We do not want a government telling us what to believe.  That sentiment may have launched both the boldest civic venture and the most fragile environment for life.  It is a religious divide that created the American mindset.  The founders were afraid of religous tyranny and many of them, being neither Christian nor Jew, saw no problem with the right to free speech and the right to bear arms.  Now we know that the right to honest leadership and access to truthful data would have been better choices.

Vicious Violence of Law Enforcement

Public service has been taking it’s time to sanitize itself from discrimination.  Church, synagogue and mosque have been dens of abuse.   People confuse God’s will for the human race with their culture.   God does not care who your parents are or what ancient practice you find worthy of attention.   In fact, the most disturbing developments in civic society is the attempt to combine the spiritual and secular livestreams.  Its failure stares us down as we look at the failed Islamic states, the decline of Christianity as a force in government and the rise of popular trashy maxims to the level of truth.

If lies are not immoral everywhere they are moral everywhere.

Killing Black people just ran into the trumpets of Joshua in Minneapolis. Even with a graphic video of a cold-blooded murder of an unarmed citizen by a police officer as three of his police colleagues hear the victim repeatedly pleading for his life. Homicide is not one of those outrages of which they say “never again” because the lesson they have not learned is the humane treatment of all people. Where does that resistance come from?

A culture of lies and violence

The tradition of talking mighty things and hiding behind “we have a long way to go” and the good deeds done to one’s friends does not cut it. They are wallowing in past shame and call it greatness. They have learned nothing since 1776.

Their webs will not become clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And an act of violence is in their hands.

Isaiah 59:6

46) “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, 47) who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

Luke 20:46-47

The man who is happy (blessed) for the reasons stated is a dead man, destined to hear God’s words and not believe.  All the talk about walking righteously is just talk, a set of talking points that make one feel better about the real history.

The destiny declared and confirmed

• The man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
• The man who does stand in the path of sinners
• The man who does not sit in the seat of scoffers!
• The man who delights in God’s law
• The man who meditates on God’s law night and day
• The man who is like a tree fruitful
• The man whose leaves do not wither

It is a song that denies man’s need  for a Saviour .  This happy man does not sin, does not get expelled from the promised land, has no gratitude for God’s faithfulness to Abrahan.   What happiness can he have without his sins forgiven?

This is not a description of any of Yeshua’s contemporaries nor does it define the Levitival kingdom that existed in New Testament times (or any period).  They were sauteeing in unbelief and murderous jealousy. Psalm 1 is entirely human: pride in what might have  been.  The New Testament narratives of passionate opposition to Christ represents a zeal without knowledge.  They just did not know who they were or what they were doing.

• To listen but not perceive;
• Keep on looking but not understand
• To have insensitive hearts of this people insensitive,
• To have full ears
• To have dim  eyes,
• To not understand
• To get no healing

“Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Isaiah 6:10

A genuine prophetic view

Sugarcoating the real story is not God’s way, neither are the prophets themselves, nor the temple services and the priesthood.  Ancient prophets were not tasked with reversing the things Moses demanded and predicted.  Their main concern was to publish Israel’s sins despite their

1) “Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins. 2) “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God.

Isaiah 58:1-2

The praise in Psalm is for a non-existent person: a loyal and successful follower of Moses.  The writer submits no request to God and only succeeds in profiling the ungodly (the wicked).  That is not a song I want to teach my children.

Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:5

We know what a prayer looks like and we are adept at recognizing praise. What is Psalm 1?

Psalms 1

1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. 4. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 5. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.

God’s name and eternal majesty does not appear in Psalm 1

Psalm 21 shows mountains of prayers and rich valleys of affirmation of God himself

Psalms 21

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. 1. O Lord, in Your strength the king will be glad, And in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice! 2. You have given him his heart’s desire, And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. 3. For You meet him with the blessings of good things; You set a crown of fine gold on his head. 4. He asked life of You, You gave it to him, Length of days forever and ever. 5. His glory is great through Your salvation, Splendor and majesty You place upon him. 6. For You make him most blessed forever; You make him joyful with gladness in Your presence. 7. For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken. 8. Your hand will find out all your enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9. You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger; The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, And fire will devour them. 10. Their offspring You will destroy from the earth, And their descendants from among the sons of men. 11. Though they intended evil against You And devised a plot, They will not succeed. 12. For You will make them turn their back; You will aim with Your bowstrings at their faces. 13. Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power.