Reminiscere 2: The Sun Stands Still

"You, O God, are King for ages old, the one who works saving acts right on the earth." Psalm 74

It's a weakness.

I'm lazy.

Or am I?

Poor in spirit, and rather depressed about it, I am finding that Lent this year is kicking ass.

Oops?

To kick a donkey in "the king’s" English is not the point. My King speaks English, but he has also cursed it to Babylon and back again.

The point is that arguing mootly about the morality of Shakespeare's vernacular is not worth comparing to the deep pathos of Christianity’s annual celebration of the arduous excesses of our fall into darkness.

I mean, may I suggest that if potty words make you angry, then you might be doing Lent wrong.

Lent seems to be doing me

In 2020, each attempt to step forward feels like dancing knee-deep into a bayou. The obstacles have run the gambit of my life, ranging from wild ironies of fate to subtle moments of honest reflection. Most of them have come with a solid pinch of pain or fear, (like having to write something twice because the first draft is buried in a pile of Post-it notes dedicated to inventing the world’s greatest personal management system. [Strike one to that idea, I guess.])

What game am I playing again?

That is what all these Lenten ordeals have served to do so well: remind me of my mortality in a most inspirational and gratifying way.

Lent as seasonal experience of everything is amassing to preach to me in stark contrast the glorious songs of the road to Zion: the new land where Jesus has set his throne.

What matter are the weeds and thistles now? They are but more faithful preaching of the fact that leaving this muck ain’t worth mourning over that much.

All this often makes me think of you...

You, my reader. You, my fan (hopefully.) You, my blood-bound brother or sister in the body of Jesus Christ.

These thoughts fit well with the warm sunshine and cold breeze of a Friday afternoon in early March, just northwest of the Rock River in the land where the Illini roamed. Barren trees and last winter's dead leaf piles dance with a Blackstone grill on a driveway overlooking a road that seems to lead to peace.

It's a scene right out of Fallout 4. And that makes me smile over my cigar.

Did I mention I hate doing things twice?

Lent took on some of its flavor due to the spring weather of the northern hemisphere. This is great art: the sun and moon and wind themselves enhance the vivid terror of a cosmos gone tainted and unable to quite free itself. All this leads again to the memory - the good news - of a man who once suffered 40 days and more in order to become a new light for this darkness.

This is the King beside whom we sojourn, and whom by precious promise sojourns within us. He looks ahead, and we with him, to that throne where he will soon be crowned in story retold, that old rugged liturgy of a cross where it was finished long ago.

Thus, "writing the same thing twice" appears a bit of an overpriced luxury complaint.

Thank you, Lent: I see how, most of the time, the first draft is only a shadow of the real thing anyway.

None of that was what I meant to say.

What I meant to say is that I want this space to be real. I want the Mad Christian Network (whatever that means) to be more than just a gimmick or a trick or a hack. If we are going to raise up true warriors of Zion for the battle against the dystopia which is upon us, then we don't have time to bicker over table scraps like mutts.

Shields up, grab your donkey, and start learning to say it like you mean it, because this is the same war that saw Cyprian martyred and Luther defrocked. This is the same multi beast-form Zeitgeist that spreads an ever-decaying, stinky stew of paltry macro-processed lie-spices behind the curtain of every epoch.

It's such a time as behooves every good man, and his woman with him, to lift up hands in the holy warfare of good works done under grace with utter commitment to the Almighty Lordship of the Son of David, Jesus Christ.

With the end of the age being kinda, like, you know, upon us, how can I make the best use of my days?

None of that was what I meant to say, again.

What I meant to say is that all this means far less than it might sound, and will probably not any dreams but my own. But, this is my exchange for a confident future for Mad Mondays.

Few people manage to watch, listen and read every ounce of content I put out. No one will mourn the dreams I am letting die on lists of projects left uncreated in my dustbin but me. This is my Lenten humiliation, and for it I am glad: I am but one man, and the sole arrow in my quiver is an eight-year-old boy who is quickly growing up.

YouTube isn't going to change. The Mad Christian podcast, it's going to get even better. And Mad Mondays will be in your inbox, swift and sure as putting your trust in princes will fail you every time.

I can’t promise you the content of the content. I can only promise that it will be from me, and it will be real.

I have a whole bunch more I put in my 2nd draft, but this is my 5th draft now...

Like how I decided to give up email for Lent. I'm going to be ignoring 95% of my email, and all of Facebook and Twitter and Snapboy and Finglefart and whatever other latest greatest may-may squirrel bait is being tattooed on the orange man’s Easter eggs (because I just can't take that much crazy anymore).

Remember, I'm doing crazy things so that you don't have to. Whether all goes well or poorly, I'll report back after Easter.

Let us pray: Ancient Joshua, who keeps every oath of your Word, David’s Son, Joshua, who fears neither ambush nor pact, teach us to boast in you rather than in ourselves, lest we be found in unholy alliance with alien gods and wicked men, even as you reign in scars of glory at the Maker’s right hand, by your Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Non-planned Obsolescence Strikes Back!

A few weeks back, we ran a story about the planned obsolescence of lightbulbs and possibly cars and almost everything else you can buy. Just because we are mad and say it doesn't mean it's true. Do you own research, and then share it with us, like this podcast where geek-deep economists debunk their favorite bad ideas so that we grow in knowledge too.

Meanwhile, Coronavirus is not done yet...

New York and LA are US ground zeroes. Expect the other major cities like Chicago and Atlanta, or perhaps Seattle, to be the next to report cases. If you truly want to protect your family “just in case,” now is not the time to panic. Now is the time to start learning how the virus moves so that you can be best prepared to serve everyone in your life if and when it comes into neighborhood and home, (and not be one of those daft fools walking around with a face mask on because they saw it in a movie once.)

Unfortunately, we do not have a link to share with you to guarantee the following, but we're sharing the information in light of the public interest and with the understanding, the following can be considered trustworthy information:

Although reported cases appear to be slowing in China, the sudden decline is a bit fast for comfort. China's containment strategy hasn't worked. Cases are being reported in almost every country in Western Europe, much of the Middle East, Russia, Australasia, and parts of South America.

It'll take several weeks at least for the full consequences of the virus and its impact.

Only Illuminati Need Apply
Your Reaction Highlights

EGO-DISCTOPIA

You have mentioned the Eric Weinstein’s podcast before on your show. Three main concepts that Weinstein talks about are the EGO (embedded growth obligation), the GIN (gated institutional narratives), and the DISC (Dis-information suppression complex). Do these concepts frame your thinking on certain major issues that are going on in the LCMS?

On EGO, do certain parts (Concordia University System, Concordia Retirement System, etc.) of the LCMS cease to function if there is no or negative growth? Are LCMS leaders acting in deranged ways because they know that these systems were built with an EGO assumption and know collapse is inevitable?

On the GIN, what narratives (not talking about doctrine here) do the LCMS power brokers repeat over and over for which dissenting opinions are punished?

On DISC, what information is the LCMS gate keepers trying to actively suppress from the rank and file laity?

For me, once I started to realize that LCMS does in fact suffer from the EGO, the GIN, and the DISC, a bunch of stuff I have witnessed especially in the last 15 years in the LCMS, snapped into focus.

-A

Walking together amongst the thorns and dust…

With the news this week about the return of the Black Plague, and the news next week about how this man or other will accidentally end the world, Mad Mondays is going to be here providing you sometimes Clickbait Paradise, sometimes hard left turns of Fisking, but always the commentary you didn’t even realize you needed, all because our God is reminding us that we're were not dancing alone in this muck out here. 

Lift up your heads, mighty Zion! There is a whole tribe of crazy mad Christians out here dancing with you:  mensgathering.us

This week I did not write for DUST

I just looked forlornly at the lonely Post-it note (singular) scribbled on my wall, as I dug through a notebook full of tough mental questions.

If I ever am going to write again, while also managing both a podcast and a YouTube channel, serving as a blessing to a local Christian congregation, and fulfilling my duty as a father and a husband, then there are some things in my life which I’ve been calling goals that I need to start admitting are just dreams.

This is wonderful, friend, in the most inspirational way. In fact, it was so wonderful that for the first time in years upon years I busted out my pen randomly at a cigar shop, and wrote some poetry.

(For lack of other interesting things, I thought you might enjoy it.)

Let us pray: Ancient Joshua, who keeps every oath of your Word, David’s Son, Joshua, who fears neither ambush nor pact, teach us to boast in you rather than in ourselves, lest we be found in unholy alliance with alien gods and wicked men, even as you reign in scars of glory at the Maker’s right hand, by your Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Dark Sun