King of Spades

Let’s talk about power, sex, and men, shall we?

On Sunday, January 7, 2018; actors, producers, directors and activists gathered together to attend the 75th Golden Globes Awards in Beverly Hills, California. Whether you looked at photos afterwards or actually watched the event, it doesn’t take long to notice that mostly everyone was wearing strictly black attire. As “This is Us” actress Susan Kelechi Watson put it, the purpose was to show solidarity in the fight against sexual harassment not only in Hollywood but in all other industries. This campaign was spearheaded by the organization called TimesUp, which “advocates for legislation to curtail workplace harassment across industries and seeks gender parity at various entertainment companies.”

As the evening went on, there were great moments for women to speak up, poke fun, and directly challenge the power and representational disparity between men and women in Hollywood. Even the host, Seth Meyers, wasn’t shy about speaking to the issue. Out of all the moments that evening, however, one in particular stands out as the most memorable, and that is Oprah Winfrey’s speech. Of the many quotable parts of her speech one that is relevant here is the following:

“She [Recy Taylor] lived, as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men, and for too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up.”

When she finished these words, a standing ovation ensued.

Whether it was because Oprah managed to cleverly integrate the TimesUp name into her speech, and or because Oprah appropriately summed up the core of the issue, it can be seen that those words made an impact on the people in the room enough to make them stand and applaud.

The key words in that quote, are “power” and “men.”

Are Men Inherently Powerful?

What is power but the ability to exert influence over others and an environment? And what are men but one of two biological sexual dimorphisms of the one general homo sapien species (i.e., man)? And are men not at the mercy of the other–the woman–to be given life in the first place? To receive nurture, love, and development for nine months and onwards?

If one is at the mercy of the other, meaning women exert life-sustaining influence over men (and generally, mankind), wouldn’t it be safe to say that women are in fact more powerful then men? The reality and answer is absolutely yes, and men are scared ****less of that.

They [women] have so much power, that the first woman to walk this earth was able to convince her man [the genesis, or the first born] to disobey their Creator. The crafty deceiver knew her power and influence, and abused it. And when the Father came to his children to ask “What is this you have done?”, man blamed it on woman and woman blamed it on the deceiver. All of them, received the respective consequences (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction).

Somehow, since the earliest documentation of humanity, men have learned to not only embrace the subjugation of women but to encourage its continuation for generations to come. For those who read and believe the Hebrew Bible, there is no surprise as to why that is. It is a curse, a curse that woman received because of her disobedience to the Balance and Ultimate Power of the Universe. Instead of being the protector of man’s heart (his rib) and his equal, she was cursed with forever chasing after his heart and therefore being ruled by him. She was now at the mercy of his fickleness and disloyalty.

Yet, her power never left. It was just hidden, written away by practice, culture, and lack of repentance. It wasn’t until Jesus came, that the power of woman was brought back to light.

The power of a woman to give birth without losing her virginity. The power of woman to raise a God in the form of man. The power of woman to become the first ever evangelist of the Kingdom of God. The power of woman to be the first to see the risen Lord in all His glory. As the Great Wise King said: “Those who are last shall be first, and those who are first shall be last.” Woman was the last of creation, and was therefore the first exalted crown jewel of creation.

Exposing the Dark

All these self evident truths are a conviction and declaration to men that can be explained by these words from the King: “The light has come. For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”

In my paraphrase and interpretation: “All of you, men and women, who live in darkness: your time is up. The Kingdom, which is the light, will no longer be subjected to your slavery. You will be exposed, so that you can be free. The little piece of Kingdom life (riches, honor, glory, etc) that you think you have, of which you have none at all, will be taken away from you soon enough. Meanwhile, those who truly seek the Kingdom in their hearts will receive an abundance of it and blameless peace forevermore.”

Power in the hands of corrupt, pleasure seeking, dominance exerting men, and women as a matter of fact, is an atrocity that permeates every single country, organization, business, non-profit, community and family to this day. It continues to be passed down for generations and generations, because those who live in the dark teach others how to live in the dark as well and pass it on. The only reason that power remains with them, however, is because it is left unchallenged and unexposed to the light on a continual basis.

TimesUp. Time has been up for over 2000 years. It’s time to expose that shit to the light and subject it, whether peacefully or brutally, to the Kingdom.

That does not necessarily mean storming into the streets, a government office, organizational headquarters, or private house with fists in the air and guns a-blazing. Though that becomes warranted at times. It can also come in the form of a gentle rebuke, within close personal relationship, like that given to a child by their mother or father. It can manifest also as a rough discipline like that to an out of control adolescent by their mother, father, or law enforcement official. It can happen via infiltrating and dismantling a system from within like that which happened with Julian Assange or Edward Snowden. The matter is not so much how darkness is exposed, but the fact that it is (I say that with a grain of salt because blackmail is a viable but not ethical method).

It is time for those who feed the power of abuse and oppression to be exposed, while there is momentum flowing. And it’s time people took seriously their job to hold those in power, in check. Its understandable that people don’t want to get involved, because it takes time and is not a pleasant ordeal. And we have examples, of people who have done this in the past, to look to and see that many times it does not end well.

But see, that is where your slavery becomes evident, and you can deny it no longer. You cannot realistically say “I am a free man or woman” while you simultaneously give up your life to your employer, technology, hormonal desires, government and, ultimately, the will of others.

Your time is held captive by your work (or lack of), your capabilities are held captive by the resources afforded to you by work (or lack of), and your resources are held captive by your intentions, convictions, and time (or lack of). It’s a vicious cycle, and fear is the central seed that keeps it spinning out of control.

This is why love (read, Jesus) is the most important weapon of the Kingdom and principle of this life. It requires self-denial and death to receive it, so what power do those who threaten with death and misery have over it? There is no punishment or judgement against love, only true freedom and deep bliss. It is the true and raw power we all crave, as “perfect love casts out all fear.” And it does not only lead to martyrdom; there are plenty of testimonies of Christian men and women in history who have defied the laws of physics and medicine thanks to the Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead. Those who have not fully committed get a taste of it here and there to remind them that it is indeed still with us, but imagine what it will be like the day it returns in the flesh to establish His rule forever, breaking the binding rules of time and space, as it was in the beginning?

Conclusion

“Its great to get fired up about this, but how do we turn that fire into tangible practice?”

There’s the word: practice.

Thoughts become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become lifestyles.

We have to practice:

• Focusing on the Kingdom and His Righteousness, which provides all our needs
• Act on that focus by following and continuously studying the words of the King
• Becoming like the King in mind, body, and spirit; thereby proving the good, acceptable and perfect will of God
• Throughout this maturity process, which can include mishaps (we get up and move on), stay busy helping the lost in your local community and addressing their needs produced by these abuses of power. That includes entering the close quarters of the abusers and looking at them right in the eyes with the fire that consumes our souls.

Specifically, we have to practice this on a daily basis with our family, friends, coworkers, employers, fellow bus riders, grocery store cashiers (i.e., the routine); as well as with the homeless guy or girl on the street, the drug addict down the block, the homie who thinks he’s hard because he carries a 9-mil and some ink, the mom who sells her body on the streets at night, etc (i.e., the non-routine). Not all of us will rub shoulders with the elite, nor is it necessary, but all of us will rub shoulders with those who either secretly or consciously support their agendas through their votes, purchases, consumption of drugs, murder, abuse of women, children, etc.

Especially during this supposed progressive yet hypocritical “relative morality” and “good intentions” era, the time for exposure is even more warranted. The abusers and consumers are part of the problem and need their wickedness and slavery to be made evident, so that they have no excuse or place to hide when we all answer for our lives spent. There’s no sympathy for them, only compassion. And true compassion is to be a door for them unto the path of repentance, or a realization of their vanity. In my personal experience, the fiery kindness of God really does lead man to repentance, and they just needed to be shown the awesome and real different way (a way out).

I will confess and expose myself: I have no sins to hide besides having a potty mouth, working to get rich so I can use that money for the Kingdom as well as personal experiences (traveling, skydiving, scubadiving, cars, providing for my family, investing in breakthrough ideas, etc), and at times going “goo goo ga ga” over the beauty of a woman (no porn or pictures). More importantly for many years I thought that “being a nice easy to get along with person” is the epitome of existence and love; so I suppressed my naturally assertive self, even under the leadership of God. I am just recently and finally coming to terms with the fact that that, to be frank, is a load of complete horse shit.

Jesus was not nice. Nice people don’t flip tables, whip the ground around people in a public area, call respected religious leaders snakes and empty tombs, call the emperor of the political authority a (derogatory) fox, or compare a woman outside of his race to a dog to get a point across (which she got and received deliverance).

He is compassionate. He feed thousands of people. He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He abandoned sleep and privacy for the sake of attending to the needy. He washed the dirty stinky sweat-covered feet of his disciples when, supposedly, kings do not serve their servants. The supposed King of everything we know to be reality, humbled himself to be the least of us.

Jesus was not an easy person to get along with. While people found peace and restoration with him, He would also tell them “I have come to bring a sword, and put a mother against her daughter, and a father against his son.” When someone reasonably asked if they could go home and say goodbye to their relatives before following Him, Jesus replied “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.” When a religious leader, who actually believed Jesus but wouldn’t come out and say it out of fear, asked Jesus to explain his teaching, Jesus replied “You are a master of religion in Israel and you don’t even understand these things?… I have told you about earthly things, how in the world will you understand the heavenly (i.e., are you an idiot)?”

Jesus is the epitome of perfection and the best person to get along with. He is the most successful teacher, leader, revolutionist, son and king to have walked this earth. His kingdom has no end. His children live forever. His revolution is still ongoing. His leadership is still active and respected. His teaching continues to expand the globe. His disciples (not just the original 12) have the power to be free from themselves and others, to supernaturally defy natural law (i.e., turn back death, heal the sick, etc), to cause fear in the abusive elite, to see the future before it happens, to speak in any or every language (known or unknown); all without needing a college degree, a vault of money, or a long list of formal skills. It just takes belief and practice, something available to all.

That, is real power: a fruit of a supreme love. He is not what people want, He is what people need. And until we realize how dark (and empty) we, our environment, and those who enslave us really are without the grace of light, we won’t see.

Imagine if the current 2.4 billion Christians (out of 7.3 billion total people) in the world walked in the supernatural power and love of Jesus. What a different world it will soon be.

“Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” – Matthew 5:8

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” – Acts 10:38

“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father” – John 14:11-12

Next week, we will begin a seven part series. The first being about sex. Sex is awesome and a God-given pleasure, but it’s been inexcusably perverted and abused.