Are you a Friend or an Enemy?

What were you taught?

Where did you learn to exclude?

Do you honestly answer questions that are asked of you? Or do you skip over questions that left unanswered might allow people to draw the wrong conclusions so that your sense of pride and ego can be stroked in order to make you superior and powerful because you are in control, even if the wrong idea enters into the world.

If the wrong idea enters into the world by your actions you are then bringing forth the evil and acting against the pure and holy nature of GOD the creation of evil is now then in your control and your power is great but never greater than the truth.

It is easy to hate a person especially a person that tells or exposes the truth, but in truth the person that is honored as a friend never lies to you or about you. You include your friends and always seek their advice and companionship.

What did Organized Religion teach?

I started my journey into Organized Religion with the Lutheran Church where money was the ruler. The worship was to be about Jesus and GOD but money was at the core of the teachings for growth and prosperity as with all other Organized Religions. You could easily be excluded based upon your financial status. Who really benefits as they preach and teach GOD gives to those who are blessed and to them more will be given. By the power of man more can be taken away from the blessed people of GOD and here on earth it would look like the poor and meek who have nothing deserve little or less because they are not blessed.

The truth is that by the work of man evil can prevail in and around our world.

To unveil the evil we need to expose the truth.

The woman that I would follow to the Catholic Church to play and sing with the guitar group later wanted to be my wife. Even though I was told I could not participate in communion and later during the funeral service for her father the priest performing the grave side service in such a rush, proceeded with the service while the only child and her family were still gathering with the rest of the people present as we were all gathering around the grave site. The priest was in a rush to attend a golf outing which obviously could not wait another moment. Haste always makes waste and this priest certainly created a lot of waste in his haste, the destruction of rhythm making a beautiful song sound horrible as the pace is increased to fit into a predetermined time frame that is so compressed the noise is a garbled blend of notes that have no beginning or end, there is no sense of structure and balance. The priest was surely not a friend.

Later invited to the Mennonite Church the community that once excommunicated a long distant relative a great, great grandfather maybe a generation or so more distant, would also excommunicate me.

What were the reasons? For this long distant relative the reason was over a loan, he helped his neighbor in difficult times and when the tables were turned and he saw that the neighbor could repay the loan the only way to acquire what was due was to sue and this was against the church doctrines according to some leader at that time. The case was won in court but while winning in court there would be a cost on the social level, being shunned by the church and their community.

As for me, I would be falsely accused of actions or behaviors that were committed by another person (((***Insert Link to My Story here ***))) This would eventually lead to my also being excommunicated.

Why was I interested in joining a particular Mennonite Community? The Church once lead by a pastor named Norman Schmidt had learned the ways of love and inclusion I could tell that through the people I would watch in my community first the children who would be my peers and then through the adults that seemed to be where I was through my growing years. There was a particular man named Walter Jenkins and his wife Lucy that were great examples of love along with Sarah Huber my second grade teacher her husband Leroy would also be an influence in my life, and the Swanson family. Edward Swanson was the first Pastor that I followed as he preached at the Lutheran Church, his wife was our Sunday School teacher and encouraged us to sing and attend church services. It was the work of Walter Jenkins and Lucy that reached my heart quickly through words of encouragement for my efforts to sing and play the guitar as a young man trying to emulate and use musical gifts as a path to growing and calling out to others as only a child can follow and strive in a carefree manner that is not about the gift given but about the gift being given out. Walter Jenkins attended the Lutheran Church when I performed my that music as a fifth grader and later we were members of the Mennonite Church together. My father would also be an encouragement in my life much like these elders that I recall. It was the love and encouragement to move on and do well, not that I would be the best but that I would do my best and strive to be the best that I could be.

Trust becomes the issue along with trust there must also be respect and this combined together with encouragement builds upon a solid foundation of love. The forces in our lives that destroy Love can be traced to people with specific agenda's to promote hatred. (((***Insert link to Sandy Baumer and Rosemarie Roberts/Landis***)))

The question now becomes upon your walk on this Earth did you encourage love or destruction, life or death?

If GOD is Love and GOD loves justice your soul hangs in the balance.