Letters to Laodicea

Continuation of the previous episode about the spiritual meaning of gender. Listen to the first one before this one. I continue to explore lots of ways the living metaphor of gender teaches us about the proper relationship of humans to God. At a certain point I get slightly specific about private parts, which I think is extremely relevant to the topic, but you might want to pre-screen this before letting children hear it.

Merry Christmas! from Demas! This is my first episode in a long while, and I have started a new study which should help people better discuss one of the big social issues of the day -- gay marriage. Instead of focusing on why homosexuality is wrong, I focus on the reason marriage and gender were instituted as they are in the first place. Why were we created male and female in the first place? It is a spiritual metaphor and a lesson from God. I'm trying to present a more thoughtful presentation than simply quoting Leviticus 18:22 to a gay person, because in the current social climate, we need to be more thoughtful.

PLEASE listen to parts 1 and 2 of Light Pollution or you will not understand my ramblings in this episode. I discuss several poetic metaphors from a certain poet of the romantic era, and how they relate to the words of Jesus and Paul, specifically in 1 Cor 13, and John 14. I also encourage everyone to see the movie THE TREE OF LIFE, which is a deep and thoughtful cinematic meditation on God.

I revisit my previous episode "Light Pollution" and extend the metaphor and read some scriptures that have similar themes. Hopefully this episode encourages us to acknowledge God in all our ways. Here's the link to the Hyperspace Star Polytope Slicer that I referenced in the podcast. http://dogfeathers.com/java/hyperstar.html Settings: Hyperplanes: FC-24-cell 3-Symmetry: Octahedral(3) Section slider: -0.69 Shell Slider: #22 Slide the Section slider back and forth to rotate the shape in the 4th dimension, causing the shape to enter our dimension from the dimension above. In the same way, paradoxes are part of a unified whole. The opposing thoughts are only seemingly disconnected due to our own barriers to perception. These barriers will eventually be removed, as Paul says, "when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." — 1 Corinthians 13:10

I discuss love, and also bring up some topics from previous episodes: normative power of the actual, and spiritual game theory. It seems that being salt and light does the work of preventing the new moral decay inherent in the "actual" becoming normal (ie progressive social issues). I also relate a practical example of spiritual game theory. This episode's graphic (if you listen with an iOS device) is a screengrab from The Sound of Music, where they are singing a song about "nihil ex nihilo" in the context of love. This is where I got the idea for the episode, when it made me notice that God is the first source of love, and without him we can't love. 1 John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

A new way to think about that phrase

Prophecy and the end times as seen through the lens of Willy Wonka. I illustrate the theory of the "new new world order," first explained to me by Frank Lordi and Chris White on the Frank & Chris Show. In subsequent discussions with Chris, I developed this idea of how to visually represent some of the timelines in Bible prophecy. In this episode, I read Matthew 24 and 2nd Thessalonians 2, but there are more I could have used. I also analyze the lyrics to "Pure Imagination," the song in the film which is a much-covered song, giving the same false hope as "The Rainbow Connection." Charlie & the Chocolate Factory clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jhvReU4TIc

This is the "warm shower" after last episode's "cold shower." I talk a bit about the circumcision of the heart, and show how the attitude of postmodernism is basically the uncircumcision of the heart. I also show how we can find hope in the midst of postmodernity, and how we can show hope to others, becuase as the postmodern self tries in vain to connect and "be known," the fact is that we already are known by the Creator—someone much more worthy to be known by, and to know, than say, a celebrity tweeting you back on twitter.

This is a continuation of episode 22, Songs About Rainbows, Cult of Celebrity, Pt. 7 I was looking for evidences of postmodernity in the Old Testament, and this is what I found. If you haven't listened to Songs About Rainbows, please listen to it first. This episode is a bit of a cold shower, but a necessary one. A warm shower is coming very soon, in the second half of Biblical Postmodernity, which is a little more hopeful. For a bit of hope in the interim, here is 2 Chronicles 7:14 - "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

The 1-year mark for Letters to Laodicea! I discuss my podcasting setup, to encourage those who have expressed interest in starting their own show. Soapboxes are cheap these days, here's mine: M-Audio Micro-Track 2 Recorder http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Microtrack-II-Portable-Recorder/dp/B0019R17FK It's great because it's small and has an included microphone, and also has 1/4" inputs for receiving a signal from a mixer or other equipment. At $199 it's a great deal. SanDisk 4GB CF card http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-SDCFH-004G-A11-ULTRA-Retail-Package/dp/B00065ANYW/ Gives you a good amount of recording time, I've never filled it up with a single show's worth of talking ProLine desktop mic stand http://www.amazon.com/ProLine-MS112-Desk-Boom-Stand/dp/B000J0N5TY/ Pop filter http://www.amazon.com/Nady-MPF-6-6-Inch-Microphone-Filter/dp/B0002CZW0Y/ Mackie 402 compact mixer http://www.amazon.com/Mackie-402-VLZ3-Premium-4-Channel-Ultra-Compact/dp/B00132EJJW/ You can probably find a mixer that has an integrated recorder and forget the one I listed above, but I liked the idea of being mobile if I needed to be. Sennheiser e835 dynamic microphone http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-E835-Dynamic-Cardioid-Microphone/dp/B00006I5R7/ Any voice microphone will do fine. I prefer dynamic over condenser because it doesn't pick up every little noise, and if I get close and/or project, the noise level is acceptable in a moderately "quiet" environment. You don't need total studio conditions. Planes flying will obviously get picked up, but we're not making television, we're writing postmodern epistles. 2-foot dual 1/4" TRS cable (mixer out to recorder in) 2-foot XLR cable (mic out to mixer in) 2-foot XLR-to-1/4" TRS cable (microphone direct to recorder)

I received some encouraging answers to prayer lately. God is awesome! I hope this episode can encourage you to increase the frequency and fervency of your prayer life. God is faithful and is listening.

This episode is about prayer. Lately I have been in intercessory prayer for specific people and I've noticed very distinct evidences that the Lord is working in their lives. Mountains are starting to move, and it is amazing.

I contrast modernism vs post-modernism through two songs about rainbows. One was the first number from the 1979 movie The Muppet Movie, "Rainbow Connection" performed by Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson). The second song is from The Gregory Brothers (http://youtube.com/schmoyoho) and Yosemitebear (http://www.youtube.com/user/Hungrybear9562). Whereas Jim Henson was creating something within the old system of getting an idea approved by the various Hollywood gatekeepers and then producing an original work "within the system," the YouTube generation isn't interested in original work. Even beyond pastiche, we literally create derivative works such that the Double Rainbow song was "written" haphazardly while Paul Vasquez was witnessing a rainbow, and then arranged and composed by the Gregory Brothers. I discuss my thoughts on the implications, using other examples from the Gregory Brothers. The Gregory Brothers http://youtube.com/schmoyoho YosemiteBear http://www.youtube.com/user/Hungrybear9562 http://yosemitebear.net/ The Rainbow Connection http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFLZ-MzIhM Postmodernity (section: History) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernity Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV (my caps) "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places."

First original episode after joining RRN. I give my thoughts about the "ground zero mosque" government-media psy-op that is going on in the culture these days. And then I play a David Guzik sermon on Matthew 25, and I discuss the way I conceptualize the 'talents' in the parable of the talents. If what I say has merit, then 1st-world Christians have been doing far too much digging.

Reposting for new RRN listeners. What does it mean to be a child of God? I discuss some thoughts on this issue in the context of my previous episode Light Pollution (check that one out first). Resist the temptation to dismiss everything I say in this episode by saying something like, "We aren't supposed to stay spiritual children, but rather grow in Christ." By saying that, you miss my point—I agree we are to grow. But we are also to be humble and childlike if we expect to be the greatest in the Kingdom.

Letters to Laodicea is now available from the Revelations Radio Network! A big thank you to Chris White of Nowhere to Run and to everyone who may have had a hand in my being included in the network. I hope that the show is a blessing to the wider audience I will now enjoy. For the benefit of new RRN listeners, I am reposting this episode. If you've heard it already, you've heard it already. If not, welcome and thank you for listening! I've been developing a metaphor describing our sinful condition as spiritual "light pollution," the equivalent of the physical phenomena. A light-polluted environment (such as an urban city) will cause the dark background of the night sky to become brighter, thereby 'hiding the face' of the more subtle, dim stars. It occurred to me that the same thing happens when, in a sinful condition, we try to understand the fullness of God's revealed truth. Just as you can't shine a flashlight up at a star or nebula and expect to see more clearly (actually the opposite will happen), you can't expect to understand the deep things of God when you are anything but totally and completely receptive. Selah

I broke up with my girlfriend. In this episode I spiritualized everything about the breakup, and spoke about how my relationship to my girlfriend mirrors the God-human relationship. I offer some suggestions about what we can learn from my situation and apply to our own personal relationship with the Lord. I also discussed a Hebrew word study I did and some info about upcoming episodes. Needless to say, I could use your prayer as I navigate this section of my path.

I salute Frank Lordi, a fellow watchman, who has recently retired from podcasting. I also give a little of my own testimony and discuss how Frank's diligent research was instrumental in helping me to prove that the lies were lies. I also discuss my take on a possible future chain of events branching from the recent CA decision to overturn Prop 8. The bottom line is that if we worship the idea of 'equality' more than God himself, then the inevitable legal conclusion will eventually be that marriage in all its forms will be deemed unconstitutional. I also discuss two news articles which I've linked below. Google: Privacy and the new explosion of data http://techonomy.typepad.com/blog/2010/08/google-privacy-and-the-new-explosion-of-data.html IEEE Spectrum: The Most Disturbing Presentation of the Year (Jesse Schell's presentation) http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/consumer-electronics/gaming/the-most-disturbing-presentation-of-the-year/ Video of Jesse Schell's entire presentation http://g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Box-Presentation/

If you've ever reaped a whirlwind, you'll be able to relate to this episode. Probably not an episode for kids.

The Bible discourages us from being a stumbling block for another person. But often we just shake our heads and nod, not realizing how subtle that admonition really is. I discuss some of the finer points about the idea of being a stumbling block, including how to be an "anti-stumbling-block." I also discuss Game Theory as I interpret it spiritually. A "game" is basically any interaction between participants who have something to lose or gain, depending on their own choice and also the choices of others. I believe that in every interaction that could be considered a game, there's a second, spiritual layer to the game. Mouse over the image below to see how the physical "game" changes implications when seen as a spiritual "game". Check out the wikipedia entry above for more insight into how to interpret the numbers. I obviously just made them up as an example.

What does it mean to be a child of God? I discuss some thoughts on this issue in the context of my previous episode Light Pollution (check that one out first). Resist the temptation to dismiss everything I say in this episode by saying something like, "We aren't supposed to stay spiritual children, but rather grow in Christ." By saying that, you miss my point—I agree we are to grow. But we are also to be humble and childlike if we expect to be the greatest in the Kingdom.

I've been developing a metaphor describing our sinful condition as spiritual "light pollution," the equivalent of the physical phenomena. A light-polluted environment (such as an urban city) will cause the dark background of the night sky to become brighter, thereby 'hiding the face' of the more subtle, dim stars. It occurred to me that the same thing happens when, in a sinful condition, we try to understand the fullness of God's revealed truth. Just as you can't shine a flashlight up at a star or nebula and expect to see more clearly (actually the opposite will happen), you can't expect to understand the deep things of God when you are anything but totally and completely receptive. Selah

This episode is kind of a response to the question, Does God Need Us? To which I basically answer, "Yes, but not necessarily," which is, I think, a compromise between William Lane Craig and James at FuzzyRadioX. This episode is also a kind of inauguration of the series I've been promising for so many episodes: God's relationship to time, quantum uncertainty, and other weird things. As we get into those topics, know that no matter how weird it gets, it's all a labor of love (on my part yes, but especially on God's). God is far less concerned with whether or not you understand String Theory correctly than he is with whether you love him.

In this episode I discuss the recent saving of the Hollywood Sign by, among other investors, Hugh Hefner. There are several layers of meaning behind what Hef represents, what the Hollywood Sign represents, and what those representations seem to be selling to us. The logical extreme of this brought me to a discussion of pornography and images as they relate to the culture of celebrity. I also praised Shelley Lubben and her organization The Pink Cross, which brings Christ to those trapped in the world of porn production.

In this episode I discuss how television affects the brain, including the repression of certain fight/flight/help reactions to violence, which seems to give rise to a change in the way one experiences real life—one becomes "at home" in the watching of fiction, and real life situations start to have less consequential weight in one's mind. In the podcast I liken this to an overdose of "catharsis," the emotional purging which happens when we are able to experience fear, terror, dread, in a safe environment such as a dramatic play or movie. However, this disconnect is not just due to television—it is fed by our ever-increasing use of electronic substitutes for real communion with one another. The increasingly passive approach to real life versus the appetite for consumable eye-candy is likened to the faith versus works discussion.

In this episode I discuss four topics: Topic 1. An insight about the 7 letters to 7 churches in Revelation 2-3, specifically regarding the wording of the greeting in the final letter, the letter to the church "of the Laodiceans" rather than the church "at Laodicea." (This is the phrasing in the KJV, and not necessarily other translations, but my insight seems to be backed up by the original Greek). Topic 2. Whether or not rewards for works are retroactive, or put another way, does a lifetime of good works that show love to others go rewarded or unrewarded after a deathbed profession of faith? Although I only touched on Abraham briefly while reading James citing it in James 2, a good study would be to study the faith vs. works in the life of Abraham, specifically when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac. In Abraham's example, his faith was made perfect by his works. My question is whether works can be made perfect by faith after the fact. Topic 3. An incident on Facebook regarding an apostate former high-school classmate of mine. Topic 4. How social networking is a gnostic heresy, sort of. The normalization of non-fleshly interaction is degrading the quality of our face-to-face interactions. In the deception-riddled world of today, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that in developing new conceptions about human interaction to make sense of "technologized" human relationships, the various neo-gnostic new-age philosophies (which would deny the flesh, etc) will gain a foothold. We should be careful not to join the anti-flesh bandwagon, but rather seek to put flesh in its proper context, in balance with the spirit, through Christ.

In this episode I discuss some songs from Lady Gaga in terms that I've discussed in the previous Cult of Celebrity episodes. The rumor about her being a hermaphrodite is interesting from an alchemical/luciferian perspective, and I briefly touch on that. In view of her foregrounded gender ambivalence, one of her songs, "Paparazzi," reminds me of the process in which sin grows. I discuss it in terms of a gender reversal, emblematic of the change in the balance of power between us and sin, as sin grows. At the beginning sin inflates our pride, enticing us in a "feminine" way, causing us to believe we can control it. Then it starts to grow, and little by little it chips away at the idea of the easily-controlled temptation, and starts to reverse gender and dominate us. When sin is most complete in our lives, it makes us cause others to sin, and we generally use the same "feminine" temptation when we are tempting others. Incidentally, in this episode, some of my ideas also sound like I'm The Church Lady from an SNL skit.

I discuss the two sides to God's will—His directive will and His permissive will—and see it as logically equivalent to the will that human governments impose or refrain from imposing on their citizenry, depending on the type of nation in question. The US is starting to become more active in its directive will. I also play a "sermon jam" from Paul Ryan's speech on the House floor the night the bill passed. To listen to the speech without the rest of the episode, it's available here. This may well be the only time I delve into the political arena on Letters to Laodicea.

The fourth episode on the cult of celebrity. In this episode I discuss the suicide of actor Andrew Koenig. Andrew Koenig was on Growing Pains in the 80s. His father Walter played Chekov in the original Star Trek. Andrew was my neighbor down the street, and I could tell that he seemed lonely and depressed. I saw him just the day before he left LA for Vancouver, when he was giving things away, including a lot of old vintage Star Wars / Star Trek memorabilia, that seemed to be valuable. I grapple with the opportunities I had (and forfeited) to share Christ's love with him, and whether it would have made a difference.

The second half of the episode devoted to Avatar, in which I analyze the lyrics to 'I See You,' the song from the movie. Could this song, which comes from a movie selling pantheistic Gaia worship, actually be a secret worship song to Jesus Christ? I looked up several of the phrases from 'I See You' in the online bible site Blue Letter Bible, and found some astonishing verses, which all seem to have bearing on the themes of James Cameron's epic.

Continuing in the cult of celebrity, I read some quotes from Chris Hedges' book that I skipped last episode. And I discuss certain viewers' reactions to seeing Avatar, who came away depressed and sometimes suicidal, wanting to escape to the world of Pandora. I reiterate the importance of making Christ your mirror, rather than the movie screen.

This is an episode which starts a series exploring the cult of celebrity from my perspective as someone who works in Hollywood. I also read the entire book of Colossians, which is a letter that Paul instructed those at Colosse to share with the church of the nearby Laodicea. Because our current culture of celebrity is steeped in a background ideology borne of the new age, I thought this would be appropriate as I begin the look at celebrity--to remind us that Christ is the only one who deserves preeminence in our lives. Celebrities are just as human as we are, feel just as lost as we sometimes feel, and all too typically destructively so. Keeping Christ the center of your attention is the beginning of the destruction of the temple of idolatry that has found a home here in neo-Laodicea: the celebrity culture. Stay tuned for part two in the series, where I discuss a book I recently read, called Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, by Chris Hedges. He challenges some of our comfortable notions about movies and television, as well as asking whether seemingly "non-fiction" events in the public discourse (such as politics) are just as contrived and constructed as those we watch on our fictional screens. This is not a book for the proud nationalist, as Hedges doesn't stay in the realm of the "normal" right wing Christian ideology. Nor is it a book for the faint of heart, as it also explores, very bluntly, the issue of pornography--the logical conclusion to the cult of celebrity.

I talk about religious formalism and the worship of America, both of which are borne out of a lack of faith and by extension, a spirit of fear. I also relate two things that happened to me during the Christmas break which can only be God's doing.

The first episode of Letters to Laodicea. Intro to myself, the letter to Laodicea found in Revelation 3, as well as some ramblings on how this is relevant to the spiritual predicament of the post-modern church.