Last post for 2015

To my blog audience, I apologize for the lack of entries in 2015 and for the famine of entries that will be coming for 2016. The year 2015 has turned out to be a challenging year for me. As such, I look forward to just reflecting personally and less publicly about faith and the meaning of life in 2016. Further, considering that I now have dual identities as a student and employee, blogging becomes more challenging both in terms of time as well as in terms of institutional constraints to what I can and cannot blog about. In this time of silence, I will reflect on the way going forward in sharing and processing my spiritual thoughts, values, beliefs and faith. God bless you all and have a prosperous 2016. 

The revelation of my purpose

Let me disclose that I planned in my heart to quit blogging altogether as I feel that the world is such a place that blogging one's views is highly likely to affect one's economic survival. Yet, a prophet told me in the summer that God wants me to be courageous and I am not to be cowardly. He cited unto me the scripture from Revelation 21:7-8

7"He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.8"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Since summer, I have been looking for a confirmation of that word, as I have felt that God can not violate his own legal precedent that a word is not established until confirmed by two witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). As such, I took it not likely when the Adventist Church began studying the book of Jeremiah, the unwilling prophet. The gist of the lesson is that the people and rulers of Israel were so bent and hardened in their ways of wrongdoing that God told Jeremiah that he would harden him to deal with the people and that even though they would persecute him that God would be with him. In summary, Jeremiah 1:17-19 says:

17 “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. 18 Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:17-19)

Another part of the lesson that actually affected me was this text in Jeremiah 20:9:

But if I say, "I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

In the above text, even though Jeremiah felt disturbed by the reaction of the people to him and his proclamation of God's word, there were times that he could not keep silent. God's message to him was such that he felt he would burst if he contained it. In my case, this is exactly how I feel when I see injustice.

The following text in Jeremiah 1:5 has also hit me like a brick:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

The above text reminds me that all human beings, from before their birth or neonate state and even before conception, have been carefully thought out by God and given something to contribute to the nations. Before we came into being, God designed us to do something on the earth.

These scriptures are an important pretext to what I will now disclose.

Query and Response

On November 14, 2015, I reflected in my journal:

The basic question of who am I and what is my purpose returns to haunt me. What did God design e to do and be? How is he using events and experiences to shape me for such purposes or mission?

You will then appreciate my surprise when on the morning of November 16, 2015, approximately 3 AM I had this dream where I stood before a male and female gifted at reading marks on human beings to tell them what the marks foretell of their design and purpose. The persons examined a mark on my forehead and indicated that "You are designed with Moses-like qualities. You are designed to see problems and be moved to address them." The pair also indicated that I am designed to be a just ruler and better designed to rule with equity than most persons.

While I have been kind of afraid of my dream, in that I usually see people who read marks on human beings as being palm-reading sorcerers, the fact that the dream came after I wrote in my journal settles to me that the word is from the Lord. It also explains why I am always examining events, laws and actions in the world for fairness and justice.

Another confirmation as well as is the fact that it is God who gives dreams. Job 33:14-15 says:

14 For God does speak—now one way, now another—
    though no one perceives it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people
    as they slumber in their beds,

In addition, God speaks in his word of putting marks or seals on people's foreheads (Ezekiel 9:4). Consequently, I perceive that this dream signifies something important for me to consider. While I am not in the legal field to be a judge, I do have a special role as a spokesperson to highlight problems and issues of equity, justice, and fairness. I, therefore, rest my case.

Lessons as a Returning Resident to Jamaica

I had the eye-opening experience of returning to Jamaica as a returning resident after four years as an immigrant. After studying my PhD in Canada, my family and I acquired a lot of stuff, many of which we parted with, but others we sought to take back with us.

Our return to Jamaica our homeland was greeted by a money-grabbing system. Instead of the government granting us concessions to come back and help build the country with our acquired experience and knowledge, they made it clear through their institutionalized extortion practices that they do not really want us back. We had to pay for our two Canadian born children to get the right to Jamaican citizenship. Next, we had to pay a huge amount of money to the Jamaican Government to collect our used personal items and stuff (clothing) and a few toiletries and other personal care products, books, documents and stationery that we took back with us. Not to mention the one bed we bought and the other bed that a Canadian church brother gave us a mattress for.

This experience caused my firstborn to reflect and deliver a powerful insight into the injustice of our government custom taxation system. As my wise firstborn put it, paying custom and duties on stuff you return to your own country with is like: the government taking your stuff away from you and “selling them back to you. It isn't fair."


My firstborn is right. The injustice also includes double taxation. While paying for stuff in Canada, I already paid taxes, and any further customs and duties to bring them back with me amounts to paying taxes twice for the right to own or use stuff.

Worse, the system is set up for the ignorant to err and end up paying the dues. You are blamed for not doing your research and not checking the Website. The fault is on you to educate yourself. No brochure is given to persons leaving the island through the airport. 

I am so glad that the God that I serve does not operate like that, but permits us the freedom to use the stuff he created according to our own pleasure, while making us know his standards and expectations. He also institutes a system that if we err, he can erase our errors and remove the blame from being on us for our faults and errors. With Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement nigh, through this experience, I get to recognize how better God's systems are than extortionist national governments.

Mark you, my government is not entirely to be blamed. After all, it follows the extortionist and oppressive principles of the International Monetary Finance (distortion intended) system that lends money to national governments to make them indebted while advocating neo-liberal principles that do more harm than good.

It is the oppression by unjust governance and systems that enables one to appreciate the Kingdom of God. Governments and systems that want you to err and do not care if you err, in order to exact a penalty from you. Governments and systems that want you to pay for the right to use stuff that they did not create. Government and systems that want you to pay for human rights like the rights to live in a territory or call a geographic location home. Governments and systems that rent you stuff that they do not create themselves.

My advice to any Jamaican going overseas for a period of time is to document what you are taking with you out of the island and show/declare it to Jamaican Customs at the airport before you go. Finally, my advice to you all is to realize that the economic and political systems (the kingdoms) of this world will be supplanted by the kingdom that the prophet Daniel saw in his vision. Until then, apply for your citizenship in that kingdom before God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit stop issuing visas for it.

See below some relevant questions and answers that I copied from the Jamaica Customs Website:

Why am I charged duty on used clothing which my relatives send from abroad?

A) All items of clothing are dutiable, whether they are new or used. The duty charged is calculated on the total of the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value for the items. Rating: Views: 12725 Date Added: 2009-02-12 11:20:08 Category: Duties , General

Is it customary to charge duty on my personal items e.g. cameras and cellular phones, which I take with me on my trips abroad? A) Customs can charge duty on these items if they exceed your duty free allowance, and there is no proof that these items were in your possession on your outbound journey. One way of providing this proof is by declaring these items to Customs Duty office at the airport proir to departure of your flight.

Usury economy and how capitalism has corrupted Christian churches

Here is another video post. In this one, I share from the Bible how the banking and financial industry practices a moral evil and how Christian churches participate in this morally evil economic system. See below for the scriptures that I indirectly or directly reference. A bit controversial, but I merely ask the questions. Just following in the steps of my mentor, Jesus, who asked difficult questions about the status quo.

Old Testament Scriptures against usury
 
(All references are from the New King James Bible)
25 " If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.
26 "If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down.
27 "For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious. (Exodus 22:25-27)
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35 ' If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
36 'Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.
37 'You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. (Leviticus 25:35-37)
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19 " You shall not charge interest to your brother -- interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.
20 "To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess. (Deuteronomy 23:19,20)
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10 "I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury!
11 "Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them." (Nehemiah 5:10,11)
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He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. (Psalm 15:5)

Selected teachings of Jesus about lending and giving

New International Version
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5: 40 -42)


If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. (Luke 6: 29 -31)

Marcus Garvey and the need for sharing good ideas without limits to race or ethnicity

In this post, I do something new. I invite the world into my basement as I share some thoughts on  Marcus Garvey and my philosophy of the need to share the ideas and inspiration with the entire human race. I share my view that God gives us ideas and inspiration to share for the benefit of the entire human race and not to be restricted to particular race or groups of people.

The dilemma of privilege, justice and equality

Step into a parallel universe, where a group that was once a minority is steadily gaining privilege and advancing in status. A group that was once formally and official persecuted by the state, thrown to lions for the blood-thirsty entertainment of mobs, ridiculed and blamed for disasters afflicting the city. This minority group, in the Roman Empire, now find their fate being turned around when an emperor and head of state puts an end to their troubles and officially endorse the minority with protected and privilege status in the empire. This emperor now provides the minority with tax exemption status, access to high-ranking political offices, ownership of tax-exempt property and training and educational programs. All of a sudden, everyone wants to be a Christian.

Over time this majority becomes an oppressive majority policing people's thought, censoring their speech and restricting their liberties. They demonize their opponents as heretics and try to make them look ignorant and irrational, and use their privileged status to impoverish others.

Step back into modern society and western civilization, and I get the gut feeling that history is on the verge of repetition. Let us hope I am wrong!

Yet today, I am observing that in an attempt to right the historical social injustices against women, sexual minorities, Blacks and Muslims, each group has been awarded privileges. For me (and I am sure that even my pessimistic forerunner,  Karl Marx would agree), I see new ruling classes emerging as winners in societal conflicts. Even if I am in one such group (disclosure: I am visibly "black"), I fear the repetition of history. My knowledge of history and even the Hebrew Scriptures reminds me that there has never been a just egalitarian society. Attempts at establishing equality in the past has inevitably excluded some and privileged others. Western civilization in particular has historically privileged groups based on race, gender, ethnicity and religion.

So my question to the West today is how are we going to prevent inequality in the allocation of resources in our attempt to recompense previous minorities for the social injustices that they have suffered at the hands of the state and society? My eyes then shift to Israel, a state that was [re]created to right the wrongs of Europe's injustices against Jews. Today, Europe and the world seem to be remorseful as they consider the viewpoints of the Palestinians. Equality and justice are tricky things to put into practice and definitely more complex than we tend to believe.

My meditation on Deuteronomy 4:10

My scripture for meditation in this post is taken from Deuteronomy 4:10:

Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children." (NIV)

Today I parse four thoughts from this verse for reflection.

1. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God - This reflects commitment and consecration. Have I stood before LORD to be committed to what he has in store for me? Have you stood before the LORD to make a commitment to what he wants to do in your life?
2. Assemble the people before me - I know in the text that God was addressing Moses. But what if God wants all of us to be a type of Moses. What if God wants us to gather other people before him? Is it not the gospel commission for us to go to others and prepare them for the Lord's second coming (Matthew 28:19-20)? Are we not compared to being labourers that go into the fields to collect God's harvest (1 Corinthians 3:9)?
3. to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land- is it not the whole duty and purpose of man to listen to God and revere him? (Cross reference with Ecclesiastes 12:13).
4. may teach...their children - God wants us to pass on what we have learned to our children. Our second duty to God is not just to gather our peers and adults to him to hear his words, but to pass on the worship and reverence for God and his words to our children. It is not just important to be a witness at work but it is also important that we must be a witness at home. It is as much our duty to spend time with our children and teach them God's words and what we learn from God as it to attend church or do the other religious deeds and charitable acts. A failure to pass on and transmit what we learn about God to our children is just as bad as failing to do other charitable deeds.

 For me, the above represent what the life of spirituality is all about: 1) making a commitment to God, 2) seeking others to also make that commitment, 3) learning from God and 4) making sure that we teach the children points 1-3 as well.

Do have a blessed day!