are foreign terrorists. But can you truly not be true to yourself, within your own mind, if you agree with me, that is? If you do see it as I do, and you won't admit where the knowledge of the truth leads you, then you are a hypocrite to yourself. Knowledge has power, but it also has a responsibility, and that's the price of it.

"No, I don't say it as an accusation, nor to make you feel you have to see it my way. Uh-uh! You came here looking for some truth. The only truth I have is to expose the lies. Personally, I have no grand truth of my own to impart otherwise, just exposing the lies. As I said, maybe there is a god, or a Goddess, but from the proofs, it certainly isn't this god of the bible as we're told it is. Objectively, that's a fairy tale, that too many are accepting like little children accepting a story you read to them.

"On the other hand, maybe there's a Jesus who taught real righteousness, honesty, goodness, but hasn't been quoted properly, or been utterly misquoted. We have no idea what Jesus really said. Not one shred of factual evidence, but we do know that they've twisted his words if he did indeed speak any words as they say.

"Some preachers say that a prophet of god is recognizable by one thing, and one thing only, and that is that what he says comes to pass exactly as he said it would, and none can deny it. They say that Jesus said that his generation shall not pass and all not see and know what he had said to be true.

"Annie, if you don't mind, please open to the gospel of Mark, chapter 13, and read from verse 5 through verse 29. Rachel, if you will, keep us honest as you have been. The rest of you, this is a bit long, but pay close attention since it is of great importance."

It was long, but we listened carefully.

"Yeah, that was a lot of things that are to come, and particularly, in the last verse, it said what? That these things will come to pass, and you'll know it is nigh? Is that right, Annie, Rachel?"

They both nodded that she was right.

"Okay, so what am I getting at? Annie, read verse 30, then read it again."

She did, and when asked, Rachel agreed that it was the same.

"My, my. 'This generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.' He will come in the clouds with great power and glory, and his angels shall gather the elect from all over the world. Before this generation is over!" she emphasized.

"Matthew, chapter 24 says much the same, but is longer; still, 'this generation' won't pass. That's in verse 34.

"No, it hasn't come to pass in Jesus' generation, but they changed it all, but forgot to take the words out of the scriptures. They never foresaw the people two thousand years later reading their words and taking them apart to better understand them. They always thought we'd all be illiterate—they had no reason to believe it would ever be otherwise for that's how it was for nearly two thousand years—and they could have their way forever and ever. That didn't happen, but many still act as if we can't read, and must do as they tell us just as it's always been done in the past.

"Now I wasn't sure I was going to say anything about this, but remember that I said that this was the golden age of books and knowledge? I also said that there were many of what I call 'me-too' books extolling Christianity as we now are taught it, as it has mostly been taught for two thousand years, as it is in the bible. Well, one of the me-too books I read purported to prove his case for believing in Jesus. In the process, he ripped as best he could at Bart Ehrman, but not so much on others, maybe because Bart has made so much sense, and given us his proofs in so many books.

"However, in bringing his own experts in to tell of why Jesus is as they tell us he is, they left out the one thing, and that is the foundation. Remember: foundation and Zeitgeist! In this case, not looking at the foundation, the very much in doubt Old Testament, it's glaring errors, shreds all that the New Testament is because the New Testament is founded on the Old Testament, on the god that they say committed genocide through his so-called chosen people time and again, and that's by the words of the Old Testament. They can't take that back, and that's their foundation for the New Testament, and for Jesus. This so-called prover of an author doesn't take that into consideration.

"If you want to read a book that will grip you because of the obvious honesty, the authenticity of his person and words, then look at a book by William Lobdell, who wrote: 'Losing My Religion.' The first part is like a gut wrenching memoir, and the second a close look at what all the Catholic church has perpetrated on us all, but mostly on children and the faith of the many. The worst part in some ways is that though it has all been proven, most of the Catholics don't seem to give a damn that their church is so guilty of so many crimes against humanity that it's almost unbelievable. They walk around the elephants as if they weren't there.

"Their own papers—those in the Vatican, that is, as well as elsewhere—have stated that they were instrumental in a genocide of the Cathars, as well as many other sins—think inquisition, and the way they treated with native Americans, as well as natives elsewhere—and not just recently on children, but as I said before, in Galileo's time, and recently too. That's what hiding from the truth does—it guarantees that inhuman things will happen again, and it's not just the Catholics for many from other religions have come to light also.

"Ladies, this all brings me to another thing I wanted to say to you, and I hated even thinking about it. Let's look at the Zeitgeist again. They tried to make it happen, so they say, in Josiah's time. Much later, when the Babylonians were defeated, some of the intelligentsia returned with some Law, some believe, some of the religion they'd invented to keep them a distinct people.

"It did no good, and then Ezra came along with power from the Persian king, and forced them to listen, and that, again, is in the books they all revere, the Old Testament in both the books of Ezra and of Nehemiah. The Law of their god stuck, and for a time, though there was turmoil, we have nothing about them until the time of the Maccabees, then the Zeitgeist took on new proportions.

"By the way, were any of you in Protestant churches ever exposed to Ezra's or Nehemiah's books?" she looked about, and no one said anything, just many heads shaking. "I didn't think so. Paula hadn't heard of them either, at least not in any class or sermon. Okay, off of this and back to where I was going: the Zeitgeist.

"Somewhere about the time of the Maccabees, the Zeitgeist was added to, and in the end, though the Maccabees were successful, more miracles were invented at that time that were supposedly in the days of the Babylonians: the fiery furnace not affecting the three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, then Daniel in the lions den. Again, someone looked back, and invented a tale of miracles to give them hope. They got lucky as they occasionally did, and won their freedom, but worse, the Zeitgeist got an even better hold on them. Ultimately it did no good; it only added to their historical woes later on.

"What I'm getting at is that because of the invented Zeitgeist, the Jews almost literally invented national zealotry, and the only thing they got from it was wars and slaughter, but mostly of their own people. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but hey, it happened, and the Zeitgeist had to be perpetuated for once more, it was all they had. After that, no more miracles were invented. They didn't have to, the Jewish Zeitgeist was firmly in place.

"Ladies, we know that the Zeitgeist grew tentacles, and eventually became a new Zeitgeist—the newly invented Christian Zeitgeist—but it is admitted to be born of the old Zeitgeist. And worse, there have been more wars, more killing, and all in the name of not only god, but of Jesus too.

"And then we have Islam, also rooted from the Old Testament, the old invented Zeitgeist, and they too admit that it is so for they also have Abraham for their ancestor, their beginner, and they had wars, and now terrorists, but we've had terrorists too, just not like they do.

"No, not like they do, but we have those here now that want to be like they are, and take the wars to them, or to anyone else—even to us just as the inquisition once did. And worse, just so they can make god send Jesus down—force god to send Jesus down and bring on the rapture for they think they are the elect, those whom Jesus will take up—they want Armageddon.

"What this country needs is to know the truth! That's what I fear so much for, and I fear this because I know it's going to be an almost impossible thing. The Zeitgeist they're perpetuating—that's morphing like a bacteria—and what they're pushing for, will ultimately punish us all, and it's all from our doing. Our own doing because we have allowed ourselves to be led, to believe the lies, and because we do not question what should be obvious to us all. Too many of us have simply accepted knowing about the lies, but refused to look at them, to wonder why we accept them, and what they're doing to us all.

"This is so terrible to me, so scary. For me, in my heart, I see what has happened. I see the lies, and I see the Zeitgeist that was created, and then reinforced, and then seen it branch off and make a similar lie of itself. It is insidious. We'll get caught up in it if it's not stopped. It's not just lesbians that will be affected—though we'd be some of the very first—but we'll all suffer, and needlessly just as the Jews did for ever so long.