The Rod.

What is it that drives the conservatives and the plutocrats to take over and control everything; even religion; and, if it were possible, God Himself?

It can only be fear.

Mistaking the actions of men and women and the indifference of nature for the nature of God they develop a tough philosophy that is realistic and pragmatic.

In fact there is no evidence that there is a God at all.
So they pursue purely worldly goals.

The fear that you feel in the schoolyard is the fear that drives them:
Everyone will laugh at me.  Everyone will pick on me.  Everyone will spit on me. Everyone will reject me.  Everyone will take advantage of me.

So, out of fear, he strikes first:
Get the other guy before he gets you.
Dog eat dog.

He has no idea that he can appeal to God for help.
He has no idea of God other than the purely reactive  - life is tough.
He is hard, cold, merciless, violent, hypocritical, brutal.....
He blames God and crucifies Jesus.
All out of fear of what everyone will do.
He dare not show a weakness.
He dare not show mercy or compassion.

Business is business.
Everyone will take advantage of me.

So we are locked into this grid of fear.

Why are financial details always kept private and confidential?
Because the rich are afraid of what might happen if people find out how much money they have and how they make it.

We fear losing our riches: our money, our possessions, our privileges.....

Our fear is so great that it overrides our principles.

It's sink or swim.

And they impose these conditions on everyone.

The Board of Directors, the C.E.O., the shareholders.
They report the bottom line: the profit.
Not how they made it or how they treated their employees.
And if someone does find out that they exploit child labor, or they steal third world land, or they avoid billions in tax there is always a fall guy who "acted independently and of whom the executives and Board of Directors had no knowledge".  As if they did not know what was happening in their own companies.

This tough philosophy finds a companion in fundamentalist religion.
The severe and stingy God.  As if we make God in our own image.

Driven by their fear of God they restrict freedoms and resist change.

How could this happen?  How could people who are leaders in a Church and worship God still be ignorant of His nature?

What is his motivation?
Why is he there?

"'Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.'"  Matthew 24:28 (NRSV)

Does he want power?
Does he want authority?
Does he want magnificent robes and pure gold candlesticks?
Does he want a throne?
Does he want a palace?

These are things which we are reluctant to relinquish.

And perhaps this is why Jesus said of them, "'You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.'"  Luke 11:52b (NRSV)

This is the unholy alliance of the fundamentalists and the corporations.
A pact which worships money and power.

Their fear of poverty is so great that it overrides their principles.

The rod has flourished.
And the key is lost.


(Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.)

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