sermons

YOU CAN BE BIT BY SERPENTS AND NOT BE HARMED
^{FRIDAY 19 July 2024}

ANOTHER FRIDAY ANOTHER PREPARATION FOR ANOTHER "Sabbath Day," and I'm not Jewish, other than by the words of some other fool: "you are Jewish when you say you are Jewish."  Still, I never would.  But that there seems some good reason to keep one day of the work week apart and not spend it on me.  I am not Jewish, but Jesus was, and one of the things he taught was to honor the Sabbath.. (not as the authorities of the day would, making a big show of piety on every street corner, but quietly, in a closet, no less, and with the door shut).

I was thinking of weaving the story of a certain death suffered by a certain man into this opening sermon, a man recently bitten by a scorpion, and possibly take a few jabs at the rattlesnake wrestlers out west.. just because I'm pretty sure Jesus never told anybody to go around handling poisonous snakes on a stage.. (and teach others to do the same).. and it isn't because I think it's a stupid thing to do, to put on a snake-wrangling show every Sunday.. or a pointless thing to do, (that any monkey could also do.. and I should hasten to point out I use the term "monkey" with sincere affection, and not as a King might who actually has to suffer their monkey needs en masse);  I rather mean to point out that the handling of a snake, unless you intend to kill and eat it, doesn't really do anything significant for anyone, it isn't very much related to any other aspect of life.. it doesn't translate into any of the things Jesus actually did tell people to do, neither does it translate any of his teachings into a language any moron can understand; it was Paul who said something about not being harmed by snake bites, but it's doubtful even he suggested making it into the focus of your life.. a hobby?  Sure. As a teaching of Jesus?  No.  And yes, we must give a nod to the possible metaphorical suggestion we can all learn to handle "Satan," like the poisonous serpent, or even that we can kill and eat Satan in some metaphysical way.. (as something of a side dish to go with the "the body of Christ," wafers every once in a while).. and should we ever get bit by the snake, well.. (I don't know if they keep some snake-poison-medicine on the altar there behind the curtain.. circus-side), but what's the point?

I am simply pointing out that handling snakes is one of the activities written about by "Paul the Apostle," (which might also be considered the teachings of Paul), and to draw a distinction between these things and the teachings of Jesus, (as written about by his disciples and others), because I am one of the people who understands or accepts the Bible as a collection of books and letters that do not necessarily reflect, (that do not represent), the entire collection of books written about Jesus, (the "Christ," in the story), but are merely a percentage of the whole.  More than that, I've noticed in many various Christian denominations a preference for the writings of Paul, (or in some cases an equal attention given to the teaching of Jesus, and I think this does harm to all "followers," of either of the two sets of teachings, (owed to what seems plain to me to be opposing themes, or messages contained in them); a man cannot walk in two directions at once.

The problem I cannot reconcile can be illustrated by the notion of going to the "Kingdom of Heaven," someday and exactly where this place (the "Kingdom of God"), is to be found.. and the problem is made much worse by the writings of the disciple John, or the student of Jesus called "John," (or the teachings attributed to John), in the book of "Revelation," and all its talk of the "ten headed beast," the "New Jerusalem," the "144,000, (people selected out of all the masses of Jewish humanity to be it's inhabitants).. I am not certain if this place is to last forever and ever, (like the Kingdom or Heaven), or a thousand years, (like the Third Reich).  What's troubling is the teachings, or prophecy, of the "resurrected," Jesus contained in this book.. and my own personal inability to separate the value of this book from the woman and children who got burned alive in the aftermath of everything David Koresh* made of its "holy revelation," it is just plain difficult to believe that the proclaimed "power in the word," (as it is written in these books), is anything anybody really wants anything to do with. 

All that aside, all my references for my sermons are available.. I just don't want to have to go back myself and read it all again.  I like the idea that all the words are written in our hearts and we are never made more alive then when we hear them spoken by somebody else.  

What I think most people miss in the whole "born again," movement is the accompanying death that, one would imagine, will have to precede the second birth.  Its's rarely if ever mentioned but again, seems like an important piece.. possibly just to me.. but that's fine; I am pretty used to being alone on things.

Most recently in my life, people, (friends), have been suggesting I "block," a certain person out of my life.. and I wouldn't go into it specifically and drag some innocent party into the thing, but I'd ask the reader to look out over his own circumstances and speculate as to why such a suggestion would be made.  Imagine someone who had your very best interest at heart coming up to you and very seriously suggesting you never speak to someone, (a third person), again, insisting that further attachment to this person is not only harmful but could prove to be fatal to you.  And yet, you can waltz out into the Arizona Desert, go find and pick up and fuck with the biggest rattle snake you can find.. (I'm sorry).. to my mind one suggestion was just as silly as the other.  But I would amend my statement or make certain qualifications concerning the gender of the person who is to be excommunicated.. because there is an awful lot of true crime happening to women who take the wrong guy as a romantic partner, and we can suspect the same holds true for men but not nearly as often.. and possibly there is a formula for sorting the good advice from the bad.. (rather only, as Christians, nobody is supposed to care too much about being murdered).. my friends were worried that interaction with this person was bringing me down.  And I could go into a whole sermon on how this is an impossibility, but for time, I'll just ask, can anybody really bring you down?  I'd say it didn't matter what the situation is, or was, (short of pulling out a gun and shooting you with it until you are dead, and even that, as a Christian, is nothing to run away from).. it is more likely a person destroys his or her own self.

And then there are those of us who must be killed, or "led to the cross," (to make a shorter story of it); everywhere now the talk is of the great need to undergo and "ego-death," and I am 100% behind this suggestion.  It fits perfectly into quite a lot else of what Jesus was talking about as it concerns our finding our "selfs," (waking up), here in Monkeyville.. and we'll revisit, (the reader and I), this whole need to be "better," than the next guy while at the same time maintaining a humility that says we are no better.. rather fighting this notion we are better, (or worse), you know, as even the rudiments of any personal consciousness will attest to.. here we are.. somewhere in between "scapegoat," and "hero."  

The only way to avoid going mad is to "rise above," it all?  Really?  "Ascend," to a higher place?  (and from there look down on everybody else?).  It fits with what Jesus said about his being both the "alpha," and the "omega," ...what(?)... The "beginning in the end?"  The "first and the last?"  The "all and the nothing," perhaps?  I'd say, "no;" it's more likely Jesus was talking about monkeys.. sophisticated monkeys.. but monkeys nevertheless.. all day scrambling to deal with the incessant demand that we either suck off a the big monkey cock being waved in our face, (to some this is okay), or be sucked off by one or another, (a whole crowd clamoring to get near the stage).. selected out of this pool of lesser monkeys.

If Jesus looks good to me it's for one reason, he never prostituted himself.

_{*Search "Waco," (it's pretty doubtful anything is going to beat the David Koresh story to the top of the search page)
It is also worth noting that Dave and I went to the same school, (or "ministry," actually), called "Teen Challenge,"  -that's a good story too only it ended when another Dave, (Wilkerson), took his name off the thing, and way before that, (in my opinion).  It really isn't that interesting of a story however.. David Koresh, I was told, was in fact a student at Teen Challenge but did not graduate, whereas, somehow, I did.. I think it is important to know that the only thing I took away from all that Bible study was the realization I did not meet the most basic requirements to be a "Christian," and go to Heaven, (I did not believe Jesus was crucified for the sole purpose of paying for my, and everyone else's, "sins"); I very much tried to believe it, I very much willed myself with all my might to believe it.. I spent four years in that ministry wishing I'd come to believe it.. but, sadly, and happily, it did not happen; in the end that assertion just plain did not make sense to me.  Rather, it did not line up exactly with everything Jesus was reported to have said, or tried to say, about who he was and what he was doing here.}  

***

INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION

Why "Sermons," (of all things), is an easy question to answer; in my estimation what Catholicism did to Jesus, (posthumously), and with it the inflicting of incalculable horror upon humanity, amounts to a crime of greater proportion than every other crime committed before or since put together.  It's been a nagging, insufferable wound to what I would assume is an innate sense of justice, aggravated on what amounts to a daily basis, every day that includes some mention of Jesus, the Father, Heaven, or God, which, save digging myself a hole in the ground and crawling in, seems inescapable ever forward.

What is disturbing is the incongruity.  I don't think any man is capable of reconciling a thing that defies his sense of reason, logic, or common sense, and the best he can do with being told a thing is something it is not and that if he does not understand this it is because he is not supposed to, or that he is incapable of understanding it.  I'd simply ask, what use are books nobody can understand?

Of the books and letters written about Jesus, (and "God"), in an era now considered the first century, there is but a small portion selected out and collected into one volume, (at least for "Christians," this is so), and called the "Holy Bible."  There are strict instructions never to add or delete one word.  Herein is the problem, the various books say contradictory things, and I am far from the first to be bothered by this fact.  Some people say it is not a fact, and suggest that if it seems to be a fact, or a "truth," to me, this is because I don't have the capability of understanding what is true and what is not true.

This leaves trusting some other person who claims I do not have the capacity to tell the difference between the truth and a lie.. (I'd simply ask, which of us does believing such bullshit serve?); it is asking me to lay aside what I am held to in every other area of my life experience.. (in every other instance in life, for example, two plus two equals four.. but in this particular set of books two plus two equal four, and five..  and zero.. and anything else this other person tells me it equals).

We can be bent around in concepts and metaphors and every kind of imagination.. but a man cannot stand to be told a thing is both what it is and also the perfect opposite of what it is.  In the matter at hand, (ironically enough), it is the very words Jesus used to tell us where "the kingdom of God," was.. he said it was "at hand."  It takes some special bending of the words to suggest "it is waiting for you after you die."  Certainly this might be true, and certainly it might not..  but Jesus also warns against listening to men who claim they know where it is, and that it is over here or over there.. he said Heaven is "in your midst."

^{self portrait oil sketch 2016}

^{(cover illustration for the book: THE SERMON By: Richard Raycroft)}

  ^{"...whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.  But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more 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..."}

^{-Book of Jeremiah - Chapter 20}