In light of the United States Bishops position on Illegal Immigration and Person-hood Amendments coming out of several states and reflecting upon the proper “Authority” to address these issues would be appropriate.

The Authority of the Federal Government and the Church

Where does authority originate?  Jesus told us the Authority of the Church comes form His Father, The Lord God Almighty, the Creator.  He also told us the authority of the government also come from His father, the Lord God Almighty, the Creator.

John Chapter 19,  Jesus answered Pilot, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.

The Authority over the Church and government comes from the same source from above.

All Authority comes from the Highest Authority – God

So then who owns the line between Church and State since the authority for both comes from the same source above.  One could say, The Lord Almighty owns the line and can walk on the line anywhere and always.

What about the authority of the United States of America Federal Government whom the Bishops have stated by, stating the United States Bishops do not support State laws addressing these issues?  Well can the authority with which they speak be challenged?  Have they built their argument on rock or sand?

A Guiding Document – The Declaration of Independence

Have the Bishops or any of us read the Declaration of Independence recently in regard to where government authority comes in this nation?  The “Rights” of the people come from an “unalienable” authority, greater than any earthly government, president, congress, senate or judicial authority.  I would call that “Authority” = “God”.  I think it is pretty clear.

The Declaration of Independence doesn’t stop there however.  It goes on to clearly state and the authority of the government originates from “the consent of the governed” – the people!  Then with even stronger language it emphasizes that when such government violates the rights of principles of the people they not only have a just “right” but a solemn duty to take action to modify, amend or even abolish such government.

Are the Bishops of America aware of the peoples “right and duty”?  Are the Bishops implying in their position trumps that of the people and we the people must rely solely upon a Federal government clearly demonstrating an inability to listen, respect or honor the right of the people or the church”?   A Federal Government which seeks to equate the difference between right and wrong while actively supporting political correctness.  Are the Bishops unable to see a government lusting and seeking power and control over the people by supporting corrupt and corny capitalism?

The words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 19 come to mind – “Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”  By taking a position favoring the federal government’s authority over the right and duty of the people to take action at the local, state and federal levels is guilty of handing the people over to a system lacking the leadership or faculties to protect the foundational rights of her people.

Whoever, in this country supports handing the people over to the power of a government that has been increasingly violating the sacred rights to “Life”, “Liberty” and “the Pursuit of happiness”, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is suffering from misguided judgement and short sided spiritual discernment?

The Role Model of Authority

While Jesus was on earth He modeled the role He wanted the Hierarchy of the Church to follow.  Who did Jesus tell His disciples to serve and how did He most clearly demonstrate that act.  At the last supper he taught how His authority should be demonstrated.  Jesus, the Son of God got down on His knees and washed the feet of His disciples – the original people of the church.

Who did Jesus command His disciples to serve?  Was it the none living entity of the government of the people or the people of God?

Circling back, the government gets it’s authority from God through the people.  The Church gets it’s authority from God to serve the people.  Both by design are called to serve the people in the spirit of the Creator God.

Could the Bishops of America have their position in regard to the United States government and the people of God upside down and backwards in regard to the peoples right and duty?

Authority Comes from the Consent of the Governed

The People Have the Necessary Authority

The People created the States, the States created the Federal Government and the 10th Amendment reserves all “rights” not delieniated to the Sates and to the People.   The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Would it not be appropriate for the Sates to call the Federal government back to the Constitutional principles upon which this Nation was established?

By supporting the Federal Government as the single avenue to address these serious issues, could the Bishops be unwisely telling the people of God the problem of Illegal Immigration and the sacredness of life is not their right and duty to address and can only be solved at the Federal level which has long been unable to take any appropriate action.  Are the Bishops missing the servant leadership skill to nurture and encourage the people act at every level local, state and federal which is their right and duty.  Could some Catholic’s and other conclude from the Bishops they have no individual right or responsibility to listen to their conscience, use their spirit and answer the call of the Lord God Almighty simply because the Bishops have provided them an ready made pass?

Do the Bishops of America not see what is clearly before the eyes of the people?  A nation in the midst of it’s greatest war between the flesh and the spirit.  A war being fought at every level of society to knock the Lord God Almighty off the block and replace Him with a New American idol secular progressive politically correct nonliving God – a pagan idol.

The Building Blocks = Living Stones

Further the Church through it’s Bishops have been clearly taught that “the Roman Catholic Church” is made up of living stones and not structural non living entities.  That “The Church (all the people of the church) is in need of constant purification” including the hierarchy and magisterium.

That the family serves as the foundation building mini church foundation upon which the lager church is built.  Not a single bishop or priest or deacon receives life without a mother and father and a home.  Destroy the Home the foundation of the Home and the Church is weakened.  Destroy the father and with him the family and the foundation of the church is weakened.  Destroy the father figure and the mother figure of the Church is weakened.  Weaken them sufficiently life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be the domain of a pagan idol.

Serve the People with Truth

The USCCB Bishops insistence they can not support the issues of illegal immigration and the sacredness of life being addressed at other than the federal level revels gross misunderstanding of what made the United Sates of America a Light Standing of a Hill to the World.  Worse it denies the rights and responsibilities of every person, the very dignity of every person called to action by the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps the sin of the hierarchy of the Catholic Bishops is intrinsic to the age old human nature relationship with authority.  We all want to play God, even Bishops are tempted to play God.  When any of us get caught up with our own authority and forget we were called to serve the people of God big trouble lies ahead.

Lord God Almighty forgive us, save this nation from itself, self centered interest and from placing ourselves upon a high and mighty pedestal from which there is no graceful way down!

Please if you made it thus far, Pray for us!

Gut Level Instinct

The Occupy Wall Street Protesters are reacting to something that is troubling them.  Tough many wall street protesters would not admit the phenomena is the same which triggered the Tea Party Protests and marches around the Nation.  Something powerful is driving the Occupy Wall Street Protesters to action.  Fact is the same “Gut Level” reaction drove their parents and grand parents to begin the Tea Party Protest movement.   The main difference between the two movements is a more than a two year delay in reaction.  On many basic points concerning corruption both movements are upset with the same basic basic failure of human to avoid becoming corrupt.

The primary difference between the two movements is the Tea Party protesters due tho their age, experience in life and wisdom gained through failure and multiple wars against enemies from every sector of society, government and the world.  The Tea Party Protest “Gut Level” reaction happened much quicker and due to having been around the block more often the Tea Party detected and addressed the cause of the “gut level” reaction swiftly and succinctly.  The Tea Party folks instinctively they had to keep the solution to the problem simple and  clear while avoiding highly divisive issues.

The Occupy Wall Crowd is simply an unorganized crowd of young people with abundant energy that has to discover the secrets to effective articulation of their purpose and how to create leadership within a leaderless group.

The Good News is the Occupy Wall Street has awakened to the reality this Nation is on the wrong track and their future freedoms are in jeopardy.  The downside for the occupy Wall Street group is they do not have the worldly or spiritual maturity to recognize their greatest enemy lives within.

Waking Up is Critical to Beginning to the Beginning of Identifying the Problem and it’s Seriouness

The Occupy Wall Streets folks, as the Tea Party folks know, will begin to learn the people of this great nation, including themselves have long allowed corruption at every level of our society to flourish and grow.  They will also learn their own actions, belief’s and values have contributed to the decline.  The hardest lesson to learn – the enemy is looking directly back at you in the mirror.

Ever so slowly the Nation has been waking up the nightmare that is leading the nation down the pathway to self destruction.  And at it’s core is the acceptance of corruption by placing self interest above the Golden Rules and Principles upon which this nation was born.   The Wall Street Protest and Tea Party Movement were triggered by the same human instinct.

Yes something is seriously wrong which makes my gut upset enough I have to do something about it though many may not know exactly what initially.

Corruption, Corruption, Corruption to Obtain Power and Control

Wall Street, Main Street and GOVERNMENT

And what is Amiss???

A mirror image is what is amiss and the fact we have duped ourselves into thinking the problem is with everyone else, especially any without a face!  Look in the mirror and what do we see?  Denial!!!

Wall Street looks like Main Street, Main Street looks like the Government, the Government looks like Wall Street and on every street corruption has been accepted as the normal way of life.  We have lost our way when it comes to moral judgement, justice, sin, values and the core building blocks upon which this nation was built.

For years there has been a secular progressive movement in this nation to remove all of the above from the law of the land.  If it feels good it must be good regardless of the outcome or consequence.  Each human is their own God lies at it’s core.  father, family and religion must be sacrificed at the altar of the secular progressive humanism movement.

Have we and are we cutting off our own legs as we grope about in the darkness of our self created and centered mess?  Have we compromised the most sacred and valued principles for which our founding fathers were willing to sacrifice blood, property, wealth and life?

Ask yourself!!!!!!  What are the values I am willing to sacrifice my life for?

Ask yourself!!!!!  Have I been willing to compromise the values of my family, my own values, those of my religion or those of the founding fathers of this Nation where I am supposed to be free?  Am I really free or does my government own me?

Perhaps many no longer even know the values and principles which made this Nation a Light unto the world!  Ask yourself – do I know the values and principles of the founding fathers?

The 99 versus the 1.  People not Corporations.  Anyone know what a Corporation is?  Does a Corporation exist without people and laws created by people before it an exist.

Is this a nation of the People, by the People and for the People?  Could it be the secret to solving the crisis of 2011 resides in an awakening of the people that they have rights which must be balanced with responsibility.  When responsibility is passed on to some other to take care of us we place our rights in their hands.  Who is ready to hand their rights off to a government or corporation obsessed with political correctness?

People have God given rights and with those rights come equal or a balance of responsibilities!

The Wall Street Protesters are protesting the greed of corporations as if corporations do not represent regular people and impact lives!  Has anyone asked who or what a corporation is?  Could a corporation be a group of factory workers, school teachers, private persons, retired persons who worked all their life, fire fighters, police, people who fought in wars, civil servants local, state and federal????

Perhaps what folks are really upset about is who, why and how are the winners and losers in life decided.  A better definition might be corruption at every level of society.  On Wall Street, on Main Street and yes in the Government.

Look in the mirror of truth – one might find corruption there!

The founder and framers of our constitution understood well the power and influence of corruption.  So they worked to create and yes they prayed for guidance to create documents, statues, laws and a constitution that would balance corruption.

Is anyone awake in 2011 as cries go out across the nation complaining about greed which is more accurately and clearly defined as corruption.  Corruption that will take up residence at every level of society and will `.

To solve the self made crises we encountering in 2011 this nation, as a people must begin the task of looking back at the principles which bring corruption back in balance.

Want the answers to our Nations self made crises?  One will not find it in Political Correctness.  Where does one need to look?

Perhaps the founding documents of this nation hold the secret formula we are so desperately searching for?  When is the last time we the people studied those documents?

Could the solution exist within the people, particularly a people willing to balance their individual rights with their individual responsibility.

When responsibility is removed from the equation, it is replaced with an entity that begins to operate as King and Lord over all.

It is very interesting to watch the Wall Street Protesters.  The good news is they are out there because something does not seem right to them and they know it is time to do something about what they sense is not right.

In fact I would say the cause of their unrest comes from a reaction taking place in their guts that something is very very wrong and doing nothing will not satisfy their gut level unrest.  Human natures gut level reaction is a result of one’s mind sensing one’s true values in life are at risk of being lost.

A Gut Level Reaction = a Gift from the Creator Himself

This gut level reaction demands attention and causes the human being to begin searching one soul to determine what it is that has so upset the apple cart of their life.  As such, a gut level reaction of this sort is nothing sort of a gift from God.  It opens the door for a person to dig up their core values and examine them again as if for the first time.  It offers the possibility one can decide which values they want to retain and which values may not have been founded upon solid truths.

This may not sit well with Wall Street Protesters but they are delayed reaction and are following the foot steps of Tea Party Patriots who are essentially the Wall Street Protesters elders and maybe parents or grand parents.

Long ago the Tea Party Patriots went through the gut level reaction of questioning why their level values where yelling at them.  Something was amiss and needed to addressed quickly.  Perhaps because the Tea Party Patriots were older, wiser and had developed more problem solving skills the cause and solution to the Gut Level Crises was asked, articulated and the primary values and principles that were triggering the reaction where addressed in an unprecedented method which opened the doorway to all citizens who were willing to take the time and participate.

Hence the Tea Party Movement with millions of participants articulating simple and clear Principles mushroomed almost over night more than two years ago.  The Wall Street Protesters needed the crises to begin to effect them personally before the Human Gut Level to begin to kick in for them.

There many gut level issues the Wall Street Protesters have in common with the Tea Party Patriots though this may upset some members of each group.

Who are we as a nation?  Who do we say we are?  Who did our founding Fathers say we were?  Who have we become?  Are we happy with who we have become?  The answer to this last question is “NO” for Wall Street Protesters and Tea Party Patriots.

There is Hope We Can believe In — The Wall Street Protesters are Awakening !

It is clear listening to the Wall Street Protesters that they do not have or share a common principled action plan for the turmoil taking place at the Gut Level.  Further they demonstrate far less maturity than the Tea Party Movement which is clearly demonstrated in behavior and cleaning up after oneself.

Not to despair, their is great hope because the most critical and essential human step has begun – they are opening up.  They have awakened and know there is a major problem and have now begun to struggle to articulate an answer and begin to reach unity of purpose through consensus.