s a descendent of ancient Celts and Lakota people too, I too have arrived at a point in my own journey where the Universal Christ is still very much alive for me, but not in the institutional religion of man. I too abdicated ordination and membership in the church to pursue wholehearted anam cara and the Lakota way, yet still as Paul would say, “en Christo”. Much more I could add, but that will suffice for now. }:- a.m. (anonemoose monk)
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Conversation With John Philip Newell
Conversation With John Philip Newell: “In almost every area of life, humanity is being invited to turn its attention to reestablishing our original unity with the earth.” – John Philip Newell
"Life’s essential harmony is within each of us. So also is life’s brokenness. To be part of transformation.
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Back from sabbatical
A Moose’s Election 2020 Sabbatical
I made a decision to deactivate social media until after the election, just too ugly and unsettling for me. But I still pay attention, even though most time is spent simply living “en Christo” as a grandfather. Of course my routines and disciplines are the same, which includes journaling, so here are some entries while I’ve been (delightfully) away for about a month—
- I have lost my faith in America which has served to deepen my faith in God.
- Most people don’t really know Jesus of Nazareth, which means they don’t know the Universal Christ of Divine LOVE (God by any other name; Creator, Great Mystery, Ground of Being). Such knowledge literally makes all the difference.
- People in the last days, hours of their lives are incapable of “bullshit”. ~Kathleen Taylor~ Hoofnote: Oh that COVID could have done that for Trump?!
- “Donald Through the Looking Glass” is the story of a small, inadequate boy who walks into a fantasy world where he is the leader of a very large nation. The plot includes a strange, fringe movement, QAnon, which becomes synonymous with evangelical christianity and coopts an old established political party. The sequel is expected soon. }:- a.m.
- Dr. Kyle Watters, our oldest, has been nominated as Teacher of the Year at Sacramento State University! It is quite the honor even though he cannot receive the award?! He and brother Cody are not tenured faculty, and therefore not eligible.
Nevertheless, the Watters brothers remain favorites among students and staff alike at my alma mater. To say I’m grateful and proud is an understatement.
Patrick Watters (‘74)
[Cody on the left, Kyle to the right, old man in the middle]
- Global economy, power and the Kingdom of Heaven — https://churchanew.org/brueggemann/on-the-truth-of-economic-control
- It’s not about how many rounds but how accurate you are. }:- a.m.
#singleaction #boltaction #revolver #pump #marksman #rangemaster #peepsightperfectionist #fowlhunter
#oldschool
Mossie 500 20ga w/tac light
Remington 1100 12ga trap/skeet
Winchester .243 bolt action Redfield sight (light and quick)
S&W MountainLite .357 (backpacker)
S&W Chief’s Stainless (ranger backup)
S&W Model 19 (ranger service)
S&W Model 29 (Dirty Harry) 10”+
#duckdaze #upland #personalprotection #range
Hoofnote: Lifetime NRA member who supports gun control and a ban on assault weapons. 🙏🏽♥️👍🏽
#noboogaloos #noproudboys
- Dear Brothers in Christ,
As I feel kinship with you both, “wounded healers”, I wanted to reach out and let you know I have shut down all my social media accounts. No more encouraging messages for a while, but also more importantly no more speaking Truth to evil (you know who). The negativity has taken a toll and so I’m called to come away, to rest in the Lover of our souls. I suspect I will sense the time for return, but for now it will only be love and encouragement dispensed in my smaller circle of family and friends via emails, texts and phone calls.
I felt compelled though this morning before first light (Lauds & Matins) to let at least you two know of my “whereabouts” in this time — safe at da moose’s lodge, “en Christo”. William I bid you well in Fall walks with canine companionship out in the beauty of that hill and river country. Mícheál to you and Caireann may your new abode be finished and warm before winter comes to the Boundary Waters.
I rest in the belief that there is always more good going on than we can see, and in it, in Divine LOVE, we are far richer than we know. So it is in long obedience (listening) and unforced rhythms of grace that I continue my own journey with you both as companions.
Mitakuye oyasin, hozho naasha doo, beannacht. *
Patrick Perching Eagle
}:- an anonemoose monk
*translation: All are my relatives (Lakota), therefore I will walk in harmony (Diné), blessed to be blessing (Irish Gaelic)
[Hoofnote: This is a letter I sent to two friends I met via a Facebook group. They are both my age. Mícheál was a Marine medic in Viet Nam, William a helicopter gunship pilot. Both are avowed pacificists and Christ followers.]
- “Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.” ~Howard Thurman~
- Love is the bridge between you and everything ~Rumi~
- https://emergencemagazine.org/story/we-will-breathe/
- The Trump campaign and cowardly Republican Party are trying their worst to take away your voting rights! Don’t let them! Persevere!
- Three years ago, Jacinda Ardern was a last-minute choice to lead New Zealand’s Labour Party. On Saturday, the prime minister cruised to re-election. After managing the responses to the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attacks and the White Island volcano eruption, and implementing a “go hard, go early,” approach that has effectively stamped out the pandemic from her country — all while navigating the birth of her first child — Ms. Ardern has become a global standard-bearer for a compassionate brand of progressive politics
- If conspiracy theories and movements are your truth, may Divine LOVE (God) have mercy on you. 🙏🏽♥️
- The subtle, little paths of animals are everywhere, but most people don’t notice them. I have always been intrigued by them though and often followed them hoping to meet the makers. From snails and slugs, to skunks and deer, and many more I have been a tracker.
- Blessed is the narcissist for they will find their true self in the Kingdom of God, here and now if they choose. https://youtu.be/kNt0-naTqgk
- Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of Divine LOVE (God) is love, grace, mercy and compassion. Now consider Donald Trump and his supporters.
- Creator made us from stardust that we would be one with everything. }:- a.m.
- The beauty and preciousness of life is intimately linked with its fragility and mortality. We can experience that every day—when we take a flower in our hands, when we see a butterfly dance in the air, when we caress a little baby. Fragility and giftedness are both there, and our joy is connected with both. ~Henri Nouwen~ from the Daybreak years
- These two pages alone are more than enough, but many will continue to deny and deflect. Yet, the indictment is clear.
- Quit running, sit still, God is in the moment }:- a.m.
Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are. ~Jose Saramago -
- All the great saints in history about whom I have read have been people who were so passionately in love with God that they were completely free to love other people in a deep, affective way, without any strings attached. True charity is gratuitous love, a love that gives gratuitously and receives gratuitously. It is following the first commandment that asks us to give everything we have to God and that makes the second commandment truly possible. . . . We are touching here on the source of much of the suffering in our contemporary society. We have such a need for love that we often expect from our fellow human beings something that only God can give, and then we quickly end up being angry, resentful, lustful, and sometimes even violent. As soon as the first commandment is no longer truly the first, our society moves to the edge of self-destruction. ~Henri Nouwen~
- https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2020/10/20/two-studies-show-covid-19-antibodies-persist-for-months/ Yes, I still pay attention while on social media sabbatical. };- 👌🏽
- Father God, may all things be of you and for you. 🙏🏽 }:- a.m.
- I believe Patti and I have been embraced by true CHRISTIANITY (Divine LOVE) aside from the dead religion that festers in our nation?!
- Kamala is the feminine in Sanskrit for “lotus” — The Lotus flower is regarded in many different cultures, especially in eastern religions, as a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth. Its characteristics are a perfect analogy for the human condition: even when its roots are in the dirtiest waters, the Lotus produces the most beautiful flower.
- The “system” is broke! And the machine is running terribly in response! Rage against the machine and system. }:-0
- A narcissistic leader who is uneducated and uncaring is a disaster for a nation and its citizens.
- Bad shepherds are fleecing their own sheep, evil kings are lining their palaces with gold mined from the meager resources of their own subjects. Perhaps it’s long past time for women to lead in religion and government?! }:- a.m. The Mending Thread —
(Jacinda Ardern — prime minister of Aotorea/New Zealand)
- Before we can change the world we must be transformed ourselves. It is all surrender to Divine LOVE. https://odb.org/2020/10/21/i-am
NOTE: The following entries begin my second week after leaving and also after sending the first week’s entries in a letter to several loved ones:
- Every morning starts with quietly sitting in LOVE’s presence, these days under a starry sky. Eventually it leads into reading and meditation. Then, reluctantly, I enter back into the world and become aware once again of the brokenness that is at once troubling, yet also being mended and made new. }:- a.m.
- The U.S. is averaging 59,000 new coronavirus cases a day, the most since the beginning of August. Nearly 300,000 more Americans have died this year than in a typical year. The official coronavirus death count is 220,000. Hoofnote: The president has a Chinese bank account he failed to disclose publicly. Anybody surprised?
- “in humility be present, in simplicity live, in love, grace and mercy impart hope” — a “rule” to live by is not something we achieve by striving, but a gift that is given as we surrender to LOVE. }:- a.m.
- We must remind each other that it is not all that it seems. Eternal perspective, all things being made new, is ultimate truth and reality in the midst of brokenness and violence. We live in this tension of the “already not yet” in breaking Kingdom of Heaven. That is our hope in Truth. }:- a.m.
- Christians are fearful of losing christianity (the institution), but that is precisely what is needed to experience Christ once again. }:- a.m.
- Before being born into the world of time,
The silence of pre-existence was all absorbing.
The transition from eternity to time
Is full of sufferings, fears, and little deaths.
But, in the transition from death
To eternal life,
The silence of pre-existence
Bursts into boundless joy.
All that can be manifested emerges
From the endless creativity of
That Which Is.
But
The Secret Embrace
Of
The Source of all creation
With
Infinite Transcendence
Can Never be revealed. —Thomas Keating, “The Secret Embrace” [The Secret Embrace can only be experienced, but never really expressed in its fullness. }:- a.m.]
- To hell with sleezy old white men!!!
- I have discovered that I am a wounded lover who was and is loved first. }:- a.m.
- Jesus tried desperately, but we are transformed into Christ slowly. }:- a.m.
- I don’t own anything, but I have use of many things, including the land my family lives on. Thanks be to God and the Nisenan people who cared for it before we settled here.
- The Dark Nights — We may experience one or even two great darknesses, and perhaps many smaller ones along the way, The Journey. They are not to be feared, though I suppose most of us will at least fear the first one? My own dark nights included a first “dark night of the sense” that tormented me for twelve years, from about 19 to 31. It was later as a husband and father that the darkness returned as a deep dark night of my soul itself. With help in the grace of God through my wife, Patti, and able doctors and counselors I came through prepared for more similar experiences, but in them not devastated but consoled in the deep, deep love of Christ. https://cac.org/the-dark-nights-2020-10-22/. Yes, I know this truth of Thomas Keating, and John of the Cross before him. And yes, I “knew” as a child but could not name it. }:- a.m.
- When I have walked on very few will miss me. Oh yes, my family will grieve my loss, and perhaps a few others will miss the Christ in me? But for the most part I will simply return to the oneness I was before my own incarnation. It is ultimately a beautiful mystery of and in Divine LOVE. }:- a.m.
- 22 Oct 2020 — I can’t travel to Northern Ireland nor the Highlands and Western Isles.☘️ Likewise I can not travel to Hawai’i or greater Polynesia.🌴 I suppose I might drive up to Dakota Territory (home) but it is deeply infected with the virus, corona and morona! 🌾 So it is that I’m on a long walkabout near da lodge, listening to my Celtic, Lakota, Polynesian vespers. I would love to head into the Mokolumne or even Pr. Reyes, but my family worries about my going alone. It is indeed the season of being dressed by others and told where I can’t go, I und er stand Peter, yes Christ, I do. }:- a.m.
- Fossil Fuels — It may have lost him some votes, but Biden’s statement during the last debate that we need to get away from “big oil” is God’s Truth. The mining and burning of fossil fuels must be transitioned away from in favor of other energy sources. “Big Oil” corporations have the money and resources (science and scientists) to develop and apply alternative energy on a broad scale to heal the earth and all its inhabitants. }:- a.m. Hoofnote: Our neighbor to the north is no better in this area, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_oil_sands#Syncrude. #electricity
- There were lots of candidates and issues to vote on, which I did already. But honestly I really don’t care that much about any of them, except for seeing Trump gone!
- I must conclude that much (most?) of humanity is profoundly stupid! }:-0
- Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. ~Susan Sontag~
- I was born along the banks of the Big Muddy at one of these dam (damn) sites. https://shopping.aktalakota.org/catalog/product/view/id/2757/s/the-land-along-the-river/category/171/ It provided a living for my father and our new family, but looking back, at what cost?
- The most despicable president in my lifetime. Nixon is a distant second. ‘45’
- https://odb.org/2020/10/24/tumbleweedtumbleweed
- Worship — It used to be a once a week act that was more body and less heart and soul. It has evolved into a state of living in heart, mind, body and soul. }:- a.m.
- Sometimes we try to do what we believe is best and loving for someone but sense we’ve failed?! The truth is all we can do is love unconditionally and leave the rest to Divine LOVE Themselves. }:- a.m.
- It’s just not wise to try to fix stupid. Stupid has to be realized before it can fix itself. }:- a.m. proverb on the hoof
- One of the most wonderful, deep things about meditation in silence and solitude is that it mysteriously connects us to everything and everyone, and we sense it as Divine LOVE. }:- a.m.
- So tired of the politics, so done with the scare tactics and fear-mongering on both sides!!! I just know “despicable me” ‘45’ must go!
- Give me some books and my bench out back, the “screen” stuff is just a lot of crap. }:- a.m.
- November 2020 will reveal whether we are indeed a stupid, racist nation, OR a beautiful collection of diverse and capable oneness. }:- a.m. ‘45’ #deepugly
- Look first to be inclusive rather than exclusive. }:- a.m. #universalchrist
- Life is science and poetry. }:- a.m. https://mailchi.mp/brainpickings/alan-turing-mary-somerville-audre-lorde?e=2f3763c1ab Hoofnote: ‘45’ knows nothing about either.
- The Universe is a Green Dragon 🐉 — This is the greatest discovery of the scientific enterprise: You take hydrogen gas, and you leave it alone, and it turns into rosebushes, giraffes, and humans. ~Brian Swimme~
https://m.dailygood.org/story/2614/an-evolutionary-transition-is-coming-are-you-ready-robert-cobbold/
- "Look closely at the present you are constructing: it should look like the future you are dreaming." ~Alice Walker~
- With nine days left to vote one of the most severe surges of the coronavirus to date is shadowing the remaining days of the campaign. More than 85,000 new coronavirus cases were reported across the U.S. on Friday, breaking the single-day record set on July 16 by about 10,000 cases. Above, a memorial for coronavirus victims in Washington, D.C.
President Trump and Joe Biden presented sharply divergent casesfor how they would handle the crisis still ravaging the country: Mr. Trump sought to minimize it, while Mr. Biden said there was “going to be a dark winter ahead unless we change our ways.
These facts alone should be enough for any reasonably sane person to vote Trump OUT!
- Our kind words can be a blessing and encouragement to others, but much more so our actions in LOVE. }:- a.m.
- Nouwen Meditation: The Burden of Judgment: https://conta.cc/3mmpgPv I am reminded though that he also taught and modeled speaking Truth in LOVE to evil. Judge not another child of God, but always “inspect their fruit”. }:- a.m.
- Today — 26 October 2020
- Ugh! https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?abVariantId=1&campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20201027&instance_id=23521&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN®i_id=139459927&segment_id=42401&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F8b407e06-a8e8-5edb-abbd-7baf2e0c451f&user_id=a6c2a33bf63625c3feebd7dbafcdbfd8
- In Donald Trump Jesus sees a broken little child of his own Father and loves him in spite of the adult who speaks and acts evil. By Grace I must do likewise. }:- a.m. https://henrinouwen.org/meditation/eyes-of-compassion/
- It is hearts that are truly drawn to each other, not gender. And as time goes by, sexual acts lose their allure and only true love remains. #agape #companionship (hoofnote: it applies to all companions)
- Everything and everyone is connected . . .
Chief Justice John Roberts (Republican) has worried about this time and such a situation — It’s a combination that has the potential to cause widespread voter frustration and ultimately a constitutional showdown. “In America today,” the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, recently wrote in The Times, “the majority does not govern.” They added, “This is minority rule.”
- Without our collective willingness we can not succeed in saving the earth and ourselves. }:- a.m. https://m.dailygood.org/story/2616/climate-in-the-boardroom-rebecca-henderson/
- “The educated and wealthy have a grave responsibility to the rest. . . a CEO weighs in — I gave them the usual spiel about how our operating margins were up and how the investments we'd been making for growth were paying off, and they asked me the usual questions. Then I asked them if they thought climate change was real and, if it was, if the world's governments were going to fix it. Yes, they said – and no, governments weren't going to fix it. There was a pause. I asked them if they had children. They did. So I said, ‘If government isn't going to fix it, who will?’ There was another pause. Then we started a real conversation.”
- Change is slow – but it is coming. If not, we are all doomed, and the earth too. }:- a.m.
- It is good to come together, but then we must “go” as individuals in a great army of LOVE, and “be” LOVE wherever and to whomever. }:- a.m.
- My soul is troubled within . . .
- Troubling indeed — https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-violence-idUSKBN26U15I
- I deplore extremists on both sides. Yet also the more “moderate” conservatives who blindly and stupidly support Donald Trump, (sadly, this includes some dear, sweet christian friends and family). But yes, leftist anarchists too. As a moderate Democrat and Christ follower it is between the rock and hard place I find myself these days! }:- a.m.
- We create our own distorted reality and then strive to live into it. All the while we are missing true life surrendered to Divine LOVE. }:- a.m
- I have tried, honestly I have. But the increasing lies and destruction every day prompt me to ask his supporters “Why?! Why in the Name of God Who is LOVE do you condone the evil behavior and rhetoric, even defending and supporting an immoral, narcissistic megalomaniac?!” And don’t try to “cop out” with that “pro life” excuse! He doesn’t care about any life but his own!
- Lauds & Matins— 29 Oct 2020
The stars are in place
Barn Owl flies by
If humans destroy themselves and the earth
The Universe will still be filled with Divine LOVE
- You must cherish one another. You must work — we all must work — to make this world worthy of its children. ~Pablo Casals~
I don’t believe Donald Trump ever intended to do this, and that fact has not changed. Therefore, I deplore him, and those who unwittingly support him, yes, including all those “pro life christians”. Pro-life must mean all life.
stupid: having or showing a great lack of thought or common sense — synonyms: ignorant, foolish, unwitting
unwitting: not aware of the full facts or simply denying them
The evil dweeb has deceived many, including the elect. https://henrinouwen.org/meditation/a-hidden-hope/
- The contemplative state is established when contemplative prayer moves from being an experience or series of experiences to an abiding state of consciousness. The contemplative state enables one to rest and act at the same time because one is rooted in the source of both rest and action. ~Thomas Keating~
Silence and solitude becomes a perpetual state of being one with the “Flow”. }:- a.m.
- While neither the Republican nor Democratic Party have been helpful to people of color or indigenous people, this current administration under Trump, and hence the party have revealed their dark racist underbelly. Lies and late promises about recognizing the marginalized are a campaign ploy that Trump has employed historically in his life, business and now politics.
- Very busy these days in the wildlife community at da Moose Lodge.
- Storing up for winter and the arrival of northern emigrants. Snow geese flying in at night is a delightful sound and sight. Downy Woodpecker working Aidan’s branches too.
- We have a YMCA children’s fundraising campaign sign in our front lawn that says ZOE for President. It alludes to a child who could run in 2050 or so. Some guy in a black Jeep (CA lic# 88869V2) keeps driving by yelling obscenities at us; F___ Hunter Biden, F___ Biden, F___ you! Losers! And more. He is a white male adult, about 60+/- yrs, clean shaven and either bald or very short hair. He apparently hasn’t even read the sign, just thinks it’s one of the BYEDON yard signs because of the way the “E” in ZOE looks?! Apparently this is what we have to look forward to?! I’m sure he’s been doing the same throughout the neighborhood wherever he sees Biden signs?! I filed a police report for harassment. He lives in the South Land Park Terrace neighborhood we believe?
Hoofnote: Dude! This is what our sign says! Please read before you judge, and then just keep your opinions to your self. Oh, by the way, I’m a lifetime NRA member and former peace officer. Be very careful who you harass, just some wise advice.
YMCA children’s fund —
- Have you noticed the delicate, even fragile balance of being in the world yet trying to hold eternal perspective?! }:-o 🙏🏽
- We live in a time when science is validating what humans have known throughout the ages: that compassion is not a luxury; it is a necessity for our well-being, resilience, and survival. ~Roshi Joan Halifax~
Sadly, we have leaders who know nothing of this truth or foolishly deny it when they are informed so, and then others follow.
- Hope at all times— It is central in the biblical tradition that God’s love for his people should not be forgotten. It should remain with us in the present. When everything is dark, when we are surrounded by despairing voices, when we do not see any exits, then we can find salvation in a remembered love, a love that is not simply a wistful recollection of a bygone past but a living force that sustains us in the present. Through memory, love transcends the limits of time and offers hope at any moment of our lives. ~Henri Nouwen~
- The Universal Christ of Divine LOVE is Their manifestation, Their incarnation to all of humanity in Their image, our HOPE. Mitakuye Oyasin. 🙏🏽 }:- a.m. https://cac.org/everything-matters-2020-10-29/
- The Last Child In The Woods
https://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=8638
- Francis Collins, Director of the NIH, is so full of grace as he writes this message: https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2020/10/29/nih-at-80-sharing-a-timeless-message-from-president-roosevelt/
- The tension in the air is making a lot of folks 🦇💩🤪!!! Be careful out there, and at home too. 🙏🏽♥️ }:- a.m.
- Nouwen Meditation: Turn Your Mourning Into Dancing: https://conta.cc/3e7DQYc Sadly, many who profess to be “christians” haven’t yet truly heard Jesus, nor know him as the Christ of Divine LOVE (God). }:- a.m.
- The Contemplative & Non-violence
https://paceebene.salsalabs.org/thisnonviolentlife10-30-2020
https://cac.org/the-freedom-of-consent-2020-10-30/
Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Indigenous, and Christianity—all religions—oneness is their nature. Amen. ~Thomas Keating~
- So called “christians” who support Donald Trump simply do not know Christ. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/13/white-christians-continue-to-favor-trump-over-biden-but-support-has-slipped/
- And related, this too https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/why-christians-support-trump/613669/
- Throughout the New Testament, there are warnings of both false prophets and false Messiahs, and believers are adjured to be vigilant, for example, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:15–20):
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits."
The New Testament addresses the same point of a false prophet predicting correctly and Jesus predicted the future appearance of false Christs and false prophets, affirming that they can perform great signs and miracles, for example, in the Olivet Discourse given on the Mount of Olives:
"And Jesus began to say to them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, I am he! and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet. [...] And then if any one says to you, Look, here is the Christ! or Look, there he is! do not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; I have told you all things beforehand”." (Mark 13:5–7, 13:21–23)
"Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. [...] And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. [...] Then if any one says to you, Lo, here is the Christ! or There he is!, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Lo, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, Lo, he is in the wilderness, do not go out; if they say, Lo, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it." (Matthew 24:4–5, 24:11, 24:23–26)
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus brought out an ethical application for his disciples using the analogy of false prophets in the Old Testament:
"Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." (Luke 6:26)
In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas encountered a false prophet named Elymas Bar-Jesus on the island of Cyprus:
"When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) withstood them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord." (Acts 13:6–12)
This particular story likewise best matches the model found in Deuteronomy. The claim here is that Elymas is trying to turn Sergius Paulus from the true faith, just like the false prophet described in the preceding verses. In these verses, we do not see Elymas prophesying as the term is popularly understood, so the model seems to fit this scenario best.
The Second Epistle of Peter makes a comparison between false teachers and false prophets and how the former will bring in false teachings, just like the false prophets of old:
"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep." (2 Peter 2:1–3)
The First Epistle of John warns those of the Christian faith to test every spirit because of these false prophets:
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already." (1 John 4:1–3)
One well-known New Testament false prophet is the false prophet mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The Apocalypse's false prophet is the agent of the Beast, and he is ultimately cast with the Beast into the lake of "fire and brimstone" (Revelation 19:20, 20:10). The character traits of the beast from the land are revealed in its divided personality (Revelation 13:11). It appears outwardly benign as a lamb, but its discourse reveals its true nature: It speaks like a dragon. Another mention of a false prophet in the New Testament is an antichrist spirit which denies the Son.
I must personally conclude that Donald Trump is in fact an antichrist who has been and continues to listen to the “evil dweeb” and take directions therein.
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